Updated every Friday 12:00 PM
March 29 - April 4

APPLE TV
Apple TV+ announced that it will expand its award-winning drama slate with “Imperfect Women,” a new limited series based on Araminta Hall’s gripping, immersive novel of the same name that will star and be executive produced by Emmy Award-winners Elisabeth Moss (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Shining Girls,” “Mad Men”) and Kerry Washington (“Scandal,” “Little Fires Everywhere,” “UnPrisoned”). The new series will be adapted for television, written and executive produced by Annie Weisman, marking her latest collaboration with Apple TV+ following the critically acclaimed dramedy “Physical,” and will be produced for Apple TV+ by 20th Television and Apple Studios...

The lighting of the Olympic torch will get the big screen treatment this summer thanks to a new partnership between NBC and Imax. The television network, which broadcasts the games, will air its live coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony across Imax locations nationwide on Friday, July 26. It’s a first for the games and for the cinema company. The Summer Olympic opening ceremony is unique in other ways. It’s the first such event to not be held in a stadium. Instead, organizers will turn the River Seine, which flows through the heart of Paris, into a theatrical stage, one on which a four-mile-long flotilla of nearly 100 boats will carry thousands of athletes from more than 200 countries past hundreds of thousands of spectators. This trip will take viewers under the iconic Austerlitz Bridge, beside the Jardin des Plantes, before crossing through central Paris and finishing in front of the Trocadéro, where the final parts of the show will take place. Imax will present NBC’s live coverage of the opening ceremony to more than 150 IMAX locations throughout the United States....

Alamo Drafthouse is hosting a Star Wars marathon of all nine movies to screen back-to-back May 3-4, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace. The Texas-based theater chain will host the 21-hour marathon of the Skywalker Saga’s episodes one through nine at the Alamo Drafthouse New Mission in San Francisco. The all-in-one-sitting viewing will start May 3 with The Phantom Menace and end a day later with a screening of The Rise of Skywalker. There will be breaks for “unlimited coffee and water” to keep your eyes open in case the Force isn’t enough. Audiences can expect Star Wars-themed food items from a galaxy far, far away at the concession stands, an immersive Star Wars lobby for selfies, and games and trivia between screenings...

As one of the greatest masters of cinema, it's hard to imagine Akira Kurosawa struggling to gather funds to produce another masterpiece. The visually striking auteur built a magnificent film career where he could blossom his genius painting talent into gorgeous tragedies that no filmmaker could replicate. Kurosawa directed one movie almost every year, turning out big successes like Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954), and Yojimbo (1961). But when the early 70s came along, Japan's most celebrated director lost favor with the younger generation, as the TV industry and monster flicks were on the rise, and financial trouble started pale Kurosawa's career. According to The Criterion Collection, the stress from filmmaking and sudden health problems caused Akira Kurosawa to attempt suicide in 1971. It was only when the Soviet studio, Mosfilm, approached the mastermind to make a movie for them that Kurosawa became energized to film again. Amid his teetering reputation, the Rashomon director wanted to make a medieval, samurai war epic called Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior. Thankfully, dozens of New Hollywood filmmakers revered Kurosawa, and it took a young George Lucas to come to the aid of his role model. Kagemusha marked another classic for Kurosawa...

Paramount Global‘s debt rating was cut to junk status by credit-rating agency S&P Global, which cited the media conglomerate’s ongoing challenges with free cash flow generation relative to its debt.S&P on Wednesday said it expects Paramount Global’s free operating cash flow-to-debt will remain “well below” 10% through 2025, and that adjusted leverage (debt-to-equity ratio) will stay above 3.5 times through then. The agency cited “the ongoing deterioration of the linear television ecosystem and the elevated investments for its direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming model” for the downgrade. “Paramount will need to execute its plan to substantially improve streaming losses over the next two years to mitigate further downside ratings pressure,” S&P said in its ratings adjustment. Paramount Global’s long-term debt was $14.6 billion as of the end of 2023...

Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) knew how important it was to hold on to a piece of debris during the final moments of the Titanic tragedy, even if Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) wasn't able to survive the merciless cold waters of the Atlantic. And now, after paying $718, 750, someone owns that piece of film history. During the Heritage Auctions’ Treasures from Planet Hollywood event, the part of the door frame from the first-class lounge entrance Rose used to survive was sold away, decades after Titanic made audiences cry for the first time with the climatic sequence where the couple was separated forever. The fact that someone was willing to pay more than $700,000 for a prop from Titanic is the latest testament to the film's impressive mark on pop culture. When it first released in theaters, James Cameron's tragic romance earned over $1 billion at the global box office, and it remained as the highest-grossing movie of all time until Avatar came along...

The indie studio A24 is partnering with IMAX to re-release some of its most beloved films on IMAX screens, remastering movies from its library as part of a monthly screening series that will continue into 2025. It kicks off with Alex Garland‘s “Ex Machina” on March 27, followed by Ari Aster’s ‘Hereditary” on April 24, and the Safdie Brothers’ “Uncut Gems” on May 22. The screening of “Ex Machina” will precede a special sneak peek of Garland’s next movie with A24, “Civil War,” which also opens on IMAX screens on April 12. Other titles haven’t been announced yet, but the studio will dig through its library of more than 140 feature films for future screenings....