Category: News

'Fantastic Four': Julia Garner To Play Shalla-Bal Version Of Silver Surfer With Galactus Set As Villain
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‘Fantastic Four’: Julia Garner To Play Shalla-Bal Version Of Silver Surfer With Galactus Set As Villain

Another interesting casting addition has been announced for Marvel’s upcoming production happening this summer, “Fantastic Four,” as we also have some character confirmations beyond the four superheroes (after their casting was finally confirmed back on Valentine’s Day, including the inclusion of the team’s robot pal H.E.R.B.I.E.). A new report from Deadline has revealed that actress Julia Garner has been tapped to play Shalla-Bal, a female incarnation of Galactus‘ cosmic herald, Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd being the version most known).

As everyone would suspect, Galactus will be the reboot’s villain. Although, we’re still waiting on who exactly is going to be playing the planet-eating being.

Will the Real Shalla-Bal Please Stand Up?

Shalla-Bal is an immortal Empress of Zenn-La and the lover of Norrin Radd in the comics. Radd accepts Galactus’ offer to become his herald (find planets without sentient life for him to destroy and consume) to save his own planet, including his love, Shalla-Bal. One of the more heartbreaking aspects of the Silver Surfer mythos is the two lovers being separated across the stars. This could be a sign that Marvel is looking to dig deeper than previous incarnations.

Garner, of course, isn’t a stranger to genre work after previously working on the acclaimed Netflix crime series “Ozark,” the Aussie-set thriller “The Royal Hotel,” the Robert Rodriguez sequel “Sin City: A Dame To Kill For,” a yet-to-be-released A24 horror thriller “Apartment 7A,” and is currently shooting Leigh Whannell’s “Wolf Man” remake at Universal Pictures as the studio attempts to expand their Universal Monsters franchise.

Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”) directs a cast that consists of Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”) as Dr. Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby (“Mission: Impossible” and “Fast & Furious” franchises) as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (“The Bear,” “Andor”) as Ben Grimm/The Thing, and Joseph Quinn (“Stranger Things”) as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch.

The current script was penned script by a collection of writers that include Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan, Eric Pearson, and Ian Springer.

We’re still curious about who is going to voice H.E.R.B.I.E., the team’s robot assistant that was previously announced by the studio. Many have assumed that we’ll be seeing Victor von Doom, aka Doctor Doom, in the new film. However, trades have yet to back up those claims, and the studio hasn’t selected an actor for that part, which could mean they’ll be aiming for a cosmic setting, allowing the characters to lean into the more cosmic stuff.

“Fantastic Four” is set to begin shooting later this year at Pinewood Studios UK and has a tentative release date of July 25, 2025 (prepare yourselves for a few more delays).

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘Mission: Impossible 8’ Enlists ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ Breakout Actress Katy O’Brian For Next Installment

The adrenaline-fueled “Mission: Impossible 8” is currently filming, and Paramount‘s spy actioner has added a new actor to the cast. Katy O’Brian, the breakout actress from A24’s lesbian thriller “Love Lies Bleeding,” has nabbed a part in the Tom Cruise-led franchise from writer/director Christopher McQuarrie. This casting update comes to us from Deadline as the up-and-comer has been amassing various genre/franchise parts, including playing a minor villain in “The Mandalorian” series, Marvel’s “Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania,” and Amblin’s “Twister” reboot, “Twisters.”

McQuarrie is known for selecting badass actors for his recent string of sequels focusing on Ethan Hunt’s IMF teams as the latest installment focused on a new artificial intelligence threat called The Entity. There is an expectation that the eighth untitled installment (formerly known as “Dead Reckoning – Part Two”) will see Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Hayley Atwell, Shea Whigham, and Pom Klementieff reprising their roles.

O’Brian joins fellow new additions such as Holt McCallany (“Wrath of Man”), Nick Offerman (“Civil War”), Janet McTeer (“Ozark”), and Hannah Waddingham (“The Fall Guy”).

Paramount has given “Mission: Impossible” a prime release date of May 23, 2025, after multiple rounds of delays stemming from scheduling shifts, and the first film being shot during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and extending the production length. While the studio and creatives really haven’t talked about the future of the franchise, there is a shot that this could be the final outing for Ethan Hunt as Cruise is looking to expand his relationship with Warner Bros. (a long-gestating sequel to Doug Liman’s “Edge of Tomorrow” assumed to be part of those plans) and is expected to shoot “Top Gun 3” in the near future.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News, News

James Gunn’s ‘Superman’ Reboot Adds Wendell Pierce In Perry White Role As Production Begins In Atlanta

This week marks the production start of James Gunn‘s first big DCU installment with his “Superman” reboot. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta as the writer/director posted a teaser image of the new costume (See below) and a new addition to the cast has been revealed by The Hollywood Reporter. They’ve learned that “The Wire” and “Jack Ryan” actor Wendell Pierce has landed the role of Perry White, the boss of Lois Lane and Clark Kent at The Daily Planet.

The rest of the cast of Superman consists of David Corenswet (Clark Kent/Superman), Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane), Nicholas Hoult (Lex Luthor), Skyler Gisondo (Jimmy Olsen), Sara Sampaio (Eve Teschmacher), Edi Gathegi (Mister Terrific), Terence Rosemore (Otis), Anthony Carrigan (Metamorpho), Isabela Merced (Hawkgirl), Nathan Fillion (Guy Gardner/Green Lantern), and María Gabriela de Faría (The Engineer).

We’re still waiting on who Gunn has selected to play Ma and Pa Kent, the adoptive Earthbound parents of Clark. There is also a chance that the DCU’s new Supergirl actress Milly Alcock (“House of The Dragon”) might be teased or appear in the upcoming flick before her solo movie.

“Superman” is set to be released on July 11, 2025, in that same month we’ll be getting “Jurassic World 4” from Gareth Edwards (“Rogue One”) and Marvel’s highly-anticipated “Fantastic Four” reboot.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News, News

‘TRON: Ares’: First-Look Image Of Ares As Disney’s Cyberpunk Legacy Sequel Racing To Theaters In 2025

Next year is going to have some pretty big live-action Disney films coming to the big screen with “Captain America: Brave New World,” “Thunderbolts,” “Fantastic Four,” “Blade,” and “Avatar 3” all on the horizon. Another big project was just announced with “TRON: Ares,” aka “Tron 3” officially set to be out in 2025 as well. The legacy sequel hails from director  Joachim Rønning

Disney has dropped a first-look image from the third installment on multiple social media accounts featuring Jared Leto‘s character Ares, red in previous films tended to represent the bad guys, and the film’s early synopsis seems to indicate he’s no good. Then again, it does say “Dillinger Systems” on his back a nod to the antagonist of the original film, and if you remember there was a cameo by current Oscar-nominee Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”) as Dillinger’s son.

“The new film centers around a highly sophisticated Program, Ares, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with A.I. beings.”

You can view that first-look image of Ares and his costume that was practically made by the talent folks at Weta Workshop.

Other actors assembled for the film that is shooting in Vancouver until late April or early May include Greta Lee (“Past Lives”), Gillian Anderson (“Sex Education,” “The X-Files”), Cameron Monaghan (“Star Wars Jedi”), Evan Peters (“X-Men: Days of Future Past”), Jodie Turner-Smith (“Without Remorse”), and Sarah Desjardins (“Yellowjackets”). There really haven’t been any official indicators that we’ll see returning cast members from “TRON: Legacy.”

Speaking of “Legacy,” we are extremely curious about who Disney ends up hiring to score “Ares” after Daft Punk‘s previous score is considered a massive highlight of the last installment but their break-up would make it impossible for them to score the entire film as the former group. I was campaigning for fellow French electronic artist Kavinsky to fill those shoes earlier in the year.

“TRON: Ares” is set to be released sometime in 2025, although, Disney hasn’t even the cyberpunk adventure film an official date as of yet. The open dates on Disney’s slate for next year that could be where “TRON: Ares” lands include April 11, May 9, July 2, and August 15, We’re most likely looking at a spring/summer release date and August 15 does feel like a good spot for the pic.

SOURCE: DISNEY & JARED LETO

Posted on in News, Television News

‘Shōgun’ Star/Producer Hiroyuki Sanada Cites Talented & Collaborative International Crew For Cultural Authenticity In FX’s Epic New Samurai Series: “It Was Like A Dream Team For Me”

This week saw the debut of the FX series remake of ‘Shōgun‘ and one of the key aspects of the show’s growing buzz is easily the painstaking detail that has gone into the show’s depiction of 1600s Japan. After watching the episodes they released, it’s extremely clear that everyone on the show is aiming to do something we don’t see very often when it comes to Hollywood productions, showcasing Japanese culture in both a respectful and authentic way to a Western audience. The costumes, production design, props, and sets are all worthy of Emmy nominations before the rest of the show has been fully shown in its entirety. Giving such a loving touch to a Western samurai production that really hasn’t been done on this scale since the original version of the show from 1980 (“The Last Samurai” and “Silence” being excellent attempts in their own right).

During an interview with Rotten Tomatoes (See below), the show’s producer and star Hiroyuki Sanada, who plays Lord Yoshii Toranaga (A role previously played by the iconic Toshiro Mifune) in the samurai series, explains how they were able to achieve such authenticity with the show despite shooting primarily in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. And it all comes down to having access to talented Japanese department heads and crew members that were able to work side-by-side with the local Canadian crew calling the collaborative effort his “dream team.”

“We tried to make it authentic as much as possible because it’s very important to introduce our culture to the world correctly. So, this time we could hire a Japanese crew, experts for the samurai drama for each department. Wigs, props, costume, master of gesture, and we had a great team. A great collaboration between Western crew and Japanese crew working together. It was like a dream team for me. And I really enjoy.”

Having Japanese producers, a showrunner/creator, cast, writers, department heads, and crew members seemingly have all contributed to this stunning example of how samurai projects should be handled by Hollywood on the big and small screen alike moving forward. It’s worth noting that in Japan, it’s extremely common in both the film and television industry to work on multiple projects focused on samurai, so it was only a logical choice to make sure to use these veteran Japanese artisans as a resource on the ‘Shōgun’ revival.

Speaking of Rotten Tomatoes, “Shōgun” holds a 100% critic rating and 95% audience rating on the aggregator and speaks to the quality of the series. The public has only had access to the first two episodes with more coming each subsequent Tuesday until all 10 episodes have aired. The show can be watched on Hulu in the United States and is considered a Star Original on the Disney+ app in other regions such as Canada, The United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia.

Based on James Clavell’s novel, FX’s Shōgun is set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. Lord Yoshii Toranaga is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him, when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village.

You can watch that full interview with the cast below.

SOURCE: ROTTEN TOMATOES

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ Sequel Officially Coming To Theaters On October 9, 2026

It was announced by Paramount Pictures that their follow-up to the acclaimed animated film “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” would be swinging onto the big screen on October 9, 2026, and is expected to see the return of director Jeff Rowe. The last film focused on a group of mutant baddies led by Superfly that attempted to turn all the creatures on the planet into mutants and ended with the tease of Shredder becoming the sequel’s antagonist.

Shredder would be expected to scoop up Bebop and Rocksteady as his own mutant minions like in previous animated incarnations alongside bringing back the Foot Clan, his group of masked ninja henchmen that are easily beaten up by the Turtles. With a connection to T.C.R.I. executive Cynthia Utrom could be bankrolled by the company to capture our heroes in the next film. “Mutant Mayhem” altered the origins of the turtles and Splinter, so, we should expect a new take on Shredder and the Foot too.

We’ll keep our fingers crossed that Mondo Gecko joins the roster as he was a standout in the first installment. There is also the possibility that the sequel could include characters such as Casey Jones, the heroic samurai rabbit Miyamoto Usagi, the evil alien Krang with his Technodome, and the dinosaur-like alien species Triceratons.

The impressive voice cast consisted of Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), Sharon Brown Jr. (Mikey), Micah Abbey (Donnie), Brady Noon (Raph), Jackie Chan (Splinter), Ayo Edebiri (April), Ice Cube (Superfly), Seth Rogen (Bebop), John Cena (Rocksteady), Paul Rudd (Mondo Gecko), Rose Byrne (Leatherhead), Post Malone (Ray Fillet), Hannibal Buress (Genghis Frog), Natasia Demetriou (Wing Nut), Maya Rudolph (Cynthia Utrom), and Giancarlo Esposito (Baxter Stockman).

SOURCE: PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Posted on in Film News, News

‘The Crow’: First-Look Images Featuring Bill Skarsgård As New Version Of Undead Comic Book Antihero Eric Draven

The 1994 film “The Crow” was one of the first dark/gritty comic book films alongside Wesley Snipes’ “Blade” that helped to show studios and audiences that these superhero properties could be tailored for a mature audience with bitchin’ soundtracks as well and not just help sell toys/lunch boxes in the 1990s. The story mainly focuses on a slain musician and his activist girlfriend on Devil’s Night only to be resurrected a year later to enact revenge on his killers and the gangsters that ordered their murders. It became so popular that it spawned three other feature films with diminishing quality and returns, the second one “The Crow: City of Angels,” set in Los Angeles, and having rockstar Iggy Pop as a villain is maybe the most noteworthy of the batch with a solid soundtrack to boot. A Canadian television series “The Crow: Stairway To Heaven” attempted to finally bring back Brandon Lee‘s (Who tragically died in hospital after a firearms stunt gone wrong) Eric Draven with Mark Dacascos (“John Wick 3”) recast in the role but didn’t last too long. A new attempt at a feature film would eventually try to wiggle its way back to the big screen after multiple years of development and different actors/creatives getting involved.

Lionsgate has acquired the new film from director Rupert Sanders (“Ghost In The Shell”) and stars Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård (“John Wick 4”) as the newest version of Draven. Vanity Fair was able to release a batch of first-look images (See below) from the new film revealing their take on the undead anti-hero. Which obviously is taking more inspiration from modern musicians than the 80-90s goth and rock scenes the comic and film pulled took from. The rest of the cast includes FKA twigs, Laura Birn, Danny Huston, Jordan Bolger, and others.

First Look: 'The Crow' Flies Again With Bill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs | Vanity Fair
First Look: 'The Crow' Flies Again With Bill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs | Vanity Fair
First Look: 'The Crow' Flies Again With Bill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs | Vanity Fair

Considering this is a modern incarnation of the James O’Barr limited comic book series that was originally published in 1989, the look of the Draven from the first film had originally taken inspiration from goth and rock bands of the 80/90s. Of course, with a remake it was expected “The Crow” could shift the look/design from those previous versions into something that would feel more comtempary to audiences. Seemingly taking a page from folks like Post Malone more than Jared Leto’s Joker, who had lifed his look from South African rapper Ninja of Die Antwoord for “The Suicide Squad.”

Skarsgård isn’t a stranger to mature genre projects with his upcoming Lionsgate actioner “Boy Kills World,” playing the main villain of “John Wick 4,” appearing in the twisty horror thriller “Barbarian,” and played Pennywise The Dancing Clown in the two recent “IT” movies.

A previous incarnation, of many, nearly had Jason Momoa (“Dune”) playing Eric Draven in the long-gestating remake but for whatever reason it fell apart with director Corin Hardy exiting as well.

“The Crow” recently landed a June 7 release date after Lionsgate delayed their “John Wick” spinoff “Ballerina” to next summer because of upcoming reshoots that hope to beef up the film’s action sequences. With promotion fully underway a trailer likely isn’t far behind.

SOURCE: VANITY FAIR

Posted on in News, Television News

‘Neuromancer’: Apple’s 10-Episode Series Based On William Gibson’s Seminal Cyberpunk Novel Coming From Director JD Dillard & Showrunner Graham Roland

Yesterday, it was announced by Apple that they’ll be working with Skydance Television and Anonymous Content on finally moving forward with a streaming series incarnation of the cyberpunk novel “Neuromancer” authored by American-Canadian writer William Gibson, who is considered a godfather of the sci-fi subgenre that marries noir, advanced computer technology, and dystopian elements. Sort of taking things that fellow writer Philip K. Dick was doing with his mind-bending sci-fi stories and the aesthetics of Ridley Scott’s first “Blade Runner” movie into a full-on sci-fi setting that would later influence everything from video games like “Cyberpunk 2077,” movies like “The Matrix,” and plenty of other works of fiction.

In Apple’s announcement about the series, they’ve secured director JD Dillard to helm the show’s pilot, and Graham Roland (“Jack Ryan”) is set as the show’s creator/showrunner.

Neuromancer: Gibson, William, Gaiman, Neil: 9780143111603: Books - Amazon.ca

“We’re incredibly excited to be bringing this iconic property to Apple TV+,” said creators and executive producers Roland and Dillard. “Since we became friends nearly 10 years ago, we’ve looked for something to team up on, so this collaboration marks a dream come true. ‘Neuromancer’ has inspired so much of the science fiction that’s come after it and we’re looking forward to bringing television audiences into Gibson’s definitive ‘cyberpunk’ world.”

Here is the synopsis for the show directly from Apple:

The series will follow a damaged, top-rung super-hacker named Case who is thrust into a web of digital espionage and high-stakes crime with his partner Molly, a razor-girl assassin with mirrored eyes aiming to pull a heist on a corporate dynasty with untold secrets.

Dillard is likely best known for the WWII film “Devotion” which starred Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell as U.S. pilots and had once been attached to direct a mystery “Star Wars” movie for Lucasfilm before it just vanished into thin air. This isn’t the first big sci-fi series for Apple based on an iconic string of books as their popular show “Foundation” is an adaptation of the Isaac Asimov property and also hails from Skydance Television. Gibson’s ‘The Peripheral‘ had been previously turned into a series at Amazon Prime Video with Chloe Grace Moretz and Jack Reynor starring.

Last year, there was a rumor that Miles Teller (“Top Gun: Maverick”) was being eyed to play Case, but that has yet to be made official. At one point, director Tim Miller (“Deadpool”) had been trying to make a feature film incarnation at 20th Century Fox around the time he dropped out of making “Deadpool 2” but that never really materialized.  Based on the 1984 Gibson book, it’s part of the “Sprawl” trilogy and was followed by “Count Zero” and “Mona Lisa Overdrive.” This gives Apple plenty of source material from Gibson if they want to keep the cyberpunk series going beyond the first story.

Amazon is also working on its own high-profile cyberpunk streaming series with “Blade Runner 2099” which recently landed “Shogun” director Jonathan van Tulleken.

SOURCE: APPLE

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’: Emma Corrin’s Villain Role Seemingly Confirmed As Professor X’s Evil Twin Sister Cassandra Nova

This summer’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” will be the only big MCU feature film installment this year from Marvel Studios peppered in with Sony’s bootleg Marvel universe installments “Kraven: The Hunter” and “Venom 3” hoping to squeeze a few more dollars out of an exhausted audience that has caught-on to their attempts to cash-in on rushed and poorly planned superhero movies. There is some genuine excitement for “Deadpool 3” after the recent trailer drop earlier in the month, and something long suspected might have just been confirmed about the sequel’s villain.

A filing with the U.S. Copyright Office, a new harbinger of information and speculation for fan sites, has quietly mentioned that Emma Corrin‘s villainess character is going to be Cassandra Nova. A mutant telepath that just happens to be connected to Professor X in a big way.

The tidbit, filed by Disney/Marvel themselves, would confirm a longstanding online rumor that Corrin is playing a version of Professor Charles Xavier’s evil twin sister from the comics. However, how Cassandra will be presented to the audience in her cinematic incarnation has yet to be made official. She could simply be a variant of the X-Men character as the sequel is confirmed to feature variants (We’re already getting different takes on both Wade and Logan) of all sorts of characters and might be a more suitable angle rather than having her an elderly sibling to Patrick Stewart‘s version from previous films. Corrin’s role has long been established as a villain just like Matthew Macfadyen‘s TVA bureaucrat, Paradox.

Why Failure Became Elektra: 15 Things to Know

This posting would also back up previous trade reports that Jennifer Garner is indeed reprising the Elektra role. However, we’re still unclear how large that part is ultimately going to be. Promo artwork for the film has also sort of teased the inclusion of The Hand, which are primarily known as Marvel antagonists but Elektra finds herself controlling the group at a point in the comics.

Garner had recently worked with both director Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds on the time-traveling action flick “The Adam Project” which also featured Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo, as Garner and Ruffalo played the parents of Reynolds’ Adam. Fingers crossed we’re getting more of a cameo as the Fox incarnation of Elektra was sort of done horribly in both the “Daredevil” film led by Garner’s future husband Ben Affleck and the long-forgotten disastrous solo spinoff movie that ended the actress’ run as the Marvel heroine.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” is officially set to hit theaters on July 26, 2024, and we’re hopeful the next trailer will help to explain more of the actual plot as the teaser trailer mostly just established that the TVA and the Multiverse would indeed be playing a major role in the film’s story.

You can view a screenshot of that posting below.

r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers - New file on the US Copyright Office reveals a new synopsis for Deadpool and Wolverine and officially confirms Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova in the movie

SOURCE: U.S. COPYRIGHT OFFICE

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Star Wars’: Jon Favreau’s ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’ Movie Confirmed For California Shoot As Production Nabs $21.8M In Tax Credits

As soon as Lucasfilm and Disney announced that Jon Favreau (“Iron Man”) would be directing the next big “Star Wars” feature film with “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” it was expected that production would pretty much stick to the same stages and crew working on the Disney+ shows in and around the Manhattan Beach/Los Angeles area in California. Now, that has been cemented with new tax breaks as The Hollywood Reporter revealed the Disney production has landed $21.8 million.

What’s interesting about all this is that star Pedro Pascal is about to begin shooting on Marvel‘s big “Fantastic Four” reboot at Pinewood Studios in England over the summer. This would likely mean his part as Din Djarin will continue to be voice-over related with Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder expected to do the in-suit acting for Mando. Unless he shoots scenes with his helmet off during reshoots ahead of the film’s May 22, 2026 release date, that was inferred by Disney CEO Bob Iger.

Pedro Pascal: The Mandalorian Season 3 Was 'Mostly a Voice Over Gig' - Comic Book Movies and Superhero Movie News - SuperHeroHype

“The Mandalorian” is still getting a fourth season but it’s unclear when that will shoot given the upcoming film shoot.

Directors Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, James Mangold, Dave Filoni, Taika Waititi, and Shawn Levy also have their own feature films in the works. The former will continue the story beyond “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” with the return of Daisy Ridley as Rey Skywalker and the expectation of her training a new generation of young Jedi. There’s been an assumption that Obaid-Chinoy’s movie will debut on December 18, 2026.

Favreau isn’t a stranger to helping build a cinematic universe as his two “Iron Man” movies helped establish the MCU and became important lead-ups to “The Avengers” in 2012. Along with Lucasfilm’s new CCO Filoni, Favreau has been fleshing out their own corner of the “Star Wars” universe and is expected to contribute creatively to most things moving forward.

The next big “Star Wars” project to be released is said to be “The Aloclyte” this summer on Disney+ and takes place during the end of The High Republic era.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER