While Branson and Bezos traveled into microgravity for a few minutes, the Inspiration4 crew will actually orbit the earth at a distance of 575 kilometers — higher than the International Space Station — for three full days, and cameras will be there to capture the whole ride. The current Netflix series “Inspiration 4 Mission to Space” has been following the recruitment and training for the participants, with new episodes airing in the build-up to the launch....

Anecdotally, “The Queen’s Gambit” inspired more than a few Christmas gifts — a quick Twitter search reveals that chess sets were certainly one of the most popular gifts of 2020. But there’s some real, hard data out there that chess sets have been metaphorically flying off the shelves thanks to Netflix’s limited series about a fictional 1960s chess prodigy. Mary Higbe, director of marketing at Goliath Games, told NPR that while October chess sales were up 178% compared to the year before, the late October release of “The Queen’s Gambit” has led to a 1,048% increase over 2019....

But is The Walt Disney Company truly the new leader in the ongoing streaming wars? An investigation. The Case for Disney as New Streaming King Is Pretty Straightforward As a company, Disney is now home to more streaming subscriptions than Netflix. Disney+ alone added 14.4 million subscribers in the June quarter, when Netflix lost 970,000 global paid subscribers. (April to June is Netflix’s Q2 but Disney’s fiscal Q3.) Disney+ now has 44....

Paramount Global had a pretty successful June quarter, thanks in large part to “Top Gun: Maverick” and continued streaming growth. Unfortunately, it costs money to build out a major streaming business, and Paramount is feeling that (as well as, yes, the need, the need for speed). The company’s overall global DTC (direct-to-consumer) subscriber tally rose to 63.7 million; Paramount executives have previously stated a streaming goal of 100 million streaming subscribers for 2024....

“There are a lot of rules and advisories about why you put things in movies, and that they should all serve a purpose,” Cameron says in the MasterClass. “Except, they don’t. Sometimes it should just be something you want to see as a filmmaker…and sometimes the only way to see it is to show it.” The bottom is line is that Cameron just wanted to show Jake riding a Banshee and give the audience the visceral experience of what flying a Mountain Banshee is like, regardless if it had anything to do with the main “Avatar” plot....

The “Guardians of the Galaxy” director revealed during a Twitter Q&A that he has no problem recasting “assholes” and keeps a “long list” of stars he will never work with. “If it’s their temperament & it’s serious, I’ll immediately recast,” Gunn tweeted. “Life’s too short for assholes. Same if they’re repeatedly very late, which I hate, or unprepared. I have a long list of actors, A-list & otherwise, I’ll never work with for these reasons....

Speaking to Variety from the Locarno Film Festival, where he is set to receive the Premio Raimondo Rezzonico for Best Independent Producer, Blum did not mince words about the current state of the franchise and his desire to move on from it. “It has been enough already,” Blum said. “That last ‘Paranormal Activity’ movie was terrible.” Though the production company that bears his name has become synonymous with inexpensive horror movies that often spawn multiple sequels, Blum made it clear that he doesn’t feel the need to extend his franchises forever....

Both Blum and Wan spoke with The New York Times Wednesday about the possibility of a merger, discussing how they would be perfect counterparts of artist and businessman, having each shepherded franchises or box office hits such as “Paranormal Activity” and “Get Out” on Blumhouse’s end and “The Conjuring” and “Saw” universes for Wan’s Atomic Monster. While no deal is finalized and both parties are still at the beginning of talks, an individual with knowledge of the conversations told IndieWire that if a deal were to close, both Blumhouse and Atomic Monster would continue to operate at separate labels, but with Atomic Monster having a first-look deal with Universal Pictures....

“I’m finishing my movie life—yes, my moviemaker’s life—by doing two scripts,” the 90-year-old Godard added about his plan to retire in the near future. “After, I will say, ‘Goodbye, cinema.’” Godard will forever be associated with the French New Wave, a movement he pioneered with 1960 directorial debut “Breathless.” At that point in his career, Godard had been making short documentaries and short fiction films for half a decade, beginning with 1955’s “Operation Concrete” and running through the likes of 1958’s “Charlotte and Her Boyfriend” and 1959’s “Charlotte and Véronique, or: All Boys Are Called Patrick....

In a movie full of appearances by QAnon conspiracy theorists, far-right radicals, and a handsy Rudy Giuliani, 62-year-old Jeanise Jones comes out of “Borat 2” looking like a star. Jones appears in the film as a hired babysitter for the Borat character’s daughter Tutar, played by breakout actress Maria Bakalova. Jones has earned fans for showing empathy toward Tutar, assuring her she does not need plastic surgery to attract a man and opposing Borat’s decision to marry Tutar off to an older man....

The mind-bending would-be casting hinged on Strong almost playing Evans’ body double for his pre-superhero physique in the 2011 Marvel film “Captain America: The First Avenger.” Strong, who went to high school in Massachusetts with Evans, revealed to The Sunday Times that when he was “broke” and “needed the money,” he auditioned to play the younger version of Captain America, sans muscles. “OK, fuck it, I will tell you this story,” the “Succession” star said, noting that after he lost out on a role for “Cowboys & Aliens,” he was offered a part in “a top-secret film about Captain America....

Multiple times throughout the second half of “Rothaniel,” as Carmichael gets deep and personal about the challenges his sexuality have caused for his closest relatives, the audience chimes in, and Carmichael plays along. The results add a revelatory component to the special that plays like a portrait of Carmichael’s anguish, and the attitude that carries him through it. Much more than a pileup of jokes, “Rothaniel” travels from amusing anecdotes to therapeutic confession, with the audience as the glue that holds those two components together....

More specifically, the Yemeni men at the heart of Meg Smaker’s vague but compellingly empathetic “Jihad Rehab” are former inmates of Guantanamo Bay, where they were held under barbaric conditions because of their respective ties to Islamic extremist groups like Al-Qaeda. But here — as the paid guests of a country that isn’t exactly known for its progressive approach to criminal reform — they are treated with dignity and taught what the Center refers to as “a truer version of Islam,” one that isn’t fueled by grievances or radicalized to the benefit of warlords....

“These bears deserve better than a life on the road, where they are robbed of everything that’s natural and important to them, and if you put yourself in their place, I’m sure you’d see that, too,” wrote Phoenix in the letter. “You know firsthand that bears are curious, complex animals who love to climb, dig, forage, and play. Their acute sense of smell and plate-sized paws evolved so that they could seek out mates and food across vast distances, but those carefully honed traits are wasted on the county fair circuit, where they’re relegated to transport cages when they’re not pulling hoops over their heads and carrying basketballs around in front of crowds of strangers....

When the British actress, best known to American audiences for her Emmy-winning work as the slippery assassin Villanelle in the lauded AMC drama “Killing Eve,” was first tapped to play Marguerite de Carrouges in Ridley Scott’s fact-based medieval drama “The Last Duel,” she struggled to see much depth to the woman as she was portrayed in Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Nicole Holofcener’s screenplay. “Even when I was reading the script, it says its heart and soul is this woman, and I’m reading it and I’m going, ‘OK, OK, well, I’m looking for her, and I can’t see her,’” Comer said in a recent interview with IndieWire....

Speaking to “Happy Sad Confused” this week, former “Star Wars” actor John Boyega was asked if he ever had the chance to read the script for Trevorrow’s scrapped film. The actor revealed that he had a phenomenal early meeting with Trevorrow to discuss the project and was extremely disappointed when Trevorrow was replaced, and his project never came to fruition. In fact, Boyega is so upset about it that he doesn’t even want to get his hopes up all over again by reading the script....

“It’s so difficult to manoeuvre,” Boyega said. “You get yourself involved in projects and you’re not necessarily going to like everything. [But] what I would say to Disney is do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up.” “Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver,” Boyega continued....

Oliver described the celebratory mood in New York City on the day Joe Biden was named president elect as “a reverse 9/11” because “it combined complete euphoria, an abiding disgust for Rudy Giuliani, and this time, people actually were dancing on the rooftops in New Jersey. It was a really good day. Never forget…It is genuinely hard to overstate the level of relief that has been flying around parts of this country, especially at the end of a truly draining week....

“The Bubble” satirizes the industry from several directions at once, with its cast of characters (played by Karen Gillan, David Duchovny, Fred Armisen, and Keegan-Michael Key, among many others) populated by self-involved Hollywood types worried for their careers as much as their safety. The filmmaker spoke by phone with IndieWire about how he developed the scenario from his relationship to the business, his feelings on the recent Oscars incident with Will Smith and Chris Rock, working for streaming platforms, and more....

“There was some tension sometimes because of his nature,” Binoche told IndieWire during a recent Zoom call. “His need of controlling is very strong. And I’m not like that at all. So I was a little taken aback by that situation. But at the same time, I had to accept it, because there was no other way. And Claire was letting it happen. She’s not a director who would say ‘no’ — sometimes she would....