A persistent rumour I keep hearing is that, due to Omicron concerns, the Berlin Film Festival is in the final stages of transitioning to a hybrid/in-person model for their 2022 edition.

There is no frontrunner this year. The more you get that inside your head, the less stressful it is to think about the Best Picture race. In fact, we won’t know for certain what film will be the odds-on-favourite to win until the Producers Guild of America, the greatest of precursors, declares a winner in early February.

Deadline has learned that actor Will Arnett has replaced Armie Hammer on Searchlight Pictures’ Taika Waititi-directed comedy “Next Goal Wins.” The situation is very similar to what was done to Kevin Spacey on “All the Money in the Worlds,” the former had his scenes completely reshot with Christopher Plummer as his replacement.

At this point, it doesn’t even matter if you liked “Spider-Man: No Way Home;” the fact that its performance at the box-office is like that of a pre-pandemic movie is something of a miracle.

The most discussed movie on social media these days is without a doubt Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up.” Critics hated it, but audiences seem to be really liking it (especially my in-laws). It’s also currently the #1 most-watched movie on Netflix in 88 of 89 countries.

Virus cases are rising in the U.S. and we’re headed towards close to a million infected per day by early January. Despite all that, the Sundance Film Festival is bravely going on with the show, set for mid-January, even offering up free booster vaccines to anyone attending.

Brian Raftery‘s “Best. Movie. Year. Ever: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen” has been making the rounds at bookstores for two years now. It definitely reignited a conversation around 1999, maybe the best year at the movies … ever? Vulture even ran an entire chapter from the book on “Eyes Wide Shut.”

I must have seen over 200 new films this year, which means thousands of acting performances, but none stood out more than these ten:

The total and utter box-office failure of “West Side Story” should be seen as another example of great reviews and an A-list director not being enough of a formula for success in the COVID era.

If you noticed, I haven’t written anything about the death of 58-year-old filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée. Right now, it’s a little too hard to convey how I feel.

The Berlin Film Festival is only a few months away, which means it’s that time of the year again when I start speculating about the lineup. The festival had confirmed a few months back that it would return to being in-person in 2022, we were expecting bigger names to show up this coming edition, but then Omicron showed up.

Academy Award-nominated “Amelie” and “A Very Long Engagement” filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet is back with his latest film, “Bigbug.” The artificial intelligence comedy is set to hit Netflix on … February 11?

Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” is the only notable movie NOT to send SAG any screeners. A bold move on the part of Spielberg/Disney, forcing members to pay for their own tickets. A plan that could easily backfire.

Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up” is not only a massive hit for Netflix, but it’s also a movie that mainstream audiences seem to be liking. It’s not that surprising that a populist movie with an A-list cast has become a major streaming hit, but audiences seem to be genuinely liking it.

If you were an A-list director in the industry and had to choose just one actor to carry your movie, who would it be? Familiar names that would probably get mentioned would include Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, Christian Bale, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Adam Driver, Gary Oldman and, of course, Denzel Washington.

When you enter an Asghar Farhadi film you can expect moral dilemmas galore. His social melodramas have become an integral part of the world cinema scene.