Paul Feig’s “Another Simple Favor” will open the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival on March 7. This is the sequel to 2018’s playfully entertaining “A Simple Favor.” The original’s stars, Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick, are back for the second instalment.

Here’s a brief update on Luca Guadagnino’s “Sgt. Rock.” Jeremy Allen White has declined the offer to star in the DCU movie (via The InSneider), and no replacements have been put forward as of now.

United Artists and Scott Stuber have assembled a hot package that’ll have Edward Berger directing a film about Evan Gershkovich— the first American journalist to be arrested in Russia since the Cold War. Amazon/MGM will likely back the film.

I’m being told — albeit by a single source — that Dave Filloni and Jon Favreau are tipped to replace Kathleen Kennedy as head of LucasFilm. A formal announcement could happen at Star Wars Celebration in April.

It turns out that Luca Guadagnino is very serious about his DCU movie. Cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom will be the cinematographer on Guadagnino’s “Sgt. Rock” — shooting this summer.

It is hard to believe that such a consummate actor like Ralph Fiennes, a three time nominee, has yet to win an Oscar. Clearly, this reality has yet to sink for a few Academy voters.

Place your bets, and forget about the rest of the field, it’s come down to two films for the best picture Oscar: “Anora” and “Conclave.” Which will come out on top?

Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook is praising Robert Pattinson's performance as the lead in Bong Joon ho’s “Mickey 17.” Pattinson plays various different incarnations of the same character in Bong’s sci-fi film.

In a 2024 New Yorker piece tackling Mattel’s splash into the film industry, one exec described A24’s upcoming ‘Barney’ movie as “surrealistic” and not unlike the work of “Adaptation” and “Being John Malkovich” duo Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze.

Mimi Cave’s “Holland” was shot in early 2023. The film stars Nicole Kidman, and set to premiere at SXSW before going straight to Prime Video on March 27. The film now has a first trailer.

It was inevitably going to happen. Netflix is enemy numero uno in the theatrical business, and the fact that they can just offer one of their titles for theatrical exhibition, without any repercussions, is rubbing many industry folk the wrong way.

Puck is reporting that Kathleen Kennedy will step down from running LucasFilm at the end of the year. Kennedy has been running LucasFilm for 14 years.

An update on David Ayer’s “Heart of the Beast,” starring Brad Pitt. It’s shooting in March and the great JK Simmons (“Whiplash”) has just joined the cast.

The film, adapted from Iddo Geffen’s short story “Debby’s Dream House,” continues Kaufman’s fascination, and blurring, of dreams with reality. The story follows a man who manufactures dreams for people but ultimately begins creating nightmares for them.

James Gunn says Matt Reeves still hasn’t submitted a script for “The Batman: Part II.” The goal is to shoot the damn thing by “the end of the year,” but there’s no certainty.

I’ve already reported on Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” having recently test screened, back in late January. I have more plot details on the film. This will be a brief summary of what awaits us in the PTA’s latest.

We now have some concrete, and more official, news concerning Terry Gilliam’s next film which is now simply titled “Carnival.” Gilliam had previously mentioned that this would be his “swan song,” but he needed around $40M to make it happen.

What do our readers think? Chalamet is 29 and already thinking about his legacy. Despite the legacy, I respect the ambition. Chalamet’s filmography already includes stellar performances in “Call Me By Your Name,” “Lady Bird,” “Dune” and “A Complete Unknown”