After more than a year in a global pandemic and the possibility of spending more time inside thanks to new Covid variants, life can feel a little stressful and maybe even claustrophobic. Whether it’s reduced hours at the job or working from an overcrowded or tiny home, when space, money, and patience are running low adding a few upgrades to your house might just make you feel better. For minimalists who don’t have the square footage for huge gadgets and enormous electronics every inch counts....

But there’s still a lot of Miranda — among other musical talents — in the 2021 pipeline. See below. Here’s what’s going on. 1. Studios are chasing pre-branded hits. Despite the disaster of “Cats” ($75.5 million worldwide), global smashes like “Mamma Mia!” ($603.6 million) and its sequel “Here We Go Again” ($395 million) and “Les Miserables” ($438 million) encourage studios such as Universal to continue to push established Broadway intellectual property (IP) to Hollywood on the basis of proven worldwide popularity....

Last year, the National Board of Review honored Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” with its top prize for Best Film. The gangster drama went on to score 10 Academy Award nominations. Nearly every NBR winner for Best Film this decade has earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, including “The Post,” “Manchester by the Sea,” and “Mad Max: Fury Road.” NBR’s 2019 winner “Green Book” won the Best Picture Oscar....

“It’s far into the writing stage now, and it’s going pretty well, but I’m just super creatively into what we’ve come up with and I just want to throw everything into it,” Blomkamp said. “For a decade there never really seemed to be a good reason to make a sequel,” the director added. “It just didn’t feel like there was a justifiable reason to go back to that world in a way where there was something to actually say....

The streamer released a 40-minute video, being deemed a stand-up special on the Netflix homepage, capturing Chappelle’s speech at his former high school for what should have been a theater renaming ceremony. In the video, titled “What’s in a Name?,” Chappelle lectures teenagers while defending his past transphobic jokes. Chappelle returned to the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. on June 20 to mark the performance arts theater there being named after him....

Click this link to find out… oh, never mind. It’s “Clickbait,” the limited series that premiered August 25 on Netflix. The eight-episode thriller, which stars Adrian Grenier, Betty Gabriel, and Zoe Kazan, was viewed for 912 million minutes from August 23 to August 29, garnering nearly twice as many views as runner-up “Outer Banks,” which has been the top-rated show on Nielsen’s reports for several weeks. “Outer Banks” was viewed for 483 million minutes during the aforementioned time frame, per Nielsen’s latest report....

The recording will take place on Thursday at 9 a.m. Pacific (noon Eastern). Register at this link to watch the conversation and submit questions for the Q&A. Readers can also submit questions via social media on Twitter and Instagram in advance of the conversation. The event will cover a range of topics, from the streamer’s efforts to restart film and television production to awards season strategies and the impact of the pandemic on home viewing habits....

A Netflix spokesperson told THR the feature is getting a limited rollout at this time, adding, “This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so.” Viewers who are blocked from logging into an account with the aforementioned message will have to verify their identity in order to continue using Netflix. Viewers have the option of verifying their identity right away or choosing a “verify later” option, which “gives the viewer an unspecified additional amount of time to continue watching and later confirm they are a valid account user....

With Direct, Netflix is heading into “real-time, scheduled programming” for the first time in its history. The linear channel will only be available to subscribers and is getting a test trial this month in France only. Direct is the equivalent of a Netflix television channel provided to subscribers. The streaming giant said it chose France to test out the service because of “the consumption of traditional TV [in France],” adding, “Many viewers like the idea of programming that doesn’t require them to choose what they are going to watch....

“Now we’re dealing with the aftermath of Order 66 [which forced the clones against their will to destroy their friends, the Jedi],” said Jennifer Corbett, the series producer and head writer. “This is underlined throughout the series because it’s what changes everything, and what really sets the Batch off on their journey in figuring out who they are and what they’re going to be in this new galaxy now that the war’s over and they’re technically not soldiers anymore....

Below is a portion of the statement: Additionally, Bowen told IndieWire that Bell’s 2019 allegation regarding plumbing issues, explained in detail below, has since been rectified by Johnson. The family has falsely stated on GoFundMe that Mr. Bell has stolen from Ms. Nichols when previous personal and professional conservators of the estate who reviewed financial records in detail chose not to pursue any adverse action, civil or criminal, despite contemporaneous accusations of wrongdoing by Mr....

“Night in Paradise” doesn’t play against Park’s strengths — this is, at heart, another long and blood-soaked tale of rival gangsters slaughtering each other by the dozens in a war to determine who gets to rule over the bones — but it doesn’t want to rely on them either. If “New World” was paced like Puccini, “Night in Paradise” sounds more like Toru Takemitsu or even the Pixies, its exquisite paroxysms of carnage separated by long, ambient stretches of waiting for death to arrive....

As the architect of several of the greatest sitcoms in TV history, including “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons,” “Maude,” and “Good Times,” Lear has married humor with biting social commentary in a fashion that revolutionized the industry. While Lear continues to be an active mentor and producer within the community, he has also dedicated himself over the years to both political and social activism. “Norman Lear is among the most prolific creators of this generation,” HFPA president Ali Sar said in a statement....

While the state has enacted a number of guidelines for reopening theaters, IFC Center has added additional safety measures, including mandatory mask-wearing at all times, no concession sales, and no eating and drinking allowed in theaters. Its five screens will also feature reserved seating (with six feet between occupied seats), with its largest theater offering 50 seats and its smallest just 9. IFC Center reps say that the choice to ban food and drink — which is allowed by the state and currently in place at many theaters — and thus enact the mandatory mask decree was in response to feedback from their “most loyal audience....

“Quentin Tarantino’s long-awaited first work of fiction — at once hilarious, delicious, and brutal – is the always surprising, sometimes shocking new novel based on his Academy Award-winning film,” reads the book’s synopsis. “Rick Dalton: Once he had his own TV series, but now Rick’s a washed-up villain-of-the week drowning his sorrows in whiskey sours. Will a phone call from Rome save his fate or seal it? Cliff Booth: Rick’s stunt double, and the most infamous man on any movie set because he’s the only one there who might have gotten away with murder....

Variety and other outlets reported Tuesday that a collection of cinematographers, including Ed Lachman, Rachel Morrison, Greig Fraser, and Stephen Lighthill, president of the American Society of Cinematographers, were among the names on an open letter to union leaders, lawmakers, and producers to support a ban on functional firearms on sets. The open letter was signed by 214 cinematographers and other entertainment industry professionals. “We vow to no longer knowingly work on projects using functional firearms for filming purposes....

Beyoncé was introduced by the Williams sisters, who noted it was the first-ever performance of the Oscar-nominated song. The elaborate performance featured an ensemble of dancers and an orchestra, many of whom were from the city of Compton, all dressed in tennis ball-colored garb. Last week, many fans noticed that the tennis courts were blocked off with large tents for the secretive rehearsals. The producers behind the Oscars have made no secret of their intention to boost the show’s dwindling ratings with an extra boost of star power and spectacle....

Up first was Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. Rock was a presenter for the Best Documentary category, which Thompson’s “Summer of Soul” won. Sure enough, the first question Thompson was asked concerned the Rock-Smith incident. “I’m not talking about that. This is about the Harlem Cultural Festival. We’re very happy right now to accept this award,” Thompson said. The interview room’s moderator offered this after Thompson continued answering the question: “I caution you to not ask you questions referring to anything else in the show other than the winners on stage....

But things were off on a bad foot from the start. First, there was the much-discussed choice to jettison eight diverse categories to the pre-show festivities, including a number of craft awards and all three short film honors. During the non-televised “golden hour,” plenty of wonderful stories unfolded. British Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed and British Indian director Aneil Karia’s “The Long Goodbye” claimed Best Live Action Short Film, making Ahmed the first Muslim to win in the category....

The 2021 Palm Springs International Film Festival has reportedly been canceled due to the pandemic. Palm Springs-based ABC Affiliate KESQ reported that organizer Palm Springs International Film Society is skipping the 2021 edition, set for February 25-March 8, citing an email sent to board members by board chair Harold Matzner, managing director Rhea Lewis-Woodson, and artistic director Lili Rodriguez. “As we reach the end of the year, it is clear that it will not be possible to mount the film festival the way we envisioned it....