Netflix unveiled a new “Watch Free” section on its website and all of the section’s content can be viewed without registering for a Netflix account. Other Netflix films that can be viewed for free include the Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston-led comedy “Murder Mystery,” DreamWorks Animation’s “The Boss Baby: Back in Business,” and “The Two Popes,” an Oscar-nominated biographical drama that stars Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins. As for Netflix’s free television offerings, viewers can watch pilot episodes from six series, though viewers will need to pay for a Netflix subscription if they wish to stream the rest of each show....

Aldis Hodge had to deal with exactly that when he starred as Hawkman alongside Johnson in “Black Adam.” In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hodge opened up about his mace combat scenes with the wrestler-turned-action-star. As it turns out, he was more afraid of hurting Johnson than anything else. “My lasting memory is that I never hit him,” Hodge said. “That was all I cared about. I’m actually serious....

Groosses overall remained grim after nearly four months of famine that has seen total grosses fall under $100 million for 14 of the last 15 weekends. For context, in 2019, when ticket prices were around 80 percent of current levels, only four weekends fell short. Give DC and WBD distribution credit: “Black Adam” joins “The Batman,” “Godzilla Vs. Kong,” and “Wonder Woman 1984” as the fourth film to have three consecutive #1 weekends over the last 24 months....

Marvel Entertainment chief creative officer Kevin Feige discussed the Scarlett Johansson-led “Black Widow,” which will premiere in theaters and on Disney+ on July 9, and the possibility of other Marvel Cinematic Universe characters getting their own prequel films and spin-offs during a recent press conference. “Certainly this film and this story is a particular case for for Natasha,” Feige said, per SlashFilm. “But the notion of exploring the past, present, and future of the MCU is certainly in the cards for all of our characters....

“He claimed we were trying to extort him at the time,” Levinson said. “He called all of his New York City cops and said, ‘Extortion,’ which was a federal crime. Very smart to bring that up.” Levinson also said that the hotel locked the crew out of the room where the footage was captured, though they had already transferred it out of the suite. “That’s always out first,” Levinson said....

Not much is known about the show other than it is an origin series focused on Queen Charlotte’s love life and rise to queendom prior to seeing her on the series. We’ll also see younger incarnations of Lady Danbury (played by Adjoa Andoh) and Lady Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) on the series. There is not yet an official name. Shonda Rhimes will write the series as well as serve as executive producer with the help of Betsy Beers and Tom Verica....

“There’s a story there. I’m from Chicago and Roger Ebert was a neighbor of my dad’s and he would see him at the grocery store,” Bendinger told the AP. “Apparently after that review, my dad confronted Roger in the Carnival Grocery like, ‘Hey, I’m Jessica’s dad and I really don’t like what you wrote.’ People like to quote the ‘Citizen Kane’ line but my dad was [mad].” As “Bring It On” director Peyton Reed added, “The ‘Citizen Kane’ line came later!...

In Evan Ross Katz’s “Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How ‘Buffy’ Staked Our Hearts,” just published by Hachette Books to coincide with the series’ 25th anniversary, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” cast and crew members spoke out about working with showrunner Joss Whedon, who has since faced toxic workplace allegations. While Whedon has maintained that he was “never physical” with actresses or crew members, “Buffy” alums Charisma Carpenter, Danny Strong, Emma Caulfield, and costume designer Cynthia Bergstrom addressed the numerous allegations against the writer-director in Katz’s book....

The death of Betty Gore at the hand of friend Candy Montgomery (Jessica Biel) is a well-documented saga that has since stretched far beyond the limits of Collin County, Texas, where both women lived with their husbands and their families. “Candy” isn’t without some of the true-crime TV touches that have preceded it in this subgenre. But notably absent here in this series (which Hulu is releasing daily across a weeklong rollout) is the usual self-seriousness that can drag down other efforts....

The film stars Dakota Johnson, Leslie Mann, Cooper Raiff, Brad Garrett, Evan Assante, Vanessa Burghardt, Raul Castillo, and Colton Osorio. “Cha Cha” tells the story of a young bar mitzvah party starter (Raiff) who falls in love with a single mother (Dakota Johnson) of a disabled child. “Cha Cha Real Smooth” was written and directed by wunderkind filmmaker Raiff, his second effort behind the camera following his 2020 SXSW breakout “Shithouse....

But, more importantly, the crew knew that after three different iterations of the Lecter story, they didn’t want to repeat anything. “It has been explored in great depth by so many brilliant people,” producer Alex Kurtzman said. As they were writing the pilot, he and creator Jenny Lumet kept reiterating the tagline that the “silence is over.” “She hasn’t spoken in 30 years and we think it’s time for her to speak now,” Kurtzman said....

Where to Watch ‘Daybreak’: Netflix Part of what made “Daybreak” an enjoyable season of TV is that it mostly put its zombies in the background. The Netflix adaptation of the Brian Ralph graphic novel certainly had other things on its mind: fourth-wall breaks, telestrated maps, and a few other devices noted here. It’s set in a not-too-distant world where a sophisticated explosive bioweapon has targeted adults, leaving kids unaffected (unless you count the destruction of buildings and the layer of washed-out permadust covering nearly everything in sight)....

The decision, which could seem like an attempt to get away from the politics of an already fraught year, actually crafts a different narrative Pena and crew hope will inspire children. “This isn’t a show about a president; it’s a show about a teenage girl,” Pena said during an interview with IndieWire. “So how do we break into her world instead of the other way around?” Pena said she understood audiences didn’t necessarily want to live at the White House with a grown Elena....

The two new releases took very different theatrical routes. After Ridley Scott’s medieval combat drama starring Matt Damon, Jodie Comer, and Adam Driver failed to make much impact in theaters, Disney waited six weeks. The film’s star power, director, and violent premise may have generated home-viewing interest. “Dune” took a different course. This weekend it was still in the theatrical top 10 (a return to IMAX screens provided a boost)....

“We started to chat about our cinema experience growing up, and I told him about a holiday I went on to the Isle of Wight,” Tildesley told IndieWire. “It was as miserable as buggery, freezing cold, and my mum said, ‘Let’s go to the cinema.’ You’d move out of that green, blue, dark, cold thing into this warm space. It was almost like a womb.” Tildesley recalled warmth and brightness with lush carpets, red velvet curtains, and “a sense of glory that says something amazing is going to happen....

“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” has reached the midpoint of its six-episode arc, which seems as good a time as any to take stock of what Marvel and specifically showrunner Malcolm Spellman have laid out. Much has been made about the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first few forays into the television space on Disney+, with “WandaVision” perhaps utilizing the aesthetics and language of television to wallpaper over any narrative issues....

“Free Guy” returns to topping all charts, a streak interrupted last week when “The Addams Family 2” (United Artists/$19.99) took #1 at Vudu, which ranks by revenue, not transactions, as do Apple TV/iTunes and Google Play. That was a Halloween response, as the film is now #3 on Vudu. In a week with little other change, for the first time ever, one chart (Apple/iTunes) has no Premium VOD titles, and another (Google Play) lists only “Addams....

These days, one need not construct a fake casino or write a ridiculous Broadway show to dupe people out of thousands of dollars. As the various crafty characters in “Generation Hustle” reveal, the internet has made scamming easier than ever: All it takes is some chutzpah and a fake website. The 10-part docuseries, premiering tonight on HBO Max, profiles 10 recent scammers of varying levels of notoriety. Disgraced WeWork founder Adam Neumann and faux socialite Anna Delvey (AKA Anna Sorokin) have already been covered extensively, both in writing and film, and their 50-minute episodes aren’t nearly as satisfying or juicy as the extensive reporting that can be easily found online....

Directed by genre filmmaker Adam Wingard and written by Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein, “Godzilla vs. Kong” has been wrapped, at least production-wise, for nearly two years. It was originally slated to open in November last year but, like every other tentpole movie in the pipeline, was pushed into 2021 due to the pandemic. “Godzilla vs. Kong” combines the former character created by Japan’s Toho, and the latter character created by Edgar Wallace and Merian C....

“Ewan and I talked about that. I said — ‘How do you feel about the sex scenes?’ And he said — ‘Well, that’s a part of this character,” Minahan said during during an event at the 2021 Provincetown Film festival earlier this month. “Ewan wanted to include a scene where Halston was arrested for indecent exposure because he was cruising in Central Park… [his attitude was that] it’s a part of human behavior, it’s a part of that character....