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Apple TV+ streaming service has ordered a second season of its dark comedy/murder mystery Bad Sisters, co-created by and starring Sharon Horgan. The renewal comes a few weeks after the conclusion of the 10-episode first season, which has earned mostly positive reviews from critics...

Focus Features is re-teaming with the sibling duo behind the band Sparks for a new musical epic at the studio titled X Crucior. After appearing as the subjects of Edgar Wright's documentary The Sparks Brothers from Focus, Ron Mael and Russell Mael will put their talents to use, penning and executive producing the film. The project is still in its early stages and details of the epic's plot are being kept close to the vest at this time. Joining the Mael brothers on X Crucior will be Kiska Higgs who will oversee the production for Focus Features. Whatever happens with the project, Ron and Russell Mael are sure to experiment with it. They've flirted with the musical genre plenty outside of Annette, even creating the radio musical The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman in 2009...

The National Trust of Wales has kindly asked Harry Potter fans to stop leaving socks on the beach. Freshwater West Beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales is the location where the production team of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part One shot Dobby’s death scene. In the movie, Dobby dies in Harry’s arms from a fatal knife wound, and his last words were “Such a beautiful place, to be with friends. Dobby is happy to be with his friend, Harry Potter.” Soon after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part One released in 2010, Harry Potter fans erected a memorial for Dobby at the filming location. Over the course of a decade, many fans have visited Freshwater West Beach and have left socks on the memorial in honor of the beloved fictional elf.Socks are an important symbol for Dobby, as it represents his freedom from slavery. In the Harry Potter series, house elves are immediately freed from enslavement if their master gives them clothing. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Dobby is freed from his servitude after Harry tricks his owner, Lucius Malfoy, into gifting him a sock. Dobby wears that sock throughout the rest of the series until his death...

Australia’s screen production industry enjoyed all-time record levels of spending in the 2021-2022 period to June. There was increasing spend on locally-produced scripted content as international streamers invested in Australian drama, but a decrease in the value of inbound foreign film and TV productions. The annual “Drama Report,” published Thursday by Screen Australia, showed a record A1.51 billion spent on Australian titles and a A777 million on foreign productions. That added up to A2.29 billion, compared with 1.94 billion in 2020-21. The increase was driven by a record spend on Australian theatrical features (A786 million up from A495 million previously), albeit fewer of them. Spending on Australian subscription TV and SVOD content tripled compared with 2020-21, in terms of number of titles and hours...

Thailand’s largest exhibition chain, Major Cineplex, has bought ARHT Media’s Capsule hologram display technology. The deal marks the first sale of the tech into APAC, building out on a roll-out across North America and Europe earlier this year. Capsule is billed as a “plug-and-play, fully interactive 4K display system” that merges the physical world and metaverse. The tech was first unveiled at CinemaCon Las Vegas in April. Major Cineplex plans to use Capsule to allow audience members to “meet and greet” with life-sized 3D holograms in real time. Talent will also be beamed live to screens from anywhere in the world...

Lionsgate swung to a loss of $1.8 billion in its most recent fiscal quarter, which it attributed to restructuring charges around Starz and its international operations. The movie and television studio initially planned to sell a stake in Starz, but has signaled that it may spin off other parts of the company instead. At the same time it has rebranded Starzplay, its international streaming service, as Lionsgate+.  In an effort to streamline its business, it announced it will leave such foreign markets as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Benelux, the Nordic regions and Japan, moves which came with write downs. “These charges are an acknowledgement of current market conditions and the challenges in our environment,” Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said in his remarks to analysts after earnings were unveiled. “But they also represent an opportunity to stabilize our STARZ business [and] reset expectations.”...

In 1988, the National Film Registry was established in the United States by the National Film Preservation Board to create a collection of movies for conservation. Films chosen to be selected into the National Film Registry are deemed to have content that is historically, culturally, or aesthetically important, as well as well-loved around the world. The list encapsulates Hollywood films, experimental films, documentaries, animations, independent films, and many more mediums. Each year, films that are a minimum of ten years old can be submitted for review, with up to 25 being chosen for the list, of any genre or format. The National Film Registry started in response to a need to preserve movies from commercial modification and keep them circulating in the film industry despite their age...