Updated every Friday 12:00 PM
February 23 - February 29

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Apple introduced Apple Sports, a free app for iPhone that gives sports fans access to real-time scores, stats, and more. Designed for speed and simplicity, the app’s personalized experience puts users’ favorite leagues and teams front and center, featuring an easy-to-use interface designed by Apple. Apple Sports is available to download now in the App Store in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada...

For the first time in Marvel/DC comic book movie history, Joker: Folie à Deux will be a musical while still also being a psychological thriller focused on Arthur Fleck and Harley. As exciting as that may sound on paper, it is a major risk for Warner Bros. Discovery to be taking right now. Joker: Folie à Deux allegedly has a budget of $200 million dollars, which is almost four times the size of the budget for 2019's Joker. Phoenix is being paid $20 million for his reprisal as Joker, while Lady Gaga's Harley Quinn gig will earn her $12 million. That leaves $168 million dollars in Joker: Folie à Deux's budget, likely divided up into building sets, as this is a Gotham City based in the 1980s, meaning they have to turn locations into that setting. As production also took place in New York again, those are also hefty costs for the studio to pay, and there will likely be a lot of money put into the musical aspects, too...

Director Denis Villeneuve explains why he left an imperfection in Dune: Part Two. It’s a balance between perfection and life. Life is chaos. I’m pretty O.C.D., but the performance will always prevail. I know exactly what you’re talking about. Good eye. Leonard Cohen says that when there’s a crack in something, that’s where the light comes in. I believe in that. Part of me tried to do it perfect. But life is stronger and I prefer that. I’m moved by what you’re saying because it’s something that challenges me. Sometimes I know that the camera movement is not absolutely perfect, but there’s something in the performance that breaks my heart. F*ck it. I will choose that take because it feels more powerful...

With the possible exception of The One Ring from Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Titanic diamond is arguably the most replicated piece of cinema jewelry in history, and the thought that there's a real blue diamond of the kind seen in Titanic out there is a tantalizing prospect. Unfortunately, much like Jack and Rose's timeless romance, the Heart of the Ocean necklace is fictional. However, that doesn't mean there aren't any blue diamonds out there, and one diamond in particular — The Hope Diamond — is thought to have directly inspired Rose's necklace in Titanic. Deep blue diamonds, like the one in Titanic, are said to be the rarest among blue diamonds, driving up the ticket price even higher. If Titanic's meaningful Heart of the Ocean were real, it would be priced at around $250-$300 million by most estimates. The prop necklace made for the movie, however, was put together with zirconia and white gold. The Titanic movie version of the Heart of the Ocean is priced at $8,000...

Saudi Arabia’s Film AlUla is getting into the music business. The country’s official film agency has unveiled plans for a music recording studio to complement its recently launched film studio complex. Film AlUla plans to open in June 2024 a recording studio with a control room and booths to be used by music artists, choirs, rehearsals for film score production, music videos and orchestral work. Film AlUla’s already opened two 26,000-square-foot soundstages with workshops and a backlot for short term infrastructure and set builds. Saudi Arabia is, through huge investments, offering a full-service creative hub as the country looks to host more concerts and festivals with facilities for fully-fledged movie and music making amid the sand dunes, desert oases and ancient ruins of the country’s historic Incense Route, which in turn is home to Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site...

Jason Reitman has gathered more than two dozen filmmakers to help acquire Westwood’s historic Village Theater, which will program first-run and repertory programming. The group includes JJ Abrams, Judd Apatow, Damien Chazelle, Chris Columbus, Ryan Coogler, Bradley Cooper, Alfonso Cuarón, Jonathan Dayton, Guillermo del Toro, Valerie Faris, Hannah Fidell, Alejandro González Iñárritu, James Gunn, Sian Heder, Rian Johnson, Gil Kenan, Karyn Kusama, Justin Lin, Phil Lord, David Lowery, Christopher McQuarrie, Chris Miller, Christopher Nolan, Alexander Payne, Todd Phillips, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Jay Roach, Seth Rogen, Emma Seligman, Brad Silberling, Steven Spielberg, Emma Thomas, Denis Villeneuve, Lulu Wang, and Chloé Zhao. The theater will continue to operate while plans to add a restaurant, bar and gallery are underway...