Updated every Friday 12:00 PM
June 29 - July 3

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Apple TV+ announced a new three-part docuseries featuring the legendary University of Connecticut (UConn) women’s basketball team — the 2025 NCAA National Champions and one of the most iconic women’s teams in sports history. Spanning 40 years of the program’s historic dynasty under Hall of Fame head coach Geno Auriemma, the series is directed by Emmy Award winner Matthew Hamachek (“The Dynasty: New England Patriots,” “Tiger”) and Emmy Award nominee Erica Sashin (“Harry & Meghan”). The series is produced for Apple TV+ by Skydance Sports and is currently in production...

The family foundation of longtime showbiz investor and film producer Len Blavatnik has donated $25 million to USC‘s School of Cinematic Arts to establish the Blavatnik Center for Virtual Production. The 15,000-square foot center will help expand the university’s virtual production curriculum that aims to give students a foundation in all aspects of using virtual production and the generative AI tools that it requires. Blavatnik, founder of investment firm Access Industries, with interests ranging from Warner Music Group to A24. “Virtual production has become an integral part of filmmaking, led by the next generation,” said Blavatnik, founder of the Blavatnik Family Foundation. “I’m proud to support the School and provide young filmmakers with the tools and resources needed to master these emerging technologies and lead the industry’s future.”...

IMDBPro and the International Casting Directors Association have joined together to accelerate the casting process globally. The collaboration hopes to give ICDA members access to IMDbPro Premium to discover talent and cast projects from around the world. “This new collaboration between IMDbPro and the International Casting Directors Association marks a milestone in our commitment to supporting casting directors and other industry decision-makers to discover talent for their projects,” said Nikki Santoro, CEO of IMDb. “IMDbPro Premium enables ICDA members to tap into a vast pool of global talent, contributing to the creation of more diverse and compelling international productions. New features have been added to IMDbPro. The ICDA logo will now be displayed on the IMDb and IMDbPro name pages of ICDA members. This feature will create a more efficient and easier way to discover members of ICDA, as well as make verified ICDA members more discoverable through the IMDbPro filters....

The 99th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s birth passed on June 1 with scant press attention, but don’t expect the screen icon’s centennial to go similarly unnoticed. The year-long festivities leading up to her 100th birthday begin this month with the debut of Pantone’s Marilyn Monroe Collection Palette, an assortment of shades designed to capture different aspects of her identity, with names such as Star White and High Risk Red. “Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon,” an exhibition exploring her public image through original screen-used costumes, photographs, production documents, letters and other personal items, will be kicking off a nine-month run at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on May 31, 2026. The life and legacy of Monroe – who was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926 and died of a barbiturate overdose in 1962 at the age of 36 – is also being explored through the ballet “Marilyn,” which had its world premiere at Portland’s Newmark Theater this past April and will return for a two-week run in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in April 2026...

For decades, there has been no better way for Hollywood marketers to drum up interest in their films than to play trailers for thousands of fans settled in their seats at cinemas across the country waiting for the main attraction to begin. But this age-old tradition is being disrupted by an aggressive push to sprinkle in a sampling of commercials between trailers and the regular parade of supplemental spots promoting concessions and rules of the road (as in, no texting!). Consumers — thanks to reserved seating — are realizing there’s no need to show up at the stated showtime if the actual movie may not begin until 20 minutes to 30 minutes later. Cinemark Theatres and Regal Cinemas — the country’s two largest chains behind AMC Theatres — signed a landmark deal with ad company National CineMedia to show as much as five minutes of commercials after a movie’s official start time, and then air a 30-second to 60-second “Platinum Spot” before the one or last two trailers. But times change and AMC, already known for its lengthy preshow time, which runs 25 to 30 minutes facing financial pressure, announced that a deal between AMC and NCM will allows both companies to drive new revenues . According to EntTelligence, only 60 percent of moviegoers this year were in their seats when trailers started playing...

The Alliance of Women Directors has announced its second class of Mentor Latina Directors fellows Friday. Mentor Latina Directors, a minimum one-year minimum, is offered to emerging and mid-career filmmakers across various narrative, documentary and unscripted mediums in television and film. The fellowship includes a slew of programming including one-on-one mentorship from industry professionals, monthly panels on craft and career sustainability, workshops catered to the cohort and a mid-year retreat. “This program is designed to do more than develop careers; it’s a robust and vibrant place where artists can explore, risk and rise,” AWD board member and fellowship creator and chair Donna Bonilla Wheeler said in a release. “Fellows are empowered to push boundaries and swing for the fences, with craft, with voice and with courage.”...