Updated every Friday 12:00 PM
Augusr 22 - August 28

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Apple’s Emmy-nominated comedy “Palm Royale” returns for season two on Wednesday, November 12 with star-studded cast led by Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Allison Janney, Leslie Bibb, Ricky Martin, Josh Lucas, Amber Chardae Robinson, Kaia Gerber and Carol Burnett...

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” is set to open AFI Fest on Oct. 22. The 20th Century Studios biographical music drama stars Jeremy Allen White as rock legend Bruce Springsteen. Written and directed by Scott Cooper, the film is adapted from the biography by Warren Zanes. “Deliver Me From Nowhere” takes place at an early ’80s crossroads in Springsteen’s career when he was rising to fame while crafting the personal acoustic songs for the 1982 album “Nebraska.” At the same time, he was recording the demos for “Born in the U.S.A.” — the hit that would catapult him to global stardom. The 39th edition of the Institute’s annual film festival will take place Oct. 22-26 at the TCL Chinese Theatres. AFI Fest features a curated selection of red carpet premiere screenings, special screenings, world cinema, documentaries and short films. The full festival lineup will be unveiled on Sept. 30. Individual tickets will be available on Oct. 6...

The American French Film Festival will open on Oct. 28 with the Hollywood premiere of Rebecca Zlotowski’s “A Private Life,” starring Jodie Foster. Co-stars include Daniel Auteuil, Virginie Efira, Vincent Lacoste, and Mathieu Amalric. “A Private Life” will kick off seven days of French films and TV programs from Oct. 28 to Nov. 3 at the DGA Theater in Hollywood...

HBO Max and GKIDS have announced an extension of their partnership (which is the reason we have the Ghibli catalog, since GKIDS distributes its films), with several GKIDS-backed movies joining HBO Max on September 1, 2025. The titles include three Makoto Shinkai films ("Children Who Chase Lost Voices," "The Place Promised in our Early Days," and the 4K version of "Your Name"), Akiyuki Shinbo and Noboyuki Takeuchi's "Fireworks," Ayumu Watanabe's "Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko," Yôko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita's "Ghost Cat Anzu," Keiichi Hara's "Lonely Castle in the Mirror," and even Hideaki Anno's experimental "Love & Pop." Later in 2025 and throughout 2026, HBO Max will also add acclaimed hits from filmmakers like Masaaki Yuasa, Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Oshii, and Naoko Yamada. These include the 4K version of Oshii's "Angel's Egg," Yamada's "The Colors Within" and "Liz and the Blue Bird," Masaaki Yuasa's "Lu Over the Wall" and "Mind Game," Mamoru Hosoda's "Wolf Children," "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time," "The Boy and the Beast," and "Summer Wars," Hideaki Anno's "Shin Godzilla," and Satoshi Kon's "Perfect Blue" and "Millennium Actress." Currently, HBO Max doesn't have a big library of anime titles. When the service first launched, it had a bunch of popular anime shows courtesy of a partnership with Crunchyroll, but that was before Sony acquired the latter, and those titles were slowly removed. The addition of the GKIDS library, however, makes HBO Max a more curated experience than what's available on other services, providing a library of specifically acclaimed and prestige titles that showcase the medium at its best. Indeed, "Millennium Actress," one of the five essential anime movies everyone should watch at least once, being part of the deal is already exciting enough before you get to the other titles dropping in the near future. Overall, this is huge news for both anime fans and newcomers eager to experience the variety of the medium. It's also further proof of just how important anime has become to streaming in general...

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is currently streaming in Morse code. The new Tom Cruise action movie is the eighth installment in the Mission: Impossible film franchise, which kicked off in 1996 and was adapted from the CBS spy series of the same name, which ran for seven seasons between 1966 and 1973. t remains to be seen if the Morse code broadcast will contain just the script itself, or if it will end with a special announcement about the movie...

With a budget of $120 million, Netflix is betting big on Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, both in terms of its commercial and awards season prospects. For comparison, del Toro's animated Pinocchio (2022) cost Netflix $35 million, and the streamer was willing to more than triple that for his live-action Frankenstein. By spending a big budget of $120 million, Netflix is hoping that del Toro's Frankenstein will attract a large audience because of its iconic source material, but also its star-studded cast led by Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Christoph Waltz, and certified scream queen Mia Goth. Netflix is also confident enough to give del Toro's Frankenstein a limited theatrical release on October 17...