Entertainment

Jim Carrey stars as the evil Dr. Robotnik in the upcoming third Sonic the Hedgehog movie, and he recently shared why he was motivated to return to the franchise.

“You know, I came back to this universe because, first of all, I get to play a genius. Which is a bit of a stretch,” he told The Associated Press in a video shared Tuesday. “And, you know, it’s just I bought a lot of stuff, and I need the money, frankly.”

Carrey previously said he would only return to make more Sonic movies — or any acting project, for that matter — if he received a script “written in gold ink by angels,” saying he was serious about taking a break from acting.

“I feel like — and this is something you might never hear another celebrity say as long as time exists — I have enough. I’ve done enough,” he told Access Hollywood in 2022 after Sonic 2 was released. “I am enough.”

Carrey plays two characters in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Not only does he reprise his role as Dr. Ivo Robotnik, he also plays that character’s grandfather.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 races into theaters everywhere on Dec. 20.

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Looks like Paul Mescal is going from playing a gladiator to a Beatle.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, during a conversation between Mescal’s Gladiator II director Ridley Scott and director Christopher Nolan at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles Tuesday, Scott revealed that Mescal has been cast in Sam Mendes’ upcoming films about The Beatles.

When talking about his next project, the movie The Dog Stars, Scott was asked if Mescal was going to be in the film. At first Scott said that he was, before suggesting Mescal’s schedule may be an issue.

“Paul is actually stacked up, doing the Beatles next,” he said. “So I may have to let him go.”

While Ridley didn’t say who Mescal would be playing, The Hollywood Reporter notes that rumors have suggested he was the frontrunner to play Paul McCartney.

Mendes’ Beatles project was announced back in February, with the director revealing he planned to make four separate films, one for each member of the group — McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison.

Sony Pictures is the studio behind the movies, and it marks the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and The Beatles have granted a studio the rights to the life stories of band members and their legendary catalog of music. 

No official casting has been announced for the films, although Ringo recently let it slip in an Entertainment Tonight interview that Barry Keoghan had been cast to play him.

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Movie fans will have more ways to watch the 2025 Oscars next year.

For the first time ever, the Academy Awards will stream live on Hulu, beginning with the 97th annual awards show on Sunday, March 2.

In addition to the telecast airing live on ABC and streaming on Hulu, the show will also be available to stream on Hulu the next day.

It was announced last month that Conan O’Brien will host the 2025 Oscars, marking the comedian’s first time hosting the Academy Awards.

“America demanded it and now it’s happening: Taco Bell’s new Cheesy Chalupa Supreme. In other news, I’m hosting the Oscars,” O’Brien said in a statement at the time.

Nominations for the forthcoming Academy Awards will be announced Friday, Jan. 17.

The 2025 Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.

Hulu is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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Have you ever wondered what Jabba the Hutt’s son might look like? Apparently, it’s Jeremy Allen White. The actor has been tapped to star in the upcoming Star Wars film Mandalorian & Grogu as Jabba the Hutt’s son, Rotta the Hutt. Deadline confirmed the news, writing that White’s role will be sizable and not a cameo. He joins Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver in the Jon Favreau-directed feature, headed to theaters on May 22, 2026 …

Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel and James Corden have been cast in Steven Soderbergh‘s latest film, The Christophers. Deadline reports that the movie, which starts production in February 2025, is a dark comedy about the estranged children of a once-famous artist who hire a forger to complete his unfinished works …

Jake Bongiovi is the latest to join Maude Apatow‘s directional debut film, Poetic License, according to Deadline. The film, which follows a former therapist who becomes the unexpected point of tension between two best friends and college seniors, also stars Andrew Barth Feldman, Cooper Hoffman, Maisy Stella and Leslie Mann …

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The world of Inside Out expands in the new series Dream Productions.

Taking place between Inside Out and Inside Out 2, Dream Productions follows the studio inside Riley’s head that creates the dreams she has every night. It’s Pixar’s first TV show and will be available on Disney+ on Wednesday.

Paula Pell stars as acclaimed director Paula Persimmon, and while she had small roles in the Inside Out films, she told ABC Audio how special it is to be a part of the Pixar family in this way.

“I was thrilled to be the small parts I was in the big movies,” Pell said. “To have my character specifically spin off into this story was so moving to me and touching and exhilarating.”

Pell said she actually didn’t believe Pixar when they approached her about the show, but after learning the story she understood why.

“They know how to tell a great story,” Pell said. “There’s nothing better than Pixar. They just do it in a way where everyone goes, ‘Oh my God.’ They walk out of Pixar movies like, ‘Well, that’s the gold standard right there.'”

Paula Persimmon faces a nightmare of her own throughout the show. Riley’s growing up, and that means her dreams need to grow up, too. Pell said she could relate to her character in more than just having the same first name.

“I just turned 61 … I spent so many years being younger and doing comedy and writing and all that. And then as I aged, I started feeling that, in my 40s and 50s and then in my 60s, the fear of becoming insignificant,” Pell said.

It’s a fear Paula Persimmon shares.

“It is a wonderful lesson that you can keep invigorating yourself and become as fresh as a daisy with your new thoughts and your new ideas, because that never goes away,” Pell said. “The only way it’ll go away is if you sabotage your own self.” 

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It seems there’s more of the family left to meet.

Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo and Blythe Tanner are in talks to return for another movie in the Meet the Parents series, Deadline reports.

There are no plot details for the new film, which is being developed for Universal Pictures, but John Hamburg is set to write the screenplay. Hamburg wrote all three of the franchise’s films and produced Little Fockers. No director has been slated to helm it as of yet.

De Niro and Jane Rosenthal will produce the film through Tribeca Productions, as will Stiller and John Lesher through Red Hour Films.

The original Meet the Parents film was released in 2000, when it grossed more than $330 million worldwide and was the seventh-highest-grossing film globally that year.

Its sequel, Meet the Fockers, was released in 2004, while the third film in the franchise, Little Fockers, was released in 2010. As a whole, the franchise has generated over $1.13 billion.

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Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Jodie Comer star in the trailer for 28 Years Later, the long-awaited sequel in the 28 Days Later franchise.

“It began 10,228 days ago. Days became weeks. Weeks became years,” on-screen text reads in the trailer, which was released Tuesday.

While there’s no dialogue from the characters, a haunting radio voice is featured throughout the trailer, which shows Taylor-Johnson and Comer facing off against zombies in a post-apocalyptic landscape.

“It’s been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected,” the film’s synopsis reads.

“One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway,” it continues. “When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutilated not only the infected but other survivors as well.”

The film is directed by Danny Boyle with a script from Alex Garland, the same team behind the original 2002 film 28 Days Later starring Cillian Murphy that started it all.

A 2007 sequel titled 28 Weeks Later saw a different creative team and cast.

Starring alongside Taylor-Johnson and Comer in the third film in the horror franchise are Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams and Ralph Fiennes.

28 Years Later hits theaters June 20, 2025.

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The Brutalist, a highly anticipated historical drama starring Adrien Brody, released a brand-new trailer on Tuesday.

The Brady Corbet-directed film, which releases Dec. 20, focuses on the life of Brody’s character, László Toth, who survives the Holocaust in World War II Europe and travels to America in search of a new life.

The Brutalist stars Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin and more.

In the new look at the film, Brody’s character arrives in America and greets a cousin who informs him his wife, Erzsébet, has also survived the war.

The trailer also shows Brody’s Toth being discovered for his architectural talents.

“Tell me why is an accomplished foreign architect shoveling coal here in Philadelphia,” asks Pearce’s character, a businessman, of Toth, who says, “I’m afraid it is not so simple.”

In the trailer, Toth describes the longevity of his work in Europe during World War II. “There was a war on, and yet many of the sites of my projects had survived,” he said.

The trailer also depicts the discrimination faced by Jewish immigrants at the time.

“Your English is impressive. Perhaps you can help your husband sound less like he shines shoes for a wage,” Pearce tells Jones, who plays Erzsébet.

The trailer climaxes as Toth vocalizes in frustration, “They do not want us here.”

The Brutalist recently earned several Golden Globe nominations, including best motion picture (drama) and best performance by a male actor in a motion picture (drama) for Brody.

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What We Do in the Shadows is ending in December after six seasons, and Taika Waititi is shocked that the series based on his vampire mockumentary film has gone on this long. “This went on for far too long, but I’m proud of it,” Waititi told Entertainment Weekly. “I thought that the movie, when we were making the movie, I said to Jemaine [Clement], ‘This feels like this is like a five-minute idea that we’re stretching out into a movie.’ Next thing, we made six seasons of the same idea” …

Linda Cardellini is joining the upcoming limited series DTF St. Louis in a lead role, Deadline reports. The dark comedy project, which stars and is being executive produced by Jason Bateman and David Harbour, will span seven episodes and follows a love triangle between three adults that leads to one of them dying …

Robert Eggers‘ film Nosferatu comes to theaters on Christmas, and you can celebrate with a full-size replica of the sarcophagus bed from the film. Focus Features is selling the hand-crafted collectible for $20,000. Each bed is made to order and they’re only available for a limited time …

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Ryan Reynolds thinks Andrew Garfield stole the show in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

In Variety‘s first Actors on Actors episode of this awards season, released Monday, the Marvel superhero actors discussed their respective franchises: Deadpool and Spider-Man.

Garfield said that in retrospect, he is so grateful for the opportunity to be Spider-Man.

“One of the first photos of me as a 3-year-old is in a Spider-Man costume that my mother made out of felt. And I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this person, this character, it means so f****** much to me,’” Garfield said.

Reynolds told Garfield that he “did sort of steal” Spider-Man: No Way Home.

“Oh, shut up,” Garfield tells Reynolds, who responds: “And if I were Tom [Holland], I’d be angry.”

Holland, of course, is the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man. Garfield famously appeared as his Sony-verse take on Peter Parker in the 2021 global smash hit No Way Home.

Garfield also asked Reynolds about the future of Deadpool in the MCU after the success of this summer’s Deadpool & Wolverine.

“I don’t know. Honestly, my feeling is that the character works very well in two ways. One is scarcity and surprise. So it had been six years since the last one, and part of the reason is that it swallows my whole life,” Reynolds said. “I don’t know what the future of ‘Deadpool’ will be, but I do know that we made the movie to be a complete experience instead of a commercial for another one.”

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