Entertainment

Some of the first shots of James Gunn‘s anticipated Superman film were shot in Norway.

The snowy vistas of Svalbard’s Advent Valley on the island of Spitsbergen were chosen as the location of the Fortress of Solitude, the secret hideaway of David Corenswet‘s Man of Steel, Gunn tells the local publication Svalbardposten.

“We’ve filmed the first scenes, which are when Superman flees to the ice fortress,” he explained to the Norwegian language publication. “We wanted a place that was beautiful and that felt like being in the middle of the Arctic, and therefore looked at more places in the world. But there were many things that sold Svalbard for us rather than the other places.”

He added, “First, there is the natural beauty. But also the fact that you will find a varied landscape here that you will not find anywhere else. Nature gives a special feeling.”

Gunn hinted at the first location days ago, with an Instagram shot of Superman’s chest emblem dusted with snow.

He explained the locals have been “curious” about Hollywood’s visit to the area. “We’ve had some people who have been curious, yes, who have stood by and watched, but that’s okay,” he said, noting it’s “completely different than when you have people trying to sneak into the set to take pictures that they can monetize by selling online.”

Gunn may have to deal with that when the shooting transitions back to the States, including a stop in Ohio. The director reportedly flew back to the U.S. on Tuesday to work on other scenes while shooting wrapped in Norway.

Superman is set for release July 11, 2025.

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Deadline reports Cameron Diaz is closing in on a deal to star in the Apple Original Films dark comedy Outcome, opposite Jonah Hill and Keanu Reeves. The film stars Reeves as “a damaged Hollywood star who must dive into the dark depths of his past to confront his demons and make amends after he is extorted with a mysterious video clip,” per the outlet. Details of Diaz’s role have not been revealed. The actress came out of retirement In 2020, and performed opposite her Annie co-star Jamie Foxx in Back in Action for Netflix, the film that was sidelined when Foxx was hospitalized for an unknown health issue. That movie is due out sometime in 2024 …

Bridgerton breakout star Regé-Jean Page will star in Steven Soderbergh’s thriller Black Bag, according to Deadline. Plot details are being kept under wraps. Page is also set to star in Paramount’s reboot of The Saint …

Josh Margolin‘s feature film debut, Thelma, will feature the last on-screen performance by Shaft actor Richard Roundtree, as well as 94-year-old actress June Squibb in her first starring role. Squibb plays Thelma Post, “a feisty 93-year-old grandmother who gets conned by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson — played by The White Lotus’ Fred Hechinger — and sets out on a treacherous quest across Los Angeles, accompanied by an aging friend — portrayed by Roundtree — and his motorized scooter, to reclaim what was taken from her,” per Magnolia studios. Parker Posey, Clark Gregg and Malcolm McDowell also star …

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This year, seven out of the 20 acting Oscar nominees are represented by people of color.

All seven of the performers – Lily Gladstone, Danielle Brooks, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, America Ferrera, Colman Domingo, Sterling K. Brown and Jeffrey Wright – are first-time Oscar nominees.

The Best Supporting Actress category is the most diverse of them all, with Brooks, Randolph and Ferrera nominated for their roles in The Color Purple, The Holdovers and Barbie, respectively.

Ferrera spoke to ABC Audio at the Oscar Nominees Luncheon on February 12, where she talked about what the recognition means to her.

“I had a crazy dream to have a fabulous career as an actress. And I think this is, for so many people, the mountain top, right?” Ferrera said. “I remember watching Halle Berry win and Julia Roberts win and, you know, kind of feeling like that seems like an impossible gulf to cross from here to there. But you’ve got to try, right? And you’ve got to have something to aim for.”

Ferrera becomes the first person of Honduran descent to be nominated for an Oscar in any category. Additionally, Domingo is the first Afro-Latino nominated in the Best Actor category, for his work in Rustin.

With Gladstone’s Best Actress nomination, they became the first-ever Native American performer nominated in the category. However, they are not the first Indigenous nominee. Other known Indigenous Best Actress nominees include Yalitza Aparicio Martínez for Alfonso Cuarón‘s 2018 film Roma and Keisha Castle-Hughes for 2003’s Whale Rider.

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On Tuesday, CBS announced it will air a spinoff of its sunsetting prequel series Young Sheldon — which itself is a spinoff of The Big Bang Theory.

The new show will star Montana Jordan and Emily Osment and will center on their respective characters Georgie Cooper — Sheldon’s big brother — and Mandy McCallister, Georgie’s girlfriend who got pregnant shortly after their characters began seeing each other in season 5 of Young Sheldon.

Their out-of-wedlock pregnancy caused static between the Cooper family and their church.

The new show will air in the 2024-25 season, the network explains, and “follows Georgie and Mandy as they raise their young family in Texas while navigating the challenges of adulthood, parenting and marriage.”

Show creators Chuck Lorre, Steven Molaro and Steve Holland enthused, “From The Big Bang Theory to Young Sheldon, the world of the Cooper family has been incredibly special to us. We’re very excited to continue their stories through the eyes of Georgie and Mandy.”

CBS Entertainment head Amy Reisenbach added, “Chuck and both Steves have done a masterful job developing these characters and entertaining generations of fans with relatable, heartwarming stories brought to life by Montana and Emily. We eagerly look forward to the next chapter in this beloved universe.”

Young Sheldon ends with the finale of its seventh and final season on May 16.

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On Tuesday, the producers of Sunday’s Oscars telecast announced the final round of presenters for this year’s 96th annual awards.

Oppenheimer nominee Emily Blunt will join Barbie nominees America Ferrera and Ryan Gosling, as well as Oscar winners Ben Kingsley, Sally Field, Steven Spielberg, Charlize Theron, Christoph Waltz and Forest Whitaker for the big night.

Ariana Grande, Anya Taylor-Joy, Issa Rae, Cynthia Erivo, Tim Robbins and Melissa McCarthy will also take to the podium.

Previously revealed presenters include former Academy Award winners Mahershala Ali, Nicolas Cage, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Fraser, Michael Keaton, Regina King, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Lawrence, Matthew McConaughey, Al Pacino, Ke Huy Quan, Sam Rockwell, Octavia Spencer and Michelle Yeoh.

Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the 96th Oscars will air live on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 10, at the new time of 7 p.m. ET.

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It was Lex Luthor x2 on a new edition of Michael Rosenbaum‘s Inside of You podcast when the Smallville veteran welcomed fellow actor Nicholas Hoult.

Rosenbaum played Lex Luthor on the CW’s Smallville, so it was only fitting he sat with Hoult, who will be playing the Man of Steel’s archnemesis in James Gunn‘s forthcoming Superman.

“The first ever Lex I saw was you,” Hoult shocked the host by saying. “I was like 11, 12, I guess? And so that was like the show that I would watch my first iterations of Superman, and Lex, and all those stories — so it’s kind of bizarre to be sitting across from you.”

Hoult noted he has since watched the others who played the character, but said, “You’re like the one,” adding he “loved” his fellow actor’s portrayal.

The chat was apparently recorded before Superman recently got underway on February 29, so Hoult still had his hair, which at one point he had been considering having his son shave for him.

Rosenbaum incidentally explained that the poster for 1978’s Superman that hangs over the guest chair was cheekily autographed by that movie’s villain Gene Hackman to “The second-best Lex Luthor.”

Rosenbaum recalled a conversation with Hackman, explaining, “Lex needs to be — he’s a cool guy, he’s complex, and James knows this more than I do.”

Hoult added he liked the “depth and charm” of Rosenbaum’s portrayal, and how his Luthor had “that ability to switch, which makes him dangerous and formidable and a great opponent.”

Superman flies into theaters July 11, 2025.

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Not that it will happen, considering its critical lambasting and commercial failure, but if there’s ever a sequel to Madame Web, don’t expect Dakota Johnson to be in it — or any other superhero movie, for that matter.

She spoke with Bustle about her experience with Sony’s Spider-Man adjacent movie, which currently has a 12% Critics Score on Rotten Tomatoes, saying, “Unfortunately, I’m not surprised that this has gone down the way it has.”

Johnson explains, “It’s so hard to get movies made, and in these big movies … decisions are being made by committees, and art does not do well when it’s made by committee.”

She continues, “Films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them. You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms.”

Johnson adds, “But it was definitely an experience for me to make that movie. I had never done anything like it before. I probably will never do anything like it again because I don’t make sense in that world. And I know that now.”

She reveals, “[S]ometimes in this industry, you sign on to something, and it’s one thing and then as you’re making it, it becomes a completely different thing, and you’re like, Wait, what?”

Dakota called it “a real learning experience.”

She also expresses some empathy for those who didn’t like the movie, noting, “[O]f course it’s not nice to be a part of something that’s ripped to shreds, but I can’t say that I don’t understand.”

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A lot of actors say they don’t read reviews, and Sofia Boutella may now know why. 

She explains to Vulture that watching her Zack Snyder-directed sci-fi epic, Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, get “demolished” by critics really stung. 

The first of a two-part tale from the Army of the Dead filmmaker has the actress playing a former soldier who foments a rebellion against a galactic empire. 

The Netflix film was drubbed after it launched on December 21; it currently has a 21% rating from critics on the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. 

“I always thought that I was fully armed to take on those punches, and then I read the critics that came down on Rebel Moon and it really affected me,” she expressed.

She added, “I feel like I’m carrying it for everybody that cared so much about this project, and that’s what affected me. Not the way I look. If anything, I’ve been pretty lucky and people like my work in it, but the movie was criticized.”

Boutella says she felt for “all of those who put so much heart, tears, and sweat in this project,” adding, “It’s hard to see something being demolished to that extent.”

Still, she insists, “I’m proud to have been part of it, and if there is no more Rebel Moon, it will be a very important part of my life that I will defend forever.”

A second installment, Part Two: The Scargiver, is due to drop on Netflix in April.

Before the film debuted, Snyder said he had a longer, R-rated director’s cut of the movies he initially conceived as a Star Wars standalone adventure. 

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While speaking at Seattle’s Emerald City Comic Con over the weekend, Chris Evans stood up for the genre with which he’ll forever be associated.

The actor may have handed off Steve Rogers’ Captain America shield, but at a Q&A session, Evans says he’s still a fan.

“Comic book movies in general, for whatever reason, don’t always get the credit I think they deserve,” Evans said, according to fan video of the event Saturday. “They are these big, giant movies. There’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen. But the empirical evidence is in: They are not easy to make.”

While expressing he’s not “throwing shade,” the actor explained, “If it was easier, there would be a lot more good ones.”

“I’ve been a part of a few that missed,” he said with a laugh. “It happens. Making a movie is tough.”

While he didn’t want to single out any particular film in the Marvel Studios catalog, he added, “Some of them are phenomenal. Like independently, objectively great movies, and I think they deserve a little more credit.”

That said, Evans did specify that Joe and Anthony Russo, with whom he worked in the MCU’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War and more, are “fantastic.”

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For fans of physical media, to quote Darth Vader, “This will be a day long remembered”: Disney has decided to release some of its biggest streaming Star Wars and Marvel Studios shows on Blu-ray/4K UHD for the first time.

Four new Collector’s Editions of high-profile Disney+ shows will be up for grabs, starting on April 30: Marvel Studios’ The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, The Complete First Season, Marvel Studios’ Moon Knight: The Complete First Season, Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi – The Complete Series and Star Wars: Andor – The Complete First Season.

Each will come packaged in steelbook cases with “concept art cards and some never-before-seen bonus features,” per Disney, which is the parent of ABC News.

All titles will be available to preorder from March 12.

The decision is a win for those who have been holding out on subscribing to the streaming service or have let their subscriptions lapse.

Aficionados of physical media, aside from being completists who like collecting their favorite movies, are growing impatient with the rising cost of streaming services and the provider’s ability to edit or remove content at their will.

While DVD sales took a major dive as streaming services grew, the industry still generates $1.34 billion a year in annual sales, according to the analysts at Next TV.

Quoting the Digital Entertainment Group, The Wrap recently reported 4K Blu-ray sales rose almost 6% at the tail end of 2023 versus 2022 — and jumped 20% overall.

Filmmakers like Oscar-nominated director Christopher Nolan have also expressed their preferences for the Blu-ray/4K format over streaming.

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