The bank’s researchers quickly downgraded their rating for WBD stock from “buy” to “hold” on Friday — the same rating they gave to Netflix, which is reeling from two consecutive quarters of subscriber losses. Wells Fargo also downgraded its WBD stock-price target from $42 to $19. Shares closed under $15 on Friday, down 17 percent from the previous day’s close. Warner Bros. Discovery competitors Disney, Comcast, Netflix, and Paramount “are having a tough time growing their streaming/DTC (direct-to-consumer) businesses and turning profits, and that’s without the added baggage of a major merger integration project,” the researchers wrote....

“Malignant,” James Wan’s (“Saw,” “The Conjuring,” and “Insidious”) latest horror offering, scared its way into theaters on Friday, but for those of you who want to watch from home, the film is streaming exclusively on HBO Max. Annabelle Wallis (“The Loudest Voice,” “The Mummy”) stars in the spooky movie about a woman who discovers that her debilitating dreams are terrifying realities. Rounding out the cast are Maddie Hasson (“Novitiate”), George Young (“Containment”), Michole Briana White (“Lila and Eve,”), Jake Abel (“Another Life,” “Dirty John”), Jacqueline McKenzie (“Pine Gap,” “Halifax: Retribution”), and Ingrid Bisu (“The Nun,” “Toni Erdmann”)....

How wide the movie will go is a question in this odd year. The movie has its charms, especially Benicio Del Toro as an impish, growling prisoner who paints his winsome guard (Lea Seydoux) and tangles with art experts Adrien Brody and Tilda Swinton, as well as older single journalist Frances McDormand, who writes about and sleeps with radical protester Timothée Chalamet. In fact “The French Dispatch” supplied such star wattage for the red carpet (after being part of the official selection for the Cannes that never was last year) that festival director Thierry Frémaux relented and allowed Anderson and his ensemble to skip the usual de rigeur press conference....

Director Wes Craven had already had to be coaxed into working on the feature, not necessarily wanting to work in the horror genre again. But once Craven came aboard and the feature started shooting he nearly ended up being fired. According to those who worked on the film, production studio Miramax and Bob Weinstein, didn’t like the legendary opening sequence with Drew Barrymore. “Wes got the phone call from the studio, and I was sitting behind him in my chair, and I just saw his back slump....

As everyone with even a passing connection to TV will have happily told you for the better part of the last decade, there are too many shows. They’ll use words like cornucopia or plethora or deluge or glut. Bottom line: There are plenty of options for things to queue up next. So, while we’ll try to provide as many of those as we can from streaming’s heavy hitters like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max, there will also be plenty of chances to highlight the best shows on lesser-known services — hidden gems to try out during one of those free trials you haven’t used up yet....

Universal beat out several major studios to back the project after Nolan chose to exit his 19-year, career-long, exclusive relationship with Warner Bros. (It held international rights on Paramount’s “Interstellar.”) When WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar made the surprise December 3, 2020 announcement that the studio’s 2021 slate, including IMAX-bound “Dune,” would open day-and-date in theaters and on HBO Max, Nolan was done. For the Oppenheimer project, top studio executives (who did not include Warners) drove to Nolan and producer Emma Thomas’ Hollywood Hills home office....

Such passion epitomizes the power of television: Detailed development over hours of storytelling (and weeks of consumption) builds to a distinct emotional response. When it happens within a popular franchise — one long-established and beloved the world over — sharing that feeling only amplifies its impact. Related ‘Solo’ Fans Shouldn’t Expect a Sequel: It’s Not a ‘Lucasfilm Priority,’ Says Ron Howard Rian Johnson Wanted to Give ‘The Last Jedi’ a ‘Hell of an Ending:’ ‘That’s What Makes a Movie a Movie’ Related The Best Zombie Movies Ever Made Oscars 2023: Best International Feature Film Predictions Except… “Andor” hasn’t felt amplified....

The film features a new original song by Fleet Foxes featuring Tim Bernardes, which will release on November 9. Watch the trailer below. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.

By the time Harper was cast as Chidi Anagonye, the show’s anxious ethical expert and moral philosopher, the actor had been bouncing around Hollywood for nearly a decade, with guest appearances on “High Maintenance,” “Person of Interest,” as well a stint on “The Electric Company.” But with his casting on “The Good Place,” Harper was suddenly centerstage on a beloved new series from a cherished TV creator. It was enough to turn his life upside down....

That memorable scene is included in “Writing with Fire,” a sleeper success playing at over 100 festivals that ultimately landed a North American distributor (Music Box) as well as a surprise Documentary Feature Oscar nomination. The film focuses on Meera Devi, a pioneering lower-caste woman journalist who teaches other Dalit women how to use their iPhones as a tool to interview, photograph, and post video footage online. “We walked into a beautiful moment in time,” said Thomas....

“The Year of the Everlasting Storm” has been slotted as Special Screening at the Cannes Film Festival this year. (The full lineup for the French festival was just announced on Thursday.) The film features contributions from seven major award-winning directors: Weerasethakul (“Tropical Malady,” “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives”), David Lowery (“Ain’t Them Bodies Saints,” “A Ghost Story,” the upcoming “The Green Knight”), Laura Poitras (“Citizenfour,” “The Oath”), Jafar Panahi (“This Is Not a Film,” “3 Faces”), Dominga Sotomayor (“Too Late to Die Young,” “Mar”), Anthony Chen (“Ilo Ilo,” “Wet Season”), and Malik Vitthal (“Body Cam,” “Imperial Dreams”)....

The official “Zola” synopsis out of Sundance reads: “Zola (Taylour Paige) meets Stefani (Riley Keough) at a restaurant where Zola waitresses, and the two immediately click over pole dancing. Only a day after they exchange numbers, Stefani invites Zola on a cross-country road trip, where the goal is to make as much money as possible dancing in Florida strip clubs. Zola agrees, and suddenly she is trapped in the craziest, most unexpected trip of her life....

At its core, the bond between these two buddies — as Finn matured from adolescence to young adulthood — became credible enough to generate real emotion and intelligence around even the most outrageous of circumstances, and it bled into the rest of the show as the ensemble grew. Over the past year, the fruits of that silly-poignant balance has bled into a series of fascinating HBO Max specials that build out the “Adventure Time” universe, starting with the cosmic prequel odyssey of the guys’ lovable sidekick in “BMO” and continuing with the delightful Marceline-PB romance of “Obsidian....

“As We See It” follows three twenty-somethings living on the spectrum. Jack (Rick Glassman) is a highly intelligent web designer struggling for financially stability after his father (Joe Mantegna) reveals he has cancer. Harrison (Albert Rutecki) is kindhearted but can’t quite leave the trio’s Los Angeles apartment. And Violet (Sue Ann Pien) desperately wants a boyfriend, but tends to assume attention equals love and marriage. They’re guided through life’s social situations with the help of home healthcare aid and burgeoning doctor, Mandy (Sosie Bacon)....

The stage musical adaptation of Robert Zemeckis’ beloved sci-fi comedy film will begin preview performances at the Winter Garden Theater on June 30, 2023, with an official opening date set for August 3. The venue currently hosts “The Music Man” revival starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, which will close this January. The news was announced Friday to coincide with “Back to the Future Day,” which marks the date — October 21 — the main characters of the film time-travel to in the climax....

Fortunately, most of that wavelength has hysterical results, resulting in an eager-to-please package that tosses off lines designed to inflict maximum comic damage (a gag about “fried bald eagle babies” is impossible to contextualize, but it’s the sort of thing that left this critic gasping for air) before zipping right along to another wacky new set piece. But a series of jokes isn’t the same thing as a cohesive movie: Wiig and Mumolo, who both wrote the film and star in it as the eponymous Barb and Star, seem understandably thrilled to bring this nuttiness to life, but they stretch even their best gags to untenable ends....

First sequels to Marvel franchises have a curious history: Many do better than the original. Here, that’s not likely true. Films stronger the second time around (“Captain America,” “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Thor,” “Doctor Strange,” “Ant-Man”) were good but not stratospheric performers. The stratospheric debuts (“Avengers,” the initial “Spider-Man” series, as well as “The Dark Knight,” “Star Wars,” “Jurassic Park”) saw sequels with lesser returns. That’s the “Black Panther” category....

Based on Coward’s still-popular 1941 stage play, this “Blithe Spirit” has been the victim of an awkward update from screenwriters Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft, who appear to have mostly stripped the screwball charms of the original for odd parts. Again, some of those choices — like to lean more heavily on questions of inspiration in the form of writer’s block and a winking dose of Old Hollywood dazzle — aren’t bad ideas at all, but thrusting them inside a narrative that tosses out the classic charms of Coward’s work all but ensures their failure....

Where to Watch ‘Brand New Cherry Flavor’: Netflix After a holiday weekend when plenty of TV viewers either wrapped up or began their “Yellowjackets” Season 1 watches (possibly both!), there’s the inevitable search for something to fit those same vibes. While nothing’s going to be an exact one-to-one, there’s a show from last summer that should slide nicely into that ‘90s headtrip void for anyone who hasn’t already taken the plunge....

Premiering March 25 on Netflix, the second installment of the Bridgerton family love stories follows Lord Bridgerton’s quest for love, which lands him at the mercy of two sisters — Kate (Simone Ashley) and Edwina (Charithra Chandran). While Anthony starts to court Edwina, Kate realizes that her younger sister’s dreams of a fairytale romance may not match with the Viscount’s goal to find a wife and not fall in love....