How Indie Creature Feature ‘Sting’ Got ‘Lord of the Rings’ Visual Effects Legends to Make Scary, Disgusting Spiders

Chris Hemsworth made it a family affair for the premiere of his new movie Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga at the State Theatre on Thursday (May 2) in Sydney, Australia.

Amber Dowling Specific images of the Holocaust have endlessly punctuated the film and TV landscape: The barbed wire of a concentration camp. Naked bodies rendered to skin and bone, tossed in discarded piles. Gleeful abuse and random killings by evil Nazis.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Hollywood legends gathered Saturday night to celebrate Nicole Kidman as she received the prestigious AFI Life Achievement Award, the highest honor bestowed by the American Film Institute. The annual tribute was held at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, where some of Kidman’s closest friends and colleagues, including Oscar winners Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Reese Witherspoon and Oscar nominee Naomi Watts, paid tribute to her illustrious career. Wearing a form-fitting gold sequin gown, Kidman entered the theater Saturday night to a standing ovation as a recording of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” played overhead.

Post Malone, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Mötley Crüe, it’ll be tricky for 2024’s schedule to outdo its predecessor – and yet, thanks to the likes of Taylor Swift, Blink-182 and Pink, plus Coldplay, Pearl Jam and SZA, it’s poised to do just that.From debut headline shows for breakout artists to bustling festival sideshow programs, there’s something for everyone to enjoy as a stellar batch of musicians make their way Down Under in 2024. Read on for NME’s roundup of all the biggest concerts and tours coming to Australia this year.James Taylor: An Evening with James Taylor & His All-Star BandWhen: April 12 – April 28Find tickets and more info hereIf there was ever a festival made for James Taylor & His All-Star Band at this juncture of his 50-year career, it’s Day on the Green.

Annika Pham South Australian Anthony Frith’s close encounter with “Sharknado” prodco The Asylum in “Mockbuster” is among five handpicked titles to be showcased at the Adelaide Film Festival Goes to Cannes showcase, held at Cannes Marché du Film on May 17. The five works in progress range from queer adult anime, comedic doc, and traditional non-fiction to family dramas, helmed mostly by newcomers, and reflect the dynamic filmmaking community of Southern Australia, set to tempt potential co-financiers in Cannes.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Epic war-time survival tale “The Guns of Muschu” has already assembled a weighty cast ahead of a production start in the first quarter of 2025. The film is an adaptation of the non-fiction book “The Guns of Muschu,” written by Don Dennis, with an adapted screenplay by Tom Broadhurst and Jack Brislee (“Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan”). The narrative brings to life a pivotal chapter of Australian war history with gritty authenticity, recounting the high body count Operation Copper, a mission during WWII when Australian and New Zealand troops were sent into the jungles of Papua New Guinea. The objective of the mission was to investigate the Japanese defenses on Muschu Island, capture a Japanese officer for interrogation and discover the location of two naval guns on the island that were protecting a harbor.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line,” a documentary feature about the veteran Australian rock band Midnight Oil, has been set as the opening gala title at the Sydney Film Festival. It will have its world premiere at the State Theatre on June 5, kicking off the festival that runs until June 16. The film is written and directed by Paul Clarke and produced by Carolina Sorensen. It was executive produced by Mikael Borglund, Paul Clarke and Martin Fabinyi. It is a Blink TV and Beyond Entertainment feature documentary with principal production funding from Screen Australia and Australian Broadcasting Corporation in association with Screen NSW.

With every episode, Bluey continues to prove why it’s some of the best kids’ TV in a long time!

“Bluey” is ending after its supersized Season Three finale were unfounded.A show spokesperson “double-confirmed” to the Australian Broadcasting Company that the popular animated series has “no plans to end the show,” according to the “Today” Show. While fans wait to see what adventures are in store for Bluey, Bingo, Chilli, and Bandit in Season Four, they can catch ‘Bluey’s Big Play’ live on tour all year long.Best of all, tickets for the touring roadshow featuring all of your favorite characters are shockingly cheap.At the time of publication, our team found some seats going for as low as $8 before fees on Vivid Seats.Yes, really.While that price is a bit of an outlier, other shows have tickets starting anywhere from $26 to $370 before fees (to be fair, the show with $370 tickets is also an outlier).New York-based “Bluey” fans are in luck, too.On May 25-26, the show rolls into Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre for four (!) matinee shows that start at 11 a.m.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief James Warburton, MD and CEO of Seven West Media, one of Australia’s largest media conglomerates, has resigned following a series of scandals. He was scheduled to depart the company in December, but now exits with immediate effect following a board meeting on Thursday. In a filing to the Australian Stock Exchange, Seven West said that Jeff Howard, currently its chief finance officer, will take over as MD and CEO with effect from Friday.

The 2024 Formula 1 race season is heating up!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Escapade Media has come on board to take international sales rights to ‘Follow the Rain,’ a feature-length documentary about unknown species of mushroom that has enjoyed theatrical release in its native Australia. The film is directed and produced by Catherine Marciniak and follows Marciniak and Stephen Axford, her partner in production company Planet Fungi, as they explore forests and wetlands charting some of the millions of undocumented forms of mushroom, fungus and mycelium.

In any crowd of teenage girls there's one thing you're likely to spot these days and it's a White Fox hoodie.

Taylor Swift has been on the road with her mega popular Eras Tour for well over a year now, playing to tens of thousands of fans each night across the continents in North and south America, Australia and Japan, so far. Luckily for British Swifities, the queen of pop will be making the UK and Ireland her home for the next leg of the Eras tour in a matter of weeks.

Producers in Southeast Asia are facing a very different, much quieter landscape to the one in front of them just 12 months ago, as U.S. players rein in their spending to appease shareholders, and neighboring countries such as Korea, Japan and India draw attention.

AC/DC has claimed that he was the legendary rock band’s “best” singer.The former frontman was one of the founding members of the iconic Australian rock band in 1973 alongside Malcolm and Angus Young, drummer Colin Burgess and bassist Larry Van Kriedt.Evans provided lead vocals on AC/DC’s first official single ‘Can I Sit Next To You, Girl’ and it’s B-side ‘Rocking in the Parlour’. In 1974, Evans was replaced by Bon Scott.

Skins star was speaking to NME during an interview about his new film Monkey Man, which he wrote, directed and starred in.“I’ve been listening to a lot of Aldous Harding,” he said, referring to the critically acclaimed singer-songwriter from New Zealand who has released four albums of indie folk music since 2014. “She’s like this kind of odd poet, super profound.”“The lyrics catch you off guard.

Neighbours fans are elated after the Australian soap confirmed one of its fan favourite characters would be returning after 15 years.

EXCLUSIVE: In Playing Nice James Norton stars as Pete, a doting dad who finds out his son was switched at birth, giving him a different kind of hero to portray. “He’s a kind of small hero,” Norton told Deadline. “Unlike most of the characters I’ve played, he’s very likable, very amenable and recognizable. There’s a simplicity to him, which I hadn’t really played before, and a likability and quietness that made him feel very real.”

Rita Ora has shown off her washboard abs in a stunning bikini picture on Instagram.The singer and actress looks sensational in newly shared images from her recent trip to New Zealand.The 33-year-old posed in front of a mirror in a bikini and also shared a steamy picture in a hot tub, alongside stunning scenic pictures while enjoying her travels.Two videos she shared shows her flying in a helicopter over waterfalls and now covered mountains in Queenstown. It seems Rita is exploring what the country has to offer, after marrying Kiwi husband Taika Waititi.The New Zealand filmmaker is said to have splashed out millions on a home for the couple in Point Chevalier.