ITZY unveil elegant concept film for upcoming return with ‘Checkmate’

Sparring partners! While Hayden Christensen has proven handy with a lightsaber, he was decades out of practice before his Obi-Wan Kenobi return before his daughter, Briar Rose, helped him get his skills back into fighting form.

Filmmaker Joss Whedon (“Avengers”) has had a bad couple of years. Starting in the summer of 2020, after “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” was announced, a wave of accusations about the director’s reportedly appalling behavior on the set of 2016’s “Justice League,” started to surface.

Eric Brevig and Greg Butler have been hired as visual effect supervisors at VFX and animation studio DNEG, the studio announced Thursday.Both Brevig and Butler come to the studio as winners of the Academy Award winners for best visual effects. Brevig won for “Total Recall” in 1991, while Butler won and Oscar and a BAFTA for “1917” in 2020.

A major milestone! Prince William and Duchess Kate visited the University of Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum on Thursday, June 23, to view their first official joint portrait.

Christopher Vourlias Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, whose feature debut “Pamfir” premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight section, and director and former political prisoner Oleh Sentsov (“Rhino”) are among the Ukrainian filmmakers who say they’re “distraught” by the inclusion of a Russian film in the main competition at the Transilvania Film Festival.In a statement posted on Monday to the Facebook page for “Pamfir,” the filmmakers spoke out against the selection of Russian director Lado Kvataniya’s “The Execution” as one of 12 features competing for the Transilvania Trophy, criticizing the “illusion of cultural reconciliation” created by the festival’s decision and insisting that “art does not exist outside of politics.” The filmmakers noted that Kvataniya’s psychological thriller was produced with the support of the state-backed Russian Film Fund as well as Kinoprime, the $100 million film fund bankrolled by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who has been sanctioned by the U.K.

Bebe Rexha and ITZY may soon be releasing a new remix of the former’s 2021 single ‘Break My Heart Myself’.Last week, American singer-songwriter Bebe Rexha began hinting about a potential collaboration with K-pop girl group ITZY, on a remix of her 2021 track ‘Break My Heart Myself’. “Let’s get @ITZYofficial on the remix of break my heart myself!!!!” she wrote.Let’s get @ITZYofficial on the remix of break my heart myself!!!!— Bebe Rexha (@BebeRexha) June 14, 2022A day later, Bebe teased some “exciting” news regarding the song’s remix, and quoted a tweet from Warner Music Thailand alluding to the upcoming collaboration.

Katherine Tulich Lukas Dhont’s “Close,” which won the Grand Prix in Cannes last month, picked up the Sydney Film Prize, the top prize at the Sydney Film Festival, on Sunday evening.Accepting the award via video message Dhont said: “It’s a film that comes from our hearts, that we worked on for a lot of years with many people.”The international jury consisted of Australian actor David Wenham, Australian director Jennifer Peedom, writer-director-producer Mostofa Sarwar Farooki (Bangladesh), Berlin Golden Bear winner Semih Kaplanoglu (Turkey), and the executive director of the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute in Tokyo, Yuka Sakano (Japan). Twelve titles in the official competition included Carla Simon’s “Alcarras”, Hlynur Palmason’s “Godland”, Colm Bairead’s “The Quiet Girl” and Del Kathryn Barton’s “Blaze.” The winner is awarded AUD$60,000 ($41,600).

Another month, another bunch of new releases from everyone’s favorite boutique home video label, Criterion Collection. In the latest batch of releases, out this September, see Henri-Georges Clouzot’s fable of suspicion in a Nazi-occupied French town “Le Corbeau,” get a Blu-ray upgrade.

Game of Thrones. Harington is reportedly attached to reprise his role as King in the North, should the show happen.Harington’s character is one of the few favorites who survived to see the end of the series. In the show’s divisive series finale, Snow learns that his true identity is , an heir to the Iron Throne, after killing Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys.

ITZY, STAYC, ENHYPEN and more.Earlier today (June 17), KCON LA unveiled the first line-up for its highly anticipated in-person return this year. The first set of acts announced to be making appearances at and performing at the three-day convention are ITZY, STAYC, ENHYPEN, CRAVITY, NMIXX, THE BOYZ and WJSN.Fans looking to purchase concert tickets to KCON LA may do so from June 23, 2pm PDT, via a presale, before ticket sales are open to the general public from June 27, 2pm PDT onwards.

Austin Butler paid a visit to the “Tonight Show” and got host Jimmy Fallon all shook up.

K.J. Yossman He’s no doubt still pinching himself after his tea with Queen Elizabeth II a few weeks ago but there’s no time to rest for Paddington Bear.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAction-drama film, “Emergency Declaration” pulled together several of Korea’s top stars – Song Kang-ho (“Parasite”), Lee Byung Hun (“G.I. Joe”) and Jeon Do-yeon (“The Housemaid,” “Secret Sunshine”) – and it first took to the air as a Midnight Screening at the Cannes Film Festival, back in July 2021.Directed by Han Jae-rim, the story involves a veteran police detective who receives a tip-off about an unspecified terrorist threat against a plane. Puzzlingly, he discovers that the chief suspect has got on the flight too.

Marta Balaga Despite teasing his retirement in 2017, “Le Havre” director Aki Kaurismäki will follow his Berlin Silver Bear winner “The Other Side of Hope” with a new feature film under the working title of “Dead Leaves” (“Kuolleet lehdet” in Finnish).The new project was announced on Friday by Helsinki-based company B-Plan Distribution.The film will star Alma Pöysti, who recently starred in Zaida Bergroth biopic “Tove,” about Moomins creator Tove Jansson — a film that won her a Jussi award for best actress in 2021. Jussi Vatanen, known for the drama “Forest Giant” and smash hit trilogy “Lapland Odyssey” has also joined the cast.

Ozark, as well as her spot-on impression of Anna Delvey, a.k.a Anna Sorokin, in , has been offered the role of in the queen of pop's forthcoming biopic, reports. Garner is, according to the outlet, the front-runner of nearly a dozen candidates, which included and Alexa Demie, as well as singers Bebe Rexha and Sky Ferreira. Her team is expected to accept the offer soon, however nothing is set in stone quite yet. The 28-year-old has gravitated toward idiosyncratic characters throughout her career, transitioning between the brutish, Missouri-born-and-bred Ruth and the uniquely accented Delvey with incredible ease.

Could the star of Netflix hits “Ozark” and “Inventing Anna” be playing Madonna in the long-awaited biopic of the pop icon?

Jason Bateman has exited from the director’s chair on Artemis, the big feature film package starring Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans that Deadline told you in March that Apple swooped in to acquire in a $100 million-plus deal.