‘Plan 75’ Review: Japan’s Thought-Provoking Oscar Submission Chides Society for Disrespecting Its Seniors

Universal/Working Title’s Ticket to Paradise has winged past the $100M mark globally. With Tuesday’s grosses included, the Julia Roberts/George Clooney romcom’s split is $20.6M domestic and $81.9M from the international box office for a worldwide total of $102.5M so far.

Reba McEntire is opening up about the 1991 plane crash that killed 10 people, including eight of her band and crew members, and how she recovered from the tragedy. McEntire spoke about the crash that changed her life forever.

The long-awaited DC Universe “Black Adam” superhero film premiered recently in New York, the embargo has been lifted, and everyone is free, per Warner Bros., to discuss the film in whatever terms they like. If you’re online, especially on Twitter tonight, you’re likely going to be hearing a lot about the film’s post-credit scene that will have been spoiled in a matter of minutes and will likely have fans, or at least the DC Universe disciples, in a big lather.

In his review of the film, TheWrap’s Alonso Duralde wrote, “That task is the capture of an exceedingly powerful ancient metahuman known as Teth Adam (Dwayne Johnson), and despite the movie’s best efforts to jazz up the increasingly predictable superhero genre — this one doesn’t care if he kills people — “Black Adam” feels like both too much and not enough, and none of its narrative gambits are helped by a sludgy visual style that’s either distractingly artificial or dispiritingly gloomy, except when it manages to be both.”Johnson produces and stars in “Black Adam,” which is his live-action entry into the DC universe and reunites him with “Jungle Cruise” director Jaume Collet-Serra. The film also stars Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Shahi, Noah Centineo and Aldis Hodge as members of the Justice Society.Eric Eisenberg from Cinemablend wrote in his review, “Black Adam is more mediocre than bad, but that’s perhaps worse in a pop culture landscape that will be quick to forget about it as audiences’ attentions drift to the next superhero blockbuster.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After two straight quarters of subscriber losses, Netflix returned to growth in the third quarter of 2022 — and told investors it’s expecting a strong Q4 to finish the year, even though it doesn’t expect big gains right away from the launch of its cheaper, ad-supported plans. The streaming giant reported 2.41 million net new paid subscribers in Q3, including a gain of 100,000 in the U.S./Canada region, to stand at 223.1 million worldwide as of the end of September. That handily topped Netflix’s previous forecast of a 1 million pickup for the period. For Q4, Netflix expects to gain 4.5 million new streaming customers, compared with 8.3 million in the year-earlier quarter. Netflix Basic With Ads is slated to launch in the U.S. on Nov. 3 and priced at $6.99 per month — three dollars less than the regular Basic plan. Similar ad tiers are also coming next month to 11 other countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain and the U.K.

Frank Doelger is helming a surveillance drama set that counts broadcasters ZDF, MBC and France Télévisions and streamer Hulu Japan as partners.

Rising athlete Corey Phelan has sadly succumbed to his battle against cancer.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) said Thursday she believes Democrats are "wasting money" by focusing on abortion in races across the U.S., as Republicans emphasize crime, the economy and the border crisis.  The congressional candidate joined "The Faulkner Focus" to discuss how Democrats are failing to address issues affecting the American people.  "Normal people, normal voters, they're talking about gas, groceries, grandkids.They're talking about long-term solutions to the challenges that we're facing," she said, adding that "abortion is not the issue" that will motivate most voters.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After years of Netflix execs spurning the idea of serving up commercials to viewers, the streaming giant is flipping the switch on its first cheaper, ad-supported plan next month. Netflix Basic With Ads will launch in the U.S. on Nov. 3 at 9 a.m. PT, priced at $6.99 per month, the company announced. The cheaper plan will be available in 12 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S. It will first roll out in Canada and Mexico on Nov. 1. Basic With Ads will be $2 cheaper than Netflix’s Basic plan ($9.99/month in the U.S. currently), which provides the ability to stream on one device at a time. Previously, the Basic plan has not supported HD, but with the launch of the ad tier, Netflix will provide video quality of up to 720p HD for both Basic With Ads and the plan with no ads.

 EXCLUSIVE: Since the service was made available across the Asia Pacific region in 2016, Amazon Prime Video has focused on producing content in the markets where Amazon has a strong retail membership service – India, Japan and Australia. Based in Los Angeles, Erika North, Amazon Studios’ Head of Originals, Asia Pacific, has been tasked with expanding that local content footprint into other APAC territories. North joined Amazon in February 2020 after similar stints heading production in the region for HBO Asia and Netflix.

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based Urban Sales has sold Japanese director Chie Hayakawa’s dystopian drama Plan 75 to KimStim for North America, in addition to several other territories. The film won a Camera d’Or Special Mention when it premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes this year, and is also Japan’s submission to the Best International Feature category of the Oscars. 

Mild spoilers for “Werewolf by Night” follow.When Kevin Feige came to you, you immediately said you wanted to do “Werewolf by Night.” Why was that?Because mainly because as I grew up, I loved monster movies, loved them. And I grew up watching them religiously with my brother. Saturday mornings was our… I keep saying this, but it was, it’s the only way to describe it… That was our church, was sitting in front of the TV and watching the creature double feature.

Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro, Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy . . .