'Spongebob' Universe to Expand With Three Spinoff Movies & New Theatrical Film!

Adam McKay is known for, among other things, his blistering satires, Vice and The Big Short among them. His latest, the four-time Oscar-nominated Don’t Look Up, takes aim at our ignorance of climate change, our politics and our obsession with tech.

Eugene Hernandez has been promoted to the new role of SVP of Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) and Executive Director of the New York Film Festival (NYFF), and Dennis Lim has been upped to the NYFF’s first-ever Artistic Director, newly promoted President, Lesli Klainberg, announced on Friday. Hernandez will also continue to lead FLC’s strategic initiatives, including his role as publisher of Film Comment.This year will mark the 60th anniversary of NYFF, and the festival will run from Sept. 30 to Oct.

Ellise Shafer A new “Alien” film is in the works at 20th Century Studios, with “Don’t Breathe” director Fede Alvarez set to helm the project, Variety has confirmed. Ridley Scott, the director of the original 1979 movie, is producing.In addition to directorial duties, Alvarez is penning the script for the standalone film.

Zack Sharf With the 94th Academy Awards set for later this month on March 27, it couldn’t be better timing for some of the biggest nominees to hit streaming platforms in March. Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” boasts 10 Oscar nominations, the second most-nominated movie of the year, and it’s finally returning to HBO Max this month to stream after originally debuting on the streamer for 31 days last fall.

She'll soon be back on our screens as Daphne Bridgerton in the Netflix period drama Bridgerton.

In the 1980s and 1990s, writer Shane Black became one of Hollywood’s most highly paid screenwriters when he reinvented the action genre by revitalizing buddy cop tropes. Films like “Lethal Weapon” and “The Last Boy Scout” turned him into the rare famous screenwriting name, but eventually, he would turn towards his own directing career.

Olivia Munn is heading back to TV and she’s joining The Walking Dead universe!

Apple would really like you to think the new iPhone 13 Pro can be used as a cinema camera. Sure, we’ve seen filmmakers such as Steven Soderbergh and Sean Baker use older iPhones to create feature films, but for the most part, there’s no way a big-budget feature would actually use a smartphone as a camera.

Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) has announced that its 70th anniversary edition in August will include the debut of the annual MIFF Film Competition. Already the Southern Hemisphere’s largest and longest-running film festival, MIFF will now also offer one of the world’s most substantial festival prize pools.Initially comprising three awards, the MIFF Film Competition‘s flagship prize will be the AUD$140,000 (approx.

There’s another Star Trek on the way!

NCIS is going abroad!

Paramount+ unveiled robust plans Tuesday for three of its most highly profitable franchises, setting the table for a series of films derived from “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Transformers.”“As we’ve known with Nickelodeon’s long-standing success, the kids and family audience is incredibly loyal, and we see that on Paramount+ as well, with kids and family ranking as one of the strongest genres on the service in terms of both engagement and subscriber acquisition,” Brian Robbins, Paramount+ chief content officer for movies and kids & family, said in a statement as part of the streamer’s investors day presentation. “So as they stay for our shows and look for even more of them, we’re doubling down on giving them what they want by expanding the universes of the characters they love the best.”Among the projects are three new movies set in the “SpongeBob SquarePants” universe, based on the original characters, that are set to come to Paramount+.

EXCLUSIVE: After several fits and starts, the next Star Trek film is gearing up to begin production by year’s end. Paramount has begun talks with Chris Pine to reprise as James T. Kirk, and the intention is to engage to bring back aboard Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldana as Lieutenant Uhura, Karl Urban as Dr. Bones McCoy, John Cho as Sulu and Simon Pegg as Scotty. Deadline revealed last summer that Paramount and producer JJ Abrams hired Matt Shakman to direct, fresh from the triumph of the Marvel/Disney+ series WandaVision, just after the series was nominated for 23 Emmys. Shakman has been supervising a draft by Josh Friedman and Cameron Squires, based off a draft by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterParamount Plus is mining even more Nickelodeon content to fill out its content slate.The streamer announced a slew of new projects that will be produced by Nickelodeon and Nickelodeon Animation as part of the ViacomCBS investor day presentation on Feb. 15.

Paramount+, the ViacomCBS streaming service, has unveiled a new slate of original kids and family programming, including a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles CG-animated movie series, and a Transformers: Earthspark animated series, among others. The announcements were made Tuesday by Brian Robbins, Chief Content Officer, Movies and Kids & Family for Paramount+, during the ViacomCBS’ Investors Event.

ViacomCBS is further expanding its Dora The Explorer universe. Paramount+ has given a series order to a new Dora the Explorer CG-animated preschool series, produced by Nickelodeon Animation. Additionally, the first-ever live-action Dora the Explorer series, inspired by the tone of Paramount Pictures’ 2019 film Dora and the Lost City of Gold, is shifting its demo target to tweens. The details were revealed Tuesday by Brian Robbins, Chief Content Officer, Movies and Kids & Family for Paramount+, during ViacomCBS’ Investors Day Event.

EXCLUSIVE: Even though the second film doesn’t bow till the spring, Paramount Pictures and Sega Corporation are moving fast to build on its ever growing universe with projects in both the film and TV realms. Paramount Pictures and Sega Corporation have commenced development on a third feature film installment to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Additionally, Sega and Paramount+ are developing the first-ever original live-action Sonic series, to launch in 2023, which will feature the character Knuckles, with Idris Elba returning to voice the role. The character is set to make its debut in the upcoming sequel that bows on April 8.

“As we’ve known with Nickelodeon’s long-standing success, the kids and family audience is incredibly loyal, and we see that on Paramount+ as well, with kids and family ranking as one of the strongest genres on the service in terms of both engagement and subscriber acquisition,” said Robbins. “So as they stay for our shows and look for even more of them, we’re doubling down on giving them what they want by expanding the universes of the characters they love the best.”

EXCLUSIVE: Universal, EVP of Global Physical Home Entertainment, Kathleen Gallagher, has been named EVP, General Sales Manager for the studio’s North American Theatrical Distribution team, Deadline has learned.