WarnerMedia OneFifty Nabs Oscar-Nominated Short ‘Please Hold’ for HBO Max

HBO Max original series picks up 15 years later, with the beloved original cast spending two months in Rivera Maya in Mexico.  Three generations of Garcias sit in a beautiful room, while the family matriarch makes an announcement.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Capping off a string of major sales deals worldwide, L.A.-based Cinema Management Group (CMG) has sold the U.S. rights of animated feature “Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazon” to Shout! Studios.The multi-platform entertainment distribution and production arm of Shout! Factory has secured all U.S.

HBO Max is slowly turning into the home for projects directly connected to the cinematic side of WarnerMedia. The streaming service hosts multiple feature films set in the DCEU and even two shows directly set in the world of Matt Reeves‘ “The Batman.” Now, HBO Max is setting its sights on a recent billion-dollar horror film property.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticPeople make documentaries about all kinds of things: some slight and silly, others educational or emotional. But if you want to be nominated for an Oscar in the doc short category, it’s best to zero in on an issue the Academy can get behind, like homelessness, bullying and confronting prejudice.

The beloved Encanto song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” will be performed at the Oscars this weekend, but it has no chance at winning the award for Best Original Song.

The true-crime phenomenon—documentaries, movies, documentaries, series, and everything in between—has obviously hit an absolute zenith in recent years. This inexorable truth would explain why HBO Max would bother rehashing the mysterious circumstances of the death of Kathleen Peterson with their new scripted series “The Staircase” from showrunners Antonio Campos and Maggie Cohen (“American Crime Story”)—there’s still so much meat on the bone.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticChances are, you landed on this review because you’re trying to game your Oscar pool, looking for a clue as to what will win the always-underseen shorts categories — in a year when they were unceremoniously booted from the telecast, no less. Well, if it’s predictions you’re looking for, there’s little contest among this year’s cartoon contenders: Academy favorite Aardman Animations has delivered a delightful frontrunner in “Robin Robin.” But don’t stop reading there! In an unusually adult-leaning year, the traditionally kid-friendly category is well worth watching in its entirety, whether in theaters or on demand, thanks to stalwart distributor ShortsTV.The program opens with “Robin Robin,” which seems poised to earn Aardman its fifth Oscar (the other four were all won by Nick Park, creator of the Wallace and Gromit characters).

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticWhat is going on over at the Academy? For years, I have questioned whether it made sense for the organization to continue awarding short films, seeing as how they are no longer a routine part of the moviegoing experience (the category dates back to a time when newsreels and short subjects regularly preceded the main attraction). Except in rare cases, when an animation studio attaches one to its latest feature-length cartoon, it’s been decades since shorts got serious theatrical play. These days, they’re relegated to film festivals and small-screen formats — so why include them in the telecast, I wondered.I was wrong.

The phrase, “Well behaved women rarely make history,” attributed to Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Harvard professor Lauren Thatcher Ulrich, gets bandied about a lot these days in conversations about women who push the boundaries of acceptable feminine behavior. But that particular brand of feminism, in which women are allowed to be anti-heroes in search of their ambition, rarely seems to rear its head in the slew of recent documentaries and series about women who made history in the mid-20th century.

reboot!In the season finale, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) and Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) are all making big moves in their lives. Carrie decides to spread the ashes of her late husband, Mr. Big (Chris Noth), off a bridge in Paris, France, and comes back to New York City to start a new podcast, appropriately titled, and makes out with her podcast producer, Franklyn (Ivan Hernandez), in an elevator. As for Miranda, she divorces her husband,  Steve Brady (David Eigenberg), and jets off to Los Angeles to be with her new romantic partner, Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez), as they start their new pilot.And as for Charlotte, she has a bat mitzvah for herself after her youngest child, Rock, refuses, and is facing menopause later than the rest of her friends.'s finale also opens a door for one leading lady to return.

HBO Max announced on Tuesday the renewal of the Sex and the City sequel series And Just Like That... for a second season.

Andrew Garfield is speaking about that “Spider-Man: No Way Home” Oscars 2022 snub.

HBO has acquired the Oscar-nominated documentary short “When We Were Bullies,” which will premiere on March 30.“When We Were Bullies” focuses on director Jay Rosenblatt (“Human Remains,” “Phantom Limb”), as he tries to track down people from his 5th grade class to interview them about a severe bullying incident that occurred at their school 50 years ago. Using a mix of archival footage, animation and modern day interviews, Rosenblatt both reconstructs the event and comes to terms with his own sense of shame about what occurred.“Everyone carries pain,” Rosenblatt narrates in the trailer for the short that HBO released. “Yet through that pain, I can see yours.”In addition to directing, Rosenblatt wrote, produced and edited “When We Were Bullies.” The short is one of five nominees in the best documentary short category at the 94th Academy Awards.

What happens after you blow up your entire life to be with the person you love? The second season of “Starstruck” explores the question that rom-coms generally leave unanswered after their happy endings, wisely acknowledging that a big romantic gesture doesn’t erase all the obstacles present between two people getting — and staying — together. On its surface, the British import on HBO Max seems like a standard wish-fulfillment fantasy à la “Notting Hill”: a “normie” finds unlikely romance with a star.

, plus the raunchy pirate adventure,  and a few Oscar-nominated films arriving on the platform. Fans of the Fox sitcom should be stoked to hear that the Jake Johnson-led  is now streaming. Set in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s, the series follows Johnson's Doug and second-wave feminist, Joyce, as they push to publish the very first erotic magazine for women.Best picture nominees , , , and will also be made available to stream on the platform in this month. HBO Max currently has two subscription tiers, an ad-supported subscription for $10/month and an ad-free plan available for $15/month.Sign Up NowFor even more streaming recommendations, make sure to check out our guides to everything that's new on Prime Video, what's new and what's leaving Hulu this month and the best TV and movies to stream this week.

For the children of Lusia “Lucy” Harris, the woman at the center of The Queen of Basketball, the prospect of the upcoming Oscar ceremony brings a feeling of joy, along with a measure of sadness.

EXCLUSIVE:  WarnerMedia OneFifty has picked up this year’s Oscar-nominated live action short, The Dress from Polish filmmaker Tadeusz Lysiak.

Deaf representation has taken a major step forward with two Oscar-nominated films this year — one a fictional story, the other entirely real.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Less than a year since its June 29, 2021 launch in the region, HBO Max Latin America is adding a raft of new original Latin American shows to its programming grid. WarnerMedia’s SVOD service now ranks second in the region, albeit still lagging behind market leader, Netflix.“When we launched more than eight months ago, we promised to launch 100 shows in a year and a half; I think we’re on track to deliver that promise,” said Luis Duran, general manager, HBO Max Latin America, in an exclusive interview with Variety.