Turns out, when you’re James Gunn, casting fellow filmmaker Taika Waititi in your latest outing is pretty easy, even when it’s set up at a rival studio from the one (in this case, Disney and Marvel) you collectively call home. Gunn hasn’t been hiding the fact that the “Thor: Ragnarok” and the upcoming “Thor: Love and Thunder” filmmaker appears in his DCEU film, “The Suicide Squad,” though fans have spent months trying to figure exactly who Waititi is playing....

Around the time “Doctor Strange” was opening in fall 2016, Swinton told IndieWire that once people saw her “Doctor Strange” performance they would understand and embrace her casting. “There’s a kind of misunderstanding, which I hope the film will make clear when people see the film,” she said, noting Feige and director Scott Derrickson “made this very clear decision” to cast Swinton so the role could be changed from “what they considered an offensive racial stereotype in the comic books....

The nonfiction book explores Joseph Smith founding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, with its revelations of polygamy, justifications of violence, and capacity to foster would-be prophets. Even as the church officially abandoned polygamy, disenchanted Mormons created a modern-day Fundamentalist movement with multiple breakaway factions that hew to their (often conflicting) interpretations of Smith’s original teachings. (According to the church, which is now headquartered in Salt Lake City and has nearly 17 million members, “There is no such thing as a ‘fundamentalist’ Mormon… The Church discontinued polygamy more than a century ago....

The vagaries of talent contracts, and how their payouts are related to reaching profit (a likely far-off point for the multi-hundred million dollar effort), remain unclear. But what is known is that along with its strong theatrical response (though low for a Marvel title, with its concurrent PVOD release, Covid impact, and a seemingly mixed response from audiences to the film), the money it is earning is increasing. “Black Widow” is #1 on iTunes (usually quickest to respond to new releases) and currently #3 at Google Play....

With a simple plot attempting to harken back to the central court case of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Delia Owens’ 2018 novel “Where the Crawdads Sing” became a bestseller and caught the attention of mega-producer Reese Witherspoon, who scooped up the adaptation rights under her Hello Sunshine production banner. “Where the Crawdads Sing” centers on Kya Clark, derisively referred to by her community as “Marsh Girl,” who was left to fend for herself along the North Carolina coast as a young girl....

Published earlier: Will Smith is set to produce an adaptation of the novel “Brilliance,” with two-time Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy making her narrative feature directorial debut. Four-time Emmy winner Obaid-Chinoy most recently helmed Episodes 4 and 5 of Disney+ series “Ms. Marvel.” The adaptation of Marcus Sakey’s novel is produced by Paramount Pictures and has been dubbed a “passion project” for Oscar winner Smith and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, who collaborated on “I, Robot,” “I Am Legend,” and “Hancock....

Not all of WWE’s key metrics are in decline. On the flip side are the company’s TV ratings: Both Friday’s “SmackDown” (which aired live mere hours after McMahon announced he would step aside while the board investigates the matter) and Monday’s “Raw” jumped in viewership, according to Nielsen. This creates a curious point of tension: WWE fans love McMahon. They might even love him a little extra for his creation of a rubbernecking trainwreck....