And yet many of the best films of the fest are still looking for homes, and thus comes our annual plea: buy these films! We really love them and we think your audience will, too! The year ahead is certainly going to be an unpredictable one for distribution companies as the future of exhibition remains an open, ever-changing question. But the quality of these movies is not up for debate, nor is their potential to resonate with audiences well beyond Sundance....

“I think there’s something sexy about casting a straight actor to play a gay role — if they’re willing to invest a lot into it,” Harris told The Times (via Advocate). “In our world that we live in you can’t really as a director demand that [an actor be a given sexual orientation],” he said. “Who’s to determine how gay someone is?” Harris is perhaps most famous for playing a straight character, the womanizing bachelor Barney Stinson, in the long-running CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother....

According to the Wall Street Journal, subscription analytics firm Antenna is reporting that the ad-supported plan was the least popular Netflix tier during its first month of availability, accounting for only 9 percent of new signups. Fifty-seven percent of subscribers to the tier in the first month were new signups, while 43 percent downgraded from more expensive plans. For comparison, when HBO Max’s ad tier launched for $9.99 a month in June last year, Antenna reported it drove 15 percent of new signups in the United States during its first month, with 14 percent of new customers downgrading from the premium tier....

At the same time, in this most chaotic of Oscar seasons, this year’s crop of Best Original Song contenders also serves as a hopeful reminder that chaos can be as much of a ladder as it is a pit. Look past the limp Charlie Puth power-ballads and Diane Warren’s annual blood sacrifice and you’ll find a rich mix of work from major Black artists (some of whom are handcuffed by their songs, and others who manage to transcend them), two contenders that are sung in a language other than English, and a pair of joke songs that range from the ridiculous to the sublime....

The general entry categories submission deadline is Tuesday, November 15 for eligible films. The Oscar nominees will officially be announced on Tuesday, January 24. The 2023 awards show will air live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. With “Blonde,” “Elvis,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” and “The Northman” already making waves amid pre-awards season buzz, the race to Best Picture will undeniably be as competitive as ever....

“We have set in motion a virtuous cycle,” said board chair Shari Redstone, who made her entrance in a pre-recorded segment that saw her and CEO Bob Bakish arrive in the Bumblebee Camaro from “Transformers” after fighting off evil robots. “Our legacy business powers our transformation, and transformation enhances and expands our legacy.” This is the second time that Redstone’s company has changed its name in two years, but it was all part of the day’s 2 1/2-hour bid to convince Wall Street that it stands a chance in the streaming wars even as it fights for last place among its peers....

“Pariah” was a force. Arriving at the Sundance Film Festival 15 years after Cheryl Dunye’s “The Watermelon Woman,” Rees’ first feature was nominated for countless awards and cemented her status as a major filmmaker. She followed it with “Mudbound” in 2017, which scored her an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Her last effort, the Netflix-produced “The Last Thing He Wanted,” yielded mixed reviews — but Rees has already moved on with a slate of promising new projects, all of which suggest she’s on track to return to her “Pariah” roots....