The last time a Thanksgiving weekend grossed under $100 million was… never? Nearly 30 years ago, Thanksgiving 1994 saw a three-day weekend of $94.5 million… when ticket prices averaged $4.08. James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” (Disney) opens December 16 and (as we’ve said too often) it can’t come soon enough. But if we’ve learned one thing this year, an occasional massive hit will not salvage what continues to be a troubled theatrical marketplace....

“Thor: Love and Thunder” takes inspiration from “The Mighty Thor,” an acclaimed comic book run from Jason Aaron that sees Jane Foster become a Thunder God herself. While Jane Foster was purely a supporting character in earlier films, fans can expect to see her wielding Thor’s hammer and getting in on the action in Waititi’s new movie. Portman’s return to the “Thor” universe is a major coup for Waititi, and his excitement was palpable in a new interview with Empire when he discussed working with the “Black Swan” star....

Putting together the prickly mind behind “Taxi Driver” and “First Reformed” and the scratchy-voiced comedic darling might sound like a surprise, but Haddish insists it’s not such a strange pairing. Firstly, though, she notes something key: she’s a Schrader fan from way back. “I’m a big Paul Schrader fan, I have loved me some Paul Schrader since ‘Cat People,’” Haddish said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “I’ve been following his career and always wanted to work with him....

“This is confirmation of so much that everyone has said for years now — things that a lot of us thought were hyperbolic,” the source said. “We’d say, ‘Trump’s not a fascist,’ or ‘He’s not a wannabe dictator.’ Now, it’s like, ‘Well, what do you even say in response to that now?’” The source also put the presidency in a context that many Netflix subscribers could understand. “This is like a plot straight out of the later, sucky seasons of House of Cards where they just go full evil and say, ‘Let’s spark mass protests and start wars and whatever,’” the senior official said, referring to Beau Willimon’s politically charged series about a Machiavellian politician that lasted six seasons....

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, “Willow” showrunner Jonathan Kasdan revealed that Kilmer came very close to reprising his role as Madmartigan on the Disney+ series. “We really wanted Val to come be in the show,” Kasdan said. “And Val really wanted to come out and be in the show. I remember going to see Val right after this thing started to get some momentum, and I said, ‘Listen, we’re doing this....

The ReFrame Stamp goes to shows that meet ReFrame’s criteria for gender-balanced hiring. Per the official website, “The ReFrame TV Stamp is awarded to scripted television and episodic productions that hire women or individuals of other underrepresented gender identities/expressions (including those who are non-binary or gender non-conforming) in four out of eight key roles including writer, director, producer, lead, co-leads, and department heads.” This year, 51 percent of the most popular scripted and streaming series received the mark, including the Disney+ series, “WandaVision,” Netflix’s “Bridgerton,” Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and the FX series “Pose....

A zany, imaginative, and extremely kid-oriented “Avengers” riff that combines major stars with Snapchat-level special effects in order to lend a live-action Saturday morning cartoon vibe to a story about seizing your own destiny, “We Can Be Heroes” is the ultimate Troublemaker movie (a feeling enhanced by the fact that it’s also a self-contained sequel to the 2005 flop “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl,” itself a tonal spin-off of the “Spy Kids” franchise that made Rodriguez’ studio into a legitimate force)....