In between, during those four hours, the company also revealed also revealed a multi-pronged distribution model that will see previously announced theatrical titles being released on Disney+, teased beefed-up content offerings for the service, and revealed new TV and film developments with Hulu. Executives made the announcements Thursday during a special presentation to investors that was streamed online. While the company’s quarterly earnings calls this year have all been headline-grabbing affairs, Thursday’s event pulled out all the stops with a slick audiovisual extravaganza that more closely resembled an event at Disney’s annual D23 fan convention than one geared toward investment bankers....

Directors from Martin Scorsese to Francis Ford Coppolahave their opinions about how Marvel’s massive cinematic universe is taking up too much oxygen that could have gone to more creative filmmakers. Meanwhile, Marvel actors (a group which encompasses much of Hollywood’s A-List at this point) weigh in to defend the franchise. The latest Marvel star to vouch for the studio is”WandaVision” and “Doctor Strange” star Elizabeth Olsen. In a new interview with The Independent, Olsen expressed her belief that the franchise receives too much criticism....

“I was terrified,” Mangini said when he learned creating the Ornithopter sound was his responsibility. “It’s an unknown method of transportation and it uses wings and we don’t even know what the propulsion is. We embarked on an extensive experimentation process of trying to find the individual elements. What could we make wings out of? What could we make propulsion sounds out of? We knew we didn’t want it to sound like a helicopter or anything we were familiar with terrestrially....

Since the Academy president David Rubin announced that eight categories would be pre-recorded ahead of the live ceremony to increase viewer engagement, crafts guilds, filmmakers, and crew members alike have voiced their disdain for the “demeaning” decision. “Last Night in Soho” writer-director Wright took to Twitter to weigh in on the discussion. “I’m looking forward to voting in the Academy Awards tomorrow, having watched all the nominees. And while there are real matters of life and death happening all over the world right now, I’d be remiss not to stick up for my crew members who work tirelessly behind the camera,” Wright wrote in a Twitter thread....

“I am horrified by the inhumane and downright dangerous declarations by the Texas Governor and Attorney General,” Page said. “Trans youth deserve gender-affirming care and to be able to live their true, authentic selves without fear and oppression. I stand with trans youth and their families.” The Texas controversy began when state Attorney General Bill Paxton wrote a legal opinion declaring that administering certain medical procedures relating to gender transition on minors, including administering puberty blockers, could constitute child abuse....

This past weekend, the streaming service made it official that the triumphant story directed by Antoine Fuqua, about an enslaved person traversing Civil War-era Louisiana on a path toward freedom, will arrive in theaters on December 2 — right in time for awards eligibility. “Emancipation” screened last weekend for a group of attendees at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 51st Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., with Fuqua, Smith and Mary Elliott, curator of American Slavery at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, participating in a conversation about the film moderated by politics and culture commentator Angela Rye....

Jerzy Skolimowski’s “EO,” which shared the Cannes Jury Prize along with “The Eight Mountains” this year, centers on the titular donkey, who is taken from his circus performer owner by a group of animal activists. Yet EO’s life remains in the service of humans despite their efforts, and EO acts as a witness to the many adventures life has to bring. “EO” is playing at the London Film Festival, New York Film Festival, and Mill Valley Film Festival....