American Cinematheque Awards Postponed Due To SAG-AFTRA Strike

Sarah Snook, star of Succession, says the film industry should “set a precedent” with new rules on the use of Artificial Intelligence.

More theatrical release date changes due to the actors strike which is clocking 113 days. The good news: this one doesn’t impact 2024.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Hollywood’s major studios are preparing to make an offer to SAG-AFTRA on Friday that they hope will end the 113-day actors strike. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers had previously warned the actors union that if a deal could not be reached by the end of this week, the networks would have to cancel certain TV shows and there would be further delays in 2024 summer theatrical releases. The talks could well go into the weekend, especially if the two sides see that a tentative agreement is within reach.

Christopher Vourlias With the resolution of the Hollywood writers strike in September, hopes were high for a return to business as usual in bustling Budapest, host to such recent high-profile productions as Yorgos Lanthimos’ Venice sensation and Oscar frontrunner “Poor Things.” But the sudden breakdown in negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP in early October dampened that enthusiasm. “We were starting to get momentum back, which was leading us to believe that we would be opening up offices on new shows in early November, on the assumption that the strike would be over by the end of October,” says Adam Goodman of Mid Atlantic Films, which is currently servicing Peacock and Sky’s spy series “The Day of the Jackal.” Instead, a waiting game is playing out in studios and C-suites across the globe, as actors, talent reps, executives and other industry players not only try to hash out a blueprint for the film and TV business moving forward but plot the next step for the many productions put on pause during the nearly four-month-old strike.

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. weren’t able to dress up in the Halloween costumes they wanted to wear this year.

Caligula: The Ultimate Cut,” which premiered at the 2023 Cannes International Film Festival. Following the 1980 release of “Caligula,” producer and reconstructionist Thomas Negovan re-edited the film for three years utilizing the original materials for “Caligula: The Ultimate Cut,” which includes never-before-seen footage shot in 1976. Negovan’s reconstruction was created from 4K scans of the original camera negatives and features the complete performances of Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren for the first time.

The actors were joined by some hip-hop legends on the picket lines this morning.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Four CEOs are set to return to SAG-AFTRA headquarters on Tuesday with a new offer that they hope will break the stalemate in the 102-day actors strike. Among them will be Disney’s Bob Iger, who called SAG-AFTRA’s top negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, on Saturday to invite the actors back to the bargaining table. The CEOs — who also include David Zaslav of Warner Bros.

Sony Pictures today officially announced via Twitter that their third “Paddington” film titled “Paddington In Peru” would be officially heading to theaters on January 17, 2025 (though it will open two months earlier in the U.K. on November 8, 2024).

Editor’s note: On the 100th day of SAG-AFTRA’s strike, the 160,000-strong guild and the studios are once again not talking, and no new negotiations are planned. Writers are back at work, but with no actors deal, Hollywood production remains shut down. SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher asserts that it doesn’t have to be like this, that the economic suffering has to be solved. But first, she writes, the studios have to return to the bargaining table and stop playing games with the industry and people’s livelihoods.

Concerned that a prolonged actors strike would bring long-term, irreparable harm to the industry, Hollywood’s biggest stars on a Zoom call this week with SAG-AFTRA leaders pledged to commit $150 million over three years to remove a cap on union dues to bring more coin to guild coffers, and they suggested a streamer residual structure that would put actors on the bottom of the call sheet before them, in hopes that getting money faster would help more struggling actors qualify for benefits.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer On the first day of the SAG-AFTRA strike in July, union president Fran Drescher was asked how long she expected it to last. “We’re set up to go six months if we have to,” Drescher said. It hasn’t been that long yet.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While at the Lumiere Film Festival in Lyon, German film master Wim Wenders said he shares Martin Scorsese’s deep concern over Hollywood’s obsession with sequels, and worries about AI in line with U.S. actors who are still on strike.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Scarlett Johansson and a group of other A-listers gave a proposal to SAG-AFTRA leadership on Tuesday, which they hoped would help end the 98-day actors strike. But the proposal was rejected on Wednesday by the union’s negotiating committee, which is sticking to the demands it has spelled out over many weeks of negotiations. To understand why, it might help to delve more deeply into the proposal.

This is Day 96 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Angelique Jackson The American Cinematheque awards, scheduled for November 4, has been postponed due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. Helen Mirren was previously announced to be the recipient of the 37th American Cinematheque Award, with Kevin Goetz and Screen Engine set to be honored with the Power of Cinema Award, presented by Hill Valley. The new date for the annual awards ceremony, held at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, will be announced in the coming weeks.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Talks broke down last week between the major studios and SAG-AFTRA, with the studios saying that the gap between the two sides is “too great” to continue productive negotiations. Until they can bridge the gap, SAG-AFTRA will remain on strike and the entertainment industry will remain shut down. So how big is that gap? About $480 million a year.

Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy is opening up about the upcoming blockbuster.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor SAG-AFTRA has canceled pickets in New York and Los Angeles on Friday due to “potential safety concerns that are unrelated to our ongoing strike,” the guild announced Thursday night. “Stay safe and see you on the picket lines next week,” said the statement from SAG-AFTRA.

Bryan Lourd shot back at eyebrow-raising comments by longtime rival agency CEO Ari Emanuel on Thursday, regarding recent litigation brought on to CAA by actress Julia Ormond. Emanuel, CEO of the parent company to WME, attended Bloomberg’s Screentime conference this week and called for Lourd and his longtime partner Kevin Huvane to “take a leave of absence” amid a lawsuit from Ormond. That suit charges The Walt Disney Company and CAA with compliance in abuse Ormond says she suffered at the hands of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.