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The BAFTA nominations are in less than 24 hours and the Oscar nominations are in less than a week, but there are still other adjacent awards season nominations to unveil. This morning, The USC Libraries revealed the honorees for the 2024 USC Scripter Awards rewarding the best in adapted screenplays for television and film.

As we all still catch up on the best films of 2023 or the ones that, at least, needed time for broader distribution, January is already delivering a bevy of solid and worthwhile titles. It’s a busy time of year for film, from the awards discussion in the lead-up to the Oscars to the Sundance Film Festival, but Hollywood doesn’t slow down to accommodate.

Lots of excellent movies premiered at the Venice Film Festival this year, like “Poor Things,” “Maestro,” and “Priscilla.” But while those films already have awards buzz swirling around them, don’t forget about Ava DuVernay’s “Origin,” a complex drama about a journalist grappling with tremendous tragedies in her life and the global journey she embarks on.

December is overridden with terrific and exciting films that are worth adding to your likely growing “to watch” list. As end-of-year “best of” lists continue to roll in, along with critics’ awards already naming the year’s strongest contenders, it’s easy to lose certain titles to the shuffle.

In quick succession, filmmaker Ava DuVernay became the first black woman to win the Sundance Award for Best Directing for “Middle of Nowhere” (2010). Then the first black woman to be nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Picture for “Selma” (2014).

When Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) first conceived of the multifaceted premise that would eventually become the lauded non-fiction book “Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents,” her editors were concerned about whether she would manage to cohesively merge her personal experiences with all the moving parts of her research across cultures and continents to prove that it all interconnects.   Venice Film Festival 2023: The 17 Most Anticipated Movies To Watch That’s in turn the same task that writer-director Ava DuVernay faced to convey the big-picture ideas and Wilkerson’s revelatory odyssey to put them on the page in an enticingly cinematic manner.

It’s crazy to think that it’s been nine years since the release of Ava DuVernay’s Oscar-nominated film, “Selma.” And over that time, while she has produced quite a bit and even directed an acclaimed limited series, DuVernay has only released one feature film, the underwhelming “A Wrinkle in Time.” However, it would appear the filmmaker is returning in a big, big way with her new film, “Origin.” READ MORE: ‘Origin’ First Look: Ava DuVernay’s Adaptation Of ‘Caste’ With Aunjanue Ellis, Jon Bernthal & Vera Farmiga Premieres At Venice On September 6 As seen in the new teaser for “Origin,” the film is inspired by the life of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson as she writes the book, “Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents.” The journey to bring that book to life finds Wilkerson traveling all over the world and experiencing various cultures.  Continue reading ‘Origin’ Teaser: Ava DuVernay’s New Drama Is Picked Up By NEON & Will Hit Theaters Later This Year at The Playlist.

Denzel Washington has played former spy Robert McCall in 2014’s The Equalizer, 2018’s The Equalizer 2, and will reprise the role in the franchise’s upcoming The Equalizer 3.

Ethan Shanfeld “The Equalizer 3” has been touted as the final film in the Denzel Washington action series, but director Antoine Fuqua isn’t closing the door on more Robert McCall. In fact, Fuqua has even considered de-aging his leading man for a continuation of the franchise in the form of an origin story. “I definitely thought about it a lot,” Fuqua told NME in a new interview.

The Equalizer film franchise, said director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) – and he considered using the tech on new film The Equalizer 3.Speaking to NME in an exclusive interview to promote vigilante ex-hitman Robert McCall’s third outing, in UK cinemas August 30, Fuqua said: “I definitely thought about it a lot. Especially now with the new technology and the AI and all of that kind of stuff… Is there a story to be told about how [McCall] became this person – the younger version. I’ve had that conversation with Richard Wenk [who co-wrote all three Equalizer films] quite a bit.”De-aging older actors has become commonplace in recent years, with an 80-year-old Harrison Ford getting the treatment for a flashback scene in Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny; and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman aging down Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino.

If you’ve watched “Succession” or “Knives Out,” you know that families can go a little crazy when large estates are left on the table. That’s definitely the case in the new film, “The Origin of Evil.” READ MORE: ‘Medusa Deluxe’ Review: Energetic Hairdresser Murder Mystery Mainly Coasts on Vibes As seen in the trailer for “The Origin of Evil,” the film follows the story of a woman who reconnects with her estranged father, who happens to be extremely wealthy.

J. Kim Murphy SPOILER ALERT: This article discusses the Episode 3 of HBO’s “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” Season 2, now streaming on Max.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic Is comic-book movie culture reaching a tipping point…into peak exhaustion? This summer, we’ve seen signs of that in the ho-hum box-office returns for “The Flash” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” To be fair, the mega-success of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” has testified to the genre’s continuing appeal. Still, there are onscreen indicators that the superhero-movie audience, while it remains vast, might be entering the thrill-is-gone zone.

Boom! Hear the bass go zoom!

“Blue Beetle” is a milestone film for the superhero genre. Within the narrative of the DCU, Blue Beetle himself is the first hero to be brought aboard by James Gunn and also the big screen’s first Latino lead superhero.

“Blue Beetle” is a milestone film for the superhero genre. Within the narrative of the DCU, Blue Beetle himself is the first hero to be brought aboard by James Gunn and also the big screen’s first Latino lead superhero.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director When Warner Bros. contacted “Charm City Kings” filmmaker Angel Manuel Soto about potentially directing a DC comic book tentpole, he geared up to pitch the studio on a much different movie. “I wanted to pitch ideas, and one of them was the Bane origin story,” Soto recently told Den of Geek magazine.

Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" opened to a $155 million debut, but the movie – which received accolades for breaking the first weekend record for a film directed by a woman – has had its fair share of on-screen and off-screen controversies. Gerwig's tale, which was co-written with husband Noah Baumbach, follows Margot Robbie as the dream doll living in a dream world until she suffers a sudden existential crisis that leads her to question everything about her life.The movie has not been without its controversies though, from Ryan Gosling being deemed too old to play Ken, to the film ignoring its "core audience" to focus on LGBTQ stories, according to one faith-based review site.

EXCLUSIVE: LeBron James’ origin story is striking a chord with audiences on Peacock.

Olivia Rodrigo tapped into some vulnerable emotions to write her latest single, “Vampire”.

The first trailer for Sony Pictures and Marvel’s “Kraven the Hunter” has arrived.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is hunting big game in the first trailer for Sony’s “Kraven the Hunter.”The new film teases a villain origin story for Marvel character. In comic book storylines, Kraven is a killer predator that sets his sights on Spider-Man. He is also oftentimes portrayed as a member of the supervillain team the Sinister Six.The latest in Sony Pictures’ universe of Marvel characters — which includes the Spidey spinoffs “Venom” and “Morbius,” as well as the upcoming “Madame Web” — “Kraven the Hunter” is set to be released theatrically Oct. 6. Taylor-Johnson stars alongside Ariana DeBose, Christopher Abbott, Alessandro Nivola, Russell Crowe and Fred Hechinger. 

Mario Falcone took to Instagram on Tuesday to announce that his wife Becky had given birth to their second child, a baby daughter.The former TOWIE star, 34, who already has Parker Jax, four, with Becky, also revealed the unusual gender neutral name the couple had chosen for their newborn who they welcomed on Monday- Cali Roux. Cali, which means cup, fairest, beautiful and lovely, is sometimes used as a shortened form of the name Calista and has Latin origins. According to the Bump, the name, which has become increasingly popular, was invented in the 20th century and has no confirmed history.

EXCLUSIVE: FilmSharks has acquired world rights to the Spanish horror pic The Boogeyman: The Origin of the Myth (El Hombre Del Saco) and locked a series of key international deals out of Cannes.

Ana De Armas has joined the cast of Ron Howard's survival thriller 'Origin of Species'. The 35-year-old actress - who previously played Paloma in the James Bond film 'No Time to Die' - is set to star in the upcoming movie alongside the likes of Jude Law, Alicia Vikander and Daniel Bruhl, according to Deadline. The film has been billed as a "tale of murder and survival, set around a group of eclectic characters who abandon civilisation for the Galapagos.

trailer for Searchlight Pictures’ “Flamin’ Hot,” the feature directorial debut of Eva Longoria which tells the supposed origin story of the most famous flavor of Cheetos ever made. “Flamin’ Hot” stars Jesse Garcia as Richard Montañez, the son of migrant workers who rose from being a janitor at Frito-Lay’s factory in Rancho Cucamonga to becoming one of the snack company’s marketing executives who helped rapidly grow sales of its products among Latinos.

Flamin’ Hot, directed by Eva Longoria, tells the origin story of a Frito Lay janitor who created the iconic Flamin’ Hot Cheetos snack.

Julia MacCary editor Hulu dropped its first trailer for “Flamin’ Hot,” an Eva Longoria-directed film about Mexican immigrant and former Frito-Lay janitor Richard Montañez, who claims he invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. The film, streaming June 9, stars Jesse Garcia as Montañez, as well as Annie Gonzales, Dennis Haysbert, Tony Shalhoub, Matt Walsh and Emilio Rivera. Montañez’s story is that while he was working as a custodian at the Rancho Cucamonga Frito-Lay plant, he thought of spicing up Cheetos with chile powder. He contacted executives to pitch the snack and subsequently outsmarted corporate saboteurs, leading him to become a successful author and businessman.

Back in the days before he began asking wrestling fans if they could smell what the Rock was cooking, Dwayne Johnson put together an outfit and posed for a photo that haunts him to this day.

William Earl This post contains spoilers for “Evil Dead Rise.” “Evil Dead Rise” director Lee Cronin has made his enthusiasm for the horror franchise known over the course of the past weeks, with each interview featuring him taking delight in recounting the amount of gore and severed limbs he had to wrangle on set. It’s no surprise that when asked about the future of the franchise, Cronin is full of ideas. In a conversation with Variety, Cronin breaks down our biggest burning questions after seeing “Rise.” Do you have any ideas for sequels? I certainly do. I didn’t want to bait it for sequels necessarily, even though the ending could be interpreted that way. But the ending for me was closing the loop back to the beginning. The way the story is told, I’ve got four places I’d like to look at in terms of where to go… I’m excited for the potential of what could be next and and really hope that I can be involved in in future chapters.