This is Beirut

Netflix Targets Warner Bros Discovery in Major Hollywood Shake-Up

This is Beirut, 02/12 15:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Entertainment Netflix Warner Bros Discovery Film US Culture

Streaming giant Netflix has made a mostly cash offer to buy TV and film group Warner Bros Discovery as the storied yet debt-laden Hollywood studio presses on with a sale that could remake the US media landscape, a report said Monday. According to Bloomberg, Netflix joined Paramount Skydance and Comcast, the owner of NBCUniversal, in a second ...

Iranian Filmmaker Jafar Panahi Sentenced in Absentia Amid Cannes Triumph

This is Beirut, 02/12 13:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Film Jafar Panahi Justice Iran Culture

Iran has sentenced Palme d'Or-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi in absentia to one year in prison and a travel ban over "propaganda activities" against the country, his lawyer told AFP on Monday. The sentence includes a two-year travel ban and prohibition of Panahi from membership in any political or social groups, lawyer Mostafa Nili told AFP, ...

Disney’s 'Zootopia 2' Leaps to the Top of the North American Thanksgiving Charts

This is Beirut, 01/12 12:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Film North American Box Office Animation Canada US Culture

Disney's feel-good animated sequel Zootopia 2 ruled the Thanksgiving box office in North America, taking in $156 million over the five-day holiday weekend, industry estimates showed Sunday. Zootopia 2, the buddy cop comedy featuring a menagerie of talking animals battling stereotypes, is the much-anticipated follow-up to the 2016 hit, which won ...

AI Nostalgia Videos Revive a Dreamy Vision of 1980s Life

This is Beirut, 25/11 11:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

AI Film Videos Cinema Culture Art

“The 1980s are calling,” a teenager with a throwback hairstyle tells viewers as “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” the Tears for Fears rock anthem from that decade, plays in the background. The fake montage — entirely generated using artificial intelligence — has racked up more than 600,000 “likes” on Instagram and is part of an ...

German Hollywood Veteran Udo Kier Dead at 81

This is Beirut, 24/11 16:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Film Obituary Udo Kier Actor Germany Culture

German actor Udo Kier, whose offbeat charisma made him a cult figure in both arthouse and Hollywood cinema, has died at 81 in California, US magazine Variety reported. With a career spanning more than half a century, Kier appeared in hundreds of films, often stealing scenes with his unmistakable presence. Kier first rose to fame in the 1970s ...

'Below the Clouds': Gianfranco Rosi’s Meditative Portrait of Naples

This is Beirut, 18/11 17:40 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Film Gianfranco Rosi Italy Culture

If the regular recipe for success in the modern entertainment industry or on social media is being loud, attention-seeking, and a prolific creator of "content," Italian filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi has carved out a career doing the exact opposite. The work of the award-winning documentary producer is everything our contemporary culture is not: slow, ...

Wicked Sequel Expands Oz With Depth, Music And Magic

This is Beirut, 18/11 13:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Film Cinema Premiere NYC Culture Art

When Universal Pictures split its musical adaptation of Wicked into two films, the move was derided by some critics as a cynical — if spectacularly successful — money grab. But with Wicked: For Good out in theaters around the world this week, its stars and filmmakers say the decision has freed them up to expand the Wizard of Oz prequel ...

Michelle Yeoh to Receive Lifetime Achievement Honor at 2026 Berlin Film Festival

This is Beirut, 15/11 10:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Film Berlinale Festival Michelle Yeoh Award Germany Culture

Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at next year's Berlinale film festival, organizers said Friday. Yeoh, 63, will receive the Honorary Golden Bear in recognition of her "outstanding achievements in film and cinema," the festival said in a statement. "Michelle Yeoh is a visionary artist and performer ...

Nintendo Marks 40 Years of Mario with New Movie Trailer

This is Beirut, 13/11 13:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Entertainment Games Film Nintendo Japan Culture

Super Mario fans got a first look on Wednesday at the sequel to the megahit movie based on Nintendo's top video game franchise that turned 40 this year. US star Brie Larson joins Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black in the voice cast of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, a CGI animation set for release in April 2026. It follows the huge ...

Pope Leo XIV Shares His Favorite Films Ahead of Vatican Hollywood Audience

This is Beirut, 13/11 10:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Film Pope Leo XIV Vatican Italy Culture

Pope Leo XIV has revealed his four favorite films ahead of a special audience with Hollywood celebrities and Oscar-winning directors at the Vatican. Leo, the first pope from the United States, picked tearjerkers, including Frank Capra's classic 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life with James Stewart, in which an angel is sent from heaven to help a ...

'Intersections': The Uk Film Festival in Lebanon Launches its First Edition in Beirut

This is Beirut, 12/11 14:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Cinema Beirut Film Culture UK Metropolis

Beirut welcomes a new landmark cultural event this November: Intersections – The UK Film Festival in Lebanon, a major collaboration between the British Council, the British Embassy in Beirut, and the Metropolis Cinema Association, supported by the UK Government’s Great Britain and Northern Ireland Campaign. Running from 13 to 19 November 2025 ...

Iranian Actor Homayoun Ershadi, Star of 'Taste of Cherry', Dies Following Cancer Struggle

This is Beirut, 11/11 12:50 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Film Obituary Homayoun Ershadi Iran Culture

Iranian actor Homayoun Ershadi died at 78 on Tuesday after a battle with cancer, state news agency IRNA reported. Ershadi rose to international fame with his breakout role in the late Abbas Kiarostami's Palme d'Or-winning Taste of Cherry (1997), which tells the story of a hopeless man looking for someone to bury him after his planned ...

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