20 h. ago Heroic indifference: was Thunderbolts* always doomed at the box office?

A cast of indie darlings and the critics’ seal of approval hasn’t saved this supervillain spin-off – but that asterisk is a sign of monumental instalments to comeThere’s no such thing as a sure thing in Hollywood. Just ask Marvel Studios – once the box office equivalent of a cashpoint duct-taped to a golden goose, now resembling a busted slot machine in Skegness. Reports this week suggest that Thunderbolts*, the studio’s latest attempt to turn supervillain also-rans into marquee gold, has officially faceplanted at the box office despite strong reviews, a cast stacked with rising stars and indie darlings, and enough emotional baggage to ground a Sundance drama.In theory, Jake Schreier’s rowdy ensemble piece had it all: Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell’s jawline, a marketing campaign whispering “this isn’t your dad’s Marvel film”, and the sort of melancholic indie sheen that usually comes free with a Bon Iver soundtrack. Critics even liked it. And yet audiences, perhaps stu...

Politics

23 h. ago Finn Russell and Bath face day of destiny in throwback Premiership final

29 years after last lifting the Premiership title, Bath take on old rivals Leicester in a classic fixture at Twickenham

Politics

43 h. ago ‘Chaps frame the buttocks in a beautiful way’: John C Reilly on Magnolia, moving into music – and his nice bum

The actor and musician takes your questions on devastating box office results, his love of Oliver Hardy, and his new vaudeville crooner alter egoYour roles fluctuate wildly between the serious and silly. Does one necessitate the other? vammypI’ve always thought it’s all the same. You just try to be as honest as you can, and if you’re being honest in absurd circumstances then you’re in a comedy. It’s not like I try to be funny or serious – just honest. If you’re watching someone play a bad guy and there’s nothing about the performance that makes you feel for the person or understand them in a deeper way, that’s a fail to me. Because the truth of life is that at a funeral someone always cracks a joke. There’s something so rich about being able to laugh at a funeral. That is what life is to me: all those grey areas, these contradictory things.I’m impressed and baffled by this left turn with Mister Romantic [Reilly’s vaudevillian crooner alter ego]. How did you come up with the characte...

Politics

3 d. ago Tourists urged to leave one item on suitcase or risk losing luggage at airport

Luggage experts at GMT Zero reveal the one small - but highly necessary - item that ensures your luggage stays on course to your final travel destination

Society

3 d. ago How to Train Your Dragon review – faithful yet utterly soulless remake

DreamWorks tries to find success with the Disney live-action remake template but falls shortIt was only a matter of time before DreamWorks jumped on the lucrative live-action remake bandwagon with its soulless new How to Train Your Dragon. Disney has been playing this cynical game since 1994 – releasing their Jungle Book remake (the one starring Jason Scott Lee) the same year DreamWorks was founded – and striking gold with Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (2010), which arrived in theatres just weeks before the original How To Train Your Dragon landed.It also comes as no surprise that DreamWorks moved with Night Fury speed to revisit a movie that’s only 15 years old. As the recent Lilo & Stitch proved, there’s plenty box office gold to mine from introducing new children to a young and beloved property, while banking on the nostalgia that a generation without fully formed frontal lobes would carry for the not-so-distant animated films and TV spinoffs they were weaned on. Continue ...

Politics

4 d. ago Blake Lively vs Justin Baldoni: A timeline of the feud and lawsuit between It Ends With Us co

Bitter feud is alleged to have begun while the pair were filming the box office hit

Society

5 d. ago The worst sports movie in history? I asked Sepp Blatter about Fifa’s United Passions | Sean Ingle

Organisation’s former president has no regrets over what was lowest grossing film in US history when released a decade agoThere are movies that bomb at the box office. And then there is the Fifa biopic United Passions, starring Tim Roth, Sam Neill and Gérard Depardieu, which was hit with the cinematic equivalent of a thermonuclear strike when it opened in the US 10 years ago this week.You might remember the fallout; the fact it took only $918 (£678) in its opening weekend, making it the lowest grossing film in US history at the time, and the stories detailing how two people bought tickets to see it in Philadelphia, and only one in Phoenix, before it was pulled by distributors. Continue reading...

Culture

5 d. ago Tony awards 2025: Maybe Happy Ending and Nicole Scherzinger win big while George Clooney misses out

The romantic robot musical picked up six awards while Clooney’s box office smash Good Night, and Good Luck left empty-handedThe full list of winnersRed carpet looks and best of the show – in picturesRomantic robot musical Maybe Happy Ending has triumphed with six wins at this year’s Tony awards, with actors Cole Escola and Kara Young also making history in their respective categories.Maybe Happy Ending was named best musical, with its star Darren Criss also taking home the award for leading actor in a musical. The first-time winner spoke about being proud to be part of a “notably diverse and exquisite” Broadway season, while Michael Arden, who won best direction of a musical for the show, said that “empathy is not a weakness but it is a gift and our shared responsibility” in a speech ending with him wishing everyone a happy Pride Month. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago ‘Lilo & Stitch’ cruises to No. 1 again; John Wick spinoff ‘Ballerina’ dances to 2nd place

“Lilo & Stich” has topped the domestic box office charts for a third weekend

Politics

6 d. ago 'Flawless' animated movie dubbed 'much better than Minions' is now free to stream

This huge box office hit from 2016 that's perfect for families is now available to watch completely free of charge

Politics

6 d. ago How Hollywood took over Broadway and obliterated box office records

George Clooney, Denzel Washington and Kieran Culkin helped Broadway set new box office records this year thanks to sky-high ticket prices. ‘The Independent’s’ resident Broadway expert Caitlin Hornik examines what this could mean for the Great White Way

Politics

7 d. ago MOVIE REVIEW: We see if 'Final Destination: Bloodlines' breathes new life into horror franchise

Sixth instalment honours series' legacy as well as adding to its lore.

Events

7 d. ago Ryan Reynolds' new £50m purchase and net worth after divorce from Hollywood actress

The Wrexham AFC co-owner has accumulated a vast fortune from a string of box office hits and a number of savvy investments

Economics

8 d. ago East Ayrshire Leisure Trust opens new box office in Kilmarnock town centre

The new box office will serve as a central hub for ticketing and customer enquiries.

Politics

9 d. ago The good, the bad and the ugly: Clint Eastwood’s interview debacle reveals bleak truths about film journalism

An Austrian newspaper ran an interview with the cinema legend which he denied ever giving. What actually happens in the world of movie reporting can be yet more murkyIt is no surprise that Austrian newspaper Kurier’s Clint Eastwood interview went viral over the weekend. An audience with a 95-year-old film legend containing stern words about the current state of cinema was always going to go like a rocket. Particularly during cinema’s dregs season: the thin period post Cannes and pre the summer proper, with Mission: Impossible fever fading fast and Lilo & Stitch ruling the box office – a success from which only so many stories can be spun.Further evidence of this thinness comes from a quick scan of the news stories run over the past week in some of the trade magazines – Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Screen International – who must keep producing them, regardless of actual material. These include a write-off of an interview in which Michael Cera says he didn’t think Jacki...

Politics

1 week ago The Seven Year Itch at 70: a comedy about infidelity ruined by the Hays code

Marilyn Monroe is incandescent in Billy Wilder’s comedy about a tempted married man, but it’s a film hampered by restrictions of the timeOne of the patterns that emerges in Conversations With Wilder, a delightfully candid 1999 interview book that the director Cameron Crowe did with his film-making hero, Billy Wilder, is that Wilder tends to look more fondly on his hits than his misses. To him, commercial flops were rarely the result of audiences misunderstanding his work, but a regrettable failure on his part to connect with them. So it’s notable that Wilder didn’t have kind things to say about the Marilyn Monroe comedy The Seven Year Itch, a box-office sensation that’s rightfully settled a few tiers below classics like Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, The Apartment and Some Like It Hot, his brilliant second go-around with Monroe.A work-for-hire job for Darryl Zanuck at 20th Century Fox, The Seven Year Itch didn’t originate with Wilder, but George Axelrod’s 1952 Broadway comedy a...

Politics

1 week ago ‘We were like brothers, but we scrapped’: the chaos and pranks that shaped The Goonies – by its cast and crew

Forty years on, Richard Donner’s adventure movie continues to delight audiences – and its heroes and villains. They remember the thrills they had behind the scenesWhen The Goonies was first released in 1985, the swashbuckling kids’ adventure became a resounding box office hit. Audiences were charmed by Mikey (Sean Astin), Data (Ke Huy Quan), Chunk (Jeff Cohen) and Mouth’s (Corey Feldman) rambunctious personalities as the self-styled Goonies, who were desperately trying to save their homes in Astoria, Oregon, from being sold off by a property development company.Steven Spielberg is rumoured to have come up with the idea for The Goonies when he wondered what kids got up to on rainy days. Apparently the answer was daring exploits worthy of Indiana Jones involving a dastardly family of ex-cons and a hidden shipwreck heaving with jewels. It all combined to make a touching film about the power of friendship that was also rip-roaring good fun. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Original cast of Final Destination now from ditching fame to heartbreaking tragedy

The first Final Destination movie was released in 2000 and saw the likes of Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Seann William Scott and Tony Todd take on the roles of high school students

Politics

1 week ago 'Lilo & Stitch' passes 'Sinners' to become 2nd highest grossing film of 2025

“Lilo & Stitch” has once again placed first on the box office charts

Politics

1 week ago 23 brilliant movies that bombed at the box office, from The Shawshank Redemption to Children of Men

Jacob Stolworthy runs through the films that didn’t get the attention they deserved

Society