News

The fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” is headed our way here in 2025, and series creators the Duffer Brothers have offered up some fresh “Stranger Things 5” teasers.

As reported by Entertainment Weekly, Matt and Ross Duffer are hyping the final hours of the hit Netflix series less as episodes and more as a series of “eight blockbuster movies.”

“We spent a full year filming this season. By the end, we had captured over 650 hours of footage,” Ross Duffer said at a Netflix event today. “So, needless to say, this is our biggest and most ambitious season yet. It’s like eight blockbuster movies. It’s pretty, pretty insane.”

“Season 5 will be big and epic,” Matt Duffer added, echoing Ross’s promise for the final season. “There’s no time for a ramp-up. It’s going to be intense from beginning to end.”

The scale of “Stranger Things 5″ is bigger than the previous four seasons,...

The cast and crew of Stranger Things finished filming the fifth and final season in December 2024. While there's been speculation about the season 5 release date since season 4 hit Netflix in the summer of 2022, the rumor mill is finally heating up anew here in the new year.

Earlier this month, fans reportedly found a possible release date for Stranger Things season 5. Now, the Netflix blog What's on Netflix is reporting a new rumor that season 5 will be split into two parts. The release for part 1 would be sometime in October followed by part 2 in November. What's on Netflix did not report any specific release dates.

In other words, the rumor suggests the release dates for Stranger Things season 5 will coincide with the fall holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Netflix hasn't commented on the latest rumors yet.

Based on how Netflix has rolled out new seasons of its biggest shows over the last few years,...

Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard is reflecting on the way he’s been personally affected by seeing his 10-year run with the show come to a close, with the conclusion of production on the series’ fifth and final season.

“A lot of people grew up on that show. It was a very emotional thing to leave behind,” Wolfhard told Deadline today in an appearance at our Sundance Studio, where he was promoting his forthcoming A24 film The Legend of Ochi. “But I’m incredibly excited just to see the show because you work for something for so [long]… It was sort of like this movie where it’s like, we worked on this so long ago, in 2021, and you move on and live your life, and then all of a sudden it’s like, oh, it’s happening. The thing we did is finally coming out, and you get to re-experience these awesome things.

Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” leads the 7th annual Latino Entertainment Film Awards with an impressive 17 nominations, including best picture, director, and four acting nods for Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and Zoe Saldaña. Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi sequel “Dune: Part 2” follows with 10.

The Latino Entertainment Journalists Association (Leja), which celebrates the year’s best in film and Latino talent, was also fans of Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance” and Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked,” which earned nine nominations each. These films join other best picture nominees, including “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” “Conclave,” “I’m Still Here,” “Nickel Boys,” and “Sing Sing.”

“I’m Still Here” from Sony Pictures Classics surprised many with its robust Oscar showing, including a best picture nomination. In addition to recognition for Fernanda Torres in best actress, the Brazilian drama also earned nods for director (Walter Salles), adapted screenplay, cinematography and editing.

Leja also announced...

After being delayed several months by the writers strike and the actors strike, season 5 of the hit Netflix series Stranger Things (which is also the last season of the show) finally went into production at the start of 2024 with a twelve month shooting schedule, wrapping at the end of December. A month removed from the filming of the finale, series star Finn Wolfhard took a moment to discuss what it was like to finish working on the show while talking to Variety. Meanwhile, fans are speculating that Stranger Things season 5 might premiere sometime in the final months of 2025 – with some sources saying that it’s likely to have a split release, like Netflix did with season 4.

Stranger Things has the following synopsis: A love letter to the ‘80s classic genre films that captivated a generation, Stranger Things is a thrilling drama set in the seemingly normal Midwestern town of Hawkins,...

Final voting is February 11-18. The 97th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 2 and air live on ABC at 7 p.m. Et/ 4 p.m. Pt. We update our picks through awards season, so keep checking IndieWire for all our 2025 Oscar predictions.

The State of the Race

The Best Animated Feature nominees are “Flow,” “Inside Out 2,” “Memoir of a Snail,” “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” and “The Wild Robot.”

“The Wild Robot” is the slight favorite after grabbing two additional Oscar nominations for score (Kris Bowers) and sound. This is a first for DreamWorks Animation. However, the sci-fi adventure from director Chris Sanders (who is very well liked and due for a win) is in a tight race with indie sensation “Flow,” which also secured a Best International Feature nomination for Latvia. “Flow” is on a roll of its own, capturing prizes from the Golden Globes, the National Board of Review,...

As the highest-grossing animated film of all time, it’s not a surprise that Inside Out 2 was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated Feature category this morning. Though that fact didn’t temper the anxiety director Kelsey Mann felt when he set his alarm last night.

“I’m normally used to having Anxiety drive me at night when something is coming the next morning, but I found that not only was she at the controls, but Joy was there too,” says Mann. “I was really excited to get up and hear what possibly could happen.”

Not only is this special because it’s Mann’s first Oscar nomination, but the recognition for a sequel of a beloved Pixar film is the best part of his morning. “There’s always high expectations for any film that we do at Pixar, but to do one that’s a follow...

Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things is gearing up for its final chapter, with Season 5 officially set to premiere on November 27, 2025. This date was discovered through Netflix’s website code, as shared by @UpsideDownScoop on X, who often provides updates about the show.

The user noted that the release is currently planned as a single volume, though there’s always a chance Netflix might adjust its plans before then.

| Did we just uncover the possible release date for Stranger Things 5?

By examining Netflix’s website code, we discovered that the internal release date for #StrangerThings5 is listed as:

Thursday, November 27, 2025

What are your thoughts on this potential date?… pic.twitter.com/Uy4jyANoxr

— Stranger Things News (@UpsideDownScoop) January 22, 2025

Here’s a bit more context: The Title ID confirms this is for Stranger Things:

> https://t.co/CXjR2Gcfyr (The numbers match)

As of now, #StrangerThings5 is listed to release in one volume!

Blueberry pie-scented candles (Heretic). Emotion-themed Sugarfina candy boxes (Inside Out 2). Shiz University sweatshirts (Wicked).

That’s just a (literal) taste of some of the swag (aka promotional items) that have been sent out to voters this season by savvy awards campaigners. Lavishly bound screenplays, one-of-a-kind posters, T-shirts and the like are de rigueur for any self-respecting FYC team, and this season did not disappoint.

Disney-Pixar’s Inside Out 2 teamed up with luxury candy shop Sugarfina in an effort to remind voters to “consider every emotion” this Oscar season. All of your favorite characters from the box-office behemoth were represented in edible form, including Maya Hawke‘s Anxiety (peach bellini gummies), Phyllis Smith‘s Sadness (robin’s egg caramels), Ayo Edebiri‘s Envy (sour rainbows), Adèle Exarchopoulos‘ Ennui (birthday cake cookie bites), Amy Poehler‘s Joy (lemon shortbread cookie bites), Paul Walter Hauser‘s Embarrassment (rosé frosé wine gems...

Since 2016, the young cast members of Netflix's Stranger Things have impressed audiences with their heartfelt performances, which means there is no excuse for overlooking the actors' other amazing projects. Over the course of nearly ten years, the Duffer Brothers have crafted four (going on five) seasons of their sci-fi TV series, Stranger Things. Along with the 1980s nostalgia and thrillingly dark plot, the show is a success because of Stranger Things' talented ensemble cast. From icons like Winona Ryder to newcomers like Millie Bobby Brown, the show offers something for everyone.

Generally, the cast of Stranger Things is split up into two parts: the adult cast and the young cast. Stranger Things' young cast includes Finn Wolfhard as Mike, Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, Noah Schnapp as Will, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas, and Sadie Sink as Max. There is also Joe Keery as Steve, Natalia Dyer as Nancy,...

Director Kelsey Mann, producer Mark Nielsen, writers Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein and composer Andrea Datzman sat down with Clayton Davis, Variety’s Senior Awards Editor, at the Variety FYC Screening presented by Disney & Pixar, to chat about their work on “Inside Out 2.”

The billion-dollar animated hit “Inside Out 2” introduces an older Riley, now age 13, as she enters high school and discovers a new set of emotions including Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser). As a director, Mann was drawn in to how universal the experience of being a teenager is: “It’s always this thing that everybody kind of knows about.”

For “Inside Out 2,” Mann assembled an advisory group of teenage girls ages 13 to 16 to give their thoughts on every version of the film. While Mann imagined having to really sell Pixar on it, he recalls how open they were to the idea.

[Editor’s note: This guide was published in fall 2021 and has been updated multiple times since.]

As Netflix’s library of films ebbs and flows, finding the right movie to watch can feel like bailing out an ocean with a spoon. And if you’re looking for a quality horror movie in particular, the search only gets harder. With the reality that Horror is one of the cheapest genres to produce, streamers like Netflix are cluttered with a veritable tsunami of bloody titles that sometimes seem indistinguishable from one another. Curating the 25 scariest movies on Netflix is then quite a process of selection and reduction.

If you’re looking for a good horror movie to watch on Netflix that will truly scare you, picking a final selection can prove a more daunting task than sitting through yet another “Haunting of Hill House” rewatch; with or without its beloved “Bly Manor” chaser. But while the streamer’s priorities seem to shift as quickly as its content selection grows,...

No animated movie dominated 2024 quite like Pixar’s “Inside Out 2.” The sequel, which saw lead character Riley, now a teenager, dealing with brand-new emotions like Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), Envy (Ayo Edebiri) and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), was an instant sensation. The follow-up to 2015’s “Inside Out” (which won the Best Animated Feature Oscar) is now the top-grossing animated movie of all time and the eighth highest-grossing film ever and has appeared on a number of year-end best-of lists. For director Kelsey Mann, the only emotion he’s feeling is joy.

“To have the response be what it was for this film was beyond what I had hoped for,” Mann said. “I hoped that people would go to the theaters and see it. And man, did they show up. It was apparent from that first weekend that people were excited to see the next chapter in Riley’s life.

The movies of 2024 have delivered some truly impressive star-studded casts. Challengers starred Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor. Inside Out 2 featured the voice talents of Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, and Ayo Edebiri. Conclave had an all-star line-up of Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and a scene-stealing Isabella Rossellini.

Dune: Part Two added Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, and Christopher Walken to an already stacked cast. Gladiator II brought in Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, and a hilarious Denzel Washington. 2024 has seen some of the world’s biggest movie stars share the screen.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Tim Burton returned to the world of the macabre this year for the long-awaited sequel to Beetlejuice. The cast of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice brought back most of the screen legends from the first movie, including Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz, and, of course, Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse. But it also...

As the last week of December approaches and viewers prepare for the upcoming animated movies of 2025, it's time to look back at the past year for the best animated movies of 2024. While a recent update about the release window of Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-verse, the current most-anticipated animated movie, practically confirms that there won't be a release date for another 2 years, 2024 has still been very exciting for animation, with the release of sequels to many beloved franchises.

Every animated movie released in 2024 didn't make as big a stir in the box office or among critics as they were supposed to, but there have been some noteworthy surprise hits. While Kung Fu Panda, Inside Out, Moana, and Despicable Me got anticipated sequels, the Transformers franchise branched out into animation, and The Wild Robot got critical and commercial success beyond what anyone had imagined it would.

Inside Out (2024) Directed by Kelsey Mann...

Ever since Netflix began its original programming with House of Cards, the streaming giant has graduated from being a budding network to one of the key players in the ecosystem. Several series like Squid Game, Stranger Things, and Money Heist have received incredible acclaim from across the world.

Netflix has clocked in watch hours in the billion with many of its original shows. The streaming platform has been pushing out originals for the past decade and has given some truly iconic and binge-able shows. Here are the top ten most-watched shows on Netflix.

10. The Witcher – Season 1 Henry Cavill in The Witcher | Credits: Netflix

Based on Swedish author Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy novels and the game by CD Projekt Red, The Witcher seemed to be Netflix’s answer to Game of Thrones. While the series leaned more into the fantasy realm than in Got’s political world, the Henry Cavill-starrer gained...

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2024 has come to an end, and while this year wasn’t the greatest year for films or Hollywood after the disastrous pandemic and the Writers’ and Actors’ strike, it did see the release of some great films. From the much-anticipated sequel of the sci-fi film Dune to the superhero buddy-comedy film no one thought would ever happen, Deadpool & Wolverine. So, lets find out which films that were released in 2024 you should not miss out on.

A Real Pain (In Select Theaters) Credit – Searchlight Pictures

A Real Pain is a buddy comedy-drama film written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg. The 2024 film follows American Jewish cousins David and Benji as they embark on a tour of Poland to honour their grandmother’s memories while exploring their family history. Still, their polar opposite personalities get in the way. A Real Pain stars Jesse Eisenberg,...

That’s a wrap! Production has concluded on the final episodes of Stranger Things, and one cast member gave an emotional speech on the final day of filming. Other cast members took to social media to say goodbye to the Netflix series.

Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Millie Bobby Brown, Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo, Cara Buono, Noah Schnapp, Joe Keery, Sadie Sink, Dacre Montgomery, Maya Hawke, and Priah Ferguson star in the Stranger Things series which is set in the 1980s. The story follows the residents of a small town as they deal with supernatural events.

Read More…...

Like every other good thing that comes to an end, even the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things must conclude with Season 5. The hit Netflix sci-fi series that premiered in the summer of 2016, has finally reached its climax and is now waiting to hit the streamer in 2025 to bid adieu to the fans.

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in Stranger Things | image: Netflix

Meanwhile, as we wait for the incoming transmission from Hawkins on Stranger Things S5, let’s take a look at what’s waiting for us in the finale.

Given how long the episodes were in season 4, guess how long the episodes in season 5 will be.

How long are Stranger Things S5 episodes?

Popular television shows are often known for concluding their run with either short and crisp finale making fans long for more, or massive feature-length movies answering every remaining question in their way.

So what could be waiting...

Millie Bobby Brown has shared an emotional collection of behind-the-scenes images and videos to mark the wrap of Stranger Things' final season. The Netflix hit, set in 1980s Hawkins, Indiana, follows a group of kids, led by Brown's psychokinetic Eleven ("El"), as they battle supernatural forces tied to a parallel dimension called the Upside Down. Stranger Things season 5 is set to debut in 2025, and will conclude the sci-fi horror show.

Shared on Instagram, Brown unveiled a collection of photos from older filming days, showcasing the actor's growth as Eleven after a decade of bringing Stranger Things to life alongside the Duffer Brothers. The gallery also ends with a video from Brown's final day on set, in which she emotionally shares her gratitude for her co-stars and the crew of the show for having worked together over the years. Check out the post below:

View this post on InstagramA post shared...

This weekend, director Barry Jenkins brings the story of Mufasa to life through the live-action style popularized by the 2019 The Lion King. It was an unusual choice to craft a prequel to the popular franchise but also provided some distance from the straight-to-dvd sequels of the 2000s. With Mufasa: The Lion King, we’re seeing a return to the Disney sequels and Disney prequels of the past. It’s no longer confined to animation, but with features like Maleficient, Alice in Wonderland, and Lightyear, Disney continues to expand its franchises.

What was a very uncommon aspect of Disney for its first sixty years became popularized in the 1990s. Three decades later, we’ve seen the House of Mouse continue to roll out these films. With Mufasa: The Lion King releasing this week, here are 10 of our favorite sequels and Disney prequels. Out of fairness, we’re only including a single entry from each franchise,...

Netflix just dropped the biggest news of the year on the Friday before Christmas! The cast and crew have officially finished filming Stranger Things season 5, the final season of the most popular Netflix original series of all time.

Production on Stranger Things season 5 officially kicked off in early 2024, and the cast and crew basically filmed for the full year. That's quite the production schedule for an eight-episode series, but everyone is expecting some long, long episodes, just like we saw with the Stranger Things season 4 finale.

Stranger Things season 5 is coming in 2025

That's A Wrap On Stranger Things. See you in 2025. pic.twitter.com/DWkIwMMOJ3

— Netflix (@netflix) December 20, 2024

In addition to the news that filming had wrapped, Netflix confirmed (for probably the fourth or fifth time at this point) that Stranger Things season 5 will be released sometime in 2025. There's no release date for the new season yet, but there's a rumor going around that something,...

Updated with the latest: Stranger Things Season 5 has officially wrapped production. The end is closer than originally thought for Netflix tentpole from the Duffer Brothers.

The fifth and final season of the show has been in the works ever since Part 2 of Season 4 arrived in July 2022, with the writers room for the next season opening August that year. A pandemic delaying Season 4’s arrival and then dual Hollywood strikes pushed Season 5 further than originally planned.

Find everything we know about Stranger Things Season 5 below.

When will Stranger Things Season 5 come out?

As of November 6, 2024, Netflix revealed that the final installment of the show looks to a 2025 release window, not 2026 like previously thought with how long production takes.

Production officially wrapped in December 2024 after it had reached the halfway point in July. Production on the final season kicked off in January 2024.

Related: ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ Director Frank Darabont On Why ‘Stranger...

The portal to the Upside Down is closing up for good. On Friday, Netflix announced that production on the fifth and final season of Stranger Things has wrapped. Season 5 of the Emmy-winning sci-fi adventure series is set to premiere in 2025.

Along with the announcement, the streaming service shared some behind-the-scenes photos featuring the cast and creative team, including creators the Duffer Brothers, executive producer/director Shawn Levy, and director Frank Darabont, the iconic filmmaker who came out of retirement to helm two episodes, marking his first time behind the camera in over a decade.

Season 5 will bring the story of Hawkins, Ind. to a close, as the kids head into the final showdown with the supernatural terror that haunts their town. The Season 5 cast includes Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke,...

The fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” has officially wrapped production, and Netflix is celebrating the conclusion of the flagship show with 10 photos from the set.

The images feature series stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Natalia Dyer, Joe Keery, Charlie Heaton, and Maya Hawke, among others.

The ensemble cast also includes Sadie Sink, Brett Gelman, Priah Ferguson, Jamie Campbell Bower, Cara Buono, Joe Chrest, and Amybeth McNulty, plus newcomers Linda Hamilton, Nell Fisher, Jake Connelly, and Alex Breaux.

Set in the fall of 1987, “Stranger Things 5” will consist of eight episodes: “The Crawl,” “The Vanishing of ____,” “The Turnbow Trap,” “Sorcerer,” “Shock Jock,” “Escape from Camazotz,” “The Bridge,” and “The Rightside Up.”

Created by The Duffer Brothers, “Stranger Things” debuted in 2016 and will come to a end in 2025 — but an animated series is already in the works with more projects...

After being delayed several months by the writers strike and the actors strike, season 5 of the hit Netflix series Stranger Things (which is also the last season of the show) finally went into production at the start of the year with a twelve month shooting schedule… and now that the year is coming to an end, Netflix has announced that filming on Stranger Things season 5 has officially wrapped!

Netflix broke the news while sharing multiple behind-the-scenes images on social media:

That's A Wrap On Stranger Things. See you in 2025. pic.twitter.com/DWkIwMMOJ3

— Netflix (@netflix) December 20, 2024

Stranger Things has the following synopsis: A love letter to the ‘80s classic genre films that captivated a generation, Stranger Things is a thrilling drama set in the seemingly normal Midwestern town of Hawkins, Indiana. After a boy vanishes into thin air, his close-knit group of friends and family search for answers and are...

Stranger Things season 5 has now wrapped filming, with a host of new behind-the-scenes photos commemorating the occasion. After the release of season 4 in 2022, it was confirmed that the hit horror-fantasy would conclude with one final outing. Stranger Things season 5 started filming earlier this year and will release on the streamer next year, picking up the story after Hawkins becomes ground zero for Vecna's Upside Down incursion into the real world in the season 4 finale.

As the wait continues for the return of Stranger Things, Netflix now shares a new batch of behind-the-scenes images, providing a look at the show's cast during the filming of the final eight episodes. The images include new looks at Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin, David Harbour, Winona Ryder, Natalia Dyer, Joe Keery, Maya Hawk, and Charlie Heaton in various scenes.

Several of the images also feature creators Matt and Ross Duffer,...

And that’s a wrap on the final season of Stranger Things!

On Friday (December 20), Netflix confirmed that production had wrapped on the fifth and final season of the hit television show. The news comes nearly a year after production started in January.

To celebrate the exciting news, the streaming platform unveiled a slew of new photos of the cast and crew on set!

Keep reading to find out more…

Netflix confirmed the exciting news with a post on Instagram. They shared some photos of the cast members, including Noah Schnapp, Finn Wolfhard and Caleb McLaughlin on set. Other photos included the likes of Maya Hawke and David Harbour.

The fifth season of Stranger Things is expected to premiere in 2025. However, an official release date has not yet been revealed. We will update you as soon as we learn more!

While we wait for more details, we pulled together everything...

“Stranger Things” has (almost) come to an end.

Production has wrapped on the fifth and final season of Netflix’s hit series, the streamer announced Friday. A release date for the finale hasn’t been revealed yet, but Netflix has confirmed the show will be back in 2025.

“That’s a wrap on ‘Stranger Things,'” Netflix posted on X with some behind-the-scenes photos. “See you in 2025.”

The entire cast is back for Season 5: Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, David Harbour as Jim Hopper, Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman, Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair and Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna.

Universal Pictures has tapped Vanessa Caswill to direct “Reminders of Him,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s romance novel.

Caswill’s major credits include Netflix’s 2023 romantic comedy “Love at First Sight,” starring Haley Lu Richardson, as well as two miniseries for the BBC: 2017’s “Little Women,” featuring Maya Hawke, Emily Watson, Michael Gambon and Angela Lansbury, and 2016’s “Thirteen,” led by Jodie Comer.

“Reminders of Him” follows a mother named Kenna Rowan, who returns to her hometown after serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake. She hopes to reconnect with her young daughter, though everyone is intent on keeping them apart. Only one person in the area hasn’t shunned her, and that’s the local bar owner Ledger Ward, who becomes an important part of Kenna’s life. The novel, published in 2022, has sold over 6.5 million copies globally and has been translated into 45 languages.

“I...

2024 really was the greatest year for animation ever.

There was an abundance of outrageously wonderful animated features released over the course of 2024 – all sorts of movies, with all sorts of animation styles and points-of-view. The fact that we left off plenty of wonderful movies, like Naoko Yamada’s brilliant, touching “The Colors Within” (which gets a wide release in January – seek it out), the French sci-fi noir “Mars Express” or mainstream gems like Mike Mitchell’s hellzapoppin’ “Kung Fu Panda 4,” tells you what a stellar year it really was.

But enough with the preamble, let’s chart the very best animated features of 2024 – from melancholic stop-motion to wondrous, widescreen computer animation and everything in-between.

DreamWorks Animation/Netflix 10. “Orion and the Dark”

2024’s most underrated movie is, incredibly, a gonzo animated feature written by Charlie Kaufman. Yes, that Charlie Kaufman. Based on the children’s book by Emma Yarlett, it...

Maya Hawke has often been candid about her experiences of growing up in the spotlight as the daughter of Hollywood icons like Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, who divorced in 2005 after six years of marriage. And in a recent reflection, the actress opened up about the challenges and conflicts she faced in the aftermath of her parents’ split.

Maya Hawke | Credit: Toglenn/Cca By-sa 4.0/Wikimedia Commons

In a candid recollection, the Stranger Things star recalled an early heated exchange with her father, who wanted to spend some quality time with her over the weekend, while she was more interested in going out.

Maya Hawke recalled an early fight with her father, Ethan Hawke

In an appearance on The New York Times’ Modern Love podcast, actress Maya Hawke opened up about her experience of witnessing her parents’ split and how it impacted her.

Maya Hawke in Do Revenge | Credit: Netflix

Reflecting...

After years of waiting, Netflix's Stranger Things will finally conclude in 2025. The eight-episode fifth and final season has undergone a huge production, with filming beginning in January 2024 and poised to last for almost a year.

David Harbour, who plays Jim Hopper on the show, has been one busy man. Between DC's Creature Commandos, Marvel's Thunderbolts, and of course, Stranger Things, he's got a lot going on. The Stranger Things NDAs are very strict, but the actor recently opened up to Collider about the forthcoming series finale. Responding to fears that the show wouldn't manage to deliver a satisfying ending, Harbour has absolutely no doubts that the finale will be a hit. “I've said it before, but I do think the finale is spectacular," he said. "I think that it's so satisfying if you've been a fan of the show."

Interestingly, Harbour doesn't see the ending as totally definitive. There...

Exclusive: Ahead of the Christmas Day release of his experimental Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, Michael Gracey has entered negotiations to direct a live-action Tangled film for Disney, Deadline can reveal.

A modern retelling of the classic Rapunzel fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, Tangled is being described as a revival of Disney’s Oscar-nominated 2010 animated feature of the same name, which was the 50th put out by the studio. Plot details are under wraps but the film is expected to follow along the lines of the animated version.

Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, the multi-hyphenate behind titles like Do Revenge, Thor: Love and Thunder and Sony’s upcoming reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer, penned the most recent draft of the script. Kristin Burr and Lucy Kitada will produce for Burr! Productions. No word yet on casting.

Directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, the original Tangled starred Mandy Moore as Rapunzel,...

Plot: Taking place in between the events of Inside Out and Inside Out 2, it follows the studio inside Riley’s mind where dreams really do come true—every night, on time and on budget. Riley is growing up and when her memories need some extra processing, Joy and the rest of the Core Emotions send them to Dream Productions.

Review: Since the premiere of Disney+, the House of Mouse has mined all of their various properties for streaming adaptations, spin-offs, or tie-ins. Pixar, who are no stranger to creating quality short films, have offered a few projects that stretch the definition of what we would consider a series. The Toy Story spin-off Forky Asks a Question, Cars On the Road, and Up series Dug Days all had episodes that ran under ten minutes each, with the Monsters Inc. sequel series Monsters At Work reaching full half-hour installments but without...

The following contains spoilers for "Dream Productions."

Given just how much of a stupendous hit "Inside Out 2" has become, taking the box office record for the highest grossing animated movie of all-time, it makes sense that Disney and Pixar aren't sleeping on their win and dropping a brand new spin-off series from the "Inside Out" world on Disney+. "Dream Productions" takes us back to the briefly glimpsed section of Riley's mind that keeps her brain buzzing while she's fast asleep. As a result, the likes of Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), and the rest of the emotions that reside in Headquarters are out of the picture, leaving a brand new bunch of characters to focus on.

The new four-part limited series sees dream director Paula Persimmon (Paula Pell) struggling with a bit of a creative slump that could impact her career at the studio. Her only choice is...

Liza Lapira shares her process for voicing Disgust in Inside Out 2. Following the beloved 2015 film, Pixar revisited the personified emotions that reside in Riley’s mind during her transition into high school. Recently nominated for Best Animated Feature at the upcoming Golden Globe Awards, Inside Out 2 introduced new emotions, like Anxiety (Maya Hawke) and Envy (Ayo Edebiri), who enter the headquarters alongside Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear. Among the original emotions, Inside Out 2 saw a change in the voice behind Disgust, with Lapira stepping into the role previously voiced by Mindy Kaling.

In an interview with Screen Rant, Lapira discussed her approach to voicing Disgust after Kaling’s iconic portrayal in the first Inside Out film. Lapira noted that her focus was not on mimicking Kaling’s voice but on capturing the essence of Disgust’s character—someone who is judgmental, protective, and almost always measuring...

The Hollywood Creative Alliance has announced the winners for the 2024 Astra Film and Creative Arts Awards on Sunday, Dec. 8. The organization hosted two ceremonies – a luncheon and dinner – at the Taglyan Complex in Los Angeles. Actor, comedian and writer Peter Kim hosted the Astra Creative Arts Awards and two-time Emmy and NAACP-winning comedian Loni Love hosted the Astra Film Awards.

Universal Pictures’ “Wicked” came out on top with eight wins including Best Picture, Best Director for Jon M. Chu, Best Actress for Cynthia Erivo, and Best Supporting Actress for Ariana Grande (tie with Zoe Saldaña). Coming in second place was Warner Bros.’ “Dune: Part Two” and Netflix’s “Emilia Pérez” with four wins each. See the full list of winners below.

In addition, the Hollywood Creative Alliance honored costume designer Colleen Atwood with the Inaugural Artisan Icon Award, composer Kris Bowers received the Artisan Achievement Award, and cinematographer Giovanni Ribisi...

The end of Stranger Things is near, and while some might be worried about how the story will conclude, fans don't have to worry about one issue the series has encountered in the past two seasons. Netflix's sci-fi horror mystery drama TV show, created by the Duffer Brothers, has taken the world by storm since its premiere in 2016. While many have praised Stranger Things for its storytelling, 1980s homages, acting, directing, and more, some have found a handful of things to criticize (mostly about how long it takes for new episodes to be released).

Netflix confirmed that Stranger Things season 5 will premiere sometime in 2025 and feature eight episodes — "Chapter One: The Crawl," "The Vanishing of [Tba]," "The Turnbow Trap," "Sorcerer," "Shock Jock," "Escape from Camazotz," "The Bridge," and "The Rightside Up."

The good news is that, after almost three years since the ending of Stranger Things season 4, season 5 will debut in 2025. Of course,...

While Stranger Things season 5 is likely to feature a lot of great moments, viewers already know what the standout scene will be. Stranger Things season 5 is taking its sweet time making it to Netflix, but the show’s final outing will reportedly be worth the wait. Arriving in 2025, Stranger Things season 5 promises to bring the sprawling story of the series to a conclusion that finally explains the origins of Eleven, Vecna, and what is going on in Hawkins, Indiana. Stranger Things season 4’s ending made an admirable stab at this but left a lot unresolved.

Related Camazotz Explained: New Stranger Things Season 5 Villain Tease

The episode titles for Stranger Things season 5 have been revealed and one teases the arrival of another D&d-inspired creature dubbed Camazotz.

Fortunately, Stranger Things season 5 has plenty of screen time to fix any lingering plot holes. According to star Maya Hawke on the podcast Podcrushed,...

It’s no secret that the Covid-19 pandemic upended the movie theater business in 2020, but in the years since, the industry has slowly climbed back. In 2021, 14 movies were able to cross the coveted $100 million mark at the U.S. box office. In 2022, that number jumped up to 18 films. And in 2023, there were a whopping 25 such blockbusters. So how many features released during the current 2024 calendar year will end up becoming box office behemoths? Stay tuned.

To date, the biggest money-makers of the year are a trio of highly anticipated sequels: “Inside Out 2,” “Deadpool & Wolverine,” and “Despicable Me 4.” Scroll through our gallery above (or click here for direct access) to see all of the 2024 box office hits so far that made more than $100 million in the United States. The number will continue to grow as high-profile movies like “Mufasa: The Lion King” will be released later in the year.

The end of an era is coming when Stranger Things Season 5 debuts on Netflix, bringing the strange horror of Hawkins to its conclusion. Stakes are at an all-time high for the Duffer Brothers to stick the landing, lest they suffer a Game of Thrones-like crash-and-burn as fans react to the finale. Speaking with the Podcrushed podcast with hosts Penn Badgley, Nava Kavelin, and Sophie Ansari, Maya Hawke, who plays Robin Buckley in the series, said fans can expect plenty to chew on as the season is massive.

“We’re making, basically, eight movies,” Hawke told the group. “The episodes are very long.”

According to Maya Hawke, Stranger Things Season 5’s production has been incredible to witness throughout 2024, with bold decisions about the show surfacing nonstop. The final season takes place roughly three years after Season 4, explaining why the Hawkins kids are all grown up and still scarred by their abnormal and traumatic past.

Maya Hawke is giving an update on the final season of Stranger Things.

The 25-year-old actress made an appearance on the Podcrushed podcast, where she was asked about how filming is going.

Of the 8 episodes they are filming, she shared, “We’re making, basically, eight movies. The episodes are very long.”

Maya portrays Robin on the show, and will be returning for the final episodes.

She then added that it will take them the rest of the year to finish filming. They began filming in January. Season four aired in 2022.

“They are very intense and serious about the quality of the continued writing, and so it takes a long time to write each season and a long time to shoot them,” she explained about how long it has taken for season five to get going.

We also have info on one cast member who is exiting the series after appearing in season four!

Dave Holstein created the Showtime comedy “Kidding” and was a staff writer on the network’s Emmy Award-winning series “Weeds.” But nothing in Holstein’s career compared to co-writing the sequel to “Inside Out.”

“It’s like writing inside of a dishwasher while it’s on,” Holstein tells Gold Derby. “It’s like, ‘Writing a screenplay is cool. But can you do it during the spin cycle?’ It’s just a very involved process where you are editing, shooting, and writing at the same time, all the time. You’re always iterating, you’re writing multiple versions of scenes. There are so many ideas flying around Pixar and they’re all great because there are brilliant people at Pixar, right? But your job is to make sure that all these great ideas are following the same path, and it’s your job to make sure the story stays in the center lane.

Deadline’s annual Read the Screenplay series, which celebrates the craft of scriptwriting by offering exclusive access to the buzziest movie scripts of awards season, kicks off its latest edition with Inside Out 2. Pixar and Disney’s sequel is the Envy of the box office in 2024, grossing $1.698 billion globally to become the year’s highest-grossing movie to date.

Meg LeFauve, one of the writers on 2015’s Inside Out, which went on to nab an Original Screenplay Oscar nomination and won for Best Animated Feature, returned to pen the sequel with Dave Holstein, based on an original story by LeFauve and Kelsey Mann. Mann directed, taking the reins from the original’s co-directors and her fellow co-writers Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen.

The sequel’s script picked up a now 13-year-old Riley (the voice of Kensington Tallman), who is experiencing a parade of new emotions that play out in her brain’s headquarters.

“Wicked” led all films in nominations for the 2024 Astra Film Awards, the Hollywood Creative Coalition announced on Monday. The hit musical received a record 19 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Comedy or Musical, three acting noms and a sweep of all the below-the-line categories in which it was eligible.

The big-budget sequel “Dune: Part Two” was second with 15 nominations, while Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language musical “Emilia Perez” received 11, the body horror film “The Substance” received 10 and Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” received nine.

Films that were not nominated in the top category include “Gladiator II,” “Nickel Boys,” “Blitz,” “September 5” and “A Complete Unknown.”

Overall, the nominations tended toward high-profile and commercial movies, with more challenging performances by Daniel Craig, Sebastian Stan, Nicole Kidman, Tilda Swinton and Marianne Jean-Baptiste overlooked in favor of, for instance, acting nominations for Naomi Scott for “Smile 2” and three separate stars of “Wicked”: Cynthia Erivo,...

If anyone could be trusted to run your dreams, it’s Paula Pell.

And that’s just what she’s doing for “Inside Out” teen Riley in Pixar’s new four-episode limited series, “Dream Productions,” premiering on Disney+ December 11.

That’s right, mere months after “Inside Out 2” set box office records, Riley and her Core Emotions (led by Amy Poehler as Joy) are back onscreen in another story about managing a healthy relationship with your emotions.

Per the official logline: “Riley is growing up and when her memories need some extra processing, Joy and the rest of the Core Emotions send them to Dream Productions. Acclaimed director Paula Persimmon (voice of Paula Pell) faces a nightmare of her own: Trying to create the next hit dream after being paired up with Xeni (voice of Richard Ayoade), a smug daydream director looking to step up into the big leagues of night dreams.

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2024 has been a great year so far, with brilliant animated films released this year. While the year started out slow, but after Inside Out 2 came out in theaters and broke every conceivable record, it was off to the races. We compiled a list of the best animated films we could find that came out this year. So, rest up gather your family for most of these films, and enjoy these best-animated films of 2024.

Transformers One (Paramount+ & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Paramount Pictures

Transformers One is an animated sci-fi action film directed by Josh Cooley from a screenplay co-written by Eric Pearson, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari. Based on the Transformers action figures by Hasbro, the 2024 film follows the origin stories of Optimus Prime and Megatron who were once friends before turning into each others’ arch nemesis.

Mikey Madison revealed what she did to impress Quentin Tarantino in her audition for his 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Madison played Sadie, one of the members of the Manson Family in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Her character was one of the three Manson members who broke into Rick Dalton's (Leonardo DiCaprio) house at the end of the movie and attacked the actor and his stuntman/driver, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). After being cast in the movie, Madison was able to work with actors such as DiCaprio, Pitt, and Maya Hawke.

In a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live promoting her critically acclaimed new film Anora, Madison detailed how she stood out to Tarantino during her audition for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. To embody a member of the Manson Family, Madison revealed that she created a painting and wrote a poem that was dedicated to Charles Manson.

Few musicians know the world of Pixar and the Oscar-winning movie “Inside Out,” better than breakthrough composer Andrea Datzman. She worked with “Inside Out” composer Michael Giacchino for years before the blockbuster sequel, and Datzman received credit as the score coordinator on “Ratatouille,” “Up,” and “Inside Out,” among several other projects for the animation giant. So when she was approached to pick up the baton from Giacchino to write music for “Inside Out 2,” Datzman was thrilled by the challenge.

“It was a great responsibility here, not just with the message of the film and representing that musically in the most authentic way possible but also with the torch I was carrying forward,” Datzman tells Gold Derby. “The film is about demolition in some ways – and right from the start, they let you know that the world is changing inside of Riley, and they want to reflect that musically. So it was a great responsibility,...