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As usual, there’s absolutely no rest for the wicked. The Sundance Film Festival hasn’t even started (though it kicks off tomorrow), and in the anxious prep beforehand, the SXSW Film & TV Festival has announced its meaty line-up.

Read More: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2025

More titles will surely come, but this is the meat of the festival for sure. Highlights include Seth Rogen’s upcoming Apple TV+ series “The Studio”; Gavin O’Connor’s “The Accountant 2” starring Ben Affleck; Mimi Cave’s “Holland” starring Nicole Kidman and Gael Garcia Bernal; A24’s “Death of a Unicorn” with Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega in the lead roles; Eiza González and Aaron Paul in “Ash”; Christopher Landon’s “Drop” with Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar; “The Astronaut” featuring Kate Mara, Laurence Fishburne, and Gabriel Luna; Jay Duplass’ new directorial effort, “The Baltimorons” Aussie horror thriller “We Bury The Dead” featuring...

The 32nd edition of SXSW running March 7-14 in Austin, Texas, will open with the Apple TV+ series The Studio starring Seth Rogen and brings world premieres of new films from Nicole Kidman, Rosamund Pike, Ben Affleck, and Paul Rudd.

Rogen stars as the frazzled head of fictitious Continental Studios in The Studio, which debuts on the platform on March 26.Rogen co-directed with Evan Goldberg, and co-wrote with Goldberg and others. The cast includes Catherine O’Hara, Ike Barinholtz, and Katheryn Hahn, with cameos from A-listers.

Anticipated feature highlights include Headliners selections Holland from Amazon Studios, a thriller starring Kidman and...

The SXSW Film & TV Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 32nd edition, kicking off with the premiere of Apple TV+’s show biz comedy The Studio.

Co-created by and starring Seth Rogen, The Studio follows a legacy Hollywood movie studio striving to survive in a world where it is increasingly difficult for art and business to live together. The show is set to unveil its first two episodes on March 26.

At this year’s festival, films to look out for in the Headliner section include Amazon’s Ben Affleck starrer The Accountant 2, A24’s Death of a Unicorn starring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega, Blumhouse’s horror pic Drop, and the Nicole Kidman thriller Holland from Amazon. Other notable titles screening include Searchlight’s musical drama O’Dessa starring Sadie Sink, Regina Hall and Kelvin Harrison Jr.; The Astronaut starring Kate Mara, Laurence Fishburne and Gabriel Luna...

If you ever wondered what the Monster Hunter series is all about, or if you just want a refresher along with some solid footage, Daisy Ridley is here to help. Capcom enlisted the lead from the most recent Star Wars film trilogy, We Bury the Dead and more to narrate a new trailer. This one serves as a meaty introduction to the world, lore and monsters of the games, which have been keeping the hunt alive for the past 20 years. Get up to speed ahead of Monster Hunter Wilds in the 10-minute video below. Welcome to Monster Hunter feat. Daisy Ridley Related: Monster Hunter Wilds Builds on the Solid Foundation of World Monster Hunter Wilds is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam on February 28, 2025. Here's how Capcom describes it: The unbridled force of nature runs wild and relentless, with environments transforming drastically from one moment to the next.

Daisy Ridley was only 22 years old when she filmed her first Star Wars movie, and while she's returning to play Rey Skywalker in a new trilogy of movies, there are other, non-Star Wars movies on her slate that are far more exciting. However, after the Star Wars sequel trilogy wrapped, Ridley stepped back a bit from the spotlight. Since then, though, Daisy Ridley has starred in several well-received movies, such as Sometimes I Think About Dying and Young Woman and the Sea.

Furthermore, Ridley will reprise her role as Rey in the upcoming Star Wars: New Jedi Order film, which is set years after the events of the sequel trilogy. Starring in another Star Wars film will give Lucasfilm and Ridley another shot at telling an intriguing story with Rey, especially after The Rise of Skywalker's ending was such a disappointment to many fans. However, as part of her post-Star Wars comeback,...

The stylish neo-noir thriller Magpie is set to play on the big screen in New York, Los Angeles, and select U.S. cities starting on October 25th, and with that theatrical release date just one month away, Shout! Studios has unveiled a poster and a trailer for the film. The trailer can be viewed in the embed above, and the poster can be found at the bottom of this article.

Directed by Sam Yates from a screenplay by Tom Bateman that was based on an original idea by star Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Magpie has the following synopsis: The lives of married couple Anette and Ben begin to fracture when their daughter is cast alongside a glamorous movie star, Alicia. As Anette’s suspicions of Ben’s infatuation with Alicia intensify, their secrets and lies threaten to burst to the surface and destroy them all.

Ridley plays...

Star Wars sequel trilogy star Daisy Ridley is swapping a lightsaber for an axe for her first foray into the horror genre.

Ahead of its world premiere at Australia's Adelaide Film Festival this November, Variety has shared the first official stills from new zombie survival thriller We Bury The Dead.

Written and directed by Zak Hilditch, the movie stars Ridley as a woman named Ava who is searching for her husband in the aftermath of a catastrophic military experiment that has decimated the population of Tasmania.

Ava joins a “body retrieval unit” in a desperate attempt to find out what happened to her husband, and ends up being tasked with burying the corpses. However, she soon comes to realize that some of the bodies aren't quite as dead as they should be.

Seemingly unfazed by the emerging supernatural threat, Ava takes up an axe and begins to dispose of the...

Back in October, we heard that Star Wars sequel trilogy star Daisy Ridley (who is set to return to the Star Wars universe for another film that is meant to launch “the next chapter” of the franchise) had signed on to star in We Bury the Dead, a survival thriller from Zak Hilditch, the director of the Stephen King adaptation 1922 (which featured an incredible performance from star Thomas Jane). That film has since made its way through production and will be having its world premiere soon, as well as a special preview event at Australia’s Adelaide Film Festival in November – so, in anticipation of those events, Variety was able to get their hands on a batch of first look images! You can check them out in this article.

Scripted by Hilditch, We Bury the Dead is said to be “a story about grief, loss, and the undead.” Ridley takes on the role of Ava,...

Daisy Ridley, star of the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy, is a different kind of vigilante in Zak Hilditch’s upcoming horror-survival-thriller “We Bury the Dead.”

The film, which will have its world premiere shortly and hold a special preview event at Australia’s Adelaide Film Festival in November, unveiled a first look at Ridley in the role of a desperate woman who joins a body retrieval unit, hoping to find her husband alive after a disastrous military experiment destroys the population of Tasmania. As she sifts through the corpses, she discovers that many are not quite dead.

Ridley’s character looks haggard as she journeys to the south of Tasmania and is forced to make peace with her own unfinished business in the face of futility.

Daisy Ridley in ‘We Bury the Dead’

Production took place across Albany and the Great Southern region in Western Australia earlier this year. The...

The fabled MonsterVerse has finally located a new director to helm the impending, epic battle between monsters in the Godzilla x Kong sequel.

Grant Sputore, who spearheaded the sci-fi film I Am Mother starring Hillary Swank, is set to take over the director’s chair in the new Godzilla x Kong installment as Adam Wingard takes his leave from the franchise.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) (Credit: Warner Bros.)

The news of Sputore’s addition to the forthcoming sequel comes right after Wingard announced his departure following Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

Director Grant Sputore to Steer Godzilla x Kong 2

The new MonsterVerse outing, which will be a sequel to Wingard’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, is set to be directed by Grant Sputore (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Grant Sputore’s I Am Mother (2019) (Credit: Netflix)

Sputore, who is known for his work on the cyberpunk sci-fi I Am Mother,...

Having survived a feverishly debated Star Wars trilogy, Daisy Ridley is forging her own path – and taking control.

For Daisy Ridley, the thrill comes first and the fear comes later.

While wading in the middle of the Black Sea for Joachim Rønning’s rousing 1920s-set biopic Young Woman And The Sea, in which she stars as Trudy Ederle, the first woman to swim across the English Channel, Ridley’s aversion to open-water swimming confronted her fully. “You know when you go in the sea?” she asks. “I never go beyond where I can see my feet. The whole thing was such an exploration of things I don’t really like.” Her voice sing-songs: “The lies we tell for the jobs we do!”

Of course, the London-born actor is well-acquainted with treacherous waters. At the age of 21, Ridley was plucked from anonymity to lead the Star Wars sequel trilogy as Rey,...

Despite the popularity of Disney’s “Star Wars” franchise, Daisy Ridley says her career stalled when she finished her run leading the film trilogy with 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker.”

“There weren’t that many offers coming in,” Ridley said during a Sunday panel at SXSW in Austin. “It’s not that there wasn’t any… I remember finishing and thinking, ‘Oh, it’s quiet and strange.'”

According to Ridley, she didn’t feel fully comfortable leading the latest “Star Wars” trilogy until she had reached the final movie, “The Rise of Skywalker.” “It took, honestly, making the third film till I felt like ‘Ok, I’m good. I deserve to be here,'” she said.

And then, after eight years of playing Rey, Ridley and the rest of the world went into lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the entire film and TV industry shut down. During that time,...

Daisy Ridley is having quite the year so far. Her new movie, Sometimes I Think About Dying, released in theaters earlier this month and is receiving positive notes. Her indie neo-noir movie Magpie is set to premiere at the SXSW film festival in March. The biopic Young Woman and the Sea, in which she stars as Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim across the English Channel, was originally slated for a Disney+ release may instead get a bump up to theatrical. Oh, and she’s filming a new action-thriller called Cleaner directed by 007 franchise legend Martin Campbell.

In between all that, Ridley is also of course answering plenty of questions about her upcoming return to Star Wars. The actor recently teased that her solo movie, which is set 15 years after the Sequel Trilogy and will follow Rey as she works to build a new Jedi Order, is taking...

Leading New Zealand film executive Jasmine McSweeney is joining Australian producer- distributor -streaming platform Umbrella Entertainment, as its first New Zealand-based head of sales and acquisitions, as part of the company’s ambitious expansion plans.

Umbrella had a hit with its Australian and New Zealand release of local horror title Talk To Me in 2023, released with Maslow Entertainment.

McSweeney has been head of marketing at the New Zealand Film Commission for a decade and oversaw its digitisation program and the launch of a transactional video on demand platform. She will start her new role on February 5.

Umbrella general manager Ari Harrison...

Méridien Blues

It was a bumpy start to the AFM’s tenure at new home Le Méridien Delfina. Most industry we spoke to were unhappy about something venue-related whether it be the noisy strikes that took place all week, cost, size of rooms, “maze-like” structure, slow lifts (the fire department was reportedly called Friday to help guests stuck in one of the two lifts serving the hotel’s lobby), parking issues, location or general aesthetic. Talk of alternatives continues to bubble. Miami and Las Vegas were mooted destinations among disgruntled industry. But a reimagined fall market has been a long-running point of discussion and many still think Los Angeles offers more than most cities. AFM organizers IFTA told us they have a multi-year deal with the Méridien so it may be a case of listening, learning and improving where possible.

Strike Impact

This market was always going to be “light...

Naomie Harris, Gwendoline Christie and Mark Williams (Harry Potter, Golden Years) have joined the ensemble cast of a new family adventure film ‘Robin and the Hood.’

Rising star Darcey Ewart will play the lead role of Robin, whilst Harris takes on the role of evil developer ‘Clipboard’, Christie plays environmental activist ‘Aura’ and Williams features as the local Town Mayor.

The official synopsis reads; For the tenacious 11-year-old Robin (Ewart) and her loyal band of friends ‘The Hoods’, the patch of overgrown scrubland at the end of their cul-de-sac is a magical kingdom. Sticks and bin lids have become swords and shields, drones have become majestic eagles and the hippy lady in the forest (Christie) is a terrifying witch. The only thing limiting their colourful imagination is the prospect of losing their kingdom forever. When the slippery property developer Clipboard (Harris) turns up and dazzles the parents of the area...