Paramount chair and CEO David Ellison has outlined specific commitments for the creative community in an open letter addressing the studio’s pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery, pledging that the combined entity would produce at least 30 theatrical features annually while maintaining a competitive marketplace structure. In the letter addressed to “the British creative community, fellow film lovers and television fans, the industry at large,” Ellison emphasized that audiences “are best served by greater choice – not less – and by a marketplace that encourages the full spectrum of filmmaking, content creation, and theatrical exhibition, not one that eliminates meaningful competition by creating a monopolistic or dominant entity.”

Sony Group raised its outlook for the current fiscal year ending in March, as the Tokyo-based tech and entertainment company beat expectations with a 22% increase in operating income for the September-December 2025 quarter. For the three months ended Dec. 31, its third quarter of fiscal 2025, Sony reported total sales of JPY3.713 trillion ($24.1 billion), up a slight 1%, as operating income came in at JPY515.0 billion ($3.3 billion), up 22%.

Finneas took to Instagram Threads on Wednesday to defend his superstar sister and songwriting partner, Billie Eilish, from “very powerful old white men” who are “outraged” about her Grammys acceptance speech. “Seeing a lot of very powerful old white men outraged about what my 24-year-old sister said during her acceptance speech,” he wrote. “We can literally see your names in the Epstein files.”

President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced to TruthSocial that he’s directed all federal law enforcement to help search for Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother, Nancy, who went missing in a suspected kidnapping last weekend. “I spoke with Savannah Guthrie, and let her know that I am directing ALL Federal Law Enforcement to be at the family’s, and Local Law Enforcement’s, complete disposal, IMMEDIATELY,” he wrote.

President Donald Trump says he will not be personally involved in the Justice Department’s pending antitrust review of Netflix‘s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Trump told NBC News anchor Tom Llamas that he made the decision to leave the process to the Justice Department during a pre-recorded interview that will air Sunday in advance of NBC and Peacock’s telecast of the Super Bowl.

Savannah Guthrie posted an emotional video to her Instagram on Wednesday evening in which she and her two siblings, Annie and Cameron, addressed the kidnapper of her 84-year-old mother. “She’s 84 years old. Her health, her heart, is fragile. She lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive, and she needs it not to suffer,” Guthrie said.

Sam Claflin revealed on Fearne Cotton’s “Happy Place” podcast (via The Independent) that his body dysmorphia was exacerbated by his Hollywood acting roles, which often required him to appear shirtless on screen. Claflin is best known for playing Finnick Odair in “The Hunger Games” franchise, starting with “Catching Fire.” He made his film debut in “Pirates of the Caribbean…

Gavin Newsom is the latest figure to be roasted by “The Daily Show” in a new installment of its “Daily Showography” series — this one tracks the California governor’s personal and political scandals. The seven-minute segment will air as part of Wednesday night’s broadcast of the Comedy Central talk show. Presented as an awards-season “for your consideration” spot, the satirical biography ribs Newsom for being a “leading man” who is “now playing in select venues, but is preparing to be released nationwide” — a reference to the likelihood of his 2028 presidential bid.

Kristen Stewart confirms in the March L.A. issue of Architectural Digest that she has purchased the historic Highland Theatre in L.A.’s buzzy Highland Park neighborhood. The Highland Theater, which opened in 1925, was a neighborhood fixture until it closed in 2024. It was rumored that Stewart had bought it last summer as it was being prepped for a film shoot. …

The International Film Festival Rotterdam crowned its industry award winners on Wednesday following an intense six days of activities in the Dutch city. The awards encompassed all arms of the festival’s industry sections, encompassing CineMart, Darkroom, Lightroom and Safe Harbour, benefiting projects in all stages of development. Winners include “Daughters of the Sea,” by “Leonor Will Never Die” director Martika Ramirez Escobar, and “Neon Phantom,” by “Samba Infinito” director Leonardo Martinelli. 

Don Lemon confirmed that he will appear the 2026 On Air Fest podcast conference later this month in Brooklyn, the event’s organizers said. His appearance at the festival will come just weeks after Lemon, the former CNN anchor who is now host of the independent “The Don Lemon Show,” was arrested Jan. 29 in L.A. by federal agents and charged with interfering with a religious service during an ICE protest in Minnesota.

Whitney Leavitt’s world is widening. The 32-year-old is best known for Hulu’s “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” the addictive reality TV series she broke out from as the villain in Season 1, though she’s garnered more sympathy over time. But if everything goes Leavitt’s way, the unscripted genre won’t be her main claim to fame a few years from now.

Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor has joined the cast of Mike Flanagan’s “The Exorcist,” which is set for release on March 12, 2027. Ejiofor joins previously announced cast members Scarlett Johansson, Jacobi Jupe and Diane Lane. Flanagan’s adaptation of the horror classic is set to be an entirely new story set in “The Exorcist” universe, and not a sequel to 2023’s “The Exorcist: Believer.”

Susan Lucci is back. But not as her iconic “All My Children” character Erika Cane. After not appearing on television in almost a decade, Lucci returns to acting in the upcoming dark comedy “Outcome,” starring Keanu Reeves as a Hollywood star who is being extorted with a video that could destory his career. He seeks out all those he may have wronged to try to find out who is bent on taking him down.

Pom Klementieff was in her trailer during reshoots for “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” when she first got her hands on the script for Guillaume Nicloux’s “Mi Amor.” She knew almost immediately that the film was “exactly the kind of project” she wanted to shift into after a major studio production. Now, the actor is landing at the Rotterdam Film Festival for the first time to celebrate a much-awaited homecoming to French cinema. 

Halle Berry told The Cut that she never heard from California governor Gavin Newsom despite him saying they would be “reconciling” their differences over his lack of support for the Menopause Care Equity Act and his previous veto of a similar bill. “It’s disturbing when people say they’re going to do things and then they don’t,” Berry told the publication. “But he heard what I said.

Beta Film has picked up worldwide distribution rights to thriller series “Westend Girl,” starring Helena Zengel, who was the co-lead with Tom Hanks in “News of the World” and with Willem Dafoe in “The Legend of Ochi.” The six-hour series, which has been selected for Berlinale Series Market showcase Up Next: Germany, centers on teenager Ronja, who is forced to grow up overnight when her parents are arrested for drug trafficking, and her picture-perfect life starts to crumble.

Following Joaquin Phoenix’s exit last year, Todd Haynes’ subversive love story “De Noche” is back on track with Pedro Pascal officially set to play a hard-boiled detective opposite Danny Ramirez as his younger lover. Shooting will start next month. MK2 Films, the French indie banner behind Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent,” is financing the film as well as handling international sales.

J.K. Rowling has sought to clear up online speculation concerning her rumored connections to disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Within the latest tranche of Epstein files released by the DoJ was an invitation to the official Broadway opening of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” on April 22, 2018 — after he had been convicted — prompting critics on social media to claim that he had been invited by Rowling.

U.K.-based sales and distribution company Blue Finch Films has picked up worldwide sales rights to “Unholy Night,” a holiday horror feature marking the directorial debut of Michael Gabriele. The film recently completed production in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and Blue Finch will launch sales at Berlin’s European Film Market. The festive horror centers on Gino, whose traditional Italian family Christmas Eve celebration descends into chaos when his deceased grandmother returns from the dead and embarks on a killing spree.

Tracy Zamot, a veteran publicist who worked for Atlantic, Virgin and Motown Records, Pandora Radio and others, has died after a long illness, her family has confirmed. No specific cause of death was announced; she was 55. A graduate of the State University of New York at Albany, Zamot joined Atlantic Records as a tour publicist in 1992 and rose to vice president over the course of her decade with the company, which saw her working closely with such artists as Matchbox 20 and Rob Thomas, Genesis and Phil Collins, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, and many others.

Though Apple is still on an award season run with “F1,” the tech monolith popped the hood on numerous new movies it will release in 2026. At a blowout media event in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Apple Studios took over Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar to unveil footage and conversations from its forthcoming slate. Cameron Diaz, Keanu Reeves, Chris Pratt, Amy Adams, Colin Farrell and more showed to create buzz with global press and influencers.

Filmmaker Brydie O’Connor gives herself a rather difficult task with “Barbara Forever.” She sets out to document the life and career of iconic lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer in the same medium the prolific artist was known for. To heighten the challenge, Hammer has already documented much of that herself in many experimental films about living as a queer woman.

Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” has been unveiled to members of the film press ahead of its Feb. 13 release, and first reactions are calling the steamy literary romance a “bodice-ripping crowd-pleaser” that is “destined to be a massive hit for Warner Bros.” Critic Courtney Howard posted a glowing review on X, calling Fennell’s latest “a god-tier new classic.”

Crunchyroll is deepening its investment in Thailand with the launch of a Thai-language user interface and a significant expansion of localized anime content. The anime platform is now making more than 500 titles available to Thai subscribers, including over 70 with Thai dubbing and 300 with Thai subtitles. The rollout adds 70-plus new titles to the service – comprising 26 additional Thai dubs and 44 Thai-subtitled offerings – as the company aims to strengthen its position in one of Southeast Asia’s most robust anime markets.