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Tom Cruise is one of the bankable stars in Hollywood. But his pull may not be enough to lift his upcoming film “Digger” from a likely hard fall at the box office this weekend.

That would be unwelcome news for Warner Bros., whose movies have largely struggled to connect with audiences this year, in contrast to 2025, when the studio ran up a string of hits such as “Sinners” and “Weapons.”

All of this comes as the studio braces for an uncertain future with Paramount Skydance’s $111-billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery set to close on Tuesday.

“No single film is going to capsize the boat,” said Stephen Galloway, dean of the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University. “However, it’s coming at a precarious time because it follows a series of less-than-successful releases at the very moment when the Warner Bros.- Paramount deal has been greenlit, and everybody — no matter how high up — is terrified for his or her job.”

Matching the success of the 2025 film slate was always going to be a tall order, particularly when so many of Warner Bros.’ movies that year overperformed.

So far this year, the studio’s domestic box office haul is $437.7 million, representing about 5.6% of the total theatrical revenue in the U.S. and Canada, according to Rentrak data.

Last year, Warner Bros.’ total at this time was $1.8 billion, aided by back-to-back successes starting with “A Minecraft Movie,” which went on to become the highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office during that calendar year.

The studio currently does not have any film in the top 20 of domestic box office earners this year, which includes some holdovers from 2025, with Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of “Wuthering Heights” ranking at 21 with $84 million. Bets on films like Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Bride!” cratered, while DC Studios’ “Supergirl” misfired.

“Digger” is unlikely to turn things around.

The satire from director Alejandro González Iñárritu about an impending climate change apocalypse has divided critics, yielding very mixed reviews. Tracking predictions for the film’s debut have steadily trended downward and settled between $15 million and $19 million.

That would be a major miss, given the film’s production budget was about $125 million (not counting marketing costs).

“Digger” faces several hurdles. For one, the film has a major twist, which complicates its marketing and makes it difficult to tell audiences what it’s about.

Then there’s Cruise’s nearly unrecognizable performance as Digger Rockwell, an eccentric oil tycoon whose drilling operations have led to the unfolding climate disaster. Clad in prosthetics with a head full of graying hair, Cruise is far from his usual stunts-heavy, bravado-filled roles, which could make his typical audience less likely to come out to theaters, analysts said.

“It has a lot of question marks,” said David A. Gross, who writes the movie industry newsletter FranchiseRe. “It doesn’t look like it’s heading for financial success.”

The film will have value to Warner Bros. beyond its theatrical reception. “Digger” probably will also make money through ancillary revenue streams such as premium video on demand and streaming, industry experts said. And if Cruise wins his much-coveted Oscar for his role as Digger, that is also a plus, Galloway said.

Beyond the fate of “Digger,” Warner Bros.’ theatrical business will be of prime importance to the combined Paramount-Warner company.

Last year, Warner’s studio business, which includes both film and television production, brought in $12.6 billion in revenue. This year, it’s projected to generate $11.1 billion, according to market expectations. On a positive note, Warner Bros. still has its animated “The Cat in the Hat” film releasing in November and the popular “Dune: Part Three” at the end of the year.

The prospects for Warner Bros. should improve next year, when the film and TV studios are expected to amass $11.7 billion in revenue, driven by strong titles including the sequel to “Minecraft” and a new “Lord of the Rings” movie, according to Bernstein research.

Aside from theatrical revenue, Warner Bros.’ film and TV properties have been key drivers of business to HBO Max and will also provide valuable content to Paramount+, particularly as the linear cable networks continue to decline.

“I would argue the studios are the very reason Paramount Skydance is buying Warner Bros.,” said Laurent Yoon, senior analyst at Bernstein. “Everything starts with the studios.”

The combined company is also legally required to release at least 30 films a year as part of a settlement agreement over antitrust claims with 12 state attorneys general, including California’s Rob Bonta. Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison has previously said the two studios would each release 15 films a year.

But the type of content the studios release could change after the merger is completed. Under film chiefs Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca, Warner Bros. developed a reputation for auteur-driven, original stories, particularly after the success of the 2025 slate. Ellison’s slate has trended toward blockbuster fare.

The combined company will also face a massive debt load of more than $80 billion after the merger closes, meaning there may be greater pressure for future films to be hits.

“Ellison is primarily in the business of delivering blockbusters,” Galloway said. “That’s going to be even more important as he tries to right the ship of his debt.”

While many may flock to the huge French resorts of Val D’isere or Chamonix, for a more intimate romantic ski getaway one hidden Austrian getaway scoops the title

There are ski resorts built for thrill seekers, and there are ski resorts built for those searching for glamour. Then there is the Gastein Valley in Austria, a place that seems designed for something else entirely – romance.

Hidden deep within the Alps in the province of SalzburgerLand, the valley’s twin spa towns of Bad Gastein and Bad Hofgastein combine sweeping mountain scenery, healing thermal waters and classic wooden ski huts that ooze quintessential Austrian charm.

While German may not be known as a romantic language, the Austrian alpine culture all but makes up for it with its cosy wooden lodges with roaring fires, extremely good local wines (I promise it’s not just Riesling), and let’s not forget about the fondue. Something I indulged in for the first time on a recent trip, surrounded by a roaring fire in said cosy lodge, at Bellevue Alm Gastein. Washed down with a good quantity of schnapps, of course.

Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

OPINION

With plenty of lodges to curl up in, it’s clear why the region has quietly gained a reputation as one of the Alps’ most romantic winter destinations. The resort of Bad Gastein itself is unusual. Rather than spreading gently across a valley floor like most Alpine resorts, it clings dramatically to the side of a steep gorge.

After a walk around the town during golden hours on a brisk February evening, looking at the mountain views and the marvels of architecture that surrounded me, it hit me – I’m in a Wes Anderson film. The streets were lined with grand pastel coloured hotels perched perilously onto the mountainside, just like in one of my personal favorite films, The Grand Budapest Hotel. I walked through the flakes, feeling as though I had just stumbled onto a film set with Ralph Fiennes and Bill Murray.

But this wasn’t just a figment of my imagination. The cult-classic director is said to have traveled to Bad Gastein, seeking alpine inspiration for the Oscar-nominated hit. Clearly, he found it. It is especially easy to spot when looking up at the façade of the Grand Hotel de l’Europe. The hotel looks out over a cliff, a gentle waterfall crashing below, with all but a bright pink 19th-century funicular distinguishing it from the film itself.

As I continued my wander, the noise of the waterfall offered its own theatrical backing track – and one that becomes even more magical in winter, when mist from the waterfall freezes into crystals and snow dusts the pastel-coloured buildings. This is a magic that has been enchanting people for centuries, with the town having inspired many Romantic composers.

Franz Schubert and Johann Strauss found musical inspiration from the valley, while it is said Mozart himself was born in Bad Gastein before his pregnant parents moved to the nearby city of Salzburg.

Today, that historic grandeur remains, giving the resort a slightly surreal atmosphere that feels part Hollywood and the perfect place for a day together on the slopes.

Book it

Mike Tomlin’s YouTube video detailing his labor of love of more than a decade is well on its way to a million views in less than 24 hours. His tweet about it has accumulated more than 20 million views.

No, it’s not a deep dive into Tomlin’s 19 years as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, a reign that produced a Super Bowl title, zero losing seasons and a 193-114-2 overall record.

It’s about his obsession with “Minecraft,” the immensely popular video sandbox game that takes place in a world of 3D cubes representing raw materials such as wood, ores, stone and dirt. Players craft elaborate structures and — certainly in Tomlin’s case — full-blown cities.

At least one of Tomlin’s former players is astonished that he was able to construct a sprawling “Minecraft” community in the limited spare time enjoyed by an NFL head coach.

“we were tryna to win super bowls and coach T was on minecraft building cities,” former Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell wrote on X, adding a crying emoji.

Countless adults were introduced to the game by taking their kids to “A Minecraft Movie,” the 2025 film starring Jack Black, Jason Mamoa, Sebastian Hansen and Emma Myers that brought in a worldwide box office total of nearly $1 billion.

Tomlin got an earlier start, watching his middle school-age sons spending weekends playing the game in 2014, the same year the Steelers went 11-5 to begin a four-year streak of double-figure wins. His sons, Dino and Mayce, eventually outgrew the game, but Tomlin’s interest increased.

“At different times over the course of a 12-month calendar, I would have different levels of fixation on this, but it’s been a project that’s been ongoing for 12-plus years,” he said on the 19-minute video titled “Rooftops, Penthouses, and Urban Living.”

Tomlin said he preferred playing in creative mode, as opposed to survival, hardcore or adventure modes. He also said getting his mind off of football was good for his mental health.

“I kind of remember when I was building communities, neighborhoods, buildings, etc.,” he said. “But more than anything, it was therapeutic for me, some mindless entertainment. I’m not a big TV watcher. [“Minecraft”] allowed me to detach from the realities and pressures of life.”

The realities and pressures of coaching in the NFL include a 24/7 work mentality. Watching film and diagramming plays deep into the night. Sleeping on a cot in the team facility.

The attention to detail he brought to his day job was evident in his “Minecraft” creations.

“I was always really conscious of appropriate amenities,” Tomlin said. “You’ll find, you know, an appropriate number of public restrooms and stuff throughout all my public facilities. Not anything over the top in terms of detail: sink areas, stalls, etc. It was important that I represented that.”

Tomlin’s younger son, Mayce, a 24-year-old Columbia graduate, is having a kick on social media posting reactions to his father’s “Minecraft” reveal.

“Bro I used to come home sometimes and my PlayStation would just be gone. And I wasn’t in trouble😭😭😭” Mayce wrote on X.

Tomlin retired from coaching after the 2025 season and now works as an NFL studio analyst for NBC Sports on the pregame show “Football Night in America.” Presumably he has more time to devote to “Minecraft.”

“I like to build, I’ve always had an interest in architecture and so forth,” he said. “So I started doing this creative city. It was a means of spending time with [my children]. They participated. All over this city, all my kids have got buildings.

“Over the course of time, they got disinterested in the game. They were going to high school and off to college, and their participation became less and less over the years. My participation probably at times increased.”

Halloween season is arguably the most festive time of year in Los Angeles. Is it any wonder that a city that favors make-believe would take to a holiday that inspires elaborate set dressings and creative costumes, the latter a chance to take on a role other than ourselves?

Likely not, and whether you lean spooky or playful, the days and weeks leading up to Oct. 31 are filled with events, often with no costume necessary. Consider October an excuse to throw a massive, fall-related bash.

This season there are returning staples, such as “Carved” at Descanso Gardens and Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights, but also opportunities to explore Halloween’s campier side. Our penchant for the theatrical is well represented, and even newer Los Angeles institutions such as the Academy Museum are getting in on the autumnal fun.

Whether you’re seeking an event to charm or to inspire frights, there’s plenty our region has to offer.

A federal judge in Oakland has approved a settlement that allows Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison to finalize his $111-billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín on Wednesday signed a settlement agreement, effectively ending an antitrust lawsuit brought by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general who initially fought the formation of a new Hollywood colossus.

The judge did not offer additional conditions to an agreement struck last week between Paramount and the states, instead allowing Paramount’s negotiated settlement terms to stand.

“The Court finds the proposed settlement agreement reflects a procedurally sound resolution,” Martínez-Olguín wrote in her order.

Ellison is aiming to finalize the merger early next week, capping his meteoric rise into one of the industry’s most influential figures. The Ellison family claimed Paramount and CBS last year, and will now add HBO, CNN, TBS, HGTV and the film and television studio with rights to Batman, Harry Potter, Fred Flintstone, “Friends” and “The Pitt” to its sprawling media and entertainment portfolio.

His father Larry Ellison, through his company Oracle Corp., also owns a substantial stake in the social media app TikTok and is among the tech giants supporting development of artificial intelligence.

The settlement agreement, which spans five years, requires the combined Paramount-Warner Bros. to release at least 30 films in theaters each year, commit an additional $1.5 billion to domestic film production and set aside $47.5 million for workers who may be adversely affected by the merger. It calls for the creation of a five-member panel to monitor editorial independence of CBS News and CNN, although critics note the Ellisons control board appointments, diminishing its independence.

The agreement, known as a consent decree, also stipulates that Paramount won’t sell or close its Melrose Avenue campus in Hollywood or the larger Warner Bros. lot in Burbank. The combined company must instead operate the historic facilities “in a manner consistent with past practices” for at least five years.

Paramount will also face restrictions on how it wields clout during negotiations for distribution of its basic cable TV channels. An independent monitor is expected to oversee implementation of the settlement terms.

The merger has been unpopular in Hollywood and critics denounced the settlement as weak. Opponents accused Bonta, who led the negotiations with Paramount, of caving into pressure from Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who publicly urged Bonta to abandon his court fight.

“Our settlement with Paramount resolves our antitrust concerns in every market we brought in our case, protects competition and consumer choice, and centers the needs, concerns, and futures of California workers,” Bonta’s office said in a statement.

Los Angeles County’s Department of Economic Opportunity has estimated that the merger will result in the loss of 4,500 local jobs as Ellison seeks to integrate the two entities and cut costs. Paramount has promised investors that it will shave $6 billion in spending within three years.

“Allowing the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery merger to move forward with no meaningful structural remedies will cost jobs, mute creativity, weaken independent journalism, and damage our First Amendment rights,” the Block the Merger coalition said Wednesday in a statement.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) last week urged Martínez-Olguín to order an independent review to evaluate the strength of the proposed settlement terms and determine whether the pact adequately addresses alleged violations of the Clayton Antitrust Act.

During a Thursday hearing, Martínez-Olguín questioned key deal tenets, including the five-year length of the agreement and the value of the Miramax film studio, which Paramount agreed to divest should the company fall short of its film goals. She also asked why the state attorneys general dropped so many of their initial demands in pursuit of a settlement with Paramount.

“In years to come, we’ll be able to point to this failure to put consumers over the monied interests of corporate consolidation as the tipping-point moment for media in this country,” the Block the Merger coalition said in its statement.

The judge noted that she recognized the deep disappointment by merger opponents, and heard their concerns about news independence and a potential lack of diversity in storytelling when the two studios consolidate.

“But these hopes and desires for the proposed consent decree to reach farther — to achieve more — do not rise to the level of legal violations upon which the Court can reject the parties’ negotiated resolution,” Martínez-Olguín wrote.

The lawsuit resolution ends months of acrimony over Ellison’s deal for Warner Bros. Discovery, which was stalled for two months after Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general sued, arguing the combination would violate U.S. antitrust law and thwart competition. The Writers Guild of America lobbed its own antitrust lawsuit in an attempt to foil the merger.

But Paramount dug in, and its lobbying reached a crescendo by early September. A parade of state and local politicians, including Bass and others, urged a settlement due to fears that Paramount might follow through on its threat to leave California unless Bonta retreated.

Bonta and his coalition then worked behind the scenes to hammer out a settlement with Paramount, which was announced Sept. 21.

Paramount’s bankers have since been pricing bonds and lining up loans needed to finance the buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders at $31 a share. Ellison’s team had hoped to price the offering months ago, and interest rates have since climbed.

Paramount is selling about $44 billion of bonds and $7.5 billion in loans to finance the takeover, according to Bloomberg, which said the combined company will have more than $87 billion of investment-grade and high-yield debt.

Larry Ellison has promised to guarantee $47.5 billion in equity that his son needs to close the deal. Three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, representing royal families in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar have agreed to invest $24 billion in the merged company, giving them a substantial stake in the new Paramount-Warner Bros.

Paramount separately announced Wednesday that Mattel Chief Executive Ynon Kreiz would soon join the merged company as co-chief executive, running Paramount-Warner Bros. day-to-day operations. Friday will be Kreiz’s last day at Mattel.

An interactive, floor-to-ceiling walk-through “Dune” attraction is coming to Los Angeles in November, and it promises spectacle, as well as a bit of mystery. Step around, and potentially inside, awe-inspiring vehicles from the film, or come face-to-face with the Bene Gesserit, a group of priestesses who possess, among other things, the ability to bend the will of others.

In one centerpiece of the exhibit, guests will be asked to take their so-called “test of humanity,” an opportunity to place one’s hand in a box and, in the lore of the “Dune” franchise, experience a none-too-pleasant sensation. It’s a battle of will, and intellect, and at “Dune: The Experience,” the hope is it will be fun.

“Dune: The Experience” is an immersive, walk-through exhibit coming to downtown Los Angeles.

(Fever / Legendary Entertainment )

“I don’t want to spoil exactly what happens when you put your hand in the box, but it is intended to be somewhat shocking, participatory and to put people on edge,” says Rob Shalhoub, a team lead at Fever, which is producing the event in partnership with Legendary Entertainment. “It really immerses you into the intensity of these films, where you’re up close and personal with these characters.”

“Dune: The Experience” is planned to launch in November in support of the theatrical release of Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Three,” which is out on Dec. 18. The event doesn’t have an opening date or an end date yet, but it is intended to tour. It will be in Los Angeles at a location in downtown’s Art’s District at least through the end of December. Expect costumes, props and life-size vehicles from the film, as well as projection-based rooms designed to immerse guests in the desert planet of Arrakis.

Tickets will go on sale Oct. 7 via the official “Dune: The Experience” web page and range in price from $30-$45.

There will be about a dozen rooms to explore, says Shalhoub, each designed for guests to spend around five minutes in. Some will feature hidden messages within ancient carvings, while others will emphasize photo opportunities with Paul Atreides’ throne, allowing guests to attempt their best Timothée Chalamet impression. “Dune: The Experience” is also built for attendees to linger, as it will feature an area with themed food and cocktails.

“It will reward your curiosity,” says Amado Trevino, director of interactive media and experiences for Legendary Entertainment. “Walls will begin to whisper throughout. You get to take Paul’s throne and see the desert come alive around you. Guests may even find out if they have what it takes to ride a sandworm.”

Different rooms are said to explore contrasting sensations, with some emphasizing touch, sound or visuals.

“We have this amazing projection room where you’re going to get to experience what it’s like in the desert in Arrakis, to really feel the scale of the desert and some of the dangers that lurk within the desert, namely sandworms,” Shalhoub says. “We’ve re-created these environments in a very interactive and immersive way.”

Adds Trevino, “There are things to see, there are things to hear, there are things to do, and there are things to feel. We’re showing beautiful artifacts from the productions, but you’re doing it from within the world of ‘Dune.’ ”

Sept. 30, 2026 3:01 AM PT

Summer mornings in the Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh are a respite from the dissonance of honking cars and construction of the capital city of Dhaka. It was a welcome change to hear chickens and the sound of … wait, was that Julie Andrews’ voice echoing over the hills?

I was visiting my home country when I heard a group of schoolchildren playing ektaras, a traditional string instrument, and singing the “Do-Re-Mi” song for their morning assembly.

I used my phone to show them a picture of Andrews. “Do you know her?” They immediately leaped in excitement. They didn’t know the composer Richard Rodgers or lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. But they knew Andrews — even though 60 years have passed since “The Sound of Music” and these children live in a remote Bangladeshi village. The recognition is evidence of something extraordinary.

Andrews is turning 91 on Thursday, and there are calls online to bubble wrap her, just in case. She is indeed a global treasure, and she has been earning plaudits and admirers for eight decades.

Andrews trained in the Italian bel canto tradition and from a young age sang challenging coloratura arias with precision, clarity and range. The bright, happy tone, perhaps a subconscious decision rather than anatomical alone, provided her respite from the doodlebug bombs that fell during her childhood in England in World War II. British critics had dubbed her as the “youngest prima donna,” a title usually reserved for opera greats, and it wasn’t undeserved. At just 12, she routinely floated high Fs above the treble staff during live performances.

Yet before opera could claim her, Broadway stepped in. From “The Boy Friend” to “My Fair Lady” and then “Camelot,” she won the hearts of theater goers and creators alike. Lyricist Alan Lerner described her as “an amazingly quick study in music … who meets any challenge with an unabated eyelid that makes you wonder how Britain ever lost the empire.”

Her voice then was so precise that the late maestro André Previn, who led the London Symphony Orchestra, proclaimed: “No one’s diction in any field of singing can come close. … You understand every syllable from the second balcony — I don’t understand how you do that.”

It’s inaccurate to romanticize her legacy in 2026 as simply nostalgic. That would overlook the depth and progressive nature of her characters. She was essentially the first female superhero on the big screen, as Mary Poppins — who could fly and create alternate realities with the snap of her heels, but whose more stunning superpower at the height of the Cold War was to charmingly portray capitalism as dangerous.

In “Victor/Victoria,” she navigated a gender-bending performance that challenged societal norms, playing a woman who impersonates a man impersonating a woman when it was taboo to speak about any layer of that. Her most overlooked and perhaps her best dramatic role was in “Duet for One,” a 1986 film about a musician who suffers from multiple sclerosis. Tragically this became a moment of life imitating art, foreshadowing her own destiny to lose her instrument after throat surgery in 1997.

Rather than retreat, Andrews adjusted and leaned into voice acting with characters like the dominant Queen Lillian in “Shrek” films, Gru’s hilariously villainous mother in “Despicable Me” and the mysterious Lady Whistledown in “Bridgerton,” for which she won an Emmy, twice.

In real life, the flying super governess fought to adopt two babies from Vietnam just after the fall of Saigon, helping to raise awareness of the need for adoptive parents. She then co-founded the Operation USA disaster relief charity and opened the Japanese wing for the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

Whether it was to support UNICEF after the devastating Bhola cyclone hit present-day Bangladesh in 1970 or jetting to Jordan and Senegal to support women’s and children’s activities, she was a quiet champion for the underserved. In her most famous role, in “The Sound of Music,” she was a savior for children being displaced by war.

Andrews is mostly out of the public eye, but her singing is eternal and accessible. YouTube is home to a trove of Andrews performances, including “This Is My Beloved” from “Kismet,” full-voiced “When You Wish Upon a Star,” from pianissimos to fortes, high B-flats and all — her classical skill shines through. These recordings remind us that beyond just the formulaic legato phrasing that singers from the Italian tradition follow, and the clear resonance, her work it set a gold standard for musical storytelling that few have surpassed since.

Julie Andrews is no longer trilling on the Alps, nor is she reprising her role as queen of Genovia in a “Princess Diaries” film, but her voice, and what it represented for more than 80 years, endures. It lives on not just in films and recordings but also ringing in the minds of children and adults alike, from her hometown of Walton-on-Thames to the Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. In an age of doom scrolling (and alarmingly low singing standards), her vast career offers a rare resonance and a continuing masterclass.

Shams-il Arefin Islam, a Yale-Berkeley College associate fellow who works on climate mitigation and adaptation, is a classically trained tenor.

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu and Pop artist Ed Ruscha have a long history of admiring each other’s work. Twenty-four years ago, a nervous Iñárritu visited Ruscha’s Venice studio to offer him the role of the gynecologist in “21 Grams.” They needed a doctor with noble features and blue, believable eyes. That plan didn’t pan out, schedule-wise, but the filmmaker and the artist finally found a way to collaborate.

The result — a Ruscha-designed poster for Iñárritu’s new film “Digger,” starring Tom Cruise — was unveiled Sunday at an intimate brunch at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, attended by Iñárritu, Ruscha and Cruise, as well as “Digger” actors John Goodman, Jesse Plemons, Michael Stuhlbarg and Ross Hatt.

Iñárritu and Cruise laughed as they made a clumsy attempt at a countdown before whipping aside a black velvet curtain to reveal the poster for the first time: a very Ruscha, text-heavy work on a slate gray background with a beige border. A looming ice shelf in the background is surrounded by phrases including, “A Man. A Plan. A Meltdown,” and “Comedy equals tragedy plus time.”

Filmmaker Alejandro Iñárritu and “Digger” star Tom Cruise unveil Ed Ruscha’s new poster for the film. (They just pulled off the black velvet curtain on the floor below.)

(Kevin Garrison)

“Well, the movie blew my hair back,” Ruscha said at the unveiling brunch inside LACMA’s new (still unopened) restaurant, with LACMA Director and Chief Executive Michael Govan by his side. “And not only that, it parted it down the middle. It has since grown back.”

The crowd laughed knowingly. “Digger,” which opens Friday, is a satirical black comedy that follows oil tycoon Digger Rockwell as one of his drilling rigs in Greenland explodes, dislodging an ice shelf that floats away to cause a global disaster. As a dark parable for the dangers of climate change, the film has already proved polarizing, with early reviews coming in mixed.

Ruscha noted that he first saw “Digger” at a screening about six months ago, alongside Govan. “I knew I had seen an epic production, an epic product from an epic producer,” Ruscha said. “So I jumped at the idea of doing the poster. And I thought about it, and I think about this movie, and it reminded me of a kaleidoscope. It’s got so many running-around ideas. It was kaleidoscopic in its message, and its content and its humor.”

Ruscha turned his attention to Iñárritu, “It’s got something to offer to the world, and I thank you for that.”

The filmmaker loved the poster, and the fact that the ice shelf sat front and center.

From left to right — “Digger” actors John Goodman and Jesse Plemons, filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu, artist Ed Ruscha, actor Tom Cruise, LACMA director Michael Govan and actors Ross Hatt and Michael Stuhlbarg — pose with Ruscha’s new poster for the film.

(David Jon)

“The billing is nature: We are human beings, we are in a war against nature,” Iñárritu said — describing what he feels the poster relays — in a phone interview from Mexico City a day before the event. “We think that we are different from nature. So nature, in a way, becomes our enemy. We are fighting a fight against nature, and the enemy is an ice shelf going to Europe. And he just put [that] in the center of it, [like] a disaster movie, which is very clever, as he always is.”

“Those decisions that he made with a very prominent element in a simple way, with one or two words, it just says so much with so little,” Iñárritu continued. “And then he [put] some lines around [it], very Ruscha, that in a way convey the spine or the character itself.”

The director had the same feelings two years ago, at LACMA’s Ruscha retrospective. He said so much with so little, Iñárritu thought, and that “less is more” thinking could hold so much power in a film poster.

Iñárritu, too, has been exhibited at LACMA: earlier this year, with the film installation “Sueño Perro,” a resurrection of lost footage from “Amores Perros;” and in 2017-2018, with the virtual reality installation “CARNE y ARENA,” which explored the human condition of immigrants and refugees.

The director’s collaboration with Ruscha is proof of concept for LACMA’s annual Art + Film gala, entering its 15th year, which seeks to highlight and strengthen the connections between film and visual art by bringing the two communities together at a splashy party — often creating lasting connections between the two groups.

Both Ruscha and Iñárritu have been honored at the gala, the former in 2012 (with Stanley Kubrick) and the latter in 2015 (with James Turrell). “This is a beautiful encounter of art and film,” Govan said at the unveiling.

“Digger” has evolved over nine years, Iñárritu said. It’s been a long journey of taking note of current events, including where the world is going, as well as people’s obsessions and fears.

“The film is a love letter for the young generation,” Iñárritu said. “I think it’s kind of a warning, or a wake-up call. But you can have fun about it, because it’s the only way to — humor allows us to have space and recognize ourselves in that absurdity. So I feel that it’s a human, urgent, now film.”

“Heartwarming” is a cliche of theater reviewing that I have studiously tried to avoid, but I’m tempted to use the word in my review of “Begin Again,” the new musical based on the 2013 John Carney romantic comedy about two dreamers trying to rekindle the love of making music that the industry nearly destroyed.

The show, which is having its world premiere at the Old Globe’s Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage, is just so damn heartwarming that I can’t help but resort to the language of blurbs. But let the ticket buyer beware: Heartwarming is a feeling, not a complete verdict.

Featuring a book by Jenna Clark Embrey and Molly Beach Murphy and a score by Pat Monahan and his bandmates from Train (Jerry Becker and Matt Musty), “Begin Again” does a pretty good job of distilling and updating the movie. Carney’s film, notable mostly for the vibrantly gritty New York setting, the Oscar-nominated song “Lost Stars” and the lived-in performance of Mark Ruffalo, couldn’t help languishing in the shadow of the filmmaker’s breakout hit “Once,” which later became a Tony-winning musical.

“Begin Again” the musical is likely to suffer a similar fate. It lacks the quirky originality that made “Once” an unexpected Broadway juggernaut. But the new show, directed by Lorin Latarro and choreographed by David Neumann, has heart — there I go with that overused word again!

I succumbed to the show’s charms despite being aware that the comedy isn’t as freshly articulated as it should be and the music, while exuberant, doesn’t seem to emanate from the soul of Gretta, a reworked American version of the singer-songwriter character indifferently played by Keira Knightley in the movie.

Emma Busse as Gretta, center left, and Kevin William Paul as Max with the cast of “Begin Again.”

(Jeff Lorch)

Gretta relates to her songs as though she were the next Joni Mitchell, but the new material she’s composing on the fly with her new friends doesn’t seem particularly intimate or revealing. I liked the indie rock sound, but mostly for the collaborative liftoff. Lyrically, I wasn’t drawn in. But who could resist the ecstatic momentum of her ad hoc band members buying into her grassroots dream?

Gretta, played with folksy innocence by Emma Busse, has traveled to New York from Pennsylvania with her boyfriend Max (Kevin William Paul). A musician with frontman good looks, he’s about to be packaged into a rock star. Gretta’s songwriting has paved the way for this opportunity, but Max is told that he’s being signed as a singer-songwriter and sharing credit is a deal-breaker.

Selfless, naive Gretta gives Max her blessing and her rights, and almost immediately he betrays her with another woman. Perhaps even more disloyally, he allows his producers to run her song “Don’t Let Go” through a pop blender that drains it of all its personal meaning and artistic integrity.

Alone in the big city, she takes refuge at the Queens apartment of college friend Stevie (Casey Whyland), formerly Steve in the movie, the comic sidekick role played by James Corden. Stevie, conveniently, is a sound engineer with an analog heart. She’s not only how Dan (an electric Patrick Heusinger), a washed-up music executive with a broken marriage and a drinking problem, discovers Gretta. But without Stevie’s technical ingeniousness, the prospect of recording an album in outdoor New York locations would never have been possible.

The professional meet-cute between Gretta and Dan happens at an open-mic night at a dive. Stevie calls a heartbroken Gretta to the stage to perform, and she reluctantly complies before giving up in embarrassment. She thinks she’s bombed, but Dan, who has “magic ears,” hears what the song could be.

Patrick Heusinger as Dan, left, and Adrienne Walker as Miriam with the cast of “Begin Again.”

(Jeff Lorch)

Just as Dan glimpses Gretta’s raw potential, she sees his lost purpose, and the two launch a mutual rescue mission. He brings Gretta to meet Saul (Nik Walker), who co-founded Distressed Records with him and just fired him for his erratic behavior. Saul doesn’t have Dan’s ability to spot future talent, but he agrees to give the singer a listen if they cut a demo. And so off Dan and Gretta go, with no budget, to make memorable music together.

Friends are their main resource — and that proves an inexhaustible boon. “Begin Again” really comes alive as Gretta, Dan and their expanding, can-do music network starts pooling its expertise.

You can hear the songs germinating from lonely inspiration to group transformation — and the sound is exhilarating. The process of songwriting, rather than being a solitary slog, is a collective joy, rapturously captured in the number “Write a Way.” And “Twilight Summer Sky,” the number performed on the rooftop of Stevie’s apartment building in Queens, represents perhaps the fruit of all the group’s effort.

“Begin Again” is a musical fantasy, not a work of realism. Gretta and Dan are seemingly brought together by fate to heal one another. As they separately go about their business in New York before they’re introduced, they continually pass like ships in the night in a New York that scenic designer Derek McLane summons in a shifting comic-strip landscape of high-rises that gives the city an industrial quaintness.

The action rewinds from Gretta and Dan’s initial meeting at the bar, and later fast–forwards to speed up some of the more boring bits of the album-writing process. The ensemble moves backward and forward with these narrative jump-cuts.

This literalness can seem overly cute. (I prefer the idiosyncratic yet fully integrated movement direction Steven Hoggett brought to John Tiffany’s Broadway production of “Once.”) But Latarro’s staging and Neumann’s choreography keep the storytelling moving at a pleasantly brisk clip. And Skylar Fox’s illusion design adds an element of visual sorcery.

The cast of “Begin Again.”

(Jeff Lorch)

It’s the actors, however, who elevate the material, supplying a depth of feeling where the writing offers something more general. Heusinger makes it possible to leave Ruffalo’s fine portrayal behind. This is a different and more dynamic Dan, at least in terms of the musical demands placed on the character. Paul’s Max is every bit a rock star, but Dan is convincing as both a burned-out music mogul with a self-sabotaging streak and a gifted artist in his own right who just needs someone to believe in his producing instincts again.

Adrienne Walker, who plays Miriam, Dan’s estranged wife, and Charlotte MacLeod, who plays Violet, Dan’s disaffected daughter, endow their characters with more lineaments than the book provides. Walker’s Saul doesn’t do what Yasiin Bey managed in the movie — make Distressed Records seem like a real New York record company — but his singing compensates for some of the clumsier aspects of his reduced role.

Whyland’s Stevie, serving as emcee when the occasion calls for one, combines genuine camaraderie with comic relief. The gender switch makes sense, and Whyland embodies the spirit of artistic cooperation that makes “Begin Again” such an invigorating experience.

I wish that the musical didn’t amplify Gretta’s artistic insecurities and distress over the breakup with Max. The character seems less self-assured and more wounded than she did in the movie, making her fervently held idealistic beliefs about creative independence seem borrowed from another character. But Busse brings an American innocence to the role, and her ardor about music and community seems genuine.

“Begin Again” transcends its limitations through the kinetic connection of the cast. When all the elements of the music come together, a triumphant feeling — call it uplift — charges the air.

Five months after pulling back from most of its Los Angeles soundstage business, production services company Quixote is selling much of its equipment operation.

Equipment rental house Cinelease recently announced that it had acquired Quixote’s grip and lighting and production supplies assets in Los Angeles and New York. The transaction resulted in roughly 60 layoffs, Quixote said. Most of the affected employees were based in L.A. with a few in New York.

The production supplies business will operate as Cinelease Pro Supplies.

“Our sales team is reaching out directly to clients with active or upcoming rentals from these businesses and will work with Cinelease to help ensure a smooth transition,” the company said in an email on Sept. 15 to its clients. “It has been our privilege to serve you, and we look forward to continuing to be your source for production and events transportation.”

In April, Quixote announced it was winding down most of its Los Angeles soundstage business, including its main commercial studio in West Hollywood and its North Valley studio in Pacoima. A producer has since taken over the Pacoima site.

Quixote has also closed its production services operation in Atlanta, following earlier closures in New Orleans and Albuquerque. Quixote’s Griffith Park studio will remain open.

Cinelease, a Los Angeles lighting and grip rental company founded in 1977, has been expanding in recent months. It has added rigging and fencing businesses and is pursuing work in live events and sports alongside film and TV.

Quixote was founded in 1995. Los Angeles-based real estate company Hudson Pacific Properties Inc. bought it in 2022 for $360 million, saying at the time that the acquisition would help address growing demand for soundstage space.

Quixote’s retreat comes amid a major slowdown in Hollywood production, as many productions leave California in pursuit of tax incentives around the world. The downturn has hit studio real estate hard. Radford Studio Center, which sold for $1.85 billion in 2021, was seized by lenders after its previous owner defaulted on its debt. Netflix agreed to buy the lot for between $330 million and $400 million. The Television City lot is also up for sale.

On Thursday, a bipartisan group of congressional leaders introduced a bill to create a federal film and television tax credit, the Motion Picture, Television and Entertainment Revitalization Act. It would establish a 20% tax credit on U.S. labor for eligible film and TV productions. Its path is uncertain, however. The House is in recess until after the midterm elections, and supporters hope to pass the bill at the end of the year.

“As we enter this next chapter, our Fleet team remains committed to providing the service, expertise and support our clients have come to expect from Quixote,” the company wrote in an email. “We look forward to continuing to work with you to make your visions a reality.”

Times staff writer Samantha Masunaga contributed to this report.

JANE Austen knew what she was doing when she wrote her books in atmospheric locations.

And with a new movie based on her novel Sense & Sensibility coming out this weekend, the locations in the film are the perfect destination for a staycation.

I have visited Dartmoor National Park more times than I can count, including the spots used in the film – and I stand by that it is the best staycation spot in England.

The National Park spans 368 square miles and to put that into perspective, its around nine times the size of the City of Paris.

In fact, Dartmoor is so huge you could spend a whole week exploring it and you could still come back again and see new things.

But you won’t see skyscrapers and massive roads here – instead, rolling hills meet meandering rivers with winding country roads running alongside them.

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The new Sense & Sensibility film starring Daisy Edgar-Jones as Elinor Dashwood and Esmé Creed-Miles as Marianne Dashwood, used the rugged and windswept landscapes of Dartmoor extensively to film scenes of the movie.

One location used was Gutter Tor – a large granite rock pile that makes for the ideal walk.

There is a small car park not too far away and after exploring the tor, head to Ditsworthy Warren House, just south of the tor, which was also used in film and it already featured in Steven Spielberg‘s film War Horse.

As a child and still now as an adult, I love searching for letterboxes on Dartmoor – a traditional hobby box with a rubber stamp inside and a visitor book.

Obviously some are harder to find than others and while I haven’t found one at Gutter Tor, there are three officials ones in the area.

It is a great activity for kids, like the ultimate hide and seek.

You will usually find them in the crevices of the granite rocks, or even under some that are light enough to move.

Another spot the new blockbuster used as a filming spot was Princetown, which is one of the National Park’s villages.

The small village is home to the famous Dartmoor Prison, made entirely out of granite.

Many myths and folklore about Dartmoor originate at this prison and are usually about escaped prisoners.

I’d really recommend heading to the Dartmoor Prison Museum to learn more about the 200-year-old building.

And if you want to hear more about the folklore, book onto a Heart of Dartmoor Guided Walk, based in Princetown.

For half a day (£40pp) or a full-day (£70pp) visitors head off on walks across open moorland and tracks with a guide who will share local folklore, history and hidden features.

Pop into Dartmoor Brewery’s shop as well and pick up some of their famous Jail Ales which have won numerous awards over the past few years.

The ales all come from the brewery next door, which is England‘s highest brewery at 446.5 metres above sea level.

If you want to sit and enjoy a pint in a pub, then pop into the Plume of Feathers or the Prince of Wales.

The final Dartmoor filming spot was Tavistock – a historic market town on the edge of the National Park.

Known as the original home of the cream tea, it is well worth spending a day exploring.

The World Heritage status town is home to loads of independent shops, a famous pannier market and an award-winning farmers market.

The town has a heap of restaurants, pubs and cafes as well and if you want to extend your stay then book into the Cornish Arms for a night, costing from £124 per night.

Dartmoor has more to explore than just these filming spots though…

One of the most popular spots to visit – with good reason – is Haytor.

The towering tor at the edge of the moors provides the ideal walk for those who enjoy being outside but don’t want anything too rigorous.

By Haytor is also The Moorland Hotel, with stunning gardens and a large restaurant serving delicious comfort food.

Staying here is the perfect base to explore the National Park and what makes it even better is that it costs from just £80 per night – so £40 per person per night, with breakfast included.

And across the moors you will find more than 70 pubs in total, many of which have won awards for either their drinks or food.

For example, head to The Chagford Inn, which is recognised as a leading West Country gastropub and focuses on farm-to-table menus.

Also in Chagford, drop into the Three Crowns which is the Gold Winner for Pub of the Year at the Visit Devon Tourism Awards and a Devon Life Food and Drink Awards finalist.

Another fun family spot – that is free to visit – is Dartmeet.

Here you can go for a dip in the river, head over a traditional clapper bridge and venture across giant stepping stones that span the river.

If all of this wasn’t enough, Dartmoor is actually the only place in England you can wild camp for free.

So, get your tent out and you’ll have free accommodation too.

Next year, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra — an intimate, 42-player group compared with the more than 100-member Los Angeles Philharmonic — will warm its new home, the highly anticipated, Frank Gehry-designed Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall. And it will do so with the help of a little light music: fanfares commissioned from half a dozen preeminent film composers — John Williams, Ludwig Göransson, Joel McNeely, Thomas Newman, James Newton Howard and John Powell — curated by none other than Seth MacFarlane (best known as the creator and star of “Family Guy”).

The buzzwords are lighting up, but this is far from a game of performing arts Mad Libs; it’s actually quite intentional. “We really thought about … ‘What statement can we make to Los Angeles and to the performing arts world that really shows who we are?’” said LACO Executive Director Ben Cadwallader. “Who is the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, specifically? And it really was this tie to Hollywood, to Los Angeles, to our musicians themselves.”

MacFarlane was a natural fit.

“I loved movies and I loved movie music,” MacFarlane said of his childhood in a recent interview. “I would go to the record store and buy the latest John Williams soundtrack, which was usually out before the movie was released. I remember buying the ‘Jurassic Park’ soundtrack not having seen the movie, and it didn’t matter. It was just great music. It was just great, symphonic music.”

LACO was founded by an assemblage of musicians and civic leaders in 1968, including the cellist James Arkatov. After emigrating from Russia as a child, Arkatov became the principal cellist at the Pittsburgh and San Francisco symphonies before landing in L.A. He arrived as a Hollywood studio musician, played on movie soundtracks and did backing for Ella Fitzgerald.

From the beginning, LACO served as “the artistic outlet of studio players … these incredibly gifted musicians who bring our movies and TV shows to life,” said Cadwallader, a situation that remains true to this day. LACO’s musicians know it’s “a place where they can play … Bach and Mozart, and make music at a really high level in a performance environment, not a studio environment.”

This is why the christening of LACO’s new home is also a homage to its roots: film composers. These giants of their fields will each write a spry, five- to seven-minute-long fanfare as openers for select LACO concerts throughout the season. (The works will also be performed at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, with John Williams’ piece arriving first, in fall 2027.)

MacFarlane knew just what to do, thanks to his long history with music. The actor, animator, filmmaker and comedian has released 10 studio albums, received five Grammy Award nominations and performed as a vocalist at the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall. (He also just released a 14-track album called “Seth MacFarlane Sings the Muppets.”) Plus, his parents raised him steeped in music.

Nothing has changed here — throughout his career, MacFarlane has been relentlessly committed to including live music in his projects. The musical numbers on “Family Guy” simply couldn’t (and wouldn’t) exist without an orchestra.

“It would somehow feel thin and hollow, and people may not know why their attention is drifting, but it would drift,” MacFarlane said. “I really think you need the muscular sound of 60 musicians in a room, and in the case of ‘The Orville,’ sometimes 90. … Hollywood has been doing it since pictures went to sound, and I hope they continue to do it for as long as we make film and television.”

MacFarlane noted that the only time many people actually hear a live orchestra is in film or television.

“I don’t know how many people go to the symphony,” MacFarlane said. “So that’s certainly a component. When I was a kid, even the syndicated afternoon cartoon shows used a live orchestra, and when you go back and you listen to them, oftentimes it’s pretty legit composing. And I think that was important to have heard. I think it’s just good for the brain to hear complex symphonic music.”

Composer, conductor and longtime MacFarlane collaborator Joel McNeely (whose wife, Margaret Batjer, is LACO’s concertmaster) got MacFarlane involved in this commissioning initiative. Then MacFarlane selected the participating composers (and supported the initiative financially). One final Mad Lib to solve: What exactly, you may be wondering, is a fanfare?

“The perfect example … is the beginning of ‘Star Wars,’” Cadwallader said, then hummed the intro. “There’s big, loud brass. You cannot help but pay attention. … It puts a smile on your face. It maybe gets your heart racing a little bit. It’s usually very rhythmic, very bright. It’s like a big warm smile, or like a popping of a Champagne cork, to start a concert. … A bursting, effervescent moment of music to get things started. An amuse-bouche, if you like.”

Something’s in the air this fall — and it’s not just the autumnal chill. For some reason, survival thrillers are all the rage; there are even two featuring a man and his dog. First, we had Ridley Scott’s “The Dog Stars” with Jacob Elordi and a Belgian Malinois traversing a postapocalyptic landscape.

The latest is “Heart of the Beast,” an Alaskan-set story about two combat veterans — one human, one canine — who set out for a post-retirement camping trip and find themselves in a perilous situation after the human, retired Special Forces officer James (Brad Pitt), suffers a heart attack while piloting his seaplane. James and his combat dog Odin survive the crash, just barely, but they’re stranded deep in the wilderness, miles from civilization.

The film is directed by David Ayer, a purveyor of wild action flicks and ballads of masculinity; the screenplay is the debut effort of Cameron Alexander. Their intent is to deliver something muscle-bound and emotional — if a man can’t cry about an Army dog, what can he cry about? But until the last two minutes of the film, “Heart of the Beast” is essentially “Homeward Bound” for adults. You know, the 1993 kids adventure film featuring a golden retriever, a bulldog and a cat named Sassy who have to make their way home through the wild. Marry the structure of that film with a Jack London-inspired milieu, add some blood, gore and rather cheesy Iraq war flashbacks, and you have “Heart of the Beast.”

We watch James as he’s rained on, chewed on, pulls trunks out of an icy lake, falls off a log, breaks his arm, faces down a bear, fights off wolves, sustains many head injuries and inexplicably keeps going, in hopes of saving if not himself his dog, the most important creature in his life.

And oh, is Odin worth it. Played by four different dogs named Uber, Seeka, Ryker and Hondo, the performance that these dogs collectively deliver is worthy company to an Oscar winner — the dogs may even eclipse Pitt for sheer screen presence. With every whimper, sigh, howl, bark and head tilt, these dogs create an empathetic portrayal of a highly intelligent creature that has been through battle and has the scars (and nightmares) to prove it. Odin is a bionic dog, with titanium teeth and a prosthetic foot from injuries sustained during wartime, but nothing slows him down, not even a plane crash. However, the film does have its limitations when it comes to the other wildlife, all digitally created and the CGI isn’t convincing in the slightest.

“Heart of the Beast” is an onslaught of danger and misery, alleviated only by the pleasure of watching James’ survival skills and ingenuity. This man makes a lot of mistakes on this journey (he’s constantly calling himself “stupid” and “dumb”), but he’s also kind of a MacGyver. He starts a fire with cotton balls and Neosporin. He carries an alarming number of knives. He splints his own arm. If anything, it’s an excellent lesson on carrying the right gear and always taking medical supplies on a camping trip — if you ever go camping again after this.

Pitt typically excels when there’s a little (or a lot) of levity for him to exercise his loose-limbed charms and there’s precisely none of that in “Heart of the Beast.” Ayer pushes the emotional and physical extremes and it feels like a dirge: a forced march through the muddy Alaskan wilderness with plenty of body horror on top. The one moment of camaraderie comes in the beginning, when James shares a beer with a mysterious stranger (J.K. Simmons) who happens upon his camp and might even be an apparition of an old miner. James does share moments of affection and victory with Odin but there’s nothing to relieve the constant danger, even though structurally, the film has already sapped its potential suspense.

“Heart of the Beast” has its highs and lows but cinematically, it’s a mixed bag — entirely predictable and just not great. Nevertheless, there’s no denying that the star of the movie is indeed Odin and he’s a very, very good boy.

Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

Sept. 23, 2026 5:09 PM PT

A two-part docuseries about Melania Trump arrives later this year, the first lady revealed Wednesday. The new project follows the January release of director Brett Ratner’s documentary, which made $16.7 million worldwide at the box office and was universally panned by critics.

“It will come out this year, and it will be very different what is in the movie,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” ahead of her appearance to ring the New York Stock Exchange opening bell. “It’s more [like a] conversation one on one with me.”

Trump indicated that the docuseries will cover new ground.

“So when I was traveling and doing all of the filming, the director was asking me questions, and there’s some private questions that I will answer that people never heard before,” she said.

The Times has reached out to Amazon Studios for more information on the project, which does not appear in press materials, though Ratner teased the new “chapters” in an Aug. 11 Instagram post.

“Here we go again….” the director wrote. “The saga continues …. can’t wait to share with everyone around the world the next two chapters of MELANIA, THE DOCU SERIES!”

Ratner’s film followed the first lady in the 20 days leading up to President Trump’s 2025 inauguration, promising “exclusive footage capturing critical meetings, private conversations, and never-before-seen environments” as Melania “orchestrates inauguration plans, navigates the complexities of the White House transition, and moves her family back to the Nation’s Capital.”

Critics, however, found the cinematic experience lacking.

“I’m hesitant to call ‘Melania’ propaganda because I can’t imagine anyone watching this movie and thinking that Melania Trump comes off well,” Times film critic Amy Nicholson wrote in a February review. “If this vapid, airless, mindless time-waster had subversive designs of being a satire about the first lady of the United States, there’s not much it would have changed. Yet somehow, ‘Melania’ is exactly the film that the first lady wanted to make — her company was paid $40 million for the rights to this self-greenlit production — and no one around her warned that it was a very expensive bad idea.”

“Melania” was Ratner’s first film since six women accused him of sexual assault in 2017. In February 2026, The Times reported that the “Rush Hour” filmmaker appeared in the unsealed Epstein files in photos with unidentified women and the financier, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

In addition to the initial $40 million Amazon MGM Studios paid to license the project, the marketing and promotion budget was reportedly another $35 million.