Category: Entertainment

Filming for the next Hunger Games film, Sunrise on the Reaping, is set to begin in July.

Francis Lawrence, who has directed each Hunger Games film since Catching Fire in 2012, will be returning to direct the upcoming project.

Lawrence, who attended CinemaCon on Tuesday, spoke to attendees about the new film and said that they’re working on casting.

“We’re very excited,” he said. “We’ve been working on this draft for a year. We start shooting in July.”

Additionally, a promotional clip for the film was shared on Instagram. It features Woody Harrelson‘s character, Haymitch Abernathy, saying at the end, “I think the games are going to be different.”

Sunrise on the Reaping is based on author Suzanne Collins‘ novel of the same name. The book was released in March 2025 and “revisits the world of Panem twenty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games,” according to a press release from Scholastic.

The novel begins on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. It follows a young Haymitch, whose name is called to participate in the games, according to a synopsis.

In a statement shared in the Scholastic press release, Collins said, “With Sunrise on the Reaping, I was inspired by David Hume‘s idea of implicit submission and, in his words, ‘the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.’ The story also lent itself to a deeper dive into the use of propaganda and the power of those who control the narrative. The question ‘Real or not real?’ seems more pressing to me every day.”

Sunrise on the Reaping will arrive in theaters Nov. 20, 2026.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Everything’s coming up Milhouse!

Fox has ordered unprecedented four-season renewals for four of its animated TV shows. The Simpsons, Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers and American Dad! have all been renewed for four additional seasons.

All four shows will continue their runs on Fox through the 2028-29 TV broadcast cycle and come from 20th Television Animation.

American Dad! returns to the network for four new seasons after an 11-year break. Created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, the show premiered in 2005 and was part of Fox’s programming through 2014.

The Simpsons has been renewed for seasons 37 through 40, extending its run as the longest-running scripted primetime series in the history of TV.

“This new deal celebrates the eternal popularity of these iconic comedies, as well as the enduring, prolific relationship we continue to enjoy with our friends at 20th Television Animation and the brilliant creators — that goes double for Seth [MacFarlane] this time around — and incredible voices behind these contemporary classics,” Michael Thorn, the president of Fox Television Network, said in a statement.

Marci Proietto, head of 20th Television Animation, called the renewals historic and truly monumental for these iconic animated series.

“We are so proud that these legendary shows will continue for hundreds of more episodes, allowing new and longstanding fans to watch, rewatch and experience more of The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad and Bob’s Burgers for years to come,” Proietto said.

Disney is the parent company of 20th Television Animation and ABC News.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Cher has taken to social media to pay tribute to her former boyfriend, Batman Forever star Val Kilmer, who died Tuesday at the age of 65.

“VALUS Will miss u,” she wrote on social platform X. “U Were Funny,crazy,pain in the a**,” noting he was “BRILLIANT as Mark Twain,” a role he played in the one-man play Mark Twain: Citizen Twain.

Cher also called Kilmer a great friend, sharing that her kids loved him, and wrote that he was “BRAVE” during his “sickness,” likely referring to his battle with throat cancer.

Cher and Kilmer dated in the ’80s and remained friends after they broke up. According to People, Kilmer revealed in his memoir that he stayed at Cher’s guest house following his cancer diagnosis.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A brand-new look at James Gunn‘s upcoming Superman film has flown on to the scene.

The co-chief of DC Studios took to the stage at CinemaCon 2025 on Tuesday, where he shared new details about the comic book film he wrote and directed.

Gunn’s co-chief Peter Safran also appeared onstage, alongside the film’s stars David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan and Nicholas Hoult.

“This is a movie that celebrates kindness and human love,” Gunn said, according to Variety.

The director displayed a new trailer for the movie, as well as an extended look at the film. In the previously unseen footage, Corenswet’s Superman is seen getting help from his superpowered dog, Krypto. The dog then drags him into the Fortress of Solitude.

“I cannot wait to share the film with all you guys and the rest of the world,” Gunn said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re still in the throes of post-production.”

The actors shared similar sentiments, with Corenswet appreciating the opportunity to play such a well-known character. “It’s a great honor to play a role that exists so clearly in the public consciousness,” he said.

Hoult, who plays Lex Luthor, said it was truly something to watch Corenswet take on the role.

“I felt like I was witnessing the magic of cinema in first-person in real time,” Hoult said.

Superman flies into movie theaters on July 11. The film also stars Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Isabela Merced and Nathan Fillion.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Hollywood community is remembering fellow actor, producer, director and friend Val Kilmer, who died Tuesday at the age of 65, according to a report from The Associated Press. 

Actor Josh Brolin said he would miss his “firecracker” friend in an Instagram post featuring a photo of the pair smiling widely for the camera. 

“See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you,” Brolin wrote. “You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those. I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts. #valkilmer #marktwain” 

Director Francis Ford Coppola, who worked with Kilmer on 2011’s Twixt, wrote on Instagram, “Val Kilmer was the most talented actor when in his High School, and that talent only grew greater throughout his life. He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know — I will always remember him.” 

Ron Howard, who directed Kilmer in 1988’s Willow and 2003’s The Missing, shared on X, “#RIPValKilmer I was incredibly fortunate to collaborate with Val a number of times over the years … Check out his filmography. Amazing. His art extended to his poetry, artworks, filmmaking and simply the way he lived. Bon Voyage, Val And thank you.” 

In an X post, Matthew Modine, one of Kilmer’s peers, credited Kilmer for one of the biggest roles early in his career “RIP Val Kilmer. If it wasn’t for our chance encounter … in 1985, I may never have been cast in FULL METAL JACKET. Thanks, Val.,” Modine wrote. 

Following a blockbuster career in the 1980s and 1990s, Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and lost his voice after undergoing a tracheotomy. He shared an inside look at his work and life in the 2021 documentary Val, which features footage he recorded himself from his childhood, during his Hollywood career and at home with his family. 

Kilmer was previously married to actress Joanne Whalley from 1988 until their divorce in 1996. The former couple shared daughter Mercedes Kilmer and son Jack Kilmer.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

May the odds be ever in Lionsgate’s favor. Billy Ray has been tapped to adapt the latest novel in The Hunger Games series into a screenplay, Deadline reports. The news broke during Lionsgate’s CinemaCon 2025 presentation on Tuesday. Ray wrote the screenplay for the original The Hunger Games film, which was directed by Gary Ross. Francis Lawrence will direct the upcoming movie, which focuses on Haymitch Abernathy’s Hunger Games. It will begin filming in July and release in theaters on Nov. 20, 2026 …

A professionally recorded film of the recent Broadway production of Merrily We Roll Along is being released. Variety reports that Sony Pictures Classics is releasing a filmed version of the Tony-winning show, which starred Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez …

Dexter: Original Sin has been renewed for season 2 on Showtime. Deadline reports that the show’s second season renewal announcement arrives just as the writers room is set to begin. The prequel series stars Patrick Gibson as the titular killer, while the original show’s star, Michael C. Hall, serves as its narrator …

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Val Kilmer, the star of ’80s and ’90s blockbusters including Top Gun, Batman Forever and Tombstone, has died, according to The Associated Press. He was 65.

The actor’s daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, confirmed the death, saying he died Tuesday in Los Angeles of pneumonia, the AP reported. Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, but recovered after two tracheotomies.

Kilmer, born in LA, was a graduate of the Juilliard School’s drama division. He began his career as a theater actor in off-Broadway plays before finding Hollywood fame in the early 1980s with roles in the spy spoof Top Secret! and the cult comedy Real Genius.

Kilmer became a major star when he landed the role of Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun alongside Tom Cruise. The film made $344 million at the box office, becoming one of the highest-grossing movies of the decade. 

He followed the success of Top Gun with a string of well-received roles throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s: as dashing swordsman Madmartigan in Ron Howard‘s fantasy film Willow; as rock icon Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone‘s The Doors; and as gunslinger Doc Holliday in the western drama Tombstone, alongside Kurt Russell.

In 1995, Kilmer stepped into the role of the Caped Crusader, replacing Michael Keaton in Joel Schumacher‘s Batman Forever. While the film was a massive box-office success, Kilmer opted not to reprise the role for the next installment.

In Val, the 2021 documentary about his life, Kilmer said he found the Batsuit limiting, saying, “Whatever boyhood excitement I had was crushed by the reality of the Batsuit … Yes, every boy wants to be Batman. They actually want to be him … not necessarily play him in a movie.”

Kilmer returned as “Iceman” in the 2022 sequel to Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick — it was his final film role.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

John Wick is coming back in a big way.

The popular Keanu Reeves character will return in the upcoming film John Wick: Chapter 5, Lionsgate announced during CinemaCon 2025 on Tuesday.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Reeves will reteam with director Chad Stahelski for the film. The actor will also produce alongside Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee.

“Keanu, Chad, Basil, and Erica would not return unless they had something truly phenomenal and fresh to say with these characters and this world,” Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group, said in a statement to the outlet. “We can’t wait for audiences to see where the journey takes us next.”

The news of Reeves’ return for a fifth installment of the franchise is significant, as the fate of his character was left on an ambiguous note at the end of the 2023 film John Wick: Chapter 4.

In other John Wick news, a spinoff film starring and directed by Donnie Yen centered around his character, Caine, is entering production in Hong Kong later in 2025.

Additionally, Lionsgate is making an animated film about John Wick. Reeves will produce the anime alongside Stahelski, Iwanyk and Lee. It will be directed by Shannon Tindle from a script by Vanessa Taylor.

The film’s story will go back in time before the events of the first John Wick film as the assassin completes the Impossible Task — which is killing all of his rivals in one night — to free himself from his obligation to the High Table.

“To have the opportunity to develop a John Wick anime seems to be the perfect progression for the John Wick world,” Stahelski said. “I feel John Wick is the perfect property for this medium — anime holds the potential to expand our world, our characters, and our action in ways unimaginable before.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Handmaid’s Tale will get a follow-up series after it concludes its sixth and final season.

Hulu announced Tuesday that Margaret Atwood‘s 2019 novel, The Testaments, which is a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, is being developed into a new series.

The streaming platform announced the news in an Instagram post with a photo of the series’ stars gathered during a table reading.

The post stated that production on The Testaments will begin April 7, and Handmaid’s Tale star Elisabeth Moss will serve as an executive producer on the series.

Atwood’s novel takes place in the dystopian theocracy of Gilead, 15 years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale.

It is narrated by three women: Agnes, a young woman living in Gilead; Daisy, a young woman living in Canada; and Aunt Lydia, who is a previous character from The Handmaid’s Tale and is portrayed by Ann Dowd in the hit Hulu series. Dowd will return to the role in the new series.

According to Hulu, The Testaments series is a “coming of age story that finds a new generation of young women in Gilead grappling with the bleak future that awaits them.”

Also starring in The Testaments are Girl Meets World star Rowan Blanchard as Shunammite, Chase Infiniti as Agnes, Lucy Halliday as Daisy, and Mattea Conforti as Becka.

The sixth and final season of The Handmaid’s Tale will arrive April 8 on Hulu with the first three episodes.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Why is Paul Rudd so beloved? It may be because the seemingly ageless actor is just like us: He’s a fan, too.

In his April cover story for WSJ. Magazine, Rudd relates how, while attending SNL50: The Homecoming Concert in February, Miley Cyrus saw him in the audience and yelled, “I love you, Paul Rudd!”

“When she said that, I did turn into a 15-year-old,” he says. “[Like], ‘There’s no way! It’s like, Oh, my God, she’s sick … I can’t. OK, oh, my God. Miley Cyrus said my name!’” He adds, “I had a good 10 minutes afterward.”

Rudd saw Miley the next day at rehearsals for SNL’s big 50th anniversary special and told her, “I love you too.” “Thank you for being a good sport,” Miley told him, to which Rudd replied, “Good sport? Are you kidding me?!”

Rudd is currently starring in the A24 horror comedy Death of a Unicorn. Miley, meanwhile, is releasing “End of the World,” the first official single from her upcoming album, Something Beautiful, on April 3.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.