National CineMedia Reorganization Approved By Bankruptcy Court

Six years after meeting in Mexico, Juelia Kinney and Aaron Bass wed in Cancún, Us Weekly can exclusively reveal.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Patrick Corcoran is stepping down from the National Association of Theatre Owners, ending a 24-year run that most recently saw him serve as vice president and chief communications officer of the exhibition industry lobbying organization. It’s a time of transition at NATO, with Michael O’Leary taking over as president and CEO from John Fithian, who ran the organization for decades. Corcoran worked closely with Fithian, helping to manage the group’s public relations outreach. His tenure overlapped with tectonic changes in the theatrical landscape, from consolidation of major chains to the rise of streaming to a public health crisis in COVID that led to the closure of cinemas for months. Through it all, Corcoran, a wry, unflappable presence labored to argue that movie theaters were not in a death spiral and would continue to attract customers, just as they had for more than a century. He also had to deal with fractious theater owners, all while helping to launch NATO’s annual exhibition business conference, CinemaCon.

Self-seriousness is a common trait in the world of European cinema, but the opening night of the 57thKarlovy Vary International Film Festival was a wholly playful affair, starting with the most unexpected sight of a troupe of acrobatic ice-skating showgirls spinning and whirling through fake snow and dry ice. MC Marek Eben followed in a similarly feelgood vein, with a dryly witty monologue that touched on current affairs in the Czech Republic and the wider world without getting too heavily into the politics. A “surprise” appearance by festival stalwart Jiří Bartoška, whose attendance was initially in doubt, occasioned the first standing ovation of the night.

LGBTQ advocates and allies are lamenting the Supreme Court’s recent decision in favor of a website designer who sought an exemption from her state’s nondiscrimination law to allow her to refuse to create wedding websites for same-sex couples.Despite one of the alleged requests for service from a gay couple allegedly being fabricated or submitted under false pretenses, as reported by The New Republic, the high court ultimately decided in favor of Lorie Smith, the owner of 303 Creative, LLC, finding that Colorado’s law infringes on her free speech rights.The court further found that, because Smith creates “custom” websites that contain “expressive content,” she should have been granted a “free speech” exemption to the Coloraod Anti-Discrimination Act allowing her to not only refuse service to same-sex couples, but to post a notice that she will refuse to create websites celebrating same-sex marriages.Many allies of the LGBTQ community noted that while the decision is not as broad as to overturn nullify laws prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination, it does create a massive carve-out for businesses providing “custom-made” goods or services, allowing them to discriminate against prospective customers — in this particular case, LGBTQ individuals, but potentially members of other groups in the future — on free speech grounds. “The Supreme Court just gave businesses a license to discriminate,” Ben Olinsky, the senior vice president of Structural Reform and Governance at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, said in a statement.

landed serious blows to the American education system this week.First, on June 29, the Court struck down at the University of North Carolina and Harvard before President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program, which offered up to $20,000 of debt relief to millions of Americans, just a day later. Each of these decisions is considered a major victory for the conservative faction.Regarding the rulings against affirmative action, here's everything you need to know.Affirmative action programs and policies are aimed toward the inclusion of underrepresented groups, based on race, gender, sexuality, etc.

An evangelical Christian web designer can refuse services to same-sex wedding websites, the Supreme Court ruled Friday. Photo: Queerency

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously today to approve a resolution in support of the Writers Guild’s ongoing strike and urged the studios “to come to the bargaining table and reach a fair deal with the workers of the WGA.” The strike is now in its 60th day.

The Directors Guild said today that it “remains steadfast in our fight for an equitable and inclusive society” despite the Supreme Court’s rulings this week that rolled back affirmative action and LGBTQ+ rights.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Recently engaged couple Ben Platt and Noah Galvin are reacting to Friday’s Supreme Court ruling that favors a Colorado web designer refusing to make a wedding website for LGBTQ couples because she is against same-sex marriage. “I think it’s a distraction from things that are actually important, like the planet melting,” Platt told me Friday morning during an interview for on an upcoming episode of the “Just for Variety” podcast. “I also think it’s the people who are losing clout, it’s like the last rageful fiery, ‘This is not how it should be!’ before they go away forever. “It’s my only hope. That’s the only way to stay any kind of optimistic about it because otherwise it’s just fully going back in time and harming people for no reason,” he continued. “It feels so backwards, so directly backwards.”

A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of Elizabeth Watson who was found dead at her Peterhead home on Tuesday evening.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a graphic designer who denied service to same-sex couples.

The Supreme Court ruled that a website designer could refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings, despite a Colorado non-discrimination law.

The way that the Scottish Government's deposit return scheme (DRS) was set up was unlawful, a court has ruled.

EXCLUSIVE: Principal photography has wrapped in Italy on Sony Pictures International Productions and Eagle Pictures’ local-language romantic comedy You’ve Got Hotspot (Hotspot – Amore Senza Rete). From director Giulio Manfredonia (Si Può Fare, Qualunquemente, Rocco Schiavone), this is the first of five Italian projects that will see the partners equally involved in production.

Welcome back, Insiders. Jesse Whittock with you this week to look back on the last seven days in international film and TV. Here we go. Also, sign up for the Insider newsletter here.

A major player in the world’s aerospace sector is now a key sponsor for this year’s brand-new air show.

EXCLUSIVE: As the 57th edition of the Czech Republic’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) kicks off Friday, there will be renewed interest in the central European country’s local industry, particularly the curious case surrounding its incentive program for international productions.

Margot Robbie is kicking off the Barbie international press tour by wearing a look inspired by the original Barbie doll!

Ethan Shanfeld In a critical ruling, the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina on Thursday, upsetting a 45-year precedent and putting an end to the systematic consideration of race in college admissions. Ruling that the programs at both schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, the court voted 6-3 in the UNC case and 6-2 in the Harvard case, in which Justice Ketanji Brown was recused. The decision could have serious implications on the college admissions process, with the NAACP calling it a “willful ignorance of our reality.” The effects of the ruling could stretch as far as race-conscious workplace programs.

Naman Ramachandran The Cineworld group has confirmed that its planned reorganization is going ahead and revealed plans for a new board led by a former Pepsi chair. The reorganization plan involves the release of approximately $4.53 billion of the group’s funded indebtedness, the execution of a fully backstopped rights offering to raise gross proceeds of $800 million and the provision of $1.46 billion in new debt financing.  The group revealed earlier this week that is is entering into administration but the business will continue without interruption. Cineworld Group and its subsidiaries had commenced Chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court in September 2022. The group expects to emerge from the Chapter 11 cases in July.

A Rutherglen-based primary school that won South Lanarkshire heat makes a great showing in a national quiz hosted in Scotland's capital.