Netflix, Universal Extend and Expand Animated Film Licensing Deal (EXCLUSIVE)

Traci Braxton, whose presence on the reality series Braxton Family Values made her a fan favorite, died Friday in hospice at age 50 of esophageal cancer, according to her family.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorRegina Hall is getting ready to roast her Hollywood peers when she co-hosts this year’s Oscars with Wanda Sykes and Amy Schumer.“We’re really excited to celebrate film and make fun of people, too,” Hall told me Friday while promoting her new horror movie “Master.”She added, “I was like, ‘Do you think we’re going to have friends after?’ No, we’re going to. Hopefully everyone will know anything that’s said or done, it’s all in fun. It is the point.

Wilson Chapman editorThe 49th annual Annie Awards, which honor the best in animation of the past year, are set for this Saturday, March 12.Produced by ASIFA-Hollywood, the Annie Awards were initially scheduled as a live ceremony on Feb. 26, but the event was delayed and made virtual in January due to concerns regarding the COVID-19 surge. The ceremony will stream live on the Annie Awards website, starting 7 p.m.

An unlucky commute for many weekend workers this afternoon (March 12) - after a bus driver got his double-decker wedged under a bridge.

Always team Carly! Jade Roper is rooting for her longtime friend Carly Waddell to find love again after her split from Evan Bass.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“The Boys” Season 3 teaser trailer dropped Saturday, revealing an almost-two minute look at the upcoming season of the Amazon Prime Video series filled with lasers, blood, guts, glory and, apparently, dancing.In the video, which you can view below, Butcher (Karl Urban) is struggling with a mysterious case of glowing, light-beam-shooting eyeballs, while Homelander (Antony Starr) is unsuccessfully attempting to curb his rage, Hughie (Jack Quaid) is having a mental breakdown in his new supe-regulation government job, Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy has awoken, Annie a.k.a. Starlight (Erin Moriarty) is crying, and there’s something that has caused Frenchie (Tomer Capone) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) to break out into an apparent big musical number, complete with backup dancers.

Jon Burlingame editorComposer Germaine Franco’s Oscar nomination for “Encanto” is a landmark moment in film music:– She is the first Latina to be nominated in that category;– She is only the sixth woman ever to be nominated for an original score;– And she is the first woman to score a Disney film.But ask any of her colleagues in the profession and they’ll tell you something else: that it’s a triumph for a musically talented, genuinely kind person who has worked hard her entire life, dating back decades to her childhood in El Paso, Texas, just across the border from where her grandparents were born in Chihuahua and Durango, Mexico.Franco landed the “Encanto” assignment in part because she had firmly established the Mexican backdrop of Disney’s 2017 film “Coco” via her orchestrations and original songs. Says Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is also nominated as songwriter for “Encanto”: “I admired her work on ‘Coco’ and it was really important to me that we have a Latino music team.

Hailey Bieber (née Baldwin) was hospitalized after suffering a “stroke like symptoms,” but the model revealed she has fully recovered.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaTwo popular Los Angeles movie theaters are under new management after AMC Entertainment announced Monday that it will assume the lease of The Grove in West Hollywood and The Americana at Brand in Glendale.News that AMC, the world’s largest exhibition chain, was in negotiations to take over the venues broke in June and came after its operator, the Pacific Theatres chain, was shut down permanently in April.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaKevin Lewis will follow up “Willy’s Wonderland” by directing “The Accursed,” a new horror movie about demonic possession that its creators predict will be like if “Sam Raimi and Dario Argento had a love child and James Wan was its uncle.”Mena Suvari (“American Beauty”), Sarah Grey (Netflix’s “The Order” and DC’s “Legends of Tomorrow”), and Alexis Knapp (“Pitch Perfect” franchise) head up the cast, which also includes Meg Foster (“The Lords of Salem”) and Sarah Dumont (“Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse”).

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaGotham City is getting a new protector.“In the Heights” star Leslie Grace and “Five Feet Apart” actress Haley Lu Richardson are emerging as top contenders to take the role of Barbara Gordon in “Batgirl,” the upcoming HBO Max superhero film.Testing for the role has already started. Isabela Merced, who has appeared in “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” and “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” and Zoey Deutch, the star of “Zombieland: Double Tap” and “Why Him?,” have already tested or will test for the role.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaJayson Blair has joined the cast of Kat Dennings’ Hulu comedy series “Dollface” in a recurring role. He will play Liam, a new love interest for Izzy (Esther Povitsky), who, for the “Dollface” uninitiated, is a friend and co-worker of Dennings’ main character Jules.The show centers on a young woman who is dumped by her longtime boyfriend.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaOne of Jeffrey Lurie’s first jobs was cooking hot dogs and selling soda at General Cinema, his family’s chain of drive-in movie theaters. When not working the grill or pouring fountain drinks, he was tasked with checking the trunks of customers to see if anyone was sneaking in friends without buying tickets.Decades later, Lurie has a very different day job, as the billionaire head of the Philadelphia Eagles, guiding the franchise to a Super Bowl championship in 2018 and earning a reputation as one of the most progressive owners in the NFL.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaNicolas Cage instinctively knew how to play Rob, the melancholic truffle forager at the center of “Pig.” The indie film explores Rob’s connection to his pet pig and his tortured relationship with his past celebrity as a renowned chef. Cage, one of the top action stars of the late 1990s and early aughts, related to Rob’s complicated feelings about fame and shared a desire to live off the grid.“I do feel that I’ve gone into my own wilderness and that I’ve left the small town that is Hollywood,” Cage says.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaBleecker Street and ShivHans have secured U.S. rights to “Golda,” a biopic about Israel’s only female prime minister, Golda Meir.The film stars Helen Mirren, an expert at revealing the inner lives of public figures in films like “The Queen.” It will be directed by Guy Nattiv, an Oscar winner for his short film “Skin,” with a script from “Florence Foster Jenkins” writer Nicholas Martin.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaReggie Bush is ready to tell his side of the story in a new documentary from Believe Entertainment Group, the studio behind the Oscar-winning “Dear Basketball.”Before he achieved NFL stardom as a running back for the New Orleans Saints, Bush was one of the top college football players in the country. But his time as one of the leading lights of USC football was marred by allegations that he and his family improperly received nearly $300,000 gifts while he was a student.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaNicolas Cage has played a wide range of eccentrics over the course of his career, but Joe Exotic will not join the actor’s list of meme-worthy roles.The Oscar-winning actor, who is currently earning rave reviews for his performance in “Pig,” revealed that he is no longer scheduled to play the “Tiger King” in a series from Amazon, which, he implied, has been shelved for now. Sources close to the situation say the project, produced by Imagine and CBS Studios, inspired by the Netflix docu-series “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” may be shopped to other outlets.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaUzo Aduba and Ron Cephas Jones will star in Second Stage Theater’s upcoming Broadway production of Lynn Nottage’s new play, “Clyde’s.”The cast will also include Reza Salazar (“Sweat”) and Kara Young (“Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven”), with a fifth key role yet to be cast. “Clyde’s” will be directed by Kate Whoriskey and begin previews on November 3.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“Sleep No More,” the groundbreaking and immersive reimagining of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” will resume performances this fall, becoming the latest show to announce its return after COVID-19 caused theaters and live events to go on a months-long hiatus. It’s the latest in a long list of cultural events, extending from Shakespeare in the Park to Broadway show such as “Hamilton,” to set a date for its return.Tickets for “Sleep No More” are now on sale for performances starting October 4.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“Enemy of the People,” an interactive adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s classic morality tale, has cancelled all remaining performances. The Park Avenue Armory show was scheduled to continue through Aug.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaScreen Media has acquired “Best Sellers,” a comedy with Michael Caine and Aubrey Plaza about a pair of misfits that has a literary twist. The deal is for all U.S.