Sundance Institute Announces 2026 Screenwriters Lab and Intensive Fellows

Posted on January 18, 2026 by admin

As Sundance 2026 approaches, the Institute has revealed its latest group of writers selected for its Screenwriters Lab and Screenwriters Intensive, two long-running programs focused on helping emerging filmmakers shape their first and second features.

The Screenwriters Lab, held January 17 to 21 at Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah, will bring together 11 projects chosen from more than 3,800 submissions. Writers will spend the week workshopping original scripts in a small, collaborative setting, guided by a group of established filmmakers and writers. This year’s lab also doubles as a nod to Sundance’s roots, honoring founder Robert Redford and the program’s origins in the early 1980s.

Running separately in March, the Screenwriters Intensive will support nine projects from 13 writers, offering a more focused, online development experience aimed at first time fiction features.

Together, the selected projects reflect a wide range of voices and genres, from intimate family dramas and political thrillers to speculative stories and dark comedies, continuing Sundance’s long-standing emphasis on risk-taking and personal storytelling.
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Iyanu Scores Three NAACP Image Award Nominations

Posted on January 17, 2026 by admin

Lion Forge Entertainment’s animated series Iyanu has picked up three nominations at the 2026 NAACP Image Awards, marking a strong moment for the growing franchise.

The series is nominated for Outstanding Children’s Program and Outstanding Animated Series, while its season-ending movie special, Iyanu: The Age of Wonders, earned a nod for Outstanding Writing in a Television Movie, Documentary or Special, recognizing writers Roye Okupe and Brandon Easton.

Based on Okupe’s graphic novel Iyanu: Child of Wonder, the series follows a teenage orphan who discovers divine powers tied to the fate of the ancient kingdom of Yorubaland. Drawing heavily from Yoruba culture and mythology, Iyanu has stood out for its world-building and perspective within children’s animation.

The show premiered in 2025 on Cartoon Network and HBO Max and has since built an international audience. A second season is already set to arrive in Spring 2026, continuing Iyanu’s journey as her powers, and the stakes around her: grow.

The 57th NAACP Image Awards will take place on February 28, 2026, with winners announced during the ceremony in Pasadena, California.

Re:ZERO Season 4 Is Officially Set for April 2026, and the Opening Theme Is a Curveball

Posted on January 17, 2026 by admin

After nearly a decade of twists, resets, and emotional damage, Re:ZERO − Starting Life in Another World is gearing up for its next chapter. Season 4 has been officially confirmed to premiere in April 2026, landing right in the middle of the series’ 10th anniversary year.

Alongside the date, the franchise dropped a wave of anniversary updates, including a new digest trailer revisiting key moments from past seasons and a second main trailer for Season 4 featuring brand-new footage. But the detail that’s getting the most attention is the opening theme: “Recollect,” performed by longtime Re:ZERO vocalist Konomi Suzuki, this time joined by Ashnikko.

It’s an unexpected pairing on paper, but one that feels very in-step with where anime music has been heading lately. Suzuki has been part of Re:ZERO since the beginning, while Ashnikko brings a very different, internet-native energy to the mix. The track is produced by Giga and TeddyLoid, a duo known for pushing J-pop and vocaloid-adjacent sounds into darker, heavier territory.

Beyond the new season, the anniversary plans lean hard into fan engagement. The official 10th anniversary site is rolling out quizzes, episode voting, and Q&A projects with the production team. There’s also a first-ever Re:ZERO exhibition scheduled to run in Tokyo this fall, offering a look back at the anime’s decade-long run.
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Grammy House Returns for an Expanded Four-Day Grammy Week in 2026

Posted on January 16, 2026 by admin

Grammy House will return during Grammy Week 2026 with its most expansive program to date, running from Wednesday, Jan. 28 through Saturday, Jan. 31 in Los Angeles. The invitation-only cultural hub, presented by the Recording Academy®, expands to four days of panels, performances, and immersive experiences leading up to the 2026 Grammy Awards, airing Feb. 1 on CBS and Paramount+.

Positioned as more than a pop-up, Grammy House continues to function as a gathering space where music, culture, technology, and community intersect. The 2026 edition introduces new programming, additional performers and panelists, and a record number of sponsors reflecting music’s growing overlap with lifestyle and tech.

One of the most notable additions this year is the first-ever Grammy U® Day, signaling a stronger focus on emerging artists and future industry professionals. Programming includes a livestreamed Grammy U Masterclass with YUNGBLUD and the debut of the Grammy U Soundstage, a multi-stage mini festival highlighting student creators and rising talent.

The schedule also emphasizes identity-driven and global perspectives through events spotlighting Best New Artist nominees, women in music, Black creators, AAPI+ artists, LGBTQIA+ voices, and international talent, underscoring how cultural representation continues to shape today’s music landscape.

Technology remains a key theme, with panels addressing artificial intelligence and the evolving role of artists, including a featured discussion moderated by Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr.

“The Recording Academy serves as a microphone for the voices of today and tomorrow, and we look forward to honoring and celebrating those voices at Grammy House alongside our incredible sponsors.”

With immersive activations, branded experiences, and forward-looking conversations, Grammy House reinforces how Grammy Week has evolved beyond an awards ceremony into a broader creative and cultural platform. More information is available at GrammyHouse.com.

The Mortuary Assistant Brings a Cult Horror Game to Theaters This February

Posted on January 16, 2026 by admin

If you’ve spent any time around horror games in recent years, The Mortuary Assistant likely sounds familiar. The unsettling indie hit, known for its slow-burn dread and deeply uncomfortable atmosphere, is getting a film adaptation, arriving in theaters on Friday, February 13, 2026.

The movie comes from Epic Pictures and Dread, the genre label behind Terrifier, and is based on the best-selling game created by Brian Clarke. IndieWire has already flagged it as one of the year’s most anticipated horror releases, and the newly debuted trailer leans heavily into the claustrophobic tension that made the game a cult favorite.

Directed by Slapface filmmaker Jeremiah Kipp, the film stars Willa Holland as Rebecca Owens, a newly certified mortician working the night shift alone at a small-town funeral home. As the hours stretch on, routine embalming work gives way to increasingly disturbing events, pulling Rebecca into a web of demonic rituals, buried trauma, and the unsettling influence of her mentor, played by Paul Sparks.

First released in 2022, The Mortuary Assistant gained viral attention through streamers and horror fans for its ability to create sustained unease rather than rely on cheap scares. The film expands on the game’s mythology while aiming to preserve its oppressive tone, including the recreation of the mortuary as a full practical set.

The Mortuary Assistant opens exclusively in theaters on February 13, before streaming on Shudder on March 27, 2026.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way Joins ‘The Lake’ Ahead of Sundance World Premiere

Posted on January 15, 2026 by admin

Ahead of its Day One world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way Productions has boarded the feature documentary The Lake as executive producer, alongside Jennifer Davisson and Phillip Watson.

Directed by Abby Ellis (Flint’s Deadly Water), The Lake has quickly emerged as one of Sundance’s most closely watched documentaries. The film examines the accelerating ecological crisis surrounding Utah’s Great Salt Lake, which is rapidly shrinking and exposing a toxic lakebed containing arsenic, lead, mercury, and other heavy metals—posing serious health risks to millions living along the Wasatch Front.

The documentary follows two scientists and a political insider as they race to prevent an environmental catastrophe, offering a rare look at bipartisan efforts to address a crisis with both local and global implications. As Sundance prepares for its final year in Park City, the film’s urgency has drawn significant attention.

Ellis described the project as deeply personal:

“What’s happening in Utah is a microcosm for so many environmental stories around the world… Having the support of Appian Way will only help enhance our reach with this incredibly timely and relevant story.”

Appian Way’s involvement reinforces its continued focus on environmentally driven storytelling. Jennifer Davisson noted that the film aligns closely with the company’s mission to support urgent, impact driven narratives.

Blending scientific reality with moral reckoning, The Lake moves beyond traditional environmental documentaries, asking broader questions about responsibility, complicity, and whether communities can act in time to avert disaster.

Plague House Turns the Haunted House Story Inside Out

Posted on January 15, 2026 by admin

Haunted houses aren’t exactly new territory, but Plague House isn’t interested in playing by the usual rules. The horror comic from writer Michael W. Conrad and artist Dave Chisholm takes a familiar setup and slowly mutates it into something far more unsettling.

The story centers on the aftermath of a brutal family murder in a quiet California suburb. Thirteen years later, a small group of ghost hunters moves into the abandoned home, hoping to document evidence of something supernatural. What they uncover isn’t just a haunting, but a far darker presence that feels tied to violence itself — something infectious, pervasive, and disturbingly human.

Rather than leaning on jump scares or predictable beats, Plague House builds tension through misdirection. Just when it feels like you understand what kind of story you’re reading, it shifts. The scope widens. The rules change. The horror becomes less about ghosts and more about what lingers after trauma, obsession, and belief collide.

Chisholm’s art plays a huge role here, moving between stark unease and moments of unsettling beauty, while Conrad’s writing keeps pulling the ground out from under the reader. Together, the series feels deliberately disorienting — the kind of horror that sticks around after you’ve put it down.

The newly released trade paperback collects issues #1 to 4, bringing the full story together in one volume. Plague House goes on sale January 20, 2026, from Oni Press.

Madison Beer Announces ‘The Locket Tour’ With Arena Dates Worldwide

Posted on January 14, 2026 by admin

Madison Beer is hitting the road in a big way this year. The singer has announced The Locket Tour, a run of shows across North America, Europe, and the UK that will bring her upcoming album locket to the stage for the first time.

The tour includes her first-ever headline dates at Madison Square Garden in New York, the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, and London’s O2 Arena, signaling a major step up in scale. Stops along the way include cities like Paris, Berlin, and Toronto, with the tour wrapping July 13 in New York.

Locket, out this Friday, is Beer’s latest studio album and her most hands-on project yet, with the singer co-writing and co-producing the record. Recent singles like “yes baby” and “bittersweet” have already gained traction, with “yes baby” topping Billboard’s Dance Airplay chart and “bittersweet” marking her first appearance on the Hot 100.

Beer is also set to debut a new song, “bad enough,” on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, adding to what’s shaping up to be a busy launch week.

Support on the tour will rotate by region, with thủy joining the North American dates, Isabel LaRosa on the Europe and UK leg, and Lulu Simon appearing throughout.

General ticket sales begin January 21, with presales opening earlier this week.

Sundance ’26: BURN Brings Hyper-Color and Chaos to the NEXT Section

Posted on January 13, 2026 by admin

One of the films at Sundance this year that feels like it’s daring people to either love it or walk out is BURN, the new feature from Makoto Nagahisa, who previously made We Are Little Zombies. It’s premiering in the festival’s NEXT section, which feels like exactly where it belongs.

The movie centers on Ju-Ju (played by Nana Mori), a runaway teen who ends up in Tokyo’s Kabukicho district, falling in with a loose group of kids living on the edge. At first, it feels like she’s finally found somewhere to land. That doesn’t last. What starts as freedom slowly turns into something tighter, darker, and harder to escape.

Visually, BURN is doing a lot, neon colors, hyper-stylized shots, constant motion. It’s bright, almost playful on the surface, even when the story underneath is clearly heading somewhere painful. That contrast is the point. The movie looks fun right up until it very much isn’t, and it doesn’t really warn you when the switch happens.

Nagahisa has always been good at capturing youth culture in a way that feels chaotic instead of nostalgic, and BURN seems to push that even further. It’s not trying to explain its characters or soften their choices. It just drops you into their world and lets things unravel.

Director Bong Joon Ho has already weighed in on the film, calling it intense and even frightening, which tracks. This feels like one of those Sundance titles people will be arguing about afterward, not whether it’s good or bad, but whether they were ready for it at all.

BURN premieres January 25, with additional screenings throughout the festival.

‘One Battle After Another’ and ‘Hamnet’ Come Out on Top at the 2026 Golden Globes

Posted on January 11, 2026 by admin

The Golden Globes did what they usually do best this year: set the tone for the rest of awards season while reminding everyone which films are actually building momentum.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another walked into the night as a frontrunner and walked out looking even stronger, picking up Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) along with wins for directing, screenplay, and Teyana Taylor’s supporting performance. The film’s mix of political satire and emotional stakes clearly connected with voters, and Anderson used his moment to spotlight the kind of filmmaker-driven studio support that made the film possible.

On the drama side, Hamnet took Best Motion Picture, with Jessie Buckley also winning for her performance. Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel continues to quietly build awards-season credibility, leaning into intimacy and grief rather than spectacle.

The TV categories followed a similar pattern, rewarding shows that already felt unavoidable this year. Netflix’s Adolescence had the biggest night overall, while The Pitt and The Studio took top series honors, with Noah Wyle and Seth Rogen winning acting prizes. The wins reinforced how much streaming dramas and sharp industry satire continue to dominate the conversation.

Elsewhere, Sinners, KPop Demon Hunters, and The Secret Agent all picked up multiple awards, underscoring how wide the Globes’ tastes have become, from genre films to international titles to animated hits.

Hosted by Nikki Glaser, the ceremony aired January 11 from the Beverly Hilton on CBS and Paramount+. With the Globes now behind us, the field is narrowing, and the next stretch of the awards season is officially underway.