‘Digging the grave of my profession’: the Hollywood creatives training AI to do their jobs

Amid a jobs slump, award-winning writers, directors and producers taking on sometimes lucrative temp work teaching AI skills such as screenwriting and production

The Odyssey becomes highest grossing R-rated film of all time

Christopher Nolan’s epic has achieved $1.35bn at the global box office, overtaking 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine

UK cinemas look at banning Meta smart glasses over piracy fears

Trade body says local chains would have to balance concerns with potential benefits of AI-enabled technology

Tom Holland set to earn $100m from Spider-Man: Brand New Day

In a year that’s seen the British actor star in the season’s two biggest blockbusters – and marry his co-star from both – he is reportedly earning a huge pay packet thanks to box-office bonuses

‘I’ve always been fond of hairy creatures!’ Visual effects maestro Rick Baker on a monstrously good career

Rick Baker helped define Hollywood’s creature features with his wild makeup effects skills. From Locarno, he talks Gremlins, his love of simians– and why AI will never replace expert design

‘I see the incredible promise’: on set of an AI film shoot as new studios embrace controversial tech

Amid fears for jobs, some film-makers say AI could enable them to bypass studio giants and take more creative risks

Edinburgh international film festival showcases a Scottish industry in rude health

This year’s festival is superpowered by a strong year for Scottish cinema, showing it can thrive under the ‘four dimensional perpetual catch-22’ of global ambitions

Barbie sequel at risk as salary talks with Robbie, Gosling and Gerwig hit impasse

Warner Bros faces losing rights to the blockbuster sequel if deals with the film’s stars and director are not agreed by December

‘An intermission is a must’: why Greek cinemas are adding a loo break to The Odyssey

In Athens’ picturehouses, an interval is always a ‘non-negotiable’ – a chance to buy a beer, nip to the toilet – or pop the question

A TV and cinema calamity could be disastrous for what you watch and what you know. Act now to stop that

The Paramount-Warner Bros merger is being fought on both sides of the Atlantic. Britain’s culture secretary knows the risks and can intervene. She should, say actors led by Alan Cumming, Benedict Cumberbatch and Benedict Wong

‘My mother was 4ft 11in and scared the hell out of people’ – Sean Astin on child stardom, The Lord of the Rings and surviving 45 years in Hollywood

His mother was an Oscar-winning actor who had been exploited from a young age; Astin appeared in The Goonies at just 13. Now, he has followed in his mother’s footsteps again as a union leader. He talks Stranger Things, AI and why playing Samwise Gamgee cost him his house

Mockbuster review – how to survive the nightmare of directing a terrible low-budget horror film

Struggling to make it in Australia, aspiring director Anthony Frith cold-calls the team behind Sharknado and bites off more than he can chew in this making-of documentary

Acting the fool: why have Hollywood press tours become so gimmicky?

From playing would you rather to ranking snacks, A-listers navigating the promo trail are now forced on a set schedule of silliness

‘At times I felt I’d bitten off more than I could chew’: Christopher Nolan on sweeping the Oscars, making The Odyssey – and getting a puppy

How do you follow Oppenheimer? By spending $250m bringing Homer’s epic poem to the big screen in Imax. Today’s most powerful director talks big swings, trauma-bonding and the healing powers of chocolate labrador Charlie

George Lucas likens AI sceptics to luddites clinging to horses and carts

Star Wars director calls AI technology ‘the future’ of film-making and says ‘there’s nothing you can do about it’