Twilight of the A-list: has the 21st century killed off the movie star?

Brad Pitt’s new film is fizzling out. Meryl Streep is doing TV. Only Tom Cruise fills cinemas – and, in the age of superheroes and streaming, his days may be numbered. So, what does the future hold for Hollywood’s big beasts?

West Side Story star Rachel Zegler defends intimacy coordinators after Sean Bean criticism

Zegler is one of a number of actors voicing support for the role, after Bean said they can ‘spoil the spontaneity’ of sex scenes

Cancel culture is rife at newly merged HBO and Warner Bros isn’t immune either

The bean-counters have axed Batgirl and some other favourite TV shows are disappearing too

The Batgirl you’ll never see: why some films disappear for ever

She cost a cool $90m but the comic book heroine won’t even be streamed. Why do some productions deserve such an extreme fate?

Kylie Brakeman review – Hollywood’s hypocrisies lampooned

The US comic plays a fast-talking agent, a straight-talking sex therapist and a six-year-old divorcee in this confident, high-energy hour

‘Bullying is a problem’: visual effects artists speak out against Marvel

The rise of VFX professionals discussing mistreatment at the hands of Marvel has led to increased calls for unionisation

Tax concerns axed Batgirl, but studios will suffer if they become too cynical

Hollywood has always been hard-hearted – but now more than ever, it needs to remember that films are more than just profit-generating ‘content’

‘Shocking’ sexism and harassment in Australia’s film industry, report finds

Study reveals women more experienced but paid less, while Oscar-nominated cinematographer Ari Wegner calls findings ‘confronting’

Rising costs pose threat to independent film-making in UK, says BFI

Indie productions struggling to compete with well-financed, studio-backed projects, research shows

Sylvester Stallone attacks ‘parasitical’ Rocky producer over rights to franchise

The star and writer of the boxing movie franchise also describes the veteran producer, Irwin Winkler, as ‘untalented’

‘Two out of five stories should be hot’: why pre-code cinema was a golden age for women

Prior to the proscriptive Hays Code, films were populated by adulterous, marijuana-smoking gold diggers – wildly entertaining and more modern than the roles that came next

James Caan: my lunches, fallouts and golf-shoe hunts with the Hollywood legend

When James Caan agreed to be in her movie, director Carol Morley found herself on a rollercoaster ride. She recalls their months of sparring, bonding over avocados – and watching a master give his all

Top Gun: Maverick: ‘Conversations’ under way for sequel

Miles Teller, who stars alongside Tom Cruise in the hit action blockbuster, says he is keen, but ‘it’s all up to Tom’

The teens disrupting Minions screenings might actually be the saviours of cinema

‘Gentleminions’ being turned away from showings of the latest Despicable Me spinoff should be nectar for the ailing industry

Thinking the unthinkable: is Hollywood really going to make a sequel to ET?

Comments this week from Henry Thomas, who played Elliott in the 1982 hit, indicated that ET, wherever he is, just might be getting a call …