At some point during most pitches for independent films, someone says, “I just think people will love it.” You might have said that after watching a few too many movies that changed someone’s life late at night for no good reason. That pitch has both brought people jobs and sunk budgets. But there is a quiet change going on in Australia’s independent film world. It has less to do with gut feelings and more to do with facts. Since the Producer Offset was introduced and Screen Australia was founded almost twenty years ago, the number of movies made in Australia…
Author: Sam Allcock
For more than ten years, they were one of the most interesting couples in Hollywood. Some of the biggest pop songs of the last ten years were written with Northern Irish songwriter Johnny McDaid and Courteney Cox, who is known to many as Monica Geller. They seemed to have figured out something that most long-distance relationships never do. Then they didn’t at the end of last year. There are already rumors that Johnny McDaid has a new girlfriend, just a few weeks after their breakup became public. Naturally, the timing has made some people wonder. One of Ed Sheeran’s closest…
When you look at Evan Spiegel’s financial journey, there’s something important to think about. Forbes data from the middle of 2026 shows that the co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc., the company behind Snapchat, is worth about $2.1 billion right now. That number is very big, just like it sounds. But it also tells a very different story about someone who was once worth almost $14 billion. Spiegel became the world’s youngest billionaire in 2015. He was born in 1990. That title went with a company he started with Stanford fraternity brother Bobby Murphy in 2011. It was an app…
The fact that Lewis Capaldi is a songwriter about heartbreak seems almost appropriate. He doesn’t purposefully remain ambiguous or conceal himself behind mystique. He’s the type of person who will stand in front of an audience and blatantly acknowledge that his album was about a girl who broke up with him. People are intrigued by that level of candor. Additionally, it means that his private life receives far more attention than most artists of his caliber would likely desire. Does Lewis Capaldi have a girlfriend? That’s the question that keeps coming up. The most obvious response as of mid-2025 is…
New York is the best place in the world to put up with a certain kind of spectacle, the kind that closes streets, installs security cordons, and still feels like it belongs there. The July 3, 2026, wedding of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden was precisely that. A carefully crafted narrative, a cultural moment, and a celebration. And people are still figuring everything out. On a stage inside the arena, which had been altered over several days to resemble a forest, the couple tied the knot in front of about 1,000 spectators. actual trees. Real ones,…
Certain celebrities seem to have no trouble maintaining their privacy. Among them is Ji Chang Wook. Despite having his name frequently trending in K-drama fan communities and having his face on billboards all over Seoul, the South Korean actor has managed to conceal his true romantic life almost completely. For someone who has been well-known since at least 2014, it’s a significant accomplishment. Ji Chang Wook has amazing on-screen chemistry with almost every actress he works with, which is what makes it intriguing—and a little annoying for fans. It’s simple to persuade yourself that something genuine is occurring when you…
The fact that Taylor Swift, a woman who has spent years concealing Easter eggs in plain sight and who has turned controlled revelation into a kind of art form, got married in front of about a thousand people while managing to keep most of it a secret seems almost fitting. The wedding took place at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on July 3. In a ceremony presided over by Adam Sandler, Swift, 36, and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, also 36, exchanged vows—a statement that could only exist in this specific cultural moment. The best man was…
There was a point in late December 2018 when it seemed like the entire way we watch TV was going to change. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch was abruptly released by Netflix, which announced it the day before and practically dared people to avoid discussing it. That week, millions of viewers sat in front of their screens, clicking on cereal boxes and making therapy decisions while genuinely not knowing what kind of experience they had just gone through. It was thrilling. It was strange. And looking back now, it was probably the peak. Bandersnatch was more than just a movie. It was…
For nearly a century, the U.S. military and Hollywood operated on an unspoken arrangement that benefited both sides. The Pentagon got favorable portrayals on the big screen. Studios got helicopters, aircraft carriers, and access to bases that no production budget could easily replicate. It looked like a perfect partnership — until, slowly, it didn’t. Most people are unaware of how long the relationship has existed. The 1927 silent film Wings, about World War I fighter pilots, was made with direct Army support and won the very first Academy Award for Best Picture. That established a mood. With military approval, Patton…
There was a time, not too long ago, when a struggling Hollywood blockbuster could count on China to save it. A soft domestic opening was worrying but manageable. China would emerge. In the same way that investors once saw emerging market growth as a permanent condition, studio executives held this belief with a sort of quiet confidence. The end of that era was not a quiet one. For a long time, the math seemed convincing. In 2012, China’s box office receipts increased by 36% to $2.7 billion, and the trend continued to rise. China agreed to import at least 34…