Ridley Scott calls his upcoming Roman epic “Gladiator II” his best film.

The summer movie season may kick off next weekend, but the release calendar is still a work in progress.

The Rev. Edward Siebert is a key figure behind the new film “The Pope’s Exorcist” starring Russell Crowe.

Russell Crowe, who won a best actor Academy Award for portraying a gladiator in the 2000 film of the same name, is being feted by the city of Rome, home to the Colosseum where real gladiators clashed before thousands of spectators through the time of the Roman Empire.

A crowd of staunch fans have braved wet winter weather in downtown Melbourne to watch an outdoor showing of an Australian soap opera's finale.

“Thor: Love and Thunder” earned $143 million in its opening weekend in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Henrik Stenson has checked out the Italian course staging next year’s Ryder Cup for the first time since being appointed captain of the European team.

Hollywood is bringing out some of its biggest and most reliable players for the 2022 summer movie season, which unofficially kicks off this weekend with the help of Marvel and Disney’s “Doctor Strange and the Multitverse of Madness” and runs through the end of August.

Moviegoing audiences in North America are not rushing back to the theater just yet. In the second major weekend for U.S. and Canadian movie theaters, Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” earned only $6.7 million from 2,910 locations, according to studio estimates Sunday. Although it is enough to top the charts, it also isn’t enough to jumpstart the struggling domestic exhibition industry. The weekend’s only major new opener was Sony’s PG-13 rom-com “The Broken Hearts Gallery,” which earned an estimated $1.1 million from 2,204 North American locations. Other still-closed markets include North Carolina, Michigan, New Mexico and the cities of Seattle and Portland.

NEW YORK AMC Theatres, the nation's largest movie theater chain, will reopen in the U.S. on Aug. 20 with retro ticket prices of 15 cents per movie. AMC theaters have reopened in numerous international countries but have remained shuttered in the U.S. since March. During its opening-day promotion, AMC will show catalog films, including Ghostbusters, Black Panther," Back to the Future and Grease." AMC confirmed that Disney's much-delayed New Mutants will debut in theaters Aug. 28, with Christopher Nolan's Tenet to follow Sept. 3. AMC said Thursday is expects about two thirds of its theaters will be open in time for Tenet. Several states, including California and New York, are yet to allow movie theaters to reopen.

LOS ANGELES Kelly Preston, who played dramatic and comic foil to actors ranging from Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire to Arnold Schwarzenegger in Twins, died Sunday, husband John Travolta said. Travolta said in an Instagram post that his wife of 28 years died after a two-year battle with breast cancer. It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my beautiful wife Kelly has lost her two-year battle with breast cancer, Travolta said. Preston and Travolta were married at a midnight ceremony in Paris in 1991 while the couple were expecting their first son, Jett. Travolta and Preston met while filming 1988s The Experts.They last starred together in the 2018 film Gotti, with Travolta playing John Gotti and Preston playing the crime bosss wife, Victoria.

AMC Theaters, the world's largest theater operator, said Tuesday that it expects to have 97-98% of its theaters worldwide reopened by mid-July. It will be up to movie theater operators to convince moviegoers that its safe to once again sit in the dark among strangers. Only recently have state guidelines allowed the reopening of theaters in California (including in the countrys top market, Los Angeles, where local officials have yet to agree). Before Tenet arrives, theaters will play just as those that are currently open are showing recent and classic catalog offerings. Though a handful of movies have been steered to streaming or on-demand platforms during the pandemic, most studio films have been postponed until theaters reopen.