Welcome to Popped Bites, where we serve up the hottest movie and TV stories of the week in bite-size pieces — Hollywood hors d’oeuvres, if you will. This week we have Oscar nominations, new Star Wars developments, and some hefty castings. So without further ado, here’s what’s been popping in entertainment the week of January 18-24.
Oscar Nominations Have Been Announced
After facing a couple delays due to the ongoing Palisades and Eaton Fires, the 2025 Oscars nominations have finally been announced. That means plenty of snubs, upsets, delightful surprises, and everything else that comes with the awards process. Here’s the rundown of some of the major categories.
Actor In A Leading Role
- Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
- Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
- Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
- Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
- Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice
Actress In A Leading Role
- Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
- Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez
- Mikey Madison – Anora
- Demi Moore – The Substance
- Fernanda Torres – I’m Still Here
Directing
- Sean Baker – Anora
- Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
- James Mangold – A Complete Unknown
- Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez
- Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
Best Picture
- Anora
- The Brutalist
- A Complete Unknown
- Conclave
- Dune: Part Two
- Emilia Pérez
- I’m Still Here
- Nickel Boys
- The Substance
- Wicked
Emilia Pérez holds the most nominations this year — actually the most of all time for a non-English language film (and tied for second most of any film) — with a whopping 13. There are a couple notable entries in the Best Picture race that weren’t part of critics’ discussions until more recently… I’m Still Here and Nickel Boys. Inversely, there are a few major snubs in the category, including A Real Pain (although nominated for Original Screenplay), Sing Sing (Colman Domingo still got a nomination for his role), and two Luca Guadagnino films — Challengers and Queer.
In fact, Challengers may be the most unfortunate story this time around, as Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score for the film was snubbed, as well as Sayombhu Mukdeeprom‘s cinematography (he wasn’t recognized for his work on Queer or Trap either). Although a critical success with 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film was given a heartbreaking 0 nominations. If you want to know where you can stream the Best Picture nominees, check out our guide here.
New ‘Star Wars’ Movies Hit Hyperspeed
It’s been nearly six years since a Star Wars movie has hit theaters – and that’s not for lack of trying on Disney’s part. They’ve announced several films since, but nearly all of them fell short of ever making it to production, let alone even casting. The Mandalorian & Grogu is set to finally end the theatrical hiatus, but could it also be the start of a new era of Star Wars films not getting trapped in development hell?
One of the previously reported films is a movie focused on Rey, set fifteen years after The Rise of Skywalker. While writing duties have been passed between Damon Lindelof (Lost), Justin Britt-Gibson, and Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders), it looks as if Lucasfilm has settled on a new writer. George Nolfi, who wrote films such as Ocean’s Twelve and The Bourne Ultimatum, has been brought onboard. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is still on as director, in her narrative film debut.
While Obaid-Chinoy’s film was originally expected to be next to enter production, it’s now being reported that Shawn Levy’s film will be. Which brings us to the huge news. Mr. Ken doll himself, Ryan Gosling, is in talks to star in Levy’s film. While we don’t know what time period the story will take place in or what it will be about, a star like Gosling would be a great fit for the franchise, and could go a long way to breathe new life into things. Also this movie hasn’t struggled with writers — Jonathan Tropper is working on the script, as he has been for the past year. Hopefully we’ll see more movement soon as this project accelerates.
Major Castings In Hollywood
It’s been quite a heavy news week, especially for casting. But first, let’s get a strange one out of the way… confirmation on an actor not appearing in a film. That would be Benedict Cumberbatch, who let slip that he won’t be appearing as Doctor Strange in Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday. He will, however, make a return in Avengers: Secret Wars, citing, “He’s quite central to where things might go.” While we’re talking superheroes, a good chunk of casting announcements were made for Invincible Season 3. These include Aaron Paul as Powerplex, Kate Mara as Becky Duvall, Christian Convery as Oliver, Simu Liu as Multi-Paul, Xolo Maridueña as Dropkick/Fightmaster, Tzi Ma as Mr. Liu, and John DiMaggio as The Elephant, with both Doug Bradley and Jonathan Banks in mystery roles. And on the DC side of things, Lanterns has found its Sinestro in Ulrich Thomson. He’ll be starring opposite Aaron Pierre as John Stewart and Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan in the HBO series.
Next, we’ve got a couple high-profile movies filling roles. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey already has quite the lineup of acting juggernauts, with Tom Holland, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, and Charlize Theron. Now The Punisher star Jon Bernthal is set to join in an unknown role, as the movie is expected to begin filming next month. Meanwhile, Gina Prince-Bythewood is setting up quite the ensemble of her own for the Children of Blood and Bone adaptation. The fantasy movie had it’s star-studded cast revealed this week, which includes Thuso Mbedu, Amandla Stenberg, Damson Idris, Tobin Cole, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cynthia Erivo, Regina King, Viola Davis, Idris Elba, and Lashana Lynch. We can expect to see them up on the big screen on January 15, 2027.
Scorsese And Eggers Back In The Director’s Chair
Ever since the release of Killers of the Flower Moon, reports have circled about various projects director Martin Scorsese has been developing, and now we have another to add to the pile. Scorsese is in talks to reunite with Leonardo DiCaprio for an adaptation of Erik Larson’s novel, Devil in the White City. DiCaprio has owned the rights for the last 15 years, pushing to develop an adaptation multiple times — even as a Hulu series. But at last, there seems to be movement as him and Scorsese have come to an agreement with 20th Century Studios to bring it to theaters.
The other massive directorial story for the week is Robert Eggers, who had not one, but two feature films announced to be in development. Hot off the heels of Nosferatu, it looks as though the horror director wants to dive back into another classic genre subject with Focus Features – werewolves. Titled Werwulf, the film will be set in 13th century England. Little else is known at this time, past the script already being written, but we’ll get to see it hit theaters on December 25, 2026. Only a day after the Werwulf announcement, it was revealed that Eggers closed a deal to write and direct a sequel to Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. All that’s known about the TriStar Pictures release is that he’ll be co-writing with Sjón, who he previously penned The Northman with, as well as Werwulf.
