News

The summer of love is extra rosy for Becca Tilley and Hayley Kiyoko. On May 20, The Bachelor alum confirmed her romance with the pop star in a new Instagram. "Hard to say if this is a hard or soft launch, but it is a launch," Becca wrote as her caption before adding Hayley's nickname "#95p." Becca also shared a compilation of memories with Hayley from the past few months. And as Dagny's "Love You Like That" played in the background, fans spotted the duo exchanging some kisses. The post comes hours after Hayley celebrated the release of her latest hit "For the Girls" by dropping the song's video, which is a romantic queer parody of ABC's hit...

With all cinemas in the country now allowed to trade, the national box office was up 67 per cent last weekend, and for the first time in almost three months, two titles earned more than $1 million.

According to Numero, the top 20 films tallied $5.6 million, the highest result since mid-July.

Cinemas in Melbourne could open their doors again at 6pm Friday to 75 per cent capacity, and cinemas in Canberra reopened the same day.

Carlton’s Cinema Nova recordd a respectable restart, with Friday evening front-loaded.

“Cinema Nova’s top films were Australian drama Nitram and The Last Duel, the latter of which we ranked first in Victoria despite a wide release. We also saw decent starts for Pig and Lamb, as well as Anthony Bourdain documentary Roadrunner. In all three cases we were the top-ranked venue in the country,” CEO Kristian Connelly tells If.

“It’s our view that awareness of cinemas...

For the first time in quite a while, last weekend saw major new releases enter the Australian theatrical market, in the form of Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel and Aussie James Wan’s horror Malignant.

Yet neither could catch Marvel film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

While last weekend was technically the Disney title’s eighth in release, for Sydneysiders just emerging from lockdown, it is only the second weekend the film has been available.

Pent-up demand saw it collect $1.2 million, just a 20 per cent dip, moving to just shy of $13 million.

According to Numero, the top 20 titles mustered $3.3 million, up 7 per cent on the previous.

This coming weekend should see the market return to some semblance of normal for the first time since June, with cinemas in Melbourne and Canberra able to reopen from Friday.

However, most exhibitors don’t expect the box office to...

Like many who live in Melbourne, Mitchell Hope is using the lockdown to broaden his skill set.

The young actor, known for his roles in Disney’s Descendents franchise and Let it Snow, has felt the full force of the city’s battle with the virus, having returned to his hometown in February of last year following seven years of dividing his time between Australia and the US.

However, instead of baking banana bread or cultivating a green thumb, he told If he had spent the time indoors furthering his knowledge of filmmaking.

“The pandemic has been terrible, but I’ve started doing something I’ve always wanted to do, which is to write my own work and produce my own films.”

Prior to Covid-19, Hope was in southern Sydney to shoot Eric C. Nash’s Love You Like That, which will become the first new local release since theatres...

Director and producer Nadia Tass will chair the jury for this year’s CinefestOZ, which had its full line-up announced in Perth yesterday.

The filmmaker will helm voting on the $100,000 CinefestOZ prize, adjudicating in-competition finalists Here Out West, Nitram, River, and The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson.

Tass is among the directors to have their work showcased at the event, with her documentary, Oleg: The Oleg Vidov Story, announced among the Australian premieres in the line-up.

Speaking to If, she said the festival had always been “invigorating”.

“The event is so elegant, but at the same time it is not empty,” she said.

“There is so much about films that is discussed, both in terms of the creative process and films as pieces of entertainment or communication with an audience.

“They have really thought about how they are going to excite people to come to the event.”

Tass...

Whether it’s coming out of Nashville, New York, L.A., or points in between, there’s no shortage of fresh tunes, especially from artists who have yet to become household names. Rolling Stone Country selects some of the best new music releases from country and Americana artists.

Parker McCollum “Love You Like That”

Love is a complicated mess that requires careful navigation around old wounds, trying not to rip them open again. Texas native Parker McCollum drops himself into just such a situation in “Love You Like That” from his new EP Hollywood Gold,...