Our monthly round-up of trending entertainment news.

Academy Awards to add Best Stunt Design category for 100th-anniversary in 2028

Stunt performers (plus coordinators and action designers) are finally getting their due. After decades of being the neglected stepchild of the industry, the stunt department will finally be acknowledged at the 100th anniversary of the Oscars.

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This new initiative kicked into effect after a dedicated campaign from the stunt community, spearheaded by director and producer David Leitch (The Fall Guy, John Wick, Atomic Blonde). A former stuntman, Leitch tells Variety: “[The Fall Guy stunt designer] Chris O’Hara and I have spent years working to bring this moment to life, standing on the shoulders of the stunt professionals who’ve fought tirelessly for recognition over the decades.” Films coming out in 2027 will be eligible to compete for the award.

Katy Perry goes to space …

… and returns to Earth with the prospect (or threat, depending on how you see it) of new music inspired by her time away from our planet. Amid announcements of deep cuts to NASA funding, she made time on 14 April to join five other women on an 11-minute suborbital trip (about 62 miles above our planet — the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space — so just barely space space).

On board the Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin spacecraft was the billionaire’s fiancée journalist Lauren Sánchez, who recruited the rest of the all-women space tourist team. The group consisted of an aerospace engineer, a civil rights activist, a film producer, Gayle King (aka Oprah’s best friend), and Perry. As they returned to Earth at the end of this excursion, Perry serenaded her captive audience with her rendition of “What a Wonderful World”. During the trip, Katy Perry took the opportunity to promote her upcoming Lifetimes tour, a move that was widely criticised for being self-indulgent. What a waste! Of space.

HBO renews The Last of Us for Season 3

In news that hardly anyone’s surprised by, the popular HBO TV adaptation of the hit game has been renewed. In a Deadline interview last year with the series’ co-creators/showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, the duo explained that due to the nature and length of the game’s sequel (The Last of Us II), one season would not be enough.

“We don’t think that we’re going to be able to tell the story even within two seasons [2 and 3] because we’re taking our time […] We feel like it’s almost assuredly going to be the case that — as long as people keep watching and we can keep making more television — Season 3 will be significantly larger. And indeed, the story may require Season 4,” says Mazin.

Of course, it remains to be seen how they’re going to tell the story, knowing the eventual fate of one of the show’s favourite characters (no spoilers!). Let’s just hope that there’s not too much GOT-style finagling with the narrative that might lead to disappointment.

The White Lotus creator Mike White hallucinated Season 3’s story while in a Thailand hospital

The shocking storyline and themes of The White Lotus Season 3, which is set in Thailand, all make sense now — they’d been conceptualised whilst White was in a hallucinatory state, hooked on a nebuliser to treat a serious case of bronchitis.

While on location in Chiang Mai to scout for potential shooting spots at the insistence of HBO, White claims in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he caught a bad case of bronchitis and had to be hospitalised.

“It was like I’d smoked crack — not that I’ve smoked crack. For two days, I did not sleep. I was just lying in a hospital bed [in the city of Chiang Mai], trying to think about what the show was, and it came to me,” says White.

Watch The White Lotus S2 on KrisWorld.

Russell Brand charged with rape and sexual assault

The 49-year-old actor/comedian has recently been charged with one count each of rape, indecent assault, and oral rape, and two further counts of sexual assault. British newspaper The Guardian reports that the Metropolitan Police has been investigating Brand since September 2023 after they received allegations made by four separate women following the broadcast of a Channel 4 series called Dispatches (titled Russell Brand: In Plain Sight), which was the culmination of a joint investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times, and Channel 4.

Following the announcement of these charges, The Times reports that three women have come forward to the police with new allegations. The police have also stated that investigators have been inundated with threats and abuse sent by Russell Brand supporters, sent to the email account set up for alleged victims to contact the police. Brand, who currently resides in the US, has denied all allegations.

Disney pauses live-action Tangled remake after Snow White flopped at the box office

The PR and box office disaster that is this year’s Snow White remake has spurred Disney to shelve their next live-action adaptation (for now). Tangled had been in the pre-production stages, with The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey previously confirmed to direct the script penned by Thor: Love and Thunder co-writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.

Executives were reportedly in the process of hunting for talents when the project was halted. Amidst much controversy — from backlash over Rachel Zegler’s casting and the actress throwing shade at the original animated movie to garish CGI use on the dwarf characters and inflammatory political statements by the leads — Snow White premiered to the sound of silence, with red carpets limited to only photographers. Disney had spent a whopping total of US$270 million to make and promote the film, which has grossed less than US$200 million worldwide.

No matter! If musicals are not your thing, we’ve got another Snow White live-action remake on KrisWorld for you to enjoy. No singing in this one, just plenty of butt-kicking.

Harry Potter TV series officially casts its Hogwarts professors

Max recently revealed more cast members of its upcoming Harry Potter TV series, namely the actors playing the Hogwarts teachers. Confirmed series regulars are John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, and Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid. Actors for two recurring characters were also announced: Luke Thallon as Quirinus Quirrell, the first book’s antagonist, and Paul Whitehouse (not a Harry Potter newcomer as he played Sir Cadogan in Prisoner of Azkaban) as Argus Filch, the Hogwarts caretaker. Filming will begin this summer; they better get to casting the kids soon!

Head to Box Sets to watch the full Harry Potter collection on KrisWorld.

Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Harris Dickinson, and Joseph Quinn announced as the Beatles in “four-film cinematic event”

The Fab Four have been cast, and none of them are from Liverpool. Harris Dickinson, who played young boytoy to CEO Nicole Kidman in Babygirl, will star as John Lennon; Gen Z indie film fixture Paul Mescal takes on Paul McCartney; Irish thespian and former Sabrina Carpenter flame Barry Keoghan will play Ringo Starr; and Stranger Things’ breakout star Joseph Quinn will be George Harrison.

Director Sam Mendes’ ambitious Beatles project will see each Beatle getting his own movie, though all four films will be released at the same time in 2028 under the self-important-sounding title The Beatles – A Four Film Cinematic Event. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the estates of Lennon and Harrison have granted their blessings for Mendes to work on the project.