Internet provider Optimum faces a billion-dollar damages claim for allegedly turning a blind eye to pirating subscribers. These allegations are made by several music companies based on evidence provided by tracking company Rightscorp. Optimum is not convinced that the evidence is reliable and accurate; the ISP also questions Rightscorp's business practices. Under U.S. copyright law, Internet providers must terminate the accounts of repeat infringers “in appropriate circumstances.” This legal requirement remained largely unenforced for nearly two decades but a series of copyright infringement liability lawsuits, including a billion-dollar damages award against Cox, have shaken up the industry. Music Companies Sue Optimum While Internet terminations are more common today, that hasn’t stopped the lawsuits. Last December, a group of music rightsholders including BMG, UMG, and Capitol filed a complaint at the Eastern District of Texas, accusing Optimum’s parent company Altice USA of facilitating massive copyright infringement. The pirating activity of subscribers shouldn’t be a surprise for the ISP, plaintiffs argued, as the company received numerous copyright infringement notices. This included those sent by the tracking company Rightscorp, which were paired with settlement demands. “Rather than work with Plaintiffs or take other meaningful or effective steps to curb this massive infringement, Altice chose to permit infringement to run rampant, prioritizing its own profits over the Plaintiffs’ rights,” the complaint read. To make the music companies whole, they demanded roughly a billion dollars in damages and an order requiring Optimum to prevent repeat copyright infringements on its network going forward. Questioning the Evidence Optimum’s parent company fiercely denies the allegations and argues that it’s protected by the DMCA’s safe harbor. To mount a proper defense, the ISP is conducting discovery for the upcoming trial, showing particular interest in Rightscorp’s piracy evidence. Specifically, the ISP believes that the reliability and accuracy of Rightscorp’s detection system are central to its defense. Thus far, however, the piracy tracking company has failed to hand over all requested information. To force the matter, Altice submitted a motion to compel Rightscorp to comply with the subpoenaed information. In its request, the company also scolds the music companies for trying to turn ISPs into copyright police, while characterizing Rightscorp’s copyright notices as ‘spam’. “This case is the latest attempt by the music industry to engineer a copyright-liability regime that makes ISPs responsible for all infringement that takes place on the internet—and thereby turn ISPs into their de facto enforcers. “Rightscorp intentionally sends out millions of notices a year, and includes threatening settlement demands therein, as it stands to gain a portion of each settlement received as a result of each notice. In reality, the volume of these notices is so high that it risks crippling Altice’s systems,” the motion adds. More Information Needed If the music companies want to hold Optimum liable for the copyright infringements of its subscribers, the ISP wants to review all underlying evidence in detail. Although Rightscorp has handed over some information, including notices and spreadsheets with metadata, the ISP seeks more. For example, Rightscorp should be able to share information on its agreements with the music company plaintiffs, assessments of the accuracy of its piracy detection system, documents related to settlements with the ISP’s customers, and more. “Given that the notices are at the center of the lawsuit between the Plaintiffs and Altice, Altice is seeking evidence concerning the accuracy and reliability of Rightscorp’s systems for detecting infringement and sending notices, as well as the data, evidence, records, or information on how Rightscorp verified the files before sending such notices,” the motion reads. The complaint itself doesn’t include any of this information. Instead, the plaintiffs refer to Rightscorp, which takes a central role in this case as a result. Rightscorp has yet to file a response to the motion, which is due mid-December. After that, the court will decide whether the piracy tracking company must hand over additional information, or not.

During the summer, UK broadcaster Sky obtained a High Court injunction to compel local ISPs to block pirate IPTV services offering its content illegally. Basic details pertaining to a novel aspect of the injunction were reported but little seemed wildly out of the ordinary. It transpires that the High Court initially had reservations concerning the order, but the biggest surprise is what Sky aimed to block: "relatively banal" content of limited value. News that Sky had won a new High Court injunction to tackle pirate IPTV services first appeared in the Financial Times on July 30, 2023. The article outlined an injunction similar to those previously obtained by the Premier League, noting that ISPs would be compelled to block Sky’s “best selling football games and blockbuster TV shows.” Why Sky would go to the trouble of obtaining an injunction to block access to matches, already being blocked by the Premier League, still makes little sense. Blocking TV shows was new, however. Means to Shut Down Sites at Certain Times The FT reported that the order obtained by Sky was designed to protect a “broader range of content” from across its programming. “Sky will now have the means to shut down individual pirate sites at certain times,” the article noted, adding: “For example, the ruling could be used to block illegal access to The Ashes on Sky Sports Cricket, or to a specific show such as House of the Dragon on Sky Atlantic when it is first broadcast and reaches its largest audience.” Apart from the apparent futility of blocking already blocked football matches, the report was entirely plausible and easily confirmed, had the actual High Court order been made available. Unfortunately, the UK’s system isn’t great and in the case of blocking injunctions, specific details are hidden to prevent circumvention. Even the names of the target IPTV providers can be difficult to determine, although not impossible. Sky Causes Major Disruption With almost no information accessible to the public and mystery surrounding Sky’s strategy, it’s impossible for outsiders to provide anything like a comprehensive overview. We certainly don’t claim to offer one here, but since all signs point to one of the most extraordinary mechanisms we’ve ever seen, taking a closer look seems warranted. As reported earlier, BunnyStream, Enigma Streams, GenIPTV, CatIPTV, GoTVMix and IPTVMain are among the priority targets and from the information available to us, Sky’s blocking efforts have not gone unnoticed. Providing exact dates is difficult and potentially unhelpful, but we estimate that over a period of four to six, maybe even eight weeks starting in August, Sky targeted between 80 and 100 domains/subdomains, most of them operated by the services listed above. Subdomains were already in use on some platforms, but there are fairly clear signs that some targets deployed new subdomains as a countermeasure against blocking. At least for a while that can pay off, but we get the impression that Sky doesn’t wait long to respond either. In other cases, blocked domains seem to have been abandoned, suspended for abuse, or put up for sale. Other countermeasures include the acquisition of new domains, backup domains being dusted off, and subscribers receiving advice to use a VPN to overcome blocking, as the text on one portal shows. IPTV streaming is increasingly being targeted by cable operators and their lawyers. This has led to some IPTV services being blocked by ISPs. One popular example is the blockage of IPTV services regularly exhibited during Premier League matches in the UK. Some IPTV services are able to circumvent this. However, the easiest and most reliable way to ensure you can still stream despite ISP blocks is to use a VPN. Another 300 Blocks – But Blocking What? With at least one of the targeted platforms resorting to what appear to be machine generated subdomains, Sky is certainly being kept busy, so at some point the High Court may be responsive to closing that loophole. On top of what may have been the first batch of 90 domains/subdomains blocked previously, our estimates suggest another 250+ blocks since, and potentially more than 300. Whatever the true number, the volumes are high but as mentioned earlier, impossible for outsiders to properly measure. That leaves the question of what Sky content these platforms are offering and how blocking that content dovetails with the order handed down in July. After obtaining a copy of the High Court order, the nature of the blocking is easily understood. Justice Meade’s key statements are as follows: – The order sought has two elements, a dynamic block and a static block. Each of these, individually, is well precedented in decisions going back now over ten years in the case of the static blocking orders and, in many respects, the order sought today is a straightforward combination of those two types of orders. – I do think it is appropriate to give some reasons in relation to the respects in which the orders sought today is different from what has come before. The significant difference, in my view, is that Sky seeks, in relation to the dynamic part of the order, to apply blocking measures at times and for periods of its choosing. The length of period and the amount of time that can be blocked per amount of calendar time is confidential (lest it facilitate evasion), and I will not state it in this judgment because I am sitting in open court. – Under the proposed dynamic blocking approach, it would be Sky that chooses when to apply blocking measures, and for how long. The reason why this might be a potentially significant change is that it somewhat diminishes the amount of foresight that the court can use about the proportionality of the blocking. It might have, I was concerned, a slightly unpredictable effect or at least the capacity for an unpredictable effect. Without, as I say, going through the details of the periods permitted because they are confidential, I would be concerned about the effect that the new approach might have on the ISPs. – That concern in relation to the ISPs is, of course, very substantially ameliorated by the fact that they have not opposed this order and have been in dialogue with Sky and its experts about what is proposed. On the evidence I have seen, I am satisfied that they are not unduly concerned. These details pertaining to the blocking aspects of the injunction are certainly interesting. Unfortunately, the nature of the content that effectively authorizes blocking under the terms of the injunction is even less clear now than it was in the summer. Not Particularly Valuable, “Relatively Banal” Content Blocking injunctions have nearly always been sought to protect specific, high-value content. Hollywood obtains injunctions to protect movies and the recording industry aims to protect music, it’s usually as simple as that. The overall goal of the Sky injunction is no different in that respect. However, it appears that unlicensed distribution of Sky’s most popular football matches, House of the Dragon, or other high-value content, isn’t the specific trigger for blocking under the terms of the injunction. Indeed, Justice Meade’s comments made at various points in the order indicate that the opposite is true. – This is quite a significant departure from previous orders which have been more specifically targeted at, particularly, valuable content in the nature of a particular sporting events and the like. – I do think the proportionality analysis is different and merits comment because the blocking is not, in this instance, targeted at particularly valuable or notable content. – [T]he fact that the blocking windows permitted are not around the clock and are to be targeted by Sky at its own election, and the fact that that will, in principle, allow Sky to deploy blocking windows against content which might, theoretically, at least be relatively banal… – Although the blocking is not necessarily to be directed to premium content, the goal of doing it is to protect that content and to protect the totality of Sky’s investment in its broadcast business as a whole. Such an unorthodox yet innovative blocking injunction could be a sign that a specific issue presented unique challenges. We have no clear information to show that was actually the case, but coming up with a hypothetical scenario that fits isn’t too difficult. Hypothetical Problem, Hypothetical Solution Under EU law, sporting events are not classifiable as works under the Copyright Directive. Football matches, for example, are subject to the rules governing the game, which leaves no room for creative freedom. As a result, live football matches are not protected by copyright law. However, if a live match is recorded before its onward transmission, augmented by unique copyrighted elements such as logos, graphics, incidental music, and other intellectual property already owned by a broadcaster, a match becomes a film protected under copyright law. That might lead to a theoretical injunction application requesting site-blocking to protect ancillary content, but has the ultimate goal of protecting all content, in and around it, while potentially avoiding time-consuming licensing intricacies. After all, site-blocking is a blunt instrument, so if a smash-hit TV show just happened to air seconds after a copyrighted advert, potentially containing copyrighted music theoretically owned by a broadcaster, blocking wouldn’t discriminate. Useful collateral damage then? Possibly, at least in theory.

While public torrent sites are known to many, private torrent trackers, though less renowned, offer a world of advantages that elevate your torrenting experience to a new level. Public torrent sites, easily accessible to all, provide an array of content. However, they also come with their own set of challenges. From security risks to content of questionable quality, public torrenting can be a minefield for users looking for safety and a reliable source of premium content. This is where private torrent trackers emerge as the discerning choice for those in the know. These exclusive communities provide a sanctuary for those seeking secure, high-quality, and diverse digital content. The differences between public and private torrenting sites are marginal and transformative. But which ones are the best? We’ve curated a list of the 13 best private torrent trackers that cater to diverse interests. 1. IPTorrents IPTorrents is a versatile private torrent tracker with an expansive collection that spans movies, games, and applications. Its true strength lies in its user-friendly interface, making it accessible even to newcomers in the torrenting world. The thriving community ensures that content is consistently updated and well-maintained, guaranteeing a seamless experience for users. IPTorrents strikes a remarkable balance between quality and quantity, offering both high-quality releases and a vast selection to choose from. With its simplistic yet efficient design, it ranks among the top choices for torrent enthusiasts who want a reliable source for their downloading needs. 2. SpeedApp SpeedApp prioritizes two crucial elements in the torrenting world – privacy and speed. As a private torrent tracker, it caters to users who value online anonymity. SpeedApp goes the extra mile in implementing robust security measures, providing a secure platform for downloading digital content. What sets it apart is its commitment to fast downloads, ensuring that users not only maintain their online identity but also enjoy a seamless and speedy torrenting experience. For those who seek a trusted and secure torrenting environment, SpeedApp is an ideal choice. 3. AvistaZ AvistaZ specializes in a specific niche – Asian content, predominantly focusing on movies and TV shows. This private tracker has earned a reputation as a treasure trove for fans of K-dramas, Japanese anime, and other Asian entertainment. What makes AvistaZ a standout choice is its vast library, ensuring that enthusiasts of Asian content won’t miss out on the latest releases. Moreover, the vibrant community enhances the overall experience, allowing users to interact, share, and discover new gems from the Asian entertainment world. 4. JPTV JPTV carved a niche in Japanese content, offering a comprehensive platform for TV shows, movies, and music from Japan. For those with a deep appreciation for Japanese culture, JPTV serves as a paradise. It prioritizes both quality and variety, guaranteeing that users can access the best that Japan offers in entertainment. Whether you’re a fan of Japanese drama, music, or cinema, JPTV ensures that you’re well-catered to. 5. Bibliotik Bibliotik caters exclusively to book enthusiasts, offering a wide range of e-books and audiobooks. It serves as an invaluable resource for those with a passion for reading, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction. Bibliotik’s extensive collection means you have your library in the cloud. It’s where you can easily find the latest bestsellers, delve into classical literature, or explore hidden literary gems, making it a haven for bibliophiles. 6. Deildu Deildu might not be as specialized as some other private torrent trackers, but its versatility shines through. This Icelandic tracker houses an impressive collection that spans various content types. While it may not have a singular focus, it’s an excellent choice for users with diverse interests. Deildu ensures that whether you’re looking for movies, games, music, or other digital content, you’ll find something to satisfy your preferences. 7. Torrentday Torrentday has established itself as a well-known private torrent tracker with a massive library encompassing movies, TV shows, games, and more. The part we like is the vibrant and active community, ensuring that content is consistently updated and maintained. Users have access to high-quality content always here. With a straightforward interface and regular updates, Torrentday maintains its status as a trusted platform for torrent enthusiasts who seek a reliable source for their content needs. 8. Blutopia Blutopia is a private tracker that distinguishes itself by its unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality releases of movies and TV shows. For cinephiles who have a discerning eye for top-notch video and audio quality, this tracker is a cinematic treasure trove. What sets Blutopia apart is its dedication to offering a premium cinematic experience. It caters to those who appreciate the fine details in every frame and the immersive sound that only top-tier releases can provide. When you visit Blutopia, you can be confident that you’re accessing films and TV shows that meet the highest standards of visual and auditory excellence. 9. REDacted REDacted is a haven for music enthusiasts and a premier private music torrent tracker. What makes it truly special is the extensive collection it houses, which ranges from timeless classics to the latest chart-toppers. Whether you’re on the hunt for rare releases that are hard to find elsewhere or the hottest tracks making waves, you’re sure to find them within the vast catalog of REDacted. With a keen focus on curating music that appeals to a diverse range of tastes, it’s a musical sanctuary where you can explore, discover, and enjoy the harmonious world of sound. 10. Gazelle Games Gazelle Games caters to the gaming community as a private tracker, and its appeal lies in its diverse selection. From classic titles that evoke nostalgia to the very latest releases that push the boundaries of gaming, Gazelle Games has it all. What sets it apart is its community-driven approach. Quality is a top priority here, with users passionate about preserving the gaming experience in its purest form. Gamers who value quality gaming experiences, free from glitches and inferior versions, will find Gazelle Games their virtual haven. 11. PassThePopcorn As the name suggests, PassThePopcorn is a private tracker dedicated to the world of movies. With a focus on films, it houses an extensive library that spans various genres and eras. If you’re a devoted movie buff with a penchant for exploring cinematic gems, PassThePopcorn is the ultimate destination. It’s not just a platform for downloading movies; it’s a cinematic journey waiting to be embarked upon. With PassThePopcorn, you can dive into the captivating world of cinema, from timeless classics to the latest blockbusters, all from the comfort of your digital screen. 12. BroadcastTheNet BroadcastTheNet is a private tracker explicitly designed for TV show enthusiasts. It’s the go-to platform for those who want to stay up-to-date with their favorite series. With a big collection of TV shows spanning different genres and networks, BroadcastTheNet ensures you won’t miss a single episode. What sets it apart is its dedication to providing a comprehensive collection of television content, making it the ideal destination for those who can’t get enough of the small screen. The next episode you’re looking for is just a click away. 13. MyAnonaMouse MyAnonaMouse is a private tracker that carves a niche for book lovers, offering an extensive selection of e-books and audiobooks. What makes it unique is that it’s not just a library; it’s a thriving community of readers who share a passion for books. MyAnonaMouse is more than a platform for accessing literary works; it’s a place where readers come together to discuss, recommend, and explore the world of literature. It caters to various tastes, from fiction to non-fiction, ensuring every reader finds their literary paradise here.

Over the past several years, copyright holders have asked Google to remove URLs from five million unique domains. These include blatant pirate sites such as The Pirate Bay, but also legal streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+. What stands out most is that a tiny fraction of all domains are responsible for the majority of the trouble. Over the past few years, copyright holders have reported more than seven billion copyright-infringing URLs to Google. At one point, the search engine processed close to three million links per day. A dazzling number to say the least. In recent years the daily volume has slowly declined. This is in part due to Google’s active policy of making pirate sites less visible in search results. After years of complaints, these efforts were well received by copyright holders. Five Million ‘Pirate’ Domains In response to Google’s enforcement efforts and other anti-piracy measures, some pirate sites regularly switch to new domain names. That can help to get these sites back into the search results, albeit temporarily, since progress often doesn’t last. This week, the search engine reached a new milestone. Since its records began, Google has now received takedown notices for five million unique domain names. This ‘achievement’ prompted us to take a close look at the underlying data. Where are all these alleged pirate sites coming from? Who are the main offenders, and which domains shouldn’t be on the list? Top Offenders The two top-reported domain names, daft.sex and dsex.to, are relatively new. These adult sites were targeted in a massive enforcement effort by Pornhub’s parent company Mindgeek, which previously filed a lawsuit against the sites’ operator in a U.S. federal court. After the Daftsex site lost its .com domain, it moved to alternatives, which were then targeted by Mindgeek both in court and through Google. The daft.sex and dsex.to domains had only been active for a few months but triggered close to a quarter billion takedown notices in that short period. The other domain names in the top ten are a mixed bag. In third place, we find file-sharing service 4shared.com with more than 68 million targeted URLs. The majority of these were removed years ago. More recently, 4shared began actively working with rightsholders to prevent piracy by deploying filtering technologies. The list also includes unknown sites such as mp3toys.xyz. This domain has been inactive for more than half a decade but previously hosted pirated MP3s, triggering over 50 million reported URLs. 20 Domains Received 10% of All Notices While looking through the list of targeted domains it becomes apparent that it’s top-heavy. The 20 domains that were called out most frequently have nearly 750 million flagged URLs. This means that less than two dozen targeted domains account for more than 10% of all notices. This means that while five million domains is an impressive number, it doesn’t mean that all pose an equal threat. There’s a long tail of sites that were targeted less than a handful of times. Overall, we can say that the majority of the five million reported domains are only flagged incidentally. These may be smaller pirate sites or sites exploited by scammers to post spam links. However, it’s also very common for legitimate sites to be targeted, often by mistake. Legal Sites? The five million figure includes a wide variety of domains that obviously don’t deserve the ‘pirate’ brand. This includes dictionaries, which sometimes list terms that are associated with copyrighted content, for example. The same is true for many reputable news outlets such as The New York Times, the BBC, and TorrentFreak. Ironically, Google also received takedown requests for pretty much all legitimate streaming platforms. Netflix was flagged 259 times over the years, while Disney+, HBO, Hulu, Paramount+, and many others were reported too. These are all errors, but they still contribute to the overall total. Rightsholders have also reported Google.com URLs to Google, and not just a handful either. Over the years the company was asked to remove 775,454 Google.com URLs from its own search results. Tens of Thousands of Copycats Finally, it’s worth pointing out that the reported domain names include a lot of variations of the same pirate brands. Some of these are operated by the original owners, but popular names are also hijacked to draw search traffic. The list of five million domain names includes nearly 1,000 sites that have the phrase “piratebay” in their name and the same is true for “fmovies” and “YTS”. The “123movie” brand takes the crown, however, with well over 3,000 domain name variations. Overall, it is safe to say that the milestone of five million flagged domains should be seen in the proper context. On the one hand, it consists of a small group of notorious pirate sites. On the other, many more sites don’t deserve the piracy label.

A series of arrests that began in late August and continued into last week has sparked concerns that a relatively rare 'Scene' crackdown targeting the top of the so-called 'Piracy Pyramid' may be underway in the Nordic region. A long-running investigation involving Denmark's Special Crime Unit appears to be the common denominator. Coincidentally, several groups have stopped releasing. Over the past few years, increased enforcement by players in both the private and public sectors has made Denmark one of the riskiest places in Europe for pirate site operators and prolific file-sharers. Relentless pushback from local anti-piracy group Rights Alliance and its partnership with Denmark’s Special Crime Unit (National enhed for Særlig Kriminalitet (NSK)) has led to many site closures, arrests, and subsequent prosecutions. The most recent reported conviction saw a 37-year-old man receive a 60-day suspended prison sentence in September for pirating more than a thousand works through local BitTorrent trackers. In connection with this and other successes over the past few years, last month Rights Alliance revealed that Thomas Heldrup, the anti-piracy group’s Head of Content Protection & Enforcement, had been running an undercover operation in piracy circles since 2016. Fears of Infiltration Concerns that a site might have a spy on board certainly aren’t unusual; for many site operators, however, it’s the kind of thing that only ever happens to someone else, usually those perceived to be less careful than them. In some cases that might be true but Denmark’s distinguishing features as a country may introduce complications. A relatively small population and a language rarely spoken outside Denmark’s borders, presents an increased chance of local piracy communities overlapping. Combine that with a shared reliance on locally attractive content and one site’s security issues risk becoming a much broader problem, as the last couple of years appear to show. Until recently, however, there were few signs to suggest those at the top of the so-called ‘Piracy Pyramid‘ may also have become targets in Denmark. Nevertheless, some of those with connections to Scene entities are starting to ask questions. 47-Year-Old Arrested in Denmark In a statement last week, Denmark’s National Unit for Special Crime (NSK) announced that as part of a long-running investigation, a man was arrested on November 22 and then charged with copyright infringement offenses. NSK said its officers searched the home of a 47-year-old man in South Zealand (Sydsjælland) and seized IT equipment in connection with illegal file-sharing and “copyright infringement of a particularly serious nature.” “The case is about an organized network that has illegally shared extremely large quantities of films and TV series via file sharing services,” said NSK Police Commissioner Anders-Emil Nøhr Kelbæk. While noting that NSK had no further information to offer at this time, Kelbæk said he was pleased that NSK had arrested another suspect believed to have played a ‘significant role’ in the unnamed network. At Least Five Arrests Thus Far Last week’s arrest was only the latest in a series of arrests carried out as part of the same long-running NSK investigation into the illegal distribution of movies and TV shows. In late August, NSK arrested four people on suspicion of sharing “extremely large quantities” of movies and TV shows. NSK raided addresses in South-West Jutland, North Zealand and Bornholmand. A 43-year old was arrested at the last location, but it’s claimed he lives elsewhere. In common with last week’s arrest, all were charged on suspicion of “particularly serious” copyright infringement offenses. In an almost identical statement to that issued last week, Commissioner Anders-Emil Nøhr Kelbæk said the case was about “an organized network that shares extremely large amounts of data, presumably in the form of films and series.” Does Available Information Really Indicate a ‘Scene’ Bust? TorrentFreak sources report concerns that last week’s arrest may be linked to Scene groups. Terminology used by NSK doesn’t instantly rule that out and does seem to suggest something potentially more significant than other arrests over the past few years. According to NSK, the August arrests took place on August 28, 2023. Using information in Scene release databases we looked for Danish Scene groups and/or groups that were releasing Denmark-focused content before that date but then made no releases afterward; while that wouldn’t provide conclusive proof that a group had been targeted, the method has proven useful in the past. Findings as follows: ⦿ Nordic blu-ray release group (including Danish) paused Aug 13, restarted Oct 16. Nothing since ⦿ TV show release group paused Aug 28 to Sep 1 but continued as normal ⦿ At least one TV show group made dozens of releases on Aug 28 suggesting little ‘panic’ on that date While activity late August suggests nothing especially out of the ordinary, activity since the arrest last week stands in contrast. Notable Danish content release group inactivity since November 22 arrest as follows: ⦿ ‘HYGGE’ | TV shows | 550+ releases since March 23 | Last release Nov 23, 2023 07:43:39 ⦿ ‘HiVE’ | TV shows | 650+ releases since March 23 | Last release Nov 23, 2023 05:03:52 ⦿ ‘DKiDS’ | TV shows | 3000+ release since March 23 | Last release Nov 21, 2023 10:34:50 ⦿ ‘DANES’ | TV shows | 640+ releases since May 23 | Last release Nov 22, 2023 08:13:21 ⦿ ‘JYSK’ | TV shows | 520+ releases since March 23 | Last release Nov 23, 2023 08:20:39 TF is informed that some groups may have gone dark simply out of an abundance of caution. That may or may not include all or none of the above. It’s also possible that the groups have nothing to release. Furthermore, there are many other global groups with no obvious links to Danish content or Denmark that also stopped releasing on November 21. The reasons for this are unknown but holidays in the United States may play a role. In an information vacuum, rumors are extremely common but if the authorities and/or Rights Alliance used intelligence obtained in other operations to infiltrate Scene groups or their affiliates, it wouldn’t be a surprise. It wouldn’t be surprise to hear that any group downtime was directly linked to turkey and/or alcohol consumption either but in any event, the next couple of weeks should prove informative.

Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'Oppenheimer' tops the chart, followed by 'The Creator'. ‘Leo' completes the top three. The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. Downloading content without permission is copyright infringement. These torrent download statistics are only meant to provide further insight into piracy trends. All data are gathered from public resources. This week we have three newcomers on the list. “Oppenheimer” is the most downloaded title. The most torrented movies for the week ending on November 27 are: Movie Rank (Rank Last Week) 1 (1) Oppenheimer 2 (2) The Creator 3 (…) Leo 4 (3) Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One 5 (4) The Equalizer 3 6 (…) The Marsh King’s Daughter 7 (…) Trolls Band Together 8 (6) The Killer 9 (5) Barbie 10 (9) Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

The impression of flawlessness is a tough standard to maintain. It’s what audiences have come to expect of Beyoncé since she debuted as one-fourth of Destiny’s Child in 1997, not merely because of her era-defining music and performances but because she executes it with such seeming ease. Surprise plays a role: It’s part of the reason why her unprecedented 2013 surprise-drop, self-titled album rewrote the release strategy playbook for the music industry, and why her elaborate headlining slot at Coachella in 2018 was instantly historic. She’s the bar, and has been for the past decade — and she’s raised it time and again. 2022’s “Renaissance,” an album centered in the Black experience drawing heavily from, and indebted to, ballroom and queer culture, came with a more traditional rollout — “Break My Soul,” a diva house whiff of ’90s revivalism, wasn’t exactly the expected direction — and although it was more polarizing than her other recent work, it connected in a way that many of her albums hadn’t, creating a sense of community among her diehard fans while drawing more casual listeners into its saucy, freewheeling gravitational pull. Related Stories VIP+ ‘The Creator’ Cratered, but 20th Century Shouldn’t Abandon New Franchises The 45 Best Christmas Movies of All Time “It’s always been about using my art and my influence to really celebrate all of our differences,” she says during a voiceover vignette in “Renassaince: A Film,” her concert movie that weaves a breathless amount of footage from various dates on her record-setting Renaissance World Tour. “My ultimate goal is to create a space where everyone is free and no one is judged, and everyone can be their childlike selves, their sexiest selves. They can all be on that stage. They are the vision. They are the new beginning. That’s what ‘Renaissance’ is about.” “Renaissance: A Film,” releasing to AMC Theatres on December 1, celebrates her community, interspersing slick performances with interludes that lift the curtain on what inspired both the album and tour. Written, produced, and directed by Beyoncé herself, the two-and-a-half-hour movie revisits the meticulous show that she says took four years to create, highlighting what the public saw in real-time and on social media (i.e. the heavy choreography, the surgical-cut vocal runs), but also the hesitations and self-doubt she faced while assembling it. It’s one thing to create a home video or Netflix-style documentary for a tour, both of which Beyoncé has released in the past. A theatrical release of a concert film is a taller order, although it’s safe to say she had the wind at her back for this one: By its conclusion in early October, the tour amassed a staggering $579 million worldwide, with 2.7 million fans attending across 56 dates in 39 cities — the highest-grossing tour by a Black artist and the eighth-highest-grossing tour of all time. In addition to the eye-popping performances, the film features Beyoncé speaking candidly about her decisions in a way that music fans have come to expect from such concert films, most recently reaching full cultural throttle with “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” documentary. Her family, for one, is a centerpiece, with frequent appearances from her mother Tina Knowles, daughter Blue Ivy Carter, and even her twins, Rumi and Sir. But she also reveals details about how far she’s come as an entertainer and where she sees herself heading, a creative with a clear vision of what she wants to accomplish without any of the “people pleasing” she describes as a former cornerstone of her business approach. “The biggest growth in my artistry has come from overcoming failure, conflict and trauma,” she says. “But the next phase of my life, I want it to come from peace and joy. I am who I am, and you take me, or you don’t. It’s a really beautiful place to be as a woman… It’s the best time of my life. I thought I was there at 30, but nah, it’s getting better. Life is getting better. I spent so much of my life a serial people pleaser, and finally, I don’t give a fuck.” One of the more poignant moments from the film focuses on her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, who appeared on tour to perform with her mother on “My Power.” Beyoncé explains that she only wanted the 11-year-old to do just one date, worried for her exposure at such a young age and hesitant to give her the opportunity without having had to work for it. And then, one of Blue’s friends showed her negative reviews of her dancing online. It only fueled her ambition further, and Beyoncé details the growth she saw as the tour progressed. We witness it through stitched-together clips that show determination may run in the Knowles family. The vision of the “Renaissance” show comes across clearly: It includes nearly every song from the concert, and many of the performances are montages between separate shows with different costumes; the editing is stark. The seamless fast cuts in “Move” and the tight close-ups during “Pure/Honey” are riveting, and the stitching across the 56 tour dates makes it feel unified. But the film truly excels in its portrayal of life beyond the stage. Beyoncé invites viewers to join her on a trip to her native Houston, where she chows on local cuisine and visits her family home, unlocking memories lost to time. She speaks of her Uncle Johnny who she sings of making her dress on “Heated,” with her mother Tina Knowles describing his influence on a young Beyoncé and her sister Solange. But she also knows how much to give, and shows vulnerability in ways that undercut yet emphasize her perfectionism. Prior to the “Renaissance” tour, she underwent surgery on her knee from a stage accident that happened nearly two decades ago, and we see her in rehab working in double time to be able to perform on stage. “I was absolutely terrified because she had to rehab so quickly,” says Tina. “She rehearsed on that knee, she came out on tour on that knee, and so I was always scared that she was going to re-injure the knee, but she is always a trooper.” Cut to images of stitches in Beyoncé’s knee. “Usually I only rehearse in heels, but because of my knee, I haven’t gotten that far yet,” adds Beyoncé. “It’s been hurting like crazy, but the best thing to do is to just get back on the horse.” And she does so, quite literally. Beyoncé’s resilience is just one of her superpowers, and she simply shrugs off the hardships. Highlights include Beyoncé riding on her glittering disco horse over the crowd on “Summer Renaissance,” and the moment during “Energy” where everybody goes on mute — when the whole stadium goes quiet, including Cardi B, whose participation in the challenge went viral. We also see Beyoncé the boss, whether offering instructions about the backup singers’ harmonies or how the horns should crash in at just the right time. At times, mostly near the end, the performance clips can drag out, even when the artistry is at the highest level. Fans likely won’t tire of it, but the film’s long duration may leave some viewers restless. Of course, the audience is a main character in the film, and their reaction is as rapturous as one would expect: We see tears, flashy outfits and knowing nods when Beyoncé sings certain lyrics — and that extends to her crew members and dancers, singers and musicians. All of them lavish praise on her throughout, although it’s not hard to see why. Beyoncé pores over every detail but takes it all in stride. It’s water off her back when the mic cuts out during a performance — extra time to do a spontaneous costume change, a stagehand suggests — and she blames it on not having her “pregame sandwich” and ginseng shot beforehand. Throughout “Renaissance,” as ever, Beyoncé is in complete control of her narrative — that impression of flawlessness doesn’t happen by itself, and despite the film’s intimacy, we never truly get a glimpse behind the curtain. It’s satiating enough — there are tears, laughter and reflections — and delivers morsels of what it takes to be one of the biggest stars in music. It’s satisfying without being indulgent, but most of all, it’s a monument to Beyoncé’s status as one of pop’s most enduring figures, and everything it takes to get there.

Love hurts, and so, if you’re a Gram Parsons fan, does the idea that the world has had to do without him for 50 years, as of September of this year. Imagining how his style might have changed over the subsequent half-century is never-ending, as is conjecturing how he might have simply have brought the world closer to his own fearless hybrid of country and rock, with more years to grow his audience after what amounted to a mere five-year heyday. But it’s as if he never went away, listening to the new album “Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels: The Last Roundup, Live From the Bijou Cafe in Philadelphia, 3/16/73,” released on vinyl this weekend exclusively for Record Store Day’s annual Black Friday event. Part of the immediacy is the constant presence of Emmylou Harris through the entire double-LP, as a harmony or duet partner; if she’s still so vibrant and still such a part of our lives, how can Parsons be 50 years gone? And part of it is the vitality of the recording itself, which did require some tender loving care from an expert engineer to sound as uncompromised as it does, but doesn’t much portray its age in either the quality or the sensibilities that have well outlived the man who still stands as the spiritual center of a movement. The live album is a rare product bearing the label imprint of Amoeba Music, better known as the retail mini-chain in California that has succeeded Tower Records as the mascot and mecca of music in its physical form. Dave Prinz, who co-founded the first store in Berkeley in 1990, is a Parsons fanatic who previously issued a live album from the Flying Burrito Brothers with the singer-songwriter at the helm, and has hopes of doing more with his hero’s lost tapes. In the case of the current release, “lost” really does apply — Prinz acquired the tape of the ’73 Philly show 15 years ago, then misplaced it in Amoeba’s vast Hollywood store before it turned up in a move during the pandemic. Also intimately involved in the release is Parsons’ daughter, Polly Parsons, who was 6 when her father died, and has had quite a journey of coming to terms with his legacy, including the celebratory sides as well as his well-known troubles. Her own legacy includes the establishment of a treatment center, the Hickory Wind Ranch, named after a song her father wrote during his tenure in the Byrds. Earlier this month, Parsons and Prinz took part in a panel at the Grammy Museum, moderated by Variety’s Chris Willman — followed by a superb set by one of today’s leading roots-based artists, Sierra Ferrell, that included three Gram songs as well as several of her own. An edited and condensed version of that conversation follows.

Below, find all the surprise songs Swift has performed on the Eras Tour, updating live. March 17 in Glendale, Ariz. — “Mirrorball” and “Tim McGraw” March 18 in Glendale, Ariz. — “State of Grace” and “This Is Me Trying” March 24 in Las Vegas, Nev. — “Our Song” and “Snow on the Beach” March 25 in Las Vegas, Nev. — “Cowboy Like Me” with Marcus Mumford and “White Horse” March 31 in Arlington, Texas — “Sad Beautiful Tragic” and “Ours” April 1 in Arlington, Texas — “Death by a Thousand Cuts” and “Clean” April 2 in Arlington, Texas — “Jump Then Fall” and “The Lucky One” April 13 in Tampa, Fla. — “Speak Now” and “Treacherous” April 14 in Tampa, Fla. — “The Great War” with Aaron Dessner and “You’re on Your Own, Kid” April 15 in Tampa, Fla. — “Mad Woman” with Aaron Dessner and “Mean” April 21 in Houston, Texas — “Wonderland” and “You’re Not Sorry” April 22 in Houston, Texas — “A Place in This World” and “Today Was a Fairytale” April 23 in Houston, Texas — “Begin Again” and “Cold as You” April 28 in Atlanta, Ga. — “The Other Side of the Door” and “Coney Island” April 29 in Atlanta, Ga. — “High Infidelity” and “Gorgeous” April 30 in Atlanta, Ga. — “I Bet You Think About Me” and “How You Get the Girl” May 5 in Nashville, Tenn. — “Sparks Fly” and “Teardrops on My Guitar” May 6 in Nashville, Tenn. — “Out of the Woods” and “Fifteen” May 7 in Nashville, Tenn. — “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” with Aaron Dessner and “Mine” May 12 in Philadelphia, Penn. — “Gold Rush” and “Come Back…Be Here” May 13 in Philadelphia, Penn. — “Forever & Always” and “This Love” May 14 in Philadelphia, Penn. — “Hey Stephen” and “The Best Day” May 19 in Foxborough, Mass. — “Should’ve Said No” and “Better Man” May 20 in Foxborough, Mass. — “Question…?” and “Invisible” May 21 in Foxborough, Mass. — “I Think He Knows” and “Red” May 26 in East Rutherford, N.J. — “Getaway Car” with Jack Antonoff and “Maroon” May 27 in East Rutherford, N.J. — “Holy Ground” and “False God” May 28 in East Rutherford, N.J. — “Welcome to New York” and “Clean” June 2 in Chicago, Ill. — “I Wish You Would” and “The Lakes” June 3 in Chicago, Ill. — “You All Over Me” with Maren Morris and “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” June 4 in Chicago, Ill. — “Hits Different” and “The Moment I Knew” June 9 in Detroit, Mich. — “Haunted” and “I Almost Do” June 10 in Detroit, Mich. — “All You Had to Do Was Stay” and “Breathe” June 16 in Pittsburgh, Penn. — “Mr. Perfectly Fine” and “The Last Time” June 17 in Pittsburgh, Penn. — “Seven” with Aaron Dessner and “The Story of Us” June 23 in Minneapolis, Minn. — “Paper Rings” and “If This Was a Movie” June 24 in Minneapolis, Minn. — “Dear John” and “Daylight” June 30 in Cincinnati, Ohio — “I’m Only Me When I’m With You” and “Evermore” July 1 in Cincinnati, Ohio — “Ivy” with Aaron Dessner, “I Miss You, I’m Sorry” with Gracie Abrams and “Call It What You Want” July 7 in Kansas City, Miss. — “Never Grow Up” and “When Emma Falls in Love” July 8 in Kansas City, Miss. — “Last Kiss” and “Dorothea” July 14 in Denver, Colo. — “Picture to Burn” and “Timeless” July 15 in Denver, Colo. — “Starlight” and “Back to December” July 22 in Seattle, Wash. — “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” and “Everything Has Changed” July 23 in Seattle, Wash. — “Message in a Bottle” and “Tied Together With a Smile” July 28 in Santa Clara, Calif. — “Right Where You Left Me” and “Castles Crumbling” July 29 in Santa Clara, Calif. — “Stay Stay Stay” and “All of the Girls You Loved Before” Aug. 3 in Los Angeles, Calif. — “I Can See You” and “Maroon” Aug. 4 in Los Angeles, Calif. — “Our Song” and “You Are in Love” Aug. 5 in Los Angeles, Calif. — “Death by a Thousand Cuts” and “You’re on Your Own, Kid” Aug. 7 in Los Angeles, Calif. — “Dress” and “Exile” Aug. 8 in Los Angeles, Calif. — “I Know Places” and “King of My Heart” Aug. 9 in Los Angeles, Calif. — “New Romantics” and “New Year’s Day” Aug. 24 in Mexico City, Mexico — “I Forgot That You Existed” and “Sweet Nothing” Aug. 25 in Mexico City, Mexico — “Tell Me Why” and “Snow on the Beach” Aug. 26 in Mexico City, Mexico — “Cornelia Street” and “You’re on Your Own, Kid” Aug. 27 in Mexico City, Mexico — “Afterglow” and “Maroon” Nov. 9 in Buenos Aires, Argentina — “The Very First Night” and “Labyrinth” Nov. 11 in Buenos Aires, Argentina — “Is It Over Now?”/ “Out of the Woods” and “End Game” Nov. 12 in Buenos Aires, Argentina — “Better Than Revenge” and “Slut!” Nov. 17 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — “Stay Beautiful” and “Suburban Legends” Nov. 19 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — “Dancing. With Our Hands Tied” and “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” Nov. 20 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — “Me!” and “So It Goes” Nov. 24 in São Paulo, Brazil — “Now That We Don’t Talk” and “Innocent” Nov. 25 in São Paulo, Brazil — “Safe and Sound” and “Untouchable” Nov. 25 in São Paulo, Brazil — “Say Don’t Go” and “It’s Time to Go”

The announcement came the morning after Swift performed the final date of her tour for 2023 Sunday night in Brazil. Fans were hoping for an announcement at the concert — they even chanted the title “Reputation” at the Brazil shows, in hopes of getting a reveal that “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” might be on the way — but no fresh album news was forthcoming at the show. Any disappointment along those lines may be ameliorated for Swifties with the news that they can watch the “Eras Tour” endlessly at home over the holidays. Although she has yet to reveal which international territories will or won’t get the streaming release, the caveat may take into account that only the Americas have been visited by the tour so far, and that more than half of it is still to go in other countries around the world in 2024. The services whose logos appear on Swift’s website as making the film available for rental Dec. 13 are Apple TV, Vudu, Prime Video, Xfinity, Google Play and YouTube. The omission of several songs from the tour’s setlist was a source of consternation for some completist fans when the film opened in October, although many correctly guessed that the 2-hours-45-minutes film would get an expansion when the movie became available for home viewing. Even with “Wildest Dreams,” “The Archer” and “Long Live” added, though, it still won’t include every song Swift performed on most or many of the tour dates. The nightly “Cardigan” is the only set standby still apparently unaccounted for; “No Body No Crime,” which did not figure into the entire tour but was performed by Swift with Haim at the shows in August that were filmed at L.A.’s SoFi Stadium, will also remain MIA. Swift is on a roll on both the film and recorded music fronts, on top of a tour that some have estimated will gross a record-breaking $2 billion by the time it comes to a close (as currently scheduled) next November. The film has grossed $178 million in the United States, as of the close of this past weekend, setting a record for a concert film many times over. Meanwhile, “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” the latest in her series of album re-recordings, achieved the best first-week numbers in her career, with an opening figure of 1.6 million album-equivalent units, the best for any album in eight years. She also enjoyed the feat of back-to-back No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Cruel Summer,” a four-year-old song that got a new lease on life, being succeeded at the top by “Is It Over Now?,” a newly recorded Vault track added as a bonus to the “1989” remake. The Eras Tour resumes Feb. 7 with a four-night stand at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.

Kanye West appeared on stage in Dubai on Sunday night alongside Lil Durk and Ty Dolla Sign, where the trio gave a surprise performance of their new song “Vultures.” The performance took place during Lil Durk’s show at night club Blu Dubai, which posted clips of the song on social media. On the club’s Instagram Stories, West can be seen rapping the song’s incendiary lyrics, including, “How am I antisemitic? I just fucked a Jewish bitch.” West debuted the new song on Nov. 17 via Chicago radio station Power 92. It marks his first official release since July 2022’s “Hot Shit” with Cardi B and Lil Durk. In December, West’s career tailspin worsened when he appeared on Alex Jones’ “Infowars” talk show, during which he praised Hitler and made antisemitic jokes. West’s string of antisemitic comments culminated in him being kicked off of Twitter (though he has since been reinstated on Elon Musk’s X), losing his partnership with Adidas and being dropped as a client by CAA. According to West’s own Instagram post, he lost $2 billion in one day due to his hate speech. West gave his first performance since the antisemitism controversy in August, when he joined Travis Scott on stage during a tour stop in Rome. Together, West and Scott performed “Praise God” and “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.” “There is no ‘Utopia’ without Kanye West. There is no Travis Scott without Kanye West,” Scott said, referencing his new album. “There is no Rome without Kanye West. Make some noise for Ye.”

Jennifer Lopez‘s ninth studio album finally has a release date. The full-length “This Is Me…Now” will arrive on Feb. 16, 2024, in tandem with a new short film that has been acquired by Amazon MGM Studios. “This Is Me…Now” is Lopez’s first studio album in nearly a decade and celebrates the anniversary of its sister album, “This is Me…Then.” The album, written and executive produced by Lopez and Rogét Chayed, along with Angel Lopez, Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman, HitBoy, Tay Keith and INK among others, is described as an blend of “R&B, contemporary pop sounds and hip-hop beats.” As for the Dave Meyers-directed film, it is said to be “a narrative driven, intimate, reflective, sexy, funny, fantastical and highly entertaining musical and visual reimagining of her publicly scrutinized love life.” Like its sister album, “This Is Me…Now” includes nods to Lopez’s relationship with actor Ben Affleck; the track list, which was announced in November 2022, features among its titles “Dear Ben Pt. II,” presumably a sequel to the earlier album’s “Dear Ben.” A teaser of the film was shared on Monday morning and is said to feature additional, unannounced cameos. “When I was a little girl, when someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was always… in love,” Lopez says in the clip. “Can’t Get Enough,” the first single from the album will be released on Jan. 10, 2024, and is available to pre-save. This will be Lopez’s first release under her new partnership with BMG. The 13-song set credits BMG’s Brandon Riester as the album’s A&R.

While not much can be done to ease the fidgeting anticipation of those who await the next installment of Peaky Blinders, the franchise is certainly trying to keep the fans warmed up through different means. This time, we have six new Peaky Blinders posters (only two of which have been released so far), one for each season. Every poster seems to be giving center stage to a peak moment from each season.

Kaleem Aftab, director of international programming at the Red Sea Film Festival, has cast his net wide in selecting the 14 films in the festival’s International Short Film Competition program. Aimed at attracting emerging talent from across Africa, Asia and the Islamic world, the section includes fiction, animation and documentary in films that average 15-20 minutes long, but may be as short as a couple of minutes, or as long as an hour. With films ranging from Iranian director Farnoosh Samadi’s Iran-French co-production, “Titanic” – which takes a darkly comic look at Iranian film censors confused by how to interpret new regulations – to Kazakh filmmaker Shugyla Serzhan’s “The Late Wind,” about a young pregnant woman suddenly abandoned by her boyfriend, the section pushes boundaries of subjects that are already part of the public conversation in the countries from which it selects. “One of the biggest things about these films is that a lot of them are about the gray area – what is right and wrong and where we are today and how capitalism has changed everything,” Aftab says. “In ‘Titanic’ – shot in one room – the director plays with ideas that may challenge censors: What is the nature of a kiss? Is this kiss a friendship kiss? Is it romantic? How do we tell the difference? How do we draw boundaries?” The edginess of some of the films in selection reflect the broadness of both the members of the selection committee and the geographical reach of the program, which accepts films from directors who qualified as being African, Asian or Islamic filmmakers – even if they live in Europe or the U.S., he adds. There are films from Indonesia – Kevin Rahardio’s “Accidentally Intentional” about a religious 16-year-old watching dirty videos for the first time only to find his audio has connected to his mother’s in-car Bluetooth transmitter – and Armenia – Tigran Agavelyan’s “The Courier,” which focuses on the moral dilemma faced when a man needs to urgently raise money to save his wife’s life. Should he steal the cash, or find an honest way to raise it? Does he have time? And there are films from a Saudi director living in the U.S.: Ethar Bammer’s “In Between,” about a twentysomething woman overwhelmed by societal expectation of her behavior, as well as films from Islamic countries, including Pakistani director Mahnoor Euceph’s “Eid Mubarak,” about a little girl’s bid to save the life of a cute little goat chosen for slaughter for the religious holiday. Sub-Saharan Africa is well represented with Rwandan director Kantarama Gahigiri’s “Terra Mater – Motherland” – about the damage capitalism and waste wreaks on the environment, and Imran Hamdulay’s South African heart-breaking social drama “The Wait,” about a pensioner caught up in the bureaucracy of a police station queue. Bringing such fare to Saudi Arabia, where all screenings are open to the public, is part of the mission of a festival that sees itself as a cultural bridge between the Islamic world, Asia and Africa. “It is about the way different cultures react in different ways and the similarities across the board,” says Aftab – who grew up in a conservative Muslim Pakistani family in London – before becoming a filmmaker and film critic. Saudi Arabia is a fascinating country to explore the cinema of the festival’s wide geographic region precisely because it has changed so rapidly over the past few years, he says. For decades until 2018 cinema was banned and restrictions on women were strenuously policed. Today women can drive, go out in public without wearing a scarf covering their hair (which in Iran, for example, is still forbidden and has been at the heart of recent social unrest there) and go to the cinema alone or with men. “Saudi society has changed dramatically. The position of women and what they were able to do has been transformed,” Aftab says. “The cinema culture here is very new and young… and one that needs to be encouraged. That is why this festival are highlighting films that are outside the wider culture of filmgoing.” It is also about giving the makers of short films a chance to grow artistically – all directors are invited to the festival’s Talent Base (Dec. 6-7) where they can meet established cinema professionals and attend workshops.

“Wish” misfired in its opening weekend, extending Disney‘s bleak box office fortunes. The animated musical fable, about the Wishing Star that so many Disney characters have wished upon over the studio’s century-long history, failed to become the de facto choice for families around Thanksgiving. “Wish” opened in third place with a dull $31.7 million over the five-day holiday, a far cry from Disney’s past Turkey Day feasts. Perhaps King Magnifico, the movie’s villain (voiced by Chris Pine), is holding hostage the wishes of Disney executives? Instead of recapturing the studio’s magic, “Wish” joins a long list of its underperforming 2023 tentpoles, such as “The Marvels,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” “The Haunted Mansion,” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” This summer’s “The Little Mermaid” didn’t completely flounder with $569 million worldwide, but it’s nowhere near the billion-dollar threshold that Disney’s prior live-action adaptations (like “The Lion King” or “Beauty and the Beast”) surpassed with ease. And although “Elemental” finished with $495 million globally, much stronger than its disappointing opening weekend would have suggested, Pixar hasn’t restored its former glory after audiences were trained to watch on Disney+. (Disney is hoping that “Wish” has similar staying power during the busy holiday season.) Disney’s only unmitigated success in 2023 has been “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which opened in May and generated a healthy $845 million globally. And even then, analysts expected the epic conclusion to James Gunn’s trilogy about intergalactic misfits to get closer to $1 billion, or at least end the series on a high. (2017’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” remains the highest-grossing entry with $863 million.) Without a runaway blockbuster in the bunch, it’s the first time since 2014 (except for the pandemic-stricken years of 2020 and 2021) that Disney hasn’t launched a billion-dollar release. It’s an unthinkable reality for Disney after one of the most remarkable stretches of sheer box office domination. It reached its zenith in 2019 when seven (!) of the studio’s releases, including “Avengers: Endgame” and “The Lion King,” hit $1 billion globally. With its repertoire of Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm, Disney was minting money with anything it put in theaters. But this year has hinted that Disney no longer has the Midas touch at the box office. “Disney set an impossibly high bar for itself during the 2010s, firing every cannon in its arsenal,” says Shawn Robbins, the chief analyst at Boxoffice Pro. “The downside to success is that it becomes expected every time. The studio was always going to be in a challenged position when the well started to run dry.” Case in point: “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which Disney released at the end of 2022, is the seventh-highest grossing domestic release of this year with $283 million, surpassing the majority of the studio’s would-be blockbusters: “Ant-Man 3” ($214 million), “Indiana Jones 5” ($174 million), “Elemental” ($154 million), “The Marvels” ($76 million so far) and “Haunted Mansion” ($67 million), among them. As the movie theater business recovers from the pandemic, as well as the strikes that pushed several big blockbusters into 2024 and beyond, every studio has been forced to contend with a shrinking global box office. And while Disney doesn’t have one of the top three movies of the year — those spots belong to Warner Bros. “Barbie” ($1.4 billion) and Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” ($1.3 billion) and “Oppenheimer” ($950 million) — it still has four of the 10-highest grossing releases worldwide. No other studio has more than two. Some of Disney’s modest successes or outright flops would be classified as smashes for its rivals. “It’s not just Disney; the other studios have also suffered setbacks in this post-pandemic world,” says Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “That said, Disney’s misfires certainly are the most prolific considering where they are now versus where they were. And where were they? On the box office throne. Nearly untouchable. Now? Mere mortals.” Analysts believe that several factors can be blamed, including a pandemic-era reliance on Disney+, creative shortcomings and an overdependence on once-popular brands. “Avengers: Endgame” arrived in theaters as a can’t-miss cultural event, but fast forward to this year, and “The Marvels” is just the latest superhero adaptation of the month. There’s nothing special about them any longer. In the case of “The Marvels,” it’s poised to be the lowest-grossing MCU movie of all time. “At the beginning of the pandemic, the industry embraced short-term thinking and threw itself into the streaming business without thinking about what that might do to moviegoing when the pandemic ended. The stock market rewarded it,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Audiences became comfortable, and the value of the big screen dropped. By the time Wall Street pulled the plug, the theatrical experience was damaged.” But one of the biggest elements is Disney movies are hugely expensive. They require production budgets of around $200 million, not including $100 million in marketing costs. This means the studio’s films have sky-high benchmarks to break even. For any other studio, getting to $500 million worldwide is an impressive feat. But for Disney, it’s necessary to rationalize these film’s existence. Disney justifies these costs because its movies provide value beyond their theatrical revenues; they inspire lucrative consumer product lines, theme park attractions and eventual streaming releases on Disney+. Does this become less financially effective in the long-term if Disney goes back to the well again and again (a live-action remake of “Moana” is coming in 2024, and if a live-action “Frozen” hasn’t already been announced, it’s only a matter of time…). Even before the pandemic, Disney has not been successful in launching new films that aren’t based on superheroes, branded IP or set in a galaxy far, far away. And lackluster turnouts for several recent Marvel movies, the fifth “Indiana Jones” adventure, and “The Little Mermaid” signal that brand familiarity is no longer enough to get audiences to the theaters, either. “Against the backdrop of saturation on streaming, audiences are less committed now if they have a doubt about something,” Gross adds. This also raises questions about next year’s blockbuster hopefuls like “Inside Out 2” (June 14, 2024) or “The Lion King” sequel “Mufasa” (Dec. 20, 2024). Despite the smash successes of the original properties — 2015’s “Inside Out” grossed $858 million and 2019’s “The Lion King” remake grossed a staggering $1.66 billion — it’s not necessarily a forgone conclusion that these films will trample the competition. In an interesting turn, some of Disney’s most promising titles may hail from 20th Century Studios. When the studio first inherited Fox’s film assets in 2019, it was forced to jettison off a series of duds, like “X-Men” spinoff “Dark Phoenix” and the forgotten comedy “Stuber.” But “Deadpool 3” (July 26, 2024), “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” (May 24, 2024) and whatever “Avatar” sequels that James Cameron brings to life, look to be among the most reliable properties for Disney. Introducing X Men, the Fantastic Four and other characters under the 20th Century arsenal could help Marvel as well. Disney’s CEO Bob Iger has admitted the studio’s mistake in leaning into quantity over quality during the pandemic. “We lost some focus,” he said during a recent earnings call. By going back to the drawing board, analysts believe the Magic Kingdom will be able to replenish the sparkle that’s been missing. “Disney still connects with consumers in ways most studios can only dream about,” Bock says.

The Black Friday box office saw “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” continue to stretch ahead of new releases like Disney’s animated adventure “Wish” and Apple and Sony’s historical epic “Napoleon.” Lionsgate’s young adult drama gobbled up another $11.4 million on Friday, adding onto the $13.2 million it nabbed across Wednesday and Thursday. “Songbirds and Snakes” is looking to be the foremost beneficiary of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with rivals projecting a 40% drop over the traditional three-day frame. Things seemed up in the air for “The Hunger Games” prequel after its $44 million opening last weekend. With a crowded theatrical marketplace and some lukewarm reviews, it wasn’t a sure thing that the Lionsgate release would still be able to draw a crowd after its fan-driven debut. But it isn’t only sticking around; it’s outpacing the newcomers. “Songbirds and Snakes” has a shot at nudging.

There’s high drama at the Thanksgiving box office. Heading into the long holiday corridor, Disney Animation’s music-infused original event pic Wish was expected to rule the feast. Now, the family film could come in behind Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Napoleon, from Apple Original Films and Sony. The Hunger Games prequel will easily top the holiday chart in North America with a projected gross of $40 million-plus for the Wednesday to Sunday corridor after earning a hearty $11.4 million on Friday. The movie, which opened the weekend before Thanksgiving, will finish Sunday with a 10-day domestic total of nearly $100 million. In a surprise twist, Ridley Scott’s new historical epic Napoleon is in a close race with Wish for No. 2. The historical epic, starring Joaquin Phoenix, grossed $8.4 million on Friday for a projected five-day debut of $32 million to $33 million. Napoleon — a win for

Warning: Minor Saltburn spoilers ahead. Emerald Fennell has a pretty simple explanation for how she generates stories, be it her Oscar-winning 2020 phenomenon Promising Young Woman or this week’s new comedic thriller, Saltburn. “They just creep into my mind,” the writer-director (and sometimes actress) told us during a recent virtual interview. “Oliver crept in and wouldn’t go away.” That’s a fitting way to describe her latest protagonist. Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) is an outsider at the University of Oxford, a socially awkward student from a tough upbringing surrounded by the elite of the elite. But when he befriends the charismatic, ultra-wealthy Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) and nabs an invitation to spend the summer at Felix’s titular, sprawling English manor, Oliver develops an unhealthy obsession with his friend’s lifestyle… and is not going to go away very easily. Saltburn has drawn early comparisons to the 1999 Matt Damon- and Jude Law-starring twister The Talented Mr. Ripley, but Fennell cites other inspirations. “It’s a genre,” she says. “I love the sort of British, gothic country house [where] something happens in a summer that none of us could ever forget — The Go-Between and Atonement and all of those sorts of films. So I knew I wanted to make a film like that. … But I think also it makes a lot of sense that I was writing this film during COVID and it was a time when we couldn’t touch each other. We couldn’t do anything but look, and I think this is a film about what happens when you can’t touch the thing that you want.” And does her new movie tie in thematically to Promising Young Woman, the acclaimed #MeToo thriller starring Carrie Mulligan as a law student-turned-barista who plots revenge against those she blames for a friend’s suicide? Fennell says that’s for critics to decide. One connection is Mulligan herself, who makes a brief appearance as another parasitic friend of the aristocratic Felix family. Barry Keoghan in Saltburn. (MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection) (©MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection) This time around, however, Fennell’s muse is Keoghan, the Oscar-nominated Banshees of Inisherin actor and Eternals hero who is once again drawing kudos for Saltburn. “The thing that I want to do is find the tender points and stick my fingers into them. That’s what I want to do. That’s what Barry wants to do,” Fennell says. “We have no interest in making stuff that’s not going to provoke some kind of visceral physical experience. That’s what a movie is. The thing that I always want to do is find the most interesting relationship there. And that’s kind of what Barry’s about, too. We just want to make stuff that makes you feel something. And so he’s remarkable.” What will likely be the film’s most-talked-about moment involves Keoghan’s Felix taking a long, naked frolic around the opulent Saltburn estate. The scene required nearly a dozen takes to complete, but it didn’t require any extra persuasion to get Keoghan to shed his clothes. “I never want to convince anyone of anything,” Fennell says. “For me, convincing an actor to do something is almost [like] trying to coerce someone into bed with you, or something that always feels a bit like seedy. “He’s only interested in doing the thing that feels super right. And so for him, when we were talking about that scene, he just completely understood because he understood what it should feel like for him and for the audience that it needs to feel it. … Post-coital, triumphant, gorgeous, insane, tragic, lonely, pathetic and hot. It’s got to be all of those things. And that’s what he does. And that’s why it’s exciting.”

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Days after Sean “Diddy” Combs settled rape, sex-trafficking and abuse allegations with the singer Cassie, his companies have been named in a new lawsuit that alleges a longtime executive sexually harassed and assaulted a former assistant. The lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court on Tuesday, accuses Harve Pierre, a former president of Bad Boy Entertainment and Bad Boy Records, of engaging in a yearlong pattern of grooming the unnamed assistant, “leading to sexual harassment of Plaintiff, and sexual assault.” “From approximately 2016 to 2017, Pierre sexually assaulted Plaintiff on multiple occasions in New York City and other locations throughout the country,” the suit stated. He left the company in 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile. While Pierre did not immediately respond to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Bad Boy Entertainment said the company was aware of the lawsuit from its former employee. “The allegations are from many years ago that were never brought to the attention of the company,” the spokesperson said. “Neither the plaintiff nor the executive are current employees of the company. We are now investigating the allegations, and our top priority is the safety and well-being of our employees.” The suit against Pierre was filed using the New York Adult Survivors Act, which allows survivors of alleged sexual abuse a one-year window to sue even if the original statute of limitations has passed. The law, set to expire after Thanksgiving, has cleared the way for more than 2,500 lawsuits. Combs, former President Donald Trump, actor Russell Brand, Grammy-winning music exec L.A. Reid and Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx are some of the notable figures who have been sued under the act. The filing also names Bad Boy Entertainment, Bad Boy Records and Combs Enterprises, which are being sued for gender-motivated violence and two counts of negligence. Combs Enterprises has been rebranded as Combs Global, a spokesperson for Combs told NBC News on Wednesday. The suit alleges the companies retained Pierre and did not have proper systems in place to properly vet leaders in hiring or to educate and detect possible abuse. The former assistant is requesting full and fair compensation for injuries and damages in an unspecified amount to be determined by the court. Pierre was a regular fixture on MTV’s “Making the Band” and has worked with dozens of top artists including the Notorious B.I.G., Yung Joc, SWV and hip-hop duo 8Ball & MJG.

SÃO PAULO — Police in Rio de Janeiro said Wednesday that an investigation has been launched into Time4Fun — the Brazilian company that organized Taylor Swift’s shows in the city — days after a fan died and others reported unbearable conditions after having attended the Eras Tour during an extreme heat wave. A spokesperson for the Civil Police Department of Rio de Janeiro said its consumer delegations department had launched an inquiry into “the crime of endangering the life and health” of concertgoers. “Event organizers will be called to testify, and other steps are underway to investigate the facts,” the statement said. Time4Fun did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but CEO Serafim Abreu said in a video posted to social media Thursday that the company apologized to "all who did not have the best possible experience." "We know the enormous responsibility we have to organize an event of this scale, which is why we did not economize in our efforts or resources to follow the best global practices in our industry to guarantee the comfort and safety of all," Abreu said. Abreu added that the company could have taken "alternative steps" to ensure a better experience for fans, such as adding more shaded areas during the extreme heat. Last week, the company confirmed the death of Ana Clara Benevides Machado, 23, at Friday night’s concert. The show was held as a record-breaking heat wave swept through the city, and temperatures in the stadium reached a heat index of 138 degrees Fahrenheit. Swift postponed her Saturday night show because of the extreme temperatures. Fans complained of oppressive heat in the stadium and limited access to water. There were reports that other fans fainted in the extreme heat. The department said the investigation is not connected to Machado’s death. Rio’s Municipal Health Department said the woman passed out during the second song of Swift's set and experienced cardiorespiratory arrest, but the exact cause of her death is not yet known. Fans of the star, self-described Swifties, flooded social media with the phrase “T4F EXIGIMOS RESPEITO” after Machado’s death, which, translated from Portuguese, means “T4F WE DEMAND RESPECT.” In many posts on X, they called on T4F to make sure there was access to water for ticket holders. Swift said in an Instagram story after the show that she was “overwhelmed by grief” over Machado’s death. T4F said on social media after Friday’s show that fans would be able to enter the next two performances with water bottles and some sealed foods. Swift is scheduled to play three more shows this weekend in São Paulo, where fans will also be allowed to take some food and water into the venue.

By Diana Dasrath, Marlene Lenthang and Nicole Childers Sean "Diddy" Combs has been hit with a new lawsuit by a woman who alleges the music mogul drugged her, sexually assaulted her and recorded the assault without her knowledge when she was a college student in 1991. The suit was filed in New York Supreme Court on Thursday, one day before the expiration of the New York Adult Survivors Act, which allows adult sexual assault survivors one year to sue regardless of when the original statute of limitations expired. “I am so thankful for the bravery of the other women that came forward, the Adult Survivors Act which opened up the filing window to seek justice, and the unwavering support from my attorneys,” Dickerson-Neal said in a statement Friday. “For 32 years, the only people I have been able to confide in were my close friends and therapists. I’m feeling as if the darkness has been lifted and I can freely move forward in achieving my full potential.” The suit centers on an alleged interaction between Combs and Joie Dickerson-Neal on Jan. 3, 1991, when she was a student at Syracuse University studying psychology. A spokesperson for Combs denied the allegations. Dickerson-Neal said in the filing that she “reluctantly” went to dinner with Combs at a restaurant in Harlem in New York City and accompanied him as he ran errands. At the time, she was on winter break from school, according to the suit. The complaint alleges Combs “intentionally drugged” Dickerson-Neal, leaving her unable to stand or walk. The suit said she left her drink unattended with him at the restaurant and afterward, under alleged pressure from Combs, she took a hit from a blunt. They then drove to a music studio, the suit stated. When Dickerson-Neal couldn’t exit the car, Combs allegedly took her to a place he was staying to sexually assault her, according to the filing. The suit said Dickerson-Neal recalled feeling “humiliated and hurt, yet she could not escape the assault,” and because she had been allegedly drugged, she said she “lacked the physical ability or mental capacity to fend Combs off.” The complaint, which also alleges Dickerson-Neal was the victim of “revenge porn,” accuses Combs of recording the alleged sexual assault. Popular '90s singer allegedly saw recording of assault Days later, a male friend named DeVanté Swing, a member of the popular '90s R&B group Jodeci, revealed to the woman that he viewed a “sex tape” along with other people, according to the suit. Dickerson-Neal said Swing feared his band would lose its record deal if he spoke against Combs. NBC News reached out to a representative for Swing for comment, but did not hear back. Dickerson-Neal's life was thrown into a “tailspin” after that meeting with Combs, the complaint said. She was later admitted to a hospital for severe depression and suicidal ideation and eventually dropped out of college, according to the filing. The event left Dickerson-Neal struggling with mental health, career progression and humiliation as a result of the recording of the incident, the suit said. Combs had allegedly pursued her “for a romantic or sexual relationship” on “repeated occasions,” but she rejected his advances because she heard about his alleged “history of treating women badly,” according to the suit. Dickerson-Neal and Combs had friends and acquaintances in common and she had appeared with Combs in a few clips of a music video, the suit said. She didn’t go to a hospital or initially report the assault to police because she was confused, in pain and felt ashamed, the filing said. Dickerson-Neal tearfully told her friend about the alleged assault the next day, according to the suit. Authorities were contacted, woman says She later filed police reports in New York and New Jersey, spoke to several prosecutors with the hope of pressing charges, and reached out to friends and acquaintances to locate the video Combs allegedly recorded, the filing said. Dickerson-Neal was told by her colleagues that they were “terrified that Combs would retaliate against them and that they would lose future business and music opportunities if they made a statement in support of Plaintiff,” according to the suit. It was not immediately clear Thursday what jurisdictions she filed the reports in, when she filed them or what happened after her conversations with authorities. The New York City Police Department would not confirm if it received a report from Dickerson-Neal, but said it “takes sexual assault and rape cases extremely seriously, and urges anyone who has been a victim to file a police report so we can perform a comprehensive investigation, and offer support and services to survivors.” Dickerson-Neal went on to work in the music industry. While working at a party, she ran into Combs, who allegedly “backed her into a corner” and “inappropriately confronted her,” the suit said. It was not clear Thursday how long after the alleged assault the party took place. Combs allegedly got on his knees during that interaction and insisted “he did not do what she was saying,” according to the filing. Dickerson-Neal ultimately left the music industry and moved to California, citing Combs’ rise and success as too painful to witness. Woman says Cassie's suit prompted her to take action She said singer Cassie's lawsuit against Combs was the impetus that “forced her to face his assault again,” the filing said. An attorney for Cassie declined to comment on the suit. Dickerson-Neal's lawsuit filed Thursday names Combs, Bad Boy Entertainment, Bad Boy Records and Combs Enterprises as defendants. Combs Enterprises has been rebranded as Combs Global, a spokesperson for Combs told NBC News on Wednesday, before this lawsuit was filed. The latest suit accuses Combs of assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, sex trafficking and revenge porn. Dickerson-Neal is seeking compensatory damages for mental and emotional injury, distress, pain and suffering, and injury. “Everyone deserves to be heard and Combs should not be immune from liability because of his wealth and public stature,” Michelle Caiola, one of Dickerson-Neal's attorneys, said in a statement. Jonathan Goldhirsch, another attorney, added: “Our client has not been able to escape the continuing impact of the harm Combs caused her many years ago. Through the Adult Survivors Act, she can avail herself to the courts to finally seek justice.” The attorneys said they would not have additional comment. Combs' camp rejected the claims. “This last-minute lawsuit is an example of how a well-intentioned law can be turned on its head,” a spokesperson for Combs said. “Ms. Dickerson’s 32-year-old story is made up and not credible. Mr. Combs never assaulted her, and she implicates companies that did not exist. This is purely a money grab and nothing more.” Last week, Cassie, with whom Combs once had a romantic relationship, filed a $30 million lawsuit alleging Combs raped, sex-trafficked and abused her. The lawsuit was settled one day later for an undisclosed amount of money.