Global Peace 360° is proud to announce the return of the Creative Director/Programing Director Timothy Starks and Executive Director Derrick Brown to the festival circuit with a groundbreaking new initiative: URBANFEST 360°. In collaboration with the Global Peace 360° and the Global Peace Film Festival, URBANFEST 360° will celebrate bold storytelling, transformative cinema, and dynamic voices from urban communities across the globe.

As Stranger Things gears up for its final season, star Caleb McLaughlin is stepping into the world of scripted audio drama with Sacrilege: Curse of the Mbirwi. The supernatural podcast, produced by QCODE for Audible, premieres May 29.

Taraji P. Henson is stepping into new territory with Straw, a gripping Netflix thriller from Tyler Perry that was shot in just four days. The film, premiering June 6, follows Janiyah—a single mother struggling to care for her sick daughter—who finds herself trapped in a chaotic web of suspicion and survival.

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners premiered on April 18 and made box office history, garnering critical acclaim for its heartfelt story, homage to blues music and U.S. Black Southern culture, captivating cinematography, sound design, and the actors who brought it all to life. Coogler takes us back to 1932 in the Mississippi Delta, with some of the liveliest church-going, harmonica-blowing, juke joint-jamming sinners thirsting for a holy oasis in bottles of whiskey and corn liquor at Smoke’s and Stack’s Club Juke. While bloodthirsty vampires threaten to drag them to the underworld, the film reminds us that the devil has no dominion in holy waters, as the sinners journey through and between the secular and sacred, baptizing souls with corn liquor, pure spiritual milk, pickled garlic, and the Lord’s Prayer to repel the dominion of the evil vampires.

Emmy Award winner Colman Domingo, affectionately known as “Mr. Put That Sh*t On,” is one of the co-chairs for this year’s Met Gala happening just one week away! He serves as co-chair alongside Anna Wintour, Pharrell Williams, A$AP Rocky, and Lewis Hamilton, with LeBron James joining as Honorary Chair of the committee. 

Michael B. Jordan is hot off the press tour for ‘Sinners,’ where he stars as the leading men for Coogler’s groundbreaking movie that has audiences raving and anticipating more of Jordan on the big screen. Now, the award-winning actor is set to direct his second feature film, ‘The Thomas Crown Affair,’ to be released by Amazon MGM Studios on March 5, 2027. Jordan will also star in the film opposite Taylor Russell in this reimagining of Norman Jewison’s original 1968 movie of the same name, which starred Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. 

Make way for Tyler Perry’s She the People. In Perry’s first comedy series on Netflix, Terri J. Vaughn stars as a politician who wins her election — and then realizes her new job will involve a lot more than what she originally signed up for. The 16 episodes in Season 1 will premiere in two batches. Part 1 will debut May 22, with Part 2 releasing Aug. 14.

Amazon Prime Video is set to release ‘The Greatest,’ a limited series about the life and legacy of the legendary heavyweight champion and social activist, Muhammad Ali. Michael Ealy has been tapped to play Malcolm X, the prominent Black revolutionary and close, though ultimately estranged, friend of Ali. Jaalen Best is set to star as Ali in this highly anticipated forthcoming series executive produced by Michael B. Jordan, Ben Watkins, and Ali’s widow, Lonnie Ali.

The magic returns! The ‘Now You See Me’ franchise continues with the third installment, ‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,’ set to hit theaters on November 14. Morgan Freeman reprises his role as Thaddeus Bradley, joining returning stars Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Jesse Eisenberg, and Isla Fisher. This sequel to 2016’s ‘Now You See Me 2’ will also feature franchise newcomers Justice Smith, Ariana Greenblatt, Rosamund Pike, and Dominic Sessa. 

Kendrick Lamar dropped his long-awaited music video for “Luther,” featuring Grammy Award winner SZA, and it quickly became a fan-favorite, garnering more than six million views just one day after its release. “Luther” celebrates Black love and displays performances of intimacy, subtlety, and tenderness between Lamar and Annahstasia Enuke, and SZA and Geron McKinley, as the sampled sweet melodies of Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn serenade the couples.

Malcolm D. Lee is bringing The Best Man crew back—this time in book form. The Best Man: Unfinished Business, co-written with bestselling author Jayne Allen, is set to release July 1, 2025, through Storehouse Voices, an imprint of Crown Publishing under Penguin Random House. The novel will be available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.

Congratulations to the incomparable EGOT-winning actress, producer, author, and icon Viola Davis on being honored with a wax figure in Madame Tussauds! The renowned wax museum unveiled her regal wax figure, adorned in a beautiful red Armani gown and a sleek pixie cut with a complementary bracelet and metallic clutch. The costume is a tribute to her glamorous 2017 Oscars red carpet look, honoring her win for Best Supporting Actress for her striking performance in the 2016 film adaptation of Fences.

Prepare to take flight! Paramount Pictures just revealed that the latest installment of ‘The Angry Birds’ is coming to theaters on January 29, 2027. Keke Palmer and Sam Richardson are joining the franchise, with Psalm West making his voice acting debut for the latest laugh-out-loud adventure with everyone’s favorite feathered crew. 

The African American literary canon continues to inspire! Danielle Deadwyler is set to produce and star in the film adaptation of Ann Petry’s seminal 1946 novel, ‘The Street.’ The novel chronicles the tragic survival journey of protagonist Lutie Johnson in a World War II-era Harlem plagued by racism, poverty, sexism, and an unreachable American Dream for Black people. Co-producers on this project include Michael Sherman and Alix Madigan, with Gina Atwater writing the script and serving as executive producer.

Guess who’s coming to ‘The Chi’? The hit drama series just announced that Phylicia Rashad, Wendy Raquel Robinson, and Karrueche Tran are joining the cast for season seven! ‘The Chi’ was created by Lena Waithe and premiered in January 2018. Since then, the show has given us some of the most authentic, gritty, and alluring stories about daily life in the south side of Chicago. 

Two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali is set to star in award-winning director Bassam Tariq’s forthcoming film ‘Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother,’ produced by Amazon MGM Studios’ Orion Pictures. While much of the plot remains undisclosed at this time, Ali will reportedly play an assassin grappling with loneliness in this highly anticipated, action-packed film. 

Emmy Award-winning actress and producer Quinta Brunson is bringing her magic to the ‘Zootopia’ franchise! She joins the cast of ‘Zootopia 2’ as a quokka named Dr. Fuzzby, the therapist for Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). In this sequel to the 2016 Academy Award-winning ‘Zootopia,’ Dr. Fuzzby hilariously guides the duo through partners therapy as they bump heads on their journey to track down Gary the snake (Ke Huy Quan), whose arrival brings much chaos to the animal town.

Marcus Scribner (Black-ish) and Maxwell Cunningham (Top Dog) are joining Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing) in the upcoming indie drama In Starland, marking the feature directorial debut of British actor-filmmaker Ray Panthaki.

The upcoming horror-comedy Haunted Heist is gearing up to bring laughs and scares with an impressive lineup. Led by Lil Rel Howery (Get Out) and Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip), the film has added an ensemble cast including Andrew 'King Bach' Bachelor (The Babysitter), Karlous Miller (Wild 'N Out), Brett Gelman (Stranger Things), Ari Dayan (Entitled), Tony Baker (One of Them Days), and newcomer Tara Terry.

Chris Rock has officially joined WME for comprehensive representation across acting, directing, comedy touring, books, and more. This move comes after his long-time agent, Eddy Yablans, was affected by the CAA layoffs in December. Yablans, who represented Rock for 30 years through ICM and later CAA, has since joined LBI Entertainment as a partner.