Category: Entertainment News

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Angry Birds Movie 3: Holiday Flock Returns Dec 23

Ten years after the first film turned a mobile game into a $352 million box office surprise, the birds are coming home for the holidays. Paramount Pictures has released the first trailer for The Angry Birds Movie 3, and the film lands in theaters on December 23, 2026. Seven years after the second installment, Red and the flock are back with the biggest adventure of the franchise, and the timing could not be better.

Red’s toughest challenge yet: fatherhood

The trailer teases what Paramount describes as Red’s toughest challenge yet. Not the pigs. Not a new villain. Fatherhood. Jason Sudeikis returns to voice the famously short-tempered bird, and the idea of Red navigating family life while once again finding himself in the middle of a mission to save the world is the kind of premise that writes its own jokes.

It’s also a smart evolution. The first film was about Red learning to belong. The second was about the flock learning to work with their enemies. A third film about Red learning to be a father completes a genuine character arc, the kind most animated franchises never bother with. When a third installment has something real to say about its lead, it’s usually a sign the filmmakers still care.

The flock expands

The returning cast is the good kind of familiar: Sudeikis, Josh Gad, and Danny McBride are all back, the comic engine that powered the first two films. But the new ensemble is where things get interesting. Emma Myers, Rachel Bloom, Walker Scobell, Marcello Hernández, Tim Robinson, Anna Cathcart, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Nikki Glaser, Sam Richardson, James Austin Johnson, Lily James, and Keke Palmer join the flock.

That’s a genuinely exciting mix. Bloom’s musical-comedy brilliance. Hernández’s breakout energy. Robinson’s deadpan chaos. Palmer’s star power. And yes, MrBeast and Salish Matter join the voice cast too, marking a real crossover between YouTube culture and mainstream Hollywood animation. It’s a shrewd move. The kids who grew up watching MrBeast are exactly the audience that will drag their parents to a Christmas animated film, and their parents will recognize every other name on that list.

John Rice directs from a screenplay by Thurop Van Orman, with producers John Cohen, Dan Chuba, Carla Connor, and Namit Malhotra. Rice and Van Orman are animation veterans, and the franchise has always been at its best when it trusted its artists to be funny first and faithful to the game second.

Why the holiday slot matters

Paramount moved the film up from its original January 29, 2027 date to December 23, 2026. That’s not a small adjustment. That’s a studio deciding its animated sequel deserves the holiday corridor, one of the most competitive and lucrative windows of the year. You don’t move a film into Christmas week unless you believe it can hold its own.

The history supports the confidence. The 2016 original, released by Sony Pictures, earned more than $352 million worldwide against a reported $73 million production budget, despite mixed reviews. The 2019 sequel is widely considered the better film. The franchise has a proven audience, a proven formula, and now a proven holiday slot. Christmas week is where family films become traditions, and Paramount is clearly aiming for exactly that.

The holiday season’s family anchor

Look at the December corridor and The Angry Birds Movie 3 stands out as the pure family play. It’s the film parents can take a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old to and have everyone laughing. The franchise’s secret weapon has always been its layered comedy: slapstick for the kids, sly references for the adults, and just enough heart to make the whole thing stick.

It’s part of a holiday season that’s shaping up to be one of the strongest in years. Our recent coverage of Paramount’s Christmas slate, including the upcoming Ebenezer with Johnny Depp, shows the studio going all-in on holiday moviegoing. And with Warner Bros.’ animated ambitions arriving in November, the family audience will already be in theaters and ready for more.

The verdict: a holiday win in the making

The Angry Birds Movie 3 isn’t trying to reinvent animation. It’s trying to do something harder: deliver a genuinely funny, genuinely warm holiday movie that earns its spot in the Christmas rotation. With Red facing fatherhood, a voice cast that blends comedy royalty with new energy, and a studio confident enough to plant it in the year’s biggest family window, this one looks like a gift.

December 23. The flock is back. Don’t be surprised if this becomes the movie your family quotes all year.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: The Cat in the Hat 2026: Bill Hader’s Animated Debut

There’s a special kind of bravery in taking on Dr. Seuss. The last time Hollywood gave the Cat a big-screen showcase, in 2003, the result was… let’s say memorable for the wrong reasons. Twenty-three years later, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation is trying again, and this time the signs are genuinely promising. The Cat in the Hat arrives in theaters and IMAX on November 6, and it has everything the 2003 version didn’t: a fresh story, a brilliant comic lead, and an animation studio making its feature debut with everything to prove.

A brand-new story

Forget the rainy day and the fish in the pot. This is a wholly original adventure. The Cat, voiced by Bill Hader in his animated feature debut, takes on his toughest assignment yet for the I.I.I.I., the Institute for the Institution of Imagination and Inspiration, LLC. His mission: cheer up Gabby and Sebastian, a pair of siblings struggling with a move to a new town.

The twist is pure character comedy. The Cat is known for taking things too far, and this could be his last chance to prove himself. Or lose his magical hat. It’s a setup that gives the story real stakes beyond the chaos. The Cat isn’t just making mischief. He has something to lose. That’s the difference between a gag reel and a movie, and it’s a promising foundation.

The film is loosely based on the 1957 book but stands on its own, directed by Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni from their own screenplay, with a story by Caroline Williams. Carloni’s animation pedigree is the real deal, and Rivinoja has one of the sharpest comedy voices in the business. This is not a committee product. It’s a filmmaker-driven film, and you can feel it in the premise alone.

Bill Hader was born for this

Let’s talk about the casting, because it’s inspired. Bill Hader has spent his career as one of the great comic shape-shifters of his generation, from his SNL years to the dramatic depths of Barry. He has never headlined an animated feature. That feels like an oversight the industry is finally correcting.

The Cat needs a very specific instrument: someone who can be anarchic and warm at the same time, someone who can sell mischief as joy rather than menace. Hader’s entire career is that tightrope. He can do unhinged. He can do tender. Often in the same scene. Giving him this role is like handing a Stradivarius to someone who has been playing air violin for years.

The ensemble around him is stacked: Matt Berry, Quinta Brunson, Xochitl Gomez, with Giancarlo Esposito and America Ferrera, plus Tituss Burgess, Bowen Yang, Paula Pell, and Tiago Martinez. Berry’s velvet absurdism, Brunson’s precision timing, Gomez’s rising-star energy. This is a voice cast that was assembled by people who understand comedy, not by a marketing department checking boxes.

The animation studio’s big moment

This is the first full-length feature from Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, the relaunched banner, with animation by DNEG. That’s a lot of pressure, and pressure can be a gift. First features have a way of swinging for the fences because there’s no franchise playbook to follow yet. The early trailers suggest a visual style that honors Seuss’s curves and chaos while pushing into something more cinematic, and the IMAX release confirms the studio’s ambitions.

The music signals the same confidence. Lorne Balfe scores the film, and the original song “CATastrophe” comes from Hilary Duff, released October 2 as the film’s big musical calling card. When a studio leads its marketing with an original song instead of hiding behind the IP, it usually means they believe in what they’ve made.

Why this could actually work

The 2003 film failed because it mistook Seuss for a license to be weird at children. The new film understands something deeper: Seuss was always about the emotional lives of kids. A move to a new town. The feeling that everything familiar is gone. A chaotic stranger who shows you that chaos can be a kind of love. That’s the book’s actual subject, and it’s the film’s too.

Warner Bros. is distributing worldwide, with international release beginning November 4 and North American theaters and IMAX on November 6. The holiday corridor is kind to family films, and there is very little direct competition in the animated space that weekend. The studio has given this film room to breathe, which is exactly what a new franchise needs.

It’s also worth noting where this sits in the current family slate. Our recent reviews of Universal’s upcoming Other Mommy and Paramount’s Street Fighter reboot show a holiday season packed with spectacle. The Cat in the Hat is the family-friendly anchor of that season, and it’s aiming for the widest audience of all: everyone.

The verdict: the Cat’s redemption arc

Every few years, a film arrives with the quiet job of fixing a past mistake. The Cat in the Hat has that job, and it looks ready for it. A great comic lead in his animated debut. A story with actual heart under the mayhem. An animation studio with everything to prove. A holiday release date with the wind at its back.

November 6. Bring the kids. Bring your inner kid too. The Cat is back, and this time he brought the good stuff.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: The Social Reckoning: Sorkin’s Facebook Sequel Review

Sixteen years after The Social Network became one of the defining films of its generation, Aaron Sorkin is going back. The Social Reckoning, which opens in U.S. theaters on October 9, is the rare sequel that feels less like a corporate decision and more like a filmmaker returning to a story that refused to leave him alone. And this time, Sorkin isn’t just writing. He’s directing too.

Why this sequel exists

Sorkin has said he doubted anyone would write a follow-up to the 2010 original. It took finding one particular story to change his mind: Frances Haugen, the Facebook engineer who became a whistleblower, and her journey with Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz. Their work became the “Facebook Files,” the 2021 investigative series that pulled back the curtain on how the platform really operated.

That’s the spine of the film. Oscar winner Mikey Madison plays Haugen. Jeremy Allen White plays Horwitz. Jeremy Strong steps into the most scrutinized role of the year: Mark Zuckerberg. The Playlist calls it a companion piece rather than a conventional sequel, and that framing is perfect. This isn’t The Social Network 2. It’s a new story from the same world, told with the distance of sixteen years and the urgency of the present.

A cast built for awards season

Start with Madison. The Social Reckoning is her first big-screen appearance since her Oscar-winning turn in 2024’s Anora, and she chose to come back with Sorkin. That’s the kind of career move that tells you everything about the material. At the film’s gala screening in London on September 29, Madison arrived in sculptural couture and the internet noticed. She’s not just promoting a movie. She’s announcing her return as one of the defining actresses of her generation.

Jeremy Allen White, fresh from redefining television intensity, plays Horwitz, the reporter who turned Haugen’s documents into the Facebook Files investigation. If anyone can make a journalist’s quiet obsession cinematic, it’s him.

Then there’s Jeremy Strong as Zuckerberg. The preparation stories are already legendary. Sorkin revealed in a recent interview that Strong did not speak in his own voice on set or walk the way Jeremy walks. He told the rest of the cast not to expect casual interaction between takes: “He is going to treat you the way he imagines Mark treats the people around him.” The trailers already show a transformation that has everyone talking. You cannot argue with the results.

The ensemble runs deep: Wunmi Mosaku, Betty Gilpin, Billy Magnussen, Bill Burr, and Gbenga Akinnagbe. That’s a murderer’s row of character talent, and in a Sorkin script, every one of them will get a moment.

The craft behind the camera

The technical pedigree here is serious. Cinematography by Jeff Cronenweth, the Fincher collaborator behind the original film’s cold, surgical look. Music by Alexandre Desplat, who has scored everything from The Grand Budapest Hotel to The Shape of Water. Sorkin producing alongside Todd Black, Peter Rice, Tony A. Grier, and Stuart M. Besser for Columbia Pictures and Alcon Entertainment.

The film runs 112 minutes, carries an R rating, and was made for a reported $50 million. Principal photography ran from October through December 2025 in Vancouver. This is a filmmaker who knows exactly what his movie is and didn’t spend a dollar more than he needed. In an era of $300 million gambles, there’s something almost radical about a $50 million adult drama with this much ambition.

Why it matters now

The original Social Network captured the moment a dorm-room idea became a civilization-scale machine. The Social Reckoning captures the moment we started asking what that machine was doing to us. Sorkin has described the film as more thriller than the first, a David and Goliath story about an engineer with a conscience and a reporter with a deadline.

This is the kind of film that doesn’t get made anymore, except when it does. A smart, talky, actor-driven drama about something real, aimed squarely at adults, opening in theaters. Sony’s theatrical commitment is the real headline underneath the casting. The film had its premiere at Curzon Mayfair in London on September 29 and hits U.S. theaters October 9, with no streaming shortcut in sight.

For context on Sony’s current theatrical strategy, our recent pieces on Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s box office run and the studio’s 2027-2028 slate moves show a studio betting big on the big screen. The Social Reckoning is the prestige anchor of that bet.

The verdict: see it on the biggest screen you can

The Social Reckoning has every ingredient of an awards-season heavyweight: a legendary writer-director, an Oscar-winning lead making her return, a transformative co-star, and a story that is still unfolding in real life. But more than that, it looks like the rare film that trusts its audience. No capes. No multiverse. Just people, power, and the price of knowing too much.

October 9. This is what movie theaters are for.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: The Surgeon: Michelle Yeoh’s TIFF Action Triumph

There is a special kind of electricity when a festival crowd realizes it’s watching something great. At the Toronto International Film Festival this September, The Surgeon premiered as a Centrepiece selection and detonated. A 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics calling it a “genre-bending swirl.” Sony Pictures swooping in after a multi-bidder battle to grab it for an April 2, 2027 release. Michelle Yeoh, at 64, reinventing the action hero once again. This is the kind of story that reminds you why festivals matter.

The premise that sells itself

Eliza Lim, played by Yeoh, is a veteran surgeon being nudged toward retirement. Decades of patching people up. Then the unthinkable: she’s abducted by a criminal gang and forced at gunpoint to operate on a member with a life-threatening condition. What the gang doesn’t know is that 35 years of surgical expertise isn’t just a healing skill. It’s a fighting one. Eliza turns her precise anatomical knowledge into a weapon and carves her way out.

The pitch writes itself: John Wick meets The Pitt. MovieWeb went further, calling it the kind of violent action effort “that even John Wick would envy.” Critics at TIFF described it as part medical drama (but gorier), part tense crime thriller, part action movie, part midnight movie, all laced with wit. That sounds like a lot of movies. It sounds like exactly the kind of movie Yeoh was born to carry.

Directed by a real doctor

Here’s the detail that elevates this from a clever premise to something genuinely interesting. Roshan Sethi, who wrote and directed the film, is a practicing radiation oncologist at Boston’s Mass General Brigham. He co-created the Fox medical drama The Resident and still works roughly two months a year as a doctor. He pushed to have his M.D. credential included in his directing credit, specifically to sell the film’s medical authenticity.

“The fact that it might be real is part of what makes it interesting to watch,” he told The Hollywood Reporter before the TIFF premiere. “You feel like you’re being exposed to something that you didn’t know before.”

Think about that. The action in this film isn’t choreographed by stunt people alone. It’s informed by someone who actually holds a scalpel for a living. The CineCorner UK review out of TIFF noted that Eliza’s surgical know-how becomes “surprisingly handy for dispatching thugs as well as sewing up arteries.” When a director understands where every artery runs, the action geography becomes something else entirely. Every wound, every pressure point, every moment of triage doubles as a combat beat. That’s a fresh engine for an action film, and it’s one nobody else is running.

Yeoh, once again ahead of the curve

Let’s take the long view for a second. Michelle Yeoh smacked people around in Yes, Madam in 1985. She anchored Supercop and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She won the Academy Award for Everything Everywhere All at Once. And now, four decades into a career that has never once felt routine, she delivers what TIFF audiences are calling a career-best action performance.

The film is 92 minutes. Lean. No fat. In an era when action films bloat past two and a half hours, a 92-minute thriller from Thunder Road and Tango Entertainment is a statement of discipline. Yeoh shares the screen with Martin Freeman, playing menacing instead of mild-mannered as the gang’s leader, alongside Laurie Davidson, Yuri Kolokolnikov, and Joseph Mydell. The Freeman casting is inspired. Putting one of the screen’s great everymen in the villain’s chair gives the film a tension it wouldn’t have with a stock heavy.

Why Sony’s bet looks smart

Sony acquired North American and select international rights, including Latin America, Italy, China, and Hong Kong. That’s a global play on a $100 million-quality concept made without a $100 million budget. The studio’s recent track record with audience-friendly genre films, from the Spider-Man franchise to its game adaptations like the upcoming Helldivers, suggests Columbia Pictures knows exactly how to position a crowd-pleaser.

And the timing is perfect. April 2, 2027 plants the film in the spring corridor, a slot that has become the action genre’s secret weapon. Audiences are hungry, the summer blockbusters haven’t arrived yet, and a tight 92-minute thriller with an Oscar winner doing her own stunts is the ideal counter-programming to everything else on the calendar.

The verdict: a genuine triumph

The Surgeon isn’t just a good action movie. It’s the kind of film that makes you wonder why nobody made it before. A real doctor directing a legend in the role of her career, with a premise that turns expertise into excitement and healing into heroism.

April 2, 2027. Clear your schedule. Dr. Lim will see you now, and you do not want to miss what she does with that scalpel.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Grandgear: Takashi Yamazaki’s Giant Robot Epic Arrives 2028

Sometimes a release date tells you everything. Sony didn’t just date Takashi Yamazaki’s Grandgear for January 14, 2028. The studio moved it up. In an industry that treats delays as weather, that kind of confidence reads like a statement of intent.

Here’s the short version: the man who made Godzilla Minus One on a rumored $10 million, won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects with it, and then followed it with Godzilla Minus Zero, is making his first English-language film. It’s about giant robots. J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot is producing. And audiences will see it on MLK weekend in January 2028, via Columbia Pictures.

The filmmaker behind it

Yamazaki is the real story here. Godzilla Minus One opened in Japan on November 3, 2023, and became the third highest-grossing foreign-language film in the United States as of 2024. It took home the Oscar for Best Visual Effects in March 2024, the first Japanese film ever to win in the category. That matters because Yamazaki supervised the effects himself. This isn’t a director who hands a pre-vis packet to a vendor and flies to Hawaii. He builds the spectacle from inside the machine.

Now he’s doing it in English for the first time. Yamazaki writes the original screenplay, directs, and produces. Bad Robot’s J.J. Abrams and Glen Zipper produce alongside him. Sony Pictures announced in April that filming would start soon, which suggests cameras are either rolling now or about to be.

What we actually know about the movie

Honestly? Less than you’d think, and that’s fine. The confirmed facts: it’s an original story, not an adaptation or a reboot, and giant robots are at its center. Trade coverage has compared the vibe to Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, minus the kaiju. Towering mechs, yes. Monsters, no official word. Cast and plot details remain under wraps.

What gives this real weight is the paper trail. Sony shifted Grandgear from February 18, 2028 to January 14, 2028, per Deadline, announcing the move during Cinema United’s Fall Summit on September 30, 2026. Studios don’t bump films into the MLK corridor unless they believe in them. January used to be a dumping ground. Not anymore. It’s become one of the most interesting release windows of the year, and Sony clearly wants to own it.

The film faces real competition that weekend. Paramount’s Longlegs sequel shares the date, alongside an untitled Universal movie and Amazon MGM’s Alone at Dawn. January frames are crowded now, which only underlines the point: nobody parks a film like this in a knife fight unless they think it can win.

Why this one feels different

Hollywood has been announcing original sci-fi epics for years. Most of them arrive as IP in disguise. Grandgear is the genuine article: an original screenplay from a filmmaker who has already proven he can deliver scale, emotion, and visual invention on a budget that would make a Marvel producer weep.

Remember what Godzilla Minus One actually did. It wasn’t just a effects showcase. It was a human story about a kamikaze pilot who survives the war and can’t forgive himself for living, set against a monster that represented everything he feared. The robots here will almost certainly serve a story that is really about people. That’s the Yamazaki pattern, and it’s why the Bad Robot pairing makes sense. Abrams has always gravitated toward filmmakers who can put a human pulse inside a big machine.

It’s also worth remembering how busy Yamazaki is. Godzilla Minus Zero opens in Japan on November 3 and in North America on November 6, the first time a Japan-produced Godzilla film opens in both territories in the same week. The man is directing two major pictures back to back. That’s not the schedule of someone being cautious.

The company it keeps

Sony announced the Grandgear move alongside a whole slate reshuffle: Ridley Scott’s Treasure Island landed November 11, 2027, 24 Jump Street got December 10, 2027, and Justin Lin’s Helldivers moved to June 9, 2028. The studio clearly sees this film as part of its next wave, not a side project. When Sony’s own announcement places your original robot movie shoulder to shoulder with Ridley Scott and PlayStation’s biggest adaptation, that’s not an accident.

For readers catching up on Sony’s recent slate moves, our coverage of the Helldivers date change and the 24 Jump Street announcement lay out the full picture. Grandgear slots neatly into a studio strategy that finally seems to understand something: the audience shows up for vision, not volume.

The verdict: expect something special

Previewing a film this far out is an act of faith. But it’s a faith built on evidence. An Oscar-winning effects supervisor directing his own script. Original robots instead of borrowed ones. A studio moving the date forward instead of back. A producing partner that has shepherded some of the most ambitious sci-fi of the last two decades.

Grandgear could be the most exciting original blockbuster on the 2028 calendar. Mark the date: January 14, 2028. The machines are coming, and the man driving them has earned our trust.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Masked Disco Night Lights Up Burg Perchtoldsdorf Oct 9

By Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe

Perchtoldsdorf is about to have one of its loudest nights of the year. On Friday, October 9, the Festsaal of Burg Perchtoldsdorf opens its doors for a one-off fusion of two of Austria’s most spirited party brands: DISCOFEVER and BAL MASQUÉ. One night, one castle hall, and a crowd dressed entirely in black behind masks.

The idea is simple and, frankly, hard to resist. The mysterious, all-black atmosphere of a masquerade ball collides with full-throttle 1970s and 1980s disco. The organizers call it the second and final event of their year in the castle — and they are going out with everything they have.

A One-Night Fusion of Two Party Worlds

DISCOFEVER has built its name on unapologetic disco nights: 70s classics, 80s dance hits, originals and modern remixes that keep the floor moving past midnight. BAL MASQUÉ brings the other half of the equation — masked elegance, darkness, and a dress code that turns every guest into part of the scenery.

This October, the two concepts merge for a single evening. Elegance on one side, dirty disco energy on the other. The organizers’ own description nails it: that mix of grace and raw party spirit is exactly what makes a night like this stick in the memory.

Black Is Non-Negotiable

Here’s the part guests should take literally: the dress code is SCHWARZ & MASKE — black and masked, mandatory. No exceptions, no half measures.

The good news is that nobody has to panic-buy a mask. One is handed out free at the entrance, so the only homework is the black outfit. Black outfits, masks, a dark castle hall — the organizers compare the resulting mood to “Eyes Wide Shut meets disco,” and it’s hard to argue with the mental image. A crowd in black, moving under a disco ball in a centuries-old hall, is about as cinematic as nightlife gets.

The masked element does more than look good in photos. It levels the playing field. Strangers become dance partners faster when everyone’s identity is tucked behind a little velvet and glitter. Regulars at masquerade nights will tell you the floor always fills up earlier and the conversation starts easier. There’s something freeing about a room where nobody is quite sure who they’re talking to.

The Lineup and the Sound

On the decks: ROLAND BARTHA, the resident DJ behind the Delicious.Events series, joined by special guest OLIVER PUSSWALD. Bartha has been running disco nights in the region for years, including the DISCOFEVER editions at the Festsaal that regularly drew packed houses — past events in the castle sold out, and the April 2026 ITALOFEVER spin-off at the same venue went the same way.

Expect 70s disco classics and 80s dance hits, played in original form and in modern remixes for extra punch. This is not a deep-cuts night for record collectors — it’s a sing-along, hands-in-the-air set list, the kind of night where half the room knows every word before the chorus hits. If your idea of a good Friday is three hours of uninterrupted groove with a few hundred people who feel the same way, this is your room.

A Castle Hall That Knows How to Party

The venue deserves its own paragraph. Burg Perchtoldsdorf, on Paul-Katzberger-Platz 1 in the wine town just south of Vienna, is one of Lower Austria’s most storied addresses — a medieval castle that has hosted everything from concerts to festivals. The Festsaal, its grand hall, is the kind of room modern clubs try to imitate and never quite manage: high ceilings, real history in the walls, and acoustics that were built for celebration long before anyone invented a DJ booth.

Add dark staging and decoration to that setting and the hall does half the atmosphere work on its own. The organizers promise a fully dressed, moody space — the castle has always been the star of these nights, and on October 9 it gets to wear its black-tie alter ego.

Tickets and Good-to-Know

The practical details, all confirmed on the event page:

  • Date: Friday, October 9, 2026
  • Doors/Start: 21:00, running until 02:00
  • Venue: Festsaal der Burg Perchtoldsdorf, Paul-Katzberger-Platz 1, 2380 Perchtoldsdorf, Austria
  • Presale: €21 (mask included), ending October 9 at 18:00 — plus a €0.53 ticket service fee
  • Door: €24, if tickets remain, per the organizer’s announcement
  • Dress code: black and mask, mandatory; one mask free at the entrance
  • Tickets: https://www.delicious.events/event-details/discofever-x-bal-masque-festsaal-burg-perchtoldsdorf

Perchtoldsdorf sits a short hop south of Vienna, which makes this an easy night out for anyone in the Austrian capital — and an excuse for visitors to see one of the region’s prettiest old towns after dark. If you’re the type who plans weekends around a good night out, the formula will feel familiar: pick the event, sort the outfit, show up ready. It’s the same spirit as our roundup of fun things to do in New York City this weekend — a great city night starts with a plan and ends on the dance floor.

October is that sweet spot in the calendar when summer’s open-air season is over and the indoor nights take over. Party people already scouting their autumn and winter calendar might also enjoy our look at the 10 best Christmas events in NYC — because the season of themed dress codes doesn’t stop at one masquerade. And if a strict dress code sounds like your kind of fun, the tracht-and-dirndl crowds at our Oktoberfest guide would nod along: a great night out always starts with what you wear.

One last piece of honest advice from years of covering nights like this: presale is the move. The venue’s DISCOFEVER nights have a habit of selling out, this is the year’s finale, and the masked-disco concept is the kind of thing people talk about afterward. €21 with a free mask is a fair price for a Friday night in a castle. Get the black outfit ready, grab the ticket before 18:00 on the day, and let October 9 be the night the disco ball meets the mask.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: World Animal Day: Why Every Creature, Big and Small, Deserves Our Love

Every October, World Animal Day arrives like a quiet nudge, a reminder that the creatures who share this planet with us deserve more than a passing thought. For Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe, though, it lands closer to home than a calendar date. Caring for animals, he says, is not simply a cause his family supports. It is part of who they are.

Start with his mother. Princess Antonia Schaumburg-Lippe is a veterinarian, and she built her professional life around the animals most people walk past: caring for them, protecting them, healing them, and giving a voice to the ones who cannot speak for themselves. That is not a line on a résumé. It is a life’s work, measured in early mornings, hard decisions, and countless animals given a second chance.

Then there is his father. Prince Waldemar Schaumburg-Lippe was a passionate animal activist, and the lesson he left behind is a simple one that sticks: how we treat animals says something deep about our humanity. Compassion is not reserved for people we like or causes that happen to be popular. It shows up in the small, unphotographed moments — feeding a stray, sheltering a lost dog, refusing to look away.

That example became a family tradition. On World Animal Day, the prince marks every animal: the pets who share our homes, the animals who work beside humans, the wildlife that keeps our planet remarkable — and especially the ones most easily forgotten. The abandoned ones. The mistreated ones. The endangered ones. The ones simply waiting for someone to care.

His message is plain and hard to argue with: love them all, big and small. They deserve kindness. They deserve protection. They deserve respect. And above everything else, they deserve our love.

It is easy to scroll past a day like this. But a city that can reimagine its own skies and count down the days to a Christmas tradition can surely spare a thought for the animals waiting for someone to care. Today, Prince Mario-Max says, stand up for a world where animals are treated with compassion and dignity. Happy World Animal Day.

Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Fun Things to Do in NYC This Weekend, Oct. 3–4: Food Festivals, Live Music and Rooftop Parties

New York doesn’t do quiet weekends. If you’re still figuring out Saturday and Sunday, here’s a lineup worth stealing: coffee and cider festivals, a pow wow in Prospect Park, a street festival taking over Atlantic Avenue, and a couple of rooftop parties to close out the night.

Saturday is already underway, and plenty is still on the schedule.

Saturday, October 3rd

The day kicks off early with the NYC Coffee Festival in Brooklyn at 9AM — coffee people, this is your morning. At 10AM, the Lenape Nations Pow Wow brings drums, dancing, and tradition to Prospect Park.

By noon you’ve got options: the Latin Food Fest uptown and Cider Feast at Industry City. Tacos or cider — or honestly, why not both if you plan it right.

Afternoon looks good too: NYC Day of Flow at Brooklyn Bridge Park at 2PM, the Creole Food Fest at Pier 3 at 3PM, and the Village Trip Concert in the Meatpacking District at 4PM.

Then the evening splits between two solid picks: the Perreito Rooftop Party at Elsewhere at 6PM, and Tootsie’s Video Vault at Littlefield at 7:30PM.

Sunday, October 4th

Sunday opens with the second day of the Lenape Nations Pow Wow in Prospect Park at 10AM — a genuine cultural experience and a great way to start the day.

At noon, two classics: the Harvest Festival on Randall’s Island and the Atlantic Antic on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, the massive street festival that draws crowds every year.

Afternoon keeps it going with Greenpoint StoopFest at 1PM in Greenpoint, then a pair of 3PM picks: Mister Sunday at Nowadays and Hot Honey Sundays at McCarren Park. At 4PM, Disco Tehran takes over Elsewhere.

Close out the weekend with laughs: Comedy + Music at Littlefield at 8PM Sunday night. A perfect landing spot before Monday does its thing.

For more ideas, check out our picks for last weekend’s festival-heavy lineup, the best happy hours in the city for a pre-game drink, and Oktoberfest events still running through the month.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Sam Raimi’s Every House is Haunted Gets a New Studio

A Horror Project Finds Its Home

Some movies spend years wandering the development wilderness before finding the right studio. Every House is Haunted has been one of those projects — until this week. Deadline reported that 20th Century Studios has acquired the supernatural thriller from Netflix, ending roughly five years in development limbo at the streamer. Netflix picked up the original script back in 2021, and the film has been waiting for its moment ever since.

Now it has one. And the talent lining up behind it suggests this could be worth the wait.

The Raimi Factor

Producing is Sam Raimi, via Raimi Productions alongside Zainab Azizi. Raimi's name on a horror project still carries genuine weight — the man practically invented the modern horror playbook, and his instincts for supernatural material are unmatched. This move comes on the heels of his team's 20th Century Studios hit Send Help, so the studio-producer relationship is already proven.

Joining the producing ranks: Roy Lee, the veteran horror producer behind Weapons, and Andrew Childs (The Long Walk) for Vertigo Entertainment. Ian Rogers, the author of the source material, executive produces alongside Starlight Media. That's a production bench with serious genre credibility on every chair.

The Source Material Is a Gem

The film is based on Ian Rogers' acclaimed short story "The House on Ashley Avenue," from his Every House is Haunted collection. The premise, per Deadline: an insurance investigator tries to debunk claims that a couple's death was caused by a haunted house — until a psychic and the mysterious occurrences he witnesses with his own eyes challenge his skepticism.

That's a beautiful setup. The skeptic-protagonist is horror's most reliable engine, because the audience gets to be converted along with the character. An insurance investigator — a professional debunker, a man whose entire job is finding the mundane explanation — forced to confront the unexplainable is the kind of premise that writes its own tension. And grounding it in a single house, the Ashley Avenue house, gives it the contained, escalating dread that the best haunted-house films share.

New Directors, New Energy

Directing are Adam Schindler and Brian Netto, the duo behind Netflix's 2024 hit Don't Move — a film that topped the streamer's movie charts for two weeks. They replace previously attached director Corin Hardy and will revise the screenplay (the original script was by Jason Pagan and Andrew Deutschman).

This is a smart handoff. Schindler and Netto proved with Don't Move that they can build sustained, suffocating tension from a simple premise. A haunted-house thriller is exactly the kind of assignment that plays to their strengths: atmosphere, escalation, and the kind of scares that come from what you don't see.

Why the Studio Move Matters

Netflix's loss is theaters' gain

The project languished at Netflix for five years. At 20th Century Studios, it's a theatrical horror film — and theatrical horror is having a moment. Genre fans turn out for well-made supernatural thrillers on the big screen, and the studio clearly sees this as a theatrical play. That ambition alone changes the project's trajectory.

The horror ecosystem is thriving

October is proving it right now. Clayface arrives as DC's horror-tinged offering, and the seasonal appetite for scares extends well beyond Halloween — haunted-house attractions like Bayville Scream Park, returning with five haunted houses, show how deep the cultural hunger for a good fright runs. A well-crafted haunted-house movie with Raimi producing slots directly into that appetite.

Every House is Haunted has franchise bones

The title isn't just a film title — it's a short-story collection, a whole universe of haunted houses. If the first film lands, the material is sitting right there. Studios think in universes now, and Rogers' collection is a ready-made one.

What's Still to Come

Let's be honest about where things stand: no cast has been announced, no release date is set, and the project is in active development with a new studio — not yet in production. Industry talk will now turn to casting, and with Raimi's name attached, expect the announcement to draw real names. The film is officially on the move, and in this business, that's the hardest part.

Five years in limbo would have killed a lesser project. Every House is Haunted survived — and it survived by landing with better backers, sharper directors, and one of horror's defining producers. The release date is still TBA, but the haunting has officially begun. Keep the lights on.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: 24 Jump Street Lands Dec 2027: Tatum and Hill Return

The Third Jump Street Movie Finally Has a Date

Thirteen years. That's how long it's been since 22 Jump Street hit theaters in 2014, and comedy fans have been waiting for a follow-up with the kind of patience usually reserved for concert presales. This week, Sony Pictures ended the suspense: the third Jump Street film is officially titled 24 Jump Street, and it lands in theaters December 10, 2027.

Skipping 23 entirely is, of course, a franchise running joke. When Neal H. Moritz announced the project in June 2026, the script's title page reportedly read: "It took so long we had to skip one." That's the Jump Street sense of humor in a nutshell — the franchise has always been in on its own joke, and the title is already doing comedy work before a single scene has been shot.

The Gang Is Back Together

The Sony slate announcement settled weeks of talks reporting: Channing Tatum (Jenko), Jonah Hill (Schmidt), and Ice Cube (Captain Dickson) are all confirmed to return. For a comedy built entirely on chemistry, that's the whole ballgame. Tatum and Hill's buddy-cop energy carried two movies; Ice Cube's perpetually furious Captain Dickson stole every scene he touched.

Directing is Rodney Rothman, the Oscar-winning filmmaker who co-wrote 22 Jump Street. Rothman wrote the screenplay with Hill and Meghan Malloy, and having a co-writer from the last film behind the camera suggests the tone will be protected. Original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller return as producers alongside Moritz, Tatum, and Hill — the architects staying close to the building they designed.

Why This One Feels Like an Event

Comedy sequels have a bad reputation for good reason. Third installments especially tend to arrive tired. But a few things about 24 Jump Street suggest this could be the exception.

Tatum's endorsement carries weight

Back in a 2024 interview, Tatum called the third-movie script "the best script I've ever read for a third movie." Actors say nice things about their projects; they rarely say that. For a star who's been protective of this franchise — he and Hill produce it themselves — that quote is a genuine signal.

The Rothman factor

Rothman co-wrote 22 Jump Street, which means he was in the room where the franchise found its voice. A sequel directed by someone who helped build the tone is always safer than a hired gun. His Oscar pedigree (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) doesn't hurt either.

Thirteen years of anticipation is an asset

The long gap means something specific here. 22 Jump Street's end credits famously teased absurd possible undercover assignments — medical school, culinary school, space — and fans have spent over a decade imagining what comes next. The franchise's core joke has always been about sequels themselves. A third film arriving after thirteen real-world years of sequel-baiting has more material to play with than any writer could invent. No plot details are confirmed yet, and frankly, the speculation is half the fun.

The Comedy Landscape in 2027

Here's the honest industry context: big-screen studio comedies have had a rough decade. Audiences love comedy; they just stopped going to theaters for it. But the pendulum may be swinging. Franchise comedies with genuine star power and real craft behind them — the kind of event that feels bigger than a streaming night — have a lane again.

December 10, 2027 positions 24 Jump Street as a holiday-season crowd-pleaser, the kind of movie you take a group to between Christmas shopping trips. Counter-programming against the season's heavier fare has worked before, and a broad, silly, quotable comedy is exactly the antidote to prestige-season solemnity.

What We're Not Getting (and That's Fine)

For the record: the once-discussed Men in Black crossover, the famous "MIB 23" project, is dead. It's franchise history, not part of this film, and everyone involved seems happy about that. This is a pure Jump Street movie — Jenko and Schmidt, Captain Dickson, Lord and Miller's fingerprints, and a script its own star calls the best third-movie script he's ever read.

Some franchises should have stopped. This one just made us wait thirteen years and skipped a number. That confidence is earned. 24 Jump Street arrives December 10, 2027. Schmidt and Jenko are going back undercover, and we wouldn't miss it.