Penn On Screen

At Penn, we know we’re in good company with plenty of actor and director alums — Elizabeth Banks and Ken Olin, to name a few. But what does Hollywood really think of us? Penn students have been popping up in film and TV recently to give the whole world a better idea of what it means to be a Quaker, or a haughty Whartonite.

1. Wally Mars (Jason Bateman) in The Switch

2. Raina Thorpe (Tika Sumpter) in Gossip Girl

3. Dennis and Deandra Reynolds (Glenn Howerton and Kaitlin Olson) in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

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‘Iron Lung’ and the Rise of the YouTuber Film

Iron Lung shows how a creator with a large online audience turned a low budget game adaptation into strong box office revenue through fan driven promotion and social reach. YouTube creators build direct audience ties, run production pipelines, and mobilize viewers to support projects across media platforms. The film’s performance signals a shift where online personalities compete with studio backed releases through community scale and digital marketing power.

Beauty, Blood, and Blockbusters

Paul Feig adapts Freida McFaddenu's The Housemaid into a spectacle; one with just a little more shock value.

‘Wicked: For Good’ is for the Theatre Kids

Wicked: For Good closes its story without awards recognition but with clear creative conviction. The film’s reception reflects a mismatch between its intentions and critical expectations. Designed as the second half of a continuous narrative, it prioritizes character depth and long-term emotional payoff over accessibility. In doing so, For Good succeeds less as a crowd-pleaser and more as a film made for those already invested in the world of Wicked.