Posts

‘Jack Reacher’ Crosses $200 Million Worldwide, Paramount Working On Sequel By Germain Lussier/Feb. 22, 2013 4:00 pm EST In January, the rumor coming from Paramount was that the Tom Cruise action film Jack Reacher, which at the time had grossed about $73 million domestic and was about to open in Asia, had to gross $250 million worldwide to generate interest in a sequel. It seems that number may have dropped when executives looked at A) a bookshelf full of potential pre-written sequels by author Lee Child and B) solid international box office receipts....

‘Only Lovers Left Alive’ Trailer Captures The Cool Tension Of This Vampire Tale By Russ Fischer/March 7, 2014 1:30 pm EST I couldn’t appreciate this Only Lovers Left Alive trailer more — it captures so much of the perfectly hazy sensation that Jim Jarmusch conjures up in his vampire/junkie tale. We get to see Tom Hiddleston as a mopey ages-old musical innovator, Tilda Swinton as his more pragmatic and engaged companion, and even John Hurt (who did a lot to help get the film made) as a vampiric author whose works you’ll probably be familiar with....

‘Star Wars Episode VII’ Actors Comment On Being Cast By Germain Lussier/May 2, 2014 10:30 am EST The downside of being one of the actors recently revealed as a Star Wars Episode VII cast member is 20 months of repetition. While we’ll surely learn more about the film and each actor’s part in it leading up to the December 18, 2015 release, until then every one will be asked innumerable questions about the film....

‘The Boxtrolls’ Trailer: A Young Troll Learns He Is Actually Human By Russ Fischer/June 11, 2014 9:41 am EST Laika, the animation studio behind Coraline and ParaNorman, has a new film coming this fall: The Boxtrolls. The story adapts Alan Snow’s book Here Be Monsters, and features a fantasized town in which box-wearing trolls comb the streets at night. A young boy, nicknamed Eggs, falls into the clutches of the trolls… and they proceed to raise him as one of their own....

‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ Red Band Trailer: “Oh, F*ck It” By Angie Han/March 11, 2014 8:30 am EST Now, this is still Wes Anderson we’re talking about, so as red-band trailers go it’s not so scandalous. There’s some cursing, a bit of nudity, and a brief glimpse of fellatio, and that’s about it in terms of objectionable material. Still, if you haven’t seen this movie yet, the promo will offer some new footage....

‘The Lego Movie’ Poster: Featuring The Uni-Kitty, Spaceman Benny, And The Lego Justice League By Angie Han/Nov. 14, 2013 3:45 pm EST Blissfully ignorant Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt) may be the hero of The Lego Movie, but he’s far from the only character. To the contrary, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have constructed an entire plastic brick world around him, and the new poster offers a chance to check out some of the other minifigs that populate Lego land....

‘The Messenger’ Filmmaker Oren Moverman Directing Richard Gere In ‘Time Out Of Mind’ By Russ Fischer/Jan. 29, 2014 1:53 pm EST Briefly: Oren Moverman, the director behind The Messenger and Rampart, who was nominated for an Oscar after co-writing The Messenger, is setting up his next movie. Richard Gere will produce and star in Time Out of Mind, a film about “a New Yorker who enters a shelter when he runs out of housing options, then struggles to put the pieces of his life back together and fix a troubled relationship with his estranged daughter....

Christopher’s Top 10 Trailers Of 2011 By Christopher Stipp/Dec. 30, 2011 3:00 pm EST I’ll get this out of the way now: Harry Potter is not on this list. I only mention this as I was excoriated back in 2009 when I left Star Trek off the year’s best trailers list and today there is no sentiment I agree with more than /Film’s own David Chen when he wrote a couple of days ago:...

Cool Stuff: 4th Annual ‘Bad Dads’ Wes Anderson Art Exhibit In San Francisco By Germain Lussier/Oct. 29, 2013 8:00 am EST There couldn’t be a better time for Spoke Art to launch its fourth annual tribute to the films of Wes Anderson. The director is fresh in the public’s mind thanks to an amazing new trailer for his new film, as well as interesting new behind the scenes videos, and a hilarious new parody of his work....

Did Jason Flemyng Just Confirm Matthew Vaughn As The ‘Star Wars Episode VII’ Director? By Angie Han/Nov. 27, 2012 7:45 pm EST It feels like half the filmmakers in Hollywood have been rumored for the Star Wars Episode VII gig at this point, but one of the first names to crop up was Matthew Vaughn. The X-Men: First Class director popped up on a supposed shortlist just days after the Disney / Lucasfilm deal was announced, and his mysterious recent exit from X-Men: Days of Future Past suggested he had something up his sleeve....

Early Buzz: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Test Screening Reactions And Synopsis By Angie Han/May 1, 2014 8:30 am EST We’ve been waiting for Mad Max: Fury Road for what feels like eons, and we’ve still got a little while longer to wait. Though the film started shooting in 2012, it’s not hitting theaters until 2015. And so far, all we’ve seen from it are a couple of on-set photos. But last night in Burbank, a group of people got to sample a whole lot more....

Early Buzz: Paramount Screens 30 Minutes Of ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ By Germain Lussier/March 8, 2013 12:30 pm EST Thirty minutes of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness screened Friday in London, setting off a thunderstorm of discussion and spoilers about what we’re going to see in the highly anticipated sequel. Don’t worry, we won’t post any spoilers here. We, like you, prefer to be surprised. What we are interested in is what some of the biggest UK publications – The Guardian, SFX, Total Film and Bleeding Cool for example — thought of the footage....

Geek Deal: Up To 59% Off Criterion Collection Favorites On Blu-Ray By Peter Sciretta/March 20, 2013 11:30 am EST The sale prices end at the end of the day, so act now!

Guy Predicts ‘Game Of Thrones’ Ending Using Math By Angie Han/Oct. 1, 2014 7:00 am EST George R.R. Martin’s apparent willingness to kill off any character at any time means Game of Thrones / ASOIAF is a more difficult storyline to predict than most. But that doesn’t stop fans from making their guesses anyway. Now, one of them has come up with a particularly unusual approach to the Game of Thrones prediction problem....

Guy Ritchie’s ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ And Will Smith’s ‘Focus’ Get Release Dates By Germain Lussier/Feb. 20, 2014 11:30 am EST Briefly: Warner Bros. has just dated two films for early 2015 release. First up, we’ll see Henry Cavill in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. months before we see him as Superman again. The Guy Ritchie adaptation, also starring Armie Hammer, has been given a curious January 16, 2015 release date. WB will also release the Will Smith’s con-artist drama Focus on February 27, 2015....

Heathcliff Will Also Get The Live-Action / CG Hybrid Feature Treatment By Angie Han/Oct. 18, 2012 11:20 am EST Cartoonist and rights holder Peter Gallagher (not that one) had this to say about the deal: [Waterman’s] track record is impeccable. Casper, Stuart Little and Alvin and the Chipmunks are examples of incorporating elements that past audiences loved and adding a contemporary flair that makes these properties endure with a whole new generation....

Jesse Wigutow Adapting Brian Michael Bendis’ ‘Fire’ For Universal And Zac Efron By Angie Han/Dec. 10, 2013 2:21 pm EST We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. Bendis’ comic centers around an college kid who’s recruited by the CIA. He’s told that he’s part of a new program that turns ordinary citizens into covert operatives, but as he digs deeper into the initiative he uncovers some disturbing secrets....

Matt Damon Approached ‘Dark Knight’ Scribe Jonathan Nolan For ‘Bourne 4’ By Angie Han/Dec. 10, 2012 2:09 pm EST This summer, Tony Gilroy and Jeremy Renner served up The Bourne Legacy, a Bourne movie without its title character. But those who’ve been following the franchise over the years will recall that that wasn’t always the plan. After the success of The Bourne Ultimatum, star Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass tried for years to get a fourth Bourne off the ground....

Michael Bay And Jerry Bruckheimer Making ’70s Cocaine Pilot For TNT By Russ Fischer/Sept. 18, 2014 3:30 pm EST Old colleagues in arms Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer are working together on a new show for TNT. The cable channel has ordered the pilot for a show that will explore the heady and dangerous days of the 1970s cocaine trade in Florida. The show has been developing for a while, but TNT has finally given the pilot the green light to the Michael Bay cocaine show....

New ‘John Wick’ Trailer: Keanu Reeves Returns With A Vengeance By Russ Fischer/Sept. 30, 2014 3:00 pm EST I don’t think I spoke to anyone at Fantastic Fest who saw John Wick and didn’t like it. I heard praise for Keanu Reeves’ turn as a killer, for the action and overall direction of Chad Stahelski, who was Reeves’ stunt double in The Matrix, and stunt choreographer for Man of Tai Chi, and, yeah, for the dog....