The budget for "Resident Evil" was $75M, and the film is supposed to have a $90M+ worldwide weekend. Cregger was paid $20M to direct the movie. Money well spent.
Leguizamo is set to play the main villain in "Miami Vice '85." He joins a cast that already includes Michael B. Jordan, Austin Butler, Alden Ehrenreich, Whitney Peak, Camila Morrone and Danny Ramirez.
Aslan is described as "he," with heterochromic eyes and red-striped face, a look Gerwig says was inspired by David Bowie. So this isn't a gender-swap. Aslan is still a male lion. He's just voiced by a 77-year-old woman.
Back in 2021, Noah Baumbach signed a multi-year deal with Netflix that committed him to writing and directing several films for the streamer over the following years. He made two, and now he's gone.
This year’s 12th edition of the Scary Movies festival at Film at Lincoln Center premiered Ari Aster’s extended version of “Midsommar” this past Saturday.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences just announced the films that qualified for the Animated Oscar this year. Five nominees will be selected.
The front-runners currently are: “Incredibles 2,” “Isle of Dogs,” “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” “Early Man,” “Smallfoot,” and “Mirai.”
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When the announcement hit that Paul Feig remake was going to helm a “Ghostbusters” reboot and that the all-male cast of the original was going to be replaced by an all-female ensemble, the internet freaked. On one side of the aisle was definite praise for a step forward in Hollywood’s never-ending battle with gender equality, but on the other side of the spectrum there was the massive backlash from fans of the original. The latter didn’t want to believe that some of their most beloved movie characters were about to replaced by, shock, women!
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Speaking to Larry King on “Larry King Now,” actor Frank Grillo mentioned that next Captain America could be a woman or a Person of Color. Although not entirely sure what Marvel Studios has planned for the Cap. he did manage to sneak some insider info saying “there have been rumors that Captain America could be African American. It could be a woman. You know? So, they’re looking.”
I'm betting the farm that, if they do go this route, Anthony Mackie will be sought to play Captain America. He currently plays Sam Wilson, aka Falcon and has starred in two previous ‘Captain America’ films, as well as “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Avengers: Infinity War.” Sam Wilson has been Captain America in the comic books, recently taking over for Steve Rogers after the character stepped down. Suffice to say, odds are with Mackie to garner the much-coveted role at the moment.
Judging from a film writer's perspective, the past year I have seen the industry adapt to more female-led viewpoints . Have there been enough of these kinds of films? Of course not. But Rome wasn't built in a day either. I can only see more positives coming in the near future. Also, as I was starting to put together my 2018 ten best list, I noticed how so many of the year's best films have come from either female filmmakers or a woman's perspective ("The Tale," "Cold War," "Leave No Trace," "Hereditary" 'A Quiet Place," "The Hate U Give," "Eighth Grade," "The Wife," "Widows," "Tully," "The Kindergarten Teacher" "Can You Ever Forgive Me" and, of course, "Roma.")
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I named Roman Polanski’s “Rosemary’s Baby” as the 4th greatest horror movie of all-time. It is, by all accounts, a masterpiece of the genre, but very much driven by its director's style and voice. However, don't expect to find Polanski's name anywhere near Paramount’s marketing for the movie’s 50th anniversary re-release. There's an official trailer, with no Polanski, a synopsis, with no Polanski, and a poster, with no Polanski. Blasphemous? You betcha. Out of the ordinary? Well, given the current times we live in, I have to sadly be inclined to answer, of course not.
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New York City's struggle to cope with the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s has been well documented in films such as "Longtime Companion," "The Normal Heart," and yes, even "Rent." NYC was affected by the illness more than any other American city, especially its gay community.
There was fear, hate, and hysteria and "1985," Crafted by Malaysian-born writer/director Yen Tan, has the intention of showing us how things have not changed all that much thirty years later. His story tackles themes that have resonated in the American consciousness for decades; those of identity, the struggles of coming out, secrets (due to fear of telling the truth), acceptance, intolerance, and the crisis of loving family who may not love you back for who you are.
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Jean-Marc Vallée is so busy these days that one tends to forget he hasn't directed an actual movie in 4 years, that would be 2015's "Demolition." His success in Hollywood with “Dallas Buyers Club,” and “Wild,” has led to two popular HBO shows: “Big Little Lies” and “Sharp Objects.” So what's next for him? How about tackling the John Lennon and Yoko Ono story.
According to Deadline, Vallée will direct the Ono/Lennon biopic for Universal. In fact, he wanted to make the film so badly that he took himself out of the running for "Bond 25" for which he was put on the shortlist by Bond producer Barbara Broccoli.
Guillermo del Toro has no doubt been given free reign to do whatever he'd like after his follow-up to the Oscar-winning “The Shape of Water.”
According to THR, del Toro has signed on with Netflix to write, direct, and produce a stop-motion version of his long-time passion project, “Pinocchio.”
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The release date of Patty Jenkins' "Wonder Woman 1984" has been delayed by seven months. In an Instagram post, star Gal Gadot revealed that the much-anticipated sequel will now hit theaters in the summer of 2020 rather than the original release date which was slated for November of next year: “Super excited to announce that, thanks to the changing landscape, we are able to put Wonder Woman back to its rightful home,” she wrote. “June 5, 2020. Be there or be square!!!"
Read moreI pointed out in my 10.16.18 review of David Gordon Green's "Halloween" that I feared the success of the film would re-energize and wake up the 'slasher' genre, which has been dead since the early aughts. I wrote, "Let's hope the success of "Halloween" at the box-office doesn't have Hollywood re-energizing a dead genre."
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Sarah Silverman shocked many today by defending Louis C.K. in the strangest way imaginable.
C.K. — whose career got derailed last year after it was revealed that he was a chronic public serial masturbator -- has been trying to mount a comeback by performing stand-up at NYC's legendary Comedy Cellar club.
Silverman appeared on today's episode of Howard Stern’s SiriusXM radio show and was asked about C.K., whom she's known for many years and who is a good friend of hers. Silverman told Stern that C.K. masturbated in front of her, but that it was totally with her consent.
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Writer-director Jim Hosking doesn't think like a regular filmmaker, or, at least, in the narratively conventional sense. What is most important to Hosking, who first gained attention for his film “The Greasy Strangler,” is to create a world only he can conceive. His films are filled with the kind of unique characters that you have never seen before in cinema. He no doubt has his fair share of detractors, but the fact that the filmmaker has managed to find a way to break out of the mold with such a unique brand of filmmaking is something to celebrate. In essence, nobody makes movies quite like Jim Hosking.
Read moreWhat can I say about Paul Dano‘s "Wildlife'? It's a sluggishly austere film that lacks any kind of personality or poignancy but, hey, in this day and age of style over substance, I do understand why this otherwise strongly directed and photgraphed picture is being favorably reviewed by most critics. Dano shows a real knack for distilled, freezingly detached framing. You can tell he's learned a thing or two from working with Paul Thomas Anderson -- the photo snapping sequences in "Wildlife" will remind any knowledgeable cinephile of the mall photo scenes in "The Master."
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Claire Denis‘ "High Life" had an underwhelming world premiere at the Roy Thomson Hall during the Toronto Film Festival, for which I attended. Around half the audience had already left the theater by the time the film ended, you could just tell nobody was into it. And this is coming from a fest that prides itself in having the best audience in the world. Even Toronto audiences couldn't deal with the metaphorical artsy ambitions that were unfurling on the screen. And I don't mean that as a detraction of Denis' mad ambitions in "High Life," which, by all accounts, warrants a repeat viewing on my part.
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Oliver Stone's "W" is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this year, but by all accounts, Stone's film about George W. Bush has all but been forgotten in today's rapid-paced, socio-political and cultural world. This is not to say that the film was bad by any stretch of the imagination. The 2008 film, a sort of political indictment that was also a comedy, about Dubya's life up until he was about to invade Iraq, received mixed reviews and all but bombed at the box-office. However, there were real delights in the film.
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Interviewed by French outlet Le Point, Cannes director Thierry Fremaux discussed the next steps in the Cannes/Netflix debate.
The topic of Alfonso Cuaron's incredible film "Roma" came at the forefront of the conversation:
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Speaking during a masterclass at the Lumiere Festival [via The Guardian], Javier Bardem continued to defend Woody Allen, who has been vehemently accused by wife Mia Farrow of sexually abusing her daughter Dylan back in 1993:
“At the time I did ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona,’ the allegations were already well known for more than 10 years, and two states in the US deemed he was not guilty,” explained the actor.
Joel and Ethan Coen‘s The Big Lebowski celebrated its 20 year anniversary (3.6.98) this past year, and it seems like everyone’s celebrating this landmark release. A film which most people will admit demands repeat viewings and rewards them to greater degrees every repeated time. It's an American comedy classic, which has even spawned The annual Lebowski Fest, where fans dress up as characters from the movie, oddly enough started in Louisville, Kentucky, back in 2002 and now an annual event at almost every major English-speaking city in the world.
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Sundance has been known to include many films about what’s happening in the middle east throughout its yearly Documentary competition and premieres sections. However, Alexandria Bombach’s documentary “On Her Shoulders” is a unique addition. With the well-honed eyes of her camera lenses, Bombach tackles the incredible story of, just last month's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi woman who was kept as a sex slave for ISIS when she was just 19.
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Roseanne Barr reacted on Tuesday night to the premiere of The Conners,ABC’s reboot of the hit series, which was cancelled after the actress/comedian was fired from the show earlier this year.
The season premiere of the new series got down to business rather quickly by killing her character off a few seconds into the proceedings. The cause of death? an opioid overdose — Roseanne reacted on Twitter by saying, in all caps: “I AIN’T DEAD, BITCHES!!!!”
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Snyder has mentioned in the past how “Sucker Punch “never really got finished correctly,” and that it was “not really the correct cut.” The extra footage is actually already shot.