Disney's new take on “The Lion King” remained atop the box office this weekend, despite the biggest second-weekend drop off that one of their 'live action' remakes has seen. With $75.5M this weekend, the Jon Favreau directed, all-star cast driven (and highly faithful) remake now has a domestic standing of $351M, boosting its worldwide tally to a hefty $962M, leaving it finely poised to pounce over the $1B mark next weekend, making it the second Disney re-hash in as many weeks to do so after the Will Smith starring Aladdin reached the milestone this weekend.
Read moreTelluride 2019: ‘The Aeronauts' to Premiere. ‘Ad Astra' Not Going.
When “Green Book” won Best Picture earlier this year, it ended up being the first time since “Crash” screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (back in 2004) that the Oscar winner for Best Picture had premiered outside of the Telluride Film Festival. In fact, before the “Green Book” win, every single Best Picture winner this decade has gone first to Telluride and then either screened at TIFF or completely bypassed it (“Birdman”). Will magic strike twice again for TIFF this year? After all, Taika Waititi’s much-buzzed about“Jojo Rabbit” will be skipping Telluride this year in favor or Toronto ..
Read moreFast & Furious in Space ‘Not out of the question,’ Says Franchise Writer
There have been a total of eight “Fast & Furious” movies. Now, with the franchise stepping into uncharted territory this coming Friday with its first spin-off (“Hobbs & Shaw”), the room for idea expansion has arrived.
Read more‘IT: Chapter Two' Runtime Confirmed at 2 Hours and 45 Minutes
“IT: Chapter Two” director Andy Muschietti surprised horror fans on Saturday as the filmmaker confirmed that the sequel’s running time currently stands at a whopping 2 hours and 45 minutes — and he seems perfectly fine with it:
Read moreOscars 2020: The Best Picture Race So Far ...
Still wondering just how “Bohemian Rhapsody”walked away with four Oscars. Forget about it, as 2020 looks to see the return of some of the Hollywood's biggest hitters, and most adored stars, along with (as always) a few surprises.
Read moreRobert De Niro Confirmed to Star Alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon'
Will This Pathetic Movie Year Get Better or Worse?
Folks, I’ve been doing this game since 1999 and I can assure you there has never been a movie year quite as bad as this one, from American cinema standpoint. Something feels off this year. Hollywood has decided to turn into the top recycling company in the world. Everything and anything now needs a sequel, reboot, remake nd/or reimagining. It’s pathetic. Sure, there have been some highlights in 2019, but here we are, entering the 8th month of 2019 and, as it stands, the last great hope this fall seems to be Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” set to be released, supposedly, on November 27th, 2019. Of course, a stacked lineup from TIFF and Venice could change things around, there always seems to be one movie every fall that is unanimously praised as the second-coming (“Roma,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Birdman,” “Spotlight,” “La La Land,” and “Lady Bird”). Will it be Noah Baumach’s “Marriage Story,” which is gaining the kind of buzz it now has to match when it premieres next month or maybe it’ll be The Safdies’ “Uncut Gems.”
Read more‘Rainy Day in New York' Has Opened in Poland
Woody Allen‘s A Rainy Day in New York won’t be playing the 2019 Venice Film Festival because it’s opening in Poland two days hence (7.26).
Read moreKelly Reichardt's ‘First Cow' Likely Going to Telluride and Toronto
And so it goes, Kelly Reichardt’s latest movie will be a festival player after all. Venice couldn’t nab it due to a lack of foreign rights but, as Venice director Alberto Barbera told Screen Daily, it’s going to the other fall fests.
"The director claimed to have secured every title he wanted - apart from Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow. He said it will premiere at Telluride before playing Toronto. “The film is really beautiful, but A24 hasn’t yet found an international distributor and decided to show it only in America.”
The Rise and Fall of Johnny Depp
‘The Fanatic’ Trailer: John Travolta as a Crazed Stalker in Thriller Directed by Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit
John Travolta's career looks like it desperately needs a second comeback. We thought it might happen with his excellent turn as OJ Simpson's lawyer, Robert Shapiro, in 2016’s “The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.” Ever since then? Nada. Zilch. Zero.
Read more‘Gemini Man' Trailer: Will Smith Hasn't Aged
“Gemini Man” is all about an older assassin confronting his younger self as a hit-man — all shot in in 3D HFR (60 or 120 frames per second) by director Ang Lee. Rian Johnson tackled a similar plot with “Looper,” but there seems to be no time travel here nor any narrative playing-around by Lee. This is rather akin to a bare-bones action film, which doesn’t seem to possess any of the artful flair Lee brought to his best films (“The Ice Storm,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”). Regardless, I am excited about that a potentially smart adult action film may be coming to theaters this fall.
Read more‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood' Trailer Has Become a Viral Sensation
Marielle Heller’s “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” released its trailer on Monday and it has completely melted the hearts of American audiences. It’s been shared a whooping 358K times on Facebook and has accumulated more than 59.8 million views all over the internet. This is a total success for TriStar Pictures, which is releasing “A Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood.” According to Deadline, “the trailer sparked 163,000 social conversations in its first day, in fact, which is roughly double the total posted by fan-favorite Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”
Read more‘Zombieland 2: Double Tap’ Trailer: A Sequel to the Cult-Classic
Ruben Fleischer‘s “Zombieland” was not really on the mainstream radar by the time it was released in the fall of 2009, but the horror comedy road movie was a huge sleeper hit that year, grossing a respectable $75 million domestically and $102.3 million worldwide off a then-scant $24 million budget.
Read moreVenice: Roman Polanski and Just Two Women in Competition
It does look as if Roman Polanski’s “An Officer and a Spy” will be causing a major stir at the Venice Film Festival, and it’s not like Venice head Alberto Barbera is trying to calm any of this storm.
Read moreVenice Competition to Include Soderbergh Polanski, Assayas, Kore-eda, Andersson, Baumbach, Gray, Egoyan, Larrain, Guerra
The Venice Film Festival has announced the selections for its 76th edition, which is set to take place from August 29 to September 7. This comes after TIFF’s revealing of the lineup this past Tuesday.
Read moreGreta Gerwig's ‘Little Women' Was ‘Not Ready' For Venice
Just last week, Anne Thompson subtly hinted (during her IndieWire podcast with Eric Kohn) that Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” was skipping festivals. And, now we have Venice Film Festival boss Alberto Barbera tweeting that not only is the movie skipping festivals but that it’s not even ready. It does have a December release date, there have been test screenings in recent weeks, and so it would only make sense for Gerwig to take her time and mold the exact movie that she wants to make.
Read moreFilm Critic: Leonardo DiCaprio Doesn’t Work With Enough Female Directors
‘The Aeronauts' Release Date Pushed to December
Amazon has delayed the Eddie Redmayne-Felicity Jones film “The Aeronauts” from Oct. 25 to now a December 6th, 2019 - and has cut its theatrical window to just 2 weeks, since the film will debut on Amazon Prime Video on December 20th. Whether that hurts its awards chances is up for debate. I have reported on positive test-screenings which have happened, but what gives? It didn’t show up at yesterday’s TIFF lineup announcement, maybe Venice (now I doubt it).
The Hype Train Has Begun For Noah Baumbach's ‘Marriage Story'
Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” will, most likely, be premiering at Toronto, Venice, Telluride and New York. Not many films can claim to be doing this quadruple-feat. Last year it was Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” this year Baumbach’s film takes that elusive spot … and the hype train has already begun.
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Do you really think Ellison fired Gunn before he saw a rough cut of "Man of Tomorrow"? No chance. Clearly, whatever he saw didn't impress him.