While ‘Mission: Impossible 8’ is still filming, it’s going to be a very busy next few months for Tom Cruise as he has booked two films, set to shoot in 2025, and they’re both non-IP films.

Parker Finn’s “Smile 2” is having a slow start at the box-office, having only earned $2.5M in Thursday showings. It’s not looking like it’ll match the original’s numbers. I can also confirm that the film cost a little under $30M to produce.

Why is Bong Joon-ho’s “Mickey 17” being released in January 2025? That’s the question everybody seems to be asking. Positioning a film during the dumping grounds of January does not hint at much confidence on the part of Warner Bros.

“I’m in the writing zone right now,” Vileneuve tells Deadline, referring ‘Dune: Messiah.’ He adds that the main actors on the third film will be Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh and Anya Taylor-Joy.

I trust Paul King — mostly because he’s the man behind the first two ‘Paddington’ movies — but I'm struggling to think of anything interesting that he could do with a “Prince Charming” movie.

Some promising casting news as Josh Brolin (“No Country For Old Men”) is set to play the villain in Edgar Wright’s “The Running Man” remake. Glen Powell, Katy O’Brian and Daniel Ezra were already part of the cast (via Deadline)

“The Day the Earth Blew Up” is the first proper Looney Tunes movie in years, but Warner Bros. wanted nothing to do with it. In August, Warners brokered a deal with Ketchup Entertainment to distribute the film in theaters.

A rep for Lionsgate has now reached out and tells me The Wrap’s story is “inaccurate.” According to them, Wiseman led the reshoots and Stahelski was only there to “help in the creation of action design on the new scenes that would enhance the film and create bigger action sequences.”

The Gatecrashers and Gold Derby both have Sean Baker‘s “Anora” as the frontrunner to win the 2025 Best Picture Oscar. Out of 12 Gate Crashers contributors , including yours truly, “Anora” has five #1 votes, “Conclave” has 2 votes, and “Dune II” and “Emilia Perez” each have one.

During a People’s “Movies of My Life” segment, Garfield described Gibson as a “real empathetic guy” who “deserves” a “second chance.” Garfield, who is Jewish, is very forgiving about Gibson previous anti-Semitic comments.

Fresh off their recent Marvel hire to helm the next two ‘Avengers’ movies, Joe and Anthony Russo’s latest Netflix extravaganza, titled “Electric State,” reportedly cost $320 million to produce. The film, which is supposed to his Netflix on March 2025, now has a trailer.

“Wolf Man,” which stars Julia Garner, Christopher Abbott, Sam Jaeger and Matilda Firth, was recently described by Whannell as a straight up horror movie. The MPA rating signifies we could be in for a “bloody” affair.

“Buddenbrooks” is one of Guadagnino’s four “dream projects,” along with his 2018 remake of “Suspiria,” “Queer,” and his upcoming adaptation of Pier Vittorio Tondelli’s “Separate Rooms,” which Manieri is also writing, and is set to star Léa Seydoux and Josh O’Connor.

THR’s sources note that over the weekend, Universal’s “The Wild Robot” had a noticeable and unusual bump in tickets sold and speculate that teenagers probably bought tickets to ‘Wild Robot’ and then snuck into “Terrifier 3.” The trend continued on Monday’s holiday.

There’s an interesting passage in the book where Pacino admits that he was forced to take acting roles solely for the paycheck when he turned 70. All of his money was gone at that point, mostly due to a corrupt accountant.

I wasn’t much of a “Smile” fan to begin with, so it was a pleasant enough surprise to be semi-taken by the sequel, “Smile 2,” which ups the ante with a bigger budget and more creatively inspired choices.

Elaine May hasn’t directed a narrative film in almost 40 years. The unfairly ill-received “Ishtar” broke her. However, May is ready to direct again, with “Crackpot,” starring Dakota Johnson and Sebastian Stan. If it ever happens, it’ll be her very final film.

I took part in IndieWire’s critics poll which asked almost 70 journalists who attended “one or more” of the fall festivals to name their picks for the best films that played at Venice, Telluride, NYFF and Toronto.