Movie/TV News (2 Viewers)

[dragon53]

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27

DEATH OF A UNICORN---trailer released for the monster movie starring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega.

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HAVOC---trailer released for the Netflix movie starring Tom Hardy.

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THE ASSESSMENT---trailer released for the sci fi movie starring Elizabeth Olsen and Alicia Vikander.

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BOSCH: LEGACY---trailer released for the last season.

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DISCLOSURE---photo released of Steven Spielberg and Emily Blunt on the film set of the UFO movie in New Jersey.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD---the sequel has earned $290 million worldwide, but its earnings dropped 68% after its first weekend which indicates it chances of reaching $400 million to breakeven are not guaranteed.

JAMES BOND---a source said Christopher Nolan was interested in directing a James Bond movie, but producer Barbara Broccoli did not want Nolan because she had final say on the movie, “Broccoli made clear that no director would have final cut while Bond was under her purview”. Nolan decide to pass on the 007 movie and made OPPENHEIMER which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and made almost $1 billion.

JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX---Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav reportedly had Warner Bros. co-heads Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy fly to company headquarters in New York to complain about FOLIE A DEUX being a box office bomb. Zaslav "railed against the performance of the film… [and] decried the mounting costs of the studio’s upcoming releases”. A Warner Bros. spokesperson denied the repor,t and said it only a “straightforward Joker 2 postmortem”.
Warner Bros. has lost over 50% of its market share since Warner Bros. and Discovery merged in 2022.

THE BEEKEEPER 2---Timo Tjahjanto (NOBODY 2) will direct the sequel to the 2024 Jason Statham action movie.

TRIVIA---Robert Cornthwaite is best known for playing scientists in sci fi classics including THE WAR OF THE WORLDS , THE THING (FROM ANOTHER WORLD) and other movies. Cornthwaite also provided the voice for Dr. Otto Martens in the 1961 Danish revived-dinosaur movie REPTILICUS.

Robert Cornthwaite played Dr. Arthur Carrington in THE THING (FROM ANOTHER WORLD).

Cornthwaite played Dr. Pryor in THE WAR OF THE WORLDS.

Cornthwaite provided the voice for Dr. Otto Martens in the US version of the Danish revived-dinosaur movie REPTILICUS.

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[dragon53]

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28

A WORKING MAN---trailer released for the Jason Statham action movie.

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A MINECRAFT MOVIE---trailer released for the movie starring Jason Momoa.

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CONTROL FREAK---trailer released for the Hulu horror movie starring Kelly Marie Tran.

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STAR WARS---Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy denied reports she is retiring as head of Lucasfilm, “I am not retiring. I will never retire from movies. I will die making movies. That is the first thing that’s important to say. I am not retiring. What’s happening at Lucasfilm is I have been talking for quite some time with both [Disney’s] Bob [Iger] and Alan [Bergman] about what eventual succession might look like.”
She added, "We’ve been talking about [succession], as I said, nonstop for the last couple of years because for obvious reasons, I’m not going to be here forever. George [Lucas] asked me 13 years ago to step in, and now I’m looking at who’s going to replace me. And as I said, we have a bench of people internally to handle the business, the creative side. The job has grown also since I stepped in. There was no streaming, there weren’t a lot of the things that we’re involved in right now going on. So it has grown.”
Kennedy also commented on the status of three STAR WARS movie projects. She said Shawn Levy's movie is set after the Skywalker Saga, “Shawn’s is a standalone STAR WARS story that’ll take place post-nine, maybe five or six years out...And with this, it’s all pretty much new characters. We may bring some of the characters back from the sequel saga, but pretty much new characters.” Ryan Gosling is in talks to star in the Levy movie.
Kennedy commented on the Taika Waititi STAR WARS movie, “I keep waiting for Taika, and he is working with another writer now. He’s so busy.”
She added, “I love him. I think if we ever do get a script from Taika, it’s going to be fantastic. I already saw a first act that I loved, but tying him down, it’s tricky.”
In 2023, Waititi said, “My thing is I want to take my time with that and get it right. I don’t want to rush this movie.”
Kennedy also commented on the status of the Simon Kinberg trilogy, which will continue the Skywalker Saga, “That has gone exceptionally well, and he’s literally going to script as we speak. We’ll see something probably around June. “

CLAYFACE---James Gunn commented on rumors that Daniel Radcliffe will co-star in the DC Studios movie, “Because we don’t have a director yet, we haven’t even started the casting process. Daniel is great but we certainly haven’t talked to or considered him. So this one is 100% false.”

REMAIN---Jake Gyllenhaal and Alicia Vikander will star in the "supernatural romantic thriller" movie directed and co-written by M. Night Shyamalan.

DEXTER: RESURRECTION---Krysten Ritter will have a recurring role as Mia Lapierre, who may be a serial killer.

DEEP CUTS---Austin Butler and Saoirse Ronan will star in the movie based on the upcoming novel whose synopsis says, “Set in the 2000s, DEEP CUTS is a love story about two music-obsessed twentysomethings navigating the messy realities of ambition, belonging and adulthood over the course of an era-defining decade.”

TRIVIA---the HBO WESTWORLD tv series was based on Michael Crichton's hit sci fi movie which starred Richard Benjamin and Yul Bryner. However, the first tv series based on the movie was the 1980 tv sequel BEYOND WESTWORLD in which John Moore, Delos Corporation's Security Chief, must stop mad scientist Simon Quaid from using the theme park's androids to conquer the world. BEYOND WESTWORLD starred Jim McMullan, James Wainwright and Connie Selleca. The series was cancelled after only three episodes aired.

The HBO WESTWORLD tv series was based on the 1973 Michael Crichton movie/novel that starred Richard Benjamin and Yul Bryner.

The first tv series based on the WESTWORLD movie was the 1980 tv sequel BEYOND WESTWORLD, which was cancelled after three episodes.

 

[marco55]

Maybe all those drones and UFO's flying over New Jersey was Spielberg making his movie.
Mark

 

[dragon53]

MONDAY, MARCH 3

BALLERINA---tv ad released for the JOHN WICK spinoff assassin movie starring Ana de Armas.

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DOCTOR WHO---trailer released for Season 2.

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THE ELECTRIC STATE---new trailer released for the Netflix sci fi movie.

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PARENTING---trailer released for the Max comedy horror movie starring Lisa Kudrow and Brian Cox.

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LORD OF THE RINGS: THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM---Andy Serkis update the premiere date for the movie, “Yeah, it is not 2026. It was originally going to be December 2026. It is going to be December 2027. We are right at the beginning of the writing process. We will be prepping later this year. Prep takes a good chunk of time, six or seven months, and then we will be shooting next year. So, it backs into that December 2027 release date.”

ICHABOD---Timothee Chalamet has reportedly been offered the starring role in the Disney live-action movie based on "The Legend of Sleep Hollow" short story.

MAD MAX---George Miller commented on a possible new movie in the franchise, “We’ve got another [MAD MAX] script, but having been doing this long enough where I’m habituated to storytelling, I find myself with way too many stories — not only in my head, but in the form of screenplays or at least very detailed notes that are within reach of screenplays. I’m a professional daydreamer, really. This was seen as my big deficit as a kid: ‘George would do better at school if he didn’t daydream so much’ was on my report card.
So, there’s lots of stories. Indeed, one of them is a MAD MAX. It is not something I would do next, because there’s two things I’m keen to do next. But if for whatever reason the planets align, you can never tell. Too often, you’re lining up to do a movie and then something happens. Some things fall into place and some don’t, so all I can say is we’ll see.”

MCU---Marvel TV head Brad Winderbaum commented on if AVENGERS: SECRET WARS will lead to a reboot of the MCU, “[a reboot] a very difficult thing to do to a living, breathing fictional universe to just start from scratch, because of all of the fan investment and love for the stories that have come so far.”
He was asked if a MCU reboot had ever been discussed, “You’re going to have to ask Kevin [Feige] about the features. I’m on the TV side, but we do navigate the same waters and live in the same universe.”

ACADEMY AWARDS---fans were irate at the 97th Academy Awards "In Memoriam" segment for actors who died since last year's ceremony that were not mentioned. Those ignored included Tony Roberts, Michelle Trachtenberg, Tony Todd, Alain Delon, Martin Mull, Shannen Doherty and Olivia Hussy.

CRAZY RICH ASIANS---Max is developing a tv series based on the 2018 movie.

MAXIMUM PLEASURE GUARANTEED---Tatiana Maslany will star in the Apple TV+ tv series whose synopsis says, “The half-hour-long series centers around a newly divorced mom (Maslany), who falls down a dangerous rabbit hole of blackmail, murder, and youth soccer. "

TRIVIA---Academy Award trivia.
Walt Disney holds the record for most Academy Awards won by an individual with 26 Oscars.
Among the 26 Oscars are FERDINAND THE BULL for Best Short Subject, Cartoon in 1938 (the voice of Ferdinand's mother was Walt Disney) and DER FUHRER'S FACE, Best Short Subject, Cartoon in1943 which promoted buying war bonds during World War II.

 

[dragon53]

TUESDAY, MARCH 4

THE WOMAN IN THE YARD---trailer released for the horror movie.

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SIDE QUEST---trailer released for the Apple TV+ fantasy anthology tv series.

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LANTERNS--photo released from the HBO/DCU tv series starring Aaron Pierre as John Stewart and Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan.

ACADEMY AWARDS---Adrien Brody's acceptance speech for Best Actor in THE BRUTALIST set a Guinness World Record of 5 minutes and 40 seconds which broke the 1943 record set by Greer Garson for Best Actress in MRS. MINIVER of 5 minutes and 30 seconds.

JOHN WICK 5---Keanu Reeves commented on a new sequel, “You know, the character’s dead. He died in JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4. I know, in Hollywood you can [revive dead characters]. I know, I know, it’s the Hollywood story. Right now, there isn’t [any plans].”

JAMES BOND---William Boyd, author of SOLO: A JAMES BOND NOVEL, commented on Amazon MGM Studios buying the creative rights to the James Bond franchise, "It is too late. The great schism is that the films have nothing to do with the novels. The films are preposterous action movies that have to sell globally and so cannot have too much dialogue."
He added, “Certainly wait for Bond aftershave – and for the theme park and the dinner jackets. The new owners will have to commodify everything about their billion-dollar purchase, so there will be nightclubs and vodkas.”

JENNIFER'S BODY---Amanda Seyfried commented on if a sequel to the 2009 cannibal movie that starred Megan Fox and Seyfried is underway, "We’re making another one.”

TIANA---Disney+ shelved the animated tv series based on the 2009 animated movie THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG.

TRIVIA---sci fi/horror writer Richard Matheson was happy with how Richard Donner directed his screenplay for the classic THE TWILIGHT ZONE episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"---except for the episode's Gremlin. The original director was Jacques Tourneur, who wanted the Gremlin to be as Matheson described it in his screenplay, "It was a hideously malignant face, a face not human. Its skin was grimy, of a wide-pored coarseness; its nose a squat, discolored lump; its lips misshapen, cracked, forced apart by teeth of a grotesque size and crookedness; its eyes recessed and small — unblinking. All framed by shaggy, tangled hair which sprouted, too, in furry tufts from the man’s ears and nose, birdlike, down across his cheeks."
However, Tourneur was replaced by Donner (who later gained fame as the director of SUPERMAN and the LETHAL WEAPON movies) for an unknown reason, and Donner wanted the Gremlin to be a creature. Matheson added, "I didn't think much of that thing on the wing. I wish Jacques Tourneur had directed it, because he had a different idea. The man who was inside that suit looked exactly the way I described him in the story. All they had to do was use him the way he was. Tourneur was going to put a dark suit on him and cover him with diamond dust so that you hardly saw what was out there. This thing looked like a panda bear."

 

[dragon53]

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5

THE BONDSMAN---red band trailer released for the Amazon Prime supernatural bounty hunter movie starring Kevin Bacon.

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MOBLAND---trailer released for the Paramount+ crime series starring Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren.

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WARFARE---featurette released for the Alex Garland movie about the Iraq War.

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HAPPY FACE---trailer released for the Paramount+ two-part serial killer miniseries starring Dennis Quaid.

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VERTIGO---Steven Knight (PEAKY BLINDERS) commented on the status of Robert Downey Jr.'s remake of the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock movie starring Jimmy Stewart, “It’s swirling around in my head as we speak. I’m having flashbacks to about an hour ago when I was writing. It’s an interesting—I mean, of course, people consider it the best film ever made. So you’d have to be an idiot to adapt it, and so that’s what I am."
He added, “…But, you know, I like stuff like that. I like it. It’s just so weird to try and do it and just give it a go. Taking that plot apart is like diffusing a second World War time bomb. It’s all over. It’s very complex, but it’s what’s occupying my waking hours.”

THE BATMAN 2---Robert Pattinson was asked if the sequel will start filming soon, “I f—ing hope so [laughing]. I started out as young Batman, and I’m going to be f—ing old Batman by the sequel.”

SCREAM 7---David Arquette is returning as Deputy Dewey Riley, who was killed off in SCREAM 5.

FBI---CBS cancelled FBI: MOST WANTED and FBI: INTERNATIONAL.

TRIVIA---Academy Award-winning director George Miller, best known as the creator of the MAD MAX movies, was a physician before he turned to making movies. During his final year of medical school, Miller and his younger brother, Chris, made the short film ST. VINCENT'S FILM REVUE for a student competition and won first prize. One of the two cinematographers on the short film was Phillip Noyce, who later directed the Jack Ryan movies PATRIOT GAMES and CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER starring Harrison Ford.

Academy Award-winning director George Miller, best known as the creator of the MAD MAX movies, was a physician before he turned to making movies.

Miller's short film ST. VINCENT'S FILM REVUE won a student competition award and one of the short film's cinematographers was Phillip Noyce, who later directed the Jack Ryan movies PATRIOT GAMES and CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER starring Harrison Ford.

 

[dragon53]

THURSDAY, MARCH 6

ANDOR---featurette released for Season 2.

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GUNSLINGERS---trailer released for the Western movie starring Nicolas Cage.

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JAMES BOND---Christopher Nolan is reportedly Amazon MGM Studios' top candidate to direct the next James Bond movie with “half a dozen industry insiders” saying “Nolan remains both the top choice and the perfect filmmaker to reinvigorate Bond." One source said, “There is [a] strong mutual desire to make it happen.”
Pierce Brosnan commented on rumors he is returning as the older James Bond, “I’ve heard of that. Of course, how could I not be interested? But it’s a delicate situation now. I think it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie, really. I think so. It’s a rather romantic notion and idea, but I think everything changes, everything falls apart. I think that it’s best left to another man, really. Fresh blood.”

AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY---co-director Joe Russo said Robert Downey, Jr. is writing Dr. Doom's backstory, "...writing backstory [and sharing] costume ideas. We were just on the phone with him this morning before we got here talking about it…He just loves really rich, three-dimensional characters. I think he sees a real opportunity here with that character.”
Russo said Millie Bobby Brown, who starred in the Russo Brothers' THE ELECTRIC STATE, might return in other Russo projects, “Millie’s on the list for every project. You can’t honestly, you just can’t ask for a bigger star right now…Yeah, we’ll put her in anything.”

THE LAST OF US---Joe Pantoliano (THE SOPRANOS, THE FUGITIVE) will play Eugene in Season 2.

MONOPOLY---John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES) will write the screenplay for the movie based on the board game.

ENOLA HOLMES 3---Millie Bobby Brown commented on the status of the sequel, “I’m going to be doing an ENOLA HOLMES 3 this year. We start filming in the coming weeks. I’m very excited.”

THE WALKING DEAD: THE ONES WHO LIVE---Scott M. Gimple commented on a possible sequel to the miniseries, "The plan was to keep [THE WALKING DEAD: THE ONES WHO LIVE] limited,”. However, he added, “You never know.”

INVINCIBLE---Jeffrey Dean Morgan will reportedly provide the voice for Conquest in Season 3.

THE ARK---SYFY renewed the series for Season 3.

THE RECRUIT---Netflix cancelled the series.

TRIVIA---Matthew Vaughn is best known for directing X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE. Vaughn is married to supermodel Claudia Schiffer, who is in the Guinness Book of World Records for appearing on over 1,000 magazine covers.

Matthew Vaughn is best known for directing X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE.

Vaughn is married to supermodel Claudia Schiffer, who is in the Guinness Book of World Records for appearing on over 1,000 magazine covers.

 

[dragon53]

FRIDAY, MARCH 7

THE WOMAN WITH RED HAIR---trailer released for the AI-created World War II French Resistance movie.

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GOVERNMENT CHEESE---trailer released for the Apple TV+ comedy series starring David Oyelowo.

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BLADE RUNNER 2099---star Tom Burke commented on the Amazon Prime tv sequel to the two movies by saying the tv series is “much closer to the aesthetic of the first movie than the second movie.”

EVEL KNIEVEL ON TOUR---Adrien Brody is in talks to co-star with Leonardo DiCaprio in Damien Chazelle's Evel Knievel biomovie. Brody would reportedly play sports promoter Shelly Saltman, who was attacked by Knievel with an aluminum bat. Brody's deal is dependent on DiCaprio's, “No formal offer has gone out, and nothing can be done until DiCaprio closes his deal, the sources stressed.”

KAROSHI---Cynthia Erivo (WICKED) will co-star in the movie that is described as a “corporate thriller with a samurai twist.”

JAMES BOND---James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli commented on Amazon MGM Studios executives in a WALL STREET JOURNAL article, "These people are f*cking idiots." A source said Amazon founder Jeff Bezos "read her quote in the JOURNAL and got on the phone and said, ‘I don’t care what it costs, get rid of her.'"
John Cork, James Bond documentarian, commented on Amazon MGM Studios and 007, “People think they know James Bond because they know the iconography of the martini and the gun and the gadgets. But there is a very particular set of things that occur below the surface that have kept the character resonating for over 60 years. There’s a line from the novel GOLDFINGER about how high tension was Bond’s ‘natural way of life’ and that ‘pressure and danger relaxed him’. Amazon is going to need to get people in the room who understand that.”

WHALEFALL---Austin Abrams (WOLFS) will star in the survival movie based on the novel whose synopsis says, "Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool’s errand—to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. He knows it’s a long shot, but Jay feels it’s the only way for him to lift the weight of guilt he has carried since his dad’s death by suicide the previous year.
The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid’s tentacles and drawn into the whale’s mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out—one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale."

SAS: ROGUE HEROES---creator Steven Knight said Season 3 is being planned, “We can’t leave it there. We can’t leave it there. No, no, we will. There’s more to come. You wait ‘til [Season] 3. Oh my god.”
He added, “We want to take this to the end of the war, and just a bit beyond.”

THE RECRUIT---executive producer Alexi Hawley posted the possibility of a movie sequel after Netflix cancelled the CIA series, “Is two seasons and a movie a thing? Cause we’d all be there in a heartbeat.”

S.W.A.T.---CBS cancelled the series again.

TRIVIA---in WHO IS KILLING THE GREAT CHEFS OF EUROPE?, Robert Morley played Max Vandeveer, publisher of EPICURUS MAGAZINE, whose article features the world's four greatest meals and thir chefs, but then someone starts killing the four chefs one by one. Morley's portrayal of the culinary connoisseur led to him being awarded the Best Supporting Actor from both the National Society of Film Critics Awards (1979) and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards (1978). It also led to Morley making a series of lucrative tv ads for Heinz soup as "Mr. Soup".


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