Movie/TV News (2 Viewers)

[dragon53]

TUESDAY, JANUARY 7

THE LAST OF US---trailer released for Season 2.

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HEART EYES---trailer released for the Valentines Day slasher movie.

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THE MATRIX---Will Smith, who turned down the offer to star in the original movie, posted a MATRIX video which some fans speculating Smith might be starring in the reboot movie. Insiders deny Smith is starring in the next THE MATRIX movie.

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GRIM---Peacock is developing a reboot of the NBC horror cop tv series. Co-creators David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf are returning as executive producers. Josh Berman (DROP DEAD DIVA) is the writer.

PLAYSTATION---Sony Pictures is developing two live action movies based on the PlayStation video games HELLDIVERS and HORIZON: ZERO DAWN. Sony is also developing an anime tv series based on the GHOST OF TUSHIMA video game.

THE DOG STARS---Jacob Elordi is in talks to star in the Ridley Scott pandemic movie. He would replace Paul Mescal who left due to a schedule problem.

DUNE: PART TWO---Denis Villeneuve commented on composer Hans Zimmer not being eligible for an Academy Award because PART TWO's score has too much music that is shared with PART ONE's score, “I am absolutely against the decision of the Academy to exclude Hans, frankly, because I feel like his score is one of the best scores of the year. I don’t use the word genius often, but Hans is one.”
Villeneuve added that PART TWO is “rooted in PART ONE” and they are “one big movie that is cut in half.”

AMERICAN PSYCHO---Bret Easton denied reports that a remake of the movie based on his novel and to be directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Austin Butler is underway, “I have a feeling it’s fake news. I heard somewhere, from someone, that there are no contracts. Austin Butler hasn’t signed anything to play Patrick Bateman. Luca doesn’t have a deal. Scott Burns, who is supposed to write the screenplay, doesn’t have a deal either.
From various sources that I have, this is just fake news that was put out there to see how an audience is going to react…. If it does exist, I am not involved, I have nothing to do with this, I might get some money if they do this, but I am not involved creatively on any level, and that is all I know.”

SHOGUN---co-creator Rachel Kondo commented on the status of Season 2, “Well, it’s ongoing. We’re still trying. We haven’t given up. And I’m not sure what we can say.” Her husband and co-creator Justin Marks added, “We’re about six weeks from the end of the writers room.”

MELANIA TRUMP---Amazon Prime documentary underway about Melania Trump that will give “viewers an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at First Lady Melania Trump”. Brett Ratner (RUSH HOUR) is the director.

TRIVIA---James Coburn was in two episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE. In the episode "The Old Man in the Cave", Coburn played militia leader Major French, who plots to steal canned food from a starving town ten years after a nuclear war. In the episode "The Shelter", Coburn was the voice of the CONELRAD civil defense radio announcer who warns people to take shelter after mysterious objects in the sky may mean a nuclear attack is underway.

In THE TWILIGHT ZONE episode "The Old Man in the Cave", James Coburn played militia leader Major French, who plots to steal canned food from a starving town ten years after a nuclear war.

In the episode "The Shelter", Coburn was the voice of the CONELRAD civil defense radio announcer who warns people to take shelter after mysterious objects in the sky may mean a nuclear attack is underway.

 

[dragon53]

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8

THE ALIEN PERSPECTIVE---trailer released for the UFO documentary that will be streamed on Amazon Prime and Apple TV+.

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IN THE LOST LANDS---trailer released for the action movie starring Dave Bautista and Milla Jovovich.

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COMPANION---trailer released for the android movie starring Jack Quaid.

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REACHER---trailer released for Season 3.

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STAR WARS: DAWN OF THE JEDI---James Mangold commented on the prequel movie, “To me, the really important aspects are the freedom to make something new. Beau and I, in relation to STAR WARS, have been working on a script, and we’ll see what happens […] Do we find a way on the page to say something original?
The STAR WARS movie would be taking place 25,000 years before any known STAR WARS movies takes place. It’s an area and a playground that I’ve always [wanted to explore] and that I was inspired by as a teenager. I’m not that interested in being handcuffed by so much lore at this point that it’s almost immovable, and you can’t please anybody.”

THE PARTNER---Tom Holland will star in the movie based on the John Grisham novel about a young law partner who embezzles $90 million from a crooked client, fakes his death and is then pursued by the client.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS---Taylor Kitsch said he has been asked to return for the Peacock reboot of the Texas high school football tv series, “I’ve been asked, and we’ll leave it at that."
He added, "Never say never, but I would come in and do something, maybe for an episode or something, but I don’t wanna go and do the whole thing. I’d go and have fun but I don’t want to lead an FNL reboot or anything. I love the continuously challenging roles and to keep pushing.”

HOLES--Disney+ pilot underway based on the 2003 movie that starred Shia Labeouf and Sigourney Weaver. The pilot synopsis says, “In this reimagining of the beloved 1998 book from Louis Sachar, a teenage girl is sent to a detention camp where the ruthless Warden forces the campers to dig holes for a mysterious purpose,”

THE DARK KNIGHT---Armie Hammer will star in the Uwe Boll movie about a vigilante who becomes a hero, but the police chief sees him as a criminal and seeks to stop him.

TRIVIA---in THE WILD BUNCH bank robbery shootout scene, the little boy watching the carnage in the street was played by director Sam Peckinpah's son, Matthew.

 

[dragon53]

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9

A WORKING MAN---trailer released for the Amazon MGM Studios action movie starring Jason Statham.

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SNL50: BEYOND SATURDAY NIGHT---trailer released for the Peacock SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE four-part docuseries.

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SNIPER: THE LAST STAND---trailer released for the latest movie in the SNIPER franchise.

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SQUID GAME---spoiler alert (see below).

BATMAN---Andy Muschietti commented on if Robert Pattinson will play Batman in James Gunn's DCU, “As everyone knows, the Batman featured in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD will belong to the new DC Universe. It’s quite obvious that Matt Reeves’ Batman is not part of this new universe.”

BLACK PANTHER 3---Marvel Studios is reportedly thinking about resurrecting T'Challa after the character was killed off due to Chadwick Boseman's death.

SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS---Andy Muschietti said the Sony Pictures movie based on the PlayStation video game has not been cancelled, “I’m not a big gamer, but SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS seems to me a masterpiece and I played it several times. The movie has been in development for 10 years. … (It’s) not an abandoned project, far from it. I love this film, there is a script that I like a lot, but there are factors that have nothing to do with your desire to make it, but with how popular an intellectual property like this is. SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS is a cult game.”

WICKED: FOR GOOD---director Jon Chu defended the sequel's new title, “Who wants a movie called WICKED: PART TWO? On the script, it always said, ‘For Good,’ and so it was just a point of like, ‘Do we really want to call this PART TWO? And nobody wants that. I mean, that’s the destination. 'For Good' we know, is like, ‘Where are we going with this movie? Let’s finish this thing,’”

TRIVIA---James Caan received an Academy Award nomination for playing Sonny Corleone in THE GODFATHER. Co-starring in the classic THE GODFATHER was a big leap up from Caan's first movie role which was the uncredited part of a soldier listening to a baseball game on a transistor radio while he walks with a hooker as they head to her apartment in IRMA LA DOUCE (Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine).

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SQUID GAME---star Park Gyu-Young posted a Season 3 photo, that was later deleted, that showed her sitting in her red guard uniform and the actor sitting in the background in his red guard uniform appears to be Lee Jin Wook, whose character appeared to be killed off in Season 2's finale.

 

[dragon53]

FRIDAY, JANUARY 10

THE QUIET ONES---trailer released for the Danish heist movie.

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STAR WARS: AHSOKA---Rory McCann (GAME OF THRONES) will replace the deceased Ray Stevenson as Baylan Skoll in Season 2.

RESURRECTION OF THE CHRIST---Mel Gibson commented on when the sequel will start filming, “I’m hoping next year sometime. There’s a lot required because it’s an acid trip. I’ve never read anything like it."
He also said the sequel will cover a lengthy timeline, “...from the fall of the angels to the death of the last apostle" and will require de-aging CGI for Jim Caviezel.

SNOW WHITE---USA TODAY posted a photo from the remake movie showing Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen and Rachel Zegler as Snow White.

28 YEARS LATER---Danny Boyle will return to direct the untitled third movie in the new trilogy. Nia DaCosta (THE MARVELS) will direct the new trilogy's second movie, 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE.
Also, producer Andrew MacDonald said Cillian Murphy is not in the first of the new trilogy, "We wanted him to be involved and he wanted to be involved. He is not in the first film, but I’m hoping there will be some Jim somewhere along the line. He’s involved at the moment as an executive producer and I would hope we can work with him in some way in the future in the trilogy.”

DUNE MESSIAH---Denis Villeneuve said MESSIAH will be his last movie in the DUNE series, “I still want to go back to Arrakis...After that, it would become unhealthy.”

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD---WWE wrestler Seth Rollins said his role was cut out of the Marvel movie, “I wish (CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD) the best, but I am not a part of that film. Well, does my NDA still apply if I’m not in the film anymore? Truth be told, any answer I gave would only be my opinion on it. The script went through a lot of rewrites and reshoots so what I was there to do, essentially my role got either repurposed or completely erased.”
He added, "I’m not in the movie. I will say unequivocally I’m not in the film. I do not want anybody to go to the film thinking, ‘I’m here to see Seth Rollins.’“

JOHN WICK---Donnie Yuen said he will star in a spinoff movie, but Lionsgate may let him direct the spinoff, “I think both the fans, as well as the studio, want this to happen, and we’ll see. I don’t know… I can only tell you that much. But yes, we are talking, and we are talking intimately. We’ll see what happens. But at the same time, I hold responsibility as well as a pressure that I don’t want to ruin the franchise. I try to do my best to bring something fresh to the franchise itself. I don’t want to bring down the expectations for the fans. I try to do my best, like always.”

IT: WELCOME TO DERRY---Andy Muschietti said the HBO prequel tv series will have three seasons, “It’s a story that’s based on the interludes of the book. The interludes are basically chapters that reflect Mike Hanlon’s research. They’re fragments of his research. For 27 years, it’s the guy trying to figure out what it is, what did it, who did it, who saw it, and all that stuff.
So they talk about catastrophic events from the past, like the fire in the Black Spot…. the massacre of the Bradley Gang, a gang of bank robbers in the ’30s… and the explosion of the Kitchener Ironworks. Every time [Pennywise] comes out of hibernation, there is a catastrophic event that happens at the beginning of that cycle.
There’s a reason why the story is told backward. So the first season is 1962, the second season is 1935, and the third season is 1908.”

TRIVIA---in a 2024 poll of 2,000 people by Talker Research, the perfect movie runtime was 92 minutes. The poll found 15% of the respondents wanted a movie lasting 120 minutes or more and only 2% wanted a movie lasting over 150 minutes.
Denis Villeneuve, whose last three movies had run times of over 150 minutes (BLADE RUNNER 2049, DUNE, DUNE: PART TWO) commented on movie runtime, “There is a trend. The youth love to watch long movies because if they pay, they want to see something substantial. They are craving meaningful content.”

 

[dragon53]

MONDAY, JANUARY 13

THE HUNTING PARTY---trailer released for the NBC crime tv series.

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PRIME TARGET---trailer released for the Apple TV+ thriller series.

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THE ODYSSEY---Christopher Nolan's Greek mythology movie reportedly has a budget of $250 million, which would make it Nolan's most expensive movie. The most expensive movie ever is STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS which had a reported budget of $440 million.

THE MATRIX---a rumor claims Ariana Grande (WICKED) is being "eyed for a leading role" in the latest movie in the franchise.

THE WIZARD OF THE KREMLIN---Jude Law will play Vladimir Putin in the movie based on the novel. The novel's synopsis says,“Known as the ‘Wizard of the Kremlin,’ the enigmatic Vadim Baranov was a TV producer before becoming a political advisor to Putin, aka ‘The Czar.’ After his resignation from this position, legends about him multiply, with no one able to distinguish truth from fiction. Until one night, when he tells his story to te narrator of this book…
He immerses us in the heart of the Russian state, where sycophants and oligarchs have been engaging in open warfare, and where Vadim, now the regime’s main spin doctor, turns an entire country into an avant-garde political stage. Yet Vadim is not as ambitious as the others. Entangled in the increasingly dark secrets of the regime he has helped create, he will do anything to get out, guided by the memory of his grandfather, an eccentric aristocrat who survived the Revolution, and the mesmerizing, merciless Ksenia, whom he has fallen in love with.”

WALT DISNEY---a recent Rasmussen Reports national poll of 1,408 American adults shows that 47% of the respondents surveyed say current Disney movies and tv are worse than in the past, 16% say current Disney projects are better than the past and 29% say past and present Disney movie/tv projects are the same.

THE FLASH---director Andy Muschietti commented on why the superhero movie bombed, “Among all the others reasons, because it wasn’t a movie that appealed to all four quadrants. It failed at that. When you spend $200 million making a movie, Warner wants to bring even your grandmother to the theaters. And I found out in private conversations that a lot of people just don’t care about The Flash as a character. [Particularly] the two female quadrants, there are a lot of women who aren’t interested in Flash as a character. All that is going against the film I’ve learned.”

JURASSIC WORLD---Universal Pictures is reportedly developing live-action tv series based on JURASSIC WORLD and FAST AND THE FURIOUS for Peacock.

LANDMAN---Billy Bob Thornton commented on Season 2, “The first question about Season 2, we don’t know officially that we’re going to have one. Usually shows that are this successful, they’d do it again. So, I can only imagine that they would, but I don’t know for sure.”

TRIVIA---Sally Field won an Academy Award in 1985 for PLACES IN THE HEART, but her acceptance speech of “I can’t deny the fact that you like me. Right now, you like me” has been misquoted as being a self-indulgent, “You like me. You really, really like me.” Field said being misquoted is "frustrating" and she added, “Sometimes I want to punch them in the nose, but mostly because they don’t ever say the context of what I said before."
However, Field partly eased her frustration to the tune of big bucks when she appeared in a Charles Schwab tv commercial which spoofed her Oscar acceptance speech.


OSCAR ACCEPTANCE SPEECH:

CHARLES SCHWAB TV AD:

 

[dragon53]

TUESDAY, JANUARY 14

THE ALTO KNIGHTS---trailer released for the mob movie starring Robert De Niro.

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BACK IN ACTION---trailer released for the Netflix action movie starring Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz.

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PRESENCE---trailer released for the Steven Soderbergh horror movie.

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THE WITCHER: SIRENS OF THE DEEP---trailer released for the Netflix animated movie.

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UNTIL DAWN---featurette released for the Sony Pictures horror movie based on the video game.

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STAR WARS---movie insider Kristian Harloff claimed the plot for THE MANDALORIAN & GROGU will have Din and Grogu hired to rescue Rotta the Hutt, son of Jabba the Hutt, after he was kidnapped. They must tangle with bounty hunter Embo, the movie's main villain, who is hired to kill Rotta. Jeremy Jeremy Allen White (THE BEAR) will play a "buff" Rotta, and Sigourney Weaver will co-star in an undisclosed role. Dave Filoni will return as the voice of Embo.
Harloff also claimed AHSOKA Season 2 will have Ewan McGregor return as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader in a "pretty big role". Ariana Greenblatt will return as a young Ahsoka.

MEET THE PARENTS---Ben Stiller said he, Robert De Niro, Blythe Danner and Teri Polo are in talks to return for the latest sequel to the 2000 movie, but he added it “is not a done deal... I think everybody wants to make it happen.”

CATnip---synopsis released for the comedy horror movie, “Jake Busey and Charlotte Kirk lead the cast as detectives investigating a group of eclectic people in an apartment building on Christmas Eve, who need to band together to survive the night against a horde of feral killer cats.”

TRIVIA---Jeri Taylor was a producer and writer on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION and STAR TREK: VOYAGER. Taylor's first husband was sportscaster Dick Enberg, who won 13 Sports Emmy Awards.

Jeri Taylor was a producer and writer on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION and STAR TREK: VOYAGER.

Taylor's first husband was Sports Emmy Award-winning sportscaster Dick Enberg,

 

[dragon53]

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15

ZERO DAY---trailer released for the Netflix miniseries starring Robert De Niro.

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DAREDEVIL, BORN AGAIN---trailer released for the Disney+ Marvel tv series.

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STAR WARS: SKELETON CREW---the Disney+ tv spinoff tv series starring Jude Law had the lowest premiere of any STAR WARS tv series ever according to AC Nielsen. The two-episode SKELETON CREW premiere had under 382 million minutes viewed compared to THE ACOLYTE's two-episode premiere of 488 million minutes viewed---and THE ACOLYTE was cancelled after Season 1.
Co-creator Jon Watts commented on a possible Season 2, “Yeah, we wanted to make sure this season had a satisfying beginning, middle, and end. But, if people want to see more SKELETON CREW, we’d be happy to make more.
It’s exciting to think about. We’ve mainly been focused on telling this story, but there’s always a chance that they [the kids] could meet some surprising people in the future.”
Co-creator Christopher Ford added: “We’re dreaming of it [Season 2]. We’ve come up with different possibilities, so never say never.”

AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH---art released of the sequel's Wind Traders which were described by James Cameron as, “They’re nomadic traders, equivalent to the camel caravans of the Spice Road back in the Middle Ages, And you know, they’re just fun. Like all Na’vi, they live in a symbiosis with their creatures…If you’ve got any nautical blood in your veins, you’ll want to be on [their] ship.”

GREMLINS 3---DEADLINE reported that Warner Bros. is developing a new sequel to the hit 1984 movie with Christopher Columbus returning to write the script. In 2020, Columbus said, "I wrote a script, so there is an existing script. We’re working out some rights issues right now, so we’re just trying to figure out when the best time to make that film would be. I would still do it the same way – I would do it as tangible puppets, not CGI. Maybe having — you know we had one stop-motion scene in the first Gremlins, but I don’t think I’d use much CGI in GREMLINS 3."

BACK TO THE FUTURE---photo posted of Michael J. Fox and James Tolkan in a "slacker" reunion at FanExpo New Orleans. The photo caption says, “Slackers never change and Mr. Strickland will be sure to remind you. Michael J. Fox and James Tolkan reunited at #FANEXPONewOrleans2025 today and it was just like old times”.

SWAMP THING---director James Mangold commented on Warner Bros./DCU plans for the movie, "With other kinds of IP, it gets to a religious level. While I'm sure DC views SWAMP THING as a franchise, I would be viewing it as a very simple, clean, Gothic horror movie about this man/monster... Just doing my own thing with this, just a standalone."

YOU SHOULD BE DANCING---Ridley Scott said he has shelved his Bee Gees biomovie and explained why, “The deal—the studio changed the goalposts. I said, ‘You can’t do that.’
They insisted. I said, ‘Well, I’m going to warn you, I will walk, because I will go on to the next movie.’ They didn’t believe me, and I did.”
He added, “I was being asked to go too far. And I said, ‘No. Next!’ They didn’t like my deal. So I said, I’ll move on. I’m expensive, but I’m f*cking good.”

DOCTOR---Jared Padalecki will star in an untitled CBS medical series whose synopsis says Padalecki will play a, “...headstrong, devoted country doctor, who practices his unique style of improvisational medicine alongside his new protégé, a young doctor running from her past, as they operate a mobile clinic and heal the bodies and souls of their underserved community in the medical desert of rural Texas.”

TRIVIA---the assassin movie JOHN WICK resurrected Keanu Reeves' career. However, JOHN WICK producer Basil Iwanyk said the original script envisioned Clint Eastwood or Harrison Ford playing the retired assassin, "The lead was a seventy-five-year-old man, twenty-five years after being retired. It was the fun of watching Clint Eastwood kick ass. I thought, Okay, there's probably one or two names you could do this with: Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford. Other than that, I'm not sure how I put this movie together. But the tone of the script for John Wick was subversive and really fun. It has a very clear emotional through line and a great premise for an action movie."

 

[Terp152]

I thought It was Stephen King's best work and the movies well done. A three season tv series could be interesting.

 

[dragon53]

THURSDAY, JANUARY 16

SURVIVING BLACK HAWK DOWN---trailer released for the Netflix three-part docuseries about the Battle of MOGADISHU that inspired Ridley Scott's BLACK HAWK DOWN.

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SPARTACUS: HOUSE OF ASHUR---trailer released for the Starz spinoff series.

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THE MONKEY---trailer released for the horror movie based on the Stephen King short story.

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ALIEN: ROMULUS---Fede Alvarez said a sequel is underway, “Rodo [Sayagues, co-writer] and I are working on that right now. We’re excited about where it can go. We’ve almost checked all of the boxes of things that I want to see [in Romulus], and brought back a lot of the things I hadn’t seen in a while. Wherever we go now, we can go into uncharted waters.”
The sequel will have Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and Andy (David Jonsson) returning, “I think it’ll be so exciting to go with characters you know from this movie, to a place in the ALIEN franchise that we’ve never been before, and to discover things that you’ve never seen before. The mistake usually with sequels is to make them because you can, and because of the success of ROMULUS, we definitely can make a sequel. But I wouldn’t do it unless we have a really good idea for it, something that’s worthy of the title.”

THE GOONIES---Warner Bros. is reportedly developing a sequel to the 1985 movie which will have some of the original cast returning and their characters' children embark on a new adventure.

THE YETI---monster movie underway starring Corbin Bernsen, Brittany Allen and Willam Sadler. The synopsis says, “Oil tycoon Merriell Sunday Sr. and renowned adventurer Hollis Bannister have disappeared without a trace. Their last known location is northern Alaska. Ellie Bannister and Merriell Sunday Jr., set out to search for their missing fathers and the truth behind what made them vanish. As the rescue team heads deeper into the heart of this frozen landscape, danger mounts. Something has taken notice of their trespassing expedition…and that prehistoric something is now stalking them…hunting them.”

SCREAM 7---Joel McHale will play the husband of Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) in the latest sequel.

THE COMPLETELY MADE-UP ADVENTURES OF DICK TURPIN---Apple TV+ cancelled the series.

BLOODHOUNDS---Netflix renewed the series for Season 2.

TRIVIA---the early 1960s cartoon feline tv series TOP CAT starred Arnold Stang as the voice of Top Cat and Marvin Kaplan as the voice of Choo-Choo. Stang and Kaplan reunited in the classic comedy movie IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD where Stang played gas station co-owner Ray and Kaplan played gas station co-owner Irwin.

In TOP CAT, Arnold Stang was the voice of Top Cat (left) and Marvin Kaplan was the voice of Choo-Choo (right).

In IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD, Arnold Stang (right) played gas station co-owner Ray and Marvin Kaplan (left) played gas station co-owner Irwin.

 

[dragon53]

FRIDAY, JANUARY 17

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD---trailer released for the Marvel superhero movie.

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UNTIL DAWN---trailer released for the Sony Pictures horror movie based on the PlayStation video game.

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FALLEN---trailer released for the AMC+ tv series based on the fantasy novel.

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QUEEN OF THE RING---trailer released for the biomovie about wrestling star Mildred Burke.

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STAR WARS---movie insider Daniel Richtman claims that Lucasfilm has "firm plans" to have Jedi Knight Cal Kestis in a future live-action project.

SPIDER-NOIR---photo posted of Nicolas Cage playing private investigator Ben Reilly on the film set of the Amazon Prime/MGM+ tv series.

SILO---creator Graham Yost said about Season 3, “We are going to get into some origin story stuff in Season 3, you’ve now met Daniel and Helen, played by Ashley Zuckerman (FEAR STREET) and Jessica Henwick (GAME OF THRONES)”

11817---Greta Lee and Wagner Moura star in the Netflix sci fi movie about a family trapped in a house by a mysterious entity.

TRIVIA---Harold Ramis (GHOSTBUSTERS) was the original director of GALAXY QUEST, the STAR TREK spoof movie. He wanted Alec Baldwin to play the lead role of Jason Nesmith, but Baldwin turned the role down. When DreamWorks hired Tim Allen to play Nesmith, Ramis left and was replaced by Dean Parisot. After seeing the movie, Ramis was very impressed with Allen in the role.

 

[dragon53]

MONDAY, JANUARY 20

1923---trailer released for Season 2.

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HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON---trailer released for the fantasy movie.

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THE MANDALORIAN & GROGU---movie insider Jeff Sneider claims Sigourney Weaver's role in the movie is a minor role as a New Republic colonel named Bishop whichis a tribute to the android Bishop in ALIENS.

SUPERGIRL: WOMAN OF TOMORROW---David Krumholtz will play Zor-El and Emily Beecham will play Alura, Supergirl's parents.

ANACONDA---Thwandie Newton and Steve Zahn will co-star with Jack Black and Daniela Melchior in the remake of the 1997 giant snake movie that starred Jennifer Lopez.

WOLVERINE---sources claim Hugh Jackman, 56, is "not even close to being done" playing Wolverine.

FRASIER---Paramount+ cancelled the revival series.

SHIFTING GEARS---the new Tim Allen comedy tv series had ABC's biggest premiere since THE CONNERS in 2018.

THE EQUALIZER---the CBS spinoff series will star Titus Welliver as a CIA agent and Juani Feliz as a weapons expert and martial artist.

DISNEY+---Disney+ cancelled EXTRAORDINARY and SHARDLAKE.

TEACUP---Peacock cancelled the series.

TRIVIA---YELLOWSTONE star Cole Hauser's father is character actor Wings Hauser and his great-grandfather is Harry Warner, co-founder of Warner Bros.

Cole Hauser's father is character actor Wings Hauser.

Cole Hauser's great-grandfather is Harry Warner (left), co-founder of Warner Bros.

 

[marco55]

Looking forward to 1923.
Mark

 

[dragon53]

TUESDAY, JANUARY 21

OPUS---trailer released for the horror movie starring John Malkovich.

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STAR WARS: AHSOKA---sources deny reports that Natalie Portman is close to signing to return as Padme Amidala for Season 2.

STAR TREK: SECTION 31---director Olatunde Osunsanami commented on fan criticism that the Paramount+ tv movie is not compatible with Gene Roddenberry's original vision, “What we can say is we worked really hard to make sure we kept up the ideals of optimism and what do we want our society to be in the future? In the end, SECTION 31 is good, it’s fun, and it’s a joy. Hopefully, they’re pleasantly surprised.”

DAVID LYNCH---Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said David Lynch was developing a miniseries for Netflix when he died, “David and I only spoke on a few occasions after that but years later, he came into Netflix to pitch a limited series which we jumped at. It was a David Lynch production, so filled with mystery and risks but we wanted to go on this creative ride with this genius. First Covid, then some health uncertainties lead to this project never being produced but we made it clear that as soon as he was able, we were all in.
The last time I spoke to David was as thrilling as the first. He came to my home with my friend and his muse, Laura Dern and we had a long amazing conversation about projects, cinema, life, art and my windows (He loved my windows).”

AI---writer Paul Schrader (TAXI DRIVER, RAGING BULL) defended AI being used in writing screenplays, "I'M STUNNED. I just asked chatgpt for "an idea for Paul Schrader film." Then Paul Thomas Anderson. Then Quentin Tarantino. Then Harmony Korine. Then Ingmar Bergman. Then Rossellini. Lang. Scorsese. Murnau. Capra. Ford. Speilberg. Lynch. Every idea chatgpt came up with (in a few seconds) was good. And original. And fleshed out. Why should writers sit around for months searching for a good idea when AI can provide one in seconds?"

HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA--CHAPTER 2---co-star Isabelle Fuhrman commented on when the sequel to CHAPTER 1, one of the biggest box office bombs of 2024, will be released, "I believe it's coming pretty soon. I think they're kind of massaging what's going on with it, but I actually, as of now, haven't heard anything. Actors are usually the last to know in these sorts of things. But I was really fortunate that we got to premiere it at Venice, and got to see it with an audience. And that was the first time I had seen the movie, and it was great. I'm really excited for people to see it..."

IT: WELCOME TO DERRY---casting director Rich Delia said some of the kids starring in the tv prequel will be killed off, “It was just trying to uncover every stone as possible, to find these kids and find the most amazing, memorable kids that the audience will love, you know, falling in love with, and then some of them, of course, watching them die.”

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 8---MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE director Christopher McQuarrie said the latest movie lives up to the franchise's reputation for Tom Cruise's exciting action scenes, “We had a small screening, and someone said, ‘I was suffocating throughout the entire sequence. I almost had a heart attack', And I thought, ‘I guess we did something right.'”

TRIVIA---Cathy Lee Crosby is best known as a co-host of THAT'S INCREDIBLE! and the original Wonder Woman in the tv movie WONDER WOMAN. However, Crosby was a talented tennis player at the University of Southern California and was a professional tennis player who competed at Wimbledon twice.

 

[dragon53]

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22

ZERO DAY---trailer released for the Netflix cyberattack miniseries starring Robert De Niro.

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MICKEY 17---trailer released for the sci fi movie starring Robert Pattinson.

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YELLOWJACKETS---trailer released for Season 3.

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STAR WARS---Ryan Gosling is reportedly in negotiations to star in the Shawn Levy STAR WARS movie that will not be directly connected to the nine earlier movies.

9 TO 5---Sydney Sweeney, Zendaya and Ariana Grande are the top candidates to star in the remake of the 1980 workplace comedy movie that starred Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.

SEND HELP---Dylan O'Brien and Rachel McAdams star in this Sam Raimi thriller movie about an irritating boss and his assistant who must patch up their fractious relationship in order to survive after their airplane crashes on a deserted island.

WERWULF---werewolf movie set in 13th century England is underway with director/co-writer Robert Eggers (NOSFERATU remake).

MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH---Sydney Sweeney is in negotiations to star in the “wildly revisionist and darkly comedic” movie based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story.

DEXTER: RESURRECTION---Uma Thurman will play Charley, Head of Security for mysterious billionaire Leon Prater in the Paramount+/Showtime series.

TRAVELER---movie underway based on the sci fi novel about a biology technician experiencing involuntary time travels will be directed by Lee Isaac Chung ( TWISTERS).

THE LINCOLN LAWYER---Netflix renewed the series for Season 4.

TRIVIA---January 22, 2025 is the 146th anniversary of the Battle of Rorke's Drift in which a remote outpost manned by about 150 British soldiers was attacked by about 4,000 Zulu warriors. The siege of Rorke's Drift was portrayed in the 1964 movie ZULU. The movie made Michael Caine a star, but he was only paid 4,000 pounds ($11,200) for the role of Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead. Caine said about his ZULU salary, "When I finished ZULU, I got 4,000 pounds, my first movie. When I paid off all the debts, I still owed 8,000."
A recent survey said Caine is England's eighth wealthiest actor with a worth of $85 million.

 

[marco55]

I hope Caine finally paid those 8,000 GBP,
Mark

 

[dragon53]

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23

HELL OF A SUMMER---trailer released for the comedy slasher movie starring Finn Wolfhard.

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DROP---trailer released for the horror movie.

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DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY---Leonardo DiCaprio abnd Martin Scorsese are in talks to reunite for the 20th Century movie based on the book which follows prominent architect Daniel Burnham and serial killer HH Holmes during the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. The project was a cancelled Hulu miniseries that starred Keanu Reeves.

THE ACCOUNTANT 2---photo released from the sequel shows Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal in which Christian Wolff has to team up with his estranged brother to track down a deadly assassin.

THE ODYSSEY---Jon Bernthal has joined Christopher Nolan's cast for the Greek mythology movie which includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya and Charlize Theron.

OCEAN'S 14---David Leitch (JOHN WICK) is reportedly in talks to direct the latest sequel in the franchise.

AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY---Benedict Cumberbatch commented on his reaction that Robert Downey, Jr. was returning to the MCU as Doctor Doom, “I texted, ‘What the f—? Good what-the-f—. I mean, good what-the-f—.’”

THE TWILIGHT SAGA---Robert Pattinson commented on those vampire fans who dislike THE TWILIGHT SAGA, "I love that people keep telling me, 'Man, TWILIGHT ruined the vampire genre.' Are you still stuck on that sh-t? How can you be sad about something that happened almost 20 years ago? It's crazy."

THE WHITE LOTUS---HBO renewed the series for Season 4.

TRIVIA---in THE TWILIGHT ZONE episode "Death Ship", the Space Cruiser E-89 with three astronauts lands on a distant planet and discovers the crashed E-89 with their bodies inside. Child actress Tammy Marihugh played the daughter of astronaut Lieutenant Ted Mason (Ross Martin). Marihugh left acting to become a Las Vegas exotic dancer and married bodybuilder Rodney Larson, who was an abusive husband. In 1996, she returned home after a bout of heavy drinking and shot Rodney in the back. She was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, but she was given probation.

 

[dragon53]

FRIDAY, JANUARY 24

PASCAGOULA 73---trailer released for the docuseries about the famous UFO abduction incident.

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THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT---trailer released for the sci fi dinosaur movie based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel.

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STAR TREK: SECTION 31---the Paramount+ movie received a dismal Rotten Tomatoes critics (21) of 31% and a Metacritics score of 36. IGN.com's review said, “100 minutes of generic schlock containing only trace elements of Star Trek.”

FLIGHT RISK---the Mel Gibson assassin movie starring Mark Wahlberg received a Rotten Tomatoes critics (31) score of 26% and a Metacritics score of 36.

SUPERGIRL: WOMAN OF TOMORROW---James Gunn posted a movie photo with the caption, "Thrilled to see cameras roll at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden on Supergirl, with Craig Gillespie at the helm and the phenomenal Milly Alcock as our Kara Zor-El. Craig brings an incredible sensibility to this story, and Milly is every inch the unique #Supergirl envisioned by Tom King, Bilquis Evely & Ana Nogueira."

LABYRINTH 2---Robert Eggers (NOSFERATU remake) is the director/co-writer of the sequel to the 1986 Jim Henson fantasy movie that starred David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly.

JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH---photo from the sequel shows Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey as their characters extract DNA from a dinosaur egg in a nest. The caption says, "Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey lead a dangerous mission in #JurassicWorldRebirth."

PRIMITIVE WAR---photo released from the sci fi movie based on the novels shows Tricia Helfer and Ryan Kwanten. The synopsis says, “In 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, an elite recon unit known as Vulture Squad is sent to an isolated jungle valley to uncover the fate of a missing Green Beret platoon. They soon discover they are not alone. Dinosaurs have been let loose in the jungles.”

THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES---HBO announced Season 4 will be the last season.

TRIVIA---voice actor Mel Blanc, known as "The Man of a Thousand Voices", was one of the greatest voice actors in Hollywood history. He was the voice for Looney Tunes characters including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, the Tasmanian Devil and non-Warner Bros. characters including Barney Rubble and others.
In 1961, Blanc's sports car was hit head-on by another car on Hollywood Boulevard resulting in Blanc suffering fractured legs and pelvis and he was in a coma. At UCLA Medical Center, the unconscious Blanc was unresponsive for two weeks until his neurologist, as a last resort, asked Blanc, "How are you feeling today, Bugs Bunny?" A moment later, Blanc weakly replied, "Eh, just fine, Doc. How are you?" The neurologist then asked if Tweety Bird was there, and Blanc replied, "I tawt I taw a puddy tat". Two months later, Blanc had recovered to the point he was allowed to return home.
Blanc filed a $500,000 lawsuit against Los Angeles because his collision was one of 26 accidents in two years at the same intersection that was known as "Dead Man's Curve". The lawsuit forced the city to correct the dangerous curves at the intersection.

 

[dragon53]

MONDAY, JANUARY 27

SUPERMAN---tv ad released foe the superhero movie starring David Corenswet.

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ALIEN: EARTH---teaser trailer and poster released for the FX spinoff sci fi series.

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YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN---trailer released for the Disney+ animated superhero tv series. The series, which has not premiered, was renewed for Season 3.

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YOU'RE CORDIALLY INVITED---trailer released for the Amazon Prime comedy movie starring Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon.

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THE MANDALORIAN & GROGU---details of the movie's plot reportedly has the crime lord Hutt Twins, cousins of Jabba the Hutt, hiring mercenary Embo to assassinate Rotta the Hutt, the son of Jabba the Hutt, in order to increase their share of Jabba's crime empire. Rotta will be "buff" because he is a gladiator with facial scars and armed with a "vibroblade/vibrosword". New Republic Colonel Bishop (Sigourney Weaver) hires The Mandalorian to capture Rotta.

STAR WARS: NEW JEDI ORDER---Lucasfilm has reportedly signed George Nolfi (OCEAN'S TWELVE, THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM) as the newest writer to write the screenplay for the sequel starring Daisy Ridley.

HEART OF THE BEAST---the FURY team of Brad Pitt and director David Ayer will reunite for the movie whose synopsis says, “The film centers on a former Army Special Forces Soldier and his retired combat dog who battle for survival after a plane crash deep in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness."

JAMES BOND---Josh O'Connor commented on rumors that he is the leading candidate to replace Daniel Craig as the next James Bond, “I have no thoughts, really. The truth is that … I think in the space of a week, I made a joke about, wouldn’t it be funny if I played Bond? Then, me and Daniel [Craig] did an Actors on Actors, and then something else happened, and then suddenly I was James Bond. If I am Bond, I don’t know about it.”
THE TIMES reported the new 007 movies will return to the original movies, "First, everybody I talk to — agents, actors, analysts — believes we are due a return to a Bond of quips and camp, a shift away from the Shakespearean heft of Craig. More traditional yet easier to sell via memes to Amazon’s younger demographic."

LANTERNS---Ulrich Thomsen will play villain Sinestro in the HBO superhero tv series.

THE DIPLOMAT---Bradley Whitford will play the husband of President Grace Penn in Season 3.

RESIDENT EVIL---reboot movie based on the video game is underway with director Zach Cregger (BARBARIAN).

TRIVIA---in Ray Harryhausen's 1956 sci fi movie EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, an alien flying saucer uses its ray gun to sink a US Navy destroyer. The movie used actual World War II film footage of the Royal Navy battleship HMS Barham blowing up after being hit by torpedoes launched from the German submarine U-331 off the Egyptian coast on November 25, 1941 which killed 862 members of the battleship's crew. The footage, minus the flying saucer, was later used in THE GUNS OF NAVARONE.
A few days after the Barham's sinking, Scottish psychic Helen Duncan was holding a seance in which she claimed to have contacted the ghost of a dead sailor from the Barham's crew and revealed to her audience that the Barham had been sunk.
The Royal Navy did not publicly announce the Barham's sinking until January 27, 1942, so it began to monitor her seances. She was later arrested in 1944 during a seance and charged with conspiracy to contravene the Witchcraft Act 1735, obtaining money under false pretenses and public mischief. Duncan spent nine months in prison and was one of the last people convicted under the Witchcraft Act. She became known as "Britain's Last Witch".
In the 1930s, investigations of Duncan found she had faked parts of her seances including dolls with paper mache masks and ghost "ectoplasm" which was made out of heads cut out of magazine covers, cheesecloth, toilet paper and eggs which she drank and then regurgitated during her seance.
Investigators speculate that Duncan found out about the Barham's sinking because the Royal Navy privately notified the families of the 862 dead crewmen and this led to some of them leaking the information and found its way to Duncan. It was also speculated that Duncan was arrested in 1944 because she might reveal top secret information about the upcoming D-Day invasion.
Family members and supporters have petitioned to have Duncan posthumously pardoned, but the Scottish Parliament rejected the petitions in 2001, 2008 and 2012.

Helen Duncan with her fake ghosts.

 

[dragon53]

TUESDAY, JANUARY 28

SINNERS---trailer released for the vampire movie starring Michael B. Jordan.

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HAPPY FACE---trailer released for the Paramount+ eight-part miniseries based on the true story of a girl who discovers her father is the Happy Face serial killer.

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HOUSE OF DAVID---trailer released for the Amazon Prime biblical miniseries.

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RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA---Denis Villeneuve commented on the status of the movie based on the Arthur C. Clarke novel which was announced in 2021, “There’s a possibility of adapting an Arthur C. Clarke novel, RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA. Like 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, it’s about astronauts coming into contact with another civilization. It’s an exploration where we engage with technology that could realistically exist in the future, unlike DUNE, which leans more toward fantasy. For the first time, I’d be able to work on hard science fiction. I’d love to do that at least once in my life.”

MOVIES---Quentin Tarantino commented on movies being released briefly in theaters and then available on streaming, "That’s a big f*cking deal pulling [a play] off, and I don’t know if I can. So here we go. That’s a challenge, a genuine challenge, but making movies? Well, what the f*ck is a movie now? What — something that plays in theaters for a token release for four f*cking weeks? All right, and by the second week you can watch it on television. I didn’t get into all this for diminishing returns. I mean, it was bad enough in ’97. It was bad enough in 2019, and that was the last f*cking year of movies. That was a sh*t deal, as far as I was concerned, the fact that it’s gotten drastically worse? And that it’s just it’s a show pony exercise. Now the theatrical release, you know, and then like yeah, in two weeks, you can watch it on this [streamer] and that one. Okay. Theater? You can’t do that. It’s the final frontier.
Tarantino also commented on his next project, “If you’re wondering what I’m doing right now. I’m writing a play. It’s probably going to be the next thing I end up doing. If it’s a fiasco I probably won’t turn it into a movie. But if it’s a smash hit? It might be my last movie.”

SUPERMAN---James Gunn commented on a lot of criticism of the trailer in which fans claim excessive CGI is used, particularly in the part where David Corenswet's head appears to be too big in proportion to his body, “There is absolutely zero CG in his face. People’s faces can look different when you put a wide angle lens up close. The background plate in Svalbard is 100% real as is David.”

OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!---Warner Bros. Animation movie musical underway based on the Dr. Seuss book with Jon M. Chu (WICKED) as the co-director.

AGATHA ALL ALONG---co-star Patti LuPone commented on a Season 2, “There won’t be one. Jac Schaeffer, the creator, came into my trailer and she said, ‘Patti, I’m just here to tell you that Lilia’s going to die,’ and I went, ‘But I wanted a second season.’ [Schaffer] said, ‘I don’t do second seasons’. She said, ‘They wanted me to do a second season of WandaVision and I didn’t.’ She said, ‘There’s too much to write,’ so she does one-offs and I’m really hoping and praying that someday I get to work with her again because she’s magic.”

JONAS BROTHERS CHRISTMAS MOVIE---the Jonas Brothers star in the Disney+ Christmas movie in which the brothers must overcome many obstacles as they try to fly from London to New York to reach their families in time for Christmas.

TRIVIA---Peter Falk received four Emmy Awards as the star of the hit tv series COLUMBO. However, in the book BEYOND COLUMBO: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF PETER FALK, Falk said his career began on shaky ground in the 1950s when he was looking for a job and met with Columbia Pictures co-founder Harry Cohn. Falk lost an eye to cancer when he was three years old. Cohn noticed Falk's vision handicap and said, “Mr. Falk, for the same price, I’ll get an actor with two eyes.”