It’s October! Things are happening….maybe even some spooky things!
IN THIS WEEK’S “Misguided feud” story, On Oct. 5, two films will premiere: Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born and Tom Hardy’s Venom. Despite the fact that A Star Is Born has already drummed up significant hype, garnering a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and awards buzz, Gaga’s fan base is apparently taking it upon themselves to make sure the movie gets as much opening day attention as Venom.
Once the social media embargo for Venom broke following the superhero movie’s red carpet premiere on Monday night, some Twitter users noticed negative reviews floating around Twitter — but it was noted that many of these critics used the same exact wording.
One tweet that seems to be copy and pasted by several accounts reads, “i am the biggest marvel fan but I just watched #Venom and I don’t know what to say.”
When reached by BuzzFeed, one of the accounts who shared a fake negative review of Venom told the outlet, “It’s us Gaga fans creating fake IDs to trash the Venom premiere. They both are getting released on the same day, so we want more audience for A Star Is Born”.
This is just stupid. The audiences for each of these films is completely different. People are bonkers.
ADDENDUM: Based on what I’m hearing, this is all moot. Venom is getting critically slaughtered, therefore A Star Is Born will surely succeed in the long run, as it’s getting stellar reviews.
IN THIS WEEK’S “Challenging” story, Michelle Williams will star as the late astronaut Christa McAuliffe in the drama The Challenger, centered on the 1986 Space Shuttle disaster.
Producers are John and Art Linson, and Argent Pictures’ Ben Renzo. Martin Zandvliet will direct The Challenger from Jayson Rothwell’s script. Argent partners Jill Ahrens, Ryan Ahrens, Drew Brees, Tony Parker, Michael Finley, and Derrick Brooks are executive producing the pic. Production is expected to start in May.
The tragedy took place when the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members, including McAuliffe.
McAuliffe was a New Hampshire high school teacher who was selected to join NASA’s Teacher in Space Project, and had been planning to conduct experiments and teach lessons from the Space Shuttle Challenger. She was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 2004.
This could be a cool drama aimed for an Oscar season release.
IN THIS WEEK’S “Saying goodbye to Cap” story, Chris Evans has announced that he’s officially wrapped production on Avengers 4. He shared the news on Twitter and it came with a message that sounded a lot like he was saying goodbye to the MCU:
“Officially wrapped on Avengers 4. It was an emotional day to say the least. Playing this role over the last 8 years has been an honor. To everyone in front of the camera, behind the camera, and in the audience, thank you for the memories! Eternally grateful.”
I figured, as many of us did, that after Avengers 4 he would bow out. Question is, will Cap die in the the film, or will he just be replaced in some other way?
Whatever the case, see ya Chris Evans. You did that character proud.
IN THIS WEEK’S “Giddy Up?” story, Rambo is back, and he’s a cowboy now. Rambo 5 is gearing up to start shooting, and star Sylvester Stallone offered up a rather perplexing first look at the film.
Sylvester Stallone announced via Instagram that Rambo 5 starts filming tonight, which means we now have the first look at Stallone in character as Rambo once again. The results are…surprising.
Why is he wearing a cowboy hat? And sitting on a horse? What is happening?
In terms of continuity, I suppose this look makes sense. At the end of 2008’s ultra-violent Rambo, John Rambo finally returned to America and visited his father’s ranch in Arizona. He must have decided to stay there, and is now living the rancher lifestyle, chaps and all. Still, it’s a bit jarring for this to be our first look at the new Rambo movie. Perhaps this entry will change course, and be a kind of modern-day Western.
I guess if Stallone wanted to make a western, this is a way to do it.
The film will find Stallone’s PTSD-suffering soldier going up against a Mexican drug cartel when the cartel kidnaps the daughter of a friend. That’s a premise somewhat similar to John Ford’s classic The Searchers, so perhaps Rambo 5 really is going for a Western-vibe.
Ok, well, this is happening either way, so, get used to the idea, folks.
Stallone directed the last film, but Adrian Grunberg is listed as the helmer of Rambo 5. Grunberg also directed Get the Gringo. Rambo 5 will likely arrive sometime in 2019.
IN THIS WEEK’S “Cronenberg ponders the future” story, Speaking to EW, Cronenberg talks about his future and what he thinks might be the type of project he wants to do down the line. Sadly, a feature film doesn’t seem to be in the plans. Instead, the director is taking inspiration from one of his more recent projects, a novel titled “Consumed,” for what he might do in the future.
“I’ve written one novel and I really quite enjoyed that. I think that there are things you can do in the novel that you cannot do on a movie. I just came back from the Venice film festival, and I was on a panel with Spike Lee and some others, talking about the future of cinema. There was a lot of discussion about Netflix, and streaming series, and so on, and I was saying that I thought that was the future of cinema, and that it was really an interesting idea, the idea of doing a TV series, a streaming series. Whether I end up doing something like that is a whole other thing. Obviously, it would be a huge commitment of time and so on. To do eight hours of TV is a lot. [But] once again, the idea of a series as being more novelistic than a movie. When you compare the two, a movie is really more like a short story than a novel, and the complexity that you can get into in a series is really quite interesting.”
If Cronenberg does a streaming series somewhere, I’d be totally on board with that.
IN THIS WEEK’S “What’s the hold-up?” story, director Simon Kinberg fills us in on some reasons the X-Men movie, Dark Phoenix, is being pushed form it’s February slot to June 7, 2019.
Kinberg mentioned that no decision had been made about the release when the trailer went live on September 27. Deadline’s exclusive report on the release date change mentioned Fox was trying to take advantage of China’s box office by moving Dark Phoenix to June, which is something Kinberg echoed while trying to explain the release shuffle.
“We looked at [the June] date versus the February 14 date, the studio did and we did, we felt like that June date was a bigger opportunity for us globally,” Kinberg said. “More screens, more IMAX screens, a better chance to play in China where these movies have a massive following. What we found when we released the trailer was that 44-45 million views of the trailer were in China alone. Specific for us, it is an opportunity to be a bigger movie day-and-date globally.”
Kinberg noted that Fox originally had the X-Men movie Gambit scheduled for June 7, 2019. When it was clear that film would not be ready, Fox made the decision to fill the slot with Dark Phoenix and give the February 14 date to Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel, which was originally going to go up against Aquaman and Bumblebee this Christmas.
Dark Phoenix was first announced to be released on November 2, but Fox moved the date to February so the film could undergo reshoots. Kinberg explained the specifics of the reshoots to Collider.
“Mostly we focused on the third act, both emotionally and in terms of the physical scale and the action of the third act that we adjusted,” Kinberg said. “And then there were certain things in the first two acts of the movie — very few things, but to set up those changes in the third act we had to adjust some things in the first two acts so that that all was fluid and felt consistent.”
20th Century Fox will release Dark Phoenix nationwide June 7.
Sure, whatever. We’ll just take their word for it.
IN THIS WEEK’S ” Netflix goes to Narnia” story, Netflix will develop new TV series and film projects based on C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia series, the streaming platform announced Wednesday.
Netflix and The C.S. Lewis Company signed a multi-year deal, marking the first time one company has held the rights to all seven books. All the projects developed through this deal will be produced by Netflix productions and Mark Gordon of Entertainment One, alongside Douglas Gresham and Vincent Sieber serving as executive producers for the series, as well as producers for the films.
The “Narnia” books, a series of seven fantasy novels published between 1950 and 1956, have sold over 100 million copies and have been translated into more than 47 languages.
That’s pretty serious stuff right there.
IN THIS WEEK’S “Nod to Kubrick, or not?” story, Filmmaker Mike Flanagan has an interesting choice to make with his upcoming film Doctor Sleep. The film, which is based on the novel of the same name by legendary author Stephen King, is a sequel, of sorts, to the classic Stanley Kubrick film The Shining. Flanagan had to choose whether or not to link his film to the Kubrick masterpiece or stick to the established canon of the novels.
In an interview with Bloody Disgusting, Flanagan was asked whether or not Doctor Sleep will acknowledge the events of Kubrick’s The Shining. In no uncertain terms, he says his film will definitely do that.
“Yeah, I think you do,” Flanagan said. “I think you do have to acknowledge that. There is no version of the world where I am trying not to acknowledge one of the greatest films ever made. There’s no upside in shying away from that reality.”
But that being said, Flanagan isn’t attempting to copy Kubrick (nor should he), and says Doctor Sleep naturally lends itself to a new interpretation.
“At the same time, this is not The Shining,” he said. “It’s its own story and in a very specific way. If you’ve read the book, you know exactly why it’s so different but it’s quite a tightrope that we’re walking I think. I’m having a great time doing it. I’m just going to get the movie out and then turn off the internet for two weeks and see how it all goes.”
Doctor Sleep is set to star Ewan McGregor, as Danny Torrance, and Rebecca Ferguson. The film is scheduled for a January 24, 2020 release.
IN THIS WEEK’S “Doom Patrol gets it’s final casting” story, White Collar and American Horror Story alum Matt Bomer has been tapped for the last remaining lead role in the upcoming live-action drama for the DC Universe digital platform. He will play Negative Man in the series, from Greg Berlanti and Warner Bros TV. The announcement was just made by fellow Doom Patrol star Brendan Fraser ahead of the premiere of DC Universe’s Titans at New York Comic-Con.
Bomer will provide the voiceover performance for the character of Negative Man and will appear as Larry Trainor in flashback scenes. Matthew Zuk has also been cast in the role of Negative Man, and he will provide the physical performance of the character on set in full body costume.
Bomer will provide the voiceover performance for the character of Negative Man and will appear as Larry Trainor in flashback scenes. Matthew Zuk has also been cast in the role of Negative Man, and he will provide the physical performance of the character on set in full body costume.
Ok, but will enough people sign up for the DC Universe digital platform to make it all worth while? I don’t know.
IN THIS WEEK’S “Another Bird of Prey” story, Academy Award nominee Rosie Perez has been cast as Renee Montoya and will join Harley Quinn’s girl gang in the Margot Robbie film Birds of Prey, TheWrap has exclusively learned.
Montoya is a detective working for the Gotham City Police Department. Montoya is openly gay, and during The New 52 comics she took on a costumed identity, becoming the Question. The female superhero team-up film will be released on Feb. 7, 2020. Perez joins Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Mary Elizabeth Winstead who have been cast as Black Canary and Huntress.
Robbie will reprise her Suicide Squad character, Harley Quinn as well as produce alongside Kroll & Co Entertainment’s Sue Kroll and Bryan Unkeless. The film follows the adventures of a revolving group of female heroes and villains and is based on the DC Comics characters and concepts created by Jordan B. Gorfinkel and Chuck Dixon.
In addition, TheWrap has exclusively learned that the villain in Birds of Prey will be Black Mask, one of Batman’s foes who has never before appeared on the big screen.
Cathy Yan is set to direct. Yan is best known for writing and directing her feature debut Dead Pigs, which took home the World Cinema Dramatic Award For Ensemble Acting at Sundance earlier this year.
IN THIS WEEK’S “Chris Evans moves right on” story, As one door seemingly closes, another looks to be opening. Sources say that Captain America star Chris Evans is joining Daniel Craig in Rian Johnson’s red-hot murder mystery movie Knives Out.
The casting bolsters the project’s status as one of the hottest in the works at the moment and follows MRC’s big money deal for it out of Toronto. Director Johnson, who wrote the script and is producing with partner Ram Bergman, will make the movie before directing a new trilogy in the Star Wars universe.
Plot details on the film are largely being kept under wraps but the pic will likely shoot this year, meaning Craig will shoot it before Bond 25. It is understood to be a modern day murder mystery in the classic whodunit style.
The in-demand Chris Evans also has thriller The Red Sea Diving Resort coming up and he was set for Neill Blomkamp’s Greenland during Cannes. Knives Out is expected to be his next movie.
IN THIS WEEK’S “Is that still happening?” story, Oscar-nominated actress Margot Robbie is attached to star in Barbie, Mattel’s feature film based on its globally recognized doll.
Robbie is also on board to produce through her production banner Lucky Chaps. The film was previously set up at Sony, but after the option passed, Mattel took back the rights. Though previous reports state that film has landed at Warner Bros. due to Robbie’s first-look deal, insiders say the package has not found a new home yet.
It is currently unknown if Mattel is sticking to the original script, which had set Amy Schumer to star, though she dropped out due to scheduling conflicts (Anne Hathaway was also attached to replace Schumer at one point). That first script had more of an adult comedy tone.
The Barbie doll is a global brand powerhouse, with sales of over $3 billion worldwide. Barbie has taken on more than 150 roles through her 50+ years, including princess, president, mermaid, and movie star.
Robbie can be seen next as Queen Elizabeth in Focus’ Mary Queen of Scots, which will likely put her in the awards season spotlight once again. She is currently filming Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, where she plays actress Sharon Tate.
Well, she’s keeping busy.
And IN THIS WEEK’s “No, that can’t be right” story, Greg Silverman’s recently launched Stampede is developing a movie version of the video game “Dance Dance Revolution.”
The project will explore a world on the brink of destruction where the only hope is to unite through the universal language of dance. Stampede will partner on the movie with producers J. Todd Harris and Marc Marcum of Branded Entertainment, and the intellectual property owner Konami, which first introduced “Dance Dance Revolution” in Japan in 1998. The video game, which has released several editions over the past 20 years, utilizes a dance platform or mat so players can use their feet to hit colored arrow notes as instructed on-screen.
There are a LOT of dumb ideas in Hollywood, but this one is REALLY high on the list now.