Movie News

Sony’s “Venom” and Warner Bros.’ “A Star Is Born” are set to top the box office in the pair’s second weekend, while a slew of new releases hit multiplexes, led by Universal’s “First Man.”

“Venom” is on its way to adding an estimated $32 million to its total for the top spot, bringing its domestic tally to $139.25 million. The twist on a superhero tale has earned another $127 million internationally in its first seven days.

Tom Hardy stars as Eddie Brock, who becomes host to the alien entity known as Venom. Riz Ahmed and Michelle Williams also star in the Ruben Fleischer-helmed film. Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, and Kelly Marcel wrote the script.

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” is heading for a $28 million sophomore frame. The drama, which is also Cooper’s directorial debut, has amassed $66 million domestically in its first week, with another $14 million from overseas markets.

Holdover hits “Venom” and “A Star Is Born” are in a battle for first place at the North American box office this weekend with “Venom” prevailing with about $30 million, early estimates showed Friday.

Ryan Gosling’s “First Man” is lifting off with around $17 million for Universal, just ahead of “Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween” with $16 million. Fox’s opening of “Bad Times at the El Royale” is eyeing about $10 million from 2,850 North American locations. The three openers are all performing in line with forecasts.

Tom Hardy’s “Venom,” which stunned Hollywood last weekend with an $80 million launch, is pegged to decline about 62% to $30 million and wind up its second weekend with a 10-day total of $137 million for Sony. Warner Bros.’ “A Star Is Born” should follow closely with around $28 million at 3,708 venues, showing strong holding power with a decline of only 35%. The Lady Gaga-Bradley Cooper collaboration should end its

Timothée Chalamet and Steve Carell are at a diner in the new Beautiful Boy clip released by Amazon Studios, but the only thing they’re making a meal of is this year’s Oscars. The two Oscar nominees star as father and son in a dramatic adaptation of the true-life struggles of David Sheff and his meth-addicted […]

The post ‘Beautiful Boy’ Clip: Timothée Chalamet and Steve Carell Have a Tense Lunch appeared first on /Film.

“With every end is a new beginning.” Those are the words actor Finn Jones has chosen as his response to the news that “Iron Fist” has been canceled by Netflix after two seasons, sharing a gratitude-filled Instagram post about his experience on the Marvel series. The show weathered a whitewashing controversy prior to its debut and received a more lukewarm reception than fellow Netflix/Marvel dramas “Jessica Jones,” “Daredevil,” and “Luke Cage.”

“I have an enormous amount of love and respect for everyone involved with the last two seasons of this show,” Jones’ post continues. “Defending the greatest city in the world amongst the most talented and warmest people has been a privilege and a joy. Blessed to have taken this journey and grateful for the ongoing support. ”

In addition to “Iron Fist” itself, Jones portrayed the character in the crossover drama “Defenders” as well as the most recent season of “Luke Cage.

Roger Ailes, the man responsible for turning Fox News into a media empire, died in 2017, and Hollywood wasted no time developing takes on his scandal-laden downfall. Annapurna Pictures recently parted ways with a star-studded movie on the subject, but today, Showtime’s Roger Ailes TV show cast just grew by four members. Sienna Miller (Layer […]

The post Showtime’s Roger Ailes Miniseries Cast Adds Sienna Miller, Seth MacFarlane, and More appeared first on /Film.

Sometimes a film cannot be pinned down to a specific genre. “Diamantino,” which screened during the New York Film Festival this past week, is that perfect example. A hybrid of sci-fi, comedy, fantasy, romance, and surrealism, “Diamantino” defies explanation and follows its own beautifully dark and twisted creative whims.

Read More: New York Film Festival: 15 Must-See Films To Watch

Following Diamantino, a Portuguese football star who is all but disgraced by his own country for missing an vital penalty kick, directors Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt‘s beautifully dreamy original tackles the refugee crisis, genetic modification, neo-fascism, and yes, even giant fluffy puppies in an ambitiously absurdist tale of a guy who is trying to find some kind of redemption and sense of self.

Continue reading ‘Diamantino’: Soccer, Surrealism & Satire Score Big In This Portuguese Oddity [Nyff] at The Playlist.

We're still seven months and one whole Captain Marvel movie away from the still-untitled Avengers 4, but it appears the Russo Brothers have officially wrapped production on the massive Marvel project, re-shoots and all. The directing duo took to twitter to announce the end of filming accompanied by a mysterious, blinding white image. Now, if you turn the contrast on your screen all the way up and zoom in by about 110% you'll see the photo is...still just a mysterious, blinding white image. I have no idea what that is. It could be poor Dave …

The Mummy and Dracula have been waging a decades-long battle, but not in Universal’s Dark Universe. The two classic monster films have been hashing it out over the title for most expensive movie poster in the world, and The Mummy may be coming back from the dead to reclaim that title. The rare 1932 lithographic poster for the 1932 […]

The post Vintage ‘The Mummy’ Poster Could Become the Most Valuable Movie Poster in the World appeared first on /Film.

The fourth and fifth editions of the comic-book series “Star Wars: Shadow of Vader” will no longer be written by Chuck Wendig, who announced his firing on Twitter yesterday. In a lengthy thread, the author cited “too much politics, too much vulgarity, too much negativity on my part” as the reason for his ouster. “Basically, because I was not civil.”

The story goes deeper than that, however, as Wendig says he’s been targeted by abuse from angry readers who disapprove of him introducing the openly gay character Sinjir Rath Velus to the world of “Star Wars.” That led to a flood of negative reviews even before most people had gotten the chance to read “Star Wars: Aftermath,” the 2015 novel in which Velus first appeared.

“I was literally at a midnight release of the book, and when I got done, there were already a pile of one-star reviews piling up – which seemed strange,

Note: This article has spoiler-ish elements in the last graph.

For most directors, space is a blank canvas, an empty screen on which any variety of human potential can be projected. “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” both portrayed the cosmos as infinitely diverse playgrounds of ideas and cultures while in “2001,” Kubrick used space as the setting of the next stage of human evolution.

Continue reading ‘High Life’: In Space, Imprisoned by the Human Condition [Nyff] at The Playlist.

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for “Better Call Saul” Season 4.]

“Better Call Saul” Season 4 was more focused than ever on answering the question at the show’s core: By the time “Breaking Bad” Season 2 begins, how did attorney Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) become criminal lawyer Saul Goodman? The season ably answered that inquiry, but required a pretty significant body count.

It has always made sense for “Better Call Saul” to be a less-violent series than its sister show, at least in the early seasons, as that’s when many of these characters are still on the verge of becoming part of the brutal Albuquerque drug scene that consumed Walter White and his many associates. However, that also meant escalation was always a part of the show’s future. Season 4 brought the increased presence of the Salamanca cousins, Lalo and Nacho, whose actions made the drug business even more brutal. Mike committed his first on-screen murder since the flashbacks in “Five-o.

It turns out the "immortal" Iron Fist was more of a metaphorical nickname. In an unprecedented move, Netflix has canceled the Finn Jones-led Marvel series—one of four that makes up the streaming service's small-screen McU—after two seasons. “Marvel’s Iron Fist will not return for a third season on Netflix,” Netflix and Marvel told Deadline in a joint statement. “Everyone at Marvel Television and Netflix is proud of the series and grateful for all of the hard work from our incredible cast, crew, and showrunners. We’re thankful to the fans who have watched these …

Drew Goddard doesn’t write for actors, but the moment he finished “Bad Times at the El Royale,” his story about seven people colliding in a sketchy motel, he reached out to Chris Hemsworth.

Hemsworth, who appeared in Goddard’s directorial debut “Cabin in the Woods” just after his first turn as Thor, agreed to play the most dangerous character in “Bad Times,” a charismatic, would-be cult leader.

The writer-director spoke to Variety about reuniting with Hemsworth, the pleasure of working with Cynthia Erivo and Lewis Pullman, and the future of his X-Force project.

Let’s talk about casting Cynthia Erivo, who owns this movie.

Drew Goddard: When I was writing the movie, I knew I had this character, Darlene Sweet. She’s a lounge singer in the late ’60s. I knew I needed her to sing live. So much of it is not just about the singing, it’s

Despite reviews praising the recently released second season of Marvel’s Iron Fist series as a vast improvement over the mostly panned first season, Netflix won’t be bringing back the mystical warrior for a third season. Netflix and Marvel Television made a joint announcement about Iron Fist canceled after only two seasons, but they also teased […]

The post ‘Iron Fist’ Canceled at Netflix, But the Marvel Series May Not Be Dead appeared first on /Film.

The ’90s were a blessed time for spooky-not-scary TV for kids. Following the same anthology format that resonated with viewers of “The Twilight Zone” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” Nickelodeon introduced “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” to the inaugural edition of its Saturday night Snick lineup in August of 1992. That same summer also saw the premiere of R.L. Stine’s “Goosebumps” series, whose 231 books have sold more than 400 million copies in 32 different languages and spawned a movie franchise that continues with this weekend’s “Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween” (is there any other kind?).

It also resulted in a largely forgotten television adaptation that, like much else of its era, lives fondly in the hearts of millennials who face an uphill battle when trying to justify their love of it to anyone else. Most episodes of the hour-long show, each of which is based on one of Stine’s books, weren

Does it matter that Tamara Jenkins’ newest movie, “Private Life,” is only getting one of those mini boutique theatrical releases at the same time being released somewhere into the unknown algorithm wilds of Netflix for the whole nation to see? Would it have been better if this smart and sharp, if occasionally baggy, comedy had gotten just the miniature release in the fall Oscar run-up, then limped along through the end of the year as only small-budgeted character dramas can, before finally ending up on one or the other streaming services anyway?

Continue reading Flinty, Funny ‘Private Life’ Is The Type Of Smart Comedy That Shouldn’t Get Lost On Netflix [Nyff] at The Playlist.

You may not know James Jude Courtney’s name, but you certainly know his latest character: Michael Myers, the masked killer from “Halloween.” Ol’ Jimmy isn’t himself a crazed murderer, but he once lived with an actual hit man who wanted his life story written. The actor recalls this experience in a Vanity Fair interview, explaining that he took said contract killer to see “The Hit List,” a movie he was in, and received the following reaction: “Jimmy, it’s a really nice movie, but that’s not how you kill people.”

“Really?” Courtney asked, to which his new acquaintance responded, “I’m gonna show you how.” Well, all right then.

“There’s a stealth efficiency to the way an actual trained killer works,” Courtney explains. “Movies tend to dilute that quality with dramatic pauses and dialogue, which a true predator would never waste time doing. That efficiency is

Houston, we have a problem. First Man is crash landing below expectations, taking in $5.9 million Friday night on an estimated route to $16.8 million. This puts Damen Chazelle's Neil Armstrong biopic firmly in third place below strong holdovers A Star Is Born ($8.5 million) and the record-breaking Sony flick, Venom ($9.7 million). First Man stars Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong as the steel-reserved astronaut attempts to become the first person to walk on the moon. (Spoilers: He does!) The film rocketed out of festival season with a ton of buzz, particularly over …

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? This week […]

The post This Week In Trailers: Searching for Ingmar Bergman, Rabbit, A Mother Brings Her Son To Be Shot, Brewmaster appeared first on /Film.

It turns out the Iron Fist isn’t so immortal after all. Marvel and Netflix have announced that the maligned superhero drama, which courted a whitewashing controversy prior to airing and has received generally negative reviews throughout its run, has been canceled after two seasons.

Finn Jones played the title character, who also appeared in the crossover drama “Defenders” — a kind of small-screen “Avengers” that saw the Iron Fist team up Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Daredevil (Charlie Cox), and Luke Cage (Mike Colter).

“‘Marvel’s Iron Fist’ will not return for a third season on Netflix,” Marvel and Netflix said in a statement. “Everyone at Marvel Television and Netflix is proud of the series and grateful for all of the hard work from our incredible cast, crew and showrunners. We’re thankful to the fans who have watched these two seasons, and for the partnership we’ve shared on this series.