17 articles
Lionsgate Acquires Rights to Thriller ‘Smart House’ From James Wan
13 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Lionsgate has acquired rights to the thriller “Smart House” with James Wan attached to produce and Alexandre Aja directing.
“Smart House” is based on an original idea by Wan — whose credits include the Conjuring franchise, “Furious 7” and the upcoming “Aquaman.” He will produce the film under his Atomic Monster company banner with head of production Michael Clear.
Aja, whose directing credits include “Piranha 3D” and “The Hills Have Eyes,” will direct from a script by Brad Keene. Aja is also a producer on the film along with Gregory Levasseur.
“Smart House” is a thriller about a family in the witness protection program placed in the custody of a state of the art, autonomous ‘smart house.’ When a group of assassins locates the family, the house goes into a lethal defense mode.
“We are delighted that Smart House brings James Wan and Alex Aja back to Lionsgate for this cool, »
- Dave McNary
Exclusive: Adam Warlock Was Originally a Major Character in ‘Guardians Vol. 2’; Will Be in ‘Guardians 3’
10 hours ago | Slash Film | See recent Slash Film news »
When I was on the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, director James Gunn mentioned that his original treatment for the sequel featured another major character. Today, during my interview with Gunn, the filmmaker finally revealed that his sequel originally had a major role for Adam Warlock, strongly indicating that Warlock will appear in Guardians of […]
The post Exclusive: Adam Warlock Was Originally a Major Character in ‘Guardians Vol. 2’; Will Be in ‘Guardians 3’ appeared first on /Film. »
- Peter Sciretta
'Insidious 4' put back to January 2018
10 hours ago | ScreenDaily | See recent ScreenDaily news »
Universal, Sony horror film had been scheduled for October release.
Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures have moved back Insidious: Chapter 4 from October 20 to January 5, 2018.
The film takes the place of the previously announced Untitled Blumhouse Horror Project. Universal’s Half To Death from Blumhouse will now open on October 20 this year.
Universal handles North American distribution on Insidious: Chapter 4 while Sony handles international.
Franchise co-creator Leigh Whannell wrote the screenplay and Lin Shaye stars as a parapsychologist who experiences a haunting in her family home. Newcomer Adam Robitel directs.
Jason Blum, Oren Peli and co-creator James Wan serve as producers, while Steven Schneider, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Charles Layton, Bailey Conway Anglewicz, Couper Samuelson and Whannell serve as executive producers.
Christopher Landon directs Half To Death from Blumhouse, about a college student who relives the day of her murder until she discovers her killer’s identity. Jessica Rothe stars.
Universal has moved up by one week its »
'Cars 3' Writers Tackling Animated Movie 'A Tale of Momentum and Inertia' (Exclusive)
10 hours ago | The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News | See recent The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News news »
Eyal Podell and Jonathon E. Stewart, who wrote on the upcoming Cars 3, have been tapped to pen A Tale of Momentum and Inertia for Fox Animation.
The project adapts and expands the short animated film that made the festival circuit rounds a few years ago and that the studio picked up in a quiet bidding war last year.
Carlos Saldanha, the man behind Fox's Rio movies, and Maresa Pullman will produce through their Bottle Cap Productions. The short's director, Kameron Gates, and the production company House Special are also producing.
Momentum briefly tells of a rock giant who accidentally »
- Borys Kit
Michelle Monaghan In Negotiations and Alfred Molina Is Set For Indie Drama ‘Saint Judy’ About Landmark Case
9 hours ago | Deadline | See recent Deadline news »
Exclusive: Michelle Monaghan is in negotiations and Alfred Molina is set to star in Saint Judy, the biopic about Los Angeles immigration attorney Judy Wood who argued a landmark case that changed the asylum laws for women coming into the U.S. Sean Hanish is directing, and the project is set to go before the cameras on May 10. The story follows Wood, a single mother in her mid-30s who moved to Los Angeles and committed herself to immigration law, particularly asylum cases… »
Clint Eastwood Sets ‘The 15:17 To Paris’ As Next Warner Bros Film
13 hours ago | Deadline | See recent Deadline news »
Exclusive: Clint Eastwood has firmed the next film he will direct. He’ll helm a drama based on the book The 15:17 To Paris: The True Story Of A Terrorist, A Train, And Three American Heroes. The book was written by Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone and Jeffrey E. Stern; the life rights of the heroes Sadler, Skarlatos and Stone are part of the package. Newcomer scribe Dorothy Blyskal wrote the script, and Eastwood will begin casting right away to start… »
Annapurna Pictures Emerges As A Surprise Contender For The Rights To James Bond
14 hours ago | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
For years now, James Bond has been the most bankable action character in the business. We may chuckle a little at Universal Pictures‘ plans to produce 10 different “Fast And The Furious” movies or Disney‘s aggressive release calendar for its slate of Marvel movies, but that’s nothing compared to the success that Bond has seen. Since Sean Connery‘s first outing as the dashing spy in the 1962 film “Dr.
Continue reading Annapurna Pictures Emerges As A Surprise Contender For The Rights To James Bond at The Playlist. »
- Matthew Monagle
Cannes: Juliette Binoche-Gerard Depardieu Drama to Kick Off Directors Fortnight
21 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Cannes’ Directors Fortnight will kick off on a glamorous note with the world premiere of “Un beau soleil intérieur,” Claire Denis’ ambitious French drama headlined by Juliette Binoche and Gerard Depardieu. The film is adapted from French philosopher and literary critic Roland Barthes’ “A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments.” Films Distribution handles international sales; Ad Vitam will be releasing it in France.
Directors Fortnight will showcase a pair of Sundance movies: “Bushwick,” from Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott, and Geremy Jasper’s “Patti Cake$,” which will close the parallel event. Xyz Films is selling “Bushwick.”
One of the most anticipated movies of the upcoming Directors Fortnight edition is “The Florida Project” from “Tangerine” writer-director Sean Baker. The film centers on a precocious 6-year-old girl and her close friends over the course of a summer break filled with childhood wonder and a sense of adventure. Willem Dafoe stars in the film. Protagonist Pictures is selling. »
- Elsa Keslassy
Film Review: ‘Mrs K’
9 minutes ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
Doing for Hong Kong screen veteran Kara Wai roughly what Tarantino did for Pam Grier in “Jackie Brown” (albeit with a lot less talking), Malaysian writer-director Ho Yuhang’s “Mrs K” is a stylish action movie whose light touch persuades us to accept still-lethal potential of a nearly 60-year-old heroine. Equal parts “Taken”-style thriller and old-school marital-arts/triad-meller homage, it’s expertly crafted good fun that should appeal to genre fans across many borders.
Wai (Aka Kara Hui and Wai Ying Hung) was still a teenager when she found fame via a slew of Shaw Brothers kung-fu epics starting in 1976. Since then she’s gone on to play a wide range of roles on the big and small screens, including an award-winning turn as an alcoholic divorcée in Yuhang’s own 2009 “At the End of Daybreak.” As the titular figure here, she gets to straddle both a dignified latter-day »
- Dennis Harvey
Film Review: ‘Nola Circus’
50 minutes ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
There is a scene during the final third of “Nola Circus” in which a young African-American barber is abducted from his shop at gunpoint by three men wearing Ku Klux Klan outfits, forced to wear a burlap bag over his head, driven to a remote location, ordered to strip naked, and told to run for his life before a dog is set free to chase him. The scene — which is previewed in fleeting flash-forwards at several points earlier in the film — is supposed to be funny. “Nola Circus” is meant to be a comedy.
And here’s the punchline: The guys in the Klan robes turn out to be black. They’re not racist killers; they’re just trying to throw a scare into the man they’re tormenting. Pretty hilarious, huh?
Often recalling the original advertising tagline for Tony Richardson’s “The Loved One” — “The motion picture with something to offend everyone! »
- Joe Leydon
‘Contrived, vulgar and stupid’: Going in Style and the rise of the geriatric buddy movie
53 minutes ago | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
The Oap gangster caper is the latest example of a Hollywood staple that’s well past its sell-by date – manipulative, nauseatingly heartwarming films that invariably seem to star Michael Caine
In the predictably inert, if not explicitly vile, geriatric buddy movie Going in Style, Michael Caine plays an octogenarian prole who is about to lose his home to a heartless bank. His cashflow problems necessitate the obligatory senior tete-a-tete with the obligatory insensitive bank manager, a stock character previously seen in Saint Vincent and Drag Me to Hell. Dissatisfied with the result of their little chinwag, Caine and his fellow retirees Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin decide to rob the bank.
Going in Style was co-produced by Steven Mnuchin, a hedge-fund manager recently named secretary of the Us treasury by the irrepressible Donald Trump. During the financial crisis of 2009, Mnuchin made a fortune for himself by investing in a mortgage »
- Joe Queenan
Film studies: five movies to liven up Britain's classrooms
53 minutes ago | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
20th Century Fox is offering Us teachers free learning materials inspired by its Nasa-themed hit Hidden Figures. But why stop there?
Related: Should pupils watch movies in class? Discuss …
Kids love movies, and education standards need to be improved. So why not use movies as a teaching aid? It’s not rocket science. Except in this case it actually is. After unexpectedly conquering the box office with its inspiring tale of the resolute black women who helped keep Nasa in the 1960s space race, Hidden Figures is now setting its landing coordinates for the classroom.
Continue reading »
- Graeme Virtue
Letters from Baghdad review – Gertrude Bell gets the documentary she deserves
53 minutes ago | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
Tilda Swinton reads from the letters of the colourful and charismatic explorer, diplomat and archeologist who, along with Te Lawrence, shaped modern Iraq
It is one of the injustices of the universe that the fame of Te Lawrence, Aka Lawrence of Arabia, lives on (probably mostly thanks to David Lean and Peter O’Toole), while far fewer people are familiar with the biography of his contemporary and comrade-in-diplomacy, Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), a character no less colourful, charismatic and compelling than Lawrence. Getting a niche arthouse release, this finely wrought documentary won’t rectify that imbalance in their respective reputations. But it does serve as a handy summary for those who want a cinematic introduction to Bell’s sprawling, singular story, and don’t want to start with Queen of the Desert, Werner Herzog’s dramatised flop that starred Nicole Kidman as Bell.
Related: The extraordinary life of Gertrude Bell
Continue reading. »
- Leslie Felperin
Peter O'Toole personal archive heads to University of Texas
1 hour ago | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
Exclusive: Letters, manuscripts, photographs and props have been acquired by university in Austin for $400,000
The personal archive of Peter O’Toole, including bundles of letters, unpublished manuscripts, photographs and props, has been acquired by the University of Texas in Austin for $400,000.
O’Toole, who died aged 81 in 2013, was as well known for his hellraising and his enormous appetite for alcohol as he was for his memorable performances including his career-defining role in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia.
Continue reading »
- Mark Brown Arts correspondent
China Film Group, Dragoia Media, Movistar Plus, Atresmedia Cine Team on ‘Dragonkeeper’ (Exclusive)
2 hours ago | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
China Film Animation, part of the China Film Group, will team with Spain’s Dragoia Media, Movistar Plus and Atresmedia Cine to produce “Dragonkeeper,” a CGI family film based on the first of a six book series from Carole Wilkinson.
Set to be announced Friday at the Beijing Film Festival, the co-production, the most ambitious to date between China and Spain, underscores China’s dramatically escalating importance for European animation.
“Dragonkeeper” also marks a notable drive into animation by two of Spain’s most important fiction forces, Movistar Plus, the pay TV arm of giant telco Telefonica, and Atresmedia Cine, the film production division of broadcast network Atresmedia.
Envisaged as the first movie in an international brand and film franchise recognized in and outside China, “Dragonkeeper” will be directed by Spain’s Ignacio Ferreras, who broke through to acclaim, an Annecy Jury Award and best screenplay Spanish Academy Goya for “Wrinkles, »
- John Hopewell and Emilio Mayorga
Deadline Studio at Tribeca 2017 – Day 1 – Zoey Deutch, Max Winkler, Tom Bernard, Michael Barker & More
3 hours ago | Deadline | See recent Deadline news »
Deadline’s studio at the Tribeca Film Festival kicked off the first of five talent-filled days at the NYC fest with visits by Zoey Deutch and Max Winkler (Flower), Julian Sands (The Escape), Tom Bernard & Michael Barker of Sony Pictures Classics, and many more. Photographer Mark Mann is behind the lens for our series of photo sessions and video interviews. Click on the image above to open the gallery, and follow Deadline for more photos and video interviews from Tribeca. P… »
Zoey Deutch Is A Force Of Nature In Max Winkler’s Unpredictable Dark Comedy ‘Flower’ [Tribeca Review]
3 hours ago | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
A charming and blissful look at the joys and pains of a bravado-flecked reckless youth, director Max Winkler’s “Flower” is an earnest coming-of-age pic mixing cheeky sass will full-bodied teenage angst and beaming vitality. And it’s also an untamed dark comedy that veers off to unexpected places that reveal disturbing edges.
If there’s a movie that can pull off the cool insouciance of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Clueless” and Diablo Cody, and successfully mix it with the seemingly incongruous realist sensibilities of “Fish Tank” or the films of Andrea Arnold in general, “Flower” is it.
Continue reading Zoey Deutch Is A Force Of Nature In Max Winkler’s Unpredictable Dark Comedy ‘Flower’ [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist. »
- Rodrigo Perez
Peter Bart: Kirk Kerkorian Finally Bet Big-Time To Make The Movie That Meant The Most To Him
4 hours ago | Deadline | See recent Deadline news »
"Every movie needs a rabbi," Samuel Goldwyn once wrote. His comment seems relevant to two movies bowing this weekend, both in urgent need of help. One has a world-class rabbi, the other an invisible one. Oprah Winfrey, as mega-energized as ever, has gone multimedia pitching her new film, whose title is as complex as its plot line. Fortunately, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is an HBO movie, so there's no panic about its box office opening. Only Oprah could stir… »
‘Gilbert’ Is The Sweet, Scattered Documentary About Gilbert Gottfried That You Never Knew You Wanted — Tribeca 2017 Review
4 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
You probably recognize Gilbert Gottfried’s name (after all, he’s the most famous Gilbert who’s ever lived), and you definitely recognize his voice, but other than his career-defining performance as Iago in “Aladdin,” how much of his work can you remember off the top of your head?
Mileage will vary, of course, but even Gottfried devotees could agree that the guy’s persona has outsized his resumé. That’s not to knock his stand-up comedy or his appearances in the likes of “Beverly Hills Cop II” and “Saved By the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas,” but rather to say that he’s become an ambient part of our culture, less of a celebrity than the human embodiment of a modern court jester. He’s not a man, but a squint and an aggressive whine; he’s the joke you shouldn’t tell in public, the furniture at a Friar’s Club roast. »
- David Ehrlich
Review: ‘Super Dark Times’ Is An Unnerving Cross Between ‘Stand By Me’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ — Tribeca 2017
4 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
The ominous prologue of Kevin Phillips’ “Super Dark Times” arrives like a shiver, and that chill lingers until the bitter end, continuing to sink into your skin even as the rest of the film begins to melt into the atmosphere. A slow-burn high school thriller that’s like a tortured cross between “Stand By Me” and “Donnie Darko” (with a bit of Dostoyevskian madness thrown in there for good measure, Phillips’ feature-length debut begins by welcoming us to a grey Hudson Valley town that’s lost in the barren phantom zone between fall and winter.
The place looks practically post-apocalyptic, the shattered window of a classroom evoking “Children of Men.” But it’s not the end of the world, just a petrified buck who’s gotten himself into a spot of trouble. Some cops stand over the animal as it lies dying on the floor between the desks, the men »
- David Ehrlich
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