Movie News

Netflix has boarded Adam McKay’s new comedy feature Don’t Look Up, which Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence will star in. Deadline first broke the news about the project last November when we announced the Oscar-winning Big Short filmmaker’s new first-look deal at Paramount under his label Hyberobject Industries.

Don’t Look Up tells the story of two low-level astronomers who must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching asteroid that will destroy Earth. Production will begin in April for a release later this year.

McKay wrote the comedy and will produce under his Hyperobject Industries banner with Kevin Messick.

“I’m so thrilled to make this movie with Jen Lawrence. She’s what folks in the 17th century used to call ‘a dynamite talent’,” McKay said. “And the fact that Netflix sees this movie as a worldwide comedy sets the bar high for

Exclusive: Broad City alum Abbi Jacobson has been tapped to voice Katie Mitchell, one of the lead roles in the animated family comedy The Mitchells Vs The Machines, which is set up at Sony Pictures Animation with Oscar winners Phil Lord and Christopher Miller attached to produce along with Kurt Albrecht.

Slated for a theatrical release on September 18, the pic was written and is being directed by Mike Rianda and co-directed by Jeff Rowe. The plot centers on The Mitchells, a dysfunctional yet loving one whose road trip is interrupted by a tech uprising: all around the world, the electronic devices people love – from phones, to refrigerators, to an appealing new line of personal robots – decide it’s time to take over. With the help of two friendly malfunctioning robots and the family’s delightfully chubby pug, the Mitchells will have to get past their problems and work together to

Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, and Willem Dafoe have been cast in “The Card Counter,” a casino-set revenge thriller starring Oscar Isaac.

Paul Schrader is directing the movie from a screenplay he wrote. Martin Scorsese also joined the project as an executive producer. It’s the fifth collaboration between Schrader and Scorsese, who previously worked together on “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “The Last Temptation of Christ” and “Bringing Out the Dead.”

In “The Card Counter,” Isaac portrays a card player on the casino trail who sees a chance at redemption when he’s approached by a young man (Sheridan), seeking help to execute his plan for revenge on a military colonel (Dafoe.) With backing from a mysterious gambling financier (Haddish), the duo go from casino to casino and set their sights on winning a World Series of poker tournament.

“Scorsese and I liked the symmetry of it, the reflection of a

“Deadpool” and “Homeland” actress Morena Baccarin will star in the survival thriller “Beast,” to be directed by Espen Sandberg, who co-helmed Oscar-nominated “Kon-Tiki” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.”

Based on Aaron W. Sala’s Blacklist script, “Beast” is about a woman who survives a plane crash and is stranded on a seemingly deserted island in the South Pacific. “She must fight to get back to her children, face her inner demons and a real threat of unimaginable proportions,” according to a statement from the producers.

Sherryl Clark and Kenneth Huang are producing for The H Collective alongside Rakuten’s Mickey Mikitani. Shooting will begin in late March in New Zealand. “Beast” is the first film under the joint venture between Rakuten and The H Collective, who first partnered in August.

Sandberg said: “For me ‘The Beast’ is a story about a woman who is forced

There are few people alive with Matt Berry’s line delivery skills. When he’s not leaning into the lofty, roller-coaster cadence that’s led to scene-stealing parts on “The It Crowd,” “Toast of London,” and most recently the TV version of “What We Do in the Shadows,” he’s an actor with a gift for raised eyebrows and comedic directness that can turn both short proclamations and impossibly syllable-d word chunks into the most dependable punchlines.

So it’s always a treat to see him take on a role that affords those talents a front-and-center spot. The latest TV project to do so is “Year of the Rabbit,” a period detective comedy that aired last summer on Channel 4 and makes its stateside debut this week on IFC. Berry stars as Di Eli Rabbit, a street-savvy detective dispensing with his own brand of pre-forensics sleuthing in 1880s London.

Rabbit’s methods are unconventional,

Previously, when attending a premiere heavy festival like Sundance, I was usually lucky enough to be present as part of a team of programmers. We divided the screenings between all of us to cover as many of the films as possible. (There are spreadsheets and rating systems involved.) Watching films as a freelancer, I realized over the first few days at Sundance that I was playing it safe by watching films by filmmakers I was already familiar with for the guarantee that at least the film would appear finished at the screening. For programmers working at festivals like Sundance, what […]

Before he sinks his teeth into the role of Blade the vampire hunter for Marvel Studios, two time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali will star in Swan Song for AppleTV+. The “genre-bending drama” is an original feature film that will join the fledgling streaming service’s slate of movies and also receive a theatrical release. This afternoon, […]

The post Mahershala Ali to Star in AppleTV+ Original Movie ‘Swan Song’, a Genre-Bending Drama appeared first on /Film.

In “Sylvie’s Love,” Tessa Thompson stars as an aspiring TV producer named Sylvie opposite Nnamdi Asomugha’s young musician Robert, who meet and fall in love in the New York summer of 1957. The 1950s and 1960s-set film — written and directed by Eugene Ashe — is a romantic tale of love found, lost and possibly rekindled, a story totally irresistible to the film’s stars.

“Selfishly, I grew up looking at old photographs of my grandmother when she would travel by train and seeing her in her gorgeous outfits with gloves and with her hat box. I thought a lot of what it was to be a woman at that time boxed by the confines of period and gender,” Thompson said at Variety’s Sundance Studio presented by AT&T. “I really loved the idea of working in something that was just really about joy and, if and when there was strife,

To turn SpongeBob SquarePants' catchphrase into a question: Are you ready? Are you ready? For Nickelodeon's 2020-2021 new content slate? That's right, friends: The popular, influential, family-friendly channel has just released the new and returning shows coming the next couple years, and they include a lot of exciting stuff -- including a SpongeBob SquarePants prequel series. [caption id="attachment_848719" align="alignright" width="350"] Image via Paramount Pictures/caption] Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years comes to Nickelodeon July of 2020, with 13 episodes of CG-animated glory, all with the original voice cast (including Tom Kenny in …

Nicolas Cage turned in some of the best work of his career playing a double role in Spike Jonze’s “Adaptation,” and he’s set to try something similar in his upcoming project “The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent.” The meta drama from writer-director Tom Gormican casts Nicolas Cage as two fictionalized versions of himself. The first is a downtrodden actor struggling to return to his glory days. The second is a younger doppelgänger of the actor from when he was a big star who haunts his older self for throwing his career away. The two get in way over their heads after the strapped-for-cash older actor accepts a $1 million gig to attend the birthday of a Mexican billionaire super-fan.

“It’s a stylised version of me, and the fact I even have to refer to myself in the third person makes me extremely uncomfortable,” Cage recently told Empire magazine

Christoph Waltz and Guy Pearce will star in The Portable Door, a fantasy-adventure-comedy based on the book series from Tom Holt. The Jim Henson Company and Story Bridge Films are producing the film, which producers are describing as a cross between The Office and Harry Potter. Jeffrey Walker is directing from a screenplay adapted by Leon Ford, with Patrick Gibson set to […]

The post ‘The Portable Door’ Will Team Christoph Waltz and Guy Pearce With the Jim Henson Company appeared first on /Film.

Audiences got a first glimpse of the rare yellow lightsaber on the big screen in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, when Rey revealed her own personal lightsaber at the end of the film, emitting a golden-yellow hue. It was a stark contrast to the blue and green lightsabers that Jedi Masters had wielded in the […]

The post New ‘Star Wars’ Comic Reveals Luke Skywalker Had a Secret Yellow Lightsaber appeared first on /Film.

From cinema chains to producers, the Chinese industry is facing serious disruption.

Chinese and Hong Kong buyers and sellers will have a significantly reduced presence at this year’s European Film Market (Efm), thanks to the Covid-19 coronavirus, which has derailed the industry’s travel plans.

The outbreak, which has so far sickened more than 75,000 worldwide and resulted in over 2,000 deaths, has also postponed another major market, Hong Kong’s Filmart, from March to August.

But the disruption to the international film circuit is just the tip of the iceberg of a much more serious consequence of the outbreak – the

Pixar’s new movie “Onward” marks a reunion of sorts for Tom Holland and Chris Pratt. The two actors, who both have ties to Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe and most recently teamed in “Avengers: Endgame” as Spider-Man and Star-Lord, play brothers in the animated fantasy adventure. Their friendship has become a highlight of “Onward’s” promotional tour as as the co-stars turned real-life-pals have shared their mutual admiration for each other.

“It’s just really nice to have him in my corner,” Holland said. “He’s someone that I really look up to and someone that I really appreciate. And I’m glad that we’re good buddies.”

Pratt adds, “I love Tom. It’s the most fun I’ve had since ‘Avengers.’ He’s a great kid and, in a way, I do look at him as a brother, so it’s apropos that we are playing brothers in the film.

Women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred has never been accused of being press shy. But on Wednesday, while the jury was deliberating in the Harvey Weinstein rape trial, she was accused for serving as a mouthpiece for the prosecution, prompting one of Weinstein’s attorneys to request a gag order for the media-savvy Allred.

Damon Cheronis was immediately denied his request for a gag order, with the judge responding, “Well, I wish I had that kind of authority,” then swiftly dismissing Cheronis’ request.

Early on in the trial, Justice James Burke ruled that the defense and prosecution should refrain from speaking about the witnesses or jury to the media. Cheronis claimed that Allred is essentially a megaphone for the prosecution’s case, repeatedly speaking to the media about her three clients, Annabella Sciorra, Miriam Haley and Lauren Young, who have all testified against Weinstein in the New York criminal trial.

Despite the streaming service’s name, Apple TV+ isn’t just television — it’s also in the original film game. (That would be the “+.”) Apple has just announced that the latest original film to join its upcoming slate is “Swan Song,” starring two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali and written and directed by Academy Award winner Benjamin Cleary (“Stutterer”).

“Benjamin’s script for ‘Swan Song’ immediately connected with us,” said Matt Dentler, Apple’s head of feature development and acquisitions. “We cannot wait to bring Benjamin’s vision together with Mahershala’s undeniable talent to deliver this powerfully layered story to audiences around the world.”

Details about the film are sparse right now, but Apple describes “Swan Song” as “a genre-bending drama” set in the near future and focused on how far someone will go and how much they will sacrifice to make a happier life for the people they love.

Two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali is producing and starring in the genre-bending drama feature “Swan Song” for Apple TV Plus, with production starting in the spring.

The film will be produced by Apple and Anonymous Content. “Swan Song” will be directed by Academy Award winner Benjamin Cleary, who also wrote the project. Cleary won the Oscar in the live-action short category in 2016 for “Stutterer.”

The film is set in the near future and explores how far someone will go, and how much they’ll sacrifice, to make a happier life for the people they love.

“Benjamin’s script for ‘Swan Song’ immediately connected with us,” said Matt Dentler, Apple’s head of feature development and acquisitions. “We cannot wait to bring Benjamin’s vision together with Mahershala’s undeniable talent to deliver this powerfully layered story to audiences around the world.”

Adam Shulman (“Defending Jacob”) and Jacob Perlin (“The Amazing Johnathan Documentary

Back when Scream was released in 1996, it revitalized the slasher genre formula with its blend of self-referential humor and genuine scares. Once it became a cultural and box office phenomenon, it ushered in a new era of horror films in a similar vein such as I Know What You Did Last Summer and The […]

The post ‘Valentine’ is a Fascinating Artifact From the Post-‘Scream’ Horror Landscape appeared first on /Film.

Hollywood has long been interested in adapting pulp hero Doc Savage to the screen, but even though various movie versions have been in the works over the years, it seems like the Man of Bronze is heading to television instead. Sony Pictures Television is developing a Doc Savage TV series from Condé Nast Entertainment and […]

The post ‘Doc Savage’ TV Series in the Works From ‘Fast & Furious’ Producer appeared first on /Film.

In his latest book about Hollywood, author Sam Wasson uses interviews and books — such as autobiography “Roman by Polanski” — to craft a novelistic tale about the making of the iconic 1974 movie “Chinatown.” The first chapter, “Justice,” starts off with the romance between actress Sharon Tate and young director Roman Polanski, as he casts her in his 1967 film, “The Fearless Vampire Killers.” Our excerpt (slightly edited for length) is below.

Duty was her pattern. She was a smiler, an actress.

Sharon signed with Ransohoff at nineteen. Dutifully, she faced Hollywood with professional dedication, taking courses in singing, dancing, and acting, the latter with Jeff Corey in the fall of 1963. “An incredibly beautiful girl,” Corey reflected, “but a fragmented personality.” Self-disclosure was a problem, so Corey one day put a stick in her hand and demanded, “Hit me, do something, show emotion!” Beauty was not enough. And she knew she wouldn’t be beautiful forever.