Movie News

“The Northman,” Focus Features’ Viking revenge epic from acclaimed director Robert Eggers, made 1.35 million in its Thursday preview screenings at the box office across 2,700 theaters with previews that began at 7 p.m. “The Northman” opens on 3,214 screens this weekend.

Universal’s animated family film “The Bad Guys,” which is expected to lead the box office, made 1.15 million Thursday from preview screenings beginning at 5:00 p.m. at 3,000 theaters. It opens on approximately 4,000 screens this weekend.

And finally, “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” Lionsgate’s meta comedy starring Nicolas Cage as Nicolas Cage, brought in 835K in its preview screenings Thursday. It will open Friday in 3,036 North American locations.

All three films have been very well reviewed, yet early projections are low for all three, with “The Bad Guys” tracking for a start in the mid-teens, “The Northman” at 10-12 million and “Massive Talent” at a disappointing 6-7 million.

“The Northman

Jacques Perrin, the French actor best known for starring in Giuseppe Tornatore’s Oscar-winning film “Cinema Paradiso,” has died. He was 80 years old.

“The family has the immense sadness of informing you of the death of filmmaker Jacques Perrin, who died on Thursday, April 21 in Paris. He passed away peacefully,” Perrin’s family announced in a statement sent to news agency Agence France Press.

Perrin got an early start to his career, first appearing on screen in “Gates of the Night” — albeit uncredited — at just five years old. Over the course of his career, Perrin starred in more than 70 films, becoming a fixture in French and Italian cinema.

In 1988, Perrin played adult filmmaker Salvatore in “Cinema Paradiso,” a role that would become one of his most recognizable.

Jacques Perrin was also a prolific director. He helmed “Winged Migration” with Philippe Labro in 2001, with the film going on to notch an

The team behind "Solar Opposites," the adult animated Hulu series co-created by Justin Roiland of "Rick & Morty" fame is about to become a whole lot more powerful. As was announced yesterday, the eight-member bargaining unit unanimously voted to join the IATSE Local 839 Animation Guild in a National Labor Relations Board election. The group cast their vote on Wednesday, with "Solar Opposites" production coordinator Dana Bell taking to Twitter to announce the results of the vote and to give thanks to everyone who supported the team in their effort. The "Solar Opposites" team first filed the petition for a union election back in...

The post Solar Opposites Production Team Votes to Join The Animation Guild appeared first on /Film.

Prime Video has a lot riding on its upcoming streaming series, "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power," and when we say a lot, we mean approximately 58 million per episode. This outpaces even the 30 million per episode that Netflix has reportedly sunk into season 4 of "Stranger Things."

According to Variety, the eight-episode first season of "The Rings of Power" will set Prime Video back a whopping 465 million, which "includes startup costs for launching the series that will presumably be spread out over multiple seasons." Last year, we learned that season 2 of "The Rings...

The post The Lord of the Rings TV Show Cost Amazon 465 Million (Or One Jeffrey Bezos Mega-Yacht) appeared first on /Film.

Feel free to call it a comeback, because Nicolas Cage is back in the comedy game, baby. The actor, who is equally well-known for his balls to the wall action roles as his madcap comedy characters, has been getting weird in all the best ways over the last few years. Between the surreal, heavy metal horror, "Mandy," and the heart-wrenching drama, "Pig," Cage has been like a bird decorating his nest with indie darlings, but it was only a matter of time before he was called back into the comedy limelight. 

His most recent film "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent"...

The post Nicolas Cage Wants To Know Why He Stopped Getting Comedy Roles, And So Do We appeared first on /Film.

When Alexander Skarsgård enjoys collaborating with a fellow artist, he’ll sure stay loyal to them.

After winning an Emmy for playing Nicole Kidman’s emotionally and physically abusive husband in “Big Little Lies,” Skarsgård suggested Kidman play his mother in Robert Eggers’ Viking epic “The Northman,” now in theaters. And Skarsgård is even looking to explore a “brother-sister road trip comedy” with his Oscar-winning friend Kidman in pursuit of a “lighter” project together.

Skarsgård’s faith in filmmakers has been a cornerstone of his decades-spanning career, from going “full method” as a gasoline-swigging model in Ben Stiller’s 2001 comedy “Zoolander” to blindly signing on for Lars von Trier’s critically acclaimed “Melancholia” a decade later.

“I actually worked with Lars for literally three seconds on the eve of the millennium,” Skarsgård told Entertainment Weekly while reflecting on his career-making roles. “He was shooting a crazy project in Copenhagen live over New Year’s Eve.

“Swimming with Sharks” has waded into dangerously realistic waters while showcasing the abuse at the heart of Hollywood, but showrunner Kathleen Robertson wants to clarify that the Roku Channel series is anything but a woman-versus-woman cautionary tale.

The psychological thriller, now streaming, stars Kiernan Shipka as a Los Angeles newcomer who becomes the assistant to an ambitious studio executive played by Diane Kruger. Inspired by the 1994 film of the same name, “Swimming with Sharks” gender-swapped its two lead characters for a female-driven story.

“My feeling was if I could use this world as a jumping-off point, but have it be told through the eyes of two very complex women, there would be something there,” writer-producer Robertson told Black Book Magazine. “I’ve been a working actor since the age of 10 so this industry is very much a part of my identity. I grew up on sets. I have my 10,000 hours,

Warning: major spoilers ahead for "Killing Eve."

After years of bloody, sexy tension, BBC's "Killing Eve" has wrapped up its final season with a bang ... But not the kind of bang fans were hoping for. After watching British investigator Eve (Sandra Oh) and assassin Villanelle (Jodie Corner) become more and more obsessed and enmeshed with each other every season, it seemed like a deeply messed up and also incredibly hot romance was right around the corner. And it was. Kind of. But after a brief glimpse of happiness for the couple, their romance is shattered when Villanelle is suddenly murdered and...

The post The Killing Eve Book Series Author Hated the Series Finale Just Like Everyone Else appeared first on /Film.

[Editor’s Note: The following article contains spoilers for “Ozark” Season 4, Part 1 and the preceding seasons.]

“Ozark” is coming to an end. After bursting onto Netflix back in July 2017, the Byrde family will say goodbye on April 29, 2022. The streaming service premiered the first half of Season 4 back in January, and the final seven episodes will debut in just a few short days.

In case your memory is as wrecked as ours and Part 1 already feels like a distant, fuzzy memory, IndieWire has put together an “Everything To Know” guide for the final season, in the hopes of refreshing our collective memories. After all, with stakes this high, it’s best to be as prepared as possible before the ultimate end arrives.

Created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams, with Chris Mundy serving as showrunner, “Ozark” tells the story of Marty and Wendy Byrde, a married couple living in the Chicago suburbs with their two children, Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) and

"Firefly" holds a special place in the hearts of sci-fi fans. Whatever issues have come up in terms of creator Joss Whedon, the story itself was endlessly compelling. Nine people from different backgrounds travel together on a firefly class spaceship, through an uncertain territory, trying to get to where they're going (and doing crime along the way). It's a Western set in space, in a future where people are settling new planets because Earth is no longer viable. Sort of like how people settled in the Old West. 

In the book "Joss Whedon: The Biography" from author Amy Pascale (via Gizmodo), we learn in the...

The post How Firefly Put a Sci-Fi Twist On a John Wayne Classic appeared first on /Film.

With “The Northman,” “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” and the continued success of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” this month has been about action-forward movies that are entertaining and worthy, but might fail to be taken seriously as real “achievements” in Hollywood. Timing has also proven to be an essential factor, and not just for releases, but for when a movie or performance starts gaining momentum.

Studios are only beginning to map out how to roll out their most promising contenders in the second half of the year. At this same point last year, most critics had seen the eventual best picture winner, “Coda” from Apple Original Films, after it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Obviously, we didn’t know how far it would go as “Belfast” and “The Power of the Dog” gained momentum. Timing and narratives are paramount, no matter where you think a film stands in the race.

Feature directorial debutant Andrés Ramírez Pulido attended Croisette with short film Damiana in 2017.

In the run-up to Cannes Paris-based Pyramide International has boarded sales on Cannes Critics’ Week selection The Pack (La Jauria) from Colombian director Andrés Ramírez Pulido.

The Colombia-France co-production marks Pulido’s feature directorial debut after a distinguished track record in short films that saw Damiana premiere in Competition in Cannes in 2017 a year after El Edén played in the Berlinale.

The film centres on Eliú, a country boy incarcerated́ in an experimental juvenile correction centre in the heart of the Colombian jungle after he committed a

Feature directorial debutant Andrés Ramírez Pulido attended Croisette with short film Damiana in 2017.

In the run-up to Cannes Pyramide Films has boarded sales on Cannes Critics’ Week selection The Pack (La Jauria) from Colombian director Andrés Ramírez Pulido.

The Colombia-France co-production marks Pulido’s feature directorial debut after a distinguished track record in short films that saw Damiana premiere in Competition in Cannes in 2017 a year after he took El Edén to the Berlinale.

The film centres on Eliú, a country boy incarcerated́ in an experimental juvenile correction centre in the heart of the Colombian jungle after he committed a

Sure, there’s “Cage Rage” but where’s the Cage comedy?

Screen legend Nicolas Cage revealed that even he is surprised it’s been a minute since his comedic chops have been on the big screen. The “Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” actor told the Los Angeles Times that with his decades-spanning career, it’s confusing that there seems to be a drought of comedies in theaters.

“I’ve been scratching my head a little bit as to why Hollywood wasn’t offering me comedies anymore,” Cage said. “I had done ‘Raising Arizona’ and ‘Honeymoon in Vegas’ and ‘It Could Happen to You’ and ‘Moonstruck.’ I was just sort of like, ‘Where did that option go?'”

Cage pointed to the indie film “Unbearable Weight,” adding, “I think this movie will help with that.”

“The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” is an ode of sorts to Cage’s career: The

The opening of “Scary Movie 2” memorably features Natasha Lyonne in a parody of “The Exorcist.” The comedian appears as a demon-possessed woman who gets a visit from two priests, played by James Wood and Andy Richter. Lyonne reminded fans in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly that Marlon Brando was originally cast in Wood’s cameo and shot some scenes before dropping out of “Scary Movie 2” due to health reasons. Brando’s scene was never released.

“I have a VHS copy of the dailies that I got because Marlon Brando’s final role — sadly for him, but luckily for me — is doing this ‘Exorcist’ opening teaser,” Lyonne said. “I don’t know what he was thinking, really. I mean, why would he do that?”

Recalling Brando’s short time on set, Lyonne said he was “very chatty” and had an earpiece in order to assist in his line readings.

There’s a classic sound to heist films, especially of the ’60s and ’70s – a little jazzy, a little stealthy, occasionally raucous and wild – and composer Daniel Pemberton cleverly channels it throughout “The Bad Guys,” the DreamWorks Animation action comedy that opens today.

“The film in some ways is an homage to classic caper movies,” says the English composer, “and it’s a world I really love playing in. You get to be really bold: big breaks, big brass sections, big tunes and big grooves.”

Pemberton’s high-energy music sets the mood and drives the action in Pierre Perifel’s animated adventure about a notorious criminal gang that considers going straight after they cross paths with a guinea-pig philanthropist and their red-fox governor.

“At its core, it’s a very joyous score, even though there’s sneakiness, tension, all that kind of stuff,” he notes. He cites Quincy Jones’ “The Italian Job,

There comes a point when we can't help but wonder, "How many more times do we have to see the same superhero in a different setting?" Batman, his arch-nemesis, the Joker, and Superman are some of the most explored characters in the DC Universe — both on the small and silver screen. It's an excellent time to question whether offering a gritty take on a character or updating it to reflect a real-world setting influences our interest in it — or focusing on their initial principles is a better way to go about it.

When it comes to Superman, whether you're...

The post How Superman & Lois Tried to Make The Man Of Steel More Human appeared first on /Film.

The first image shown in James Wan's 2013 horror film "The Conjuring" is of a doll. The doll is weathered (but not necessarily well-loved), with scratches on its blushed cheekbone and worn-away eyelash paint peering out from under blunt red bangs. A crack splits the iris of the toy's eye, perhaps allowing a peek into something nasty hidden within the porcelain conduit. The doll is introduced during an interview with the Warrens (played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson), a married paranormal investigation team. Then and throughout the "Conjuring" films, this doll — called Annabelle — is a ginger menace who...

The post The Annabelle Comes Home Easter Egg That Pays Homage to the Original Doll appeared first on /Film.

The influence of “Into the Spider-Verse” continues to infiltrate the Hollywood mainstream, with DreamWorks’ latest heist comedy, “The Bad Guys,” following in the footsteps of “The Mitchells vs. The Machines,” “Luca,” and “Turning Red” to subvert CG animation with a handmade, illustrated look. First-time feature director Pierre Perifel definitely wanted to break through the “boring” with more stylization for his adaptation of the popular Scholastic book series by Aaron Blabey.

Perifel previously worked as an animator on “Kung Fu Panda 2” (which contained a 2D-animated sequence) and co-directed the DreamWorks short “Bilby” (which had some graphic touches). But after the handmade fur and felt vibe for the “Trolls” films, DreamWorks was ready to double down on 2D stylization for “The Bad Guys.”

Best described as “Zootopia” meets “Oceans 11,” “The Bad Guys” features a crew of animal outlaws attempting to go straight — until they’re framed for the heist of a rare meteorite.

A consortium of investors led by Najafi Companies has closed its deal to purchase STX Entertainment, the beleaguered film and television company behind “Bad Moms” and “My Spy.” The sale ends STX’s unhappy union with Eros, the Indian media company that it merged with in 2020. The goal was to go public, which STXEros did, but to little investor fanfare. STX had previously tried and abandoned an effort to go public on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2018, citing unfavorable market conditions.

The cash-strapped independent studio had attracted some 11th-hour interest from Lionsgate, but a potential deal collapsed, leaving Najafi Companies, a Phoenix-based private-equity firm run by Jahm Najafi, as the victor. Najafi is the vice chairman of the Phoenix Suns. Investment firms As Birch Grove LP and 777 Partners helped finance the deal for STX. In December the group bid 173 million for the company.

STX said its executive team will remain in place,