Movie News

Next weekend marks the end of “Saturday Night Live” Season 47, and the show’s summer vacation is always accompanied by rumors about cast members departing.

“SNL” has become increasingly flexible in recent years, allowing top cast members to take hiatuses to work on other projects as an attempt to keep them on the show. Still, the grueling schedule inevitably gets old and most cast members eventually move on.

One name who could be plotting his exit? Michael Che, who has co-hosted “Weekend Update” with Colin Jost since 2014. The two men are also the show’s head writers, but that arrangement could change very soon. In a new interview with The New York Times, Che revealed that he does not plan to stick around “SNL” much longer.

“My head has been at leaving for the past five seasons,” Che said. “I do think that I’ve been here longer than I’ll be here.

Note: This article contains spoilers for "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."

"Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" is a Marvel movie that doesn't exactly feel like a Marvel movie. Sure, it has all the connective tissue that Marvel Cinematic Universe films are duty-bound to have, but horror filmmaker Sam Raimi delights in derailing viewer expectations for pretty much its entire runtime. So when the wild ride of a movie ended with a decidedly expected mid-credits scene, the return to standard Marvel format was a little disappointing. But we really can't complain too much, because the result of that tonally dissonant...

The post Charlize Theron Shares Behind-the-Scenes Look at Her Marvel Cinematic Universe Debut appeared first on /Film.

With the first half of “Stranger Things” Season 4 only weeks away, the stars of the blockbuster Netflix hit are beginning to hit the press circuit. On Friday night, Millie Bobby Brown made an appearance on “The Tonight Show” starring Jimmy Fallon, where she offered some new details about themes fans can expect the show to explore.

Brown was only 12 years old when “Stranger Things” premiered on Netflix in 2016, quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon and launching the child actor on a path to stardom. The actress has grown up in the limelight over the past six years, and is now 18 years old and leading other films like Netflix’s “Enola Holmes.” She spoke about the parallels between her own process of growing up and that of her “Stranger Things” character, Eleven. The actress hinted that the upcoming season will explore the ways that Eleven matures and becomes an independent adult in her own right.

Jerrod Carmichael is having quite the year. A month after dropping his HBO special “Rothaniel” and making his “SNL” hosting debut, the comedian, who recently came out as gay, is releasing his directorial debut, “On the Count of Three.”

Carmichael stopped by “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” to promote the film, and the conversation quickly turned to the process of coming out as a public figure, something both comedians have experienced. While opening up about the journey, Carmichael expressed some regret about past jokes he made about the gay community, blaming them on his own refusal to accept himself.

“I’m sure some of the bits and things in my life that I deeply regret were a product of, like, self-hate and denying who I really was,” he said. “So I think the material and a lot of those things– like when I wasn’t talking about myself, I was talking

A week after Marvel Studios cracked the multiverse wide open, the studio's latest offering is still besting the competition. "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" is projected to easily top the box office this weekend: The horror-tinged superhero movie is expected to rake in another 60 million by Monday, according to The Wrap.

The Benedict Cumberbatch-led film didn't have much new competition for the weekend, as Blumhouse's "Firestarter" was the only major release brave enough to go up against it. The Stephen King adaptation had a noticeably quiet lead-up to its launch, which includes both a theatrical release and exclusive...

The post Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Heading for 62 Million Second Weekend appeared first on /Film.

What a difference six years can make.

When J.D. Vance’s memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” was released in 2016, the story seemed like fitting material for famously wholesome director Ron Howard to adapt. The book told an inspirational story of Vance’s journey from a poverty-stricken childhood in rural Ohio to attending Yale. It was an only-in-America story that briefly made Vance the toast of some in liberal America, though plenty of critics cited the book for dangerous rhetoric and misguided conclusions.

After the book’s success (following Donald Trump’s presidential election in 2016), Howard helmed a 2020 Netflix film starring Gabriel Basso as Vance. The movie received mixed-to-negative reviews.

Recently, Vance has cultivated an even more contentious public persona. The author and venture capitalist is currently running as a Republican for the Senate seat being vacated by Ohio Senator Rob Portman, and he has embraced a set of controversial positions, even by Republican standards.

If you need to make a bona fide blockbuster in 2022, apparently Tom Cruise is still the man to call. First feedback to "Top Gun: Maverick" is finally here, and so far critics think the film has all the makings of a massive crowd-pleaser. The long-delayed "Top Gun" sequel is officially Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with a near-perfect score of 97 as of the time of writing.

Paramount Pictures celebrated the achievement yesterday with a Twitter post prominently displaying the aggregate site's coveted Certified Fresh badge. As of publication time, the title has 89 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with only...

The post Top Gun: Maverick Is Certified Fresh With a Near Perfect Score On Rotten Tomatoes appeared first on /Film.

(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)

The Series: "Freakazoid!"

Where You Can Stream It: Tubi

The Pitch: Back in 1990, Terry Semel, the president of Warner Bros., felt that the company's cartoon department was running low on energy, and aimed to solve the issue by ordering a new series — à la the successful 1984 series "Muppet Babies" — that would star youthful counterparts to recognizable Looney Tunes stars. At the same time, Steven Spielberg had been shopping around an idea to produce his own...

The post The Daily Stream: Freakazoid! Will Give Your Brain a Chocolate Coating appeared first on /Film.

One of the most talked about moments in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” comes when Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) visit Earth-838 and encounter an alternate version of the Avengers known as the Illuminati. The group is comprised of some recognizable Marvel comics characters not previously seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with some very famous names involved.

A particularly splashy casting is John Krasinski playing Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic from the Fantastic Four. Krasinski has long been a popular fan casting for the role, so many online superhero fans felt particularly vindicated by his appearance.

The cameo has been a popular topic during the massive press tour that the film’s stars have embarked on. So when Elizabeth Olsen took Vanity Fair’s famous lie detector test, Krasinski inevitably came up. But not only does she not have strong opinions on her co-star,

Warning: spoilers ahead for "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."

Making movies is a challenge, and doubly so in the Covid era, when strict safety protocols can make gathering people in the same room nearly impossible. So it's really no surprise that some of the cast members in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" were never on set together, and they only appeared that way because of some movie magic. Some fans were shocked, however, to discover that star Elizabeth Olsen, who plays Wanda Maximoff/The Scarlet Witch, had never actually met some of her co-stars from the film. 

In a lie-detector interview with Vanity Fair, Olsen revealed that she...

The post Elizabeth Olsen Has Never Actually Met John Krasinski appeared first on /Film.

Since the games first debuted in 1996, "Resident Evil" has been a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. With a whopping 28 games, seven live-action feature films, five CGI animated films, four stage productions (including a musical), four in-universe documentaries, six dramatic audio albums, an animated series, and a live-action series adaptation on the way, it's safe to say "Resident Evil" is one of the biggest franchises in history. The latest adaptation comes from Netflix, with the live-action series centered on franchise villain Albert Wesker debuting on July 14, 2022, a few days past a year since the streamer debuted the animated series "Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness" and...

The post What Would Make A Resident Evil Adaptation Successful? appeared first on /Film.

Iconoclastic auteur Peter Greenaway’s first film since 2015 is scheduled to be unveiled later this year, and when it hits screens, the opening credits will feature a company that may not yet be familiar to festival-goers. But if all goes according to their plan, it will be very soon.

Apx Capital Group’s film fund was launched in October of 2021, with headquarters in New York. Though the company was minted less than a year ago, Apx has already been plenty busy setting up deals and partnerships, with the release of Greenaway’s “Walking to Paris” set to be the first of many. Earlier this year, they notched a deal with Mathew Knowles (father of Beyonce) and his Music World Entertainment Group to invest 275 million toward Italian film and TV co-productions. And just last month, the company announced a pact with Paula Linhares’ Cenya Productions to develop films for Latin America; centered in Brazil,

When Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” was first announced, the role of Elvis Presley quickly became one of the most coveted parts in Hollywood. Seemingly every young actor wanted a chance to play The King, with the likes of Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, and Harry Styles all vying for the role at various points.

With so much competition, how did relative newcomer Austin Butler land the gig? As it turns out, he got some help from one of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

In a new interview with EW, Luhrmann opened up about the process of casting Butler as “Elvis,” including a nudge he received from Denzel Washington, who appeared with Butler in a 2018 Broadway production of Eugene O’Neill’s “The Iceman Cometh.”

“[Austin Butler] found me,” Luhrmann said. “I received this videotape of this young man in a flood of tears playing ‘Unchained Melody,’ and I thought, ‘Wow, what is that? How is that happening?

Even as Netflix stock struggles, the streamer proved that it can still put on a good show. Except for the guy who jumped Dave Chappelle, last weekend’s Netflix is a Joke Festival was a win: Multiple standups satisfied LA audiences over 11 nights, and that catalyzed a promotional cycle that will drive Netflix subscribers to watch those performances nationwide.

As the international film industry prepares for Cannes — which takes place over roughly the same amount of time — the implications are clear: a physical event, one that teases future content more people want to see! Yes, the Netflix Is a Joke Fest hints at a model that could address one of the biggest challenges in the arthouse distribution landscape.

This column seeks big swings and this one hides in plain sight. Festivals have flirted with taking more active roles in film distribution, but few have cracked the potential to leverage the hype they create.

Right off the bat, Peter Greenaway wants to make clear that he’s never really taken himself seriously as a filmmaker — although like so many of the paradoxes that comprise Greenaway’s identity, it’s not wise to take such a claim too seriously.

“This is a terrible confession to speak to you,” he says via Skype from a tiny house on the Atlantic coast where he goes on weekends. “There’s always that sense of being removed from the activity, of taking a step back and trying to look at it with not a sarcastic or derivative attitude, but certainly a considerable irony.”

Such cheekiness is plenty apparent in Greenaway’s filmography, which spans 16 features, ranging from the Terry Gilliam-esque irreverence of “The Falls” (1980), a three-hour catalog of eccentric survivors of an imaginary cataclysm, to the obsessive brain-dump that is “The Tulse Luper Suitcases” (2003-04), a tricksy trio

There was a really dark period for "Star Wars" fans that occurred between 1983 and 1997. It was after "Return of the Jedi" hit theaters and before the Special Editions were released in theaters. There was virtually nothing big happening with the franchise. Sure, this period gave us Grand Admiral Thrawn in the "Heir to the Empire" trilogy and video games like "Shadows of the Empire," but there was no big event to look forward to. That all changed in 1999 with the release of "The Phantom Menace," The franchise's return with a brand new...

The post Tales From The Box Office: 20 Years Ago, Attack Of The Clones Set A Low Bar For Star Wars appeared first on /Film.

"Mortal Kombat" is one of the best fighting games out there. It's silly, and ridiculous, and bloody, and it's so much fun! As someone who's been playing the title since it first came out, I love every goofy thing about it, from fatalities, to the weird ways the characters attack each other, to the look on people's faces when they're fans and you say, "Toasty." I used to warn people away from the arcade cabinet so I could read the character biographies as they scrolled by on the screen. This was before wikis, friends. Perhaps you can understand how much I love...

The post Mortal Kombat's Creators Couldn't Believe Anyone Would Want to Make It a Movie appeared first on /Film.

Actor Michael Greyeyes has long been a fan of Stephen King, so when he was offered the role of Rainbird, a tracker meant to find a young girl with the ability to spontaneously start fires, in the remake of “Firestarter” he was eager. But the character comes with a lot of baggage.

When the original “Firestarter” was released to theaters in 1984, the character was played by non-indigenous performer George C. Scott. But for Greyeyes, who has been working in Hollywood for going on 30 years now, it was an opportunity to give the character a deeper sense of history, and reclaim a problematic character.

Greyeyes talked to IndieWire via Zoom about the movie and creating a richer backstory for Rainbird, as well as whether he’d be open to joining the Marvel universe. Interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

IndieWire: What drew you to Rainbird and this project?

Michael

(Welcome to Year of the Vampire, a series examining the greatest, strangest, and sometimes overlooked vampire movies of all time in honor of "Nosferatu," which turns 100 this year.)

Trigger Warning: Be advised that this article deals with issues of assault and grooming. If you are a survivor there are resources available. 

The atmospheric horror thriller "The Hunger" is something of an anomaly in director Tony Scott's filmography. While the late British helmer (who cut his teeth on commercials) made a box office mint on slick action hits like "Top Gun," "Days of Thunder," and "Enemy of the State," his debut feature allowed him to...

The post Year Of The Vampire: The Hunger Is A Deceptively Gorgeous Movie About Grooming appeared first on /Film.

By now, you’ve likely seen Marvel’s “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness,” or you wouldn’t be reading this. Or at least, you shouldn’t; this is your final, *spoilers ahead* warning.

This film has crossed the 550 million mark worldwide and is set to make another 60-something million this weekend domestically, and if all goes well, it could probably land somewhere in the 800+ million range globally.

Continue reading Daniel Craig Was Reportedly Supposed To Be One Of The Illuminati In ‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness’ at The Playlist.