Movie News

To infinity and beyond? Not exactly…

“Lightyear,” a spinoff story set in Pixar’s “Toy Story” universe, fell short of that boundless milestone in its box office debut, collecting a lackluster 51 million from 4,255 North American theaters. Family audiences, the movie’s prime demographic, haven’t returned to theaters in full force since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Even so, those ticket sales are disappointing for a brand as recognizable as Pixar, the home of “The Incredibles,” “Finding Nemo” and “Up.” It’s particularly problematic given that “Lightyear” cost 200 million to produce and tens of millions more to market.

Heading into the weekend, the Disney film was expected to generate at least 70 million. But its ambitions were thwarted by heightened competition from Universal’s behemoth “Jurassic World Dominion” and Paramount’s high-flying “Top Gun: Maverick,” as well as little intrigue to watch a slightly esoteric origin story about Buzz Lightyear,

The theatrical debut of much-anticipated local horror-action film “The Witch: Part 2. The Other One” dominated the Korean box office chart over the latest weekend and overshadowed the simultaneous release of Pixar title “Lightyear.”

Distributed by Next Entertainment World, “The Witch: Part 2” conjured up an 8.21 million opening weekend from just shy of 1,800 screens nationwide. That gave it a market share of 48. Including Wednesday and Thursday figures, the film enjoyed an 11.7 million five-day debut, earned from 1.46 million ticket sales.

The film is a sequel to 2018 title “The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion” which was made on a budget of less than 6 million and grossed more than 24 million. Both films were written and directed by Park Hoon-jung.

The strong start for “The Witch: Part 2” lifted nationwide aggregate gross receipts to 17 million over the weekend, up from 14.7 million previously. In a further sign of normality being restored, the top two titles were Korean-made.

“The Roundup,

"My Hero Academia" has dropped a new trailer for its upcoming sixth season, which is due to arrive on the Crunchyroll streaming service this fall. The anime series based on the long-running manga by Kōhei Horikoshi is bracing for all-out war in season 6, as it prepares to bring viewers an adaptation of the "Paranormal Liberation War" story arc.

Produced by Bones, the animation studio behind Netflix's "Super Crooks" and "Godzilla Singular Point," "My Hero Academia" is set in a world where superpowers are the norm, wielded as "Quirks" by heroes and villains alike. The series centers on the green-haired Izuku Midoriya, aka Deku, voiced by Daiki Yamashita in Japanese and Justin...

The post My Hero Academia Season 6 Trailer: Prepare for the Paranormal Liberation War appeared first on /Film.

HBO cancelling "Raised by Wolves" after two seasons was disappointing for fans since the show tackled dense topics within the structure of a tense, thought-provoking drama about humans and androids. Showrunner Aaron Guzikowski had first conceived the idea for the show in form of a spec script, which gradually evolved into an emotionally-resonant, breathtaking saga with compelling characters.

In fact, Guzikowski's script was so good that Ridley Scott himself was convinced that he had to absolutely come on board and direct the pilot episode (and serve as executive producer), despite the director's initial hesitation of returning to the android theme.

While "Raised by...

The post Raised By Wolves Reminded Ridley Scott Why He's Not A Writer appeared first on /Film.

Well, it didn’t quite reach infinity and beyond. In fact, it didn’t even reach first place—a rarity for a big-budget Pixar tentpole. But despite its disappointing blast-off, Disney’s Lightyear still managed to rack up 51 million during its domestic debut over Father’s Day weekend. Maybe it was the absence of Woody and the rest of the gang, but either way the Toy Story spin-off fell short of expectations and failed to blast past Universal’s still-roaring dino sequel, Jurassic World Dominion, which held onto the top spot thanks to a massive 58.7 million second-week haul.

With early box-office projections putting Lightyear’s bow in the 70 million range, its under-performance came as a bit of a surprise. Especially since the previous installment, Toy Story 4, opened to 120.9 million back in the pre-covid summer of 2019. Still, Lightyear was always going to be a tougher sell than a traditional Toy Story

We've seen Robert De Niro mix it up quite a bit when it comes to physicality on screen. We've seen the decorated actor involved in fights, stabbings, and shootouts in movies such as "Midnight Run," "The Godfather Part II," and "Heat." De Niro managed to walk off those film sets unscathed, but it was an emotional drama with no intense action scenes that led to him suffering a broken nose on set. And the blow that broke his nose came from none other than the late, great Robin Williams.

Williams and De Niro paired up for 1990's "Awakenings," a film inspired by a...

The post Working With Robin Williams Earned Robert De Niro A Broken Nose appeared first on /Film.

Walter Bruce Willis is one of the great movie stars of our lifetime. Though he may have recently retired, he's left us with a rich, varied, and thoroughly entertaining body of work. From big, action-heavy hits to sci-fi stunners to indie darlings, he's brought his low-key, blue-collar-hero swagger to all manner of films, and the world is simply better off for it.

Letterboxd is a social media site for film lovers, self-proclaimed film geeks, and anyone else just wanting to log on and review movies in a social setting. It's been growing in popularity, and with it, a steady...

The post The 12 Best Bruce Willis Movies, According to Letterboxd — Did They Get It Right? appeared first on /Film.

Last April audiences were treated to a “Saturday Night Live” sketch that proved actor Bowen Yang was one of the funniest comics out there. In remembrance of the sinking of the Titanic, the infamous iceberg that the ship hit (played by Yang) stopped by the Weekend Update newsdesk. Though the iceberg was there to promote his new album, all anyone wanted to talk about what the Titanic.

In a recent appearance on Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series, Yang sat down with “And Just Like That” star Cynthia Nixon to talk about how the iceberg sketch came to be. “It came from the [former] head writer, Anna Drezen, who is an old friend of mine from college,” Yang said in the video. “She texted me for the April show, ‘You come out as the Iceberg, and you’re here to promote your album.’”

He said that the process of writing the

Production has shut down on the Netflix series “The Chosen One” after two actors were killed and six others were injured in a car crash near the city of Mulegé in Baja California. Two other actors and four members of the production crew were also injured but are reported to be in stable condition.

According to Variety, it has been confirmed that the accident didn’t occur on-set but instead happened as the eight members of the production were traveling to the local airport. It’s been reported that the van flipped after running off the road, though the investigation is still ongoing. Netflix has not provided a comment on the accident, which happened on Thursday. Production company Redrum has decided to halt production and it is not known when the series, which has been in production since April, will resume.

Raymundo Garduño Cruz and Juan Francisco González Aguilar were

If the future for theaters is near-total reliance on a handful of top franchise films, this weekend suggests that plan could work. It was peak playtime with Father’s Day and the first federal observance of Juneteenth and while it broke no records, these results are the best since Covid.

This weekend also contains the biggest disappointment of 2022 as Disney’s “Lightyear” grossed 51 million, falling far short of its projected minimum 70 million opening. That led to the total take of 163 million, a bit under expectations, for a weekend with three major recent releases.

For the second straight weekend, total grosses topped 2019’s equivalent — this one, by 20 percent. Combined with the past three weekends, our four-week rolling total now stands 3 percent above 2019 for the first time we’ve exceeded the prior period. It isn’t guaranteed to continue (the rest of the month likely will lag behind), but it is the

Just when you thought "Better Call Saul" couldn't ramp up the suspense even more, it does. And it does so with an iron grip around your throat and a gun to your heart, but still, you wonder if there's a way out of this.

But despite the show's skill with taking nail-biting twists and delivering jaw-dropping shocks, the genius of "Better Call Saul" has long been its incredibly complex, multifaceted characters. Characters that continue to surprise you long after you've embraced them, with their unseen depths seeming to startle even themselves. That's one leg up that "Better Call Saul" has had over its predecessor "Breaking...

The post Better Call Saul Midseason Premiere Reaction: A Twisty, Tense Return [Tribeca] appeared first on /Film.

We love dystopias. There's something shuddery and intriguing about exploring a world that's a lot like ours, but there's something wrong with it. We fall to the allure of it. Sure, this brave new world is terrible, but how cool would it be to survive? Maybe even become a hero? And for many of our favorite dystopian stories, survivability feels possible — at least for a while. These scenarios borrow from today and hold warnings about what tomorrow could be unless we act. We feel prepared by watching them. We feel, for a little while, empowered.

The reality of living in these worlds...

The post Dystopian Sci-Fi Movie Worlds Ranked by How Horrible They'd Be to Live In appeared first on /Film.

Paul Haggis, the Oscar winning director for the 2004 feature “Crash,” was arrested today on charges of sexual assault and aggravated personal injury against an unidentified woman in Italy.

Haggis was in the Italian city of Ostuni in preparation to host several master classes at the Allora Fest, a film event launched by Italian journalist Silvia Bizio and art critic Sol Costales Doulton, set to take place in the city from June 21 to June 26.

Bizio confirmed to Variety, who first broke the story, that Haggis was arrested and that the festival will be releasing a statement soon distancing itself from Haggis. Requests for comment from Haggis’ reps weren’t answered at press time.

According to Italian police, the woman was forcibly assaulted over a period of two days and was later taken by Haggis to a local airport and left there Sunday morning. Airport staff helped the young woman, described as

(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 Movie: "Kwaidan"

Where You Can Stream It: HBO Max, The Criterion Channel, DirecTV

The Pitch: Four Japanese folk tales come to life in Masaki Kobayashi's visually inventive '60s horror anthology, which remains spooky and timeless in its evocation of people haunted by secrets and regret.

I used to work at an English conversation school in Tokyo, and group discussions on Halloween often fell into a recounting of campfire tales and urban legends like that of Kuchisake-onna ("The Slit-Mouthed Woman") and...

The post The Daily Stream: Kwaidan Offers Four Japanese Ghost Stories With Universal Themes appeared first on /Film.

Oscar-winning Canadian screenwriter and director Paul Haggis has been arrested in Ostuni, Southern Italy, on charges of sexual assault and aggravated personal injury allegedly inflicted upon a still unidentified woman who has pressed charges.

According to multiple Italian press reports and a note from the public prosecutor of the nearby city of Brindisi, Haggis is charged with forcing a young “foreign” – meaning non-Italian – woman to undergo sexual intercourse over the course of two days in Ostuni, where he was scheduled to hold several master classes at the Allora Fest, a new film event being launched by Los Angeles-based Italian journalist Silvia Bizio and Spanish art critic Sol Costales Doulton that is set to run in Ostuni from June 21 to June 26.

Bizio has confirmed to Variety that Haggis is under arrest.

“Under Italian Law, I cannot discuss the evidence,” Haggis’ longtime personal attorney Priya Chaudhry said in a statement. “That said,

The Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angele is a tourist attraction all its own, with new actors, directors, and musicians receiving stars every year. This year’s crop of recipients spans all facets of media, honoring those whose time for recognition has come.

In an announcement made by chair of the Chamber’s Walk of Fame selection committee, Ellen K, directors Jon Favreau and John Waters, as well as actress Mindy Kaling, Uma Thurman, and Paul Walker will all receive stars this year. Others set to have star ceremonies include Vince Vaughn, Martin Lawrence, and Bill Pullman. Walker won’t be the only star to receive a posthumous Star, as “Imitation of Life” actress Juanita Moore will also receive one after a lengthy campaign by her nephew.

“The panel thoughtfully selected these talented individuals, and we can’t wait to celebrate them as they become part of Hollywood’s

When it comes to interesting pieces of pop culture, there's nothing like the "Highlander" franchise. Created by Gregory Widen, this undergraduate assignment turned movie centers around Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert), an immortal being destined to duel others like him for sole supremacy. Through countless violent battles, iconic running sequences, and fascinating romantic subplots, audiences watched Connor, along with other notable heroes such as Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul), head-slice their way to the ultimate prize — over and over and over again. Despite its repetitive and campy style, die-hard fans can't get enough of this odd and ever-expanding story. With its iconic soundtrack, equally memorable dialog, and deliciously cheesy elements,...

The post Every Highlander Movie and TV Series Ranked appeared first on /Film.

(Welcome to TV, Interrupted, a series where the /Film team remembers, eulogizes, and makes a case for the revival of TV shows we loved that were canceled far too soon.)

The TV series "Carnivàle" begins with the carnival overseer Samson (Michael J. Anderson) shrouded in darkness. Turning his eyes to the camera, he explains:

"Before the beginning, after the great war between Heaven and Hell, God created the Earth and gave dominion over it to the crafty ape he called man. And to each generation was born a creature of light and a creature of darkness. And great armies clashed by night in the...

The post TV, Interrupted: When Carnivále Was Canceled, Man Forever Traded Away Wonder For Reason appeared first on /Film.

Buzz Lightyear likes to shoot for the stars, per his signature catchphrase: "To infinity and beyond!" But infinity is quite a distance, and past experience proves that setting attainable goals is very important for one's mental health. If Buzz hasn't learned that lesson yet, then the box office will surely hammer it in.

Earlier in the week, when "Lightyear" still preparing for takeoff, original projections saw Disney landing at around 80 million after opening weekend. This certainly wasn't on the high-end of Pixar debuts, especially compared to the 182 million that helped "The Incredibles 2" smash the record, or even the "Toy...

The post Lightyear Falls Prey to Jurassic World Dominion With Lower Than Expected 50-55 Million Opening appeared first on /Film.

With his Netflix special “Rothaniel” continuing to attract audiences, Jerrod Carmichael is on a hot streak. But even during Carmichael’s current rise, there are several projects he’s admitted he’s had to put aside. In a recent interview with GQ, he discussed that “I love getting rid of irons [in the fire]” and at least two high-profile projects on Carmichael’s docket are not going forward.

One of them was a proposed remake of the 1982 feature “48 Hours” Carmichael was cowriting with Josh and Benny Safdie. The project was announced back in 2017 after the Safdies released their feature film “Good Time.” Carmichael would have also starred in the movie, which tells the story of a cop and a convict who team up to catch a pair of cop-killers.

The title refers to the fact that one of the characters, a former cop serving time for armed robbery, is released from prison