Author: Christopher Marc

Posted on in Film News

Box Office Record Reverts From ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Back To ‘Avatar’ Thanks To Re-Release In China

Deadline is reporting that estimates from China’s box office has given Avatar enough money from the re-release to have surpassed Avengers: Endgame, giving the James Cameron sci-fi movie the box office title again making it the highest grossing film. That’s until Disney re-releases Avengers: Endgame and the record flips back to Marvel Studios at some point.

The China reissue of the 2009 3D sci-fi phenomenon had taken an estimated RMB 58M ($8.9M) through 5PM local time on Saturday after re-releasing on Friday in the market. This closes and surpasses what was a $7.82M gap between the two films prior to China’s resissue. Disney/Marvel’s Endgame previously snapped up the top global crown from Avatar in July 2019. The current (and fluid) Avatar global total is an estimated $2,798,579,794 versus Endgame‘s $2,797,501,328.

It’ll be interesting to see if the domestic or global box office will ever fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic as many don’t believe we’ll see blockbuster movies surpassing $1-2 billion grosses any time soon. While certain international markets might be able to go back to “normal” sooner than places that were harder hit by the virus such as the United States.

The re-release comes at an important time as James Cameron is prepping to release four Avatar sequels and making sure Chinese audiences remember the franchise will be a key element of those films making top-dollar when they’re eventually released starting with Avatar 2 in December 2022. I’m extremely curious to see if Jim can replicate the success of the original film four more times.

Filming on the multiple sequels has been taking place in California for the motion-capture portion and the live-action scenes being shot at Stone Street Studios in Wellington, New Zealand. Hopefully, we’ll end up getting a teaser trailer for Avatar 2 before the end of the year from Disney/20th Century Studios.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Joe Cornish Says He’s Spoken To John Boyega Recently About Story Ideas For An ‘Attack The Block’ Sequel

Director Joe Cornish has revealed to Entertainment Weekly during a SXSW interview that he’s recently spoken with Attack The Block actor John Boyega about sequel ideas. You might remember that Joe’s sci-fi comedy helped give international exposure to Boyega before he was ultimately cast as Finn by J.J. Abrams for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

CORNISH: “We’re working on it at the moment. John Boyega was round at my place a few weeks ago and we sat in the garden — socially distanced — talking about story ideas until it was so dark we couldn’t see each other. So, yeah, we’re working on that.”

John’s Attack The Block co-star Jodie Whittaker also got her own sci-fi franchise gig as well becoming the 13th Doctor on the BBC’s Doctor Who series.

It’s unknown if we’ll actually get Attack The Block 2, but it would be exciting to see what could happen if Joe Cornish was given a much larger budget for a sequel since the original had some decent production value for only costing $13 million to make. However, while the film has earned a bit of a cult follow on streaming and home video, it flopped at the box office only earning $6 million (less than half it’s budget).

Given it’s troubles at the box office, I wouldn’t be shocked if a sequel ended up at a streaming service such as Netflix or Amazon.

ATTACK THE BLOCK – Attack the Block follows an unlucky young woman and a gang of tough inner city kids who make an unlikely alliance to try to defend their turf against an invasion of savage alien creatures, turning a South London apartment complex into an intergalactic war-zone.

SOURCE: ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Posted on in Film News

‘The Flash’: Barry’s Mother Will Be Played By ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ Actress Maribel Verdu

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Warner Bros. has cast Spanish actress Maribel Verdu (Pan’s Labyrinth) has taken the role of Barry Allen’s mother. The DC Comics movie is a feature version of the Flashpoint storyline, where Barry goes back in time using his powers and saves the life of his mother only for the consequences of changing the timeline leading to extremely bleak alternative future. A superhero version of The Butterfly Effect.

It director Andy Muschietti is directing from a script penned by Christina Hodson (Batgirl, Birds of Prey) with a cast that includes Ezra Miller as Barry Allen aka The Flash, Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne aka Batman, Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne aka Batman, Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, and Sasha Calle as Supergirl.

Watchmen actor Billy Crudup plays Barry’s father.

Filming will be taking place in Watford, England and has a release date of November 4th, 2022.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘The Magnificent Seven’s Haley Bennett Is The Latest Addition To The ‘Borderlands’ Movie From Director Eli Roth

The Magnificent Seven’s Haley Bennett has joined the growing cast of Lionsgate’s feature film adaptation of the video game franchise Borderlands, directed by Eli Roth. The news of Haley’s addition to Borderlands comes to us via The Hollywood Reporter. The actress will take an unnamed key role joining a cast that includes Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Kevin Hart as Roland, Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Florian Munteanu as Krieg, and Jack Black as Claptrap.

The game’s story focuses on a group of four “Vault Hunters”, who travel to the distant planet of Pandora to search for the “Vault”, which is rumored to contain advanced alien technology and other priceless riches.

Eli Roth will be directing from a script penned by Craig Mazin, the writer is best known for his work on the fantastic HBO limited series Chernobyl and is currently working with Neil Druckmann for the live-action series based on The Last of Us starring The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal as Joel.

The filming is going to be taking place in Budapest. We’ve been able to confirm that Borderlands’ production team includes production designer Oliver Scholl (Suicide Squad, Venom, Spider-Man: Homecoming) and cinematographer Rogier Stoffers (Death Wish, The House With A Clock In Its Walls).

Lionsgate has yet to give the action film an official release date but sometime in 2022 feels like a good bet.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

Yorgos Lanthimos Nabs Emma Stone & Willem Dafoe For His Next Film ‘Poor Things’ – A Satirical Postmodern Revision of ‘Frankenstein’

Deadline reports that filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Favourite) is moving foward with his next film Poor Things at Searchlight Pictures and Film4. The project is an adaptation of the Alasdair Gray novel that is sort of a satirical take on the Victorian novel and a postmodern spin on the Frankenstein tale, as Bella Baxter is a beautiful young woman brought back to life after drowning with the aide of science and the brain of an infant.

Emma Stone, who worked with Yorgos on the Oscar-winning film The Favourite has landed the role of of Bella and Willem Dafoe has taken another undisclosed role as he’s currently in discussions.

One of Alasdair Gray’s most brilliant creations, Poor Things is a postmodern revision of Frankenstein that replaces the traditional monster with Bella Baxter – a beautiful young erotomaniac brought back to life with the brain of an infant. Godwin Baxter’s scientific ambition to create the perfect companion is realized when he finds the drowned body of Bella, but his dream is thwarted by Dr. Archibald McCandless’s jealous love for Baxter’s creation.

The hilarious tale of love and scandal that ensues would be “the whole story” in the hands of a lesser author (which in fact it is, for this account is actually written by Dr. McCandless). For Gray, though, this is only half the story, after which Bella (a.k.a. Victoria McCandless) has her own say in the matter. Satirizing the classic Victorian novel, Poor Things is a hilarious political allegory and a thought-provoking duel between the desires of men and the independence of women, from one of Scotland’s most accomplished author.

It’s unclear when production will begin.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Mission: Impossible’ Sequels Add Cary Elwes, Indira Varma, Rob Delaney & Others To Cast – New Images Revealed

Writer/director Christopher McQuarrie has announced via Instagram another wave of actors joining the cast of Paramount’s Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8. Those additions including Cary Elwes, Indira Varma (Game of Thrones, Obi-Wan Kenobi), Rob Delaney (Deadpool 2), Charles Parnell (The Last Ship), and British character actor Mark Gatiss (Sherlock).

McQuarrie posted a batch of images of the actors in what looks to be a scene from Mission: Impossible 7, I have to assume it’s some briefing scene (possibly presidential?).

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The rest of the cast led by Tom Cruise includes Esai Morales, Rebecca Ferguson, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, and Henry Czerny.

Mission: Impossible 8 was originally planned to shoot back-to-back with Mission: Impossible 7, but due to Tom Cruise’s promotional schedule for Top Gun: Maverick later this year means they’ll have to pause production between installments. It’s not the worse idea imaginable as the cast and crew has either been shooting or waiting to shoot for an entire year, as the blockbuster was one of the first films to halt production due to the pandemic.

An audio clip of Tom Cruise chewing-out crew members not adhering to COVID-19 protocols went viral late last year and a break might have a positive impact on everyone’s morale.

Mission: Impossible 7 is slated for November 19th, 2021 and Mission: Impossible 8 is set for November 4th, 2022.

SOURCE: CHRISTOPHER MCQUARRIE

Posted on in Television News

Benedict Cumberbatch Not Terribly Interested In Playing The Live-Action Version of ‘Star Wars’ Villain Thrawn – “That’s A Straight No From Me”

In the last season of The Mandalorian, we saw Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano on a mission to find Grand Admiral Thrawn, a Legends villain that become part of Star Wars canon after appearing in Star Wars: Rebels. This leading many to assume that a live-action incarnation is likely coming in the very near future.

A big fan-cast contender has been Sherlock and Doctor Strange actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who has played villains in the past such as Star Trek’s Khan in the J.J. Abrams movies, The Hobbit’s Smaug The Dragon, and Marvel Comics supervillain Dormammu in Doctor Strange.

While speaking with Collider, Benedict was asked about his interest in the hypothetical role of Thrawn but seems to be turned-off to the idea of being in a makeup chair. A grueling makeup job could easily be a reason someone might want to avoid a role like Thrawn, while others might jump at the chance.

CUMBERBATCH: “That’s a straight no from me, right now. There’s no way I want to be turned blue. I turned the air blue, very recently. No no, seriously, I have precious time with my children and I think sitting in a makeup chair and being painted blue, and the amount of time it would take to do that and then take it off at the end of the day might just… it’s not the right time in my life for that.”

Despite the tease in The Mandalorian, we still don’t know when and where Thrawn could end up appearing officially. Benedict Cumberbatch is currently shooting Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness and is also attached to appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home as well.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

Posted on in Television News

‘The Boys’ Spinoff Series Taps Actresses Lizze Broadway & Jaz Sinclair To Play Young Superheroes

Deadline is reporting that Amazon’s untitled spinoff series of their popular dark superhero series The Boys had landed two lead actresses as they’ve tapped Lizze Broadway and Jaz Sinclair (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) for the roles of superheroes Emma and Marie.

The untitled The Boys spinoff is set at America’s only college exclusively for young adult superheroes (and run by Vought International). It is described as an irreverent, R-rated series that explores the lives of hormonal, competitive Supes as they put their physical, sexual, and moral boundaries to the test, competing for the best contracts in the best cities. Part college show, part Hunger Games — with all the heart, satire and raunch of The Boys.

Season 3 of The Boys is currently filming in Toronto.

Based on the bestselling comic by Ennis and Robertson, The Boys, heading int its third season, is a fun and irreverent take on what happens when superheroes – who are as popular as celebrities, as influential as politicians and as revered as gods – abuse their superpowers rather than use them for good. It’s the powerless against the super-powerful as the Boys embark on a heroic quest to expose the truth about The Seven, and Vought – the multibillion-dollar conglomerate that manages these superheroes and covers up all of their dirty secrets.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

‘Willow’: Ruby Cruz Replaces Cailee Spaeny In Disney+ Fantasy Series – Will Play A Character Named Kit

Deadline is reporting that Castle Rock actress Ruby Cruz has replaced Cailee Spaeny in he role of Kit in the Disney+ sequel series based on the 1988 Ron Howard-directed fantasy film Willow.

The rest of the cast includes Warwick Davis reprising the role of Willow Ufgood, Erin Kellyman (The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Green Knight) is said to be up for the role of Jade, English actress Ellie Bamber (Nocturnal Animals) as Dove, and Tony Revolori from the Spider-Man films is in talks for a role.

Jonathan Entwistle, who is attached to direct the Power Rangers reboot, is set to direct the pilot after Jon M. Chu exited the fantasy series from Lucasfilm.

According to Lucasfilm, production on Willow is set to begin this March in Wales.

WILLOW – Enter the world of Willow. Journey to the far corners of your imagination, to a land of myth and magic, where dream and reality live side by side … to a place that never existed, a time that never was. It is a world where a young man named Willow lives out an adventure that explodes beyond the boundaries of his own hopes and fears.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘The Flash’: Kiersey Clemons Reportedly Reprising Iris West Role For DC Comics Film

There is breaking casting news concerning Andy Muschietti’s Flash movie as The Hollywood Reporter has word that actress Kiersey Clemons (Dope) is returning to the role of love interest Iris West for the solo film.

The actress will reprise her role as Iris West, the romantic interest of Barry Allen, aka The Flash. Clemons portrayed the intrepid reporter West in Justice League, but her role was cut by director Zack Snyder back in 2017 before he turned the film over to Joss Whedon.

Clemons previous played the role briefly in Justice League and there had been a question if she’d end up continuing the part in future films. She’ll join Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Ben Affleck, and Sasha Calle, the latter landing the new take on the big screen vesion of Supergirl.

Filming is taking place at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, England.

The Flash is said to be released on November 4th, 2022.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER