Category: Film News

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‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Has Worst Domestic Opening In The Monsterverse – Still Heading Towards $285M+ Globally

Godzilla vs. Kong might end up being one of the first films to make a major splash at the box office since the pandemic begin last year. However, despite some impressive numbers overseas in it’s international debut last weekend it still managed to have the lowest 3-day and 5-day domestic opening in the Monsterverse franchise at $32.2 million and $48.5 million. Of course, this is directly connected to the pandemic but it’s still worth mentioning where the numbers stack up against the other three films.

Here’s a rundown of the domestic openings of all four movies.

  • GODZILLA (2014): 3-Day $93.1M & 5-Day $107.8M 
  • KONG: SKULL ISLAND (2017): 3-Day $61M & 5-Day $72.7M 
  • GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS (2019): 3-Day $47.7M & 5-Day $57.1M 
  • GODZILLA VS KONG (2021): 3-Day $32.2M & 5-Day $48.5M

As you can see with the numbers listed above, Godzilla vs. Kong made less than half what Godzilla made over 5-days back in 2014. COVID aside, the box office numbers had already been decreasing which each Monsterverse installment. Putting the latest pic dead last in the domestic box office rankings.

The event film is still doing well overall heading towards $285.5 million globally it’s first two weekends and most likely will turn a profit when the dust settles.

GODZILLA VS. KONG – Legends collide in Godzilla vs. Kong as these mythic adversaries meet in a spectacular battle for the ages, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Kong and his protectors undertake a perilous journey to find his true home, and with them is Jia, a young orphaned girl with whom he has formed a unique and powerful bond. But they unexpectedly find themselves in the path of an enraged Godzilla, cutting a swath of destruction across the globe. The epic clash between the two titans—instigated by unseen forces—is only the beginning of the mystery that lies deep within the core of the Earth.

SOURCE: DEADLINE & BOX OFFICE MOJO

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‘Black Widow’: New Trailer Finally Gives Us A Glimpse At Ray Winstone’s Dreykov

Marvel/Disney has released some new promotional material for Black Widow as the Scarlett Johansson flick had been given a new release date of July 9, 2021. We get another trailer and a first-look at Ray Winstone’s General Dreykov with Taskmaster in that new footage. The villain is the head of The Red Room, the program that molded Natasha into a Russian assassin.

BLACK WIDOW – In Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger. Directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Kevin Feige, the movie stars Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as Natasha Romanoff. Florence Pugh stars as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff.

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The Grandmaster Might Be Indeed Returning For ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ – Jeff Goldblum Spotted In Sydney

Thor: Love & Thunder will see the return of the Loki play as seen in set photos and it’s expected that actor Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) will be back as Odin in that play, reprising a brief cameo from Thor: Ragnarok. That play will include Matt Damon as Loki, Luke Hemsworth as Thor, and Melissa McCarthy as Hela.

Interestingly enough, Sam Neill posted an image on Twitter of himself with Jurassic Park and Jurassic World: Dominion co-star Jeff Goldbum together in Sydney, where production is taking place on Thor: Love & Thunder at Fox Studios Australia. The pair also happened to have both appeared in Taika’s Thor: Ragnarok with Jeff playing cosmic villain The Grandmaster.

There seems to be a strong possibility Jeff might be in town to shoot something for the sequel, could we see a return of The Grandmaster?

Goldblum told BuzzFeed he was considering a return back in late 2019 and was already recording voice over for The Grandmaster in the Disney+ animated series What…If?

GOLDBLUM: “Hey, we’re talking about it, in fact. You know, I hope so. I love Taika Waititi, he’s a great director and a friend of mine, so I hope so…But I played the part again a couple of days ago. I went to the Disney studios and I recorded the Grandmaster’s voice for an episode of a show that’s gonna be on Disney+ called What If…?”

Last weekend, Russell Crowe was seen with Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth at a South Sydney Rabbitohs game, only for his role in Thor: Love & Thunder to be announced days later. While not a iron-shut case that Jeff is reprising the role of The Grandmaster, it’s been noted that most high-profile actors in the area have been connected to the sequel and seeing a former cast member of Thor: Ragnarok, who played it’s secondary villain could suggest he might be there to film something for the Marvel sequel.

Jeff also would have had to spend two weeks in a quarantine hotel before taking this photo with Sam.

Thor: Love & Thunder is set to be released on May 6, 2022, unless there is another Marvel Studios slate shift in the future.

SOURCE: SAM NEILL

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Anthony Ramos In Talks For New ‘Transformers’ Movie That Will Feature Optimus Prime

Paramount Pictures is developing a bunch of films set in the Transformers universe as they continue to flush-out the franchise. One of those new feature films includes a pic with Creed II director Steven Caple Jr. attached and a script from screenwriter Joby Harold (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Army of The Dead).

Yesterday, it was revealed by Collider that In The Heights actor Anthony Ramos is currently in talks to join the film and mentioned that the project will have Optimus Prime. Ramos isn’t new to these sort of films as he previously appeared in Legendary’s Godzilla: King of The Monsters.

Plot details are being kept under wraps, but Ramos is in negotiations to play a flawed and vulnerable hero who has made mistakes in his life and is eager to redeem himself with the help of Optimus Prime.

It’s expected that the untitled film will be released by Paramount on June 24, 2022 and would suggest a summer shoot.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

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James Cameron Says He Threatened To Fire Screenwriters Working On The ‘Avatar’ Sequels

With principle photography (live-action and motion-capture) completed on both Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 there should be some celebration involved as many people weren’t sure if James Cameron was going to be able to complete all four of his sequels. They still have to finish-up Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, but having two in the post-production phase should be a step in the right direction to delivering on his ambitious plan.

However, it sounds like things didn’t go terribly smoothly in the development process according to James Cameron. During a chat on The Marianne Williamson Podcast (via The Playlist) the filmmaker revealed that he had to threaten to fire screenwriters because they weren’t listening to his instructions about waiting until figuring out what worked in the first film before adding new ideas and stories. Despite the “threat of firing,” it doesn’t look like he followed through with it.

CAMERON: “When I sat down to write the sequels, I knew there were going to be three at the time, and eventually it turned into four, I put together a group of writers and said, ‘I don’t want to hear anybody’s new ideas or anyone’s pitches until we have spent some time figuring out what worked on the first film, what connected, and why it worked. They kept wanting to talk about the new stories. I said, ‘We aren’t doing that yet.’ Eventually, I had to threaten to fire them all because they were doing what writers do, which is to try and create new stories. I said, ‘We need to understand what the connection was and protect it, protect that ember and that flame.’”

The writing team on the first three Avatar sequels includes James Cameron, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno. They all share “story by” credit then divided-up the screenplays across Avatar 2 to Avatar 4. Shane Salerno co-writing the finale, Avatar 5, with James Cameron.

Cameron is known to be a complete control-freak on his productions and micromanaging the script development on four films is certainly something unsurprising given how much time he would be investing filming the movies and wanting to make sure he wasn’t wasting time/money pointless things. He’s also a writer himself and was closely working with them to execute his vision that would be told over five different films.

Jim also doesn’t suffer people working on his projects that don’t listen to him and has had to fire people even deep in production. Luckily, it doesn’t look like anyone was actually fired off the films.

SOURCE: THE MARIANNE WILLIAMSON PODCAST

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Salma Hayek Joins Lady Gaga & Adam Driver In Ridley Scott’s ‘House of Gucci’ – Spotted On Set

Filming on Ridley Scott’s fashion industry thriller House of Gucci has been underway in Italy and there is a news of yet another excellent addition to the film’s cast that already consists of Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jeremy Irons, Jared Leto, Jack Huston, and Al Pacino among others.

It will focus on the murder of fashion icon Maurizio Gucci.

The fashion-focused true-crime drama, based on the book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed, will focus on the murder of fashion trailblazer Maurizio Gucci (Driver), with Gaga playing Patrizia Reggiani, Gucci’s ex-wife who was convicted of orchestrating his hit after he had an affair.

The Daily Mail posted set photos from Rome yesterday that revealed actress Salma Hayek is appearing in House of Gucci. It’s been confirmed Hayek will be playing Pina Auriemma in the film, the clairvoyant friend of Gaga’s Patrizia.

Hayek recently filmed Marvel’s Eternals directed by Oscar nominated director Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) that will release on November 5, 2021.

MGM has given House of Gucci an release date of November 24, 2021. The fall spot should allow the Ridley Scott film a prime spot for awards considerations as there is an expectation it could a contender at next year’s Oscar ceremonies given the subject matter and fantastic cast.

SOURCE: DAILY MAIL

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Best Actor Oscar Nominee Steven Yeun In Negotiations To Join Jordan Peele’s Next Movie Releasing In July 2022

Universal and Jordan Peele are reuniting for an untitled film that will be a follow-up to his hits Get Out and Us. Peele is attempting to cast Daniel Kaluuya in a lead role, who previously worked with the filmmaker on Get Out and actress KeKe Palmer is also attached to the project. Daniel has recently been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Judas & The Black Messiah.

After Jesse Plemons had to drop-out of talks to focus on Martin Scorsese’s crime thriller Killers of The Flower Moon, another sought-after actor is in talks for a role. According to Deadline, Minari’s Steven Yeun is in negotiations to join the Jordan Peele movie. Yeun is also in the Oscar race this year, however, is up for Best Actor thanks to the wonderful performance in Best Picture hopeful Minari.

You might remember that Jordan’s work on Get Out earned himself a Best Original Screenplay award for his fantastic script.

Universal has given the untitled Peele film a sweet summer release set for July 22, 2022.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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Netflix Shelling-Out $450M For Rian Johnson’s Next Two ‘Knives Out’ Sequels Starring Daniel Craig As Benoit Blanc

Earlier in the week it was announced via a report from Deadline that Netflix was looking to finance and secure the next two Knives Out sequels from writer/director Rian Johnson. The untitled sequels will see Daniel Craig reprise the role of Southern crime novelist/detective Benoit Blanc. The character is a take on Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot mixed with Jessica Fletcher from the series Murder, She Wrote.

The streaming giant was said to be looking spend $400 million on the two films with Variety stating in their own write-up that the number is actually closer to $450 million. The number likely has to do with the original film earning an impressive $311.4 million at the international box office on a modest budget of $40 million, Netflix seeing the value in having the next two films being part of their originals lineup.

Knives Out originally was at MRC and distributed by Lionsgate, however, the companies didn’t make deals for potential sequels leaving the door open for Amazon, Apple, and Netflix to compete for the rights. Netflix seemingly landing them.

Filming on the second installment isn’t far away as Deadline says that production is set to begin this June 28, 2021 in Greece. The location moving out of the United States could allow for international cast and fans of the originally are dying to see what actors Johnson ends up hiring as there is expectations for another large cast.

The Benoit Blanc role could be a huge deal for Daniel Craig trying to get away from the shadow of the James Bond franchise as he’ll be exiting after the release of No Time To Die. It would be nice if Craig was able to have his character Benoit Blanc as notable to his career as Bond. The only way that is going to happen is if these next two films knock it out of the park.

KNIVES OUT – The circumstances surrounding the death of crime novelist Harlan Thrombey are mysterious, but there’s one thing that renowned Detective Benoit Blanc knows for sure — everyone in the wildly dysfunctional Thrombey family is a suspect. Now, Blanc must sift through a web of lies and red herrings to uncover the truth.

SOURCE: DEADLINE & VARIETY

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Warner Bros. Reportedly Still Pursuing ‘Green Lantern Corps.’ & ‘Supergirl’ Movies

It’s been a while since we’ve had any real concrete updates on multiple DC Comics films in development at Warner Bros. and it was revealed yesterday that the studio’s plans still include Green Lantern Corps. and Supergirl movies, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Other projects on the slate due out in 2022-23 include Warners’ and New Line’s Black Adam (July 29, 2022) and Shazam! Fury of the Gods (June 2, 2023), as well as Warners’ Blue Beetle, Batgirl, Supergirl, Green Lantern Corps and Static Shock.

We really shouldn’t be too shocked that a new Supergirl movie is still being considered. The solo project has had screenwriter Oren Uziel working on a script and the studio has cast actress Sasha Calle as the character for their upcoming Flash movie that will introduce DC’s multiverse. All they’re missing is a director and a release date at this point.

However, there hasn’t been much movement on a Green Lantern Corps. film since the announcement of a live-action Green Lantern series heading to HBO Max. Geoff Johns, David Goyer, and Justin Rhodes had been previously tasked to write. A series could do heavy lifting to introduce a heap of Lanterns before a feature film and we’ve seen with Peacemaker and Gotham PD that the studio is open to linking the films to the HBO Max shows. It’s been established that the Green Lantern series will feature Guy Gardner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Alan Scott, Sinestro, and Kilowog.

Other films in the works include a Zatanna movie written by Promising Young Woman’s Emerald Fennell and a Superman reboot from writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, both will be produced by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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‘New Gods’ & ‘Trench’ Movies Given The Ax By Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. and DC Films have been developing a heap of feature films based on DC Comics characters along with a few spinoffs of existing projects set within the DCEU. There was a time when announcing projects felt like they’d never follow through with the volume of press releases.

Yesterday, it made huge waves when The Hollywood Reporter announced that Warner Bros. won’t be moving with Ava DuVernay’s New Gods movie she was writing with comic book writer Tom King, featuring the cosmic characters created by Jack Kirby. Some appeared in the Justice League (Granny Goodness & Darkseid) and were expected to play a bigger role in Zack Snyder’s never-made sequels.

It’s not the only project getting the boot.

Aquaman’s James Wan was working to develop a horror spinoff from his Aquaman film with Trench, a horror flick that was penned by Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald. Wan and Peter Safran (Black Adam, Shazam!) were producers on the project that was expected to have a much smaller budget than it’s superhero counterparts. It’s also not moving forward as well.

Wan is about to shoot Aquaman 2 and produced the Mortal Kombat reboot set to be released later this month. Ava is also working on a CW series Naomi and a DMZ series for HBO Max. So their working relationships with WarnerMedia don’t seem to be tarnished over this decision.

This what the studio had to say in a statement suggesting they might consider circling back in the future.

“As part of our DC slate, some legacy development titles including New Gods and The Trench will not be moving forward. We thank our partners Ava DuVernay, Tom King, James Wan and Peter Safran for their time and collaboration during this process and look forward to our continued partnership with them on other DC stories. The projects will remain in their skillful hands if they were to move forward in the future.”

Ava posted on Twitter her reaction to the news praising co-writer Tom King.

This news comes after WarnerMedia Studios CEO Ann Sarnoff revealed to Variety last month they weren’t interested in restoring the Snyderverse and hoped to continue moving forward with new projects instead.

I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if the studio started announcing other things they won’t be making, officially. Projects like Steven Spielberg’s WWII flick Blackhawk I suspect will go the way of Sgt. Rock, Joker & Harley Quinn, Lobo, and the purposed Cyborg movie.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER