Tag: Scarlett Johansson

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Taika Waititi May Indeed Direct Scarlett Johansson In Disney’s ‘Tower Of Terror’ Movie

Disney is looking to release a new horror-themed film “Haunted Mansion,” which is loosely based on the popular theme park attraction. That’s isn’t the only project on the horizon that is connected to the parks as there had been plans on making a “Tower of Terror” movie and there seems to be confirmations of sorts that it’s still in some sort of development at the studio.

In a recent profile of actress Scarlett Johansson, Variety briefly supports a previous report from The DisInsider that Waititi is attached to direct the horror pic for Disney as the two worked together on the WWII movie “Jojo Rabbit.” But Variety failed to give any new concrete details of when that is exactly going to happen. The ride is directly connected to the “Twilight Zone” series and would certainly be a neat way for Disney to keep making horror films.

Step uneasily inside the infamous Hollywood Tower Hotel and find a dusty lobby frozen in time. Even the subdued hotel staff seems strangely out of another era. Suddenly a television set springs to life and Rod Serling welcomes you on a journey into the Twilight Zone. He reveals that on a gloomy Halloween night in 1939, some hotel patrons were riding the elevator when a violent storm struck the building… and they were never seen again. The hotel closed down and has stood empty ever since.

There had been some assumptions that after the actress’ legal headaches with Disney over money tied to Marvel’s “Black Widow” that something like “Tower of Terror” might have soured on her. However, given that Waititi is attached it could delay things even further given how busy the filmmaker is these days with multiple films he’s already attached to including a “Star Wars” film, a remake of “Flash Gordon,” and a new sci-fi pic “Klara & The Sun.”

SOURCE: VARIETY

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Kevin Feige Reveals Scarlett Johansson Reteaming For “Top Secret Marvel Studios Project”

During an event where actress Scarlett Johansson received the American Cinematheque Award, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has revealed that the studio will reunite with Johansson for a top-secret project that won’t involve her character Natasha Romanoff, aka, Black Widow (via Deadline).

Johansson will also produce too after being an executive producer on Black Widow.

Among those in attendance to pay tribute to the two-time Oscar nominee was Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, who praised her for her “talent,” “vision”, intelligence and savvy, both as an actress and a producer, also teasing a “top secret Marvel Studios project” on which the studio is reteaming with the actress, which he said has nothing to do with her Black Widow character, Natasha Romanoff. Feige noted that Johansson, who became the first Marvel actor to exec produce one of the studio’s movies with Black Widow, will also serve on the upcoming project as a producer.

This comes after Johansson attempted to sue Disney after the company dismissed her calls for renegotiations when they dumped Black Widow on Disney+’s Priemer Access (streaming VOD option), which she believed would ding her bonus potential connected to box office returns by $50 million. Disney aggressively countered leading to a PR nightmare with a sexist response to the lawsuit but was ultimately resolved with a settlement.

It’ll be interesting to see what the mysterious project will be and what she’ll be doing on it outside of producing.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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Scarlett Johansson & Taika Waititi May Reunite For Disney’s ‘Tower Of Terror’ Movie

Black Widow actress Scarlett Johansson publicly sued Disney during the summer because of a dispute over Disney shutting her out from participating in Disney+ revenue for the Marvel Studios film, which subsequently dinged her bonuses based on box office earnings. They eventually settled out of court when Disney’s big smear campaign against the actress backfired hard and almost led to The Russo Brothers backing out of a new potential project at Marvel.

After the dust settled, there was a report that she would still make Disney’s Terror of Tower movie, based on the horror attraction from their parks. It looks like they might have secured a director.

The Disinsider now is reporting that Kiwi director Taika Waititi has “signed on” to direct.

This would be a reunion as the two previously worked on the Oscar-winning comedic drama Jojo Rabbit, which focused on a family hiding a Jewish girl in Nazi Germany as the young son, Jojo, is being indoctrinated in the Hitler Youth.

Taika Waititi is a busy lad as his films Next Goal Wins and Thor: Love & Thunder still have to be released. He’s also developing a new live-action Flash Gordon movie for 20th Century Studios and is still chipping away on a script for an untitled Star Wars film.

It’s worth mentioning that Taika is currently in post with his Thor sequel and his Star Wars script hasn’t been completed, as Patty Jenkins’ Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is the priority and goes into production next year at Pinewood Studios UK. There haven’t been any real signs of what his next film project will be.

Tower of Terror isn’t the only family-friendly horror project at Disney as they’re shooting a new incarnation of Haunted Mansion with director Justin Simien (Dear White People), another Star Wars creative that is developing the Lando series for Lucasfilm.

Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4, Inside Out) had been previously announced as the film’s screenwriter, but if Waititi is involved he’ll likely add his own polishes to the script given the Jojo Rabbit screenwriter won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

JOJO RABBIT – Writer-director Taika Waititi (THOR: RAGNAROK, HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE), brings his signature style of humor and pathos to his latest film, JOJO RABBIT, a World War II satire that follows a lonely German boy (Roman Griffin Davis as JoJo) whose world view is turned upside down when he discovers his single mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a young Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their attic. Aided only by his idiotic imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi), Jojo must confront his blind nationalism.

SOURCE: THE DISINIDER

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Marvel & Russo Brothers Were In Negotiations For Mystery Movie Before Scarlett Johansson Lawsuit Stalled Talks

We’ve been excited about the potential return of the Russo Brothers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after giving us Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.

There is now an update of sorts from the Wall Street Journal, as they point out the sibling directing team was indeed in talks with Marvel Studios to return to the MCU for a mystery film but talks apparently have stalled.

The reasoning is being linked to Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow lawsuit against Marvel/Disney, as the Russo Brothers are concerned by the issues raised by the actress including the potential release of the unnamed pic and if their contract for payment will ultimately be upheld by Disney.

This is the first real instance of fallout from the lawsuit since it was filed.

We don’t know what exactly that mystery film could be, but considering they’ve talked up a desire to tackle X-Men’s Wolverine and a hard-reboot is on the horizon. Marvel Studios could look to the Russo Brothers to help with the reboot as they did with seasoned MCU director Jon Watts for Fantastic Four. Watts being behind Marvel’s Spider-Man trilogy before landing the reboot.

However, this is simply my own speculation given the director’s comments in the past about being able to get their hands on mutants.

Here is what Joe Russo said about Wolverine back in February.

“Wolverine has always been such a special character for me. To realize him on screen, it’s very hard because Hugh Jackman‘s performance is definitive. It’s like Batman; you have to really think of a way to, you have to really find the right actor to come in and give a really different take to that character. But I would really love to see him on screen.”

I think the best thing is to take a break, without question. You need a [palate cleanser], you need to rinse the towel a little bit, let everyone enjoy what was, and then come up with something new. But I’d love to take a crack at Wolverine at some point.”

The Russo Brothers would be perfect to handle the scale and volume of characters as they’ve proven multiple times being able juggle a large roster of superheroes. Despite fans potentially wanting someone brand new to direct a reboot, Marvel might be more comfortable from their existing group of filmmakers given the importance of these MCU reboots.

Secret Wars is something they’ve also talked-up but we don’t have concrete information that is happening in the near future.

Another potential contender could be Anthony Mackie’s Captain America 4, given that doesn’t have a director attached. We had been hearing that the studio wanted a POC director for that one, but having Russo Brothers making a third Captain America movie wouldn’t be that shocking either.

SOURCE: THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

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Tony Revolori Reunites With Director Wes Anderson For New Film Currently Shooting In Spain

Despite already being in production on his new film in Spain, director Wes Anderson has added another familiar face to the untitled project.

Deadline reports that actor Tony Revolori (Dope) has secured a role making this the third time he’s worked Anderson after previous projects such as The Grand Budapest Hotel and The French Dispatch.

Revolori is likely best known as Flash in the Jon Watts-directed Spider-Man films and recently nabbed a part in Lucasfilm’s Willow sequel series that will air on Disney+ sometime next year.

The new movie already has an impressive cast that consists of Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story, Jojo Rabbit, Isle of Dogs), Jason Schartzman (Fargo, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Rushmore), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Drive, Trumbo, Argylle, Isle of Dogs), Jeffrey Wright (The French Dispatch, Westworld, The Batman), Hope Davis (Your Honor, American Splender), Liev Schreiber (Spotlight, Isle of Dogs), Rupert Friend (Death of Stalin, Obi-Wan Kenobi), Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood), Bill Murray (Rushmore, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The French Dispatch, Isle of Dogs, The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom), Tilda Swinton (Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch), Adrien Brody (The Darjeeling Limited, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch) and Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan, Road To Perdition) in a cameo.

Plot details have been kept under wraps and might be a while before we know what it’s exactly about or who the cast will be playing. I’m sure fans will be interested to know if Wes is attempting something more in the way of genre filmmaking (western or sci-fi) or still continue in the realm of quirky character-driven comedy.

It’s assumed that Anderson will make a distribution deal with Searchlight Pictures.

The French Dispatch brings to life a collection of stories from the final issue of an American magazine published in a fictional 20th-century French city. It stars Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Stephen Park, Bill Murray, and Owen Wilson.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News, News

Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, Hope Davis & Liev Schreiber Join Untitled Wes Anderson Movie

Wes Anderson’s next release, The French Dispatch, won’t be hitting theaters until October, but he’s already started production on another film in Spain.

Four more have joined the pic as The Hollywood Reporter says that Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Drive, Trumbo, Argylle, Isle of Dogs), Jeffrey Wright (The French Dispatch, Westworld, The Batman), Hope Davis (Your Honor, American Splender), and Liev Schreiber (Spotlight, Isle of Dogs) have taken roles.

The untitled movie already has an impressive cast that consists of Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story, Jojo Rabbit, Isle of Dogs), Jason Schartzman (Fargo, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Rushmore), Rupert Friend (Death of Stalin, Obi-Wan Kenobi), Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood), Bill Murray (Rushmore, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The French Dispatch, Isle of Dogs, The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom), Tilda Swinton (Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch), Adrien Brody (The Darjeeling Limited, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch) and Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan, Road To Perdition) in a cameo.

Plot details have been kept under wraps and might be a while before we know what it’s exactly about or who the cast will be playing. I’m sure fans will be interested to know if Wes is attempting something more in the way of genre filmmaking (western or sci-fi) or still continue in the realm of quirky character-driven comedy.

It’s assumed that Anderson will make a distribution deal with Searchlight Pictures.

The French Dispatch brings to life a collection of stories from the final issue of an American magazine published in a fictional 20th-century French city. It stars Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Stephen Park, Bill Murray, and Owen Wilson.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News, News

Scarlett Johansson, Jason Schwartzman & Rupert Friend Join Wes Anderson’s Next Movie: Filming Begins In Spain

Wes Anderson is said to have started filming his next project in Spain and have added three more cast members.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit, Marriage Story), Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore, Scott Pilgrim, Fargo), and Rupert Friend (Death of Stalin, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Homeland) have taken undisclosed roles.

The untitled movie already has Wes Anderson regulars Bill Murray (Rushmore, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The French Dispatch, Isle of Dogs, The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom), Tilda Swinton (Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch), and Adrien Brody (The Darjeeling Limited, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch) among the cast.

Two other newcomers includes Margot Robbie (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, The Wold of Wall Street) and Tom Hanks (Road To Perdition, Saving Private Ryan) are also among the call-sheet.

Plot details have been kept under wraps and might be a while before we know what it’s exactly about or who the cast will be playing. I’m sure fans will be interested to know if Wes is attempting something more in the way of genre filmmaking (western or sci-fi) or still continue in the realm of quirky character-driven comedy.

A release timeline hasn’t been given but it’s assumed that the movie will land at Searchlight Pictures with a potential festival run in 2022 if the film is completed in time.

His latest movie, The French Dispatch, will be released by Searchlight Pictures on October 22.

The French Dispatch brings to life a collection of stories from the final issue of an American magazine published in a fictional 20th-century French city. It stars Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Stephen Park, Bill Murray, and Owen Wilson.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Black Widow’: Longtime MCU Actress Scarlett Johansson Suing Disney Over Breach Of Contract

Yesterday, Scarlett Johansson made big waves after the Wall Street Journal reported that the actress has filed a lawsuit against Disney claiming that the company breached their contract when pivoting Black Widow from a traditional theatrical window to a hybrid release placing the film on Disney+ (via Premier Access) without adjusting the existing contract after multiple requests from the Johansson’s reps were allegedly ignored.

The outlet reporting that moving Black Widow to Disney+ could end up seeing Johansson lose a hefty $50 million in bonuses.

Disney has responded to the lawsuit with the following statement:

“There is no merit whatsoever to this filing. The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney has fully complied with Ms. Johansson’s contract and furthermore, the release of Black Widow on Disney+ with Premier Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20M she has received to date.”

“It’s no secret that Disney is releasing films like Black Widow directly onto Disney+ to increase subscribers and thereby boost the company’s stock price – and that it’s hiding behind Covid-19 as a pretext to do so. But ignoring the contracts of the artists responsible for the success of its films in furtherance of this short-sighted strategy violates their rights and we look forward to proving as much in court,” John Berlinksi, Johansson’s attorney, told Business Insider.

Interestingly enough, while the statement says the suit doesn’t have “merit” they’re not willing to say they didn’t breach the contract. This is likely because that could be used against them if this goes to court as a public statement would be used as evidence. It’s worth mentioning that only a judge would be the one to gauge if this lawsuit has merit, not Disney’s fleet of lawyers that are likely looking to avoid paying out Johansson the millions she believes she is owed for as long as possible.

Scarlett’s contractual bonus/back-end deal with Marvel/Disney isn’t a new thing as other actors such as Robert Downey Jr. has had similar deals as an incentive to stick around beyond their original lengthy contract. When Johansson originally signed on to work with Marvel, she was low-balled during the Phase One era spearheaded by Ike Perlmutter having to commit to 6-9 films while other actors made much much more for the same level of work. The idea was that bonuses were established to reward legacy actors for future/past contributes to the Marvel franchise. In the case of Black Widow, she was a producer and helped shape the film.

It’s notable that while Disney is attempting to shame Johansson to filing a lawsuit during the pandemic, the company is extremely comfortable laying off over 32,000 employees along with earning money from their theme parks and in-person theatrical releases as the Delta variant has been an increasing danger to the American public for months now.

During the opening weekend of Black Widow’s domestic release, Disney felt the need to gloat about earning a solid $80 million at the box office alongside another $60 million from Premier Access earnings as they issued a press release highlighting the money they made. Seemingly bragging they were able to get a large amount of people they were able to coax to theaters.

They’re also releasing Jungle Cruise this weekend as the CDC has revealed the Delta variant is as infectious as chicken pox and an indoor location is the perfect way that the virus could be transmitted to the unvaccinated.

Both NATO and IMAX have pointed to the Premier Access release for Black Widow’s huge drops between weekends that was directly connected to mass online piracy. A regular theatrical window would normally protect the studio from piracy tanking box office until the film hit VOD or home video. As most people wouldn’t be as interested in downloading a blurry cam version recorded on someone’s phone compared to an HD version ripped from the streaming source provided by Disney+.

SOURCE: WALL STREET JOURNAL

Posted on in Film News

‘Black Widow’ Drops 67% In Second Weekend & Theater Owners Blame Hybrid Release For Underperformance

Last week, Marvel Studios and Disney had a lot to celebrate as they ended up with a solid domestic weekend opening of $80.3 million after delayed Black Widow over a year due tot he pandemic making it’s unfathomable to release a massive Marvel last year.

Well, in it’s second weekend there is less to be happy about after Space Jame: A New Legacy toppled the MCU film from the top spot earning a decent, but not great, $32 million. Black Widow on the other hand is estimated to have earned $26.3 million, a steep 67% drop from opening weekend and with more new releases coming in July-August it would suggest that that number will only continue to dwindle.

This makes it the biggest second weekend drop in modern MCU history.

While the pandemic is still very much a thing going on in the United States, you really wouldn’t know it looking at the last couple of weekends at the box office as people are still risking their lives and others by watching these movies in person as variant cases grow and vaccination rates have stalled.

There are a lot of factors here such as mostly front-loaded opening weekend numbers have become the norm during the pandemic and added competition could mean people are less likely to give repeat in-theater business. Another big issue is releasing the film on Disney+ via Premier Access at the same time as theaters, this means people can watch endlessly at home after paying their purchase fee and because it hit a streaming service HD/HDR versions of the film have hit torrenting sites, meaning there is now an option for people to simply download a perfect without paying (morally wrong but also socially acceptable among younger demographics).

Disney was finally eager to reveal their Premier Access numbers last weekend at $60 million, hoping that would lessen the sting that it “looked like” film underperformed compared to their other recent solo films such as Black Panther and Captain Marvel, both eventually earning a billion-plus at the global box office (Black Widow isn’t likely going to make anything close to that). It even made less opening weekend than Doctor Strange’s $85 million from 2016. Sadly, those Premier Access earnings can’t be applied to real box office totals and were really only window dressing. Studios take final box office totals real seriously and it looks like their hybrid release could end deflating the film’s global cume by at least $100 million, if not more.

This doesn’t mean Black Widow is going to be a flop, by any means, but it’s not great and the studio is likely looking towards the overseas market to help push the film into the profit zone with a release in China on the horizon.

Theatrical windows have always been buffers to online piracy and might be why Disney stated they will returning to a 45-day window for Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings. I don’t think Disney is ready to go all-in on a hybrid model of Black Widow’s second weekend numbers are any indication.

The importance of a theatrical widow is something that the National Association of Theater Owners just echoed in a press release hammering Disney’s hybrid release model. Suggesting that the company attempted to maximize profits (Disney doesn’t have to share Disney+ earnings with theaters) by damaging the theatrical earning potential and referred to this weekend’s box office drop as “a stunning second weekend collapse in theatrical revenues.”

“Black Widow should have opened to anywhere from $92-$100 million. Based on preview
revenue, compared to the same titles, Black Widow could have opened to
anywhere from $97 to $130 million,” NATO added in their press release.

They also mention out that films such as F9: The Fast Saga and A Quiet Place Part II seemed to have healthy subsequent weekend earnings because they weren’t easily pirated like the HBO Max releases and now Black Widow. The long-established buffer for piracy simply vanished.

Posted on in Film News

‘Black Widow’ Heading Towards $80M+ Opening Weekend & David Harbour Teases Red Guardian’s Future

Marvel Studios and Disney waiting over a full year to release Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow is likely going to pay off big time for the studio, as the film is said to have already earned nearly $40 million ($39.5 million) on Friday at the domestic box office and it’s a good start considering the solo film’s $200 million budget.

Estimates from Deadline now place the full weekend opening potentially heading towards $80-90 million, which will give the film a pandemic era box office record. 

Collider also recently spoke with Red Guardian actor David Harbour about plans to see his Russian character making a return to the MCU in the not too distant future. 

“There is some chatter around certain things. We were pretty focused on just this. They also have a lot of stuff in the pipe that, it seems like in this particular phase, there’s a lot of different… There’s like Eternals…There’s different elements to this universe that I think they’re branching out at this point until they start to do this. I knew I wasn’t involved in that branch. The discussions were… They didn’t really give a sense of what was up next. It was more just really focused on this movie, and some speculation of possibilities,” David Harbour responded to the question of his character Red Guardian’s potential return in the future. 

Stuff like a Thunderbolts project or even Anthony Mackie’s Captain American 4 would be a good bet to make for Red Guardians’ return unless Marvel potentially considers giving Alexei Shostakov a solo Disney+ series.

Director Cate Shortland has talked up the idea of returning for a Black Widow sequel focusing on “other characters,” in theory, that could be a way to have him return by including Alexei alongside Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova as the new Black Widow. 

“I think following a different character, yes. I think Scarlett is really happy that she’s leaving the party, you know, and she’s not the last to leave. She decided she wanted to go. And I don’t think she would want to come back at the moment,” the filmmaker told the Radio Times when asked about the possibility of a sequel and alluding to Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova taking over the mantle.

As it stands, Marvel hasn’t announced plans for Black Widow 2. However, Pugh’s Yelena will appear in the Hawkeye series that will likely drop on Disney+ later in the year.

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.