Thursday, January 7, 2016

1-7-16 Movie News

        Hello ladies and gentlemen, here is some movie news with some of my thoughts and opinions (which will be in BOLD print). So without further ado...


(NOTE: All of these stories come from comingsoon.net)


        Emma Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man films) is in early negotiations to play the iconic 101 Dalmations villainess Cruella de Vil in the live-action Cruella movie, says The Hollywood Reporter. The trade says that Kelly Marcel is writing the script for The Walt Disney Studios film, which is intended to be an origin story of the character. Aline Brosh McKenna worked on an early version of the script. Andrew Gunn is producing the movie, while Kristin Burr and Jessica Virtue are overseeing for the studio. The project does not have a director attached yet, but the goal is to start shooting later this year. Cruella de Vil was the villain of the 1961 animated classic and has since been played by Glenn Close in the 1996 live-action movie 101 Dalmations  and in its 2000 sequel, 102 Dalmations. The character originated in Dodie Smith’s 1956 book, “The Hundred and One Dalmatians.” Smith also briefly revisited the character in her lesser-known science fiction sequel book, “The Starlight Barking.”

        This is terrific casting. Emma Stone is one of the best young actresses working in the business today and the fact that she's an Academy Award nominated actress helps this films credibility. Cruella de Vil is one of the most menacing characters to ever come on the big screen and one of the most haunting in the lore of Disney films. Now Glenn Close did a wonderful job of portraying the character in the live-action versions of 101 and 102 Dalmations, but I think Emma Stone can knock this role out of the park. It'll be really fun to see where she built up this obsession with animal fur (mainly from Dalmations) and it's just something that I myslef wonder as to how she got the motivation. Disney is trying to turn everything love-action and it was only a matter of time before this film came about, but it's one I'm really looking forward to.



        Ben Mendelsohn (Netflix’s “Bloodline,” upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) is in talks to play the villain in Steven Spielberg’s big screen adaptation of Ready Player One, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The trade says that Ben Mendelsohn has met on the project and has an offer, with negotiations in the early stages. Mendelsohn would play an executive for an Internet corporation that has designs on OASIS. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl‘s Olivia Cooke will star as Ar3mis, an OASIS avatar belonging to the coincidentally-named Samantha Cook. The search for the male lead is still underway. A Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures production, Ready Player One is based on Ernest Cline’s bestseller of the same name. The film is being directed by Spielberg, who is also producing alongside Donald De Line, under his De Line Pictures banner, Dan Farah and Kristie Macosko Krieger. Bruce Berman will serve as executive producer. Set in the near future, Ready Player One follows outcast teenager Wade Watts, who escapes from his bleak surroundings by logging in to the OASIS, a globally networked virtual utopia where users can lead idyllic alternate lives. When the eccentric billionaire who created the OASIS dies, he offers up his vast fortune as the prize in an elaborate treasure hunt. Along with gamers from around the world, Wade joins the adventure, and quickly finds himself pitted against powerful corporate foes and other ruthless competitors who will do anything, in the oasis or the real world, to reach the treasure first. Ready Player One is slated to hit theaters December 15, 2017.

        This is another great casting choice. Ben Mendelson has become a hot commodity recently and I think he is positioning himself to have the next couple of years to be breakout years. He was great in his small role in The Dark Knight Rises and since then his stock has just risen to now he'll be in both a Star Wars film and a Stephen Spielberg sci-fi film which would be every actors dream. Ready Player One was a book that I immediately thought would be a great adaptation as long as it was in the right hands and it is with Stephen Spielberg. I think this film has a lot of potential and I'm very curious to see how it does. If this film is as successful as I think it could be, then I think it may have a shot at a few Oscars in 2018. 



        New Line Cinema has debuted the first spooky The Conjuring 2 trailer, featuring returning stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprising their roles as real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. You can check out The Conjuring 2 trailer below. Unlike the recent spinoff film, Annabelle (which explored the back story of the first film’s terrifying doll), The Conjuring 2 will continue the based-on-truth adventures of the Warrens, whose cases have also inspired the likes of The Haunting in Connecticut and most notably, The Amityville Horror. In the sequel, Lorraine and Ed Warren travel to north London to help a single mother raising four children alone in a house plagued by malicious spirits. The Conjuring 2 also stars Frances O’Connor (TV’s “The Missing”) as the single mom, with Madison Wolfe (TV’s “Zoo”) and newcomers Lauren Esposito, Patrick McAuley and Benjamin Haigh as her children; Maria Doyle Kennedy (TV’s “Orphan Black”); Simon Delaney (TV’s “Roy”); Franka Potente (TV’s “The Bridge”); and Simon McBurney (Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation).  In addition to directing the film, James Wan wrote the screenplay with Carey Hayes & Chad Hayes, and David Leslie Johnson. Peter Safran, Wan and Rob Cowan, who previously collaborated on The Conjuring, are producing. The film follows the phenomenal worldwide reception of Wan’s The Conjuring, which marked the largest opening ever for an original horror movie in 2013. The film went on to make more than $319 million worldwide and still remains the second-highest grossing original horror movie of all time, second only to The Exorcist.


        This is a very creepy trailer. Now I loved the first Conjuring film as it was one that kept me on the edge of my seat and it just showed why James Wan was a guy who can do horror and it looks like he did it again. Horror sequels (just like comedy sequels) are the hardest films to make due to the fact that you have to be able to top yourself in some way that makes the sequel standout from its predecessor. I think this film is in a great position to succeed as a summer film and I'm really looking forward to seeing it. 



        Universal Pictures and Working Title Films have revealed the new poster for Joel and Ethan Coen’s latest feature film, Hail, Caesar!, their first since 2013’s Inside Llewyn Davis and you can check out the Hail, Caesar! poster below. Four-time Oscar-winning filmmakers the Coen brothers (The Big Lebowski, Fargo) write and direct Hail, Caesar!, an all-star comedy set during the latter years of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Starring Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men, Sicario), George Clooney (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Burn After Reading), Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Tilda Swinton (Only Lovers Left Alive, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Channing Tatum (Magic Mike, 21 Jump Street), Scarlett Johansson (Avengers: Age of Ultron) and Jonah Hill (Moneyball, The Wolf of Wall Street), Hail, Caesar! follows a single day in the life of a studio fixer who is presented with plenty of problems to fix. Brolin plays the fixer, based on real-life MGM executive Eddie Mannix. Hail, Caesar! is produced by the Coen brothers under their Mike Zoss Productions banner, with Working Title Films and Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan. Universal will release the film on February 5, 2016.

Hail, Caesar!

        I really like this poster. It does a nice job of selling the film in such a way where you know the film to a point. The Coen Brothers films often have the same poster that give you the basic premise such as for No Country for Old Men where Josh Brolin is running away with the black bag or Fargo when the cop sees a trail of blood or O Brother, Where Art Thou? with the the main trio running away. So in essence this poster shows someone who looks like they've been kidnapped which is the plot of this film. It may be a simple plot, but knowing the Coen brothers, this film will be far from simple and it's one I'm looking forward to mainly because of them and the story, but also because of the amazing cast they have assembled.  



        Relativity Media today announced that the company has entered into an agreement to acquire Trigger Street Productions, the entertainment production company owned and operated by Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti. At Relativity, Spacey will become Chairman of Relativity Studios and Brunetti will become President of Relativity Studios, effective mid-February. Together, they will oversee all creative content and film production for the company. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. “I am thrilled to welcome Kevin and Dana to Relativity,” said Ryan Kavanaugh, Chairman and CEO, Relativity. “Kevin’s incredible creative success as a two-time Academy Award winner and star and producer of the critically acclaimed House of Cards speaks for itself. Dana has remarkable instincts and an impressive track record of producing films such as ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ and ‘Captain Phillips.’ Both men share my passion for film and Relativity’s unique 360 degree content engine, and I could not be more excited to partner with such talented professionals.” “They thought we were crazy when we chose to do ‘House of Cards’ with an online streaming service; they thought I was crazy when I went to run The Old Vic Theatre when no one thought it could be saved; and this move with Relativity will be proof for some that we really are crazy,” said Kevin Spacey. “This is an incredible opportunity to make great entertainment. I’m thrilled at this next evolution in my career, having run an independent production company to now be able to run a studio is a great challenge, and I’ve learned that in the end it’s the risk takers that are rewarded.” “While other studios are focusing on tentpoles and franchises, there is a void with an eager audience for films that are character driven with great storytelling that can be made at a reasonable budget,” commented Dana Brunetti. “Being a disruptor at heart, I look forward to the opportunities that being inside a studio system will present.”

        Trigger Street Productions is an entertainment production company owned and operated by Spacey and his producing partner Brunetti. Trigger Street’s credits include Academy Award-nominated Captain Phillips, Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning The Social Network, and the Emmy nominated “House of Cards,” Bernard and Doris and Recount, as well as numerous other films including 21, Shrink, Fanboys and the stage production “The Iceman Cometh.” Relativity Studios is the largest privately held, independent film studio with several movies scheduled to release this year, including The Disappointments Room, Before I Wake, Kidnap, Masterminds and Strangers 2. The studio has produced, distributed or structured financing for more than 200 motion pictures, generating more than $17 billion in worldwide box-office revenue and earning 60 Oscar nominations. Relativity Studios’ films include Immortals, Limitless, The Fighter, Act of Valor and Safe Haven. The company’s scripted television division is behind CBS’s newest hit show, “Limitless,” based on the film released by Relativity Studios in 2011 which grossed more than $160 million worldwide, and Relativity Digital Studios released its first feature-length film, Summer Forever, in 2015 and is set to release two additional films in the Summer Forever franchise later this year.

        This is groundbreaking news to hear. Now we know of actors becoming producers and even having their own productions companies such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, but we've never heard of an actor becoming the chairman of a pretty big studio. Kevin Spacey is the perfect person to lead the charge for Relativity Media because he is enriched in film lore and he just knows so much about the business, plus he's been successful so far as a producer so why not try to take on a bigger fish in the sea. I feel that the studio will make some quality films with Spacey making several key decisions and we could see him some of the films that they make. The studio was in real danger of shutting down, but now I think it will peak in the right direction and I'm excited to see where it goes from here.

        So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, which of these stories peaked your interest or was there another story that interested you? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.

                                                                                                                                        Jonah Sparks

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