3-1-16 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)

        Two weeks ago, principal photography began at Pinewood Studios in London on the hotly-anticipated Star Wars: Episode VIII, as trumpeted by Lucasfilm’s epic announcement video. Some were a little confused by the video’s footage of the “Excalibur” scene from Star Wars: The Force Awakens of Rey returning Luke and Anakin’s lightsaber, wondering whether they were looking at outtakes from Episode VII or new footage being shot specifically for Episode VIII. Now, actress Daisy Ridley has seemingly confirmed to MTV that she and Mark Hamill were indeed re-enacting the now-iconic end scene for the new film.  “Me and Mark have been rehearsing a lot, and it’s really amazing,” Ridley said “When we went back to Skellig to do the opening of [Episode] VIII, it was so crazy doing the same scene with a different crew of people. He’s amazing to rehearse with, and I’m very excited to be doing the rest of the stuff. It’s such a good story. Seriously. Luke is so cool in this one. Really.” The September pre-shoot footage from Ireland’s Skellig Michael Island (aka “Ahch-To” in the Force Awakens shooting script) seems to be setting a new precedent for a Star Wars movie, as all of the previous entries picked up a fair amount of time after the previous installment, ranging from a few months between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi to 10 years between Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, not to mention the decades-long gaps between trilogies. Episode VIII will apparently start right at the moment Rey meets Luke, and then hopefully continue on to her training as the legendary Skywalker’s new Padawan. Continuing the epic journey of Rey, Finn, Poe, and Luke Skywalker in the next chapter of the continuing Star Wars saga, Star Wars: Episode VIII is written and directed by Rian Johnson. It welcomes back cast members Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis. New cast members will include Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro, Academy Award nominee Laura Dern, and newcomer Kelly Marie Tran. The sequel is produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman and executive produced by J.J. Abrams, Jason McGatlin, and Tom Karnowski. Star Wars: Episode VIII is scheduled for release on December 15, 2017.

        I absolutely love these comments. First off let me just say that Daisy Ridley might just be my new favorite person in the world and I'm glad that she is basically leading this franchise for near future. As for the comments, I really love knowing that the film is going to pick up right where Episode VII left off because if you've seen Episode VII, you'll already be invested in the story and the characters because the story is just moving right along. I like the fact that Luke is going to have a bigger role in the film which will please a lot of fans including myself and I'm just looking forward to a possible Luke vs. Kylo Ren fight which could be outstanding. You all know that I'm a huge Star Wars fan and you all know how much I loved Episode VII and I;m just really looking forward to seeing the continuation of the greatest franchise of all-time. 

        The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. So began the first entry in The Dark Tower novel series, The Gunslinger, but the journey for Stephen King’s famous book series to the big screen has been just as long and harrowing as Roland’s journey to the Dark Tower. Now it’s finally happening. Both King and the film’s director and co-writer Nikolaj Arcel spoke with EW about the film, which Arcel revealed will begin shooting in South Africa in just seven weeks, and confirmed that Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey will star as the film’s hero and villain. “What Stephen King does best is mixing the everyday, or what you might call the mundane, with the fantastical,” says Arcel. “In my view, [The Dark Tower] novels are a mix between sci-fi and fantasy and modern times. That exact mix is so Stephen King.” King went on to reveal that the Dark Tower movie will open with the first line from the book as read above, but that the film itself will jump into the middle of the story instead of starting with the first book. “[The movie] starts in media res, in the middle of the story instead of at the beginning,” King says. “Which may upset some of the fans a little bit, but they’ll get behind it, because it is the story.” Arcel went on to tease the film further, saying: “A lot of it takes place in our day, in the modern world.” This could mean that the film will be adapting The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, the novel that sees Roland and his ka-tet members Eddie and Susannah attempting to bring a young boy, Jake, to their world from New York City.

        Arcel went on to talk about casting Idris Elba in the role, saying: “For me, it just clicked. He’s such a formidable man,” says Arcel. “I had to go to Idris and tell him my vision for the entire journey with Roland and the ka-tet. We discussed, who is this character? What’s he about? What’s his quest? What’s his psychology? We tried to figure out if we saw the same guy. And we absolutely had all the same ideas and thoughts. He had a unique vision for who Roland would be.” On the flip side, Arcel says the casting of Matthew McConaughey made just as much sense. “Matthew is an incredible actor who can do anything. That’s how I feel about Walter Padick. He could do anything…He is this timeless sorcerer, and being a Stephen King fan, I’ve read and experienced Walter in various iterations. He has a very interesting way of seeing the world. He sees it with a sort of delight, even though he is obviously on the wrong side of the light-and-dark spectrum. He’s someone I’ve been having a lot of fun with.” Sony currently has The Dark Tower set for a release on January 13, 2017.

        I'm really glad to hear this news. Seeing a film with Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey together just gets me excited on so many different levels. This is one of the books I have not read from Stephen King and I;m pretty ashamed of myself for that because this book sounds so good. I think this film is going be epic on massive scale and if the film does good then maybe we could sequels especially if they are going off of the third book. The only thing I don't like is the release date because January is a graveyard for movies, but I think this film could do really well with a great marketing push. 

        With Michael Keaton having headlined two Best Pictures in a row, there’s more anticipation than ever for his upcoming Ray Kroc biopic, The Founder. That’s likely the impetus for The Weinstein Company today announcing that The Founder will now arrive in theaters more than three months earlier than originally planned. Previously set to hit the big screen in a limited release Thanksgiving weekend, The Founder will now open wide on August 5. Also starring Nick Offerman, Linda Cardellini, Laura Dern, BJ Novak and John Carroll Lynch, The Founder hails from screenwriter Robert Siegel (Big Fan) and tells the true story of how Ray Kroc (Keaton), a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. Kroc was impressed by the brothers’ speedy system of making the food and saw franchise potential. He maneuvered himself into a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create the billion dollar empire that is McDonalds. The August 5 date will see The Founder open opposite the Kevin-Spacey-trapped-in-the-body-of-a-cat comedy Nine Lives as well as David Ayer’s much anticipated DC Comics super villain ensemble, Suicide Squad.

        I don't really like this date for the film. Granted this film is going to be a heavy Oscar contender solely based on the premise and the date won't matter due to it being a limited release. However I'm still excited to see the film because of Michael Keaton and the way he has resurrected his career by basically being smart with his choices and proving he is a capable actor. I've heard this film is going to be sorta like The Social Network and that gets me excited because I love that film a lot and this film is just going to be fantastic and be a major player in a few awards at next years Oscars. I think Keaton can win Best Actor next year, but it also depends on his competition. 

        Take a look at the fifth installment of 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios‘ Ice Age franchise in the new Ice Age: Collision Course trailer, which you can check out below! You can catch the film on the big screen July 22. As you can see in the Collision Course trailer, the new film features returning cast members Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Simon Pegg, Keke Palmer, Wanda Sykes, and Jennifer Lopez. Joining the herd are Stephanie Beatriz, Adam DeVine, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Max Greenfield, Jessie J, Nick Offerman, Melissa Rauch, Michael Strahan and even Neil deGrasse Tyson. In Collision Course, Scrat’s epic pursuit of the elusive acorn catapults him into the universe where he accidentally sets off a series of cosmic events that transform and threaten the Ice Age World. To save themselves, Sid, Manny, Diego, and the rest of the herd must leave their home and embark on a quest full of comedy and adventure, traveling to exotic new lands and encountering a host of colorful new characters. To date, the four previous Ice Age films have grossed $729.6 million domestically and more than $2.8 billion globally. The last two installments alone took in more than $850 million worldwide.


        This was a pretty decent trailer. I really enjoyed the first two trailers that came out and I just didn't get into the same mood with this trailer. It started off really funny, but mainly due to the same things we've already seen from the previous two trailers so nothing surprised me in this trailer. I feel that if they show Scrat a bit more in the film that I might be able to enjoy the film, but I don't know how I'm going to react to the film. I love the first Ice Age film, but the rest of the franchise has been pretty terrible and I look for this film to follow suit. 

        According to Variety, Kevin Costner (Man of Steel, Black or White) has joined Taraji P. Henson (“Empire,” “Person of Interest”) and Academy Award-winner Octavia Spencer (The Help, Insurgent) in the 1960’s-set space drama Hidden Figures. The movie will reunite Costner with his Black or White co-star Spencer. They both earned critical praise for their roles in that racial drama. Costner will play the head of the NASA space program in Hidden Figures, which revolves around Katherine Johnson (Henson), a brilliant African-American mathematician who, along with colleagues Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson, served as key mathematical minds behind the historic launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit as he became the first American to orbit the Earth. Adapted from Margot Lee Shetterly’s forthcoming book Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, the screenplay is by Allison Schroeder (Mean Girls 2). Hidden Figures will be directed and produced by Ted Melfi (St. Vincent), with Chernin Entertainment and Donna Gigliotti of Levantine Films also producing. Costner will next be seen in the action-thriller Criminal, which opens on April 15.

        I love this casting. This is the type of role that is built for Keaton to succeed in and I think he can do a great job in the film. I think the film as a whole could be making a statement mainly due to the fact that it is going to have a strong presence of women in the film and those women happen to be African-American. I really like the premise of the film and it happens to be a true story that I had no idea happened. I mean I knew about John Glenn, but not the part of the African-American women having a hand in this historic event. I'm really looking forward to the film and I'm excited to see how it will be received. 

        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