News

Richard Sherman, der die Musik legendärer Disney-Klassiker wie „Mary Poppins“ schuf, ist im Alter von 95 Jahren verstorben.

Richard M. Sherman (Credit: Imago / MediaPunch)

Der oscargekrönte Songwriter Richard M. Sherman, der gemeinsam mit seinem Bruder Robert die Melodien für Disney-Klassiker wie „Mary Poppins“, „Chitty Chitty Bang Bang“ und „Das Dschungelbuch“ schrieb, ist am 25. Mai in Los Angeles gestorben. Er wurde 95 Jahre alt. Die Sherman Brothers arbeiteten viel für Walt Disney, für dessen Filme sie hauptsächlich Lieder und gelegentlich Filmmusiken schrieben. Sie zeichnen insgesamt für an die 1000 Songs und Musik für 50 Filme verantwortlich und waren laut Disney für mehr Filmmusicalsongs verantwortlich als jeder andere in der Geschichte. Zu Shermans hohen Auszeichnungen gehören neben dem Oscar die Mitgliedschaft in der Songwriters Hall of Fame und die National Medal of Honor. Robert Sherman ist bereits 2012 gestorben.

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" is all about its cast. It can't help but be. Both the returning actors and the new additions are working in and around the void left by Chadwick Boseman's untimely death at the age of 43. Boseman was the Black Panther in every sense, and like T'Challa, he became a hero to many. Now, director Ryan Coogler and his team are left to mourn and honor Boseman both on screen and off. It's an unenviable task, but one that appears to have been realized with love and craft to spare.

That's due in no small part to the incredibly stacked roster of actors appearing in "Wakanda Forever." So far, there's been tons of discourse about which of them will be the next Black Panther; however, by appearing in this film, they're each acknowledging that they could never be. Marvel may make a new character assume the Black Panther's mantle,...

Click here to read the full article.

Ever since Disney+ series The Mandalorian began making news for its inventive use of an LED stage and virtual production pipeline for filming and incorporating real-time effects — en route to winning Emmys in VFX and cinematography, as well as a 2022 Engineering Emmy that was awarded to Industrial Light & Magic for the system’s development — these types of stages have become what is arguably the fastest-growing area of visual effects and production technology. But amid the explosive surge in LED stages, observers warn that the business, tech and creative models for these pricey installations require more understanding before their potential can be fully realized.

“We are tracking roughly 300 stages, up from only three in 2019,” Miles Perkins, industry manager of film and TV for Epic Games, maker of the Unreal Engine used in virtual production pipelines, reports of the rise in capacity stemming from investments from studios,...

Christopher Walken is one of the most unique character actors of all time. Walken is renowned for his idiosyncratic mannerisms and has reinvented himself for audiences of many different generations. He has attracted some younger viewers with his frequent appearances on "Saturday Night Live" and Fatboy Slim's infamous "Weapon of Choice" music video.

Although Walken is largely associated with his comedic roles, he has delivered many riveting dramatic performances. At 79, Walken hasn't shown any signs that he is slowing down. He has recently found success on television with his roles as Burt Goodman on Apple TV+'s acclaimed science fiction series "Severance" and Frank Sheldon on Amazon Prime Video's crime series "The Outlaws." It was recently announced that Walken will be joining the cast of "Dune: Part Two" as Emperor Shaddam IV. It will be exciting to see Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides face off against the most fearsome antagonist in the "Dune" universe.

Telluride Horror Show, Colorado’s first and largest horror film festival, returns for its 13th edition October 14-16, 2022. Every year, the festival attracts the latest & best genre films from around the world and attendees from all over the country for an incredible gathering of film fans in the world-famous mountain resort town of Telluride, Colorado.

For three packed days, attendees experience an eclectic mix of horror, suspense, thriller, dark fantasy, sci-fi and dark comedy in Telluride’s unique theaters, with many of the films showing for the first time in the US. This year’s program features a robust international lineup with the latest and best horror films from 15 countries around the world, with numerous directors and cast and crew members in person. Attendees will have a chance to meet Hollywood legend Clint Howard at Friday’s Ice Scream Social, where he’ll be scooping ice cream before the festival...

Sky, the Comcast-backed pay-tv broadcaster in the U.K., has added “outdated attitudes” disclaimers to a batch of films, including the original animated “Jungle Book,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “The Last Samurai.”

Upon searching for Disney’s “The Jungle Book” on movie service Sky Cinema, a description now reads, “This film has outdated attitudes, language and cultural depictions which may cause offence today.” The same warning has been applied to Jon Favreau’s 2016 re-imagining of the classic movie.

A check of nascent streamer Disney Plus, whose content is also available on Sky under the companies’ output deal, shows that that service already makes clear that films such as the original “Jungle Book” “contains outdated cultural depictions.” As previously reported, Disney had the warnings in place around the 2019 launch of the streamer.

Altogether, some 16 films on Sky Cinema now have an attached disclaimer, including Disney’s 1941 animated film “Dumbo;” kids...

Principal photography on Warner Bros. Pictures’ “The Batman” began in January and this week director Matt Reeves (the “Planet of the Apes” films) released this first look of Robert Pattinson in the Bat Suit.

Shot by @GreigfraserD

Music by @m_giacchino

— Matt Reeves (@mattreevesLA) February 13, 2020

Robert Pattinson stars as Gotham City’s vigilante detective, Batman, and billionaire Bruce Wayne.

Batman was created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger. Based on characters from DC, “The Batman” is set to open in theaters June 25, 2021 and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Filmmaker and comic book geek Kevin Smith had his own take on this first look and commented on it over on Twitter.

As the author of a certain @JimLee story in #Detective1000, I pray to SMod this is true… https://t.co/iN1VPlaBMh pic.twitter.com/yH4Irsw9m9

— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) February 14, 2020

Starring alongside Pattinson as Gotham’s...

Back in 2016, Matthew A. Cherry put out a call on Twitter looking for 3D artists to help with a project. On Sunday, Cherry was standing on the stage of the Dolby Theatre celebrating his Oscar win for best animated short for “Hair Love.”

His triumph comes as Variety continues to celebrate African-American artisans who work behind the scenes and continue to make an impact.

“Hair Love” was executive produced by Frank Abney and Peter Ramsey. The latter has been drawing since the age of 3. Ramsey, whose credits as an illustrator include “Godzilla,” “Independence Day” and “Batman Forever,” was a self-taught storyboard artist who dreamed as a young kid in Crenshaw of becoming a director.

Ramsey went on to work at DreamWorks and directed “Rise of the Guardians,” making history as the first African-American to helm an animated film with a $145 million budget. He notched another benchmark in 2019 as the first...

After grossing over $1 billion worldwide last summer, Disney’s remake of their animated film “Aladdin” will get a theatrically released sequel, multiple individuals with knowledge of the project confirmed to TheWrap.

The sequel will be produced by Dan Lin and Jonathan Ehrich of Rideback, who produced the live-action film starring Mena Massoud as Aladdin and Will Smith as the powerful Genie he frees from a magic lamp. The film was released on Memorial Day weekend last year and grossed $355 million domestically and $1.05 billion worldwide, making it one of a record seven billion-dollar hits that Disney released in 2019.

While it has not been determined whether remake director Guy Ritchie will return for the sequel, the script will be an entirely new story written by John Gatins and Andrea Berloff. Gatins, who wrote the 2012 Robert Zemeckis/Denzel Washington film “Flight,” most recently worked on the script for Lionsgate’s 2018 film adaptation of “Power Rangers.

Like Thor’s computer-generated hammer raining down on his enemies, Hollywood’s Visual Effects Society is speaking out against last night’s Academy Awards telecast for making them the butt of a joke.

In a scathing statement, the group of more than 4,000 artisans expressed offense over the presentation of the Oscar for best visual effects — which featured “Cats” stars James Corden and Rebel Wilson decked out in fur suits, poking fun at their musical misfire on stage at the Dolby Theatre.

“Last night, in presenting the Academy Award for outstanding visual effects, the producers chose to make visual effects the punchline, and suggested that bad VFX were to blame for the poor performance of the movie ‘Cats,'” the statement said. “The best visual effects in the world will not compensate for a story told badly. The Visual Effects Society is focused on recognizing, advancing and honoring visual effects as...

On the day of the release of the season 1 finale, The Mandalorian creator and showrunner Jon Favreau has confirmed the second installment of the Disney+ series will launch in fall 2020.

Favreau revealed the news Friday on Twitter.

Season 2 of #TheMandalorian coming Fall 2020 pic.twitter.com/8VQYLDMQ0V

— Jon Favreau (@Jon_Favreau) December 27, 2019

The live-action interstellar bounty hunter series, The Mandalorian, premiered November 12 on Disney+, the same day the streaming service launched. Insiders have hinted that several established characters from the Skywalker saga’s feature films mythology will make appearances during the show’s sophomore season.

The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal along with Gina Carano, Giancarlo Esposito, Emily Swallow, Carl Weathers, Omid Abtahi, Werner Herzog, Nick Nolte, Julia Jones and Ming-Na Wen.

Pascal stars as the bounty hunter, gunfighter and native of Mandalore, known in the Star Wars universe as the home planet of bounty hunter Boba Fett and Jango Fett.

Read more from Variety’s Directors on Directors, in which filmmakers praise their favorite movies of the year, here.

This movie is not safe on any level. Anyone who ventures into the Hitler comedy subgenre is guaranteed a bumpy road. Taika walks in the path of absurdist comedy stalwarts Mel Brooks and Charlie Chaplin at a time when not sticking the landing has zero margin of error. But when you do stick the landing, it is all the more impressive.

It is one thing to challenge the formula in a Marvel “Thor” sequel. It is quite another when you’re painting a sympathetic portrait of kids coming of age while being corrupted by the Third Reich.

As much as this comedically twisted lens distorts one of the least-humorous moments of human history, it also adds an arguably valid perspective to such a reprehensible moment that humanity as a whole would...

Remakes have been a part of the studio machine since at least as far back as 1904 when the groundbreaking “The Great Train Robbery” was reshot and resold. In the century-plus that followed, remakes have gotten a bad name for themselves and, to some, are indicative of the creative vacancy of the mainstream entertainment industry. But look closer and you’ll find that many filmmakers are doing wonderful things by taking old stories and making them new again, either by adding visual flair or injecting nuance where, perhaps, there was little to be found before. Some of the best movies of the last decade were remakes. And these, we dare say, were the 10 best.

Runners-Up (alphabetically): “About Last Night” (2014), “Benji” (2018), “The Crazies” (2010), “Frankenweenie” (2012), “Ghostbusters” (2016), “The Jungle Book” (2016), “Murder on the Orient Express” (2017), “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (2013), “A Star Is Born” (2018), “We Are What We Are” (2013)

10. “Let Me In...

When it comes to categorizing, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has been marching to its own beat. It nominated Netflix’s Orange Is The New Black in the drama field for the show’s first season in 2014, which was designated as a comedy at the Emmys later that year. The TV Academy re-classified the series as a drama, starting with Season 2, when the HFPA started calling Oitnb a comedy for the rest of its run.

For that reason, every year, there are Golden Globe nominations that raise eyebrows, like the forgettable thrillerThe Tourist‘s 2011 Comedy or Musical nominations for best film and stars Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.

This year, some were surprised by The Lion King’s nomination for Animated Feature. It marks the first recognition for Jon Favreau’s remake of the Disney animated classic as an animated film.

The 2019 Lion King is part of the wave of...

We love these products, and we hope you do too. E! has affiliate relationships, so we may get a small share of the revenue from your purchases. Items are sold by the retailer, not E!. This weekend marked the final drop of this year's Disney Wisdom collection, which featured a new character, inspirational film quote, and color every month. December's addition is the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella, looking resplendent in pink as she reminds us that miracles take time! But the Disney Wisdom collection isn't here for long! Every month's addition has been limited edition, and many of the characters and quotes—like Mushu from Mulan, Baloo from The Jungle Book, and Dumbo—have completely sold out....

Disney has given us a slew of live-action remakes that have been remarkable such as “The Jungle Book”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Dumbo” and “The Lion King” to name a few and now we can look forward to the upcoming remake of “Mulan”. The new trailer for the upcoming film show’s our favorite Disney warrior “Mulan” who is more than determined to fulfill her destiny and win over our hearts. The film was shot in both China and New Zealand and the scenery looks absolutely amazing. Mulan is played by Liu Yifei, aka Crystal Liu, a star of the big screen in China. Just like in the 1998 cartoon version of the story, her character is engaged to be married but decides to join the army instead, against the will of her family and the orders of the emperor, played by Jet Li. Mulan disguises herself as a man to...

Disney is developing a spinoff of its live-action “Aladdin” with Billy Magnussen reprising his Prince Anders character.

The unnamed project is in early development for the studio’s recently launched Disney Plus streaming service. Disney has hired Jordan Dunn and Michael Kvamme to write a script centered on the haughty Prince Anders, one of Princess Jasmine’s suitors.

Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich, producers of “Aladdin,” are producing the spinoff through their Rideback company. Rideback’s Ryan Halprin will executive produce.

“Aladdin” became the 41st title to cross the $1 billion worldwide box office mark in July. It opened with $117 million over the Memorial Day holiday and easily outperformed Disney’s pre-opening domestic projections along with underlining the validity of the studio’s strategy of rebooting its animated classics such as “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Jungle Book.”

In this case, it remade the original 1992 animated movie with Mena Massoud as Aladdin,...

Following its teaser trailer in July, Disney has unveiled the first lengthy look at their upcoming Mulan live-action remake.

As evidenced by the new trailer, the live-action version strips away some of the more cartoonish elements of the 1998 animated film — that indestructible bug, the Eddie Murphy-voiced mini-dragon Mushu — for a more grounded story about a teenage girl who joins the Imperial Army under the guise of a young man. Unlike the animated film, the live-action version also features a witch that can transform into a hawk.

“When the Emperor...

Disney has released the first official trailer for its upcoming live action remake of “Mulan,” the 1998 animated classic about a young woman who goes undercover as a man in order to take her father’s place in the Imperial Army. The original was a surprise box office success for Disney in the late ’90s, following the relatively disappointing box-office of “Hercules” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” Following in the footsteps of recent live-action remakes like Jon Favreau’s “The Lion King” and “The Jungle Book,” “Mulan” was directed by New Zealand-based filmmaker Niki Caro, who will bring her fresh vision of the feminist tale to the big screen. The newly released first official trailer promises plenty of epic battles, gorgeous cinematography, and a contemporary bent on the crossdressing tale.

Set in China during the Han dynasty, “Mulan” has recently been reclaimed as a transgender narrative. The titular character is...

Disney has been all aboard the live-action remake train since The Jungle Book made almost $1 billion at the global box office. Since then we've had live-action iterations of Beauty And The Beast, Dumbo, Aladdin, and The Lion King. Next up for the House of Mouse is the $300 million budgeted Mulan, set to hit theaters next year. 'Tis the season for giving and Disney graciously decided to unlock…...

“Avengers: Endgame,” “Cats,” “The Irishman,” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” are among the 20 films that will vie at the Oscars for best visual effects.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the preliminary list of films eligible for further awards consideration. Later this month, the committee will select a shortlist of 10 films that will advance to nominations voting.

“First Man” nabbed the visual effects trophy last year for the visual effects team of Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles, and J. D. Schwalm. “Blade Runner 2049” won the Oscar for films released in 2017. Recent past winners include “The Jungle Book,” “Ex Machina,” “Interstelllar,” “Gravity,” “Life of Pi,” “Hugo,” “Inception,” “Avatar,” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

Nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards will be announced on Jan. 13 ahead of the ceremony on Feb. 9.

See the full list of eligible films...

The Oscars don’t usually care for horror movies, and they don’t usually remember movies that opened way back in February, but Jordan Peele overcame both of those factors with his 2017 sleeper hit “Get Out.” So are we underestimating his 2019 sleeper hit “Us,” which also received critical acclaim and was a box office success (more than a quarter of a billion dollars grossed worldwide)? Specifically, I think Lupita Nyong’o could ambush the Best Actress race — with or without her scissors.

Nyong’o was an awards darling for her breakthrough role as the enslaved Patsey in “12 Years a Slave” (2013), which ended up winning her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She has worked steadily since there, both in front of the camera and in voice-over roles, but “Us” is arguably her juiciest acting showcase since that victory.

Sign UPfor Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions

Actually, it...

Netflix has picked up U.S., Canadian, and Latin American rights to Aardman’s latest stop-motion feature, “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon,” the sci-fi/comedy sequel to the Oscar-nominated “Shaun the Sheep Movie.” Co-directed by Aardman animators Richard Phelan and Will Becher, and revolving around a martian toddler, “Farmageddon” will stream in early 2020; Netflix will support an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run next season.

This bolsters Netflix’s ambitious slate of nearly a dozen animated features, coming on the heels of this month’s initial two, Oscar-buzzy, releases: “Klaus,” the charming Santa origin story with innovative 2D, and “I Lost My Body,” the acclaimed French existential mystery about a severed hand that’s the most original animated feature of the season. After only two years, Netflix has quickly established itself as a viable alternative to the Hollywood studios and a direct competitor to indies GKids and Sony Pictures Classics.

Led by Melissa Cobb,...

Lilly Singh took on Disney+'s "outdated cultural depictions" disclaimers during Thursday's episode of A Little Late.

The disclaimer, which reads "This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions," is included in the streaming platform's synopsis section of many of Disney's classic animated titles. Some of the films that feature the warning are 1941's Dumbo, 1967's The Jungle Book, 1953's Peter Pan and 1955's Lady and the Tramp.

The streaming service's library dates back over eight decades and features older stories with some racist and culturally ...

Lilly Singh took on Disney+'s "outdated cultural depictions" disclaimers during Thursday's episode of A Little Late.

The disclaimer, which reads "This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions," is included in the streaming platform's synopsis section of many of Disney's classic animated titles. Some of the films that feature the warning are 1941's Dumbo, 1967's The Jungle Book, 1953's Peter Pan and 1955's Lady and the Tramp.

The streaming service's library dates back over eight decades and features older stories with some racist and culturally ...

Review by Roger Carpenter

Psychomania tells of a group of n’er-do-well teens, led by a rich and mean-spirited young man, who skip school, ride motorcycles, and cause trouble and general panic wherever they go. They dub themselves The Living Dead and enjoy causing death and chaos at nearly every turn. However, if things seem bad in the little English village in which they reside, they take a decided turn for the worse when Tom Latham (Nicky Henson) discovers his psychic mother and the mysterious butler Shadwell (George Sanders) harbor a shocking secret—the key to life after death.

It seems that Mrs. Latham (Beryl Reid) and her husband made a long-ago deal with the devil for immortality. The couple committed suicide only to come back from the dead. Unfortunately, the late Mr. Latham found out he wasn’t a true believer and never made it back across. But Mrs.

A celebration of all things that go bump in the night (and the people who fight those bumps in the night) in the genre world, the 43rd Annual Saturn Awards took place last night in Burbank, and both sides of the "march to war" in The Walking Dead were well-represented.

In addition to winning Best Horror TV Series, The Walking Dead was rewarded with Best Actor on Television (Andrew Lincoln) and Best Guest Star on Television (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Read on for the full list of winners, which also include Millie Bobby Brown, Riverdale, Westworld, and many more:

Press Release: Burbank, Calif. – June 28, 2016 – The 43rd Annual Saturn Awards celebrated the best and the brightest in genre entertainment tonight, with Lucasfilm/Disney’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story capturing three statuettes in the Film Category, tying with Paramount’s science fiction thriller 10 Cloverfield Lane. One of the entertainment industry’s most highly-anticipated evenings,...

04.27.17: This list is now final. While I may in the future see additional films that were released in the awards year of 2016, no more films will be added to this list. (I may add links to reviews of films listed here.)

This ranking includes only new theatrical releases viewed for the awards year of 2016 (for eligibility for the Academy Awards and the Ofcs and Awfj awards); some films released in the UK without Us releases (and so ineligible for those awards this year) may also be included, for my own bookkeeping purposes. Links go to my review. Numbers after each entry are Date First Viewed/NYC Release Date/London Release Date; year is 2016 unless otherwise noted.

worth paying multiplex prices for

[5 stars]

Arrival (10.10/11.11/11.10)

La La Land (10.07/12.09/01.13.17)

A Monster Calls (10.06/12.23/01.01.17)

The Lobster (07.16.15/05.13/10.16.15)

Zootropolis (aka Zootopia) (02.22/03.04/03.25)

A Bigger Splash (10.08.15/05.04/02.12)

Miss Sloane (11.20/11.25/05.12.17)

London Road (06.03.15/09.09/06.12.15)

The Girl with All the Gifts (07.26/02.24.17/09.23)

I, Daniel Blake...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveriesNEWSLam SuetThis year's Asian Film Awards are most notable for giving beloved Hong Kong character actor (and Johnnie To axiom) Lam Suet the award for Best Supporting Actor (for Trivisa). We were also happy to see that Tsui Hark (still madly inventive with this year's Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back) was given the Lifetime Achievement Award.Chinese actress Li Li-hua has died at the age of 92. While not very well known in the West—except perhaps in the obscure Frank Borzage film China Doll (1958)—Li's work for the Shaw Brothers studio and, later, Golden Harvest, minted many classics, including Li Han-hsiang's The Magnificent Concubine (1962), and Storm Over the Yangtse River (1969), as well as King Hu's The Fate of Lee Khan (1975).For those who aren't able to travel to the Locarno Film Festival but are able to...

Thanks to “Persepolis,” “Waltz with Bashir” and “Chicago 10,” the blending of animation with documentaries has become a successful sub-genre. This year, it’s pushed further both thematically and stylistically with great impact.

In “Life, Animated,” the autistic Owen Suskind learned to communicate by watching classic Disney animation; in “Floyd Norman: An Animated Life,” Disney’s first African-American animator gets long overdue recognition; and in “Tower,” the use of rotoscope animation helps recreate a 50-year-old mass shooting at the University of Texas Tower.

Read More: How ‘The Red Turtle’ Became an Animated, Cycle of Life Oscar Contender

“Owen was able to have a communication breakthrough when he was a child as a result of watching Disney classics…he used them as a guide to decipher life and to connect to other people,” director Roger Ross Williams told IndieWire. He’s the first African-American director to win an Oscar for the documentary short,...

Disney began the year by capturing the diversity and inclusion zeitgeist with the billion dollar “Zootopia,” and concludes the year by embracing new cultural heritage with the Polynesian-themed “Moana” (November 23).

For long-time Disney directors John Musker and Ron Clements (“The Princess and the Frog,” “Aladdin,” “The Little Mermaid”), it was an opportunity to explore CG for the first time while pushing the princess legacy in a new direction: following “Tangled” and “Frozen” with a film with contemporary appeal.

The free-spirited, teenage Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) possesses strong navigational skills and is determined to sail out on a dangerous mission to save her island and eradicate its isolation. She’s also a capable warrior, taking on a ship full of tiny coconut pirates called Kakakora.

And although she’s joined by the shape-shifting demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson)— a reluctant sidekick at first — their relationship remains strictly platonic.

Of course, “Moana” also...

Summer 2016 had a hard act to follow. Last summer had “Jurassic Park” ($652 million), “Avengers: Age of Ultron” ($459 million), and “Inside Out” ($356 million) leading the way, which contributed to a record-breaking year of more than $11 billion.

Early numbers show $4.25 billion for the summer, which isn’t bad; it’s down about 4% from last year, and this summer is one week shorter due to a normal calendar shift. However, a closer look reveals real concerns. There’s the number of expensive flops, but others are deeply rooted in near-term future studio plans. That suggests a risky future for filmed entertainment that depends on theaters (and that theaters depend on).

So, what’s the trouble?

The box office may have declined by 4%, but attendance fell twice as much.

Theaters have steadily increased ticket prices, with a big push last December in anticipation of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Adjusting for the price hike,...

In this episode of Off The Shelf, Ryan and Brian take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for the weeks of August 30th, 2016 and September 6th.

Subscribe in iTunes or RSS.

Episode Notes & Links News Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) Star Trek: The original Series – The Roddenberry Vault Blu-ray The Skull Blu-ray Olive Films Announce November Titles The Bruce Lee Premiere Collection Blu-ray: The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon, Game of Death 50% Off Arrow DVDs & Blu-rays | Barnes & Noble Amazon.com: Middle-earth Limited Collector’s Edition (Blu-ray + DVD): Various: Movies & TV American Buffalo (1996) Going Out Of Print September 12th!! – Screen Archives Entertainment Links to Amazon

8/30

Arrow: Season 4 Barbarosa Chimes at Midnight Destiny The Immortal Story The Jungle Book The Night Manager Star Wars Rebels: The Complete Season 2 Disco Godfather Evils of the Night Eyewitness Hangmen Also Die! People of the Mountains Sid And Nancy...

There's been a bit of confusion in the media as of late about the performance of this year's crop of summer movies. Pieces abound about the so-called dismal state of the season, and yet when you look at it purely from a numbers perspective, 2016 actually ranks as the second-best summer ever in terms of domestic box office (2013 remains firmly in first place). So why all the doomsaying? First, let's take a look at a list of this summer's out-and-out "flops" -- a designation that can roughly be judged by measuring a film's budget-to-gross ratio. Historically, for a title to be deemed "profitable" it has to have made at least two times its production budget, and by that measure, the last four months have produced a total of six outright box office failures. They are: Star Trek Beyond Budget: $185 million Worldwide gross: $285 million Ghostbusters Budget: $144 million Worldwide gross: $219 million Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...

This article originally appeared in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad. It is reprinted here in a revised Tfe specific but abridged version...

While summer didn’t technically begin until June 20th and isn’t technically over yet, “Summer Movie Season” is not beholden to the solstice and equinox but to The Blockbuster. Summer has long been the most lucrative season for Hollywood and so they’ve stretched it out to start earlier each year. It now tends to begin sometime in April with the release of the first movie that feels like a Summer Blockbuster proper (this year that would’ve arguably been The Jungle Book on April 15th) and ends on Labor Day, aka Any Second Now. It’s no secret that it’s been a rough summer for the quality of blockbusters. But if you’re lucky enough to live in a big city or smart enough to seek...

Sketches and scenes from classic animated movies, including The Jungle Book and Fantasia, unearthed in studio’s archives

A lost world of Disney is to be made public for the first time, including images that, when added together, show Donald Duck dancing with giant cigars, and sketches for a film about the American folk hero Davy Crockett.

Film historian Daniel Kothenschulte has collated celluloid images from hundreds of Disney projects that, for various reasons, never saw the light of day. Having been given unrestricted access to the Disney Archives and Animation Research Library, his discoveries are to appear in a major book entitled The Walt Disney Film Archives: The Animated Movies 1921–1968.

Continue reading...

“The Jungle Book” is clearly the VFX Oscar frontrunner for its cutting edge integration of virtual environments and animated characters, with newcomer Neel Sethi as the only live-action component as Mowgli.

Mpc created the bulk of the virtual work (54 species and 224 unique animals along with plants, trees, vines, rocks, rushing rivers, mudslides and grasses blowing in the wind), while Weta Digital did the bravura King Louie sequence (keyframing Christopher Walken’s iconic ape along with his minions that he whips up into a frenzy).

“The Jungle Book Reimagined, “the centerpiece of the Blu-ray bonus features, contains an informative roundtable recap between director Jon Favreau, producer Brigham Taylor and Oscar-winning production VFX supervisor Rob Legato (“Hugo” and “Titanic”).

Read More: ‘The Jungle Book’: How They Pulled Off the Oscar-Bound VFX Hybrid

Favreau’s aha moment came when Disney chairman Alan Horn suggested that he didn’t have to be...

Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:   Movie Praise of the Day: It's a big honor to get an Honest Trailer that is actually positive, and the latest rarity is for The Jungle Book, which is new to home video today:   Screenwriting Lesson of the Day:  With a new, unpopular portrayal of The Joker currently in theaters, Michael Tucker looks at why the character works so well, as written, in The Dark Knight:   Alternate Ending of the Day:  See what happens to Imperator Furiosa after the end of Mad Max: Fury Road in this animated parody:   Redone Movie of the Day: Watch The Revenant remade in animated 8-bit video game form:    Fan Theories of...

Read More...

Despite Suicide Squad's large, to-be-expected second weekend drop, the film pulled in more than enough to hold off all newcomers for a second weekend at number one at the box office as it now totals more than $465 million worldwide. Meanwhile, Sony's R-rated animated comedy Sausage Party scored a strong second place finish, ahead of fellow new releases including Disney's reboot of Pete's Dragon and Paramount's release of Florence Foster Jenkins. Overall the top twelve totaled $157.8 million, up 16% from last year. At the top of the chart, Suicide Squad dropped 67.3% for an estimated $43.7 million, almost spot on what we were expecting after its opening weekend seven days ago. The film's domestic cume is now up to $222.8 million while it added another $58.7 million in its second weekend internationally, bringing its global cume to $465.3 million after 12 days in worldwide release. Suicide Squad ranks eleventh worldwide among all 2016 releases and seventh among live action releases.

When a studio is as old and has as big a catalog of hits as Disney, it’s inevitable to look back through past decades of success stories for a property that can be refreshed and re-appropriated for a modern audience.

Lately, Walt Disney Pictures has been making headlines for its rampant revisits to some of its most beloved animated classics, with this year’s The Jungle Book serving as the most recent example of the studio taking a story from animation to live action. However, in addition to translating these iconic stories into a new visual style, Disney has also sprinkled in several notable remakes of its own live-action films.

More News From The Web

-->

For this list, we’re taking a look only at cases in which the studio has produced a theatrically released update of one of its own live-action hits. As such, we’re not...

Critics be damned, but Warner Bros.’ latest D.C. Comics offering, “Suicide Squad,” will again prevail at the box office this weekend, against three new wide releases: “Sausage Party” (Sony), “Pete’s Dragon” (Buena Vista) and “Florence Foster Jenkins” (Paramount). However, it’s unclear whether “Sausage” or “Dragon” will come in second place.

Also up for debate is how much, if any, improvement we’ll see from the same weekend in 2015, when “Straight Outta Compton” dominated a Top Ten that totaled $130 million. Assuming “Suicide” doesn’t replicate the 69% second weekend collapse of “Batman v Superman” (that would place it around $40 million), and the new openings do expected business, $140 million or more is likely.

While holding the top spot for two weekends is always a nice bragging right, the real fate of “Suicide” lies in determining the profit it can eke out against a production and marketing budget of more than $300 million.

For the second time this year, Disney has invited audiences to rediscover a live-action version of one of its treasured stories about a boy growing up in feral-like conditions, away from civilization. This double-dip, Pete's Dragon, does not quite achieve the sociological brilliance of the spring’s The Jungle Book. But it nevertheless makes the spirit soar and achieves mastery, in its own way. Yes, Mowgli and his relationship to the animals of the jungle at least peripherally explored societal power structures. Pete's Dragon, by contrast, is a much simpler tale of the love affair between a young boy and his best friend, and the enriching rewards of this and other caring interpersonal relationships. Both end up being valuable in their own ways.

The premise of Pete's Dragon’s story is fairly familiar, although this reinvention (like most revisits since Disney found unexpected hits with Maleficent and Cinderella), does change slightly from the original.

Universal is beginning to set the wheels in motion for its live-action Curious George movie, recruiting Andrew Adamson to co-write and direct the long-rumored feature.

Word comes by way of Deadline, revealing that Adamson – best known for his work on The Chronicles of Narnia and DreamWorks’ dormant Shrek franchise – will be the one guiding that curious little monkey onto the big screen. Details remain few and far between at such an early stage, but we understand Universal’s adaptation will mine inspiration from “the classic book series by Margret and Hans Augusto Rey.”

Said to be unrelated to the animated Curious George movie that featured Will Ferrell and Drew Barrymore, Universal’s plans for a live-action spin on the cutesy primate come at a lucrative time for the sub-genre. Thanks in large part to Disney – the House of Mouse has pumped out Alice in Wonderland and The Jungle Book ahead...

Mario Lopez really does go above and beyond to make his kids feel special. The Extra host and his 5-year-old daughter, Gia, made for an adorable duo when they attended the premiere of Pete's Dragon at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on Monday. In addition to holding hands while posing for photos on the green carpet, Mario, who is also dad to son Dominic, brought Gia up on the massive statue of Pete to make it seem like they were flying. Of course, this isn't the first time Gia has melted hearts at an event. The little girl is already a pro at working red carpets, having attended premieres like The Bfg, Finding Dory, and The Jungle Book with her famous dad.

What did you see this weekend?

Let's ignore Suicide Squad's big box office weekend (read Lynn's review here) as that story is overworked already given the months of hoopla on the internet and the expected fact of a very big weekend (that's what happens with much-hyped superhero films). Instead for the weekend box office column, let's talk about a situation that occurs each year in terms of different preferences in blockbusters around the globe. Those differences sometimes go a long way in explaining why some franchises never die (Hello, Ice Age) even long past their natural expiration dates. Though Finding Dory has easily topped the domestic charts in the Us to become 2016's champ, it couldn't reach the global power of Captain America: Civil War (#1), Zootopia (#2) or The Jungle Book (#3) worldwide. Taste and success do vary across borders.

Stephen Chow's "The Mermaid" is the 7th biggest hit of...

Three of the best Disney games are now available to play all over again!  Come inside to find out how you can play Aladdin, The Jungle Book, and The Lion King!

Just watching that trailer brings me back to the days of flying to Greece and fighting with my brother over the right to play either Aladdin or The Lion King on our Sega Genesis.  These were such amazing games of their time.  It was right around the same time that the movies were huge, so being able to experience these adventures from anywhere was mind-blowing.  

Now, we can all experience these Hall of Fame-worthy games as Gog.com has re-released Aladdin, The Jungle Book, and The Lion King to play on their site.  The games are available now for $9.99 each or a discounted bundle of $19.99.

While I can't say that I've played The Jungle Book, I can say that...

Scarlett Johansson brings some much-needed female energy to The Jungle Book. In Walt Disney Pictures' live-action/CGI movie (on Digital HD Aug. 23 and on Blu-ray Aug. 30), Johansson voices Kaa, a deceptive and alluring python; Sterling Holloway first voiced the character in the studio's 1967 animated classic. When Jon Favreau agreed to direct this film, he saw it an "opportunity" to let someone as adept and talented as Johansson reimagine the role. E! News got an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Johansson and Favreau redeveloping Kaa in the recording studio. As she explains in the clip (part of the Blu-ray and digital bonus features), "It's a boy snake in the cartoon. And also, he's a...

The Jungle Book tops our list of movies to watch at home in AugustThe Jungle Book tops our list of movies to watch at home in AugustAdriana Floridia8/2/2016 5:17:00 Pm

In August, the weather can be so hot that you don't want to leave the house. With this month's new releases at the Cineplex Store, you can chill out in the comfort of your own home in order to check out some of the best films that hit theatres earlier this year.

From magicians to Angry Birds, here are our five picks for movies to buy or rent from the Cineplex Store in August!

Now You See Me 2

Available to Buy: August 23rd

Available to Rent: September 6th The Four Horsemen are back in action, this time with Lizzy Caplan (Mean Girls), and Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter himself) joining the cast. Radcliffe enlists these magicians to pull of their most impossible heist yet,...

It’s been a great year for Walt Disney Pictures with success in both live-action and animation. Zootopia is one of the most successful movies of the year, Finding Dory was a huge box office hit, and the live-action remake of The Jungle Book may be the best revision of their classic animated movies yet. But […]

The post ‘Pete’s Dragon’ Trailer: There’s Magic in the Woods If You Know Where to Look appeared first on /Film.

It’s no surprise that Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass’s return to the “Jason Bourne” franchise topped this weekend. It’s a near-replicate of last – a new franchise entry hits its mark, then two more lower-budget wide openers do less combined, but enough to boost the weekend totals above the previous year. “Jason Bourne,” more than “Star Trek Beyond,” exceeded pre-opening estimates.

Oddly, all three openers scored A or A- from audience pollster Cinemascore. (This is rare for any one week outside of awards season.) Their Metacritic ratings were more mixed, in the tiny range of 58-60. Their budgets also varied, with $120-million “Jason Bourne” (Universal) coming in at triple the combined cost of the other two (Stx’s “Bad Moms” and Lionsgate’s “Nerve” both cost around $20 million). As always, costs determines the ultimate box office winners and losers.

Why “Jason Bourne” soared $10 million above expectations.

1. Stars like Matt Damon still matter.