When it came to Star Trek and its lore, Patrick Stewart wasn’t the brightest before he auditioned for Star Trek: The Next Generation and eventually secured the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Similar was the case when he was initially offered the part of Professor X in Fox’s X-Men.
While for comic readers, it’s easy to see the resemblance between Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Professor Charles Xavier, the actor previously had no idea about the character. So when he initially got the offer to play Charles Xavier in X-Men, he was confused.
Patrick Stewart Was Clueless When He Was Offered the Role of Professor X Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier | 20th Century Studios
After walking out of the set of the action thriller Conspiracy Theory, Patrick Stewart recalled being handed an envelope from producer Lauren Donner, teasing a new big offer. Upon visiting Donner in her office,...
While for comic readers, it’s easy to see the resemblance between Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Professor Charles Xavier, the actor previously had no idea about the character. So when he initially got the offer to play Charles Xavier in X-Men, he was confused.
Patrick Stewart Was Clueless When He Was Offered the Role of Professor X Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier | 20th Century Studios
After walking out of the set of the action thriller Conspiracy Theory, Patrick Stewart recalled being handed an envelope from producer Lauren Donner, teasing a new big offer. Upon visiting Donner in her office,...
- 6/20/2024
- by Santanu Roy
- FandomWire
Patrick Stewart was more popular than Hugh Jackman when Bryan Singer approached him to play Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men. For Star Trek fans, he was the famous Captain Jean-Luc Picard from The Next Generation. Singer got to meet him on the set of 1997’s Conspiracy Theory, which X-Men executive producer Richard Donner directed. However, Stewart was reluctant to take on the role for one reason.
Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart on The Graham Norton Show | BBC
The Doctor Strange 2 actor believed that he had already done enough science fiction and fantasy films with the Star Trek projects. However, Singer convinced him that X-Men wouldn’t be anything like his previous works. Stewart revealed that he never regretted his choice to join the films.
Hugh Jackman’s X-Men Would’ve Failed If Patrick Stewart Didn’t Take On The Titular Role
Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in X-Men: Days of Future Past...
Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart on The Graham Norton Show | BBC
The Doctor Strange 2 actor believed that he had already done enough science fiction and fantasy films with the Star Trek projects. However, Singer convinced him that X-Men wouldn’t be anything like his previous works. Stewart revealed that he never regretted his choice to join the films.
Hugh Jackman’s X-Men Would’ve Failed If Patrick Stewart Didn’t Take On The Titular Role
Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in X-Men: Days of Future Past...
- 6/10/2024
- by Hashim Asraff
- FandomWire
The world can’t seem to get enough news about 18-year old Barron Trump, the only child of former Potus Donald Trump and supermodel Melania Trump.
The teen has one of the most hi-vis lives on the planet and yet next to nothing is known about him.
Which is why it makes sense that conspiracy theories have cropped up about Barron given the lack of facts available.
Would you believe that some people have tied Barron’s identity to a character in an 1800s book? It’s true, read on to find out why some think that Barron could be a time traveler!
Barron Trump – Is A Time Traveler?
Is Barron really a time traveler? It depends on how you define time traveler! Although it seems straight up impossible, there is a series of kid’s books written in the 19th-century about a boy named Baron (one ‘R’) Trump.
According to Nikki Swift,...
The teen has one of the most hi-vis lives on the planet and yet next to nothing is known about him.
Which is why it makes sense that conspiracy theories have cropped up about Barron given the lack of facts available.
Would you believe that some people have tied Barron’s identity to a character in an 1800s book? It’s true, read on to find out why some think that Barron could be a time traveler!
Barron Trump – Is A Time Traveler?
Is Barron really a time traveler? It depends on how you define time traveler! Although it seems straight up impossible, there is a series of kid’s books written in the 19th-century about a boy named Baron (one ‘R’) Trump.
According to Nikki Swift,...
- 6/8/2024
- by Tanya Clark
- Celebrating The Soaps
Like many children of the 80s, I have a soft spot for the 1985 adventure epic Ladyhawke. It’s directed by the great Richard Donner, with it coming just before The Goonies and Lethal Weapon, but after his time with the Superman franchise. Lavishly produced, it wasn’t a hit in 1985 despite having a top-notch cast that included the late Rutger Hauer (in a rare heroic role), Michelle Pfeiffer, and Matthew Broderick. While some might say the latter was rather improbably cast as an Italian thief in the Middle Ages, that’s not actually the weirdest thing about the movie.
Donner has a reputation for always choosing superb composers for his films. Just think about how iconic Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton’s work is for Lethal Weapon, John Williams’s Superman theme, Jerry Goldsmith’s work on The Omen, and Dave Grusin’s score for The Goonies. Yet, one score...
Donner has a reputation for always choosing superb composers for his films. Just think about how iconic Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton’s work is for Lethal Weapon, John Williams’s Superman theme, Jerry Goldsmith’s work on The Omen, and Dave Grusin’s score for The Goonies. Yet, one score...
- 5/16/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Robert Kennedy Jr. has tapped New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and wrestler Jesse Ventura as his top picks for a running mate, the The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Ventura’s son told ABC News on Wednesday that his father had not received a formal offer. The outlet added that Kennedy has said he has chosen someone and that they have accepted the position, but wouldn’t give a name.
According to two sources who spoke to the Times, Rodgers and Ventura both welcomed the idea of pairing...
Ventura’s son told ABC News on Wednesday that his father had not received a formal offer. The outlet added that Kennedy has said he has chosen someone and that they have accepted the position, but wouldn’t give a name.
According to two sources who spoke to the Times, Rodgers and Ventura both welcomed the idea of pairing...
- 3/12/2024
- by Charisma Madarang
- Rollingstone.com
When Star Trek returned to television screens after two decades in 1987, it looked very different from its predecessor. Gone were James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Bones, most of whom planned to return in the original sequel series Star Trek: Phase II. In their place stood a bald Shakespearean actor, the breakout star of the television miniseries Roots, and a member of Muppet creator Jim Henson’s team.
From those unlikely beginnings, Star Trek: The Next Generation grew to match and, for some, exceed the original series. Much of that success came from the cast, who had a far easier camaraderie than their predecessors and, some might argue, a more impressive resume. Before and after Trek, these actors became beloved figures in genre cinema and television, proving that they are even more than the crew who boldly went where no one had gone before.
Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier...
From those unlikely beginnings, Star Trek: The Next Generation grew to match and, for some, exceed the original series. Much of that success came from the cast, who had a far easier camaraderie than their predecessors and, some might argue, a more impressive resume. Before and after Trek, these actors became beloved figures in genre cinema and television, proving that they are even more than the crew who boldly went where no one had gone before.
Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier...
- 12/6/2023
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
In 1998, prolific sci-fi novelizer and comic book writer Michael Jan Friedman penned a high-concept crossover novel called "Planet X."
"Planet X" took place in the same universe as "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and detailed historical events on a planet called Xhaldia. It seemed that Xhaldian citizens were suddenly developing eerie extrasensory abilities and mutating into strange, powerful creatures. Captain Picard and the U.S.S. Enterprise were called in to investigate. By a stroke of luck, the Enterprise encounters a rift in space leading to a parallel universe, and onto the Enterprise step the Uncanny X-Men of Marvel Comics fame. The X-Men offer insight into the events on Xhaldia, as it's very similar to what happened on Earth, at least in "X-Men" comics. I assure you, this novel is 100% real.
Storm, the weather-controlling member of the X-Men, notes that Captain Picard looks an awful lot like X-Men founder Charles Xavier,...
"Planet X" took place in the same universe as "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and detailed historical events on a planet called Xhaldia. It seemed that Xhaldian citizens were suddenly developing eerie extrasensory abilities and mutating into strange, powerful creatures. Captain Picard and the U.S.S. Enterprise were called in to investigate. By a stroke of luck, the Enterprise encounters a rift in space leading to a parallel universe, and onto the Enterprise step the Uncanny X-Men of Marvel Comics fame. The X-Men offer insight into the events on Xhaldia, as it's very similar to what happened on Earth, at least in "X-Men" comics. I assure you, this novel is 100% real.
Storm, the weather-controlling member of the X-Men, notes that Captain Picard looks an awful lot like X-Men founder Charles Xavier,...
- 10/16/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Director / Producer / Showrunner Greg Yaitanes discusses a few of his favorite movies with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Innerspace (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, The Atomo-Vision Of Joe Dante At The American Cinematheque
The Ipcress File (1965) – Howard Rodman’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
On The Border (1998)
Hard Justice (1995)
Rorschach (1993)
Hard Target (1993)
Hard Boiled (1992)
Risky Business (1983)
Assault Platoon (1990)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Star Wars (1977)
All That Jazz (1979) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Star 80 (1983)
Lenny (1974) – Robert Weide’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Pope Of Greenwich Village (1984)
Southern Comfort (1981)
The Trial (1962) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary
How To Train Your Dragon (2010)
Babylon (2022)
Hitman’s Run (1999)
Birdy (1984)
The Last Temptation Of Christ (1988)
The Paper House (1986)
A History Of Violence (2005)
The Passion Of The Christ (2004)
Hail Mary (1985)
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
Double Tap (1997)
Conspiracy Theory (1997)
Die Hard (1988)
Heat (1995)
Manhunter (1986) – Josh Olson’s...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Innerspace (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, The Atomo-Vision Of Joe Dante At The American Cinematheque
The Ipcress File (1965) – Howard Rodman’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
On The Border (1998)
Hard Justice (1995)
Rorschach (1993)
Hard Target (1993)
Hard Boiled (1992)
Risky Business (1983)
Assault Platoon (1990)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Star Wars (1977)
All That Jazz (1979) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Star 80 (1983)
Lenny (1974) – Robert Weide’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Pope Of Greenwich Village (1984)
Southern Comfort (1981)
The Trial (1962) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary
How To Train Your Dragon (2010)
Babylon (2022)
Hitman’s Run (1999)
Birdy (1984)
The Last Temptation Of Christ (1988)
The Paper House (1986)
A History Of Violence (2005)
The Passion Of The Christ (2004)
Hail Mary (1985)
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
Double Tap (1997)
Conspiracy Theory (1997)
Die Hard (1988)
Heat (1995)
Manhunter (1986) – Josh Olson’s...
- 1/31/2023
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Though the confusingly named initiative “FX on Hulu” is on its way out, FX is still bringing premium television to Hulu in the meantime.
Hulu’s list of new releases for April 2022 is highlighted by FX limited series Under the Banner of Heaven. This adaptation of the non-fiction book by John Krakauer stars Andrew Garfield as a Mormon police detective whose faith is shaken when investigating a murder involving the church.
It’s not all just FX on the TV side of things for Hulu this month, however. The streamer is debuting second seasons of its series The Hardy Boys (April 6) and Woke (April 8). There isn’t much to report from Hulu’s original movies arm aside from true crime documentary Captive Audience on April 21. But that doc about one family’s 50-year journey for justice sounds like a must-watch.
April 1 sees the usual arrival of library film titles. Looper,...
Hulu’s list of new releases for April 2022 is highlighted by FX limited series Under the Banner of Heaven. This adaptation of the non-fiction book by John Krakauer stars Andrew Garfield as a Mormon police detective whose faith is shaken when investigating a murder involving the church.
It’s not all just FX on the TV side of things for Hulu this month, however. The streamer is debuting second seasons of its series The Hardy Boys (April 6) and Woke (April 8). There isn’t much to report from Hulu’s original movies arm aside from true crime documentary Captive Audience on April 21. But that doc about one family’s 50-year journey for justice sounds like a must-watch.
April 1 sees the usual arrival of library film titles. Looper,...
- 4/1/2022
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Hulu is getting in the spring spirit with plenty of fresh titles to appeal to all viewers this April with returning favorites, new movies, and more. On the originals front, catch new seasons of Woke and The Hardy Boys, along with the season finale of limited drama The Dropout. Plus, make way for new reality TV with the debut of Hulu’s The Kardashians. And make sure to tune in for the new movie Crush. Another notable addition includes FX’s Andrew Garfield-led Under the Banner of Heaven, among others. Below, we round up all of the titles coming and going from Hulu this April. Here’s what’s coming to Hulu in April: April 1 Love Me: Complete Season 1 (Dcd Rights) All Inclusive Antz Armored Austenland Battleship Blind Date Blue Streak Boys on the Side Brigsby Bear Casese Quien Pueda Casper Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie Cheech & Chong...
- 3/31/2022
- TV Insider
As the Hollywood blockbuster machine continues to dust itself off and release some early winter hits, Hulu is going in a bit of a different direction with its list of new releases for November 2021.
There are no big Hulu original films of note this month. Instead there’s a whole host of original series. The TV parade starts on Nov. 5 with the release of Animaniacs season 2. Also getting a second season this month is monarchal comedy The Great on Nov. 19. The most intriguing series, however, is animated Marvel comedy Marvel’s Hit Monkey. As its name so graciously implies, this is a show about a hit monkey…as in monkey assassin. Naturally the hit monkey is haunted by the ghost of Jason Sudeikis because it’s important that everything make sense.
Though Hulu doesn’t have any original movies in November, its list of library movie titles is quite vast.
There are no big Hulu original films of note this month. Instead there’s a whole host of original series. The TV parade starts on Nov. 5 with the release of Animaniacs season 2. Also getting a second season this month is monarchal comedy The Great on Nov. 19. The most intriguing series, however, is animated Marvel comedy Marvel’s Hit Monkey. As its name so graciously implies, this is a show about a hit monkey…as in monkey assassin. Naturally the hit monkey is haunted by the ghost of Jason Sudeikis because it’s important that everything make sense.
Though Hulu doesn’t have any original movies in November, its list of library movie titles is quite vast.
- 11/1/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
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If you’re a fan of ‘80s cinema, you’ve seen at least one Richard Donner movie. The Bronx-born director, who died July 5 at the age of 91, got his start directing off-Broadway plays and TV shows before transitioning into film. After working on “The Twilight Zone,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “Gilligan’s Island,” and “Perry Mason,” Donner went on to helm blockbusters and cult classics such as the “Lethal Weapon” and “Superman” franchises, “The Goonies,” “The Omen,” and “Scrooged.” He also served as executive producer on “Any Given Sunday,” the “Free Willy” franchise, “X-Men,” and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”
Below, six of the best Donner-directed films that absolutely need to be in your Blu-ray collection.
If you’re a fan of ‘80s cinema, you’ve seen at least one Richard Donner movie. The Bronx-born director, who died July 5 at the age of 91, got his start directing off-Broadway plays and TV shows before transitioning into film. After working on “The Twilight Zone,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “Gilligan’s Island,” and “Perry Mason,” Donner went on to helm blockbusters and cult classics such as the “Lethal Weapon” and “Superman” franchises, “The Goonies,” “The Omen,” and “Scrooged.” He also served as executive producer on “Any Given Sunday,” the “Free Willy” franchise, “X-Men,” and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”
Below, six of the best Donner-directed films that absolutely need to be in your Blu-ray collection.
- 7/7/2021
- by Latifah Muhammad
- Indiewire
Following the news of legendary director Richard Donner’s death, heartfelt tributes are emerging from all over Hollywood, including from Steven Spielberg, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover.
Donner, who directed the original “Superman” film, the 1985 classic “The Goonies” and the “Lethal Weapon” series, died on Monday at the age of 91.
Fellow director Spielberg, who wrote the story for “The Goonies,” remembered Donner in a statement to Variety.
“Dick had such a powerful command of his movies, and was so gifted across so many genres. Being in his circle was akin to hanging out with your favorite coach, smartest professor, fiercest motivator, most endearing friend, staunchest ally, and — of course — the greatest Goonie of all,” Spielberg said. “He was all kid. All heart. All the time. I can’t believe he’s gone, but his husky, hearty laugh will stay with me always.”
Gibson, who starred alongside Danny Glover in Donner...
Donner, who directed the original “Superman” film, the 1985 classic “The Goonies” and the “Lethal Weapon” series, died on Monday at the age of 91.
Fellow director Spielberg, who wrote the story for “The Goonies,” remembered Donner in a statement to Variety.
“Dick had such a powerful command of his movies, and was so gifted across so many genres. Being in his circle was akin to hanging out with your favorite coach, smartest professor, fiercest motivator, most endearing friend, staunchest ally, and — of course — the greatest Goonie of all,” Spielberg said. “He was all kid. All heart. All the time. I can’t believe he’s gone, but his husky, hearty laugh will stay with me always.”
Gibson, who starred alongside Danny Glover in Donner...
- 7/5/2021
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
Mel Gibson was broken up by the passing Monday of longtime Lethal Weapon collaborator Richard Donner. They made four Lethal Weapon films together with Danny Glover, starting with the first in 1987 that made Gibson a superstar. The four films together grossed over $952 million, the last coming in 1998. Gibson and Donner also collaborated on Conspiracy Theory, in which Gibson starred with Julia Roberts, and Maverick, which Gibson starred in with Jodie Foster. That puts their total film collaborations well over $1 billion, and they were very close.
In a statement to Deadline, Gibson said, “Donner! My friend, my mentor. Oh, the things I learned from him! He undercut his own talent and greatness with a huge chunk of humility referring to himself as ‘merely a traffic cop.’ He left his ego at the door and required that of others. He was magnanimous of heart and soul, which he liberally gave to all who knew him.
In a statement to Deadline, Gibson said, “Donner! My friend, my mentor. Oh, the things I learned from him! He undercut his own talent and greatness with a huge chunk of humility referring to himself as ‘merely a traffic cop.’ He left his ego at the door and required that of others. He was magnanimous of heart and soul, which he liberally gave to all who knew him.
- 7/5/2021
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Richard Donner, director of the original “Superman” film as well as “The Goonies” and all four “Lethal Weapon” films, has died at the age of 91. Deadline reported that his wife, Lauren Schuler Donner and business manager confirmed his passing. No cause of death has been provided.
Richard Donner spent nearly two decades working on some of the best television programs of the 1960s and ’70s. His early work included directing episodes of “The Rifleman,” “The Twilight Zone,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “Gilligan’s Island,” and “Perry Mason.” Later, he was behind the camera for “Get Smart,” “The Fugitive,” “The Streets of San Francisco,” and “Kojak.”
All that work in action and suspense paid off with back-to-back big screen hits in “The Omen” (1976) and “Superman” (1978). The horror classic starring Gregory Peck was nominated for two Oscars and won for Jerry Goldsmith’s score. The superhero film starring Christopher Reed was nominated for...
Richard Donner spent nearly two decades working on some of the best television programs of the 1960s and ’70s. His early work included directing episodes of “The Rifleman,” “The Twilight Zone,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “Gilligan’s Island,” and “Perry Mason.” Later, he was behind the camera for “Get Smart,” “The Fugitive,” “The Streets of San Francisco,” and “Kojak.”
All that work in action and suspense paid off with back-to-back big screen hits in “The Omen” (1976) and “Superman” (1978). The horror classic starring Gregory Peck was nominated for two Oscars and won for Jerry Goldsmith’s score. The superhero film starring Christopher Reed was nominated for...
- 7/5/2021
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
Richard Donner, the prolific director behind 1978’s “Superman” and the “Lethal Weapon” franchise has died, according to media reports. Donner was 91. Donner passed away on Monday, according to his wife, producer Lauren Schuler Donner.
Donner’s last film was 2006’s “16 Blocks.” Other classics directed by Donner include “The Omen,” “The Goonies,” “Ladyhawke,” “Scrooged” and “Conspiracy Theory.”
Born in 1930 in the Bronx, Donner started his career directing commercials for Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball’s Desilu banner. Donner then pivoted to directing television in the 50s and directed episodes of “Wanted: Dead or Alive” and “The Rifleman.” Donner would end up working on 25 television series which included “Have Gun Will Travel,” “The Fugitive,” “Combat!,” “Get Smart,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “The Wild Wild West,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “Kojak, “Tales from the Crypt” and “The Twilight Zone.” Donner directed the classic “Twilight Zone” episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” which starred William Shatner...
Donner’s last film was 2006’s “16 Blocks.” Other classics directed by Donner include “The Omen,” “The Goonies,” “Ladyhawke,” “Scrooged” and “Conspiracy Theory.”
Born in 1930 in the Bronx, Donner started his career directing commercials for Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball’s Desilu banner. Donner then pivoted to directing television in the 50s and directed episodes of “Wanted: Dead or Alive” and “The Rifleman.” Donner would end up working on 25 television series which included “Have Gun Will Travel,” “The Fugitive,” “Combat!,” “Get Smart,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “The Wild Wild West,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “Kojak, “Tales from the Crypt” and “The Twilight Zone.” Donner directed the classic “Twilight Zone” episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” which starred William Shatner...
- 7/5/2021
- by Umberto Gonzalez
- The Wrap
Director-producer Richard Donner, best known for helming the “Lethal Weapon” film series, “The Goonies” and the original “Superman” film, died on Monday. He was 91.
Donner’s production company confirmed news of his death to Variety, though the cause was not disclosed.
Though not his first bigscreen effort, his big feature break came with 1976’s “The Omen,” starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick. Thereafter, he brought his craftsmanship to the first “Superman.” He also branched out into producing, usually with his wife Lauren Shuler Donner — he executive produced the huge 2000 success “X-Men” and later the prequel “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” But his career was highlighted by the “Lethal Weapon” series, starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, which elevated him to the ranks of directors generating more than a billion dollars in box office.
Born Richard Donald Schwartzberg in the Bronx, he attended Parker Junior College and then NYU, where he majored in business and theater.
Donner’s production company confirmed news of his death to Variety, though the cause was not disclosed.
Though not his first bigscreen effort, his big feature break came with 1976’s “The Omen,” starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick. Thereafter, he brought his craftsmanship to the first “Superman.” He also branched out into producing, usually with his wife Lauren Shuler Donner — he executive produced the huge 2000 success “X-Men” and later the prequel “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” But his career was highlighted by the “Lethal Weapon” series, starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, which elevated him to the ranks of directors generating more than a billion dollars in box office.
Born Richard Donald Schwartzberg in the Bronx, he attended Parker Junior College and then NYU, where he majored in business and theater.
- 7/5/2021
- by Richard Natale
- Variety Film + TV
Richard Donner, the prolific Hollywood director and producer whose helming credits include some of the most iconic movies of the 1970s and ’80s including the Christopher Reeve-starring Superman, The Goonies and the Mel Gibson-Danny Glover buddy cop series Lethal Weapon, has died. He was 91.
Donner passed away Monday, according to his wife, the producer Lauren Schuler Donner, and his business manager. No cause of death has been revealed.
The Bronx-born Donner, a genial man with a booming voice, started his career directing for television. His TV credits include a laundry list of staple shows from the ’60s including Route 66, The Rifleman, The Twilight Zone, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Gilligan’s Island, Perry Mason and The Wild Wild West. His debut feature X-15 in 1961 with Charles Bronson (and a young Mary Tyler Moore) was followed by the 1968 crime comedy Salt & Pepper starring Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford,...
Donner passed away Monday, according to his wife, the producer Lauren Schuler Donner, and his business manager. No cause of death has been revealed.
The Bronx-born Donner, a genial man with a booming voice, started his career directing for television. His TV credits include a laundry list of staple shows from the ’60s including Route 66, The Rifleman, The Twilight Zone, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Gilligan’s Island, Perry Mason and The Wild Wild West. His debut feature X-15 in 1961 with Charles Bronson (and a young Mary Tyler Moore) was followed by the 1968 crime comedy Salt & Pepper starring Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford,...
- 7/5/2021
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Some films are appreciated from the start — the big blockbusters find their audiences or the acclaimed indies find the critical raves right out of the gate. Then there are films that are ahead of their time, that find a bigger audience as they age, where the appreciation might come a little later thanks to DVDs or television viewings.
When “A Knight’s Tale” opened in theaters on May 11, 2001, it wasn’t without fanfare. It featured rising star Heath Ledger in the lead, a writer-director hot off an Oscar win and a lot of buzz for the fact it mixed modern music with its medieval setting. It made its money back, had its fans and was notable for its fresh-faced cast who would go on to prominent careers. But it wasn’t a runaway hit; some were confused by the anachronisms and simply couldn’t get past a film about jousting that...
When “A Knight’s Tale” opened in theaters on May 11, 2001, it wasn’t without fanfare. It featured rising star Heath Ledger in the lead, a writer-director hot off an Oscar win and a lot of buzz for the fact it mixed modern music with its medieval setting. It made its money back, had its fans and was notable for its fresh-faced cast who would go on to prominent careers. But it wasn’t a runaway hit; some were confused by the anachronisms and simply couldn’t get past a film about jousting that...
- 5/11/2021
- by Jenelle Riley
- Variety Film + TV
We're back with another edition of Horror Highlights! In today's installment: Brazilian horror at Cff, details on quarantine-filmed The Dark Offerings, and first word on an upcoming Christmas-themed slasher:
Skull: The Mask and The Pandemic Anthology at Cff: "Brazil's Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival not only celebrates the boldest and best in weird world cinema, they also produce it! That's right, South America's biggest genre festival makes movies, too!
And a double-header of Fantaspoa Productions' latest will be celebrating their World Premieres at this weekend's digital edition of The Chattanooga Film Festival - happening Friday, May 22nd through Monday, May 25th. These films, as well as dozens of others, will be available to watch at any time while the festival is happening.
Additional details, ticket info, and more can be found at www.chattfilmfest.org
First up is the creature feature/slasher hybrid Skull: The Mask, from directors Armando Fonseca and Kapel Furman.
Skull: The Mask and The Pandemic Anthology at Cff: "Brazil's Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival not only celebrates the boldest and best in weird world cinema, they also produce it! That's right, South America's biggest genre festival makes movies, too!
And a double-header of Fantaspoa Productions' latest will be celebrating their World Premieres at this weekend's digital edition of The Chattanooga Film Festival - happening Friday, May 22nd through Monday, May 25th. These films, as well as dozens of others, will be available to watch at any time while the festival is happening.
Additional details, ticket info, and more can be found at www.chattfilmfest.org
First up is the creature feature/slasher hybrid Skull: The Mask, from directors Armando Fonseca and Kapel Furman.
- 5/20/2020
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
TV and film development executive and producer Jennifer Gwartz has been appointed Evp of Development, Comedy and Drama of 20th Century Fox Television, part of Disney Television Studios.
Gwartz, who has been partnered with Jon Harmon Feldman in ABC Studios-based Random Hill Productions, will oversee the scripted development of the label’s live-action comedies and dramas as well as the teams of executives in the studio’s comedy and drama developments. Starting on Nov. 4, she will report to 20th TV’s President of Creative Affairs Carolyn Cassidy. Gwartz succeeds Terence Carter who departed last month to head TV for Jada Pinkett Smith & Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios.
“Jen is a smart, thoughtful leader and a champion of ideas and talent, which makes her the perfect person to lead our development,” said Cassidy. “I also value her ability to look at the process and possibilities of television from multiple perspectives...
Gwartz, who has been partnered with Jon Harmon Feldman in ABC Studios-based Random Hill Productions, will oversee the scripted development of the label’s live-action comedies and dramas as well as the teams of executives in the studio’s comedy and drama developments. Starting on Nov. 4, she will report to 20th TV’s President of Creative Affairs Carolyn Cassidy. Gwartz succeeds Terence Carter who departed last month to head TV for Jada Pinkett Smith & Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios.
“Jen is a smart, thoughtful leader and a champion of ideas and talent, which makes her the perfect person to lead our development,” said Cassidy. “I also value her ability to look at the process and possibilities of television from multiple perspectives...
- 10/30/2019
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Development exec and producer Jennifer Gwartz has been tapped to become 20th Century Fox Television’s executive vice president of development, comedy and drama.
At the Disney-owned studio, she will oversee scripted development of live-action comedies and dramas, identifying writing talent, guiding ideas from pitch to pilot, overseeing teams of execs in comedy development and drama development, and leading live-action scripted strategy.
“Jen is a smart, thoughtful leader and a champion of ideas and talent, which makes her the perfect person to lead our development,” said 20th’s president of creative affairs Carolyn Cassidy, to whom Gwartz will report. “I also value her ability to look at the process and possibilities of television from multiple perspectives as a result of her background as a studio executive and hands on producer. I know she will be an extraordinary asset as we seek to create quality television and bring both new and accomplished voices,...
At the Disney-owned studio, she will oversee scripted development of live-action comedies and dramas, identifying writing talent, guiding ideas from pitch to pilot, overseeing teams of execs in comedy development and drama development, and leading live-action scripted strategy.
“Jen is a smart, thoughtful leader and a champion of ideas and talent, which makes her the perfect person to lead our development,” said 20th’s president of creative affairs Carolyn Cassidy, to whom Gwartz will report. “I also value her ability to look at the process and possibilities of television from multiple perspectives as a result of her background as a studio executive and hands on producer. I know she will be an extraordinary asset as we seek to create quality television and bring both new and accomplished voices,...
- 10/30/2019
- by Elaine Low
- Variety Film + TV
20th Century Fox Television has hired Jennifer Gwartz as executive vice president of comedy and drama development.
Starting Nov. 4, she will report to Carolyn Cassidy, president of creative affairs at Twentieth Century Fox Television, which is a label of Disney Television Studios. In her new role, Gwartz will oversee the scripted development of the label’s live action comedies and dramas, from identifying writers to steering ideas from pitch to pilot order. She will also oversee the drama and comedy development executive teams and lead the label’s live action scripted strategy.
“Jen is a smart, thoughtful leader and a champion of ideas and talent, which makes her the perfect person to lead our development,” Cassidy said. “I also value her ability to look at the process and possibilities of television from multiple perspectives as a result of her background as a studio executive and hands on producer. I know...
Starting Nov. 4, she will report to Carolyn Cassidy, president of creative affairs at Twentieth Century Fox Television, which is a label of Disney Television Studios. In her new role, Gwartz will oversee the scripted development of the label’s live action comedies and dramas, from identifying writers to steering ideas from pitch to pilot order. She will also oversee the drama and comedy development executive teams and lead the label’s live action scripted strategy.
“Jen is a smart, thoughtful leader and a champion of ideas and talent, which makes her the perfect person to lead our development,” Cassidy said. “I also value her ability to look at the process and possibilities of television from multiple perspectives as a result of her background as a studio executive and hands on producer. I know...
- 10/30/2019
- by Margeaux Sippell
- The Wrap
Amazon is out with its list of new additions coming to Prime Video next month, and you’ll want to mark your calendar for the epic musical finale of “Transparent,” coming Sept. 27.
“Chris Tall Presents…” — the first unscripted German Amazon Original which features six episodes of the comedian performing stand-up and introducing his friends as guests — will premiere at a date still to be determined. The same is the case for “Family Man,” a new Amazon Original series which, according to the streaming giant, tells the story of a middle-class man who works for a special cell of the National Investigation Agency.
Other Prime Originals include the first seasons of “El Corazón de Sergio Ramos,” about the Spanish soccer player, and the animated series “Undone.” “Rango,” “Legally Blonde” and “Saturday Night Fever” are among some of the already released movies that will now be available on Prime.
“Chris Tall Presents…” — the first unscripted German Amazon Original which features six episodes of the comedian performing stand-up and introducing his friends as guests — will premiere at a date still to be determined. The same is the case for “Family Man,” a new Amazon Original series which, according to the streaming giant, tells the story of a middle-class man who works for a special cell of the National Investigation Agency.
Other Prime Originals include the first seasons of “El Corazón de Sergio Ramos,” about the Spanish soccer player, and the animated series “Undone.” “Rango,” “Legally Blonde” and “Saturday Night Fever” are among some of the already released movies that will now be available on Prime.
- 8/30/2019
- by Margeaux Sippell
- The Wrap
Exclusive: Veteran manager/producer Brad Kaplan has joined Link Entertainment as a partner. Kaplan, who comes from Primary Wave Entertainment, will work out of Link’s West L.A. offices which were expanded last month in part to make room for the company’s growing literary department.
“We have had the privilege to work with Brad in the past and he has been a friend for over 15 years,” the Link partners said in a statement. “He is one of the smartest and most genuine people we have had the pleasure to collaborate with. As we expand our literary/production division, we couldn’t ask for a better partner. We have always admired Brad’s incredible taste in both clients and material”.
Kaplan started his career at Silver Pictures where he worked as a production executive and worked on such films as Lethal Weapon 4, Conspiracy Theory, Executive Decision and The Matrix.
“We have had the privilege to work with Brad in the past and he has been a friend for over 15 years,” the Link partners said in a statement. “He is one of the smartest and most genuine people we have had the pleasure to collaborate with. As we expand our literary/production division, we couldn’t ask for a better partner. We have always admired Brad’s incredible taste in both clients and material”.
Kaplan started his career at Silver Pictures where he worked as a production executive and worked on such films as Lethal Weapon 4, Conspiracy Theory, Executive Decision and The Matrix.
- 2/11/2019
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
I haven’t thought about actor/comedian Tom Green or his 2001 absurdist comedy Freddy Got Fingered since we wrote this article in March of 2016 about how a man was arrested after not returning his VHS rental of it after 14 years. If you told me that Green had a conspiracy theory about why Freddy Got Fingered didn’t […]
The post This ‘Freddy Got Fingered’ Conspiracy Theory From Tom Green Actually Sounds Plausible appeared first on /Film.
The post This ‘Freddy Got Fingered’ Conspiracy Theory From Tom Green Actually Sounds Plausible appeared first on /Film.
- 11/18/2017
- by Ben Pearson
- Slash Film
Actor Scott Baio found himself apologizing for a tweet he made last week after retweeting a meme highlighting a popular conspiracy theory amongst members of the alt-right. The meme, shared to Baio’s 220,000 followers, showed an image of Susan Bro, the mother of Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old woman killed by a neo-Nazi supporter in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier […]
Source: uInterview
The post Scott Baio Retweets Sandy Hook Conspiracy Theory Meme, Apologizes After Victim’s Sister Confronts Him appeared first on uInterview.
Source: uInterview
The post Scott Baio Retweets Sandy Hook Conspiracy Theory Meme, Apologizes After Victim’s Sister Confronts Him appeared first on uInterview.
- 8/28/2017
- by Jacob Kaye
- Uinterview
Not every TV show can get the Emmy nominations they deserve. That’s been a fact of life since the awards ceremony began 68 years ago, and it’s only intensified in the new golden age of television.
But the 2017 Emmy nominations unveiled a few major shocks we have yet to shake. Namely, why did “The Leftovers,” “Transparent,” and “BoJack Horseman” all miss out on major nominations?
“The Leftovers” earned one Emmy nod, for Ann Dowd as Guest Actress. “BoJack Horseman” landed one, as well, for Kristen Schaal’s voice acting. And “Transparent” did very well in total nominations — landing seven, including three acting nods — but missed out on Outstanding Comedy Series for the first time in its three seasons of eligibility.
Read MoreEmmys 2017 Snubs and Surprises: ‘Transparent,’ ‘The Leftovers,’ and Pamela Adlon(!)
All this came after massive Fyc campaigns, sterling reviews, and enthusiastic support from fans. Heading into the nominations,...
But the 2017 Emmy nominations unveiled a few major shocks we have yet to shake. Namely, why did “The Leftovers,” “Transparent,” and “BoJack Horseman” all miss out on major nominations?
“The Leftovers” earned one Emmy nod, for Ann Dowd as Guest Actress. “BoJack Horseman” landed one, as well, for Kristen Schaal’s voice acting. And “Transparent” did very well in total nominations — landing seven, including three acting nods — but missed out on Outstanding Comedy Series for the first time in its three seasons of eligibility.
Read MoreEmmys 2017 Snubs and Surprises: ‘Transparent,’ ‘The Leftovers,’ and Pamela Adlon(!)
All this came after massive Fyc campaigns, sterling reviews, and enthusiastic support from fans. Heading into the nominations,...
- 7/24/2017
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
In the not-so-good old days, summer used to be a break for more than just students. It was time off from great TV, as broadcast networks aired reruns, sports, and reality competitions while they assumed people were outside having fun. But since the new golden age began, all these TV shows have had to fit in somewhere, and many networks chose to run them during the less competitive summer months.
That’s led to a boon of TV’s best shows popping up when no series dared debut before. So, to honor the latest summer sensation — Netflix’s “Glow” — we’ve gathered the elite qualifiers below and ranked the seasons by overall quality, summer spirit, and re-watchability. To be eligible, seasons needed to be released in the months between June 1 and August 31 during the 21st century. After all, there’s plenty of new options to consider, but sometimes you want...
That’s led to a boon of TV’s best shows popping up when no series dared debut before. So, to honor the latest summer sensation — Netflix’s “Glow” — we’ve gathered the elite qualifiers below and ranked the seasons by overall quality, summer spirit, and re-watchability. To be eligible, seasons needed to be released in the months between June 1 and August 31 during the 21st century. After all, there’s plenty of new options to consider, but sometimes you want...
- 6/26/2017
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
In 1997, a film cynic was born.
Seeing Star Wars ruined should have been a sign that 1997 would be the worst year ever for blockbusters. George Lucas’s Special Editions, intended to “improve” the original trilogy but mostly doing the opposite, started arriving in January. By the time of the release of the new version of Return of the Jedi in March, my anticipation for anything ought to have been demolished. But I couldn’t have imagined that was only the beginning.
Actually, the first steps towards the end of an era were made in the early ’90s. That just wasn’t a great time for big movies compared to the prior decade. Some of my biggest letdowns of all time included Hudson Hawk in 1991 and Death Becomes Her in 1992. Jurassic Park wasn’t good enough for me, having read the book. Independence Day put me to sleep in the theater. Beloved...
Seeing Star Wars ruined should have been a sign that 1997 would be the worst year ever for blockbusters. George Lucas’s Special Editions, intended to “improve” the original trilogy but mostly doing the opposite, started arriving in January. By the time of the release of the new version of Return of the Jedi in March, my anticipation for anything ought to have been demolished. But I couldn’t have imagined that was only the beginning.
Actually, the first steps towards the end of an era were made in the early ’90s. That just wasn’t a great time for big movies compared to the prior decade. Some of my biggest letdowns of all time included Hudson Hawk in 1991 and Death Becomes Her in 1992. Jurassic Park wasn’t good enough for me, having read the book. Independence Day put me to sleep in the theater. Beloved...
- 4/25/2017
- by Christopher Campbell
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
If you thought the “Shazaam” phenomenon was over, what with the fleeting nature of the never-ending meme cycle, then you may have mixed feelings about an April Fool’s video released by College Humor yesterday. Presented as two minutes of found footage from the film in question — a nonexistent and vaguely racist conflation of “Kazaam,” in which Shaq plays a genie, and Sinbad’s ’90s oeuvre — the video asserts that “Shazaam” does in fact exist.
Read More: Sinbad’s ’Shazaam’: Inside the Internet’s Conspiracy Theory About a Non-Existent Movie
Complete with a faux tracking effect and snippets of a cereal commercial, the video finds two kiddos rifling through boxes in their garage when they happen upon a lamp that’s sure to raise alarm bells in anyone who obsessively watched “Aladdin” as a child. Out pops the eponymous wish-granter, played by the star of “Houseguest” and “First Kid” himself,...
Read More: Sinbad’s ’Shazaam’: Inside the Internet’s Conspiracy Theory About a Non-Existent Movie
Complete with a faux tracking effect and snippets of a cereal commercial, the video finds two kiddos rifling through boxes in their garage when they happen upon a lamp that’s sure to raise alarm bells in anyone who obsessively watched “Aladdin” as a child. Out pops the eponymous wish-granter, played by the star of “Houseguest” and “First Kid” himself,...
- 4/2/2017
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
James Corden imagined the horrific ambitions of President Donald Trump and his administration in a parody of Matilda's "When I Grow Up" on The Late Late Show Monday. The performance featured Matilda composer Tim Minchin as Trump, Broadway star Ben Platt as Sean Spicer, actress Abigail Spencer as Kellyanne Conway and Corden as Steve Bannon.
The bit found the four performers rocking back and forth on swings, singing about telling lies, taking away health insurance and denying climate change. "When I grow up," Corden sang as Bannon, "I will...
The bit found the four performers rocking back and forth on swings, singing about telling lies, taking away health insurance and denying climate change. "When I grow up," Corden sang as Bannon, "I will...
- 3/21/2017
- Rollingstone.com
This isn’t fake news. Periscope Entertainment has announced today that David Guy Levy will direct their upcoming psychological sci-fi thriller “The Mandela Effect,” which is written by Steffen Schlachtenhaufen. The film “a man who becomes obsessed with facts and events that have been collectively misremembered by thousands of people. Believing the phenomena to be the symptom of something much larger, his obsession eventually leads him to question reality itself.”
The title refers to the strange phenomena of mass groups of people collectively “remembering” events or things that never happened. The theory pulls its name from the bizarre case of many people believing that Nelson Mandela died in prison — going so far as to “recall” clips from a televised funeral — though the civil rights leader actually died in 2013. Other examples of the so-called effect include misquoted movie lines (“Luke, I am your father” is a biggie, so is ““Life is like a box of chocolates,...
The title refers to the strange phenomena of mass groups of people collectively “remembering” events or things that never happened. The theory pulls its name from the bizarre case of many people believing that Nelson Mandela died in prison — going so far as to “recall” clips from a televised funeral — though the civil rights leader actually died in 2013. Other examples of the so-called effect include misquoted movie lines (“Luke, I am your father” is a biggie, so is ““Life is like a box of chocolates,...
- 2/16/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
There are guest stars, and then there is Patton Oswalt. And then, there is Patton Oswalt. And more Patton Oswalt.
On Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4 Episode 12, Oswalt's Agent Koenig was back. As was Agent Koenig. And Agent Koenig. And – surprise! – Agent Koenig's sassy sister, L.T., otherwise known as "the original Koenig." Didn't see that one coming, did you?
Considering that "android" was always the most obvious explanation as for why there appeared to be an army of Agent Koenigs (clones being the other option regularly debated by fans), it was inevitable that Koenig and Kompany would resurface during the Lmd storyline.
The opening scene, featuring Oswalt quoting iconic lines from Back to the Future and Star Wars while wheeling around an arcade on a hoverboard, was an ideal way to be reintroduced to the character, who always brings a welcome dose of levity to S.H.I.E.L.
On Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4 Episode 12, Oswalt's Agent Koenig was back. As was Agent Koenig. And Agent Koenig. And – surprise! – Agent Koenig's sassy sister, L.T., otherwise known as "the original Koenig." Didn't see that one coming, did you?
Considering that "android" was always the most obvious explanation as for why there appeared to be an army of Agent Koenigs (clones being the other option regularly debated by fans), it was inevitable that Koenig and Kompany would resurface during the Lmd storyline.
The opening scene, featuring Oswalt quoting iconic lines from Back to the Future and Star Wars while wheeling around an arcade on a hoverboard, was an ideal way to be reintroduced to the character, who always brings a welcome dose of levity to S.H.I.E.L.
- 2/1/2017
- by Lee Jutton
- TVfanatic
Here at Et, we love an anniversary -- whether it’s the 20th anniversary of Scream or Clueless, 10 years in the life of The Hills or the magical time making No Doubt’s Magic Kingdom 20 years later. And as we settle in 2017, it’s time to look ahead at all those upcoming moments that will have you saying, “I remember when…”
Here’s a brief look at our favorite TV and film milestones of 2017:
Jan. 25, 2002: A Walk to Remember (15 Years)
While fans are crying over Mandy Moore’s Golden Globe-nominated performance on NBC’s hit new series This Is Us, it was just 15 years ago that they cried over her performance in the weepy adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ book about a girl with cancer who falls in love with a rebellious classmate.
Let’s not also forget that 2002 gave us Naomie Harris in 28 Days Later, Barbershop, Ryan Gosling in Murder by Numbers, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, [link...
Here’s a brief look at our favorite TV and film milestones of 2017:
Jan. 25, 2002: A Walk to Remember (15 Years)
While fans are crying over Mandy Moore’s Golden Globe-nominated performance on NBC’s hit new series This Is Us, it was just 15 years ago that they cried over her performance in the weepy adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ book about a girl with cancer who falls in love with a rebellious classmate.
Let’s not also forget that 2002 gave us Naomie Harris in 28 Days Later, Barbershop, Ryan Gosling in Murder by Numbers, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, [link...
- 1/1/2017
- Entertainment Tonight
“You know what they say, kemosabe, in Hell, everybody loves popcorn!”
From the macabre mind of Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Lords of Salem, The Devil’s Rejects), comes his newest nightmare, 31, arriving on Blu-ray and DVD December 20 from Lionsgate. Clowns have never been as terrifying as they are in the course of this one shocking evening in the middle of nowhere. Currently available on Digital HD and On Demand, 31 stars Sheri Moon Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses), Jeff Daniel Phillips (HBO’s “Westworld”) Elizabeth Daily (Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure), Meg Foster (The Lords of Salem), Kevin Jackson (Conspiracy Theory), Richard Blake (Batman Begins), Judy Geeson (TV’s “Gilmore Girls”) and Malcolm McDowell (Halloween).
From the visionary mind of Rob Zombie comes the horrific story of five carnival workers who are kidnapped on Halloween and held hostage in a large compound. At the mercy of their captors, they...
From the macabre mind of Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Lords of Salem, The Devil’s Rejects), comes his newest nightmare, 31, arriving on Blu-ray and DVD December 20 from Lionsgate. Clowns have never been as terrifying as they are in the course of this one shocking evening in the middle of nowhere. Currently available on Digital HD and On Demand, 31 stars Sheri Moon Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses), Jeff Daniel Phillips (HBO’s “Westworld”) Elizabeth Daily (Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure), Meg Foster (The Lords of Salem), Kevin Jackson (Conspiracy Theory), Richard Blake (Batman Begins), Judy Geeson (TV’s “Gilmore Girls”) and Malcolm McDowell (Halloween).
From the visionary mind of Rob Zombie comes the horrific story of five carnival workers who are kidnapped on Halloween and held hostage in a large compound. At the mercy of their captors, they...
- 12/8/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
While the film is currently available on Digital HD and On Demand. If you’re a physical media fan, you won’t have to wait long to see Rob Zombie’s latest film. You can also hear what we thought about the film on our podcast episode.
From the morbid mind of Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects), comes his newest horror film, 31, arriving on Blu-ray and DVD December 20 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment. All They Have To Do Is Survive Rob Zombie Takes His Twisted Tales to the Next Level in His Latest Horror
Film on Blu-ray™ and DVD December 20 from Lionsgate
Santa Monica, CA (October 24, 2016) – From the macabre mind of Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Lords of Salem, The Devil’s Rejects), comes his newest nightmare, 31, arriving on Blu-ray and DVD December 20 from Lionsgate. Clowns have never been as terrifying as they are...
From the morbid mind of Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects), comes his newest horror film, 31, arriving on Blu-ray and DVD December 20 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment. All They Have To Do Is Survive Rob Zombie Takes His Twisted Tales to the Next Level in His Latest Horror
Film on Blu-ray™ and DVD December 20 from Lionsgate
Santa Monica, CA (October 24, 2016) – From the macabre mind of Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Lords of Salem, The Devil’s Rejects), comes his newest nightmare, 31, arriving on Blu-ray and DVD December 20 from Lionsgate. Clowns have never been as terrifying as they are...
- 11/2/2016
- by Andy Triefenbach
- Destroy the Brain
*Updated with the full press release.* Viewers can enter Murderworld from the comfort of their couches this December when Lionsgate releases Rob Zombie's 31 on Blu-ray and DVD.
Press Release: Santa Monica, CA (October 24, 2016) – From the macabre mind of Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Lords of Salem, The Devil’s Rejects), comes his newest nightmare, 31, arriving on Blu-ray and DVD December 20 from Lionsgate. Clowns have never been as terrifying as they are in the course of this one shocking evening in the middle of nowhere. Currently available on Digital HD and On Demand, 31 stars Sheri Moon Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses), Jeff Daniel Phillips (HBO’s “Westworld”) Elizabeth Daily (Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure), Meg Foster (The Lords of Salem), Kevin Jackson (Conspiracy Theory), Richard Blake (Batman Begins), Judy Geeson (TV’s “Gilmore Girls”) and Malcolm McDowell (Halloween).
From the visionary mind of Rob Zombie comes the horrific story...
Press Release: Santa Monica, CA (October 24, 2016) – From the macabre mind of Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Lords of Salem, The Devil’s Rejects), comes his newest nightmare, 31, arriving on Blu-ray and DVD December 20 from Lionsgate. Clowns have never been as terrifying as they are in the course of this one shocking evening in the middle of nowhere. Currently available on Digital HD and On Demand, 31 stars Sheri Moon Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses), Jeff Daniel Phillips (HBO’s “Westworld”) Elizabeth Daily (Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure), Meg Foster (The Lords of Salem), Kevin Jackson (Conspiracy Theory), Richard Blake (Batman Begins), Judy Geeson (TV’s “Gilmore Girls”) and Malcolm McDowell (Halloween).
From the visionary mind of Rob Zombie comes the horrific story...
- 10/24/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
A survivor voices his conspiracy theory about the world-ending infection in the latest Fear The Walking Dead radio transmission.
"Thousands of calls for help flood the airwaves. Most will go unanswered, but not all will go unheard...
As “Fear The Walking Dead” embarks on the second half of season two, the Clark, Manawa and Salazar families fracture. The events that took place at the Abigail compound have set all of our heroes adrift. Now they must forge their own paths to survive.
“Fear the Walking Dead” is executive produced by showrunner Dave Erickson, Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Nicotero and David Alpert and stars Kim Dickens as Madison, Cliff Curtis as Travis, Frank Dillane as Nick, Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia, Ruben Blades as Daniel, Mercedes Mason as Ofelia, Lorenzo James Henrie as Chris and Colman Domingo as Strand."
To watch a preview video and look at photos from the...
"Thousands of calls for help flood the airwaves. Most will go unanswered, but not all will go unheard...
As “Fear The Walking Dead” embarks on the second half of season two, the Clark, Manawa and Salazar families fracture. The events that took place at the Abigail compound have set all of our heroes adrift. Now they must forge their own paths to survive.
“Fear the Walking Dead” is executive produced by showrunner Dave Erickson, Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Nicotero and David Alpert and stars Kim Dickens as Madison, Cliff Curtis as Travis, Frank Dillane as Nick, Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia, Ruben Blades as Daniel, Mercedes Mason as Ofelia, Lorenzo James Henrie as Chris and Colman Domingo as Strand."
To watch a preview video and look at photos from the...
- 9/13/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Back in 2013, Reddit user Atomicbolt explained his/her theory that female lead Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John) in Grease was really dead the whole time. Fans Shut Down Grease Fan Theory Again Atomicbolt begins by asking how, in the final scene of the 1978 classic movie musical, Sandy and greaser lead Danny Zuko (John Travolta) literally fly off into […]
The post Fans Shut Down ‘Grease’ Conspiracy Theory appeared first on uInterview.
The post Fans Shut Down ‘Grease’ Conspiracy Theory appeared first on uInterview.
- 9/9/2016
- by Hillary Luehring-Jones
- Uinterview
Montreal — Conspiracy theories give order to a chaotic world, and provide reason to events that can often seem incomprehensible. But viewed from a distance, and removed from any political and cultural baggage, they are also just ripping good yarns. And it’s from that remove that writer/director Matt Johnson was inspired to make “Operation Avalanche,” […]
The post ‘Operation Avalanche’ Is Ripping Good Conspiracy Theory Yarn [Review] appeared first on The Playlist.
The post ‘Operation Avalanche’ Is Ripping Good Conspiracy Theory Yarn [Review] appeared first on The Playlist.
- 8/1/2016
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
With Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton engaging in real world battle to become the next Us president, how well do you know their fictional counterparts?
Ant-Man
Thor
Iron Man 3
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
In the Line of Fire
Conspiracy Theory
The Fugitive
The Pelican Brief
Vantage Point
Lucy
Mr Brooks
The Bourne Ultimatum
Meteor
Airplane
The Towering Inferno
Rollercoaster
Accidental Hero
The American President
Dave
The Naked Gun 2 1/2
The Silence of the Hams
Fatal Instinct
Spy Hard
Mafia!
A Million Ways to Die in the West
Back to the Future III
The Ridiculous 6
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Mr Peabody & Sherman
Megamind
Monsters vs Aliens
Despicable Me
White House Down
Pixels
GI Joe: Retaliation
Salt
The Sum of All Fears
Spy
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Get Smart
7 and above.
the Oval Office awaits
4 and above.
losergate
0 and above.
no votes for you
Continue reading...
Ant-Man
Thor
Iron Man 3
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
In the Line of Fire
Conspiracy Theory
The Fugitive
The Pelican Brief
Vantage Point
Lucy
Mr Brooks
The Bourne Ultimatum
Meteor
Airplane
The Towering Inferno
Rollercoaster
Accidental Hero
The American President
Dave
The Naked Gun 2 1/2
The Silence of the Hams
Fatal Instinct
Spy Hard
Mafia!
A Million Ways to Die in the West
Back to the Future III
The Ridiculous 6
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Mr Peabody & Sherman
Megamind
Monsters vs Aliens
Despicable Me
White House Down
Pixels
GI Joe: Retaliation
Salt
The Sum of All Fears
Spy
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Get Smart
7 and above.
the Oval Office awaits
4 and above.
losergate
0 and above.
no votes for you
Continue reading...
- 7/26/2016
- by Benjamin Lee
- The Guardian - Film News
If Rodney Ascher‘s documentary “Room 237” taught us anything, it’s that there is a strong fringe group of people who have very well thought out, but completely harebrained conspiracy theories that Stanley Kubrick faked the Apollo 11 moon landing. According to certain tinfoil hat wearing types, Kubrick was hired by the U.S. government to shoot a […]
The post Vivian Kubrick Addresses Conspiracy Theory That Stanley Kubrick Faked The Moon Landing appeared first on The Playlist.
The post Vivian Kubrick Addresses Conspiracy Theory That Stanley Kubrick Faked The Moon Landing appeared first on The Playlist.
- 7/6/2016
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
“Let Me Make You a Martyr” follows Larry Glass (Mark Boone Junior), an abusive father, drug dealer, and pimp who hires hit man Pope (Marilyn Manson) to kill his rebellious adopted son Drew (Niko Nicotera) and his lover and adopted sister June Glass (Sam Quartin). The film also stars Michael Potts (“Conspiracy Theory”), Slaine (“The Town”), William Lee Scott (“Pearl Harbor’), Michael Shamus Wiles (“Fight Club”), and more. Watch the exclusive new trailer above.
Read More: 19th Fantasia International Film Festival Announces 2015 Winners
Marilyn Manson is best known as the frontman of the Marilyn Manson band, whose music garnered much controversy from politicians and the public for their nihilistic lyrics, graphic imagery, and provocative statements. Manson got tied up in the aftermath of the deadly Columbine shooting when he was blamed by politicians and the media for inciting the violence with his music. Manson has appeared in many films including David Lynch’s “Lost Highway,” Michael Moore’s “Bowling For Columbine,” in which he discussed the media’s interest in scapegoating rather than focusing on broader societal issues, and a recurring role on FX’s “Sons of Anarchy.”
Mark Boone Junior is best known for his role on “Sons of Anarchy,” along with his performances in Christopher Nolan’s “Memento” and “Batman Begins,” Terrence Malick’s “The Thin Red Line,” and David Fincher’s “Seven.” He will soon appear in Nate Parker’s “The Birth of a Nation,” about Nat Turner, the leader of a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia in 1831.
“Let Me Make You a Martyr” will premiere at Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal next month. Manson will be in attendance.
Read More: Marilyn Manson Confirmed As Star Of Quentin Dupieux’s Cannes Short Film ‘Wrong Cops’
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Related storiesFirst Reviews: 'The Birth of a Nation' Electrifies SundanceWatch: Footage From "Sick," Unreleased Marilyn Manson Video, Directed By Eli Roth & Featuring Lana Del ReyMarilyn Manson Heads To 'Californication'; Kristin Schaal Voices 'Cloudy 2'; Cobie Smulders Finds 'Safe Haven' & Christopher Meloni Joins 'They Came Together'...
Read More: 19th Fantasia International Film Festival Announces 2015 Winners
Marilyn Manson is best known as the frontman of the Marilyn Manson band, whose music garnered much controversy from politicians and the public for their nihilistic lyrics, graphic imagery, and provocative statements. Manson got tied up in the aftermath of the deadly Columbine shooting when he was blamed by politicians and the media for inciting the violence with his music. Manson has appeared in many films including David Lynch’s “Lost Highway,” Michael Moore’s “Bowling For Columbine,” in which he discussed the media’s interest in scapegoating rather than focusing on broader societal issues, and a recurring role on FX’s “Sons of Anarchy.”
Mark Boone Junior is best known for his role on “Sons of Anarchy,” along with his performances in Christopher Nolan’s “Memento” and “Batman Begins,” Terrence Malick’s “The Thin Red Line,” and David Fincher’s “Seven.” He will soon appear in Nate Parker’s “The Birth of a Nation,” about Nat Turner, the leader of a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia in 1831.
“Let Me Make You a Martyr” will premiere at Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal next month. Manson will be in attendance.
Read More: Marilyn Manson Confirmed As Star Of Quentin Dupieux’s Cannes Short Film ‘Wrong Cops’
Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
Related storiesFirst Reviews: 'The Birth of a Nation' Electrifies SundanceWatch: Footage From "Sick," Unreleased Marilyn Manson Video, Directed By Eli Roth & Featuring Lana Del ReyMarilyn Manson Heads To 'Californication'; Kristin Schaal Voices 'Cloudy 2'; Cobie Smulders Finds 'Safe Haven' & Christopher Meloni Joins 'They Came Together'...
- 6/15/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
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Warner Bros has struggled with its blockbusters of late. But back in summer 1997 - Batman & Robin's year - it faced not dissimilar problems.
Earlier this year it was revealed that Warner Bros, following a string of costly movies that hadn’t hit box office gold (Pan, Jupiter Ascending, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., In The Heart Of The Sea), was restructuring its blockbuster movie business. Fewer films, fewer risks, more franchises, and more centering around movie universes seems to be the new approach, and the appointment of a new corporate team to oversee the Harry Potter franchise last week was one part of that.
In some ways, it marks the end of an era. Whilst it retains its relationships with key directing talent (Ben Affleck, Clint Eastwood, Christopher Nolan for instance), Warner Bros was, for the bulk of the 1990s in particular, the studio that the others were trying to mimic. It worked with the same stars and filmmakers time and time again, and under then-chiefs Terry Semel and Robert Daly, relationships with key talent were paramount.
Furthermore, the studio knew to leave that talent to do its job, and was also ahead of the pack in developing franchises that it could rely on to give it a string of hits.
However, whilst Warner Bros is having troubles now, its way of doing business was first seriously challenged by the failure of its slate in the summer of 1997. Once again, it seemed to have a line up to cherish, that others were envious of. But as film by film failed to click, every facet of Warner Bros’ blockbuster strategy suddenly came under scrutiny, and would ultimately fairly dramatically change. Just two summers later, the studio released The Matrix, and blockbuster cinema changed again.
But come the start of summer 1997? These are the movies that Warner Bros had lined up, and this is what happened…
February - National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation
Things actually had got off to a decent enough start for the studio earlier in the year, so it's worth kicking off there. It brought Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo back together, for the fourth National Lampoon movie, and the first since 1989’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Interestingly, it dropped the National Lampoon moniker in the Us, and instead released the eventual movie as Vegas Vacation. It was a belated sequel, back when belated sequels weren’t that big a thing.
The film was quickly pulled apart by reviewers, but it still just about clawed a profit. The production budget of $25m was eclipsed by the Us gross of $36m, and the movie would do comfortable business on video/DVD. Not a massive hit, then, but hardly a project that had a sense of foreboding about it.
Yet the problems were not far away.
May – Father's Day
Warner Bros had a mix of movies released in the Us in March and April 1997, including modest Wesley Snipes-headlined thriller Murder At 1600, and family flick Shiloh. But it launched its summer season with Father’s Day, an expensive packaged comedy from director Ivan Reitman, starring Robin Williams and Billy Crystal. It had hit written all over it.
Father’s Day was one of the movies packaged by the CAA agency, and its then-head, Mike Ovitz (listed regularly by Premiere magazine in the 1990s as one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, if not the most powerful man). That he brought together the stars, the director and the project, gave a studio a price tag, and the studio duly paid it. Given Warner Bros’ devotion to star talent (Mel Gibson, then one of the biggest movie stars in the world, and a major Warner Bros talent, was persuaded to film a cameo), it was a natural home for the film. It quickly did the deal. few questions asked.
That package, and CAA’s fees for putting it together, brought the budget for a fairly straightforward comedy to a then-staggering $85m. The problem, though, was that the film simply wasn’t very good. It’s one of those projects that looks great on paper, less great when exposed on a great big screen. Warner Bros has snapped it up, without - it seems - even properly reading the script.
Premiere magazine quoted a Warner Bros insider back in November 1997 as saying “when [CAA] calls and says ‘we have a package, Father’s Day, with Williams and Crystal and Reitman, we say ‘great’”, adding “we don’t scrutinise the production. When we saw the movie, it took the wind out of us. We kept reshooting and enhancing, but you can’t fix something that’s bad”.
And it was bad.
The movie would prove to be the first big misfire of the summer, grossing just $35m in the Us, and not adding a fat lot more elsewhere in the world. Warner Bros’ first film of the summer was a certified flop. More would soon follow.
May - Addicted To Love
A more modestly priced project was Addicted To Love, a romantic comedy starring Meg Ryan and Matthew Broderick. Just over a year later, Warner Bros would hit big when Meg Ryan reunited with Tom Hanks for Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail. But here? The film was a modest success, at best.
Directed by Griffin Dunne (making his directorial debut), and put together in partnership with Miramax, Addicted To Love was based around the Robert Palmer song of the same name. But whilst it was sold as a romcom, the muddled final cut was actually a fair bit darker. There was an underlying nastiness to some moments in the film, and when the final box office was tallied, it came in lower than the usual returns for pictures from Ryan or Broderick. Counter-programming it against the release of The Lost World: Jurassic Park didn’t massively help in this instance either, especially as the Jurassic Park sequel would smash opening weekend records.
Addicted To Love ended up with $34.6m at the Us box office. It would eke out a small profit.
June - Batman & Robin
And this is when the alarm bells started to ring very, very loudly. Summer 1997 was supposed to be about a trio of sure-fire hit sequels: Batman 4, Jurassic Park 2 and Speed 2. Only one of those would ultimately bring home the box office bacon, the others being destroyed by critics, and ultimately leaving far more empty seats than anticipated in multiplexes.
Batman & Robin, it’s easy to forget, came off the back of 1995’s Joel Schumacher-steered Batman reboot, Batman Forever that year's biggest movie). It had one of the fastest-growing stars in the world in the Batsuit (George Clooney), and the McDonald’s deals were signed even before the script was typed up. You don’t need us to tell you that you could tell, something of a theme already in Warner Bros' summer of '97.
That said, Batman & Robin still gave Warner Bros a big opening, but in the infancy of the internet as we know it, poisonous word of mouth was already beginning to spread. The film’s negative cost Warner Bros up to $140m, before marketing and distribution costs, and it opened in the Us to a hardly-sniffy $42m of business (although that was down from previous Batman movies).
But that word of mouth still accelerated its departure from cinemas. It was then very rare for a film to make over 40% of its Us gross in its first weekend. But that’s just what Batman & Robin did, taking $107.3m in America, part of a worldwide total of $238.2m. This was the worst return for a Batman movie to date, and Warner Bros had to swiftly put the brakes on plans to get Batman Triumphant moving.
It would be eight years until Batman returned to the big screen, in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. Warner Bros would undergo big changes in the intervening period.
As for the immediate aftermath of Batman & Robin? Warner Bros co-chief Robert Daly would note at the end of '97 that “we’d have been better off with more action in the picture. The movie had to service too many characters”, adding that “the next Batman we do, in three years – and we have a deal with George Clooney to do it – will have one villain”.
Fortunately, Warner Bros’ one solid hit of the summer was just around the corner…
July - Contact
And breathe out.
Warner Bros bet heavily again on expensive talent here, with Robert Zemeckis bringing his adaptation of Carl Sagan’s Contact to the studio for his first film post-Forrest Gump. Warner Bros duly footed the $90m bill (back when that was still seen as a lot of money for a movie), a good chunk of which went to Jodie Foster. It invested heavily in special effects, and gave Zemeckis licence to make the film that he wanted.
The studio was rewarded with the most intelligent and arguably the best blockbuster of the summer. I’ve looked back at Contact in a lot more detail here, and it remains a fascinating film that’s stood the test of time (and arguably influenced Christopher Nolan’s more recent Interstellar).
Reviews were strong, it looked terrific, and the initial box office was good.
But then the problem hit. For whilst Contact was a solid hit for Warner Bros, it wasn’t a massively profitable one. Had Father’s Day and Batman & Robin shouldered the box office load there were supposed to, it perhaps wouldn’t have been a problem. But when they failed to take off, the pressure shifted to Contact.
The movie would gross $100.9m in the Us, and add another $70m overseas (this being an era were international box office rarely had the importance it has today). But once Warner Bros had paid its bills, there wasn’t a fat lot over for itself. Fortunately, the film still sells on disc and on-demand. Yet it wasn’t to be the massive hit the studio needed back in 1997.
July - One Eight Seven
From director Kevin Reynolds, the man who helmed Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves and Waterworld, came modestly-priced drama 187, starring Samuel L Jackson (in a strong performance). Warner Bros wouldn’t have had massive box office expectations for the film (although it can't have been unaware that the inspirational teacher sub-genre was always worth a few quid), and it shared production duties on the $20m movie with Mel Gibson’s Icon Productions. But still, it would have had its eye on a modest success. What it got in return was red ink.
The film’s not a bad one, and certainly worth seeking out. But poor reviews gave the film an uphill struggle from the off – smaller productions arriving mid-summer really needed critics on their side, as they arguably still do – and it opened to just $2.2m of business (the less edgy, Michelle Pfeiffer-headlined school drama Dangerous Minds had been a surprise hit not two years before).
By the time its run was done, 187 hadn’t even come close to covering its production costs, with just under $6m banked.
Warner Bros’ summer slate was running out of films. But at least it had one of its most reliable movie stars around the corner…
August - Conspiracy Theory
What could go wrong? Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts were two of the biggest movie stars in the world in 1997, at a time when movie stars still equated to box office gold. Director Richard Donner, one of Warner Bros’ favourite directors, had delivered the Lethal Weapons, Maverick, Superman, The Goonies and more for the studio. Put them altogether, with Patrick Stewart (coming to wider public consciousness at the time off the back of his Star Trek: The Next Generation work) as a villain, and it should have been a big hit.
Conspiracy Theory proved to be one of the more ambitious summer blockbusters of the era. It lacks a good first act, which would be really useful in actually setting up more of what’s going on. But Gibson played an edgy cab driver who believes in deep government conspiracies, and finds himself getting closer to the truth than those around him sometimes give him credit for.
Warner Bros was probably expecting another Lethal Weapon with the reunion of Gibson (who had to be persuaded to take Conspiracy Theory on) and Donner (it’s pretty much what it got with the hugely enjoyable Maverick a few years’ earlier), but instead it got a darker drama, with an uneasy central character that didn’t exactly play to the summer box office crowd.
The bigger problem, though, was that the film never quite worked as well as you might hope. Yet star power did have advantages. While no juggernaut, the film did decent business, grossing $137m worldwide off the back of an $80m budget ($40m of which was spent on the salaries for the talent before a single roll of film was loaded into a camera). That said, in the Us it knocked a genuine smash hit, Air Force One, off the top spot. Mind you in hindsight, that was probably the film that the studio wished it had made (the cockpit set of Warner Bros' own Executive Decision was repurposed for Air Force One, fact fans).
Still: Warner Bros did get Lethal Weapon 4 off Gibson and Donner a year later…
August - Free Willy 3: The Rescue
Yeah.
Warner Bros opened its third Free Willy film on the same day as Conspiracy Theory (can you imagine a studio opening two big films on the same day now), but it was clear that this was a franchise long past its best days (and its best days hardly bring back the fondest of memories).
Still, Free Willy movies were relatively modest in cost to put together, and Warner Bros presumably felt this was a simple cashpoint project. But in a year when lots of family movies did less business than expected (Disney’s Hercules, Fox’s Home Alone 3, Disney’s Mr Magoo), Free Willy 3 barely troubled the box office. It took in just over $3m in total, and Willy would not be seen on the inside of a cinema again.
August - Steel
Not much was expected from Steel, a superhero movie headlined by Shaquille O’Neal. Which was fortunate, because not much was had.
It had a mid-August release date in the Us, at a point when a mid-August release date was more of a dumping ground than anything else. And even though the budget was set at a relatively low $16m, the film – and it’s an overused time – pretty much bombed. It took $1.7m at the Us box office, and given that its appeal hinged on a major American sports star whose fame hardly transcended the globe, its international takings did not save it (it went straight to video in many territories).
It was a miserable end to what, for warner bros, had been a thoroughly miserable summer.
So what did hit big in summer 1997?
Summer 1997 was infamous for big films failing to take off in the way that had been expected – Hercules, Speed 2, and the aforementioned Warner Bros movies – but there were several bright spots. The big winner would be Barry Sonnenfeld’s light and sprightly sci-fi comedy Men In Black, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. Star power too helped score big hits for Harrison Ford (Air Force One), Julia Roberts (My Best Friend’s Wedding) and John Travolta (Face/Off).
This was also the summer that Nicolas Cage cemented his action movie credentials with Face/Off and Con Air. Crucially, though, the star movies that hit were the ones that veered on the side of 'good'. For the first of many years, the internet was blamed for this.
Oh, and later in the year, incidentally, Titanic would redefine just what constituted a box office hit...
What came next for Warner Bros?
In the rest of 1997, Warner Bros had a mix of projects that again enjoyed mixed fortunes. The standout was Curtis Hanson’s stunning adaptation of L.A. Confidential, that also proved to be a surprise box office success. The Devil’s Advocate didn’t do too badly either.
However, two of the studio’s key filmmakers failed to really deliver come the end of 1997. Clint Eastwood’s Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil failed to ignite (although many felt he was always on a hiding to nothing in trying to adapt that for the screen), and Kevin Costner’s The Postman would prove arguably the most expensive box office disappointment of the year. No wonder the studio rushed Lethal Weapon 4 into production for summer 1998. Oh, and it had The Avengers underway too (not that one), that would prove to be a 1998 disappointment.
The studio would eventually take action. The Daly-Semel management team, that had reigned for 15 years, would break up at the end of 1999, as its traditional way of doing business became less successful. The pair had already future projects that were director driven to an extent (Eyes Wide Shut), and it would still invest in movies with stars (Wild Wild West). But the immediate plan of action following the disappointment of summer 1997 – to get Batman 5 and Superman Lives made – would falter. It wouldn’t be until 1999’s The Matrix (a film that Daly and Semel struggled to get) and – crucially – 2001’s Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone that the studio would really get its swagger back...
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Movies Feature Simon Brew Warner Bros 16 Jun 2016 - 05:19 Conspiracy Theory Father's Day Addicted To Love Contact National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation One Eight Seven Steel Batman & Robin Free Willy 3: The Rescue...
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Warner Bros has struggled with its blockbusters of late. But back in summer 1997 - Batman & Robin's year - it faced not dissimilar problems.
Earlier this year it was revealed that Warner Bros, following a string of costly movies that hadn’t hit box office gold (Pan, Jupiter Ascending, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., In The Heart Of The Sea), was restructuring its blockbuster movie business. Fewer films, fewer risks, more franchises, and more centering around movie universes seems to be the new approach, and the appointment of a new corporate team to oversee the Harry Potter franchise last week was one part of that.
In some ways, it marks the end of an era. Whilst it retains its relationships with key directing talent (Ben Affleck, Clint Eastwood, Christopher Nolan for instance), Warner Bros was, for the bulk of the 1990s in particular, the studio that the others were trying to mimic. It worked with the same stars and filmmakers time and time again, and under then-chiefs Terry Semel and Robert Daly, relationships with key talent were paramount.
Furthermore, the studio knew to leave that talent to do its job, and was also ahead of the pack in developing franchises that it could rely on to give it a string of hits.
However, whilst Warner Bros is having troubles now, its way of doing business was first seriously challenged by the failure of its slate in the summer of 1997. Once again, it seemed to have a line up to cherish, that others were envious of. But as film by film failed to click, every facet of Warner Bros’ blockbuster strategy suddenly came under scrutiny, and would ultimately fairly dramatically change. Just two summers later, the studio released The Matrix, and blockbuster cinema changed again.
But come the start of summer 1997? These are the movies that Warner Bros had lined up, and this is what happened…
February - National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation
Things actually had got off to a decent enough start for the studio earlier in the year, so it's worth kicking off there. It brought Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo back together, for the fourth National Lampoon movie, and the first since 1989’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Interestingly, it dropped the National Lampoon moniker in the Us, and instead released the eventual movie as Vegas Vacation. It was a belated sequel, back when belated sequels weren’t that big a thing.
The film was quickly pulled apart by reviewers, but it still just about clawed a profit. The production budget of $25m was eclipsed by the Us gross of $36m, and the movie would do comfortable business on video/DVD. Not a massive hit, then, but hardly a project that had a sense of foreboding about it.
Yet the problems were not far away.
May – Father's Day
Warner Bros had a mix of movies released in the Us in March and April 1997, including modest Wesley Snipes-headlined thriller Murder At 1600, and family flick Shiloh. But it launched its summer season with Father’s Day, an expensive packaged comedy from director Ivan Reitman, starring Robin Williams and Billy Crystal. It had hit written all over it.
Father’s Day was one of the movies packaged by the CAA agency, and its then-head, Mike Ovitz (listed regularly by Premiere magazine in the 1990s as one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, if not the most powerful man). That he brought together the stars, the director and the project, gave a studio a price tag, and the studio duly paid it. Given Warner Bros’ devotion to star talent (Mel Gibson, then one of the biggest movie stars in the world, and a major Warner Bros talent, was persuaded to film a cameo), it was a natural home for the film. It quickly did the deal. few questions asked.
That package, and CAA’s fees for putting it together, brought the budget for a fairly straightforward comedy to a then-staggering $85m. The problem, though, was that the film simply wasn’t very good. It’s one of those projects that looks great on paper, less great when exposed on a great big screen. Warner Bros has snapped it up, without - it seems - even properly reading the script.
Premiere magazine quoted a Warner Bros insider back in November 1997 as saying “when [CAA] calls and says ‘we have a package, Father’s Day, with Williams and Crystal and Reitman, we say ‘great’”, adding “we don’t scrutinise the production. When we saw the movie, it took the wind out of us. We kept reshooting and enhancing, but you can’t fix something that’s bad”.
And it was bad.
The movie would prove to be the first big misfire of the summer, grossing just $35m in the Us, and not adding a fat lot more elsewhere in the world. Warner Bros’ first film of the summer was a certified flop. More would soon follow.
May - Addicted To Love
A more modestly priced project was Addicted To Love, a romantic comedy starring Meg Ryan and Matthew Broderick. Just over a year later, Warner Bros would hit big when Meg Ryan reunited with Tom Hanks for Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail. But here? The film was a modest success, at best.
Directed by Griffin Dunne (making his directorial debut), and put together in partnership with Miramax, Addicted To Love was based around the Robert Palmer song of the same name. But whilst it was sold as a romcom, the muddled final cut was actually a fair bit darker. There was an underlying nastiness to some moments in the film, and when the final box office was tallied, it came in lower than the usual returns for pictures from Ryan or Broderick. Counter-programming it against the release of The Lost World: Jurassic Park didn’t massively help in this instance either, especially as the Jurassic Park sequel would smash opening weekend records.
Addicted To Love ended up with $34.6m at the Us box office. It would eke out a small profit.
June - Batman & Robin
And this is when the alarm bells started to ring very, very loudly. Summer 1997 was supposed to be about a trio of sure-fire hit sequels: Batman 4, Jurassic Park 2 and Speed 2. Only one of those would ultimately bring home the box office bacon, the others being destroyed by critics, and ultimately leaving far more empty seats than anticipated in multiplexes.
Batman & Robin, it’s easy to forget, came off the back of 1995’s Joel Schumacher-steered Batman reboot, Batman Forever that year's biggest movie). It had one of the fastest-growing stars in the world in the Batsuit (George Clooney), and the McDonald’s deals were signed even before the script was typed up. You don’t need us to tell you that you could tell, something of a theme already in Warner Bros' summer of '97.
That said, Batman & Robin still gave Warner Bros a big opening, but in the infancy of the internet as we know it, poisonous word of mouth was already beginning to spread. The film’s negative cost Warner Bros up to $140m, before marketing and distribution costs, and it opened in the Us to a hardly-sniffy $42m of business (although that was down from previous Batman movies).
But that word of mouth still accelerated its departure from cinemas. It was then very rare for a film to make over 40% of its Us gross in its first weekend. But that’s just what Batman & Robin did, taking $107.3m in America, part of a worldwide total of $238.2m. This was the worst return for a Batman movie to date, and Warner Bros had to swiftly put the brakes on plans to get Batman Triumphant moving.
It would be eight years until Batman returned to the big screen, in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. Warner Bros would undergo big changes in the intervening period.
As for the immediate aftermath of Batman & Robin? Warner Bros co-chief Robert Daly would note at the end of '97 that “we’d have been better off with more action in the picture. The movie had to service too many characters”, adding that “the next Batman we do, in three years – and we have a deal with George Clooney to do it – will have one villain”.
Fortunately, Warner Bros’ one solid hit of the summer was just around the corner…
July - Contact
And breathe out.
Warner Bros bet heavily again on expensive talent here, with Robert Zemeckis bringing his adaptation of Carl Sagan’s Contact to the studio for his first film post-Forrest Gump. Warner Bros duly footed the $90m bill (back when that was still seen as a lot of money for a movie), a good chunk of which went to Jodie Foster. It invested heavily in special effects, and gave Zemeckis licence to make the film that he wanted.
The studio was rewarded with the most intelligent and arguably the best blockbuster of the summer. I’ve looked back at Contact in a lot more detail here, and it remains a fascinating film that’s stood the test of time (and arguably influenced Christopher Nolan’s more recent Interstellar).
Reviews were strong, it looked terrific, and the initial box office was good.
But then the problem hit. For whilst Contact was a solid hit for Warner Bros, it wasn’t a massively profitable one. Had Father’s Day and Batman & Robin shouldered the box office load there were supposed to, it perhaps wouldn’t have been a problem. But when they failed to take off, the pressure shifted to Contact.
The movie would gross $100.9m in the Us, and add another $70m overseas (this being an era were international box office rarely had the importance it has today). But once Warner Bros had paid its bills, there wasn’t a fat lot over for itself. Fortunately, the film still sells on disc and on-demand. Yet it wasn’t to be the massive hit the studio needed back in 1997.
July - One Eight Seven
From director Kevin Reynolds, the man who helmed Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves and Waterworld, came modestly-priced drama 187, starring Samuel L Jackson (in a strong performance). Warner Bros wouldn’t have had massive box office expectations for the film (although it can't have been unaware that the inspirational teacher sub-genre was always worth a few quid), and it shared production duties on the $20m movie with Mel Gibson’s Icon Productions. But still, it would have had its eye on a modest success. What it got in return was red ink.
The film’s not a bad one, and certainly worth seeking out. But poor reviews gave the film an uphill struggle from the off – smaller productions arriving mid-summer really needed critics on their side, as they arguably still do – and it opened to just $2.2m of business (the less edgy, Michelle Pfeiffer-headlined school drama Dangerous Minds had been a surprise hit not two years before).
By the time its run was done, 187 hadn’t even come close to covering its production costs, with just under $6m banked.
Warner Bros’ summer slate was running out of films. But at least it had one of its most reliable movie stars around the corner…
August - Conspiracy Theory
What could go wrong? Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts were two of the biggest movie stars in the world in 1997, at a time when movie stars still equated to box office gold. Director Richard Donner, one of Warner Bros’ favourite directors, had delivered the Lethal Weapons, Maverick, Superman, The Goonies and more for the studio. Put them altogether, with Patrick Stewart (coming to wider public consciousness at the time off the back of his Star Trek: The Next Generation work) as a villain, and it should have been a big hit.
Conspiracy Theory proved to be one of the more ambitious summer blockbusters of the era. It lacks a good first act, which would be really useful in actually setting up more of what’s going on. But Gibson played an edgy cab driver who believes in deep government conspiracies, and finds himself getting closer to the truth than those around him sometimes give him credit for.
Warner Bros was probably expecting another Lethal Weapon with the reunion of Gibson (who had to be persuaded to take Conspiracy Theory on) and Donner (it’s pretty much what it got with the hugely enjoyable Maverick a few years’ earlier), but instead it got a darker drama, with an uneasy central character that didn’t exactly play to the summer box office crowd.
The bigger problem, though, was that the film never quite worked as well as you might hope. Yet star power did have advantages. While no juggernaut, the film did decent business, grossing $137m worldwide off the back of an $80m budget ($40m of which was spent on the salaries for the talent before a single roll of film was loaded into a camera). That said, in the Us it knocked a genuine smash hit, Air Force One, off the top spot. Mind you in hindsight, that was probably the film that the studio wished it had made (the cockpit set of Warner Bros' own Executive Decision was repurposed for Air Force One, fact fans).
Still: Warner Bros did get Lethal Weapon 4 off Gibson and Donner a year later…
August - Free Willy 3: The Rescue
Yeah.
Warner Bros opened its third Free Willy film on the same day as Conspiracy Theory (can you imagine a studio opening two big films on the same day now), but it was clear that this was a franchise long past its best days (and its best days hardly bring back the fondest of memories).
Still, Free Willy movies were relatively modest in cost to put together, and Warner Bros presumably felt this was a simple cashpoint project. But in a year when lots of family movies did less business than expected (Disney’s Hercules, Fox’s Home Alone 3, Disney’s Mr Magoo), Free Willy 3 barely troubled the box office. It took in just over $3m in total, and Willy would not be seen on the inside of a cinema again.
August - Steel
Not much was expected from Steel, a superhero movie headlined by Shaquille O’Neal. Which was fortunate, because not much was had.
It had a mid-August release date in the Us, at a point when a mid-August release date was more of a dumping ground than anything else. And even though the budget was set at a relatively low $16m, the film – and it’s an overused time – pretty much bombed. It took $1.7m at the Us box office, and given that its appeal hinged on a major American sports star whose fame hardly transcended the globe, its international takings did not save it (it went straight to video in many territories).
It was a miserable end to what, for warner bros, had been a thoroughly miserable summer.
So what did hit big in summer 1997?
Summer 1997 was infamous for big films failing to take off in the way that had been expected – Hercules, Speed 2, and the aforementioned Warner Bros movies – but there were several bright spots. The big winner would be Barry Sonnenfeld’s light and sprightly sci-fi comedy Men In Black, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. Star power too helped score big hits for Harrison Ford (Air Force One), Julia Roberts (My Best Friend’s Wedding) and John Travolta (Face/Off).
This was also the summer that Nicolas Cage cemented his action movie credentials with Face/Off and Con Air. Crucially, though, the star movies that hit were the ones that veered on the side of 'good'. For the first of many years, the internet was blamed for this.
Oh, and later in the year, incidentally, Titanic would redefine just what constituted a box office hit...
What came next for Warner Bros?
In the rest of 1997, Warner Bros had a mix of projects that again enjoyed mixed fortunes. The standout was Curtis Hanson’s stunning adaptation of L.A. Confidential, that also proved to be a surprise box office success. The Devil’s Advocate didn’t do too badly either.
However, two of the studio’s key filmmakers failed to really deliver come the end of 1997. Clint Eastwood’s Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil failed to ignite (although many felt he was always on a hiding to nothing in trying to adapt that for the screen), and Kevin Costner’s The Postman would prove arguably the most expensive box office disappointment of the year. No wonder the studio rushed Lethal Weapon 4 into production for summer 1998. Oh, and it had The Avengers underway too (not that one), that would prove to be a 1998 disappointment.
The studio would eventually take action. The Daly-Semel management team, that had reigned for 15 years, would break up at the end of 1999, as its traditional way of doing business became less successful. The pair had already future projects that were director driven to an extent (Eyes Wide Shut), and it would still invest in movies with stars (Wild Wild West). But the immediate plan of action following the disappointment of summer 1997 – to get Batman 5 and Superman Lives made – would falter. It wouldn’t be until 1999’s The Matrix (a film that Daly and Semel struggled to get) and – crucially – 2001’s Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone that the studio would really get its swagger back...
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Movies Feature Simon Brew Warner Bros 16 Jun 2016 - 05:19 Conspiracy Theory Father's Day Addicted To Love Contact National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation One Eight Seven Steel Batman & Robin Free Willy 3: The Rescue...
- 6/13/2016
- Den of Geek
Today Earth Space Defense director David Levinson is finally debunking a long-standing conspiracy theory that has persisted since the War of 1996. In this video – which provides irrefutable proof – he and famous Hollywood actor Jeff Goldblum prove once and for all that they are not the same person – despite their uncanny resemblance. Learn the truth now. Check out this video:
We always knew they were coming back. After Independence Day redefined the event movie genre, the next epic chapter delivers global spectacle on an unimaginable scale. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet. But nothing can prepare us for the aliens’ advanced and unprecedented force. Only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring our world back from the brink of extinction.
Independence Day Resurgence hits theaters everywhere June 24, 2016!
Synopsis We always knew they were coming back.
We always knew they were coming back. After Independence Day redefined the event movie genre, the next epic chapter delivers global spectacle on an unimaginable scale. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet. But nothing can prepare us for the aliens’ advanced and unprecedented force. Only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring our world back from the brink of extinction.
Independence Day Resurgence hits theaters everywhere June 24, 2016!
Synopsis We always knew they were coming back.
- 6/10/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The “cat is out of the bag” thanks to Earth Space Defense director David Levinson in this new video for 20th Century Fox’s Independence Day: Resurgence. He claims to not be the illustrious actor Jeff Goldblum (1986’s The Fly, Jurassic Park, Independence Day), so stop saying that already, okay?
“Today Earth Space Defense director David Levinson is finally debunking a long-standing conspiracy theory that has persisted since the War of 1996. In this video – which provides irrefutable proof – he and famous Hollywood actor Jeff Goldblum prove once and for all that they are not the same person – despite their uncanny resemblance. Learn the truth now.
We always knew they were coming back. After Independence Day redefined the event movie genre, the next epic chapter delivers global spectacle on an unimaginable scale. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet.
“Today Earth Space Defense director David Levinson is finally debunking a long-standing conspiracy theory that has persisted since the War of 1996. In this video – which provides irrefutable proof – he and famous Hollywood actor Jeff Goldblum prove once and for all that they are not the same person – despite their uncanny resemblance. Learn the truth now.
We always knew they were coming back. After Independence Day redefined the event movie genre, the next epic chapter delivers global spectacle on an unimaginable scale. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet.
- 6/10/2016
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
Any major, world-changing event is going to inspire a few bizarre conspiracy theories, and in a new viral video for Independence Day: Resurgence, Earth Space Defense head David Levinson takes a few minutes to debunk one of the craziest rumors about the War of 1996. You know, the one that he and actor Jeff Goldblum are the same […]
The post ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’: Jeff Goldblum Helps David Levinson Debunk a Crazy Conspiracy Theory appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’: Jeff Goldblum Helps David Levinson Debunk a Crazy Conspiracy Theory appeared first on /Film.
- 6/9/2016
- by Angie Han
- Slash Film
Get out those orange jumpsuits: Season 4 of "Orange Is the New Black" debuts on Netflix on June 17.
Also new in June: The first three "Jurassic Park" films, "Life" (starring Robert Pattinson as a Life magazine photographer and Dane DeHaan as James Dean) and Best Picture Oscar winner "Spotlight." ("The Big Short" arrives in July.)
Here's the complete list of what's new on Netflix streaming in June 2016:
Available June 1
"7 Chinese Brothers" (2015)
"72 Cutest Animals:" Season 1
"72 Dangerous Places:" Season 1
"A Walk to Remember" (2002)
"Big Stone Gap" (2014)
"Bob Ross: Beauty is Everywhere (1990)
"Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed:" Season 1-2
"Cold in July" (2014)
"Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land On The Moon?" (2001)
"Cuba: The Forgotten Revolution" (2015)
"(Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies" (2015)
"El Libro de Piedra" (1969)
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (2007)
"Extraordinary Tales" (2015)
"The Fear of 13" (2015)
"Gabo: The Creation of Gabriel García Márquez" (2015)
"Gentlemen and Gangsters:" Season 1
"The Good Witch...
Also new in June: The first three "Jurassic Park" films, "Life" (starring Robert Pattinson as a Life magazine photographer and Dane DeHaan as James Dean) and Best Picture Oscar winner "Spotlight." ("The Big Short" arrives in July.)
Here's the complete list of what's new on Netflix streaming in June 2016:
Available June 1
"7 Chinese Brothers" (2015)
"72 Cutest Animals:" Season 1
"72 Dangerous Places:" Season 1
"A Walk to Remember" (2002)
"Big Stone Gap" (2014)
"Bob Ross: Beauty is Everywhere (1990)
"Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed:" Season 1-2
"Cold in July" (2014)
"Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land On The Moon?" (2001)
"Cuba: The Forgotten Revolution" (2015)
"(Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies" (2015)
"El Libro de Piedra" (1969)
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (2007)
"Extraordinary Tales" (2015)
"The Fear of 13" (2015)
"Gabo: The Creation of Gabriel García Márquez" (2015)
"Gentlemen and Gangsters:" Season 1
"The Good Witch...
- 5/23/2016
- by Sharon Knolle
- Moviefone
A man (Jack O’Connell) who lost his life savings on a single stock after blithely following the tip of a TV stock guru (George Clooney) decides to exact revenge against the easy populist target du jour—Wall Street—by holding Clooney hostage at gunpoint on live television. With the help of his trusted director (Julia Roberts), Clooney (what else?) saves the day by figuring out who is really to blame for the plight of the gunman—the invitingly named Kyle Budwell.
If the basic of plot of Jodie Foster’s fourth directorial turns sounds both incredible and intriguing, then you have the right idea about her new film which opens in theaters this weekend. At its core, Money Monster exists on two different planes—both an unabashed thriller and a cynical, satirical movie about modern American life and problems. But not all planes are created equal. While Foster’s...
If the basic of plot of Jodie Foster’s fourth directorial turns sounds both incredible and intriguing, then you have the right idea about her new film which opens in theaters this weekend. At its core, Money Monster exists on two different planes—both an unabashed thriller and a cynical, satirical movie about modern American life and problems. But not all planes are created equal. While Foster’s...
- 5/12/2016
- by J Don Birnam
- LRMonline.com
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