David Fincher’s “Mank” Gets December Release on Netflix
As we wrote earlier today, we’re taking any good news we can get on the film release front. While we’re duty-bound to share some of the bummer news, we’re thrilled to report that David Fincher’s first feature film in six years will be released on Netflix this December 4. And Mank is not only loaded with talent on camera and off, but it also looks, at least from the images we’ve seen,
Warner Bros. Moves “The Batman” Release Date
Well, we can’t say we didn’t see this coming. Warner Bros. is moving Matt Reeves’ hotly-anticipated The Batman from October 2021 to March 4, 2022. The news follows the recent reshuffling of Denis Villeneuve’s equally eagerly anticipated Dune from December 2020 to October 2021. It makes sense that the studio wouldn’t be eager to release both The Batman and Dune in the same month, so now we’ll have to wait that much longer to see Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne.
Check Out The First Trailer for Star-Studded Spy Thriller “The 355”
Co-writer and director Simon Kinberg has assembled an A-list cast to lead his original espionage thriller The 355. The premise is simple and potent—a multi-national team from America, Germany, England, and Colombia have to team up to take down some seriously bad dudes and their top-secret new weapon. Your heroes are CIA agent Mason Brown (Jessica Chastain), German agent Marie (Diane Kruger), former MI6 agent and computer specialist Khadijah (Lupita Nyong’o),
New Set Photo From “Mission: Impossible 7” Shows Another Epic Tom Cruise Stunt
It was a little less than a month ago when we shared the news that Mission: Impossible 7 had returned to filming. Now writer/director Christopher McQuarrie has shared a new photo from set, and wouldn’t you know, it reveals Tom Cruise in stunt mode (one of his favorite modes!). The image shows Cruise on top of a train (McQuarrie’s up there, too) filming one of the franchise’s signature sequences—the epic stunt.
HBO Max Reveals “The Witches” Trailer
This is the kind of surprise we needed today. HBO Max has revealed the trailer for The Witches, directed and co-written by Robert Zemeckis, adapted from Roald Dahl’s iconic story. The Witches was originally scheduled for a theatrical release, but, you know, 2020. So instead, it’ll be hitting HBO Max on October 22. This trailer is our first good glimpse at it, and hoo boy is this cast great.
Join Our Film School Friday Event About Sonia Lowman’s Documentary “Black Boys”
It’s that time again, folks—we’ve got another Film School Friday event for you today, and it’s a really, really good one. Today’s event features a conversation with documentarian Sonia Lowman about her new documentary Black Boys, which came out on Peacock on August 16. Lowman and her Black Boys producer Jon-Thomas Royston will be in conversation with former Executive Director of My Brother’s Keeper Conan Harris and the Motion Picture Association’s Vice President of External and Multicultural Affairs John Gibson.
Netflix Reveals First Look of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” With Chadwick Boseman in Final Role
These are likely the most bittersweet images you’ll see today. Or this week. Netflix has revealed the first look at Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which features Chadwick Boseman in his final role. Boseman stars alongside Viola Davis in director George C. Wolfe’s adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 play. The film focuses on racial tension in Chicago in 1927 and follows a single, volatile afternoon recording session with the trailblazing performer Ma Rainey (Viola Davis),
Listen to the First Episode of The Official “No Time To Die” Podcast
If you’ve been hankering for some more James Bond in your life (and who hasn’t?), you can now get your fix, podcast style. A new No Time To Die podcast featuring the film’s director, stars, producers, and more is now available. No Time To Die: The Official James Bond Podcast includes stars Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Jeffrey Wright, Ana de Armas, and Naomie Harris, as well as writer/director Cary Joji Fukunaga and recording artist superstar and No Time To Die theme song creator Billie Eilish.
A24 Reveals Trailer For Lee Isaac Chung’s Exceptional “Minari”
You can now have your first look at one of the best movies to come out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari. Powerhouse studio A24 has released the first trailer for Chung’s moving portrait of a Korean family moving to Arkansas in the 1980s, and their struggles to craft their own version of the American dream.
The reviews for Minari coming out of Sundance were stellar,
Zendaya to Play Ronnie Spector in A24 Film
Recent Emmy-winner Zendaya (the youngest actress to ever win Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and only the second Black woman to win the category, no less) will play singer Ronnie Spector in a film about her life for A24. Deadline broke the story that the rising star will play Spector after a deal was closed to the singer’s life rights and for her memoir (co-written with Vince Waldron) “Be My Baby.”
Get Excited About Barry Jenkins Directing “Lion King” Sequel
Barry Jenkins is a phenomenal director. So there’s your first and most obvious reason that today’s news that Jenkins been tapped to helm a Lion King sequel (!!) is good for Lion King lovers in particular and film lovers in general. Deadline broke the story that the director of the sensational, Best Picture-winning Moonlight (Jenkins and his co-writer Tarell Alvin McCraney also won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay),
“The Boys in The Band” Director Joe Mantello on Adapting Broadway’s Groundbreaking Play
Mart Crowley’s 1968 play The Boys in the Band is an undisputed milestone in gay history. Produced a year before the Stonewall rebellion, this story of an Upper East Side birthday gathering was groundbreaking, with gay men overtly representing themselves onstage, and asked to be seen as themselves, nothing more or less. This was a first. It was also a massive hit. For its 50th anniversary, producer Ryan Murphy revived the play on Broadway,
Director Julie Taymor on The Many Perspectives of Her Gloria Steinem Biopic “The Glorias”
Director Julie Taymor’s latest feature, The Glorias, celebrates the life of a living icon of our time, Gloria Steinem, but she tells Gloria’s story in her utterly singular way. The director uses four different actresses to represent the famed women’s rights activist at different times in her life. There are imaginative, surreal sequences that express Gloria’s inner dialogue. There’s a sort of metaphysical bus, which carries Gloria through her journey, sometimes accompanied by her older or younger selves (played in the film by Ryan Kiera Armstrong,
M. Night Shyamalan Reveals Title & Poster For New Film
The title, poster, and cast for M. Night Shyamalan‘s new film have been revealed. Shyamalan’s latest is called Old, and Collider broke the story that the film is based on a French graphic novel “Sandcastle” by Pierre Oscar Levy and artist Frederick Peeters. Collider learned that Shyamalan received “Sandcastle” as a Father’s Day gift and was so enamored with the premise that he purchased the rights to it,
James Cameron Reveals “Avatar 2” is Done & “Avatar 3” is 95% Finished
Who better for James Cameron to reveal the nearly complete status of his next two Avatar films than old buddy Arnold Schwarzenegger? That’s precisely what happened when Cameron sat down to have a virtual chat with Schwarzenegger during the 2020 Austrian World Summit. Cameron was speaking with his old Terminator and T2 collaborator from New Zealand, where he said he was “100% complete on Avatar 2 and sort of 95% complete on Avatar 3.”
Cameron and his Avatar 2 and 3 cast and crew had lost about four and a half months due to COVID-19.
Downtown Disney Unveils a Stunning Chadwick Boseman Mural
Author and artist Nikkolas Smith created a powerful, gorgeous tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman. Smith’s work was unveiled at Downtown Disney on Thursday, showing Boseman exchanging the Wakanda salute with a young child wearing a Black Panther mask. It’s a lump-in-your-throat kind of work, simultaneously reminding you the type of person that we lost and the massive impact that he made with his time.
“This one is special. My King Chad tribute is now on a wall on display at Downtown Disney,”
“The Trial of the Chicago 7” Review Roundup: Aaron Sorkin’s Timely Film Resonates
The reviews are out for writer/director Aaron Sorkin‘s The Trial of the Chicago 7, a film that’s painfully timely. Sorkin’s second directorial effort is a look at the protests surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention, which escalated when the Chicago Police Department and National Guard descended and turned what was a peaceful gathering of Americans making use of their First Amendment rights into a violent clash. Sound familiar?
“Zack Snyder’s Justice League” Planning Reshoots With Original Cast
If there was one thing that seemed certain about Zack Snyder’s Justice League—and not much did—it was that there would be no reshoots. When the world learned that the long-awaited Snyder Cut was really coming to HBO Max, we weren’t sure in precisely what form (we know now—in 4 installments), or when, but we were told that Snyder would use existing material, special effects, and additional dialogue recording to unveil his vision for the film he never got to make.
Everything Coming to Netflix in October
Drama. Comedy. Documentaries. Horror. Animation. The works. While we’re all pretty much white-knuckling it at this point, having a bevy of streaming options is one way to take our minds off, well, everything. To that end, Netflix has released a helpful video that details every new title coming this October. From the majestic and soothing (if you don’t think about climate change) in David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet to director Glean Keane‘s gorgeous Over the Moon,
“The Trial of the Chicago 7” Trailer Reveals Aaron Sorkin’s Timely Feature
Aaron Sorkin’s second directorial effort, The Trial of the Chicago 7, comes to Netflix at a time of upheaval the United States hasn’t seen to quite this degree or intensity since the events depicted in the film unfolded. Those events cover the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago when peaceful protestors led by some of the country’s most prominent activists marched on the city, and the Chicago Police Department and the National Guard swept in to crush them.
