How Deadpool’s Tight Budget Helped Create a New Kind of Marvel Film
To understand how we ended up with the wisecracking, dirty-talking, unapologetically murderous Deadpool we already know and love- thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign- we have to go back to the origin story of this origin story.
The project had been kicking around at Fox for more than a decade when in July, 2014, two minutes of test footage was leaked on the web, portraying a very different kind of superhero.
Boba Fett! Code Names! The Rogue One Rumor Mill is Alive & Well
What you already know about Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the next addition in Disney's Star Wars canon, is probably pretty limited. You know it's the first film in Disney's upcoming release schedule that's not a part of the Skywalker saga trilogy, to which The Force Awakens was the first, and you know it's about the band of rebels who stole the plans for the Death Star, which were eventually uploaded to R2D2 and set the events of the very first
Watch the new Batman v Superman International Trailer
With the premiere date drawing ever closer (March 25, folks), Warner Bros. Pictures has been releasing a slew of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailers and TV spots. The latest is a new international trailer, which keeps the dialogue to a minimum and the mayhem at full throttle.
By now you know that the premise of Batman v Superman is right there in the title; Gotham City's winged vigilante (Ben Affleck) takes on Metropolis's alien savior (Henry Cavill) in a battle for the ages.
Watch This Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Featurette
"The job we have to do is to make it seem natural and kind have to ignore your own sense of wonder watching it," says actress Katherine Waterston about her work in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The highly secretive and hugely exciting project is the first screenplay penned by J.K. Rowling herself, and will transport Harry Potter fans back into the wizarding world, only one that takes place an ocean away from Hogwart's,
Sundance 2016: Review Roundup, Part IV
Welcome back. You’ve already read parts I, II and III of our Sundance film review roundup.
Let's begin with Whit Stillman's Jane Austen adaptation, Love & Friendship. While you might be thinking, another Austen adaptation, keep in mind Stillman is the man who brought you Metropolitan and Last Days of Disco, and is uniquely suited to bring out Austen's biting humor,
Watch The Birth of a Nation‘s Nate Parker’s Potent Short Film
This is the power of the Sundance Film Festival, it can turn a talented artist like Nate Parker into a sensation over night. As the undisputed King of Sundance this year with The Birth of a Nation, a film Parker wrote, directed, and starred in—after nurturing the project for 7 years and using $100,000 of his own money to find financing—the man has earned this moment. And as it happens when a filmmaker suddenly becomes an object of fascination,
Sundance 2016: Nate Parker’s Huge Night & More
We wrote yesterday about the rapturous response to Nate Parker’s Sundance-shaking Nat Turner biopic, The Birth of a Nation. Today, reports are flooding in that the whopping, festival record-setting $17.5 million offer the film got from Fox Searchlight was actually less than what Netflix was willing to part with.
THR reports that writer, director and star Parker, who had put $100,000 of his own money into the film to fly around the country in an attempt to find financiers (he eventually had a dozen investor groups,
Sundance 2016: A Roundup of Reviews, Part II
Let’s take a look at what the critics are saying about some of the films that have premiered at Sundance.
Nate Parker and Tony Espinosa in 'The Birth of a Nation.' Photo by Elliot Davis. Courtesy Sundance Film Festival.
Earlier today, we took a look at Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation,
Sundance 2016: Fox Searchlight Nabs Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation
Nate Parker, writer, director, and star of The Birth of a Nation's seven year commitment to his labor of love has paid off in a distribution deal with Fox Searchlight Pictures, The Wrap reports. Parker's epic is currently the talk of Sundance. The Hollywood Reporter Rebecca Ford writes that Parker’s film earned a rapturous standing ovation at its' premiere in Eccles theater in Park City,
Sundance 2016: A Film Review Roundup
Earlier we looked at some of the films that have premiered at Sundance that have found homes in a variety of studios, from IFC to Amazon. Now let's take a look at some of the films reviews coming out of the festival this year, perhaps gleaning what will be next on the bidding block.
Vulture's Bilge Ebiri has written that Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea,
Sundance 2016: Complete Unknown, Morris From America & More are Sold
As the first major film festival of the year, and arguably one of the most important on the ever expanding festival circuit, the Sundance Film Festival is something of a taste maker. Studios small and large vie for the distribution rights of a number of films, while unknown talents can, in a single Park City night, become hot commodities. Here's a look at the news coming out of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Before we get into what films have sold thus far,
Talking to the Writer/Director of the Epic Balkan Western Aferim!
It’s a safe bet that you’ve never seen a movie quite like Aferim!
An epic Balkan Western shot in 35mm black-and-white, Romanian director Radu Jude’s third feature earned a Silver Bear for best director at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival and was the Official Selection at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival.
Aferim! (an Ottoman Turkish expression that apparently translates as “bravo!” and is used ironically in the film) is set in the barren landscape of mid-19th-century Wallachia.
10 Episodes to Get Caught up on the X-Files Before Sunday’s Premiere
Thanks to its hefty publicity campaign, you’re probably aware that Fox has announced an official revival of the beloved science fiction show X-Files. And while reboots might strike fear in the hearts of many, this ground-breaking, well-reviewed and highly-rated show seems fitting, considering it changed the landscape of television before the cable explosion and putting the network on the map. It premieres this Sunday, January 24, at 10ET/7PT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1SmJUBT5q0
Most importantly,
Dates Set for Dates for Star Wars: Episode VIII & Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Walt Disney Studios has announced new release dates for two of their biggest upcoming films, hoping (and very likely) to recapture the magic that The Force Awakens managed in its mid-December slot.
Owing to the crazy huge success of J.J. Abrams first installment in the new trilogy, Star Wars: Episode VIII, originally scheduled for release on May 26, 2017, will now debut on December 15,
Pee-wee is Back in new Trailer for his Netflix Original Film
“Heh, heh,” time for a winter’s giggle and bit of zany whimsy. Pee-wee Herman is hitting the road after a 30 year hiatus, and it's as if time stood still for the childlike Pee-wee. Netflix just released the first 39-second trailer for its original film, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, in all its Rube Goldberg glory. This feature will star the ageless Paul Reubens, reprising the role he created in the mid-1980s for his television show,
Writer/Director Andrew Haigh on his Quiet, Devastating 45 Years
Writer-director Andrew Haigh jokes that his new film 45 Years is a sequel to Weekend, his 2011, intimate look at a hookup between two young gay men that develops into more. Sure, 45 Years is about a long heterosexual marriage between Kate and Geoff Mercer (Charlotte Rampling, nominated for an Oscar for her performance, and Tom Courtenay) but it’s still about the nuances,
Talking to Carol’s Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter Phyllis Nagy
Phyllis Nagy is a patient writer. The playwright (Disappeared, The Strip, and Never Land) and screenwriter wrote her first draft for Carol, an adaptation of her friend Patricia Highsmith's novel "The Price of Salt," back in 1997. Nagy adapted Highsmith's story of the burgeoning love affair between Therese, a New York City shopgirl, and Carol (Cate Blanchett), an affluent married woman, in 1950s New York. Nearly 20 years later, after several close calls evaporated and interested parties backed away, Nagy's
Writer/Director Michael J. Larnell on Cronies, His Inspirations & More
The NYU Production Lab helps finance a handful of student and alumni films every year. This past year, one of those films was the Spike Lee executive produced Cronies, which was a 2015 Sundance hit, and a first feature from NYU graduate Michael J. Larnell, who was one of Spike's students. Larnell wrote, directed, produced and edited it while earning his MFA at Tisch. Not too shabby a start for the young man.
Cronies is set in Larnell's hometown of St.
Your Full List of Golden Globe Winners
That's a wrap for the Golden Globes. We'll be taking a look at the highlights from the show, but for now, here's a list of every winner in every category.
Best Motion Picture, Drama
Winner: The Revenant
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
Room
Spotlight
Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Winner: The Martian
The Big Short
Joy
Spy
Trainwreck
Best Director,
Get to Know Your Golden Globes Nominees for Best Motion Picture, Animated
Yesterday we delighted and thrilled you with two Golden Globe primers to make you the toast/scourge of your friends and/or family. Our primer for the Best Motion Picture, Drama and Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy categories were designed to give you the tools (in the form of interviews we've done with the below-the-line artists who helped make those films great) to sound like a cinematic savant. "Harold, did you know Carol
