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XLrator Media Acquires “Infinity Chamber” For Worldwide Distribution

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Sci-Fi Thriller to be released September 15, 2017

LOS ANGELES (September 12, 2017) – XLrator Media has acquired global distribution rights to the science-fiction thriller INFINITY CHAMBER and will release the film in U.S. theaters on September 15 and on VOD and iTunes September 26. The film will roll out internationally later this year and early 2018.

INFINITY CHAMBER was written and directed by Travis Milloy (writer and executive producer of the Dennis Quaid-Ben Foster sci-fi actioner Pandorum) in his feature directorial debut and produced by Laurie Sheldon and Tom Eberts. The film stars Christopher Soren Kelly (Ink), Cassandra Clark (“Englishman in L.A.”) and Jessie Arrow.

The film soundtrack by Jacob Yoffee will be available on digital services September 25.

INFINITY CHAMBER is set in a fully automated government prison in the future. Subjected to relentless computer interrogation, a wrongfully imprisoned man must outwit his captors and escape to the outside world that may already be wiped out.
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JJ Abrams To Direct Star Wars: Episode IX

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By Creative Media Times

Lucasfilm

“With The Force Awakens, J.J. delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy,” said Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy.

JJ Abrams’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a dynamite at the boxoffice, $2.06 billion worldwide making it the third highest-grossing film of all time, including unadjusted $936 million domestically, above Titanic and Avatar.

As such, the director responsible for reintroducing the beloved characters of the franchise to a new generation of fans is arguably a perfect choice to close the trilogy. Abrams will co-write the film with Chris Terrio.

Last week, Lucasfilm announced that Colin Trevorrow will no longer be directing Star Wars: Episode IX. According to the statement, the split was a mutual decision.

Abrams is currently not attached to direct any film, which makes one wonder why he was not initially pursued. Though its possible his involvement with Mission: Impossible 6 and HBO’s Westworld as producer might have something to do with that.

Principal photography for Star Wars: Episode IX is expected to start early 2018 with the film’s release scheduled to be May 24, 2019.

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Focus Features Acquires International Rights To “Lady Bird”

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TORONTO, CANADA, September 11, 2017 – Focus Features has acquired international rights to Greta Gerwig’s acclaimed directorial debut Lady Bird, company chairman Peter Kujawski announced today. A24 and IAC Films are partners on the movie. Focus will be handling distribution in all territories outside of North America. Lady Bird has emerged as one of the biggest breakouts of the fall season, winning rave reviews from its screenings at both the Telluride and Toronto International Film Festivals. Scott Rudin, Eli Bush and Evelyn O’Neill are the producers.

“With Lady Bird, Greta has proven herself to be both a brilliant illusionist and a towering filmmaker. She tricks us into believing this is an intimate story about a specific character, time, and place until the culmination of the laughter and the tears makes you realize it’s actually a grand epic that is as universal, relatable and emotionally powerful as any story of mothers and daughters that has ever been put on film,” said Focus Chairman Peter Kujawski. “We couldn’t be more honored to team with Greta and our friends at A24 and IAC to share her incredible work with audiences around the world.”

In Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig reveals herself to be a bold new cinematic voice with her directorial debut, excavating both the humor and pathos in the turbulent bond between a mother and her teenage daughter. Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) fights against but is exactly like her wildly loving, deeply opinionated and strong-willed mom (Laurie Metcalf), a nurse working tirelessly to keep her family afloat after Lady Bird’s father (Tracy Letts) loses his job. Set in Sacramento, California in 2002, amidst a rapidly shifting American economic landscape, Lady Bird is an affecting look at the relationships that shape us, the beliefs that define us, and the unmatched beauty of a place called home.

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Patty Jenkins Officially Directing “Wonder Woman” Sequel

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By Creative Media Times

DC/WB


Jenkins led Wonder Woman to critical and commercial success this summer, and on Monday, the director officially closed the deal to helm the sequel after a lengthy negotiation process, Variety reported.

To fans, this is more of a confirmation and less a surprise as Jenkins was widely speculated to return. While Wonder Woman broke multiple boxoffice records during it’s theatrical run, its been reported that Jenkins was already working on a script.

What is a revelation however is the amount she’s expected to receive for the job. According to the report, Jenkins is said to be paid “in the $8 million dollar range to write, direct and produce.” A substantial jump from the $1 million she was paid for the original.

This makes her the highest paid director of all time, above Nancy Meyers (What Women Want, Something’s Gotta Give and The Holiday), who reportedly earned $5 million per film during her heyday. And as with similar deals, her fortunes could rise further given the “back-end of boxoffice grosses” deal included in the contract.

Gal Gadot is also set to reprise her role as the Amazonian warrior princess, and will next be seen in this November’s Justice League superhero team up. Wonder Woman 2 is currently scheduled to open in theaters on December 13, 2019.

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Monterey Jazz Festival Celebrating 60 Years

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By Cameron Pridmore

The time is almost among us again, the Monterey Jazz Festival is set to take place September 15th – 17th in Monterey, California. The Jazz Festival in Monterey is a little different this year as it is celebrating its sixtieth birthday. It is amazing that in today’s era of music, there is such anticipation for a Jazz Festival. Jazz music is still a very big part of Monterey culture, which is an area that is right near one of California’s most beautiful beaches. The festival which has been held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds has been held at the same location for sixty years.

The Jazz festival is more than just a musical gathering though; there are also different food vendors who specifically come to the festival once a year. You can taste a variety of different local seafood from the San Francisco Bay Area, urban cuisine, Italian cuisine, and even street food like some of the best local hot dogs that you will ever taste. For the 2017 even there are a couple of new artists who are set to perform, GoGo Penguin is a group who is based out of Britain who specializes in a unique acoustic sound. This is a wonderfully unique smooth jazz sound, and a group who definitely deserves more recognition in the states.
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“Stranger Things,” “Westworld” Win Big At Creative Arts Emmy 2017

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By Creative Media Times

“Stranger Things” cast at Comic-Con 2017. Photo: aiphotoimaging.com


HBO’s sci-fi western “Westworld” and Netflix’s 80s throwback “Stranger Things” were big winners Sunday night at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards held at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, as both shows picked up five wins on night 2 of the ceremony. SNL also won five, two of which for best guest actor and actress in a comedy series, Dave Chappelle and Melissa McCarthy respectively. Also winning multiple awards were “The Night Of” and “Veep.”

The awards are strong harbinger for the televised Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony set for next Sunday, Sept. 17. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards honor “outstanding artistic and technical achievement in a variety of television program genres, guest performances in weekly series, as well as exceptional work in the animation, reality and documentary categories.”

The 2017 Creative Arts Awards were presented on two nights, September 9, Saturday, and September 10, Sunday. Sunday night’s ceremonies were focused scripted comedies and drama series, while Saturday night’s event honored the best in animatino, reality, variety and documentary shows.

Last night, Ava DuVernay’s political documentary from Netflix “13th” received the most awards with four, winning outstanding documentary special as well as for writing, original music and lyrics for “The Letter to the Free”, and motion design. Other notable winners were “Hairspray Live,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” James Corden, and “Saturday Night Live.”

See the full winners of Sunday winners, click here.
See the full winners of Saturday winners, click here.

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Taylor Swift: Look At What You Made Me Do, and Her New Single

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By Niy Birden

Youtube


Taylor Swift seems to be having the time of her life with her new image and sound. One wouldn’t be surprised if behind her tweets and posts, she was secretly having fits of laughter while reading the responses on the internet.

After a series of public feuds and social media scams, earlier this summer Taylor seemed to have deleted all of her online accounts, including her Instagram, and Twitter, much to the dismay of her adoring audience and music industry colleagues, which racks in a couple hundred million in total. Despite the massive success she had with her last album 1989, released only 3 years ago, the singer’s reputation seemed to be chasing closely behind her, almost running in front of her to reach us before her music. But things have definitely changed…or have they?

On August 21st, Taylor returned to the internet-osphere with a cryptic series of videos over 2 days of simply a very quick video of a snake, with no audio accompanying it whatsoever. This was clearly in retaliation to the hundreds of tweets, memes, and posts in which people were comparing her industry practices and ethics to being similar to those of a snake’s. Then, she released a few graphics, amongst them being a picture of her with a collaged amount of texts in various fonts, simply saying the words that many people seem to say next to each other about her: taylor swift, and reputation. Reputation, as it turned out, is the name of her newest album, and of course the graphic was the official album art.
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Guillermo Del Toro’s “The Shape Of Water” wins Golden Lion at Venice

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By Creative Media Times

Fox Searchlight Pictures


“The Shape of Water”, Guillermo del Toro’s monster thriller took the top prize Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday. The Mexican filmmaker’s new movie is favorite and also one of the best reviewed films during the festival. The romantic fantasy film stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer.

Another prestigious award, the Grand Jury Prize, went to “Foxtrot” from Israeli filmmaker Samuel Maoz, while the Best Director went to French filmmaker Xavier Legrand for his family drama “Custody.”

Here’s the full list of winners:

Golden Lion:
“The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro

Grand Jury Prize:
“Foxtrot,” Samuel Maoz

Silver Lion for Best Director:
Xavier Legrand, “Custody”

Volpi Cup for Best Actress:
Charlotte Rampling, “Hannah”

Volpi Cup for Best Actor:
Kamel El Basha, “The Insult”

Best Screenplay:
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin McDonagh
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“IT” Shatters Record: $13.5 Million On Thursday Night

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By Creative Media Times

Warner Bros. Pictures[


It looks like the film adaptation of Stephen King’s creepy novel could open even higher than the already lofty expectations. The horror film has opened to a massive $13.5 million on Thursday night, ranking third this year behind only Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” at $17 million, and “Beauty and the Beast,” with $16.3 million.

That is also the biggest preview gross for an R-rated film, beating Deadpool’s $12.7 million. Though New Line and Warner Bros. pic most likely won’t open as high as Deadpool’s $132 million over the weekend given that the wise-cracking superhero opened on a President’s holiday weekend, last night’s number is already the highest preview for a horror pic and for a film released in September.

Multiple weekend media forecasts suggest the film will open around $80 to $85 million, but don’t be surprised if “IT” goes above those estimates and if numbers hold, the film will obliterate multiple records.

The movie is also riding high with critics, currently at 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and 71 on Metacritic, both solid scores for the genre.

The film arrives at a perfect time after weeks of sluggish boxoffice business, and as well as months of high anticipation following record breaking trailer views.

Directed by Argentinian filmmaker Andrés Muschietti, the film tells the story of eight children in Derry, Maine, who are terrorized by the demonic Pennywise the Dancing Clown played by Bill Skarsgard.

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Saoirse Ronan Is Charming And Funny In The “Lady Bird” Trailer

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A24

With the release of the new trailer for Greta Gerwig’s directing debut, the touching mother-daughter tale “Lady Bird”, it looks like Ronan might be headed for another Oscar nomination.

The trailer stars with Christine “Lady Bird” (Ronan) and her mother (played by Laurie Metcalf) having an argument over where Christine will live and pursue her studies. “I hate California. I want to go to the East Coast. I want to go where culture is like New York,” Christine says. In a sudden but hilarious moment, the frustrated Lady Bird jumps out of the car in protest as Metcalf shrieks in horror.

That is just one in the many comically offbeat scenes in the trailer and what looks like an entertaining and charming film.

“Lady Bird” emerged as one of the early awards contenders after it’s world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival last week, which bodes well for the talented 34 year old actress/filmmaker Gerwig, who also wrote the film.

Set in 2002 Sacramento, the comedy-drama also stars Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Lois Smith, and is scheduled to fly into theaters on November 10.

Here’s the film’s official synopsis:

In Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig reveals herself to be a bold new cinematic voice with her directorial debut, excavating both the humor and pathos in the turbulent bond between a mother and her teenage daughter. Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) fights against but is exactly like her wildly loving, deeply opinionated and strong-willed mom (Laurie Metcalf), a nurse working tirelessly to keep her family afloat after Lady Bird’s father (Tracy Letts) loses his job. Set in Sacramento, California in 2002, amidst a rapidly shifting American economic landscape, Lady Bird is an affecting look at the relationships that shape us, the beliefs that define us, and the unmatched beauty of a place called home.

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