An exciting new set of posters has been released by Aardman Animations for it’s latest stop-motion animated adventure comedy from director Nick Park. See the images on the gallery below.
Released on the movie’s official facebook page, the brand new posters features some of the film’s stars.
The genius behind the film, Nick Park also created Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run and Shaun the Sheep. He also have four Oscar wins under his belt, one for 1989 animated short comedy mockumentary Creature Comforts, followed by Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993), Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave (1994), and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005).
A stellar voice talent is featured in the film, including Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Richard Ayoade and Timothy Spall. “Early Man” is set for release by Lionsgate on February 16, 2018 through its Summit Entertainment label.
Here’s a brief synopsis of “Early Man”:
Set at the dawn of time, when prehistoric creatures and woolly mammoths roamed the earth, Early Man tells the story of Dug, along with sidekick Hognob as they unite his tribe against a mighty enemy Lord Nooth and his Bronze Age City to save their home.
Orion Pictures, recently relaunched by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) as a new, stand-alone U.S. theatrical marketing and distribution company, has acquired the North American and Latin American rights to John McPhail’s award-winning zombie holiday musical Anna and the Apocalypse. The announcement was made today by John Hegeman, President, Orion Pictures. Orion plans to release Anna and the Apocalypse in the 2018 holiday season.
The film stars Ella Hunt (Our Robot Overlords) as Anna, Mark Benton (The Halcyon), Paul Kaye (Game Of Thrones) and a breakout group of emerging talent including Malcom Cumming, Ben Wiggins, Sarah Swire, Christopher Leveaux and Marli Siu. Embraced by fans and critics alike, the film’s world premiere at Fantastic Fest this year was met with critical acclaim. It also played at Sitges Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Midnight X-Treme Feature Length Film.
Anna and the Apocalypse is based on the 2010 BAFTA winning short film Zombie Musical; directed by John McPhail (Where Do We Go From Here); written by Alan McDonald and the late Ryan McHenry (Ryan Gosling Won’t Eat His Cereal viral series); with original music by Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly. The film was produced by Naysun Alae-Carew and Nicholas Crum of Blazing Griffin in association with Tracy Jarvis of Parkhouse Pictures and Creative Scotland.
Hegeman said, “The team at Orion can’t wait to work with Blazing Griffin in making Anna and the Apocalypse a holiday spectacular for the ages. Nothing gets the blood flowing like a good holiday musical.” Continue reading →
Guillermo del Toro’s dark fantasy drama film “The Shape of Water” might have lost the grand prize at the Golden Globe Awards this past weekend, but today it led the nominations for the British Academy Film Awards, the organization announced Tuesday.
The Shape of Water” received 12 nominations including best picture, best director for del Toro, and leading actress for the film’s star Sally Hawkins. Currently playing in theaters, the film has received near universal acclaim from critics.
Also doing well are “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” and “Darkest Hour,” both receiving nine nominations a piece, followed by the sci-fi sequel “Blade Runner 2049” and World War II drama “Dunkirk,” with eight nominations each.
More commonly known as the BAFTAs, it is one of the strongest bellwether for the Oscars due mostly to an overlap between the voters on both organizations.
The BAFTAs will be held on February 18, two weeks before the Oscars, at the Royal Albert Hall in London and will be hosted by British actress and activist Joanna Lumley. She’s taking over actor Stephen Fry who stepped down after 12 years of hosting the BAFTA ceremonies.
Best film
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Outstanding British film
Darkest Hour
The Death of Stalin
God’s Own Country
Lady Macbeth
Paddington 2
For the full list of nominees for 2017 BAFTA Awards, go to: bafta.org
P!nk is set to perform the national anthem at Super Bowl LII and get the party started at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on February 4, announced today by NFL and NBC.
“The Super Bowl is annually the most-watched television program. P!NK’s performance of the National Anthem in Minneapolis will be her first time appearing on the Super Bowl stage,” announced by NFL on their website.
With the scheduled performance, she joins the esteemed list of big name recording artists that performed the national anthem at the Super Bowl including Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Garth Brooks, Kelly Clarkson, Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga, Idina Menzel, Luke Bryan, Vanessa Williams, Faith Fill, the Dixie Chicks, Cher, Luther Vandross, Diana Ross and Neil Diamond.
Last October, it was revealed that Justin Timberlake will take the stage to perform the halftime show.
Last October, P!nk released “Beautiful Trauma,” her seventh studio album which topped the Billboard 200 charts. The album’s first single, “What About Us,” is up for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards this month. She is set to kick off her world tour on March 1 in Phoenix.
By Creative Media Times
As part of the restructuring of DC Films operations at Warner Bros., production executive Walter Hamada is moving in to oversee DC Films, the studio reports.
Walter Hamada is not new to cinematic shared universes. He is one of the executive producers that spearheaded the highly successful ‘Conjuring’ franchise, the first installment of which was released in 2013 and was directed by “Aquaman” director James Wan. Aquaman is is the sixth installment in the DC Extended Universe and is set to be released later this year.
Hamada also executive produced this year’s supernatural horror film ‘It’ from Warner Bros.’ New Line division. He will be reporting to Toby Emmerich, President and Chief Content Officer, Warner Bros. Pictures Group.
“Walter is creative, resourceful, and committed to excellence, and will bring those qualities to his oversight of our superhero films,” said Emmerich. “He’s a terrific production executive and served as an executive producer on two of the summer’s most popular films, New Line’s ‘IT’ and ‘Annabelle: Creation.’ I’m confident Walter and Geoff, working with our filmmaking partners, will deliver films that will resonate with both broad global audiences as well as DC fanboys and fangirls. Walter’s a great addition to the Warner Bros. Pictures team, and I look forward to working with him in his new post.”
At New Line Cinema, Hamada worked on the production of 2009’s Friday the 13th, The Final Destination, 2010’s Nightmare on Elm Street, Final Destination 5, The Gallows and Lights Out.
DC Extended Universe films collectively grossed over $3.7 billion at the global box office, including last year’s Wonder Woman and Justice League.
Walt Disney Studio’s latest film in the Star Wars saga is officially the top grossing film of 2017 in North America. As of Sunday, December 31, Star Wars: The Last Jedi has grossed $517 million, ahead of the studio’s own Beauty And The Beast which ended its theatrical run at $504 million.
Happy New Year! What better way to ring in the new year than these new character posters and new TV spot for “A Wrinkle In Time,” Disney’s highly anticipated science fantasy adventure film from director Ava DuVernay.
The motion posters showcase the film’s three pivotal characters, Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling), Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey) and Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), while the trailer shows some of the footage previously released by Disney as well as a look at Meg Murry’s mother Dr. Kate Murry (played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw).
The film tells the story of Meg Murry who, after learning her astrophysicist father is being held captive on a distant planet deep in the grip of a universe-spanning evil, travels the cosmos to save him. Joining her in the rescue adventure through space are his highly intelligent younger brother Charles, and their friend Calvin.
Based on Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 novel of the same name, the epic adventure was first adapted for a 2003 television film.
‘A Wrinkle in Time’ stars Storm Reid, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Mindy Kaling, Deric McCabe,Levi Miller, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, André Holland, Michael Peña, Zach Galifianakis, and Oprah Winfrey. The screenplay was written by Jennifer Lee.
Set to be one of the year’s biggest blockbuster hits, ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ opens March 9th, 2018.
Its certainly not surprising for a Star Wars movie to top the year-end boxoffice list. Save for Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones in 2002, every single episode in the Star Wars series has topped the annual box-office list since it all began in 1977.
Still, to do it in mere 3 weekends is impressive. As of today, Wednesday Dec 28, boxoffice.com is reporting that the second installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy is at $444.9 million domestically after another $21.5 million on Wedneday.
As 2017 draws to a close, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is expected to lead the upcoming weekend once again, with estimates around $57 million per boxofficemojo.com. That should be enough to surpass Beauty and the Beast’s $504 million and end the year as the top grossing domestic film, just in time before New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Overseas, Luke Skywalker and company is just as potent: the film is expected to cross $900m today and will join the $1 billion club in the next few days, most likely and quite fittingly on Sunday, the last day of the year.
The Last Jedi’s boxoffice haul marks the third year in a row that a Star Wars film closed the year on top after 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and last year’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”
Other films also making noise are Dwayne Johnson’s action comedy “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” and Universal’s “Pitch Perfect 3″, the third and final film in the Pitch Perfect trilogy. Both are expected to finish strong this weekend in the 2nd and 3rd spot respectively.
Festival takes place February 22 – 25, 2018
The Athena Film Festival (AFF) announced today that director, producer and screenwriter J.J. Abrams (STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, STAR TREK, Alias, Felicity) will receive the 2018 Athena Leading Man Award at the eighth annual festival. The festival will celebrate Abrams’ extraordinary career and continued support and advocacy of women in the entertainment industry. The Athena Film Festival, co-founded by the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College and Women and Hollywood, will take place February 22-25, 2018, at Barnard College in New York City.
Abrams has championed women throughout his career, advocating for female protagonists on screen, as well as strong female voices behind the camera. He introduced audiences to international spy Sydney Bristow in Alias and cast Daisy Ridley to star as Rey in STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI. Abrams is currently writing and will direct the highly anticipated STAR WARS: EPISODE IX, which will star Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac and John Boyega, and will open in theaters December 20, 2019.
Past recipients of the Athena Leading Man Award include director, producer and screenwriter Paul Feig (2016) and actor and producer David Oyelowo (2017).
“I am deeply humbled to be recognized by the Athena Film Festival. Any good I’ve done has been achieved because I have worked alongside women, and I share my gratitude with all of them for being honored with this award,” said J.J. Abrams. Continue reading →
Feature Length Film And Six, Four-Minute Digital Shorts Set to Debut the Property. Key Voice Cast Includes Dove Cameron, Chloe Bennet, Tyler Posey, Kim Raver and BooBoo Stewart Among Others
Marvel Entertainment announced today, “Marvel Rising,” a brand-new, multi-platform animation franchise starring the next generation of Marvel heroes set to launch in 2018. The program will launch with six, four-minute digital shorts that spotlight Spider-Gwen with her new secret moniker, Ghost-Spider, and introduce audiences to the world of “Marvel Rising.” Following the shorts, a feature-length animated film, “Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors” will premiere later that year. Distribution partners for the content to be announced at a later date.
The content features an all-star line-up of voice talent including Dove Cameron, Chloe Bennet, Tyler Posey, BooBoo Stewart, Kathreen Khavari, Milana Vayntrub, Cierra Ramirez, Kamil McFadden, Skai Jackson, Kim Raver, Ming-Na Wen, Steven Weber, and Dee Bradley Baker among others. Future stories and content are also being developed across Marvel’s digital and publishing platforms and will be announced at a later date.
“Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors” is a long-anticipated event, bringing together Marvel’s newest and beloved characters that have garnered major fan excitement over the last few years. Powered teens Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl, Quake, Patriot, America Chavez, and Inferno join forces as an unlikely, but formidable crew of aspiring heroes. When a threat no one could have expected bears down on the Marvel Universe, this ragtag, untrained band of teens have no choice but to rise together and prove to the world that sometimes the difference between a “hero” and “misfit” is just in the name.
“Marvel characters are so relatable because they live in our world and face the same challenges we do. So I’m very excited that our Marvel Rising team of heroes is so inclusive, reflecting characters with different backgrounds, particularly a set of strong female leads that our young audience can connect with,” said Cort Lane, Marvel’s Senior Vice President of Animation & Family Entertainment.
Sana Amanat, Marvel’s Director of Content & Character Development, added, “This project is unlike anything we’ve done before—from featuring the rising and fan-favorite stars of the Marvel Universe, to a visually distinct animation style, this is a groundbreaking animated event. It’s an action-packed adventure, full of comedy, heart and powerful messages for every kind of Marvel fan.”
