Theaters are wary that a successful “Scoob!” run could suggest that VOD and theatrical can successfully coexist.
When Universal released “Trolls: World Tour” on VOD April 10, it was also available in the few open (drive-in) theaters. On May 15, Warner Bros. will release “Scoob!” on VOD — and that’s the only place audiences will find it. A Warner Bros. spokesperson confirmed it will play no theaters, and sources suggest that Universal’s “The King of Staten Island” may follow suit.
It seems like a counterintuitive decision. Indoor theaters continue to open, albeit slowly. At this writing they’re still outnumbered by drive-ins, which are doing record business; comparatively, multiplexes’ numbers are suffering.
Both are showing now-familiar VOD titles, the equivalent of second-run movies, yet some of the best drive-ins are grossing multiples better than they did a year ago with “Avengers: Endgame” and “Pokemon Detective Pikachu.”
A couple weeks after the first character photos from Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” dropped online, now comes a first taste of what the director’s big-budget action scenes will look like on screen. Empire magazine has premiered a new still from “Dune” (see below) that shows Timothée Chalamet and Josh Brolin in the midst of one of the film’s big action moments. Chalamet’s protagonist Paul Atreides is seen balancing on an airborne ornithopter alongside Brolin’s Gurney Halleck, Paul’s weapons teacher. The characters are flying over the desert planet Arrakis.
In a statement to Empire magazine, Villeneuve called the scene being depicted below one of the pivotal moments for Chalamet’s lead character. “It’s Paul’s first contact with the deep desert, where he’s mesmerized by it,” the filmmaker told Empire.
“He has a strange feeling of being home. There’s a lot of action at this specific moment, and [it’s] one of the scenes in the movie that I’m starting to get pretty proud of.”
Chalamet had a supporting role in Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar,” but “Dune” marks the actor’s first time leading a major Hollywood tentpole. The Oscar nominee told Vanity Fair last month that he was attracted to “Dune” because of Paul’s character arc. “The immediately appealing thing about Paul was the fact that in a story of such detail and scale and world-building, the protagonist is on an anti-hero’s-journey of sorts,” he said. “He thinks he’s going to be sort of a young general studying his father and his leadership of a fighting force before he comes of age, hopefully a decade later, or something like that.”
China is the second-largest box office region in the world behind the United States, generating $9.2 billion in ticket sales last year for a new national record. Major Hollywood franchises such as the Marvel and Fast and Furious films rely on the country to boost overseas totals.
But with all 70,000 theaters in the Middle Kingdom closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, box office revenue has plummeted in 2020. But while business may soon resume in China, the U.S. remains woefully behind.
On Wednesday, chief of China’s Film Bureau and deputy director of the Community Party’s propaganda department Wang Xiaohui said that indoor entertainment venues such as movie theaters are expected to open in early June, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Wang noted that the government would “offer a series of support policies for the film industry” and that “each regional film bureau will introduce their own support policies as well,” per the outlet. While American theaters have been eyeing a late June or early July re-opening ahead of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet (July 17), China’s path may not be a realistic option for domestic exhibitors.
Warner Bros. has shaken up the release calendar for many of its upcoming films — including “The Batman” and “The Sopranos” prequel, titled “The Many Saints of Newark.”
“The Batman,” starring Robert Pattinson and directed by Matt Reeves, was originally expected to debut June 25, 2021, and will now launch in theaters on Oct. 1, 2021.
Numerous films, including “The Batman,” have been forced to put production on pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. Movie theaters in the U.S., and in much of the world, have also mandated to close because of the global heath crisis, causing studios to reshuffle movies scheduled for summer and fall of 2020 and beyond.
As part of Warner Bros.’ announcement Monday, “The Many Saints of Newark” has been pushed from Sept. 25, 2020, to March 12, 2021. Continue reading →
The first step of a hero’s journey sometimes begins with a push.
At the start of Frank Herbert’s science fiction epic Dune, the young royal Paul Atreides prepares to leave the comfortable life he knows for a desolate, dangerous mining planet known as Arrakis, where his wealthy family will oversee extraction of a spice vital to the galaxy.
If he only knew the chaos and death that awaited him, he might be even more sorry to leave.
This is the first look at Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides on his native planet of Caladan from this December’s film version of the novel, directed by Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 filmmaker Denis Villeneuve. The 1965 book was so seismic in its influence that its echoes still turn up in sci-fi and fantasy storytelling half a century later. Still, it has stubbornly defied appropriate adaptation itself.
Tomorrow, Vanity Fair will provide an even more expansive exploration of Villeneuve’s quest to bring Dune to the screen, but today we begin with the central hero: Paul Atreides, a child of privilege raised by a powerful family, but not one strong enough to protect him from the dangers that await. Continue reading →
The captivating soundtrack for Sam Raimi’s 1990’s classic Army of Darkness, with a newly remastered score by composer Joe LoDuca is now available on CD exclusively from Varèse Sarabande Records and will soon be available on double LP in record stores.
The rescheduled CD release date is on April 10, 2020, while vinyl is on June 20, 2020. Previously, the CD and LP was schedule for release on April 18th release for CD and LP. But the LP release will be rescheduled in accordance with the recently postponed Record Store Day, which is now set for June 20th. The CD release has moved up a week to today, April 10th.
This double LP or single disc CD soundtrack for Sam Raimi’s 1990’s classic Army of Darkness film (a continuation of Raimi’s Evil Dead series, which also starred Bruce Campbell as Ash) features the original cover graphics with new notes and images, and a newly remastered score by composer Joe LoDuca. Years later, LoDuca continued to score Evil Dead projects through the Starz series, Ash vs The Evil Dead, which ran from 2015–2018. Army of Darkness is musically distinct, however, in having a secondary composer contribution: Danny Elfman’s (Batman, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, The Simpsons) killer theme “March of the Dead.”
The CD will be available exclusively at VareseSarabande.com and is available now available for purchase. As part of Record Store Day 2020, the vinyl version will be available on the rescheduled date of June 20, 2020 at thousands of independent record stores. A list of participating stores can be found at recordstoreday.com. For more info about the products visit VareseSarabande.com.
THE COMPLEX is a completely live action, interactive sci-fi thriller filmed in the UK will be released worldwide through PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch on 31st March 2020, brought by Wales Interactive, Red and Black Films, Good Gate Media and Little Jade Productions.
Following Black Mirror’s ‘Bandersnatch’ and BAFTA-winning game Late Shift – THE COMPLEX is written by Lynn Renee Maxcy, part of the Emmy award-winning writing team from The Handmaid’s Tale and is the very first live interactive Science Fiction film and one of only a small number of interactive films in existence.
THE COMPLEX is directed by visionary new talent Paul Raschid (White Chamber) and stars Michelle Mylett (Letterkenny, Bad Blood), Kate Dickie (Game of Thrones, The Witch), Al Weaver (Grantchester) and Twitch streamer and former Xbox UK presenter, Leah Viathan. The film’s award-winning team includes Oscar-nominated Production Designer Guy Thompson (Black Sheep) and internationally acclaimed DOP Matthias Pilz (Top Boy).
Here is the film’s official synopsis:
After a major bio-weapon attack on London, two scientists find themselves in a locked-down laboratory with time, and air, running out. With choose-your-own-adventure style gameplay, your
actions and your relationship with other characters will lead you to one of eight suspenseful endings.
Having treated the victims of a chemical attack in the totalitarian state of Kindar, Dr Amy Tenant (Michelle Mylett) is a leader in the advancement of Nanocell Technology. Now, in London, news breaks of a blood-vomiting civilian whose identity is far from coincidental. Reunited with an old friend, Amy is trapped in an impenetrable HQ of laboratories-a womb of scientific advancement with a perilous secret.
The interactive film is highly unique in that it offers multi-optional storytelling with 8 different outcomes; a real-time Relationship Status Tracking that influences the story as you play and a real-time Personality Trait Tracking that evolves based on your choices.
Actress Tracee Ellis Ross, known for her roles in the the comedy television series Girlfriends and Black-ish is taking on the music industry in “The High Note.” The film marks her first big-screen role since comedy-drama Daddy’s Little Girls (2007).
Directed by Nisha Ganatra, the film features Ross as Grace Davis, a middle-aged musical superstar in a crossroads in her career.This is Ganatra’s follow-up to the Mindy Kaling-starrer comedy-drama “Late Night” from last year.
The film also stars Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Bill Pullman, Zoe Chao, Eddie Izzard and Ice Cube. The movie is written by Flora Greeson.
Here’s the film’s official synopsis:
Set in the dazzling world of the LA music scene comes the story of Grace Davis (Ross), a superstar whose talent, and ego, have reached unbelievable heights. Maggie (Johnson) is Grace’s overworked personal assistant who’s stuck running errands but still aspires to her childhood dream of becoming a music producer. When Grace’s manager (Cube) presents her with a choice that could alter the course of her career, Maggie and Grace come up with a plan that could change their lives forever.
“The High Note” is set to be released on May 8, 2020, by Focus Features.
Chris Evans may be appearing in a musical adaptation soon. According to Hollywood Reporter, the Captain America actor is in talks to play the sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello, Audrey’s abusive boyfriend in a remake of “Little Shop of Horrors.”
Steve Martin once portrayed the nitrous oxide-addicted dentist in the 1986 Frank Oz directed horror comedy musical. That film was also an adaptation of the 1982 Off Broadway musical, which itself was based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film of the same name.
Scarlett Johansson is also in talks for the role of Audrey, per THR, while Taron Egerton is in talks to play Seymour, a nerdy florist who loves strange and interesting plants.
Last year, in an interview with the publication, Evans has stated his interest in doing a musical. “I want to do a musical so badly, man. Someone told me they’re [remaking] Little Shop of Horrors and I was like, ‘Oh, can I be down? Please? Can I be the dentist?’”
After playing Captain America in Marvel Cinematic Universe’s series of films and Human Torch in two “Fantastic Four” films, actor is definitely showing a lot interest less heroic roles lately. Last year, he played a more roguish character Hugh Ransom Drysdale in Rian Johnson’s critical and commercial hit “Knives Out.”
Written and directed by Dan Bush, The Dark Red is ranked the #1 movie at FrightFest Film Festival by Entertainment Focus.
The film is a sophisticated, supernatural revenge thriller that will appeal to fans of Unsane and The Uninvited.
The film stars April Billingsley (The Walking Dead, Last Vegas), Kelsey Scott (How to Get Away with Murder), and Rhoda Griffis (Parental Guidance, The Blind Side)
Here is the film’s official synopsis:
A young woman is committed to a psychiatric hospital claiming that her newborn has been abducted by a secret society called the Dark Red — an ancient, underground cult that harvests and controls an incredibly rare blood type that gives one the power to hear and guide another person’s thoughts. She says that she is special: that she carries a pure and powerful strain of the blood like nothing seen before, and that the society sees her and her child as its next evolution or perhaps its greatest threat, should she turn against them.
Is the Dark Red entirely a figment of her imagination a complex coping mechanism to overcome a terrible personal tragedy or is there some truth behind her story?
Theaters are wary that a successful “Scoob!” run could suggest that VOD and theatrical can successfully coexist.
