Ever since Thomas Cailley‘s The Animal Kingdom opened Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section last year, the buzz has been building for the sci-fi adventure. First of all, Cailley impressed in 2014 with rom-com Love at First Sight, with this as his first feature since then. Second, the film has gone on to win multiple Cesar Awards with a lot of the attention going to actors Adéle Exarchopoulous (recently of Passages) and Romain Duris, two of the biggest stars in all of French cinema.
So what’s it about? The film is set in a world where mutations have begun turning humans into animals. Duris plays a distraught husband who, along with his son, ventures into a forest to find his wife who has been mutated and fled with other creatures.
Paul Kircher plays Duris and Exarchopoulous’ son. Tom Mercier, Billie Blain, Nathalie Richard, and Saadia Bentaieb are also in the cast.
Cailley directed the film and co-wrote the script with Pauline Munier.
Here’s the synopsis: MAGNET invites you to screen THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, a visionary new thriller that drops viewers into an extraordinary world where mutations in human genetics cause people to transform into hybrid creatures, François does everything he can to save his wife, who is affected by this mysterious condition. As some of the creatures disappear into a nearby forest, François embarks with Emile, their 16-year-old son, on a quest to find her with help from a local police officer.
The Animal Kingdom hits theaters and VOD on March 15th.
DUNE: PART TWO- An exceptional sci-fi spectacle that has made me fall in love with a spice world I previously hated. The only problem is that my expectations for the future are even higher, and I'm not sure Denis Villeneuve can reach them.
We’re now about a month away from the arrival of Dune: Part Two, and it’s time to begin getting excited for Denis Villeneuve’s sequel. Warner Bros. has dropped an extended six-minute clip centering on a key action sequence with star Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides.
As seen in the footage, Atreides is engaged in the final test to become one of the Fremen, and lead them into battle against Harkonnen. But to pass, he’ll have to tame and ride one of Arrakis’ gigantic sandworms, or die trying.
Also featured in the clip are Zendaya as Chani, and Javier Bardem as Stilgar, leader of the Fremen of Sietch Tabr.
We also see new footage of the Fremen in a destructive battle against the forces of Harkonnen, and Paul squaring off with the ruthless Feyd-Rautha, played by Austin Butler.
Here’s the synopsis: “Dune: Part Two” will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.
How confident was Paramount in their Sonic the Hedgehog franchise? Even before the sequel arrived in 2022, they had already announced a series spinoff. Knuckles would see the return of Idris Elba as the voice of the fearless red echidna antihero, and the first trailer for the Paramount+ show has arrived.
Designed as a bridge between Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and this year’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the Knuckles series features Elba and Adam Pally, the latter returning as bumbling Deputy Sheriff Wade Whipple as he is trained in the ways of the Echidna warrior.
Franchise regular Tika Sumpter is also in the cast, joined by Cary Elwes, Edi Patterson, Julian Barratt, Scott Mescudi, Ellie Taylor, Rory McCann, Stockard Channing, Christopher Lloyd, Paul Scheer, and Rob Huebel. Sadly, no Jim Carrey but at least he’s still part of the mothership as Robotnik.
Jeff Fowler, who has directed each film, has also helmed the Knuckles pilot. The series was created by John Whittington and Toby Ascher. Directors on future episodes include Jorma Taccone, Carol Banker, Brandon Trost, and Ged Wright.
Knuckles begins streaming on Paramount+ on April 26th, leading into Sonic the Hedgehog 3 which hits theaters on December 20th.
In the increasingly corporate world of entertainment, quarterly earnings calls are now the place to make big announcements to excite shareholders. Disney held their latest call yesterday, and as you probably already know, Moana 2 was the big surprise reveal. Well, there was a lot more that CEO Bob Iger had up his sleeve, so let’s just get to it.
First of all, Iger confirmed that Lucasfilm’s next Star Wars theatrical movie would be The Mandalorian and Grogu and it’ll arrive in 2026. Right now there are two opens dates on May 22nd and December 18th, so expect it to land on one of those.
Zootopia 2 was also confirmed to arrive in 2025, with no hard date set. Screenwriter Jared Bush is coming back to work on the film, joined by co-director Josie Trinidad. Expect to hear the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin as officer Judy Hopps and Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde. The Zootopia franchise kicked off in 2016 with the first movie earning over $1B worldwide and launching an animated series on Disney+. Right now, there’s a November 26th 2025 date that’s open where the film could land.
Disney continued to lean-in on sequels by revealing that Frozen 3 and Toy Story 5 would hit theaters in 2026. These are two of Disney’s longest-running franchises at this point, but they approach their audiences differently. The Toy Story films get more mature to reflect that the kids who loved them in the beginning are now adults. Frozen did that a little bit with its sequel, which I think was superior to the original, by the way, but it remains to be seen if that continues with this third (and final?) chapter. As for open dates, we could see Frozen 3 land on November 25th 2026, with Toy Story 5 on June 19th 2026. I suppose those could swap or perhaps could pushed to a later date, but we’ll just have to see how things progress.
The worst kept secret ever was confirmed as Fede Alvarez’s upcoming Aliens movie is officially titled Alien: Romulus. No release date for that one yet.
And for you Swifties out there, Disney+ will be the exclusive home of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version), premiering on March 15th 2024. The streaming film will include five bonus songs from Swift’s 2020 album, Folklore. Haters gonna hate hate hate, but Taylor Swift will keep making that money.
There’s something rotten stinking up Zelda Williams and Diablo Cody’s Lisa Frankenstein, and no, it’s not the corpse half of this undead teen rom-com. Unfortunately, it’s Williams’ clunky direction and the surprisingly lame script by Cody that buries the committed lead performances by the talented Kathryn Newton and Riverdale star Cole Sprouse. On paper, this has the makings of a high school comedy classic. Cody, writer of Juno, Young Adult, and the more apt cult favorite Jennifer’s Body knows her way around offbeat, savage tales of burgeoning womanhood. Williams, the daughter of the late Robin Williams, is set to make her own mark in the field of comedy. And Newton, who has shown her comedic chops in this arena already with the body-swapping horror-comedy Freaky. It takes a concerted effort to mess this up quite as badly as Lisa Frankenstein manages to.
The rhythm and tone are off almost immediately. In the screening I attended, filled with giggling young influencers ready to pop at every joke, the room was silent for the first 40 minutes as every punchline wiffed badly. The flatness is felt right away as we’re introduced to Lisa Swallows (Newton), a high school misfit who witnessed her mother butchered by a random slasher. Her father (Joe Chrest) quickly gets remarried to the wicked Janet (Carla Gugino), who hates Lisa and everything about her. But at least Lisa has her new stepsister, Taffy (Liza Soberano), popular/slutty cheerleader who cares enough to try and make her less of a social disaster.
Set in the 1980s with all of the requisite pop songs and outrageous outfits to match, Lisa Frankenstein feels like a film that Cody probably would’ve directed herself if her one directorial effort, the long-forgotten 2013 religious-comedy Paradise, wasn’t such a misfire. It seems that she’s going for a Tim Burton vibe but Williams doesn’t have the experience to bring that vision to life. Newton’s Lisa carries the big hair and dress of a young Helena Bonham Carter as she hangs out at the nearby graveyard, pining for the Victorian era man whose grave she frequents. After experiencing a humiliating day at school, a freak storm brings Lisa’s wish to life. He rises from the grave to be with her, but it seems the spirits have made a boo-boo. Lisa doesn’t really want to BE with him. So into the “friend zone” he goes. Sprouse tries his best to match that Johnny Depp macabre Edward Scissorhands vibe.
Lisa Frankenstein has a great idea, a fun, almost Heathers-esque take on Mary Shelley’s classic horror novel. We’ve seen a lot of Frankenstein riffs lately but this is the only one that doesn’t seem to know how to achieve what it wants to be. While some of the visuals, supernatural humor, and even an opening Corpse Bride-esque animated sequence continue the Tim Burton similarities, the film isnt nearly sly enough or grisly enough to make much of an impression. And that’s even as Lisa and her zombie beau begin hacking her rivals to death so they can claim appendages for him. With each new limb, the undead creature looks less like a shambling monster and more like the handsome star of a CW series. You’ll get a few giggles when “On the Wings of Love” backs the wanton slaughter, but the film never fully commits to the craziness of its premise. While Focus Features wants this to be seen as a Valentine’s Day date film for teens, Newton and Sprouse don’t really click on a romantic level. They work better together during the comically murderous moments when Lisa gives in to her oddball sensibilities and he ratchets up the body count to impress her.
The thing is, I still admire Lisa Frankenstein for attempting to recreate the sort of eccentric 1980s teen comedy that I, and clearly Diablo Cody, used to love. If this movie had been released when I was a kid, it would probably be a personal favorite. But it didn’t come out then; it’s here now, and the demands of this kind of film are just different. There’s no energy to speak of, and a curious lack of audaciousness for such a zany idea hatched from the typically reliable Cody. This movie should be outrageous from start to finish and it just isn’t.
Recently, Cody revealed that, to her anyway, Lisa Frankenstein and Jennifer’s Body exist in the same cinematic universe. It’s funny, because Lisa Frankenstein almost feels like an attempted correction of what went wrong with that 2009 film, which was unfairly destroyed by people who just didn’t like Megan Fox at the time. But if you were to go back and watch it now, Fox wasn’t ready for that kind of demanding lead role and its mixing of genres, and the film suffered as a result. At least in this case, Newton is more than ready. She’s a special talent, I think with the potential to be the next Goldie Hawn. But she’s been let down by unsure writing and inexperienced direction. That said, Lisa Frankenstein will probably still find an audience who love its outsider spirit, grisly bloodshed, and unusual love story, while the rest of us will wish it had stayed buried.
Lisa Frankenstein opens in theaters on February 9th.
Moana 2 is coming, and a lot sooner than you think. Disney’s earnings call today was the place for a new teaser for the sequel. It’s a brief piece of footage revealing a shot of the island and the titular heroine calling out with a conch. We also hear the familiar laugh of the demigod Maui, voiced in the previous movie by Dwayne Johnson.
Here’s the kicker: Moana 2 will hit theaters on November 27th of this year.
You may recall that back in 2020 we learned of a Moana TV series set for Disney+. It was supposed to arrive in 2023, but Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that it has been retooled into a feature film.
David Derrick Jr., a storyboard artist on Raya and the Last Dragon and Encanto, will direct the film. While Lin-Manuel Miranda won’t return as composer, new music will be composed by Grammy winners Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, along with nominee Opetaia Foa’i, and Grammy winner Mark Mancina.
It’s unclear if previous stars Auliʻi Cravalho, who recently starred in Mean Girls, and Dwayne Johnson will return.
*NOTE: This is a reprint of our review from the Sundance Film Festival*
In January of 2023, Nico Parker stole the first episode of The Last of Us, playing the doomed daughter of Pedro Pascal in the HBO existential zombie series. The follow-up to her breakout role is playing an average teenager in just as a devastating situation: dealing with her brother going through hospice.
Written by first-time writer/director Laura Chinn, Suncoast follows Doris (Parker) as she ignores her feelings about her brother’s impending death. As she starts to acclimate to her Christian High School, her mother Kristine (Laura Linney) moves her son into the Suncoast Hospice Center. It just so happens that it is 2005 and the facility is the same one where Terri Schiavo, a vegetative woman at the center of a national debate between right-to-die groups and pro-life ones, was placed by her husband.
Suncoast marks Chinn’s directorial debut, but she did cut her teeth writing for sitcoms like The Mick and Grandfathered. Despite her comedy background, the film is extremely moving and filled with pathos for every single character. Doris is a typical teenager that you’ve seen in other coming-of-age films, but because it is partially based on Chinn’s real life, the character feels like a groundbreaking representation. She takes advantage of the distance between herself and her mother by throwing parties at their home while Kristine sleeps at the center. Keeping an eye on her is Paul Warren (Woody Harrelson), a life advocate protesting Schiavo’s impending death outside the hospice.
Woody Harrelson plays the religious version of his character in The Edge of Seventeen. Guiding Doris along, he serves as more of a mentor character than someone on their own journey. It seems like Harrelson likes to break out the surrogate father figure every couple of years and he’s good at it.
Laura Linney is trading her prim and proper but ruthless character from Ozark for a vicious and passionate mother as Kristine. Both Linney and Chinn do a great job at making the character seem neglectful of her daughter for the most understandable reason. Linney is raw and yet grounded, throwing in a few laughs here and there.
Keyla Monterroso Mejia, who you may know from her guest spots on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Abbot Elementary, shows up as an overly smiley nurse. It’s a very small part but Mejia knows how to make the most of it.
Despite standout performances, Suncoast belongs to Parker. It’s a star-making turn for the young actress and somehow she can be relatable and funny in a very specific situation. She doesn’t milk the humor and instead brings a sweet awkwardness to Doris. Her performance, which won the Breakthrough Performance Award at Sundance, and Chinn’s script work beautifully together. If this is the role she chose as her follow-up to The Last of Us, then I can’t wait to see the full breadth of her range.
Celine Song had the kind of debut feature any filmmaker would die for. Past Lives debuted at Sundance to rave reviews but went on to be one of the most awarded films of the year, heavily discussed by those who felt it deserved more than the two Oscar nominations it received, even if one was for Best Picture. Count me among that group. It’s an unforgettable movie and has everyone on pins and needles to know what she’ll do next. Well, now we know, and there’s good reason to be excited.
Deadline reports Celine Song’s new film is The Materialists, and it has the incredible cast of Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal already attached. Damn. Of course, A24 will be handling this one just as they did Past Lives because it would be stupid to get off this train when it’s just started chugging.
Details on the plot are few, but the report states it’ll be a rom-com that centers on a matchmaker who gets involved with a rich man but still pines for the broke guy she left behind.
So a definite change of pace for Song, but with that cast it might not even matter. All three are incredibly popular and hot right now, so we could see The Materialists be more than a critical favorite.
If you thought Margot Robbie would duck into the shadows for a while after the box office smash Barbie, think again. Robbie has signed on to star opposite Colin Farrell in A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, the latest film from Columbus and After Yangdirector Kogonada.
This is a pretty exciting package. Deadline reports on the news, but has little in the way of details. What we do know is that the story centers on two strangers who connect through an amazing journey. I imagine that journey is big, bold, and beautiful, too.
The film will be directed by Kogonada from a script by Seth Reiss, a co-writer on The Menu.
So no breaks for Robbie, even after she was left out of the Best Actress race at the Oscars. Barbie still earned eight nominations, with Robbie included as one of the film’s producers. She’s currently developing an Ocean’s 11 prequel film, but who knows how far along that is or if it’ll even happen. As for Farrell, he can be seen next in the Apple TV+ series, Sugar, and he has Penguin, a series spinoff of The Batman, coming to Max.
Nobody could’ve thought the person to launch the next great hit horror franchise would be John Krasinski, but that’s exactly what he did with 2018’s A Quiet Place. The rare genre film that was a box office success and a critical darling, the film launched an equally successful sequel just two years later, one that teased a wider universe ready to be explored. And now that idea comes to fruition with A Quiet Place: Day One, which isn’t a sequel but a prequel to an even that has already been teased.
In A Quiet Place Part II we see the chaotic arrival of the hostile extraterrestrial creatures that hunt by sound. In A Quiet Place: Day One, we see that day expanded on from the perspective of an entirely new cast led by Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o. She’s joined by Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou, and Alex Wolff.
Hounsou is the only returning character of them all, playing the “Man On the Island”, leader of a small clan of survivors seen in Part II.
With Krasinski off directing IF and preparing A Quiet Place Part III, the duties on Day One went to Michael Sarnoski. He’s best known for the Nicolas Cage drama Pig. Sarnoski also wrote the script and is keeping plot details mostly under wraps.
