I don’t normally like to post about the box office winners and losers outside of the weekly roundup (which has all but been eliminated now thanks to the pandemic), but this involves my beloved X-Men. With 2019 long in the books, the numbers have been added up as to which films cost their respective studios the most money. Turns out, this dishonorable distinction goes to Dark Phoenix, the final X-Men film before Fox turned the reins over to Disney.
According to numbers crunched by Deadline, Dark Phoenix cost Fox about $133M when all was said and done. Oof. The numbers go like this: the film made $252M at the box office, with Fox taking about $100M of that due to the split with theaters. Throw in VOD, Bluray/DVD, and TV, and that’s another $110M in revenue. So with that $210M earned so far, one then needs to factor in the roughly $343M in production and marketing costs. And there’s your $133M in total losses.
A sad way to go out, for sure, and I’m betting Disney sees that and is happy to keep New Mutants on the shelf even longer.
And in case you’re wondering, the next biggest money losers were Terminator: Dark Fate at $122M, and Cats with $113M.
What a time to be a mystery fan. The success of Black Mirror has really brought the twilight-zone type story back in vogue and I, for one, love it. Amazon Prime just dropped the trailer for season 2 of their series Homecoming and I was thoroughly confused…I just remembered that as being the series Julia Roberts was in and knew nothing about the plot. I’m happy to report that the second season is a totally new story with all new characters, so I’m not quite as out of the loop as I thought. When I watched the trailer I was hooked in, what transpires feels so much like an episode of the aforementioned Charlie Brooker series that I was actually looking for little Black Mirror easter eggs. Alas, it is separate but the intrigue is the same. Playing like a really messed up version of The Truman Show that I have to see through my only concern is that the trailer is giving away too much. In case you’re not yet convinced they through together a stellar cast to deliver the story, headlined by the astonishing Janelle Monáe and including folks like Chris Cooper and Stephan James…I could be wrong but I think I even saw Tim Robbins in there somewhere. Maybe not, check out the trailer below and tell me…was that Tim Robbins?
Check out our previous coverage of Homecoming right here!
Universal’s controversial move to release Trolls World Tour on digital has paid off in a big way. We already knew the animated sequel had a dynamite opening weekend, but reports from Wall Street Journal say it continued to rock better numbers than the studio anticipated.
Trolls World Tour reportedly earned Universal nearly $100M over three weeks of digital rentals. That earned the studio nearly $77M in revenue, more than what 2016’s Trolls made for them. If those numbers confuse you, consider the vastly different reporting between theatrical and VOD. While box office earning are split 50/50 between the studio and theaters, Universal claims roughly 80% of digital rental sales. Trolls grossed $346M worldwide, with a $125M production budget. Trolls World Tour cost about $90M to produce.
And these results have Universal considering a change to their overall release strategy, one that balances theatrical and digital…
“The results for ‘Trolls World Tour’ have exceeded our expectations and demonstrated the viability of PVOD,” Jeff Shell, head of NBCUniversal, said. “As soon as theaters reopen, we expect to release movies on both formats.”
One thing that isn’t being mentioned that I’ll just touch on briefly, is the impact Trolls World Tour‘s digital release will have on future Bluray/DVD . Those are going to go into the toilet, most likely, while Trolls did a robust $70M of additional business. When you’re talking about profit margins such as this, those numbers matter, too.
Texas is just one of a handful of states looking to lift stay-at-home restrictions over the next few days. That means non-essential business can begin reopening their doors, and that includes cinemas. With these plans increasing, cinemas have begun to try and figure out what means for them, because the landscape has definitely changed. For Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse, it means keeping all of their locations closed for the time being.
An Alamo spokesperson told THR that there are no current plans to reopen any of their 40-plus locations this weekend, despite state governments granting them the ability to do so…
“Opening safely is a very complex project that involves countless new procedures and equipment, all of which require extensive training. This is something we cannot and will not do casually or quickly. We will not be opening this weekend. But know this, when we do open, we will be providing the safest possible experience for both our staff and our guests and we can’t wait to see you all again!”
Alamo Drafthouse is hardly the first theater chain saying they won’t be ready at the drop of a hat. The National Association of Theatre Owners recently stated most cinemas are unprepared to reopen. AMC, the biggest such chain in the country, have also stated they won’t reopen until there are new movies available. At the time, most studios have moved their 2020 content until much later in the year or into 2021.
It’s possible Alamo holds out until the release of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet on July 17th. That movie seems to be the marker for the summer. As long as Warner Bros. keeps it in place, we may see every theater chain do what needs to be done to reopen by that time.
We may not have seen the last of Chris Hemsworth as Tyler Rake. The Netflix action flick Extraction has been met with solid reviews, and from the beginning it’s always looked like the potential launch of a franchise. But is that the case? According to director Sam Hargrave and writer Joe Russo, it’s already been discussed.
Hargrave, the stunt coordinator who made his directorial debut on Extraction, told Digital Spy before the movie’s released that a sequel, or possibly a sequel, has been talked about…
“We’re all going to wait to see how fans react to the film. And based on that, there have been discussions of different storylines that could take place in different times – both forward in time and backwards in time.”
“We’re just waiting to see what happens, and to see how the appetite is for these characters and for this film,” Hargrave continued. “And then we’ll make our decision. But there definitely have been discussions of broadening this world, for sure.”
Collider goes a bit further in their discussion with Hargrave, focusing in on a scene between the mercenary Rake, and his former ally Gaspar, played by Stranger Things‘ David Harbour. They ask Hargrave if their past history together could be an avenue for a followup movie, be it a sequel or a prequel…
“There’s a lot of potential; it’s so interesting. And again, the beauty of an ambiguous ending is that there’s a lot of ways you can go. You can go forwards or backwards. Either way you look on the timeline are very interesting stories.”
Hargrave continued, “It wasn’t something [discussed] on set. As soon as it got mentioned, that thought of a sequel — because, I guess, Netflix was enjoying the dailies and things were coming together and people were like, ‘Oh, this could be…’. You know, you talk about all these things. Is it a franchise? Is it all these things? Who knows until the movie comes out and the audience responds. They’ll be the ones who decide. But it was talked about. As soon as it was, Joe brought up an interesting point that most of the time, you get a sequel. Rarely do you go back in time into prequels. […] You get the sense that Chris and Harbour have a great chemistry […] so we thought that was a very interesting way — if you were to go backwards in time — that you could play with the prequel to a story like this.”
Turning to Russo, he seems enthusiastic about the idea of a prequel that could bring Hemsworth and Harbour back together…
“I thought their chemistry was fantastic in the film. I think Harbour’s amazing. He’s a scene-stealer. [A prequel] is a great idea. I think it would be interesting — you know, we traditionally go forward in franchises, but what if you went backwards? That would be an interesting concept to explore.”
When asked if there had already been discussions with Netflix, Russo added…
“Maybe. [Netflix was] very happy with the film and very supportive of it. They’ve been phenomenal to work with. Certainly, when you find an interesting character and an interesting world to explore with a great director, you’re going to want to continue to explore it. My brother and I love franchise filmmaking, we love serialized storytelling. I just think you can do interesting things with characters as you progress their story. You’re limited by two hours, you can only say so much, it’s a very specific craft. When you expand the amount of time you put that character onscreen, you can make other choices with them. So, it would be exciting at hell to go back to work on a second film in that series. We’ve had the preliminary conversations. The question is: Does it all make sense? Can we find the right story to tell? Are we happy to go tell that? Does Sam want to tell that story? Does Chris want to tell that story? There’s still a lot of work to be done.”
Oh, now I get it. The Coen Brothers may have given their blessing to John Turturro’s horny The Big Lebowski spinoff, The Jesus Rolls, but it’s evident why they wanted nothing to do with it. Written, directed, and starring Turturro who returns as peripheral character, bowling-obsessed creep Jesus Quintana, this misguided and flatly unfunny film relies on celebrity cameos and your hopes it can live up to the 1998 classic. But any connection to ‘Lebowski’ is as wide and vacant as the gap in a 7-10 split.
Turtorro turns to an unusual source in his quest to reimagine, perhaps revive, the character of Jesus Quintana. The Jesus Rolls is very loosely based on Bertrand Blier’s 1974 French sexual deviant comedy Les Valseuses (aka Going Places), and the amorous escapades and outright horniness remain pretty much intact. A road movie but one without much of a destination, the film stutters and stalls with occasional pit stops for random hookups and petty crimes, but little that says Jesus Quintana is deserving of his own movie.
That feeling of pointlessness pervades every moment of this film, and it will only be worse if you hold The Big Lebowski in really high esteem. The story, such as it is, starts out as a reclamation project. Jesus, who has been serving time in prison for public indecency (his pedophilia crimes mentioned in ‘Lebowski‘ easily brushed aside as a “misunderstanding”), he’s released from jail by a prison warden (Christopher Walken, cheesy in his brief appearance) who is just sad to see his star bowler leave. Jesus is picked up by his best bud Peter (Bobby Cannavale, sad), a fellow con and petty criminal, and within moments they are stealing cars up and down the road. They soon encounter Jesus’ promiscuous friend Marie, played by Audrey Tautou as a sortof sexed-up version of Amelie.
The guys treat Marie like shit, but that goes for pretty much every female who crosses their path. They bang Marie at will, and she’s all gung-ho for it, even taking them at the same time. But alas, she has gone her entire life without having an orgasm. If there’s a goal to be found in this entire, meaningless journey it’s for Marie to finally cum, and the two guys plow their way to try and achieve it. That’s when they aren’t abandoning her at the scene of crimes…repeatedly. Or ditching her to pay the check after being spooked by a couple of cops. Turturro’s attempts to paint women as sexually-liberated are confused and pathetic, but in another case it’s downright disgusting.
That involves the arrival of Susan Sarandon, in a thankless role as a recent parolee with nowhere to go. The guys, who have ditched Marie at this point, stalk the women’s prison for an easy lay. Sarandon’s character takes them up on the offer after they wine and dine her for a while. Now, some might appreciate the incendiary quality to Turturro and Cannavale running a train on Sarandon, but there’s nothing really interesting about it. Nor is it played for laughs. On the contrary, it’s quite a somber moment, punctuated by a violent act that is shocking but empty. That Turturro thinks this is a point of redemption for Jesus only goes to show how badly he’s grasping to give his character meaning.
But there aren’t enough celebrity appearances to spare that can fix The Jesus Rolls. Pete Davidson shows up to play a big-dicked virgin who tickles Marie’s fancy (and other things), plus Jon Hamm is a running-gag as a boisterous masseuse. They’re joined by guest stars J. B. Smoove, Tim Blake Nelson, Gloria Reuben, and Sônia Braga who undoubtedly leaped at the chance to be part of the ‘Lebowski‘ mythos. It’s a wonder if they still feel that way.
There is bowling, or at least there’s one scene on the lanes, and it comes across as perfunctory. Turturro can’t wait to get away from it, and quickly has it devolve into disturbing dances and attempted debauchery. His most famous catchphrase, “Nobody fucks with the Jesus”, pops up like someone reminding you “Hey, remember you liked him in The Big Lebowski”? Yeah, but he should’ve stayed there.
It’s clear that Turturro has an affection for Jesus Quintana, and wanted to give the purple-clad bowler a new life and a new, defining arc. While the wandering nature of the plot is intentional, and charming in a shaggy sort of way, Jesus is less interesting now with an entire movie all to himself. By the time Turturro gets to the limp final frame of The Jesus Rolls, he seems to realize it, too. He was a one-joke character in a classic movie. He definitely should’ve stayed that way. Some characters are best left on the margins where they can have a moment to shine, to bowl that perfect game, rather than go too far and end up in the gutterball lane.
David Gordon Green’s rather eclectic career has found him tackling pretty much everything, from acclaimed indies such as George Washington to stoner comedies like Pineapple Express. But now he’s got both feet fully planted in the realm of horror, finding his most successful box office hit with 2018’s Halloween, which will be followed by the double-header of Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends. But he’s not leaving the genre after that, and will next take on another iconic horror franchise: Hellraiser.
THR reports that HBO has set into motion a Hellraiser series, with Green attached to direct the pilot and additional episodes assuming it gets picked up. Clive Barker’s novel The Hellbound Heart will serve as the basis, but of course, so will the extensive film series which began in 1987 and includes nine sequels. Hellraiser is the home of Pinhead, one of horror’s most recognizable movie villains.
Writers on the series include Mark Verheiden (Battlestar Galactica) and Michael Dougherty (Krampus).
If you’re wondering where David Goyer’s upcoming movie reboot fits into this…well, it doesn’t. These are two completely separate Hellraiser projects. That leads me to question whether there’s enough demand to support them both. My guess is the answer is “no” and it’ll be a race to see which one gets released first.
Green working with HBO isn’t that much of a surprise. The production company he shares with Danny McBride has already brought shows Eastbound & Down, Vice Principals, and The Righteous Gemstones to the network.
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has been a low-key favorite since it’s release. I’ll have to admit that I’ve only watched the pilot episode and never felt the urge to continue I can totally see why people love the show. Ellie Kemper is really all the proof you need to garner a watch but when you add in Jane Krakowski, Daniel Radcliffe and a cavalcade of characters guaranteed never to bore you I’m second-guessing my decision not to give it a further watch.
This new special takes advantage of Netflix’s innovative and barely used gimmick of interactivity. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch made good use of the tech but it didn’t really result in a slew of films using the technology. Honestly, this seems like a great way to re-introduce it. When you’re dealing with something new that could be the butt of jokes it’s probably best to bring your own jokes to the table. The trick is working though, even if I wasn’t interested in this show from the start the use of a choose your own adventure comedy is just too much to pass up.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Vs The Reverend Interactive Special!
Studios are being forced to make some hard choices when it comes to the major films they had planned for theatrical release. Universal has been out in front of this, and it paid off big time when they sent Trolls World Tour straight to digital. Now they’re going to hope to replicate that success a movie they were banking a lot on, the Judd Apatow/Pete Davidson comedy The King of Staten Island.
Universal has chosen to move up The King of Staten and release it on digital June 12th. The film is loosely based on SNL’s Pete Davidson and his troubled upbringing in Staten Island, including the death of his father on 9/11, his issues with substance abuse, and of course, his career in stand-up comedy. Apatow directed and co-wrote the script with Davidson and comedian Dave Sirus. If life had stayed normal, the film would’ve had its big world premiere at SXSW.
Joining Davidson in the cast is terrific mix of actors and fellow comedians. Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, Bel Powley, Maude Apatow, Pamela Adlon, Steve Buscemi, Ricky Velez , Moises Arias, and Lou Wilson co-star.
Watch Judd Apatow and Pete Davidson make the announcement below.
SYNOPSIS: Scott (Davidson) has been a case of arrested development ever since his firefighter father died when he was seven. He’s now reached his mid-20s having achieved little, chasing a dream of becoming a tattoo artist that seems far out of reach. As his ambitious younger sister (Maude Apatow, HBO’s Euphoria) heads off to college, Scott is still living with his exhausted ER nurse mother (Oscar® winner Marisa Tomei) and spends his days smoking weed, hanging with the guys—Oscar (Ricky Velez, Master of None), Igor (Moises Arias, Five Feet Apart) and Richie (Lou Wilson, TV’s The Guest Book)—and secretly hooking up with his childhood friend Kelsey (Bel Powley, Apple TV+’s The Morning Show).
But when his mother starts dating a loudmouth firefighter named Ray (Bill Burr, Netflix’s F Is for Family), it sets off a chain of events that will force Scott to grapple with his grief and take his first tentative steps toward moving forward in life. The film also stars Steve Buscemi as Papa, a veteran firefighter who takes Scott under his wing, and Pamela Adlon (FX’s Better Things) as Ray’s ex-wife, Gina.
During this pandemic, we’ve seen a number of movies slated for theatrical get shipped to various streaming services. Many of them have been comedies, which are always sorta hit-or-miss at the box office and may find a better life on digital. Well, now you can add the Seth Rogen comedy An American Pickle to the list. Don’t remember that one? Well, it’s been sitting around a while.
According to THR, Sony has shipped Rogen comedy An American Pickle over to HBO Max. With so much of 2020 left uncertain, Sony has made the decision to unload one of the movies they had planned for a theatrical release. The funny thing is that they hadn’t announced a date for it at all, even though it has been around since 2018.
The film is pretty weird, and stars Rogen as Herschel Greenbaum, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1918 and works in a factory making pickles. When he accidentally falls into a vat of pickles he is brined for a century, waking up in the present day in perfect condition. The first thing he does is seek out any living family members, and comes across his great-grandson played also by Rogen.
Directing will be Brandon Trost, a cinematographer on Rogen films such as The Interview and Neighbors. The script is by Man Seeking Woman writer Simon Rich.
HBO will release the film “this summer”, but no clear date has been set. Presumably, there will be images and maybe even a teaser very soon.
