It’s like nobody believes it that Xolo Maridueña will return as Blue Beetle when James Gunn launches the DCU. Well, who can really blame them? While Maridueña was the first actor confirmed to be keeping his role, that was before Blue Beetle became the lowest-grossing DCEU movie of them all. If Gunn decided to reverse course, who could blame him?
But so far that hasn’t happened, and Gunn has had plenty of opportunities if he wanted to go in a different direction with the Jaime Reyes character.
As for Maridueña, he remains ready to go and firm in his belief that he will be back in the Blue Beetle armor, one way or another…
“I know we’ll see Blue Beetle again, whether it comes in the form of Blue Beetle 2 or wherever,” Maridueña said [via ScreenRant] at the recent Saturn Awards.
Maridueña continued, “It’s been really great to work alongside James [Gunn] and Peter [Safran], who have graciously folded us into their new universe even though it wasn’t part of what they came up with. It’s an honor. Now, where Blue Beetle heads in the future? I don’t know. But I can confidently say that we will see him soon.”
His caveat that it might not happen in a Blue Beetle sequel seems accurate. Following a $130M theatrical run, it’s doubtful that Warner Bros. will want to invest in another movie, but appearances scattered throughout the DCU makes a lot of sense. Perhaps when a new Justice League is formed he’ll be part of it?
As if Donald Trump doesn’t have enough to worry about spending millions of dollars to fight 92 criminal counts, a documentary about the woman who told the world his penis is “smaller than average” and shaped like a citizen of the Mushroom Kingdom is about to premiere on Peacock. Stormy, a new doc about porn star Stormy Daniels aka Stephanie Clifford is set to hit the streamer on March 18th.
Daniels became a national celebrity when it was revealed that Donald Trump paid her $130K to keep quiet about their affair, committed while he was still married to his current wife. The payoff was so the information wouldn’t come out during the 2016 Presidential Election and hurt his chances of winning.
The film is directed and exec-produced by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Sarah Gibson (Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste). Judd Apatow is also aboard as an exec-producer through his Apatow Productions banner.
Here’s the official synopsis: Stormy delves into the life and times of Stormy Daniels, as she shares her story and account of events that have become part of American history … the film takes the audience behind the curtain as Stormy navigates being a mother, an artist, and an advocate working hard to reinvent herself, while still grappling with the bombshell that went off in her life five years earlier. From reporters to lawyers to politicians, many have attempted to define Stormy Daniels. Stormy tells the unvarnished truth about an unlikely American icon — this time, in her own words.
Recent developments have put Daniels back into the spotlight. The hush money case against Trump for the payments to Daniels, and the falsification of business records to hide the alleged affair, could be the first criminal trial to take place, possibly as soon as next month, just in time for the Stormy doc to hit. Could the timing be any better?
Matthew Vaughn has franchise fever right now. Not only is Kingsman still going strong, but he has hopes of connecting it to his latest spy movie, Argylle, and building a cinematic universe. But if that happens, Vaughn tells ThePlaylist that it won’t be just those two franchises, but possibly two more spy projects that he wants to bring into the mix…
“I’ve done the Kingsman. Hopefully, we have more ‘Kingsman,’ and we’ve got the world of ‘Argylle,’ and there are two other spy things I’m looking at,” Vaughn said.
“So you’re going well; well, Marvel and DC created these universes that are superheroes; why can’t we do it with spies? So that’s part of the plan,” he added.
That could be a long shot, though, given Argylle‘s poor reception at the box office. Costing roughly $200M, the Apple film only earned $18M last weekend. It’s hard to see Apple wanting to invest in sequels.
Vaughn has more up his sleeve, though. There’s also Kick-Ass 3, which we know is a planned reboot with an entirely new cast. While it shouldn’t come as a surprise since Jeff Wadlow directed the previous film more than a decade ago, but Vaughn won’t be directing this new one, either.
“I have a director, I have the cast, I have the concept,” he revealed to ThePlaylist again on their podcast.
“I just have to— it’s pretty extraordinary,” Vaughn said, beginning to explain why he won’t direct it. “Every time I do these interviews, everyone’s always asking about all these millions of movies that we should or could be making, but I’ve just got to put some infrastructure in my life because being the one-man band and playing all the instruments…a) I’m getting too tired, but b) you know, there’s no such thing as a one-man orchestra, and that’s what we need to build right now.”
The problem with doing another Kick-Ass (and newly adapting anything penned by comics writer Mark Millar, who also did Wanted and Kingsman) is finding something fresh to say. When the film arrived in 2010, Hollywood was only about two years into its obsession with Marvel and DC superhero movies. Already, they were feeling very stale and homogenized, and Kick-Ass was like a foot in the ass of the genre. But the landscape has changed. We have R-rated shows like The Boys out there, and traditional superhero movies are less popular than they’ve ever been. What is there to say now?
“The most important line in’ Kick-Ass’ was… two lines [were]… ‘why does everyone want to be Paris Hilton, no one wants to be Spider-Man’—which I think is fascinating because remember that was a new thing… the whole reality star thing, that was a big thing, and ‘With no power comes no responsibility,’ so those were the two hooks.”
“So we’ve taken those two ideas, and we [now] have to reflect,” he continued. “’ Kick-Ass,’ the reboot is a reflection of the world we now live in and what’s happened to superhero films and comics and where we are now.”
“‘Kick-Ass’ was a, ‘Hey, this is new and fresh and new way of looking at [things],’ so we’ve had to do that again. So all I can say is people will be very surprised. And I didn’t want to go back to the world of ‘Kick-Ass’ just to do a ‘Kick-Ass 3,’ and it’s the same, but it’s not the same. It’s not what anyone expects, but there will be enough in it for people to go, ‘OK, that’s different, but it’s pretty damn cool.’”
So a lot of irons on the fire for Vaughn, but I would caution that some of this stuff may have passed their expiration dates. I’m pretty sure Argylle is dead in the water, and we shouldn’t forget that audiences had already moved on from Kick-Ass by the time the sequel arrived just three years later. Kingsman is coming off the disappointing prequel, The King’s Man, so it’s also got some rebuilding to do.
It’s already started. Goddammit it’s ALREADY STARTED!!! The Super Bowl is still days away, but teaser TV Spots are dropping online now, starting with IF, the imaginary friends fantasy-comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and directed by John Krasinski…or is that Randall Park?
At least this teaser for the eventual Big Game spot is sorta fun, especially if you’re a fan of The Office. See, Randall Park turns up and impersonates Krasinski, which you might recall he did in the Season 9 episode of The Office titled “Andy’s Ancestry”. So they’re having some fun with fans here and that’s kinda cool. We know that Reynolds loves his pranks, and the more meta, the better. Isn’t the Deadpool franchise almost entirely built on meta gags at this point?
Here’s the IFsynopsis: From writer and director John Krasinski, IF is about a girl who discovers that she can see everyone’s imaginary friends — and what she does with that superpower — as she embarks on a magical adventure to reconnect forgotten IFs with their kids. IF stars Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Cailey Fleming, Fiona Shaw, and the voices of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr. and Steve Carell alongside many more as the wonderfully unique characters that reflect the incredible power of a child’s imagination.
IF was written and directed by Krasinski, not Randall Park, and hits theaters on May 17th.
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival is wrapped, the Punch Drunk Critics have returned from Park City, and with all of the awards handed out, it’s time to talk about the best movies we saw there this year. Joining this episode of Cinema Royale is fellow critic Cortland Jacoby, who attended the festival with me once again.
We’re going to pick our favorite films to emerge from Sundance this year, which of them got acquired for distribution, and their prospects for success once released. Two movies from Kristen Stewart, a Will Ferrell road trip doc, and even a Nazi-fighting comedy featuring Too Short, we’ve got a lot to cover!
All of this and more on a new episode of Cinema Royale!
It doesn’t even matter that practically no big releases have dropped into theaters all of January, audiences still didn’t want to pay for Argylle. Matthew Vaughn’s starry spy comedy, led by Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill, and John Cena, only hit $18M for the weekend. Sure, it’s the top spot, but so what? Apple put a heavy $200M into the film, and they’re not getting anything back. A total of $35M worldwide is all they got for the debut weekend, and a 35% on the Rotten Tomatoes score. It’s a bad movie, for sure, and I think it had pricey flop written all over it.
2. The Chosen: S4 Episodes 1-3– $7.4M
At number two isn’t even a movie, it’s Fathom Events’ special screening of the first three episodes of The Chosen‘s fourth season. Apparently it’s about Jesus? That’s all I know about it.
3. The Beekeeper– $5.2M/$49.4M
4. Wonka– $4.7M/$201.1M
5. Migration– $4.1M/$106.1M
6. Mean Girls– $4M/$66.3M
7. Anyone But You– $3.5M/$76.2M
8. American Fiction– $2.3M/$15M
One of the best reviewed films of the year, American Fiction continues to build after eight weeks in release, making the most of its five Oscar nominations. The Jeffrey Wright literary dramedy has $15M on a budget of under $10M, which has to make Amazon/MGM happy.
9. Poor Things– $2.1M/$28.1M
10. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom– $2M/$120.7M
At $423M worldwide, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is probably going to exit the charts soon as it’s now available on digital. A rather sad farewell to the DCEU and this franchise, which fell hard after Aquaman made $1.1B in 2018.
When horror fans get the scent of a potentially special horror film in the air, they never let it go. And that has certainly been the case recently for Longlegs, which dropped a chilling promo that needed to be decoded a few days ago, and today reveals a slightly more thorough teaser, revealing what appears to be a Silence of the Lambs-esque serial killer experience led by Nicolas Cage and It Follows breakout Maika Monroe.
The film is directed by Oz Perkins, the son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins. He’s revealed some twisted depths previously with films such as The Blackcoat’s Daughter, I Am the Pretty Thing that Lives in the House, and his best in my opinion, Gretel & Hansel.
Monroe stars as talented new FBI agent Lee Harker, who has been assigned to an unsolved case of a serial killer. As the investigation becomes more complicated with occult evidence uncovered, Harker realizes a personal link to the ruthless killer and must act quickly to prevent another family murder.
And Cage, who is also a producer on the film, plays the serial killer. Guh. Also in the cast are Alicia Witt and Blair Underwood. Perkins not only directed the film but wrote the screenplay.
Both promos are below, including the first that features a 911 call that’ll give you full-body chills. Otherwise, a lot about this movie remains a mystery, and that’s a good thing. Let’s hope it stays that way.
NEON will release Longlegs into theaters on July 12th. Expect the buzz to continue building until then.
It is with the heaviest of hearts that we have learned of the death of Carl Weathers at the age of 76. The New Orleans starred in more than 75 movies and TV shows in his career, and had been experiencing a career resurgence thanks to his role on The Mandalorianas Greef Karga. But he will always be known best for playing Apollo Creed in four Rocky movies, along with other key roles in Predator, Happy Gilmore, and Toy Story 4 where he voiced Combat Carl.
But it was his starring role in 1988’s Action Jackson that showed Weathers’ true leading man potential and box office star power. The film earned $65M on a small budget and nearly launched a franchise for Weathers, only for behind-the-scenes business to scuttle any hope of sequels.
“We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Carl Weathers,” his family said in a statement reported by Deadline. “He died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday, February 1st, 2024. … Carl was an exceptional human being who lived an extraordinary life. Through his contributions to film, television, the arts and sports, he has left an indelible mark and is recognized worldwide and across generations. He was a beloved brother, father, grandfather, partner, and friend.”
As someone who looked up to Weathers ever since I was a kid, and basically worship at the altar of Action Jackson, Predator, and pretty much everything he did, this one is a devastating loss. Punch Drunk Critics sends our sincerest condolences to Weathers’ friends and family in their time of sorrow.
One of the great crowd-funding success stories, Jeff Chan’s sci-fi film Code 8 starred brothers Stephen and Robbie Amell. It became something of a cult favorite back in 2019, and launched a Quibi spinoff series that died along with the streaming service. But it was on Netflix where the film really took off, and naturally, the streamer quickly snapped up the sequel, Code 8: Part II, which is dropping later this month.
The previous film centered on Connor, one of the rare people who have superhuman abilities. To make ends meet and help his sick mother, he agrees to help a bunch of criminals pull off a job. The sequel picks up right where the story left off, with Connor trying to stay out of trouble after being released from prison. Of course, it goes wrong when he’s forced to help out a 14-year-old superhuman kid on the run from corrupt forces.
Along with Robbie and Stephen Amell, the sequel stars Alex Mallari Jr., Sirena Gulamgaus, Jean Yoon, and Aaron Abrams. Chan returns to direct. He also co-wrote the script with Chris Paré, Sherren Lee, and Jesse Lavercombe.
Here’s the synopsis: In this sequel to Code 8, Connor is out of prison and working as a janitor at a community center, having cut ties with his former criminal associate Garrett. Connor’s attempt at staying out of trouble is destroyed when he’s forced to help 14-year-old Pav escape from a pack of corrupt officers led by Sergeant King. King uses the newly launched robotic K9’s to track Pav down, while Connor finds himself once again reaching out to Garrett and his crew for help, but can he trust the man who landed him in prison in the first place?
Code 8: Part II hits Netflix on February 28th, and if it does well expect to see another one.
Pamela Anderson, Dave Bautista, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kiernan Shipka, Billie Lourd, Brenda Song. With those names attached, do you even care what the movie is? Neither do I, just give it to me now. Well, that film is The Last Showgirl, and it’s directed by Gia Coppola. You know what else? It’s already wrapped shooting in Las Vegas.
Deadline has info on The Last Showgirl, which stars Anderson as an aging showgirl who suddenly finds herself out of a job when her Vegas showcase abruptly shutters after thirty years. She has to figure out what to do with her life, and how to mend her relationship with her daughter.
Coppola, whose grandfather is The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, directed the 2013 film Palo Alto, as well as 2020’s Mainstream.
Coppola said about the film, “I’ve always wanted to make a movie in Vegas. I’m so proud of our cast and crew, especially Pamela. I can’t wait to share her daring and heartfelt performance!”
This could be a big comeback role for Anderson. The former Baywatch beauty never really made it as a big-screen star, her most prominent role being the high-profile flop Barb Wire. Her last lead role was in 2008 when she starred opposite Denise Richards in Blonde and Blonder.
Kate Gersten wrote The Last Showgirl’s screenplay. She has previously worked on such shows as The Good Place and Schmigadoon.
