Let’s be real; Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik has been the best thing about the Sonic the Hedgehog movies. Talk about inspired casting; Carrey hasn’t been this much fun to watch in ages. Unfortunately, he sorta called it quits from acting after the second movie, stating…
“It depends. If the angels bring some sort of script that’s written in gold ink that says to me that it’s going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road, but I’m taking a break.”
Well, that gold ink, it turns out, is actually a gold ring for Sonic to race through. Variety confirms that Carrey is returning as Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. This despite the villainous Eggman tumbling to his supposed doom in the previous film. While his survival was teased in a post-credits sequence, his return wasn’t official until earlier today when teased by the film’s social media account…
You all thought I was gone, but I’ve just been underground. What you’ve seen from me is only a #shadow of things to come… pic.twitter.com/3W9Rh728Tt
Jeff Fowler, who directed the first two Sonic movies to a combined $870M worldwide, is coming back for this one, too.
Sony continues to expand on the Sonic franchise. Along with these movies, there’s also a Paramount+ spinoff series, Knuckles, centered on the antihero red echidna voiced by Idris Elba. That arrives in early 2024.
Carrey rejoins fellow castmates Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, Lee Majdoub, and Elba. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will hit theaters on December 20th!
Just as musicals have made a huge comeback, music biopics aren’t going away, either. There are a handful on the way, including this month’s Bob Marley film One Love, which is already earning some solid buzz. And following that, there’s the Amy Winehouse film, Back to Black, starring U.K. star Marisa Abela as the tragic and supremely talented singer.
The film centers on the meteoric rise of Amy Winehouse, whose soulful voice captured the hearts of millions, leading to the release of her groundbreaking album, Back to Black. But it was her struggle against personal demons that also endeared her to many, and sadly she would tragically pass away in 2011 at the age of 27.
Abela isn’t a household name yet, but this is the kind of film that could change that overnight, as she’ll be doing all of her own singing. HBO viewers will recognize her from the acclaimed series, Industry. She also had a small cameo in Barbie as Teen Talk Barbie.
Also in the cast are Jack O’Connell, Eddie Marsan, and Lesley Manville. The film is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, who directed another music biopic, Nowhere Boy, about John Lennon. She’s best known for directing something called Fifty Shades of Grey? Never heard of it.
Here is the synopsis: A behind-the-scenes glimpse into Amy Winehouse’s early rise to fame and the release of her groundbreaking studio album, Back to Black. Inspired by Amy’s deeply personal and honest lyrics, the film is an unapologetic look at the woman behind the phenomenon and the tumultuous relationship at the center of one of the most legendary albums of all time.
Back to Black will hit theaters on May 17th via Focus Features.
Mads Mikkelsen might be the most terrifying actor in the world. You know a dude is scary when their smile makes you want to run for cover. But it’s Mikkelsen’s expressive face and stoic demeanor that also helps to make him so well-rounded, and capable of projecting menace as easily as he can show sensitivity. And he shows all of these traits in Nikolaj Arcel’s bleak historical drama, The Promised Land, delivering a tour-de-force performance as a man who learns he must be more adaptable than the harsh, unforgiving land he sets out to conquer.
Mikkelsen’s rugged, angular features make him perfect for the role of Captain Ludvig Kahlen, a real-life historical figure of which little is known. When we first meet him, he’s polishing his medals after 25 years serving in the German Army. However, he’s polishing them from inside of a poor house, which shows the extent of the charity extended by Denmark to its war veterans. Ludvig, with his measly pension, has aspirations of nobility, and to do it he requests Royal permission to tame the barren Jutland Heath, cultivate it, and make it capable of sustaining a community. He’s practically laughed out of the castle by the King’s aides. Many have tried and failed, and they believe Ludvig will be no different. But they grant him permission solely to keep the King happy, as he also has hopes of seeing the Heath conquered once and for all.
The rocky terrain is the least of Ludvig’s problems, it’s the people who give him the most trouble. Worst of all is local magistrate Frederik de Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg), a clownish but extremely dangerous brute who fears Ludvig’s efforts will diminish his power. Frederik will prove to be both a political and physical threat, not just to Ludvig but to the few people he comes to rely on. Those would be runaway laborers Johannes (Morten Hee Andersen) and Ann Barbara (Amanda Collin), who fled poor treatment by Frederik. And then there’s gypsy orphan Anmai Mus (Melina Hagberg), called a “darkling” and treated cruelly by everyone she encounters. In her, we see that their are caste systems in place even among the most impoverished people in the land.
The Promised Land feels like a sweeping historical epic of grand design, a real accomplishment by director Nikolaj Arcel given how simple and personal the story is. But Ludvig’s evolution is a fascinating thing to watch, as he’s not a fully heroic man by any means. In another filmmaker’s hands, that would’ve been the easy direction to take. But Ludvig starts off the film very cold and even violent to the people he meets. It’s easy to see why; you have this soldier who has risked his life for a country that disrespects him and lets him live in squalor. In this world of chaos, Ludvig is trying to carve out a place where he belongs, and he’ll not tolerate anyone who stands in his way. In the beginning, that attitude manifests in cold-hearted interactions with others.
Eventually, Ludvig’s single-minded focus becomes a different thing. When faced with Frederick’s murderous intentions, Ludvig realizes that he will need help to see his dream to fruition, and those people he dismissed earlier are the ones who will help him achieve it. They also have their own dreams to achieve, and they aren’t that much different from his own. What forms is something close to a makeshift family that Ludvig feels he must protect from harm. But Ludvig is never a saint, and it’s always when compromising those relationships he’s made that he makes his biggest mistakes. He occasionally seeks the easy way out, to keep Frederick off of his back and to please the King (“It’s the King’s land”, he always tells himself). When much-needed laborers arrive to work the land, but they demand he get rid of Anmai because darklings are supposedly bad luck, Ludvig promises to keep the girl, who has been one of his most reliable workers, hidden away and out of sight. It’s a choice he comes to regret, as he does so many others.
It’s the many contradictions swirling around in Ludvig that make The Promised Land so compelling. Backed by Dan Romer’s swelling score and fantastic performances throughout, Arcel seems to have found his groove again. One of Denmark’s most accomplished filmmakers after his Oscar-nominated drama A Royal Affair, Arcel made the crucial mistake of coming to the U.S. to direct a dreadful adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. That was six years ago, and this is his first film since then. He seems to have gotten back to his roots, not only by tackling another drama centered around nobility, but by leaning hard on the talent in front of the camera. Arcel didn’t completely leave genre behind, though. There are acts of barbarity in this film that will make your skin crawl, and the final act delivers a very bloody and crowd-pleasing coup de grace. It’s unclear how accurately The Promised Land reflects the reality of Ludvig Kahlen’s life, but this is the kind of robust storytelling and powerful depiction by Mads Mikkelsen that ensures he’ll at least be remembered cinematically for a long time to come.
Talk about a long road walked! It’s been 36 (yes, you read that right) years since Tim Burton’s iconic freelance bio-exorcist made his debut in 1988’s Beetlejuice. Just about every 3 years since then we would hear rumblings about a sequel, the most detail about which we ever got was “Beetlejuice goes Hawaiian”. It was beginning to really seem like this would be one of those amazing films that’s one and done, which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
Then a few key things happened. First and foremost, a script Tim Burton was willing to shoot was written. Second, both Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton had late career resurgences, and last Wednesdaybecame a huge hit for Netflix proving both that audiences were in the mood for something dark and funny and that they had the perfect new star in Jenna Ortega.
To say the film has been highly anticipated would be an understatement, even dispite it’s iconic status it’s still surprsing how much excitement there has been for a film that we didn’t even have an official title for yet, nostalgia is a hell of a drug. That’s all starting to change though as Warner Bros announced via their X account that the upcoming sequel would be titled Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice AND the studio was even kind enough to provide the wonderful official poster seen below.
The poster makes perfect use of a reference to the first film, the waiting room of the afterlife, to confirm the Labor Day weekend release of September 6th, 2024. What a perfect way to close out the summer, though if I’m being honest, I would have preferred it to drop just a few weeks later. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice feels like it would be best enjoyed when the air is crisp and the leaves are starting to turn. With the title and poster now out in the world it’s only a matter of time until we see the first trailer so make sure to check in with us and we’ll make sure it’s up as soon as it’s released!
Following the billion-dollar success and eight Oscar nominations for Barbie, Warner Bros. is turning their attention to another female-centric project with literally huge growth potential. Deadline reports the studio is planning a remake of the 1958 sci-fi classic, Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman. And while that’s definitely interesting, the kicker is who will team up for it, because it’s a combination I don’t think anyone could’ve seen coming: Tim Burton and author Gillian Flynn.
Burton is the surprising choice to direct Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman, and it’ll be his next film after the release of the newly-titled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 2024 A.D.. He’ll be working with screenwriter Gillian Flynn, who is best known as the author of Gone Girl. Unexpected pairing? Yeah, you might say that.
This might be pure genius, though. Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman is a sci-fi cult classic, not too dissimilar from what Burton did on Mars Attacks! If he employs a retro style like he did on that film, and fills it with big stars and go-for-broke comedic performances, this could be something special.
All of that said, I’m not sure Flynn is the right fit for this material? I guess it just depends on the approach. Her writing tends to skew to the dark side, but if she can find some biting humor taking aim at the problems women face today, well, then it could work out.
The original movie starred Allison Hayes as a wealthy heiress whose close encounter with an alien triggers her to grow into a giant, complicating her marriage, which is already in turmoil due to her womanizing husband.
If The Movie Critic is truly Quentin Tarantino’s final movie, you just know he’s going to fill it with all of his friends. And that will make for some exciting casting news, like today’s, as Deadline reports Brad Pitt will rejoin his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood director on the project.
It’s unclear if Pitt has the title role, that of a film critic who wrote for pornographic magazines in the 1970s. But it sure seems like Pitt would be a right fit for it. While Tarantino originally sought a white guy in his 30s, we’re talking about Brad Pitt here, and he’s pretty much ageless. It’s possible that the lead role is based on film critic and porn historian William Mangold, a Tarantino favorite.
This will be Pitt and Tarantino’s third time working together. Pitt won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as stunt double Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He also starred in Tarantino’s war film Inglourious Basterds.
Tarantino has talked a little bit about The Movie Critic and it sounds deeply personal, as it should be for his final film. It’s set in 1977 California, the same year as Rolling Thunder, and was inspired by a job Tarantino had loading porn magazines into the racks. He would read the second-string film critic in one of those mags, calling him “a guy who really lived but was never really famous.”
Expect Tarantino to do some revising of film history, as well, which could be interesting to see.
Taika Waititi may or may not do a sequel to Thor: Love & Thunder. He also may or may not direct a Star Wars movie. But one thing we definitely know he’s attached to is an adaptation of Klara and the Sun, which has Wednesday star Jenna Ortega aboard. And now that film gets a huge boost, as Deadline reports Amy Adams is in talks to join the cast.
Adams, a six-time Oscar nominee, is reportedly in talks to join the Klara and the Sun, based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s New York Times bestselling novel. Ortega plays an Artificial Friend designed to prevent loneliness. She is bought by a mother, played by Adams, to help her teen daughter Josie who loves the robot but is suffering from a mysterious illness. It’s Klara’s mission to save Josie and save her family from heartbreak.
Dahvi Waller wrote the screenplay, but it’ll be interesting to see if Waititi gives it his own spin as he often does.
Coming up for Adams is Nightbitch, Marielle Heller’s film arriving this fall. She last starred in Disney’s long-awaited sequel, Disenchanted, back in 2022, and before that Dear Evan Hansen and Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
Cillian Murphy is red hot right now. That’s what an Oscar nomination for the hit film Oppenheimer will do for ya. And it’s also why Sony just backed up the money truck to acquire Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s 28 Years Later, the continuation of their zombie franchise.
So here’s the thing; Murphy is only aboard as a producer…for now. But there’s a chance he could appear in the film, having originally starred in the original, 28 Days Later, back in 2002. That movie was a critical favorite, which then launched a sequel, 28 Weeks Later, that wasn’t as well-regarded.
Sony won a bidding war that saw them going against Warner Bros. in the final two. They’ll look to give this sequel a budget of around $60M, and if it does well, another sequel will follow. That’s roughly four times the budget of 28 Weeks Later, which did not have Murphy, Boyle, or Garland attached.
The reunion of Boyle and Garland is a pretty big deal. They had a falling out and went their separate ways for years, with both having well-established filmmaking careers. Garland has been talking about getting out of filmmaking following his latest, Civil War, but it seems he’s down to keep writing.
All of that said, 28 Years Later has a much better shot at being the biggest hit of the franchise if Murphy is in front of cameras. [THR]
It’s been a while since an Antoine Fuqua movie has been heavily considered in the awards season; his style just doesn’t lend to it with the exception of 2001’s Training Day. But that could be about to change with Michael. Just looking at the talent in his upcoming Michael Jackson biopic, it could be his best shot yet.
Casting has begun in earnest, and the latest to join is Miles Teller, playing an attorney for Michael Jackson. His role could possibly be that of Howard Weitzman, Mike Geragos, or Thomas Mesereau, defense attorneys for Jackson at various points. Teller is coming off his role in Top Gun: Maverick, and will return for the upcoming sequel.
Also boarding the film is Nia Long, who will play family matriarch Katherine Jackson. Long is best known for her roles in Friday, Soul Food, and Love Jones.
They join a growing cast that includes Rustin star Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson, and Jaafar Jackson, Michael Jackson’s nephew, in the lead role. 9-year-old Juliano Krue Valdi will play MJ as a child.
The King of Pop’s story has a script from three-time Oscar nominee, John Logan, writer of Gladiator, The Aviator, and Hugo. Once again, this is looking like a clear awards season film whenever it’s completed. Filming begins soon. [Deadline]
Back in 2021 when we were all stuck at home because of the pandemic, Squid Game became a Netflix phenomenon. Maybe it’s because we were all hating life at the time, but we fell in love with watching people die in a twisted game show for money. Well, in 2024 Squid Game is coming back for season two, and it promises to raise the stakes.
The first images of Squid Game‘s second season have arrived, and in them we see Emmy-winning star Lee Jung-jae who returns as Seong Gi-hung. Looks like surviving the first games, and his subsequent trip to the U.S. to be with his daughter didn’t turn out so well. It looks as if he’ll be dragged back into the games once again to fight for his life.
Also coming back are Lee Byung-hun as Front Man and Gong Yoo as the Recruiter. New to the cast is popular South Korean actress Park Gyu-young. They’re joined by an extensive ensemble that includes Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Wi Ha-jun, Lee Jin-uk, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim, Lee David, Choi Seung-hyun, Roh Jae-won, Jo Yuri, Won Ji-an.
It’s safe to say that Netflix has high hopes for Squid Game‘s return. But circumstances that made it such a hit three years ago have changed. Will it continue to be one of the streamer’s biggest shows ever?
