23 years of this site still chugging along...
Super Bowl Trailers: Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War
by Doc on Feb.05, 2018, under Movies
In theaters May 4th
Super Bowl Trailers: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom second trailer
by Doc on Feb.05, 2018, under Movies
In theaters June 22nd
The Cloverfield Paradox – a trailer, a name and a surprise release?
by Doc on Feb.05, 2018, under Movies
And the biggest surprise Super Bowl commercial (where many are spoiled before hand) seems to go to The Cloverfield Paradox…not because we finally got the new title (it had been going around as The God Particle) and see the first footage, but actually because Netflix released it for streaming immediately after the game! That’s right – it’s available now from Netflix…it had been rumored that the streaming service would acquire the film, which had been very quiet about showing footage, and was planned to be released in theaters in April.
So far, reviews have been poor to mixed – Rotten Tomatoes so far has a tomatometer score of 15% on 41 reviews from critics, and a 61% audience score.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay screenwriter returns to genre with S.T.A.G.S.
by Doc on Feb.03, 2018, under Movies
Peter Craig, who wrote the screenplay for both parts of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, will return to young adult/teen violence by adapting S.T.A.G.S., the [asin=B074DGVYMF]YA novel from M.A. Bennett[/asin] released this past week.
The movie, from Fox 2000 and Chernin Entertainment, revolves around St. Aidan the Great’s School (S.T.A.G.S.), an exclusive English boarding school. Greer and nine other first year students are surprised to receive invitations from the Medievals, the school’s most admired – and snootiest – group of students, to attend a private weekend retreat, given that they’ve only received ridicule from them. But the retreat which promised “hunting” turns foul, as the first years are in fact the prey being hunted…
American Gods adds Jesse Alexander as showrunner
by Doc on Feb.03, 2018, under Television
The second season of American Gods finally has a new showrunner. After the abrupt departure of producers Bryan Fuller and Michael Green over budget cuts, The Hollywood Reporter says that Jesse Alexander (Heroes, Hannibal) has signed on to manage the show alongside original novel writer and executive producer Neil Gaiman.
The show has had a lot of uncertainty after reported budget cuts were being imposed by FreemantleMedia on the Starz series. Starz CEO Chris Albrecht says that Fuller and Green were not fired, and have not quit, and will be involved “as much as they can be,” but it seems unlikely at this point. The two would likely retain their executive producer credits. In addition, Gillian Anderson (Media) has already stated she will not return to the show, and Kristen Chenoweth (Easter) is not certain she will return. The former might be replaced fairly easily – the character changes appearances easily, thus far showing up as Lucille Ball, David Bowie and Marilyn Monroe, but Easter looked to set up for a pivotal part in the upcoming war of the Old and New Gods.
Stan Lee released from hospital, “feeling good”
by Doc on Feb.03, 2018, under Comics, General News
Stan Lee, who was hospitalized on Wednesday for an irregular heartbeat, was released from Cedars Sanai hospital yesterday and reports that he is “feeling great”.
“All I really want to do is tell you that I’m feeling great,” Lee told KABC via Skype. “I’m glad I spent that evening in the hospital. It did me a lot of good, now I’m home and looking for new trouble we get in to. You know, the usual…I figured that a little check up wouldn’t be bad for me. And in fact it turned out to be pretty good, it got me a lot of publicity. I didn’t realize the whole world worried if I was in the hospital of not.”
We do, Generalissimo.
The 95-year-old creator of so many comic book characters that have become central to the biggest blockbusters of recent years, has kept on the go with a seeming non-stop run of convention appearances.
HotShot Trailer: Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp
by Doc on Jan.30, 2018, under Movies
Real Heroes. Not Actual Size.
In theaters July 6th
Maze Runner: The Death Cure tops box office; Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle still rolling
by Doc on Jan.29, 2018, under Movies
The third movie in the Maze Runner trilogy, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, had a strong opening weekend, taking in $23.5M domestically and $62.6M internationally, and $105.5M overall including some openings a week earlier. The movie appears to have retained the fans, after a lackluster Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and a long delay in production due to star Dylan O’Brien’s injuries sustained on set.
Still going strong is the deserved Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, taking in another $16.1M and totaling $338M domestically, making it one of Sony’s biggest movies ever.
Another movie that has emerged out from the shadow of Star Wars: The Last Jedi is The Greatest Showman, a catchy musical (and very fictional) account of how master showman P.T. Barnum got his start. Facing tough competition through its run, it still gained $9.5M this weekend and $126M total. If you like musicals, give this movie a shot.
Syfy renews Happy!
by Doc on Jan.29, 2018, under Television
SYFY announced today a second season pickup of the network’s original series Happy!, starring Christopher Meloni and featuring the voice of Patton Oswalt. From Universal Cable Productions, this twisted graphic novel adaptation has been hailed as “one of the craziest, most utterly off-the-wall TV series ever produced” by The New York Times Syndicate and launched as the network’s best series premiere since January 2016 across all key demos. The shocking Season 1 finale is set to air this Wednesday, January 31 at 10/9c on SYFY.
“Happy! struck a chord with our SYFY audience and disrupted the TV landscape with its unique storytelling and outrageous performances led by Christopher Meloni,” said Chris McCumber, President, Entertainment Networks, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “If people thought this season was crazy – I can’t wait for fans to see what Grant Morrison, Brian Taylor and the entire cast and crew have in store for Sax and Happy!”
Based on the New York Times best-selling author Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson’s graphic novel of the same name, Happy! follows Nick Sax (Meloni) – an intoxicated, corrupt ex-cop turned hit man – who is adrift in a world of casual murder, soulless sex and betrayal. After a hit gone wrong, his inebriated life is forever changed by a tiny, relentlessly positive, imaginary blue winged horse named Happy (Oswalt). In the must-see finale, Sax and Happy are locked in a climatic confrontation to rescue Hailey (Bryce Lorenzo) from Very Bad Santa’s (Joseph Reitman) lair, as Merry (Lili Mirojnick) sets out to save Amanda (Medina Senghore) from a far more powerful foe. The series also stars Ritchie Coster (Blue) and Patrick Fischler (Smoothie).
Tidbits: Daredevil and Krypton cast; Ready Player One date; The Greatest American Hero pilot; Nightflyers boost
by Doc on Jan.26, 2018, under Movies, Television
I am once again trying to play catch up, so here is a rundown of the last several days worth of news…
On the casting side, Syfy’s Superman prequel Krypton has signed Hannah Waddingham (How to Lose Friends & Alienate People) as Jax-Ur, once one of Kypton’s eminent scientists turned leader of the terrorist group Black Zero. An interesting choice, as the character has traditionally been portrayed as a male.
On the opposite side of the comic world, Marvel and Netflix’s Daredevil added Joanne Whalley (Willow), in an unspecified role. However, the finale of The Defenders made mention of a “Maggie” who is believed to be Sister Maggie, a character in the comic series who is in fact Matt Murdock’s mother who left her family to become a nun, and return to nurse her son back to health.
The much anticipated Ready Player One will open a day earlier than originally scheduled. Instead of opening on Good Friday, March 30th, of the Easter weekend it will now open on the Thursday, March 29th. Thursday openings for big movies is becoming more common…based on the [asin=0307887448]2011 SF novel[/asin], the story is set in a near-future dystopian society, in which teenager Wade Watts enters a virtual reality game to look for the game’s “easter egg” which could net him wealth – but there are those willing to kill to stop him.
ABC has ordered a pilot for the remake of The Greatest American Hero with a put commitment (ABC will at a minimum air the pilot as a special/TV movie, or pay a penalty). This version centers around a tequila and karaoke-loving 30-year-old Indian-American woman who becomes entrusted with a suit that gives her the power to protect the planet – but it doesn’t work out so well. Cast has yet to be named. This is the first collaboration between 20th Century Fox Studios and ABC, who are set to become siblings. Fox and ABC studios are co-producing with Fresh Off the Boat‘s Rachna Fruchbom and Nahnatchka Khan’s Fierce Baby.
Lastly, the Irish Film Board just gave a huge boost to the production of George R.R. Martin’s Nightflyers, which will be filming at Troy Studios in Limerick, Ireland. The board granted €850,000 (about $1.1 million) to the production, which is the largest such award in the current funding cycle. Syfy ordered the 10-episode series earlier this month from Universal Cable Productions, with Netflix on board for international distribution.