Tarantino’s Star Trek Movie Just Keeps on Getting Weirder

One of the weirdest pieces of news to come out of 2017 was Quentin Tarantino pitching a Star Trek movie - and possibly even wanting to get behind the camera on it. The latest development on the news is that he has managed to convince Paramount to make the movie R-rated. Insiders were putting rumours out there that Mark L. Smith, whose writing credits include The Revenant, was the top choice of the studio to pen the screenplay.
The rumours were clearly true, as it has now been confirmed that Smith is on board. He’ll get to work on the script, while Tarantino continues to work on his Charles Manson project. The latter project has yet to be named but features the 1969 Manson family murders as a backdrop in the film, which is in the midst of pursuing major acting talent after Sony won a hard-fought bidding war over distribution rights. Tarantino has reportedly approached Margot Robbie about the idea of playing Sharon Tate, a woman who was murdered by the Mansons. Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise, and Brad Pitt are all looking to make the cast.

"Quentin Tarantino" (CC BY 2.0) by Slackerwood

Dialogue or no dialogue? That is the question!
If Tarantino does indeed direct the movie, it will be one of a limited number of occasions that he would direct a movie that he didn’t write. With Smith’s script for The Revenant being short on dialogue compared with Tarantino’s verbose style (the director has been known to pen 165-page screenplays of mostly dialogue), the movie should make for a very interesting result. This is likely to be especially true when you throw in producer J.J. Abrams’ own unique style.
The strange gets stranger
Star Trek has always had a reputation for being a bit on the strange side: strange actors, strange uniforms, strange fans. And now it boasts a strange filmmaking partnership. Still, it hasn’t stopped the franchise from being one of the most beloved in popular culture; not just in the movies, of course - its roots are steeped in the enormously popular TV show, which has spawned an endless amount of spin-offs. It has also made its mark with a plethora of merchandise, from mugs and toys to board games and puzzles. Numerous video games have also been released, including 2017’s Star Trek: Bridge Crew. There are even Star Trek online casino games. For instance, Oddschecker features casino sites with free bets and no deposits, such as 888casino, which include a Star Trek slot game.
And now we have one of the most exciting and strangest teams in recent movie memory so we can certainly expect lots more news to come out of the project in the coming weeks and months.




Tarantino’s swansong?Tarantino had previously vowed to make no more than 10 films. Star Trek would be his 10th so whether he has made his final film or not remains to be seen.
If you’re still trying to wrap your brain around this project, you’re not the only one. Tarantino is an odd choice for the latest big-screen instalment in the classic Gene Roddenberry franchise, and details remain somewhat thin. Long before news of the project came to light, however, Tarantino confessed that he was a huge fan.
Tarantino also clearly has appeal at the box office - something which Paramount could use. With sci-fi being dominated by Disney of late, via the endless Marvel and Star Wars movies, Star Trek is Paramount’s key franchise. Deadpool was evidence that an R-rated version of superhero fare is capable of pulling in the big numbers so Tarantino’s Star Trek could be just what Paramount need.

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The Most Bad Ass Star Wars Moments Ever

We're just over a week out from Star
Wars: The Last Jedi finally hitting the big screen with the force
(heh heh) of a fully functioning space station, and already our tiny
little minds are already racing to think of what the long awaited
sequel has in store for us and our favorite inhabitants of a galaxy
far, far away. While a VERY healthy opening box office is a foregone
conclusion, predicting what director Rian Johnson has planned for his
first stab at Star Wars is a much harder job. But taking into account
over forty years of stories across all types of media, he'll be hard
pressed to deliver something crazier than these bad ass moments from
Star Wars history.

The Yuuzhan Vong Invasion

Long before JJ Abrams said, 'Let's call
it The Force Awakens', the adventures of Luke Skywalker and company
continued in the Expanded Universe, an ever growing series of novels
that opened up the Star Wars universe in a way George Lucas never
dreamed of. While most of the books consisted of our heroes fighting
a seemingly never ending parade of former Imperials and the odd
galaxy destroying weapon, things were thrown for a loop with the
introduction of the Yuuzhan Vong, a race of warrior aliens from a
galaxy farther away than we could ever imagine. Religious zealots who
viewed anything mechanical as blasphemy, they existed outside of the
Force and thus untouched by most Force based attacks, which the New
Jedi Order discovered in their disastrous first encounter. With
powerful, gentically engineered, purely organic weapons, the Yuuzhan
Vong soon made short work of the galaxy, conquering every planet in
their path. They also nutured a deep hatred for the Jedi, possessing a
power they had been denied, and offered freedom to those they
captured in exchange for turning in any Jedi Knight. Their years long
invasion had a lasting effect on the Star Wars universe, not least
the death of Chewbacca, and the beginnings of Jacen Solo's, son of
Han and Leia, descent into the Dark Side.

Anything Involving Grand Admiral Thrawn

Step aside Darth Maul, there's a new
ultimate bad ass in the Star Wars Universe, and his name is Grand
Admiral Thrawn. First coming to our attention in Timothy Zahn's Heir
to the Empire, the book that kicked off the whole Expanded Universe,
Thrawn is one of the Emperor's most ruthless allies, commanding the
entire Imperial navy with a mixture of ruthless cunning and tactical
brilliance, while lacking the megalomania that proved to be his
master's undoing. With deep blue skin and piercing red eyes, he made
quite the first impression when he was first introduced, taking the
broken Empire we saw at the end of Return of the Jedi and making it
once again the most powerful force in the galaxy. Not even his death
at the end of what is now lovingly known as the Thrawn trilogy could
stop him, with the character being used time and time again, from
prequels in the expanded universe to even jumping media to appear in
computer games and the third season of the fantastic Star Wars:
Rebels cartoon.

That Twist In Star Wars: Knights of the
Old Republic

Long before Bioware took the gaming
world by storm (then ruined all the goodwill they garnered with the
ending of the third game) with Mass Effect, they had delivered
possibly the best Star Wars game ever with Star Wars: Knights of the
Old Republic. A role playing game set almost 4000 years before The
Phantom Menace, players found themselves in control of a Jedi tasked
with taking down Darth Malak, a Dark Lord of the Sith who is razing
the galaxy with The Star Forge, an endless source of military
resources that once belonged to Malak's ruthless former master, Darth
Revan, who is long since dead. While it's boundless amounts of fun
traveling the galaxy with a mismatched group of soldiers, scoundrels,
and droids, every choice you make leaving you on the edge of the
light or dark side, the true beauty of the game comes about halfway
through. Nearing the Star Forge, the player themselves is revealed as
Revan, left for dead after being betrayed by Malak and brainwashed by
the Jedi council to no longer pose a threat to the galaxy. The reveal
is masterfully handled, and gives a new meaning to the moral choices
the player is presented with: will you go down the light path as
penance for your evil ways, or pick up where you left off down the
path of the dark side.

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That's all we wrote!

Hello beautiful readers. Just over 8 years ago I started The Movie Bit. It was a passion project. It was a labour of love. Writers came and went and contributed some wonderful and thought provoking content. You lovely folks commented, tweeted, downloaded and swore at us :)

However, over the last few months I find myself not only having less and less time to work on the site, but I’m also finding my passion and love for movies dwindling. I’ve been a movie fan since I was shitting myself nearly 40 years ago. Movies have been a huge part of my life and no doubt they’ve forged my personality along the way. I always blame Mel Gibson for my kissing techniques. I blame Marty McFly for my driving and I blame Darth Vader for my lightsaber skills.

I find myself getting more and more frustrated as time goes on as certain studios more or less ignore sites like us completely. Sites with passion for film. As opposed to hap hazard portal sites where movie related news is as disposable as the cat memes the same sites deal out. While these sites do well, and that's fine people will be left without intelligent, insightful and legitimate movie punditry, reviews and so on.

The likes of Disney and Warner Bros along with Paramount have been exceptional to deal with and work alongside, as have some of the Irish distributors like Element Pictures and Eclipse Pictures. The rest of them however….well..I’m keeping the swearing to a minimum.

When you step back and look at things, it’s a crazy world, this whole movie website thing. Studios need you to talk about their products. They moan when things are critical. Some will even black list you when things get too opinionated. And, like most things in Hollywood, you’re only flavor of the month for a short while. And then they move onto the next movie site. And eventually the circle starts up again. And, as much as that annoys me, I get that. In years to come, we'll probably be in a bunch of Adam Sandler movies as opposed to a Tarantino classic!

Then there is the complete switch to social media where people are literally consuming as much content as they can shove into their eyeballs while on the toilet. That's fine, but unfortunately as a bi-product sites like us find it harder to get audiences. And find it harder to get good content from studios and everywhere else. Far from an excuse, but that's they way things are going. Again, I'm not blaming anybody, but this is the digital environment that we all live in.


All that said, we’ve had an amazing ride here. We’ve brought some of the biggest names in movies to you in exclusive interviews, the majority of which are on our podcast...all for free. I’ve been privileged to talk to some of my heroes. We won awards. We had the highest rated, number one movie podcast on iTunes countless times. We hosted exclusive screenings. We did full on Facebook live videos, professionally produced. We did a damn lot. Nobody got paid, everybody did this for a labor of love. Which was probably the biggest problem….in hindsight.

So, what does all this mean, considering you’ve waded through the above horse poop. The site will be producing very little written content moving forward. And when I say very little, I mean next to nothing. As of typing, this will be the 10,368th article that we’ve published.
Which is a phenomenal amount of content when you think about it. Is it our last article? More than likely. Any other articles may just be links to future podcasts..but more on that in a bit.

As for the much loved podcast, things are a bit up in the air there. I haven’t quite decided on which way to go with this. In a perfect world, it’ll stay on it’s weekly upload schedule. It may move to every other week or monthly, or it may go away completely. Ultimately, I’m finding it incredibly hard to put all of this down. The site and the podcast have played such a part in my life for nearly a decade. Whether it’s ego or what,  I don’t know. I just don’t want to pull the trigger on this old dog. But I know, that's the right thing to do.

I’ve developed other projects that are taking my time, I’ve two kids, a wife, an amazing day job and no life. Something's gotta give.

So to all the writers that have passed through, thank you. You’ve made this site what it is. Especially to Tom White. Tom has been the glue that has held The Movie Bit together for so long. He worked without asking. He worked harder without encouragement. He worked his ass off. The dude gave such a fuck about this place.

Quick story. A while back myself and Tom shared a room attending a movie event. It may well have been a Disney Day. I generally wake early, so I was lying in bed listening to a snoring Tom. Not long after, he woke up. I stayed motionless. What’s the first thing he did? Picked up his phone and started logging onto the site looking at stats. This blew my mind, that anybody would care so much. So, thanks, buddy!

Most of all, thank you to YOU. You’ve read, you’ve lingered, you’ve enjoyed and you’ve endured. You’ll never know how much it meant and still means to know that you guys read and loved what we produced. THANK YOU!

So, that’s it. That’s all we wrote! I’ll leave you with a parting quote from a certain, scruffy looking nerf herder!

“You’re all clear kid, now let’s blow this thing and go home!”

Vic Barry

Editor

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The Music Video That Was Baby Driver Before Baby Driver

It’s been one week since Edgar Wright’s heist movie masterpiece Baby Driver (read our five star review here) screeched onto the big screen, offering audiences a fun and, more importantly, unique alternative to the usual Summer blockbusters. It’s success has even seen Sony approach Wright about a potential sequel. But few people know that this movie has been in development since 1994. Proof of that can found in the music video for Mint Royale’s Blue Song that Wright directed way back in 2003. Starring Noel Fielding (as well as Fielding’s Mighty Boosh co-hort Julian Barret and Wright regulars Michael Smiley and Nick Frost) in the role that would eventually go to Ansel Elgort, it adapts the movies opening and showcased what the director had planned for the future hit. The worst thing about it is that it makes me long for a version of the movie with this cast. Check it out for yourself below.

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The Long In Development Gemini Man Finally Gets The Green Light

Way back in 1997, leafing through the pages of Empire (the movie lovers Internet before the Internet existed) I stumbled across news of an intriguing little action called Gemini Man. Nothing to do with the The Invisible Man-inspired miniseries of the same name, the story followed a grizzled government assassin targeted for termination. The kicker was that his would-be killer was a younger clone of himself. 25 years younger to be exact, at the peak of his abilities. You better believe this blew my young mind back then, especially when Mel Gibson was announced to be taking on the roles. No two actors playing the younger and older versions of the character, the same actor in both roles. The problem with this ambitious idea was that the technology didn’t exist to pull this effect off. But with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 showcasing the leaps and bounds this technology has taken in recent years, the stage is set for Gemini Man to finally reach the big screen.

After years of doing the rounds in Hollywood, where it was earmarked for directors such as Tony Scott, Curtis Hanson, and Joe Carnahan (who went as far as making a sizzle reel with Clint Eastwood in the lead role), the movie has now fallen into the hands of Ang Lee, who has proven a deft hand with CG heavy projects like Life of Pi, with a release set for October 2019. What’s more, a star has already been found in the form of Will Smith. While not my first choice (I’m still hung up on Mel Gibson. Surely some script revisions could be done?), the chance to see Smith from the 90’s is one nostalgia hit I think everyone whats to partake of. If the movie can live up to the decades of hype around it remains to be seen, but I think this is one concept that will peak everyone’s interest.

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Cars 3 Preview Screening

Disney•Pixar CARS 3 Special Preview Screening

Disney•Pixar CARS 3 is released on July 14, but we’re teaming up with our friends at The Walt Disney Company to bring you an exclusive preview screening of CARS 3 on Sunday July 9 at The Gate Cinema, North Gate Bridge, Cork.

We’ve a bunch of family passes to give away! Each family pass is 4 tickets. To be in with a chance of winning just fill in the form below!

Disney•Pixar CARS 3 Special Preview Screening

CARS 3 cruises into Irish cinemas on July 14, 2017.

Synopsis

Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast racers, the legendary Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) is suddenly pushed out of the sport he loves. To get back in the game, he will need the help of an eager young race technician, Cruz Ramirez, with her own plan to win, plus inspiration from the late Fabulous Hudson Hornet and a few unexpected turns. Proving that #95 isn’t through yet will test the heart of a champion on Piston Cup Racing’s biggest stage!

Directed by Brian Fee (storyboard artist Cars, Cars 2) and produced by Kevin Reher

(A Bug’s Life, La Luna short), CARS 3 cruises into Irish cinemas on 14th July, 2017.

WATCH THE LATEST TRAILER 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRA35dp9izQ  

www.PixarCars.ie

Check out facebook.com/WaltDisneyStudiosIE & twitter.com/DisneyStudiosIE for all the

latest news on CARS 3

      ©Disney Pixar 2017

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Han Solo Movie Loses Directors

Before we get into it, the below is the official statement regarding Phil Lord and Chris Miller getting the boot from the Han Solo movie



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The untitled Han Solo film will move forward with a directorial change.



“Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are talented filmmakers who have assembled an incredible cast and crew, but it’s become clear that we had different creative visions on this film, and we’ve decided to part ways. A new director will be announced soon,” said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm.



“Unfortunately, our vision and process weren’t aligned with our partners on this project. We normally aren’t fans of the phrase ‘creative differences’ but for once this cliché is true. We are really proud of the amazing and world-class work of our cast and crew,” stated Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.



The untitled Han Solo film remains scheduled for a May 2018 release.

---



In the usual cluster fuck of bullshit, bluster and smoke and mirrors that Hollywood doles out on a regular basis, nobody knows exactly what's happened here. Obviously the two lads have got the boot. Creative differences is the old school excuse that we've heard time and time again. We can speculate all we want about how some insiders are saying Kathleen Kennedy and the director twosome clashed from day one due to their improv style. Whatever has happened, some serious shit has hit the fan considering the movie has around 2-3 weeks left of shooting.



Personally, I would have backed up a small space station full of money to J.J.Abrams and signed him up for 20 years. But that aside, Lord and Miller were a wrong choice from the outset (putting Woody Harrelson into the Star Wars Universe alone was a mighty fuck uo) . I still believe that Rian Johnson was wrong as well for The Last Jedi. I guess one would have to appreciate that Lucasfilm went to try something new, with relatively unknown or "not the usual Star Wars crowd" directors (Abrams aside) but you have to admire their balls to dump directors this far into production.



At this stage, as a Star Wars fan, I don't hold out much hope for the Han Solo movie, nor do I have any hope for The Last Jedi, after it's woeful first teaser trailer. But let's watch this space!

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First Trailer For Black Panther

With the origin story out of the way in Captain America: Civil War, all eyes are on Ryan Cooler’s Black Panther to capitalise on Chadwick Boseman’s strong showing as the titular hero. And while this teaser trailer doesn’t give much of the story away, we’re in for one hell of a ride. Cooler’s vision of the African nation of Wakanda looks absolutely breathtaking, with ancient traditions bumping against advanced technology Everything about this trailer is bombastic and all kinds of epic. Can’t wait!!!!

Released: February 16th 2018

Synopsis: Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” follows T’Challa who, after the death of his father, the King of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king. But when a powerful old enemy reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king—and Black Panther—is tested when he is drawn into a formidable conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people and their way of life.

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New Images From Mary Poppins Returns

Everyone’s favourite magical childminder (no, not Nanny McPhee) is on her way back to the big screen, and Entertainment Weekly have released shed load of new images from Rob Marhsall’s (Chicago) Mary Poppins Returns, featuring Emily Blunt looking quite the part in the lead role, Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda subbing for Dick Van Dyke as Jack the Lamplighter (former apprentice to Van Dyke’s Bert from the original), and Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer as the grown-up Michael and Jane Banks. You may even spy Meryl Streep as Mary’s cousin Topsy in a sneaky behind the scenes shot.

The effects may be modern and the setting is now the stylish 1930’s, but everything about this particular project feels so close to the original, it’s kinda scary. Blunt even went as far as gaining the blessing of the original Ms. Poppins, Julie Andrews, before cameras started rolling.

Released: 21st December (IRL/U.K.)/25th December (U.S.)



Synopsis: In Depression-era London, a now-grown Jane and Michael Banks, along with Michael's three children, are visited by the enigmatic Mary Poppins following a personal loss. Through her unique magical skills, and with the aid of her friend Jack, she helps the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives. 

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Five Things You Didn’t Know About Universal’s Classic Monsters

The Mummy hits our screens this week, and with it the beginning of Universal’s Dark Universe, a new, ambitious shared universe which brings together all their classic monsters under the same banner. We’re talking Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, even The Creature from the Black Lagoon all getting re-imagined for a new generation. Running from the 1930’s to the 1950’s, the studio's iconic creations have endured until today, but some facts have been lost to history. So, here’s five things you didn’t about Universal’s classic monsters.

1. The name of The Mummy’s titular bandage enthusiast, Imhotep, was the name of an actual ancient Egyptian. However, the real Imhotep was the architect who designed the Pyramids, and instead of dying in disgrace, he was the only Egyptian, other than the pharaohs, to be made a god after his death.

2. Even though the movie is named after her, Elsa Lanchester’s Bride of Frankenstein only has three minutes of screen time in the entire movie. However, her performance and iconic shock hairdo went a long way to cement her place in horror movie history.

3. To achieve the effect of his character not being there when he takes off his bandages, The Invisble Man director James Whale had his leading man, Claude Rains, dress head to toe in black velvet in front of black velvet background. Take that, modern visual effects!

4. Dracula actor Bela Lugosi was buried in the character’s iconic black, silk cape, as per his request, following his death in 1956.

5. It may have been called The Wolf Man, but never once is Lon Chaney Jr’s character called that in the movie.

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Full Trailer For Neill Blomkamp’s Oats Studios Volume One

Last week, Neill Blomkamp teased his mysterious new project Oats Studio, a series of experimental short films available exclusively online. The sci-fi themed shorts, ultimately serving as tests for full length feature films, will be released in a series of volumes, with Volume One, coming to Youtube and gaming platform Steam in the coming months, serving as a testing ground to see if there is an audience for them, and if that audience will pay for a Volume Two. The first, official for Volume One has arrived, giving us a real taste of what Blomkamp’s grand experiment has in store for us.

But a series of shorts isn’t just what Oats will be ultimately, with Blomkamp wanting to give fans something more interactive. That’s where Steam comes in. Speaking to Verge, the director elaborated what his plans for Oats actually are:



I needed a place that I could sell short films, and it felt like iTunes or any of the obvious outlets were massively lacking in any other avenues besides the films themselves. In other words: they don’t give users the ability to look at all of the behind the scenes artwork in any real way. The more I thought about that, the more it became, ‘What if the users had access to all of the 3D files that we used for the visual effects?’ If we just gave that away with any one-time purchase and you could render stuff yourself? Or what if we just give away all of the raw footage of one of the pieces, and anyone in the audience could they recut the the entire thing themselves? Stems from all of the music, or voiceovers from the actors; I just wanted to open it up and let people remix it.



For information of Oats Studios, Check out the official website here.

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Trailer For American Made

Before they reunite for the Edge of Tomorrow sequel, Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman team up once again for American Made, the unbelievable true story of Barry Seal, a U.S. pilot recruited by the CIA to run of the biggest covert operations in U.S. history. Cruise is definitely in charming everyman territory here, something he truly excels at more than his many action roles.

There’s a lot to like about this trailer, especially the absurdist humour that will raise a fair few chuckles. Sure, this type of ordinary guy caught up in government intrigue story has been done a thousand times before, but the Cruise factor definitely makes this one to keep an eye on.

Released: September 29th 

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Terry Gilliam Wraps On The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

Way, way back in 1998, Brazil and Twelve Monkeys director Terry Gilliam embarked on making The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a very Gilliam-esque take on Miguel de Cervantes’ 16th century novel Don Quixote. With the original novel concerning an insane Spanish nobleman thinking himself to be a knight bringing back chivalry and justice to the world, Gilliam’s vision saw Johnny Depp as a 21st century marketing executive thrown back in time, and being mistaken for Quixote’s sire, Sancho Panza. Production began in September of 2000, quickly becoming one of the most disastrous shoots of all time. As chronicled in the documentary Lost in La Mancha, weather problems, nervous investors, and even the Spanish military added to the movie’s production woes. The final nail in the coffin came when Dox Quixote himself, Jean Rochefort, was diagnosed with a double herniated disc after attempting to act while riding a horse, and deemed to injured to carry on. Having spent two years searching for the right actor to play Don Quixote, and Rochefort spending seven months learning English for the role, Gilliam pulled the plug on the project.

The preceding years saw the director try to revive the project several times, each to no avail. With the backing of Amazon Studios, Gilliam announced that the film had undergone some changes, now set in modern day with a commercial director (Adam Driver) discovering his old student film, itself a retelling of the Don Quixote tale, that sends him on a catastrophe laden adventure. Production was set to begin in October of 2016, but wouldn’t you know it, funding fell through at the last minute, forcing the project to be cancelled once again. Thankfully, this particular problem proved to short lived, and in March of this year, production finally began. Now, taking to Facebook, Gilliam has announced something we thought we’d never hear: filming has wrapped on The Man Who Killed Don Quixote!!!!







17 years is a long time to hold onto a project with the passion Gilliam has, but you have to hand it to the man for not giving up on his dream. Now, we begin the waiting game until the movie finally gets in front of our eyes. I, for one, can’t wait to see this.

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Dan Aykroyd Blames Paul Feig For Failure Of Ghostbusters Reboot

Sony had a lot riding on last year’s Ghostbusters reboot, hoping to launch a new shared universe based on the popular property. Those hopes were ultimately dashed with the movie making a modest $229 million, well below breaking even on its $140 million budget. Personally, I felt the movie was an unfunny rehash of what came before, and while I believe the studio will try again down the line (whether they should is another question entirely), that all-female reboot may no longer be the starting off point, and executive producer/original Ghostbuster Dan Ackroyd knows where the blame for the movie’s failure lies: director Paul Feig.

It all started civil enough. Appearing on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, Aykroyd, who has previously gone on record as liking the reboot, was asked about the film’s box office performance, and he had nothing but nice things to say about the movie’s cast:



The girls are great in it. Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig – what wonderful, wonderful players they are – and Leslie Jones. I was really happy with the movie, but it cost too much. And Sony does not like to lose money, they don’t. It made a lot of money around the world but just cost too much, making it economically not feasible to do another one. So that’s too bad.



Then, with any provocation, he turned his attention to Feig, and that’s when the claws came out:



The director, he spent too much on it. He didn’t shoot scenes we suggested to him and several scenes that were going to be needed and he said ‘Nah, we don’t need them.’ Then we tested the movie and they needed them and he had to go back. About $30 to $40 million in reshoots. So he will not be back on the Sony lot any time soon.



The video hasn’t been made official, but British film critic Ross MacLean has tweeted a snippet of the interview, which you can find below. Check out Aykroyd’s face when he talks about Feig’s future with Sony. Do not ever cross this man.

Don't hold back, Dan. #Ghostbusters pic.twitter.com/WtZ0MbRsmk

— Ross Maclean (@ross_maclean) June 4, 2017

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Wonder Woman Wins Big At Global Box Office

With the future of the DCEU weighing on it’s shoulders, all eyes were on Wonder Woman to have an impressive opening box office weekend. And with an impressive $223 million haul at the global box office, those expectations were well and truly met. $100.5 million (well above the estimates of between $65 and $75 million) of that was made stateside, where the film is the 16th superhero movie to cross the $100 million mark in it’s opening weekend, and puts its opening take over those of Iron Man ($98.6 million), Doctor Strange ($85 million), and Thor ($65.7 million).

This opening also gives Patty Jenkins the biggest opening of all time for a female director, handily surpassing the $85 million set by Sam Taylor-Johnson for Fifty Shades of Grey. This is made even more impressive that this Jenkins’ second feature, her first, of course, being 2003’s Monster. Internationally, Wonder Woman has posted a haul of $122.5 million, with $38 million of that coming from the lucrative Chinese market, making it the fourth biggest Warner Bros. opening there.

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Final Trailer For Transformers: The Last Knight

The fifth ground in the Transformers sandpit will be Michael Bay’s last, but it looks like the Master of Bayhem is going all out (well, more so than usual) with The Last Knight, which, as well as ending Bay’s tenure on the series, sets up a new shared universe for Hasbro’s long running line of toys. One final trailer has come our way, light on dialogue and story but heavy (obscenely so) on visual effects and explosions, with Bay seemingly blowing up everything he can on his way out. Check it out for yourself below.

Released: June 23rd

Synopsis: The Last Knight shatters the core myths of the Transformers franchise, and redefines what it means to be a hero. Humans and Transformers are at war, Optimus Prime is gone. The key to saving our future lies buried in the secrets of the past, in the hidden history of Transformers on Earth. Saving our world falls upon the shoulders of an unlikely alliance: Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg); Bumblebee; an English Lord (Sir Anthony Hopkins); and an Oxford Professor (Laura Haddock).

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New Trailer For Baby Driver

Any movie from Edgar Wright is an automatic must-see, and Baby Driver is no different. A heist movie that synchs up its soundtrack with the car chases, it feels like vintage Wright: fresh, unique, and just a little bit crazy. A new trailer has come our way, giving us our best luck yet at what is store for us. I don’t need anymore trailers. I need this movie in front of my eyes right now!!

Released: 11th August (U.S.) 16th August (IRL/U.K.)

Synopsis: A talented, young getaway driver relies on the beat of his personal soundtrack to be the best in the game. But after being coerced into working for a crime boss, he must face the music when a doomed heist threatens his life, love and freedom.

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Trailer For Murder On The Orient Express

You may have not been aware that a new version of Agatha Christie’s classic mystery, Murder on the Orient Express, was in the works, but now that the first trailer has arrived, it’s probably firmly on your radar now. Director Kenneth Branagh, also pulling double duty as master detective Hercule Poirot (sporting one of the most ridiculous, amazing moustaches ever), has assembled quite the cast here, including Judi Dench, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Hamilton’s Leslie Odom, Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer, and Daisy Ridley, for probably the most stylish take on the classic tale yet.

Having grown up on multiple version of this story, on both t.v. and the big screen, I should feel jaded about yet another version, but the combination of the cast and Branagh’s incredibly polished directing style has me beyond excited for this.

Released: November 10th



Synopsis: What starts out as a lavish train ride through Europe quickly unfolds into one of the most stylish, suspenseful and thrilling mysteries ever told. From the novel by best selling author Agatha Christie, “Murder on the Orient Express” tells the tale of thirteen strangers stranded on a train, where everyone’s a suspect. One man must race against time to solve the puzzle before the murderer strikes again.

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Universal Facing Possible Lawsuit Over Dark Universe

It was long in the offing, but a few weeks back Universal Pictures officially unveiled the Dark Universe, series of inter-connected movie featuring the classic Universal monsters, like Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolfman. With the shared universe set to kick off with the upcoming The Mummy, the studio have already got the ball rolling on future instalments, with Johnny Depp and Javier Bardem signed on as The Invisible Man and Frankenstein’s Monster respectively, and Dwayne Johnson eyed as The Wolfman. But they may have hit a snag, with The Hollywood Reporter revealing that Warner Bros. are ‘mulling' legal action over the name, having already made plans for their own Dark Universe. This banner encompasses an upcoming line of comic books and the long in development Dark Universe movie, featuring a Justice League made up of various supernatural heroes, based on the Justice League Dark comic.

Warner Bros.’ Dark Universe has been around since 2012, when Guillermo Del toro first came on board to adapt Justice League Dark for the big screen, but has been stuck in something of a development hell since then. Del Toro walked away from the project in 2015, and his replacement, Doug Liman, also vacated the director’s chair last month. So, things haven’t been going well for the project, and you better believe Universal announcing their own Dark Universe rubbed Warner’s up the wrong way. We don’t know how much of a legal case they have against the rival studio, but considering how much effort they have put into getting the Dark Universe out into the public eye, this isn’t ideal for Universal either. While it is extremely unlikely this will kill the new shared universe, if Warner Bros. go forward and actually win the case, it will probably lead to a name change which is pretty problematic, especially this early in it’s life cycle when you want to cement it in audiences minds.

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New Clip From Atomic Blonde

As you would expect from the the co-director of John Wick, David Leith’s Atomic Blonde is one combat heavy action flick, with Charlize Theron pushing her physicality to the limit as the lethal MI6 assassin Lorraine Broughton cuts a bloody swath through 1980’s Berlin. To see how psychical her role gets, look no further than this new clip which gives us an extended look at a pretty brutal fight scene, as well as a snippet of the movie’s awesome 80’s soundtrack. Check it out below.

Released: 28th July (U.S.)/ 11th August (IRL/U.K.)

Synopsis: The crown jewel of Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service, Agent Lorraine Broughton (Theron) is equal parts spycraft, sensuality and savagery, willing to deploy any of her skills to stay alive on her impossible mission. Sent alone into Berlin to deliver a priceless dossier out of the destabilized city, she partners with embedded station chief David Percival (James McAvoy) to navigate her way through the deadliest game of spies.

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