In this Hollywood news round-up, there are updates on the fall movie season, Bad Moms, Sausage Party, Ghostbusters, Neighbors 2, Terminator 2, Captain Marvel, Miles Ahead, A Monster Calls, Rogue One, Richard Linklater's latest and Stranger Things. Plus, this:
A VAMPIRE DANCE-OFFFilmSchoolRejects sarcastically and not-so sarcastically wonders if the next vampire property adapted to TV will be Once Bitten, and I share such non-news simply as an excuse to watch this scene again:
FILM
Mo' movies, mo' problems. Deadline thinks the fall is set up for just as big of a clusterfuck and endless box office cannibalization as the summer was:
Forget about this summer's talk of sequelitis slowing down box office: This fall could wind up being a bloodbath with as many as 34 wide releases battling for marquee space before Warner Bros.' Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them propels us into the holiday play period.
By the time four expected wide expansions occur this season, autumn's wide entries will number 37 - four more than last autumn and 10 more than 2013's 27 releases. All of this creates an atrocious environment where four-quad films could capsize the B.O. potential of serious awards contenders, with few titles succeeding and casualties abounding.
"This happens every year," said one distribution czar, verbally throwing his hands in the air about how too much product on screen impedes pics' holdover opportunities. "You'd think we learned."
Vulture wrote about why Bad Moms and Sausage Party beat the crap out of Ghostbusters and Neighbors 2 at the box office this summer. Might I add that since they use this word in the article I want to go on the record about how much I really hate the word "woke" or at least the way it has become a catch-all term. Feel the same way about "feels." In related news, I am an old white man:
You can say a lot about Sausage Party (stuff like: "It's not very good"), but "it's woke" is not one of them. Freewheeling in its use of ethnic stereotypes, it is proudly offensive. Political correctness is not in and of itself is bad for comedy, but the attendant liberal guilt sure can be. Both Neighbors 2 and Ghostbusters suffered at the box office because they intentionally or otherwise became part of political conversations, and that polarized audiences. Some of that cultural resonance can't be avoided; some of it shouldn't be avoided. But what the continued success of Bad Moms and Sausage Party reinforces is that sometimes - especially in our current, hypersensitive, politically charged culture - it isn't what people hear about a comedy that draws them in. It's what they don't hear.
The Hollywood Reporter has the details on Richard Linklater's next project, which damn well better be an improvement over Everbody Wants Some:
Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston and Laurence Fishburne are in talks to star in Richard Linklater's next movie, Last Flag Flying.
The project is Linklater's long-in-the-works "sort of" sequel to the classic dramatic comedy The Last Detail.
Last Flag was author Darryl Ponicsan's follow-up - published in 2005 - to his own 1970 landmark novel that was made into the 1973 comedy-drama directed by Hal Ashby and starring Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid and Otis Young. The Last Detail was nominated for three Oscars, and Nicholson won a BAFTA for his work.
Dundun dun Dundun. Terminator 2 is getting a 3D re-release next year. Dundun dun Dundun. More details, such as a release date, will surely come later. Dundun dun Dundun. No, seriously, I will see the shit out of this re-release. T2 is still one my top 5 all-time favorite films.
Electrick Children director Rebecca Thomas has been added to the shortlist of candidates for the Captain Marvel gig, a list which also includes Whale Rider's Niki Caro, Seeking a Friend at the End of the World 's Lorene Scafaria, and TV helmer extraordinare Lesli Linka Glatter.
Miles Ahead and Maggie's Plan are officially the first awards screeners sent out to potential Oscar voters this year. Personally, I loved Miles Ahead, and hope this early start helps it on the awards circuit.
One of October's most promising new movies is now one of December's most promising new movies, with the studio pushing back A Monster Calls for an awards run. Plus, the more space between it and similar-seeming films like The BFG and Pete's Dragon the better.
Forest Whitaker's Rogue One character actually originated in Clone Wars (which we already knew), and here's how that came about (which has been a slight mystery until now).
As millions have already discovered, it does not appear as if a single Gene Wilder film is available on any of the usual streaming services (e.g., Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now). However, you can still rent a bunch of them from Amazon, Vudu and elsewhere.
Let ComicBook.com explain just why everyone's freakin' the f out about Deathstroke being the villain in a Batman movie. Mostly, he's really cool in the comics, and could be just as cool in a film if Affleck does a good job with the script.
TELEVISION
Stranger Things has finally been renewed for a second season, which will consist of 9 episodes and premiere next year. Fun fact: No Netflix Original Series has been canceled after one season. I'm not saying this Stranger Things renewal is without merit. However, when it's coming from the same people who also rubber stamped second season renewals for Marco Polo and Flaked it somehow seems less special.
Look for something from me about Netflix's The Little Prince in the near future. Also, there are a couple of other current news stories which are too big to be left in a list article like this. I will be writing about those stories immediately after publishing this.
