Movie News

In today’s film news roundup, Denis O’Hare joins the cast of Mindy Kaling’s “Late Night,” Global Road and Participant make executive hires and the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival unveils its lineup.

Castings

30West and FilmNation Entertainment have cast Denis O’Hare, John Early, Max Casella and Megalyn Echikunwoke for Mindy Kaling’s comedy “Late Night,” directed by Nisha Ganatra.

The film also stars Kaling, Emma Thompson, John Lithgow, Hugh Dancy, Reid Scott and Paul Walter Hauser. 30West and FilmNation Entertainment are financing. Kaling wrote the script and is also producing with Howard Klein, alongside Imperative Entertainment and FilmNation Entertainment, which are also handling international sales. 30West and CAA are handling Us rights.

Thompson plays a late-night talk show host at risk of losing her long-running show right, when she hires her first female writer (Kaling) who revitalizes her show and her life. Principal photography has commenced in New York.

While at CinemaCon, we had the chance to sit down and talk to director Antoine Fuqua for his upcoming sequel, The Equalizer 2 and posed the question about tackling the comic book genre after making waves in the action and crime thriller genre. Fuqua said he was approached for Morbius: The Living Vampire at Sony as he's a Spider-Man villain primarily. Here's what he had to say:

Last year it was announced that Justice League star Jason Momoa has joined the cast of Just Cause, an adaptation of the hit video game series, which has Brad Peyton attached to direct.

Coming off the back of another video game adaptation Rampage, which opened in theaters around the world earlier this month, Peyton has provided an update on the film’s progress during an interview with Collider, as well as discussing why Momoa is perfect for the character of Rico Rodriguez, a.k.a. Scorpio.

“We’re working on the script. Jason Momoa, myself, and my producing partner, Jeff Fierson, have a show on Netflix, called Frontier, so we have a good working relationship with him, and he’s a really easy, good guy to work with. At this point, we’re just working on his character and we’re working on the script.

“The world has this fun tone.

In March 2017, Joss Whedon was brought on to write, direct, and produce a Batgirl movie for Warner Bros. In that same year, he also directed Justice League, Justice League was poorly received, and Wonder Woman surpassed the studio’s expectations to be one of the biggest hits of the year. In February 2018, he exited Batgirl saying he “didn’t have a story.” Some fans were outraged that he could be on the project for so long with no story, but that claim always had a ring of hyperbole to it. Now Whedon has provided a bit of clarification. …

Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are franchise guys, and happily so. The screenwriters behind six Marvel Cinematic Universe films — including this week’s much-anticipated new release “Avengers: Infinity War” and its upcoming untitled 2019 sequel, plus all three “Captain America” films — first broke into Hollywood with their “Chronicles of Narnia” films, scripting three different franchise entries before the series sputtered out after 2010’s low-earning “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”

While Markus and McFeely are no longer on the “Narnia” beat, the beloved C.S. Lewis series is still in the Hollywood mix, and rumors of a “Silver Chair” film adaptation have persisted since October 2013, when the film rights were purchased by the Mark Gordon Company (the original films were made by Walden Media). Screenwriter David Magee was set to write the screenplay, and director Joe Johnston came on board in April 2017.

In January 2016, producer Mark Gordon told Collider that “Silver Chair

“Avengers: Infinity War” marks the sixth time Scarlett Johansson has played Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow on the big screen, and it won’t be the last if the actress has anything to say about it. During an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Johansson expressed interest in continuing to play the character and addressed the reports that Marvel is finally developing a standalone Black Widow film.

“I think there’s room for it,” Johansson said with excitement. “The only way to do it would be if it were something that we’ve never seen before that was really groundbreaking and incredibly badass. I think if anyone could make that happen my boss Kevin Feige could. He’s a visionary.”

“I think it could be something really special,” she continued. “Theres a lot of room there. The character has a tortured past, she’s had to make a lot of difficult decisions. She has a lot of trauma.

Melissa McCarthy snorting ecstasy with a bunch of sex-crazed muppets castoffs was the foul-mouthed highlight of Stx’s CinemaCon presentation on Tuesday night.

“The Happytime Murders,” the film in question, seems certain to shatter quite a number of childhood memories and taboos, and presents the newbie studio with perhaps its best chance at major box office success. McCarthy produces and headlines the hard R comedy, which is directed by Brian Henson, the head of the Jim Henson Company and a puppeteer in his own right. Footage from the film featured puppets offering oral sex to McCarthy, cursing like teamsters, and, in one uproarious scene, ejaculating all over a dingy office. The whole thing makes “Ted” look like “Fraggle Rock.”

Since launching in 2014, Stx has struggled at times to find its footing. It scored with the “Bad Moms” movies and “The Foreigner,” but other pictures such as “Free State of Jones

“Black Panther” filmmaker Ryan Coogler has made no bones about his affection for fellow director Spike Lee’s sprawling filmography, including using a post-screening Q&A of his own boundary-breaking Marvel film to heap praise on both Lee’s “Malcolm X” and “Do the Right Thing,” and now the Brooklyn mainstay is returning the favor. During an hour-long conversation at the Tribeca Film Festival on Tuesday evening, Lee was asked by an audience member if he’d seen Coogler’s film and what he thought of it.

“I loved it! My brother, I’ve seen it four times,” Lee answered. (Lee just so happened to be in attendance at that same screening where Coogler named his most influential films, so we’ve long known he’d seen the film at least once.)

Lee continued, “I will say, I look at the world now differently, before ‘Black Panther’ and after ‘Black Panther.

Bradley Cooper’s screenwriting, directing, and onscreen singing debut has already earned raves from four-time co-star Robert De Niro. At CinemaCon on April 24, the first trailer for “A Star Is Born” had the National Association of Theatre Owners and their guests not only smitten, but also sensing an award-season contender. Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group chairman Toby Emmerich called Cooper’s three-year endeavor about musicians who pair up and reverse fortunes “extraordinary.”

Damn, A Star is Born looks powerful, I cannot lie. #CinemaCon

— Kevin Polowy (@djkevlar) April 25, 2018

First trailer for A Star Is Born gave me chills. Lady Gaga’s Hollywood moment is far from over. Music is phenomenal. #CinemaCon

— Crystal Bell (@crystalbell) April 25, 2018

Bradley Cooper introduced the first trailer for A Star Is Born. It’s obviously a passion project for him and that earnestness shows in the footage. Lady Gaga was really impressive even in a couple minutes of footage.

Tracy Morgan and Tiffany Haddish met at the very first table read for “The Last O.G.”

That’s what Morgan remembered, anyway.

“That was not the first time we ever met,” Haddish said.

“It wasn’t?” Morgan said.

“No, the first time we met was at the Saddle Ranch in Hollywood,” she said.

At that, Morgan let out a loud, long “wow” — probably not remembering the exact evening, but knowing what kind of meeting Haddish was about to recount.

“By the end of the night, your shirt was off. You were dancing,” she said, as part of her response was drowned out by Morgan’s laughter and ever so slight embarrassment.

“You met that Tracy!” Morgan said. “[Back then] my publicist would call every week and go, ‘God damn it!’ Because every week, I was doing something crazy.”

Now, Morgan and Haddish are making a well-received TBS comedy, joining the network

“It: Chapter 2” will be even more scary than last year’s horror blockbuster, director Andy Muschietti promised Tuesday.

“Bring your adult diapers,” he told the audience at Caesar’s Palace in a video clip on the second day of the CinemaCon convention of the nation’s theater owners during the Warner Bros. presentation.

Though the studio showed no footage of the sequel, which has not begun shooting yet, it screened plenty of scenes from the original — which stunned the movie world with a $700 million worldwide gross. The sequel was dated a week later.

Stephen King’s 1986 novel focuses on a group of friends in a fictional Maine community that battles the small town’s demon as children, and then again as adults. The blockbuster movie centered on the children, while the upcoming film will follow them into adulthood.

Warner Bros. also highlighted its horror film “The Nun,” a spinoff movie

When Jason Momoa kicked off press obligations for his standalone “Aquaman” movie on April 24 at CinemaCon, Warner Bros. presentation host Will Arnett took a dry jab at the “Game of Thrones” and “Conan the Barbarian” vet: “Have you ever wanted to play a character who wears a shirt?”

Momoa will reprise his duel “Justice League” role as Arthur Curry/Aquaman in the latest film from Australian director James Wan. Co-stars Amber Heard (Mera) and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Black Manta) helped Wan and his five-time collaborator Patrick Wilson (Orm/Ocean Master) debut the first footage from the film, which resembled “The Little Mermaid” meets “Ready Player One,” and evoked “Black Panther” in its plotline. Half-human Curry must return to his underwater birthplace in attempt to seize power from his corrupt brother (Wilson). Along the way, he is aided by the hydrokinetic and telepathic undersea warrior, who happens to be a woman.

Decoding Westworld is a weekly podcast recapping the HBO original series Westworld. In this episode, Joanna and David discuss the Season 2 premiere, “Journey Into Night.” Be sure to check out Chris Evangelista’s recap and Joanna Robinson’s recap of this episode. Thanks for listening to this season of Decoding Westworld. Want to sponsor an episode? Leave […]

The post Decoding Westworld S2E01 – Journey Into Night appeared first on /Film.

Burbank came to Vegas today, as both Disney and Warner Bros attempted to wow exhibitors in their own patented ways at CinemaCon. Disney brought the movies. Warners brought the stars. Both played well in the desert, and especially with the mom and pop theater owners who eat this stuff up. In all my years attending WB’s “The Big Show” presentations here, I have never seen the sheer numbers of filmmakers and actors who boarded the corporate jet and hit the Colosseum stage…

The summer movie season officially kicks off this Friday with “Avengers: Infinity War” — and it’s set to launch the season with a bang.

It’s heading toward a monster $225 million-plus weekend, marking one of the biggest debuts of all time. And it’s only the beginning of a number of surefire blockbusters (comic-book-themed and otherwise) that will hit theaters this summer.

First to follow “Avengers”: “Deadpool 2.” The first movie starring the merc with a mouth shattered records for an R-rated movie, and Ryan Reynolds is returning for its follow-up on May 18, joined by Josh Brolin as Cable and Zazie Beetz as Domino.

Just a week after the “Deadpool” sequel, “Solo: A Star Wars Story” will fly into theaters on May 25, starring Alden Ehrenreich as a young Han Solo, joined by Donald Glover, Emilia Clarke, and Woody Harrelson.

“Ocean’s 8” is also sure to make a big splash

Las Vegas – If you haven’t heard half of Hollywood has already seen Bradley Cooper’s “A Star is Born.” In fat, it seems like a week doesn’t go by where another prominent name drops that Cooper screened the movie for them and it’s fantastic (the most recent being Robert DeNiro). At CinemaCon today Cooper joined his ex-roommate and Warner Bros. surprise host Will Arnett on stage to talk about the movie and screen the first trailer for what will be his directorial debut.

Warner Bros. needs to convince moviegoers that they prefer their Kipling a bit darker.

The studio is faced with the unenviable task of following up Disney’s 2016 box office smash “The Jungle Book” with “Mowgli,” their own take on the “man cub” who was raised by wolves. Based on footage that Warner Bros. screened for theater owners on Tuesday at CinemaCon, they’re scrapping the “Bear Necessities” and remaining more faithful to Rudyard Kipling’s original stories.

Director Andy Serkis promised that the film will be a “darker retelling” of the story that is far removed from Disney’s 1967 animated classic and more recent live-action version. Flanked by stars Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Matthew Rhys and Rohan Chand, Serkis said the film will be an “epic story of a child becoming a warrior.”

The trailer made it clear that this is a moodier fable, one that might not be suitable for very young children.

Warner Bros. released new footage Tuesday for “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” with a teenage Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) receiving Defense Against the Dark Arts instruction at Hogwarts.

The footage generated a big laugh among attendees at the CinemaCon convention of theater owners in Las Vegas, with Jude Law portraying a young Albus Dumbledore as the bumbling Scamander faces a Boggart and a desk appears. Dumbledore explains that it’s manifested as Scamander’s fear: having to work an office job.

“This film, I get to go to Hogwarts, which is the best thing!” Redmayne proclaimed at the convention.

The David Yates film follows Dumbledore and Scamander as they join forces to recapture an escaped Gellert Grindelwald, played by Johnny Depp, who is on a mission to dominate all non-magical people with the help of his pureblood wizard followers. Depp did not appear at the CinemaCon event.

Ezra Miller,

Arthur B. Rubinstein, composer for films such as “War Games” who worked on more than 300 films and television programs, died April 23 of complications resulting from cancer. He was 80.

In the 1960s, Rubinstein composed incidental music for around 50 productions while serving as composer-in-residence for the American Conservatory Theater, the Williamstown Theater Festival, and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. He continued on in the 1970s serving as a music director, both in Los Angeles and on Broadway, for shows such as “A Chorus Line,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” and “Evita.” Rubinstein received an L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award for his work as music director on Gordon Davidson’s production of “A Little Night Music.”

After moving to Los Angeles, Rubinstein composed scores for films such as “WarGames” (1983) starring Matthew Broderick, and Albert Brooks’ “Lost in America” (1985). Rubinstein earned an Emmy Award for his original music on CBS series “Scarecrow and Mrs. King.” He also scored “Shooting War,

Warner Bros screened a 2 1/2-minute trailer of its long-gestating Jungle Book adaptation Mowgli (formally titled Jungle Book: Origins) this evening at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. Director Andy Serkis along with stars Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Matthew Rhys and Rohan Chand were present to cue up the video for the film, which began principal photography in 2015. Serkis said his take on the Rudyard Kipling classic focuses on “the journey of Mowgli of being an…