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The "Final Destination" franchise has lain dormant for 14 years, waiting for the perfect moment to strike fear into a whole new generation. I admittedly had my reservations about "Bloodlines" simply because "Final Destination 5" is both the best entry and the thematic lynchpin of the entire series. Most horror franchises would kill to have an ending this tight, so the thought of resurrecting it for another go-around worried me initially. Rest assured, however, that "Bloodlines" is a more than worthy successor that takes the series in an exciting new direction, while still offering up a buffet of gruesomely gory deaths that's best experienced with a crowd. /Film's Bj Colangelo wrote in her review that the sixth entry is a franchise best and I'm very much on the same page.

"Bloodlines" kicks off its carnival of carnage with a tremendous opening premonition sequence set in the '60s atop a Skyview restaurant.

Look, actors have to eat too, and all the arthouse and award season favorite projects they do aren't always going to pay the bills. To put it simply, just as we all do jobs that we don't necessarily feel personally invested in, actors can also take on work primarily for the associated salary. This distinction doesn't take away from the work itself, and certainly doesn't diminish our own feelings for it, but it serves as an amusing reminder of the value of the dollar. If anything, it helps humanize the actors involved with the knowledge that they too have to make their own ends meet.

Whether it's celebrated, award-winning actors or beloved character actors looking for the next project, regardless of the material, all actors play a role only for the money in their career. Many of these actors have been forthcoming about their primary motivation for joining a project,...

Whether they’re symbols of purity, sarcastic sidekicks, or straight-up murder targets, unicorns have pranced their way into some of cinema’s most memorable moments. Sometimes they’re majestic and wise, sometimes they’re total divas, and sometimes they’re just there to be hunted by some evil king with serious control issues. From animated classics to bizarre indie flicks, unicorns have proven that they can be more than just Lisa Frank stickers brought to life. On the occasion of the release of Death of a Unicorn, we’re diving into the most famous unicorns ever to grace the big screen—whether they’re noble and heroic, tragically misunderstood, or just straight-up weird. Alexa Camp

Fantasia (1940)

Fantasia only seems about as great as the particular segment you happen to be watching in the moment, but it’s is also one of the few Disney movies whose outsized aims marinate tastefully in memory instead of festering.

Take a deep dive into the making of Alex Proyas‘ 1994 cult classic with The Crow: The Definitive History.

Written by Jeff Bond, the 192-page hardcover will be published on October 21 — just in time for Devil’s Night — via Titan Books.

Featuring new interviews with filmmakers and behind-the-scenes imagery, the book serves as the ultimate guide to The Crow, from its origins in James O’Barr‘s haunting graphic novel to the lasting impact of its production in later sequels.

The Crow: The Definitive History details the film’s bold visual style, director Alex Proyas’ creative vision, and the rise of Brandon Lee as the unforgettable Eric Draven. Despite tragedy, the crew’s determination to bring the film to completion created a cult classic.

The book traces the franchise’s evolution and examines how The Crow became a symbol of love, loss, and redemption, leaving a legacy that continues to resonate with fans.

In hindsight, the American cinema of the 1970s has two major legacies attached to it. On the one hand, there's the American New Wave aka the New Hollywood movement, in which "Five Easy Pieces," "Klute," "The French Connection," and other films like them eschewed the mainstream studio filmmaking formula in favor of telling stories that were creatively daring and heartfelt. On the other, there's the dawn of the blockbuster, a trend that continues to this day and whose beginning is most often attributed to Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" from 1975. But while "Jaws" gets the lion's share of the credit for birthing the blockbuster, a good dollop of credit must also go to the other populist trend in American cinema during the decade: the disaster movie.

The disaster film had been around before the '70s in one form or another, but it's the version that was popularized during that decade...

Legendary actor Gene Hackman has been found dead in his Santa Fe home alongside wife and concert pianist Betsy Arakawa. No foul play is suspected.

Hollywood actor Gene Hackman has passed away at the age of 95. The actor and his wife, the pianist Betsy Arakawa, were both found dead at their Santa Fe home on the 26th February, County Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed to local press. A cause of death wasn’t disclosed, though Mendoza added that foul play isn’t suspected.

Hackman was among the great American actors of his generation. Steadily building up his profile in the 50s and 60s with work on Broadway and smaller roles in TV and film, he caught wider attention with his terrific performance as Buck Barrow in Arthur Penn’s generation-defining Bonnie And Clyde in 1967. That turn earned him his first Oscar nomination – one of many such nods across his six-decade career.

When Academy Award winner Akiva Goldsman isn't thinking about the ongoing battle of the making of Constantine 2 or the epic follow-up to I Am Legend's alternate ending, the acclaimed writer and director has had his mind on the world of legendary '60s sci-fi. Irwin Allen was behind the eclectic retro-futuristic shows like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of Giants, and The Time Tunnel, which happen to be the three shows that Legendary Television has hired Goldsman to recreate for a modern audience.

While it may sound odd that the same visionary writer that brought fans both the moving drama Cinderella Man and the goofy comic book film Batman Forever is now working on a re-imagined retro sci-fi TV universe, Goldsman has always had a diverse portfolio. He has worked on a variety of projects, like the Best Picture winner A Beautiful Mindand the hit...

Get ready to see more of Irwin Allen’s work on the small screen. According to Deadline, Legendary Television is working with Akiva Goldsman to develop three reboots of classic ABC television series based on The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. All three shows aired on the network during the 1960s.

Read More…...

Legendary Television is teaming up with Oscar-winning writer and producer Akiva Goldsman to bring new life to three classic Irwin Allen sci-fi series. Goldsman, known for his work on A Beautiful Mind and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, is set to reimagine Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants, and The Time Tunnel.

The goal is to modernize these iconic shows while staying true to their original appeal. Jon Jashni will serve as executive producer, with Derek Thielges co-producing.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea originally aired from 1964 to 1968 and followed a nuclear submarine on thrilling underwater adventures. The Time Tunnel, which ran for one season in 1966, was about two scientists lost in time. Land of the Giants, airing from 1968 to 1970, told the story of a spaceship crew stranded on a planet where everything was oversized.

Goldsman has a history of reviving beloved franchises, having...

Back in the 1960s, Irwin Allen created and produced the popular sci-fi TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants. Now, Deadline has broken the news that Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind), who recently co-created the shows Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, is teaming with Legendary Television for re-imaginings of three of those Allen shows: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants.

Deadline’s sources tell them that Goldsman and Legendary Television are crafting a unified vision for these stories, bringing modern sensibilities to their timeless appeal, and expanding upon his success in revitalizing the Star Trek universe. Jon Jashni serves as executive producer, guiding this effort to reintroduce these popular franchises to a new generation, with Derek Thielges co-producing.

Based on a 1961 film that Allen produced,...

The work of legendary film producer Irwin Allen is getting a second shot at life with a planned series of modern reboots from Legendary Television, Deadline reports this afternoon.

Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman is on board to resurrect the classic science fiction TV shows Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants, and The Time Tunnel.

Deadline notes in today’s exclusive report, “Goldsman and Legendary Television are crafting a unified vision for these stories, bringing modern sensibilities to their timeless appeal, and expanding upon his success in revitalizing the Star Trek universe.”

“Jon Jashni serves as executive producer, guiding this effort to reintroduce these popular franchises to a new generation, with Derek Thielges co-producing,” the report continues.

In Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964-1968), “The submarine Seaview is commissioned to investigate the mysteries of the seas. Usually it finds more problems than answers.”

In...

Exclusive: Akiva Goldsman is developing a new Universe at Legendary Television featuring three reimagined Irwin Allen sci-fi TV series. The Oscar-winning writer, producer and director will draw inspiration for the new TV shows from Allen’s catalog and focus on revitalizing Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants and The Time Tunnel.

Goldsman and Legendary Television are crafting a unified vision for these stories, bringing modern sensibilities to their appeal and expanding upon his success in revitalizing the Star Trek universe.

Jon Jashni serves as executive producer, guiding the effort to reintroduce these popular franchises to a new generation, with Derek Thielges co-producing.

Created by Allen, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea premiered in 1964 on ABC based on the 1961 film co-written by Allen and Charles Bennett. It ran for four seasons starring Richard Basehart as Admiral Harriman “Harry” Nelson in the leading role, as well as David Hedison,...

There are many movies that, despite their big cast and promising plots, are not the success everyone expected. One of these films is 1996's Eye for an Eye.

The film premiered almost 29 years ago, starring Sally Field as a woman who takes matters into her own hands and gets revenge after her daughter's murder. Although the plot sounds exciting and original for almost two decades ago, the film failed to impress. However, Eye for an Eye found streaming success on Netflix, settling for tenth place for a second week in a row on the global charts, with a total of 2.4 million views, the equivalent of 4 million hours viewed for the week between Jan. 13 and 20, spending two weeks in the Top 10 in 20 countries.

Related Cameron Diaz Makes Stunning Return to the Charts With Back in Action

Back in Action was not a hit with the critics but its strong numbers prove the audience missed Cameron Diaz.

Big Finish Productions and Legendary Entertainment Bring Irwin Allen’s “The Time Tunnel “ Back to Life in an Epic Audio Revival Under license from Legendary Entertainment, Big Finish Productions presents Seán Carlsen and Safiyya Ingar in an audio revival of Irwin Allen’s “The Time Tunnel.” This exciting continuation of the classic sci-fi series, originally created …

The post Irwin Allen’s ‘The Time Tunnel’ in Epic Audio Revival from Legendary Entertainment & Big Finish appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

Christian Juttner, a child actor in the 1970s who appeared in the films Return From Witch Mountain, I Wanna Hold Your Hand and The Swarm and on several TV shows, has died. He was 60.

Juttner died Nov. 29 of natural causes at his home in Yucca Valley, California, his daughter Aidan Juttner told The Hollywood Reporter.

Return From Witch Mountain, I Wanna Hold Your Hand and The Swarm appeared in theaters within five months of one another in 1978.

He portrayed Dazzler, one of the truants known as the Earthquake Gang, in the sequel Return From Witch Mountain, and in I Wanna Hold Your Hand, the feature directorial debut of Robert Zemeckis, he was the boy with a Beatles-style haircut who is determined to see the Fab Four perform on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964.

And in the Irwin Allen-directed disaster film The Swarm, Juttner portrayed a kid who suffers...

Throughout the 1970s, audiences couldn’t get enough of disaster movies. The decade began with the all-star blockbuster bomb-on-a-plane thrill ride Airport, based on Arthur Hailey’s best-seller. Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Maureen Stapleton, Van Heflin, Jean Seberg, and Jacqueline Bisset headlined Airport, which became the second-biggest box-office hit of the year and earned nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and winning Best Supporting Actress for Hayes. Airport also established the template for subsequent movies: trapping all-star casts on a plane, a ship, or a high-rise.

SEEFred Astaire movies: 20 greatest films ranked worst to best

Producer-director-writer Irwin Allen took disaster movies to the next level — so much so he was dubbed “The Master of Disaster.” Allen, who enjoyed great success on the small screen in the 1960s with the series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, and Lost in Space, brought his disaster savvy to the...

Touted as Hong Kong’s first radiation-disaster blockbuster, Anthony Pun’s Cesium Fallout chronicles the political and frontline responses to a national catastrophe as it unfolds on the outskirts of the city. Emulating the blockbusters of Irwin Allen and Roland Emmerich, the rampant urban destruction is complemented by a star-studded ensemble of some of the local industry’s most prominent talent. Andy Lau takes top billing as the scientist drafted to advise Karen Mok’s bullheaded politician when a fire breaks out in a landfill site riddled with illegal radioactive waste. As the leadership bickers over the appropriate response and who is to be reprimanded, it falls to the blue collar heroes of the Hong Kong Fire Services Department to tackle the inferno head on.

Yu Bai and Louise Wong are among the heroes in helmets putting their lives on the line for the sake of seven million innocent souls,...

Steve McQueen’s “Blitz” isn’t just a movie, it’s a lot of movie. It’s one of the most enormous cinematic experiences in recent memory. It’s a World War II epic with a stunning sense of scale. It’s an intimate family drama about meaningful relationships in crisis. It’s an intelligent recontextualization of a historical era that’s too often viewed through a single lens. It’s a Dickensian melodrama with outsized yet believable characters. It’s an Irwin Allen-esque disaster film with impeccable visual effects. It’s got great musical numbers. It’s funny. It’ll make you cry. I’ve been to whole film festivals with less cinema than Steve McQueen packs into just two hours.

“Blitz,” which had its world premiere at the London Film Festival, tells a story about a family trying to survive the Nazi bombing raids in the United Kingdom,...

Note: This story contains spoilers from the “9-1-1” Season 8 premiere.

“9-1-1” has cultivated a reputation for kicking off seasons with some impressive disasters. There was Season 2’s earthquake, Season 5’s LA blackout and Season 7’s sinking cruise ship. And who could ever forget the three-episode tsunami that opened Season 3? But Season 8’s Bee-nado may just fly to the top of this wild list.

“I was talking to Ryan Murphy, and he really loved the whole riff on ‘The Poseidon Adventure’ last season. He was like, ‘What are some other great ’70s disaster movies?’ And I’m like, ‘”The Swarm,”‘ which is maybe the worst one ever,” series showrunner co-creator and executive producer Tim Minear told TheWrap.

Minear does not recommend “anyone” sit down and watch Irwin Allen’s box office bomb about a swarm of killer bees that are on the verge of invading Texas. “I threw that out there,...

The new season of 9-1-1 premieres in three weeks. Details about the upcoming season are slowly trickling in, and it is now clear that the opening emergency for Season 8 will be bees lots of bees. Los Angeles is in for something different when a swarm poses a threat no one could have ever anticipated. This disaster seems to be inspired by Irwin Allen's 1978 film, The Swarm. The difference is that instead of scientists and a military task force, the 118 will have to save the day. A new poster for the season has been released, and apart from the emergency, it also reveals the number of episodes it spans.

James Darren, the former teen idol and pop singer who played the dreamy surfer Moondoggie in three Gidget movies before starring on television on The Time Tunnel and T.J. Hooker, died Monday. He was 88.

Darren died in his sleep at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his son Jim Moret, a correspondent for Inside Edition, told The Hollywood Reporter. He had entered the hospital for an aortic valve replacement but was deemed too weak to have the surgery; he went home but had to return.

“I always thought he would pull through,” Moret said, “because he was so cool. He was always cool.”

Early in his career, the dark-haired Darren received excellent notices for starring in Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960) — portraying the son of a hoodlum defended by Humphrey Bogart’s character in 1949’s Knock on Any Door — and for playing the Greek soldier Spyros Pappadimos in The Guns of Navarone...

On Dec. 16, 1974, 20th-Fox and Warner Bros. unveiled in theaters what would become a landmark disaster movie: The 170-minute, John Guillermin-directed Towering Inferno. The movie, which took in $116 million domestically at the time, tops The Hollywood Reporter’s list of greatest disaster movies of all time. THR’s original review of the feature is below:

Movie technology is the star of this awesome Irwin Allen production, a formula disaster picture made into an event by the sheer size of its inflating production values. More ordeal than entertainment, it overwhelms the spectator like a bully playing on the fears of a society trapped in its own burning affluence.

Since the screenplay by Stirling Silliphant has nothing new to say (the “insanity” of building skyscrapers is dealt with in Earthquake), and the general doomsday appeal of the disaster genre has already been established, The Towering Inferno‘s appeal lies entirely in immediate visceral reactions.

The concept of good vs. evil is at the heart of almost every movie ever made, but how that antagonistic force takes shape always varies. We can look at certain genres, such as superhero films or horror movies, and envision what a villain looks like. Sometimes they'll wield a knife or an axe, or perhaps they'll attempt to destroy the world to gain incalculable power. But arguably some of the most terrifying antagonists in films can't be visualized in the same way, because they all emanate from nature; if nothing else, they become so much more terrifying specifically because you can't reason with these antagonists and they have no sentience like human beings. 

A natural disaster is at the heart of the big movie of the week, Lee Isaac Chung's long-awaited "Twisters," a follow-up to Jan de Bont's 1996 film all about storm chasers in Oklahoma. But natural disasters...

If a massive tornado was to pick up your house Wizard of Oz-style, spin it through space and time, and drop it into a mall parking lot in 1996, there’s a good chance that you’d see a line of folks waiting to see a disaster flick. Specifically, one in which Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, and a deep bench of character actors dodged flying cows and debris while CGI vortexes tear up the Sooner State. Go back to Twister if you haven’t watched it in a while, and you...

It's fair to say no one goes to a Roland Emmerich movie expecting Shakespeare. Ever since breaking through with the sci-fi action hit "Universal Soldier" in 1992, his name has been synonymous with switch-off-your-brain blockbuster entertainment. At his best, he thrusts a colorful assortment of stars and character actors into a series of mayhem-laden set pieces with a gleeful shamelessness unseen since the heyday of Irwin Allen. He's well aware of his dialogue-writing shortcomings, and casts big personalities like Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, Oliver Platt and so on to sell the heck out of his implausible exposition and shopworn banter.

When it works, it's Arby's. When it doesn't, it's hour-old Arby's.

Take "Stargate" for example. Emmerich and co-writer Dean Devlin's follow-up to "Universal Soldier" was an ambitious, big-budget attempt at an off-brand Indiana Jones adventure starring James Spader as a bookish Egyptologist who gets recruited by a...

The premise of the first season of the seminal 1965 sci-fi series "Lost in Space" (not to be confused with the Netflix reboot) cause the title to be a bit of a misnomer. The Robinson family, fleeing an overpopulated Earth in the distant future of 1997, was thrown off course during the launch of their starship, the Jupiter 2, thanks to the sabotage of a shady villain calling himself Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris). The Jupiter 2 sped off into the stars without instruction and was deposited far away from Earth in an uncharted part of the galaxy.

The Jupiter 2 crash-landed on a planet called Priplanus, with the bulk of the show's first season taking place there. The Robinsons weren't so much lost in space as they were stranded on a distant world. I understand the difference may be semantic, but the title "Lost in Space" implies a trek through the stars. Show creator Irwin Allen...

1978's The Swarm was called the worst movie ever. This was the case in spite of the fact that it starred MIchael Caine, Henry Fonda, and seven other Oscar nominees. The movie's 9% Rotten Tomatoes score belies its quality, though it still has entertainment value.

The 1978 movie The Swarm, which features a star-studded cast that includes Henry Fonda, Michael Caine, and many other Oscar winners and major celebrities, has been called "the worst movie ever." This is an astonishing fact considering the track record of its cavalcade of major performers. Critical reception for movies featuring these stars has generally been high. In fact, on Rotten Tomatoes, only 10 of Fonda's 41 pre-1978 movies later received Rotten scores.

Michael Caine had also only had 10 Rotten movies before The Swarm. While the iconic star's career has varied wildly between beloved classics and outright flops, he is best known for well-received movies as varied as the...

The disaster movie genre peaked in the 1970s with films like The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure, but declined after the 1980 failure of Paul Newman's When Time Ran Out. The 1990s saw a revival of disaster movies with Twister and Independence Day, with improved visual effects and star-studded ensembles. Paul Newman regretted starring in When Time Ran Out, a film he made purely for the money, and there's an unconfirmed rumor he used his salary to fund Newman's Own food company.

Paul Newman's follow-up to The Towering Inferno was such a profound bomb it all but killed the disaster movie genre for nearly two decades. Movies like Jaws and Star Wars changed cinema forever, and shaped the modern-day obsession with effects-driven blockbusters. The 1970s also saw disaster thrillers become a staple, especially the kind of big budget epics produced by Irwin Allen. Movies like The Poseidon Adventure,...

One word, one track, one endlessly re-watchable episode: “monorail.”

When the Season Four The Simpsons episode “Marge vs. The Monorail” aired on January 14, 1993, it wasn’t exactly an instant classic. In fact, the abstract, high-concept and heavily musical storyline was divisive even among the Simpsons family. Two years after its premiere, Yeardley Smith called the episode “truly one of our worst — we (the entire cast) all agree.” However, in the 31 years since writer Conan O’Brien ensured that the word “monorail” would forever be spoken rhythmically and repetitively by millions of Simpsons fans across the world, “Marge vs. The Monorail” has become an absolute tentpole plot line in the history of television and is widely regarded as one of the best-ever episodes, not just of The Simpsons, but of TV itself.

Also during that time, O’Brien became one of the biggest names in all of comedy, but he still points...

Jan de Bont's "Twister" might be regarded nowadays as one of the most thrilling blockbusters of the 1990s, but when it hit theaters on May 10, 1996, the first, heavily-hyped summer tentpole out of the gate that year, it felt like a bit of a miss. Responses varied, mostly because you really needed to see the film on a massive screen in a theater outfitted with top-grade sound –- this way, the visual/aural sensation concocted by de Bont and the best of the best at Ilm and Skywalker Sound could blow you up, up and out of the cineplex, thus distracting you from the bland characters and preposterously thin plot. (Helen Hunt's character needs to face and survive an F5 tornado to exorcize her childhood demons.)

Actually, there's a world in which this is an awesomely preposterous plot, but "Twister" offers only mechanical blockbuster storytelling. The film –- from...

Cinephiles romanticize the New Hollywood era of the late 1960s and most of the 1970s as a time of artistic rebellion during which a batch of young directors and experienced helmers saved Hollywood by connecting with Baby Boomer moviegoers bored with formula Westerns, backlot musicals, and all the other fusty stuff their parents dragged them to throughout their childhood. These artists toyed with genre conventions and film technique to reignite a jaded generation's excitement for the medium at a time when television was becoming an increasingly appealing entertainment option.

It was an incredibly exciting time for movies, but audiences of all ages still had an appetite for good ol' cinematic spectacle. They might've tired of sword-and-sandal epics and widescreen adaptations of Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, but there was nothing wrong with studios spending loads of money to fill the big screen with eye-popping imagery.

And for most of the 1970s,...

60 years ago, Gene Roddenberry took his first step towards bringing Star Trek to the screen with a successful meeting with NBC. "The Cage" was chosen as the pilot for Star Trek, but two other potential storylines were also pitched to NBC. While the show faced initial challenges, Star Trek: The Original Series went on to become a beloved science fiction classic.

It was 60 years ago this May that Gene Roddenberry and NBC embarked on the first step on their journey to bringing Star Trek: The Original Series to the screen. Tos premiered on NBC on September 8th, 1966, following a failed pilot, a radical overhaul, and a change of lead actor. Years before "The Man Trap" aired, Gene Roddenberry began shopping his Star Trek concept around various studios and networks, to no avail. In 1964, however, Roddenberry sold Star Trek to Lucille Ball's, Desilu production company, signing a three-year deal in April that year.

On September 15, 1965, Irwin Allen whisked television viewers out of their living rooms on a journey to the outer reaches of space, where the Robinson family finds themselves marooned on a strange, not-entirely-hospitable planet thanks to the sabotage of their chief medical officer. For a nation dreaming of a seemingly impossible moon landing, "Lost in Space" was both wish fulfillment and cautionary tale; a part of us was enthralled by the notion of exploring the cosmos, but we were also terrified by the thought of aimlessly hurtling through a universe with no known end and no direction home.

Allen's series didn't dwell much on the more frightening aspects of the Robinsons' predicament. Unlike Gene Roddenberry's "Star Trek" (which would debut a year later), Allen employed a fairly rigid formula that found the Robinsons and the hunky Major Don West (Mark Goddard) having to outwit the generally inept scheming of Dr.

To understand "Left Behind," one must understand a version of Christianity not widely practiced by many people outside certain pockets of the United States. In some American Evangelical churches, they preach of the coming Rapture, when all of the Christians on Earth -- including the dead ones -- will be bodily scooped up by God and transported into Heaven. The idea of a Rapture is taken from an interpretation from the Book of Thessalonians which didn't enter into the Christian lexicon until about the 1830s, making it a very recent development. When Evangelical churches began to become popular in the United States in the 1950s, a stripe of fundamentalist theology began embracing the Rapture as a prophecy that was almost immediately nigh. 

On December 31, 1995, Baptist minister Jim Lahaye and author Jerry B. Jenkins published the Rapture-themed book "Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days" to much ballyhoo. "Left Behind...

Note: This story contains spoilers from the “9-1-1” Season 7 premiere.

The Season 7 premiere of “9-1-1” opened in a therapist’s office. In hushed tones, LAPD patrol sergeant Athena Grant (Angela Bassett) explained that she’s scared to go on a cruise with her husband for a very “9-1-1” reason: She was traumatized as a child by the 1972 ABC disaster thriller “The Poseidon Adventure.” As the flashback unfolds, scenes from the Irwin Allen disaster movie flash on screen along with a vintage ABC logo.

It’s a silly, so-on-the-nose-it’s-brilliant moment that’s perfect for one of television’s wildest shows. “9-1-1” is back, and it’s found a new home on ABC.

“That was so important to me,” series creator, writer and executive producer Tim Minear told TheWrap about the film nod. Dubbed the “Master of Disaster,” Allen defined the disaster film genre through movies such as “The Towering Inferno” and “The Swarm.

Stars can be found in the unlikeliest of places. Marilyn Monroe was noticed at a munitions factory and Haley Joel Osment was scouted in Ikea, but the 20th century’s most prolific actor was discovered on a cactus.

In the mid-1930s, ex-cowboy Henry Wagstaff Twiford was walking across the red rust of the Mojave desert when he stumbled upon a baby raven in an abandoned nest. He took him home, named him Jimmy, and reared him on boiled eggs, eggshells, and milk. Over the course of the next two decades, Jimmy became a star that needed no surname, billed alongside Bette Davis and Judy Garland during Hollywood’s Golden Age. Before he died, the raven was said to have appeared in more than 1,000 films.

That is the extent of what most people know about Jimmy — if they’ve heard of him at all. Despite his vast back catalogue, no...

What a rescue! After Fox axed 9-1-1 right before the writers’ strike last summer, ABC snapped up the drama about Los Angeles’ first responders. And seven seasons in, these heroes remain as disaster movie–ready as ever. “I have discovered that [showrunner] Tim Minear has aspired to be television’s Irwin Allen,” says Peter Krause, referencing the “Master of Disaster” ’70s filmmaker, “because we’ve done an earthquake, a tidal wave….” (Credit: Disney/Chris Willard) Now, to make a splash in their new home, “we’re doing The Poseidon Adventure and making no mystery of it,” Minear says, adding that the opening minutes feature “an absolute tribute to Irwin Allen.” As viewers know, Bobby and his wife, LAPD sergeant Athena Grant-Nash (Angela Bassett), are setting sail on a belated honeymoon cruise. (Expect to see a couple of familiar faces on board.) ...

We finally got a Halo live-action series, and while fans have mixed feelings about the series, no one can deny the brilliant action and cast in the Paramount+ series. Halo the series is set in the 26th century and will be centered on the Master Chief, the world’s deadliest weapon and their greatest hope in the war with the Covenant (an alien race). While protecting a rebel group from the Covenant on planet Madrigal, Master Chief saves Kwan and also touches an object that seems to unlock his buried memories, and also makes him want to protect Kwan, even if it means going against him the orders given to him by the Unsc. Halo is currently in its second season and if you love the new batch of episodes and want some more similar sci-fi adventure then you might want to check out the shows listed below.

Raised By Wolves...

Roland Emmerich's 1998 film "Godzilla" remains of the most widely seen in the Godzilla film series, and also remains one of the most broadly reviled. "Godzilla" is an unapologetically stupid film that has more in common with chintzy Irwin Allen disaster movies from the 1970s than it does with anything Godzilla-related. The film's ubiquitous ad campaign famously touted that "Size Does Matter," a churlish claim, given that the monster in the movie was smaller than any of the Godzillas seen to date. Indeed, the giant iguana-resembling reptile was small enough that it could slip into the subways of New York City and remain hidden for an entire day. 

Emmerich's "Godzilla" was initially planned as the first of three Godzilla movies to be made by TriStar pictures, and the studio was willing to spend a lot to make the first entry in their borrowed franchise (borrowed from Toho). The budget...

Herman Rush, a veteran television producer best known for licensing Till Death Us Do Part, the UK sitcom that Norman Lear turned into All in the Family, died Dec. 12 at 94 of natural causes in Los Angeles, according to several news reports.

Rush began his career in 1951, working in sales for Official Film. He later purchased Flamingo Films, a television syndication firm, growing it into a major independent syndication company.

Up into the 1970s, Rush was with Creative Management Associates as the president of the television division, playing a role in the agency’s entry into television packaging. Some of the shows he was placed on networks included The Perry Como Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Kraft Music Hall and The Hollywood Palace.

H also represented producer Irwin Allen for TV hits Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost In Space, The Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants.

Herman Rush, who produced several television shows and was the former president of Columbia Pictures Television, has died. He was 94.

Rush died on Dec. 12 of natural causes in Los Angeles, his daughter Mandie told The Hollywood Reporter.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1929, Rush grew up in a show-business family, with his uncle Manie Sacks being Frank Sinatra’s first manager.

In 1951, Rush began his career in television, working first as a salesman for Official Film before moving up to several different leadership positions. He later purchased Flamingo Films, a television syndication firm, in 1957 and turned it into a major independent syndication company.

Throughout the ’60s and early ’70s, he was with Creative Management Associates as the president of the television division. He also worked for CMA’s predecessor organization, General Artists Corporation, now known as International Creative Management, and played a huge role in the agency’s entry into television packaging.

Directed by Nicholas Meyer, The Day After disturbed a generation of TV audiences in 1983. On the 40th anniversary of its first airing, we look back at its immediate and lasting impact.

“If you can, take a quick look out of the window,” said TV host Ted Koppel immediately after the first airing of The Day After on the 20th November, 1983. “It’s all still there. Your neighbourhood is still there. So is Kansas City. And Lawrence. And Chicago, San Diego, Moscow and Vladivostok…”

Koppel’s words of reassurance were a sign of how nervous the ABC Network was about airing its multi-million dollar, two-hour feature about the nuclear destruction of the United States. The company had reason to be on edge: aside from the expense, the film had alienated advertisers, angered the political right, and left ABC executives fearing that audiences would switch off their televisions – all before the film had even aired.

Mark Goddard, known for his role as Major Don West, the fiery pilot of Jupiter 2 in the 1960s CBS adventure series Lost in Space, has passed away at 87. His wife, Evelyn Pezzulich, confirmed his death to The Hollywood Reporter. Goddard was already a regular on the Four Star Television series Johnny Ringo and The Detectives when his agent introduced him to the opportunity to join the new series Lost in Space, created and produced by Irwin Allen. The sci-fi series revolved around the Robinson family, including Professor John Robinson (Guy Williams), his biochemist wife, Maureen (June Lockhart), and their children Judy, Penny, and Will. Major West, along with a stowaway, Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), and a robot, embarked on a space colonization mission that took a wayward turn after their spacecraft was sent off course by ...

Mark Goddard, known for playing Major Don West on the CBS series “Lost in Space,” died in Hingham, Mass. on Oct. 10 of pulmonary fibrosis. He was 87.

In statement posted to Facebook, Goddard’s wife, Evelyn Pezzulich, confirmed that the actor was hospitalized with pneumonia and then transferred to a rehabilitation center, where the doctors discovered he was in the final stages of pulmonary fibrosis.

Goddard’s “Lost in Space” costar Bill Mumy also confirmed his death in a Facebook statement: “R.I.P. to Mark Goddard. A truly beloved friend and brother to me for 59 years. I knew this was coming for the past few months. Shortly after a great phone chat he and I had on his 87th birthday in late July, I became aware that I would most likely never see or speak with him again. The last words we exchanged were ‘I love you.'”

“Lost in Space,...

Mark Goddard, the actor who made a lasting impression on young sci-fi fans as the daring, forever impatient Major Don West on CBS’ 1965-68 series Lost In Space, died of pulmonary fibrosis Tuesday in Hingham, Massachusetts. He was 87.

His death was announced by his wife Evelyn Pezzulich in a Facebook post.

“I’m so sorry to tell you that my wonderful husband passed away on October 10th,” Pezzulich wrote. “Several days after celebrating his 87th birthday, he was hospitalized with pneumonia. We were hopeful when he was transferred to a rehabilitation center, but then doctors discovered he was in the final stages of pulmonary fibrosis for which there is no cure.”

By the time he was cast in his breakthrough role as the headstrong Major West, Goddard had built a reputation as a rising young actor through supporting appearances in late-’50s fare such as Johnny Ringo and The Rebel.

Mark Goddard, who played Major Don West, the hot-tempered pilot of the Jupiter 2, on the 1960s CBS adventure series Lost in Space, has died. He was 87.

Goddard died Tuesday in Hingham, Massachusetts, his wife Evelyn Pezzulich told The Hollywood Reporter.

Goddard had worked as a regular on the Four Star Television series Johnny Ringo and The Detectives when he was approached by his agent about coming aboard the new Lost on Space, created and produced by Irwin Allen.

The sci-fi show revolved around the adventures of the Robinson family: Professor John Robinson (Guy Williams), his biochemist wife, Maureen (June Lockhart) and their children Judy, Penny and Will (Marta Kristen, Angela Cartwright and Billy Mumy).

Major West also was on board, as was a stowaway, Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), and a robot (designed by Forbidden Planet‘s Robert Kinoshita, played by Bob May and voiced by Dick Tufeld). Their space colonization mission,...

For almost 50 years, John Williams' music has been virtually synonymous with the films of Steven Spielberg (and vice versa), and for nearly as long, Williams' compositions have formed the emotional backbone of the Skywalker Saga from "Star Wars." However, 20 years before the cinematic musical maestro become known for either of those things, Williams was merely a whipper-snapper fresh out of Julliard and eager to leave his mark on the worlds of concert and film music.

Williams' pre-Spielberg run would have made for an incredible career all by itself. It was an era that saw the composer collaborating with numerous giants among the old guard of Hollywood directors, including Robert Altman, Don Siegel, William Wyler, Irwin Allen, Frank Sinatra, and Norman Jewison. In 1974, Williams worked with Spielberg for the first time on the filmmaker's theatrical feature debut, "The Sugarland Express." Appearing with Williams at the American Cinematheque event "50 Years of...

No one took movie stardom more seriously than Steve McQueen. Once the actor became a certified box-office draw in the early 1960s on the strength of "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Great Escape," he got incredibly picky about his projects. McQueen knew his tough, taciturn type, and he rarely played against it. He was also disinclined to play anything other than the lead, and he demanded to be paid at his market value.

This proved problematic when he signed on to play heroic fireman Thomas O'Halloran in Irwin Allen's "The Towering Inferno." All-star disaster movies were quite the rage in the early 1970s, and were not looked down upon critically. George Seaton's 1970 adaptation of Arthur Hailey's "Airport" earned 10 Academy Award nominations, with Helen Hayes winning Best Supporting Actress. Three years later, Ronald Neame's "The Poseidon Adventure" racked up eight nominations, and two wins (for Best Original...

John Williams began his film composing career in 1958, working on Lou Place's J.D. film "Daddy-o." He was credited as "Johnny Williams," and he was only 26. From there, Williams -- a Juilliard graduate -- began a prolific, decades-long life of music that included writing hundreds of film scores and TV themes, as well as conducting concerts and making some of the most memorable music in the history of filmed media. He has worked for Don Siegel, Frank Sinatra, Irwin Allen, Gene Kelly, Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, John Frankenheimer, Richard Donner, George Miller, Barry Levinson, Oliver Stone, John Singleton ... and dozens of other notable filmmakers besides. Indeed, introducing Williams at all seems a churlish exercise, as some his scores and themes have become hummable, eternally recognizable elements of the pop consciousness. 

Williams is responsible for the main theme for George Lucas' 1977 film "Star Wars," handily one of the most popular films of all time.

I never understood why Jurassic Park was the only dinosaur-related franchise to outlive the dino hysteria of the 90s. Don’t get me wrong, Spielberg’s classic is clearly the best movie to come out of that trend, but that doesn’t change the fact that dinosaurs as a concept are in the public domain and should have been featured in countless other films.

Fortunately for fans of all things prehistoric, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’s upcoming 65 (March 10th) promises a return to the Jurassic-Park-less thrills of completely original dinosaur movies. And with that in mind, we’ve come up with this list highlighting six of the best non-jp dinosaur thrillers for all your prehistoric media needs!

As usual, this list is purely based on personal opinion, but since this is Bloody Disgusting, we’ll be limiting entries to monster movies and thrillers. That means no Super Mario Bros...