Charles Bramesco
Schedule Shuffling at Fox May Have Just Outed the ‘Avatar 2′ Release Date
Big things are a-happenin’ over at Fox, per The Hollywood Reporter. The studio made a slew of scheduling changes on the night before Thanksgiving as a sort of special edition of a Friday dump. (That term refers to the PR practice of burying bad or otherwise uninteresting news on a Friday afternoon, when coverage will be minimal.) Big-name projects have all been shuffled around, and that’s all fully detailed below, but the most eye-catching item on Fox’s docket happens to be an unnamed project from James Cameron’s production company Lightstorm Entertainment.
Jack Your Ponytail Into This New Peek at Disney’s ‘Avatar’ Theme Park
The Avatar-industrial complex churns along apace today, with a new peek into Walt Disney World’s forthcoming theme park modeled after James Cameron’s unforgettable — in that we are all constantly reminded of its existence — sci-fi/fantasy blockbuster. Oh My Disney has a crop of new images giving prospective visitors an early eyeful of the various attractions to be enjoyed at what is officially named “Pandora — The World of Avatar.” And it looks like the many devotees of the franchise and its lore have lots to look forward when the park officially opens this summer.
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s ‘A Star Is Born’ Remake Gets a Release Date
In a brash assumption from The Hollywood Reporter that the planet Earth, the United States of America, and its film industry as we know it will still be intact two years from now, Warner Bros. has announced a release date of September 28, 2018 for their remake of musical romance A Star Is Born. Operating under the premise that motion pictures will still be made, distributed, and exhibited in some form by the time President Donald Trump — a three-word phrase we all now must get used to — has served half of his term, the Lady Gaga-fronted directorial debut from Bradley Cooper will see an awards-friendly early fall run.
Will Smith Reckons with Existence, Plays with Dominos in New ‘Collateral Beauty’ Trailer
Following through on the soupy metaphysics and syrupy emotionality of past projects Seven Pounds and The Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith completes his “All Along, the Meaning of Life… Was Love” trilogy on December 16 with David Frankel’s Collateral Beauty. A new trailer for the inspirational/”inspirational” morality play has surfaced online today, and it contains all the sky-high emotions, A Christmas Carol-but-with-a-soul narrative structuring, and elaborate domino structures that audiences would expect. It could certainly use more footage of Smith playing with dominos, but then, what movie couldn’t?
No One Enjoyed the Cubs’ World Series Win More Than Bill Murray
Late last night, a little after the midnight hour, Hell froze over. Reports of pigs and other assorted swine growing wings and taking flight started pouring in from all over the country. Dogs and cats were living together — it was mass hysteria, all because the Chicago Cubs had finally won the World Series after a 108-year drought.
‘Shaun the Sheep 2’ Promises Another Woolly Stop-Motion Adventure
Nick Park rose to fame as the creator of accident-prone pooch Gromit and his faithful human companion Wallace, but that shouldn’t detract from the all-around wonderfulness of his other plaything, Shaun the Sheep. A curious barnyard mute with a taste for hijinks and impromptu adventure, Shaun got his own feature film in 2015, wherein he and his buddies ventured into the city to rescue their beloved farmer after a fit of amnesia convinces him that he’s actually a celebrity hairdresser. Critical praise, coupled with a robust take at the box-office, ensured that it wouldn’t be too long until audiences cross paths with Shaun again.
Smithsonian Mounts $300,000 Campaign to Preserve Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers
A step above the sought-after Maltese Falcon and the fabled Ark of the Covenant, Dorothy Gale’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz have to be the single most vital prop in cinematic history. The red-sequined shoes, so lusted after by the Wicked Witch of the West in the immortal 1939 fantasy film, have spent the last 30 years as one of the Smithsonian's most popular attractions. But not even magical footwear is immune to the ravages of time, and Judy Garland’s old kicks have lost a bit of their luster. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, the iconic slippers have faded from their original Technicolor ruby to something closer to “a dull auburn.”
Comcast Negotiating DreamWorks Animation Buyout for Over $3 Billion
The adult version of realizing Santa Claus is not real is the revelation that pretty much everything on Earth is owned by one of a small handful of multinational conglomerates. Trace the corporate parentage of any major entertainment enterprise back far enough, and unless it travels the rocky road of independent operation, it’ll inevitably lead to one of six megastudios...
The Game’s Afoot: Robert Downey Jr. Says ‘Sherlock Holmes 3’ to Shoot This Year
With the constant dull roar of buzz about whichever movie might be next in the eternal output of Marvel pictures, one could be forgiven for forgetting about the other fabulously successful franchise Robert Downey Jr. helped launch during the tail end of the ’00s...
Cannes Critics’ Week Picks Revealed, Chloe Sevigny on the Roster
Last week saw the official unveiling of the Cannes slate of titles In Competition, an exciting time for devotees of art film. It’s like Christmas morning for cinephiles, as the lid is lifted on a treasure trove of new releases from international esteemed auteurs...
Latest ‘Secret Life of Pets’ Trailer Feels a Lot Like ‘Toy Story’ But With Animals
When Illumination Entertainment announced the basic premise for their upcoming The Secret Life of Pets — an animated adventure-comedy about the shenanigans our furry pals get into while we’re away at work for the day — it sure sounded an awful lot like Toy Story...
Tracy Morgan May Star Opposite Ed Helms and Amanda Seyfried in ‘The Clapper’
It hasn’t been two years since the six-car collision that threw Tracy Morgan’s whole future into question, but the actor has already begun his comeback. He appeared in the Christmas comedy The Night Before back in the winter as the omniscient narrator, and will soon appear in the ensemble comedy Fist Fight with Charlie Day, Christina Hendricks, and Ice Cube...