The British comic asks, in an age of chaos, "How do you match Trump?" U.S. President Donald Trump's idiosyncratic policy announcements and public comments are making the lives of comedians harder than ever before, according to British comic John Cleese. Speaking during the 23rd Sarajevo Film Festival, where he received top honorary award the Heart of Sarajevo, Cleese, a founder member of iconoclastic British comedy show Monty Python, claimed that Trump was stealing comedians' best lines. "Trump has done comedians a great disservice," Cleese said Thursday during an open-air chat with members of the public. "How can you match that? You cannot be funnier than Trump because [what he is doing] is real!" Cleese added that he and Scottish comedian Billy Connolly had long ago noted that "life was getting crazier, making comedy harder." He added: "It is even harder now." That does not mean, Cleese said, that he no longer finds life funny. Asked for an example of something he finds … [Read more...]

Steven Soderbergh's first film in four years features an all-star cast including Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Riley Keough and Daniel Craig. If tracking is correct, The Hitman's Bodyguard is expected to shake down Steven Soderbergh's star-studded Logan Lucky when opening nationwide at the North American box office this weekend. From Lionsgate, Hitman's Bodyguard stars Ryan Reynolds opposite Samuel L. Jackson. Pre-release surveys show the movie collecting as much as $18 million. Logan Lucky is Soderbergh's first movie in four years. The filmmaker has made a point of saying he is releasing the movie outside of the Hollywood studio system, raising his own marketing funds and partnering with indie distributor Bleecker Street. Tracking shows Logan Lucky — starring Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Riley Keough, Seth MacFarlane, Katie Holmes and Hilary Swank — debuting in the $8 million range, although there's plenty of room for upside. (The comedy caper sports a … [Read more...]

A fresh crop of films, including 'The Hate U Give,' are more likely to be inspired by personal narratives than dystopian sci-fi. With box-office returns for dystopian young adult film adaptations on the wane, producers are hunting for the teen audience's next big thing — and they're optioning a number of gritty, socially conscious coming-of-age stories. Author Angie Thomas, who wrote a book inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, The Hate U Give, was convinced no one would want to publish it. "I knew that although the topic was timely, it was sensitive," she says of her novel, which revolves around a young black girl who sees her best friend shot by a white cop. "While there were calls for diversity in children's books specifically, as a young black woman I wondered, how diverse is too diverse? Can I write this unapologetically black girl book and you guys find it acceptable?" Not only did publishers find it acceptable, they clamored to get the rights to it. After a heated … [Read more...]

Nothing would be more effective at growing a subscription business than offering Pixar and Disney films on opening night. Disney’s surprise announcement of a new streaming entertainment service — anchored by Disney, Disney Animation and Pixar films as well as new original content and TV shows from the Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD — could have vast implications for the way movies are distributed. Not only is this decision a major strategic shift for Disney, it’s not inconceivable that a movie like Toy Story 4, Frozen 2 or the live-action The Lion King might be released in theaters and on the Disney streaming service on the same day. Beginning in 2019, Disney and Pixar films (the jury is still out on Marvel and Lucasfilm movies) will be available to watch only on the yet-to-launch Disney service in the so-called “pay 1 window,” the period in which rights are available to such premium cable networks as Starz and HBO and subscription … [Read more...]

Next Entertainment World unveited the news not long after major local theaters boycotted the Netflix film. Next Entertainment World (NEW), the South Korean investor-distributor that handled local distribution for Bong Joo Ho's Netflix film Okja, unveiled Thursday that it is entering the exhibition business. NEW will begin operating its first Cine Q theater on Aug. 24 in Gyeongju, a southeastern city known for being home to South Korea's top historical attractions. The city also famously serves as the backdrop for the eponymous film by Hong Sang-soo, Gyeongju. NEW plans to open a second Cine Q theater in Gumi in the country's North Gyeongsang province by the end of the year, followed by other locations across the country in the near future, including Sindorim, Seoul; Chungju, North Chungcheong Province; as well as Mokpo and Namyangju in South Jeolla Province. Cine Q Gyeongju will serve as the city's biggest multiplex, housing six screens and a total 773 seats. According to NEW, the … [Read more...]

His new film ‘Victoria & Abdul’ will have its world premiere on the Lido. The Venice Film Festival's 2017 Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award will be presented to English director Stephen Frears at a special ceremony on Sept. 3, before the world premiere of his new film Victoria & Abdul. The director of films including Philomena, High Fidelity and Dangerous Liaisons will receive the festival’s prestigious lifetime achievement award which honors filmmakers known for innovation in contemporary cinema. Frears has received two Oscar nominations for best director for The Grifters and The Queen. Frears has a long relationship with Venice. In 2000 his film Liam won actress Megan Burns the Marcello Mastroianni Award. In 2002 he premiered Dirty Pretty Things in Competition. In 2006 Helen Mirren won both the Venice Volpi Cup and Oscar for Best Actress for The Queen. And in 2013, Philomena won the Best Screenplay award in Venice, and was later … [Read more...]

When Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Ryan Johnson gives an interview about the process of making the next installment of the galaxy's favorite space opera, there's one obvious choice for the interviewer: Hamilton director Thomas Kail. The unlikely combination spoke to each other in the latest episode of Lucasfilm's Star Wars Show web series, in a sequence shot at Skywalker Ranch in Marin, California. The show — embedded below — also features Lucasfilm Sound foley artist Jana Vance talking about sound effects for 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Asked by Kail about whether he was overawed by the experience of working on such a large franchise, Johnson revealed that, beyond moments of utter glee, the answer was, surprisingly, no. "Once I actually jumped into it, it was the most fun I've ever had writing," Johnson said. "It was the least scary process. I think part of it was, I wasn't alone for the process. I was writing on my own, but I moved up to San Francisco for a … [Read more...]

The beloved John Candy classic Uncle Buck turned 28 on Tuesday, and Josh Brolin marked the anniversary by sharing a fan-made poster featuring his Marvel supervillain, Thanos.  The reimagined Uncle Thanos poster shows Thanos in the role of Buck Russell and some of the Avengers, along with the villain's adopted daughters Gamora and Nebula.  The poster was created by an artist and designer who goes by Mutant 101 on Instagram, who wrote he made the design to celebrate the 1989 movie in addition to his excitement for the highly-anticipated Avengers: Infinity War.  A trailer for the Infinity War was shown over the summer at D23 and San Diego Comic-Con, but, so far, it has not been released wide.  Uncle Buck is a John Hughes classic starring the late Candy, along with Macaulay Culkin. It was one of his first films before Home Alone, which made him a household name. Candy plays an unreliable and untrustworthy goof who … [Read more...]

Paramount is getting into the female spy business. The studio has picked up The Rhythm Section, a spy thriller package that has Blake Lively attached to star and Reed Morano, who directed three episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale, attached to helm. Producing are Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions, who know a thing or two about the spy world as they produced the last eight James Bond movies. IM Global is financing. Per the studio, Rhythm is a contemporary adaptation of the first of British thriller writer Mark Burnell’s "Stephanie Patrick" series of four novels:   Patrick (Lively) is on a path of self-destruction after the death of her family in an airplane crash, a flight that she was meant to be on. After discovering that the crash was not an accident, her anger awakens a new sense of purpose and she rises to uncover the truth by adapting the identity of an assassin to track down those responsible. The new, and lethal, Stephanie Patrick is on a … [Read more...]

Scott Rosenbaum's documentary profiles legendary blues musicians Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. Scott Rosenbaum’s documentary profiling three legendary blues musicians arrives too late. The film chronicles the lives and careers of Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, who all passed away in 2011. That, as well as the onscreen interviews with deceased musicians such as Gregg Allman and Johnny Winter, lends an undeniable elegiac quality to Sidemen: Long Road to Glory. The film should prove catnip to music lovers, especially blues fans. None of the three subjects are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but as the film makes abundantly clear, they should be. Sumlin was a pioneering guitarist who provided indelible riffs to the music of Howlin’ Wolf, while Perkins and Smith played piano and drums respectively for Muddy Waters, among many other musicians. All three men’s careers lasted into their eighties and … [Read more...]

Lee Eisenberg & Gene Stupnitsky will make their directorial debut with the feature film about four 12-year-olds on an epic quest from Tarzana to the Sherman Oaks Galleria. Point Grey Pictures and Good Universe are developing the comedy Good Boys written by Lee Eisenberg & Gene Stupnitsky who will also be making their feature directorial debut. Described as in the vein of Sausage Party and Superbad, Good Boys is an R-rated comedy about four 12-year-olds caught between childhood innocence and lewd teenage corruption, who embark on an epic quest from Tarzana to the Sherman Oaks Galleria to replace a broken drone before their parents get home. Point Grey's Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and James Weaver will produce, while Good Universe’s Nathan Kahane and Joe Drake will executive produce. Josh Fagen is overseeing for Point Grey and Brady Fujikawa for Good Universe. Eisenberg & Stupnitsky co-created the HBO series Hello Ladies with Stephen Merchant. They both won the 2007 WGA … [Read more...]

The live-action 'Beauty and the Beast,' 'Fifty Shades Darker' and 'Fate of the Furious' boost revenue while video sales dip German box office revenue ticked up a healthy 7.7 percent to $607 million (€518.7 million) in the first half of 2017, according to official figures released Wednesday. A front-loaded release schedule that included sequels to hit franchises Fifty Shades of Grey and Fast & Furious, along with Disney's live-action reboot of Beauty and the Beast, helped German cinemas to their second-best ever result for the period, beaten only by the €544.6 million earned in the first half of 2015, when a similar combination: the first Fifty Shades film, Furious 7 and Disney's live-action Cinderella, gave the local box office an early-year boost. German cinemas sold a total of 60.2 million tickets over the six-month period, just less than five percent more than a year earlier. Local-language films did not fare as well as Hollywood imports. German films' share of the … [Read more...]

Tom Cruise’s accident on the set of Mission: Impossible 6 has left the actor with a broken ankle. "During production on the latest Mission: Impossible film, Tom Cruise broke his ankle while performing a stunt," said Paramount in a statement on Wednesday. "Production will go on hiatus while Tom makes a full recovery." The action tentpole remains on schedule to open July 27, 2018. "Tom wants to thank you all for your concern and support and can't wait to share the film with everyone next summer," the statement continued. The actor, who is known for doing his own stunts, was injured this past weekend in London when jumping between buildings and falling short of his mark, smacking into one side hard and limping away afterward. A source told THR that production would be delayed by eight to nine weeks due to the incident. The accident, which took place on the roof of Baynard House, an office block in the Blackfriars district of London, occurred Saturday. Sources say this was … [Read more...]

A video showed the actor jumping between buildings and falling short of his mark. Tom Cruise’s accident on the set of Mission: Impossible 6 looks set to put the production back by at least eight weeks, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. A video taken on the London set obtained by TMZ showed the actor jumping between buildings and falling short his mark, smacking into one side hard and limping away afterwards. A source has now told THR that the injury – believed by many among the film’s crew to be a damaged ankle – is likely to force producers to put the shoot "on hiatus" for eight weeks. The accident, which took place on the roof of Baynard House, a brutalist office block in the Blackfriars district of London, occurred on Saturday. THR has learned that this was day 88 of the Mission: Impossible 6 shoot, which was due to carry on for another two months and into October. According to the source, producers are now planning to “reconvene in October and … [Read more...]

The actor's virtual character from the film is now available via 8i's augmented reality app in conjunction with the Aug. 18 theatrical release of the film. Remember the Holohamm set loose at the Sundance Film Festival in January? Jon Hamm’s “Walter Prime” virtual character from the film Marjorie Prime is now available via 8i's mobile augmented reality app. The company has released a collection of Hamm holograms in conjunction with the theatrical release of FilmRise and Passage Pictures’ Marjorie Prime, which made its world premiere at Sundance. Hamm, who plays a hologram in the film, appears as his “Walter Prime” character in a photorealistic holographic rendering available for free download in the Holo app in the App Store for iPhone and on the Google Play store for Android. 8i unveiled the hologram at Sundance, making Hamm the first actor at the festival to be turned into a lifelike 3D hologram for virtual and augmented reality. The app allows … [Read more...]

The Art Directors Guild has added a new category, for excellence in production design in an animated feature film, which will debut at the 22nd annual Excellence in Production Design Awards, which are set to take place Jan. 27 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland. In previous years, the guild has allowed animated work to compete in its category for production design in a fantasy feature film. Past animated nominees in that category include Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Wall-E andThe Adventures of TinTin. Starting this season, to qualify in the new animation category a film must feature 2D (hand drawn animation), 3D (CG), clay animation/puppets, motion capture (live-action/CG hybrid) or some combination of the above. The movie must have the majority of its sets and locations created using a frame-by-frame technique. The rules also require that animation must figure in no less than 75 percent of the picture's running time (meaning … [Read more...]

Hollywood stunt performers are, by and large, united in their desire for film and television sets to be as safe as possible. They earn their keep by testing the limits in dangerous and often uncontrollable settings. But their insistence on this point also may explain why, in the wake of the tragic accident on the Vancouver set of Deadpool 2, in which a 40-year-old professional motorcycle rider named SJ Harris was killed, they have already started to ask whether Harris should have been driving the Ducati motorcycle in the first place for that film's scene. "She was a highly qualified motorcyclist racer but not an experienced stunt person," says Conrad Palmisano, a veteran stunt coordinator and second unit director with 47 years in the entertainment industry, including credits on Sleepless in Seattle, 21 Jump Street and scores of other productions. Palmisano expresses concerns about Harris' racing background and how it would prepare her for this particular stunt. "It is my understanding … [Read more...]

Producers behind the politics infused anthology movie plan Japanese, Taiwanese and Thai versions. Ten Years, the award-winning yet controversy-dogged Hong Kong anthology film, is to get Japanese, Taiwanese and Thai remakes.  Ten Years Production, the production house behind the film which made twelve times its budget at the box office and won best film at the Hong Kong Film Awards, announced that it will be producing the three regional remakes following the enthusiastic reaction to the original on the international festival circuit.  “Although Ten Years was a film about Hong Kong, the questions it raised on political autonomy, social tensions, and human values, were universal,” said Ng Ka Leung, one of the directors of the Hong Kong film which was banned in China. Ten Years, which takes place in Hong Kong in the year 2025, examines the effects of changing education, culture and language. The international versions will follow the same outline, featuring five … [Read more...]

In a segment getting attention online from his recently released documentary, the R&B artist opens up about his violent relationship with the singer. The singer recently released a new documentary in which he explains his past, violent relationship with Rihanna. Chris Brown’s new documentary Chris Brown: Welcome to My Life was released on Aug. 8, and on Monday (Aug. 14), a clip of the documentary was shared online of the R&B artist giving his perspective of the night he was arrested for physically assaulting Rihanna back in 2009. In the new video, Brown details his romance with Rihanna from the time they met -- when they were just teenagers -- to the time their relationship became destructive. Brown said after he told the “Work” singer that he slept with another woman early in their relationship, things took a turn for the worse. “After that, my trust was lost with her. She hated me after that," he admitted. "I tried everything, … [Read more...]

In addition to playing the lead in Amazon's adaptation of the superhero parody, the British actor, writer and voice of Darth Maul is also behind the "Sassy Trump" videos, which he says "strips a layer" from the President's speeches, revealing his "bullshit." After two decades as a regular – and mostly comedy – face (and voice) in U.K. film and TV (The IT Crowd, Shaun of the Dead), not to mention parts in Guardians of the Galaxy (as the Nova Corps’ distinctly not amused Garthan Saal) and Spy (as handsy Italian spy Aldo), Peter Serafinowicz is finally getting his first major lead role.  In The Tick, the British actor, writer and funnyman – who also famously voiced Darth Maul in the first Star Wars prequel – has squeezed himself into the blue rubber suit of Ben Edlund’s square-jawed superhero for Amazon’s 8-part live-action adaptation, premiering on Aug. 25. But while Serafinowicz may be about to get his first taste of mainstream U.S. fame, … [Read more...]