Will Laura Dern Be In Jurassic World 3? 'I Could Never Say No’

Will Laura Dern Be In Jurassic World 3? 'I Could Never Say No’

This year marks the end of an era for a ton of franchises we love -- including Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, plus Game of Thrones on the television side. As these beloved storylines come to an end in 2019, fans love seeing their conclusions pull out all the stops and bring back some original key characters, such as Lando Calrissian and Palpatine returning for the end of Star Wars. In a couple of years, the Jurassic World trilogy will also come to a close, and we hope it will mean the return of Laura Dern’s iconic 1993 character.

When the actress was recently asked about the chances of her involvement in Jurassic World 3, she cemented her interest, but emphasized uncertainty whether it will actually happen. Here’s what Laura Dern said:

I don't know. I have no idea. I mean, I love Dr. Ellie Sattler, so I could never say no to that on any level. But I really don't know. I don't even know what they're cooking up yet.

Are you listening, Universal? Ellie Sattler is ready to come back and inherit the Earth! Make. It. Happen. After how Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom left us hanging last summer, Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire Dearing are going to need all the help they can get. If you remember, dinos are loose everywhere!

During Laura Dern’s ET interview (via Yahoo!), she was asked if she had any discussions with Chris Pratt about the upcoming sequel, and she said this:

I met Chris recently at a restaurant, we didn't even know each other. It was really funny. We ran into each other's arms and hugged each other like we were family because we were both in the same movie [franchise] and he just seemed fantastic and is hilarious. But yeah, I don't know any more.

Recently, Laura Dern seems to be reuniting with other actors from the Jurassic Park franchise left and right. She ran into Sam Neill at an HBO event a few months ago and Joseph Mazzello (who played Tim in the 1993 classic) at the Critics’ Choice Awards as well. I think it’s a sign: Laura Dern needs to come back to her rightful place in the franchise.

Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard have both been vocal about their interest in Laura Dern joining them for Jurassic World 3, and Jeff Goldblum (who made a short appearance in Fallen Kingdom) said this last year of his hope for her return:

I don't want to pass on gossip like my character. But it would be good news to me and to everyone, [to] millions and billions of people all over the world... all over the universe and cosmos when Ellie Sattler returns.

Agreed! The badass paleobotanist has been absent from the big screen since she made an appearance in 2001’s Jurassic Park III. Capping off the Jurassic World trilogy with her return when the film hits theaters almost exactly 20 years later on June 11, 2021 would make a lot of fans happy (if done right, of course)! As we wait for more updates, here's what we know so far about Jurassic World 3.

Rupert Wyatt’s Gambit Would Have Been A Mutant Mob Movie

Rupert Wyatt’s Gambit Would Have Been A Mutant Mob Movie

Some superhero films face an unobstructed path on their journey to production, while others face numerous obstacles. Gambit falls into the latter category, as it’s been over four years since the project was officially announced, and it’s still in development hell. Captive State’s Rupert Wyatt was the first director hired to helm Gambit, and his version of the movie would have seen the eponymous protagonist, played by Channing Tatum, in New Orleans and involved with other mutants in a mob environment. As he put it:

What I do know is that Channing Tatum and his producing partner Reid Carolin had an amazing idea of what that movie was going to be, and Josh Zeutemer, the writer, as well. It was terrific, it was a really exciting sort of Godfather with mutants set in the world of New Orleans with different gangs.

Rupert Wyatt added that Gambit would have taken place from the 1970s to the present day and been about “the notion of what it means to belong, tribalism in this bayou-like environment” among these mutant gangs. The X-Men film franchise hasn’t been shy about telling stories set in the past, which began with X-Men Origins: Wolverine and has been a mainstay of the “First Class” era main films. The focus on New Orleans’ criminal underworld would also have been fitting given Gambit’s past as a thief in the comics.

You’ll recall that last fall, X-Men franchise producer Simon Kinberg said that Gambit would be a romantic comedy highlighting the character’s hustling and womanizing ways. That doesn’t sound anything like what Rupert Wyatt had planned, although one would imagine that Remy LeBeau would still have had a love interest. Rupert Wyatt also clarified in his interview with Collider that Channing Tatum “sort of worked on the script” to make it into a romantic comedy, and while Wyatt liked what he read, it was “very different” from what he was involved in.

As for why Rupert Wyatt’s Gambit never moved forward, the director claims it’s because the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot was a critical and commercial bomb. With just 10 weeks before Gambit was supposed to begin filming, 20th Century Fox slashed the budget “quite considerably,” leading to the brakes being pumped. Wyatt departed Gambit in September 2015, just three months after he signed on to direct. In the following years, both Doug Liman and Gore Verbinski were separately hired as Gambit’s replacement directors, but both men ultimately left as well, with Liman withdrawing because he didn’t care for the script and Verbinski exiting due to scheduling conflicts.

With only days remaining until the Disney and Fox merger closes, leading to (among many other things) the X-Men and Fantastic Four properties finally residing at Marvel Studios, it’s unclear if Gambit will ever be made. A Channing Tatum-led Gambit movie, whether it’s a mob movie or a romantic comedy, could still work even if the X-Men franchise was rebooted, but it’s possible Marvel and Disney would prefer putting out a more conventional, ensemble X-Men movie first. In any case, considering that the character’s only theatrical appearance so far has been in the critically-derided X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Rupert Wyatt’s Gambit movie sounds like it would have treated him much better.

Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for any updates concerning Gambit’s future, but for now, look through our 2019 release schedule to learn what movies are opening later this year.

People Are Trying To Resell Avengers: Endgame Tickets For Hundreds

People Are Trying To Resell Avengers: Endgame Tickets For Hundreds

Tickets for Avengers: Endgame went on sale yesterday and it was a madhouse. Websites crashed due to the demand, but pre-sales still set records on sites like Fandango and Atom. While getting tickets to a screening of Endgame on opening weekend is still very much possible, if you were looking to get a particular seat to a particular show, you might be out of luck. Unless, of course, you're willing to spend some more money. In some cases a lot more money.

Tickets for opening weekend showings of Avengers: Endgame went up on eBay almost as soon as tickets went on sale. Most of the tickets are for theaters in New York or Southern California, but several other theaters are sprinkled throughout the country so you can check to see if somebody from your neck of the woods got the tickets you could not. Some of them go for around $50, a price that's probably five times what the ticket cost, but an amount somebody might be willing to pay for the one time experience of seeing a major movie in the perfect seat. Other tickets are on offer for hundreds, and even thousands, of dollars.

While some of the offers are clearly excessive and aren't likely to garner much interest, some of the more reasonable offers still might. If you really want to be among the first people to see Avengers: Endgame on Thursday night and you don't already have your ticket, there may not be many other options. How often do you get to be in the first group of people to see the finale of an epic film franchise 22 movies long? Maybe that's worth $40 or $50.

If, however, you can wait just a little while, and I would expect many can, you don't need to pay more than face value for tickets. A quick check online shows that, as one example, perfectly reasonable seats at Disney's own El Capitan Theater in Southern California are still available for many showings on opening weekend. You wouldn't be among the very first to see the movie but you can certainly avoid spoilers for a few hours and see it before most.

Of course, the eBay situation certainly spotlights the idea that many believe these tickets will be in extremely high demand to the point that people will pay these prices.

On the one hand, scalpers do provide a service to some. With the issues that many of the ticket selling websites had yesterday, it's very possible that people who made every effort to get tickets early weren't able to do so. While they'll now have to pay a premium, they still get the thing they wanted.

Of course, on the other hand, some of these resellers are clearly trying to take advantage of people with these insane markups. Hopefully nobody will pay four figures for Endgame tickets. That's simply not necessary.

Martin Lawrence Talks Making Bad Boys For Life Without Michael Bay

Martin Lawrence Talks Making Bad Boys For Life Without Michael Bay

The stars of the Bad Boys franchise, without question, are Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Their chemistry and comedic interplay is what makes those movies stand out from the buddy-cop formula pack. But one could argue that the third “star” of those two movies was the director, Michael Bay. The bombastic Transformers director cut his teeth early on with the stripped down and streamlined Bad Boys, then kicked it up several notches to the expected Bay-hem with Bad Boys II.

Michael Bay will not return to helm 2020’s highly anticipated Bad Boys for Life. Those duties will fall to relative newcomers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. When we got a moment to speak with Martin Lawrence at the South By Southwest premiere of his new movie The Beach Bum, we asked Lawrence if it was strange doing a Bad Boys sequel without Bay, and he told us:

Well, it’s not so strange because Bilall and Adel are doing a great job. It’s just different directors, but we’re still going to bring you that Bad Boys stuff.

That begs the question, is it Bad Boys simply because Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are returning, or does the franchise actually need Michael Bay’s attitude and visual approach? We’re certainly eager to find out! Just last year, Paramount’s Bumblebee proved that a Bay franchise could survive the addition of a different director. But action franchises in the past have shown mixed results when they lose their original voice.

Die Hard, for example, usually floundered when original director John McTiernan wasn’t at the helm for a sequel. The Lethal Weapon franchise stayed steady with Richard Donner. And the best Terminator movies, so far, have had James Cameron in the director’s chair.

That’s not to say that co-directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah don’t have their own opinion on how to use Martin Lawrence and Will Smith in a Bad Boys movie. Clearly they had a pitch that sold Sony on their ability to get the gig directing Bad Boys For Life. And if Martin Lawrence is giving them the thumbs up for the work that they have done on the sequel so far, then we’re going to take him at his word.

We don’t know a ton about the plot details for Bad Boys For Life, but every once in a while, Will Smith posts an entertaining behind-the-scenes video on his YouTube page. Like this one:

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence will be reteaming for Bad Boys For Life, and the movie is due in theaters on January 17, 2020. Right now, there’s no Michael Bay, but Lawrence tells CinemaBlend that’s no problem. Do you agree with him? Let us know in the comments section below.

Shazam! Has Screened, Here Are The Early Reactions

Shazam! Has Screened, Here Are The Early Reactions

While we are still only in the early months of 2019, new superhero movies are very quickly pouring into the box office. A few weeks ago saw the debut of M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass, and this weekend will see the debut of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel. Before too long, however, we’ll also be seeing the third big genre release of the year, David F. Sandberg’s Shazam!, and now the first reactions to the film have started rolling in.

I personally am one of the people who got an early look at Shazam! (in full disclosure it was an unfinished cut), and I thought it was fantastic. As noted in my Tweet below, it doesn't exactly do a lot to separate itself from the pack when it comes to the structure of its story as a superhero origin tale - but the elements that make it legitimately special make that feel largely inconsequential:

And our own Managing Director Sean O'Connell chimed in with:

Echoing some of my own thoughts is also Germain Lussier from iO9, who also made special note of the importance of family and the movie's core themes. He's apparently taking points off because he doesn't love what Shazam! does with the dynamic between Zachary Levi's titular hero and Mark Strong's Dr. Sivana, but his reaction is primarily praise.

Ash Crossan from Entertainment Tonight also has a lot of love to share for Zachary Levi's performance, and went as far as to call the movie "damn near perfect" - while placing it at the top of her personal DC Extended Universe movie rankings. That's pretty big praise now that we have both Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman and James Wan's Aquaman in the mix, but she has a lot of love for Shazam!'s humor and personality.

The new DC film has apparently also won the heart of Collier's Perri Nemiroff, who has a lot of similar sentiments to share as many of her colleagues. Again there is a lot of love for Zachary Levi, and themes regarding family - but she also throws in some specific love for Jack Dylan Grazer, who plays the best friend of Shazam a.k.a. Billy Batson (Asher Angel).

Lastly we have Erik Davis from Fandango, who writes in his Tweet that he wishes he had the ability to hug the blockbuster. It seems he really appreciated the various references made in Shazam! - including not only to other heroes in the DC Extended Universe, but to pop culture in general - and also notes the positive trend for the DC Extended Universe.

It won't be much longer until audiences everywhere will be able to see Shazam! for themselves and make their own opinions. The movie will be arriving in theaters on April 5th - and be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for a lot more of our coverage between now and then.

Lebron James’ Space Jam 2 Is Having Trouble Casting NBA Players

Lebron James’ Space Jam 2 Is Having Trouble Casting NBA Players

As LeBron James’ first season with the Los Angeles Lakers closes out next week, he’s gearing up to shoot a sequel for Space Jam alongside some lovable Looney Tunes icons his summer. As was done with the Michael Jordan-led 1996 original, the basketball star has been recruiting additional high-profile players to also make appearances in the nostalgia trip, but he’s reportedly not having much luck welcoming other NBA players to the jam.

According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, LeBron James has his eye on a few top players to join in with him on the Space Jam 2 fun, but he "hasn’t been able to close some of those deals." During the ESPN sports writer’s recent report during a telecast, he speculated other NBA players may have turned him down because “you put me in the movie where you're the star, I'm going to be the one you're dunking on." Check out what he said below:

Maybe some of the other players aren’t interested in being a side player in the “LeBron James Show”? Hoop Hype writer Bryan Kalbrosky said in a tweet that he’d been told star players may be turning down Space Jam 2 because the pay may not be high enough to convince them. Conversely, Kalbrosky said he also spoke to entertainment industry insiders who told him the amount being offered is quite high for a cameo.

James is an executive producer on the film who certainly has pull to have these discussions with other basketball names. In the first Space Jam, mega-star Michael Jordan was also joined by Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Shawn Bradley, Larry Johnson, Patrick Ewing and Muggsy Bogues. The addition of other talent from the basketball world would certainly buff up interest in the movie from the fandom and allow some other players to be a part of this movie event.

Space Jam 2 will follow LeBron James’ last big-screen role as himself in 2015’s Trainwreck. The basketball star also recently contributed his voice to the character Gwangi in 2018’s Smallfoot. The new Looney Tunes-meets-basketball movie will also be produced by Black Panther director Ryan Coogler and Star Trek Beyond director Justin Lin. Space Jam 2 will be directed by Terence Nance, who created the HBO series Random Acts of Flyness.

So far, Star Trek: Discovery’s lead Sonequa Martin-Green was cast last week as LeBron James’ wife (though it’s unclear if she’ll be playing the high school sweetheart he’s married to in real life). One certainly wonders which basketball players LeBron has asked so far? Kobe Bryant? Michael Jordan? Perhaps some other of his team mates from the Lakers?

LeBron James still has time to recruit more players for Space Jam 2 and we hope he does! The movie is set to be released on July 16, 2021.

Zack Snyder's Response To Fans Wanting A Justice League Snyder Cut

Zack Snyder's Response To Fans Wanting A Justice League Snyder Cut

When it was announced that Zack Snyder would be holding a three-day event screening his director's cuts, and holding Q&A sessions, you knew it was coming. Someone was going to ask about The Snyder Cut for Justice League. In this case, they shouted about it, and Snyder didn't have much of a response -- other than to nod and drop a line about "subversion." Here's a transcript of the conversation, with a video below so you can hear for yourself:

Audience member: You probably have the most director's cuts out of most Hollywood directors, so congratulations on that, because that's...

Zack Snyder: I don't know if that's a good thing or not.

Audience member: No, well you definitely fight for your visions, and that's definitely inspiring to the artists that want to get out there, so, you know, hopefully that tradition continues on in the future.

Zack Snyder: I hope so, too. [turns to Debbie Snyder] Is that right? Is it right to hope for that? I guess...

Another audience member: Release the Snyder Cut!

[The audience applauds]

Zack Snyder: [nods in acknowledgment] I see. Subversion. It's fine.

Some fans thought they heard him say "some version" instead of subversion, thinking he meant to release some version of Justice League. But it sounds like he was making a joke about fans being subversive, to undermine the authority of Warner Bros. and push for his director's cut on Justice League.

Here's a video from Twitter so you can watch and listen for yourself.

The "I hope so too" -- and the way he said it -- to me, that said the most. I'm kind of surprised he didn't take that moment to thank the passionate fans for pushing for his vision of Justice League. They are the ones that still tweet #ReleaseTheSnyderCut. The Justice League cast would like to see Snyder's intended director's cut too; Jason Momoa said he was obsessed with the Snyder Cut and wanted to see it.

Zack Snyder ended up stepping away (or was forced away) as the director of Justice League due to a personal family tragedy. Joss Whedon took over for reshoots, and a lot changed from what Snyder had envisioned for the film -- and pretty much negated what he had planned to do next. The resulting Justice League film made a decent amount of money ($657,924,295 worldwide) but it didn't really make anyone happy.

Recently, one of Zack Snyder's longtime collaborators, photographer Clay Enos, said what happened with Justice League would "go down in film history as some sort of terrible wrong that can be righted, creatively." He said we need a cultural shift that prioritizes auteur filmmaking from director's with a specific vision.

It does seem like Warner Bros./DC may have learned some lessons after the frustrations of Justice League. They found a hit with James Wan's $1 billion Aquaman and look to have a crowd-pleaser with Shazam! Word is, Warner Bros. is shying away from the shared universe to focus more on individual stories and director's visions. So some good seems to be coming out of the whole mess.