What's Happening With Jason Statham's The Meg 2?

What's Happening With Jason Statham's The Meg 2?

One of 2018’s most successful movies was the Jason Statham giant shark movie The Meg. The film made over $500 million worldwide, making a sequel a no brainer, but we haven’t heard much about where The Meg 2 stands since then, other than the fact that it’s in the works. Well, at the press junket for Pet Sematary in Austin, CinemaBlend's own Sean O'Connell asked producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura for some insight about what’s happening with The Meg 2. He responded:

We’re working on a script. Yeah. So you never know until you get a good script. … I was very thankful that the audience got that we were just trying to have fun, [and] not take ourselves seriously at all.

When we first heard that The Meg 2 was actually happening, it was said that the sequel was in the very early stages and while it is still early and we are a ways off from a release date, it sounds like there is work being done. As Lorenzo di Bonaventura told Sean, they are currently working on a script for the film and seemingly taking their time to get that right before moving forward.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura did seem to hedge things a bit with “you never know,” seemingly not wanting to commit to anything firm on The Meg 2 until there is a script. There doesn’t seem to be a major rush and the focus at the moment is on getting that script and having it be good before the sequel moves to the next stage of development. But, it's encouraging to hear that the script is the primary driver of what happens next.

The other thing that Lorenzo di Bonaventura expressed to Sean was gratitude about the first film’s success and that the audience last summer really embraced The Meg and what it was going for. I think when the film was announced and we began to see trailers for it, the tone wasn’t entirely clear.

Some initially thought that The Meg was going to take a more serious approach than it ultimately did, but audiences, especially those internationally, really embraced it and showed up to have fun with a ridiculous giant shark movie that didn’t take itself seriously. Lorenzo di Bonaventura seems happy that the quintessential summer movie connected in that way.

What’s interesting about this is that although the silly approach worked at the box office, it didn’t work for everyone. Some people would have preferred the bloodier, R-rated cut that director Jon Turteltaub teased. One person who seemed to lament the gorier, adult film The Meg could have been is actually the film’s star Jason Statham.

As far as where a sequel could go, The Meg is based on a series of novels by Steve Alten and that could provide a pathway forward for the franchise. The sequels up the ante even more, introducing more creatures long though extinct that could delight summer audiences. Director Jon Turteltaub just wants to make sure that the franchise doesn’t turn into one with successively worse sequels where everything gets bigger, not better.

We’ll keep you updated on the latest on The Meg 2 as we hear it. In the meantime, check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see all the biggest movies looking to make a splash this year.

Avengers: Endgame's Pre-Sales Broke Another Record

Avengers: Endgame's Pre-Sales Broke Another Record

There are only a few weeks remaining until the release of Avengers: Endgame and it's fair to say that anticipation is well past the boiling point. People are absolutely hungry for this movie, from devouring scraps of new footage to concocting crazy fan theories. For more proof, fans damn near broke the internet when tickets went on sale earlier this month, which led to some record breaking. Now Endgame has broken even more records, as Atom Tickets reports that it's the best pre-sales title of all time.

It felt like just about every Marvel fan and their grandmother was trying to buy tickets to Avengers: Endgame when they finally went on sale earlier this month. Multiple theater chains and ticket buying services such as Fandango and Atom reported crashes from the sheer number of people trying to buy Avengers: Endgame tickets. It certainly made for an interesting (and stressful) experience, but millions of people were clearly still able to buy tickets.

So many people were able to buy tickets, in fact, that Endgame broke Fandango's first-day ticket pre-sales record in just six hours, passing by Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Avengers: Infinity War. The blockbuster performed similarly on Atom Tickets, becoming the best selling one-day pre-sales title.

Now Atom is reporting that Endgame has broken another record for the ticketing service. It's now the company's best selling movie of all-time. It only took Endgame 10 days to do this, which is itself a record! Aquaman was the previous record holder and it took the film 32 days to do it.

The Marvel blockbuster has broken several other records on Atom as well. Within the first hour of tickets going on sale, Endgame sold three times the amount of tickets Avengers: Infinity War sold last year. Additionally, in just one day, it sold five times the amount of the previous record set by Aquaman. Finally, after one week on Atom, it sold nearly twice as many tickets as the next four record holders combined, which includes Aquaman, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Avengers: Infinity War and Captain Marvel.

Endgame is playing for keeps! It's not a surprise that people will be turning out in droves to see Endgame opening weekend, but the number looks to be staggering. The film is tracking to potentially open domestically in the range of $230 million and $283 million, with worldwide projections as high as $800 million. Tracking can change the closer we get to the release date, but that's still an insane amount of money.

Hopefully, you got your tickets with little trouble and are all set to see Avengers: Endgame when it arrives in theaters on April 26.

Fantastic Beasts 3: What We Know So Far

Fantastic Beasts 3: What We Know So Far

Merlin's beard, we have so many questions about the third Fantastic Beasts movie! For one, what will it be called? It has a title, and the castmembers appear to know it, but it has yet to be announced. So much of Fantastic Beasts 3 is still as mysterious as Credence's backstory, but we do have enough information to get started. So, here's what we know at this point about the movie that will follow Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and precede the planned sequels Fantastic Beasts 4 and Fantastic Beasts 5. Keep your eye on this guide, because we'll update it with new intel as the owls fly in.

What Is The Fantastic Beasts 3 Release Date?

Warner Bros. finally issued an official release date in late April 2019: Fantastic Beasts 3 is currently scheduled to open November 12, 2021. Fantastic Beasts 3 was initially hoped / expected to release on November 20, 2020, then WB gave Dune that release date. Production on Fantastic Beasts 3 was initially delayed from starting to film this July, 2019, to starting instead in late fall 2019. Filming was delayed yet again to start in the spring of 2020 to match the new November 2021 release date.

Dan Fogler (Jacob Kowalski) said filming was delayed because the third movie is "bigger than the first two combined." The "gigantic" movie needed more time to prep, and they didn't want to rush anything. Also, screenwriter J.K. Rowling is said to be re-working the script right now (spring 2019), to try and make the third movie better than Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald after the relative disappointment of the second movie with fans, critics, and the box office.

What Will Fantastic Beasts 3 Be Rated?

The MPAA won't reveal Fantastic Beasts 3's official rating until well after filming, closer to the release date. But it's almost certainly going to be PG-13. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was rated PG-13 for "some fantasy action violence." Crimes of Grindelwald was rated PG-13 for "some sequences of fantasy action." Expect something similar for Fantastic Beasts 3.

What Will Fantastic Beasts 3 Be About?

Ah, the biggest question! When a fan asked J.K. Rowling to describe the third film in three words, she replied, "Answers are given." What answers, though? Since this is the third of five planned movies, we know not everything will be wrapped up in Fantastic Beasts 3. However, we know some things. The first film was set in 1926 in New York, with the second film set in 1927, mostly in Paris. Dan Fogler already revealed they'd be going to Brazil for part of the third movie, but he also said it would be bigger than the previous two movies combined. In late 2018, J.K. Rowling made her Twitter header a photo of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the 1930s, in what was seen as a big clue on what's to come. She also hinted at seeing more of a professor from Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the North American school of magic, so we have to include that U.S. school as a potential location.

If the movie is set in the 1930s, that would be a bit of a time jump, but it would still leave a long way before the planned ending for the franchise in 1945. That's the end of World War II but also the year of Gellert Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore's big duel. Speaking of world wars, Grindelwald ended the second movie gathering followers to his cause, partly by using the fear of world war if they kept in the current muggle-led direction. Queenie and Credence joined Grindelwald's cause, for their own reasons. Meanwhile, one of Newt Scamander's Niffler friends stole the blood vial sealing the blood pact between Dumbledore and Grindelwald.

The next film doesn't have a synopsis at this point, but it may follow the team fighting Grindelwald's followers around the world while they search for a way to break the blood pact. That way Dumbledore can fight Grindelwald (which apparently takes a while since they don't duel until 1945). Presumably, there will also be more fantastic beasts in the third movie. And, at some point, Nagini is set to become one of them.

Who Is Directing Fantastic Beasts 3?

David Yates appears to be continuing with the franchise, potentially to the end. He started in J.K. Rowling's magical world with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and continued with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and both Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movies. He returned to direct the first two Potter prequel movies in the Fantastic Beasts series, and it looks like he's at least signed up for the third movie. Two years ago, longtime producer David Heyman told CinemaBlend he'd like to see David Yates continue to direct all five films. But it sounded like it was partly up to Yates himself, and also dependent on how things played out. So, there's still a glimmer of hope for my dream that Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón will return to the Harry Potter universe to direct one of the final Fantastic Beasts movies. It's just not gonna be this one.

Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne)

The Fantastic Beasts series centers around Newt Scamander, and that is likely to continue. Newt was trying to stay neutral but he ended the second movie by telling his brother Theseus that he had firmly chosen his side -- with him and Auror Tina, against Grindelwald. Newt seems to be Albus Dumbledore's #1 agent / puppet. In typical Dumbledore fashion, he only doles out little bits of information at a time. The movie ended with Newt presenting Dumbledore with the blood vial a Niffler stole from Grindelwald. So, now they can consider how to destroy it and let Dumbledore fight Grindelwald. Newt has a long history in the Harry Potter world that you can catch up on before the third movie arrives.

Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp)

Crimes of Grindelwald started with Johnny Depp's character escaping prison custody and ended with him holding a rally for his followers. He preached for an end to the statute of secrecy protecting muggles from the truth about wizards. He used images of World War II to justify his plans for domination, and had his followers go spread the world. His rally was also attended by Aurors, but he escaped them once again. First, he created a line with blue flame, with his supporters on one side and enemies on the other. Queenie and Credence joined Grindelwald and left with him to his castle in Nurmengard in Austria. That's where Grindelwald dropped the shocker on Credence that he was actually Albus Dumbledore's long-lost brother, Aurelius. Do we believe that? You have to consider the source. Grindelwald appears to want to use Credence to defeat Dumbledore, since he can't face his old more-than-friends buddy himself.

Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law)

Albus Dumbledore made his debut in the second movie and had a relatively small role. That role is expected to get bigger as we approach the big duel between Dumbledore and his former great love, Grindelwald. The second movie ended with Dumbledore saying "maybe" when Newt asked if the blood pact with Grindelwald could be broken. But, it must be broken at some point in the next couple of movies.

In a deleted scene from Crimes of Grindelwald, Newt openly asked Dumbledore why he sent him to New York for the events of the first movie. Dumbledore answered that he knew Grindelwald would try to catch Credence. Grindelwald had had a vision years ago that an Obscurial killed the man he fears above all others, presumably Dumbledore. So, Dumbledore wanted to "deprive Grindelwald of his weapon," not by killing Credence, but by saving him. Unfortunately, that did not work. And now we have the news, according to Grindelwald, that Credence is actually the younger brother of Albus and Aberforth. Is it true? If so, does Dumbledore know? It would be classic Dumbledore to have information that he chose not to share with others, so we'll have to see.

Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller)

A fragment of Credence's Obscurus survived Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, as a sign that his story was not done. In the second film, he teamed up with Nagini in a search for his own history. Who was he? Through Leta Lestrange, he learned that he was (probably? definitely?) the baby who was swapped at the last moment before a shipwreck took the life of her real half-brother. Later, Grindelwald told Credence he was actually Aurelius Dumbledore. Grindelwald could've been lying, or just wrong, but there was a phoenix that emerged, which is said to be a tie to the Dumbledore family. So did Percival Dumbledore have a child while in prison, the half-brother of Albus, Aberforth, and Ariana? Ariana was said to likely be an Obscurial like Credence. The second film ended with Credence casting a very powerful spell with his wand while at the Grindelwald HQ in Nurmengard. Maybe the "answers" J.K. Rowling promised will be connected to Credence.

Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol)

Many fans left Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald frustrated with Queenie for deciding to side with Grindelwald. But sweet Queenie started the movie by enchanting Jacob to do what she wanted, to come with her to Europe so they could get married and avoid the muggle / wizard marriage ban in the U.S. So, she's already no stranger to controlling muggles, even if it's coming from good intentions. When Newt lifted the enchantment, Jacob was understandably upset. Queenie left to find her sister in Paris and, while there, she became distraught and was comforted by Grindelwald's followers. He made an argument that she'd be joining him for love, to change the laws that keep wizards separate from muggles.

Actress Alison Sudol defended Queenie's choice by saying her character wasn't turning evil, she was trying to find someone who would give her an option, a cause she could believe in to create a better world. She doesn't know what's actually going to happen, even if Harry Potter fans do. The end of the film showed her advising Grindelwald to be gentle with Credence, since she could read the young Obscurial's mind and knew he wasn't sure he had picked the right team.

Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler)

Jacob is the lone muggle amid wizards in this series, which puts him in a dangerous position. They tried to erase his memory after the first movie, but he retained a vague memory of his beloved Queenie. In the second movie, he was fully part of the team in Paris and then at Hogwarts in the end. Obviously, he has no magic powers to help in the fight, so it's not clear what his role will be from here -- other than trying to help Tina bring her sister Queenie back from the dark side. Actor Dan Fogler revealed that, in his last scene there at Hogwarts, you can see Jacob looking in another direction from the other characters. (See photo above.) Fogler said, in that moment, Jacob was hoping that Queenie would have a change of heart and come back; if she did, he would be able to forgive her, but we'll have to wait to see what the next film holds for those two.

Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston)

Tina is now a MACUSA Auror, and she spent Crimes of Grindelwald looking for Credence. She also got caught up in a silly love triangle when she believed an inaccurate news report saying Newt was engaged to Leta Lestrange, meaning that we had to deal with that awkwardness between Newt and Tina before it was cleared up. Tina is fully part of the team trying to stop Grindelwald, but her sister Queenie is now on Team Grindelwald, which makes things especially difficult. Never mind whether Tina and Newt or Queenie and Jacob will end up together, how are the sisters going to reunite when they are on opposite sides of this wizard war?

Nagini (Claudia Kim)

Harry Potter fans are very familiar with the character of Nagini as villain Voldemort's sidekick Horcrux snake. It was a shock, then, to learn that Nagini was actually a woman -- a seemingly kind, gentle one -- when she was younger. Nagini is a Maledictus, a girl with a blood curse that will eventually turn her into a beast. This means that at some point we're probably going to see how Nagini turns, permanently, into a snake. Since the series reportedly ends in 1945, will we see how she connects with Voldemort or not quite? And how does she turn to the dark side? Nagini's whole role in Crimes of Grindelwald was as Credence's supportive sidekick -- apparently that's her lot in life. They escaped the circus and then went searching for his history together.

Credence went with Grindelwald because Grindelwald promised him answers on who he really is. Nagini was shown at Hogwarts with Newt, Tina, Jacob, Theseus, Dumbledore, and others fighting against Grindelwald. There's a lot of story that needs to be told to explain how Nagini goes from there to Voldemort's slave snake. Hopefully, they don't sideline Nagini in the next film, since she deserves to do more than just show up and comfort Credence.

Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz)

Apparently there's some confusion about whether Leta Lestrange died in the blue flames toward the end of Crimes of Grindelwald or not. Zoe Kravitz was on co-star Dan Fogler's 4d Xperience podcast (via Hypable) and said it was "kind of a last minute change that she got toasted." Fogler, who plays Jacob, said they have to bring her back somehow. She said it would be cool if they did, but she had no idea what they were going to do. Leta is / was engaged to Newt's brother Theseus, but she has a history with Newt, and seemed to be his first love. She shared her tragic backstory in the second Fantastic Beasts film, including her confession that she switched her brother Corvus Lestrange with another baby during a ship voyage; that other baby was supposedly Credence. Corvus died in the shipwreck, while the other baby survived, and Leta was tortured by guilt. Will she be back in the third film, or is her part in this story complete?

Theseus Scamander (Callum Turner)

Newt's older brother was introduced in the second movie. He's a British Auror, and engaged to Leta Lestrange. But if Leta did die, I guess that engagement is pretty much over. Theseus seemed frustrated with Newt for initially not wanting to take a side in the fight against Grindelwald, with Newt wanting to be neutral. The brothers embraced after the loss of Leta and the devastation in Paris, and Newt told his brother he had chosen his side. It's not clear what role Theseus might have in the third movie, but he's an Auror so he'll be wanting to continue the fight against Grindelwald and his followers.

Nicolas Flamel (Brontis Jodorowsky)

Pretty-much-immortal alchemist Nicolas Flamel had a small role in the Paris-set second movie. His name is familiar to Harry Potter fans from The Sorcerer's Stone. He spent time with Jacob in Crimes of Grindelwald, and joined the fight against Grindelwald's curse on the city toward the end. Flamel didn't have too much of a role in the second movie, but he's a friend of Dumbledore's. And, because he's an alchemist, could he be the one who figures out how to break the blood pact between Dumbledore and Grindelwald? We'll have to wait and see.

Eulalie (Lally) Hicks (Jessica Williams)

Lally Hicks, a professor at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the U.S., had a blink-and-you-missed-her role in Crimes of Grindelwald. Jessica Williams' character was shown briefly when Nicolas Flamel was flipping through a book after seeing a vision of death and destruction. She told him he had to go and try to help stop it. Before that movie opened, J.K. Rowling had teased on Twitter that "You only see a HINT of Lally in Fantastic Beasts 2. Her true glory is revealed in FB3." We know Lally, an American professor, will have a pretty big role in Fantastic Beasts 3. Doing what? And does that mean we go back to the U.S., to visit the Massachusetts-set Ilvermorny, or will she be joining the team in Brazil or Hogwarts, or wherever else we go? There are no hints on that right now, but it should be fun to find out.

What Happens After Fantastic Beasts 3?

J.K. Rowling surprised fans when she revealed that she was actually planning to write five movies for the Fantastic Beasts series. Producer David Heyman later explained that she began by expecting three films but then, as she dug deeper and started writing the first script, she realized there was a lot more story to tell and didn't think she could fit it all in three movies.

The five-film Fantastic Beasts series is expected to span from 1926 to 1945, with the final movie including the big duel between Grindelwald and Dumbledore. The second movie was set in 1927 but, as shown above, Rowling hinted at the third movie being set at least in part in the 1930s. There has been no confirmation about the third movie's timeline. Will it lead up to the start of World War II, or would that real-world war be left to play out opposite the magical one in the fourth and fifth movies? Time will tell. (Get it? Time? #classic)

The Fantastic Beasts franchise is currently taking a moment to step back and reassess plans for the third movie after the significant drop in box office (and fan / critic reactions) after the second movie. Since J.K. Rowling is said to be reworking her script a bit, it's not clear how much could change. As of now, Fantastic Beasts 3 is set to start production in late fall 2019 for a release date most likely to be in 2021, but we're on standby for official updates. In the meantime, keep up with what's actually opening on the big screen this year with our handy 2019 movie schedule.

New John Wick: Chapter 3 Clip Features John Asking Halle Berry For Help

New John Wick: Chapter 3 Clip Features John Asking Halle Berry For Help

Arguably the most famous actor joining the John Wick franchise for Chapter 3, a.k.a. Parabellum, is Halle Berry, who, like Keanu Reeves, is playing a dog-loving assassin. We’ve seen snippets of Berry’s Sofia in the John Wick: Chapter 3 trailers, but now there’s a new clip showing John asking for her help in the midst of his latest crisis.

John Wick: Chapter 3 picks up right after the events of Chapter 2, with the High Table about to send out a $14 million bounty on John’s head for killing Santino D’Antonio. It’s a good bet that by the time the above Chapter 3 scene occurs, assassins are already on the hunt for John, but as we’ve seen over two movies, he’s quite resourceful at avoiding being killed. Somehow he’s managed to seek refuge at the hotel being run by Sofia, who we already knew was an old friend of his.

However, times have changed since John and Sofia were last close, and she makes it clear to him that because she’s “management” now, she can’t go around shooting people like he’s been doing. John assures her he just wants to talk to her old boss for guidance. Sofia doubts this will work out, because even if John doesn’t kill this boss (Barada?), she suspects the boss will kill him and then her for allowing John to walk in.

As Sofia said in one of the John Wick: Chapter 3 previews, nothing is ever just a conversation with John, so even though he intends not to discharge a firearm for this meeting he wants, it’s a good bet bullets will start flying anyway. And when bullets start flying, bodies will inevitably drop, and John Wick has left a lot of carnage in his wake recently.

In any case, despite Sofia’s hesitance to help John out in this Chapter 3 clip, we know eventually she’ll cave and join him on his mission, although in another preview, she told him that after this, they are “less than even.” Still, at least it’ll be nice for John to finally have some backup, including Sofia’s vicious hounds.

Although Sofia isn’t particularly jazzed to be teaming up with John Wick in Chapter 3, Halle Berry is unquestionably a fan of this action franchise, as we learned in March that she asked director Chad Stahelski for a part in Chapter 3. The script for the threequel hadn’t even been written when Berry first approached Stahelski, but once it was completed, he got back in touch with her and she was still game to jump in.

John Wick 3’s Halle Berry Broke Three Ribs Trying To Keep Up With Keanu Reeves

Along with Halle Berry’s Sofia, John Wick: Chapter 3 is also introducing characters like Mark Dacascos’ Zero, Angelica Huston’s The Director, Asia Kate Dillon’s The Adjudicator, Jason Mantozoukas’ Tick Tock Man, Saïd Taghmaoui’s The Elder and Robin Lord Taylor’s The Administrator. As far as familiar faces go, Ian McShane’s Winston, Lance Reddick’s Charon, Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King and John Leguizamo’s Aurelio are all back.

John Wick: Chapter 3 opens in theaters on May 17, and those of you curious about what other movies are coming out later this year can find that information in our 2019 release schedule.

Bumblebee Director Travis Knight Has Found His Next Blockbuster Movie

Bumblebee Director Travis Knight Has Found His Next Blockbuster Movie

After a decade under the reins of Michael Bay, the Transformers film franchise finally brought on a new director for its latest installment, Bumblebee. Under Travis Knight’s watchful eye, Bumblebee came together as a critically acclaimed blockbuster movie that collected over $466 million worldwide. While some may have hoped he’d tackle a Bumblebee sequel next, Knight is instead turning his attention to a different kind of blockbuster as a follow-up: The Six Billion Dollar Man.

Although the original TV series starring Lee Majors was called The Six Million Dollar Man, thanks to inflation, it’s going to take a lot more money than that to turn the cinematic version of Colonel Steve Austin into a bionic powerhouse… but I digress. For nearly two decades, there have been various versions of The Six Billion Dollar Man in development, with Warner Bros trying to get its own version off the ground since buying the film rights from The Weinstein Company in late 2017.

Alas, by May 2018, director Damian Szifron, who joined The Six Billion Dollar Man in 2015 following the departure of Peter Berg and co-wrote the script, also exited the project due to creative differences. That put the kibosh on Warner Bros plans to begin shooting The Six Billion Dollar Man that summer.

Shortly after Damian Szifron left The Six Billion Dollar Man, it was reported that Mel Gibson was “circling” the part of Steve Austin’s mentor, Oscar Goldman, and should he have taken the role, Warner Bros might also have courted him to direct. However, almost a year later, Variety is reporting that Travis Knight, who’s also well-known for his work on Kubo and the Two Strings, will handle directing duties on The Six Billion Dollar Man instead. Mark Wahlberg is still attached to star.

It’s unclear if Travis Knight will use the same script that Damian Szifron or if he plans on overhauling the story, but given how well Bumblebee was received last winter, it’s fortunate Warner Bros was able to recruit him. Of course, given how many directors have come and gone before him, we’ll have to wait and see if Knight is indeed the one who guides this movie into principal photography or if he also ends up eventually leaving.

While no specific plot details about The Six Billion Dollar Man have been made available to the public yet, the movie is expected to retain the basic premise of its TV predecessor, which was based on the Martin Caidin novel Cyborg. The TV show followed Steve Austin, an astronaut who was horribly injured while piloting an experimental aircraft, being “rebuilt” with bionic implants that increased his strength, speed and vision. Austin subsequently used these new special abilities as an agent for OSI (Office of Scientific Intelligence).

Although The Six Billion Dollar Man was last scheduled to come out on May 31, 2019, obviously that won’t come to pass, so keep an eye on CinemaBlend and we’ll let you know when the new release date is announced. In the meantime, you can learn what movies are hitting theaters later this year in our 2019 release schedule.

The Incredible Way Pet Sematary Uses Sound To Amplify Its Scares

The Incredible Way Pet Sematary Uses Sound To Amplify Its Scares

The scares in a horror movie seldomly only comes from the terrors on screen. The genre has long used music cues and precise sound design to create a complete sensory experience that has audiences jumping out of their seats and belting out screams. It looks like the upcoming remake of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary is no exception.

CinemaBlend’s own Sean O’Connell spoke with Pet Sematary directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer at SXSW, where the film premiered. Check out what Kölsch said about the importance of focusing sound design in the horror epic:

We said going in that the one thing we really wanted to capture was the chapter in the book where they bury the cat - people online have called that Stephen King’s scariest chapter. If you go back and you read it, they are just on a journey through the woods and a swamp. They’re not encountered by anything. Louis maybe thinks he sees something moving in the trees that might be the Wendigo but every single thing in that chapter is all sound. It’s all describing the feeling of this forest through sound. So we went in going, we have to really get a great sound design team because we want to do this chapter and we want to have this journey and we’re not going to want to show anything.

In CinemaBlend’s recent interview with the Pet Sematary filmmakers, they explained the inspiration on the movie’s sound design came straight from the pages of Stephen King’s 1983 novel. Kevin Kölsch maintains that while one chapter in the horror bestseller when Louis and Jud go to bury Winston Church the cat may be regarded as the author’s scariest chapter to date, the contents of the chapter is not visually terrifying scene. It’s all about what they don’t see.

Enter sound design. A simple journey through the woods and swamp in which they fear the Wendigo is all captured through the music notes and noises the sound team worked on the film. It really is amazing how sound can inform audiences into the tension of the scene and terrify audiences, even when what’s happening on screen is as simple as a nervous walk through the woods. As director Dennis Widmeyer said:

What you don’t see is stronger.

Looks like fans of the novel Pet Sematary may find some satisfaction in watching the upcoming remake since the directors paid so much attention to replicating details like these into their iteration of the horror film. Check out the directors talk about sound design below:

There has already been a huge change made from the original novel, as the daughter instead of the son in the Creed family will be killed in an accident and then resurrected in an ancient graveyard. Stephen King has however voiced his understanding of the justification, along with calling the movie “fucking great!”

Stephen King’s sentiments about the new Pet Sematary has also been echoed by critics, who have largely praised the movie for being crazy scary, and a great adaptation to the classic horror novel. The 1989 movie hasn’t exactly aged well, and horror is making serious waves right now. Just look at how much Jordan Peele’s Us opening weekend box office record. So this is a welcome story to explore all over again.

This Friday, Pet Sematary will open alongside Shazam!, DC’s next superhero origin story. While the high-flying action flick is expected to win the weekend at around $45 million, Pet Sematary is tracking close behind at $30 million.

So get ready for some serious tension when you see Pet Sematary, thanks to the movie’s sound design. The movie will be the first of two King adaptations to come out in 2019, as IT: Chapter 2 delivers more frights on September 6, 2019.

To 3D Or Not To 3D: Buy The Right Dumbo Ticket

To 3D Or Not To 3D: Buy The Right Dumbo Ticket

Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, and Disney aficionados far and wide! It’s time to step right up and see the latest wonder of the world, the one, the only, the absolutely adorable Dumbo! The latest in Disney’s remake crusade to update the classics, this Tim Burton film is ready to take off into the wild blue yonder, stealing your heart in the process. But, of course, there’s another question pertaining to this circus of delights; one that we find ourselves asking quite often, asides from that one where we wonder what we know about a movie like Dumbo. To 3D, or not to 3D?

If you want to find out how much we enjoyed Dumbo as a movie, take a look at our official review. But if you’re wondering if this particular circus is worth the extra 3D ticket money, or if you should save that money to buy some peanuts, you’ve come to the right place. Step under the big top, and get ready to see if the prince of the skies flies off the big screen!

While there’s certainly a lot of thrills and excitement to see in Dumbo’s finished product, it’s not a perfect 3D fit. For a good piece of the film, what we see on screen is focused on a family drama that plays out in the confines of a circus, and ponders the morals of using live animals in entertainment. But that being said, there’s still a lot of fantastic detail that the 3D conversion to Dumbo adds to the visuals that are presented; and once the higher flying action kicks in, the additional visual flare definitely shines.

There's certainly a lot of work that went into the planning and effort of Dumbo's 3D coat of paint. Quite a lot of detail is drawn in the images shown, and while it's not a total showstopper, there's a lot of panache that's on display. Though as far as 3D movies go, this is a cohesive whole that doesn't stumble on any particular aspect, but rather does a serviceable job of being a good finished product. There's nothing wrong with that, for sure, but it's something to think about in the long run.

There are a couple of flourishes in Dumbo really take advantage of the opportunity to point objects out at the crowd. All are very subtle but important things, like Michael Keaton’s cane, Colin Farrell’s hand, or Eva Green gesturing to the audience as she’s about to engage in her act. There’s even some water splashing that looks like it’s going to come out of the frame and soak you to the bone. But if you’re looking for huge scale eye popping thrills involving items flying out of the screen, then you might be a bit disappointed.

Winning the Before/Beyond The Window tug of war in Dumbo’s 3D conversion, the Beyond factor pulls more of the visual weight this time around. Characters and their environments are properly spaced, and the spacing between characters and each other is exemplary as well. Crowd shots at the circus really sparkle, with the feel of an actual audience being conveyed to a tee. Unfortunately, the background shots for Dumbo aren’t as limitless as one would want, and if they are the eye is drawn more to the close up action throughout the film.

Brightness is a factor that tends to be a common weak point for 3D films, as the greyish tint of the glasses required tends to wash out the colors a bit. Also, there’s some variance depending on how well your local theater tends to their projectors and screens, so Dumbo’s brightness in 3D won’t be consistent across all screens. With those stipulations, I’m happy to report that Dumbo still shines in beautiful color with its 3D conversion. Besides the slight washing of colors, again expected with putting on 3D glasses that correspond with the image on the screen, you’re not going to lose any action in the dark.

Watching a 3D movie, any audience member is going to be tempted to either remove or slide their glasses up at any point during the film. Whether it’s to give your eyes a break, or to see the historic blur that’s always been a part of 3D presentations, you’ll notice that in fact the image in front of you is blurred to varied degrees. Dumbo uses this blur to full effect, with even the closest of closeups taking on nuanced degrees of distortion, with only seconds long moments of 2D appearance in order to help anchor the elements of a particular scene. Backgrounds also get a pretty big dose of blurred wonder, showing just how much manipulation is used to make the film as 3D as it possibly could be.

Possibly the most important factor of a 3D film is how comfortable the audience is with watching it. In terms of Dumbo’s comfort levels, everything is a-ok, as the film doesn’t cause nausea or eye strain of any sort. With a crisp, clear visual intelligence poured into every frame, your eyes won’t burn and your stomach will be clear of nausea. This is particularly comforting if you’re bringing your little ones to see Dumbo, as there won’t be any messy clean-up involved after the show.

Dumbo does a pretty fine job of being a 3D spectacle. It isn’t a full stop must see in the visually enhanced format, but it’s certainly not a waste of time either. Rather, it’s a pretty good example of a middle of the road 3D conversion, which adds some flash but doesn’t go the extra mile to be essential viewing in this premium format. If you're looking for a special flare to your showing of Dumbo, it might be a good idea to check out the IMAX format presentation instead.

Be sure to visit our full To 3D Or Not To 3D Archive.