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Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Space Jam 2 Just Added A Star Trek: Discovery Star

Space Jam 2 Just Added A Star Trek: Discovery Star
Sonequa Martin-Green Star trek discovery

In the last 10 years, Sonequa Martin-Green has done a fantastic job making a name for herself on the small screen. Her run started with a multi-episode run on Army Wives, but in the years since has played significant roles on The Good Wife, NYC 22, Once Upon A Time, The Walking Dead, and most recently Star Trek Discovery. She has done some film work as well, but nothing that compares to the project for which she is now signing up: Space Jam 2.


After years of being stuck in development, the LeBron James-starring sequel finally started turning its gears earlier this year, and now Variety is reporting that Sonequa Martin-Green is now in negotiations for a key role. Specifically, the actress will be playing James’ wife in the movie - though it's not entirely clear how that will rope her into the larger plot... mostly because we don't really know much about the larger plot. It's also worth noting that the NBA star is married in real life to his high school sweetheart Savannah James, but it's unclear if Martin-Green will be playing her, or an entirely original character.


When it comes to the plot of the movie, we know that Looney Tunes characters will be teaming up with basketball players again, but everything beyond that is basically a mystery. A teaser poster has revealed that the live-action/animated hybrid blockbuster will headline both Bugs and Lola Bunny - the latter having been first introduced in the 1996 original.




Production on Space Jam 2 is scheduled to start up this summer, with Terence Nance attached to make the movie as his second feature after the 2012 animated indie An Oversimplification of Her Beauty. More recently Nance has also been making a name for himself on television, as he is the creator of the HBO series Random Acts of Flyness. In addition to LeBron James and his partner Maverick Carter producing through their SpringHill Entertainment label, Ryan Coogler is also backing the film.


Although cameras will be rolling on Space Jam 2 in just a couple months, those excited to see it will have to exercise a bit of patience. As is the case with all animated material, Warner Bros. is going to need a little time to get the film done even after all of the live-action material is shot and cut together. Because of this, the anticipated follow-up won't be heading to theaters until July 16, 2021.


That being said, we're surely going to be getting a lot more details about the project in the coming weeks and months, as there are going to presumably be a lot more people in this film beyond just LeBron James and Sonequa Martin-Green. We'll keep you updated with all of the latest casting news from Space Jam 2, and, as always, you can check out our 2019 Movie Release Calendar to see all of the movies that actually will be hitting screens near you soon.



7 Actors Who Have Played The Joker In Their Own Unique Way

7 Actors Who Have Played The Joker In Their Own Unique Way
Cesar Romero as The Joker in the 1966 Batman movie

It’s rare that a super villain can achieve anywhere near the same amount of popularity that the hero they frequently battle, but The Joker is definitely at that level. Debuting in 1940’s Batman #1 (the same issue where Catwoman first appeared), the Clown Prince of Crime has long been cemented as the Caped Crusader’s arch-nemesis, so naturally he’s also been adapted in other media numerous times. In fact, we’ve reached a point where The Joker is now the star of his own movie, and he won’t even be fighting Batman!


As one can logically assume from this kind of prominence, The Joker isn’t a simple role. With so many years of history, there are various ways one can play this character, so with that in mind, we’ve decided to look at the actors who’ve bring this cackling fiend to life on the silver screen. Just to be clear, this feature is only discussing theatrical portrayals of Joker, although I do recommend checking out Cameron Monaghan’s performances as Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska on the Fox series Gotham, as those twins cover the Joker spectrum excellently.


Cesar Romero's Joker in Batman (The 1966 Movie)


Although Batman made his first live action appearance in a 1943 film serial, it’d be another 23 years before The Joker got to follow suit in the live action Batman TV series. Cesar Romero, who had an extensive movie and TV resume and was arguably known best beforehand as The Cisco Kid in six Westerns released between 1939 and 1941, was cast as the Clown Prince of Crime, and for the most part, he nailed the character quite well. Modeled off how Joker was portrayed in the Silver Age of Comics, when superhero stories were more kid-friendly, Romero’s Joker was more of a goofy prankster than a psychopathic murderer, which fit with the TV series’ tone nicely. Romero also refused to shave off his mustache when playing The Joker, requiring the white makeup be applied over the facial hair.





Two months after the Batman Season 1 finale aired, these versions of the characters made the jump to the big screen in the first ever full-length theatrical Batman movie, simply and appropriately titled Batman. Cesar Romero’s Joker teamed up with Frank Gorshin’s Riddler, Lee Meriwether’s Catwoman and Burgess Meredith’s Penguin teaming up to cause all kinds of trouble, with this clip demonstrating their dynamic together and Romero’s overall Joker personality.


Naturally, Romero’s Joker in the Batman movie didn’t differ in any way from how he played the character on the Batman TV series, and the movie was critically well-received and performed decently commercially. In the grand scheme of things, while Romero’s Joker is definitely not nearly as frightening as later versions of Joker, he still has a sizable amount of fans all these years later.


Jack Nicholson's Joker in Batman (The 1989 Movie)


As popular as the 1960s Batman TV series was and still is, there’s no question that it’s campy and kooky, basically meaning you can show it to fans of all ages. The 1989 Batman movie, on the other hand, isn’t something you necessarily want to show to the kids. It marked the Caped Crusader’s first on-screen entry into adult territory, and Jack Nicholson was hired to play The Joker in this tale. Nicholson was unquestionably the biggest actor in this movie thanks to his performances in Chinatown and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and he beat out actors like Brad Dourif, Tim Curry, John Lithgow and James Woods for the role.





Jack Nicholson had many memorable moments as The Joker in Batman, but arguably the weirdest one was when he and his goons defaced the paintings inside a museum while dancing to Prince music.


There were two chief differences with Jack Nicholson’s iteration of The Joker compared to how he’s depicted in the comics: one, we knew his real name (Jack Napier), and two, he was the one who murdered Bruce Wayne’s parents as opposed to the traditional culprit, Joe Chill. Beyond that, though, Nicholson’s Joker was a relatively faithful adaptation of the super villain, from gaining his clownish visage after falling into a vat of chemicals to preferring to kill people “artistically” and with dramatic flair. We were only treated to one appearance from this Joker, although had the movie Batman Unchained moved forward, the plan was for Nicholson’s Joker to appear when Batman hallucinated him after being dosed with Scaercrow’s fear gas. In any case, for nearly two decades, it’s safe to say that Nicholson’s Joker was the definitive live action Joker, and even now, he’s still fondly remembered by many for portraying the character not as a pest, but as the psychopathic murderer he is at his core.


Mark Hamill Voice Acting Joker in Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm


Obviously everyone has their favorite version of The Joker, but it’s not exaggerating to say that most Batman fans label Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, as the definitive voice of the Clown Prince of Crime. Hamill has voiced across Joker across numerous projects for nearly 30 years, but he’s chiefly known for playing the character within the DC Animated Universe, specifically Batman: The Animated Series. A year after that TV show debuted, it jumped to the big screen with Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm, which didn’t fare well commercially during its theatrical run, but was met with critical acclaim and has had a wonderful home video life.





Serving as the secondary antagonist in Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm, Mark Hamill’s Joker was largely the same as it was on television. He could be wacky and absurd one minute, but then turn on a dime and become incredibly horrifying the next minute. This was highlighted nicely when Joker first shows up to meet Salvatore Valestra, his boss from his pre-clown days.


However, because the movie wasn’t subject to the same censorship rules Batman: The Animated Series had to follow airing on Fox Kids, that allowed more wiggle room with making Joker more adult. Even under a PG rating, Mask of the Phantasm got away with Joker much more adult, such as him actually killing people and making sexual innuendos. While I’ll argue that the direct-to-video Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker gave us the darkest version of Mark Hamill’s Joker in the DCAU, Mask of the Phantasm is nonetheless a great example of how Batman’s arch-nemesis can tread a fine line between funny and terrifying.


Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight


After being teased at the end of Batman Begins, The Joker surfaced several years later as the main antagonist in The Dark Knight, played by Heath Ledger. I don’t need to remind any of you that Ledger’s take on The Joker was acclaimed and netted the actor a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. That said, it is worth remembering that in the lead-up to The Dark Knight’s release, there was skepticism about Christopher Nolan’s version of the Clown Prince of Crime. Along with Ledger’s previous acting work causing concern that he could properly pull off a villain like this, this version of The Joker is quite different from how he is usually depicted, particularly his physical appearance (wearing makeup, dying his hair green and having a Glasgow smile carved into his face) and use of traditional weapons rather than dangerous gag items.





Nevertheless, this Joker was incredibly dangerous, as shown in the scene when he killed Gambol (who’d put a bounty on Joker’s head) and basically turned the phrase “Why so serious?” into one of the most unsettling lines in movie history.


Ultimately, though, the spirit of the original Joker was alive in Heath Ledger’s Joker. He thrived off chaos, and rather than wanting to be just another powerful, money-obsessed crime boss in Gotham City, he aimed to spread anarchy and give the people a better class of criminal. Ledger’s Joker was definitely a more politically-skewed version of the character, but he went all out with giving audiences something incredibly different from what had come before, which included locking himself in a hotel room for six weeks to figure out his Joker’s voice, movements and mannerisms. The result was that Ledger’s Joker is not only widely considered to be the best live action interpretation of the cackling madman, but also one of the best movie villains overall.


Jared Leto's Joker in Suicide Squad


Eight years after we watched Heath Ledger’s Joker nearly bring Gotham City to its knees, Jared Leto put his own spin on the character in Suicide Squad, the first movie not to have Batman and Joker directly fighting one another. Although Leto’s Joker saw the return of some of Joker’s traditional physical traits, like naturally chalk-white skin and green hair, like Ledger, he also had some drastic differences, like tattoos covering his whole body and bejeweled teeth. Because Suicide Squad featured his main squeeze, Harley Quinn, in her first live action film appearance, his role in the movie revolved around his relationship with her: how he manipulated Harleen Qunizel when she was a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum, how he became depressed after she was imprisoned and his efforts to free her from Task Force X.





Like his comic book counterpart, Jared Leto’s Joker was also a powerful figure in Gotham City, as show in this clip where he kills another crime boss simply for making a lustful comment about Harley Quinn.


Although Suicide Squad was a commercial hit, it was thrashed critically, and Jared Leto’s Joker performance was among the more negatively received elements. For starters, Joker didn’t get that much screen time in the movie, so that meant for some people, there wasn’t enough scenes to properly judge this version of the character. Others were just dissatisfied with this Joker’s physical appearance and/or his weird mannerisms, or just the fact that he came across as a standard, if eccentric, gangster rather than the colorful super villain we know best. It also didn’t help that Leto’s refusal to break character during principal photography led to him doing some crazy things, including sending bizarre gifts like a briefcase full of bullets, a live rat and used condoms. So Jared Leto’s Joker performance certainly isn’t one of the more popular ones, but he may have an opportunity leave a better impression in the future. Assuming he doesn’t become too busy with playing Morbius the Living Vampire or DCEU plans don’t change further, that is.


Zach Galifianakis Voice Acting Joker in The Lego Batman Movie


The Lego Batman Movie is a humorous celebration of Batman’s decades-long history, so naturally The Joker would be involved in the festivities. This movie portrays Batman and Joker’s feud through a romantic-like lens, so when the former tells the latter that he doesn’t mean anything special to him, Joker is hurt. But that just leads Joker to crafting his most ambitious plan yet: surrendering both himself and the rest of Gotham City’s super villains into police custody, and then tricking Batman into sending him into the Phantom Zone when the Caped Crusader suspects he’s up to something. The result: Joker allying himself with villains from other areas of pop culture, escaping the Phantom Zone and attempting to destroy Gotham City. Eventually Batman, having realized he’d been selfish to everyone in his life, “makes up” with The Joker, and the two work together to save the city and send the other villains back to the Phantom Zone before resuming their usual rivalry.





The scene when Joker surrenders himself to the GCPD is a good demonstration of how Zach Galifianakis’ Joker has a more playful edge, but still acts incredibly suspicious.


While there’s nothing wrong with Zach Galifianakis’ Joker performance, there’s also nothing particularly exceptional about it either. It simply sounds like Galifianakis as you hear him in movies like The Hangover and Keeping Up with the Joneses. The actor is amusing enough in the role and is given some good lines, but ultimately, there’s nothing particularly memorable about it. Which is fine, as Galifianakis does a satisfiable job with what he’s given, and fans of the actor will likely appreciate what he did. If The Lego Batman Movie 2 does move forward, the filmmakers might as well bring him back for it.


Joaquin Phoenix's Joker In The Upcoming Movie


Admittedly, we can’t comment too much yet on what’s in store for Joker since the movie is months away from being released. That said, from what’s been revealed from this movie so far, both officially and unofficially, this is going to be a significantly different depiction of the Clown Prince of Crime. For one thing, Joker is telling the eponymous character’s origin story without Batman’s involvement. Bruce Wayne will be in the movie, but as a child and with both of his parents still around. Then there’s the fact that like Heath Ledger’s Joker, Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker is wearing clown makeup instead of falling into a vat of chemicals. However, the leaked set photos and videos show Phoenix’s Joker leading a crime wave across Gotham City, so clearly this incarnation of the character is just as talented in igniting chaos as his predecessors.





Although Joaquin Phoenix had expressed interest in starring in a comic book movie as early as 2014, he was more interested in doing a “character study”-kind of movie, hence why he declined to play Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since Joker doesn’t take place within the DCEU and isn’t adhering closely to the comics source material, this allowed Phoenix more freedom with putting his own stamp on the main character, who in this continuity is Arthur Fleck, a failed stand-up comedian who is driven insane and turns to crime after being disregarded by society. We’ll have to wait for a trailer to get our first taste of Phoenix’s Joker performance, but at the very least, this movie will be an interesting experiment that could shake up the comic book movie genre, as well as satisfy Phoenix’s desire to contribute to the genre without being locked in for numerous sequels.


Be sure to let us know in the comments below not only which of the above actors gave your favorite Joker performance, but to name anybody you like who played the character on TV, direct-to-video movies or video games. Joker hits theaters on October 4.

Monday, November 16, 2020

Hellboy Hasn't Done Well With Critics, But Did Audiences Like It?

Hellboy Hasn't Done Well With Critics, But Did Audiences Like It?
David Harbour as Hellboy

Things were looking rough for the new Hellboy going into this past weekend after reviews were released by critics and the movie was savaged. The film now has a 15% positive score on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, which is a slight improvement over where that number was going into the weekend. However, now that audiences have actually seen the film, Hellboy is faring slightly better with them, as the movie has a 64% audience score on RT, though it has received a C CinemaScore and opened in third place at the box office.


Hellboy's fortunes have been something of a mixed bag over this opening weekend. The best thing going for the movie right now is that about two-third of the fans that have seen the movie have liked it according to Rotten Tomatoes. While that number isn't overwhelmingly positive, getting a strong majority of the people who saw the movie to publicly say they liked it isn't ever a guarantee.


Things are a little bit rougher when it comes to the film's CinemaScore. While a score of C is, well, an average, and thus things could be a lot worse, when compared to other recent releases, Hellboy doesn't do quite as well. Of all recent movies, only Rupert Wyatt's Captive State has a lower score than Hellboy (C-). CinemaScores are tabulated based on surveys given to audiences on opening night, so things are weighted in favor of the film scoring well, as fans who go to see any movie on opening night are likely to be serious fans who have been planning on seeing the film. Most movies do better than a C with CinemaScore and few actually do worse than that.




Finally, there's the box office, which is the ultimate determination of a film's success. While most of the people who saw the movie may have liked it, the fact is not a llarge number of people actually did. Hellboy was projected to bring in something in the neighborhood of $17 million, which wasn't exactly a blockbuster movie number, but would have competed for the box office crown against Shazam!'s second weekend. However, the film ended up doing a much poorer than expected $12 million. That wasn't even enough to be the best new release for the weekend, as the comedy Little was able to do $15 million. Both films fell to Shazam! which added another $25 million to its growing total.


It's possible Hellboy could pick up business internationally. The movie opened in most territories on or before this past Friday, but international numbers have yet to be reported. If other countries were attracted to Hellboy more than people were domestically, the movie could actually turn out ok, or even become a hit if things go very differently. At this point, that's about the only thing left that could save Hellboy, which is probably sad news for those people who actually saw the film and thought it was good.

Ever Wonder Who Played That Big Superhero Cameo In Shazam?

Ever Wonder Who Played That Big Superhero Cameo In Shazam?
Shazam and Freddy looking in the distance at something concerning

Warning: SPOILERS for Shazam! are in play. If you haven’t seen the film yet, say the magic word and bookmark this story for future reading.


At the end of Shazam!, just when the audience thinks the film has played its last punchline with Billy Batson’s heroic alter ego having lunch with his foster family at school, there’s one last turn that drove audiences wild. In that moment, we see the last son of Krypton, Superman himself, standing with a lunch tray in hand. However, his head missing is from the frame, which lead the public to wonder who was really standing in that role. Well, we finally know who physically played that role, and it’s one of the film’s stunt men, Ryan Handley.


For those of you who thought that maybe Henry Cavill was standing in the lunch room of Fawcett Central, we’re sorry to let you down. But for those of you more interested in Handley’s previous credits, he’s also the stunt double for Zachary Levi’s Shazam in the David F. Sandberg-directed film. Ryan Handley has also served as a super heroic stunt man in films such as Suicide Squad, as well as both Deadpool movies. He can now add Superman to his list of superheroes played on screen.




As previously reported, Handley wouldn’t have had to fill in if the original plan for Shazam’s ending cameo were fulfilled. Henry Cavill was asked to fill the costume again, but because of scheduling issues, the Man of Steel star wasn’t able to oblige. Then, of course, there was the big announcement that Cavill is pretty much done with the character, although officially that still hasn't been confirmed. In any case, though this was kind of a sad happening, in a sense, producer Peter Safran thought the creative solution without Cavill’s participation actually helped the film’s ending work even better.


Which leads to Ryan Handley’s official confirmation of playing Superman in Shazam!, a fact that German film site Filmstarts confirmed directly from the studio itself. It certainly helps that Handley was already in superhero shape to bring Shazam to living, breathing life; so using him to play one of the Daily Planet’s finest was a convenient fix to a big problem.


Though it might be a good thing that Henry Cavill wasn’t on the set, because if he and Zachary Levi were to physically have an actual conversation about whether Batman or Superman was the better hero, we know exactly where both of them would land. Though, to be fair, it’d probably resulted in a scenario where both of their stunt doubles did their fighting for them, and since Ryan Handley played them both in Shazam!, it’d be a very interesting hypothetical fight.




Shazam! is currently in theaters, but if you’ve already seen it once, maybe even twice, you might be in the market for something new in theaters. In which case, feel free to visit out 2019 release schedule, as we’ve got everything you could need on the calendar for the year.

New Toy Story 4 Clip Has Toys Realizing They're Made Of Fluff

New Toy Story 4 Clip Has Toys Realizing They're Made Of Fluff

One of the themes that has been present throughout the Toy Story series is toys coming to grips with the fact that they are toys and finding out what it means to be a child’s plaything. It appears that theme will continue on in Toy Story 4 to hilarious results. A new clip from Toy Story 4 has some of the movie’s new characters getting an unsettling look at what they’re made of. Take a look:


The stuff on the inside is generally supposed to stay on the inside, and when it comes out it can make for a traumatic experience, as Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key’s Bunny and Ducky find out here. Their shocked and frightened responses to seeing a fellow plush toy bisected by the razor sharp claws of a house cat is quite the turn from earlier in the clip where they had a cavalier and antagonistic attitude towards Buzz Lightyear.


The scene is like something out of a horror movie where there is blood everywhere, only in this instance, it is fluff and, as is often the case with toys in this series, they aren’t really prepared to be confronted with their own mortality and nature in such a dramatic way. It’s a funny clip that shows that these new characters will provide plenty of humor and great lines in the fourth installment of this series.




I also dug the idea that this cat is a true menace, a boogeyman to toys that must be avoided at all costs. It just goes to show that when you leave the comfort and relative safety of the carnival and go on an adventure with Andy’s/Bonnie’s toys you’re going to see some stuff and be put in harm's way.


Maybe the plastic toys that aren’t filled with fluff like Buzz and Bo Peep can take point on this one. Where is Keanu Reeves’ Duke Caboom when you need him?


This clip also gave us another look at Bo Peep, who has become something of an Indiana Jones-like toy in her time since she left Woody and the gang and became a lost toy. She is clearly well equipped for this kind of adventuring (maybe she has a squirt bottle). Whether she is ultimately a good guy or not is an open question though.




Even if it was planned all along, making a sequel to an already perfect trilogy is a tricky proposition, and there is an argument to be made that Disney shouldn’t have done it. We won’t know for sure if Disney was right to do so until we see it, but judging by the trailers and clips we’ve seen from Toy Story 4, it has the heart, humor, great character moments and clever insights into life as a toy that we’ve come to expect from this series.


Toy Story 4 arrives in theaters on June 21. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of all the big movies headed your way as we approach prime blockbuster season.

Sunday, November 15, 2020

First Look At Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker's New Droid And Aliens

First Look At Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker's New Droid And Aliens
D/O, Star Wars Episode IX droid

The Star Wars Episode IX panel at Star Wars Celebration did not disappoint when it came to reveals. While we certainly are still missing many pieces of the puzzle, we did finally get the film's title and our first look at some of the action. However, the panel also teased us with a collection of new Star Wars aliens and other creatures, and as usual, they look amazing. One of the creatures even appeared on the Star Wars Celebration stage, he, or she, or it, is a brand new droid named D/O. Check him out.


While we didn't get a lot of details about the droid, who looks like a cone has been welded to the side of a tuna fish can. His "head" such as it is, moves independently of the wheel below him that gives him mobility. J.J. Abrams did speak about the character a bit, saying that he's a friend of BB-8. According to Abrams...



In this movie BB-8 has a new friend... This is D/O. This is yet another incredible collaboration and creation of Neal Scanlan and the creature robotics team on the movie.





We see the new droid in one shot of the first trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. He's standing alongside BB-8 and the pair both look to be reacting in the same way to something we can't see. Clearly, these two really are friends. We also see the little guy alongside BB-8 in the group shot at the end of the trailer, so wherever this story is going, this droid is going along for the ride.


We do know that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will take place after some significant amount of time has passed following the events of The Last Jedi. In that movie it appeared that the entire Resistance fit inside the Millennium Falcon, but one assumes the Resistance has been able to build up its ranks in the intervening period. They've picked up some additional allies, and some of them probably brought droids with them. It's also possible one of our heroes has taken possession of the little guy in the time that has passed.


Interestingly, J.J. Abrams revealed that the way that D/O was introduced to us at Star Wars Celebration was not the way that the droid actually appeared on the set. While he was clearly being remote controlled from off stage here, the droid was created by puppeteers when filming was being done.





I will say that when we did the film we never had D/O exist quite this way. There was a rig and puppeteers and like with Celebration last time, there were different designs we went through working on. Like in Celebration last time [for me] in Episode VII when BB-8 rolled out we never had a BB-8 to be able to roll out [on set]. It's amazing what Celebration will do!



However, the new droid wasn't the only new Star Wars creature that we met today. Another new creature is much larger than the tiny droid. His name is Klaud, and he's apparently a brand new member of the Resistance. Check him out below.


We see Klaud standing alongside Snap Wexley, played by Greg Grunberg. Snap was a pilot alongside Poe Dameron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens but he was nowhere to be found in The Last Jedi. As a longtime friend of J.J. Abrams its little surprise he's back for the new film.




The fact that J.J. Abrams made a point to show us Klaud and tell us his name, the fact that he has a name at all, likely means we'll see a bit more of this guy than we might some of the other aliens, but seriously, what do we know? We didn't see any new creatures or characters in the teaser except for the new droid, so everything is still a question regarding all of these designs.


Beyond these couple of new creatures that were given names we didn't get any information about any other new aliens or droids that we'll be meeting in the film. However, the Star Wars Celebration crowd was given a look at a few more creatures out of context, and we have a look at them as well.


Whether any of these are important creatures or simply background aliens designed to make the world of the galaxy, far, far away, feel more real, we don't really know. Of course, that doesn't really matter when it comes to creating them. J.J. Abrams talked about the hard work that went into both creating the design of the creatures, as well the hard work that the actors put forth in bringing them to life.




The vast majority of these aliens are not created via CGI but are actually makeup and practical effects, which means real people were needed to create these alien landscapes. That meant that in some cases hundreds of people were made to look like aliens, sometimes under less than perfect conditions. According to Abrams...



We had hundreds of people in unbelievable costumes and designs. Creatures that Neal Scanlan and his team designed. So, to be there with so many people in the heat [of the desert] and having to take food breaks, bathroom breaks. It was a whole thing. But we got through it and actually finished a day ahead of schedule.



One can imagine how difficult it was for all of the people in the image below to get into their make up and film a scene for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.




The vast majority of these characters are almost certainly just ancillary background aliens. The only new cast member on the stage for the Episode IX panel was Naomi Ackie, who we know isn't playing an alien. Still, that just goes to show how much work went into creating all these characters, many of whom might only be on screen for a few moments. There were probably entire creatures who ended up on the cutting room floor, possibly never to be seen again. Since editing on the new film is not complete, it's even possible these creatures we were shown won't actually be in the movie.


Regardless of how much we actually see all these new creatures in Star Wars; The Rise of Skywalker, they all look absolutely amazing. Even if you somehow weren't hyped up for the final chapter of the Skywalker saga before, you almost have to be now.


While we've probably heard all the really important stuff about Episode IX that we're going to get for a while, a lot more Star Wars news will be coming over the next couple of days. CinemaBlend is in Chicago, so keep checking back for all the news this weekend.



How Much Godzilla: King of the Monsters Could Make In Its Opening Weekend

How Much Godzilla: King of the Monsters Could Make In Its Opening Weekend
Godzilla firing his breath weapon into the sky in Godzilla: King of the Monsters

The summer movie season is basically here. With Avengers: Endgame arriving in just a couple weeks the box office will begin to heat up as the studios all bring out major tentpole releases during this competitive season. One movie looking to make a huge impact when it arrives in a little over a month is Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and early tracking has the film looking at an opening weekend between $40 and $60 million.


While that's a perfectly respectable number for most summer movies, many are wondering if it might be a little low. 2014's Godzilla saw a domestic opening weekend of over $90 million, and so a drop to less than half that for the sequel would be a huge hit. However, it's possible that the movie to look at isn't the previous Godzilla but actually Kong: Skull Island. That film, from which King of the Monsters also follows, came out more recently and managed a $60 million opening, which could indicate people are becoming less interested in giant monster movies.


Part of the issue, of course, is competition. Godzilla had basically none. The biggest movie to open against it was Disney's Million Dollar Arm, which barely grossed $10 million in its opening weekend. The comedy hit Neighbors was number two at the box office that weekend in its second week. The only big tentpole release in competition was The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which was in its third week, and had underperformed from the beginning.




Godzilla: King of the Monsters biggest opening weekend competition is the Elton John biopic Rocketman, which isn't expected to set the world on fire, but is looking at a $25 million opening weekend, far better than what the previous Godzilla's opening weekend competition was able to muster.


In addition, there will likely be significant hold over business from the Memorial Day Weekend releases from the week before, including Disney's live-action Aladdin.


BoxOfficePro simply suggests that the Godzilla/Kong franchise is losing steam. If that's the case, it's not great news for Godzilla Vs. Kong. The movie recently wrapped its Australian production with an eye toward a release next year. Getting it in front of the cameras so soon after Godzilla: King of the Monsters was clearly an attempt to strike while the iron was still hot, but it may have cooled too much already.




Of course, these numbers are still incredibly early and subject to change. As we get closer to release many who might be lukewarm on the film may realize they're actually much more interested in it. At this point, it's probably tough to judge the public's feelings toward any movie that isn't called Avengers: Endgame. Perhaps, by the time we get to the end of May Godzilla will be a true king once again and bring in a massive opening weekend.,

 

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