Emma Stefansky
Rumor: The ‘Han Solo’ Spinoff Might Be Headed to a New Holiday Release Date
The shift from summer to Christmas for The Force Awakens came as a bit of a shock to Star Wars fans, who were so used to seeing the earlier installments of the first two trilogies hit theaters in the warmer months. Summer releases for Star Wars movies had become something of an unspoken tradition, so the holiday release had some feeling a little perturbed. Disney and Lucasfilm sure weren’t, though, as The Force Awakens raked in that holiday box office cash, topping every Star Wars movie before it in less than twelve parsecs. Now, a rumor has surfaced that the Han Solo spinoff, which has so far been scheduled for May 2018, might get bumped forward to December.
Listen to a Soundbite of Emma Watson Singing in ‘Beauty and the Beast’
With the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast officially one of the most anticipated movies of next year, and a trailer that looks just like the original cartoon (except with, you know, real people) we’ve all been dying to know what they sound like singing those iconic songs. I, for one, am most excited for Luke Evans to belt “Gaston” with as much gusto as the song allows for (a lot), but a ton of other classics will make their way into the picture, from the furniture and cutlery ensemble number “Be Our Guest” to the theme “Beauty and the Beast.” There’s been no official soundtrack release yet, but today we’ve gotten our first listen to Emma Watson’s Belle singing her part of the movie’s opening number.
You Can Watch Carrie Fisher’s ‘Star Wars’ Audition Tape Right Here
It’s undeniable that Carrie Fisher was a rare talent — and she’d have to be, to charm the notoriously picky George Lucas with her Star Wars audition. In a recently resurfaced video, originally posted on YouTube in 2006, Fisher sits down to read a scene opposite Harrison Ford (whom Lucas initially didn’t want to cast, but he was so good in the screen tests that Ford became his Han Solo).
An Original Character Is Coming Back for ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’
While the new Planet of the Apes movies haven’t done a whole lot to reference the originals, aside from Caesar himself and the Icarus in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the newest installment is going to bring a very important character in play who was originally introduced in the 1968 film.
Get Your First Look at the Human Versions of the Castle Staff from ‘Beauty and the Beast’
Everyone knows how Beauty and the Beast starts off — a haughty prince refuses to give shelter to an old lady who turns out to be a fairy, who then curses him and his whole castle, turning him into a monster and his staff into inanimate objects. Well, the inanimate objects are still pretty animate, able to talk and dance and sing at poor Belle, who should be checking her food for hallucinogens rather than singing along, but who cares, this is a Disney movie. For those of you dying to see the rest of the castle’s inhabitants in their more flesh-and-blood forms, they’re human again in a new poster standee for the movie.
Sigourney Weaver Says ‘Avatar’ Sequel Scripts Are ‘Amazing’ in Scope
Sigourney Weaver is something of a sci-fi movie icon. Since her performance in Alien, she’s made a ton of appearances in all kinds of movies about the weird and the wonderful, from The Cabin in the Woods to WALL-E to a brief but not unwelcome scene in this summer’s Ghostbusters. She was also one of the best parts of James Cameron’s Avatar, playing Dr. Grace Augustine, one of the scientists in the Avatar Program who started a research program to learn more about the planet Pandora and its inhabitants. She’s read the scripts for Cameron’s planned sequels, and, according to her, they’re “amazing.”
‘Doctor Strange’ Almost Had a Completely Different Villain
Marvel movie scripts go through a ton of editing and plot reworking before they’re finally handed over to their directors, and Doctor Strange was no different. It’s a more ambitious film from its predecessors in many ways, not the least of which is introducing audiences to a new superhero and an entirely new way of thinking about the Marvel multiverse. Unsurprisingly, the writers went through a few villain ideas before it landed on the one Marvel president Kevin Feige felt would be most appropriate for the movie, but apparently we were very close to getting a completely different big bad. (Warning — SPOILERS ahead for those of you who haven’t seen the movie yet, so proceed with caution.)
Disney’s ‘Lion King’ Remake Taps Veteran Screenwriter Jeff Nathanson
With the news that Jon Favreau was directing a live-action remake of arguably THE most popular Disney movie of all time, The Lion King, people were undoubtedly excited. Favreau successfully launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe with 2008’s Iron Man, believed by many to still be the best Avengers movie, and has had a few notable successes since, including Chef in 2014 and this summer’s almost-entirely-CGI remake of The Jungle Book. The latter did so well that Disney hired Favreau again to direct The Lion King, and today it was announced that the film has found a screenwriter.
Tom Hanks to Get Behind the Wheel of ‘Greyhound’
Tom Hanks is making the most of all the Sully buzz: earlier today, it was revealed that Hanks has written a script for a movie called Greyhound, and also hopes to star in the picture if he can get it picked up. Aaron Schneider (director of Get Low and director of photography for Titanic) has signed on to direct.
In Honor of Gene Wilder, ‘Young Frankenstein’ Is Coming Back to Theaters
It’s difficult, maybe impossible, to say which of Gene Wilder’s many performances is his best. He had the fastest hands in the West as Jim, aka the Waco Kid, in Blazing Saddles, he invited us into a world of pure imagination as the titular candyman from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and he accidentally created a not-so-politically-correct Broadway hit in The Producers.
‘Terminator 2’ Is Finally Getting That 3D Release … in 2017
James Cameron has been toying around with a Terminator 2: Judgement Day 3D release for some time-- last year he announced that he was working on it, and that it would arrive in theaters around the time of the film’s 25th anniversary. Seeing as that deadline’s come and gone, it looked like a remaster was not to be. Fortunately, according to Collider, Cameron is still working on it, as announced on the Terminator 2 official Facebook page yesterday with a cool new poster:
The Trailer for ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ Is the Most Depressing Dog Reincarnation Movie You’ll See
Happy National Dog Day. Here’s a movie about a dog doomed to die and be reborn again and again so that he can… learn something about life? So that humans can be happy? Is there a shortage of dog souls to go around, so that by the time you pick up your new puppy from the shelter, mentally it’s probably already a grizzled old man looking down the barrel at the next twelve years of its life with exhaustion and regret?