All the News That’s Fit to Rank: Week of October 10
These are the top movie stories that got the Flickchart staff talking this week. We rank ’em, you read ’em.
1. Paramount is streaming movies from its Vault on YouTube – for free!
With little fanfare, Paramount has created a YouTube channel and started streaming catalog titles under the label Paramount Vault, and streaming them for free. There aren’t a TON of options yet, but there are definitely some promising ones, and their sizzle reel suggests a lot more may be in the pipeline. Will McKinley has dived into the offerings, and points out the they DO have commercials every 10 minutes or so, which explains how Paramount is monetizing this, and also provides a breakdown by decade of what films are available now. Another helpful point if you’re looking for von Sternberg or Lubitsch classics – Universal now owns the rights to most pre-1949 Paramount films, and they apparently aren’t in a mood to let them go. Still, this is a great way to introduce new folks to older films, and maybe pick off a few you hadn’t gotten around to yourself. (via /Film)
2. Lots of new sequel and release date updates from Disney/Pixar/Marvel
A WHOLE BUNCH of release date and sequel news dropped from Disney and its subsidiaries this week. Here’s the quick rundown: Toy Story 4 is moving from 2017 to 2018, presumably to make sure it’s as good as possible. Cars 3 is snagging the 2017 slot, presumably because nobody cares how good it is. The Incredibles 2 is slated for 2019. A sequel to Ant-Man focusing on Ant-Man and the Wasp has been added to Marvel’s Phase 3 plans, for July 2018. That was Black Panther‘s slot, so it’s moving up to February 2018. Also, this is pushing Captain Marvel back AGAIN (it already got pushed back once for the Marvel Spider-Man movie) to March 2019. In addition, Marvel tagged three dates in 2020 for as-yet-undetermined Phase Four films. In even more nebulous news, Disney has picked some dates throughout 2017, 2018 and 2019 for live-action fairy tales, of which they seem to have several dozen in development. (via several articles on /Film)
3. John Williams to receive AFI Life Achievement Award
John Williams will be the first composer to receive the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award at their awards event in June 2016. Certainly I can’t think of a composer more well-suited to receive the honor, thanks both to his iconic film scores over the past forty years and his directorship of the Boston Pops Orchestra, which served to place his own and other film scores in classical concert halls. (via Variety)
4. Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts casts Ron Perlman and more
Film is already underway for Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts, which stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, but new and exciting people are still being added to the cast. Newest and most exciting is Ron Perlman, who will be playing a goblin, though no actual plot information has been revealed. Other cast members include Jon Voigt, Colin Farrell, Ezra Miller, and Samantha Morton. (via Hollywood Reporter)
5. Two Mad Max sequels are in development at Warner Bros.
The surprise hit of the summer was, well, Jurassic World. But the OTHER surprise hit of the summer, especially critically speaking was Mad Max: Fury Road, so it’s not too shocking that Warner Bros wants a sequel. Turns out George Miller might have TWO sequels scripted – rumor has it there might be one focusing on Max and another on Furiosa, but that’s unconfirmed. (via /Film)
6. Daniel Craig rather emphatically does not want to be Bond anymore
Technically, what he said is he’d “rather break this glass and slash his wrists” than do another Bond film. Now, that’s probably exaggeration (I hope so!), but he’s done a great job in four films on four very difficult and lengthy shoots, and if he wants to hand off the reins, more power to him. I for one am excited to see what he’ll do now that he’s not tied down to a Bond film every couple of years. In not-really-but-sort-of related news, Rick Moranis has given a solid interview stating that, no, he’s not retired, he’s just picky and that the new Ghostbusters film doesn’t really hold any interest for him. He’s done with the franchise, and you know what? That’s his prerogative. (via Variety)
7. Terry Gilliam says he’s working on a Time Bandits TV series
Terry Gilliam fans know not to hold our breath for ANY potential upcoming Terry Gilliam projects, but that doesn’t keep us from getting excited at hearing about them anyway. In a recent live chat with the Guardian, Gilliam mentioned that he’s working on a TV series based on his 1981 film Time Bandits, in which unlikely hero Kevin time travels through history with a bunch of dwarves running from God and Evil. The movie was already pretty episodic, so a TV could actually be pretty cool. That is, if the universe didn’t hate the very idea of Terry Gilliam finishing anything he starts. (via The AV Club)
8. Drew Goddard teases Cabin in the Woods sequel
This is also pretty much just the hint of a mention of something that may or may not happen, but Drew Goddard mentioned in a recent interview that Lionsgate had approached him and Joss Whedon about a potential sequel to Cabin in the Woods. Of course, if you’ve seen Cabin in the Woods, you know it doesn’t exactly set up a sequel. Still, I admit I’d watch another film set somehow in the world, no question about it. (via The AV Club)
9. Alexander Payne’s next film Downsizing will star Matt Damon and Reese Witherspoon
Alexander Payne is one of the best writer-directors currently working, and his new project sounds pretty wackadoodle. He’s not particularly known for fantasy fare, though Election was certainly heightened in its satire, but in Downsizing, people can be shrunk down to a fraction of their size and start forming “small people” communities. Um…okay? Paramount has signed on to distribute, and the film is expected to film in 2016 and release in late 2017. (via Variety)
10. Woody Allen’s next film will be his first shot digitally
It seems that even though Woody Allen‘s 50-odd films up this point have all been shot on film, he doesn’t really have strong feelings either way, like some other directors *ahem*Nolan*ahem*. When legendary cinematographer Vittorio Stotaro (Apocalypse Now) signed on to Allen’s latest film – the one starring Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell, etc. – he suggested they do it in digital, and Allen shrugged and said sure. I have a nostalgic love for 35mm, but the times are changing, and (most) filmmakers are changing with them. (via /Film)
Top Trailers of the Week
If there’s any upcoming movie I’m already planning to see opening weekend, it’s the Coens‘ Hail, Caesar!, so I didn’t watch this trailer. I’m not even reading much about it, so you’re kind of on your own – it’s apparently a throwback to the zany screwball comedy of Preston Sturges, and that is all I want to know.
Shelter, the directorial debut of actor Paul Bettany (he also wrote the film), looks to be quite the beautiful and heartfelt film, about a pair of unlikely homeless New Yorkers (Jennifer Connolly and Anthony Mackie) who meet and fall in love. It got solid-to-rave reviews out of TIFF last month.
You can never have too much Edgar Allen Poe, and the anthology Extraordinary Tales looks to prove this maxim with five Poe tales, each with a different animation style and narrator (including Christopher Lee, Guillermo Del Toro, and Bela Lugosi!). The styles are VERY different, and yet all look very compelling.
Vinyl is actually a TV show rather than a movie, but with Martin Scorsese as executive producer, it seemed compelling enough to cross the boundary into our post. The show is set in 1970s New York, just as punk, hip-hop and disco were starting to vie for attention.
https://youtu.be/WBPQ0v86BUA
What’s that you say? There’s a new version of Pride and Prejudice coming out? Yes, but all is not quite as it seems…this edition could be quite a bit more kick-ass than you might otherwise expect.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWr3mLI8Xl8?showinfo=0&w=560&h=315]
Awesome! Thanks Jandy. So much bang for my buck here.
You’re paying a buck for this? You’re overpaying. :)
And film takes another hit (vis a vis digital)… I think it’ll bounce back, though.