The Righteous Gemstones star Danny McBride hates it when boutique theaters serve food and drinks and would prefer marijuana instead.

Going to the theater is different from it used to be. Back in my day, going to the cinema meant purchasing an overpriced ticket and concessions, then experiencing a film alongside a group of strangers in silence with occasional outbursts of laughter or surprise. Today, boutique theaters double as restaurants for outrageously priced pub-style food, with beer, wine, and cocktails to get you sauced for the evening’s feature presentation. Some people enjoy this kind of atmosphere. However, Danny McBride thinks serving food and drinks in cinemas is absurd, and he has an idea about improving the theater-going experience – marijuana!

Speaking with GQ magazine, Danny McBride said, “I hate it, I can’t stand it,” about serving dinner and drinks in the middle of a movie. “I also don’t think it makes sense to combine booze with movies. You’re going to have to piss. Doesn’t alcohol make you want to get up and get loose? You don’t want to sit there, drink beer, and just be quiet. I would have no interest in going to see a movie and just pounding IPAs. Just fucking falling asleep.”

While alcohol affects people differently, McBride’s argument about increasing the odds of using a bathroom during the film is sound. I barely touch my drink anytime I go into a theater, especially if I’m seeing a multi-hour epic like Dune: Part Two. I typically use the washroom right before the movie (during the commercials) and hope for the best.

While McBride is against eating food and imbibing alcoholic beverages, he thinks letting patrons smoke pot while they watch the movie could be a winning combination. “Movies and weed go together fucking perfectly,” McBride proclaims.

“McBride, [David Gordon] Green and their film-school buddy Jody Hill had at some point kicked around the idea of opening a theater with a built-in dispensary,” reads the GQ article. “Green Screen, they’d planned to call it. ‘If I went to a theater, and it was like, “Here’s your popcorn and here’s fucking weed,” I feel like that would be an awesome little combo right there,’ McBride said. Green wondered: ‘Why did we not do anything with that?’ Too busy, McBride replied.”

I don’t know about you, but I can almost hear lawyers rubbing their claws together at the thought of suing theater markets for damage caused by smoke inhalation. You’d probably need to sign a waiver upon entering the cinema, absolving the theater chain of any health-related problems caused by frequenting the establishment. Still, imagine the rewards program or ordering a bucket of popcorn and a pop alongside a spliff of Ghost Train Haze or Alaskan Thunderf*ck. The hotbox experience would be intense with the smoke from so many strains swirling in the air.

What do you think about ordering food and drinks in theaters? Is it perfectly okay? Super distracting? Should Danny McBride and his friends follow through on their Green Screen theater idea? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He’s also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You’ll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.

Amybeth McNulty of Anne with an E and Stranger Things stars in the long-awaited thriller She Came Back, which started filming in 2020

About four and a half years ago, it was announced that Amybeth McNulty of the Netflix shows Anne with an E and Stranger Things (although she hadn’t been on Stranger Things yet at the time) had signed on to star in a suspense thriller called Maternal. If you’ve been wondering what happened with that project, we finally have an update to share with you today: Maternal has been retitled She Came Back, and it’s now available to watch through Dark Matter TV, Apple, Vudu, Google Play, and Microsoft Xbox. It can be rented for $3.99 or purchased for $9.99.

Part of the reason for the long delay is the fact that Maternal started filming in early 2020, then the production got disrupted by the pandemic lockdowns. The project had to be put back together at a later date so filming could be finished.

Coming our way from TriCoast Worldwide, Red Hill, and Ideal Entertainment, She Came Back was directed by Megan Follows from a script by Christina Vegas. The story centers on 16-year-old Charlie McLeod (Amybeth McNulty) who on the way to her father’s wedding, is involved in a serious car accident, leaving her in a fight for her life. For a brief moment, she dies on the operating table and has a near death experience, where she reconnects with her deceased mother, Claire (Megan Follows). Charlie ultimately survives but Claire’s spirit was so moved by the re-connection with her daughter, she has no intention of letting go. She believes that Charlie was supposed to die with her and now insists Charlie join her in the afterlife.

McNulty and Follows (Reign) are joined in the cast by Kris Holden-Ried (Underworld:Awakening), Athena Karkanis (Saw IV), and Colm Feore (The Umbrella Academy).

TriCoast Worldwide’s Strath Hamilton provided the following statement: “Amybeth McNulty is compelling as the tormented survivor in She Came Back. In the past audiences have seen characters who would voluntarily leave their life to be with a recently deceased loved one, but what if the recently deceased loved one initiates the process? That is what her character encounters.“

Are you interested in She Came Back (formerly known as Maternal), and are you glad to hear that it’s finally making its way out into the world? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

Morgan Elsbeth and Barriss Offee walk different dark paths for a new animated series in Lucasfilms’ Star Wars: Tales of the Empire trailer.

Wait, what month is this? Well before May 4 spoils Star Wars fans with news, trailers, and teases for exciting things coming to a galaxy far, far away, Disney+ is here to share the debut trailer for Star Wars: Tales of the Empire, a six-episode follow-up to Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi—all six episodes of the upcoming series premiere exclusively on Disney+ on May 4, 2024.

According to Lucasfilms’ official press release, Star Wars: Tales of the Empire “is a six-episode journey into the fearsome Galactic Empire through the eyes of two warriors on divergent paths, set during different eras. After losing everything, young Morgan Elsbeth navigates the expanding Imperial world toward a path of vengeance, while former Jedi Barriss Offee does what she must to survive a rapidly changing galaxy. The choices they make will define their destinies.”

The talented voice cast includes Diana Lee Inosanto (Morgan Elsbeth), Meredith Salenger (Barriss Offee), Rya Kihlstedt (Lyn aka Fourth Sister), Wing T. Chao (Wing), Lars Mikkelsen (Thrawn), Jason Isaacs (Grand Inquisitor) and Matthew Wood (General Grievous).

Dave Filoni created the series and is the supervising director. He is also an executive producer along with Athena Yvette Portillo and Carrie Beck. Josh Rimes serves as co-executive producer, and Alex Spotswood is the senior producer.

In today’s Star Wars: Tales of the Empire trailer, Morgan Elsbeth and Barriss Offee encounter corruption and strife while navigating the Empire, a faction built on pain and suffering. While on separate journeys, they meet new and old characters who change their fates forever. The trailer includes scenes of Jedi violence, betrayal, and a side of the Force darker than you’d expected.

In addition to the Star Wars: Tales of the Empire trailer, Disney+, and Lucasfilm debuted images and key art for the upcoming series, featuring the show’s main character and signature Star Wars drama.

What do you think about the Star Wars: Tales of the Empire trailer? Are you a fan of the original series? Is there another era of the Star Wars universe where you’d like to get the animation treatment? Let us know in the comments section below.

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He’s also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You’ll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.

Dune filmmaker Denis Villeneuve will reteam with Legendary for an adaptation of Annie Jacobson’s cautionary tale Nuclear War: A Scenario.

After Christopher Nolan’s award-winning success with Oppenheimer, Denis Villeneuve, another of Hollywood’s premiere directors, will tackle the threat of nuclear fallout with an adaptation of Pulitzer Prize -finalist Annie Jacobsen’s non-fiction novel Nuclear War: A Scenario. The project finds Villeneuve reteaming with Legendary, with plans to complete the nuclear drama before going into production on the final film in the Dune trilogy, Dune: Messiah.

Deadline‘s exclusive report says the deal for Nuclear War: A Scenario is worth $500,000 against $1.5 million. The evidence explored in Jacobsen’s novel is truly terrifying, especially since the threat of nuclear war is real and could happen at any given moment. Here’s a synopsis for Nuclear War: A Scenario courtesy of Amazon:

There is only one scenario other than an asteroid strike that could end the world as we know it in a matter of hours: nuclear war. And one of the triggers for that war would be a nuclear missile inbound toward the United States.

Every generation, a journalist has looked deep into the heart of the nuclear military establishment: the technologies, the safeguards, the plans, and the risks. These investigations are vital to how we understand the world we really live in—where one nuclear missile will beget one in return, and where the choreography of the world’s end requires massive decisions made on seconds’ notice with information that is only as good as the intelligence we have.

Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario explores this ticking-clock scenario, based on dozens of exclusive new interviews with military and civilian experts who have built the weapons, have been privy to the response plans, and have been responsible for those decisions should they have needed to be made. Nuclear War: A Scenario examines the handful of minutes after a nuclear missile launch. It is essential reading and unlike any other book in its depth and urgency.

Jacobsen’s research extends to dozens of interviews with military and civilian experts familiar with nuclear war’s real-world consequences and dangers. Nuclear fallout has been the subject of many science-fiction dramas in Hollywood, but all those stories stem from an ever-present threat as tensions between warring nations continue to churn and bubble.

Villeneuve’s adaptation of Nuclear War: A Scenario could be one of cinematic history’s most essential and eye-opening film projects, considering the filmmaker’s box office appeal and dedicated fandom. We’ll be keeping an eye out for more details as the project develops.

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He’s also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You’ll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.

Late Night With the Devil gets a new, retro-style poster two weeks ahead of its release on the Shudder streaming service

Image Nation Abu Dhabi and Spooky Pictures recently teamed up to produce the horror film Late Night With the Devil, headed up by the Australian writing and directing duo of Colin and Cameron Cairnes (100 Bloody Acres) and starring David Dastmalchian – whose previous credits include The Boogeyman, The Last Voyage of the Demeter, and The Suicide Squad. The film was recently given a theatrical release and has racked up positive reviews from the likes of Stephen King and Kevin Smith, not to mention JoBlo’s own Tyler Nichols (you can read his 9/10 review at THIS LINK). It’s set to reach the Shudder streaming service on April 19th, and in anticipation of the streaming release the film has gotten a new, retro-style poster. You can check it out at the bottom of this article.

Late Night With the Devil is a “supernatural chiller” that tells the story of the live broadcast of a late-night talk show in 1977 that goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation’s living rooms. Dastmalchian plays Jack Delroy, the host of the show Night Owls.

Colin and Cameron Cairnes previously provided the following statement: “In the ’70s and ’80s there was something slightly dangerous about late-night TV. Talk shows in particular were a window into some strange adult world. We thought combining that charged, live-to-air atmosphere with the supernatural could make for a uniquely frightening film experience.”

Late Night With the Devil has been making the festival rounds, racking up awards as it goes. The film had its premiere South by Southwest, won best screenplay at Sitges Film Festival, and won both best feature film and best lead performance (for Dastmalchian) at Toronto After Dark.

Spooky Pictures was founded by It producer Roy Lee and the Paranormal Activity franchise’s Steven Schneider. They are producing Late Night With the Devil alongside John Molloy, Derek Dauchy, and Future Pictures’ Mat Govoni and Adam White. Dastmalchian serves as an executive producer with Rami Yasin and Lake Mungo director Joel Anderson.

Have you seen Late Night With the Devil during its theatrical run, or are you waiting for the Shudder release? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and take a look at the retro-style poster while you’re scrolling down:

About the Author

Cody is a news editor and film critic, focused on the horror arm of JoBlo.com, and writes scripts for videos that are released through the JoBlo Originals and JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channels. In his spare time, he’s a globe-trotting digital nomad, runs a personal blog called Life Between Frames, and writes novels and screenplays.

The explosive documentary series, Quiet on Set, is set to return with a bonus episode April 7th, with even more episodes in the works.

One of the most harrowing things to come out in a while is ID’s documentary series Quiet On Set, which reveals the troubling history behind the kids’ TV network Nickelodeon’s most popular programming from the 90s and 2000s. Specifically, the series investigates what was happening on the set of various shows produced by the network’s golden boy, Dan Schneider. Among the revelations is that a P. A on the set of his shows was a pedophile, and one of the network’s biggest stars, Drake Bell, was molested by his acting coach, Brian Peck, who also acted in many of the shows. To note, Schneider has not been accused of any sexual abuse himself, and Bell actually praised him in the documentary.

While the four-episode series seemed to be at an end (you can read our review here), a bonus episode revealing new information that’s come forward since the show ended is set to premiere on ID on April 7th. In fact, even more episodes might be coming, with the directors Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz, apparently still shooting new material for future episodes. Indeed, there’s much more ground to cover, with one of the biggest stars from that era, Amanda Bynes, having yet to tell her story. More actors who worked on those sets are speaking out now after seeing the documentary. But, to be sure, not all of the reactions have been positive. Former Nickelodeon host Marc Summers (Double Dare) recently revealed that he walked out of his interview as he wasn’t aware of the documentary’s premise beforehand and felt they had done a bait and switch. Indeed, Summers’ stunned reaction upon seeing a risqué clip from one of the network’s shows is one of the most memorable moments in the first episode. For his part, he claims Dan Schneider’s tenure at the network only began after his time hosting Double Dare.

Will you be watching the next episode of Quiet on Set? Let us know in the comments. 

Keith Levine, who is producing David Bruckner’s remake of The Blob, says the film will honor the practical effects of previous versions

Back in 1958, director Irvin Yeaworth brought the world a really fun creature feature called The Blob, which was followed by Larry Hagman’s late-to-the-party sequel Beware! The Blob (a.k.a. Son of Blob) in 1972 and an awesome remake directed by Chuck Russell – which ranks as one of the best remakes ever made – in 1988. We’ve been hearing rumblings of another Blob remake for over a decade now. Rob Zombie was attached to write and direct a new version of The Blob for a brief period of time, and commissioned some concept art before leaving the project. The Conjuring writers Chad and Carey Hayes wrote a draft of the script that reimagined the titular being as the B.L.O.B., which stood for Biological Lethal Organic Bomb. Their script was scrapped. Later, Con Air director Simon West was going to be helming the film, with Samuel L. Jackson signed on to star and Halle Berry rumored to join him. That one didn’t make it into production, either. A few months ago, it was announced that Hellraiser reboot director David Bruckner is now attached to write and direct a new take on The Blob. Keith Levine, who produced the Hellraiser reboot and is producing the Blob remake, is currently doing the press rounds for another horror film he worked on, The First Omen (a prequel to the 1976 classic The Omen). During an interview with ComicBook.com, Levine took a moment to talk about The Blob and said the new remake will honor the practical effects work of the previous films.

Levine said, “Well, I personally am very excited about – because another one of these ‘my parents are out movies’ that I’m watching at a young age is The Blob – which we’re doing at Warner Brothers, also with David Bruckner … The Chuck Russell movie just, as a kid, it f*cked me up big time. There’s this movie theater scene towards the end of it where these kids sneak out and they go to the movies and then they get killed by the Blob … I think that was the first time I had seen kids my age die. I was watching all these horror movies. It was always about teenagers and older people, and I think I was like, ‘It never felt like me,’ but that movie, just because of that scene, really, really, really terrorized me. So very excited to dive into that world and honor the practical effects, the tactile feel of it. We’re just excited about all the possibilities there.“

I have always loved The Blob, I watched both the 1958 and 1988 versions of the film a lot when I was growing up (I didn’t find out about the 1972 movie until later), and have been waiting decades to see the Blob return to the screen. So I’m looking forward to seeing what David Bruckner is going to do with the concept.

Levine is producing The Blob with David S. Goyer, while Judith Harris, the widow of original Blob producer Jack Harris, serves as executive producer.

Are you interested in seeing a new remake of The Blob? What do you think of the Keith Levine quote? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Nikhil Nagesh Bhat invites audiences to ride aboard the Pain Train as a passenger fights for his life through bandits in the Kill trailer.

All aboard! The Pain Train is leaving the station, and you want to avoid getting stuck riding coach! Lionsgate is giving action fans something to crow about today with the debut of the brutal Kill trailer. Described as India’s goriest and most intensely violent film, Kill is like David Leitch’s Bullet Train on steroids, if those steroids were taking steroids!

Nikhil Nagesh Bhat (Saluun, The Gone Game, Hurdang) directs Kill from a script he wrote with Ayesha Syed. The plot revolves around a passenger on a train to New Delhi. The train soon becomes a combat battleground as a pair of commandos face an army of invading bandits. What was supposed to be a leisurely trek turns into a claustrophobic bloodbath, with death and destruction filling every car along a fast-moving train.

The feature, directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, made its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival to critical acclaim. Here’s a more detailed description of the plot courtesy of Collider’s report:

Kill follows Amrit (Lakshya) and Tulika (Tanya Maniktala), whose relationship is jeopardized after Tulika’s family finds out about it. As they take her away for an arranged marriage, commando Amrit and his friend are far from willing to let fate dictate their story. The troop embarks on a “rescue” mission that becomes a gory adventure and blurs the line between their duty and emotions, elaborating the theme of “how far a man can go for love.”

Raghav Juyal, Abhishek Chauhan, Ashish Vidyarthi, Adrija Sinha, Harsh Chhaya, Parth Tiwari, and more join Lakshya and Tanya Maniktala as cast members of Bhat’s outrageous film.

Is anyone else getting Train to Busan and The Raid: Redemption vibes from today’s Kill trailer? I’m a huge fan of foreign action films, with movies like The Night Comes For Us and Headshot being two of my favorites. Kill looks right up my alley, and some of those kill shots and extreme stabbings in the trailer are gnarly! I look forward to screaming at my TV while Lakshya tears everyone on the train a new asshole with his sweet moves and give no f**ks attitude. Let’s go!

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He’s also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You’ll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.

MCU alum and The Purge franchise star Frank Grillo is joining the Tulsa King: Season 2 cast as a series regular alongside Sylvester Stallone.

Like Hideo Kojima and his collection of scanned celebrities, Taylor Sheridan is adding another star to his Paramount+ collection as Boss Level and The Purge franchise badass Frank Grillo joins the cast of Tulsa King: Season 2. The MCU alum boards the Sylvester Stallone-led crime drama as a series regular, playing Bill Bevilaqua, a Kansas City mobster interested in Tulsa. Is Grillo’s character trying to muscle in on The General’s territory? Who will tell him how much of a bad idea that would be?

Sylvester Stallone stars in Tulsa King as Dwight “The General” Manfredi, a New York mafia capo. After he’s released from prison, his boss unceremoniously exiles him to set up shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Realizing that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Dwight slowly builds a crew from a group of unlikely characters to help him establish a new criminal empire in a place that might as well be another planet.

Grillo joins an already-stacked cast for Tulsa King: Season 2, featuring Andrea Savage, Martin Starr, Max Casella, Domenick Lombardozzi, Vincent Piazza, Jay Will, Annabella Sciorra, Tatiana Zappardino, with Garrett Hedlund and Dana Delany. Cameras are currently rolling for the sophomore season in Oklahoma and Atlanta.

“Tulsa King scored as the #1 new series of the year, topping all others including the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, with its preview on Paramount Network, and on Paramount+, it shattered records, driving us to our biggest new sign-up day in history – which is why we instantly greenlit season two,” said Chris McCarthy, President/CEO, Paramount Media Networks & MTV Entertainment Studios in 2022. “Tulsa King together with Mayor of Kingstown, 1883 and the upcoming 1923, undeniably confirm the success of our strategy to franchise Yellowstone and use it to supercharge streaming growth – none of which would be possible without the creative mastermind of Taylor Sheridan.”

Frank Grillo is one of Hollywood’s busiest stars, having worked on multiple projects in various production states. He’s got six movies in post-production, including (but not limited to) the Steven C. Miller-directed action thriller Werewolves, John Swab’s crime thriller Land of Grace, and Lowell Dean’s horror thriller Die Alone. Grillo is also the voice of Rick Flag Sr. in the upcoming DC animated TV series Creature Commandos.

Are you excited to hear Frank Grillo is joining the Tulsa King: Season 2 cast? Let us know in the comments section below.

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He’s also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You’ll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.

Olivia Wilde’s Avengelyne, based on the Rob Liefeld comic book character, enlists Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap as a producer.

Olivia Wilde’s comic book action film Avengelyne is picking up the sword with Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap production company along for the ride. Based on the signature comic book creation by Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld, rumor has it Margot Robbie could play the lead, but her reps are denying her involvement with that part of the project. LuckyChap includes Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Josey McNamara, and Simon Kinberg. LuckyChap produced Barbie, the billion-dollar barn-burner based on Mattel’s iconic blonde bombshell. With influence like that, it’s difficult not to imagine Avengelyne being a big to-do.

After directing 2019’s Booksmart and the controversial Don’t Worry Darling, Olivia Wilde is one of Hollywood’s most in-demand filmmakers. According to Deadline‘s exclusive report, Avengelyne “is an angel who fights the forces of evil and often finds herself face-to-face with demons and monsters. She was the most feared warrior in Heaven’s Warhost, having single-handedly broken into Pandemonium, the outer fortress of Hell, to confront the Devil himself. She is a fallen angel, banished from Heaven by God after being tricked into questioning his love for humans. Avengelyne was stripped of all her angelic abilities, other than her great strength and her blood, which, once extracted from her body, could be used as a weapon or a miracle once empowered by quoting verses from the Bible.” Like anyone with powers worth their salt, Avengelyne uses her unique abilities to battle demons on Earth while preparing to thwart an oncoming Armageddon.

Known to Liefeld’s fans as a powerful warrior, Avengelyne could fill a unique gap in the superhero genre. Think of Vampirella meeting Barbarella with the supernatural sensitivities of John Constantine. It’s been a while since we’ve had an honest-to-goodness battle for the soul outside of Netflix’s Warrior Nun. With Olivia Wilde behind the camera, Avengelyne could exorcise people’s superhero fatigue when it lands in theaters.

What do you think about Margot Robbie climbing aboard Wilde and Liefeld’s Avengelyne? Is this a strange career move for Wilde? Will Margot Robbie end up starring in the film after all is said and done? Who do you think could play Avengelyne in Wilde’s film? Let us know in the comments section below.

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He’s also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You’ll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.