California is ready to hand Quentin Tarantino a generous $20 million tax credit for his final film, The Movie Critic.

California is making it rain for Quentin Tarantino as the acclaimed director prepares to set up shop for his final film, The Movie Critic, in the Golden State. The state granted $20,213,000 in California tax credits for Tarantino’s next feature. The hotly-anticipated film is one of 16 films conditionally approved for $7.8 million in tax incentives by the California Film Commission. Casting rumors for the film are currently making the rounds, creating an air of mystery around the legendary director’s next effort.

“I love shooting in California,” Tarantino said on Friday.

“I started directing movies here and it is only fitting that I shoot my final motion picture in the cinema capital of the world,” Tarantino said about rolling cameras in the state that helped launch his storied career. “There is nothing like shooting in my hometown; the crews are the best I’ve ever worked with, and the locations are amazing. The producers and I are thrilled to be making #10 in Los Angeles.”

Californian representatives love it when filmmakers like Tarantino choose to shoot in the state. Seeing the majesty of California on the silver screen is a boon for tourism, and Tarantino draws a varied and dedicated crowd. His productions also create jobs in the area, boosting the economy and work totals for quarterly reviews. Unfortunately, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes continue to gum up the gears for industry workers, with many fighting for fair wages and representation daily. Some might not view California dolling out cash incentives in the best light, even if the payouts only happen for a few months.

“While production is now drastically reduced, today’s news about projects in our tax credit program signals there will be a much-welcome surge in California-based production once the strikes are resolved,” CFC Executive Director Colleen Bell said on Friday, hoping for a swift resolution to the ongoing dispute.

During an interview with Baz Bamigboye for Deadline, Tarantino revealed his next film takes inspiration from an unspecified man who wrote reviews for “a porno rag.”

Tarantino told Bamigboye that The Movie Critic is set in 1977 California and “is based on a guy who really lived, but was never really famous, and he used to write movie reviews for a porno rag.” Tarantino became aware of these reviews when he was a teenager and had a job loading porn magazines into a vending machine. “All the other stuff was too skanky to read but then there was this porno rag that had a really interesting movie page. He wrote about mainstream movies and he was the second-string critic. I think he was a very good critic. He was as cynical as hell. His reviews were a cross between early Howard Stern and what Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro’s character in Taxi Driver) might be if he were a film critic.

Think about Travis’s diary entries. But the porno rag critic was very, very funny. He was very rude, you know. He cursed. He used racial slurs. But his shit was really funny. He was as rude as hell. He wrote like he was 55 but he was only in his early to mid-30s. He died in his late thirties. It wasn’t clear for a while but now I’ve done some more research and I think it was it was complications due to alcoholism.” In the film, the “porno rag” the character writes for will be called The Popstar Pages.

As the project develops, we’ll bring you more details about Tarantino’s final film.

A trailer has been released for the nursery rhyme turned horror movie Three Blind Mice, coming to DVD and Digital in October

Just earlier today, we shared a trailer for the nursery rhyme turned horror film Mary Had a Little Lamb, which is another entry in a trend that’s currently set to flood the marketplace, the trend of turning children’s stories into horror projects. There’s Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey and its upcoming sequel, Bambi: The Reckoning, Peter Pan: Neverland Nightmare, Cinderella’s Curse, Cinderella’s Revenge, Sleeping Beauty’s Massacre, Goldilocks and the Three Bears: Death and Porridge, The Mean One, Belle… Even Jack & Jill and Humpty Dumpty have their own horror movies! Now being added into the mix is Three Blind Mice, another nursery rhyme turned horror film. This one will be receiving a DVD and Digital release from Uncork’d Entertainment on October 17th, and the trailer for the film can be seen in the embed above.

I have little interest in most of these movies where nursery rhymes or children’s stories get turned into horror stories, but Three Blind Mice does look to me like it could make for a creepy, entertaining viewing experience.

How do you make Three Blind Mice a horror story? Well, here’s how director Pierre B and writer David Malcolm did it: Abi is going cold turkey; her family has taken her to a cabin in the woods so she can be away from the city and all her troubles. However, little do they know, The Three Blind Mice is more than just a fairy tale, and they may be next up on the menu.

Mary Had a Little Lamb star May Kelly is also in this movie, and is joined in the cast by Lila Lasso, Natasha Tosini, Samantha Cull, and Danielle Ronaldstar.

Uncork’d’s Keith Leopard had this to say about the project: “Releasing shortly after our other nursery rhyme-turned horror film Mary Had a Little Lamb, Three Blind Mice guarantees horror fans some bloody, disturbing and very entertaining pre-Halloween entertainment. Pierre B, and his talented cast, deliver a title that’s bound to be extremely popular.“

What did you think of the Three Blind Mice trailer? Will you be watching this movie in October? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

A new rumor suggests HBO is preparing to offer Midsommar star Florence Pugh the part of Abby in The Last of Us.

Sony Entertainment and HBO hit it big when The Last of Us debuted at the start of this year. The adaptation of the best-selling video game franchise, starring Pedro Pascal (Joel) and Bella Ramsey (Ellie), is one of the network’s most talked about shows in recent memory, and casting rumors for The Last of Us Season 2 are heating up. While there will be plenty of new characters to meet in the hotly-anticipated follow-up season, Abby Anderson is by far the most popular. Abby is a Washington Liberation Front soldier who falls to pieces after Joel kills her father, Jerry Anderson. Abby makes it her mission to hunt Joel down and make him pay for what he’s done. Throughout The Last of Us Part II video game, players step into Abby’s boots, allowing them access to her emotions, torment, and transformation into a sympathetic antihero.

I heard from another source that Florence Pugh got an offer to play Abby pre-strikes. pic.twitter.com/xnywCxjGS8

— MyTimeToShineHello (@MyTimeToShineH) September 8, 2023

The Last of Us co-creator Craig Mazin recently hinted that “maybe” the part of Abby is already cast, though he did not reveal who will star in the pivotal role. “Once the series is back in production, key questions abound about the second season, such as who will play Abby, a new character who is a rival to Ellie,” Mazin told The Los Angeles Times. Mazin hinted they’ve found the right person for the part, but due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, he cannot reveal who it is. However, entertainment scooper MyTimeToShineHello on X (formerly Twitter) says HBO is offering Florence Pugh the role.

While I remain skeptical about this rumor, Pugh is undoubtedly one of the most prominent actors to hit Hollywood in recent memory. She’s stunned audiences with electrifying performances in movies like Midsommar, Oppenheimer, Fighting with My Family, and as Yelena Belova in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She’s playing Princess Irulan in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, coming to theaters in March of next year. I can see the resemblance between Pugh and Abby, though I still question the rumor’s validity. That said, I’d love nothing more than to see Pugh bulk up for the part, as Abby is a powerhouse capable of untold destruction. If you have yet to play The Last of Us Part II, trust me when I say Abby is a force to be reckoned with, and Ellie will need every bit of luck to survive her wrath.

Would Florence Pugh be a great choice to play Abby in The Last of Us Season 2? Let us know in the comments below.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon star Norman Reedus describes the zombies on the show as a horror film mixed with Cirque du Soleil

The Walking Dead reached the end of its eleven season run last year, and the first season of the follow-up spin-off The Walking Dead: Dead City ran through its six episodes earlier this year. The next follow-up spin-off, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, is set to reach AMC and AMC+ at 9pm on Sunday, September 10th – and star Norman Reedus told Entertainment Weekly that are several elements to the show that will make it stand apart from The Walking Dead. He said, “The photography’s different, the acting style of the people I’m acting with are different, the writing is different.” He even went on to say that the zombies are different: “The walkers that we have on this show, they’re all dancers. They’re not extras, they’re dancers — so they bend and move in weird ways. It’s a combination of a horror film mixed with Cirque du Soleil. It’s insane.“

Executive producer Greg Nicotero added, “The whole vibe is different. There’s a romanticism and a classical feel that you can’t help but feel when you’re walking down the streets of Paris. The cinematography and the lighting and the production design all feels very romantic. The whole vibe of the show had a very distinctly European feel.“

All these differences didn’t do much to impress our review Alex Maidy, who gave The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon a 6/10 review you can read at THIS LINK. He did mention there’s a new type of zombie on the show, but also that the “new monsters are vastly underused”.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon has the following synopsis: Daryl (Reedus) washes ashore in France and struggles to piece together how he got there and why. The series tracks his journey across a broken but resilient France as he hopes to find a way back home. As he makes the journey, though, the connections he forms along the way complicate his ultimate plan.

Showrunner David Zabel serves as executive producer alongside Reedus, Scott M. Gimple, Angela Kang, Greg Nicotero, Brian Bockrath, and Daniel Percival. AMC Studios is producing. The first season of the series will consist of six episodes. Like Dead City, Daryl Dixon has already been renewed for a second season.

Reedus is joined in the cast by Anne Charrier (The Last Deadly Mission), Eriq Ebanouey (Fox Hunt), Laika Blanc Francard (My Night), newcomer Louis Puech Scigliuzzi, and Romain Levi (The Tunnel). All of these cast members have “series regular” status – but the only things we know about their characters are their names. Charrier is playing Genet, Ebanouey is Fallou, Blanc Francard is Sylvie, Levi is Codron, and Puech Scigliuzzi is Laurent. We know a bit more about characters being played by Clémence Poésy (Tenet) and Adam Nagaitis (The Terror). Poésy is playing Isabelle, “a member of a progressive religious group, who joins forces with Daryl (Reedus) on a journey across France and finds herself confronting her dark past in Paris.” The character Nagaitis is playing is Quinn, “a displaced Brit who has become powerful in post-apocalyptic Paris as a black marketeer and the owner of the Demimonde, a sexy underground nightclub.”

AMC’s Kim Granito had this to say about the show: “Bringing to life Daryl Dixon, a well-established and beloved character, in an all-new and distinct world was an interesting creative challenge. We wanted these images to reflect a heroic, and more hopeful story than we’ve seen before in this expanding universe. We hope this series will thrill long-time fans of this franchise but will also resonate with those who have never seen an episode of The Walking Dead.“

Are you looking forward to The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The Home, a horror film directed by The Purge creator James DeMonaco and starring Pete Davidson, has earned an R rating

While we continue to wait to hear if The Purge franchise creator James DeMonaco is going to have the opportunity to make The Purge 6 (last we heard, he was sounding confident that the sequel is going to happen), DeMonaco has been hard at work on another horror project, The Home. First discussed in 2021, that film stars Pete Davidson (Saturday Night Live) – and the Motion Picture Association ratings board has just revealed that The Home has earned an R rating for strong bloody violence and gore, language and some sexual content.

The film doesn’t have a release date yet, but now that it has a rating its release shouldn’t be too far off.

Scripted by DeMonaco and Adam Canto, The Home sees Davidson taking on the role of Max, a troubled man who starts working at a retirement home and realizes its residents and caretakers harbor sinister secrets. As he investigates the building and its forbidden fourth floor, he starts to uncover connections to his own past and upbringing as a foster child.

Marilee Talkington (See), Matthew Miniero (Boarding School), David Moreland (Donnie Darko), Jimmy Gary Jr. (Orange Is the New Black), Daphne Rey (Abbott Elementary), and Jagger Nelson (The Last Nazi) are also in the cast.

Davidson and DeMonaco decided to team up because they’re both proud Staten Island natives – as you may have noticed from the likes of The King of Staten Island, The First Purge, and This Is the Night. DeMonaco has previously said that Davidson doesn’t give a comedic performance in the film. He has “a very, very dramatic, straightforward role”.

The Home was produced by Bill Block and DeMonaco’s frequent collaborator Sébastien K. Lemercier. When the project was officially announced, Block provided the following statement: “We’re excited to be backing DeMonaco’s brilliant vision. James’ The Purge horror franchise has grossed over $450 million at the worldwide box office. With his masterful storytelling abilities and Pete’s versatility as an actor, this film will put audiences everywhere on the edge of their seats.“

Are you interested in The Home, and are you glad to hear that the film has earned an R for violence and gore? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

A long lost X-wing fighter model from the original Star Wars movie has been found and is up for auction with a starting bid of $400K.

A long-lost piece of Star Wars history has been uncovered, and if you’ve got a few hundred thousand to spare (at least), you can bring it home. An original 20-inch X-wing model used in the Death Star battle in the original Star Wars movie is set to be sold at a Heritage Auction next month in Dallas, with the bidding starting at $400,000.

The Red Leader X-wing model was part of the collection of late modelmaker Greg Jein and was one of just four hero filming models with articulating servo-controlled wings and lights. “This model has not been displayed or modified since it left ILM,” VFX historian Gene Kozicki told THR. “For those of us that grew up in the ’70s or ’80s, and those of us that work in visual effects, this model is as significant a find as the ruby red slippers or the Maltese Falcon.“

Kozicki, along with ILM VFX supervisor Bill George, modelmaker and Jein’s co-worker Lou Zutavern, and Jein’s friend Rob McFalane, made the discovery while helping Jein’s family catalogue his vast collection. “I knew something was probably in the box, so I started to carefully scoop out the packaging peanuts when the nose of the X-wing showed itself,” Kozicki said. “The four of us knew immediately that it was the actual filming model and then the magnitude of the discovery started to set in.” Kozicki isn’t sure exactly how the X-wing model wound up in Jein’s collection.

“We don’t exactly know the circumstances by which he came into possession of this model. And as an active collector/trader, he also obtained items simply because he figured that he could trade them for something more in line with what he wanted for himself,” Kozicki explained. “Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars were being made at roughly the same time, and with an overlapping group of people. And at that time no one, not even Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, could anticipate the impact these films would have on the industry or cultural zeitgeist.“

The Greg Jein Collection Auction will take place on October 14-15th. Although the X-wing model is the star of the auction, there are plenty of other amazing pieces, including an original Stormtrooper costume from the first movie, an astronaut space suit from 2001: A Space Odyssey, a handful of Batarang’s from the 1960s Batman series, and a lot of uniforms and props from Star Trek: The Original Series. Take a lot at all the items for yourself right here.

The release of Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla movie has been pushed back to early November following its debut at the Venice Film Festival.

Deadline reports that the release of Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla has been pushed back. The film, which tells the story of Elvis Presley through the eyes of Priscilla, was originally slated for a October 27th release, but will now be released on November 3rd.

Priscilla recently had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival where it received rave reviews. The film stars Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla and Jacob Elordi as Elvis. Although it was based on Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley and Sandra Harmon, the movie doesn’t have the official approval or support of the Elvis Estate. One Estate official slammed Coppola’ writing and directing as “horrible,” adding that the film “feels like a college movie. The set designs are just horrific, it’s not what Graceland looks like.“

Priscilla Presley, who serves as an executive producer, has a different take on the film. “I am very excited to see the interpretation of my book by the masterful Sofia Coppola. She has such an extraordinary perspective and I have always been such an admirer of her work. I’m certain this movie will take everyone on an emotional journey.”

Unfortunately, Priscilla won’t include any of Elvis’ iconic music. Sofia Coppola had approached Elvis Presley Enterprises about using a few Elvis tunes, but was turned down. “They don’t like projects that they haven’t originated,” Coppola said, “and they’re protective of their brand. But that made us be more creative.“

“When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a gentle best friend,” reads the official synopsis of Priscilla. “Through Priscilla’s eyes, Sofia Coppola tells the unseen side of a great American myth in Elvis and Priscilla’s long courtship and turbulent marriage, from a German army base to his dream-world estate at Graceland, in this deeply felt and ravishingly detailed portrait of love, fantasy, and fame.

Priscilla will be released on November 3rd.