After spending decades in development hell, a live-action adaptation of the Neil Gaiman comic book series The Sandman actually made it into production and released into the world as a Netflix series last August. (Read our review HERE.) Now season 2 of the show is in production, and spy pics taken of the set have not only shown returning stars Tom Sturridge and Kirby Howell-Baptiste back at work, but have also revealed that Indya Moore – whose credits include Pose, A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting, and Escape Room: Tournament of Champions – has joined the cast! Some of these set pics can be seen in Twitter embeds at the bottom of this article.
When Netflix ordered season 2, they said, “The Sandman will return with new episodes based on multiple volumes of the Neil Gaiman graphic novel to explore even more stories of the Endless.“
Described as “a rich, character-driven blend of myth and dark fantasy”, The Sandman has the following synopsis: When the Sandman, aka Dream — the powerful cosmic being who controls all our dreams — is unexpectedly captured and held prisoner for over a century, he must journey across different worlds and timelines to fix the chaos his absence has caused.
Sturridge, Howell-Baptiste, and Moore are joined in the cast by Boyd Holbrook, Patton Oswalt, Vivienne Acheampong, Gwendoline Christie, Charles Dance, Jenna Coleman, David Thewlis, Stephen Fry, Donna Preston, Vanesu Samunyai (formerly known as “Kyo Ra”), John Cameron Mitchell, Asim Chaudhry, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Joely Richardson, Niamh Walsh, Sandra James Young, Razane Jammal, Mark Hamill, and Mason Alexander Park.
The Sandman was developed by Gaiman, Allan Heinberg, and David S. Goyer. All three serve as executive producers on the series, and Heinberg is also the showrunner. The series is produced by Warner Bros. Television.
Are you a fan of The Sandman and/or its source material? Are you glad to see that season 2 is now filming, and that Indya Moore is on the set? Share your thoughts on this project by leaving a comment below.
I’m not familiar with The Sandman myself, but I intend to dive into it one of these days.
Charles Band’s Full Moon is gearing up to go into production on the nature run amok horror comedy Bad CGI Gator
Say what you will about the output of Full Moon, but at least the low budget genre company has never gotten into the trend of having crappy-looking CGI animals rampage across the screen. The market is packed with movies that feature sharks, alligators, crocodiles, and other toothy creatures that were made with subpar CGI. And now Full Moon is set to satirize movies like that with their horror comedy Bad CGI Gator, which is scheduled to start filming in Georgia next month.
Directed by Danny Draven (Weedjies: Halloweed Night) from a script by Zalman Band, the son of producer and Full Moon founder Charles Band, Bad CGI Gator has the following synopsis: Six college grads on spring break get a cabin in the swamplands of Georgia. Once there, they decide to throw their school laptops in a backyard lake in an act of youthful defiance, which unknowingly turns a lurking alligator into the dreaded and insatiable… BAD CGI GATOR!
Charles Band told our friends at Bloody Disgusting, “I’ve long been against the overuse of CGI in genre films, and in many ways, this movie is a fun, tongue-in-cheek antidote to that. When done right, CGI is a great tool to accent special effects. When done wrong…well, we get BAD CGI GATOR! Get ready!“
Bloody Disgusting also got the exclusive first look at a poster for Bad CGI Gator, and you can now check that out at the bottom of this article.
While I have been a fan of Full Moon since I was a kid, there aren’t many “bad CGI animal” movies that I have enjoyed, so it amuses me to see that Full Moon is getting into the sub-genre just to wring some laughs out of it. I think this is a really fun idea and can’t wait to see Bad CGI Gator in action.
What do you think of the “bad CGI animal” movies? Are you interested in seeing how Full Moon satirizes them with Bad CGI Gator? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Here’s the poster for Bad CGI Gator, courtesy of Bloody Disgusting:
The famous Elstree Studios desperately needs money and repairs after the filming location was labeled as “dangerous” in a new report.
Elstree Studios, the legendary filming location for films including Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and more, is, according to a new report, in desperate need of repairs. Hertsmere Borough Council, which owns Elstree Studios, and commissioned the evaluation of the studio, is staring down the barrel of a significant restoration bill to the tune of £200million ($256M) to “replace life-expired buildings and ensure its competitiveness beyond the 21st century.”
The report labels the studio’s roofs and stages as “dangerous,” with walls expected to last 10-15 years before succumbing to asbestos rot. To make matters worse, local council representatives say it can only continue to invest in the property if extensive repairs happen. The council is willing to invest £90,000 in consultancy fees to plot a way to preserve the iconic filming location. Still, that’s a significant chunk of cash to pump into a dilapidated venue.
Currently, the studio is valued between £40m to £100m “depending on the purpose of its future use, such as residential use.” That’s not a lot of money, considering the venue’s history and the movie magic created on its stages and hallowed grounds.
Beyond the studio’s failing structural integrity, the report says it is “severely outdated and needs substantial and urgent upgrades.” Sadly, Elstree lacks the funds to make the necessary repairs. There’s no nest egg to borrow from or coffee can filled with cash to dig up for a rainy day.
It’s difficult to imagine the place where chapters of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Crown, and The Gangs of London were filmed is in danger of getting shuttered. Countless cinematic gems, famed directors, and A-list actors have created lasting entertainment at Elstree, making this a sad situation indeed. Time is a fickle mistress, and with enough neglect or upkeep, any studio can find itself in a compromising position.
Will the council help save Elstree Studios? How could such a famous studio fall victim to such circumstances? We’ll have to wait to see how this all shakes out. Here’s hoping the studio can schedule the necessary repairs and avoid closure.
New Beetlejuice 2 set pics are the first images of the character being played by Jenna Ortega, the daughter of Lydia Deetz
Thirty-five years after the release of the Tim Burton-directed classic Beetlejuice (watch it HERE), production is officially underway on a sequel – and while we haven’t seen any official images from Beetlejuice 2 yet, set pics did give us our first look at Winona Ryder, back in the role of Lydia Deetz, a couple months ago. And now more set pics have revealed the first look at the character being played by Jenna Ortega, who previously worked with Burton on the hit Netflix series Wednesday. Images of Ortega’s character, Lydia’s daughter, can be seen in Twitter embeds at the bottom of this article.
Beetlejuice 2 was in development hell for decades. In 1990, Jonathan Gems was hired to write a sequel that was going to be titled Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian. Burton considered having Daniel Waters rewrite that script, Pamela Norris did rewrite it, and Warner Bros. offered Kevin Smith the chance to do another rewrite. He turned it down. Seth Grahame-Smith was hired to write and produce a new version of a sequel in 2011. Mike Vukadinovich was brought on to rewrite his script in 2017.
Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, co-creators and co-showrunners of Wednesday, have written the screenplay for Beetlejuice 2 that is actually being filmed. Plot details are being kept under wraps. Brad Pitt’s Plan B is producing the sequel, which is filming in London.
In addition to Ryder reprising the role of Lydia and Ortega playing her daughter, Beetlejuice 2 also stars Catherine O’Hara, back as Lydia’s stepmother Delia; Monica Bellucci as Beetlejuice’s wife, Willem Dafoe as a law enforcement officer in the afterlife, and Justin Theroux in an unspecified role. Of course, Michael Keaton is reprising the role of Beetlejuice.
Written by Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren from a story McDowell crafted with Larry Wilson, the original Beetlejuice has the following synopsis: What’s a yuppie ghost couple to do when their quaint New England home is overrun by trendy New Yorkers? They hire a freelance ‘bio-exorcist’ to spook the intruders. And everyone gets more than he, she or it bargained for! Director Tim Burton teams with Michael Keaton. The result? ‘Keaton’s Beetlejuice is one of the biggest, baddest wolves a ghost movie has ever unleashed, a polter-gas’ (The Village Voice). He’s a juggernaut of jokes, jolts and jive who hurls one-liners, spins into grotesque forms, gobbles insects and can’t leave ladies (living or dead) alone. So exorcise your right to fun. Say the ‘B’ word three times and have a wonderful Day-O!
Beetlejuice 2 is heading toward a September 6, 2024 theatrical release. Are you looking forward to the movie? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and while you’re scrolling down, take a look at these images of Jenna Ortega’s character:
The chilling, mind-bending sci-fi thriller Brightwood is set to reach VOD and DVD next month, and the trailer is online now
Cinephobia Releasing will be giving the sci-fi thriller Brightwood – a film that is said to be a “chilling mind-bender” that’s “in the twisted vein of Timecrimes and Coherence” – a VOD and DVD release on August 22nd. With that date just over a month away, a trailer for Brightwood has arrived online and can be seen in the embed above.
The feature debut of writer/director Dane Elcar, Brightwood has the following synopsis: Jen and Dan’s marriage is on the rocks with Jen seriously thinking about ending it for good. But when the pair go on a jog around a local pond in an attempt to hash things out, they find themselves running in circles as the exit trail vanishes and they repeatedly return to the same spot. Being stuck together in an endless loop would be bad enough, but when a silent hooded killer appears and starts tracking them down, the couple must figure out how to survive — together or apart.
Dana Berger (Orange Is the New Black) and Max Woertendyke (Succession) star. Those are the only actors on the available cast list.
Speaking with Cinema-Crazed about the film, Elcar said, “I wanted to keep the action going forward and make it entertaining and dark and fun. But it was always meant to be a couple. I really wanted to dissect a long term relationship. To see what would happen if I dropped them into that scenario. It allowed me to really explore the emotional cycles that can happen–the kind of progression and then regression in and out of toxicity. Love and hate. Plus, the basic nature of time loop movies are always a bit funny to me, so given the subject matter, it also presented a lot of opportunity to infuse it with humor. In the end I do consider it a love story. Some might disagree.“
Brightwood has been making the festival rounds, racking up positive attention through screenings at Panic Fest, Other Worlds, Popcorn Frights, Another Hole in the Head, Salem Horror Fest, HorrorHound Film Festival, and others. Now we’re just weeks away from being able to watch the movie in the comfort of our own homes.
What did you think of the Brightwood trailer? Does this look like a movie you would want to watch? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Brightwood looks interesting to me, so I’ll probably check it out at some point. And while we’re talking about movies with time loops and breaks in reality, the press release for Brightwood has made me realize that while I have seen Timecrimes (and the similar Triangle), I haven’t seen the other movie referenced, Coherence – despite the fact that our own Eric Walkuski gave it an 8/10 review! I’m nine years behind on that one, so I’m going to have to seek it out.
Jennifer Garner will return as Elektra for Deadpool 3, close to twenty years after she last played the role of the Marvel hero.
Here’s some shocking news for our Friday afternoon: THR has reported that Jennifer Garner will reprise her role of Elektra for Deadpool 3. Yep, let that soak in.
Jennifer Garner first played Elektra alongside Ben Affleck in Daredevil. The character proved popular enough to receive her very own spin-off, which was unfortunately trashed by critics and grossed just $57 million worldwide. That might have been the last we saw of Jennifer Garner as Elektra… but Deadpool obviously has other plans. THR’s Borys Kit described Jennifer Garner’s role in Deadpool 3 as a “cameo-like appearance” on Twitter.
It remains to be seen precisely how Elektra will factor into Deadpool 3, but her involvement could hint at a multiverse story. I imagine that fans may now be wondering whether Ben Affleck could be persuaded to suit up as Daredevil; As this is Deadpool we’re talking about, I suppose anything could happen.
Deadpool 3 will mark a reunion of sorts as Jennifer Garner previously starred alongside Ryan Reynolds in The Adam Project, which also happened to be helmed by Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy.
The upcoming Deadpool sequel will see the return of Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Shioli Kutsuna as Yukio, Stefan Kapičić as the voice of Colossus, and Rob Delaney as Peter. Deadpool 3 will also star Emma Corrin, who is expected to play the villain, and Matthew Macfadyen in an undisclosed role.
Of course, the biggest addition to the cast is Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, who finally broke down after being pestered by Ryan Reynolds for so many years. Reynolds said that Deadpool 3 will present a new challenge for Jackman. “I think [Jackman] was excited and what we pitched him was enough of a divergence from the character that he knows and the character that he’s left behind,” Reynolds said, “that it gives him something completely new to play and something that he’s really excited to do.” Clearly, all that pestering paid off. “I mean, I never stopped,” Reynolds said. “I was just pestering him like a gnat over the last many years. I actually just think… I believe in timing … and I think he was ready.“
Deadpool 3 was initially set to hit theaters on November 8, 2024, but Disney recently bumped the movie up to a May 3, 2024 release.
Simu Liu says that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 2 keeps getting pushed back, but hopes to have an update soon.
It’s safe to say that Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a little hit or miss for fans, but Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was a definite highlight for me. The conclusion of the movie seemed to set up Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) as a major player in the future of the MCU and Destin Daniel Cretton even signed a deal to write and direct Shang-Chi 2.
Despite the success of the first movie, there’s been no word on when the sequel will arrive, or even when we might see Shang-Chi again. While talking with fans on Threads, Simu Liu revealed that Shang-Chi 2 was originally meant to drop after one of the upcoming Avengers movies. “[I] was told it would follow avengers but that keeps pushing back due to circumstances beyond my control,” Liu said. “[I] hope to have more concrete news to share soon.“
The first Shang-Chi movie hinted that the titular Ten Rings were even more mysterious as they appeared to be emitting a signal across the Multiverse. The significance of that reveal hasn’t yet been followed up on, but Marvel does seem to be building to something.
“Destin is an amazing collaborator who brought a unique perspective and skill to Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings,” said Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige when the Shang-Chi sequel was first announced. “We had a fantastic time working together on the film and he has so many intriguing ideas for stories to bring to life on Disney+, so we’re thrilled to expand our relationship with him and can’t wait to get started.” In addition to directing the Shang-Chi sequel, Destin Daniel Cretton has also been tapped to helm Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
The Kang Dynasty, as well as many other Marvel movies, had their release dates pushed back just last month. The film was pushed back a full year and will now hit theaters on May 1, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars following on May 7, 2027. If Shang-Chi 2 is still expected to arrive after those movies, it could be a good five years before we see Simu Liu return for the sequel.
Haunted Mansion director Justin Simien says that the upcoming Disney movie leaves the door open for a sequel.
Disney’s Haunted Mansion movie will hit theaters later this month, and like Pirates of the Caribbean before it, the film could lead to a sequel.
While speaking to SFX Magazine, Haunted Mansion director Justin Simien said that the movie leaves the door open for a sequel. “It’s definitely in the realm of possibility,” Simien said. “I sort of get my rocks off on world-building, so we certainly set up a lot that I think a lot of other stories could derive from and continue from. Not really up to me, but I definitely think there are possibilities there.” The Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland has plenty of details that could easily be expanded upon for a sequel.
Justin Simien added that his movie dives into “the lore of the 99 haunts” and other elements of the ride but fleshes them out in new ways. “It was really just about expanding what we know and what we can see around the story just a bit further, but not filling in every blank,” Simien said. “Certainly Hatbox Ghost, that was a big one. We’re pulling from what has been established, what really has been rumored, and tried to flesh him out and flesh that story out too. I think it’s really satisfying. But it also leaves the door open for a lot more.“
Just as with the Haunted Mansion ride itself, Justin Simien has previously said that he wanted to do as many practical effects as he could. “You know there’s a trick being played on you, but you’re not sure how they did it. The Pepper’s Ghost effect [during the ride’s finale], it’s so old school, you know it’s not a screen, but it’s because it’s so old school that it feels like it’s really there,” Simien explained. “There’s a practicality to the tricks on the ride that I felt was important. When I took the job I said, ‘I don’t want to make CGI soup. We have to build the house.’ Even if we’re not doing an effect practically, we have to make it look like we did, because there’s something about the grounded-ness of the ride that makes it what it is. It makes it charming.“
Haunted Mansion follows a woman and her son who enlist a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts to help rid their home of supernatural squatters. The film stars LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Dan Levy, Jared Leto, Chase W. Dillon, Hasan Minhaj, Winona Ryder, and Jamie Lee Curtis. Haunted Mansion will hit theaters on July 28th.
Patrick Wilson wasn’t going to return for Insidious: The Red Door, but couldn’t resist when he had the opportunity to direct the movie.
It’s been ten years since Patrick Wilson last stepped into The Further, but the actor returned for Insidious: The Red Door. Not only did Wilson reprise his role of Josh Lambert, but he’s also made his feature directorial debut with the Insidious sequel. Just how did that come about? Turns out that all he had to do… was ask.
Patrick Wilson told THR that he had been looking for an opportunity to direct for a number of years. When Insidious co-creator Leigh Whannell approached him about returning for a fifth installment of the franchise, he admitted that he probably would have said no until his agent suggested that he could direct the movie as well.
It was literally my agent asking. It got pitched to me. They came to me with an idea for a story. Before they wrote a story about the Lamberts, they wanted to know if the Lamberts would do it, because I had left this franchise behind. There was no Ill will. It was fine. It had just run its course. So they wanted this movie to be about Dalton, but they asked if I would come back for a couple scenes. To be honest with you, I probably wouldn’t have done that even though they’re my friends, but it was actually my agent who said, “What if Patrick directs it?” My agent and I had been looking for things to direct, and at that point, Blumhouse didn’t know that I even wanted to direct or that I had a desire. So when my agent asked, “What if Patrick directs it?” Blumhouse went, “Of course, yes! That’s a great idea. We didn’t know he wanted to do that.” And so it really was that easy.
Patrick Wilson continued: “Once I thought about the movie that I wanted to make, it was very personal, so I didn’t feel like I had to pitch myself. My agent asked, they said yes, and then I went to L.A. to meet with [President, Feature Films, Blumhouse] Couper Samuelson. I also talked to Steve Bersch at Sony [President, Screen Gems] on the phone and just said, ‘If you don’t want to make this kind of movie, that’s fine, but if I’m gonna do this movie, I’m gonna go back and deal with what happened at the end of Insidious: Chapter 2. That’s the movie I want to make. I want to deal with this family’s trauma through the eyes of a horror movie. That’s the story I’d like to tell with a father-son relationship.’ And they said, ‘Great, go for it.’ So it really was that much of a blessing.“
Scott Teems penned the script for Insidious: The Red Door and worked on the story with Patrick Wilson in his backyard. “Scott flew to me in the fall of 2019, and he just sat in my backyard and asked me, ‘What kind of movie do you wanna make?’” Wilson said. “He’s a filmmaker, too, and he couldn’t be a sweeter guy. He’s a super skilled writer, and I expunged all these ideas on him. I said, ‘This is what I want to do. I want a father-son relationship, and let’s have Dalton go to art school.’ And so we just started kicking around these ideas before he went off and wrote it.” Then the pandemic happened and everything came to a halt, but Wilson kept working on the project even while on the set of other movies.
So I went and did Moonfall and Aquaman 2, but there hasn’t been a day in the past four years that I haven’t thought about this movie. That’s the honest-to-God truth. Every day on the sets of these other movies, including Aquaman 2, I was reworking things and rewriting things. I would then send it all to Scott, we’d talk about it and he’d put it in his words. So I had a really great collaboration with Scott over the past three years of writing.
This won’t be the last time we see Patrick Wilson behind the camera as he seems to have caught the directing bug. “For sure, yeah,” Wilson said. “This never seemed like a one-off. It just seemed like the first step. So I’m already looking at other things.” Insidious: The Red Door is now playing in theaters, so be sure to check out a review from our own Tyler Nichols.
After a 15 year hiatus, Indiana Jones makes his triumphant return to the big screen. Can this new adventure retain the box office success of its predecessors?
It is finally here, the final adventure of Indiana Jones. After over 40 years playing one of the greatest screen heroes of all time, Harrison Ford is hanging up the whip after one last ride in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
In development since just before Indy’s last adventure hit screens, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008, Harrison Ford, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy all agreed that although they enjoyed that film, it didn’t feel like a true conclusion for the character, so they set their sights on creating one final adventure for the famed archeologist. By 2016, Disney, which had acquired the rights to the franchise and announced a new film was in active development. After a cavalcade of writers came and went, pushing the release date back further and further, Spielberg would eventually drop out of directing saying he wanted to hand the franchise off to a filmmaker with a fresh perspective. Enter Ford v Ferrari director James Mangold who took over in mid 2020.
So now, after years of anticipation, the film is finally here and it looks like not everyone is happy with the final result. Reactions out of Cannes, where the film premiered, were a bit lukewarm with the film receiving a paltry 5-minute standing ovation, quite embarrassing indeed! But the facts are the reviews haven’t been as stellar as you would have liked with critics saying that despite the thrill of seeing Harrison Ford don the fedora again, the film feels like a series of action pieces with little plot to connect them. Our own Chris Bumbray was very disappointed in the film, giving it just a 5/10 saying that had this been a regular summer movie it would have been fine, but because it is Indiana Jones it needed to be better.
The real concern for this film is its budget, this one cost a reported $295 million before marketing costs. A little aside, dear studios, I appreciate throwing money at a film, but seriously, reign it in! There is almost no way this movie will be able to hit profitability, especially when you consider it is currently tracking to open at just $65 million. That number sounds like a lot, but when you consider Kingdom of the Crystal Skull cleared $100 million in its debut, that number is quite soft. To take it even further, for the past two weeks we have been piling on The Flash for its horrendous opening, well, if the $65 million opening for Dial of Destiny sticks, that is only $10 million more than Flash opened with and Dial of Destiny carries a budget that is over $70 million more. Reviews aren’t a factor as The Flash sits at 64% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes while Dial of Destiny currently holds a 66%. Nostalgia may get butts in seats, but that didn’t seem to help Flash much with Michael Keaton once again donning the cape and cowl. The one thing that will help Indiana Jones here is that it has a bit of a padded opening, as the Independence Day holiday falls on Tuesday this year and will help the film pull in more money as people don’t feel rushed to go out to see the film as a lot of people have Monday and Tuesday off from work. Word of mouth will have to be strong for this one though, just look at this slate of films that Indiana Jones has to fight in the coming weeks: Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1, Oppenheimer and Barbie.
Studios seemed to have gotten out of the way of Indiana Jones as the only other wide new release of the week is the animated Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken which is looking to open in the high single digits, and again with a budget at around $70 million, I just don’t see this one as a profitable endeavor for Universal/ Dreamworks. Im sure the studio was doing a bit of a jig when Pixar’s Elemental came out and underperformed, but then word of mouth spread and the film actually started pulling in decent numbers and should continue this weekend with a probable second place finish, combine that with the massive success of Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse and you have a marketplace that didn’t really need a new animated film. Why the studio didn’t move this film to a different date is beyond me. When Puss in Boots; The Last Wish hit theaters in December, it had an over four month runway until the next animated film hit theaters. A February or March release for Ruby Gillman could have brought in the families who were looking for fresh content in between Puss in Boots and Super Mario Bros.
The remainder of the box office will be your holdovers with No Hard Feelings cracking the top five as word of mouth spreads that this R rated comedy is actually pretty funny! I saw it earlier this week and it felt like a throwback to old school R rated comedies that have genuine laugh out loud moments (someone should give Natalie Morales and Scott MacArthur their own movie or TV show, because for me, they had some of the funniest moments together in the movie) while also giving you that little tug at the heart strings. It was nice to see Jennifer Lawrence play to her natural comedic talent as well, a definite juxtaposition to her previous film Causewaywhich was extremely heavy as it dealt with post traumatic stress disorder.
Do you have plans to hit the theaters this July 4th weekend/ week? If so, let us know what you plan on seeing, and don’t forget to check back on Saturday when we have a brief update on where the box office numbers are heading.
