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 Causeway which 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.

TOP FIVE PREDICTIONS:

1. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny– $65 Million
2. Elemental– $15 Million
3. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse– $14 Million
4. No Hard Feelings– $10 Million
5. Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken– $8 Million

The over-the-top action-adventure horror comedy Mad Heidi will be receiving a Blu-ray, digital, and VOD release in North America next month

First published in 1881, Swiss author Johanna Spyri’s novel Heidi is one of the best-selling books ever written. As Wikipedia explains, the story follows “a joyful and free-spirited young girl who is orphaned as a toddler” as she develops a friendship with a girl named Klara, who is unable to walk. More than 140 years later, the Swiss icon Heidi has been reimagined as Mad Heidi for an over-the-top action-adventure horror comedy. The film (read our review HERE) received a one-night theatrical release in the United States and Canada last week, but if you missed out on that, you still won’t have to wait much longer to see the movie. Raven Banner Releasing and Swissploitation Films are teaming up to bring Mad Heidi to Blu-ray, digital HD, and cable VOD (including Prime Video, Amazon, Vudu, Bell, and more) in North America on July 21st!

Directed by Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfstein, who also wrote the screenplay with Trent Haaga and Gregory D. Widmer, the English-language film boasts a budget of $3.5 million, $2 million of which was raised through crowd investment from 560 people across 19 counties. The film presents Heidi as she’s never been seen before – with smocked dress, puffed sleeves, apron and pigtails, yes, but as a badass, kick-ass rebel with the brute strength to slice an opponent in two, top to toe, with a battle axe, for example. In a dystopian Switzerland that has fallen under the fascist rule of a cheese magnate, Heidi lives as a simple young woman in the mountains. Her grandfather does his best to protect her from the bad influences of the world, but soon her longing for personal freedom will spark a revolution. The naive mountain girl turns into a fierce fighter who has to put an end to the cheese fascists.

Mad Heidi stars Alice Lucy (Junction 9) as Heidi and Almar G. Sato (Maniac Tales) as Klara. Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers) and David Schofield (Gladiator) are also in the cast.

A press release notes that the Blu-ray release of Mad Heidi will be available in both a standard edition and a Limited Edition Extra Cheese Edition.

The standard edition has the following special features: – Audio Commentary with Co-Directors Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfstein – Stunt Reel – The Making of Mad Heidi Featurette

Those special features will also be in the Limited Edition Extra Cheese Edition, along with: – CD Soundtrack – 28 Page Booklet – Limited Edition Trading Cards – O-Card by Artist Peter Ricq

Will you be buying Mad Heidi on Blu-ray, or watching the film on digital or VOD? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Tom Hardy returns as Eddie Brock for the next installment in the symbiotic franchise with the famous Spider-man villain.

After the new Kraven the Hunter trailer showed not solely the genesis of Kraven, but Rhino too, Sony is continuing their Spider-man villain-verse with the start of production on Venom 3. It was recently reported that two release dates had been reserved on the studio’s slate for two Spider-man related films. One of the dates was marked for November 8, 2024 and it was said that Sony is aiming for a release of Venom 3 for late 2024. And with that, Venom 3 has now kicked-off filming and the Eddie Brock actor, Tom Hardy, has posted a fun pic to his Instagram with a short cryptic caption to commemorate the occasion.

Tom Hardy’s Instagram posted a new photo of the actor messing with perspective with wall art of a mean-looking dog barking and Hardy is playfully screaming back at it. The only thing written in the post is “V3🔥♠️💯❤️.”

In addition, the Spanish news site Murcia Today reported that scenes for Venom 3 are expected to film in the Cartagena neighborhood of Los Mateos this week. What the nature of the scenes being filmed there is still unknown as the project details are being kept under wraps. However, the site alludes to a bevy of heavy machinery with hundreds of crew members setting up the location for filming in the streets, so it is possible an intricately planned elaborate scene is penned early on in the schedule.

It is said that the production is setting up a base camp next to a roundabout, and trailers are brought in to house the movie’s all-star cast. The producers have elected to collaborate with the locals in participating in the production, as 50 Cartagena residents had been drafted to watch over the equipment and ensure the set is not disturbed with a payment between 80 and 90 euros a day.

Last summer, Hardy had also teased on his Instagram that the script for Venom 3 had been written when he posted a picture of the cover page. The image of the cover didn’t display the title, but instead, a little doodle of the symbiote with the captions, “Here we go” and “Last Dance.” The cover also shows that the screenplay was written from a story that Hardy himself came up with along with the screenwriter Kelly Marcel. Marcel co-wrote the first film’s script with Jeff Pinker and Scott Rosenberg, then wrote Let There Be Carnage from a story Marcel created with Hardy.

Little is known about the plot, but Juno Temple and Chiwetel Ejiofor have signed on to join Hardy in undisclosed roles. In addition to writing the script, Marcel will be directing this entry following Ruben Fleischer and Andy Serkis, who each helmed a previous installment.

A trailer has been released for The Dive, an English-language reworking of the Swedish/Norwegian thriller Breaking Surface

RLJE Films will be giving the survival thriller The Dive a theatrical release on August 25th, and with that date just a couple months away a trailer for the film has arrived online. You can check it out in the embed above.

Directed by Maximilian Erlenwein, whose previous credits include the 2009 crime drama Gravity, the 2014 thriller Stereo, and the Netflix series Skylines (all of which were German productions), The Dive has the following synopsis: A deep-sea diving trip at one of the world’s most remote spots becomes a fight for survival for sisters Drew and May when a catastrophic landslide sends rocks tumbling into the sea. After being struck by the rockfall, May now lies 28 meters below the surface, trapped by debris and unable to move. With dangerously low levels of oxygen, it is up to Drew to fight for her sister’s life. She must put her own life in jeopardy and risk paying the ultimate sacrifice. But with no help in sight, time is quickly running out…

The film stars Louisa Krause (Billions) and Sophie Lowe (Blow the Man Down)… and that’s the whole cast list that has been made available, so don’t expect to see many, if any, other people in this movie.

When I read the synopsis for The Dive, even before watching the trailer, I was struck by how similar this sounded to a Swedish / Norwegian movie I watched a few years ago, Breaking Surface (watch it HERE). As it turns out, there’s very good reason for that. The Dive is officially an English language reworking of Breaking Surface, and Erlenwein wrote the script with Breaking Surface writer/director Joachim Hedén.

I enjoyed Breaking Surface, so I’ll definitely be checking out The Dive. It will be interesting to see how this movie handles the situation and to find out how different or similar it ends up being to what happened in Breaking Surface.

What did you think of the trailer for The Dive? Does this look like a movie you would like to watch, and have you seen Breaking Surface? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

A new trailer has been released for director Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, which is set to reach theatres in November

A trailer for Dune: Part Two, the second half of director Denis Villeneuve’s two-part adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel Dune, arrived online less than two months ago – and even though we’re still four months away from the film’s November 3rd theatrical release date, another trailer for the film has now been unveiled, and you can check it out in the embed above!

Scripted by Villeneuve, Eric Roth, and Jon Spaihts, Dune: Part One (watch or buy it HERE) introduced viewers to Paul Atreides, “a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding”, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence – a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential – only those who can conquer their fear will survive. Coming to us from Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment, Dune: Part Two will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.

Timothée Chalamet stars as Paul and is joined in the cast by fellow returning Dune: Part One cast members Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Charlotte Rampling, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Josh Brolin, as well as new additions Austin Butler, Tim Blake Nelson, Christopher Walken, Florence Pugh, Souheila Yacoub, and Léa Seydoux.

Villeneuve is producing Dune: Part Two with Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe, and Patrick McCormick. Spaihts serves as executive producer alongside Josh Grode, Herbert W. Gains, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, Kim Herbert, Thomas Tull, Richard P. Rubinstein, and John Harrison. Kevin J. Anderson is creative consultant.

Villeneuve and Spaihts wrote the screenplay for Dune: Part Two, and The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin recently revealed that he worked on the script as well.

What did you think of the new trailer for Dune: Part Two? Will you be watching this movie on the big screen in November? Let us know by leaving a comment below.