Nightbitch director Marielle Heller remembers working with Amy Adams and one particularly anxious canine co-star.

Amy Adams gives one of the best performances of her career in Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch, which is set to make its debut on Hulu just after Christmas (on Friday, December 27th). In it she plays a new mother who finds herself increasingly alienated from her loving partner (Scoot McNairy) and former as she becomes all consumed by her new parental role, which eventually has her thinking that she might be turning into a dog. While early reports seemed to suggest this was going to be some kind of horror flick, it’s actually a gentle comedy about motherhood and one that will resonate with both mothers and their spouses. 

A little while ago, I had the chance to speak to the movie’s director, Marielle Heller. Nightbitch marks her fourth film, following the well-received The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me, and the Mister Rogers biopic, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. She also acted on Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit. The film embraces a somewhat magical realism POV, meaning Adams, whose character thinks she’s turning into a dog, also acts on-screen with a lot of canine friends. 

“You know, the dogs, for the most part, were so incredible and had to do difficult things, but it is true, when she was acting, even though we had been practicing with trainers, she would be doing different behaviour than the trainers ever did. You know, cause the trainers would just sort of walk through things and not look the dogs in the eyes. And then Amy would look at them in the eyes and make contact. And, one dog in particular, it just really freaked the dogs out, and they reacted to her in ways that were fascinating.”

For Heller, the film also came from a deeply personal place.

“You know, I guess my filmmaking credo, if anything, is just trying to make something feel honest, right? I think that the only way that anything is worthwhile is if you’re telling a story from a point of view of something being honest. And this movie is a very personal story for me. You know, I’m a mom of two young kids, and I went through the experience of feeling like I lost my identity when I became a mom and like I didn’t know who I was anymore and I didn’t feel like I could put together a good sentence or that I was, that I even recognized myself when I looked in the mirror.” 

One thing Heller wanted to make sure of is that the film had a lot of sympathy for both sides of the couple. Scoot McNairy is likeable throughout, as he’s portrayed as a character dealing with his own pressures.

“So much of this movie came from a really deeply painful personal place for myself. And so I wanted it to feel authentic and honest. I think that’s a lot of stuff about my long marriage that I’ve been in now. I’ve been with my husband 25 years  in there and stuff about long-term relationships that I think people, whether you’re parents or not, whether you’re in a heterosexual relationship or not, you can relate to like long-term relationships are hard.”

“A lot of what the work that I did on their relationship was also giving him more of a filled-out arc and storyline in that way because I do think that there are often times where we don’t intend to end up where we are. And we kind of wake up one day and look and go, how did my life get like this? How did my marriage get like this? Is this what I really want? And it’s not always a conscious choice. And it’s sometimes just the road to hell is paved with the best intentions. And it was important to me that they both kind of have ended up somewhere where they’ve fallen into these ruts of these roles that neither of them wanted to begin with, but then how do you change that?

Nightbitch hits Hulu on December 27th and is now playing in theaters. Read our review HERE!

Chalamet will play a ping pong wizard in a film from Josh Safdie in a directorial outing without his brother.

Last year, Timothée Chalamet would be the Christmas victor with his delightful family film Wonka. This year, he will grace our screens on Christmas with the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown. And now, according to Deadline, Chalamet’s upcoming film from A24, Marty Supreme, will be set to hit screens in Christmas of 2025. Could Chalamet be becoming attached to Christmas the way that Will Smith became attached to July 4th in the 90s?

The forthcoming film hails from Josh Safdie (Uncut Gems), with the project based on a script he co-wrote with Ronald Bronstein. Safdie produces it with Eli Bush and Anthony Hatagas. A24 confirmed the project by sharing a social media post with a black-and-white photo of the film’s title printed on a ping-pong ball.

Reisman passed away in 2012, but not before leaving behind a legacy of mythical proportions in the ping-pong community. Variety reports that the table tennis star began his career by hustling others in the lightning-fast game of paddle warfare. He won 22 significant ping pong titles from 1946 to 2002 and five bronze medals at the World Table Tennis Championships. Variety also notes that at 67, Reisman played in the United States National Hardbat Championship and became the oldest player to win an open national competition in a racket sport. People loved to watch Reisman play, and he was fearless in hamming his skills up for audiences by performing trick shots to wow the crowd.

Reisman wrote and published his autobiography “The Money Player: The Confessions of America’s Greatest Table Tennis Champion and Hustler” in 1974, followed by a 2014 documentary called “Fact or Fiction: The Life and Times of a Ping Pong Hustler.”

While Marty Supreme is poised to become Gwyneth Paltrow’s return to cinemas, the project marks Josh Safdie’s first solo directorial feature since 2008’s The Pleasure of Being Robbed. Marty Supreme stars Timothée Chalamet as the ping-pong hustler, with Gwyneth Paltrow in a role that remains a mystery. The cast also includes an interesting list of names, like Tyler the Creator, Fran Drescher, Penn Jillette, Odessa A’zion, Kevin O’Leary (aka Mr Wonderful), Abel Ferrera and Sandra Bernard. 

About the Author

E.J. is a News Editor at JoBlo, as well as a Video Editor, Writer, and Narrator for some of the movie retrospectives on our JoBlo Originals YouTube channel, including Reel Action, Revisited and some of the Top 10 lists. He is a graduate of the film program at Missouri Western State University with concentrations in performance, writing, editing and directing.

Netflix has confirmed that the fifth and final season of their hit series Stranger Things has wrapped filming

After being delayed several months by the writers strike and the actors strike, season 5 of the hit Netflix series Stranger Things (which is also the last season of the show) finally went into production at the start of the year with a twelve month shooting schedule… and now that the year is coming to an end, Netflix has announced that filming on Stranger Things season 5 has officially wrapped!

Netflix broke the news while sharing multiple behind-the-scenes images on social media:

Thornton may play a character that’s not well-liked in Taylor Sheridan’s Landman, but he never necessarily wants to play villains.

Variety reports that Billy Bob Thornton turned down two big villain roles and he explains why he wasn’t interested while on The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast. Thornton revealed that he turned down playing the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man, as well as Owen Davian, the villain of J.J. Abram’s Mission: Impossible III, which eventually went to Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Thornton expounded,

I don’t have much interest in those kinds of roles. With the Green Goblin, I didn’t feel like getting up at 4 a.m. for five or six hours of makeup. And with Mission: Impossible III, I didn’t want to be the guy trying to kill Tom Cruise. If you’re the bad guy in a big movie like that, audiences remember it forever. I prefer to keep things looser and less predictable.”

Meanwhile, Willem Dafoe, who can be seen in the upcoming Nosferatu, is open to returning to the role of Green Goblin for another go-around with the web-slinger. He told Inverse last year, “If everything was right, sure. I mean, that’s a great role. I liked the fact that it’s a double role both times. Twenty years ago, and fairly recently, both times [were] very different experiences, but I had a good time on both.” Back when he did press for Spider-Man: No Way Home, Dafoe wanted to make sure that he came back, it was for more than a brief appearance, “I really didn’t want to do a cameo. I wanted to make sure there was something substantial enough to do that wasn’t just a tip of the hat. And the other thing was, I said I really want there to be action — I want to take part in action scenes. Because that’s really fun for me. It’s the only way to root the character. Otherwise, it just becomes a series of memes.”

Thornton is currently playing a gruff oilman in Taylor Sheridan’s new series Landman. Thornton recently defended having to play a certain type of role that people may find controversial and he responded to critics by saying, “There’s another side to this, and here’s what it is. People more so these days than ever watch movies or TV or listen to music and read novels from the point of view of their own agenda. I mean, if you’re doing a movie about a serial killer and the guy plays an amazing serial killer, it’s not like they’re saying we’re promoting serial killers. We’re just showing you a piece of entertainment that’s supposed to move you in some way or entertain you in some way.”

About the Author

E.J. is a News Editor at JoBlo, as well as a Video Editor, Writer, and Narrator for some of the movie retrospectives on our JoBlo Originals YouTube channel, including Reel Action, Revisited and some of the Top 10 lists. He is a graduate of the film program at Missouri Western State University with concentrations in performance, writing, editing and directing.

We had the chance to sit down with the cast of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and even ask them what their favorite Sonic games are!

Growing up as a fan of video games, I never thought I’d live to see the day when Sonic The Hedgehog would become a box office star and a household name (especially in the years when the “Blue Blur” had all those bad 3D outings). It felt like it was yesterday when we got that awful first trailer with Coolio’s Gangsta Paradise with Sonic himself having that horrendous design. Then when the internet rightfully so lost their damn minds, Paramount and Sega actually listened to us fans!

Sonic is a character that on paper SHOULD NOT WORK but somehow Paramount Pictures made it work.  And I have been a diehard fan of the films from the jump.  So fast forward to now when Paramount Pictures reached out to us here at JoBlo I was stoked at the opportunity to attend the premiere at the AMC Theater in New York City.  

As movie fans, it’s very common for us to expect a third outing of a trilogy or franchise to be a letdown.  But that was not the case for Sonic The Hedgehog 3 which I can confidently say is the best of the franchise so far (check out our review)!  Mainly due to the addition of Keanu Reeves as Shadow The Hedgehog in what was adapted to screen faithfully.

So after the premiere of Sonic The Hedgehog 3, I was able to sit down with the cast of the film including Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, and director Jeff Fowler.

Schwartz, whom other staff members of JoBlo interviewed in the past was a blast to talk to, shared with us his excitement of working with Keanu. I also had to ask him, as one of the definitive voices of Sonic, if he had ever spoken with Jaleel White, who famously voiced him in the 90s cartoon.  James Marsden and Tika Sumpter who have become staples of the franchise play Sonic’s adopted family Tom and Maddie shared with us what their characters went through in the third movie, even joking around about the character “Little Tom” which I don’t want to spoil too much here. Finally, I had the opportunity to chat with director Jeff Fowler who went into the details of casting Keanu Reeves and the return of Jim Carrey.  Of course, I had to ask him if there are other Sega properties he could take on and I asked the entire crew what their favorite Sonic game was.

Check out the whole interview embedded above!

Charlie Sheen plays himself in the Hollywood-centric Ramble On, although it has yet to be picked up by a network.

You can’t have victory with a little tiger’s blood. Charlie Sheen is going all in with his next project, a comeback endeavor titled Ramble On – and it’s tied to some key players from HBO’s bro comedy Entourage.

Remember, Charlie Sheen was once the highest-paid male TV actor ever, something the trailer for Ramble On is keen to mention. Once he is introduced (in a way that sounds like an episode of Entourage, no less), we see the man himself guiding Kevin Connelly and Kevin Dillon – who also play themselves – through his abode, pointing out his 22’-deep pool. From there, he lays it out for the boys: “Here’s the deal. I got no money. I got no offers. No love. Nada…What are you paying?”

As per the press release, Ramble On has the following plot: “Immersed in real life, Ramble On is about Hollywood veterans looking to reinvent their voices, alongside up and comers looking to establish their own.” As revealed in the trailer, Charlie Sheen will be jumping into the cluttered circle of celebrity podcasters, which, honestly, I’m surprised he hasn’t already. You can check out more on the movie’s official website.

With Doug Ellin serving as producer, a Hollywood-centric plot and what looks like quite a few cameos throughout (one notable is Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who also played herself for a few episodes of Entourage), Ramble On does seem just like a twist on that show. But that might be just enough for some people; that Sheen can bring a little edge to the movie and will likely be commenting on his decades-spanning career and controversy. Of note, however, Ramble On has yet to be picked up. Sheen most recently played himself on Bookie, which reunited him with Two and a Half Men creator Chuck Lorre.

Victory the Podcast is co-hosted by Ellin and Dillon, who get together to chat with others linked to Entourage, offering behind-the-scenes stories and insights into the show’s history and episodes.

What do you make of this project from Charlie Sheen? Is he “winning” or is this a weird misstep in his path to a return? Chime in with your thoughts in the comments section below.

As widely expected, Disney’s Lion King prequel, Mufasa, is proving to be no match for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 at the box office.

Earlier this week, in my box office predictions, I wrote that Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King had next to no hope of beating Sonic the Hedgehog 3 at the weekend box office. It looks like I was right, with Deadline reporting that Sonic 3 has blasted off with a $6.5 million preview night, which represents the best number for the franchise so far. By comparison, Mufasa only made about half that number, with a $3.3 million total.

So far Sonic the Hedgehog seems to be performing in line with expectations, although it’s not expected to outgross the second film’s first weekend take of $72 million. However, that has little to do with anticipation cooling for the film, as audiences typically save their moviegoing for the holidays, with the weekend before Christmas never really a juggernaut. However, Mufasa seems to be in trouble, with it looking like the anticipated $50 million start is out of the question now, with an opening in the $30 million range more likely. However, last year’s Christmas sleeper, Wonka, opened with the same result and went on to have tremendous legs at the box office, grossing over $200 million domestically. But, even if Mufasa ended up making that much, it would still be far less than its predecessor, which made over $540 million domestically.

No news yet on how well Kraven is holding up in week two, but we’ll be sure to keep you posted as the weekend goes on. In the meantime, check out our Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review HERE and some of the interviews we did at the junket embedded below!

What are you seeing this weekend? Let us know in the comments!

Writer/director Lee Cronin has decided to follow up Evil Dead Rise by making a Mummy movie… but not for Universal

Back in June, it was announced that Evil Dead Rise director Lee Cronin had signed on to write and direct a new genre project for Atomic Monster, Blumhouse Productions, and New Line Cinema… and now we know what that mysterious project is. The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that Cronin has come up with a new take on the concept of The Mummy! Cronin confirmed, “This will be unlike any Mummy movie you ever laid eyeballs on before. I’m digging deep into the earth to raise something very ancient and very frightening.” The film is set to reach theatres on April 17, 2026.

It should be noted that, since the project is set up at New Line Cinema, this “new take on the horror trope revolving around the ancient mummified undead” has nothing to do with the classic Universal horror property. We heard back in May that there are three Mummy projects in development at Universal, including a prequel that screenwriter Wes Tooke is working on and a sequel to the Brendan Fraser films (those being The Mummy 1999, The Mummy Returns, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor).

As The Hollywood Reporter put it, “Plot details are being kept in the sarcophagus but Cronin is hoping to breathe modern life into ageless evil.”

This version of The Mummy may be entirely separate from Universal’s Mummy projects, but Cronin’s collaborators at Atomic Monster and Blumhouse Production have been entrusted with making official reboots of some Universal properties. Blumhouse was behind the 2020 version of The Invisible Man, and their Wolf Man reboot (which is directed by The Invisible Man‘s Leigh Whannell) is set to reach theatres on January 17, 2025. Meanwhile, Atomic Monster is developing “a grounded modernized retelling” of Creature from the Black Lagoon that James Wan is expected to direct from a script by Sean Tretta. That project is said to lean into “visceral horror while paying respect to the original classic.”

We don’t know what Lee Cronin’s Mummy movie is going to be called, but we do know that Atomic Monster and Blumhouse are co-financing the film. James Wan is producing alongside Jason Blum and John Keville. Michael Clear, Judson Scott, and Macdara Kelleher serve as executive producers. Alayna Glasthal is the executive overseeing the project for Atomic Monster.

What do you think of the fact that Lee Cronin is making a Mummy movie for Atomic Monster, Blumhouse Productions, and New Line Cinema. Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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.

Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett have joined Anne Hathaway in the Colleen Hoover thriller adaptation Verity

Last month, it was announced that Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada) had signed on to play the title character in an adaptation of It Ends with Us author Colleen Hoover’s thriller novel Verity. Now, Deadline reports that she’s being joined in the cast by Dakota Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey) and Josh Hartnett (Trap).

Hathaway’s character is Verity Crawford, a famous author who is unable to finish her latest thriller novel after a car accident leaves her badly injured and incapacitated. So her husband Jeremy offers a struggling writer named Lowen a huge sum of money to complete the remaining books in the series. Lowen accepts the gig but uncovers dark secrets in the process — including an unfinished manuscript that hints at chilling admissions about Verity and her family’s past — leaving Lowen to determine if Verity is a gifted fictionist or deranged psychopath. Johnson will be playing struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh, with Hartnett as Verity’s husband, Jeremy Crawford.

The Verity novel has a great opening line: “I hear the crack of his skull before the spattering of blood reaches me.” When I read the book last year, I was shocked that it hadn’t been given some kind of screen adaptation yet, because the story seemed like it was crying out to be turned into a movie or limited series. It was also one of the horniest books I’ve ever paged through, as there’s so much sex to read about in Verity’s memoir / manuscript, even Lowen gets tired of it. It will be interesting to see how the screenplay adaptation has been handled so we don’t just get scene after scene of Johnson reading about Hathaway and Hartnett having sex.

The Verity adaptation is coming our way from Amazon MGM and director Michael Showalter, who previously worked with Hathaway on The Idea of You, another adaptation of a popular book that was packed with sex. Nick Antosca, whose credits include Hannibal, The Forest, Channel Zero, Brand New Cherry Flavor, Antlers, Candy, and A Friend of the Family, has written the latest version of the script. Older drafts of the screenplay were written by Hillary Seitz, Angela LaManna, and the duo of Will Honley and April Maguire.

Hathaway, Hoover, and Showalter are producing the movie through their companies Somewhere Pictures, Heartbones Entertainment, and Semi-Formal Productions. Antosca is producing for Eat the Cat, while Jordana Mollick of Semi-Formal and Stacey Sher of Shiny Penny are also producing. Lauren Levine of Heartbones will serve as executive producer. Verity is part of Semi-Formal’s first-look film deal with Amazon MGM.

Verity is described as being a “gothic, psychosexual thriller in the vein of Rebecca and Gone Girl.”

What do you think of Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett joining Anne Hathaway in Verity? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Sony’s reimagined Anaconda movie starring Jack Black, Paul Rudd, and Daniela Melchior slithers into a Christmas Day 2025 release.

Something other than Santa Claus is coming to town next holiday as Sony plans to release its reimagined Anaconda movie in the Christmas 2025 window. With plans to take a comedic approach to the original 1997 creature feature, The Anaconda stars Jack Black, Paul Rudd, and Daniela Melchoir with The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent director Tom Gormican at the helm. The Anaconda slithers alongside other Christmas Day releases, including Paul Feig’s The Housemaid, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, and A24’s ping-pong biopic Marty Supreme, starring Timothee Chalamet.

In addition to getting behind the camera, Tom Gormican wrote Sony’s The Anaconda with Kevin Etten (Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, Workaholics).

1997’s Anaconda focuses on a “National Geographic” film crew taken hostage by an insane hunter who forces them along on his quest to capture the world’s largest—and deadliest—snake. Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Owen Wilson, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde, Kari Wuhrer, and Jon Voight lead the cast, with several getting devoured whole by the 25—and 40-foot-long anacondas. The film’s snakes were animatronic, giving them a more tactile and “real” look than a more modern CGI approach. Practical props and characters like the snakes in Anaconda are rare in today’s cinematic climate, making the Luis Llosa-directed jungle adventure a treat for old-school horror buffs and special effects fanatics.

According to sources, “the new story involves a group of friends facing mid-life crises who are remaking their favorite movie from their youth. They head to the rainforest only to find themselves thrown into a fight for their lives against natural disasters, giant snakes and violent criminals.”

Details are sparse about who Jack Black and Paul Rudd could play in the Anaconda movie, but sources mention two characters: a director stuck in his job as a wedding videographer and an actor who once did a stint on a police procedural but now sees his Hollywood dreams slipping away. Sony’s pitch implies a more comedic tone for the project, begging the question: How much animal-on-human violence can audiences expect? Is it still an Anaconda movie without a gruesome death or two? Hopefully, Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten will find a way to blend both action and comedy for an experience worth getting excited about.

What do you think about Sony’s The Anaconda opening on Christmas Day 2025? 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.