Jacob Hall
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‘Minions’ First Look: See Sandra Bullock’s Supervillain, Scarlet Overkill
The massive success of the ‘Despicable Me’ films have created a monster. Monsters, actually. Well, cute, yellow, strange little monsters that countless children (and some adults) all over the world have fallen in love with. Yeah, ‘Minions’ is going to be huge and it’s all going to be thanks to those little guys. However, the presence of a major star like Sandra Bullock can’t hurt and Universal has released the first images of her supervillain character, Scarlet Overkill.
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Weekend Box Office Report: ‘American Sniper’ Continues Its January Onslaught
In most years, January tends to be the most boring month of the year for the box office. This is where Hollywood typically sends the movies in which it has the least faith. This is the dumping ground, the place where movies go to die so the studios can concentrate on their Oscar campaigns. However, thanks to ‘American Sniper,’ this January has bucked every trend. It may technically be a 2014 release, but Clint Eastwood’s war film has made the first chunk of 2015 interesting, shattering expectations and threatening to become the highest grossing film of last year in only a few weeks.
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Weekend Box Office Report: ‘American Sniper’ Takes Out ‘Blackhat’
A lot of people are going to act like they didn’t see the enormous success of ‘American Sniper’ coming, but the signs were all there. On top of the promising limited release numbers, there was the awards buzz. On top of that, there were the names of director Clint Eastwood and star Bradley Cooper. On top of that, the subject matter of the film is inherently attractive to the same category of moviegoer that makes Christian-themed films into massive hits. ‘American Sniper’ had one doozy of a weekend, but it’s not that surprising.
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Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio Team Up For the Latest Martin Scorsese Project—A TV Commercial
You’d be surprised by how many beloved directors earn a little extra cash anonymously directing commercials, but when you hire the great Martin Scorsese to help sell your lavish new casino in Manilla Bay, Philippines, you end up with a full fledged Scorsese Picture. Which means that this is one of the most energetic and stylish advertisements you’ll see this year … and that it stars Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio.
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Upcoming ‘Star Wars’ Spin-Off Hiring ‘X-Men’ Writer Simon Kinberg to Fix the Script?
Although all of the public focus is currently on the looming release of ‘Star Wars: Episode 7,’ Disney, Lucasfilm and director Gareth Edwards are currently trying to whip the first standalone film in the saga into shape. A few days ago, original screenwriter Gary Whitta amicably departed the project after completing his initial draft, leading the entire internet to wonder what’s next for this mysterious project, which is still due out in 2016. Now, it looks like the next screenwriter writer has already been found. Enter Simon Kinberg.
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2015 Razzie Nominations: ‘Transformers’ and Kirk Cameron Lead the Pack
It’s become fashionable in recent years to hate the Golden Raspberry Awards (AKA, the Razzies) and for good reason. The inherently negative awards claim to celebrate the worst films of the year, but they frequently nominate or “honor” ambitious misfires or boring studio junk over the real worst films of the year. To be fair, the Razzies are and have always been a big silly joke, but they’re a joke that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. And yet, it’s really hard to look at this year’s nominees and disagree. With a handful of minor exceptions, this looks like a year where the Razzies actually, well, kinda’ got it right.
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Melissa McCarthy in Early Talks to Star in the ‘Ghostbusters’ Reboot
After months of rumors and speculation, it looks like director Paul Feig is finally starting to assemble his cast for his ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot. The name at the top of his list should surprise no one: Melissa McCarthy, who he previously directed to an Oscar nomination and huge box office success in ‘Bridesmaids’ and ‘The Heat,' and who is in early talks to star in the film.
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Weekend Box Office Report: ‘The Woman in Black’ Can’t Stop ‘The Hobbit’
After the jam-packed month of December, with its huge family-friendly blockbusters and awards season Oscar bait, we have arrived in the month of January. Formerly a dumping ground for mediocre films, the month has taken on a new identity in the past few years as a testing ground for unique genre films (think ‘Cloverfield’) and a solid place to release a horror movie, which seems to do quite well right around New Year’s for whatever reason. This year, we have ‘The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death,’ which had a fairly solid opening. Not solid enough to topple the Christmas Week champions, but no one is complaining too much.
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‘Avengers 2’ LEGO Sets Reveal Potential Spoilers For the Sequel
Just yesterday, the reveal of a new Iron Man toy gave us out first glimpse of the character’s new armor in the upcoming ‘The Avengers 2.’ The trend of toys jumping the gun continues today: a German ad for the first wave of LEGO sets based on Joss Whedon’s superhero team-up sequel has made its way online and it may very well tease some setpieces and concepts that haven’t been present in any of the trailers thus far.
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‘Star Trek 3’ Sets a Course For July 8, 2016
2016 marks the 50th anniversary of ‘Star Trek,’ which debuted on CBS in 1966, and Paramount has been adamant about getting the next film into theaters in time to mark the occasion. Today, they officially set the date. If all goes according to plan, ‘Star Trek 3’ will warp into theaters on July 8, 2016.
