Charles Bramesco
Apple Plans to Break Into Hollywood with Original Movies and TV Shows
Chances are, you’re currently reading these words on a phone, computer, or tablet manufactured by Apple. Maybe on your morning commute, you listen to music downloaded from the ITunes Music Store. If you are an on-the-go sort of person who’s not afraid to be made fun of, you may have an Apple Watch wrapped around your wrist right now. The tech giant’s influence has permeated so many facets of modern life, and as we patiently await Apple’s big foray into the burgeoning field of teledildonics, they’ve announced plans to plant their flag on one more heated battlefield.
Robert Downey Jr. to Make Directorial Debut with TV Pilot ‘Singularity’
For decades, Robert Downey Sr. has been cherished as a key figure in the American film underground, directing unabashedly countercultural pictures during the ’60s and ’70s, and carrying right on through to the present day. (Most famous of all was 1969’s Putney Swope, a razor-sharp satire of advertising and race on Madison Avenue that billed itself as the “Truth and Soul Movie.”) Downey’s showbiz background got his good-lookin’ son into the industry from a young age, but a new item from TheWrap today indicates that Junior will soon join the real family business and take the director’s chair for the very first time.
Desk Jockeys Go From Yule-o to YOLO in New ‘Office Christmas Party’ Trailer
Come Christmastime, there’s nothing quite like sharing in the generous Yuletide spirit by singing a few carols, trading presents, and getting completely wasteycakes-drunk with all your favorite coworkers. Unrestrained bacchanalian debauchery is the reason for the season this year in the Office Christmas Party trailer, picking up where the drug-fueled shenanigans of last year's The Night Before left off. Pour yourself a glass of eggnog, spike it with some additional alcohol, pop a tab of Ecstasy in there if you're feeling particularly merry, and buckle up for the bumpiest sleigh ride of the year.
At Last, ‘13 Going on 30’ Is Coming to Broadway
After more than a decade of patiently waiting, my fellow 13 Going on 30 diehards have reason to rejoice. Today, Deadline has the exclusive that all of our steadfast prayers have at last been answered, and that a stage musical adaptation of the 2004 Jennifer Garner vehicle is headed to Broadway. With a script from original screenwriters Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa and music and lyrics from Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner (the minds behind the recent First Date), the story of Jenna Rink’s magical transformation into herself after the fun part of her life is over will be reborn.
Screen Gems Remaking 1971 Mia Farrow Horror Classic ‘See No Evil’
Every little daily task is substantially more difficult for a blind person: selecting clothes for the day, traveling from one place to the next, solving the grisly slaughter of all your relatives. That last one is more specific to Sarah Rexton, the heroine that Mia Farrow portrayed in the 1971 horror-thriller See No Evil...
‘The Phantom Menace’ Star Jake Lloyd Admitted to Psychiatric Facility Following Arrest Last Year
Revisiting Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, it’s easy to hate li’l Annie Skywalker, the hero-to-be of the film. He says a lot of dumb stuff, mostly about sand, or angels, or whether or not this is podracing. (To clarify: it is, indeed, podracing...
A Crazy and Exciting New Way of Watching Movies Is Coming to a Theater Near You
With the rise in on-demand and streaming options for home viewership and American reluctance to leave the house at an all-time high, brick-and-mortar theaters have scrambled to keep viewers in the seats. High-end boutique chains have survived by committing themselves to the luxury of the theatrical experience, installing ritzy overstuffed La-Z-Boys in theaters and shrinking down the size of each i
Will Ferrell to Return to the North Pole For His Next Comedy
Get a few drinks in a group of guy-pals, and antics inevitably arise: doing donuts in an abandoned parking lot, maybe hitting a strip club, the odd snowmobile expedition to the North Pole — you know, guy stuff. That last one actually happened to a group of foolhardy drinking buddies in 1968 Minnesota, too, and now Deadline reports that Will Ferrell and Sony have set about recreating the epic journ
Lionsgate to Cut ‘Ascendant’ Budget in Light of ‘Divergent’ Franchise Fatigue
It had to happen eventually: the post-apocalyptic YA bubble has finally popped, and Hollywood has begun to panic as it realizes that it’s hit a point of diminishing returns. Allegiant, the third installment of the Divergent franchise that was supposed to launch Shailene Woodley to A-list ubiquity and grant Lionsgate another box-office bonanza in the tradition of their highly lucrative Hunger Games franchise, did not perform as expected. That may be putting it lightly, too — this past weekend, the film opened to a pitiful $29.1 million, dwarfed in comparison against the film’s bloated $110 million budget.
Chinese Theaters Cut Down on Cell Phone Use With Lasers, Shaming
China’s been ahead of the Western curve for some time now. The U.S. economy cowers before the might of Chinese manufacturing prowess, and some of Hollywood’s most popular blockbusters have catered to Eastern tastes. By 2025, we will all have a workable knowledge of Cantonese. But for now, China has made its latest leap forward in the field of etiquette, more specifically movie theater etiquette, and even more specifically, how to deal with a-holes who won’t stop using their cell phones during a movie. Polite whispered requests, chair-nudging, chair-kicking, and in-theater doxxing have all proven ineffective in the continuing war on America’s rudest audience members. China’s contrived a smarter, more futuristic mode of combatting these menaces.
In-Home Screening Room Draws Support From Major Filmmakers
Last week, we took note of a new business venture called Screening Room spearheaded by Napster founder Sean Parker. The proposed service would digitally stream the latest major-studio theatrical releases into the confines of private American homes for a hefty estimated fee of $50 on the same day as in-theater premieres, rendering a trip to the local cineplex less necessary than ever. Naturally, this radical new strategy would change the entire face of the industry, and has accordingly raised hackles on the production, distribution, and exhibition sides of Hollywood. As movie theaters struggle to stay relevant and profitable, Parker’s every press conference sounds like a death knell. And this weekend, both sides of this instantly contentious debate dug in their heels on their positions.
Sarah Michelle Gellar Will Return to ‘Cruel Intentions’ With Role in TV Sequel
Earlier this month, NBC placed an order for a Cruel Intentions TV pilot that would act as a sort of sequel to the 1999 film, and today brings the fortuitous news that the central pillar of this grand monument to teen horniness will return for the second go-round. Now comes word that original star Sarah Michelle Gellar will reprise her role as Kathryn Merteuil, the queen-bitch rich kid meddling in everyone’s affairs with her sexual scheming.