The president of The CW, Mark Pedowitz, regrets not going after Supergirl last summer. The show was presented to The CW but the networked passed on the project.
“We hadn’t launched The Flash yet, we weren’t ready to take on another DC property. In hindsight we probably should’ve gone that direction… Sometime you lose great shows.”
Deadline is reporting that Pedowitz is very open to a Supergirl – Flash – Arrow crossover. “I leave that to (Supergirl/Arrow/Flash executive producer) Greg Berlanti if they can make it work. I’m open to crossovers,” said Pedowitz.
Supergirl always seemed like the perfect show to add to the CW’s already expanding world of superheroes who may not survive at the cinema. The jury is still out on whether or not the series is any good, but we will see soon enough. Supergirl premieres on CBS October 26.
Here is your first look at Teddy Sears as Jay Garrick, the original Flash. The CW announced today that “Flash of Two Worlds” would be the first episode of season two of The Flash premiering on October 6.
Mark Pedowitz of The CW confirmed that the network is developing Friday the 13th for the small screen, according to Deadline.
The creators of the NBC series The Pretender, Steve Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle, will adapt the horror franchise for The CW. “They are now in development,” Pedowitz said.
The series details are murky, but this new Friday the 13th will take place around the characters of Crystal Lake and the mystery of Jason Voorhees’ family. The CW will also reimagine Voorhees’ iconic hockey mask.
Every One Of Jason Voorhees’ Kills In 2 Minutes
Friday the 13th actually makes sense to be turned into a TV series, since there are more films that episodes in the entire first or second standalone seasons of True Detective. The CW is clearly working from the MTV template, who turned Teen Wolf and Scream into hit series.
The contents of this week’s episode of Monster Girls involves shedding and laying eggs. And while the show does a fairly good job to sort of make it look like we’re learning stuff about lamias and harpies, that’s obviously not its intention at all. In fact, it really is fascinating how people can interpret acts that are either painful or tedious, and sexualize them to such a degree as this show does. I’m not saying that these situations are dumb but I’d just like to know what goes through a person’s head when they think, “You know whats sexy, a Harpy pushing an egg out of her vagina. I also think it would feel really good, right?”
But forget the logical sense of these acts because that’s what the show clearly wants you to do. So just like the rest of this show, you might as well take it for what it is or stop watching it. This show demands the certain mindset of being turned on by Monster Girls, so you seriously should have left your disbelief behind. And for all I know, a Lamia having her skin peeled off by someone else could be a euphoric experience. They’re made up creatures, so it’s whatever. Now while the explanation of why these things are happening is one thing, the actual act of watching it happen is another.
Now I consider myself to be someone who can get weirdly turned on by some pretty odd things. Of course that probably goes without saying considering I’m writing about how much I love Monster Girls every week. And as I watched Kimihito peel all of Miia’s dead skin off in her most sensitive places, I don’t think I’ve ever been more confused about how I should be feeling right then. I mean it was obvious that Miia was getting sexual stimulation from him helping her shed. And that’s the reason this scene was filled with sexual tension. But as I thought about actually doing it, I started to get confused about how this scene really made me feel. The only scene that was supposed to be sexual (the point where he accidentally fingers her) is probably the least sexual scene among these, so I think it should have built up to that part better instead of plateauing there. But ultimately it was satisfying from a purely titilating aspect and all the exposition leading up to it about Miia wanting to cook and trying to be the best wife candidate she can be, was a nice touch as well. I’ve said this a million times but I think the thing I can credit Monster Girls the most is that it gets to most of its sexy scenes in a fairly logical manner. And the way it gets there doesn’t make you wanna blow your brains out.
I mean it makes sense that Kimihito is the only one who can help her shed after she burned her hands because everyone else was sick from trying Miia’s cooking. And seeing that her cooking was what brought her to be unable to self shed in the first place it was a nice touch. And while I feel the scenes with Papi laying her egg were just as titilating, the events surrounding those scenes made it less enjoyable.
So as she announces that she’s about to lay an egg, unfertilized let me mind you. Gotta be careful when talking about laying eggs in this house, the other girls might think that Kimihito has gone and hooked up with Papi already. Which is of course what they do anyway. I think the best part of this scene is the fact that Mero hits him over the head with a giant conch. Anyway as everyone finds out, a director guy shows up asking to document all the monster girls and get footage of Papi laying an egg. These scenes, I do actually have a problem with because its forcing the girls into sexual situations that they don’t want to be in. And tie it all in with a person who is taking advantage of that fact to be sexually deviant and make a profit just feels gross. But the scenes where the director is being intrusive are still shot to be titilating for the audience. And that’s not cool. If you want to make something gross and voyeuristic, I just ask that you don’t also try to sexualize it to the audience.
And after all the girls get sexually harassed by this guy it leads up to him getting a close up shot on Papi starting to lay her egg. And of course the birthing scene is played as a moment of sexual stimulation for her, but it’s whatever, I’ll equate it to what I said about Miia and her shedding. And right about when the creepy director is gonna get the money shot, Suu comes to the rescue. Apparently she can read peoples thoughts when she connects her antenna to their head. This reveals his true intention of just exploiting these girls and planning to make a profit on them instead of using it to better further interspecies relations. It was obvious that we were going to get to this point but Suu with the random mind reading ability was a rather funny way to get there. It also gives Kimihito another opportunity to come to the rescue as he lays the smack down on this guy for being such a sleaze.
Anyway Papi lays her egg with all the other girls support while Kimihito’s eyes are being shielded by Miia’s tail. To be honest I think that was for the best because I know I wouldn’t want to see her shoot out an egg if I didn’t have to. And then we get to go back to Miia still failing at her cooking and we get a joke about he most likely cooking Papi’s egg for dinner. We also get a look at our spider heroine, Rachnera, and boy am I looking forward to her being introduced. I think she has one of the best designs and am looking forward to them finally being able to get out of this rut of just having to dedicate episodes to character intros.
So I’d say Monster Girls, while having a few hiccups this episode, really did its job well and in an interesting way. It’s safe to say I’ve never seen those things being sexualized before so it certainly was an experience for me. And of course that’s where Monster Girls shines, showing us things that we wouldn’t consider being sexy and making them sexy. So kudos Monster Girls, and I can’t wait to see what you sexualize next.
Warner Bros. Pictures announced today that production is now underway on location in New York City on the New Line Cinema comedy Going in Style, directed by Zach Braff (Garden State) and starring Oscar winners Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby), Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules, Hannah and Her Sisters) and Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine).
Freeman, Caine and Arkin team up as lifelong buddies Willie, Joe and Al, who decide to buck retirement and step off the straight-and-narrow for the first time in their lives when their pension fund becomes a corporate casualty. Desperate to pay the bills and come through for their loved ones, the three risk it all by embarking on a daring bid to knock off the very bank that absconded with their money.
The film also stars two-time Oscar nominee Ann-Margret (Tommy, Carnal Knowledge) as Annie, a grocery cashier who’s been checking Al out in more ways than one; Peter Serafinowicz (Guardians of the Galaxy) as Joe’s former son-in-law, Murphy, whose pot clinic connections may finally prove useful; John Ortiz as Jesus, a man of unspecified credentials who agrees to show them the ropes; Joey King as Joe’s whip-smart granddaughter, Brooklyn; Christopher Lloyd as the guys’ lodge buddy, Milton; and Oscar nominee Matt Dillon as FBI Agent Hamer.
Braff will direct from a screenplay by Theodore Melfi , based on the film by Martin Brest.
“Going in Style” is being produced by Donald De Line. The executive producers are Tony Bill, who was a producer on the 1979 film Going in Style, Jonathan McCoy, and Andrew Haas.
The creative filmmaking team includes Emmy-nominated director of photography Rodney Charters, production designer Anne Ross and costume designer Gary Jones.
Scheduled for release on May 6, 2016, the film is a New Line Cinema presentation of a De Line Pictures Production. It will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
Do you think the folks over at Lucasfilm are says “truly outrageous” things after watching the Jem and the Holograms trailer? As certain little Synergy robot reminds viewers of BB-8 from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
As a small-town girl catapults from underground video sensation to global superstar, she and her three sisters begin a one-in-a-million journey of discovering that some talents are too special to keep hidden. In Universal Pictures’ Jem and the Holograms, four aspiring musicians will take the world by storm when they see that the key to creating your own destiny lies in finding your own voice.
Directed by Jon M. Chu (Step Up series, G.I. Joe: Retaliation), the musical adventure stars Aubrey Peeples, Stefanie Scott, Aurora Perrineau, Hayley Kiyoko, Ryan Guzman, Molly Ringwald and Juliette Lewis. Jem and the Holograms, based on the iconic Hasbro animated TV series, is written by Ryan Landels and produced by Chu, Jason Blum for Blumhouse Productions, Scooter Braun for SB Projects, Bennett Schneir, and Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis of Hasbro Studios.
Jem and the Holograms will be in theaters October 23.
Showtime Networks president David Nevins announced that the followup Twin Peaks series from David Lynch and Mark Frost is slated to start production in September, according to a report by Deadline.
Lynch will direct all episodes, originally scheduled for 9, but now it looks like it will expand 10 to 12. Twin Peaks was schedule for a 2017 release on Showtime, but it now looks like it could ready sometime in 2016. “I’ll take it when it’s ready. I hope that’s sooner rather than later,” said Nevins.
Nevins also did not announce any new cast members to the series, saying “You should be optimistic that the people you want to be there will be there, in addition to some surprises.”
Actor Tom Hardy will produce and possibly star in the film adaptation of the Vertigo comic 100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso, according a report by The Hollywood Reporter.
Dean Baker was also brought in to produce as Chris Borrelli has a completed script.
Running for 100 issues from 1999 to 2009, ‘100 Bullets’ centered on an enigmatic man named Agent Graves as he presents different people, for reasons unknown, with a gun, the identity of the person who ruined their lives … and a hundred rounds of untraceable ammunition.
Side note: Azzarello loves his baseball and heroes!
As the summer movie season draws to a close, the kids head back to school, the temperatures (eventually) drop, and superheroes and cartoon characters take a backseat to more serious fare. Now is the time to look forward to pictures with aspirations for awards or, at the least, aspirations for more adult-oriented storytelling. Now is the time for the FALL MOVIE PREVIEW.
Let’s look through the highlights from September, October, and November; the theme early on feels heavy, even foreboding, as we dive headlong into the underworld, the border drug wars, and Cold War espionage. Along the way there are also a few harrowing adventures, a few scares and, of course, a brand new ride with 007…
SEPTEMBER
Historically, September is a muddled dumping ground of films not good enough to make the summer slate, and other pictures too aimless to be considered for Awards Season. Occasionally, a movie will break the mold (American Beauty came out in September), but the status quo is for studios to dispatch drivel while kids and parents are readjusting to school, and fall festivities hit their stride. That doesn’t seem to be the case this year, as studios appear to be anxious to get some of their more hotly anticipated properties out earlier than usual.
M. Night Shyamalan makes yet another attempt at a comeback in September with The Visit (Sep. 11), a supernatural thriller that shows M. Night may be tracking back to his roots. The film centers around two young kids sent away to their grandparents for a visit, only to discover Grandma and Grandpa are rather disturbed and, maybe, even possessed. While the trailer does show promise of some scares, I’m a little disappointed Shyamalan is taking the found-footage route. The technique is tired at this point, and if Shyamalan truly wanted a comeback maybe he shouldn’t try and jump on the back of a fledgling horror subgenre. I am holding out hope, however, that the director can have at least a brief resurgence.
The following Friday is when September overloads cinemas with some intense, anticipated material. First up is Johnny Depp as Whitey Bulger in the star-studded Black Mass (Sep. 18). Depp is unsettling in his appearance, and the surrounding cast that includes Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, and Sienna Miller among many more, is more than promising. That same week, Denis Villeneuve’s drug-cartel thriller Sicario drops, and may be my most anticipated of the fall. Sicario stars emerging action star Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, and the great Benicio Del Toro. And just in case you forgot, here is the sizzling second trailer:
As if the one-two punch of Black Mass and Sicario weren’t enough, that same weekend audiences will get to witness the death-defying dramatization that is Everest (sep. 18). The film, based on several books, one being Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, follows a group of climbers on their trek to the top of Mt. Everest, and the subsequent avalanche that places them in peril. The cinematography in the Everesttrailer looks breathtaking, making it one that begs to be seen in IMAX.
That same weekend brings us The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (Sep. 18), but I’m not sure anyone cares about those Y.A. adaptations anymore.
Rounding out September is Hotel Transylvania 2 (Sep. 25) which, judging by its non kid-friendly opening date and distance from Halloween, indicates there is little faith behind an animated sequel to a poorly received original movie. There is also Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno (Sep. 25), a cannibal horror movie Roth has been shopping around for a couple of years.
OCTOBER
The best month of the entire year for a myriad of reasons kicks off with a bang at multiplexes. Up first is Ridley Scott’s The Martian (Oct. 2), starring Matt Damon as an astronaut stranded on Mars after an accident forces his crew to leave him behind:
The source material, Andy Weir’s electric novel, is brilliant in its mix of humor, tension, and hard science. Hopefully this will be Scott’s rebound picture, after both Prometheus, The Counselor and Exodus: Gods and Kings, missed their respective marks.
Robert Zemeckis’ The Walk (Oct. 9) tells the dramatized story of Philippe Petit, and his high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of The World Trade Center in the late 70s. The story was told in the 2008 Oscar-Winning documentary Man on Wire, but Zemeckis is aiming to bring some dramatic flair to the incredible story, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the role of Petit. Zemeckis is one of the more underrated visual storytellers of his generation, and the trailer for The Walk showcases his ability to create a sense of awe in his camera:
That same week, audiences can check out yet another version of Peter Pan in this new origin story, Pan (Oc. 9), which looks at this distance to be a bit of a mixed bag. And then there is Masterminds (Oct. 9), the new comedy starring Zach Galifianakis and Kristin Wiig as incompetent armored-car thieves. The film is directed by Napoleon Dynamite‘s Jared Hess, and it does look funny. That doesn’t always mean it will be funny.
Mid October always brings with it a few scary flicks, and this year we get one for the kids and one for the adults. First up is the meta kids horror Goosebumps (Oct. 16), based on the popular kid’s novels from R.L. Stine. The rub here is that Jack Black plays Stine in the film, and his creations come to life in the “real world.” Goosebumps looks like some solid fun for pre-teens who are fans of the books… if, do kids still read those books? For adults wanting scares, there will be Guillermo del Toro’s much-anticipated haunted house sendup, Crimson Peak, which looks to be a lavish and hyper-stylized gothic stunner:
In the midst of scary cinema is Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, taking on the Cold War in Bridge of Spies (Oct. 16). The film tells the story of an Insurance lawyer (Hanks), who is pulled into the Cold War to try and bring back a pilot being held prisoner in the Soviet Union. The trailer does little for me, to be honest, as it looks like stuffy Oscar bait. But who can really deny Spielberg and Hanks the chance to impress?
Vin Diesel looks to branch out from his Fast and Furious cash cow to try and kickstart another franchise with The Last Witch Hunter (Oct. 25). That same weekend, Bill Murray and Bruce Willis lead a USO-themed comedy, Rock the Kasbah (Oct. 25). The film, directed by Barry Levinson, looks to be a little mix of The Men Who Stare at Goats and Levinson’s less successful, whimsical ensemble comedies like What Just Happened. I’ll hold out hope because of Murray’s involvement.
NOVEMBER
November kicks off with a bit of counter-programming, as Spectre (Nov. 6) and The Peanuts Movie (Nov. 6) share cinemas. Spectre brings back Daniel Craig and Sam Mendes to the Bond franchise, and the additions of Dave Bautista and Christoph Waltz on the villainous side add some incredible intrigue. The trailer looks appropriately amazing, especially the glimpses of the opening action sequence, set in Mexico City:
Early November also brings us Spotlight (Nov. 6), a true story involving corruption and sexual abuse in the New England Catholic church system. The cast is spectacular, with Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, and Stanley Tucci taking on the heavy subject matter. Surely this cast will produce an Oscar nominee or two.
The rest of November is lackluster, outside of the final entry into the Hunger Games franchise with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 (Nov. 20). Other studios appear to be steering away from the mid-November release date, fearing that Mockingjay’s clout will overshadow their films. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, however, audiences will get a fall Pixar treat with The Good Dinosaur (Nov. 25) and another entry into Universal’s attempt at a monster-movie universe with Victor Frankenstein (Nov. 25). The first “MMU” entrant was last-year’s flaccid Dracula Untold, but Victor Frankenstein has the strength of James MacAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe in its corner.
Did we miss anything big in our Fall Movie Preview? What are you looking forward to the most?
Amidst all the news this weekend of the terrible performance of Fantastic Four–being beaten out by Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation in its second weekend–it’s gone relatively unnoticed that the newest entry in the Dragon Ball Z franchise, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’, was one of the weekend’s winners as far as per-theater average goes.
For those who don’t get nerdy about box office results, the per-theater average refers to the amount of money a film makes compared to the number of theaters that the film actually screened in. For instance, while Rogue Nation had an average of $7,147 in 3,988 theaters, Resurrection ‘F’ came in with $9,934 in a meager 183 theaters.
To compare that to a recent anime box office success, 2012’s The Secret World of Arrietty opened to a much wider 1,522 theaters but a more modest per-theater average of $4,235 and went on to become the 5th highest-grossing anime film in America.
Speaking of which, by the weekend’s end, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ slipped into the 9th spot on the top 10 list of the highest-grossing anime films in the U.S. Only two films in the top 10–Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away and The Wind Rises–had better opening weekend per-theater averages, and each of those opened to less than 30 theaters.
Riding on solid reviews–like our own Logan Peterson’s from a few days ago—Resurrection ‘F’ has brought in a nice-sized crowd, as far as anime films go in U.S. distribution. FUNimation–the film’s distributor–is clearly doing something right with their marketing ploy of an 8-day run for the animated feature, forcing fans to flock to theaters in droves while the film is still in theaters.
5 million at the box office over a week-long period, means nothing for 90% of films, but for an anime film released in the U.S. by someone other than Studio Ghibli, and without the name Pokémon in the title, that’s big doings. While this is more likely a testament to Dragon Ball Z fandom rather than love for anime at large, I have to hope that this seemingly renewed life over so few days is a good sign for future anime releases in the U.S.
