The Playlist

Nicholas Hoult Shares 'Dark Places' With Charlize Theron & Chloe Moretz

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 3, 2013 3:04 PM
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0 Comments

News

Nicholas Hoult has had a bit of rocky start to 2013. The zombie rom-com "Warm Bodies" was an unexpected hit, and also largely found favor with the critics, while the tentpole "Jack The Giant Slayer" barely debuted at number one and pretty much plummeted from there. Still, Hoult -- who shoots "X-Men: Days Of Future Past" this spring -- is continuing to mix it up with Rupert Wyatt's WWI tale "Birdsong" on his slate, as well as the indie "Young Ones," and now he's coming on board a thriller that already has two strong actresses attached.

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Box Office: 'Jack The Giant Slayer' Barely Climbs Beanstalk To Number One

By Gabe Toro
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March 3, 2013 12:50 PM
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3 Comments

Box Office

The writing was on the wall as soon as director Bryan Singer retreated to the “X-Men” franchise for next year’s “X-Men: Days Of Future Past.” “Jack The Giant Slayer” was destined to be a money-loser, looking like just another post-”Alice In Wonderland” fantasy epic but costing somewhere in the vicinity of an improbable $200 million. With Warner Bros. putting out a quiet ad campaign for the film, scrimping money off the ad budget was the only way to save face: 'Jack' is poised to take a major bath this weekend, coming in under the minimum $30 million the studio was hoping for.

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Review: ‘Jack The Giant Slayer’ An Unexceptional, But Still Satisfying Fairy Tale Blockbuster

By Kevin Jagernauth
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February 26, 2013 7:01 PM
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6 Comments

Reviews

Hollywood’s race to bring fairy tales to the big screen over the last few years, hasn’t had the best results, at least creatively. While “Alice In Wonderland” made a still unbelievable $1 billion worldwide, it simply wasn’t good, and subsequent efforts like “Red Riding Hood,” “Mirror Mirror” and “Snow White & The Huntsman” brought high concepts and diminished returns. Part of the problem has been an issue of approach, with fairy tale films either choosing to aim for kids, or go dark for tweens, with very little middleground. But that’s a problem screenwriters Christohper McQuarrie, Darren Lemke and Dan Studney solve with “Jack The Giant Slayer,” a movie that aims for that soft, MOR mainstream audience, but takes its source material and executes its modest ambitions into a satisfying big screen adventure.

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Nicholas Hoult Joins Rupert Wyatt's WWI Film 'Birdsong'

By Cain Rodriguez
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February 11, 2013 1:42 PM
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News

Last week there was word that “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” helmer Rupert Wyatt had lined up another potential project, an adaptation of Sebastian Faulks’ novel “Birdsong.” Well, it seems that the British director is eager to get started on his passion project as he’s already lined up his leading man.

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Nicholas Hoult, Michael Shannon, Elle Fanning & Kodi Smit-McPhee Are 'Young Ones' For Jake Paltrow

By Kevin Jagernauth
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February 7, 2013 6:33 PM
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2 Comments

News

Certainly less well-known that his much more famous sister and parents, Jake Paltrow has nonetheless been quietly making his own mark. In 2007 he delivered his feature debut "The Good Night," which admittedly didn't make much of a splash. But for his sophomore effort, he's certainly raising his game.

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Box Office: 'Warm Bodies' Tops Super Bowl Weekend, While 'Bullet To The Head' Flops

By Gabe Toro
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February 3, 2013 12:29 PM
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1 Comment

Box Office

Pale young leading man dreamboat? Check. Playing a cannibalistic monster who holds his predatory instincts in check? Check. Falls in love with a girl who looks like Kristen Stewart? Check. Based on a best-selling book, from Lionsgate/Summit? Double check. “Warm Bodies” took dead (har!) aim at the “Twilight” fanbase, with a little spillover from the “The Walking Dead” acolytes, coming together like a demographic stew to score the number one movie on Super Bowl weekend. Even if it drops next weekend, “Warm Bodies” should hold steady for Valentine’s Day, where it will be an ideal date night opportunity for couples who aren’t brave enough to come to the Swingers Mixer we have planned.

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Review: 'Warm Bodies' Exhumes A Zombie Romance Without Much Of A Pulse

By Kevin Jagernauth
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January 29, 2013 4:51 PM
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3 Comments

Reviews

Credit where credit is due, “Warm Bodies” does at the very least bring a zombie to the big screen that we’ve never seen before: one seemingly caught in the grip of an existential crisis. When we first meet the undead R (Nicholas Hoult) he’s literally and figuratively shuffling through life. His decayed state has also robbed him of his memory (he can’t remember his name, hence the initial), he’s not quite sure when his zombie life began and his “hoodie would suggest I was unemployed.” This is part of the pleasingly sardonic opening to the movie (you can watch the first four minutes right here), but unfortunately, it’s a tone that eventually evaporates from “Warm Bodies” in favor of something far more conventional.

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Watch: 6 Clips From Zombie Rom-Com 'Warm Bodies' Plus 4 Posters

By Cain Rodriguez
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January 23, 2013 10:02 AM
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0 Comments

News

With Jonathan Levine’s adaptation of the YA novel “Warm Bodies” arriving next weekend, the marketing machine is beginning to kick into high gear. The actors have been busy doing press, but for those you folks that live online, the studio has released six new clips online along with some new posters.

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Ian McKellan & Patrick Stewart Return For 'X-Men: Days Of Future Past'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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November 27, 2012 3:10 PM
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9 Comments

News

Well, this just got a whole lot more interesting. With the upcoming 'X-Men' movie featuring a plot that involves time travel/time jumping to a certain degree, many wondered if this new series would reach back to the first trilogy of films that were capped off by "X-Men: The Last Stand." And now there is a pretty clear argument that it will likely happen.

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Watch: Nicholas Hoult Is A Morally Conflicted Zombie In Trailer For 'Warm Bodies'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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November 8, 2012 2:03 PM
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8 Comments

News

Initially slated to come at the tail end of this summer, "Warm Bodies" was moved to a release date closer to Valentine's Day presumably to play off its zombie romance center. But judging by this trailer, there might be other reasons it was shifted to an early winter bow.

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