The Playlist

The obsessives' guide to contemporary cinema via film discussion, news, reviews, features, nostalgia, movie music, soundtracks, DVDs and more.

Interviews

Pantelion Films To Release Will Ferrell's Spanish Comedy 'Casa De Mi Padre' On March 16, 2012

By Oliver Lyttelton
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November 3, 2011 3:17 AM
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1 Comment

While Anchor Bay Nab Starry Channing Tatum-Led Ensemble Drama 'Ten Year'For a while, we were starting to wonder if we'd dreamed the Will Ferrell comedy "Casa De Mi Padre." On almost no one's radar before the start of this year, a surprise trailer for the project, a Spanish-language film co-starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, debuted back in the spring, but nothing's been heard from the film since, and we had to double check our archives to make sure it was a real thing, and not something that we'd imagined after a night with too many telenovelas and too much meth.

By Simon Dang
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October 27, 2011 2:35 AM
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If you're in with Darren Aronofsky, you're certainly in our good books. The writer-director has a keen eye for talent, shining a light on names like Sean Gullette, Clint Mansell, Matthew Libatique and Robert D. Siegel. And let's not forget the revitalization of Mickey Rourke.

By Gabe Toro
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October 2, 2011 4:38 AM
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Break it down however you want, but its simple economics. The last month has been absolutely saturated with product, so few of it appealing to mainstream America. These movies aren’t bad. And, in most cases, the marketing isn’t all that faulty. It’s pure numbers. The market can’t withstand this over-saturation. In September, eighteen films entered wide release of 1500 or more theaters, and only six crossed $30 million domestic, two of them benefiting from inflated 3D prices. That’s a poor record of success, even as we keep the bar exactly that low.

By Kevin Jagernauth
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September 27, 2011 5:24 AM
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1 Comment

Remember earlier this year when the trailer for the videogame "Dead Island" dropped and every nerd with a controller creamed their pants? And then there was all kinds of premature news about a movie adaptation before the game had even arrived, leading publishers Deep Silver to put the kibosh on the rumors, saying back in February, “We are looking for quality above all else for a movie based on ‘Dead Island.’ We want to do it the right way as film realizations of games (or vice versa) usually fail to deliver what the fans were looking for. We will not go down this route with ‘Dead Island.’ Deep Silver profoundly believes in the quality and value of its Dead Island IP.”

By Gabe Toro
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September 25, 2011 4:35 AM
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8 Comments

"Hakuna Matata!" proclaims Disney, discovering what amounts to an entirely new revenue stream. “The Lion King 3D” has taken the crown decisively for the second straight weekend with $22 million, amidst some otherwise heavy fall competition that was a lot buzzier and, without a doubt, more expensive. The original plan was to play the film for two weeks, but after ten days, it’s been far and away the biggest movie attraction, and the film will be extending its stay at the multiplexes which could add nearly $40 million to the coffers.

By Kevin Jagernauth
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September 21, 2011 7:57 AM
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Lionsgate Nabs Midnight Madness Horror Flick 'You're Next'The biggest WTF movie so far this year has been Paolo Sorrentino's followup to his acclaimed "Il Divo," the Sean Penn starring "This Must Be Place." Premiering to a very mixed reception at Cannes this spring (that's sort of putting it kindly), the story follows a (seemingly) barely functioning goth rocker (Penn doing his best Robert Smith impression) who finds out his father he hasn’t seen in 30 years is dead and then goes on a road trip to find the SS Officer who made his life hell when he was imprisoned at Auschwitz. No, really, that's the plot. But it seems the Weinsteins know a challenge (or a bargain) when they see one, picking up the North American rights to the film.

By Kevin Jagernauth
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September 19, 2011 2:40 AM
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0 Comments

Magnolia Takes On 'The Hunter' With Willem DafoeThe TIFF Bell Lightbox will be a bit quieter today as the Toronto International Film Festival shut the lights last night on the event which saw the Canadian city swamped with movies, press and stars from around the world in what is the big kick off to the fall awards season. And as everyone packed their bags and headed to Pearson airport to head home, it seems deals were still being struck in the final few days of the fest.

By Oliver Lyttelton
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September 13, 2011 2:00 AM
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Plus Supernatural Thriller 'Enter Nowhere' Finds A Home With Lionsgate TooIt's been a fairly quiet Toronto International Film Festival in terms of acquisitions, with Steve McQueen's "Shame" being the highest-profile buy so far, but even that sold for somewhere below a million dollars, a relatively meager sum. But slowly, things are starting to gear up, with a few films selling in the last 24 hours, and more looking close to being picked up.