Thompson on Hollywood

Trailer Watch: John Carter Teaser Lands with Leaping Taylor Kitsch, Epic Imagery

Having underwhelmed us with their teaser poster, Disney does deliver a rousing first teaser trailer for Andrew Stanton's Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptation John Carter. Stanton, the writer-director of Pixar's Wall-E, moves into live-action, directing Taylor Kitsch in the title role as a lonely American soldier who is magically transported to red planet Barsoom, where he boasts gravity-boosted strength. Think Avatar, as James Cameron grew up on these novels. Carter is allied with Red Martians Ciaran Hinds, Lynn Collins, Dominic West and James Purefoy against four-armed Green Martians Willem Dafoe, Polly Walker, Thomas Haden Church and Samantha Morton in this immersive digital epic.

By Anne Thompson
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July 14, 2011 8:15 AM
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: It All Ends at the Box Office

As Warner Bros. brings the blockbuster franchise Harry Potter to an end, our in-house numbers cruncher, Anthony d'Alessandro, looks at what could be some astronomical numbers for the ultimate Harry Potter movie, Deathly Hallows Part 2. This comes as no surprise, but according to studio box office bean counters and early U.S. tracking, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is expected to ring up the best domestic three-day opening of the franchise, out-whizzing the $125-million bow set last November by Part 1.

By Anthony D'Alessandro
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July 11, 2011 4:20 AM
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2: Satisfying and Glorious Finale

From London, critic Matt Mueller reviews Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2: For those who felt that splitting the final book of JK Rowling’s wizard’s-own adventure series into two films was just a cynical ploy to squeeze more cash out of moviegoers, not helped by the hurry-up-already feeling left by Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 1, all will be forgiven with this immensely satisfying and gloriously nostalgic finale. Deathly Hallows: Part 2 can instantly be counted as one of the finest closing chapters to a franchise in movie history.

By Matt Mueller
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July 9, 2011 9:52 AM
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Fox Ape App Could Deflate Your Ego

To promote prequel Rise of the Planet of the Apes’s simian-vs-man premise, Twentieth Century Fox has released an application that will test whether iPhones and iPads users are more intelligent than monkeys.

By Maggie Lange
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July 8, 2011 6:06 AM
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Relativity Beefs Up Fall Slate with Forster's Machine Gun Preacher, Banks on Genre for 2011/2012

Neophyte distributor Relativity's future is banked on its 2011/2012 schedule, which is packed with genre fare (see full line-up below). Much production coin and P & A is invested in this slate. Relativity has now beefed up its fall lineup by taking back North American rights from Lionsgate of its own production of Marc Forster's Machine Gun Preacher, starring Gerard Butler as real-life reformed criminal Sam Childers.

By Anne Thompson
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July 7, 2011 8:20 AM
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Five Things We Learn from Esquire on Daniel Craig: Dragon Tattoo Violence, Tintin Leotard

Esquire learned many things from Daniel Craig, much more than his favorite word being "fuck" and his blue eyes being money-makers. The British star has several anticipated movies due in theaters and in the works and plenty to talk about: Cowboys & Aliens (trailer below, July 29), Dream House (September 30), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (teaser below, December 21), The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (December 23) and Bond 23 (2012). (At the time of the interview, Craig's Dream House co-star Rachel Weisz was his girlfriend, not yet his wife.)

By Sophia Savage
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July 7, 2011 5:18 AM
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Early Reviews Debate Franchise Ending

Timed with the Thursday London premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (in 3-D), the Brit and trade reviews of the eighth and final installment of the global blockbuster franchise are upbeat (see them and livestream of premiere at 8 AM Pacific, below):

By Anne Thompson
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July 6, 2011 11:05 AM
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Dueling Snow Whites: Huntsman Set as Trilogy; Character Details for Stewart, Theron and Hemsworth

Who needs "happily ever after" when you can reinvent the fairy-tale rules?

By Sophia Savage
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July 5, 2011 6:48 AM
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Oscar Watch: Skin I Live In Gets October Date; Carnage Goes to November, Holiday Sked Shapes Up

The earlier a high-prestige art house movie opens in the fall, the less likely that its distributor harbors serious Oscar hopes for it. In other words, if Sony Pictures Classics moves Pedro Almodovar's retitled Skin I Live In from November to October, and slates Roman Polanski's Carnage on November 18, it means the latter is being given the Oscar advantage. Almodovar's kinky thriller starring Antonio Banderas met a mixed reception in Cannes. "This is not a move," asserts SPC co-president Michael Barker. "We never set the date until now. We were always going in the Fall. It is a great date."

By Anne Thompson
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June 27, 2011 1:50 AM
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Elba's Star Rises with Pacific Rim; Del Toro Wants To Direct Jolie in Maleficent

Idris Elba may not be playing Django in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (he did, however, win our casting poll), but after TV hits The Wire, The Office and Luther and numerous co-star and supporting film roles (including 28 Weeks Later, American Gangster, RocknRolla, Obsessed, The Losers, Taken, Thor) and the upcoming Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and Prometheus (alongside Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace and Charlize Theron), the actor is anything but desperate for work.