Business of Hollywood Kevin Feige’s big day Comic Con started yesterday, but before heading to San Diego, almost everyone affiliated with Marvel was at Kevin Feige’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in Los Angeles. His ubiquitous baseball cap and general mien of unshakeable pleasantness makes it easy to forget he’s arguably the most powerful producer By Sarah • Jul 26, 2024 11:20 am
Business of Hollywood Intro for July 26, 2024 Dear Gossips, Time for a creative industry labor relations update—SAG-AFTRA is striking against video game publishers. The strike went into effect at 12:01 AM this morning and comes after over EIGHTEEN MONTHS of negotiations (and as the World of Warcraft team voted to unionize on the development side By Sarah • Jul 26, 2024 09:06 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Dork Storm 2024: Infinity Dork It’s that time of year again, when dorks unite in San Diego to celebrate everything geek culture. That’s right, it’s Comic Con. Though it feels different now than it used to, in large part because the sheer dominance of Hall H, where movie studios and TV networks By Sarah • Jul 25, 2024 11:42 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Deadpool’s final push Deadpool & Wolverine opens at the end of the week, and since I just nailed a box office prediction with Twisters, I’ll try again with this one. Deadpool is tracking for a $160 million opening weekend, but once again I think that’s low, and it will go upwards By Sarah • Jul 23, 2024 10:34 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Twisters blew away the box office I said it! Did I not say it?! I did! I said Twisters would beat expectations! Very specifically I said it would make $80 million: “…the $50 million estimate for Twisters feels low, I won’t be surprised if that movie hits around $80 million.” Twisters blew away its opening By Sarah • Jul 22, 2024 10:57 am
Movie Reviews and Previews The Russo Brothers are returning to Marvel Today in No Duh News, it’s been reported that sibling filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo are returning to Marvel to direct Avengers 5 and 6. This after Shawn Levy, director of Deadpool & Wolverine, was being considered—maybe even offered?—the job, but honestly, the Russos returning makes all By Sarah • Jul 18, 2024 12:51 pm
Marcus and Friends (dogs) Deadpool inches closer The last two major blockbusters of summer 2024 are coming up over the next couple weeks, with Twisters opening next week, and then Deadpool & Wolverine on July 26. Deadpool is expected to be one of the biggest films of the year, and is tracking for a $160-165 million opening By Sarah • Jul 12, 2024 10:20 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Kevin Costner’s box office bomb This is the year of rich A-listers spending their own dime on passion projects—some might say “vanity projects”—and in Kevin Costner’s case, it isn’t working out as hoped. His awkwardly titled Western epic Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is bombing at the box office, and By Sarah • Jul 11, 2024 01:12 pm
Jock Smut Brad Pitt goes vroom Over the weekend we got our first look at Brad Pitt’s Formula 1 movie, now officially titled F1. It’s directed by Joseph Kosinski, and stars Pitt as a veteran racecar driver who comes out of retirement to show a younger driver, played by Damson Idris, the ways of By Sarah • Jul 08, 2024 10:42 am
Business of Hollywood A Paramount merger is back on (probably) This is starting to feel like Wayne and Garth shouting “game off” and “game on” as cars interrupt their street hockey. I know I am dating myself with this reference, but it feels the most apt for the start-stop nature of whatever the f-ck is happening at Paramount. Just last By Sarah • Jul 04, 2024 12:59 pm
Business of Hollywood Intro for June 28, 2024 Dear Gossips, Six months ago, there was a report that Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount, two of the oldest and most storied Hollywood studios, were considering a merger. That deal did not materialize, though Paramount ended up coming within literally TWO MINUTES of merging with Media—owned by tech nepo By Sarah • Jun 28, 2024 09:44 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Intro for June 18, 2024 Dear Gossips, The summer box office see-saw continues to do its thing, going from the lowest low of the dismal Memorial Day weekend, now to the highest high of Inside Out 2 opening with $154 million domestic ($295 million globally). It’s a “return to form” for Pixar, but only By Sarah • Jun 18, 2024 09:29 am
Business of Hollywood Sony is the first studio to buy theaters In 2020, the US Supreme Court ended the “Paramount decree”, which kept movie studios from owning movie theaters, a piece of 1930s anti-trust legislation created in a time when most movie theaters had just one screen and studios self-dealing their own films to their own theaters could block competitors from By Sarah • Jun 13, 2024 10:54 am
Business of Hollywood Intro for June 6, 2024 Dear Gossips, In 2020, South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho won Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Picture for Parasite. He had previously directed the masterful Memories of Murder, as well as international hits The Host and Mother, and he’s made a couple of films for the Hollywood system, By Sarah • Jun 06, 2024 09:23 am
Movie Reviews and Previews No one wants the Trump movie Ali Abassi’s film about a younger Donald Trump and his business daddy, Roy Cohn, The Apprentice, debuted at Cannes to generally good reviews. The film stars Jeremy Strong in his first post-Succession screen role, Sebastian Stan, and Maria Bakalova, plus Abassi is a generally admired filmmaker whose last film, By Sarah • Jun 03, 2024 11:29 am
Business of Hollywood Intro for May 31, 2024 Dear Gossips, I promise one day we will get through an entire week without talking about AI but the movie people won’t stop talking about it, which means we have to, as well. The latest is from Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra, who told investors in Japan that at By Sarah • May 31, 2024 09:11 am
