Well, we kind of brought this one on ourselves. After the massive success of The Lion King 3D, adding another $80 million to the film’s already huge $883 million worldwide take (back in 1992, so I am not adjusting for inflation), Disney has announced that four other trademark films will be making a return trip to theaters in 3D: Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc, and The Little Mermaid.
In recent years we have seen an expansion in the spy thriller genre. Whether it is the “new Bond” series or the “Bourne” trilogy, the action-oriented movies like the “Mission: Impossible” series and Salt, or contemporary affairs such as Body of Lies andRendition, spies are all over the place. This new adaptation of the John le Carré novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy sets out to be a much more complex and grounded affair than the usual spy flicks.
The Lion King has made a killing at the Box Office, back in 1994 and now over the last few weeks during its 3D run. It is a childhood favorite for many people, including many of us at Player Affinity. The re-release of The Lion King includes both a two-disc Blu-ray set and a four-disc 3D Blu-ray set and has range of extras including deleted scenes and songs.
Surprise! J.J. Abrams has been hired by Paramount (his go-to studio) to tackle yet another mystery project scheming in the back of Abrams’ head. Deadline also reports that screenwriter Billy Ray (Breach, State of Play) has been brought on to pen the script.
Both gents are currently keeping very busy in the Hollywood landscape. Abrams is producing a mountain of projects while turning his sights on his next directorial gig: the sequel to Star Trek. Ray has long finished penning the big screen adaptation of The Hunger Games for Lionsgate, a job he could likely repeat for subsequent sequels, depending on how well received the first film is.
After a strong third-place finish last week, the well-received family-favorite Dolphin Tale jumped up to first, followed by two similarly acclaimed repeaters. Slipping by just a quarter, that frisky amputee mammal posted a 25.6-percent dip, easily surging to the top of the North American box office.
The Twilight Zone remains a science-fiction classic to this day. Its way of telling offbeat stories cemented its iconic standing in the sci-fi genre. A film adaptation hit in 1983, and now Warner Bros. looks to get another one off the ground.
Most movies don’t know how to handle cancer. Heck, most people don’t know how to handle cancer, and I’m not talking about the patients. Cancer, or any other terminal illness for that matter, almost always plays some kind X-factor in a film — that is when a film dares to enter a realm often deemed depressing and “not for the movies.” Most often, scripts will position cancer as an emotional turning point in a tearjerker film or as the initial spark of some banal “live life to the fullest” comedy.
50/50 puts an end to that. Written semi-autobiographically by cancer survivor Will Reiser, it would seem it takes one to write one. Although cancer drives the entire story, the story doesn’t fixate on cancer or melodramatize the terrible truths we already know about potentially fatal illness.
