Only two Walt Disney Animation Studios movies in history have grossed $1 billion worldwide. Two of them are the Frozen films. The third is Zootopia, the cute animal/cop movie about a world populated entirely by anthropomorphic critters solving a mystery. The film has spawned a series of shorts on Disney+ and plenty of merchandise — but despite … Read more
Ask any Old, they will tell you: It is crazy that it’s been 50 years since the world first met The Exorcist. 50 years of that creepy image of Max von Sydow standing outside that glowing window in Washington D.C.? Unbelievable! But it’s true. Even more unbelievable: 50 years later, original Exorcist star Ellen Burstyn is reprising her … Read more
Meg Ryan built her career on romantic comedies, and luckily, it looks like she’s having a return to form. That return to form comes in the shape of What Happens Later, a romantic comedy where she plays a dreamy, head-in-the-clouds type opposite the catastrophizing, neurotic David Duchovny. The two old flames realize they’re stranded together in … Read more
The controversial Sundance pick, Cat Person, is finally getting a theatrical release this fall, and they’ve dropped the first trailer. Film festivals are a curious thing. While most filmmakers would be excited to get into a big one like Sundance, there are downsides to being picked, as all of a sudden, you’re under a magnifying … Read more
For a film that was a fairly large hit, and then spawned a long-running animated series with plenty of tie-in merchandise, Tangled is oddly underrepresented in the Disney theme parks. If you go to Walt Disney World and you’re looking for something based on Tangled, the only thing to, uh, enjoy are some Tangled themed bathrooms. (That’s not a joke, by … Read more
The Monopoly movie may at last pass go. (It will surely try to collect more than $200.) Long discussed as a Hasbro toy that could potentially make a reasonable basis for a movie, the Monopoly film is featured prominently in the news this week as part of the sale of the entertainment studio eOne from toy company Hasbro to the … Read more
America has had more than its weird share of fads, but even by those standards, the Beanie Babies were something rare and special. A massive economy was constructed in the mid-’90s around the collection sale of these little stuffed toys, which were deliberately produced in limited quantities in order to provoke scarcity and drive up … Read more
Hulk may be the strongest Marvel hero, but when he comes to cinematic resumes, his is a bit on the weak side. His first film, 2003’s Hulk, was a bit of a commercial flop, although its quirky visual style has its fans. 2008’s The Incredible Hulk remains one of the most poorly reviewed films in … Read more
Certainly, there are a lot of movie sequels these days. There are times during the calendar year when it feels like all we get are sequels in theaters. Still, every so often, the announcement of a sequel can surprise you all the same. Case in point: The 2005 arms-dealer drama Lord of War will now … Read more
Tea Gremlins animated series, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai has taken a really long time making it to the screen. The show, an animated prequel to the original Gremlins movies directed by Joe Dante, was announced way back in the summer of 2019. Its announcement predates the existence of Warner Bros.’ streaming services; at that … Read more