Metaphor: ReFantazio is one of our most anticipated games of the year, and the next RPG from the creative team that brought the world Persona 5. After leaving Persona development team P-Studio in 2016, director Katsura Hashino founded a new internal team at Atlus named Zero Studio. Soon after, Project Re:Fantasy was…
Who’s ready for a Sandworm ride? The long-awaited (and delayed) sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is getting spicy in theaters, and we want to know what you think about the film! Anticipation for Dune: Part Two has been through the roof since last year, and then the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes hit Hollywood. Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros. Film Group agreed to delay the film until 2024, knowing that a robust promotional campaign for the science-fiction epic would serve the project (and the box office) well.
The delay is paying off as Dune: Part Two already took $12 million home from preview screenings. The film debuted in 4,500 locations, with Imax screenings bringing in 38% of the pot. I’ve got tickets for an 11:30 screening at my local theater tomorrow, joining the crowds already rushing to theaters to experience one of 2024’s most anticipated features.
Our Editor-in-Chief and reviewer Chris Bumbray awarded Dune: Part Two with a coveted 10/10 score in his review, calling Villeneuve’s sequel an “uncompromised epic,” a “masterpiece,” and “filmmaking at the highest level.”
Early tickets for Dune: Part Two went on sale on January 26, with receipts stacking like hotcakes, outpacing Universal’s Oppenheimer, which is quite the feat. Dune: Part Two may blow past the projected $65M+ as theater offerings have been slim for weeks. Movie fans are a tenacious bunch with money burning in their pockets. It seems harsh to lay the saving of a dismal box office at Dune’s feet, but Hollywood is still recuperating from the pandemic and strikes.
Dune: Part Two “will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family,” says the film’s official synopsis. “Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.”
Denis Villeneuve directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jon Spaihts based on Frank Herbert’s novel. The film is produced by Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Villeneuve, Tanya Lapointe, and Patrick McCormick. The executive producers are Josh Grode, Herbert W. Gains, Jon Spaihts, Thomas Tull, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, and Kim Herbert, with Kevin J. Anderson as a creative consultant.
What do you think about Dune: Part Two? Let us know in the comments section below, and please be mindful of spoilers, as many are waiting to escape the work week so they can experience the film for themselves. Cheers!
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A new chapter in The Walking Dead saga has premiered on AMC. The show has gone through a lot of cast members and two characters who have survived it all, Rick and Michonne, are now on a personal journey together in a post-post apocalyptic world. The show premiered this past week and in a review from our own Alex Maidy, he stated, “Regardless of how exposition-heavy this premiere episode is, there is still something great about seeing zombies on screen, and the make-up work by The Walking Dead crew never disappoints. I just hope that this first episode was a requisite recap on the way to bigger and better storytelling in the chapters to follow. For now, I am lukewarm on The Ones Who Live, and that is being generous.”
The sequel series started off with a bang as a shocking turn took place. With the writers aiming to keep things fresh and perhaps with the loyal fans returning, Bloody Disgusting reports that the ratings for The Ones Who Live have spelled good news for AMC again, as the last entries have lacked the viewership that the original show had in its heyday. According to The Wrap, AMC is boasting about the ratings, saying the premiere episode “delivered 3 million viewers during its premiere week, according to Nielsen Live +3 ratings.” They illustrate further, “These premiere ratings are the biggest AMC has seen for a new show in six years. […] The first episode of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live is the most-watched episode of any show on the [AMC+] platform. Though AMC didn’t give any specific numbers, the two-day viewership total for the premiere has already outpaced the first week of viewership for any season premiere on the platform.”
The president of entertainment for AMC Studios for AMC Networks, Dan McDermott, expressed his enthused surprise of the reception, “What a start for The Ones Who Live, the biggest episode of television in the history of AMC+ for both viewership and customer acquisition, the top cable drama of the current TV season in key demos and our biggest AMC series premiere in six years. This is a show the world, and particularly the incredibly passionate and engaged fans of this universe, have been waiting for and essentially willed into existence. Thanks to Danai, Andy and Scott for everything it took to get here and all that is yet to come. We can’t wait to share the rest of this incredible season with the fans over the next five weeks.”
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live airs Sundays on AMC and AMC+.
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This article contains potential spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine! Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
Will Marvel Studios‘ Deadpool & Wolverine do more to set up the MCU’s X-Men era than anticipated? It certainly looks that way. An early word about the third Deadpool movie says it’s a game-changer for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as the Merc With a Mouth gains access to the TVA (Time Variance Authority) and unleashes more multiversal madness. The MCU desperately needs a shake-up, and it sounds like a wickedly powerful villain could usher significant changes into the interconnected universe. A new report reveals Emma Corrin’s villainous character in Deadpool & Wolverine. If you don’t want to read spoilers about this aspect of the film, click away now.
Are you still here? Oh, good! According to Culture Crave, Emma Corrin (Murder at the End of the World, The Crown, Nosferatu) plays Cassandra Nova Xavier in Deadpool & Wolverine. Who the hell is that? She’s Charles Xavier’s twisted twin sister! Created by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, Cassandra Nova and Charles are not on good terms. During their birth, Charles recognized Cassandra’s vileness and killed her, resulting in a miscarriage. Cassandra survived the attack and remained undetected until she re-emerged with malice in her heart and daggers in her eyes. She unleashed an unprecedented attack on the mutant paradise Genosha using Sentinels.
An official copyright linking the actor’s name to Cassandra Nova confirms her role. The reveal is of little surprise, though, as fans have been saying Corrin will play Cassandra Nova since the Deadpool & Wolverine teaser trailer debut. In the teaser, the silhouette of someone with a bald head appears in the footage. Some thought it could be Charles Xavier, but readers familiar with Cassandra’s story were quick to distinguish her from her brother.
The Deadpool & Wolverine teaser already indicates that it flies in the face of Disney’s family-friendly sensibilities, with references to pegging, ultra-violence, and Wade declaring himself as Marvel Jesus. You might want to leave the kids at home for this one. Then again, maybe they’re used to this sort of thing after repeatedly watching the other two Deadpool movies.
Deadpool and Wolverine stars Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, and Matthew Macfadyen, with the House of Ideas teasing cameos from across the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
What do you think about Emma Corrin playing Cassandra Nova? Are you familiar with the character? Let us know in the comments section below. Deadpool & Wolverine comes to theaters on July 26, 2024.
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Breakout hit Balatro—a poker-themed roguelike deck builder—has run into some ratings trouble that’s led to the game being suddenly removed from the Nintendo eShop in many European countries. This removal has surprised both the developer and publisher, who now have to work to get the game back up on the shop for sale.
Breakout hit Balatro—a poker-themed roguelike deck builder—has run into some ratings trouble that’s led to the game being suddenly removed from the Nintendo eShop in many European countries. This removal has surprised both the developer and publisher, who now have to work to get the game back up on the shop for sale.
Yellow Veil Pictures and Vinegar Syndrome have released the hypnotic and beautifully meditative trailer for Riddle of Fire, a movie that was included in the lineup at last year’s Fantastic Fest and Midnight Madness at TIFF. The trailer plays like a fever dream as writer and director Weston Razooli takes you on a unique journey through the eyes of children as they make their way through the forest and encounter many threatening figures, which plays out like a dark fairy tale.
The official synopsis reads,
“This neo-fairytale set in Wyoming, USA follows three mischievous children as they embark on an odyssey when their mother asks them to run an errand. On the hunt to obtain her favourite blueberry pie, the children are kidnapped by poachers, battle a witch, outwit a huntsman, befriend a fairy, and bond together to become best friends forever.”
Skyler Peters, Phoebe Ferro, Charlie Stover and Lorelei Mote are the four leads who play Jodie, Alice, Hazel and Petal. The cast also includes Lio Tipton, Charles Halford, Andrea Browne, Rachel Browne, Weston Razooli, Austin Archer, Danielle Hoetmer and Chuck Mara. The film is produced by Sohrab Mirmont, Weston Razooli, Lio Tipton and David Atrakchi. Jay Van Hoy, Sophie Meister, Marlowe Griffin, Lyddon Brendan, Griffin Lyddon, David Wiener,
Kate Wiener and Donna Grunich are the executive producers on the film.
The director made a statement on the film that reads, “Riddle of Fire is a neo-fairytale adventure comedy from the point of view of four picaresque bandit children: A 16mm witches’ brew of Grimm’s fairytales, Criterion Saturday matinees, Romantic poetry, British folklore, neo-westerns, gasoline, and paintball guns set in the American West. Through this lens, Riddle of Fire explores how children manage living in fractured households by creating their own worlds, morals, and mythical friendships. Also intended to be a spiritual refuge in a film, Riddle of Fire is a world of pure adventure, summer in the mountains, magic and love – a fairytale for today.”
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While the Marvel Universe continues to chug along and James Gunn attempts to resuscitate the DC universe into something worth watching, we will yet again go back to the world of graphic novels for our inspiration on book vs movie. It’s really a very untapped realm as there are so many good horror comics out there, many without adaptations yet. The ones that have been adapted are very fun and interesting. Today is the mostly forgotten early 2000s movie From Hell (watch it HERE), which is based on the stunning and epic graphic novel from famed wizard and all-around cranky dude Alan Moore. Like many graphic novels, the journey to page and then screen was a long and arduous one. It is based on the very real killings in Whitechapel that were later attributed to Jack the Ripper. While both have a lot of truths to them along with quite a bit of fantasy and conjecture, how close to the source material does the 2001 film get to. Line up your suspects as we find out what happened to this adaptation.
The Movie
Considering the source material From Hell was started in 1989, the movie took a bit to get going. This tracks considering the development hell some of Alan Moore’s other works went through like V for Vendetta and most famously Watchmen. Moore is also famously against the adaptation of his works as he has been personally disappointed by nearly every one of them. he even had his name removed from The Watchmen and it is credited to artist Dave Gibbons in the adapted from section. The rights to the movie passed through a few studios before finally settling in at 20th century fox and getting into production. The Hughes brothers were chosen as directors and Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Robbie Coltrane, and Ian Holm were signed on to star with Terry Hayes and Rafael Yglesias hired as screenwriters.
The Hughes Brothers had made a name for themselves first with directing a couple music videos for 2Pac but then in the world of film made a splash with the 90s hit Menace II Society followed quickly by Dead Presidents. After this movie it would take a while, but they would come back with moderate hit The Book of Eli in 2010. They had decent stock when they signed on to direct From Hell and actually turned down the remake of Planet of the Apes to do it. They originally wanted Daniel Day Lewis to play the Abberline character but when he turned them down, they went through Sean Connery, Brad Pitt, and Jude Law before landing on Johnny Depp. Depp is no stranger to horror with his first role being in the original Nightmare on Elm Street and a few other horror movies like Tusk, Secret Window, and The Ninth Gate.
Robbie Coltrane has pretty much no horror to his name besides this but in addition to his roles in the Pierce Brosnan Bond movies and Hagrid, can I suggest you check out Mona Lisa and Krull. Graham got her start back in the late 80s and has shown up in things like Twin Peaks, Austin Powers, Boogie Nights and other horror like Scream 2 and the wonderful Suitable Flesh from 2023. Finally, we have Holm who is more famous now for his role in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies but Ash in Alien and his role in The Fifth Element are my personal favorites. The screenwriters have mixed credits with Rafael having also written Death and the Maiden and the Dark Water remake while Hayes has both Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome as well as Mel Gibson’s Payback and underseen Dead Calm.
The movie was released on October 19th, 2001, and made 75 million on its 35-million-dollar budget. It was number one in its first week at the box office but was very middle of the pack for critics. It also had to be cut down severely to avoid an NC-17 rating. The DVD that was released was a 2 disc that was loaded with behind the scenes and other special features.
The Story
From Hell began development in the late 1980s when Alan Moore had finished watching a documentary on Jack the Ripper. He called his friend and fellow legend Neil Gaiman, as you do, and asked for his help researching by finding case files of possible suspects. This led him to the theory by Stephen Knight who proposed that the Ripper identity was created to cover up the birth of an illegitimate royal baby. It has ben poked with holes and had contrary evidence thrown it’s way but in a world of Fake News and conspiracies about events being staged to cover up other events, its not THAT crazy sounding.
The story was released in multiple parts from 1989 to 1998. While it started in the magazine Taboo, the artist and author decided they wanted to move it to its own publishing in 1992. It finished it’s run in 1998 and was released into a massive 572-page edition that you can still get today with various additions, annotations, and addendums added from the author and other contributors. Moore is almost unmatched in his output with this, V for Vendetta, Watchmen, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and his comic book runs with Swamp Thing and Superman. Also, The Killing Joke is required Batman reading. Artist Eddie Campbell did a lot of self-publishing and experimented in autobiographical comics with the story of Alec who stood in for the artist. From Hell was critically praised and won several awards during its run and in re-release form.
What is the same?
Both mediums follow a group of prostitutes and their friend Annie who ended up marrying a rich man and having a child. Government officials and police separate the girl from her husband and child and have her lobotomized. The rest of the prostitutes begin to be killed off by the Whitechapel murderer who would later be known as Jack the Ripper. The driver who takes the Ripper to and from his locations is forced to write a letter to the police. The letter is a real letter sent to authorities when the events took place dubbed the From Hell letter. Inspector Frederick Abberline is brought into the official investigation even though some of the police are complicit in covering up the murders. Abberline has little success in identifying the Ripper but eventually it is revealed to be physician of the crown William Gull.
Gull has murdered all of the girls and has become unhinged with his belief that he is a god among men even within his own secret society. He is put in prison for the rest of his life and we see a vision of Mary, the final prostitute who he thought he killed, alive in Ireland and the case of who Jack the Ripper is, never gets solved.
What is different?
This is definitely one of the cases of a “loose” adaptation. The overall story is the same but there are more things different between the two mediums than there are similarities. The first one is how the narrative is followed. The movie makes it all about Depp’s detective who is also a heroin addict and kind of psychic. The drug addiction doesn’t have a book alternative but him being a psychic is taken from the psychic that the book version of Depp’s character runs into and tells him that Gull is the killer. Abberline also dies of an overdose at the end of the movie after keeping Mary being alive a secret even though he wants to be with her. There is also no relationship between Mary and Abberline that takes place over a huge chunk of the movie.
Sticking with characters and motivations, the prostitutes in the book are actually trying to extort the crown and that’s when the queen actually turns Gull on them as punishment and a distraction from the royal baby being born. In fact, the entire message of the story and main character is different. While Abberline is in the movie from the very beginning, his character is an almost non-essential part of the comic. Gull is the main character, and we follow his story of going more and more mad as he kills all the women. He has an agenda that he needs to kill the prostitutes to assert the male dominance over females. He sees visions of London in the future and eventually that he is the inspiration for works of fiction in the next century. While the movie follows aberline in his journey to find Jack the Ripper, the source material tells you from the beginning who it is and what they are doing. Having that as a movie might have been hard to pull off and keep the audiences engaged.
The endings of both men are different as well with movie Gull receiving a lobotomy at the hands of his council while book Gull is put in prison for the rest of his life while he transcends into Godhood. There is a lot more political intrigue and even smaller details in the book. Spanning 562 pages while most screenplays for movies that are two hours run around 120 pages. The art style didn’t quite transfer from page to screen either unfortunately. While the directors tried their hardest, it just didn’t work out as they had hoped.
Legacy
Normally it is a difficult decision to make between what holds up; the printed page of the silver screen but this one is fairly easy. The movie From Hell I mentioned as a mostly forgotten to time flick and re-watching it, it’s mostly flat. I wanted to like it so much more when I rented it from Video Unlimited over 20 years ago and I wanted to like it more just two weeks ago when I gave it a re-watch for the review. Hell, editor Mike says it’s the first movie he fell asleep in the theater to! The book is another masterwork by Moore. It’s smart, overbearing, belligerent, and a genius take on a subject matter that deserves a crafted and catered look. The movie is an interesting piece of early 2000s horror with a fun cast and the potential to be good while the book is a must read for historians, horror fans, and salty necromancing wizard Moore fans alike. Do yourself a favor and read the comics and watch the movie as a supplementary spin on a hell of a tale.
A couple of the previous episodes of WTF Happened to This Adaptation? can be seen below. To see the other shows we have to offer, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
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Tim Blake Nelson is excited about his return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time since 2008 when he played Samuel Sterns / The Leader in The Incredible Hulk. The Leader returns to the MCU in Captain America: Brave New World, which sees Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson picking up the shield after Steve Rogers passed the torch. The Incredible Hulk ended with Sterns undergoing his transformation into The Leader, and Nelson says his look in the new film could be more comics-accurate.
After an accident at a chemical plant exposed Sterns to high levels of radiation, his skin turned green, and his head became enlarged alongside his brain. After dying and returning to life several times, the Leader becomes obsessed with the afterlife and an object called the Green Door, “a metaphysical barrier that connects the Below-Place, the bottom layer of the Multiverse, even below the deepest layer of Hell, to the real world.” (via MarvelFandom) With his superior intellect, the Leader is a criminal mastermind with ambitions that rival the extent of his smarts.
Speaking with Comicbook.com, Nelson said he’s “really excited” about bringing a more comics-accurate Leader to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “I had a great time filming it,” Nelson said. “And [I] worked with the Marvel team and this wonderful makeup artist named David Atherton, with whom I’ve collaborated on a dozen movies now.”
“I think people are going to be pretty excited about what this guy looks like. And what he has to say and what he does,” Nelson teased. “All power to the amazing team over there at Marvel.”
As Comicbook.com points out, Nelson is careful not to confirm his character’s iconic look, but we can read his comments between the lines. Marvel Studios often recreates characters with comic book accuracy (except for Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher, ugh). Nelson’s Leader may arrive on screen with green skin, a massive skull, and terrifying technological enhancements.
Directed by Julius Onah, Captain America: Brave New World opens in theaters on February 14, 2025. The highly-anticipated superhero sequel stars Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America, Harrison Ford as Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, Live Tyler as Betty Ross, Rosa Salazar, Shira Haas as Sabra, Time Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns/The Leader, Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley, and Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres.
Are you excited about Tim Blake Nelson’s Leader returning to the MCU? How much Hulk-related content is in the next Captain America film? We’ll have to wait for more details to find out.
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Jason Blum and James Wan have carved out a nice little partnership with some successful mid-budget horror movies. The two have collaborated with their production companies, Blumhouse and Atomic Monster, for recent projects like the latest film in the Insidious series, which also had Patrick Wilson make his directorial debut, Insidious: The Red Door and the killer doll movie, M3GAN. Recently, it was revealed that Blum’s dream project is to revive the Friday the 13th franchise. The classic slasher series hasn’t released a film since the 2009 Platinum Dunes reboot.
The rights to Friday the 13th are currently tangled up with director Sean Cunningham and writer Victor Miller disputing who has the rightful possession, but Blum is brainstorming a way to usher in the new series if he’s able to acquire the property. Collider asked Blum what movie he’d greenlight right now if he could and he answered, “Friday the 13th is what I would do. It’s not a Blumhouse project, but I’m trying to will it into being one. It’s just a piece of IP I’ve always loved.” And his horror movie business partner is who he’s set his sights on to oversee the reboot, “And James Wan and Atomic Monster are very passionate about it, and I think we would have them shepherd it for us. That would be a lot of fun.”
In addition to Blum expressing interest in the IP, Blumhouse producer Ryan Turek also shared his enthusiasm for snatching the hockey mask for their company, “Jason [Blum] and I are definitely in agreement that Friday the 13th is the thing we would love to get our hands on. I really want to go back to the basics. You don’t need too many ingredients for a Friday the 13th film. You need summer camp, you need campers, and you need Jason Vorhees in a mask.”
He added, “Listen, I’ve gone on the record saying Halloween is the ultimate slasher film for me. That’s my favorite slasher film of all time. But Friday the 13th as a franchise is one that I just bow down to. I just love everything about it. And if we were able to live in both worlds, like we do with Halloween, then to be able to live at Crystal Lake for a while would be so incredible.”
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