Six months along, I think the key takeaway from Helldivers 2 is that no good thing can reasonably last in this ecosystem. Its launch back in February was marked by a meteoric ascent to the top of the charts, but the past few months have been marred by controversy and upheaval that has hurt the game and the reputation…
This summer movie season gets the nearly back-to-back releasing of films from power couple Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively. While Deadpool & Wolverine is clearly the event movie of the year, Reynolds has been supportive of his wife’s film by giving It Ends With Us its own little viral marketing by crashing the promotional junket. This strategy is an interesting one as It Ends With Us is a stripped-down character drama, juxtaposed to the meta madness of Deadpool. Our Tyler Nichols stated in his review, “I found It Ends With Us to be a very frustrating experience. […] The narrative consistently feels like something out of a bad romance novel. The performances and chemistry will assuredly earn it a decent box office, but as a quality film: look elsewhere.”
Although the tone of It Ends With Us doesn’t often lend itself to a summer movie, Deadline reports that the romance drama is starting its run with an impressive $7 million at the box office after Thursday previews, which started around 2 pm. The viral marketing stunt with Reynolds and Lively herself coming off of a brief voice cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine, this film has the unique distinction of getting a push from the couple’s marriage. Deadline states that “this is the first time since 1990 that husband and wife superstars had back-to-back theatrical releases that boosted each other’s; the last being Bruce Willis with Die Hard 2 and Demi Moore with Ghost.“
It Ends With Us is split with critics, with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 58%, while audiences are much more receptive, with a 95% score. This film is also showing more leg strength than a competing big-budget film based on the popular IP, Borderlands, which has more ingredients of being a summer movie hit. However, Borderlands is getting unanimously panned by critics and audiences alike, with a shocking 7% on Rotten Tomatoes with an audience score of 48%. The film’s reception may not fair well for the potential franchise. In the review from our own Chris Bumbray, he says, “Truly, Borderlands is a disaster. With its classic rock soundtrack and eye-popping colour palette, and eccentric cast of characters, it feels like a Guardians of the Galaxy clone, albeit without any of that film’s charm or vision.”
The post It Ends With Us starts with audiences raising $7 million in Thursday previews appeared first on JoBlo.
The romance It Ends With Us may have taken its title literally, as some believe that stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have a professional rift going on — and it could have something to do with Ryan Reynolds.
First off, don’t think we are reporting on celeb gossip of any kind here. There’s no romantic love triangle whatsoever between Lively, Baldoni and Reynolds, nor would we necessarily give an attempt to care. Instead, the issues are more tied to a power struggle behind the scenes and look to partly point at Reynolds being recruited to do some minor writing on It Ends With Us. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, Reynolds stepped in to help write a sizable portion of dialogue during one scene. As Blake Lively also stated, “We help each other. He works on everything I do. I work on everything he does. So his wins, his celebrations are mine and mine are his.”
One can see this absolutely being the case, as Ryan Reynolds has been stepping it up on the producing side of the industry, with the majority of his recent projects also landing him a credit as such. On top of that, Blake Lively also serves as producer on It Ends With Us, giving her even more control than Justin Baldoni — who also directs this Colleen Hoover adaptation — which could also play directly into the dynamic. Through this, sources say Lively was pushing her own cut of It Ends With Us over Baldoni’s. There’s no word right now over how this all eventually played out in the editing room.
So, where does that leave the rest of the cast and crew? Apparently on Team Lively, which, professionally speaking, would probably be the right move. As many have noticed, Baldoni follows a number of the key It Ends With Us players on social media but they do not follow him back. Baldoni, too, would be flying separately from the cast on the red carpet, where he didn’t take any photos with the team. All this for a bland adaptation of your mother-in-law’s favorite author!
What do you make of the drama behind It Ends With Us? Do you think Lively and Reynolds got too controlling or is there something else going on?
The post Was there a power struggle behind the scenes on It Ends With Us? appeared first on JoBlo.
Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving was a fun holiday slasher, and the studio didn’t take long to get the ball rolling on a sequel. While speaking with Variety, Roth said that co-writer Jeff Rendell and himself were about to submit the script for Thanksgiving 2 to the studio and teased that Addison Rae could be returning.
“I love Addison Rae,” Roth said. “We kept her alive for a reason. It doesn’t feel like a ‘Thanksgiving’ movie without Addison Rae.” Rae played Gaby in the film, one of Jessica’s (Nell Verlaque) friends who narrowly escaped death at the hands of the mysterious killer. Variety notes that Rae hasn’t officially been signed to the sequel yet.
Earlier this year, Verlaque said she is expecting to return for Thanksgiving 2. “To my knowledge, yes. I think that it’ll be a continuation of where we last saw (her character). So we’ll see. But right now, I think so,” she said. “When I’ve spoken to Eli about what he wants to do, I think he wants to flesh out the characters a lot – you know, these are traumatic events that happen to these people. And I think the reason the first one worked so well is [because] the relationships between everyone were very strong and you understood all of that.” Rick Hoffman, who played Jessica’s father, also hinted he would be returning.
Thanksgiving 2 is aiming for a 2025 release, and Roth will undoubtedly need a win by that point because his latest film has been receiving some devastating reviews. Based on the video game franchise of the same name, Borderlands stars Cate Blanchett as Lillith, an infamous outlaw who returns to the place where she grew up and forms an alliance with a team of misfits to find the missing daughter of the most powerful man in the universe.
Our own Chris Bumbray called the film a “disaster” that desperately wants to be the next Guardians of the Galaxy but lacks the charm or vision to do so. Bumbray added that it was “one of the worst big-budget movies I’ve seen in a while” and will likely be forgotten entirely in just a few weeks. Yeesh. You can check out the rest of his review right here.
The post Thanksgiving 2: Eli Roth teases Addison Rae returning for sequel appeared first on JoBlo.
Are people in Hollywood too politically correct? Jenna Ortega thinks so, believing that Hollywood’s desire to be politically correct is detrimental to its humanity and integrity.
“The business that we work in is so touchy-feely,” Ortega told Vanity Fair. “Everybody wants to be politically correct, but I feel like, in doing that, we lose a lot of our humanity and integrity, because it lacks honesty.“
Ortega continued, “I wish that we had a better sense of conversation. Imagine if everyone could say what they felt and not be judged for it and, if anything, it sparked some sort of debate, not an argument.” The actress then asked herself, “Am I describing world peace?“
Taking a stance in Hollywood isn’t always looked upon favourably, with Ortega’s Scream co-star Melissa Barrera finding herself fired from the franchise last year due to her social media posts about the Israel/Palestine conflict. Just one day later, Ortega herself dropped out of the project, citing scheduling conflicts with the second season of Netflix’s Wednesday series. It was later reported that Ortega was seeking more money, which the studio wasn’t willing to cough up. Not entirely surprising, considering they didn’t want to pay Neve Campbell — arguably the face of the franchise alongside Ghostface —what she deserved. Christopher Landon, who was slated to direct the new Scream sequel, also exited the project, calling it a “dream job that turned into a nightmare.“
Barrera later expressed gratitude towards her fellow Scream cast members, including Ortega. “I’m just so grateful on what I got to infuse in the franchise, and that’s something I’ll be proud of forever,” Barrera said. “We’re family for life. If we’re ever in the vicinity of each other, we always find each other and that’s what happened at that event. When we find each other, we just want to spend the night with each other, and nothing is ever going to change that.“
Ortega has been working on the second season of Wednesday, which started production in May, but the actress will next be seen in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which hits theaters on September 6th in the U.S.
What do you think about Jenna Ortega’s statements on being politically correct in Hollywood?
The post Jenna Ortega says Hollywood wants to be politically correct, but it lacks honesty appeared first on JoBlo.
Earlier today at QuakeCon 2024, id Software announced a bunch of Doom-related news, including a brand new way to play the first two classic shooters, mod tools for Eternal, and more.
Earlier today at QuakeCon 2024, id Software announced a bunch of Doom-related news, including a brand new way to play the first two classic shooters, mod tools for Eternal, and more.
It’s been two and a half years since Euphoria season 2 wrapped up, but after frequent delays, it was finally announced that the acclaimed HBO series would be starting production on the third season in January 2025. Euphoria season 3 will feature a time jump, moving the characters out of high school, and Sydney Sweeney is excited about the possibilities.
“We did have a long time between season one and season two, but especially now with the time jump, it’s a new process for me,” Sweeney told Cosmopolitan. “I’m kind of just learning as I go and being open for whatever’s to come. But I’m also really excited. I love Cassie. She is always such a thrilling character to play, so I’m really looking forward to what’s gonna happen in her life.“
Sweeney continued, saying she is excited about reuniting with all her old friends. “They were the crew and the cast that were there at the beginning of my career. We all came up from different places but came together and were navigating so much at the same time, so it’s really nice having that core group. They’re experiencing a similarity to what I’m going through. It’s nice to have that community.“
During the lengthy hiatus between seasons, Sweeney has been busy with a variety of projects. She starred alongside Glen Powell in Anyone But You, a romantic comedy that became something of a sleeper hit, grossing over $220 million worldwide. She also starred in Immaculate and Madame Web, the latter of which quickly became a critical and commercial disaster and one of the worst movies of the year. Sweeney later said that she used the Madame Web experience to help build a relationship with Sony Pictures. “To me, that film was a building block, it’s what allowed me to build a relationship with Sony,” Sweeney said. “Without doing Madame Web I wouldn’t have a relationship with the decision-makers over there. Everything in my career I do not just for that story, but strategic business decisions. Because I did that, I was able to sell Anyone But You. I was able to get Barbarella.“
As Sweeney mentioned, she’s set to star in the new Barbarella remake, with Edgar Wright in talks to direct.
The post Euphoria: Sydney Sweeney teases time jump in season 3 appeared first on JoBlo.
Colin Farrell damn near stole the show in The Batman, disappearing beneath layers of incredibly convincing prosthetics to play Oswald Cobblepot, aka The Penguin. While we await The Batman Part II, we will be thrust back into the Gotham City underworld with The Penguin, an HBO series centering around the titular character. The Penguin will find Oswald taking advantage of the power vacuum created by the death of Carmine Falcone, with showrunner and executive producer Lauren LeFranc telling Empire that the series will be a Scarface story set in the world of The Batman.
“Matt [Reeves came up] with this Scarface story – a rise to power,” LaFranc explained. “I turned it into a psychological character study of this man. Mobsters historically are larger than life, so there is that slightly elevated quality to it, but he’s just a man. A very complicated man.“
In addition to chronicling Oswald’s journey to the top, The Penguin series will also explore what makes him tick, notably his relationship with his disturbed mother. “This is what differentiates him from previous versions of the Penguin in the comics, where he used to come from a wealthy, well-known family,” LeFranc said. “Matt had already made him an underdog in that he was number two to Carmine Falcone in the film, but we didn’t know anything about his family. So it was important to me that he comes from nothing, and he’s really aching to get more status and be seen as more important.“
In addition to Colin Farrell, The Penguin stars Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, daughter of the late Carmine, Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar, Oswald’s driver, Michael Kelly as Johnny Vity, Falcone family underboss, and Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, a rival gangster. Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, James Madio, Scott Cohen, Michael Zegen, Carmen Ejogo, and Theo Rossi also star in the series.
The Penguin was originally developed by Max, but it has since moved to HBO alongside several other shows that were initially announced for Max. The series will debut on HBO on September 19th. As for The Batman Part II, we’ve got quite a wait in store as the film has been delayed by an entire year and will now hit theaters on October 2, 2026.
The post The Penguin is a Scarface story of Oswald’s rise to power appeared first on JoBlo.
Maybe the only thing more highly anticipated than Grand Theft Auto VI itself is the possibility that it gets delayed. Parent company Take-Two confirms that’s not happening yet. The open-world crime saga is still scheduled for the fall of 2025, according to its newest earnings report.