Month: August 2024

Daniela Melchoir, Eric André, Balls Up

After herding rats in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad and standing her ground against corruption and intimidation in Doug Liman’s Road House, Daniela Melchior returns to the action genre for Peter Farrelly’s Balls Up. Melchior will be the female lead in the film, and Eric André will also star. The duo joins Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser in Farrelly’s latest feature, which presents a curious plot.

The story revolves around two American executives who get the boot for sabotaging a client sponsorship and decide to use their free tickets to a professional soccer match. After a few drinks too many, the duo finds themselves on the run while being hunted by every person across the country. Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese of Deadpool & Wolverine fame wrote the script, with David Ellison of Skydance producing alongside Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, and Andrew Muscato. Wernick and Reese also produce. Molly Shannon, Eva De Dominici, and Benjamin Bratt also star as primary cast members.

After producing four films together, Peter Farrelly (Green BookRicky StanickyDumb and Dumber) and Amazon MGM Studios are old friends. The filmmaker’s latest comedy, Ricky Stanicky, streams on Prime Video, and it’s worth your time to check it out. Ricky Stanicky stars John Cena, Zac Efron, and Andrew Santino. The film revolves around three childhood friends who invent an imaginary friend, Ricky Stanicky, to get them out of trouble. Twenty years later, they still use the nonexistent Ricky as a handy alibi for their immature behavior. When it’s time for Ricky to make a flesh-and-blood appearance, the trio must hire an actor to play their imaginary friend.

Before Daniela Melchior stars in Balls Up, she’s voicing Princess Ana for the animated musical Viana the Legend of the Golden Hearts. In Rodrigo Carvalho’s upcoming feature, the beautiful Ana falls in love with Thomas, a poor artisan. Her father immediately forbids their union, demanding that his daughter’s suitors produce a jewel to prove their nobility. But the young couple refuses to give up. With the help of their faithful companions, the generosity of the townswomen, and the talent of a mysterious jewelry maker, Ana, and Thomas will face many challenges out of love, including the powerful and evil Duke of Aragon.

Balls Up presents a significant opportunity for Eric André, mainly known as a prankster in the entertainment industry. His Adult Swim series, The Eric Andre Show, is the entertainer’s claim to fame. Still, André is capable of much more, with comedic chops that could play nicely in Farrelly’s arena.

What do you think about the cast of Peter Farrelly’s Balls Up? In the comments section below, let us know if you’re excited about this movie.

The post Daniela Melchior and Eric André join the cast of Peter Farrelly’s Balls Up, with the Road House actress taking the female lead appeared first on JoBlo.

Beetlejuice, Roblox, movie tickets

Can you feel that? It’s the sensation of games like Fortnite and Roblox tightening their iron grip on your wallet as the “forever game” arena expands to sell movie tickets! Check this out. Warner Bros., Roblox, and Fandango are joining forces to launch an in-game virtual box office in Roblox, with Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as the game’s first theatrical title to light the fuse.

Today, Roblox users ages 13 and up in the United States can purchase authentic movie tickets to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, thanks to the game’s “Escape the Afterlife” experience.

“As visitors enter [Beetlejuice] Escape the Afterlife on Roblox, they are immediately transported to The Afterlife Lobby—a spooky world that brings together familiar places from the original Beetlejuice movie with new scenes and experiences from the highly-anticipated sequel,” according to Roblox. “From the lobby, fans can enter one of three immersive worlds, where they need to escape ghouls and rescue beloved characters like Delia and Lydia, and new characters like Astrid. They will visit The Waiting Room, see the Shrinkers (aka Shrunken Head Guy) and his friends, and even explore Adam’s model of Winter River, Connecticut during their rescue journeys.”

While exploring Roblox‘s “Escape the Afterlife” experience, players “can walk up and make a ticket purchase right within the experience to see the movie.” In addition to purchasing tickets to a local theater, players can grab an exclusive avatar of the Ghost With the Most to use in the game.

“We are always looking to engage audiences and amplify our reach in new and exciting ways; this first-of-its-kind collaboration with Roblox and Fandango for ‘Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice’ allows for just that,” Warner Bros. executive vice president of global digital marketing Cameron Curtis said. “By leveraging the vast Roblox creator community, we are not only able to connect with existing Beetlejuice fans, but also have the opportunity to reach new audiences who are being introduced to him for the first time. And we are thrilled to be the first studio to test ticketing on the platform.”

What’s that old saying? You’ve got to meet the people where they are. In the case of kids able to fill seats for a PG-13 movie, they’re playing games like Roblox and Fortnite. I’m interested to see if Roblox’s “Escape the Afterlife” experience moves the needle for ticket sales and if this is the beginning of a more significant trend within the gaming arena. If film studios are willing to go the extra mile, gamers could look forward to more environments, skins, emotes, and characters making their way into the games they play.

What do you think about Roblox entering the movie ticket market? Do you think the game’s Beetlejuice promotion is a stroke of genius? Does Gen Alpha even know who Beetlejuice is? We’ll find out.

If you don’t plan to play Roblox to secure Beetlejuice Beetlejuice movie tickets, you can pre-order them the old-fashioned way through Fandango! Pre-orders go live today for the highly-anticipated sequel opening in theaters on September 6, 2024.

The post Roblox conjures Beetlejuice to help launch a virtual box office that sells movie tickets to local theaters appeared first on JoBlo.

Last year, the Prime Video streaming service brought us the first season of a spy action thriller series called Citadel, which was created by Josh Appelbaum, Bryan Oh, and David Weil, with Avengers: Endgame directors the Russo brothers serving as executive producers. There will be a second season of Citadel (with Joe Russo directing every episode), but before that comes along, Prime Video has been busy building this into an international franchise. On October 10th, they’ll be releasing an Italian spin-off called Citadel: Diana (you can watch a teaser trailer for that one HERE), and on November 7th they’ll be releasing an Indian spin-off called Citadel: Honey Bunny. A teaser trailer for Citadel: Honey Bunny has arrived online and can be seen in the embed above.

Created by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, who are known as Raj & DK and also serve as showrunners and directors on the show, this entry in the Citadel franchise fuses the pulse-pounding elements of a gritty spy action thriller with the heartwarming allure of a love story, all set against the vibrant tapestry of the ’90s. Raj & DK also wrote the scripts with Sita R. Menon.

Citadel: Honey Bunny stars Samantha Ruth Prabhu (The Family Man) as Honey, with Varun Dhawan (Dishoom) as Bunny. Also in the cast are Kay Kay Menon (Bambai Meri Jaan), Simran (Tiger 3), Saqib Saleem (Crackdown), Sikandar Kher (Monkey Man), Soham Majumdar (Pippa), Shivankit Parihar (Aspirants), and newcomer Kashvi Majmundar.

Citadel: Diana and Citadel: Honey Bunny were both in the works before the first season of Citadel even made its premiere, but Prime Video was right to get these projects rolling early, because when Citadel did premiere it quickly became Prime Video’s second most-watched new original series outside the U.S., and its fourth most-watched worldwide.

Citadel: Honey Bunny is produced by Raj & DK’s D2R Films, Amazon MGM Studios, and the Russo brothers’ AGBO. Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, Angela Russo-Otstot, and Scott Nemes from AGBO, as well as David Weil, all serve as executive producers on Citadel: Honey Bunny “and all series within the global Citadel universe.”

What did you think of the teaser trailer for Citadel: Honey Bunny? Did you watch Citadel, and will you be watching this show and/or Citadel: Diana? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Citadel: Honey Bunny

The post Citadel: Honey Bunny teaser trailer takes the Prime Video franchise to India appeared first on JoBlo.