Wandering the vast acres of Microsoft’s hilariously named “booth” at this year’s Gamescom, there were many sights to behold. A vast Space Marine towers over the crowds of journalists, next to an enormous flag-strewn faux-stone hut that houses half-hourly showings of Obsidian’s upcoming RPG Avowed. There’s the…
Wandering the vast acres of Microsoft’s hilariously named “booth” at this year’s Gamescom, there were many sights to behold. A vast Space Marine towers over the crowds of journalists, next to an enormous flag-strewn faux-stone hut that houses half-hourly showings of Obsidian’s upcoming RPG Avowed. There’s the…
Fans of the Harry Potter series will be getting a new video game dedicated to the wizardry sport of Quidditch. This game, Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, will be releasing sometime during the later part of the year. It will not be the only new release from the franchise as HBO will be releasing a new series based on the popular books. The planned Harry Potter TV series at Warner Bros. has been in development for the past few years and the studio made the announcement earlier this year that they’re aiming for a 2026 release. The new TV series adaptation will be transforming each of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels into a single season, meaning that the entire series could span seven seasons or more.
Variety has now revealed that Warner Bros. Games has unveiled the new trailer for the upcoming sports game Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, which will give the players an opportunity to play as their favorite characters, including Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Cho Chang and more characters from the franchise. There will even be a feature that will let the player create a customized player to participate in the flying game. Quidditch Champions will allow fans to play in different positions on the team, including Beater, Chaser, Keeper, or Seeker, in single-player career mode, competitive multiplayer or online co-op mode.
Quidditch Champions is a follow-up to last year’s hit Harry Potter game, Hogwarts Legacy. The new game will be launching on Digital Standard and Deluxe Editions on Xbox, PC (Steam and Epic) and PlayStation systems on September 3. The Physical Deluxe Edition will be available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Xbox One November 8. As of now, there has not yet been a release date set for the Nintendo Switch version, but Warner Bros. assures gamers that it “will be released this holiday season.”
Meanwhile, the upcoming Harry Potter series has recently announced a bit of news, which revealed that the show has hired some key creative team members to guide the Harry Potter series adaptation. Succession‘s Francesca Gardiner has been tapped to be the writer and showrunner, while Mark Mylod has signed on to direct multiple episodes. Both Gardiner and Mylod have won Emmys for their work on Succession as producers, as well as their similar respective positions as writer and director.
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A new episode of the Revisited video series has arrived online this morning – and since the latest entry in the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus, is currently in theatres, we decided this would be a good time to look back at one of the least popular Alien movies, the 1997 release Alien: Resurrection (watch it HERE). In the video embedded above, you’ll hear how this film’s odd and wacky tone managed to kill the franchise. For a while, anyway.
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet from a screenplay written by Joss Whedon, Alien: Resurrection has the following synopsis: The saga continues 200 years after Ripley sacrificed herself for the sake of humanity. Her erstwhile employers long gone, this time it is the military that resurrects the one-woman killing machine through genetic cloning to extract the alien from within her, but during the process her DNA is fused with the queen and then the aliens escape. Now Ripley must decide where her allegiance lies.
The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Dominique Pinon, Ron Perlman, Gary Dourdan, Michael Wincott, Kim Flowers, Dan Hedaya, J. E. Freeman, Brad Dourif, Raymond Cruz, Leland Orser, Carolyn Campbell, Marlene Bush, and David St. James.
The Alien: Resurrection remake episode of Revisited was Written, Narrated, and Edited by Lance Vlcek, Produced by Tyler Nichols and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.
What do you think of Alien: Resurrection? Let us know by leaving a comment below. We recently got a quote from Jeunet where he said, “At the very beginning, I thought they will fire me after two weeks because I didn’t speak English at that time. You know, I had a translator all the time. They gave me the freedom, believe me or not, I think today it couldn’t be possible. But at this time they gave me almost total freedom. Of course it wasn’t easy because on set it was all every day: ‘It’s too expensive. You have to cut. You have to go faster!’ You know, it’s kind of a bizarre, weird role. At the end, I was very happy and I made an arty movie. I read that a lot of American people hate my face because they [say it’s too] European, you know, too much humor and I’m pretty happy about that. But thank you. They let me make a personal movie. Matthew Kassovitz, the actor of Amélie, he told me when he saw Alien. He told me, ‘This is a Jean Pierre Jeunet movie but with aliens inside.’ But 20th Century Fox were very courageous to give the freedom to a beginner–almost a beginner director without speaking English.“
Two previous episodes of Revisited can be seen below. To see more of our shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals channel – and subscribe while you’re at it!
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Fear the Walking Dead cast member Colman Domingo has executive produced a horror film called It’s What’s Inside, which earned a lot of positive reviews after having its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival at the start of this year. (You can read an 8/10 review from JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray right HERE.) The Netflix streaming service quickly picked up the distribution rights for $17 million – and now they have announced that It’s What’s Inside will be available to watch on Netflix as of October 4th! Along with the release date announcement comes the unveiling of a batch of first look images, which can be seen at the bottom of this article.
It’s What’s Inside marks the feature directorial debut of Greg Jardin, who also wrote the screenplay. Details on the plot are being kept under wraps, with most reviewers doing their best to keep the movie’s secrets. The set-up is, A pre-wedding party descends into an existential nightmare when an estranged friend shows up with a mysterious suitcase.
The film stars Brittany O’Grady (The White Lotus), James Morosini (I Love My Dad), Gavin Leatherwood (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Devon Terrell (Rap Sh!t), Nina Bloomgarden (The Resort), Reina Hardesty (What Comes Around), David W. Thompson (The Boys), Madison Davenport (Sharp Objects), and Domingo’s Fear the Walking Dead co-star Alycia Debnam-Carey.
Domingo executive produced the film through his company Edith Productions, alongside Raúl Domingo. Kate Andrews produced for Boldly Go Productions, William Rosenfeld produced for Such Content, and Jason Baum is a producer on the film as well. Such Content’s Robert Kapp serves as an executive producer. Such Content also provided the financing. Filming took place in Portland, Oregon over the course of 18 days.
Domingo told Netflix he was drawn to the project because, “I got excited about Greg as a creative. I knew that he had it because he also wrote the film, knew what the visual language was, and would deliver what was inside his head. And he did.” You can read more from Jardin and Domingo (including a line where Jardin says he considered the movie to be “a sci-fi thriller with jokes”) at Tudum. Jardin previously made music videos and promotional shorts for Cowboy Bebop, When They See Us, 13 Reasons Why, and Cursed.
Are you interested in It’s What’s Inside, and will you be watching the movie when it reaches Netflix in October? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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The price was most definitely right but you get the impression from Adam Sandler that Happy Gilmore 2 is about far more than the paycheck (or Subway endorsement). With the sequel officially teed up at Netflix, Sandler is showing excitement in a way he hasn’t in a long time.
Speaking with People, Sandler said that Happy Gilmore 2 comes from a place that’s geared directly towards fans of the 1996 original. “We worked hard trying to write something that we thought people would have a good time with, and I’m more than excited, probably the most excited I’ve been in many years to shoot something.” For someone that constantly works with his friends or doubles the productions as vacations, that’s saying something.
Outside of the Grown Ups and Hotel Transylvania movies, the Sandman really hasn’t done many sequels. But if there’s one that we can see working – especially with his level of excitement even before cameras roll – it would be Happy Gilmore 2. After all, who wants to see Billy Madison try to get his doctorate? Even though it made just $38.6 million (still a success), Happy Gilmore was the first movie in his post-Saturday Night Live boom that showed he had the potential to lead some of the top-grossing movies of the year, as he soon would with The Waterboy and Big Daddy. Thirty years on, the guy is still one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.
We don’t know anything about the plot of Happy Gilmore 2 at this point but it almost doesn’t matter. People are going to line up – by their couches, as it’s a Netflix production – regardless. While we’ll have to wait a bit before we do learn what will be driving Happy this time around, fans should at least expect some tributes. While Travis Kelce has been announced for a cameo and a number of professional golfers are also set to appear, the lack of Frances Bay, arch nemesis Bob Barker and especially Carl Weathers will be felt. Weathers recently had a golf tournament named in his honor but how fitting would it be for the movie to feature a Chubbs Peterson Invitational?
Are you excited for Happy Gilmore 2? Is the original a good pick for Adam Sandler to do a sequel to?
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Fortnite’s latest season has just come out, and as with each new chunk of the game, it introduces various quests that players can complete for XP. But for Ultimate Doom, there’s a unique quest featuring Gwen Stacy/Deadpool crossover character, Gwenpool—unique because it’s not marked on the map or in the main menu. The…
Fortnite’s latest season has just come out, and as with each new chunk of the game, it introduces various quests that players can complete for XP. But for Ultimate Doom, there’s a unique quest featuring Gwen Stacy/Deadpool crossover character, Gwenpool—unique because it’s not marked on the map or in the main menu. The…
Kevin Costner’s big gamble on his passion project hasn’t exactly paid off yet, but the star will double down anyway. Costner’s first chapter of Horizon: An American Saga wasn’t received as warmly as he was hoping this summer, and Warner Bros.’ planned follow-up release of Chapter 2 was pulled from their schedule this month. However, Chapter 2 will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival next month. Costner would show gratitude to the committee, saying, “My dream was always to show Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter Two at the Venice Film Festival. […] I’m indebted to [Venice Film Fest director] Alberto Barbera for his courage and leadership in committing to this cinematic journey. It is with gratitude and excitement that I return to the Venice Film Festival. Long live the movies and those willing to stand for them.”
Chapter 2 of the saga may be finally screened for an audience, but it is not yet known what Warner Bros. plans to do with its official release. However, World of Reel is now saying that Costner wishes to continue with the filming of chapters 3 and 4 of his saga. He has already shot nine days’ worth of footage on Chapter 3, but halted production due to lack of funds. Costner told NBC he is wanting to continue with filming chapters 3 and 4 back-to-back in the Spring of 2025. “The plan is, I’ve already shot a little bit of the third. And to perhaps shoot them back to back next spring […] I love the journey of this thing. It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I love this movie. I love the second one — and the third one’s even harder than the first two, and the fourth one completes the story.”
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 will be hitting Max very soon, but according to Forbes, the rental price online for the Western epic has now dropped. The original rental price on Prime Video has decreased from $19.99 to $5.99.
The nature of the film being such an epic but also a set up for future chapters (especially with Costner’s grand vision totaling four movies overall), the critical reception hasn’t quite taken to this film, with only a 47% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the audience score has been more generous, with a 71%. In the review from our own Chris Bumbray, he mentions, “Horizon feels like the appetizer before a main course, with it doing so much heavy lifting in terms of set-up that you walk out of the movie feeling like you have only gotten part of an experience. As such, I feel like this movie will fare much better once more installments come out, but I still found myself thoroughly engaged from beginning to end. I’ll say this: if part two were open right now, as soon as the credits rolled, I would have walked right into a second film, and I’m eager to get more out of Costner’s epic saga.”
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THE STORY: On Io, Jupiter’s moon, miners have begun randomly committing suicide in gruesome ways. This is chalked out to their grueling working conditions, but the outpost’s new marshal, William O’Niel (Sean Connery) becomes convinced something else is afoot. Soon, he discovers the deadly truth, that the miners are being given stimulants with the nasty side effect that they cause psychosis. His pursuit of the truth lands him on the hit list of the outpost’s general director, Sheppard (Peter Boyle), who hires professional hit men to deal with the pesky marshal. Knowing that skilled gunmen are on the way, and without anyone to turn to, O’Niel waits to face the men alone.
THE PLAYERS: Starring: Sean Connery, Peter Boyle, and Frances Sternhagen. Music by Jerry Goldsmith. Directed by Peter Hyams.
I wanted to do a Western. Everybody said, ‘You can’t do a Western; Westerns are dead; nobody will do a Western’. I remember thinking it was weird that this genre that had endured for so long was just gone. But then I woke up and came to the conclusion – obviously after other people – that it was alive and well, but in outer space. I wanted to make a film about the frontier. Not the wonder of it or the glamour of it: I wanted to do something about Dodge City and how hard life was. I wrote it, and by great fortune, Sean Connery wanted to do it. And how many chances do you get to work with Sean Connery? – Peter Hyams – Empire Magazine Interview
THE HISTORY: Outland came along during a rough time in Sean Connery’s career. After leaving the Bond series, Connery managed a slew of respectable hits, including The Anderson Tapes, The Man Who Would Be King and The Wind and the Lion. However, there were also more than a few pricey flops like Richard Lester’s Cuba, with even good movies like The Great Train Robbery underperforming at the box office. Thus, he decided to experiment with a genre that had eluded him up to that point, sci-fi.
You see, sci-fi was all the rage in the late seventies/early eighties thanks to Star Wars. But, it was the film Alien that had the biggest effect on Outland, with Peter Hyams writing and directing something that could almost have been set in the same universe, with heartless company CEO’s, put-upon blue-collar workers in space and a general lived-in aesthetic. In fact, many fans of this film consider it an unofficial sequel to that film, and aesthetically it definitely fits. Both films have scores by Jerry Goldsmith, and a very similar vibe. However, there was another movie that had an even bigger role to play in Outland’s trip to the big screen and it was the classic Gary Cooper western, High Noon, with the last act of the film virtually a remake, albeit a sci-fi tinged one. The result was a cool flick that should have caught-on at the box office but only managed $17,374,595.
WHY IT’S GREAT: Back when I was in high school, I wrote, directed and starred in a remake of Outland. Let me explain. For my French class, we were asked to do short movies (with camcorders!) and having recently seen it as the midnight movie on the Space channel, I decided to adjust Outland to a high school setting. Basically, instead of miners getting drugs to over-perform, students were getting them. Most importantly, it allowed me to be Sean Connery, a childhood hero of mine. Plus, the year was 1999, so no one would have ever known that I pinched the story from 1981’s Outland, after all – they pinched the story from High Noon so no problem, right?
One A + and twenty years later, I still have a soft spot for Peter Hyams’s entertaining Outland. It’s always been a tad obscure, having come along a few years before Connery hit his stride as a middle-aged superstar. Back then he was kind of in limbo, with the public still strongly associating him with James Bond, something he was only really ever able to shake off after winning an Oscar for The Untouchables. He’s perfectly cast as the Gary Cooper-style space marshal. He’s had a great director in Peter Hyams, who was just coming off the underrated Capricorn One and would go on to do the similarly underrated 2010 a few years later. This is one of two movies he made with Connery and he always managed to get to the star’s vulnerable side, with this and The Presidio the only two Connery movies I can think of where he cried.
The only way that you can get into trouble with Sean is if you’re not honest. If you’re straight, and if he asks you a question and you go ”I don’t know” or ”I don’t agree”, you’re okay. If you think you can bullshit him, you’re making one of the biggest mistakes you’ll ever make in your life. My process with Sean was having to prove myself and get his confidence as a filmmaker. It took a while. He used to say ”Hello, boy ” when we first started, and then when our relationship changed it would be ”Hello, cock”. I love him. – Peter Hyams – Money Into Light Interview
His character is the perfect, square-jawed, straight-shooting cowboy archetype. However, Hyams gives him some needed shading, such as the fact that his stubbornness has all but ruined his career, landing him on the inhospitable rock Io, which is bad enough that his wife abandons him in the first act, taking their son with them. It gives him pathos. But, the problem with Outland is the same problem High Noon had – never for a second do you believe that Peter Boyle’s hired thugs are any threat to Sean Connery, possibly the toughest action star of all time. Heck, by the point they show up Connery’s already been through the wringer and there’s no doubt that he’s gonna dispatch the goons with relative ease.
The supporting cast is particularly strong, if unusual, in this one. Peter Boyle, now mostly known for his comedic roles, is the heavy. He never overplays the part, rather acting like a frustrated manager resigned to the realities of his job. He doesn’t want to kill anyone, but he will if he has to (as long as he doesn’t get his hands dirty). The film is all but stolen by Frances Sternhagen as the moon’s alcoholic, washed-up doctor, a role originally written for a man but one she nails, having a nice interplay with Connery. They start at each other’s throats but you feel their mutual, grudging respect build up throughout the film. It’s also worth noting that the technical credits to this one are top-notch, with great VFX for the era, atmospheric lensing by Stephen Goldblatt (although I wonder if Hyams himself shot the movie as it carries his distinct look) and a killer score by the late, great Jerry Goldsmith.
BEST SCENE: Outland’s got a bunch of nifty action sequences and one of the showstoppers is a great foot chase through the space station, culminating in a hand to hand scrap between Connery and one of Boyle’s drug-runners. Hyams has always had a knack for shooting chase sequences, and this is a good one
SEE IT: Outland is available on Blu-ray and digitally on iTunes, Google Play, etc. One warning – avoid the old DVD version of the film. It came out in the early days of the technology and sports one of the worst transfers I’ve ever seen.
PARTING SHOT: Outland is a forgotten gem in both Sean Connery and Peter Hyams’s respective filmographies. It’s a really nifty little sci-fi action flick and especially worth checking out of you’re a fan of genre movies from this era. Check it out!
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