A few days ago, on our JoBlo Live Stream, Friday Night Flicks, our host Kier Gomes listed his favorite movies of the Summer of 2024. You can watch his pickss via the embedded video above, but we wanted to get YOUR take on what the best movie of the summer was. Certainly, Deadpool & Wolverine, along with Inside Out 2 were the two biggest box office champs of the summer, but movies like Longlegs, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, and a few others also got tons of love from audiences. And then, of course, there were the box office flops like Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and Horizon: Chapter 1, which were still quite good and deserve some love. So take the poll and let us know!
Live from Telluride, it’s Saturday Night! Appropriately enough, Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night debuted on, well, Saturday Night at the Telluride Film Festival. For fans of SNL, this is one of the most anticipated films of the year and, judging by the initial reactions, it could now be in the Oscars discussion.
Check out some of the first reactions below:
SATURDAY NIGHT just blew the roof off #Telluride. One of Jason Reitman’s best films! Perfectly captures the chaotic energy, camaraderie & backstage shenanigans of putting together the first SNL in real-time. Crisp editing, long takes, a witty script with big laughs and a… pic.twitter.com/NvBB1iZ3eN
The sneaky #Telluride programmers waited till Saturday night to share Jason Reitman's SATURDAY NIGHT, and it's been the highlight of my festival so far: a crowd-pleasing re-creation of SNL's first episode that gets the daunting casting challenge right. https://t.co/md6eawLshO
— Clarence Moye @ Telluride Film festival (@ClarenceMoye) September 1, 2024
Accompanying the premiere of Saturday Night was none other than former SNL cast member Bill Murray, who introduced the film alongside director Jason Reitman. “This is some movie that I think is important that someone make his movie. Saturday Night Live was probably the greatest work experience…piece of luck that I ever had. And I met great people and I learned how to work. It’s a hard-working job and when he talks about adrenaline, it’s really…the demand that you work your best, your most attentive…That’s the only thing, you either live or you die every week that way [working on live TV]. It’s told me that I have to live that way every day of my life.”
Murray went on to say that the cast of Saturday Night is the future of the industry, with those who attended the screening also noting just how remarkable the ensemble is:
LIVE from #TELLURIDE, it’s “SATURDAY NIGHT” & it’s AMAZING! Really fun, hilarious, adrenaline-fueled, mood-setting, fly-on-the-wall look at the last 90 chaotic minutes leading up to the very 1st episode of SNL! EXCELLENT ensemble cast! One of director JASON REITMAN’S very BEST! pic.twitter.com/99mc2tWxyX
SATURDAY NIGHT might take the 2024 Telluride crown. An absolute electric time, injecting exactly what we love about SNL and film directly into your veins. Labelle was great, but Rachel Sennott with a legendary supporting performance. I love movies! pic.twitter.com/XbflrvbSSr
#SaturdayNight sizzles for 96 minutes. Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan's script crackles, bringing laughs and one-line zingers. The cast pops with Gabrielle LaBelle, Tommy Dewey, and Lamorne Morris standing out. A best picture worthy #Telluride premiere has entered the chat. Loved. pic.twitter.com/hb1hMm5i2F
Before it releases theatrically on October 11th (the 49th anniversary of the debut episode), Saturday Night will also screen at the Toronto International Film Festival, where our own Chris Bumbray will be reviewing it.
Saturday Night chronicles the night of the first episode of SNL (then known by the titular name of the film), which aired on October 11th, 1975. That legendary episode featured some of the most memorable moments in the show’s early history, including a standout opening sketch with John Belushi, Michael O’Donoghue and Chevy Chase, George Carlin serving as host and Andy Kaufman taking the stage for a unique rendition of the Mighty Mouse theme.
All of these individuals – and the key players – are depicted in Saturday Night, which features one heck of an ensemble: Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase, Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner, Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster, Matt Wood as John Belushi, Nicholas Braun as both Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson, and so many more.
Will you be checking out Saturday Night in theaters? Do you think it has a shot at any Oscar recognition? Chime in below!
Sometimes we come across news that makes it seem is if there are real life “Grand Theft Auto” characters walking among us. Take the lead singer of an LA punk band who made his way to the other wise peaceful region of Yosemite National Park and allegedly spent the day tearing shit up in a very un-punk way.
Sometimes we come across news that makes it seem is if there are real life “Grand Theft Auto” characters walking among us. Take the lead singer of an LA punk band who made his way to the other wise peaceful region of Yosemite National Park and allegedly spent the day tearing shit up in a very un-punk way.
Universal Pictures surprised us back in January when they announced that not only was a new entry in the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World franchise in the works, but the screenplay was already finished and the project was aiming for a 2025 theatrical release. July 2, 2025, to be exact. This new movie is called Jurassic World Rebirth, and it was assembled in a mad scramble so it can stay on track to reach theatres next July. Details have been kept under wraps so far, but Universal just revealed some plot and character information the other day, so now it’s time for us to put together a list of Everything We Know About Jurassic World Rebirth:
PLOT
One of the most interesting things about this new Jurassic movie is the fact that it boasts a script written by original Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp, returning to the franchise for the first time since The Lost World: Jurassic Park. After sitting out the last four movies, Koepp has come back to tell the following story: Five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, the planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived. The three most colossal creatures within that tropical biosphere hold the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind. This action-packed new chapter in the franchise sees an intrepid team racing to secure DNA samples from the three most colossal creatures across land, sea and air.
To make sure they get the dinosaur action just right, the studio has hired paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Steve Brusatte to be the dinosaur expert consultant on the film. That’s a job Brusatte also had on the previous movie, where he was consultant alongside paleontologist Jack Horner, who has been a consultant on all six Jurassic movies to date. It’s not clear if Horner is back for this one, or if he has fully passed the torch to Brusatte.
DIRECTOR
The two biggest franchises at Universal are the Jurassic movies and the Fast & Furious series – so it makes sense that when the studio needed to get a director attached to Jurassic World Rebirth as quickly as possible, they first turned to a filmmaker with Fast & Furious experience: David Leitch, who directed the Fast & Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw for them. Leitch also worked with Universal on The Fall Guy, which was about to be released when they started talking to him about making their latest dinosaur movie. But the deal was only in the “early negotiations” phase when Leitch and Universal came to realize they had different ideas about the direction of the project. So Leitch stepped away and less than two weeks later Universal found a different director who has experience with both blockbusters and giant creatures: Gareth Edwards, the director of Monsters, Godzilla, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and The Creator.
Edwards signed on at the end of February, with filming set to begin at the start of June.
CAST
This new Jurassic World movie won’t be featuring any returning lead characters from the previous Jurassic Park / Jurassic World movies. The characters played by Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, and Laura Dern are out, as are the ones played by Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. But this project didn’t have time for an extended casting process, so Edwards and Universal started reaching out to known names and making them offers. Colman Domingo (Fear the Walking Dead) and Dev Patel (Monkey Man) were said to be on the wish list at one point, but they didn’t end up being cast. Glen Powell (Twisters) was offered a role, but turned it down, saying, “Jurassic is one of my favorite movies. It’s one of the things I’ve wanted to do my whole life. I’m not doing that movie because I read the script and I immediately was like, my presence in this movie doesn’t help it. And the script’s great. The movie’s going to kill. It’s not about that. It’s about choosing where you’re going to make an audience happy and where you’re going to make yourself happy.“
Actors who did accept offers include Scarlett Johansson (The Avengers), Mahershala Ali (Green Book), Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton), Rupert Friend (Obi-Wan Kenobi), and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer). Luna Blaise (Manifest), on the other hand, did have to (according to Deadline) “beat out a number of actors” to land her role. David Iacono of The Summer I Turned Pretty, child actress Audrina Miranda, Philippine Velge (Station Eleven), Béchir Sylvain (Diarra from Detroit), and Ed Skrein (Deadpool) are also in the cast.
Speaking to Variety, Johansson said she took the job because, “I am an enormous Jurassic Park fan. It is one of the first movies I remember seeing in theaters. I remember it so vividly. It was life-changing and mind-blowing. I cannot express how excited I am. The script is so incredible. David Koepp wrote it and returned after 30 years to write it and he’s so passionate about it. I’ve been trying to get into this franchise in any possible way for over 10 years. I’m like, ‘I’ll die in the first five minutes! I can get eaten by whatever! I’ll do the craft service!’ I’ll do anything for it. The fact that it’s happened in this way at this time just is actually unbelievable.” Bailey told V Magazine, “I’m on a really long holiday in the jungle, pretending to run away from fake dinosaurs… Um, no, I’m filming Jurassic Park. I can say that it’s written by David Koepp, who wrote the original. It feels like it’s in ultimate hands to bring it back to what the original achieved. (Jurassic Park) was the first film I went to see with my whole family, and I was way too young, I was terrified.“
Jurassic franchise veteran Jeff Goldblum, who worked with Johansson on Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, gave her this piece of advice: “Don’t get eaten, unless you want to. I love you.“
CHARACTERS
A press release sent out by Universal revealed that Johansson plays “skilled covert operations expert Zora Bennett, contracted to lead a skilled team on a top-secret mission to secure genetic material from the world’s three most massive dinosaurs. When Zora’s operation intersects with a civilian family whose boating expedition was capsized by marauding aquatic dinos, they all find themselves stranded on an island where they come face-to-face with a sinister, shocking discovery that’s been hidden from the world for decades.”
Ali’s character is Duncan Kincaid, Zora’s most trusted team leader. Bailey is playing paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis, with Friend as Big Pharma representative Martin Krebs and Garcia-Rulfo as Reuben Delgado, the father of the shipwrecked civilian family. Blaise, Iacono, and Miranda play Reuben’s family, with Velge, Sylvain, and Skrein playing members of Zora and Krebs’ crews.
PRODUCTION
Jurassic World Rebirth started filming in Thailand on June 13th and the production stayed there through July 16th, with locations including Bangkok, Trang, Phang Nga, Phuket, Chiang Mai and the Huai To Waterfall, which is within the Khao Phanom Bencha National Park in Krabi province. Filming at the waterfall is believed to have taken a full week. Outside of Thailand, the movie has been filming at studios in Malta and the U.K. Through equipment rentals, accommodation, venue hire, transportation, and catering services, the production was expected to bring $18 million of economic benefit to Thailand. It was also expected to seek local subsidy through Thailand’s 20% production spending rebate system. That system is open to international productions that spend more than $2.75 million in the country.
The film is being produced by Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley, both longtime Jurassic franchise producers. They also produced this summer’s blockbuster Twisters together. Steven Spielberg, Denis L. Stewart, and Jim Spencer serve as executive producers.
The press release for this film opens with the line, “A new era is born.” It goes on to say that the movie will evolve the series “in an ingenious new direction.” We’ll get to see exactly what that direction is next summer.
Is it us, or was that the fastest August ever? Yet here we are in September already, which promises to be a highly entertaining month, starting with whatever great plans you have on tap for this Labor Day Weekend. Maybe you’ll be picking up a game from our tried and trusted Weekend Guide? Let’s start you off with a…
Is it us, or was that the fastest August ever? Yet here we are in September already, which promises to be a highly entertaining month, starting with whatever great plans you have on tap for this Labor Day Weekend. Maybe you’ll be picking up a game from our tried and trusted Weekend Guide? Let’s start you off with a…
In this week’s tip-oriented catch-all, we’ll help you get started in Star Wars Outlaws with 21 tips for beginners. We’ll also give you a great look at the Mass Effect board game, point you toward some great discounts on some great games, and help you snag Fallout 76’s tough-to-acquire legendary weapon, the V63…
In this week’s tip-oriented catch-all, we’ll help you get started in Star Wars Outlaws with 21 tips for beginners. We’ll also give you a great look at the Mass Effect board game, point you toward some great discounts on some great games, and help you snag Fallout 76’s tough-to-acquire legendary weapon, the V63…
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