It’s hard to believe that Diablo IV, the latest entry in Activision Blizzard’s action role-playing game series, has been around for over a year now. In that time, Diablo 4 has proved again and again that it might just be the best entry the franchise has ever seen, with an excellent iteration on the core gameplay loop…
Tobin Bell owns a metal briefcase that he uses to house nine composition books, each one containing the notes he took to prepare to play John Kramer, a.k.a. Jigsaw, in the movies that make up the Saw franchise. (There have been ten movies in the series, but Bell missed out on the side story Spiral: From the Book of Saw). Soon, he’ll start taking notes in a tenth book, because Saw XI is on track for a September 26, 2025 release – and he has confirmed to the LA Times that Kramer is “a main part” of the latest sequel.
The LA Times reports that the first page of the notes Bell took for the original Saw “includes a drawn spiral interrogating the likes, dislikes and motivations” of his character. The other pages “are occupied by a series of questions about the character. They start with the most basic details — ‘Where am I?’ for example — and evolve into increasingly specific queries until they form an inverse triangle brimming with insight he’s deciphered on his own.” Bell learned this method of breaking down his characters from Ellen Burstyn back in the 1970s.
Bell explains, “Each film is a different story and John’s in a different place. Same guy but different circumstances. … By the time I get to actually rolling the camera I’m up to 128 answers. You never know everything, but hopefully I know enough so I don’t go mad trying to play someone I don’t know at all.” Bell knows John Kramer well enough by now that he makes screenplay and dialogue suggestions on each film. He doesn’t condone his character’s actions, but understands where he’s coming from. “John feels that the world has been taken over by mediocre people. He believes we all have to deal with the consequences of what we create. And that these people are not appreciative of what they have.“
Saw X was one of the most well-received entries in the franchise, and Bell hopes Saw XI will be able to continue elevating the quality of the series. “It’s all in the writing. … I’m really excited about continuing to develop him. John Kramer is not done. There’s more to learn.“
Saw X director Kevin Greutert will be back at the helm for Saw XI. Greutert edited the first five Saw movies, and did the same on Jigsaw. He made his feature directorial debut with Saw VI and signed on to direct Paranormal Activity 2 after that. That movie was scheduled to be released on the same day as the seventh Saw movie, Saw 3D – so Lionsgate decided to remove Saw V director David Hackl from Saw 3D and replace him with Greutert, stealing him away from Paramount and Paranormal Activity 2. The Paranormal sequel ended up being directed by Tod Williams and was released the week before Saw 3D. Between Saw 3D and Saw X, Greutert directed the genre films Jessabelle, Visions, and Jackals. For Saw XI, Greutert will be working from a screenplay by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, who previously wrote Saw parts 4 through 7 (with Thomas Fenton also getting a story credit on Saw IV).
Are you looking forward to watching Tobin Bell play Jigsaw again in Saw XI? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
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After 34 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 15 in the DCEU, and various television series focusing on superhero shenanigans, it’s understandable why some people say they’ve got “superhero fatigue.” Oversaturation is an unfortunate inevitability whenever Hollywood sees dollar signs stacking up. For years, superhero cinema was the cream of the box office crop. While Deadpool & Wolverine is the exception to superhero movies trending downward (for now) in the public interest, the genre remains ripe for parody, and that’s why HBO‘s The Franchise trailer is ready to poke fun at the process of bringing super-powered punching bags to screens.
Here’s the official description of The Franchise: “The crew of an unloved franchise movie fight for their place in a savage and unruly cinematic universe. The Franchise shines a light on the secret chaos inside the world of superhero moviemaking, to ask the question — how exactly does the cinematic sausage get made? Because every f*ck-up has an origin story.”
Created by Jon Brown, Armando Iannucci, and Sam Mendes, The Franchise stars Billy Magnussen (Road House), Aya Cash (The Boys), Himesh Patel (Yesterday), and Lolly Adefope (Ghosts), among others.
JoBlo’s Alex Maidy talks about how much he enjoyed the series in his review, saying, “The Franchise is a very specific and targeted send-up of the very industry and projects that the producers and crew of this series are a part of. There is a lot of potential for The Franchise to continue making fun of Hollywood blockbusters for seasons to come with this eight-episode season, never overstaying its welcome while still cramming in copious jokes at the expense of Hollywood studios. With great performances from everyone, led by a hilariously deadpan Himesh Patel, The Franchise should be HBO’s next big hit. I laughed out loud multiple times throughout the series, especially during the back half of the season, with the cameos (both real and fictional) making this a long-awaited satire of superhero fatigue.”
I think it’s high time for something other than 2008’s Superhero Movie to take the piss out of superhero cinema, and The Franchise sounds like it could be the ticket. What do you think about HBO’s trailer for The Franchise? Let us know in the comments section below.
The Franchise premieres on October 6th on HBO.
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After 11 years away, everyone’s favorite zombie-slaying cheerleader, Juliet, finally made her big comeback with Lollipop Chainsaw: RePOP. Unfortunately, our girl’s had some work done, and it’s not necessarily for the better, but, look, we’re just glad she’s back. There’s just not a whole hell of a lot out there that…
After 11 years away, everyone’s favorite zombie-slaying cheerleader, Juliet, finally made her big comeback with Lollipop Chainsaw: RePOP. Unfortunately, our girl’s had some work done, and it’s not necessarily for the better, but, look, we’re just glad she’s back. There’s just not a whole hell of a lot out there that…
Paramount Game Studios has confirmed that Saber Interactive, who recently released Space Marine 2, is working on a massive AAA RPG based on the hit animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Paramount Game Studios has confirmed that Saber Interactive, who recently released Space Marine 2, is working on a massive AAA RPG based on the hit animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender.
A few months ago, I would have predicted that Joker: Folie à Deux would be one of the year’s biggest movies. Yet, in the weeks since it made a rather anticlimactic debut at the Venice Film Festival, where many critics met it with a collective shrug, the word-of-mouth on the film has been tepid at best. Compare that to the original Joker, which came out on the same weekend back in 2019 and was a cultural phenomenon, with it being the controversial water-cooler movie everyone HAD to see. It opened with a massive $96 million, which is terrific for an R-rated movie, on its way to a $336 million domestic gross and over a billion bucks worldwide.
Conversely, the sequel is only tracking to open in the $50-60 million range, which is troubling for a film with a reported $200 million budget. We saw the movie (read our review here or watch it embedded below); indeed, it is a disappointingly anticlimactic follow-up. It doesn’t deliver the fireworks one would anticipate from the pairing of Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga as Joker and Harley Quinn.
As such, I think the box office gurus are right and that the movie will open smack dab in the middle of their expectations, around $55 million. Word-of-mouth will not be good, and it seems unlikely this will receive the same kind of awards buzz the original did, so WB will have to bank on overseas grosses to break even.
The Wild Robot should have no trouble in second place, with it looking to make about $20 million this weekend. Given the A CinemaScore, word of mouth should be excellent for this well-reviewed animated flick. And, despite getting a digital release next Tuesday, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice should manage a third-place finish, with it looking like it’ll make about $10 million. Other semi-wide releases this weekend include Lionsgate’s long-delayed White Bird, which is related to their breakout hit, Wonder, while Mel Gibson and Mason Thames headline Monster Summer (see our interview here). It remains to be seen if either will creep into the top five, but I’m expecting Transformers One in fourth place with about $6 million, while Speak No Evil should be in fifth with about $3 million.
Our predictions:
Do you think Joker: Folie à Deux will open better than expected? Let us know in the comments!
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