Month: October 2024

The first weekend in November seems all but sure to be a quiet one; with no major new releases on the schedule that look like they can keep Venom: The Last Dance from dominating the weekend box office again. This is good news for the final chapter in Sony’s live-action Spider-Verse trilogy, as its opening last weekend was considered quite underwhelming, even if it seems to be a blockbuster overseas.

Word of mouth on the film doesn’t seem to be all that good, so the movie will likely fall in the 60% range, giving it a second weekend of under $20 million. Given how front-loaded the Thursday screenings were last week, I think Venom 3 will be lucky to have an $18 million second weekend. 

As mediocre a number as that is, it seems unlikely any of the other films in the top 10 will make over $5 million this weekend. Smile 2 seems like it might grab some of the Halloween carry-over audience, with a $5 million second weekend. Conclave, which proved to be a surprise hit for Focus last weekend, should manage a third-place finish with about $4 million. 

Another big question mark this weekend is how Robert Zemeckis’s Here will perform. While it reunites the director with his Forrest Gump stars, Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, the early reviews have been poor, and audiences tend to stay away in droves anytime de-aging is done, so I’m expecting a disastrous $3 million weekend. A24’s romance, We Live in Time, should easily snag a fifth-place finish with about $2.5 million. 

Here are my predictions for the top 5:

  1. Venom: The Last Dance: $18 million
  2. Smile 2: $5 million
  3. Conclave: $4 million
  4. Here: $3 million
  5. We Live in Time: $2.5 million

Expect the box office doldrums to continue next weekend, with Heretic the only big opener. That movie seems unlikely to make much more than $10 million, so we likely won’t get any films opening to over $20 million until Dwayne Johnson’s Red One opens. Luckily, the rest of the month paints a rosier picture, with blockbuster audiences expected for Gladiator II and Wicked.

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quentin tarantino, dune

Quentin Tarantino recently appeared on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, where he is sharing his hot takes on some of the more recent projects that have been released. He praised Joaquin Phoenix’s performance from Joker: Folie à Deux, saying that he gave “one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in my life.” He also said, “I really, really liked it, really. A lot. Like, tremendously, and I went to see it expecting to be impressed by the filmmaking. But I thought it was going to be an arms-length, intellectual exercise that ultimately I wouldn’t think worked like a movie, but that I would appreciate it for what it is.”

World of Reel now reports on Tarantino’s firm stance on watching movies and TV shows that have been remade from past works, including Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune films. The Pulp Fiction director explains, “I saw [David Lynch’s] Dune a couple of times. I don’t need to see that story again. I don’t need to see spice worms. I don’t need to see a movie that says the word ‘Spice’ so dramatically.”

He, then, continues in a rant about other works that are remade into modern projects, “It’s one after another of this remake, and that remake. People ask ‘Have you seen Dune?’ ‘Have you seen ‘Ripley?’ ‘Have you seen Shogun?’ And I’m like “no, no, no, no.” There’s six or seven Ripley books. If you do one again, why are you doing the same one that they’ve done twice already? I’ve seen that story twice before, and I didn’t really like it in either version, so I’m not really interested in seeing it a third time. If you did another story, that would be interesting enough to give it a shot anyway.”

As for Shōgun, which was an Emmy darling this year, Tarantino expounded, “I saw Shōgun in the ‘80s. I watched all 13 hours. I’m good. I don’t need to see that story again, I don’t care how they do it. I don’t care if they take me and put me in ancient Japan in a time machine. I don’t care, I’ve seen the story.”

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The Stand

Legendary author Stephen King destroyed the world in his 1978 novel The Stand (which got an expanded edition in 1990), unleashing a virus that wiped out most of the population… but once society had crumbled, there was hope that the survivors would find a way to carry on. After, of course, a confrontation between good and supernatural evil decided which path would be taken. Although the entire world is affected by the pandemic, King keeps his focus on American characters because he envisioned The Stand as being an American Lord of the Rings. But if other authors had the chance to write something that takes place in the world of The Stand, they could tell the stories of what happened in other locations around the globe, as well as dig into characters that didn’t get the spotlight in King’s novel. We’ll get to find out exactly what at least thirty-six other authors would write about the world of The Stand in the upcoming anthology novel The End of the World as We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand, which Simon & Schuster will be publishing on August 19, 2025. Copies are available for pre-order at THIS LINK.

Here’s the information on The End of the World as We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand: Since its initial publication in 1978, The Stand has been considered Stephen King’s seminal masterpiece of apocalyptic fiction, with millions of copies sold and adapted twice for television. Although there are other extraordinary works exploring the unraveling of human society, none have been as influential as this iconic novel—generations of writers have been impacted by its dark yet ultimately hopeful vision of the end and new beginning of civilization, and its stunning array of characters. Now for the first time, Stephen King has fully authorized a return to the harrowing world of The Stand through this original short story anthology as presented by award-winning authors and editors Christopher Golden and Brian Keene. Bringing together some of today’s greatest and most visionary writers, The End of the World As We Know It features unforgettable, all-new stories set during and after (and some perhaps long after) the events of The Stand—brilliant, terrifying, and painfully human tales that will resonate with readers everywhere as an essential companion to the classic, bestselling novel.

King has written an introduction for the novel, which Golden has written a foreword and Keene an afterword. Authors who are contributing to the anthology include Wayne Brady and Maurice Broaddus, Poppy Z. Brite, Somer Canon, C. Robert Cargill, Nat Cassidy, V. Castro, Richard Chizmar, S. A. Cosby, Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes, Meg Gardiner, Gabino Iglesias, Jonathan Janz, Alma Katsu, Caroline Kepnes, Michael Koryta, Sarah Langan, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon, Josh Malerman, Ronald Malfi, Usman T. Malik, Premee Mohamed, Cynthia Pelayo, Hailey Piper, David J. Schow, Alex Segura, Bryan Smith, Paul Tremblay, Catherynne M. Valente, Bev Vincent, Catriona Ward, Chuck Wendig, Wrath James White, and Rio Youers.

What do you think of the idea of an anthology that takes place in the world of Stephen King’s The Stand? Will you be buying a copy of The End of the World as We Know It? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The End of the World as We Know It

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In 2022, after two seasons, HBO canceled Ridley Scott’s sci-fi series Raised By Wolves. The show was created by Aaron Guzikowski, Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker. HBO would release a statement saying, “While we are not proceeding with a third season of Raised by Wolves, we are beyond grateful to the stellar cast and crew, our creators Aaron Guzikowski, Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, and the entire team at Scott Free Productions, for their beautiful artistry and unique ability to immerse fans into the world of Kepler-22b.”

The Hollywood Reporter recently caught up with Ridley Scott’s studio team as they speak on his Scott Free company’s projects as well as his upcoming epic Gladiator II. When asked about the decision for HBO to cancel Raised By Wolves, they admitted that the news had been particularly heartbreaking as they felt that the series was just about to realize its potential. Clayton Krueger, the president of the TV division at Scott Free explained,

It was deeply frustrating. We really were creatively positioned to start up. We had broken the season, we had the team together. We felt like the show really found its footing.” 

The series centered around two androids, Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubaker Salim), who are tasked with raising human children on an alien world after the Earth was destroyed by a great war between militant atheists and a religious order known as the Mithraic. With the new colony in danger of being torn apart by religious differences, the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task.

Back in 2022, Raised By Wolves star Abubakar Salim shared the news on Twitter while asking for the show to be picked up by another network or platform. “It’s not surprising, especially after the news of the mergers and what is happening at Warner [Bros. Discovery, which owns HBO Max], that a lot of shows are not having their stories finished. And unfortunately, one of those shows is Raised by Wolves,” Salim said. “Nothing has been publicly shared yet. And there is a reason for that. An important one. One which I’m here to share with you now. There is hope.”

Not only would the show not find a way to continue on another platform, but HBO would remove the show from the Max streaming app in yet another cost-cutting measure from Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. Once these shows are taken off the streaming platform, they’ll be put together in a package that will be licensed to FAST (free ad-supported television) channels. 

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The WitchThe Lighthouse, and The Northman writer/director Robert Eggers‘ remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent classic Nosferatu (watch it HERE) is set to reach theatres on Wednesday, December 25th – but the marketing team behind the film’s Christmas release has decided to celebrate Halloween by unveiling a batch of character posters! You can check them out at the bottom of this article.

An unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the original Nosferatu has the following synopsis: In this highly influential silent horror film, the mysterious Count Orlok (Max Schreck) summons Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. The eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen (Greta Schroeder). After Orlok reveals his vampire nature, Hutter struggles to escape the castle, knowing that Ellen is in grave danger. Meanwhile Orlok’s servant, Knock (Alexander Granach), prepares for his master to arrive at his new home. Werner Herzog directed his own remake of the film in 1979.

Eggers’ take on Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman in 19th century Germany and the ancient Transylvanian vampire who stalks her, bringing untold horror with him.

The film stars Bill Skarsgard (It) as the title character, Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man: No Way Home) as crazy vampire hunter Von Franz, Lily-Rose Depp (The Idol) as Ellen Hutter and Nicholas Hoult (Renfield) as her husband Thomas – a role Skarsgard was going to play at one point. Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Bullet Train) is in there as Thomas’s friend Friedrich Harding, with Emma Corrin (The Crown) as Friedrich’s wife Anna, Ralph Ineson (The Witch) as Von Franz’s cohort Dr. Wilhelm Sievers, and Simon McBurney (The Conjuring 2) in an unspecified role. Skarsgard has said that playing Nosferatu / Count Orlok was like “conjuring pure evil. It took a while for me to shake off the demon that had been conjured inside of me. … I do not think people are gonna recognize me in it.

Skarsgard’s vampire character does not get a poster, but the character posters do shine a light on the people who are brought to life by Dafoe, Depp, Hoult, Taylor-Johnson, and Corrin.

Are you looking forward to Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu remake? Check out the character posters, then let us know by leaving a comment below.

Nosferatu
Nosferatu character posters
Nosferatu character posters
Nosferatu character posters
Nosferatu

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Godzilla Minus One, 4K release

Last year, Toho released a new Godzilla film, titled Godzilla Minus One (read our review HERE), in Japan on November 3rd, which happens to be Godzilla Day, the anniversary of the 1954 release of the original Godzilla movie. That was the 69th anniversary – and since this year marks the 70th anniversary of the original film, Godzilla Minus One is returning to theatres this weekend, with screenings starting on November 1st. There’s also a black & white version of Godzilla Minus One that’s called Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color, and that version of the film is also returning to theatres for this celebration. To see if Godzilla Minus One and/or Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color will be showing near you this weekend, check out the Tickets.Godzilla website.

Written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, Godzilla Minus One sees an already devastated postwar Japan facing a new threat in the form of Godzilla. Interestingly, one of Yamazaki’s previous credits is the 2007 film Always: Sunset on Third Street 2, which features a Godzilla cameo in a fantasy sequence. 

The film stars Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando, and Kuranosuke Sasaki, with music by Naoki Sato.

Toho’s Koji Ueda provided the synopsis: “Set in a post-war Japan, Godzilla Minus One will once again show us a Godzilla that is a terrifying and overwhelming force, which you already get a sense of from the teaser trailer and poster. The concept is that Japan, which had already been devastated by the war, faces a new threat with Godzilla, bringing the country into the ‘minus.’

Yamazaki directed a trilogy of Always: Sunset on Third Street films, as well as Juvenile, Returner, Ballad, Space Battleship Yamato, Friends: Naki on the Monster Island, The Fighter Pilot, Stand by Me Doraemon, Stand by Me Doraemon 2 (with Ryuichi Yagi), Parasyte: Part 1 and 2Fueled: The Man They Called ‘Pirate’, Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura, The Great War of Archimedes, Dragon Quest: Your Story, Lupin III: The First, and Ghost Book Obakezukan. 

Toho brought Godzilla Minus One to the states in its original Japanese version, with English subtitles. The film secured a PG-13 rating for its U.S. release. This is Toho’s 33rd film in the franchise. The most recent entries were the 2016 live-action film Shin Godzilla and a trilogy of animated features; Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle, and Godzilla: The Planet Eater. While Toho was sending this one out into the world, Legendary has been keeping their own Godzilla MonsterVerse alive with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and the Apple TV+ series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.

Will you be catching Godzilla Minus One and/or Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color on the big screen this weekend? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Over on the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel, we talk about horror movies and TV shows all year long, but this is truly the most wonderful time of the year. For many of us, Halloween is our favorite holiday – and to celebrate, the staff at JoBlo Horror Originals has put together a new video to showcase some of our favorite horror movie quotes of all time. This ranges from cult classic lines we repeat to our friends in private to popular lines that are referenced in all of pop culture, and we’re getting into them all. Now, I’m sure there will be some notable exclusions, as we did have to abide by strict copyright rules, but we certainly did our best to include the best of the best. From “Get away from her, you bitch!” (that’s from Aliens, of course) to “I have to return some video tapes,” (American Psycho) we’ve got all the classics – and some fun cult favorites you may not expect make some appearances as well. And we, of course, made sure to add a bit of that JoBlo Horror flavor to things as well. To find out what we chose as our favorite horror movie quotes, check out the video (which was edited and narrated by Tyler Nichols) embedded above!

Earlier this month, the JoBlo Horror Originals staff also shared what they’ll be watching this Halloween… and since the day is now upon us, you might want to revisit that video for recommendations. The list included Fright Night (1985), The Monster Squad (1987), Trick or Treat (1986), Trick ‘r Treat (2007), Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986), Night of the Creeps (1986), Ernest Scared Stupid (1991), The Evil Dead (1981), Scream (1996), The Crow (1994), Bad Moon (1996), Bloodstone: Subspecies II (1993), Night of the Demons (1988), and more!

What are some of your favorite horror movie quotes, and what will you be watching to celebrate Halloween? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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After Cannon Films attempted to create a Masters of the Universe franchise with Dolph Lundgren and Frank Langella, the initial movie would crash and burn and take the studio with it. While there would be a cult following of that film developed, a new attempt at the property is finally set in motion. Masters of the Universe will star Nicholas Galitzine (The Idea of You) as Prince Adam/He-Man and Camila Mendes (Do Revenge) as Captain Teela. The project has been in the works for quite some time with a revolving door of directors, writers, and actors, but at long last, it seems like it’s finally happening. Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) will direct from a script by Chris Butler, with initial drafts penned by David Callaham, and Aaron & Adam Nee.

It was previously announced that GLOW‘s Alison Brie is set to portray Evil-Lyn in the film, and she would talk to The Hollywood Reporter about this upcoming project as she promotes her upcoming Macy’s holiday campaign. She explains how much she liked the script,

I read the script and I think it’s really clever. It has a really great take on He-Man, and Nick Galitzine is really talented. Those are the reasons I said yes.”

However, she is also excited about the prospect of playing a villain, “Actors always say that villains have the most fun, and that’s probably true. I’ve played morally compromised people but not a truly deliciously sinister evil villain. I’ve been trying to manifest playing a villain in a superhero movie, and [this is] answering that call for me.”

While the 80s show He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was a cartoon made to sell the toyline, Brie would go back to watch the show for some backstory context. “I definitely remember it being on, and I went back and started watching it again. It’s much funnier than I remember. Evil-Lyn and Skeletor have a contentious relationship,” one that she’s excited to explore onscreen, she says.

The Masters of the Universe movie was previously set up at Netflix, but the streaming service scrapped the project last summer. Aaron and Adam Nee were tapped to write and direct the project before it fell apart, reportedly due to budget issues. Netflix had already spent close to $30 million on development costs, with the budget ballooning to over $200 million. There was an attempt to bring the budget down, with the idea of shooting the movie back-to-back with a sequel in order to amortize the cost, but an agreement couldn’t be reached. The project later found a new home at Amazon MGM Studios. Masters of the Universe will be released in theaters on June 5, 2026.

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