Last year I said we were leaving the golden era of modern shooters. But, as it turns out, I might have spoken too soon! 2024 provided a huge list of great third- and first-person shooters across console and PC, from devs both big and small. This year had so many awesome games that deciding which shooters to recognize…
Last year I said we were leaving the golden era of modern shooters. But, as it turns out, I might have spoken too soon! 2024 provided a huge list of great third- and first-person shooters across console and PC, from devs both big and small. This year had so many awesome games that deciding which shooters to recognize…
Red One may be the latest chip at the big screen reputation of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in terms of quality, but the new holiday movie has been a massive hit. Hitting 50 million viewers in its first four days, Red One is now the most-watched Amazon MGM production to ever stream on Prime Video.
Red One has a bit of a goofy release background, first initially being planned to go straight to Amazon Prime Video. A delay due to last year’s SAG-AFTRA strike gave the production an opportunity to adjust, which they took full advantage of. As such, Red One received a wide release last month and ended up debuting at #1 at the box office off of more than 4,000 screens. It would nab a little under $100 million domestically and have a total worldwide haul of $175 million. With the 50 million views coming after its Prime Video, we’re looking at a fairly surprising hit here.
On the reception and release, Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios, said, “Given the audience response to Red One both in theaters and on Prime Video, the film will clearly be a perennial holiday favorite for years to come. Every film is different, and we are so grateful for the partnership with our filmmakers in collectively finding the right strategy to get this film in front of the widest possible audience. With Red One, there was no doubt that strategy needed to include a theatrical release and associated marketing campaign, which drove audiences to theaters and generated awareness for the film with viewers who would ultimately tune in on Prime Video. It’s rewarding to see our plan pay off for customers, and we are incredibly thankful to the entire filmmaking team and cast who helped make it happen.”
While I don’t necessarily see this one remaining a holiday staple, those numbers don’t lie and people still do throw their support behind Dwayne Johnson. Backed by Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, J.K. Simmons, and Bonnie Hunt, the demographics are pretty much covered here to ensure that the bulk of the family (it is rated PG-13 after all) has something for them. Personally, I preferred Simmons as Santa in Klaus…As for the plot of Red One: “After Santa Claus – Code Name: RED ONE – is kidnapped, the North Pole’s Head of Security must team up with the world’s most infamous bounty hunter in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.”
What do you think accounts for the success of Red One? Will you be adding it to your annual holiday viewing?
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After the exit of both Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, it was uncertain if any members of the “core four” would be returning for the next Scream sequel. However, Variety has reported that Mason Gooding will be returning as Chad Meeks-Martin for Scream 7. As for Jasmin Savoy Brown, who plays Chad’s sister Mindy, she hasn’t officially signed on yet.
Chad found himself near death in the last two Scream movies but managed to survive each encounter. Will his luck (if you want to call it that) continue with Scream 7?
The upcoming sequel will see the return of Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott. After playing the role in the first five Scream movies, she was expected to return for the sixth until the studio low-balled her. “As a woman, I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream,” Campbell said. “I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise. It’s been a very difficult decision to move on.” Courteney Cox is also expected to return as Gale Weathers, but she hasn’t officially signed on yet. It’s also possible that Patrick Dempsey might be returning as Mark Kincaid (now married to Sidney) from Scream 3. It was announced that Isabel May (Yellowstone: 1883) had joined the cast as Sidney’s teenage daughter. Celeste O’Connor (Madame Web), Mckenna Grace (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire), and Sam Rechner (The Fabelmans) have also signed on.
The original plan for Scream 7 would have seen Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega returning as Sam and Tara Carpenter, but Spyglass Media fired Barrera after a few pro-Palestinian social media posts that they deemed anti-Semitic. The very next day, it was revealed that Ortega had exited the project as well. It was initially reported that this was due to scheduling conflicts with the second season of Wednesday, but it later emerged that she had wanted a substantial salary increase, which Spyglass refused, so she walked.
That wasn’t the end of the drama either. Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day) was set to direct the movie, but he also departed, calling it a “dream job that turned into a nightmare.” The studio then turned to Kevin Williamson, screenwriter of the original Scream movie, to direct. Upon the announcement, Neve Campbell said, “While I’ve been so incredibly lucky to make these films with both the master of horror Wes Craven and the wonderfully talented Matt and Tyler team, I’ve dreamt for many years of how amazing it would be to make one of these movies with Kevin Williamson at the helm. And now it’s happening, Kevin Williamson is going to direct Scream 7! This was his baby and it’s his brilliant mind that dreamt up this world. Kevin is not just an inspiration as an artist but has been a dear friend for many years.“ Scream 7 is slated for a February 27, 2026 release.
Are you happy to see Mason Gooding returning for Scream 7, or would you rather the sequel concentrate on new characters?
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Home Alone has earned its place as a beloved holiday classic, and Macaulay Culkin has been touring the country to celebrate the film. Dubbed A Nostalgic Night with Macaulay Culkin, the actor hosts Home Alone screenings followed by a Q&A. During a recent screening in Illinois, Culkin said his Home Alone co-star Joe Pesci got a little too into character while they were rehearsing a scene and actually bit him.
“He was trying to scare me,” Culkin explained. “He was like, ‘I want to be menacing to this kid.’” The actor said Pesci took it a little too far while threatening to bite off the fingers of Culkin’s character and really bit down. “I have a scar,” Culkin said, adding that Pesci had a look of pure panic. “I saw his face — and I’ve never, ever seen Joe Pesci actually scared,” Culkin said. “Because he’s like, ‘I just bit a kid!’“
While Culkin may have been scarred during the production of the first Home Alone movie, Pesci got his own scars during Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. “The Home Alone movies were a more physical type of comedy, therefore, a little more demanding,” said Pesci several years ago. “In addition to the expected bumps, bruises, and general pains that you would associate with that particular type of physical humor, I did sustain serious burns to the top of my head during the scene where Harry’s hat is set on fire.“
The relationship between Culkin and Pesci may consist of scarred fingers and burnt noggins, but Culkin’s relationship with his on-screen mother is anything but. To this day, nearly thirty-five years after the release of the film, Culkin still calls Catherine O’Hara “mom,” and she “opens up her arms — she goes, ‘Son.’“
In fact, O’Hara showed up for Culkin’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony last year and gave him a touching tribute. “I know you worked really hard, I know you did, but you made acting look like the most natural thing in the world to do…Macaulay, congratulations,” O’Hara said. “You so deserve your star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And thank you for including me, your fake mom who left you home alone not once but twice, to share in this happy occasion. I’m so proud of you.“
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Bill Skarsgård has played some dark and twisted characters throughout his career, but it seems that Count Orlok in Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu might be the limit.
While speaking with Empire, Skarsgård sounds like he wants a break from portraying such nefarious characters. “When we were done with it, I was like, ‘I never want to play something this evil again. I never want to put on prosthetics again’,” he said. “It really affected me. Orlok is an occult sorcerer, and it did a number on me in terms of just trying to inhabit that space.“
We still haven’t seen a full image of Skarsgård as Count Orlok, but it’s said to be quite the transformation. The actor even worked with an opera singer to lower his voice by a whole octave. “The voice was the thing I worked the hardest at,” he said. “For a month-and-a-half leading up to the shoot, I didn’t do much else than just record myself. And on set, I would keep doing these exercises. It sounds kind of like Mongolian throat-singing. It’s [insane].“
Written and directed by Robert Eggers and starring Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, and Willem Dafoe, Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.
Our own Chris Bumbray is a big fan of Nosferatu, calling it the “scariest vampire movie in ages” in his review. “This is one of the most lovingly made horror films in some time, with Eggers likely having set out to create a definitive version of the tale,” Bumbray wrote. “It’s long been his passion project, and you can tell. For me, this is up there with the best films of the year, and probably the only horror film I’ve seen recently that sent a true chill up my spine. Of all the films I’ve seen this year – and there have been a lot – this one seems to have the best chance of becoming a classic.” You can check out the rest of his glowing review right here. Nosferatu will hit theaters on December 25th.
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Are those talking babies from Look Who’s Talking about to make a comeback? Amy Heckerling, who wrote and directed the original movie starring Kirstie Alley and John Travolta, told Empire that she’s currently working on a new Look Who’s Talking project.
“Who knows if it’ll become a ‘thing’,” Heckerling said. “But I’m excited. I’m not through with [Look Who’s Talking] yet.” She added that she’s working on the new script with her daughter Mollie, who was the inspiration for the original movie. “She was looking at us, we were looking at her,” the director explained. “Suddenly, [we] started ad-libbing things she might be saying. In my mind, I was like: ‘Oh no. This is gonna be my next movie.’“
Look Who’s Talking stars Kirstie Alley as Mollie, a single mother with a newborn child. Her son, Mikey, is voiced by Bruce Willis. John Travolta plays James, a cab driver who rushes a pregnant Mollie to the hospital and whom Mikey later determines would be his perfect father. The film was a huge success upon its release in 1989, grossing over $297 million worldwide. It was followed by Look Who’s Talking Too, which introduced a new baby voiced by Roseanne Barr, and Look Who’s Talking Now, which gave voice to the couple’s two dogs, Rocks (Danny DeVito) and Daphne (Diane Keaton). It also spawned a spin-off TV series titled Baby Talk, which featured a young George Clooney.
There have been rumblings of a new Look Who’s Talking movie for years, with Fast & Furious producer Neal H. Moritz set to produce a reboot in 2010. A different reboot was later announced in 2019 with writer/director Jeremy Garelick (The Wedding Ringer), and John Travolta and Kirstie Alley had expressed a willingness to return. “John and I, we both really want to do it, because we think it’s funny that we’re the grandparents,” said Alley in 2020. “We heard a rumor they were doing it, but I don’t know if it’s with us or without us.” However, Alley’s death in 2022 seemed to put the project to rest.
Are you down for a new Look Who’s Talking movie?
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Wicked has been blowing up the winter box office, with the second part of the musical epic set to debut next year. The sequel was originally announced as Wicked: Part Two, but Universal has unveiled a new title — Wicked: For Good.
Wicked: For Good takes inspiration from one of the musical’s most well-known songs, a duet between Elphaba and Glinda performed near the end of the musical as a farewell. The sequel will hit theaters on November 21, 2025.
While Wicked has been a big success, there has also been a debate about whether fans should be allowed to sing along in theaters. AMC has made it clear that they wouldn’t allow it. “To our guests seeing Wicked, we ask that you allow everyone to enjoy the cinema experience,” read an AMC sign. “Please refrain from singing during the show.” Screenings even include a Wicked-themed ad which says, “At AMC Theaters, silence is golden. No talking. No texting. No singing. No wailing. No flirting. And absolutely no name-calling. Enjoy the magic of movies.” If you really must belt one out in theaters, a special sing-along version of Wicked will premiere on December 25th.
Does Hollywood have a Part Two phobia? Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two got to keep its title, but Paramount Pictures blinked when it came to Mission: Impossible. The latest film in the Tom Cruise action franchise was titled Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One in theaters, but it dropped Part One from its title when it arrived on streaming. The sequel was originally subtitled Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two but has since been retitled Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
Wicked is now playing in theaters, and despite not being much of a Broadway musical fan, our own Chris Bumbray found a lot to like. “While I’ll admit that there were a handful of moments where I felt I was missing some kind of in-joke for fans of the play, overall, I had a pretty good time with Jon M. Chu’s Wicked – Part I,” Bumbray wrote. “Certainly, it’s one of the better modern versions of The Wizard of Oz, far more entertaining than Sam Raimi’s largely forgotten Oz: The Great and Powerful. Chu seems to have a knack for movie musicals, and with Universal clearly pumping a pretty penny into it, it feels like the kind of big, broad fantasy epic that should be able to crossover beyond its core audience of Broadway enthusiasts.” You can check out the rest of his review right here.
What do you think of the new title for Wicked: Part Two? Does Wicked: For Good sound better?
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WWE superstar Becky Lynch is ready to leap from the top rope of the squared circle for a battle among the stars when she joins the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy cast on Paramount+. Lynch, the five-time champion, shared the news on Twitter, telling Trekkies she’s ready to enter a new acting career era.
“You know when you’ve already been champion of the world, there’s only one place to go next, and that’s to the stars,” Lynch said in a video she posted to Twitter. “I’m so excited to share with all of you that I’m joining ‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ as part of the bridge crew. This has been the most amazing experience, acting alongside just a spectacular cast and crew, and I cannot wait for all of you to check it out when it comes out on Paramount Plus.”
Not your average average Starfleet officer! I'm beaming in to the first season of @StarTrek: Starfleet Academy on @ParamountPlus. pic.twitter.com/GlCCttnCIO
— Rebecca Quin (@BeckyLynchWWE) December 16, 2024
Lynch ended her announcement by giving fans the Vulcan symbol, as you do. The video clarifies that Lynch is over the moon about becoming a part of the Star Trek universe after acting in shows like Billions and Young Rock. With stars like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Dave Bautista, and John Cena leaping film and television, there’s no reason to think Lynch can’t join the ranks of successful wrestlers-turned-actors.
Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti lead Star Trek: Academy, with Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Sandro Rosta, Karim Diané, and Zoë Steiner in lead roles.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy follows “the adventures of a new class of Starfleet cadets as they come of age in one of the most legendary places in the galaxy. The series will introduce viewers to this young group of cadets as they come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they will discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself.”
What do you think about Becky Lynch boldly going to the Star Trek universe for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy? Are you excited to see her acting chops in a more prominent role? Let us know in the comments section below.
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There’s only one more episode left in Dune: Prophecy’s first season, and the show is still adding more Bene Gesserits with the power to shake everything up to the Dune universe. Although we’ve seen her younger self briefly in flashback scenes, the arrival of adult Sister Francesca (Tabu) to House Corrino in the…