Although there have been some bumps in the road (to put it mildly), the Scream franchise is trucking forward with a seventh installment set to be directed by original Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson. Matthew Lillard, who played Stu Macher in the first Scream movie, told GamesRadar+ that he believes the franchise is in a good place but that recent sequels have gotten “too violent.“

“I think it’s in a good place. I think that [the movie being] back in the hands of Kevin Williamson is great. I love what [Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin] were doing before. nothing against them. In fact, I thought they were taking a really exciting way,” Lillard said. “I thought the movie got too violent. I think 6 was, like… I don’t think Ghostface ever needs a shotgun. I think that the movies are – everything is trying to repeat what we did in the first movie in a lot of ways. Like, a maniacal monologue at the end. It’s really hard to do. I hope that Kevin takes it in a brand new, brave, and exciting direction so that we can sort of find different colors and different joys.“

Lillard has also expressed a desire to return as Stu, who he believes isn’t dead. “Stu is definitely alive,” Lillard said. “That would be fun. I would love it. If it made sense, if it made sense for the franchise. If Kevin [Williamson] liked it, then sure.“

Scream 7 will see the return of Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott. She played the role in the first five Scream movies and 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.” Hopefully they apologized with a dump truck of cash this time around. It’s also possible that Patrick Dempsey might be returning as well, reprising his role as Mark Kincad. Scream 7 is slated for a February 27, 2026 release.

As the first movie opened with a horrific murder and disembowelling, I don’t necessarily agree that the recent Scream movies are any more violent than they’ve always been. What do you think?

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Before being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, Bruce Willis had starred in a lot of direct-to-video movies. Critics trashed many of these films, and the Razzies even gave Willis his own category (which they later rescinded after his diagnosis). However, Quentin Tarantino has defended Bruce Willis’ direct-to-video movies on the Video Archives Podcast after watching a bunch of them.

“These movies that he’s been making for these companies have really gone under fire in a really big way,” Tarantino said, “and there’s been these kinds of expose articles written about them and talking shit about these movies.” Much like the rest of us at the time, Tarantino remembers thinking, “What the f*** is this, what the f*** is Bruce Willis doing this stuff for?” Ultimately, Tarantino “decided to watch a few of them to see how Bruce equipped himself” and was quite surprised by how much he enjoyed them.

“I was really impressed by Bruce Willis in these movies,” he said. “I thought he was really charming in them. He’s really fun.” The director admitted that it was obvious that Willis was operating with an earpiece. “You can never have a scene where he says a line, somebody else says a line, and he says a line back,” he explained. “You’re getting one line out of him at a time, so there’s always a cut. But he’s making it work. He’s not phoning in his performances.“

Tarantino continued, “I ended up watching about six of them, they’re very easy to watch. They’re very entertaining. There’s not like there’s a classic among them, there’s no One-Armed Executioner, but the people who are putting these movies down obviously have never seen any real exploitation movies before.” He singled out Vice, Trauma Center, and Deadlock as the best of the ones he watched. “In Vice, Bruce looks like a million dollars,” he said. “He’s terrific, it’s a good role for him, he’s a lot of fun in it. I wish he had more to do because he’s really good.“

Willis was typically given top billing in these projects and was front and center in the marketing despite only shooting for a day or two. In 2022 alone, he was featured in a dozen direct-to-video projects.

How many of Willis’ direct-to-video movies have you seen? What are some of your favourites?

The post Quentin Tarantino defends Bruce Willis’ direct-to-video movies: “I was really impressed” appeared first on JoBlo.

Remember a few years ago when Netflix dipped its toes into the world of video games by creating interactive choose-your-own-adventure movies and TV shows? Well, almost all of those odd experiments are being removed from the service with little warning next month.

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Remember a few years ago when Netflix dipped its toes into the world of video games by creating interactive choose-your-own-adventure movies and TV shows? Well, almost all of those odd experiments are being removed from the service with little warning next month.

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Netflix isn’t always keen to give its movies a substantial release in theaters, but Daniel Craig hopes they’ll make an exception for Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. The actor told Variety that he hopes the third Knives Out film gets to play in theaters for longer than a single week, which is all Netflix gave Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

“You know I do,” Craig said. “Hopefully, Netflix will push it out a bit, and people will get to see it. The people I speak to — the fans, I suppose — all they want to do is take their families and go see it at the cinemas. That’s all they want to do. Hopefully we can give them that experience.” Wake Up Dead Man is slated to debut on Netflix in 2025 but doesn’t have an official release date, so there’s still plenty of time for the sequel to receive some sort of theatrical release. Netflix rolled out Glass Onion in 600 theaters, which remains the biggest release the streaming service has given any of its movies. Will Netflix do the same (or more) for Wake Up Dead Man?

The first Knives Out movie grossed $312 million on a budget of just $40 million. Netflix then made a deal with writer/director Rian Johnson for a whopping $465 million for two sequels. At the time, sources said that Johnson, Craig, and producer Ram Bergman could walk away with upward of $100 million each. Now, you can count me as someone who would love to see the Knives Out sequels in theaters, but for that sort of money, I think they knew what they were getting into.

Wake Up Dead Man naturally features Craig as detective Benoit Blanc alongside a supporting cast which includes Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Chuch. We don’t know all that much about the plot, but Brolin has said that the film is more like the first one than the second. “I loved the acting in both of them. I preferred the first one, and the third one felt more like the first one,” Brolin said. “[Rian] doesn’t come off as this, but he has this incredible control over his set. You know, he just has a major presence that reminds me of Denis [Villeneuve, Dune and Sicario director], that reminds me of the Coens [directors of No Country for Old Men, True Grit, and Hail, Caesar!], that reminds me of those types of directors. And he’s a great writer.“

The post Wake Up Dead Man: Daniel Craig hopes Netflix puts the Knives Out sequel in theaters for longer than one week appeared first on JoBlo.

Elon Musk is the world’s richest man with over $200 billion in net worth right now. He could go anywhere and do anything and he has apparently chosen to spend an inordinate number of hours grinding for loot in Diablo IV. The Tesla CEO revealed on the Joe Rogan podcast in a surprise, last-minute appearance before the…

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Halloween has passed, but Paramount Pictures wants to give you a treat for putting on a creepy face. In promotion of its horror smash hit Smile 2, Paramount Pictures has set up a website where you can watch some of the film for free if you shoot the biggest smile into your computer’s camera. But there’s a catch.

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Halloween has passed, but Paramount Pictures wants to give you a treat for putting on a creepy face. In promotion of its horror smash hit Smile 2, Paramount Pictures has set up a website where you can watch some of the film for free if you shoot the biggest smile into your computer’s camera. But there’s a catch.

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Almost five years have gone by since it was announced that Blumhouse Productions and Universal Pictures were working on a new version of The Thing called Frozen Hell – and while that project still hasn’t made its way into production, Deadline reports that a sci-fi thriller called White Mars, which sounds quite similar to The Thing and is set to star Lucy Hale of Pretty Little Liars, Scream 4, Truth or Dare?, and Fantasy Island, will begin filming on November 11th. Filming will take place at Cinecittà Studios in Rome and the movie is going to be shot entirely in a virtual production environment.

Martin Owen (The Loneliest Boy in the World), who just co-directed a survival thriller called Above the Below with Idris Elba, will be directing White Mars from a screenplay by Matt Mitchell, Vicki Sargent, and Roo Berry. Set in an isolated Aquila Research Facility in Antarctica, White Mars follows microbiologist Sammie (Hale), as she fights to save her fellow crew members from a malevolent entity whose sole intention is to extinguish them all. Deadline says this will allow Hale to channel both Alien‘s Ellen Ripley and The Thing‘s RJ MacReady.

Future Artists Entertainment’s Matt Williams is producing the film with Neil Jones, as well as Steve Griffith and Steve Jelley from Singularity Entertainment. XYZ Films is co-financing with Singularity and is handling worldwide sales. This is the first feature for Singularity, “an entertainment company specializing in virtual production and streamlined processes for independent films.”

Hale had this to say about the project: “White Mars is an absolute psychological thrill ride, and I’m so excited to film this at the Cinecittà film stages in Rome. At the heart of this story is Sammie, a character I truly admire for her resilience and strength. I can’t wait to collaborate with Martin Owen, our incredible cast, and the entire team to bring this story to life.“

Matt Williams added, “I am excited for this to be the first of a multi-slate of films with the team at XYZ and Singularity. Together we will be bringing technologically advanced movie making to the independent market to compete visually with high end studio films. We are thrilled that Lucy is joining us on this action-packed sci-fi adventure as her character battles the sinister forces that threaten us all.“

Does White Mars sound interesting to you? Share your thoughts on this Lucy Hale sci-fi thriller by leaving a comment below.

The post White Mars: Lucy Hale to face an evil entity in Antarctica appeared first on JoBlo.

Hayden Christensen is going to have to use more than the force if he’s going to be part of a championship NASCAR team. But he’s giving it a go, leading a promotional video for the new Darth Vader-inspired Star Wars car and helmet for NASCAR. Check out the car:

For the design, Doug Chiang, an executive designer at Lucasfilm, had to figure out how to incorporate Darth Vader – and, thus, the Dark Side – into the vehicle’s scheme, which would then be complemented by the Star Wars title on the hood of the NASCAR . As for his love of both Star Wars and Hayden Christensen, Chiang said, “I just love Hayden. I love his character and I love what he brings to it, and so I’m hoping that this design will pay respect to both Hayden and Vader.” You can check out the promo video below:

Chiang elaborated on the Star Wars design for NASCAR by saying, “It’s interesting, because past car designs don’t apply, as each project is very new. Each one has its own challenges, and they’re always unique. It’s the same thing that we do with our Star Wars vehicles. You’ll think we’ve done so many spaceships now that it’d be very easy, but each one has a very specific demand, and each one is really, really challenging, because at the end, you’re dealing with an inanimate object that you’re trying to infuse with a lot of personality, and the personality is key. And so our goal was to make sure that it worked on a car, but then aesthetically, it had to marry the Vader aesthetic from the film to the car.” Judging by the video – which also features Hayden Christensen in the passenger seat of the vehicle, as driven by Bubba Wallace in his signature #23 –  it seems like the group nailed it.

This Hayden Christensen-endorsed car is just the latest Star Wars homage in the world of NASCAR, following those of the X-wing and TIE fighters, not to mention a Revenge of the Sith-wrapped car which Jeff Gordon drove. Their other movie wraps have also featured Jurassic Park, The Dark Knight Rises and even Shrek 2…

In other NASCAR and movie-related news, Frankie Muniz has devoted his future to the sport while Tom Cruise could be getting behind the wheel for another Days of Thunder.

What do you think of the latest Star Wars wrap from NASCAR?

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