New Line Cinema is marching into New York City Comic-Con with a special presentation for the upcoming original anime feature The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. The panel places LOTR fans at the heart of the world, which J. R. R. Tolkien created, giving them a front-row seat for an animated event film arranged by the award-winning filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama (Blade Runner: Black Lotus and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex TV series). Today’s BTS video for The War of the Rohirrim brings us behind the magic of Kamiyama’s film, highlighting the painstaking process of creating a high-concept fantasy adventure from scribbles and scratches.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim BTS video begins with rough pencil sketches of characters and mythical locales before showcasing charcoal drawings and the storyboarding process. After completing the look of the world and its characters, the art team imports the drawings into a computer program to start the animation stage. As the artists work tirelessly to bring everything to life, the filmmakers submerge themselves in an ocean of sound to accompany the action and drama.

Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” tells the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg—a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Héra, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.

The talented voice cast is led by Brian Cox (Succession) as Helm Hammerhand, the mighty King of Rohan; Gaia Wise (A Walk in the Woods) as his daughter Héra; and Luke Pasqualino (Snowpiercer) as Wulf.  Miranda Otto, who delivered an unforgettable, award-winning performance in “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, reprises her role as Éowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan, who serves as the tale’s narrator.  The voice ensemble also includes Lorraine Ashbourne (Netflix’s Bridgerton), Yazdan Qafouri (I Came By), Benjamin Wainwright (World on Fire), Laurence Ubong Williams (Gateway), Shaun Dooley (The Witcher), Michael Wildman (Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw), Jude Akuwudike (Beasts of No Nation), Bilal Hasna (Sparks) and Janine Duvitski (Benidorm).

Per New Line Cinema’s official press release:

With Kamiyama at the helm, the original feature is being produced by Oscar winner Philippa Boyens, from the screenwriting team behind “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” Trilogies, alongside Jason DeMarco and Joseph Chou, who, in addition to their many separate animation projects, collaborated on the “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” series. The executive producers are Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Sam Register, Carolyn Blackwood, and Toby Emmerich.  The screenplay is by Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews and Phoebe Gittins & Arty Papageorgiou, and the story is by Addiss & Matthews, and Boyens, based on characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien.  The team of creative collaborators returning from “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy also includes Oscar winners Alan Lee and Richard Taylor, along with esteemed Tolkien illustrator John Howe.

A New Line Cinema Presentation, a Warner Bros. Animation / Sola Entertainment Production, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” will be distributed theatrically worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, released in cinemas nationwide on December 13, 2024, and internationally beginning on December 11, 2024.

The post The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim charges into NYCC with a BTS video showing the intricate artistry of the anticipated anime appeared first on JoBlo.

Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2’s recent 4.0 update hasn’t gone over well with players. The new patch added a difficulty option that some players feel is too frustrating while tweaking other parts of the game to make co-op missions harder, resulting in backlash from the community. Now, the devs are promising more…

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Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2’s recent 4.0 update hasn’t gone over well with players. The new patch added a difficulty option that some players feel is too frustrating while tweaking other parts of the game to make co-op missions harder, resulting in backlash from the community. Now, the devs are promising more…

Read more…

I had a great time with Parker Finn’s original feature Smile. It was a fun flick with great performances. Even still, when I stepped into the theatre for Smile 2, my expectations were in check. And yet, I, along with the rest of the audience, all responded to the new sequel. The surprisingly excellent sequel offers a compelling story that builds on its creepy premise. The kills are intense, and for a longer film, it never wears out its welcome. Much of the success can be given to the talent of its filmmaker, Parker Finn. However, you also have to give credit to the film’s star, Naomi Scott. The actress gives an incredible performance and makes you truly care about her dilemma. Check out our own Chris Bumbray’s review here.

It’s always nice to step into an interview with genuine excitement for the film. And I loved this movie. First up, I spoke with the filmmaker, Parker Finn. He talked about building this cinematic world and casting Naomi Scott in the lead. Next up I had the chance to speak with Ms. Scott. Having interviewed her before, I was more than pleased to talk again. Naomi is excellent here, and she opened up about playing a pop star who is facing a serious crisis in her life. Smile 2 is a terrific horror film, but it’s also incredibly unsettling, and it rarely pulls any punches. It’s more than a little refreshing to see a genuinely great sequel, and for me, this one is certainly up there.

Check out Smile 2 this weekend with a crowd!

The post Interview: Naomi Scott and Parker Finn Talk Smile 2 appeared first on JoBlo.

I had a great time with Parker Finn’s original feature Smile. It was a fun flick with great performances. Even still, when I stepped into the theatre for Smile 2, my expectations were in check. And yet, I, along with the rest of the audience, all responded to the new sequel. The surprisingly excellent sequel offers a compelling story that builds on its creepy premise. The kills are intense, and for a longer film, it never wears out its welcome. Much of the success can be given to the talent of its filmmaker, Parker Finn. However, you also have to give credit to the film’s star, Naomi Scott. The actress gives an incredible performance and makes you truly care about her dilemma. Check out our own Chris Bumbray’s review here.

It’s always nice to step into an interview with genuine excitement for the film. And I loved this movie. First up, I spoke with the filmmaker, Parker Finn. He talked about building this cinematic world and casting Naomi Scott in the lead. Next up I had the chance to speak with Ms. Scott. Having interviewed her before, I was more than pleased to talk again. Naomi is excellent here, and she opened up about playing a pop star who is facing a serious crisis in her life. Smile 2 is a terrific horror film, but it’s also incredibly unsettling, and it rarely pulls any punches. It’s more than a little refreshing to see a genuinely great sequel, and for me, this one is certainly up there.

Check out Smile 2 this weekend with a crowd!

The post Interview: Naomi Scott and Parker Finn Talk Smile 2 appeared first on JoBlo.

We’re somehow already in the fourth quarter of 2024, but the good news is that we’re getting a new Nick Frost horror movie every month as we wrap up this year. The action horror comedy Krazy House, which JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray hated when he caught a screening at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, was given a VOD release on October 4th. The serial killer thriller Get Away will be getting a theatrical release on December 6th. And slotting in between those two is the supernatural horror movie Black Cab, which is coming our way from Shudder, Sony Pictures Television, and Stolen Pictures, and will be released through the Shudder streaming service on November 8th. Our friends at Bloody Disgusting got the first look at the trailer, which is now embedded above.

Directed by Bruce Goodison (Murdered By My Father) from a screenplay by A Long Way from Home writer/director Virginia Gilbert and David Michael Emerson (whose name, I have to note, happens to be a mash-up of the names of two characters from The Lost Boys), Black Cab sees Frost taking on the role of an erratic cab driver. The film has the following synopsis: When Anne and Patrick hail a black cab after a night out their driver is chatty, jovial even, but they are in no mood to talk. In fact, the couple is barely on speaking terms. That is, until they realize the driver has no intention of taking them home. Locked in the cab with no means of escape, the driver transports the couple to a stretch of deserted and supposedly haunted road. But what is his purpose? Is he mad or just plain evil? And why has he selected Anne and Patrick as his victims?

Frost is joined in the cast by Synnove Karlsen (Last Night in Soho) as Anne and Luke Norris (Poldark) as Patrick. Also in the cast are George Bukhari (The A Word) and Tessa Parr (Alice & Jack), with Tilly Woodward (Everything I Know About Love) listed in the credits as playing The Ghost.

Jan Roldanus produced Black Cab, with Michaela Fereday and Lucy Robinson serving as executive producers.

What did you think of the Black Cab trailer? Will you be watching this movie on Shudder next month – and do you plan on watching all of these Nick Frost horror movies? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post Black Cab trailer: Nick Frost stars in Shudder horror film appeared first on JoBlo.

The people at Paramount will also be smiling ear-to-ear as the sequel to the 2022 horror film Smile keeps the scares going this October after Terrifier 3 topped last week’s box office top ten. Smile 2 blew away our own Chris Bumbray as he glowed in his review, “Smile 2 dwarfed its predecessor, but it could rub people the wrong way with its heavy doses of pitch-black comedy. However, Finn also doesn’t skimp on the gore, with it being more gruesome than the original and having a big payoff, which is an all-timer for me as far as these things go. Indeed, I was shocked at how much I loved Smile 2. For me, it’s one of the more entertaining films I’ve seen this year, with the two-hour-plus running time racing by. It’s an all-out gore-soaked blast.”

Deadline is now reporting that audiences lined up for a good scare for the early Thursday preview of the Parker Finn horror movie, and Smile 2 would conjure up $2.5 million as it started its run at 5pm through 3,000 locations. This would best the first movie’s early preview by half a million, while the first would go on to make $22.6 million in its opening weekend and finish its theater life with $105.9 million. The ticket presales were also a good sign for this sequel and the buzz is pretty positive as it sits on a certified fresh 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes while it waits for an audience score.

The Halloween-going crowd also had last week’s Terrifier 3 to give some good scares. The Thursday estimates indicate a slight drop with $1.5 million earned, which will bring its first week run to $26.9 million. The Terrifier movies made a splash with audiences due to the over-the-top violence and dark humor and many are saying that Terrifier 3 is the best in the series yet. The success of this new film is also priming audiences for an inevitable follow-up.

Meanwhile, not all of these October new releases are aiming to scare audiences, the Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh romantic drama We Live in Time from A24 expanded its release to 955 theaters. The film wouldn’t fair with the bigger releases and earned a humble $500k on Thursday.

The post Smile 2 scares up $2.5 million in early Thursday previews appeared first on JoBlo.

After playing Evil Dead franchise hero Ash Williams on screen for around forty years, spanning three feature films and three seasons of the TV series Ash vs. Evil Dead, Bruce Campbell formally retired from the role, saying he’s not physically able to handle the action sequences any longer. But he is still willing to voice the character, as evident from Evil Dead: The Game… and a while back, he said would gladly provide Ash’s voice if there were ever to be an Evil Dead animated series. Franchise creator Sam Raimi has let it be known that he wants to continue making Evil Dead projects with Campbell, and he must have heard Campbell’s answer to the animated series question, because Campbell said more than a year and a half ago that they were actively pursuing the idea. Now, during an interview with ComicBook.com, Campbell has confirmed that an Evil Dead animated series is being developed… but it’s a slow process, so we shouldn’t expect to see the show any time soon.

Campbell said, “We’re just developing it. So we are, but these are slow-motion, molasses processes, so it could be years away.”

Hopefully not too many years. Clearly there aren’t many details to share about the project at this time – but many fans are hoping that it would pick right up from the futuristic ending of the Ash vs. Evil Dead TV series. Campbell has previously said it would. “You pick up right where the show left off. You can do the future a lot easier in animation.“

While we wait to see what happens with the Evil Dead animated series, we have at least two more Evil Dead movies to look forward to. Movies that will, like Evil Dead 2013 and Evil Dead Rise, not feature Campbell as Ash. Francis Galluppi is on board to write and direct one of them, and Sébastien Vaniček is working on the other. A couple of months ago, Campbell told EW, “The future is two more damn movies. We’ve got two new fabulous directors that have two new scripts in the shoot, and we think we’ve suckered a studio into coughing up the dough for both, since they seem to still make money. The funny thing is, the Evil Dead movies, the last one made $140 million, and the Evil Dead movies don’t usually make that much money. They’re cheap, so they don’t have to make that much — but now that they’re making real money, it’s kinda hard to look away. And we want to do it — the last one was 10 years ago, Fede [Álvarez’s reboot] was 2013! So we want to get a little more of a pipeline for folks who still follow it, who want to see it. They want to see it in the new incarnation! We’re out of the cabin, Sam [Raimi] doesn’t have to direct, I don’t have to star as Ash. The trick is to take the elements that people like, which is innocent people being tortured by a malicious entity, and it’s people who have no skills to stop it.“

Are you looking forward to the Evil Dead animated series and/or the movies Galluppi and Vaniček are working on? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post Evil Dead animated series is in development, but don’t expect to see it any time soon appeared first on JoBlo.

On the one hand, the PlayStation 4 version of Horizon Zero Dawn already looked great running on a PS5, and selling a remaster feels a bit like a wasteful attempt to double-dip by Sony. On the other hand, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is looking exceptional so far, and might end up being one of the best-looking games on…

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On the one hand, the PlayStation 4 version of Horizon Zero Dawn already looked great running on a PS5, and selling a remaster feels a bit like a wasteful attempt to double-dip by Sony. On the other hand, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is looking exceptional so far, and might end up being one of the best-looking games on…

Read more…