The box office doldrums seem set to continue this weekend, with Dwayne Johnson’s mega-budget Christmas comedy, Red One, on track to deliver one of the star’s worst opening weekends ever. When the movie was announced, it certainly seemed like a no-brainer. After all, The Rock and director Jake Kasdan had a pair of mega-hits under their belts with their Jumanji movies, and the idea for this movie seemed to be that it would marry that formula to the holidays and possibly kick off a new franchise. 

So what happened?

Initially, Red One was meant to be a streaming play for Prime Video, and had it been kept in that lane, it likely would have proven to be a hit for the streamer in the same vein as Johnson’s previous Red Notice, which still ranks as Netflix’s biggest movie ever. Yet, somewhere along the way, the decision was made to give Red One a wide theatrical release, but that seems to have been a poor choice. Like other streaming movies that were given theatrical bows, such as Fly Me To The Moon and Argylle, audiences seem like they’re going to be staying away in droves. I expect Red One to have a poor opening in the $25 million range.

Why is it going to do so badly? One reason may be that audiences are hip to streaming trends. If Red One is a holiday film, does anyone really think Prime Video won’t be streaming the movie within a few weeks to take advantage of the season? Audiences curious to see The Rock and Chris Evans in this action-comedy will simply wait a couple of weeks until it inevitably premieres on Prime Video. Why bother seeing it in theatres? 

There’s also the fact that The Rock’s star power seems to be waning. Johnson’s made too many movies that seem cyclically targeted to be four-quadrant smash hits that will print money, and they’re starting to feel awfully familiar. Is there a big difference between Jungle Cruise, Jumanji and Red One? Have any of those films actually been really good? In the wake of Black Adam underperforming, Johnson’s appeal might be waning to a certain extent. However, the good news for him is that Moana 2, which comes out in just a few weeks, will likely be a smash hit, while his upcoming film with Benny Safdie, The Smashing Machine, might help him get his mojo back as an actor.

Venom: The Last Dance should be able to take the number two spot with a $10 million weekend. Expect last week’s number two champ, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, to move down to third place with a $7 million weekend, while A24’s horror flick Heretic should make about $5 million. The Wild Robot should come in fifth with about $4 million.

Here are our predictions:

1. Red One: $25 million
2. Venom: The Last Dance: $10 million
3. Best Christmas Pageant Ever: $7million
4. Heretic: $5 million
5. The Wild Robot: $4 million

Do you think Red One will be a box office bust? Let us know in the comments!

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In recent months, we’ve learned that Silver Linings Playbook Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, The Batman star Robert Pattinson, and The Book of Clarence‘s LaKeith Stanfield have the lead roles in the thriller Die, My Love, which is coming our way from We Need to Talk About Kevin and You Were Never Really Here director Lynne Ramsay. Now, Deadline and World of Reel have unveiled the first images from the film, and they give us a look at the characters played by Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. One of the images can be seen above, and the other two can be found at the bottom of this article.

Scripted by Ramsay and Enda Walsh, Die, My Love is said to be “set in a remote forgotten rural area,” with the story centering on a mother who struggles to maintain her sanity as she battles with psychosis. The story is based on a novel by Ariana Harwicz. Lawrence takes on the role of the mother, with Pattinson as her husband and Stanfield as her lover. Also in the cast are Sissy Spacek (Carrie) and Nick Nolte (48 Hrs).

Jennifer Lawrence and Justine Ciarrocchi are producing the film through their Excellent Cadaver banner, alongside Martin Scorsese, Andrea Calderwood, and Black Label Media. Black Label Media is also financing the project. Excellent Cadaver provided the following statement: “It’s impossible to convey what it’s like to witness Lynne Ramsay make art. She’s one of one.” With Ramsay at the helm, Scorsese producing, and a strong cast in place, Die, My Love is shaping up to be quite promising.

In addition to We Need to Talk About Kevin and You Were Never Really Here, Ramsay has previously directed Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar, and multiple short films. Deadline notes that other upcoming projects for Stanfield, who earned an Oscar nomination for his supporting role in Judas and the Black Messiah, include sharing the screen with Mark Wahlberg, Dermot Mulroney, Tony Shalhoub, and Rosa Salazar in the Shane Black crime thriller Play Dirty, starring in an adaptation of the vampire hunter video game El Paso, Elsewhere, and lending his voice to the documentary Ernest Cole: Lost and Found. Meanwhile, Pattinson has Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17, Parker Finn’s remake of Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, and a sequel to The Batman coming our way, and Lawrence is working with A24 on a murder mystery called The Wives and an adaptation of the graphic novel Why Don’t You Love Me?

Are you interested in Die, My Love? Take a look at the images of the characters played by Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, then let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Stranger Things and Ghostbusters: Afterlife / Frozen Empire actor Finn Wolfhard recently made his feature directorial debut with a horror comedy called Hell of a Summer, which he directed alongside Billy Bryk, who also appeared in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray had the chance to watch the movie at the Toronto International Film Festival last year and gave it a 5/10 review than can be read at THIS LINK. Hell of a Summer has secured a U.S. distribution deal with NEON, and will receive a theatrical release sometime in 2025 – and earlier this week, we learned that Wolfhard and Bryk have already lined up their second genre project, as they’re writing a remake of the 1999 horror comedy Idle Hands, which they might end up directing as well. The Ghostbusters franchise’s Jason Reitman is on board to produce the film. But what does original Idle Hands star Devon Sawa think of this announcement? He took to social media to let us know.

Sawa wrote on X, “I mean if anyone’s gonna do it, better be them two fine lads (Wolfhard and Bryk). Good luck fellas.” He added, “My 10 year old: “Awesome!! Finn Wolfhard from the coolest show Stranger Things is making a new movie called Idle Hands!!” Me: “I was in Idle Hands!! I’m the original Anton!!” “Sure, dad. Whatever you say. Can I have a snack?”“

Directed by Rodman Flender – who also directed Leprechaun 2 and happens to be the uncle of Dune star Timothée Chalamet – from a screenplay by Terri Hughes and Ron Milbauer, the original Idle Hands has the following synopsis: When slacker teen Anton Tobias has his right hand possessed by a demonic force, he finds that his life gets a lot more interesting. While Anton himself is an amiable guy, his hand proves to be an appendage of death, killing his two best buddies, Pnub and Mick, who return to life as wisecracking zombies. In addition to murdering those closest to him, Anton’s evil hand significantly hinders his chances with lovely neighbor Molly.

Sawa was joined in the cast by Seth Green, Elden Henson, Jessica Alba, Vivica A. Fox, Jack Noseworthy, Steve Van Wormer, Fred Willard, Connie Ray, Katie Wright, Kelly Monaco, Sean Whalen, Nick Sadler, Randy Oglesby, Timothy Stack, Mindy Sterling, Joey Slotnick, Tom DeLonge, and Kyle Gass, with Christopher Hart as The Hand. There’s also a special appearance by the band The Offspring.

Earlier this year, Sawa (who appeared on every season of the Chucky TV series) suggested that there should be a Chucky / Idle Hands crossover. He told Collider, “I would love to see something like Chucky battle the hand, running wild in a little house, like a hand and Chucky chasing it with a knife. That would be the ultimate battle.” It doesn’t seem like we’ll ever see that battle, but we do have more Idle Hands action to look forward to know.

Reitman is producing the Idle Hands remake with Jennifer Todd and Suzanne Todd, under their Team Todd banner. Reitman’s Ghostbusters collaborator (and Frozen Empire director) Gil Keenan is also a producer on the project. Maia Eyre is overseeing for Sony.

Would you like to see Devon Sawa show up in the Idle Hands remake? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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With all these musical biopics being released, many are questioning how many of these life stories can be told in a more refreshing way without falling into the traps that Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story parodied. Well, Robbie Williams and the creatives behind Better Man have attempted a slightly different approach. The film inspired by Williams’ life has him being portrayed by a CGI chimpanzee. Our own Chris Bumbray loved the movie at TIFF, saying in his review, “The craziest thing about Better Man isn’t the fact that Robbie Williams is presented as a CGI chimpanzee but rather that this risky conceit works quite well. […] While I went into Better Man with a raised eyebrow, wary of the chimpanzee aspect, to my delight, it worked wonderfully. As far as big-screen biopics go, this is a pretty deliriously entertaining one, and I had a blast watching it. It’s definitely one to keep an eye out for.”

Paramount has now released the trailer for Better Man coupled with a featurette. The official synopsis reads, “Better Man is based on the true story of the meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and remarkable resurgence of British pop superstar Robbie Williams, one of the greatest entertainers of all time. Under the visionary direction of Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), the film is uniquely told from Robbie’s perspective, capturing his signature wit and indomitable spirit. It follows Robbie’s journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist – all the while confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can bring.”

The film stars Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Damon Herriman, Raechelle Banno, Alison Steadman, Kate Mulvaney, Frazer Hadfield, Tom Budge and Anthony Hayes.

Michael Gracey directs from a screenplay he wrote with Simon Gleeson and Oliver Cole. The movie is produced by Paul Currie, Michael Gracey, Coco Xiaolu Ma, Jules Daly and Craig McMahon. And the executive producers on board include Zhe Chen, Robbie Williams, Markus Barmettler, Philip Lee, Li-Wei Chu, Michael Loney, Thorsten Schumacher,Lars Sylvest, Mark Williams, Gregory Jankilevitsch, Klaudia Smieja, David Ravel, Domenic Benvenuto, Gianni Benvenuto, Zoran Stojkovic, Faris Dedic, David Conley, Daniel Fluri, Adrian Grabe, Andres Kernen and Dean Hood.

The film will swing into select theaters on December 25 and then go nationwide on January 17, 2025.

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The Ben Affleck/Charlize Theron Christmas action film is coming home…just not in time for Christmas. Blu-ray.com is reporting that Reindeer Games, the final theatrical film by John Frankenheimer, is getting a new 4K Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber. The Santa-centric Casino robbery film stars Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, Charlize Theron, Isaac Hayes, and Ron Jeremy. However, the holiday-themed film is due to hit retailers just after the holidays on January 14.

The description reads,
“Just released from prison, all Rudy Duncan (Ben Affleck) wants is to start a new life with Ashley (Charlize Theron), the girl of his dreams, whom he met through pen pal letters in prison. But between them and happiness stands her crazy brother, Gabriel (Gary Sinise), and his motley crue of deadly criminals who think Rudy has some inside information about a casino where he once had a job — a casino Gabriel and his short-fused posse plan to take down.”

Special Features and Technical Specs:

DISC ONE – 4K BLU-RAY

• NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE THEATRICAL CUT OF THE FILM FROM THE OCN
• DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
• Audio Commentary by Director John Frankenheimer
• 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio
• Optional English Subtitles

DISC TWO – BLU-RAY

• DIRECTOR’S CUT OF THE FILM
• Audio Commentary by Director John Frankenheimer
• Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
• Theatrical Trailer
• 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio
• Optional English Subtitles

As panned as this movie is, Reindeer Games would still make a spot on our past Best Christmas Action Movies list, saying, “This is one of those movies that’s kinda good and kinda not good but still belongs on your Christmas watch list. […] This movie starts with that Yuletide spirit by panning across several dead Santas.  So, it is not exactly the movie you want to watch with your kids on Christmas Eve before reading them the night before Christmas, but, as with some of the other films on this list, Reindeer Games is one of those Christmas movies you watch early in December to get you in the Christmas mood.”

The post The Ben Affleck Christmas actioner, Reindeer Games, will get a new 4K Blu-ray release just after the holidays appeared first on JoBlo.

Nearly 35 years have passed since writer/director Richard Stanley sent his sci-fi horror cult classic Hardware out into the world. Now, the folks at the Australian company Umbrella Entertainment have revealed that they’re getting an early start on celebrating the film’s anniversary by giving it a 4K collector’s edition release – and this release includes a copy of the script for the unmade sequel! Copies of the 4K collector’s edition set can be purchased at THIS LINK.

Starring Dylan McDermott and Stacey Travis, with a cameo by Lemmy and a vocal performance by Iggy Pop, Hardware has the following synopsis: In the barren, radioactive wastelands of the future lies the discarded remains of a Mark 13 cyborg, an advanced military killing machine. When purchased as scrap by Space Trooper Mo as a gift for his sculptress girlfriend, the dismembered remains begin to reconstruct themselves. The fully restored exterminator embarks on a relentless killing spree, with Mo’s girlfriend as its prime target.

Here’s the information on the Umbrella Entertainment release: Umbrella Entertainment presents Hardware fully uncut and uncensored in 4K HDR. Remastered by Umbrella, this release has been supervised by director Richard Stanley (Dust Devil, Color Out of Space). Hardware is a fever dream of gore, sex, sweat, grease and sand delivered as a warning from a nihilistic future. Stylishly melding hard rock, industrial horror and cyberpunk dystopia, Stanley’s cult classic is a pulse-pounding journey into the dangers of unchecked technology and the resilience of the human spirit against mechanical terror. Hardware also features a full-throttle soundtrack including Ministry and Public Image Ltd. and appearances from music stalwarts Iggy Pop, Lemmy from Motorhead and Fields of The Nephilim’s Carl McCoy.

The 4K collector’s edition has the following special features: – NEW! HDR 4K remaster by Umbrella Entertainment – NEW! Audio Commentary with Director Richard Stanley – Audio commentary Director Richard Stanley and Producer Paul Trijbits – No Flesh Shall Be Spared: The Making of Hardware – NEW! Interview with Producer Stephen Wooley – NEW! Hardware: Richard Stanley’s Bitter Message of Hope and Grief, A Video Essay by Bryn Tilly – NEW! Original Storyboard Featurette – Deleted and Extended Scenes – Richard Stanley on Hardware 2 – Hardware Promo Videos with Iggy Pop and Lemmy – Original Hardware Promo Video – Rites of Passage, 1983 Short Film – Incidents in an Expanding Universe, 1985 Short Film – The Voice of the Moon, 1990 Documentary – The Sea of Perdition, 2006 Short Film – Trailer Plus, it comes with – Exclusive T-shirt designed by Hollow Bones Studios (220GSM AS Colour Classic) – A 150+ page hardback book with never before seen behind the scenes, experiences and art from director Richard Stanley – A 100+ page softback book of the unreleased Hardware 2: Ground Zero script – Custom designed rigid case, slipcase and books using pre-production artwork and posters – 8 artcards – A3 reversible poster – Limited Edition Numbered release

Umbrella Entertainment is also offering a 4K and Blu-ray set that doesn’t have the T-shirt, book, script, or artcards. That edition of Hardware goes for $100AUD less than the collector’s edition and can be purchased HERE. If you want the book, script, and artcards, but don’t care about a T-shirt, a shirt-less edition is also an option.

Are you a fan of Hardware, and will you be buying the 4K from Umbrella Entertainment? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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PLOT: When Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons) is kidnapped from the North Pole on the day before Christmas, his head of security, Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson), must team with an untrustworthy tracker (Chris Evans) to find him and save both Christmas and the world!

REVIEW: Red One is the very definition of a streaming movie. While it’s getting a theatrical release, it seems tailor-made as a movie meant to please the algorithm and audiences looking for an easily digestible family action film they can break up in pieces. Despite running only two hours, it’s striking similar in structure to Dwayne Johnson’s Netflix hit, Red Notice, in that it’s little more than a series of generic action set pieces strung together and designed as “world-building” in the hopes, I suppose, that this will turn out to be a perennial hit for Prime Video. It hits theatres this week, but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see it surface on streaming before the Holiday season kicks into high gear. 

Really, that’s probably where a movie like this belongs, as in a theatrical setting it feels like a surprisingly tough sit, with it anchored around some “buddy” chemistry which never really surfaces. Here, Johnson’s upstanding Callum Drift is partnered with Chris Evans’s scheming Jack O’Malley, with us supposed to be charmed by the fact that they start out at each other’s throats in classic buddy movie tradition. However, those pairings are lightning in a bottle, with Johnson and Evans doing the same wannabe Tango & Cash pairing we’ve seen fall flat too many times. I get it – when it works (such as in Deadpool & Wolverine), it’s golden, but Johnson and Evans are playing too close to type here without ever really poking fun at themselves. It’s a formula Johnson’s done again and again, but has it ever really worked?

Red One plunges us into the middle of a high-tech North Pole, where Santa Claus is a jacked J.K. Simmons, who has a security network that puts the Pentagon to shame. Johnson’s Drift is his number one guy, but he’s just resigned, as he’s despondent over how much the naughty list has grown over the years. Of course, when Santa is taken, he teams up with Lucy Liu’s head of MORA (Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority) to find ol’ St Nick.  

Director Jake Kasdan is an old hand at movies like this, having directed The Rock in two Jumanji movies, and Red One is done very much in the same style. We’re supposed to find it hilarious that Johnson is basically an ELF, and a pal of Santa’s, with many jokes directed at how imposing and scary a guy he is – but is Johnson really that anymore? We always see him play these kinds of super-imposing, soft-hearted heroes, making his casting feel like old hat.

Evans isn’t that much more effective as Jack O’Malley, who’s supposed to be such a degenerate that the movie opens with him literally stealing candy from a baby. Yet, the movie also gives him an estranged son to care about, and who wants to bet that by the time the credits roll, this former member of the “naughty” list will have a change of heart?

One thing about Red One is that it plays like a Marvel movie without the superheroes, with heavy doses of CG creatures and a villain no one will really care about, with Kiernan Shipka’s witch, Grýla, never allowed to become too threatening. Like other streaming movies, it feels like an algorithm threw together Jumanji, Marvel, and Christmas, spitting out the idea for this, with the script by Chris Morgan (one of the Fast Saga’s masterminds) utterly generic. 

Indeed, there’s pretty much nothing anyone does in Red One that hasn’t been done a lot better elsewhere. Heck, if you want to see a really badass Christmas action flick, look no further than Violent Night. Red One is really only worthwhile if you’re desperate for some inoffensive entertainment for the kids, but otherwise this is just a big old lump of coal.

Red One

NOT GOOD

4

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In space, no one can hear you scream. But in the news, everybody can hear your gripes. As he gears up for the release of another sequel in Gladiator II, Ridley Scott is opening up about not only how he got sidestepped for Aliens but also his take on the rest that followed, including his own.

Speaking with Deadline, Ridley Scott remembered being told by James Cameron just how the Alien franchise would be moving forward – and how that all changed when he himself stepped aside. Remember, Scott maintains that he wasn’t even offered the chance to direct Aliens despite 1979’s Alien being a smash at the box office. “Jim told me, ‘Listen, I can’t get it as frightening because you’ve just shown the beast enough that it’s no longer fresh. But it works, still.’ He said, ‘I’m going to go military.’ That’s what Jim said. I said, ‘Gotcha.’ Jim’s was a very good sequel. Three and four became more and more difficult. As it unrolled, I thought, oh God, they’re f*cking it up. And then from that, honestly, I said okay, that’s done.”

But Ridley Scott would of course return to the Alien franchise for 2012’s Prometheus, which brought Ridley Scott back to the Alien franchise after more than 30 years and three other directors. On this stage, Scott stated, “Years later, I saw this bloody film that they keep playing every night somewhere on the globe, on all the platforms. There’s life in the best, yet. That’s why I sat down with the great writer [Damon] Lindelof, and we reconstructed a resurrection of the era, with Prometheus, and how it evolved from Alien. But we were asleep at the wheel. My advisors, who frankly no longer are with me, were asleep at the wheel, certainly. And I partly blame myself, except I was busy making other films. And so it was let go and it shouldn’t have been…”

As for being busy, Ridley Scott is absolutely guilty of this, helming nine movies since Prometheus, one of which was yet another Alien movie, 2017’s Covenant (a film he thinks deserves a sequel more than this year’s Romulus). But Scott has also been tied up in his latest sequel, Gladiator II, which turned out better than a lot of us expected and demonstrates that Scott can be perfectly capable of helming a sequel to one of his greatest films.

Outside of James Cameron’s Aliens, what do you think stands as the best Alien sequel?

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It’s been more than three years since Tom Welling first revealed that he and Michael Rosenbaum were working on a potential animated follow-up to Smallville. Fans were excited by the idea, but unfortunately, the project seems to be stalled as it’s waiting on a very crucial approval from Warner Bros.

“The honest answer is we have not been able to get Warner Bros. to give us the thumbs-up. We need their permission,” Welling told TVLine. “We haven’t even gotten a response!” The actor admitted that the Smallville animated series is “more of a fan-driven idea” that likely wouldn’t be a “financial windfall” for the studio. “We all like each other, we all like working together, and if we could do it, it’d be fun,” he said. “But Warner Bros. — and I’m not hating on them — they just haven’t gotten back to us. It’s not a priority for them. It’s like a not-returning-phone-calls thing.“

The idea was to get as much of the original cast back together as possible, including Smallville co-creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. I imagine Allison Mack wouldn’t have been asked back.

Michael Rosenbaum shared his own update earlier this year, although he was a little more positive that it could happen. “All I could share is that it’s a great idea. We have Al [Gough] and Miles [Millar], the creators of Smallville backing us up. When it’s the right time, we’d like to go and do this; pitch to Warner Bros. It has to be the right time, and right now is not the right time,” Rosenbaum said. “When the time’s right, I think it’s something that’s a no brainer, unless they have other ideas. We’d like to do it — the whole cast would like to do it. They would voice their own character from the show, and we have a concept of what the show is.“

Smallville ran for ten seasons and told the coming-of-age adventures of Clark Kent in his hometown as he discovers his abilities and fights to keep his friends and family safe.

Would you still like to see a Smallville animated series?

The post Tom Welling has an update on the Smallville animated series and it’s not good appeared first on JoBlo.