Many people would claim that Frank Darabont has made the best Stephen King adaptations ever put on film, but did you know that over a decade before making The Shawshank Redemption, it would be Stephen King himself who helped Frank Darabont become a filmmaker? Frank would use one of Stephen King’s infamous “Dollar Babies” where King would allow aspiring filmmakers to license one of his short stories for just $1. Darabont would adapt King’s short The Woman in the Room which would be short-listed for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short film in 1983. Despite not getting the nomination, and not even particularly liking the short, King was a fan and for $5,000, granted Darabont the rights to adapt another of his short stories: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.

Of course, Darabont wasn’t quite ready to tackle something as massive as that story just yet, so he made a name for himself polishing up good scripts and making them great. Eventually getting around to making his first theatrical film The Shawshank Redemption and other masterpieces of the big and small screen. He is one of those talented fellas that you wish directed more films but maybe Darabont’s shorter directing resume is for a reason…. maybe the Hollywood wasn’t ready and could not tame such a wild beast of an artist? Darabont is one of the last tough guy directors, dripping with beautiful masculinity that allows his creative juices to flow. He reminds me of angry outlaw legends like Sam Peckinpah, John Ford or Willian Friedkin but is also able to capture the uplifting spirit of filmmakers like Spielberg or Capra. This cinematic warrior is of movie and TV and is not afraid to shout and scream at anyone in the way of his vision. But will his career rise up again like The Walking Dead? …Or has he broken free from the artless cages of the Hollywood system and found his real-life happy ending on a beach with Morgan Freeman? …Or will his “happy ending” be more like the end of The Mist?

But as always we must begin at the beginning and the beginning began on his birthday: January 28, 1959, in a refugee camp in France after his parents fled Hungary during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. His family settled in Los Angeles when he was five years old.

After Darabont had worked as a production assistant on such iconic films as Hell Night (1981), The Seduction (1982) and Trancers (1984), he would make his $1 Stephen King “Baby”. He then would work on writing spec screenplays including one titled Black Cat Run which he sold in 1986 but wasn’t produced until 1998 as an HBO original film. By this time, Darabont had become a decently respected writer and would team up with Hell Night and The Seduction producer Chuck Russell to write a wonderful remake of The Blob, but sometimes writing a spec script isn’t guaranteed money, so they took a gig writing A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. The film would be called a rebound for the franchise creatively and would go on to be the third highest-grossing Freddy flick. That success allowed the duo to get their Blob remake the green light which would release in 1988 and sadly be a box office bomb, grossing just over $8 million off a $10 million budget.

But Darabont was still considered a great punch-up guy and would be hired to help write the screenplay for The Fly II as well as drafts of The Rocketeer and a never made sequel to Commando. 1990 would see Darabont step behind the camera for his first feature film with the made-for-TV horror film Buried Alive which aired on the USA Network. The film received mixed reviews and was mostly forgotten about. But Darabont would continue making a name for himself with a Writer’s Guild nomination for an episode of Tales From The Crypt he wrote as well as writing several episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

In all of that time working on all these different projects, there was still that one Stephen King project he wanted to make, even though he almost didn’t make it. Rob Reiner also had some success adapting a Stephen King story into a successful film with The Body or as we better know it Stand By Me. Reiner offered Darabont $2.5 million for the chance to direct his own vision for Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption featuring Tom Cruise as Andy and Harrison Ford as Red. Even though Darabont liked Reiner’s idea for the film, he declined saying in a 2014 interview that you can defer your dreams in exchange for money and die without ever having done the thing you set out to do. But Reiner didn’t sulk, he helped mentor Darabont on the film and would help get it made by producing it through his Castle Rock Entertainment production company. King had such faith in Darabont, that he never even cashed the $5,000 check Darabont wrote him for the rights, eventually having it framed and sending it back to him with a note that said “In case you ever need bail money. Love Steve.” The film would go into pre-production in January 1993 and would eventually be released in September of 1994 where it was hailed by critics as one of the best prison-based films ever made with a lot of praise being heaped on Darabont’s script.

Yet, The Shawshank Redemption was not the runaway box office hit you may expect given how popular the film has become nearly 30 years later. It pulled in just around $73 million off a $25 million budget. But word of mouth was big, and Warner Brothers took a chance by creating hundreds of thousands of video cassette copies of the film for rental across the United States. This costly gamble paid off as The Shawshank Redemption became the biggest rental title of the year. By 1997, the film would begin airing regularly on the TNT channel where the film would garner record-breaking numbers. Of course, when talking about movies, we often discuss something called the “Oscar Bump.” Essentially when a film gets nominated for an Oscar it raises awareness for a film. Well, Shawshank certainly got more people interested in seeing what this little prison movie was about when it nabbed seven Academy Award nominations including a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for Darabont. The film has gone on to be hailed by many as the greatest movie ever made with the Writer’s Guild of America listing Darabont’s script as the 22nd best Screenplay ever written. As we all know, Shawshank is a Drama based on a short story by Stephen King who is known for writing horror stories, it is for this reason I think the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films were confused when they nominated Shawshank Redemption for Best Screenplay at their annual Saturn Awards and do you know who Darabont had to go up against that year for that award? Himself! He was also nominated that year as a co-writer on Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. And think about this… Shawshank was his first theatrical film to direct… his first movie was the greatest ever made… sometimes according to IMDB.

Not feeling the need to rush into anything, Darabont would wait five years before stepping behind the camera as a director again, but in the meantime he took gigs as a script doctor on such films as The Fan (1996), Eraser (1996) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). To keen-eyed viewers, you may have caught Darabont as a ghost in The Shining miniseries in 1997. That cameo came about when Darabont visited the set of the miniseries to inform Stephen King that he had decided to write and direct an adaptation of King’s other prison-based story The Green Mile. Darabont specifically specializes in Stephen King prison flicks and it’s a beautiful thing. Stephen King and Frank Darabont seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly, eggs and bacon, Taylor Swift and the NFL because The Green Mile would go on to gross nearly $300 million worldwide off a $60 million budget while garnering strong reviews that praised Darabont’s filmmaking due to how much he truly believes in the material he puts on the screen. Just as with Shawshank, awards would follow with Darabont receiving several nominations from various awards groups including two Academy Award nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Picture.

During the making of The Green Mile one of Darabont’s oldest high school friends presented him with a script he wrote titled The Bijou. Darabont absolutely loved the script, comparing it to old Frank Capra films. Darabont agreed that he would work on that film directly after finishing up Green Mile and Darabont is nothing if not a man of his word. Two years later The Bijou hit theaters, although you may know it as its retitled name: The Majestic. With Darabont’s stock on the rise due to his massive success with his Stephen King adaptations, he was given a hefty $72 million budget for this romantic drama. The film was given a prime Christmas 2001 release, but in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, audiences just didn’t seem interested in heavier dramas in theaters and the film suffered, only recouping $37.5 million of that $72 million budget while critics found the film to be overlong with forced sentimentality. Of course, if you want to know more about this film, you should check out our WTF Happened to this Movie we did on the film also written by the immensely talented (and handsome) Brad Hamerly!

Darabont is a man who takes his time with his projects, so it would be another 6 years before he stepped behind the camera to direct a film. In the meantime he would help produce the Michael Mann film Collateral while also having cameos in his friend’s films such as John Carpenter’s Vampires and Peter Jackson’s King Kong. He also wrote up the first draft to what eventually became Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and appealingly it was a pretty dang decent screenplay that Spielberg loved but Lucas was not digging so Darabont was dropped.

In 2007, Darabont would uncharacteristically work on 3 projects in a single year! First was producing and directing the pilot episode of the short-lived Jeff Goldblum starring NBC series Raines while also directing a single episode of one of the best shows of all time, that doesn’t get enough credit as being one of the best shows ever: The Shield.

The thing with Frank Darabont films is they tend to stand the test of time, even The Majestic is looked back on fondly for its classic Capra-esque vibe. But as much as The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile may be hailed as Darabont’s masterpieces, his next and to date final Stephen King collaboration is actually his best, if for no other reason than it has one of the single greatest, and most F’D up, endings in the history of the movies. The film is of course The Mist. While the film may be considered just a “creature feature” it is so much more. It delves into the psyche of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances better than any other film I can think of and when that ending hits, it becomes one of the most heartbreaking endings ever captured. And that is all a testament to Darabont’s writing and Stephen King’s trust in Darabont because that ending was completely changed from the original novel. The film received mixed reviews that leaned positive, but it seemed most critics didn’t judge the film on its own merits but instead compared it to the other Stephen King/ Frank Darabont collaborations. Luckily it found a decent enough audience in theaters to give it a near $60 million box office gross off an $18 million budget and of course, the film, and its masterful ending, have gone on to be highly respected in the years since its release. And is so much better in black and white.

Sadly, 2007’s The Mist, as of this episode, is Frank Darabont’s last theatrical movie. He has continued to do some punch-ups on screenplays such as Law Abiding Citizen and Godzilla while also appearing as himself in 2 episodes of HBO’s Entourage.

Oh wait… he did do something else, didn’t he?! That’s right, in 2010 it would be Frank Darabont who would do the leg work to get the show The Walking Dead picked up by AMC network. Darabont would shop the show to several networks before AMC picked it up and would then write and direct the show’s pilot episode, an episode many still claim as one of, if not the best episode of the entire series, scoring Darabont a Director’s Guild nomination. He would also write 4 of the 6 episodes of the series’ first season. The series was a massive hit right out the gate,

and you would think the person largely responsible for that would be rewarded. Nope, AMC decided to fire Darabont as the showrunner because they wanted to create double the number of episodes with a smaller budget. And anyone who has watched The Walking Dead knows, every season had like 2 great episodes with the rest just being absolute boring filler content. Had Darabont stuck around, I guarantee the quality of the show would not have dipped as far as it did (in my opinion, of course, the show still had its passionate fans… who are basically zombies themselves now).

Darabont didn’t take his firing lightly however, he sued AMC for $280 million saying that he never received payment for developing the show and was wrongfully terminated without warning so that AMC wouldn’t have to give him the pay raise agreed to for seasons 2 and 3 in his contract. With AMC accusing Darabont of never meeting with other directors to discuss the tone of the series, something Darabont says he 100% did, he even sent some emails to people working on the show, that uh, show the tone he was going for! In 2021 the two parties finally settled the case out of court for a reported $200 million with Darabont receiving future revenue sharing for The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead.

That wouldn’t be the last time Darabont would work on TV, in 2013 he would bring the novel L.A Noir to TNT with the new title of Mob City. Darabont would write and direct 4 of the show’s 6 episodes. Unfortunately, the show was not a ratings juggernaut and was cancelled after just one season.

And sadly, that is the last work Darabont has done to date! …that was 2013. It has been about a decade since we last have been treated to anything from this great filmmaker. He was in the running to direct The Huntsman: Winter’s Game in 2016 but left the project due to creative differences. He would appear on a podcast by filmmaker Mick Garris where he said he felt beaten down by the Hollywood machine. Of course that doesn’t mean he is gone forever, in 2021 he revealed that he had written a script centred around the American Civil War that was based on an old unproduced screenplay by Stanley Kubrick. It has never materialized because apparently, the cost to produce this thing is too great for any studio, although with Apple and other streamers shelling out massive bucks for projects by big-name filmmakers, I can imagine some worse investments than to give a filmmaker of Frank Darabont’s calibre a blank check to make his triumphant return to filmmaking. But it is those little stories that make me sure that we will one day see the name Frank Darabont grace our screens again because it is obvious the passion to tell unique stories in the best possible way is still in him. And yes, even though he didn’t get to make The Walking Dead the way he wanted to, and the show certainly suffered because of that, he still got $200 million out of the deal, so it is for that reason and so many more that we say you shouldn’t worry about What Happened to Frank Darabont because Frank Darabont seems to be doing just fine!

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You can always expect Allison Janney to deliver a great performance any time she shows up in a movie or TV show, and she even won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in the 2018 film I, Tonya. Next up on the list of projects she’ll be gracing with her presence is A Simple Favor 2, which reteams Bridesmaids and Ghostbusters director Paul Feig with his A Simple Favor stars Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick. Filming is expected to begin this spring, and the film is heading for a streaming release on Prime Video.

There are several more returning cast members this sequel. In addition to Lively and Kendrick, Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells, Bashir Salahuddin, Joshua Satine, Ian Ho, and Kelly McCormack will all be reprising their roles from the first movie. Variety reports that Janney’s fellow new additions include Elena Sofia Ricci (Loose Cannons), Michele Morrone (365 Days), Elizabeth Perkins (Sharp Objects), Alex Newell (Glee), Taylor Ortega (Welcome to Flatch), and Lorenzo de Moor (WarHunt).

If you’re not familiar with A Simple Favor – or if you saw the movie and have since completely forgotten what it was about, like I did – it told the story of “mommy blogger Stephanie (Kendrick), who befriends Emily (Lively), a secretive upper-class woman who has a child at the same elementary school. When Emily goes missing, Stephanie takes it upon herself to investigate.”

Jessica Sharzer, who wrote the screenplay for the first film (which was based on the 2017 novel of the same name by author Darcey Bell), returned to write the sequel, with Feig, Laeta Kalogridis, and Steve Yockey also working on the script. Feig and Laura Fischer are producing A Simple Favor 2 for Feigco Entertainment, while Sharzer serves as executive producer.

A Simple Favor 2 will see Stephanie Smothers (Kendrick) and Emily Nelson (Lively) heading to the island of Capri for Emily’s lavish wedding. The destination nuptials between Emily and a wealthy Italian businessman are set to include murder and betrayal on the itinerary.

Are you interested in A Simple Favor 2? What do you think of Allison Janney joining Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick in the cast? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Ready or Not was a deliciously twisted play on the concept of meeting the family of one’s fiancée. Samara Waving plays a young woman who is invited on the night of her wedding by her new husband’s rich, eccentric family to participate in a time-honored tradition that turns into a lethal game with everyone fighting for their survival. The horror comedy also starred Adam Brody, Mark O’Brien, Elyse Levesque, Henry Czerny, and Andie MacDowell and was directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who have gone on to direct Scream (2022) and Scream VI. 

Ready or Not was written by Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy. However, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are currently involved with a new Universal Monsters project, so they will not be returning for Ready or Not 2. Instead, ComingSoon.net reports that Escape Room director Adam Robitel will be taking the reins for the sequel. The scoop comes from industry source, The InSneider. Robitel’s horror credentials go back to 2014 with his debut, The Taking of Deborah Logan. He has then gone on to write and direct for Blumhouse with the films Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension and Insidious: The Last Key.

There currently aren’t any details of what the story will entail or if Weaving is to return, nor is there official word on whether Busick or Murphy are coming back. However, even though they won’t be directing, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are still on board to take on producing duties alongside Chad Villella. Meanwhile, Busick has followed his Ready or Not directors to the Universal Monsters movie, in which he’s written some revisions. The story of their Universal Monster project centers on “a group of kidnappers who abduct a band of young people, one of whom ends up being Dracula’s daughter. Woe then betides the kidnappers.” At one point, the project was going by the title Dracula’s Daughter, but as of right now, it doesn’t have an official title.

Universal has said that the film formerly known as Dracula’s Daughter is a movie that “falls in the lane of such films as Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man and Renfield, Chris McKay’s take on a Dracula side character — movies that provide a unique take on legendary monster lore and will represent a fresh, new direction for how to celebrate these classic characters.”

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JoBlo.com recently launched a new weekly documentary series called 80s Horror Memories, where each year of the 1980s has five episodes dedicated to it. Looking back at 1980, we discussed Maniac, Dressed to Kill, Alligator, Friday the 13th, The Shining, Prom Night, and The Fog. The second five episodes were a journey through 1981, covering The Funhouse, The Burning, Friday the 13th Part 2, My Bloody Valentine, Halloween II, The Evil Dead, The Howling, and An American Werewolf in London, as well as the careers of horror hosts Elvira and Joe Bob Briggs. The next five were, of course, all about movies that came out in 1982: Conan the Barbarian, The Thing, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, and Poltergeist, with an examination of the short-lived 3-D boom along the way. For 1983, we talked about a trio of Stephen King adaptations, Jaws 3-D, Sleepaway Camp, the rise of TV horror anthologies, and Psycho II. 

For 1984, we covered the creation of the PG-13 rating, The Terminator, Gremlins, Ghostbusters, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Our trip through 1985 included Teen Wolf, Re-Animator, A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Fright Night, Lifeforce, Day of the Dead, and The Return of the Living Dead. For 1986, we covered David Cronenberg’s The Fly, the horror comedies that were released during the year (including Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Aliens, the connection between horror movies and heavy metal, and David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. For our trip through 1987, we looked at Hellraiser, RoboCop, Predator, Evil Dead II, and The Lost Boys. And of 1988’s horror offerings, we examined They Live, The Blob, Beetlejuice, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, and Child’s Play.

Now we’re heading into the final year of the decade, and we’re getting the journey through 1989 started with a look at the first movie from Charles Band’s legendary company Full Moon. It’s Puppet Master, and you can hear all about it in the video embedded above.

New episodes of 80s Horror Memories are released through the YouTube channel JoBlo Horror Originals every Friday. 

Here’s the info on 80s Horror Memories: It’s been over 40 years since the decade that shaped the horror movie industry began and having lived through most of those years personally, we at JoBlo/Arrow in the Head have decided to create a 10-part documentary series in which not only cover every nook and cranny of the biggest horror themes from 1980 to 1989 but also what was happening in the world at the time. Join us as we walk down Horror Memory Lane!

And here’s the info on this particular episode: As we near the end of 80s Horror Memories, let’s take another ride to the nexus of youth and storytelling as we delve into one cult movie that defined the video store experience. Watch out for Nazis, be suspicious of psychics, and let your freak flag fly because today, we’re opening the trunk to Puppet Master.

This episode of 80s Horror Memories was written by Lance Vlcek, narrated by Tyler Nichols, edited by Juan Jimenez, produced by Berge Garabedian and John Fallon, co-produced by Mike Conway, and executive produced by Berge Garabedian. The score was provided by Shawn Knippelberg. Special Guest: Darren Lynn Bousman (Mother’s Day).

Let us know what you thought of this episode, plus share some of your own ’80s horror memories by leaving a comment!

Two of the previous episodes of 80s Horror Memories can be seen below. To see more of our shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals channel – and subscribe while you’re at it!

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Earlier this month, an image cinematographer Christian Sebaldt shared on Instagram indicated that Final Destination 6 (which is going by the title Final Destination: Bloodlines) was finally, after years of development and a thirteen year gap between sequels, heading into production. The next day, producer Craig Perry took to social media to confirm that Final Destination: Bloodlines is indeed filming, the aim being to get this one into theatres in 2025 – in time to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of the original film. It will even be on IMAX screens! Now The Hollywood Reporter has revealed the names of several cast members. They are Brec Bassinger (Stargirl), Teo Briones (Chucky), Kaitlyn Santa Juana (The Friendship Game), Richard Harmon (The 100), Anna Lore (Gotham Knights), Owen Patrick Joyner (Julie and the Phantoms), Max Lloyd-Jones (The Book of Boba Fett), Rya Kihlstedt (Obi-Wan Kenobi), and Tinpo Lee (The Manor).

According to entertainment industry scooper Daniel Richtman, Final Destination: Bloodlines has the following synopsis: Just as she’s about to leave home for college, 18 year old STEFANI, who’s been having horrific nightmares about dying in a tower accident in the 1960s, discovers that her dream is actually a premonition that happened to her grandmother, Esther, who thwarted death fifty years ago but is now running out of time. Stefani learns that though her grandmother thwarted Death (until she died in her 80s), and Death has been going after the would-have-been victims of that long-ago catastrophe, killing them off and then going after their children. Stefani and her family realize that their bloodline isn’t safe from Death, who will take them violently and gruesomely, in order, unless someone like Stefani figures out a way to stop it.

Jon Watts, director of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far from Home, and Spider-Man: No Way Home, is producing the film with Perry, Dianne McGunigle, and Sheila Hanahan Taylor. Watts also wrote the initial treatment, which was fleshed out into a screenplay by Lori Evans Taylor and Guy Busick. The directing duo of Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein, who previously directed the 2018 film Freaks (starring Emile Hirsch and Bruce Dern) and the 2019 live-action Kim Possible movie, are at the helm.

We’ve previously heard that Tony Todd will be reprising the role of mortician Bludworth in this film.

Are you looking forward to Final Destination 6 / Final Destination: Bloodlines? What do you think of the cast that has been assembled for the film? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Well, this is a bummer. The great Louis Gossett Jr., star of An Officer and a Gentleman, Roots, Diggstown, Jaws 3D, Iron Eagle, and so many more classics, has died at age 87. According to his obit in THR, no cause of death was immediately revealed, but the actor was treated for prostate cancer in 2010, and also battled COVID-19 back in 2020. 

If you grew up in the eighties and nineties, Louis Gossett Jr was one of those faces you saw everywhere. He was in high demand as a character actor, winning an Oscar for playing Richard Gere’s tough but compassionate drill instructor in An Officer and a Gentleman. If you haven’t seen that movie in a while or remember it as a sappy romantic drama, I’d urge you to watch it again. It’s actually a pretty gritty, R-rated drama, and it climaxes with a nifty martial arts battle between Gossett and Gere, which is capped off by one of the most brutal crotch kicks (delivered by Gossett to Gere) I’ve ever seen in a movie. 

While Gossett had been in plenty of stuff before (including Roots), the Oscar win really kicked his career into high gear. He immediately became in demand, with him having a blast chewing some scenery in Jaws 3D opposite Dennis Quaid. He became a leading man in his own right thanks to the Iron Eagle films, in which he played Chappy Sinclair, an Air Force pilot who, in the first film, helps a teen rescue his shot-down pilot father (check out our tribute to it here). Gossett became a mainstay of these films, starring in no less than three sequels. He also co-starred with Dolph Lundgren in the first Punisher movie, was one of the leads in the cult teen action flick Toy Soldiers, and most recently turned up on HBO’s Watchmen series, as well as the Color Purple remake. He also did a voice role for John Krasinski’s IF, which will be released posthumously.

Here’s an interesting piece of trivia for you. Louis Gossett Jr once saved someone’s life. In the early eighties, he co-starred in a short-lived series called The Powers of Matthew Star. The show’s young star, Peter Barton, fell onto a magnesium flare, and Gossett, who was tied to a chair in the scene they were shooting, managed to somehow rescue him by falling on top of him, sustaining some burns himself in the attempt. Pretty cool, huh?

While his passing is indeed very sad news, Gossett leaves behind an incredible legacy of performances we here at JoBlo will never forget. Rest in peace good sir.

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Leapin’ lizards! It looks like our two favorite Kaiju (or titans) are on their way to a mighty weekend at the box office, with Deadline reporting that Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has grossed a muscular $8 million in its early Thursday previews. That’s almost double what Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire made last week but about $2 million less than Dune: Part Two made earlier this month. Everyone is predicting (including us) a roughly $50 million opening for the film, which could, theoretically, go a little bit higher given how well the early screenings are doing. It’s the second-best preview night for a Legendary MonsterVerse movie, with the 2014 version of Godzilla earning $9.4 million. 

All in all, this is a really good start for a franchise that, before the pandemic, seemed like it was dying. Certainly, WB and Legendary made a smart choice bringing director Adam Wingard onboard, with him bringing just the right, fun vibe the movies need. As I mentioned in my review, Wingard keeps the movies tight (just under two hours), and sidelines the humans in favor of what everyone wants to see – more monster action. Godzilla x Kong takes this a bit further than the other films, with long stretches of the film not having any dialogue at all, and it works quite well.

So far, the reviews for Godzilla x Kong aren’t all that hot, but what will be more important than anything else will be the CinemaScore rating, as that’s what really judges whether or not a film will have legs at the box office. No news yet on what Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire grossed last night. Hopefully, the film will have some decent legs in order to keep the franchise going.

What are you going to see this Easter Weekend? Let us know in the comments!

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It’s still hard to believe even with the cast list, leaked set photos and official title card unveilings, but Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis is finally – and actually – coming to the big screen. In fact, it already has, as the passion project had a special screening on Thursday at Universal CityWalk IMAX Theater, with the intent to not only show off his much-anticipated film but also secure a buyer.

Ahead of the Megalopolis screening, Coppola marked the occasion by introducing the film to his audience, first referencing his first monumental success, 1972’s The Godfather: “Dear Friends, As heard from me before: ‘I believe in America.’ If I could leave you with one thought after you see my new film, it would be this: Our founders borrowed a Constitution, Roman Law, and Senate for their revolutionary government without a king, so American History could neither have taken place nor succeed as it did without classical learning to guide it.”

While Francis Ford Coppola has an extensive list of films that he never got around to making for one reason or a hundred, Megalopolis stands at the top of the mountain as the most (in)famous. With origins going back to the 1980s, funding issues got in the way, sidelining the project and essentially forcing him to take on other studio films so he could help get Megalopolis going. After other halts, Coppola finally got the funding he needed, no doubt in part to his namesake line of wines.

Based on the history and reactions – when was the last time Coppola received a standing ovation for a film? –  thus far, it does seem like everybody is finally pulling for the maestro and Megalopolis. But who will win the eventual bidding war, considering every major buyer was at the screening? For that – and their release plan – we wait. No official release date has been set, but with the buyers screening of Megalopolis a clear success, hopefully we can get word of Coppola’s film’s plan. The Cannes Film Festival in May could be a tight squeeze, but there’s also Venice in August that could offer just the sort of prestige that the director deserves. Apparently, the film runs just over two hours, without credits.

Where does Megalopolis rank in your most anticipated films of 2024? Do you think it can live up to the hype? Share your thoughts below!

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With Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire officially stomping its way into theaters tomorrow, some fans will be eager to revisit the many movies which make up the long-running series. If you’re wondering which Godzilla movies you should check out, Godzilla x Kong director Adam Wingard has revealed his personal top five movies in the franchise.

While speaking on the Inside Total Film podcast, Wingard said that the Shōwa era of the Godzilla franchise is his favourite, encompassing the movies which were released from 1954-1975. “I like the psychedelic, colorful vibe,” Wingard said. “Godzilla vs. Hedorah is my favorite of that series, because it’s the most experimental. It’s like the Easy Rider of Godzilla movies.” However, Wingard doesn’t just restrain himself to the Shōwa era, as he also loves 1995’s Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. “In a way, it’s kind of the closest anything has ever been to the Shōwa films, without trying to be,” he said. “And it’s just a really beautiful movie that is very moving at the end.“

So, what are Wingard’s top five Godzilla movies? Here’s the list:

• Godzilla (1954)

• Invasion of the Astro-Monster (1965)

• Destroy All Monsters (1968)

• Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

• Godzilla vs Destoroyah (1995)

The director added that although he didn’t mention Godzilla Minus One in his list as it’s still “too new to me,” he would definitely include it in his top five list.

Although Godzilla x Kong has been receiving mixed reviews, it does sound like it’s a lot of pure fun bursting with monster mayhem. However, our own Chris Bumbray did have one complaint. “While the trailers made it look like it’s a non-stop brofest between Godzilla and Kong, the two are kept apart for close to ninety minutes, and this movie is just under two hours,” Bumbray wrote. “All of the scenes you’ve seen of them doing their thing together are from the last chunk of the film. While that’s a bummer, I must admit that I found myself surprisingly engaged by the build-up.” You can check out the rest of Bumbray’s review right here.

What are your top five Godzilla movies?

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Just last week, Netflix announced that Heartstopper season 3 will premiere in October, but unfortunately, the great Olivia Colman won’t be returning.

“I couldn’t do number three. I couldn’t fit it in. I feel awful about that,” Olivia Colman told Forbes about Heartstopper season 3. “I feel like I was part of one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever been part of.” Colman played Sarah Nelson in the series, the mother of the main character Nick (Kit Connor). Should there be a fourth season, Colman would love to return, provided more scheduling difficulties don’t get in the way.

Heartstopper series creator Alice Oseman took to Instagram to explain that they “tried absolutely everything we could” to get Colman back but that it “wasn’t meant to be, and that’s just the way the TV world works sometimes.” It remains to be seen how Colman’s absence will change the story in season 3. “Nick’s story from the comics is still there, still infinitely important to me, and Sarah’s role as emotional support for Nick will shift to other characters in the story for now,” Oseman said. “If we get a season four, I would love for Olivia to be a part of it again!” I haven’t watched the series for myself, but judging by fan reaction, Colman’s character was much-loved and will surely be missed.

Here’s the official logline for Heartstopper season 3: “Charlie would like to tell Nick that he loves him. Nick also has something important to say to Charlie. As the summer holiday ends and the months race on, the friends begin to realize that the school year will come with both its joys and its challenges. As they learn more about each other and their relationships, plan social events and parties and start thinking about university choices, everyone must learn to lean on those they love when life doesn’t go to plan.“

Heartstopper has proven to be an extremely popular series for Netflix, receiving acclaim from fans and critics alike. The streaming service gave it a two-season renewal just a month after its premiere.

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