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  • Hulu’s ‘Hardy Boys’ to End After Season 3

    Hulu’s ‘Hardy Boys’ to End After Season 3

    Hulu’s Hardy Boys will not be returning for a fourth season. Variety confirmed that Hardy Boys will end following Season 3, which officially kicked off production today. The live-action series, which hails from Corus Entertainment studio Nelvana and Lambur Productions, is officially filming its final eight episodes in Toronto and southern Ontario, Canada.

    “From its inception, it’s been a joy to work with Lambur Productions, Hulu and YTV on ‘The Hardy Boys’ and introduce these iconic characters and gripping adventures to a new generation. The exceptional cast and crew brought the revered Hardy Boys adventures to life, successfully engaged audiences around the world and garnered awards and critical acclaim. As this mystery comes to a close, we’re looking forward to providing fans with more mystery-solving action, surprising turn-of-events, and laughs in a wild final season.”

    Pam Westman, president of Nelvana

    Along with the news that the series will be ending, Variety also confirmed that Bailee Madison has joined the cast in a recurring role. Madison, who is perhaps best known for Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, has also starred in Hallmark Channel’s Good Witch, Just Go With It, and The Strangers: Prey at Night. She is set to play Drew Darrow, a character described as a “fun but often frustrating new ally with a brilliant mind and appetite for magic and mysteries.”

    Madison will join returning cast members Rohan Campbell, Alexander Elliot, Keana Lyn, Adam Swain, Cristian Perry, Riley O’Donnell, and Krista Nazaire. The final season of Hardy Boys is expected to hit Hulu sometime next year. The first two seasons are now streaming on Hulu and Disney+ in Canada and internationally.

    Source: Variety.

  • John Carpenter Wants to Direct a ‘Dead Space’ Movie

    John Carpenter Wants to Direct a ‘Dead Space’ Movie

    We’ve entered a new era of video game adaptations, as many streaming networks have seen the potential of banking off of existing IP. Yet, there are some franchises that have surprisingly never been attempted so far. Dead Space is currently making a grand return with a remaster for modern consoles after going on hiatus for some time. Many wondered why the Lovecraftian-inspired sci-fi horror game never got an adaptation but it seems one director is actively interested.

    Not just any director but THE John Carpenter is open to tackling the gaming franchise. In an interview with A.V. Club, he talked about gaming adaptations and was surprised to find out that Chornobyl‘s Craig Mazin is adapting The Last Of Us. It sparked an interest in wanting to adapt something as well from the gaming universe, which led to I’m thinking of Dead Space.

    The only one I can think of, and I’ve mentioned it before, is Dead Space. That would make a real great movie. I could do that.

    He goes on to highlight that he’s quite a fan of the franchise, even highlighting the last release that wasn’t as critically received. Dead Space 3 moved away from its horror roots to explore more action-oriented storytelling, which didn’t seem to bother the horror director.

    Well, any of them were really good. I even like the last one, the action one that nobody else liked.

    It’s definitely interesting to see his interest in tackling such a big IP. Of course, he’d likely bring his own touch to make the project stand out from its original, but still, keep the horror landscape that made it as unique as it was when the first entry was released back in 2008. It’s no wonder that a remake is in development and we’ll see if this newly sparked revival of the franchise.

    Source: AV Club

  • ‘Smile’ Surpasses $100 Million at Worldwide Box Office

    ‘Smile’ Surpasses $100 Million at Worldwide Box Office

    Paramount has plenty to Smile about these days. Its latest horror release, Smile, has officially passed the $100 million mark at the box office. In two weeks of release, the film has managed to earn $102.3 million worldwide; that’s with $55.5 million at the domestic box office and $46.8 million from the international box office.

    While most films often suffer a sophomore slump, Smile has continued to have an impressive hold at the box office. In its second weekend, the film retained the top spot with $13 million. That was enough to earn the movie the second-best hold ever for an R-rated horror movie in its second weekend, with a drop of just -22%.

    Noting the film’s accomplishments at the box office, Brian Robbins, the CEO and President of Paramount Pictures, noted the studio always believed the movie had cinematic potential. “The moment we saw this film we knew it had immense cinematic potential, and we’re beyond thrilled and proud to see that audiences around the world agree wholeheartedly and are turning out in record numbers,” he said. “Thank you to our director, Parker Finn, our creative partners and our production team for delivering a fantastically terrifying movie; and thank you to our global marketing and distributions teams for hitting it out of the park once again.”

    Directed by newcomer Parker Finn, Smile stars Sosie Bacon and focuses on a therapist who meets a graduate student that has recently witnessed a gruesome suicide. Soon after, she begins experiencing frightening experiences she can’t explain. In order to survive, she’ll need to confront her past in order to escape her horrifying new reality. The film also stars Caitlin Stasey, Kyle Gallner, Robin Weigert and Kal Penn.

    Source: Deadline.

  • Brendan Fraser is Open to Return for a New ‘The Mummy’ Sequel

    Brendan Fraser is Open to Return for a New ‘The Mummy’ Sequel

    Legacy sequels are all the rage right now. While superhero films still have a strong grab at the box office, Top Gun: Maverick and the latest Scream entry proved that people are in love with revisiting iconic franchises. So, it’s a common question to ask actors that have quite a substantial history with the medium if they’d return to a popular franchise that may have defined their career. So, it’s no surprise that Brendan Fraser was also asked about potentially returning for a fourth Mummy film. While there have been stories of the consequences he endured as a result of working on it, he still is down to potentially return.

    I don’t know how it would work. But I’d be open to it if someone came up with the right conceit.

    Brendan Fraser

    The actor also had some thoughts on the remake from 2017 starring Tom Cruise that sunk the future Dark Universe. While the adaptation tried to take a different direction with the franchise and still played tribute to what came before, Fraser believes the lack of “fun” lead to it not leaving a mark in theaters.

    It is hard to make that movie. The ingredient that we had going for our Mummy, which I didn’t see in that film, was fun. That was what was lacking in that incarnation. It was too much of a straight-ahead horror movie. ‘The Mummy’ should be a thrill ride, but not terrifying and scary.

    Brendan Fraser

    Of course, the new adaptation was hoping to adapt a horror-themed universe paying tribute to the original Hammer and Universal horror franchises; the originator of cinematic universes.

    Source: Variety

  • Brendan Fraser Describes ‘Batgirl’ as the “Antithesis” of the Usual Green Screen Superhero Films

    Brendan Fraser Describes ‘Batgirl’ as the “Antithesis” of the Usual Green Screen Superhero Films

    Brendan Fraser has seen quite the glow-up since his return to acting with Doom Patrol. It opened up many avenues moving forward, and not only is he in the Oscar-contender The Whale but was also going to take on a more villainous role in the DC Extended Universe. Sadly, that was cut short when Warner Bros. suddenly decided it wanted a tax break rather than make at least some money off of the latest DC entry.

    It’s no wonder that it’ll leave a bitter taste in anyone, especially everyone involved with the production as Blue Beetle got to continue production while an almost finished film was completely scrapped. It definitely left some scars on everyone involved including Fraser, who opened up about the issue of this project falling apart while praising Leslie Grace‘s “fantastic” performance.

    It’s tragic. It doesn’t engender trust among filmmakers and the studio. Leslie Grace was fantastic. She’s a dynamo — just a spot-on performer. Everything we shot was real and exciting and just the antithesis of doing a straightforward digital, all-green-screen thing. They ran firetrucks around downtown Glasgow at 3 in the morning, and they had flamethrowers. It was a big-budget movie, but one that was just stripped down to the essentials.

    Brendan Fraser

    It’s truly a shame that they couldn’t bring this big-budget film to HBO Max or even the silver screen. While the streaming development does keep some projects from releasing in theaters, but it at least we were able to see a vision come to life. Yet, Batgirl seems unlikely to ever see the light of day and we can only theorize what the project was like based on the leaked set footage and teases by those involved with the project.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘Rosaline’: Kyle Allen on His “Dimwitted” Romeo’s Obsession

    ‘Rosaline’: Kyle Allen on His “Dimwitted” Romeo’s Obsession

    For centuries, Romeo and Juliet has been used as inspiration for what’s likely an incalculable number of stories about star-crossed lovers. From direct retellings such as 1936’s and 1968’s Romeo and Juliet and 1996’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet to reimaginings such as Gnomeo and Juliet and Warm Bodies, the love story of the titular characters has been etched into the collective consciousness of us all. The main beats of the story are fairly well-known as young students across the globe are exposed to it as part of their studies making the beginning, middle and end of Shakespeare’s play common knowledge.

    With an ending as traumatic and final as the one written by the Bard, a sequel to the story would be a tough nut to crack if one wanted to extend the story; however, prequels and/or concurrent stories focusing on other characters who survived the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues are fair game and that’s where Hulu found inspiration for their upcoming film Rosaline. The unseen character is the unrequited love of Romeo at the beginning of the play and the reason he ultimately decides to attend the Capulet party where he meets and falls in love with Juliet.

    Romeo’s quick change of heart upon seeing Juliet has often been seen as love at first sight but taken another way, it’s really just a young man who is a romantic and is in love with the idea of being in love. At a recent global press conference for Rosaline, actor Kyle Allen, who brings Romeo to life in the film, discussed that very topic.

    Romeo would fall in love with a stick if you’d let him. He’s completely obsessed with the concept and the idea of love. And other than that, that’s pretty much the entirety of his personality. He doesn’t have much else going on.

    Kyle Allen

    Allen goes on to describe Romeo as “dimwitted” which is a nice way of saying that for much of the time audiences are engaged with the character, his decisions aren’t made by his brain so much as…well, not his brain. What will this latest Romeo and Juliet-inspired tale add to the collective story? Fans can find out when Rosaline streams on Hulu, beginning October 14th.

  • ‘The Winchesters’ is The CW’s Most-Watched Series Debut This Season

    ‘The Winchesters’ is The CW’s Most-Watched Series Debut This Season

    The CW debuted its Supernatural prequel series, The Winchesters, on Tuesday and while the numbers weren’t exactly anything to write home about – the series did earn the title of The CW’s most-watched debut so far this season in total viewers. The series premiere reportedly averaged 757,000 viewers. That makes it the network’s most-watched series debut since Naomi‘s premiere in 2022. The show’s premiere was also the CW’s most-watched telecast in its time period since June 2022 – a title formerly held by Superman & Lois.

    The Winchesters is the network’s prequel series to the long-running Supernatural, which came to a close after fifteen seasons in November 2020. While the latter series centered on Dean and Sam Winchester, played by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, respectively, the prequel centers on their parents – John and Mary.

    The Winchesters was one of many spinoff shows put into development at the CW over the years. Supernatural: Bloodlines was originally being developed to run during the 2014-2015 season, but the series was never picked up. While Wayward Sisters was announced as being in development in 2018 – that series, like Bloodlines, was passed over.

    The Winchesters hails from the Supernatural trio of Robbie Thompson, Jensen Ackles and Danneel Ackles. Thompson serves as a writer and showrunner on the series. Ackles’ Dean narrates the prequel series that is being called an “epic, untold love story of how John met Mary and how they put it all on the line to not only save their love but the entire world.”

    Source: Deadline.

  • Why ‘She-Hulk’ is Marvel’s Best Disney+ Series

    Why ‘She-Hulk’ is Marvel’s Best Disney+ Series

    Even before She-Hulk: Attorney at Law premiered on Disney+ this past August, the internet has had no shortage of jabronis voicing their complaints about the show. There has been so much media made about how She-Hulk is the worst TV show ever. All this negativity toward She-Hulk has led to some giving up on the show. However, with the final episode premiering later this week, now is the perfect time to get back on board so you can see what you’ve been missing, because She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is the best Marvel Cinematic Universe Disney+ show.

    She-Hulk is the First Marvel Disney+ Show That Knows How to be a Show

    There’s something to be said for a piece of media effectively utilizing the medium in which it exists. A common complaint among the Marvel Disney+ shows is that they feel like movies cut up into 6 pieces and thrown on Disney+. In some cases, it’s a fair criticism. Frequently, the episodes don’t feel like their own concise story, so while the episodes can be separated by certain storytelling functions or a change in location, it still feels like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, or even Ms. Marvel could’ve been better served by cutting out a bunch of the fluff and editing the entire story into a 2-hour long movie. Only What If…?, WandaVision, and Loki had done this right previously, but She-Hulk might be the best at it specifically because unlike What If…?, WandaVision, or Loki, She-Hulk is very explicitly a sitcom.

    Part of the charm of a sitcom is that while there are big, season-long arcs – like Diane warming up to Sam in Cheers or Mac getting fat in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – the episodes themselves are largely disconnected and can be watched out of order. Once everything was set in motion, starting with episodes 3 and 4, the creatives on She-Hulk really managed to hit that balance. That balance can be pretty effectively highlighted by focusing on the legal aspect of the series. Every episode is another case. Every case presents a new challenge, introduces a few new characters, and after 22 minutes, everything is neatly wrapped up. Someone could watch episode 1 and then skip to episode 4, and they’d mostly get it.

    Some people don’t like this disconnect at the heart of the show, but it’s a feature, not a bug, and whether one likes everything about She-Hulk or not, it’s hard to deny that it’s living up to the promise of a superhuman law sitcom. If you don’t like the idea of sitcoms, then this was never going to work for you, but it’s difficult not to appreciate how She-Hulk is the first MCU show that has embraced the sitcom format.

    She-Hulk Expands on the MCU in Interesting Ways

    She-Hulk has introduced so many characters and concepts with barely any legwork. This can be attributed to the fact that She-Hulk is the first MCU show that is explicitly about a character dealing with the superhuman side of the universe that audiences don’t really see. Moon Knight had Egyptian gods. Ms. Marvel had Clandestines. They did not have, for instance, a sorcerer just show up; it wouldn’t have made sense and that’s fine. Thematically, it is consistent with the scope of the story. But it’s pretty wild that even though Earth is full of aliens, Asgardians, and all sorts of gods and enhanced people, outside of the Shang-Chi cage fight, there has not been an earthbound project where characters just bump into something weird or acknowledge the weirdness in the rest of the world. She-Hulk is the first MCU show to properly acknowledge the Celestial in the middle of the ocean – that’s incredible because one problem with Phase 4 is that – apart from Wong – it’s felt sort of disconnected. There aren’t those little moments where Coulson mentions a thing he has to deal with that signals to the audience that Thor also exists in this world, or where Bruce Banner name-drops Wakanda. Moments like those are necessary to keep everything balanced outside of the big team-up movies and ground the world in some shared reality, even if it is a weird one.

    Phase 4 has done a fair amount of world-building, but it was almost always providing context to past events from the last few phases, like Kamala telling the audience about the end of Avengers: Endgame or Hawkeye watching “Rogers: the Musical.” Fans have gotten plenty of context for things in the past, but what about the very recent past? There have been so many world-altering events that never get mentioned. Did anyone else experience the time Mr. Knight and Khonshu turned back time in the sky, or that kaiju fight from the end of the series? Those are examples just from Moon Knight. Nobody has brought up the Gargantos attack, any of the Statue of Liberty stuff, Hawkeye shooting goons in 30 Rock on Christmas, the Taskmaster chase, the attack on New Asgard, the Shang-Chi bus fight, and anything from Eternals…outside of acknowledging that Kingo exists. These things all happened in public, so the idea of a character who gets to react to them or a show that would not feel weird if it acknowledged them is a lot of fun.

    It’s clear that Phase 4 was jumbled by the pandemic. Lots of movies changed spots, so plenty of the direct references wouldn’t play, but a show like She-Hulk wraps a lot of that up at the end. It’s the last D+ project of 2022, so She-Hulk gets to be sort of a greatest hits of the phase. But even beyond that, She-Hulk’s world-building is really impressive because of how much the creatives trusted the audience. A Light Elf shows up – audiences have never seen or heard of them before, but the writers know if they look and act a specific way, audiences will infer that this is a Thor-related thing. Mr. Immortal just popped in for an episode. In the comics, he has the power to live forever and was the leader of the Great Lake Avengers at one point. This version of the character was certainly a different take on the hero, but it fits into the universe well. It’s great that they can do characters like this without explanation; it just makes the world feel so much bigger.

    Jennifer Walters is an Interesting and Likable Character

    There has been a lot of discourse pertaining to whether Jennifer Walters is an interesting character or not. Many seem to believe that Jen is not an interesting character because she has no flaws – she never does anything wrong and dismisses Bruce, her kind, older cousin. However, this is a wild misreading of the entire series. Jen’s biggest flaw is that she’s sort of arrogant – just like Tony Stark, Thor, Peter Quill, or Stephen Strange before her. Jen believes she’s will be better at being a Hulk than she actually is and dismisses people offering her help…that is, until she doesn’t. Though it does remain to be seen if Jen will learn her lesson by the end of episode 9, perhaps the other lawyer superhero will have something to say about the whole work/life balance thing.

    Another great element about Jen’s character is that she really feels like an adult. The idea of having to go on bad dates or attend a chaotic wedding is really relatable. That’s why the conversation that Jen has with Bruce in the beginning of Episode 1 feels apt. Jen talking about how Steve Rogers never got to have sex is both a fun conversation that all nerds have had at some point, but also an acknowledgment that the MCU’s second lead character never got to just slow down and date – at least, not so far as audiences have seen. She-Hulk exploring that is refreshing, especially since Tony Stark being a little playboy was one of the things that drew people to the MCU. Just like Tony, Jen has a sense of humor and feels human.

    And similar to how they’ve explored relatable adult relationships with Tony Stark, Thor, Peter Quill, and Stephen Strange, Jen and all of her supporting characters are great. The group dynamic between Jen, Nikki, and Pug is a lot of fun, and so are the little Nikki and Pug side adventures. What they’ve done with Mallory Book – a character who plays an important role in the Dan Slott comic run from 2004 – is also commendable. Additional standouts are Jen’s family, Wong and Madisynn, and Lulu, played by Patti Harrison.

    With She-Hulk coming to an end, give it a look with a pair of fresh eyes and appreciate it for what it is: a sitcom that’s grown the MCU in a creative way.

    The 9th and final episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law releases on Disney+ Thursday, October 13th.

  • Director Karen Maine on What Drew Her to ‘Rosaline’

    Director Karen Maine on What Drew Her to ‘Rosaline’

    Hulu is set to release a new take on the iconic Romeo and Juliet story later this week with Rosaline. The film, which is inspired by the book While You Were Mine, takes the focus off of the star-crossed lovers and instead focuses on Rosaline, Juliet’s cousin and Romeo’s ex-girlfriend. Last week, Disney held a virtual conference for the movie, featuring director Karen Maine and some of her excellent young cast, including leading lady, Kaitlyn Dever.

    When asked what had drawn her to the project, and how she was ultimately approached about it, Maine suggested Dever’s casting played a big role in her decision to sign on for the movie. “So, the script was sent to me, and I was told that Kaitlyn was attached to play the lead,” she said. “So immediately I was like, I love Kaitlyn and her work. Dying to work with her. She’s amazing. So, [I] read it. The script was amazing.”

    The script, of course, was penned by (500) Days of Summer writers Michael Weber and Scott Neustadter, two writer Maine has been a fan of for some time. After reading the script and seeing how they were incorporating a classic Renaissance period with modern language, she began to craft the story in her mind. “And the idea to, you know, set it in classic Renaissance period with this modern language and the modern sensibilities and themes just would create this, in my mind, this perfect juxtaposition of, you know, old and new that just really nailed the comedy and let it shine.  So that was really the goal.”

    For Maine, getting to work with Dever and craft a story as unique as Rosaline was a huge deal. But she also felt the music used in the movie was pretty important, too. In order to achieve her goal of expertly mixing old with new, Maine made it a point to include more modern music, as well as instruments that were used during the Renaissance period. “The music was really great too, because we’ve used modern elements like synth, but also a lot of old, kind of, period instruments from the time, like lutes and flutes and harpsichords and all that.  So, it’s all blended in there as well.  So, it’s really, you know, walking that line between old and new.”

    Rosaline begins streaming exclusively on Hulu beginning October 14th.

    KEEP READING: Review: ‘Rosaline’ is a unique spin to the Romeo and Juliet tale, delivering a delightfully chaotic love story sure to please.

  • Michelle Yeoh & Pete Davidson Board ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’

    Michelle Yeoh & Pete Davidson Board ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’

    Michelle Yeoh and Pete Davidson have joined the cast of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts for Paramount. Yeoh will voice the Maximal Airazor, while Davidson will lend his voice to the Autobot Mirage. The news was announced on Tuesday by director Steven Caple Jr. in behind-the-scenes videos featuring the actors recording their lines for the film.

    In the Instagram post, which can be seen below, Caple Jr. teases their involvement in a series of playful videos. “Pete Davidson in disguise. 😂 @transformersmovie cast is amazing, man. Sneak peek of Pete voicing Mirage & @michelleyeoh_official blessing us as the voice of Airazor #rotb 2023″

    Production on the movie wrapped in October 2021. While details regarding Rise of the Beasts are being kept under wraps, a recent rumor suggests we’ll see the Transformers face Unicron in the forthcoming film. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback. It is currently set to hit theaters on June 9, 2023.

    Source: Deadline.