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When Blake Lively Revealed Why She Broke Her No-Nudity Rule(Photo Credit –Instagram)

Blake Lively had a strict no-nudity rule in her career. But for All I See Is You, she broke it and she didn’t hold back on why. The actress opened up in a Vanity Fair interview about what changed her mind, and the candid confession she made in the process has definitely stirred some conversation.

The role, in Marc Forster’s psychological drama, called for partial nudity. Lively’s team almost walked away. But once she heard about the project, she wanted to read the script herself. “Let me read it, and if it’s great, then I’ll talk him out of it,” she said.

She read it. She didn’t talk him out of anything.

Trending Together Becomes Top-Rated Horror Movie Of 2025 With Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score Ahead of Release

How a Knee Injury...

Brad Pitt’s Biggest Box Office Hit Revealed(Photo Credit –Facebook)

Brad Pitt is definitely one of the most celebrated actors in Hollywood, who enjoys millions of fans across the globe. Even though he has been missing from the screens for a few years, his personal life revolving around the divorce scenario with Angelina Jolie often made headlines that kept the public invested. However, now he has made his return with the movie F1 and has been smashing the box office collections.

Pitt’s last movie, 2022’s Bullet Train, grossed over $200 million worldwide as per Box Office Mojo, and now F1 has crossed over $140 million worldwide collection, according to Box Office Mojo. But do you remember his biggest worldwide hit movie so far? Scroll ahead to know more about it.

With Which Movie Did Brad Pitt Smash The Box Office?

According to reports, Brad Pitt’s worldwide smash hit was World War Z,...

David Fincher & Brad Pitt Nearly Reunited For World War Z Sequel (Photo Credit – Wikipedia)

Acclaimed filmmaker David Fincher and Hollywood star Brad Pitt have given us cult classics like Se7en (1995) and Fight Club (1999). So, the actor-director collaboration has always been a treat for cinephiles. And at one point, the two were set to reunite for a big-budget sequel — but unfortunately, it never materialized. Can you guess which film it was? We are talking about the 2013 critically acclaimed box-office hit World War Z. The film’s sequel was reportedly in the works, with David Fincher attached to direct and Brad Pitt returning to star. Read on to find out why the project was shelved and what the original film was all about.

Why World War Z Sequel Didn’t Happen

Back in 2018, Collider reported that filming for the World War Z sequel was delayed and that David Fincher had chosen to...

Move Over Zombieland: This Brad Pitt Zombie Thriller Still Leads the Box Office Years Later ( Photo Credit – Netflix )

Cinephiles across the globe have enjoyed some fine zombie movies in the past. The list includes 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead, Train to Busan, Shaun of the Dead, and Zombieland, among others. But when it comes to global box office figures, none of them takes the top spot. That title belongs to Brad Pitt’s 2013 action-horror blockbuster, World War Z. Read on to know its box office performance, what the film was all about, and where to stream it on Ott.

World War Z – Box Office Performance

Released in US theaters on June 21, 2013, the film was widely admired by the audience and performed quite well commercially. According to Box Office Mojo, World War Z grossed around $540.45 million at the box office worldwide. It was made on a budget of $190 million.

Just like actors, many directors have come and gone during 007's time on the big screen. When Daniel Craig played James Bond, the likes of Marc Forster, Sam Mendes, and Martin Campbell all lent their directorial talents to the franchise. Danny Boyle is another director who was once attached to helm a James Bond movie. But, unlike the above names, Boyle's idea for a 007 film was ultimately rejected, causing the director to depart the project. With 28 Years Later now in theaters, fans can't help but wonder what Boyle's James Bond movie would have looked like. With Bond set to enter a new era under Amazon, and with a new actor taking on the license to kill, Boyle has revealed his biggest regret about his canceled project.

During an interview with Business Insider to promote 28 Years Later, Danny Boyle opened up about his brief time working on the James Bond franchise,...

The zombie horror genre has always been popular, but some films did it better than others. Ahead of a new zombie film, the addition in the 28 Days Laterfranchise, 28 Years Later, set to premiere on June 20, the highest-grossing zombie film of all time is making a splash on streaming.

In 2013, Brad Pitt starred in World War Z, which is now having a resurgence on streaming. The film recently headed to a new streaming home, its studio Paramount Pictures' streaming platform, Paramount+. However, it didn't make an imminent impact on the streaming platform, but World War Z reached the Top 10 globally on Netflix,Tudum reports.

World War Z has had a long, complicated relationship with Netflix. The zombie film left the streaming service in October 2024, but it's still available internationally. For the week between June 9 and 15, World War Z debuted in the charts again in seventh place. It received 3.8 million views and 7.4 million hours viewed.

A reunion between “Sanctuary” director Zachary Wigon and Margaret Qualley (“The Substance”) has been cut short as Qualley has exited his upcoming horror flick “Victorian Psycho,” but has landed quite the replacement with “It Follows” and “Longlegs” actress Maika Monroe stepping in.

Deadline has revealed the casting switch-up as Monroe will co-star alongside Thomasin McKenzie from Edgar Wright‘s time-traveling psychological thriller “Last Night in Soho” and Taika Waititi‘s WWII-set dark comedy “Jojo Rabbit.”

Read More: ‘Anxious People’: Aimee Lou Wood Joins Angelina Jolie In Buzzy Holiday Hostage Flick Directed By Marc Forster

Monroe has taken the role of Winifred Notty, “a young, eccentric governess, who in 1858 arrives at the remote gothic manor known as Ensor House.

Continue reading ‘Victorian Psycho’: Maika Monroe Replaces Margaret Qualley In Gothic Horror Pic at The Playlist.

Coming off the massive success of the third season of Mike White’s hit HBO series “The White Lotus,” British actress Aimee Lou Wood has nabbed a meaty role in a new hostage thriller, “Anxious People.” The drama will see her co-starring alongside Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie (“Those Who Wish Me Dead”).

“Anxious People” will be helmed by German filmmaker Marc Forster (“Monster’s Ball”) with a script penned by David Magee, who adapted the Fredrik Backman novel of the same name.

Continue reading ‘Anxious People’: Aimee Lou Wood Joins Angelina Jolie In Buzzy Holiday Hostage Flick Directed By Marc Forster at The Playlist.

On the heels of her breakout performance in The White Lotus, Aimee Lou Wood has now joined director Marc Forster's adaptation of Anxious People. Based on the Fredrik Backman novel, the film casts Wood as a robber who (unwittingly) takes strangers hostage after a bank heist gone wrong.

The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood will join Angelina Jolie in Anxious People, a feature adaptation of author Fredrik Backman's namesake novel.Deadline confirmed Wood has been cast as the story's catalyst and reluctant villain. David Magee developed the screenplay with Marc Forster set to direct; both have previously collaborated in the 2022 adaptation of Backman's A Man Called Otto. The film is currently looking for domestic and international distributors at Cannes, via WME Independent and Black Bear Pictures.

Per synopsis, Anxious People starts on "the day before Christmas Eve, [when] investment banker Zara (Jolie) begrudgingly finds herself mingling with a...

Gold Derby's top news stories for May 14, 2025.

Jeremy Allen White and Austin Butler to star in A24 crime thriller Enemies

This is a Heat — sorry, hot — project. Two-time Emmy winner Jeremy Allen White (The Bear) and Academy Award nominee Austin Butler (Elvis) have signed on to star in Enemies, an A24 crime thriller from writer and director Henry Dunham (The Standoff at Sparrow Creek). The film follows a "relentless detective" and an "infamous contract killer" in a "deadly game of cat and mouse" and will start shooting in Chicago this summer. Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen (Midsommar) are producing.

Denzel Washington, Robert Pattinson, and Daisy Edgar-Jones to star in Netflix thriller Here Comes the Flood

Academy Award winner Denzel Washington, Robert Pattinson, and Daisy Edgar-Jones have signed on to star in Netflix crime thriller Here Comes the Flood for director Fernando Meirelles (City of God) and screenwriter and producer Simon Kinberg...

Exclusive: BAFTA-winner Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education), coming off a lauded turn in HBO’s The White Lotus S3, is set to star opposite Oscar winner Angelina Jolie in the Marc Forster feature adaptation of Anxious People, the Black Bear and Hope Studios project we told you about coming into the Cannes market.

A buzzy project just got buzzier. The synopsis reads: “The day before Christmas Eve, investment banker Zara (Jolie) begrudgingly finds herself mingling with a group of strangers at an open house. When a reluctant bank robber, Grace (Wood), inadvertently takes the group hostage, chaos and oversharing ensues, secrets are revealed and literally nothing goes according to plan. A film about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined.”

Based on A Man Called Ove,...

Perhaps among the summer's riskiest films, F1: The Movie will determine whether there's a market for mega-budget, star-driven tent poles that are not based on prior intellectual property. Starring Brad Pitt and directed by Top Gun: Maverick's Joseph Kosinski, the movie cost a reported $300 million to produce, and marks Pitt's biggest project in over a decade. He last headlined a movie this big back in 2013, and it was just as risky then. The movie in question, World War Z, was produced at a time when projects involving zombies were generating huge levels of interest; this was in the aftermath of The Walking Dead. World War Z is now making an impression on the streaming charts, as fans get ready for F1 later this summer.

According to FlixPatrol, the epic action thriller claimed the fourth spot on Paramount+ charts on May 13, earning a total of 120 points for the day.

As your “Screen Talk” co-hosts Anne Thompson and Ryan Lattanzio pack for Cannes, we preview the hot titles for sale, the studio marketing launches, the possible Competition prize contenders, and the movies that have already released trailers. We speculate about the potential brought by President Trump’s latest proposal of a 100 percent tariff on movies filmed overseas. And we preview the summer lineup.

In new news, the already sprawling Cannes Film Festival has just welcomed a few new additions: Bi Gan’s “Resurrection” finally joins the competition after much speculation and anticipation, as well as Eugene Jarecki’s delayed Julian Assange documentary “The Six Billion Dollar Man,” which was pulled from Sundance due to developments in the story.

Among the competition titles without North American berths are Lynne Ramsay’s “Die, My Love,” starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson; Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague,” with Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg,...

Gen Z will meet Baby Boomer in David O. Russell’s next feature, with the “American Hustle” and “The Fighter” director lining up Jenna Ortega and Robert De Niro to star.

“Shutout,” based on a screenplay by Alejandro Adams, is being produced by Russell, Rk Films’ Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum, and Mark Bomback. Black Bear will introduce the project to international buyers at the upcoming Cannes Film Market. CAA Media Finance is handling U.S. rights.

“Shutout” follows Jake Lejeune (De Niro), one of the last masters of a vanishing craft — the pool hustler. Having lived and lost by the roll of a ball in smoky backroom halls, Jake encounters Mia (Ortega), a young prodigy whose raw, electrifying talent reignites a fire he thought long extinguished. Sensing a rare opportunity to shape a legend, Jake takes Mia under his wing, honing her instincts and sharpening her natural gift. Together,...

Angelina Jolie, after her critically praised performance in Maria, is all set to join the movie adaptation of the hit novel, Anxious People. After playing a wide range of roles in her career spanning over forty years, the Oscar-winning actress is cast to play a depressed investment banker in Marc Forster’s next.

Anxious People, written by Swedish writer Fredrik Backman, has already been adapted into a live-action Netflix limited series in 2021. But with the director of A Man Called Otto and World War Z onboard, Angelina Jolie’s upcoming movie is hoped to present the story in a new and distinct way.

A look into Angelina Jolie’s upcoming Anxious People Angelina Jolie in Wanted | Credits: Universal Pictures

According to a new report by Deadline, Anxious People is announced by Black Bear and Hope Studios ahead of the Cannes market. Marc Forster, known for numerous renowned movies like Monster’s Ball,...

Exclusive: Oscar winner Angelina Jolie is set to star in the feature adaptation of hit Scandi novel Anxious People for A Man Called Otto and World War Z director Marc Forster.

Based on A Man Called Ove author Fredrik Backman’s novel, the film is being launched ahead of the Cannes market by Black Bear and Hope Studios with the former handling international sales and WME Independent handling domestic.

The uplifting comedy, set on the day before Christmas Eve, sees investment banker Zara (Jolie) begrudgingly find herself mingling with a group of strangers at an open house. When a reluctant bank robber inadvertently takes the group hostage, chaos and oversharing ensues, secrets are revealed and literally nothing goes according to plan. The movie is described as being “about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find...

The Cannes Film Festival has put together a powerful jury for its 78th edition, including Halle Berry, Jeremy Strong (“The Apprentice”) and Payal Kapadia, the Indian filmmaker of “All We Imagine as Light.”

Mixing actors, filmmakers and authors, the jury will also comprise of South Korean filmmaker Hong Sangsoo; Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher; French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani; Congolese director, documentarist and producer Dieudo Hamadi; and Mexican filmmaker and producer Carlos Reygadas. As previously announced, Juliette Binoche will preside over the jury, succeeding Greta Gerwig who handed out the Palme d’Or to Sean Baker’s “Anora.”

Both Strong and Kapadia were at Cannes last year, in competition. Strong presented Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice” in which he starred as Roy Cohn, while Kapadia was there with her fiction debut, “All We Imagine as Light” which won the Grand Prize.

Berry became the first African-American woman to win best actress at...

Halle Berry, Payal Kapadia, Alba Rohrwacher, Leïla Slimani, Dieudo Hamadi, Hong Sangsoo, Carlos Reygadas and Jeremy Strong have been announced as members of the Cannes Film Festival’s main Competition jury for its 78th edition running from May 13 to May 24.

They join previously announced Jury President Juliet Binoche. Together, they will award the Palme d’Or to one of the 21 films in the main Competition, as well as the Grand Prix, Jury Prize, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Actor awards.

U.S. Actress and filmmaker Berry was the first African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Marc Forster’s Monster’s Ball (2002).

Alternating between blockbusters and independent productions, her credits include Jungle Fever (1991), Dorothy Dandridge (1999), X-Men (1999), Swordfish (2002), Die Another Day (2003), Gothika (2003), Frankie & Alice (2011), Cloud Atlas (2012), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) and John Wick Parabellum (2019).

In 2020, she directed her first film, Bruised. Also a producer,...

Disney live-action remakes have had a difficult reputation thus far. Audiences have been mostly negative towards many of these films as they usually don't offer any new or innovative storytelling outside the visual technology they're able to arguably improve upon, although many say these movies don't look much better than the originals in the first place.

However, quite a few of these live-action remakes do provide new and exciting experiences for their audiences. With both Snow White and Lilo & Stitch getting the live-action treatment this year, audiences are looking back at the best live-action films Disney has to offer, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

Audiences Forgot About Lady and the Tramp Lady and the Tramp (2019)

Of all the Disney stories to be turned into live-action, Lady and the Tramp was probably one that many fans didn't really think they'd ever see. Not only is it a film largely focusing on the lives of dogs,...

You know when you’re eagerly waiting for something to hit the mark and it almost does, but then it just… doesn’t? That’s how many felt watching Marc Forster’s All I See Is You. It’s like biting into a sandwich with all the right ingredients but somehow still ending up with a bland bite.

The film, starring Blake Lively and Jason Clarke, seemed like it had all the ingredients for success. A compelling story about a woman’s journey through her evolving independence after regaining her sight, with an award-winning actor by her side? It should’ve been an emotional ride. But instead, it ended up being a bit of a snooze fest.

Blake Lively in All I See Is You | Credit: Open Road Films

Despite its intriguing premise, All I See Is You earned a meager $678K at the box office against a $30 million production budget.

When Halle Berry made her big-screen debut as the crack-addicted Vivian in the most harrowing section of Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever," she put the entire world on notice that she was going to be an actor first and a movie star second. Obviously, she would quickly learn early in her career to play the Hollywood game and accept thinly-written roles that asked her to do little more than look like one of the most breathtakingly beautiful people on the planet, but she never went more than a year or two without challenging herself. This was particularly difficult to do, given the dearth of complex roles being written for Black women at the time.

Berry was 10 years into her film acting career when she landed the role that would change everything for her. As Leticia Musgrove in Marc Forster's bleak 2001 drama "Monster's Ball," she summoned up a fierce symphony of heartbreak,...

Quick Links'Machine Gun Preacher' Is a Remarkable Story That Never Got Enough Screen Time'Machine Gun Preacher' Shines a Light on a HeroOther Underrated Elements in 'Machine Gun Preacher'They Were Both Flawed People But Stronger for It

Although he was around for some time and had already achieved minor credits in film alongside the likes of Christian Bale and Angelina Jolie, it would take the world a while before we first began taking serious notice of Gerard Butler. That breakthrough wasn't until we saw him in Zack Snyder's 300, and it suddenly became clear just how much of an aura he had as a leading man. Now a veteran of the big screen, Butler has become renowned as one of the most exciting action stars around today.

His range has also seen him play other roles admirably, too. Among others, like romantic comedies and epic disaster flicks, he's proven to be a terrific all-round star.

Paramount Pictures’ action horror World War Z will be heading to a brand-new streaming home. The 2013 movie is based on Max Brooks’ best-selling 2006 apocalyptic novel of the same name.

Beginning on March 1, World War Z will officially be available to stream for free on Tubi. The movie is led by Academy Award winner Brad Pitt, who portrays retired United Nations investigator Gerry Lane. In the film, Gerry and his family get caught in the middle of chaos, after discovering that a virus has been rapidly turning people into flesh-eating monsters. Due to his former role in the U.N., he gets recalled back to duty in order to search for the cure, before the infection wipes out the entire human race.

RelatedRidley Scott Sets the Record Straight on Brad Pitt's Casting in 34-Year-Old Oscar-Winning Film

Ridley Scott tells the truth of how Brad Pitt came to be cast in one of the director's landmark films,...

The great state of Georgia has been home to an impressive number of film productions, including a number of Marvel Studios movies, but only a very small percentage of those are actually set in Georgia. Instead, the Atlanta streets frequently play the role of New York or Washington D.C., and its wild spaces can be used to represent just about anywhere. 

But what about those movies that actually take place in the beautiful, complicated Peach State? Films as diverse and wonderful as "Magic Mike Xxl" and "Days of Thunder" all have great stretches set in Georgia, but some films go even further and really represent a little slice of the state with most of their runtime. Whether it's Clint Eastwood's genteel Savannah true crime murder mystery "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," having an aca-awesome time with college acapella performers in Atlanta in "Pitch Perfect," or...

A stage production of Neil Gaiman's 2002 children's novel Coraline has been canceled, Variety reports. A statement from the production partners behind the scrapped musical cited the recent allegations of sexual misconduct brought against the author. Coraline — A Musical was originally scheduled to run at the Leeds Playhouse in England from April to May of this year before embarking on a tour through Edinburgh, Birmingham, and Manchester. In the joint statement from Leeds Playhouse, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Birmingham Rep, and Home Manchester, the organizations stated, "We have decided our production of Coraline – A Musical will not proceed."

From the co-production partners: Leeds Playhouse, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Birmingham Rep, and Home, Manchester. We have decided our production of Coraline – A Musical will not proceed. After careful consideration, we feel it would be impossible to continue in the context of the allegations against its original author. Ticket holders have been contacted directly via email.

Wonder spin-off White Bird is now streaming on Amazon Prime in the UK following some lengthy delays.

Released in 2017 and based on the novel by Rj Palacio, Wonder told the inspiring story of August Pullman, a boy with Treacher Collins Syndrome, which causes deformities of the face, and his attempts to fit it at high school. Written and directed by Perks Of Being A Wallflower scribe Stephen Chbosky and starring Jacob Tremblay, Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson, the film did good business, taking over $300 million on a $20 million budget.

This brings us to White Bird, not a direct sequel but a story set in the same universe, based on the graphic novel novel by Palacio, which was due to be released late last year. Bryce Gheisar played bully Julian in Wonder, and he reprises the role as we see what happened to him after being expelled for his horrific bullying of August.

In Marc Forster's 2001 drama "Monster's Ball," Halle Berry plays Leticia Musgrove, a woman at the end of her rope. Her husband has been convicted of murder and is executed by the state of Georgia early in the film. Leticia is trying to put her life back together when her son Tyrell (Coronji Calhoun) is hit by a car and dies. Leticia can only find comfort in the arms of a gruff prison warden named Hank (Billy Bob Thornton), whose own son (Heath Ledger) recently died by suicide. What Leticia doesn't know, however, is that Hank oversaw her husband's execution. It's all very complicated, but handled tactfully and with the utmost sensitivity. "Monster's Ball" is a pretty great film.

Berry won the Oscar for Best Actress for playing Leticia at the 2002 Academy Awards ceremony, beating out Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Sissy Spacek, and Renée Zellweger. Her victory was well-deserved.

She...

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The 28 Days Later franchise is returning soon with a third installment, 28 Years Later. Although it's not the first franchise to exhibit the kinetic horror of a fast zombie, it was certainly the most effective portrayal of a fast zombie in Hollywood.

The Latinx House has revealed the two programs launched under its $6 million film and television fund in partnership with Adobe Foundation. The new initiatives are designed to support emerging filmmakers and advance bilingual storytelling and multicultural perspectives through two programs: The Gloria Schoemann Editors Fellowship honoring the late and prolific Mexican film editor, and the Proof of Concept Program, which will provide early investment for “authentic storytelling projects. The organization added: “These initiatives address the quantifiable gaps in Spanish-language and bicultural expertise within entertainment, expanding opportunities for multicultural storytellers while strengthening authentic representation across the industry to meet industry demand.”

The Gloria Schoemann Editors Fellowship will support bilingual editors focused on scripted features. Fellowship mentors include Waldemar Centeno (Gentefied), Joaquin Elizondo (Narcos: Mexico) and Carla Gutiérrez (Frida). The fellowship roster has already been set: Mario Fierro, who has worked as Cardi B’s personal videographer, Maria Gabriela Torres (True Justice:...

"The name's Bond, James Bond... I think." It's no secret that Daniel Craig is tired of talking about his tenure as Britain's most famous fictional spy, but his exhaustion over the franchise has left the actor to forget how many movies he's actually made. Craig first got his license to kill in Casino Royale, in 2006. Co-starring Judi Dench, Mads Mikkelsen, and Eva Green, Marc Forster's James Bond reboot brought the commonly misogynistic spy into the 21st century. After much deliberation about retirement, Daniel Craig gave his final performance as Bond in the ironically named No Time to Die in 2021. Just don't ask him how many films he's made in the years between.

Speaking to Variety to promote his new film Queer with Drew Starkey, the pair played a game of how well you know your co-star. When Starkey was asked how many James Bond movies Daniel Craig has made,...

Daniel Craig is an even tougher act to follow as James Bond than Sean Connery was. Craig is the longest-tenured actor to play James Bond, despite only starring in five 007 movies. Craig's first movie was 2006's Casino Royale and his final film as Bond was 2021's No Time To Die. Daniel Craig's run as James Bond grossed a combined $3,958,969,397 at the worldwide box office, with 2012's Skyfall ranking as the highest-grossing Bond movie ever with $1.1-billion worldwide. By every measure, Daniel Craig was an incredible success as James Bond.

One of the reasons Daniel Craig was unique among his fellow James Bond actors is his 007 exists in a rebooted universe. Every previous James Bond movie prior to Casino Royale - from 1962's Dr. No starring Sean Connery to 2002's Die Another Day starring Pierce Brosnan - posited that it was the same James Bond who had all of those adventures.

Tom Hanks is known as Hollywood’s Dad due to his penchant for choosing good-guy roles in films. From Saving Private Ryan to Sully, the actor has rarely played characters that are grey or completely villainous. So, it was only natural that he got to play the ‘grumpiest man in the world’ in the American remake of the Swedish film A Man Called Ove.

Remade as A Man Called Otto, the film was an adaptation of Fredrik Backman’s novel and starred Hanks as the eponymous Otto. The film saw a lonely widower having to deal with a new family that moves into his neighborhood and how he connects with them. Hanks revealed why he felt that the story needed to be said for an American audience.

Tom Hanks Revealed Why He Remade A Swedish Film As A Man Called Otto Tom Hanks in A Man Called Otto | Credits: Sony Pictures...

Exclusive: Paul W.S. Anderson will write and direct The House of the Dead, an action-packed feature based on the legacy Sega franchise.

Anderson will produce alongside his partner Jeremy Bolt, Sega’s Toru Nakahara will produce along with Story Kitchen’s Dmitri M. Johnson, Mike Goldberg and Dan Jevons. Timothy I. Stevenson will be executive producer.

Anderson and Bolt have brought several game franchises to the screen successfully, including Mortal Kombat, the Resident Evil franchise, and most recently Monster Hunter.

The House of the Dead debuted in 1996 as an “on-rails shooter” game, fast-paced action/horror with a groundbreaking zombie premise. That included the innovation of giving its undead villains the ability to run, something that inspired films from Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake and Marc Forster-directed World War Z. It was The House of the Dead that first evolved the flesh-eaters from the lumbering stumblers that...

White Bird, a follow-up to 2017's Wonder, has set a digital release date. Directed by Marc Forster, the film expands the Wonder universe, which grossed $315 million globally. While Wonder focused on Auggie Pullman's challenges with Treacher Collins syndrome in a middle school setting, White Bird shifts to a historical narrative centered on Auggie's bully, Julian (played by Bryce Gheisar), who visits his grandmother (Helen Mirren) in France following his expulsion from school and learns of her survival story during the Nazi occupation of France in World War II.

After a limited theatrical run earlier this month, the digital release on VOD offers White Bird a renewed opportunity to connect with home audiences. According to Collider, the movie will be available at home starting on November 1. Viewers will be able to either rent or buy the movie, which is based on the novel by Wonder author R.J. Palacio.

Did you know?...

“I don’t know the last time I watched so many films! And they’re all amazing, all so daring, so courageous!”

You can hear the excitement in Lee Daniels’ voice. He’s running between screenings in a movie marathon at the Zurich Film Festival, where the Oscar-nominated director of Precious, and co-creator of TV’s Empire, is president of this year’s competition jury.

“I’d forgotten what this is like,” says Daniels, referring to the international art house cinema scene. “It’s a real return to my roots for me.”

Daniels started his film career in the indie world, as a producer on Marc Forster’s Monster’s Ball. The powerful, disturbing look at the American prison system and the poisonous legacy of institutional racism is told through the unlikely romance between a white prison guard (Billy Bob Thornton) and the Black widow of a man he executed (Halle Berry...

White Bird has earned a solid Rotten Tomatoes score. The movie is both a sequel and prequel to 2017's Wonder, which starred Julia Roberts and was adapted from the R. J. Palacio novel of the same name and grossed $315 million against its $20 million budget. The new movie follows expelled bully Julian learning about his grandmother's (Helen Mirren) youth in France during World War II. The White Bird cast also includes Ariella Glaser, Orlando Schwerdt, Gillian Anderson, Patsy Ferran, Ishai Golan, Jem Matthews, Stuart McQuarrie, Olivia Ross, and Jo Stone-Fewings.

Rotten Tomatoes has now calculated an official Tomatometer score for White Bird. Compiled from 37 different critics' reviews, the movie has earned a solidly Fresh score of 73%. This is just 13 points shy of the original movie, which is Certified Fresh at 86%. This score could fluctuate as more reviews are added, but at the time of writing it is the best score for...

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Filmmaker Marc Forster and producer Rene Wolfe (A Man Called Otto) discuss their new film, White Bird. From the best-selling author of Wonder, the book that sparked a movement to choose kind, comes the inspirational next chapter. In White Bird, we follow Julian (Bryce Gheisar), who has struggled to belong ever since he was expelled from his former school for his treatment of Auggie Pullman. To transform his life, Julians grandmother (Helen Mirren) finally reveals to Julian her own story of courage during her youth in Nazi-occupied France, a boy shelters her from mortal danger. They find first love in a stunning, magical world of their own creation, while the boys mother (Gillian Anderson) risks everything to keep her safe.

From director Marc Forster (Finding Neverland and Christopher Robin), screenwriter Mark Bomback, and based on R.J. Palacios book, White Bird, like Wonder before it,...

Some of the most compelling moments in White Bird, Marc Forster’s mostly slushy adaptation of R.J. Palacio’s graphic novel of the same name, take place during flashbacks to the 1940s. These are the recollections of an aging grandmother trying to teach her grandson lessons about kindness. They’re also stories of survival, and Forster, with Dp Matthias Königswieser, films them in a way that avoids the trappings of sentimentality.

In them, the German-Swiss helmer behind Monster’s Ball, Quantum of Solace and more recently A Man Called Otto reaches for a specificity and a clear-eyed honesty that liberates parts of this young adult film from narrative contrivance. Unfortunately, too much of the rest of Mark Bomback’s screenplay tends toward saccharine manipulation.

White Bird functions as both a prequel and a sequel to Wonder, another Palacio work adapted for the big screen. That story followed Auggie Pullman, a 10-year-old...

It's been over 7 years since Jacob Tremblay's Auggie Pullman reminded his family, classmates, and viewers alike about choosing kindness in the book-to-screen adaptation of Wonder. The character's facial features lead him to be a target in school, with his bully Julian (Bryce Gheisar) getting suspended by the end of the film for his behavior. Although one would think that the expulsion would've resulted in a change of heart for the teenager, White Bird proves otherwise. The next R.J. Palacio bestseller to get the screen treatment functions as a far-removed Wonder spin-off, since it briefly picks up on what happened to Julian after he switches to a new school, shifting focus to a riveting cautionary tale told by his grandmother (Helen Mirren) over tea. Although her experience of surviving the Nazi occupation isn't as distinct from others depicted in war dramas that came before it, Marc Forster's latest directorial...

Helen Mirren as Grandmère in White Bird: A Wonder Story. Photo Credit: Larry Horricks. Courtesy of Lionsgate

Helen Mirren stars as a French Jewish grandmother who survived the Holocaust in the family drama White Bird. Concerned about her grandson Julian (Bryce Gheisar), a boy who is struggling to fit in at his new school after being expelled from his previous one for mistreatment of another student, Grandmere (Mirren) recounts her youthful experiences, a story of her past he has never heard, to teach Julian about the lasting power of kindness. In flashback, the grandmother’s story takes us to WWII France, to her old French village in the woods, where the kindness of a non-Jewish boy saved her life.

Also starring Gillian Anderson, White Bird is a moving, beautifully-shot and sensitively-told family drama from director Marc Forster, who also directed Neverland. The film is essentially a young adult tale, offering a coming-of-age,...

Is everyone ready for an October packed full of sequels? Because that’s exactly what we’re getting this week, with not one, but two new sequels! Read on for Gold Derby’s box office preview.

Warner Bros. delivered the biggest hit of September with “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” and they hope to follow that up with “Joker: Folie à Deux,” the oddly-titled sequel to the 2019 global hit “Joker,” which grossed $1 billion worldwide with $335 million of that coming from North America after a $96.2 million opening. Before “Deadpool and Wolverine” was released this past summer, it was the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time.

Director Todd Phillips returns with Joaquin Phoenix once again playing the role of Arthur Fleck, aka the Joker, for which he won the Oscar in 2020, while Zazie Beetz is also back. The big addition to the cast though is pop superstar Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, her first major...

The 2017 coming-of-age drama Wonder was a major hit when it first released, drawing attention not only to the works of director Stephen Chbosky, but also to R.J. Palacio, who wrote the 2012 novel the film is based on. Palacio also went on to develop a graphic novel spinoff in 2019, titled White Bird: A Wonder Story. Now, a film adaptation of White Bird will be arriving in theaters. Directed by Marc Forster, the movie elevates a somewhat predictable story with strong performances and an emotionally resonant tale.

White Bird

Director Marc ForsterRelease Date August 25, 2023Studio(s) Mandeville Films, Participant, LionsgateDistributor(s) LionsgateWriters Mark BombackCast Ariella Glaser, Orlando Schwerdt, Bryce Gheisar, Helen Mirren, Gillian AndersonRuntime 120 MinutesGenres Drama, Adventure

Picking up after the events of Wonder, the story of White Bird follows former school bully Julian Albans (Bryce Gheisar) who isolates himself at his new school, not wanting to stand out following the previous film.

The World War Z ending went through some major changes before the film was released with a dramatically different conclusion originally planned for the zombie blockbuster. Starring Brad Pitt and released in 2013 amid the zombie craze in Hollywood, World War Z seemed destined for success until reports of major reshoots surfaced. Nevertheless, when audiences and critics alike saw World War Z, most were somewhat surprised to see that the end result was a decent big-budget zombie movie that proved to be a solid box office hit.

Indeed, despite director Marc Forster and the crew scrapping the original World War Z ending, the movie remains an exciting and entertaining entry both in Brad Pitt's filmography and in the zombie horror sub-genre. However, the movie was also vastly different from the book it was based on from author Max Brooks and it seems as though the movie had a difficult time adapting...

Set in wartime France, White Bird is the moving tale of Sara, a young girl hiding from Nazi occupiers, and Julian, the classmate who protects her. Adapted from R.J. Palacio’s acclaimed graphic novel, director Marc Forster crafts a story that shines light on humanity’s resilience in even our darkest of times.

Much like Palacio’s earlier work Wonder, which explored a boy learning to accept himself despite bullying, White Bird finds the power in treating others with compassion. This time the setting is German-occupied Alsace in 1942, where Jewish teenager Sara must go into hiding after Nazis raid her town. When her friend Julian offers shelter in his family’s barn, an unlikely bond forms that helps Sara and Julian endure the months-long ordeal.

Forster skillfully brings this nuanced story to cinematic life. Newcomers Ariella Glaser and Orlando Schwerdt anchor the film with moving portrayals of Sara and Julian,...

In 2019, “Joker” became an improbable box office smash and cultural juggernaut.

Sure, the R-rated crime drama was based on the ubiquitous Batman villain. But this take on the Clown Prince of Crime was darker and more disturbing than your average comic book adaptation — more akin to Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” than the DC anti-hero adventure “The Suicide Squad.”

Directed by Todd Phillips and starring Joaquin Phoenix, “Joker” beat the odds (and controversy over security concerns) to generate $1.07 billion in worldwide ticket sales against a trim $65 million budget. After the Warner Bros. release became one of the most profitable superhero movies in history and earned 11 Oscar nominations, a sequel was all but destined.

Yet the second film, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which opens in theaters on Friday, may not get the last laugh.

The follow-up, bringing back Phoenix as Arthur Fleck and introducing Lady Gaga as his accomplice Harley Quinn,...

White Bird, the Marc Forster-directed film adaptation of author R. J. Palacio’s sequel/prequel to her worldwide hit book and 2017 movie Wonder, has taken a long and circuitous route to finally getting a North American release. Frustrating as it has been, this is a film that is well worth the wait and perhaps more timely now than ever.

Shot in the Czech Republic in February 2021, White Bird was initially set as a wide release in September 2022, delayed a month to October then taken off Lionsgate’s release schedule entirely before either of those dates came around. It was then scheduled for an August 2023 opening, but last year’s SAG strike meant another delay until it was finally set several months ago for its October 4 release this Friday.

In that time, one of its production companies, Participant, has gone out of business, and another, Mandeville Films, has seen the...

There is a particular scene in White Bird that made me gasp out loud. The scene was not violent; however, watching a teacher insist on chaperoning the Jewish children pulled from her class because they are her responsibility felt like the equivalent of me yelling out during a horror film, “Don’t go in there!”

You cannot argue against how effective White Bird is in terms of engagement. Watching teachers, priests, and neighbors risk, and at times outright sacrifice, themselves to protect Jewish children is compelling, if not heartbreaking. Disturbingly, this has practically become a Hollywood trope.

There are several scenes like the one I described above. Saviors appear on the screen and vanish from sight, never to be seen again. That’s what makes Marc Forster’s White Bird haunting at times—kindness is an enduring theme, but it comes at the cost of one’s life.

Helen Mirren...

The first look at Season 2 of The Sandman teases some of the new players in the show's long-awaited return, including some incredibly powerful Norse Gods. Based on the acclaimed comic book series by controversial writer Neil Gaiman, The Sandman follows Dream of the Endless (Tom Sturridge) as he tries to rebalance The Dreaming and the world after a century-long imprisonment. Standing beside him, and occasionally opposing him, are the other members of the endless; Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), Desire (Mason Alexander Park), Despair (Donna Preston), and three more mysterious siblings. While the endless are the most powerful beings in the universe, they will come face to face with some powerful deities in the upcoming season.

Season 2 of The Sandman will adapt the "Season of Mists" story arc, which sees Lucifer (Gwendoline Christie) abandon hell, handing the keys to Dream. Desperate for power, countless gods and entities lobby for control of Hell.

The scariest zombies in cinema have made their way to streaming, as World War Z is available to stream on Paramount+. Starring Brad Pitt as Gerry Lee, a former Un employee, World War Z follows Lee around the world as he desperately fights to survive the hordes of sprinting zombies, and searches for a cure. Directed by Marc Forster, World War Z also stars Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, Matthew Fox, Fana Mokoena, and Matthew Fox.

World War Z received decent reviews upon its theatrical release in 2013. The action/horror blockbuster boasts a 67% critics score, with a slightly stronger 72% audience rating. As well as being the rare movie where Pitt is put under the spotlight, without any other A-list actors around him, World War Z is renowned for having the most terrifying zombies in all cinema. The zombies in World War Z aren't smart like those found in Land of the Dead,...

Prime Video's Good Omens is headed for its third and final season on the Amazon streamer, but a very personal matter is holding back production. Neil Gaiman, the showrunner, writer, and executive producer of the series, has been accused of sexual assault and abuse by numerous women. Due to those allegations, Amazon has paused pre-production on Season 3, but Gaiman has made an offer that could allow Good Omens to get its final run on the platform.

Good Omens

Per Deadline, Gaiman made an offer to take a step back from the final season of the Prime Video series so that production on Season 3 of Good Omens can resume. While this might sound like an admission of some guilt on Gaiman's part regarding the sexual assault allegations, that is not the case, and he continues to deny all the accusations made against him. This appears to be a move on Gaiman's...