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Copyright issues are something that most people who watch movies don't think about all that often, yet they frequently cast a shadow over studios and filmmakers who wish to make something. In the case of director Oz Perkins' upcoming adaptation of Stephen King's short story "The Monkey," that started with getting the rights to the author's copyrighted tale. Unfortunately for Perkins and Neon, the studio backing this particular movie, the problems didn't stop there.

In a recent conversation with SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar), Perkins, who is coming off of the success of last year's breakout horror hit "Longlegs," revealed that the title character in "The Monkey" had to undergo a change due to a copyright held by Disney. "When I was given the assignment, the producer said, 'Oh, by the way, Disney owns the cymbals, because of [the toy monkey in] 'Toy Story,''" Perkins explained.

It's unclear precisely which producer Perkins was referring to,...

Just a few episodes in, Sakamoto Days has already introduced some fan-favorite characters. Lu Shaotang has become a part of the main trio, along with Sakamoto and Shin. She has been one of the most comic characters in the show.

But what was once introduced as a gag element of the anime is turning out to be a serious problem. Lu’s alcoholism was discovered in one of the early episodes, which is her showdown against Obiguro. But ever since then, it has been progressively getting worse.

Sakamoto Days is ignoring a huge problem regarding Lu Lu’s alcoholism has been a growing issue in Sakamoto Days | Credits: Tms Entertainment

Lu Shaotang is the daughter of a Triad Family, which automatically translates to the fact that she has always been extremely powerful. But just like Sakamoto turns into a skinny form and Shin can read minds, Shaotang also has a weird power-up.

Since the publication of "Carrie" in 1974, Stephen King has knocked out over 60 novels/novellas and penned over 200 short stories. He has overcome severe substance abuse issues and survived one very gnarly car accident. He directed "Maximum Overdrive." He's hit dizzying peaks and deep, dark valleys, but, through it all, he has never lost his sense of wonder, nor his ability to enthrall readers the world over with his words.

King has been around long enough that he's seen several generations of filmmakers adapt his work. Old masters like Brian De Palma, George A. Romero, and Stanley Kubrick have passed the torch to the likes of Andy Muschietti, Mike Flanagan, and Edgar Wright (whose film adaptation of "The Running Man" is due out this November) — and it feels like subsequent generations will keep tending the flame so long as his work doesn't get banned out of existence. There is so much King out there,...

The concept for this upcoming film almost sounds like a throwaway punchline in a comedy — “Controversial acting figure Armie Hammer will attempt to make a comeback…but it will be in an Uwe Boll movie. This movie will be about a vigilante who deals his own brand of justice and it’s titled…The Dark Knight.” However, not only is this movie happening, it’s already well into production in Zagreb, Croatia. Boll stated, “The story of The Dark Knight couldn’t be a more current topic, and I’m excited to bring it to life with this excellent cast.”

You can now get a new look at The Dark Knight as Variety has shared a couple of new images from the production. Additionally, the cast has added Costas Mandylor, who is a regular actor in the Saw franchise. The Dark Knight is based on an original script by Boll,...

Filmmaker Uwe Boll is back with a new action-packed vigilante thriller, ‘The Dark Knight,’ starring Armie Hammer as a man who takes justice into his own hands. The film, currently shooting in Zagreb, Croatia, has also added Costas Mandylor (‘Saw’ franchise) to the cast. Along with this announcement, the production team has released a first-look image from the film, giving fans a glimpse of what’s to come.

In ‘The Dark Knight,’ Hammer plays Sanders, a man who goes rogue and begins hunting down criminals himself. Mandylor takes on the role of Interpol officer Henry, the man tasked with stopping him. This sets up an intense game of cat and mouse, with two strong-willed characters on opposite sides of the law.

Boll is excited about the casting, saying

“We’re very happy to add Costas Mandylor to our cast, who is playing Interpol officer Henry. To see him acting opposite...

Give a piece of your heart this Valentine’s Day with two new Saw enamel pins.

A heart-eyed Billy the puppet asks you to choose between love or death on one design, while the other is a perfect gift for your missing puzzle piece.

Four additional designs commemorating the film’s 20th anniversary — Pumpkin Head, Angry Billy, Reverse Bear Trap, and Pig Mask — are also available.

Measuring approximately 1.5″, each pin costs $14.95 from Lionsgate Shop.

Jigsaw is set to return in Saw XI from director Kevin Greutert. A September 26 release date is set, although rumors suggest it may be delayed.

The post Give Your Valentine a Piece of Your Heart with ‘Saw’ Enamel Pins appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

High Potential fans better buckle up for one wild ride of a season finale. The promo for “Let’s Play” is creepy on another level with a slight Saw-feel from how the clip sets up the episode.

If you haven’t seen the promo yet, I am not exaggerating how chilling it is. And from the looks of things, the killer is gunning for the LAPD in a big way.

There was never a doubt that High Potential wouldn’t pull out all the stops for an epic ending to the show’s freshman season. It looks like Morgan will have to use all the brain power she has rolling around in that noggin of hers.

(Carlos Lopez-Calleja/Disney)

I mean, with a tagline like “Let the mind games begin,” it’s hard not to be creeped out after so many happy endings to every episode of High Potential.

High Potential...

You ever tie someone up and then leave them there? Me either. But it sure makes an interesting inciting incident for a movie. Something much more relatable is the romantic getaway––an important milestone in any new relationship. All that unadulterated time together does wonders to get to know someone, truths unearthed and informing the future of a relationship. Iris (Molly Gordon) and Isaac’s (Logan Lerman) trip kicks off like an AirBnb commercial in Oh, Hi! But what begins as a fun weekend loses its appeal; unfortunately the film follows suit.

On their first trip together, Iris and Isaac enjoy the platonic ideal of a weekend away: duetting Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’ “Islands in the Stream,” reading while drinking big glasses of wine on the porch, and having spontaneous day sex on the couch. The two make a cute pair backed up by Gordon and Lerman’s natural onscreen chemistry.

Losses at Lionsgate shrank during its third quarter, while revenue at the studio behind “Saw” and “The Hunger Games” dipped slightly. The entertainment company cited the box office success of “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” as well as record earnings from licensing its library of movies and shows for the improved fiscal picture. It also noted that it had started to recover from the Hollywood labor strikes of 2023 that brought production to a standstill.

For the three month period ending in December, revenue was roughly flat at $970.5 million, down from the $975.1 million that Lionsgate reported in the year-ago period. Operating income topped out at $35.8 million compared to a loss of $43.5 million in the year-ago quarter. Net losses attributable to Lionsgate shareholders came in at $21.9 million or $0.09 diluted net loss per share. That compared favorably to the loss of $107.4 million that Lionsgate reported a year ago.

The company beat Wall Street estimates,...

Jurassic World Rebirth seeks to revive the franchise by adding elements of fear, a notable quality found in the original Steven Spielberg films. This upcoming installment boasts a star-studded cast made up of newcomers and it also offers a fresh take on the popular action-adventure world filled with dinosaurs.

Jonathan Bailey and Scarlett Johansson in Jurassic World Rebirth / Credits: Universal Pictures

The reboot films starring Chris Pratt were box office successes, but following the critical failure of Jurassic World Dominion, it would be difficult to pick up the momentum again. Three years after its release, Universal Pictures will attempt to pull back the audience with a promise that the standalone sequel will not disappoint this time.

New and exciting details about Jurassic World Rebirth revealed

As we gear up for the summer release of Jurassic World Rebirth, new details have been revealed to increase the excitement of fans. With Scarlett Johansson,...

On Super Bowl Sunday, February 9th, horror fans will have their own halftime show dedicated to the genre. Osgood Perkins, the writer and director of Neon’s upcoming horror film The Monkey, and star Elijah Wood, will join the Dead Meat hosts James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca for the first-ever Horror Halftime Show.

Taking inspiration from John Madden, the late legendary football coach and sports commentator, Dead Meat’s Horror Halftime Show will be the ultimate twisted event for horror fans to celebrate the past year of exceptional horror filmmaking.

Just as Madden would analyze replays, Perkins, Wood, Janisse and Rebecca will review top horror films, kills, and scares complete with slow-motion, frame-by-frame commentary. The inaugural show promises to deliver a bloody good time with the gnarliest horror scenes and plenty of comedy.

Dead Meat’s Horror Halftime Show will air live on Sunday, February 9th on the Dead...

People are loving the new trailer for ‘The Monkey’. The trailer has been banned in a few countries. The new film will be coming out later this month and upon the trailer being released it has gained millions of views across all forms of platforms including TikTok. According to Deadline the trailer racked up more than 43M views in its first 24 hours of dropping online and clicked past 100M in its first 72 hours.

‘The Monkey’, is the first film for Oz Perkins after the success of Longlegs and based on the Stephen King short story. The film follows twin brothers who find a mysterious wind-up monkey. Thereafter a series of outrageous deaths tear their family apart. Twenty-five years later, the monkey begins a new killing spree forcing the estranged brothers to confront the cursed toy.

‘The Monkey’ stars Theo James with Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell and Sarah Levy,...

Horror reboots are all the rage these days. Scream, Scary Movie, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Saw — you name it, there's a decent chance someone's out there with red string and pins figuring out a fiendish way to bring it back. With that being said, the latest addition to the growing reboot canon is New Line Cinema's Final Destination: Bloodlines, the first new entry in what remains the only major franchise that can proudly boast Death itself as its antagonist since Final Destination 5 some 14 years ago. And if the gnarly first trailer for Freaks directors Adam B. Stein & Zach Lipovsky's upcoming movie is anything to go by, then we may be in for the Grim Reaper's gnarliest killing spree yet. If you have any piercings, proceed with caution:

Over the years, the Final Destination franchise has given us a slew of memorable fatalities. Death...

Back during the 2000s, there was a wave of horror movies and thrillers that were known for their big twists. In the wake of buzzy '90s megahits like "Se7en" and "The Sixth Sense," many filmmakers sought to chase the wave of word-of-mouth around constructing a tale that contained a massive plot twist at or near the finale. While third-act plot twists were by no means a new thing — the works of 19th century author O. Henry popularized the technique so much that it bore his name for a while, and Rod Serling and his writers continued that tradition during "The Twilight Zone" — they certainly became enough of a fad that, in my view, there were multiple variations on the last minute twist. There was the expertly constructed twist (as seen in those aforementioned examples along with "Fight Club" and "Saw"), which only served to expand the story you thought you had been following.

The other night, Joel McHale hosted the 52nd Saturn Awards, which are dedicated to honoring the best in sci-fi, fantasy and horror on the screen, big or small. The big winner of the night was Dune: Part Two, which won five awards, including Best Science Fiction Film, where it beat out the likes of Furiosa: A Mad Max Story and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. And while Dune director Denis Villeneuve may have once again been snubbed at the Oscars, he was rightly lauded at the Saturn Awards.

Check out the full list of film awards below:

Best Science Fiction Film: Dune: Part TwoBest Fantasy Film: Beetlejuice, BeetlejuiceBest Horror Film: Alien: RomulusBest Action / Adventure Film: Deadpool & WolverineBest Thriller Film: Strange DarlingBest Animated Film: The Wild RobotBest Independent Film: Late Night With The DevilBest International Film: Godzilla Minus OneBest Film Direction: Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part TwoBest Film Screenwriting: Osgood Perkins,...

The world’s most infamous A.I. companion is back, and this time, she has competition. M3GAN 2.0, the highly anticipated sequel to 2023’s breakout horror hit, has unveiled a new teaser and artwork, setting the stage for an even more chaotic chapter in the saga of artificial intelligence gone rogue. The film is set to hit cinemas on June 27, 2025.

Produced by James Wan and Jason Blum, with returning director Gerard Johnstone at the helm, M3GAN 2.0 expands on the themes of technology and control introduced in the first film. Allison Williams (Get Out) reprises her role as Gemma, the roboticist whose creation spiralled into murder and mayhem. Also returning is Violet McGraw (The Haunting of Hill House), who plays Gemma’s niece Cady, now a rebellious teenager grappling with the fallout from their previous encounter with M3GAN.

Two years after M3GAN’s rampage, Gemma has become a high-profile advocate for A.I. regulation,...

The sci-fi thriller M3GAN (read our review Here, get a copy Here) was such a financial success when it reached theatres in January of last year, it didn’t even take Universal Pictures and production companies Blumhouse and Atomic Monster two weeks to announce that they’d be re-teaming for a sequel. M3GAN 2.0 is set to reach theatres on June 27, 2025, and now we’be gotten our first official teaser, which you can watch embedded above. Recently, Entertainment Weekly unveiled a couple first-look images! You can check them out at the bottom of this article.

Based on a story crafted by producer James Wan, M3GAN was directed by Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) from a screenplay by Akela Cooper (Malignant). Johnstone returned to the helm for the sequel, and Cooper has written the script.

The first film has the following synopsis: She’s more than just a toy. She’s part of the family.

The deal with the Amazon streamer is the latest for the studio, which currently has a deal with Starz.

This week, it’s a match made in heaven for Prime Video and Lionsgate, who have struck a deal to bring the studio’s movies to the streamer beginning with next year’s theatrical slate, including the latest “Hunger Games” installment and more.

Plus, the pitch is prepared and “Paradise” awaits— get your weekend watch recommendations below!

This Week’s Biggest Streaming News:

This Week’s Biggest Streaming News:

What to watch: ‘Paradise’

What to watch: Men’s Six Nations Championship

Lionsgate movies are coming to Prime Video in new deal

Prime Video and Lionsgate have struck a new deal that will allow the streaming service to license the studio’s movies once their theatrical window is over. Prime Video will also be allowed to pick titles from the Lionsgate catalog for its viewers.

Move over, John Kramer — there's a new twisted vigilante in town! And this ain't just any old bloodthirsty kook either: it's Hannibal Lecter himself, Sir Anthony Hopkins. Yes, in David Yarovesky's upcoming single location thriller Locked, Hopkins plays William, a Jigsaw-style cool, calm, and collected killer who traps unsuspecting lout Eddie (Bill Skarsgård) in his luxury SUV when the down-on-his-luck thief tries to steal his car. Thus ensues a battle of wits as William employs all sorts of cruel, car-based torture to punish Eddie while his hostage fights for survival. And you can check out the trailer for the Sam Raimi produced horror thriller, a remake of original 2019 Argentinian effort 4x4 (which itself has been remade once already as 2022 Brazilian flick A Jaula), below:

"I just want to introduce you to a little taste of hell," Hopkins' William — only heard, never seen — tells Eddie in this cheek-clenchingly tense first trailer for Locked.

A new take on the cult horror classic “Audition,” one of the more influential modern horror films in the torture-porn genre, is coming to the screen.

Focus Features is nearing a deal to produce a feature adaptation of “Audition” based on the 1997 horror-thriller novel by Ryū Murakami, which was originally brought to the screen by Japanese master Takashi Miike in 1999 starring Ryo Ishibashi and Eihi Shiina.

Focus will produce the project alongside Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment and Mario Kassar Productions, who have tapped Christian Tafdrup to write and direct the film. Tafdrup is the Danish director behind the original “Speak No Evil,” which was last year adapted into English by Blumhouse and Universal. Tafdrup is co-writing the script with his brother Mads Tafdrup.

“Audition” starts as a domestic drama of a widower who is holding mock auditions in order to find a new wife, only to discover that...

Following the box office success of “Den of Thieves: Pantera,” Lionsgate is moving a third film in the action series starring Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson, Jr. into active development.

Butler and Jackson are expected to return for the threequel, and Lionsgate is in talks with franchise writer-director Christian Gudegast to return to write and direct.

Butler would produce through his G-Base banner alongside partner Alan Siegel, and series producer Tucker Tooley, who brought “Den of Thieves” to Lionsgate from STX, is also set to produce through Tucker Tooley Entertainment, which will also jointly finance the film.

Through three weeks in theaters, “Den of Thieves: Pantera” has grossed $32 million at the domestic box office, standing as Lionsgate’s highest-grossing film in theaters since the start of 2024. The film was released on premium on-demand this past Tuesday.

“Den of Thieves” has joined a collection of franchises at Lionsgate that includes the “John Wick” series,...

Amazon’s Prime Video entered into a multiyear theatrical output agreement with Lionsgate, under which it will get an exclusive streaming window on the studio’s films starting with its 2026 slate after an initial run on Starz.

Under the new deal, Prime Video will have an exclusive early window following Starz’s exclusive first-run window beginning with Lionsgate’s 2026 theatrical releases available to U.S. customers. In addition, Prime Video will have rights to a package of films from the 2025 slate and a “commitment” for licensing library movies and TV.

Last week, Lionsgate announced an extension of its multiyear theatrical output deal with Starz, which will keep exclusive first pay TV and SVOD window rights to the studio’s films. The movies will now appear on Starz “on an accelerated basis closer to their initial theatrical release.” That agreement comes amid the company’s plan to separate Lionsgate into two...

Prime Video has hammered out a multi-year agreement for Lionsgate movies.

As part of the new deal, Prime Video will have an exclusive early window following Starz’s exclusive first-run window beginning with Lionsgate’s 2026 theatrical releases available to U.S. customers, a package of films from the 2025 slate and a commitment for licensing library movies and TV.

The new deal will include top Lionsgate brands and franchises such as the third installment of the Now You See Me franchise, which reunites Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson and Dave Franco, directed by Ruben Fleischer, and the Hunger Games prequel, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, based on Suzanne Collins upcoming novel.

Starting in 2026, Prime Video will also be able to select premium titles from Lionsgate’s catalog, including such premium franchises as John Wick, Twilight, Divergent, Saw and Emmy-winning TV series like Nurse Jackie and Weeds, among others.

Prime Video signed a multi-year agreement with Lionsgate, the companies announced on Wednesday.

As part of the new deal, Prime Video will have an exclusive early window following Starz’s exclusive first-run window beginning with Lionsgate’s 2026 theatrical releases available to U.S. customers, a package of films from the 2025 slate and a commitment for licensing library movies and TV.

The new agreement will include top Lionsgate brands and franchises such as the third installment of the “Now You See Me” franchise, which reunites Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson and Dave Franco, directed by Ruben Fleischer, and the next installment of the blockbuster “Hunger Games” franchise, “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping,” based on the eagerly-anticipated Suzanne Collins novel, among many others.

Starting in 2026, Prime Video will also be able to select premium titles from Lionsgate’s catalog, including the studio’s premium properties and iconic franchises such as “John Wick,...

Lionsgate’s upcoming movies are going to get a big streaming boost very soon. Amazon has struck a multi-year agreement with Lionsgate to make as many as 20 Lionsgate theatrical releases available to U.S. customers on Prime Video each year.

The deal will include Lionsgate’s entire theatrical slate for 2026, a package of films from 2025, and Amazon will also commit to license older Lionsgate library titles for streaming. The movies will first land exclusively on Lionsgate’s own Starz streaming platform immediately following its theatrical run, and Prime Video will then have its own exclusive streaming window shortly after that. A specific length for the window was not specified.

The 2026 Lionsgate slate includes “Now You See Me 3” and the next “Hunger Games” movie “Sunrise on the Reaping,” which is coming out November 20, 2026. Each of those titles will, through this agreement, be available for streaming only on Prime Video. In...

Prime Video has signed a multiyear theatrical movie agreement with Lionsgate.

As part of the new deal, Prime Video will secure an exclusive window after Starz’s earlier first-run window. The agreement will kick off with Lionsgate’s 2026 theatrical release slate, a package of films from the studio’s 2025 slate and a commitment to Prime Video for licensing library movies and TV.

The major streamer will combine the Lionsgate movie and TV titles with those from Amazon MGM Studios and its other Hollywood partners. As part of the deal unveiled Wednesday, Prime Video will land Lionsgate movie titles like the third installment of the Now You See Me franchise and the next installment of the Hunger Games franchise, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.

And from 2026, Prime Video will be able to cherry pick premium titles from Lionsgate’s catalog like the John Wick, Twilight, Divergent and Saw franchises...

The newly relaunched Anchor Bay Entertainment will be releasing the new documentary Dinner with Leatherface, which looks at the life, legacy, and career of the late horror icon Gunnar Hansen. It’s headed to Digital and physical media on February 25, 2025.

Courtesy of Arrow in the Head, slice into the Dinner with Leatherface official trailer below.

You can pre-order your Blu-ray copy through Amazon now.

Late horror legend Gunnar Hansen is best known for his portrayal of the terrifying, chainsaw-wielding Leatherface in the classic horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).

Directed by Michael Kallio (Mutant Swinger From Mars, Heart of Dorkness: Behind the Scenes of ‘My Name is Bruce’), the documentary will feature interviews with several of Hansen’s friends and colleagues, including fellow actors Bruce Campbell, Barbara Crampton, Kane Hodder, and Brian O’Halloran. The film will also include many in-depth interviews with his co-stars from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,...

Last weekend, we celebrated 10 years of fears at the 10th annual Tampa Bay Screams horror convention. Our afternoon was spent at the Occ Roadhouse and Museum in Clearwater, Florida. Despite the rainy, chilly, weather the pavilion hosting the dealer’s dungeon, panel stage, and film festival was lively and attendees were in good spirits.

While last year’s convention showed the resilience of the Tampa Bay horror communities in the face of seemingly endless budget cuts, this year radiated a sense of confidence and air of “we aren’t going anywhere.” After the Tampa Bay area was hit with two devastating hurricanes in late 2024, events like this are more important than ever as they bolster relationships and support systems in the arts community.

Seeing the menagerie of subgenres and fans is always a treat at conventions like this. There is just as much enthusiasm for the high-concept, high-budget, classics as...

Exclusive: The first trailer for Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey is quite the success, with a current running viewership across all platforms including TikTok of 109 million. The Neon movie opens February 21.

The movie, the first for Perkins after the success of Longlegs and based on the Stephen King short story, racked up more than 43M views in its first 24 hours of dropping online and clicked past 100M in its first 72 hours, arguably a record for a non-mpa studio independent horror movie. The figures come from WaveMetrix.

We reported back in September that among those horror films sans TikTok views, 28 Years Later was the second most watched at 60.2M behind It Chapter Two (96M views, $91M opening). 28 Years Later racked up well north of 146M global views.

Among other horror trailers that count TikTok views, The Monkey beats such pics as Smile which netted 100M views ($22.6M opening); The Black Phone at...

The long awaited prequel, not sequel, to Doom: Eternal and the 2016 reboot of the classic shooter franchise Doom has finally been given a new release date. We've known the game would come out in 2025 for some time now, but exactly when it would release has been unknown until now.

Doom: The Dark Ages officially releases May 15th. Mark your calendars for the return of the Doomslayer.

Tons of new details and more information on new ones was revealed as part of Xbox's Developer Direct livestream. Gameplay changes have been shown including movement, melee, guns, more of the cybernetic dragon, and the massive Pacific Rim style mech the Doomslayer can use to fight huge demons. Hell yeah.

You can watch the new gameplay trailer here.

The two biggest changes the developers described were the changes to movement and the melee weapons. Movement in Doom: The Dark Ages is much more in...

Here’s All We Know About Stephen King’s The Monkey So Far (Photo Credit – YouTube)

Stephen King is among the most acclaimed horror writers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and his works have been adapted into film and television many times. His short story, The Monkey, was one of the most recent stories to be announced for a film adaptation in 2025. The movie is being produced by James Wan and directed by Osgood Perkins (Longlegs).

The original horror story was published in 1980, during the early days of Stephen King’s career. During that time, he made freelance submissions to Gallery, an erotic magazine founded by Ronald L. Fenton. Alongside Stephen King’s stories, the magazine also published the works of Isaac Asimov and L. Flecther Prouty. The Monkey was subsequently republished in King’s short story collection Skeleton Crew, where it can still be purchased as of writing.

There have been a lot of movies and TV shows based on the works of author Stephen King, but there are also still a good number of King stories that have slipped through the cracks and never received an adaptation. For example, the short story The Monkey has been around for over forty years, but it’s only just now getting the big screen treatment, with Neon planning to give a film based on The Monkey a theatrical release on February 21, 2025. With that date just a few months away, we figured this would be a good time for us to put together a list of Everything We Know About The Monkey.

Story

King’s short story was first published in 1980, in the pages of the adult magazine Gallery, giving subscribers something to read amidst the pictures of nude women. The story was later revised and included in King’s 1985 short story collection Skeleton Crew.

2025 might be the year of horror — whether a video game franchise adaptation, a horror movie starring Cillian Murphy, or a vampire period piece, the 2025 horror movie lineup has something for all tastes. Although 2024's horror movie releases brought many great scares with works by M. Night Shamalayan, Ti West, and Tim Burton, next year promises to be one of a kind. With the return of popular horror writers and directors, among them Insidious and Saw creator Leigh Whannell, fans of the genre will have a chance to explore some terrifying stories every month.

2025 comes hot with the continuation of Renny Harlin's The Strangers trilogy, a Stephen King adaptation by Longlegs' director, the revival of the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise, as well as many new titles that offer a twist to their genre and promise a thrilling theatrical experience. Not only that, but next year brings seven Blumhouse productions,...

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Taylor Sheridan has made himself into one of the most important people in Hollywood. As the creator of "Yellowstone," in addition to being pretty much that show's sole writer, he has managed to craft a full-on TV empire that extends beyond his hit Western. There are spin-offs, as well as other hit shows like "Tulsa King," "Lioness," and "Landman," all stemming from Sheridan's mind. Yet, the filmmaker had relatively humble beginnings behind the camera -- his feature directorial debut is a horror movie that one would be forgiven for not being aware of.

The movie in question is called "Vile" and was released in 2012. It's an ultra-low-budget, not at all highly regarded movie in the, for lack of a better term, "torture porn" sub-genre that became popular in the early 2000s, in no small part thanks to the success of the "Saw" franchise.

The killer AI-powered doll movie M3GAN (which gets its name from the fact that the doll is a Model 3 Generative Android) reached theatres back on January 6, 2023 – but months before the movie was even released, we were hearing that Universal Pictures was so pleased with it, sequel discussions were already underway. And less than two weeks after M3GAN made its way out into the world, Universal officially announced that we’ll be getting M3GAN 2.0 in 2025. The release date has changed a couple of times since then, moving from January 17 to May 16 to June 25, but the project has made its way through production and looks likely to stick with that June release date. In anticipation of the killer doll’s return, we have now put together a list of Everything We Know About M3GAN 2.0.

Creative Team

The story for the original M3GAN originated from producer James Wan, with Wan’s...

Heading into the long weekend, Universal’s “Wolf Man” reboot was projected to climb to No. 1 on domestic box office charts. Yet Sony’s “One of Them Days,” an R-rated buddy comedy starring Keke Palmer and Sza, may have the last laugh.

“One of Them Days” opened at No. 2 on the higher end of expectations with $11.6 million from 2,675 North American venues over the weekend and an estimated $14 million through the extended Martin Luther King Jr. holiday frame. Against a trim $14 million budget, the well-reviewed funny film is shaping up to be a major commercial win for Sony. Meanwhile “Wolf Man” debuted below forecasts, in third place with $10.5 million from 3,354 theaters over the weekend and an estimated $12 million through the holiday on Monday. The movie cost just $25 million to produce, which should be a relief to the studio because critics and audiences weren’t fans of the horror remake. “Wolf Man...

Anthony Hopkins made his first public appearance over the weekend since recently losing his home in the Pacific Palisades fire by traveling to Saudi Arabia. The legendary Oscar-winning actor, who is also a composer, hosted a gala concert featuring his pieces played by Britain’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

While in Saudi Arabia, Hopkins also attended the kingdom’s Joy Awards which honors artistic achievements of the Arab world. Also on hand for both lavish events in the Saudi capital of Riyadh was a robust representation of Hollywood stars comprising Matthew McConaughey, Morgan Freeman Cuba Goding Jr. Amanda Seyfried, Kiefer Sutherand, and Christina Aguilera.

The musical gala evening, titled “Life is A Dream,” was held on Friday in Riyadh’s Bakr Al-Sheddi Theater, and featured a selection of Hopkins’ compositions, including “Circus” and “Braken Road” as well as classic arias.

“The theme of this concert is that life is a long farewell to the bitter,...

From creating the “Saw” franchise alongside James Wan to revitalizing the monster-movie genre with his critical and financial hit “The Invisible Man,” Leigh Whannell has been tapping into our fears for over two decades, and his latest star, Julia Garner, believes he’s done it again with “Wolf Man.” Not only that, but that he’s gone further than ever before.

In a recent interview with ScreenRant, Garner shared that Whannell’s “Wolf Man” sources more terror than previous iterations by making the transformation from man to wolf part of the journey. In the film, Garner’s character is forced watch in alarm as her husband (Christopher Abbott) starts to become a beast, both physically and emotionally — like a disease slowly taking hold.

“It’s more scary when it is a slower transition because I still recognized little elements of Chris,” said Garner. “His skin and his hair was changing,...

Though there may have once been plans for a follow-up to the film, Leigh Whannell seems to confirm the sequel to his underrated sci-fi action movie is no longer happening. The Australian filmmaker first rose to stardom thanks to 2004's Saw, a feature-length expansion of his and James Wan's horror short of the same name, with Whannell writing and co-starring in the film. Subsequent years saw Whannell and Wan's creative partnership continue with the first two Saw sequels, the first two Insidious movies and supernatural horror movie Dead Silence.

The past decade has seen Whannell expand his talents by stepping into the director's chair for a variety of movies, beginning with his feature debut on Insidious: Chapter 3. More recently, Whannell found widespread acclaim for his reboot of The Invisible Man, retooling and salvaging its original plans as part of Universal's scrapped Dark Universe franchise. Most recently, the...

Wolf Man director Leigh Whannell just lost a significant Rotten Tomatoes streak. The director began his career with the Saw franchise, having directed the short film Saw 0.5 (2003) before writing Saw (2004). He quickly went on to make a name for himself in Hollywood, serving as a writer for the Insidious movies, before going on to become the director of The Invisible Man (2020). His latest project, Wolf Man, sees him return to another classic horror monster. The werewolf's latest adventure was released on January 17 and endured a worrying opening weekend.

After four positive audience receptions in a row, Whannell suffered a major defeat on Rotten Tomatoes with his latest movie. Wolf Man was given a 58% Popcornmeter score, alongside a 54% Tomatometer score. Both results are enough to earn Rotten designations. It marks his first negative audience score since Insidious: The Last Key in 2018. Check out Whannell's role in each release below:

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When Universal Pictures’ attempt at a Marvel-style “Dark Universe” flopped, Blumhouse stepped in with its own take on classic movie monsters. One of their biggest hits was The Invisible Man, which earned rave reviews and pulled in $144.5 million worldwide on just a $7 million budget.

Director Leigh Whannell, after working on The Invisible Man, shifted his focus to Wolf Man. For years, there’s been talk about a sequel focusing on Elisabeth Moss’s character, the “Invisible Woman.”

Jason Blum and James Wan have hinted that they’re open to continuing the story. However, Whannell recently told The Hollywood Reporter that he’s not interested in directing a sequel.

Whannell explained that crafting an ending is one of the hardest parts of screenwriting, mentioning his admiration for movies like Se7en, which he recently saw in IMAX.

He said he’s proud of how The Invisible Man ended and doesn’t want...

When Universal Pictures' plan for an McU-style "Dark Universe" fell apart, Blumhouse wasted no time putting its own spin on those iconic movie monsters. The Invisible Man was among the first and received rave reviews before grossing $144.5 million worldwide on a mere $7 million budget.

While filmmaker Leigh Whannell has since moved on to Wolf Man, there's been chatter for years about him helming a sequel revolving around Elisabeth Moss' "Invisible Woman."

The movie ended by teasing a vigilante-style follow-up and both Jason Blum and James Wan have left the door open to it becoming a reality in previous interviews.

Unfortunately, Whannell doesn't seem overly interested and closed the door on stepping behind the camera for The Invisible Woman while talking to The Hollywood Reporter (via FearHQ.com).

"An ending is the hardest thing to do in screenwriting. It’s the holy grail of screenwriting, and I revere movies with great endings.

On the heels of his recent reunion with Blumhouse, Leigh Whannell is once again addressing the chances of The Invisible Man 2 happening. The 2020 adaptation of H.G. Wells' classic sci-fi novel, updated for a modern setting and following a woman as she escapes a controlling relationship, only to be tormented by her optics engineer husband and his creation of an invisibility suit, was a critical and commercial hit. The years since have seen on and off talks for an Invisible Man 2 to be made, with Whannell stating in October 2024 he was happy to leave it where it is.

During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter for his and Blumhouse's latest collaboration, Wolf Man, Whannell was asked about his thoughts on continuing his relationship with the studio for The Invisible Man 2. The writer/director began by explaining how crafting a satisfying ending is one of the biggest challenges of filmmaking,...

Before Wolf Man, Leigh Whannell directed The Invisible Man. The horror thriller was a critical and commercial success, grossing $144.5 million on a budget of $7 million and earning rave reviews. That typically spells sequel in any language, but The Invisible Man 2 has yet to materialize. While speaking with THR, Whannell explained why he doesn’t want to develop another Invisible Man movie.

“I can’t imagine gluing more story onto that. Sequels are mostly driven by the economics of Hollywood. ‘We scored, we did well, and let’s do it again. Let’s get them back there.’ And I’ve been a front-row viewer of that,” Whannell said. “I have also written two movies [Saw and Insidious] that have turned into long-running franchises with varying degrees of artistic success. I’m not going to pretend that every movie in the Saw franchise is … That film has become its own beast, and...

Elisabeth Moss starred in the acclaimed horror film The Invisible Man back in 2020 and the film’s director Leigh Whannell is explaining why we won’t ever get a sequel.

The movie was released in February 2020, just as the Covid-19 pandemic was hitting the United States, yet it still grossed $70 million at the domestic box office. The film, which has a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, was a hit on streaming and you can currently watch it on Amazon’s Freevee.

While Elisabeth has previously expressed interest in doing a sequel, Leigh says it won’t happen.

Keep reading to find out more…

“An ending is the hardest thing to do in screenwriting. It’s the holy grail of screenwriting, and I revere movies with great endings. In fact, I just went to the Chinese Theatre and saw Se7en in IMAX. I’ve seen that film so many times, but seeing...

Warning: This article discusses major spoilers for "Wolf Man."

Before Leigh Whannell took his talents to the Universal Monsters franchise for a double dip, the Australian filmmaker first plied his trade as an actor, a writer on the "Saw" and "Insidious" franchises, and (most importantly for our purposes here) a director who first made a name for himself with stylish, low-budget thrillers. His precise career trajectory has hardly been a typical one compared to most, but the broad strokes of working his way up the studio system until reaching his apex — thus far, at least — with "The Invisible Man" and most recently "Wolf Man" (which I reviewed for /Film here) couldn't have been more ideal. It's hard to miss how his latest monster movie feels like a culmination of almost every lesson learned in "The Invisible Man," particularly with its approach to making the title character feel fresh and modern.

The highly anticipated trailer for The Monkey, directed by Osgood Perkins, has been unveiled, offering a tantalising glimpse into the eerie adaptation of Stephen King’s 1980 short story. Starring Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, and Elijah Wood, the film promises a gripping blend of supernatural horror and psychological tension. Fans of King and Perkins alike can mark their calendars for 21 February 2025, when the film hits cinemas across the UK and Ireland.

The Monkey is the latest offering from Perkins, following his success with Longlegs. This time, he teams up with genre powerhouse James Wan, known for his work on The Conjuring and Saw. Together, they bring King’s unsettling tale to the big screen, crafting a story that delves deep into the haunting grip of childhood trauma and the chilling power of cursed relics.

The film follows twin brothers Hal and Bill, played by Theo James, as they reconnect 25 years after...

It’s been an agonizing five-year wait for Leigh Whannell’s follow-up to his near-universally acclaimed The Invisible Man.

The Elisabeth Moss-led sci-fi thriller was the last hit movie before Covid forever altered the entertainment industry and world alike, having grossed nearly $140 million against a $7 million budget. Whannell’s victory lap may have been cut short as the U.S. population retreated inside during his film’s third week of release, but between The Invisible Man and his 2018 cult gem Upgrade, the Australian native officially reinvented himself as a must-see genre specialist, shedding his long-established identity as “one of the Saw guys” and “one half of Wan/Whannell.”

As the pandemic became more and more prolonged, Whannell and his co-writer/wife Corbett Tuck decided to channel their collectively challenging experience into Wolf Man, which is now another modern reimagining of a classic Universal monster à la The Invisible Man.

This article contains mild spoilers for "Wolf Man."

The centerpiece of any werewolf movie is its transformation sequence. Starting with George Waggner's "The Wolf Man" in 1941, witnessing a human being turn into a hairy, wolf-like beast has attracted horror nuts in droves. In "The Wolf Man," Lon Chaney, Jr. sat still in a chair for a static shot of his face. Then the film's brilliant makeup technicians would add a small layer of makeup and hair, and Chaney would be shot again. Several shots were layered together using clever cross-fading, giving the impression that he was transforming. It looks awesome to this day.

1981 was also a banner year for werewolf transformation, as it saw the release of Joe Dante's "The Howling" and John Landis' "An American Werewolf in London." Both of those films made extensive use of makeup, puppetry, models, and rubber creature heads to create some truly terrifying werewolf transformations.

Somebody like Leigh Whannell (screenwriter of Saw and Insidious) knows the power of a franchise. "Sequels are mostly driven by the economics of Hollywood. 'We scored, we did well, and let’s do it again. Let's get them back there,'" he observes in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.