Welcome back to the Studio Coffee Run, Friday Edition!
Wait, what? It’s only Tuesday? That being the case, you might be wondering “Why is Ed doing the Tuesday Edition this week? Where is our lovable and cuddly Josh Hilgenberg?”
Don’t worry. Josh will be back on Friday this week, as we’re doing a little bit of Trading Place … or Freaky Friday”-ing it if you prefer.
In Case You Missed It…
The 47th Annie animation award nominations were announced…
I was probably most surprised that Laika’s Missing Link got so many nominations, but that’s because it seemed like the stop-motion animation studios’ weaker offerings. You can read the entire nominations at the link above.
Not a lot has been going on since the Studio Coffee Run last Tuesday. You may have heard, but it’s been Thanksgiving, so this will probably be a shorter column than usual. Even so, this should be a busy week for trailers, and U.A. Releasing has already put out a teaser for the first trailer for next year’s James Bond movie, No Time to Die, which you can watch below:
Otherwise, all anyone has been talking about the last couple weeks is Disney+’s The Mandalorianand most of all… Baby Yoda! Well, Disney unleashed some of its first merch last week and it was fairly underwhelming, but if your birthday is coming up, you might want to ask for one of these cakes… adorable, cuddly, and probably delicious to eat as well! (Warning: The above video, especially the end, is not for the faint of heart or mind.)
Oh, also, this…
https://twitter.com/boredpanda/status/1201617809903640578
More Universal monster movies underway…
We’ve already heard word about a number of Universal planned monster-related movies like Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man (out next year!), Dexter Fletcher’s Renfield and Paul Feig’s Dark Army, but there’s other unrelated monster movies underway, and not all of them for Universal either!
Fresh off Charlie’s Angels, what’s going to be seen as one of the year’s biggest bombs, actor/filmmaker Elizabeth Banks is recovering by being attached to star and direct a movie called The Invisible Woman, written by Erin Cressida Wilson (Secretary) based on Banks’ concept. The thing is that this one is being made for Universal Pictures but will not have anything to do with Whannell’s film. I’m definitely curious to see what Banks does with this one. Even though I wasn’t a big fan of Charlie’s Angels, it proves she has some chops, and presumably this one will be a comedy and presumably a dark comedy, and I’m glad that Universal is getting behind their Pitch Perfect 2director despite the failure of Charlie’s Angels. I also much prefer a talented creator like Banks failing upwards compared to all the white men who manage to do that. (I won’t name names.)
Apparently, James Wan is also in talks to produce a movie based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Universal is taking pitches from directors, so maybe we’ll see some actual crossover between the Universal monster movies, or some kind of shared universe, which Universal has been trying but failing to achieve for years now. This story was actually found by Bloody Disgusting in the above story about Renfield, although apparently it was later removed.It makes sense for Universal to get a Frankenstein movie going, as it’s been quite some time. It also makes sense for Wan and Whannell to be given the key to that kingdom as they’ve already proven their franchise abilities with the likes of the “Saw” and “Insidious” movies. (Oddly, the duo didn’t have much luck with their last horror film for Universal, the highly-underrated Dead Silence.) Obviously, they’ll really need to come up with an interesting premise to sell it to modern audiences since the gothic take made famous by Boris Karloff and later Kenneth Branagh with Robert De Niro probably won’t work. Oh, yeah, there have also been a number of more recent failed attempts like I, Frankenstein (awful) and Fox’s Victor Frankenstein (also pretty bad). Those two movies alone set the benchmark for a good new Frankenstein movie very VERY low…
Two series return for new seasons in January
- A couple series announced release dates for their upcoming seasons including BBC’s Doctor Whowith the second season starring Jodie Whitaker, which will debut on January 1, 2020 i.e. New Year’s Day.
- Meanwhile, Syfy has announced that the 5th season of The Magicians will debut on January 15, 2020 with its own announcement video. To be honest, I haven’t watched any of this show but the fact that it’s lasted five seasons in the current environment of excessive content is pretty impressive.
Atlanta Film Critics strike with first awards announcement
Not everyone has been lounging around eating turkey and cranberry sauce as the Atlanta Film Critics Circle, in which The Beat’s own Entertainment Editing Wonder Twins Kyle Pinion and Hannah Lodge are members, picked their annual awards with many of the current frontrunners in the mix but Bong Joon-ho’s Parasitebeing the clear winner as their #1 movie, as well as getting awards for Director Bong’s direction and screenplay. Adam Driver was awarded for Marriage Story, Renée Zellwegger received her first award for her performance as Judy Garland in Judy, while Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood) and Laura Dern (Marriage Story) received supporting actor nods.
Here is the group’s Top 10 films, which really isn’t a bad list at all…
- PARASITE
- THE IRISHMAN
3. MARRIAGE STORY
4. ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD
5. 1917
6. LITTLE WOMEN
7. UNCUT GEMS
8. KNIVES OUT
9. PAIN AND GLORY
10. APOLLO 11
Casting Tidbits…
Oddly, since I’m a big fan of the character, I haven’t been paying much attention to Marvel’s Helstrom Hulu series, except for the recent news about Jeph Loeb being out as head of Marvel Television last month. Still Hulu and ABC are going ahead with the series and a couple announcements about casting, including David Meunier from Justified in a recurring role as Finn Miller, part of a secret organization that “handles work not for the faint of heart.”
Also, X-Men’s original Colossus Daniel Cudmore from X2 and a few subsequent Bryan Singer movies (but not the Deadpool movies) has been cast in the role of Keith Spivey, a nurse at St. Theresa’s where Daimon and Ana Helstrom’s mother Victoria (a serial killer) has been institutionalized for twenty years. Tom Austen and Sydney Lemmon play the title roles on the show, which feels like so much of a Hail Mary pass for Marvel Television before the inevitable Disney+ series begin. (Speaking of X-Men and Disney+, apparently Australian subscribers will be getting all of the X-Men movies before X-Mas. I wonder when we might see them in the U.S.)
Director Robert Schwentke has found an actor to play Commando’s father in his G.I. Joe spin-off Snake-Eyes in the form Steven Allerick, who just wrapped up a guest stint on Amazon’s series The Expanseafter appearing on ABC’s The Fix. Deadline has the story that Allerick will be joining Henry Golding (in the title role), Samara Weaving, Ursula Corbero and Andrew Koji as Snake-Eyes’ fraternal arch-enemy Storm Shadow.
Trailers! Trailers! Trailers!
There will be a LOT of trailers release this week and next because everyone is going to be scrambling to get attached to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in a couple weeks, since that will, without a doubt, be one of the biggest movies of the year.
- Because of this, it’s been a fairly empty barrel for new trailers, although I was excited to see an international trailer for the Aussie Western True History of the Kelly Gang, starring Charlie Hunnam, Nicholas Hoult and George MacKay from Sam Mendes’ excellent 1917. It’s directed by Justin Kurzel, who somehow managed to botch up an Assassin’s Creed movie, even with Michael Fassbender in the lead. Hopefully this is more Kurzel’s speed.
- Since it’s now December, we’re about to hit January, a month notorious for movies being dumped by their respective studios. I hope that isn’t the case with Todd Robinson’s The Last Full Measure, starring Sebastian Stan, Ed Harris, Samuel L. Jacksonand others, because I know Robinson has been trying to get this movie made for over a decade. (Robinson directed a great gangster movie called Lonely Hearts, starring John Travolta, the late James Gandolfini and Jared Leto that was sadly overlooked back in 2006.) Roadside Attractions released a trailer last week, so I know this is now a real thing, and hopefully it will be one of the better January releases.
- Lastly, we have the trailer for Ip Man 4, which is being released by Wells GO USA on Christmas Day. The franchise has been somewhat spotty but Donnie Yen is always great in them and the martial arts action is always terrific.
That’s it for me, but come back here on Friday when The Beat’s unofficial Junior Entertainment Writer, Josh Hilgenberg, will cheer you up as I wade hip deep into awards season with my own awards groups.
