The two stars, known for their roles in Lionsgate‘s original Hunger Games films, will appear in the forthcoming prequel movie The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Lionsgate releases the new feature in theaters Nov. 20, 2026.
Lawrence will reprise her role as Katniss Everdeen, while Hutcherson will return as Peeta Mellark, with the pair likely appearing in a flash-forward. No details have been disclosed.
The book Sunrise on the Reaping takes place in Panem on the morning of the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games, 24 years before the events in The Hunger Games, the first novel that published in 2008. The franchise’s first five movies have surpassed $3.3 billion at the worldwide box office, with the initial four films led by Lawrence as Katniss, Hutcherson as Peeta, and Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne. The film series kicked off with 2012’s The Hunger Games.
Lawrence and Hutcherson’s most recent entry in the franchise was 2015’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2, which ended with the pair married with children. Lawrence earned a Golden Globe Award nomination this week for her role in Die My Love, while Hutcherson currently stars in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.
Francis Lawrence helms the new movie from a script by Billy Ray that adapts Collins’ book. Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson produce for Color Force, while Cameron MacConomy executive produces.
Sunrise on the Reaping is a sequel to 2023’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, which starred Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth and Hunter Schafer.
Lionsgate did not respond for comment.
The InSneiderwas first to report on Lawrence and Hutcherson being involved.
Earlier this week, Lionsgate released the first trailer for Sunrise on the Reaping, the next Hunger Games prequel after 2023’s Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. In a year of big trailers, this was a pretty big one for the studio, and it’s got the numbers to prove it.
Deadline reports that within its first day, racked up 109 million views. Compared to trailers for other big movies this year—like Fantastic Four or Toy Story 5—it’s well behind those, but for Lionsgate, it was the second-biggest trailer launch in the studio’s 27-year history. The first-biggest is Michael, which dropped earlier in November and made it to 116 million in the same 24-hour period.
Based on the Suzanne Collins novel that released earlier in 2025, Sunrise on the Reaping stars Joseph Zada as the young version of Haymitch Abernathy, a winner of the titular bloodsport who eventually grows up to mentor Katniss Everdeen in the main movies. The big novelty of this year’s Hunger Games are that each district has to offer up fourchild tributes instead of two, resulting in even more bloodshed than usual and Haymitch has to watch more of his friends die. Lionsgate snapped up the book’s movie rights before it was even out and released the trailer a full year before it actually hits theaters, declaring Sunrise its big event movie of the holiday season.
Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping comes out November 20, 2026, and you can see said trailer on the big screen ahead of Wicked: For Good.
Lionsgate released the first official teaser trailer for the forthcoming Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, on Thursday. And after its initial 24 hours, the views racked up to 116.2 million globally, according to WaveMetrix, making it the most-viewed trailer for any music biopic in history and now holding the title for Lionsgate as the studio’s largest trailer debut.
Jaafar Jackson, nephew of the late Michael Jackson, stars as the King of Pop. In the first footage, Jaafar is seen recreating the musician’s iconic dance moves, such as the moonwalk, and it also teases a clip of the “Thriller” music video. The trailer will play in theaters starting next week.
Additional castmembers include Miles Teller as attorney John Branca, Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson, Kat Graham as Diana Ross, Nia Long as Katherine Jackson, Laura Harrier as Suzanne de Passe, Kendrick Sampson as Quincy Jones and Juliano Krue Valdi as a young Michael.
Here is the official synopsis: “The film tells the story of Michael Jackson’s life beyond the music, tracing his journey from the discovery of his extraordinary talent as the lead of the Jackson Five, to the visionary artist whose creative ambition fueled a relentless pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world. Highlighting both his life off-stage and some of the most iconic performances from his early solo career, the film gives audiences a front-row seat to Michael Jackson as never before. This is where his story begins.”
Antoine Fuqua directs the feature with a script by John Logan. Meanwhile, Graham King, John Branca and John McClain serve as producers. Michael hits theaters April 24, 2026.
The 1990 supernatural thriller Jacob’s Ladder is getting new life, in the form of a brand new 4K SteelBook courtesy of Lionsgate.
When does the Jacob’s Ladder 4K SteelBook come out?
The Jacob’s Ladder 4K SteelBook is set to release on October 14, 2025, and will present the film in 4K for the first time in its history. The new release will also feature the never-before-seen Lionsgate Limited Extra “The Rungs of Jacob’s Ladder,” and will also feature the film’s original legacy special features that it launched with on previous physical versions.
Originally released in 1990, Jacob’s Ladder follows the story of Jacob Singer, an American infantryman who suffers from strange hallucinations following his time in Vietnam. The movie was directed by Adrian Lyne, and starred Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, and Danny Aiello. The film didn’t premiere to much praise, but has since become a cult classic and influence on other horror films due to its special effects and dreamlike sequences. A remake was released in 2019.
The complete list of special features coming to the Jacob’s Ladder 4K SteelBook, as well as a look at its packaging art, can be seen below:
The Rungs Of…Jacob’s Ladder (RT 27 min)
Audio Commentary with Director Adrian Lyne
Audio Commentary by film historian and host of The Projection Booth Mike White
“Making of” Featurette
Building Jacob’s Ladder
Prepare the Way: Interview with Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin
Where is the Ladder? The Locations of Jacob’s Ladder
Hidden in Plain Sight: Spirituality in Jacob’s Ladder
Something’s Wrong With My Head: Vietnam War Trauma and Jacob’s Ladder
Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Director Adrian Lyne
Trailer Gallery (Theatrical Trailers and Teaser Trailers)
Earlier this year, Michael Burns, the vice-chairman of movie studio Lionsgate, made a bold claim. According to Vulture, he said that through a partnership with generative AI company Runway AI, the company that is home to franchises like John Wick and The Hunger Games could repackage one of its signature series as an anime, generated entirely by AI in a matter of hours, and resell it as a new movie.
That notably has not happened. According to a report from The Wrap, it’s because the partnership, announced last year as a “first-of-its-kind” deal between a movie studio and a generative AI company, has not gone according to plan. The plan has allegedly hit snags related to the size of Lionsgate’s catalog, the limitations of Runway’s model, and copyright and licensing concerns.
The deal made between the companies last year saw Lionsgate give Runway AI access to its complete library of films, which Runway would use to create a custom and exclusive model that Lionsgate could use to create AI-generated videos. But, per The Wrap, Lionsgate’s library isn’t enough to create a fully functioning model. In fact, the report claims, Disney’s library wouldn’t be enough for such a task. The reality of building a generative AI model is that it needs a massive amount of data to be able to produce a sufficient and functional output. If the studio wanted to use Runway to create a lighting effect in a film, for instance, it would really only be able to render that effect if it had enough reference points to work with.
That seems to check out, if you think about it. Models with access to massive amounts of data, like Google’s Veo or OpenAI’s Sora, produce videos that contain countless mistakes, glitches, and uncanny valley-like oddities. The possibility of creating a generative model on a much more limited set of training data is going to produce much more limited generative capabilities.
And then there are the legal questions surrounding the potential use of generative AI that comes entirely from Lionsgate’s outputs.
Burns’ pitch of an anime-filtered version of a film? He told Vulture that he’d have to pay the actors and other rights participants to sell it. Who would that include? It’s not entirely clear. Do writers need to get a check? Do directors? What about gaffers for their lighting work? The report indicates that there are a lot of unanswered legal questions that extend beyond the fact that Lionsgate owns the intellectual property that sits in the way of actually releasing an AI-generated film.
“We’re very pleased with our partnership with Runway and our other AI initiatives, which are progressing according to plan,” Peter Wilkes, Chief Communications Officer at Lionsgate, told Gizmodo. “We view AI as an important tool for serving our filmmakers, and we have already successfully applied it to multiple film and television projects to enhance quality, increase efficiency and create exciting new storytelling opportunities. We are also using AI to achieve significant cost savings and greater efficiency in the licensing of our film and television library. AI remains a centerpiece of our efforts to use new technologies to prepare our business for the future.”
Runway did not respond to a request for comment.
There are indicators that Lionsgate is making use of Runway, though possibly not via the planned exclusive model. In that Vulture piece from earlier this year, the company was working on creating an AI-generated trailer for a film that hadn’t been shot yet, with the hope that execs could sell it based on the fabricated scenes. Whether audiences or creatives are served by that process is a different question.
Lionsgate has released a brand new trailer for Good Fortune, its newest comedy from Master of None star Aziz Ansari. Following its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, the movie is now scheduled to arrive in theaters on October 17.
“In the film, a well-meaning but rather inept angel named Gabriel meddles in the lives of a struggling gig worker and a wealthy venture capitalist,” reads the official synopsis.
The video features John Wick star Keanu Reeves as an angel who tries to show Ansari’s Arj that money won’t solve his problems. However, this ultimately fails, leading Reeves’ Angel Gabriel to lose his wings and turn into a human. The trailer highlights how Gabriel must navigate his new life as a human with the help of Seth Rogen‘s Jeff, whose life changes after Gabriel mistakenly switches Arj’s life with Jeff’s. Additional cast includes Keke Palmer as Elena, Sandra Oh as Martha, Stephen McKinley Henderson as Azrael, and more.
Good Fortune is written, directed, and produced by Ansari in his feature directorial debut. The movie is produced by Anthony Katagas and Alan Yang, with Aniz Adam Ansari, Jonathan McCoy, Christopher Woodrow, and Connor DiGregorio serving as executive producers. The creative team also includes director of photography Adam Newport-Berra and composer Carter Burwell. It is a production by Lionsgate.
Fans are eager to learn about The Long Walk’s digital and streaming release dates. Directed by Francis Lawrence, The Long Walk is based on Stephen King’s book of the same name. The movie hit theaters on September 12, 2025. But for those who want to rent, buy, or stream it, here are all the currently available details on when it can be watched from home.
When will The Long Walk get its digital release date?
Based on Lionsgate’s previous digital releases, the movie could be available on premium video on demand (PVOD) three to four weeks after its theatrical release. This means the movie may be available to rent somewhere between early and mid-October.
This pattern would fall in line with the digital release dates of Lionsgate’s other big 2025 movies, Flight Risk and From the World of John Wick: Ballerina. Both films had their digital releases within three weeks of their theatrical releases. However, the digital release date for The Long Walk may vary based on its performance in theaters.
Here’s when The Long Walk could be released on streaming
Lionsgate releases its movies for streaming anywhere between three and four months after their theatrical release dates. This puts the streaming release date window for The Long Walk between late December 2025 and early January 2026.
The movie is likely to stream on STARZ, which has an exclusive deal with Lionsgate for streaming their films. While The Long Walk may not be limited to STARZ, it is certainly set to hit the streaming service first before arriving on any other platforms. Both Flight Risk and World of John Wick: Ballerina took over four months to be available for streaming.
The story of The Long Walk takes place in a dystopian future where a group of teenage boys takes part in an annual stamina event called The Long Walk. The contestants must walk at a minimum speed of 4 miles per hour without stopping, and if they do, they’ll be shot dead. The last one remaining will be awarded “The Prize.”
The film stars Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, and Tut Nyuot, among many others, with Mark Hamill as The Major.
You may not know it, but we’re a few weeks out from The Strangers: Chapter 2. To help drum up interest for the film, Lionsgate’s put out a clip from the first few minutes of the film, which picks up where 2024’s Chapter 1concluded.
Last we left off, Maya (Madelaine Petsch) survived the attack from the titular Strangers that left her boyfriend Ryan dead, and she ended the film recuperating in the hospital. But before she can worry about her health bill, she realizes that she’s not as free of the masked murderers as she thought, leading to her scrambling to avoid them any way she can, including hiding out in the morgue.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Petsch teased this next chapter in the The Strangers saga would offer more insight into the town of Venus, Oregon. The events of the sequel will span “almost the entirety” of the town, the actor said, and zero in on about 15 townspeople to understand how Venus got like this. Two particular characters of interest are Gregory (Gabriel Basso), Maya’s fellow roommate in the hospital, and Danica (Brooke Lena Johnson), the hospital nurse tending to them both.
Petsch called the value in the Strangers franchise its lead killers being “just real people who want to kill you” and said they’d also get some fleshing out during Chapter 2. What that entails, Lionsgate is keeping close to the vest, but what Maya goes through will take a toll on her “mentally, emotionally, and physically. We help the audience see that by showing a lot of her point of view and her questioning reality because she’s so exhausted…she’s starting to lose her grip on reality.”
This is a “character-driven horror” film, said Petsch, who also teased the already-made Chapter 3 could “turn [Maya] into a killer. When all three come out and people watch them, they’ll get that satisfaction they’re looking for.” We’ll see how that turns out when The Strangers: Chapter 2 hits theaters on September 26.
Frank and Jesse was released in United States theaters in 1994. Written and directed by Robert Boris, the movie sees Lowe play the infamous Jesse James, while Paxton stars as his brother, Frank James.
How can you watch Rob Lowe & Bill Paxton’s Western movie for free?
Lionsgate Movies has now shared Frank and Jesse in its entirety for free on YouTube. Check it out below:
A description of the movie’s plot reads, “At the end of the Civil War, Frank and Jesse James and other former guerrillas who rode with Quantrill and Bill Anderson take the oath of allegiance to the Union. Feeling oppressed by Chicago railroad investors, the James and Younger brothers, Bob and Charlie Ford, Clell Miller, and Arch Clements take to robbing banks, trains, and coaches, with Pinkerton sworn to bringing them to justice.”
The cast of the movie further includes Randy Travis as Cole Younger, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson as Annie, Maria Pitillo as Zee, Luke Askew as Lone Loner, Sean Patrick Flanery as Zack Murphy, Alexis Arquette as Charley Ford, Todd Field as Bob Younger, John Pyper-Ferguson as Clell Miller, Nicholas Sadler as Arch Clements, William Atherton as Allan Pinkerton, and Tom Check as Detective Whicher.
Lowe previously called Paxton, who passed away in 2017, his “closest friend in the industry.” He continued, via The Hollywood Reporter, “I can remember a moment when we were making Frank and Jesse, we were sitting on our horses, snow was coming down, Bill’s looking off into the distance, seeming a little melancholy and I said, ‘What’s the matter man, you good?’ and he goes, ‘Yeah buddy, I don’t know. You know I’m gonna be 40. And I just don’t think it’s ever gonna happen for me.’ And within six months, he went on one of the greatest rolls an actor ever had. Twister. Titanic. Apollo 13.”
Peter E. Strauss, a producer behind recent films like The Jacket and Air who served as an executive at Lionsgate, Mandalay Pictures, IMG and Allied Artists, has died. He was 83.
Strauss died on Oct. 6 at his home in Beverly Hills. At his side were his wife of 46 years, Susan, and his son, Jonathan.
Strauss most recently served as executive vice president at Mandalay for 25 years. He well-known for his work in expanding independent cinema, pioneering foreign sales and off-balance-sheet financing for independent films.
Prior to Mandalay, Strauss worked as president of Lionsgate Entertainment, which he helped establish with founder Frank Giustra in 1997. He also oversaw the production of over 30 films, including Phil Collins’ Buster, Charlie and Martin Sheen’s Cadence and the Best of the Best series, while president, CEO and chairman of the International Movie Group.
Strauss also worked as executive vice president of Rastar Films, Ray Stark’s production company, in the 1970s, where he helped produce 1979’s The Electric Horseman and 1979’s The Villain. In the 1980s, Strauss founded Panache Productions, and oversaw 1983’s Dance of the Dwarfs and 1986 Thunder Run.
Strauss began his career at Allied Artists, where he eventually became the executive vice president and helped produce films such as Cabaret, which won the 1973 Oscar for best picture. He also oversaw 1973’s Papillon and 1975’s The Man Who Would Be King.
Strauss attended Oberlin College, the London School of Economics and Columbia University School of Law. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Strauss is survived by his wife, Susan, his son, Jonathan, daughter-in-law, Elizabeth and grandchildren, Teddy and Caroline.
A private graveside service was held on Oct. 8, and a celebration of his life will be announced at a later date.
Matt is joined by Justine Bateman—writer, director, producer, and SAG-AFTRA negotiation committee consultant on the use of AI—to check in on the latest developments on AI in entertainment. They discuss Lionsgate’s new deal with AI company Runway to make movies and shows more efficiently, Meta’s new deal with celebrities to voice a new AI chatbot, and whether other studios will follow suit (02:24). Matt finishes the show with two opening weekend box office predictions for Megalopolis and the animated film The Wild Robot (26:03).
For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, What I’m Hearing …, click here.
Mark Zuckerberg really doesn’t want to have answer some hard questions about Meta‘s Artificial Intelligence push and goals However, a federal judge this week has told the Facebook founder that is exactly what he has to do.
“Plaintiffs have made an evidentiary showing that Zuckerberg is the chief decision maker and policy setter for Meta’s Generative AI branch and the development of the large language models at issue in this action,” U.S. District Judge Thomas Hixson noted on September 24 in the potential class action initially filed by authors Sarah Silverman, Richard Kadrey, and Christopher Goldenm last year, and now including Ta-Nehisi Coates and others.
Along with a more Imperiled suit against OpenAI, the writers have took Meta to court in mid-2023 over copyright infringement concerns that their work and books have been illegally downloaded and used to train the company’s large language model AI software.
Bedwetter scribe Silverman and National Book Award winner Coates, along with other plaintiffs allege that “much of the material in Meta’s training dataset, however, comes from copyrighted works —including books written by Plaintiffs—that were copied by Meta without consent, without credit, and without compensation.”
With some legal wiggle room here and there, Meta denies they accessed the author’s work for their LLaMA system. Meta’s army of attorneys have also been trying to push the line that there are loads of other people at the tech giant better qualified than Zuckerberg to be questioned by David Boises and other lawyers for the plaintiffs.
It didn’t fly.
“Plaintiffs do not generically argue, as Meta suggests, that because Zuckerberg is the CEO of the company that he is therefore in charge of everything,” the judge noted in his order denying Meta’s motion to keep the CEO from having to face Silverman and others lawyers’ inquiries. “Rather, they have submitted evidence of his specific involvement in the company’s AI initiatives. They have submitted evidence indicating Zuckerberg was the principal decision maker concerning Meta’s decision to open source the language model. They have also submitted evidence of Zuckerberg’s direct supervision of Meta’s AI products.”
Judge Hixon also stated: “Given this factual showing, the Court is not going to require Plaintiffs to exhaust other forms of discovery before they depose Zuckerberg. They’ve made a solid case that this deposition is worth taking.”
Never a big fan of being put in front of a microphone, Zuckerberg’s depo has yet to have a time and date scheduled. With that, a hearing on discovery in the case just wrapped up earlier this afternoon in San San Francisco that could see the deposition occurring sooner rather than later.
By then, everything AI could be different, again.
Coming up on two years since ChatGPT brought AI to the masses, so to speak, the technology is quickly moving more and more to the fore on almost all aspects of society and industry.
The results are mixed, depending on your perspective.
On the one hand, for instance, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation earlier this month to partially protect the likeness of actors and performers, living and deal. At almost the same time, Lionsgate and applied AI research company Runway unveiled a partnership on September 18 to develop AI customized to the studio’s proprietary portfolio of film and television content like John Wick.
With a bit of a nose thumbing to the court and nudge towards the seemingly inevitable future, Zuckerberg was on stage today in Menlo Park, California at the company’s Meta Connects conference to speak on all things AI. A part of the roll-out and announcements was the news that Meta’s AI chatbot will now communicate in the voices of Awkwafina, Dame Judi Dench, Kristin Bell, John Cena, or Keegan-Michael Key.
Sadly, Zuckerberg will have to give his deposition in his own voice.
The special event selection at the AMC Lincoln Square Theater in New York will be preceded by Imax livestreaming a Q&A with Coppola to 66 giant screen theaters across the U.S. The advanced screening of Coppola’s pricey passion project from Lionsgate and Imax comes ahead of Megalopolis hitting theaters Sept. 27, and after festival premiere screenings in Cannes and Toronto.
“Working with the legendary Francis Ford Coppola has been a complete privilege, and we are proud to have his groundbreaking film take part in the 62nd New York Film Festival,” Adam Fogelson, chair of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said in a statement.
The marketing of Megalopolis has not been without drama as the sci-fi’s initial trailer was pulled by Lionsgate on Aug. 21, after just one day, when it was revealed that the critics’ quotes being cited in the teaser were bogus. Megalopolis released a new trailer (below) Thursday along with the Imax announcement. The new preview doesn’t feature any critics’ quotes.
After decades in development, Coppola put part of his personal fortune into the $120 million project, which stars Adam Driver as a man obsessed with creating a utopian city. Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza and Giancarlo Esposito are among the cast.
For Imax, the scale and ambition of Megalopolis will play well on its big screens as the epic includes Madison Square Garden turned into a Colosseum with gladiatorial contests and chariot races.
Lionsgate, a studio with longstanding ties to Coppola and his American Zeotrope banner, previously distributed some of its projects on home entertainment, including Apocalypse Now Final Cut, The Conversation, The CottonClub Encore, Tucker: The Man and HisDream and One From the Heart:Reprise.
Dennis Lim, artistic director of NYFF, will lead the pre-screening conversation with Coppola.
New players at the late-summer box office are struggling to find their footing. Holdovers Deadpool & Wolverine, Alien: Romulus and It Ends With Us are easily beating new offerings on the August marquee, including suspense thriller Blink Twice and The Crow reboot. Marking Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut and starring Channing Tatum, Blink Twice looks to […]
There are people reading this review who weren’t born when producers first tried to bring back The Crow. On this website, the first article about it was 2008 (which just so happened to be io9’s first year of existence), and since then, everyfewyears, a new director and star attempted to adapt James O’Barr’s gothic comic series for a new generation. I mention this because that history—whether you know it or not—somehow hangs heavily on Rupert Sanders’ The Crow, a reimagining of the original source material starring Bill Skarsgård. Simply put, the mere idea of a new Crow movie carries with it an albatross of impossibility. For years, no one could make it happen. There has to be a reason. And that reason must mean whatever finally makes it to theaters won’t be good.
Well, Sanders’ version did make it. It’s coming to theaters this weekend. And, I’m admittedly shocked to say, it’s actually pretty good. It’s not great. There are issues of course. But even the lauded 1994 Alex Proyas film with Brandon Lee had those. Much like that film though, this one feels like a fresh interpretation of the story that may not see immediate success but is destined to be discovered by would-be fans in the years to come.
Eric and Shelly in The Crow. – Lionsgate
The thing that immediately stands out about The Crow is just how obsessed it is with the relationship between the two main characters. There’s Shelly, played by FKA twigs, who finds herself on the run from a mysterious entity and ends up in a rehab facility. There she meets Eric (Skarsgård), an introvert with a troubled childhood who is hated by everyone in the facility. The two quickly bond, escape, and fall madly in love.
The development of that relationship covers the majority of the film, endearing the characters to the audience. It probably goes on too long but the more we spend time with Eric and Shelly the more we care about them, and the more anxiety builds about what’s to come. Because, if you know anything about The Crow, eventually both Shelly and Eric are killed, Eric is given a mysterious set of powers, and he’s told he can bring Shelly back if he kills the people who killed her.
Once Eric gets those powers, it still takes him a fair amount of time to figure them out. Therefore, it’s not until very, very late in the film that the full promise of The Crow is on display. Then, and only then, do we get any prolonged action set pieces or superhero-type moments. And, once that happens, it’s not just cathartic, it’s exhilarating. Sanders crafts an operatic symphony of violence as Eric disposes of the bad guys, with a level of gore sure to make some audience members’ stomachs turn. It’s truly brutal and feels like an almost completely different movie.
Walking down the street in The Crow. – Lionsgate
However, as good as that third act ends up being, it’s also the biggest problem with The Crow. Tonally, it’s three different movies. It’s a romantic love story. It’s the origin story murder mystery. Then it’s a big, exciting, violent action film. Each works on its own but also slightly against the rest of the film because the balance isn’t quite right.
In spite of that, you’re always along for the ride thanks to the magnificent performances by Skarsgård and twigs. Each has such a unique look and presence that you can’t take your eyes away from them. You can tell the characters are broken, potentially scary people, but you can also see and feel an almost river of innocence flowing through them. Plus, their chemistry is just off the charts. It’s as if they’ve known each other forever. Sanders might not have the story quite right, but the characters and performances are spot on.
Even so, there are other issues too. The mythology of Eric’s powers is a little random and confusing. A villain played by Danny Huston isn’t as exciting or captivating enough to pose a real threat. And the ending lacks a bit of the emotional impact you’d hope for after everything you’d just watched. Make no mistake, The Crow is a flawed movie. But the flaws are beautifully at odds with the positives, leading me to say this: if you have any interest in The Crow, and are willing to go in with an open mind, the film will surprise you. It’s much better than you’re expecting and, in moments, actually pretty damned good.
A new Megalopolis trailer dropped earlier today—and it played into the mixed early buzz surrounding Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project, highlighting tepid reviews of his past films (Apocalypse Now, The Godfather) that are now considered masterpieces. But what seemed like a clever gimmick a few hours ago now feels like a stunt gone very wrong. Studio Lionsgate has just admitted—after Vulture and other online sleuths began poking deeper into those reviews—that the quotes were not real.
In a statement to Variety, Lionsgate took full responsibility. “Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Megalopolis,” the statement provided to the trade read. “We offer our sincere apologies to the critics involved and to Francis Ford Coppola and American Zoetrope for this inexcusable error in our vetting process. We screwed up. We are sorry.”
While the trailer has since been removed, it contained quotes from legendary critics including Pauline Kael, Andrew Sarris, and Roger Ebert—writers whose opinions helped shaped the public’s moviegoing choices for decades, and whose reviews are very easily accessible in both print and online.
Gizmodo’s Rhett Jones theorized that someone could have used a chatbot program to come up with the false quotes; here’s what chatGPT came up with when he asked it about Ebert’s review of Coppola’s 1992 horror romance Bram Stoker’s Dracula, one of the examples cited in the Megalopolis trailer:
(Any actual use of a chatbot to come up with the quotes used in the trailer is unconfirmed; this was just an experiment.)
The trailer quoted Ebert as referring to Dracula as having “style over substance,” a phrase that does not appear in his actual review (he does describe it as “an exercise in feverish excess”), but does appear nearly verbatim in the sample chatGPT prompt. (io9 reached out to Lionsgate earlier today for comment regarding Vulture’s story about the fabricated quotes, and did not hear a response before Variety and other trades printed the studio’s “we screwed up” statement.)
Kael, Sarris, and Ebert are no longer alive, but one critic who spotted his name in the Megalopolis trailer—Owen Glieberman, formerly of Entertainment Weekly and now at Variety—took note and had a response.
Speaking to his current outlet, he pointed out that the whole idea behind the trailer itself—that Coppola’s best works were misunderstood at first—was a shaky one to begin with. “Critics loved The Godfather,” he told Variety. “And though Apocalypse Now was divisive, it received a lot of crucial critical support. As far as me calling Bram Stoker’s Dracula ‘a beautiful mess,’ I only wish I’d said that! Regarding that film, it now sounds kind.”
Megalopolis is slated for a September 27 release in theaters and IMAX. It stars Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, D. B. Sweeney, Dustin Hoffman, and Aubrey Plaza.
Travis Kelce may have found his leading man role. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end is in talks to lead the action-comedy “Loose Cannons” at Lionsgate. “John Wick” series director Chad Stahelski is on board to produce through his 87Eleven Entertainment banner, along with Jason Spitz and Alex Young. Tim Dowling is on board to write.
Production is likely a ways from kick-off, as Kelce will be occupied with the coming NFL season that begins in two weeks.
With 12 active seasons in the NFL, Kelce has taken footsteps into Hollywood over recent years, leading with his popular podcast “New Heights,” which he co-hosts alongside his brother, recently retired Philadelphia Eagles player Jason Kelce. But Travis’ romantic relationship with Taylor Swift has boosted him to New Heights of celebrity in the past year. The athlete will host the game show “Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?” this fall. He also features in a mysterious supporting role of Ryan Murphy’s coming FX series “Grotesquerie,” slated to debut Sept. 25.
“Loose Cannons” is also the title of a 1990 crime caper starring Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd. Directed by Bob Clark, that film followed a cop that teams with a detective with multiple-personality disorder to hunt down a lost-to-history Nazi sex tape, featuring Adolf Hitler. It’s quite a premise, but the film was a box office bomb at the time. That’s neither here nor there, as Kelce’s debut feature is not a remake of that Tristar release, despite sharing a title. Instead, this new production centers on two unhinged cops that are paired with one another as an effort to straighten them both out.
Screenwriter Dowling is a comedy genre regular, with credits including “Role Models” and “Office Christmas Party,” as well as Adam Sandler vehicles like “Just Go With It” and “Pixels.” Stahelski has partnered with Lionsgate on all four of his “John Wick” films; he is currently attached to direct a “Highlander” remake for the studio.
EXCLUSIVE: Utopia will be teaming with Lionsgate on the stateside theatrical release of Francis Ford Coppola’s dystopian epic, Megalopoliswhen it hits theatres on Sept. 27.
Utopia will create and implement specialty marketing, word-of-mouth, and non-traditional theatrical distribution initiatives targeting moviegoers.
Utopia as behind such movies as the critically acclaimed Shiva Baby and the Oscar shortlisted Holy Spider.
Utopia Studios
Said Coppola: “I am confident we are in great hands with Lionsgate, and Robert and his team at Utopia will be a tremendous addition. They have proven that there is success in an artist-first approach while also making bold moves, especially at a time when our film business often shies away from daring endeavors. I know Utopia will help Megalopolis discover untapped audiences and opportunities for its theatrical launch alongside Lionsgate.”
Added co-founder Robert Schwartzman: “The visionary, inventive, and cinematic epic that is Megalopolis is exactly the kind of film that excites us at Utopia. It could only come from a storyteller like Francis who has been known to take business and creative risks to support his vision. We are already deep in conversations with Lionsgate’s incredible team and are working together to collaborate on a special campaign to support this one-of-a-kind film experience.”
Utopia’s upcoming slate includes the surf documentary Trilogy: New Wave, Fantasia hit thriller Red Rooms, Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl starring Pamela Anderson which is making its TIFF world premiere and the fraternity drama The Line starring Alex Wolff and Halle Bailey. There’s also the recent release The Good Half starring Nick Jonas, Oscar nominee Elisabeth Shue, and David Arquette. Earlier this year, the U.S. based indie distribution, production and sales company released the critically acclaimed Femme starring Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George Mackay, the Cannes 2023 darlings The Sweet East from Sean Price Williams and Omen by Baloji, in addition to the Sundance debut Drift starring Cynthia Erivo, all in theaters.
Megalopolis is making its North American premiere at TIFF. The pic will also play in Imax when it opens on Sept. 27.
Halle Berry plays a mother with twin sons battling an evil spirit closing in on their wilderness home after a world-ending event in the trailer for Lionsgate‘s Never Let Go, which dropped on Thursday.
Director Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, Crawl) in the horror-thriller has their remote house in the woods fitted with a long ropes to enable mother and sons to remain connected at all times as unseen dangers approach.
“The evil out there is clever. One touch without a rope is all it takes,” Berry’s character tells her sons at one point in the trailer, as they commit to keep tethered to the ropes for safety and connection. But as demonic forces engulf their off-the-grid house, one of the twins questions whether evil exists.
And that breaks the family bond and triggers an all-out battle for survival. “That rope is your lifeline. Never let go. Say it,” a terror-stricken Berry, brandishing a long knife, at one point warns her sons.
Berry said she took the role because she’s a “bona fide adrenaline junkie” who has always loved these kinds of movies. “These boys have never left the house that they were born in for 10 years,” Berry continued. “Right away, it was a creepy environment. I was challenged to bring reality to what that would be like. What does mothering look like in a house in the woods with no one around?”
For the part, she learned survival skills and said there was “a little bit of Method acting” going on. “There was no electricity, no lights, my character skinning squirrels, and they’re eating bugs and frogs — raw frogs — in the woods,” Berry said,. “I had to really skin a squirrel. These things wildly challenged me to create some reality within this world that felt so foreign.”
And she said she pulled from her own life as a mother of two to inform her performance: “Since I became a mother 16 years ago, playing these kinds of roles has wildly excited me. With this movie, it reminded me how I would protect my children with my life. We often say, ‘I would take a bullet for my kids.’ Would you take a knife for your kids?”
Anthony B. Jenkins, Percy Daggs, Matthew Kevin Anderson, Christin Park and Stephanie Lavigne also star.
Never Let Go, from the producers of Stranger Things and Arrival, is set for a theatrical release on Sept. 27. Lionsgate is releasing the horror thriller, in association with Media Capital Technologies.
Aja directed the horror pic from a script by Kevin Coughlin and Ryan Grassby. He also produced alongside Dan Cohen, Dan Levine and Shawn Levy, with Berry, Dan Clarke, Connor DiGregorio, Holly Jeter, Emily Morris and Christopher Woodrow serving as executive producers.
If you’ve ever wanted to become fully immersed in the world of John Wick, Lionsgate has got you covered. Later this year, the action franchise is getting an “immersive and interactive” tourist attraction in Las Vegas.
Grace Byers on Horror and Comedy in The Blackening
Per the press release, the John Wick Experience was made in collaboration with series director Chad Stahelski and his production company 87Eleven. The i12,000 square ft. exhibit on the city’s AREA15 campus have visitors “navigate a high stakes adventure as well as visit a themed bar and retail shop open to the general public.” Guests will be given specific missions that involve characters and iconography from the films. They’ll also brush shoulders with Continental staff, crime bosses, and other assassins who (presumably) didn’t get on Wick’s bad side at any point in the films, all in the name of getting access to private Continental areas and learning juicy secrets.
Jenefer Brown, Lionsgate’s executive VP for global products, said a Wick experience felt like a natural move for a series built on “a whole world of alliances and vengeance hiding in plain sight. […] This experience draws fans into that world like never before, and AREA15 is an ideal place for fans to live out the fantasy, action and danger portrayed in the films.”
In 2018, Lionsgate launched a Saw-themed escape room in Vegas, and one for Blair Witch in 2021. The studio has experience with theme park attractions, and Wick is an admitted fit for the ever-expanding concept. And it also helps keep the franchise in folks’ minds as Lionsgate tries to whip up a future for the larger franchise, including a potential fifth mainline movie and a video game.
