Nicolas Cage Wants to Focus On Directing Over Acting Soon Name: wicker-man-nicolas-cage.jpg Views: 4 Size: 78.3 KB Nicolas Cage believes he will only continue to act for a few more years before focusing on directing instead. Cage has been acting for over 35 years and has left an indelible mark with some of his performances. From his heartbreaking turn in Leaving Las Vegas to his memorably outlandish performance in Vampire’s Kiss, Cage is an actor who always leaves an impression, regardless of the film. Most of Cage’s recent filmography have been straight to DVD action or horror movies, most of which have been poorly received. There have been recent signs of the actor making something of a comeback thanks to well-received turns in movies like Mom and Dad and Mandy. Cage himself also got to fulfil a lifelong ambition to play Superman by voicing the character in upcoming animated adventure Teen Titans GO! To The Movies. He was previously attached to Tim Burton’s unmade blockbuster Superman Lives. The actor has been working so much in recent years partially due to personal financial issues, but he recently revealed to The Blast that in a few years he’s going to focus on directing over acting: In terms of producing and directing, yes, I’m getting back in production. My company, Saturn Films, is involved in all the movies I’m doing now. Directing is something I’d look forward to down the road, because right now I’m primarily a film performer. I’m going to continue doing that for three or four more years and then I’d like to focus more on directing. Name: Nicolas-Cage-and-Selma-Blair-Mom-and-Dad.jpg Views: 4 Size: 63.3 KB While Cage’s comments could be interpreted as him wanting to quit acting, he’s really saying he’d like to make directing his focus in a few years. He may continue to act if the right part comes along or if it helps his own projects get off the ground, but after so many decades working as an actor and playing so many different types of roles, he’s ready for new creative challenges. The actor is no stranger to directing either, having previously moved behind the camera for 2002 indie drama Sonny, starring James Franco. Cage recently made headlines when he said he’s love to play the Joker in a movie, and that it would be a ‘perfect‘ role for him. That idea got fans excited, but between Jared Leto’s DCEU take and Joaquin Phoenix possibly taking on the role for Warner Bros once-off Joker movie, it seems he may not get the chance. The actor hasn’t had much luck with comic book movies in general, having appeared in the poorly-received Ghost Rider movies and missing out on roles like the Green Goblin in Spider-Man; that said, he did receive good reviews for his turn in Kick-Ass. Hopefully, Nicolas Cage will make a big screen comeback before making a switch to directing, so he can gift audiences with a few more of unique performances first.

Vice Inks Netflix, Theatrical Deals for Motherboard’s ‘The Most Unknown’ Science Documentary Motherboard, Vice Media’s tech-culture channel, is bringing its first feature-length documentary to Netflix and cinemas as part of a multimodal release strategy. “The Most Unknown” follows nine scientists across the globe who are engaged in research to answer really deep questions, like the nature of consciousness and how life began. In addition to distributing the full 85-minute film on Netflix, Motherboard is releasing it in theaters this summer and will spray pieces across its website, YouTube and social channels as well. The 85-minute film — which Motherboard describes as “epic” — was directed by Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Ian Cheney (“The Search for General Tso,” “King Corn”) who was advised on the project by Werner Herzog. Through a deal with documentary-film distributor Abramorama, “The Most Unknown” will be released in theaters in 20 U.S. cities, starting May 18 at New York City’s Quad Cinema. Then in August, the film will bow on Netflix where it will have an exclusive two-week window before arriving on Motherboard’s own platforms. Netflix has secured 24-month global rights to “The Most Unknown” and will make it available in 25 languages. “Netflix was a pretty obvious partner for us, because they have big scale – we know it’s going to a global audience,” said Derek Mead, ‎Vice Media’s executive editor, global, and former editor-in-chief of Motherboard. After Netflix’s debut, Motherboard will create nine 10- to 15-minute-long standalone episodes — one for each scientist profiled in the film — in different formats native to a range of platforms. Those will include Motherboard’s site (motherboard.vice.com) and YouTube, along with series for Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram. Those segments won’t carry advertising. “From the beginning, we wanted this to be something a bit more modular, a story that would work in multiple formats,” said Mead, ‎who’s an executive producer on the film. Part of the reason for the multiphase, wide-release push is that the film was produced with a grant from Science Sandbox, an initiative of the Simons Foundation. The math-and-science nonprofit wants the film’s message about scientific discovery and wonder to inspire young people. “Rather than using our social platforms and website as a promotional vehicle for the film, we went into this thinking of having this be an entire ecosystem… to talk about science in a way that helps people understand how scientists think and how they work,” said Mead, an executive producer on the film. Thobey Campion, Vice’s head of publishing, added that “the media ecosystem feels like the Wild West right now, so we kind of made our own playbook… Supporting the sciences has never been more important than right now, so to really get the word out we’re deploying a fleet of content formats.” Meanwhile, Mead allowed that the theatrical release of “The Most Unknown” will be “useful” for the film to be eligible for awards consideration. The world premiere of “The Most Unknown” was at last month’s CPHOX documentary film fest in Copenhagen, and Vice plans to screen the film at other festivals this summer. In addition, it’s working to host special screenings in high school and college science classrooms in the fall. Cheney, the film’s director, said “The Most Unknown” represents “an attempt to break new ground in science storytelling while showcasing the work of remarkable scientists all over the world.” It’s not Vice’s first distribution deal with Netflix, which acquired worldwide rights to “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond,” a documentary from Vice Documentary Films about Jim Carrey’s portrayal of Andy Kaufman. Last month, Vice named former A+E Networks boss Nancy Dubuc its new CEO. Co-founder Shane Smith, who previously served as CEO, is now Vice Media’s executive chairman. The changes came after the company was roiled by misconduct allegations against several top execs.

Noble intentions are derailed by deeply confused execution in Deon Taylor's human trafficking thriller. Noble intentions are derailed by deeply confused execution in writer-director Deon Taylor’s “Traffik,” which attempts to marry cheap genre thrills with an unflinching depiction of the horrors of international sex trafficking, only to cheapen the latter and cast a grimy pall over the former. The always ace camerawork of Dante Spinotti and reliably solid performances from Paula Patton and Omar Epps help give the film a professional sheen, but “Traffik’s” fumbling jumble of tones and motivations proves clumsy at best, and distasteful at worst. After an ominous intro in which a nameless young woman is abducted from a nightclub and chained up in a flatbed truck, the film zeroes in on Sacramento newspaper reporter Brea (Paula Patton) on the eve of what seems a less than promising birthday weekend. A story she’s been slowly working on for months has just been scooped by a coworker, and a subsequent clash with her editor (William Fichtner) leaves her unsure if she’ll still have a job come Monday. (Her editor’s insistence that Brea file in a timely manner, write pieces that are to the point, and focus on breaking important news are presented as hissable nitpicks, which more or less sums up the film’s view of journalism.) Later that night, she has an awkward dinner with her boyfriend John (Epps) as well as his childhood friend Darren (Laz Alonso) and Darren’s girlfriend Malia (Roselyn Sanchez). As we learn through unrelenting barrages of expositional dialogue here and in the scenes that quickly follow, John is an auto mechanic who is busy building up courage to ask Brea to marry him, though he’s insecure about his relatively unglamorous job, and Brea is unsure if she’s ready to commit. Darren is an obnoxious, motor-mouthed sports agent with a drug problem, and his workaholic tendencies have left Malia feeling neglected – not to mention the fact that she has a secret romantic history with John. Roughly a quarter of this information will have any bearing at all on what comes next. What is important, however, is that John has built an eye-catching hot rod for Brea’s birthday, and whisks her off for a weekend getaway at a spectacular mansion retreat in the woods, courtesy of Darren’s agency connections. On the way, they stop at one of those rural gas stations so beloved by horror filmmakers, and each have unsettling encounters. As Brea heads inside, John is accosted by a trio of gnarly white bikers, who move from casual conversation to racial microaggressions to all-out aggression. Meanwhile, Brea meets a troubled-looking woman (Dawn Olivieri) in the bathroom, who discretely slips a satellite phone into Brea’s bag before being hustled away by another brutish biker. This is the film’s best-executed sequence, infusing a familiar setup with some very Trump-era racial menace, although Taylor squanders some of the mounting unease by following the scene with a rote car chase, and Brea and John make an offputtingly fast transition from this traumatic run-in into some poolside romance back at the house. Then Darren and Malia drop by unexpectedly, Brea finds the phone, and the foursome make a shocking discovery once they figure out the password: A catalog of photos of beaten-up, scantily-clad women, along with a cache of foreign phone numbers. The film whipsaws wildly between tones in this stretch, toggling between alluring closeups of Patton cavorting in a luminous infinity pool, unnecessary drama and comic relief provided by the increasingly intolerable Darren, and disturbing imagery of abused women. After dragging out this setup for far longer than expected, the film finally kicks into gear as the biker gang and their malevolent British kingpin (Luke Goss) arrive to retrieve the phone, eventually chasing Brea and John through the house and the surrounding woods, aided by some excruciatingly dumb decisions from our heroes. The film’s off-and-on social advocacy becomes abruptly dominant in the final act, as Taylor offers scene after scene depicting the terror of human trafficking, and a film that had previously been impossible to take seriously suddenly starts taking itself very seriously indeed. There’s no reason to doubt the director’s intentions here, however inelegantly he sometimes announces them – his use of Nina Simone’s “Strange Fruit” is certainly a bold stroke – but the film’s late descent into such deep, abrasive unpleasantness feels entirely unearned after the b-movie schlock that had dominated the earlygoing. Closing title cards reveal some alarming statistics about human trafficking in the U.S., and “Traffik’s” heart certainly seems to be in the right place; it’s a shame so little else is. Film Review: 'Traffik' Reviewed at Arclight Cinemas, Hollywood, April 19, 2018. Production: A Summit Entertainment, Hidden Empire Film Group presentation of a Hidden Empire Film Group production in association with Codeblack Films and Third Eye Productions. Produced by Roxanne Avent, Paula Patton, Deon Taylor. Executive producers: Robert F. Smith, Mark Burg. Crew: Directed, written by Deon Taylor. Camera (color): Dante Spinotti. Editor: Melissa Kent. Music: Geoff Zanelli. With: Paula Patton, Omar Epps, Laz Alonso, Roselyn Sanchez, Dawn Olivieri, Luke Goss, Missi Pyle, William Fichtner

This June, the world will mark the 55th anniversary of the first woman flying into space. Valentina Tereshkova, an amateur Russian skydiver, spent nearly three days in orbit inside a spherical Vostok 6 capsule. The first American woman, physicist Sally Ride, would not follow Tereshkova into space for another two decades. A new documentary on Netflix, Mercury 13, examines the question of why NASA did not fly women in space early on and, in particular, focuses on 13 women who underwent preliminary screening processes in 1960 and 1961 to determine their suitability as astronauts. The film offers a clear verdict for why women were excluded from NASA in the space agency's early days—"good old-fashioned prejudice," as one of the participants said. Mercury 13 will be released Friday. The film admirably brings some of these women to life, all of whom were accomplished pilots. There is Jerrie Cobb, who scored very highly in the preliminary tests and gave compelling testimony before Congress in an attempt to open NASA's early spaceflight programs to women. Another key figure is pilot Jane B. Hart, married to a US Senator from Michigan, whose experience in the project compelled her to become one of the founders of the National Organization for Women. Chilling chauvinism There certainly is ample evidence within Mercury 13 to back up its central conclusion. A particularly chilling moment arises with Gordon Cooper, one of NASA's Mercury 7 astronauts and the sixth American to fly into space. During a 1960s news conference, a male reporter asks Cooper, "The Russians have put up a woman cosmonaut. Is there any room in our space program for a woman astronaut, in your opinion?" In his response, Cooper appears to reference an earlier flight, the 1961 Mercury-Atlas 5 mission that tested the orbital capabilities of the Mercury spacecraft before John Glenn's orbital flight in early 1962. In this test flight, NASA flew Enos, a chimpanzee, who survived. "Well, we could have used a woman on the second orbital Mercury Atlas that we had," Cooper answered. "We could have put a woman up, the same type of woman, and flown her instead of the chimpanzee." Cooper and the reporters then laughed. These, and other similar though less jaw-dropping comments, are revelatory of the kind of discrimination women had to deal with then and, in some regrettable ways, must still contend with today. (For more good insight into how the male astronauts treated Sally Ride and her female colleagues when they first came to NASA in 1978, astronaut Mike Mullane's book Riding Rockets offers an honest assessment of his own chauvinism.) Mercury 13 concludes with an excellent point—that had men and women landed on the Moon in the 1960s, the Apollo program would not just have proven a feat of technical engineering but a true watershed moment for equality of the sexes. Had women walked on the Moon, perhaps some young girls in schools today would not feel inferior in math classes to their male counterparts. A counterpoint With that said, the film has a few problems. It portrays Dr. Randy Lovelace, a NASA scientist who had conducted the official Mercury program physicals for the men, as a hero. And certainly he was ahead of his time in thinking that women were just as capable as the men and that they belonged in some of the earliest US spaceflights. After his experience with NASA's Mercury program, Lovelace devised a three-part testing process for 25 women: five days of medical testing in New Mexico, psychological tests in Oklahoma including a sensory-deprivation chamber, and then finally flight tests at the US Navy’s Pensacola, Florida, flight training center. Thirteen women—hence the film's title, Mercury 13—passed the medical screenings. But the flight tests never happened, because when US Navy officials in Pensacola asked Dr. Lovelace for the name of his government sponsor, he didn't have one. He had been operating the "First Lady Astronaut Trainees" program entirely outside the purview of NASA and without the agency's official sanction. It would have been helpful to understand whether the skilled pilots who underwent these tests felt duped by Lovelace or at least learn what exactly he had represented to the women trainees. Mercury 13 could also have done with a more thorough examination of why NASA didn't seek to include women in its early program or take over Lovelace's program after he had found 13 skilled pilots who met the same medical standards as the Mercury 7 astronauts. I do not dispute the film's conclusion that the men running the US government and NASA preferred to keep US spaceflight a "boys' club." But some of these men are still alive today, and it would have rounded out the film to get their perspective. NASA redeemed From a historical perspective, Tereshkova's flight, although groundbreaking in its achievement, is probably more properly regarded as a stunt. She was not a pilot and evidently flew primarily for propaganda reasons rather than to bring women into the regular Russian corps. Of the more than 120 cosmonauts who have flown into space, just four have been women. Yes, the Russians flew a woman into space first, but this was certainly not a moment of lasting gender parity. Meanwhile, since getting a lamentably late start, NASA has taken significant steps in this regard. The space agency has flown 45 women into space and, of its last two astronaut classes (2013 and 2017), nine of the 20 astronaut candidates were women. More than that, women have begun to take prominent roles in spaceflight. The home of NASA's astronaut corps, Johnson Space Center, has been directed by Ellen Ochoa since 2012. And last year, Peggy Whitson, who has flown into space three times, broke the record for most time spent in space by a US astronaut, with a cumulative total of 665 days in orbit aboard the International Space Station. Nearly six decades after the events in Mercury 13, US women aren't just flying—they're helping to lead.

Andrea Riseborough, Dane DeHaan, Amazon Board Cocaine Crime Series 'ZeroZeroZero' from 'Gomorrah' Team The series - now in production – will air in 2019 following a shoot across three continents and six countries (and in six languages). The team behind hit Italian crime series Gomorrah has begun work on ZeroZeroZero, starring Andrea Riseborough (The Death of Stalin), Dane DeHaan (Valerian), Gabriel Bryne (The Usual Suspects) and Harold Torres (González: Falsos Profetas) Produced by Cattleya for Sky, Canal+ and Amazon, the series has started production and will shoot for eight months over three continents and six countries, and will be filmed in six languages. Gomorrah director Stefano Sollima – soon to make his English-language feature debut with Sicario: Day of the Soldado – is helming the adaptation of the book Roberto Saviano (who also penned Gomorrah). ZeroZeroZero will dive into an international empire of cocaine and its economic and political effects, on a global scale, telling the story of different but equally violent and power-hungry criminals, of family dynamics and Mexican cartels, the ‘Ndrangheta (the Calabrian mafia) and corrupt businessmen fighting over control over the world’s most heavily distributed product. The series is developed by the same creative team behind the TV series Gomorrah in Leonardo Fasoli, Stefano Bises, Roberto Saviano and Sollima, and is written by co-head writers Leonardo Fasoli and Mauricio Katz (The Bridge, Niño Santo). Max Hurwitz (Hell on Wheels, Manhunt: Unabomber), Sollima and Maddalena Ravagli round out the team of writers. In addition to Sollima, the series is also directed by Pablo Trapero (Crane World, The Clan) and Janus Metz (Borg McEnroe, True Detective). ZeroZeroZero will debut in 2019 on Canal+ in French-speaking Europe and Africa, on Sky in Italy, the U.K., Ireland, Germany and Austria, and on Amazon in the US, Canada, Latin America and Spain. International sales are being handled by StudioCanal.

The move – believed to be in response to Israel's recent deadly shooting of Palestinian protestors – has been praised by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Israel's Minister of Culture & Sport Miri Regev has denounced Natalie Portman's decision to decline an award in her homeland of Israel over politics. "I was saddened to hear that Natalie Portman has fallen as a ripe fruit in the hands of BDS supporters," stated Regev associating her act with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. "Natalie, a Jewish actress who was born in Israel now joins those who refers to the success and wonder of the rebirth of Israel as 'A Tale of Darkness and Darkness'." Regev's reference was to the Oscar-winner's 2015 directorial feature debut A Tale of Love and Darkness, an adaptation of the autobiographical novel by Israeli author Amos Oz, shot in Jerusalem. Portman had been due to collect the Genesis Prize, but pulled out Thursday, with a rep telling the event that “[r]ecent events in Israel have been extremely distressing to her and she does not feel comfortable participating in any public events in Israel” and that “she cannot in good conscience move forward with the ceremony." Along with Regev's comments, social media backlash ensued Friday morning local time with many taking offence not only at Portman's announcement but its timing as Israel wrapped up its 70th Independence Day, celebrated on Thursday. "She’s spitting in her homeland's face on our most celebratory day," read an online comment, while others called it nothing short of "treason" and "a shameful elitist choice against her fellow countrymen" and "succumbing to BDS movement's ploy". Some simply suggested the award be given to Gal Gadot "who represents our country with great honor." Meanwhile, PACBI, the academic and cultural arm of the BDS movement, a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated pro-Palestinian activist group that seeks to cut global ties with Israel, praised Portman's move. "After decades of egregious human rights violations against Palestinians, Israel's recent massacre of peaceful protesters in Gaza has made its brand so toxic that even well-known Israeli-American cultural figures, like Natalie Portman, now refuse to blatantly whitewash, or art-wash, Israeli crimes and apartheid policies," it said in a statement. While Portman declined further comment, the decision comes as an apparent response to mass protests on the Gaza-Israel border that saw scores of Palestinians shot dead by Israeli Defense Forces and more than 1,000 injured, and her ongoing opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Portman's criticizing of Netanyahu dates back to his 2015 election day video message on Facebook urging supporters to hurry up and vote as, "The right-wing government is in danger, Arab voters are heading to the polling stations in droves". He later apologized, acknowledging "the things I said a few days ago hurt some Israeli citizens". "We, who have such a history with antisemitism, should understand the danger of racism and of how we treat minorities, and I felt that his comments were very much not showing a Jewish spirit of equality and dignity and peace", said Portman during an interview that year with The News Company's Yonit Levi. "I think all Israelis know that it's much easier to criticize in Israel than outside, I don't know, it's such a hard combination to be... to obviously have deep love for the place you're from and also see what's wrong with it. So it becomes a tricky thing, certainly increasingly tricky”.

Audiences may already be looking ahead to Avengers: Infinity War, but this weekend could feature an interesting battle among the top three. While we're expecting A Quiet Place to return to the weekend's #1 spot, the race could be a little closer should Rampage hold on better than expected or if Amy Schumer's new comedy I Feel Pretty outperforms expectations. The weekend also sees the release of Fox Searchlight's Super Troopers 2 and Lionsgate's release of Traffik into a moderate number of locations. Beginning with A Quiet Place, the horror/thriller has already brought in nearly $110 million and is poised to top recent horror hits Split and The Conjuring. With Paramount adding another 219 locations for a total of 3,808 theaters, we're anticipating a 36% drop and a three-day right around $21 million. Come the end of the weekend the film should top $130 million domestically. Look for Dwayne Johnson's Rampage to fall to second in its sophomore frame, dropping 52% or so for ~$17 million this weekend, pushing the film's domestic cume over $62 million after ten days in release. Next we come to STX's release of Amy Schumer's I Feel Pretty, which has been met with something of a mixed response online and tracking has the film pacing behind Schumer's past releases Snatched and Trainwreck, which debuted with $19.5 million and $30 million respectively. Tracking services peg the film for a debut around $13-15 million, which may seem low in comparison to Schumer's last two releases, but we're also not talking about a direct, apples-to-apples comp. The PG-13 rating for I Feel Pretty immediately makes it a tougher comp to both Snatched and Trainwreck, not to mention Snatched was able to use the Mother's Day holiday to its benefit. Comparing to films such as Rough Night and How to Be Single is also difficult due to the MPAA rating and a film such as The Intern, while PG-13, doesn't seem to fall into the same comedic bucket. One film that does seem to be somewhat related is 2014's The Other Woman, which debuted in with $24.7 million from 3,205 theaters. Looking at IMDb page view data, however, shows I Feel Pretty pacing well behind The Other Woman. It is, however, pacing ahead of both The Intern and How to Be Single over the course of the two weeks leading up to release. All told, we're currently seeing a rather wide window when it comes to just how well this film will perform, ranging from $12-19 million. At this time, we're anticipating a debut right around $15 million, though it appears this is one that could really go either way and will be one to keep an eye on as the weekend unfolds. Look for Universal and Blumhouse's Truth or Dare to finish in fourth position. After a solid, $18.6 million debut last weekend we're anticipating a second weekend drop right around 60% for a sophomore performance around $7.5 million. For comparison, Ouija debuted with $19.8 million and dipped 46% in its second weekend and Sinister opened with $18 million and dropped 51% in its second frame. Unless Truth or Dare dips harder than expected, WB's Ready Player One should land itself in fifth place with $7 million, pushing the film's domestic cume over $125 million after 25 days in release. Just outside the top five we have Fox Searchlight's Super Troopers 2. Parent company Fox will handle the comedy sequel's distribution into 2,038 locations with studio expectations anticipating a debut around $5-6 million. Arriving 16 years after the first film, which debuted in 2002 with $6.2 million, this is a tough film to comp, at least if you're looking for anything that opened in the past five to six years or so. One film that comes to mind is Fox's Let's Be Cops, which delivered a stellar $26.2 million over the course of its first five days after opening on a Wednesday. Super Troopers 2 doesn't have that same level of broad appeal, but the Broken Lizard troupe and the original film have a strong following that should help this film reach $6 million if not possibly $7 million in its first three days. Lionsgate's Codeblack Films will debut Traffik starring Paula Patton and Omar Epps into 1,046 locations with studio expectations currently anticipating a $3-4 million debut. Previous Codeblack releases include The Perfect Match ($4.3m opening) and Addicted ($7.5m opening) and looking at IMDb page view performance comparisons we see Traffik pacing just ahead of The Perfect Match over the course of the two weeks leading up to release, though interest before that is clearly in favor of The Perfect Match. Meanwhile, Traffik is pacing well behind Addicted, which puts our expectation right around $3.5 million for the three-day. This weekend's forecast is directly below. This post will be updated on Friday morning with Thursday night preview results followed by Friday estimates on Saturday morning, and a complete weekend recap on Sunday morning. A Quiet Place (3,808 theaters) - $21.1 M Rampage (4,115 theaters) - $17.2 M I Feel Pretty (3,440 theaters) - $15.0 M Truth or Dare (3,068 theaters) - $7.5 M Ready Player One (3,208 theaters) - $7.1 M Blockers (3,134 theaters) - $6.5 M Super Troopers 2 (2,038 theaters) - $6.0 M Black Panther (1,930 theaters) - $3.8 M Isle Of Dogs (1,947 theaters) - $3.6 M Traffik (1,046 theaters) - $3.5 M

20th Century Fox may have been sold to Disney, but Comcast is actually the company who gave the higher bid. When reports surfaced late last year that Fox was up for grabs, plenty of contenders surfaced. None, however, were considered to be as serious as Disney and Comcast. The Mouse House continued to be the front-runner throughout the bidding process, which became clear when Comcast inevitably dropped out of the race, leading to Disney and Fox officially agreeing to a deal in December. Even though the two major studios agreed to said deal, they still need to go through the regulatory approval process, which may not complete until 2019. And even then, Disney can’t risk jumping the gun by planning their own X-Men and Fantastic Four movies at this time. It isn’t an absolute certainty that the deal will close, and such a possibility was on Fox’s mind when they picked their partner. Based on new information, Comcast actually outbid Disney by a substantial margin, but they were a riskier bet to take. The New York Times reports that an SEC filing for 20th Century Fox’s sale contained official figures from both Comcast and Disney’s bids. These documents confirm that Comcast’s bid was 16% higher than Disney’s. With the official purchase price for Disney sitting high at $52.4 billion, that means Comcast’s bid was north of $60 billion. Disney’s all-stock offer came in at $29.54 per share, whereas Comcast’s bid came in at $34.41 per share. Clearly, sometimes the highest bidder doesn’t always come out on top. The reasoning behind Fox’s decision to choose Disney’s cheaper deal over Comcast’s is two-fold. The first reason is because Comcast refused to agree upon a breakup fee. Because of the regulatory process a deal of this size must go through, Fox wanted to protect themselves in case a deal was blocked. Disney agreed to pay a $2.5 billion breakup fee to Fox if the deal fell through. The unwillingness of Comcast to offer any similar assurance is partially behind their higher bid not being accepted. Their deal also “proposed unacceptable plans for divesting any assets singled out by antitrust regulators as problematic,” which was viewed as another red flag from Fox’s camp. The second reason for Disney’s bid still winning out appears to be Fox’s personal preference. As previously reported, Fox preferred to sell their assets to Disney because the match was viewed as “a better strategic fit and presents fewer regulatory hurdles.” Disney’s already shown an ability to smoothly integrate new studios and IPs into their slate under Disney CEO Bob Iger and Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn, as they are both responsible for getting Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios situated. Of course, there are still rumors of Comcast looking to up their bid again, but it could be a lost cause with Fox already going down this road with Disney.

Noomi Rapace plays a hostage who helps kidnapper Ethan Hawke in Robert Budreau's fact-based crime drama. Recent years have seen a renewed dramatic interest in the chestnuts we all remember from Introduction to Psychology. TV has its Masters of Sex, Sundancers get dueling features about the Stanford Prison Experiment and the cruel discoveries of Stanley Milgram. While we wait for a good biopic on Ivan Pavlov, writer/director Robert Budreau examines the Stockholm Syndrome by reenacting the hostage crisis that gave the phenomenon a name. His Stockholm, which gently massages actual events to serve as a fine vehicle for Noomi Rapace and Ethan Hawke, is far from the first movie to believably show a crime victim coming to sympathize with a criminal. But it's a funny and agile one, and should work well for arthouse auds before eventually becoming a home-video study aid for students of human behavior. The film begins with a closeup on Rapace's Bianca Lind, clearly set well after her release from captivity but intentionally cryptic about who her words (in voiceover) are addressed to. She acknowledges dwelling on "what happened to us," reflecting on the site-specific dynamics in which "you fall for your captor...or so they say." Flash back to 1973, as Hawke's Lars Nystrom combs some dye through his moustache, dons a wig and leather pants, and strolls into Stockholm's largest bank with a machine gun in his duffel. He sets a small radio on the bank counter, fires a couple of rounds into the ceiling, and seemingly makes it clear the place is being robbed. (None of the names here are those of the actual participants, nor do their actions quite reflect real ones — though many particulars are drawn straight from history.) Knowing what we know about the film's psychological agenda, we're alert to ways this villain might endear himself to the terrified people around him. And from the start, armchair psychologists will have plenty to note. Almost immediately after sending the bank's employees and customers into a cowering shock, Lars rushes over to Bianca, an employee hiding behind her desk. "Did you just set off the alarm!?," he shouts menacingly. But when she acknowledges she did, he reassuringly says, "that's very good." A trained manipulator could hardly do a better job of terrorizing, then calming his subject. But it's soon clear that Lars isn't here to brainwash people, or even to rob the bank. He wants to force the local police chief Mattsson (Christopher Heyerdahl) to secure the release of Gunnar Sorensson (Mark Strong), an old bank-robbing buddy currently serving time in Swedish prison. Getting the chief to deliver Sorensson is surprisingly easy. Getting out of the jail with hostages in tow is not. When the standoff settles into place, Lars and Gunnar have three hostages (two female employees and a male bystander) while Mattsson and a gaggle of lawmen occupy the bank's second floor, waiting for the crooks to slip up. Budreau's screenplay finds plenty of subtle opportunities for Lars to present himself to his captives as the person most interested in their well-being. Chief Mattsson is so bent on outwitting the kidnappers that he seems to ignore the civilians (the twisty mind games Mattsson tries on Lars are the film's biggest asset, outside the Lars/Bianca relationship), and even the country's prime minister adopts a posture ("we live in an orderly society") that seems to make the hostages’ safety less than top priority. As the hostage who will come to most closely identify with the outlaws, Rapace has the film's biggest job. She's not so insensitive as to make it look easy. Bianca is married with two young children, and, judging solely from Rapace's mien, harbors no fantasies about running away with a rogue. But she notices every thing Lars does to make this ordeal easier for her, sees how he is subtly disrespected by the man he's trying to rescue, and, late in the plot, realizes Lars is the same criminal who once saved the life of an old man while robbing his house. And just as important, Bianca is allowed a few bits of contact with her husband (one of which is a nervously comic highlight), and that decent, frightened man lets her down in banal but telling ways. Having collaborated with Hawke on the Chet Baker biopic Born to be Blue, Budreau makes sure the actor has a rich part to play here. Though it's not going to knock Dog Day Afternoon off its perch, this depiction of under-the-gun bargaining and psychological baggage is a good workout for Hawke without distracting from crime-flick pleasures. Having made clear that Stockholm doesn't fully align to the facts of 1973's so-called "Norrmalmstorg robbery," it would be wrong to reveal how things work out for these fictionalized characters. But viewers who walk in confident they'd never succumb to the Stockholm Syndrome may, at least, walk out understanding how somebody else could. Production company: Darius Films Cast: Ethan Hawke, Noomi Rapace, Mark Strong, Christopher Heyerdahl, Bea Santos, Thorbjorn Harr Director-Screenwriter: Robert Budreau Producers: Nicholas Tabarrok, Robert Burdreau, Jonathan Bronfman Executive producers: Scott Aversano, Jason Blum, William Santor, Will Russell-Shapiro Director of photography: Brendan Steacy Production designer: Aidan Leroux Costume designer: Lea Carlson Editor: Richard Comeau Composer: Steve London Casting directors: John Buchan, Jason Knight Venue: Tribeca Film Festival (Spotlight Narrative) Sales: Nick Ogiony, CAA In English 91 minutes

Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown shine a light on a nationwide black roller-skating scene that is now threatened. A window onto a vibrant American subculture that is currently endangered (as so many other things are) by real-estate profiteers, Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown's United Skates introduces African Americans who for generations have found a refuge from the world in the roller rink. The subject's connection to early hip-hop culture may help draw attention at fests, but the doc's heart is with ordinary people who have no show-business ambitions. It should open eyes on video, though members of this scene would probably delight in a tour of one-off showings in the urban and rural rinks that remain in operation. Launching with interviews featuring Salt-N-Pepa, Coolio, and journalist Maulud Sadiq Allah, the film at first seems to be a celebration of the skating rink's importance in the birth of hip-hop. Thanks to their size, rinks were well-suited to shoestring-budgeted concert production, and were the first large venues many rap artists played. It was a "kinda intimidating," put-up or shut-up environment, Salt-N-Pepa recall, since musicians were sometimes interrupting what skaters came to do. On the other hand, hip-hop producers could find it a fertile place to develop their skills: The first DJ at LA's Skateland, we learn, was a then-unknown Dr. Dre. (Cue an exciting Straight Outta Compton clip recreating an N.W.A. concert there.) But this opening sequence is a red herring for a movie that mostly cares about the skaters themselves. We meet Phelicia Wright, a Los Angeles mother of five whose family lives to skate. Through her and other locals, we hear of LA's dueling rinks: The aforementioned Skateland in Compton, which was once the turf of the Bloods, and Mid-City's World on Wheels, home to the Crips. So important was skating to these communities that, when Skateland closed, gang leaders declared World on Wheels neutral territory, so everyone could skate in peace. ("It was outside in the parking lot that you got popped," Coolio reports.) Then WoW closes in 2013, leaving Phelicia and her kids more bereft than you might expect. It's killed because of rezoning that makes the real estate more valuable; despite community activism, the rink sits empty for four years while developers wait to milk it for profits. In that time, Phelicia has to drive her children out to Glendale to the nearest rink she can find, one catering to a white clientele. "The music is going to suck real bad," she warns her kids, but that's not the half of it: The family is politely but firmly kicked out, thanks to rules that interviewees believe are designed to keep black skaters away. Bringing in a North Carolina enthusiast named Reggie Brown, the film discusses a decades-old phenomenon in which euphemisms like "Soul Night" were used to identify dates when blacks were welcome in rinks. "Adult Night" was the moniker that endured, begging a question the film doesn't ask: Is grown-up skating something that only caught on among African Americans? The question is important as we watch Reggie trekking all over his region, trying to convince a rink owner somewhere to let him host an Adult Night. Is this a scenario in which black skaters are actually campaigning for segregation? That's a touchy topic the film has no interest in exploring. But it's easy to understand why skaters would plead for one night a week when rinks would toss out their scattershot mix of Top 40, metal, and what-have-you music to let a DJ with taste choose songs worth moving to. In a Chicago rink, Buddy Love runs one of the nation's few black-owned rinks; he helps explain how different part of the country have evolved to value different kinds of music and different kinds of moves on the floor. (Chicagoans, for instance, skate to remixes built around James Brown samples.) In a thrilling but far too-short montage, Winkler and Brown zip through examples of regional styles like Texas Slow-walk and Ohio Stride. The 88-minute film could have added ten minutes to showcase these daredevil stunts and graceful group moves, and still left viewers wanting more. It's more thorough in its talk of how rinks became endangered (a motion-graphics map of hundreds of rinks shows them dying off as years pass) and what devotees are doing to keep them alive. Happily, there are slivers of good news to report as the movie closes. But even the sad scenes demonstrate the community bonds built in these wood-floored, rental-shoe-smelling skate centers. It's enough to make you run home to a search engine, looking for a still-operating rink near you. It may have been decades since you put on skates. But maybe there are people on the floor there who can show you how it's done. Production company: Sweet Ninja Films Directors-Producers: Dyana Winkler, Tina Brown Writer: Dyana Winkler Executive producers: Jeffrey Soros, Simon Horsman, Julie Parker Benello, Jim Butterworth Directors of photography: Matthew Peterson, Tina Brown, Dyana Winkler Editor: Katharine Garrison Composers: Jongnic Bontemps, Jim Winkler Venue: Tribeca Film Festival (SidebarOrSection) Sales: Kevin Iwashina, Endeavor Content 88 minutes

The Jonathan Tropper-written drama was inspired by a 2010 New York Times article about the closing of the last processor of Kodachrome. The star-studded cast of Netflix’s upcoming film Kodachrome showed up to celebrate on Wednesday night as the film premiered at the Hollywood Arclight. The film, whose premise was ripped straight from the headlines, follows a dying father (Ed Harris), his son (Jason Sudeikis) and the father's nurse/personal assistant (Elizabeth Olsen) as they take a road trip from New York to Kansas to develop the father’s last rolls of Kodachrome before the country's final lab closes. The writing process happened quickly for screenwriter Jonathan Trooper. “I happened to be on the Fox lot for something else and I popped by [producer and director] Shawn Levy’s office to say hello and Dan, who runs his company, hands me this New York Times article and says, 'See if this inspires you.' Two days later I came back and I was like, ‘I got the movie’ and we just went from there,” he said. Despite taking nearly eight years to end upon the screen and going through multiple iterations, the script remained nearly identical to its original version, according to producer Shawn Levy. “We started off late 2009, so at that point I had read This is Where I Leave You, Jonathan Tropper's novel, and I loved his writing. I couldn’t get anywhere near directing it, but I was like, ‘This is awesome, I just want to do something with you’ and we found this article in the New York Times about the last Kodachrome lab closing and we brought the idea to Jonathan. In less than a week he had come up with this whole father-son redemption story,” Levy said. Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Eric Robinson, who also were producers on the film, were also impressed by Trooper’s speed. “I found it to be poignant and emotional and then we brought that article to Jonathan Trooper and within 48 hours he brought to us almost the exact same story you saw on screen,” Robinson said. The time it took for script to come to screen was a product of the finding the right cast, which he said all came together once Ed Harris came on board the project, Robinson added. “Getting to work with Ed has been a bucket-list experience for me. He is someone I have looked up to in theater and in real life, so that was pretty cool. He is like the ultimate American man,” Elizabeth Olsen told THR. Olsen added, “I think it’s a sweet movie and it found its perfect place with Netflix and I am happy they bought our film. I think it’s a movie about nostalgia and I think it feels nice. We could use more kindness.” Sudeikis, who was joined by his wife, Olivia Wilde on the red carpet, said, “I truly love the story, it is a lovely way to fractured masculine relationships. It’s also a beautiful redemption story — I love the themes of being at a crossroad of being in analog and digital. “ Kodachrome will start streaming on Netflix on April 20.

Sarah Jessica Parker plays a lounge singer dealing with a life-altering diagnosis in this occasionally touching melodrama. Death comes for Carrie Bradshaw. At the start of documentarian Fabien Constant’s first fiction feature Blue Night, New York resident Vivienne (Sarah Jessica Parker) is told she has a likely malignant brain tumor. (Her doctor is played by former “Grams” Mary Beth Peil; it’s the Dawson’s Creek-Sex and the City crossover you never knew you needed!) Unlike Parker’s most famous character, however, Vivienne isn’t the kind of person who can go gab with doting gal pals or turn her tale of woe into a homiletic gossip column. She’s a moody lounge singer after all (at one point Parker gets to croon a Rufus Wainwright tune, though in a more Broadway-ingenue style), so her true disposition, per the title of the album cover that’s prominently framed on her kitchen wall, is “Subtlety.” Except not really, since Parker spends most of the opening scenes being anything but subtle. In the diagnosis sequence alone, she flails her hands about — constantly touching her cheeks, wiping her eyes, amateurishly indicating Vivienne’s every distraught thought — in ways that would make that metacarpal ham Jeremy Davies blush. By the time she exits onto the busy Big Apple streets, wandering around like a hollow avatar of the also-probably-doomed heroine of Agnes Varda’s great Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962), you might be forgiven for thinking Blue Night’s 96 minutes will feel like the twenty-four hours over which the story takes place. Fortunately, Constant’s evident interest in the story’s melodramatic possibilities quickly kicks in. For the most part he reins in his lead actress’s worst instincts and, with the aid of cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe, allows the often beautifully composed widescreen images to augment Vivienne’s suddenly off-kilter existence. This is a movie comprised mostly of vignettes, and there’s a lovely one about twenty minutes in as Vivienne does some impromptu dress shopping. The camera follows her, in a single shot, from the front of the store to the back, catching each pause over an item, every glance in a mirror with a searching sensitivity that comes close to attaining the stirring emotionality of a classic Hollywood weepie like Dark Victory (1939),in which a blinded Bette Davis defiantly marched toward her maker. Yet Constant’s touchstones are more Euro arthouse — not just Varda’s Cleo, but the meta melodramas of Alain Resnais, whose eccentric tragic romance Love Unto Death (1984) plays in the background during a confessional encounter between Vivienne and her ex-husband Nick (Simon Baker). As Blue Night goes on, it becomes, like many a Resnais film, more visually abstract (notably in a scene in which Parker’s face is engulfed in a virtual kaleidoscope of saturated colors) while the narrative (with a script credited to playwright/House of Cards story editor Laura Eason) is increasingly reliant on self-conscious coincidence. Is Vivienne filtering her shell-shocked present through cliched tropes of art? Is she, effectively, making a hot-blooded movie out of her cold, clinical misery? That’s probably a more generous read than Blue Night deserves. Certainly the vexatious Lyft driver (Waleed Zuaiter) who becomes, by film’s end, the kind-hearted Virgil to Vivienne’s Dante is a shamelessly sentimental construct. At the opposite end is Jacqueline Bisset’s horror-show of a mother, always ready to guilt-trip her daughter for pursuing the art life. Superficiality reigns, but then a truly affecting scene will pop up like that early one in the dress shop, or a later one in which Vivienne has a chance meeting with an old friend, Tessa (Renée Zellweger), who masks her own creative disappointments behind perpetual, giggly tipsiness. Every element clicks into place, from the way the camera catches an errant fleck of cigarette ash as it drops onto Zellweger’s devil-red dress to the extra-textual resonance of two artists baring their various setbacks and successes through a series of evasively verbal and revealingly visual cues. Would that there was more such aesthetic harmony throughout. Production Companies: AMBI Media Group, Pretty Matches Productions Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Simon Baker, Jacqueline Bisset, Common, Taylor Kinney, Renée Zellweger, Waleed Zuaiter Director: Fabien Constant Producers: Andrea Iervolino, Lady Monika Bacardi, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alison Benson Screenwriter: Laura Eason Cinematographer: Javier Aguirresarobe Editor: Malcolm Jamieson Composer: Amie Doherty Executive Producer: Anna Dokoza, Luca Matrundola, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross Associate Producer: Claire Demere Co-Producer: Liviya Kraemer, Laura Eason Co-Executive Producer: Caroline Moore Original Song By: Rufus Wainwright Venue: Tribeca (Spotlight Narrative)

Angelina Jolie will return to star as the famed Disney villain. Ed Skrein is stepping into the Disney kingdom. The Deadpool actor will play the villain opposite Angelina Jolie in Disney's Maleficent sequel. Jolie and Elle Fanning are set to return for the follow-up of the 2014 hit that grossed $758 million at the global box office. Pirates of the Caribbean 5 co-helmer Joachim Ronning will direct the feature that centers on the Sleeping Beauty antagonist. Joe Roth will produce the pic, with Jez Butterworth and Linda Woolverton working on the screenplay. After a brief Game of Thrones stint, Skrein's breakout role came as the main villain in 2016's Deadpool. He will next be seen in the Fox tentpole Alita: Battle Angel, playing (you guessed it) a villain. Skrein also earned praise last year when he stepped aside from a role in the Hellboy reboot to allow an actor of Asian descent to play the part of Major Ben Daimio, who in the comic books is Asian. Daniel Dae Kim later stepped into the role.

Hereditary has a frightening new trailer that focuses on Charlie, the young daughter in the Graham family. This film is the feature-length debut from writer and director Ari Aster. Following the Graham family, Hereditary tells the story of a bereaved family after the death of the matriarch, Ellen. In the aftermath of Ellen’s passing, her daughter’s family begins to discover terrifying secrets about their ancestry. Based on the Hereditary trailers released thus far, the film will be a psychological horror experience that, until recent years, we rarely got to see on the big screen. Early reviews from Sundance Film Festial and SXSW have raved about the film’s horror elements, and this new trailer further promises we’re in for a wild ride. Hereditary‘s “Charlie” trailer focuses on young Charlie Graham, played by Milly Shapiro in her film debut. There is definitely something going on with Charlie, and it does not look good. Here, we have a man on fire, a couple of strangers who seem to know more about Ellen than the family does, and a horrible tongue-clicking noise made by Charlie herself. We might be seeing the next great horror film child actor right here. While the full plot of the film is intentionally vague, it’s safe to say that things get really weird for the Graham family, really quickly. Based on the clips in this trailer, the relationship between Charlie and her mother Annie (played by Toni Collette) plays an important role in the film, along with Annie’s strained relationship with her mother. This sort of family dysfunction is a major theme in Aster’s work, (watch his short films Munchausen and the controversial The Strange Thing About the Johnsons for a better idea), so we can only imagine what he has in store for us with Hereditary. Horror has seen somewhat of a renaissance lately, which is a very welcome thing. From 2014’s celebrated Babadook to 2016’s The Witch and Get Out and IT in 2017, it is a very good time to be alive for horror fans. But it’s not just the run-of-the-mill type of horror films like Truth or Dare that are making a comeback. A24, the film studio that is behind The Witch and Hereditary, is a very big part of this resurgence. Not only are they providing us with dark, psychological horror that sticks with the viewers, A24 is also giving indie filmmakers the chance to take risks and make the movies they want to make. With the track record that A24 has had so far, Hereditary should be well worth the nightmares.

Westworld creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan will adapt William Gibson’s futuristic sci-fi novel The Peripheral for Amazon. When HBO unleashed Game of Thrones on the world in 2011, it quickly became clear that the game had changed when it came to staging fantasy and sci-fi stories for television. Thrones has of course only become bigger over the years, sending HBO’s competitors scrambling to find their own tentpole genre properties. In their own effort to keep up with HBO, Amazon will try to one-up Game of Thrones by going back to the well-spring to produce a Lord of the Rings series that could cost north of $500 million (and may yet be produced by Peter Jackson). Of course, Thrones isn’t the only major, pop culture dominating genre property at HBO. There’s also Westworld, the mind-bending sci-fi series currently headed into its second season. When it comes to discussion on social media, Reddit and other outlets, Westworld inspires nearly as much passion as Thrones. Now it appears Amazon will go for their own Westworld-style sci-fi series. And who better to deliver the goods than the very team responsible for HBO’s epic futuristic robot Western? As reported by THR, Joy and Nolan will hop over to Amazon to adapt acclaimed novelist William Gibson’s sci-fi novel The Peripheral through their Kilter Films banner. Scott B. Smith (A Simple Plan) will handle writing chores with Vincenzo Natali (Westworld) directing. Amazon reportedly has given the project a script-to-series order, meaning it would bypass the pilot stage if the script turns out well. Gibson of course is renowned as the originator of the cyberpunk genre with his classic novel Neuromancer (at one time reportedly set to become a movie directed by Tim Miller). Gibson’s 2014 work The Peripheral takes place in two timelines: a near future where things have progressed in a decidedly dystopian direction, and a more distant future where a flat out horrible cataclysm has wiped out most of humanity, leaving earth’s cities largely abandoned. These two worlds become linked via the use of cyborg avatars – called “peripherals” – that take advantage of quantum effects to travel back and forth through time. Gibson has already penned a sequel called Agency, set to release this month (opening up the possibility for a longer run of seasons at Amazon). Legendary as Gibson may be, adaptations of his works have seldom made it far in development. But with their experience bringing the complex, multi-timeline narrative of Westworld to life, perhaps Joy and Nolan will be the ones to finally crack the code. As far as Amazon goes, the “copy HBO” plan seems to be in full effect. Lord of the Rings may give them their Game of Thrones, and The Peripheral may give them their Westworld.

Ones who are suckers for this genre have Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ) as their parameter to judge romantic films; except of course Salman Khan fans they have Maine Pyar Kiya. The fact of Aditya Chopra having Tom Cruise in mind while writing Shah Rukh Khan aka Raj’s character in film is not a mystery to many now. But, what if this really would’ve happen, what if Tom Cruise really starred in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, how the movie would’ve ended? Just shut the logic compartment of your brain and think for it once. The climax of DDLJ takes place on a station but with Tom Cruise coming in the movie, train would be too mainstream. The twisted ending of DDLJ will take place on a lavish helipad where the entire family of Kajol including Late Mr. Amrish Puri, Farida Jalal are creating a scene. Amrish Puri is holding Kajol’s hand and not letting her go as she requests “Baauji, please mujhe jaane dijiye, Raj hi meri zindagi hai.” On the other side, we have our hero in Raj (Tom Cruise) flooded in blood all over standing on an edge of the helicopter. As he stares into the eyes of Amrish Puri the wings of the helicopter starts swirling as the engine gets started. Kajol still requesting to let her go for her love to Baauji Amrish Puri. As the helicopter starts to take off from the land Amrish Puri realises how he can make this scene iconic by letting Kajol go. As Tom Cruise keeps staring in the hope, Amrish Puri says “Jaa Simran jaa, is ladke se zyada pyaar tujhe aur koi nahi kar sakta, jaa Simran jaa, jee le apni zindagi.” Helicopter is a few foots above from ground level as Kajol starts running towards it with DDLJ theme music running in background. A minute long run finally takes Kajol below the helicopter as Raj bends down and gives Simran his hand. He pull her up an hugs her delivering the renowned dialogue, “It’s all right, bade bade desho mein aisi choti choti baatein hoti rehti hai.” YES! That could have been the ending featuring Tom Cruise and Kajol. Now many would apply logic and say Tom Cruise could’ve stop the helicopter by instructing the pilot but so could’ve Shah Rukh Khan? So, it’s all right because badi badi movies mein aisi choti choti baatein hoti rehti hai. PS: This article was just for fun and we all know the greatness of Shah Rukh Khan and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. Also, Shah Rukh Khan is irreplaceable with let it be any actor from the world cinema.

Children's programming from France, Canada, the U.K. and Norway share the honors at this year's ceremony, held in Cannes Tuesday night. German series Red Bracelets, a teen drama about chronically ill kids set in a children's hospital ward, has won the top prize for best series at this year's International Kids Emmys. The show is a local adaption by Germany's Bantry Bay Productions of the hit Catalan series Polseres Vermelles for commercial network Vox. A ratings and critical success at home, the German version has spawned a cinema prequel, currently in production, which will hit theaters next year. Fox in the U.S. is currently working on an American version of the original format. European shows swept this year's International Kids Emmys, held Tuesday night during Mip TV in Cannes. Series from Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Norway took all but one of the awards. The exception was the trophy for best non-scripted entertainment show, which went to Canadian format Snapshots, from Forte Entertainment, in which three kids compete, against the clock, to take the best photo of their lives. ZDF's Berlin and Us, a documentary look at refugees in Germany that pairs four local kids in Berlin with four recent immigrant arrivals, won the International Kids Emmy for best factual program, while Norway's NRK took the best digital show honor for its web series Young Girls, which is presented as a blog and combines elements of Snaps, text messages and live-action drama. Hank Zipzer's Christmas Catastrophe from Britain's CBBC won the Emmy for best TV movie or mini-series, France's The Treehouse Stories won best preschool program, and Revolting Rhymes, a two-part series for the BBC adapted from the book of rhymes written by Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), won the International Kids Emmy for best animation.

Apple is developing a drama series based on the “Foundation” book trilogy by Isaac Asimov, Variety has confirmed. The potential series will be written and executive produced by David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman, who will also serve as co-showrunners. Skydance Television is producing the series with David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Marcy Ross also serving as executive producers. The book trilogy–comprised of the novels “Foundation,” “Foundation and Empire,” and “Second Foundation”–takes place in a time when the Milky Way is under the control of the Galactic Empire. A mathematician named Hari Seldon develops a method to predict the fall of the empire, leading him to form a group known as The Foundation to preserve and build on human knowledge and speed the rise of a new empire. This marks the latest attempt to adapt the trilogy for the screen. Multiple film adaptations have been in the works over the years, while HBO attempted to develop it as a series with “Westworld” co-creator Jonathan Nolan in 2015. Skydance acquired the rights to the project last year. The company is also behind the current series “Grace and Frankie” and “Altered Carbon” for Netflix, “Jack Ryan” for Amazon, “Condor” at Audience Network, and “Dietland” for AMC. This marks the latest high-profile project in Apple’s ever-growing originals slate. The company has given out several straight-to-series orders to date, including a morning show drama from Jennifer Anniston and Reese Witherspoon, an untitled M. Night Shyamalan thriller, and the Damian Chazelle drama announced in January. Apple is also prepping a reboot of “Amazing Stories” from executive producer Steven Spielberg. An untitled space race drama from Ron Moore, the drama “See” from Steven Knight and Francis Lawrence, and the immigrant anthology series “Little America” from Kumail Nanjiana, Emily V. Gordon, and Lee Eisenberg are also in the works.

Three new trailers for Cobra Kai introduce audiences to the YouTube Red series’ trio of new karate kids. More than 30 years after The Karate Kid became the feel-good hit of 1984, Ralph Macchio and William Zabka return to reprise the characters of Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence, respectively. Previous trailers teased the resumption of Daniel and Johnny’s epic rivalry, which rekindles in the new series after Lawrence returns to re-open the Cobra Kai dojo. Lawrence in the new series is a down-on-his-luck guy who looks for redemption by bringing back Cobra Kai. The plot turns the original movie on its head by having Lawrence take on the Mr. Miyagi role, becoming a mentor to a young bullied kid (Xolo Maridueña) not that different from Daniel in the original movie. Daniel meanwhile has become a successful businessman, but when he learns Lawrence is back in the neighborhood, he gets himself ready to throw down one more time. In addition to Johnny and Daniel, Cobra Kai also introduces three new young characters who for various reasons all end up involved with karate. The characters now get their own previews in a trio of just released trailers. In the one seen above, we meet Miguel (Maridueña), the bullying victim who needs Johnny to become his sensei so he may learn the ways of karate and deal some pain back to the kids making his life miserable. Of course, Johnny does not go easy on Miguel as we see. Johnny may be sensei now but his style is nothing like gentle Mr. Miyagi. In another pair of clips seen below, we meet Daniel’s karate fighting daughter Sam (Mary Mouser) and Johnny’s rebellious son Robby (Tanner Buchanan). Possibly the best moment in the new clips comes when Johnny “cures” Miguel’s asthma by slapping his inhaler out of his hand. That’s probably not the doctor-recommended method for treating asthma, but whatever works! Meanwhile, Robby seems to have some serious issues with his dad. Somewhat deliciously, Robby reminds Johnny to his face that his old enemy Daniel ended up a winner while he ended up a loser. It seems that crane kick back in 1984 set Johnny’s life on a bad path he never managed to correct. Which actually makes Johnny somewhat of a tragic character. As we see in the Robby clip, the tone of Cobra Kai is a little more adult than the PG-rated original Karate Kid. The new series clearly means to go grittier – with more swearing – than previous Karate Kid movies. But how will this harder edge go down with parents who might want to watch Cobra Kai with their kids and relive some of that old Karate Kid spirit? In another interesting move, Cobra Kai‘s 10 episodes will only be 30 minutes each – sitcom length instead of drama length. The show is described as “comedy-drama” so it shouldn’t be surprising that there’s a lot of jokiness to the trailers.

A new Lord of the Rings book is slated for release, spotlighting a little-known chapter in the history of Middle-earth. As the world gears up for Amazon’s Lord of the Rings television show, fans and newcomers to the series will most likely want to revisit the books, re-introducing themselves to the world J.R.R. Tolkien created to prepare themselves for the show. There’s a lot to cover. There have already been multiple adaptations of the original three books that comprise the Lord of the Rings trilogy. From animated adaptations to director Peter Jackson’s iconic trilogy, the world of J.R.R. Tolkien has seen life in multiple forms. The world that Frodo the hobbit, his loyal friend Samwise, the mysterious and wise Gandalf, and others have developed into a massive sprawling universe that takes place across multiple mediums and has developed a massive fanbase. With fans eager to explore more of Middle-earth after The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Tolkien’s son Christopher has tasked himself with cataloging his father’s work and walking readers through his world. According to EW, it’s a world that’s about to get bigger with a brand new book. Titled The Fall of Gondolin, the novel will chronicle the fall of Gondolin, a major city in Middle-earth, and its citizens. First mentioned in The Silmarillion, the story has all the hallmarks of Tolkien, including; a doomed love story, an incredibly epic battle (widely believed to be the largest Tolkien described), and a half-human, half-elf child slated for a great destiny. The Fall of Gondolin began life as The Tale of Earendale and Christopher Tolkien will walk readers through the story in the upcoming book, which is now slated to arrive on August 30th, 2018. The book will be the conclusion of a trilogy based on stories from The Silmarillion that includes The Children of Hurin, and The Tale of Beren and Luthien. It will feature drawings and color plates from Alan Lee, who won the Best Art Direction Oscar for his work on Jackson’s Return of the King adaptation. That might be a key sign for fans looking forward to the Lord of the Rings TV show that this book is worth paying attention to, especially with the news that Jackson might produce Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series. When people think of fantasy nowadays, they often think first of HBO’s Game of Thrones TV show based on the books by George R.R. Martin. While most high fantasy has similar roots in stories about large monsters and mysterious doomed romances, The Fall of Gondolin sounds a bit more like Game of Thrones than other Middle-earth tales. This further suggests that it could be incorporated in the narrative for the upcoming Lord of the Rings TV adaptation. It’s worth considering, anyway. The Tale of Earendale, or The Fall of Gondolin as it’s now going to be called, is a broad sweeping story that features plenty of fantastical monsters and excitement for fans of all shades. Even if Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV show doesn’t adapt it, the book sounds like a must-read for any Tolkien and/or Middle-earth enthusiast.

Recently, producer Ekta Kapoor introduced the first naagin, Karishma Tanna from TV show Naagin 3. Today, she has shared the second naagin, Anita Hassanandani on her social media account. Ekta shared the poster starring Anita and we must say she looks damn hot. We will see her as shape shifting snake woman. Naagin 3 New Poster: Anita Hassanandani Maintains The HOTNESS! Ekta Kapoor took to her Instagram account and wrote, “NAAGIN 3 welcomes @anitahassanandani as the second shape shifting snake woman! It’s V FOR VENDETTA this season in INDIA’S most watched folklore supernatural franchise !!! Wait for the show only on Colors!” The first two parts of this television serial did tremendously well. Earlier, Mouni Roy played the lead in the two seasons. But now, fans won’t be able to see her in the third part.

Daniel Craig finally confirms that Bond 25 as his next movie. The actor made his debut as 007 in Martin Campbell’s Casino Royale in 2006, and he reprised his role in three sequels – the last one being Sam Mendes’ Spectre in 2015. Although the movie was a sequel to the most successful installment in the entire James Bond franchise, it wasn’t as well-received nor as commercially successful. So, the producers behind the series are looking to get back on track. To do that, several things are changing behind the scenes regarding Craig’s presumably final Bond film. So far, screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have written the scripts for each James Bond film since The World is Not Enough, and they are expected to write the script for Bond 25 as well. However, it has also been reported that Trainspotting scribe John Hodge is writing a separate Bond 25 screenplay that may be used for Danny Boyle to direct, which he could do this year if the script is approved. Unfortunately, there has been some uncertainty regarding Craig’s return as 007. After Spectre released, he seemed hesitant to jump back into the role, even saying that there hadn’t been a decision yet as of last fall. But it seems everything has been settled and he’s now set to return as Bond. Daniel Craig attended a recent auction in which he sold his personal 2014 Aston Martin. And speaking with Associated Press at the event, Craig confirmed that Bond 25 is indeed his next movie, saying, “Yeah,” when asked if that’s his next project. Then, when asked about Danny Boyle’s involvement as director, Craig smiled and said, “We’ll see, we’ll see.” Although it was somewhat obvious that Daniel Craig would return for Bond 25, the fact that he and the producers have been cagey about expressly confirming his return so far put some doubts in fans’ minds. But it seems that was all for naught as Craig is now definitely returning for the next James Bond film. And while it’s great that the next installment has its star, the questions still remain about who will be writing and directing the sequel? Shortly after news broke about Danny Boyle potentially directing Bond 25, the filmmaker confirmed that he’s currently working on a Bond script with John Hodge – Boyle said that he had an idea and Hodge is trying to put that idea down on paper – but that he first had another project with About Time scribe Richard Curtis in the works that he needed to focus on. If Boyle and Hodge’s idea doesn’t please the producers, then there’s Purvis and Wade’s script, which will need to be picked up by another filmmaker to bring to life on the big screen. Aside from the cast and crew, there’s also the question of which studio is going to distribute the film. Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures’ contract with MGM and EON Productions expired with Spectre, and the production studios are now only offering a one-film contract for whichever distributor picks up the Bond 25 rights. What’s interesting is that, since MGM fired its CEO, reports suggest that MGM could go up for sale, and whichever studio acquires them could potentially obtain the James Bond production rights. Again, the franchise’s future is a bit unclear, but for now, fans can rest assured knowing Daniel Craig is going to film Bond 25 soon…ish.

Attorneys for Netflix and Fox traded arguments on Tuesday in a high-stakes case involving the alleged poaching of two Fox employees. The case revolves around the key question of whether 20th Century Fox, or any studio, can hold its employees to fixed-term contracts. Two Fox employees, Marcos Waltenberg and Tara Flynn, left for jobs with the streaming giant in 2016. It is not uncommon for employees to leave before their contracts are up, but Fox chose to sue Netflix to combat what it saw as poaching. Netflix has countered that Fox’s contracts illegally bind employees to the company in a practice akin to slavery. The potential consequences of the case are far-reaching, and so the case has been aggressively litigated on both sides. Netflix filed a countersuit, seeking to have Fox’s agreements deemed unenforceable. Fox then filed a motion to strike the countersuit under California’s anti-SLAPP statute, which protects public debate, arguing that Netflix was improperly stepping on its rights to enforce its contracts. The trial court judge denied that motion, allowing both suits to proceed, which prompted Fox to file an appeal. That appeal was argued Tuesday before a three-judge panel at the California 2nd District Court of Appeal. “We want our day in court to prove their contracts are unenforceable,” said Netflix’s counsel, Eric Shumsky of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, after the hearing. “They shut down the proceeding with this anti-SLAPP motion.” Jonathan Hacker, a partner at O’Melveny & Myers, argued the case on behalf of Fox. He told the panel that Netflix has engaged in “faux populism” by seeking to liberate Fox employees from their fixed-term agreements. He argued that Netflix, in fact, has its own fixed-term agreements with showrunners such as Shonda Rhimes. “Kobe Bryant can’t start playing for the Clippers. Shonda Rhimes can’t work for Fox. They’re under contract,” Hacker argued. “Who is Netflix to tell Fox employees they have to be at-will employees when they don’t want to be?” Netflix argues that under California law, employees with extraordinary talents — like Rhimes — can be compelled to perform under their contracts. But Netflix alleges that Fox’s contracts improperly seek to extend that obligation to every ordinary vice president, binding them to the company with the threat of a legal injunction whether they still want to work there or not. Before the panel, Shumsky argued that this provision of Fox contracts is “absurdly unlawful” and that it could violate the 13th Amendment, which outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude. He also said that Fox unilaterally extends employment contracts in the middle of the term, with the threat of termination if employees don’t comply. Netflix has also argued that Fox selectively enforces its contracts, allowing employees to leave so long as they are not going to work for a competitor. The appellate panel has three months to issue a ruling. The panel could affirm the lower court’s ruling, allowing both the Fox poaching suit and the Netflix countersuit to proceed. Or it could reverse, striking the Netflix countersuit but leaving the Fox suit in place. Either way, the fight will continue before the trial court.

Sony Pictures’ “White Boy Rick,” starring Matthew McConaughey, Richie Merritt, Bel Powley, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, will now be released wide Sept. 21, a month after its original release date of Aug. 17. The movie will also get a limited release on Sept. 14. This marks the second time “White Boy Rick” was delayed; it was previously pushed back eight months from Jan. 26. “White Boy Rick” is set in 1980s Detroit at the height of the crack epidemic and the War on Drugs. The film is based on the true story of a blue-collar father (McConaughey) and his teenage son, Rick Wershe (Richie Merritt), who became an undercover police informant and later a drug dealer, before he was abandoned by his handlers and sentenced to a life in prison. Darren Aronofsky serves as a producer on the project. The original release date of “White Boy Rick” is now occupied by another Sony Pictures title, “Alpha,” being pushed up a month from its previous Sept. 14 date. Set in the last Ice Age in Europe 20,000 years ago, “Alpha” follows a young man who is injured and left for dead after his first hunt with his tribe’s most elite group. After he awakens, he must learn to survive and navigate the harsh and unforgiving wilderness. Along the way, he tames a lone wolf abandoned by his pack, forming a partnership to face the dangers standing in their way of finding home before the deadly winter arrives. “Alpha,” which was previously titled “Solutrean,” stars Kodi Smit-McPhee and Johannes Haukur Johannesson. Albert Hughes serves as director, producer, and originated the story while Daniele Sebastian Wiedenhaupt wrote the screenplay. “Alpha” will be shown in 3D. Both “White Boy Rick” and “Alpha” are produced by Studio 8.

Possibly Netflix's most accessible show to date, this mixture of 'This Is Us' and 'The Martian' isn't deep, but it's full of family-friendly thrills. Over the past five years, Netflix has built its big tent of original programming around a vast network of midsize tents, sometimes combining smaller niche genres to attract bigger audiences (as with Stranger Things) and sometimes using darker subject matter to complicate would-be blockbusters (the Catholic angst of Daredevil or the rape PTSD undercurrent of Jessica Jones). The result has been a perception that Netflix, as huge as it is, has gotten where it is by trying to not aim straight down the middle. Part of why there has been such hostility toward film offerings like Bright and the pact with Adam Sandler was the sense that Netflix was supposed to be somehow better than that type of mainstream pandering. Also, those things were generally awful. It's strange to look at the latest in a string of sci-fi adaptations of a landmark children's novel as being something new, but Lost in Space absolutely represents fresh ground for Netflix, at least in terms of its potential reach. Previously a beloved 1960s TV show and a less-than-beloved 1998 feature, Lost in Space premieres Friday as possibly Netflix's broadest series to date. It's an old-fashioned, fast-moving, family-friendly adventure yarn unmuddied by an excess of subtext, political undercurrent or narrative mythologizing. Even feeling overcalculated at every turn, the show is fun, occasionally exciting and ever-so-accessible. Developed by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (Dracula Untold) and run by Zack Estrin (Prison Break) — Irwin Allen retains a "created by" credit after all these years — Lost in Space is the story of the Robinson family. Mom Maureen (Molly Parker) is a brilliant aerospace engineer and father John (Toby Stephens) a courageous military type. A cataclysmic event on Earth has sent the Robinsons into space heading for a new home near Alpha Centauri and forced rapid maturation for kids Judy (Taylor Russell), an aspiring doctor; Penny (Mina Sundwall), wisecracking and resourceful; and son Will (Maxwell Jenkins), brilliant but perhaps tentative under pressure. When things go terribly wrong on their main craft, the Robinsons are forced to crash-land on an unknown and unnamed planet that looks distinctly like British Columbia, albeit populated by magnificent CG-enhanced flora and fauna. Finding themselves similarly lost, as it were, in space are Don West (Ignacio Serricchio), a mechanic and rakish smuggler, and the mysterious Doctor Smith (Parker Posey), who is none of the things she says she is. There's also a towering humanoid robot — more Klaautu than Robby — who quickly becomes deeply invested in protecting Will Robinson from danger. No knowledge of any previous Lost in Space incarnation is necessary to understand what Sazama and Sharpless are doing here. There are shared character names, a couple references and at least one huge premiere Easter egg that will amuse those who catch it and won't hinder the uninitiated. The narrative engine is still propelled by the nefarious Doctor Smith's myriad sabotage attempts, but one hardly need know Jonathan Harris or recent Oscar winner Gary Oldman's work to figure that out. The score, by Christopher Lennertz, nods in the direction of John Williams' original theme before carving out its own muscular and rousing terrain. Netflix's Lost in Space is half family-reconciliation melodrama and half futuristic survivalist fantasy, so one could surely do worse than to call it This Is Us meets The Martian. John's overcommitment to work has left him estranged enough that rebuilding trust with his son, trying to make sense of his daughters and rekindling his passion for his wife are challenges on par with restoring channels of communication, seeking out fuel resources and figuring out how to depart their temporary terrestrial home. There's romance and bickering-yet-loving sibling relationships, and the whole thing has enough heart to fill in the gaps between action scenes. Led by pilot director Neil Marshall, Lost in Space has a charming-but-robotic adherence to the type of old-movie-house serials that were more genuinely influential to the source material. Do you like literal cliffhangers? There's an almost exhausting amount of dangling from cliffs. Do you like your tension embellished by ominous countdowns? Things on Lost in Space are constantly taking 10 or 30 or 60 seconds to lift off, blow up or run out of oxygen. Though some of the show's 10 hour-ish episodes have padded running time, the filler is usually character-driven, with such economy that no prop or detail is introduced without an eventual payoff, usually predictably and yet well-executed. It's a balance that allows the show to go between rousing space car stunts, creepy CG creature attacks and pricey-looking space exploits and family conversations that were surely less costly. It's a pleasure to watch Canadian indie film darling and frequent brainy TV favorite Parker (House of Cards) going back and forth between full-on Ellen Ripley and encouragingly maternal. With some of the rest of the cast, there's a growth process. Stephens' excessive initial gruffness and clumsy American accent take some getting used to, while both Serricchio and Sundwall have to plow through a lot of hit-and-miss one-liners before the characters settle down in appealing ways. Even acting often opposite a special-effects co-star, Jenkins gives a well-above-average juvenile performance and Russell shines when Judy gets to be capable and not just a damsel-in-distress. Expect Posey to be a bit of a challenge for some viewers, with her familiar flat and wry line-readings that I found perfectly pitched for a character who's never supposed to be trustworthy for a second, yet keeps being stupidly trusted. Lost in Space rather aggressively avoids going down any dark-and-gritty or allegorical paths. There are no environmental undertones to what causes the evacuation of Earth, no gun control message even in a world of laser-printed weapons and, despite Don's blue-collar inferiority complex, basically no critique of economic disparities in an allegedly merit-based future utopia. An embrace of inclusivity and generally unremarked-upon feminism are still OK in an all-ages romp in which there isn't a hint of bad language or sexuality, the scares are low-intensity and when the occasional tertiary character dies, it can be forgotten immediately. A show about resourcefulness and problem solving is rarely more intellectually taxing than a shallow Wikipedia dive. Intellectualizing and politicizing and complicating can all be audience limiters, and Lost in Space wants to be Netflix's biggest tent show yet — so far with entertaining, popcorn-series results. Cast: Toby Stephens, Molly Parker, Taylor Russell, Mina Sundwall, Maxwell Jenkins, Ignacio Serricchio, Parker Posey Developed by: Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (from the 1960s series by Irwin Allen) Showrunner: Zack Estrin Premieres: Friday (Netflix)