Watch Brie Larson Surprise Fans At A Captain Marvel Screening

Watch Brie Larson Surprise Fans At A Captain Marvel Screening

Captain Marvel had a big opening in theaters this weekend, and lead actress Brie Larson did her part to garner some additional excitement around the film. Over the weekend, she headed to an AMC theater in Clifton, NJ, where she sold snacks and surprised audiences. You can take a look at the actress wandering into a theater below.

Forget surprising fans at a screening for a movie you just starred in. The real joy, here, is how much Brie Larson seemed to be enjoying sucking down that beverage with her face on it. Seriously though, the actress threw on a fun store bought version of Captain Marvel’s jumpsuit. (I would guess it was a mite more comfortable than the real thing.)

She said of carrying the giant drink around that she had “just heard” she was on the cup and needed to see it herself. What a weird experience that would probably be, finding your likeness on a cup for the first time. In the Facebook video, you can also see the myriad flashes of people taking shots of the actress in the theaters. There are plenty of hoots and hollers as well, which the actress takes in stride.

I’ve been to public screenings before where celebrities show up and the experience is quite unlike anything else. These sorts of things generally happen on opening weekend when people really, really want to see the movie anyway. Throw in a celebrity and the energy becomes palpable.

In addition to showing up in the theater, Brie Larson even handed out popcorn and other snacks to other moviegoers at the AMC theater, which was some free labor AMC likely didn’t expect.

That’s not all of the snack shots Brie Larson posed for either. The actress was also seen posing for photos with fans and even filling up buckets of popcorn.

Captain Marvel opened to $153 million domestically at the weekend box office, so it really didn’t need any pr from Brie Larson to be successful. However, the gesture seems to have really been appreciated by the Clifton crowd and the actress herself seemed to be having a blast. You can catch Carol Danvers having a blast, as well, in theaters now.

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So Christopher Nolan's Next Movie Won't Really Be Like North By Northwest Meets Inception?

So Christopher Nolan's Next Movie Won't Really Be Like North By Northwest Meets Inception?

It's been about a year and a half since the release of Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, and the acclaimed director's next film is still shrouded in mystery. Well, at least it was until new reports claimed that it was a romantic thriller that was a cross between North by Northwest and Inception. It was a concept that intrigued film fans, but it sounds like it's back to the guessing games because a new report claims that the last rumor is false.

Christopher Nolan is one of the most prestigious directors working today. He's the mind behind excellent movies like The Prestige and Memento, and gained mainstream popularity for his work on The Dark Knight Trilogy. He was finally nominated for an Oscar on his last film, 2017's Dunkirk, and since then movie fans have been eagerly awaiting to find out more details about his next project.

It seemed like those details had finally come when a report from Production Weekly claimed that Christopher Nolan's new film was described "as a romantic thriller, North by Northwest in tone meets Inception." Inception blew people's minds back in 2010, and North by Northwest is said to be one of the greatest films ever made, so it's a pretty cool mashup on paper.

However, it sounds like the update was off-base. A source told IGN the information provided by Production Weekly was inaccurate. No further elaboration was given, so it sounds like we are all back in the dark on this one.

On one hand, this can be seen as good news. Christopher Nolan has many strengths, but I don't know that I would say that romance is one of them. His films usually come off as being a bit colder and focused primarily on the drama or psychosis of his main character. That's not to say he does't have a great romantic thriller in him, but it's a bit of uncharted territory for Nolan.

For those who may not know, North by Northwest is a 1959 thriller from Alfred Hitchcock. It followed Cary Grant as a man with mistaken identity who winds up running across the country as he's swept up into a conspiracy. Even if you've never seen the film, you've probably seen the above image of Cary Grant running from an airplane recreated a dozen different times in pop culture.

Inception is one of Christopher Nolan's most well-known films, and it starred Leonardo DiCaprio as a thief who steals information by entering people's dreams.

At least we know one thing about Christopher Nolan's next movie: the release date. The movie is currently slated to arrive in theaters on July 17, 2020. There are lot of movies to look forward to until then, so be sure to learn about them all in our handy 2019 movie release guide.

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There Are Two Things Keanu Reeves Really Wanted In John Wick 3

There Are Two Things Keanu Reeves Really Wanted In John Wick 3

After the first two action smorgasbord John Wick movies, its almost hard to know how John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ups the ante even further and gives Baba Yaga something new to do beyond just adding to his body count. Fortunately, Keanu Reeves had some ideas, and there were two things that the actor really wanted to see in the third film. As he explained:

I wanted John Wick in desert, passing a dune. Saudi Arabia. Lawrence of Arabia, in a suit John Wick. ... And I wanted John Wick on a horse.

John Wick of Arabia? Keanu Reeves seemingly wanted to put his character in situations that we haven’t seen him in before, ones that are foreign to him and the audience. As Keanu Reeves told Collider, he wanted to put the hitman in the desert like Lawrence of Arabia and separately, have him ride a horse. As we’ve seen in the trailers for John Wick 3, Keanu Reeves got his wish on both accounts.

In the trailers, we see John Wick in the desert, traversing a dune in a suit. He looks completely out of his element and out of the context we are used to seeing him in. Keanu Reeves wants John Wick to suffer, and not being appropriately dressed in the desert looks pretty miserable. That said, John Wick does still look cool in his suit and maybe he’ll meet up with the new Men in Black who will also be going to the desert in Men in Black: International.

John Wick on a horse is also quite the sight because we are used to seeing the assassin on foot or in a car, so to see the ultimate badass riding a horse through the city like a knight of old is pretty cool. Keanu Reeves also elaborated a bit on these elements and the broadening of the world of John Wick. He said:

I thought it would be cool if John Wick escaped on a horse, so we got John Wick riding some horses, fighting with some horses. That was fun. I thought would be cool if John Wick was in a suit in a desert, somehow. So, we’re going to go some desert. We got some cool story there that is opening up the world. We’re really fans of the world. I love the character, so I was like, "How do we get John Wick on a dune?" We came up with an idea – we’re opening up the idea of the High Table, the world—the levels, architecture. If 1 and 2 were The Continental, and we kind of started to hear about the High Table, and now we’re going deeper into the High Table.

Normally you might think that bending the story so that you could do something that looks cool would be ill advised, but the John Wick franchise is all about doing badass stuff that looks cool and, in this instance, these elements are opening up the world of the film. John Wick: Chapter 2 moved the franchise international and John Wick 3 looks as though it will have even more globetrotting.

It sounds like part of what takes Baba Yaga to the desert is the deepening mythology of the series that will happen in this film. The existence of The Continental was what first showed us that John Wick wasn’t just a normal revenge tale or hitman movie, it had a mythology to it. In John Wick: Chapter 2 we began to see that there was an organization that seemed to govern these international establishments and set the rules for the assassins, The High Table.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is set to take us further into The High Table and show us more about how this underground world of assassins works, and that should give fans plenty to be excited for -- in addition to seeing John Wick do battle on horseback, trek through the desert, and swordfight with ninjas on motorcycles.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum gallops into theaters on May 17. Check out our 2019 release schedule to keep track of this year’s biggest movies, and for all your movie news stay tuned to CinemaBlend.

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Even Though Zac Efron's Ted Bundy Movie Is Heading To Netflix, It's Getting An R-Rating

Even Though Zac Efron's Ted Bundy Movie Is Heading To Netflix, It's Getting An R-Rating

Netflix has had a weird history with rating its original movies, but now we know for certain that one of its big upcoming movies will be Rated R. The movie in question is Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. Given the serial killer subject matter of the upcoming Netflix flick, an R rating for the Ted Bundy-based flick makes sense.

The MPAA has given Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile an R-rating and, as you can probably guess, one of the reasons cited is for “disturbing” content. More specifically, the MPAA says:

Rated R for disturbing/violent content, some sexuality, nudity and language.

While the R rating is not a giant surprise (or at least shouldn’t be given the subject matter), what is interesting is that the film has been rated at all.

We’ve reported previously on Netflix’s inconsistencies with rating its movies. Some flicks in the past have been given TV-MA or similar TV guideline-based ratings while some have been given MPAA ratings. It hasn’t always been consistent regarding whether or not a project has gotten a brief theatrical release, either.

However, just a couple of weeks ago, Netflix joined the MPAA. Hopefully, this means that a larger percentage of movies will actually be getting the types of ratings people in the U.S. are familiar with. I know it probably doesn't seem like a big deal given that Netflix has been letting people know whether or not something is "mature" content, but to me the fact that some projects have been rated more like TV projects while others have been rated like real movies made it clear that Netflix didn't really know what space it was occupying in the business.

By signing on with the MPAA, Netflix has shown that it sees its movies as competing with other movies and not with the stuff that cable and network TV is putting out. It also means the MPAA is now showing more of a willingness to work with Netflix, which has often been at odds with the movie industry at large.

Extremely Wickedy, Shockingly Evil, and Vile has dealt with some press recently for casting Zac Efron as a “hot Ted Bundy,” especially given the serial killer nature of the movie. However, Ted Bundy was notorious for being a good-looking guy while on death row long before Zac Efron was ever cast in the role. Plus, Netflix has already reminded people that if they are really looking for "hot" characters, there are plenty of other options on the streaming service.

It’s certainly a unique choice for Zac Efron at this point in his career to tackle a serial killer period drama. However, he has taken projects with an R rating before, most notoriously with the Rated R version of Baywatch. (Although the movie went on to be panned, the cast defended the move.)

Hopefully, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile won’t suffer the same fate. Netflix, in fact, has had some struggles with producing critically-acclaimed content, although this past year’s Roma from Alfonso Cuaron was a notable exception.

Ultimately, 2019 should be an interesting year for the streaming service, and not just because it has joined the MPAA. You can catch Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile sometime soon on Netflix. While we wait for an official date be sure to check out what is coming this month on Netflix.

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The Incredible Way Pet Sematary Uses Sound To Amplify Its Scares

The Incredible Way Pet Sematary Uses Sound To Amplify Its Scares

The scares in a horror movie seldomly only comes from the terrors on screen. The genre has long used music cues and precise sound design to create a complete sensory experience that has audiences jumping out of their seats and belting out screams. It looks like the upcoming remake of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary is no exception.

CinemaBlend’s own Sean O’Connell spoke with Pet Sematary directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer at SXSW, where the film premiered. Check out what Kölsch said about the importance of focusing sound design in the horror epic:

We said going in that the one thing we really wanted to capture was the chapter in the book where they bury the cat - people online have called that Stephen King’s scariest chapter. If you go back and you read it, they are just on a journey through the woods and a swamp. They’re not encountered by anything. Louis maybe thinks he sees something moving in the trees that might be the Wendigo but every single thing in that chapter is all sound. It’s all describing the feeling of this forest through sound. So we went in going, we have to really get a great sound design team because we want to do this chapter and we want to have this journey and we’re not going to want to show anything.

In CinemaBlend’s recent interview with the Pet Sematary filmmakers, they explained the inspiration on the movie’s sound design came straight from the pages of Stephen King’s 1983 novel. Kevin Kölsch maintains that while one chapter in the horror bestseller when Louis and Jud go to bury Winston Church the cat may be regarded as the author’s scariest chapter to date, the contents of the chapter is not visually terrifying scene. It’s all about what they don’t see.

Enter sound design. A simple journey through the woods and swamp in which they fear the Wendigo is all captured through the music notes and noises the sound team worked on the film. It really is amazing how sound can inform audiences into the tension of the scene and terrify audiences, even when what’s happening on screen is as simple as a nervous walk through the woods. As director Dennis Widmeyer said:

What you don’t see is stronger.

Looks like fans of the novel Pet Sematary may find some satisfaction in watching the upcoming remake since the directors paid so much attention to replicating details like these into their iteration of the horror film. Check out the directors talk about sound design below:

There has already been a huge change made from the original novel, as the daughter instead of the son in the Creed family will be killed in an accident and then resurrected in an ancient graveyard. Stephen King has however voiced his understanding of the justification, along with calling the movie “fucking great!”

Stephen King’s sentiments about the new Pet Sematary has also been echoed by critics, who have largely praised the movie for being crazy scary, and a great adaptation to the classic horror novel. The 1989 movie hasn’t exactly aged well, and horror is making serious waves right now. Just look at how much Jordan Peele’s Us opening weekend box office record. So this is a welcome story to explore all over again.

This Friday, Pet Sematary will open alongside Shazam!, DC’s next superhero origin story. While the high-flying action flick is expected to win the weekend at around $45 million, Pet Sematary is tracking close behind at $30 million.

So get ready for some serious tension when you see Pet Sematary, thanks to the movie’s sound design. The movie will be the first of two King adaptations to come out in 2019, as IT: Chapter 2 delivers more frights on September 6, 2019.

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Tessa Thompson Explains Her Goals For An All-Female Marvel Team

Tessa Thompson Explains Her Goals For An All-Female Marvel Team

It took over 10 years, but Marvel Studios finally has its first female-led solo movie in theaters now, and its success has been unquestionably outstanding. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel is among the franchise’s most successful character launches, and very soon it will join the billion dollar club at the box office. There is very clearly a demand for female-led storytelling in this arena, and it’s a drumbeat that’s growing louder and louder every day.

One person not afraid to make a lot of noise in this arena is Tessa Thompson, who made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in 2017 playing Valkyrie in Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok. She made headlines last year when she revealed details of a meeting she took with some of her female colleagues and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, and has announced ambitions to see some form of women-led team-up film. It’s a feeling that’s only been amplified with the release of Captain Marvel, as I learned speaking with the actress this past weekend:

Brie [Larson] is a friend, and I just like hanging out with her; and I'm so excited. Obviously it's been a long time coming for Marvel to have a movie led by one of their female characters that exists in the canon… Last year in the press there was this whole idea that I was on Kevin Feige about doing an all-female, A-Force or something. But really it just has to do with the fact that there's so many incredible, talented women in the MCU that I just want to work with selfishly. So I'm like, 'Well, why not do it in the context of like fighting folks and hanging out in space?’

I had the wonderful pleasure of sitting down with Tessa Thompson and writer/director Nia DaCosta on Sunday, and while the majority of our conversation was about their new collaboration – the upcoming thriller Little Woods – my last question to the actress was about her popular role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. My way into the conversation was inspired by Thompson’s recent social media activity, specifically back-and forths between herself and Captain Marvel star Brie Larson.

The two actresses have been regularly sharing fan art depicting Valkyrie and Captain Marvel together, and it inspired me to ask about her hopes for a future movie featuring the two characters teaming up. The question inspired a laugh, and Thompson took the idea to a bigger place, explaining her real desire for collaborations with the immensely talented actresses that populate the popular franchise.

As she continued, however, she also expressed why she feels a certain special level of parity with Brie Larson. While actresses like Scarlet Johansson, Zoe Saldana, and Gwyneth Paltrow each have been in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for more than five years, the experience is still relatively new for both Larson and Tessa Thompson, and they apparently are both still reveling in all of it.

This is particularly motivated, as you might expect, simply from the impact that they both feel that they can make with such significant parts on such a significant stage. They know that there is a generation of young women who are going to have a completely different perspective on the world than what previous generations got from pop culture, and they are a part of that.

And of course, there is the geek-out factor as well, as Tessa Thompson explained, referencing the fan art,

Of course I would love the chance to work with Brie. We were just like, 'Look! It's us together!' I think we're both new to the MCU, so we both retain the sense of like, 'Can you believe!?' We're just like, 'What? We got capes? What's happening?!' We're both really geeked out by having dolls and occupying this space. We're like women's women, so the idea of getting to do something that little girls are excited about, and people that identify as women feel excited about is cool. So who knows if we'll get to do something together; it's rad. But I'm just so happy for her, and for us and what it means culturally right now.

There are definitely a lot of expectations generated from the success we’ve seen, but the level of potential is also off the charts. Along with Valkyrie and Captain Marvel, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is now filled with some fantastic, unique heroines that all bring something special to the table, including Evangeline Lilly’s Wasp, Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia, Danai Gurira’s Okoye, Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, Karen Gillan’s Nebula, Pom Klementieff’s Mantis, and more. There are exciting, fun, and dramatic stories to be told with all of these characters – solo, paired, or as group – and it will be tremendously exciting to see if and how they come together in Phase Four and beyond. Maybe at least a few of them can come together to create a new version of the Guardians of the Galaxy once James Gunn is done with his trilogy?

As Marvel fans know, exactly what the future holds for the massive franchise is being kept as a closely guarded mystery for now, and we won’t have any specific answers as to what’s going on until after the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home this summer – whether that includes an all-female team movie or not. Of course, between now and then we will also see the release of Avengers: Endgame, and it’s very possible that we could see a few kick-ass female team-ups within the runtime of that adventure. Hell, for all we know it might already give us the first Valkyrie/Captain Marvel partnership, and Tessa Thompson is just trying to maintain the surprise. We’re keeping our fingers very tightly crossed.

We’ll continue to keep you up to date with all of the latest developments from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (as always), but those of you also excited for more Tessa Thompson on the big screen will be getting a fantastic dose in just a few weeks. The aforementioned Little Woods, co-starring Lily Collins and James Badge Dale, will be in theaters in limited release on April 19th.

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Joe Carnahan Says He Left Bad Boys For Life Over Differences With Will Smith

Joe Carnahan Says He Left Bad Boys For Life Over Differences With Will Smith

Development hell is a concept that isn't new to the film world. While certain projects seem to be promising and have the recipe for success, sometimes plans fail, and movies don't actually come to fruition. Highly anticipated action threequel Bad Boys For Life originally seemed like one of those movies, as it was been stuck in development hell for a number of years before finally going into production months ago.

Starting back in 2008, quite a few incarnations of Bad Boys' threequel were worked on before the current version was eventually nailed down. The Grey's Joe Carnahan was set to write and possibly direct Bad Boys III back in 2015, although he ultimately dropped out after the project stewed for a few years. Now he's explained the reasoning behind his departure, saying:

I just know myself, man. And I thought what we were doing at that point was the law of diminishing returns. I wasn’t servicing the story that I was really excited about telling, that the studio had green-lit. And again, this isn’t to throw shade at Will — it’s your face on the poster, it’s your name on the poster, you need to do things the way you want them done.

Well, this certainly sheds a light on things. Joe Carnahan doesn't seem to have sore feelings about the situation, but it appears that he had some creative differences with franchise star Will Smith. And since Smith is starring and producing Bad Boys For Life, he's got the right to have the final say. But that's just not how Carnahan wanted to make that movie.

Joe Carnahan's comments to Collider are in juxtaposition to the explanation that was given to his exit back in 2017. At that point, some reports indicated a scheduling conflict as the reason for Carnahan's departure. But it ultimately looks like it was creative differences, and a conflict with none other than Will Smith himself.

In his recent interview, Joe Carnahan was sure to not actually bad mouth With Smith over how Bad Boys For Life eventually came out. On the contrary, he understands what Smith has at stake for the project, and his own creative vision. But since they clashed, the director decided to exit the project, because he didn't want to work that way on the action sequel.

During that same conversation, Joe Carnahan was sure to pay his respects to Will Smith. Furthermore, he expressed how he was nervous to leave such a high-profile gig, explaining:

Here’s the thing. I love Will, he’s a great guy. It’s just, you get to a point where ... listen, I always say this. Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Will Smith, you find me a motherfucker in the modern era that’s walked away from movies with those guys and is still working in some capacity.

It looks like Joe Carnahan harbors no ill-will toward Will Smith due to his Bad Boys For Life departure. And while he was taking a risk by turning down such an opportunity, the writer/director had to follow his gut. That eventually made way for directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah to get behind the camera for the new blockbuster.

Bad Boys For Life recently wrapped production, and is currently set to arrive in theaters on January 17, 2020. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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