‘Ghostbusters’ Sequel ‘Will Happen,’ Sony Pictures Distribution Chief Says
Nothing official has been announced, but one can only hope that anyone screaming that there childhood was ruining will get tired of screaming by the time the sequel would supposedly come out.
(via Vulture/Metro Weekly/Deadline)
However, there still seems to be hope for a movie.
Community star Joel McHale said that Yahoo couldn’t afford another season of Community with all of the cast’s rates going up since the beginning of the series. However, Yahoo and Sony, in response to McHale’s comments, are apparently still talking about what might be next.
Still, McHale, series creator Dan Harmon along with these open discussions between Yahoo and Sony point towards the goal of #sixseasonsandamovie coming to fruition.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
Apparently, Paulilu and the Molyneux sisters are writing different versions of the same movie.
Wendy and Lizzie Molyneux have gotten Sony to buy their pitch for the female led version 21 Jump Street. Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello were already working on a script, but now the two pairs will be writing different scripts based on the pitches they sold.
There are no other details than that available at this time, but we wouldn’t be surprised if either movie is made, then the script for the other gets released online and people demand to see that one also get made.
(via Deadline)
Until recently, movies released through VOD hadn’t even seen grosses that go into the double digit millions. However, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg‘s The Interview changed all of that as, over the course of two weeks, it brought in over $31 million from being sold online and through various cable and satellite providers.
Of the cinema’s entire canon of milestone historic films, The Interview will have to be included for the circumstances surrounding its release, its online gross, and the fact that, in spite of all of that, has plenty of dick and Lord of the Rings jokes.
(via The Wrap)
Over the long Christmas weekend, The Interview raked in $2.8 million at over 300 theaters, but made nearly five times that amount in VOD sales.
Being simultaneously released on YouTube, Google Play, and Xbox Video, The Interview also got $15 million from those renting and buying the movie online. That number put it at the top of the chart for YouTube and Google Play as the top selling movie title of the entire year.
It’s still a long way to go to recoup the production and marketing budget as well as the untold cost of the hack of Sony Pictures, but there is undoubtedly a growing number of people willing to pay to watch their movies from the comfort of wherever they are.
What this ultimately means for the movies of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, controversial comedies, and overall movie budgets has yet to be seen. Hopefully, 2015 will hinge less on hesitation and more on faith in the end product.
For $5.99 to rent and $14.99 to buy, The Interview is now available for you to watch via YouTube.
You now don’t have to be near one of few hundred independent/art house theaters to go see it tomorrow, though you should go do that if you can. You can stand for the freedom of expression from foreign oppressors from the comfort of your own home. It’s the way that many Americans prefer to stand up for their rights these days.
Go watch Seth Rogen, James Franco, Lizzy Caplan, and Randall Park satirize the North Korean regime right now, right here.
UPDATE: You can also watch The Interview on VOD via Xbox Video and Google Play.
Get #TheInterview NOW on digital HD. Available for U.S. consumers on: http://t.co/HlSOpKgsRQ pic.twitter.com/4NzPjlWVGj
— The Interview (@TheInterview) December 24, 2014
As we expected, more theaters jumped on board for screening The Interview today after The Alamo Drafthouse in Dallas/Fort Worth and The Plaza Theatre in Atlanta, GA announced that they were going ahead with a Christmas day screening of the movie.
In the LA area alone, The Los Feliz 3, Crest Westwood, Laemmle NoHo, Sid Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywoood, Regency Theatres in Azusa/Agoura Hills/San Bernardino/Granada Hills/Commerce/Van Nuys/Fontana/Thousand Oaks/Westminster have all joined in putting Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s lightning bolt of a movie on their screens.
Theaters from around the country from the likes of Champaign, IL to Puerto Rico to Baltimore, MD, to Tempe, AZ, to Ann Arbor, MI, and way more have also joined in. Deadline has an up-to-date list here.
For now, Rogen and Goldberg probably have created the most patriotic dick jokes, given the circumstances of The Interview’s release, in the cinematic canon.
See the movie North Korea really, REALLY doesn’t want you to see….this time for realsies. http://t.co/cZ2x1KUHjA pic.twitter.com/VlLeDVb17L
— Alamo Drafthouse DFW (@AlamoDFW) December 23, 2014
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
The Interview is now back on track for its original release date, Christmas Day, though just not with the expansive nationwide release that Sony had originally planned on.
The Interview -Times Christmas Day 4pm 5pm 6:30 7:30 9:35 12/26 to 1/1 times will be announced tomorrow. On 2 screens
— Plaza Atlanta (@PlazaAtlanta) December 23, 2014
As of this post, both the Alamo Drafthouse in Dallas/Fort Worth, TX and The Plaza Theatre in Atlanta, GA are set to give The Interview a run on their screens starting on Christmas Day.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a Sony insider says that there are indeed plans for a VOD release, but further details are not available at this time.
So, hopefully, by the end of today, we’ll find that a bunch of other indie, art house theaters will follow and screen the Interview and we can, as a country, go back to watching and making movies without being intimidated by a foreign regime.
(via The Wrap/Meet The Press)
In an interview with NBC’s Meet The Press, Sony lawyer David Boies has stated in regards to the release cancelation of The Interview:
“Sony only delayed this. Sony has been fighting to get this picture distributed. It will be distributed. How it’s going to be distributed, I don’t think anybody knows quite yet. But it’s going to be distributed.”
Well, the major theater chains haven’t stepped up to the plate, but independent theaters and theater chains are more than willing to screen The Interview.
Cinefamily is doing a secret protest screening tonight, The Alamo Drafthouse in Dallas/Fort Worth was planning on a screening of Team America: World Police because they couldn’t show The Interview, and theaters in Canada are trying to organize a screening of The Interview if they can get a copy just as a few examples.
Obviously, Sony stands to, on paper, make less money than going with major theater chains. However, we think, at this point, Americans and those in support of free speech around the globe will pay to go see The Interview in droves even if they have to go to a dive bar with a projector.
Though Sony has currently stopped the release of The Interview and Paramount has claimed Team America: World Police is “out of service”, independent theaters, many of which would be ready and willing to screen The Interview, are still trying to make a stand in any way they can.
The beloved indie/art house/retrospective Cinefamily based out of The Silent Movie Theatre here in LA has partnered with UK’s Secret Cinema and is putting on a “Secret Protest Screening”. They won’t be showing The Interview, but they also have not revealed what they will be showing.
The screening description reads:
We think what’s happened with The Interview is plain wrong. It sets a terrible precedent, and we feel, as an independent movie theater, we should do whatever we can to support any filmmaker or film studio’s right to free speech.
All proceeds will go to global free speech charity Article 19.
So, let’s not succumb to threats against making and watching whatever movies we want. Make a stand, though literally sit and use standing room if you have to, and go to this if this Sun. Dec. 21st at 7:30PM.
So, the “Guardians of Peace” (i.e. ideologically misguided, butthurt hackers who waste their talents over superfluous nonsense rather than actually making the world a better, more peaceful place) got what they wanted.
Sony Pictures and top U.S. theater chains have canceled the Christmas release of The Interview in fear that some sort of attack might befall any theaters or theater goers that would screen the movie.
Given how much criticism of the government, society, and more that Americans engage in every split second, it’s more than odd that the limits to our free speech and expression here in America are coming from threats leveled by hackers who can’t correctly use whatever translation app they’re using as opposed to any sort of shadow government.
If you’re wondering if this has set a precedent in terms of pre-emptive censorship by studios fueled out of a fear, look no further than reports of Steve Carell’s latest project Pyongyang getting canceled.
There has been preliminary talks of releasing The Interview through VOD, but nothing has been made official.
What is official is the end of this statement from Sony regarding the release’s cancellation,“We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome.”
Canceling the release of a movie out of fear is apparently what "standing by our filmmakers and their right to free expression” means.
As the idea, or at least part of it, was to instill cowardice against depicting North Korea in a negative light here in America, we’d hope to see sketches, web videos, anything that aren’t afraid of what Sony, Regal, AMC, and more were afraid to do soon.
(via The Wrap)
The hacker group currently known as The Guardians of Peace behind the mass hacking of Sony have reportedly demanded, in a note, that The Interview, a movie following the assassination of North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un be pulled from being screened at all.
So far, it seems all of Sony, especially the top brass, is being doxxed in addition to Sony’s current theatrical releases being leaked. North Korea was suspected to have a connection with these hackers given how they’ve called The Interview “an act of terrorism” in past months, but they have denied any involvement.
Currently, The Interview is still scheduled for its Christmas release date.
A few things we’re wondering:
1) Have The Guardians of Peace or anyone in the North Korean government actually seen The Interview yet?
2) If they have, is it any good?
3) Would the U.S. Government or U.S. based hackers react to remotely the same degree if a foreign nation made a movie about assassinating our President?
4) Do they realize this is a comedy from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg who promised that they were not going to put too many dick jokes in their TV adaptation of Preacher for AMC and ruin it?
5) Could they have picked a worst time for the U.S. public to care about this whole ordeal with Ferguson, Eric Garner, Cosby, etc. happening right now?
6) While this hack is indeed damaging to Sony, The Interview will probably pull in a way bigger opening weekend now given all of this controversy.
(via Variety)
The idea of Will Ferrell being in old English garb and going crazy with the subject matter of Shakespeare sounds pretty good to us which is why we’re excited for Sony’s latest feature development. They’ve just bought a feature pitch that follows the competitive world of Shakespearean theater and Will Ferrell is set to star.
If and when this movie gets set for distribution, we wouldn’t be surprised if Ferrell attempted doing a soliloquy of sorts on late night.
(via Deadline)
While the aftermath of the success of the first Zombieland was circuitous, especially leading up to a sequel, a Zombieland 2 seems to now have the wheels turning since Sony has lined up Dave Callaham as the writer and director Ruben Fleischer to return.
The short lived online series version of Zombieland may have been the wrong move for what could be a great franchise, but if they could get the principal cast (Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, and Abigail Breslin) all back, then there would be more hope for the sequel to make it to theaters within the next couple of years.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
(NOTE: Spoilers possibly ahead) The Interview starring James Franco and Seth Rogen has been a hot button movie for Sony ever since it was first announced. Being fiercely decried by North Korea for its plot that follows the assassination of Kim Jong-Un, Sony has already moved back the release date to Christmas from October.
Now, they will be altering uniform buttons that the depicted North Korean military wears as well as thinking about changing a scene where Kim Jong-Un’s face is melted off.
Some of the reasoning behind these changes have been cited as “clearance issues” rather than political pressure, but who gets clearance from a military and a leader of a country that keeps contact with the U.S. to a minimum? Have higher-ups in North Korea have not seen the multitudes of web videos satirizing North Korea in a similar way?
More importantly, would North Korea really try to start a war over a movie?
Sony Set on Finding a New Home for ‘Community’ as Hulu Abandons Talks
There’s a deadline at the end of this month for the contract expirations of the cast of Community. Knowing that Sony TV is still gunning to keep them around at some sort of online streaming service/content provider. Hulu reportedly isn’t going to be that home, but they say they have another place that they’re going for.
So, #sixseasonsandamovie is still alive?
North Korea Isn’t Happy With Seth Rogen-James Franco Comedy ‘The Interview’
Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘Grimsby’ Adds Ian McShane, Gabourey Sidibe, More
Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest film, currently over at Sony, has just rounded out its cast with a good handful of dramatic actors in Ian McShane, David Harewood, and Gabourey Sidibe. Johnny Vegas will balance the scales a little bit being an English comedian, but the premise behind Grimsby seems dynamic enough to have this mix.
In Grimsby, Mark Strong plays a spy on the run that has to deal with his “football hooligan” brother played by Cohen, which definitely should be a fun duo to watch along with the rest of the supporting cast.
Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg’s Animated Comedy ‘Sausage Party’ Sets Cast/Gets Release Date
Crackle Orders Comedy Web Series ‘Tightrope’ From Bryan Cranston
Get ready for Bryan Cranston coming back to comedy in a new web series at Crackle where there, apparently, will a modern day person input into a classic detective series.
Whatever this series called Tightrope ends up being, it sure sounds pretty great now and thus you should watch out for it.
Sony Supposedly Set To Start Shooting Ghostbusters 3 In Cleveland Come Spring
Whatever your feelings of Bill Murray being left out of the film, we all hope it’s just all an elaborate prank for Bill to “crash” (you know how he likes to do that) the set if they indeed do start shooting Ghostbusters 3 next year and all will be right with the Ghostbusters universe almost 25 years since Ghostbusters 2.
Fox Buys Ken Marino & Erica Oyama Family Comedy Produced By Will Gluck & Sony TV
Fox has continued their interest (they’re writing a feature for Fox too) with the writing team of Ken Marino and Erica Oyama (the minds behind Burning Love) by buying a series from them & producer Will Gluck.
None of you will probably doubt us, but one of comedy’s biggest power couples has to now be Marino and Oyama.
Sony Pictures TV Confirms Dan Harmon & Chris McKenna Are Returning To ‘Community’
Well, Dan Harmon and Chris McKenna’s return to the show he created Community is now official.
We wonder if anyone is cashing in on this in Vegas?
Xperi-WHA? It’s About Kristen Schaal in This Series of Sony Ads
Thanks to @solmssen for pointing these out.