Women were not out in full force for "Magic Mike" this weekend.

The sequel to the surprise 2012 hit, was not as big as analysts thought it would be over the holiday weekend.

The film opened to $11.6 million over the three-day weekend. Over the five-day weekend "Magic Mike XXL" brought in $26.7 million.

2012's "Magic Mike" made $39 million opening weekend on a $7 million budget.

Estimates for "Magic Mike" had it making between $45 million and $48 million over the five-day weekend. 

Why didn't it perform as well?

Honestly, the sequel just wasn't as good.

"Magic Mike XXL," starts off on a pretty contrived premise. It gives a flimsy reason to explain the absence of some core characters from the first film in order to put the rest of the original crew back together. 

From there, the film just turns into a male-bonding road trip to a stripper convention with multiple pit stops along the way. These act as excuses to show scantily-clad men dancing on women and ripping their shirts off. For some reason Michael Strahan is among those men in his own extended cameo. (Seriously, he gets about five minutes of screen time to himself where he's just doing his thing.)

Naturally, this is all expected from a film that is made to make women weak in the knees. However, it all feels too formulaic.

Some of the stops along the way make sense, others, not so much: a beach (Check), a club (Double check), a mansion overrun with male strippers operated by Jada Pinkett Smith's character (Sure, why not?), and a home filled with middle-aged women (Um. What?).

The best parts of the film included Tatum showing off his elaborate dance skills and ab-tastic body (and one scene from Joe Manganiello at a rest stop). The sequel would have benefitted from having him dance the entire film, but we've already seen him in "Step Up." 

It looks like bad word of mouth got around about the sequel.

Take a look at the box-office intake per day for "Magic Mike XXL" over the weekend:

Wednesday: $9.3 million
Thursday: $5.7 million
Friday: $6.3 million
Saturday: $2.5 million
Sunday: $2.8 million

The film started out incredibly strong Wednesday before nosediving on Friday and plummeting to under $3 million on both Saturday and Sunday.

Luckily for Warner Bros. the sequel only cost an estimated $14.8 million to produce.

The other big film of the weekend, "Terminator Genisys,"didn't have a huge weekend either.

"Jurassic Park" took the weekend once again with an added $30.9 million to add to its over $1.3 billion haul worldwide. 

SEE ALSO: "Terminator Genisys" had a rough weekend at the box office

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NOW WATCH: What the stars of the 'Terminator' movies look like 31 years later

Warning: Spoilers ahead

Like the previous films in the "Terminator" franchise, “Terminator Genisys” isn’t stingy with its insane action sequences.

And one in particular goes out of its way to dazzle you as its filled with car crashes, a demolished school bus, and Arnold Schwarzenegger going through a windshield.

The scene happens in the middle of “Genisys,” when an evil John Connor (Jason Clarke) chases after the Terminator (Schwarzenegger), Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke), and Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) through San Francisco.

The three are trying to evade John while driving a large school bus (it’s a long story).

They all end up on the Golden Gate Bridge, leading to a showdown that won’t go well for anyone traveling on the bridge. With Sarah behind the wheel of the bus, she swerves in all lanes of traffic, hitting cars as she tries to shake John off the bus.

The Terminator and Reese are in the back of the bus trying to locate where John is, leading to John throwing the Terminator off the bus; inevitably ending up head-first into a cop car’s windshield.

John soon makes the bus inoperable by first disabling the brakes and then causing it to flip into the air and crash on the bridge. It then rolls to the edge of the bridge, hanging perilously over the side as Sarah and Reese are still inside.

Before the bus falls off the bridge, the Terminator is able to pull Sarah and Reese to safety.

The sequence was first shot on set in New Orleans where the production team built a 500-foot long piece of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The shoot did some practical stunts, including car crashes and the school bus rolling. But, like many action movies, the magic happened in post production when visual effects house, Double Negative, got their hands on it.

Oscar-winning VFX supervisor Pete Bebb of Double Negative had 30 people working on the sequence, which took months to complete following early test screenings in which Bebb got word that more had to be done to the scene.

“I think the scene started off originally as a relatively shorter sequence with less action,” Bebb told Business Insider. “It turned out they wanted to flesh it out and have more crashes and cars turning over.”

To create more chaos on the bridge and the feel that the audience is right there with the characters, Bebb and his team went to YouTube for inspiration.

“We didn’t want to refer to other movies, so we just collected hundreds of clips from YouTube of dash cam videos of real car crashes,” he said. “It sounds dark, but it gave the sequence a little more.”

They were also responsible for making that 500-foot set of the bridge look like the real thing. That meant digitally increasing the speed of the bus and cars, giving more detail to what they shot on set (like the rolling bus) as well as extending the bridge digitally.

However, one of the biggest challenges Bebb and his team had to take on was making sure their CG work matched what was filmed in New Orleans.

Bebb said their work isn’t just in front of computer screens. During production they went out to San Francisco and filmed every inch of the Golden Gate Bride to then use as background plates — the visuals they will put in back of the graphics they create.

But tweaking was needed to make what they shot look identical to what production did.

“Trying to attain day-lit vehicles is not as straight forward as people think,” said Bebb. “The New Orleans sky was very bright while in San Francisco it was a bit darker. So it was a pretty big challenge to make it all match.”

Bebb, who won an Oscar for the visual effects in “Inception,” has learned that in his line of work plans always change, so he believes the best way to succeed is to anticipate the bosses wanting more.

“I think there's a preconception that it's computers so it's easy to fix but it's not,” he said. “There's alway the line on set [to the VFX department], ‘You guys can fix that, right?’ Yes, we can, but it's a huge amount of work. We try to circumvent that by planning for a worse. We create everything with detail that's over and above what you think is required, just to make sure we’re okay.”

“Terminator Genisys” is currently playing in theaters.

SEE ALSO: 'Terminator Genisys' had a rough weekend at the box office

MORE: Here's what it means to be the weapons master on a 'Terminator' movie

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NOW WATCH: What the stars of the 'Terminator' movies look like 31 years later

For an animated movie aimed at children, "Inside Out," the latest from Pixar, has received an unusually serious response from adults. 

It was "so powerful that it changed the way I understand my own emotions,"wrote Business Insider's Ian Phillips.

The movie "made me understand the one thing my therapist has been trying to teach me for 15 years,"wrote Caroline Moss. Chris Weller called it"a surprisingly accurate look at human psychology." 

Yet all these high-minded responses are perhaps to be expected: It turns out Pixar brought in two of psychology's foremost experts on emotions to serve as scientific consultants on the film. 

In a column in The New York Times, those experts (Dacher Keltner and Paul Ekman, both of the University of California–Berkeley) explain one thing that the movie gets right that most people get wrong.

They write:

Emotions organize — rather than disrupt — rational thinking. Traditionally, in the history of Western thought, the prevailing view has been that emotions are enemies of rationality and disruptive of cooperative social relations.

But the truth is that emotions guide our perceptions of the world, our memories of the past and even our moral judgments of right and wrong, most typically in ways that enable effective responses to the current situation.

Anger, they note, makes us "acutely attuned to what is unfair, which helps animate actions that remedy injustice."

Indeed, despite the popular perception that thinking and feeling are two separate spheres constantly at odds with each other, the "vital role of emotions in determining decisions" has been recognized by "a growing body of literature," a team of Israeli researchers wrote in 2012. 

Research suggests that emotion is an important component of rational decision-making, not a crutch, a shortcoming, or some kind of weakness. "Emotion is adaptive, guiding us to make sound decisions in uncertainty," scientists noted earlier this year, in Frontiers in Psychology.

How does this all play out in "Inside Out"? Keltner and Ekman explain: Sadness "guides Riley to recognize the changes she is going through and what she has lost, which sets the stage for her to develop new facets of her identity."

The movie makes clear what psychologists have long known: that emotions aren't some rogue force pulling us away from our perfectly rational selves, but rather an important expression of what really matters most to us. Dismiss them at your own risk.

SEE ALSO: 'Inside Out' finally made me understand the one thing my therapist has been trying to teach me for 15 years

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NOW WATCH: We tried cryotherapy — the super-cold treatment LeBron James swears by

As the Disney-powered hype train for "Ant-Man" gathers up steam, some of that steam is getting pretty spoilery. 

Last chance to stay unspoiled. According to ScreenCrush, a Spanish-language TV spot for the film shows off Sam Wilson/The Falcon (Anthony Mackie) right in the middle of all the shrinking and explosions. 

You know, this guy:

Wilson first popped up in "Captain America: The Winter Solider," and reprised his role briefly in this year's "Avengers: Age of Ultron."

While there isn't any context — it's literally just a quick cut — half the fun of these cameos is the surprise of it all. With only two weeks left until the "Ant-Man" premiere, it's best to tread carefully on the internet if you want to avoid further spoilers. 

Here's the trailer, if you're curious. 

"Ant-Man" premieres July 17, 2015.  

SEE ALSO: The new Spider-Man's big-screen debut is sooner than you think

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NOW WATCH: Marvel's new 'Ant-Man' trailer looks even better than 'Guardians of the Galaxy'

Many fans of “Star Wars” have always been curious what Obi-Wan Kenobi did all that time between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope.” Finally a new comic book from Marvel will bring some clarity.

Following “Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith,” we found Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Ewan McGregor) heading out alone after bringing twins Luke and Leia to safety from their father Anakin Skywalker — who by then had become Darth Vader.

The original film in the sage, “Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope,” shows “Ben” Kenobi (played by Alec Guinness) as an elder Jedi living in seclusion on Tatooine until he’s thrust back into the Rebel cause after crossing paths with the adult Luke.

Kenobi dies by the hands of Vader in “A New Hope” and that looks to be where the comic book "Star Wars #7" begins (available July 8).

According to the book’s description on the Marvel site, Skywalker comes across Kenobi’s journals after returning to his home world of Tatooine following the events that occur in "A New Hope." The writings he uncovers are his master’s experience on the planet during “a time when injustice reigned.”

From the synopsis:

“As villainous scum runs rampant over the blistering sands, only a Jedi Master stands any hope of liberating the planet from the grasp of gangs, thieves and thugs. But would Ben risk everything to do what was right? Even if it meant revealing himself to those searching for his whereabouts?”

Here are some pages Marvel has previewed:

This shows Kenobi living an isolated existence on Tatooine.

And here it looks like he's come across a young Luke Skywalker (perhaps keeping tabs on him?).

For the last year Marvel has been releasing a "Star Wars" series of comics that gives us insight into what happened to the main characters in the original trilogy following “Return of the Jedi.” #7 is a special one-off tale in the series focused solely on Kenobi.

Read up because all these tales may be of importance leading to the release of the next chapter in “Star Wars” lore, “The Force Awakens,” opening Dec. 18.

Check out some of the variant covers from #7 below.

SEE ALSO: How to get the new "Star Wars" emojis

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NOW WATCH: The new 'Star Wars' game is a love letter to 'Star Wars' superfans

"Terminator Genisys" got off to a rough start at the box office opening weekend. 

After the five-day holiday weekend, the film grossed $44.2 million domestically at theaters, marking one of the lowest openings for the "Terminator" franchise.

While poor reviews for "Genisys" didn't help, the failure of "Genisys" to take off state side could be rooted in something else.

Schwarzenegger is not a big star domestically anymore. 

Here are the box-office opening weekends for Schwarzenegger's last five films. We're leaving "Maggie" off of here since it was a limited release in 79 theaters.

And here are the worldwide grosses for them, broken down by domestic vs. international gross.

While the numbers for Schwarzenegger's movies are low state side, "Sabotage" aside, they pick up overseas.

The 67-year-old actor is just a bigger foreign action star.

So it's not a huge surprise Paramount Pictures, which released the film, did a lot of marketing for "Terminator Genisys" overseas in countries including Brazil, Germany, Australia, and France.

While "Genisys" has made $44 million domestically, the film has already made double that ($85.5 million) internationally.

The film has yet to open in Germany, Japan, Spain, and China. The latter has become a huge source of box office dollars.

SEE ALSO: "Terminator Genisys" had a rough weekend at the box office

AND: Photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger's awesome makeup transformation in "Genisys"

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NOW WATCH: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The casts of the first two 'Terminator' films

Inhabiting the mind of a supervillain can take its toll on an actor or actress, as we tragically saw in the aftermath of Heath Ledger's iconic Joker role in 2008's "The Dark Knight."

Perhaps that's why the new superhero film "Suicide Squad"— which features a number of heavy, violent performances, including a new Joker played by Jared Leto— finds director David Ayer taking no chances with the mental health of his villainous cast.

In an interview with E! News, Adam Beach, the actor playing Slipknot in "Suicide Squad," discussed how Ayer brought a "therapist" on the set to ensure that the actors can get deep enough in their characters without losing it altogether.

"David Ayer is about realism," Beach explained. "So if your character is tormented, he wants you to torment yourself. He wants the real thing."

Still, for the sake of his all-star cast — which includes Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Leto — Ayer keeps the "therapist," who Beach says is really a "life coach," around the set to ensure that the actors' internal torment doesn't go too far.

"There's a friend of [Ayer's] that's very unique in making sure we have our ground," Beach said. "Us actors explore very fine thin lines going to the dark side and he wants to make sure we finish a movie and don't disappear somewhere and then don't show up for work."

Despite Ayer's somewhat cautionary approach, Jared Leto has reportedly gone all out with his Joker character both on and off set — ominously sending a live rat to Margot Robbie, bullets to Will Smith, and a "dead hog" to the cast.

This weekend, though, we did see a glimpse of lightheartedness peak through the chaotic set when Margot Robbie posted a photo of a birthday cake the crew made for her, featuring frosting-styled original comics of her Harley Quinn character. 

"Suicide Squad" hits theaters on August 5.

SEE ALSO: Jared Leto is undergoing a big transformation to play the Joker

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NOW WATCH: The Surprising Real Jobs Of Superheroes, Zombies And Other Comic Con Fans

Agent 007 is all set to return to movie screens around the world, but "Spectre" isn't the only place you'll find James Bond this fall. Comic book publisher Dynamite Entertainment has announced a new monthly comic book titled "James Bond 007," written by Warren Ellis with art by Jason Masters.

If you don't follow comics, what makes this a big deal is Ellis' contribution. Warren Ellis is the writer behind countless original series like "Transmetropolitan" and "Planetary," as well as numerous superhero books where he often completely revamps characters to tremendous success (the "Iron Man" movies, in particular, owe a massive debt to Ellis' work). Ellis has many strengths as a comic writer, but spies and sci-fi are his calling cards — one would be hard-pressed to find a better marquee writer to take on Bond in the mainstream comics industry.

He's also British, which is a plus when it comes to Bond stories. 

Here's the official description:

"James Bond returns to London after a mission of vengeance in Helsinki, to take up the workload of a fallen 00 agent... but something evil is moving through the back streets of the city, and sinister plans are being laid for Bond in Berlin."

While "James Bond 007" will be set in the present (and feature a Bond that's different from the cinematic ones), Dynamite Entertainment has plans for the entire Bond mythos. In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Dynamite Senior Editor Jason Rybandt details the publishers plans for even more Bond comics, including adaptations of Ian Fleming's novels and a series of prequels set before "Casino Royale."

"James Bond 007" #1 is scheduled to launch in November.

SEE ALSO: The 10 slickest Bond cars

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NOW WATCH: The first TV ad for 'Spectre' gives us our best look at the next Bond movie yet

Netflix has just announced the release dates for its upcoming slate of original films, and it's a pretty eclectic set of movies. 

We finally know the release date of Adam Sandler's comedy "The Ridiculous Six," which will be the first of four original films the actor will release on the streaming platform.

"The Ridiculous Six" will be available to stream December 11, 2015. You may remember it made headlines for being so racially offensive that Native American actors walked off the set.

Among the other Netflix releases:

October 16, 2015 you'll be able to see "Beasts of No Nation," the long-awaited film about a child soldier in the middle of an African country's civil war from "True Detective" season one's virtuoso director Cary Fukunaga.

Then in March 2016 "Pee-Wee's Big Holiday" premieres, thanks to Judd Apatow and Paul Ruebens.

The fourth film, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend" wasn't given a date more specific than First Quarter 2016, but the standalone sequel to Ang Lee's 2000 classic will also debut theatrically in China.

SEE ALSO: Everyone's freaking out about this incredible fake trailer for a Netflix show

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NOW WATCH: There's no other way to put it — the trailer for Netflix's 'Wet Hot American Summer' reboot is INCREDIBLE

Earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, audiences were taken by zany comedy “Tangerine,” the latest film from “Greg the Bunny” co-creator Sean Baker.

Baker enjoys telling stories set in real settings, casting actors with little to no experience, and exploring stories you’ve likely never seen before on the big screen. That can range from a New York garment district wholesaler dealing with fatherhood (“Price of Broadway”) to a porn actress befriending an elderly woman (“Starlet”).

“Tangerine” continues that motif as Baker tells the story of a transgender prostitute named Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) who learns that her pimp is cheating on her and navigates through Los Angeles on Christmas Eve to confront him.

But what has grabbed people’s attention beyond Baker’s unconventional tale is his decision to shoot the film only using the iPhone 5S.

“I didn’t see any other way the film could be done,” Baker told Business Insider in the Manhattan office of the film’s distribution company, Magnolia Pictures, last week.

With a micro budget of only around $120,000 to make the film, Baker knew he had used up all his favors doing his previous films, and that if he wanted to make “Tangerine” he had to be creative.

“The film that turned me onto [shooting on an iPhone] was Spike Lee’s ‘Red Hook Summer,’” Baker said, referring to Lee’s low budget 2012 drama. “Remember the kid shooting on his iPad? There’s something about every time it cuts to his iPad footage I got more interested. I thought, Why isn’t anyone doing a whole film like this yet?”

Around the same time Baker realized that the iPhone 5S was coming out, and included an upgraded camera lens from its predecessors.

Baker realized he could pull off shooting the movie with the phone (he used three total, but never at the same time).

Through camera tests with his co-cinematographer Radium Cheung, Baker liked the high quality of the picture the 5S provided. But he was completely sold on shooting with the phone after coming across a new anamorphic lens adapter for smartphones created by Moondog Labs and the app, FiLMiC Pro. 

With the lens adapter and the app, which made it possible for the phone to shoot at the level a pricey DSLR camera provides, Baker felt the phone would be “elevated to a cinematic level.” (The FiLMiC Pro app costs $7.99 and the Moondog lens adapters range from $160-$175.)

And his financiers, who included Mark and Jay Duplass (creators of HBO’s “Togetherness”), agreed after Baker showed them his test footage.

What Baker didn’t realize until principal photographer on “Tangerine” began in the February of 2013 was the level of sophisticated shots they could pull off with the phone. Baker used his talents as a former bike messenger in Manhattan to weave closely around his characters as they said their lines. Biking with one hand on the handle bar and another holding a smart-phone designed Steadicam called a “Smoothee” ($149), the movie has these slick, eye-catching passing shots of Sin-Dee as she walks furiously throughout L.A.

But perhaps the most dazzling of the cinematography in the film are the “crane” shots.

Throughout the film a handful of scenes begin high above buildings and then smoothly travel down to the faces of the characters. On traditional movie sets giant crane rigs that cost in the thousands of dollars are used to pull this off. Baker was able to do the same shots cheaper and in a more practical way.

“We purchased a large painter’s pole and we would rig the phone to the end of it and do these up and down movements,” Baker explains has he stands and imitates the movements, almost like he’s painting the walls off the Magnolia meeting room with a long paint roller. “We would do like 10 shots, one after the other, and then look at all of them on the phone and decide if we had to do it again. It was basically like being back in your parent’s yard, 12 years old, doing stuff with the VHS camera.”

Baker admits if the film was done a few years later they probably would have used drones for some of those shots.

Though shooting with the phone was a success, Baker was weary about promoting how “Tangerine” was shot. When the film got into this year’s Sundance Film Festival back in January, he did not allow any of the publicity material to state that it was shot with an iPhone.

“We didn’t want people to have any preconceived notions about how it would look,” he said. “I have to say, if I had a choice to see a movie between a film shot on 35mm and a film shot on an iPhone, I would pick the film shot on 35mm.”

But following the premiere screening, Baker knew he had to reveal how they shot it. Overnight, he became the poster child of the future of low budget filmmaking.

“It’s starting to get crazy,” Baker admits. “I’m getting way too many Facebook messages and Twitter DMs from people asking how I made the movie. I just don’t have the time to answer all of them. It’s so easy — you get the phone, you get the app, you get the rig and you just do it.”

Apple has even warmed to the film.

Baker said when they originally sent Apple the film treatment they got the typical response that the company didn’t want to be involved. But after the Sundance premiere he began hearing from multiple departments in the company. Some praising what he did. Others, not so much.

“A few times they had been really nice to me, but a few times they rubbed me the wrong way,” he said. “One time a department was like, “We’re coming to your apartment and we’re going to shoot the way you edit and shoot and we’re going to spend two days with you.’ I was like no, you're not.”

But all is well, as Baker said Apple invited the film to take part in one of their Apple Store filmmaker chats recently, and they were all given new iPhones.

Baker is not planning to make another film on an iPhone, hoping that he will have a much larger budget to work with on his next one. But he believes audiences will be seeing more movies made on phones in the years to come.

“I went to Sundance thinking we would be one of many films shot on a phone,” he said. “But a lot of people are starting to use it for features and shots. And a lot have been used for commercials already. It’s about time.”

“Tangerine” opens in theaters on Friday.

Watch the “Tangerine” trailer below, and see the amazing picture quality yourself.

SEE ALSO: Hollywood's biggest enemy is launching an app that will let anyone watch pirated movies on an iPhone

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Christopher Miller and Phil Lord — who are behind hits “The Lego Movie,” the “21 Jump Street” films, and “The Last Man on Earth” — will direct a movie focused on a young Han Solo, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

StarWars.com has confirmed the news and notes that the screenplay will be written by Lawrence Kasdan (wrote scripts for "Empire Strikes Back,""Return of the Jedi," and latest "Star Wars" film, "The Force Awarkens"). The film is slated for a May 25, 2018 release. 

With Miller and Lord on board, the "Star Wars" franchise has a highly coveted duo working for it. The pair have written, directed, and produced films that have collectively grossed over $1 billion worldwide. 

This is a nice rebound for the "Star Wars" spinoffs Disney is attempting to getting off the ground.

Last month, director Josh Trank dropped out of the spinoff he was directing, which was rumored to be Boba Fett origin story. A search for a director is still ongoing.

Harrison Ford returns as Solo in “The Force Awakens” when it hits theaters December 18.

SEE ALSO: Why Stormtroopers look different in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

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NOW WATCH: It looks like 'Star Wars' fans are finally getting the video game they deserve

San Diego Comic-Con is this week!

From July 9-12, over 130,000 fans will head out to the San Diego Convention Center dressed as their favorite pop culture icons, to get exclusive swag, indulge in pop-up exhibits, and for the chance to rub elbows with the stars of some of their favorite movies and TV shows.

Now in its 48th year, one of the biggest draws is getting into one of the two main venues, Hall H and Ballroom 20, where panels for some of the most-anticipated movies and TV shows take place.

Big announcements are expected from Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, "The Walking Dead" crew, and more over the next few days.

Business Insider will be on the ground to take in the entire scene.

What can you expect to hear from SDCC 2015?

Here are the biggest panels we're excited to see.

Some new footage of "Sherlock"

When: Thursday 7/9, 3:45 PM PST

It's been well over a year since the third season of "Sherlock" aired.

If you've been impatiently and anxiously awaiting the fourth season to return in 2016, the panel should hopefully deliver some footage of what to expect along with some long-awaited answers after the cliffhanger season 3 finale. 

Did we miss you "Sherlock"? You bet.

The "Game of Thrones" panel

When: Friday 7/10, 2:30 PM PST

Is Jon Snow alive or isn't he?

Surely, we won't get any answers to the season five ending; however, the cast and crew will probably divulge on some behind-the-scenes stories and give hints at what's in store for season six.

Maybe we'll even get an update on when the next book, "The Winds of Winter," is coming out.

The "Hannibal" panel

When: Saturday 7/11, 5 PM PST

The critically acclaimed NBC series was recently canceled. Netflix and Amazon have both turned it down for a fourth season. 

With hopes for the show's future dwindling, this could be one final hurrah for Fannibals to unite. Who knows, maybe there  even find out if their beloved show will live on for a fourth season elsewhere.

At the least, there will probably be some fond memories shared by the cast and creator Bryan Fuller.

Tuesday afternoon news broke that the second "Star Wars" spinoff movie will focus around a young Han Solo.

The news was confirmed with a post on StarWars.com.

More interesting than the news of the film, which will be released May 2018, is the team who will be directing it.

If you're not familiar with the pair, you should be. 

We've talked about the dynamic duo a bit before. 

Just about everything they touch turns to box-office and comedy gold. 

Here's a quick list of the projects they've directed in the past:

"21 Jump Street"
"22 Jump Street" 
"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" 
"The LEGO Movie"

What do all of these films have in common? They were break out successes with low costs but high gross intakes. 

Here are three of their films:

2014's "22 Jump Street" continued the trend grossing $331.3 million on an estimated $50 million budget. Miller and Lord are producing another sequel to that franchise.

As for "The LEGO Movie," while the two won't be back in the director's seat for the direct sequel, they will be producing not one, not two, but three "LEGO" movie followups ("The LEGO Batman Movie,""Ninjago," and "The LEGO Movie Sequel").

They're also the minds behind Fox's popular fall comedy "The Last Man on Earth."

Lord and Miller are basically the team everyone wants to be working with in Hollywood right now, so it's little surprise they were tapped for one of the six announced "Star Wars"-related films.

Plus, working with Lucasfilm will be a bit like return to old roots.

THR reports Miller was once an intern at Lucasfilm who wore a Stormtrooper costume for a special edition of one of the "Star Wars" films.

It sounds like the two will be right at home.

SEE ALSO: 9 huge reveals we can't wait to see at San Diego Comic-Con

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NOW WATCH: The trailer for Lego's 'Jurassic World' game is here and it looks like a lot of fun

Thanks to the huge box-office grosses that movies are having so far this year — including record-breaking takes for “Furious 7" and “Jurassic World” — we may be headed for one of the highest-earning movie years of all time. 

But as we hit the halfway point of 2015, we have to address the titles that did not do well.

From “Mortdecai” to “Aloha,” here are 11 of the biggest bombs so far this year.

11. "Tomorrowland" (Disney)

Estimated Budget: $190 million
Worldwide Gross: $202.9 million
Opening Weekend: $33 million

Though this adaptation of the futuristic section of the Disney amusement park did hit No. 1 at the box office its opening weekend, the film's make-the-world-a-better-place vibe and long-winded storyline didn't motivate audiences — especially in the US. Though the George Clooney-starrer made $111.9 worldwide, it took in just $91 million domestically. 

(Source: Box Office Mojo)

10. "Chappie" (Sony)

Estimated Budget: $49 million
Worldwide Gross: $102 million
Opening Weekend: $13.3 million

Many were excited for the latest movie from director Neil Blomkamp, as he was returning to his South African roots, where he found major success with his debut feature film, "District 9." But those hopes were dashed when the reviews came out and ripped into the movie, which follows a robot that has signs of artificial intelligence. (The film has a 31% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.)

(Source: Box Office Mojo)

9. "Jupiter Ascending" (Warner Bros.)

Estimated Budget: $176 million
Worldwide Gross: $181.8 million
Opening Weekend: $18.3 million

With production delays pushing the movie from a summer 2014 release date to an opening in January, "Jupiter Ascending" was behind the eight ball very early on. And things didn't get any better for the latest sci-fi thriller from the makers of "The Matrix," Andy and Lana Wachowski, when the film had a surprise screening at the Sundance Film Festival with very few positives coming out of it. General US audiences would end up feeling the same way. However, the film found more takers overseas.

(Source: Box Office Mojo) 

In 1971, at the prestigious Stanford University, a group of young men were paid to participate in a study designed to observe the psychological effects of prison life.

The experiment didn't just focus on what it was like to be a prison inmate; half of the participants were randomly assigned to be guards, while the rest were their prisoners.

The experiment was supposed to last two weeks.

Things went so horribly wrong that the plug was pulled after only six days. Now there's another movie about it (a German movie was made about the study in 2001, and a 2010 take starred Forest Whitaker and Adrien Brody), and thankfully, this one is really good.

"The Stanford Prison Experiment" is a compelling story that is ripe for adaptation, but the film is elevated to even greater heights because of its ensemble of supremely talented young stars.

Every single actor featured on-screen is terrific, with "lead" prisoner Ezra Miller ("The Perks Of Being A Wallflower,""We Need To Talk About Kevin") and guard Michael Angarano ("Almost Famous,""Sky High") doing the best work of their careers and making a convincing case for being the best in the business for their age group.

Miller is the first prisoner to push back against the guards, and when the reality of the situation starts to set in, he starts to break. His descent into unease and madness is so believable it's actually hard to watch at times.

Angarano is horrifying as the alpha-male guard, embodying the "bad cop" persona (he literally dons a pair of Aviators and starts acting like John Wayne) and really running with it.

Billy Crudup is creepy and perfect as Dr. Zimbardo, viewing the experiment from the safety of his control room as the viewer is left to question his intentions. Does this experiment serve a scientific purpose, or is Zimbardo just some twisted voyeur taking pleasure in it all?

Like the study itself, "The Stanford Prison Experiment" is about power, control, and how far a man is willing to go when given the opportunity to take charge. In addition to exploring the limits (or lack thereof) of the human psyche, the film is also a quasi-indictment of the experiment itself, showcasing what went wrong every step of the way. Zimbardo is not given any sort of a pass by the filmmakers here, despite his pedigree.

Most of the film showcases the experiment itself, and we watch these young men go from eager participants ready to make a quick buck to desperate souls who would do anything to make it all stop.

In the pre-study candidate interviews, nobody wanted to be a guard ... being a prisoner seemed like much less work. Most completed the interview with a smile, as if they were about to embark on a free two-week vacation. They arrive and are immediately stripped of every aspect of their identity, and it doesn't take long to realize this is far from a getaway.

Once the guards start taking themselves too seriously, it's all downhill from there, and it becomes of a question of how far will they take it. Where's the moral line in the sand?

It would be a disservice not to mention how wonderfully shot and composed the film is, too. The tight camerawork, featuring mostly close-ups, ensures the audience is just as confined and uncomfortable as the film's subjects.

The only issue with the film is its ending. Everything that comes before it is so raw and powerful that the final stretch in which the writer attempts to spoon-feed the audience the "message" of the film and its significance is completely out of place. The suffering on display, Angarano and Miller's extreme reactions, and the moral ambiguity of Zimbardo speak for themselves.

"The Stanford Prison Experiment" is a film that implants itself firmly in your mind and won't let go. It's an unsettling, disturbing watch that has the power to make you question humankind.

"The Stanford Prison Experiment" opens in select theaters July 17 and hits VOD services July 24.

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In the upcoming “Ant-Man,” Michael Douglas proves that at 70-years-old he can still play a convincing tough guy. But he can’t say the same for the contemporary male American actor.

In an interview with The Independent, Douglas said that actors in Britain and Australia are “taking many of the best American roles from them.”

“In Britain they take their training seriously while in the States we’re going through a sort of social media image conscious thing rather than formal training,” he told The Independent. “Many actors are getting caught up in this image thing which is going on to affect their range.”

And Douglas wasn’t done.

“With the Aussies, particularly with the males it’s the masculinity. In the US we have this relatively asexual or unisex area with sensitive young men and we don’t have many Channing Tatums or Chris Pratts, while the Aussies do. It’s a phenomena.”

Douglas knows a thing or two about playing characters with masculinity.

In his hey-day of the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was known best for playing hard-nosed characters like the shrewd Wall Street trader Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street” and police detective Nick Curran in the sexually-charged “Basic Instinct.”

Douglas' comments come on the heels of Dustin Hoffman’s criticism of Hollywood earlier this week in which he said he believes the current state of movies is “the worst that film has ever been.” 

SEE ALSO: Michael Douglas has been using the same stunt double for 26 years

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Paramount Pictures is partnering with two leading theatrical distributors for an unprecedented theater/digital revenue sharing plan that could change the way we watch first-run releases.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Paramount, AMC Theaters and Cineplex Entertainment have struck a deal in which two of the studio’s upcoming low budget horrors, “Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension” and “Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse” will be available in theaters exclusively for only two weeks before going onto digital home release platforms.

Since the VCR-era of the 1980s, the standard for studios has been waiting 90 days after a movie debuts in theaters before the title is available on other platforms.

According to the agreement, The Wrap reports, AMC and Cineplex will receive a percentage of any of the studio’s revenue for the period titles are available digitally through the 90 days of the initial U.S. release.

The WSJ story also states, if the early release plan is successful for the two horror titles, Paramount will make the strategy standard for its future films, which include franchises like “Transformers,” “Mission: Impossible,” and “Star Trek.”

This is not the first time a studio has tried to shrink the theatrical release window.

In 2011, Universal planned to release “Tower Heist” on VOD to Comcast cable subscribers in two cities at a premium price two weeks after the film debuted in theaters. That was quickly canceled following overwhelming resistance from the National Association of Theater Owners. 

“Movie-lovers want us to respond and meet their desires. Exhibitors want to keep their businesses strong. Filmmakers want us to put a premium on the theatrical experience and optimize consumer access to their creations. Our hope and intent is that this initiative offers a degree of innovation that benefits all parties,” Brad Grey, chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, told The Wrap.

“Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension” opens in theaters October 23, while “Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse” comes out October 30.

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Warning: There are spoilers ahead if you haven't seen "Terminator Genisys"

The latest installment to the Terminator franchise, "Terminator Genisys," completely flips the franchise on its head.

John Connor, who has always been the last hope for humanity in a seemingly endless war against machines, has suddenly become the greatest weapon of AI system Skynet.

If the twist appeared to go against everything you believed in with "Terminator," the switch makes more sense if you think of it in an alternate universe.

We were surprised to learn that inspiration for that big twist came from one of the most critically-acclaimed Superman series.

During the press junket for the film, we asked screenwriters Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier about the choice to turn Connor into an upgraded model of the Terminator, the T-3000, and why Skynet would want Connor on their side. 

"He’s [John] still a messiah — He’s just a messiah for someone else," Lussier told Business Insider.

"That’s the thing that’s interesting about John," added Kalogridis. "The gifts that he has are the gifts of the savior ... There’s a really great comic called Red Son, about Superman working for the Russians."

"Soviet union," Lussier interjected. "If you think of Skynet as an incredibly smart, uber smart … 'Hey there’s nobody smarter than me' Skynet. He’s gonna get tired of losing in the endless loop of time, because he gets to lose over and over again and kind of loops in on itself."

"In Skynet’s real case, those pesky humans, have this real ringer that always let’s them win," he added. "I can’t create my own ringer, so I’m going to steal theirs and make him mine."

For those unfamiliar with "Red Son," the three-part limited series released in 2003 asks, "What if Superman was raised in the Soviet Union?" This version of the Man of Steel fights for Stalin and socialism instead of truth and justice. 

When asking Kalogridis if "Red Son" served as inspiration for Connor's character she told us "absolutely." 

The change to Connor's character in the film is so radical that initially many fans weren't sure what to think when the reveal for his character in the new film was given away in multiple trailers.

However, Kalogridis and Lussier weren't worried about backlash for altering the character, especially since he exists in an alternate timeline, not a replacement timeline as Kalogridis puts it.

"Any time you take a narrative risk, artistically, I think that’s more interesting than not taking a risk. Whether fans will accept it or reject it, ultimately comes down in my mind to execution probably more than anything else," explains Kalogridis. "... Much like there would be no point to remaking the original “Terminator” because it’s about as close to perfect as I think you can get, and the second one is probably one of the greatest action films of all time and I think always will be …  without question. I think if you don’t do something that is a little risky than you don’t justify why you’re doing anything at all." 

"Terminator Genisys" is currently in theaters.

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Everyone loves Netflix. For $7.99 each month, it puts many of our favorite shows and movies at our fingertips and on nearly all of our devices 24/7.

And with its growing collection of original programming ("House of Cards,""Orange is the New Black,""Marvel's Daredevil," and more), Netflix keeps getting better.

Whether you've spent countless hours binge watching your favorite shows, or you're a Netflix newbie, here are some tips and tricks you need to know to get the most out of your subscription.

SEE ALSO: Netflix will likely hit 70 million subscribers by the end of the year

Know the keyboard shortcuts

Become a Netflix keyboard ninja with these shortcuts:

F = full screen
M = mute
Up arrow = volume up
Down arrow = volume down
Spacebar = play/pause
Shift + Left Arrow = rewind
Shift + Right Arrow = fast-forward
ESC = exit full screen

Don't blow through your data plan

Did you know you can adjust the quality of your Netflix stream?

If you're worried about using too much data when you watch something — maybe your internet provider has a bandwidth cap— go to the My Account page and select "Playback settings."

Beware — these changes make take up to 8 hours to take effect.

Clear your viewing history

Netflix used to make it really hard to remove programs you had watched from your viewing history, but now it's easy.

Under the My Account page, select "Viewing activity." From there, you can delete individual movies and TV episodes you've watched.

Now that embarrassing reality show won't show up in your suggestions.

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The summer time is when we rush into dark theaters blasting ice cold air so we can watch the biggest and baddest actors on the planet duke it out —often against computer-generated foes — for a delightful two hours.

It’s a formula that has worked out well, particularly this summer where it seems no box office record is safe.

But with the release of “Ant-Man”on July 17, we are in store for something different.

Don’t worry, if you like large things blowing up and insane action sequences, there’s plenty of that. But this is unlike most Marvel movies in the way that there’s a playfulness about it that lowers the stakes of world destruction or preventing bad guys from obtaining Infinity Stones. 

A lot of that has to do with the actor playing Ant-Man — Paul Rudd.

We know Rudd for his comedy, ranging from the early days of his career with “Wet Hot American Summer” to being one of Judd Apatow’s go-to guys in movies like “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up.”

Rudd has always had an edge to him, but not in an intimidating or offensive way. Even at his most dickish (“Role Models” or “Dinner for Schmucks”), there’s always a redeeming quality that makes us still like him by the end credits.

This summer we've seen hunky guys like Chris Pratt dominate the box office in "Jurassic Park," Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson take on "San Andreas," and Arnold Schwarzenegger return in "Terminator Genisys"— all engulfing the screen with incredible feats of strength and tenacity. Could Rudd's persona work in the tough guy mold we expect our summer movie heroes to be?

It does because thanks to rewrites by Rudd and “Anchorman” writer-director Adam McKay, “Ant-Man” still has action and thrills but plays to Rudd’s strengths of witty one-liners and self-deprecating humor.

Some of Rudd’s most memorable moments in his career are when the directors let him and fellow actors rift off one another. With Rudd involved in the writing process, he’s able to throw in a few lines of his own, giving the Ant-Man character something that his fans are familiar with.

This was crucial because if you aren’t familiar with the "Ant-Man" comics before seeing the movie you might not know what the heck you’ve gotten yourself into.

Ant-Man is a superhero who wears a suit that allows him to shrink to nearly microscopic size while still keeping strength of normal size. He can communicate with ants, which he uses as an army to complete missions.

Rudd is perfect in the role because he gives his character Scott Lang — a burglar who tries to get on the straight-and-narrow for the sake of his daughter until he meets Dr. Hank Pam (Michael Douglas) who wants him to become the Ant-Man — the mix of sarcasm and charm the audience needs to ease into the story.

Once you’re in, the Marvel machine takes it from there with incredible references of the universe and a fun comedic tone (looking at you Michael Peña) that hasn’t been found in any of the films from the studio so far (yes, even “Guardians of the Galaxy”).

But all of that is because of what Rudd gives us.

In a season where the giants rule, it’s this regular guy who may be the most interesting.

SEE ALSO: 'Ant-Man' will tease the next 'Captain America' movie in its end credits sequence

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