On Sunday, Disney officially announced that advance tickets for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” will go on sale Monday night.

Similar to what the studio did for “The Force Awakens” in 2015, a trailer for “The Last Jedi” will show at halftime of “Monday Night Football” on ESPN with online ticket sales opening for the movie right after.

The game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears in Chicago starts at 8:15 p.m. EST.

“The Last Jedi” opens in theaters on December 15.

SEE ALSO: The director of Kate Winslet and Idris Elba's new movie recounts the grueling shoot at 11,000 feet — and how the crew almost revolted in the snow

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NOW WATCH: Watch Adam Savage go undercover as Chewbacca at New York Comic Con

Despite an 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which included some critics saying it surpassed its legendary original in every aspect, "Blade Runner 2049" was not the moneymaker its studio, Warner Bros, or the industry had anticipated.

Though the movie easily won the domestic weekend box office with an estimated $31.5 million take, according to The Hollywood Reporter, it's a disappointing figure for a blockbuster that was on over 4,000 screens and a budget of $150 million (add another $100 million or so for the marketing).

Industry estimates going into the weekend had the movie earning around $43 million - $45 million after it started with a solid $12.6 million Friday (including $4 million from Thursday previews).

A major factor contributing to its underperformance looks to be the demographic. Young people go to a movie's opening weekend, but with "2049" having an R rating and a running time of over two-and-a-half-hours it wasn't a hot ticket, it seems. According to CinemaScore, only 14% of people in their exit polls were under 25. The movie's main audience, who grew up on the 1982 Ridley Scott futuristic noir starring Harrison Ford (who returns on "2049" opposite Ryan Gosling), the over-30 crowd, typically wait out the opening weekend crowds.

Not to say the movie will suddenly have a second life at the box office. What's more realistic is Warner Bros. has a well-executed sci-fi movie with a dazzling look that will become as much of a cult hit as the original movie was.  

But it's not all bad for the studio. WB's other movie in theaters, "It," is a sensation as it's now taking in over $600 million worldwide (made for only $35 million).

SEE ALSO: Pierce Brosnan talks about his new movie "The Foreigner," but isn't in the mood to discuss James Bond

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NOW WATCH: Watch Adam Savage go undercover as Chewbacca at New York Comic Con

Most know Cliff “Method Man” Smith as one of the original members of the legendary rap group, The Wu-Tang Clan, but if you’ve been watching HBO’s “The Deuce,” you also know he’s got some acting talent as well.

Though he’s been acting in movies and TV since the late 1990s, playing pimp Rodney on the latest show from the creators of “The Wire” — which Method Man also starred in — is a high water mark for the rapper/actor. That's especially true in Sunday’s episode, where he delivers a scene-stealing performance opposite one of its main leads, Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Business Insider spoke to Method Man about the generosity Gyllenhaal showed him in preparing for their scene, if we’ll ever see a “How High” sequel, and if the album Martin Shkreli bought is really an official Wu-Tang album.

Jason Guerrasio: This past episode is when Rodney really shines. The character has an intense scene opposite prostitute Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who he’s trying to recruit to his stable. Were you nervous going into shooting that?

Method Man: I’m always nervous before I shoot. Well, I won't say nervous, I get butterflies, which I think is normal so I think that's good. The thing that I had working on my side for this scene was Maggie, in all aspects. Not just her acting chops and her carrying us through that scene, but that fact that she took aside a day of work that she had, and rehearsed with me before we even shot the scene, that's gracious as hell. She did not have to do that. I'm not even a major character on the show.

Guerrasio: Going in you know it's a big scene for you, were you planning to approach Maggie yourself to see if she wanted to rehearse beforehand?

Method Man: I wanted to, but I didn't know how to ask, so I was just going in and let nature take its course. She made the call and said, “Can Cliff come in and we can rehearse if he wants to.” And I was like, “What? Yeah!” By the time we got on set we were ready to go. It was balled up energy ready to explode.

Guerrasio: On the shooting day, how many times did you go through that scene?

Method Man: I'd say the meat and potatoes of the scene, where we were moving with steadicam, that was shot about four or five times. But I haven’t seen the episode yet.

Guerrasio: I’m kind of shocked you haven't seen the episode yet. Is that just your style, you just don't want to see it?

Method Man: No. They just haven't given it to me. I don't have the same kind of access Maggie and James [Franco] have, and I'm fine with that because I want to enjoy the show just like everybody else. But to Maggie's credit, in that scene, from the rehearsal it was more or less let's try it like this and if it doesn't work f--- it, we're in the realm. And I had a hang-up about f------ up on certain words and she was like, “Don't even worry about it, if you go with something else, use it.” So it was a learning experience as well as knowing the magnitude of the scene, that I was in with someone who is certified. So I knew I did not want to be the ugly person in the picture. You know you have a picture of a bunch of beautiful people posing perfectly, and then one person got the ugly face. Ruins the whole picture.

Guerrasio: You've worked with a lot of big names in front of and behind the camera, had you ever gotten that graciousness in the past that Maggie gave you?

Method Man: Yeah. My man Tom McCarthy, who directed “The Cobbler.”

Guerrasio: Who is an actor himself, so he knows what's needed.

Method Man: Absolutely. I mean, he walked me through things step-by-step, and that's who reinvigorated my love for acting. It made me really want to get serious about it.

Guerrasio: So that was the experience that got you serious about acting?

Method Man: Yeah. When we did rehearsing I'm in there with Adam Sandler and Ellen Barkin, Dustin Hoffman, so I was very nervous and anxious. But when we got on set Tom didn't baby step me though it, he was just like, “You got this, you got the job already, get rid of the anxiety, let's do it!” And he made it fun for me, and I said, "F---, now I get it!" I can't put in words, it was just like, "Yeah, I can't wait to do the next role and try this or that." I took the blue pill and I'm ready.

Guerrasio: How did you get involved with "The Deuce?" Is it a call from show creators George Pelecanos or David Simon? You were on "The Wire,” do you have that clout now?

Method Man: I think there's a very short list of people who don't have to audition for a David Simon project. Very short list of people. I have had to always audition. I came in for this, and I was willing to do it, but I wasn't notified by David or any of his people, it was casting person Alexa Fogel. She was responsible for getting me on "Oz,""The Wire," and those are all parts I had to read for. I auditioned first for Reggie Love, the part that Black Thought from The Roots got, and she also sent me C.C.’s part. So basically when I came in to audition for David and a few others I literally auditioned for Reggie Love, got up, walked out, walked right back in and auditioned for C.C.

Guerrasio: [Laughs.]

Method Man: And didn't get either part, by the way.

Guerrasio: So when did Rodney come around?

Method Man: Rodney came around when they called me and said I got the part. And I was like, “Who is it?” And they were like, "It's Rodney," and I'm like smiling the whole time but I'm like, "Who the hell is Rodney?" And I started reading the script and I was like I exactly know who Rodney is, let's go.

Guerrasio: The look of Rodney is amazing, did you help give birth to his look?

Method Man: Very little. It was really all the wardrobe, hair and makeup departments. They did their thing.

Guerrasio: Which role that you've played in your career is most memorable for you? Your favorite.

Method Man: It was on television, an episode of "Difficult People." That's my favorite thing that I've done of anything right now. Because that whole episode it was just me being me. They didn't ask me to be some exaggerated version. Even though I did take liberties at certain points because they made me feel that comfortable to do that.

Guerrasio: I’m not familiar with it, but I see that the character name for that episode is Method Man, so is it safe to say that's the real Meth right there?

Method Man: Yeah, pretty much in a nutshell, yes sir.

Guerrasio: This has always bugged me, why the accent in “Trainwreck?"

Method Man: They wanted him to sound West Indian or Jamaican. I needed a movie part. I love Amy Schumer. I didn't know the movie would be big or not, I just knew I loved Amy and wanted to work with her. So I came in there with some pseudo-African/Jamaican/bad Trinidad accent. I had way more scenes than that but I guess the accent was so bad Judd Apatow tried to save me from being embarrassed and took it all out.

Guerrasio: It's funny because you watch that movie and go, "Oh, Method Man is in this movie, cool," and then you talk and it’s like, "Oh really?"

Method Man: [Laughs.]

Guerrasio: I’m sure you get this a lot, but will we ever see a “How High 2?"

Method Man: I’m not sure. If there is one, hopefully there is, I'll be all over it if it's the right subject matter and funny. If it's not funny I don't want no part of it.

Guerrasio: But is it just a pipe dream or have you gotten calls that it's serious?

Method Man: No. There have been attempts, no lie. Script is written. The studio turned it down. And then we weren't happy with the material. Right now, I don't know where it is, it's in limbo. But there are people, from what I've heard, are behind the scenes trying to get some kind of “How High” movie done. I guess we'll see. I don't want it to be a video-on-demand type thing. I won't be participating in that.

Guerrasio: "How High" did get a second life, I want you to know that.

Method Man: Really, "How High"?

Guerrasio: Yes. When that's on a movie channel it's one of those movies you watch because it's a fun time. People discovered that movie once it hit cable.

Method Man: I appreciate that. See, that's how I look at other people's movies. It's hard for me to watch that movie and feel that way because I was actually there for the experience. But that's mad cool. I will never be able to enjoy my accomplishments the same way someone from the outside will. I have to enjoy it from someone else's eyes.  

Guerrasio: Let's finish with Martin Shkreli. Is there really a “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” album?

Method Man: Yeah, I think there is. I believe that is an actual album. But as far as recording, that's as far are my reach went, which is why when I was informed how they were approaching selling the album I kind of flipped out because I was misinformed by the person who gave me the information. But it's hard for me to speak on it because I wasn't informed, I wasn't in the loop. It's just next thing I know this dude had the album and I felt no kind of way about it.

Guerrasio: Is it an official Wu album?

Method Man: I wouldn't know because I haven't heard it, I only know the tracks that I spit on. That is it. So for me, especially with music, my personal opinion, I wouldn't have done it that way. I would have just gave it to the people at the end of the day. But you have people that have families to feed, things of that nature. Maybe without all the glamour and glitz on it it could have been done better because it was lost in translation whatever kind of message they were sending. And then to have someone [buy the album] that is pretty much disliked by a lot of people based off something that had nothing to do with hip-hop, that made it a little bit more worse.

Guerrasio: Is there a Wu album for the people coming soon?

Method Man: October 15 a Wu album will be dropping called “Wu-Tang The Saga Continues.” First video is out right now called “People Say.” I personally don't like the video. But the song is pretty dope.

Guerrasio: What's wrong with the video?

Method Man: I always have problems with editors. If an editor can dance, if they can keep a rhythm, then they can edit. That's just my opinion. Music video director Diane Martel, she's not an editor but she sits in and she's responsible for “Bring the Pain” and “All I Need,” “How High,” her cuts always come on beat. So if you can't keep my interest on beat and your cuts are all over the place you're going to lose my interest pretty fast. But I'm a trained eye. I don't know how everyone else will perceive it.

Guerrasio: Did you hear what a prospective juror said at the Shkreli trail? That Shkreli "disrespected the Wu Tang."

Method Man: Yeah. You'll be surprised how far that W stretches man.

Guerrasio: Are you still shocked by the power of the Wu?

Method Man: I’m always shocked, brother. I take my blessings as they come and it's always new to me. That's how I feel about it. That's how I want to keep it. I always want the feeling to be new, never want to get used to it.

SEE ALSO: Ryan Gosling's 21 most notable performances, ranked from worst to best

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NOW WATCH: Watch Adam Savage go undercover as Chewbacca at New York Comic Con

The new trailer for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" went online Monday night, and it didn't disappoint.

It had Luke teaching Rey the ways of the force! It had porgs!

But the biggest moment was Kylo Ren flying his ship toward what looks to be the command ship General Leia is in — and about to fire on it. Did we just get a major spoiler? (Hope not.)

A new poster for the movie was also revealed Monday.

Here it is:

"The Last Jedi," directed by Rian Johnson ("Looper"), will see the return of "The Force Awakens" stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, and Oscar Isaac alongside the legendary members of the original trilogy Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, who died in December. It will mark Fisher's final film performance.

Advance tickets are now available online.

Watch the trailer below. 'The Last Jedi' opens in theaters December 15.

SEE ALSO: Method Man talks about his scene-stealing episode on 'The Deuce' — and why he has no time for Martin Shkreli

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NOW WATCH: Jaleel White played Steve Urkel on 'Family Matters' for 9 years — here’s what he’s up to now

Rotten Tomatoes has had its share of directors who have publicly voiced their hatred of the review aggregator site. And now you can add a living legend to the list.

In a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter that went online Tuesday, Martin Scorsese ripped into the popular site.

Voicing his displeasure with the box-office culture the movie industry has become since the 1980s, the Oscar-winning director then shifted to the industry scapegoat, Rotten Tomatoes.

Though general audiences use the site often to gauge what movies are getting "fresh" reviews from a collection of critics (or "rotten" ones), most filmmakers — especially the old guard — don't get the attraction.

In March, director/producer Brett Ratner called the site a "the destruction of our business," and now Scorsese has added that it's "set a tone that is hostile to serious filmmakers."

"They rate a picture the way you’d rate a horse at the racetrack, a restaurant in a Zagat’s guide, or a household appliance in Consumer Reports," Scorsese wrote, also calling out CinemaScore, which does exit polling of wide releases on opening weekends. "They have everything to do with the movie business and absolutely nothing to do with either the creation or the intelligent viewing of film. The filmmaker is reduced to a content manufacturer and the viewer to an unadventurous consumer."

And Scorsese wasn't done.

"Even the actual name Rotten Tomatoes is insulting. And as film criticism written by passionately engaged people with actual knowledge of film history has gradually faded from the scene, it seems like there are more and more voices out there engaged in pure judgmentalism, people who seem to take pleasure in seeing films and filmmakers rejected, dismissed and in some cases ripped to shreds."

The criticism to Rotten Tomatoes comes when the site is at its zenith. Studios market movies using "fresh" Rotten Tomatoes scores all the time, and this past summer Sony purposely held the review embargo of its release "The Emoji Movie" to just hours before Thursday preview screenings, so its eventual "rotten" score (for a day or so it was at 0%) wouldn't affect its box office. The movie earned a surprising $24.5 million its opening weekend.  

"Good films by real filmmakers aren’t made to be decoded, consumed or instantly comprehended," Scorsese went on, highlighting the work of Darren Aronofsky's "Mother!," which received a "F" through CinemaScore.

"They’re not even made to be instantly liked. They’re just made, because the person behind the camera had to make them."

SEE ALSO: The new "The Last Jedi" trailer may give away a major spoiler

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NOW WATCH: We went to London's prison-themed cocktail bar where you have to smuggle in your own liquor

In the days since The New York Times published a bombshell report filled with sexual-harassment accusations against the film producer Harvey Weinstein, more women are sharing their stories.

On Tuesday morning, The New Yorker published an article in which three women accuse Weinstein of rape.

The women told The New Yorker that Weinstein raped them, detailing allegations including Weinstein performing unwanted oral sex, forcing oral sex to be performed on him, and forcing vaginal sex.

Sallie Hofmeister, a spokeswoman for Weinstein, issued this statement in response to the allegations in the article:

"Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously can't speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual. Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance."

The stories the three women told The New Yorker offer a dramatically different account.

Asia Argento, an Italian film actress and director, told The New Yorker that Weinstein forced oral sex on her 20 years ago. Argento said she did not speak out until now because she was scared Weinstein would "crush" her. "I know he has crushed a lot of people before," Argento told the publication in an interview. "That's why this story — in my case, it's 20 years old, some of them are older — has never come out."

Weinstein "terrified me, and he was so big," she said. "It wouldn't stop. It was a nightmare." Argento told The New Yorker she eventually started to pretend she enjoyed the assault with the hope that doing so would make it end sooner.

The New Yorker also described the account of a woman named Lucia Evans, who the magazine said gave Weinstein her number in 2004 when she was an aspiring actress and college student. The magazine said Weinstein started calling her late at night asking to meet, offers she declined. It said that she eventually met Weinstein at the Miramax office in New York City during the day and that after both demeaning her and complimenting her (he told her she should lose weight) he forced her to perform oral sex on him.

"I said, over and over, 'I don't want to do this, stop, don't,'" Stoller told The New Yorker. "I tried to get away, but maybe I didn't try hard enough. I didn't want to kick him or fight him. He's a big guy. He overpowered me. I just sort of gave up. That’s the most horrible part of it, and that’s why he's been able to do this for so long to so many women: People give up, and then they feel like it's their fault."

Another woman, who The New Yorker said was afraid to allow her name to be published, told the magazine that Weinstein brought her to a hotel room for what she expected to be a professional meeting; she said he then changed into a bathrobe and forced himself on her sexually.

The woman told The New Yorker that she had thought about going to the police at the time but was intimidated by Weinstein's power and worried about losing her job. "He drags your name through the mud," she said, "and he'll come after you hard with his legal team."

For the full article, head to The New Yorker.

SEE ALSO: 12 famous actors who have publicly praised and thanked Harvey Weinstein, and what they are saying now

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NOW WATCH: A Dungeons & Dragons master shows us how to play the classic game featured in 'Stranger Things'

Following the explosive story in the New York Times last week on movie producer Harvey Weinstein, The New Yorker came out with its own piece Tuesday that includes allegations of sexual assault against the disgraced movie mogul.

One of the revelations is that Weinstein allegedly performed unwanted oral sex on Italian actress-director Asia Argento in a hotel room in 1997.

"It was a nightmare," Argento told The New Yorker.

It was a nightmare that Argento then partially dramatized in public, for all to see.

In 2000, a movie Argento wrote and directed, "Scarlet Diva," was released. It includes a scene that's similar to what she allegedly went through with Weinstein three years earlier.

The character Argento plays, Anna, is cornered in a hotel room by a heavyset producer who asks her for a massage and tries to assault her.

Argento said in The New Yorker story that after the movie was released, other women recognized that the producer character was a portrayal of Weinstein. 

"People would ask me about him because of the scene in the movie," Argento said. Women also told her about similar encounters with Weinstein.

According to Argento, Weinstein — who by that time had built a friendship with Argento — saw the movie when it was released in the US and recognized himself. “Ha, ha, very funny,” Argento recounted him saying to her. But he also allegedly said that he was “sorry for whatever happened.”

Argento said there's one major difference in the movie versus her real life experience. “In the movie I wrote,” she said, “I ran away.”

After The New Yorker story went live, Argento took to Twitter and posted the hotel scene in "Scarlet Diva." 

Watch it below:

SEE ALSO: Martin Scorsese goes nuclear on Rotten Tomatoes in a scathing column

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NOW WATCH: Watch Adam Savage go undercover as Chewbacca at New York Comic Con

Warning: There may be some potential spoilers ahead for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi."

A new trailer for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" was released Monday night and we finally have more glimpses of Luke Skywalker's long-awaited return and a creepy tease of Supreme Leader Snoke.

We've already broken down the entire trailer, which you can check out here. But there are a few details you may have skimmed over during your first few views of the trailer that aren't so easy to spot. 

Keep reading to see what you may have missed in the new "The Last Jedi" trailer.

SEE ALSO: A breakdown of everything in the new 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' trailer

1. Kylo Ren's scar is in a different place than in "The Force Awakens."

If you thought Kylo Ren's scar looked a bit different, you were right. "The Last Jedi" director Rian Johnson said in April he moved the scar because he thought the current placement looked goofy.

2. Kylo Ren has a new ship. Like most of his possessions, it has some ties to his grandpa, Darth Vader.

As StarWars.com points out, Kylo Ren's TIE silencer is similar in design to Darth Vader's TIE advanced. He's also an expert pilot thanks to both his dad (Han Solo, RIP) and his grandpa, Anakin Skywalker.

3. We're almost positively getting a flashback scene to a dark time in Luke's past.

Once again, "The Last Jedi" trailer shows shots of what appears to be a burning temple with Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 at his side. We see a bit more of the scene this time, with Luke digging his way out of rubble and falling at R2's side at the sight of the destruction before him.

We're sure the burning of that building has something to do with Kylo Ren/Ben Solo turning on his uncle and a group of Jedi. An image of the Knights of Ren from "The Force Awakens" appears to show them surrounded by lifeless bodies. Hopefully, we'll get the full story with a giant flashback told from Luke's perspective. 

The new trailer for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" is out, and there's already a breakout star of the film, at least according to the internet. A new creature called a porg is featured for a brief few seconds, and its become somewhat of a meme on Twitter. Disney is pushing lots of porg merchandise, and it's capturing people's attention thanks to its penguin-like shape and its big eyes. Here's everything we know about porgs so far. Following is the text of the video.

Everything about "porgs" from Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Porgs are a new creature in the Star Wars universe.

They will make their debut in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi."

They're small, penguin-like creatures.

They build nests and they can fly.

They are native to the planet of Ahch-To, where Luke Skywalker was living in "The Force Awakens."

The real-life inspiration for porgs?

Puffins that live off the coast of Ireland, where the Ahch-To scenes were shot.

Porg babies are called "porglets."

A group of porgs is called a "murder."

They are very curious creatures.

In the film, they're portrayed with both puppets and CGI.

Disney is already offering lots of porg merchandise.

A porg children's book is in the works.

The internet has already turned them into a popular meme.

We'll find out more when The Last Jedi comes out Dec 15, 2017.

Join the conversation about this story »

Andy Serkis has made a career using motion-capture technology to transform into some of the most memorable characters of Hollywood's CGI-era.

From Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" movies to Ceasar in "Planet of the Apes," he really has pushed forward a new kind of performance art. But his most mysterious role is Supreme Leader Snoke in the current "Star Wars" movies. 

Snoke only appears in hologram form in "The Force Awakens," and it seems in the latest trailer for "The Last Jedi," we will see him in the flesh. But there isn't much we know about the character (and very little Serkis can say). 

But one aspect Serkis could speak on is the creation of the Snoke voice, which is prominently featured in "The Last Jedi" trailer. Along with performing the roles of Gollum, Ceasar, and Snoke, he also comes up with all the voices. It's something that he puts a lot of thought into. 

Serkis revealed to Business Insider how he developed Snoke's deep, sinister voice.

"When I first worked on it with ['The Force Awakens' director] J.J. [Abrams] there was an evolving design of the character," Serkis said, while promoting his directorial debut, "Breathe" (in theaters Friday). "It was going through lots of changes. But it's all about where a character carries his pain, or aggression, or emotional centers, and with Snoke it was very much there [putting his hands to the back of his head]. And his skull has got this big scar in the front, so for me it was a fracturing. He's got this cleft in his head and I think it's very painful for him to speak and yet there's an imperiousness about him. He's severely damaged but there's a vulnerability that's he's trying to cover so that was sort of what I was trying to do."

Perhaps that pain will be explored in "The Last Jedi." If the voiceover from the trailer (hopefully it's also in the movie) is any indication, Snoke could be as much of an influence on Rey as Luke Skywalker is.

Watch the latest trailer below. "The Last Jedi" opens in theaters December 15.

SEE ALSO: Andy Serkis on the Harvey Weinstein allegations: "There's no excuse"

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NOW WATCH: Everything we know about 'porgs' — the penguin-like creatures from 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'

Following the surfaced allegations of sexual harassment and assault by movie producer Harvey Weinstein in stories from The New York Times and The New Yorker, Harvey's brother, Bob, finally made a public statement on Tuesday night.

TMZ reports that Harvey firmly believes Bob is the one that fed the New York Times information for its story.

"My brother Harvey is obviously a very sick man," Bob told TMZ. "I've urged him to seek immediate professional help because he is in dire need of it. His remorse and apologies to the victims of his abuse are hollow. He said he would go away for help and has yet to do so."

On Tuesday, People reported that Harvey's wife, Georgina Chapman, is leaving him and that the disgraced movie mogul is flying to Europe to seek treatment for sex addiction.

"He has proven himself to be a world class liar and now rather than seeking help he is looking to blame others," Bob went on to tell TMZ. "His assertion [that Bob set him up] is categorically untrue from A to Z. I pray he gets the help that he needs and I believe that it is him behind all of these stories to distract from his own failure to get help."

Bob and Harvey Weinstein became the kings of the independent film world in the 1990s when they founded the company Miramax, which launched the careers of Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, and Kevin Smith. The brothers went on to release a string of Oscar nominated and winning movies. The success led to the company being bought by Disney. In 2005, the brothers left the company and began The Weinstein Company. 

SEE ALSO: Rose McGowan is calling for people to sign a petition to dissolve The Weinstein Company's board

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NOW WATCH: Everything we know about 'porgs' — the penguin-like creatures from 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'

Love it or hate it, Rotten Tomatoes has completely shifted how movies are marketed.

Over the summer, the review aggregator website proved just how much of an influence it has on general audiences as Sony strategically lifted the review embargo on “The Emoji Movie” so close to when it opened in theaters that its eventual rotten score didn’t completely destroy the movie’s opening weekend box office figures.

And recently, Martin Scorsese wrote a scathing guest column in The Hollywood Reporter about the site, saying that Rotten Tomatoes "set a tone that is hostile to serious filmmakers."

Rotten Tomatoes has been a thorn in the side of studios and directors for years, as they feel a low score on the site unfairly gives the perception that it’s a bad movie. But Avi and Joshua Stern think they’ve come up with an app that’s both a personalized online movie recommendation service while also a modern tool studios can use to drill-down how to spend advertising dollars.

MovieGrade is an app that gives its users a more personalized selection of movie titles to see compared to others like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb. After answering a few questions about your likes of movies, genres, and actors, you are instantly given movies that the app believes you’d like to see. You can then begin grading and sharing grades with your friends.

It’s been out of Beta for a few months, and in that short time has gained a loyal following by cinephiles, but what the brothers are really focused on currently is grabbing the attention of studio marketing departments, believing their app can offer better personalized data.

“We just kind of got sick and tired of seeing all these rating platforms like Rotten Tomatoes that just gave us average percentages and we thought to ourselves, in this day and age, with technology being so advanced and so fast, how does something not exist that learns my actual tastes and take that into consideration when recommending movies for people to see,” Joshua Stern told Business Insider.

Joshua, who founded two apps before creating MovieGrade, and Avi, a movie producer, teamed with Boris Rabinovich as their CTO to build the algorithm in the app, which also lets you do a filtered search on all the titles available on major streaming services — a rare find on most apps and sites.

The startup has found in a short amount of time in the business that studios are starving for better data on what audiences want. As the general thinking for decades in Hollywood has been to spend millions to blanket the world with marketing on its blockbuster releases, the Sterns are trying to get the marketing heads to understand that, in today’s world, getting the loyal fans leads to a groundswell.

“We’re ready to disrupt the market,” Avi Stern said. “For advertising it's all personalization, so why should you market a movie to me that I have no inclination of seeing. Joshua loves Matt Damon, I'm going to market him Matt Damon movies, I'm not going to market him a scary clown movie knowing that he hates horror movies.”

This is not to say that all movie studios and distributors don’t do targeting marketing. They do. But the Sterns believe with MovieGrade they can specialize while also expanding the marketing. In the case of “mother!,” which received an “F” grade through CinemaScore — a company that conducts exit polling of wide releases during opening weekends — MovieGrade can go into its database and instantly target not just people who love “Rosemary’s Baby”-like horrors or Darren Aronofsky movies, but also fans of Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, and Michelle Pfeiffer. 

“Right now studios are kind of just walking in the dark and it’s not a knock on them, it’s because the platforms don’t have any targeting data for users,” said Joshua.

MovieGrade will soon be able to prove itself to the Hollywood big wigs. The Sterns say numerous studios and independent distributors have asked if they can use their app at upcoming preview screenings. With the use of the app, marketers will instantly know the tastes of the people in the theaters, instead of combing through piles of written cards (which are usually passed out to audience members at the start of these kind of screenings).

The latest feature MovieGrade is pushing out is less business-to-business and more for the general consumer. It’s called “Blend.” The idea is that this will be a remedy to the indecision that often comes when friends or significant others try to agree on something to watch.

“It allows users to add different friends into their group on the app, they then just hit a button that says ‘Blend,’ and it automatically starts analyzing all the taste profiles in that group and shows you movies in theaters and on demand that you collectively would want to see,” said Joshua.

Here’s how Blend works:

Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations, says the movie business needs to take on more services that are attractive to the next generation. And something that can compete with Rotten Tomatoes isn’t bad, either.

“Rotten Tomatoes oversimplifies reviews, and sometimes that does a disservice to the film and film community,” Bock told Business Insider. “That said, studios have no problem blasting their advertising campaigns with positive reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, but maybe MovieGrade can offer an alternative.”

“We’re here to reinvent the word-of-mouth screening,” Avi said. “When studios complain to us and vent how Rotten Tomatoes can literally ruin a movie before it even comes out based on reviews where those reviewers just hate the genre that movie is in, we want to help them find the people who do love that genre so they can get their movies in front of those people.”

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Recent allegations of sexual harassment and assault committed by Harvey Weinstein have prompted the New York Police Department to open a criminal investigation into the film mogul, police told Variety and The New York Post.

The investigation comes in the wake of bombshell reports by The New York Times and The New Yorker, which detail numerous allegations against Weinstein.

An NYPD spokesperson confirmed the investigation to Variety with the following statement: 

"Based on information referenced in published news reports the NYPD is conducting a review to determine if there are any additional complaints relating to the Harvey Weinstein matter. No filed complaints have been identified as of this time and as always, the NYPD encourages anyone who may have information pertaining to this matter to call the CrimeStoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.”

Weinstein avoided prosecution from the Manhattan district attorney in 2015, when actress Ambra Batillana Gutierrez, then 22, said he groped her. In a subsequent sting operation, the NYPD secretly recorded Weinstein admitting to groping Gutierrez in a hotel room.

In the audio, released by The New Yorker, Gutierrez asks Weinstein, "Why yesterday you touch my breast?" 

Weinstein responds, "Oh, please. I'm sorry. Just come on in. I'm used to that." He then admits to groping her by saying, "I won't do it again."

Here's the audio:

The Manhattan district attorney ultimately decided not to file charges against Weinstein at the time, following a two-week investigation.

The Manhattan district attorney's office released the following statement on Tuesday, in response to outrage that Weinstein was not prosecuted: "While the recording is horrifying to listen to, what emerged from the audio was insufficient to prove a crime under New York law, which requires prosecutors to establish criminal intent." 

SEE ALSO: All the women who have accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment or assault

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NOW WATCH: We played the highly-anticipated new Super Mario game and were blown away

With a career that spans over three decades in TV and movies, Pierce Brosnan has done it all — from belting out songs in the “Mama Mia!” movie to playing James Bond four times.

Since handing in his license to kill as 007 in 2002, following the release of “Die Another Day,” Brosnan has continued his career through a diverse collection of roles. His latest is “The Foreigner,” where he plays a former-IRA-member-turned-British-government-official, who finds himself in a cat-and-mouse game with a persistent father (Jackie Chan) whose daughter died in a terrorist act. And it's one of his best in recent years. The movie also teams Brosnan with director Martin Campbell, who made his first Bond movie, “GoldenEye.”

Business Insider spoke with Brosnan about working again with Campbell, and acting across from Jackie Chan but never actually meeting the man (we’ll let him explain) — but our James Bond questions led to a brief awkward moment.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Jason Guerrasio: At this point in your career do you not even entertain a project unless it has really interesting pieces to it, like Jackie Chan, or returning to work with someone like Martin Campbell?

Pierce Brosnan: Well, you always try to have interesting elements. You want to be able to get out of bed and kind of go to work and put in a 14-16 hour day, so yes, it better have some point of interest and some meaningful wordsmith or storytelling. And in this particular case it's Martin Campbell. We have a friendship and a relationship of many years. And Jackie, I'm just a huge Jackie Chan fan. I grew up on Bruce Lee and then it was Jackie Chan. He's just one of the great all-around entertainers.

Guerrasio: Did you know Jackie at all before going into this?

Brosnan: No. No, I never knew the man. 

Guerrasio: Did you need a little get-to-know-you meet with him before getting into the intense scenes you two have in this movie? Meet for a drink or something?

Brosnan: No. Not at all. [Laughs] Just showed up for work and if you're cast correctly, and the script has meaning, and you're in the hands of a great director, then everyone knows their job and they know what to do. Jackie and I didn't socialize. We were scheduled for dinners which didn't happen for one reason or another. Mainly because of work. When I wasn't working, Jackie was, and then if he wasn't working, he was back in China working on another movie. The man is completely work obsessed. 

Guerrasio: So did that heighten the scenes because you didn't know him and he's playing a character that's so different from what he's done in the past? 

Brosnan: Jackie was 100% committed to the work at hand, and Martin is a taskmaster in the most glorious fashion. He just doesn't leave the set until the scene is enlivened by the performers. What can I say, I wasn't with Jackie Chan, I was with his character Quan, and that's always wonderful. I fully believed who he was. 

Guerrasio: As the production goes on is there anyone on the cast or crew brave enough to come to you or Martin and ask some "GoldenEye" questions or ask for some stories from set?

Brosnan: Oh yes. Yes. It's a very communal and easy-going atmosphere. And Martin and I would occasionally reference the movie.

Guerrasio: That's interesting. Something would come up on set that would bring back memories of "GoldenEye?" Would it go as far as how to tackle a certain scene? "Martin, remember what we did on 'GoldenEye?'"

Brosnan: No. Nothing like that. Just a quiet understanding of history and what we have done. That's in the past. 

Guerrasio: As the years go by of being removed from Bond do you appreciate it more, or does it become more of a burden? You've said in the past you're marked for life with that role. How do you see it now at this moment in your life?

Brosnan: It was a great job. It was a wonderful part to play. 

Guerrasio: As the years go by do you have a different affection for it?

Brosnan: I’ve always had affection for it. I still have affection for it. 

Guerrasio: Were you shocked Daniel Craig came back for the role?

Brosnan: No. It would have been rude not to. 

Guerrasio: Because I would think that's such a hard role to walk away from. Can you relate to what Craig has gone through? For you, was it hard to walk away from Bond?

Brosnan: What's this got to do with “The Foreigner?"

Guerrasio: Oh, well, I've asked questions about the movie, this is a Q&A, I'm just touching on everything — if that's okay? This is my last one on the topic, Mr. Bronson, was it hard to walk away from Bond?

Brosnan: My name is Brosnan, not Bronson. 

Guerrasio: Did I say that? I'm sorry.

[Pause] 

Guerrasio: Is it hard to walk away from that role?

Brosnan: Completely in keeping with the times.
 
Guerrasio: Another movie I wanted to bring up is "The Thomas Crown Affair," which you also produced. Were you surprised you were never able to do a sequel?

Brosnan: Not in the least. I never wanted a sequel. The studio wanted a sequel. 

Guerrasio: Oh really. Well, one sequel you are doing is "Mama Mia!," are you prepping?

Brosnan: I’m on a plane tomorrow to Croatia.

Guerrasio: Excited to get back into the singing again?

Brosnan: Oh, absolutely. These are dear friends and it's a kick in the pants to play in that movie. It's criminal how much fun we have. 

Guerrasio: And Andy Garcia is coming on this time around.

Brosnan: That I had no idea. Well, you know more than I do. 

Guerrasio: I think that was announced recently. Do you know Andy at all?

Brosnan: I don't. I'm sure it will be fun. I enjoy his work very much. I think I know who he's playing, though. He's going to be great.  

"The Foreigner" opens in theaters October 13.

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Some patrons of the AMC Empire 25 theater in New York City's Times Square are complaining of bed bugs — but the theater is pushing back against the claims.

The theater suffered from a bed bug problem in the summer of 2010 and the fall of 2015.

The most recent sighting came on October 4, when Jessica Vidal took to Facebook and posted pictures of the bugs as well as her husband's neck, which looks to have been bitten by the bed bugs.

Here's what she posted:

One day prior to Vidal's post, NYU graduate student Don Ho told Gothamist that he got "red itchy bumps" on his forearm while at AMC 25.

So what exactly is going on over at AMC 25?

The bed bug discovery in 2010 led to the theater being closed for a brief time for it to be exterminated. Since then, the movie chain claims to have done constant inspections at AMC 25, which along with being a major destination for moviegoers in Manhattan, is also one of the theaters Hollywood studios use to show advance media and word-of-mouth screenings.

A spokesperson for AMC told Business Insider that they have not found any bed bugs at AMC 25.

"We are aware that guests have reported this issue recently, but have found no evidence at the theatre to confirm those reports," the statement read. "As we do any time bed bugs are reported, we investigated immediately upon receiving a guest report, using a third-party pest control company. Thorough examinations of auditoriums in question revealed no sign of any bed bug activity."

The statement went on to say: "Bed bugs are a widespread issue throughout New York City. Studies show that people are much more likely to encounter them in hotels and on their transportation to a movie theatre than in a movie theater itself. AMC is vigilant and aggressive about the inspection and treatment of this issue, both proactively and reactively. Every seat at AMC Empire 25 is proactively inspected every month and treated immediately if there is any sign of bed bugs."

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Known for being the master of the motion-capture performance following his roles as Gollum, King Kong, Caesar (in the “Planet of the Apes” movies), and currently Supreme Leader Snoke (“The Force Awakens,” “The Last Jedi”), Andy Serkis is throwing a major curveball on all of us for his feature directorial debut.

“Breathe,” about the life of Robin Cavendish — who became paralyzed from the neck down from polio — and his wife Robin, is a traditional biopic that is fueled by the performances of its leads Andrew Garfield as Robin and Claire Foy (Netflix's "The Queen") as Diana. The intimate love story is a departure from the usual CGI-focused work Serkis is known for. The movie was made through his production company, The Imaginarium, which mostly focuses on mo-cap projects.

But this is only a brief departure.

The opportunity to make “Breathe” came to Serkis while he was in post production on an extremely ambitious project: A live-action “The Jungle Book” movie for Warner Bros. that will feature a lot of big name actors doing mo-cap of the legendary characters that were brought back to the zeitgeist after Disney's CGI blockbuster release of its own "Jungle Book" movie in 2016.

Business Insider chatted with Serkis in New York City about finding the time to make “Breathe,” why he’s completely okay with movies resurrecting deceased actors through CGI, the status of “Jungle Book,” and how he created the Snoke voice.

Jason Guerrasio: You run The Imaginarium with Jonathan Cavendish, the son of the main characters of "Breathe," Robin and Diana. How did you meet him?

Andy Serkis: Jonathan had seen a film I had made called "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" about Ian Dury, who was a polio sufferer, and a punk rocker first and foremost, and he loved it and began telling me the story about his father. And then he told me he had been developing the script for five years. So we started The Imaginarium.

Guerrasio: So basically you were like, good luck with all of that with your family script.

Serkis: Yeah, it wasn't really the idea I was looking for. We were looking for other directors to direct it. And then I took the script home and I was just floored by it. It was just so incredibly powerful and emotional and you never read scripts like this in terms of the emotional content of it. So I was like, "S---, I'm having lunch with him tomorrow and I think I'm going to pitch me directing his parent's life story." So I did.

Guerrasio: At this point it's just script stage, no talent attached.

Serkis: Right. None. And he said, "Yeah, let's do it." So we started developing it and then "Jungle Book" came along and we started working on that and then that became a long preproduction. We shot "Jungle Book," principal photography, worked on it for a year and a half, and then this weird opportunity came up in the long post production we've had. Andrew and Claire became available and we raised the money in seven weeks and we shot the whole thing in seven weeks.

Guerrasio: Was that a nice time to shut off the part of your brain that was focused on "Jungle Book" or while making "Breathe" are you juggling that as well?

Serkis: Juggling lots of plates.

Guerrasio: But was it fun to shoot something that wasn't going to be as heavy motion-capture as "Jungle Book" is?

Serkis: I was so looking forward to it. This joy of seeing the performance at the end of the day rather than waiting a year and a half to see how a character is going to turn out eventually was a joy.

Guerrasio: Is that the big difference of directing "Breathe" versus "Jungle Book," the immediacy of it?

Serkis: In many ways it's the least complicated shoot I've ever done. On "The Hobbit" for Pete Jackson I was his second unit director, so that was my first grand scale experience as a director. Stepping onto a set with 150 crew and working for 200 days straight. The technical side of it was a huge education. So I felt prepared when I went into "Jungle Book."

Guerrasio: Was it nice to go back to basics, so to speak, of traditional filmmaking with "Breathe?"

Serkis: The simplicity was tied together with the brief shooting days. On those big projects you have nothing but time, this was like we have to get all of this in seven weeks. There was pressure. I didn't want to just make a film that felt like a drama-documentary that's handheld and not lit well. I always wanted to make it cinematic. It's based on truth but I wanted it to feel like a fairy tale which gradually gets stripped away towards the end of the movie.

Guerrasio: What did Jonathan think of the movie?

Serkis: He was by my side every day.

Guerrasio: But it's one thing if you make a biopic and the person it's based on is still alive, you may meet them briefly and maybe they'll come out and do press. This is the son of the main characters right next to you. Was it more pressure?

Serkis: We're such close friends, it was a joy. And he's so objective about his life. He wanted to see it from the outside. That was a gift.

Guerrasio: So you found the right guy to be your business partner.

Serkis: [Laughs] That's true. It could have gone horribly wrong.

Guerrasio: What's the latest on "Jungle Book?"

Serkis: We're in a really good place with it. We shot the performance capture, it's live-action, so we shot in South Africa with this amazing young actor named Rohan Chand. Our version is darker in tone to the Disney one. Which I loved.

Guerrasio: So you have seen it?

Serkis: Oh, yeah.

Guerrasio: You didn't feel like, "I can't see it, I have to go in fresh with mine."

Serkis: No. No. Because I just wanted to make sure we weren't covering similar ground and I don't think we are. There was a point where we were neck and neck, these films were potentially going to come out within months of each other.

Guerrasio: Could you sit back and enjoy Jon Favreau's movie and not analyze the heck out of it?

Serkis: When we were shooting at the same time there was a bit of that worry, but I knew our script was for a PG-13 audience. It's a story about identity and we're using performance-capture as opposed to the whole jungle being CG. So, honestly, you can't think about the other one, you focus on what you're doing. I love where it is. We have designed these animals that you can very much see the actors' faces we have — Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Benedict Cumberbatch — in them.

Guerrasio: So you're just deep in post right now?

Serkis: Yeah. The animation is flowing. I think it's in good shape.

Guerrasio: I would like your thoughts on motion-capture in general. We've now had CGI versions of living people — Michael Douglas in "Ant-Man," Robert Downey Jr. in "Captain America: Civil War"— but also people who have passed away — Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher in "Rogue One"— is there a certain line the industry should not cross in regards to using the tools we have?

Serkis: You mean digital resurrection?

Guerrasio: Exactly.

Serkis: I think if it's handled with taste and it honors actors who have passed and their families are happy, the estates are happy, if it's done in a respectful way, I think that's perfectly fine. But there has to be a good reason for doing it. Dramatically. Storywise. I mean, I think digitally resurrecting any character from history, Abraham Lincoln could have been performance-captured or Winston Churchill for that matter, it's a way of doing it. It's so funny because we love real stories and bringing people back to life through them. Think of how many actors have done an impersonation of somebody else. Wouldn't it be great to have the real Elvis Presley or someone through 3D imagery?

Guerrasio: The recent "The Last Jedi" trailer has Snoke’s voice prominently featured. How did you come up with the voice?

Serkis: When I first worked on it with ["The Force Awakens" director] J.J. [Abrams] there was an evolving design of the character. It was going through lots of changes. But it's all about where a character carries his pain, or aggression, or emotional centers and with Snoke it was very much there [putting his hands to the back of his head]. And his skull has got this big scar in the front, so for me it was a fracturing. He's got this cleft in his head and I think it's very painful for him to speak and yet there's an imperiousness about him. He's severely damaged but there's a vulnerability that's he's trying to cover so that was sort of what I was trying to do.  

Guerrasio: I'd like your thoughts on the recently news about Harvey Weinstein's alleged sexual harassment and assault. Weinstein was an executive producer on all the "Lord of the Rings" movies. What's your reaction to the revelations?

Serkis: I think there's no excuse for a culture that allows for any kind of bullying or coercion on predatory behavior and I think we are behoove not just in this industry but across all industries to be vocal about that and to encourage and help and support people who are brave enough to come out and to challenge people who are in positions of authority if they behave badly. That's it. 

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The Weinstein Company seems to be on the brink of collapse. 

The company once run by disgraced executive Harvey Weinstein, and currently watched over by his brother, cofounder Bob Weinstein, is no longer planning to be renamed and operate independently, according to The Wall Street Journal.  

It was previously reported that the company was meeting with ad agencies to figure out how to rename the company and move forward, after allegations that Weinstein was sexually harassing and abusing women in Hollywood for the past three decades surfaced last week.

But the Journal says that plan is dead. However, TWC has had interested buyers approach its board to buy it, according to the Journal. The other option is TWC would shut down and its library of TV and movie titles would be sold off in pieces.

This news comes at a time when only three TWC board members are left — Bob Weinstein, Tarak Ben Ammar, and Lance Maerov — and numerous filmmakers and producers are try to get their projects back from the company, according to CNN.

TWC was supposed to go into production on a big-screen adaptation of "In The Heights," the hit Broadway Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote and starred in before "Hamilton," but reportedly Miranda and cocreator Quiara Alegría Hudes want the company to give it up. Apple has also pulled the plug on a planned Elvis Presley biopic series with TWC.

The company's big TV entities currently on air include "Project Runway" and MTV's "Scream." 

SEE ALSO: Amazon Studios chief suspended amid sexual harassment claim and Rose McGowan denunciation

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It’s time to dive into the best horror movies currently on Netflix.

With Halloween around the corner, we’ve come up with the best on the streaming giant so you can enjoy the rest of the month scaring the heck out of yourself and your friends.

Check out the 27 scary movies below.

Note: Numerous Netflix titles drop off the streaming service monthly so the availability of titles below may change.

Brett Arnold contributed to an earlier version of this story.

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1. "The ABCs of Death" (2012)

26 horror directors are each given a letter of the alphabet as a starting point to create a scary short.

2. "The Babadook" (2014)

A single mother struggling to keep up with her rambunctious son begins to lose it after a strange children's book comes to her doorstep.

3. "The Bad Batch" (2016)

Set in a dystopian future where the bad are thrown into a cannibal-filled wasteland in Texas, a girl (Suki Waterhouse) tries to survive. Movie stars Jason Momoa, Keanu Reeves, and an unrecognizable Jim Carrey. 

These days, major cinematographers like Emmanuel Lubezki and Ed Lachman are as much of a draw to serious moviegoers as the directors they work with.

Currently, Roger Deakins’ masterful work in the visually stunning “Blade Runner 2049” has led to one recurring question above all: Will Roger finally win the Oscar? Among the more striking aspects of Deakins’ accomplishment is the use of color: Virtually every shot has a different palette.

It feels like something we’ve never seen before, but have we? How does today’s best cinematography stack up against the great color films of the past?

Since the early 20th century, there have always been experimentations with color cinematography, but it wasn’t until the late ’30s, with the massive success of “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone with the Wind,” that color films became a staple of international cinema. 

With films stretching from 1947 to 2011, from masters like Jack Cardiff to Lubezki, here are our picks for the 12 movies with the best color cinematography of all-time.

SEE ALSO: The cinematographer behind 'Blade Runner 2049' gives his 3 favorite movies he's shot

“Black Narcissus” (1947)

Of the great studio era cinematographers, British DP Jack Cardiff was rare in the sense that his work improved in the transition to color after years of working in black and white. “Painterly” is an over-used word in describing the work of cinematographers, but with Cardiff it is 100% apt. The self-taught artist used the great masters, like Vermeer, as his model in creating his light on the sound stage.

Cardiff’s color palette was far more grounded compared to his Hollywood contemporaries, who were also using Technicolor, but his films still had an otherworldly quality in their muted beauty. Never was this been more true than on Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s “Black Narcissus,” where he created an almost mystical mountain world on a studio back lot. The story of a group of nuns who lose their self-control – mesmerized by the beauty of the Himalayas – is a difficult movie to pull off, as the characters’ hysteria is almost purely motivated by atmosphere, but in the hands of Cardiff their spiritual crisis becomes tangible — with images that transport the audience to a cinematic world that feels like it’s set somewhere between heaven and the edge of Earth.

“All That Heaven Allows” (1955)

Seeing three-strip Technicolor in the hands of Hollywood technicians remains one of the great pleasures of cinema. In the studio setting, Hollywood created colors schemes that popped with so much electric saturation (and color separation) that to this day it’s something no advance in digital technology has been able to replicate.

In “All That Heaven Allows,” Douglas Sirk and his great DP Russell Metty – working within the genre conventions of 1950s melodramas – used those Technicolor candy-colored surfaces as a prison for a suburban widow protagonist (Jane Wyman), whose central conflict was the pressure to maintain the facade of upper-middle class perfection juxtaposed to her love of a soulful, young tree farmer (Rock Hudson). Metty – who also shot Orson Welles’ masterpiece “Touch of Evil” – would, at key moments, slip into low-key noir lighting and use color to reveal the emotional truth that laid below the film’s colorful surfaces.

“Far From Heaven” (2002)

Nearly 50 years later, when director Todd Haynes wanted to see if he could use the language of 1950s melodrama – the same way Sirk had –  in “Far From Heaven,” he tasked his DP Ed Lachman with trying to recreate the color palette and manufacturer studio look of “All That Heaven Allows” while shooting on location in New Jersey.

Lachman, a technical wizard who does his homework, somehow nailed the look of an overhead grid light scheme (despite working with 10-foot domestic ceilings), a dazzling saturated color palette (despite the limitation of 2002 film stock) and even found a way to control the sun to give the exteriors a backlot feel. As with Sirk, the surface beauty serves as a form of repression with frames that literally imprison the characters battling racism, sexism and homophobia, while painting their emotional states with jaw-dropping color schemes.

Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions has teamed up with Universal to shake up the box office once again.

After having two of the biggest box office hits of early 2017 with M. Night Shyamalan's "Split" and Jordan Peele's "Get Out,"Blumhouse has resurfaced from the fog of the summer movie season with another box office hit, "Happy Death Day."

Mixing the company's patented low-budget scary movie model with the classic plot of "Groundhog Day," the movie dominated the competition, which included Warner Bros.'s big-budget "Blade Runner 2049," to win the domestic weekend box office with an estimated $26.5 million, according to Variety.

The unique $4.8 million-budgeted scary movie, which follows a college student as she constantly relives the day of her murder until she can figure out the person behind it, was perfectly placed in the release schedule as the movie had little competition among other new releases this weekend and capitalized on the poor opening of the $150-million "Blade Runner 2049" had last weekend.

"2049" took in $15.1 million over the weekend on more than 4,000 screens ("Happy Death Day" was released on 3,149), which cements its future as being a high-priced cult classic like the original, as the movie hasn't even made $100 million domestically yet (at $60 million). But the weekend also showed once again that outside of some blue-chip IPs, most audiences want to spend their money on non-sequels these days.

Blumhouse proved that earlier this year as it surprised Hollywood with monster earners. "Split," made for $9 million and opening with $40 million domestically in January, went on to earn $278.3 million worldwide. A month later, "Get Out," made for $4.5 million and opening with $33.3 million, earned $253.1 million worldwide.

We'll keep an eye on "Happy Death Day" to see if it continues to build steam as we get closer to Halloween (the next major release is Marvel/Disney's "Thor: Ragnarok" on November 2), but it's getting to a point now where other studios and distributors will think twice before going up against a Blumhouse release.

SEE ALSO: The 27 best scary movies on Netflix

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