Netflix, as it signaled last week, on Monday announced plans to offer $1.6 billion in new debt to fund its expanded content budget for 2018.

In reporting third-quarter 2017 results last week, Netflix said it will spend between $7 billion and $8 billion on content (on a profit-and-loss basis) next year, up from a previous target of $7 billion. For 2017, original content will represent more than 25% of total programming spending, and that “will continue to grow,” Netflix said.

As part of its originals slate, Netflix expects to release around 80 films next year, according to chief content officer Ted Sarandos, up from about 50 this year.

As of the end of Q3, Netflix reported $4.89 billion in debt (up from $3.36 billion at the end of 2016). The company currently has $17 billion in streaming-content commitments over the next few years, up from $14.4 billion for the year-ago quarter.

Netflix’s thesis: maintain a high cash-burn rate now to acquire original content across a broad ranges of genres and formats (including in-language regional programming), in order to bring more subscribers onto its rolls — especially internationally. For Q3, Netflix topped expectations with 5.3 million net new subs, a third-quarter record for the company, to stand at 109 million worldwide.

In announcing Q3 results, Netflix told investors that it was looking to raise more debt: “We anticipate financing our capital needs in the debt market as our after-tax cost of debt is lower than our cost of equity,” the company said in its quarterly letter to shareholders.

As its debt load grows, Netflix is paying more to service that debt. It recorded $163 million in interest expenses for the first nine months of 2017, up 53% from the comparable period last year. Revenue over the first nine months of 2017 increased 32%, to $8.4 billion.

Netflix continues to operate with negative cash flow, which the company says it expects to continue for the next few years. Free cash flow in Q3 was -$465 million (vs. -$506 million in the year-earlier period). The company expects free cash flow to be between -$2.0 billion and -$2.5 billion for the full year 2017. Netflix is operating with negative free cash flow because it pays for titles before consumers watch the content, and the cost of those TV shows and movies are amortized by estimated viewing over time, according to the company.

SEE ALSO: Netflix blows past subscriber growth targets, and hits an all-time high

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Netflix has announced the titles that will be leaving its streaming service in November, so make sure to catch a few of these movies and TV shows before they're gone.

Departing titles to check out include "The Matrix" trilogy and all nine seasons of the CBS show "How I Met Your Mother."

If you've never seen Martin Scorsese's "Hugo," that's another fan favorite worth watching.

Here's everything that's leaving Netflix in November (we've highlighted the titles we think you should watch in bold):

SEE ALSO: Netflix's 28 original drama films, ranked

Leaving November 1

"Back to the Secret Garden"
"Black Books: Series 1-3"
"Christmas with the Kranks"
"Get Rich or Die Tryin’"
"Hard Candy"
"Hugo"
"Ravenous"
"The Brothers"
"The Legend of Hell House"
"The Matrix"
"The Matrix Reloaded"
"The Matrix Revolutions"
"The Newton Boys"
"Thomas & Friends: A Very Thomas Christmas"
"Thomas & Friends: Holiday Express"
"Thomas & Friends: Merry Winter Wish"
"Thomas & Friends: The Christmas Engines"
"Thomas & Friends: Ultimate Christmas"
"Twilight"
"V for Vendetta"

Leaving November 3

"Do I Sound Gay?"

Leaving November 5

"Hannah Montana: The Movie"
"Heavyweights"
"Sky High"

• Arnold Schwarzenegger thinks "Terminator Genisys" focused too much on time travel.
• He says the next Terminator movie will be more simple.
• More than 30 years after the original "Terminator" debuted, Schwarzenegger still loves playing the character.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has no plans to retire one of his most memorable characters anytime soon.

Schwarzenegger became an action movie superstar in 1984 when he was cast as the indestructible T-800 cyborg for James Cameron’s sci-fi box office hit, “The Terminator.” Since then, the actor has played the iconic character three more times (the only time he wasn’t in a Terminator movie was “Terminator Salvation” in 2009, when he was the governor of California). 33 years after the first movie, he says he still loves playing the character.

“I think the T-800 model is a really interesting character,” Schwarzenegger told Business Insider while promoting his new movie “Killing Gunther” (currently available on streaming and in theaters). “He’s a machine, can be destructive, can do things human beings can’t do, but at the same time when newer technology comes along the character suddenly is vulnerable and that makes him even more interesting.”

However, the latest movie in the franchise, “Terminator Genisys,” tested the patience of its fan base.

Despite earning over $350 million overseas (compared to just $89.7 million domestically), most complained of the movie’s convoluted storyline that dealt with time travel. Schwarzenegger said that, on top of the story being confusing, it made his T-800 character feel less vulnerable and more like “an ordinary guy who suddenly gets activated again.” 

“It’s hard to come up with new ideas when you stay within that framework,” Schwarzenegger said of the complex plot focusing on the future and the past in “Terminator Genisys.”

But he’s confident the next movie, currently untitled but will be directed by Tim Miller (“Deadpool”) and starring Schwarzenegger, will fix that problem by going back to a simpler approach.

“I think [James] Cameron and Tim [Miller] came up with a concept where they can continue on with the T-800 but make a whole new movie,” he said. “What they are doing now with this one is basically to just take a few very basic characters, like Linda Hamilton’s character and my character, and dismiss everything else. Just move away from all these rules of the timeline and other characters.”

Hamilton plays Sarah Connor, in the franchise. Her last time playing the character was in 1991's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (her voice was also used in "Terminator Salvation").

Despite the mixed reaction by fans to “Terminator Genisys” and previous titles in the franchise, the movies still earn monster coin globally. Since "T2," all of the "Terminator" movies have each earned over $400 million globally except for "Salvation" ($371 million), which Schwarzenegger didn't star in.

The upcoming untitled "Terminator" movie will open in theaters in 2019.

SEE ALSO: The 5 best new shows of the fall that you have to watch, ranked

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• Paramount is moving forward with its "Dora the Explorer" adaptation, which will be produced by Michael Bay.
• Nick Stoller ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall,""Neighbors") will write the script.
• In the movie, Dora will be a teenager instead of a 7-year-old girl.
• The studio is eyeing a 2019 release date, though other details are scarce.

After languishing in development for the past two years, Paramount is finally moving forward with its "Dora the Explorer" adaptation, bringing on writer Nick Stoller to write the script. This "Dora the Explorer" live-action movie was first put into development exactly two years ago, when the studio brought on Tom Wheeler (Puss in Boots) to write the screenplay.

There has been no movement on the project since then, but now it seems that the studio is moving forward with a new writer working on the script, and the studio eyeing a 2019 release date, with Michael Bay producing alongside his Platinum Dunes partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller.

The project will be developed under the new Paramount Players division of the studio, which is devoted to producing films based on properties that fall under the banner of Paramount's parent corporation, Viacom, which include Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and BET. Brian Robbins, creator of AwesomenessTV, was brought in this summer to oversee this division.

It seems the formation of this new Paramount Players division was enough to put this project back on the right development track, although it remains unclear if Nick Stoller is starting from scratch with a brand new script, or if he's rewriting Tom Wheeler's script for this live-action adaptation.

While plot details are being kept under wraps, this report claims there will be one major change from the TV series. In the original animated show, Dora is just seven years old, but in this live-action movie, Dora will be a teenager, who moves to the big city to live with her cousin Diego. It remains to be seen if movie will include Dora's pet monkey Boots, or the villainous Swiper will be featured in this live-action movie or not.

While it's likely still to early for the studio to consider casting yet, it will be interesting if the studio casts an American Latina actress for the role to stay true to this character, and possibly avoid any "whitewashing" controversy.

The original animated show ran on Nickelodeon from 2000 to 2014 for eight seasons, with often large gaps between the seasons, like the four year gape between Season 4 and Season 5. Nickelodeon produced 172 episodes of the hit series, which spawned a number of TV movies like 2007's "Dora the Explorer: Dance-Along Musical Adventure," 2008's "Dora the Explorer: It's a Party" and 2009's "Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure," along with video games such as 2007's "Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Mermaids" and 2010's "Dora the Explorer: Dora's Big Birthday Adventure." The franchise also spawned a slew of merchandise, LEGO sets and even live stage shows.

Nick Stoller started his career as a writer for "Strangers With Candy" and "Undeclared," before making his feature writing debut with "Fun With Dick and Jane," followed by "Yes Man," both of which starred Jim Carrey. He made his feature directing debut with the 2008 comedy "Forgetting Sarah Marshall,"which he followed up by writing and directing the 2010 comedy feature "Get Him to the Greek."

He went on to direct "The Five-Year Engagement,""Neighbors,""Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising" and "Storks," along with episodes of the Netflix series he created, "Friends From College." He also wrote the scripts for "Gulliver's Travels,""The Muppets,""Muppets Most Wanted,""Sex Tape,""Zoolander 2" and this year's "Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie." This report from The Hollywood Reporter also reveals that he wrote the movie "Night School" that is in production with Kevin Hart starring.

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Jason Hall, director of the upcoming movie "Thank You for Your Service," first got into the business as an actor in the late 1990s.
• After a stint in rehab and his own personal "welcome to Hollywood" moment, he turned to screenwriting.
• Hall convinced Steven Spielberg to give him a chance at directing after earning an Oscar nomination for writing "American Sniper."

The way things were playing out for Jason Hall at the start of his career, the combination of hard luck and personal demons could have led to him being just another rising star who faded out too quickly.

Coming out to Hollywood as an actor in the 1990s after studying film at USC, Hall had the tools to make it. He had chiseled looks and studied acting with some of the best teachers after going through a two-year Meisner acting course. That quickly landed him work on a few TV shows, including a recurring role as Devon MacLeish on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

He had also caught the eye of James Toback. The Oscar-nominated screenwriter behind “Bugsy” and director of movies like “Fingers” and “The Pick-up Artist” was trying to get “Harvard Man” off the ground, a movie about a Harvard basketball player who throws a game for the mob and then tries to fend off both them and the FBI while on a bad LSD trip.

The time James Toback was going to make him a movie star

A female friend of Hall’s had met Toback at an airport and the director wanted to audition her for the movie, Hall recalled. He said his friend thought Toback was “a little bit strange” but she took the script and, after realizing she wasn’t right for the movie, passed on it, instead telling Toback to consider Hall for the male lead. (Toback has recently been accused by over 30 women of sexual harassment.)

“He met me and we clicked,” Hall told Business Insider over the phone earlier this month. “I had been to prep school and I had done some of the experimentation that the character in the movie had and he was like, ‘You're the guy! I've sat down with everybody in Hollywood and you’re the guy.’”

But nothing in Hollywood goes according to plan, and “Harvard Man” was Hall’s first lesson in that.

As Toback tried to get financing, Hall said the two would often work together on scenes from the script but also do a lot of things that had nothing to do with the movie. One time, Hall picked up Toback from a Los Angeles airport and drove him to a Beverly Hills bank, where Toback withdrew cash so he could then race off to Las Vegas to gamble.

“It was a strange relationship,” Hall said, looking back.

But what came out of it was the first important decision of Hall’s career: He went to rehab for substance abuse and got himself clean. When he got out, Toback was ready to make “Harvard Man,” but not with Hall.

“I came back and he said, ‘You changed!’” Hall recalled. “And I’m like, ‘I stopped doing all that nonsense so I can do the work,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, but now you’re not the guy. I don’t see it anymore.’” (Business Insider contacted Toback for comment but did not get a response.) “Entourage” star Adrian Grenier eventually landed the lead role in the movie, which was released in 2001.

That led to the second most important decision of Hall’s career: writing his first screenplay.

From failed actor to Oscar-nominated screenwriter

“I was like, am I going to be James Toback’s guy on acid or am I going to live a clean life and try to pursue a career in the arts and not die by the time I’m 35,” Hall said. “So I started writing scripts for myself.”

He thought the plan was foolproof. Feeling he could come up with better material than the scripts he was auditioning for, he decided to write himself into his own scripts and make the deals for them contingent on him acting in them (a la what Sylvester Stallone did with “Rocky” or Matt Damon and Ben Affleck with “Good Will Hunting”).

But it didn’t go according to plan. Hall found interest for the scripts but no one wanted him to act in them. He finally relinquished his dreams of being a movie star and decided to move forward as a screenwriter. The first script he sold was the 2009 movie “Spread,” starring Ashton Kutcher. He also got a writing credit on the 2013 Liam Hemsworth thriller, “Paranoia.”

Then he hit pay dirt around 2011 when he got his hands on the yet unpublished memoir of the deadliest marksman in US military history, Chris Kyle. Hall spent time with Kyle and his friends, earned their trust, wrote the screenplay, and got Bradley Cooper involved, but nothing happened until two months after Kyle’s murder at the hands of a former Marine suffering from PTSD in February 2013. Steven Spielberg read the script for “American Sniper” and bought it for his company, DreamWorks, with an eye to direct it.

Clint Eastwood would end up directing, and with Cooper starring as Kyle, “American Sniper” went go on to become one of the surprise hits of 2014, earning over $350 million domestically of its $547.4 million worldwide total (the movie was made for $58.8 million) and getting six Oscar nominations, including one for Hall. The film would end up winning an Oscar for best sound editing.

But that wasn’t the last gift Spielberg gave Hall. While writing drafts of the “American Sniper” script for Spielberg, the legendary director said he had something else he thought Hall would be good to work on.

“I think we were working for two months on ‘American Sniper’ and he came in and dropped a book on the table,” Hall said. “He said he wanted to do more for the veterans.”

Convincing Spielberg he can direct — and almost getting kicked off a plane in the process

The book was “Thank You for Your Service,” written by journalist David Finkel, and it examined the recent string of soldiers coming home and struggling to adjust to civilian life.

“Spielberg and I both loved that aspect of the story, what the coming home was like,” Hall said. “And Spielberg posed the question after reading the book, ‘You don't think this and ‘American Sniper’ are too similar?’ I said there are similar aspects but only in as much as one is the story of Achilles and other is the story of Odysseus. ‘Thank You for Your Service’ can be the homecoming.”

Like “American Sniper,” Hall could tell that, with Spielberg’s work load, he probably wouldn’t get around to directing “Thank You for Your Service,” so while writing the script he threw his hat in the ring.

Following a pitch call — which Hall said occurred while he was in the middle of boarding an airplane and the flight attendants were close to kicking him off because he wouldn’t hang up the phone — Hall scored a formal meeting with Spielberg to interview for the directing job. His persistence paid off, and he got the gig in June of 2015.

“Thank You for Your Service” follows a group of soldiers (among them Miles Teller) returning from Iraq who struggle to integrate back into civilian life with their families. Dealing with both physical and mental wounds, the men's search for normalcy often brings them back to each other to find strength to continue on.

“I felt like this was a way to bring all these guys all the way home,” Hall said of the cloak of PTSD that hangs over the movie. It's a struggle he said he’d seen with countless veterans, including Kyle, whom he felt had turned a corner when they spoke over the phone for what turned out to be the final time two days before his murder.

“I felt the guy was making it home,” Hall said of Kyle. “I heard him laugh and be at ease in a way that I hadn’t before.”

“There’s a whole other battle to fight once a solider comes to the decision to seek help,” Hall continued. “I definitely relate to that, realizing I needed help and being in a place of struggling but knowing I needed help.”

But Hall says he knows his struggle with substance abuse pales in comparison to what most veterans deal with, simply because of the overworked and chaotic US Department of Veterans Affairs they have to deal with to get help. The frustrations veterans have with the VA is something that Hall prominently puts in his movie after numerous visits he took to the VA in Los Angeles before shooting.

“It’s a circus down there,” he said. “They are out there all day to get help and the place sometimes just cut it off and say, ‘We’re done, come back tomorrow.’ It’s hard enough for these guys to admit some kind of vulnerability, so when they are able to take that courageous step to ask for help the help should be there for them.”

Hall has found his niche in Hollywood by telling stories about American heroes coping with life beyond the battlefield. And if it’s up to him, his most epic look at the topic will come next.

He’s got a script in the drawer titled “The Virginian” he’s trying to get into production about a conflicted young George Washington who tries to conquer a French fort. Getting the project off the ground won’t come easy, but if it’s one thing Hall knows, it never is.

“Thank You for Your Service” opens in theaters on Friday.

SEE ALSO: Arnold Schwarzenegger talks about playing his most outlandish character yet in "Killing Gunther," and which of his movies he'll stop to watch

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• A Harvey Weinstein accuser has sued The Weinstein Company for allegedly being complicit in sexual abuse.
• This is the first lawsuit filed since the scandal broke.

The first lawsuit has been filed since the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke three weeks ago.

Dominique Huett, an actress and model, alleges Weinstein "performed oral sex" on her in a hotel room at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, in 2010, during what Huett said she believed was a meeting to discuss her career.

On Tuesday, Huett sued The Weinstein Company, which Harvey cofounded with his brother Bob in 2005, alleging that the company was complicit.

The details of the alleged abuse are similar to the dozens of other stories that women have told to outlets like The New York Times and The New Yorker, as well as on social media, detailing Weinstein's alleged actions over three decades.

According to Huett's suit, Weinstein insisted Huett give him a massage, and when she finally agreed, he then performed oral sex on her.

"Weinstein displayed persistence and would not take ‘no’ for an answer," the suit states.

Huett's suit marks the first since the scandal, but it might not be the last, as criminal investigations are currently underway through the New York attorney general's office, and in London.

The company is also reportedly on the brink of being sold off, potentially in pieces. The investment company Colony Capital may purchase it, as the TWC library is still of value, but only if "the Weinstein element could be removed," Colony Capital head Tom Barrack said.

The Huett suit is for a single count of negligence, according to Variety. And though the alleged act took place in 2010, the suit claims that Huett didn't become aware of TWC’s complicity until the stories in the last few weeks. Some of those stories claim that TWC was aware that Weinstein had reached confidential settlements with multiple women, but did little to nothing to prevent future abuse or harassment. Huett's attorneys believe her suit should not be barred by the statute of limitations.

Business Insider contacted The Weinstein Company for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Read Huett's suit below:

SEE ALSO: How the screenwriter of "American Sniper" convinced Steven Spielberg he was ready to direct

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Making a good movie is one thing. Sticking the landing is another.

In the age of long franchises, movies never seem to know how to end. There's always a new "Iron Man" movie around the corner and a new Infinity Stone to capture, so why bother wrapping up plot points?

Too many movies nowadays are ruined by endings that just don't work. They can be ludicrous plot twists, lapses of logic, or a misunderstanding of what actually happened in the previous two hours the viewer just watched.

Here are 14 of the most egregious examples. 

Warning: Since all of the entries are about movie endings, don't read on if you don't want to be spoiled.

SEE ALSO: How the screenwriter of 'American Sniper' convinced Steven Spielberg he was ready to direct

"Titanic" (1997)

Yes, there was enough room on the damned door in the water. I don't care what you say, James Cameron. They could have alternated being half on and half off it, or something.

"Kingsman: The Secret Service" (2014)

The "Kingsman: The Secret Service" series is definitely childish, but it's generally in a stupid, fun way.

Except for the ending. The Princess of Sweden, captured by the villain, offers Eggsy anal sex in exchanged for a fast-tracked rescue mission. It's a tasteless, gross moment that undermines the movie's light touch.

"Remember Me" (2010)

Most of "Remember Me" was bad, but the ending was truly awful.

Robert Pattinson's character has a strained relationship with his father, but he visits him at his office to tell him that he wants to marry the woman he loves no matter what his father thinks of her.

At the same time, his younger sister goes to school. Her teacher writes the date on the blackboard in big letters: Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

The camera cuts back to Pattinson. Zoom out.

The office is on the 101st floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

You can get what happens next.

Netflix's efforts in the field of original comedy films have produced mixed results, with a striking disparity between its best and worst movies.

This year, the streaming service extended its four-film production deal with Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions to last for four more movies (eight in total). The three Netflix originals Sandler has released so far have all been severely panned by critics, but are nonetheless widely watched, according to Netflix. 

Sandler has scored one critical hit for the platform, however, with his role alongside Ben Stiller and Dustin Hoffman in Noah Baumbach's new dramedy, "The Meyerowitz Stories"— one of Netflix's most critically acclaimed originals.

To figure out which of Netflix's original comedies are worth watching, we turned to the reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes to rank each release by its composite critical reception. We excluded stand-up comedy specials and any films that didn't have enough reviews to receive a designation of "Rotten" or "Fresh."

Here are 18 of Netflix's original comedy films, ranked by their Rotten Tomatoes critic score from lowest to highest (if there was a tie, we used the audience score to break it):

SEE ALSO: Netflix's 28 original drama films, ranked from worst to best

18. “The Ridiculous 6” — 0%

Critic score: 0%

Audience score: 31%

Netflix description: "When his outlaw dad is kidnapped, Tommy 'White Knife' Stockburn sets off across the West on a rescue mission with five brothers he never knew he had."

17. “The True Memoirs of an International Assassin” — 0%

Critic score: 0%

Audience score: 42%

Netflix description: "After his publisher markets his crime novel as a memoir, a novice author finds himself forcibly recruited into a deadly political plot in Venezuela."

16. “The Do-Over” — 5%

Critic score: 5%

Audience score: 42%

Netflix description: "The life of a bank manager is turned upside down when a friend from his past manipulates him into faking his own death and taking off on an adventure."

• Regal Cinemas will start "dynamic pricing" in 2018.
• This is on the heels of a 12% revenue drop from last year.
• Regal won't share revenue with MoviePass.

The idea of theater chains offering different ticket prices for different movies has been kicked around for years.

It's the age-old question: Would you be more willing to go to the movies to see something that's a dumpster fire if the ticket were dirt cheap?

And now it looks like "dynamic pricing" is going to be put to the test. 

Regal Cinemas, one of the largest theater chains in the country, announced on Tuesday that it will test the concept in 2018 by charging higher prices for hit movies, and lower prices for flops. 

“Changes to the historical pricing structure have often been discussed but rarely tested in our industry, and we’re excited to learn even more about how pricing changes impact customer behavior,” Amy Miles, CEO of Regal, said Tuesday on a call with analysts, according to Bloomberg.

It's a model movie ticket app Atom Tickets has been lobbying theaters to try out. 

The big question, though, in how far the "dynamic pricing" will go. What will constitute as a bomb? A big budget studio movie that doesn't perform well, like Warner Bros.' "Geostorm?" Or an independent film that will likely be seen by more people on streaming services than in theaters?

Regal could potentially see empty seats in its theaters for both types of movies, but should an indie suffer if it's not bringing in a mass audience?

Business Insider contacted Regal for some answers but did not get an immediate response. 

It's obvious that movie theater chains have to start thinking outside the box. 

Regal reported on Tuesday that its revenue dropped 12% from a year earlier, to $716 million. A major reason is that many movies movies have performed poorly in the last year, adding to pressure from great content on TV and streaming. 

Another hoped "game changer" to the movie business is MoviePass, the service that allows one-a-day admission to theaters for $10 a month. However, Miles also said in the call on Tuesday that Regal won't be sharing revenue with MoviePass.

SEE ALSO: The 27 best scary movies on Netflix

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• Director Taika Waititi is known best for his indie movies "What We Do in the Shadows" and "Hunt for the Wilderpeople."
• He talks about the ways he made his Marvel movie the most un-Marvel yet.
• Waititi also explains how he brought the scene-stealing character he voiced, Korg, to life.

“Thor: Ragnarok” has huge fight scenes (led by the bulging biceps of its lead Chris Hemsworth), and CGI-fueled destruction from the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) — all things we’ve become accustomed to from Marvel movies — but it also has hilarious deadpan humor, and an improvisational feel that’s a refreshing new element to the franchise. And that stuff you can thank director Taika Waititi for.

The New Zealand filmmaker known best for directing episodes of HBO’s “Flight of the Concords,” and indie movies “What We Do in the Shadows” and “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” might be the most unlikely director to answer the Marvel call. However, what he’s given “Ragnarok” (opening in theaters November 3) is a new kind of Marvel story that intentionally veers from its conventional “save the world” blueprint, and hypes up the comedy aspects while still telling a thrilling story.

Business Insider spoke to Waititi about being allowed to amp up the weird on a huge blockbuster, why he was convinced Marvel would get fed up with his unconventional style, his decision to voice the movie’s scene-stealing Korg character, and the idea of flashback scenes of Thor and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) as kids that didn’t make the cut.

Jason Guerrasio: I love how you describe your work being a mix between comedy, drama, and "the clumsiness of humanity." Is that formula easier or harder to pull off in a superhero movie?

Taika Waititi: I actually feel like it's harder because you just have to spend more time figuring out what those clumsy elements are in these larger than life characters. How to make the characters more relatable to the audience. Really, when I look at the story of Thor, how I kind of get myself in there and figure out I can tell the story, is actually looking at it in terms of an indie film. It's about a guy trying to get home because there's someone in his house, and he's got to sort that out. And along the way he's got his annoying brother, a drunk chick, and some bipolar kid with him. [Laughs.] And he's just trying to get home. So that's the way into the story, and then it's how do I apply those things into spaceships and explosions. 

Guerrasio: Take that indie idea and then go really big with it. 

Waititi: Yeah. 

Guerrasio: So when you had the early talks with Marvel about the project, did you lay all the cards on the table and say that you weren't interested in making the typical Marvel franchise movie?

Waititi: Yeah. But they knew that as well. They said that. "We know this isn't going to be very fulfilling for you to come in and continue with what we've done. And we don't want to continue with what we've done. We want to do something very fresh and new."

Guerrasio: And that must have been music to your ears. 

Waititi: It was.

Guerrasio: Was there a moment through all this when you said to yourself, "Wow, they are really letting me do this the way I want to do it!"

Waititi: Within reason. There were moments when you're like, "Wow, this is something that I never thought I'd be allowed to put into a superhero movie." But I came in knowing I'd bring character, tone, and dialogue — those are my strengths. Marvel's job really is just to keep me in my lane and make sure I'm not crashing the car. Derailing the Avengers. [Laughs.]

Guerrasio: That being said, did you ever get told by Marvel after they looked at the dailies to tone it down?

Waititi: No. There was never a moment like that, which was both surprising and also disconcerting. "Wow, man, are they even watching the dailies?" We were doing stuff that was so different. I remember after a couple of days working with Chris [Hemsworth] and Mark [Ruffalo], Mark came up to me and said, "I'll be surprised if you and I are back here on Monday. I have a feeling like we're breaking this. They are going to get rid of us." We were just doing whatever we felt we wanted to see in the film. That includes a scene with Hulk and Thor sitting on a bed talking about their emotions and apologizing to each other after an argument. Which is not something I felt I've ever seen in a superhero movie. 

Guerrasio: But strangely, those lighthearted "real" scenes are what I remember most from this movie.

Waititi: Totally. And I feel that is the point of difference that I've managed to bring. What would everyone expect from this and let's do the opposite. That's what we were saying to each other often when we were shooting. "Does this feel like we've seen it before? And if so, how do we change it?" I've seen the hero in a movie getting beaten up by a bunch of people, and then a mysterious figure comes in and saves them, and the person takes off their mask and it's the love interest. How about we make that love interest (the Valkyrie character played by Tessa Thompson) more like Han Solo and she's a drunk, gambling mercenary who in her introductory scene falls off the ramp of her spaceship. 

Guerrasio: I read that in your sizzle reel to Marvel you had scenes from "Sixteen Candles" because there was a time when you were planning to do flashback scenes of Thor as a kid.

Waititi: Yeah. I did.

Guerrasio: How long did you play around with that flashback idea?

Waititi: It was in the first couple months of storylining. We always wondered, could we put in these flashbacks and make them work. To me it still feels like a great idea, but it was one element too many. It was very hard to justify doing. It would have felt like just this one-off little flashback and it needed more. We could have done it when Thor talks about one of the times Loki tried to kill him. 

Guerrasio: Instead of Thor describing it in that scene there could have been a jump to a flashback?

Waititi: Yeah. But it's actually better that we didn't flashback because it's funnier him just telling the story.

Guerrasio: It's funny, but I don't know, watching a teen Thor and Loki in a flashback scene would have been really great.

Waititi: It would have been funnier if it was this ongoing thing where we had more and more of those stories through the movie.

Guerrasio: Yes.

Waititi: But just a one-off would have just thrown people off too much. 

Guerrasio: The one thing I'm kind of bummed about was that the trailer revealed that Hulk is Thor's opponent in their fight on Sakaar. The buildup is so great. Are you disappointed that was used in the trailer?

Waititi: Not necessarily. I felt like it was something everyone knew was going to happen because Mark was in the movie. It's very hard to keep any of that stuff under wraps. Marvel knows in many ways with something like that you have to give it out. 

Guerrasio: How early on did you want to do the Korg character?

Waititi: That was definitely in the script early on, but we didn't end up doing a huge amount with it until much later on in prep. There were many other story points we had to worry about, we knew this character was going to be in at least one or two scenes as a kind of information giver. I knew I was going to play something in the film because I always put myself in my films but I didn't know what. And he was one of the few minor characters that hadn't been cast yet so I decided to do that one. Also, it was small enough that it wouldn't infringe on my concentration with directing the film. Which was the priority. The more I found the voice through the read-through the more funny we found it. The more jokes came out of those reads. 

Guerrasio: How did you find the voice?

Waititi: Just through reading the script through with Chris. We would start getting into those scenes and I would play with the voice and we thought wouldn't it be funny if this big hulking rock guy had this very delicate voice? I kind of based it on people I remember from home. So it's a strange combination of a big guy with a gentle-natured presence. Chris was loving that when we started doing those scenes, and we started shooting some stuff, and Marvel thought it was really funny and I really enjoyed doing it. Chris wanted to do more, so we injected him into more and more scenes and before you know it he was all over the movie. 

Guerrasio: Before I go, what's the latest on the Bubbles the Chimp stop-motion movie you’re doing for Netflix.

Waititi: I'm excited about it. We are in very early stages. Early development with design and trying to figure out the schedule. I think all the work I would be doing is the up-front design and recording and see those guys off and let them do their thing. 

SEE ALSO: How the screenwriter of "American Sniper" convinced Steven Spielberg he was ready to direct

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NOW WATCH: How Lyft's president went from taking no salary for 3 years to running a giant startup worth $11 billion

• Corey Feldman has been talking about Hollywood pedophilia for years.
• He's raising money to make a documentary that he says will expose the powerful producers who allegedly participated in abusing him.
• Feldman has worked in Hollywood since he was a child, in movies like "The Goonies" and "The Lost Boys."
• The fundraising campaign comes in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

Corey Feldman, who starred as a child in '80s classics like "The Goonies,""Stand by Me," and "The Lost Boys," is raising money to make a documentary about his life that would expose what he says is widespread pedophilia within the movie industry.

Feldman has held accusations against Hollywood executives for years. He spoke about it on ABC's "Nightline" in 2011 and discussed his abuse in his 2013 memoir "Coreyography," as well as his reality TV show "The Two Coreys." His costar, Corey Haim, was also a pedophilia victim.

"What I'm proposing is a plan that I believe can literally change the entertainment system as we know it,"Feldman said in the announcement video for his fundraising campaign. "I can also bring down, potentially, a pedophile ring that I have been aware of since I was a child."

Feldman says he has at least six people to name, one of which is still powerful today, but he hasn't yet because of legal liabilities. One of these people, he said, is currently a powerful member of a major Hollywood studio.

"If I were to go and mention anybody's name, I would be the one that would be in legal problems and I'm the one that would be sued,"he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2016.

In his video announcing the fundraising campaign, Feldman suggested he's been the victim of an elaborate conspiracy theory to make his life worse. Feldman said that since he went public with his plans to make a documentary about his experience, his life has been put in danger.

"I had a near-death experience last night where I felt like I was almost going to be killed,"Feldman said. "Two trucks came speeding at me at the same time on a crosswalk. And then several of my band members decided to quit because they decided they were afraid for their lives."

Feldman's Indiegogo campaign has raised more than $100,000 so far out of the $10 million he is seeking to raise.

The campaign follows revelations about Harvey Weinstein, who is at the center of a scandal where dozens of actresses have accused him of sexual assault, abuse, or rape.

In the wake of accusations about Weinstein, other members of Hollywood have discussed alleged sexual abuse. Director James Toback has been accused by hundreds of women of sexual harassment or assault. And Molly Ringwald said she was sexually abused while she was a teenager working in the industry.

"Join me and let our voices be heard," Feldman said in his announcement video. "I've lived in shame and fear in my entire life, and so have millions of others. And now we have the ability to let our voices be heard and break the dam of silence."

SEE ALSO: Ashley Judd on what she'd say to Harvey Weinstein: 'I love you and I understand that you are sick'

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If you were an '90s kid, you probably grew up watching Clarissa explain it all, and Sabrina try to survive high school with the help of her magical powers. We sat down with actress and director Melissa Joan Hart to find out what it was like working on those popular shows and what she is working on now, including a remake of a cult classic Disney horror film. Following is a transcript of the video.

Melissa Joan Hart: Hey! I'm Melissa Joan Hart. You might know me as Clarissa, or Sabrina, or from "Melissa and Joey."

I was about 11 or 12 when I got the role on "Clarissa." I had to audition 3 times. I was doing a play off Broadway, and the executive producer heard that that he should audition me. He did not want a blonde, but after 3 auditions, I won him over, and I got the part of Clarissa. And I played that character until I was about 17 and a half. Basically graduating high school.

We were on the Universal Studios lot. We were part of the tour. The tour would go through the studio. You get to go taste slime and Gak and all these things. So my breaks were spent eating green pudding, and green apple sauce, and stuff like that.

I just remember it being a lot of work. But I learned a lot too. Like walking around the set, and asking a lot of questions about the equipment. And learning how everyone did their jobs there. So it kinda, basically, was like a mini film school.

Clarissa was one of those characters that girls wanted to be and guys wanted to date. And it was just one of those things where is she was just cool and everyone wanted to be like her. A lot of people tell me that she started their careers in fashion or in graphic design, because of the computer design that was going on around the screen. How she was always designing computer programs.

I don't talk to the actors anymore from that show. It was before the time of  like social media, or like email even.

"Hi Sam!"

Nobody has ever crawled in my bedroom window that I can recall. I've often thought about crawling out of the window.

BI: Can you explain it all?

Joan Hart: I can explain a lot, but only a little bit of everything. Not like everything.

"Wow, this magic thing isn't so bad!"

Sabrina was awesome. It was long hours, but I wasn't having to go to high school this time. So it was like more like an adult job for the first time in my life. People remember high school their entire lives, and that's only 4 years. And we spent seven years on "Sabrina," so that's that's something that will always be with me.

Sabrina, a lot of people related to. I didn't, because I was always very like, you know, I wasn't the wallflower. I was the one who was always like tap dancing in the middle of the room. I understand that she spoke to a lot of people and made people kind of come out of their shell and feel better about themselves. And I love that about her.

I don't really have any supernatural beliefs. You know, what's funny about "Sabrina" is like everyone looks at it as witchcraft. And I guess the reboot that they're about to do, that I'm not involved in, is more about witchcraft. Ours was more magic. I learned a little bit about witchcraft just because people kept giving me witchcraft books and stuff as gifts. I can see where witchcraft came from. You know, women in the woods making up concoctions. You know, basically just getting high. Um ... hahaha, "flying on their brooms."

So I was called "Sabrina" for many many years, my whole twenties really. And then I did "Dancing with the Stars." About the same time I started playing Mel from "Melissa and Joey." I went from being called on the street like, "Sabrina! Sabrina! Hey Sabrina!" To all of a sudden being called "Melissa." And people started to know who I was.

Every actor wants to play an iconic role that they'll be remembered for their whole lives. But then when you are, you realize that you've done a whole body of work, but that's all people seem to want to talk about. So it can be frustrating at times, but I've been really lucky, because I have played so many different characters. I don't ever see it as a negative. I think it's wonderful.

My mother is my producing partner. We have our company, Hartbreak Films. When I was little, she would manage my career. We've just done tons of movies together and TV shows like "Melissa & Joey." But then I decided I didn't want to be in a movie. I wanted to direct a movie, and it was "Watcher in the Woods."

It's the first thing I directed that I'm not in, and it just a beautiful movie. And it's scary, and it's fun, and it was my favorite movie when I was a kid. So I'm very excited to be a part of the reimagining and to show it to a new audience. 

So we went to Wales last summer in 2016, and we brought the amazing Anjelica Huston with us. And we got a great young cast out of London. And we had some fun in the rainy, swampy like in the woods of this dairy farm, just making this scary movie. It's gonna be like one of the gems of my career that I'm so proud of.

I actually avoided horror movies for very long time. When I was a little girl I actually auditioned for the original "It." That terrified me.

Yeah, I had no problem with horror movies until the movie "Scream" came out. I did audition for it. Didn't get the part. The only person hired at the time was Drew Barrymore. And when that came out, then I was offered "I Know What You Did Last Summer," and I just thought it was a ripoff of "Scream." And I thought it was going to be a good. So I probably talked my way out of a film career in a little bit of a way.

And then with "Watcher in the Woods" now here I am back in this genre, but because it's a movie I've loved my whole life. And I think it's also one of those, it's not a splatter movie.

So everybody always asks, "What's my favorite role, Clarissa or Sabrina?" And I always say, "It's Mel from 'Melissa and Joey.'" She was such a flawed character. I just loved being that kind of character that was just kind of ... it was very "Lucy" - esque to me. It was like someone who was just kind of, you know, causing the tornado. With Sabrina, I feel like I had to like always fix everything.

I think "Clarissa" would be a good one to reboot, because we didn't really leave it anywhere. Sabrina rode off in a wedding dress with Harvey on a motor scooter, or motorcycle, you know, and their hearts rolled together, and you saw that they were soul mates. This kinda like buttons up the show. "Clarissa," we never had that. We just sort of like did an episode, and it was the end. You know, I feel like there is probably more room to grow on "Clarissa." And people were so fascinated with it. I would think that that character, it would be nice to see what happened to her.

With Sabrina, it's kind of obvious, you know. She has some kids. They're half mortal. Or they're a quarter mortal. Or a quarter witch I guess? Three quarters mortal? I dunno ... anyway.

With reboots, it's a really touchy subject, because if you don't do it right, if you don't have the right writing, and the right even promotion behind it, everything, it can just fall on its face.  And if it does, that can be the end of your career.

I like moving forward, more so than moving backwards.

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Each year in film, one movie enrages critics enough to earn the title of "worst picture of the year."

To find out which movies of the 21st century critics have hated the most, we compiled the reviews aggregator Metacritic's annual lists of all movie releases, and we selected the lowest scoring film from each year since 2000. 

While 2017 has produced a number ofawfulfilms, none have topped the mind-bendingly bad concept and execution of "The Emoji Movie." But a number of movies from previous years have scored even lower with critics. 

Here are the worst films of every year since 2000, according to critics:

SEE ALSO: The best movie of every year since 2000, according to critics

2000: “Strippers”

Critic score: 5/100

User score: 4.3/10

Summary: "Alan is having an horrendous day... he loses his job, money is missing from his bank account, he is evicted from his apartment, misses a date with his girlfriend and much more."

What critics said: "Unbelievably awful celluloid-waster."— New York Post

2001: “Freddy Got Fingered”

Critic score: 13/100

User score: 5.7/10

Summary: "MTV icon Tom Green co-writes, directs and stars in 'Freddy Got Fingered,' a film he calls a 'touching story of a young man who desperately wants to make his daddy proud.'"

What critics said: "One of the most brutally awful comedies ever to emerge from a major studio."—Variety

2002: “Vulgar”

Critic score: 5/100

User score: 2.2/10

Summary: "A man who performs as a children's birthday party clown tries to piece his life back together after being gang-raped."

What critics said: "Sure to appear in everyone's worst-of lists at year's end, to say nothing of a few bad dreams, Bryan Johnson's Vulgar is an unclassifiably awful study in self- and audience-abuse."— Village Voice

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.

SEE ALSO: 100 movies on Netflix that everyone needs to watch in their lifetime

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. 

George Clooney's latest directorial effort, "Suburbicon," is a misguided mess, according to the vast majority of film critics. 

"Suburbicon" currently sits at 29% on Rotten Tomatoes and opens on Friday.

It stars Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, and Oscar Isaac in a black comedy about the disturbance of an idyllic 1950s suburb by a home invasion, and the presence of an underground mafia. 

The movie originates from a lost, 1986 screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen that probably should have stayed unfilmed.

Clooney decided to bring the project to life by adding his own layer of "topical" social commentary to the script, and most critics have described the resulting mix of themes as an epic misfire. 

Here are the most brutal reviews of "Suburbicon":

SEE ALSO: George Clooney’s latest directing effort is embarrassingly awful

DON'T MISS: The worst movie of every year since 2000, according to critics

"A misguided mix of nasty comedy and civil rights drama."

Rafer Guzmán, Newsday

"'Suburbicon' might be the biggest embarrassment to pious Hollywood liberalism since 'Crash' won best picture in 2006."

Chris Klimek, NPR

"It feels like broad farce madly in search of a cohesive center, and a soul."

Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly

• Tom Hanks is starring in "Bios," a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film from "Game of Thrones" director Miguel Sapochnik.
• Sapochnik won an Emmy for directing the fan-favorite "Game of Thrones" episode "Battle of the Bastards."
• The film is set to start shooting in the first quarter of 2018.

Tom Hanks will star in “Bios,” the hot spec package making the rounds around town with “Game of Thrones” helmer Miguel Sapochnik directing.

Penned by Craig Luck and Ivor Powell, the story follows a robot that lives on a post-apocalyptic earth. Built to protect the life of his dying creator’s beloved dog, it learns about love, friendship, and the meaning of human life. Hanks will play the ailing creator.

Robert Zemeckis and Kevin Misher is producing.

The package started being shopped around earlier this month and Amblin is the likely landing spot though Legendary and Warner Bros. is still in the mix. Once picked up, the plan is to begin shooting the film in the first quarter of 2018 when Hanks’ schedule frees up.

Hanks can be seen next in Steven Spielberg’s “The Post” as former Washington Post editor-in-chief Ben Bradlee. The film will bow this December and is expected to be an award season contender, as is Hanks. He was recently seen in the STX thriller “The Circle.”

Sapochnik is best known for his work on the fan-favorite “Game of Thrones” episode “Battle of the Bastards,” which earned him an Emmy for best directing.

Hanks is represented by CAA and Sapochnik is repped by WME.

SEE ALSO: Netflix's 28 original drama films, ranked from worst to best

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• Following the Harvey Weinstein scandal, "Amityville: The Awakening" is The Weinstein Company's first release.
• It's only playing in 10 theaters.
• The movie is as cursed as the topic it's based on.

You probably didn't hear about it, but this weekend The Weinstein Company is releasing its first movie since the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

"Amityville: The Awakening," is a release through the company's genre arm, Dimension Films, which is run by Bob Weinstein. It's only going to be released on 10 screens, according to Exhibitor Relations, and is opening on Saturday. 

Saturday is a very peculiar release date as almost all movies open in theaters on Fridays and often have preview screenings late Thursday nights. (Business Insider contacted The Weinstein Company and the movie's production company, Blumhouse, to comment on why it's opening on a Saturday, but didn't get a response.)

But that's just the start of what looks to be a cursed project.

The movie, produced by Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Productions (behind "Get Out" and "Split"), was originally announced in 2011 to be a found-footage horror titled "Amityville: The Lost Tapes." However, after a few years of delays, the movie was completely rewritten by the current director Franck Khalfoun and titled just "Amityville." In 2014, it was announced Bella Thorne and Jennifer Jason Leigh would star in it.    

Finally going with the title "Amityville: The Awakening," it was shot in May of 2015 and was originally to be released in January 2015. Following more release date changes, negative test screenings, and reshoots, the movie was set for release in June 2017.

But that never happened.

And in September, it was announced that the movie would be released for free on Google Play from October 12 to November 8 and open in theaters on October 28.

The movie was a plan for The Weinstein Company/Dimension/Blumhouse to reboot the classic 1979 original movie, "The Amityville Horror," which was based on the true story of newlyweds who moved into a house where a mass murder occurred and began to experience strange happenings. A previous reboot was done in 2005 starring Ryan Reynolds.

The "Amityville: The Awakening" saga is just the latest roller-coaster journey for a movie released by TWC.

The most recent happened to "Tulip Fever," the 17th century period drama starring Alicia Vikander and Christoph Waltz, which was finally released in September after countless release date changes since 2015.

But "Amityville" also has to deal with the Harvey Weinstein scandal as well. The movie is TWC's first release since it was revealed over three weeks ago in stories, done by the New York Times and The New Yorker, that its founder allegedly sexually harassed and assaulted women for over three decades.

And it's hard to tell if TWC will have another release after "Amityville." 

While there are reports that the company may be sold to Colony Capital, the release date for its end-of-year awards contender "The Current War," starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon, has been pulled. While its other big upcoming title, "Paddington 2," is trying to get out of its distribution deal with TWC.   

SEE ALSO: The 14 most disturbing documentaries on Netflix — just in time for Halloween

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When you think of scary movies, images of monsters and unstoppable killers come to mind. But documentaries can also tell some horrific stories, too.

With Halloween around the corner, we delved into Netflix to highlight some of the most chilling non-fiction movies and TV series. We found everything from Errol Morris' classic that looked inside the mind of a killer, to a UK series that explores nurses who kill their patients.

Here are 14 documentaries that we dare you to binge late at night.

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

SEE ALSO: The 27 best scary movies on Netflix

1. “Amanda Knox” (2016)

Believe her or not, the murder surrounding Amanda Knox is a chilling piece of modern-day pop culture. This documentary takes a deep dive into all the people surrounding the murder.

2. “Blackfish” (2013)

It’s the documentary that ended the orca whale shows at SeaWorld. We follow the horrific capture of the whales and how they lashed out over the years while being captive performers at the amusement park.

3. “The Confessions of Thomas Quick” (2015)

This documentary looks at Sweden’s most infamous serial killer who confessed to more than 30 murders then shockingly recanted.

• Director Robert Rodriguez told Variety that he cast Rose McGowan in his film "Grindhouse" to get back at Harvey Weinstein for his alleged sexual assault against her. 
• Rodriguez described confronting Weinstein with McGowan over the role at a party.
• He said Weinstein subsequently tried to "bury" the film, which had a tepid box office performance for Dimension Films, a branch of The Weinstein Company.

Robert Rodriguez, the director of "Grindhouse" and "Sin City," said he knew about the alleged sexual assault by Harvey Weinstein of Rose McGowan, and decided to cast McGowan in "Grindhouse" to get back at Weinstein for the incident.

In an extended statement for Variety, Rodriguez detailed his meeting McGowan for the first time in 2005, when she told him Weinstein sexually assaulted her in 1997, and said he blacklisted her from working on, or auditioning for, any Weinstein-produced film.

McGowan signed a non-disclosure agreement with Weinstein in 1997 and received a $100,000 settlement from the movie mogul following the alleged assault, according to The New York Times. 

Rodriguez and McGowan dated from 2006 to 2009.  

When Rodriguez was gearing up to make "Grindhouse," his double-feature film with Quentin Tarantino (released in 2007 by Dimension Films, Bob Weinstein's arm of The Weinstein Company), he said he wrote a "bad a--" lead role for McGowan, in order to "take her off the blacklist" on a film Harvey Weinstein would have to pay for. 

Rodriguez then described how he and McGowan confronted Weinstein about the role at a party:

"I called Harvey over to our table, and as soon as he got close enough to see that I was sitting with Rose, his face dropped and went ghostly white. I said, 'Hey Harvey, this is Rose McGowan. I think she’s amazing and really talented and I’m going to cast her in my next movie.' Harvey then dribbled all over himself in the most over the top performance I’d ever seen as he gushed, 'Oh she’s wonderful, oh she’s amazing, oh she’s fantastic, oh she’s so talented … You two should definitely work together.' And then he skittered off. I knew right then that every word Rose told me was true, you could see it all over his face."

Rodriguez wrote that Weinstein subsequently tried to "bury" the film in its promotional phase. "Grindhouse" did not perform well at the box office. 

Rodriguez has since released a number of other films for Dimension Films, including sequels to "Spy Kids" and "Sin City," which were Dimension-produced. 

Read his whole statement for Variety.

SEE ALSO: The worst movie of every year since 2000, according to critics

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On paper, a movie directed by George Clooney, with a script written by Joel and Ethan Coen, and starring Matt Damon and Julian Moore looks like a hit. But after seeing “Suburbicon” you’re left with only disappointment as all these talents couldn’t pull off a good movie.

A major reason for the disappointing outcome is that the movie tries to be a dark satire on suburban culture and a commentary on racism. Yes, that part of the movie will be a surprise, especially if you’ve seen the trailer.

According to a profile on Clooney done recently by The Hollywood Reporter, the Coens originally wrote their script back in the 1990s and approached Clooney to star in it. That story, set in the 1950s, follows a white family looking to be living a carefree life in the suburbs until a home invasion leaves the father unhinged. Recently when Clooney took the project on as something for him to direct — with racial tension bubbling to the surface during Donald Trump’s race for the presidency — he and his writing partner Grant Heslov decided to also include a real-life incident that took place in Levittown, Pennsylvania in 1957 where a white suburban neighborhood erupted in violence after an African-American family moved in.

It’s almost embarrassing to imagine that Clooney, Heslov, and others would think these two plot elements could work seamlessly in one movie.

Matt Damon plays the father, Gardner. Julianne Moore plays his wife and also her sister, Margaret. Gardner’s wife dies during the home invasion and it is soon revealed that it was Gardner who was involved in planning the invasion so he can ship his son to boarding school and run off to Aruba with Margaret. While all of this is going on, the African-American family living in the town are dealing with continued racist behavior from everyone in the neighborhood.

Beyond the fact that everything going on in the Gardner family plot of the movie is unoriginal, there is very little time given to the plight of the African-American family. Outside of a scene here and there of white angry men yelling at the family from the sidewalk and neighboring yards, there’s no scenes with dialogue of the family dealing with the harassment. It’s all done through the brief interaction between the sons of each family.

There are a few parts of the movie that seem to have a Coen brothers feel, from the opening scene that reveals the racial tension in the neighborhood to a shifty insurance investigator played by Oscar Isaac, but the movie, outside of being very violent, doesn’t have the bite of a Coen story. It’s also a far cry from the originality or style that Clooney has given us in previous directing work like “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” and “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

Damon and Moore work hard with the material given, trying desperately to make a few comic moments hit the mark. But mostly they are stuck with really lousy material.

I can’t really say I’m even curious what the Coens' script on its own would have looked like because the kidnapping aspect of the plot in “Suburbicon” is so close to what happens in “Fargo,” the Coens-directed 1996 classic. I just can’t believe no one went to Clooney at the script stage and told him he was dancing very closely to what one of the Coen brothers’ classics already did. And why the Coens would write something so similar to what they did in “Fargo.” Rewrites may have been the culprit, however. 

Regardless, Clooney is so heavy-handed with both the satire and commentary on race, watching “Suburbicon” builds into a frustrating experience.

“Suburbicon” opens in theaters October 27.

SEE ALSO: "It" is a unique horror movie that's as funny as it is scary, and it looks like fall's first hit

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