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'Straight Outta Compton' is gunning for an Oscar nomination — but it’s not going to be easy

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Straight Outta Compton Jaimie Trueblood Oscar 2.JPG

The N.W.A. biopic “Straight Outta Compton” is shaping up to be this year’s award season underdog story.

The two-and-a-half hour R-rated drama about the history of the members behind one of rap music’s most iconic groups has already exceeded the expectations of most in Hollywood with a historic opening weekend in theaters.

As of Monday, the film took in an estimated $60.5 million in the US over the weekend, making it easily the biggest domestic opening weekend ever for a music biopic. 

But now it sounds like Universal is gunning for the ultimate prize.

GoldDerby.com’s Tom O’Neil has confirmed to Business Insider that the studio has already begun their Oscar push for the film as they had a screening for Academy voters in Beverly Hills on Saturday.

“The theater was packed with 700 people who gave the film a hearty response,” O’Neil emailed to BI.

Most studios wait to release their award season hopefuls until September or October at the earliest as it can use the prominent fall film festivals like Telluride, Venice, Toronto, and New York film festivals to garner buzz, but it looks like the incredible response to the film has motivated Universal to roll the dice.

“Universal didn’t position ‘Compton’ as an awards contender,’ O’Neil notes. “But it’s suddenly getting that buzz because of its quality and audience impact. Once it plays out in theaters, the studio will campaign it aggressively to Academy members via DVDs shipped to their homes.”

The Oscar campaign could also include getting the film’s director F. Gary Gray and actors in the film like O’Shea Jackson Jr. (who is receiving rave reviews playing Ice Cube, who is his father in real life) to host parties where they mingle with award season voters before the nominations deadline.

Straight Outta Compton Jaimie Trueblood Oscar 3But just because the film is raking in the dough in theaters doesn’t mean it’s a shoe-in for award season nominations.

Mike Hogan, Vanity Fair’s digital director, believes the film has an up-hill battle to become a contender.

“Music biopics in general don’t perform terribly well with the Academy,” he wrote to BI in an email. “'La Bamba' and 'The Doors' were blanked. 'What’s Love Got To Do With It' and 'Walk the Line' were shut out of Best Picture [Oscars] even though they scored in acting categories.”

Hogan notes the Best Picture nominations for "Ray," the biopic on Ray Charles in 2005, and "Coal Miner’s Daughter," biopic on Loretta Lynn in 1980, as exceptions because those he believes had the perfect mixture of focus on universally beloved legends and directors who were industry veterans.

Ray 1There’s also the factor that “Straight Outta Compton” doesn’t shy from the raw realities surrounding the group, from their violent upbringing in Compton, their in-your-face lyrics, and their groupie lifestyle on the road.

“That rawness could make it a tough sell with Oscar voters who are older, whiter, and more sentimental than the general public,” said Hogan.

But O’Neil believes this might be the perfect moment for a film like “Straight Outta Compton.”

“The Academy is hungry to recognize African-American movies,” he believes. “'Selma' suddenly became a strong contender last year out of the blue one year after '12 Years A Slave' won Best Picture.”

O’Neil believes the buzz for “Compton” is real and that it could “snag a nomination for Best Picture.”

BI reached out to Universal for comment but has not yet receives a response.

SEE ALSO: Here's the "Straight Outta Compton" casting call that everybody thought was racist

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Fans have a crazy theory that the Joker in 'Suicide Squad' may be a completely different character all together

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joker suicide squad trailer

When "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" and "Suicide Squad" come to theaters next year, we'll be introduced to a completely new version of the Joker.

With both films pretty far off, we don't know too much about either film. 

Sure, we know an aged Batman and Superman will be duking it out in "Batman v Superman," and that some of DC's villains will be gathered into a crew to work for the government in "Suicide Squad." But there are still a lot of questions, many of which circle around the Joker. 

Naturally, fans have been pouring over the few trailers and images we've gotten so far, and a crazy conspiracy theory has emerged regarding the Joker.

Fans think this iteration of the Clown Prince of Crime harbors a twisted secret, and that he may not be the character we think. 

What follows is mere speculation, but if you're the sort of moviegoer who likes to go into these things knowing as little as possible, then beware — if any of this is right (and it probably isn't) then it could be a huge spoiler.

Here's how it goes:

What if the original Joker that fought Ben Affleck's Batman (who, when we meet him in "Batman v Superman," has already waged a 20-year war on crime) was dead, and the guy Leto is playing is actually the Dark Knight's sidekick Robin — twisted and broken to become a new, second-generation Joker? 

Seriously.

Why would the Joker ever be Robin?

That's a good question! There are a few things you need to know. First: While Batman has almost always been Bruce Wayne, there are several people who have taken on the role of Robin to fight at his side. The first and best known was Dick Grayson — he outgrew the role to become his own hero, Nightwing.

The Robin we want to talk about is the one who takes Dick's place after he left, an angry teenager named Jason Todd. He gets killed by the Joker in a controversial storyline from the late '80s, "Batman: A Death in the Family." The two obviously have a very well-connected past. 

Joker Jason Todd split

So, this theory about the Joker being Jason Todd has been floating around, in some form or another, for at least three months on Reddit's fan theories page.

At first, it seemed to come out of a sense of fan denial, rejecting the notion that Jared Leto's shirtless tattooed getup depicted the "real" Joker. When the first official image of the Joker was revealed in April, many fans were upset with it

jared leto joker

After all, it didn’t look like the previous incarnation of the Joker fans saw on screen in 2008’s “The Dark Knight," or any version of the character fans have come to know.

Joker Dark Knight

Fans decided it could only be a red herring, the real Joker wouldn't look like that — and the theorizing bent over backwards to justify this. But that was long before San Diego Comic-Con, before we got a good look at "Batman v Superman" and "Suicide Squad" in new trailers. Once we did, things got interesting. 

An image from the "Batman v Superman" trailer showed off a defaced Robin costume that Bruce Wayne keeps on display in what looks like a memorial to his fallen comrade. Knowing what you do about the Joker's connection to Robin, the image sent fans into a frenzy thinking the Joker could be in both "Suicide Squad" and "Batman v Superman."

Batman V. Superman robin costume

A number of Reddit users over on r/FanTheories have really taken to the idea that Robin could be the Joker in earnest, but few articulated it better than Jason-G169, who offered the most comprehensive version of the theory yet.

According to Jason-G169, when you consider a number of things — like the possible meaning of the Joker's tattoos, or a few cryptic lines of dialogue — a creepy narrative starts to emerge. 

The theory, as proposed by Jason-G169, hinges on a few key points:

  1. The Robin suit on display in the "Batman v Superman" trailer.
  2. A line Bruce Wayne delivers to Alfred as footage of the Robin suit appears on screen: "20 years in Gotham, how many good guys are left? How many stayed that way?"
  3. The Joker's radically different appearance in all things "Suicide Squad." 
  4. This image, which appears sans context in the "Batman v Superman" trailer.

Batman v. Superman newspaper clip

It all comes together like so:

  • Batman, at one point, worked with a Robin, Jason Todd, that the Joker then killed (hence the memorial, and that newspaper clipping).
  • Batman lays aside his cape and cowl not long after Todd is killed and retires, only to come back to address the threat that Superman presents after his fight in "Man of Steel" levels parts of Metropolis — including a Wayne Financial building (as the trailer suggests).
  • The Joker is dead (this is the biggest leap in the theory).
  • BUT, before the Joker died, he kidnapped Robin and tortured, tattooed, and brainwashed him. This would help explain the Joker's wild new appearance — the false teeth and the notorious "Damaged" forehead tattoo. (More on this later.)
  • There is now a new Joker, and it's the former Robin, Jason Todd.

It's not a bad bit of conjecture, but a lot of it hinged on cues that could be interpreted any number of ways.

Fans are pretty willing to buy this theory though because Robin has turned out to be the Joker before. 

2000's animated "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker"— possibly the darkest Batman story ever told — features the Joker kidnapping an even younger Robin, Tim Drake (Jason Todd didn't really exist in the Animated Series) and tortures the boy until he's a mirror image of the Clown Prince of Crime. Years later, when Drake is grown, he returns as a second-generation Joker terrorizing Gotham City.

Robin as Joker in Batman Beyond: Return of the Jokerbatman beyond return of the joker

But then one fan noticed a small detail that seems to connect Robin and the Joker. Remember that defaced costume we brought up earlier from the "Batman v Superman" trailer? And the first official image of Jared Leto as the Joker? Comic Book Resources spotted this update by Redditor DeathByRequest that noticed something eerily similar about the two.

bvs joker conpiracy image

Both The Joker and the Robin costume seem to have been shot twice in the same places. 

What's crazy about this idea is that most of the material supporting it doesn't come from the "Suicide Squad" trailer, but the "Batman v Superman" one. This makes it all the more appealing, as it's a sudden twist in the DC mythology that makes the movie universe pivot in a potentially interesting (yet excessively dark) way. 

There are a number of possible reasons for doing this, the most appealing one is simple — it riffs on two fan-favorite stories. The first, "A Death in the Family," the comic book story where Joker kidnaps and brutally kills Jason Todd, and Batman is unable to stop him. The second, the animated series in which Tim Drake becomes the Joker we just mentioned.

Batman Joker kills Jason Todd

Batman fans are kind of misanthropic towards the Boy Wonder.

There are also other, real-world justifications for this bit of speculative theory, but they're mostly the product of fan reasoning, and nothing very solid. The thinking is that it's easier to make a new Joker a complete pivot from Heath Ledger's iconic performance — which, undoubtedly, casts a long shadow — if he's technically not the same character.

Of course, there is no reason to think Zack Snyder and David Ayer aren't confident enough filmmakers to just make their own weird Joker and let that be that. Filmmakers do that sort of thing all the time.

However, the theory isn't perfect either.

Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) is a bit of a huge wrinkle, especially since our deep dive into the "Suicide Squad" trailer shows that the film appears to be taking liberties of its own when it comes to her origin.

Harley Quinn

Harley's whole deal is that she used to be a psychiatrist named Harleen Quinzel who tries to treat the Joker but ends up being seduced and twisted by him. The trailer is pretty clear that it's Jared Leto's Joker that does this — and that the two go on crime sprees with Batman hunting them down long before what looks like the titular Suicide Squad is assembled.

harley quinn joker suicide squad

Also, as MTV News notes, this isn't the only fan theory out there, it's just the most popular, cohesive one. All sorts of crazy possibilities have been brought up, from the Joker being former Police Commissioner Jim Gordon to just being a straight-up decoy.

Whoever Jared Leto's Joker winds up being — and it's very likely that he's just the Joker — we're sure to learn more as the marketing for both films continues. 

"Batman v Superman" is in theaters March 25, 2016. "Suicide Squad" hits theaters August 5, 2016.

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Meet the composer behind spy thriller 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' and the much-anticipated Steve Jobs biopic

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Man From Uncle 2 Daniel Smith

With over 100 credits on movies and TV, Daniel Pemberton, 35, is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after composers in Hollywood.

And 2015 looks to be a banner year for the Englishman as he takes on two high-profile projects, “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” (currently in theaters) and “Steve Jobs” (out October 9).

“Kiss goodbye to your life,” Pemberton told Business Insider this week while taking a break from putting the final touches on the “Steve Jobs” score at the legendary Abbey Road recording studio in London.

The work has been constant for over a year for Pemberton, but he's not complaining. Working alongside some of the biggest names in the business has allowed Pemberton to create music he believes is different than what we’re hearing often in today’s movies.

That’s what got him the gig on “U.N.C.L.E.,” a reboot of the 1964 spy comedy starring Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, and Alicia Vikander.

Director Guy Richie was weaving through the usual composers the film’s studio Warner Bros. had compiled for him when he came across Pemberton’s show reel.

Daniel Pemberton_3 Photo Credit Amelia Pemberton copy“He said it was the first one that didn’t sound exactly like everyone else’s,” said Pemberton, whose recent credits range from Ridley Scott’s “The Counselor” to the PBS “Nova” series.

Richie offered Pemberton the job on the spot and worked on the music for “U.N.C.L.E.” for the next 11 months.

“Guy’s feeling is if you’ve seen it or heard it before why do it again,” said Pemberton, who was intimidated at first to work with Richie as his films always have such a unique sounds.

“His last movies were the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ films which had fantastic scores by Hans Zimmer!” said Pemberton, referring to the legendary composer.

But Pemberton believes what settled him was the way Richie wanted the music made. Instead of the typical plan of having a composer come in toward the end of post production and spend a few months with an orchestra creating the sound, Richie had Pemberton involved once editing began.

“I think one of the most important things when you write a film score is having room to fail,” Pemberton said. “If you have room to fail you can try great, crazy ideas, that’s really exciting.”

With time to develop the score, Pemberton brought in individual musicians to try out different ideas.

The breakthrough came when he brought in a bass flute.

“We tried a lot of different ideas over the big car chase that opens the movie and Guy felt [the sound] was too predictable,” Pemberton recalled.

Man From Uncle chase“And then suddenly I did some work with this amazing flute player Dave Heath who normally plays classical concertos. I was like, ‘Show me the crazy noises you can make that no one lets you do.’ What he did I thought was really cool, so I started writing something around that sound, recorded it and Guy was really into that and it ended up being a big part of the sound in the film.”

Dave Heath on Bass Flute at UNCLE session_photo credit Amelia PembertonOver the course of the 11 months working on the score, Pemberton also brought in players of everything from Spanish guitar, accordions, organs, harpsichords, and “every part of percussion you can ever imagine” to create a vintage 1960s cloak-and-dagger secret agent sound for “U.N.C.L.E.”

Here's some shots of Pemberton hard at work with his musicians:

Daniel Pemberton_4 Photo Credit Amelia Pemberton copy

Daniel Pemberton_2 Photo Credit Amelia Pemberton

Daniel Pemberton Photo Credit Amelia PembertonPemberton hasn’t had much time for a break. Soon after he was done with “U.N.C.L.E.” director Danny Boyle came calling asking him to come on his “Steve Jobs” project.

On the film for the last 9 months, Pemberton says it’s very different from creating the score for “U.N.C.L.E.”

Steve Jobs.JPG“What we’re trying to do with 'Steve Jobs' is going to be a surprise in some ways,” he said. “The film is a very clear three act structure and we have a device that is trying to play with that in the score.”

Pemberton wouldn’t go into anymore detail about the sound in “Steve Jobs,” as the score could be faintly heard on his end of the phone during our interview.

“If I told you what was happening right now you’d be like, ‘What the hell?,’” he said.

SEE ALSO: Meet the 12 social media stars millions of teens are obsessed with

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This small company wants to be Marvel 2.0 — and they just might do it

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VALIANT UNIVERSE_001It was in a cramped, messy conference room overflowing with boxes and memorabilia.  That’s where three men sat across from me and calmly told me their plan to overthrow two of the biggest entertainment giants in the world.

Together, the three of them — Dinesh Shamdasani, Gavin Cuneo, and Russell Brown —represented the corporate leadership of Valiant Entertainment, a small comics publisher with gigantic ambition.

They might even have a shot at realizing that ambition, with a recent nine-figure investment from the Beijing company DMG Entertainment to turn their comic book characters into feature films.

"Another publisher might’ve created Valiant Studios, hired creative executives in LA, and done up the offices," says Valiant Entertainment's CEO and Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani. "I mean, look at this thing. Look at this place."

The soft-spoken yet talkative executive acknowledges our cramped surroundings in the publisher's small Midtown West office, where there isn't enough room to house both the comics the company publishes and all of the people responsible for putting them out into the world. "We want to put the money in places where people can see it."

X-O Manowar

They're going to need to, because what the Valiant team wants to accomplish sounds a little bit crazy.

"We're fighting two giant conglomerates," says Shamdasani. "We're fighting Warner Bros. and Disney, not Marvel and DC."

That's big talk from a company that isn't anywhere near the household name as its targets. But Valiant is already a company full of small miracles. 

The Valiant Entertainment of today didn't even exist five years ago. Before 2012, the Valiant name was a brief yet brilliant spark in comics history, an early-90s success story founded in part by former Marvel Comics talent. The comics they published — which kicked off in 1992 — were a remarkable success, with books like "X-O Manowar" (a story about a Fifth-Century Visigoth warrior who finds high-tech alien armor and is thrust into the present) and "Shadowman" (a jazz-and-voodoo themed supernatural thriller).

Shadowman

However, the turn of the century was not kind to the comic book industry, and Valiant would be shuttered in the early 2000s, the victim of corporate consolidation. 

Then came 2012, and everything changed. 

That summer was when a rebooted Valiant, with new leadership and financial backing, debuted to the comics reading world with the "Summer of Valiant," a splashy promotion for the relaunch of the comic book universe first seen in the early 90s. The company re-introduced its comics — leading with their most popular character "X-O Manowar"— pretty much from scratch, slowly rebuilding its fictional universe in a smart, modern way.

High-concept superheroics became sprawling sci-fi epics. Stories about psychic teenagers became contemplations on addiction and morality. A "Terminator" -esque action thriller became fodder for a somber story about humanity and redemption.  

And they were all very, very, good.

Almost overnight, Valiant was back in business, and over the past three years they have turned one of the most unlikely revivals in comics into an enviable hot streak with no signs of slowing down. Crazy, right?

Harbinger 12 cover

"Our strategy is very simple," says Shamdasani. "Step one: focus on publishing. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Focus on quality. Build long term. Step two: Expand slowly. Slow and steady wins the race. Do quality merchandise, do quality digital initiatives. [Travel] the convention circuit. Step three is to go into larger media." 

To hear Shamdasani share the secret of Valiant's success is to, frankly, hear the most common-sense foundation any decent business is built on. It is not radical. It is not innovative. It is not very sexy. But it is working, and it looks like it really is putting the small publisher on track to being within grasp of its stated ambition: to become "Marvel 2.0."

But there is a murky middle space between kicking off and sustaining a comic book business and becoming a household name. Valiant has been remarkably aggressive and successful with the former — spending much of this year on a lengthy conventiontour and making "allies" out of retailers — and becoming a household name. 

"We're in a very fortunate situation," says Russell Brown, a former Marvel executive and Valiant's president of consumer products, marketing, and ad sales. "We don't have to rush anything, we don't have to extract crazy dollars from people  — which sets up a whole chain. If you push people towards high dollars to participate (and everyone wants to be a part of Marvel 2.0), the problem is they rush product to market, it doesn't sell through, then there's a problem and people say 'Valiant is not working.' So what's the rush? We're slowly, slowly finding the right partners, in the right categories — it's a real progression." 

BLOODSHOT #1

Those partners are eclectic, varied, and — according to Valiant — successful. There's the tea inspired by X-O Manowar, the metal album inspired by Shadowman, the costumes they designed for the USA luge team for the 2014 Winter Olympics — the year the States took home the Gold for the first time.

As interesting and bizarre as some of these may seem, according to Brown, they're all carefully selected to put the Valiant name on quality products that will appeal to the niche they cater to — and hopefully inspire interest in Valiant. 

Then there's the movies.

The centerpiece of the film plan Valiant has announced so far (there is more in the works) is a five-picture deal with Sony centered on its "Bloodshot" and "Harbinger" comics — each franchise will get two films apiece, before crossing over in a grand finale called "Harbinger Wars."

HARBINGER WARS_001_COVER_HENRY

However, the sort of interconnected movie universe pioneered by Marvel Studios is a thing that lots of studios want in on — and not just for comic book characters

But audience fatigue is not something Valiant is all that worried about.

"They have elements of the superhero genre; certainly the iconography and conventions," says Shamdasani, "But they're built to be in genres that aren't 'superhero' ... You can also see it in our film choices. Fans ask why not X-O Manowar — he's the biggest, largest-selling character."

"Bloodshot's a character that's more easily adapted to a film genre," Shamdasani continues. "It's something that a larger audience can look at a trailer and understand 'Okay, I've seen films like this before. I've seen 'Terminator,' I've seen 'Robocop,' I've seen 'Total Recall,' I've seen 'Die Hard.' I know what something like this is going to be, and it's something I can get behind." 

But it's not just about positioning their comic book characters as something that filmgoers are already interested in, according to Shamdasani. There's also the creative decisions — like hiring Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, the directors of the excellent sleeper hit "John Wick"— that combine with smart positioning to result in a more interesting whole. 

john wick keanu

"We oftentimes relate back to our approach in the comic book world in how we're going to approach the film world, in that the creative and quality of the product has always been at the forefront and the most important thing that we do," says Gavin Cuneo, Valiant's Chief Operating Officer and CFO. "That's the way we're approaching films as well." 

In the next few weeks, the Valiant team will be moving out of those tiny offices to a space with enough room to have more of its team working together. It will be their fourth move in just as many years. 

It's a weird sort of real-life parallel to Valiant's rise as an entertainment company — unassuming, always moving, and unusually grounded for the comics industry. A place that runs off a carnival barker's energy, forever selling the promise of something you've never seen before and is quite often something you have.

ARCHER AND ARMSTRONG

"We're a different type of universe than the ones that are out there — we were created more recently, which means we more accurately reflect the world that we live in today," says Shamdasani. "[These characters] are not necessarily superheroes, they don't have capes and secret identities ... there's much more diversity, more big female characters, much more diversity in race, religion, creed. All because the universe was created in the 90s, where it was a more diverse world we were living in, as opposed to reflecting the 60s when Marvel was created, or the 30s, when the DC universe was created."

Much of the virtue behind Valiant Entertainment's work is bolstered by one important fact: They're small. In their version of the old story, David didn't beat Goliath with a lucky stone's throw, but by moving faster and wearing out their larger, slower, all-consuming competition. 

If Valiant is successful, then it too will be big — and with that bigness will come a whole new set of problems to solve. 

"Our challenge, I think, is one thing: I think it's just time," says Shamdasani. "The original Valiant set up the foundation, we're picking up the ball and running with it. Our goal is to tell as many great stories, one comic at a time, brick by brick — for as long as we can."

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Everything you need to know about the cast of 'Rogue One,' the first 'Star Wars' spin-off movie

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Rogue One Cast

"Rogue One" is going to be a different kind of "Star Wars" film. 

The first of three planned spin-off movies to be released in December 2016, the standalone films provide an opportunity to tell stories in the "Star Wars" universe with a different sort of feel than the grand space opera fans know and love.

"Rogue One" takes place before "Episode IV: A New Hope" and tells the story of a group of resistance fighters and their mission to steal the plans for the Death Star. At this summer's recent D23 expo, the movie's cast was unveiled — and though we don't know the name of their characters or what roles they'll be playing, it's a pretty exciting bunch. 

Get to know the cast of "Rogue One" below.

Felicity Jones finally gets a big role after getting nominated for an Oscar last year.

More than any other cast member in this movie, there's some heavy speculation about who Jones will be playing in this movie. The favorite rumor right now is that she's the daughter of Boba Fett — but that's one to take with an enormous grain of salt given that Boba Fett is a name that is always thrown around by speculators whenever there's a "Star Wars" mystery to solve. 

While Jones has been acting since the late '90s — she's appeared on shows like "Doctor Who" and had a minor role in "Amazing Spider-Man 2" that would have ostensibly led to a bigger part in the now-scrapped series — she received much acclaim (and an Oscar nomination) for playing Jane Hawking opposite Eddie Redmayne in the Stephen Hawking bio pic "The Theory of Everything."



Ben Mendelsohn will likely play an intense villain.

A character actor with a penchant for playing villainous people in the States and a longtime leading man in his native Australia, Ben Mendelsohn is an actor you've almost certainly seen (most likely as Dagget in "The Dark Knight Rises") but whose face you'll likely recognize more than his name.

Mendelsohn is an intense, unsettling performer in his best roles (like Danny Rayburn in Netflix's "Bloodline"), and given that he doesn't seem to be pictured with Felicity Jones in the released cast photo, he might be playing a villain.

He does look like he'd be a good fit for an Imperial uniform, no?



Mexican actor Diego Luna also appears to suit up with the Rogue One team.

A Mexican actor who exploded on the scene with 2001's "Y Tu Mamá También," Diego Luna spent much of his career in Spanish-language cinema, occasionally surfacing in big films like  "The Terminal" and landing a pivotal role in the Academy Award-nominated "Milk." 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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'Terminator Genisys' was a dud in the US, but is now crushing it in China

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terminator genisys arnold schwarzenegger

Though “Terminator Genisys” has struggled to get to $100 million at the U.S. box office, it’s a different story overseas.

The latest installment in the franchise nabbed the fourth-biggest opening day for a U.S. release in China over the weekend.

According to Variety, the film took in $27.4 million in 25,000 theaters. That pushes the film’s worldwide gross past $350 million.

A majority of that has been in overseas sales, as the film has only grossed $89 million to date since its release July 1. "Straight Outta Compton," which was made at a fraction of what "Genisys" was, passed $100 million in its second week of release.

Though “Genisys” even had the blessings of the franchise’s creator James Cameron, the film’s complex storyline and practically giving away the plot in its trailers has resulted in the film only having a 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes to date.

“Terminator Genisys” marked the first time Arnold Schwarzenegger had a major role in the franchise since "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" in 2003.

Regardless of how the film has done domestically, if it continues to be a strong earner overseas it’s likely more “Terminators” are coming.

SEE ALSO: THEN & NOW: The cast of the original "Terminator" movies

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Vin Diesel says a third 'xXx' is happening

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Vin Diesel XXX

Following over a year of talking about it, Vin Diesel took to Instagram over the weekend and announced that a sequel to his 2002 actioner “xXx” will begin shooting in December in the Philippines.

Vin Diesel instagram finalThe film was pegged to Gen Xers as X-Games meets James Bond with Diesel, on the heels of the first “Fast and Furious” movie being a hit, playing a thrill-seeking extreme sports athlete who is recruited by the government to infiltrate a Russian terrorist group.

The movie had a modest theatrical run, winning its opening weekend with a $44.5 million take and ending up with a $277 million worldwide gross

But any potential for a franchise looked to be dead when Ice Cube replaced Diesel in the 2005 sequel, “xXx: State of the Union.” The film only made $71 million worldwide. 

With Diesel behind the successful “Fast and Furious” franchise, which includes its latest film, “Furious 7,” making over $1.5 billion worldwide, it seems the actor is entitled to take on a pet project.

SEE ALSO: One of the most insane stunts in "Furious 7" almost didn't happen

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NOW WATCH: The very first 'Fast And The Furious' almost looks innocent compared to the madness that followed

Universal breaks international box office record with $3.78 billion

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fast and furious 7 cast

Universal's banner year continues with another record.

Universal Pictures International has grossed $3.78 billion to set a new industry record for the highest-grossing year ever at the international box office.

Internationally, the studio has four of the top five highest-grossing films of the year: "Furious 7" (No. 1 with $1.162 billion), "Jurassic World" (No. 2 with $983.5 million), "Minions" (No. 4 with $670.2 million) and "Fifty Shades of Grey" (No. 5 with $404.1 million).

The studio, which also set records for the fastest a studio has ever reached $2 billion and $3 billion at the international box office, has also been No. 1 at the international box office for 10 weeks, more than any other studio, and has had four No. 1 worldwide openings.

"Jurassic World" has the biggest international and worldwide opening weekend of all time, opening No. 1 in 69 territories where the film was released. It was the fastest film to reach $1 billion worldwide after only 13 days of release and is currently the third-highest-grossing film worldwide ever, behind only "Avatar" and "Titanic." 

"Furious 7" became the highest-grossing film ever in China ($391.2 million), and its also the fifth-highest-grossing film worldwide ever. 

Minions 2 Universal PicturesIllumination Entertainment’s "Minions" is the highest-grossing animated film of the year; the highest grossing animated film of all-time in Latin America; the fourth-highest-grossing animated film internationally and third-highest-grossing animated film worldwide.

Still coming up for the studio this year is the international release of "Straight Outta Compton" (which topped the domestic box office for the past two weeks); "The Visit," the original new thriller from writer/director/producer M. Night Shyamalan; adventure film "Everest," directed by Baltasar Kormákur; Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs;" Guillermo del Toro's gothic romance "Crimson Peak;" Angelina Jolie Pitt's "By the Sea;" and "Krampus," the horror-comedy from Legendary.

SEE ALSO: The 10 biggest winners and losers of the summer movie season

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Henry Cavill reveals whether Superman shows up in 'Suicide Squad'

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superman batman v superman

Despite being a movie revolving around a team of supervillain operatives, there will still be a superhero presence next year in "Suicide Squad." Batman will be dropping by for a car chase with The Joker (and maybe a few more scenes), and Aquaman is also rumored to show up as a prisoner of Amanda Waller’s. Evidently this has led to some wondering if Superman might cameo in the film as well, but according to Henry Cavill, that isn’t the case.

When asked by Metro if Superman will be popping in for "Suicide Squad," Cavill said he won’t be, but when asked about a sequel, his response was an enthusiastic "I might be!" Right now the only DC films Cavill is slated to appear in after "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice" are "Justice League: Part One" and "Part Two," although "Man of Steel 2" is also reportedly being worked on. DC’s film slate also currently stretches to "Green Lantern Corps" in summer 2020, and while a Batman film may be added during this period, there hasn’t been any word on sequels to "Suicide Squad" or any of the other solo films. So if "Suicide Squad 2" is greenlit, it could be a while until we see it, but it sounds like Cavill is open to the possibility of making an appearance…once his contract is extended, that is.

Suicide SquadAlthough Superman won’t be seen in "Suicide Squad," his presence will be felt. In the San Diego Comic-Con footage, Amanda Waller is heard speculating that Superman’s public debut acted as some kind of "beacon" for the superpowered and specially talented to emerge from the shadows. Much like how Iron Man ushered in the MCU, Superman is the DC hero that’s kicking off the crazy happenings in the DC movie universe, which will see the introduction of demigods, underwater monarchs, speedsters, space cops and other enhanced individuals, both good and bad. 

In any case, Superman will have his hands full next year dealing with Batman, Lex Luthor (who is also rumored to show up in "Suicide Squad") and possibly Doomsday, so the supervillain team is no doubt breathing a sigh of relief that they won’t run into him. It would be interesting to see how the Man of Steel would fit into a "Suicide Squad" sequel given that he doesn’t interact with them much in the comics. It’s more likely than not that a fight would break out, but since no one on that team is powerful enough to battle the Kryptonian, they would need to recruit someone who’s capable of going toe-to-toe with him. Perhaps that would be the prime time to introduce someone like Metallo or Parasite?

Fans will see Superman back in action when "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice" hits theaters on March 25, 2016, with "Suicide Squad" following on August 5, 2016.

SEE ALSO: MEET DAVID AYER: The hard-edged director of "Suicide Squad"

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'American Ultra' screenwriter goes on Twitter rant after movie bombs at the box office

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American Ultra Alan Markfield

“American Ultra” screenwriter Max Landis (“Chronicle”) tweeted out some thoughts on the movie business to his 44,500 plus followers over the weekend after seeing the awful opening the film had at the box office this weekend.

Starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, the stoner comedy/actioner (directed by “Project X” director Nima Nourizadeh) took in only $5.5 million at over 2,700 screens. Landis, son of legendary director John Landis (“Animal House,” “The Blues Brothers”), asked openly on Twitter why films that weren’t as well received by critics than “American Ultra” did better this weekend?

Here are a few of his tweets:

Landis’ conclusion is this:

Max Landis Jason MerrittThis is nothing new to the recent movie landscape. Even the movies that have done well so far this year that weren’t from a franchise (most recently “Straight Outta Compton”) had a built-in audience. Granted, N.W.A.’s last album came out in the early 1990s, but their existing members went on to make landmark work in the decades that followed which kept interest in the group.

Landis ends his rant this way:

Landis may fair better with the next original screenplay he wrote, "Mr. Right." The dark romantic comedy stars Anna Kendrick who falls for “Mr. Right” played by Sam Rockwell. The only problem, he’s a hitman on the run from cartels.

The film will screen at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

SEE ALSO: "Full House" stars say Lifetime's unauthorized movie about them is "just so bad"

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Here's why Quentin Tarantino isn't worried about the influx of franchise films

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Quentin Tarantino

With the glut of superhero and franchise films that hit theaters every year, there's a worry that they're starting tolook lifeless or identical. And from a business perspective, the industry's reliance on big tentpole films rather than mid-range films is making even Steven Spielberg and George Lucas worry. But Quentin Tarantino isn't bothered.

"That’s been going on since I was born," Tarantino told Vulture, which he spoke to for New York magazine's fall preview issue. "You can talk about Transformers now, but you could talk about the Planet of the Apes movies and James Bond when I was a little kid — and I couldn’t wait to see those."

Worries about an over-reliance on tentpoles have indeed been around for a long time. They surfaced most recently when Josh Trank's "Fantastic Four" crashed and burned, making just $25.7 million on its opening weekend on a $130 million budget, received brutal reviews, and threatened the end of a potential franchise for Fox before it even started.

The problem is that, because a franchise film can comprise a large percentage of a film studio's budget, if a couple of movies fail, they can theoretically ruin a studio — or at least the careers of people running them. That's why they're called "tentpole" films. For example, former Disney Studios chairman resigned in 2013 following the disastrous performance of "John Carter" at box office.

Spielberg and Lucas sounded the alarm soon afterwards. At a panel at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, they warned against studio's over-reliance on tentpoles, and said that these movies are being made at the expense of smaller films.

“There’s eventually going to be a big meltdown,” Spielberg said. “There’s going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen of these mega-budgeted movies go crashing into the ground and that’s going to change the paradigm again.”

Tarantino thinks the worry is overblown, even though his own upcoming movie, "The Hateful Eight," has a $44 million budget, less than half of the $100 million budget that his previous movie, "Django Unchained," had. (To be fair, "Eight" appears to be more modest in scale than "Django.")

"I don’t know why Spielberg and Lucas would be complaining about movies like that," Tarantino told Vulture. "They don’t have to direct them."

Quentin Tarantino Steven Spielberg"The Hateful Eight" will get a limited release on December 25 on screens that support the film's 70mm film format, followed by a nationwide release on January 8.

Tarantino isn't convinced that blockbusters are crowding out better movies, either. To him, the argument is recycled from the 1970s and '90s. In fact, he thinks the worst movies Hollywood produces now are better than the worst movies studios produced in the past decades. If anything, he wishes superhero movies were this good years ago.

"I’ve been reading comic books since I was a kid, and I’ve had my own Marvel Universe obsessions for years," he said to Vulture. "So I don’t really have a problem with the whole superhero thing right now, except I wish I didn’t have to wait until my 50s for this to be the dominant genre. Back in the ’80s, when movies sucked — I saw more movies then than I’d ever seen in my life, and the Hollywood bottom-line product was the worst it had been since the ’50s — that would have been a great time." 

The director would rather continue to write original scripts than join a franchise himself anytime soon, though. He only said he used to be interested in directing "Scream," which Wes Craven ended up making in 1996 and which Tarantino "didn't care for."

The James Bond franchise was on Tarantino's wishlist as well, when he was basking in the success of "Pulp Fiction." He thinks his approach would have subverted the franchise.

"I tried to get the rights to Casino Royale away from the Broccolis [the family that oversees production on James Bond adaptations], but that didn't happen," he said to Vulture. "That wouldn't have been just throwing my hat in the franchise ring; that would have been subversion on a massive level, if I could have subverted Bond."

Tarantino also said that he "learned a lesson" with "Grindhouse," his double-feature of exploitation horror films from 2007. He directed "Death Proof," which was screened back-to-back with Robert Rodriguez's "Planet Terror." The movies found only a niche audience, and grossed only $25 million.

"Robert Rodriguez and I had gotten used to going our own way, on these weird roads, and having the audience come along," Tarantino said to Vulture. "We’d started thinking they’d go wherever we wanted. With Grindhouse, that proved not to be the case. It was still worth doing, but it would have been better if we weren’t caught so unaware by how uninterested people were."

SEE ALSO: The 10 biggest winners and losers of the summer movie season

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When 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' might team with 'The Avengers,' according to Jeremy Renner

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guardians of the galaxy

When will the Avengers finally encounter the Guardians of the Galaxy? That’s one of the many questions on every Marvel fan’s mind. Though Star-Lord and his crew of misfits exist off in a galaxy far, far away from Earth, Thanos and the Infinity Stones are the links between the two teams. According to recent comments made by Jeremy Renner, however, it doesn’t seem like these worlds will be merging until after the Infinity War is over and done. 

Let’s take what Renner says with a grain of salt (or three). Though he’s a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Hawkeye, he’s not on the same insider-y level as Kevin Feige and is, therefore, not necessarily privy to the crucial information we want. That said, the actor made the rounds at Wizard World Comic Con Chicago and, during a panel, he made a potential Guardians-Avengers team-up seem in the distant future. 

ComicBook.com reports that Renner "seemed to indicate" that there weren’t any plans in the works to merge these characters. He said he assumed Marvel was planning on giving the Guardians another movie, which is the first hint that — with all due respect — he doesn’t really know what he’s talking about. After all, "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2" is already scheduled for a theatrical release on May 5, 2017. That was announced back during last year’s Comic-Con. Renner then went on to say, "and then we’ve got 'Infinity War,'" seeming to indicate that these Avengers films were indeed Avengers films. Joking about when we might see a crossover, he said: 

"You'll be 80 years old by then, and I won't be Hawkeye anymore. I’ll be Dead Guy."

Based on what we know already, the priority with Guardians doesn’t seem to be a crossover with the Avengers. James Gunn wrote in a Facebook post last December that the main goal is further expand the MCU and to keep large chunks of the Guardians’ story away from the Avengers on Earth.

avengers age of ultronHe also remarked at the time that any potential future between the joining of these teams had not been decided on yet. It’s also important to note, though, that Marvel’s plans are continuously expanding. Feige said that he had a larger plan for the characters back when Nick Fury first approached Tony Stark in that "Iron Man" ending, but no one expected something like "Guardians of the Galaxy" to perform so well at the box office, or that Sony would concede to let Disney use Spider-Man in their universe. As a result, "Guardians 2" was green lit and the release dates for the Phase Three films were shuffled around to accommodate Jon Watts’ solo Spider-Man film. 

There’s definitely a reason why Thanos and one of the Infinity Stones popped up in "Guardians." Does that mean we’ll see Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot join Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to take this villain out in "Infinity War, Part 1" and "Part 2"? We’ll have to hang tight on that front. 

SEE ALSO: Marvel's Mockingbird series starring Adrienne Palicki isn't dead after all

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Quentin Tarantino thinks this young Hollywood starlet could become one of the greatest actresses of all-time

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Quentin Tarantino Vivien Killilea

If there's one thing writer/director Quentin Tarantino prides himself on, it's casting the right actor to the right role.  

And for his latest movie, "The Hateful Eight," the Oscar-winner considered the highest-paid actress in the world, Jennifer Lawrence, to play the female heroine Daisy in the movie.

“When I was looking for [the character] Daisy, I could have seen Jennifer Lawrence doing a good job with the role,” Tarantino told New York Magazine. “I’m a very big fan of hers. I think she could end up being another little Bette Davis if she keeps on going the way she’s going."

jennifer lawrenceTarantino comparing Lawrence to Davis, one of the greatest actresses of all time (two-time Oscar winner and known for starring in classics like "All About Eve" and "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"), is quite a compliment. But there was a big reason why the director didn’t go any further on his idea to cast Lawrence.

“Daisy should be a little older,” said Tarantino. “She should fit in with the guys.”

The “guys” he’s referring to are the bounty hunters who are all snowed in with Daisy at a saloon during a blizzard in “The Hateful Eight.” They include veteran actors Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, Walton Goggins, and Demian Bichir.

Tarantino cast Jennifer Jason Leigh (“Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “The Anniversary Party”).

“Jennifer Jason Leigh came in and was really good,” Tarantino said. “She went for a couple of things that other people just kind of playacted. She had to act like she got shot, and she just screamed bloody murder. I kept remembering Jennifer’s bloodcurdling scream. If it had happened in a house, somebody would have called the cops.”

Jennifer Jason Leigh The Hateful Eight Andrew CooperYou can't really question Tarantino's choice as his casting track record is impeccable; even casting actors that Hollywood has long thrown aside.

His most famous instance was casting John Travolta in "Pulp Fiction," which gave the actor’s career a full 180. Following his impressive performance, Travolta went on to becoming a bankable lead actor through the rest of the 1990s.

The casting of Leigh isn’t comparable to Travolta’s. Leigh has been working consistently in movies and TV her whole career.

But it's obvious Tarantino toils over finding the right actors for his characters, regardless of their status in the business.

“I actually think my characters are going to be one of my biggest legacies after I’m done,” he told New York Magazine. “So I have no obligation whatsoever other than to just cast it right.”

“The Hateful Eight” will open in theaters on Christmas Day and in wide release on January 8.

Watch the trailer for “The Hateful Eight:”

 

SEE ALSO: Here's why Quentin Tarantino isn't worried about the influx of franchise films

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The villains in the next 'Star Wars' movie just got a lot more interesting

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There was always something strange about Kylo Ren, the new villain in the upcoming "Star Wars" movie, "The Force Awakens."

This guy:

kylo ren star wars episode vii

In the first teaser trailer from last November, we see Kylo Ren ignite a unique three-blade lightsaber. Fans went nuts. So did Stephen Colbert.

star wars the force awakens sith lightsaber kylo renBut there was a problem. When Lucasfilm announced the character's name, the title "Darth" was noticeably absent. At first, most just assumed Kylo Ren was a Sith, one of the followers of the Dark Side of the Force that always has Darth in their name. For example, Darth Vader was a Sith. His Sith master, Emperor Palpatine, went by Darth Sidious.

Stop reading now if you want to avoid spoilers or speculation about the next "Star Wars" movies.

Kylo Ren's character came into more focus on Tuesday in a teaser article for Empire Magazine's upcoming winter preview issue. The full version of the article will be on newsstands this Thursday.

In the article, "The Force Awakens" director JJ Abrams says Kylo Ren is not a Sith. Instead, he follows his master Supreme Leader Snoke, a villainous character played by Andy Serkis. Snoke is in charge of the First Order, a new militaristic group similar to the Galactic Empire from the original movies. Abrams describes Snoke as "a powerful figure on the Dark Side of the Force." But it seems like he's not a Sith either.

We haven't seen what Snoke looks like yet. All we know is that Serkis used motion capture to play the character, which means he'll probably be at least partially computer generated. If we had to guess, this likely means Snoke is some sort of alien, not a human being.

star wars droidSo what does all this mean?

Here's some informed speculation about the bad guys in "The Force Awakens."

In the same Empire interview, Abrams says the First Order didn't necessarily form out of the Galactic Empire, which was ruled by Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader died in the final battle in "Return of the Jedi" and apparently took the Empire with them. The First Order is not exactly the same as the Empire. It's more like an organized militaristic group that idolizes what the Empire stood for.

star wars the force awakens the first order troops

And if the First Order idolized the Empire, then it'll need some powerful members of the Dark Side to run things. In fact, the Empire article describes the First Order as a group that views Darth Vader as a martyr. That's where Snoke and Kylo Ren come in.

The Sith's laws say there can only be two Sith at a time: a master and an apprentice. Since both Vader and Palpatine are toast, the Sith are too. But that doesn't mean the Dark Side lost all of its followers.

In an Entertainment Weekly article from a few weeks ago, Kylo Ren is described as a "Vader obsessive" who is part of a group called the Knights of Ren. (It turns out "Ren" is a title just like "Darth.")

Kylo Ren's Vader obsession could also explain why we see Darth Vader's charred helmet in the second teaser trailer:

star wars episode VII trailer darth vader helmetIt sounds like the First Order echoes the same theme as the Empire. We have, what appear to be, two very powerful Dark Side followers at the top: a leader (Snoke) and his apprentice (Kylo Ren). But since the chain of Sith succession has been broken, they've formed a new Dark Side religion of sorts called the Knights of Ren. (A curious name since Jedi are called "knights" too.)

Force Awakens PosterSo Snoke and Kylo Ren have a big army with lots of brainwashed followers who seem to be obsessed with following people powerful in the Dark Side of the Force. Time to wreak some havoc and take over the galaxy, just like Darth Vader and Darth Sidious did with the Empire. 

Now for the bigger question: What about the Jedi?

We already know Mark Hamill will return as Luke Skywalker in "The Force Awakens." Luke was the only Jedi in the galaxy when we last saw him, but so far we have no idea what happened after he defeated Vader and Palpatine. 

Did he attempt to restore the Jedi Order? Did he find new followers and train them as Jedi? Is his sister, Princess Leia, a Jedi now? Or, as the most popular fan theory goes, did Luke go into hiding, only to return decades later when the galaxy needs him again?

So far, the only other hint we have about what's next for the Jedi is an exclusive teaser poster for "The Force Awakens" from Disney's recent D23 fan event. It shows the new character Finn holding Luke's old lightsaber.

Abrams has already said Finn is an ex-storm trooper from the First Order, and the poster implies that he had a change of heart and could start training to become a Jedi with Luke as his master.

Join the conversation about this story »

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Christian Bale will play Enzo Ferrari in a new movie by Michael Mann (fcau)

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Christian Bale

It seems that the Dark Knight has been tapped to portray il Commendatore.

Christian Bale is reported by Deadline to be lined up to portray Enzo Ferrari in another biopic about the legendary race team owner and automaker.

We put race team owner first, because that was Enzo's largest passion over the course of his 90-year life. Previously, it was Robert De Niro making headlines over an Enzo Ferrari biopic.

This picture has been in the works for decades now. Enzo himself died in 1988, and a movie about his life has been a Hollywood dream ever since. For a long time, it was set to be a passion project of director Sydney Pollack but the legendary director passed away before that could come to be. Now it's in the hands of Michael Mann.

It seems the film will take place around the year 1957, which is instantly dramatic to those who know their motorsports history. Ferrari was well established at this time as producing world-beating racing cars. The disaster at Le Mans occurred two years prior, but another disaster was set to occur a bit closer to home.

A Ferrari 335S lost a tire while running the Mille Miglia. This sent the car into the crowd, killing both the driver and passenger along with nine spectators. Enzo Ferrari, along with the company that produced the tire, were charged and tried with manslaughter. The case was ultimately dismissed four years later.

Looking back at the roles that Bale has played, we see no issues with him transforming into Ferrari's Father. His range and skill as an actor should definitely bring a bit of Enzo's story to life.

A release for Bale’s film is yet to be confirmed, but De Niro has hinted that his own, tipped to be directed by Clint Eastwood, will hit theaters sometime next year. 

Enzo Ferrari

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Bruce Willis may have been fired from Woody Allen's latest movie

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Bruce Willis Theo Wargo Getty

Bruce Willis has dropped out of Woody Allen's latest movie, according to Deadline. And it may not have been his choice.

The film, which is untitled, stars an ensemble cast including Blake Lively, Kristen Stewart ("Twilight"), and Jesse Eisenberg ("The Social Network").

According to the Deadline story, Willis had to bow out because of a scheduling conflict. He has plans to star in a coming Broadway adaptation of Stephen King's classic novel "Misery."

But the same day that news broke, photos surfaced of Willis on the set of Allen's movie in Beverly Hills, California.

Now some have questioned whether Willis' exit really was due to a scheduling conflict. Actor availability is often worked out before cameras start rolling, and The Wrap's Jeff Sneider tweeted that Willis was actually fired.

This is not the first time Allen has let an actor go during production. Allen has been known to recast in the middle of shooting. As The Playlist points out:

Christopher Walken and Sam Shepard both were filmed playing the role of Peter in 'September' before ultimately being replaced by Sam Waterston. Michael Keaton was replaced by Jeff Daniels after ten days of shooting 'The Purple Rose Of Cairo.' Juliette Lewis replaced Emily Lloyd in 'Husbands and Wives' after some footage was shot.

And there have been stories for years about how difficult Willis is to work with. Director Kevin Smith was so fed up with Willis' behavior he went public, dedicating a chapter in his memoir, "Tough Sh-t," about how awful it was to work with Willis on the film "Cop Out."

"He turned out to be the unhappiest, most bitter, and meanest emo-bitch I've ever met at any job I've held down," Smith wrote. "And mind you, I've worked at Domino's Pizza."

Willis was also cut from "The Expendables 3" after a contract dispute. This led the franchise's star, Sylvester Stallone, to tweet this:

Regardless of why Willis left, Allen is recasting and production on the movie will not be delayed, according to Deadline.

Willis' reps told Business Insider that the Deadline story is accurate and have no further comment.

SEE ALSO: Why Jeff Bezos was happy when Woody Allen said he "regretted every second" of Amazon TV deal

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Here are all of the Pixar movies coming to theaters in the next few years

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the good dinosaur pixar film

Clear out your weekends for the next few years — there are a lot of fantastic animated films coming to the big screen.

During Disney's weekend-long D23 fan convention, the plans for all of the Disney/Pixar animation films in the upcoming years were presented to audiences.

We'll be seeing some familiar faces (Woody and Buzz Lightyear will return for "Toy Story 4") while meeting some new ones.

Here is everything you can expect to see from Disney from now through 2017 (and potentially 2018!)

You'll be "Finding Dory" in no time. 

"The Good Dinosaur" is Pixar's next film.



In the film, we get to see a world where dinosaurs and humans lived together. "The Good Dinosaur" will feature a dino named Arlo who befriends a little boy he names "Spot."



It will be in theaters November 25, 2015 — just a few months from now!



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The cast of 'Bring It On' 15 years later

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still of kirsten dunst in bring it on

It was 15 years ago this week that we first realized we weren't living in a democracy. We are living in a cheerocracy, though sometimes it can feel like a cheertatorship.

That's just one of the many gifts "Bring It On" gave the world when it premiered in theaters on August 25, 2000.

"Bring It On" once again proved to a increasingly cynical young generation that winning wasn't everything and finding a girl who could do gymnastics was. And in the end, we can all be friends -- even with the cheer team from the financially challenged part of town.

The movie would go on to make about $90 million in worldwide box office -- not too shabby for a film made for $10 million. Even better, it would become a cult classic, spawn four TV series, and cemented its stars' careers.

What are the stars up to 15 years later? Let's find out.

SEE ALSO: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The cast of 'Clueless' 20 years later

MORE: 19 popular movies currently being made into TV shows

Kirsten Dunst as Torrance Shipman

THEN: Kirsten Dunst is the new Toros cheer leading captain, Torrance Shipman. She'll stop at nothing to make sure the team wins its sixth championship in a row. 



Kirsten Dunst

NOW: "Bring It On" would show Hollywood that previously serious actress Kirsten Dunst had comic skill. She would then go on to play Mary Jane in the "Spider-Man" film franchise from 2002 to 2007. She is currently shooting the first film from the Rodarte label founders' feature directorial debut, "Woodshock."



Eliza Dushku as Missy Pantone

THEN: Eliza Dushku played Missy Pantone, the tough new girl looking for a way to replace gymnastics in her life. She would end up being exactly what the team needed and vice versa.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Schumer co-writing screenplay to star as sisters

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jennifer and amy

Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Schumer are siblings -- creatively and, soon, onscreen.

The two are currently writing a screenplay, in which they play sisters, according to The New York Times. “We’re almost done writing," Lawrence said. "It just flowed out of us. We’ve got about 100 pages right now.”

The actresses, who recently vacationed together in Martha's Vineyard (and lit up the Internet accordingly), only met a few months ago.

“I emailed her after I saw 'Trainwreck' and said, ‘I don’t know where to get started. I guess I should just say it: I’m in love with you,’” Lawrence explained. “We started emailing, and then emailing turned to texting. … We really hit it off, to say the least.”

Of their collaborative writing process, the 'Hunger Games' actress said, "Amy and I were creatively made for each other. We have different flavors. It’s been the most fun experience of my life. We start the day off on the phone, laughing. And then we send each other pages. And we crack up. I’m flying out tomorrow to see her in Chicago. We’ll write a little bit with her sister, Kim, who worked with Amy when she was writing 'Trainwreck.'”

Mid-interview, Lawrence texted Schumer that she let their secret slip. “I wrote, ‘I just spilled the beans to The New York Times. Is that O.K.?’” she said. “And Amy wrote back, ‘That you’re gay? Totally! It’s exciting!’”

SEE ALSO: How Jennifer Lawrence went from obscurity to the highest-paid actress in the world in 5 years

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Universal shatters domestic box office record with $2.113 billion

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Jurassic World Velociraptor

Universal has now set a new industry record for the highest-grossing year ever at the domestic box office, hitting $2.113 billion.

The previous record was help by Warner Bros., which ended the 2009 year with a domestic tally of $2.105 billion.

The new domestic record was set with the help of the huge North American grosses of "Jurassic World" ($639.8 million); "Furious 7" ($147.2 million); Illumination’s "Minions" ($321.1 million); "Pitch Perfect 2" ($183.8 million) and "Fifty Shades of Grey" ($166.2 million). The studio has already set new records for the highest-grossing year at the international and worldwide box office.

The studio's latest release, "Straight Outta Compton," has topped the domestic box office for the past two weekends. The studio currently has five of the top ten highest-grossing films of the year, including the No. 1 spot with "Jurassic World." The dinosaur adventure film had the biggest opening weekend of all-time at the North American box office and was No. 1 for three week. It also had the highest-grossing June opening ever and is currently third-highest-grossing film of all time.

“This continues to be an extraordinary year for our studio, and our success is a result of every division working cohesively to bring the best possible version of our films into theaters,” said Nick Carpou, President Distribution, Universal Pictures. “We work alongside inspired filmmakers with a passion for telling great stories, and with this year’s diverse slate we were fortunate to identify release dates that maximized theatrical grosses. We share this success with our partners in exhibition and look forward to the remainder of the year.”

Universal still has four more months of this year for its North American tally to continue to climb. The studios upcoming releases include: "The Visit," the original new thriller from writer/director/producer M. Night Shyamalan; adventure film "Everest," directed by Baltasar Kormákur; Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs;" Guillermo del Toro's gothic romance "Crimson Peak;" Angelina Jolie Pitt's "By the Sea;" and "Krampus," the horror-comedy from Legendary.

SEE ALSO: Universal breaks international box office record with $3.78 billion

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