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Shia LaBeouf's latest movie only sold 1 ticket at the UK box office

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Man Down Lionsgate Premiere

Shia LaBeouf's latest movie "Man Down" did not get the kind of reception it was hoping for in the UK over the weekend.

The thriller about a veteran (LaBeouf) dealing with PTSD only earned £7 ($8.70 in US dollars) over the weekend, according to ComScore (reported by Variety). That is the equivalent of a single movie ticket, as the UK Cinema Association puts the average movie cost in the country at £7.21.

The only location the film played at was the Reel Cinema in Burnley. It also was simultaneously released On Demand.

The movie, directed by Dito Montiel, had a similar release in the US late last year. Distributed through Lionsgate Premiere, it played in select theaters while also available On Demand and streaming at the same time.

"Man Down" grossed $454,490 in the US, according to Variety. Box-office numbers for the movie are not listed on BoxOfficeMojo.

The movie has a 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It also stars Gary Oldman, Kate Mara, and Jai Courtney.

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'Alien' originally had a much darker and more gruesome ending

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Alien 20th Century Fox

Director Ridley Scott originally had quite a different outcome for his "Alien" protagonist Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver).

The 1979 sci-fi classic is heralded not only as one of the best thrillers of all time, but also for its forward-thinking approach at the time, centering on a strong-willed woman as the hero. But it turns out, in an early version of the script, Ripley would have been killed off at the end of the movie.

Scott told Entertainment Weekly that in the original finale, when Ripley is in the escape shuttle and it's revealed that the alien is on board, the creature gets the better of her.

“I thought that the alien should come in, and Ripley harpoons it, and it makes no difference, so it slams through her mask and rips her head off,” Scott said.

He added that he would've then cut to the tentacles of the alien pressing buttons on the dashboard.

“It would mimic Captain Dallas saying, ‘I’m signing off,'” he said.

That's quite a chilling ending. And Scott almost lost his job because of it.

“The first executive from Fox arrived on set within 14 hours, threatening to fire me on the spot,” Scott said of when he pitched the ending to the studio. “So we didn’t do that [ending].”

It certainly would have been tough to make a franchise with that ending. Scott's latest chapter in the "Alien" franchise, "Alien: Covenant," will be in theaters May 19.

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How religious movies are thriving more than ever before under Trump

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Is Genesis History Compass Cinema

At one time, the strategy for getting the attention of faith-based movie audiences was pretty straightforward: Build a grassroots marketing campaign focused on certain congregations and churches, bus them to movie theaters, and let word of mouth build.

It was a model that led to numerous religious-themed movies having impressive opening weekends at the box office, most notably Mel Gibson's epic depiction of the final hours of Jesus Christ, "The Passion of the Christ," which is still the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time.

With the rise of streaming, there have been obvious tweaks to faith-based marketing, but those who work in this part of the film industry have also seen a change since President Donald Trump started running for and then won the White House.

'There's riches in the niches'

"What's shaking out since Trump is that people don't trust institutions. They don't trust the top-down — they want stories that are real and honest," marketer and producer Erik Lokkesmoe told Business Insider. "It's a feeling of, 'Don't tell me it's simple and easy.' The audience we're serving now knows issues are complex."

trump supportersLokkesmoe says the days of just going directly to community leaders, librarians, teachers, and pastors to get the word out about a movie are over. He observes that within the Christian audience, there are now subgroups with varying beliefs and tastes. As he puts it, in today's faith-based market, "There's riches in the niches."

How to find the 'Trump audience'

One obvious niche that everyone is trying to cater to at the moment, of course, is Trump's base. Though Lokkesmoe says it's still too early to get an exact read on the president's most ardent supporters, he has seen what kind of power they can give to a project.

The documentary "Is Genesis History?" explores how the world intersects with the history recorded in the Book of Genesis. It was released as a Fathom Events one-night special in late February and earned $1.8 million on just 704 screens. It was the top-earning theatrical release that day (a Thursday), beating out "The Lego Batman Movie" and "Fifty Shades Darker" (both of which played on more than double the number of screens as "Is Genesis History?" did).

"That is clearly a Trump audience," Lokkesmoe said. "The feeling of, 'We're under siege, our beliefs are being attacked, let's get together one night and confirm our beliefs.' That's very much a Trump mentality."

But it's not just the theatrical realm seeing a Trump bump. Those who keep any eye on the burgeoning streaming market for faith-based titles have noticed more passion online.

Michael Scott is the CEO and cofounder of Pure Flix, which is considered the Netflix of the faith-based market (also the top indie faith-based studio in the world and the worldwide leader in producing and distributing faith and family-friendly entertainment). He has observed liveliness from his customers since Trump got into office.

"I feel some of the audience feels beat down a little bit by some of the media and now it's their chance to be more open and comment about the movies and talk about the movies," Scott told Business Insider. "That's the environment now. There's more openness to talk about faith-based films."

The Case For Christ Pure FlixPure Flix has more than 5,000 titles available to stream (ranging from features and TV to preaching and teaching content), and the company also produces its own titles (its latest, "The Case for Christ," stars Erika Christensen, Faye Dunaway, and Robert Forster, and it opens in theaters Friday). Though Scott says business has continued to thrive on the streaming side since his company started in 2015, that's not necessarily because of current events. As he sees it, you still have to tell a specific kind of story for the faith-based audience.

"One of the key reasons why people come to faith-based films is because of the message," he said. "You have to drive the message first and then wrap an organic story around the message. If you are leading with just a great story, then they could see a Hollywood release."

That formula worked well for releases like 2015's "War Room," which focused on a troubled family finding strength through prayer and went on to earn over $11 million to win its opening weekend. And this year's "The Shack," starring Octavia Spencer as God, took in over $16 million to come in a respectable third place its opening weekend (and it's earned close to $54 million worldwide).

Scott said that's why you shouldn't expect coming faith-based movies to revolve around political issues of the day like the Trump travel ban or other stories coming out of his administration.

"Maybe those would be dealt with in a subplot in a movie," said Scott, who noted that Pure Flix's 2014 film "God's Not Dead" did feature a Muslim family.

Gods Not Dead Pure Flix

Making the faith-based movie bigger

It's hard to see the "message-first" formula changing. But in the Trump era, a new group is being forged out of the faith-based market: what's known as the "aspirational" audience.

These are people who want to engage in the content beyond the theatrical or TV experience. That could include buying the book that a movie or show is based on or starting community outreach.

"The aspirational audience is not the Trump voter," Lokkesmoe said. "They are more artistic, younger, and less political."

silence paramount finalBut Lokkesmoe said the aspirational audience had grown up in an era when it was inspired to make change. His company, Aspiration Studios, has recently built campaigns focused on this audience for Martin Scorsese's "Silence" and the coming TV show "Genius."

Scott noted that Pure Flix was looking to launch a separate division to focus on the aspirational market with movies budgeted at $10 million to $30 million that have A-list talent attached (its current films are made for $4 million to $7 million).

Lokkesmoe said that was the biggest takeaway so far from the Trump era: There's more interest in feeding content to a particular audience than ever before.

"We're seeing a lot more funders and people thinking beyond how to find an audience that is out there for whatever topic or issue," he said. "There's more interest in that than 'Let's make one movie that's going to change the world.'"

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Alec Baldwin explains his decades-long feud with Harrison Ford

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These days, Alec Baldwin is best known for his impression of President Donald Trump on "Saturday Night Live" and as Jack Donaghy from "30 Rock," but he’s been in the game for a long time. In the '80s and '90s, he was a hot commodity in Hollywood and a heartthrob.

He's also always been a controversial celebrity, having had some unfortunate moments over the years. He had a nasty and highly publicized divorce from actress Kim Basinger in 2001, which resulted in a custody battle over their daughter, Ireland.

In 2007, a vulgar voicemail Baldwin left his daughter leaked and damaged his reputation even further.

In Baldwin's new memoir "Nevertheless," which came out on Tuesday, the actor opens up about another conflict he faced in the Hollywood spotlight: his decades-old feud with Harrison Ford.

Baldwin played Jack Ryan in 1990's "The Hunt for Red October." But Harrison Ford was cast as Jack Ryan in the 1992 sequel, "Patriot Games," and it was all done behind Baldwin's back, the star claims.

According to Baldwin, director John McTiernan asked Harrison Ford if he was aware that Paramount was still negotiating with Baldwin to return as Jack Ryan in the sequel.

“Ford’s reply, according to John, was 'F--k him,'” Baldwin wrote.  

Baldwin also writes, not too kindly, of later meeting Ford at a benefit: "Ford, in person, is a little man, short, scrawny, and wiry, whose soft voice sounds as if it’s coming from behind a door."

But Baldwin does spread some love around in the new book, too. He opens up about his relationship with Tina Fey, his costar on "30 Rock," which ran for seven seasons from 2006 to 2013.

"When I first met Tina Fey — beautiful and brunette, smart and funny, by turns smug and diffident and completely uninterested in me or anything I had to say — I had the same reaction that I’m sure many men and women have: I fell in love," he wrote.  

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Michael Bay says there are 14 future 'Transformers' movies already written

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michael bay transformers

In case you've lost count, we're headed into the fifth movie in Paramount's Transformers franchise with "Transformers: The Last Knight," opening in theaters in June.

Michael Bay has directed all the movies so far and it's possible this will be his last one — at least for a little while.

But he revealed to MTV at CinemaCon that 14(!) future Transformers movies have already been written.

"There’s good stuff," he said, adding that in the future he may want to get back in on the franchise. "I would like to do one of them, though."

After "The Last Knight," which stars Mark Wahlberg — who came onto the franchise in 2014's "Transformers: Age of Extinction"— the movies will get their first spin-off, which will focus on Bumblebee and will be more kid-friendly, according to Bay. The movie will be out in 2018 and will be directed by Travis Knight ("Kubo and the Two Strings").

So it sounds like the franchise is not slowing down. The movies, including the 1986 animated feature, "Transformers: The Movie," have collectively earned a worldwide gross close to $4 billion.

Watch Bay's comments below:

 

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Mark Hamill does a perfect Han Solo impression in this 'Star Wars' 'Bad Lip Reading' video

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The Force Awakens Bad Lip reading YouTube final

The popular YouTube channel Bad Lip Reading has created viral hits out of Inauguration Day and NFL players talking on the field, and now it's taken on "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," with the help of Luke Skywalker himself, actor Mark Hamill.

Yes, you may be saying to yourself, "But Luke Skywalker didn't have any lines in 'The Force Awakens.'" You're right, and that's what makes this latest Bad Lip Reading video so great.

Known for his voiceover work (he's played the Joker on many of the Batman cartoons), Hamill voices his pal Harrison Ford's Han Solo, and it's pretty spot-on.

Some of the highlights include Han talking to Leia about things that make them the happiest (nothing makes Han happy), Kylo Ren hitting on Rey while he has her captured, Han warning Finn about ninjas, and Kylo Ren offering Han a finger puppet.

Watch the hilarious video below:

 

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The studio behind 'Ghost in the Shell' admits the 'whitewashing' controversy hurt its box office

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Ghost in the Shell Paramount copy

"Ghost in the Shell" opened to $19 million last weekend, less than half what "The Boss Baby" made over the same three days. The film received backlash for the better part of a year due to its casting of Scarlett Johansson in the lead role, which Paramount executive Kyle Davies now admits played a part in the film's disappointing financial take so far.

"We had hopes for better results domestically. I think the conversation regarding casting impacted the reviews," said Davies, Paramount's domestic distribution chief. "You've got a movie that is very important to the fanboys since it's based on a Japanese anime movie. So you're always trying to thread that needle between honoring the source material and make a movie for a mass audience. That's challenging, but clearly the reviews didn't help."

First published in 1989, Masamune Shirow's beloved manga was previously adapted as an anime film in 1995; Johansson's character had always been portrayed as Japanese before.

Read Davies' full interview here.

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You can catch up with all of the 'Fast and Furious' movies in this 7-minute video

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fast & furious 6

The latest movie in the "Fast and the Furious" franchise, "The Fate of the Furious," is coming to theaters April 14, and this is already entry No. 8. Which means whether you're a die-hard fan or a recent convert, you might be wondering if you need to go back and watch any of the seven previous movies to fully enjoy "Fate."

In all honestly, you probably don't. But if you want to catch the highlights of the franchise up until now, then this YouTube video from Burger Fiction has got you covered.

In under seven minutes, it perfectly touches on all the major points (mostly eye-popping stunts) from the previous movies so you are prepared for the certain insanity that's to come with "Fate of the Furious." 

Sit back and watch the evolution of Dom (Vin Diesel), Brian (Paul Walker), and their familia:

 

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'The Lost City of Z' is the best movie of 2017 so far

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the lost city of z3 amazon final

Director James Gray has quietly been creating an impressive body of work for the last two decades, but his latest movie is his magnum opus.

Since 1994's "Little Odessa," Gray has told intimate tales often about hardworking people in unique situations. There was ex-con Leo Handler (Mark Wahlberg) in the corrupt world of the Queens rail yard in "The Yards" (2000), and Ewa Cybulska (Marion Cotillard), forced into a life of burlesque dancing in "The Immigrant" (2013).

But in "The Lost City of Z," Gray ups his game and tells an epic story that explores big dreams and the sacrifices that come with them.

the lost city of z4finalIf the title of the movie (out in limited release April 14 — it'll go nationwide April 21 and be available on Amazon later this year) sounds familiar, that's because it's based on the popular 2009 nonfiction book "The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon" by David Grann.

In it, Grann recounts the life of Percy Fawcett, a British explorer who in 1925 went into the Amazon jungle with his son to find an ancient lost city he believed existed and never returned.

The legend of the city that Fawcett named Z is well-known in the expedition community. As many as 100 people have died or disappeared searching for Fawcett or the city he was obsessed with.

Gray has taken Grann's book, which also recounts the author's quest to find Z, and brings Fawcett and his journey to life with such rich detail, you'll feel the sweat of the jungle. That's partly because of the stunning photography by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Darius Khondji and the talents of production designer Jean-Vincent Puzos.

Charlie Hunnam ("Sons of Anarchy") plays Fawcett as a man who's driven to make a name for his family in an era when class and legacy are everything and finds stardom as an explorer. Robert Pattinson is at his side as Henry Costin, a soft-spoken but equally driven aide-de-camp.

Both give incredible performances. It's the best one yet for Pattinson. His brooding stare is perfect for a character who must toil in the horrific conditions of the Amazon — at one point half his face is infected by a bug bite.

The Lost City of Z AmazonHunnam, meanwhile, is an incredible talent who thanks to some lousy movies has been largely missed by a wider audience. Here he gives a tour-de-force performance that proves his capabilities as a leading man. He carries this movie on his back with an intensity that is a joy to watch. He's sensitive and kind in some instances, ferocious in others.

The movie is close to two and a half hours, but it requires every second. To properly tell the story of Fawcett's journey — and make you fully understand his obsession with Z — we need to chronicle most of his adult life: being a cartographer in Brazil in the 1900s, going on one of his first expeditions to find Z, fighting in World War I, and going on his fatal final quest to find the lost city with his son, Jack (played by the new Spider-Man, Tom Holland).

The lengthy running time is also needed to delve into Fawcett's home life with his wife, Nina (Sienna Miller), and growing family. In another movie, this part would be omitted or stripped to brief moments, but Gray details Nina's struggles as she deals with Fawcett going off to explore and leaving her to care for their children. Still, she champions him, even at one point pleading to go with him.

If there's a movie so far this year you need to see on the big screen, it's this one. Its rich story, performances, and lush visuals should be taken in at the theater, where you can fully immerse yourself.

Then go see it again. I plan to.

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Warner Bros. might have to pay $900 million if they can’t prove ghosts are real

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The studio and filmmakers behind the successful "Conjuring" franchise are being sued by an author for $900 million. The three films in the franchise grossed $886 million at the global box office, and two more films are on the way. You can read the entire filing here

Author Gerald Brittle wrote a book about the Warrens in 1980 called"The Demonologist." Brittle claims that he had an exclusive agreement with Ed and Lorraine Warren, the paranormal investigators whose case files are dramatized in the "Conjuring" movies.

Warner Brothers Pictures made its own deal with the Warrens, which lead to the production of "The Conjuring,""The Conjuring 2," and "Annabelle."

What makes the suit more interesting than your standard Hollywood contract dispute is the aspect dealing with the movie studio's claim that the "Conjuring" movies weren't based on Brittle's book, and that they are indeed based on "historical facts." Brittle says that can't be possible because he (and other skeptics) posits that the Warrens' case files about paranormal and supernatural activity are fabricated.

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The Oscars just made a huge rule change to keep TV out of the awards

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Oj Made in America ESPN

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Friday new rules for the Oscars going forward, and the one that jumped off the press release is that multi-part documentaries will no longer be eligible.

That means this year's Oscar winner for best documentary feature, ESPN's "O.J.: Made in America," will be the first and last multi-part doc to win the coveted award.

Part of ESPN's "30 for 30" series, the five-part documentary directed by Ezra Edelman is a groundbreaking work. The nearly eight-hour film (shown in theaters and broadcast as a series) looks at the rise and fall of NFL Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson while also delving into the social and racial unrest in Los Angeles. The two storylines converge when Simpson is found not guilty for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Before the Oscar win, "Made in America" won numerous critics awards, but talk also began to circulate within the industry at the time about whether it should be eligible alongside other feature nonfiction nominees.

Getty Images ezra edelman oscars oj made in americaEdelman and ESPN have always said since they unveiled the documentary in a marathon screening of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival that the intention was to make a movie. The project just got bigger as Edelman continued to work on it.

Edelman defended the movie's Oscar eligibility to Business Insider during a Facebook Live interview before Oscar nominations were announced. 

"I find it amusing partly because the intention was very pure from the get-go," Edelman said. "I wanted to make a very long movie and so that it was funded and was commissioned by a television network, okay, so does anything that Netflix does, so does anything that Amazon does, it’s no different. The only thing that’s different about this is it’s long. So for me, that it aired on TV and it’s almost eight hours long, it’s hard if you’re a commercial television company to air something that is eight hours straight, so that’s why it aired the way it did. I think it’s a little bit of a mischaracterization or somewhat unfair because the movie’s the movie, the intent was very pure. By the away it was released in theaters before it was ever on TV. It was built as a theatrical experience."

To become eligible for the best-documentary category, movies need a weeklong run in theaters in New York City and Los Angeles and must be reviewed by the New York Times and LA Times. ESPN hit that bar for "Made in America."  

However, the new rule will not allow producers of multi-part documentaries to book their projects in theaters for Oscar consideration.

Watch our entire Facebook Live chat with Edelman:

 

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The director behind a controversial new gender-bending action movie explains what inspired it

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the assignment Saban Films

Director Walter Hill has never been shy about making fantastical material.

His New York City-set movie about conflicting gangs “The Warriors” became an instant cult hit in 1979 and then he went and jumpstarted the buddy-cop genre with Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte in 1982's “48 Hrs.”

But during those years of success, he had another unique story idea buried away that is only now getting its moment in the spotlight.

“The Assignment” (opening in theaters Friday and available on VOD) stars Michelle Rodriguez (of "Fast and Furious" and "Resident Evil" fame) as a male assassin who wakes to find that he's had gender-reassignment surgery and goes on the hunt for the doctor (Sigourney Weaver) who is responsible. While the setup has raised some eyebrows as the movie has made its way to release, it dates back many years.

Hill said the initial idea for "The Assignment" came in 1978 when screenwriter Denis Hamill wrote the story, then titled "Tomboy," and sent it to him.

"I was fascinated by it, it was very different," Hill recently told Business Insider. "I instantly thought it could make a movie, but I was very busy at the time."

Walter Hill photo credit by Nicolas AprouxA hot commodity in Hollywood at the time, Hill forgot about the script. But 20 years later, he went back and optioned it from Hamill. He hired another screenwriter and the two went at developing the story.

"It didn't come out very well and I abandoned it and let the option return to Denis," Hill said. "I just thought some work and some don't."

15 years passed and Hill came across Hamill's original script in his basement. Flipping through it, he finally figured out how he thought he should make it.

"That moment of insight had to do with making an episode of 'Tales from the Crypt' that I had done in the 1980s," he said. "I decided if I do it like a longer version of an episode from that show it would work, as the story had to be set it in a special world."

To add to the "Tales from the Crypt" vibe of the movie, Hill was able to get a publisher to make a graphic novel version of "The Assignment," which he said helped in finally landing the financing (under $3 million) to make the movie.

"The Assignment" has come under fire from critics who have called it transphobic for exploiting a minority identity for thrills, but Hill has defended the work, saying it isn't transphobic and isn't about a trans-identifying character.

SEE ALSO: HBO just unveiled a peek at 15 new character looks for "Game of Thrones" season 7

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Anne Hathaway just showed up everyone by making a great, weird monster movie no one saw coming

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"Colossal," Anne Hathaway's new movie, is the type of film that could have easily been terrible.

It's a high-concept drama about female self-empowerment and the dangers of alcoholism. Hathaway plays a woman who — after struggling with her career, boyfriend, and drinking too much — moves back to her hometown in upstate New York, only to learn that she has a mental link with a kaijū monster terrorizing Seoul.

A high-concept story is, basically, a story with a "what if" premise that can be pitched in just a few words. It's been a popular genre for decades, usually because it turns a science fiction or fantasy conceit into a story that's easy to understand and imparts some kind of moral lesson, like Rod Serling's "Twilight Zone."

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, some of the best, most thoughtful comedies were high-concept films, including "Big" (a teenager who wishing to be an adult suddenly becomes one) and "Groundhog Day" (a weatherman lives the same day on repeat). They became more ambitious, producing some of the most important movies in Hollywood, like "Jurassic Park" (what if dinosaurs were alive today?) and "Toy Story" (what if toys could talk?).

toy story

By the late 1990s and early 2000s, some of the better high-concept movies became increasingly creative, but the time period also began to produce some films that dated poorly. 1997 had "Face/Off" (what if an FBI agent swapped faces with a criminal?") and 2004 had "The Incredibles" (what goes on in a family of undercover superheros?). The same period also included creepy fare like "50 First Dates" (a man falls in love with a woman with short-term memory loss) and eye-rollers like "Snakes on a Plane" (snakes are on a plane).

By now, high-concept movies are almost entirely awful comedies. In the past decade, we've had to witness "The Tooth Fairy" (Dwayne Johnson pretends to be the tooth fairy), "Bedtime Stories" (Adam Sandler tells his kids stories that come true), and the regrettable "Jack and Jill" (Adam Sandler plays his own twin, who is a woman).

jack and jill adam sandler

That's where "Colossal" comes in.

"Colossal" is by no means a perfect movie. The middle third, especially, is uneven, teetering in tone from absurdist dark comedy to threatening home-invasion thriller. But it is, for the most part, very good.

Anne Hathaway, once again, knocks it out of the park, and Jason Sudeikis demonstrates himself to be a shockingly effective dramatic actor. The ending, too, is a crowd-pleaser that nicely wraps the whole story together.

anne hathaway jason sudeikis colossal

And more importantly, "Colossal" shows what a high-concept movie can do. Its silly-sounding premise, where a young woman has a mental link with a monster on the other side of the world that allows her to control it — it's perfect for high jinks. And it is indeed occasionally funny, in a dark, people-are-getting-stomped-on kind of way.

But at the same time, writer-director Nacho Vigalondo's film explores serious issues, like the consequences of alcoholism and the bad decisions we make. That sounds mundane if the movie didn't have a monster that destroys Seoul in it.

Hopefully, "Colossal" signals the beginning of a new stage in the high-concept genre, where it can be restored to its former glory. It's certainly time.

Watch the trailer for "Colossal" below:

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14 movies coming out soon that look great

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the rock f8 fate of the furiousAlthough 2016 was arguably a letdown at the movies, 2017 is already shaping up to be a major improvement. Spring has only just begun, and some movies have already debuted in theaters that are pretty much guaranteed to go down as some of our favorites. It's a phenomenally promising start, and it certainly bodes well for the movies that have yet to premiere this year.

We sincerely hope that your calendars are relatively free for the next few months because there are some genuinely enthralling films on the horizon. On that note, we have compiled a list of the 14 upcoming films that you should definitely keep an eye on going into the summer.

There are plenty of great movies to get to, so let's kick this off with Anne Hathaway's latest film: "Colossal."

SEE ALSO: 'The Lost City of Z' is the best movie of 2017 so far

"Colossal"— April 7

Kaiju movies have a long and storied history in Hollywood, but "Colossal" looks like a fascinating twist on the formula. Centering on a young woman (Anne Hathaway) whose life is in shambles, the film follows her as she discovers that she finds that she is in complete control of a giant monster rampaging through Japanese cities. Early buzz on "Colossal" is almost universally positive, so all eyes are on this black comedy to take the monster movie genre in a very new direction.



"The Void"— April 7

The horror renaissance has been an absolute treat to watch unfold over the last few years, and it appears to be in full swing with the upcoming release of "The Void." A love letter to the 1980s (in the vein of "Stranger Things"), "The Void" centers on a group of people in a hospital surrounded by members of a violent cult as monsters begin to run wild. Expect practical effects and all of the blood and terror that you can take.



"The Fate of the Furious"— April 14

The "Fast & Furious" franchise continues to get faster and more furious, and it will once again come to a head when "The Fate of the Furious" hits theaters on April 14. Positioning Vin Diesel's Dom Toretto as the "villain" of the story, the eighth installment in the series has shifted its focus to give Dwayne Johnson's Hobbs and Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw the spotlight. Expect muscles, muscle cars, and an insane number of explosions when this one debuts.



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Ian McKellen explains why he turned down playing Dumbledore in 'Harry Potter'

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Ian McKellen

Ian McKellen, an actor known for playing some pretty powerful magical people including Gandalf from "Lord of the Rings" and Magneto from "X-Men," recently told the BBC that he was offered the role of Albus Dumbeldore in the "Harry Potter" movies, but he turned it down.

But why did he deny a role that was clearly so perfect for him? 

During the interview, the BBC's Stephen Sackur mentioned critics of McKellen's work, citing a remark actor Richard Harris once made about McKellen and actors Derek Jacobi and Kenneth Branagh. Harris said “these guys [are] technically brilliant, but passionless.”

“Yeah,” McKellen said. “Nonsense.”

Then the British actor further explained his reasoning for turning down "Harry Potter" and what it had to do with Harris.

“When they called me up and said would I be interested in being in the ‘Harry Potter’ films, they didn’t say in what part,” he said. “I worked out what they were thinking, and I couldn’t... I couldn’t take over the part from an actor who I’d known didn’t approve of me.”

McKellen correctly assumed that he was being offered the role of Albus Dumbledore after Harris, who played the character in "The Sorcerer's Stone" and "The Chamber of Secrets," had died.  

“Well, sometimes, when I see the posters of Mike Gambon, the actor who gloriously plays Dumbledore, I think sometimes it is me,” McKellen said.

Things worked out for the best. Gambon was a great Dumbledore. And McKellen playing two iconic wizards from books might have been a little too confusing for everyone. 

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The total cost of damage in the 'Fast and Furious' movies is over $500 million

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the fate of the furious 2017 movie 5k qhd

"The Fate of the Furious," the much-awaited eighth installment of the "Fast & Furious" franchise hits theaters on April 14. 

And the film does some serious damage. 

InsuretheGap.com took the time (13 hours) to watch every installment in the franchise in order to calculate the total amount of damage across the series, which totals to $514 million. 

They also narrowed it down to which characters caused the most damage, and more. 

Let's go to the charts. 

The villain Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) is the biggest culprit: He's singlehandedly responsible for over $150 million worth of damage. Dom (Vin Diesel) is the hero responsible for the most cost of damage:

Furious Chart

Here's the damage to all the cars, categorized by the type of damage:

furious chart

Here we have a breakdown of the damage done to buildings:

Furious buildings damageHere's a breakdown of the number of items damaged in each movie. "Tokyo Drift" appears to be the safest: 

Furious chart

Finally, this chart shows the cost of damage for each movie. And it doesn't look like the Furious Fam will stop destroying things that cost millions of dollars any time soon:

Furious costs

SEE ALSO: You can catch up with all of the 'Fast and Furious' movies in this 7-minute video

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The director of classics 'The Warriors' and '48 Hrs.' looks back on his legendary career

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Walter Hill photo credit by Nicolas Aproux

Walter Hill is responsible for some of the most thrilling and funny movies Hollywood has ever produced, and he's still going.

He started directing in the late 1970s and right out of the gate delivered two movies that went on to become cult classics: "The Driver" and "The Warriors." Then in the '80s he seamlessly moved to comedies with "Brewster's Millions" (starring Richard Pryor and John Candy) and "48 Hrs.," which launched the movie career of Eddie Murphy and jumpstarted the buddy-cop genre.

Hill's latest, "The Assignment" (available on VOD, in theaters on Friday), stars Michelle Rodriguez (of "Fast and Furious" and "Resident Evil" fame) as a male assassin who wakes to find he's had gender-reassignment surgery and goes on the hunt for the doctor (Sigourney Weaver) who is responsible.

Clearly, Hill is still bringing provocative work to the screen that pushes the boundaries of the medium.

Hill sat down with Business Insider and looked back on his latest movie, which was first developed in 1978, and some of his other classics:

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 28 best car chases in movie history

How the 'Tales from the Crypt' TV show finally inspired Hill to make 'The Assignment'

Hill told us the initial idea for "The Assignment" came in 1978 when screenwriter Denis Hamill wrote the story, then titled "Tomboy," and sent it to him.

"I was fascinated by it, it was very different," Hill said. "I instantly thought it could make a movie, but I was very busy at the time."

In the midst of developing "The Warriors" and then jumping on back-to-back projects, Hill quickly forgot about Hamill's script. But 20 years later, he went back and optioned the script from Hamill. He hired another screenwriter and the two went at developing the story.

"It didn't come out very well and I abandoned it and let the option return to Denis," Hill said.

Then another 15 years passed and Hill came across Hamill's original script in his basement. Flipping through it, he finally figured out how he thought he should make it.

"That moment of insight had to do with making an episode of 'Tales from the Crypt' that I had done in the 1980s," he said. "I decided if I do it like a longer version of an episode from that show, it would work, as the story had to be set it in a special world."

To add to the "Tales from the Crypt" vibe of the movie, Hill was able to get a publisher to make a graphic-novel version of "The Assignment," which he said helped in finally landing the financing to make the movie.



Why 'The Driver' car chases still hold up in the era of 'Fast and Furious'

In just his second feature film, Hill created something that still inspires genre filmmakers to this day. "The Driver" (1978), starring Ryan O'Neal as a nameless getaway driver who becomes the obsession of a detective (Bruce Dern), pushed the car-chase trend of the time ("Bullitt,""The French Connection") and dazzled audiences with incredible stunts and extremely clever tricks.

"It's a different field now," Hill said when asked to compare "The Driver" to newer chase movies, like the "Fast and the Furious" franchise. "I was trying to tell the tale of these chases through the character and through his mental process. We're now in an age where the stunts become a kind of waterfall of events. One topping the other. And technically there are other things that are available now — the use of CGI and various photographers. A very different thing."

Hill also sees another glaring difference between making a car-chase movie in the 1970s and doing so now.

"We went out and shot a movie," he said. "When you look at 'Bullitt' or 'The French Connection' or my movie, they were all done as part of the movie and there was no second unit. We have a story to tell and here it is. Nowadays these big action movies are broken into action units with separate directors. It's a very different kind of filmmaking. It is probably, given what they are trying to do, the most efficient way to approach it, but it diminishes in a sense the old idea of what a director did. The movie was your movie."



What's still most memorable about making 'The Warriors'

Hill followed "The Driver" with the movie that would make him a legend in his own right, 1979's "The Warriors." 

The movie follows the New York City gang The Warriors, who must battle their way through the city back to their home turf of Coney Island after being framed for the murder of the leader of the city's most powerful gang.

When asked what first comes to mind when he thinks of making "The Warriors," Hill blurted out, "Night shoots."

Not because of any danger but because that's all the movie consisted of.

"I had a wonderful camera man, Andy Laszlo, who accepted all the difficulties of going out into the streets night after night after night," Hill said. "And I had a cast that never complained. They were delighted to just be in a movie. It was an odd movie. We knew it was going to be a far-out thing."

That far-out thing has since become a staple in pop culture, referenced in everything from video games to "The Simpsons."



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'The Boss Baby' is the winner of a very dull weekend at the box office

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BossBaby20thCenturyFox

It was pretty much a hard pass at the multiplex this weekend as the new releases "Smurfs: The Lost Village" and "Going In Style" couldn't knock down the holdovers.

"The Boss Baby," DreamWorks Animations' latest hit with Alec Baldwin voicing (you guessed it) a bossy baby, won the weekend with an estimated $26.3 million, according to BoxOfficePro.com.

In second was Disney's hugely successful "Beauty and the Beast." The live-action remake of its 1991 animated classic took in $25 million this weekend.

"Smurfs" came in third with a very soft $14 million opening, while "Going in Style"— the heist comedy starring legends Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Alan Arkin — took the fourth spot with $12.5 million. Both newbies were released on over 3,000 screens, so these returns aren't necessarily going to make their studios, Sony and Warner Bros., respectively, that excited.

Honestly, the industry is waiting patiently for the next "Fast and Furious" movie, "The Fate of the Furious," to finally hit screens and bring some respectability to April grosses. The eighth movie in the successful franchise for Universal will open next weekend and is projected to make well over $100 million during the Easter holiday weekend.

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 28 best car chases in movie history

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Marvel just dropped a teaser for the newest 'Thor' movie and it looks fantastic

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Thor Ragnorak teaser trailer Chris Hemsworth

The INSIDER Summary:

  • The third installment in Marve's "Thor" franchise hits theaters on November 3, 2017.
  • "Thor: Ragnorak" stars Cate Blanchett as a new villain named Hela.
  • Marvel dropped a new teaser trailer and it looks incredible.

 

Marvel fans rejoice — Thor is back! Marvel Studios released a brand new teaser trailer for the highly anticipated "Thor: Ragnorak," which hits theaters in November. 

The trailers shows off Chris Hemsworth, back in role as Thor (but this time with a new haircut), as well as the formidable Cate Blanchett as the new villain, Hela. 

Cate Blanchett Thor Ragnorak movie teaser trailer

Hela is a new threat to Thor and the entirety of Asgardian civilization. After robbing Thor of his hammer and imprisoning him, Thor's new enemies force him into a gladitorial ring where he meets none other than a fellow Avenger — the Incredible Hulk.

Here's the official synopsis from Marvel:

Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok — the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization — at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela. But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger — the Incredible Hulk!

Watch the teaser below:

 

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Marvel’s next ‘Thor’ movie looks like an incredible intergalactic adventure

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Marvel just dropped the first trailer for "Thor: Ragnarok" and it looks incredible. Thor, Loki, and the other Asgardians are all back, and the trailer even shows off Gladiator Hulk and Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster! The movie is scheduled to hit theaters in the US on November 3rd, 2017.

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