Charles Bramesco
Paramount Sues Fan-Made ‘Star Trek’ Film Over Copyrights on Ears, Klingon Language
The tough thing about using someone else’s ideas to make money is that it’s not entirely legal. This lesson had to be learned the hard way this past weekend by Alec Peters, producer of an independent film titled Prelude to Axanar. The Star Trek fan film drew quite a bit of ire from copyright holders Paramount after a crowdfunding effort on Indiegogo brought this grassroots DIY production over half a million dollars last summer. The promise to make a “studio-quality” film including characters, settings, and other elements from the heavily-licensed Star Trek franchise with no engagement from the relevant studio spelled doom for the Axanar team, and now the chickens have come home to roost.
In-Home Screening Room Draws Support From Major Filmmakers
Last week, we took note of a new business venture called Screening Room spearheaded by Napster founder Sean Parker. The proposed service would digitally stream the latest major-studio theatrical releases into the confines of private American homes for a hefty estimated fee of $50 on the same day as in-theater premieres, rendering a trip to the local cineplex less necessary than ever. Naturally, this radical new strategy would change the entire face of the industry, and has accordingly raised hackles on the production, distribution, and exhibition sides of Hollywood. As movie theaters struggle to stay relevant and profitable, Parker’s every press conference sounds like a death knell. And this weekend, both sides of this instantly contentious debate dug in their heels on their positions.
Josh Brolin and Miles Teller to Fight Fires, Existential Despair in ‘No Exit’
Jean-Paul Sartre’s seminal existentialist play No Exit shares a title with a newly-announced project starring Miles Teller and Josh Brolin, but perhaps it shares more? As firefighters heroically rushing into burning homes to rescue those trapped souls, do they not share the same flagrant disregard to the perils of death as the three damned souls trapped in Sartre’s banal Hell? Picture the sooty faces of Teller and Brolin, gleaming with sweat — the look in their eyes is not all that different from the despair visible in Joseph, Inès, and Estelle as they must reckon with their own wrongdoings.
New Trailer for ‘Ice Age: Collision Course’ Goes to Space Because Shut Up, That’s Why
Historically, the addition of space travel into the mix has never failed to revitalize a flagging franchise. Take Clive Barker’s series of Hellraiser films, for instance: four films in, and the engine was losing steam. So for Bloodline, the film split into a triptych across centuries, the frame story for it all taking place on a spacecraft orbiting Earth. Demonic tormentor Pinhead killing people on Earth — not very scary, but Pinhead killing people in space — I’ll take two tickets, please. So, in this respect, Ice Age: Collision Course is without a doubt the Hellraiser: Bloodline of the Ice Age franchise.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Acceptance Speech Was the Most-Tweeted Oscar Moment Ever
Each year’s ceremony usually yields a handful of viral moments, little unexpected happenings that catch the public’s interest and make their way around social media platforms. Last year, the surprise selfie taken by host Ellen Degeneres quickly set Twitter ablaze, racking up millions of retweets and favorites in a matter of minutes.
This year’s ceremony re-set that bar, with Leonardo DiCaprio’s long-awaited Best Actor win now the most-tweeted Oscar moment of all time.
Matthew McConaughey Flirts With Death in First ‘Sea of Trees’ Trailer
The drama finds McConaughey portraying a wayward businessman who travels to Aokigahara to end his life, but before he can do so, he meets a like-minded soul (Ken Watanabe) who’s come for the same reason.
‘Police Academy’ and ‘Punky Brewster’ Actor George Gaynes Dies at 98
Surrounded by family at his daughter’s home in North Bend, Washington, Gaynes died on Monday. He was 98 years old.
‘Pee-wee’s Big Holiday’ Trailer Promises Fun, Antics, Wordplay
There are few TV shows as purely, innocently, and energetically delightful as Pee-wee’s Playhouse, the Saturday morning vehicle for Paul Reubens’ grey-suited man-child. An adult perpetually trapped at the stage of early boyhood in which kids mostly say funny nonsensical things and that’s it, Pee-Wee and his colorful gang of anthropomorphic pals brought a hefty dose of camp humor to the happy shiny
First ‘Predator’ Reboot Poster Sneaks Up on the Internet
Much like the extraterrestrial monster of John McTiernan’s 1987 film, a new poster in promotion of the long-rumored, finally-arriving Predator reboot have now materialized on the Internet, taking fans by absolute surprise in a way that only the Predator can. Hearsay and scuttlebutt has encouraged murmurs of a planned sequel/revitalization of the franchise last seen in 2010 with the Adrien Brody-starring Predators, and now at long last, the faithful can take heart in a bright, bloody future. We don’t know how or when, but the Predator is coming.
‘Star Wars: Episode 8’ Unveils New Cast Members, Teaser, Oh God, It’s Happening
Good morning, happy Monday. Have you settled in at work, shaken the snow off your boots, maybe had a cup of coffee? Good, now hold onto your goddamn hat, because Star Wars is happening again.
New ‘Transformers’ Movies Coming in 2017, 2018 and 2019
Hasbro executives threatened announced today that new entries in the Transformers franchise would be coming in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Part of a planned twelve-film franchise, these three films will expand the pre-existing cinematic universe of the shape-shifting robot toys while simultaneously redefining how big of a number twelve feels like...
It Finally Happened, Someone Made a TV Miniseries for Instagram
In a development that sounds like something out of Infinite Jest (currently celebrating its twentieth anniversary!), it finally happened, someone has made a miniseries to be distributed via the popular photo-sharing social media platform Instagram...