Britt Hayes is a writer, movie lover, and sensible sweater enthusiast living in Austin, Texas. She watches too much TV and never eats her vegetables.
Britt Hayes
Jimmy Kimmel Will Host the 2017 Academy Awards
Not long after setting Mike DeLuca and Jennifer Todd as showrunners, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has officially selected the host of the 2017 Oscars telecast. Drumroll please…oh, forget it, you saw the headline. It’s Jimmy Kimmel, comedian, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! and, most importantly, the guy who brought you celebrities reading mean tweets about themselves for your entertainment.
Amy Schumer to Play ‘Barbie’ in Live-Action Movie, So Now We Know What to Expect
Sony’s live-action Barbie movie project has had a bit of a bumpy development process, initially hiring Diablo Cody to pen the screenplay (yay!) before tossing it out (boo!) and hiring three more (!) writers to deliver competing screenplays (huh?) — leaving us with little idea of what to expect from this wacky film. That drastically changed today, as Amy Schumer has officially been cast in the title role in the Barbie movie, which has an official screenplay and everything.
‘Rogue One’ Is Not Getting a Sequel Because That Would Be Silly
Look, pretty much every Star Wars fan with functioning brain cells knows that there won’t be a sequel to Rogue One, but there’s an unspoken (and kind of dumb) rule in any setting which involves people asking questions and receiving answers about movies: If it can be asked, someone will ask it, especially if it’s a question with a really obvious answer — like “will there be a sequel to Rogue One?”
What’s Expiring From Netflix Instant: December 2016
Netflix may be giving us Captain America: Civil War on Christmas (and many more great additions next month), but there are also several titles expiring from the service in December, including — gasp — every season of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Okay, you might not be all that concerned about Kevin Sorbo’s biceps, but chances are there’s at least one or two things on this list of expiring movies and TV shows that you’ll probably want to watch before they leave Netflix next month.
‘Sesame Street’ Movie Gets Moving Again With ‘Night at the Museum 3’ Writers
Following a major relocation from PBS to HBO, Sesame Street is plotting another big move: This time to a theater near you. Warner Bros. is developing a feature-length, live-action film based on the venerable children’s educational series. Sure, it’s an easy mark for a typical nostalgia cash-in, but it’s also hard to complain about a Sesame Street movie given everything that the series stands for — and in the wake of our recent election, we could probably use a few sunny days.
Lin-Manuel Miranda Is Working on a Secret Animated Film for Disney
Over the past year or so, Lin-Manuel Miranda has gone from Broadway sensation to Disney darling, lending his songwriting skills to Star Wars: The Force Awakens and signing on to star opposite Emily Blunt in the new Mary Poppins sequel — and that’s only half of it. According to Miranda, his role at Disney is rapidly expanding, and the latest project on his growing to-do list is a secret animated film with Zootopia co-director Byron Howard.
Paul Feig to Direct Comedy About a Female Engineer and Her Robot Clone
If sci-fi movies and shows like Black Mirror and Westworld have taught us anything, it’s that humans tend to be irresponsible with technology — especially when it comes to artificial intelligence, which often develops a mind of its own. The results of which can either be deeply unsettling or totally hilarious, and it’s the latter that Paul Feig is concerned with for his next film project.
‘Rogue One’ Is Ready to Fight With Another New International Trailer and TV Spot
Following yesterday’s Darth Vader-heavy trailer, Lucasfilm has released another international trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. As an added bonus, there’s also a new TV spot, both of which offer some previously unseen footage from the upcoming spinoff / prequel story — along with some much-needed optimism for the end of this stressful week.
‘Beauty and the Beast’ Reveals Belle’s Reinvented Backstory and New High-Res Images
While we continue to wait for a full trailer (ahem, Disney, let’s do this already) for Beauty and the Beast, Disney has released nine new high-res images from the upcoming live-action remake. The stills (which you can view in the gallery above) feature beautiful, detailed looks at Emma Watson’s Belle, Dan Stevens’ Beast, Luke Evans’ Gaston, and all those charming animated household helpers. And although Bill Condon’s film looks pretty faithful to the original animated version, Watson has revealed that they made at least one significant change to the story — Belle’s backstory, specifically.
89th Academy Awards Taps ‘Social Network’ and ‘Live By Night’ Producers
This awards season is off to a tardy start across the board, with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences taking a bit longer than usual to select the producers of their annual Oscars ceremony. After a few months of speculation, the Academy has finally set a creative team to produce the 89th awards telecast: Three-time Oscar-nominated producer Michael DeLuca and Emmy-nominated producer Jennifer Todd.
Turns Out Mike Myers Was Kind of a Diva While Making ‘The Cat in the Hat’
The Cat in the Hat is one of those special, gotta-see-it-to-believe-it cinematic anomalies that make you question the sanity of the universe while simultaneously feeling grateful for the perfect Hollywood storm that allowed such a bonkers movie to exist. 13 years later, it turns out that the only thing more bizarre than the live-action Dr. Seuss movie is how Mike Myers behaved while making it.
New Amazon Prime Instant Video Releases: November 2016
Amazon is giving you plenty of things to be thankful for in November, adding dozens of new film and television titles to their streaming library — would it be too much to ask for an add-on program that takes the agony out of deciding what to watch, though? For instance, it’s a heavy first world burden to choose between the first season of AMC’s The Night Manager and binge-watching all of the Rocky movies (yes, even Creed). Before you know it, you’ve already wasted half of your Saturday browsing before you end up rewatching The Addams Family for the billionth time.
New ‘Willy Wonka’ Prequel Will Challenge Your Belief in a World of Pure Imagination
Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory may be a world of pure imagination where the sky is the limit and anything is possible, but it’s hard to say the same about major studios, which keep returning to the same well of established franchises (including board games and toys) to cash-in on name recognition — why risk millions on an original, inventive idea when they can just repurpose a tried-and-true classic? Such is the case with good ol’ Willy Wonka, who is returning to the big screen in a new prequel film from the producer of the Harry Potter series.
Robert Downey Jr. Wants to Voice a Real-Life Jarvis for Mark Zuckerberg
With the advent of technological helpmates like Siri and Alexa, it’s probably not long before we’re all living in a version of reality that feels a lot like Spike Jonze’s Her — or Iron Man, if you’re Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook founder has been working to build his own A.I. system similar to Tony Stark’s Jarvis, and now that he’s ready to give it a voice, one Marvel star is eager to provide his services.
Taraji P. Henson Puts Hollywood Pay Gap on Blast, Details Offensive ‘Benjamin Button’ Salary in New Memoir
Hollywood’s troubling pay gap problem doesn’t only apply to gender; it also applies to people of color. And when you’re both a woman and a person of color, that salary discrepancy can be twice as offensive. Just ask Empire star Taraji P. Henson, who detailed her egregious experiences with Hollywood’s pay gap in her new memoir, which reveals that she was paid about two percent of what Brad Pitt made on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — and that’s just the start.
The One Where Hollywood Keeps Taking Lisa Kudrow for Granted
In the decade-plus that’s passed since the series ended, it’s become increasingly clear that Lisa Kudrow was the best actor on Friends. Maybe we were too preoccupied with Rachel’s hair and perfecting our Joey impressions to notice it then, but thanks to the generous gift of hindsight, it seems glaringly obvious now. Despite David Schwimmer’s excellent Juice-fueled turn on The People v. O.J. Simpson, and Jennifer Aniston’s typically solid and, sure, occasionally good roles, it’s Kudrow who has proven herself as the most consistently great actor of the bunch. Why, then, has Hollywood been neglecting her so much in recent years? Why are films like Neighbors and The Girl on the Train wasting her on nothing, throwaway roles with a maximum screen time of three minutes?