Emma Stefansky
New Amazon Prime Instant Releases — September 2017
It’s almost the end of the month, which means it’s time to check out what kind of new stuff is coming to your favorite streaming services in September. Amazon Prime has some good ones this month, including a ton of classics and a new new films that you should definitely check out if you missed them in the theater.
MoviePass Just Gave Their Monthly Subscription Rate a Huge Discount
MoviePass is one of those helpful ticketing deals that allows subscribers to see multiple movies a month at a reduced rate. For one monthly payment, you can see one movie per day essentially for free, and if you’re someone who goes to the movies a lot and can feel those box office prices squeezing your wallet dry, it’s always been a pretty good investment. Today, it turned into a ridiculously good investment.
Hailee Steinfeld Is a Motörhead (Get It??) in the First Image of Her ‘Bumblebee’ Spinoff Character
Production on the new Transformers spinoff Bumblebee is now underway, and, from the looks of things at this early stage, it sounds like they’re definitely trying for a more fun, kid-friendly angle with this one. It’s been described as an Iron Giant type of story, involving children befriending giant robots (the purest genre), plus it stars Hailee Steinfeld — who, in the first image from the film, looks like the cool alt-rock girl in high school who you didn’t know whether you wanted to be friends with or become.
The ‘Frozen’ Musical Debuts Its Poster, Plus Seven Others That Were Rejected
Frozen is heading to Broadway, which comes as absolutely no surprise whatsoever. The Disney film remains one of the company’s biggest releases ever, every kid knows at least the chorus of “Let It Go” by now, and I was just in Target today and they’re still selling Anna and Elsa sippy cups. The musical is imminent, and as such it just debuted the official poster.
‘Avatar’ Sequels Begin VFX Production, With an Assist From ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’
The next of James Cameron’s Avatar sequels are officially off and rolling, with visual effects production in full swing today at the Oscar-winning Weta Digital in New Zealand. Cameron changed the game for movies that heavily feature visual effects and performance capture, paving the way for films like Luc Besson’s Valerian and the new Planet of the Apes trilogy. Funny enough, Weta is getting an assist this time around from motion capture tech used in War for the Planet of the Apes.
Days After Comic-Con Confusion, United Says Comic Books Are Not a Flight Hazard
United just can’t catch a break these days. Between the awkwardness of #LeggingsGate and that passenger who got literally dragged from the plane by TSA agents, you’d think the airline would learn to tread softly in the following months, especially during an event as stressful and crazy as Comic Con. But passengers heading back from the convention on Sunday who had spent the event loading up on pristine first editions and omnibuses of their favorite comics were dismayed when a message popped up on TV screens at the United check-in line: “Remove all books from checked bags.”
New Netflix Instant Releases: August 2017
It’s almost the end of the month, and you know what that means: new stuff is coming to a streaming service near you. Here is everything arriving to Netflix in August to keep you busy on one of those rainy late-summer nights.
Charlie Sheen’s ‘9/11’ Trailer Is… Well, It’s Here
It was kind of inevitable that noted 9/11 truther Charlie Sheen would make a movie about that day, but it’s a little surprising that not only Gina Gershon, but Whoopi Goldberg would both agree to star in it. Not surprising: the trailer for Sheen’s 9/11 is shockingly, impressively bad.
Meet the Porgs, the Adorable New ‘Last Jedi’ Creatures You’re Going to Be Obsessed With (If You Aren’t Already)
One of the best things about Star Wars — given that it’s set in a galaxy far, far away full of fabulous planets and fantastic species — is how many weird alien creatures sneak their way into these movies. The original trilogy gave us wampas, banthas, Ewoks, and tauntauns, on Geonosis we saw Anakin, Padme, and Obi-wan fight the reek, the nexu, and (my favorite), the acklay, and The Force Awakens gave us a very thirsty happabore. Earlier this week, Lucasfilm gave us a closer behind-the-scenes look at The Last Jedi and while a lot of the stuff in there was cool, the best part was the porgs.
New Amazon Prime Instant Releases — August 2017
It’s nearing the end of the month, which means it’s time for streaming services to start rolling out their new instant releases. August is an exciting month for Amazon Prime subscribers, as seasons of four original shows are debuting next month, not least of all is the first season of The Tick!
‘Bumblebee’ Spinoff Casts ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Star Jorge Lendeborg Jr. as Male Lead
Paramount’s Transformers spinoff Bumblebee is on the fast track, and quickly gathering cast members. After Hailee Steinfeld, another rising star has just joined the Transformers family: Jorge Lendeborg Jr. has been cast as the male counterpart to Steinfeld’s heroine in the movie.
Looks Like the ‘Hellboy’ Reboot Will Land at Lionsgate
The Hellboy reboot is close to finding a home. Lionsgate is close to picking up Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen (hell yeah), which will star Stranger Things’ David Harbour in the title role.
New Netflix Instant Releases: July 2017
The end of one month means the start of another, which also means that new things are coming to a streaming platform near you. Netflix’s July instant releases are stacked, and include a few classic cartoon dinosaur movies, the premieres of a new Netflix original shows, and one Star Wars Story.
‘Cannonball Run’ Remake Sets Director Rawson Thurber in the Driver’s Seat
The Fate of the Furious. Cars 3. Mad Max: Fury Road. We just can’t seem to get enough of car race movies these days, and Warner Bros. is about to capitalize on audiences’ love of automobiles and equal love of nostalgia with a remake of The Cannonball Run, the Fast & Furious of its day that spawned two sequels and had perhaps THE ensemble cast. While the likes of Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, and Farrah Fawcett are unlikely to return, Warner Bros. is in the midst of assembling a new murderers’ row of stars for the planned reboot. But first, a director. Today brings the news that Central Intelligence’s Rawson Thurber will be the one to helm what might be the start of a new diesel-fueled franchise.
Cyndi Lauper Is Writing the Music for Broadway’s ‘Working Girl’
Hot off her success with the Tony Award-winning Kinky Boots, Cyndi Lauper is at it again on Broadway, this time lending her musical talents to a stage adaptation of 1988’s Working Girl.
Someone Robbed the Largest Privately-Owned ‘Star Wars’ Collection on Earth
The owner of the largest privately-owned Star Wars memorabilia collection in the world, known as Rancho Obi-Wan, has announced today that it has been systematically robbed over a period of many months from 2015 to 2016. Steve Sansweet, who offers tours of the ranch and its many pieces of Star Wars history, says that not only do the items taken make up about $200,000, it appears to be an inside job.