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Saban Films has secured global distribution rights to the crime thriller “Clean Up Crew” in all territories but Spain and Italy.

“The Survivalist” helmer Jon Keeyes directs Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Oscar winner Melissa Leo and Oscar nominee Antonio Banderas in the tale of a crime scene clean-up crew that finds a briefcase full of cash on a routine job. The discovery sends them unwittingly into battle with mobsters, hitmen and a corrupt government hellbent on the briefcase’s return.

The cast is rounded out by Ekaterina Baker (“The Protégé”), Andy Kellegher (“Game of Thrones”) and Laurence Kinlan (“Ned Kelly”). The project hails from Yale Entertainment and was produced by the label’s Jordan Yale Levine, Jordan Beckerman and Michael J. Rothstein, with Richard Bolger and Conor Barry from Hail Mary Pictures. Additional producers include Richard Clabaugh, Stephen Braun and Kurt Ebner.

Executive producers include Scott Levenson, Jason Kringstein, Lee Broda,

Exclusive: Maggie Q, Zoe Colletti, Van Crosby and Ciaran Hinds have rounded out the cast of Apple Original Films and Skydance Media’s action comedy The Family Plan starring Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan. Simon Cellan Jones, who recently collaborated with Wahlberg on Arthur the King, will direct.

Written by David Coggeshall, The Family Plan tells the story of a suburban dad who must take his family on the run when his past catches up with him. Municipal Pictures’ Stephen Levinson and Wahlberg will produce with Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger.

Maggie was most recently seen in the Lionsgate action thriller The Protege opposite Michael Keaton. She is repped by CAA. Colletti was most recently seen in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building. She is repped by Cesd, Industry Entertainment and The Nord Group.

Hinds is coming his Oscar-nominated performance in Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast.

Part of the reason why "The Strangers" has endured as an effective horror movie is that we've all had that feeling of being home alone at night, yet it still feels like there's something else watching us from the shadows. After 85 minutes of homebound terror, the words "because you were home" make all of the preceding violence sound so hauntingly meaningless. A couple on the rocks is thrust into a harrowing night of survival for no other reason besides that their lights were on.

It wasn't until a decade later that a sequel came to theaters with "The Strangers: Prey at Night," which /Film's Chris Evangelista called a "schlocky slasher showcase." Rather than rehashing the hopelessness of Bryan Bertino's 2008 home invasion thriller, the follow-up from Johannes Roberts saw the human prey actually landing a few blows in against their stalkers, and living to see another day. I truly believe

Rachel Shenton (All Creatures Great and Small) is the newest addition to Lionsgate’s remake of the 2008 horror The Strangers. She joins an ensemble led by Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez which also includes Gabriel Basso and Ema Horvath, as previously announced.

The original film released in 2008 starred Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman as a couple contending with a terrifying home invasion, registering as a sleeper hit upon its release and coming to be appreciated in subsequent years as a cult classic.

The new film follows Petsch’s character as she drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend (Gutierrez) to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest. When their car breaks down in Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers. Lionsgate plans to expand the story in new and unexpected ways with a pair of sequels,

Exclusive: Robert Patrick has joined the cast of 1923, the Paramount+ series led by Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, Deadline has learned. He portrays Sheriff William McDowell, a friend of the Dutton family.

The new installment from Taylor Sheridan will introduce a new generation of the Dutton family and explore the early 20th century when pandemics, historic drought, the end of Prohibition, and the Great Depression all plague the Mountain West, and the Duttons who call it home.

The cast also includes James Badge Dale, Brandon Sklenar, Sebastian Roché, Darren Mann, Michelle Randolph, Marley Shelton, Brian Geraghty, Aminah Nieves, and Julia Schlaepfer.

1923 is currently in production in Montana and will debut on Paramount+ in December 2022.

The Dutton family’s saga began with Yellowstone, led by Kevin Costner in the role of John Dutton, returning with its fifth season on November 13. The series follows the drama involving

French star excited to “sink my teeth into a pure action role”.

Eva Green will reunite with her Casino Royale director Martin Campbell on Millennium Media’s action film and TIFF sales title Dirty Angels.

Campbell co-wrote the screenplay with Alissa Silverman. The story takes place against the backdrop of the US withdrawl from Afghanistan in 2021 and follows a group of female soldiers posing as medical relief who are dispatched to rescue kidnapped teenagers caught between Isis and the Taliban.

“It’s great to be working with Millennium Media and producer Moshe Diamant for the third time,” said Campbell. “I

Amid a host of lawsuits by foreign productions looking to recoup money from Romania’s beleaguered cash rebate system, industry insiders say the situation has reached a crisis point, with one leading U.K. financier and executive producer warning that the government runs the risk of “obliterating foreign direct investment” into Romania if a resolution isn’t reached in the coming weeks.

Nearly a dozen lawsuits are currently active in the Romanian court system, which last month ordered the government to pay roughly 642,000 plus legal fees to the producers of “The World to Come” (pictured), writer-director Mona Fastvold’s romantic frontier drama starring Vanessa Kirby and Katherine Waterston, which filmed in Romania in 2019. The government has appealed the ruling.

The U.K. financier, who has two decades of experience in the country, says that an impasse now dragging into its third year has caused “immense reputational damage” to both the government and the industry.

Frank Grillo is set to star in Liam O’Donnell’s horror-thriller Merciless, which Sentient Pictures International is shopping here in Cannes this week. The company also has announced that Columbian actor Juan Pablo Raba has been tapped to lead Antonio Negret’s new action thriller Sombra.

Merciless is directed by Liam O’Donnell, the director behind XYZ Film’s Skylines franchise. Renee Tab, Pierre Morel and Tuffin will produce alongside Andy Schefter for Spi. Tuffin developed the story with The Cooler writer Frank Hannah, who wrote the script. Principal photography is set to commence on location in Alabama in August 2022.

In Merciless, when his wife is possessed by a malevolent spirit, the government’s top interrogator seeks vengeance on those who were closest to the entity in its previous life in order to drive it out of her body only to discover that everything is not what it appears to be.

The return of Martin Campbell, the Brit director who successfully rebooted the James Bond franchise not once but twice, on opposite sides of the millennium and gave English-language audiences Antonio Banderas as the title character in The Mark of Zorro, counts as something to both welcome and/or celebrate. That's especially true after a prolonged absence from the kind of stylish, slick entertainments (2011's headache-inducing Green Lantern misfire notwithstanding) that made Campbell one of Hollywood's go-to directors for more than a decade. After two middling, modestly budgeted, ultimately disposable efforts, and now a third, underwhelming film in a row, Memory, a remake of a little-known, barely remembered 2003 Belgian crime-thriller, The Memory of a Killer (aka The Alzheimer Case),...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]

Fourteen years after the release of “Taken,” there’s a certain understanding of Action-Neeson movies that audiences have come to accept: Never ask questions about his Irish accent, even when he’s playing characters who shouldn’t have one; understand that, whatever the situation, Neeson and his “very particular set of skills” will prove indomitable; and never, ever think too hard about the real-world implications of these shoot-’em-up fantasies, lest the whole house of cards collapse.

“Memory,” the latest Action-Neeson release, is a terrible movie, and the fact that it’s trying to tweak the Action-Neeson formula isn’t even in the top 20 reasons of why it’s so awful. But if the paradigm of this subgenre is going to be changed in any way, it’s going to have to happen in a film far, far more competent than this one.

Director Martin Campbell — who made 2006’s “Casino Royale,

Neil Labute and Maggie Q will team up for “Fear the Night,” a new action-thriller from Quiver Distribution. Principal photography began earlier this month in Los Angeles.

“Fear the Night” centers on an Iraqi war veteran named Tes as she prepares for her sister’s bachelorette party. As the festivities unfold, the party is abruptly interrupted by a group of home invaders who quickly take the house under siege looking for a hidden fortune. Surrounded by the frightened party-goers, Tess soon discovers that the ruthless attackers are hellbent on not leaving any witnesses behind. That’s when Tess strikes back.

Highland Film Group is handling international sales at the upcoming Marché du Film in Cannes.

Eric Brenner will produce alongside Berry Meyerowitz, Jeff Sackman and Larry Greenberg of Quiver Distribution. This marks Quiver’s second collaboration with Labute, following the upcoming “Out of the Blue.” That film stars Diane Kruger,

Exclusive: Lucy Hale (Ragdoll), Ashley Greene (The Immaculate Room), Vincent Laresca (Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood), Jake Cannavale (The Offer), Robert Davi (The Goonies), Greg Finley (I Love Us), Bo Dietl (Godfather of Harlem), Sid Rosenberg (Gravesend), Jeremy Luke (Pep) and James Russo (Gravesend) have signed on to star alongside Emile Hirsch in director Danny A. Abeckaser’s crime thriller Gemini Lounge, which marks the first feature from Rush Hour producer Arthur Sarkissian’s new media and entertainment company, Global Ascension Studios.

In Gemini Lounge, demoted detective Bobby Belucci (Hirsch) is given the opportunity to go undercover and take down the mob’s most ruthless killer, but his life and only chance at redemption spiral out of control as he loses himself in the role. Global Ascension is producing in partnership with Abeckaser’s 2B Films and Kyle Stefanski’s Wild7 Films, with Stefanski also set to appear in the feature,

Exclusive: Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) has signed on to star in the crime thriller Gemini Lounge, marking the first feature from producer Rush Hour producer Arthur Sarkissian’s new media and entertainment company Global Ascension Studios.

In the film directed by Danny A. Abeckaser (Mob Town), demoted detective Bobby Belucci (Hirsch) is given the opportunity to go undercover and take down the mob’s most ruthless killer, but his life and only chance at redemption spiral out of control as he loses himself in the role.

Global Ascension is producing in partnership with Abeckaser’s 2B Films and Kyle Stefanski’s Wild7 Films.

“My goal with Global Ascension is to create quality films that attract the top talent in the industry, and I’m thrilled that Emile has signed on to play in the lead role in Gemini Lounge, for which he is perfectly cast,” said Sarkissian, who heads

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Spider-Man: No Way Home lead this year’s film nominations for the Critics Choice Association’s second annual Super Awards, with five noms apiece including Best Superhero Movie. Evil and Midnight Mass tied for the most television nominations, each earning six noms including Best Horror Series.

The Critics Choice Super Awards, are designed to honor the most popular, fan-obsessed genres across movies and TV, including Superhero, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Horror and Action categories. Winners will be revealed on Thursday, March 17. The Super Awards, which will not be telecast this year, are a separate entity from the Critics Choice Awards, which honor the best in film and TV and will air on the CW and TBS on Sunday, March 13.

Here are the nominations for the second annual Critics Choice Super Awards nominations:

Film

Best Action Movie

Gunpowder Milkshake

The Harder They Fall

The Critics Choice Association announced the nominations for the 2nd annual Critics Choice Super Awards, honoring the most popular, fan-obsessed genres across film and television.

Destin Daniel Cretton’s “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and Jon Watts’ “Spider-Man: No Way Home” led the film nominations with five noms each. Two of the three Peter Parkers landed acting mentions for Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland, but Tobey Maguire was omitted from the list.

“Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” the four-hour cut of his superhero film with Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot, also landed in the best superhero movie category alongside “Black Widow,” “Eternals,” “Shang-Chi,” “Spider-Man” and “The Suicide Squad.”

On the television side, Paramount Plus’ “Evil” and Netflix’s “Midnight Mass” led with six apiece. Disney Plus dominated the superhero categories with multiple nominations for “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Hawkeye,” “Loki” and “WandaVision.”

The winners will

The long-awaited fourth season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” isn’t the only new thing coming to Amazon Prime Video in February. Below we’ve assembled a full list of every new movie and TV show being added to the streaming service this month, including both Prime Video originals and library titles.

The new season of the Emmy-winning “Maisel” arrives on Feb. 18, the same day the first season of the new animated series “The Legend of Vox Machina” drops. But on Feb. 4, Prime Video will debut the brand new original series “Reacher,” based on author Lee Child’s beloved Jack Reacher book series. The new show stars Alan Ritchson in the titular role, putting a new spin on the character who was previously played by Tom Cruise in two feature films.

In terms of library titles, Feb. 25 sees the addition of the action thriller “The Protégé,” which was released in

February 2022 is a big month for Prime Video. We’re talking “hands the size of dinner plates” big.

Highlighting Amazon Prime Video’s list of new releases for February 2022 is Reacher, the saga of one very large boy. Reacher premieres on Feb. 4 and is based on the Jack Reacher book series by Lee Child. The titular hero (played by Alan Ritchson) is a former major in the U.S. Army Military Police Corps who now travels the country looking for trouble to get into. His hands are very large.

How Big Are Jack Reacher’s Hands?: An Investigation pic.twitter.com/dYasLj7Bey

— Erik Tanouye (@toyns) July 28, 2018

Also coming to Prime Video this month is the return of one of Amazon’s biggest originals. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel premieres on Feb. 18. Season 4 will find Midge seeking creative freedom in the 1960s. The one big Prime Original Movie of note

Two fans filed a federal class action lawsuit on Friday alleging they were duped into renting the 2019 film “Yesterday” because Ana de Armas appeared in the trailer.

Conor Woulfe, 38, of Maryland, and Peter Michael Rosza, 44, of San Diego County, Calif., say they each paid $3.99 to rent the movie on Amazon Prime, only to discover that de Armas was removed from the final cut of the film.

The suit accuses Universal of engaging in deceptive marketing, and seeks to recoup at least $5 million on behalf of affected consumers.

“Because consumers were promised a movie with Ana De Armas by the trailer for ‘Yesterday,’ but did not receive a movie with any appearance of Ana de Armas at all, such consumers were not provided with any value for their rental or purchase,” the lawsuit states.

“Yesterday” stars Himesh Patel as Jack Malik, a singer-songwriter who, through a supernatural occurrence, is the only

The Sounds of 2021 mix of movie soundtracks comes in at just over two hours: a synergy of cerebral, graceful, paranoid, turbulent, and wondrous sounds from across all genres, merged to tell its own sonic story. The focus is mainly Hollywood and American indie movies, with a few excursions to Ethiopia, Chile, Japan, France, United Kingdom, Italy, and Sweden. My moviegoing practices became ever more erratic this year after a move to a new country, on-off rule changes in cinemas, and a tendency to have cinematic interests in something specific that was not part of the current slate. That being said, there was excitement in the air when it came to new cinema that felt more powerful this year than last and I hope that grows. New work from Mica Levi, Ludovico Einaudi, and a country soundtrack from Clint Eastwood’s latest film are a few of the exciting moments from

After a decidedly lax few weeks at the specialty box office, new entries from reliable auteurs Wes Anderson and Edgar Wright have given the market a lift, even as festival hits from Pablo Larraín and Joanna Hogg failed to light up the big screen during their recent theatrical premieres. Both Anderson’s “The French Dispatch” and Wright’s “Last Night in Soho” — each set for 2020 premieres, before being pushed back due to the Covid-19 pandemic — have enjoyed strong early play, already entering our list of the top 10 best-performing indie and specialty films of the year.

Another unexpected top 10 entry: Scott Cooper’s horror thriller “Antlers,” another Searchlight Pictures holdover from its initial 2020 slate, which is trailing just behind “Last Night in Soho.” It’s the second horror-centric entry on the list from Searchlight, clocking in just above David Bruckner’s “The Night House,” which the studio released in August after

The incredible six-week dominance of “Free Guy” (Disney/$5.99) atop Video on Demand charts should come to an end this week, with the just-announced arrival of “No Time to Die” (United Artists/$19.99) on PVOD Tuesday. Shawn Levy’s film’s lengthy run has come at a time of less competition, but its play — both initially at $19.99, then later at $5.99 — has clearly added a major bounty to Disney’s coffers after an over-$120 million domestic box office. We have no access to specifics, but with the higher return from VOD than theatrical, it’s possible the studio saw a higher return from this. Notably, this came after a 45-day theatrical window.

“Free Guy” returns to topping all charts, a streak interrupted last week when “The Addams Family 2” (United Artists/$19.99) took #1 at Vudu, which ranks by revenue, not transactions, as do Apple TV/iTunes and Google Play. That was a Halloween response,

“Dark Asset,” a spy action thriller film, starring Byron Mann and Helena Mattsson, has completed its principal photography and will seek a release in 2022. The film was written and directed by Michael Winnick.

The film tells of a charming guy, portrayed by Mann who attempts to pick up a woman in a bar by spinning a tale involving spies, implanted microchips and the dangerous military scientist hunting him. But who is to say that the tale is not true? Or that the unimpressed woman is not actually the hunter?

Mattsson plays the femme fatale, while Robert Patrick plays a mysterious military scientist.

A co-production between Lankis Entertainment, Cherokee Productions and Across The Board Entertainment, “Dark Asset” is produced by Shani Rigsbee, Narbeh Tatoussian, Lan Kay, Ned Kisner and Sargon Yoseph. Winnick, Mann, Patrick, Lan Kisner, Andy Lyon and Michael Walker are executive producing. It is being launched in time for

Netflix’s Spanish adaptation of its hit original movie “Bird Box” is coming together.

Cast and a handful of early details were announced for the previously announced project from Àlex and David Pastor. Leading the international cast are Mario Casas, one of Spain’s most bankable leading men who this year won a best actor Spanish Academy Goya Award for his performance in “Cross the Line,” and Georgina Campbell, a best leading actress BAFTA winner for her work in “Murdered by My Boyfriend.”

Casas was also the star of horror thriller “The Paramedic,” one of Netflix’s best performing Spanish original films to date.

Other cast includes Diego Calva (“I Promise You Anarchy”), Alejandra Howard (“Ana. all in”), Naila Schuberth (“Unbroken”), Patrick Criado (“Riot Police”) and Celia Freijeiro (“Perfect Life”), with Lola Dueñas (“The Sea Inside”), Gonzalo de Castro (“La torre de Suso”), Michelle Jenner (“Isabel”) and Leonardo Sbaraglia (“Pain and Glory

With no official word on “Dune” viewership on HBO Max, the world of home movie viewing still belongs to “Free Guy” (Disney/$5.99). Shawn Levy’s non-franchise (so far) action comedy starring Ryan Reynolds is the first film to take the #1 spot for four weeks on all VOD charts we follow. At Apple TV/iTunes and GooglePlay, which chart transactions daily, it’s held the top spot each day without fail.

Disney reduced the price to $5.99 last weekend and it bested “Old” (Universal/$5.99), which also dropped its price from $19.99. M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller placed #2 on two charts, #4 at Vudu (which charts by revenue; it was second to “Free Guy” there among non-pvod titles).

Two of the year’s most acclaimed international releases — Julia Ducournau’s Cannes winner “Titane” (Neon/$6.99) and Mia Hansen-Love’s “Bergman Island” (IFC/$6.99) — debuted this week but didn’t come close to the top 10 on any chart.

“Free Guy” (Disney/$19.99) is now on Premium VOD after a 45-day window, “The Addams Family 2” (United Artists/$19.99) is new at theaters and on PVOD, and even though it will be weeks before box-office champion “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” (Sony) makes its PVOD debut, it’s already making itself known on the charts. The platforms’ uneasy relationship continues to evolve.

It was a great weekend for theaters with “Carnage” taking in $90 million domestic, a success hinted by strong VOD showings the week prior with the 2018 “Venom” (Sony). However, last week also saw the nearly unprecedented offer (on all platforms) to pre-buy the sequel on PVOD at a date unspecified. iTunes placed it at #6, even though it cannot be rented. Presume more confusion for moviegoers.

Meantime, the reduced-price franchise starter is #3 at both iTunes and Google Play. “F9” (Universal/$5.99), #3 or #4 on all charts, joins “Free Guy” and “Addams” as the

As the first worldwide screenings of the latest James Bond installment “No Time to Die” came to a close, journalists and critics took to Twitter to share their thoughts on Daniel Craig’s last outing as the famed secret agent.

Though social media reactions tend to be more positive than reviews, one thing was clear via film Twitter: “No Time to Die,” which was delayed for nearly two years due to creative changes and the Covid-19 pandemic, was well worth the wait.

Film critic Scott Mantz wrote that though he needed more time to process the film, it was certainly better than Bond films “Quantum of Solace” and “Spectre.” “It’s Daniel Craig’s most grounded and — dare I say it? — most intimate take on #JamesBond with a powerful, unexpected & very emotional payoff,” Mantz said. “Def worth the wait!”

No Time To Die: Need more time to process, but

As theaters await “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” (Paramount) and “No Time to Die” (United Artists) over the next two weeks, home viewing options are similarly on the rise. “Free Guy” (Disney), honoring a 45-day window, debuts on Premium VOD September 28. Friday sees two theatrical openers: “Addams Family 2” (United Artists) and “The Many Saints of Newark” (Warner Bros.), also available at home.

That left a more routine week on the charts we follow, although some recent releases got attention as they made their first appearances. But price reductions, led by “F9” (Universal), were also important.

The latest entry in the “Fast” series, which opened in domestic theaters in early June, and then at $19.99 on PVOD in late July, just had its price cut to $5.99 (consistent with the timing of past Universal moves). The just-released director’s cut remains at the higher price. The result is a return to #1 at

Any filmmaker who has hits like "The Mask of Zorro," "Goldeneye," or "Casino Royale" under their belt is a filmmaker who knows their way around action. It's as simple as that. For Martin Campbell, this year's release of "The Protégé" (along with 2017's Jackie Chan-starring "The Foreigner") marked a grand return to the genre that seems to come as naturally to him as breathing. The U.K.-based, New Zealand director hasn't been shy about sounding off on his thoughts on the current action landscape or giving viewers a peek behind the scenes on the process of making a movie like "The Protégé."

With the film now available...

The post Behind-the-Scenes The Protégé Footage Shows Off the Making of an Action Movie [Exclusive] appeared first on /Film.

The Protege Review — The Protege (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Martin Campbell and starring Maggie Q, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton, David Rintoul, Patrick Malahide, Ray Fearon, Ori Pfeffer, Robert Patrick, Florin Piersic Jr., Tudor Chirila, Velizar Binev, George Pistereanu, Eva Nugyen Thorsen, Tanja Keller and Taj Atwal. Director Martin Campbell delivers an [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: The Protege (2021): Maggie Q and Michael Keaton Face Off in Quality Action Picture

The former Sony musical Cinderella, starring Camila Cabello, which Amazon Prime picked up the global licensing to (sans China), debuted over the four-day Labor Day weekend notching 1.1M U.S. households according to Samba TV. The pic was dropped on Amazon’s streaming service in 240 countries and territories.

Amazon, based on Screen Engine’s analytics, is celebrating Cinderella as the No. 1 most watched VOD movie over the holiday stretch, while exclaiming that “Cinderella delivered the strongest results as the biggest musical of 2021, second only to Disney’s Hamilton in 2020.”

Samba TV’s data, which only measures streaming viewership in 3M Smart TV terrestrial households over a 5 minute frame, supports that claim by Screen Engine and Amazon. After all, how many notable live-action musical movies have there been during the pandemic? Samba TV reported in

Marvel returned to the top of the box-office weekend for the holiday as the latest offering from the studio, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings debuted at number one over the weekend, bringing in $71.4 million.

In a very distant second place was last week’s top finisher, Candyman, which added $10.6 million over the weekend to lift it’s two-week total to $39.1 million. Similarly dropping one spot was Free Guy, which took in $8.7 million and landed in third place in its fourth week of release. Meanwhile, Paw Patrol: The Movie also fell a spot in its third week in theaters, earning $4.0 million, for a total of $30.3 million. Over six weeks, the Disney’s Jungle Cruise has made a total of $105.6 million, $3.95 million of which it added this weekend to finish in fifth place just behind Paw Patrol.

Dropping one spot to sixth place was the horror film Don’t Breathe 2,

With Martin Campbell's The Protégé now in theaters with a fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating, there's no better time for a career retrospective. Campbell has been in the business for several decades, producing work that (in critics' eyes) has varying quality.

Related: Where Are The Cast & Crew Of Casino Royale Now?

However, even if Campbell has directed some films that the audience didn't fall in love with, the inverse is also true. In particular, his work with the world's most famous superspy has gone over well not just once, but twice. As with the James Bond franchise, critics have found Martin Campbell's films to be all over the map, but still more than worth checking out.

The reimagined version of Candyman hit theaters this weekend and easily took the top spot of the box-office weekend as it brought in $22.37 million for Universal Pictures.

Falling to second place was Free Guy, which finished with $13.56 million in its third week of release, bringing its total to $79.31 million. Also falling one spot this week was last week’s second-place finisher Paw Patrol: The Movie, which made around $6.62 million its second week of release, giving the family film a total of $24.08 million. Disney’s Jungle Cruise similarly dropped a spot to fourth, but still added $5.02 million to its total to give it over $100.11 million in its first five weeks of release. The horror film Don’t Breathe 2 dropped a spot in its third week of release to finish in fifth place with $2.84 million, giving it a total grodd of $24.58 million.

Just behind Don’t Breathe 2, with $2.17 million was Respect, in the sixth spot,

The end of August is known for its box-office doldrums, exhibition continues to face a dark time — and Nia DaCosta’s “Candyman” scored an estimated $22,370,00 in its initial domestic weekend, beating the lowball projection of $15 million by nearly 50 percent.

That success testifies to the enduring appeal of the 1992 horror film, but it’s not the only good news: The #2 film, “Free Guy” (Disney), dropped only 27 percent in its third weekend.

All told, the weekend grossed $63 million. That’s about the same as last week and it represents 58 percent of the same weekend in 2019. Our ongoing comparative four-week rolling average increased slightly, to 56 percent of the same 2019 period. That’s the highest number since mid-July.

Here are a couple of standout comparisons for “Candyman.” Two years ago, “Angel Has Fallen,” the third film in Lionsgate’s action franchise, opened the same weekend to $21 million. At that time, it was considered an excellent result for the date.

Nia DaCosta and Jordan Peele's Candyman exceeded expectations with an impressive $22.3 million box office debut. The amount was more than enough to take the supernatural slasher movie straight to number one, sending Free Guy down to number two. Peele wrote the script for Candyman while DaCosta handled directing duties, and both have been praised for their work. Peele sought to pay tribute to Clive Barker's source material and redefine the role of African Americans in horror movies.

Candyman exceeded all box office analyst predictions and is looking towards a strong theatrical run as the summer comes to a close. Globally, the slasher took in $27.5 million. Universal's Domestic Theatrical Distribution President, Jim Orr says, "Nia DaCosta crafted an intense thriller that audiences responded to extraordinarily well this weekend. The debut of Candyman exceeded all industry expectations, and with the very positive audience reaction scores and a three-day holiday in our second weekend,

The great director discusses some of his favorite movies with host Josh Olson.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Alzheimer Case a.k.a. Memory of a Killer (2003)

Memory (Tbd)

The Protégé (2021)

You Only Live Twice (1967)

Cast A Deadly Spell (1991)

The Mask Of Zorro (1998)

GoldenEye (1995)

Casino Royale (2006)

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)

Slap Shot (1977) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Salt (2010)

Atomic Blonde (2017) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Oliver Twist (1948)

Dr. No (1962) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

The Guns Of Navarone (1962)

The Dirty Dozen (1967) – Ed Neumeier’s trailer commentary

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s 70mm reissue review

The Spy Who Loved Me

“The Protégé” actress Maggie Q has only wonderful things to say about Tom Cruise, whom she starred with in the J.J. Abrams-directed “Mission: Impossible III” from 2006. In a recent sitdown with Collider, she talked about playing the small but impactful role of Zhen Lei opposite Cruise as Ethan Hunt, and how Cruise went out of his way to make her feel included on the set.

“Tom’s a leader. And again, when you work with people at his level, there is a reason they are where they are, period. There’s no question. He’s not my best friend so I’m not talking about him personally, but I am talking about him as a professional. On set his enthusiasm never waivers. I’ve never seen it waiver. I’ve never seen somebody who loved what they did more and I’ve also never seen somebody who was so

It should be a point of pride for any filmmaker who can be credited for “saving” a cinematic franchise. However, Martin Campbell sits in the singular position of having achieved this twice. When the James Bond franchise awoke from a six-year hiatus where there was no longer a Cold War to fight, and the interest in the character was uncertain, Campbell introduced the world to Pierce Brosnan in 1995’s “GoldenEye,” which went on to be a smash hit at the box office, and remains frequently cited as a fan favorite Bond film.

Continue reading Martin Campbell Talks ‘The Protégé,’ Reinventing James Bond & The Importance Of Character-Driven Action [The Fourth Wall Podcast] at The Playlist.

This article contains minor spoilers for The Protégé and Nikita.

The TV landscape has always been ahead of movies when it comes to giving women—and other underrepresented identities—a shot. This is probably because there has traditionally been less money to be made on TV, so the rich, mostly white men who rule Hollywood have left TV to a slightly more diverse crowd of behind-the-scenes talent to tell slightly more diverse—especially on less “important” platforms like The CW.

Action flick The Protégé, released in theaters last weekend, tells this story too well. The film pairs Casino Royale director Martin Campbell with proven action hero Maggie Q, and it should be a shoe-in for a good time. Unfortunately, a terrible script results in a 109-minute reminder of just how good Q’s underrated action TV series Nikita truly was, and just how much kinder action TV has been to

Director Martin Campbell is all about clarity. From his action to his storytelling, there's little confusion in a Martin Campbell film. And he seems to almost always knows exactly what he's making, no matter its quality. If it turns out well, he'll say it's okay. If it doesn't, he'll blame himself and admit, as he did at one point during a career-spanning interview with /Film, that a movie he did was "terrible."

The filmmaker, known for his top-shelf James Bond pictures and his work in British television, is back with a new action-thriller, "The Protégé," where he lets Maggie Q's action chops...

The post Director Martin Campbell Shares Stories From Casino Royale, The Mask of Zorro, and More [Interview] appeared first on /Film.

I love Maggie Q and she kicks major booty in the new action thriller “The Protégé” now out in theaters. I spoke with the actress about her interest in starring in the film, working with Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Keaton, and why she liked Philippine Martial Arts. https://youtu.be/952tMhfNwnY

The post Maggie Q Talks About “The Protégé” appeared first on Manny the Movie Guy.

Photo: ‘The Protégé' With a star-studded and charming ensemble cast, ‘The Protégé’ should have been an easy home run. Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, Maggie Q, all legitimate A-list stars who, in their own rights, put forth endearing performances in the most recent addition to Martin Campbell’s top-heavy filmography. However, a myriad of narrative missteps and genre cliches relegates ‘The Protégé’ to the bargain bin of the shoot-em-up genre. In recent years, there has been a plethora of neon-soaked, gun-running blockbusters hitting the silver screen, ‘The Guest’, ‘Atomic Blonde’, ‘Gunpowder Milkshake’, ‘Birds of Prey’, and most notably, ‘John Wick.’ Most of these films are blatant Wick duplicates and that's not necessarily a bad thing, some of these movies work, some of them don't. But there are certainly a few things these films all have in common: Gratuitous violence taking precedence over narrative structure, impressive set pieces, and a hyper-stylized visual style.

Beginning right now at Gold Derby, you can predict which movies will earn the #1 through #5 spots at the U.S. box office for this weekend, August 27 – August 29. You can also forecast how much money the weekend’s highest-grossing film will rake in. Hurry and make your first predictions — it’s fun and easy! Each week the eligible user with the highest prediction accuracy will win a $100 Amazon gift card, eternal bragging rights and a spot on our box office 2021 leaderboard.

Opening this Friday is the highly anticipated remake of “Candyman” (dir. Nia DaCosta) from Universal Pictures. It serves as the follow-up to the original 1992 horror film of the same name, and is the fourth film in the “Candyman” franchise. In the new movie, Emmy winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“Watchmen”) stars as the adult version of a child who was kidnapped 28 years earlier by the titular villain, played once again by Tony Todd.

Disney/20th Century Studios' Free Guy was able to stay on top at the box office for the second consecutive weekend. The movie, which stars Ryan Reynolds, fell 34% from last weekend, earning $18.7 million. Globally, Free Guy has earned $77.2 million in its ten days in theaters. The second win for the movie proves that many people are still willing to head back into movie theaters, though the numbers prove that the pandemic is still having a strong effect on the business.

As it stands, the box office is still far away from a traditional return to normalcy. In addition to the pandemic, the Northeast is taking a pounding from Hurricane Henri, which is keeping people from getting out of their homes. This weekend's top earning theaters across North America include Montreal, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Sacramento, Nashville, San Antonio, Toronto, New York, Cleveland, Harrisburg Pennsylvania, Odessa Texas, Quebec, Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Edmonton.

Sean Penn’s Flag Day raised a $1,656 per screen average from 24 runs this weekend, a glum opening for the father-daughter family drama from United Artists Releasing.

The film, directed and starring Penn as the most notorious counterfeiter in U.S. history, along with daughter Dylan Penn, targeted an older, sophisticated demo that’s proving hard to get back. Deadline’s heard that 56% of the audience that did show up was over age 55 – a hefty percentage.

Uar’s president, distribution, Erik Lomis told Deadline on Friday the industry is struggling to crack that code, a proposition not made any easier by the Delta variant. The struggle is clearly ongoing.

The film grossed $10,853 on Friday, $18,002 Saturday and an estimated $11,895 on Sunday in ten markets. It has a 88% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, but with only 50 ratings.

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“The confident Ms. Q seems to be more than up for the task of carrying the lead in a “go-for-broke” energetic action-thriller.”

Read Jim Batts’ review Here.

Rescued as a child by the legendary assassin Moody (Samuel L. Jackson) and trained in the family business, Anna (Maggie Q) is the world’s most skilled contract killer. But when Moody – the man who was like a father to her and taught her everything she needs to know about trust and survival – is brutally killed, Anna vows revenge. As she becomes entangled with an enigmatic killer (Michael Keaton) whose attraction to her goes way beyond cat and mouse, their confrontation turns deadly and the loose ends of a life spent killing will weave themselves even tighter.

Directed by Martin Campbell and written by Richard Wenk, the film is produced by Arthur Sarkissian, Moshe Diamant, Rob Van Norden, Yariv Lerner, and Chris Milburn.

“Nobody knows anything,” screenwriter William Goldman famously wrote about studio production in the opening line of his 1983 memoir. That sentiment is apparent more than ever as distributors and theaters grapple with the challenges of releasing movies right now.

Four new wide releases opened this weekend, an unusually high number. “Paw Patrol” (Paramount), transferring the popular kids TV animated show to the big screen, is also streaming on Paramount+, free for subscribers. With a gross of $13 million, it will gross $5 million more than what the other three new films — two of them theater exclusives — will do.

But #1 this time around, and in its second weekend, is “Free Guy” (Disney) at $18.8 million. It’s in theaters only, and expected to continue as such for the duration of its theater play. It held up well with only a 34 percent drop. Why the strong holdover? Most likely because of the ongoing positive public response

Disney/20th Century Studios’ “Free Guy” easily held on to the No. 1 spot at the box office this weekend, earning $18.8 million to bring its total to an estimated $58.8 million domestic and $111.9 million worldwide after two weekends in theaters.

The Ryan Reynolds action comedy, which is the first film distributed by Disney in over a year to only be released in theaters, fell just 35% from its $28.3 million opening weekend. Theater owners will surely point to that result as an example of the importance of theatrical exclusivity at a time when so many films are releasing simultaneously on streaming.

Paramount’s “Paw Patrol: The Movie,” the top major new release this week, finished at No. 2. The film adaptation of the hit children’s TV series was released in theaters and on Paramount+, opening to $13 million. That beats studio projections of an $8-10 million opening weekend and brings its global total to $34.5 million.

Need proof that moviegoing is far from returning to normal? Look no further than this weekend’s domestic box office charts.

Case in point: “Paw Patrol,” an animated movie based on the popular kids TV show, left Hugh Jackman’s sci-fi romance drama “Reminiscence” in the dust in North America, with the heroic pups of Adventure City collecting six times more in its debut than a film toplined by one of the most charismatic actors in Hollywood. That’s the unpredictable reality of the movie theater business as the delta variant continues to depress ticket sales across the globe. Hurricane Henri, which is currently battering parts of the Northeast, is also keeping people at home.

Neither “Paw Patrol” nor “Reminiscence,” two of the four new films to open this weekend, were able to best Ryan Reynolds’ action comedy “Free Guy,” which remained victorious for the second weekend straight. The Disney

A veteran Hollywood cast and skilled direction take a convoluted B-movie plot to higher ground. The Protégé puts a brutalized orphan girl under the tutelage of a wily assassin. He becomes a father, friend, and mentor. Who teaches her to go for the jugular like a stalking tiger. The film is loaded with punishing action scenes, but succumbs to periodic silliness with nonsensical flirtations and wild plot twists.

The Protégé opens in 1991 Da Nang, Vietnam. An elite hit man, Moody (Samuel L. Jackson), finds a bloodied preteen girl (Eva Nguyen Thorsen) under dangerous circumstances. He admires the child's toughness and decides to take her under his wing. Three decades later, Anna (Maggie Q), has become a London sophisticate. She owns a high-end rare bookstore. Selling vintage Edgar Allan Poe by day, then savagely collecting million dollar bounties at night. Anna and Moody specialize in finding those who wish to disappear in the shadows.