Trailer released for Shudder’s “Cursed Films” (2020-)

Shudder’s Cursed Films (2020-) is a documentary series which will look at the ill-fated production stories behind: Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist (1982); William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973); Richard Donner’s The Omen (1976); Alex Proyas’s The Crow (1994); as well as John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller’s Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), according to Entertainment Weekly News. Those interviewed by the streaming service include: The Omen director Richard Donner; The Exorcist star Linda Blair; Kane Hodder; Michael Berryman; Troma Entertainment co-founder Lloyd Kaufman; Poltergeist III (1988) director Gary Sherman; Mitch Horowitz; and Blumhouse executive and Shock Waves podcast cohost Ryan Turek. The season premiere (The Exorcist) will screen April 2; on April 9, Poltergeist and The Omen ; and April 16, The Crow and Twilight Zone: The Movie.

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Fans react to “Sonic the Hedgehog” redesign

Amidst backlash, Paramount pledged in May to overhaul the character design behind the titular video game hero of Jeff Fowler’s Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), and with the new trailer released yesterday morning, the response on Twitter has been positive, according to The Guardian. With his human teeth removed, his eyes enlarged, and the color of his fur brightened, the Sega mascot now more closely takes after character designer Naoto Ohshima’s original vision, a lovechild between Japanese kawaii as well as American “cool.” The preview for the Jim Carrey vehicle also features more aesthetical takeaways from the games, both scenically and auditorily.

Final trailer launched for J.J. Abrams’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (2019)

After a string of teasers since filming began last year, the final trailer dropped Monday night for J.J. Abrams’s Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019), with tickets going on sale ahead of its December 20 release, according to The Guardian. The finale to the saga which began with George Lucas’s Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) promises lightsaber battles atop sinking ships, characters jumping across jungle canyons, as well as plenty of tearful closeups. Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Mark Hamill, Ian McDiarmid, and Anthony Daniels all star, and the filmmaking team confirmed back in May that old footage of the late Carrie Fisher would be repurposed into the new movie.

Star-studded preview uploaded for Roland Emmerich’s “Midway” (2019)

Roland Emmerich’s Midway (2019), written by Wes Tooke and starring Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Luke Evans, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, Darren Criss, Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, as well as Woody Harrelson, dropped a new trailer Thursday, according to Rolling Stone. The cast of characters are mostly real-world military officers, and the World War II blockbuster will detail the Battle of Midway, a Pacific Theater defense of the American West Coast from the Japanese Imperial Navy after Pearl Harbor which marked a turning point during the conflict. The film is scheduled for a Veterans Day weekend release from Lionsgate, November 8.

What we know so far about Vince Gilligan’s “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie” (2019)

Netflix has dropped a teaser trailer for Vince Gilligan’s El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019), with authorities interrogating Skinny Pete (Charles Baker) as to the location of Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), according to The Guardian. Taking place after Jesse’s escape in a stolen Chevrolet El Camino at the end of AMC’s Breaking Bad (2008-2013), the only painstakingly curated, spoiler-free details Netflix will release about the film are that for Jesse to have a future, he must face his past. The picture will be uploaded to Netflix October 11, and it is anticipated to be broadcast on AMC as well.

Jay Roach’s “Bombshell” (2019) to dramatize Fox News sex scandal

Gretchen Carlson’s allegations against Roger Ailes inspired a number of other women to come forward a year before the Harvey Weinstein controversy and the #MeToo movement changed mass media forever, ending with Carlson named as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2017. (Image Courtesy: Elle).

Clocking in just shy of a minute and a half, the wordless trailer for Jay Roach’s Bombshell (2019) takes us on a tense elevator ride with stars Margot Robbie, Charlize Theron, and Nicole Kidman, according to Elle. The film will detail Gretchen Carlson’s 2016 twenty million-dollar sexual harassment lawsuit against former Chairman and CEO of Fox News Roger Ailes (who died in May 2017 at seventy-seven years old), forcing Ailes to resign and find work as a campaign advisor for Donald Trump. Kidman plays Carlson, and John Lithgow, Ailes, while Theron is cast as Megyn Kelly, Robbie as the fictitious Kayla Pospisil, Malcolm McDowell as Rupert Murdoch, Connie Britton as Ailes’s wife, Allison Janney as Susan Estrich (Ailes’s attorney), and Alice Eve as Ainsley Earhardt.

The theories about the trailer for Paul Feig’s “Last Christmas” (2019)

When the preview for Paul Feig’s Last Christmas (2019) dropped this week, dozens of film theorists took to Twitter to dissect the three-minute clip, according to The Guardian. The going consensus is that the final twist will reveal the leading man is either a ghost, an angel, or a dream, because his character always sneaks up on hers, delivers cryptic lines, never changes his outfit, and doesn’t interact with anybody else. The romantic comedy, written by Emma Thompson, stars Henry Golding and Emilia Clarke, and features the music of George Michael, sharing a title with the Wham! song, “Last Christmas.”

Previews canceled for Craig Zobel’s “The Hunt” (2019) after mass shootings

The Hollywood Reporter read the script, and one trucker-hat-and-cowboy-shirt-clad character brags about owning seven guns because it’s constitutionally protected. (Image Courtesy: Yahoo! Entertainment).

In response to recent mass shootings, ESPN has pulled all advertising for Craig Zobel’s The Hunt (2019) ahead of the gun-heavy film’s September 27 release, according to Yahoo! Entertainment. The trailer for the R-rated, Jason Blum-produced satire features liberals hunting “deplorables” for sport, and stars Hilary Swank, Betty Gilpin, Emma Roberts, Ike Barinholtz, and Justin Hartley. With a television and online marketing blitz in the works for September, Universal Pictures finds themselves divided over how to proceed; one filmmaker wonders if the movie might be more “exploitative” than “opinionated,” while an executive says the picture is more relevant than ever.

The first preview for Sam Mendes’s “1917” (2019)

The film is scheduled for a Christmas Day limited release before playing at theaters nationwide January 10, 2020. (Image Courtesy: Military Times).

The trailer for Sam Mendes’s World War I film, 1917 (2019), dropped this week, revealing details about the plot and the cast for the first time since Mendes’s production for Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners was announced, according to Military Times. Taking place on the Western Front, the picture stars the likes of George McKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, and Richard Madden. Mendes co-produced the movie with Michael Lerman and frequent collaborator Pippa Harris, co-wrote the screenplay with his colleague from Showtime’s Penny Dreadful (2014-2016), Krysty Wilson-Cairns, and hired Academy Award winner Roger Deakins to be the cinematographer.