Breaking News January 29, 2024: Bill Murray Busts Into Action in ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Trailer, Kim Kardashian To Produce Elizabeth Taylor Docuseries
Bill Murray returns as Dr. Peter Venkman and does his best not to “cross the streams” in a new Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire trailer. Directed by Gil Kenan, the fifth film in the Ghostbusters franchise stars Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Celeste O’Connor, Logan Kim, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts.
The official Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire synopsis reads: “In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the Spengler family returns to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.” Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire follows 2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which successfully rebooted the Ghostbusters franchise with a worldwide box office of over $204 million.
In a statement by Kenan reported by Variety, Kenan said, “It’s an absolute honor to pick up the proton pack and step behind the camera for the next chapter of the Spengler family saga. I just wish I could go back to 1984 and tell the kid in the sixth row of the Mann Valley West that one day he was going to get to direct a Ghostbusters film.”
Click here to watch the new Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire trailer. The latest Ghostbusters movie busts into theaters on March 22.
‘Mean Girls' Stings ‘The Beekeeper' To Stay on Top at the Box Office
Although the Jason Statham-starring action-thriller The Beekeeper still has some sting left, Mean Girls managed to top the weekend box office chart in a narrow victory. The Beekeeper earned an estimated $6.7 million while Mean Girls — also in its third week of release — sang its way to $6.9 million.
Early estimates had The Beekeeper coming out on top, but a big NFL Sunday likely kept the action film's largely male audience at home, giving Mean Girls a slight edge.
In the official production notes for The Beekeeper, Jason Statham said, “What we know is, Clay has an incredible skill set. He's almost like a super soldier that is there to protect society. When society can't protect itself, he's the person, a Beekeeper, that comes in to re-create the equilibrium. That's what Adam Clay really stands for — he is one of these guys that doesn't really exist. He’s almost like this ghost that comes in and course corrects.”
“Overall, it’s a very slow weekend in terms of sheer box office but a fantastic weekend to be a moviegoer,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore, to the Associated Press. “The strikes created a lot of headwind, but the disruption to the release calendar is creating opportunities and potential. It’s an ever-changing ecosystem.”
The Amazon MGM Studios release The Beekeeper has crossed the $100 million mark at the global box office.
‘Despicable Me 4’ Trailer: Gru and Minion Crew Return for Sequel
Those mischievous Minions return in the first trailer for Despicable Me 4, the first Despicable Me movie in seven years. The animated sequel features the voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell, Pierre Coffin, Joey King, Sofia Vergara, Stephen Colbert, Miranda Cosgrove, Chloe Fineman, Steve Coogan, Chris Renaud, Dana Gaier, and Madison Polan.
As reported by IndieWire, Despicable Me 4 picks up after the events in 2017's Despicable Me 3. The Minions movies are prequels to the Despicable Me series, whereas Despicable Me 4 takes place in the present day.
The official synopsis reads: “Gru (Carell), the world’s favorite supervillain turned Anti-Villain League agent, returns for an exciting, bold new era of Minions mayhem, along side his wife and fellow Anti-Villain League agent Lucy (Wiig), their three adopted girls —Margo (Cosgrove), Edith (Gaier) and Agnes (Polan)— and the newest member to the Gru family, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad. The family is forced to go on the run when they become targeted by escaped criminal Maxime Le Mal (Ferrell) and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina (Vergara).”
Click here to watch the new Despicable Me 4 trailer. The sequel sets it off on July 3, just in time for Independence Day.
Jason Blum To Curate Horror Exhibit at ‘The Shining’-Inspiring Stanley Hotel in Colorado
Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum plans to develop a horror exhibit at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. The iconic hotel inspired the Overlook in Stephen King's The Shining.
According to IndieWire, Blum will work with the Colorado Office of Film, Television, and Media to create the ongoing horror exhibit titled the Stanley Film Center at the hotel, which opened in 1909 and where King stayed before penning The Shining. The exhibit is described as a “mini Academy Museum dedicated to horror.”
Blum — whose company produced Paranormal Activity, The Purge, and reboots of Halloween and The Exorcist — said in a statement, “The Stanley Hotel is hallowed ground for horror fans and that makes this presence at the Stanley Film Center a natural extension for Blumhouse. Fans are going to get closer than ever before to their favorite films, though they may want to keep their distance with a few of the ‘items’ in our collection. We’re excited to get to work, but first we need to make it out of the hedge maze.”
The Stanley Film Center will reportedly cost $70 million to complete and is expected to drive tourists to the state.
Kim Kardashian To Produce and Appear in Elizabeth Taylor Docuseries
Kim Kardashian will executive produce and appear in a three-part BBC docuseries about Elizabeth Taylor with the working title Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar.
Variety reports, “The series will take a deep dive into Taylor’s craft and technique as an actor — one who mesmerized cinemagoers, but also changed the relationship between audiences and stars — showing how she reinvented the nature of fame, even as she smashed the glass ceiling in Hollywood, before going on to become a billion-dollar businesswoman, activist and advocate.”
In addition to Kardashian, interviewees include “Dame Joan Collins, who famously competed for the role of Cleopatra, Margaret O’Brien, who went to school with [Taylor] on the MGM backlot, close friend Carole Bayer Sager, leading scientist Dr. Anthony Fauci who worked alongside Elizabeth in the fight against AIDS, and others.”
“Elizabeth Taylor was unapologetically herself, a fighter,” said Kardashian, who reportedly conducted the last interview with Tayler before she passed away in 2011. “She is proof that you can keep evolving and changing and have different chapters in your life – and she paved the way for all of us who came after her with that blueprint.”
‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Producer Dolly Parton Says ‘They're Still Working on' Revival
Country legend Dolly Parton — who produced Buffy the Vampire Slayer via her production company, Sandollar Productions — says a revival is still in the works. Buffy the Vampire Slayer starring Sarah Michelle Gellar ran for seven seasons on the WB and UPN from 1997 to 2003.
In an interview with Business Insider, uncredited Buffy producer Parton said, “They're still working on that. They're thinking about bringing it back and revamping it.” Parton cofounded Sandollar Productions with former manager Sandy Gallin.
In a 2023 interview with The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon referenced by Deadline, Gellar said, “Yes, little known fact, the legend Dolly Parton was a producer. We never saw her [but] we’d get Christmas gifts in the beginning that would have our name, and I would think, ‘She doesn’t even know who I am.’ And then one day, someone asked her about it, and she complimented the show and my performance. I was like, ‘Oh, I can die now. Dolly Parton knows who I am and thinks I’m good.’”
Although Parton seems to have some inside info on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival, it's unclear if she or Sandollar Productions have any direct involvement with its development.
New Netflix Documentary ‘The Greatest Night in Pop' Goes Behind the Scenes of the 1985 Charity Single ‘We Are the World'
The new Netflix documentary The Greatest Night in Pop goes behind the scenes during the recording of the “We Are the World” charity single in 1985 by the supergroup USA for Africa. Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, “We Are the World” featured some of the biggest pop stars of the 1980s, including Cyndi Lauper, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Kenny Loggins, Ray Charles, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Paul Simon, Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick, Billy Joel, Huey Lewis, and Bruce Springsteen.
“It’s a celebration of the power of creativity and the power of collective humanity,” says The Greatest Night in Pop producer Julia Nottingham to the Associated Press. “The amazing thing about the song is it’s such an inspiration for so many artists.” The filmmakers scored new interviews with Richie, Springsteen, Robinson, Lauper, Kenny Loggins, Warwick, and Lewis for the doc.
In an interview with Richie at the Sundance Film Festival, the “We Are the World' cowriter told AP, “We got the right players to come in. And then once we realized we were trying to save people’s lives, then it’s not about us anymore. But to deliver that in one night? An impossibility.”
The Greatest Night in Pop is streaming now on Netflix. Click here to watch the trailer.
Marvel's ‘Thunderbolts' Replaces Ayo Edebiri With Geraldine Viswanathan
Another Thunderbolts scheduling conflict prompted Marvel to replace Ayo Edebiri (pictured, left) with Geraldine Viswanathan (pictured, right). The news comes one week after Steven Yeun dropped out of the movie for scheduling reasons.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Thunderbolts was hit by delays due to the writers and actors strikes of 2023, with its release date pushed a year to July 25, 2025. The film has a cast that includes Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Jake Schreier is directing the feature, which has not yet begun filming.”
Edebiri recently earned an Emmy and Golden Globe for playing chef Sydney Adamu on The Bear. Australian actress Viswanathan will appear in Ethan Coen's Drive-Away Dolls and stars opposite Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell in the comedy You're Cordially Invited.
White House Press Secretary Dodges Taylor Swift Question by Invoking Hatch Act
There is no question that President Joe Biden would like Taylor Swift's endorsement again for his presidential reelection campaign. When asked by CNN if Biden would check out Swift's Eras Tour, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre invoked federal law that prohibits federal employees from discussing certain topics to dodge the question.
As reported by Entertainment Weekly: “Let me first say, I’ve got to be really mindful,” said Jean-Pierre (pictured, right). “I’m a federal employee, as you know, there’s something called the Hatch Act, so I certainly can not speak to anything that is related to 2024 in the upcoming election. Obviously, there are a lot of, in my shop, in the press office shop, there are a lot of Swifties, if you will: fans of Taylor Swift. I’m just going to leave it there. I’m not going to get into the president’s schedule at all from here, as it relates to the 2024 elections.”
CNN's John Berman responded that this was probably the “first time the Hatch Act has been invoked in regard to Taylor Swift,” which got a laugh out of Jean-Pierre and other reporters in the room.
Swift's potential endorsement of Biden is no laughing matter. With polls showing a tight potential race between Biden and Donald Trump, the endorsement of the most popular woman on the planet at the moment and her army of Swifties — many of whom are even old enough to vote — could tip the election in Biden's favor.
Chris Rock To Direct Remake 2020's ‘Another Round,' a Best International Feature Film Oscar Winner
Chris Rock has inked a deal to direct a remake of Another Round, the 2020 black comedy directed by Thomas Vinterberg and starring Mads Mikkelsen. The movie won the Best International Feature Film Oscar at the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021.
According to Deadline, “The film is an Appian Way and Makeready production for Fifth Season. Jennifer Davisson and Leonardo DiCaprio are producing for Appian Way, and Brad Weston and Collin Creighton are producing for Makeready. Stuart Bloomberg wrote a draft and they will now bring in a new writer to work with Rock.”
The official synopsis for 2020's Another Round reads: “Four friends, all teachers at various stages of middle age, are stuck in a rut. Unable to share their passions either at school or at home, they embark on an audacious experiment from an obscure philosopher: to see if a constant level of alcohol in their blood will help them find greater freedom and happiness. At first they each find a newfound zest, but as the gang pushes their experiment further, issues that have been simmering for years come to a head and the men are faced with a choice: reckon with their behavior or continue on the same course.”
Rock recently finalized negotiations to direct the Martin Luther King Jr. biopic King: A Life.
‘House of the Dragon' Actress Milly Alcock Cast as Supergirl in New DC Universe
It's official: House of the Dragon actress Milly Alcock will play Supergirl in the new and (hopefully) improved DC universe. Alcock reportedly beat Emilia Jones and Meg Donnelly for the part of Superman's cousin.
As reported by Deadline, “There’s been buzz that the new Supergirl will appear in [James] Gunn’s Superman Legacy, which is about to go before the cameras in Georgia, but that’s not 100%. What we know now is that she’ll appear in a DC-based project before starring in her solo feature, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. No director has been announced for that film yet.”
At the time of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow‘s announcement last year, Gunn said, “In our series we see the difference between Superman, who was sent to Earth and raised by loving parents from the time he was an infant, versus Supergirl who was raised on a rock, a chip off Krypton, and watched everyone around her die and be killed in terrible ways for the first 14 years of her life, and then came to Earth when she was a young girl. She’s much more hard-core; she’s not exactly the Supergirl we’re used to seeing.”
