Zootopia Tops Frozen as Biggest Disney Animation Debut
Disney's Zootopia opened to massive success this weekend, bringing in nearly $74 million in revenue.
Directed by Byron Howard (Tangled) and Rich Moore (Wreck-It-Ralph), Zootopia is a classic whodunit film that centers on rabbit Judy Hopps—voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin—as she follows her dream to become a big city cop. Along the way, she meets con-artist fox Nick Wilde—voiced by Jason Bateman—who helps her uncover an alarming conspiracy.
While Zootopia's opening does not topple Pixar's top debut numbers, the animated story has taken down Frozen for the title of largest Disney Animation opening. Frozen, which bowed in 2012, opened to just over $67 million in revenue.
Zootopia is projected to continue its success, as no major family friendly movies are opening until The Jungle Book debuts April 15.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt Drops Out of Sandman Movie
Following the news of Eric Heisserer's involvement in The Sandman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt -- who was set to star in and direct the film -- has exited the project.
In a post to his Facebook page, Gordon-Levitt cited Warner Bros. decision to move its catalog of Vertigo comics to its subsidiary New Line Cinema as a key issue.
Gordon-Levitt "came to realize" that his ideas didn't line up with New Line's, and decided to remove himself from the film.
The Dark Knight Rises and Looper star added he wishes "nothing but the best" for The Sandman team as they move forward with the project.
House of Cards: Season 4 Spoiler Discussion
This is a full-on spoiler discussion for those who have watched all 13 episodes of House of Cards: Season 4. For our spoiler-free review of the season, click here.
Back in my full season review, I mentioned how the season was sort of fragmented. In a good way. It's all one long campaign trail, sure, but there are pull-out stories that provided more wicked weigh-stations than there were Season 3. The first six episodes, in fact, were all about the rift between Frank and Claire and how Frank's near-fatal shooting at the hands of a pushed-to-the-edge Lucas brought them back together. By allowing Frank to sit with vivid hallucinations for weeks and come to the realization that he needed Claire more than she needed him. And by allowing Claire to, essentially, take the reins of the presidency by subtly seducing (not sexually), and pushing, a weak-willed Blythe (Reed Birney) into a big power move against Petrov. Which gave her the taste of control she wanted while also instilling her with confidence.
Bates Motel Leans into Psycho’s “Impending Doom”
Full spoilers for the first three seasons of Bates Motel continue below.
The closer Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) gets to Mother on Bates Motel, the more troubled his relationship with his actual mother Norma (Vera Farmiga) is going to become.
When Bates Motel returns with Season 4 on March 7, it's going to be picking up not long after Norman's huge Season 3 finale mental break where he fully took on the Mother persona and killed Bradley (Nicola Peltz). That's the starting point for a big emotional schism between Norman and his actual mother, who is struggling to do right by her special needs child.
Freddie Highmore as Norman Bates on Bates Motel
Nintendo Attractions Coming to Universal Studios in 2020
Last year, Nintendo announced a partnership with Universal Parks and Resorts to bring Nintendo-themed attractions to Universal Studios, and now the first official details on their collaboration have been revealed.
According to Sankei News (via Kotaku), Nintendo and Universal are investing over $350 million in the project, which will be about the same size as Universal's area for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Assassin’s Creed Movie Sequel Reportedly in the Works
New Regency's upcoming film adaptation of Assassin's Creed is reportedly getting a sequel, with leading man Michael Fassbender set to return.
According to The Tracking Board, the studio is "officially underway with plans" for a followup movie, which will once again be produced by Fassbender and Conor McCaughan through DMC Films. Jean-Julien Baronnet from Ubisoft Motion Pictures and Frank Marshall from Kennedy-Marshall Company will also produce.
Assassin's Creed stars Fassbender as Callum Lynch, a descendent of a long line of secret assassins, who inhabits the memories of his ancestor Aguilar and travels to 15th century Spain. While the film isn't directly based on any pre-existing story, it does share the same universe as the Assassin's Creed games.
Mark Hamill: Luke’s Sexuality Open to Interpretation
On the heels of Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams declaring that future Star Wars adventures will include gay characters, Luke Skywalker himself, actor Mark Hamill, said that his Jedi hero's sexuality is open to interpretation.
In a chat with The Sun, Hamill said, “I just read online that JJ is very much open to that. In the old days you would get fan mail. ... But now fans are writing and ask all these questions, ‘I’m bullied in school... I’m afraid to come out’."
Nightmare on Elm Street Reboot Writer to Script Sandman
New Line's upcoming film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman has found its scriptwriter in Eric Heisserer.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Heisserer—who penned the prequel to The Thing and the remake of Nightmare on Elm Street—is officially on board to handle the translation of David Goyer's treatment.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt will both direct and star in the film, which New Line hopes will serve as the start of a trilogy.
For those unfamiliar with Gaiman's beloved graphic novel series, The Sandman centers around the Lord of Dreams—aka Morpheus—who is one of the seven Endless.
Tomb Raider Movie Inspired by New Games, Says Director
Back in November, Warner Bros. and MGM tapped Norwegian filmmaker Roar Uthaug to direct their Tomb Raider movie reboot, with Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Transformers 5) penning the script.
Since then, we haven't heard much about the project, but I got a chance to speak Uthaug this week about his new disaster movie The Wave, and I was able to ask him a few Tomb Raider questions.
Tomb Raider Director on Making a Norwegian Disaster Film
This week, I got a chance to speak to Norwegian filmmaker Roar Uthaug (who will soon be directing the Tomb Raider movie reboot for Warner Bros. and MGM) about his new disaster film The Wave, in theaters and on demand March 4.
Based on a real-life Norwegian village nestled under the Åkerneset mountain -- which is constantly on the verge of collapse -- the film follows a family of four as they try to survive a tsunami before it consumes their entire town.
During our interview, Uthaug explained how he went about shooting on location in Geiranger while also training his actors to hold their breath underwater for minutes at a time.
IGN Movies: Let's dive into The Wave. One thing that sets this film apart from other disaster movies is that this is dealing with something that will happen, and has happened already to some extent. Was that one of the reasons you were interested in doing this project?