As the summer season shines onto the box office, movie grosses don’t match what they used to be in seasons past.
08.06.2023 - 15:05 / variety.com
Zack Sharf Digital News Director The name Preston Mutanga might not ring a bell, but anyone who has contributed to the $235 million and counting box office haul for “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” has seen his work on the big screen. Mutanga is a 14-year-old from Toronto, Canada, who landed a role as an animator on “Across the Spider-Verse” after he recreated the film’s trailer shot-for-shot in the style of LEGO blocks and left producers Chris Lord and Phil Miller dazzled (via The New York Times). Not too bad for your industry debut. Mutanga uploaded his LEGO remake of the “Across the Spider-Verse” trailer to Twitter on Jan. 2 (see the post below). Lord and Miller, both active Twitter users, caught wind of the clip and were impressed — the directors know a thing or two about crafting LEGO-inspired sequences as the directors of 2014’s “The LEGO Movie.” When the team decided they wanted a scene in “Across the Spider-Verse” set in a LEGO universe, they decided to reach out to Mutanga.
“We found out that it was a 14-year-old kid who made it and we were like, ‘This looks incredibly sophisticated for a nonadult, nonprofessional to have made,” Miller told The Times. “It blew us all away, including some of the best animators in the world.” Mutanga said he began animating as a kid after his father showed him “this 3-D software called Blender and I instantly got hooked on it.” The teenager added, “I watched a lot of YouTube videos to teach myself certain stuff.” Remotely from Toronto, Mutanga spent several weeks animating a LEGO sequence for “Across the Spider-Verse.” As reported by The Times: “Every other week, he would meet via video with Miller, who would check on his progress and provide detailed input.” “One new
As the summer season shines onto the box office, movie grosses don’t match what they used to be in seasons past.
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Samuel L. Jackson revealed in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly that his watermarked script for “The Avengers” was stolen from Marvel Studios’ production offices, leading the company to set up a fake buy after the stolen screenplay popped up online for sale. Marvel has since gone on to beef up its security protocols, even going as far as shooting down drones that fly over their production lots hoping to capture set photos and footage. “They shot one down,” Jackson said. “And they followed one back to where the dude was. They found him and, yeah, they got him.” “There are worse examples than that,” Jackson added. “I remember when we got ready to do ‘Avengers,’ someone printed out a copy of my ‘Avengers’ script that had my watermark on it, and put it online for sale. I was shooting in Canada and Marvel came to Canada. It had been printed in the production office… They found out who it was, dude quit, left the country. They set up a fake buy for the script, dude didn’t show up. It was crazy.”
Amy Duggar King doesn’t know what the future holds for the Duggar family.
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Kevin Spacey alleged in a new interview with ZEITmagazin that people will start hiring him for more acting projects if he is cleared of sexual assault charges in London following an upcoming trial that is set to begin on June 28. The Oscar winner was charged one year go in London with four counts of sexual assault, relating to alleged incidents that took place between 2005 and 2013. “It’s a time in which a lot of people are very afraid that if they support me, they will be cancelled,” Spacey said about his career. “But I know that there are people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London. The second that happens, they’re ready to move forward.”
Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Production designer Patrick O’Keefe drew inspiration from brutalist architecture, graphic artist Syd Mead and British punk band The Sex Pistols when animating the world of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” As Miles Morales crosses path with different Spider-People from other dimensions, it was up to O’Keefe and his team of animators to create visual worlds that reflect those counterparts. With Variety, he breaks down the looks of each world and shares his favorite easter eggs that pay homage to the Canadian animators who worked on the film. “Whenever it comes to developing anything for the film, I’m always asking myself, whose point of view are we seeing this from? And what does it need to do?
Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Composer Daniel Pemberton pushed a few boundaries and “made something really creative and different” when he scored 2018’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” When he returned to score the sequel, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” he knew he would have to “push it as far as we can go.” Pemberton says he had to build the score from the ground up, which was complicated. “You’re trying not to make a score that sounds like other film scores. You’re trying to invent your own language.” Inventing that language took experimentation, research and failure. He explains, “I spent two years researching and developing this score, going through ideas, coming up with concepts and throwing them out.”
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” using Legos. The trailer became such a viral sensation that he got a call from the film’s writer-producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who wanted him to make a scene for the film.
A Cheshire businesswoman attacked two policemen during a bust up as they handcuffed her. Carol Holcroft pushed out at one officer and kicked another when she was arrested, a court has heard.
Giving props. Tom Holland revealed his favorite Spider-Man movie is one that he didn’t star in.
Zack Sharf Digital News Director David Maisel might not be a name Marvel fans think of when they talk about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the entertainment executive recently stressed to The New Yorker that the “MCU wouldn’t exist” without him. Maisel is Marvel Studios’ former president and the initial architect of the MCU, which Kevin Feige has since taken the reigns of as the company’s current president. Feige’s name has become synonymous with Marvel’s success, which Maisel said has all but overshadowed his contributions. Or as Maisel put it, “It’s like a Thanos snap.” “Most people right now think Kevin started the studio,” Maisel said. “They don’t know me at all.”
Leslie Grace says she has moved on after Batgirl was shelved almost one year ago.
To get a sense of the quality of films on the docket for June, look to the opening weekend. Between “Past Lives” and “Across the Spider-Verse,” there are two genuinely terrific films that couldn’t be more different.
Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments and surprises throughout “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” now playing in theaters. For months, the directors of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” had been working exhaustively on a critical sequence that launches the movie’s second act. For the first time in his life, the animated film’s hero — Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), a.k.a. the Spider-Man of Earth-1610 — enters a different dimension: Earth-50101, a.k.a. Mumbattan, a dazzling amalgamation of New York City and Mumbai. Within minutes, Miles and his BFF from 2018’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), encounter that world’s Spider-Man, Pavitr Prabhakar (Karan Soni), an Indian teenager who received his powers not via spider bite, but through magic. The sequence launches them all through the vertiginously vertical metropolis, as they frantically try to stop the film’s villain, the Spot (Jason Schwartzman), from using Mumbattan’s supercollider to increase his dimension-hopping abilities.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead for “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”Miles Morales’ journey in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” takes him into a world filled with Spider-Men from across the superhero’s long history of comics, movies and other media. This means that there were plenty of surprise cameos for hardcore fans, including one by none other than Donald Glover.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” has finally arrived.After a nearly five-year wait, the highly anticipated sequel to 2018’s breakthrough (and Oscar-winning) “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” is here. And it’s magnificent. Shameik Moore returns as Miles Morales, who thanks to his friendship with Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) and Peter B.
Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Don’t tell me “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is merely a cartoon. It’s a visionary work that redefines what the animation medium can achieve, sitting alongside the handful of sequels such as “The Dark Knight” and “The Empire Strikes Back” that elevate their franchises by pushing them in surprising new directions. On a personal level, this animated second installment of the web-slinging superhero is the closest I’ve ever come to seeing an accurate depiction of my life and culture on a movie screen – well, with a few fantastic elements added into the mix. That’s invaluable. “Across the Spider-Verse” takes place a year after the events of the previous film with Miles Morales (a.k.a. Spider-Man) facing a new threat. Unfortunately, it’s one that causes him to interact with a new group of Spider-People from across the multiverse.
The chief executive of Oldham council is to leave the authority by the end of the year, it’s been announced.
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse has finally arrived in cinemas, with critics and fans alike heaping praise on the animated sequel.Initial reviews have suggested that it’s even better than 2018’s Into The Spider-Verse, which drew major plaudits for its unique animation style and heartfelt storyline.Picking up from the events of the first film, this follow-up sees Miles Morales and Gwen Stacey catapulted across the Multiverse, where they encounter a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence.An official synopsis reads: “But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must redefine what it means to be a hero so he can save the people he loves most.”Shameik Moore reprises his voice role as Miles Morales for this sequel. Fans may have seen the actor in the 2015 crime-comedy Dope.
The new animated movie Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now in theaters and it’s expected to be a big hit at the box office this weekend.
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” is officially rated R, Variety confirms with Universal Pictures. The film is Nolan’s first for the studio after his lengthy tenure at Warner Bros., where he directed tentpoles such as “Interstellar,” “Inception” and his Dark Knight trilogy. “Oppenheimer” will be Nolan’s first R-rated feature since 2002’s “Insomnia.” The director confirmed last month that “Oppenheimer” is the longest movie of his career yet, running just shy of the three-hour mark. What does that mean for prints of the film? The Associated Press reports that “Oppenheimer” is so long that IMAX prints are “11 miles of film stock” that “weigh some 600 pounds.” As is par for the course, Nolan shot the movie using large format film camera. Universal Pictures has now made tickets available for the film in premium theaters such as IMAX 70mm, 70mm, IMAX digital, 35mm, Dolby Cinema and more.