Edgar Wright Says Hollywood Franchises Must Learn to ‘Take a Breather and Let Audiences Get Excited Again’: ‘It’s Ok to Take a Break and Build Anticipation’

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Andre Braugher‘s cause of death has been revealed to be lung cancer, the actor’s publicist confirmed to Variety. Braugher died December 11 at 61 years old.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Julia Roberts is an icon of the romantic-comedy genre, but there’s one famous rom-com the Oscar-winner happened to turn down: Nora Ephron’s 1998 classic “You’ve Got Mail.” Roberts revealed the scoop during a recent appearance on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live.” Ephron’s film memorably paired Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in the story of business rivals unaware they are falling in love with each other online. “You’ve Got Mail” marked the third Hanks-Ryan romantic comedy after “Joe Versus the Volcano” (1990) and “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993), the latter title also being directed by Ephron.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director James Cameron revealed last month that he’s currently knee deep in the “very hectic” post-production of “Avatar 3.” Neither the director nor Disney is ready to unveil the title for “Avatar 3,” but it sounds like it won’t be “The Seed Bearer” as Cameron once considered. The titles for Cameron’s “Avatar” sequels have become social media fodder ever since November 2018 when the BBC reported the four movies would have the following names: “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Avatar: The Seed Bearer,” “Avatar: The Tulkun Rider,” and “Avatar: The Quest for Eywa.” Cameron told Entertainment Tonight in 2019: “I can neither confirm nor deny — alright, here’s what I’ll tell ya: Those titles are among titles that are in consideration.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Mahershala Ali recently told Entertainment Weekly that he is feeling optimistic about his upcoming Marvel movie “Blade,” in which he will star as the comic book vampire hunter. The film, which won’t begin production until next year, has had a dramatic development period, to say the least. Marvel first announced the project at Comic-Con 2019.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Casey Wilson said on a recent episode of her “Bitch Sesh” podcast that working with Tim Allen on an episode of his Disney+ series “The Santa Clauses” was “the truly single worst experience I’ve ever had with a co-star ever.” Wilson, best known for her roles on “Saturday Night Live” and “Happy Endings,” guest starred in the show’s pilot episode, which debuted in November 2022. “The Santa Clauses,” which recently finished airing its second season on Disney+, serves as a sequel to Allen’s three movies “The Santa Clause” (1994), “The Santa Clause 2” (2002) and “The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” (2006). “Tim Allen was such a bitch.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Natalie Portman appeared on “Watch What Happens Live” to promote her buzzy Netflix drama “May December” and once again told “Star Wars” fans that she is more than open to reprising her role of Padmé Amidala on screen. Portman was just a teenager when she landed a leading role in George Lucas’ “Star Wars” prequel trilogy. Her first entry, “The Phantom Menace,” opened in 1999 when Portman was 18 years old.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Angelina Jolie told The Wall Street Journal Magazine that she probably would not become an actor if she was just starting out in the industry in 2023. She’d consider acting on the stage, perhaps, but certainly not a life and career in Hollywood. “I wouldn’t be an actress today,” the Oscar winner said.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Margot Robbie revealed to Cillian Murphy during a conversation for Variety’s “Actors on Actors,” presented by “AIR,” that she got a call from “Oppenheimer” producer Charles Roven in which he asked her to change the “Barbie” release date so that it wouldn’t open on the same day as Christopher Nolan’s atomic bomb epic. Roven also produced Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy and worked with Robbie on James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad.” “One of your producers, Chuck Roven, called me, because we worked together on some other projects,” Robbie said. “And he was like, ‘I think you guys should move your date.’ And I was like, ‘We’re not moving our date.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Zack Snyder knew he was going to be the butt of a “Barbie” joke well before the blockbuster comedy opened in theaters from Warner Bros. In a new interview with Men’s Health, the “Rebel Moon” director revealed Warner Bros.’ film co-chief Michael DeLuca informed his wife and producer partner Deborah Snyder earlier this year about the joke and the studio’s intention to keep it in the film’s final cut. The Snyder Cut joke in “Barbie” arrives during a critical moment in the film.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Any movie fan who thought “Dune” was lacking on the action front will be happy with the upcoming sequel, at least according to director Denis Villeneuve. In a new interview with Total Film magazine, Villeneuve touted the 2024 sequel as “more muscular” than the first installment that hit theaters and Max in 2021. “The first movie was more meditative and contemplative.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Barbie” screenwriters Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach joined together for a “60 Minutes” interview in which they were asked about the surprising “anti-man” backlash to their blockbuster comedy. Several conservative figures blasted “Barbie” after it opened in theaters over the summer for its patriarchy jokes, which they perceived as being anti-man. Bill Maher even went on record calling the film “man-hating.” “The movie is meant to be a big-hearted thing, even though it’s poking fun at everyone,” Gerwig said when such accusations were brought up in the interview.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Disney CEO Bob Iger said at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit (via CNBC) following “The Marvels” flopping at the box office that there was a lack of supervision on the set of the film as a result of the COVID pandemic. The combination of pandemic set restrictions and Disney’s increased output due to the launch of streamer Disney+ made it increasingly difficult for studio executives to oversee the onslaught of new productions.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director In the new book “Welcome to the O.C.: The Oral History” from Rolling Stone’s chief TV critic Alan Sepinwall (via TooFab), Adam Brody admits that his behavior grew unprofessional in later seasons when he became unhappy with the material. Series creator Josh Schwartz said Brody’s waning interest to the show was not unique. “By the time we got to Season 3, we were all burned out,” Schwartz said.

While Edgar Wright has dabbled in action filmmaking before, a little with “Hot Fuzz” and ‘Scott Pilgrim,’ and much more with “Baby Driver,” he has yet to really do something that would be described as blockbuster filmmaking.

With Thanksgiving just behind us, some people probably forgot the crucial rule of the holiday—don’t eat too much or you’ll make yourself sick. Well, that mantra is good in a number of situations.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Taika Waititi revealed on the “SmartLess” podcast (via Business Insider) that Donald Trump had a list of demands when the two collaborated on a 2012 advertisement for NBC. The commercial, titled “Brotherhood of Man,” aired during the Super Bowl and touted the network’s television slate by combining characters from series such as “The Office,” “30 Rock,” “Saturday Night Live” and more. Waititi directed the ad, which also featured Donald Trump as he was the face of NBC’s reality competition series “The Apprentice” at the time.

Emma Stone has been very busy promoting her new movie!

Even though Edgar Wright doesn’t necessarily hit it out of the park with each of his films (honestly, doesn’t anyone really remember 2021’s “Last Night in Soho?”), the films he’s made that people love—people obsess over. Films like “Shaun of the Dead” are still being talked about to this day, nearly 20 years after its release.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Disney CEO Bob Iger announced in February that a new “Toy Story” movie was in development along with new installments in the “Frozen” and “Zootopia” franchises. No further details were provided at the time, but it appears the new “Toy Story” movie will not be another tangentially-related spinoff like “Lightyear” but a return to the core story centered on Woody and Buzz Lightyear.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Mrs. Doubtfire” director Chris Columbus marked the film’s 30th anniversary this month with a new interview courtesy of Business Insider in which he revealed that 2 million feet of film was shot during the making of the 1993 comedy because Robin Williams improvised so much dialogue. The film is home to one of Williams’ most classic characters.