Category Archives: Entertainment

‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ gets its 2015 release date

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The next installment in the Star Wars saga will release into theatres on December 18, 2015.

“We’re very excited to share the official 2015 release date for Star Wars: Episode VII, where it will not only anchor the popular holiday filmgoing season but also ensure our extraordinary filmmaking team has the time needed to deliver a sensational picture,” said Alan Horn, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios.

Despite a change in the writing department, Episode VII is on track for its now solidified 2015 release. Two weeks ago Michael Arndt stepped away from the film and director J.J. Abrams and consultant Lawrence Kasdan took over the screenplay duties. Recently Abrams opened up about the switch-up.

“It became clear that given the time frame and given the process and the way the thing was going that working with Larry in this way was going to get us where we need to be and when we needed to be,” he told Deadline. “Working with Larry Kasdan, especially on aStar Wars movie is kind of unbeatable.” He added, “Working with Michael was a wonderful experience and I couldn’t be a bigger fan of his or adore him more. He’s a wonderful guy and was incredibly helpful in the process.”

Mark your calendars, people. We get to revisit that galaxy far, far away in two years time.

[Via Star Wars]

The ‘Entourage’ movie is underway

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And with that tweet, creator Doug Ellin confirms that the long anticipated Entourage movie based on the hit HBO series is happening. According to Deadline, stars Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara and Kevin Connolly and producers Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson all have deals in place so that Warner Bros. can finally give the greenlit project life. And now we wait for one awesome trailer.

Movie trailer round-up: ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past,’ ‘The Hobbit 2,’ ‘The Wolf of Wall Street,’ ‘Robocop,’ ‘The LEGO Movie’ & ‘Anchorman 2’

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Bryan Singer returns to the X-Men franchise to direct X-Men: Days of Future Past, a time travel story that pits together nearly all of the X-Men heroes and villains from the movies made thus far.

The ultimate X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods in X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. The beloved characters from the original “X-Men” film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from the past, “X-Men: First Class,” in order to change a major historical event and fight in an epic battle that could save our future.

The trailer is pretty damn incredible; it sits above and you’ll likely feel inclined to watch it more than once.

Days of Future Past, with Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Patrick Stewart, and Ian McKellen, opens May 23.

Jump after the break to view more trailers. Continue reading Movie trailer round-up: ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past,’ ‘The Hobbit 2,’ ‘The Wolf of Wall Street,’ ‘Robocop,’ ‘The LEGO Movie’ & ‘Anchorman 2’ →

Disney & Netflix team up to produce four Marvel superhero series

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If ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn’t enough for Marvel fans, The Walt Disney Co. and Netflix are collaborating on four live-action series to air on the streaming service beginning in 2015. Each series will star a popular Marvel superhero: the first hero coming to the small screen is Daredevil, followed by Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage; click those links to learn more about each of them. A statement promises these four series will take Netflix subscribers “deep into the gritty world of heroes and villains of Hell’s Kitchen, New York.” Now get this: after the four, thirteen episodes series have aired they will culminate in “Marvel’s “The Defenders” mini-series event that reimagines a dream team of self-sacrificing, heroic characters.” It’s like what Marvel did in the movies with all those films leading up to The Avenges. This is neat stuff right here.

“This deal is unparalleled in its scope and size, and reinforces our commitment to deliver Marvel’s brand, content and characters across all platforms of storytelling. Netflix offers an incredible platform for the kind of rich storytelling that is Marvel’s specialty,” said Alan Fine, President of Marvel Entertainment. “This serialized epic expands the narrative possibilities of on-demand television and gives fans the flexibility to immerse themselves how and when they want in what’s sure to be a thrilling and engaging adventure.”

“Marvel’s movies, such as ‘Iron Man’ and Marvel’s ‘The Avengers’, are huge favorites on our service around the world. Like Disney, Marvel is a known and loved brand that travels,” said Netflix COO Ted Sarandos.  “With ‘House of Cards’ and our other original series, we have pioneered new approaches to storytelling and to global distribution and we’re thrilled to be working with Disney and Marvel to take our brand of television to new levels with a creative project of this magnitude.”

As Disney and Netflix begin work on this massive production, stick it here for the latest developments.

[Via Netflix]

FX renews ‘American Horror Story’ for a fourth season

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Ryan Murphy will continue to scare up viewers with a fourth installment of FX anthology series American Horror Story. The third season Coven is the most-watched season of AHS to date averaging 7.7 million viewers.

“Put simply, Ryan Murphy is a master television producer,” said FX head John Landgraf. “Time and time again he reinvents the form. What he, co-creator Brad Falchuk and their producers Dante Di Loreto, Tim Minear, Jennifer Salt, James Wong, Brad Buecker, Jessica Sharzer, Douglas Petrie, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, Alexis Martin Woodall and the entire production team and cast responsible for the American Horror Story franchise have done is nothing short of extraordinary. Every year, they create a riveting and brilliant new miniseries. AHS: Coven is the best yet, and I have no doubt that the next installment will be even better.”

The 13 episode fourth season is set to debut in 2014. Though the season’s theme and stars are still being kept under wraps, Jessica Lange has publicly confirmed that she will return to the show to step into a new character’s shoes.

AHS: Coven airs Wednesdays at 10PM on FX.

AMC renews ‘The Walking Dead’ for a fifth season

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After clocking in a record breaking 20.2 million viewers for its season 4 premiere, it comes as no surprise that AMC is granting The Walking Dead a fifth season.

“We are very happy to make what has to be one of the most anti-climactic renewal announcements ever: The Walking Dead is renewed for a fifth season,” said AMC president Charlie Collier. “This is a show that has erased traditional distinctions between cable and broadcast. Its expanding base of passionate fans has grown every season, most recently – and most notably – with the season four premiere earlier this month, which broke viewership records for the series and became the biggest non-sports telecast in cable history. On behalf of the incredible team on both sides of the camera, thank you to the fans and here’s to more Dead.”

As of now, Scott M. Gimple will in fact remain the showrunner for next season. But the current season is still young and there’s plenty of time for him to go the way of Frank Darabont and Glen Mazzara, though it’d be nice for Dead to hold onto its showrunner for once.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9PM on AMC.

Fall TV updates: ABC gives ‘The Goldbergs’ & ‘Trophy Wife’ full season orders, cancels ‘Back in the Game’

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ABC has given comedies The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife full season orders; with the back-nine each Tuesday night sitcom will air 22 episodes this season. Averaging 7.5 million viewers and a 2.7 rating in adults 18-49 and 5.7 million viewers and a 1.9 rating, respectively,  The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife will live on at least through May and creatively speaking they deserve it. Both shows are consistently funny and highly relatable family fare.

Super Fun Night isn’t going anywhere. Averaging 7.4 million viewers and a 2.8 rating, the Rebel Wilson sitcom received an additional script order for four more episodes.

One ABC sitcom that didn’t make the cut is Back in the Game. Though the show has admittedly been getting better creatively with each passing week, the ratings failed to make a mark (it’s averaging 7.3 million viewers and a 2.1 rating, landing right between Goldbergs and Wife) and the network is cutting it loose–but not before letting its 13 episodes run all the way through. Note that the cancellation news comes after the alphabet network ordered an additional two scripts for the Bad News Bears-esque comedy; that’s typically a show of confidence from a network but in this case it didn’t pan out.

First look: ‘Sherlock’ returns this January

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Here’s your first look at Sherlock series 3! An ominous Sherlock watches John Watson as the good doctor grieves his friend’s (faked) death. How exactly did the super sleuth survive that great fall? The answer will be revealed when Sherlock returns to PBS on January 19, 2014. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freedman return in three brand new 90-minute installments: “The Empty Hearse” (January 19), “The Sign of Three” (January 26), and “His Last Vow” (February 2).

‘Arrested Development’ soundtrack coming in November

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Ten years after its debut, composer David Schwartz is finally releasing an Arrested Development soundtrack. The 42-track disc features music heard across all four seasons of the cult comedy, including fan favorites like the Arrested theme, “It Ain’t Easy Being White,” “Mr. F,” “Big Yellow Joint,” “Fantastic 4 (Medley),” and an extended version of “Getaway.” The last track on the collection is the incredibly catchy “Boomerang,” the song that closes out the Netflix season performed by Schwartz’s daughter Lucy. Schwartz says the soundtrack pickings were inspired by fan requests during Arrested‘s recent AMA on Reddit.

The Arrested Development soundtrack comes out November 19 and you can preorder it today at Amazon. Jump after the break for the full tracklist; there you’ll also find a video uploaded by Schwartz teaching you how to play the AD theme on the uke! Continue reading ‘Arrested Development’ soundtrack coming in November →

Showtime renews ‘Homeland’ & ‘Masters of Sex’

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Showtime has renewed Homeland and Masters of Sex for a fourth and second season, respectively. The Emmy-award winning Homeland is the network’s #1 rated show averaging 6.5 million weekly viewers. The CIA drama is exploring new avenues this season with intense character studies of its two main protagonists Carrie Mathison and Nicholas Brody, both of whom are experiencing extreme isolation as they remain worlds apart from each other. Some think it to be too slow, but I am appreciating the shift in pace and the focus on character. If you’re caught up you know the game has changed with a surprise twist so things are expected to ramp up in terms of sheer fast-paced action Homeland is famous for.

Freshman Masters of Sex has proven to be a hit as well, averaging 5.4 million viewers. Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan, who portray real-life human sexuality pioneers William Masters and Virginia Johnson, lead a great cast in a show that everybody knew would be sexual and risqué yet also addicting and very intriguing.

“Homeland continues to prove its strength for Showtime, and is one of television’s most exciting, provocative and widely-discussed shows. It has grown its audience significantly in each of its three seasons,” said Showtime President David Nevins. “And, the critical and audience reaction to Masters of Sex since its great launch has been incredibly gratifying. It’s a privilege to get to work with such talented and creative people as Alex Gansa and Michelle Ashford, as well as their tremendous casts. They have each created truly original shows, with distinctive voices that are among the most admired series on television.”

Homeland and Masters of Sex air Sunday nights starting at 9PM on Showtime.

Fall TV updates: FOX gives ‘Dads’ full season order, ABC likes ‘Back in the Game’ & ‘Super Fun Night’

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Despite critics panning the series as its September premiere approached, FOX has granted Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild’s Dads a full season order; the back-nine increases the season’s episode total to 22. You can certainly argue that the “bad press” for Dads helped increase its popularity leading to its FSO. The raunchy sitcom starring Seth Green, Giovanni Ribisi, and Martin Mull averages a 2.2/7 rating among adults 18-49, a respectable number in these DVR-heavy times. FOX head Kevin Reilly explained the reason behind the season one order:

“FOX has been looking to break into the multi-camera format for some time,” he said. “With Dads, we have an asset that we can grow, and we’re looking forward to seeing where the fantastic cast and the creative minds of Seth, Alec, Mike and Wellesley take us the rest of the season.”

Shifting to ABC and single-cam comedies, comedies Back in the Game with James Caan and Super Fun Night with Rebel Wilson have each received two additional script orders–a good sign for fans of these shows. Previously the alphabet network showed confidence in its other half-hour sitcoms The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife by ordering three more scripts apiece for them. Is the network bold enough to grant FSOs to four of these guys? Time–and ratings–will tell.