Channing Tatum's Gambit project seems to have had the worst luck with directors. Several high-profile directs passed on the project before it finally landed Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes). After working on the project for a few months, he bailed due to "creative differences." There's obviously something wrong with the project.

Now it looks like Tatum may have found a new director for the project. That director is Doug Liman, who directed Tom Cruise's Edge of Tomorrow. I loved Edge of Tomorrow, so if 20th Century Fox actually gets him on board, there might be hope for this Gambit movie yet.

The news originated at Deadline, and was then confirmed by The Wrap's Jeff Sneider, who tweeted:

True that Channing Tatum has been courting Doug Liman to direct GAMBIT. We'll see if he goes for it though...

— Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) October 18, 2015

I'd like to see Liman take on this project. It'd suck if he passed on it. That would just make me wonder even more about what kind of weird behind-the-scenes shit is going down on this film project. 

Liman is currently working on a drug thriller with Cruise called Mena. If he took the Gambit project, he would start work on it after he's done with that project.

Gambit was supposed start shooting this fall in New Orleans, but production was pushed back to spring 2016 after Wyatt left. The movie is still scheduled to be released on October 7th, 2016, but that could change. Léa Seydoux is also on board to play Gambit's love interest, Bella Donna Boudreaux, in the movie.

When we first heard that George Lucas was making a trilogy of Star Wars prequel films that would tell the story of how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, we were all excited as hell! Even the trailers that we saw for Star Wars: Episode IV - The Phantom Menace got us all pumped up for the new trilogy! Little did we know that it would turn out to be a trainwreck.

During a recent episode of Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast, actor Peter Serafinowicz, who voiced the Sith warrior Darth Maul in the film, showed up to talk about his experiences with the film. He shared his experience's of being a Star Wars fan; landing the role of Darth Maul in the film; what it was like working with Lucas; being excited for the movie after seeing the trailer; and ultimately his complete disappointment in The Phantom Menace after he paid a thousand dollars to attend the premiere to see it. One of the many things that he brought up was how he thought the film was completely racist, saying:

"It reminds me of, if you’re watching Channel 4 during the day and there’s an old black-and-white film on, and someone’s in blackface, and they just bought this film for eight pounds to show and nobody’s checked it. It was like, the most racist film of the twentieth century!"

The actor recalled that most of the audience felt the same way he did and that they were just as perplexed as he was over the poor quality of the film, the shitty dialogue, and the boring story. 

Serafinowicz went on to say that the Star Wars gig was one of the worst-paying jobs he ever had. At one point, he got to interview Terrence Stamp, who played Chancellor Valorum in The Phantom Menace. It was there he learned that he wasn’t the only actor that was paid crap on the film. Stamp said that he agreed to play the role for reduced pay under the promise that Lucas would give him a gift after filming. That gift turned out to be a Phantom Menace stencil set for kids.

This is an extremely entertaining interview that you have to listen to, and you can do so in the embed below.

One of the most interesting aspects of that new Star Wars: The Force Awakens poster that Lucasfilm released over the weekend was that big-ass planet-looking weapon that a lot of fans have compared to the Death Star from the original trilogy. 

After doing a little digging around online, it looks like this is may be our first look at Starkiller Base, which we first learned about from some Force Awakens toy descriptions. This Starkiller Base also has an official description at StarWars.com that offers some fans some intriguing information. Here's that description:

An ice planet converted into a stronghold of the First Order and armed with a fiercely destructive new weapon capable of destroying entire star systems. 

So the First Order literally took an entire freakin' planet and converted it into the most powerfully destructive weapon we've ever seen in the Star Wars universe. That's awesome! I imagine the Starkiller Base also could serve as a dock for The First Order's Star Destroyers and other ships from their fleet.

Since this weapon was converted out of a planet, there's no thermal venting port for anyone to shoot anything into to destroy it. The weapon can vent heat naturally through the surface of the planet. 

There are still a lot of questions regarding this base/weapon, but answers to those question will be revealed in due time. Stay tuned for the full trailer that will hit later tonight! 

To watch some teaser trailers, and read up on some addition information on this film that we've posted in the past, click here.

Have you ever seen a game that does something ambitious and brilliant, but it comes out too soon for the rest of the public to really catch on? ... View Full Post on GameTyrant

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Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will utilize cutting edge technology to tell the story of two titans of the comic book world facing off against each other. These characters have been around a long time — long enough so that despite what you may think, Adam West and Christopher Reeve were not the first men to play these characters in live action films. Batman and Superman have been fighting crime in live action movies dating all the way back to 1943 and 1948, respectively, and now Vulture is here with a fake trailer that shows us what it might have looked like if those characters crossed over back in the late '40s. Check this out, and let us know what you think below:

Director Matt Reeves has started principal photography of War For The Planet of The Apes, the sequel to last year's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and third chronologically in the Apes franchise. The filmmaker took to his Twitter account yesterday to share a photo of the first day of the shoot:

#It has begun. @ApesMovies pic.twitter.com/6AZVzWfJXW

— Matt Reeves (@mattreevesLA) October 17, 2015

Any time a beach comes into play in an Apes film, it's hard to think of anything else besides Charlton Heston's heartbreaking realization at the end of the very first movie:

I'm not saying Reeves' photo is in the exact same location from the first movie — it actually doesn't really look very much like Point Dume Beach in Malibu to me — but it's possible, and it might be teasing the origin of how Lady Liberty got halfway buried in the sand. We'll have to wait and see.

We know that Andy Serkis will reprise his role as ape leader Caesar, while Woody Harrelson will play a human villain and Steve Zahn will don a mo-cap suit to play an ape. Reeves has mentioned a bit about what we can expect from this sequel:

"The first one is sort of how [Caesar] goes from humble beginnings to becoming a revolutionary. In 'Dawn,' he really rose to occasion of becoming a leader in really challenging and difficult times. The notion of what we're after with the third is to sort of continue that trajectory and see how he becomes a seminal figure in ape history. He almost becomes sort of like an ape Moses. A mythic status... We're trying to play out those themes and continue to sort of explore it in this universe. Exploring human nature under the guise of apes."

War For The Planet of The Apes will arrive in theaters on July 14th, 2017.

This is Diego-San, a humanoid robot that was created to learn from the world just like a human baby. The robot was created and engineered by David Hanson for the Machine Perception Lab at the UCSD Institute for Neural Computation. It's being useful as a tool to study the interactions between robots and humans.

With high definition cameras in the eyes, the robot sees people, gestures, expressions, and uses A.I. modeled on human babies, to learn from people, the way that a baby hypothetically would.

This is just the first step in robots leading the world into destruction and chaos. Diego-San will end up learning way too much and realize that his potential as a robot that can take over the world. One day in the future when Hanson's robot creation is killing him, he'll say with his dying breath, "What in the hell was I thinking?"

The facial expressions on this thing are terrifying. You can watch Diego-San in action in the videos below.

Via: Presurfer

As everyone excitedly counts down the minutes until Disney and Lucasfilm release the new full trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens tonight, Latino Review has its eyes ahead to the next adventure that will take place in a galaxy far, far away.

Gareth Edwards' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is scheduled to hit theaters in December of 2016, so we're going to start hearing a lot more about it over the coming months. Today, LR reports that Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation writer/director Christopher McQuarrie did a two week pass on the script for Rogue One. Gary Whitta was originally announced as the film's writer, and then he left the project and was replaced by Chris Weitz.

It's not uncommon for multiple writers to come in and do work on big movies like this, especially for small periods of time. They're often brought in to punch up the dialogue or build on character moments; from my understanding, it's very rare that someone would be brought on board for two weeks and asked to drastically alter the story. So if anyone's worried, there's really no cause for that at this point. We'll keep you posted if we hear any more updates about Rogue One, but in the meantime, I think it's an easy guess that McQuarrie's contributions will only improve the final movie.

I'm on the hunt for horror short films to post during the Halloween season, and I came across this one directed by Michael Evans called 2AM: The Smiling Man. The story follows a man who's out for a late-night walk when he comes across a smiling man. You'd think that there would be nothing scary about coming across a weird smiling man in the middle of the night, but you'd be wrong.

Some of you might think the film starts out a little silly, but it turns out to have a pretty damn sinister vibe to it. The short kinda gave me the chills. I don't know about you, but if I was out taking a late night stroll and I ran into a guy with an insane smile on his face that walked weird, I'd be scared to death and would run as fast as I could in the opposite direction! It's such a simple concept, but I thought it was really fun. I hope you enjoy it.

Fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas have been arguing about whether the movie is a Halloween film or a Christmas film ever since it came out back in 1993, and now the director himself has weighed in and provided a definitive answer to the question.

One of my biggest pet peeves is seeing people lazily claim that Tim Burton directed this movie, when in fact that is not the case. Burton produced it and came up with the story, but Henry Selick, who also helmed James and The Giant Peach and Coraline, was the man who brought this story to life. Selick was at the Telluride Horror Show in Colorado recently, and Birth.Movies.Death was on hand to host a Q&A with him after a screening of the movie. A little girl straight up asked him the question fans have been wanting to know the answer to for years, and — brace yourselves — here was his response:

After the question was asked Selick looked a little surprised, and he said, "Oh boy," likely knowing that whatever answer he gave would be controversial. 

"It's a Halloween movie," he said, definitively. He acknowledged that a lot of people liked the Christmas Town stuff waaaaay better than the Halloween Town ("They love Santa and say he's all-powerful," he said), but he had to tell the truth: this is a movie about Halloween, and the people of Halloween, and how they react to something like Christmas.

So there you have it. What do you think? Are you enraged or vindicated? Ultimately, once a filmmaker releases something out into the world, it no longer belongs to him: it belongs to the audience, who can the art however they wish. But does having Selick himself confirm that this is a Halloween movie have any impact on your own opinion about this stop-motion classic?

Jabba the Hutt is not traditionally viewed as a good guy. The Star Wars gangster freezes Han Solo in carbonite, enslaves Leia, and tries to have Luke killed, but one New York hipster is here to try to convince us that we've been looking at Jabba all wrong for years.

Take a look below, see if you can get past the somewhat annoying delivery, and let us know if you've been converted to #TeamJabba by the end.

Via: Dorkly

Last night's episode of The Walking Dead was easily the darkest and most brutal one that has aired so far. It was just complete madness, and it didn't even involve any zombies. I won't say any more than that just in case you haven't seen the episode yet.

AMC has released a new promo and sneak peek for the third episode of Season 6, which is titled "Thank You." These promos tease what Rick and the others were up to while the madness at Alexandria was taking place. I also included a video that focuses on the most “Talked About Scene” from last night's episode.

This series just gets crazier and crazier! What did you all think of last night's episode? Are you happy with how the sixth season is going so far? 

Season 5 of The Walking Dead saw our group being formed into consummate survivors by the world around them... nearly making some of them into villains. To make it as far as they have – to have persevered through all of their heartbreaking challenges – they have evolved into incredibly powerful people. But who have they become? The last five episodes of season 5 answered that question with Rick accepting an approach of unapologetic brutality in murdering Pete, a fellow Alexandrian. Season 6 starts with Alexandria's safety shattered by multiple threats. To make it, the people of Alexandria will need to catch up with our survivors’ hardness while many of Rick’s people will need to take a step back from the violence and pragmatism they've needed to embrace. These reversals won't happen easily, or without conflict. But now Rick’s group is fighting for something more than survival... They're fighting for their home, and they will defend that at any cost, against any threat, even if that threat comes from within.

It's tough to find someone who doesn’t know the story about "the boy who lived." As a devoted Harry Potter fan, I find the endurance of the books and movies simply astonishing, and I cannot deny the fact that I’m truly, madly, deeply in love with every single written and visualized bit of the magical saga. Eight years after the release of the last book - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - and four years after the premiere of the final movie, it still lives in us. Provoking, daring, emotional, moving, and “stupefying” (I’m sure Harry Potter fans will see what I did there), Harry Potter managed to leave a permanent imprint. It marked us (not with a lightning-bolt scar, but still…) as those who know what magic is — even if it's only in our imaginations.

"But just because it's in your head, doesn't mean it's not real.”

One thing is for sure: everyone knows the titles as J.K. Rowling presented them to us. But have you ever thought about what they would be like if Lord Voldemort was to write them?

Source: Dorkly

It looks like Pixar has been teasing their upcoming film The Good Dinosaur since Monsters University. Some Pixar fans have noticed a couple interesting things from Monsters University and Inside Out that look like Easter Eggs for The Good Dinosaur. It's not really a new thing to find Easter Eggs that point to other Pixar movies that have been made, but it is slightly more rare to see them for films that haven't been released yet.

This first Easter Egg was spotted by Redditor lannisterdwarf and it features a Dinosaur that was shown in Inside Out that looks a lot like one of the characters in  The Good Dinosaur. 

The other Easter Egg was spotted by NewMediaRockstars and it shows a toy dinosaur in Monsters University on the floor of one of their scare training rooms. It looks a helluva lot like the main character Arlo from The Good Dinosaur. 

Pixar has not come out and confirmed these are real Easter Eggs yet, but to me, it's pretty obvious that they are. 

The Good Dinosaur is directed by Peter Sohn and it features a voice cast that includes Raymond Ochoa (Monsters University), Jeffrey Wright (The Hunger Games), Steve Zahn (War for the Planet of the Apes), Anna Paquin (True Blood), Sam Elliott (Justified), and Frances McDormand (Fargo).

The Good Dinosaur asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of.

The Good Dinosaur is scheduled to hit theaters on November 25th. To watch the full trailer for the film, click here.

Via: Huffington Post

This is the pool table of Homer Simpson's dreams. It's a custom made table created by designer Cléon Daniel, and it definitely puts a unique spin on the game of pool. The table was obviously inspired by Homer's favorite food in the world: a pink frosted donut with sprinkles. 

The players can play on both the outside and the inside of the donut hole. Also, as you can see the irregular edges of the donut table would make any bank shots incredibly interesting, difficult, and unpredictable. Then, of course, you have the sprinkled colored balls. This would seriously be a fun game of pool to play! 

Daniel also made a banana-shaped pool table which is selling for over $9,000. There's no price on the donut pool table yet, but I imagine it will go for around the same price. I'd love to own this, but unless I make it myself, it'll never happen. 

Via: Gizmodo

We've seen the new poster for Star Wars: The Force Awakens (what's that Death Star-looking thing?), and we've seen a few teasers for the new trailer that's dropping tonight during Monday Night Football. But when can we see the entire movie for ourselves? You'll be able to buy tickets as soon as the trailer debuts tonight for opening night, which is December 17th, and if you're truly yearning for a diehard Star Wars experience, you'll be able to buy tickets to a Star Wars movie marathon that features every live action feature film in the saga thus far, starting with The Phantom Menace and concluding with a 3D screening of The Force Awakens.

Why anyone would want to subject themselves to the prequels theatrically at this point, I have no idea. Maybe just to show how they can only get better from there?

The Star Wars Marathon Event is the ultimate fan experience. All seven movies. One epic journey. Guests will see each of the six previously released Star Wars episodes in digital 2D beginning with The Phantom Menace and concluding with the opening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 3D! Guests will also receive a lanyard featuring exclusive marathon art. Coming December 17.

Head to StarWars.com to find out which theaters are hosting the marathons in your area. Meanwhile, Disney and Lucasfilm are going to do everything they can to try to convince you to go back and see the movie multiple times in theaters, offering posters, collectible art, and more. Check out the details below:

Regal Cinemas

Star Wars Saturdays: Each Saturday, from December 19 to January 9, at Regal Theatres the first 500 guests who experience Star Wars: The Force Awakens in IMAX will receive a collectable ticket featuring unique Star Wars: The Force Awakens art. New art will be revealed each week.

AMC Theatres

Star Wars Sundays: Each Sunday, from December 20 to January 10, guests who purchase a ticket to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens in IMAX 3D will receive an AMC-exclusive Star Wars print from artist Dan Mumford. A new poster will be revealed each week.

Also, join the celebration at Walt Disney World as AMC Theatres and Disney Parks celebrate the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Opening Night Event will take place on December 17, where participants will be among the first to see the new film at AMC Disney Springs 24 and then celebrate together at a private after-hours party at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Tickets are available online only at AMCtheatres.com/StarWarsWDW

Cinemark

Cinemark is giving fans the opportunity to receive a pair of exclusive RealD 3DStar Wars glasses. There are three ways guests can get these collectable glasses: By attending the Star Wars Marathon Event on December 17. By attending the first show of Star Wars: The Force Awakens Thursday 12/17 in Cinemark XD, or with the purchase of a Star Wars concession combo, coming in November.

Alamo Drafthouse

As part of the advanced ticketing promotion at participating Alamo Drafthouse locations, you can snag two exclusive, limited Star Wars: The Force Awakenscollectible items: an officially licensed Mondo-designed pint glass and the first ever, double-sized collector’s issue of their very own magazine, BIRTH. MOVIES. DEATH., celebrating 40 years of the Star Wars saga!

El Capitan Theatre

The film will be presented in DOLBY VISION – a state-of-the-art laser projection system that delivers richer colors and distinctly brighter images while preserving deep and dark blacks. When combined with DOLBY ATMOS sound technology, which creates moving audio that surrounds you in three-dimensional space, the picture and sound will excite your senses and inspire your emotions with breathtaking realism. 

Fans will also be immersed in an extensive display of costumes and props from the making of the movie and see an all-new laser lightsaber curtain show. 

And on opening day one, pick up an exclusive collectible BB-8 button!

Fandango

On Fandango, Star Wars: The Force Awakens ticket buyers will be entered into a sweepstakes for the chance to win a trip to the film’s world premiere. Moviegoers who purchase tickets within the first 24 hours can increase their chances to win. Additionally, ten runners-up can win a collectible “Dark Side” or “Light Side” prize pack.

When I come across a video or list of "things I may have missed" about popular movies, there are usually only about two or three things out of ten that I've actually never heard before. The proliferation of those exact kinds of lists online means that as savvy movie fans, we've pretty much seen them all — especially when it comes to mega-popular films like the Marvel films or the Star Wars saga. It's extremely rare when someone can put together a list in which I really, truly missed every single item, so I want to give props to ScreenRant for this list of 10 Star Wars movie mistakes because I'd literally never noticed any of these before.

There are some that are so obscure no one should ever have seen them in the first place (Ghost Luke, I'm lookin' at you), but I'm baffled that I've never seen how Obi-Wan's lightsaber was plugged in right before his fight with Vader in the original Star Wars. Check this out and let us know in the comments if you knew about these mistakes:

Here's a piece of trivia for you: back in 1995, Charlize Theron had a tiny role in Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest under her belt, but that same year, she also auditioned for a lead role in a major Hollywood production that would become infamous for its terrible reception: Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls. Saved By The Bell star Elizabeth Berkley ended up getting the part, and she was completely lambasted by critics and audiences who hated the movie. The movie essentially ruined her career, since it opened during a key moment when she was trying to transition out of the family-friendly persona she'd cultivated on TV.

Verhoeven is disappointed Hollywood didn't give Berkley another chance, but in a recent interview with The New York Daily News, he revealed that Theron also auditioned for the role, but he didn't cast her because no one knew who she was at that point:

"Charlize also auditioned, and I don't recall her having any problem with the nudity at all. She was good and wanted the part, but basically she was not well known enough at the time and just did not fit the part, so we said no. I have full respect for Charlize, but if she had been offered the part then she would probably have been chewed up in the same way they treated Elizabeth. She was very lucky that she did not get the part. I wish Charlize congratulations for that because it would have have been a miserable 20 years for her!"

Sort of makes you wonder what might have happened if Theron had gotten the role. Do you think she'd have been ostracized from Hollywood like Berkley was, and maybe Berkley would have been the one to eventually win an Oscar? It might seem unlikely, but you never know. If you're a fan of Showgirls (the film has become something of a cult sensation in the past decade or so), you should read the full interview, because Verhoeven talks a lot about his intentions with the movie and even his one-time plan to direct a sequel called Bimbos. It's a good read.

Via: The Playlist

I know we'll probably never see Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool team up with Jared Leto's Joker in a movie, but can you imagine what a film like that might be like? Artist Marco D’Alfonso brings the two characters together in this illustration that he made for CBM called "The Really Odd Couple." It was made in celebration of The Joker's 75th anniversary. Below, you'll find some additional art from various other artists celebrating The Joker's villainy. 

Merk Asylum

Axel Medellin

Philip Horton

Brendan Tobin

Who would've thought that putting rockets on RC cars then making them play soccer (or football, depending upon your timezone) would be so damn fun? — View Full Post on GameTyrant

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