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It wouldn't surprise me if tomorrow there was breaking news saying Disney bought a small country. "Disney is in talks to acquire Luxembourg for $10.5 billion." Yep. Sounds about right.

I would like to see what would happen if this came to be.

Sky's the limit with Disney at this point (I remember reading that they were considering buying both Apple and Netflix at one point).

Related to acquisitions, Cineworld is nearing a deal to buy Regal for $3.6 billion. I wonder how a UK owner will influence American film exhibition (especially owning a chain with a considerable imprint in middle America).

And one new date:
White Boy Rick 8/17/2018 (from 1/26/2018, it's most likely getting dumped at this point)

Well, considering the biggest chain in America is Chinese, there probably won't be much difference.

I remembered that after posting but the European and Asian film industries are quite different (also, Wanda's been hurting ever since they decided to increase AMC's global presence and get into film financing). Also with the American industry so hyper-focused on China, how will a European competitor fare in the climate? It breaks up the whole "China and Texas" monotony that's overtaken things, at least (and Maltesers have shown up in the American snack bars the past few years).

Warner Bros. has acquired the film rights to The Six Billion Dollar Man. Maybe it will get made this time around.

Warner Bros. has also picked up Motherless Brooklyn, Edward Norton's hoped-for attempt at a comeback after having essentially been blacklisted for the past few years.

And a few new dates:
Game Night 2/23/2018 (from 3/2/2018)
You Were Never Really Here 4/6/2018 (from 2/23/2018)
Are You Afraid of the Dark? (yes, an adaptation of the TV show) 10/11/2019

Edit: and a day after Lionsgate dropped it, Gotti is nearing a deal with another company that will make it a wide release (I'm guessing it's Aviron). In addition, the film has been submitted to Cannes.

Second edit: Paramount's trying to shorten theatrical and VOD windows again. Annihilation will arrive on the international versions of Netflix on March 12th, just seventeen days after its US premiere. The potential of high quality bootlegs on torrents and filmgoers changing their location to watch the film is not going to make theatre owners happy.

Buscemi2 wrote:Second edit: Paramount's trying to shorten theatrical and VOD windows again. Annihilation will arrive on the international versions of Netflix on March 12th, just seventeen days after its US premiere. The potential of high quality bootlegs on torrents and filmgoers changing their location to watch the film is not going to make theatre owners happy.

And it's not gonna make us international viewers happy either...

I think its scheduled to come out in UK cinemas too. I HOPE so.

That said, I've heard one unsubstantiated rumour that it's not very good, so maybe the Netflix deal is really a sort of dump.

And Paramount had such high hopes for it too. They just can't win.

In other news, a couple new dates:
All the Money in the World 12/25/2017 (from 12/22/2017)
Trolls 2 4/17/2020 (from 2/14/2020)

Also, because Ryan Reynolds loves his licensed characters, he's now set to play Pikachu on a project at Universal. I'm not making this up.

Lastly, it's been confirmed that Dexter Fletcher will take over the reins for the remaining shooting days of Bohemian Rhapsody. Maybe Sunshine on Leith will finally get a US release in the process (it's been rated by the MPAA but no company has ever picked it up, not even for VOD).

numbersix wrote:I think its scheduled to come out in UK cinemas too. I HOPE so.

Well it was scheduled to open in theaters in many countries. In France it still has a release date in theaters. But once the deal with Netflix will be officially anounced, its gonna lose its date for sure.

More on the Annihilation situation (via The Hollywood Reporter): the film had a test screening back in the summer and tested horribly. David Ellison wanted to do reshoots but Scott Rudin, who had final cut (I must wonder why Paramount didn't trust Garland after directing a film that made money and won an Oscar), said no. Interesting to note that Paramount was trying to spin a negative into a positive the whole time until it was too late (I guess mother! and Suburbicon played a role in that decision). The Netflix move indeed looks like it's getting dumped.

TL;DR: Scott Rudin is still a dick and Paramount's likely going to have to merge with someone next year.

Edit: IFC will open The Death of Stalin on 3/9/2018. The US release was held back in order to play at Sundance.

Glad Death of Stalin is getting a release in the US, it's worth seeing.

New Paramount dates:

Instant Family (Mark Wahlberg wears the Daddy pants again) 2/15/2019
Pet Sematary (remake of the 1989 film) 4/19/2019

And so the Stephen King adaptations return.

They already did when The Dark Tower (technically a sequel, but still), It, and Gerald's Game all came in just two months. Something tells me Warner Bros. will try to get the rights to Doctor Sleep at some point even though I'm sure King won't want to sell them (seeing how he hates Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining and all).