Film

Alex Garland isn’t the only filmmaker thinking about the current state the US’ political system. During a recent appearance on The Ringer’s The Town podcast, Aaron Sorkin shared that he’s in the early stages of writing a new The Social Network-esque movie about January 6th and Facebook’s role in galvanizing the attempted coup.

Jason Parham’s 2021 Wired article about Black Twitter detailed quite a bit about what made the community such an enriching space for Black people. But Hulu’s new docuseries based on the piece looks like going to be focused on detailing how Black Twitter became a broader cultural phenomenon. The series premieres on May 9th.

Jim Henson Idea Man, Ron Howard’s new Disney Plus documentary about the man who dreamt up the Muppets, is obviously going to have its lighthearted moments. But the doc’s first trailer makes it feel like a sentimental tearjerker that will have people putting on their favorite Henson productions after it debuts on May 31st.

Blink Twice, director co-writer Zoë Kravitz’s new psychological thriller about two women (Naomi Ackie and Alia Shawkat) trapped on an eccentric billionaire’s (Channing Tatum) island, sounds like a cross between Glass Onion and The Menu.

And the movie’s first trailer makes it seem like those two flavors are going to go pretty well together Blink Twice hits theaters on August 23rd.

Sources tell The New York Times that Sony and investment firm Apollo Global Management are in talks to submit a bid to acquire Paramount. At the same time, reports suggest Paramount is getting closer to making a deal with Skydance.

Futurism spotted what looks to be AI photo shenanigans in Netflix’s What Jennifer Did, a true crime documentary detailing a murder-for-hire plot. The possible AI-generated images appeared in scenes describing the subject, Jennifer Pan’s personality. Futurism rightly points out that fake AI images in a true crime documentary are controversial, at the least.

It’s never easy to tell whether M. Night Shyamalan’s about to whip out another banger like Split, or a dud like Old. And the trailer for Trap — Shyamalan’s new thriller about cops luring a killer into the open with a concert — makes it extremely hard to tell which camp it’s going to fall into.

The deepfaked voice of Anthony Bourdain in Roadrunner is just one controversial application of AI in documentaries, and now the Archival Producers Alliance has drafted some “best practices.”

It’s calling for filmmakers to be “transparent” to viewers, to get consent from human subjects, and to prioritize primary sources. The group hopes to issue final guidelines this summer.

Park Chan-wook has teamed up with Lionsgate to turn his classic revenge thriller / octopus horror movie Oldboy into an English-language TV show. There aren’t many details yet, but Lionsgate promises “the raw emotional power, iconic fight scenes, and visceral style that made the film a classic.”

To honor its 10th (tenth!) anniversary, Christopher Nolan’s movie about black holes and father-daughter bonds, Interstellar, will get a theatrical run this fall. How old am I? I swear this movie only came out like five years ago.

Paramount Pictures announced the re-release while presenting at CinemaCon, writes Variety, and it’ll show in 70mm, both at IMAX and at regular theaters.

Dune: Part Two will be out on Blu-ray May 14th, while digital storefronts will release it on April 16th. You can pre-order the Blu-ray at Amazon.

Meanwhile, the movie is still in theaters. Variety notes it has gobbled up $665 million at the global box office. That’s more than any other film so far this year.

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There are any number of reasons Joaquin Phoenix is sobbing in the new Joker: Folie à Deux teaser, but it probably has something to do with the fact that the proper trailer isn’t dropping until later tonight.

Or they will, in a new movie called Fly Me to the Moon, from Apple Original Films (and distributed by Sony Pictures). The movie imagines Johansson and Tatum as Kelly Jones and Cole Davis, who are given the directive to film a fake Apollo landing just in case the real one goes sideways.

It hits theaters July 12th.

Makoto Shinkai’s excellent anime feature hit Netflix today, just in time for your Friday movie night. And when you’re done watching, be sure to check out our chat with Shinkai. (And, if you haven’t already, watch Weathering With You and Your Name.)