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Despite only set for a December 18 release, a recent Villeneuve interview with the Shanghai International Film Festival, suggests finishing “Dune” on time for that date is still all up in the air. Principal photography has long been finished, but post-production has been chaotic, with the filmmaker unable to work with his crew in putting the finishing touches on the film “The impact was that it crushed my schedule right now,” he explained....

The project will be Bailey’s feature film debut. Disney hired-hand Rob Marshall (“Mary Poppins Returns”) will direct, with Lin-Manuel Miranda penning brand-new songs. Sounds like fun. In case you didn’t notice, Bailey is African-American and Ariel is a character synonymous with white, redhead-culture. Whatever that means. A lot of movie fans wanted none of that this week and expressed their discontentment, which resulted in 2.4 million dislikes of the trailer in YouTube....

Directed by Jon Favreau, written by Jeff Nathanson, featuring music by Tim Rice and Elton John. Disney will open “The Lion King” on 7.19.19. Donald Glover as Prince Simba; James Earl Jones as King Mufasa, Simba’s father; Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, Simba’s evil uncle; Alfre Woodard as Sarabi, Simba’s Queen mother; Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, the warthog; John Oliver as Zazu, the hornbill; Billy Eichner as Timon, a wise-cracking meerkat; Keegan-Michael Key as Kamari, the hyena and Beyonce Knowles-Carter as Nala, Simba’s childhood love-interest....

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Okay, calm down, I’m half-joking here. For all you folks tired of the ‘King’ bashing, I’ll try to refrain after this final post. Now, it gives me great pleasure to share the news that French critics did not take the “representation” bait like US critics did and that “The Woman King,” a film I found utterly conventional and bland, is underwhelming critically in France with a 2.6 rating on AlloCine (the French equivalent of Rotten Tomatoes)....

Okay, on with the show. Producer Jon Landau confirmed today that “Avatar: The Way of Water” is officially in the can. James Cameron and his team completed the final mix and picture mastering last night. This led to director Guillermo del Toro, who has apparently seen the film, calling Cameron’s sequel “a staggering achievement- AVATAR TWOW is chokefull of majestic Vistas and emotions at an epic, epic scale. A master at the peak of his powers…” Ok, fine....

During the early fall, Kristen Stewart was untouchable and the clear frontrunner for Best Actress. Now? I’m not too sure. Things have changed, her narrative has faltered. Yes, as we speak, she’s still the de facto frontrunner, but that’s just because the actress contenders this year are quite weak and no one performance has really managed to stand out as the one to beat except for hers. There are numerous contenders that have been grabbing K-Stew’s leftover momentum these last few few weeks, those include Frances McDormand in “The Tragedy of Macbeth....

These are the first plot details to come out about Jarmusch’s first film since releasing the best film of his career, 2016’s “Paterson.” Jarmusch doesn’t really concern himself with plot, this could be another hangout film akin to all his other work, but the fact that Sevigny specifies the aim at comedy rather drama is interesting. Mind you, don’t expect “Zombieland” either, but this could be an interesting departure for Jarmusch....

The topics ranged from Coen’s dislike of Orson Welles as a filmmaker, always having final cut, and went into detail about “The Tragedy Of Macbeth.” The 90-minute discussion is well worth a listen. However, what I was most fascinated by was Coen’s take on the art of TV making, more precisely, the fundamental problem of creating a long-form TV series vs moviemaking: “The thing about TV series that I don’t understand and I think is hard for both of us to get our minds around is, you know, feature films have a beginning, a middle and an end,” Coen said....

Boyega played Finn in the recent SW trilogy, and Disney’s lack of intervention on Boyega’s part is still a sore spot for both the actor and his fans, but the real question I have is who gets to decide if this is actually racism or dislike for a bad actor? I don’t believe the criticism against Finn/Boyega is because he’s black, but more so because the character was poorly written....

The event was mostly what you would call by-the-books, but it was great to see the 71-year-old filmmaker hinting that he would soon come back and “make a little horror film.” Detailing specifically what he had in mind, Carpenter said : “I’d love to make a little horror film that would be great or a big adventure film. It would be a project that I like that’s budgeted correctly. Nowadays they make these young directors do movie for $2 million when the movie is written for $10 million....

His next project does sound fascinating. TMZ asked Travolta about “The Fanatic,” a film directed by Fred Durst, yes of Limp Bizkit fame, and the actor had nothing but raves for his filmmaker, “Maybe my favorite experience I’ve had. He’s so generous and he’s such an artist. And he allowed me to create a character that no one else would allow.” The best experience that Travolta ever had? In a film directed by Limp Bizkit’s frontman?...

I’ve received a few messages about starting another early predictions list for Cannes 2023. I mean, it’s really too early, Venice hasn’t even announced this year’s lineup, who knows if Malick or Lanthimos show up etc. With that being said, I’ve been seeing some big name directors, Cannes regulars, starting to shoot new works these last few weeks and months, with what I would assume is the intent of premiering them at Cannes....

Last week, I reported that Ramsay’s “Stone Mattress,” starring Julianne Moore and Sandra Oh, was set to shoot in December. So, we are to assume that “Die, My Love” will be shot after that. “Die, My Love” is described as a stark tale set in rural France of a woman driven to the brink of insanity by marriage and motherhood. Sounds Ramsay-esque. Martin Scorsese is also set to produce the film....

He was asked by host Michael Rosenbaum about MJ, but Culkin admitted feeling a little “ambushed," adding, “He reached out to me because a lot of things were happening big and fast with me, and I think he identified with that,” Culkin said about Jackson. “I mean at the end of the day, it’s almost easy to say it was weird or whatever, but it wasn’t because it made sense....

Scorsese lauded Aster’s “Hereditary” and its ability to create what he saw as a family-driven narrative that doubled as horror and drama, “It’s horror, but it’s more than that,” Scorsese said of Aster’s feature-length debut. “For me, when you take the horror out, it still works. But the horror elements, how should I say this — they shock you in a good way. They shock you into an awakening of the real pain of these people....

Now, he’s doubled down saying that Netflix turned his new project down: “I’m finding I’m having problems getting funding. People want to know what it is and why it is,” he says. “Netflix just turned me down, which is a shame, because they have plenty of money. They said they couldn’t possibly contemplate backing it without knowing who the cast is or what it’s about. It’s nonsense, because if they made it, people would watch it – because it would be there....

Ryan George of Screen Rant attended this clusterfuck of a screening: “The theatre I’m in is playing a trailer for Annabelle: Comes Home before Detective Pikachu LOOK AWAY CHILDREN OH NO,” he tweeted. “Andddd kids are crying. Now the Joker trailer is playing.” Things got worse when the “Child’s Play” trailer was played was next: “NOW IT’S CHUCKY OH NO CHILDREN OH NO.” The crowd was then moved to another theater (“at least there aren’t any more murders on-screen”)....

In our list of the 20 most anticipated Netflix movies of 2021, Theo Rich wrote this about “Stowaway”: “The crew of a spaceship headed to Mars discovers an accidental stowaway shortly after takeoff. Too far from Earth to turn back and with resources quickly dwindling, the ship’s medical researcher emerges as the only dissenting voice against the group consensus that has already decided in favor of a grim outcome. Stowaway is an upcoming sci-fi thriller film, written by Joe Penna and Ryan Morrison and directed by Penna....

A moviegoer who saw the film at the Jersey test-screening told me the VFX looked 90% complete. I do wonder if Universal Pictures, who are distributing the film, will want to premiere ‘1917’ at this upcoming November’s AFI film festival. It would kickstart a Best Picture campaign just a few minutes away from the Kodak Theater (where the Oscars take place). As far as I’m concerned, there is no frontrunner for Best Picture; Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” is the de facto leader of the board, but who are we kidding here, Baumbach’s film, despite critical acclaim, isn’t a film that the Academy’s voters will wholeheartedly embrace....