The upcoming animated feature ‘Wish’ will be in theaters on November 22, 2023, with a brand new trailer debuting this week. Moviefone was invited to the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood to preview brand-new footage and meet directors Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn and Disney Animation Chief Creative Officer Jennifer Lee.
Timed with Disney’s 100th anniversary, the Walt Disney Animation Studio’s ‘Wish’ is an all-new musical action-adventure set in the Kingdom of Rosas. Co-written by Jennifer Lee and Allison Moore, the story follows 17-year-old Asha (Ariana DeBose), who makes a wish upon a bright star in the sky. Her wish is so powerful it brings the cosmic Star to life, and along with her goat sidekick Valentino (Alan Tudyk), they will confront the Kingdom’s ruler – King Magnifico (Chris Pine) in order to save the people of Rosas and their wishes.
The marquee is seen at the Long Lead Press Day & In-Person Presentation for ‘Wish’ at El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, California on September 21, 2023. Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney.
Upon entering the lobby of the theater, there was a life-sized display of Asha and Valentino sitting on a tree branch with a starlit sky behind them. Downstairs housed artwork from the film, as well as original art from the animation research library of background and layouts from classic films like ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ ‘Pinocchio,’ ‘Snow White,’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ The filmmakers used those backgrounds as a reference for color and lighting in the movie.
Displays and signage are seen during the Long Lead Press Day & In-Person Presentation for ‘Wish’ at El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, California on September 21, 2023. Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney.
During the presentation at the El Capitan Theater, Moviefone had the pleasure of screening almost 30 minutes of never-before-seen scenes and footage from ‘Wish’, including a few musical numbers. First, we’re shown a montage of various Disney characters wishing upon a star, as the movie is all about wishes and dreams – a constant staple throughout Disney animated films.
‘Wish’ producers Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster-Jones (‘Encanto’) and Peter Del Vecho (‘Frozen’, ‘Frozen II’) introduce the new trailer, which you can watch above, where we learn the ruler of Rosas – King Magnifico, has the power to grant wishes. Unfortunately, not all wishes are granted, and when Asha finds out, she is disheartened. In a moment of despair, Asha makes her wish upon the brightest star in the sky, and because her wish was so strong and true from the heart, it manifested the cosmic being in the form of Star, a non-verbal ball of energy with magical powers. Later, Asha is deemed a traitor by King Magnifico. The trailer also includes musical numbers such as ‘This Wish’ and shows fun and energetic scenes such as Valentino dancing with a barn full of chickens.
The next scene shown was a musical number, where we see Asha working as a tour guide in the Kingdom of Rosas. She’s late to meet her tour group, but once she arrives, she leads the group through the kingdom with a ton of energy, relaying history and fun facts about the kingdom with a lively tune. The scene also shows how much the people love King Magnifico and his good looks as they fawn over his statue in the square. The scene ends in a grand dance number with Asha and the townspeople.
The third scene is of Asha as she prepares for her apprentice interview with King Magnifico. Queen Amaya has set up the appointment for her, feeling she would be perfect for the position. In the scene, we enter King Magnifico’s room, where a large tapestry hangs from the wall. One corner of the tapestry is burnt. Before King Magnifico enters, Asha sees a spellbook locked behind a glass case. Curious, she places her fingers on one of the glass etchings. To her surprise, they come to life as dragonflies buzzing around her. King Magnifico enters and uses his magic to return the dragonflies to the glass. As they continue to talk, King Magnifico reveals that he remembers Asha’s father before he passed away, and they connect over their history of loss and grief as he lost his family as well. We also find out that only citizens who are 18 or older can make a wish at the Wishing Ceremony.
The fourth scene lasts about 18 minutes and includes a musical number. King Magnifico shows Asha the magical Inner Sanctum, where all the wishes are stored. Asha breaks into song as she takes in the glory of everyone’s unique wish. Some wishes are simple, while some inventive or courageous. Asha realizes wishes aren’t just ideas but a part of one’s heart – the most beautiful part – and is filled with a sense of purpose.
It is here Asha finds out that not all the wishes are granted. Ungranted wishes are kept inside the sanctum, and the citizens who gave their wishes to King Magnifico will not remember what they wished for. Asha disagrees with the King’s method, and this makes him angry. In retaliation, he tells Asha he will not be granting her grandfather’s wish at the Wishing Ceremony and rejects Asha’s application as his apprentice.
(L to R) Ariana DeBose as Asha and Alan Tudyk as the pajama-wearing goat, Valentino in “Wish,” which is helmed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn. The feature film releases Fall 2023.
The scene continues with Asha back home with her grandfather and mom. She tells him that his wish would not be granted and how many wishes are kept ungranted inside the Inner Sanctum. Asha wants to tell her grandfather his wish, but he refuses to hear it and gets upset with her. Hurt by his reaction, Asha leaves the house and heads towards the tree she used to climb with her father. This is where Asha breaks into her song ‘This Wish’. As she walks past the townspeople, she can see their long-forgotten wishes. Once she’s at the tree, she looks upon the brightest star in the sky and makes her wish.
After Asha’s wish, the star in the sky grows even brighter, illuminating the sky and forest in a burst of magic. This catches the attention of the citizens of Rosas and Queen Amaya. Inside the Inner Sanctum, the bulbs of wishes react to the magic. This alerts King Magnifico, who tells Queen Amaya someone is threatening him.
Back in the forest, Star has taken shape and grants Valentino’s wish by sprinkling stardust on him. Soon, Valentino was able to speak. The wish granting doesn’t stop there. Star floats around to a troop of mushrooms, wildflowers, and various woodland creatures who all gain the ability to speak. The animals and plants begin an upbeat song about how they all share a common dream and wish as more animals and plant life come to life, dancing, and singing.
The final footage is where Asha, Valentino, and Star attempt to sneak into the Inner Sanctum to retrieve her grandfather’s wish. At the same time, threatened by Star’s magic, King Magnifico tells the citizens of Rosas about a traitor who practices illegal magic in the kingdom. However, the citizens have begun raising the question of why they can’t remember their wishes.
Seeing this, King Magnifico announces to the kingdom he will grant the wish of the one who can turn in the traitor. King Magnifico breaks into ‘This Is the Thanks I Get’, a song and rap about being unappreciated by his people after all he’s done for them. His reflection is used throughout the number, hinting at his narcissistic personality and ego. As Asha, Valentino, and Star sneak around the Inner Sanctum, a desperate King Magnifico opens the spell book as green-colored magic comes off the pages, and his eyes light up the same color. The floor to the Inner Sanctum opens, revealing winding stone stairs leading to a secret underground chamber. By the end of the song, King Magnifico’s polished and charming demeanor is gone, and he seems more unhinged.
From all the footage shown, ‘Wish’ is shaping up to be a grand story with a ton of fantastic musical numbers. Visually, the animation style is reminiscent of classic Disney hand-drawn 2D animation. Ariana DeBose is perfect as Asha in how she portrays both hopefulness and vulnerability in the character and her incredible vocal performances. Valentino and Star will undoubtedly be scene stealers, and Chris Pine’s King Magnifico will be a very fun villain to watch.
(L to R) Peter Del Vecho, SVP, Feature Film Production, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Fawn Veerasunthorn, Jennifer Lee, CCO, Disney Animation Studios, Chris Buck and Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster-Jones at the Long Lead Press Day & In-Person Presentation for ‘Wish’ at El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, California on September 21, 2023. Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney.
Following the footage, a Q&A took place with directors Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, Chief Creative Officer and Executive Producer Jennifer Lee (who co-wrote the story), and producers Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster Jones.
The conversation of ‘Wish’ started back in 2018 between Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee as they knew they wanted to do something big for Disney’s 100th anniversary.
The film’s overall look was inspired by Buck and Veerasunthorn’s love for classic Disney movies such as ‘Sleeping Beauty’, the main legacy film ‘Wish’ is influenced by. In order to achieve the hand-drawn watercolor look with CG, the directors relied on new technology and a team of artists, technicians, and software writers. Director Chris Buck mentions they also utilized Disney short films as a way to experiment with technology:
“We’ve been doing things where you do incorporate a bit of the hand-drawn into some of the shorts that we’ve done. You get a little bit line around the character, but sometimes the characters are still animated in CG. But again, it’s starting to do what we’ve also been loving to do, and that sort of embracing our legacy, along with moving towards the future. So, I think it’s that hand-drawn look, and computer. It is very hard to describe”
Jennifer Lee, CCO, Disney Animation Studios, speaks onstage at the Long Lead Press Day & In-Person Presentation for ‘Wish’ at El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, California on September 21, 2023. Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney.
Jennifer Lee adds:
“This achievement has meant a lot to us because it’s getting their vision, actually finally having technology and artistry meet in a way that they see eye-to-eye instead of having to compromise. And I think it’s part of why it’s been so hard, because it’s not just about ‘Oh, we can add this and this,’ it’s about what’s the end result we want. And it’s that sense of art.”
Fawn Veerasunthorn chimes in on the topic of blending CG and 2D art together:
“And what I love is that it brings our CG artists and 2D artists together. Because, you know, animators will call and ask for advice about ‘how do you put the lines on the face of a character to accentuate the emotion?’ and they studied that. The effects crew went to the animation research library, where you have seen some of the artwork today. And they study how the effects, the graphic shapes of it was translated into our CG process. And the artists have expressed that this is a wonderful thing that it brought them together, that there’s no longer a boundary between 2D and CG”
As for the music of ‘Wish,’ the team brought in Grammy-nominated songwriter Julia Michaels, producer Benjamin Rice (‘A Star Is Born’), and composer Dave Metzger for the score. At 29 years old, Michaels is the youngest person to write songs for Disney, having written artists such as Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber, Pink, and Selena Gomez, her style brings a contemporary sound to the mix.
(L to R) Peter Del Vecho, SVP, Feature Film Production, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Fawn Veerasunthorn, Jennifer Lee, CCO, Disney Animation Studios, Chris Buck and Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster-Jones speak onstage for ‘Wish’ at the Long Lead Press Day & In-Person Presentation for ‘Wish’ at El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, California on September 21, 2023. Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney.
Talking about Ahsa’s song ‘This Wish’, Fawn Veerasunthorn says:
“And that song was actually the very first song that Julia wrote for this film. We didn’t quite have a whole story at that point.
“We hadn’t written a script yet, even,” adds Jennifer Lee.
Veerasunthorn continues,
“That’s what’s fascinating about it. We gave her some of the brief storyline, and then she wrote that incredible song. And that’s what inspired us so much, of like, there’s this girl who didn’t know where to turn and she looked up the star and poured her heart out, and magical things happened.”
Jennifer Lee points out how well Michaels understood Asha’s character:
“What I love is the rawness of, [Asha] doesn’t even know exactly what she’s asking for. She’s looking for help, but there’s a generosity in her. You know, people tease ‘Oh teenagers only care about themselves,’ I’m like, ‘Well, they don’t.’ They just have the courage to ask for a better world. So, she is so vulnerable in that. And Julia caught all of that and gave back us something more inspired than what we were even thinking about. And it has been a true north for us the whole time.”
Chris Buck adds:
“She understood Asha so well from the very beginning. And so that was great having her as a songwriter. She not only had love for the classics, all the Disney songs, but again, being younger also embraces the more contemporary side, too.”
The filmmakers talk about working with Ariana DeBose and how much of her physicality was integrated into the character. Chris Buck explains that DeBose is very active within the booth:
“A lot. She’s very, very active within the booth (laughs). Sometimes maybe a little too much, because the sound engineer is like, ‘Ariana, can you move back on the mic a little bit?’ But you know, she’s acting it all out. And yes, we record all of it. The animators, all the way down to the mouth shapes, eye shapes, anything that she’s done. She’s so expressive, and she’s so much fun to work with. She gives you a lot of, you know, a lot of taste.”
Producer Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster-Jones remembers when DeBose came to the studio to speak with the animators, “It was really cool to see her interaction. She’s just so unique and she is unafraid to be herself. And the animators really reacted to that.”
Jennifer Lee talks about the inspiration for the film’s villain, King Magnifico.
“First, we started with what do we think about for villains that we’d love to do. Because how do we be different from the previous films, but also a nod to them. And it really is about getting to watch that journey. So we knew we wanted to start where you get to watch him make choices where you might meet the best of him, and then hopefully, survive the worst of him.”
Songwriter Julia Michaels was instrumental in fleshing out the character of King Magnifico, says Lee
“Julie Michaels was instrumental because [the song] ‘This Is the Thanks I Get’ as an idea, which hilariously, is a nod to all moms put up with in the house. We talked a lot about that, for her, that she hooked onto the idea of a narcissist. So, it comes really simple, down to character and the deliciousness and danger of that. And so, for me, when I write, that’s how I had to process is, from inside out. And the person, the charm of that, when tested, people make different choices when tested.”
The filmmakers went through many iterations of Star, and Jennifer Lee touches on why it’s one of the most critical characters in the movie.
“We did many iterations of Star. Star can’t make this wish happen for you. You have to do it. But Star represents the thing that was critical to Walt [Disney], that you need. You need hope. You need possibility. Doesn’t hurt to have some wonder. Don’t forget some joy. All the things that we grab onto that keep us going. So, it helped us because in building Star, this sense of, Star always reminds you to keep going and possibility. And yes, gets to add a little bit of magic. It’s this, trying to capture the simplicity of one person’s journey through Asha. But the emotional story of what Walt cared about built through Star.”
‘Wish’ will arrive in theaters on November 22, 2023. Directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn. It is co-written by Jennifer Lee and Allison Moore, and produced by Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster Jones.
The fourth and final season of the popular Prime Video series ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan,’ starring Krasinski, is set to premiere on June 30th.
In honor of the final season of the series, which introduces Michael Peña as Domingo “Ding” Chavez, who could receive a spin-off of his own in the future, Moviefone is counting down the best Jack Ryan movies of all time.
When the president of Russia suddenly dies, a man whose politics are virtually unknown succeeds him. The change in political leaders sparks paranoia among American CIA officials, so CIA director Bill Cabot (Morgan Freeman) recruits a young analyst (Ben Affleck) to supply insight and advice on the situation. Then the unthinkable happens: a nuclear bomb explodes in a U.S. city, and America is quick to blame the Russians.
When a squad of Russian soldiers kills his family in retaliation for his role in a top-secret op, Sr. Chief John Kelly (Michael B. Jordan) pursues the assassins at all costs. Joining forces with a fellow SEAL (Jodie Turner-Smith) and a shadowy CIA agent (Jamie Bell), Kelly’s mission unwittingly exposes a covert plot that threatens to engulf the U.S. and Russia in an all-out war. Torn between personal honor and loyalty to his country, Kelly must fight his enemies without remorse if he hopes to avert disaster and reveal the powerful figures behind the conspiracy.
A new technologically-superior Soviet nuclear sub, the Red October, is heading for the U.S. coast under the command of Captain Marko Ramius (Sean Connery). The American government thinks Ramius is planning to attack. A lone CIA analyst (Alec Baldwin) has a different idea: he thinks Ramius is planning to defect, but he has only a few hours to find him and prove it – because the entire Russian naval and air commands are trying to find him, too. The hunt is on!
(L to R) Justice Smith plays Simon, Chris Pine plays Edgin, Rege-Jean Page plays Xenk, Sophia Lillis plays Doric and Michelle Rodriguez plays Holga in ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ from Paramount Pictures and eOne.
Roll for initiative! The fantasy adventure movie based on the popular tabletop role-playing game ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ may be arriving on Paramount+ this month.
What happens when a Bard, a Barbarian, a Wizard, and a Druid meet at a tavern? Chaos, naturally. In ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’, directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein (both worked on ‘Game Night’) found the perfect balance of bringing elements of the original tabletop game and an epic fantasy adventure to the big screen. The film incorporated enough easter eggs from the game lore for the fans while making it appealing and interesting to those who have not played the game.
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The official synopsis for ‘Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ is below:
“A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people. ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ brings the rich world and playful spirit of the legendary roleplaying game to the big screen in a hilarious and action-packed adventure.”
‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ opened in theaters on March 31st to $37.2 million domestically and has grossed over $203.2 million worldwide since its release. Critics and audiences reacted positively to the movie, warranting the film 91% and 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes respectively.
(L to R) Michelle Rodriguez plays Holga, Justice Smith plays Simon, Chris Pine plays Edgin and Sophia Lillis plays Doric in ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ from Paramount Pictures and eOne.
From Tabletop To The Big Screen
Tabletop Roleplaying games (or TRPG) have become increasingly popular, especially with the exposure from shows like ‘Stranger Things’, live-play web series from groups such as Dimension 20 and Critical Role, as well as the animated Prime Video series ‘The Legend of Vox Machina’ (also created by Critical Role).
There’s a fine line between adapting the game to screen – how do you fit in all the lore while embracing the hilarity and havoc from a session and still tell an epic high fantasy adventure story? D&D fans may recall the ill-fated 2000 ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ movie. So bad it received a 9% score from critics and 20% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. However, thanks to the well-crafted script for ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’, it manages to capture both the heart and comedy of the story and the amazing chemistry of the cast gives this movie a +2 to Charisma.
(L to R) Justice Smith plays Simon, Chris Pine plays Edgin, Sophia Lillis plays Doric and Michelle Rodriguez plays Holga in ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ from Paramount Pictures and eOne.
Ahead of filming, the cast did play a one-shot session of D&D together prior to filming, which is the best method of researching when it comes to prepping for their roles in the film. After all, what better way to study your character and bond with your cast mates than spending an hour planning out what you’ll do in the dungeon crawl just to have the entire plan go up in flames because of one failed dice role?
One of the great things about this ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ is that it is just as much for the well-versed D&D players as it is for the general audience who may not have ever rolled a d20. Yes, those who have played the game might get an all-knowing chuckle at seeing Simon cast a spell to speak with the dead at the cemetery. Still, the scene was executed so well that the general audience would never feel lost from the references and easter eggs.
Aside from the cast of main characters and dungeon crawls, the film is filled with creatures and easter eggs from Dungeons & Dragons lore such as the original characters from ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Saturday morning cartoon, a gelatinous cube, a mimic, displacer beast, the beholder, and more.
‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ from Paramount Pictures and eOne.
Where Can I Watch ‘Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’?
The film premiered at SXSW on March 10, 2023, and was released theatrically in the United States on March 31, 2023. While the movie is available to rent on digital, it is better experienced in the theater so be sure to check below for showtimes in your area. ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ has a total runtime of 2 hours and 14 minutes.
Watch the official trailers for ‘Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ below:
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Can’t make it out to the theater? You have the option to rent or purchase the movie on VOD. Services such as Amazon Prime Video, Direct TV, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube, AppleTV, AMC On Demand, and Redbox allows you to rent the movie for $19.99 or purchase it for $24.99.
As for as streaming goes, an official date hasn’t been confirmed. The movie is released by Paramount so it is likely to end up on Paramount+ once it is ready to go to streaming. Seeing as the movie premiere on March 31, it is closing in on its 45-day theatrical release window. If it follows the same timeline, we could see the fantasy-adventure streaming on Paramount+ as soon as mid-May.
(L to R) Sophia Lillis plays Doric, Justice Smith plays Simon, Chris Pine plays Edgin and Michelle Rodriguez plays Holga in ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ from Paramount Pictures and eOne.
More High Fantasy Adventures Like ‘Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’:
Even as it continues its habit of shifting some movies (such as the upcoming ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’) to Disney+ as a lure for subscribers, Disney is still seeing big box office for its major releases (if a little lower for, say, recent Marvel and Pixar movies).
So, the company –– which of course boasts those two big franchises plus Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, Searchlight under its giant banner –– is expectedly touting the huge success of ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ and pointing to all the films it has headed our way this year.
Tony Chambers, the company’s head of theatrical distribution led the presentation, highlighting the fact that this year marks the first time since 2019 that they are releasing movies from all seven labels.
The show kicked off with a new clip from a certain incoming Marvel release…
‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’
Marvel Studio’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3.’ Photo courtesy of Marvel.com.
And the mention of ‘Guardians’ was understandably small given that the movie will be in theaters next week (May 5th, to be exact), with just a new clip shown to the audience at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. The footage features Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and the different version of Gamora (Zoe Saldana) we met in ‘Avengers: Endgame’ on a planet in space suits. “I know you don’t remember any of it. You were everything to me, I miss you so much.,” he tells her, pouring out his heart. The funny kicks in with the rest of the gang –– Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) –– revealed to be listening to Peter’s expression of love.
The focus on Marvel continued with the recently released trailer for ‘The Marvels’, though that of course had already been seen. Expect more from that one and other MCU titles when Comic-Con rolls around this summer.
Following that, it was on to Disney’s main animated arm…
Disney Feature Animation has the original fantasy film ‘Wish‘ headed our way later this year. Though the movie was originally announced at last year’s D23, Disney has been drip-feeding information ever since, and CinemaCon is no exception.
The movie, which is also a musical comedy, introduces Asha (Ariana DeBose), a sharp-witted idealist who makes a wish so powerful that it is answered by a cosmic force — a little ball of boundless energy called Star. Together, Asha and Star set out to prove that when the will of one courageous human connects with the magic of the stars, wondrous things can happen. All with the help of Asha’s goat pal Valentino (voiced by current animation lucky charm Alan Tudyk).
A clip was shown, featuring DeBose’s character singing one of her featured tunes, ‘So I Made This Wish’ –– aka the ‘I Want’ song so traditional to Disney princesses with some beautiful sky and scenery around that elicited applause from the crowd.
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And Chambers also announced that Chris Pine is part of the voice cast, playing King Magnifico, the ruler of Rosas, a magical kingdom where wishes really do come true.
Said Jennifer Lee, DWA boss and co-writer of the movie about Pine in a press release from the studio,
“As the most powerful person in the kingdom, King Magnifico needed to be played by someone who could give all the charm, cleverness and charisma to this magnanimous character, and Chris is beautifully bringing all of that and then some.”
‘Wish’, directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, will be in theaters on November 22nd, filling the traditional Disney Thanksgiving slot.
Melissa McCarthy arrived on stage to talk up Rob Marshall’s live action/CG re-imagining of the fairy tale so famously brought to animated life by Disney in 1989. While Halle Bailey plays the titular Ariel, McCarthy is scheming sea witch Ursula.
Here’s what McCarthy had to say about her character.
“Did someone say my name… I had something in my throat. It was an honor to play one of Disney’s most delicious and iconic villains. You can’t help but love her. Ursula is everything — she’s dishy, she’s a conniving broad, maybe that’s why I relate to her.”
McCarthy cued up a new clip from the movie, which fittingly featured her character in the sequence where Ursula grants Ariel’s wish to become a human, and Ursula’s song ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’.
Despite the less-than-stellar results from ‘Lightyear’, Disney continues to see Pixar as a pillar of its schedule, and demonstrated that belief with 20 minutes of impressive, 3D footage from the upcoming ‘Elemental’.
As for the story, it transports us to Element City, where a host of elements live and work. The trailer showcases each element — air, earth, water and fire — and what sets them apart according to Ember Lumen (Lewis), a quick-witted and fiery woman who’s always stayed close to home in Firetown. She finally ventures out of her comfort zone to explore and meets go-with-the-flow water guy Wade Ripple (Athie). Elements are not supposed to mix, but Ember and Wade forge a connection – one that could cause problems for them and their families.
‘Elemental’ will close out this year’s Cannes Film Festival before arriving in theaters on June 16th.
The movie follows the American Samoa soccer team, infamous for their brutal 31-0 FIFA loss in 2001. With the World Cup Qualifiers approaching, the team hires down-on-his-luck, maverick coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender) hoping he will turn the world’s worst soccer team around. The underdog comedy heads to theaters November 17th, and you can watch the trailer below.
Kenneth Branagh’s latest Agatha Christie adaptation sees his Hercule Poirot headed to the floating city, where there are terrifying goings-on.
A first trailer was shown for the movie, which unlike most of the other footage shown today, has gone online.
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This time, a disconsolate Poirot finds himself at a Halloween party in one of the city’s creepier palazzos during a thunderstorm and, as it turns out, a seance. This palazzo is an orphanage, you see, and like all orphanages in ghost stories it’s got a deep, dark secret. A mother searching for a lost child thinks she can make contact through a medium, and over the course of an evening secrets start to unravel.
As was the case with Branagh-Poirot’s last two cases, the cast is stacked: Michelle Yeoh –– or, to give her her full title, Best Actress Oscar-winner and all-round goddess Michelle Yeoh –– will be that medium, Joyce Reynolds, and the cast also includes Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Camille Cottin and Jude Hill, who played the nine-year-old lead in Branagh’s ‘Belfast’.
Next was the first look footage and trailer for 20th Century Studios’ ‘The Creator’, the new sci-fi thriller from ‘Godzilla’ director Gareth Edwards.
Retitled from ‘True Love’, the movie finds humans facing off against robots.
In the trailer shown to audiences, John David Washington is reflecting on heaven with his wife and daughter. The daughter is an android, with a half-head. Gorgeous battle scenes akin to Edwards’ ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story‘ see spaceship fighters attacking tropical locales. It looks astonishing and will hopefully arrive online before too long.
‘The Creator’ will land in theaters on September 29th.
Chambers closed out the presentation by introducing a video greeting from Indy himself –– AKA Harrison Ford, who praised the latest movie and cued up an action-packed clip.
The sneak peek showed Indiana Jones and his goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) bickering with each other as they dodge gunfire and slow-moving camels in a bazaar in Tangier. As an army of mooks chases them, they chase after the Nazi Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), who has the Dial in his possession. But Helena and Indy don’t seem to be on the same page when it comes to the dial. Helena is engaged to an unscrupulous man who wants the dial to make a fortune, and she has her own reasons for wanting to make the sale. Indy wants the dial because, presumably, it belongs in a museum.
And while Helena has the most death-defying moment in the scene as she jumps onto Jurgen’s car, Indy isn’t taking it easy as he drives a small cart through narrow streets and reaches out to grab the dial without getting shot by Jurgen’s right-hand man, Klaber, played by Boyd Holbrook.
The clip got a rousing reaction from theater owners, and ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny‘ is headed to Cannes before landing in theaters on June 30th.
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And that was it for the main presentation, though the company had one final treat up its sleeve –– a screening of new Stephen King adaptation ‘The Boogeyman’. That one will be scaring audiences in theaters from June 2nd.
(L to R) Justice Smith plays Simon, Chris Pine plays Edgin, Sophia Lillis plays Doric and Michelle Rodriguez plays Holga in ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ from Paramount Pictures and eOne.
They’re helped by a charming cast that have solid chemistry, a witty script that channels everything from ‘Lord of the Rings’ to ‘Monty Python’ and an enchanting visual style that is bursting with impressive effects work.
If you’re a longtime player of the game, chances are you’ll have a good time spotting the various references and easter eggs sprinkled within the film, but if you don’t know your Paladin from your Cleric, you don’t need to swot up to understand the story.
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What happens in ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’?
‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ takes as its basis the tabletop gaming system invented in 1974 by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and currently overseen by the company known as Wizards of the Coast. It’s the sort of elemental fantasy world that has been copycatted many, many times. And yet, it still feels original here.
We’re introduced to Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine), a charming bard-turned-thief and his best friend, barbarian Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez), who are cooling their heels in prison after being caught on a job trying to steal magical artefacts.
Betrayed by Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant) and dark magic acolyte Sofina (Daisy Head), the pair must make good their escape and recruit a band of unlikely adventurers (including Justice Smith’s lackluster wizard Simon Aumar and Sophia Lillis’ shape-changing druid Doric to undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.
The stakes are high: the artifact that Edgin and his original associates retrieved has been used by Sofina and her group of evil red wizards to unleash an army of the undead and general chaos upon the fantasy world. Our heroes must make things right, assuming they can stop squabbling along the way…
(L to R) Hugh Grant plays Forge in ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ from Paramount Pictures and eOne.
‘Dungeons & Dragons’ is powered by fun performances
Making full use of the entertaining script written by writer/directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the cast make this latest stab at ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ work far beyond the ill-fated 2000 movie.
Pine, who has proven he can handle a blend of comedy, heart and action with movies such as the ‘Star Trek’ franchise, here makes for a typically appealing leading man while sending himself up at times. His Edgin is such a charming rogue, just this side of annoying but never smug.
Key to his character’s appeal is the fact that he’s not your basic action protagonist –– he’s heroic and can handle himself, but he’d much rather let Holga deal with any fighting. Rodriguez, usually found within the ‘Fast & Furious’ ensemble, gets more of a chance to have fun here, similarly undercutting the expectations of her character and proving to have a great buddy comedy connection with Pine. One of the smartest moves was to eschew a basic romantic storyline for these two, making the story feel like it isn’t the 500th variation of a well-used tale.
Her character is also the focus of a very enjoyable cameo from a big movie star that has yet to be widely reported, so we won’t spoil it here.
Grant mostly channels his smooth-talking Phoenix Buchanan from ‘Paddington 2’ to play Forge, but while he’s a low-level antagonist who only has a few key scenes, he steals most of them.
Smith and Lillis make for a great duo: he the nervy wizard struggling with self-esteem and his magical abilities, she the cagey druid who can become almost anything she wishes to be but would rather not hang out with humans. And while Pine and Rodriguez enjoy the lion’s share of the material, Grant, Smith and Lillis all have enough moments to keep their characters memorable.
Plus, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Regé-Jean Page’s Xenk Yendar, who the crew seeks out for help. A ramrod straight hero in the classic mold, he’s a blend of Drax from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and Christopher Reeve‘s Superman. He doesn’t appear in a lot of the movie, but he certainly makes an impact.
The movie as a whole has been carefully calibrated to have as wide an appeal as possible, putting a truly entertaining spin on heroes, villains and even exposition –– the image of heroes getting information out of a series of resurrected corpses is one that will stick (and still make you laugh) for days afterwards.
(L to R) Michelle Rodriguez plays Holga, Justice Smith plays Simon and Chris Pine plays Edgin in ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ from Paramount Pictures and eOne.
‘Dungeons & Dragons’ might not be for everyone
There are still elements of the movie that could turn people off: if you’re not a fan of the “Marvelization” of blockbusters putting jokes into adventure or action, this movie might not be the best entry point.
The jokes tend to be more on the chuckle level than giant belly laughs (though there are certainly a few of those here, including a moment featuring both the “dungeon” and “dragon” part of the title). And, yes, it is another movie where a group of quippy heroes have to go on a quest to find a magic thing to fix a situation wrought by a magical baddie. But it does some interesting things with that very basic concept.
At more than two hours, there are small moments that drag and odd sections that don’t support the running time expended on it, but those are few and far between. And if you came to the movie expecting to see plenty of Page’s character, he’s in a couple of scenes and then vanishes for most of the movie until the end. That’s not necessarily a problem, but he works so well with the rest of the ensemble and is so straightforwardly heroic that you might actually miss him when he leaves (in a straight line, jumping over a rock… it’s a thing).
Fantasy is a tricky genre to infuse with humor, but ‘Honor Among Thieves’ pulls it off with aplomb. In a world where even the shoddy 2000 movie can generate sequels, this one deserves to roll a saving throw and spawn a franchise, as, handled correctly, these are characters you’ll want to spend more time with.
‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ receives 9 out of 10 stars.
(L to R) Justice Smith plays Simon, Chris Pine plays Edgin, Rege-Jean Page plays Xenk, Sophia Lillis plays Doric and Michelle Rodriguez plays Holga in ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ from Paramount Pictures and eOne.
Other Movies Similar to ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves:’
Based on a novel series created by Meg Cabot that launched in 2000, the 2001 original saw Hathaway as Mia Thermopolis, a socially awkward but happy teenager living in and attending private school in San Francisco with her mother and her cat.
Mia’s life is thrown for a loop when she learns from her mother Helen Thermopolis (Caroline Goodall) that her deceased father, Philippe Renaldi (Rene Auberjonois), was the Crown Prince of Genovia.
To keep the royal reigns from passing to another family due to a broken bloodline, Queen Clarisse Renaldi (Dame Julie Andrews) seeks the favor of her estranged granddaughter in hopes that she will take her father’s place as the Crown Princess. While Mia contemplates her future, her grandmother insists on turning her from a social misfit to a lady fit for the throne.
And that, of course, causes further chaos for Mia and best friend Lilly Moscovitz (Heather Matarazzo) as she figures out how to navigate school, hormones and the challenges of a small European country.
Much of the cast returned for the sequel – 2004’s ‘The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement’ – which added extra wrinkles, including the presence of Chris Pine’s Nicholas Devereaux, a potential threat to Mia’s claim to the throne who ends up as her love interest.
(L to R) Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway in 2001’s ‘The Princess Diaries.’
Garry Marshall directed both of the movies, but his death in 2016 meant that a lot of the forward momentum was taken out of any plan for a third film.
Still, rumors would pop up from time to time and this appears the closest that anyone has gotten to an actual plan for a threequel.
And Disney has Aadrita Mukerji, who has worked on series including ‘Supergirl’, ‘Reacher’ and ‘Quantum Leap’, writing the script.
What the company doesn’t have yet, at least in an official, signed-to-a-deal capacity, is Hathaway, though she’s often said that she’s more than willing to return to the world of the ‘Diaries’ – even as recently as last month.
With more than $300 million in the bank from the first two movies and a big fanbase that has introduced their children to the movies, it’s hardly surprising that Disney would want to keep hope alive.
Anne Hathaway in 2001’s ‘The Princess Diaries.’
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And the new film is a very, very different beast from that initial offering, swapping charming, warm coming-of-age antics and slapstick humor for paranoia, gaslighting and a theme that would feel right at home in a thriller from the 1970s.
We’re introduced to Alice Chambers (Florence Pugh) and husband Jack (Harry Styles) who count themselves lucky to be living in the idealized community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the highly top secret Victory Project and their families.
The 1950’s societal optimism espoused by their boss Frank (Chris Pine) – who is equal parts corporate visionary and motivational life coach – influences every aspect of daily life in the tight-knit desert utopia, which is seemingly carved from the landscape in California’s Palm Springs.
While the husbands spend every day inside the Victory Project Headquarters, working on the “development of progressive materials,” their wives, including Frank’s elegant partner, Shelley (Gemma Chan) fill their time enjoying the beauty, luxury and debauchery of their community. Life is perfect, with every resident’s needs met by the company. All they ask in return is discretion and unquestioning commitment to the Victory cause.
Alice and Jack are initially thrilled with their lives, sizzling with sexual chemistry and barely able to keep their hands off each other when they’re at home, and at one point in Frank’s bedroom during a party.
Even though it might seem repetitive – Jack heads off to work, Alice cleans the house and busies herself with cooking, ballet and shopping – it’s so comfortable that no-one questions it. Until Alice starts to.
She’s spurred by the behavior of another wife, KiKi Layne’s Margaret, who has been having serious second thoughts after taking her son out to the restricted desert area outside the community, where he disappeared and is seemingly dead.
As Margaret’s actions grow more out of keeping with everyone else, Alice starts to feel a tingling sense of paranoia. Is this idealized life she’s living as, well, ideal? And her sense of reality starts to crumble.
Given that this is a psychological thriller, you know there will be something going on, but we won’t get into that here – the basic set-up is all you really need.
Wilde weaves a compelling, mysterious and stylish story, stretching a relatively thrifty $20-$30 million budget into an effective, layered world. She drip-feeds tension into the narrative from the off with the mysterious rumbles that shake the houses from time to time, written off by the residents as a side-effect of whatever the men are working on.
She and her team have built something that looks and sounds fabulous, whether it’s cinematographer Matthew Libatique’s sun-bleached visions of this community with its pastel, mid-century modern houses or John Powell’s score, which dials up the creepiness as the narrative moves on. Together with the sound team, it creates a real feeling of unease.
The script, from ‘Booksmart’s Katie Silberman, based on a story by her alongside Carey Van Dyke and Shane Van Dyke (yes, as in Dick Van Dyke – they’re his grandsons) serves as a solid example of the paranoia genre, crafting this world before challenging it.
While ‘Booksmart’ explored female friendship and teenage frustration, ‘Darling’ switches genres and attitude, but still keeps the focus on the experiences of women, taking in divided gender expectations of the past and gaslighting.
Pugh is, of course, fantastic, breathing conflicted life into Alice at every moment, whether she’s happily cooking up a roast, engaging in enthusiastic romance with her husband or seeing a plane crash in the desert that no one else wants to acknowledge.
Styles isn’t quite on her level, but he brings a charm and eagerness to Jack that works for the character, and when he’s called upon to do more than that, he handles it effectively.
Pine, meanwhile, is a smooth guru type, his voice full of a hypnotic, magnetic, confident smoothness that has everyone both ready to hang on his every word and yet remain slightly afraid of him.
The rest of the cast fill their roles well too – Chan playing the alpha wife to the hilt, while Wilde is Alice’s best friend Bunny, an amusing and slightly sarcastic homemaker with two kids and a slight drinking problem (though given the 1950s period, everyone happily guzzles booze, so it’s not as noticeable to them).
Despite being a key element of the story Layne doesn’t get as much to do, Margaret a slightly underserved character who edges towards cliché at times. It’s no fault of the actor, who brings a pained vulnerability to her role.
As the truth begins to dawn on Alice, and on us, the pace speeds up and the overall effect unravels slightly, the final act never quite as compelling as the build-up, the various details undercut in a more straightforward action-focused finale.
You might well figure out ahead of the characters what’s going on, and there are clues here and there sprinkled throughout the movie that verge on the less than subtle. Wilde has plenty of ideas that she wants to unpack, but not all of them arrive completely thought through – when the big revelations start to drop, the cracks in more than just Alice’s reality start to show and you’ll have questions not easily answered by the script.
Yet it still doesn’t diminish what has gone before and Pugh remains as committed as ever, spurring you to empathize with Alice even as she worries that she might be losing her mind. It’s twisted, audacious and, at least until the end, surprising. Ignore the unnecessary noise around the movie and let it transport you.
‘Don’t Worry Darling’ receives 3.5 out of 5 stars.
You know how it is… you think you’re living the perfect life in an idyllic community with all your needs taken care of and your neighbors a group of the best-looking people around.
And then you start to dig a little deeper and discover that it might all be built on a lie, and that the closer you get to the truth, the more danger there is.
All right, so very few people actually live that sort of life out of the movies, but that’s exactly the quandary that Alice (Florence Pugh) finds herself in in the latest trailer for Olivia Wilde’s ‘Don’t Worry Darling’.
The story for the new movie finds Alice and Jack (Harry Styles), who consider themselves lucky to be living in the idealized community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families. The 1950’s societal optimism espoused by their CEO, Frank (Chris Pine) — equal parts corporate visionary and motivational life coach — anchors every aspect of daily life in the tight-knit desert utopia.
While the husbands spend every day inside the Victory Project Headquarters, working on the “development of progressive materials,” their wives — including Frank’s elegant partner, Shelley (Gemma Chan) — get to spend their time enjoying the beauty, luxury, and debauchery of their community. Life is perfect, with every resident’s needs met by the company. All they ask in return is discretion and unquestioning commitment to the Victory cause.
But when cracks in their idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice can’t help questioning exactly what they’re doing in Victory, and why. Just how much is she willing to lose to expose what’s really going on in this paradise?
Wilde, who broke into directing with ‘Booksmart’ has made what looks like an intriguingly paranoid period thriller with shades of 1970s movies, ‘The Prisoner’ and the style of something that Stanley Kubrick would nod approvingly towards.
She also steps in front of the camera this time, as Mary, one of the wives who seeks to keeps the others from looking to deeply into their situation. Wilde also has Nick Kroll, Douglas Smith, Timothy Simons and KiKi Layne on the roster.
Working with cinematographer Matthew Libatique (a regular collaborator with Darren Aronofsky), and ‘Booksmart’ production designer Katie Byron, Wilde, who has a script from Katie Silberman, Carey Van Dyke, and Shane Van Dyke, certainly appears to have created something exciting, dramatic, and visually arresting.
‘Don’t’ Worry Darling’ will have you questioning the nature of your own reality when it arrives in theaters on September 23rd.
If there was one major take-away from the ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, it was that Hugh Grant should be on as many panels as he wants to be. Whether he’s in the show, movie, comic or game being pimped or not.
If there was another major take-away from the panel, it was that ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ looks like a whole lot of fun.
While ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ as a concept doesn’t have the greatest cinematic history (the 2000 version, which starred Jeremy Irons, Justin Whalin and Marlon Wayans is infamously divisive among movie fans, and scored terrible reviews), ‘Honor Among Thieves’ – or at least the footage shown at Comic-Con – is certainly on a better footing so far.
(L to R) Regé-Jean Page, Sophia Lillis, Michelle Rodriguez, Chris Pine and Hugh Grant from Paramount’s ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ at San Diego Comic-Con 2022.
Daley and Goldstein, who previously made the likes of ‘Game Night’, both had history as D&D players, and the cast also made mention of the board games’ impact of their lives – even if it was limited to knowing it exists.
In a funny, relaxed panel dominated by Grant’s humorous reactions to every question – he ran the gamut from S&M jokes to dropping a ‘Notting Hill’ referencing while quipping that this was his first time at the Con “but we tried to come for ‘Sense & Sensibility’ – the cast and creators offered some insight into making the movie but also showed off their easy chemistry.
‘Honor Among Thieves’ promises the story of a charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers, who undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.
Pine plays a Danny Ocean-in-fantasy world style character, who makes plans but also plays the lute. Rodriguez is a powerful barbarian who provides the muscle, while Page is a heroic paladin. Smith is a sorcerer, Lillis a druid and Grant appears as Forge Fletcher, a rogue and the movie’s main antagonist.
Paramount’s ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2022.
There are magical items to find (naturally) and one in particular that has unleashed a terrible evil. But basic fantasy plot aside, the movie has a very Taika Waititi feel to it, blending comedy with action and subverting our expectations.
As the panel ended, the first full trailer for the movie played (find it above) and showed off just some of what the movie will have to offer. Dragons? Check. Dungeons? Yep. Magical mayhem? Sure. Creatures galore? You betcha.
Effects teams are still hard at work on this one (Daley shouted out ILM and Legacy Effects “who brought you Baby Yoda” as the main providers) and we can expect to see ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ in theaters on March 3 next year.
(L to R) Justice Smith plays Simon, Sophia Lillis plays Doric, Chris Pine plays Edgin and Michelle Rodriguez plays Holga in ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ from Paramount Pictures.(L to R) Chris Pine plays Edgin and Regé-Jean Page plays Xenk in ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ from Paramount Pictures.Paramount Pictures’ ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ opens in theaters on March 3rd 2023.
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There’s a grand tradition of movies set in the 1950s and 60s that use seemingly perfect suburbia as a hotbed of paranoia and suspicion. Olivia Wilde is adding to it with her new film, ‘Don’t Worry Darling’.
Having launched her directorial career successfully with charming, witty comedy ‘Booksmart’, Wilde has a boosted budget and a starry cast for this new movie, which looks sumptuous and sexy, and promises the sorts of paranoid thrills that can bubble under a manufactured community such as the towns that popped up in remote desert locations near government or military facilities.
The story for the new movie finds Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles), who consider themselves lucky to be living in the idealized community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families. The 1950’s societal optimism espoused by their CEO, Frank (Chris Pine) — equal parts corporate visionary and motivational life coach — anchors every aspect of daily life in the tight-knit desert utopia.
While the husbands spend every day inside the Victory Project Headquarters, working on the “development of progressive materials,” their wives — including Frank’s elegant partner, Shelley (Gemma Chan) — get to spend their time enjoying the beauty, luxury, and debauchery of their community. Life is perfect, with every resident’s needs met by the company. All they ask in return is discretion and unquestioning commitment to the Victory cause.
But when cracks in their idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice can’t help questioning exactly what they’re doing in Victory, and why. Just how much is she willing to lose to expose what’s really going on in this paradise?
And the trailer also promises a whole lot of sexy chemistry between Pugh and Styles, who certainly appear to be happily married characters — at least, before Pugh’s Alice starts to wonder what lurks beyond at her husband’s job and soon discovers that the people behind it don’t want anyone digging into their secrets.
Working with cinematographer Matthew Libatique (a regular collaborator with Darren Aronofsky), and ‘Booksmart’ production designer Katie Byron, Wilde, who has a script from Katie Silberman, Carey Van Dyke, and Shane Van Dyke, certainly appears to have created something exciting, dramatic, and stylish. We’re getting similar vibes to ‘The Stepford Wives’ and TV’s ‘The Prisoner’.
‘Don’t Worry Darling’ will be in theaters on September 22nd this year.
