2006’s ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ succeeded thanks to the sheer star power of its cast and a sharp script from Aline Brosh McKenna that spotlighted workplace comedy in the rarified air of a luxury fashion magazine. So what does that world look like these days? As you might expect, struggling legacy media, the rise of AI and our main characters reflecting on changed circumstances in their lives. But can it channel the charisma of the original?
With McKenna once again drawing (even more loosely this time from Lauren Weisberger’s original source novel), the screenplay has plenty of Miranda Priestly Zingers and some –– pun entirely intended –– blunt putdowns. And while the story feels rushed in places, it at least has something on its mind beyond the fashion world.
David Frankel, meanwhile, does a workmanlike job on keeping things (mostly) light and fun, and the new movie feels of a piece with the original.
Though Hathaway’s Andy can still come across a little bland, the actor’s innate charm helps keep her watchable. But we all know we’re here for Streep, Tucci and Blunt, and they certainly deliver.
Around the main foursome, the supporting cast is solid –– Rachel Bloom steals scenes as Andy’s book publisher pal, while Justin Theroux is good value as billionaire, Benji Barnes, Emily’s current beau.
Though it occasionally falls into the trap of rehashing old storylines (perhaps that’s a nod to the cycling of fashion trends) and rarely rises above the level of serviceable sequel, this second visit with Miranda, Andy and the rest still offers plenty for fans who have wanted to see these characters back on screens.
Twenty years on, Miranda (Meryl Streep), Andy (Anne Hathaway), Emily (Emily Blunt) and Nigel (Stanley Tucci) return to the fashionable streets of New York City and the sleek offices of Runway Magazine.
Originally conceived and scripted by Bryan Woods and Scott Beck (with Krasinski working on the script when he agreed to direct and star), the first ‘A Quiet Place’ follows a family (Krasinski, real-life wife Emily Blunt and two kids) surviving in the aftermath of an alien invasion by blind aliens with incredibly powerful hearing who hunt and kill humans.
That movie enjoyed $50.2 million opening weekend, and a near $153M domestic and $341M global take, and received an Oscar nomination for Sound Editing.
It saw its release pushed due to Covid, but brought the box office back alive during Memorial Day weekend 2021 with a $57M four-day start, ending with a $160M domestic and $297.3M global haul. A prequel, ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’, arrived in 2024, directed by Michael Sarnoski.
When will ‘A Quiet Place: Part III’ be on screens?
The movie is set for a July 30, 2027 release date.
(L to R) John Krasinski as Lee Abbott, and Noah Jupe as Marcus Abbott in ‘A Quiet Place.’
With David Frankel back as director and writer Aline Brosh McKenna once again working from Lauren Weisberger’s novel source, it’ll be interesting to see how the characters have moved forward in the (gulp) 20 years since the first film.
The first movie saw the ambitious yet occasionally overwhelmed Andy Sachs (Hathaway) taking on the role of junior assistant to the powerful Miranda Priestly (Streep), editor-in-chief of a high-profile fashion magazine.
The sequel follows Priestly as she navigates her career amid the decline of traditional magazine publishing and as she faces off against Blunt’s character, now a high-powered executive for a luxury group with advertising dollars that Priestly desperately needs.
From the looks of the trailer, Priestly is just as imperious as ever –– but is her attitude towards everyone just her usual shade or is she struggling with memory issues?
When will ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ be in cinemas?
As a whole, it was a fairly run-of-the-mill awards ceremony – some tearful speeches, a sprinkling of politics, jokes about Leonardo DiCaprio’s dating life – but got the job done.
Glaser returned to host again, offering a few fun skits (a parody of the Nicole Kidman AMC ad targeting podcasts, and a mash-up for ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ and ‘Marty Supreme’ with a Fran Drescher cameo.
Yes, some of the jokes were entirely predictable, but there were some pointed jabs at CBS News (“see BS News”) and the Epstein Files.
And overall, Glaser kept the show moving (it eventually ended roughly 10 minutes late).
There were a lot of expected winners, including several trophies for ‘One Battle After Another,’ ‘Sinners’ and the latest for ‘Marty Supreme’s Timothée Chalamet.
But the surprises were more fun –– ‘Hamnet’ scooped the Motion Picture – Drama award, while ‘The Secret Agent’ nabbed Non-English Language Film and a more unexpected (if entirely deserved) Actor trophy for star Wagner Moura.
A lot of the TV awards for drama and comedy were similar to other shows such as the Emmys, with ‘The Pitt,’‘The Studio’ and ‘Adolescence’ all winning more hardware for their trophy cabinets.
Awards shows are usually a mix of humble and heartfelt, and ‘One Battle’s Teyana Taylor certainly got that in early with her tearful acceptance moment.
Outside of acceptance speeches, Judd Apatow killed it presenting Best Director, nodding to Nikki Glaser’s history babysitting his daughters and his “quiet boycott” of the awards after ‘Trainwreck’ lost to ‘The Martian’ in the comedy category a decade ago.
Wanda Sykes was also on top form as she presented the Stand-Up category, swiping at Bill Maher and particularly Ricky Gervais, whose award she accepted “on behalf of God and trans people.”
And Snoop Dogg was… Snoop Dogg, handing out the first Podcast award, which was won by Amy Poehler for ‘Good Hang.’
There was much praise for Macaulay Culkin, who was presenting Best Screenplay, and scored a standing ovation as he took the stage.
Julia Roberts hyped up her own stint on stage Presenting Best Motion Picture Comedy, while poor George Clooney had to note that he did not get the same reaction presenting drama, a fact reiterated by pal Don Cheadle, who showed up to gently rib him.
The Golden Globes will take place on December 8th.
Despite lots of changes behind the scenes and some serious PR airbrushing, the Golden Globes never quite retained their luster. Still, they’re a big stop on the awards circuit and the nominations were announced today by Marlon Wayans and Skye P. Marshall during a press conference held at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.
And on the TV front, ‘The White Lotus’ and this year’s big small screen sensation, the one-shot drama ‘Adolescence’ have the most nominations for their side of the awards.
Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture
(L to R) Teyana Taylor as Perfidia and Sean Penn as Col. Steven J. Lockjaw in ‘One Battle After Another.’ A Warner Bros. Pictures Release. Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
Paul Thomas Anderson, ‘One Battle After Another’ Ryan Coogler, ‘Sinners’
Guillermo del Toro, ‘Frankenstein’ Jafar Panahi, ‘It Was Just an Accident’ Joachim Trier, ‘Sentimental Value’
Paul Thomas Anderson, ‘One Battle After Another’ Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie, ‘Marty Supreme’
Ryan Coogler, ‘Sinners’
Jafar Panahi, ‘It Was Just an Accident’ Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier, ‘Sentimental Value’ Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell, ‘Hamnet’
Cynthia Erivo is Elphaba in ‘Wicked For Good’, directed by Jon M. Chu.
“Dream as One”, ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’
“Golden”, ‘KPop Demon Hunters’
“I Lied to You”, ‘Sinners’
“No Place Like Home”, ‘Wicked: For Good’
“The Girl in the Bubble”, ‘Wicked: For Good’
“Train Dreams”, ‘Train Dreams’
Image for Taylor Swift’s ‘The Official Release Party of a Showgirl.’
Preview:
Taylor Swift’s ‘The Official Release Party of a Showgirl’ topped the box office.
The album release party movie earned $33 million.
MMA biopic ‘The Smashing Machine’ was third.
Taylor Swift has proved once again that she has the power. Even though her latest cinematic offering, ‘The Official Release Party of a Showgirl’ isn’t a concert film like ‘The Eras Tour’ a couple of years ago, fans flocked to see it on release this weekend.
It’s even more impressive when you consider that Swift dropped word of it around two weeks ago via her (albeit mighty) social channels and there has been little other promotion beyond backers AMC Theaters, who scored another exclusive deal with the singer.
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‘Showgirl,’ an 89-minute listening party that offers fans a look at a new music video and behind-the-scenes footage for her 12th studio album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl,’ took in an impressive $33 million this weekend on a three-day limited run. And with Swift bypassing studios, she and AMC enjoy a bigger cut of any profits.
How did ‘The Official Release Party of a Showgirl’ perform elsewhere?
Image for Taylor Swift’s ‘The Official Release Party of a Showgirl.’
Internationally, the new Swift release earned $13 million, for a $46 million global haul so far. As mentioned, it won’t be sticking around theaters (we’re sure studios and filmmakers will breathe a sigh of relief) and will likely now head to home entertainment channels.
It’s all in support of her latest album, which itself has been breaking records itself despite some mixed reviews.
Here’s AMC’s CEO Adam Aron in a statement about the latest Swift cinema release:
“On behalf of AMC Theatres and the entire theatrical exhibition industry, I extend our sincerest appreciation to the iconic Taylor Swift for bringing her brilliance and magic to movie theatres this weekend. Her vision to add a cinematic element to her incredible album debut was nothing less than a triumph.”
What else happened at the box office this weekend?
Dwayne Johnson stars in ‘The Smashing Machine’. Photo: A24.
The movie, which cost $50 million to produce (and more to market), earned a disappointing third place launch. A24 will likely still be pinning its hopes on this one being an awards contender, and it remains to be seen whether the lackluster financial performance hurts those chances.
Second place went to Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘One Battle After Another,’ the anarchic comedic action epic starring Leonardo DiCaprio. With $41 million earned to date in the US, it is now PTA’s most successful movie, but with a $130 million-plus price tag, faces a steep climb to breaking even.
Dwayne Johnson in ‘The Smashing Machine’. Photo: A24.
Not nearly as pleasurably anxiety-inducing as his previous films with brother Josh, Benny Safdie’s solo directing debut finds the filmmaker enabling star Dwayne Johnson’s push into the realm of ‘serious actor’ – and on that level, ‘The Smashing Machine’ is a success. The Rock rises to the occasion here with his measured, compelling, and complex portrayal of real-life UFC fighter Mark Kerr, showing vulnerability and humanity that he has largely not explored in his action-heavy resume to date.
As a film overall, ‘The Smashing Machine’ – based extensively on the 2002 HBO documentary of the same name – is less effective. It lacks context for Kerr’s story, which may leave viewers not familiar with the UFC or MMA bewildered, and it’s episodic in nature, weaving the highs and lows of Kerr’s career from 1997 to 2000 around his fraught, co-dependent relationship with girlfriend (and eventual wife, then ex-wife) Dawn Staples (Emily Blunt). Take away Johnson’s absorbing performance, and it’s a standard sports biopic with a weirdly muted energy.
Story and Direction
(L to R) Director Benny Safdie and Dwayne Johnson and on the set of ‘The Smashing Machine’. Photo: A24.
Safdie seems to take a lot of incidents and even lines of dialogue from ‘The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr,’ the HBO documentary, and his tendency to film in a cinema-verité style brings this film even closer aesthetically to the 2002 doc. The main difference, of course, is that this version features Dwayne Johnson as Kerr, and while we don’t get a lot of backstory on either him or his chosen field, we are nevertheless drawn into his struggle.
Kerr fights on several fronts even when he’s not in the ring. He’s a soft-spoken, gentle, kind man with a vulnerable center – he won’t even go on certain amusement park rides because they’ll hurt his ‘tummy’ – yet he’s also possessed of a deep inner rage that will explode out of nowhere and result in a bedroom door smashed to splinters on the floor. He doesn’t know how to handle defeat because he’s ‘never lost,’ even saying so in an interview before a match in Japan (where he frequently fought). Yet this is also a man who grudgingly realizes that he can’t win all the time, a realization borne out in the film’s final scenes.
Opioids and Dawn are what Kerr battles the most, the former for the pain and wear of his profession and the latter for the pain and wear of co-dependency. In several instances, Dawn comes out into their living room to find him sitting in a stupor, staring at the TV. She’s no angel herself when it comes to substances, with Kerr stunned late in the film when she refuses to stay away from the goodies herself in support of his emergence from rehab. ‘You’re no fun anymore!’ she shrieks at him with almost deliberate cruelty, despite Kerr’s earlier descent into addiction being nothing less than harrowing.
(L to R) Emily Blunt, Dwayne Johnson and director Benny Safdie on the set of ‘The Smashing Machine’. Photo: A24.
The brawls inside the ring are less emotionally fraught but more physically brutal. Boxing may be the ‘sweet science,’ but UFC fighting is frankly nothing less than barbaric. Yet the fighters themselves are respectful to each other outside the ring, even friends, which provides its own touching moments.
Safdie shoots all this, as mentioned earlier, in a somewhat detached documentary style, but the compilation of incidents from Kerr’s life and career never take on an organic momentum of their own. That may be Safdie in part trying to avoid the usual rise-fall-return of most sports biopics (and biopics in general), which is commendable. But he still can’t avoid a number of the tropes and the film almost fights itself, trying to show a documentary restraint yet not quite reaching any real emotional heights – except in Johnson’s raw performance.
Cast and Performances
(L to R) Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt star in ‘The Smashing Machine’. Photo: A24.
‘Raw’ is really the right word for Dwayne Johnson’s performance (which does bring to mind the Safdies’ reinvention of Adam Sandler in ‘Uncut Gems’), and fans may be unnerved to see him sobbing at several points in the film. Wearing prosthetics to bury himself more in the role, Johnson visibly digs deep and delivers, even if the viewer is aware that he’s also thinking about his award-season run.
Emily Blunt’s Dawn Staples is a problematic and not especially sympathetic character; while Blunt throws herself into the part (their biggest fight, climaxing in a bathroom, is intense and even frightening), the character is difficult because she’s either subservient to Kerr or selfishly manipulative toward him. Dawn is both exasperating and the typical ‘girlfriend/wife’ we see in sports biopics, but the movie never quite burrows under her skin.
Much of the rest of the film – in keeping with Safdie’s seeming desire to replicate as much of the documentary as possible – is cast with real people from the world of MMA and UFC playing either themselves or fictionalized versions of other real people. Ryan Bader in particular is quite good as Kerr’s former friend Mark Coleman, bringing sensitivity, decency, and honesty to a character whose loyalty Kerr constantly tests.
Final Thoughts
Dwayne Johnson stars in ‘The Smashing Machine’. Photo: A24.
As we said at the top of this review, the main focus of ‘The Smashing Machine’ – Dwayne Johnson’s transformative performance – is what works best. Which is a good thing, both for him and the movie, although no doubt debates will rage over whether this is a shameless bid for awards recognition from an actor whose chops – like those of fellow wrestlers-turned-actors John Cena and Dave Bautista – have not always been taken seriously.
Still, Johnson does step up, although in the end ‘The Smashing Machine’ itself is serviceable, occasionally fascinating, and intermittently moving. We’re not sure what the film says in the end: Mark Kerr was a UFC and MMA pioneer before they became cultural behemoths, and in a sense he was passed by as a result. But since that has been chronicled already in a documentary, does a narrative version have a point? That’s the barrier ‘The Smashing Machine’ struggles to break through.
‘The Smashing Machine’ receives a score of 75 out of 100.
(L to R) Director Benny Safdie, Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson on the set of ‘The Smashing Machine’. Photo: A24.
What is the plot of ‘The Smashing Machine’?
Legendary mixed martial arts and UFC fighter Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) battles addiction, injuries, and other challenges to his career, while also entwined in a dysfunctional relationship with his girlfriend Dawn Staples (Emily Blunt).
Who is in the cast of ‘The Smashing Machine’?
Dwayne Johnson as Mark Kerr
Emily Blunt as Dawn Staples
Ryan Bader as Mark Coleman
Bas Rutten as himself
Oleksandr Usyk as Igor Vovchanchyn Lyndsey Gavin as Elizabeth Coleman
Satoshi Ishii as Enson Inoue
Dwayne Johnson stars in ‘The Smashing Machine’. Photo: A24.
‘The Smashing Machine’s Dwayne Johnson and director Benny Safdie are quickly making a new movie together.
They’ll reunite for novel adaptation ‘Lizard Music’.
Safdie and Johnson will also produce.
With their first collaboration –– ‘The Smashing Machine’, the biopic of MMA fighter and UFC champion Mark Kerr –– drawing strong reviews and awards buzz on the festival circuit, it’s perhaps not all that shocking to learn that star Dwayne Johnson and filmmaker Benny Safdie already have their eye on a new project to work on together.
Dwayne Johnson attends the World Premiere of Netflix’s ‘Red Notice’ at Regal LA Live. Photo: Kevin Mazur.
Pinkwater’s book is the story of a boy who is left to his own devices. When he stumbles upon a secret late-night broadcast of lizards playing otherworldly music, a hidden door to the extraordinary swings open. His search for answers leads him to the eccentric and whimsical Chicken Man and his beloved companion, a 70-year-old chicken named Claudia — two kindred spirits who have also glimpsed the impossible.
Safdie aims to write the adaptation and direct, while Johnson would look to stretch himself once more to play to play Chicken Man. The pair will also produce the movie.
The next step is to find a distributor for the film, which certainly sounds like it could be a tough sell –– but ‘The Smashing Machine’ is certainly generating hefty positive buzz and we’d be surprised if the duo hasn’t already started discussions with that movie’s backers, A24.
When will ‘Lizard Music’ be in theaters?
With no distribution deal yet, there isn’t a release date to relate as of now.
But you’ll be able to go and see ‘The Smashing Machine’ in cinemas from October 3rd.
Dwayne Johnson in ‘The Smashing Machine’. Photo: A24.
Beyond that, we don’t know much (see below for wild speculation), but at least we do now have some forward movement on the movies, with presumably some delay happening while backers Paramount figured out their merger with Skydance (which is set to be sealed this week).
Originally conceived and scripted by Bryan Woods and Scott Beck (with Krasinski working on the script when he agreed to direct and star), the first ‘A Quiet Place’ follows a family (Krasinski, real-life wife Emily Blunt and two kids) surviving in the aftermath of an alien invasion by blind aliens with incredibly powerful hearing who hunt and kill humans.
That movie enjoyed $50.2 million opening weekend, and a near $153M domestic and $341M global take, and received an Oscar nomination for Sound Editing.
It saw its release pushed due to Covid, but brought the box office back alive during Memorial Day weekend 2021 with a $57M four-day start, ending with a $160M domestic and $297.3M global haul.
Last summer, ‘A Quiet Place: Day One,’ the aforementioned prequel spin-off set in an apocalyptic New York City ravaged by the aliens during the initial invasion, starred Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn, debuted to $52.2M and ended up with $139M domestic and $262M global.
What will happen in the new ‘A Quiet Place’ movie?
(L to R) Millicent Simmonds as Regan Abbott, Noah Jupe as MArcus Abbott, Emily Blunt as Evelyn Abbott in ‘A Quiet Place Part II.’
With Krasinski back, we’d be shocked if it didn’t continue the story of Blunt, Jupe and Simmonds’ characters (Krasinski’s unlikely to return unless through flashbacks because –– spoiler alert! –– he died in the first movie).
Quite what they might get up to is anyone’s guess at this point (though hopefully Krasinski has some more solid info, since he’s scripting and directing!) The second film left the main characters on an island having discovered a way to hurt and potentially kill the creatures with sound frequencies, so that may well factor in.
And could it completely pivot to a different story? The world of ‘A Quiet Place’ is a big one so… maybe? But we’re guessing for now Krasinski’s focus will be on the characters he helped bring to screens.
When will ‘A Quiet Place Part III’ be on screens?
Per Krasinski’s post, the third outing for the main ‘A Quiet Place’ movie series will look to scare us in summer 2027, confirming a July 9th, 2027 release date.
Lupita Nyong’o as “Samira” in ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ from Paramount Pictures.
And on the returning side of things, two more cast members from the original movie will be back: Tracie Thoms, will reprise her part as Lily, the handbag-loving best friend of Hathaway’s Andy Sachs, and Tibor Feldman is on to once again play Irv Ravitz, the chairman of Runway’s parent company Elias-Clark.
(L to R) Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Adapted by Aline Brosh McKenna from Lauren Weisberger’s novel and directed by David Frankel, the original follows Andy Sachs (Hathaway), a recent journalism graduate who moves to New York City and lands a job as a junior assistant to Miranda Priestly (Streep), the powerful and demanding editor-in-chief of high-fashion magazine Runway, with Blunt as Emily, Priestly’s primary aide.
Andy initially struggles with the high-pressure environment and Miranda’s relentless demands but gradually adapts, gaining confidence and style. As she becomes more involved in her work, she faces personal challenges, including a strained relationship with her boyfriend, Nate (Adrian Grenier), and ethical dilemmas about the fashion industry’s values.
The movie was a hit, earning close to $125 million in the US and more than $326 million worldwide. Streep was nominated for an Oscar along with costume designer Patricia Field.
What would the new movie be about?
Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly in 2006’s ‘The Devil Wears Prada .’
With the cast all back for this one, the sequel’s plot would reportedly pick up the story with Priestly still the head of Runway, but the magazine has endured the financial headwinds of contemporary publishing and is in a diminished state.
Blunt’s one-time assistant would now be an executive at a luxury brand conglomerate that advertises with Runway.
Entertainment Weekly has confirmed that Grenier won’t be back, but we do know that Branagh will be playing Miranda Priestly’s husband, which as anyone who has seen the first film knows, is not an easy gig given the hard-charging, perfectionist character’s style.
Behind the scenes, McKenna has written the new script and Frankel is once again calling the shots.
What else is happening in the ‘Devil Wears Prada’ world?
Anne Hathaway in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
In addition to the sequel, a musical adaptation with an original score by Elton John, is playing in London’s West End.
Novak’s work has been more behind the scenes of late, though he did have a role in TV series ‘Poker Face’ this year, and he’s a contributor to a documentary about comedian Mitch Hedberg.
