Moviefone Editorial

Tag: liam-neeson

  • All of Liam Neeson’s Action Movies That You Can Blame ‘Taken’ For, Ranked

    All of Liam Neeson’s Action Movies That You Can Blame ‘Taken’ For, Ranked

  • 17 Movies That Came Out In January That Weren’t Totally Terrible

    17 Movies That Came Out In January That Weren’t Totally Terrible

  • Liam Neeson Is a Lethal Mr. Plow in Latest Revenge Movie Trailer

    Liam Neeson Is a Lethal Mr. Plow in Latest Revenge Movie Trailer

    Liam Neeson in Cold Pursuit
    Lionsgate

    Liam Neeson wants revenge again.

    Pity anyone who displeases him in life — the wrong coffee order, lost dry cleaning, misdirected mail.

    He WILL find you.

    This time, in “Cold Pursuit,” Neeson plays a snowplow driver seeking revenge for the death of his son. Oh, and Laura Dern apparently plays his wife. From the trailer — which just came out — it does seem like a typical “the wife” role. But it’s Laura f*cking Dern, so there has to be more to it. “Shameless” star Emmy Rossum is also here as a local police officer. Here’s hoping she goes Full “Fargo.”

    But mostly it’s Liam Neeson glaring, punching, and plowing people down. This is how he makes the big bucks.

    “Cold Pursuit” is a remake of the Norwegian film “In Order of Disappearance,” which starred Stellan Skarsgård as a man hellbent on revenge for his son’s murder.

    Here’s the movie synopsis:

    “‘Cold Pursuit,’ an action thriller infused with irreverent humor, stars Liam Neeson as Nels Coxman, a family man whose quiet life with his wife (Laura Dern) is upended following the mysterious death of their son. Nels’ search for justice turns into a vengeful hunt for Viking (Tom Bateman), a drug lord he believes is connected to the death. As one by one each of Viking’s associates ‘disappear,’ Nels goes from upstanding citizen to ice-cold vigilante, letting nothing — and no one — get in his way.”

    And here’s the trailer:

    Yeah, speaking of gangster nicknames — we’re obviously going to have to call Neeson Mr. Plow.

    The Simpsons, Mr. Plow gif
    Fox

    “Cold Pursuit” opens in theaters February 8, 2019.

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  • Liam Neeson Says His Horse in ‘Buster Scruggs’ Remembered Him From Previous Film

    Liam Neeson Says His Horse in ‘Buster Scruggs’ Remembered Him From Previous Film

    Annapurna Pictures

    There have been plenty of films chronicling the unbreakable bond between people and dogs, but this story about Liam Neeson and a horse could easily be the next animal-centric feature to hit the big screen.

    According to the actor, a horse that he worked with on an unnamed film years ago was on set for his new Joel and Ethan Coen western flick, “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.” And as the New York Post’s Page Six reports, Neeson claims the pair had quite the connection.

    “I play a traveling impresario,” Neeson explained of his “Buster Scruggs” role. “We filmed in New Mexico. The odd thing is the horse who pulls my wagon knew me.”

    Uh, excuse us?

    Here’s how the actor described the encounter, per Page Six:

    “You won’t believe it. I’m saying this horse knew me. He actually remembered me from another Western we made a while back. I love animals. When we worked together before I took special care of him. I fed him treats. Gave him apples.”

    …

    “He whinnied when he saw me [this time]. And pawed the ground.”

    The A.V. Club reports that horses are actually known for having long memories, as evidenced by this study. Neeson didn’t name the film on which he worked with the animal previously, so it’s unclear how much time passed between the two productions, though Vulture suggests the flick in question could be either 2014’s “A Million Ways to Die in the West” or 2006’s “Seraphim Falls.”

    So apparently being a horse’s best friend is part of the star’s very particular set of skills. Seriously, Hollywood, we would absolutely watch a movie about Neeson’s bond with this horse. Make it happen.

    [via: Page Six, h/t The A.V. Club]

  • Liam Neeson to Star as Vengeance-Seeking Snowplow Driver

    Liam Neeson to Star as Vengeance-Seeking Snowplow Driver

    Open Road Films

    Liam Neeson is starring in another revenge thriller — but this time he’s not a cop or an ex-CIA agent with a “special set of skills.” In “Hard Powder,” he’ll play a snowplow driver who’s going up against (what else?) a drug cartel.  Gotta love those snow/drug puns.

    It’s a remake of the Norwegian film “In Order of Disappearance,” which starred Stellan Skarsgård as a man hellbent on revenge for his son’s murder. Skarsgård’s character was named “Nils Dickman,” but Neeson’s character will be dubbed (ahem) “Nels Coxman.”

    As if that (and the prospect of death by snowplow) isn’t enough incentive, Laura Dern will costar as Neeson’s wife.

    Per Deadline, the film will open in February 8, 2019.

    [Via Deadline]

  • Emma Thompson Reprising ‘Men in Black’ Role for Spinoff

    Emma Thompson Reprising ‘Men in Black’ Role for Spinoff

    Emma Thompson, Will Smith, Men in Black 3
    Sony

    OK, NOW it’s a party.

    The inimitable Emma Thompson will grace the “Men in Black” spinoff with her presence. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Thompson will reprise her “Men in Black 3” role of Agent O, the head of MIB. So far, she’s the only returning MIB character on record — but we’re still hoping for a few more.

    So that means the spinoff cast will be lead by Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, with Kumail Nanjiani as a “wise-cracking, sex-driven alien,” and Liam Neeson as head of the U.K. MIB branch. Actor Rafe Spall and dancers Les Twins were also reportedly cast for the film, which is being directed by F. Gary Gray.

    In the spinoff, the MIB agents reportedly “become involved in a murder mystery that has them traveling the globe.” Chris Hemsworth was spotted on the London set earlier in July.

    “MIB,” or whatever it is eventually called, currently has a release date of June 14, 2019.

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  • Liam Neeson in Talks for ‘Men in Black’ Spinoff

    Liam Neeson will bring his very particular set of skills to the “Men in Black” spinoff movie that already stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson.

    According to Variety, Neeson is in talks to play the head of the Men in Black’s U.K. branch, where the movie begins. Rip Torn played the U.S. boss, Chief Z (Zed), in the first two movies.

    So far, that’s the most we know about this movie — other than that it just got a fairly decent first poster.

    The movie — directed by F. Gary Gray — will be set in the same world as the original trilogy, and will reportedly pick up after the events of the Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith films. It’s reportedly more of an ensemble, though, with Hemsworth and Thompson playing new characters. As the sun now stands, it doesn’t look like Smith or Jones will be involved in this spinoff.

    The “Men in Black” spinoff recently moved its release date from May 17 to June 14, 2019.

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    Liam Neeson will bring his very particular set of skills to the “Men in Black” spinoff movie that already stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson.

    According to Variety, Neeson is in talks to play the head of the Men in Black’s U.K. branch, where the movie begins. Rip Torn played the U.S. boss, Chief Z (Zed), in the first two movies.

    So far, that’s the most we know about this movie — other than that it just got a fairly decent first poster.

    The movie — directed y F. Gary Gray — will be set in the same world as the original trilogy, and will reportedly pick up after the events of the Tommy Lee Jone and Will Smith films. It’s reportedly more of an ensemble, though, with Hemsworth and Thompson playing new characters. As the sun now stands, it doesn’t look like Smith or Jones will be involved in this spinoff.

    The “Men in Black” spinoff recently moved its release date from May 17 to June 14, 2019.

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  • ‘Jumanji’ Stays Strong, Topping ’12 Strong,’ ‘Den of Thieves’ With $20 Million

    LOS ANGELES, Jan 21, (Variety.com) – Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” has won its third weekend box office title with ease, topping newcomers “12 Strong” and “Den of Thieves,” with $20 million at 3,704 North American locations.

    Afghan war drama “12 Strong” took second with $16.5 million at 3,002 sites for Warner Bros. and STXfilms’ “Den of Thieves” followed with $15.3 million from 2,432 venues. Fox’s “The Post” finished fourth with $12 million at 2,851 venues and its fifth weekend of “The Greatest Showman” remained a solid draw in fifth with $11 million at 2,823 screens.

    “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” has shown remarkable staying power, declining only 28% this weekend and lifting its 33-day North American total to $317 million — the 61st highest of all time. It’s Sony’s fifth highest domestic grosser of all time, trailing only the first three Spider-Man titles and last summer’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”

    “Jumanji” is also singular in winning the box office in its third, fourth and fifth weekends after finishing second in its first two weekends to “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” “This is an unprecedented and unusual box office trajectory for a wide release blockbuster,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore.

    The action comedy, starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, has also kept overall domestic business healthy with the year-to-date total at $730.1 million through Sunday, up 2.1% from a year ago. The weekend’s total hit about $137 million, down 6% from the same frame in 2017 when “Split” opened with $40 million.

    “Another great performance by the seemingly unstoppable ‘Jumanji’ powers the pre-Oscar nominations weekend while bolstered by a pair of solid debuts from ’12 Strong’ and ‘Den of Thieves,’ but this was not enough to beat a tough weekend over weekend comparison to the year ago stellar performance of M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Split,’” Dergarabedian said.

    “12 Strong,” starring Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon, had been tracking in the $14 million to $17 million range. The movie is based Doug Stanton’s 2009 bestseller “Horse Soldiers,” which centers on CIA paramilitary operations officers and U.S. Special Forces sent to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks. Prospects for ongoing business are solid, given its A Cinemascore.

    Production companies for “12 Strong” are Alcon Entertainment, Black Label Media, and Jerry Bruckheimer Films with Nicolai Fuglsig directing. Bruckheimer began developing the film in 2009 while at Disney.

    The R-rated “Den of Thieves,” starring Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, finished well above forecasts, which had been in the $9 million range. The film follows the intersecting lives of an elite unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and a successful bank robbery crew as the outlaws plan a seemingly impossible heist on the Federal Reserve Bank in downtown Los Angeles.

    Christian Gudegast is directing from his original screenplay, based on a story by Gudegast and Paul Scheuring, and is produced by Tucker Tooley and Mark Canton, who spent 15 years developing the film. “Den of Thieves” carries a $30 million budget and generated a B+ Cinemascore.

    “It’s incredibly satisfying to have this in theaters and performing so well after all this time,” Tooley told Variety. “STXfilms has done a great job activating social media on this.”

    “The Post” centers on the 1971 legal battle by the Washington Post and New York Times over the publication of the Pentagon Papers and stars Meryl Streep as WaPo publisher Katharine Graham and Tom Hanks as editor Ben Bradlee. It showed respectable staying power with a 37% decline from its first weekend in wide release and has totaled $45.2 million domestically.

    “The Greatest Showman,” starring Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum, remained a powerful draw with a remarkable small decline of 12% in its fifth weekend. The domestic total has hit $113.5 million while the international box office is at $118 million.

    Warner Bros.’ second weekend of family comedy “Paddington 2” finished sixth with $8.2 million at 3,702 sites, followed by Lionsgate’s sophomore session of Liam Neeson‘s “The Commuter” with $6.7 million at 2,892 venues. Both titles have reached $25 million in 10 days.

    Disney-Lucasfilm’s sixth weekend of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” came in eighth with $6.6 million at 2,456 locations for a 38-day total of $604.3 million. It trails “The Avengers” by less than $20 million for the fifth spot on that list.

  • Jamie Dornan Recalls Gluing a Wig to His, Um, Privates to Impress a Girl

    “The Graham Norton Show,” about an embarrassing experience from when he was 15.

    You have to give him credit for the … balls? … to tell the story, since he was sitting next to legends Liam Neeson and Helen Mirren. Graham Norton found the story hilarious, but Liam Neeson — did he not approve? He was pretty stone-faced throughout.

    You should watch the clip below to see Jamie Dornan tell his story. Basically, Dornan claims he was a very young-looking teen with no game. “I was 15, I looked about 7. I had no hair or anything.” He was balancing playing rugby and school, with amateur dramatics on the side. There was one day when he had a role as a waiter in “The Cherry Orchard” and there was a party for the rugby game after the play. For the play, he was given a “black, very acrylic, highly flammable wig” applied to his face to make him look older.

    Guess what he decided to do with that wig after the play and before the party? Here’s what he just confessed:

    “So I thought it would be a good idea after the curtain came down on this play, I was going to this party after. I might meet a girl and maybe she drops a hand… [The audience laughed.] So I had the idea to maybe cut off some extra hair off the very — by the way, I was a very fair child. I had blond hair. So I went into the dressing room and I cut off all this very curly jet black hair, cut it in a wee pile and got my [glue stick] and taped it on there, stuffed it. And I remember standing in front of the mirror going, ‘That looks all right.’”

    Graham Norton howled. As it turns out, Dornan went to the party and managed to kiss a girl but it never went further than that. “And thank God it didn’t,” Dornan now says.

    Helen Mirren wanted to know if the wig removal was painful. Both physically and emotionally painful, Dornan explained, because he had about “three naturally evolved pubes” at that point, and off they went when he removed the wig.

    Watch the full video:By the way, you should also watch this video with Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson. Did you know they lived together and were “a serious item” for a while? What a shame they didn’t last, but still… “Fifty Shades Freed” opens February 9th. Dame Helen Mirren’s “Winchester” opens February 2nd. Liam Neeson’s “The Commuter” is now in theaters.

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  • 5 Reasons Why ‘The Post’ and ‘The Commuter’ Kicked Ass at the Box Office

    “The Commuter” was supposed to be on a train to nowhere this Martin Luther King Day weekend.

    Weak reviews and a pile-up of competition from two new wide releases (“Proud Mary” and “Paddington 2“) and one newly-wide holdover (the now-nationwide “The Post“) were supposed to derail the new Liam Neeson thriller, or at least keep it from debuting above $10 million.

    As it turned out, however, “Commuter” saw an unexpected fare bump, to about $13.5 million from Friday to Sunday, good for a third-place opening. “The Post” did even better, expanding from 36 theaters to 2,819 and coming in second with an estimated $18.6 million for the three-day weekend. Meanwhile, “Proud Mary” and “Paddington 2,” both expected to premiere in the mid-teens, barely cracked $10 million apiece and debuted in a virtual tie for seventh place.

    What are the lessons of this weekend at the box office, aside from “Never count out Liam Neeson”? Here are five takeaways.

    1. It’s a Good to Be an Adult Moviegoer
    The December holidays are over, kids are back in school, and awards-season movies are out in force. So this is the rare time of year that mature adults may feel welcome at the multiplex. They also make up the core of Neeson’s audience, which is why he’s released so many thrillers in January and February over the last decade, from “Taken” and “The Grey” through “Non-Stop” and “Taken 3.”

    You can also credit the older audience for the success of “The Post.” It’s those viewers who are still big fans of sixtysomethings Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, and who maybe even remember the 1971 Pentagon Papers battle that the movie chronicles. And “Proud Mary,” whose poster made it look like an old Pam Grier movie, also seemed to target more mature ticketbuyers, though it also may have proved that even the older audience is still finite. Which reminds us…

    2. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” Is Still Unstoppable
    It’s not nostalgia among older moviegoers for the 1995 Robin Williams adventure that’s driving sales for the youth-oriented, video game-themed reboot. Dwayne Johnson‘s action comedy was the weekend’s top film for the second time in a row, declining just 27 percent from last weekend for a three-day take estimated at $27.0 million.

    In its fourth week, it’s already earned $283.2 million, making it Sony’s sixth biggest domestic hit of all time. By next week, it will have overtaken “Skyfall” to become Sony’s top-grossing movie outside of the “Spider-Man” franchise. It’s not like there aren’t lots of other action alternatives in theaters (including a little movie called “Star Wars: The Last Jedi, currently in sixth place with a weekend take estimated at $11.3 million). But “Jumanji” is the one the kids like.

    3. Is Taraji P. Henson a Movie Star?
    Jury’s still out. Last January, she seemed to be, leading the cast of the hit “Hidden Figures.” Does the estimated $10.0 million premiere of “Proud Mary” mean that “Figures” was a fluke, or that moviegoers would rather see Henson solving math problems than kicking ass as an action anti-heroine?

    Not necessarily. Sony’s Screen Gems division barely marketed the movie and didn’t even screen it for critics. That’s never a good sign, at least not to critics, whose support is important for movies that cater to older viewers. Especially during a month when those older viewers have plenty of other options at the multiplex. Maybe “Proud Mary” would have done better had it opened at another time, or been more aggressively marketed. Or maybe Henson should just consider herself lucky that TV audiences have embraced her as Cookie on “Empire.”

    4. Everyone Loves Paddington (Overseas, That Is)
    Marketing was an issue for the kid-movie sequel, too. 2015’s “Paddington” did pretty well in North America, grossing $76.3 million. The lovable bear’s sequel has unanimous support from critics, so why did it tank?

    The movie was hastily sold to Warner Bros. — after original distributor, TWC, suffered their Weinstein scandal. Warners had just two months to come up with a wide-release distribution and marketing plan. Apparently, that wasn’t enough time. Besides, “Paddington 2” was trying to compete in a marketplace where “Jumanji,” “Star Wars,” and “Coco” are still vying for kids’ attention and ticket dollars. Perhaps this bear should have hibernated a few months longer.

    5. What Golden Globes Boost Did Winners Receive at the Box Office?
    Seems like the only one riding a victory at last Sunday’s awards show to greater glory is Oprah.

    “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” may have been the big trophy winner, but even though it went back into wide release this weekend in its 10th week and grabbed another estimated $2.3 million, it’s still way down on the box office chart at No. 16. And that’s a healthy increase in business compared to fellow Globe winners “Lady Bird” and “I, Tonya,” which saw more modest increases. Or “Darkest Hour,” which actually slipped 25 percent from last week. Contrast that with “The Post,” which raked it in despite being shut out at the Globes.

    By the way, check out “All the Money in the World,” which also earned some Globe nominations but no prizes. The movie has generated a ton of buzz, first for replacing the disgraced Kevin Spacey at the last minute with Christopher Plummer, then for adding $10 million to its $40 million cost for those last-minute reshoots, and finally, for the seemingly gender-based pay gap between star Michelle Williams, who did the reshoots for union scale wages, and supporting actor Mark Wahlberg, who took home $1.5 million for his overtime work.

    Both stars are represented by the same talent agency, WME, and on Saturday, Wahlberg announced he was donating his fee in Williams’ name to Time’s Up, the newly-created initiative to fight systemic sexism in Hollywood, while WME was donating $500,000 of its own to the activists.

    Despite all those headlines, the movie has made back just $23 million of its $50 million cost after three weeks in release. This weekend, it made just an estimated $1.2 million, down 67 percent from a week ago, for a 19th-place finish and a per-screen average of just $827, meaning just a handful of tickets sold at each screening. With a CinemaScore grade of just a B, it’s clear that audiences aren’t anywhere near as enthusiastic about the drama as critics, awards voters, or entertainment journalists are.

    It’s a good lesson that, for all the current discourse about stopping Hollywood predators, addressing gender inequities in the entertainment industry, and how awards voters should handle the movies and performers who are suddenly problematic in the post-Weinstein moral landscape, it’s not clear that rank-and-file moviegoers care about any of it.

    Sometimes they just want to enjoy the adrenaline rush of watching Liam Neeson, Dwayne Johnson, or even Meryl Streep do something heroic.