Moviefone Editorial

Tag: @movieid:20074743

  • Morgan Freeman Accused of Sexual Harassment, Inappropriate Behavior by Multiple Women

    Multiple women have come forward to accuse actor Morgan Freeman of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior, according to a new report from CNN.

    The news outlet says it was an interaction between one of its own reporters, Chloe Melas, and Freeman during a press junket for the 2017 film “Going in Style” that prompted their investigation into the actor’s behavior. According to Melas, who was six months pregnant at the time, Freeman repeatedly looked her up and down and made several variations of the comment “I wish I was there” in reference to her pregnancy; one of those comments was captured on video, and Morgan’s costars Michael Caine and Alan Arkin were present.

    Freeman’s alleged behavior was more that just suggestive remarks, with several women telling CNN that he touched them or attempted to touch them without their permission multiple times, including trying to lift up their skirts and giving unwanted massages. The actor would frequently stare at their breasts, ask them to twirl, or look them up and down as they walked by, some said, prompting many to deliberately change their wardrobes to avoid unwanted contact or attention from Freeman.

    Much of this behavior occurred in public or in front of others, Freeman’s accusers said, including at his production company, Revelations, or on film sets or at press junkets. Eight women total accused the actor of harassment and inappropriate interactions, with an additional eight men and women telling CNN that they witnessed this behavior firsthand.

    A former male employee for Revelations who spoke with CNN detailed some of Freeman’s on-set behavior while shooting several movies:

    “[He’d say] things like ‘I’d like to have an hour with her’ or make vulgar and sexual comments about women,” the former employee said. “He would be verbally inappropriate and it was just shocking. You’re more shocked than anything because it’s hard to have the wherewithal to say to him ‘That’s inappropriate.’ You’re just like ‘whoa.’ It’s hard because on any set he is the most powerful person on it. It’s weird because you just don’t expect it from Morgan Freeman, someone who you respect.”

    A production assistant who worked with Freeman on “The Dark Knight” also discussed with CNN the imbalance of power when dealing with the actor’s alleged behavior:

    “Morgan did things in a way that an older more established person can get away with because they have that power,” she told CNN. “They can’t be replaced, but you can be replaced very easily, that’s just kind of the dynamic on set. PA’s can be replaced, grips can be replaced, electricians can be replaced, but the actors — once they’re in, they’re in. Had it been somebody else on the crew… I would feel comfortable reporting them because I wouldn’t feel like my job would be in danger by reporting them, but if you report somebody like Morgan Freeman that the movie would lose a lot of money by replacing them or getting them in trouble, then you’re the trouble maker and you’ll get fired because you’re just a PA.”

    CNN reports that it reached out to Freeman’s representatives multiple times, and included a detailed list of the allegations against him, before publishing its story. After the article was published, the actor released a statement. It said:

    “Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy. I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected — that was never my intent.”

    For much more about the allegations against Freeman, read CNN’s entire report here.

  • Morgan Freeman Has a Theory on Why ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ Was a Box Office Bomb

    “The Shawshank Redemption” is probably the favorite movie of someone you know, but it was a flop at theaters, and star Morgan Freeman thinks he knows why.

    “Shawshank” had stiff competition at the box office in 1994 — especially from “Pulp Fiction” and “Forrest Gump” — and ended its run as a bomb, earning about $16 million after 10 weeks in wide release, off a production budget of about $25 million. After it was nominated for seven Oscars, “Shawshank” got a rerelease and eventually made $28 million at the North American box office.

    Today “Shawshank” is regularly featured on lists of the best movies of all time, which Graham Norton brought up recently when Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine were on “The Graham Norton Show” to promote their new movie “Going In Style.” Norton added that, despite its critical acclaim, the movie didn’t do well in theaters.

    Here’s Freeman’s take on that:

    “Tanked at the box office. And the reason for that, is of course, the only real marketing movies get, I think, is word of mouth. You can promote it all you want. But if the first few audiences come back and can’t say, ‘I really saw this great film,’ then you’re not going to go very far. So people went to see ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ and they came back and said, ‘Oh, man. I saw this really terrific movie. It’s called, um… uh, Shank sham? Shim shock.’ One lady saw me in the elevator and she went, ‘Oh, I saw you in ‘The Hudsucker Production.’ So if you can’t get word across, then it just doesn’t do well, you know? If you can’t say it…”

    At that point, Michael Caine quipped, “That’s why ‘Alfie’ did well.”

    The irony is that “The Shawshank Redemption” was a shorter version of the original title of Stephen King’s novella, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.” Maybe if they had included “Rita Hayworth” in the title, people would’ve had an easier time remembering it?

    CinemaBlend recalled “Shawshank” director Frank Darabont sharing a different theory on why the movie didn’t connect with audiences. To him, people just didn’t want to see a slow-paced (142-minute) prison movie in 1994. And considering the high-profile competition at the time, maybe he was right.

    Morgan Freeman told Graham Norton “Shawshank” is when he really became known for narration, and he put those skills to use in narrating some insults about Norton himself. Watch the interview:

    “Going In Style” opens April 7th.

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  • Box Office: Here’s Why ‘Smurfs’ Failed and ‘Going in Style’ Beat Expectations

    At the multiplex this weekend, you could feel the excitement building… for next weekend.

    That’s when “The Fate of the Furious” hits theaters and, most likely, it will dominate the box office for the rest of April. This weekend, by comparison, not much happened, even though there were three new wide releases.

    If nothing else, the meh results for this weekend’s new features prove the importance of timing. With potential ticketbuyers hoarding their cash until next weekend, here’s a breakdown of what happened this weekend:

    Nothing Could Beat “Boss Baby“
    Last week’s champ is still riding the wave of strong word-of-mouth, Alec Baldwin‘s current omnipresence (he’s been pretty much inescapable the last few weeks), and the lack of better options. Sure, with its estimated $26.3 million take this weekend, “Boss Baby” just edged out “Beauty and the Beast” (an estimated $25.0 million). Still, “Boss Baby” remains on the rise (in its second weekend, it actually added 56 screens, for a total of 3,829), while “Beauty” is finally waning after four weeks in theaters.

    RIP, “Smurfs” Movie Franchise
    Why did Sony put “Smurfs: The Lost Village” up against fellow family films “Boss Baby” and “Beast”? You can sort of see the reasoning: With kids out of school for spring break and Easter on the way, the timing may have seemed right for the return of the little blue guys from the ’80s.

    Still, putting out another animated film the weekend after “Boss Baby” seemed like a suicidal move, which is why predictions for the third “Smurfs” movie were only in the high teens. But the film didn’t even do that well, winding up with an estimated $14.0 million.

    One could argue that Sony didn’t care that much about positioning; after all, the “Smurfs” franchise typically plays much better overseas than here (in fact, it’s already made an estimated $42.0 million abroad), and the movie didn’t cost that much (at a reported price of $60 million, the studio saved tens of millions by making this one strictly a cartoon, instead of a live-action/cartoon blend like the first two installments).

    Yet Sony went all out on social media to promote it, and the filmmakers made a point of increasing the movie’s girl appeal (there are many female Smurfs in the movie, not just one). And the families who saw “Lost Village” really liked it, judging by the strong A grade at CinemaScore. So you have to conclude that the marketing would have propelled the film to a much higher gross if it had been given a release date further away from two other family-film smashes.

    “Going in Style” Did Better Than You Thought
    No one expected much from the geezer-heist caper comedy remake either, with predictions running below $10 million. Yet the movie opened with an estimated $12.5 million. This despite critical scorn (44 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), usually deadly for a film aimed at an older audience that still cares what critics think.

    Still, that’s a largely underserved audience, and the film’s trio of beloved Oscar-winning stars — Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Alan Arkin — was enough of a draw to overcome bad reviews. Indeed, word-of-mouth on the film was actually pretty good, with its overall CinemaScore grade of B+ rising to an A- for most viewers over age 50.

    The other plus of catering to an older audience is that the target audience doesn’t all rush to the theater on opening weekend, so if the film can stay booked for a few weeks, that word-of-mouth will pay off with steady sales over time. So “Going in Style,” made for an absurdly low reported budget of $25 million (then again, director Zach Braff paid for his last movie with Kickstarter donations, so $25 million is a big step up for him), stands a good chance of making a profit before it retires to cable and home video.

    “The Case for Christ” Proves Faith-Based Movies Are Losing Steam
    Movies aimed at churchgoing audiences are always a wild card when it comes to predicting how big they’ll open. This one, from the same folks who made the two successful “God’s Not Dead” movies, was expected to debut between $3 and $6 million.

    It opened toward the low end of expectations, premiering in 10th place with an estimated $3.9 million. That’s still not bad for a movie playing on just 1,174 screens. Like “Smurfs,” “Case” was scheduled with Easter in mind, so the film may yet do more more business than its modest debut suggests.

    Why Aren’t More People Talking About Anne Hathaway‘s “Colossal“?
    Maybe it’s because the Internet still loves to hate her. Or maybe its because her offbeat indie opened with just under $126,000 in four theaters. Still, the movie earned an estimated $31,452 per screen (nearly five times as much per screen as “Boss Baby”), scoring far and away the highest per-screen average of the week. That bodes well for “Colossal” as it expands to more theaters in weeks to come.

    Moviegoers Saved Their Money for “Fate of the Furious”
    Notice how many genre movies were hanging out in the lower reaches of the Top Ten?

    “Ghost in the Shell,” “Power Rangers,” “Kong: Skull Island,” “Logan,” and “Get Out” — all of them weeks old, all of them scraping by on a $4 to $8 million take for the weekend. No one wanted to release a new movie with young-male appeal this weekend, just to see it get run over by Vin Diesel and his racing crew next week.

    Overall box office was down 28 percent from last week, since potential moviegoers either found little compelling among this weekend’s new wide releases, or else they’re keeping their wallets shut until Dom and company pry them open next weekend.

  • Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Alan Arkin on Going in Style – Together

    Alan Arkin, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine from Going in Style
    Alan Arkin, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine from Going in Style

    Sure, they bicker sometimes, but there’s something all three of these Hollywood legends could agree on: why they wanted to work together on “Going in Style.”

    “Are you kidding?” said Morgan Freeman.

    “Blimey!” added Michael Caine, pointing to Freeman and Alan Arkin. “They’re too of the finest actors you could find.”

    This remake of the 1979 film starring George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg teams Arkin, Freeman and Caine as three seniors who decide to rob a bank after losing their pensions to corporate restructuring.

    And while these actors can — and have — done almost everything on screen over their illustrious careers, they admitted they have their limitations.

    “Do you think you could actually rob a bank?” asked Made in Hollywood reporter Patrick Stinson.

    “Not a chance in hell,” said Arkin.

    “I would be terrified of going to prison,” said Caine.

    Summed up Freeman: “So the answer, collectively, is no.”

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  • Watch the Cast of ‘Going in Style’ Play ‘Steal It or Leave It’


    This weekend’s “Going in Style” is an amiable comedy that’s sure to put a smile on your face. The Zach Braff-directed remake of the 1979 original sees Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Alan Arkin screwed out of their corporate pension and thirsty for revenge. Their plan? Well, they’re going to rob a bank of course. It’s light-hearted and deeply entertaining, and when we had the chance to interview the cast of the film (including Ann-Margaret and John Ortiz), we decided to play a little game with them: Steal It or Leave It.

    Their answers are pretty hilarious and speak to the kind of kooky fun to be had in “Going in Style.”

  • ‘Going in Style’ Trailer: It’s the Grandfather of All Heists

    Grandpa’s got a gun!

    The first trailer for “Going in Style” brings together Oscar winners Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Alan Arkin as longtime friends who embark on a life of crime in their old age. When their pension funds go bust, the senior citizens plan a heist to steal back their money from the banks.

    Of course, becoming a criminal in your 80s is not easy, so they practice on grocery stores and quickie marts. They attempt to figure out how to use smartphones, how to shoot guns, and how to get away from the scene as fast as their aged legs will take them.The movie is an updated remake of the 1979 film starring George Burns, Lee Strasberg, and Art Carney. The three leads here seem delightfully chummy and look like they’re having a ball.

    “Going in Style” opens in theaters April 7.

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