The upcoming Showtime limited series chronicling the rise and fall of the late former Fox News chief Roger Ailes, “The Loudest Voice,” finally has a release date, and a juicy new teaser trailer to go with it.
“The Loudest Voice” stars Oscar winner Russell Crowe as Ailes, in an astounding physical transformation that leaves the actor almost entirely unrecognizable. It’s reminiscent of Christian Bale’s spot-on portrayal of Dick Cheney in “Vice,” and as the Showtime series intends to argue, both men are equally intimidating — and equally powerful.
Based on Gabriel Sherman’s bestselling book, “The Loudest Voice in the Room,” the series aims to examine “the collision between the media and politics,” according to Showtime president and CEO David Nevins. Ailes had been considered one of the most powerful political figures in the country before he was forced out of Fox News by a rash of sexual harassment allegations — including a lawsuit brought by one of the cable network’s star anchors, Gretchen Carlson — in 2016. He died in 2017.
Gore Verbinski is one of those filmmakers whose name is always floated when there’s some new superhero or tentpole project that is trying to rise out of the ground (he was briefly attached to “Gambit” but like everyone else who flirted with the project, he quickly left). The reasons are clear: he has a technical mastery and has made movies that have earned billions of dollars. But he’s also an auteur, somebody whose point-of-view and personality can be felt in every frame of the films he does. (Those frames, by the way, are cannily constructed.) It’s with this in mind that we go through his entire filmography, delighting in all the darkness and absurdism.
10. ‘Mouse Hunt’ (1997)
DreamWorks
A wacky, gag-a-minute comedy about a pair of bumbling brothers (Nathan Lane and Lee Evans) trying to get rid of a mouse that has taken up residence in their family’s ramshackle mansion, “Mouse Hunt” is more or less a live-action cartoon. (Oddly enough, the least effective moments are when the rudimentary CGI mouse takes center stage; it looks like of ghostly all these years later.) For his debut feature (he was hired off the strength of his Budweiser frog commercial) that doubled as the first “family film” from the nascent DreamWorks (it was only their third film ever; you can tell by the Disney jab), Verbinski really went there. Under Verbinski’s assured vision, what could have easily been reduced to “Home Alone with a mouse,” became something far stranger, far bawdier, and yes, far darker (there’s both a funeral and an accidental death in the first fifteen minutes). While it’s far from his greatest accomplishment, it is a terrific indicator of where he’d go, particularly when crafting supposed all-ages entertainment with a sharply subversive edge. Christopher Walken’s cameo (as a deranged exterminator)? *Chef’s kiss*
9. ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’ (2006)
Disney
The most profitable film in Verbinski’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy (and, for half a decade, Disney’s most successful film ever) is also the weakest, an opulent, more-is-more mess that is the ultimate example of mid-trilogy wheel-spinning (literally, rascally pirate Jack Sparrow winds up in some sort of wheel twice). How much of this is Verbinski’s fault remains unclear, especially considering they embarked on the production of two back-to-back sequels without a single completed script (this after Disney threatened to cancel both films). Everything that made the first film so charming (Johnny Depp’s off-kilter performance, the sea-chanty-worthy nautical mythology, shout-outs to the original attraction) becomes embellished to the point of overkill in “Dead Man’s Chest.” And while Verbinski does a great job making everything look lush and believable (particularly when it comes to the villainous Davy Jones and his monstrous crew), it’s not enough to make the movie compelling. It was pretty ballsy to kill Depp off in the movie’s final moments, a harbinger of the darkness to come in part 3.
8. ‘The Mexican’ (2001)
DreamWorks
For a while “The Mexican” was the hottest script in Hollywood that nobody could get made. That was before Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts expressed interest. “The Mexican” seems, on paper, like the perfect Verbinski vehicle — it’s a darkly comic fable about a low-level leg-breaker (Pitt) who travels to Mexico to retrieved a cursed pistol for an unscrupulous mob boss. Not only would it allow the filmmaker to engage with his darker inclinations thanks to the movie’s hard-R rating but it’d allow him to indulge in some classic western stylistic flourishes. Unfortunately, the movie is painfully dated (Roberts’ chunky heels and VW Bug, Pitt’s thick necklace and general vibe, plus the movie’s treatment of homosexuality) and often so bleak that it blots out the chance of any actual joy from getting through. It’s worth a single viewing for Verbinski completists, but not much else.
7. ‘The Ring’ (2002)
DreamWorks
Verbinski jump-started the American-remake-of-Asian-horror-movies trend with “The Ring,” an atmospheric remake of the 1998 Japanese film “Ring.” (Just think about how many parodies there were of the movie’s opening sequence alone.) Naomi Watts, wearing some very 2002 lipstick shades, plays a journalist chasing down the story of a haunted videotape that kills whoever watches it seven days later (so many rules!) While this version of the story does present a more linear and “western” narrative, Verbinski still manages to add in some surrealistic flourishes and the big set pieces are, as expected, total gangbusters – particularly the iconic moment where the little ghost girl emerges from the television. (He also wisely cut an entirely subplot about Watts showing the videotape to a child murderer played by Chris Cooper.) Unfortunately, the movie hasn’t aged well, and even though it was first, many of its tropes (rainy Seattle backdrop, preternaturally all-knowing child) have become tiresome clichés in the years since.
6. ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’ (2007)
Disney
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” the big Disney release for the summer of 2007 and the sequel to the most profitable movie in the company’s history … begins with a small child being hung. Now that takes guts. This sequence (and, really, the rest of the movie) is a testament to Verbinski’s utter willingness to go there and his absolute disinterest in making a conventional cookie-cutter sequel. From the trippy voyage beyond death to rescue Captain Jack Sparrow (those rock/crab guys are great) to the climactic ship versus ship battle in the middle of a mystical typhoon (a set piece he would only get to top, in terms of complexity and visual aplomb, years later), this is Verbinski firing on all cylinders and not living anything behind. He thought this was the end of the series so he went all out; the mediocrity of the films that followed are a testament to how much of himself he put into the franchise.
5. ‘Rango’ (2011)
Paramount
The lone animated feature in his filmography, “Rango” is an ultra-smart western send-up that’s equal parts “Blazing Saddles” and “Chinatown.” Depp (again) plays a chameleon with an identity crisis, who winds up in a dusty western town and assumes the role of a fearsome gunslinger. Verbinski, working with the animation wizards at Industrial Light & Magic (at the time it was their first fully animated feature) and creature designer “Crash” McCreery, is at the top of his game, squeezing the most visual pizzazz out of each and every scene. (The movie’s big sequence, a chase through a canyon with hillbilly varmints riding on the back of bats, while a banjo-embossed “Ride of the Valkyries” plays, is one of the director’s all-time best.) Extra points should be awarded for the filmmaker’s willingness to push out the boundaries of what is considered a conventional, “western” animated film into territories far stranger and more challenging (he ended up winning the Best Animated Feature Oscar for the trouble).
4. ‘The Lone Ranger’ (2013)
Disney
Whereas “Pirates of the Caribbean” was a total surprise, “The Lone Ranger,” which re-teamed many of the people that made those films so successful (Verbinski, Depp, ILM), seemed like a foregone conclusion. This, along with an unprecedented level of media scrutiny (about everything from the questionable nature of Depp playing Native American Tonto to the film’s huge budget), made its box office and critical downfall seem even more spectacular. (Disney wound up with a whopping write-down of around $150 million.) And all this is a real shame, because “The Lone Ranger” is a terrific movie, fearless and artful, wherein the progress of the 20th century is the main villain and fearless tonal shifts can swing from the massacre of an entire Native American tribe to a joke about Armie Hammer getting dragged through horse poop. It’s unfathomable that the movie was given the go-ahead (it was canceled at least once before production began), much less allowed to arrive in theaters with splashes of extreme violence (a main character’s heart gets eaten) and a running time of 149 minutes. It exists in defiance of conventional studio norms, which makes it even more of a treasure. And the climactic train chase might just be the greatest thing Verbinski has ever pulled off, a heart-stopping, virtuosic set piece that makes my jaw drop every time I watch it.
3. ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’ (2003)
Disney
It’s hard to properly convey what an outlier “Pirates of the Caribbean” was back when it premiered in 2003. It was a pirate movie, in a climate where notorious bomb “Cutthroat Island” was still a sore subject, and it was based on a Disney theme park attraction, a dicey proposition if there ever was one (hello, “The Country Bears!”), hence the awkward subtitle. It was also so dark that Disney chief Michael Eisner left the castle logo off the film — watch it again, it just starts. And yet, it was an absolute phenomenon. People went back again and again. That’s everything to do with Verbinski, who gave a tactile feeling to the supernatural world of pirates and cursed treasure. He was the one who defended Depp’s approach to the Captain Jack Sparrow character when executives got jittery (a performance that would ultimately result in an Oscar nomination). He was also the one whose mastery of visual effects helped ILM pull off the amazing “ghost pirates” stuff. It’s easy to call someone a visionary when they don’t really deserve the title, but Verbinski should totally own it. Nobody could have pulled off “Pirates of the Caribbean.” But he did. It should never have worked. But it did.
2. ‘A Cure for Wellness’ (2016)
New Regency
An almost indescribably odd film, “A Cure for Wellness” was Verbinski’s return to relatively low budget filmmaking. It’s a horror film but doesn’t follow any current tropes. Instead, it’s a throwback to a simpler time, a kind of Hammer movie about a young man (a totally game Dane DeHaan) who goes to a European health spa to retrieve his boss, only to get sucked into a conspiracy involving the occult and an ageless man holding his daughter prisoner and eels (lots and lots of eels). This is Verbinski at his most outrageous. You can feel that he’s an artist who had been shackled by the restrictions of studio filmmaking and big budget obligations for a very long time and was positively liberated by the experience of getting to make a movie on his own terms. The film was divisive and had a dismal box office return, but it’s hard to not feel like, in a few short years, it will be seen as the cult classic that it is.
1. ‘The Weather Man’ (2005)
Paramount
Verbinski’s smallest feature, made in between “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies and seen by hardly anyone, is also his most affecting and personal. Nicolas Cage plays the titular weather man, a Chicago screw-up dealing with his overweight daughter, dying father (Michael Caine), contentious ex-wife (Hope Davis) and addict son (a young Nicholas Hoult). Oh and everyone hates him and throws giant sodas at him (it’s a recurring gag and a very good one). Steve Conrad’s meticulous, multilayered script is the perfect basis for Verbinski’s equally obsessive visuals (try counting the number of fast food logos appear throughout the film), embroidered by Hans Zimmer’s delicate electronic score (one of his best ever). Everything in the movie is icy; reflective and shimmery and cracked. As melancholy as it is insightful, “The Weather Man” only hits false notes when engaging in a subplot about a pedophilic mentor (Gil Bellows). It has not aged well. Oh well. Sometimes “The Weather Man” gets it wrong.
The two-time Academy Award nominee is set to star in the short-form series “Wolves and Villagers” for Quibi, Variety reports. The company’s co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg has called it “Fatal Attraction 2.0,” but plot details haven’t been revealed. Stuart Blumberg is penning the project as well as executive producing alongside Jason Blum.
Watts is primarily known as a film star, but she has also starred in both traditional and web series. Her most recent show, 2017’s “Gypsy,” debuted on Netflix, and she also had a starring role in Showtime’s “Twin Peaks” revival. Additionally, Watts has joined HBO’s upcoming “Game of Thrones” prequel and Showtime’s limited series about the late Fox exec Roger Ailes.
Movies should continue to keep the actress busy as well. She most recently appeared in 2018’s “Vice” and “Ophelia,” and she currently has three films due out in 2019.
Quibi has not yet shared when “Wolves and Villagers” is expected to premiere.
The “Game of Thrones” prequel has found its first cast member: Naomi Watts.
The Oscar-nominated actress will star in the untitled pilot created by Jane Goldman (“Kingsman,” “Kickass,” “X-Men: First Class”) and author George R.R. Martin.
The prequel is set thousands of years before the events of “Game of Thrones,” which will conclude with an eighth and final season next year on HBO. It chronicles the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour.
As the network described it, “From the horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history to the true origin of the White Walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend — it’s not the story we think we know.”
Watts will play “a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret.”
HBO began developing a handful of “Game of Thrones” spinoffs last year, but only Goldman’s script (based on a story by herself and Martin) received a greenlight to make a pilot.
The pilot will likely be filmed in early 2019, once more actors have been cast and a director has been selected. HBO has said that any successor series would not air until the final season of “Game of Thrones” was over.
It’s been 15 years since the release of “The Ring” (on October 18, 2002), and we’re still creeped out by visions of young Samara (Daveigh Chase), wet and bedraggled, crawling out of the TV.
The ghost story about a cursed videotape that kills its viewers seven days after they watch it made a star out of Naomi Watts, spawned two sequels, and launched a wave of Hollywood adaptations of Japanese “J-horror” movies.
Whether you’ve watched “The Ring” since then — or have been to afraid to revisit it — there’s much you may not know about how it made the transition from Japanese classic (which director Gore Verbinski first watched, aptly enough, on a degraded videotape) to franchise-launching Hollywood smash. Here are the details, drawn from the movie’s deep well of secrets. 1. “The Ring” is actually the fourth feature based on Koji Suzuki’s 1991 novel. Even before Hideo Nakata‘s celebrated 1998 film “Ringu” — which inspired the American remake — there was another Japanese version. There was also a Korean adaptation in 1999.
2. Among those considered for the lead role of Rachel were Jennifer Love Hewitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Beckinsale, and Jennifer Connelly, who’d eventually star in 2005’s “Dark Water,” another J-horror adaptation based on a Suzuki story. 3. Director Gore Verbinski ultimately decided to go with little-known stars, so that audiences would have no preconceived notions about their characters. Watts had just had her breakthrough role in David Lynch‘s cult hit “Mulholland Drive,” making her well-known to casting directors, if not mass audiences.
4.Chris Cooper was cast as a serial killer in scenes that bookended the film. He showed up at the beginning, trying to convince journalist Rachel that he’d turned over a new leaf, and at the end, when Rachel gives him a copy of the videotape. Ultimately, Verbinski cut his role from the film, as it distracted from the main plot. 5. That striking Japanese maple tree with the red leaves shown throughout the film was a prop, with a trunk made of steel tubing and plaster; the leaves were made of painted silk. The crew nicknamed it Lucille, after redheaded comedy icon Lucille Ball.
6. Some on the crew believed the tree to be haunted since, wherever they erected it — whether in Washington state or Los Angeles — winds of 60 miles per hour or more would suddenly arise and knock it down. 7. Verbinski and cinematographer Bojan Bozelli went to great lengths to create the movie’s innovative atmospherics — exploiting the naturally gloomy light of the Pacific Northwest, using filters to give most scenes a sickly aqua tint, and keeping the compositions in the frames uncluttered, for a sterile, clinical look. But the eeriest effect — one you may not have even noticed — is the near-total absence of shadows, the result of careful lighting. Most horror films go out of their way to add shade and darkness, but Verbinski and Bozelli wanted to make the characters appear more ghostly, as if floating in space, because of their failure to cast shadows.
8. The horse that jumps to its death from the ferry was actually eight horses, each trained for a specific action as part of the sequence. The final, leaping horse vaulted onto a soft cushion; the water and the splash were generated in post-production. The dead horses on the shore were stuffed animals purchased from a taxidermist. 9.Brian Cox gets prominent billing, but he doesn’t show up until an hour into the film — and then, he gets just four minutes of screen time.
10.Martin Henderson, who played Noah, said that he and Watts were often unsure during the shoot whether they were generating footage that would be terrifying or just silly. “A lot of the ‘scare factor’ comes with the editing, the effects, and the music,” he said. “There were moments when Naomi and I would look at each other and say, ‘This is embarrassing, people are going to laugh.’ You just hope that somebody makes it scary, or you’re going to look like an idiot!” 11. DreamWorks’ promotion of the film included fake background information websites, à la “The Blair Witch Project,” late-night TV airings of the video that were unaccompanied by any explanation or reference to the theatrical film, and unlabeled copies of the cursed videocassette left on random seats at selected screenings of the movie.
12. “The Ring” cost a reported $48 million to make. It earned back $249 million worldwide, including $129 million at the North American box office. 13. Verbinski was freaked out by the process of making “The Ring.” “It’s no fun making a horror film. You get into some darker areas of the brain and, after a while, everything becomes a bit depressing,” he said at the time. “I am pleased with the end result, but it was not something I am ready to jump back into right away.”
With it less-than-stellar reviews, it’s not a huge surprise that Netflix has opted not to renew the psychological thriller “Gypsy,” which stars Naomi Watts as an unethical therapist.
Deadline reports that the cancellation was a surprise, however, because writers were already working on storylines and scripts for a second season.
“Gypsy” was the first starring TV role for Watts, who’s currently costarring on “Twin Peaks: The Return.”
Watts has a supporting part as Brie Larson’s unorthodox mother in “The Glass Castle,” which opens today. It has also received so-so reviews, but could potentially lead to another Oscar nom for Watts, who was previously nominated for “The Impossible” and “21 Grams.”
Watts hasn’t had much luck lately with critics, who savaged her recent movies “The Book of Henry” and “Shut In.”
Naomi Watts is a therapist who could use some head-shrinking herself in the new trailer for her upcoming Netflix series, “Gypsy.” And since it’s billed as from being “from the director of “Fifty Shades Of Grey,” (Sam Taylor-Johnson) it looks pretty steamy.
In the ten-part psychological thriller, she plays Jean Halloway, a Manhattan therapist with a seemingly perfect life who begin developing intimate relationships with the people in her patients’ lives. Which may be bad for patients and her marriage, but, hopefully, good TV.
We see her pops pills, kiss men and women and lie to her husband (Billy Crudup), who’s apparently all too familiar with her straying.
The series, which debuts June 30 On Netflix, also stars Sophie Cookson, Lucy Boynton, and Karl Glusman.
In this exclusive clip from “Jurassic World” director Colin Trevorrow’s “The Book of Henry” (out everywhere on June 16th), the title character (played by Jaeden Lieberher from “Midnight Special“) describes what he wishes his legacy to be. It’s a touching sequence, off kilter and affecting like the rest of the movie, and much like the movie’s marketing materials so far, purposefully mysterious. In order to get to the bottom of the clip (and the movie), we spoke to Lieberher. Get ready to open “The Book of Henry” with Henry himself.
When I asked Lieberher to describe the movie (which also stars Naomi Watts, Sarah Silverman, Lee Pace, and Dean Norris), since it is a film that pretty much defies classification, he gave a great response. “It’s a family movie about a mom and her two sons. One of her sons, Henry, is a genius who takes care of his family and wants to protect them,” Lieberher explained. “And he sees that next door some dark things are happening. Nobody really sees it except for Henry. So he tries to do the right thing and save her.” (Having seen the movie, I can confirm that this is a very good encapsulation.)
As for the exclusive clip, I asked if this was a good example of who Henry is as a character. “It is,” Lieberher said. “It’s the first time you see how he views the world and how he views other people. And it also shows the great qualities in Henry and how much of a good person he is.” Lieberher went on: “Right there and then, clearly he is a genius but during that speech he’s a normal boy. So he’s easier to get into. He’s just around the other students and telling it like it is.”
When I brought up the fact that between “The Book of Henry” and the highly underrated “Midnight Special,” he’s cornered the market on characters that have a little something extra going on, Lieberher said it was a fun aspect to play. “It’s pretty cool playing someone that is not exactly normal,” Lieberher said. “It’s pretty fun playing those types of characters, you get to play around with their personalities and develop who they are.”
And while Lieberher might be a young actor, working so closely with a trained actress like Watts, he didn’t feel the need to pepper her with annoying questions (which is probably what I would have done) but instead chose to observe her. “I paid attention to how she worked and how she acted, because when you’re working with someone like that it’s easy to learn a lot,” Lieberher said. When I asked what the biggest takeaway was, he said, “She doesn’t just use her words when she’s acting, she uses her whole body. I think I learned a lot from her.”
“The Book of Henry” is a smaller, quieter movie that is obviously being released in the middle of summer, a time usually reserved for superhero movies, plus-sized sequels, and animated epics. I asked Lieberher to explain why people should take a chance on something as esoteric and emotional as “The Book of Henry.”
“Well I think you see big movies like those, there are only a few feelings you get from it. Maybe you’re excited by the action. But this movie brings a lot to the table and makes you feel so many emotions and feelings,” Lieberher said, sounding like the preternaturally gifted character he plays in the movie. He continued: “It’ll make you feel for the family, it’ll make you excited, it’ll keep you on the edge of your seat, and maybe you’ll cry or laugh. That’s what makes this movie really great and interesting.”
This weekend, it was a showdown between Marvel’s newest Avenger, aliens, and trolls. And all three won.
“Arrival,” a cerebral movie about aliens starring Amy Adams, was not expected to beat Benedict Cumberbatch‘s “Doctor Strange” in its second weekend. The Marvel sorcerer’s film held on remarkably well, declining less than 50 percent to finish with an estimated $43.0 million. And last week’s other new hit, “Trolls,” had even better staying power, losing less than 25 percent of last week’s business and holding on to second place with an estimated $35.1 million. That is very good (and rare) for an animated film.
“Arrival” opened at No. 3 with a stronger-than-expected $24.0 million, according to studio estimates, which amounts to a very good $10,358 per screen. Maybe Paramount is kicking itself right now for releasing “Arrival” in only a modest 2,317 theaters; another thousand, and it could have beaten “Trolls” for second place. Nonetheless, this was a good weekend for nearly everyone at the multiplex, with an overall gross of about $157 million. Here’s who, besides Cumberbatch and Marvel, came out on top.
1. Disney and Marvel On Saturday, Marvel’s step-parent company announced it has beaten its own domestic record and sold $2.3 billion worth of movie tickets in North America this year. (Disney is also having a record year in international ticket sales.) “Strange” is a major contributor to that total, with $153 million earned stateside so far and a global take of $493 million.
2. IMAX
So far, $54 million of “Strange’s” worldwide take comes from the giant screens, as viewers cough up premium fees to catch the film’s spectacle in all its eye-grabbing glory.
3. Fox Knows Kids Movies
With $94 million earned in 10 days, “Trolls” has already surpassed this fall’s fellow family toon hit “Storks” ($70 million) and will soon overtake “The Angry Birds Movie” ($108 million). The movie’s strong holding power is also good news for Fox, since “Trolls” has less than two more weeks to hoard cash before Disney’s “Moana” opens.
4. Amy Adams She’s an acclaimed actress, but she doesn’t usually sell movie tickets unless she’s part of an ensemble (“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” “American Hustle“). But with her newest film coming in almost $7 million higher than predicted, the numbers suggest she really can carry a movie.
That bodes well for her thriller “Nocturnal Animals,” opening next weekend, unless audiences feel Adamsed-out.
Still, it spent just $20 million to acquire “Arrival,” and if the movie finishes around $80 million in North America, that modest investment will be money well spent.
6.Will Packer The producer of seemingly every hit African-American ensemble comedy in recent years that didn’t feature Tyler Perry, Packer scored another modest hit this weekend with “Almost Christmas.”
The holiday-themed family-reunion comedy opened in fourth place with an estimated $15.6 million, about what was predicted. That’s not “Strange” money, but with a budget of just $17 million, and with Christmas on viewers’ minds for the next few weeks, the film looks like a profitable hit in the making. It’s certainly a crowd-pleaser, judging by the healthy A- it earned from ticket buyers surveyed by CinemaScore.
7. Grown-ups
Box office pundits have been wondering throughout the fall where all the adults are who’ve been expected to show up for the season’s prestige dramas and thoughtful thrillers. They finally showed up this weekend, it seems, with “Arrival” drawing 85 percent of its crowd from viewers 25 or older.
The 25+ audience made up 60 percent of “Almost Christmas” viewers. And of course, it’s also older viewers who’ve been coming out to see World War II drama “Hacksaw Ridge,” in fifth place in its second weekend with an estimated $10.8 million (down just 22 percent from a week ago) and a total so far of $32.2 million. The grown-ups are out there; they just didn’t much care for Hollywood’s offerings this fall, until now.
One movie that did not benefit from the weekend? Naomi Watts‘ new thriller, “Shut In.” It premiered in seventh place with a poor $3.7 million. This is one movie grown-ups didn’t flock to see, maybe because the critics found it more laughable than thrilling. Paying customers seemed to agree, judging by the film’s dismal C grade at CinemaScore.
Still, some pundits were predicting that the much-ridiculed “Shut In” would open as low as $1 million, yet it did nearly four times as well as expected. So it’s a victory of sorts for Watts. A cup of holiday cheer for everyone!
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Remember how adorable Jacob Tremblay was in that bunker in “Room”? Yeah, this is a whole new kid — one who’s terrifying the living daylights out of Naomi Watts.
The first trailer for “Shut In” debuted today, and it stars Watts as a child therapist whose own son (Charlie Heaton from “Stranger Things”) is in a vegetative state after a car accident. She takes on a new client, Tom (Tremblay), but he runs away into the cold winter night and is presumed dead. The key word is “presumed,” because soon, Watts believes he’s haunting her.
Or maybe it’s all just in her head, as her own therapist (Oliver Platt) believes. Whatever is going on, it’s creepy AF, as something appears to be messing with her son, hiding in a tiny cellar, and whispering things while she’s int he bath.
It’s been 15 years since the release of “
1. “The Ring” is actually the fourth feature based on Koji Suzuki’s 1991 novel. Even before 
3. Director 
5. That striking Japanese maple tree with the red leaves shown throughout the film was a prop, with a trunk made of steel tubing and plaster; the leaves were made of painted silk. The crew nicknamed it Lucille, after redheaded comedy icon 
7. Verbinski and cinematographer Bojan Bozelli went to great lengths to create the movie’s innovative atmospherics — exploiting the naturally gloomy light of the Pacific Northwest, using filters to give most scenes a sickly aqua tint, and keeping the compositions in the frames uncluttered, for a sterile, clinical look. But the eeriest effect — one you may not have even noticed — is the near-total 
9. 
11. DreamWorks’ promotion of the film included fake background information websites, à la “The Blair Witch Project,” late-night TV airings of the video that were unaccompanied by any explanation or reference to the theatrical film, and unlabeled copies of the cursed videocassette left on random seats at selected screenings of the movie.
13. Verbinski was freaked out by the process of making “The Ring.” “It’s no fun making a horror film. You get into some darker areas of the brain and, after a while, everything becomes a bit depressing,” he 
With it less-than-stellar reviews, it’s not a huge surprise that Netflix has opted not to renew the psychological thriller “Gypsy,” which stars 
In this exclusive clip from “
This weekend, it was a showdown between Marvel’s newest Avenger, aliens, and trolls. And all three won. 
On Saturday, Marvel’s step-parent company announced it has beaten its own domestic record and sold $2.3 billion worth of movie tickets in North America this year. (Disney is also having a record year in international ticket sales.) “Strange” is a major contributor to that total, with $153 million earned stateside so far and a global take of $493 million.
She’s an acclaimed actress, but she doesn’t usually sell movie tickets unless she’s part of an ensemble (“
The producer of seemingly every hit African-American ensemble comedy in recent years that didn’t feature 
Remember how adorable 