MOVIE
NEWS
LEGO Movie directors sign for Star Wars A newly announced Star Wars spin-off that will delve into the backstory of one of the franchise’s most popular characters has just been announced. The next adventure in the Anthology series of Star Wars films will tell the origin story of rakish smuggler-turned-rebel Han Solo, and will be directed by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, the men behind The LEGO Movie. The duo said: “This is the first film we’ve worked on that seems like a good idea to begin with. We promise to take risks, to give the audience a fresh experience, and we pledge ourselves to be faithful stewards of these characters who mean so much to us.” The screenplay will be written by father-son team Lawrence and Jon Kasdan. Lawrence is notable for his work writing and directing Raiders of the Lost Ark, and co-writing The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. The untitled movie is currently slated for a 25 May 2018 theatrical release.
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Three yellow fellows, Stuart, Kevin and Bob, have beaten the odds to score the UK’s biggest opening weekend for an animated feature film to date. The trio are the stars of Universal’s Minions movie, which debuted at the end of June to the tune of £11.59 million at the box office, toppling Toy Story 3’s previous record of £11.49m. The Minions’ performance also topped the £9.95m takings for Despicable Me 2’s first three days in 2013, as the franchise continues to gather momentum. Toy retailers that TnP spoke to over the past month have witnessed a big spike in sales of Minions licensed product, alongside Universal’s other summer blockbuster Jurassic World. As the dino-themed action-adventure continues to tear up the charts – it became the fifth highest grossing film of all time in its fourth week at the start of July – Minions’ triumphant launch continues an incredibly strong 2015 for Universal, with Fast & Furious 7 and Fifty Shades of Grey both winners for the studio earlier this year.
On Sunday 28 June, Centum Books hosted a VIP screening of Minions at Vue Cinema to coincide with its publishing launch. Retail partners attending included The Entertainer and Smyths Toys. During the event, it partnered with Rubie’s, which supplied costumes, to attempt to set a record for the most people dressed up as a Minion in one place. Pictured is everyone involved.
Maya set to make a buzz
New actor swings into Spidey role There’s a new face underneath the red and blue mask of Spider-Man. Marvel and Sony have cast 19-year-old Tom Holland as Peter Parker in the next Spider-Man franchise, a younger actor that will allow the movies to explore new stories and themes, according to Marvel boss Kevin Feige. “Some of my favourite Spider-Man arcs and Spider-Man stories, he’s in high school for a lot of it. We want to explore that,” he said, adding that a younger web slinger would also set him apart
Millions for the Minions
from the other core Marvel franchises. The new Spider-Man movies will likely bring more fresh faces in the form of its villains, with nemesis from the comic books not yet seen on the big screen going head-to-head with the web-slinging superhero. Speaking to SlashFilm, Feige said: “Right now we’re interested in seeing villains we haven’t seen before.”
There is lots of buzz surrounding a new deal inked by Studio 100 Film and Primal Screen for the Maya the Bee film. The deal includes all rights for the UK, ROI, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland and will see Maya and her friends hitting the big screen in the UK in October 2015. Studio 100 Film has already sold the animated feature film Maya the Bee in over 160 territories.
MONOPOLY MOVIE PASSES GO A movie adaptation of one of the world’s most popular board games has passed go and is headed into production. Simply titled Monopoly, Hasbro has firmed up some details about a long-rumoured film based on its property trading game, which it will co-produce with Lionsgate through its Allspark Pictures content studio. Stephen Davis, Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer of Hasbro said the toymaker’s brands already have a great track record of “creating engaging stories and appealing characters that speak to audiences of all ages,” when translating to movie and TV content.
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