Entertainment

teaser-for-hellboy:-the-crooked-man-brings-the-low-budget-horror-vibes

Teaser for Hellboy: The Crooked Man brings the low-budget horror vibes

culture, Entertainment, film trailers, films, Hellboy, Hellboy: The Crooked Man, Ketchup Entertainment / /

“smells like death” —

Hellboy creator Mike Mignola co-wrote the screenplay based on his short story from comics.

–

Hellboy: The Crooked Man is based on a 2008 limited series by Mike Mignola and artist Richard Corben.

It has only been a few years since David Harbour starred in the 2019 reboot of the Hellboy film franchise—a critical and box office failure, although Harbour’s performance earned praise. But via Entertainment Weekly, we learned that there’s a new reboot coming our way: Hellboy: The Crooked Man. The project wrapped filming in May and now has a teaser—inexplicably released in 480p—giving us our first glimpse of star Jack Kesy’s (Claws, Deadpool 2) take on Mike Mignola’s iconic character.

It’s definitely a very different look and vibe from the previous big studio releases. Director Brian Taylor (Crank) is clearly leaning into the low-budget folk horror genre for this, but will fans embrace a bargain-basement Hellboy reboot—even one co-written by Mignola himself?

Mignola based his script on a 2008 Hellboy limited series he created, with artwork by Richard Corben. That story features a younger Hellboy wandering in the Appalachian Mountains in 1958 after “finishing up some stuff down South.” He meets regional native Tom Ferrell, coming home after decades away. When he was young, Tom was initiated as a witch and has returned to atone for that, even though he has never actually practiced magic—apart from a magical “witch-bone” he carries with him.

Tom and Hellboy team up to protect a young witch named Cora from having her soul reaped by the Crooked Man, aided by a blind pastor, the Reverend Watts. The Crooked Man was an 18th-century war profiteer named Jeremiah Witkins. Witkins was hanged for his crimes but returned from Hell and became the resident devil in those parts. Witkins wants Cora’s soul, and he also covets Tom’s witch-bone, but his evil machinations prove to be no match for Hellboy.

Jack Kesy steps into the role of Hellboy, following in the footsteps of Ron Perlman and David Harbour.

Enlarge / Jack Kesy steps into the role of Hellboy, following in the footsteps of Ron Perlman and David Harbour.

Ketchup Entertainment

The new film seems to hew fairly closely to the source material—understandably so given Mignola’s direct involvement. Per the official premise: “In the 1950s, Hellboy and a rookie BPRD (Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense) agent, stranded in rural Appalachia, discover a small community haunted by witches, led by a local devil with a troubling connection to Hellboy’s past: the Crooked Man.”

In addition to Kesy, the cast includes Jefferson White as Tom Ferrell; Adeline Rudolph as rookie BPRD agent Bobbie Jo Song; Joseph Marcell as Reverend Nathaniel Armstrong Watts; Leah McNamara as Effie Kolb; Hannah Margetson as Cora Fisher; and Martin Bassindale in a dual role: Trevor “Broom” Bruttenholm, founder and head of the BPRD and Hellboy’s adoptive father, and Jeremiah Witkins, aka the Crooked Man.

The teaser opens with some scenic shots of Appalachia as Hellboy makes ominous comments in a voiceover about “evil” lurking and how the forest “smells like death.” It doesn’t take long for that evil to make itself known, as a levitating woman is bitten by a snake, plagues of insects and other creatures wreak havoc, and Hellboy is assured that “all your friends are gonna die.” The poor quality of the teaser is unfortunate and frankly does not instill tons of confidence, but I like the folk horror vibe; some of those scenes look hella scary. Tonally, the teaser feels a bit like The Blair Witch Project meets The Conjuring or The Witch.

What it doesn’t feel like is the Hellboy we have come to know and love. Look, diehard fans are still mad that Guillermo del Toro never got to complete his planned trilogy after the massive success of Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). Originally titled Hellboy III: Dark Worlds, the project was canceled due to lack of financing, and the fans haven’t forgotten… or forgiven.

Lionsgate tried to reboot the franchise instead with Harbour in the titular role, but that film turned out to be one of the biggest flops of 2019. Director Neil Marshall actually disowned the film, calling it “godawful” and “the worst professional experience of my life.” He had pitched the project as a darker, R-rated horror version of Hellboy, but studio interference meant he had very little creative control in the end. Now it’s Taylor’s turn to bring us his own darker, horrific R-rated vision, working on a smaller scale—if nothing else, it hopefully reduced the aforementioned studio interference. There’s not yet a release date, but we’ll see how it turned out soon enough.

Listing image by Ketchup Entertainment

Teaser for Hellboy: The Crooked Man brings the low-budget horror vibes Read More »

new-trailer-for-alien:-romulus-just-wants-to-give-us-a-big,-warm-face-hug

New trailer for Alien: Romulus just wants to give us a big, warm face-hug

20th Century Studios, Alien: Romulus, culture, Entertainment, film trailers, xenopmorphs / /

No one can hear you scream —

Beware abandoned space stations “haunted” by xenomorphs.

–

Director Fede Alvarez promises to bring the sci-fi franchise back to its horror roots with Alien: Romulus.

We got our first look at Alien: Romulus, the ninth installment in the sci-fi franchise, in March with a brief teaser. That footage showed promise that horror director Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe, Evil Dead) could fulfill his intention to bring this standalone film back to the franchise’s stripped-down space horror roots. Now we have the full trailer, and we’re pretty confident he’s kept that promise. It looks as gory, intense, and delightfully terrifying as the seminal first two films in the franchise.

(Spoilers for Alien and Aliens below.)

As previously reported, Alien: Romulus is set between the events of Alien and Aliens (and is not related to FX/Hulu’s Alien prequel series slated to premiere next year). That is, after Ellen Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo, destroyed the killer xenomorph and launched herself into space in the ship’s lifeboat—along with the ginger cat, Jonesy—and before she woke up after 57 years in hypersleep and battled more xenomorphs while protecting the young orphan, Newt (Carrie Henn). Per the short-and-sweet official premise: “While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”

Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla, Pacific Rim: Uprising) stars as Rain Carradine, Isabela Merced (The Last of Us) plays Kay, and David Jonsson (Murder Is Easy) plays Andy. Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone) plays Tyler, Spike Fearn (Aftersun) plays Bjorn, and Aileen Wu plays Navarro. But we aren’t likely to see iconic badass Ellen Ripley (immortalized by Sigourney Weaver) in the film. At this point in the timeline, she’s in the middle of her 57-year stasis with Jonesy as her escape shuttle travels through space toward her fateful encounter with a xenomorph queen.

The teaser offered little more than panicked calls for help (“Get it away from me!”), piercing screams, and a shot of a gore-spattered wall, along with a few frenetic shots of panicked crew members fleeing the alien xenomorph that is no doubt delighted to have fresh hosts in which to hatch its deadly offspring. There was also some special footage screened at CinemaCon in April featuring the expected face-huggers and chest-bursters.

The new trailer opens with ominous heavy footsteps (which punctuate the footage throughout) as Tyler asks Rain if this is really where she wants to spend the rest of her life. It’s unclear which place “this” refers to, but Rain definitely wants to escape, and Tyler has found what he claims is their “only ticket out of here”: becoming space colonizers, one presumes.

Cue the spooky “haunted house in space” vibes as Rain, Tyler, and their fellow colonists explore the aforementioned derelict space station—and get far more than they bargained for, including being attacked by face huggers. We also get a shot of Navarro’s horror as a chest-burster hammers against her rib cage. Kudos to whoever edited this trailer to remove the sound for the final 30 seconds, right after lettering spells out the classic tagline (“In space, no one can hear you scream”). It makes Rain’s final quiet line (“Are you sure you wanna do this?”) and the sudden burst of screaming at the end that much more effective.

Alien: Romulus hits theaters on August 16, 2024.

20th Century Studios

Listing image by 20th Century Studios

New trailer for Alien: Romulus just wants to give us a big, warm face-hug Read More »

doctor-who’s-sparkling-new-season-feels-like-a-fresh-return-to-form

Doctor Who’s sparkling new season feels like a fresh return to form

BBC, culture, Disney Plus, Doctor Who, Entertainment, Ncuti Gatwa, streaming television / /

Now in its 61st year —

Russell T. Davies and stars Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson weigh in on the new adventures.

–

black man and pretty blonde woman examining a strange contraption

Enlarge / Ncuti Gatwa is the Fifteenth Doctor, and Millie Gibson is his new companion, Ruby Sunday, in new season of Doctor Who.

Disney+

A new season of Doctor Who is almost upon us, featuring Ncuti Gatwa’s first full run as the 15th Doctor, with a shiny new companion. It’s also the first time Doctor Who will stream on Disney+, after the platform acquired the international broadcasting rights. That could translate into a whole new generation of fans for this beloved British sci-fi series.

(Spoilers for “The Power of the Doctor,” “The Giggle,” and “The Church on Ruby Road” below.)

Here’s a brief summation for the benefit of those who may not have kept up with the more recent seasons. Russell T. Davies—who revived the series in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor—has returned as showrunner. Davies lost no time introducing a few new twists. When it came time for Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor to regenerate, fans had expected Gatwa to be introduced. Instead, the new Fourteenth Doctor was played by former Tenth Doctor David Tennant, reuniting with former companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) for three specials.

The third special was called “The Giggle.” During the climactic battle, the Doctor was shot. But instead of the usual regeneration, the Fourteenth Doctor “bigenerated” instead, resulting in both a Fourteenth Doctor and Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor, a separate physical entity. Tennant’s incarnation settled into a comfy retirement with Donna and her family, while Gatwa’s newly regenerated Doctor headed off for a fresh set of adventures. In the Christmas special, “The Church on Ruby Road,” he picked up a new companion: Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson. The eight-episode new season kicks off this weekend with the Davies-penned “Space Babies” and “The Devil’s Chord.” Davies wrote six out of the eight episodes, in fact, closing out with “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” and the finale, “Empire of Death.”

Doctor Who is now in its 61st year, and this is Davies’ second stint as showrunner. Yet the new season feels as fresh and energetic as ever in terms of its storytelling. Davies attributes this to the format. “Because it is an anthology show, every week it’s a different show, a different script,” Davies told Ars. “Often it’s a different writer. He lands at a different place, a different time, a different planet. And very often he lands in a different genre. That demand means I can’t sit back. The audience wants a new punch. You want that cold open where you’re surprised and shocked and taken aback and thrilled and delighted to be going to meet The Beatles, or to find yourself under an alien dome, or to be racing through the streets of London in a thriller. All I have to do is meet the ambition of the show and keep running with it. That’s my job.”

Davies:

Enlarge / Davies: “All I have to do is meet the ambition of the show and keep running with it.”

Disney+

Furthermore, the sheer scope of the show pretty much guarantees a vast wellspring of new ideas. “You literally have the whole of time and space and within that you can tell so many different stories,” said Davies. “World War II is often a very evocative setting for Doctor Who. The Victorian era is very evocative. Somehow, it matches that wooden TARDIS in ineffable ways, so it’s been to certain locations more than once. But that’s so rich. You can think of a thousand World War II stories. You can think of a thousand Dickensian stories. And equally, Doctor Who can be completely unafraid of reinventing its own history. It’s actually seen the destruction of Atlantis three times. So, the territory always remains fertile.”

Gatwa had some very big shoes to fill when he took on this iconic character, and he pulls it off with great charisma and style. He credits the writers and production staff, as well as Gibson, with helping him craft his unique take on the Doctor. Gatwa told Ars that his greatest challenge was portraying the character’s wisdom. “I’ve always had a baby face,” he said—so much so that he was often told at drama school that he just couldn’t portray more mature characters. He found the answer in the Doctor’s regenerations. “He’s reborn each time,” said Gatwa. “He’s seeing things with new eyes, like [picking up a bowl of berries], ‘This is the best bowl of berries I’ve ever had!’ That youthful energy ended up being really helpful in terms of accessing other traits, like his wisdom.”

The elements Gatwa brings to the role also drive much of the writing, per Davies. “His skill and talent, it makes me run faster because all you ever want in life is a limitless actor and also a fearless actor,” he said. “There is nothing he can’t do. Milly, too; she has a kind of bounce and energy. It’s not just the depth of their emotions, it’s their technical comic skills. It’s my job to showcase that.” Davies also tried to make sure he challenged Gatwa and Gibson in some way on a daily basis by having them do something they’d never done before, whether it be a new stunt, an exciting confrontation with a villain, or a heartbreaking personal scene.

Doctor Who’s sparkling new season feels like a fresh return to form Read More »

the-boys-s4-trailer-brings-us-more-bloody-mayhem-and-“homelander-on-ice”

The Boys S4 trailer brings us more bloody mayhem and “Homelander on Ice”

culture, Entertainment, prime video, streaming television, The Boys, Uncategorized / /

Homelander still sucks —

“You will no longer be beloved celebrities. You will be wrathful gods. Show me a little wrath.”

–

The long-awaited fourth season of the Prime Video series, The Boys, premieres on June 13, 2024

Last summer’s Hollywood strikes delayed a number of releases, among them the fourth season of Prime Video’s The Boys. We’re longtime fans of this incredibly violent, darkly funny anti-homage to superheroes, and thus are thrilled to see there’s finally an official trailer for S4. It’s filled with the bloody mayhem we’ve come to expect from the show, as well as a tantalizing glimpse of the chief villain, Homelander (Antony Starr), performing in what appears to be an ice skating extravaganza.

(Spoilers for prior seasons below, especially S3.)

As I’ve written previously, the show is based on the comic book series of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. The Boys is set in a fictional universe where superheroes are real but are corrupted by corporate interests and a toxic celebrity-obsessed culture. The most elite superhero group is called the Seven, operated by the Vought Corporation, which created the supes with a substance called Compound V. The Seven is headed up by Homelander, a violent and unstable psychopath disguised as the All-American hero. Homelander’s counterpart as the head of the titular “Boys” is Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), a self-appointed vigilante intent on checking the bad behavior of the Seven—especially Homelander, who brutally raped Butcher’s wife, Becca (Shantel VanSanten), unknowingly fathering a son, Ryan, in the process..

Having discovered he had a son, Homelander turned Ryan against Butcher in S2, which ended with a bloody showdown that saw the demise of Becca as well as the mutilation of Homelander’s supe squeeze, Stormfront (Aya Cash), who turned out to be a Nazi disguised as a “patriot.” (She committed suicide in S3.) Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) and Starlight (Annie Moriarty) successfully blackmailed Homelander into loosening his bullying stranglehold on the Seven. Meanwhile, the government cleared the Boys of all wrongdoing after they were publicly smeared as terrorists. A disillusioned Hughie (Jack Quaid) decided to try to fight the Seven through politics rather than violence and went to work for Congressperson Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit)—but he didn’t know she’s actually a super-powered assassin with her own murderous agenda.

The third season introduced us to “Payback,” the name of an earlier Vought group of superheroes, loosely based on Marvel’s Avengers. Payback members include Eagle the Archer (Langston Kerman), who appeared in S2 of The Boys . He’s the one who recruited the Deep (Chace Crawford) and A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) to the Church of the Collective before the cult turned against him. By S3 he’d quit the superhero gig and was trying to become a rapper. We also met Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) and Crimson Countess (Laurie Holden), and an entire episode was devoted to one of the comic’s most shocking storylines: Herogasm, in which the Boys infiltrated Vought’s annual superhero party, which turned out to be just one long weekend of kinky sex and drug use on a secluded island.

The third season ended with Homelander killing one of Starlight’s supporters who attacked Ryan during a rally—and rather than being roundly condemned, the crowd cheered wildly, and Homelander realized just how few constraints there were on his psychopathic behavior. Soldier Boy (who turned out to be Homelander’s biological father) ended up in government custody, Maeve was presumed dead but actually just lost her powers, and Annie/Starlight left the Seven to join forces with The Boys. As for Butcher, he had been juicing with V24, a version of Compound V that temporarily gave humans super powers—at a price. By season’s end, Butcher realized he was dying.

That brings us to the fourth season. Per the official premise:

The world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son and his job as The Boys’ leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late.

The trailer opens with a presumably doomed Butcher doing some soul-searching about how he’s lived his life. “All I see are the messes I’ve made,” he says while we’re shown the scene where Ryan leaves with a smirking Homelander. “And I ain’t got time to fix it.”  He figures he has a chance to do one thing right but he needs The Boys’ help to succeed.

Meanwhile, Homelander is flaunting his power, insisting that the country “is corrupt beyond repair.” His plans for the country’s “salvation” naturally involve violence: doing terrible things “for the greater good.” So the Seven must now stop being beloved celebrities and instead become “wrathful gods.” Not everyone is on board with Homelander’s strategy, notably A-Train and Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie), but there’s not much they can do to stop the Supes from rounding up any recalcitrant humans and putting them in camps—or declaring “hunting season on Starlighters.”

Humanity’s only hope appears to rest in Butcher’s discovery of a virus that can kill Supes, first introduced in the spinoff series, Gen V. But first they’ll have to fight off violent superpowered chickens and livestock that have been injected with Compound V—and somehow avoid turning into the very evil they’re trying to defeat.

The first three episodes of The Boys S4 premieres on June 13, 2024, on Prime Video, with subsequent episodes airing each week until the finale on July 18, 2024.

Prime Video

Listing image by Prime Video

The Boys S4 trailer brings us more bloody mayhem and “Homelander on Ice” Read More »

it’s-star-wars-day-and-we-have-a-new-trailer-for-the-acolyte-to-celebrate

It’s Star Wars Day and we have a new trailer for The Acolyte to celebrate

culture, Disney Plus, Entertainment, Lucasfilm, star wars, streaming television, The Acolyte / /

May the Fourth Be With You —

“The Jedi justify their galactic dominance in the name of peace. But that peace is a lie.”

–

“No one is safe from the truth” in new trailer for The Acolyte.

It’s Star Wars Day, and to mark the occasion, Disney+ has dropped a new trailer for Star Wars: The Acolyte. As previously reported, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the Galactic Republic and its Jedi masters symbolized the epitome of enlightenment and peace. Then came the inevitable downfall and outbreak of war as the Sith, who embraced the Dark Side of the Force, came to power. Star Wars: The Acolyte will explore those final days of the Republic as the seeds of its destruction were sown.

The eight-episode series was created by Leslye Headland. It’s set at the end of the High Republic Era, about a century before the events of The Phantom Menace. Apparently Headland rather cheekily pitched The Acolyte as “Frozen meets Kill Bill.” She drew on wuxia martial arts films for inspiration, much like George Lucas was originally inspired by Westerns and the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa. Per the official premise:

In Star Wars: The Acolyte, an investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Amandla Stenberg). As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems…

In addition to Lee (best known from Squid Game) and Stenberg (Rue in The Hunger Games), the cast includes Manny Jacinto (Jason on The Good Place) as a former smuggler named Qimir; Dafne Keen (Logan, His Dark Materials) as a young Jedi named Jecki Lon; Carrie-Ann Moss (Trinity in The Matrix trilogy) as a Jedi master named Indara; Jodie Turner-Smith (After Yang) as Mother Aniseya, who leads a coven of witches; Rebecca Henderson (Russian Doll) as a Jedi knight named Vernestra Rwoh; and Charlie Bennet (Russian Doll) as a Jedi named Yord Fandar.

In addition, Abigail Thorn plays Ensign Eurus, while Joonas Suotamo plays a Wookiee Jedi master named Kelnacca. Suotamo portrayed Chewbacca in the sequel trilogy of films (Episodes VII-IX) and in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Also appearing in as-yet-undisclosed roles are Dean-Charles Chapman, Amy Tsang, and Margarita Levieva.

The first trailer dropped in March, in which we saw young padawans in training; Indara battling a mysterious masked figure; learned that somebody is out there killing Jedi; and were told that there is a growing sense of darkness. This latest trailer reinforces those themes. The assassin, Mae (Stenberg), once trained with Master Sol (Lee), and he thinks he should be the one to bring her in—although Master Vernestra correctly suspects Mae’s killings are a small part a larger plan, i.e, the eventual return of the Sith.

Qimir doesn’t seem to be a Jedi fan, claiming that their “peace is a lie.” Meanwhile, Mae receives encouragement from Mother Aniseya and her coven of witches, who look like they are draining the life of a young Padawan at one point.  “Destiny is not decided for you by an anonymous force,” Mother Aniseya tells Mae. “If you want to pull the thread and change everything, then pull it.”

The first two episodes of Star Wars: The Acolyte debut on Disney+ on June 4, 2024.

Disney+

Listing image by Disney+

It’s Star Wars Day and we have a new trailer for The Acolyte to celebrate Read More »

inside-shogun:-how-visual-effects-brought-17th-century-feudal-japan-to-vivid-life

Inside Shōgun: How visual effects brought 17th-century feudal Japan to vivid life

culture, Entertainment, Hulu, Shōgun, streaming tv, vfx / /

a visual feast —

VFX supervisor Michael Cliett on the importance of historical accuracy in the show’s VFX.

–

FX/Hulu's <em>Shōgun</em> is a stunning new adaptation of the bestselling 1975 novel by James Clavell.” src=”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/shogunTOP-ALT-2-800×533.jpg”></img><figcaption> <p><a data-height=Enlarge / FX/Hulu’s Shōgun is a stunning new adaptation of the bestselling 1975 novel by James Clavell.

FX/Hulu

FX/Hulu’s new historical epic series, Shōgun, based on the bestselling 1975 novel by James Clavell, has met with both popular and critical acclaim since its February premiere, drawing over 9 million views across all platforms in the first six days alone. The storytelling, the characters, the stellar performances, the expert pacing all contribute to that success. But it’s also a visually stunning achievement that brings 17th-century feudal Japan to vivid life, thanks to masterful visual effects that have been woven in so seamlessly, it can be challenging to distinguish between the CGI and the real footage.

The novel is a fictionalized account of the key players and events in 17th-century feudal Japan that ultimately led to the naming of a new shōgun (central ruler), Tokugawa Ieyasu, and the advent of the Edo period. The climactic event was the October 21, 1600, Battle of Sekigahara, in which Tokugawa defeated a coalition of clans led by Ishida Mitsunari. Clavell’s novel also includes a fictionalized version of an English navigator named William Adams, aka Miura Anjiin (“the pilot of Miura”), who was the first of his nation to reach Japan in 1600, eventually becoming a samurai and one of Tokugawa’s key advisers.

Clavell’s epic saga was a blockbuster success, selling over 6 million copies by 1980. The author changed the names of all the main characters, purportedly to “add narrative deniability,” and despite some inevitable inaccuracies and authorial liberties, the novel is breathtaking in scope, chock-full of encyclopedic period details. In fact, Shōgun is often credited with introducing an entire generation of Western readers to Japanese history and culture. “In sheer quantity, Shōgun has probably conveyed more information about Japan to more people than all the combined writings of scholars, journalists, and novelists since the Pacific War,” an editor named Henry Smith wrote in 1980.

It was also just a cracking good read and perfect fodder for the miniseries craze that hit broadcast TV in the late 1970s and early 1980s, driven by the runaway success of 1977’s Roots. A nine-hour miniseries adaptation of Shōgun ran over five nights in September 1980, starring Richard Chamberlain as John Blackthorne and Toshiro Mifune as Lord Yoshii Toranaga, the fictional characters based on Adams and Tokugawa, respectively. It, too, was a massive success, driving even more sales of Clavell’s novel, although the reception in Japan was far more negative.

Hiroyuki Sanada stars as Lord Yoshii Toranaga, a character based on the historical figure Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Enlarge / Hiroyuki Sanada stars as Lord Yoshii Toranaga, a character based on the historical figure Tokugawa Ieyasu.

FX/Hulu

Fast-forward to 2018, when FX announced that it had made a straight-to-series order for a new adaptation of the novel, created by Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo. This time around, Cosmo Jarvis (Peaky Blinders, Raised by Wolves) stars as Blackthorne, while Hiroyuki Sanada (The Last Samurai, John Wick: Chapter 4) plays Toranaga. It’s been described as “a Game of Thrones set in 17th century Japan,” although calling it a 17th century Japanese Godfather also captures the essence of the new series.

This new incarnation of Shōgun opens in 1600. Japan’s Taikō died the year before, leaving five regents equally responsible for protecting his heir until the child comes of age. Toranaga is one such regent, but his rival, Lord Ishido (Takehiro Hira), conspires with the other three to have Toranaga impeached, with the ultimate goal of double-crossing his co-conspirators, killing the child, and ruling himself. Meanwhile, Blackthorne’s ship, Erasmus, wrecks on the shore of the coastal village Ajiiro, where Portuguese Catholic priests try to turn the local samurai against the Protestant survivors.

Blackthorne finds himself embroiled in this hotbed of political intrigue when Toranaga takes a shine to him, envisioning a key role for the English pilot in Toranaga’s own secret machinations. There is a scheming local lord, Kashigi Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano) trying to play both sides; a charming Spanish sailor named Vasco Rodrigues (Nestor Carbonell, Lost) who befriends Blackthorne; and the alluring translator, Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), who finds herself torn between her loyalty to Toranaga and her Catholic faith—not to mention a growing attraction to the foreign Anjin.

The responsibility for putting together all those seamless visual effects fell to VFX supervisor Michael Cliett, whose extensive credits include Falling Skies, iZombie, Arrow, The 100, and Serenity. Cliett and his team spent a grueling three years agonizing over every historical detail. “It was all worth it, all the blood, sweat, and tears,” Cliett told Ars. “I’m so proud of the show and I’m so grateful at the reception that it’s gotten, the recognition of our hard work. I’m grateful to have been part of it.”

Inside Shōgun: How visual effects brought 17th-century feudal Japan to vivid life Read More »

dead-boy-detectives-turns-neil-gaiman’s-ghostly-duo-into-“hardy-boys-on-acid”

Dead Boy Detectives turns Neil Gaiman’s ghostly duo into “Hardy Boys on acid”

culture, dc comics, Dead Boy Detectives, Entertainment, Neil Gaiman, netflix, streaming television / /

Solving paranormal mysteries with panache —

Supernatural horror detective series has witches, demons, and a charming Cat King.

–

Edwin (George Rexstrew) and Charles (Jayden Revri) are the Dead Boy Detectives, ghosts who solve paranormal mysteries.

Enlarge / Edwin (George Rexstrew) and Charles (Jayden Revri) are the Dead Boy Detectives, ghosts who solve paranormal mysteries.

Netflix

For those eagerly anticipating the second season of Netflix’s stellar adaption of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels, Dead Boy Detectives—the streaming plaform’s new supernatural horror detective series—is a welcome return to that weird magical world. Co-showrunner Steve Yockey (Supernatural), who created the series, aptly describes it as “the Hardy Boys on acid.” You’ve got vengeful witches, demons, psychic mediums, cursed masks, foul-mouthed parasitic sprites, talking cats—and, of course, the titular ghostly detectives, intent on spending their afterlife cracking all manner of mysterious paranormal cases.

(Some spoilers below, but no major reveals.)

Sandman fans first encountered the Dead Boys in the “Seasons of Mist” storyline, in which the ghost Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland meet for the first time in 1990. Edwin had been murdered at his boarding school in 1916 and spent decades in Hell. When Lucifer abandoned his domain, Hell was emptied, and Edwin was among the souls who returned to that boarding school. Charles was a living student whom Edwin tried to protect. Charles ultimately died and chose to join Edwin in his afterlife adventures. The characters reappeared in the Children’s Crusade crossover series, in which they decided to become detectives.

“As far as I was concerned, this was obviously the ultimate, the finest, most commercial idea I had ever had: two dead boys and a detective agency, you’re there,” said Gaiman during a virtual media event. “Nobody else saw it. It was just this mad conviction that sooner or later, there would be somebody out there in the world who would pick up one of these comics, read it, and see the same thing. Little did I know that baby Steve Yockey was out there waiting to be infected.”

Yockey championed the project from the start. “I fell in love with the comic when I was very young and I was going through a personal loss, and I found it weirdly comforting in a psychedelic way,” he said. It’s thanks to Yockey that the Dead Boys popped up in a S3 episode of Doom Patrol when he was a writer on that series. The characters proved so popular that HBO Max ordered a pilot for a Dead Boy Detectives series in 2021. The project subsequently moved to Netflix. Per the official premise:

Meet Edwin Paine (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri), “the brains” and “the brawn” behind the Dead Boy Detectives agency. Teenagers born decades apart who find each other only in death,  Edwin and Charles are best friends, ghosts… who solve mysteries. They will do anything to stick together—including escaping evil witches, Hell and Death herself. With the help of a clairvoyant named Crystal Palace (Kassius Nelson) and her friend Niko (Yuyu Kitamura), they are able to crack some of the mortal realm’s most mystifying paranormal cases.

“I knew the things I wanted to hang onto in the adaptation were the relationship between the boys and Death, because that drives our action, and also this sense of, don’t wait until you’re looking death in the face to start living,” said Yockey. For his co-showrunner, Beth Schwartz, it was the close friendship between Edwin and Charles, forged out of their painful pasts, that cemented her love for the series. “It’s this horrible tragedy when you really think about it,” she said. “It’s these two boys who didn’t get to live past their teenage years. But because of that tragedy they created this amazing friendship.”

The Dead Boys came out of the Sandman canon, but that series was at Netflix, while Yockey was initially developing Dead Boy Detectives for HBO Max, So Gaiman and Yockey essentially “filed off the Sandman serial numbers” for their early scripts, per Gaiman. When the series moved to Netflix, the streaming platform’s only request was to set the story back in the Sandman universe. Charles and Edwin are evading Death to solve mysteries in their afterlife, so naturally, Kirby Howell-Baptiste makes a cameo in a pilot scene penned by Gaiman, reprising her role as Death. One other Endless makes an appearance late in the season, and eagle-eyed fans might spot nods to the original Sandman artwork in the set design.

Dead Boy Detectives turns Neil Gaiman’s ghostly duo into “Hardy Boys on acid” Read More »

the-fall-guy-spotlights-its-amazing-stuntmen-in-meta-marketing-video

The Fall Guy spotlights its amazing stuntmen in meta marketing video

culture, Entertainment, ryan gosling, The Fall Guy, Trailers, Universal Pictures / /

Anyway you want it —

Ryan Gosling and his stunt buddies spoof Carpool Karaoke and sing along to Journey.

–

Ryan Gosling hosts a round of carpool karaoke with his stuntmen for the forthcoming action comedy The Fall Guy.

Universal Studios has been going meta with its marketing for its forthcoming action comedy The Fall Guy. Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt are the marquee stars; Gosling plays a Hollywood stuntman trying to make a movie with his estranged ex-girlfriend (Blunt). But it’s the actual stuntmen standing in for Gosling during action sequences who get the spotlight in a new promotional video for the film.

As previously reported, The Fall Guy is directed by David Leitch, who also brought us the glorious John Wick (his uncredited directorial debut with Chad Stahelski). It’s a loose adaptation of the popular 1980s TV series of the same name starring Lee Majors. Per the official synopsis:

Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling stars as Colt Seavers, a battle-scarred stuntman who, having left the business a year earlier to focus on both his physical and mental health, is drafted back into service when the star of a mega-budget studio movie—being directed by his ex, Jody Moreno, played by Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt—goes missing. While the film’s ruthless producer (Hannah Waddingham), maneuvers to keep the disappearance of star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) a secret from the studio and the media, Colt performs the film’s most outrageous stunts while trying (with limited success) to charm his way back into Jody’s good graces. But as the mystery around the missing star deepens, Colt will find himself ensnared in a sinister, criminal plot that will push him to the edge of a fall more dangerous than any stunt.

In this incarnation, Gosling’s Colt Seavers isn’t a bounty hunter on the side; he’s just a stuntman—a bit past his prime—who stumbles into solving a mystery. Blunt costars as Jody Moreno, Colt’s ex-girlfriend and a former camera operator who finally gets the chance to direct her first film. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays movie star Tom Ryder, who goes missing mid-shoot. Stephanie Hsu plays Ryder’s personal assistant, and Winston Duke plays Colt’s stunt coordinator and BFF. Ted Lasso‘s Hannah Waddingham appears as Gail, the producer of Jody’s film. And OG Fall Guy Lee Majors (now in his 80s) is expected to have a cameo; perhaps he’ll perform the theme song, “Unknown Stuntman,” that he wrote and recorded for the original series.

Last week, the studio released three short promotional videos in which Gosling, Blunt, Leitch, and Waddingham try to come up with creative marketing ploys for the film. But today’s release, “Car Pool,” is the best of the lot, precisely because it pays clever homage to the actual stuntmen.

The video opens with Gosling getting a call from Leitch, instructing him to pick up his three stunt doubles in a flashy lime green Nissan GT-R. (Per Ars Automotive Editor Jonathan Gitlin, it’s the R35 generation, on sale since 2007.) The concept is meant to evoke a carpool karaoke vibe, only without the actual music (no, not even Journey).

Of course, Gosling can’t resist blasting Journey’s “Any Way You Want It” en route to the various pickup points. And, of course, the stuntmen—Logan Holladay, Ben Jenkin, and Troy Brown—can’t resist showcasing their stuntman skills. Halladay takes over driving duties, Jenkin stages getting hit by the car and rolling onto the hood, and Troy falls off a roof onto an inflatable stunt bag. They all have a grand time singing along to Journey, and Jenkin actually has a decent voice. If only they can make sure they get the song rights….

The Fall Guy hits theaters on May 3, 2024.

Listing image by Universal Pictures

The Fall Guy spotlights its amazing stuntmen in meta marketing video Read More »

review:-pitch-perfect-renegade-nell-is-a-gem-of-a-series-you-won’t-want-to-miss

Review: Pitch-perfect Renegade Nell is a gem of a series you won’t want to miss

culture, Disney Plus, Entertainment, Renegade Nell, Reviews, streaming television, TV reviews / /

Don’t call her “Nelly” —

It’s a good old-fashioned swashbuckling adventure that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

–

A young prodigal tomboy returns home from war and finds herself framed for murder in <em>Renegade Nell</em>.” src=”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/nellTOP-800×536.jpg”></img><figcaption> <p><a data-height=Enlarge / A young prodigal tomboy returns home from war and finds herself framed for murder in Renegade Nell.

Disney+

Award-winning British TV writer Sally Wainwright is best known for the dramatic series Happy Valley (2014–2023) and Gentleman Jack (2019–2022), the latter produced jointly by BBC and HBO. Wainwright partnered with Disney+ for her latest series, the resolutely PG-13 Renegade Nell, which is a different beast altogether: a good old-fashioned, swashbuckling comic adventure with a supernatural twist, featuring a sassy cross-dressing heroine forced to turn to highway robbery to survive.

(Some spoilers below, but no major reveals.)

Set in 1705 during the reign of Queen Anne (Jodi May, Gentleman Jack), the series stars Louisa Harland (Derry Girls) as Nell Jackson. Nell is a headstrong young woman with tomboy flair and a taste for adventure who returns home to her village of Tottenham after running off five years before to marry one Captain Jackson against her father’s wishes. She’s now widowed and possessed of occasional supernatural skills whenever someone threatens her, courtesy of a fairy sprite named Billy Blind (Nick Mohammed, aka Nathan from Ted Lasso), who has been tasked to protect Nell. Nell’s family thought she’d been killed on the battlefield alongside her husband, so her homecoming is a bit of a shock.

Alas, Nell soon runs afoul of one Thomas Blancheford (Jake Dunn), the louche, drunken offspring of the town’s landlord, Lord Blancheford (Pip Torrens, Preacher). Let’s just say things escalate, and Nell soon finds herself on the run and framed for murder, along with her two sisters, Roxy (Bo Bragason) and George (Florence Keen), and the Blanchefords’ former groomsman, Rasselas (Enyi Okoronkwo, The Lazarus Project). The group gets further assistance from a charming aristocratic dandy/secret highwayman named Charles Devereaux (Frank Dillane, The Essex Serpent).

Nell just wants to evade capture long enough to find an honest magistrate to clear her name. In the process, she finds herself battling the formidable black magic of the Earl of Poynton (Adrian Lester, Euphoria) and his acolyte, Thomas’ sister, Lady Sofia (Alice Kremelberg, The Sinner), and stumbles upon a sinister plot to dethrone the queen.

  • Louisa Harland stars as Nelly Jackson, who finds herself framed for murder.

    Disney+

  • Nick Mohammed plays a sprite named Billy Blind, charged with protecting Nell.

    Disney+

  • Charles Devereaux (Frank Dillane) is an impoverished aristocrat who does highway robberies on the side.

    Disney+

  • Nell returns home to her family: father Sam Trotter and sisters George and Roxy.

    Disney+

  • Thomas Blancheford (Jake Dunn) is a drunken louche who torments the villagers.

    Disney+

  • The Earl of Poynton (Adrian Lester) dabbles in black magic and has sinister plans afoot.

    Disney+

  • Lady Sofia Wilmot (Alice Kremelberg) chafes at the limitations imposed upon her by society.

    Disney+

  • Nell and her sisters end up on the run.

    Disney+

  • The Blanchefords’ former groom, Rasselas (Enyi Okoronkwo), helps the sisters.

    Disney+

  • Rebellious young socialite Polly Honeycombe (Ashna Rabheru) is rather thrilled to be robbed by a dashing highwayman.

    Disney+

The writing, pacing, and production values are top-notch, and the cast is terrific across the board. Lester brings a ruthless authority to Poynton’s spooky supernatural machinations, while Kremelberg is all seething bitter resentment and steely resolve as Lady Sofia, a brilliant, ambitious noblewoman (also widowed) who is far more qualified to run the family estate than her worthless brother, yet prohibited from inheriting by the laws of the time. Dillane’s Devereaux provides much of the witty repartee and comic relief, as does Joely Richardson’s (The Sandman) newspaper magnate, Lady Eularia Moggerhanger. And Ashna Rabheru (Red Rose) is delightful as a spoiled young aristocrat, Polly Honeycombe, with a lively romantic imagination who longs for something more in life than an arranged marriage.

But it’s Harland’s sensational portrayal of Nell that anchors it all. This is a role that requires her to be a tough rebellious tomboy in one scene and sport a posh accent and fancy dress in another; to balance action comedy with moments of genuine fear and heartbreaking tragedy. It’s also a highly physical role: Harland underwent several months of stunt training prior to filming. She does it all with refreshingly unpretentious aplomb.

Renegade Nell keeps the action flowing and wisely never takes itself too seriously. Sure, there is injustice, class warfare, and strong intelligent women chafing within the strict confines of traditional binary gender roles—and Polly Honeycombe definitely qualifies as bicurious. But Wainwright never lets the story get bogged down in heavy-handed symbolism or didacticism. Even Nell’s cross-dressing is handled with the lightest touch. Asked to comment on her character’s gender politics, Harland told the Guardian that there was no ulterior motive or agenda: “Why does she dress as a man? To pass as a man.” Simple as that.

Will we see more of feisty Nell and her delightfully eccentric compatriots? That’s up to Disney. There are plenty of questions left unanswered and definitely more stories to tell, both past and present. Series director Ben Taylor told Radio Times just after the premiere that a second season was currently being written and that it would likely involve some kind of time jump (given that some of the younger actors will visibly age), picking up with the various surviving characters from where they left off in the first season. But Disney has yet to confirm this. Here’s hoping this series finds the broader audience it so richly deserves. We’re rooting for you, Nelly… err, Nell.

Renegade Nell is now streaming on Disney+.

Trailer for Renegade Nell.

Review: Pitch-perfect Renegade Nell is a gem of a series you won’t want to miss Read More »

will-there-be-a-dune:-part-three?-yes…-with-caveats-on-timing

Will there be a Dune: Part Three? Yes… with caveats on timing

culture, denis villeneuve, Dune, Dune: Messiah, Entertainment, Frank Herbert, Legendary Pictures / /

Prepare for the Messiah —

Timing of a big-screen return to Arrakis mostly depends on director Denis Villeneuve.

–

Legendary Pictures has confirmed that it plans to make <em>Dune: Part Three</em> with director Denis Villeneuve.” src=”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/dune2-800×537.jpg”></img><figcaption> <p><a data-height=Enlarge / Legendary Pictures has confirmed that it plans to make Dune: Part Three with director Denis Villeneuve.

YouTube/Warner Bros.

Dune: Part Two is still raking in the moolah at the box office, and deservedly so. But judging by my various feeds, fans are already swooning over the prospect of director Denis Villeneuve extending his vision into a trilogy by adapting Frank Herbert’s 1969 sequel, Dune Messiah, for the next installment. Will there be a Dune: Part Three? Most signs currently point to yes, with a couple of caveats. Exactly how soon we’ll be seeing a return to Arrakis depends a lot on Villeneuve.

Variety confirmed that Legendary Pictures is working with the director on developing Dune: Part Three, although it remains unclear from the wording of the plethora of news items whether the project has officially been greenlit. (“Development” can mean a lot of things.) Naturally, the studio is eager, as are we: the film is the biggest hit of 2024 thus far, with global earnings of $630 million (although the hotly anticipated Deadpool and Wolverine this summer might give it a run for its money).

That confirmation sent fresh frissons of excitement across the Internet, although Villeneuve had been talking about the prospect as far back as September 2021. Those plans always depended on the success of Part Two, and that hurdle has obviously been cleared. By August 2023, the director was on record saying there were “words on paper” for a third film. And we learned just last month that composer Hans Zimmer was already working on the score for Dune: Part Three.

That said, Villeneuve has yet to commit to an actual release date publicly, emphasizing his desire to take a little break from the Dune franchise to work on something else. (Per Variety, Legendary has already tapped him to adapt Anne Jacobsen’s nonfiction book, Nuclear War: A Scenario, but that project will likely come after Dune: Part Three.) He even hinted at one point that it might be a good idea to let star Timothée Chalamet age a bit, given the 12-year gap in the novels.

And in February, Villeneuve told The Times UK that while he had nearly finished a draft script (“barely an embryo”), he was not inclined to rush things: “I want to make sure that if we go back there a third time that it’ll be worth it, and that it would be make something even better than Part Two.” That’s a tall order, given the critical raves that have accompanied the film’s box office success. But we’re betting Villeneuve can pull it off… in his own good time.

Will there be a Dune: Part Three? Yes… with caveats on timing Read More »

ncuti-gatwa’s-fifteenth-doctor-rocks-the-fashion-in-new-doctor-who-trailer

Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor rocks the fashion in new Doctor Who trailer

culture, Doctor Who, Entertainment, Fifteenth Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa, Russell T. Davies, streaming tele, Trailers, TV trailers / /

The Fifteenth Doctor is in —

The return of Russell T. Davies as show runner has been a welcome one.

–

Ncuti Gatwa officially begins his tenure as the Fifteenth Doctor in May, when the new Doctor Who season premieres.

Heads up, Whovians! We’ve got a newly regenerated Fifteenth Doctor in Ncuti Gatwa and a new season of the long-running British sci-fi series Doctor Who on the way. Judging by the latest trailer, we’re in for another wild ride of time-traveling hijinks, punctuated by an irresistibly charismatic Gatwa sporting some very colorful outfits with confident aplomb.

(Spoilers for most recent seasons and specials below.)

Look, I loved Jodie Whittaker’s incarnation of the Doctor, but her tenure was hampered by the unavoidable fact that showrunner Chris Chibnall just didn’t give her a lot of great material to work with. Among other issues, there was an unfortunate tendency toward didacticism and preachiness in the writing at the expense of genuine emotional resonance. While there were a number of notable episodes, and Chibnall gamely trotted out all the fan-favorite monsters and tropes, nothing ever fully captured the imagination in quite the same way as the show has always done at its best. Whittaker deserved better.

But then the BBC announced the return of Russell T. Davies—who revived the series in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor—as showrunner, setting up another reset of this beloved series. When Gatwa’s casting was announced, everyone assumed Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor would regenerate accordingly at the end of “The Power of the Doctor.” Instead, the newly regenerated Fourteenth Doctor was played by none other than David Tennant, everyone’s favorite Tenth Doctor—a little older with a few tweaks to his trademark look.

It was great casting for the 60th anniversary specials, in which Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor reunited with Donna Noble (Catherine Tate)—one of my favorite companions. Donna had her memories of the Doctor wiped by the Tenth Doctor to save her life since she had taken on some Time Lord knowledge that human beings just aren’t designed to carry. Donna now had a teenage daughter named Rose, and of course, a major crisis forced the Doctor to restore the erased knowledge to save London yet again. Donna should have died, but her Time Lord knowledge ended up being safely split between her and Rose instead.

The Doctor and Donna next encountered an abandoned spaceship filled with doppelgängers (Not-Things) in “Wild Blue Yonder.” In “The Giggle,” they faced off against the Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris), and during the climactic battle, the Fourteenth Doctor was shot. Fans expecting the usual regeneration were in for a surprise. The Fourteenth Doctor “bigenerated” instead, resulting in both a Fourteenth Doctor and Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor, a separate physical entity.

  • Ncuti Gatwa is ready for his first full season as the Fifteenth Doctor.

    YouTube/BBC

  • His new companion is Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson).

    YouTube/BBC

  • “Space babies!”

    YouTube/BC

  • The Doctor and the dinosaurs.

    YouTube/BBC

  • Going full-on Bridgerton.

    YouTube/BBC

  • “We are going to rock through time…”

    YouTube/BBC

  • Sporting a snazzy tangerine-colored knit.

    YouTube/BBC

  • Looking very Mod Squad, Doctor!

    YouTube/BBC

  • Recreating a famous album cover because why not?

    YouTube/BBC

The two Doctors teamed up to defeat the Toymaker and then figured out how to duplicate the TARDIS by drawing on the power of the remnants of the villain’s reality-warping domain. And Gatwa’s Doctor embarked on a fresh adventure with the 2023 Christmas special “The Church on Ruby Road,” which also introduced us to his new companion, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson).

All of that brings us to season 14. All we really know about this new season is that it will have eight episodes, beginning with the Davies-penned “Space Babies” and “The Devil’s Chord.” Davies wrote six out of the eight episodes, in fact, closing out with “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” and the finale, “Empire of Death.”  The latest trailer doesn’t give us much more than some exciting visual teases of what’s in store, including the aforementioned space babies, dinosaurs, a mysterious spacecraft—and all those outfits.

The Fifteenth Doctor is apparently something of a clothes horse. Each incarnation of the Doctor has always had a trademark “look,” but costume designer Pam Downe decided to broaden the scope for Gatwa, incorporating design elements from previous Doctors all the way back to Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor, whose style Gatwa particularly admired. That Regency-era burgundy velvet jacket is definitely a nod to the Third Doctor. There’s even a 1960s suit and Afro reminiscent of the Mod Squad or Austin Powers (with a sly allusion to The Beatles’ Abbey Road). Gatwa is clearly having a blast, which bodes well for the upcoming new season.

Season 14 of Doctor Who premieres on BBC and Disney+ on May 10, 2024, in the US and May 11 in the UK.

Listing image by YouTube/BBC

Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor rocks the fashion in new Doctor Who trailer Read More »

openai-shows-off-sora-ai-video-generator-to-hollywood-execs

OpenAI shows off Sora AI video generator to Hollywood execs

AI, Entertainment, movies, openai, syndication, video / /

No lights, no camera, action —

CEO Sam Altman met with Universal, Paramount, and Warner Bros Discovery.

–

a robotic intelligence works as a cameraman (3d rendering)

OpenAI has launched a charm offensive in Hollywood, holding meetings with major studios including Paramount, Universal, and Warner Bros Discovery to showcase its video generation technology Sora and allay fears the artificial intelligence model will harm the movie industry.

Chief Executive Sam Altman and Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap gave presentations to executives from the film industry giants, said multiple people with knowledge of the meetings, which took place in recent days.

Altman and Lightcap showed off Sora, a new generative AI model that can create detailed videos from simple written prompts.

The technology first gained Hollywood’s attention after OpenAI published a selection of videos produced by the model last month. The clips quickly went viral online and have led to debate over the model’s potential impact on the creative industries.

“Sora is causing enormous excitement,” said media analyst Claire Enders. “There is a sense it is going to revolutionize the making of movies and bring down the cost of production and reduce the demand for [computer-generated imagery] very strongly.”

AI-generated video of a cat and human, generated via video generation model Sora.

Those involved in the meetings said OpenAI was seeking input from the film bosses on how Sora should be rolled out. Some who watched the demonstrations said they could see how Sora or similar AI products could save time and money on production but added the technology needed further development.

OpenAI’s overtures to the studios come at a delicate moment in Hollywood. Last year’s monthslong strikes ended with the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild securing groundbreaking protections from AI in their contracts. This year, contract negotiations are underway with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees—and AI is again expected to be a hot-button issue.

Earlier this week, OpenAI released new Sora videos generated by a number of visual artists and directors, including short films, as well as their impressions of the technology. The model will aim to compete with several available text-to-video services from start-ups, including Runway, Pika, and Stability AI. These other services already offer commercial uses for content.

An AI-generated video from Sora of a dog.

However, Sora has not been widely released. OpenAI has held off announcing a launch date or the circumstances under which it will be available. One person with knowledge of its strategy said the company was deciding how to commercialize the technology. Another person said there were safety steps still to take before the company considered putting Sora into a product.

OpenAI is also working to improve the system. Currently, Sora can only make videos under one minute in length, and its creations have limitations, such as glass bouncing off the floor instead of shattering or adding extra limbs to people and animals.

Some studios appeared open to using Sora in filmmaking or TV production in future, but licensing and partnerships have not yet been discussed, said people involved in the talks.

“There have been no meetings with OpenAI about partnerships,” one studio executive said. “They’ve done demos, just like Apple has been demo-ing the Vision Pro [mixed-reality headset]. They’re trying to get people excited.”

OpenAI has been previewing the model in a “very controlled manner” to “industries that are likely to be impacted first,” said one person close to OpenAI.

Media analyst Enders said the reception from the movie industry had been broadly optimistic on Sora as it is “seen completely as a cost-saving element, rather than impacting the creative ethos of storytelling.”

OpenAI declined to comment.

An AI-generated video from Sora of a woman walking down a Tokyo street.

© 2024 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved Not to be redistributed, copied, or modified in any way.

OpenAI shows off Sora AI video generator to Hollywood execs Read More »