Trailer Time: Into the Woods Trailer #1 (2014)

On the heels of releasing the first pictures from Into the Woods, Disney has dropped the first full trailer for the film.   One of the holiday’s most-anticipated releases is Disney’s adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s fractured fairy tale musical, Into the Woods.  Today, Disney released ten pictures from the film which has a star-studded cast including James Corden as the Baker, Emily Blunt as the Baker’s Wife, Meryl Streep as the Witch, Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, Chris Pine as Cinderella’s Prince, Johnny Depp as the Wolf, and Christine Baranski as the Stepmother. Rob Marshall directed.  Into the Woods will be released Christmas Day.

Disney Releases 10 Stills from Into the Woods

One of the holiday’s most-anticipated releases is Disney’s adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s fractured fairy tale musical, Into the Woods.  Today, Disney released ten pictures from the film which has a star-studded cast including James Corden as the Baker, Emily Blunt as the Baker’s Wife, Meryl Streep as the Witch, Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, Chris Pine as Cinderella’s Prince, Johnny Depp as the Wolf, and Christine Baranski as the Stepmother. Rob Marshall directed.

Release Date Shuffle: Independence Day 2, X-Men, Apes, Assassin’s Creed, Jurassic Park and More

FOX, Disney and Universal announced new titles and a slew of shuffled release dates.  On FOX’s side:

• Independence Day 2 has been officially greenlit and has a release date of July 3, 2015.  Are we just going to all live at the movie theater in 2015?  Roland Emmerich and Dean Devil will return to direct, but no Will Smith so….again the point?
• X-Men Days of Future Past and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes have swapped release dates for next summer.  X-Men will open May 23, 2014.  Apes will open July 18, 2014.
• Assassin’s Creed has been pushed back one month to June 19, 2015.
• Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will open July 31, 2015 ( OF COURSE summer 2015).  This is the adaptation of the Ransom Riggs book that’s a sort of Victorian X-Men.  That doesn’t do it justice, but I could not recommend a book more highly.

• Disney announced that the next Muppet movie has been retitled from The Muppets…Again to Muppets Most Wanted. The James Bobin-directed film will release on March 21, 2014.
• A direct-to-video sequel to Planes entitled Planes: Fire & Rescue will be released July 18, 2014.  Disney will not let the Cars thing go…
• Saving Mr. Banks, the story of how Walt Disney got the rights to Mary Poppins, has been moved up one week to December 13, 2013.  Disney will be played by Tom Hanks.
• The adaptation of the beloved children’s book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is officially dated for October 10, 2014.
• Brad Bird’s much-anticipated Tomorrowland has been moved up one week to December 12, 2014.
• Rob Marshall’s Into the Woods is slated for December 25, 2014.

• Finally, Universal announced that Jurassic Park IV is back on for (wait for it) SUMMER 2015.

So, I know I harp on it, but this is what we have for summer 2015 so far and I’m going to include Man of Steel 2 because I see now way in the world Warner Brothers can get it out by next year:

• Star Wars Episode VII
• Avengers 2
• Ant-Man
• Fantastic Four (FOX’s Mark Millar-penned reboot)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt. 2
• Jurassic Park 4
• Pirates of the Caribbean 5
• Assassin’s Creed
• Independence Day 2
• Inside Out (Pixar film from Up & WALL-E’s Pete Docter)
• Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
• Man of Steel 2

And that’s all just announced.  Episode VII, Avengers, Superman, Pirates and Hunger Games are all potential worldwide billion dollar films.  It’s beyond crowded and we’re still two years away!  Why can’t some of those films come out next year when it looks like slim pickings again?

Movie Review: Nine (2009) “How Do You Waste Daniel Day-Lewis?”

I’m not a big fan of musicals. Oddly enough, though, when you marry a big fan of musicals, you end up watching a tremendous lot of them regardless of your pre-marriage inclinations towards the genre. I can recognize a good one. Chicago-for instance-is a film I really don’t like tremendously, but I can tell you it’s a really well done musical. I use the example of Chicago, because Rob Marshall, the director of that film, made Nine. Nine is, not to mince words, not a good musical.