Look sharp, people! Because the most nattily attired hit man in modern movies is back again in John Wick: Chapter 2. We’ve got the first ever clip from the film in today’s Movie Morsels, along with new posters for Kong: Skull Island, a first look at Emilia Clarke‘s upcoming gothic thriller and much, much more!
John Wick: Chapter 2
As those of us who saw the first John Wick well know, when Keanu Reeves enters the Continental Hotel it’s never a good thing. So even though there’s not all that much action happening in the first clip from John Wick: Chapter 2, it’s rife with tension; as it looks like someone has made the foolish mistake of messing with both Wick and his dog, sending them back to Wick’s old stomping grounds. Also, Lance Reddick’s concierge Charon returns!
Kong: Skull Island
If you’re still wondering just how big the King Kong of Legendary’s Kong: Skull Island will be, the studio has just helpfully released two new banners online that show the great ape alongside his human co-star Brie Larson and a pesky military chopper that looks like it’s positively begging to be swatted out of the sky by a huge hairy paw. The Eighth Wonder of the World will wreak a helluva lot more havoc when he returns to cinema screens on March 10th…
Kong: Skull Island Banners Say Hail to the King [Updated] – https://t.co/048NnxHQzJ pic.twitter.com/mOSWHGerWa
— Screen Rant (@screenrant) January 18, 2017
Get close to the King in a new Kong: Skull Island banner #KongSkullIsland https://t.co/YVcTRzGYLD
— ComingSoon.net (@comingsoonnet) January 18, 2017
[Twitter]
Voice from the Stone
With the end of HBO’s Game of Thrones now within spitting distance, its cast continues to establish their film careers. The latest such effort comes from the Mother of Dragons herself, Emilia Clarke. Though her Sarah Connor didn’t exactly set the world on fire in Terminator Genisys, Clarke’s upcoming Voice from the Stone looks to be much more within her wheelhouse. Set in 1950s Tuscany, the film sees Clarke portraying a nurse hired by the mute young lord of a gothic manor whom she comes to believe has — according to the film’s press release — “fallen under the spell of a powerful and otherworldly persona trapped in the villa’s stone walls.” It sounds like we could be in for an old-school chiller not unlike the The Innocents or The Others. See what I mean at the bottom of this page, where you can check out a massive gallery of the first photos released from the film.
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature
I don’t remember hearing a whole lot about the animated film The Nut Job when it hit theaters back in 2014. But any franchise that’s ensnared Will Arnett, Gabriel Iglesias, Jeff Dunham, Katherine Heigl, Maya Rudolph, Jackie Chan, Bobby Moynihan, Bobby Cannavale and Peter Stormare for its sequel, well, it can’t be all bad…can it? Anywho, here’s the trailer for The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, in which Surly the purple squirrel, Buddy the rat and all of their furry friends must band together to prevent their home from being turned into — gasp! — an amusement park…
The Smurfs: The Lost Village
Hey, speaking of animated epics… Our own Luke Thompson attended a special press event this week in which Sony Pictures Animation revealed details about their plans to release no fewer than three animated films throughout the course of this year, as well as a new animated short. Here’s some of what he learned about each of them, starting with the first to hit theaters — April 7th’s The Smurfs: The Lost Village…
The third CG-animated Smurfs film from Sony is said to me more faithful to the original Peyo comics that served as the basis for the Smurfs’ animated series (the incarnation most familiar to American fans). The diverse cast will include Michelle Rodriguez, Ellie Kemper, and Ariel Winter as three new female Smurfs; Julia Roberts as a love interest for Papa Smurf (about time the old fellow settled down, isn’t it?); and cameo roles for Gordon Ramsay, Jeff Dunham, Jake Johnson. Frank Welker will return once more to voice Azrael.
Demi Lovato, the new voice of Smurfette (inheriting the role from Katy Perry) said she researched the character by asking her parents and consulting YouTube. Though there will be songs in the movie, they won’t be sung onscreen, and there definitely won’t be songs by Lovato. (Sorry, Demi fans!)
Director Kelly Asbury, who trained under the great Chuck Jones, promises a sequence with a levitating river he calls “the effects sequence to end all effects sequences.” The look he says he’s going for is based on his memories of the View-Masters he owned as a kid. The key to making the movie work for both old fans and kids, explains Asbury, is “sincerity – the characters have to feel like they’re living in a real world.”
[report by Luke Thompson]
The Emoji Movie
Of Sony’s three 2017 animated features, the most talked about thus far is The Emoji Movie, in which, as we reported yesterday, Patrick Stewart will voicing an animated piece of shit.
Director Tony Leondis remarked, “I know what you’re thinking: Emojis — what the fuck?” The filmmaker says he took the project because he believes Emojis are our world’s way of communicating. The film hopes to explore what would happen if one were born different, and capable of having more than one expression. Leondis relates the premise to his growing up gay and feeling like an other, then as an adult realizing everyone feels like an other.
[report by Luke Thompson]
The Star
The third and final of Sony’s animated feature offerings arriving this year is a “tale of the first Christmas”, a faith-based/holiday film from first-time feature film director Timothy Reckart (whom Sony believes is the youngest ever director of a studio-animated feature). Producer DeVon Franklin is responsible for Sony’s live-action faith-based films, and The Star will focus on the animals at the Nativity — including The Walking Dead‘s Steven Yeun as a donkey, alongside the voices of Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Keegan-Michael Key, Tracy Morgan, Zachary Levi, Christopher Plummer (as King Herrod), Kris Kristofferson, and Kelly Clarkson. Additionally, Anthony Anderson will play a fainting goat, the toy version of which will no doubt sell like hotcakes.
[report by Luke Thompson]
Hotel Transylvania 3
Finally, we received word on one of Sony’s 2018 animated offerings… Director Genndy Tartakovsky says he never planned on making a third Hotel Transylvania film — until his in-laws took him on a cruise. “It was horrible,” says the filmmaker, adding excitedly that “It’s a hotel but on the water!” Set onboard a similar cruise ship, Hotel Transylvania 3 will find Drac falling for the ship’s captain…who is actually Van Helsing’s daughter!
Before Hotel Transylvania 3 hits theaters, fans will see the debut of the Hotel Transylvania TV show, and an animated short set within the world of the franchise, which will run in theaters before The Emoji Movie. The short will focus on Drac’s youngest child’s desire for a pet puppy. Awww…
What do you think of today’s top stories? Let us know below!
Featured Image: Summit Entertainment
Images: Summit Entertainment, Sony, Momentum Pictures
