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Jon Favreau’s stunning update of Disney’s The Jungle Book is one of my favorite films of 2016, and while it seemed like a foregone conclusion that a sequel would be coming sooner rather than later, Favreau has another project in the works that he’ll be tackling next.
After nearly a decade of live-action disappointments, Tim Burton returns with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an adaptation of the popular novel by Ransom Riggs. The material seems almost tailor-made for Burton’s particular aesthetic, following the adventures of a teenage boy as he discovers an enchanted mansion whose inhabitants are imbued with a litany of supernatural abilities, and it’s easily the director’s best work since 2007’s Sweeney Todd.
Denzel Washington is currently riding high in the saddle as The Magnificent Seven dominates the box office, but the Oscar winner isn’t done with 2016 just yet. In December, Paramount Pictures will release Fences, an adaptation of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play by August Wilson.
The wait has been long and painful since the world-shattering Season 2 finale, but finally Star Wars Rebels returns this Saturday, Sept 24. Disney and Lucasfilm were kind enough to give us access to the two-part Season 3 premiere titled Steps Into Shadow and the return starts off impressive… most impressive.
In recent years we’ve seen the rise of prequel-based television shows that are set before the events of popular movie franchise. With the success of shows like Hannibal and Bates Motel, it’s only a matter of time before more networks jump on the bandwagon and try to cash in the on the ongoing trend. The Exorcist definitely follows suit, but has a spin of its own – it feels more like a reimagining of the original film as opposed to a prequel.
Fox’s new inspirational sports drama Pitch is the fictional story of Ginny Baker (Kylie Bunbury), the first female pitcher in Major League Baseball history. Not only is she slated to make her start as the first female to ever play the game professionally, but she also happens to be African-American, which draws comparisons to Jackie Robinson due to his struggles to enter the league – which only escalates the mounting pressure.
Director Antoine Fuqua has dabbled in remake territory before – 2014’s The Equalizer was an update of the 1980s television series, albeit with significant changes – but his latest effort finds him saddled (no pun intended) with the daunting task of reimagining one of the most popular and beloved Western films of all time, The Magnificent Seven.
Lethal Weapon is the next beloved film to take a crack at being one of the only franchises ever to succeed as a television adaptation. If the show wants that crown, it’s going to have to get a lot better, real fast, because the pilot is only passable action entertainment – but utterly unnecessary.
Beauty and the Beast was the first animated Disney film that I ever saw in theaters, which almost certainly contributed to my lifelong reverence for it. It may not be my all-time favorite Disney classic – that distinction belongs to Robin Hood, and you can judge me all you like – but it definitely ranks pretty high on the list. Even if 10-year-old me had never seen it on the big screen, I have a feeling I still would have fallen in love with it eventually.
One of the most mysterious films headed to theaters this year is Passengers, an original sci-fi love story from screenwriter Jon Spaihts (Prometheus) and directed by The Imitation Game’s Morten Tyldum. Other than the face that the film is headlined by Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence, very little information has been revealed up to this point.
