Some China Cinemas to Schedule Intermission for Films Over Two Hours Long

(Photograph credit: Warner Bros.)

China is an important market for cinema, it’s the second biggest one behind only by the US. A portion of Chinese cinemas have been ordered to program an intermission for films that exceed two hours as a COVID-19 prevention measure, Filmiere.com reports based on Chinese sources.

Because of this requirement, some films will be affected which includes “Ford v. Ferrari” and a 4K restoration of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in mid-August. What’s true about our current times is that nothing is predictable and we don’t know if in upcoming weeks these will change or not but if they don’t, then possibly Chinese debut of Chris Nolan’s much anticipated “Tenet” will also be affected.

Sure, it has no official release date yet but based on Warner Bro’s marketing strategy, chances are it’ll come out in late August. The policy does not apply to all cinemas nationwide; it will be enforced according to the requirements of local authorities in each region. There is currently no such requirement issued for Beijing, for instance.

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Alan Parker – RIP

(Photograph credit: Everett Collection/Entertainment Weekly)

It’s very hard for Filmiere.com to keep on informing you about the deaths of beloved and respected movie people but unfortunately, we lost one of the great ones again – British icon Alan Parker, who has received two Oscar nominations for his directorial works in “Mississippi Burning” and “Midnight Express”.

He’s often associated with musical or music-based films like “Pink Floyd: The Wall”, “The Commitments”, “Evita”, and “Fame” but he has gone to make all kinds of movies, including hard-hitting dramas “Birdy” and “Angela’s Ashes” as well as many well-known and beloved thrillers and horrors like “Life of David Gale” and “Angel Heart”.

“I usually react against what I’ve just done before,” Parker said in a 2003 interview. “The thing is, I started with Bugsy Malone, which was like a ridiculous pragmatic exercise to try and get any kind of film done; and then I did Midnight Express. And they were such opposite kinds of film that it sort of set me in a pattern of doing different things each time.

“Parker hasn’t directed anything since 2003, though he kept on having a public appearance and still kept on getting honored for his remarkable contributions to cinema. So many of his fans were waiting that maybe he’ll still direct again. His legacy will live on.

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Kevin Smith keeps himself busy

(photograph credit: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP/Variety)

 Kevin Smith was one of the most original comedy writers of the 90s with the cult film “Clerks” and how he followed it with bigger films like “Mallrats”, “Chasing Amy” and “Dogma”. Smith’s career had been on the decline in the last decade, as his films don’t get the reception they used to get but he’s still a beloved man in the film community, not only for his past works but for his passion for cinema and his general geek/nerd attitude.

He’s still working and his fan base will glad to hear that. Kevin Smith has debuted the first trailer for his new upcoming horror film anthology, “Killroy was Here”. Smith is primarily known for comedy, but the last several years have seen Smith begin to experiment with low-budget horror filmmaking.

Some have criticized the look of the film but Kevin is a fan of the genre, has made a decent horror before and people are certainly interested to see what he has to offer as a slasher film director. He’s also trying to bring “Green Hornet” back, in animated series form.

The new series will be targeted at a family audience, while retaining many elements from the comics, including the titular character’s high-tech car, the “Black Beauty.” So there’s definitely going to be a lot of exciting projects to wait for Kevin Smith fans.

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Dune trailer is coming?

(Photograph credit: Warner Bros.)

Warner Bros’ ‘Inception’10th Anniversary re-release will reportedly include an extended look at the upcoming “Tenet”, new trailer for delayed “Wonder Woman 1984” and the first trailer for much anticipated for “Dune”. Filmiere.com is here to remind you that it’s not a hundred percent confirmed but it’s very possible.

Warner Bros. was due to using its upcoming re-release of Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” as a marketing opportunity for Nolan’s latest “Tenet”. This info comes from Palads Teatret in Denmark, where the re-release is currently due to screen from August 12 along with other countries, ahead of a U.S. bow on August 21.

Other Danish theatres haven’t confirmed anything yet and we don’t know when they will be available online, though it’s possible that if international release for “Tenet” keeps going on as planned, then it will be available online as well since Villeneuve’s marketing strategy is different than Nolan’s. We’ll have to wait and see, hopefully, we’ll get a look at the trailer as soon as possible.

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Venice Film Festival lineup is announced

(Photograph credit: Deadline)

It’s not only “Nomadland” that is the exciting title from the Venice line-up but it’s the only major American one, for obvious reasons. Other American titles include “The World to Come” and “Pieces of a Woman”, both starring Vanessa Kirby.

Michel Franco and Andrey Konchalovsky are among the directors to appear in competition, and it’s also worth noting that there are more female filmmakers than usual in the line-up.

The non-fiction line-up is even more exciting to some degree because we get “Welles”/”Hopper”, that meeting between Orson Welles and Dennis Hopper, alongside new documentaries by acclaimed auteurs Luca Guadagnino and Abel Ferrara.

Eccentric French director Quentin Dupieux makes an appearance out of competition with a film starring Adèle Exarchopoulos, The festival will take place in September, Filmiere.com can confirm. Full line-up:

In Between Dying, dir: Hilal Baydarov
Le Sorelle Macaluso, dir: Emma Dante
The World To Come, dir: Mona Fastvold
Nuevo Orden, dir: Michel Franco
Lovers, dir: Nicole Garcia
Laila in Haifa, dir: Amos Gitai
Dear Comrades, dir: Andrei Konchalovsky
Wife Of A Spy, dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Sun Children, dir: Majid Majidi
Pieces Of A Woman, dir: Kornel Mundruczo
Miss Marx, dir: Susanna Nicchiarelli
Padrenostro, dir: Claudio Noce
Notturno, dir: Gianfranco Rosi
Never Gonna Snow Again, dirs: Malgorzata Szumowska, Michal Englert
The Disciple, dir: Chaitanya Tamhane
And Tomorrow The Entire World, dir: Julia Von Heinz
Quo Vadis, Aida?, dir: Jamila Zbanic
Nomadland, dir: Chloé Zhao

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Frances McDormand to slay film festivals

(Photograph credit: Fox Searchlight)

Filmiere.com is excited to let you know that, Chloe Zhao’s new film “Nomadland” is expected to appear in the New York Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, and Venice Film Festival. It’s exciting news for so many reasons because once again it shows that the festivals are kept rolling, of course with restrictions and on a smaller scale but they’re going to happen.

We love cinema season – and Chloe Zhao is an exciting voice in cinema and her film sounds like a powerful tale once again. It’s the first role for McDormand since her Oscar win for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”. The film will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2020. 

The official synopsis says the film is about “A woman in her sixties who, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.” McDormand will also appear in Joel Coen-directed new adaptation of “Macbeth”, which is titled “Tragedy of Macbeth” opposite Denzel Washington.

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Terry Gilliam was so close to make Stanley Kubrick’s “Lunatic At Large”

(photograph credit: BFI)

Terry Gilliam tried nearly 30 years to make “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” happen, and he finally did. Even though it was a film that was anticipated form film buffs for too long, Filmiere.com can claim that its critical reception was not so good. Then some of Gilliam’s comments on various topics also caused a stir on the internet. He received a lot of backlash for some of his thoughts.

But he doesn’t care seemingly as he seems to like to keep working. His next project was going to be “Lunatic at Large” until COVID-19 lockdown ruining all plans. Writer and Kubrick expert Filippo Ulivieri confirmed on Twitter that it was a short story/treatment. The pulp novelist Jim Thompson wrote in 1956 that Kubrick started developing before losing interest in 1962.

Back in 2010, it was planned to come alive with Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson but it never came to fruition. Both Kubrick and Gilliam are famous for having too many projects that left unrealized, so we’ll see if this one will happen or not. Gilliam’s films rarely receive a positive reception since the mid-90s but he’s still considered to be an auteur with a distinctive voice in cinema.

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RIP – Olivia de Havilland

(photograph credit: Lowe’s, Inc)

Legendary actress Dame Olivia de Havilland has passed away at the age of 104. Every year on her birthday film buffs loved to celebrate her physical and mental health by posting her recent pics or talking about how she sued the TV series “Feud” Just recently.

She died peacefully in her sleep in France.  She was also one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood Cinema until she died in 2020. Her younger sister was actress Joan Fontaine and they were the first sisters to both win an Oscar in the lead actress category.

Havilland was nominated for Oscar five times, first time for her iconic film “Gone with the Wind” and she later ended up winning twice for her performances in “To Each His Own” and “The Heiress”. She retired in 1988 but her legacy was always celebrated by film fans, critics, and culturemakers.

Her long list of awards includes state order from France (where she lived for most of her life), Medal of Honour from United States government (where she worked most), and “Dame” title from the British royalty (where she was originally from). Havilland was also a Venice Film Festival best actress winner and also notable for being the first female jury president of the Cannes Film Festival.

Her name lives on Hollywood Walk of Fame, Online Film Critics Association Walk of Fame, and many other places.

Many films are moving away from the calendar

(Photograph credit: Paramount Pictures)


It seems “Avatar” movies are cursed, they’ve changed their release dates once again, with the last installment being scheduled for 2028. The recent few days had been full of release date changes. Paramount is moved A Quiet Place 2 and Top Gun: Maverick off their schedule for the year, moving them to 2021.

As of now, A Quiet Place 2 is set to bow April 23rd, 2021, while Top Gun: Maverick has been pushed to next summer, with the highly anticipated sequel now slated for July 2nd, 2021. Hopefully, these will pay off for Paramount since the studio had been taking more risks compared to other major studios recently on creating original content, which included first “A Quiet Place” but recently seemingly struggle with financial problems.

Wes Anderson’s “French Dispatch” and Disney’s “Mulan” are also nowhere to be found on the calendar. It’s a challenging time for studios for many reasons, they can’t just pick a release date easily because no one knows when things will be alright. It can be a strategy for the Oscars also since they’ve extended their eligibility period.

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Tom Cruise’s space film is happening with 200+ million budget

(Photograph credit: Universal Pictures)

Filmiere.com reminds people that Tom Cruise was reportedly in talks with Elon Musk and others to have a film shot in space. Yes, in the actual space which sounds insane but Cruise, one of the major movie stars in the world who mostly take on action films in the last decade or so and known to make groundbreaking theatrical scenes and stunts, has now made a further step in making this project come alive.

According to Variety, the budget is around 200 million. Sources close to production tell Variety the $200 million price point is an optimistic projection given the space travel involved and therefore the budget could be much higher. Cruise himself is expected to get paid between 30M-60M.

The project is supposed to be directed by Cruise’s old pal Doug Liman who directed him in “Edge of Tomorrow” and “American Made” and they’re keen on making this a huge theatrical experience since according to reports, they’ve turned down every streaming service there is. Spending that much of money is risky but it’s Cruise, it’s something revolutionary (a film in space!), so it may pay off.

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