(Photograph credit: Universal Pictures)

We’ll get to see “Happy Halloween, Michael” but not this year. While the fans will be happy to learn to that the very effective small teaser is available for the next film of the trilogy reboot of the legendary film, this time called “Halloween Kills”, the film itself is unfortunately postponed to October 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, filmiere.com reports. John Carpenter himself tweeted about it and his statement goes: “If we release it in October of this year as planned, we have to face the reality that the film would be consumed in a compromised theatrical experience.

After weighing our options, we have chosen to push the film’s theatrical release by one year.” Very understandable. Better late than never, hopefully, “Halloween Kills” will be worth the wait. The film will now get both a traditional and IMAX release. Carpenter also noted that he and David Gordon Green also started to work the last part of the new trilogy called “Halloween Ends”.  Jamie Lee Curtis also reacted to the news, says she’s also disappointed as much as the fans but the film is “powerful” and will be “worth the wait”.

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(photograph credit: Arthur Mola/Invision/IP)

Filmiere.com reports that artistic director of Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera who stated that “The first international festival following the forced interruption dictated by the pandemic becomes a meaningful celebration of the re-opening we all looked forward to, and a message of concrete optimism for the entire world of cinema, which has suffered greatly from this crisis.”

As expected, some changes are going to happen. It’s already been announced that Terrence Malick-produced costume drama ‘The Book of Vision’ will open Venice Critics’ Week but what are going to expect us in the festival this year?   Roughly 55 titles will be world-premiering on the Lido either in competition, in the edgier Horizons section, or out of the competition.

The festival will take its Virtual Reality section online and this year forego its Sconfini section, which hosts smaller films and genre fare, to accommodate more socially distanced screenings of the major films in competition. Australian actress Cate Blanchett is presiding over the main competition jury. Netflix will mostly skip the festival but he promises a good representation of US films and more female directors than usual.

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(Photograph credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage; Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)

Pitt made viewers feel amused with his unexpected brief cameo in “Deadpool 2”. Now he’s collaborating with the director of the movie again. Zak Olkewicz wrote the script, based on the Japanese novel “Maria Beetle” by Kotaro Isaka. Centers on a group of hitmen and assassins with conflicting motives on a train in Tokyo.

We don’t know too much about it yet but it’s been said to be similar in tone to “Speed” and “Non-Stop”. Pitt had been on fire recently, earning critical raves for his roles in “Ad Astra” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”. Which he also won many major prizes including an Academy Award. So it’ s understandable that he wants to go back to blockbusters. He must have enjoyed that brief working process with Leitch.

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(Photograph credit: enniomorricone.com)

Filmiere sadly reports that the legendary Italian composer of movies Ennio Morricone has died age 91. His works had a wide range from spaghetti westerns to horror and romance films and many of his scores have defined the era, especially his 1960s scores for Sergio Leone’s “Dollars” trilogy.

Those western movies were a huge influence on Quentin Tarantino who hired him for his western film “The Hateful Eight”. It earned Morricone his first Oscar outside of his lifetime achievement award. Some of his other credits include the scores for “Cinema Paradiso”, “The Mission”, “The Thing”, “The Professional” and “The Untouchables”.

So many iconic scores, so many memorable scenes, and films. Sometimes his music is said to be the first thing coming to mind whenever a film title gets mentioned. Thanks to his range of composing, he has worked with countless directors including John Carpenter, William Friedkin, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Guiseppe Tornatore, Brian De Palma, and many more. He’ll be forever mourned by movie lovers. Rest in peace, maestro.

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(Photograph credit: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)

819 people are invited to join the Academy this year. 49% of them are being from outside of the United States, filmiere.com reports. Festival chefs are notably among them including Thierry Fremaux of Cannes Film Festival, Alberto Barbera of Venice Film Festival, and Carlo Chatrian of Berlinale. One of the most respected French actresses of the new generation Adele Haenel. Starred in two of the most acclaimed films of the previous year. Also made headlines for her Polanski protest at the Cesar awards, has also been invited.

Oscar-nominated Les Misérables filmmaker Ladj Ly, Agnes Varda’s daughter Rosalie and Mati Diop (“Atlantics”), German actor Udo Kier (most recently shining in “The Painted Bird”), North Macedonia’s Ljubomir Stefanov (“Honeyland”), Hong Kong actor Tzi Ma (from “Rush Hour” to “The Farewell”), Zhao Tao (“Ash is the Purest White”) are among new international members. Sure, these are just the people who got an invitation but they rarely turn down the invitations anyway.

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(Photograph credit: Universal Pictures)

All three are accomplished actors with a wide range of great roles but then again, all three are also often associated with their roles in “Jurassic Park”. Filmiere.com reports that Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum are going to be a large part of the upcoming film “Jurassic World: Dominion”. Yes, not just cameos At least that’s what Sam Neill claims so. In “Yahoo Movies! UK” interview, Neill has mentioned that he’s set to reprise his role Alan Grant in the new film.

Neill revealed that his character plays a sizeable part in the next installment, the same as Dern and Goldblum. “We’re through the film, Jeff [Goldblum], and me, and Laura [Dern],” he stated, though he also admitted that he “probably won’t be running quite as fast” as he did 27 years ago, referring back to the first film. Even though the last “Jurassic” film was not very warmly received, three being back are sure going to elevate the material.

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(official logo of the festival. Photograph credit: SSIFF)

As already been reported by filmiere.com. Woody Allen’s new movie “Rifkin’s Festival” is the opening film of Spain’s most prestigious film festival San Sebastian. That’s not it though; many other auteurs will have their films screened. Including Sharunas Bartas, Naomi Kawase, François Ozon, and Thomas Vinterberg. The festival will also screen the work of new directors such as Dea Kulumbegashvili and Takuma Sato.

Bartas’ new film In The Dusk will deal with the partisan movement of Lithuania during WWII. Kawase is here for Asa Ga Kuru / True Mothers. A new exploration of the family microcosm through the confrontation between two mothers: one biological and the other adoptive.  Ozon’s new film Summer of 85 is seemingly semi-autobiographical work and Thomas Vinterberg has Druk / Another Round. A new collaboration with his frequent actor Mads Mikkelsen. Without a doubt, a lot of exciting titles that attendees will enjoy.

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(photograph credit: Warner Bros.)

Mexican director Guillermo del Toro’s recent film earned him an Oscar and now he was supposed to back again with a new adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham’s novel “Nightmare Alley”. With an all-star cast including Bradley Cooper, Toni Collette, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, and Rooney Mara. Principal photography began on January 21, 2020.

But on March 13, Disney halted production on the film due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a recent interview, Del Toro says they hope to back on filming in fall: “We reacted super fast, we proposed the studio to stop as opposed to being asked to stop. Nobody to my knowledge in the cast or the crew got coronavirus. We were roughly 45% in. We were literally in the middle of a great scene.

We went to lunch and talked to the studio and when we came back we said, ‘Everybody leaves your tools and leaves now.’” Of course, them getting back on the set or not is bit depends on how the surge in COVID-19 cases is handled over the next couple of months. Del Toro didn’t waste any time though, he was editing what he already filmed during all this time.

So it seems there’s already a strong candidate for Palme d’Or for next year’s Cannes edition.

(Photograph credit: Matt Baron/Shutterstock)

Aaron Sorkin’s new directorial effort “The Trial of the Chicago 7” is on the news recently because Paramount just sold it to Netflix for around $56M. Netflix believes in the success and awards chances of the film and Paramount is probably a bit uncertain of how well it can do at the box office given the current climate, so maybe it all makes sense.

The movie is about what was intended to be a peaceful protest at the 1968 Democratic National Convention turned into a violent clash with police and the National Guard. Sorkin also gathered a very large ensemble cast including  Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jeremy Strong, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Alex Sharp, Mark Rylance, Michael Keaton, Frank Langella, and John Carroll Lynch.

Netflix also just dated Charlie Kaufman’s new film “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”. The film, based on an acclaimed Iain Reid novel, involves a young man taking his new girlfriend to visit his parents on an isolated farm. The movie is supposed to be premiered on September 4. It also has a starry cast: Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons, David Thewlis, and Toni Collette.

(Photograph credit: Warner Bros)

If you’re a comedy fan, you probably had seen some of the early legendary comedies starred and written by Steve Martin including “The Jerk”, “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid”, “The Man with Two Brains” and “All of Me”. All those films were directed by comedic genius Carl Reiner, whose film credits also include “Oh, God!” and “Where’s Poppa?”. He was also probably best known for creating “The Dick Van Dyke Show”. Reiner died at his home in Beverly Hills, on June 29, 2020, aged 98, in the company of his family. Even though he was very old, that didn’t stop him from being active. Just last year he was an Emmy nominee, which made him the oldest nominee ever. Throughout his career, Reiner won many awards and honors including nine Emmy Awards, one Grammy Award, and The Mark Twain Prize. He was also the father of accomplished director Rob Reiner.