This week, the box office looks for some sort of recovery — and we look for some semblance of competency — as the highly anticipated It reboot hits theaters. DT’s own Rick Marshall calls the film “among the best Stephen King adaptions so far,” and the film has received a solid 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, though it only grabs a 7.2 average, meaning critics mostly agree it’s good, not great. We’ll take it, however, as the film follows one of the worst end-of-summer doldrums in recent history. In fact, Variety is reporting it’s now officially the worst box office revenue run in a decade.
It is just the first part of the epic tale about an ancient evil awakened by a group of kids in a small town, who first appears in the form of the infamous scary clown. Thanks to its roaring success already at the box office, we’ll definitely be getting the second installment. While the film isn’t without it’s missteps, it sounds like the palpable heart shown by the group of child actors and some vicious scares from Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise the Clown make this one worth the price of admission. We never take reviews too seriously when it comes to horror films anyway, and more to the point, what else are you going to watch?
To answer our own question, you could stay at home this weekend and catch the first episode of James Franco’s new HBO series about the gritty porn scene in 1970s New York, The Deuce, which has let loose its first episode on VOD for anyone who has HBO Go or HBO Now. And of course, there’s no shortage this weekend of new content of Netflix (because Netflix), which is hosting new episodes from Bojack Horseman (season 4), Marc Maron’s new comedy special, and a few other series and movies.
But enough about what to watch, we’ve got some serious Disney news to discuss this week, the crux of which centers around a serious question: Just what the hell is going on with Disney and its directors? News broke this week of a third (count them, three) Disney director being fired (or technically stepping away) from a major film, as Colin Trevorrow is leaving Star Wars Episode IX. Disney has shown no mercy in recent years for those who don’t toe the company line, including infighting and reshoots for Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One, the replacement of Phil Lord and Chris Miller on the forthcoming Han Solo movie, and from its Marvel division, the firing of Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright from Ant-Man. The message seems to be loud and clear: Don’t mess with Disney, or you’ll find yourself without a job. No matter who you are.
As the dust clears on the Colin Trevorrow firing, one has to wonder if this constant string of highly publicized fights and firings will have today’s best directors thinking twice about signing on for one of Disney’s massive franchises — no matter how enticing helming a Marvel or Star Wars film might be.
We’ve got much more to gab about this week, as well, including news about Disney’s forthcoming fifth Indiana Jones film (who wants to direct this thing?), plans for a Dracula prequel film, a Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) prequel series from red-hot producer Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story), a brutal Western from Christian Bale, a first look at Rami Malek as Freddy Mercury, and much more.
So tune in and hit us up live at 12 p.m. PT today, or take us along for the ride with our podcast version by following the links at the top.
