Author: Empire

When Sam Raimi makes a new horror movie, it’s a kind of magic. But when Sam Raimi makes a new horror movie that’s also a remake of a Richard Attenborough directed, Anthony Hopkins starring 1978 cult classic about a ventriloquist who finds himself at the mercy of his diabolical puppet? Well, in that case, it’s a kind of Magic. All of which is to say that, per Deadline’s reporting, Sam Raimi is remaking Magic… or, more accurately, adapting anew William Goldman’s original 1976 novel. And, what’s more, he’s bringing Send Help writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift along for the…

Fly, you fools! Yes, that’s right, Ian McKellen — the legendary English actor who is Gandalf and Magneto, get over it — is our guest on this week’s Empire Podcast. John Nugent pops over to McKellen’s own pub, The Grapes in Limehouse, for a lovely chat about his new film, Steven Soderbergh’s The Christophers, in which he plays a bitter artist who’s a ‘one-off half-monster’. [46:32 – 1:00:02 approx] Speaking of Christophers, back in the podbooth Chris Hewitt is joined by Helen O’Hara, James Dyer, and Harry Stainer for a fun episode in which they discuss the greatest characters who joined…

Now that The Batman Part II is finally ready to take flight, director Matt Reeves is wasting no time getting the bat signal lit and stacking his superhero sequel’s call sheet. Over the last few days, Reeves has headed to social media to begin teasing camera tests for Robert Pattinson — aka R-Battz — and co’s return to The Batman’s dark, gritty Gotham City. And in the past 24 hours, the filmmaker has upped the ante, confirming key returning players and — as of today — three new additions to the Dark Knight’s Bat-rolodex. Yes, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, and…

In the first of Adam Sandler’s Grown Ups movies, old dear Gloria Noonan-Hilliard preferred that “in life, the first act is always exciting. The second act… that is where the depth comes in.” Whether Grown Ups was exciting — or indeed whether depth came in with Grown Ups 2 — is very much up for debate, but it does beg a question: what does life/a comedy franchise’s third act have in store? Honestly, we don’t know… but we’re about to find out. Per Deadline’s reporting from Netflix Upfront, Grown Ups 3 is in the works at Netflix, with Happy Gilmore…

Considering the fact that a third 28 Years Later movie was confirmed to be in the works at Sony nearly half a year ago now, there’s been an awful lot of speculation about whether 28 Years Lat3r (as nobody is calling it) will actually happen. Despite being a critical hit, Nia DaCosta’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple — the follow-up to last year’s Danny Boyle directed, franchise-reviving 28 Years Later — bowed to a box office showing the director herself recently told Empire she was ‘disappointed’ by, and Sony execs have been real quiet about Boyle’s planned trilogy capper…

When it comes to tackling stories of theme parks going rogue, adapted from Michael Crichton penned source material, suffice it to say that David Koepp has some previous. As the man who gave us the scripts for both Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park: The Lost World, the legendary screenwriter knows exactly what to do when the doo-doo hits the jacked-up-fun-fair fan, because he’s the one who put it there in the first place. And now, per Deadline’s reporting, it looks like Koepp is ready for some more Crichton shenanigans as he’s been tapped to write a new Westworld movie at…

In 1971, Warner Bros. released two films on either side of the Atlantic that have gone down as being among the most controversial in cinema history. Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, adapted from Anthony Burgess’ novel, drew critical acclaim and outrage for its ultraviolent brand of nihilism, but made it to screens in one piece. Ken Russell’s The Devils on the other hand, a positively blasphemous adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s 1952 historical novel The Devils of Loudun starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave, had to be hacked down mercilessly in the edit to achieve a theatrical release. But now, 55…

This week’s Empire Podcast sees Alex Godfrey sit down for an audience with music superstar Billie Eilish and her co-director on her new concert movie, Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard And Soft: The Tour, one James Cameron. Blimey! Then Alex slides into the podbooth to join Helen O’Hara, James Dyer and host Chris Hewitt for a fun-filled episode in which they discuss Karl Urban’s killiest characters, the best movie farmers, a whole bunch of trailers (including The Odyssey, Evil Dead Burn, and Resident Evil), and review the aforementioned Billie Eilish movie, The Sheep Detectives, Remarkably Bright Creatures, and Mortal Kombat…

Slip inside the eye of your mind, don’t you know you might find… some exciting Oasis news! It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a year already since the guns fell silent, the stars aligned, and Noel and Liam Gallagher finally stopped scrapping long enough to get back on stage. And now, whether you were there on Gallagher Hill or half the world away, the Oasis Live ’25 experience is heading to a screen near you very soon. Today, Disney has confirmed that an as-yet-untitled official Oasis reunion documentary, created by Steven Knight and directed by Dylan Southern and Will…

Actors and filmmakers often talk about making movies as bonding experiences for the cast and crew alike. And clearly that must’ve been the case for star Charlize Theron and director Baltasar Kormákur as they set about making this year’s cat-and-mouse Netflix streaming sensation Apex out in the Australian Outback, as the duo have already set their next project together. Per Deadline’s reporting, Kormákur is set to produce and direct an adaptation of Stan Parish’s unpublished novel Six Clean Kills at Universal, with Theron aboard to produce and prospectively star. According to Deadline, Theron had actually been circling Six Clean Kills…