Justin Hartley’s first big project released post-This Is Us will be Netflix’s The Noel Diary, a drama set around the holidays and based on the novel by Richard Paul Evans. Today, Netflix released the first photo featuring Justin Hartley and a canine co-star. The streaming service also announced they’ve set a November 24, 2022 premiere date.
Director Charles Shyer adapted the novel with Rebecca Connor and David Golden.
“I wanted to adapt this novel for a few different reasons. The story of The Noel Diary felt to me like one that could comfortably embrace humor and humanity – while at the same time offer great visual and directorial possibilities. A movie that, as Billy Wilder once said, ‘Could make ’em laugh and make ’em cry.’ I chose to cast Justin Hartley from his work on This Is Us. I just knew that, given his remarkable range, Justin could knock this one out of the park,” explained writer/director Charles Shyer (1991’s Father of the Bride, The Affair of the Necklace).
Hartley’s also an executive producer on the project along with Norman Stephens and Andrew Gernhard. Timothy O. Johnson, Stephanie Slack, and Margret H. Huddleston serve as producers.
In addition to Hartley, The Noel Diary cast includes Barrett Doss, Essence Atkins, Bonnie Bedelia, and James Remar.
The Noel Diary was published in 2017 and is the first of four books in Richard Paul Evans’ The Noel Collection. Netflix released this synopsis of the 2022 film adaptation:
“When best-selling author Jake Turner (Hartley) returns home at Christmas to settle his estranged mother’s estate, he discovers a diary that may hold secrets to his own past and that of Rachel (Doss) – an intriguing young woman on a mission of her own. Together, they embark on a journey to confront their pasts and discover a future that’s totally unexpected.”
Malia Pyles, Maia Reficco, Zaria, Chandler Kinney, and Bailee Madison in ‘Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin’ episode 8 (Photograph by Karolina Wojtasik/HBO Max)
HBO Max’s Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin episode eight opens with the girls freaking out as they head into their usual decision spot: the ladies room. Episode seven ended with A sending a text with a photo of Tyler, dead. Tabby (Chandler Kinney) admits she thought A would kill Tyler and Mouse (Malia Pyles) begs them to call the police.
Faran (Zaria) wants to forward the photo to the cops but Tabby thinks since A sent it to them, he’d know how the cops got it. Mouse points out that A’s killed at least two people and Faran adds they were all horrible people. Imogen (Bailee Madison) thinks they need to get back to the basics and investigate the sixth signature from the Radley log. That could be A.
Tabby decides now’s the time to reveal what happened to her and Imogen. The girls are sorry, and Imogen points out this happened to them after “jock-centric” parties. Mouse asks if that’s how Imogen got pregnant, and Imogen confirms it is.
Tabby’s devised a plan to use the blood drive at school to collect samples and compare them to the DNA of Imogen’s baby. Noa (Maia Reficco) agrees to ask her nurse mom for help with the DNA part of the plan. With solid proof, they can go to the authorities.
Noa will also talk to Shawn about getting the football team to donate blood. Imogen thinks they should ask Kelly for help, too, since she works in the nurse’s office.
Tabby and Imogen are planning on questioning Crazy Joe again since he sent them to the Radley in the first place.
Sidney (Sharon Leal) steps outside and finds a copy of The Scarlet Letter on her doorstep. Inside, the check-out card has Angela Waters written on it repeatedly, along with a note that reads: “Silence Kills.”
A flashback to 1999 shows Sidney (Kristen Maxwell) finding a crying Angela (Gabriella Pizzolo) in a bathroom stall. Angela claims something happened to her and Sidney heads to the library to tell her friends they have a problem. Davie (Ava DeMary) asks, “What did that dumb pudding do now?” Sidney says it wasn’t what Angela did but what was done to her.
Imogen and Tabby visit Joe and explain they found the sign-in book. Five of the signatures were their moms’, but they can’t figure out who the sixth signature belongs to. Imogen asks if it’s his and Joe orders them to leave. Undeterred, Imogen asks if he knew that Angela was raped.
“Someone told you that?” replies Joe.
Imogen realizes Joe didn’t expect them to learn anything, and she asks if he sent them to Rosewood because he thought it would be a dead end. Joe warns them they don’t know what they’re getting themselves into.
Joe refuses Imogen’s offer of more money and says, “I want you to drop this now or it’s going to be very bad for you! GO!”
Noa explains the situation to her mom, telling her Imogen and Tabby were raped and want to figure out who did it. Marjorie (Elena Goode) is shocked, and Noa reveals their blood drive/DNA plans. Marjorie points out that illegally obtained DNA won’t hold up in court. Noa still hopes it’ll be enough to open up an investigation. Marjorie agrees to ask a friend in the lab for help. She also suggests Imogen take a paternity test.
Tabby and Imogen return home and Sidney wonders if Imogen wants anything special for Thanksgiving. Imogen explains that she and her mom weren’t big on Thanksgiving and always volunteered at the soup kitchen. Sidney suggests she do that during the week and then have a family dinner with them. Imogen agrees, and they head upstairs.
“Oh my god, we are dealing with a serial killer and possibly serial rapist, and my mom is asking you what you want for Thanksgiving dinner,” says Tabby.
Imogen wonders if they can match the signatures to the ones in her mom’s yearbook. She admits it’s not just about Angela Waters and how she’s connected to all this. She wants to figure out who her mom was in high school.
Thanksgiving week arrives and Henry (Ben Cook) asks Faran to a movie. She can’t go because she has PT. He doesn’t give up and asks about getting together over Thanksgiving break, revealing his family will just be watching football and he’d rather be with her.
Mr. Smithee talks to Tabby about her project, and she explains her plans for a rape revenge story that will be restrained and metaphoric. He’ll discuss it with the principal, but she needs to get written permission from her mother to do that storyline.
Noa tells Shawn (Alex Aiono) what happened to Tabby and Imogen, and he thinks it’s horrible. Both attacks happened after parties with football players, and she wonders if any of them could have done it. Shawn’s adamant there’s no way any of them committed rape.
Noa doesn’t share the same opinion of the players as Shawn.
Tabby seeks permission from her mom for the film class project due to its subject matter. Her film will be about a woman who was raped and gets her revenge by carving an A on her attacker’s chest. Sidney, obviously taken back, is curious where this subject matter is coming from.
Instead of telling her mom the truth, Tabby says it’s inspired by Angela Waters. Imogen found out Angela was raped before she killed herself. Tabby claims Imogen’s obsessed with Angela and when Imogen told her the story, it stuck with her.
Sidney signs the permission slip.
Imogen lets Kelly (Mallory Bechtel) in on her secret and Kelly feels bad for being awful to her. Cutting to the chase, Imogen explains she’s here because they need her help with the blood drive. Kelly confirms she’s working it and Imogen explains they need to work it too.
Imogen fills her in on their DNA collection plans and Kelly stops her. “Wait…you’re asking me to steal my classmates’ blood?” Imogen confirms they just a few drops and plays the “we were friends” card, hoping Kelly will do the right thing now.
Mouse tries to talk to her mom, Elodie (Lea Salonga), who’s currently separated from Mouse’s other mom and living in a motel. Mouse wants to know why they broke up and asks if it’s because of Angela Waters. Elodie refuses to talk about that and also refuses to answer Mouse’s questions about the identity of her father.
Mouse secretly visits her mom’s pawn shop and locates her birth certificate. Aaron Stevens is listed as her father.
Imogen checks the signatures in her mom’s yearbook but isn’t having any luck. Plus, her senior year is missing. Tabby suggests she take a break since it’s Thanksgiving and they have the blood drive. Imogen admits she’s missing her mom, and it’s almost easier when she’s keeping busy.
Zaria, Maia Reficco, Malia Pyles, Chandler Kinney, Bailee Madison, and Mallory Bechtel in ‘Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin’ episode 8 (Photo by Stephanie Mei-Ling/HBO Max)
Tuesday: Kelly shows up with the girls and tells the nurse they’re ready to volunteer for the blood drive. The nurse sends them out to remind people to donate. Any student who does will get to leave school for the rest of the day and get a free movie pass.
Principal Clanton (Robert Stanton) informs Tabby she can’t do her project. “We can’t have our students exposed to such inappropriate content.” Tabby points out that the sexual assault and trauma in her story is something young women deal with 24/7. It’s the reality we’re living in and he can’t ignore it.
Principal Clanton sympathizes, but he cannot allow the assignment.
Chip (Carson Rowland) asks Imogen over for Thanksgiving and she says she’s already planned to join Tabby and her mom. She offers a counterproposal, telling him that every year she and her mom would volunteer at the soup kitchen. Before she can finish, Chips says he wants to volunteer with her.
Faran shows up in dance class and Madame Giry (Kate Jennings Grant) is surprised to see her. Faran explains she’s been studying Giselle but then Madame Giry breaks the news she’s pushing Giselle back until next year. By then, Faran’s back should be fully healed. Faran insists she’s getting better and has been wearing her brace religiously. Plus, when she isn’t doing PT, she’s exercising at home. Giry explains that even if she wears the brace double time, it won’t speed up her recovery.
Shawn breaks the news to Noa that the football team won’t participate in the blood drive. Some of them use performance-enhancing drugs – even though he doesn’t.
Noa has a Plan B. She tells the girls they should sneak into the locker room when the football team’s practicing and swipe DNA off their mouth guards and other things. If they isolate just the football team’s DNA, it will be easier to tell if one of them is the rapist.
The moms meet and Sidney informs them that Tabby and Imogen are still asking about Angela Waters. Elodie and Marjorie admit both Mouse and Noa are as well. The girls somehow found out that Angela was raped and Corey (Zakiya Young) insists Imogen and Tabby are clearly the ringleaders. Corey urges Sidney to find out how much they know.
Mouse tells Ash (Jordan Gonzalez) that her moms still aren’t speaking to each other. She wants Ash to lie to her that his family’s messed up too, and Ash confesses he was adopted. Still, his parents have been very supportive and loving, even when he came out as trans.
Mouse wonders if he’d want to meet his birthparents if he knew their identities. Ash admits he would, just to see who they are.
Mouse gets the idea to visit her dad and digs out her old Girl Scout vest.
At the theater, Tabby tells Wes (Derek Klena) that she needs to develop a new script for her project because Principal Clanton said it’s too controversial. Wes wonders if it has to do with their conversation about The Last House on the Left and she admits it is, partly.
“In that case, I think you should tell Mr. Smithee to f**k off and make your movie,” says Wes. He suggests she make two movies: one for them and one for her. Tabby agrees he’s right.
A disgruntled man causes a stir at the soup kitchen, and Imogen has a flashback to her mom speaking with a woman while they were volunteering. The woman got upset, and her mom rushed back and said they had to leave at once.
Imogen tells Tabby about the flashback and they both think it might have been Rose Waters. Maybe she came back to Millwood after the Radley Sanitarium shut down. (Sidney’s eavesdropping on this conversation outside the door.)
Wednesday: The blood drive is in full swing. Kelly uses a cotton ball on Chip but then replaces it with a Band-Aid and tosses the cotton ball in a bag. Noa then snags Kelly’s trash bag.
Imogen offers to get more cookies from the nurse’s office and quickly gets on the computer and looks up Angela Waters’ address.
Noa’s mom meets the girls outside and gets the bag full of DNA samples. Faran explains they have the names of every boy who donated blood.
It’ll take a week or two for the results.
The girls plus Kelly make plans for what to do next. Faran asks if they can take one night off from the horror show that is their lives to go to a club that doesn’t ask for IDs.
As the girls dance the night away, Sidney has a flashback to the night Tabby was raped. Tabby came home late and wasn’t acting like herself, but Sidney thought she’d been drinking.
Sidney decides to look through Tabby’s room.
Bailee Madison and Mallory Bechtel in ‘Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin’ episode 8 (Photo by Karolina Wojtasik/HBO Max)
The girls have a blast and officially welcome Kelly to The Losers Club.
Later, Kelly quietly enters her house but her dad, Sheriff Beasley (Eric Johnson), waited up. He demands to know where she’s been until 2am and she doesn’t lie. She even texted her mom. He reveals her mom was asleep when he got home, and Kelly asks where he was. (We’re shown a brief scene of him making out with a guy.) He lies that he was working, and she points out he’s not wearing his uniform.
A giggling Tabby and Imogen come home to an upset Sidney. Sidney speaks with Tabby alone and Tabby demands to know what she’s doing with her laptop. Sidney shows her a shot of the boys locker room and asks if she took those videos.
Sidney can’t believe how much trouble Tabby could get in and blames Imogen for being a bad influence. Tabby cuts her off. “Imogen isn’t the problem, mom. You are – and your secrets are.”
Tabby asks her if she wants to have a real conversation because that’s something they don’t do. Tabby suggests to her mom that if there’s something she wants to ask her, just do it. Sidney doesn’t respond.
Thanksgiving Day: Mouse shows up at her father’s house pretending to be a Girl Scout. A woman and a little girl answer the door and Mouse claims the woman’s husband ordered cookies. The woman walks off to get money and Aaron Stevens comes to the door saying he didn’t order any cookies.
“Do you know who I am, Dad?” asks Mouse. Aaron doesn’t know what she wants but says she needs to leave. Mouse claims she just wants to know him. His wife returns and asks how much she owes, and Aaron says, “Nothing.” Aaron claims it was a misunderstanding and shuts the door in Mouse’s face.
Imogen heads to the soup kitchen and will be back by 6pm.
Noa has Thanksgiving with Shawn’s family since her mom’s working. She asks to use the restroom and goes through Shawn’s gym bag. In an odd turn of events, given that he was so against her mom using, she finds pills in his bag.
Tabby’s deleting all the locker room videos when she gets a text from unknown: “Silence kills.”
Tabby hears shouting downstairs and finds Tyler’s dad telling her mom his son’s still missing and that Tabby must know something. Tyler’s dad knows Tabby attacked his son and thinks she did something else to him, too.
Tabby admits things got out of hand that night, but she swears she doesn’t know where he is.
Imogen goes to the Waters’ house and it’s as run down and creepy as you’d expect it to be. She shouldn’t be going alone, but there she is…knocking on the door.
When no one answers, she walks in and calls out, “Hello! Anyone home?” – a true horror movie cliché.
She explores and sees a bed with restraints tied around the posts. She then spots some kind of animal cage. Instead of getting the hell out of there, she goes upstairs. She discovers the creepy mask hanging up and a body on a bed.
Joe walks in as she’s running downstairs. “I told you to let it go. Why couldn’t you?!” he asks while producing a knife.
A chase breaks out and Imogen gets away.
As Tabby and her mom wait for Imogen to come home, her mom asks if Tyler hurt her and if that’s why she punched him and is making her short film. Tabby admits Tyler didn’t hurt her but then she reveals she was raped. Her mom cries and hugs her.
Greg (Elias Kacavas) and Kelly are making out in his car when she tells him to call her Karen. So weird!
Imogen meets with the girls at the pizza place and tells them what happened at Angela’s house. They decide to confront Joe and end it tonight.
They show up at the Waters’ house armed with butcher knives, but Joe and the body are gone.
They go to the train car where Joe lives and find him hanging, dead. A note below him reads: “Angela Waters did not die in vain.”
Imogen finds her mom’s senior yearbook and Faran asks if they can finally call the police. Imogen agrees but suggests they do it anonymously.
Joe’s writing matches the sixth signature and he’s scratched out their moms’ faces in the yearbook. It’s obvious he hated them for what they did to Angela. The girls believe they’ve solved the puzzle and that Joe was A.
CBS’s The Amazing Race is switching the game up a little with the upcoming 34th season of the Emmy Award-winning reality competition series. The 12 new teams will kick off their adventures in Munich, Germany, marking the first time in the show’s history the racers haven’t begun their adventures in America. Season 34 will also be the first season without any non-elimination pit stops.
Among the contestants embarking on globe-trotting adventures are former NFL cheerleaders, motivational speakers, and long-lost twins. The 12 teams will be traveling to exotic locations including the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, Italy, Spain, Iceland, and Austria. The race will wrap up in Nashville with the presentation of the $1 million grand prize.
Phil Keoghan returns as host and will announce a special twist at the end of the first leg. Keoghan also executive produces along with Jerry Bruckheimer, series co-creator Bertram van Munster, Jonathan Littman, series co-creator Elise Doganieri, Mark Vertullo, and Patrick Cariaga.
The Amazing Race season 34 premieres on September 21, 2022 in its new 10pm ET/PT time period.
The Amazing Race Season 34 Teams
Aastha Lal (33, VP of Operations) and Nina Duong (34, Director Business Dev.)
Engaged from Marina Del Ray, Calif.
Abby Garrett (24, Data Scientist) and Will Freeman (25, Accountant)
Childhood sweethearts from Birmingham, Ala.
Aubrey Ares (29, Dance Studio Owner) and David Hernandez (29, Helicopter Mechanic)
Ballroom dancers from Los Angeles, Calif.
Derek Xiao (24, Product Manager) and Claire Rehfuss (25, AI Engineer)
Reality romance from Los Angeles, Calif.
Emily Bushnell (36, Law Firm Admin) and Molly Sinert (36, Healthcare Admin)
Long-lost twins from Ardmore, Pa. and Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., respectively.
Glenda (41, Insurance Underwriter) and Lumumba Roberts (41, Middle School Teacher)
Newlyweds from Norcross, Ga.
Luis Colon (34, Firefighter) and Michelle Burgos (34, Dancer)
Married from Miami, Fla.
Linton (50, Assistant Principal) and Sharik Atkinson (23, Masters Student)
Father and daughter from Brooklyn, N.Y.
Marcus (38, Army Tank Commander) and Michael Craig (30, Air Force Fighter Pilot)
Military brothers from Richmond Hill, Ga. and Alamogordo, N.M., respectively.
Quinton Peron (29, Choreographer) and Mattie Lynch (27, Dance Coach)
Former Rams cheerleaders from Pasadena, Calif. and Vista, Calif, respectively.
Tim Mann (40, Probation Officer) and Rex Ryan (59, ESPN Analyst)
Golf buddies from Brentwood, Tenn.
Rich Kuo (32, Life Coach) and Dom Jones (35, Gym Owner)
Motivational speakers from Huntington Beach, Calif.
The Amazing Race Synopsis:
The Amazing Race sends 12 teams on a trek around the world. Each team is comprised of two people who have a pre-existing relationship with one another. At every destination, each team competes in a series of challenges – some mental and some physical – and when the tasks have been completed, they learn their next destination. Teams who are farthest behind will gradually be eliminated as the contest progresses, with the first team to arrive at the final destination winning at least $1 million.
Searchlight Pictures just launched a gorgeous teaser trailer for Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light. The 2022 release marks Mendes’ first feature film solo screenwriting credit and is described as “a powerful and poignant story about human connection and the magic of cinema.”
Empire of Light‘s cast includes Oscar winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite) as Hilary, Oscar winner Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) as Mr. Ellis, Micheal Ward (Small Axe: Lovers Rock) as Stephen, Toby Jones (First Cow) as Norman, Tanya Moodie (A Discovery of Witches) as Delia, and Crystal Clark (The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain) as Ruby. Tom Brooke (The Crown) plays Neil and Hannah Onslow (Call the Midwife) is Janine.
“I’m really thrilled to be working with so many wonderful collaborators across both cast and crew on such a personal project,” said Sam Mendes when production on the film got underway in February 2022. “It’s a particular thrill to be working for the first time with Olivia Colman, and to be working once again with my long-term collaborator Roger Deakins.”
In addition to cinematographer Roger Deakins, Empire of Light‘s behind-the-scenes team includes hair and makeup designer Naomi Donne, editor Lee Smith, sound mixer Stuart Wilson, casting director Nina Gold, and production designer Mark Tildesley.
Mendes is producing the film with Academy Award nominee Pippa Harris under their Neal Street Productions banner. Michael Lerman and Julie Pastor are executive producing.
Searchlight Pictures has set a December 9, 2022 theatrical release date.
A horned, goose-riding magical mystery tour-ish Jason Momoa (Aquaman) welcomes a young girl to the world of dreams in Netflix’s Slumberland teaser trailer. The film’s based on Winsor McCay’s classic comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland and introduces a fantastical dream world far different from Netflix’s The Sandman.
In addition to Jason Momoa, Slumberland stars Kyle Chandler, Marlow Barkley, Chris O’Dowd, Weruche Opia, India de Beaufort, and Humberly González. Francis Lawrence, director of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Mockingjay, directs from a screenplay by David Guion and Michael Handelman. (Lawrence is also currently busy with The Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.)
Producers include Lawrence, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, and David Ready.
The teaser trailer was accompanied by new photos from the family-friendly film that’s set to premiere on November 18, 2022.
The Plot:Slumberland takes audiences to a magical new place, a dreamworld where precocious Nemo (Marlow Barkley) and her eccentric companion Flip (Momoa) embark on the adventure of a lifetime. After her father Peter (Chandler) is unexpectedly lost at sea, young Nemo’s idyllic Pacific Northwest existence is completely upended when she is sent to live in the city with her well-meaning but deeply awkward uncle Phillip (O’Dowd).
Her new school and new routine are challenging by day but at night, a secret map to the fantastical world of Slumberland connects Nemo to Flip, a rough-around-the-edges but lovable outlaw who quickly becomes her partner and guide. She and Flip soon find themselves on an incredible journey traversing dreams and fleeing nightmares, where Nemo begins to hope that she will be reunited with her father once again.
June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) feels no remorse for killing the monster who took away her country in the trailer for The Handmaid’s Tale season five. June not only admits to killing the founding father of Gilead, but she also confesses she “loved it so much.”
The trailer also confirms an epic battle between June and Serena Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski) is in store for season five.
In addition to Elisabeth Moss and Yvonne Strahovski, season five stars Bradley Whitford, Max Minghella, O-T Fagbenle, Samira Wiley, Ann Dowd, Madeline Brewer, Amanda Brugel, and Sam Jaeger. Alexis Bledel (“Emily/Ofglen”) is not returning for the new season.
The Handmaid’s Tale season five will premiere on Hulu on September 14, 2022 with the release of the first two episodes. New episodes will follow on Wednesdays.
The critically acclaimed series is based on the bestselling novel by Margaret Atwood. Bruce Miller created the series and serves as an executive producer along with series star Elisabeth Moss, Warren Littlefield, Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, Eric Tuchman, Yahlin Chang, Rachel Skukert, Sheila Hockin, John Weber, Frank Siracusa, Steve Stark, and Kim Todd.
Hulu released the following descriptions of the series and season five:
The Handmaid’s Tale is the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly the United States. Offred (Moss), one of the few fertile women known as Handmaids in the oppressive Republic of Gilead, struggles to survive as a reproductive surrogate for a powerful Commander and his resentful wife.
Season 5: June faces consequences for killing Commander Waterford while struggling to redefine her identity and purpose. The widowed Serena attempts to raise her profile in Toronto as Gilead’s influence creeps into Canada. Commander Lawrence works with Nick and Aunt Lydia as he tries to reform Gilead and rise in power. June, Luke, and Moira fight Gilead from a distance as they continue their mission to save and reunite with Hannah.
Disney+’s upcoming live-action Pinocchio has just released a new trailer, poster, and photos ahead of the film’s September 8, 2022 (“Disney+ Day”) premiere. The new two-minute trailer shows the moment when the wooden toy surprises his dad, Geppetto, by walking, talking, and acting like a real boy. The second trailer also shows the start of Pinocchio’s adventures as he leaves the safety of Geppetto’s toy shop, heads to school, and winds up with Stromboli’s puppet show.
Oscar winner Robert Zemeckis directs a cast that includes Oscar winner Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Philadelphia) as the woodcarver Geppetto. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (The Haunting of Bly Manor) voices the title character; Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Super Pumped) voices Jiminy Cricket, who serves as Pinocchio’s guide as well as his “conscience”; two-time Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo (Harriet) is the Blue Fairy; and Keegan-Michael Key (Schmigadoon!) is Honest John.
Oscar nominee Lorraine Bracco (Goodfellas) is Sofia the Seagull, Kyanne Lamaya is Fabiana, Jaquita Ta’Le as her marionette Sabina, Giuseppe Battiston (Trust) is Señor Stromboli, and Lewin Lloyd (His Dark Materials) is Lampwick.
In addition to starring as the Blue Fairy, Cynthia Erivo will perform the classic song “When You Wish Upon a Star.” Academy Award nominees Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard are composing new original songs specifically for the 2022 live-action film.
Director Robert Zemeckis co-wrote the screenplay with Chris Weitz. Zemeckis, Chris Weitz, Derek Hogue, and Andrew Miano produce, with Jack Rapke, Jacqueline Levine, Jeremy Johns, and Paul Weitz executive producing.
There’s a lot to love about FX’s Welcome to Wrexham docuseries, and non-football fans will certainly tune in just to see what Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were thinking when they bought the struggling Red Dragons. Reynolds and McElhenney are indeed entertaining, but what’s guaranteed to grab viewers is the sheer joy of victory mixed with the utter agony of defeat experienced by the fine citizens of Wrexham as they cheer on their struggling hometown football team.
Anyone who’s ever rooted for a losing team knows what it feels like to continue to hang onto hope that one day things will turn around. (As a lifelong Chargers fan, I know this feeling deep in my soul.) One day a miracle will occur, and all those losing seasons will become distant memories. In 2020, Wrexham fans were asked to consider if Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) and Rob McElhenney’s (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) interest in purchasing the third oldest football team in the world was the miracle they’d been waiting for.
The small blue-collar town of Wrexham (located in North Wales) is populated by diehard fans who live and die with their football team. The town’s been through a lot, and it’s obvious with the proliferation of empty storefronts that Wrexham could use an infusion of cash. But when it was announced Ryan and Rob wanted to buy the Red Dragons, of course, some Wrexham fans were skeptical of their motivations. Was this a publicity stunt? Would they desert the team after the spotlight faded away or the newness of the adventure wore off? These are justifiable concerns that Ryan and Rob – and, in turn – the docuseries address.
Obviously, given that this is based on real events, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney managed to assure Wrexham fans that they were in it for the long run. The duo, who only knew each other through social media and hadn’t met in person before deciding to take on owning a football team, understood the passion of Wrexham fans and committed to taking this underdog team from the bottom of the barrel back to being competitive with upper-tier teams. Why? Maybe the answer’s as simple as everyone loves a good underdog story.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ (Photo Credit: Patrick McElhenney/FX)
FX’s docuseries explores the inner workings of the Red Dragons and the impact Reynolds and McElhenney’s ownership has had not just on the team but the entire town. It’s a Cinderella story told with love and laughter. It’s also a very effective publicity tool for the Wrexham Red Dragons. But, you’d have to be very cynical to believe this is all just a ploy to help Reynolds and McElhenney recoup their monetary investment in the club.
Beginning with the first episode, Welcome to Wrexham builds up goodwill toward the town and its club. Reynolds and McElhenney are refreshingly candid about this strange trip they’re on as team owners. And the episodes (five of which were made available to critics) spotlight a colorful collection of Wrexham fans who don’t shy away from sharing their opinions of the team and its owners.
There’s something incredibly compelling about this weird story of the Red Dragons. McElhenney began this journey by deciding he needed someone with movie star money as a partner. He landed on the perfect partner in Reynolds, and the two do not fail to entertain.
Universal Pictures’ Halloween Ends, the final battle between Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, will arrive in theaters and on Peacock on October 14, 2022. The announcement of the simultaneous release on streaming and in theaters was made by Jamie Lee Curtis in a two-minute video released on social media.
Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode has been terrorized by Michael Myers for four decades, and Curtis says she’s very proud of the upcoming final chapter to their lengthy story. Curtis believes Halloween Ends brings the saga to “a fitting conclusion.” In the video, she also explains the reasoning behind the decision to release Halloween Ends on Peacock and theatrically.
“Last year when we put out Halloween Kills, we were in the thick of the Covid crisis so we made that movie available in theaters and in homes at the same time. We discovered that there are people who want to go to the theater and scream their guts out – and other people who want to stay at home and scream their guts out. But what we knew was that people watched both at the box office and from streaming,” says Curtis.
The Scream Queen’s explanation gets briefly interrupted by Michael Myers lurking behind a nearby tree. Then she adds: “This year, we year we want to make sure that as many people as possible can see Halloween Ends before Halloween. So, we decided to give that same gift to the fans…again!”
Curtis says it’s been an honor to play Laurie Strode and no matter how you decide to watch the final chapter, she hopes “you’ll get people together and scream and cheer and hold your breath to the end because we created this for you.”
Curtis wraps up the announcement by saying, “I thank you for your years of support and how much you care about this story and me – your final girl.”
Joining Jamie Lee Curtis in the final chapter of the saga are Andi Matichak as Allyson, Rohan Campbell as Corey Cunningham, Will Patton as Officer Frank Hawkins, Kyle Richards as Lindsey Wallace, and James Jude Courtney as The Shape. David Gordon Green directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Paul Brad Logan, Chris Bernier, and Danny McBride.
Universal Pictures’ official synopsis:
This is Laurie Strode’s last stand.
After 45 years, the most acclaimed, revered horror franchise in film history reaches its epic, terrifying conclusion as Laurie Strode faces off for the last time against the embodiment of evil, Michael Myers, in a final confrontation unlike any captured on-screen before. Only one of them will survive.
Four years after the events of last year’s Halloween Kills, Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson (Matichak) and is finishing writing her memoir. Michael Myers hasn’t been seen since. Laurie, after allowing the specter of Michael to determine and drive her reality for decades, has decided to liberate herself from fear and rage and embrace life. But when a young man, Corey Cunningham (Campbell), is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can’t control, once and for all.
There’s nothing unusual about Hollywood recycling old sitcoms – and even dramas – for new audiences. But Hulu’s new Reboot comedy series takes it a step further, creating a series about the behind-the-scenes shenanigans surrounding the reunion of a fictional sitcom cast for a reboot.
Steve Levitan (Modern Family, Just Shoot Me) created the series and serves as writer, executive producer, and showrunner. “After working thirty years in TV comedy, this is both my love letter to sitcoms and, if I’m being honest, much-needed therapy,” said Levitan, describing his new comedy.
Keegan-Michael Key, Johnny Knoxville, Judy Greer, Paul Reiser, Rachel Bloom, Calum Worthy and Krista Marie Yu in ‘Reboot’ (Courtesy of Hulu)
Hulu released the following details on season one which is set to premiere on September 20, 2022 with the release of the first three episodes:
The Plot: Hulu reboots an early 2000’s family sitcom, forcing its dysfunctional cast back together. Now they must deal with their unresolved issues in today’s fast-changing world.
The Cast:
Keegan-Michael Key plays Reed Sterling, a fussy actor on the fictitious family multi-cam sitcom, Step Right Up, who graduated from the Yale school of drama and resents the show for ruining his career.
Johnny Knoxville is Clay Barber, a dark and filthy standup comedian whose only real acting job was on the same bright and sunny sitcom.
Judy Greer is Bree Marie Larson, a small-town pageant girl who always dreamed of being an actress and a princess and both somehow came true.
Rachel Bloom is sitcom writer with a “fresh take,” Hannah.
Calum Worthy is Zack, the hyphenate movie star/hip-hop artist.
Krista Marie Yu as a tech exec turned television creative exec, Elaine.
