Steve Pond's Blog, page 200

Warner Bros. Rolls Out Original Films and DC’s Big Plans Amid a Stormy Future

Warner Bros.’ presentation at CinemaCon on Tuesday night was filled with plenty of big screen spectacle, but it came as rumors have swirled around the future of the studio and its film chiefs, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy.

Over the past weekend, reports surfaced that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav was in preliminary talks with other executives to potentially replace the former MGM chiefs, who joined Warner following the 2022 merger between Warner and Discovery.

De Luca and Abdy didn’t make even an oblique mention of those reports, instead passionately presenting films that represent their approach to slate building with top budgets for original films, the sort of films that cinephiles lament aren’t being made by mainstream Hollywood anymore.

Two weeks from now, one of those films, Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” will hit theaters with early tracking projecting a $40 million start. Warner is banking on Jordan Peele-esque legs for this $90 million, genre-bending occult film starring Michael B. Jordan and Hailee Steinfeld.

Then, in September, the studio will release Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” which holds an even higher $100 million-plus budget and will get an Imax 70mm and VistaVision release in an effort to build interest among cinephiles and older moviegoers. Anderson has never been a Christopher Nolan-level force at the box office, but Warner is going to give the film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, a prime early autumn launch with event release marketing befitting a potential Oscar contender.

Stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor and Regina Hall came onstage to show a clip of DiCaprio as a desperate revolutionary and addict trying to find his lost daughter.

While Abdy expressed enthusiasm for all of Warner’s upcoming films, she showed particular excitement for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Bride!” a new take on the Bride of Frankenstein starring Jessie Buckley that comes out in March 2026. Gyllenhaal spoke at length about what inspired her to put the story of the Bride in early 20th century Chicago and how thrilled she was to work with Imax cameras for the first time and play with the unique aspect ratios that the format provides.

That all came before an extremely visceral red band trailer that showed off the film’s stylized violence and unique design for Buckley’s Bride and Christian Bale’s Frankenstein Monster, complete with the expletive-filled tagline: “Here. Comes. The. Mother. Fucking. Bride.”

Still, while those films need to turn a profit to show that big budget originality can work against all odds, it’s not their job to carry the financial load for Warner Bros.’ film division.

That job goes to DC Studios, who finished off Warner’s presentation with a grand finale from studio heads James Gunn and Peter Safran. Zaslav siloed off DC Studios from the rest of the film division shortly after hiring the “Guardians of the Galaxy” filmmaker and the veteran producer, and tasked them with restoring audience interest in the struggling franchise.

All those plans of course hinge on “Superman” being a hit, and Warner and DC showed their confidence in the film by presenting a lengthy panel with Gunn and the film’s cast, led by David Corenswet, who shared numerous stories followed by sneak peek that featured the full clip of Krypto rescuing the Man of Steel… but not before excitedly jumping all over the injured superhero.

Beyond DC and the originals, other films featured during Warner’s presentation included a look at the darkly humorous and extremely gruesome return of New Line’s “Final Destination,” as well as an appearance from “Barbarian” director Zach Cregger to talk about “Weapons,” a disturbing tale of an entire class of elementary school kids who mysteriously disappear.

Warner also presented Apple’s “F1,” which it is distributing, featuring the team of star Brad Pitt and director Joseph Kosinski. The sneak peek included actual race footage filmed during the 24 Hours of Daytona, and Warner and Apple are hoping that this $300 million tentpole will be able to replicate some of the magic of Kosinski’s “Top Gun: Maverick” and find a foothold against summer franchise competitors.

2026 will also be a big year for Warner Bros. Animation, which showed off a work-in-progress trailer of “The Cat in the Hat” and a sizzle reel of other work that is in development, including “Meet the Flintstones” and “The Lunar Chronicles.”

After an up-and-down 2024 that had hits like “Dune: Part Two” and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” alongside flops like “Furiosa” and “Joker: Folie a Deux,” 2025 has been a rough start for Warner Bros. with disappointments and misfires.

Among those films are the New Line horror film “Companion,” which grossed just $37 million worldwide against a $20 million marketing/production spend despite rave reviews; Bong Joon-ho’s “Mickey 17,” which has grossed $120 million worldwide against a reported $118 million production budget, and the $50 million mobster film “Alto Knights,” which has made a paltry $9 million worldwide after nearly two weeks of play.

Help is on the way for both Warner and the struggling box office with Legendary’s adaptation of the hit video game “Minecraft,” which is projected to have an opening weekend of at least $70 million.

The post Warner Bros. Rolls Out Original Films and DC’s Big Plans Amid a Stormy Future appeared first on TheWrap.

Lauren Boebert Confuses Oliver Stone for Roger Stone at JFK Files Hearing | Video

Lauren Boebert had an embarrassing flub on the House floor Tuesday while questioning director Oliver Stone during a House Oversight Committee hearing on the JFK files released last month.

Her first misstep? Mistaking the famed director behind 1991’s Kevin Costner vehicle, “JFK,” for Trump ally and “The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ” author Roger Stone.

“Mr. Stone, you wrote a book accusing LBJ of being involved in the killing of President Kennedy,” Boebert questioned, a clip of which you can watch below. “Do these most recent releases confirm or negate your initial charge?”

Oliver Stone, looking visibly confused, then turned to journalist and author Jefferson Morley, who also sat on the hearing panel. Whispers ensued until Stone responded, decidedly: “No I didn’t.” The filmmaker then spoke about the piece of Kennedy-related media he did create, “JFK.”

“If you look closely at the film, there’s no — it accuses President Johnson of being in part complicit in a cover-up of the case, but not in the assassination itself, which I don’t know.”

“What do you think he was complicit in?” Boebert asked, before addressing Morley, who apparently tried to interrupt to correct the mistake. “Yes sir, I’ll get to you,” she responded.

“The cover-up, well, how about for starters appointing Allen Dulles, the head of the CIA, who was fired by Kennedy, to the commission itself, to the Warren Commission, and he goes to almost every meeting and he’s pretty much in charge of the Warren Commission from the beginning, Allen Dulles. That’s part of the evidence that points to President Johnson’s either incompetence or involvement,” Stone answered, humoring the congresswoman’s line of questioning.

“Mr. Morley, I think you had something to add on that?” Boebert then asked.

“I think you’re confusing Mr. Oliver Stone with Mr. Roger Stone,” he journalist said over the congresswoman dismissing the mistake: “I may have made a misstated it, yeah. Sorry.”

“It’s Roger Stone who implicated LBJ in the assassination of the president, it’s not my friend Oliver Stone,” Morley said.

“Is that what all the whispers were there?” Boebert asked. “I may have, I may have misinterpreted that and I apologize for that.”

Watch the full exchange below:

Oh my god.

Lauren Boebert just confused Roger Stone, Donald Trump’s lackey, with Hollywood director Oliver Stone.

Gropert is so embarrassing.

pic.twitter.com/UyVvma3m4s

— Art Candee (@ArtCandee) April 1, 2025

The 1991 political conspiracy thriller “JFK” grossed over $200 million in theaters and was nominated for eight Oscars, including best picture, and won two. Stone was nominated for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

On March 18, President Donald Trump made thousands of classified documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy public.

The post Lauren Boebert Confuses Oliver Stone for Roger Stone at JFK Files Hearing | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

David Fincher to Direct Brad Pitt in Tarantino-Scripted Cliff Booth Movie for Netflix

As unlikely as it sounds, a spinoff of Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” focused on Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth, is back in the realm of possibility, courtesy of David Fincher and Netflix. And no, this isn’t an April Fool’s Day prank.

Fincher will direct from an original script by Tarantino, with Netflix footing the bill and subsequently getting exclusive rights to the project. This would be the first Tarantino-related project ever to get a streaming-first release, something possible only because he isn’t directing it himself — and because of Fincher’s first-look deal with Netflix.

According to The Playlist, which first reported the news, Tarantino’s script grew out of “The Movie Critic,” Tarantino’s abandoned ‘final film’ in which Pitt would have reprised his Oscar-winning role — presumably opposite some other acting legend playing the title character.

Per The Playlist, it was Tarantino who reached out t to Fincher about taking over the project, though according to Deadline it was actually Pitt who, with Tarantino’s blessing, brought to his “Seven” and “Fight Club” director.

Tarantino previously explained that his main inspiration for “The Movie Critic” was when he learned as a teenager in the 1970s that some pornographic magazines employed actual movie critics. Details about the script Fincher is directing are not public, and it’s unknown how much if anything of that remains.

It’s also not known if the film takes place before or after the events of “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” which is set in 1969, or if it would even follow the same continuity. OUATIH ends of course with Booth and his friend actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) violently foiling the Manson Family before they could murder Sharon Tate.

Tarantino had originally planned for “The Movie Critic” to be his 1oth and final film, but a year ago this month he walked away from it for unclear reasons. The director still intends for his 10th film to be his last, but his focus lately has been on non-motion picture projects, most notably a stage play he is currently writing.

The post David Fincher to Direct Brad Pitt in Tarantino-Scripted Cliff Booth Movie for Netflix appeared first on TheWrap.

First 10 Minutes of ‘F1’ Show Brad Pitt Winning 24 Hours of Daytona

Three years ago, Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer made box office history with “Top Gun: Maverick.” Now the director-producer duo is back with “F1,” which stars Brad Pitt in a film that traveled around the world with Formula One to capture the intense action of the world’s premier racing circuit.

Warner Bros.’ showed off the depth of that action with a sneak peek of the first ten minutes of the film, which was produced by Apple on a reported $300 million budget.

In the opening, we see Pitt’s Sonny Hayes wake up in his beat up van, getting the call from his race team that it is time for him to take over the night shift for the 24 Hours of Daytona.

As Hayes gets in the car, his team is in seventh place. But thanks to a mix of misfortune from other drivers and aggressive driving on his part, Hayes gets his team back in the lead. One of the drivers he runs off the road has to be held back from attacking him after he exits the car, though Hayes had a wrench ready just in case.

Come daybreak, Hayes’ team has won the race, but he’s not interested in taking part in the celebration. He doesn’t even want to touch the trophy or the Rolex watch he gets as a sponsor prize. He simply takes his $5,000 bonus check, hops in his van and bolts.

But en route to his next race, he gets a visit from F1 team owner Ruben Cervantes, played by Javier Bardem. With nine races left in the season, Ruben is on the verge of losing his team in a forced sale, and he wants Hayes to come in and save the team. With a laugh, Hayes accepts.

“F1” hits theaters June 30.

The post First 10 Minutes of ‘F1’ Show Brad Pitt Winning 24 Hours of Daytona appeared first on TheWrap.

6 Revelations From ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Season 14 Reunion Part 1: Dorit Kemsley’s Husband Says ‘Bad Father’ Claims Are ‘Heartbreaking and False’

The first installment of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” Season 14 reunion has officially arrived. Dorit Kemsley gives an update on her estranged marriage with P.K. Kemsley and Bozoma Saint John makes her debut on the reunion couch where more drama awaits her.

The first part of the reunion kicked off with Kemsley in the spotlight. In the midst of her separation from P.K., Kemsley shared that she no longer speaks to P.K. about his drinking habits and says the two only chat when it’s regarding their children. While P.K. was a no-show, he did deliver his thoughts in the form of a statement that Kemsley had no idea about until Bravo executive producer and host Andy Cohen brought it to her attention.

There’s a lot in store, including an update on Saint John’s pregnancy journey and Beauvais’ current thoughts about Kemsley’s 2021 home invasion-robbery. Seated on the couch next to Cohen is Kemsley, Saint John, Beauvais, Sutton Stracke, Erika Jayne and Richards.

Here are the biggest takeaways from the first installment of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” Season 14 reunion

P.K. and Dorit Kemsley on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” (Bravo)Dorit Kemsley Is Still in Love With Husband P.K., But Isn’t Certain They’ll Rekindle the Marriage

It was a tough season for Dorit Kemsley, as the housewife is undergoing a tumultuous and very public separation from her husband P.K. Kemsley. While giving an update on the relationship, Kemsley admitted that she’s still in love with P.K. but feels there’s “less and less of a chance” that they’ll ever get back to where they were.

She added that she has no regrets about withholding the estrangement from her children, and that she doesn’t want to get back with P.K. under the current circumstances.

“He’s my soul, he’s my blood, he’s my heart, and I hate that because it makes it so much more difficult. But I also know I need peace,” Kemsley said.

P.K. Kemsley (Getty Images)P.K. Kemsley Declined to Appear at the Reunion, but Shared a Statement

While Dorit Kemsley’s estranged husband P.K. Kemsley declined to be on the show, he did share a statement that addressed Kemsley’s referring to P.K. as a bad father during season.

Here’s his statement: “I was invited to be part of the Reunion, but declined because I don’t believe engaging with Dorit in this forum would be constructive. Dorit has made several mischaracterizations about me, but the one I must address is the claim that I am a bad father. That statement is both heartbreaking and false. It is deeply hurtful to me and more importantly, to our children, who, despite Dorit’s assertion, will inevitably see and hear all of this at a time not of our choosing. Those closest to us know the truth. Many have wanted to speak, but I have asked them not because the truth should never need a champion. I refused to stoke a fire I did not ignite. The Dorit I married would never have allowed this, much less caused it. That woman embodied kindness, integrity, and grace. I can only hope this version of Dorit finds her way back to the person she once was. – PK”

During “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills After Show,” Kemsley clarified that she does actually think he’s a good father.

At the reunion, Kemsley said she welcomed the idea of him coming onto the show and that she’s recognized that he enjoys the attention he receives from the show. For now, Kemsley says she’s chosen not to have a relationship with P.K. outside of coparenting.

Bozoma Saint John (Bravo)Bozoma Saint John and Her Boo Keely Watson Are Still Going Strong, Starts Egg Retrieval Process

Despite the various criticisms surrounding Bozoma Saint John’s relationship with her boyfriend Keely Watson, the pair are still going strong and have even started their pregnancy journey by beginning the egg retrieval process.

Garcelle Beauvais, Erika Jayne on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” Season 14 Reunion (Bravo)Erika Jayne Says She Wishes Garcelle Beauvais Was “More Interesting”

While Garcelle Beauvais has opened up about her life as a mother, actress and producer, her costars feel the former fashion model could provide just a bit more details about her personal life, specifically whom she’s being dating and/or being intimate with. At one point, Erika Jayne — who also called Beauvais out for pestering her and Kyle Richards over how much of their lives they disclose during previous seasons — said wishes Beauvais was “more interesting.”

“Well, that’s a s–y thing to say, Erika,” Beauvais said.

Garcelle Beauvais, Sutto Stracke and Kyle Richards (Bravo)Kyle Richards Calls Garcelle Beauvais and Sutton Stracke “Mean Girls”

While Kyle Richards defending her reasons for not discussing her the details of her relationship with country singer Morgan Wade, Garcelle Beauvais asked Richards why she spoke to her about Wade off-camera, to which Richards replied, “Because I thought that you’re my friend.” Afterward, Beauvais asked Stracke to repeat her response to Richards’ private disclosure once she’d walked away.

At first Stracke said, “I think that Kyle wants to protect Morgan.” But Beauvais corrected Stracke, saying that’s not what she said and clarified that Stracke called Richard’s words a “chess move.”

Mmms, gaping mouths and disappointment from the other housewives filled the room and after a brief pause, Richards said: “The thing is with both of you, the two of you together are mean girls. Mean girls, like … that’s really shocking to hear that, Sutton.”

Beauvais states that her remarks were laughed at by the group and she thought it was taken as a joke, and that she just wants Richards to live her life the way she wants to.

Garcelle Beauvais, Dorit Kemsley on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” Season 14 reunion (Bravo)Garcelle Beauvais Still Believes Dorit Kemsley’s Home Invasion-Robbery Was a “Setup.”

In October 2021, Kemsley was robbed at gunpoint in her home while her two children were in the house. At the time, PK was in London for business. The impact of the robbery became a talking point in Season 12 and Season 13. During the Season 13 reunion, Beauvais implied that the robbery was a complete shame,  pointing to the placement of Kemsley’s jewelry and the robbers allowing her to keep her cell phone. During Season 14, Beauvais added that she doesn’t think Kemsley had “anything to do with” the robbery.

However, at the Season 14 reunion, Beauvais stood 10 toes down on her belief that the whole home invasion and robbery was strategic plot, admitting she has no foundational evidence to support the theory. When Kemsley slammed Beauvais for carelessly throwing out the idea apparently without any regard for how it could impact her family, Beauvais apologized.

“Then I’m wrong,” Beauvais said. “I’m sorry if it hurts you, this is how I feel.”

Bozoma Saint John chimed in saying that Beauvais’ words are “dangerous,” “careless” and “really, really terrible” to say, especially with no evidence to back it up.

“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” Season 14, Part 1 reunion will land on Peacock on Tuesday.

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Leonardo DiCaprio Shows Off His ‘One Battle After Another’ Tantrums in Sneak Peek of PTA’s Crime Epic

Leonardo DiCaprio returned to the CinemaCon stage on Tuesday to present Paul Thomas Anderson’s crime epic “One Battle After Another.”

“He’s tapped into something politically and culturally that has burrowed beneath our psyche. But it also a film that is so epic in scope and scale,” he said alongside Teyana Taylor and Regina Hall, who play two fellow fighters in a revolutionary group that reunites for the first time in 16 years to rescue the daughter of Bob Ferguson, played by DiCaprio.

In the extended sneak peek, we see DiCaprio as Bob having an anxious phone conversation as he tries to find the location of his daughter from a contact who won’t reveal information if he won’t “tell the time.” He pleads and threatens and insults the contact, named Comrade Joshua, to tell him what he wants to know.

“I want your commanding officer, or I’m calling in a Grayhawk Ten,” he hisses through restrained tears into the microphone while Comrade Joshua complains that Bob is attacking him with “noise triggers.”

If you want an idea of what Bob Ferguson’s like, think of DiCaprio’s performance as past-his-prime Hollywood star Rick Dalton in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” constantly on the verge of a breakdown and trapped in a situation outside of his control no matter how many tantrums he throws.

We also see a first look at Sean Penn as Colonel Steven Lockjaw, who is asked whether he has failed to protect the world as a military leader. Lockjaw coldly says that anyone who says that is a “liar who doesn’t belong in society.” Gunfights and explosions are also shown in the sneak peek of the film, which will be released in Imax 70mm and VistaVision this fall.

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Stephen Colbert Fake-Comforts Audience by Saying ‘One Day’ Trump ‘Won’t Be President – Maybe’ | Video

During his monologue on Monday, Stephen Colbert gave his audience a little bit of hope for the future despite how he and many others are feeling during the second Trump administration. And then he pulled the rug out from under them a little.

“If you don’t like Trump tariffs, and not many people do, don’t you worry. One day he won’t be president,” Colbert said as the audience erupted in cheers.

“Maybe,” Colbert quickly added, which was how he segued into a discussion of Donald Trump’s desire for an unconstitutional third term — and how media outlets are messing up coverage.

Colbert showed a NBC headline that read, “Trump won’t rule out seeking a third term in the White House,” and added, “What kind of headline is that? Who cares what he won’t rule out, I won’t rule out lying down on the Krispy Kreme conveyor belt and letting the glaze just take me. But that doesn’t mean it’s gonna happen.”

“The Constitution forbids it,” Colbert continued. “The 22nd Amendment states clearly that no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice. The rules are crystal clear. End of discussion.”

“It’s just like that famous scene in ‘Air Bud,'” Colbert added, at which point he cued up the scene where officials determine there isn’t anything to prevent a dog from playing basketball. Except the scene was edited so the ref says, “wrong, it’s right here. Movie’s over!”

“When NBC asked Trump about a third term, he said, ‘a lot of people want me to do it. There are methods which you could do it.’ Sure. There are also methods by which you could hammer a pineapple up your butt, which could happen some wonderful day. What? What would we call that day? Liberation Day?” Colbert continued.

There’s more. You can watch the whole monologue below:

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‘Rick and Morty’ Season 8 to Premiere in May

After a year and a half, “Rick and Morty” is finally coming back. Season 8 of the Adult Swim hit will premiere on May 25 at 11 p.m. ET/PT.

The season will premiere in over 170 countries in 42 languages. New episodes will be available for purchase from digital retailers the day after they premiere on Adult Swim in the United States. The season will then be available to stream on Sept. 1.

Fittingly, Adult Swim dropped the premiere date as part of its annual April Fool’s Day broadcast special. This time around, the network debuted “Portal People,” a 22-minute anthology special from the totally-real and definitely-not-invented-for-this-day “Rick and Morty Playhouse Players.” Have you ever wanted to see real people in huge costumes act out your favorite “Rick and Morty” moments with the budget of a well-funded local theater? Not really? Well, here you go.

“We hope you enjoyed our theater interpretations of ‘Rick and Morty,’ especially if you are well-off/impulsive and now want to back a Broadway version of the show,” Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen said in a statement to press. “For the rest of you, we’re glad you now know when Season 8 is starting so you have time to stretch and get loose because the team has yet again made a totally great season of television.”

This is far from the first time Adult Swim’s April Fool’s Day prank has involved “Rick and Morty.” Season 3 famously aired its first episode unannounced on the holiday in 2017 after roughly two years of silence from the show. The following year the network then aired a parody of Dan Harmon’s sci-fi show titled “Bushworld Adventures.” That short from Michael Cusack led to an ongoing partnership with the creator of “YOLO” and “Smiling Friends.” Later in 2020, Adult Swim aired a short from Studio Deen that would later become the groundwork for “Rick and Morty: The Anime” during its Post Malone-hosted event. The show even made an appearance in 2021 as part of the one-night-only Adult Swim Junior.

“Rick and Morty” stars Ian Cardoni, Harry Belden, Sarah Chalke, Chris Parnell. and Spencer Grammer. The animated comedy is executive produced by Dan Harmon and Scott Marder, who also serves as showrunner.

During its third, fourth, fifth and sixth seasons, “Rick and Morty” ranked as the No. 1 comedy across all of cable. The series has received two Emmys for Outstanding Animated Program so far.

The post ‘Rick and Morty’ Season 8 to Premiere in May appeared first on TheWrap.

Sony Opens Cinemacon With a Vow to Help With Ticket Costs and Windows

After taking last year off, Sony Pictures returned to CinemaCon to kick off the 2025 edition of the annual trade show for movie theaters. As usual, film chairman Tom Rothman had plenty of barbs to sling at those who would declare the big screen dead, but this time he also had some big promises to help with two issues facing exhibitors: price and windowing.

“I have one word for all of you. It’s a magic word. It’s a secret mantra you might utter during your morning meditation: Tuesday,” Rothman said. “I ask you, why is Tuesday different from any other day? It’s because Tuesday is where the grosses are higher…and that’s because the tickets are cheaper. But what if Monday was also like Tuesday? Or Wednesday?”

But Rothman’s suggestion was coupled with a promise to meet theaters halfway, noting that “cost and windows can work for us or against us” and promising that “Sony will work with you on both.”

(Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

“If theaters and studios manage for the long term, and do the right things, the future will be grand,” he said.

Rothman, along with other studio execs like Sony Pictures Releasing President Adam Bergerman, stressed the importance of restoring the length of the theatrical exclusive window after the pandemic pushed it to as short as 17 days after hitting the big screen. Bergerman cited a survey from Cinema United noting that a third of moviegoers in North America said they think they can get a movie on premium on-demand within a month of its theatrical release.

“Such thinking undermines opening weekends across the board,” Bergerman said. “It is important for the future of moviegoing that we undo this perception.”

One way to do that? Make films that can drive in weeks and weeks of interest and which people don’t want to wait until streaming or PVOD release to see. So how about four such films all released in the same month?

That’s what Sony will do in April 2028 as it will release all four of Sam Mendes’ biopics about The Beatles one after the other, starting with one centering Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney and continuing with films around George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon in that order. Joseph Quinn, Barry Keoghan and Harris Dickinson will play each of those musicians respectively.

It’s a strategy that theaters have seen recently on the specialty front with Fathom’s release of the Christian streaming series “The Chosen,” which is in the midst of rolling out its fifth season in theaters over the course of three weekends.

But this is the first time that a major Hollywood studio has tried this strategy, and they are doing it with four films about the most famous rock band of all time. It’s an ambitious move that could see Sony dominate a single month at the box office in a way no studio ever has before, and it will require the rest of Hollywood to be strategic in how they counterprogram their spring titles three years from now.

The studio’s biggest franchise, “Spider-Man,” is off the slate in 2025, but it still played a big part of the presentation as Tom Holland and director Destin Daniel Cretton revealed that the next Peter Parker MCU film set for 2026 will be called “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” The highly anticipated animated film “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse” also got a new release date in June 2027 after lengthy delays.

That means the biggest sequel on this year’s schedule is “28 Years Later,” the third installment of the “28 Days Later” post-apocalyptic horror series from the filmmaking duo of director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland. The franchise horror doesn’t stop there, as Sony has resurrected two 90s cult hits with revivals of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Anaconda.”

But on the original side, Sony may have something quite fresh on their hands with “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” the first feature film for Margot Robbie since lighting up the global box office with “Barbie.” Korean-American director Kogonada helms the fantasy romance starring Robbie and Colin Farrell as a couple on a magical journey through their memories, with longtime Hayao Miyazaki collaborator Joe Hisashi providing the film score.

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‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ Broadway Review: Bob Odenkirk Dazzles, Kieran Culkin Surprises in Uneven Revival

Is Kieran Culkin giving the same performance on stage that recently won him an Emmy and an Oscar? His Roman Roy in “Succession” and his David Kaplan in “A Real Pain” may have very different bank accounts, but basically, they are the same guy: a loopy, unscrupulous and extremely beguiling schemer.

A new revival of David Mamet’s 1983 play, “Glengarry Glen Ross,” opened Monday at the Palace Theatre, and Culkin could have played real-estate agent Richard Roma as a loopy, unscrupulous and very beguiling schemer. Roma, as well as all the other Realtors here, is a real shyster. To his credit, Culkin delivers something new – for him. He never looks to charm with his off-centered delivery, and he actually embraces to great success the smallness of his character. It’s an approach Al Pacino does not take in the 1992 film version of “Glengarry,” where Roma emerges as something of a super-force in the real-estate biz.

“Glengarry,” as well as “The American Buffalo,” has now been revived three times on Broadway despite Mamet’s newer works (“China Doll” and “The Anarchist,” among them) taking a drubbing there. Why the continuing interest in these two earlier all-male dramas by Mamet? To digress a moment, Stephen Sondheim, no lover of opera, once opined that potboilers like “Tosca” continue to be performed because famous divas wanted to sing them, and so the audiences follow. A similar dynamic takes place with “Glengarry” and “Buffalo.” They offer actors a bunch of showy roles. Famous divos are attracted to that kind of high-profile material, and so the audiences follow.

“Glengarry” begins with three vignettes set in a Chinese restaurant. Each two-man episode has been performed ad nauseam in acting classes everywhere. Thanks to Scott Pask’s detailed set design, we can almost smell the Peking duck, if not the MSG. (Considering the seedy circumstances, maybe it should be the other way around.) In his scene, Culkin is easily the most understated of the Realtors in his pitch to a potential client (John Pirruccello, also nicely underperforming his role of a bumpkin). Playing real-estate salesman in the two other vignettes, Bob Odenkirk and Bill Burr take a very different approach. Like Pacino in the movie version, their acting dazzles. They play Mamet’s purposefully repetitious dialogue as if it were a solo concerto by Vivaldi. The technique on display is impressive, and it also misses the pettiness Culkin brings to his Realtor.

Odenkirk and Burr’s showiness is further emphasized by their respective low-key acting partners in the first act of “Glengarry.” Odenkirk’s Shelley Levene is trying to weasel some good leads out of the office’s manager (Donald Webber Jr.), and Burr’s Dave Moss is trying to weasel fellow salesman George Aaronow (Michael McKean) into stealing those leads from the office. Webber and McKean play the punching bags here. Mamet gives them a lot of downtime while their respective acting partner gets to hog the spotlight, and both Webber and McKean use their silences to enormous comic effect.

McKean, the oldest member of the ensemble, maintains his stoicism in the second act when the real estate office has been vandalized. He’s the sorry victim of an economy that forgets the connection between the salesman and what the salesman sells. He is what the other Realtors will be in a decade or two or three. McKean delivers a magnificent performance.

Act two features a lot of verbal showdowns between the Realtors and a law officer (Howard W. Overshown) who’s there to investigate the robbery. In one respect, the language is so brutal it throws into relief a past and disgraceful period in American office life where such macho behavior was not only tolerated but encouraged before the arbiters of political correctness came to the rescue.

At times, however, Patrick Marber’s direction doesn’t trust Mamet’s extreme language to do the job and he lets his actors go way over the top in their attacks on each other. Some of this overacting may be the result of playing the Palace Theatre, a 1,600-plus-seat venue that’s too large for such an intimate play. Then again, the audience loves these big performances, and several of these acting outbursts are rewarded with applause, which only further acts to dissipate the real drama.

Those wars of words become especially uncomfortable, if not downright anachronistic, now that the white Realtors tongue-lash on an office manager of color. Due to its pre-inflation dollar amounts for real estate, “Glengarry” remains locked in the year 1983, and no industry in America was more racist than the business of Fred and Donald Trump.

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