by admin | May 5, 2025 | Articles, Cinemablend Articles
Tom Cruise has done some absolutely incredible stunts over the years. He’s climbed the tallest building in the world and he’s driven motorcycles off of cliffs. The way that Cruise presents himself, it’s as if it’s all in a day’s work. However, Simon Pegg says that the movie star does get nervous, at least sometimes, as he once did before the major set piece of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.
Simon Pegg has been on hand for most of the Mission: Impossible movies and thus has had a front row seat to Tom Cruise’s wild stunts. Pegg tells People Cruise was smiling the entire time he was hanging off the Burj Khalifa for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. However, that wasn’t the case when Cruise had to hang off the outside of a cargo plane for Rogue Nation. Pegg said…
Hanging off a cargo jet as Cruise does in Rogue Nation is the sort of stunt where lots can do wrong. There’s, of course, there’s wind that’s pushing against him the entire time, but hanging off a plane also opens Cruise up to flying debris of all sorts. It’s the kind of thing that can’t really be controlled for in the moment, and could have led to serious injury had anything actually hit him. The stunt
Certainly, every precaution is taken to ensure safety on these stunts. Everybody is well aware of what the worst-case scenario is. But one can imagine that hanging off the side of an airplane in mid-air, there’s only so much that can be done. It feels like whatever harness is designed to keep somebody from falling off a building would feel safer than whatever harness was designed to keep somebody from falling off an airplane. The Cruise didn’t only make the actor nervous. Cruise admits it also terrified his mother.
Of course, one then has to wonder how one of the major stunts for Mission: Impossible -The Final Reckoning compares to the others, considering it was also a stunt that involved Cruise hanging from an airplane. Rather than being a massive cargo jet, Cruise is seen hanging off the wing of a small plane in the Final Reckoning trailers. Maybe the fact that the plane was smaller actually made it less scary.
Honestly, it’s nice to know that Tom Cruise even gets nervous pulling off some of these stunts. He’s always looking so confident so much of the time that it humanizes him to know that he is capable of fear.
by admin | May 5, 2025 | Articles, Cinemablend Articles
Over the weekend, President Trump dropped a social media post decrying the state of the film industry in The United States. He said he’s instructed the Department Of Commerce to “begin the process” of placing tariffs on all movies shot outside the country. Immediately, social media exploded with fears about what this might mean for various movie studios and production houses, and several prominent media companies showed notable declines in their stock prices. With no timelines and few details, however, there’s a lot of uncertainty and several questions that still need to be answered before anyone knows what exactly this might mean.
Before we get into those questions though, let’s back up real quick and talk about the state of the film industry in The United States and more specifically, Los Angeles. In his social post, President Trump said movie-making has been “devastated” in Hollywood. The numbers back that up.
a recent report from FilmLA, the group that handles permits in Los Angeles, shooting is down more than twenty percent year over year. Television production is down almost fifty percent compared to an average of the last five years. Only 13 total pilots were shot in LA in the first quarter of this year, the lowest number in any quarter since FilmLA started keeping track. Sound stage usage is down. Permits being pulled are down. Anecdotally, there are a lot of people in the industry in Los Angeles talking about the struggle to find work. Something is clearly going on. The question is why.
In President Trump’s social post, he blames a “concerted effort” by other nations to offer incentives to filmmakers to shoot on location in their specific areas. You can read his message in its entirety below…
Now, it’s easy to verify that some of that is happening. Locations within The United States, Georgia most prominently, have started offering aggressive tax breaks and incentives for productions that film in the state. Officials literally produced brochures for movie studios and indie filmmakers that go over exactly how it works, and it has worked.
Georgia now has more movies and tv shows filmed on location than every State except California and New York. In fact, this has become such a problem the past few years that Governor Gavin Newsom has loudly and aggressively called for an expansion of California’s own tax incentive program to try and keep up. A bill is currently working its way through the state legislature.
To President Trump’s point, that same thing is happening with other countries too. Canada, the city of Vancouver in particular, has become a hotbed for filming and now attracts nearly 2 billion dollars a year in movie and tv production. That number was only expected to increase, as well, as local lawmakers recently passed even more generous incentive packages to try and entice more productions. Mexico has also become a hotbed for filming, as it offers cheaper costs and its own lucrative tax breaks. The UK and other countries in Europe have also started following suit and begun loudly courting the major studios with their own packages.
In short, producing movies and tv shows, regardless of budget sizes, now often involves incentive shopping. Whether they stay in The United States or not, most production companies are looking for the best deal, and even the actors have become jaded and are very open about how the process works. If a studio can shoot somewhere cheaper, they’re probably going to do that, and with the current pricing structure and cost of living issues in Los Angeles, Hollywood has become a lot less desirable.
Something Else Is Going On Too Though.
In the 1990s and 2000s, the major Hollywood studios combined to release more than 110 theatrical movies per year on average. Over the last few years, that average has barely topped 80. The TV show numbers are just as scary. Back in 2018, there were more than 16,000 episodes of television produced. In 2024, that number barely topped 11,000 episodes.
When the streaming services first started coming into prominence, cable television was still operating at near max capacity. The major networks were all filling every available primetime slot, many cable networks were creating their own original programming and the premium channels like HBO were still in the midst of a creative renaissance.
Over the last few years, however, almost everyone other than Netflix has started pulling back. Many of the streaming services are still struggling to be profitable and have reduced production costs. Many cable networks have stopped producing their own programming, and the major TV networks have reduced their own spending, sometimes cancelling popular shows simply because they’re expensive to produce.
So, right now, the movie industry is in a position where a lot of companies are reducing the number of movies and TV shows they’re creating. Combine that with there being way more competition by other states and other countries to offer incentive programs and cheaper locations to film, and it’s been a perfect storm of problems for Hollywood.
So, Would Tariffs Help? And How Would They Even Work?
The problem in predicting what might happen if tariffs were to go into effect is we don’t have any idea what they might actually look like. President Trump said he’s planning to roll out 100% tariffs, but we don’t know how those would be calculated.
Would half of any ticket sold for a movie produced outside The United States be paid to the government? That would likely create a system in which certain movies were more expensive to see in the theaters, which would likely be a catastrophe for the box office performance of those movies.
And what about if a movie went straight to streaming? Would the production be charged a fee based on its actual budget? If a movie cost $50M to shoot, would producers have to literally pay the The United States government a $50M penalty, sort of like how the luxury tax works in some professional sports if you spend over the salary cap?
None of this accounts for television or future rights payments or a wide variety of other issues either. Producing art is a lot more complicated than producing a manufactured good. That doesn’t mean these obstacles are insurmountable. It just means it’s a lot more complicated to forecast how any of this might work.
What’s Going To Happen?
No one knows.
There has been a lot of talk about tariffs since President Trump took office. He’s vowed to make America’s trade agreements fairer, but there are wide disagreements amongst experts and political pundits about what fair actually means.
In the last hundred days, President Trump has advocated various positions. At one point, he seemed poised to drop moderate to massive tariffs on basically every country in the world, but after some negotiations, an overwhelming majority were paused so new agreements could be worked out. Those deals are still being negotiated, and no one is quite sure what they’ll look like or when they’ll go into effect. So, obviously, there’s going to be uncertainty around these proposed film tariffs for awhile.
Many experts in Hollywood are calling them the potential end of the film industry as we know it. They feel studios won’t be able to make the types of movies they’re making in Los Angeles for the budgets they’re making them at, which would mean cutting costs or reducing the number of films made. They also worry other countries will impose their own tariffs on movies shot in The United States, which would greatly reduce foreign grosses.
Others are cautious embracing the tariffs, as they feel the current tax incentive system isn’t good for anyone. They want to see a dramatic change in how business is done and feel only a massive jolt to the system will save Hollywood from losing more and more business to other countries. They also point to many animation and VFX jobs going to foreign countries and wonder if tariffs would help keep those in The United States.
Right now, all we can do is wait for more information and listen when the major studios start commenting publicly on how they feel this will affect business.
by admin | May 4, 2025 | Articles, Cinemablend Articles
It’s crazy to think it’s been over two decades since audiences were introduced to the lovable. blue alien who co-headlines the Lilo & Stitch franchise. The upcoming live-action Disney remake is set to bring Stitch back to the big screen in CGI form. However, you don’t have to wait until later this month to see the friendly creature from the fantasy flick. An animatronic Stitch is scanning tickets at a movie theater, and I’m loving the viral video!
The marketing push for the Lilo & Stitch remake is proving to be top tier. It was at 2024’s D23 Expo that the live-action variation of the cute Stitch was introduced, and he quickly stole fans’ hearts. He was even featured in a Super Bowl LIX commercial, in which he ran loose on the field while screaming his signature “Nala Kweesta!” Now, during this weekend, AMC Theaters patrons have been able to encounter a version of blue fluff-ball as he scans tickets in the lobby. Check out DiscussingFilm’s post to see the A+ clip:
2025 movie release scan their phones, he adorably shouted phrases like “Bye-bye!” and “Aloha!” Theater patrons even took selfies with Stitch like he was an A-lister. (I won’t lie, I’d probably do the same thing.)
Over the years, The Walt Disney Company has been lauded for its marketing efforts, and that’s especially be the case when it comes to the Lilo & Stitch franchise. Ahead of the original film’s release in the early 2002, the studio promoted it with trailers that placed the alien in some of the most iconic scenes from Disney movies. With all of that in mind, I’m not surprised at all that the House of Mouse is once again putting on a clever marketing campaign centered around one of the best pets in Hollywood history.
What also remains consistent is the fact that Stitch remains cute as he is in the classic Walt Disney Animation Studios feature. He still has those wide eyes, a wild tongue and other features that collectively make him very adorable.
There have certainly been instances in which characters like Stitch have seen stumbles when making the leap to the live-action realm. That certainly happened when the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie received backlash for the design of the blue speedster that was featured in its first trailer. Ultimately, changes were made to remedy that. So I’m thankful that a visual effects managed to create an absolutely freaking adorable Stitch that stays true to the spirit of his original design.
Considering just how adorable he is, I’d actually love to own an animatronic Stitch like the one in the theater. Alas, I’m not sure that’ll happen, so I’ll just maintain my hope of running into one when I head to my local AMC theater. Check out Lilo & Stitch, one of the buzziest upcoming sci-fi movies, when it hits theaters on May 23rd.
by admin | May 1, 2025 | Articles, Cinemablend Articles
The popcorn bucket arms race continues unabated. At this point, you simply can’t have a tentpole movie release without the accompanying novelties, and the popcorn buckets that used to be the purview of theme parks like Disney and Universal are all over movie theaters. However, I’m not sure any of them are as adorable as the one being released alongside the remake of How to Train Your Dragon.
It’s not exactly a surprise to see that the popcorn bucket for the live-action How to Train Your Dragon is all about Toothless, but I’m not sure anybody expected the bucket to be this adorable. In the short look posted to Instagram, Toothless’ head pops open and his mouth is full of popcorn. Of course, it makes me feel like I’m stealing his popcorn, and why would I do that to somebody so cute?
Disneyland popcorn buckets, and there’s no way they’d be able to keep their hands off of this one. The only thing cuter than this would be Dave Filoni’s idea for a Grogu popcorn bucket.
Considering that movie theater popcorn buckets can trace their existence back to theme parks, it’s little shock that a very similar bucket can be purchased inside Universal Orlando’s new Epic Universe theme park. How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk is one of the lands in the park, and it has its own Toothless bucket, though that one lights up and the popcorn is stored in the egg that Toothless is sitting in.
If there’s a single downside, it’s that while the scale of the popcorn bucket is difficult to judge, it doesn’t look to be all that big. Certainly, I need my popcorn bucket to hold a significant amount of popcorn. The fact that it’s cute is great, but I also need it to fulfill its function as a popcorn bucket. It needs to hold enough popcorn to last me for what will probably end up being a two-hour movie.
It’s going to be the battle of adorable characters and the adorable popcorn buckets at the movies this summer. How to Train Your Dragon’s live-action remake comes out in theaters just a couple of weeks after the Lilo & Stitch live-action remake, and while that popcorn bucket has not seen an official reveal, we can bet it will all be about everybody’s favorite blue troublemaker.
Considering both How to Train Your Dragon and the original Lilo & Stitch were both created by Dean DeBlois, clearly the big winner this summer will be him… well, him and anybody who likes popcorn.
by admin | Apr 30, 2025 | Articles, Cinemablend Articles
There are a number of franchises that run out of gas after a few years, but the love for Bad Boys has seemed to only grow with time. It was a full three decades ago this month that the original directed by Michael Bay arrived in theaters, and last year’s Bad Boys: Ride Or Die successfully crossed $400 million at the worldwide box office. There is clearly still a hunger for more adventures featuring Detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, and star Martin Lawrence feels that as long as there is demand, there should be consistent supply.
Currently promoting the new animated comedy Sneaks (which is now in theaters), Lawrence spoke with Entertainment Tonight about the current status of the Bad Boys franchise. He has a great passion for the legacy of the franchise, which really began when he asked Will Smith to sign on for the first film without seeing the script, and he is as impressed as anyone by the love expressed by movie-goers. Said the actor,
Martin Lawrence’s career to a whole new level, and turned Will Smith into a bona fide movie star. There was a long 17 year stretch between 2003’s Bad Boys II and 2020’s Bad Boys For Life, but Bad Boys: Ride Or Die cut that gap down to four years, and ticket sales suggest that the studio shouldn’t waste any time making a fifth chapter.
As for that fourth sequel, Martin Lawrence and Will Smith apparently haven’t had any kind of sit down to talk about story ideas or new developments for their characters, but he does confirm that the decision-makers as Sony Pictures are actively discussing Bad Boys 5. Said Lawrence,
Bad Boys: Ride Or Die is a film that digs into the canon of the franchise in development of the plot, as Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett are put in a position of clearing their names after being accused of corruption, and it feels like it could have been used as a conclusion for the franchise – but it seems there is too much love for the movies to let the series end. Will Smith expressed interest in making more sequels almost immediately after the release of Bad Boys 4, so Bad Boys 5 definitely feels like it’s inevitable.
Obviously we don’t know at this present time when we will actually get to see the next Bad Boys movie, but stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest news about the future of the franchise.
by admin | Apr 29, 2025 | Articles, Cinemablend Articles
Jeremy Renner’s snowplow incident garnered a considerable amount of attention back in 2023, as many feared for the fan-favorite actor’s well-being. At the time, he was run over by his 14,000 lb. snowcat while trying to save his nephew from being hit. Renner was subsequently airlifted to a nearby hospital, where it was ruled that he’d broken various bones and experienced blunt chest trauma. Due to his injuries, the actor was put on pain medication and, as a result, he began to hallucinate about Jamie Foxx and more
It’s true that strong doses of medication can indeed make a person a bit loopy. However, it sounds like Renner was on a whole different level in the aftermath of his accident. In his memoir, My Next Breath, he detailed (via Us Weekly) his recollection of being “so high” on his meds while in the hospital. As Renner explained that he specifically took a “combination of opioids for pain and benzos for sleep.” The now-54-year-old Oscar nominee then began “chatting” with his curtains before having a vision of the Ray actor:
Jeremy Renner didn’t lose his life due to that snowplow accident over two years ago. In his memoir, he recalled hearing “crunching sounds” as the snowplow made its way over his body. Amid his recovery, Renner also opened up about the highs and lows he experienced. Even though it wasn’t always easy, the actor persevered, and he kept his sense of humor as noted by Avengers co-star Anthony Mackie.
It’s tragically ironic that later in 2023, Jamie Foxx suffered a medical emergency. As he later revealed, he had a brain bleed that led to a stroke. After waking up from his stroke, Foxx was apparently a bit disillusioned about what happened. He ultimately began to process his situation using humor and even impersonated Denzel Washington at one point.
As for Jeremy Renner, he was eventually able to kick his meds and was glad to do so because he “hated” the way they made him feel. His decision to discard the medication allowed him to take a major step towards a sense of normalcy. Overall, I’m just glad Renner is seemingly feeling like himself again and that Jamie Foxx is as well.
