Latest news with #AliceinWonderland
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ballerina's Chad Stahelski Says The John Wick Franchise Could Keep Working Without Keanu Reeves, But He Has One Concern I Agree With
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. In the new John Wick spinoff Ballerina, the presence of Keanu Reeves feels like a security blanket of sorts. Without a guarantee that audiences would buy into a new movie within the canon following a new protagonist, the filmmaker/studio included plenty of the legendary Baba Yaga to make the project appear more connected to the continuity/enticing. But what does that potentially say about the franchise as a whole as it continues to expand with a variety of projects? It's an interesting conundrum for John Wick series director/Ballerina producer Chad Stahelski that the filmmaker recently addressed The question of whether or not the John Wick canon can expand without leaning directly on the star power power of Keanu Reeves is one that was posed directly to Stahelski during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, and the short answer to the matter is "yes" (and it's apparently something he has discussed with the actor personally). That being said, he also recognizes that there is a need to not spread the material too thin with too much too fast. Said the Ballerina producer, Keanu and I actually just talked about this. Look, it's always tricky. I think the world can be supported as long as you don't go crazy and carpet bomb. What we're doing now are stories we really want to tell that feel organic. So what does that mean in his eyes? Chad Stahelski constructed a metaphor by imagining a multi-series Alice In Wonderland franchise. He continued, You've seen Alice in Wonderland. Now what about the Rabbit? What about the Cheshire Cat? Also, sometimes in your own franchise, you get so far up your own ass with the mythology that by the 10th movie you don't know what's going on. I don't ever want to get that way with Wick. I want each one to be able to stand alone. As of right now, with Ballerina now playing in theaters, there are three projects that have been lined up for the future of the John Wick franchise: A Caine Spinoff: A live-action from John Wick: Chapter 4 centered around the blind assassin played by Donnie Yen (Yen is also attached to direct). John Wick's Impossible Task Prequel: An animated movie that will tell the story of how John Wick managed to win his freedom from the High Council so that he could live a life of peace with his wife, Helen John Wick: Chapter 5: While recent comments from Chad Stahelski have suggested that the sequel isn't guaranteed, another sequel centered around the world's most dangerous assassin following the end of John Wick: Chapter 4 is in development. From that list, the Caine project will presumably be the big test for the strength of the John Wick franchise – assuming that the story doesn't find a way to incorporate some kind of Keanu Reeves appearance. It will be fascinating to see how things develop following the release of Ballerina, and we here at CinemaBlend will continue to keep you apprised of the latest developments within the canon.
Glasgow Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
8 of the best decorated cabs at Glasgow taxi day out
Since 1945, thousands of taxi drivers have donated their time and effort to make the 'Outing' the annual success it is. Most of the drivers don fancy dress costumes, much to the delight of the children and the people who line the route through Glasgow and in Troon itself. This year was the 78th year of them 'goin tae Troon' and the cabbies were out in force with their decorated cabs. Kind-hearted taxi drivers gave up their free time to take kids with additional support needs to the seaside for the day. 8 of the best decorated cabs at Glasgow taxi day out (Image: Newsquest) READ MORE: Meet the incredible Glasgow cabbies who take kids to Troon for the day Here are eight of the best we saw: The Duke The Duke decorated taxi (Image: Newsquest)The first taxi in the procession was a Duke of Wellington-inspired design. It even featured a miniature replica of the famous Merchant Square statue, complete with a traffic cone on its head. It led the way as the taxis toured through the town. Alice in Wonderland Alice in Wonderland decorated taxi (Image: Newsquest) Following on was an impressively decorated taxi, which was covered in stickers and balloons to replicate the story of Alice in Wonderland. It had people watching on beaming like the Cheshire Cat as the colourful cab beeped its horn at folk waving in the street. Painted Taxi Painted taxi (Image: Newsquest) This painted taxi looked like something out of the Glen Powell movie currently being filmed in the city centre. With bright and patchy colours, it looked like it would fit in on the set of 'Ghostwriter', the JJ Abrams-directed film being shot in Glasgow right now. READ MORE: Glen Powell pictured in Glasgow for filming of Ghostwriter Taylor Swift 'Taxi Era' Taylor Swift 'Taxi Era' decorated taxi (Image: Newsquest) Swifties were delighted by this 'Taxi Era' taxi, which had a giant version of the friendship bracelets fans of the American superstar wear and exchange at her gigs. The side of the taxi also paid homage to the singer's discography, with nods to all of her albums painted on the side. READ MORE: I saw Taylor Swift's last Scottish night - my verdict Police taxi Police decorated taxi (Image: Newsquest) The boys in blue had representation with this taxi. Police were escorting the huge cabbie conga line, but there was also one taxi that decided to give a nod to Scotland's police force with this design. Here's hoping the taxi didn't also impersonate the Blues Brothers' driving style, who also famously drove a 'police car'. Ice Cream Taxi Ice Cream decorated taxi (Image: Newsquest) This taxi's design suited the sunny day perfectly. Onlookers were longing for a Mr Whippy after seeing this ice cream-inspired cab cruise by. READ MORE: 'Goodbye for now': Popular West End pub announces temporary closure The Grinch The Grinch decorated taxi (Image: Newsquest) Christmas, or perhaps the loathing of December 25, came early to the taxi day out this year. This cab was adorned with all things Grinch and even had a soft toy version of the green villain on the front. Minions Minions decorated taxi (Image: Newsquest) The last decorated taxi on our list is this polka dotted Minions-themed effort. There were plenty of cabbies dressed up as the hilarious little yellow kids' movie stars, but this taxi in particular caught our eye. The yellow and blue dots on the white cab worked well, and the little minion sticker on each side completed the brilliant design.
Newsweek
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Woman Stuns With Secret Passageway Built Into Ordinary-Looking Closet
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A video showcasing an enchanting hidden feature at the back of a "Narnia-inspired" closet has captivated viewers on YouTube. The unique feature was created by Lauren Liess, an interior designer from Great Falls, Virginia, who shared a glimpse of it in a video on her YouTube channel @LaurenLiessTV. The video has garnered over 138,000 views since it was shared on May 19. Text overlaid on the video reads: "When a fantasy nerd grows up and designs a house..." The footage shows Liess walking to the end of a children's playroom and opening the doors of a closet. She steps into the empty wardrobe and opens the back wall, which opens onto another room. As a designer, "I'm always trying to dream up amazing spaces for my clients," Liess told Newsweek. "This Narnia-inspired doorway has been on my bucket list since I was a kid," she noted, referencing the wardrobe from The Chronicles of Narnia series that served as a secret passageway into a magical world. The viral clip comes amid a broader trend of American residents investing in home renovations. The median renovation spending in the United States rose by 60 percent between 2020 and 2023, surging from $15,000 to $24,000, according to a recent survey by Houzz, a home design website. Kitchens were found to be the most commonly renovated interior room, followed closely by guest bathrooms and primary bathrooms. Living room projects were also found to be popular, with one in five homeowners having tackled those spaces in 2023, the survey found. An 'Invisible Door' Liess told Newsweek: "I love to incorporate surprising storytelling elements into my designs. When I was working on the floor plans for my house I realized I had the perfect opportunity for it with my kids' playroom and then I realized I already had the perfect armoire in my foyer." So, her contractor got straight to work and made an "invisible door" in the wall, cutting out the back of the cabinet to retrofit it into the doorway. "When the invisible wall door is closed, it looks and functions just like a normal cabinet," the interior designer noted. "We absolutely love the results, and the kids have so much fun when someone new comes over that doesn't know the secret," she added. Viewers on YouTube adorned the charming secret room feature in the viral clip. User @halleymastrolonardo wrote: "NARNIA!! Yassss love this!!" User @MLF-gg6fv said: "Nope, it should have fur coats in them and then it should lead to outside!!! Then it would be true to the story!!" User @Betruetoyou4444 said: "It's like Alice in Wonderland!!! I wish we got to see outside the window!! Beautiful!!!!" User @rneustel388 noted "How charming!!" and @tinasilvercat6923 said it was like "Heaven on Earth." User @robinnieto2703 simply said it was "Sweet!," while @La-bq6jj noted "Love this! It would also be nice to put maybe a little seating lounge in there or a book case on the sides or just something inside." A screenshot from a viral YouTube video showcasing a secret passageway at the back of a closet in a home. A screenshot from a viral YouTube video showcasing a secret passageway at the back of a closet in a home. @LaurenLiessTV on YouTube Do you have a home design-related video or story to share? Let us know via life@ and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Cowardice of Live-Action Remakes
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. There's a coincidental yet meaningful connection between two of this summer's buzziest movies. The new Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon are both remakes; beyond that, they're both live-action adaptations of animated films—each of which happened to have been co-directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders. Lilo & Stitch has made a fortune at the box office since its late-May debut; How to Train Your Dragon, which opens today, seems similarly poised for success. The two features are, if a little lacking in visual stimulation compared with their forebears, reliably entertaining. But taken together, they signal something rather alarming in Hollywood's ongoing crisis of imagination: The timeline for nostalgia is growing shorter. Since Tim Burton's big-budget take on Alice in Wonderland grossed more than $1 billion in 2010, the live-action remake has become an inevitable, pervasive cinematic trend. Fifteen years later, it seems that capturing similar financial success requires a studio to look at progressively more recent source material to work with. Disney's attempt to update the nearly 90-year-old Snow White failed at the box office earlier this year; the company shuffled efforts such as a new Pinocchio and Peter Pan off to streaming, despite the recognizable directors and casts involved. The muted response to these modern takes on decades-old classics perhaps explains the move toward reviving properties that resonate with much younger generations instead. The original Lilo & Stitch is 23 years old; How to Train Your Dragon, produced by DreamWorks Animation, is only 15. Next year, a remake of Moana will hit theaters less than a decade after the original film's release. Is that even enough time to start feeling wistful about it? Clearly, the answer is yes, given how audiences have flocked to similar adaptations. The sentimental fervor around franchises such as How to Train Your Dragon is particularly unsettling to me, because the first entry premiered when I was fully an adult; the DreamWorks canon (which also includes such films as Shrek and Kung Fu Panda) was established when I was past the ideal age to become invested. However, I've seen How to Train Your Dragon many times because my daughter is a fan; that intense familiarity helped me out as I watched the live-action version, looking for anything that might feel different about it—which would thus justify its creation. [Read: The lesson Snow White should teach Disney] Not so much. DeBlois, who also directed the two How to Train Your Dragon sequels, makes his live-action debut by adapting his own feature; as such, the end result is wildly similar to the earlier work. The new film is again set in a Viking village that is constantly besieged by different kinds of dragons. The plucky teen son of the chief, a boy named Hiccup (played by Mason Thames), befriends a sleek black dragon named Toothless and learns that fighting the beasts isn't the only answer. The actor who voiced Hiccup's father in the animated film, Gerard Butler, returns to perform the role on-screen; in all other cases, the film uses well-suited performers to replace the voice cast. To my own surprise, I liked the new version of How to Train Your Dragon about as much as I do its ancestor. Both, to me, are above-average bits of children's entertainment that struggle with the same problems: They start to sag near the end and suffer a little from their murky color palette. I got a little choked up at the exact same point that I do while watching the 2010 Dragon, when Hiccup and Toothless take to the sky together; the boy rides on a saddle he's made for his fire-breathing pal, and the composer John Powell's excellent score soars into inspirational mode, all strings and bagpipes. If there's a difference between these redone scenes and their inspirations, it's a remarkably minor one; only good theater decorum stopped me from pulling out my phone and running the two Dragons side by side. Hollywood is struggling to get people to buy movie tickets, so I understand the impulse to offer something that a broad swath of viewers already knows and likes. But there's simply no sense of risk in making something like How to Train Your Dragon—nothing that will convince said theatergoers that the medium has a future beyond recycling. Yes, visual-effects technology is up to the task of re-creating a cartoon on a larger scale and dotted with real actors, and yes, these redos tend to turn a profit for their makers. These shouldn't be the only reasons for art to exist. [Read: Why is Disney trying so hard to dilute its brand?] Lilo & Stitch, at least, diverges somewhat from its source material. Because most of the characters are human beings, its world seems easier to translate to one composed of flesh and blood. The film, like How to Train Your Dragon, is about a shiftless youngster (Lilo, a Hawaiian girl who has been acting out since the death of her parents) bonding with a fantasy creature (Stitch, a blue alien experiment designed as a weapon of destruction). The director Dean Fleischer Camp's tweaks for his rendition didn't particularly click for me, however. One amusing character (another alien who is searching for Stitch) is absent entirely, and the revised ending has prompted some pushback, though Fleischer Camp has tried to defend it. In theory, I should be pro-change, given that I found the carbon-copy nature of How to Train Your Dragon so irksome—except that Lilo & Stitch doesn't really commit to its big alterations. The animated versions of Lilo and her older sister, Nani, forge a closer connection after meeting Stitch and his extraterrestrial hunters; the live-action Lilo enters the care of family friends at the end of the film, so that Nani can go off to study in California. These adjustments to the girls' relationship are a bit bold, because the prior film is so emotionally focused on their frayed sisterhood, yet the remake quickly undercuts their separation with the revelation that Nani can just visit Lilo anytime she wants, thanks to some space technology that Nani has borrowed. Such a cop-out is the underlying, depressing reality with all of these remakes: No change can be too daring, no update too significant. It's heartening that Sanders, a co-director of the original Dragon and Stitch, is one of the few people working in animation who's still committed to innovation. Last year, he directed The Wild Robot; much like How to Train Your Dragon, it is an adaptation of a children's book upon which Sanders found an exciting visual spin. The movie was a critical success, a box-office hit, and an Academy Award nominee. Cinema needs more entries like The Wild Robot—novel works that take chances and trust the audience to follow along. If nothing else, they provide fodder for more live-action remakes in the near future. Hollywood can't have these nostalgic adaptations without something to redo in the first place. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
Hollywood's Nostalgia Timeline Is Getting Shorter
There's a coincidental yet meaningful connection between two of this summer's buzziest movies. The new Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon are both remakes; beyond that, they're both live-action adaptations of animated films—each of which happened to have been co-directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders. Lilo & Stitch has made a fortune at the box office since its late-May debut; How to Train Your Dragon, which opens today, seems similarly poised for success. The two features are, if a little lacking in visual stimulation compared with their forebears, reliably entertaining. But taken together, they signal something rather alarming in Hollywood's ongoing crisis of imagination: The timeline for nostalgia is growing shorter. Since Tim Burton's big-budget take on Alice in Wonderland grossed more than $1 billion in 2010, the live-action remake has become an inevitable, pervasive cinematic trend. Fifteen years later, it seems that capturing similar financial success requires a studio to look at progressively more recent source material to work with. Disney's attempt to update the nearly 90-year-old Snow White failed at the box office earlier this year; the company shuffled efforts such as a new Pinocchio and Peter Pan off to streaming, despite the recognizable directors and casts involved. The muted response to these modern takes on decades-old classics perhaps explains the move toward reviving properties that resonate with much younger generations instead. The original Lilo & Stitch is 23 years old; How to Train Your Dragon, produced by DreamWorks Animation, is only 15. Next year, a remake of Moana will hit theaters less than a decade after the original film's release. Is that even enough time to start feeling wistful about it? Clearly, the answer is yes, given how audiences have flocked to similar adaptations. The sentimental fervor around franchises such as How to Train Your Dragon is particularly unsettling to me, because the first entry premiered when I was fully an adult; the DreamWorks canon (which also includes such films as Shrek and Kung Fu Panda) was established when I was past the ideal age to become invested. However, I've seen How to Train Your Dragon many times because my daughter is a fan; that intense familiarity helped me out as I watched the live-action version, looking for anything that might feel different about it—which would thus justify its creation. Not so much. DeBlois, who also directed the two How to Train Your Dragon sequels, makes his live-action debut by adapting his own feature; as such, the end result is wildly similar to the earlier work. The new film is again set in a Viking village that is constantly besieged by different kinds of dragons. The plucky teen son of the chief, a boy named Hiccup (played by Mason Thames), befriends a sleek black dragon named Toothless and learns that fighting the beasts isn't the only answer. The actor who voiced Hiccup's father in the animated film, Gerard Butler, returns to perform the role on-screen; in all other cases, the film uses well-suited performers to replace the voice cast. To my own surprise, I liked the new version of How to Train Your Dragon about as much as I do its ancestor. Both, to me, are above-average bits of children's entertainment that struggle with the same problems: They start to sag near the end and suffer a little from their murky color palette. I got a little choked up at the exact same point that I do while watching the 2010 Dragon, when Hiccup and Toothless take to the sky together; the boy rides on a saddle he's made for his fire-breathing pal, and the composer John Powell's excellent score soars into inspirational mode, all strings and bagpipes. If there's a difference between these redone scenes and their inspirations, it's a remarkably minor one; only good theater decorum stopped me from pulling out my phone and running the two Dragon s side by side. Hollywood is struggling to get people to buy movie tickets, so I understand the impulse to offer something that a broad swath of viewers already knows and likes. But there's simply no sense of risk in making something like How to Train Your Dragon —nothing that will convince said theatergoers that the medium has a future beyond recycling. Yes, visual-effects technology is up to the task of re-creating a cartoon on a larger scale and dotted with real actors, and yes, these redos tend to turn a profit for their makers. These shouldn't be the only reasons for art to exist. Lilo & Stitch, at least, diverges somewhat from its source material. Because most of the characters are human beings, its world seems easier to translate to one composed of flesh and blood. The film, like How to Train Your Dragon, is about a shiftless youngster (Lilo, a Hawaiian girl who has been acting out since the death of her parents) bonding with a fantasy creature (Stitch, a blue alien experiment designed as a weapon of destruction). The director Dean Fleischer Camp's tweaks for his rendition didn't particularly click for me, however. One amusing character (another alien who is searching for Stitch) is absent entirely, and the revised ending has prompted some pushback, though Fleischer Camp has tried to defend it. In theory, I should be pro-change, given that I found the carbon-copy nature of How to Train Your Dragon so irksome—except that Lilo & Stitch doesn't really commit to its big alterations. The animated versions of Lilo and her older sister, Nani, forge a closer connection after meeting Stitch and his extraterrestrial hunters; the live-action Lilo enters the care of family friends at the end of the film, so that Nani can go off to study in California. These adjustments to the girls' relationship are a bit bold, because the prior film is so emotionally focused on their frayed sisterhood, yet the remake quickly undercuts their separation with the revelation that Nani can just visit Lilo anytime she wants, thanks to some space technology that Nani has borrowed. Such a cop-out is the underlying, depressing reality with all of these remakes: No change can be too daring, no update too significant. It's heartening that Sanders, a co-director of the original Dragon and Stitch, is one of the few people working in animation who's still committed to innovation. Last year, he directed The Wild Robot; much like How to Train Your Dragon, it is an adaptation of a children's book upon which Sanders found an exciting visual spin. The movie was a critical success, a box-office hit, and an Academy Award nominee. Cinema needs more entries like The Wild Robot —novel works that take chances and trust the audience to follow along. If nothing else, they provide fodder for more live-action remakes in the near future. Hollywood can't have these nostalgic adaptations without something to redo in the first place.
