Christopher Nolan Got Paid $100 Million For Oppenheimer – Report
Christopher Nolan finally won the Oscar for Best Director for the megahit Oppenheimer–which won seven awards including Best Picture–but it also helped bring Nolan his biggest payday as a filmmaker. It’s a first-time feat for the director, who didn’t even profit as much from his Dark Knight trilogy.
While a representative for the filmmaker didn’t respond to a request for comment, Variety is reporting that with his initial director fee added to this role as a producer and the Oscar wins, Nolan received about $100 million for the feature. Most of that came from the backend, including the box office escalation fees.
Oppenheimer was released last summer, made for $100 million, becoming half of the Barbenheimer tag team, eventually earning $958 million at the global box office. Not bad considering the staggering run time and R-rating, usually a death knell for summer features and reserved for the holidays right before Oscar season.
Those box office numbers also break a 20-year record as Oppenheimer became the highest-grossing Best Picture winner since 2004’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.14 billion, not adjusted for inflation). Oppenheimer is being rereleased in 1,000 theaters this weekend with its shiny new Best Picture status and could break that $1 billion barrier–adding more to Nolan’s final tally.
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Ted Lasso Will Soon Be Available To Watch Without Apple TV Plus
Apple TV+ has seen impressive growth over the years, but few of its originals are as well-known as Ted Lasso. The show earned critical acclaim across its three seasons, thanks to solid writing, heartwarming storylines, a star-studded cast list, and a stellar performance from its leading star, Jason Sudeikis. The series is only available to stream via Apple TV+, but soon that will change, as preorders for Ted Lasso: The Complete Series on Blu-ray are live now at Amazon.
$85
This marks the first time Ted Lasso has found its way to Blu-ray, as none of the seasons ever received a physical release. That also means this is the first time you can watch the show without an Apple TV+ subscription. Unfortunately, little else is known about the Blu-ray aside from its release date of July 30.
The Blu-ray will contain all three seasons and 34 episodes of the show, giving you an easy way to catch up on the adventures of Ted Lasso.
Special Features
No special features have been announced yet, though we wouldn’t be surprised to learn about behind-the-scenes content or featurettes ahead of the Blu-ray release.
Ted Lasso follows the eponymous character after he’s recruited to manage an English Premier League soccer team. His only previous coaching experience is as an American college football coach and, as you’d imagine, he’s rather ill-equipped for the job. Plenty of big cameos are introduced throughout the three seasons, including Lloyd Griffith, Arlo James White, and Jeff Stelling.
Ted Lasso the character became an internet sensation thanks to the character’s radical positivity. Each week during the show’s run, the wholesome coach offered a perspective that is rarely shown on popular modern TV shows.
Ryan Murphy’s Grotesquerie Adds Taylor Swift’s Boyfriend Travis Kelce To Cast
Travis Kelce is using the NFL offseason to appear on the small screen in the upcoming FX series Grotesquerie from Ryan Murphy. It will be the first major role for the Kansas City Chiefs tight end and boyfriend to pop sensation Taylor Swift.
Deadline reports Kelce will star alongside Niecy Nash-Betts, Courtney B. Vance, and Lesley Manville for the drama. There aren’t many details about the drama, though it’s expected to premiere this fall alongside the start of the NFL season.
Kelce confirmed his casting for Grotesquerie on Instagram in a reel posted by his co-star Nash-Betts. In the video, the football player appears and announces he’s “jumping into new territory with Niecy.”
A little over a year ago, Kelce hosted Saturday Night Live after winning his second Super Bowl with the Chiefs. He also co-hosts a popular podcast with his brother and just-retired NFL offensive lineman Jason Kelce. In fact, the two of them discussed reviving the Backyard Football video game series earlier this year.
Ryan Murphy Productions unveiled Grotesquerie in February on the company’s Instagram page. One of Murphy’s more recent projects was American Horror Story: Delicate, which starred Kim Kardashian, Emma Roberts, and Cara Delevingne, among others. The producer is also known for American Crime Story, 9-1-1, and Glee.
Patty Jenkins Says DC Isn’t Interested In Making Wonder Woman Movies
Even though Wonder Woman 1984 wasn’t as well-received as its predecessor, Wonder Woman 3 was still going to happen with director Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot back in the title role. That changed in December 2022, after James Gunn and Peter Safran were named co-CEOs of DC Studios. The duo announced a complete cinematic reboot for their new DC Universe shortly thereafter. But according to Jenkins, Wonder Woman may not factor into their plans at all.
Via Deadline, Jenkins appeared on Max’s Talking Pictures Podcast and cast doubt on Wonder Woman’s cinematic future.
When Jenkins was asked about whether Wonder Woman 3 was dead, she replied “Yeah, for the time being, but probably easily forever.” And regarding another director potentially taking over, Jenkins added “No, they’re not interested in doing any Wonder Woman for the time being.”
Gadot’s Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984 co-star Chris Pine recently expressed his thoughts about the cancelled sequel. Regardless of Wonder Woman 3’s fate, Jenkins shered her empathy for the enormity of Gunn and Safran’s attempt to revitalize the DC superhero movies.
“It’s not an easy task, what’s going on with DC,” noted Jenkins. “James Gunn and Peter Safran have to follow their own heart into their own plans. I don’t know what they’re planning on doing and why… I have sympathy for what a big job it is.”
Additionally, Jenkins indicated that she is still working on her Star Wars: Rogue Squadron movie for Lucasfilm, even though the film was taken off of the studio’s release schedule.
“When Wonder Woman 3 then went away, Lucasfilm and I were like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to finish this deal,'” recalled Jenkins. “We finished the deal right as the strike was beginning, so I now owe a draft of Star Wars. So we will see what happens there. Who knows? … They have other directors who have been working, but I am now back on doing Rogue Squadron. We’ll see what happens. We need to get it to where we’re both super happy with it.”
Barbie Company Mattel’s Matchbox Movie Reportedly Brings On Extraction Director
Following the huge success of Barbie, Mattel Films is making a movie based on its line of Matchbox toy cars, and now a director has come aboard.
Sam Hargrave, who directed Netflix’s Extraction movies starring Chris Hemsworth, has inked a deal to make the Matchbox movie, according to Deadline. Skydance and Mattel Films are producing the movie together.
There are no plot details available as of yet for the Matchbox movie. But Hargrave’s hiring might suggest the film could go big on stunts and action set pieces, given Hargrave is a former stuntman himself who applied his skills to the Extraction series.
Hargrave is also directing the pilot of the upcoming Apple TV+ drama The Last Frontier and is attached to make the action movie Stay Frosty for Warner Bros.
David Coggeshall (The Family Plan) and Jonathan Tropper (This Is Where I Leave You) are writing the screenplay for the Matchbox movie. There is no word yet on a release date or a cast for the film.
In addition to the Matchbox movie, there are numerous other films based on Mattel properties at various stages of development. These include Bob the Builder, Barney, Uno, and Hot Wheels.
As for Barbie, the movie was 2023’s highest-grossing film, earning $1.44 billion globally. Given the huge success of the movie, many are wondering about a sequel. It’s possible, but not guaranteed.
Marvel Boss Admits Company Released Too Many Movies And TV Shows
Marvel Studios co-president Louis D’Esposito has owned up to releasing too much content, too fast, and has vowed that the company is now shifting gears.
Speaking to Empire, D’Esposito said, “It’s been a rough time,” before adding that he believes this July’s Deadpool and Wolverine could help Marvel find its footing again.
“If we just stayed on top, that would have been the worst thing that could have happened to us. We took a little hit, we’re coming back strong,” he said. “Maybe when you do too much, you dilute yourself a little bit. We’re not going to do that anymore. We learned our lesson. Maybe two to three films a year and one or two shows, as opposed to doing four films and four shows.”
That’s the same range that Disney CEO Bob Iger mentioned on an earnings call when he was discussing Marvel’s output going forward.
Marvel’s Kevin Feige is also quoted in the piece, and he remarked that he feels “much more comfortable being the underdog.” Most would agree Marvel Studios as a movie company is very far from being an underdog given the size and scale of its operation, but Feige said Marvel’s struggles in 2023 might set the company up for success in 2024 and to “exceed expectations.”
“You’d have to live under a rock not to know that the last few Marvel movies have failed to ignite the world in the way that so many did,” he said.
Before this, Iger pushed back against the idea that so-called superhero fatigue led to Marvel’s movies coming up short at the box office recently. Instead, Iger admitted that Marvel’s latest films were simply not good enough to convince people to go see them.
Deadpool and Wolverine releases on July 26. It’s directed by Shawn Levy and features a long list of cameos, including potentially Taylor Swift as Dazzler.
Game Of Thrones Prequel Spin-Off Gets A New Title And Other Key Details
Game of Thrones fans eager for news about the next spin-off are in luck today, as The Hollywood Reporter revealed new information about the prequel series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Starting off, the show has a new name.
Previously known as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, the show is now simply called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. THR said this name is not final and could change prior to the show’s debut in 2025.
Additionally, it’s been revealed that Owen Harris–who directed the fan-favorite Black Mirror episode “San Junipero”–is directing the first three episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. He also directed the Black Mirror episode “Be Right Back.”
What’s more, the report revealed the show’s episode count. There will be six episodes in Season 1, which is four fewer than the 10 that House of the Dragon had for its first season. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on George R.R. Martin’s 160-page novella The Hedge Knight.
The series follows the story of two unlikely heroes wandering through Westeros. These are the young and naive knight Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) and his squire, Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell)
“Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends,” reads a line from the show’s description.
THR said A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is not the kind of “sweeping war epic” that Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon are, but instead a more “intimate” series with a lighter tone.
In other Game of Thrones news, the other spin-off series that was under consideration, a show about Jon Snow starring Kit Harington, is no longer moving ahead.
