Movies
‘Red State’ In Theaters September 25th
* Amended September 3, 3:34PM Central.
I’m almost tempted to tell you the wrong date for this “One-Night-Only” Red State event. I’m not even going to repeat it. It’s right there in the title of the post, but I’ll throw a few others out there just to keep it interesting! September 10th! September 24th! September 30th! September 11th! September 26th!
From my perspective, Kevin Smith does not respect you. Not anymore. He’s been trying to figure out the most creative way to get into your pocket with Red State short of making actually making a good movie. He even openly thought to ask asked you guys to PAY for the thing at one point. The kickstarter ethos is totally cool if you’re in college, or just getting started, or have no money of your own (Smith has this covered) or if you really actually want to make a movie (Smith doesn’t). Also, you’re supposed to get something in return for your investment (a knick knack, an autographed DVD, whatever). I suspect Kevin Smith would have taken your money and still charged you $60 (in some cases well over that amount) to see the film back in its first run.
Look, Kevin Smith is not a bad person. He’s just run out of things to say and is counting on his insanely faithful fan base to fill in the blanks. Here’s what I recommend. Read a few reviews of the film. Here’s ours and here’s another. Heck, search around. If this still sounds like the thing for you, check it out on the cheapest legal platform available (yes, it’s wrong to pirate, even Kevin Smith movies). You may still want your money back.
In the spirit of Kevin Smith making you do all the work for him, you’re going to have to hit the jump to find out more details.
“On Sunday, September 25, Red State will screen at select theatres nationwide through a unique partnership with the Emerging Pictures theatre network, announced David Dinerstein, whose D Squared Films is overseeing the films distribution for SModcast.
“Red State will be made available as a ‘One-Night-Only’ event which mirrors the format of SModcast’s record breaking Red State USA Tour from earlier this year. For this screening event, Smith’s trademark post show Q&A will be digitally streamed live from Tarantino’s New Beverly into all of the participating theatres, allowing audience members to interact directly with Smith utilizing Twitter. Smith will be joined on stage by a special guest who will moderate the Q&A,” said Dinerstein.
Written and directed by Kevin Smith and produced by Jonathan Gordon, Red State stars 2011 Academy Award winner for Best Actress Melissa Leo, Golden Globe winner John Goodman, and Michael Parks. The film debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival to much notoriety when Smith ended studio bidding by buying his own film for $20 and declaring he would be self-distributing the film theatrically. Smith has since toured the film around the country to enthusiastic audiences, grossing $1,065,429 to date at the North American box office from only 22 single show engagements and its Academy-qualifying run.
SModcast released the film on March 5 when it embarked on the 15 city Red State USA Tour. SModcast spent less than $500 in paid advertising to support the tour, which kicked off at the legendary Radio City Music Hall and grossed $162,000 during one show. The film quietly topped the per screen average charts for three weekends, making it the highest per screen average film of the year and the 9th highest per screen average film of all time.”
The other issue at hand is, Smith claims this distribution system will help indie filmmakers. It won’t. It’s only really sustainable if you have the same sort of cult of personality that he does.
If you go to this thing JUST to tweet a question at Kevin Smith, I have a link for you.
Movies
‘Werewolf By Night 2’? Michael Giacchino Says It’s Being Talked About But “Everything Takes Forever”
It was Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino who sat in the director’s chair for Marvel’s Disney+ Halloween special Werewolf by Night back in 2022, which was released in both throwback black & white as well as full color. But are we ever getting a sequel?
Giacchino tells Screen Rant in a new chat this week that he remains hopeful.
“We’re talking about it,” Giacchino explains. “Everything takes forever to do. There’s a lot of planning that has to happen. Everything has to fit in a particular place at a particular time.”
He adds, “So, nothing moves as fast as we’d like it to. But I hope one day that you will be sitting there watching another Werewolf by Night. That’s my hope.”
Inspired by horror films of the ’30s and ’40s, Marvel Studios’ Werewolf by Night takes place on a dark and somber night as a secret cabal of monster hunters emerge from the shadows and gather at the foreboding Bloodstone Temple following the death of their leader.
In a strange memorial to the leader’s life, the attendees are thrust into a mysterious and deadly competition for a powerful relic—a hunt that will ultimately bring them face to face with a dangerous monster.
Meagan Navarro wrote in her review for BD, “The MCU kicked the horror into overdrive with Werewolf by Night. The nearly hour-long feature presents as a classic horror movie, dropping viewers into the middle of a secret world of monster hunters. Film composer Michael Giacchino directs the special, penned by Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron. Giacchino focuses on evoking the classic horror vibe to assist in the initial worldbuilding. The events play out in monochrome, save for the vibrant red glow of the Bloodstone. Cigarette burns and film grain get added for that retro look. The rules of the hunt get relayed to the cutthroat candidates by way of reanimated dead, albeit in a much campier and family-friendly way via animatronics.”
“Aside from the aesthetics, Werewolf leans heavily into the mysterious,” Meagan continued. “The black and white cinematography more than sets the retro vibe; it allows the feature to remain accessible to a wider audience even as it lets its monsters and monster hunters spill plenty of blood. Toss in a Jack Pierce-inspired beast with practical application, and you’ve got a modern superhero story with a classic Universal Monsters makeover.”