Latest news with #JasonBlum
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘M3GAN 2.0' reviews say the sequel is both too much and not enough
She's baaaaaack. Everyone's favorite viral dance craze-creating android goes from villain to (anti)hero in M3GAN 2.0, the follow-up to 2023's breakout horror hit. Once again produced by genre titans Jason Blum and James Wan, the sequel introduces a T-1000 to M3GAN's T-800 — a military-manufactured A.I. powered weapon named AMELIA. Other returning players include Alison Williams as M3GAN's maker, Gemma, and Violet McGraw as her niece, Cady. Director Gerard Johnstone is also back behind the camera for another round. More from Gold Derby Marge lives! Here are 3 other 'Simpsons' characters that returned from the grave - and 3 who stayed dead Fast cars vs. killer dolls: 'F1,' 'M3GAN 2.0' gear up for box-office showdown While the first M3GAN caught a pop culture wave, sequels to surprise successes can sometimes go astray. And the reviews for her upgrade suggest that going bigger didn't necessarily result in a movie that's necessarily better. M3GAN 2.0 currently has a 63 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes and registers at a middling 55 percent on Metacritic. Size definitely doesn't matter to Associated Press critic, Mark Kennedy. "Most of the same team that gave us the refreshing horror-comedy original two years ago have not only gone super-big, but also changed the franchise's genre," he writes, noting that the sequel goes the full-on action spectacle route. "[It] sometimes feels like the moviemakers just threw money at the sequel and tried to ape other franchises by going massive." Like many critics, David Rooney makes the Terminator 2 comparison explicit in his Hollywood Reporter writeup. "The humor is forced to compete with seriously overcomplicated plotting in a sequel that entangles its horror comedy roots with uninspired espionage elements, becoming a convoluted mishmash with shades of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Mission: Impossible and the Austin Powers franchise," he notes. Rooney's also not a big fan of AMELIA's moves. "Too often, the star attraction takes a back seat to the much less entertaining Amelia, an icy blonde killing machine like so many icy blonde killing machines before her, with none of M3GAN's sardonic wit." Representing the middle ground, Paste's Jesse Hassenger expresses more appreciation for the franchise's genre pivot. "It's a savvy move to introduce Amelia, a killer robot weaponizing the original Megan specs to serve as a potential tool of the military-industrial complex," he writes, praising the "ridiculous fun of seeing Megan suit up for a bunch of unlikely spy missions." But the too-muchness inevitably gets to him as well. "Even with a fair number of sci-fi ideas riffing lightly on mech-suits, neural implants, anti-tech crusading, and the capacity for artificial beings to grow and change, there is no reason for this particular lightweight movie to run two full hours." Still, there are those reviewers who don't regret taking the ride — including The Wrap's Michael Ordoña. "The new movie thankfully avoids pretty much every possible pitfall of a sequel, especially the usual fate of horror follow-ups being merely bigger and bloodier rehashes," he observes. "Of course, bigger isn't always better; but here, bigger is accompanied by different." Best of Gold Derby Tom Cruise movies: 17 greatest films ranked worst to best 'It was wonderful to be on that ride': Christian Slater talks his beloved roles, from cult classics ('Heathers,' 'True Romance') to TV hits ('Mr. Robot,' 'Dexter: Original Sin') 'It almost killed me': Horror maestro Mike Flanagan looks back at career-making hits from 'Gerald's Game' to 'Hill House' to 'Life of Chuck' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Octavia Spencer to Return for ‘Ma 2' Horror Sequel in Development at Blumhouse
Don't make me drink alone! We're celebrating because Octavia Spencer is set to return as the title character in a sequel to the 2019 horror-thriller 'Ma,' which is now in development at Blumhouse. No other talent is attached at this point, and any plot details are being kept under wraps, but the film will be a follow-up to director Tate Taylor's revenge horror film, which earned more than $60 million at the worldwide box office but in the subsequent years has generated countless memes and made Spencer's character one of her most memorable roles. Blumhouse recently staged its 'Halfway to Halloween' festival, at which 'Ma' proved to be a fan favorite. More from IndieWire Rose Byrne Wants True Story 'Tow' to Change the Stigma Around Unhoused Women - Check Out the First Look Darren Aronofsky Produces Award-Winning Hamas Documentary 'Holding Liat' - Watch Sneak Peek 'Ma has proven to be a social phenomenon since its release in 2019, with fans eagerly embracing the film and Octavia's iconic performance as Ma. Ma likes to say 'don't make me drink alone,' so we're thrilled Octavia will join us again for a second round,' said Jason Blum, Founder and CEO with Blumhouse. 'Ma' stars Spencer as a lonely woman who befriends a group of teenagers after allowing them to party at her house. She's dubbed 'Ma' by the group and quickly becomes one of the friends, regularly leading ragers. But as she gets clingier and more intense, the teens start to suspect their host's intentions. Blumhouse announced the news as part of a special press event it held for the first time called The Business of Fear. In it, panelists Jason Blum, Blumhouse President Abhijay Prakash, Alayna Glasthal, Director of Creative Production for Atomic Monster, and horror analyst and author Stephen Follows looked at the state of the horror industry and how the genre has continued to grow in popularity even as other genres have long since peaked. Follows in the presentation broke down how horror has evolved to the point that just saying a movie is 'horror' is far too narrow of a definition, and Follows and Blumhouse polled 2,000 respondents in a research study to identify 24 different sub-genres within horror, such as survival, slasher, psychological thriller, monster, and many more that maybe haven't seeped into the cultural lexicon. For their money, 'Ma' fits into the 'Revenge' sub-genre. It's been a minute since we've seen Spencer on the big screen. She starred in 2022's holiday comedy 'Spirited' for Apple TV+, but she'll next be seen in director Stephanie Laing's 'Tow' and is in pre-production on 'The Heart,' which is the new film from Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. She's also appearing in the animated 'Smurfs' movie coming later this year. Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie Nicolas Winding Refn's Favorite Films: 37 Movies the Director Wants You to See
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jason Blum on Those Big Budgets for Horror Movies and Why ‘Sinners' Is the Exception to the Rule
Blumhouse founder Jason Blum has an axe to grind when he hears people say Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners' is not a horror film. Admittedly, the movie is a genre-bending period film and folk fable about the roots of blues music, but it's got vampires killing people in it, so it's a horror movie. And Blum wants you to know it. 'Sinners'' box office success — $350 million worldwide to date — has defied expectations for what an original horror film can do, and even though Blum didn't make it, it's good for his business when the genre as a whole thrives. But much of the discussion around that movie before its release was its hefty budget — a reported $90 million — that complicated its path to profitability. For Blum, he's built his empire on movies made on the cheap that can still be marketed as events, break out in a big way, and spawn franchises. But as Blumhouse has scaled up and the demand for horror has increased, Blumhouse can't make movies as modestly, and the industry too runs into challenges to continue to make horror movies work financially. More from IndieWire 'Titan: The OceanGate Disaster' Review: A Surface-Level Netflix Documentary About the Submersible Implosion Heard Around the World Tom Cruise Has Never Been Happy with His Breath-Defying Underwater Scenes, So 'Final Reckoning' Went Three Times Bigger Blum on Tuesday took the stage in Hollywood at a press event called The Business of Fear, in which he and a panel of Blumhouse and Atomic Monster associates discussed box office trends for the genre and how horror has evolved over the years, such that the genre 'horror' can't be viewed so narrowly. IndieWire asked him about 'Sinners,' a movie he says is 'one of my favorite horror movies I've seen in a long time,' and why he felt 'Sinners' was the rare exception to the rule about making horror movies work on such a massive scale. 'We are definitely not interested in doing movies with that size a budget. That said, I'm glad they had the budget that they had because I think it really helped make the movie rich and incredible and amazing; but we are not going to make horror movies at that level anytime soon, maybe ever,' Blum said in the panel discussion. 'The bigger the budget, the more strain on the creative and the more sanding down of edges. And I think, generally speaking, 'Sinners' being the exception, the product is less interesting. So we are committed to lower budgets to continue to be able to take creative risks and do interesting things, which I think is harder to do when you have more money.' Blumhouse, following its merger with James Wan's Atomic Monster, has scaled up significantly such that it needs to have 'major studio-level success,' as Blum puts it. That means $100 million+ movies, which even for Blum and Wan is rare for movies made for just $1 million. He acknowledges that an indie like last year's 'Longlegs' pulled off the feat, and films like 'Terrifier 3' came dang close, Blum said today 'it's much harder to do what we started doing 15 years ago.' 'So the way that we've addressed that is by adding a bit of money to our model; but still, by studio standards, for instance, the budgets of our movies are 60 percent off the average sticker price, actually probably more, 75 percent off, the average sticker price,' Blum said. Blumhouse has five remaining movies on its slate for 2025, all of them sequels, including 'M3GAN 2.0,' 'Five Night's at Freddy's 2,' a new 'Conjuring' movie, 'The Black Phone 2,' and 'Mortal Kombat 2.' At the event, Blumhouse also announced it's in development on 'Ma 2,' with Octavia Spencer set to return. But it's threading a needle in finding original properties that someday can be the next major franchise for Blumhouse. Together with Atomic Monster it's branching out into video games, an exciting growth area to tell other horror stories, but Blumhouse president Abhijay Prakash explained that they're positioned to adapt one of those games into a film should one break out, though that wasn't the reason it launched the division. Blumhouse also announced at the event it will be adapting another indie horror game hit, 'Phasmaphobia.' Blum is also staying true to the company's philosophy about finding good stories, things that are genuinely scary, rather than trying to stack them with stars or buzzy directors and figure out the rest later. IndieWire asked Blum about a recent viral video from Charli XCX in which she pitched the idea of a 'Final Destination' movie starring all 'It Girls,' and directed by Coralie Fargeat for good measure. Blum hadn't seen the video, but he'd want to hear a bit more. 'Generally, I am not a fan, I think no one on this panel is, of reverse-engineering movies. You never get a good result,' he said. 'It's how, unfortunately, the vast majority of movies are made, but it's very hard to get a good movie reverse-engineering it.' Blum added the studio is unlikely to again release a movie day-and-date in theaters and on Peacock as it did with 'Five Nights at Freddy's' but won't be repeating with the sequel. Horror works best in the theater, not at home, and it's the reason the genre has consistently grown in popularity and still hasn't reached its peak. He says it will lead to movies that are one day constructed very differently for theatrical than they are for streaming — not just a difference in quality or budgets — and horror is very equipped for that evolution. 'Horror, in my mind, is the only genre that you just can't get what you are going to see a horror movie for at home on TV. It doesn't work,' he said. 'The only way to be really scared is when your phone is not with you and when you are in a dark room with a lot of other people and you are fully focused on a movie. You guys try it. Watch a horror movie on streaming, and when you know a scare is coming, look away for two seconds and look back. It stops working. It's just, your suspension of disbelief is broken, and when you are leading that up to a scare, you are just not scared. It's actually made horror in cinema stronger.' Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie Nicolas Winding Refn's Favorite Films: 37 Movies the Director Wants You to See
Time of India
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Octavia Spencer to reprise role in 'Ma' sequel
Blumhouse has announced that Oscar winner Octavia Spencer will return for a sequel to the 2019 horror film 'Ma.' The first movie, which reportedly grossed over USD 60 million worldwide, follows a lonely woman who befriends a group of teenagers, only to reveal a sinister intent. Jason Blum, Founder/CEO of Blumhouse, expressed excitement about the sequel and said, "Ma has proven to be a social phenomenon since its release in 2019, with fans eagerly embracing the film and Octavia's iconic performance as Ma," as quoted by Deadline. Blum added that the studio is thrilled to have Spencer reprise her role, referencing the film's catchphrase, "Don't make me drink alone." The announcement was made during Blumhouse's Business of Fear symposium, where the company discussed the growth and expansion of the horror genre. According to a research study commissioned by Blumhouse and reported by Deadline, horror productions have surged since the 1940s, with subgenres like Revenge, Survival, and Psychological Thriller entertaining diverse audiences. The study, which categorised 100 prominent horror films from the past 50 years, identified 24, including Revenge as one of the thriving subgenres. Check out our list of the latest Hindi , English , Tamil , Telugu , Malayalam , and Kannada movies . Don't miss our picks for the best Hindi movies , best Tamil movies, and best Telugu films .
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Blumhouse Drops First Poster For ‘Five Nights At Freddy's 2'
Blumhouse has dropped the first poster for the sequel to its box-office horror phenomenon Five Nights at Freddy's. The reveals were made Sunday night at the CCXP festival in Mexico City. Based on the blockbuster game series, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is directed by acclaimed returning filmmaker Emma Tammi. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is again produced by Jason Blum and Scott Cawthon. More from Deadline Blumhouse Announces First Spanish Language Original Film 'No Me Sigas' From Directors Ximena and Eduardo García Lecuona Blumhouse Reveals Trailer And Poster For 'Black Phone 2' Lucien Laviscount, Chloe Bailey, Lynn Whitfield & Anna Diop To Star In Thriller From Malcolm D. Lee And Blumhouse The highest-grossing horror film of 2023, its sequels plot hasn't been disclosed. Shattering expectations in 2023 with a $300M worldwide gross, Five Night at Freddy's adapts Scott Cawthon's popular video game franchise of the same name and follows Mike (Josh Hutcherson), a troubled young man who reluctantly takes a job as a night security guard at an abandoned theme restaurant, Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, hoping it will help him retain custody of his young sister. That fateful decision instead drags him into the black heart of a supernatural nightmare. The film was one of several items that were unveiled at the festival Sunday including a new trailer and poster for the upcoming sequel to The Black Phone. Blumhouse Founder and CEO Jason Blum took the stage in Mexico City to mark the company's 15th anniversary and unveil a slate of updates, exclusive footage and surprise reveals. James Wan, Atomic Monster CEO + Founder, was also in attendance and introduced the trailer for Blumhouse's big summer pic M3GAN 2.0, which bows on June 27.
