hollywood Archives

Jun12026 by cineverseNo Comments

Box Office: ‘Backrooms’ Stuns With $81 Million Debut, ‘Obsession’ Has Another Unprecedented Jump, ‘Mandalorian and Grogu’ Suffers 70% Drop

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By Rebecca Rubin According To The variety This weekend was one for the box office history books. Movie theaters across the nation were jamming with Gen Z crowds, who showed up en masse for not one but two buzzy horror films. A24’s “Backrooms” collected a jaw-dropping, record-breaking $81 million from 3,442 North American theaters in its opening weekend. That’s as ticket sales for the Focus Features breakout “Obsession” jumped again in its third frame with $26.4 million from 2,781 cinemas — and crossed the $100 million mark domestically. Both movies were directed by YouTube stars and cost nearly nothing to produce, upending conventional wisdom about the necessary components for a hit. “This should empower the industry. There’s a new audience, and they’re waiting for this ...

May312026 by cineverseNo Comments

Emily Blunt Says She Is ‘Terrified of AI’ and Refused to Use it on ‘Disclosure Day’

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By Jazz Tangcay According To The variety Emily Blunt is “terrified” of AI and chose not to rely on it during a pivotal sequence in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film “Disclosure Day.” The Spielberg-directed sci-fi film follows a Kansas City TV meteorologist, played by Blunt, who is suddenly overcome by a mysterious extraterrestrial force while taping a weather segment live on air. The actress told “Hot Ones” host Sean Evans in the show’s latest episode that the key scene features her character speaking in a non-human language. “It’s a four-minute oner that we shot that leads up to that moment where she’s gradually sort of disintegrating.” She went on to say, “There’s various ways you could do it. You could go the AI route, which I’m a bit terrified of. I thought I cou...

May312026 by cineverseNo Comments

Brendan Fraser Visited London’s Imperial War Museum and Dug Through WWII Archives for ‘Pressure’; How the Film’s Set Ties Directly to ‘The Mummy Returns

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By Jazz Tangcay According To The variety Brendan Fraser figured he knew his history. Growing up in Holland in the 1970s, he’d go to London and visit the Imperial War Museum. He got to see military hardware. “It’s eye-opening,” he says. “It was scary to me.” He’d read books. He’d seen the films, and he even heard first-hand accounts from neighbors who hid paintings from Nazis. Yet, there was one story he didn’t know about: how General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg found themselves under pressure in the 72 hours before D-Day. As the fate of the free world hangs in the balance, Eisenhower and Stagg face an impossible choice: launch the largest and most dangerous seaborne invasion in history or risk losing the war altogether. That story is the subject of his latest film, “...

May312026 by cineverseNo Comments

The Shocking Success of ‘Backrooms’ and ‘Obsession’ Should Be a Memo to Hollywood: You Need What’s Outside the Box

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By Owen Gleiberman According To The variety “Thinking outside the box” is a phrase that tends to be used by those who are stuck inside the box. It means something real, but it’s also corporate-speak for having an actual imagination — the audacity to make something that wasn’t commanded or formatted. Given that, this is sure to go down as the weekend when thinking outside the box started to look sexy in Hollywood again. The makers of comic-book movies, “Star Wars” movies and most rom-coms and horror films live inside the box. But not the creators of “Backrooms” and “Obsession,” two horror movies that take you places you’ve never been. Evidently, a lot of people want to go there. “Backrooms,” an experimental head-game creep-out (at moments it’s a bit like “The Blair Witch Project,” tho...

May302026 by cineverseNo Comments

Paramount Buys ‘The Midnight Library’ Starring Florence Pugh From Studiocanal

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By Elsa Keslassy According To The variety Paramount Pictures has scooped North American and select international distribution rights to “The Midnight Library” from Studiocanal following a bidding war at the Cannes film market. Florence Pugh is attached to star and also produce, while Garth Davis (“Lion”) is set to direct. Studiocanal, the powerful production-distribution banner that’s part of Canal+ Group, will distribute the film in the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Benelux, Australia, New Zealand and through partners in Scandinavia and South Africa, with Paramount distributing in major markets in the rest of world. The movie is budgeted in the $70 million range and the sale’s price tag is believed to be substantia...

May302026 by cineverseNo Comments

How to Watch the Original ‘Backrooms’ YouTube Series That Inspired Kane Parsons’ Eerie A24 Film

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By Payton Turkeltaub According To The variety Having already grossed more than $10 million in previews, “Backrooms,” the latest feature from A24 and the debut directorial effort of 20-year-old Kane Parson, is already posed to be a box office hit. Out in theaters nationwide now, the horror film, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Avan Jogia, Lukita Maxwell and more, follows a therapist who must enter into the backrooms — a collection of liminal, eerie spaces originally inspired by 4chan memes — to find a patient who has disappeared. But long before “Backrooms” made it to the big screen, Parsons was creating a creepy series of found footage-inspired YouTube videos of the same name. He was just 16 when he began creating the videos, which foll...

May302026 by cineverseNo Comments

Lucasfilm Pays Tribute to ‘Star Wars’ Editor Marcia Lucas: ‘Deeply Saddened’

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By Payton Turkeltaub According To The variety Lucasfilm has posted a statement mourning the death of Marcia Lucas, George Lucas‘ former wife who was one of three to share an Oscar for editing “Star Wars.” The editor of iconic ’70s films including “Taxi Driver” died Wednesday in Rancho Mirage, Calif following a battle with metastatic cancer. She was 80. “Lucasfilm was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Marcia Lucas. The 80-year-old was one of the three editors to take home an Oscar for 1977’s ‘Star Wars: A New Hope,'” the statement said. It continued, “After Lucasfilm’s establishment in 1971, production began on George Lucas’ newest feature film, ‘American Graffiti’ (1973). Marcia Lucas joined her mentor Verna Fields as editor of the f...