BLOODSHOT Hot-Shotted for Digital Release

Bloodshot

Sony’s Vin Diesel-headlined Bloodshot has only been in UK cinemas for barely a week, yet it’s now been announced that the movie will be made available digital in just a matter of days.

With the Coronavirus causing chaos across the globe, Bloodshot is just one of so many projects hit hard by this pandemic. As such, Sony and Columbia Pictures have made the decision to release Bloodshot digitally on March 27th at a cost of £13.99.

The official press release on this reads:

Given the impact of COVID-19, Columbia Pictures has set the sale date of BLOODSHOT on EST (electronic sell through) for March 27, 2020. The Valiant comic-book property will be available for digital purchase Retailer wide at £13.99.

“Sony Pictures is firmly committed to theatrical exhibition and we support windowing,” said Tom Rothman, Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Motion Picture Group. “This is a unique and exceedingly rare circumstance where theatres have been required to close nationwide for the greater good and BLOODSHOT is abruptly unavailable in any medium. Audiences will now have the chance to own BLOODSHOT right away and see it at home, where we are all spending more time. We are confident that — like other businesses hit hard by the virus — movie theatres will bounce back strongly, and we will be there to support them.”

Based on the bestselling comic book, Vin Diesel stars as Ray Garrison, a soldier recently killed in action and brought back to life as the superhero Bloodshot by the RST corporation. With an army of nanotechnology in his veins, he’s an unstoppable force –stronger than ever and able to heal instantly. But in controlling his body, the company has sway over his mind and memories, too. Now, Ray doesn’t know what’s real and what’s not – but he’s on a mission to find out.

This all comes hot on the heels of the stunning The Invisible Man and certain other projects already been fast-tracked for a digital release.

Monster Movie BOB Up Next for the Soska Sisters

Soska Sisters

Ahead of the Twisted Twins’ Vendetta receiving its UK TV premiere on Horror Channel next month, we were able to sit down and have a bit of a natter with Jen and Sylvia Soska. And while we covered a whole host of bases during the chat, there’s a fun nugget on what’s next for this hugely talented duo.

While the world is obviously in a tailspin right now as the COVID-19 pandemic causes absolute chaos, the current plan is for the Soskas to move forward with a feature titled Bob if and when the entertainment industry starts back up in full gear.

What’s Bob, you ask? Why, it’s a long-gestating monster movie that sounds all kinds of intriguing.

As Sylvia told us about Bob’s origins, “At the time we were pitching American Mary, everyone was saying, “We would never make this movie. Could you maybe make a straightforward monster movie?” So we wrote this movie called Bob. It put people off so much that they went, “Let’s make the movie about the body modification girl. It certainly couldn’t be as bad as their monster movie…” which is what we’re actually making next.”

On just what this upcoming feature will centre on, Sylvia explained, “We’re extremely excited. It’s about trauma and the survival of trauma and how that really affects your perspective of life.”

It seems as if the Soskas may have already found their headline star for Bob, although further details on just who that is aren’t being revealed just yet.

“When we were in Los Angeles we met with a few actors – one who we think is going to be the lead of the film, who is from a billion dollar franchise and is one of my favourite actors,” Sylv enthused, “and I’m very thrilled that we’ll be working together. He is in the perfect headspace for this character.”

In a recent interview with Horror Channel, Jen Soska has gone on to add how Bob will be “like Fight Club meets Harvey” – which most certainly has our attention.

Vendetta will premiere on Horror Channel on Saturday, April 4 at 9pm. In the meantime, part of our chat with the Soska Sisters is in the swanky new issue of STARBURST (on sale as of today!), while our full, in-depth chat with Jen and Sylvia will be online in the coming weeks.

 

Out Now – Issue 471!

471 NS

In the new issue of STARBURST we look forward to Black Widow headlining her own MCU movie. Not only do we preview the movie, we look at the comic book history of the character to get you up to speed. We also take a look at what we delights we can expect from Marvel in the coming years.

We also speak exclusively to director Niki Caro about helming the live-action Mulan for Disney, Neasa Hardiman opens up on directing the eagerly awaited Sea Fever, Bryan Woods and Scott Beck break their silence on A Quiet Place Part II, and anime legend Eunyoung Choi Talks Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

If that’s not enough, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the oddball sci-fi classic A Boy and His Dog, and a preview of the hot video game The Last of Us Part II, plus much more…

Plus all your favourite COLUMNS, NEWS, REVIEWS and much MORE from the worlds of SCI-FI, HORROR and FANTASY!

Disney Pulls BLACK WIDOW From May Release

Black Widow

In some news that comes as absolute zero surprise whatsoever, Disney has decided to push back the release of Black Widow.

This first solo picture for Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha was previously set for a May 1 global release, but now the House of Mouse has indefinitely delayed the film’s release due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

Like so many movies that have taken a similar stance, a new release date for Black Widow will be announced later down the line.

Black Widow is just the latest film to be affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, with the likes of Mulan, The New Mutants and A Quiet Place II amongst film’s whose imminent release has been cancelled. Similarly, offerings such as The Batman, The Matrix 4, Uncharted, Stranger Things 4, The Walking Dead, and Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley are amongst plentiful projects to have halted production while this situation is ongoing.

Expect more on all of this as we get it.

Production Halted on Several More Major Projects

The Batman Robert Pattinson

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause chaos across the globe, several further projects have been put on hold due to the Coronavirus.

Since yesterday, there’s now word that Warner Bros. has halted production on The Batman and The Matrix 4, while Sony has similarly taken a break on its long-gestating Uncharted picture. Likewise, The WB has also moved to put Fantastic Beasts 3 on hold just days before that film was due to start shooting.

Over with the House of Mouse, Disney has put part of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on hold while director Destin Daniel Cretton awaits the results of a COVID-19 test. In this case, first unit production has completely stopped for now, although the movie’s second unit will still remain active.

On the Disney and Marvel front, it remains to be seen how the ongoing pandemic will affect Black Widow. The first solo film for Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha is still currently set for a May 1st release. Given how so many films have had their release date pulled or pushed back due to Coronavirus fears, it would seem extremely likely that something will happen with Black Widow. Whether that’s a small delay, whether that’s being pulled entirely from Disney’s release schedule for now, or whether that’s even the call to have the film head straight to Disney+, we’ll have to wait and see.

Other impending releases already pulled from their intended big-screen release dates include No Time to Die, A Quiet Place II and The New Mutants, while offerings such as Jurassic World: Dominion, Stranger Things 4, The Walking Dead, Midnight Mass, The Witcher, Supernatural, and Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley have all had their production halted for the foreseeable future.

These are unprecedented times right now, with a situation like this not seen in a generation. And as more and more COVID-19 precautions are implemented, it’s expected that so many other genre efforts will be affected as large gatherings are discouraged or outright axed by governments around the world.

From all of us here at STARBURST, please, stay safe out there.

STARBURST Fantasy Awards 2020 Announced

fantasy 2020

The STARBURST International Film Festival took place over the weekend, and was a roaring success. On Saturday night, we announced the recipients of the STARBURST Fantasy Awards 2020.

With so many amazing entries, it was a tough decision to make, and all the films screened were worthy of accolades. However, a final decision must be made, and the winners were;

Best Art and Design

Dead Air, director: Geoff Harmer, writer: Peter Hearn

Distinction in Sound

I Scream on the Beach, composer: Levi Miah, directors: Alexander Churchyard, Michael Holiday

Best Cinematography

Darling, Darling Wendy, director of photography – Beth Napoli

The Charlie Allbright Award

Royko’s Qubit Summer, director – Yuichi Kondo

This is a new award that honours the spirit of the late Dr Charlie Allbright, a colleague and academic dearly missed.

Best Screenplay

Scott Lyus, Black Mass

Best Performance

Johnny Vivash, Black Mass

Best Short

Eject, director – David Yorke

Best Director – sponsored by Fabulous Films

David Yorke, Eject

Best Feature sponsored by Horror Channel

Stay Out Stay Alive, director – Dean Yurke

Independent’s Day Award

Andrew Lee Potts

We congratulate all involved and all the filmmakers and actors who had movies and shorts screened at the festival.

Horror Channel Vow Vengeance in April

horror vengeance

Horror Channel has announced Vengeance as the theme for their April season, with a quartet of great star-studded films to enjoy.

Starting the season is the UK TV Premiere of the Soska Sisters’ Vendetta (2015), starring Dean Cain on April 4th. April 11th sees the channel premiere of The Prince (2014), starring Bruce Willis, John Cusack, and Jason Patric. Vinnie Jones, Luke Goss and Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson headline Blood Out (2011), another UK TV premiere on April 18th. The late great Christopher Lee appears in The Heavy (2009) on April 25th.
For more information, head over to the Horror Channel website. Tune in via Sky 317, Virgin 149, Freeview 70, or Freesat 138.

READY OR NOT Duo to Direct SCREAM 5

Scream

Towards the end of last year, there was news that Spyglass Media Group was at work on a new Scream movie. And now, we have word on who’ll be delivering this new outing for the beloved horror franchise.

Via Discussing Film, Ready or Not duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have been tasked with helming what’s currently being dubbed simply Scream 5. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett make up the Radio Silence group alongside Chad Villella – and Villella just so happens to be on board to executive produce Scream 5 along with the original series’ Kevin Williamson.

In terms of plot details, the early buzz right now is that this new Scream offering will centre on a woman who returns to her hometown in an attempt to discover the person responsible for a series of gnarly murders.

Despite being loosely labelled Scream 5 at this juncture, it’s still yet to be confirmed whether this will be a direct continuation of the first four Scream pictures, whether the movie will be a complete fresh start for the franchise, or whether it’ll be some sort of straight-up remake.

From director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson, 1996’s Scream changed the landscape of horror. Poking fun at overplayed genre tropes and the cliché-ridden mess horror had become, Scream also managed to remain a true terror ride while being so meta in its perspective. It was genius, it was perfect, it was the kick in the backside that the horror genre needed at that point in time.

The iconic Craven would return to helm Scream 2 in 1997, Scream 3 in 2000, and Scream 4 in 2011, and Williamson would likewise be back for the third and fourth movies – Ehren Kruger stepping in on writing duties for Scream 3. Since then, the Scream franchise was spun into a TV series that ran for three so-so seasons on Netflix and then VH1.

The reason that Spyglass is able to push forward with a new Scream picture is due to the company assimilating Lantern Entertainment back in March. What’s Lantern Entertainment got to do with things, we hear you ask? Well, Lantern picked up all of Dimension Films’ assets and properties once Dimension was plunged into bankruptcy after the Harvey Weinstein allegations. And you guessed it, one of those Dimension properties was indeed the Scream franchise.

Disney+’s LOKI Adds Richard E. Grant

Richard E. Grant

As next year’s Disney+ Loki miniseries continues to amass its core cast, the show has moved to add the beloved Richard E. Grant to its ranks.

Via The Wrap, this huge genre fave – most recently seen in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – has signed on for Loki in a to-be-revealed role. Grant joins Tom Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Owen Wilson as the confirmed cast members for this 2021 offering.

Plot details are being kept relatively hush-hush right now for Loki, although rumours suggest that the show could see Hiddleston’s God of Mischief travelling through time and putting his own unique stamp on certain major historical events.

Ricky & Morty’s Michael Waldron will serve as showrunner on Loki, with the series expected to land on the Disney+ streaming service in the first half of next year.

Demon Records Announce RSD Exclusives

Demon Records has announced two new and exclusive titles that they will be releasing for this year’s Record Store Day, which takes places across the globe on Saturday, April 18th.

The first is Doctor Who: The Massacre. This is the fourth lost serial from Season Three of the classic BBC series, starring William Hartnell as the Doctor. It’s a narrated full-cast TV soundtrack of The Massacre of Bartholomew’s Eve, and will be presented on two 12” coloured vinyl discs, with illustrated inner sleeves with full episode billings, cast, and credits and is limited to 2000 copies. The narration is provided by Peter Purves in his role as Steven.

The second release is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Albums. Reissued for the first time in 40 years, this contains two unique recordings of Douglas Adams’ classic story. The double-sides gatefold sleeve includes reproductions of the original artwork and will be three LPs in heavyweight coloured vinyl and is extremely limited to 750 copies.

You will certainly have to get up early to grab either of these beauties on the day. Record Store Day releases are available in store only for the first week and are first come, first served.