Focus Features have announced today that Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse are set to star in late ’80s-set LISA FRANKENSTEIN to be directed by first-time Feature Director Zelda Williams, with a Script from Oscar winner Diablo Cody. Production begins this Summer.

Cody will write and serve as a producer alongside Mason Novick who will produce via his MXN Entertainment banner. LISA FRANKENSTEIN reunites Cody and Novick who have previously collaborated on films including TULLY, YOUNG ADULT, JENNIFER’S BODY and JUNO, which Cody earned an Oscar® for Best Original Screenplay. Jeff Lampert will serve as executive producer. Focus Features’s Vice President of Production and Development, Michelle Momplaisir, will serve as the creative executive on the project.

Synopsis:

Set in 1989, an unpopular high schooler accidentally re-animates a handsome Victorian corpse during a lightning storm and starts to rebuild him into the man of her dreams using the broken tanning bed in her garage.

(Photo credit: Focus Features)

Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Jojo Siwa join the Cast of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL: THE MUSICAL: THE SERIES and here’s your first look at the new Trailer for Season Three.

Synopsis:

Season three of “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” is set at Camp Shallow Lake, a sleepaway camp in California, as the Wildcats and their fellow campers are primed for an unforgettable summer ripe with romance, curfew-less nights and a taste of the great outdoors.  With a high-stakes production of “Frozen” on the horizon AND a drama-filled “docu-series” of the production in the works, the Wildcats will attempt to show who is “best in snow” without leaving anyone out in the cold.

Ferguson will play “Marvin,” an old family friend of Olivia Rodrigo’s character “Nini.” Fresh off of his first-ever Tony Award win for “Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play” in the revival of playwright Richard Greenberg’s “Take Me Out,” the actor, author, producer, and host is known not only for his work but for his ongoing advocacy in the LGBTQIA+ community. He starred as the widely beloved character “Mitchell Pritchett” on the award-winning “Modern Family,” for which he received five Emmy Award nominations for “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series” and four People’s Choice Award nominations for “Favorite Comedic TV Actor.”  Most recently, he produced the documentary “Broadway Rising,” which premiered this year at Tribeca and executive-produced and stars in Spotify original podcast, “Gay Pride & Prejudice.”  He also recently wrapped production on the thriller “Cocaine Bear,” directed by Elizabeth Banks. In March 2021, Ferguson and co-author Julie Tanous released his first cookbook, “Food Between Friends.” Ferguson recently served as an executive producer on David France’s Emmy Award nominated and BAFTA Award winning documentary, “Welcome to Chechnya.” In 2020, he hosted the reboot of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” as well as the prestigious James Beard Awards in 2017 and 2019.  In 2012, Ferguson and his husband Justin Mikita co-founded Pronoun, previously known as Tie The Knot, an organization that has proudly raised over 1.5 million dollars and has supported important and impactful LGBTQIA+ orgs across the nation.  

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL: THE MUSICAL: THE SERIES Season Three arrives July 27, 2022 on Disney+.

(Photo/video credit: Disney)

Following its Premiere at TIFF ’19, Rian Johnson‘s followup to KNIVES OUT, GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY, will make its way to Toronto for TIFF ’22! This is TIFF‘s 47th edition, believe it or not!

Synopsis:
In the follow-up to Rian Johnson’s 2019 Knives Out, which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, Detective Benoit Blanc travels to Greece to peel back the layers of a mystery involving a new cast of colorful suspects. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery stars Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline with Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista. Written and directed by Rian Johnson and produced alongside his partner Ram Bergman under their T-Street banner, Glass Onion:  A Knives Out Mystery is a Netflix film.

The Film will arrive later this year on Netflix. More to come.

(Photo credit: Netflix)

Ron Howard is back with THIRTEEN LIVES, based on a recent true story of a Thai Soccer Team who were trapped and rescued! See the new Trailer.

Synopsis:

Thirteen Lives recounts the incredible true story of the tremendous global effort to rescue a Thai soccer team who become trapped in the Tham Luang cave during an unexpected rainstorm. Faced with insurmountable odds, a team of the world’s most skilled and experienced divers – uniquely able to navigate the maze of flooded, narrow cave tunnels – join with Thai forces and more than 10,000 volunteers to attempt a harrowing rescue of the twelve boys and their coach. With impossibly high stakes and the entire world watching, the group embarks on their most challenging dive yet, showcasing the limitlessness of the human spirit in the process.

Thirteen Lives Will Release in Select Theaters on July 29, 2022 for Limited One-Week Engagements and

Globally on Prime Video Starting August 5, 2022.

(Photo/video credit: Prime Video Canada)

After its Premiere at Cannes, THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING soon will get a release here in Canada.

Synopsis:

A lonely scholar, on a trip to Istanbul, discovers a Djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. Stars Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton, George Miller directs.

Elevation Pictures release THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING in theatres August 31, 2022.

(Photo/video credit: Elevation Pictures)

Halloween isn’t for a bit, but trust me, we’re ready for this! Check-out the new Trailer for HOCUS POCUS 2 which reunites Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy!

Synopsis:

It’s been 29 years since someone lit the Black Flame Candle and resurrected the 17^th-century sisters, and they are looking for revenge. Now it is up to three high-school students to stop the ravenous witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on Salem before dawn on All Hallow’s Eve. “Hocus Pocus 2” also stars Sam Richardson (“The Tomorrow War”), Doug Jones (“The Shape of Water”), Hannah Waddingham (“Ted Lasso”), Whitney Peak (“Gossip Girl”), Belissa Escobedo (“American Horror Stories”), Lilia Buckingham (“Dirt”), Froyan Gutierrez (“Teen Wolf”),  and Tony Hale (“Veep”). The film is directed by Anne Fletcher (“Dumplin,’” “The Proposal”) and produced by Lynn Harris (“King Richard,” “The Shallows”), with Ralph Winter (“Hocus Pocus,” “X-Men” franchise), David Kirschner (“Hocus Pocus,” “Chucky”) and Adam Shankman (“Disenchanted,” “Hairspray”) serving as executive producers. 

HOCUS POCUS 2 streams September 30, 2022 on Disney+.

(Photo/video credit: Disney)

Actor/Model/Entrepreneur Patrick Schwarzenegger has been in and out of Toronto working on upcoming THE BOYS Spinoff for Prime Video, THE BOYS PRESENTS: VARSITY.

Coincidentally, his father Arnold Schwarzenegger also is in-town filming Netflix Series, UTAP, which will mark the Action icon’s TV debut! The two have been commuting home to California on weekends and back to the City on the family’s private jet.

Patrick Schwarzenegger will be playing Golden Boy in the upcoming Varsity Series, but also can be seen currently in True Crime Limited Series, THE STAIRCASE alongside Colin Firth. His Co-Star Olivia DeJonge stars as Priscilla Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s ELVIS and was just here recently for that Biopic which hit #1 at the Box Office this weekend in North America. Schwarzenegger also stars alongside Brother-in-Law Chris Pratt in Prime Video’s THE TERMINAL LIST as well. Big things happening for this emerging star!

So happy to get a new Snap with Schwarzenegger, who has always been really kind, donning an amazing Supreme x The North Face jacket with a patriotic American flag – right in-time for July 4th!

(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)

Hot off her Academy Award win, Jessica Chastain alongside Ralph Fieness can be seen in TIFF ’21 selection THE FORGIVEN, coming soon to theatres.

Synopsis:

The Forgiven takes place over a weekend in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, and explores the reverberations of a random accident on the lives of both the local Muslims, and Western visitors to a house party in a grand villa.

THE FORGIVEN opens across select cities in Canada:

July 1, 2022

Toronto – Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Vancouver – Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas

Ottawa – Bytowne Cinema

July 8, 2022

London – Hyland Cinema

Kingston – The Screening Room

Waterloo – Princess Twin Cinemas

July 15, 2022

Hamilton – Playhouse Cinema

(Photo/video credit: VVS Films)

Gugu Mbatha-Raw stars in upcoming Apple TV+ Series SURFACE arriving this Summer! A brand-new Trailer has been released for this gripping Thriller.

Synopsis:

Set in high-end San Francisco, “Surface,” stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw (“The Morning Show”) who also executive produces, as Sophie, a woman who has suffered a traumatic head injury that has left her with extreme memory loss, believed to be a result of a suicide attempt. As Sophie embarks on a quest to put the pieces of her life back together with the help of her husband and friends, she begins to question whether or not the truth she is told is in fact the truth she has lived. Through twists and turns and an unexpected love triangle, this sexy, elevated thriller asks: What if you woke up one day and didn’t know your own secrets? “Surface” is a story of self- discovery which contemplates if we are pre-programmed to become who we are, or if we choose our own identity. 

The ensemble cast starring alongside Mbatha-Raw includes Oliver Jackson-Cohen (“The Haunting of Hill House”), Stephan James (“If Beale Street Could Talk”), Ari Graynor (“I’m Dying Up Here”), Academy Award nominee Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Secrets & Lies”), François Arnaud (“I Killed My Mother”) and Millie Brady (“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”).

See the new Trailer:

The first three episodes of SURFACE arrive Friday, July 29, 2022 on Apple TV+, followed by one new episode weekly every Friday. 

(Photo credit: Apple TV+)

ELVIS reigns king of the Box Office, taking top spot in its debut with $31.5 million from 3,906 theatres for Warner Bros. on a very busy weekend at the Movies with the Top Five Movies each taking $20+ million! Almost unheard of! This latest effort from Director Baz Luhrmann gets 79% on the Tomatometer.

Taking second is TOP GUN: MAVERICK with $30 million from 3,948 theatres for Paramount Pictures. Total date it has brought-in $521 million domestically.

In third is two-week champ JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION with $26.1 million from 4,233 theatres for Universal Pictures, a total of $302 million in its third weekend of release.

Fourth is a debuting THE BLACK PHONE starring Ethan Hawke, with $23.2 million from 3,150 theatres for Universal Pictures. The Horror gets 83% on the Tomatometer.

Rounding things out is LIGHTYEAR with $20 million from 4,255 theatres for Disney in its second weekend out, a total $90 million to date.