00:00Hello friends! To talk about all the upcoming spring films, I've assembled a
00:04crackerjack team of Hollywood Reporter reporters to talk everything that is
00:07coming up on the big screen. To start off with, question posed to everyone, what do
00:13you think? Three words, Bond, James Bond. You know I mean I think that it's it's
00:18Daniel Craig's last outing so people are definitely looking forward to that. We've
00:21got a couple of strong female characters that have been teased as being perhaps
00:25the new double O's and so you know I think that'll be a hit no matter what.
00:29But before that we have Mulan in April, we got Invisible Man which I'm looking
00:35forward to actually. I heard I heard that's kind of gonna be scary. We have
00:38Birds of Prey. Birds of Prey. That's gonna be the first hit. That's gonna be the first
00:42hit of the year. Okay I feel like I gave you the answer to everybody here. Well
00:45that's also three words so technically you could just be like three words and
00:50then I said Birds of Prey. Okay. 2020 is a big year for female directors. We have
00:55Kathy Yon with Birds of Prey, we have Reed Murano with the rhythm section and we
00:58also have Nicky Caro with Mulan out in just the first few months of 2020. What
01:02does it mean to start off the decade with so many women helming big budget films?
01:06I think what's notable here is that a they're big films. These are big studio
01:10tentpoles in the case of especially something like Mulan but also their
01:14genres that are traditionally not ascribed to women right. The stereotype is that
01:18women make very small either domestic dramas or rom-coms and so now with these
01:23you know all three of these films are very heavy with huge action set pieces.
01:28They tackle a variety of genres. I mean this spring alone you'll see women
01:32tackling horror, women tackling you know superhero action, historical epics. It's
01:37the gamut and so that's promising because you can't have more jobs for
01:41women unless you you know sort of consider them for a variety for all
01:45possible movies. Problem solved, right? Okay. But a good question though, so if one of
01:53these or a couple of these movies don't work, what do you think will be the
01:57reaction because you know there's a lot of there's criticism sometimes that even
02:02if a male director makes a movie that fails, he fails upward and gets another
02:06gig and that doesn't always happen with a woman director like you know Aeon Flex
02:11director. She did that movie, bombed, didn't work for you know. Karen Kusama, director, jail,
02:15for like over a decade. So do you think that could still happen or is that are we
02:19beyond that point? That's a great question. I think that we're not safely
02:23beyond that point quite yet you know. I think that when Wonder Woman was a hit
02:27you know people were saying like with Patty Jenkins it was treated a little bit
02:30as a novelty and they gave interviews. Patty Jenkins was really aware that if
02:35Wonder Woman bombed it wouldn't just be a personal setback for her but she would
02:39be used as an example as a rationale to not hire women. That happens anytime that
02:45you're sort of not in the dominant category. So when a man if Josh Trank fails
02:51at something or Colin Trevorrow that's ascribed as an individual failure but
02:55as long as we're still focusing on like oh this woman this is the first woman
02:59director or this is the first you know Asian male director like that's still
03:03going to be sort of a little bit scary. They're gonna be lumped into the same
03:07category. Disney has been making a lot of live-action films remakes of classic
03:12animated films and they seem to have cracked a code kind of at least
03:14financially these films are very successful. We had Aladdin and Lion King
03:17both making over a billion dollars last year. Does Mulan have a chance of
03:21outperforming either of those two films? I think it does partly because the China
03:25factor you know they've been really really careful to cater to that Chinese
03:30audience with sort of you know trailers and specialized marketing materials.
03:34it kind of helps I wouldn't say it like necessarily helps publicists here in the
03:39US but the fact that the lead actress Crystal Liu has made comments supporting
03:45the Chinese government you know is is going to really endear her to the market
03:51over there and so I think with the two biggest box offices in the world alone I
03:56think that movie is pretty much set. It also helps that Mulan it really looks like a
04:01a fresh reimagining of like when the trailer came out it really it looks like
04:07a movie that's well-served by the live-action transition in a way that
04:11maybe even Lion King seems somewhat redundant to some people. I think it will
04:15do like amazing maybe a billion but I don't think it'll reach the same levels
04:19as those other films so what does that mean like 900 million. I think it'll do
04:25amazing business and will be a huge feat but like I don't think it's gonna reach
04:30Lion King proportions that although I think it would be amazing if it did I
04:35just that's my box office projections. Close but not quite. Okay loser buys lunch.
04:40Yeah let's talk a little bit about Bond. This is the last time we're gonna see
04:44Daniel Craig as Bond and then who knows what the future holds for the
04:47character. What do you want to see from this installment and then also what is
04:51next for the Bond franchise after Daniel Craig hangs up his blonde Bond? I want to
04:56say how Rami Malek does. I think he's made he's born to play a villain so it that
05:00will be a good sort of turn for him but I really like Harry Fukunaga as a
05:07director so it's nice to see how and you know we've had Sam Mendes for you know the
05:12last several installments so it's just nice from that filmmaking standpoint to
05:16see how he approaches it differently. Bond has to not compare to movies like
05:20the Mission Impossible movies which you have Tom Cruise who is willing to willing
05:25to put himself out there whether it's like on the edge of a building you know
05:29literally holding onto an airplane. Yeah exactly and you know he'll he'll break his
05:32leg jumping from one building to another you can see it on screen and that brings
05:37a whole different level of authenticity and also those movies are constructed so
05:41precisely that like there's like it's a movie within a movie within a movie for a
05:46long time Bond has struggled to come up with that kind of level and this one
05:49actually does look like it it could with some of the stuff that we've seen in the
05:53trailers but that I think is is very key. I think what's cool about this one is to
05:58have Billie Eilish sing the title song is such a huge deal because that shows that
06:04they recognize that the one piece that's missing is this younger demographic who
06:09have not grown up across these 67 films like I have as a 67 year old man but um but
06:16I think you know to show that they're they're you know targeting a younger
06:19demographic is super smart just give Billie Eilish the James Bond role she
06:23could do it I'm just kidding but but I think you know to energize that franchise
06:27they're gonna go for somebody younger who can age through the franchise I
06:31personally would like to see maybe a little bit more humor the older Bonds there
06:35was it was a bit cheekier and I think Daniel Craig brought the certain
06:38gravitas which I loved and I love him as James Bond and I will miss him and I'll miss
06:43those speedo shorts that he wore but I think people of today's day and age they
06:48you know superhero movies are great because they they they don't take
06:51themselves that seriously and there's always a little bit of humor mixed up
06:54with the heart and bond used to do that yeah I used to do that let's look
06:57forward to some films that are in production right now one of the ones
07:00that's coming up that has the most hype around it is a the Batman with Robert
07:03Pattinson starring as Batman this film has a crazy cast there's lots of big stars in
07:08it what are your predictions for this film and then also which one of these
07:11castings has been your favorite because there are a couple curveballs in there
07:14I have no predictions because it is such a bonkers cast and the reason why I say
07:18that is because like it's all like very much cast against type I mean for one
07:22thing Robert Pattinson as Batman I'd never in a million years would think that
07:26he would take that kind of role you know I'm very intrigued by Colin Farrell
07:30playing the penguin because for a long time wasn't it like Jonah Hill we had
07:35Danny DeVito is like the quintessential penguin right so to pivot from like it was
07:41like those guys like in talks and then to be like well we couldn't get them let's
07:44go with Colin Farrell so that's just gonna be no matter what it's gonna be a
07:48new interpretation especially since this is like the third or fourth iteration of
07:52Batman and all these characters in just the past decade or so and I'm including
07:56the TV versions it'll just be nice to see a new take and Matt Reeves and what
08:00he's gonna do you know with that whole franchise I think it's gonna be a hit I'm
08:05into as the resident Cracker Jack gay guy I say like I'm just stoked for Zoe
08:10Kravitz as Catwoman I mean I think it's gonna be great but I do think it's gonna
08:14be amazing because Robert Pattinson he may not have had like the huge breakout
08:18success that he had with Twilight but he's made amazing interesting choices and
08:22all of his films have challenged him in a different way I think he'll be great in
08:26this role and I think all of those people that you know we've been talking
08:29about are all amazing actors like Colin Farrell is like doing his best work at this
08:34point in his life and there was probably a time in his life where he could have
08:37been or should have been Batman and you know in Jeffrey right he's amazing so
08:41there it's like some real actors actors you know it's gonna be interesting to see
08:44what kind of take they have to make it like a more grounded you still keep it
08:49super heroic because that's what they're trying to find that balance of like the
08:53Christopher Nolan ones and to work to where they are now so I think to see
08:56where the tone ultimately lands it's gonna be interesting teen Batman well close it
09:03off with one other forward-looking question what projects currently in
09:07production are you the most excited to see well Batman's in production and so is
09:11Venom 2 and there's a there's a there's a connector here and that's Andy Serkis
09:16because Andy Serkis is directing Venom 2 and also starring or co-starring in the
09:21Batman so he's he's traveling between sets wow or will be you know there's a film
09:25that I think is actually in post because it's coming out at the end of the
09:28spring and it's a horror movie so I'm surprised I'm saying I know but
09:32antebellum you know the Lionsgate Blumhouse and the reason I'm saying that
09:36that'll be interesting is I think that that might be the sleeper of the spring
09:40it's it's a horror movie starring Janelle Monae and what based on the trailer it
09:45kind of takes place in two timelines right like kind of antebellum you know
09:49slavery era south and then like sort of modern day and I just think to have you
09:55know again a black female protagonist something that is probably obviously
09:59going to touch on race relations and history slavery in America and you know
10:04released by the same people who did get out and us I think it could definitely be
10:07one of those like crossover horror hits that will get horror haters like myself
10:12into the theaters just to see what they have to say about the whole thing so I'm
10:17excited about antebellum and I can't believe I'm saying that about a horror movie
10:20we've swayed you I know since there's cameras rolling right now I'm just most
10:24excited for this production all to hit the airwaves summer 2020 well thank you
10:31very much to the three of you Boris Rebecca and Chris I really appreciate you
10:34joining us and talking about all the upcoming films in the first half of 2020
10:37there's a lot of great stuff coming to theaters we also want to know what you
10:40think so let us know what your most anticipated film of the first half of
10:432020 is right down there in the comments
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