SLAM!

Looks like we're getting a trailer for this! I can't wait! I wanna know if this is something to be excited about, because it definitely has potential!

I've watched the pilot episodes of two new animes that are very accomplished in my opinion. Hinamatsuri is about a yakuza mobster who comes into contact with a strange young girl and becomes her father figure over time; it is a fairly lighthearted show with great character dynamics, and I recommend it if you need a palate cleanser from all the mainstream awesomeness like Boku no Hero, Persona 5, and Stein's Gate. Megalo Box is the spin-off project that celebrates the 50th anniversary of the classic boxing anime Ashita no Joe. It is about an underground boxer named Junk Dog who becomes tired of throwing matches in his circuit and yearns for a real challenge, which he may find at the Megalonia boxing tournament. This is a futuristic boxing anime in which the boxers fight with the aid of exoskeletons. The animation and style of the series imitates that of a VHS-era classic series like Cowboy Bebop; in other words, it invokes the gritty feel of those series. With great story and execution, this is the one I've seen so far that I cannot recommend enough; don't miss it! Oh, and Kokkoku from last season has a solid first two episodes as well. It's available on Amazon. Definitely watch it if you like the movie Inception!

That's pretty sad... it's gonna have an uphill battle.

That's a beautiful painting. I appreciate studio art.. because I'd never be able to do it myself!

Based on the trailer I found, it seems like Life Itself has some competition in the uplifting drama department.

Same. I'd love to be proven wrong, because it'd be an exciting nomination for sure, but there's no denying that it's got an uphill battle. I agree. The thing to take away from Get Out isn't the horror aspect; it's the social commentary aspect. So given the choice between A Quiet Place and (for example) Sorry To Bother You, I would pick Sorry To Bother You as the film whose chance has been catapulted by Get Out's breakthrough. Horror is absolutely still a longshot. (Of course, all eyes are on Hereditary to capitalize on potentially becoming 'the next The Exorcist' - though even that could be unlikely.)

I dunno. There's no denying how difficult it is to tell a story with minimal words or no words. But I do think this would be a Dunkirk situation rather than a The Artist situation. But I'd love to be proven wrong; I haven't seen the film but I can tell that it's groundbreaking stuff. We'll see.

I disagree about Original Screenplay. It'll be an uphill battle with its lack of dialogue, even in a low-competition race.

Global Road - formerly known as Open Road - has officially dated a new science fiction called A.X.L., which is based on a short film by new director Oliver Daly. Box Office Mojo is currently listing its genre as 'Family Adventure', and the site is placing it under both the 'cyborg/android/robot' and 'dog' categories. Here is a synopsis that I found: AXL is the story of a teenage boy whose life is forever altered by a chance encounter with cutting edge military technology. 18 year old Miles is searching for a way out of his small California town. But when he stumbles upon A.X.L., an escaped prototype of an advanced robot, he finds himself in an unlikely friendship, and the target of a massive manhunt that puts him and everyone he cares about in danger. AXL is a movie about growing up, finding first love, and what lies beyond the boundaries of humanity and technology. It sounds a little bit like 'what if E.T. was a robot', but that's just me. The concept certainly has potential... if it's well executed, that is. A.X.L. is currently slated to release against Mirror/LD's drama Dog Days, Warner Bros' shark film The Meg, and MGM's Anne Hathaway / Rebel Wilson comedy The Hustle.

Horror films can be considered blockbusters, right? I know A Quiet Place isn't doing as much at the moment, but there are films like Jaws and The Exorcist that are absolutely considered blockbusters. Shouldn't A Quiet Place be considered a blockbuster if it is a hit?

A Quiet Place and Blockers are definitely the highlights of the weekend, but I think it'll also be interesting to look at the limited release films; this is one of the best collections of platform releases on a weekend outside of Oscar season that I've seen in a long while. The first film that I want to talk about is You Were Never Really Here by Lynne Ramsay. The film received great reviews when it was premiered at last year's Cannes film festival, and Amazon Studios (The Big Sick) is handling distribution. The company has numerous advertisements stating that the film will receive an expansion on April 20th, and for potentially good reason; the film could appeal to the hardcore action audience, as it seems to me like a film where a John Wick type of character has his gun replaced with a hammer and has his story told with maturity rather than a campy tone. I'm optimistic about this film's potential, especially with Amazon Studios behind the wheel. The Endless seems to be a very well-executed sci-fi thriller; if it's lucky, it might be able to entice the hardcore sci-fi audience and perform like Gareth Edwards' debut feature, Monsters, which, in 2010, grossed $4.2 million on a similarly-shoestring $500,000 budget. A24 has a new film, too: Lean on Pete by Andrew Haigh. The film's reviews are about as good as most of all the A24 releases; it seems to be a moving dramatic piece about a boy and an aging horse. I'm confident that there's a potential platform audience that can push this pretty well. And finally, we have Sweet Country, a film that's been touted by Metacritic as of late. The film is a slow-paced Australian 'western' about an aboriginal man and his wife fleeing from the law. I'm not saying it's gonna break out, but I'm confident that film may do better than it would have if Metacritic hadn't of given it a 90.

1. Isle of Dogs 2. Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero 3. Beirut 4. Rampage 5. Lean on Pete 6. You Were Never Really Here 7. Tully 8. Solo: A Star Wars Story 9. Avengers: Infinity War 10. Ocean's Eight

This is the kind of poster that gets people in the theater.

I voted for quite a few films here: 2017 was a phenomenally goos year for the medium, and I think a lot of classics will be picked from the year. I checkmarked 'Other' because I think A Silent Voice will become quintessential anime film among the community. Granted, it's not hard for an anime film that breaks out among the community to at least be remembered for a long time, because as far as anime films breaking out (or even coming out at all), there's only so many coming out at a given time. But the film is certainly an excellent one; I see the community remembering it because of its quality and its close relation (timewise) to a big anime hit, Your Name, and another acclaimed choice, In This Corner of the World.

What a self-hearted move by Branco...

I predict an OW over $55 Million for this.

The film is no longer listed as a wide release on Box Office Mojo... and I'm happy about that. This would have been and probably still will be controversial.

It's cool that this something I've seen before and something I've never seen before at the same time. It is familar in its story yet unique in its idiosyncratic presentation, at least to me. Will I watch it? I'm not sure. But it does seem like a film made with care.

The fact that this is Blumhouse (albiet with BH Tilt instead of Universal) has me optimistic that this might be able to leg its way to a wider release. I mean, I think it might have a decent shot at some healthy counterprogramming. (I'm the kinda guy that's optimistic about many films getting eventual wide releasea, though).

http://deadline.com/2018/04/adam-sandler-uncut-gems-josh-safdie-benny-safdie-a24-martin-scorsese-1202357558/ Adam Sandler is set to star in a new film by the Safdie brothers, Uncut Gems. The film has not revealed plot details at this time.

Yeah, I think putting Tiffany Haddish in the thread title would be a good idea, @kayumanggi.

Two new articles have been posted to AwardsWatch regarding Animated contenders for the coming year, and I figured I might as well post them here. This first one focuses on studio contenders: http://awardswatch.com/2018/03/31/2019-oscars-how-the-best-animated-feature-race-is-shaping-up-part-one-the-studio-contenders/ and this next one shares details about the indies: http://awardswatch.com/2018/04/02/2019-oscars-how-the-best-animated-feature-race-is-shaping-up-part-two-the-indie-contenders/ If these two articles are anything to go by, this year is shaping up to be a very exciting race.

If they advertise it the way they advertised Hostiles, I could see this doing Hostiles business. The older audience for Oscar-type films tend to be underserved during these months so they might gravitate towards it. Now Chappaquiddick doesn't have the star power or the advertising push to pull it off, but The Monument Men was able to gross an OW of $22M and a total of $78M as a wide release in February 2014. So a film of this historical type winning suring the springtime isn't new. A gross around The Zookeeper's Wife would be good for this in my opinion.