Industry

The traditional summer blockbuster season is still months away and yet thanks to Furious 7’s smoldering launch we already have the first billion-dollar movie of 2015. The pinnacle of a franchise that in fourteen years has known nothing but success, 7 scored its third straight win run at the U.

Child 44 the mystery-thriller based on the novel by Tom Rob Smith set in stalinist Soviet Union was abruptly pulled from release in Russia. The Daniel Espinosa film starring Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace and Vincent Cassel, deals with the hunt for a serial killer, but the larger villain arguably is the totalitarian state which insists the murders did not take place because “murder is strictly a capitalist crime”.

Jeremy Piven has played his role as Ari Gold in Entourage so well that a lot of people mistake him for a pompous, abusive jerk. But that is not who the soon-to-be 50 year-old actor is.

The slate of films featured at the 68th Cannes Film Festival was finally revealed today. They include George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, Pixar’s Inside Out and Woody Allen’s Irrational Man along with new films by Gus Van Sant (Sea of Trees) and Todd Haynes (Carol).

The 34th Istanbul Film Festival cancelled its film competitions as well as the closing ceremony this week due to the withdrawal of more than 20 filmmakers in a protest against government censorship. The festival is a major film showcase for the region and is regularly attended by members of the HFPA.

After its thunderous start at the world box office last weekend Furious 7 stayed in high gear, earning $255. 59 million at home and abroad in its return frame and clearing an $800.

With Hilary Clinton announcing her candidacy for the 2016 presidential nomination, Hollywood, like the rest the nation has taken notice. If elected Hillary Rodham Clinton would, of course, become the first female president of the United States.

Shady gangsters, witty femme fatales and cynical private eyes: “Noir City”, The 17th Annual Festival of Film Noir is currently under way at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. The Opening Night film Woman on the Run (1950) starring Ann Sheridan was restored last year with funds from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s charitable trust.

When The Fast and the Furious first hit theaters, it was the year 2001, no one at Universal dared to think that the movie was franchise material. Yes, illegal street racing was an original and appealing concept, but how far could you push what even its producers considered a B-movie? On top of that, there were no major stars, the biggest names being Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster.