Movies
Dark Castle Making Massive Commitment to ‘Splice’ Release?
There’s nothing that excites me more than a wide range of reviews. After playing the Sundance Film Festival last month, Vincenzo Natali’s Frankenstein-esque sci-fi horror flick Splice received a rash of glowing reviews, along with the negative (see Ryan Daley’s review), piquing my interest more than it already was. Anyways, early word presumed that Sony might score distribution rights for the U.S., only it looks as if Dark Castle may have won out making a huge bet on the Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley starrer. Deadline reports that “Joel Silver and his Dark Castle label is in the last stages of closing a distribution deal for the genetic mutation thriller Splice,” adding, “It will give the film a wide summer release on 3,000 screens, and a P&A commitment north of $25 million, and more likely in the vicinity of $35 million to $40 million.” That’s a HUGE gamble for Dark Castle. Color me excited.
“Clive and Elsa are young, brilliant and ambitious. The new animal species they engineered have made them rebel superstars of the scientific world. In secret, they introduce human DNA into the experiment. The result is something that is greater than the sum of its parts: a female animal-human hybrid that may be a step up on the evolutionary ladder. They think they may have created the perfect organism, until she makes a final shocking metamorphosis that could destroy them … and the rest of humanity.”
Movies
R-Rated ‘The X-Files: I Want to Believe’ Director’s Cut Gets New Title and Streaming Premiere Date
After a slight delay, Disney has finally announced a new streaming date for the R-Rated director’s cut of The X-Files: I Want to Believe. According to Gizmodo, it’ll also come with a new title.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe Vrach Frankenshteyn begins streaming on Hulu on August 14.
The new cut was first teased in an interview with director Chris Carter on the Fail Better With David Duchovny podcast from last year, where he teased a much scarier movie he intended.
“Now I have a chance to go back and make the scary movie that I always intended to make,” Carter explained last year. “It’s not just doing a Director’s Cut to do a Director’s Cut. It’s really kind of bringing to life something that for me was on the page and never got to the screen.“
The director’s cut of the film was initially set to arrive on Disney+ in June, but quietly disappeared from the schedule without a word. Polygon reported the delay was “due to some last-minute adjustments being made to the film.”
The release’s new “Vrach Frankenshteyn” certainly suggests those adjustments have been made, likely referring to a Frankensteining of bonus footage.
In the film, Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) have been out of the FBI for several years, with Mulder living in isolation and Scully having become a doctor at a Catholic hospital, where she has formed a bond with a critically ill child patient.
When an FBI agent is mysteriously kidnapped, and a former Catholic priest who has been convicted of pedophilia claims to be experiencing psychic visions of the endangered agent, Scully is asked to bring Mulder back to the bureau to consult on the case because of his work with psychics.
The brand new R-rated cut will “faithfully restore the filmmaker’s original vision.”
Look for it on Hulu next month.