Chris Tucker Says He’s ‘Definitely’ in for ‘Rush Hour 4’: ‘I Love Working With Jackie Chan’

Zack Sharf Digital News Director With “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” grossing $204.6 million domestically and $377 million globally in its debut over the five-day Easter weekend, it’s all but certain Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment will move forward with a “Super Mario” sequel. Jack Black, who voices the villainous Bowser in the blockbuster, is already thinking ahead, telling GameSpot that Pedro Pascal is his pick to voice Wario should the sequel bring in a new villain. “It’s not a given that Bowser will return,” Black said. “You know, I did a few ‘Kung Fu Panda’ movies, and it was a different villain every movie. They may do the same thing.” “You know, what if there is a more powerful, more evil villain?” Black continued. “Then I may need to be turned to help Mario and the rest to defend our universe against some other unseen force of evil. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Wario! Pedro Pascal is Wario.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Jackie Chan-starring stunt-man comedy drama “Ride On” pratfalled its way to first place at the mainland Chinese box office with a lowball $11.7 million opening. Still, that was enough to beat another new release, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which ranked fourth over the latest weekend. Chan is an enduring, but fading, star in China and in the past his new release titles were often scheduled for the three biggest holiday seasons. “Ride On,” which sees Chan in an ode to the stunt players he has worked with, was released two days after the Ching Ming (Wednesday 5 April) holiday, when many folks honor their ancestors. Its opening three days were enough to depose “Suzume” from the top spot, where “Suzume” had ranked for the previous two weekends. “Suzume” earned $8.0 million over the latest weekend in China, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. That gives it a $103 million cumulative after 17 days in mainland theaters, a China record for a Japanese animation film.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Chris Pratt’s Mario voice has been a topic of discussion ever since the first trailer for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” debuted last October. Some fans claimed it wasn’t Italian enough, while others felt it was too aggressively Brooklyn. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Pratt revealed that one of his first attempts at the Mario voice got rejected by the film’s directors, Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, because it far too resembled Tony Soprano, the anti-hero mob boss played by James Gandolfini in HBO’s “The Sopranos.” “For a minute, I walked in and they were like, ‘That’s a little New Jersey. You’re doing a Tony Soprano thing,’” Pratt said. “[The voice] was a really exciting and daunting challenge. Talking to these guys, they say, ‘You wanna do the Mario movie?’ I think both [Charlie Day and I] said yes. Didn’t even ask, ‘What’s the deal? What’s the story?’ ‘Yes, I’m in.’ And then we had to really dig in and figure out…are they Italian? Are they American?”

Jessica Kiang Watch any of the films that made Jackie Chan a legend and you notice that so much of his graceful, goofball charisma comes from simply having one more move up his sleeve. Whether changing position while sliding down a plate-glass skyscraper or falling off a clock face onto a series of awnings or dispatching multiple assailants with his witty brand of bendy, aerobic kung-fu, only to end on a silly eye-poke or a gymnastic semi-levitation, the star-making flourish is so often the extra thing he does when anyone else would be finished. But what do you do when, nearing 70 and with almost 150 movie performances behind you, there aren’t that many one-more-moves left? Maybe you make something like Larry Yang’s “Ride On,” a sappy but enjoyable slice of family fun that has a nice horse doing wacky tricks for the younger viewers and for parents and older fans, is a gently meta, valedictory canter through the paddock of Chan’s previous achievements. 

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “The Little Mermaid” director Rob Marshall confirmed in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly that he met with pop superstar Harry Styles to play the role of Prince Eric opposite Halle Bailey’s Ariel in Disney’s upcoming live-action remake. Reports surfaced during the film’s casting process that Styles was being courted to play Prince Eric, but this is the first time Marshall has confirmed that discussions with the Grammy winner took place. Why did Styles turn down Disney’s live-action “The Little Mermaid” remake? According to Marshall, the reason was twofold: He wanted to take on darker films and didn’t want to be in a musical as he made the jump from pop star to actor.

Air, the about Nike's signing of rookie Michael Jordan in 1984, take place in a dimly lit office, without other people present, and over the phone. And yet, in a film that includes heavyweights Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis, Jason Bateman, and Chris Tucker, Messina stands out.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director The last day of filming “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” brought an end to a nearly 10-year franchise for writer-director James Gunn and his cast and crew, including Chris Pratt. The actor headlined the trilogy as Peter Quill/Star Lord, and he decided to mark the last day of filming on “Vol. 3” by going back to the very beginning with a speech that called out all of the original “Guardians” haters. “I’m not a vindictive person…but I happened to have in my notes file several press clippings saved from the first movie when everyone predicted that ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ was going to be Marvel’s first flop,” Pratt recently told Fandango about the speech he gave on the last day of the “Guardians Vol. 3” set. “That was the consensus critically. Everyone was saying all of these negative things. At the time, we were insecure and nervous about the prospects….they’re saying it’s a title no one has never heard of, we don’t have any A-list stars, [it will be] Marvel’s first failure. I remember all of that.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director James Gunn has written the script for his upcoming “Superman: Legacy” and is currently putting together a casting list and audition material. He’s also about to embark on a worldwide press tour for his final movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” The writer-director recently told Rolling Stone that his “Superman” movie isn’t going to feel like a “Guardians” movie. “I learned so much from making these movies,” Gunn said about his Marvel franchise. “But it’s not like ‘Superman’ is going to have exactly the same vibe as a ‘Guardians’ movie. It’s actually quite different.” What the tone of Gunn’s “Superman: Legacy” will be remains to be seen. The tentpole is focusing on a younger iteration of the superhero than the one last seen on the big screen played by Henry Cavill. After his “Guardians Vol. 3” press duties are over, Gunn will transition full time to his new gig as the co-head of DC Studios with Peter Safran. “Superman: Legacy” will kick off the duo’s new DC Universe, which will also include films featuring Supergirl and Batman and Robin.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Ever since Chris Evans exited the Marvel Cinematic Universe in “Avengers: Endgame,” comic book movie fans have been clamoring for his return as Steve Rogers. It appears they’ll have to keep waiting for now. Speaking at the C2E2 fan convention in Chicago, Evans said a potential Captain America return “doesn’t quite feel right” at the moment. However, Evans did admit that telling more Captain America stories is appealing to him, so never say never. “It’s tough, because look, I love that role deeply,” Evans said when asked about returning as Captain America. “He means so much to me, and I really do. I think there’s more Steve Rogers stories tell, sure. But at the same time, I’m very, very precious with it…it’s like this little shiny thing that I have that I love so much, and I just don’t want to mess up in any way, and I was a part of something that was so special for the special period of time and in a way, it really landed so well.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jennifer Aniston has been starring in comedies for nearly 30 years, from the launch of NBC’s “Friends” in 1994 to the upcoming release of her latest Netflix movie “Murder Mystery 2,” which means she’s had a front row seat to watching comedy tastes change over three decades. Aniston recently told AFP (via Yahoo News) that “comedy has evolved” so much that it’s a bit tricky these days to be funny. “Now it’s a little tricky because you have to be very careful, which makes it really hard for comedians, because the beauty of comedy is that we make fun of ourselves, make fun of life,” Aniston said. “[In the past] you could joke about a bigot and have a laugh — that was hysterical. And it was about educating people on how ridiculous people were. And now we’re not allowed to do that.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Thomas Haden Church was one of the many Spider-Man alum who returned for Marvel’s 2021 blockbuster “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Church reprised his role of Flint Marko/Sandman from Sam Raimi’s 2007 “Spider-Man 3,” but his screen-time in “No Way Home” was fairly limited when compared to fellow returning villains like Electro (Jamie Foxx), Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina). In a new interview with The DisInsider, Church said conversations are taking place about future big screen appearances for Sandman. “We had a whole story involving his his daughter, for ‘No Way Home,'” Church said about the character. “And it just ended up [cut]. There was just so much going on…Amy [Pascal] and Kevin [Feige], we all had a lot of conversations. And I would say that conversations have been had about the possibility of Sandman coming into an a future iteration of it.”

Viola Davis is making us green with envy with her incredible look at the L.A. premiere of AIR!

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Kieran Culkin said in a new Esquire digital cover story that Jeremy Strong’s acting process was never affected by various criticisms made about his Method acting, most notably by his “Succession” cast members in an infamous New Yorker profile published in December 2021. “It’s hard for me to actually describe his process, because I don’t really see it,” Culkin told The New Yorker at the time. “He puts himself in a bubble….The way Jeremy put it to me is that, like, you get in the ring, you do the scene, and at the end each actor goes to their corner. I’m, like, This isn’t a battle. This is a dance.” Regarding Strong’s self-isolation process, Culkin added, “That might be something that helps him. I can tell you that it doesn’t help me.” 

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Almost a week after “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” opened in theaters and bombed at the box office, Zachary Levi took to Instagram to weigh in on a whole lot of drama surrounding the DC comic book tentpole. In a video, the actor confirmed that plans for the “Fury of the Gods” post-credits scene — in which Shazam is recruited to join the Justice Society — were “thwarted,” although he did not say by who. A report from The Wrap published after “Fury of the God’s” opening weekend claimed that Dwayne Johnson sabotaged the “Shazam” post-credits scene by blocking “Black Adam” characters Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) and Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) from appearing in it. Johnson headlined “Black Adam” and aimed to start a new thread of the DC Universe built around his character facing off against Henry Cavill’s Superman. “Black Adam” also underperformed at the box office, and both Johnson and Cavill are not included in the new DC Universe being spearheaded by DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Wendi McLendon-Covey said during a recent interview with Andy Cohen for SiriusXM that Jeff Garlin’s exit from “The Goldbergs” was “a long time coming.” The two comedians headlined the ABC sitcom from its 2013 debut until December 2021, when Garlin was fired from the show after a series of HR investigations into his alleged misconduct on set. “That was a long time coming,” McLendon-Covey said. “That it finally happened, it was like, ‘Ok, finally someone is listening to us. But that was kind of hard though because we had lost George Segal in real life. To have to go through another loss on a sitcom…you can’t keep asking your audience to mourn people. That’s not why they tune in.”

Rush Hour franchise.Since Jackie Chan first confirmed that a fourth film is on the way in December last year, further details surrounding the film have been scarce. Now, in a recent interview with V-103, Tucker shared that his upcoming slate of work includes Rush Hour 4.Speaking about his upcoming work, Tucker said: “You’re going to see a lot of good stuff coming, but it’s going to be on a whole other level.

Matt Damon couldn’t just pick one favourite thing about working with his longtime friend Ben Affleck as a director on their new film “Air”.

Ben Affleck loves directing his longtime friend Matt Damon.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Zachary Levi is the latest member of the “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” family to weigh in on the film bombing at the box office. The DC tentpole earned just $30 million in its domestic box office debut, well below the $53 million the original “Shazam!” opened with in 2019 and a huge financial loss considering “Fury of the Gods” cost north of $110 million to make and another $100 million to market. Levi heads the franchise as the eponymous superhero. While Levi is not blaming Zack Snyder fans for “Fury of the Gods'” box office miss, he did acknowledge on Twitter after the film’s opening that many Snyder fans wanted the sequel to fail as a kind of revenge against Warner Bros. for dropping Snyder’s DC Universe. James Gunn and Peter Safran are now in charge of the DC Universe and are rebooting it with films such as “Superman: Legacy,” which will not feature Snyder’s Superman actor Henry Cavill.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Lucy Liu is making her comic book movie debut in “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” playing the villainous Kalypso alongside Helen Mirren and “West Side Story” breakout Rachel Zegler. The three actors play the daughters of Atlas, who come to our planet to reclaim the magic that fuels Zachary Levi’s Shazam. Liu was recently asked by The Cut about starring in a superhero movie for the first time at 54 years old. “If it had happened earlier, it would have been miraculous,” Liu said. “It would have been a different story; my career would have been easier. There would have been more opportunity.” Sizable comic book movie roles for Asian-Americans simply did not exist when Liu was coming up in the industry. She had her action breakthrough playing Alex Munday opposite Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore in 2000’s “Charlie’s Angels” and its 2003 sequel, “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.”