Don’t you just haaaate good movies (like the ones we counted down last week in our 25 Best Films of 2017 So Far)? Aren’t you just sick and bloody tired of walking out of a theater feeling entertained, refreshed and intellectually challenged, or switching off your TV at night having been caught up in a beautifully imagined world that seemed to spring fully formed from the mind of an inventive and uncompromising filmmaker? I know we are!

Continue reading The 20 Worst Films Of 2017 So Far at The Playlist.

As Zhang Yimou’s “The Great Wall” nosedives at the American box office with an $18.1 million gross last weekend, its worldwide box-office intake has already almost doubled its budget. Why? Per a report on “The Today Show,” China is quickly becoming the de facto nation for box-office returns. While this trend is by no means new, it is becoming more apparent in the broad blockbusters that are being put in theaters today.

Continue reading ‘The Today Show’ Explores The Impact Of China’s Growing Movie Market On Hollywood at The Playlist.

Its Presidents Day weekend, and Hollywood offered audiences everything from a weirdo horror movie to an Ice Cube comedy to Matt Damon fighting monsters, but it turns out they just wanted to see more Batman.

Warner Bros. won the holiday stretch as “The Lego Batman Movie” roped in $34.2 million. The audience drop was only 35% which indicates it’s gonna hold on at the multiplex for a while, and the picture will cross $100 million domestic this week.

Continue reading ‘The Lego Batman Movie’ Beats ‘Fist Fight’ For The Weekend [Box Office] at The Playlist.

All you really need to know about Zhang Yimou‘s “The Great Wall” is that there’s a moment where Pedro Pascal waves a red cloth at a charging reptilian monster like a bullfighter, while Matt Damon lies in wait to kill it behind the rustling fabric. That’s the whole movie in a nutshell: a beautiful spectacle that elicits giggles for how silly it is, and Damon gets to save the day, though he’s surrounded by thousands of trained Chinese warriors.

Continue reading Zhang Yimou’s ‘The Great Wall’ Is Pretty, Fun, And So, So Dumb [Review] at The Playlist.

Though February is typically slow at best for new movie releases, the month is actually looking pretty solid this year. Right at the top, the first entry February’s column is an Oscar nominated documentary whose prescience and importance has only been bested by the near unanimous wave of critical adoration for the film as it made its way through the festival circuit and finally to arthouses this month.

You’ll notice a few other Oscar contenders on this month’s final list, one animated and the other a foreign language nominee, and both rather obscure.

Continue reading 10 Films To See In February at The Playlist.

It might seem, from a glance, that our 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2017 covers, well, every film coming out in 2017. But that’s far from the truth. We try to keep our annual preview to the films that we’re truly excited about, which means that there’s a lot left on the table. And often, it means that we don’t include some of the films destined to be among the biggest grossers.

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2017

We love a great blockbuster, but a tentpole needs to look genuinely promising to make the cut for us, and explosion and CGI fatigue means that plenty of others don’t get there.

Continue reading What Will Be The Biggest Box Office Blockbuster Of 2017? at The Playlist.

If it’s not apparent yet, and really, it should be, China has emerged as a massive power player in the worldwide box-office. Some have said Hollywood has pandered to China — think of the way “Iron Man 3” set some of the movie in Beijing simply as a strategic maneuver. And other films live and die by China’s support or lack thereof — see “Warcraft” which died on the vine in the U.S.

Continue reading Matt Damon Embarks On An Epic Adventure In Massive 9-Minute ‘The Great Wall’ Trailer at The Playlist.

As China becomes an increasingly important global film market, audiences in the country still have an uneasy relationship with Hollywood. Just last month, The Wall Street Journal reported how moviegoers in the country were quickly becoming tired of “flower vases,” meaning fleeting roles given to Chinese actors in major blockbusters. And now comes “The Great Wall,” which is facing the opposite problem: a blockbuster movie set in the country and featuring a largely Chinese cast, but led by a white dude, namely Matt Damon.

Continue reading Matt Damon Scales ‘The Great Wall’ In New Trailer For Zhang Yimou’s Latest at The Playlist.

As China becomes an increasingly important market for Hollywood, we’re going to see more movies catering specifically for that audience, and Legendary Pictures‘ “The Great Wall” is an example of what the future might look like. It’s a big budget project with A-list American and Chinese talent and a story made for mainstream appeal. Will it translate into a global hit? We’ll soon see.

Starring Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, Andy Lau, Jing Tian, Zhang Hanyu, Eddie Peng, Lu Han, Lin Gengxin, Zheng Kai, Chen Xuedong, Huang Xuan, Wang Junkai and directed by Zhang Yimou (“Hero,” “House Of Flying Daggers“), the film is set in 15th century China and follows a group of British soldiers who stumble across the construction of The Great Wall, only to discover it’s not just Mongols the Chinese are trying to keep out.

Continue reading Matt Damon Discovers Something Scary Behind ‘The Great Wall’ In First Trailer For Zhang Yimou’s Blockbuster at The Playlist.

Casting: Reese Witherspoon Will Fight 'Ashley's War,' Matt Damon Climbs 'The Great Wall' With Willem Dafoe & More

Continue reading Casting: Reese Witherspoon Will Fight ‘Ashley’s War,’ Matt Damon Climbs ‘The Great Wall’ With Willem Dafoe & More at The Playlist.

Casting: Bryan Cranston Climbs 'The Great Wall,' Aaron Paul Meets 'Louis Drax' And More

Continue reading Casting: Bryan Cranston Climbs ‘The Great Wall,’ Aaron Paul Meets ‘Louis Drax’ And More at The Playlist.

Casting: Joseph Gordon-Levitt Eyes Oliver Stone's Edward Snowden Film, Matt Damon Climbs 'Great Wall' And More

Continue reading Casting: Joseph Gordon-Levitt Eyes Oliver Stone’s Edward Snowden Film, Matt Damon Climbs ‘Great Wall’ And More at The Playlist.

Joe Cornish To Helm Spy Thriller 'Section 6,' Channing Tatum Eyes 'The Son' To Direct & More

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Ed Zwick Exits 'The Great Wall' With Henry Cavill & Benjamin Walker

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Continue reading Benjamin Walker Talks ‘Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight,’ Discusses The Wushu Aspects Of The Aborted ‘Paradise Lost’ Adaptation at The Playlist.

Zhang Ziyi Courted For Ed Zwick's 'The Great Wall,' Filming Pushed To Spring 2013

Continue reading Zhang Ziyi Courted For Ed Zwick’s ‘The Great Wall,’ Filming Pushed To Spring 2013 at The Playlist.

Continue reading Alexander Skarsgard Or Benjamin Walker Will Join Henry Cavill In ‘The Great Wall’ at The Playlist.

Superman Henry Cavill Will Climb 'The Great Wall' For Director Ed Zwick

Continue reading Superman Henry Cavill Will Climb ‘The Great Wall’ For Director Ed Zwick at The Playlist.

Continue reading Ed Zwick Will Climb Legendary East’s ‘The Great Wall’ at The Playlist.