Despite Rumors, David Ayer Says He’s Still Involved With ‘Gotham City Sirens’ Spurred on by the success ofWonder Woman, the DC Extended Universe is in the midst of a full-blown creative pivot. ButDavid Ayer’sSuicide Squad,likeZack Snyder’sMan of SteelandBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, is a remnant of the earlier era, in which dark and gritty reigned supreme. Now Ayer, who has been attached to direct the upcoming Harley Quinn-centric filmGotham City Sirens, is facing rumors that he might fall the way of DC’s grimdark tone....

Ed Helms Joins Central Intelligence Varietysays that Ed Helms, fresh from his Hangover high (and from hisdealto star in the Alexander Payne-produced office comedyCedar Rapids) , is having a star vehicle developed for him at Universal. The studio has purchased a spec script called Central Intelligence by Ike Barinholtz and Dave Stassen. No director or other case members are yet attached, but the script hinges upon the interconnection of the intelligence community and…Facebook?...

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore Box Office Proves The Magic Is Gone It was another very fascinating pre-summer weekend at the box office — Easter weekend, no less — as Warner Bros. unleashed “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” in theaters domestically, with the latest “Harry Potter” spin-off looking to recover from 2018’s"The Crimes of Grindelwald,“among other things. Unfortunately, that didn’t pan out and the film set in the Wizarding World stumbled pretty damn hard and could spell the end for the franchise as we know it....

Gerard Butler Joins Surfing Picture ‘Mavericks’ Almost a year ago we heard thatCurtis Hanson(The River Wild,L.A. Confidential) wouldmake a filmabout the late surferJay Moriarty, who rode massive Northern California wave breaks called ‘mavericks,’ but died at 22 in a diving accident. When we first reported on the film Sean Penn was rumored; the role he was very vaguely linked to is Rick ‘Frosty’ Hesson, the young surfer’s friend and mentor. NowGerard Butlerwill play that role instead....

Hacks Just Caused A Minor Upset At The Emmys, And We’re Not Mad At It This just in, many “Ted Lasso” fans just lost money in their Emmy award pools. Though most predictions were forecasting a sweep for the much loved AppleTV+ series, the Lasso award train was derailed by none other than Jean Smart. And honestly, who could possibly be upset about that? That’s right, one of the biggest surprises out of the Emmys came from “Hacks,” the HBO Max comedy starring Smart and Hannah Einbinder....

HBO’s ‘The Last Of Us’ Casts Anna Torv As Tess Anna Torv, the star of ABC’s sci-fi seriesFringeand a supporting player on David Fincher’sprobably-canceledNetflix dramaMindhunter, is about to step into one of HBO’s biggest upcoming genre shows. Torv is the latest actor to joinThe Last of Us, the television adaptation of the popular video game franchise. She’ll play Tess, the smuggling partner of one of the story’s main characters, Joel (Pedro Pascal)....

In A Potential Game-Changing Decision, NBCUniversal Will Make Theatrical Movies Available On Demand Immediately After years of discussions about the possibility of shrinking the theatrical window, NBCUniversal is going to obliterate it altogether. According to a new report, the company is going to release at least some of Universal Pictures' theatrical offerings on demand at the same time that they hit theaters. When a book is written about this period in history, this may be a crucial turning point in the way the entire industry operates....

Interview: ‘Doctor Strange’ Screenwriter Jon Spaihts Discusses The Brilliant, Cocky, Swashbuckling Superhero 2016 is a good year for screenwriterJon Spaihts. After years of development, Spaihts' first hot spec script,Passengers, finally got made and is coming to theaters before the year ends. On top of that, he co-wrote Marvel’s latest,Doctor Strange, with directorScott DerricksonandC. Robert Cargill. The origin story shows Stephen Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) transformation from an arrogant, selfish surgeon to a powerful, compassionate sorcerer....

Is There Another Villain In ‘Wolverine 3: Logan’? We’ve read a decent amount of information this week aboutLogan,Hugh Jackman’s eighth and final outing as the Wolverine. The film comes out in less than five months, but because 20th Century Fox and all involved have done a fine job keeping details aboutJames Mangold’s sequel under wraps, we don’t know a whole lot about the movie. Not until this week did we even know whoBoyd Holbrook(Narcos) was playing in the film....

James Cameron Was High On Ecstasy And Listening To Sting When He Created John Connor The history behind one of cinema’s best sequels is a wild one. In an oral history ofTerminator 2: Judgment DayforThe Ringer, directorJames Cameron, starArnold Schwarzenegger, and others shared some previously-unheard tidbits about the making of the action classic. Cameron wanted T2 to be his Wizard of Oz There’s a pretty massive tonal difference betweenTerminatorand its sequel....

Jerrod Carmichael Was Careful With How He Handled On The Count Of Three’s Heavy Themes When you think Jerrod Carmichael, you think comedy. The stand-up comic and prolific TV performer is known for “The Carmichael Show,” “Comedy Bang! Bang!,” the “Neighbors” films, and hisrecent “Saturday Night Live” appearanceand special “Rothaniel.” Lately the increasingly prolific performer has taken another novel step forward with the premiere of his directorial debut “On the Count of Three....

Jerry O’Connell And Mariana Klaveno Cast In Bryan Fuller’s ‘Munsters’ Reboot ‘Mockingbird Lane’ Withconstruction already underwayon its sets, NBC’sMunstersrebootMockingbird Laneis moving a few last pieces into place for its main cast.Jerry O’ConnellandMariana Klavenohave just been cast as Herman and Lily Munster in theBryan Fuller-created show, joining previously cast starsEddie Izzard(Grandpa),Charity Wakefield(Marilyn), andMason Cook(Eddie). There is one big question mark hanging over the news, however — Klaveno’s involvement is contingent on her ability to work out a deal with ABC Studios, who has her contracted for its upcomingMarc CherrysoapDevious Maids....

Listen: ‘Batman V Superman’ Director Zack Snyder Defends Aquaman On Detroit Radio This is so good. Friday morning, a Detroit radio station was talking crap about howAquamancould fit intoBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Then someone named Zack called into their show. This person claimed to be directorZack Snyder, and having talked to Zack Snyder in the past, I’ll say it sounds just like him. /Film has since independently confirmed, yes, this is Zack Snyder....