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James Gunn Fires Back at Fan Who Snarked About ‘Clayface’ Movie

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Clayface tickets just went on sale, and the film is DC Studios‘ next big swing — a body horror movie that tries something different than the usual superhero slate.

Studio co-chief James Gunn — fresh off having his role reaffirmed in the wake of Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. — took to Threads to defend the project after a user asked, “Who the f–k asked for a Clayface movie?”

Gunn shot back, rather correctly: “Who tf asked for Back to the Future? Casablanca? There’s Something About Mary? Pan’s Labyrinth? Fury Road? Weapons? The Matrix? Although it may seem like it, Hollywood isn’t a place where the only way to make a movie is the public voting on what IP they want to see that they’ve seen countless times before.”

Continued Gunn: “Sometimes someone — in this case initially Mike Flanagan and then James Watkins and Hossein Amini — were inspired by a relatively little known fictional character and crafted what I believe is a very special story around that character. I’d take that inspiration a thousand times over some writer trying to make a buck by writing a listless screenplay about a majorly popular character he or she has no passion or feel for.”

Indeed, while Gunn is certainly interested in reviving DC’s iconic heroes — executive producing The Batman: Part II, working on the Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow — turning niche characters into box-office hits is how Gunn made his bones in the superhero world, with the once seemingly un-makable Guardians of the Galaxy (one could easily imagine fans asking: Who tf asked for a talking raccoon? — until they got one).

That said, Gunn tried to pour cold water on the widespread theory that Adria Arjona will play Wonder Woman in the Superman sequel. The executive replied to a fan pointing out that actor Frank Grillo — who plays Rick Flag in the DC Universe — had reposted an image suggesting Arjona was the new Diana Prince.

“It’s Frank reposting somebody because it has his photo in it and he loves himself,” Gunn wrote. “I can assure you Frank doesn’t know who Adria is playing in the DCU and whether or not she has any sort of incredibly small cameo in MoT or not. People have been making wayyyyyyyyyyy too much of this.”

As for Clayface, the film comes out Oct. 23. While there are no first reactions or reviews yet, the trailers have looked strong (watch the final trailer below). The official description of the Watkins-directed film: “Actor Matt Hagen’s (Tom Rhys Harries) meteoric rise from Gotham street kid to Hollywood leading man is tragically cut short when a local crime boss’s actions leave him horribly disfigured. Abandoned by his team and with nothing left, Matt seeks out a cutting edge treatment that miraculously returns him to his former self… but also unexpectedly affects his grip on reality, spiraling him down a destructive path of all-consuming revenge.”

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Regina Hall Joins Jennifer Aniston In ‘Naughty’ Comedy

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EXCLUSIVE: Regina Hall is set to join Jennifer Aniston and Peter Dinklage in the Universal pic Naughty from director Olivia Wilde. Jimmy Warden penned the script that Wilde will direct. The project originates from a spec script by Warden.

Naughty follows Mallory (Aniston), whose only hope of securing custody of her son from her gaslighting trash-bag ex is to find Santa Claus (Dinklage) and convince him to testify in her divorce hearing. While unconfirmed, sources say Hall plays a friend joining Aniston on her trip to the North Pole.

LuckyChap will produce, as will Wilde and Warden. EVP Production Development Sara Scott and Director of Production Development Jacqueline Garell will oversee the project for the studio.

Universal Pictures will release Naughty in theaters on November 5, 2027.

Hall recently starred in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Oscar-winning One Battle After Another alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro. The role earned her some of her best reviews.

She was recently seen in Peacock’s The Five-Star Weekend opposite Jennifer Garner, Chloë Sevigny, Gemma Chan and Timothy Olyphant, which premiered in July and has become Peacock’s top scripted title of all time, surpassing 1 billion viewing minutes in its first week.

Most recently, Hall reprised her role as Brenda Meeks in Scary Movie 6, the year’s top-grossing R-rated comedy. Next, she will star in Nick Stoller’s Judgment Day opposite Will Ferrell for Prime Video, and Netflix’s limited series Rabbit, Rabbit opposite Adam Driver from creator-showrunner Peter Craig and director Philip Barantini. She is currently in production on the United Artists pic Lizard Music starring Dwayne Johnson.

Hall is represented by Independent Artist Group.

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Sony Pictures Entertainment Launches Crunchyroll Storyworks, Aiming To Boost Japanese Anime

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Sony Pictures Entertainment has unveiled a new division of its Crunchryroll anime subsidiary, Crunchyroll Storyworks.

The new unit, which will be led by Tohru Iokibe, a 25-year veteran of Sony Corp., will aim to deepen ties between Crunchyroll and the Japanese anime community and boost its global profile.

Sony Pictures closed its $1.2 billion acquisition of Crunchyroll in 2021, combining it with its Funimation anime outfit to create a dominant player in the burgeoning world of anime. Crunchyroll’s streaming service and related suite of merchandise, events and manga, have continued to grow, surpassing 21 million subscribers earlier this year.

The announcement came during Wednesday’s Crunchyroll Anime Future Forum, an all-day conference held at North Javits Center on the eve of New York Comic Con.

Crunchyroll said Storyworks will adapt global stories into anime, and Japanese anime into live action, working with Japanese creators to preserve and center the original creative vision. The division will operate within Crunchyroll’s content group and seek to deliver greenlight-ready projects for HAYATE, Crunchyroll’s joint venture with Aniplex.

SPE CEO Ravi Ahuja delivered brief remarks during the forum, saying the Storyworks venture would amplify the “global force” of anime but also pay homage to its Japanese roots.”

As anime grows, Ahuja said, “we have a responsibility to protect and amplify what makes it special while always keeping creators’ visions at the center. That’s the goal of Storyworks.”

Iokibe will report to Crunchyroll Chief Content Officer Asa Suehira. The new division will “build a creative bridge between Japan and storytellers around the world,” Suehira said in a statement.

Iokibe, who has recently led IP initiatives connecting SPE and PlayStation Productions, said Storyworks would honor stories, creators and audiences across cultures and formats. “The best adaptations begin with respect for the original work, and it’s a privilege to help these exceptional stories reach even more fans around the world,” he said.

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Box Office: ‘Resident Evil’ Zach Cregger’s Highest Grossing Ever With China

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EXCLUSIVE: By the end of this week or sooner, Sony/Constantin’s Resident Evil, will become Zach Cregger‘s highest grossing movie ever at the box office, surpassing his previous high, New Line’s Weapons which ended its run at $270M WW.

This all comes with the theatrical release of Resident Evil in China on Monday. Through Monday and Tuesday, the pic has collected $20M on course for what is expected to be a $35M first week. The global running cume for Cregger’s Resident Evil stood at $245.4M through its third weekend as of Sunday, and with China the Austin Abrams starring zombie title will easily propel past $280M WW.

The big gross in the Middle Kingdom comes as no surprise as the Capcom game permeated itself into the culture pre-Covid with Milla Jovovich starring Resident Evil: The Final Chapter a monster hit there in 2017 with a reported $94.3M opening (not accounting for inflation and currency swings) and a $159.5M final total, repping 51% of that pic’s final global $312.2M tally. Final Chapter remains the highest grossing Resident Evil ever in the franchise with 2010’s 3D driven Resident Evil: Afterlife second with $300.2M WW, followed by what will be Cregger’s take.

With a strong Douban score of 7.2, Resident Evil beats the openings of such horror movies this year in China as Obsession ($4.8M), Backrooms ($5.2M) and even the reported opening of Alien: Romulus ($26.1M) in 2024.

This weekend, offshore openings include Sony’s The Social Reckoning with a 92% offshore footprint and a limited rollout of Universal/Blumhouse Atomic Monster’s The Other Mommy starring Jessica Chastain with bows in Mexico, Australia and UK and other big territories going later.

Cregger’s next movie in the hopper is the original sci-fi movie Flood at the Paramount owned Warner Bros. Before the merger closed, it was announced that Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence would star in that movie which is currently dated for an Aug. 11, 2028 release. Weapons prequel Gladys is currently in rewrites before going out to director’s. That pic is dated for a Sept. 8, 2028 release through New Line.

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