Apparently, Joaquin Phoenix came very close to getting the Joker role in “The Dark Knight.” This is the first I hear of this. Phoenix was on Rick Rubin’s podcast and mentioned how Nolan approached him to play Joker.

Oliver Stone is now speaking about how impressed he was by “Megalopolis.” The filmmaker mentioned some his favorite recent watches on Facebook, and started off by listing Coppola’s epic.

A very reliable source tells me that Spike Jonze’s sci-fi Netflix series, which had Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix in talks to star, was going to cost the streamer a cool $30M per episode.

Kyle Edward Ball, the writer-director behind 2023’s micro-budget “Skinamarink,” has been promoted to A24 for his next film, “The Land of Nod.” Plot and casting details are being kept under wraps.

The latest financial reporting from Forbes has Disney/Marvel’s “Ant-Man and Wasp: Quantamania” costing around $388M. Somehow, the film barely broke even, earning a net profit of $88,236.

I chuckled seeing the “first image” of Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen. It’s not that he looks miscast in the role, it’s just that he basically looks like … Jeremy Allen White.

The big story is the significant overperformance of specialized titles timed for awards season, led by Edward Berger’s “Conclave” (Focus), Sean Baker’s “Anora” (Neon) and John Crowley’s “We Live in Time” (A24).

Variety, Screen, IndieWire (A-) and Punch Drunk Critics are positive. Meanwhile, The Arizona Republic is currently the only negative review. Most of the writeups hint at another old-school film from Clint, without much flash, and driven by strong storytelling.

After many attempts, which saw plenty of writers enter and exit the project, the latest “Blade” draft, written by Eric Pearson, was said to be the most satisfying one to date. Pearson is, at least, the sixth writer to have taken a crack at the script.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s “Project Hail Mary,” starring Ryan Gosling and Sandra Hüller, began production in the United Kingdom during the last week of May. It’s now been confirmed that production has wrapped up its five-month shoot — 145 days.

Depp is telling an Italian outlet that among the projects he’s currently working on, there are two films as a director and two as an actor, including Terry Gilliam’s long-gestating “The Carnival at the End of Days.”

Over the weekend, studio head, Bill Damaschke, told a crowd at the Lightbox Expo that a new “super secret” Looney Tunes project is now in the works at Warners, and that it is being developed as a major theatrical release.

Bret Easton Ellis is finally directing his first feature. The novelist and screenwriter will helm the horror film “Relapse.” In an episode of his excellent Podcast, he’s saying a March 2025 shoot is being eyed in Europe.

There goes its Oscar chances. Pans are coming in from IGN, THR, Variety, The Daily Beast, Mashable, UPI, and Screen. The only positive review has IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio giving the film a “B” grade.

IndieWire’s Screen Talk podcast has co-hosts Anne Thompson and Ryan Lattanzio body slamming “Gladiator II” — they hated it, calling it a “big disappointment.” Oscar pundits will maybe need to reassess this one and take it out of their predictions.

‘Dune 3’ might be keeping its December 18th, 2026 release date after all. Villeneuve is currently working on the script and locking the cast. Don’t expect any other movie from him until he finally completes this trilogy.

I was starting to wonder why it was taking so long to announce a VOD date as the film is currently screening in only 50 theaters, and has died a very slow and painful death at the box office.

During James Franco’s #MeToo scandal, Seth Rogen, his long time collaborator, distanced himself from his friend, telling The Sunday Times that he had no plans to ever work with the actor again.

It’s being confirmed that ‘Spider-Man 4’ opens July 24, 2026. That's one week after Christopher Nolan's next movie, which also stars Tom Holland. Empire City does not believe ‘Spider-Man 4’ will be keeping its date.

The film topped the U.S. box office and went on to gross nearly $120M globally. Les Mayfield (“Flubber”) directed the original, but he’s likely not coming back for the sequel as Mayfield hasn’t directed a film since 2007’s “Code Name: The Cleaner.”