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'Mr. & Mrs. Smith': The Movie That Launched America's Obsession With Brangelina

By Gwynne Watkins, Yahoo Movies

UPDATE: In August 2014, when Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt announced their marriage, Yahoo Movies posted the article below on the making of ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith,’ the movie that brought them together. Now, as news breaks in Sept. 2016 that Jolie has filed for divorce, it’s a timely read once again.

ORIGINAL POST (AUG. 28, 2014): It could have been a different couple entirely. Before Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were cast in 2005’s sexy action flick Mr. & Mrs. Smith, director Doug Liman contemplated a number of devastatingly attractive pairings: Will Smith and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Johnny Depp and Cate Blanchett. Briefly, Liman contemplated casting Brad Pitt opposite his ex-fiancee Gwyneth Paltrow, but decided it would be unfair to put Pitt in “a situation where he’s going to have to relive the demons of a relationship.” Little did Liman know what kinds of demons he’d be summoning when he cast Hollywood’s wild child Angelina Jolie (his second pick, after Nicole Kidman dropped out) opposite Tinseltown golden boy Brad Pitt. An already-troubled production was soon swarmed by paparazzi, with the movie itself dwarfed by the scandal of a rumored love affair. And yet, Mr. & Mrs. Smith proved to be a huge hit — it grossed nearly $200 million in the U.S. alone — and the combustible pairing of Pitt and Jolie settled into a stable, long-term relationship. Upon the announcement of Brad and Angelina’s long-awaited marriage, let us look back on the film that created Brangelina, Mr. and Mrs Smith. [Ed. note: Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt on Sept. 20, 2016.] 

Screenwriter Simon Kinberg once described Mr. & Mrs. Smith as “a romantic comedy pretending to be an action film.” Films that defy easy genre classification can be a tough sell, and the fact that this one was made owes some credit to Pitt himself. It was Nicole Kidman who sent it to Pitt, and Pitt who sent it to Liman. The film was greenlit with those two stars and director in place, but Kidman dropped out when her film Stepford Wives went over schedule. Pitt followed, leaving Liman to frantically brainstorm other couples. When Jolie was cast, his original leading man returned.

Both Pitt and Jolie were big stars —an Oscar nominee and an Oscar winner, respectively. But Jolie was not the glamorous, humanitarian Earth mother she’s perceived as today. She was known for giving deliberately shocking interviews about her bisexuality and love of knives; for kissing her brother on the lips at the Academy Awards; for wearing a vial of Billy Bob Thornton’s blood around her neck; and for impulsively (as the press would have it) adopting a Cambodian child in 2002. Her previous roles had included dark dramas (Girl, Interrupted), dark thrillers (The Bone Collector) and a darker-than-the-norm action franchise (the Lara Croft films). Mr. & Mrs. Smith was the closest she’d come to being cast in a normal romantic comedy.

Pitt, on the other hand, was as idealized as a Ken doll. A Midwestern boy who worked his way up the Hollywood ladder (unlike second-generation star Jolie), he was a reliable box office draw, a heartthrob with enough raw talent to sell odd movies like Fight Club and Twelve Monkeys, and the husband of America’s sweetheart. He and Jennifer Aniston were the world’s most popular celebrity couple; at the time Mr. and Mrs. Smith began shooting, Friends had just wrapped, and magazine readers eagerly awaited the perfect Brad-and-Jen offspring. The scandalous narrative of Pitt and Jolie’s romance, which would come to define Mr. & Mrs. Smith, was already falling into place.

But that wasn’t the biggest challenge on the Mr. and Mrs. Smith set – at least, not at first. Doug Liman, having followed his indie hits Swingers and Go with the blockbuster The Bourne Identity, was already gaining a reputation as a difficult, mercurial director. The production was plagued with his expensive do-overs. Liman shot four days on location in the mountains before deciding to move one scene to the desert; he made first-time screenwriter Kinberg pen 40 or 50 different endings before reverting to the original; he destroyed the set with a hand grenade, didn’t like the explosion, and rebuilt the whole thing from scratch in order to blow it up again. Liman also clashed with Jolie and faced blowback from Pitt over some of his directorial decisions. “It’s always a tricky dance with those two,” Liman told EW in 2005. Ultimately, the movie went over both schedule and budget, taking a three-month hiatus so that Pitt could film Ocean’s Twelve, and pushing the film’s costs to more than $100 million.

That “tricky dance” between the stars and directors didn’t prepare them for the even trickier obstacle to come: the media. During filming, rumors emerged that Pitt’s marriage to Aniston was on the rocks, while he and Jolie were reportedly becoming awfully close. Photos of Brad and Angelina holding hands on set during a romantic scene added fuel to the fire. Soon, “armies of paparazzi” were barricading the set, according to producer Akiva Goldsman. Helicopters followed Pitt to work. Photographers spying on the production from hotel windows had to be digitally removed from the final film, at great expense. Meanwhile, the rumors of Jolie’s on-set seductions became so absurd that Liman, while publicizing the film, was forced to make clarifications such as this one (to the New York Post): “I was there that day, and I can assure you that she categorically, unequivocally, was wearing panties.”

Jolie would later say that she and Pitt fell in love during Mr. and Mrs. Smith, though both swear they were chaste during production. What happened on that set, honestly, is probably less titillating than the scenes that appear in the final film. Pitt and Jolie play married assassins John and Jane Smith, whose chilly relationship is built on lies; each is masquerading as a perfectly normal suburbanite. When they’re assigned to kill each other, the jig is up, and the heat returns to their marriage as the taunts and bullets fly.

In their best scene together, the couple dances a tango at the restaurant where John first proposed. Jane, at this point, is intent on killing her husband, and he knows it, but she’s not about to do it in the middle of a crowded dance floor. So they grope each other searching for weapons, push one another against walls, and argue – in urgent whispers – about which parts of their marriage are real.

The chemistry is palpable, but the appeal of Jolie and Pitt in this movie is about more than chemistry: it’s about tension. Every one of their scenes is an electrically charged negotiation between fighting and sex. It’s easy to watch with a smile, because Angelina’s smirks and Brad winks convey the sense that it’s all a game. At the same time, neither of these people wants to lose, and that intensity drives the film.

That version of Jolie and Pitt’s relationship – transgressive, erotic — is what played out in the tabloids. But their subsequent marriage and family tells a different story, one that may have begun in these scenes from the Mr. and Mrs. Smith blooper reel. It’s just a collection of quick, bad takes, but what is immediately clear about Brad and Angelina is how much fun they’re having together. All that famous smoldering turns to laughter when the cameras stopped rolling, and the onscreen tension melts into something easy and comfortable. Is it because they each saw themselves reflected in the other’s character?

 “She, in the movie, is playing the way Brad is in real life, and vice versa. I mean, he really is a homemaker,” Liman told EW.  “He’s into fabrics and art and architecture and what color is on the wall, is it eggshell or ecru? But for Angie, bringing her into that suburban home… I might as well have asked her to simulate being on a spacecraft.”

Mr. & Mrs. Smith was a critical and commercial hit. To date, it is Liman’s most successful movie, and was only recently surpassed on Jolie and Pitt’s rankings by Maleficent and World War Z, respectively. The now-married couple will attempt to re-create that success by starring together in Jolie’s next directorial effort By the Sea. But the perfect storm of Mr. & Mrs. Smith is unlikely to happen again. Ostensibly, the film is about a couple who learns to ditch the tedious fantasy of perfection and embrace the messy thing that they are. For audiences, it became the reverse: a film about how Hollywood fantasies can play out in real life. Jane Smith says that happy endings don’t exist, but in reality, Jolie and Pitt seem to have gotten one after all.  

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'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' Red Carpet Flashback! Photos from the ‘Brangelina’ Movie’s Premiere

When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attended the premiere of their action-romance 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' in Los Angeles on June 7, 2005, they hadn’t yet confirmed their relationship — and wouldn’t, until Jolie announced her pregnancy six months later. Pitt and his then-estranged-wife Jennifer Aniston were in the midst of divorce proceedings, and he and his co-star were laying low. But looking at the way those two glowed for the cameras, it’s clear that love was in the air. (Read more about the backstory here.) As news broke on Sept. 20, 2016, of Jolie filing for divorce from Pitt, look back at the red-carpet event for the movie that brought them together and marked the start of a dozen years of “Brangelina” to come. Also see our photo histories of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt on the red carpet.

Brad Pitt, Arnon Milchan, and Angelina Jolie

Audiences first saw Brangelina on the big screen in 'Mr and Mrs. Smith.' The 2005 action-rom-com stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as an unhappy couple whose marriage perks up only when each discovers the other is an undercover assassin. (The pair wouldn't confirm their real-life romance until six months later when they announced Jolie was expecting.) In this shot from June 7, 2005, Pitt and Jolie arrive at the premiere in Los Angeles — with producer Arnon Milchan squarely wedging himself between the costars (and stymieing anyone looking to fuel the gossip with posed pictures of the two as a couple). 

Source: Yahoo Movies

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie arrives at the premiere on June 7, 2005. She later talked to 'Vogue' about working with Brad Pitt: "Because of the film, we ended up being brought together to do all these crazy things, and I think we found this strange friendship and partnership that kind of just suddenly happened. I think a few months in I realized, 'God, I can't wait to get to work.'"

Source: Yahoo Movies

Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt arrives at the premiere on June 7, 2005. In 2008 he told 'Rolling Stone' that 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' was his favorite film of Jolie's. "We've never seen it. I just mean because, you know...six kids. Because I fell in love."

Source: Yahoo Movies

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

The 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' costars pass each other on the red carpet on June 7, 2005.

Source: Yahoo Movies

Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan arrives at the premiere on June 7, 2005 in Los Angeles. The year before, the actress had one of her most most successful roles in the high-school comedy 'Mean Girls.'

Source: Yahoo Movies

Adam Brody

Adam Brody arrives at the premiere on June 7, 2005. The actor was still in the thick of his 'O.C.' fame.

Source: Yahoo Movies

Rande Gerber and Cindy Crawford

The nightlife impressario and and his supermodel wife arrive at the premiere on June 7, 2005.

Source: Yahoo Movies

Nicollette Sheridan

Nicollette Sheridan arrives at the premiere on June 7, 2005. The actress had just made a splash on the ABC drama 'Desperate Housewives.'

Source: Yahoo Movies

JC Chasez

*NSYNC bandmate JC Chasez arrives at the premiere on June 7, 2005.

Source: Yahoo Movies

Jason Bateman

Jason Bateman and wife Amanda Anaka arrive at the premiere on June 7, 2005. The actor was in the middle of season 3 of 'Arrested Development.'

Source: Yahoo Movies

Brad Pitt and Lindsay Lohan

Brad Pitt greets Lindsay Lohan at the premiere on June 7, 2005.

Source: Yahoo Movies

David Boreanaz

David Boreanaz and wife Jaime Bergman arrive at the premiere on June 7, 2005. The 'Angel' star was a few months away from premiering his procedural series 'Bones.'

Source: Yahoo Movies

David Hasselhoff

David Hasselhoff and then-wife Pamela Bach on June 7, 2005.

Source: Yahoo Movies

Jon Favreau

Jon Favreau arrives at the premiere on June 7, 2005. The actor worked with 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' director Doug Liman on 1996's 'Swingers.'

Source: Yahoo Movies

Danny Masterson and Bijou Phillips

'That '70s Show' star Danny Masterson and Bijou Phillips arrive at the premiere on June 7, 2005.

Source: Yahoo Movies

Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone arrives at the premiere on June 7, 2005.

Source: Yahoo Movies

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Seeing Double: Stars and Their Stand-Ins

Dr. Evil has his Mini-Me. But movie actors have their other-me. Body doubles are used for everything from stunts to sex scenes in Hollywood. Some of these doubles look almost exactly like their famous counterparts. Take a spin through our gallery to see how they stack up.

Tom Hardy

Given the fact that Mad Max: Fury Road was action-packed from start to finish, Hardy definitely required some brawny backup (pictured here with his stunt double, Jacob Tomuri).

(Photo: Instagram)

Chris Pratt

Since Pratt is taken, maybe his double, Tony McFarr, is free to date? Both are spotted on location during filming for the 2015 megahit Jurassic World.

(Photo: Instagram)

Bryce Dallas Howard

All that running in high heels? Thankfully, Howard didn't have to do all of it in Jurassic World (pictured here with her double, Whitney Coleman).

(Photo: Instagram)

Michael Douglas

Even though Hank Pym sits behind the controls through most of Ant-Man, he still required a sturdy helper for certain scenes. Mike Runyard (right) has been the Oscar winner’s stunt double for nearly three decades.

(Photo: Facebook)

Kate Mara

If you've seen The Martian, you know why Mara needed a strong stand-in (pictured here with stunt woman Casey Michaels). Here comes the tidal wave!

(Photo: Instagram)

Daniel Craig

While on location in Adana, Turkey, Craig makes final adjustments with his stunt double, Ben Cooke, on top of the moving container for the opening scene of 2012's Skyfall.

(Photo: Splash)

Mark Ruffalo

Anthony Molinari (left) was Mark Ruffalo's stunt double for the 2013 thriller Now You See Me. Both were spotted during filming in New York City in March 2012.

(Photo: WireImage)

Reese Witherspoon

Just noting: Witherspoon's double, Marny Eng, seen here on the set of Hot Pursuit, doesn't look much like the Oscar-winning actress. Though their dueling petite frames match quite nicely.

(Photo: Instagram)

Liam Neeson

Flanked by his other-me, Florian Beaumont (left), Neeson films scenes for Taken 3 in the Los Angeles River in April 2014. (Photo: Pacific Coast News)

Zac Efron

Efron required a shirtless stunt double for the forthcoming comedy Dirty Grandpa. We'll find out what for when it comes out on Jan. 22.

(Photo: Pacific Coast News)

Robert De Niro

Just because De Niro plays the grandpa in Dirty Grandpa, doesn't mean his character is too old for some daring physical feats. Enter De Niro's stuntman, Rick Avery (right).

(Photo: Pacific Coast News)

John Travolta

While filming the 2015 action film Life on the Line in Vancouver, Travolta is spotted with his bearded body double, Darryl Scheelar.

(Photo: FameFlynet, Inc.)

Margot Robbie

Robbie, who plays comic-book character Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad, is spotted with her doppelgänger double, Ingrid Kleinig, in Toronto in May 2015. Can you tell who's who?

(Photo: Pacific Coast News)

Ryan Gosling

Gosling is seen with his other guy filming Shane Black's upcoming 1970s crime thriller The Nice Guys in Atlanta. His stunt double (foreground, listed as Adam Hart on IMDb.com) was on hand to assist with a scene that involved him falling onto a car.

(Photo: AKM-GSI)

Ryan Gosling (Again)

When you're part of a Gangster Squad, you need a good wheel man. For the 2013 film, Gosling had James Henderson, a longtime stand-in who also worked with Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar. Read our in-depth interview with Henderson here and learn all about what it takes to stand in for a star.

(Photo: James Henderson)

Helen Mirren

Mirren image? This is the British actress's body double, a much younger-looking woman named Fleur van Eeden.

(Photo: Getty/Facebook)

Scarlett Johansson

Black Widow needs some backup! A pregnant Scarlett Johansson used several doubles while filming Avengers: Age of Ultron.

(Photo: Splash/Wenn)

Andrew Garfield

Two parkas, two Spidey suits, one coffee. Garfield and his stand-in, William R. Spencer, were spotted on the set of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in New York City. They're the same height!

(Photo: INFphoto)

Angelina Jolie

In the same double-breasted coat and beanie, Angelina Jolie is seen on the set of Salt in Washington, D.C., with her double, who doesn't look anything like the Oscar winner.

(Photo: Splash News)

Brad Pitt

Pitt's a little taller, eh? The 50-year-old actor, left, was spotted with his double on the London set of The Counselor. (Yeah, there's only one Brad Pitt.)

(Photo: INFphoto.com)

Bruce Willis

Bruce Willis (left) and his stand-in, Stuart F. Wilson, are spotted on location for the 2010 action comedy Cop Out on the streets of Brooklyn.

(Photo: Bobby Bank/WireImage)

Chris Evans

Same outfit. But not the same superhero. Evans (right) hangs out with his stunt double, Sam Hargrave, (and Sebastian Stan, a.k.a. Bucky Barns a.k.a. the Winter Solider, in the background) on the set of Captain America: The Winter Soldier while filming in Cleveland.

(Photo: Splash News)

Dwayne Johnson

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is spotted on the set of 2013's Pain and Gain in Miami with his onscreen doppelgänger.

(Photo: Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Gerard Butler

Whoa! From the beard to the mullet, Butler and his stunt double look like bros. These twinsies were photographed during a motorcycle scene while shooting the 2011 thriller Machine Gun Preacher in Michigan.

(Photo: Pacific Coast News)

Kate Beckinsale

Wait, which one is Kate? Kate Beckinsale (right) on the Toronto set of Total Recall with her totally look-alike stand-in.

(Photo: Splash News)

Megan Fox

Megan Fox chats with her stunt sister on the set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in New York.

(Photo: Splash News)

Quvenzhané Wallis

There's no such thing as a stunt kid. The woman on the left appears to be way more grown-up than Quvenzhané Wallis. The Oscar-nominated child actress and her body double were spotted while filming 2014's Annie in New York City.

(Photo: PacificCoastNews.com)

Taylor Lautner

Lautner and his doppelgänger hang out in between takes in New York City while filming a bike scene for the 2015 action flick Tracers.

(Photo: PacificCoastNews.com)

Chris Hemsworth

Awkward moment? Bobby Holland Hanton (left) and Chris Hemsworth wear the same outfit while filming Thor: The Dark World.

(Photo: FameFlyNet)

Tobey Maguire

Maguire and Chad Cleven — a stand-in who could pass for the actor's cousin — stare in the same direction on the set of Spider-Man 3 in New York City back in June 2006.

(Photo: Bobby Bank/WireImage)

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Set Report: Vanessa Hudgens Gets Her 'Freaks' on With Zombies, Vampires, and Aliens

Vanessa Hudgens in 'Freaks of Nature' (Sony)

Vanessa Hudgens is a self-professed zombiephile who lists The Walking Dead as her favorite show on television. So the 26-year-old actress was in her glory on the Long Beach, Calif., set of Freaks of Nature, a horror-comedy where zombies collide with vampires and aliens. And she was not afraid to document all the actors made-up as flesh-chewing or blood-sucking monsters, either.

"I've taken so many selfies on this movie," she told visiting press of her days on set with the dead. "Every single zombie or vampire I can find, I'm like, 'Selfie time!'"

Formerly titled Kitchen Sink, Freaks of Nature takes place in the fictional, mythical locale of Dillford, Ohio, a small town where humans live in not-so perfect harmony with zombies and vampires, with the three factions warring on every street corner. That is, until an invasion by some hostile extraterrestrials unites them all in a fight for their planet. You could also call it Zombies & Vampires & Ohioans vs. Aliens.

"It's not your average horror [film] though, it's a complete comedy," said Hudgens, who has branched out to edgier fare like Sucker Punch, Spring Breakers, and Machete Kills since graduating from Disney's High School Musical franchise in 2008. "It doesn't take itself too seriously. There's always an aspect of comedy to it." Hudgens called the script, written by Oren Uziel (22 Jump Street), "a breath of fresh air."

"I was like, 'This is either going to be incredible or ridiculously cheesy," she said. "I feel like everyone figured out a [balance] and that you can put everyone together and it just falls into place."

Hudgens with Nicholas Braun in 'Freaks of Nature' (Sony)

Hudgens plays Lorelai, the "token town stoner" who "could care less about what's going on in the world." She has the boys "on a string," including main characters Dag (Nicholas Braun) and Ned (Josh Fadem), and casually dismisses their best girl friend, Petra, played by The Martian star Mackenzie Davis (the zom-com also features appearances by Patton Oswalt, Bob Odenkirk, Keegan-Michael Key, Denis Leary, and Joan Cusack).

"What surprised me about Vanessa is how funny she is," director Robbie Pickering (the 2011 festival darling Natural Selection) told us. "Her instincts as an actor [are] really amazing. We're doing this whole thing where they're about to have sex and a zombie comes crashing through the door. Her screaming through the scene is just so funny. She does play a d--k in the movie, and she's really good." (Her scream, we can attest to from the set visit, is blood-curdlingly strong.)

Pickering explained Lorelia to Hudgens as a like a "young Stevie Nicks," referencing the Fleetwood Mac singer who's been dubbed the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll (though not "a d--k," we must point out). "I loved that, because I'm all about the bohemian-hippie generation," she said. "It kind of lead to this laid back attitude. Right off the bat, I could have not been more excited."

And that was before she saw all the zombie selfies she could take.

‘Freaks of Nature’ opens in theaters Oct. 30. Watch the trailer:

Reporting by Kara Warner

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5 Questions We Have About Tonight’s ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Trailer Reveal

Tonight, we’ll finally get an extended look at Star Wars: The Force Awakens, in the form of a trailer airing during the halftime portion of ESPN’s Monday Night Football. The movie is less than two months away — it opens Dec. 18, soon to be known as National Call-In Sick Day — and so far we’ve seen two teasers, a Comic-Con behind-the-scenes video, and a few mini-teasers for tonight’s trailer. That might sound like a lot, but in fact, director J.J. Abrams has been holding out on us a bit: Little actual information is known about the film’s plot, and there are several key Star Wars characters, both old and new, that we haven’t seen yet. As we gear up for tonight’s big debut, here are a few things we’re wondering about what will Awaken:

1. Will we get a looky-loo at Luke?

To quote Uncle Owen: “Luke? Luuuuke?” The Jedi hero hasn’t turned up in any of the new footage, with the exception of a voiceover cameo and this brief shot from the second teaser, which would appear to feature the robo-limb Luke received after his arm was saber-sawed by Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back:

But other than those brief appearances, we haven’t seen an official full shot of Mark Hamill as Luke in any of the promotional materials — including the new poster. And while plenty of nifty new Force Awakens toys were released last month, none of them feature Luke’s likeness. Will he finally appear in tonight’s trailer? Or is Abrams deliberately keeping the by-now wizened Jedi out of sights until opening day?

2. So what’s this movie about, anyway?

Several official big-picture plot points have dribbled out by Abrams and Co. over the past few months, while plenty of deeply spoilery (and potentially fabricated) story details have been careening around the web ever since Force Awakens began production in 2014. Still, we do know the broad outline of The Force Awakens: Namely, that newcomers Finn (John Boyega), Poe (Oscar Isaac), and Rey (Daisy Ridley) are dragged into an intergalactic battle involving new baddie Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), and that Han, Luke, Leia, Chewie, and the droids are all involved, as well. But we’re still in the dark about the real nitty-gritty stuff: How do Finn and Rey wind up hooking up with Han and Chewie? Where has Luke been all of these years? Are Han and Leia still a hot item? Oh, and…

3. What is that cool planet-destroying thingee on the poster?

Over the weekend, we got our first glimpse of a giant, Death Star-like weapon-planet, thanks to that new poster:

Yet we don’t know what it’s called, where it’s aimed, or who’s running the thing: Is it overseen by Kylo Ren? Or perhaps by First Order big General Hux (played by Domhnall Gleeson)? Or maybe it’s run by yet another villain — one we’ve yet to see. No matter who’s in charge of this mega-weapon, we hope he or she thought about independent contractors while drawing up the blueprints.

4. Will we finally get a glimpse of the new Star Wars characters (and stars) we’ve been hearing about?

The Force Awakens welcomes several big actors to the Star Wars galaxy, including Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o, two-time Oscar nominee Max von Sydow, mo-cap maestro Andy Serkis, and Shaun of the Dead and Star Trek star Simon Pegg. But beyond knowing that Nyong’o’s character is a CGI space pirate named Maz Kanata and Serkis is playing the evil-sounding Supreme Commander Snoke, we have no idea how they figure in the plot or what they look like. Then again, It’s long been rumored that Teedo, the scavenger-dude pictured in the middle of the new poster, is voiced by Pegg — after all, he does look appropriately spaced:

5. Will we learn Rey and Finn’s full names?

This summer, Abrams told Entertainment Weekly that he was deliberately not revealing the new characters’ full monikers (“I will only say about that that it is completely intentional that their last names aren’t public record”). That’s led to speculation that Rey and Finn’s respective lineages could possibly be traced to past Star Wars heroes — perhaps even a Skywalker or a Solo. After all, in the second teaser, we hear Luke say, “The Force is strong in my family … you have that power, too.” We don’t know who he’s addressing, but we’re guessing he ain’t talking to BB-8.

Find out if any of your ‘Star Wars’ toys are worth big bucks by watching the video below:

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We Ranked All 29 Steven Spielberg Movies, from Worst to Best

Steven Spielberg phones home during the making of 1975′s ‘Jaws’ (All photos: Everett Collection)

This story is being featured as part of our "Yahoo Best Stories of 2015" series. It was originally published in September 2015.

When Steven Spielberg’s highly anticipated Bridge of Spies premieres next month at the New York Film Festival, it will mark the latest feature film in the director’s illustrious four-decade-and-counting career (and his fourth collaboration with star Tom Hanks). More than any other filmmaker of the past half-century, Spielberg’s body of work has been endlessly scrutinized, blatantly copied, and obsessively debated for decades.

Spielberg’s latest — about a lawyer tasked with securing the release of a captured American spy in Russia during the Cold War — should likewise inspire similar heated discussion. Whether working in drama, science fiction, fantasy, romance, or horror, Spielberg has exhibited an unparalleled ability to thrill, move, enlighten, and inspire. Moreover, one of the joys of his filmography is arguing about how his films compare to each other.

With attitudes always changing about how his works hold up, and with anticipation for his latest at a fever pitch, we set out to rank his entire big-screen oeuvre — including his contribution to The Twilight Zone anthology but excluding his TV-only movies and episodic small-screen work — from misbegotten misfires to enduring masterpieces. Let the debate begin.

29. Hook (1991)

The one true misfire of Spielberg’s career — one in which the director tipped over into outright self-parody — Hook may be beloved by kids of a certain age, but even nostalgia can’t blind one to the overwrought melodrama and heavy-handed schmaltziness dished out by this continuation of the Peter Pan legend.

Spielberg’s favorite theme is that of absentee fathers — a fixation born from his own experiences living through his parents’ unpleasant divorce — and here, as his umpteenth take on the topic, it’s treated with a gooeyness that makes the entire endeavor seem like an unintentionally comical spoof. Similarly, Robin Williams lays his sentimental earnestness shtick on too thick, playing an adult Peter who’s grown up in the real world to become a stuffy corporate lawyer and who returns to Neverland to save his kidnapped son from Captain Hook — and, in the process, to reconnect with his former, childlike self.

Replete with groan-worthy one-liners and needless plot twists, this saga is endlessly busy, most notably when Peter finally becomes “Pan” and, in celebration, joyously flies about, plays some basketball, and hoots and hollers alongside singing and dancing children. As Tinker Bell, Julia Roberts isn’t completely intolerable, and Dustin Hoffman is periodically spot-on as the dastardly surrogate daddy Hook. No matter — with its tiresome visual gags, cutesy performances, and sludgy sentimentality, it’s the corniest, and most insufferable, father-son story Spielberg ever made.

28. War Horse (2011)

The primary appeal of the original 2007 London stage production of War Horse was its use of a life-sized puppet to present its titular steed. Take that inventive aesthetic gimmick away, however, and you’re left with a cornball affair (based on a 1982 children’s novel) about the constantly intertwining paths of a young boy and his beloved horse in and around World War I — material whose mushiness is amplified by Spielberg’s overly melodramatic visuals and staging.

Headlined by the thoroughly nondescript Jeremy Irvine as the horse’s original owner — one of many humans with whom it comingles, including Tom Hiddleston’s army commander and Benedict Cumberbatch’s major — the film never misses an opportunity to go gaga celebrating the gallant nobility of its four-legged protagonist. Despite Spielberg’s often beautiful imagery, much of it rendered on an impressively grand scale, the horse remains little more than a personality-free center of attention, and this creakily old-fashioned fable remains perpetually mired in a morass of gooey, eye-roll-inducing sentimentality.

27. Always (1989)

Spielberg’s first stab at unabashed romance is a noble failure that saw him embracing his more mawkish instincts. A remake of 1943’s A Guy Named Joe, Always concerns an aerial firefighter who dies during a mission and is then tasked, as a ghost, with setting up his girlfriend with a new pilot. If that sounds both ridiculous and sappy, it plays that way too, with Richard Dreyfuss’s protagonist proving an aw-shucks bore who returns from the dead to invisibly help his former flame (Holly Hunter) get over his death and move on with a young hunk.

Related: 25 Deep-Dives Facts About ‘Jaws’

The director gets decent starring turns from Dreyfuss and Hunter and an amusing supporting performance from John Goodman. But whether it’s Dreyfuss’s afterlife scenes with his guardian angel/boss (Audrey Hepburn) or any of the innumerable moments coated in golden sunshine or heavenly rays of light pouring in through windows, Always works so hard to be moving that it becomes off-putting. After this and Hook, it’s no wonder Spielberg saw fit to temper his treacly instincts, at least for a time, and tackle more substantial and weighty dramatic and action-oriented material in the years to come.

26. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

As maudlin as Always, but mercifully shorter, Spielberg’s contribution to 1983’s Twilight Zone: The Movie anthology film is an illustration of the director unwisely indulging his sappiest instincts. Spielberg’s segment is a remake of the TV show’s 1962 episode “Kick the Can,” about a dreary retirement home whose elderly residents are given a jolt of fresh life when a new tenant (Scatman Crothers) appears on their doorstep. Faced with all these sad sacks, Crothers’s visitor has the residents play a game of “kick the can,” during which they’re magically transformed into their younger, and ostensibly happier, selves.

Crothers’s perpetually grinning magic-man performance comes uncomfortably close to resembling old, ugly African-American stereotypes, and the short’s message about staying young at heart is so trite that it elicits mostly groans. Spielberg’s helming is so insistently poignant — his pillowy aesthetics work overtime to garner an inspirational emotional response — that the effect is off-putting. Lacking any measure of restraint, it exhibits Spielberg’s penchant for sometimes belligerently pulling on viewers’ heartstrings rather than allowing his stories’ pathos to emerge on its own.

25. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

What once was fresh comes off as musty and strained in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the long-awaited fourth vehicle for Harrison Ford’s daring archaeologist Indiana Jones. Nineteen years after The Last Crusade, Ford seems to have lost almost all of the suave, rogue-ish charm that defined his characterization; here, he’s mostly brusque, cranky, and ostensibly annoyed that he has to again perform heroic deeds with his trusty whip.

Skull’s homages to sci-fi B-movies are sporadically stylish and clever, but whatever thrill Spielberg once felt for this franchise has disappeared, along with Ford’s smile, as the centerpiece chases and fights range from the serviceable (Indy’s face-off with a horde of giant ants) to the laughable (Shia LaBeouf swinging through the forest alongside monkeys) to the outright preposterous (the infamous surviving-a-nuke-in-a-refrigerator opening gag). At least Cate Blanchett has a campy blast as a Russian agent intent on finding a mythical, telepathic crystal alien skull; the rest of those involved come across as driven less by inspiration or joy than by a duty to revisit these characters for the benefit of fans.

24. The Terminal (2004)

Loosely inspired by a real-life incident — even though it resonates as counterfeit for most of its runtime — The Terminal affords Spielberg the opportunity to work in a quirkier mode than usual, albeit to largely aggravating ends. Affecting a made-up Eastern European-ish foreign accent that’s in keeping with the film’s general air of phoniness, Hanks plays a foreign traveler who gets stuck at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport after his homeland’s civil war causes his passport to be canceled. Stranded and with nowhere else to go, he sets up temporary residence at the airport, where he’s soon befriending lots of wannabe-colorful regulars, playing matchmaker for an unbearably cutesy duo (Diego Luna and Zoe Saldana), and initiating a preposterous relationship with flight attendant Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Related: Proof That Chris Pratt Is Perfect for Indiana Jones

Despite a meticulously crafted airport set and some occasionally witty direction from Spielberg, there’s a dearth of authenticity to these comic shenanigans, as well as a general lack of verve. Hanks’s lead performance has a few brief moments of wry humor, but like the rest of the action, he mostly comes across as a manipulative construct designed to elicit lame laughs and even lamer, squishier uplift.

23. Amistad (1997)

Well-intentioned but dramatically inert thanks to an abundance of oratory preachiness, Spielberg’s Amistad wants to be for slavery what Schindler’s List was for the Holocaust. But the director’s material isn’t nearly up to that task, playing out as an awkward amalgam of mystery, courtroom drama, and rah-rah political drama.

The story’s jumping-off point is a mutiny aboard a slave ship by a collection of imprisoned Africans (led by Djimon Hounsou) who, after seizing control of the vessel, wind up being captured by Americans, brought to U.S. shores, and then incarcerated (in advance of execution) as runaways slaves. Luckily, Matthew McConaughey’s plucky lawyer, with the aid of Morgan Freeman and Stellan Skarsgård’s abolitionists, are around to come to their rescue, at which point the film devolves into a hoary courtroom battle between the forces of good and evil. Aside from the introductory mutiny sequence, Spielberg’s stewardship is lackluster and lethargic, though worse still, the wealth of noble sermons and one-dimensional types renders it a stolid awards-bait project. (It was nominated for four Oscars but won none.)

22. 1941 (1979)

Spielberg’s solitary attempt at raucous multicharacter comedy, 1941 has all the elements in place for success, including a script co-written by Robert Zemeckis and an all-star cast populated by the likes of Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, John Candy, Robert Stack, and the illustrious Toshiro Mifune (star of Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, Seven Samurai, and Yojimbo, among many other classics). Unfortunately, something doesn’t quite click in this zany story about the insanity that engulfs Los Angeles in the months after 1941’s attack on Pearl Harbor.

In detailing the panic that ensues after a submarine appears off the California coast, Spielberg throws just about everything at the screen, and in great, messy gobs too, as if simply going for more, more, more at every turn will somehow raise the action’s comedic energy to near dizzying levels. Instead, it mainly leaves the film feeling overstuffed and all over the place, its slapstick so slapdash that even its funniest moments — such as Ned Beatty nailing a wreath to a front door as the rest of the house slides off a cliff — are undermined by their sheer excess.

21. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

Spielberg went back to the prehistoric well for this hotly anticipated 1997 effort, and the results are a decidedly mixed bag. On the plus side is Jeff Goldblum, whose sarcastic scientist Ian Malcolm not only makes plain the stupidity of continuing to frolic with dinosaurs, but whose skeptical view of the entire mission — which concerns a trip to a remote island where the park’s dinosaurs are now roaming free — takes center stage.

Goldblum’s starring turn is matched by a few moments imbued with Spielberg’s unparalleled action direction, the best being a scene in which the heroes are trapped in a trailer being accosted by not one, but two T. rexes. Unfortunately, aside from those intermittent highs, concluding with a T. rex rampage through the streets of San Diego, The Lost World mostly comes across as an obligatory work-for-hire gig. Having already fully captured the majestic awe of his ancient beasts in the original film, Spielberg is content to merely serve up the requisite screamy, slam-bang goods and little else, so that it operates as both an admirable showcase for his technical artistry as well as an example of been-here, done-that sequelitis.

20. The Color Purple (1985)

An adaptation of Alice Walker’s acclaimed novel about a black family’s tumultuous 40-year history, The Color Purple was Spielberg’s first attempt at “adult” filmmaking — a transition that proves not altogether smooth. For too much of its runtime, the film takes place in a fantasyland vision of the South that’s substantially removed from the harsh realities of Walker’s book — despite the fact that it doesn’t shy away from the horrific abuse and heartrending circumstances of its heroine Celie (Whoopi Goldberg), who’s twice impregnated by her father before being forced into a nightmarish marriage with a man who demands to be called “Mister” (Danny Glover).

Spielberg’s ability to tug at the heartstrings does pay regular dividends, in part thanks to a commanding lead performance from Goldberg and equally riveting supporting turns from Glover and Oprah Winfrey. However, there’s a sense that the director’s sensibilities are a bad fit for his material, and at times, the preponderance of syrupy melodrama is almost suffocating.

19. Munich (2005)

An examination of Israeli-Palestinian relations that’s bogged down by incessant speechifying, Spielberg’s Munich is the less successful of his historical collaborations with Tony Award-winning playwright Tony Kushner (the other being Lincoln). A semifictionalized account of the Israeli government’s response to the murder of 11 of the country’s 1972 Olympians by Palestinian gunmen, which involved hunting down and killing those responsible, this action-packed drama focuses on a Mossad assassination squad led by Eric Bana’s conflicted leader, who finds himself wracked by parental abandonment issues (per Spielberg tradition) as well as torn between his loyalty to family and nation.

Spielberg’s staging of Bana and his men’s executions is razor sharp, none better than an amazingly taut sequence involving a bomb, a telephone, and a young girl. Such centerpieces evoke the material’s ambivalence about the efficacy of murderous retaliation far better than the script’s “very important” conversations, which leadenly lay out ideas about government-sponsored eye-for-an-eye justice, and a democratic country’s responsibility to protect itself by whatever means necessary. Making a plea for peace even as it argues that fighting one’s enemies is often necessary, the film winds up uneasily straddling its own political divide.

18. The Sugarland Express (1974)

Spielberg’s first proper theatrical effort is this Badlands-ish tale of a 25-year-old woman (Goldie Hawn) who breaks her husband (William Atherton) out of jail so the two can reclaim their foster home-assigned child. To do this, they kidnap a state trooper (Michael Sacks), hijack his car, and set out on a rambling odyssey through Texas that attracts the attention of a cop (Ben Johnson) and his innumerable deputies, as well as media coverage that turns the couple’s misadventure into a tabloid sensation.

With its sociocultural commentary making it a kindred spirit to Billy Wilder’s 1951 classic, Ace in the Hole, Spielberg’s film is a ramshackle affair, veering wildly in tone and often placing too much emphasis on tire-screeching action instead of on character development. Still, at the age of 28, his virtuoso directorial skills are on considerable display even at this early stage, with his camera spinning, lurching, and careening about with a high-wire vitality that amplifies his caustic, goofy satire about the fractured American family and the country’s cult of celebrity.

17. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Spielberg won his second (and, to date, last) Best Director Oscar for his World War II drama about a U.S. Army Rangers squad — led by Hanks’s captain — searching for a paratrooper (Matt Damon) in 1944 Europe. Much of the film’s acclaim, and enduring reputation, stems from its depiction of the chaos and madness of the Omaha Beach invasion, which Spielberg and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski shoot in a frenzied, disorienting style that’s been routinely aped ever since. (See Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, etc.)

The concussive impact of that opening salvo is so great, however, that it obscures the uneven melodrama that follows as Hanks and his ragtag band of men (Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, and a terrible Edward Burns) traverse the countryside, talking about life back home and the awfulness of war when not engaging in occasional skirmishes with enemy forces. Aided by a lead Hanks performance that fails to succumb to the slushier inclinations of Robert Rodat’s script, but undermined by bookending present-day, cemetery-set scenes that are about as subtle as a rocket launcher — as well as the thoroughly clunky climactic encounter between Hanks and Damon’s titular private — Ryan is an uneven epic that’s sometimes harrowing and other times creaky to the point of falling apart.

16. War of the Worlds (2005)

Spielberg’s take on H.G. Wells’s classic tale is, for the most part, a fantastic alien invasion blockbuster, and unsurprisingly stands as the sixth-biggest box-office earner of his hit-laden career. Focused on Tom Cruise’s divorced New Jersey dock worker, who must protect his children (Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin) after angry extraterrestrials emerge from the ground to wreak havoc on civilization, this sci-fi film is bolstered by sterling Spielberg set pieces, from the initial appearance of the tripod-looking aliens to a later, cabin-set encounter between Cruise, Fanning, and Tim Robbins’s less-than-completely-sane survivor.

War’s scenes of widespread destruction purposely evoke the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and it’s a fearsome, far-less-hopeful vision of intergalactic visitors than those proffered by E.T. and Close Encounters. With Spielberg returning to his favorite theme (father-son separation and reconciliation) and Cruise holding his own amid the director’s skillfully staged pandemonium, War of the Worlds manages to consistently keep you on the edge of your seat — at least until its conclusion cheats so egregiously in order to end things on a happy note that it almost makes you wish the aliens ultimately won.

15. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

As if responding to complaints that Temple of Doom was too bleak and nasty, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is an archaeology adventure cast in a far sunnier, more Raiders-ish mold. From Indy’s search for another mythical artifact (the Holy Grail) to his clashes with villainous Nazis, this third go-round deliberately tries to align itself with the franchise’s initial installment — a fact that occasionally leaves it feeling like a wan rehash. Nonetheless, if it never achieves its predecessors’ highs, it has its fair share of superb Spielberg-orchestrated moments, most notably a sequence in which Indy tracks down a convoy protected by a panzer tank while on horseback.

Moreover, Last Crusade benefits from the participation of Sean Connery as Indy’s father, a Holy Grail expert who’s kidnapped by the Nazis and whose repartee with Ford’s spelunking hero is marked by endless bickering and the elder Jones’s habit of condescendingly referring to his son as “Junior.” Even when the film feels like it’s going through familiar motions (replete with John Rhys-Davies’s and Denholm Elliott’s return to the series), Ford and Connery’s witty back-and-forths enliven this sturdy actioner. More than any of his other overt efforts, Last Crusade is Spielberg’s most successful comedy.

14. Empire of the Sun (1987)

Though one of Spielberg’s least commercially successful efforts, Empire of the Sun is one of his most evocative and affecting. Originally a project intended for Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago auteur David Lean — whose style Spielberg evokes in his juxtapositions of small-scale humanity and large-scale conflict and chaos — this adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s novel (written by famed playwright Tom Stoppard) charts the ordeal of a young British boy living in Shanghai who is separated from his parents after the Japanese invade following their attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and must struggle to survive the war on his own.

Eventually befriending an American ship steward (John Malkovich) who’s now a prisoner of war, Spielberg’s young protagonist, Jim (Christian Bale), turns out to be a figure of adolescent resilience and courage throughout Spielberg’s sweeping drama, which exhibits an intimate compassion for, and understanding of, its main character’s physical suffering and — more moving still — emotional turmoil. Pinpointing the cost of war through the prism of one boy’s unbelievable journey, Empire is a film that presages Schindler’s List and Munich, all while featuring a debut big-screen performance from a 12-year-old Bale that foreshadows his own superstardom to come.

13. Duel (1971)

Initially made for TV and then expanded for a theatrical release, Duel remains both a rip-roaring genre film and a canny warm-up for Jaws. Spielberg’s stripped-to-the-bone feature “debut” has a simple plot: In his car, a California businessman (Dennis Weaver) passes a big-rig truck, and for that oh-so-minor offense, he’s subsequently terrorized to the breaking point by the monolithic vehicle. That the driver of the villainous truck is never seen merely amplifies the sense that Weaver’s everyman is being pursued by some unspeakable, primal evil, and Spielberg gets great mileage out of a bevy of set pieces in which his protagonist narrowly avoids a grisly roadside fate.

While Duel’s characters are thin to the point of one-dimensionality, the director’s vision of a desolate desert American West — all dusty roads, empty gas stations, and scorching sun beating down on cars’ hoods — is as haunting as his high-octane action is nerve-wracking.

12. The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

It may not have sparked the 3D motion-capture animation revolution it seemed intent on pioneering in 2011, but The Adventures of Tintin — made in collaboration with The Lord of the Rings mastermind Peter Jackson, whose rumored sequel has yet to materialize — is a visual marvel that functions as a globetrotting for-younger-kids companion piece to his Indiana Jones series. With Jamie Bell supplying the voice and mo-capped body for the famous French journalist-cum-sleuth Tintin, the film charts its hero’s quest to uncover the truth about a famed sunken ship and the mysterious treasure it supposedly held — a rollicking mission that leads him from Brussels to the Moroccan desert to points beyond.

Related: 10 Spielberg-Spawned Nightmare Images from the ‘80s

Buoyed by a superb cast that includes Andy Serkis as the drunken Captain Haddock and co-screenwriter Edgar Wright’s favorite duo, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, as bumbling cops Thomson and Thompson, it’s a family-friendly blast from start to finish, replete with a continuous-take chase sequence through a bustling port city that — regardless of the fact that it was created with a computer, and not a physical camera — is one of the most visually imaginative and impressive moments in the entire Spielberg canon.

11. Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Cat-and-mouse thrillers don’t come much more lively — or surprisingly moving — than this undervalued 2002 gem about the real-life story of Frank Abagnale (Leonardo DiCaprio), who in the ‘60s posed as a Pan Am pilot (and a doctor, and a prosecutor) in order to carry out a check-forging scam that netted him millions. Hot on Abagnale’s trail is Hanks’s FBI agent Carl Hanratty, whose hunt for the wily criminal is energized by fleet, fluid direction by Spielberg, who treats his material as equal parts thriller, comedy, and character study.

With regard to that last point, Catch Me If You Can returns Spielberg to one of his enduring themes, strained father-son relationships, via Frank and his dad (a magnificent Christopher Walken), who loses his wife and wealth after being caught committing tax evasion. Their dynamic, which has echoes of Spielberg’s own experiences growing up in a broken home, proves to be the emotional centerpiece of this otherwise lighthearted romp that exudes period style (never better than during its Saul Bass-echoing Kuntzel+Deygas title sequence) and a delightfully modern sense of whip-smart humor.

10. Jurassic Park (1993)

Following the disappointing commercial/critical performance of Hook, Spielberg roared back to the top of the cinematic mountain with this monster mash, whose offspring (i.e., this past summer’s Jurassic World) continue to rule the box-office landscape. A return to the creature-feature terrain of 1975’s Jaws, Jurassic Park delivers adrenalized thrills while also doubling as a cautionary tale about the folly of man’s science-enabled ambition. Working from Michael Crichton’s bestseller, Spielberg’s film revolutionized CG special effects, especially with its speedy velociraptors and rampaging T. rex, which receives an unforgettable introduction via a cup of water trembling from his mighty footsteps.

Far more than its cutting-edge computerized wizardry, however, Jurassic Park thrives courtesy of Spielberg’s expert storytelling, his adventure paced with pinpoint precision for maximum excitement, and his main characters — played by Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Goldblum, and Richard Attenborough — crafted in nuanced three dimensions. While its predecessors may up the ante in terms of dino-spectacle, none can match the anticipation generated by its opening scenes of the protagonists entering the park’s immense gates, the terror of the T. rex’s rearview mirror-spied pursuit of a fleeing Jeep, or the goose bumpy wonder of Spielberg’s first vista of the park’s plains overrun with all manner of long-extinct beasts.

9. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

For the follow-up to 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spielberg and producer George Lucas went dark — so dark, in fact, that (along with the Spielberg-produced Gremlins from that same year), they drove the Motion Picture Association of America to create the PG-13 rating. While its level of violence and bloodshed initially struck some as off-putting, Temple of Doom finds Spielberg tapping into a grim, ugly vein in a way that he never had before (or has since). From scenes of child abuse to the infamous heart-ripped-out-of-a-living-human-sacrifice centerpiece, the film thrusts Indy into a hellscape of cultish madness. There’s a rugged electricity to the way Spielberg orchestrates his fedora-wearing hero’s pain and anguish, which begins early with a sterling Shanghai nightclub opening and carries through to Indy’s climactic showdown against a horde of angry villains on a rope bridge suspended high above a rocky river.

To be sure, some of Temple of Doom’s characterizations don’t quite pass PC muster, and Kate Capshaw’s performance as Indy’s argumentative love interest is shrill. But rooted in twisted torment and the ever-present threat of death, it’s the Indiana Jones outing that feels most unique and dementedly alive.

8. Minority Report (2002)

The superior of Spielberg and Cruise’s two team-ups is this forward-thinking sci-fi actioner based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, in which Cruise is part of a futuristic Washington, D.C., “Precrime” police unit that, working on the premonitions of three psychics, apprehends and convicts people before they’ve committed their crimes. Once Cruise’s cop is targeted for arrest, he goes on the lam in order to clear his name, and Spielberg proves at the top of his game orchestrating a series of chase sequences through high-tech locales.

While the film somewhat falls apart at the end thanks to one too many twists, its preceding vision of the future (created, in part, with the input of a team of futurists) is both striking and, as every passing year shows, prescient — from its holographic, touch-screen technology to its self-driving cars to its personalized shopping mall advertisements that specifically target consumers. Minority Report offers an eerily believable glimpse at what our world may soon look like and also boasts out-there set pieces — a pursuit that requires Cruise to leap between automated moving vehicles and a beautifully orchestrated sequence involving a blind, post-surgery Cruise hiding from creeping spider robots — augmented by Spielberg’s superlative style.

7. Lincoln (2012)

Led by a titanic Daniel Day-Lewis performance as the 16th president of the United States, Lincoln is that rare period epic — one that’s almost exclusively dominated by conversation, reflection, and debate. More stunning still is the near-constant dramatic electricity it generates from that talk, all of it surrounding President Abraham Lincoln’s 1865 work to pass the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, in the House of Representatives.

Based on the book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Kushner’s screenplay dives deep into the office politics and backroom wheeling and dealing entailed by Lincoln’s mission, and as the president endeavors to secure the necessary votes required to ratify the measure, Spielberg uses his camera to subtly express, through static compositions and unassuming camera movements around his bevy of interior locales, the various push-pull dynamics driving, and complicating, this momentous moment in the nation’s history. Spielberg’s direction has rarely been more scrupulously composed and assured, and though the film often threatens to lionize its subject to an excessive degree, its focus on Lincoln’s loneliness and self-doubt helps keep this portrait fixated on the man more than the myth.

6. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

For his first venture into science fiction, Spielberg fashioned this remarkable study of human curiosity and obsession. As an Indiana husband and father who, after an encounter with a UFO, becomes increasingly gripped by visions of a towering mountain, Dreyfuss is a paternal figure who represents Spielberg’s familiar hang-ups about his own MIA father, as well as a proxy for the single-minded, big-dreaming Spielberg himself.

More than almost any of Spielberg’s other works, the film captures the awe-inspiring wonder, optimism, and terror of discovering that there’s something else — something larger, something mysterious — out there, and when Dreyfuss’s character carves a model of his coveted mountain (Wyoming’s Devils Tower) out of mashed potatoes, it also locates the way such feelings can prove crazily overwhelming. Culminating with a human-extraterrestrial encounter that involves director Francois Truffaut and a five-tone musical phrase that remains one of the most iconic in cinema history, it’s a film about the extraordinary that, like the best science fiction, is really about our own everyday relationships, emotions, and lives.

5. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

A.I. Artificial Intelligence was a marriage of sorts between the director and the late Stanley Kubrick, who had long worked on adapting its source material (Brian Aldiss’s 1969 short story Super-Toys Last All Summer Long) before handing the project over to Spielberg ahead of his 1999 death. Hewing closely to Kubrick’s ideas but imbued with Spielberg’s own thematic preoccupations, A.I. has a title that recalls E.T. but, in other ways, proves a far darker fable about the perils of childhood and the way in which kids’ identities are shaped by their relationships with their parents.

Drenched in luminous light by regular Spielberg cinematographer Kaminski, this futuristic story about an abandoned robot boy (Haley Joel Osment) on an odyssey to discover who he is and where he comes from — and, in a nod to Pinocchio, to perhaps become “real” — blends fairy-tale wonder and sci-fi nightmarishness to hypnotic effect. Traversing an otherworldly landscape populated by all manner of potentially untrustworthy souls, not to mention Jude Law’s wanted-for-murder pleasure-bot Gigolo Joe, it’s a film whose expectations were so high upon initial release (Spielberg and Kubrick!) that it was probably destined to underwhelm audiences. Fourteen years later, however, it resounds as one of Spielberg’s very best.

4. Schindler’s List (1993)

Winner of seven Academy Awards, including the first (long-delayed, but justly deserved) Best Director prize for Spielberg himself, Schindler’s List was a turning point in the auteur’s career, insofar as it definitively proved that he was a master dramatist as well as pop-blockbuster storyteller. Incisively adapted by Steven Zaillian from Thomas Keneally’s nonfiction book and shot in gorgeously stark black and white by Kaminski, Spielberg’s Holocaust drama charts the heroic, clandestine efforts of German businessman Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson, in a towering performance) and his Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern (a phenomenal Ben Kingsley) to save as many Jews as possible from the Nazis’ gas chambers.

Gripping and horrifying, uplifting and devastating in equal measure, it’s a film that refuses to shy away from the unspeakable horrors perpetrated by the Third Reich and yet manages, against all obstacles, to locate a sliver of hope amid consuming tragedy. Difficult to endure but nonetheless must-see viewing, and featuring the breakthrough big-screen performance of Ralph Fiennes as monstrous SS guard Amon Goeth, it’s Spielberg’s most epic, and perhaps also his most singularly important, work to date.

3. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Spielberg’s reputation as the reigning king of American movies was cemented with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which, upon its 1982 release, became the biggest box-office hit in history — a title it took from Star Wars and was taken from it by the director’s own 1993 smash Jurassic Park. Revisiting the topic of alien-human contact that he’d first explored with Close Encounters — except here from a far more childlike perspective — Spielberg’s film charts the loving bond formed between a young boy named Elliott (Henry Thomas) and a stranded interstellar visitor with a taste for Reese’s Pieces and a soul-deep yearning to reunite with his family.

Conveying an evocative sense of the California suburbs circa the early ‘80s and setting up many of the familial and individual-versus-authority dynamics that would repeatedly manifest themselves in later Spielberg works, E.T. is an overwhelmingly touching portrait of friendship — and the sacrifices it often necessitates — that also taps into a universal sense of adolescent fear, loneliness, anxiety, and astonishment. No matter how many times you’ve seen it, controlling your tears when Elliott and E.T. take flight on his bicycle or finally say farewell to each other is an exercise in futility.

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

The first collaboration between Spielberg and friend/Star Wars mastermind Lucas was an ode to the swashbuckling serialized stories of their youth, and the results were nothing short of extraordinary. Raiders of the Lost Ark (its title later changed to include “Indiana Jones and” for franchise-unifying purposes) is the ideal action-adventure film, full of nonstop humor, romance, suspense, and jaw-dropping set pieces, all revolving around an irresistibly charming rogue.

From the classic opening boulder sequence and the supernatural finale of awesome, old-school face-melting effects to his incessant, contentious banter with Karen Allen’s feisty Marion Ravenwood, Ford’s archaeologist is a peerlessly noble, wisecracking hero. Cutting a daring figure in his trademark fedora and matching leather jacket, his trusty bullwhip always at the ready, Indy is Spielberg’s most memorable protagonist, a man compelled by both a sense of obligation to history and an arrogant refusal to let others (much less villainous Nazis) best him at his own trade. While Indy’s exploits continued in a series of sturdy sequels, his maiden 1981 quest — in which he races the Nazis to acquire the fabled Ark of the Covenant — stands the test of time as a near-perfect piece of exhilarating entertainment, as well as an exemplary example of Spielberg channeling childhood cinematic loves into something at once reverent and innovative.

1. Jaws (1975)

The film that truly created the summer movie season as we know it, and in the process set the template for the modern mainstream blockbuster, Spielberg’s adaptation of Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel — about the appearance of a great white off the coast of fictional New England vacation town Amity — is not only his greatest achievement, but also one of the great American films of the last half-century.

A terrifying tale that continues to dissuade people from dipping their toes in the ocean, it’s a classic not only because of its capacity to scare, but also because it features a trio of iconic performances (from Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider, and the incomparable Robert Shaw) that allow it to resonate first and foremost as a character-study-cum-man-versus-beast-battle. In particular, Shaw’s ominous monologue about his experience aboard World War II’s doomed USS Indianapolis is arguably the finest scene of Spielberg’s career, eliciting almost unbearable terror from its sustained focus on its three characters’ faces. Toss in the now-legendary fact that Spielberg inadvertently benefited from his mechanical shark’s malfunctions — they forced him to keep his aquatic villain offscreen as much as possible, thereby further amplifying tension — and you have a masterpiece that, 40 years later, has lost none of its pulse-pounding power.

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'Room' Wins Toronto Film Festival's People's Choice Award

By Kristopher Tapley

The Toronto Film Festival threw a bit of a curve ball Sunday, announcing that Lenny Abrahamson’s Room had claimed this year’s People’s Choice Award. The prize, often an awards season harbinger, has gone to films such as American Beauty, Slumdog Millionaire, The King’s Speech and 12 Years a Slave in the past.

The bestseller adaptation began its journey at the Telluride Film Festival two weeks ago, where it was one of the most popular films of the fest. It is in a prime position to be A24’s first best picture nominee to date, with Brie Larson a sure-fire leading actress contender and 8-year-old Jacob Tremblay a strong supporting actor possibility.

Most eyes were on Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight for the award, as it is a broadly appealing, thoroughly satisfying drama with stars. It did, however, win the second runner-up designation.

See More: Jacob Tremblay, 8-Year-Old Star of ‘Room,’ on Most Harrowing Scene, Befriending Brie Larson

Other films that played the fest and built awards season buzz included Black Mass, Brooklyn, The Danish Girl and Truth. But Room wins this round.

Elsewhere, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah’s Black won Toronto’s Discovery programme award; short film prizes went to Maman(s) and Overpass; Andrew Cividino’s Sleeping Giant won best Canadian first feature; the best Canadian feature award went to Stephen Dunn’s Closet Monster; 24th annual FIPRESCI honors were awarded to Marko Skop’s Eva Nová and Jonás Cuarón’s Diesierto; Sion Sono’s The Whispering Star won the NETPAC award for world or international premiere; and the new juried Platform prize went to Alan Zweig’s Hurt.

Finally, Ilya Naishuller’s Hardcore won the People’s Choice Midnight Madness award, while Evgeny Afineevsky’s Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom won the People’s Choice documentary award.

Related: 15 Early Oscar Contenders Coming Out of Toronto, Telluride and Venice

Watch the trailer for ‘Room’:

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Watch Jamie Lee Curtis and Anna Chlumsky's 'My Girl' Reunion

By Desiree Murphy

Watch Jamie Lee Curtis and Anna Chlumsky’s Adorable My Girl ReunionThere was an epic reunion on the red carpet at the Emmys on Sunday.

ET caught up with Anna Chlumsky at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, where she revealed she had a run-in with her My Girl co-star Jamie Lee Curtis.

Related: Anna Chlumsky Still Practices Exercises Learned on 'My Girl’ Set

“And your co-star Jamie Lee Curtis is presenting tonight, have you seen her?” ET’s Leanne Aguilera asked Chlumsky.

“Just ran into her! I haven’t seen her in so long, and yeah I’m so happy,” the 34-year-old Veep actress, who was wearing a cream Bibhu Mohapatra gown, said. “I was so happy to see her. But of course there’s like a frenzy here so we’re going to get together elsewhere sometime… on another day.”

Chlumsky and Curtis on the red carpet

Well, looks like another reunion took place sooner than she expected. As ET was chatting with Chlumsky about the new season of Veep, Curtis was walking by, and quickly jumped in on our interview.

“She’s amazing. She’s taught me everything I know,” Chlumsky said, giving the 56-year-old Scream Queens star a kiss on the cheek

Related: Jamie Lee Curtis Pays Tribute to her Mom on 'Scream Queens’

In the 1991 comedy drama, Chlumsky played tomboy Vada Margaret Sultenfuss, an 11-year-old girl who faced many emotional challenges – her mother died giving birth to her, her father operated a funeral service out of their home, her best friend was a boy (Macaulay Culkin) and she had a crush on one of her teachers, to name a few. Curtis played Shelly DeVoto, a make-up artist at the funeral home, who Vada confided in.

Chlumsky is a nominee at this year’s Emmys for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on the HBO show. Veep received six nominations including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.

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'Pan' Review: An Uninspired 'Peter Pan' Remake That Never Takes Flight

Hugh Jackman in ‘Pan’ (Warner Bros.)

By Todd McCarthy

In possession of a title that, for many critics, will undoubtedly seem like a self-fulfilling prophecy, Pan hatches an entirely unnecessary origins story for a wonderful tale that has already been held up to the light from many different angles. Oddly repositioning Peter Pan’s emergence to the World War II era and employing a barrage of sophisticated special effects to produce no magic nearly as enchanting as Tinkerbell flickering back to life in the musical stage version, this strenuous undertaking was obviously made in the hope that the global audience has an unending appetite for anything set in Neverland. But just as P.J. Hogan’s similarly grandiose and ambitious Peter Pan surprisingly flopped in 2003, this one may also be headed for a low-altitude flight.

Overweight and uninspired Peter Pan films have succeeded before, most notably the 1991 Hook, one of Steven Spielberg’s worst efforts. But that had half of Hollywood’s biggest stars at the time onboard, whereas here the roster of main characters is too winnowed down and the chemistry doesn’t take; the actors all try hard to keep the energy up but never get convincingly in synch and, with the exception of Peter, the characters don’t reasonably comport with one’s pre-existing images of them.

Related: ‘The Martian’: TIFF Review

The idea driving Jason Fuchs’ script, which, in the credits’ delicate phrasing, is “based on characters introduced by J.M. Barrie,” is that of a young London orphan boy’s discovery of his true identity and proper home at a location on no known map. The key elements are his abandonment at birth by his bereft mother and subsequent assistance rendered by one James Hook, a rambunctious young adventurer with two good hands, not one, and not a trace of malevolence about him.

First come hijnks of a mild sort at London’s Lambeth Home for Boys, the scenes made tolerably amusing by the tyrannical methods (and ultimate comeuppance) of the fantastically hideous old overseer Mother Barnabas (an extensively made-up Kathy Burke). Peter (12-year-old Australian Levi Miller) and partner in crime Nibs (Lewis MacDougall) delight in laddish mischief. But the former gets more than he bargained for when pirates, led by the elegant and eloquent Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman, all but unrecognizable at first with his inky goatee, Village People mustache and shaved head, adorned sporadically with a swept-back bee-hive hairpiece), swoop in on an old sailing ship from a sky otherwise filled with Nazi bombers, kidnap the tykes and set a course for Neverland.

Blackbeard’s nefarious dominion, which for a moment or two calls to mind a lite version of Joe’s Citadel in Mad Max: Fury Road, appears threatened by the increasing scarcity of that most precious of natural resources, pixum, from which the power of flight, among other things, is obtained. Upon arrival at the tropical island, Peter is immediately put to work, along with countless other boys, digging for fairy dust, as it has also been called, in an enormous pit; anyone who has seen the extraordinary photographs by Sebastiao Salgado of Brazilian gold quarries teeming with poor workers will immediately recognize the inspiration for director Joe Wright and production designer Aline Bonetto in the look of this setting.

Also working in the mines is a fellow named James Hook (Garrett Hedlund), who rematerializes as an Indiana Jones clone, takes Peter under his wing and, along with another cohort, the relatively useless Smee (Adeel Akhtar), commandeers another flying ship, proceeding to outfox Blackbeard at nearly every turn.

From here on, the film becomes a seriously extended chase that possesses hefty CGI-propelled dynamics but absolutely no suspense and a very limited sense of fun. The shots of pirate-era sailing ships careening through the air like so many outer space vehicles become repetitive and are made worse for lack of defining purpose. Meanwhile, the invented threats to the heroes (assorted brigands, ferocious big birds, the inevitable crocodile) come and go like momentary distractions in a theme park ride. Equally arbitrary is the appearance of not one, not two but three mermaids impersonated byCara Delevingne.

Then there’s the problem of Tiger Lily, originally written by Barrie as a Native American princess, a role considered stereotypical and racist on the one hand and inviolate, for casting purposes, on the other. Because an actress of color was not selected, Rooney Mara’s winning of the part was widely protested when announced and is bound to catch renewed flak again now. Wright has attempted to blur, if not erase, the issue by making the natives a thoroughly multi-cultural lot not dominated, as far as one can tell, by any one race. Be that as it may, Mara is made up and garbed in quasi-”Indian” fashion and, regardless of whatever rationalizations may be advanced, she was cast for just one reason: that she’s a star name, and a very talented one at that. One could actually complain about her casting here from a different point of view, by arguing that she should have rejected the part because it’s not a good one and is unworthy of the other films she’s made since breaking through in The Social Network five years ago.

As for perennial star-of-the-future Hedlund, he definitely looks to be doing an Indy audition here, right down to the almost identical wardrobe, and he brings both an appealing rambunctiousness and a divertingly theatrical vocal approach to his adventurer character. Unfortunately, the part is written in one-note, can-do, nothing-can-stop-me mode, so his antics become wearisome, albeit no moreso than everything else in the film. Mystifyingly, there is no foreshadowing of the man Hook will one day become.

So what fun there is falls to Jackman, who gives the grand old man of pirate characters plenty of fresh and unusual wrinkles and emerges better than the others simply by virtue of playing a two-dimensional, rather than one-dimensional, figure. He makes Blackbeard into a contradictory Janus-like presence, a man of great humor and intelligence one moment and utter ruthlessness and brutality the next; he’s certainly never to be underestimated or trifled with. This is perhaps Jackman’s film role most suggestive of his less widely known skills as a legitimate theater star.

The effects and production values are high-end, and there’s a bit of fun provided by Jackman incongruously breaking into song with the likes of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Blitzkrieg Bop.” After a certain point, one is thankful for small favors in such a bloated affair.

Watch the trailer:

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8 Lost Disney Animated Movies and Why They Never Got Made

The enormous success of Disney’s Frozen — the top-grossing animated film of all time — is also a testament to the value of perseverance. Walt Disney himself first examined the possibility of bringing Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen to the screen in animated form as far back as 1937, and his studio made multiple attempts to make a movie version, decades before Frozen finally succeeded in 2013.

But Frozen is just the most obvious example. For every animated movie Disney has produced over the studio’s 80-year history, it seems like there were another two or three that got lost along the way. Below you’ll find eight unmade projects from the Disney vaults. Could there be another Frozen-style billion-dollar blockbuster among them? Read on and see.

‘Chanticleer’ Concept Art (Disney)

Chanticleer (1938-1960) After the success of his first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, in 1937, Disney came across Chantecler, a well-loved stage play by Cyrano de Bergerac author Edmond Rostand, based on a classic European fable about a self-regarding rooster who believes that his crowing makes the sun to rise. An adaptation went into development, but the animators found it difficult to make the title character sympathetic. Another French folk character, Reynard the Fox, was introduced as a villain (and the spelling was altered to Chanticleer), but the story didn’t come together. With the advent of World War II, the project was scrapped, though there were several failed attempts to revive it in the late 1940s. It was brought back again in the early 1960s, when animators Ken Anderson and Marc Davis found the old concept art and attempted to retool the story as a Broadway-style musical comedy. But with Disney focused on the construction of what would become Walt Disney World in Florida, the decision was made to scale back on animation production, and the studio moved forward with The Sword in the Stone instead. (Animator Don Bluth eventually made a poorly received version of the story outside Disney,1992’s Rock-a-Doodle.)

‘Don Quixote’ concept art (Disney)

Don Quixote (1940-present) It’s probably appropriate that Cervantes’s classic tale of a deluded hero on a hopeless quest has thwarted so many filmmakers over the years. Director Terry Gilliam famously has been on a 15-year quest to film the story of an elderly man who believes he’s a knight fighting giants (actually windmills). But that’s nothing compared to the 75-year saga of Disney’s attempt to make an animated feature out of it. Work initially began in 1940, but despite some lovely Velásquez-inspired artwork, the film was scuppered by the war and the poor box office of Pinocchio and Fantasia. A second version, based on Richard Strauss’s music, was begun in 1946 but didn’t get very far. A third was started in 1951, but no one could figure out how to slim down Cervantes’s epic or make its unhinged hero sympathetic. The project spent a few decades dormant, but in the late 1990s, French animators Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi began working on a new version, which got close to going into production but was eventually deemed too dark and adult for the studio. We could yet see a Disney Don Quixote though: The studio has been developing a live-action version with Johnny Depp since 2012.

‘The Gremlins’ concept art (Disney)

The Gremlins (1942) Roald Dahl and Walt Disney were two of the most beloved children’s entertainers of the 20th century, and the two actually worked together near the beginning of their careers. Dahl — the writer behind such classic books as James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — had been an ace fighter pilot before becoming a diplomat in Washington during the closing years of the World War II. While there, he penned a story for children called The Gremlins, revolving around mythical creatures that RAF pilots blamed for mechanical failures. He sent it to his government for approval and was later surprised to find that film producer Sidney Bernstein, then at the Ministry of Information, had sent it to Walt Disney, who wanted it to make it into a feature animated propaganda film. Work on the movie progressed quite far, including concept art, but it was eventually curtailed by questions over who owned the copyright to the characters (Disney feared that the British government had a claim) and by the length of time it would take for the film to be finished. A book — Dahl’s first — was published by Disney in 1943, but the film never happened, and it was only a reprinting a decade ago that helped to unearth the project again.

‘Musicana’ concept art (Disney)

Musicana/Fantasia 2006 (1980/2001-2006) Walt Disney always planned multiple sequels to Fantasia, his 1940 classical music-themed feature. But aside from Fantasia 2000 15 years ago, all the other attempts have been thwarted. The first to try was Musicana in the late 1970s, headed up by studio veteran Mel Shaw. Intended to have a focus on world music, the film would have included a jazz sequence with animated frogs set to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong; an African segment called The Rain God; and a Mickey Mouse-starring equivalent to The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor and the Nightingale (the latter being one of the first projects for future Pixar head John Lasseter). But Disney sadly passed on the project in the end (though a 10-minute documentary about it is now on YouTube). A similar idea — of a more global, diverse Fantasia — was again attempted for a film in the early 2000s, code-named Fantasia 2006. But again, the move away from hand-drawn animation scuppered the project, though several of the segments, including the Salvador Dali-inspired Destino and the Hans Christian Andersen-derived The Little Match Girl, saw the light of day at festivals or on home-video releases.

Toots and the Upside-Down House (1996-1997) In the 1990s, director Henry Selick looked like one of Disney’s new leading lights: The stop-motion expert had gone from cult hit The Nightmare Before Christmas to the well-received James and the Giant Peach. But things came undone with what would have been his third project for the Disney. Selick was set to direct an adaptation of Toots and the Upside-Down House, a well-loved children’s book by Carol Hughes about a young girl who discovers an upside-down world of fairies in her ceiling and helps them battle Jack Frost. The film was set to be a mix of stop-motion, CGI, and live-action, and the first major children’s film from Harvey Weinstein’s Disney subsidiary, Miramax, with future Ocean’s Eleven director Steven Soderbergh co-writing the screenplay. In his book Getting Away With It, Soderbergh documents his struggle with the adaptation, ultimately concluding that the book’s conceit wouldn’t work on film. But in the end, it was budget issues that killed the movie. (Incidentally, Soderbergh isn’t the only A-list indie auteur to have a brush with Disney: Brick director Rian Johnson, soon to direct Star Wars Episode VIII, wrote a film called The Prince and The Pig for the studio in the mid-’00s.)

‘My Peoples’ concept art (Disney)

My Peoples (1999-2003) The 2000s were among the bleakest times in the history of Disney animation. While Pixar went from hit to hit, their owner as of 2006, Disney, put out a string of films that at best were undervalued (Lilo & Stitch, The Emperor’s New Groove) and at worst, entirely forgettable (Meet the Robinsons, Brother Bear). The decade could have looked quite different if My Peoples had made it to the screen. The brainchild of Mulan director Barry Cook, the film was a loose adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost and originally titled The Ghost and the Gift. (In the project’s short life, it was also known as Once in a Blue Moon, Elgin’s Peoples, and A Few Good Ghosts). It followed the Romeo and Juliet-style love story between the children of two feuding Appalachian families and the ghost-possessed dolls that help them get together. The film planned to use a mix of hand-drawn and CGI animation and even got as far as the casting stage, with Dolly Parton, Ashley Judd, and Lily Tomlin all signing on. But despite the promise of a low budget (just $45 million), the plug was pulled six months later in favor of the ‘safer bet’ of Chicken Little.

‘Fraidy Cat’ concept art (Disney)

Fraidy Cat (2003-2004) As the animation medium has developed, we’ve seen it move into all kinds of different genres. Disney alone has tackled everything from knockabout comedy (The Emperor’s New Groove) to the Western (Home on the Range) to the superhero picture (Big Hero 6). In the mid-2000s, audiences almost got quite a different genre, with one of the most promising of the unmade Disney pictures, Fraidy Cat. The premise — a Hitchcock-style thriller about a pampered cat forced to go on the run after being framed for the kidnapping of a neighbor pet — had been in the works since the late 1990s. It gathered steam in early 2003, when two of the studio’s biggest directors, Ron Clements and John Musker (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin), came onboard the project, which would have been their first CGI film. It’s an irresistible premise, and the concept art (which included an homage to the famous crop duster scene from North by Northwest) looked great. But after a string of disappointments (including Clements and Musker’s Treasure Planet), studio higher-ups were nervous about the project, believing that kids wouldn’t get the Hitchcock feel and that it didn’t have enough merchandising potential. The studio shut development down, and Clements and Musker left Disney, though they later returned for 2009’s The Princess and the Frog and next year’s Moana.

Yellow Submarine (2010-2011) Disney scored a coup in 2007 when it announced the creation of ImageMovers Digital, a new venture focusing on digital performance capture animation from Robert Zemeckis, the Forrest Gump director who’d helped to pioneer the format with his hit The Polar Express. Three movies were planned: a version of A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey playing Scrooge and the ghosts; a kids’ book adaptation called Mars Needs Moms; and a 3D remake of the Beatles’ trippy animated classic Yellow Submarine. Once work was complete on his Dickens adaptation, Zemeckis secured the rights from the Beatles (16 songs would have been included) and got close to production. He’d even cast the Fab Four, with Peter Serafinowicz (Spy), Dean Lennox Kelly (Shameless), Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride), and Adam Campbell (Epic Movie) capturing Paul, John, George and Ringo, respectively. But disagreements over the budget and reservations over the mo-cap style that many audience members found creepy, caught in the so-called “uncanny valley,” were exacerbated when Mars Needs Moms performed disastrously in early 2011 — taking in just $38 million worldwide on a $150 million budget. Disney passed on the Beatles movie soon after, and though Zemeckis planned to take it to other studios, he eventually dropped it too, saying, “It’s probably better not to be remade.”

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Weekend Box Office: 'Maze Runner' Is Scorchin', and Johnny Depp's 'Black Mass' Brings in the Mobs

Jacob Lofland, Alex Flores, and Dylan O’Brien in a scene from ‘Maze Runner: Scorch Trials’

By Pamela McClintock

Fox’s YA film adaptation Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials won the North American box-office race with $30.3 million from 3,796 theaters, while Johnny Depp’s violent crime drama Black Mass delivered the actor a needed win with $23.4 million from 3,186 locations as awards season gets underway.

Scorch Trials came in just behind the first film, which debuted to $32.5 million on the same weekend a year ago. The good news is that the sequel is pacing ahead of the first overseas.

From Warner Bros., Black Mass, starring Depp as infamous Boston’s Irish-American mobster Whitey Bulger, is counting on a long run throughout awards season. One question mark is the adult drama’s B CinemaScore; many expected the R-rated title to get a better grade after a whirlwind tour on the fall festival circuit and generally positive reviews from critics.

Warners has had plenty of luck with fall adult dramas in the past. Martin Scorsese’s The Departed opened to $26.9 million in early October 2006 on its way to grossing $132.4 million domestically, while Ben Affleck’s Argo launched to $19.5 million in October 2012 on its way to earning $136 million (both films took home the Oscar for best picture). Black Mass, directed by Scott Cooper, cost $53 million to produce.

Related: ‘Black Mass’: Venice Review

Depp, who stars opposite Joel Edgerton and Benedict Cumberbatch, needed to make a strong showing after suffering a string of box-office disappointments, including Mortdecai and The Lone Ranger. Black Mass skewed notably older, with nearly 90 percent of the audience over the age of 25, and male (56 percent). It also overperformed in Boston, where Bulger ruled before going on the lamb.

Watch an interview with the cast of ‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’ below:

Maze Runner, rated PG-13, relied on younger consumers, with 65 percent of the audience under the age of 25. Females made up 53 percent ticket buyers.

Wes Ball returns in the director’s chair, along with actors Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario and Patricia Clarkson. Giancarlo Esposito, Barry Pepper and Lili Taylor are among those joining the franchise. The $61 million sequel picks up immediately after the events in the first film, as Thomas and his fellow Gladers try to survive the Scorch, a desolate, dangerous landscape, while continuing to battle the W.C.K.D.

Related: ‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’: Film Review

Black Mass competed with Baltasar Kormakur’s adventure Everest for males. In an unusual rollout, Everest only debuted in 545 Imax and premium large-format theaters a week ahead of its nationwide launch. Placing No. 5, the action-adventure film grossed $7.6 million for a location average of $13,867.

Everest — which, like Black Mass, made its world premiere at the 2015 Venice Film Festival — stars Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, Sam Worthington,Keira Knightley, Emily Watson and Jake Gyllenhaal. Working Title, Cross Creek Pictures and Walden Media partnered with Universal on the $55 million film, with Cross Creek and Walden co-financing.

Internationally, Everest opened in 36 markets this weekend, earning an estimated $26.5 million, including first-place finishes in Mexico, Argentina and Australia.

Watch an interview with the ‘Black Mass’ cast below:

Paramount also entered the fray this weekend with faith-based drama Captive, starring David Oyelowo and Kate Mara (the studio acquired the film this spring after working with Oyelowo on Selma). Captive is only playing in 806 theaters, earning an estimated $1.5 million and putting it at No. 10.

The $2 million film is based on the true story of Ashley Smith and Brian Nichols, who took Smith hostage in her own apartment. During the ordeal, Smith turned to Rick Warren’s inspirational book, The Purpose Driven Life, for guidance to startling results for both herself and Nichols. Smith later wrote a book, Unlikely Angel.

Related: 'Everest’: Venice Review

At the specialty box office, two high-profile awards contenders debuted: Denis Villeneuve'sacclaimed crime-thriller Sicario, starring Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin; and Edward Zwick’s Pawn Sacrifice, starring Tobey Maguire as chess champion Bobby Fischer and Liev Schreiber as his Russian rival, Boris Spassky.

Lionsgate launched Sicario in six theaters in New York and Los Angeles, where the movie proposed for a screen average of at least $65,000, the top showing of the year so far.

Pawn Sacrifice, rolling out in 33 locations, opened to $206,879 for a theater average of $6,269 for Bleecker Street.

Watch an interview with the ‘Sicario’ cast below:

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Ernie Hudson to Appear in New 'Ghostbusters'

Ernie Hudson in 1984’s ‘Ghostbusters’ (Columbia Pictures)

Ernie Hudson will appear in Sony’s new Ghostbusters movie, insiders tell The Hollywood Reporter. An original ghostbuster, who commented early on that an all-female cast “would be a bad idea” and later told THR of the line-up of actresses — Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon — “Four fiercely funny, foxy, females busting ghosts … phenomenal!,” was seen on the film’s set on the last day of shooting on Saturday. It is unknown if he is reprising his Winston Zeddemore character or not. Sony, which is producing the film, declined to comment. Hudson was a part of the original 1984 cast and appeared in the 1989 sequel, starring alongside Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis. THR reported in early August that Murray will appear in the reboot. The Paul Feig-directed project will hit theaters on July 22, 2016 and also stars Chris Hemsworth.

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Should Drugs Be Legalized? 'Sicario' Cast Weighs In

Sicario tackles the brutal drug wars between Mexican cartels and U.S. authorities as seen through the perspective of a naive FBI agent, played by Emily Blunt, and doesn’t shy away from the deadly stakes. So when Yahoo Movies sat down with the cast, we had to ask them: Should drugs be legalized?

As you can see in the clip above, Blunt, perhaps preempting any PR gaffes, stayed mum. But her co-stars, Josh Brolin (who plays the federal official who recruits Blunt’s agent into a stealth task force) and Benicio Del Toro (a mercenary who guides the team through hostile land) didn’t shy away from answering.

“I think it’s awesome!” joked Brolin, who has admitted to using drugs and has done time in alcohol rehab. “Of course I’m going to get in trouble [for saying that]. But I always get in trouble.”

Brolin then provided some nuance, explaining that legalizing drugs would reduce the power of the cartels and limit the violence in the region.

“I agree,” said Del Toro, cautioning that he was for blanket legalization. “Not every drug is the same.”

The film, directed by Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners), premiered at Cannes and most recently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. It opens in theaters Oct. 2.

Watch: Emily Blunt Prepares for Gunfight in Exclusive ‘Sicario’ Clip:

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Brie Larson Will Play Billie Jean King in a ‘Battle of the Sexes’ Movie

Brie Larson at the Toronto International Film Festival

by Justin Kroll

Rising star Brie Larson is in talks to play tennis legend Billie Jean King in Fox Searchlight’s Battle of the Sexes, Variety has learned.

Steve Carell is currently set to play Bobby Riggs in the sports drama. Larson would replace Emma Stone, who had to pass on the role due to a scheduling conflict.

Little Miss Sunshine filmmakers Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris will direct from a script by Simon Beaufoy. Danny Boyle is producing under his Decibel Films banner along with Christian Colson and his company Cloud Eight.

The story of King and Riggs became a zeitgeist event back in 1973, when the 29-year old No. 2 ranked female star rose to the challenge and beat the 55-year old retired former Wimbledon champion Riggs.

Battle of the Sexes is one of three projects revolving around the infamous tennis match, the other two being the HBO and Playtone pic Proof that has Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti co-starring and Chernin Entertainment and Gary Sanchez’s Match Maker with Steve Conrad writing and Will Ferrell attached to play Riggs.

Larson, who first broke out with indie hit Short Term 12, is flying high right now after her film “Room” debuted to Oscar buzz at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals. She also has the female lead in Kong: Skull Island and just wrapped the Ben Wheatley drama Free Fire.

She is repped by WME and Authentic.

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Florida Theater Drops Scientology Film 'Going Clear' After Pressure from Church

By Pamela McClintock

A movie theater in Clearwater, Florida — home of the world spiritual headquarters of the Church of Scientology — has dropped plans to play Alex Gibney’s documentary Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief after being pressured by the church, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

However, residents of Clearwater, including former members of the church, still will be able to see Gibney’s Scientology movie when HBO Documentary Films re-releases it in theaters. The AMC Woodlands Square 20 in the neighboring town of Olsdmar, some 12 miles from Clearwater, has agreed to pick up the documentary and play it on behalf of HBO Films.

Going Clear was released in only a few theaters on March 13, 2015 before airing on HBO on March 29, scoring the HBO’s biggest premiere ever for a documentary. Gibney’s film, based on Lawrence Wright’s book of the same name, offers a damning view of Scientology, including the role such celebrities as Tom Cruise and John Travolta play in furthering the church’s efforts. It won three Emmys last Saturday, including outstanding documentary film.

Cobb Countryside 12, which had planned to play the movie, informed HBO Documentary Films in recent days that it wouldn’t play Going Clear after allegedly receiving threats from the church, according to sources. It’s unclear what those threats were and to whom they were directed. HBO declined to comment and Cobb could not immediately be reached for comment. A representative of the Church of Scientology did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In most cases, major theater chains won’t play a film that is available on other platforms. AMC has made exceptions for some specialty films, agreeing to rent, or “four wall,” an auditorium. Sources say that is the case with Going Clear.

As awards season gears up, HBO Films is re-releasing Going Clear in roughly 20 theaters in select markets, beginning with New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco. Washington, Miami and other major cities on Sept. 25. On Oct. 2, it will book additional theaters in other markets, including AMC Woodlands Square.

Beginning in the 1970s, the church began establishing a stronghold in Clearwater, a beach city on the west coast of Florida not far from Tampa, referring to it as their “Flag Land Base.” In 2013, Scientology leader David Miscavige led the dedication ceremonies of the Flag Building, a multimillion-dollar cathedral.

The Church of Scientology responded vehemently to the film, complaining to film critics about their reviews and denouncing the filmmakers and their interviewees.

Watch: Scientology takes on ‘Going Clear’

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Diverse Films Won the Box Office This Summer, and That Shouldn't Come as a Surprise

‘Straight Outta Compton’ (Jaimie Trueblood/Universal Pictures via AP)

By Kevin Lincoln

Across the cinematic landscape, the story of last weekend was M. Night Shyamalan’s return to something like form. The much-ballyhooed director of films like The Sixth Sense and, in descending order of release and watchability, The Village, The Happening, and After Earth, put out The Visit, a found-footage horror flick with a SHYAMALAN TWIST that mainly had to do with it being not terrible. But despite these Pyrrhic accolades and the flawless metanarrative of its director’s comeback, Shyamalan’s movie did not win the box office. Instead, The Perfect Guy, a thriller produced by a Sony division called Screen Gems, took the weekend. That it did so — and that the industry didn’t expect it — should not come as a surprise.

For five weeks in a row, the top box-office weekend performer has been a film featuring a predominantly African-American cast. First it was Straight Outta Compton, one of the biggest overachievers of the year, which opened to a massive $60 million and then held the No. 1 spot for three weekends in a row. Then it was War Room, a faith-based massively profitable release from distributor TriStar that, as of September 15, has grossed $41 million on a tiny $3.5 million budget. Although none of these movies faced much in the way of competition over the last month or so —The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Hitman: Agent 47, American Ultra, The Transporter Refueled, Sinister 2, and No Escape all opened to less than $15 million — the consistency of this success has been confirmation of a trend that’s been revealing itself for years now: When presented with programming that acknowledges they exist, nonwhite and faith-based audiences show up.

Related: The Perfect Guy Is a Fatal Attraction Ripoff That Never Gets Crazy Enough

“I’m interested in the point where it’s no longer a surprise, where it’s not described as overperforming and we aren’t wondering where this came from,” Tommy Oliver, one of The Perfect Guy’s producers, told me. “It’s like Bridesmaids, where it was like, ‘We can put a female as the lead of a movie and people want to go see it: surprise!’ It is what it is, but people want to see movies with diverse casts, in both ethnicity and gender. If you look at any number of films over the past couple of years, people go see these movies.”

Certainly, Screen Gems’ recent track record bears that out. Since 2009, the production company has released five films that featured mostly black leads. All five — Obsessed, Think Like a Man, About Last Night, Think Like a Man Too, and No Good Deed — grossed at least twice their budgets domestically, according to data from IMDb, and the most successful, Think Like a Man, made $92 million on a budget of only $12 million. And they didn’t kill because of quality, at least if the critics are your measuring stick: The five films have an average Tomatometer rating of 34.6 percent.

Sanaa Lathan in ‘The Perfect Guy’ (Sony/Screen Gems)

Meanwhile, Heaven Is for Real, which Screen Gems co-produced with TriStar — the producers and distributors of War Room — made $91 million on a budget of $12 million. The filmmakers behind War Room, Alex and Stephen Kendrick, have a growing track record of turning small budgets into big money: Their previous two films, Courageous andFireproof, made a combined $68 million on $2.5 million spent. And these might not even be the most noteworthy details from September’s receipts: The same weekend War Room won the box office, a Spanish-language animated movie called Un Gallo Con Muchos Huevos ($5.3 million budget) opened to $3.5 million, the ninth-best showing in the country. Let’s repeat that: A Spanish-language animated movie was the ninth-highest-grossing movie in the United States.

“I don’t know if anyone took a spreadsheet and said, ‘If we create a faith-based movie with an African-American cast, it’ll do business,’” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak, a company that measures entertainment viewership. “But these movies are appealing to an underserved audience, and if you build the right movie, the audience will come out.”

Related: The 2015 Oscars Best Actress Category Is Stacked

According to Rentrak’s research, it’s not just black moviegoers who are seeing these movies. Straight Outta Compton’s audience has only been 39 percent black. War Room’s has been 30 percent black and 48 percent white. It isn’t like nonwhites were cast and all of a sudden white people stopped going to the theater. Moviegoers across the racial spectrum are seeing these films.

The Perfect Guy takes it a step further. While so far the thriller’s viewership has been 58 percent black, it’s been even more significantly female, with women making up 64 percent of the audience. Now, certainly the dynamics of incorporating strong female actors, writers, and directors into mainstream Hollywood filmmaking is not the same as creating a more racially diverse industry. But historically, women have still been an underserved audience, particularly considering that the Motion Picture Association of America’s research from 2014 that shows women make upjust over half of theater audiences, and when they are offered substantial fare, like Bridesmaids and the well-reviewed Amy Schumer vehicleTrainwreck, they tend to respond far beyond analysts’ expectations. Hollywood’s never been an industry that moved fast; in this case, it’s still glacially adjusting to the clear evidence that nonwhite, non-male audiences are desperate for films that represent them in a realistic way.

“There’s still room for improvement,” Oliver said. “Most of that room lies in stories where there are black people in the film but it’s not a black film. There’s a place for movies that are intrinsically black, and there’s nothing wrong with those movies, but there’s space for other movies where they’re not necessarily telling the black experience — they’re telling stories about people, and some of those people happen to be black. The Perfect Guy, they could’ve been any color, but they happen to be black — they’re not hiding that they’re black, but it’s not a black story.“

Factor in international audiences, where an increasing amount of the industry’s bread is buttered, and it’s obvious that diverse casts aren’t just good for our humanity. That, more than any altruistic feeling, is what will make studios shift their behavior: Every movie with a significant budget needs to perform overseas now, not to mention with as wide an audience as possible at home.

“There’s money to be made,” Oliver said. “It’s not about, 'Let’s do this group a favor, let’s give them a handout.’ It’s business.”

Read more:  Tom Hiddleston Gives You His Blessing to Have an Orgy, Talks Hank Williams and High-Rise Enough With the Queer and Trans Films That Are Actually About Straight People

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Vin Diesel Battles an Ancient Evil in New 'The Last Witch Hunter' Trailer

By Graeme McMillan

“And so it begins.”

Happiness is just an illusion in the latest trailer for Vin Diesel’s supernatural action movie The Last Witch Hunter — but an illusion that you easily can be pushed out of (literally).

Diesel plays Kaulder in the movie — the eponymous final remaining witch hunter who, cursed with immortality by a vengeful witch, has spent centuries ridding the world of their kind. Unfortunately for him, the witch who cursed him (Julie Engelbrecht) is back from the dead and out for payback.

Related: Vin Diesel Hints at ‘Last Witch Hunter’ Sequel

As the trailer above — debuted by IGN — makes clear, Diesel isn’t working alone in his quest; alongside Game of Thrones’ Rose Leslie, he has both Elijah Wood and Michael Caine on his team, all but guaranteeing any spooky apocalypse will be postponed for a while yet.

Directed by Breck Eisner, The Last Witch Hunter will be released Oct. 23. 

Watch Vin Diesel break down the first trailer for the movie: