Author: Alex Billington

The 2024 Academy Awards are just over a week away - the ceremony is on March 10th. Leading up this big Hollywood event, many talented poster designers have been creating their annual set of poster designs for the 10 Best Picture nominees. However, there is one design that stands out above all the others year after year - the Golden Statue illustrations created by the designer Olly Gibbs. He creates a unique statue design for each of the 10 Best Picture nominated movies and adds lots of elements & tiny details from each one into the illustration. Gibbs started this in 2014, and has been creating new designs for the set of Oscar nominees each year. It's similar to the incredible set of Golden Statues created by the designer Olly Moss for the 85th Academy Awards (I used to have this poster framed on my wall). In celebration of the upcoming 2024 Oscar ceremony, Olly Gibbs has unveiled his set of 10 statues for the 10 nominees from 2023. Take a closer look... Three of my favorite Oscar designs included below ...

"Why are you doing this to us?!" "Because you're here." Lionsgate has revealed the first official trailer for a horror sequel titled The Strangers: Chapter 1, arriving in theaters starting this May. It's the next sequel in The Strangers horror series, but it's also the start of a brand new trilogy, sort of a re-imagining but using the same premise of creepy, masked people showing up at a home. Madelaine Petsch & Froy Gutierrez star as a couple who come into contact with the three psychopathic masked strangers while on a roadtrip through Oregon. Serving as the third film in The Strangers series created by Bryan Bertino, it's also the first installment of a new trilogy of standalone sequel films, where Chapter 1 will follow a similar premise to the the first film and takes place in the same continuity as the first two installments. This is directed by action master Renny Harlin, best known for Die Hard 2 and Deep Blue Sea, among many other action classics. The cast also includes Gabriel Basso & Ema Horvath. Looks crazy scary! ...

"If you tried to bring back Freaknik, it wouldn't be what it was." Hulu has unveiled an official trailer for a documentary film titled Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told, streaming at the end of March. This is premiering at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival in the "24 Beats Per Second" section before it hits the web. From Executive Producers Luke Campbell, Jermaine Dupri and 21 Savage, and masterfully crafted by Mass Appeal & Swirl Films, Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told is a celebratory exploration of the boisterous times of Freaknik, the iconic Atlanta street party that drew hundreds of thousands of people in the 1980s and 1990s, helping put Atlanta on the map culturally. What began as a Black college cookout, soon became known for lurid tales of highway hookups and legendary late-night rowdy parties that ultimately led to the festival's downfall. At its height, Freaknik was a traffic stopping, city-shuttering, juggernaut that has since become a cult classic. Enjoy this unbelievable and honest look back at Atlanta's most legendary street party. Trailer (+ poster) for P. Frank Williams' ...

"Not fake, it's real!" Bleecker Street has revealed a brand new trailer for a 2024 re-release of a lost indie cult classic called Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival as the latest Zellner Brothers creation, their fifth feature film at the time after Kid-Thing in 2012. It played at tons of fests, became a cult hit, but barely got a proper release and hasn't been available to watch on VOD for a while. In honor of the film's 10th anniversary, and with the wild return of the Zellner Brothers glorious Sasquatch Sunset this year, it's landing in theaters again in March before the Sasquatches arrive in April. Rinko Kikuchi stars as Kumiko, a jaded Japanese office worker who discovers a hidden copy of Fargo (1996) on VHS, believing it to be a treasure map indicating the location of a large case of money. She travels to America in search of the loot and gets lost wandering around North Dakota. We covered the film 10 years ago (first look and trailers) and it's good ...

"What makes them come home?" "They love their home so much, they'll die trying to get back to it." That's a bit on the nose with this story. Paramount+ has revealed an official trailer for a movie titled Little Wing, a drama based on a true story about a moody young girl struggling with her parents and their divorce. It's set to premiere streaming on Paramount+ in March, skipping theaters entirely. The story follows 13-year-old Kaitlyn, who is dragged into the world of pigeon racing while she deals with her parents' divorce and the impending loss of her home. The film is based on Susan Orlean’s 2006 New Yorker article, and centers on a teen who tries to solve her mother's financial problems by stealing a rare bird, only to become unexpected friends with its owner, a man named Jaan. Brooklynn Prince stars as Kaitlyn, with Brian Cox as Jaan, Kelly Reilly, Che Tafari, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jeanine Jackson, & Simon Kahn. Prince giving a nice angsty, rebellious teen performance, and Cox looks like a wholesome pal for her to ...

"This could bring about the end of human kind..." Sony Pictures has revealed one more official trailer for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, aka "Ghostbusters 2", the next sequel to 2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife - which was a reboot of the franchise that also acts a sequel to the original two Ghostbusters films of the 80s. Landing in theaters worldwide in late March in just a few more weeks. When the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new & old must join forces to protect their home while also saving the world from a second Ice Age. (First teaser here + main trailer here.) This time City of Ember, Poltergeist, A Boy Called Christmas director Gil Kenan is taking over from Jason Retiman, though Reitman is still involved as producer & writer. The full ensemble cast in Frozen Empire features Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Celeste O'Connor, Logan Kim, and the old 'Busters including Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Bill Murray, Annie Potts. There's not much new footage in this trailer that wasn't ...

"You're chickening out, aren't you?" GKids has revealed the full US trailer for a French animated film titled Chicken for Linda!, set for a US release in theaters in April. This hand-painted animation first premiered in the ACID sidebar at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival last year, with stops at the Annecy, Thessaloniki, and Torino Film Festivals last year as well. A loving mom, Paulette, who feels guilty after unfairly punishing her daughter Linda and would do anything to make it up to her. She sets off to make a "chicken with peppers", even though she doesn't know how to cook. The two talented directors on this film "unleash a unique visual marvel of hand-painted animation with bright, color-blocked characters, and a story that is an intoxicating blend of slapstick comedy, musical, and family drama, as Paulette and Nina ultimately confront the grief of an unspoken tragedy, and the meal that could finally bring them closer together." Featuring the voices of Mélinée Leclerc, Clotilde Hesme, Laetitia Dosch, and Estéban. Winner of the César Award and the Lumières Award for Best ...

"It has long been believed that Leap Days don't have to play by the rules of real time." Chauncey says it's true... Do you believe? Blumhouse has revealed this Leap Day promo spot for Imaginary, which is opening in theaters nationwide next week. From Blumhouse, the genre-defining masterminds behind Five Nights at Freddy's and M3gan, comes an original horror idea that taps into the innocence of imaginary friends – and begs the question: Are they really figments of childhood imagination or is something more terrifying lying just beneath...? A woman returns to her childhood home to discover that the imaginary friend that she left behind is very real and very unhappy that she abandoned him. Starring DeWanda Wise as Jessica, Tom Payne, Taegan Burns, Pyper Braun, Veronica Falcon, and Betty Buckley. This teddy bear monster does look genuinely terrifying, which is the main allure of this horror movie. This spot is being released on February 29th, Leap Day 2024, to promote the release one week from now. Will you be watching next week? Here's the creepy new "Leap Day" promo trailer ...

"She's different, she's beautiful, she's smart, she's funny." Prime Video has revealed the first official trailer for a film titled Música, marking the feature directorial debut of actor / filmmaker Rudy Mancuso. This will be premiering at the upcoming 2024 SXSW Film Festival in March, with a theatrical unveiling, before it launches on streaming on Prime Video in early April for everyone else. Música is a coming-of-age love story that follows an aspiring creator with synesthesia, who must come to terms with an uncertain future, while navigating the pressures of love, family, and his Brazilian culture in Newark, New Jersey. Mancuso was raised in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, the son of an Italian-American father and a Brazilian mother. He lived in Rio de Janeiro for a while and speaks Portuguese fluently, and also really does have synesthesia. "From the colorful mind of Rudy Mancuso comes Música," starring Camila Mendes, Francesca Reale, and J.B. Smoove. This is an energetic and eclectic trailer! I dig the creative editing mixed with the Brazilian beats. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Rudy Mancuso's ...

"If he keeps riding, he's gonna die one way or another." Focus Features has revealed their own brand new 2024 trailer for The Bikeriders, the latest film from acclaimed filmmaker Jeff Nichols. This premiered at the 2023 Telluride & London Film Festivals last fall, but was pulled from the 2023 schedule during the big strikes. 20th Century sold off the distribution rights and Focus Features picked it up instead, resetting it for a June 2024 opening at the height of their summer movie season. Here's their new trailer for it (watch the other one here). The Bikeriders is a furious drama following the rise of a fictional 1960s Midwestern motorcycle club through the lives of its members. The impressive ensemble cast, most of whom did their own riding on many period-accurate motorcycles, features Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, Boyd Holbrook, and Norman Reedus. It's described by critics as an "evocative & masculine piece of storytelling." Looks like it'll be worth the wait! Gritty, ruthless, and greasy. Here's the brand new 2024 trailer for Jeff Nichols' The ...