Jacob Hall

Regal Cinemas is betting big on Spectre being a good movie. More specifically, they are betting that you, being the devoted James Bond fan that you are, will think Spectre is a good movie. Scratch that. They are betting on you thinking Spectre is a great movie, a movie worth seeing over and over and over again while it’s in theaters. That’s why they’re offering you the chance to buy an unlimited pass that will allow you see the 24th 007 adventure as many times as you’d like.

Summer is officially over, September is here, and the movies stink. While the big releases and heavy-hitters of the fall movie season make the festival rounds or rev up their marketing campaigns, audiences have to tough it out and wade through a lot of not-so-good movies. Welcome to September. It’s like this every year. Get ready for an excruciating month at the movies and at the box office.

The final Harry Potter novel was full of grand battles and grander revelations, but it also featured a tiny detail that radically changed the saga’s timeline. Although J.K. Rowling’s first book in the beloved series was published in 1997 and the final book in 2007, a date on a gravestone revealed that the events of the final novel take place in 1997. That means that Harry Potter himself was born in 1980. Which means that he’s 35 in 2015. And according to Rowling herself, that makes today, September 1, 2015, the first day of school at Hogwarts for Harry’s eldest son.

Hey, did you know there was going to be an Inside Out sequel short included in the film’s Blu-ray and DVD release? We didn’t either! But there’s going to one and the first clip from the short, titled “Riley’s First Date,” is online and everything.

All of Peter Jackson’s Middle-Earth movies have pushed the boundaries of the PG-13 rating, but it looks like the extended edition of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies may be the Halfling that breaks the Oliphaunt’s back. It seems that the longer version of the trilogy capper, which is returning to theaters this October, has been slapped with an R-rating by the MPAA.

At the time of this writing, early estimates for the weekend box office have Ant-Man edging out Pixels for the top spot in this week’s top 10. That could change. With less than $1 million separating the films, Pixels may very well slide into first place tomorrow, winning one very close competition. But even if it does claim ultimate victory, it doesn’t change the fact that Pixels’ opening weekend is a massive disappointment and another nail in the coffin of Adam Sandler’s career.

Universal was already bathing in its Furious 7 and Jurassic World money Scrooge McDuck-style before Minions opened this week. Now the studio is looking at its third truly massive hit of the year, a run that feels nearly unprecedented. Universal already released two of the biggest movies of all time within the past four months, and now it’s looking like it may have three.

Here’s how crazy this weekend is: Pixar’s Inside Out had the biggest opening for an original, non-sequel of all time...and it still came in second to Jurassic World’s second weekend. There’s literally nothing to ashamed of here. Sure, it may be the first time a Pixar movie hasn't opened in first place, but the only reason it didn’t open in first place is because it was dueling 2015’s greatest juggernaut. These two are worthy opponents and both are victors.

By the time Kung Fu Panda 3 hits theaters, it’ll have been five years since the previous adventure of Jack Black’s Po and his martial artist animal buddies. For the kids weened on the first two movies, that’s practically a lifetime. Considering the diminishing creative (but certainly not financial) returns between Kung Fu Panda and Kung Fu Panda 2, will anyone care about this movie when it ultimately lurches into theaters? Consider that question as soon as you click play on the trailer above.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return to the movies after his stint as governor of California has been filled with ups and downs, good films and bad. But one thing has remained consistent – the living legend has started showcasing a savvy online presence and a self-aware sense of humor that has re-endeared him to the digital world. Now, he’s combined all of that into a YouTube video that, while it exists solely to promote a charity, is more entertaining than any of the Terminator Genisys trailers so far.

Tomorrowland may have taken the top spot at the box office in its debut weekend, but things still look awfully grim for the George Clooney sci-fi vehicle. Not only did the film open far below expectations, it faced serious competition in Pitch Perfect 2, which continued to kick aca-butt in its second weekend. And it wasn’t the only new release to under-perform, with the Poltergeist remake also falling short of early predictions. If you were a new release this weekend, things were awfully rough.

Ellen Albertini Dow, the character actress best known for her scene-stealing performance in the 1998 Adam Sandler comedy The Wedding Singer, passed away yesterday. She was 101 years old.