Inside the 2027 Release Calendar and Each Studio's Upcoming Movie Slate

Happy Friday, folks!

Last night, I saw David Ayer’s survival drama Heart of the Beast starring Brad Pitt, and I’ll be writing about that movie next week once the review embargo lifts. Paramount must be happy with how it’s tracking, as the studio just announced a World War Z sequel with Pitt from Conclave director Edward Berger, whom he recently worked with on A24’s The Riders. So much for Berger’s Jason Bourne movie at Universal…

This is the second character Pitt has revisited lately, following the new Cliff Booth movie, and you have to wonder if he’ll ever revisit the role that made him a star — that of David Mills (“M-I-L-L-S, fuck off!”) in Se7en. What is that guy up to? I’m not sure I want to know, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t morbidly curious…

Tonight, I’m off to see Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil, which is shaping up to be the best-reviewed video game movie of all time. It’s also looking at an opening weekend north of $60 million. It’ll mark three straight hits for Cregger following Barbarian and Weapons, and he’ll make his next film, The Flood, for Warner Bros., which will release it in August 2028.

This week, I caught up with a pair of April releases from Neon — Genki Kawamura’s Exit 8, which played like a Japanese version of Backrooms, and Steven Soderbergh’s art forgery caper, The Christophers, starring Michaela Coel and Ian McKellen. I liked both overall, and I’m glad I watched them, but I didn’t walk away from either one doing cartwheels, as I felt both were anticlimactic and ultimately missing… something.

I’ve watched half of the Lizzie Borden series on Netflix, and I’ll have more to say about that one once I’ve finished it, but I can recommend a trio of comedy specials if you need a laugh this month — Jared Freid’s The Family Plan is now streaming on Netflix, and if you grew up in a loud Jewish family as I did, you’ll appreciate it that much more. It’s hilarious, as is Jeremiah Watkins’ new YouTube special, Crazy Pizza, which has already racked up more than 100,000 views on YouTube in just a few short days. I also watched Sam Morril’s upcoming Netflix special Incorrect, and I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say about it, but it’s safe to say that Morril remains a fantastic writer, and he doesn’t disappoint.

Finally, I watched Jeff Cameron’s new HBO documentary short, Miller Night Football, which chronicles comedian Dennis Miller’s unlikely arrival in the Monday Night Football broadcast booth alongside Al Michaels and Dan Fouts back in 2000, when ABC Sports was desperate to reinvigorate the franchise. It’s a fun 41-minute look back at the controversy surrounding Miller’s presence on-air and the impact it had on Monday Night Football, where many of his high-minded references sailed over the heads of the average viewer. Eventually, ABC replaced him with some guy named John Madden. The project is the latest from HBO and NFL Films following last year’s Emmy-nominated documentary short The Shuffle, and be sure to stay tuned through the credits for Dana Carvey’s uncanny impression of Miller and his uniquely sarcastic cadence.

On the news side, John Leguizamo has signed on to play the villain in Miami Vice ‘85 opposite Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler. I love Leguizamo, and I love this part for him — he’ll make a great villain, and he deserves the gig after his sure-to-be Oscar-nominated role in The Odyssey. But it is funny that a guy who has loudly called for Latino actors to stop playing drug dealers and bad guys uses his clout from The Odyssey to take on what I assume will be a very similar role. Money talks, folks…

Speaking of which, Noah Baumbach made headlines this week when he left his longtime home at Netflix and signed a first-look deal at Warner Bros., where he and wife Greta Gerwig are hoping to get a Barbie sequel off the ground, though Margot Robbie has been dragging her heels.

I’m told that Baumbach’s movies have become very expensive — White Noise cost roughly $100 million!! — especially compared to the number of views (and awards) they brought in (or didn’t). I’m told that Netflix execs eventually grew tired of him and that the streamer barely even countered when they learned that WB had made him an offer.

Ouch!

And now for some congratulations…

First, to Sony Pictures, Tom Holland, and director Destin Daniel Cretton, whose Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now the highest-grossing movie of all time at the domestic box office. That’s in terms of dollars, not tickets sold, of course. And inflation is a bitch. Star Wars: The Force Awakens sold about 35 million more tickets. But it’s a brand new day, and Spider-Man’s name is now in the record books, which is all that really matters.

Congrats to the scrappy team behind the indie horror movie The Cat and the Hatchet, which has the potential to be the next Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey or Popeye the Slayer Man. With a new animated movie coming out in November, I’m sure WB is just thrilled about this one… It’s a clever title, and it looks like it could be a wild time, so don’t be a geezer — be a people pleaser and check out the teaser. Wouldn’t Dr. Seuss be proud?

Elsewhere, congrats to former TriStar exec Caellum Allan on being named Head of Film & TV at Wesley Wang Media and to former Bad Robot exec Jon Cohen on being named President of Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein’s Wonderlab banner, where he’ll be tasked with producing projects alongside the Final Destination: Bloodlines duo.

Finally, there has been a lot of talk about Paramount threatening to leave California, with sites like TMZ and Politico reporting on a potential move to Nashville, where David Ellison is reportedly considering a 400,000 square-foot space. However, as I wrote on Twitter this week, I’ll believe it when I see a “For Sale - Call Jay Luchs” sign on the famous Paramount gates.

Variety believes Ellison is bluffing, while Puck’s Matt Belloni described the situation as a “game of chicken.” Belloni later used the term “gamesmanship,” which I also used on Twitter. This is standard negotiation stuff — even if there’s nothing “standard” about Ellison’s threat to go nuclear.

Ys, Paramount might save half a billion dollars each year by moving its operation to Nashville, but it would also cost a ton of money to do so, and the workforce wouldn’t be very happy. However, it is arrogant of California A.G. Rob Bonta to think that the only talent out there lives in the Los Angeles area. There are talented artisans all over America these days.

I know how wily and spiteful these billionaires can be, and I think Bonta is playing with fire here. He should sit down and get a deal done… for everyone’s sake.

The thing about the Paramount-WB deal — and its coverage — is that people are making it a political issue when it’s not. I know it seems like one, because of David and Larry Ellison’s relationship with President Trump, but it’s funny how no one talked about David like this when he was running Skydance and producing Mission: Impossible movies. It’s the power grab that disturbs people, and what Ellison may do with that power. Let’s face it, this is all about the future of CNN, which is probably the last thing I’d spend my days concerned with if I were a billionaire who owned two movie studios.

Ellison’s threats may not make him look especially level-headed in the eyes of the judge, but I think he’s doing what he has to do to get this deal across the finish line — even if he has to bluff and look like the bad guy for a little while. Sometimes, the willingness to look like the bad guy is precisely what it takes to lead.

What matters, folks, is the movies. So let’s talk about next year’s crop. Premium subscribers may now enter the Sneider-Verse to continue reading…

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