'The Last Frontier' Review; Dueling 'Ocean's' Projects; Amazon Finds Its Burt Young for New 'Rocky' Movie

Happy Thursday, folks!

On Tuesday night, I watched Max Minghella’s thriller Shell starring Elisabeth Moss and Kate Hudson. I was a big fan of Minghella’s feature debut, Teen Spirit, but Shell wasn’t quite as successful. It’s a tonally uneven monster movie that doesn’t embrace its B-movie identity until way too late in the game, and it certainly doesn’t help that The Substance told a very similar story much better just last year.

Last night, A24 was kind enough to invite me to see the Timothee Chalamet movie Marty Supreme, which was good but not quite great, and I also watched Michael Dowse’s action-thriller Trap House starring Chalamet’s Dune co-star Dave Bautista. Both films remain under embargo, so stay tuned for longer thoughts on each…

Before I continue, I have to give a shoutout to Chris Aronson, who announced that he’ll step down as President of Domestic Theatrical Distribution at Paramount on Dec. 1. During his time at Paramount, he oversaw the release of Top Gun: Maverick, which grossed $1.5 billion worldwide, becoming the most successful film in the studio’s illustrious history.

Aronson first joined Paramount in 2019 after spending the bulk of his near-40-year career at 20th Century Fox, where he spearheaded the distribution of James Cameron’s Avatar, Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, and the X-Men franchise. He has enjoyed one hell of a career, and I’ll miss him onstage at CinemaCon.

Speaking of the X-Men franchise, I’m told that Marvel will soon announce a release date for the new movie from Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier. Right now, Disney is holding three 2028 dates for Marvel movies — Feb. 18, May 5, and Nov. 10 — and I revealed on today’s episode of The Hot Mic that X-Men will arrive on May 5, 2028.

That’ll be the 20th anniversary of the MCU, which launched in May 2008 with Jon Favreau’s Iron Man. If Avengers: Secret Wars (due in December 2027) is meant to mark the end of this chapter of the MCU, the X-Men movie is supposed to represent a new beginning, and Disney has high hopes for the superhero film, which will introduce the next generation of mutants.

Tonight, you’ll read my review of Jason Clarke’s new Apple TV+ series The Last Frontier, as well as a scoop about who will play Burt Young in Peter Farrelly’s new movie about the making of Rocky at Amazon MGM.

There are also items about dueling Ocean’s movies starring George Clooney and Bradley Cooper, Scarlett Johansson circling Disney’s live-action Tangled remake, Saoirse Ronan joining Sam Mendes’ four Beatles movies at Sony, and whether David Zaslav will re-up DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran after signing Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy to extensions in the wake of WB’s banner year. Plus, a look at the trailer for Nuremberg, which pits Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Rami Malek against one another.

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