• Lionsgate announced Thursday that John Rambo — the origin story prequel to the Sylvester Stallone franchise — will open in theaters on June 4, 2027
• Noah Centineo stars in the title role, taking over the character Stallone originated in 1982’s First Blood; James Franco co-stars, and the film is directed by Jalmari Helander, who broke out internationally with the Finnish action film Sisu
• The film will open the weekend after Disney/Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: Starfighter, the Ryan Gosling-led Star Wars film directed by Shawn Levy, making for a high-stakes early summer frame
• The story is set before the events of First Blood, exploring the formative backstory of the iconic soldier character

The new John Rambo has a date. Lionsgate announced Thursday that John Rambo — the prequel origin story starring Noah Centineo in the title role — will hit theaters on June 4, 2027, per Deadline.

The film is directed by Jalmari Helander, the Finnish filmmaker who generated serious action-movie buzz with Sisu, his 2022 WWII revenge thriller. His sensibility — brutalist, kinetic, unsparing — makes him an interesting choice for a franchise that has historically traded in the same qualities. Centineo, best known for his rom-com work in the To All the Boys franchise, takes on the physically and tonally demanding task of playing a young John Rambo before the events of Stallone’s First Blood. James Franco co-stars.

The June 4 date positions the film in the week after Star Wars: Starfighter — the Ryan Gosling-led Lucasfilm project directed by Shawn Levy — which is tracking as one of the biggest releases of 2027. Opening in its wake is a calculated play: let the Star Wars audience clear the multiplexes, then capture the action crowd looking for something next, per Collider.

The Franchise Math

The Rambo series has spanned five films since 1982, with Stallone appearing in all of them through 2019’s Rambo: Last Blood. A prequel with a new lead is a different kind of bet — Lionsgate is essentially asking audiences to accept a recast of one of action cinema’s most recognizable faces. Centineo’s casting has drawn varying reactions since it was announced, per Just Jared. The June 2027 date gives the film roughly a year of runway to build its case.

The post Noah Centineo’s ‘John Rambo’ Prequel Has a Release Date: June 4, 2027 appeared first on Cream.

• Mel Gibson has revealed the first-look image for The Resurrection of the Christ and announced new release dates for both parts.
• Part One is now set for May 6, 2027; Part Two moves to May 25, 2028 — Ascension Day.
• Principal photography has officially wrapped after 134 days of filming across six locations in Italy.
• Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen replaces Jim Caviezel as Jesus, with Mariela Garriga stepping in as Mary Magdalene.
• Gibson calls the project “a mission I’ve carried for over 20 years” and describes the scripts as unlike anything he’s ever read.

Mel Gibson’s long-awaited follow-up to The Passion of the Christ is coming — just not quite as soon as fans had hoped. The filmmaker revealed the first official image from The Resurrection of the Christ this week alongside news that both films in the two-part epic have been pushed back, with Part Two now landing a full year later than originally planned.

Part One, previously dated for March 26, 2027, will now open on May 6, 2027. Part Two has moved from that same 2027 window all the way to May 25, 2028 — Ascension Day, which carries obvious thematic weight for a film about the risen Christ. Lionsgate, which is distributing the films in North America and the UK, confirmed that the original dates were simply too close together given the sheer scale of both productions. Slotting them into the spring and early summer windows gives each film room to breathe — and to perform.

The March 26 slot Part One vacated won’t sit empty for long. Lionsgate will fill it with Day Drinker, the Johnny Depp-starring thriller also on their slate.

Filming Is Done — and It Was a Marathon

The delay comes alongside genuinely good news: principal photography on both films has officially wrapped. The production shot for 134 days across Italy, with locations spanning Rome, Bari, Ginosa, Craco, Brindisi, and Matera — a sweep of the country that clearly chased the visual scale Gibson has always been known for. And by all accounts, it finished ahead of schedule.

Gibson, who co-wrote the scripts with Braveheart collaborator Randall Wallace, hasn’t been shy about how ambitious this project is. He’s previously described the films as an “acid trip” and said he “never read anything like” the screenplays — which is saying something for a man who’s directed everything from medieval Scottish battlefields to Mayan jungle warfare. The sequel is expected to go well beyond a traditional resurrection story, with Gibson previously teasing elements involving Hell, fallen angels, and the spiritual realm.

In a statement released with the first-look image, Gibson was unambiguous about what this project means to him personally.

“I’m deeply grateful to my incredibly talented cast and crew for pouring their hearts into this production. Together, we created something powerful,” Gibson said. “This film represents a major part of my life’s work, and it has demanded everything of me as a filmmaker and as an artist. This is far more than a film to me. It’s a mission I’ve carried for over twenty years to tell what I believe is the most important story in human history.”

He added that reuniting with original collaborators from The Passion of the Christ allowed him to bring the story to the screen “exactly as I envisioned it.”

A New Jesus, a New Mary Magdalene

One of the biggest changes from the original film is the cast. Jim Caviezel, who became synonymous with the role of Jesus after The Passion, is not returning — nor is Monica Bellucci, who played Mary Magdalene. Taking over as Jesus is Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen, while Mariela Garriga steps in as Mary Magdalene. They’ll be joined by Pier Luigi Pasino, Kasia Smutniak, Riccardo Scamarcio, and Rupert Everett.

It’s a significant recast for a sequel to one of the most culturally impactful films of the last quarter century. The Passion of the Christ opened in 2004 to a staggering $83 million debut weekend and went on to earn $370 million domestically and over $610 million worldwide — all against a $30 million budget. For years it held the title of highest-grossing R-rated film in domestic box office history, a record only broken recently by Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine, which pulled in $636 million stateside in 2024. The original also earned three Oscar nominations, for Makeup, Cinematography, and Original Score.

Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson made clear the studio believes Gibson is delivering something worthy of that legacy. “Every image we’ve seen from set feels like a masterwork painting brought to life,” Fogelson said. “There are very few directors who can operate at this level of epic spectacle while at the same time delivering such depth and conviction. Mel has crafted a film of extraordinary ambition that audiences worldwide have been waiting to experience for over 20 years.”

For Gibson, the wait has been just as long on his end. His last directorial effort, the Mark Wahlberg plane thriller Flight Risk, landed earlier this year to modest results — $48 million globally. But The Resurrection of the Christ is clearly the project he’s been building toward, the one he’s been carrying for two decades. Whether audiences will turn out the way they did for The Passion remains the big question — but Gibson, at least, sounds like a man who has already made exactly the film he set out to make.

The post Mel Gibson’s ‘Resurrection of the Christ’ Gets New Dates appeared first on Cream.

• ‘The Housemaid’ grossed nearly $400 million worldwide and became the top Pay One title ever on Starz
• Lionsgate posted $906.5 million in quarterly revenue, beating Wall Street’s $810.6 million forecast
• The motion picture group saw revenue jump 23% and segment profit climb 39% year-over-year
• CEO Jon Feltheimer says the studio’s library has hit $1 billion in trailing 12-month revenue for three straight quarters
• ‘Michael,’ the Michael Jackson biopic, wasn’t even counted — it hits theaters in April after the quarter closed

The Housemaid didn’t just break hearts at the box office — it quietly rescued Lionsgate’s bottom line. The studio posted $906.5 million in revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, blowing past Wall Street’s projection of $810.6 million and marking a 4.7% increase over the same period last year.

The motion picture group was the engine behind it all. Segment revenue hit $651.9 million — up 23% year-over-year — while segment profit climbed 39% to $187.1 million, compared to $135.3 million in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted net income came in at $111.6 million, or 37 cents per share, well ahead of analysts’ 23-cent estimate. Lionsgate’s stock jumped 3.8% in after-hours trading to $13.80 per share.

The Housemaid was the centerpiece of it all. The thriller grossed nearly $400 million at the worldwide box office, had a strong PVOD run once it left theaters, and landed as the top Pay One title ever on Starz — the studio’s sister streaming service. That kind of multi-window performance is exactly what a mid-sized studio like Lionsgate needs to compete, and this one delivered on every front.

The quarter also got a boost from sequels to Greenland and The Strangers, plus strong ancillary performance from Now You See Me: Now You Don’t and healthy library sales. Lionsgate’s library has now hit $1 billion in trailing 12-month revenue for three consecutive quarters — a milestone CEO Jon Feltheimer is clearly proud of.

“All of the pieces of our business are coming together,” Feltheimer said. “Our library has achieved a billion dollars in trailing 12-month revenue for three quarters in a row, more than half of our film, television and live entertainment slates are comprised of branded, repeatable properties, and massive hits like ‘The Housemaid’ and ‘Michael’ are strengthening our brand and increasing our forward visibility. We enter fiscal 27 positioned to deliver the earnings power and value creation that our shareholders expect.”

The TV Side Took a Hit — But There’s a Plan

Not everything was rosy. Lionsgate’s television production arm had a rough quarter, with revenue falling sharply to $254.6 million from $543.3 million a year ago, and segment profit dropping to $30.5 million from $40.6 million. The studio was quick to point out the drop was a timing issue — episodic deliveries didn’t land in the same window as the year-ago period — rather than a sign of weakness in the slate itself.

And that slate is genuinely strong. Lionsgate TV produces The Studio for Apple TV+, the fan-favorite Yellowjackets, and The Rainmaker. The company says it expects to double its scripted deliveries in fiscal 2027 compared to 2026, which should make the TV numbers look considerably healthier this time next year.

The Best Part? ‘Michael’ Wasn’t Even in the Numbers

Here’s what makes this quarter even more remarkable: Michael, Lionsgate’s blockbuster musical biopic about Michael Jackson, didn’t open until April — meaning none of its ticket sales counted toward these results. The film is already on track to cross $300 million domestically, which means the studio’s next earnings report could be even more impressive.

For a studio that spent a few years fighting through a theatrical slump, Lionsgate is looking like it’s firmly back. The Housemaid did the heavy lifting this quarter. Now it’s Michael’s turn.

The post How ‘The Housemaid’ Saved Lionsgate’s Quarter appeared first on Cream.

• Sam Raimi will direct Magic for Lionsgate, a remake of the 1978 cult horror classic starring Anthony Hopkins
• The original film featured Hopkins as a ventriloquist whose dummy Fats begins murderously taking control of his life
• Screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, who penned Freddy vs. Jason and the Friday the 13th remake, wrote the new script
• Raimi’s last film, Send Help, hit #1 at the box office for two consecutive weeks and grossed nearly $100 million worldwide
• Lionsgate chair Adam Fogelson called Raimi “the dream director” for the project

Sam Raimi is heading back into horror — and this time, he’s bringing a dummy with him. Lionsgate has set the Evil Dead and Spider-Man filmmaker to direct Magic, a modern adaptation of William Goldman’s novel that was first brought to the screen in 1978 with Anthony Hopkins in one of his most unsettling early performances.

The original film, directed by Richard Attenborough and scripted by Goldman from his own novel, starred Hopkins as Corky, a magician who rises to fame alongside his ventriloquist’s dummy, the obnoxious and wisecracking Fats. When Corky is on the verge of landing his own network television deal, he panics — terrified of exposing the fragile state of his mental health — and flees to the Catskills, where he tries to rekindle a high school romance. Fats, meanwhile, begins murderously taking control of the situation. The film also starred Ann-Margret and Burgess Meredith, and Hopkins’ performance was the kind of slow-burn, psychologically unraveling work that hinted at everything he’d later deliver in The Silence of the Lambs.

Raimi was already attached to produce the remake — he’d set it up at Lionsgate last year — but he’s now stepping into the director’s chair as well. Producing alongside him are Roy Lee (whose credits include It and the recent Weapons), Chris Hammond, and Tim Sullivan, the latter two having long championed the project and tracked down the original rights to get it off the ground. Raimi Productions’ Zainab Azizi will also produce. Nathan Kahane, Paul Fishkin, and Andrew Childs for Vertigo will executive produce. Meredith Wieck and Pavan Kalidindi are overseeing the project for Lionsgate.

“Sam is the dream director for this project — in fact, his coming aboard represents one of the truly great matches of director and material,” said Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group. “The script is fantastic, and we could not be more excited to see Sam’s direction and creative vision take it to another level. We are absolutely thrilled he has chosen to direct the film.”

A Horror Dream Team Reunites

The script comes from Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, who are no strangers to the genre — they previously wrote Freddy vs. Jason and the 2009 Friday the 13th remake. More recently, they wrote Send Help for Raimi and Azizi, which makes this a full creative reunion for the team.

Send Help, Raimi’s twisty survival thriller released through 20th Century Studios/Disney earlier this year with Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, was a genuine box office success story — it topped the charts for two consecutive weekends and pulled in nearly $100 million worldwide. That momentum clearly gives Raimi some serious heat heading into this next chapter.

For fans of Raimi’s work, the fit here is almost obvious in hindsight. The man who built his career on the boundary between horror and dark comedy, who gave us Ash Williams and his possessed hand, who understands better than almost anyone how to make an audience laugh and scream in the same breath — putting him behind a story about a man who can’t tell where he ends and his puppet begins feels less like a casting decision and more like an inevitability.

No production timeline or cast has been announced yet, but with the script in place and Raimi officially on board, Magic is very much in motion. The dummy is ready. Whether we are is another question entirely.

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