Planet Earth faces another potential mass extinction like that of the dinosaurs millions of years ago in the upcoming film Moonfall. However, this time around it isn’t a comet hurtling through space towards us but our very own natural satellite.

The Moon is knocked off orbit by a mysterious force that sends it on a collision course with our planet.

Peña (Tom & Jerry, Dora and the Lost City of Gold) plays Tom Lopez, a wealthy car dealer who is married to Brian’s ex-wife Brenda (Carolina Bartczak). Peña was not part of the original cast but took over the role of actor Stanley Tucci, who could not ultimately join production due to pandemic travel restrictions early in the year.

As the cataclysmic impact is just weeks away, NASA executive and former astronaut Jo Fowler (Berry) thinks she holds the key to save humanity but nobody believes her, except former colleague astronaut Brian Harper (Wilson) and conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman (Bradley). The trio sets to land on the approaching Moon to avoid planetary disaster but the improbable heroes discover Earth’s satellite is not what it seemed.

Starring are Oscar winner Halle Berry (Monster’s Ball), Golden Globe-nominee Patrick Wilson (FX’s series Fargo) and John Bradley (Game of Thrones), who are joined by Michael Peña, Charlie Plummer, Kelly Yu, Eme Ikwuakor, Bartczak and Donald Sutherland. Helming the film is Roland Emmerich, who directed blockbusters Independence Day and Stargate.

The Lionsgate film is set for nationwide release Feb. 4, 2022.

Featured Photo: Fires, looting and destruction across the Los Angeles skyline and Griffith Observatory as the Moon falls to the Earth in the sci-fi epic ‘Moonfall.’ (Credit: Lionsgate)

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Co-starring with Boneta, the Mexican actor of Luis Miguel La Serie are Alexandra Daddario, Justin Chatwin, Wade Allain-Marcus, Billy Crudup, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Travis Fimmel.

The film is directed by Collin Schiffli, who helmed Animals, an indie film that won a Special Jury Award for Narrative Feature at SXSW Film Festival.

In Die in a Gunfight, Mary (Daddario) and Ben (Boneta) are the star-crossed black sheep of two powerful families engaged in a centuries-long feud–and they are about to reignite an affair after many years apart. 

The screenplay is by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, who co-wrote Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Die in a Gunfight is set for release in select theaters, on digital and on-demand July 16, 2021.

Featured Photo: Alexandra Daddario and Diego Boneta in ‘Die in Gunfight’

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Edgar Ramirez has joined the all-star cast of the upcoming film adaption of one of the world’s most popular video games franchises Borderlands.

Ramirez will play Atlas, a weapons manufacturing business titan and is regarded as the universe’s most powerful person. Among the cast of impressive talent alongside Ramirez include Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Jamie Lee Curtis. Borderlands will be directed by Eli Roth and written by two-time Emmy-winning screenwriter Craig Mazin.

Among his diverse acting resume, Ramirez is known for his roles in the 2015 remake of Point Break, Gold, and The Undoing. He gained critical acclaim for his portrayal of the iconic fashion designer Gianni Versace in the mini-series American Crime Story. He also recently starred opposite Jennifer Garner in Miguel Arteta’s Yes Day.

“What an incredible honor to have an actor of Edgar’s caliber, talent, and charisma playing opposite Cate Blanchett and this remarkable cast,” Roth shared with Deadline in a statement. “Atlas has to be a truly magnetic personality, someone with charisma and charm but that air of menace underneath it all. I’ve been a fan of Edgar’s since his early performances, and he continues to amaze me with each dramatic turn. We want to create something wild, fun, and very different from anything they’ve seen from Edgar before. I am so, so excited to work with him.”

Part of this highly talented cast is the young up-and-coming talent Ariana Greenblatt. Greenblatt is best known for her role in the Disney TV series Stuck in the Middle from 2016-2018. Among her film credits include Avengers: Infinity War and the upcoming musical In the Heights.

“Ariana is a spectacular new talent in cinema,” Roth also shared in a previous statement with Deadline. “She has already worked with many of my close collaborators, and everyone raves about her. She blew us all away in her audition, and I cannot wait to see her bring the wild, insane and unpredictable Tiny Tina to the big screen. She’s going to blow up on screen like one of Tina’s grenades.”

Lionsgate’s synopsis for Borderlands reads as follows:

Lilith (Blanchett), an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas (Ramirez). Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team – Roland (Hart), a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina (Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis (Curtis), the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap (Black), a persistent wiseass robot.

These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.”

The Borderlands franchise is an action shooter video game with four main games and several expansions. It has internationally sold over 68 million units. The franchise is available for gaming consuls and PCs as a single-player or multiplayer. As a “Vault Hunter,” your goal within Borderlands is to plow your way through an array of enemies as you collect unique weapons to reach a highly prized Vault. Its biggest appeal is the wildly flamboyant characters, from enemies to unlikely allies.

Borderlands started filming on April 1, 2021, in Budapest, Hungary. Lionsgate has announced no official release date.

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Bichir (Ben Moore), is one of several adoptive fathers to the film’s central character, young Todd played by Spiderman actor Tom Holland. In a planet of a not-too-distant future, women have disappeared while the surviving men developed a condition called the “Noise,” projecting their thoughts as images others can see. One day a mysterious young woman named Viola (Daisy Ridley) crash-lands on the strange planet, and Todd must protect her when her life is threatened. Ben, along with Todd’s other adoptive father Cillian (played by Kurt Sutter), helps the young couple escape.

Playing a father figure put Bichir on the Hollywood map, for which he was nominated in his starring role in A Better Life. He also played a similar role in another recent sci-fi drama, the Golden-Globe nominated The Midnight Sky, directed and starred by George Clooney.

Featured Top Photo: Kurt Sutter, Demian Bichir and Tom Holland in ‘Chaos Walking.’ Photo: Murray Close/Lionsgate

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In Wander Darkly, a traumatic accident leaves a couple, Adrienne (Miller) and Matteo (Luna), in a surreal state of being that takes them on a disorienting journey through the duality of their shared moments.  They must rediscover the love that truly binds them together. Writer/director Miele offers a profound new perspective on the delicate nature of relationships with this emotionally moving story about a couple who must reflect on their past in order to face their uncertain future.

Rooted in Miele’s personal experiences, the film was lauded at Sundance for its bold vision and emotional depth. RogerEbert.com says, “…Miele directs her two leads to excellent performances.” The Hollywood Reporter called Miller’s “impressive range.”

“I am thrilled that Wander Darkly has found its home with Lionsgate,” said Miele. “It was a dream to bring this story to life with such an incredible team and the ever-brilliant Sienna Miller and Diego Luna. Seeing audiences’ powerful reactions at Sundance was moving and humbling and we can’t wait to share the film with audiences later this year.”

“Tara weaves mystery and intrigue into a modern-day parable and we could not be more excited to work with her and the rest of the filmmaking team on the release campaign,” said Lauren Bixby, Vice President of Acquisitions at Lionsgate.

Wander Darkly was produced by 51 Entertainment and ShivHans Pictures.  The producers are Lynette Howell Taylor, Samantha Housman, Shivani Rawat, and Monica Levinson, and executive producers are Mark D. Katchur, and Connor Flanagan.  Sienna Miller is represented by WME and Diego Luna is represented by WME along with Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof and Fishman.

The deal was negotiated by Endeavor Content on behalf of the filmmaking team along with Lauren Bixby from Lionsgate.

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By Luis Reyes

Oscar nominated Director/Writer Gregory Nava (Selena, My Family, Mi Familia) talks about his 1985 classic landmark film El Norte [The North, Central America immigrants refer to the USA] in an Exclusive edited interview with Latin Heat Entertainment on the occasion of its upcoming 35^th anniversary release on Sunday Sept 15^th at 2:00 P.M.  

El Norte will be re-releasing by Lionsgate thru Fathom Events which is an entertainment content provider that broadcasts entertainment events/screenings in movie theaters throughout the US .  Fathom will be releasing El Norte in 200 select theatres nationwide.  

Nava was inspired to make the film as a young man fresh out of UCLA Film School. “I was born and raised on the border [San Diego] and I saw people crossing all the time, leaving violent oppression and poverty behind, looking for that beacon of freedom, and that is what gave me the idea of making the film… giving voice to the voiceless.”

When Nava and producer/writer Anna Thomas were looking for funding, they consciously did not pursue film studios or television networks because, more than likely, studio executives would demand changes be made in either script, casting, or both. Nava and Thomas believe that much of what makes El Norte special would have been jeopardized if a major studio had been involved in the filmmaking process. Their steadfast believes lead to an Academy Award nomination for Best original screenplay. 

When asked if El Norte is more relevant today than when it was first made?  Nava responded:

“Sadly it is. It was a horrific crisis when we made the film 35 years ago. The impact of the film was very strong in its time [1985]. It contributed to the US government granting protective status to refugees from Central America and saved thousands of lives.  It’s the thing that I am proudest of as a filmmaker.”  

He further said, “It was nominated for an Oscar (for Best Original Screenplay) and yes, but I am proudest that it actually helped save lives.”  He adds, “Now things have regressed yet again, hatred of Immigrants is back, the situation on the southern border is tragic, children are being put in cages, families are being separated. The message of compassion of El Norte is really more important today than when we made the film.”

El Norte is the film story of a young immigrant brother and sister, Enrique and Rosa fleeing poverty and violence in their Guatemalan homeland. Making the difficult trek through Mexico to the US they encounter many hurdles including crawling through a horrendous rat infested sewer tunnel on the Tijuana/ San Diego border and further trials and tribulations upon their arrival in Los Angeles.

 “David Villapando as Enrigue and Zaida Silvia Gutierrez as Rosa, their performances are the heart of El Norte. They made film audiences the world over fall in love with their characters.” says Nava. “We were all very young and on fire and that fire still burns.” 

The Oscar nominee, like other directors, uses many of the same actors, a sort of stock company, in his films, especially the late Lupe Ontiveros. who plays Nacha in this film, the woman who befriends Rosa upon her arrival in Los Angeles. He remarks, “I used Lupe Ontiveros three times, she’s such a great actress. She could have been a great star. Nacha in El Norte and Yolanda Saldivar in Selena, these are both amazing performances and completely different. We have such great talent and I love using great wonderful actors,” comments the director.

The film also features performances by Ernesto Gomez Cruz, Enrique Castillo, Mike Gomez, Tony Plana and the late Trinidad Silva.  

The independent film was shot in the indigenous communities of Chiapas and Michoacan, Mexico doubling for the Guatemalan Mayan highlands, since the country was in the midst of a Civil war, making filming prohibitive. Additional filming took place along the border in San Diego and in Los Angeles.

The Academy of Motion Pictures recently restored the film from its original negative with modern digital technology and to see it on the big screen, El Norte looks brand new, as if it had been made today, not thirty-five years ago.

When the film originally release in 1983 Variety called it the “first United American independent epic”, the first American independent film to be so honored

Vincent Canby, writing for The New York Times, signaled out the two leads as “straight, unactorly quality of the performances, especially by Zaide Silvia Gutierrez as Rosa and David Villalpando as Enrique, two splendid Mexican actors.”

In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Asked a final question on what the significance of this 35^th anniversary Fathom Event release of El Norte means to him?  Nava said.

“If all the theatres are full on September 15th, showing all across the country, we hope it sends a message to Hollywood that we want movies that are beautiful and compassionate and tell the truth about our community, not about Narcos, and also send a message to our president that we want compassion not cruelty.”

Nava and Fanthom Events have announced that profits earned by El Norte from the September 15^th screening of El Norte will be donated to the Fundacion Communitarian Paso Del Norte to help the El Paso mass shooting victims.

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El Norte, the epic, a widely acclaimed masterpiece about the dreams of immigrants and the promise of America, will return to movie theaters in select markets this September in a special one-day-only 35th-anniversary presentation from Fathom Events and Lionsgate.

Directed by Gregory Nava from a screenplay co-written by Anna Thomas, El Norte will play on Sunday, September 15, in more than 200 movie theaters nationwide. This special one-day-only presentation will include an exclusive introduction by Nava, whose films include the beloved hit, Selena. The Fathom Events presentation will also include a brand-new featurette that explores the making of the film and features the film’s stars, Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez, and David Villalpando.

Tickets for “El Norte 35^th Anniversary” are available at www.FathomEvents.com and at participating movie theater box offices. All event attendees will also receive a free, two-week trial offer to Pantaya, where they can find the best movies and TV series in Spanish, all in one place.

The Fathom Events presentation of El Norte is the film’s first theatrical release since it debuted in U.S. theaters in early 1984, and will be shown in a newly restored version of the film that Nava produced with the help of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Following this special event, Lionsgate will release El Norte on digital formats on September 17.

“Nava’s groundbreaking and the achingly humanistic narrative is the quintessential film about immigration,” noted film critic Claudia Puig (USA Today/NPR) wrote. “Today, 35 years after its debut, El Norte is the film of our time.”

Nominated for an Oscar® for its emotional and compassionate screenplay, written by Nava and Anna Thomas, El Norte was named to the U.S. National Film Registry in 1995. The film follows the struggle of two siblings, Rosa (Gutierréz) and Enrique (Villalpando) as they flee military violence and terror in their small rural home in Guatemala. They have heard stories of the promise of el Norte, or “the North,” and when their home is massacred by the military, they decide to make the dangerous trek through Mexico and into the United States. Once there, Rosa and Enrique discover that their arduous journey is far from over and that the dangers they face as immigrants are different, but no less life-threatening, than the dangers they thought they left behind.

El Norte features a cast filled with noted Latino performers, led by Gutiérrez and Villalpando and also including Lupe Ontiveros, Ernesto Gómez Cruz, Enrique Castillo, and Tony Plana. 

“El Norte is a special, magical film, a cinematic epic we are proud to showcase, particularly as issues of immigrants and their hopes and dreams fill the headlines,” said Tom Lucas, Fathom Events Vice President of Studio Relations. “Gregory Nava has created a modern American epic, one that resonates as strongly today as it did 35 years ago.”

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