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Ted Lasso is one of Apple TV+'s most successful shows to date. It won 13 Emmys across three seasons, and was nominated for several more that it did not win. Ted Lasso also received great reviews from both critics and audiences, getting fresh Rotten Tomatoes scores every season. The overall series holds a 90% Tomatometer from critics and an 85% score from audiences. Ted Lasso season 3 was considered the end by some series creators, but the show has still remained open for season 4.

Ted Lasso has an ensemble cast, but at the heart of it all is Jason Sudeikis, who won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series twice for the role. While the unskilled football coach has become his most celebrated role, the comedic actor had a career long before this. This has included roles in the film side of the industry, where Sudeikis has acted in movies such as We're the Millers,...

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As winter approaches, we are all in need of something spicy to watch to make our temperature rise, and if you are a fan of romantic comedies, then we have the perfect recommendations for you. From critically acclaimed movies like Silver Linings Playbook to iconic romantic comedy movies like Four Weddings and a Funeral, Max (formerly known as HBO Max) has everything you need. So, here are the 8 best R-rated romantic comedy movies available on Max right now.

Pretty Woman Credit – Touchstone Pictures

Pretty Woman is a romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall from a screenplay by J.F. Lawton. The 1990 film follows Edward, a rich entrepreneur who hires Vivian, a prostitute, to go with him to a few social events, but when both of them fall in love with each other, they try to work out their differences.

The comedic pairing of Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston has always led to hilarious moments, even if some of their collaborations were better than others. As two sitcom stars, Bateman will be known to viewers for his leading role in Arrested Development, while Anitson became a household name as Rachel Green on Friends. However, both have also carved out impressive movie careers and collaborated on five feature films over the past nearly two decades.

Like the best comedy duos, Bateman and Aniston have an innate chemistry that means they play off one another well and complement each other perfectly. Batemans deadpan and often reserved comedic style helped balance Anistons more energetic and lively comedic demeanor, leading to several fantastic comedy movies. While their fruitful collaboration has led to a lackluster sequel and a holiday comedy that left viewers wanting, Bateman and Aniston's best movies together were truly comedy gold.

Horrible Bosses 2...

It doesn’t matter if you are happy, sad, or feeling stuck in your life a good road trip with your friends and family has the capability of solving every little or big problem in your life. That’s why road trip movies are a reminder to ourselves to get out of our little apartments and hit the road with our loved ones to go on a life-altering adventure to create memories that we will never forget. Therefore, we compiled a list of the 10 best road trip movies filled with comedy, adventure, emotion, wide open roads, and beautiful sceneries to remind you to go on the greatest adventure of your life.

Dog (Prime Video & MGM+) Credit – MGM

Dog is a comedy-drama film directed by Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin from a screenplay by Carolin. The 2022 film follows the story of US Army Ranger Jackson Briggs as he goes on a...

Horrible Bosses 2 is now a hit on Netflix's U.S. Top 10 Movies chart despite poor reviews. It sits at #8 on the weekly Top 10 chart for the week of February 12-18. The release date may have impacted the sequel's performance at the box office, leading to questions about a potential franchise continuation.

Jason Bateman's negatively reviewed 2014 comedy sequel, Horrible Bosses 2, is now trending on Netflix's U.S. Top 10 Movies chart. The movie served as a follow-up to the 2011 hit Horrible Bosses and follows Nick (Bateman), Dale (Charlie Day), and Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), three men who finally broke free from their evil bosses and are now navigating starting a business together. However, when they find themselves at the mercy of a terrible investor, they once more form an outlandish plot to better their situation. While the sequel received poor reviews, it has since found new life on Netflix.

Social media users recently marveled that last month marked 20 years since three modern Christmas favorites — New Line’s Elf, Universal’s Love Actually and Miramax’s Bad Santa — all hit theaters within weeks of each other. Two decades later, you don’t need to feel like a cotton-headed ninny-muggins if you’re among those wondering why studios don’t release holiday theatrical offerings in the way they once did.

Although most Christmas films don’t tend to follow the path of, say, 1990’s Home Alone, which topped the domestic box office for a whopping 12 straight weeks, they had typically been a staple of the release calendar, with a handful of titles hitting theaters annually, as recently as the late 2010s. That list includes such 2016 theatrical offerings as Almost Christmas, Bad Santa 2, Office Christmas Party and Why Him?, followed by 2017’s Daddy’s Home 2, A Bad Moms Christmas and animated...

Candy Cane Lane is a fantasy-comedy film directed by Reginald Hudlin, from a screenplay by Kelly Younger. The Prime Video film revolves around Chris Carver, who makes a deal with a mysterious stranger to win the annual contest of who has the best-decorated home for Christmas in their neighborhood but what he doesn’t know is that the mysterious stranger is an evil Elf named Pepper, and she is about to make him a glass Christmas figurine. To save their father and Christmas the Carver family tries to stop Pepper from unleashing misery on everyone. Candy Cane Lane stars Eddie Murphy, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jillian Bell, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Ken Marino, and Nick Offerman. So, if you loved the Prime Video film here are some similar movies you could watch next.

Spirited (Apple TV+) Credit – Apple TV+

Synopsis: Each Christmas Eve, the Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) selects one...

Genie is a fantasy Christmas film directed by Sam Boyd, from a screenplay by Richard Curtis. The Peacock fairy-tale film revolves around a workaholic man who comes in possession of a genie who helps him to win his family back before Christmas. Genie stars Melissa McCarthy and Paapa Essiedu in the lead roles with Denée Benton, Jordyn McIntosh, and Marc Maron starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the Peacock film here are some similar movies you could watch next.

The Man Who Invented Christmas (Prime Video) Credit – Bleecker Street

Synopsis: The Man Who Invented Christmas tells the magical journey that led to the creation of Ebenezer Scrooge (Christopher Plummer), Tiny Tim and other classic characters from A Christmas Carol. Directed by Bharat Nalluri (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day), the film shows how Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) mixed real life inspirations with his vivid imagination to conjure up...

Emerald Fennell’s dark comedy Saltburn takes a massive jump from to over 1,500 screens today as Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, Hayao Miyazaki’s latest The Boy and the Heron, animated They Shot The Piano Player and other festival favorites launch awards season runs this Thanksgiving specialty weekend.

Apple, opening Napoleon wide with Sony, is also planting a flag for evergreen status for last year’s holiday romp Spirited, a musical retelling of A Christmas Carol with singing, dancing Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell.

Maestro, presented by Netflix, raises the baton in ten locations including New York and LA today and plans to add more theaters weekly. The anticipated Venice-premiering film – see Deadline review — was directed by and stars Bradley Cooper as the iconic conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, with Carey Mulligan as his wife of 25 years, Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. Cooper is also a co-writer and producer alongside Martin Scorsese,...

With an acting career stretching back to 1994, Mark Wahlberg has starred in everything from independent character studies to blockbuster action fare. Often bringing a focused intensity to his performances, Wahlberg parlays his talents into taking on everything from Transformers to super-intelligent apes to effectively playing against type as an earnest comedic foil. Possessing a subtly wide range, Wahlberg has gone on to work with some of the biggest filmmakers in Hollywood, sometimes on multiple projects and often with critical acclaim and box office success.

Wahlberg is at an inevitable stage in his career that defies typecasting and gives him the freedom to choose from a robust variety of projects. And despite his movie star good looks, Wahlberg often maintains an everyman quality that makes him a relatable actor, even as his characters face extraordinary circumstances. Here are the 14 best Mark Wahlberg movies ranked, elevated by his sheer commitment and the...

After both Daddy’s Home movies performed well at the box office, the question remains: will there be a Daddy’s Home 3? Released in 2015, Daddy’s Home reunited The Other Guys’ central duo of Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg for a more family-friendly comedy. Ferrell plays Brad Whitaker, a mild-mannered stepdad eager to win over his wife’s kids, while Wahlberg plays Dusty Mayron, their badass biological father that Brad can never live up to. Daddy’s Home 2, released in 2017, introduced Brad and Dusty’s own fathers as exaggerated versions of themselves: John Lithgow played Brad’s even more mild-mannered father, Don, and Mel Gibson played Dusty’s even more badass father, Kurt.

Daddy’s Home grossed over $241 million worldwide and became the 37th highest-grossing comedy of all time at the domestic box office (via The Numbers), while Daddy’s Home 2 earned a slightly smaller but still impressive global gross of $180 million (via...

Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy are set to collaborate yet again on a musical comedy called Boy Band. The star and director first teamed up for Free Guy, which was a surprise hit at the box office in the summer of 2021. The two then reunited on The Adam Project for Netflix, which was released in March 2022 and landed among the streamer's top 10 most-watched movies. Reynolds and Levy are currently gearing up to shoot the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Deadpool 3 this spring.

Now, the A-list star and director have set their fourth feature film collaboration together. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Reynolds is attached to star in and produce the musical comedy Boy Band. Levy is also producing the project for Paramount and is being eyed as a potential director, with scheduling being the primary determining factor.

Related: Why Ryan Reynolds Netflix Movies Are So Popular (Even If They're Bad)

Everything We...

“We are really proud to be a part of ‘Good Afternoon,’ and it’s been really exciting to see how it has sort of taken on a life outside of the film,” says songwriter Benj Pasek about the musical number from the film “Spirited” that has made the Oscars shortlist for Best Original Song. “The idea was actually pitched originally by Ryan Reynolds to say, what if actually this term really in the 1800s did mean Fu.” We talked to Pasek as part of our “Meet the Experts” songwriters panel. Watch our exclusive video interview above.

See‘Spirited’ trailer: Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell put a twist on the Dickens classic

“Spirited” is a musical retelling of “A Christmas Carol” in which the Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) attempts to redeem an “unredeemable” media consultant, Clint Briggs (Reynolds). Their journey leads them to 19th century England where Clint learns...

Here’s the latest episode of the The Filmmakers Podcast, part of the ever-growing podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on the official podcast site, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.

For those unfamiliar with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro budget indie films to bigger budget studio films and everything in-between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their film making experiences from directors, writers, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers and distributors.

The Filmmaker’s Podcast #314: Spirited: Making a Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds & Octavia Spencer...

It's no secret that Hollywood often takes inspiration from best-selling books to create phenomenal and often record-breaking movies. While it can be frustrating for audiences to constantly be paying for "unoriginal" content, sometimes Hollywood does get it right when choosing what written works to turn into movies. While book adaptations are usually reserved for fantasy novels like Harry Potter or teen romances, occasionally Hollywood finds movie gold in other book forms, like Christmas stories. From literature classics to children's picture books and even a young adult novel, there seem to be way more Christmas movies based on books than most people realize.

Updated On December 19th, 2022 by Danielle Bruncati: While 2022 has seen an influx of original Christmas movies, with the David Harbour-led Violent Night performing well at the box office, Christmas is still a time for book adaptation, it seems. The most notable addition this year is a...

"Spirited" is the new live-action Christmas-themed musical feature, directed by Sean Anders as a 'modern retelling' of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella "A Christmas Carol", starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds, now streaming  on Apple TV+:

"...the new film is a musical version of Charles Dickens' story of a miserly misanthrope who's taken on a magical journey by ghosts...."

Click the images to enlarge...

For fans of "Spirited," the Christmas movie musical starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds, Santa is delivering an early gift this year. As was announced via Deadline, Apple Original Films will be showing a special theatrical release of "Spirited," complete with a sing-along track for optimal audience participation. The film boasts original music from the Oscar, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning team of Benji Pasek and Justin Paul, and provides some new Christmas tunes to add to your holiday playlist rotation. "Spirited" was previously given a limited theatrical release the week prior to its streaming availability on Apple TV+ back in November, but this new release will include stylized lyrics on screen, just like what you'd see on a karaoke screen, with each word highlighted in time to allow audience members to sing along.

This means that you, your family, and your friends can all join a bunch of strangers for...

Apple Original Films announced the theatrical release of a new sing-along version of holiday musical comedy Spirited starring Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds and Octavia Spencer in 100+ U.S. theaters starting this Friday, Dec. 16. Some of numbers are seen as contenders for Best Original Song.

The film, with original songs by Oscar, Grammy and Tony winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul had a limited theatrical release in U.S. on Nov. 11 before hitting streamer Apple TV+ on Nov. 18. In this version, all songs are featured with stylized lyrics on screen, karaoke style, with each word represented and highlighted to allow viewers to follow along in-time.

That includes showstopper Good Afternoon, written by Pasek and Paul, Mark Sonnenblick, Sukari Jones and Khiyon Hursey. After Ferrell’s character insists that the phrase Good Afternoon was an insult back in the day, he and Ferrell...

“The idea of doing a Christmas movie musical with Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds was like an instant ‘hell yeah!’ for us,” declares Oscar, Grammy and Tony-winning songwriter Benj Pasek about working on Apple Original Films’ Christmas movie musical “Spirited.” Pasek is one half of the acclaimed hit-making duo alongside fellow awards magnet Justin Paul, who both wrote and produced the film’s soundtrack, with collaborators Khiyon Hursey, Sukari Jones and Mark Sonnenblick co-writing three of the songs in the film.

For our recent webchat with all five songwriters, Jones adds that there “was a lot of unheard of things that went into this process. First of all, possibly the most successful musical theater team working today decides that they want to share the wealth literally and figuratively, by creating something? That process doesn’t happen. That’s something that’s being pioneered, deciding to write characters that lots of...

Apple TV+ has greenlit a second reason of the hit psychological thriller “Surface.”

The series, created by Veronica West and produced by Apple Studios and Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, follows Sophie (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a woman who has suffered a traumatic head injury that leaves her with extreme memory loss. The injury is believed to be a result of a suicide attempt.

In addition to starring, Mbatha-Raw serves as an executive producer alongside West, Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter.

Also Read:

How ‘Spirited’ Director Sean Anders Crafted a ‘Christmas Carol’ Riff With a Theatrical Twist

The first season of “Surface” sent Sophie on a mission in high-end San Francisco to discover her own secrets, where she unearthed a multitude of sins that ranged all the way from an affair to much deeper questions about a hidden past and her true identity.

Returning to her hometown of London, Season 2 will find Sophie...

Spirited Review — Spirited (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Sean Anders, written by John Morris and Sean Anders and starring Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, Octavia Spencer, Patrick Page, Sunita Mani, Loren G. Woods, Tracy Morgan, Joe Tippett, Marlow Barkley, Aimee Carrero, Andrea Anders, Jen Tullock, Adam Grupper, Rose Byrne and Naheem Garcia. Will [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Spirited (2022): Funnymen Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds are Pure Gold in the Zaniest Musical of the Year...

"Spirited" is the new live-action Christmas-themed musical feature, directed by Sean Anders as a 'modern retelling' of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella "A Christmas Carol", starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds, now streaming Applron Apple TV+:

"...the new film is a musical version of Charles Dickens' story of a miserly misanthrope who's taken on a magical journey by ghosts...."

Click the images to enlarge...

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on The Eddie Volkman Show with Hannah B on Wssr-fm on November 23rd, reviewing the holiday musical “Spirited,” a reimagined version of Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol, currently streaming on Apple TV+.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

This version presupposes that the three Spirits of the story visit a different person every year, instead of just Ebenezer Scrooge the one time, part of a singing and dancing “Ghost of Christmas Inc.” with a large support staff. Will Ferrell is the Ghost of Christmas Present, bored and looking toward retirement until he experiences a unredeemable soul named Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds), a PR hack who uses internet lies to gain advantage for his clients. They begin the usual past, present, and yet-to-come scenario, but it goes all wrong, leaving the Ghost of Present to somehow fix it before Christmas Day.

“Spirited” is currently streaming on Apple TV+. Featuring Will Ferrell,...

Filmmaker Sean Anders has long wanted to make a musical, so when he and his filmmaking partner John Morris were talking aimlessly about how the ghosts are the real protagonists of “A Christmas Carol,” they wondered if this riff on the Charles Dickens classic – telling the story from the point of view of the ghosts, not the haunted individual – might finally be a fit for the genre.

But with “Spirited” (which is currently streaming on Apple TV+), Anders added another twist to the story: what if the ghosts’ haunt was treated like a film production, and he embraced the theatricality of the staging and prep work needed to prepare a haunt by incorporating it into the movie?

“When we first started talking about it, you can’t just go in and haunt somebody. There has to be some forethought,” the “Instant Family” and “Horrible Bosses 2” director told TheWrap in a recent interview.

Stars: Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, Patrick Page, Octavia Spencer, Joe Tippett | Written by Sean Anders, John Morris | Directed by Sean Anders

Each Christmas Eve, the Ghost of Christmas Present selects one dark soul to be reformed by a visit from three spirits. But this season, he picked the wrong Scrooge. Clint Briggs turns the tables on his ghostly host until Present finds himself reexamining his own past, present and future.

Few things are able to put a bigger smile on my face than watching a legitimately excellent Christmas movie. Of course, just like a ton of people out there, every holiday season I have a number of films that I watch as a tradition, including Home Alone and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Well, folks, I think I might have to add another movie to my yearly holiday watchlist. Sean Anders‘ Spirited is a tremendously cheery, heartwarming, and whimsical Christmas-themed musical...

Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds' take on A Christmas Carol is surprisingly moving when all the pieces are in place. Spirited’s open distaste for musicals is never overplayed and the songs themselves won’t blow anyone away, but there aren’t any duds either. Director Sean Anders (That’s My Boy), who co-wrote the script with John Morris, is going for a down-the-line Christmas movie with a touch of raunchy humor and he and the entire production team are successful in that. No one will mistake Reynolds and Ferrell for Hall and Oates, but they are rarely asked to stretch their voices. Christmas movies, good or bad, have many ways of being effective. Anders mixed quite a few subgenres to make a solid film. Delivering a crap-talking Christmas musical with a heart of gold is no small feat and, even though Spirited isn’t a great movie, it is still a good time.

Warning! This post contains Spoilers for SpiritedThe Christmas movie Spirited is a fun musical with a soundtrack full of original songs. A new take on Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, the Scrooge-inspired story follows Clint (Ryan Reynolds) as he is visited by Jacob Marley (Patrick Page) and the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Sunita Mani), Present (Will Ferrell), and Yet To Come (Tracy Morgan). Like most adaptations of A Christmas Carol, Spirited's central theme is changing someone from bad to good, but this musical version is told from the unique perspective of the Ghost of Christmas Present.

Streaming exclusively on Apple TV+ following a brief theatrical release, Spirited continues Will Ferrell's venture into musicals following Netflix's Eurovision Song Contest and marks his first Christmas movie since Elf. For Ryan Reynolds, Spirited is new territory, as he has never been in a musical or a Christmas movie before. The...

There’s a tension between sincerity and smarm that often makes it difficult to take Ryan Reynolds seriously. The actor has charisma to spare and is better than almost anyone with a snarky quip; he’s so good at it, that even when he attempts to go earnest, it’s easy to anticipate a joke coming to undercut it. In some movies, that’s a detriment; in Spirited, a new take on the Scrooge story, it’s a benefit.

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is, at its core, not so much about a grumpy man turning jolly as it is about a self-absorbed narcissist realizing that other people matter. It’s a story retold every few years, and it’s a testament to its staying power that neither Muppets, Mickey Mouse nor Bill Murray can fully dull its impact. No matter how many twists are put on the familiar tale,...

Spirited is a Christmas musical comedy streaming on Apple TV+, starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. It is co-written and directed by Sean Anders.

The tables are turned, and this Christmas it is the Ghost of Christmas Present who must do some reevaluating.

Premise

This year’s target of the Ghost of Christmas Present is the ruthless businessman, Clint Briggs. As Present describes him, “he’s like the prefect combination of Mussolini and Seacrest.” His dark soul must be reformed by a visit from three spirits. Things will not follow the traditional process, when Christmas Present has to contend with Briggs who will shrewdly subject the Ghost to his own journey through his past, present and future.

Spirited (2022) Movie Review

A movie that has Will Ferrell written all over it: it is edgy but within limits. It goes ever so slightly beyond the canons of Christmas movies, managing to bring us something outside the norm.

Christmas films can be divisive things. For every person who needs to choke back a sob over Zuzu’s petals in order to feel truly festive, there is another for whom only an 8 week binge of Channel 5’s kindly cupcake cafe owners and selfish businesswomen meeting the interchangeable men of their dreams will suffice.

Yet once in a while a filmmaker crafts a beautiful sparkly bridge that unites the factions and has the chutzpah and baubles to fill even the hardest heart with holiday cheer. One to break out after boardgame controversies and tearful post-sherry fallouts. This Christmas season that audacious movie is Spirited.

Ebenezer (Will Ferrell) has it good. Once the scourge of the poor and vulnerable, Scrooge lived his final days with kindness and generosity and he knew how to keep Christmas well… Which is handy because in his afterlife Scrooge has reunited with Marley and become the Ghost of Christmas Present!

Like a too-generous parent on Christmas morning, “Spirited” keeps doling out the shiny presents long after the recipients are sated. But if there’s a genre that begs to be maximalist, it’s a musical comedy with its roots in Charles Dickens; it’s not so much whether or not you like what “Spirited” has to offer but how much of it you can take in one sitting.

The whole “one sitting” concept may be an outdated one, since this is a film that’s going to live its life (and its Christmases Yet to Come) on Apple TV+, where there’s always a pause button. But viewers who can see “Spirited” projected on the big screen absolutely should, if only to fully appreciate the splashy (sometimes in a literal sense) choreography from Chloe Arnold, one of the film’s true MVPs.

Not that the marquee names are slacking — the...

Christmas came early to London’s Southbank this evening with the premiere of Spirited, AppleTV+’s holiday musical comedy feature starring Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell and Octavia Spencer.

‘La La Land’ duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul have conjured up a few treats for the musical numbers. Patrick Page, Sunita Mani, Loren Woods, Joe Tippett, Marlow Barkley and Jen Tullock also star.

Sean Anders and John Morris wrote the film with Anders directing. The film will release on November 18th release on the Apple TV+ service.

Ethan Hart and Scott Davis were on the red carpet, here are their interviews.

Spirited Premiere

The post Spirited Premiere: Will Ferrell, Octavia Spencer & more on AppleTV’s festive fancy appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Ryan Reynolds' new movie projects are almost always guaranteed to be blockbusters. From his best to his worst movies, Ryan Reynolds consistently entertains, and though he's taken on more serious roles in movies like The Amityville Horror, Reynolds is best known both on and off-screen as a comedic presence and romantic lead. He was already a notable name before playing the lead role in 2016's Deadpool, but the hugely successful release of that movie — along with Reynolds' talent for social media and viral marketing — has made him one of Hollywood's most popular stars today. After the release of Deadpool 2 in 2018, the superhero franchise was effectively put on pause due to Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox. Since then, Reynolds has voiced an adorable miniature sleuth in Detective Pikachu, starred in the Netflix action-comedy Red Notice, and even appeared in the music video for Taylor Swift's "You Need To Calm Down.

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Spirited.Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds' new Christmas movie, Spirited, features an Elf Easter egg. Co-directed by Sean Anders and John Morris, the holiday musical-comedy recently hit theaters and is set to be available to stream November 18 on Apple TV+. Based on Charles Dickens classic novella A Christmas Carol, Spirited stars Reynolds as a modern-day Scrooge, named Clint Briggs, and Ferrell as The Ghost of Christmas Present, simply named Present, who hopes to redeem Clint's bad behavior. The pair is joined alongside Octavia Spencer, Patrick Page, Sunita Mani as Past and Tracy Morgan as the voice of Yet-To-Come. However, A Christmas Carol isn't the only holiday film to be referenced in Spirited.

Entertainment Weekly reveals Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds' Spirited features an Elf Easter egg. The iconic green suit Ferrell wore as Buddy in the beloved 2003 movie makes an appearance in Spirited, spotted...

Click here to read the full article.

Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including red carpets for Spirited, Fleishman Is in Trouble, The English and The Handmaid’s Tale finale.

Spirited premiere

Apple celebrated the global premiere of Spirited in New York on Monday, with stars Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, Octavia Spencer, Tracy Morgan, Sunita Mani, Patrick Page, Loren Woods, Marlow Barkley, Aimee Carrero, Andrea Anders and Jen Tullock. Filmmakers in attendance included director, writer and producer Sean Anders; producers George Dewey, John Morris, Jessica Elbaum and David Koplan executive producer Diana Pokorny; and composers and EPs Justin Paul and Benj Pasek.

Aimee Carrero, Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell, Octavia Spencer, Patrick Page and Sean Anders Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell

Fleishman Is in Trouble premiere

Stars Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, Lizzy Caplan, Adam Brody, Meara Mahoney Gross and...

"Spirited" is the new live-action Christmas-themed musical feature, directed by Sean Anders as a 'modern retelling' of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella "A Christmas Carol", starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds, opening in theaters November 11, 2022, before a streaming release November 18, 2022 on Apple TV+:

"...the new film is a musical version of Charles Dickens' story of a miserly misanthrope who's taken on a magical journey by ghosts...."

Click the images to enlarge...

At this point it is almost impossible to count the number of remakes, ripoffs, variations, takeoffs and general thievery on the part of filmmakers riffing on Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol. The latest imitation, Spirited, isn’t even the only new version to debut this season; I can count at least two others still waiting for liftoff as the yuletide tidings continue in 2022. But this one has some real firepower in terms of who is involved with the Apple TV+ original film, chief among them stars Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell, who deliver a take most closely aligned with Bill Murray’s modern 1988 Scrooged, a homage even noted in the rat-a-tat snarky script here by John Morris and Sean Anders (Daddy’s Home), the latter who also directed.

Above all this is a lively musical with a whole slew of new tunes featuring some of the blessedly most cynical lyrics...

Octavia Spencer almost spent Ryan Reynolds’ fake money prop from Spirited. Spirited is a modern-day retelling of A Christmas Carol, tracking the mystical journey of Clint Briggs (a stand-in for Ebenezer Scrooge) through musical comedy. Directed by Sean Anders, the film stars Reynolds, Spencer, Will Ferrell, Patrick Page, Sunita Mani, and Tracy Morgan.

Spencer reveals how she nearly made a major flub at a store last month when she almost paid with a Reynolds-themed money prop from Spirited at the cash register. As she recounted to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Spencer walked into a store checkout line one day and got her money prepared. As someone who usually carries little to no cash on her, she “felt like she had found a treasure” when she found something unexpected in there: a 100 bill. As she was about to pay, however, Spencer noticed that Ben Franklin was looking strange. As she looked more closely,...

(From left) Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell in Spirited Photo: Apple+ Song has the ability to take the simplest thought—or even a trite expression—and turn it into a moment of joyful uplift. It offers a direct line to more readily accepted vulnerability, and rumination about self-betterment.This fact...

Plot: In the musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Present attempts to bring a bit of holiday cheer to a ruthless fellow named Clint Briggs.

Review: The world is a crazy place right now. Why not just tune into a magical Christmas musical with stars of stage and screen delighting in song after song? Mainly when those stars include Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, and Octavia Spenser. Wait, what? Yes, that was my reaction to a holiday musical featuring those three singing and dancing. While Mr. Reynolds occasionally lends his singing voice in other parts of the world to television shows and such, and Mr. Ferrell loves to sing in general, it wasn’t something I expected to see. And here we are, with the comedic movie musical Sainted where they sing and dance. A whole lot.

Sainted is a modern telling of A Christmas Carol, but with a huge twist.

Though the sappy message in “Spirited” preaches that people can change, this spiffy musical comedy sure feels like an homage to tried-and-true Hollywood classics. , like a loud sweater or syrupy fireside cocoa. Proudly wearing its adaptation status on its sleeve, “Spirited” turns Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” into a contemporary feel-good comedy — with flashy musical numbers to boot.

Reprising some of the shenanigans of his lovable “Elf” character, reliable funnyman Will Ferrell plays a jovial ghost of Christmas present opposite a dastardly Ryan Reynolds as a modern day Scrooge. Bolstered by a stellar ensemble, both Ferrell and Reynolds make surprisingly charming showmen, impressing with confident crooning — and even some light choreo. It’s refreshing to see two stars who could have easily phoned it in for the rest of their careers push themselves to try new things.

Even more thrilling, they really can sing!

Being a Christmas story for 2022, “Spirited...

The new film "Spirited" has somehow figured out how to do a hat-trick of gimmicks. Throughout the history of cinema, there has been a bevy of countless adaptations of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", and many of them -- especially in recent years -- are gimmick-heavy. Some are musicals, like "The Muppet Christmas Carol"; some are modern, like "Scrooged"; and some are nightmarishly animated, like Robert Zemeckis' mo-cap version with Jim Carrey. Rare is the film with multiple gimmicks, yet "Spirited" is that unicorn. Is it modern? Is it a musical? Check and check. But the one twist that "Spirited" offers to separate itself from the pack is this: it's set from the Pov of the ghosts haunting a Scrooge-like figure. In that respect, and many others, "Spirited" feels like it was built on the factory floor of Apple, combined of spare parts and made slick in the hopes of impressing audiences,...

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Will Ferrell’s signature comedy style is halfway between obnoxious and endearing, a naïve man-child whose excitable energy is matched by his fearless disregard for dignity. Anyone who’s been missing that persona should find something to enjoy in Spirited, Ferrell’s bid to headline another holiday perennial to sit alongside Elf. His delivery remains inspired and his chemistry with Ryan Reynolds, playing the smarmy Scrooge figure in this busy 21st-century riff on A Christmas Carol, has lots of fizz, even if a supposed romance with Octavia Spencer’s character doesn’t. But is the movie any good?

That will depend on how closely you identify with the delicious disdain of Patrick Page as the chain-rattling Jacob Marley, upholder of the Dickensian tradition, who rolls his eyes and begs for a reprieve almost every time someone bursts into song. Because, yes, it’s a musical.

Hardly a week after the season of creeps, ghouls, and goblins, AppleTV+ is ready to thrust us into the warmth of Christmas with "Spirited," a contemporary update on "A Christmas Carol." Rather than going through the motions of Charles Dickens' cautionary tale, director Sean Anders is instead transforming the time-honored story into a musical comedy with Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell at the helm.

In "Spirited," Reynolds plays Clint Briggs, a man who is visited by Ferrell's Ghost of Christmas Present for being a grump around the holidays. Told from the perspective of the ghosts, this twist on the classic story appears to take the pair on a musical journey throughout Clint's past, present, and future, with plenty of tunes and dance numbers along the way.

Reynolds is very hit or miss when it comes to the projects he associates himself with because he often pulls out the "Deadpool" brand...

Spirited Trailer 2 — Apple TV+ has released the second movie trailer for Spirited (2022). View here the previous Spirited film trailer. Crew Sean Anders‘ Spirited stars Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell, Octavia Spencer, Sunita Mani, Patrick Page, Aimee Carrero, Joe Tippett, Marlow Barkley, Jen Tullock, and P.J. Byrne. Sean Anders and John Morris [...]

Continue reading: Spirited (2022) Movie Trailer 2: Ryan Reynolds stars in A Christmas Carol told from the Perspective of the Ghosts...

"Spirited" is the new live-action Christmas-themed musical feature, directed by Sean Anders as a 'modern retelling' of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella "A Christmas Carol", starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds, opening in theaters November 11, 2022, before a streaming release November 18, 2022 on Apple TV+:

"...the new film is a musical version of Charles Dickens' story of a miserly misanthrope who's taken on a magical journey by ghosts...."

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Start your holidays on a high note.

On Wednesday, Apple TV+ gave us an all-new glimpse at the studio’s upcoming Christmas-themed musical comedy “Spirited,” in the form of a brand new, comedy-filled trailer. The film was directed by Sean Anders, who also wrote the script alongside John Morris.

Based on the beloved Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol,” the film aims to be a modern re-imagining of the tale for a newer generation, which follows a man named Ebenezer Scrooge, who is visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come, who tries to convince him that the holidays are worth celebrating.

You can watch the trailer here:

The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell, Octavia Spencer, Sunita Mani, Patrick Page, and P.J. Byrne. It was produced by Anders, George Dewey, Jessica Elbaum, Ferrell, Morris, and Reynolds, under the Apple Original Films, Gloria Sanchez Productions, Maximum Effort,...

A new trailer for Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell’s Christmas Movie Spirited, which hits theaters and streamers this November, teases a musical comedy extravaganza. This film is yet another adaption ofA Christmas Carol, the 1843 novella by Charles Dickens that tells the tale of old miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who is visited by ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future in an attempt to save his soul from the greed and isolation that consume him. In classic holiday tradition, Spirited is not the only version of the Dickens tale coming to screens this year, as Netflix's Scrooge: A Christmas Carol will also re-imagine the classic story.

Spirited marks John Morris’ first time directing alongside Sean Anders, a team who have previously co-written many projects together, such as Instant Family, We’re the Millers, and Daddy’s Home. Ferrell stars as a ghost of Christmas Present assigned to work with Reynolds in the Scrooge-style role.

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"A Christmas Carol" is one of the truly classic Christmas stories from any medium. Originally written by Charles Dickens, the story has been adapted many times before on both the big and small screen. There is the 1938 film, the 2009 adaptation starring Jim Carrey and, of course, Bill Murray's comedy favorite "Scrooged."

Well, the folks at Apple TV+ have decided it's time to take another crack at this one, in musical form, with two of the biggest stars around in the form of Ryan Reynolds ("Deadpool") and Will Ferrell ("Step Brothers"). For those who are eager to see what a big-budget holiday musical starring those two looks like, we're here to help. Here is everything you need to know about "Spirited.

Apple Original Films today unveiled the official trailer for its new holiday musical comedy Spirited, starring Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds and Octavia Spencer.

The synopsis: Each Christmas Eve, the Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) selects one dark soul to be reformed by a visit from three spirits. But this season, he picked the wrong Scrooge. Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds) turns the tables on his ghostly host until Present finds himself reexamining his own past, present and future. For the first time, A Christmas Carol is told from the perspective of the ghosts in this hilarious musical twist on the classic Dickens tale.

From director Sean Anders, written by Anders and John Morris, with original songs by Oscar winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land) and production numbers choreographed by Chloe Arnold (The Late Late Show with James Corden), this modern retelling of the...