BostonGlobe.com — The director and a few of the stars of “The Finest Hours” were in attendance at AMC Boston Common Thursday for a Disney-hosted special screening of the big-budget, made-in-Massachusetts movie.

Clad in attire decidedly drier than the togs they wear in the high-seas adventure, Chris Pine and Casey Affleck joined director Craig Gillespie, screenwriter Scott Silver, and producers Dorothy Aufiero and Jim Whitaker to promote the film about the Coast Guard’s dramatic, real-life rescue off the Cape Cod coast in 1952.

Pine pointed to “the endurance of going through it, dealing with the cold, and the discomfort” as the toughest part of making the film. “Obviously, what those guys went through was so real and so difficult, and to have a little taste of it was a small price to pay to be able to tell this story.”

Shot around Quincy, Chatham, and elsewhere on the South Shore, the movie stars Pine as Coast Guardsman Bernie Webber, whose crew helped save the lives of more than 30 men on board an oil tanker torn in half by the ferocity of a winter nor’easter.

For Pine, “the sheer facts of the story” set it apart from other potential projects. “It was four men on a 36-foot boat in the dead of winter, going against extreme cold, rain, sleet, snow, and they went out in dangerous waters in a terrible storm, to rescue these people and got back to shore with only one fatality.”

Affleck, who stars as the tanker’s first assistant engineer, believes it’s crucial to keep bringing tales of true heroism to the big screen.

“I don’t have anything against superhero movies,” Affleck said, smiling. “It’s important that these kinds of movies are made, and that we don’t give ourselves over entirely to explosions and violence.”

“Perhaps the most surprising thing about [the shoot] was that a nor’easter came while we were making it,” Whitaker said, laughing. “Most times when you’re making a movie like this, a storm comes and you’re upset, because you have to take time off, but we welcomed the storm. We took full advantage.”

Real-life heroes from the Coast Guard attended Thursday’s screening, including Rear Admiral Linda Fagan, Commander, First Coast Guard District; Air Station Cape Cod’s Petty Officer 3d Class Evan Staph, Distinguished Flying Cross recipient; and Petty Officer 2d Class Derrick Suba, Air Medal recipient. Also there were Casey Sherman and Michael J. Tougias, whose nonfiction book is the basis for the movie, which opens Friday.

TheWrap.com — Patty Jenkins is directing the comic book movie for Warner Bros., which will release the film in 2017

Chris Pine has closed a deal to play Steve Trevor opposite Gal Gadot in “Wonder Woman,” TheWrap has learned. Pine joins the DC Movie Universe in a multi-picture deal that includes sequel options, according to insiders.

A representative for Warner Bros. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Steve Trevor will be no mere love interest for Gadot’s Diana Prince, as there will be plenty of action to keep him busy, though plot details remain under wraps.

There had been speculation that Pine was up for a role in WB’s upcoming “Green Lantern Corps” and that the “Wonder Woman” rumors were just a smokescreen, but that popular fanboy theory proved unfounded.

Patty Jenkins is directing “Wonder Woman,” which Zack Snyder and Deborah Snyder are producing with Charles Roven and Richard Suckle of Atlas Entertainment. Jason Fuchs wrote the script after working with Warner Bros. on Joe Wright’s “Pan.”

Wonder Woman will be introduced in next year’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” before her solo movie hits theaters on June 23, 2017.

If – and despite the studio’s driving need for franchises and the evergreen nature of the title, it is still just ‘if’ – Paramount decides to make a Star Trek 4, it can count on Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock reporting for duty. Actors Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto have renegotiated their contracts to allow for a fourth Trek adventure, in a move that also boosts their salary.

It’s all part of deal negotiations that have taken place as the third Star Trek movie – called, at least for now, Star Trek Beyond – finally cranks up the ol’ warp drive and moves into production, with Pine, Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg and the rest scoring wage raises along the way.

Not much is known about the third Trek movie’s plot so far – rumours have included more action with the Klingons – and Pegg, who has co-written the current script with Doug Jung, has said he wanted to get back into the exploration and adventure at which Star Trek excels. We do know that Justin Lin is the man guiding the action this time and the movie has started filming in Vancouver. It’ll arrive here on July 8 next year.

Source: empireonline.com

CBS Films announced today it has acquired U.S. rights to the action heist thriller Comancheria, which David Mackenzie is directing from a script by Sicario scribe Taylor Sheridan. Two brothers, played by Chris Pine and Ben Foster, go on a calculated bank robbery spree that puts them on a collision course with a West Texas Ranger, determined to bring them down. Jeff Bridges plays the law

Sidney Kimmel, Peter Berg (Film 44) and Julie Yorn (LBI) will produce the film with Carla Hacken and Gigi Pritzker serving as executive producers. Sidney Kimmel Entertainment developed the project with Film 44. Odd Lot recently joined SKE on the film and will co-produce and co-finance. Pic starts May 26th in New Mexico.

Sierra Affinity will be selling international rights at the Cannes Film Festival. WME Global and UTA made the deal.

Source: deadline.com

Disney is moving its Chris Pine-starring Coast Guard drama The Finest Hours out of the 2015 awards season and away from Universal’s Steve Jobs biopic.

The period film, directed by Million Dollar Arm’s Craig Gillespie, had been moved from its original release date of Oct 9th 2015 to April 15th 2016, placing the sea-rescue epic right in the middle of awards season.

Now Finest Hours is being released on Jan. 29, 2016, Disney announced Wednesday.

After Disney set Finest Hours for Oct. 9, Universal announced that it would be releasing its Steve Jobs biopic, starring Michael Fassbender as Jobs, on the same date. That month also features the release of a number of other highly anticipated titles, specifically Focus Features’ London Has Fallen (Oct. 2), Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak (Oct. 16) and Jem and the Holograms (Oct. 23). By pushing back the film, Disney can also release it under its new Imax slate deal, announced Wednesday morning. Finest Hours is getting a 3D wide release.

In addition to Pine, Finest Hours stars Eric Bana, Casey Affleck and Ben Foster. The film, based on the book of the same name by Casey Sherman, tells the true story of the 1952 Coast Guard rescue mission to save the crews of two oil tankers hit by a Noreaster off the New England coast

With its new date, Finest Hours is being released in the same corridor that American Sniper was released in this year, with the film going on to earn $535.9 million worldwide.

The Disney title could also get some promotion ahead of another big Disney film: the latest Star Wars movie, which is now opening before Finest Hours.

Source: hollywoodreporter.com

The truth is Chris Pine likes to be dared. When the opportunity arrived to try out for the Into the Woods comic role of Prince Charming, he graciously accepted the invitation and won the part. Certainly, Pine has comedy chops, most recently showcased as the Horrible Bosses 2 kidnap victim. He would venture to say that his Captain Kirk in the Star Trek series has a wit about him, too.

And prince? He was the royal love interest opposite Anne Hathaway in 2004’s The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.

His ability to sing may have been one of his best-kept secrets, although the 34-year-old admits he grew up with music around him.

“I remember my family always used to play the Phantom of the Opera record when I was a kid,” says Pine during an exclusive one-on-one interview with Postmedia News. “But I didn’t have much knowledge or experience with musical theatre before this.”

Q So how did you become Prince Charming?

A I was doing press for Star Trek (Into Darkness) in New York, and they asked me if I wanted to do an Into the Woods audition for (director) Rob Marshall, and I didn’t even know what Into the Woods was.

Q Did have confidence in your singing voice?

A I knew I could sing well enough that I wouldn’t be embarrassed at karaoke, but it’s a whole other thing when you do this piece.

Q Were you nervous at the audition?

A Rob (Marshall) was really nice, but I had to get a song together in a night so I jumped into it without thinking.

Q Did you go back for another try out?

A Within a day I found out I got it, so I was off to the the races and started studying (voice) almost immediately.

Q Did you relish the vocal training?

A I did. But then I found out how Into the Woods is this pantheon of Broadway musical theatre.

Q Did you have fun shaping your prince?

A The clarity of the writing helped a lot; the prince has to represent an ideal. But I also wanted him to be a bit buffoonish. His hair is too big and his posture is too much.

Q Is he post-modern?

A I kind of view my (prince) as the perfect symbol of today’s ‘selfie’ generation. He’s an unfettered narcissist.