More minions are coming. The Conjuring 4 sets a release date. Time Bandits shares its first trailer. Severance season two offers us a teaser and a look at Gwendoline Christie’s new character. Godzilla x Kong hits streaming. A Furiosa transformation. Eric Kripke talks about The Boys‘ comic twist the series will skip. Here are all these news odds & ends, and more.

Alien: Romulus

Cinemark Theaters wants you to enjoy Alien: Romulus and really dig your teeth into the film. The theater chain revealed its Xenomorph Alien: Romulus popcorn bucket and it is delightfully creepy.

Celebrate Summer with these French Fry Ice Cream Pops

What could be better than dipping french fries in ice cream? An ice cream pop that does it for you already. GoodPop and Ore-Ida have teamed up to create the ultimate frozen treat, “an all-in-one pop featuring a creamy dairy free oatmilk interior coated in frozen chocolate fudge and sprinkled with real crispy potatoes for a cleaned up classic treat that’s cold, creamy and completely crave worthy.”

You can try to snag a four-pack for $9.99, here, but don’t delay. These tasty treats are selling out quickly.

Minons & Despicable Me

As Despicable Me 4 reaches $255 million at the global box office, another franchise movie has been given a release date. Minions 3 will release on June 30, 2027.

The Conjuring

The Conjuring 4, which is now being referred to as the finale of the cinematic franchise, has set its release date. The next The Conjuring movie will release on September 5, 2025. The movie does not yet have a title.

Time Bandits

Everything old is new again and the latest reboot to hit our screens is Time Bandits. A reimagination of the 1981 film in series form, this Apple TV+ adventure is created by Jemaine Clement, Iain Morris and Taika Waititi. The series stars Lisa Kudrow alongside rising star Kal-El Tuck. It “will take viewers on a riveting journey through time and space with a ragtag group of thieves.”

The Time Bandits synopsis shares:

Guided by Lisa Kudrow, the eccentric crew of bandits embark on epic adventures while evil forces threaten their conquests, and life as they know it. As the group transports through time and space, the gang stumbles upon fascinating worlds of the distant past while seeking out treasure, depending on Kevin to shed light on each situation. The “Time Bandits” witness the creation of Stonehenge, see the Trojan Horse in action, escape dinosaurs in the prehistoric ages, wreak havoc during medieval times, experience the Ice Age, ancient civilizations and the Harlem Renaissance, and much more along the way. 

The 10-episode series will premiere globally, with the first two episodes on Wednesday, July 24, followed by two new episodes every Wednesday through August 21, 2024.

Severance

Severance season two has revealed its release date. The second chapter of the series will arrive on January 17, 2025. Additionally, the release date announcement teaser trailer gives us a look at Gwendoline Christie’s mysterious new character.

SpongeBob SquarePants

The trailer for Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is here. This trailer brings us a whole new kind of SpongeBob SquarePants adventure. A little bit of live-action, a little bit of surface mayhem—what could possibly get better than this?

A release shares, “When Bikini Bottom and all its denizens are suddenly scooped out of the ocean, Sandy Cheeks and SpongeBob SquarePants journey to Texas to save the town from a villainous plot.” Sandy Cheeks is one (flying) squirrel not to be messed with. Honestly, we’re all the way in for this Sandy Cheeks star vehicle.

Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie releases on August 2.

Godzilla x Kong

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire will release on July 4. The monster movie will stream on Max.

We’re also very excited to share that a version of the movie with American Sign Language (ASL) will also stream exclusively on Max the same day. Max shares, “This ASL version of the film was produced exclusively for Max, with ASL performer Otis Jones (Deaf West Theatre) providing interpretation. Jones was coached by Leila Hanaumi, who delivered a highly praised performance in Barbie with ASL last December, Max’s first ASL film interpretation. GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE in ASL will be displayed as a unique title on the Max app, identifiable by its key art featuring the sign language symbol.” We absolutely applaud Max for these efforts to be as inclusive as possible with their programming!

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

If you’re a fan of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, you can check out Anya Taylor-Joy’s epic transformation into Furiosa below.

The Boys

The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke promises that unlike in the comics, Black Noir will not end up being a Homelander clone.

He tells Variety:

No, and I don’t mind saying it. In the comics he’s a clone of Homelander this entire time and is actually the one doing all these horrific things. And again, it’s a hell of a twist. But it’s like, well wait, the villain I’ve been following isn’t really the villain. And mileage varies, and I’m sure fans are mad I’m not going that way, but that felt not as satisfying to me. I’m like, if I’m going to follow this villain, I want this guy to be the villain. So I was never really into the clone idea.

Plus, cloning feels like too — I’m going to sound silly — but cloning feels too magical for the show. We try to say that superheroes are the only slippery banana, and that everything else we try to make as grounded as possible.

Netflix

Netflix is creating its own line of popcorn… and its own malls.

Netflix shares:

Today, we’re excited to announce that Netflix and Popcorn Indiana are teaming up to bring Now Popping, an all-new ready-to-eat popcorn line! With flavors like Cult Classic Cheddar Kettle Corn and Swoonworthy Cinnamon Kettle Corn, this partnership promises a snack experience tailored to every viewer’s taste. Discover your favorite flavor, nationwide at Walmart, today. 

The popcorn retails for $4.49, but no word on how much it is if you want to share a pack.

Additionally, the streamer has revealed it will be opening two entertainment, dining, and shopping complexes, a.k.a. malls. Per Variety, “They’re not exactly theme parks, but the new Netflix Houses — to open next year in King of Prussia, Pa., and Dallas — will feature a wide array of shopping outlets, eateries and experiential activities tied to the streamer’s major franchises like Bridgerton, Stranger Things and Squid Game.“

Marian Lee, Netflix’s chief marketing officer, shares “At Netflix House, you can enjoy regularly updated immersive experiences, indulge in retail therapy, and get a taste — literally — of your favorite Netflix series and films through unique food and drink offerings. We’ve launched more than 50 experiences in 25 cities, and Netflix House represents the next generation of our distinctive offerings. The venues will bring our beloved stories to life in new, ever-changing and unexpected ways.”

Netflix invites you to imagine, “waltzing with your partner to an orchestral cover of a Taylor Swift song on a replica of the ‘Bridgerton’ set –– and then walking around the corner to compete in the Glass Bridge challenge from ‘Squid Game.’” After that, you can enjoy “food inspired by Netflix shows from around the world” or buy “that Hellfire Club T-shirt you’ve always wanted from Stranger Things.”

Deadpool

Marvel is all set to kill Deadpool in Deadpool #6 by Cody Ziglar and Rogê Antônio. Marvel shared of the issue:

Wade Wilson triumphed against Death Grip! This is the first issue of a new arc and killing Deadpool NOW would be an INSANE thing to do. Which is exactly why we’re doing it.

Editor’s Note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks.

Originally published on June 20, 2024.

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Freaky Friday 2 is officially happening, with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan back for more body-swapping fun. The highly anticipated sequel movie certainly seemed like it was gaining traction, but there’s nothing we love more than an official announcement. In addition to Curtis and Lohan, Freaky Friday 2 has gained some excellent new cast members, and it has a slated release window of 2025. That’s some freakishly exciting stuff.

Freaky Friday 2‘s Plot

In a release, Disney describes the plot of Freaky Friday 2 as follows:

A sequel to the beloved 2003 film with a multigenerational twist, the film picks up years after Tess (Curtis) and Anna (Lohan) endured an identity crisis. Anna now has a daughter of her own and a soon-to-be stepdaughter. As they navigate the myriad challenges that come when two families merge, Tess and Anna discover that lightning might indeed strike twice.

More body swapping, ahoy!

Freaky Friday 2‘s Cast and Creators

Of course, Curtis and Lohan reprise their roles as Tess and Anna Coleman. But other Freaky Friday actors will be back for more fun. These returning original cast members include Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray, Christina Vidal Mitchell, Haley Hudson, Lucille Soong, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Rosalind Chao. But Freaky Friday 2 will also see some new faces, including Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. We are very excited to hear Manny Jacinto is Freaky Friday 2 official, especially after his excellent recent turn on The Acolyte.

In addition to the above looks, we also have a glimpse at Chad Michael Murray’s return as Jake.

Finally, Freaky Friday 2 will be directed by Nisha Ganatra.

Freaky Friday 2‘s Release Date

Production on the Freaky Friday sequel began in June 2024. We should expect Freaky Friday 2 to release in theaters nationwide in 2025.

While we wait for Freaky Friday 2 to release, you can catch the original movie streaming on Disney+.

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According to Kevin Feige, Deadpool & Wolverine will be the most wholesome R-rated movie ever. And its final trailer certainly makes us feel that way. In addition to pulling on our heartstrings more generally, the trailer also reveals a very special Logan cameo will come to us in Deadpool & Wolverine. Yes, that’s right, Dafne Keen will return to our screens as X-23, Wolverine’s feral surrogate daughter, in the upcoming Marvel Studios movie. You can take a look at Keen’s return to our screens as X-23, also known as Laura, in the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer below.

There’s been a lot of buzz about whether Dafne Keen would or would not return to cameo as Logan‘s X-23/Laura in Deadpool & Wolverine. But it seems like Marvel doesn’t want to leave us wondering for very long. X-23 tells Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer, “You were always the wrong guy, till you weren’t.” And we get the feeling her appearance will be just the thing that downtrodden Logan needs to go into full heroic (but still grumpy) mode.

In Logan, Wolverine becomes X-23’s surrogate father. X-23 is a Wolverine clone, after all. He devotes himself to protecting her and other mutant children and gives his life in the process. Logan was meant to be Hugh Jackman’s final turn in Wolverine. But, obviously, that didn’t take. The somber movie is, however, lauded as one of the finest superhero movies ever. Deadpool & Wolverine will have a very different tone to Logan, and so we’re curious to see in what form Keen’s X-23 will return.

Keen shares of returning to X-23 in Deadpool & Wolverine, “It was wonderful to get to come back to that and explore that as a grownup… now understanding more parental rage so much more and bringing that to the table for her. I found that Laura in Logan stumbled into having a dad and then having lost her dad. We find her again really knowing how to appreciate — and with this kind of wiseness to her — how much her father means to her.” But not to worry, she’s still physical and feral.

Deadpool & Wolverine releases in theaters July 26.

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After years of speculating, in 2022, Marvel Studios confirmed that Deadpool would officially join the MCU for a third installment of the R-rated comic book franchise at the start of Phase Six, Deadpool & Wolverine. This would mark the first official character of the Fox X-Men universe joining the MCU (although Patrick Stewart as a variant Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness kinda counts too, we suppose).

In a post on his Instagram story, Ryan Reynolds also gave us a closer look at Cassandra Nova’s sling ring. It looks like two infinity stones, the Time Stone and the Reality Stone, might be appended to it. We guess we’ll have to wait and see just how that works.

Deadpool & Wolverine‘s latest teaser trailer brings yet another new Deadpool into the mix. This time it’s Lady Deadpool.

We can’t wait to find out who will be playing this red-clad gal. Additionally, Cowboy Deadpool also makes an appearance.

Here is everything we know so far about Deadpool & Wolverine.

Title

Thanks to a Super Bowl trailer (check it out below!), we know that this film, formerly called Deadpool 3, is actually Deadpool & Wolverine.

Deadpool & Wolverine‘s Plot

The plot of Deadpool & Wolverine remains a mystery. All we know is that Hugh Jackman is returning as Wolverine, and that it takes place before the feral X-Man’s death in Logan. In fact, Jackman has confirmed that time travel will be involved in the threequel in a big way.

While originally, Deadpool & Wolverine was called Deadpool 3, director Shawn Levy wants to make sure fans understand that the title change is not just cosmetic. Levy notes to Screen Rant:

As far as crafting the Deadpool & Wolverine story, I just felt privileged every day because you’re talking about two massive movie stars in their most iconic roles. It also gave me an opportunity. It’s the third Deadpool movie, but it’s not Deadpool 3. It’s a different thing that’s very much Deadpool and Wolverine. And it’s not trying to copycat anything from the first two movies. They were awesome, but this is a two-hander character adventure.

As most folks know by now, Deadpool’s third solo film will reunite him with his X-Men Origins: Wolverine co-star. Deadpool and Wolverine will work together, although they have made it very clear that these two characters “hate each other.” It will not be a love-fest in this story. But the fact that Deadpool & Wolverine is smack in the middle of the Multiverse Saga should give us all a clue as to what’s going to go down, and probable multiversal shenanigans will ensue.

Dogpool, of course, will also star.

Make sure to follow him on Instagram.

We also now know what Deadpool & Wolverine‘s new official logo looks like thanks to a fun poster.

Deadpool & Wolverine will, of course, be the first R-rated movie in the MCU. And that means it’s not pulling any punches. In fact, its latest official synopsis drops two F-bombs. Let’s take a look:

Marvel Studios presents their most significant mistake to date—Deadpool & Wolverine. A listless Wade Wilson toils away in civilian life. His days as the morally flexible mercenary, Deadpool, behind him. When his homeworld faces an existential threat, Wade must reluctantly suit-up again with an even more reluctantlier… reluctanter? Reluctantest? He must convince a reluctant Wolverine to—Fuck. Synopses are so fucking stupid.

Deadpool & Wolverine‘s Cast

We know Hugh Jackman will return, along with the very obvious Ryan Reynolds. Here’s who else we know about: Karan Soni, cab driver Dopinder, Leslie Uggams, Emma Corrin, and Matthew Macfadyen. In exciting news, Morena Baccarin and Stefan Kapicic are reprising their roles as Vanessa and Colossus in Deadpool & Wolverine. So are Rob Delaney’s Peter, Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead), and Shioli Kutsuna (Yukio). Jennifer Garner’s Elektra from the 2003 Daredevil Marvel Fox movie is also reported to reprise her role in this MCU film.

Behind the Scenes

Deadpool & Wolverine‘s director for this third outing will be Shawn Levy, most recently known for his work on Stranger Things. This would be a reunion for Levy and Reynolds, as the pair previously worked together on the movie Free Guy. Levy is also known for the time travel movie The Adam Project.

On the writing side of things are Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin, writers for the popular animated series Bob’s Burgers. The writers for the first two Deadpool films, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, are also contributing to movie number three’s screenplay, as is Ryan Reynolds himself.

Deadpool & Wolverine Release Date

Deadpool & Wolverine will arrive on July 26, 2024.

Originally published on January 4, 2023.

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We all have to know our worth. And Netflix certainly knows theirs. They’re not closed to joining certain kind of bundles, but they won’t be entering into a streaming bundle with fellow streamers Disney+ or Max. And that’s because Netflix simply doesn’t need to join a group of its peers. According to the platform, Netflix won’t be bundling with other streamers because “Netflix already operates as a go-to destination for entertainment.” Alright Netflix, tell us how you really feel!

Recently, we’ve seen streaming bundles become more mainstream. On the one hand, we saw a Disney+, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle come into being. And on the other, we saw Peacock, Netflix, Apple TV+ join forces to create a streaming bundle of their own. But don’t expect Netflix to appear in any of these.

Netflix shares in a letter to shareholders that it will join a bundle with device and operator partners, which “mak[e] it simple for people to discover, sign-up, use and pay for Netflix.” And “In turn, our device and operator partners benefit through increased device sales from consumers seeking devices integrated with Netflix and greater customer acquisition and higher retention as well as the opportunity to upsell higher value data or content packages.” However, Netflix will not soon enter into a streaming bundle agreement with its peers.

The streamer shares, “We haven’t bundled Netflix solely with other streamers like Disney+ or Max because Netflix already operates as a go-to destination for entertainment thanks to the breadth and variety of our slate and superior product experience. This has driven industry-leading penetration, engagement and retention for us, which limits the benefit to Netflix of bundling directly with other streamers.”

Shots fired! Apparently, Netflix specifically called out the Disney+, Hulu, and Max bundle in its statement. It’s definitely a bold statement to make. We’ll see if Netflix maintains this position as the streaming industry continues to oscillate.

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In space no one can hear you scream. But your cries of anguish definitely reverberate through a spaceship. That is if you’re even capable of screaming. That’s hard to do while a facehugger is using your throat to make you a human incubator. And that’s why so many unfortunate scavengers in Alien: Romulus won’t be able to call out for help when the meet the galaxy’s greatest terror. At least they won’t be able to until it’s too late. The horror-action film’s final trailer features a plethora of those iconic parasitic creatures running wild.

20th Century Studios describes Alien: Romulus as a film that takes the franchise “back to its roots.” Everything we’ve seen from it so far more than confirms that. This entry from writer-director Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe), which takes place between the first and second film, looks and feels like those two entries.

But there also seems to be more going on here than just an “unlucky” encounter for some colonizers “scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station.” They come “face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.” Literally and often. Those facehuggers are everywhere. Why are there so many onboard in the first place? And what does that mean for this group’s already low survival chances? Probably not high considering what baby Xenomorphs grow into.

Alien: Romulus also comes from co-writer Rodo Sayagues (Don’t Breathe 2), with Ridley Scott serving as a producer. It stars: Cailee Spaeny (Civil War), David Jonsson (Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Isabela Merced (The Last of Us), Spike Fearn (Aftersun), and newcomer Aileen Wu.

How many of them will escape with their lives and how many of them will see a baby Xenomorph escape from their chest? We’ll find out when we hear their screams later this summer. Alien: Romulus flies into theaters on August 16, 2024.

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The dead have all the time in the world to regroup, replan, and return. And that’s exactly what the Ghost With the Most will do when Tim Burton’s long-awaited Beetlejuice sequel comes to theaters this year. Michael Keaton’s iconic dead man finally has the opportunity to get everything he always wanted, because the latest trailer for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice teases an even bigger threat in the afterlife. And that will lead Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz to ask for help from the last person, dead or alive, she’d ever want to see.

Waiting rooms, weddings, and a whole lot of worms, this latest trailer for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has everything. That includes a missing teenager (Jenna Ortega’s Astrid) who accidentally ends up in the realm of the dead. And we know who calls that place home. Here’s the film’s official synopsis from Warner Bros. Pictures:

After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid, discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it’s only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.

The movie will also mark the return of Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz. New cast members include Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Arthur Conti, and Willem Dafoe, maybe the most perfect human you could want for a Beetlejuice movie.

Will Beetlejuice finally marry Lydia? Or will Astrid prove to be the rotten apple of his eye this time? And why is the Ghost With the Most so cared of Monica Belluci’s spooky specter? We’re dying to find out the answers to all these questions. And we’ll get them when Beetlejuice Beetlejuice comes to theaters this fall on September 6, 2024.

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For decades now, we’ve heard rumors about a sequel to Beetlejuice, Tim Burton’s 1988 hit, which cemented his signature style. The story of a young goth girl (Winona Ryder) who tries to help two ghosts in her haunted home scare her parents away. The ghost they hire is a “Bio-exorcist” named Beetlejuice to do the deed. A cult classic to this day, plans for a sequel have always been rumored. During the ’90s, they even floated “Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian” to Kevin Smith.

But now, some 35 years after the original hit theaters, a sequel to the adventures of the “Bio Exorcist” is finally on the way. Original star Michael Keaton, director Tim Burton, and Scream and Wednesday star Jenna Ortega have all signed on for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

We love seeing them in this new poster:

And so, let’s bust out that Handbook for the Recently Deceased; here is everything we know about the upcoming Beetlejuice sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Title

As we hoped, the title for this movie is Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! We love it, because this way, if they ever make it a trilogy, they can call the third one Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! and Michael Keaton will magically appear when summoned, just by saying the title.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s Plot

The Beetlejuice sequel will center on the daughter of Lydia Deetz from the first film. And somehow, the previously unknown wife of Beetlejuice will play a part as well. We think it’s safe to say that both ghosts and the afterlife will play a rather large role. The teaser trailer also finally have our first look at Ortega and Keaton in their roles. We get to see Ortega’s character in deeper detail in another Beetlejuice Beetlejuice trailer.

The official synopsis for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice sheds more light on the plot, sharing:

Beetlejuice is back!  After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River.  Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid, discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened.  With trouble brewing in both realms, it’s only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.

Click To View Gallery

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s Cast

The cast for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is shaping up to have a combination of stars from the original, and other actors Tim Burton has recently worked with. Michael Keaton will return as the titular character, joined by Jenna Ortega, who recently worked with Burton on Wednesday, as the daughter of Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz character from the first film. Winona Ryder is returning as well, as so is Catherine O’Hara as her stepmother. Other original cast members, like Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin, are likely not returning.

New to the cast is Willem Dafoe, who is playing a law enforcement officer in the afterlife. Empire Magazine revealed a new look at Willem Dafoe’s character ‘Afterlife Crimes’ cop Wolf Jackson.

Empire shares, “the film sees Dafoe play the brilliantly-named Wolf Jackson – an actor who, given that he was known for playing cop ‘Frank Hardballer’ when he was alive, has taken on a similar role in the afterlife as the head of the Afterlife Crimes Unit. Oh, and he has a segment of skull missing, leaving a bit of his brain exposed. ‘It’s not a normal role,’ admits Dafoe. ‘The most important thing for me was to find the tone. It had to be rooted, but it also had to be free enough that you could play with it.'”

Another new face is Justin Theroux, in an as-yet undisclosed role. Also new to the world of the afterlife is Monica Bellucci, who will play the previously unknown wife of Beetlejuice. This will be the first time working on a Tim Burton project for all three actors.

Behind the Scenes

Returning behind the camera is original filmmaker Tim Burton. Al Gough and Miles Millar, the creators of the hit Netflix Burton/Ortega collaboration Wednesday, wrote the screenplay for the sequel. Tim Burton’s longtime friend and collaborator Danny Elfman is returning to compose the score. It just wouldn’t feel like Beetlejuice without an Elfman score, would it?

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice‘s Release Date

The long-awaited sequel to the Tim Burton horror/comedy classic Beetlejuice hits theaters on September 5, 2024.

Originally published on May 15, 2023.

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One of the very best film festivals in the world (in my humble opinion) kicks off again this weekend for another fortnight-and-a-bit of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, action, and basically all the great genre movies you could want. Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal once again hosts a number of screenings, both repertory favorites and premieres. The fest kicks off Thursday, July 18, and goes all the way through Sunday, August 4. If you’re curious about world genre cinema, there really is no better place to be.

This year’s edition sees a number of fascinating and intriguing movies for fans to mull over. Here are the five I’m most excited to see!

The Old Man and the Demon Sword

To kick things off we have a movie lovingly described as “Evil Dead meets Kamen Rider,” so how could that not speak directly to me as a person? In the remote village of Pé da Serra in the mountains of Portugal, a monk arrives wielding a demonic sword. Before long, the mystical weapon ends up in the hands of the town drunk António da Luz (who plays himself). Together, the drunkard and the sword will have to learn together to fight the encroaching evil.

This Portuguese film is a love-budget homage to American B-movies using folklore and legends as the basis. Fun!

Shelby Oaks

The feature directorial debut of YouTube star Chris Stuckmann, Shelby Oaks details the mysterious disappearance of (fictional) YouTubers behind a popular paranormal investigation channel. Riley Brennan and her three co-hosts disappeared near the deserted town of Shelby Oaks, Ohio in 2008. Conspiracy theories have run rampant over the years, but none are more determined to get to the truth than Riley’s sister, Mia (Camille Sullivan), who has finally agreed to tell Riley’s story to a documentary film crew (Emily Bennett and Rob Grant) in the hopes of finding closure.

After a super successful Kickstarter campaign and over two years of waiting, Stuckmann’s film is finally ready to make its world premiere at Fantasia, and ready to scare people’s pants off.

The Beast Within

Game of Thrones star Kit Harington trades his sword for an axe (and some claws and fangs) in this riff on the werewolf story. Harington plays a father with a secret that he is desperately trying to keep under control. His mysterious excursions at night leave his ailing daughter (Caoilinn Springall) plagued with questions. Where does her father go? Why do his moods seem to change in an instant? And what is the horrifying creature that appears and terrorizes the rural community?

Fantasia says, “The uncanniness of childhood in all its revelry and magnificence is front and centre in The Beast Within, which plunges its audience into a world haunted by a creature that stalks at the full moon.”

You had me at “Jon Snow, Lycanthrope.”

Witchboard

Chuck Russell, who made one of my very favorite horror movies in the 1988 remake of The Blob, returns for a remake of the infamous ’80s Video Nasty. When a couple find a circular “pendulum board” that predates the Ouija by centuries, they think it’s just an antique that can make them some money. Soon the board begins to help them in strange ways. Is something supernatural going on? I mean, yes, it’s a horror movie. Duh.

This distinctive take on the original still apparently maintains gruesome set pieces and a modern gothic aesthetic thanks to its setting of New Orleans (and filming locations in Montreal). Plus it’s just good to see Chuck Russell make a horror movie again.

Brush of the God

Keizo Murase is a renowned effects artist who has made creatures and suits for kaiju and tokusatsu titles since the late-50s. If you’ve seen Ultraman, Godzilla, Kamen Rider, Gamera, or Daimajin entries, you’ve probably seen Murase’s work. How cool then 70 years into his career, he finally makes his directorial debut at the age of 88?

A teen whose late-grandfather was a model maker for monster movies has to use a mystical inkbrush to save the world from a many-headed dragon. How can you not like that premise?! Populated by the kinds of kaiju effects Murase helped pioneer, Brush of the God is a celebration of art and expression as much as a monster movie.

Look for reviews in the coming days here on Nerdist.com. For more information about Fantasia, and for tickets if you’re in Montreal, head to their website. Bon cinema!

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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The final episode of The Acolyte teased several things we know are playing an important part in Star Wars lore. The biggest was the reveal of who is almost certainly Darth Plagueis, the Sith master of the future Emperor Palpatine. The other big status quo shift was Osha (Amandla Stenberg) becoming the titular acolyte for the Stranger, also known as Qimir (Manny Jacinto). Even with these big reveals, we have many questions. Specifically, we want to know whether or not the Stranger is a Sith, or one of the Knights of Ren. Perhaps he is the very first Ren. And how do the dark-side-powered Knights of Ren even connect to the Sith Order, if it all? Maybe the finale of The Acolyte just gave us a clue.

Darth Plagueis Reveals Himself in The Acolyte

On the mysterious planet where the Stranger resides, we see a mysterious dark side figure literally lurking in the shadows. He silently watches as the Stranger talks to Osha, attempting his dark side seduction. The general assumption, based on descriptions in non-canon Legends material, is that this was our first on-screen appearance of Darth Plagueis the Wise. His look appears very similar to his appearance as a Muun in Legends, specifically the James Luceno novel, Star Wars: Darth Plagueis. So what’s he doing there? We have some ideas.

One theory we have is that he is the true Sith master, and the Stranger is his apprentice. “Always two there, no more, no less.” That’s the creed of the Sith “Rule of Two.” However, this rule is always broken. At some point, the Sith apprentice takes on their own student, and overthrows their master, starting the cycle over. In The Clone Wars, Count Dooku started training Asajj Ventress, but when she grew too powerful, his master Darth Sidious/Palpatine commanded him to kill her. He wasn’t allowing any threat to his power to exist.

Was Darth Plagueis the Master of Qimir/The Stranger?

Our feeling is that some time after being the Padawan learner to Master Venestra Rwoh, Qimir (or whatever his true name is) became the apprentice of Darth Plagueis, following the rule of two. But also, at some point, instead of trying to kill his master and replace him, he merely abandoned the Sith creed. He still obviously uses the dark side of the Force, and has his Sith training, but he may no longer consider himself a Sith Lord. That doesn’t mean that Darth Plagueis isn’t keeping tabs on him though. Especially if he knows his former pupil is on to something when it comes to a pair of mysterious children born of the Force on Brendock.

Does the Stranger Connect the Sith and the Knights of Ren?

We think that The Acolyte is showing us the origins of not just the Sith who will rule the galaxy with the Galactic Empire a century later, but also the origins of the Knights of Ren. Many things in The Acolyte have hinted at The Stranger having a connection to the Knights of Ren. The least of which was the use of John Williams’ Kylo Ren theme in association with Manny Jacinto’s character. And Leslye Headland certainly didn’t deny a Kyle/Qimir connection to us at all.

If the Stranger was the former Sith apprentice to Darth Plagueis, that means Plagueis would need a new one eventually. Who is to say a potential second season of The Acolyte won’t give us a significant time-jump? We may see an older Osha and Qimir starting the Knights of Ren together, while Plagueis makes his move on seducing a young Palpatine to the dark side. That’s certainly a story Star Wars fans have been waiting to see (in canon) for decades now. And Headland said she knows how The Acolyte connects directly to The Phantom Menace.

And yes, even with a time jump, we could see the same actors playing Qimir and Osha. Qimir already hinted that he was a Jedi “A long time ago.” That means he may be far older than he looks. As Palpatine told Anakin in Revenge of the Sith, “The dark side of the Force is a pathway to abilities some would consider to be unnatural.” It’s very possible one of those unnatural abilities in unnaturally prolonged youth. If there is a season two of The Acolyte, it may finally connect the dots between Darth Plagueis, the Stanger, Osha, the Knights of Ren, and ultimately, the Emperor himself.

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As Marvel Studios continues to move through Phase 5 with Deadpool & Wolverine and look towards Phase 6 (which we will hopefully get news about at SDCC 2024), the studio is tapping into familiar creative sources for future projects. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Joe and Anthony Russo—also known as The Russo Brothers—are in talks to come back to Marvel and direct the next two Avengers movies. 

The fifth Avenger movie was under the title of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, but that will almost certainly change following Jonathan Majors firing in December 2023. For now, everyone is calling it Avengers 5. The sixth film, Avengers: Secret Wars, will be a game-changing epic that will shift the multiverses (and probably destroy them, too.) The films are expected to hit theaters on May 1, 2026 and May 7, 2027.

It’s no secret that the Russo Brothers know what to do with complex storylines and an ensemble cast in the Marvel universe. The duo even hinted at possibly being involved with a Secret Wars storyline a few years ago. The Russo Brothers directed four of the franchise’s biggest films: Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Those movies made literally billions of dollars, so no wonder Kevin Feige gave them a call. Welcome back to the chaos, Joe and Anthony.

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Longlegs, the new Nicolas Cage-starring horror film from Neon, is a hit. Thanks in large part to a beguiling guerilla marketing campaign, the film grossed $22.6 million its opening weekend—the best opening ever for an independent horror movie. It’s exciting when any horror film breaks through, both at the box office and in the discourse cycle. Love it or hate it, Longlegs has people talking. And luckily, they’re not just arguing about the plot and ending, but also taking note of the filmmaker behind the movie: Osgood “Oz” Perkins.

For certain horror fans, it’s exciting to see Perkins finally getting his due. The man was pretty much born to create in the horror genre. He’s the son of Anthony Perkins, the actor who portrayed Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Sadly, the senior Perkins, a closeted gay man, succumbed to AIDS in 1992. Oz’s mother, actress and photographer Berry Berenson, was on American Airlines Flight 11 on September 11, 2001. She died when the hijacked plane struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center. 

These tragedies seemed to drive Oz right to horror storytelling. As he told the AV Club back in 2017, the genre is a “Trojan horse” way to convey stories of grief and anguish and familial pain to the masses. It hooks the audience and locks them into a story that might otherwise be hard to access emotionally. Perkins’ directing filmography—confirmed in interviews—makes it clear that he uses movies to explore the traumas nestled in his family.

If you’re new to Perkins and curious about the other horror films in his oeuvre after seeing Longlegs, here’s a breakdown of each one, why you should watch them, and why together they make Oz Perkins the underrated horror auteur with his finger on the pulse of our collective generational fears. 

The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015)

Though this was technically Oz Perkins’ second film release-date wise, The Blackcoat’s Daughter is the first movie he wrote, directed, and filmed. It came out in 2017 without much fanfare. A24 changed the horror game the very next year with Hereditary, so The Blackcoat’s Daughter just missed the wave that might have carried it to more recognition. But it all works out, because instead it’s something of a hidden gem, a movie horror fans can find on their own. That’s one of the best ways to engage with the genre.

And that’s an especially great way to experience The Blackcoat’s Daughter. It’s not exactly a scare-a-minute type of film. It probably wouldn’t play too excitingly in a big theater on a Friday night. But damn is it an effective slow-burn horror story, full of twists and one final shocker that reframes the entire movie and ties up its various timelines in a Gothically deranged bow. 

The film stars Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Boynton, and Emma Roberts as three young women in interspersed storylines. Shipka and Boynton are schoolgirls at a Catholic academy waiting for their parents to pick them up for winter break. Roberts plays an escapee from a mental institution. If you’ve seen Longlegs, The Blackcoat’s Daughter will feel immediately familiar. It plays out with the same cold stoicism. Characters drained of energy, indebted to an unnameable melancholy. It’s also a spiritual twin to Longlegs, in how it plays with identity and family trauma through the lens of Satanic activity. 

The great thing about the film is how boldly it announces Perkins’ sensibilities. Each film since plays in the same somber playbox. There are palettes drained of color and characters teetering on the brink of insanity. It conveys something about this moment we’re living in. How life can feel so absolutely hopeless that the instinct to cling to evil is understandable. Still awful, but not unrelatable. Giving into darkness is the easy route, but Perkins shows with detached accuracy how it creeps in, and the cost of letting it. 

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016)

This gothic haunted house film—the first of Perkins’ to see release—is a great entry in a subgenre that’s mostly gone dusty. Yes, we have the Mike Flanagan Haunting series or the underseen The Little Stranger, but largely, it seems we’ve lost touch with this kind of horror vehicle. That’s a shame, because there’s nothing quite like a good haunted house movie. 

Perkins knows this and uses the genre effectively. The film centers on Iris Blum (Paula Prentiss), a retired novelist who lives in a remote Massachusetts manor. Her estate manager hires a live-in nurse, Lily (Ruth Wilson), to tend to her. Almost immediately, Lily is ill at ease. She spots a female ghost wandering the halls. Mysterious mold appears on the walls. Unseen forces wrench objects from her hands. As she grows closer to the house, she begins to unravel its mysterious past, and Iris’s personal connection to it. 

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House is another example of Perkins reconciling his own family demons. According to interviews, the film was an attempt to connect with his deceased father. Interesting, in that the film is about the complicated relationship between two women. Though the genders don’t correspond, it’s easy to see how Perkins used the movie to explore the tension that exists between the living and the dead. There’s the need for answers that will never come clearly and the acceptance that even the answers won’t save us in the end.

This movie is probably Oz Perkins’ least successful. It’s a moody chamber piece, but one that’s frustratingly slow. He obviously hadn’t quite mastered pacing by this point, and so the movie drags unnecessarily in key moments. Still, it’s a fascinating entry in his filmography, another film drenched in his trademark chilly atmosphere. There are ghostly visuals that cut through the droll. It’s a horror filmmaker exploring dark corners of the genre and sharpening his tools while preparing for what comes next.

Gretel & Hansel (2020)

The only film that Perkins didn’t write himself, Gretel & Hansel manages that personal feel all the same. It’s his most elegant film, and painfully underrated. Especially given its aesthetic similarities to movies like Midsommar and The Witch, which more easily punctured pop culture. Perhaps it was its smaller release or its production company (Orion Pictures), but it never quite got the audience it deserved. Especially given how fully formed and visually haunting it is.

An inversion of the famous Hansel and Gretel fairytale by the Brothers Grimm, the movie is a coming-of-age fable for Gretel (Sophia Lillis). Equipped with her own magical abilities, she and her younger brother Hansel (Sam Leakey) flee to the woods, where they’re taken in by an elderly witch named Holda (Alice Krige). From there, the story plays out much like the original tale. Holda is a cannibalistic witch intent on eating Hansel. But in this version, she also has a tragic backstory and uses witchcraft to hone Gretel’s inherent powers. 

Despite his lack of script involvement, it’s apparent why the story drew in Perkins. It’s another film about parental abandonment and abuse—and what that does to children. It explores how it becomes both a tool for empathy and a pathway to their own sinister interiority. And it captures that same trademark and topical dread. The ever-encroaching horror on the other side of the fence. How the systems of power—Satanic witches and cruel mothers, in this case—wield their personal fury as weapons of control. Gretel & Hansel does it all with astute visual flair. Holda’s triangle house and blackened fingers, fiery amber hues, the contrast of light and dark—all haunting and evocative. And all laying the foundation for his next, and most successful, film: Longlegs. 

Longlegs (2024)

We won’t get too into Longlegs here, except to say that whether you watch it first or last in your Perkins’ education, it’s really the culmination of all that’s come so far. (Check out our Longlegs review.) Encroaching dread but this time with more bursts of violence to up the pace. Elegant visuals, from Satanic symbology to vast Oregeon landscapes brushed with snow. Themes of troubled parenthood and its lasting effects on children. Perkins said this film was, in some ways, his attempt to wrestle with his complicated relationship with his deceased mother. She was a woman he loved fiercely, but who hid his father’s homosexuality and illness from her children, a decision that marked their family forever. What do our parents do to protect us, and does it ever work? Longlegs wrangles with that thorny idea.

The film jolts us into that reality—and into our own as well. The horror is not just at the surface level, but in the seams. The flaws of our criminal justice system. How sometimes the conduits of true evil are the dumbest possible candidates. How childhood trauma transforms our brains and social skills. All things we wrestle with in this modern world, despite the film’s 1990s setting. But that’s it, too. These things repeat—gruesomely, even.

Oz Perkins tapped into that impenetrable truth and excavated the meat of the horror within to craft a great horror movie. Now that he’s got it, it’s thrilling to think of where he’ll go next. What his career will continue to reveal about him, us, and how personal art can be scariest of all.

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Move over, America’s ass. There’s another MCU backside in town that is just as rotund and delightful to see in spandex. The “Merc with a Mouth,” better known as Deadpool, has buns that are so nice that there’s a new Xbox controller made in its image. No, this is not a promotional joke for Deadpool & Wolverine. There is actually an Xbox controller that is shaped like Deadpool’s butt. (Suddenly, I hear Megan Thee Stallion’s “Body” playing.)

Microsoft unveiled this odd controller on Xbox Wire, calling it the “Cheeky Controller” with a firm, um, grip to it. We really appreciate Deadpool’s creativity and thought he put into this design. The sad news is that fans can only get it via a competition at this point. If you’re 18+, following Xbox on X (always Twitter in our hearts) and sharing the Xbox sweepstakes tweet gets you an entry. Maybe the Xbox controller with Deadpool’s butt on the back will become available for all at some point. Until then, we are totally jealous of the lucky winner (assuming it will only be one!) 

In addition to the controller, the winner will get a sweet custom console that features Deadpool’s katanas. The contest ends on August 11, which is after Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters on July 26. Let’s see who wins the battle to own Deadpool’s best asset.

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Thanks to its fantastic trailers, I went into Twisters with high hopes. Thanks to my love of its 1996 predecessor, I also went in with high standards. That’s a double dose of heavy expectations for any movie. The fact I walked out of my theater happy says a lot, even though Twisters is far from perfect. Its obvious flaws—including a sometimes clunky script, weird pacing issues, and occasional hokeyness—prevent the movie from true greatness. But those problems are overcome by three fantastic leads, great visual effects, and an engaging mix of fun, excitement, terror, and well-earned heart.

Twisters‘ script is sometimes genuinely funny, sometimes genuinely moving, and sometimes genuinely bad. Some scenes, including the big finale, seem to come out of nowhere, as though director Lee Isaac Chung forgot to film some scenes. Just like a tornado that sprouts up without warning, those structural issues cause damage. There are portions of the film where it feels like a collection of scenes rather than a cohesive story.

The movie also suffers from a few moments or lines of dialogue that cross over from the film’s frequent “good silly” vibe to “bad silly.” On a few occasions, my packed theater laughed at something a character said or plot points that were clearly not meant to be funny. Considering one such moment is a key “conflict” between good guys and bad, that wasn’t ideal. Those failures are especially frustrating because there are scenes where everything in Twisters is absolutely clicking and you know the movie could have avoided its biggest mistakes.

One of those mistakes is that Twisters comes up short in its attempts to recapture the original film’s fundamentally important group dynamic. It never fully commits to that element of the story. We don’t spend enough time with the ragtag storm chasers to feel like we truly know who they are, either as individuals or as friends. It’s not terrible nor bad (and the actual group members are all enjoyable in limited parts); it’s just an aspect of Twisters that feels incomplete even as it’s unfolding.

The film also takes a little while to get going after its predictable yet engrossing opening scene. Fortunately things pick up when Glen Powell’s cowboy storm chaser Tyler Owens shows up. He arrives with a rodeo arena-sized amount of charm and swagger. Powell’s a capital “L” Leading Man and an absolutely perfect fit for the Twister franchise’s ethos. (Which this sequel fully understands.) Powell’s entertaining, funny, brash, smart, and vulnerable.

What—or rather who—really makes Powell shine is his co-star, Daisy Edgar-Jones. She carries the emotional weight of the film that is a big part of why the movie works. An even bigger reason it does is their off-the-charts onscreen chemistry. They’re excellent every single time they’re together and elevate the movie past its issues. Powell and Edgar-Jones as a duo are easily my favorite part of the film.

They aren’t the only standouts in the cast. Twisters‘ third star is Anthony Ramos. He plays an old friend of Edgar-Jones’ tornado whisperer Kate that comes calling with a new opportunity. His offer to her drives the plot (which is perfectly cromulent). Ramos has a tough role, both in terms of the character and his place in the film. It would have been really easy for his Javi to feel like an afterthought or plot device, but Ramos feels just as important to the story as his co-stars. His arc also contributes to the film’s biggest theme about why any of these people do what they do. A lesser performance would have dragged the Twisters down. Instead, like Powell and Edgar-Jones, Ramos lifts up the movie.

As do the movie’s tornadoes. They look totally believable and totally terrifying, even when they’re relatively smaller twisters. I just wish there were more of them. The movie would benefit from at least one more big tornado sequence, but two more would have been even better. Fortunately one of the biggest ones we see is among the scariest natural disaster sequences ever put on film. It takes place at night and I think I forgot to breathe as it unfolded. Watching was like getting caught up in a horror movie you didn’t plan on seeing. I want to see Twisters again on the biggest, loudest screen I can just for this one moment.

If Twisters delivered a better structured ending, one that didn’t feel rushed and out of nowhere, I would have absolutely loved it even despite its obvious flaws. Instead I really liked it. For a film I expected a lot from, that’s still really good. Twisters, which made me laugh, grip my seat, and worry over who would survive, captures a lot of what made the original movie so entertaining and memorable. And it did that while creating even more believable, more terrifying tornadoes, which spun alongside fantastic acting and characters I cared about. It’s not a perfect storm of a movie, but it’s still a damn entertaining one.

Twisters ⭐ (3.2 of 5)

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist and is all ready preparing to see Twisters again. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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U.S. viewers can now watch one of 2023’s best, biggest, most emotional, most exciting movies from the comfort of their own home. Godzilla Minus One is available to both rent and buy at digital platforms and also on Netflix. That’s right, subscribers can stream the movie there right now.

The Best Visual Effects winner at the 96th Academy Awards has stomped its way to digital media. Godzilla Minus One is now available to buy and rent digitally in addition to streaming on Netflix. It’s also found its initial North American streaming home at Netflix. Customers can opt to watch it subtitled and dubbed in either Japanese or English. It’s also available in other languages, as most countries outside North America can also stream the film there as well. (Sorry France and Japan!)

Netflix will also bring the black and white version of the movie Godzilla Minus One / Minus Color to streaming on August 1.

Originally published on June 3, 2024.

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No matter who we are and what accomplishments we’ve obtained in our lives, we all have some insecurities. Some people may feel like they are not good enough in their career field despite many accolades. Others may dislike what they see in the mirror and covet another person’s physical appearance. (Personally, I wouldn’t be mad if I woke up and looked a lot more like Beyoncé.) We wonder what would happen if we could change the very thing that we perceive to be “wrong” with us. Would we become more valuable or acceptable in society’s eyes (and our own, too)? A24’s upcoming dark comedy A Different Man, starring Sebastian Stan, explores this question in its thought-provoking (and possibly misleading) trailer. 

We meet Edward, an aspiring actor who has a very noticeable skin condition. His face is falling off in small clumps and strangers stare at him and ridicule him in the streets. Edward becomes aware of a drug that can reverse his skin condition and decides to take the chance. He becomes a piece of “man candy,” as another character calls him, and things seem to be looking up for him. It changes when he runs into Oswald (Adam Pearson), who has the same skin condition that Edward was living with. (Editor’s Note: Pearson has neurofibromatosis in real life but it is not clear if Stan’s character has the same diagnosis.) Oswald seems to start living a life that makes Edward jealous, becoming popular with the public and the ladies. I sense a “grass is green where you water it” type of lesson in the mix. 

Here’s a quick synopsis for A Different Man:

Aspiring actor Edward undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. But his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare, as he becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost.

What Is the Release Date for A24’s A Different Man Movie Starring Sebastian Stan? 

The trailer for A Different Man could have a twist hidden in it that reveals Edward is an unreliable narrator or something. Anything can happen in an A24 film, right? We will have to see what happens when A Different Man hits theaters on September 20.

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George Washington “G.W.” Bridge is a character that first appeared in Marvel Comics’ mutant heyday of the ‘90s, although he’s a regular non-superpowered human. All signs indicate he will make his MCU debut played by The Boys‘ Giancarlo Esposito in Captain America: Brave New World. But who is this gray-haired badass who can hold multiple gigantic guns just like Cable does? Here’s the Marvel Comics history of G.W. Bridge.

G.W. Bridge Debuts in X-Force #1

G.W. Bridge has the distinction of debuting in X-Force #1, which is still the second biggest-selling comic book of all time, behind only 1991’s X-Men #1. Artist Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza co-created Bridge. They portrayed him as an African-American man, a bit on the older side, who was a Vietnam War veteran. In that first appearance, he had since become an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, with the rank of Commander. Bridge preferred the name “G.W.” or just “George,” thanks to the fact that his full name George Washington Bridge embarrassed him since childhood.

Bridge Is Both Ally and Enemy of the Mutant Cable

When Cable took command of the New Mutants and turned them into X-Force, S.H.I.E.L.D. tasked G.W. Bridge with keeping tabs on them. This was due to a somewhat complicated past that Bridge had with X-Force’s leader Cable. Years earlier, G.W. Bridge was a member of the mercenary team that went by the name the Six Pack. This team was put together by a time-traveling Cable. He not only hired Bridge for the team, but also future X-Men like Domino.

The Six Pack took on all kinds of jobs, but their primary goal was to stop Stryfe, Cable’s clone who had followed him into the past. Although the Six Pack broke up with many members at odds, Bridge eventually patched things up with Cable, and was an unofficial liaison between X-Force and S.H.I.E.L.D. In the years after S.H.I.E.L.D., he also battled the urban vigilante Frank Castle, a.k.a. the Punisher. Bridge was married, but the supervillain Basilisk tragically murdered his wife Sandy. Fridging is a real dick.

G.W. Bridge’s Powers and Abilities

George Washington Bridge has no known super powers to speak of. However, he has formidable combat skills and is a military strategist of incredible efficiency. However, it’s possible he might have some kind of power that we’ve been unaware of until now. A villain named Microchip killed him, and he later returned to life, with his mysterious resurrection unexplained. Is he a mutant too? Or was the Bridge that died merely a Life Model Decoy? Seeing as Bridge worked for S.H.I.E.L.D., we’re leaning towards Life Model Decoy.

G.W. Bridge in Captain America: Brave New World and in The MCU

We’re not entirely sure what role G.W. Bridge will play in Captain America: Brave New World, or in the larger MCU going forward. He might be taking over Nick Fury’s role in S.H.I.E.L.D., now that Fury is off in space. Or maybe he’s part of a mercenary team tasked to take down Sam Wilson/Captain America (or the Red Hulk). Since he has much comics history with mutants, it’s possible he has a role in the upcoming MCU X-Men movie. Bridge is both an ally to Marvel’s heroes as much as he’s an opponent, so it’s anyone’s guess what role he’ll play within the MCU after Brave New World. Regardless, we know Esposito will absolutely slay this role, whether he’s a good guy or a bud guy version of Bridge.

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One of Marvel Comics’ most powerful villains is making his debut in Captain America: New World Order, taking on Sam Wilson. The Red Hulk, who is exactly what his name suggests, will soon throw down with the Sentinel of Liberty on the White House lawn. But the character who became Red Hulk, General Ross, has been around since 1962. Here’s the topsy-turvy comic book history of the Red Hulk, and what it means for his MCU future.

The Red Hulk’s Origins (as General Thunderbolt Ross)

Long before he was ever the Red Hulk, General Thadeus “Thunderbolt” Ross was a thorn in the side of the Incredible Hulk. He first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1, and thus, is a Stan Lee and Jack Kirby creation. From his inception, Ross has been portrayed as a gruff, trigger-happy member of the American military. He was a product of generations in his family serving in the military, going back to the Civil War.

Ross was the military attache of the gamma bomb project in New Mexico that turned scientist Bruce Banner into the Hulk. He resented that Dr. Banner, a scientist, was given the final say over the project over him, a decorated officer. Ever since, he had a single-minded obsession with capturing the Hulk. All of this is made more complicated due to the fact that his daughter Betty was the love of Banner’s life. If any villain ranks at the top in the Hulk’s pantheon of adversaries, it’s Ross.

General Ross, the Hulk’s Arch-Nemesis

In the early days, Ross was described as a veteran of World War II, now an Air Force General. He was excessively jingoistic, and hated the scientist Banner for being a “weakling.” He despised that his daughter was enamored with him, hoping she’d marry a military man. When Banner became the Hulk, he would do anything and everything to bring him in. He allied with outright villains like Abomination and the Leader, essentially committing treason, all in an effort to defeat the Jade Giant, who he saw as a manifestation of his failure. Ross was in charge of one effort to bring in the Hulk after another, heading up Operation: Greenskin, operating out of Hulkbuster Base.

The Death and Rebirth of Thunderbolt Ross

Ross spent years using his military muscle to to try to stop the Hulk, but to no avail. At one point, Ross even merged with the energy being Zzzax to try and stop the Hulk himself. His most heinous act came when he came to Bruce and Betty’s wedding with a gun, intending to shoot Bruce Banner, instead shooting Banner’s non-powered friend, Rick Jones. He finally realizes he has been wrong about Bruce all these years, and helps him fight a mutant threat with the last of his Zzzax powers. He dies in his daughter Betty’s arms, finally giving the couple his blessing. In the Marvel universe, however, death is rarely the end.

Ross is first brought back to life by the gamma-powered Leader, where he becomes his puppet. Eventually breaking free of that control with some alien help, he returns to his position in the U.S. Air Force. For many years, he remains a background character. He even becomes friends (to an extent) with Bruce Banner, until his beloved daughter seemingly dies from gamma poisoning, due to her proximity to the Hulk. His hatred for the Hulk then resumes unabated. It was 45 years after his creation, however, that Ross went through his biggest transformation as a Marvel character, when he became the Red Hulk.

The First Appearance and Origin of the Red Hulk

The Red Hulk first appeared in Hulk #1, back in 2008. This Red Hulk was the creation of writer Jeph Loeb and artist Ed McGuinness, with the intention of giving Hulk a true physical equal. The true identity of this crimson doppelgänger to the Hulk was a mystery to the readers, which Marvel teased out for a long time. Red Hulk came for many of Hulk’s usual foes, killing the Abomination and Wendigo, all proving he was just as strong as the green guy. He even took down a SHIELD Hellicarrier. Unlike the Hulk, who often displayed limited intelligence, Red Hulk was smart and cunning from the get-go. For two years, the true identity of Red Hulk was a secret.

How the Red Hulk Got His Powers

In 2010, in Hulk #23, Marvel revealed the truth about the Red Hulk. The supervillain M.O.D.O.K. had given General Ross the powers of the Hulk, using the organization Intelligentsia to create a new Super Soldier Program, recreating the accident that gave Banner his powers. Although previous stories had shown Red Hulk killing General Ross, as a way of throwing readers off, they eventually revealed that Ross was an artificial Life Model Decoy.

Why Is the Red Hulk Red?

M.O.D.O.K. combined gamma radiation with cosmic rays to give Ross powers, which gave the Fantastic Four their powers. The cosmic rays portion of the process made Ross turn red and not green, as it superseded the gamma part of the equation.

Is Red Hulk Stronger than the Green Hulk?

The Red Hulk’s powers are nearly identical to those of the Hulk. Unlike the green Hulk, however, Red Hulk can also emit heat from his eyes. While the Banner Hulk gets stronger the angrier he becomes, Red Hulk’s body temperature rises with his anger, creating heat that rivals that of the Human Torch. He has the power to absorb different types of energy, including gamma radiation. This extra power comes with a downside, though. Unlike Banner, Red Hulk can never revert to his human form, as it would instantly kill him. Because of the cosmic rays in his creation, Red Hulk has, in the past, had the ability to absorb the Power Cosmic from Galactus, even if it was for a temporary period of time.

Is Red Hulk a Villain or Hero?

In his earliest appearances, the Red Hulk was definitely a villain. Aside from murdering Abomination and Wendigo, he fought both Hulk and Thor. Eventually, he reformed, and became something of a hero again. He joined the Avengers, upon Captain America’s request, and later, the Thunderbolts. The team is not actually named after “Thunderbolt” Ross, but it was a nice coincidence anyway. He has (mostly) fought on the side of the good guys ever since.

General Ross in the MCU

In the MCU, William Hurt originally portrayed Thunderbolt Ross in The Incredible Hulk. He reprised the role for Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Black Widow. He was portrayed as a military general in The Incredible Hulk, in much the same capacity he had in the comics. For later MCU films, he was Secretary of State, and someone who sought legislation against super powered operatives like the Avengers. Despite his conflict with the heroes, he was last seen at Tony Starks funeral in Endgame.

President Ross Becomes the Red Hulk in Captain America: Brave New World

For Captain America: Brave New World, Harrison Ford is stepping in for the late William Hurt. He is now President of the United States, seeking to get Captain America as a government operative once more. We don’t know how or why, but it seems like President Ross will eventually become the Red Hulk in this film, probably with the cooperation of the Leader, a returning Tim Blake Nelson from 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. At some point, Hulk will take on Captain America himself. Harrison Ford is expected to return for the movie Thunderbolts as well.

The post Who Is the Red Hulk from CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD? His Marvel Comics History Explained appeared first on Nerdist.

Steve Rogers is either dead or a very old man, but the world still needs Captain America. Fortunately for Earth, someone just as worthy of that title as Steve took on the job. No, not John Walker. (Definitely not John Walker.) On The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Sam Wilson finally accepted the mantle his friend tried to give him at the end of Avengers: Endgame. Now Anthony Mackie is ready to lead the superhero franchise into the future with the MCU’s fourth standalone Captain America film.

Giancarlo Esposito has been teasing for a while that he’ll join the MCU. And in Captain America: Brave New World‘s first trailer, we finally get to see him in action. You can check out our first-look at Esposito in the MCU movie below.

Here’s everything we know about Captain America: Brave New World.

Title

Marvel first announced Captain America 4‘s official title as part of its Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2022. It was originally called Captain America: New World Order. But in June 2023, Marvel changed the movie’s name. It is now called Captain America: Brave New World.

Captain America: Brave New World‘s Plot

We now officially have a synopsis and trailer for Captain America: Brave New World. It reads:

After meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford in his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.

You can watch the trailer above.

Additionally, the film’s title echoes both the main conflict of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and Aldous Huxley’s dystopian classic. Marvel executives have shared some tasty additional breadcrumbs about the movie, though.

That began with Nate Moore, VP of Production & Development at Marvel Studios, talking about how Harrison Ford will replace the late William Hurt as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in Brave New World. In an interview, Moore said:

Well, look, Sam Wilson’s Captain America, he is going to bring his own team to play. It’s no secret that Samuel Sterns is making his return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is fantastic because Tim Blake Nelson’s the best. Harrison Ford is taking on the role of General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, and to see Sam Wilson and Thunderbolt Ross, which if you remember actually threw him in prison at the end of Civil War because he violated the Sokovia Accords. There’s going to be some natural sparks there, which I think are going to be really fun.

Behind the Scenes

Malcolm Spellman (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and Dalan Musson are co-writing the film. Matthew Orton will also contribute to the writing. Julius Onah (The Cloverfield Paradox) is set to direct.

Captain America: Brave New World‘s Cast

In addition to Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier‘s Carl Lumbly will return as Isaiah Bradley. As will Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres.

Additionally, Brave New World will bring back Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) from The Incredible Hulk. Sterns, of course, is also known as The Leader. He will likely act as the film’s villain. Shira Haas will join the film as Sabra. Xosha Roquemore has joined the movie in an unknown role, and WWE wrestler Seth Rollins was spotted in costume on set.

Another original MCU star will also return after a long absence, too. Liv Tyler will reprise her role as Betty Ross. She originated the role in The Incredible Hulk.

Additionally, we know we’ll see the character of Red Hulk in Captain America: Brave New World.

The trailer for the movie has confirmed this inclusion now, but originally, an ad for a McDonald’s toy line for the movie revealed Red Hulk’s appearance to us in Captain America: Brave New World, likely Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross transformed.

Captain America: Brave New World‘s Release Date

Captain America: Brave New World will fly into theaters on February 14, 2025.

Originally published on February 14, 2023.

The post Giancarlo Esposito Makes MCU Debut CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD Trailer appeared first on Nerdist.

Two of Hollywood’s biggest stars will soon return to make movie magic again. Practical Witch magic, to be specific. Warner Bros. Pictures has announced it’s finally making a (movie, not TV) sequel to its beloved 1998 film. And original stars Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman will reprise their roles as the Owens sisters. It is not clear if any other original characters will come back but we do know this film will adapt Alice Hoffman’s The Book of Magic, a sequel novel to her Practical Magic book that inspired the first film.

“I think [fans are] going to be very pleased. We’re going to be very faithful. We’re cognizant to how important those characters and that movie are to so many people. We’re not going to reinvent the wheel,” said producer Denise Di Novi to Entertainment Weekly. “We’re going to draw from Alice Hoffman’s books, as the first movie did, and we’re going to be true to the chronology of how many years later it is.”

Warner Bros. went to TikTok to announced its producing a long-awaited followup to its beloved witchy drama. Oscar-winner Akiva Goldsmith (A Beautiful Mind) will write the script for Practical Magic 2. More important is the possible involvement of two other Oscar winners. But happily, Kidman confirmed they will both return for Practical Magic 2.

Speaking to People, which we say via Deadline, Kidman noted, “Yes, I will be in it. And Sandy will be in it. And that’s that. There’s a lot more to tell, which is why we go, ‘OK, this is kind of interesting now to be able to do this.’ [We] found a way in.” That’s that!

Could Practical Magic 2 have been successful without them? Maybe, but it will be far more magical now that the duo will be back as the Owens sisters.

Originally published on June 10, 2024.

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Captain America is back in a brand new MCU movie, and this time, it’s Sam Wilson, played by Anthony Mackie, holding the shield. The first trailer for Captain America: Brave New World sets a stark tone, reviving the political thriller mood of Civil War. We also get our first glimpse of Thaddeus Ross’ Red Hulk (and Harrison Ford’s turn in the MCU), the destruction of the White House, and lots of shooting and conspiring. The president wants to make Captain America an official military position. What could go wrong?

You can watch the Captain America: Brave New World teaser trailer below.

Captain America: Brave New World‘s First Trailer Releases

The trailer for Captain America: Brave New World deftly addresses Thaddeus Ross’ recasting, as sadly,  William Hurt passed away, and Harrison Ford is now playing the role. Of course, Ross isn’t the only role that Ford will play. The Marvel Studios movie will introduce his transformation into Red Hulk. You can check out our first look at Red Hulk below.

We can already see that this MCU movie will be unlike any we’ve seen in a while. The gritty political/espionage thriller energy is back to visit Captain America in this Brave New World trailer. There are bombs going off, political machinations at play, and everything feels tense and ready to explode.

Captain America: Brave New World‘s Synopsis

In addition to the trailer, Marvel Studios releases a synopsis for Captain America: Brave New World. It shares:

After meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford in his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.

Captain America: Brave New World‘s Trailer Reveals New and Familiar Faces

In addition to Anthony Mackie, Captain America: Brave New World stars Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Xosha Roquemore, Carl Lumbly, with Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford.

Danny Ramirez, of course, returns as the new Falcon in the Captain America movie after his turn in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. We’re glad to see him. And Carl Lumbly is back as Isaiah Bradley, though we don’t love he’s ostensibly being mind-controlled in the Captain America: Brave New World trailer. Tim Blake Nelson, we know, will play Leader. Meanwhile, Giancarlo Esposito’s role has not been confirmed, but we see some good looks at him in the trailer.

When Will Captain America: Brave New World Release?

Captain America: Brave New World will release in theaters on February 14, 2025.

The post CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD Trailer Introduces Red Hulk, Sets Political Thriller Tone appeared first on Nerdist.

Star Wars and Star Trek are very different sci-fi franchises. However, they share more than a few key similarities. Both have giant galactic governments made of hundreds of worlds. The Klingons in Star Trek and the Mandalorians of Star Wars have similar warrior culture traditions. One other thing modern Star Wars has leaned into in recent years is that the Jedi are extremely similar to Mr. Spock’s alien race, the Vulcans. That’s especially true ever since George Lucas fleshed out what the Jedi were truly like during the prequel trilogy. Now with The Acolyte, we’ve seen the Jedi at perhaps their most Vulcan-like.

When audiences watched the original Star Wars trilogy, we only ever saw two fully trained Jedi Knights—Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. Both were in exile, decades after their order had fallen. So neither character really explained how the Jedi were meant to behave. The term “knights” suggested to most viewers that the Jedi were probably dashing, romantic knights in the Arthurian tradition, and not warrior monks in the Eastern sense. With the release of the prequels, however, we started to see the Jedi in large numbers. We learned that not only were they warrior monks, we also discovered how much they were like Star Trek‘s Vulcans.

For Star Trek’s Vulcans, Emotional Detachment Is Key, Much Like Star Wars‘ Jedi

In Star Trek, our reference point for Vulcans as a species was usually Leonard Nimoy’s Mr. Spock. We also saw other prominent Vulcans in the original series, like his father Sarek. Over the years, we met Lt. Saavik, Tuvok, and T’Pol. Throughout many movies and TV series, we learned these pointy-eared aliens actually had very deep emotions, only they learned to suppress them. Simply put, their emotions got in the way of their mental disciplines and adherence to logic, hindering their ability to mind meld and use their other psychic powers. They can only achieve these powers through total serenity, bypassing all emotion. Their genetically identical (and passionate) Romulan cousins couldn’t access the same powers, because emotion rules them.

Mental Discipline and Training Is Crucial to Both Vulcan and Jedi Alike

Vulcans undergo intense emotional training as small children, just as Jedi do. As adults, Vulcans also go through different disciplines and rituals to purge remaining emotion. Spock goes through the Kolinahr discipline in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, although he fails to purge his emotions. Those who do so achieve a higher status within Vulcan society. In The Acolyte, we see Torbin partaking in something called the Barash Vow, where they go into deep meditation. Despite their logic, the Vulcans are very tradition-bound, and function in temples of different varieties. In these temples, we often see them wearing hooded robes. The Vulcans and Jedi definitely share an aesthetic.

In Star Wars, we learned that for Jedi to truly access the Force, they must let go of emotional attachments. That’s why the Jedi Council forbids those in the order to marry or have children (with few exceptions). Although Jedi don’t totally suppress all emotions, they do crack a smile and make jokes here and there. Especially younger Padawans, who have not achieved knight status. Most Vulcans don’t even do that. But the Jedi are otherwise cold and aloof, seeing their emotions as an impediment, not a strength. The Jedi live a sparse lifestyle, essentially as monks in the Jedi temple. Vulcans in Star Trek also believe owning things for the sake of it is “illogical.” Vulcans, like the Jedi Knights, are pacifists, but both have superior fighting skills if need be (see “Amok Time” from the original series). Of course, to the Jedi, fighting skills are far more important.

Both Vulcans and Jedi Have Incredible Mental Powers

There are big differences, however. Jedi and Vulcans have mental powers, but Vulcans need physical contact to make a psychic connection, or mind meld. They can’t just read thoughts from a distance, or command people to do things by merely thinking it, like the Jedi do. Vulcans can marry, even if their emotional attachments are very limited. It’s more about procreation and perpetuating the species, hence all the arranged Vulcan marriages. The Jedi are not allowed to have children, with rare exceptions. The biggest difference between the Jedi and the Vulcans is the most obvious—the Vulcans are a race, while the Jedi is a religion composed of many races.

Vulcans Are the Glue Holding the Federation Together, Like the Jedi Are for the Republic

Yet the Vulcans are the backbone of the Federation, providing the organization with logic and guidance. The Jedi served the same function for the Republic for generations. In the recent seasons of Star Trek: Discovery, we learned that the Federation falls apart quickly without the Vulcans. And we know what became of the Republic without the Jedi, despite their failings. Without a doubt, it was never intentional for the Vulcans and the Jedi to become so similar. Nevertheless, it’s remarkable to see how much the Jedi have paralleled the Vulcans over the last few decades of both franchises. May the Force be with the Jedi, and may they also live long and prosper.

The post How Jedi in STAR WARS Have Become Like Vulcans in STAR TREK appeared first on Nerdist.

Actress Shelley Duvall, famously known for her intense performance as Wendy Torrance in The Shining, has died at the age of 75. Her beloved partner Dan Gilroy confirmed the news to Variety in a brief statement. “My dear, sweet, wonderful life, partner, and friend left us last night,” said Gilroy. “Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away beautiful Shelley.” 

A Texas native, Duvall’s effervescent personality caught the attention of director Robert Altman in the early 1970s. She came out swinging with a beguiling performance as Suzanne Davis in the dark comedy Brewster McCloud (1970). Shelley made a string of appearances in Altman’s films, including Thieves Like Us (1974), Nashville (1975), and 3 Women (1977). The latter garnered Duvall a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress as well as a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

The doe-eyed thespian with an enigmatic smile and svelte frame made the perfect choice for her (criminally underrated) role as Olive Oyl in Atlman’s Popeye movie alongside Robin Williams. But it is her turn in The Shining (1980), complete with all its behind-the-scenes controversy, that often causes conversations about respect, compassion, and the unfair treatment of women in the workforce and society at large—all still painfully relevant over 40 years after this film’s release.

Some wish to reimagine Shelley’s post-Shining career as one that waned into despair, but reality begs to differ. She was the narrator, host, and executive producer of Faerie Tale Theater (1982), a children’s program and also starred in the Steve Martin-led comedy Roxanne (1987). She had an affinity for developing and producing children’s content, perhaps a reflection of her vibrant spirit and forever youthful gaze. 

Duvall appeared in a variety of roles throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, including The Portrait of a Lady (1996), Boltneck (2000), and the (very good) Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (1997). After moving back to Texas, she took a 20-year hiatus from acting and public life, only making occasional appearances. Her outspokenness about her experiences in Hollywood—both happy and heartbreaking—and pride in her career were constant and candid, even at times when Duvall seemed exceptionally vulnerable. 

What stands above any controversy and speculation is Shelley Duvall’s undeniable talent. She could exude palpable fear, childlike joy, captivating eccentricism, knife-sharp wit, and teary-eyed heartbreak on command because she, simply put, had the “It factor” that many actresses only dream of possessing. Her work is a treasure trove for cinephiles to discover as her spirit flies with the wind. Rest easy, Ms. Shelley Duvall.

The post THE SHINING Actress Shelley Duvall Has Died at 75 appeared first on Nerdist.

The great Kathryn Hahn just spent her week filling in as guest host on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Typically that job is about promoting other celebrities upcoming projects. But the Agatha All Along star made sure to get in a “shameless plug” via some good old fashioned “corporate synergy” during her last night in the late night chair. Normally those terms make us recoil, but this was the best kind of sales job. Hahn helped ease viewers worries about having to see every MCU release before Agatha All Along by singing the entire history of the MCU.

WandaVision‘s villain is set to lead her own Disney+ spinoff this fall. Hahn and a quartet of MCU costumed singers made sure to remind viewers of her spinoff’s upcoming release with a big catchy musical number about everything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that has already happened. Hahn sang her way from the events of Phase 1 all the way into the franchise’s current Phase 6.

Obviously with “like 800 more movies and shows” to get through, Hahn had to skip a few stories and characters. That made all of the people and events she did include even funnier. We can’t really disagree with any of them, either. Especially not the part where she admires Steve Roger’s most enduring trait. Obviously she didn’t mention his bravery or honor. Hahn paid homage to America’s ass.

That wasn’t the only thirsty reference in this song. Not by a long Hawkeye shot. From the banKability of the OG Avengers to Thanos’ unfortunate chin, this song makes the MCU sound way less sexless than it really is. Actually, this musical number has us wondering if that’s actually true. The franchise is nothing but good looking people running around in spandex. Isn’t the whole thing thirsty?

It is, right? Guess we just needed Kathryn Hahn to sing about that to notice. That’s why it’s the kind of “shameless” plug we can support.

The post AGATHA ALL ALONG’s Kathryn Hahn Sings the Entire History of the MCU appeared first on Nerdist.

For the first time since 1996, cinemas across the globe are on high alert because once again it’s tornado season. A long-awaited sequel to the beloved natural disaster classic Twister is coming to theaters this summer. But you don’t have to wait for the film to spin onto screens to find out what drives this newest generation of storm chasers. Nerdist has an exclusive look at a new clip from Twisters that features its two stars explaining why they love tornadoes so much.

It’s not just the science that drives them. Their life work is sacred.

In this all-new clip, Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Tyler (Glen Powell) each independently mirror one another while offering insights into how tornadoes form. What makes their shared loved even better is they do so while watching a tornado come together in the sky.

This scene is full of fancy meteorological terms we don’t fully understand (and never will). But we don’t need to know all the science behind tornadoes to appreciate this moment. This sequence’s real purpose is to express the majesty of these natural phenomena and why they’re so alluring. Accepting you can’t know everything about tornadoes is part of loving. That’s not something these scientists have to accept, it’s something they embrace. Chasing these storms is a religious experience just as much as it is a scientific one.

We’re not saying we’re ready to go actually hunting twisters after seeing this clip. What we are saying we’re more excited than ever to watch Kate and Tyler do exactly that while we enjoy popcorn and Goobers from the comfort of a movie theater.

Just not an outdoor movie theater. We remember what happened at that drive-in during the original movie. Seeing that taught us everything we need to know about tornadoes: stay very far away from them. There’s a reason we went into a profession where we write about movies instead of becoming the new generation of storm chasers.

Twisters crashes into theaters on July 19.

The post Exclusive TWISTERS Clip Shows Storm Chasers Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones Sharing Why They Love Tornadoes as a Twister Hits appeared first on Nerdist.

Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One was easily one of my favorite movies of 2023. Its heartfelt remix of the original 1954 film acts as a treatise on national shame and banding together in a time of great struggle. It also has some of the best effects we’ve seen in decades, which is probably why it won the Oscar for it! Despite the film scoring big at the U.S. box office, it has taken a surprisingly long time for it to make it to home release. Now, thankfully, the enormous 4K Blu-ray release from Japan is getting an English-friendly release.

The massive set (fitting of the king of the monsters) is the same set as was released in Japan earlier this year. It includes the movie in 4K UHD and Blu-ray as well as a Blu-ray of Godzilla Minus One Minus Color, the black-and-white cut. The only difference from the earlier release is it includes English-language menus and subtitles on the movies. The disc of extras is entirely in Japanese and will NOT include English subtitles. So that is a bummer. However, given how tough it can be for contemporary Japanese films to get any sort of English release, this is still a big win.

The set is only available via the Godzilla website for $65.00. It will ship in September. Full list of technical specs below.

• Disc 1: Godzilla Minus One 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
  • 125 minutes / 3 layers (100G) / 4K 2160p 16:9 scope size / Dolby Vision
  • Audio: (1) Japanese Dolby Atmos (2) Japanese 5.1ch Dolby TrueHD (3) Japanese 2.0ch Dolby TrueHD (4) Barrier-free Japanese audio guide 2.0ch Dolby TrueHD
  • Subtitles: (1) Barrier-free Japanese subtitles (2) English subtitles
• Disc 2: Godzilla Minus One Blu-ray
  • 125 minutes / Trailer compilation / 2 layers (BD50G) / 1080p High Definition 16:9 scope size
  • Audio: (1) Japanese Dolby Atmos (2) Japanese 5.1ch Dolby TrueHD (3) Japanese 2.0ch Dolby TrueHD (4) Barrier-free Japanese audio guide 2.0ch Dolby TrueHD
  • Subtitles: (1) Barrier-free Japanese subtitles (2) English subtitles
  • Trailer Collection (Japanese language only)
    • Special Announcements 1 & 2
    • Trailer
    • TV Spot
    • No. 1 Edition/That’s Godzilla Edition/A Glimmer of Hope Edition/The World Praises Edition/Live and Resist Edition/Against Godzilla Edition
    • 6-Second Bumper
    • IMAX PR Video
    • ScreenX PR Video
    • TOHO CINEMAS MOVIE LINE UP
    • Cinema Mileage Announcement
• Disc 3: Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color Blu-ray
  • Main feature 125 minutes / Godzilla-1.0/C trailer / 2 layers (BD50G) / 1080p High Definition 16:9 scope size
  • Audio: (1) Japanese Dolby Atmos (2) Japanese 5.1ch Dolby TrueHD (3) Japanese 2.0ch Dolby TrueHD (4) Barrier-free Japanese audio guide 2.0ch Dolby TrueHD
  • Subtitles: (1) Barrier-free Japanese subtitles  (2) English subtitles
• Disc 4: Bonus Blu-ray (Japanese language only)
  • Recording length: 240 minutes / 2 layers (BD50G) / 16:9 / 1080p High Definition (some 1080i)
  • Audio: Japanese 2.0ch Dolby Digital
  • Subtitles: NOTE – NO ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Specifications and Enclosures:

• 4-disc Digipack + outer case specifications
• Special booklet (Japanese language only)
• “Special Disaster Response Materials Compilation” Abridged version (Japanese language only)

Region Free

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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After many false starts and canceled projects, Star Wars is finally ready to return to theaters. Lucasfilm announced three new upcoming standalone movies during the opening of Star Wars Celebration 2023. These new Star Wars movies include a story about the founding of the Jedi, a movie that will serve as the finale to this era of interconnected Disney+ shows, and the return of Daisy Ridley’s Rey. Additionally, in January 2024, LucasFilm also announced a fourth new movie was heading to theaters, The Mandalorian & Grogu, a big-screen adventure starring our favorite Disney+ duo. Finally, the once canceled Rogue Squadron may rise to join the line-up (but nothing official has been reported.)

And with that, the galaxy far, far away is finally going back to the big screen. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy revealed James Mangold (Logan, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), Dave Filoni (The Mandalorian, Ahsoka), Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel, Saving Face) have all been tapped to direct these new Star Wars movies. Meanwhile, Jon Favreau will take on the Mando movie. Additionally, if what Patty Jenkins says is true, she will direct an upcoming Star Wars movie as well. And lastly, it seems that Shawn Levy will also direct a Star Wars movie.

While Lucasfilm shared few official details about the films, the little they tell us says a lot. Here’s what we know about these new Star Wars movies so far.

Jump to: James Mangold’s Story of the Force // Dave Filoni’s Disney+ Series Team-Up // Rey Will Return in Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s New Star Wars Movie // Jon Favreau Brings Us The Mandalorian & Grogu // Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron Is Back in Play // Shawn Levy Is Set to Direct a Star Wars Movie

James Mangold’s New Star Wars Movie Tells the Story of the Force

James Mangold’s “will go back to the dawn of the Jedi,” a time set tens of thousands of years earlier than anything we’ve ever seen on screen before. That might mean we’ll meet the figure known as Prime Jedi. That’s the person who founded the Order on Ahch-To sometime around 25,000 years before the events of A New Hope. Fans already know Ahch-To well. They first saw it in The Last Jedi when it served as Luke Skywalker’s hideaway. A release additionally shares, “James Mangold will take audiences deep into the past, telling the tale of the first Jedi to wield the Force and harness it as a liberating power in an era of chaos and oppression.”

Mangold further noted to Empire that his new Star Wars movie “takes place 25,000 years before Episode IV, and it’s about the discovery of the Force.” He further shares, “I told Kathy [Kennedy, head of Lucasfilm] I wanted to make a kind of Bible movie, a kind of Ten Commandments of Star Wars – kind of a Cecil B DeMille film about the arrival of the Force, and that’s what I’ve been pecking away at between press events. That’s the idea.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, playwright and screenwriter Beau Willimon will co-write the script with Mangold. In addition to his playwriting career and his Emmy-nominated scripts for House of Cards, Willimon also wrote the prison three-parter in season one of Andor. Writing the best episodes of the best Star Wars show is some real bonafides.

James Mangold’s New Star Wars Movie Connects with Rey’s Next Appearance

Kennedy also recently shared that this movie will help inform the new Star Wars movie featuring the return of Rey. She noted to Total Film, “I think it’s a really nice compliment to what we’re doing with moving into the future with Rey, and then understanding a bit more of where this all came from,” she explains. “Because it will be at the heart of creating the new Jedi Order, so to get a real sense of where that might have began with the dawn of the Jedi could be pretty cool.” 

According to a new official Star Wars eras list revealed by LucasFilm, this movie will most likely take place in the “Dawn of the Jedi” era, but could even take place earlier than that.

Dave Filoni’s Film Will Bring Together Many Current Disney+ Series

The next new Star Wars movie will come from franchise veteran Dave Filoni. His film “will focus on the New Republic and close out the interconnected stories told in The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and other Disney+ series.” That’s huge news for both the television and movie side of Lucasfilm. When we get a release date for Filoni’s film, we’ll know just how many more seasons of The Mandalorian we might see. Clearly, there’s already an end in sight to Din Djarin and Grogu’s story. Although, we suppose they could continue on beyond a culminating movie. A release further shares, “Dave Filoni will orchestrate the escalating war between the Imperial Remnant and the fledgling New Republic.”

Rey Will Return in Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Star Wars Movie

The third and final new Star Wars movie announced will focus on the future. Obaid-Chinoy’s movie will take place after The Rise of Skywalker. It will mark the return of Daisy Ridley as Rey. Set 15 years after the ultimate defeat of the Sith, she will be trying to build a new Jedi Order. Hopefully, that goes a lot better than her mentor Luke Skywalker’s attempts. According to the new list of Star Wars eras, it seems like this movie will take place in the “New Jedi Order” era.

The Plot of Rey’s Upcoming Star Wars Movie

Kathleen Kennedy shared more about the movie with Variety. She noted:

Well, we’re 15 years out from ‘Rise of Skywalker,’ so we’re post-war, post-First Order, and the Jedi are in disarray. There’s a lot of discussion around, ‘Who are the Jedi? What are they doing? What’s the state of the galaxy?’ She’s attempting to rebuild the Jedi Order, based on the books, based on what she promised Luke, so that’s where we’re going.”

Speaking to Empire, Kennedy added, “The First Order has fallen, the Jedi are in chaos – there’s even a question of how many exist anymore – and Rey’s building the New Jedi Order, based on the text that she was given and that Luke imparted on her.” She also offers, “Rey has made a promise to Luke, and that’s really the core of where we’re going and what this story will be. And I think it offers just tremendous opportunity to introduce new characters and start with something fresh, because we culminated with what George [Lucas] was creating, and now we take all of that and move it to the next chapter.” 

On the topic of a possible Luke Skywalker presence in the new Star Wars movie, Kennedy said: “I don’t know if we’ll spend a lot of time in flashbacks or [on] Force ghosts or things like that, but certainly, the spirit of what he represents to her is going to be significant.”

Ridley previously noted, “I know bits and bobs… I know there’s an introduction of new characters… I don’t know about previous characters.” But she also didn’t rule out anyone’s return. When asked about the popular idea of John Boyega’s Finn returning as a Jedi in the new Star Wars movie, Ridley responded, “That is above my pay grade. [Laughs] I would love to see that, but that is not a decision for me.” She also recently told The Hollywood Reporter that it feels like she and Boyega should reunite in the movie, noting, “Absolutely, of course…It feels like we should, yeah.”

But Ridley does have some information, according to Empire, “she knows the story beats for what the new film will be.” And, as of May 2024, she notes that she still hasn’t read a script “but it is imminently about to change.”

A Jedi Academy Is in Rey’s Future

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy further noted about the new Star Wars movie, “At the heart of it, for me, is Rey Skywalker, Daisy Ridley, and her story, and taking her on an adventure to a Jedi Academy and sort of creating a world that is a natural dovetail to the story that we’ve seen her go through in the last three episodes.”

Obaid-Chinoy additionally adds, “I’ve had conversations with JJ Abrams. I’ve had conversations with George Lucas and, of course, Dave Filoni, who is a big part of the Star Wars universe now. We speak very often, and Kathy Kennedy, Carrie Beck, and Simon Emanuel – I think the team is really taking time to make sure that we do justice to telling the story of Daisy.”

Rey’s Future in the New Star Wars Movie

But will Rey’s upcoming Star Wars movie continue the common franchise trend of introducing new characters that are somehow related to other characters in the world? Daisy Ridley doesn’t really think so. Speaking to Deadline, Ridley noted it seemed unlikely that Rey would have kids in the new Star Wars film. She shared, “I would say she probably doesn’t have children seeing she’s a Jedi.” Of course, we know hypothetically Rey still could have children, like Anakin before her, but it sounds like this won’t be the path of the movie.

Daisy Ridley also notes that Rey will take a different approach to teaching the next generation of Jedi than Luke Skywalker did. Speaking to Den of Geek, she says about Rey’s tactics diverging from Luke’s, “I would say, from what I understand, yes. Short answer.”

Daisy Ridley and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy Give Updates on the New Film

Daisy Ridley noted to Collider, “I’m very excited. The story is really cool. I’m waiting to read a script because, obviously, I don’t have any other updates. It’s not what I expected, but I’m very excited.” And additionally told The Hollywood Reporter, “I’m genuinely really excited about the next one [Star Wars movie]. I haven’t read anything, but I know the story. It’s really worth telling, worth exploring, and I think people will be excited.”

Daisy Ridley on Returning as Rey

The actress also offered a bit of a further tease about the film to AlloCiné. She said of the upcoming Rey Star Wars movie, “Once I knew what the story was and everything, I knew that it was something I really wanted to do. I think it’s a really fantastic exploration of the Star Wars world. It’s a really cool way of taking the story on in a bit of a different direction.” In conclusion, as Ridley noted to Variety, the story of this Star Wars movie is “cool as sh*t.”

Ridley also recently shared that this time around, she feels more ready to be Rey. “I suppose I feel more like I’m owning it. I suppose I owned it the first time. Basically, I’m an adult now. I certainly did not feel like an adult at the time. Obviously, personally, things have changed, and professionally, I’ve had lots of other experiences, and so I definitely feel like it’s a different thing this time. There’s just a lot of joy with me and these films. Honestly, if I wasn’t excited, I wouldn’t have done it. It feels like a great thing to be a part of.” However, the actress also expressed reprising the role could be a strange experience, saying, “I honestly have had moments where I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I remember what I did [as Rey]… It’s really strange. I think the whole thing will feel so different anyway, with a totally different team. I’m in a very different place than I was. I’m probably going to be one of the adults, and initially, I was the youngest person on set, which is a weird feeling.”

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy on Tackling a Star Wars Story

Meanwhile, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy noted to CNN, “I’m very thrilled about the project because I feel what we’re about to create is something very special… We’re in 2024 now, and it’s about time that we had a woman come forward to shape a story in a galaxy far, far away.

We couldn’t agree more. But something tells us it won’t be smooth sailing for Rey. The dark side of the Force has a way of always creating shadows over the galaxy far, far away, especially in theaters.

The director also added, “The story that interests me most is in Rey’s journey as a female Jedi. That’s how I can best bring my experiences to it.”

A Release Date for Rey’s New Star Wars Movie

There is now a reported filming date in play for Rey’s upcoming Star Wars fim. According to Productionlist.com, which tracks production updates for the Film & Television Industry Alliance, the Rey movie will start shooting on April 7, 2024 in London. Hopefully, that means we will get casting news soon.

Recent rumors speculated that the Rey movie might have been delayed indefinitely due to creative differences between Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and writer Steven Knight. However, according to Gizmodo, Lucasfilm has confirmed the movie is still moving forward without issue. According to the publication, a source at Lucasfilm noted, “Knight continues to write and be a part of the process. In fact, the company is waiting on his latest draft as you read this.”

Jon Favreau Takes Our Favorite Duo to the Big Screen in The Mandalorian & Grogu

In addition to joining Dave Filoni’s big group Star Wars movie, the Mandalorian and Grogu will also star in a new Star Wars movie of their own (aptly titled, The Mandalorian & Grogu). Few details are known about it for now, but it will go into production in 2024.

As previously noted, this movie is expected to start shooting in April 2024.

Patty Jenkins Returns to Direct the Once Canceled Star Wars Movie Rogue Squadron

In 2020, Lucasfilm announced Patty Jenkins would direct a new Star Wars movie, Rogue Squadron. But the movie was removed from the company’s lineup in 2022. Now, Jenkins has revealed she’s back to work on the film, and she’ll take on the roles of writer and director. You can see what she had to say in full, here.

Shawn Levy Is Reportedly Set to Direct a Star Wars Movie

Deadline reports that Shawn Levy is set to direct a Star Wars movie of his own. The publication notes that the movie will be written by Jonathan Tropper. Levy’s Star Wars movie has not yet been officially announced, and no further details are available.

It’s a busy time for Shawn Levy; his MCU movie Deadpool & Wolverine will be released in theaters on July 26 and reportedly he is in talks to direct the next Avengers movie as well.

Originally published on April 7, 2023.

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The Devil Wears Prada is a certified classic that I simply must watch every time it is on TV. Everything from Andy’s transformation into a fashion IT girl to Miranda’s absolutely scathing lines are iconic. Now, nearly 20 years later, there’s a very good chance that we will get a sequel to The Devil Wears Prada with the original stars, director, and producer all returning. According to Entertainment Weekly, Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci are in talks to return for a new The Devil Wears Prada movie alongside director David Frankel. If we get Anne back as Andy and the Queen of Genovia, we will be winning.

In addition to producer Wendy Finerman possibly coming on board, screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna could pen the script. The Devil Wears Prada sequel is apparently in development at Disney. For now, Disney is not confirming nor denying anything, so we will have to wait and see what actually happens. In the meantime, we can always head over to Max and enjoy the existing film.

The post THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA Sequel Reportedly in Development With Original Cast in Talks to Return appeared first on Nerdist.

Listen, we won’t blame you for remaining skeptical. We’re not exactly sure whether to believe this news ourselves. But it really does seem as though, after years of false promises and roadblocks, The Crow is getting resurrected. And the reboot will star someone who knows something about wearing face paint to scare others. IT‘s Pennywise, Bill Skarsgård, will bring the vengeful character back to the big screen. After this long wait, The Crow has finally shared first-look images of Skarsgård in the romantically gothic role and an official trailer.

The Crow Reboot’s Release Date

It seemed like The Crow reboot finally had a release date. According to Deadline, it was set to release on June 7, 2024. But now, the publication reveals that The Crow will actually release on August 23.

The Crow Reveals Its Trailer and First-Look Images

We finally have our first good look at The Crow and its stars. And well, they certainly look good. Director Rupert Sanders shares with Vanity Fair, “I think the beauty of Bill [Skarsgård] is that he has a disturbing beauty, and as he transforms through his loss he becomes this thing that even he can’t control. It’s that famous line: ‘Whoever fights monsters must be careful that they don’t become one.’ That look was me in the ’90s when we were squat-raving in London, [mixed with some modern influences] like Post Malone and Lil Peep. I hope people who are 19 today look at him and go, ‘That guy is us.’”

You can check out The Crow‘s trailer and images below:

Of the first-teased image of the crow, Vanity Fair notes, “That image captures the beginning of his transformation into the Crow.” And Sanders adds, “It’s the moment we realize bad things are coming.” An additional couple of first-look images from The Crow were also released.

The Crow Reboots Synopsis and More

So what do we know? Well, James O’Barr’s supernatural comic series is getting a long-awaited new adaptation. Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) will direct with a script from Zach Baylin (King Richard) and Will Schneider. Skarsgård will play the titular hero out for revenge, Erik Draven. Erik returns to the world of the living thanks to a crow, where he seeks vengeance against those who killed him and his fiancée.

Or at least he did originally. THR also reports the British singer and dancer FKA Twigs will play Erik’s fiancée. But, unlike previous iterations, the character will play a much bigger role and serve a co-lead in the film. What that means for her fate remains to be seen. But in a supernatural thriller where crows bring people back to life, the possibilities are endless.

Deadline shares the film’s synopsis, which is as follows:

Soulmates Eric Draven (Skarsgård) and Shelly Webster (FKA twigs) are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek merciless revenge on their killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right. 

Additionally, Vanity Fair notes, “While Eric’s and Shelly’s onscreen deaths occur in the opening minutes of the 1994 version of The Crow, Sanders says that he always wanted his version of the story to have a more even balance between light and dark. So we will see more of the smitten couple before tragedy steps in to tear them apart, making Eric’s quest for vengeance more emotionally resonant.”

More About the Original Movie

Fans first entered the dark and brooding world of The Crow more than 30 years ago. The indie comic debuted in 1989. However, many know it from its first ill-fated big screen adaptation. The original 1994 film starred Brandon Lee, the son of the legendary Bruce Lee. Brandon Lee sadly died on set from an improperly loaded prop gun. Lee had filmed most of his scenes when he died, though, and the studio still released the movie.

Sanders shares, “Obviously, it was a terrible tragedy, and it’s definitely something that we’ve always had in mind through the making of the film. Brandon was an original voice and I think he will always be synonymous with The Crow and I hope he’s proud of what we’ve done and how we’ve brought the story back again. His soul is very much alive in this film. There’s a real fragility and beauty to his version of the Crow, and I think Bill feels like he is a successor to that.”

The original movie was a box office success and more sequels with different actors in the starring role followed. A short-lived TV series, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, also had a one-season run in 1998. But since the last film, 2005’s The Crow: Wicked Prayer, the franchise has had a series of false starts while it mired in developmental hell.

The franchise seems to have truly left Hell behind now. So yes, this seems as though this The Crow reboot really is happening. And yet, like many of you, we’ll fully believe The Crow is back when we’re sitting in a movie theater once again watching Bill Skarsgård in face paint.

Originally published on April 4, 2022.

The post THE CROW Reboot Delays Release Date to Late Summer appeared first on Nerdist.

After more than two decades, the thought of Ridley Scott making a Gladiator sequel still seems hard to believe. It’s not like the Best Picture winner set itself up for a sequel. Plus, you know, its titular character DIED at the end. That’s not exactly the type of movie you imagine getting a second installment. But Gladiator II is definitely happening. We know for sure because we officially have our first photos and posters from the film. The Gladiator 2 first-look photos feature stars Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, and Connie Nielsen fighting to save a decaying Rome from its worst leaders.

They look so good that we’re truly excited to see what happened after Maximus gave his life to give Rome back to the people.

Get your best sword and sandals out, because it’s time to return to the Colosseum. Paramount Pictures’ long-developing sequel is officially ready to enter the arena.

But be warned if you love Joseph Quinn with dark hair. The Stranger Things alum is blonde now.

Anti-warning: Denzel Washington is already the coolest ancient Roman ever.

Hopefully these photos indicate a full Gladiator 2 trailer is on the horizon. It’s not as though we have to wait much longer for the movie anyway.

Click To View Gallery

Gladiator 2 Posters

Gladiator 2 has also hit us with some massively cool posters for all of the above characters. You can check them out below.

Click To View Gallery

What Is the Release Date for Gladiator 2?

Gladiator 2 takes a chariot into theaters this fall on November 22, 2024.

The post GLADIATOR 2 Shares First Photos and Posters of Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, and Denzel Washington in Ancient Rome appeared first on Nerdist.

The current state of horror means we’re getting a deluge of films trying to outdo each other in sending chills up the spine. This has resulted in some of the most interesting and risk-taking movies in the genre. While A24’s plaudits for “elevated horror” are fairly passé at this point, I think NEON are the ones releasing just as heady scary films but with a far more sinister edge, often much more my speed. Their latest is Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs, which has had one of the most striking ad campaigns in decades. The movie, I’m happy to report, is just as striking.

I’m glad I didn’t have to write this review within the first day or even the first few days after seeing Longlegs. If I had, I would have likely given the impression I didn’t like it, or at least that I didn’t think it was as good as people said. Comparing any movie to Silence of the Lambs is bold to say the least. As a serial killer FBI procedural, Longlegs is not particularly complicated. Many aspects of the investigation are supremely obvious, others completely out of left field. But as a horror movie, as an exploration of creeping dread and occult uncanniness, Longlegs burrows under your skin and stays there for weeks.

The basic story follows newly minted Oregon field agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) as she uses her inexplicable intuition to aid Special Agent Carter (Blair Underwood) in one of the Bureau’s most baffling cases. Several completely unrelated men have killed their entire families and themselves over the past several decades. No physical evidence suggests any other person took part. However, each crime scene had a letter written in strange symbols, signed “Longlegs.”

It won’t give anything away to say Nicolas Cage plays the titular Longlegs, and his appearance is so upsetting they won’t show it in ads. It takes a while for the movie to show him, too. While we know this, who exactly Longlegs is, what he does, and how he does it are the real mysteries at the film’s heart. Harker delves deeper into the strange occult circumstances of these massacres, her own connections come to the surface as the inevitability of Longlegs’ masterplan begins to take shape.

Perkins’ directing style and passion for slow and creeping dread in his movies pays off big time in Longlegs. However, unlike some of his more languorous outings, here he punctuates the moody quiet with loud and shocking moments. It constantly keeping the audience nervous about what will come next. For the first two-thirds of the movie, I sat completely wrapt in squinting, white-knuckle anxiety about what might lurk in the corners of the slightly fisheyed frame. What terror could hide in the shadow just behind Harker?

The last third is a different matter. I liken the experience of watching Longlegs to watching Hereditary for the first time. The movies are quite different, but both of their climaxes mixed terror with puzzlement in me. Some of the plot is so obvious I assume there must be something more. Other parts are legitimately silly. So much so that when everything falls into place I thought, “Wait, this is what the movie’s doing?” In both cases my brain got in the way of my body’s reaction to what I was watching. Parts of Longlegs feel so at odds with the rest of it. It contains moments of humor I’m not entirely sure were intentional. People next to me at the screening laughed uproariously toward the end. I can’t decide if they were laughing at or with the movie.

However, and I hate to advocate for turning off your brain when watching anything, Longlegs is a vibes movie first and foremost. It’s not a crime movie with horror elements, it’s a weird horror movie with the FBI. Perkins, I think (I hope) understands what scares us about occultism is also pretty goofy. This is why I’m happy I got to sit with the movie before writing this. Initially I was prepared to say it looks good, that Underwood’s performance is tremendous, but that it’s trying to get by too much on Cage’s creepy look and strangely mannered performance. And now? I just go “yeah, of course it does. That’s why it’s awesome!”

I think Longlegs is a legitimately superb example of a horror movie that knows what it’s doing, knows it’s playing in a very tamped-down sandbox, and uses that to thoroughly unsettle and affect the audience. Tight plotting be damned, this movie’s got moxy! The next dozen times I watch it, I won’t care that the mystery isn’t anything special. It’s got those performances in that setting with those shocks. What more could you want?!

Longlegs ⭐ (4.5 of 5)

Longlegs opens in theaters July 12.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

The post LONGLEGS Is a Very Weird, Very Upsetting, Thoroughly Captivating Horror Show appeared first on Nerdist.

Christian Bale has never been shy about transforming his body for a role. He famously lost an unhealthy amount of weight for both The Machinist and The Fighter. He then went in the opposite direction to play the rotund Dick Cheney in Vice. Now he’s undergoing a different kind of cinematic transformation. Bale is turning himself into a legendary sci-fi monster. The first images from director Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride show Bale and co-star Jessie Buckley as the iconic creations.

Gyllenhaal took to Instagram to post the first official photos (which we first heard about at Variety) for The Bride, her upcoming take on a classic Frankenstein story. The images come from camera tests for her two leads. Gyllenhaal’s version will take place in 1930s Chicago and see Buckley’s reanimated murder victim launch an entire new social movement.

The Warner Bros. production will reunite Buckley and Gyllenhaal. Buckley earned an Oscar nomination for Gyllenhaal’s previous film, 2021’s The Lost Daughter. This time the actress will star as the titular bride of Frankenstein. But these photos show the two are not exactly the same.

Bale’s monster has an entirely different energy in his photo. His scarred, terrifying take on the character—which feels strangely reminiscent of Jared Leto’s Joker, only with giant stitches rather than a forehead tattoo—evokes the horror of Mary Shelley’s character. Buckley’s blonde Bride looks far more human. She has a black blotch on the side of her mouth, but otherwise her wounds seem far more internal than her pieced-together counterpart.

The Bride will also feature Penélope Cruz, Annette Bening, and Peter Sarsgaard. It will arrive in theaters next year ahead of Halloween on September 26, 2025.

What will Christian Bale look like by the time the film premieres? We don’t know. We just know we can’t rule any kind of transformation out.

Originally published April 4, 2024.

The post See Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s Monster in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s THE BRIDE appeared first on Nerdist.

Last year, Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri hinted that Shrek 5 could be coming our way with its original voice actors reprising their roles. Now, according to Variety, we know that Shrek 5 is officially happening with Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, and Cameron Diaz returning as Donkey, Shrek, and Fiona, respectively. And there’s even a release date for Shrek 5, which is July 1, 2026. The film is in its early stages of development and, as Murphy previously said, a Donkey spinoff will happen sometime soon. 

Dreamworks Animation released a short announcement teaser to get fans excited about the upcoming sequel. We love the use of Smash Mouth’s “All Star,” which was prominently featured in the original Shrek film in 2001.

The beloved animated franchise released its last film way back in 2010. For many years, fans thought it was the end of the story. But there’s apparently more jokes to be told in the fairy-tale land of Duloc.

What Is the Release Date for Shrek 5?

Again, this film will hit theaters on July 1, 2026, which is not too far, far way.

The post SHREK 5 Is Coming in 2026 With Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz Returning appeared first on Nerdist.

Universal isn’t waiting around to relaunch one of its signature franchises. The studio is already developing a seventh film Jurassic Park/World movie. And it won’t take long to arrive in theaters. Universal has already carved out a prime 2025 summer release date. Who will star in it? Who is making it? And what is it about?

We do know that Scarlett Johansson is a part of the cast. And she’s getting quite the humorous and warm welcome by Jurassic Park franchise alum Jeff Goldblum. According to Variety, the video popped up during her NBC interview about her upcoming rom-com Fly Me to the Moon. Jeff warned her to not get eaten… unless that is what she desires.

Here’s everything we know about the new Jurassic World movie so far.

Title

As of now, the new Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movie remains untitled.

New Jurassic World Movie’s Plot

The untitled movie also lacks an official synopsis. What we do know is that it will explore a “new” Jurassic era and story, in what it being described as a franchise reboot. If history is any guide it will also launch another trilogy. (Jurassic Planet? Jurassic Universe?)

New Jurassic World Cast

The upcoming Jurassic World movie will feature an all-new cast headlined by original Avenger Scarlett Johansson. Rupert Friend (Obi-Wan Kenobi) is also getting in on the modern prehistoric mayhem. Other performers reportedly in discussion to join the film include Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton), Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer), Luna Blaise (Manifest), and two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali.

Behind the Scenes

David Koepp, who wrote both Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World, is returning to pen the franchise’s seventh installment. Rogue One‘s Gareth Edwards will direct after The Fall Guy‘s David Leitch stepped down. Filming will begin this year and will have a quick post-production timeline.

Jurassic World trilogy producer Frank Marshall is returning for the series’ latest installment. Series alum Patrick Crowley is also back for dinosaur mayhem. And original franchise director Steven Spielberg is also serving as an executive producer via Amblin Entertainment.

The latest news about the new Jurassic World suggests the movie is heading to Thailand. Per Variety, we saw that Thailand’s Natural Resources and Environment Minister Phatcharavat Wongsuwan noted that Thailand is honored to host the filming, however “It is strictly required that they comply with relevant laws and regulations, and must not affect and damage natural resources and the environment.” That sounds like a fair deal to us.

New Jurassic World Movie’s Release Date

We won’t have to wait long for Universal’s new Jurassic World movie. It will come to theaters on July 2, 2025.

The post Jeff Goldblum Sends JURASSIC WORLD Star Scarlett Johansson a Funny Welcome Video appeared first on Nerdist.

Radio Silence’s horror comedy Abigail—a bloody, funny, and oft-strange ode to vampire stories—is easily one of the best films of 2024. Starring Scream VI’s Melissa Barrera, the film expertly brings together two starkly different premises that somehow works. It is a heist movie involving an eclectic criminal collective kidnapping a wealthy man’s ballet-loving daughter. And it’s also a campy vampire flick because that daughter is a bloodthirsty creature who aims to kill her captors. After a successful theater run, Abigail is currently available to own with all-new exclusive content on digital, Blu-ray™, and DVD. 

Of course, purchasers will experience the joy of a dancing girl obliterating shady people in a creepy mansion. (In case you’re curious, Radio Silence gave us all the details about finding this film’s location.) But there’s also a plethora of bonus content, including commentary from the film’s creators and stars. Check out this exclusive clip of directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett along with actor Dan Stevens talking about how the film uses vampire tropes in its main storyline. 

Here’s all the other exclusive bonus features that fan will get if they purchase Abigail on digital, Blu-ray™, or DVD:

• Deleted & Extended Scenes
• Gag Reel
• Blood Bath – Soak up the slaughter alongside the cast and crew with this dive into the deep end of Abigail’s body pits, where practical FX reign supreme and there’s no such thing as too much blood.
• Hunters to Hunted – Get up close and personal with Abigail’s abductors as the cast divulges the details behind how they got into character to collectively create a unique crew of criminals.
• Becoming a Ballerina Vampire – Abigail actor Alisha Weir, choreographer Belinda Murphy, and more members of the creative team take up the task of transforming a seemingly sweet little girl into a vicious vampire.
• Directing Duo Matt & Tyler – Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett lead this look at the actors, ideas, and environment they put together to create a set that’s fun while still being fearsome.
• Feature Commentary with Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett and Editor Michael P. Shawyer

Abigail is now available on Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital from Universal.

The post This Exclusive ABIGAIL Commentary Clip Takes Us Into Its Love for Vampire Tropes appeared first on Nerdist.

Twisters might be spinning into theaters this summer, but before it does fans will get a chance to see the the original 1996 film in an all-new way. The first-ever 4K Ultra HD version of Twister is now available in stores and on digital platforms. What does this new, upgraded remaster offer viewers? To find out, Nerdist spoke to the man who oversaw both the film and this restoration, director Jan de Bont. He talked to us about the challenges of making the film nearly 30 years ago, why Twister‘s tornadoes have never looked more believable, and the greatness of Bill Paxton and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Nerdist: It’s been 30 years since you started working on Twister. How have your own feelings and opinions about the movie changed since the day it premiered in theaters?

Jan de Bont: After this transfer, I think it almost could be re-released, because I was able to make so many really positive changes to the visuals, the color, the depths, and the soundtrack, the kind of amazing surround soundtrack you feel at home. It’s almost a better experience than in the theater. I don’t want to compare the two, because it’s a completely different thing, of course. In the theater you also have the reaction of people. But as an individual or with your family, it becomes really personal. You have a direct connection with the screen.

And the quality right now is also better than it was in the theater. The quality is so high. It’s much sharper, it’s much more focused. I see many more colors. There’s much more detail in the darkness that didn’t exist before and didn’t exist on film, either.

Were there any aspects of the movie that you weren’t totally, 100% happy with back then that you are totally on board with now?

de Bont: Yeah, because I was able to do those changes. [laughs] I hate when you have to actually develop a whole new technology to make things visible and make them look real and authentic. It’s a long process. One tornado would take months for a couple of animators to do. Then those would have to be transferred. The rendering of one shot would take 24 hours. Just for one single shot. And we had 300 plus shots and the time was close. We had to start right away. We knew when [the film] was going to be released and we had to work up against that day. And since the technology didn’t always work, we had to just try again and again.

I was very happy to finally be able to correct the issues that I saw. But I think everybody would see them too, if you saw it many times. I wanted to really integrate all those different elements much better. At the time it wasn’t even really possible, the way I would have liked it.

Which scene or moment would you say is the most enhanced by this 4K Ultra Hi-Def version?

de Bont: All the tornado scenes. Almost all of them. Because it’s not like you’re looking at one thing only. It’s not like with the first one you look at the tornado and then there’s a landscape around it. Now the tornado is actually in the landscape. I was able, with the transitions from the visual effects to the live action and the sometimes special effects on the foreground, to make it look like one. For me that was so important. That makes this kind of new transfer so unique. I think it’s really, really incredible. High quality. It’s really amazing.

We’re talking a lot about the visuals and obviously it’s a very visual movie, but that’s not the only reason Twister is so beloved. It also has a really amazing cast led by the late Bill Paxton. Three decades later, what stands out the most about working with him?

de Bont: From day one he was on the set, he became an actual storm chaser. He really completely believed in it and he started speaking their language. He used lingo that the chasers used nonstop. Words I’d never even heard of. [I was] like, “Oh, well that sounds good. If it’s true, he can actually do that.” Almost phonetic. He was really so into his character. You cannot direct an actor like that. I mean, he did it himself. It was really fantastic to see that. I was so happy with him.

He also felt a little bit like a leader, to keep that whole team together as a personality. That whole group feeling and how great they talk together. The banter between them. Everybody jumps in whenever. I never intervened when the actors jumped on somebody else’s line, because that to me was real. I said, “No, it’s fine. It’s crazy. It’s better.” And Bill was really good at that too. And he interrupted all the time, so it was really great. [laughs loudly] That was really funny. Really. I mean, the movie wouldn’t be like that without him, that’s for sure.

You also cast the late Philip Seymour Hoffman during the early part of his career, I think before everyone realized he was one of the greatest actors alive. What was it like to direct someone that talented in a role that I would imagine on the page read much smaller than he made it on the screen?

de Bont: It was actually really little on the screen (originally), because a lot of the dialogue still had to be written. And when I saw him, it was like the dialogue became almost automatic. He kind of instigated what he was going to say in combination with what I wanted him to say. But it became so natural. He was just laid back, incredibly laid back. Fun, almost over-the-top at times. A grand actor that really brought so much lightness to the movie, and that was so needed. And he was so good at that. He made it so easy, doing something that people thought was very funny to watch. He was absolutely brilliant.

I mean, I was afraid that nobody wanted to play the part. Because on the page it’s like, “Dusty work for me to today,” and it’s like, “Oh God.” But the way he arrived, I always bring that up because it was so amazing to me. He arrived on the very last day of casting. We still hadn’t found anyone. And he arrived, sloppy himself. Baggy pants, loose shirts, wild hair. And I said, “That’s exactly what it should be.” It was so funny. I mean, maybe he already saw the character when he read that. Maybe he already saw what he could do with it. And he did, and he totally lifted the movie. I mean, he was clearly a brilliant talent.

The new Twister 4K UHD from Warner Bros. Discovery is now available in stores, online, and on digital.

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Russell Crowe might have died at the end of Gladiator, but the first trailer for Gladiator II shows the dream of Maximus still lives. The young boy he once inspired is now grown, full of fury, and ready to help bring down childish rulers who needlessly toy with peoples’ lives. Because this film isn’t just about one man’s fight for survival in the Colosseum or even a request for revenge. It’s about the very soul of the Roman Empire.

The Gladiator II Trailer Is Here (And It’s Glorious)

This first incredible, action-packed Gladiator II trailer declares all-out war on Rome and its cruel leaders. How did it come to this after Maximus gave his life to return the Empire to the people? Here’s the film’s official synopsis from Paramount Pictures:

From legendary director Ridley Scott, Gladiator II continues the epic saga of power, intrigue, and vengeance set in Ancient Rome. Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.

How do you say, “Let’s f***ing go!” in Latin?

Everything here is genuinely great, but nothing is better than Denzel Washington. He could not possibly be having any more fun. We’re not sure who the greatest Ancient Roman was before this Gladiator II trailer, but they’re now second behind his Macrinus. Maybe third, depending on what Pedro Pascal’s General Acacius ultimately does in this movie.

As though those three stars weren’t enough, the loaded cast also features Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, and Lior Raz, whom we also see in action in the Gladiator II trailer above. Original Gladiator star Derek Jacobi is also back. As is Connie Nielsen, who returns as Lucilla.

What Is Gladiator II’s Release Date?

What will Lucilla do when she learns her son Lucius is back and full of righteous fury? We’ll find out when Gladiator II releases in theaters this fall on November 22.

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We love it when companies buy each other, don’t we folks? We can all agree Disney buying 900 things has been great for the entertainment landscape, consumerism, and society as a whole. Why yes, I am being sarcastic. But we live in a capitalist hellscape and this kind of thing will keep happening. Case in point, we now have David Ellison’s Skydance Media reaching an agreement with Shari Redstone to buy out her majority stake in National Amusements, which in turn gives them control over all of Paramount Global, including Paramount film and TV studios, Paramount+, CBS, and cable channels like Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central.

We saw the news via The Hollywood Reporter. The buyout is still pending regulators’ okay, but assuming all goes through, Ellison would become the CEO of Paramount, with former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell (currently working for RedBird Capital, one of the financiers of the deal) taking over as president. Evidently the months-long speculation over whether the Skydance/Paramount deal would happen depended on kicking enough benefit to other shareholders besides Redstone. Rich people need to make sure they get more rich, after all.

This kind of thing sucks, but as I said, it’s bound to keep happening. How this will change things like Paramount+’s rates or programming, or whether the cable networks will keep operating as they are, will shake out in the near future. Hopefully they don’t prematurely cancel Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. That’d be worst case scenario for old Kyle Anderson.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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It usually takes some time for an animated Disney film to get a live-action film adaptation. But according to the Mouse House, they’re bringing the beloved 2016 film Moana into live-action. This film was meant to hit theaters in 2025, but now, the live-action Moana movie is coming on July 10, 2026. That actually works, considering it will be the tenth anniversary of the original movie. Production on the movie will begin in the fall of 2024. The Moana live-action movie has even released cast information, including for its new Moana actress, Catherine Laga‘aia.

The Live-Action Moana Movie Casts Its Moana and Other Characters

A release from Disney reveals, “Catherine Laga‘aia will be voyaging to Motunui and beyond as the adventurous teenager who sails out on a daring mission to save her people in Disney’s upcoming live-action Moana.” Laga‘aia notes,  “I’m really excited to embrace this character because Moana is one of my favorites. My grandfather comes from Fa‘aala, Palauli, in Savai‘i. And my grandmother is from Leulumoega Tuai on the main island of ‘Upolu in Samoa. I’m honored to have an opportunity to celebrate Samoa and all Pacific Island peoples, and to represent young girls who look like me.”

Click To View Gallery

Joining Laga‘aia are “Auckland, New Zealander John Tui as Moana’s no-nonsense father, Chief Tui; Samoan-New Zealand actress Frankie Adams portrays Moana’s playful and strong-willed mother, Sina; and Rena Owen, who hails from Bay of Islands, NZ, was cast as the revered Gramma Tala. Previously announced, Dwayne Johnson, who voiced larger-than-life demigod Maui in the 2016 animated version of the film, will reprise his role.”

Moana is directed by Thomas Kail,

Dwayne Johnson Returns to Live-Action Moana

Yes, this live-action Moana will see one of its original stars producing and starring. And yes, that star is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who played the part of demigod Maui in the original film. Johnson tweeted the official announcement of his return to the world of Moana, which you can watch right here:

The Walt Disney Company and Dwayne Johnson also released this statement on the new, live-action iteration of Moana:

I’m deeply humbled and overcome with gratitude to bring the beautiful story of Moana to the live-action big screen. This story is my culture, and this story is emblematic of our people’s grace and warrior strength. I wear this culture proudly on my skin and in my soul, and this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reunite with Maui, inspired by the mana and spirit of my late grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, is one that runs very deep for me. I want to thank my partners at Disney for their strong commitment to this special endeavor, because there is no better world for us to honor the story of our people, our passion and our purpose than through the realm of music and dance, which is at the core of who we are as Polynesian people.

Auli‘i Cravalho Will Not Return in Live-Action Moana

Auli‘i Cravalho, who voiced Moana in the animated film, is also one of the producers. She shared on Instagram in May that she, however, would not be reprising the role of Moana. Cravalho said, “As an executive producer on the film, I cannot wait to help find the next actress to portray Moana’s courageous spirit, undeniable wit, and emotional strength.”

What Is the Release Date for the Live-Action Moana Movie?

The live-action Moana will arrive in theaters on July 10, 2026. It will begin production in August of 2024.

Originally published on April 3, 2023.

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In The Acolyte‘s sixth episode, Osha found herself on Qimir’s secret hideaway. That place was first seen in the series’ premiere when Mae’s Master appeared atop a rock along crashing ocean waves. Unlike every other world on the series, though, the Star Wars series didn’t give Qimir’s world a name. The Acolyte labeled it only as an “Unknown Planet.” But it was impossible for Star Wars fans not to wonder if we already know what it’s actually called, Ahch-To. The Acolyte‘s Unknown Planet looked nearly identical to the planet of Ahch-To from the sequel trilogy. But though showrunner Leslye Headland has now confirmed that the “Unknown Planet” is not Ahch-To, the similarities still ring loudly. Qimir living on a planet that reminds us of Ahch-to creates immediate parallels between the tale of the very dark side user who will put the Jedi on a path to near ruin a century later and the story of how a reclusive Luke Skywalker trained Rey.

What Is The Acolyte‘s Unknown Planet? Here’s Why It Reminded Fans of Star Wars‘ Ahch-To

The Acolyte‘s “Unknown Planet” and the Star Wars planet Ahch-To share all the same physical properties. They’re both mostly covered in water dotted with lush, green rocky islands. Each is also home to adorable little bird-like creatures, though the new Disney+ show’s animals are not porgs. Simply put, they look identical in every way.

Those similarities are only part of the reason why it was impossible not to think Osha found herself on Ahch-To on The Acolyte. The Acolyte also framed many shots in ways that clearly hearken back to The Last Jedi. The camera watched from behind as she walked out of a tunnel to look out at the ocean. We saw similar shots of Rey and Luke framed just like that. Osha then followed Qimir around the Unknown Planet just as Rey followed Luke on Ahch-To. The Acolyte intentionally referenced shots and sequences from Ahch-To on a place that was indistinguishable from it.

Does Qimir Actually Live on the Planet of Ahch-To on The Acolyte?

So, is that actually where Qimir lives? Did the Jedi Killer make the very planet where the Jedi Order was founded thousands of years before as his base of operations? It turns out the answer is, no. The “Unknown Planet” is not Ahch-To. Instead, Qimir resides on a planet where it is possible to mine the rare Star Wars metal, cortosis.

Headland shares in response to whether Qimir’s Unknown Planet is actually Ahch-To on The Acolyte:

It’s not Ahch-To. I know it’s similar, and it was intentionally supposed to be similar in terms of terrain and feeling isolated and surrounded by water and less lush green and more rocky. But the idea is that cortosis is mined on this planet, so I don’t think that’s the case with Ahch-To. Part of the reason this is his home base is that cortosis is a very rare metal. I don’t think we say it explicitly in the show, but that’s a reason it’s not Ahch-To.

But though Qimir’s planet is not the famous Star Wars setting, the fact his world looks so much like Ahch-To is what matters.

The Unkown Planet’s Resemblance to Ahch-To Is Important for The Acolyte Even If It’s a Different Planet

Of course, had The Acolyte‘s “Unknown Planet” ultimately been revealed to be Ahch-To the significance would have been obvious. The very dark lord—a former Jedi Padawan and possible Sith—who put the Order on a path of destruction would have used the Jedi’s own home to bring them down.

We still wonder if there are other secrets on the island, though. Had it been Ahch-To, we might have speculated that Qimir used Sacred Jedi Texts and ancient Jedi knowledge found on Ahch-To to better understand his enemy on The Acolyte. This could have explained why he’s able to tap into the Force with as much power as he can.

(But perhaps other knowledge from the Unknown Planet will help explain why the Jedi couldn’t sense his real identity initially. And that would also help explain why they won’t sense Palpatine’s more than a century later.)

But though Qimir’s planet is not Ahch-To on a cloudy day and is instead a totally different world, The Acolyte clearly wanted us to make that Star Wars connection. There’s obvious meaning in making us think about Ahch-To. It’s Star Wars “rhyming” like poetry, just as George Lucas said it should.

Osha becoming Qimir’s apprentice on The Acolyte on an island much like Ahch-To means another place exists where a powerful Force user trains a student who will go on to lead their order, just as occurs when Rey arrives at Ahch-To to find Luke Skywalker. Only the roles will flip now, with Qimir’s student reluctant to learn and Rey’s Master reluctant to teach.

In the galaxy far, far away there are two identical worlds, neither inherently good or bad. How those who call them home use those planets will determine which side they fall on, just as the Force is neither inherently good or bad. We’ll remember one planet for light, the other for dark. They, fittingly, balance each other.

Is The Acolyte‘s “Unknown Planet” really Ahch-To? No. But the fact we had to ask is meaningful enough on its own.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist and Manny Jacinto superfan. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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Nicolas Cage has played many roles in his storied career, including some famous horror roles. He’s been a guy who thinks he is a vampire (Vampire’s Kiss), to someone who definitely did not like bees (The Wicker Man). And, more recently, he starred in the cult film Mandy. Now, he’s finally playing a serial killer, in the upcoming film Longlegs. The upcoming film is from director Osgood Perkins, who comes from quite the horror pedigree himself. His father was Anthony Perkins, the iconic Norman Bates in the Psycho franchise. You can check out the trailers for the upcoming serial killer horror film from NEON Films right here.

The movie centers on Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) a fledgling FBI agent, who is attempting to crack a long-unsolved case of a serial killer. Eventually, the investigation becomes more complex, when they uncover some occult evidence. We glimpse a book about the Nine Circles of Hell in the trailer. Eventually, Harker discovers that he has a personal link to the killer (Nicolas Cage), and has to race against the clock in order to prevent another murder from happening.

Longlegs also stars Alicia Witt (The Walking Dead, Twin Peaks) and Dear White People’s Blair Underwood. Nicolas Cage is producing via his company Saturn Films.

Despite suggesting a horror film that connects to spiders, the tagline for the film says in a very cryptic way “You’ve got the teeth of the Hydra upon you.” So it looks like we’re seeing some Hydra ancient mythology that connects to this particular mystery.

We’re a sucker for a good cult-themed horror story like True Detective: Night Country. A story that has ties to some kind of mythological being.

The poster art for Longlegs says “The Man Downstairs is Coming.” It appears this mysterious man will arrive in theaters on July 12.

Originally published on February 5, 2024.

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When James Gunn’s Superman hits theaters next year, it might for a moment feel like you’re seeing more than one Man of Steel up on the screen. That’s because, as reported by Variety, the son of the late Christopher Reeve, Will Reeve, shot a cameo scene for the Superman film this week in Cleveland, Ohio. Will Reeve, the youngest of the late Superman star’s three children, is the spitting image of his dad. So it’s sure to be a touching moment when he and David Corenswet share the screen in the DCU movie. Will Reeve is actually a journalist and ABC News correspondent, so his Superman cameo will fittingly be that of a TV reporter who meets the Last Son of Krypton.

Locals caught the filming of many scenes from the Superman movie, including Will Reeve’s appearance on set. In the past week, we’ve seen David Corenswet in costume on set, not only as Superman but also as Clark Kent. This version of Clark has a curly mop of hair and thick glasses. The Clark Kent disguise actually makes us believe that people would believe that Superman and Clark are two different people. Also spotted on set is Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hault as Lex Luthor. We’ve also seen Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), wearing his comics-accurate costume. But seeing Christopher Reeve’s son appear in the Superman production is definitely a very fun surprise.

Aside from the upcoming James Gunn film, Will Reeve will appear, along with his two siblings, in the documentary Super/Man. This new film chronicles their late father Christopher Reeve’s rise to fame as Superman, which led to three sequels. His acting career came mostly to a halt after a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995. The incident left him paralyzed from the neck down. Christopher Reeve would become an advocate and spokesperson for those suffering from similar injuries until his death in 2004. It’s safe to say his son’s appearance in Superman will be a more fitting tribute to Christopher Reeve than his CGI recreation in The Flash. Super/Man releases later this year, and Superman hits theaters in July 11, 2025.

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Light spoilers ahead for MaXXXine.

MaXXXine is the climactic—or should I say anticlimactic—end to Ti West’s trilogy. Rather than a crescendo with a peak, it struggles to even race beside the previous two. Gore and violence are sparse with a plot that lacks focus. It’s more of a pick-your-poison “choose your own adventure” film. With Maxine Minx in Hollywood attempting to transition from porn star to movie star, her past rears up and puts an unnecessary kink in her plans. While audiences won’t walk away hating MaXXXine, it’s a lackluster film that drifts from the mind after viewing.

Directed and written by Ti West, MaXXXine marks the final chapter in the trilogy. Maxine, played by Mia Goth (Suspiria, Infinity Pool), is so close to breaking into Hollywood from the porn industry. But with a snoopy P.I. John Labat (Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, Leave the World Behind) in the mix, deaths adding up around her, and cops sniffing at her heels, her career might be dead on arrival. However, Maxine is not someone anyone should cross. She still possesses her self-preservation edge. With all the promise built from the other films with Mia Goth’s star performance, it’s a wonder this final film falters so much. 

MaXXXine Takes Audiences From Say Something to Say Nothing

X was astounding because of its gore and how it subverts traditional horror. Rather than the stereotypical “pure” final girl, they have a woman who is literally shooting a porn film to survive. Religion and the restrictions women face play out underneath. There is plenty to draw from rewatching X.

The second film, Pearl, was a prequel focused on gender constraints through a warped Wizard of Oz tale. There’s also the nature versus nurture question of whether Pearl was always prone to violent outbursts or if her mother’s restrictive rearing led her down that path. By its climax, Dorothy does not ever leave Kansas. She remains trapped, building up her bitterness and resentment for a life never lived. 

Then there is MaXXXine, a less refined version of the two. MaXXXine lacks cohesion. It has too much happening, and few parts meld together. There are ideas that the movie wanted to explore, including gender and religion, the entertainment industry, and the thin line between entertainment and reality. However, it fails to nail any of them. 

Pointless Parts in MaXXXine Taint the Whole Picture

A familiar refrain will haunt viewers, and it’s one word; “why.” Unfortunately, too much feels unnecessary or designed for laughs. The in-universe film director, Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki), feels jammed in without a purpose. Maxine has brief mental struggles with what happened at the farmhouse, but it never amounts to anything. So much hinders the film, like the inclusion of the ’80s real-life serial killer, the Nightstalker. 

At first, it seems as though the infamous murderer is stalking the streets and explicitly targeting those close to Maxine. But it takes little effort to realize who may resent Maxine and her “life of sin.” The movie tries to tease the threat, only showing the individual’s gloved hands, but it does not even take three guesses to identify her foe. So, while it tries to go the mystery route, it fails miserably. MaXXXine‘s uncertainty with what it wants to be. Is it a callout to the industry? Or is the film perhaps a mystery, Giallo horror, etc.? It is unclear.

Mia Goth Still Rocks as Maxine, But There’s Too Much Camp

In MaXXXine, religious zealotry and moments of bright, violent girl power run throughout its narrative. Mia still delivers a forceful and deadly performance. From nutcracker to face-keying, whenever Maxine unleashes her violence on the men around her, it’s always fun and deserved. Still, because of the breadth of what the film takes on, even Mia Goth feels underutilized in the final film. Too much attention goes to flat jokes and exaggerated religious zeal. You nearly forget that Maxine is trying to make a movie. 

Detective Williams (Michelle Monaghan) and Detective Torres (Bobby Cannavale) are excess baggage in an already bogged down film. Their whole schtick is Torres being an obnoxious man, talking down to Maxine, then Williams steps in, and Maxine leaves. Rinse and repeat. Many attempts at comedic moments with these two do not land. It’s more obnoxious and will likely leave audiences bewildered. They are not even essential to the final fight.

That Death Was Certainly a Choice

Another strike for MaXXXine, tying in with the gore, is how one death is handled. A Black person has one of the only gruesome deaths that takes place onscreen. Sure, it’s set in the ’80s, and few Black characters in predominantly white films survived. However, if we were going by the checklist of the time, Maxine herself would not have made it out of X intact. 

An argument can be made regarding the fact that the most gruesome deaths are men—although only one is her friend. But there was not enough done to cement that aspect. It’s ruddered in crudely. (If you’re a fan of Cardi B, you can insert her “what was the reason” GIF here.) Because choosing to have one of the most gruesome deaths be a Black person is a jarring disappointment.

MaXXXine had all the promise and goodwill engendered by the two preceding films. Unfortunately, it does not earn much beyond a shrug and “That’s it?” It would be fine if it weren’t part of a trilogy that rose beyond gore and violence while still delivering both. But the final act is “Yikes” in cinema form. MaXXXine forfeits it all, devolving into a messy puddle of obscurity, where whatever themes viewers say the movie explores is more of a wish than reality. The further you get from the theater, the less you’ll like or want to remember this film. 

MaXXXine ⭐ (2 of 5)

The film hits theaters on July 5.

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The Michelle Yeohaissance continues. Just days after going to the White House to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, she’s got another big time gig lined up. A new report says our beloved Michelle Yeoh—an Everything Everywhere All At Once Oscar-winner—is joining Prime Video’s limited series Blade Runner 2099. But in true franchise fashion, we have no idea if she’ll be playing a human or a replicant.

Michelle Yeoh Joins Blade Runner 2099 Series

Deadline reports Yeoh has signed on to Prime Video’s upcoming series, which is currently filming in Prague. The show is a sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s 2017 film Blade Runner 2049, which itself was a sequel to Ridley Scott’s iconic 1982 film. (Which was itself an adaptation of author Philip K. Dick’s classic story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.) Scott is an executive producer on the series alongside showrunner Silka Luisa (Shining Girls). And Shogun‘s Jonathan van Tulleken will also serve as an executive producer and direct the first two episodes.

Yeoh’s exact role on the show is the latest unknown about the series. Prime Video has yet to release any plot details about the story. Its title does reveal it will take place half a century after Blade Runner 2049. A lot can change in five decades on a dying planet full of humans and replicants alike, and yet we know that even with a lot of time a lot of things in the world of Blade Runner always remain the same.

Other Cast Announced for the Blade Runner Series

Joining Yeoh are a slew of other actors. Hunter Schafer is also set to star. Additionally, Deadline reports that Dimitri Abold (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes), Lewis Gribben (Somewhere Boy), Katelyn Rose Downey (The Nun II), and Daniel Rigby (Renegade Nell) join Blade Runner 2099 as series regulars. Meanwhile, Johnny Harris (A Gentleman in Moscow”), Amy Lennox (Only Child), Sheila Atim (The Woman King) and Matthew Needham (House of the Dragon) will be recurring guest stars.

When Will Blade Runner 2099 Release on Prime Video?

The series was considered a priority for Amazon in 2022. It was “fast tracking scripts and eyeing potential production dates.” However, Hollywood studios unnecessary delay in giving the writing and acting unions fair contracts delayed work on the show. Now it’s in full swing with an Oscar winner in the cast.

And whether Michelle Yeoh is playing a real person or a copy of one, we know she’ll be good.

Originally published on May 7, 2024.

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L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz got turned on its head with Gregory Maguire’s Wicked. The 1995 book put the spotlight on Elphaba and her life, often one full of hardship, until Dorothy kills her. Wicked became a Broadway musical in 2003 and has since become the fourth longest-running Broadway series. And this journey through Oz doesn’t stop with a musical: we’re getting a two-part film adaptation from director Jon M. Chu. The first Wicked trailer is here, showing off a beautifully cinematic version of Oz and the beginning of Elphaba and Glinda’s fateful and witchy friendship.

Wicked‘s New Release Date

Wicked was slated to be released on November 27, but it will now release a little earlier on November 22.

Watch the Wicked Movie’s Trailer

Cynthia Erivo plays Elphaba and Ariana Grande plays Glinda. They meet as students at Shiz University and become close friends. Elphaba and Glinda could not have more different backgrounds. Those backgrounds definitely put a thorn in the side of the friendship. As Wicked‘s synopsis explains:

The two meet as students at Shiz University in the fantastical Land of Oz and forge an unlikely but profound friendship. Following an encounter with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads and their lives take very different paths. Glinda’s unflinching desire for popularity sees her seduced by power, while Elphaba’s determination to remain true to herself, and to those around her, will have unexpected and shocking consequences on her future. Their extraordinary adventures in Oz will ultimately see them fulfill their destinies as Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.

We’re glad to see the Wicked movie trailer embrace its roots and even tease the movie’s version of the many iconic musical songs. We can’t wait to hear them in full.

You Can Also Check Out the Wicked Trailer in LEGO Form

In case the real version of Wicked‘s movie trailer left you wanting more, you can also check out a LEGO version. Who doesn’t love LEGO Oz?

Wicked Movie Featurette and First-Looks

Wicked is an epic and long story. Is it a story that needs two movies? Only time will tell. Happily, it does seem like the cast and crew of the movie are very passionate about it.

In addition to Erivo and Grande, the cast for Wicked includes: Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible; Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero; Ethan Slater as Boq; Marissa Bode as Nessarose; and Jeff Goldblum as the legendary Wizard of Oz. Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, and Keala Settle also star. Most recently we learned that Peter Dinklage would Dr. Dillamond, a goat with the ability to speak. You can see more first-looks from the movie, below.

Here Are Some New Looks at Wicked‘s Cast

Wicked arrives in theaters on November 22, 2024. Wicked Part Two will follow on November 26, 2025.

Originally published on February 12, 2024.

Featured Image: Universal

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Mike Mignola’s Hellboy and its myriad spinoffs are up there as my favorite comics of all time. The mix of Gothic, cosmic, and monster horror with a helping of gallows humor works for me so, so much. Guillermo del Toro famously made a couple of Hellboy movies with Ron Perlman. While good in their own GDT way, neither of them (especially the second one) truly felt like a proper adaptation of the source material. The 2019 Neil Marshall Hellboy movie with David Harbour adapted the source material directly, but the movie itself was very, very bad. Now we get Hellboy: The Crooked Man and…well, just take a look. Then we’ll talk.

First some context. The Crooked Man was a three-issue arc from Mignola and artist Richard Corben from 2008. It detailed one of Hellboy’s earlier missions for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. In 1958 Appalachia, Hellboy encounters some witches and witch-adjacent people and eventually cross paths with the titular Crooked Man, a hanged war profiteer from the 18th Century who has returned from Hell to act as the region’s resident Devil. He’s pretty terrifying, especially as Corben illustrates him.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man looks to be a very faithful (and small) adaptation of that particular story. On its face this is a good thing. One of the major issues with the 2019 movie is that it adapted way, way, way too many stories, not least of which The Wild Hunt, the longest and most epic story in the Mignola canon. Focusing on a one-off adventure and maximizing the horror is a pretty good idea.

However, just looking at it, you can see the very low budget. You may have noticed the movie comes our way from Ketchup Entertainment. KETCHUP ENTERTAINMENT. Brian Taylor (of Crank franchise fame) is directing, with himself, Mignola, and Mignola’s Baltimore collaborator Christopher Golden on screenplay duties. Jack Kesy (who very briefly played Black Tom Cassidy in Deadpool 2) portrays Hellboy and he just kind of looks unfinished. If Harbour was TOO made up, Kesy looks like a decent amateur cosplay attempt.

So who knows! It may be good. It certainly seems focused more on the actual horror. Which is the proper direction to go following the dark fantasy mishmash of the last movie. But I’m not convinced after this wack first look. I would love it if one day any live-action outing properly snags the tone of the comics. Whether Hellboy: The Crooked Man can do that will have to wait until it comes out later this year.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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This past spring, Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures launched not one but two movies. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two premiered March 1 and is currently the second highest grossing movie of 2024. Adam Wingard’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire hit theaters March 25 and currently occupies the number three slot for the year. So, yeah, makes sense they’d want to do it again. According to Deadline, the two studios have set release dates for the next Monsterverse movie and the next Villeneuve movie.

The Villeneuve movie in question officially has a working title of “Untitled Denis Villeneuve Event Film.” This may in fact be Dune: Messiah, the proposed third film in the Dune franchises, based on the second Frank Herbert book. But it also may be an unrelated Villeneuve movie. In either case, this movie is on the books for December 2026.

As for the next Monsterverse movie, we know it will be directed by Grant Sputore. Now we also know it has a release date of March 26, 2027. Effectively exactly three years after the release of GxK. So get ready for those!

Editor’s Note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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There’s something special about ‘90s heartthrobs and dream girls. Maybe you loved She’s All That because Freddie Prinze, Jr. and/or Rachael Leigh Cook were indeed all that. (Some of us were absolutely interested in both, hehe.) I totally hear you and had plenty of crushes of my own, like the Fresh Prince himself. Another guy I love is Josh Hartnett, whom I first saw in scary films like Halloween H20 and The Faculty. Of course, he was far from the villain in those films and many others as he became a teen idol and kept building his career. So, imagine my distress when I watched the trailer for Trap, a horror movie where Josh Hartnett is a serial killer at a pop concert.

The film, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, is about Cooper, a dad taking his teen daughter Riley (played by Ariel Donoghue) to see her favorite singer. That sounds touching and totally normal, right? Well, if you know anything about Shyamalan, then you knew the Trap trailer was gonna go left field.

We see Cooper marveling at his daughter’s pure joy over seeing her music queen live. He tells her that he’s going to the restroom and that’s when your heart starts to pound. Is someone going to kidnap her? Is there some supernatural or demonic foolery afoot? Not quite. Cooper notices an unsettling amount of security on his way to the restroom and questions someone who works there.

The guy reluctantly tells him that they’re setting a trap for “the Butcher,” a serial killer who lives up to his name. The worker says there’s no way to leave, and Cooper retreats to the bathroom to check his home security. And guess what? He has someone chained and screaming in his basement! What. The. Hell. Cooper starts seeing red and wondering how he’s going to get out of there without being caught and really, really ruining Riley’s day. Yikes. A movie from the killer’s POV is inspired, indeed.

The world of Trap feels even more real with the release of a whole music video by Riley’s pop idol.

What Is the Release Date for M. Night Shyamalan and Josh Hartnett’s Horror Movie Trap? 

The trailer doesn’t offer up any brutality but we do get brooding stares from Hartnett that make me feel very conflicted. I want to talk about it but not in public. Anyway, Trap will now hit theaters a week earlier than planned, on August 2, and I cannot wait to see what happens to Cooper and Riley. Oh, and the man in the basement, too.

Originally published April 18, 2024.

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In the pages of Marvel Comics, Victor Creed, a.k.a. Sabretooth, is Wolverine’s biggest rival. The Joker to his Batman, if you will. He’s the worst-case scenario version of Logan—an animal-like mutant, who is almost impossible to kill, a true psychopath with no redeeming qualities. Despite this, he’s worked for and against Wolverine and the X-Men over the years. Thanks to appearances on X-Men: The Animated Series, X-Men: Evolution, and in the live-action films, Sabretooth has become iconic. Now, Sabretooth returns for one more bloody tussle with Logan in Deadpool & Wolverine. Here’s everything you need to know about Wolverine’s most hated enemy.

What Are Sabretooth’s Mutant Powers?

Sabretooth has very similar powers to his main rival, Wolverine. He has razor-sharp claws, regenerative capabilities, including an extensive healing factor, and animal-like senses. He has enhanced agility, speed, stamina, and strength. Similar to Wolverine, Creed’s healing factor allows him to age very slowly. Although his true age remains a mystery, many believe him to be well over 150 years old. As a side effect of Creed’s powers, he suffers from an unquenchable bloodlust.

Over the years, he’s asked various psychic mutants to help alleviate his murderous tendencies with a telepathic soothing balm he calls “the glow.” But even that hasn’t ever fully stripped him of his murderous nature. Eventually, Creed would get an adamantium skeleton of his own like Logan’s, although it would come and go. Even without his powers, Creed remains one of the most skilled hunters and trackers in the Marvel universe, undergoing training by organizations such as Hydra, SHIELD, Weapon X, the CIA, and many others.

Sabretooth’s Marvel Comics History and Relationship with Wolverine

Sabretooth didn’t first appear in X-Men comics, however. He first appeared in the pages of Iron First in 1977, as the martial artist’s intended primary antagonist. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne, Claremont shifted Sabretooth over to the pages of Uncanny X-Men, where he developed a long-standing rivalry with the similarly-powered Wolverine. This began in earnest when Mister Sinister recruited him into his Marauders, and he helped slaughter several Morlocks during the Mutant Massacre. From that point forward, they presented Sabretooth as Logan’s primary nemesis.

The source of the Logan/Creed animosity is still a question. Some believe Sabretooth simply hates that there is someone out there with a similar skill set. Others have suggested that their animosity stems from incidents that happened to them while part of the government’s Weapon X project, and several murders of Wolverine’s loved ones he committed. However, some of those incidents are thought to be implanted memories now. The prevailing belief is that Creed simply hates that Logan won’t unleash his feral nature. He disdains Logan’s moral compass, something Sabretooth totally lacks.

Sabretooth Is X-Men Enemy and a Member of the X-Men

Despite his truly amoral nature, over the years Sabretooth has been part of several teams. Aside from Sinister’s Marauders, he’s been a part of the terrorist Brotherhood. There, he worked under his former lover Mystique. The pair have a child together, the human-supremacist leader Graydon Creed. Sabretooth has also been part of the X-Men, during a time when Professor X thought he might cure Sabretooth of his sadistic tendencies. They also forced Creed to work with the government-sanctioned X-Factor for a time, before breaking free of their control. In the recent Krakoan era of X-Men, one of the few mutants who did not agree to the “no killing humans” rule was Creed. So for a time, the X-Men imprisoned him within the island itself.

Sabretooth in the 20th Century Fox X-Men Movies

There are two contradicting versions of Sabretooth in the Fox X-Men films. The first was played by wrestler Tyler Mane. He worked for Magneto’s Brotherhood of Mutants in the original 2000 X-Men film. He tussles several times with Wolverine, although there is no indication that he knows Logan from a previous life at all in this film. The two fight atop the Statue of Liberty, a battle where Wolverine soundly defeats him. In the first X-Men, he barely has any lines. His personality is blank outside of a few mean snarls.

2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine introduced us to a totally different version of Sabretooth, played by actor Liev Schreiber. This version was Logan’s half-brother, who fought by his side for years. Eventually, they have a falling out, becoming bitter enemies. Although Marvel writers once toyed with Sabretooth and Wolverine as relatives, it never happened. So this is a complete Hollywood invention. Not only does this Victor Creed not visually match the one in the comics, but he also seems totally foreign to the one in the original X-Men film. Very little ties these two characters together visually. Perhaps the first glaring notion that there was no real continuity at work in the Fox X-Men universe.

Which Sabretooth Appears in the MCU and Who Plays Him?

We now have confirmation that Sabretooth will appear in Deadpool & Wolverine, and have a rematch with Logan (Hugh Jackman). We see the two prepare to fight in the wasteland we believe to be the Void from Loki in a recent trailer. The version in the film is clearly Tyler Mane, the original version from the first X-Men film, from nearly 25 years ago. There are rumors that Liev Schreiber’s version of Victor Creed from X-Men: Origins will also appear, so maybe we will get an answer as to which version is the “real” Sabretooth at last. We’ll know for certain when Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters on July 26.

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The Deadpool & Wolverine movie is coming our way in July and we can’t wait to see what these two best bubs are gonna do. In the meantime, the main way to celebrate their awesomeness is collecting all the cool paraphernalia that comes with a big MCU release. We still can’t get over that very-inappropriate popcorn bucket, tbh. Funko is getting into the mix with new Deadpool, Wolverine, and Dogpool Pop! figures that deserve a spot on your shelf. 

These figures are currently available to order. And, if you’re attending San Diego Comic-Con, then you’re in luck. You will be able to do Funko’s Pop! Yourself experience and create your own cosplay character modeled after either Deadpool or Wolverine. It comes with an exclusive box, character body, and two additional accessories. 

Click To View Gallery

Those who don’t attend SDCC will be able to purchase a limited edition “attach pack” beginning on July 24 to cosplay their Funko figure as either Deadpool or Wolverine alongside the usual Pop! Yourself collectible. 

We must admit, Dogpool is both strange and adorable. What a fun way to celebrate this highly-anticipated film!

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