Kevin Feige Confirms More LGBTQ Characters in Marvel’s Phase 4

We’ve known for quite a while that Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie was a member of the LGBTQ community. The talented actress said it herself. But Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has confirmed that Thompson’s butt-kicking heroine (and, as revealed in Avengers: Endgame, the Queen of New Asgard) isn’t the only LGBTQ character that will have a big role in Marvel’s Phase 4.

Thompson joined Feige and a huge slew of talent at San Diego Comic-Con on the stage of Hall H to discuss Phase 4...

By The Credits  |  July 22, 2019
Marvel Reveals Two-Time Oscar Winner Mahershala Ali is Blade

When Wesley Snipes starred in Stephen Norrington’s Blade in 1998 as the half-vampire, half-mortal protector of humanity, superhero movies were in something of a middle period. The late 70s through the 80s had brought us some legendary comic-book films, most notably Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman and Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman. Those films were a touch campy, but also technically brilliant and gorgeously constructed. By the time Blade hit in 1998, superhero films were moving towards realism...

By Bryan Abrams  |  July 22, 2019
Netflix’s The Witcher Cast Talks Monsters at San Diego Comic-Con

There’s a new fantasy epic headed to the small screen and San Diego Comic-Con got a first glimpse of its dark and mysterious world.

Netflix revealed the first trailer for its new epic monster fantasy The Witcher after a Hall H panel on Friday. The show, based on popular books by Andrzej Sapkowski, is centered around Geralt, a warrior (or “witcher”) trained since childhood to show no emotion and kill monsters.

The project—currently in post-production—is still veiled in mystery with no official release date beyond fall 2019,...

By Alicia M. Cohn  |  July 22, 2019
Marvel Reveals Phase 4 at San Diego Comic-Con

Marvel Studios executive producer Victoria Alonso was so excited about revealing “Phase 4” of the Marvel cinematic universe that she sang rather than share spoilers ahead of the highly-anticipated panel in San Diego Comic Con’s largest forum, Hall H.

“So much that I can’t say,” she told a smaller audience earlier in the day during a “Women of Marvel” panel. She broke into the choruses of “Hooked on a Feeling” followed by “I’m So Excited.”

Alonso did not overhype the revelations of Marvel’s primetime panel...

By Alicia M. Cohn  |  July 22, 2019

Interview

Actor

Shahadi Wright Joseph on Becoming the Young Nala in The Lion King

Young Nala in Disney’s new remake of The Lion King (which opens today) might be a lioness cub, but she’s nothing less than a princess. After all, Nala grows up to be Queen, at which she’s played by none other than Beyoncé. But the young Nala, voiced by 14-year-old Shahadi Wright Joseph, is very much in the tradition of feisty young Disney heroines from Mulan to Frozen’s Elsa to Brave’s Merida...

By Loren King  |  July 19, 2019
The First Trailer for Cats Reveals Wildly Ambitious VFX Musical

While Tom Hooper’s Cats is based on the legendary, long-running Broadway musical, you will not be watching stars made up to look like cats. Hooper has instead deployed the latest performance-capture technology to turn his star-studded cast into cats. This means the likes of Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, Judi Dench, and James Corden will be felines. Their faces will be recognizable, but instead of having pasted whiskers and painted cat noses, they’ll have those things via startling VFX...

By The Credits  |  July 19, 2019
HBO’s His Darkest Materials Trailer Roars at SDCC

With Game of Thrones now officially over (with a record-breaking 32 Emmy nominations for its final season), HBO is officially moving into their post-Thrones programming. One of their new series with huge potential is their adaptation of Philip Pullman’s fantasy series His Dark Materials. They’ve debuted the first trailer at San Diego Comic-Con, and it sure looks lush, bold, and beautifully done.

We’ll be curious what the folks who have read Pullman’s novels think about this first look,...

By The Credits  |  July 19, 2019
Tom Cruise Returns to the Cockpit in Top Gun: Maverick Trailer

We published a story way back last September about how Top Gun: Maverick would be utilizing some of the Navy’s most technologically advanced fighter jets. We spoke to Naval Air Forces spokesman Commander Ronald Flanders, who told us, “Much like the first film, these are going to be real jets and real U.S. Naval aviators flying in these scenes. We’re excited about it.” Flanders added that the film “captured the most advanced carrier aircraft.” This included aircraft that the Navy is just beginning to put into action...

By Bryan Abrams  |  July 18, 2019
The Second Trailer for It: Chapter Two is Even Better Than the First

Last night Warner Bros. kicked off San Diego Comic-Con with their ScareDiego event, highlighting Andy Muschietti‘s It: Chapter Two. The event included three fresh clips, a panel discussion with Muschietti and cast members James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Jay Ryan, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, and James Ransone, hosted by Conan O’Brien, and a brand new trailer. Well, now we’ve got that trailer for your viewing pleasure.

The new trailer includes a lot of fresh footage,...

By Bryan Abrams  |  July 18, 2019
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker‘s Sith Trooper Introduced at SDCC

As we wrote last week, there’s going to be a new kind of Stormtrooper in J.J Abrams’ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Enter the Sith Trooper, which boasts blood-red armor and a black blaster. Also, a name that conjures the galaxy’s greatest villains, from Darth Vader to Count Dooku to Darth Maul. The Sith Trooper looks a bit like a mash-up of the new designs for Stormtroopers introduced in Abrams’ The Force Awakens (of which John Boyega’s Finn was a member),...

By The Credits  |  July 18, 2019
Ad Astra‘s Second Trailer Reveals Brad Pitt’s Epic Sci-Fi Drama

Writer/director James Gray is a man who makes very good films, and he takes his time on each one. Two Lovers (2008), The Immigrant (2013) and The Lost City of Z (2016) couldn’t have been more different from one another, yet each bore the mark of Gray’s meticulous craft. With Ad Astrawhich he co-wrote with Ethan Gross, Gray has turned his attention to the great beyond,...

By The Credits  |  July 18, 2019
It: Chapter Two Reveals Terrifying Footage at San Diego Comic-Con

Warner Bros. officially kicked off San Diego Comic-Con 2019 at Spreckles Theater with footage from Andy Muschietti‘s It: Chapter Two. Their ScareDiego event also included a Q&A hosted by Conan O’Brien with Muschietti and stars James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Jay Ryan, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, and James Ransone.

The presentation kicked off with a new trailer (it’ll be released later today) as well as three brand new clips. These clips will be kept secret for now (per Warner Bros...

By The Credits  |  July 18, 2019
Henry Cavill’s on a Horse in new Image From The Witcher

The last time we checked in on Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), he was a man without a horse. Netflix released a slew of images from their upcoming adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy series The Witcher, but none included the most beloved character of all—Roach the horse. Well, Netflix heard our cries of anguish and they delivered. Behold, Geralt and his loyal companion!

You begged, we delivered. Here’s your first look at Roach! #TheWitcher pic.twitter.com/Ll3LWtWcg7

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) July 16,...

By The Credits  |  July 17, 2019
Game of Thrones Breaks Long-Standing Emmy Record With 32 Nominations

Game of Thrones has made history—again. The 2019 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations were announced, and HBO’s epic series, which came to a close this past May 19, hauled in a historic 32 nominations, breaking NYPD Blue‘s record for most noms in a single season. Emilia Clarke nabbed one for Lead Actress in a Drama Series, Kit Harington for Lead Actor, with Supporting Actress nominations going to Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Gwendoline Christie, and Lena Headey...

By Bryan Abrams  |  July 17, 2019
Chris Evans Leads Excellent Cast in Netflix’s The Red Sea Diving Resort

Now that Chris Evans has officially handed off his shield as Captain America, we’ll be seeing him in fresh roles in new films. We’ve already gotten a peak at one of his upcoming projects, Rian Johnson’s murder mystery ensemble film Knives OutThat movie looks like an absolute hoot. Now a new trailer from Netflix reveals another of Evans’ upcoming movies, The Red Sea Diving Resort. Inspired by a true story,...

By The Credits  |  July 17, 2019
Taika Waititi Returning to Write & Direct Thor 4

Today in good news, Taika Waititi is returning to write and direct a follow-up to his fantastic 2017 Marvel entry Thor: Ragnarok. The Hollywood Reporter broke the story that the multi-talented Waititi has inked a deal to keep building on his Thor franchise-reshaping Ragnarok, which took advantage of Chris Hemsworth’s comedic chops and turned his previously more serious Asgardian God of Thunder into one of Marvel’s funniest leading men. It’s hard to imagine fans loving Avengers: Endgame‘s Chunky Thor as much had they not already seen Waititi’s hilarious take on the character...

By The Credits  |  July 16, 2019
Joker Might be Heading to the Venice Film Festival

While lots of film lovers and writers have their eyes on this week’s San Diego Comic-Con, there’s some interesting news concerning the Venice Film Festival. Variety reports that Todd Phillips‘ Joker might be headed to the fest. We recently learned that film is a true original, meaning, it’s not based on any pre-existing comic book storylines. Sending the film to Venice would further mark Joker as a film with serious awards season potential...

By Bryan Abrams  |  July 16, 2019
Did Marvel Just Tease The Eternals Reveal at Comic-Con?

If the Russo Brothers aren’t teasing us with potential Marvel reveals at Comic-Con, Marvel Entertainment’s Twitter page will happily oblige. The Russos have been tweeting out cryptic videos about their upcoming Hall H panel this Friday. Now Marvel Entertainment just shot off this tweet that encourages us to get to know who The Eternals are. Could they be prepping us for the reveal of The Eternals movie at Comic-Con? It’s certainly a distinct possibility.

Marvel is taking over Hall H at SDCC,...

By The Credits  |  July 16, 2019
Zachary Levi Predicts Battle With Dwayne Johnson in Shazam! 3

When Shazam! debuted this past April, it was evident that Warner Bros. had something sizzling with the lovable kid-turned-superhero story. David F. Sandberg’s film was a jolt (pun intended) of humor, heart, and excitement for Warner Bros. and their DCEU. The story centered on teenage foster kid Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel), whose transformation into the titular adult superhero delighted audiences and critics alike. Billy meets a mysterious wizard (Djimon Hounsou) who tells him all he needs to do is shout one word—SHAZAM!—to turn into the titular caped superhero (Zachary Levi)...

By The Credits  |  July 16, 2019
Quentin Tarantino Discusses his Potential Star Trek Film

Quentin Tarantino has long said that his tenth film would be his last. That means his upcoming Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is his penultimate movie, and we’ll only have the auteur around for one final movie after that. That’s sort of depressing, is it not?

It’s wonderful to be able to set the terms of your own career in such a way, and Tarantino has had, objectively, an incredible career. Why wouldn’t he want to go out in precisely the way he’s designed?...

By Bryan Abrams  |  July 16, 2019