Morgan Freeman Joins Nicole Kidman in Taylor Sheridan’s “Lioness” for Paramount+

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The stars are aligning for Taylor Sheridan’s new series Lioness for Paramount+.

Deadline reports that Oscar-winner Morgan Freeman has joined the cast of Sheridan’s latest, which is being executive produced by two of its stars, Zoe Saldana and Nicole Kidman, and also stars Laysla De Oliveira. The cast is rounded out by Dave Annable, Jill Wagner, LaMonica Garrett, James Jordan, Austin Hébert, Jonah Wharton, Stephanie Nur, and Hannah Love Lanier.

Freeman will once again play a major figure in the American government in the new series (is anyone better at playing the U.S. President?) as he steps into the role of Edwin Mullins, the United State Secretary of State. Lioness is based on a real CIA program, with the series following a young marine named Cruz Manuelos (De Oliveira) who is recruited to join the CIA’s Lioness Engagement Team to infiltrate a terrorist organization from the inside. The Lioness program is run by the station chief Joe (Saldana), who trains her female operatives for the rigors and dangers of going undercover.

Freeman is the latest big-name star to join Sheridan’s growing TV empire. Kevin Costner, Harrison Ford, and Helen Mirren are a few of Freeman’s fellow luminaries working in the Sheridan universe. Costner stars on Sheridan’s Yellowstone, while Ford and Mirren lead the Yellowstone prequel, 1923.

Lioness will arrive sometime in 2023.

For more films and series from Paramount and Paramount+, check out these stories:

“Babylon” Production Designer Florencia Martin Conjures Hollywood’s Decadent Early Days

“George & Tammy” Costume Designer Mitchell Travers on the Power Couple’s Fashion Forward Approach

“George & Tammy” Creator Abe Sylvia on Crafting a Complicated Love Story

Watch Tom Cruise Perform the Most Insane Stunt in “Mission: Impossible” History

Featured image: Morgan Freeman arrives to attend the award ceremony for his lifetime achievment at the 44th Deauville American Film Festival on September 7, 2018 in Deauville, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

How Matt Reeves’ “BatVerse” Might Coexist Within the New DC Universe

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Writer/director Matt Reeves’ The Batman was a thing of dark beauty. A street-level, neo-noir detective story that started with a supervillain’s brutal crime and swept us right into the world of Batman (Robert Pattinson) as he learns the tricks of a trade he’d invented in the second year of his vigilantism. There had never been a Batman movie quite like it, and the Gotham that Reeves and his stellar cast and crew created resonated with fans and critics alike. With a great showing, even in the midst of a pandemic, Warner Bros. greenlit a sequel. Reeves had plans for one or more series, too, specifically one centered on the Penguin (Colin Farrell) and his rise to power after the events in The Batman. 

A lot has changed since then, however. Warner Bros. merged with Discovery, and James Gunn and Peter Safran were brought in to lead DC Films in a new direction. Their remit is sweeping and challenging; to bring all DC content across all platforms (film, television, games) into a single cohesive, unified narrative. This meant some hard choices would have to be made, and we’ve already seen a few of them—Wonder Woman 3 is no more, and Henry Cavill isn’t returning as Superman—with more to come.

Happily, it sounds as if those changes won’t include scrapping the incredible world that Reeves has built over in his dark, dangerous corner of the DC. Speaking with Collider, Reeves has suggested that the sequel remains firmly in the works and that he’ll be meeting with Gunn and Safran to discuss the BatVerse he’s been building with his collaborators.

“They [Gunn and Safran] have been great,” Reeves told Collider. “We’re actually supposed to meet in the next few weeks because they want to talk to me about the broad plan, and then they want to hear the BatVerse plan. We’re just getting together to talk about all of that. Look, I’m excited to hear what they’re going to do. The BatVerse thing, as James has said, and as Peter has said, is kind of its own thing they’re letting us do.”

Considering that Gunn and Safran are presenting a 10-year plan that maps out their vision for the entire DC Universe, you have to wonder how Reeves’ BatVerse will be slotted into that. One likely solution is that at that meeting, they’ll all start to align their visions so that the BatVerse makes sense within the larger world and can thrive. Or, that the BatVerse will exist in parallel, an “Elseworlds” approach that lets storylines exist on multiple timelines so long as they won’t meddle with the overarching narrative that Gunn and Safran are building.

“I had this dream for the way I wanted that to play out, and that’s part of what I’m going to be talking to them about in a few weeks,” Reeves continued. “They’re going to be talking to me about what they’re doing in their ten-year plan or certainly what’s in the near future as well so that we can understand that we’re not—it’s air traffic control—we don’t want to be crashing into each other. We want to support each other. I’m super excited. I’m really excited to hear about what they’re doing and to be working with them. It’s going to be cool.”

Considering just how well-realized The Batman was and how taken by it both fans and critics were, it doesn’t feel like wishful thinking to believe that the sequel, and the larger BatVerse, will exist within this new DC.

For more on The Batman, check out these stories:

Matt Reeves Suggests “The Batman” Sequel is Alive & Well

Will Barry Keoghan Return as Joker in “The Batman 2”?

“Colin Farrell Says “The Penguin” Will Begin A Week After “The Batman” Ending

Decoding The Brilliance of Michael Giacchino’s “The Batman” Theme in Eight Bars

Featured image: Caption: (L-r) ZOË KRAVITZ as Selina Kyle and ROBERT PATTINSON as Batman and in Warner Bros. Pictures’ action adventure “THE BATMAN,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Jonathan Olley/™ & © DC Comics

“Sharper” Trailer Reveals Apple TV’s Julianne Moore-led Neo-Noir Thriller

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The first trailer for Sharper is here, revealing director Benjamin Caron (Andor, The Crown)’s neo-noir thriller, and we’re getting some delicious vibes. Sometimes there’s nothing more satisfying than a good heist film, one that pits ambitious grifters and mysterious shape-shifters against the ruthless rich. And in the case of Sharper, these archetypes are embodied by some terrific performers.

Meet Richard Hobbes (John Lithgow), a Manhattan-based billionaire with money to burn and games to play. The trailer opens with Richard and Madeline (Julianne Moore) finding a man trying to rob his penthouse. That would be Max (Sebastian Stan), a seemingly hapless thief who not only failed to pull off the crime but to Richard’s amazement, hadn’t set his sights high enough. “If you’re going to steal,” Richard says to him, “steal a lot.”

Thus begins a strange cat-and-mouse game with Richard dropping the charges against Max in return for…something. The trailer keeps the story, written by Alessandro Tanaka and Brian Gatewood, safely tucked away. What we get mostly is moody impressions of what’s to come, with Richard, Max, Madeline, Richard’s son Tom (Justice Smith), and Sandra (Brianna Middleton) embroiled in a dangerous game of grift. Who’s playing who will be one of the central questions posed by Sharper, a word, by the way, that means a swindler. Are Max and Sandra playing the embattled Tom (the trailer reveals a major rift between father and son)? Is the relationship budding between Sandra and Tom real? And is the billionaire Richard Hobbes pulling all the strings or getting played himself?

Check out the trailer below. Sharper hits select theaters on February 10 and streams on Apple TV+ on February 17.

Here’s the official synopsis for Sharper:

No one is who they seem in Sharper, a neo-noir thriller of secrets and lies, set amongst New York City’s bedrooms, barrooms and boardrooms. Characters compete for riches and power in a high stakes game of ambition, greed, lust and jealousy that will keep audiences guessing until the final moment.

For more stories on Apple TV series and films, check these out:

“Causeway” Cinematographer Diego Garcia on Capturing Jennifer Lawrence’s Subtly Powerful Performan

How “Causeway” Composer Alex Somers Cued the Cellos for Jennifer Lawrence’s New Drama

“Raymond & Ray” Writer/Director Rodrigo Garcia Digs Deep With Ewan McGregor & Ethan Hawke

“Black Bird” Cinematographer Natalie Kingston Breaks Down Her Technique on Apple’s Crime Thriller

Featured image: Julianne Moore and Justice Smith in “Sharper,” premiering February 17, 2023 on Apple TV+.

Opposites Attract in “Your Place Or Mine” Trailer With Reese Witherspoon & Ashton Kutcher

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A romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher sounds like precisely the kind of thing the world could use this coming Valentine’s Day. And while Your Place or Mine opens a skooch before Valentine’s, the film will still function perfectly as something sweet to kickstart the most romantic (and corporately created) holiday of the year.

The premise of Your Place or Mine is simple and efficient; Witherspoon’s Debbie and Kutcher’s Peter have been best friends for 20 years. Debbie’s a touch on the regimented side, keeping all the trains moving on schedule as she raises her son Jack (Wesley Kimmel) as a single mom in Los Angeles. Peter’s the wildcard, living a carefree (and very well-appointed) life in New York. Peter has a plan to get Debbie out of her routines and into something a little more unrehearsed—he’ll go to LA for a week and look after Jack, and she can come to New York and use his apartment as a launchpad (and maybe more than that) to get her groove back, so to speak.

There’s a catch (of course); before they were best friends, Debbie and Peter hooked up, and Peter has had a thing for her ever since. A largely unexplored thing, that is, until after spending some time with Jack and finding himself unmoored by the news that Debbie may have met someone in NYC. Peter’s jealous! And soon, decisions will have to be made about whether Peter will have the courage to tell Debbie how he really feels after all this time. Will Debbie feel the same way? Can the two of them risk their two-decades-long friendship for romance?

One of the pleasures of a good romantic comedy is that while the ending often is foretold, the journey can be surprising, funny, and even moving if done right. Considering Your Place or Mine comes from writer/director Aline Brosh McKenna (she wrote The Devil Wears Prada and 27 Dresses, for Pete’s sake) and such likable stars as Witherspoon and Kutcher; the ingredients are all there.

The supporting cast is also excellent and includes Steve Zahn, Zoe Chao, Rachel Bloom, Jesse Williams, and Tig Notaro.

Check out the trailer below. Your Place or Mine hits theaters on February 10.

For more on big titles on Netflix, check these out:

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” Animation Supervisor Brian Leif Hansen Packs Puppets With Emotion

Bringing Stop-Motion Puppets to Life through Sound in “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

“Bardo” Stars Daniel Giménez Cacho & Ximena Lamadrid on Taking a Trip With Alejandro Iñárritu

First “Harry & Meghan” Trailer Reveals Netflix’s Inside Look at the Royal Couple

Featured image: Your Place or Mine (2023). Reese Witherspoon as Debbie Dunn, Ashton Kutcher as Peter. Cr. Netflix

Matt Reeves Suggests “The Batman” Sequel is Alive & Well

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We’ll take any hint that writer/director Matt Reeves’ The Batman sequel is happening, and luckily, we’ve got one.

In a conversation with Collider, Reeves all but confirmed that he is, indeed, working on the sequel, as we had assumed way back in April of last year when Warner Bros. announced the sequel had been greenlit. And why wouldn’t there be a sequel, we thought at the time? The Batman was a critical and commercial smash, earning praise and a whopping $770 million worldwide during the pandemic era. Working with a stellar cast, led by Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader, and a top-notch crew, Reeves’ Gotham was impeccably realized, a moody, taut danger zone where the winged bat fighting bad guys at night was just as terrifying as the bad guys themselves. From the opening shot (filmed from the perspective of the film’s main villain, The Riddler, played by Paul Dano), The Batman was that rare thing, a full-blown, street-level noir detective story that just happened to feature one of the most iconic superheroes of all time.

A lot has changed between then and now, with the Warner Brothers and Discovery merger and new leadership, James Gunn and Peter Safran, being tapped to head DC Studios and to wrangle the entire suite of DC content, including films, TV, and games, into a single, unified storyline. At last, the DCEU would really be an extended universe, and its huge bench of characters would interact in a single universe like those other guys over at Marvel.

So, big changes were afoot, and soon enough, some of those changes became evident—no Wonder Woman 3, no Henry Cavill returning as Superman—so it was understandable to start worrying that we’d never see Reeves, Pattison, and the rest of The Batman team extend their vision. Happily, it sounds as if that’s not the case.

“I’m not going to answer that question, but we are working on a movie. I’ll put it to you that way,” Reeves said to Collider. “We’re deep in it, and my partner and I are writing, Mattson [Tomlin] and I are writing, and it’s really exciting, and I’m really excited about what we’re doing.” Here, then, is the first giveaway—Mattson Tomlin helped Reeves with revisions on The Batman script.

And finally, Reeves made the point more clearly, saying that he’s “really excited to be doing that with Rob because I just think he’s such a special person and actor.” Rob, of course, is Robert Pattinson.

It’s still early days, and there’s no release date for The Batman 2, but these are good signs. Reeves and the rest of The Batman team did such good work, and it’ll be exciting to see them build out their dirty, dangerous corner of the DCEU.

For more on The Batman, check out these stories:

From “Black Adam” to “The Batman 2” – Here’s How The Future of the DCEU Looks

Will Barry Keoghan Return as Joker in “The Batman 2”?

“Colin Farrell Says “The Penguin” Will Begin A Week After “The Batman” Ending

Decoding The Brilliance of Michael Giacchino’s “The Batman” Theme in Eight Bars

Featured image: Caption: (L-r) ROBERT PATTINSON and director MATT REEVES and on the set in Warner Bros. Pictures’ action adventure “THE BATMAN,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Jonathan Olley/™ & © DC Comics

SAG Awards Nominations Include Viola Davis, Cate Blanchett, Colin Farrell & Adam Sandler

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It’s been a very big news day for the Screen Actors Guild Awards. First, news broke that next year’s SAG Awards this year’s 29th ceremony will be broadcast live on Netflix’s YouTube channel, and then starting in 2024, will stream live on Netflix itself. Then, this year’s nominations were announced a day after the 80th Golden Globes and three days after this past Sunday’s Critics Choice Awards. It’s award season, friends!

This year’s SAG noms for best ensemble cast include three Golden Globe winners, Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, and Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Everything Everywhere All At Once. The casts from Damien Chazelle’s Babylon and Sarah Polley’s Women Talking round out the category.

Golden Globe winner Michelle Yeoh is nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, alongside Cate Blanchett for Tár, Viola Davis for The Woman King, Ana de Armas for Blonde, and Danielle Deadwyler for Till.

Over in the actor category, the nominations went to Austin Butler for Elvis, Colin Farrell for The Banshees of Inisherin, Brendan Fraser for Whale, Adam Sandler for Hustle, and Bill Nighy for Living.

For TV ensembles, the cast from Better Call Saul, Ozark, The Crown, Severance, and The White Lotus earned nominations on the drama side. (You could definitely argue The White Lotus is a comedy, but let’s not.) For comedy, the animations went to the casts from Abbot Elementary, Barry, Hacks, The Bear, and Only Murders in the Building. 

For you Oscars prognosticators, the SAG Awards are often a fairly decent guide for who will take home an Academy Award. Last year’s SAG Ariana DeBose, Jessica Chastin, Will Smith, and Troy Kotsur all won Oscars in their respective categories.

Here’s the full list:

Film

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

BABYLON
Jovan Adepo / Sidney Palmer
P.J. Byrne / Max (Ruth’s Asst. Director)
Diego Calva / Manny Torres
Lukas Haas / George Munn
Olivia Hamilton / Ruth Adler
Li Jun Li / Lady Fay Zhu
Tobey Maguire / James McKay
Max Minghella / Irving Thalberg
Brad Pitt / Jack Conrad
Margot Robbie / Nellie LaRoy
Rory Scovel / The Count
Jean Smart / Elinor St. John
Katherine Waterston / Estelle

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Kerry Condon / Siobhán Súilleabháin
Colin Farrell / Pádraic Súilleabháin
Brendan Gleeson / Colm Doherty
Barry Keoghan / Dominic Kearney

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Jamie Lee Curtis / Deirdre Beaubeirdra
James Hong / Gong Gong
Stephanie Hsu / Joy Wang/Jobu Tupaki
Ke Huy Quan / Waymond Wang
Harry Shum Jr. / Chad
Jenny Slate / Big Nose
Michelle Yeoh / Evelyn Wang

THE FABELMANS
Jeannie Berlin / Hadassah Fabelman
Paul Dano / Burt Fabelman
Judd Hirsch / Uncle Boris
Gabriel LaBelle / Sammy Fabelman
David Lynch / John Ford
Seth Rogen / Bennie Loewy
Michelle Williams / Mitzi Fabelman

WOMEN TALKING
Jessie Buckley / Mariche
Claire Foy / Salome
Kate Hallett / Autje
Judith Ivey / Agata
Rooney Mara / Ona
Sheila McCarthy / Greta
Frances McDormand / Scarface Janz
Michelle McLeod / Mejal
Liv McNeil / Neitje
Ben Whishaw / August
August Winter / Melvin

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

CATE BLANCHETT / Lydia Tár
Tár

VIOLA DAVIS / Nanisca
The Woman King

ANA de ARMAS / Norma Jeane
Blonde

DANIELLE DEADWYLER / Mamie Till-Mobley
Till

MICHELLE YEOH / Evelyn Wang
Everything Everywhere All at Once

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

AUSTIN BUTLER / Elvis
Elvis

COLIN FARRELL / Pádraic Súilleabháin
The Banshees of Inisherin

BRENDAN FRASER / Charlie
The Whale

BILL NIGHY / Williams
Living

ADAM SANDLER / Stanley Sugerman
Hustle

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

ANGELA BASSETT / Ramonda
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

HONG CHAU / Liz
The Whale

KERRY CONDON / Siobhán Súilleabháin
The Banshees Of Inisherin

JAMIE LEE CURTIS / Deidre Beaubeirdra
Everything Everywhere All at Once

STEPHANIE HSU / Joy Wang/Jobu Topaki
Everything Everywhere All at Once

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

PAUL DANO / Burt Fabelman
The Fabelmans

BRENDAN GLEESON / Colm Doherty
The Banshees of Inisherin

BARRY KEOGHAN / Dominic Kearney
The Banshees of Inisherin

KE HUY QUAN / Waymond Wang
Everything Everywhere All at Once

EDDIE REDMAYNE / Charlie Cullen
The Good Nurse

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Top Gun: Maverick
The Woman King

TELEVISION

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

BETTER CALL SAUL
Jonathan Banks / Mike Ehrmantraut
Ed Begley Jr. / Clifford Main
Tony Dalton / Lalo Salamanca
Giancarlo Esposito / Gus Fring
Patrick Fabian / Howard Hamlin
Bob Odenkirk / Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman
Rhea Seehorn / Kim Wexler

THE CROWN
Elizabeth Debicki / Princess Diana
Claudia Harrison / Princess Anne
Andrew Havill / Robert Fellowes
Lesley Manville / Princess Margaret
Jonny Lee Miller / John Major
Flora Montgomery / Norma Major
James Murray / Prince Andrew
Jonathan Pryce / Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Ed Sayer / Equerry
Imelda Staunton / Queen Elizabeth II
Marcia Warren / Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Dominic West / Prince Charles
Olivia Williams / Camilla Parker Bowles

OZARK
Jason Bateman / Marty Byrde
Nelson Bonilla / Nelson
Jessica Frances Dukes / Special Agent Maya Miller
Lisa Emery / Darlene Snell
Skylar Gaertner / Jonah Byrde
Julia Garner / Ruth Langmore
Alfonso Herrera / Javi Elizonndro
Sofia Hublitz / Charlotte Byrde
Kevin L. Johnson / Sam Dermody
Katrina Lenk / Clare Shaw
Laura Linney / Wendy Byrde
Adam Rothenberg / Mel Sattem
Felix SolIs / Omar Navarro
Charlie Tahan / Wyatt Langmore
Richard Thomas / Nathan Davis
Damian Young / Jim Rattelsdorf

SEVERANCE
Patricia Arquette / Harmony Cobel
Michael Chernus / Ricken Hale
Zach Cherry / Dylan George
Michael Cumpsty / Mr. Graner
Dichen Lachman / Ms. Casey
Britt Lower / Helly Riggs
Adam Scott / Mark Scout
Tramell Tillman / Seth Milchick
Jen Tullock / Devon Hale
John Turturro / Irving Bailiff
Christopher Walken / Burt Goodman

THE WHITE LOTUS
F. Murray Abraham / Bert Di Grasso
Paolo Camilli / Hugo
Jennifer Coolidge / Tanya McQuoid-Hunt
Adam DiMarco / Albie Di Grasso
Meghann Fahy / Daphne Sullivan
Federico Ferrante / Rocco
Bruno Gouery / Didier
Beatrice Grannò / Mia
Jon Gries / Greg Hunt
Tom Hollander / Quentin
Sabrina Impacciatore / Valentina
Michael Imperioli / Dominic Di Grasso
Theo James / Cameron Sullivan
Aubrey Plaza / Harper Spiller
Haley Lu Richardson / Portia
Eleonora Romandini / Isabella
Federico Scribani / Giuseppe
Will Sharpe / Ethan Spiller
Simona Tabasco / Lucia
Leo Woodall / Jack
Francesco Zecca / Matteo

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

Jennifer Coolidge
Elizabeth Debicki
Julia Garner
Laura Linney
Zendaya

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Jonathan Banks
Jason Bateman
Jeff Bridges
Bob Odenkirk
Adam Scott

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

Abbott Elementary
Barry
The Bear
Hacks
Only Murders in the Building

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

Christina Applegate
Rachel Brosnahan
Quinta Brunson
Jenna Ortega
Jean Smart

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Anthony Carrigan
Bill Hader
Steve Martin
Martin Short
Jeremy Allen White

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series

Steve Carell
Taron Edgerton
Sam Elliott
Paul Walter Houser
Evan Peters

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series

Emily Blunt
Jessica Chastain
Julia Garner
Niecy Nash-Betts
Amanda Seyfried

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series

Andor
The Boys
House of the Dragon
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Stranger Things

Featured image: Viola Davis stars in THE WOMAN KING. Courtesy Sony Pictures.

James Cameron is Feeling Very Good About his “Avatar” Sequels

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You would have to put James Cameron at the top of the list of people who are champions of the movie theater experience. His latest film, Avatar: The Way of Water, was designed with exacting detail and, over the course of years, to be seen on the biggest screen possible. The irreplaceable value of the theatrical experience has long been one of Cameron’s most consistent messages to film lovers.

Speaking with Variety before last night’s Golden Globes, Cameron was given a chance to reflect on The Way of Water‘s box office success, but he still had his head in the theaters. “I’m not thinking of it in those terms,” Cameron said to Variety. “I’m thinking of it in the terms of we’re going back to theaters around the world. They’re even going back to theaters in China where they’re having this big COVID surge. We’re saying as a society, ‘We need this! We need to go to theaters.’ Enough with the streaming already! I’m tired of sitting on my ass.”

Now that The Way of Water is nearing $2 billion at the box office, Cameron is feeling pretty good about the chances that moviegoers will get another crack at seeing a new Avatar in the theater and, possibly, his vision for the entire, five-part Avatar saga. On last week’s episode of Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace, Cameron understandably sounded a very positive note about the possibility we’ll be seeing all five Avatar films and, at a minimum, Avatar 3.

“It looks like with the momentum that the film has now that we’ll easily pass our break even in the next few days, so it looks like I can’t wiggle out of this and I’m gonna have to do these other sequels,” Cameron told Wallace. “I know what I’m going to be doing the next six or seven years.”

Cameron continued: “The point is we’re going to be okay. I’m sure that we’ll have a discussion soon with the top folks at Disney about the game plan going forward for Avatar 3, which is already in the can – we’ve already captured and photographed the whole film, so we’re in extended post-production to do all that CG magic. And then Avatar 4 and 5 are both written. We even have some of 4 in the can. We’ve begun a franchise at this point. We’ve begun a saga that can now play out over multiple films.”

At this point, who’s betting against Cameron?

Avatar: The Way of Water is in theaters now.

For more on Avatar: The Way of Water and the sequels, check out these stories:

“Avatar: The Way of Water” Swims Past “Jurassic World” as Seventh-Highest Grossing Film Ever

Why Every Digital Costume in “Avatar: The Way of Water” Really Exists

How “Avatar: The Way of Water” Visual Effects Wizards Conjured Underwater Magic

James Cameron Says “Avatar 4” Script “Goes Nuts”

Featured image: Director James Cameron behind the scenes of 20th Century Studios’ AVATAR 2. Photo by Mark Fellman. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Golden Globes Highlights: From Angela Bassett to “The Fabelmans” to “The White Lotus”

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The 80th Golden Globes have come and gone, but we’re here to give you the highlights and the full list of winners.

Steven Spielberg came home with two major awards for his auto-biographical feature The Fabelmans—the globe for Best Picture, Drama, and Best Director. Spielberg’s win for Best Picture bested the likes of James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water and Todd Field’s Tár, while his globe for directing gave him the edge over Cameron, Everything Everywhere All At Once directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, and The Banshees of Inisherin director Martin McDonagh.

Don’t feel too bad for McDonagh—he still had a fantastic night. He also took home two awards, with his richly realized dark comedy The Banshees of Inisherin winning for Best Picture, Musical or Comedy, and McDonagh winning Best Screenplay.

Netflix scored big with Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio winning Best Motion Picture, Animated.

Austin Butler took home the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture for his soulful work in Elvis, while Michelle Yeoh gave a spirited acceptance speech for her win for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Everything Everywhere All At Once. 

Angela Bassett gave one of the most moving speeches for the night when she won Best Supporting Actress for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Speaking about losing Chadwick Boseman, the star of Black Panther, in August of 2020, Bassett said, “We mourned, we loved, we healed, and we were surrounded each and every day by the light and the spirit of Chadwick Boseman.”

Meanwhile, on the TV side of the ledger, Abbott Elementary creator and star Quinta Brunson had a big night, winning both Best Television Series, Musical, or Comedy and Best Actress in a TV Musical or Comedy. Mike White, the creator of HBO’s The White Lotus, enjoyed a big win for Best Limited Series, while one of his stars, Jennifer Coolidge, took home the Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Limited Series.

HBO also scored big with House of the Dragon, which won Best Television Series, Drama, while Zendaya won Best Performance by An Actress in a Television Series, Drama, for HBO’s Euphoria. Kevin Costner won the Best Actor award for Paramount’s juggernaut western Yellowstone.

For the full list of winners, see below:

Best Picture, Drama

“Avatar: The Way of Water” (20th Century Studios) 

“Elvis” (Warner Bros.) 

“The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures) (WINNER)

“Tár” (Focus Features) 

“Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount Pictures)

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy

“Babylon” (Paramount Pictures) 

“The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures) (WINNER)

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24) 

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (Netflix) 

“Triangle of Sadness” (Neon) 

Best Director, Motion Picture

James Cameron (“Avatar: The Way of Water”) 

Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Baz Luhrmann (“Elvis”) 

Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”) (WINNER)

Best Screenplay, Motion Picture

“Tár” (Focus Features) — Todd Field 

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24) — Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert 

“The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures) — Martin McDonagh (WINNER)

“Women Talking” (MGM/United Artists Releasing) — Sarah Polley 

“The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures) — Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama

Austin Butler (“Elvis”) (WINNER)

Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) 

Hugh Jackman (“The Son”)

Bill Nighy (“Living”) 

Jeremy Pope (“The Inspection”) 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama

Cate Blanchett (“Tár”) (WINNER)

Olivia Colman (“Empire of Light”) 

Viola Davis (“The Woman King”) 

Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) 

Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”)  

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Lesley Manville (“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”) 

Margot Robbie (“Babylon”) 

Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Menu”) 

Emma Thompson (“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”) 

Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) (WINNER)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Diego Calva (“Babylon”) 

Daniel Craig (“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”)

Adam Driver (“White Noise”) 

Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) (WINNER)

Ralph Fiennes (“The Menu”) 

Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture

Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Brad Pitt (“Babylon”)

Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) WINNER

Eddie Redmayne (“The Good Nurse”)

Best Supporting Actress, Motion Picture

Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) WINNER

Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Dolly De Leon (“Triangle of Sadness”)

Carey Mulligan (“She Said”)

Best Television Series, Drama

“Better Call Saul” (AMC) 

“The Crown” (Netflix) 

“House of the Dragon” (HBO) (WINNER)

“Ozark” (Netflix) 

“Severance” (Apple TV+) 

Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy

“Abbott Elementary” (ABC) (WINNER)

“The Bear” (FX)

“Hacks” (HBO Max)

“Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu) 

“Wednesday” (Netflix) 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama

Jeff Bridges (“The Old Man”) 

Kevin Costner (“Yellowstone”) (WINNER)

Diego Luna (“Andor”)

Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”)

Adam Scott (“Severance”)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama

Emma D’Arcy (“House of the Dragon”) 

Laura Linney (“Ozark”) 

Imelda Staunton (“The Crown”)

Hilary Swank (“Alaska Daily”)

Zendaya (“Euphoria”) (WINNER)

Best Actress in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy

Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”) (WINNER)

Kaley Cuoco (“The Flight Attendant”) 

Selena Gomez (“Only Murders in the Building”) 

Jenna Ortega (“Wednesday”) 

Jean Smart (“Hacks”) 

Best Actor in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy

Donald Glover (“Atlanta”) 

Bill Hader (“Barry”) 

Steve Martin (“Only Murders in the Building”) 

Martin Short (“Only Murders in the Building”) 

Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”) (WINNER)

Best Supporting Actor, Television

John Lithgow (“The Old Man”) 

Jonathan Pryce (“The Crown”) 

John Turturro (“Severance”) 

Tyler James Williams (“Abbott Elementary”) WINNER

Henry Winkler (“Barry”)

Best Supporting Actress, Television

Elizabeth Debicki (“The Crown”) 

Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”) 

Julia Garner (“Ozark”) (WINNER)

Janelle James (“Abbott Elementary”) 

Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”) 

Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture made for Television

“Black Bird” (Apple TV+) 

“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” (Netflix) 

“The Dropout” (Hulu) 

“Pam & Tommy” (Hulu) 

“The White Lotus” (HBO) (WINNER)

Best Performance by an Actor, Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture made for Television

Taron Egerton (“Black Bird”) 

Colin Firth (“The Staircase”) 

Andrew Garfield (“Under the Banner of Heaven”) 

Evan Peters (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) (WINNER)

Sebastian Stan (“Pam & Tommy”) 

Best Performance by an Actress, Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture made for Television

Jessica Chastain (“George and Tammy”) 

Julia Garner (“Inventing Anna”) 

Lily James (“Pam & Tommy”) 

Julia Roberts (“Gaslit”) 

Amanda Seyfried (“The Dropout”) (WINNER)

Best Performance by an Actress in Supporting Role, Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture made for Television

Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus”) (WINNER)

Claire Danes (“Fleishman Is in Trouble”) 

Daisy Edgar-Jones (“Under the Banner of Heaven”) 

Niecy Nash-Betts (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) 

Aubrey Plaza (“The White Lotus”) 

Best Performance by an Actor in Supporting Role, Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture made for Television

F. Murray Abraham (“The White Lotus”) 

Domhnall Gleeson (“The Patient”) 

Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”) (WINNER)

Richard Jenkins (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) 

Seth Rogen (“Pam & Tommy”) 

Best Original Score, Motion Picture

“The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures) — Carter Burwell

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix) — Alexandre Desplat 

“Women Talking” (MGM/United Artists Releasing) — Hildur Guðnadóttir 

“Babylon” (Paramount Pictures) — Justin Hurwitz (WINNER)

“The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures) — John Williams  

Best Picture, Non-English Language

“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany) 

“Argentina, 1985” (Argentina) (WINNER)

“Close” (Belgium) 

“Decision to Leave” (South Korea) 

“RRR” (India) 

Best Original Song, Motion Picture

“Carolina” from “Where the Crawdads Sing” (Sony Pictures) — Taylor Swift 

“Ciao Papa” from “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix) — Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro 

“Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount Pictures) — Lady Gaga, BloodPop, Benjamin Rice

“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios) — Tems, Ludwig Göransson, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler 

“Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” (Variance Films) — Kala Bhairava, M. M. Keeravani, Rahul Sipligunj (WINNER)

Best Motion Picture, Animated

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix) (WINNER)

“Inu-Oh” (GKIDS) 

“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” (A24) 

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” (DreamWorks Animation) 

“Turning Red” (Pixar) 

Featured image: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 10: Angela Bassett, winner of the Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture award for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” poses in the press room during the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton on January 10, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Reviews for HBO’s “The Last Of Us” Call it an Astonishing Adaptation on Every Level

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Last week, we wrote a bit about HBO’s upcoming The Last Of Us, their most ambitious new series of 2023. There has been a slow, steady drumbeat of excitement about the new show as we’ve neared its January 15 premiere date, and now, the reviews suggest the excitement was warranted. The folks who have now seen the show are calling it a phenomenal, gripping drama and possibly the best video game adaptation of all time. Not a bad way to start the year if you’re HBO.

The Last Of Us comes from Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, the creator of the original game for video game company Naughty Dog. The series, which hews closely to the video game (but takes departures where necessary), is set 20 years after the fall of modern civilization, after a devastating parasitic fungal infection that essentially zombifies human beings. The series follows Joel (Pedro Pascal) after he’s tasked with moving some precious cargo out of the Quarantine Zone. That cargo goes by the name Ellie (Bella Ramsey), and their perilous journey makes up the thrust of the first season.

The game was beloved for being unlike any of its kind—a thoughtful, relationship-focused, human-level glimpse at two characters trying to survive an unthinkable nightmare. Instead of boss-level bad guys to fight, an endless stream of increasingly high-tech weapons, and a Resident Evil-like body count, the game is a slow-burn, an emotional, psychological epic as much as it is a zombie story. Mazin and Drukcmann’s adaptation sounds like an absolute dream for HBO, harnessing what makes the game so compelling yet also delivering a rich viewing experience for people who have never played the game, let alone heard of it. The Last Of us currently sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics marveling at the depth of the storytelling, the absorbing and terrifying postapocalyptic aesthetic, and the performances, led by Pascal and Rasmey

Check out what some of the critics are saying below. The Last Of Us arrives on HBO on January 15.

For more on The Last Of Us, check out these stories:

This “The Last of Us” Set Visit Reveals a Peek at HBO’s Biggest Swing in 2023

HBO’s “The Last Of Us” Looks to Become a Truly Great Video Game Adaptation

HBO Max Releases Long-Awaited & Decidedly Creepy Teaser Trailer for “The Last of Us”

HBO Reveals First Look at “The Last of Us”

Featured image: Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal in “The Last Of Us.” Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

New “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” Photos Reveal the MCU’s New Boss Villain & More

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In the new trailer for director Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the stakes of the MCU’s first Phase 5 film are clear. On the hand, you’ve got the Lang/Van Dyne/Pym family, consisting of Scott (Paul Rudd) and Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). As the film opens, things for this super-family are going pretty well—Scott had a new book coming out, and their found-family unit is happy, healthy, and intact. That is until they’re beckoned to the Quantum Realm, where the MCU’s new Big Bad is waiting. That would be Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), who has an offer to make Scott—if Scott can help Kang, in return, Kang can give Scott back the years back that he lost with his daughter when he was stuck in the Quantum Realm, and she grew from a little girl to a young woman, assuming he was one of the people snapped out of existence by Thanos.

The trailer gave us a glimpse at just how bad things get when Kang doesn’t get what he wants. Quantumania will not only explore the strange creatures and people living down in the Quantum Realm, Kang’s domain, but also what happens when you pit an Avengers-level threat against a single family rather than the assembled Avengers. We know how important Jonathan Majors’ Kang will be going forward—the fourth Avengers movie is titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Now, having seen the new trailer and this cache of new images, we are getting the outlines of how Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will re-introduce Kang (he appeared at the of Loki on Disney+, albeit a different version of himself) and set up the stakes for Phase 5. Quantumania will stick close to the Lang/Van Dyne/Pym family, pit them against the most powerful villain since Thanos, and kickstart Phase 5 with a trippy, multidimensional sci-fi epic. We know Kang, or some version of him, must survive, so one of the burning questions going into Quantumania is how will the Lang/Van Dyne/Pym family survive, too?

Check out the new images below. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on February 17:

(L-R): Kathryn Newton as Cassandra “Cassie” Lang and Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
(L-R): Kathryn Newton as Cassandra “Cassie” Lang, Jonathan Majors as Kang The Conqueror, and Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
(L-R): Michelle Pfieffer as Janet van Dyne and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
(L-R): Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne/Wasp and Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne/Wasp in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
(L-R): Kathryn Newton as Cassandra “Cassie” Lang and Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2022 MARVEL.
(L-R): Kathryn Newton as Cassandra “Cassie” Lang and Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2022 MARVEL.
(L-R): Michael Douglas/Hank Pym, Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne, and Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/Wasp in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2022 MARVEL.
Jonathan Majors as Kang The Conqueror in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
(L-R): Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Kathryn Newton as Cassandra “Cassie” Lang, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/Wasp in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
(L-R): Michael Douglas as Dr. Hank Pym, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/Wasp; Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne/Wasp in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne/Wasp in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
(L-R): Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man and Kathryn Newton as Cassandra “Cassie” Lang in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man and Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror in Marvel Studios' ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2022 MARVEL.
Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man and Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2022 MARVEL.
Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.

Featured image: Jonathan Majors as Kang The Conqueror in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” Trailer Unleashes Marvel’s New Big Bad

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The new trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania opens with one man reaching out across time and space (quantum space, in this case) to connect with another. “You’re an interesting man, Scott Lang,” a voice says at the trailer’s opening, listing some of the most salient facts of Scott Lang’s life; he’s an Avenger, he’s the father to a daughter, and, here’s the kicker, that Scott has lost a lot of time over the years (while half of the living universe was snapped out of existence by Thanos for five years, Scott Lang had been zipped up into the quantum realm). The unseen speaker then says that he, too, has lost a lot of time. “We could help each other with that,” the man says.

Scott finally meets this man face-to-face about 40 seconds into the new trailer, and we’re guessing you might have gleaned who he is. It’s Kang (Jonathan Majors), the MCU’s new big bad, but unlike the purple homicidal lunatic Thanos, Kang has more of a human touch. He offers Scott the thing he wants most in the world—time. The time he lost with his daughter when he left her as a little girl and came back to find a young woman. The problem, of course, is Kang isn’t going to just give Scott his time back for nothing, and considering we already know that an upcoming Avengers film is titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, we know he’s got big, bad plans for the universe at large.

“He can rewrite existence and shatter timelines,” Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) tells Scott.

“Let me make this easy for you,” Kang tells Scott, “you will bring me what I need, or everything you call life will end.”

By the trailer’s end, it becomes clear the understanding between Scott and Kang goes very, very wrong, and Scott may have to make the ultimate sacrifice to keep his daughter, and all their timelines, from being shattered.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will be the more full-throated introduction of Kang as the dark, driving force in the MCU’s Phase 5. Quantumania will find Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Janet Van Dyne (Pfeiffer), and Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) all heading into the Quantum Realm for an ultimate confrontation with Kang. We’ve already met a version of Kang towards the end of Marvel’s Disney+ series Loki when the Sacred Timeline was fractured into the multiverse of possibilities we’re now living in. In that Marvel series, Kang was playful but all-powerful. In Quantumania and Phase 5, he’ll be the gravest threat the varied superheroes have faced since Thanos.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania also features Randall Park returning to the MCU as Jimmy Woo and newcomers to the universe William Jackson Harper and Bill Murray. Peyton Reed returns to direct.

Check out the new trailer below. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania arrives on February 17, 2023.

 

For more on all things Marvel Studios, check out these stories:

Hugh Jackman to Academy: Please Don’t Give Ryan Reynolds an Oscar Nom

Marvel’s Stan Lee Documentary Will Explore the Life & Legacy of a Legend

Hugh Jackman Dropped a Big Clue About How Wolverine Returns for “Deadpool 3”

Disney+ Trailer Teases Look at Marvel’s “Secret Invasion,” “Loki” Season 2 And More

Featured image: Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man and Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2022 MARVEL.

Hugh Jackman Will Train Hard For 6 Months To Return as Wolverine in “Deadpool 3”

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By now, you’ve heard that Hugh Jackman will be reprising his most iconic role as everybody’s favorite adamantium-clawed mutant Wolverine for Deadpool 3. After years of comical badgering from his former and future screen partner, Ryan Reynolds, Jackman finally found a way back to the character that he had said such a declarative goodbye to in James Mangold’s excellent 2017 film Logan, which found Jackman’s mutant laying down his life to save Laura (Dafne Keen), a young mutant made from Wolverine’s DNA.

Yet it takes more than some clever scripting to make it possible for Jackman’s Wolverine to appear in Deadpool 3—the actor needs to get into Wolverine-level shape. In an interview last week with CNN‘s Chris Wallace, Jackman discussed the physical requirements of returning to the role:

“I’ve learned you can’t rush it. I’ve learned that it takes time. So we have six months from when I finish to when I started filming. And I’m not doing any other work. I’m going to be with my family and train. That’s going to be my job for six months. And I’m really fit right now. There’s one thing that about eight shows a week being on Broadway singing and dancing is I’m fit. So I’m healthy. I have a good place to start. And apologies chickens. Run a mile. Start running now because I’m coming for you.”

As for what finally got Jackman to agree to return as Wolverine, it was the chance to see two classic comic book characters on screen together and explore a dynamic akin to one very classic movie of the 1980s:

“Because when I keep thinking of me and Ryan, of Deadpool and Wolverine, which are classic comic book rivals, there’s also a dynamic that I’ve never really got to do before as Wolverine. It keeps reminding me, do you remember that great Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy movie? ‘48 Hours. Remember that one? It reminds me of that, those two characters, you know, the fast mouse sort of wisecracking guy and the grizzled old sort of tough, you know, acerbic vinegary, you know, character me, and I just thought this is gonna be fun, something I’ve never done before. And I can’t wait.”

Neither can we. Deadpool 3 will be directed by Shawn Levy and is due to hit theaters on November 8, 2024.

For more on Jackman’s return as Wolverine in Deadpool 3, check out these stories:

Hugh Jackman to Academy: Please Don’t Give Ryan Reynolds an Oscar Nom

Hugh Jackman Dropped a Big Clue About How Wolverine Returns for “Deadpool 3”

How Ryan Reynolds Got Hugh Jackman to Return as Wolverine for “Deadpool 3”

Hugh Jackman Returning as Wolverine in “Deadpool 3”

Featured image: Featured image: Hugh Jackman in ‘Logan.’ Courtesy 20th Century Fox.

“Avatar: The Way of Water” Swims Past “Jurassic World” as Seventh-Highest Grossing Film Ever

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The alien wonders of Pandora have overtaken the Jurassic splendor (and dangers) of Isla Nublar. James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has officially surpassed Jurassic World as the seventh-highest-grossing film in history. The Way of Water has now hauled in $1.708 billion globally, which moves it past Jurassic World‘s $1.67 billion.

Cameron’s epic—he’s got three more if he gets to tell the entire Pandora saga—has been in theaters for four weeks. It’s pulled in $517 million domestically and $1.19 billion overseas. Internationally, it stands as the fifth highest-grossing movie ever, behind Cameron’s own Avatar, Avengers: Endgame, Cameron’s own Titanic, and Avengers: Infinity War.

Avatar: The Way of Water also surpassed Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick to become the highest-grossing film of 2022 and is close to catching the highest-grossing film of the pandemic era, 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.91 billion). If The Way of Water continues apace, it seems likely it will pass the $2 billion mark, a massive achievement anytime, but especially in pandemic times. If it does so, it would be only the fifth movie to pass that mark, along with Cameron’s original Avatar ($2.9 billion), Avengers: Endgame ($2.79 billion), Titanic ($2.2 billion), Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($2.069 billion), and Avengers: Infinity War ($2.04 billion).

With The Way of Water doing so well, it seems all but certain that Avatar 3, which Cameron has already shot, will be in theaters come Christmastime, 2024.

For more on Avatar: The Way of Water, check out these stories:

Why Every Digital Costume in “Avatar: The Way of Water” Really Exists

How “Avatar: The Way of Water” Visual Effects Wizards Conjured Underwater Magic

“Avatar: The Way of Water” Poised to Make Huge Splash This Weekend

James Cameron Says “Avatar 4” Script “Goes Nuts”

“Avatar: The Way of Water” First Reactions: A Stunning Visual Masterpiece

Featured image: (L-R): Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and a Tulkun in 20th Century Studios’ AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Denis Villeneuve Adds Tim Blake Nelson to “Dune: Part Two”

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Despite the fact that Dune: Part Two wrapped filming in mid-December, co-writer/director Denis Villeneuve is still adding key people to the film. The Hollywood Reporter confirms that ace character actor Tim Blake Nelson has joined the cast for Villeneuve’s ambitious adaptation of Frank Herbert’s legendary sci-fi saga.

Butler joins newcomers Léa Seydoux as Lady Margot, Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan Corrino, Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, and Christopher Walken as Emperor Shaddam IV. The sequel will pick up where Dune left off, with Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) moving deeper into the Arrakis desert with the Fremen, led by Stilgar (Javier Bardem), and with Chani (Zendaya) taking on a much larger role, as they plot to strike back at House Harkonnen. 

Chalamet, Ferguson, Bardem, and Zendaya are joined by returning cast members Josh Brolin as Atreides ally Gurney Halleck, Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, and Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban Harkonnen. 

It’s unclear who Nelson will be playing in the second film in Villeneuve’s two-part saga, but someone with the actor’s skill will certainly be put to use by Villeneuve in a meaningful capacity. Nelson most recently appeared in two Guillermo del Toro projects, Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities as Nick Appleton, and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, where he voiced the Blacked Rabbit.

Dune: Part Two will hit theaters on November 3, 2023.

For more on Dune: Part Two, check out these stories:

“Dune: Part Two” Wraps Filming

“Dune: Part Two” Will Arrive Two Weeks Early in April 2023

Léa Seydoux Will Play Lady Margot in “Dune: Part Two”

Florence Pugh Close to Joining “Dune: Part 2”

Featured image: NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 01: Tim Blake Nelson attends “Nightmare Alley” World Premiere at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on December 01, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

Aubrey Plaza & Michael B. Jordan to Host “SNL” in January

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The holidays might be over, folks, but it’s still apparently a time of gifts.

Saturday Night Live has revealed that Aubrey Plaza and Michael B. Jordan will be hosting episodes this January. Plaza, fresh off starring in season 2 of HBO’s white-hot The White Lotus, will appear first on SNL‘s return on January 21, making her hosting debut. (Perhaps Chloe Fineman will revisit her portrayal of Plaza’s The White Lotus co-star, Jennifer Coolidge?) She’ll be joined by musical guest Sam Smith. This will be Smith’s third time performing on SNL.

Jordan will follow her on January 28, also making his SNL hosting debut, and right in time to promote Creed III, his directorial debut, which premieres on March 3. He’ll be joined by Lil Baby, making his first SNL appearance as well, and coming off a No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200 chart for his latest album, “It’s Only Me.”

Saturday Night LIve is now also available for streaming on NBC’s Peacock, giving all of us SNL-heads another way to watch.

For more on Saturday Night Live, check out these stories:

Keke Palmer Was Born to Host “SNL”

Watch Taylor Swift’s Epic “Saturday Night Live” Performance

A Few of Norm Macdonald’s Funniest “SNL” Moments

For more on Universal Pictures and Focus Features projects, check out these stories:

“Renfield” Trailer Finds Nic Cage’s Dracula Tormenting Nicholas Hoult’s Servant

“M3GAN” Review Round-Up: A Murderous Toy Robot Delivers a Campy Creepy, January Jolt

“M3GAN” Featurette Introduces You to The Scariest Toy Since Chucky

Featured image: L-r: NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 28: Aubrey Plaza attends the 2022 Gotham Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on November 28, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images). LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 06:Michael B. Jordan attends the LA Community Screening Of Warner Bros Pictures’ “Just Mercy” at Cinemark Baldwin Hills on January 06, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

This “The Last of Us” Set Visit Reveals a Peek at HBO’s Biggest Swing in 2023

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As we wrote yesterday, HBO’s The Last of Us is one of the biggest series coming out in 2023 and probably the most ambitious new show from the network since House of the Dragon. And while it would be unfair to set the expectations for The Last of Us at Game of Thrones levels, the hopes for the new series aren’t that far off from that. A new behind-the-scenes look released by HBO lets you visit The Last of Us set, which was adapted by Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, the man behind the original video game (a commercial and critical smash hit) for Naughty Dog.

The Last of Us is set in post-apocalyptic America and centered on a tough-as-nails survivor named Joel (Pedro Pascal) who is tasked with moving some “cargo” out of the Quarantine Zone. That cargo happens to have a name, Ellie (Bella Ramsey), and the journey that Joel and Bella embark on across a mutilated, murderous landscape is the thrust of season one. In the new video, you get to hear from Pascal, Ramsey, Druckmann, and Mazin about what it took to bring Druckmann’s beloved, brooding video game to life.

The set visit includes a look at what happens to human beings after they’re infected with the fungus that has turned the world into a hellscape. “Viruses can make us ill,” one talking head says in the series, “but fungi can alter our very minds.” This leads to the money shot at the 0:34 second mark, where we see what Joel and Bella are up against; what was once a human being, captured by the marauding fungi, who is now, simply put, a monster.

The set visit gives us some insight into who Joel is. “Joel is a broken man,” Mazin says, “he’s a father who has experienced loss.” That loss was Joel’s inability to save his own daughter, Sarah (Nico Parker), which is the event that shapes the rest of his life. So, when Joel, a black-market smuggler, is given the job of transporting Ellie to a group that is hoping to develop a vaccine for mankind, he’s so broken that he looks at it as just another job. Chances are, however, that will change as he and Ellie have to stick together to stay alive.

Take your set visit below to find out more about what might be the next big hit for HBO. The Last of Us premieres on HBO on January 15.

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Featured image: Anna Torv and Pedro Pascal in “The Last of Us.” Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

HBO’s “The Last Of Us” Looks to Become a Truly Great Video Game Adaptation

Posted on by babrams

There’s a solid argument to be made that one of the most intriguing new series coming out in 2023 is based on a video game. Putting aside the wobbly track record that video game adaptations have had across film and television, in this instance, there’s a very good reason for hope. The creators behind HBO’s The Last Of Us have gone to great lengths to break the curse of video game adaptations by both leaning into the source material and drowning out the noise about how these adaptations have proven so difficult in the past. It helps that the series was co-created by Chernobyl‘s Craig Mazin, one of the most gripping limited series of the past few years. It’s equally important than his co-creator is Neil Druckmann, the co-president of video game developer Naughty Dog and the creator of the original game, a critical and commercial smash hit.

A big, must-read profile in The Hollywood Reporter about the series opens with Mazin recounting how, during a The Last Of Us press junket, every single reporter asked him the same question—”what are the challenges of adapting a video game?”

Knowing he was going to get the question and having considered it himself a million times before he set off to adapt Druckmann’s video game, Mazin had an answer ready; “The way to break the video game curse is to adapt the best video game story ever — not by a little, but by a lot,” Mazin told THR. “So I flat-out cheated.”

As in the video game, HBO’s The Last Of Us is set 20 years after the fall of modern civilization and tracks the journey of Joel (Pedro Pascal), a hardscrabble survivor whose job is to smuggle cargo across a nightmarish post-fall United States filled with zombies. The cargo has a name—Bella (Bella Ramsey)—and their journey will serve as the thrust of season one.

Druckmann had his initial idea for The Last Of Us way back in 2004, when he was a student at Carnegie Mellon and was assigned the task of pitching a zombie story for a computer class that was going to be judged by none other than George Romero, the man behind the legendary Night of the Living Dead. Druckmann’s idea, inspired by the PlayStation game “Ico” and the tough-as-nails character John Hartigan from Frank Miller’s iconic “Sin City,” was the story of a father who lost his daughter and a daughter who lost her father teaming up in a postapocalyptic America. Romero didn’t like it.

Yet eventually, after rising in the ranks at Naughty Dog, Druckmann got to re-create his vision in the video game, which was inspired not just by zombie horror classics but also films like Alfonso Cuarón’s nearly flawless Children of Men.

“We wanted to do the opposite of Resident Evil — which I love, but it’s so over-the-top, and you’re fighting giant spiders, and it’s all about enemy variety,” Druckmann told THR. “What if it’s about intimate relationships — an exploration of the unconditional love a parent feels for their child and the beautiful things that could come out of that and the really horrible things that could come out of that?”

Although many video game experts said the game would never sell (the lead female character wasn’t “sexy,” there weren’t enough boss-level fights, and there weren’t enough weapons), it became an instant best-seller and one of the best-reviewed games in years. Druckmann began developing a feature film with director Sam Raimi, but he struggled to find a way to turn 15 hours’ worth of game narrative into a movie.

When the film never came to fruition, the rights returned to Naughty Dog, which Druckmann was co-president of at the time. Then he saw Mazin’s Chernobyl on HBO.

Chernobyl and The Last of Us have one key similarity; they passionately evoke a world buckling after a disaster, and they deal with the nightmare at the level of human relationships. Once Mazin and Druckmann got HBO’s buy-in, they began the tough process of casting a series from a game with rabid fans. There were quibbles online (when are there not quibbles online?) about the casting of Pascal and Ramsey, but nothing surprising, and by the time filming got underway (they shot in Canada, at one point, it was minus 20 degrees on the set in Calgary), the only concern was delivering on the ambitions Mazin and Druckmann had for their adaptation.

The series will hew closely to the game’s source material until it doesn’t, but will ultimately remain faithful to the game. In fact, much of the game’s dialogue remains intact in the series, and many of the settings were recreated with a precision that should delight hardcore fans of the game.

“People see bad adaptations, and it adds credence to the idea that games are childish,” Druckmann told THR about video game adaptations. “I love the idea that someone could watch this and be moved by it and then be like, ‘Wait, that’s based on the video game?’”

“I don’t want to see the story done poorly any more than [the game’s fans] do,” Mazin said. “Give us the chance, I think they will be just as rewarded — in a different way, but just as rewarded.”

For more on The Last Of Us, check out these stories:

New HBO Max Trailer Reveals New Looks at “The Last Of Us” & More

HBO Max Releases Long-Awaited & Decidedly Creepy Teaser Trailer for “The Last of Us”

HBO Reveals First Look at “The Last of Us”

Featured image: Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey. Photo courtesy HBO.

“Renfield” Trailer Finds Nic Cage’s Dracula Tormenting Nicholas Hoult’s Servant

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Imagine the most toxic relationship you’ve ever been in. Now imagine that you’re finally ready to take the steps necessary to distance yourself from this person after years and years of abuse. Now, imagine if the person you’re trying to rid yourself of is freakin’ Dracula.

This is the conceit of Renfield, director Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War)’s film about Dracula’s long-serving henchmen finally trying to break away from his master after centuries of brutal servitude. Renfield is played by the always excellent Nicholas Hoult, while Dracula, deliciously, is played by Nicolas Cage. In the official trailer for Renfield, we get to see just how bad a gig Renfield has had over the years, and the film will track what happens when he dares to quit his master.

“My boss is…different,” Renfield explains during some much-needed group therapy. “You can’t get him out of your head?” one of the other folks in his therapy session asks. No, Renfield says, but in his case, he means it literally—Dracula can summon Renfield telepathically. And the things Dracula summons him for! A handful of nuns! A busload of cheerleaders! Renfield is constantly being pestered by the Prince of Darkness to bring him innocent people to feast on.

So why does Renfield do it? The deal he made with Dracula long ago was that his undead boss bestowed some very potent powers on his servant, and, in exchange, Renfield brings him dinner. It’s a deal he describes to a new friend, Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina), which she, in turn, describes thusly; “You’re like the guy that gets the villain’s postmates!”

Renfield‘s conceit is a good one, and you can’t argue with a cast that includes Hoult, Cage, and Awkwafina. And the script comes from The Walking Dead‘s Robert Kirkman and Rick and Morty scribe Ryan Ridley, so the scares and the laughs should be aplenty.

Check out the trailer below. Renfield sinks its teeth into theaters on April 14.

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Featured image: (from left) Dracula (Nicolas Cage) and Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) in Renfield, directed by Chris McKay. Courtesy Universal Pictures.

“M3GAN” Review Round-Up: A Murderous Toy Robot Delivers a Campy Creepy, January Jolt

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There’s a new murder-doll on the scene, friends, and she’s fabulous.

The reviews are in for the toy robot run-amok horror film M3GAN, and for those looking for a campy, creepy jolt to start your year, you’re in luck—the film is getting some stellar notices.

Director Gerard Johnstone’s film (from a story by horror master James Wan and a script from Akela Cooper) centers on a brilliant robotics engineer named Gemma (Alison Williams) who creates an A.I.-backed toy robot for her recently orphaned niece, Cady (Violet McGraw). Gemma hopes that the robot will be a comfort to the grieving Cady. You can imagine how well this works out.

“It’s only the first week of January, but we already have one of the best villains of 2023,” says critic Perri Nemiroff about M3gan, the robot that Gemma has tasked with the job of protecting Cady “from harm, both physical and emotional.” The problem is that M3gan will start to see threats to Cady’s physical and emotional health everywhere, and that’s when the murdering starts.

M3GAN doesn’t shy away from the absurdity of its premise—and why should it? We’ve had killer dolls aplenty in horror classics of the past, from Chucky to Annabelle to the doll in Poltergeist that first ignited James Wan’s fascination with the life-like killer toys, smiling as they slaughter. But for M3GAN to work, well, the toy robot M3gan has to work, and it appears that Johnstone and his creative team have nailed that assignment. The doll delivers the creeps and the laughs.

“This is an excellent character, unhinged in the best sense of the word and flamboyant about it, too,” writes Newsday‘s Robert Levin.

“Hold onto your wigs, because the next queer monster has arrived, and she’s got better rhythm than the Babadook,” says Mashable‘s Kristy Puchko. 

“Johnstone’s film captures the same alchemical blend of heart, humor, and havoc you find only rarely, in crossover classics like Gremlins, and it yields more entertainment than most would-be blockbusters,” writes The Wrap‘s William Bibbiani. 

“M3GAN — thank god — delivers the goods. Under the canny, high-spirited direction of Gerard Johnstone, whose past work includes the New Zealand horror-comedy gem Housebound, it’s incisive, sardonic, and totally mean-spirited. A perfect mix,” writes the Independent‘s Clarisse Loughrey.

“Its creators are so clearly on the same insane wavelength, nimbly blending camp and social satire and actual terror, that M3GAN is poised to crack the murder-doll pantheon and stay there forever,” writes indieWire‘s Kate Erbland.

It’s not easy blending camp, genuine creepiness, and actual thoughts on grief and trauma. But it sounds like M3GAN has pulled it off.

M3GAN hits theaters on January 6.

For more on M3GAN, check out these stories:

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Featured image: (from left) Cady (Violet McGraw), M3GAN and Gemma (Allison Williams) in M3GAN, directed by Gerard Johnstone. Courtesy Universal Pictures.

Hugh Jackman to Academy: Please Don’t Give Ryan Reynolds an Oscar Nom

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Oh, Hugh.

The feud between Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds continues, and while we all know it’s not real, it’s still, even after all these years, a consistent source of joy. The first volley of the new year in their ongoing game of comically feigned spite comes from Jackman, who took to Twitter to post a video imploring the Academy to please, please not give Reynolds an Oscar nomination.

The reason Jackson is concerned, he tells us, is he’s about to spend a year with his nemesis filming Deadpool 3. Jackman is returning as Wolverine (yes, after saying goodbye to the character in epic fashion with a heroic death in James Mangold’s Logan), and the last thing he wants to have to hear throughout filming is Reynolds crowing about being nominated. And what makes matters worse for Jackman is that Reynolds would be nominated in the song category. Song! Singing is one of Jackman‘s many strengths, not Reynolds! And yet, Reynolds is now on the Oscar shortlist for Best Song, alongside his co-star Will Ferrell, for “Good Afternoon,” a tune in their Christmas film Spirited.

“Ryan Reynolds getting a nomination in the best song category would make the next year of my life insufferable,” Jackman says in the video. “I have to spend a year with him shooting Wolverine and Deadpool. Trust me, it would be impossible. It would be a problem.”

Jackman says he loves the movie itself and all the talented people involved, just not Reynolds.

“I loved Spirited. It’s a great movie; the entire family watched it and had a blast,” he says. “I love Will [Ferrell], I love Octavia [Spencer]…and ‘Good Afternoon,’ I laughed the entire way through. It is absolutely brilliant.”

“But please, from the bottom of my heart,” Jackman continues, “do not validate Ryan Reynolds in this way. Please.”

You can watch Jackman’s heartfelt plea here:

For more on Jackman returning as Wolverine in Deadpool 3, check out these stories:

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Hugh Jackman Returning as Wolverine in “Deadpool 3”

Featured image: NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 28: Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds attends “The Adam Project” New York Premiere on February 28, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)