Looks like Amazon is about to assemble Voltron. If you were a child in the 1980s and loved your cartoons, then you likely remember the beloved anime series Voltron: Defender of the Universe, which featured the five young pilots of the Robot Lion battalion whose vehicles were capable of assembling into a massive robot called Voltron. Now, a live-action adaptation of the series is in the works.
Varietyreports that Red Notice director Rawson Marshall Thurber is attached to direct a live-action feature adaptation of the classic 1980s anime for Amazon after the package generated plenty of interest from streamers and studios. Thurber will direct from a story he devised, based on a script he’ll co-write with Ellen Shanman. Bob Koplar, the head of World Events Production, the company that owns Voltron, will produce alongside Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman.
Voltron itself was based on the popular Japanese sci-fi series Beast King GoLion and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV. The version that American audiences saw in the 1980s was dubbed and edited by World Events, its name changed to Voltron: Defender of the Universe.
Voltron: Defender of the Universe became a hit, and was ultimately rebooted twice, once for NickToon in 2011, and again for Netflix in 2016. This isn’t the first time that a major studio has tried to create a live-action Voltron for the big screen, but so far, none of them have made it out of development. There was a project in the early 2000s (from Pharrell Williams and Mark Gordon) and another in the early 2010s (from Relativity Media, with Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer). DreamWorks was preparing to develop an animated feature, but that, too, didn’t pan out.
Thurber is coming off the mega-success of Red Notice, which currently reigns as the biggest Netflix original film of all time, with 364 million hours of viewing in its first month alone. Thurber has two Red Notice sequels he’s preparing, but it’s unclear if those would come before Voltron.
Needless to say, assembling a Voltron live-action feature will be no small feat, but Thurber seems well-positioned to bring all the necessary pieces together.
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Now that Matt Reeves’ The Batman is streaming on HBO Max, we’re getting some very juicy clips—and the entire opening scene—to show those who may have missed out on the epic reboot in the theater what’s available to them in their home. That opening sequence is a doozy, plunging us into Reeves’ twisted noir vision of Gotham, and presenting the Riddler (Paul Dano) in all his psychopathic intensity. It’s a bravura 10-minute long masterclass in tension and world-building and sets the rest of The Batman up as a street-level detective story unlike any previous film in the franchise.
In “Vengeance,” the clip offered below, we see not only what Gotham has become, but the man stalking its streets at night trying to fight the rising tide of crime and nihilism. A bunch of brutes, their faces painted like skeletons (or lunatic clowns, if you’ve got the Joker on your mind) are about to assault an innocent man. This is what Gotham has become, a lawless, dark, nightmare realm of abuse. But then a heavy footstep, clearly this person’s in no hurry, can be heard stomping down the subway platform stairs. The brutes hold off from beating on their victim to assess the situation. Who is this who dares interrupt their “fun”?
You know who it is.
The Batman was a massive critical and commercial success, ushering in the Robert Pattinson era for the Dark Knight, launching at least two spinoff series on HBO Max, including one centered on Colin Farrell’s Penguin, and reminding us why Batman is DC’s most intriguing character.
Joining Pattinson, Dano, and Farrell in The Batman are Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred, and John Turturro as Carmine Falcon.
Jason Momoa’s world-building exploits continue for Warner Bros. The Aquaman star, fresh off a crucial role in Denis Villeneuve’s Oscar-winning Dune (another Warner Bros. pic) is set to star in an adaptation of the massively successful video game Minecraft. The Hollywood Reporterhas the details, revealing that Momoa is now in final negotiations to lead the live-action adaptation of Minecraft with Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess helming.
Minecraft has become a global smash since it debuted in 2011. The game allows players to deploy blocks in order to create complex structures and worlds. Eventually, Minecraft boasted 100 million years, becoming such a sensation that it led to Microsoft buying Sweden’s Mojang Studios, the creators of the game.
Shepherding Minecraft through production will be Dune producer Mary Parent, along with producer Roy Lee, and the late Jill Messick, who will receive posthumous credit for her work developing the film before she passed away in 2018. Also onboard are executive producers Cale Boyter, Jon Spaihts (Dune‘s Oscar-nominated screenwriter), and Jon Berg. Finally, Minecraft will also be produced by Lydia Winters and Vu Bai, who come from Sweden’s Mojang Studios.
Minecraft has been in development at Warner Bros. for years, and it will join a few successful, recent videogame-to-film adaptations like Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds’ Free Guy (2oth Century Studios) and the two Sonic films (Paramount Pictures).
As for Momoa, he’s got a lot going on. He’ll next be seen indirector Francis Lawrence’s Slumberland on Netflix, followed by his return to the role of Arthur Curry, better known as Aquaman, when Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom hits theaters in March, 2023.
For more on Momoa’s upcoming films, check out these stories:
Featured image: LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 18: Jason Momoa attends the UK Special Screening of “Dune” at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on October 18, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Warner Bros )
We have, at long last, seen the first teaser for Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder and now have the official synopsis, revealing the insanity that Waititi has been promising since he first finished the script he co-wrote with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. The teaser had some of the greatest goofball energy we’ve felt since Thor (Chris Hemsworth) showed up in Avengers: Endgame looking like Jeff Lebowski.
Incredibly, Hemsworth’s Thor is now the first Marvel superhero to get four standalone films, and that’s in large part thanks to the invigorating, hilarious direction that Waititi took the character in Thor: Ragnarok, turning the once dour Asgardian God of Thunder into arguably the funniest, loosest Avenger of them all. In Love and Thunder, Thor is searching for a new path and an end to his superhero’ing days. The God of Thunder is looking for some quiet time to reflect. It won’t last long.
While the teaser offered the inherent comedy of watching this insanely powerful superhero try to shrug off a lifetime of battling for more Zen approach to life, it ended with an epic hammer blow. That would be the arrival of Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), now transformed into Mighty Thor, wielding Thor’s very own magical hammer, Mjolnir. The synopsis puts a bit more meat on the bone of this story, revealing that Thor’s retirement is cut short when a psychopath called Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) shows up on the scene looking to drive the gods to extinction. He sounds nice.
Thor: Love and Thunder is based on Jason Aaron’s comic book run of “The Mighty Thor,” which had Jane Foster taking up the title, and Mjolnir, after Thor himself was deemed unworthy. That comic book run had a dark side to Jane’s transformation into the Mighty Thor—every time she wielded the hammer, her breast cancer became worse. It’s unclear whether that portion of the storyline will make it into the film, but what is clear is that Portman’s return is exciting. She left the MCU back in 2013 after Thor: The Dark World, but was convinced to return by Waititi himself.
We highly recommend you re-watch the teaser, and read the full synopsis below. There’s a reason this is one of 2022’s most highly-anticipated films. Thor: Love and Thunder arrives on July 8.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Love and Thunder” finds the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced – a quest for inner peace. But Thor’s retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who – to Thor’s surprise – inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor. Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late. Directed by Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “Jojo Rabbit”) and produced by Kevin Feige and Brad Winderbaum, “Thor: Love and Thunder” opens in U.S. theaters July 8, 2022.
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There are many ways to help Ukrainians in their ongoing time of need, from donating to charities like the World Food Programme, Share The Meal and many, many more (for a list of charitable organizations, this is a good place to start). For Paramount Global, their contributions began with a $1 million donation to support humanitarian relief organizations and, now, to make their Nickelodeon kids content free on various platforms in Europe and beyond for Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia’s onslaught.
Ukrainian families and their children who have fled their homes will now have access to a swath of Nickeloden content, in Ukrainian, for free on Pluto TV channels, linear TV, and the Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. YouTube channels. Some of the most beloved children’s programming, including SpongeBob SquarePants and PAW Patrol will now be available for kids, in Ukrainian.
Nickelodeon will introduce Ukrainian language content this week on YouTube for select Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. channels available across Europe. “The Ukrainian language content will feature kids’ favorite shows from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr., including SpongeBob SquarePants, Blaze, and the Monster Machines, and PAW Patrol,” Paramount said.
Linear TV
Paramount is also providing a Nickelodeon pop-up channel in collaboration with Pluto TV in the Ukrainian language called Nickelodeon Ukraine Pluto TV. “The channel is commercial-free and currently available for free to more than 30 (distribution) partners across Europe, including in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Hungary, the Nordics, Spain, France, Italy, and the Middle East/North Africa,” Paramount said. “The channel airs non-stop programming for kids of all ages, including beloved Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. favorites from SpongeBob SquarePants and the Penguins of Madagascar to PAW Patrol and Blaze and the Monster Machines.”
Streaming
Pluto TV will provide more than $2.5 million in free advertising to humanitarian organizations in the United States and internationally “that can benefit from mobilizing and educating global audiences about the heroic work they are doing during these challenging times,” Paramount said. Pluto TV’s Nick Ukraine channel has gone live in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Spain, and Italy. Pluto TV now offers favorites like SpongeBob SquarePants, Bubble Guppies, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for free, in Ukrainian, and without any signup required.
Every bit of kindness and help is crucial right now. Paramount Global is offering both.
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The Batman has arrived on HBO Max, and to celebrate the event, the streamer has just made the riveting, 10-minute long opening scene available for your viewing pleasure. The Batman begins with a horrific crime, immediately plunging us into the grimy, brutal world of Gotham and establishing the street-level detective story that co-writer/director Matt Reeves promised.
We open on the home of Gotham’s Mayor Don Mitchell, Jr. (Rupert Penry-Jones) who is pacing and drinking, worrying on the phone over the latest poll numbers in his Mayoral race against Bella Reál (Jayme Lawson). The current Mayor is deeply involved in Gotham’s dark underworld, but as The Batman opens, all we know is we’re watching him through the telephoto lens of an unseen stalker. (In a clever twist, what we’re actually seeing is the vantage of The Batman cinematographer Greig Fraser). Mayor Mitchell isn’t aware he’s being watched, or, that he’s meant to be the first victim of Gotham’s latest psychopath, the Riddler (Paul Dano).
The sequence is gripping, brutal, and quickly establishes that in the rebooted franchise, both Batman and the Rogues’ Gallery he contends with, including the Mayor, many members of the Gotham Police Department, the Penguin (Colin Farrell), Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz) and criminal bigwig Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) live in a world in which nearly everyone is compromised. It’s a killer opening sequence, and the beauty of The Batman is the rest of the movie lives up to its dark potential.
Check out the opening scene below. The Batman is now available for streaming on HBO Max.
“These hands were once used for battle,” Thor (Chris Hemsworth, of course) says at the top of the first Thor: Love and Thunder teaser, the long-awaited peek at writer/director Taika Waititi’s sequel to his smashing 2018 Thor: Ragnarok. “Now, they’re but humble tools for peace.”
This absurd opening verbal riff, in keeping with Waititi’s brilliant transformation of the Thor franchise from a dark sci-fi saga into a candy-colored, often hilarious, epic adventure, gives us a Thor looking more like a weekender at a yoga retreat than the mighty God of Thunder. Speaking about riffs, the teaser also opens with Slash’s guitar riff from Guns N Roses’s “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” We see Thor getting back in shape after, ah, letting himself go and having to fight heavy in Avengers: Endgame. We also see Thor turn his back on a fight, to the chagrin of Star-lord (Chris Pratt) and the Guardians of the Galaxy, as he goes off to choose his own path. “My superhero’ing days are over,” Thor tells us.
“If you ever feel lost, just look into the eyes of the people you love,” Star-lord tells Thor. Only the Guardian of the Galaxy hero is talking about his friends, not Thor, who keeps making dreamy eye contact nonetheless. The first teaser reveals that Waititi is going to give us a story in which Thor tries to turn away from all the superhero exploits and become a new kind of God, a quest that’ll no doubt be filled with hilarity and insanity. Waititi has repeatedly said that Thor: Love and Thunder is the craziest movie he’s ever made. He’s not only playing with Thor and Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, he’s not only got some of the Guardians of the Galaxy to deploy into his mayhem, but he’s got heavyweight performers like Christian Bale, playing Gorr the God Butcher, and Russell Crowe, playing Zeus.
Yet the teaser ends with the most intriguing addition of them all—lo, there’s Mighty Thor (Natalie Portman), also known as Jane Foster, holding her own Mjölnir and looking as ready to rumble as Thor ever was.
The teaser is delightful. Thor: Love and Thunder arrives on July 8, and it couldn’t come quick enough.
Check out the teaser below.
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The Batman was a deeply satisfying, passionately made blockbuster that felt like a street-level detective story at the same time. The film managed to capture critical acclaim, box office success, and, launch a new Batman franchise with a slew of fresh faces who were excellent in their roles. Robert Pattinson as Batman, Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, and Colin Farrell as the Penguin all signal a bright (well, it’s Gotham, so dark) future for DC’s most broodingly iconic superhero and his Gallery of Rogues. So, too, do the two sociopaths left (but we imagine not for long) in Arkham Asylum at the film’s end—Paul Dano’s Riddler and Barry Keoghan’s Joker. So it was fitting that on the night before The Batman came home to HBO Max, the film reached a major box office milestone, crossing $750 million at the global box office. The Batman is currently the highest-grossing film of the year, both globally and domestically.
“The incredible response we’ve seen at theaters across the country is a testament to both the enduring power of this iconic DC Super Hero and the huge appetite out there to experience great movies on the big screen. We congratulate everyone involved on reaching this impressive milestone,” Jeff Goldstein, WB’s President of Domestic Distribution, said in a statement. Deadlinereports that co-writer and director Matt Reeves’s deliciously noir film has made $386.1m at the international box office and $365m domestically in North America.
Andrew Cripps, President of International Distribution, added, “The Batman performs on every level, delivering critical praise and big crowds in every market around the globe. We’re so proud of the film and so happy it continues to strike a chord with audiences everywhere.”
The Batman is Warner Bros.’s best pandemic-era international debut and is the third biggest overseas pandemic-era hit, behind only Spider-Man: No Way Home and No Time To Die.
The Batman arrives on HBO Max on April 18, and then on HBO at 8pm ET on Saturday, April 23.
Who better to help you promote your new film than NBA living legend Steph Curry? The perennial All-Star knows a thing or two about performing miracles, but in Jordan Peele’s upcoming film Nope, the types of miracles on display are a whole lot less pleasing than swishing a half-court shot (which Curry has done multiple times). The 2-time NBA MVP, 3-time NBA champ, and 8-time NBA All-Star is not starring in Peele’s hotly-anticipated third directorial effort, but, Curry clearly feels comfortable acting, and his brief appearance in this new promo helps further sketch out what Peele’s up to in his next film.
First, have a look at the promo here:
Curry’s quick decision to say “nope” to whatever’s going on outside further highlights what we’ve seen thus from far Peele’s film, which dropped a cryptic but delicious trailer during this year’s Super Bowl. The trailer opens at Haywood Ranch, home to the only Black-owned horse trainers in Hollywood. The opening seconds show us the young black proprietor of Haywood Ranch—the great-great, great, great-grandaugther of the first man ever caught on film, riding a horse, and a room full of studio executives. She’s now selling them on using the Haywood Ranch for their next film. “Ever since the moment pictures could move,” the sales pitch to studio executives goes, “we’ve had skin in the game.”
It’s a cleverly written set-up and gives way to where Peele wants our attention to be, outside the ranch and in the sky, where a very strange cloud is moving towards Daniel Kaluuya’s character, who is a part of the Haywood Ranch family, it appears. So what, exactly, is Peele up to? The thing hovering in the sky in the trailer is the same menace that Curry responds to in the promo, and the fear on Curry’s face in the promo is much the same as what we see on Kaluuya’s face in the trailer—whatever that thing is, it’s not remotely normal, or even earthly. The trailer doesn’t show us exactly what will be haunting—or hunting—our characters, but the few reaction shots we get tell us this situation is going to be just as crazy as what Peele pulled off in Get Out and Us.
Nope sees Peele re-teaming with his Get Out star and Oscar-winner Daniel Kaluuya, but he also recruited Kaluuya’s fellow Oscar-nominee from last year, Steven Yeun, and rising star Keke Palmer. It’s Palmer’s character we see later on in the trailer getting sucked up into the sky.
So is Nope definitely an alien abduction movie? Well, we’re not 100% sure about that yet. We predicted that the film had to do with aliens way back when Peele first revealed the poster, which shows an oddly shaped cloud that looks a little too perfectly symmetrical to be natural. The official trailer, and now Curry’s promo, seem to confirm that Peele is, in fact, turning his attention to the sci-fi/alien genre, but we’ll still need confirmation. There is no official synopsis we’ve seen that says as much.
Peele has brought along a heavyweight team of actors and crew to create something special for this third film. One of those folks is his DP Hoyte van Hoytema, Christopher Nolan’s longtime collaborator. Needless to say, Nope is one of the most exciting films on this year’s slate.
Nope creeps into theaters on July 22.
For more on Jordan Peele and Nope, check out these stories:
Featured image: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 05: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors reacts while trailing during a 124-116 Los Angeles Lakers win at Crypto.com Arena on March 05, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2022 NBAE (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
We’ve only got about a year until Renfield hits theaters, but that’s no reason to wait getting excited for it. The upcoming film from director Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War, The Lego Batman Movie) is centered on Dracula’s notorious henchman, Renfield, and the cast McKay has assembled is bonkers. And now we know, thanks to a tweet from Universal Pictures, that Renfield has wrapped principal photography, with McKay posing with two of the film’s stars, Nicholas Hoult and Awkwafina, to celebrate the news.
So about that cast—Hoult plays the titular Renfield, Dracula’s lunatic right-hand man, while Awkwafina plays Rebecca Quincy, the love of Renfield’s life. Dracula is played by Nicolas Cage (who else?), in a role the man was born to play. The beauty here is the film is set in the present day, so when Dracula emerges from his coffin-bound slumber, he’ll be deeply confused as to what the heck is going on in the world. Dracula on TikTok? Perhaps!
In Bram Stoker’s deathless telling, Renfield was Dracula’s mortal lackey, a man who did everything the dark Count demanded but never did achieve the immortality Dracula could have bestowed upon him. It’s not yet clear how close Renfield will hew to Stoker’s set-up, but considering the comedic chops of this cast (which also includes Ben Schwartz, James Moses, Shohreh Agdashloo, and Bess Rous), we’re guessing the film will have a tremendous amount of fun with the concept of an immortal vampire and his human gopher.
Here’s the tweet from Universal Pictures:
Principal photography on #Renfield has officially wrapped! 🧛🎬 Only….*checks calendar* 365 days til it hits the big screen! pic.twitter.com/brhzL2Xdys
Featured image: NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 29: Nicolas Cage attends the 2021 Gotham Awards Presented By The Gotham Film & Media Institute at Cipriani Wall Street on November 29, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Gotham Film & Media Institute)
Leslie Grace is finally home. After spending months shooting Batgirl in London, the big HBO Max film in which she stars as the titular Gotham vigilante, Grace is finally able to look back on the production and take a breath. Grace stars as Barbara Gordon (Batgirl at night), the daughter of Gotham City Police Commissioner Jim Gordon (J.K. Simmons), with Brendan Fraser as the villain Firefly and Michael Keaton slipping back into the Batsuit as Batman for the first time in three decades. The film comes from Bad Boys For Life filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. The script comes from Birds of Prey and The Flash scribe Christina Hodson.
Grace spoke with Varietyabout Batgirl, which along with Keaton and Fraser includes Rebecca Front, Ethan Kai, and Corey Johnson in the cast. Grace said it wasn’t until she first got into the Batgirl suit was the moment it hit her. “I think that was the first real moment where I was like, ‘Oh, wow, we’re here. I’m doing this. Like, I am really Batgirl,'” she told Variety.
She also said that the role, the biggest in his career, offered her the opportunity to learn from veterans like Fraser who, despite playing the film’s villain, “is such a huge teddy bear.”
“He is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” Grace said. “In our fight sequences the way he would just hit marks, it came from all his experience. You can’t improvise that kind of experience. There’s some crazy stuff that happens.”
Filming Batgirl required a lot of long days and night shoots, a ton of stunts, and just a tremendous amount of effort. Yet it was also filled with wonder and joy. One of those wondrous moments for Grace was when Michael Keaton came on set.
“It was wild for everyone,” Grace told Variety. “Our directors were like two little kids. They’re legit Batman nerds openly. He’s Batman, man! I couldn’t believe I was sharing space with Batman. I want to say more, but I can’t. It was insane, surreal, incredible. It was the stuff of dreams really.”
Featured image: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 02: Leslie Grace attends the Warner Bros. premiere of “The Suicide Squad” at Regency Village Theatre on August 02, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
A new Jurassic World: Dominion featurette brings the entire Jurassic universe together, from the stars of Steven Spielberg’s game-changing 1993 original Jurassic Park—Sam Neill as Alan Grant, Laura Dern as Ellie Sattler, and Jeff Goldblum as Ian Malcolm—to Jurassic World‘s new franchise stalwarts Chris Pratt, as Owen Grady, and Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire Dearing. Neill, Dern, and Goldblum discuss the magic of being a part of Spielberg’s now iconic film, while Pratt and Howard reveal just how massive an impact that movie made on them. “I realized at that moment that cinema forever had changed,” Howard says in the video. She’s 100% correct.
Now, all five of them will star in Colin Trevorrow’s Dominion, which brings the two Jurassic universes together in what will likely be the biggest film in the franchise. Trevorrow says in the video that “Jurassic World: Dominion is the culmination of the franchise. It includes a story that Steven Spielberg started telling in 1993.”
“I could never imagine we’d be here working alongside Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, and Laura Dern,” Pratt says. “It’s pretty fantastic.”
“I thought it was a fantastic idea to bring these two worlds together,” says Dern.
The convergence of the two franchises will make Dominion a colossal capper of a film. We’ve already learned that it’ll boast more animatronic dinosaurs than the past two films in the Jurassic World had, and considering how insanely good CGI technology is at this point, the marriage of the practical and visual effects promises to create a visually stunning epic.
The Jurassic Park and Jurassic World veterans are joined by newcomers DeWanda Wise and Mamaoudou Athie.
Check out the video below. Jurassic World: Dominion roars into theaters on June 10.
Here’s the official synopsis for Jurassic World: Dominion:
This summer, experience the epic conclusion to the Jurassic era as two generations unite for the first time. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are joined by Oscar®-winner Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill in Jurassic World Dominion, a bold, timely and breathtaking new adventure that spans the globe. From Jurassic World architect and director Colin Trevorrow, Dominion takes place four years after Isla Nublar has been destroyed. Dinosaurs now live—and hunt—alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures. Jurassic World Dominion, from Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, propels the more than $5 billion franchise into daring, uncharted territory, featuring never-seen dinosaurs, breakneck action and astonishing new visual effects.
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The cast for Lucasfilm and Disney+’s upcoming Willow series just got a major boost. Deadlinereports that Game of Thrones alum Rosabell Laurenti Sellers is joining the eagerly-anticipated series, which is a spinoff of director Ron Howard’s 1988 classic fantasy feature film. The original Willow followed the journey of a young farmer named Willow (Warwick Davis) who was tasked to go on a dangerous quest to protect a special baby from the evil sorceress Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh). The film was must-see viewing for a generation of youngsters in the 80s, with a cast that included Val Kilmer as the mercenary Madmartigan, who helped Willow on his quest.
In the new series, Willow will focus on a princess assembling a group (or fellowship, if you will) to go on a quest to rescue her twin brother. Sellers, who played the Sand Snake Tyene Sand in Game of Thrones, joins a cast that includes Tony Revolori, Amer Chadha-Patel, Ellie Bamber, Ruby Cruz, Erin Kellyman, and, crucially, Warwick Davis. Another major recent addition to the cast is Talisa Garcia, the first trans actor ever cast by Lucasfilm for one of its productions.
Little is known about who Sellers is playing, but Deadline reports that she’ll be playing “a resourceful character with sharp, acerbic wit.” Considering she nimbly portrayed the tough, determined Tyene Sand, daughter of Prince Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal) and Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma) in Game of Thrones, Sellers will have no trouble finding her way in this fantasy epic.
For more on what’s coming (or streaming) on Disney+, check out these stories:
How much footage did director Joseph Kosinski have to work with when he finished filming Top Gun: Maverick? In an interview with Empire Magazine, Kosinski said he shot so much footage for his Tom Cruise-led aerial action epic that it was more than all three Lord of the Rings movies—combined. Kosinski told Empire that he thinks the total amount was somewhere around 800 hours worth of footage. This has to do, in part, with just how much footage Kosinski, Cruise, and the team were shooting of (and from within) actual Navy fighter jets.
“Out of a 12- or 14-hour day, you might get 30 seconds of good footage,” Kosinski told Empire. “But it was so hard-earned. It just took a very long time to get it all. Months and months of aerial shooting. We shot as much footage as the three Lord Of The Rings movies combined. I think it was 800 hours of footage.”
Cruise and the cast were so hands-on, that they were actually manipulating the camera equipment from within the cockpit.
“We had to teach the actors about lighting, about cinematography, about editing,” Cruise told Empire. “I had to teach them how to turn the cameras on and off, and about camera angles and lenses. We didn’t have unlimited time in these jets. If they were going up for 20-30 minutes, I had to make sure that we got what we needed.”
The story in Top Gun: Maverick finds Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell returning to the Navy (at the behest of Val Kilmer’s Ice Man, no less, who is now an admiral) to teach the best of the best from the Top Gun class before they take on a specialized mission “the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen.” Maverick will have to come face-to-face with the darkest part of his past when he finds that one of his students is Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend Lt. Nick Bradshaw, better known as “Goose” (Anthony Edwards). It was Goose’s tragic death in the original Top Gun that haunted Maverick. Now, not only will Maverick have to face Rooster and the trauma of his past, he’ll have to prepare the young hotshot, if he’s willing to listen, for the most dangerous mission of both of their lives.
Kosinski directs from a screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Cruise’s longtime Mission: Impossible collaborator Christopher McQuarrie.
Top Gun: Maverick zooms into theaters on May 27.
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David Cronenberg, the visionary director behind Eastern Promises, A History of Violence, and The Fly takes his time between projects, and when he launches a new film, you can be sure it won’t be anything like his last, and, it will be must-see viewing for all film lovers. This brings us to the first teaser for his latest film, Crimes of the Future, a sci-fi thriller with an insane cast that includes Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart, and Cronenberg’s longtime collaborator, Viggo Mortensen. This is Cronenberg’s first feature in eight years.
“Is it time to stop seeing. It is to stop speaking. It is time to listen.” We hear this command, in a creepy near monotone, as a human body—at least it looks like a human body—is being prepped and punctured by some kind of machine. Inside that machine, the owner of this presumed body is Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen), whose eyes pop open. In Crimes of the Future, we’re in a not-so-distant future where humanity has evolved beyond its natural state and into a metamorphosis of sorts with our synthetic surroundings. Hence Saul Tenser’s bizarre position within this larval-like body chamber. We also get shots of Seydoux’s character Caprice, looking concerned, then a human figure with ears growing on his forehead and his eyes and lips sewn shut, and then Kristen Stewart’s character appearing to manipulate the larva-machine (for lack of a better term), and looking quite pleased with her work.
Cronenberg is one of our most astute living filmmakers when it comes to the intersection of humanity and technology. When we spoke to Cronenberg in 2014, he was being heralded with a “Filmmaker on the Edge” award at the Provincetown Film Festival. He was also there to talk about his short The Nest, an uncannily gripping portrait of a woman consulting her unseen doctor. We asked him way back then about the intersection of humanity and technology, a subject he’s long been drawn to. “I’m wearing hearing aids right now, this is my fusion,” Cronenberg told us. “I have six programs on this side,” tapping his left ear, “and volume on this side,” tapping his right ear. “I am sure one day I’ll be able to connect to the Internet from my hearing aids. Its wireless technology that connects through my brain. I am grateful to it.” Cronenberg told us that he was, in essence, a cyborg, merged with a piece of technology that made our interview possible.
Crimes of the Future will explore the increasingly grey area between what is us and what is synthetic. It also appears like it’ll utilize another of the auteur’s skillsets—Cronenberg is an acknowledged master of practical effects and body horror, as he’s proved again and again in his long, singular career. Crimes of the Future appears as if it’ll tap into a lot of what makes this filmmaker so different, so essential.
Mortensen is a longtime Cronenberg collaborator, having worked with him on A Dangerous Method, Eastern Promises, and A History of Violence.
Cronenberg will be taking Crimes of the Future to Cannes, Check out the trailer below. Crimes of the Future is set to hit theaters this June.
Here’s the official synopsis from NEON:
As the human species adapts to a synthetic environment, the body undergoes new transformations and mutations. With his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux), Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen), celebrity performance artist, publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. Timlin (Kristen Stewart), an investigator from the National Organ Registry, obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed… Their mission – to use Saul’s notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.
Featured image: CANNES, FRANCE – MAY 19: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been digitally retouched) Kristen Stewart and Lea Seydoux attend the Closing Ceremony & screening of ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’ during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 19, 2018 in Cannes, France.(Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
How good is Robert Eggers’ The Northman? Critics are raving that The Witch and The Lighthouse director has managed to top those two, wildly ambitious and singular films with his boldest, most brutal work yet. Tomris Laffly of the AV Club writes that “Eggers’ immersive approach and stylistic flair creates one wild, applause-worthy combat scene after another, reminding viewers why he’s one of the most unique visual artists working today.” Hanna Flint over at Empire Magazine says “This is intimate, culturally rich storytelling on a brutally epic scale.” Alonso Duralde of The Wrap maintains that Eggers has managed “The best kind of multi-quadrant movie: Without abandoning his arthouse credentials, Eggers has made a rousingly rough, extreme action saga that has the potential of attracting the kind of viewers who might have found his previous work impenetrable.”
Now, Focus Features has delivered a new trailer that further teases what has critics so jazzed about this icy, visceral Viking tale. The Northman is centered on Prince Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård), which happens to be the Viking name for Hamlet. When the film opens, the young prince is on the cusp of manhood when his father, King Aurvandil War-Raven (Ethan Hawke) is brutally murdered by his uncle, Fjölnir (Claes Bang). It gets worse—Fjölnir kidnaps Amleth’s mother, Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman), and Amleth is forced to flee his island kingdom. But we know that, just as Shakespeare did in “Hamlet” (which he based on an old Viking tale), The Northman is a story of revenge. Amleth will return to face Fjölnir and bring heaven and hell down upon him.
The Northman reunites Eggers with Anya Taylor-Joy (star of his breakout first feature The Witch) and boasts the first film performance by Björk in 17-years. Eggers also brought along his longtime collaborators like cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, editor Louise Ford, and production designer Craig Lathrop.
Check out the new trailer below. The Northman hits theaters on April 22.
Here’s the synopsis from Focus Features:
From visionary director Robert Eggers comes THE NORTHMAN, an action-filled epic that follows a young Viking prince on his quest to avenge his father’s murder. With an all-star cast that includes Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, Björk, and Willem Dafoe.
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It’s very difficult to describe Everything Everywhere All At Once, the new genre-busting indie from writer/directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels. It’s a multiverse sci-fi brain twister, an action movie with Hong Kong-style fighting, and a moving family drama about a mother and daughter. It’s about existential dread, love lost and found, and, of course, the importance of paying your taxes correctly and on time. Michelle Yeoh is at her career-best as matriarch Evelyn Wang, an Asian-American woman embroiled in an adventure across the multiverse trying to save humanity from supervillain Jobu Tupaki, who, it turns out, is an alternate version of her daughter Joy.
Stephanie Hsu, known for her work on Broadway and as Mei in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, brings depth and flamboyance to Joy and Jobu Tupaki. Rounding out the cast are veteran performer James Hong as Evelyn’s father, Ke Huy Quan, beloved for his roles as Data in The Goonies and Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, as Evelyn’s husband, and Jamie Lee Curtis as IRS agent Dierdre Beaubeirdra.
It must have taken an incredible amount of focus, stamina, and collaboration for the cast and crew of Everything Everywhere All At Once to bring it to the screen. The Credits chatted with Stephanie Hsu about working with Daniels, and how the power of love and optimism plays an important part in this film destined to be a cult classic.
The movie has both authenticity and craziness, and it couldn’t exist without an incredible level of collaboration. You did daily warmups, and there were weekly awards for members of the crew. Can you talk a little bit more about how collaboration aided in the authenticity of this film?
The communal experience is very important to the Daniels, and a non-hierarchical way of working is really important. That’s why the PAs are listed in the credits first. It just makes everybody feel seen and cherished. Making films is crazy. It always gets stressful. Time is always running out, money is going out the window, but if you have a team or a film family that cares about one another and knows that they are valued, they will work harder. They will show up, and take care of one another when things get tough. It’s so funny because this was my first feature, and I feel so lucky because that is so much of what I want for the world of filmmaking and art-making in general—this kindness and collaboration. That’s just not how it is usually, it’s really rarely like that, and people feel very bad about themselves, feel very stressed, feel very left behind. So I think that the reason why this movie is reaching audiences the way that it is, other than the fact that personally, I think it’s brilliant, imaginative, and heartfelt, it’s also because of the story and the value systems of the film—kindness, love, cherishing one another—are actually how we made the film. There’s integrity there, and for some reason, that transference is happening, and audiences are feeling that. We all felt safe bringing anything and everything to the table, whatever our ideas were, and all of us wanted to give our all because we really believed in the project and in each other.
We did something called a hug tackle, and I remember I led an exercise called the mind meld, where you would say a word, any word, with a partner at the same time, and keep going, to try to get to the same word. That warmup is just fun because you have to surrender. You cannot possibly know what the other person is going to say, but you’re listening and thinking at the same time. All the warmups were great, because it’s a chance for all of us to cross departments, and have really focused time with each other.
Everyone in the whole cast and crew took part?
Oh yeah. All the cast, all of the crew, all of the camera crew, all the PAs, sometimes the chefs and folks at craft services would come, too.
(L-R) Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh, James HongPhotocredit: Allyson Riggs
There are so many aspects of the mother/daughter relationship that are represented both literally and metaphorically in the film. How much did the cast and the Daniels talk about that?
For me, the mother/daughter relationship, I knew it in my bones. I grew up with an immigrant mother. I was her only child, and it was mostly just me and her growing up. There’s just a way that strong women can love you so much and truly fail at showing it every step of the way. It’s not just Asian mothers, it’s not just immigrant mothers, it’s just mothers. And I think mother/daughter relationships are so much more heightened, because of beauty standards and because you want the best for your child, but you don’t realize that that’s actually not in your control whatsoever. But interestingly enough, I don’t think we talked about it that much, because we all just knew it. It was kind of an unspoken starting point for all of us.
Nihilism is based on the belief that nothing matters. This could easily be our approach to issues like global warming and war, but it gets, in one way, to showing that we’re both the problem and the solution. How did that play into how you approached your role?
I would say that what we talked about even more than the mother/daughter relationship was this concept of nihilism, and how an agent of chaos might make more chaos if nothing matters and nothing has any significance. I like to say that nihilism saved my life in some ways because it’s a very heavy time. It was a heavy time two years ago, when we were filming, it is a heavier time now. And I feel that myself and so many people, so many of my peers, so desperately want to fix it all. We can just feel so helpless, while also trying to figure out ways to help. Nihilism suggests the possibility that nothing we do matters, and so all we can do is try our very best. There’s no winning here. There’s no finish line. It’s just going to keep going like this, there are going to be more and more generations of suffering, but if we come here and know that we gave it our all, or gave it something, then we’re just making it a little bit better as much as we are able.
What part of making Everything Everywhere All At Once has been most integrated into you both personally and professionally?
I feel like I snuck in through the backdoor of Hollywood with this movie since this was my first feature. I could have never expected that this would be receiving the praise that it’s receiving, and that beyond praise, that people really get it, and are really moved by it, and inspired by it. That is my dream, to put things out in the world that shift people and move people. I feel that this journey is such an affirmation that it is possible to work with people you love and admire, and who are kind and follow the art, not follow the power. I just feel excited to keep moving in that direction, because it hasn’t proven me wrong at all, you know, and it has only brought me beautiful experiences.
Everything Everywhere All At Once is in theaters now across the country.
Featured image: tephanie Hsu. Photo Credit: Allyson Riggs
Co-writer/director Matt Reeves’ The Batman only gave us a last-second tease of Barry Keoghan’s Joker, but you’ll be getting more of the scarred psychopath when the 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD release drops on May 24. (The digital release is a mere few days away, as The Batman comes to HBO Max on April 18.) The moment in question was actually revealed last month and has now become one of the more iconic deleted scenes in recent movie history.
Haven’t seen that scene yet? Well, it’s got major Silence of the Lambs vibe, as Batman visits Joker at Arkham Asylum for a little help tracking down another lunatic, Paul Dano’s the Riddler. In the theatrical release, Batman figures out how to corner the Riddler (with some major help from Andy Serkis’s Alfred, Jeffrey Wright’s Jim Gordon, and Zoë Kravitz’s Catwoman), even if the Riddler really was the one leading Batman to himself all along. It’s intriguing to imagine this alternate version in which Batman, clearly frustrated in his search, tries to employ an incarcerated Joker to help him get inside the mind of a fellow lunatic.
Along with this deleted scene, the special features include in the home releases are extensive, and include another deleted scene between Kravitz’s Catwoman and Colin Farrell’s Penguin (h/t Collider). The Catwoman/Penguin scene finds Selina Kyle (Kravitz) having a meeting with Oswald Cobblepot (Farrell) at the 44 Below Club, that club-within-a-club at the Iceberg Lounge that the Penguin operates as a kind of safe space for criminals and their hangers-on. The details of the scene aren’t known, but we do know that Selina is hellbent on finding Annika (Hana Hrzic), her missing roommate who was last scene with Mayor Don Mitchell, Jr. (Rupert Penry-Jones).
Farrell’s Penguin will get a lot more screen time in the near future—he’s got his own HBO Max series in production that will focus on his rise within the Gotham underworld. That rise is made possible because of the events in The Batman, in which the Penguin manages to survive whereas his boss, John Turturro’s Carmine Falcone, meets his maker.
Check out the new HBO Max trailer for The Batman here:
Varietyhits us with a big, thrilling scoop. According to two of their sources, there’s going to be a new David Lynch film—or something—coming to the Croisette this year, one that he shot without somehow alerting anyone in the media, and, starring Laura Dern (the size of her role is unknown) along with a few more Lynch regulars. This is a massive bit of film news—if Lightyear is indeed a feature film—as Lynch hasn’t debuted a new feature since Inland Empire way back in 2006, which starred Dern and in which Lynch launched an Oscar campaign on her behalf by renting a cow and smoking next to a billboard in Los Angeles.
Lynch’s new film would join some other major releases coming to Cannes. These include Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick (which will also include a special homage to Tom Cruise); Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis starring Austin Butler as Elvis and Tom Hanks as his conniving manager Colonel Tom Parker; George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing starring Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba; David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future starring Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart, and Viggo Mortensen; and Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up, starring Michelle Williams. Previous big names thought to be coming to Cannes this year with their projects appear to be waiting until fall. Those include James Gray’s Armageddon Time, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Bardo, and Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All.
Lynch’s new project would be a major addition and totally surprising considering how long it’s been since he released a new film. The legendary director has made some of the strangest, most singular films of any filmmaker of his generation, to say nothing of what his game-changing Twin Peaks did for television (or the excellent follow-up that picked up 25-years after the original and aired on Showtime in 2017). Lynch actually teased a new project last January during one of his hilarious YouTube weather reports, promising that he’d make a major announcement in his next video. He ended up not sharing anything Earth-shattering, but we’re wondering if he was actually hinting towards this film. Or, could it be that Lightyear is actually the pilot to his secret Netflix show? Nobody knows!
Yet we should know rather soon. Cannes bows on May 17, and here’s hoping Lynch is there with a big, fat new feature film.
Featured image: David Lynch onstage during the David Lynch Foundation’s DLF Live presents “The Music Of David Lynch” at The Theatre at Ace Hotel on April 1, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.
The Stranger Things season 4 trailer is here, and it’s an absolute smash. Revealing a much darker tone and tenor, raised stakes, and a terrifying new threat, the Duffer Brothers’ promise that would be the biggest, scariest season yet looks utterly confirmed. It seems the years worth of trauma is really taking its toll on our assorted heroes. What’s more, season 4 will find these friends scattered, and all of it speaks to why the Duffer Brothers couldn’t fit the entirety of season 4 into a traditional single-volume release schedule.
“Your suffering is almost at an end,” a troubling voice says at the top of the new trailer. The tone of the trailer is set not only by that clearly evil voice, but by the sight of Billy Hargrove’s grave, reminding us how the stakes have been rising, and rising, and rising in Hawkins as the troubling events of the first three seasons have wreaked havoc across all their lives.
How bad did things get in Season 3? The Byers relocated after the Battle of Starcourt, with Will (Noah Schnapp), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), and Joyce (Winona Ryder) moving far away from Hawkins to keep them out of harm’s way. Yet the problem is that a war is coming to Hawkins, and everyone the Byers care about is in the crosshairs.
“A war is coming, I’m afraid your friends of Hawkins are very much in the eye of the storm,” says Sam Owens (Paul Reiser). At first we don’t realize who he’s talking to, but then it becomes clear. He’s talking to the person with the best chance of stopping, or winning, the war. Yet there’s a problem.
“I don’t have my powers,” says Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown).
“I don’t know how to say this without just saying it—without you, we can’t win this war,” Sam replies.
Darker, deeper, more intense—the trailer makes the case that Stranger Things will be going big in its last two seasons, unleashing a scarier, more angsty horror vibe. We get a glimpse of Sheriff Jim Hopper after he was forcibly moved, via some nefarious henchmen, to an undisclosed location in Russia. We’ll revisit the sinister Creel House that was teased last season, where Victor Creel and his family were subject to some of the supernatural horrors that our main characters have been experiencing the past few years. Finally, season 4 will also move far beyond Hawkins—our crew will be spread out across Indiana, California, and, in Hopper’s case, Russia.
Check out the new trailer below. Stranger Things season four, volume one, streams on May 27:
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