What happens when a Jeep Wrangler and a Lamborghini Countach get mashed together in the best possible way? You get The Jeeporghini, a wonderfully ridiculous custom off-roader created by Kyle Lewis of Kyle’s Customs.

Lewis started with a Jeep Wrangler YJ and slapped on a Lamborghini Countach body kit that originally came from a Pontiac Fiero, resulting in a machine that looks ready to tackle a muddy trail on its way to an ’80s supercar convention.

The Lambo makeover doesn’t make the Jeep any faster, but speed really isn’t the point when your Wrangler looks like a Countach on stilts. The sketchbook-inspired artwork gives the build even more personality, while the snakeskin seat covers finish things off with exactly the kind of wonderfully questionable taste a creation called the Jeeporghini deserves.

It’s weird, creative, completely unnecessary, and that’s exactly why I love it.

Sometimes all you need to make a movie is a monster puppet, a swimming pool, a couple of kids, some friends, and an afternoon with nothing better to do. That’s pretty much how filmmaker Josh Stifter brought the wonderfully goofy horror-comedy short Slimy Joe to life.

The two-minute homemade monster movie revolves around Slimy Joe, a weird little green goblin with one very important rule: he can’t get wet. Naturally, there are kids playing in a swimming pool nearby, so you can probably see where this is headed.

Stifter made Slimy Joe with his kids Maximus and Raphael Stifter, while Stifter and Daniel Degnan play the dads. Rather than approaching the project as some major production, everyone got together one summer day and made a ridiculous monster movie because it sounded like a good time.

Stifter explained the thinking behind the short: "A monster. A pool. Some friends. My kids. A few hours. We didn't make it because it was important.

“We made it because making a stupid monster movie sounded fun. Sometimes that's all the reason you need to make something. So grab your friends. Grab your kids. Grab whatever weird shit you have lying around. What are you going to make next?"

Not every short needs to be built around festivals, awards, or some grand statement. Sometimes creating something weird with whatever you have available is reason enough.

Stifter expanded on that idea, saying: "Sometimes you don't need a budget, a crew, a festival strategy or even a particularly good reason to make a movie. Just having a monster puppet, a swimming pool, your kids, a couple friends and a few hours to kill is enough of an excuse...

“That's SLIMY JOE. We shot this little monster short in just a few hours with Dan, Strauss, Max and Raphie because it sounded fun. That's really it. No grand artistic statement. Not worrying about whether it was 'important.'

“We got together and made something because we could... Movies like Slimy Joe remind me why I started making sh!t in the first place: Making movies is fun."

That spirit comes through in Slimy Joe. It’s homemade horror in the best way, built around practical effects, a silly creature, and the simple pleasure of grabbing a camera and making something.

Stifter wrote, directed, and created the short in Atlanta, Georgia, with Nathan Strauss handling the puppet and practical effects. The whole thing was shot right in the backyard.

Slimy Joe himself also gives off some wonderfully deranged Cheddar Goblin energy from Mandy, which makes the little green freak even more fun.

Slimy Joe is only two minutes long, so give it a watch. More importantly, maybe take Stifter’s challenge and make something yourself. Grab a camera, dig out whatever bizarre prop or puppet is sitting around, call some friends, and see what happens.

Enjoy the short!

What happens when Star Trek gets completely lost in translation? Apparently, you get Federation lasagna, a missing goat, and a mysterious disease outbreak.

This hilarious Star Trek parody takes footage from Star Trek: Insurrection and turns it into an unhinged foreign-film experience where Patrick Stewart’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard finds himself dealing with alien demands that make absolutely no sense.

The best part is that the spoken dialogue actually comes from the official Italian dub of Star Trek: Insurrection. The ridiculous English subtitles and wildly mismatched music, however, are very much not official, and they transform the scene into something wonderfully stupid.

If you’ve ever wondered what Star Trek might look like after being run through a busted translation machine, this pretty much nails it.

The new Resident Evil movie may be telling its own story in Capcom’s zombie-infested universe, but fans have started discovering references scattered throughout Raccoon City.

Some of the more obvious Resident Evil Easter eggs include familiar typewriters, herbs, and first aid spray cans. However, Zach Cregger’s movie also slipped in a couple of fun references to Leon S. Kennedy, including one that’s incredibly easy to miss.

The first pops up after Bryan, the unlucky medical courier at the center of the story, reaches Raccoon City and attempts to get the sample needed for the cure to the hospital.

His trip quickly turns into a nightmare as he races down a street while zombies throw themselves from the rooftops. During the chaos, there’s a storefront visible in the background with a fantastic name: “Leon S. Kennedy Guns and Ammo.”

😄 Leon S. Kennedy Easter egg spotted in Zach Cregger’s 'RESIDENT EVIL' movie.

“Leon S. Kennedy GUNS AND AMMO”

Thanks to @Racek91440992 for the find. pic.twitter.com/RSFhxLd1PQ

— RENEWS (@RENews_X) September 13, 2026

It’s a funny little reference considering Leon is still a rookie cop during this period of the Resident Evil timeline, although anyone familiar with the character knows that guns and ammo will eventually become a pretty major part of his life.

Cregger apparently didn’t even know how the reference got into the movie. According to a journalist from Deadline who asked the filmmaker about it, Cregger wasn’t sure where the Easter egg came from.

Leon apparently gets another shout-out once Bryan finally reaches the hospital. With the main building crawling with zombies, Bryan enters through the underground parking garage and stops there to figure out his next move.

Some eagle-eyed fans noticed that Leon’s car appears to be parked among the other vehicles. One fan on Reddit wrote, "I liked that Leon's car was parked in the hospital. It was a cool Easter egg."

It’s exactly the kind of background detail Resident Evil fans love picking apart. Leon doesn’t need to walk into the frame for the movie to acknowledge that he exists somewhere in this version of Raccoon City.

Between the guns and ammo storefront and his car sitting at the hospital, Leon S. Kennedy has managed to leave his fingerprints on Resident Evil without actually showing his face.

Keep an eye out for both Easter eggs the next time you watch the movie. There are probably plenty more hiding in Raccoon City waiting for fans to find them.

The conversation around AI in Hollywood has become incredibly heated, but every once in a while a story comes along that shows just how far things have spiraled.

Whether you're completely against generative AI or think it has a place as a creative tool, there’s a line that simply shouldn’t be crossed.

Unfortunately, that line was crossed almost immediately for Jorge Gutiérrez, the filmmaker behind The Book of Life.

Gutiérrez believed he could help steer AI in animation in a direction that still protected artists. Instead, he found himself and his family receiving death threats, having their home address published online, and ultimately walking away from his own series just a day and a half after it was announced.

That's a wild situation, and regardless of where anyone stands on AI, nobody deserves to go through something like that.

According to Gutiérrez, he had been watching generative AI steadily make its way into animation studios and felt artists needed to have a voice in shaping how the technology would be used.

When Amazon MGM Studios offered him the chance to lead Punky Duck, one of three projects created under the company's new GenAI Creators' Fund, he saw an opportunity to make sure artists weren't pushed aside.

As he explained: “I thought, I’m going to make sure artists are guaranteed a seat at the table. I’m going to make sure this is driven by artists.”

His goal wasn't to champion AI over artists. In his mind, it was the exact opposite. If AI was going to become part of the industry anyway, he wanted creatives involved in every decision.

That isn't how many of his peers saw it. Once the announcement went public, the backlash exploded almost instantly. Rather than seeing Gutiérrez as someone trying to influence the process from the inside, many viewed him as someone who had crossed over to the other side.

The reaction escalated at an alarming speed. Death threats were directed at both Gutiérrez and his wife, and their home address was shared online.

That kind of response is completely unacceptable. People are free to oppose AI, criticize companies adopting it, or disagree with creators who choose to work on those projects. That's part of having an open discussion.

Resorting to intimidation, threats, and doxxing isn't activism. It's harassment, and it only makes meaningful real conversations harder to have.

Reflecting on what happened, Gutiérrez said: “What I quickly learned is this is a black-and-white issue. You’re pro or you’re anti — there’s no in between right now.”

He continued: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions. My intentions were good, but I was taking my family to hell by doing this.”

Faced with that reality, he made a decision almost immediately. “It was a Wednesday announcement,” he recalls of his hiring. “Thursday, I said, ‘I’m listening to everybody.’ On Friday morning, I pulled the plug.”

Just like that, Punky Duck was over before it had even really begun. Fortunately, Amazon MGM Studios reportedly understood his decision.

“They said, ‘You do whatever is best for your family,'” Gutiérrez explained. “I think I’m the first creator to kill their own show a day and a half after announcing it.”

It's a surreal statement, but it's probably accurate. It's hard to think of another project that collapsed quite this fast because of public outrage directed at its own creator.

The larger debate surrounding AI in animation isn't going away, and Gutiérrez's experience reflects just how divided the industry has become.

Travis Knight, CEO of Laika, whose studio continues to embrace handcrafted stop-motion animation, understands why artists are worried.

“Stop motion is a celebration of artistry over algorithms,” Knight says. “AI is the furthest thing from human, so I get why people are nervous. I’m nervous about it.”

Meanwhile, Pete Docter, Pixar's chief creative officer, believes AI can be useful if artists remain the ones making the creative decisions. “To bypass and have AI do it, you’re robbing that individual of the chance to say something and the audience to respond.”

Jared Bush, chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, also believes the heart of the issue comes down to the creator. “It comes down to your voice. It doesn’t matter what form it takes, as long as what you’re putting out to the world is you.”

Those perspectives highlight the real conversation many people in animation are trying to have. There are serious questions about authorship, jobs, creativity, and where AI belongs in the production pipeline. Those are discussions worth having.

What isn't productive is creating an environment where people become afraid to even participate. For Gutiérrez, that's the biggest takeaway from everything that happened.

“A lot of bad decisions are going to get made,” he predicts, “and artists are not going to be part of those discussions.” When artists try to get involved, he says, “they’re crucified.”

Whether you agree with AI or want it banned from creative industries altogether, this situation should make everyone pause. If creators who want to advocate for artists from inside the room are driven away by threats and harassment, then those conversations end up happening without the very people the animation community wants represented.

Nobody has to agree with Gutiérrez's decision to accept the project. Criticism is fair game. Death threats, doxxing, and targeting someone's family are not.

If anything, this story shows how difficult it has become to have a nuanced conversation about AI. Right now, too many people seem convinced there are only two sides, and anyone standing in the middle becomes a target.

That's not healthy for artists, it's not healthy for the industry, and it certainly isn't how meaningful progress gets made.

Source: Variety

Some movie collectibles are designed to sit proudly on a shelf. Others are designed to be worn on your head while you eat popcorn off of your own head. The upcoming Street Fighter movie has apparently chosen option two.

The latest piece of promotional madness tied to the 2026 video game adaptation is a Guile popcorn bucket modeled after his enormous, gravity-defying blonde hair.

It’s kinda ridiculous, obnoxious, completely impractical, and exactly the kind of movie theater collectible that Street Fighter fans are going to want.

AMC Theatres showed off the bucket with Cody Rhodes, who plays Guile in the film, alongside co-stars Callina Liang and Noah Centineo. Rhodes naturally gets the honor of wearing the thing, and because the bucket resembles Guile’s hairstyle, it actually works surprisingly well sitting on top of his head.

Of course, things get even better once Centineo starts eating popcorn from it and says: “I swear to God it tastes better because it's coming out of Cody's head.”

That may be the finest possible endorsement for a popcorn bucket. The promo also gives fans a goofy little taste of the chemistry between the cast, with Rhodes, Liang, and Centineo having fun with a piece of merchandise that already sells itself through sheer absurdity.

Street Fighter will feature Andrew Koji as Ryu, including the darker version of the character teased in the trailers, Jason Momoa bringing Blanka’s electric fury to the big screen, Liang as the dangerous Chun-Li, and Rhodes sporting Guile’s unmistakable blonde hair.

We still haven’t gotten nearly enough Guile action or Sonic Booms in the trailers, but apparently we can put his hair on our heads filled with popcorn. I’ll take the temporary victory.

There is one potential problem here. Anyone brave enough to actually wear this Street Fighter Guile popcorn bucket during the movie could become an instant nightmare for whoever is sitting behind them. Guile’s hair isn’t exactly designed with unobstructed theater sightlines in mind.

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A post shared by Cody Rhodes (@americannightmarecody)

If you’re a Godzilla fan planning a trip to Japan, this place belongs on the itinerary. Attractions Atlas takes us inside the permanent Godzilla Museum at Nijigen no Mori on Awaji Island, where fans can get up close with movie memorabilia, detailed models, dioramas, and plenty of other tributes celebrating the King of the Monsters.

The museum is part of Godzilla Interception Operation Awaji, an attraction that goes much bigger than display cases, thanks to a nearly 400-foot-long Godzilla sculpture waiting outside.

Visitors can even strap into a zipline and fly directly into the monster’s massive mouth, which sounds like one hell of a way to experience Godzilla without watching Tokyo get flattened.

Star Wars fans have been waiting a long time to see what happens next in Ahsoka, and some newly surfaced Season 2 concept art makes it look like the fight against Grand Admiral Thrawn is about to get much bigger.

Ahsoka Season 2 is set to arrive on Disney+ in January, roughly three and a half years after the first season debuted. After a lengthy stretch without much to go on, Lucasfilm has finally started teasing the new season, and the footage and artwork we've seen so far point to a much larger conflict.

The first Ahsoka Season 2 trailer already confirmed that Hayden Christensen will return as Anakin Skywalker, while Ariana Greenblatt is back as young Ahsoka Tano for more Clone Wars-era flashbacks.

The trailer also showed Eman Esfandi returning as Ezra Bridger alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera Syndulla, with the two preparing to confront Thrawn. This time, they’ll have another familiar member of the Star Wars Rebels crew fighting alongside them as Zeb finally joins the action.

Now we have another interesting look at Season 2 thanks to concept art recently shared on Instagram by ilikethatwookie, and these images suggest the confrontation with Thrawn could turn into a massive battle.

One of the most interesting pieces features Thrawn’s golden-faced trooper Enoch surveying what appears to be a battlefield.

Ezra, Hera, and Chopper can seemingly be spotted hiding nearby with other fighters, and the scale of the image makes this look like something much larger than a small Rebel-style mission against Imperial remnants.

It also looks like Ezra is going to have plenty of opportunities to show how much he's grown. The character returned in Season 1 after years away, and putting him directly into the fight against Thrawn opens the door for the Jedi to unleash more of his Force abilities and lightsaber skills.

Of course, concept art doesn’t guarantee that every image or idea will appear exactly as depicted in the finished series. These pieces are used to explore environments, characters, scale, action, and visual ideas during production. Still, seeing imagery this war-heavy gives us an interesting indication of what the creative team has been exploring for Season 2.

Thrawn is one of Star Wars’ great military strategists, and Season 1 spent plenty of time establishing just how dangerous his return could be. Now that he’s back, it looks like Dave Filoni is ready to show what happens when Thrawn gets the chance to wage war.

That also means Ezra, Hera, Chopper, Zeb, and the rest of the heroes could be facing one hell of a fight. I can’t wait to see how this story continues to play out!

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A post shared by Luke Winchester (@ilikethatwookie)

Doctor Doom has some mysterious company in Avengers: Doomsday, and Marvel still isn’t telling us who’s hiding behind those masks.

New artwork for Avengers: Doomsday puts Victor Von Doom and the so-called Latverian Witches front and center, offering another look at three strange figures who appear to have an important connection to the ruler of Latveria. Their identities remain secret, but Marvel is giving fans plenty to speculate about.

The artwork shows Doom standing at the bottom of a long staircase wearing his classic metallic mask and dark cape. Floating above him are three hooded figures dressed in robes, armor, and silver full-face masks modeled after Doom’s own look.

Across the image is a fitting declaration: “DOOM HAS NO RIVALS.”

It’s an interesting visual, but the bigger question is who exactly these Latverian Witches are and what role they’ll play in Avengers: Doomsday.

Marvel previously showed off the Latverian Witches’ costumes at San Diego Comic-Con 2026. A single mannequin was used to cycle through three versions of the outfit in deep green, burnt orange, and violet. On the final day of the convention, the display disappeared and a massive Doctor Doom statue took its place.

With this new artwork, the connection between the witches and Doom looks even stronger. Their robes, armor, metallic masks, and overall design all carry his unmistakable aesthetic.

It also raises the possibility that Avengers: Doomsday will spend some meaningful time exploring Doom’s relationship with magic, Latverian traditions, and his position as the nation’s sovereign ruler.

Of course, Marvel fans already have theories about the identities of the three women. Names being tossed around include Wanda Maximoff, Clea, Sylvie, and Cynthia von Doom.

Any combination of those characters would have major implications for the movie, particularly if Doom has somehow brought established MCU magic users under his control or into his inner circle.

For now, though, those ideas remain pure speculation. Marvel has only confirmed the existence of the coven and its connection to Latveria.

That mystery makes the Latverian Witches one of the more interesting elements surrounding Avengers: Doomsday. Marvel could have simply surrounded Doom with soldiers or Doombots. Instead, these masked magical figures keep appearing alongside him, suggesting there’s more to Doom’s world than armies, armor, and a really intimidating staircase.

We’ll find out what Victor Von Doom is cooking when Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18, 2026.

New look at the Latverian Witches in ‘AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY’ pic.twitter.com/nZ81TX94Wk

— MCU Film News (@MCUFilmNews) September 13, 2026

If you remember classic Disney animation looking richer, warmer, and far more colorful in theaters, your childhood memories aren’t playing tricks on you. Those movies really did look different.

A fascinating comparison from Animation Obsessive puts theatrical 35mm footage from Disney films next to the digital versions currently available on streaming, and the difference can be pretty brutal.

Movies that once had intense reds, glowing fire, rich shadows, and warmer skin tones can now look surprisingly pale and muted.

The comparison includes Hercules, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and other Disney Renaissance films, showing how dramatically their appearance changed as they moved from 35mm film to modern digital releases.

The fire in The Hunchback of Notre Dame is an especially strong example. In the film version, the reds and oranges practically burn off the screen. The streaming version looks flatter and cooler by comparison.

Similar changes can be seen across other scenes, including characters whose skin tones appear noticeably paler in their current digital presentations.

Animation Obsessive explored the issue in detail and pointed to a key reason for the change and that is these Disney animated movies were created with their final film presentation in mind.

The artists knew their work would ultimately be photographed and projected on celluloid, so color choices were made around the characteristics of that process.

What audiences saw projected from 35mm wasn’t simply a neutral reproduction of the artwork. Film stock, printing, projection, and the rest of the theatrical pipeline contributed to the finished image.

When those movies were later converted for digital presentation, that relationship changed. A digital master viewed on a modern display doesn’t automatically recreate the appearance of a 35mm theatrical print. Without careful restoration and color grading intended to preserve that original look, some of the richness can disappear.

That helps explain why streaming versions can feel visually different even though you’re technically watching the same movie.

It’s also why the issue isn’t quite the same for computer-animated films from Pixar. Movies created digitally from the beginning were developed around a computer-based workflow, so bringing them to modern digital platforms doesn’t involve recreating the visual characteristics of artwork originally intended for a photochemical film process.

“I have tears in my eyes. I saw ALL these in theaters as a child, and yes, THIS is what these films looked like!” wrote @fanime_1. “This is what I remember! I thought maybe it was just rose-tinted glasses, but no, these transfers need to be improved!”

@ju1fy had an equally great description of just how different the images look: "That Hunchback fire comparison is brutal—the 35mm glow feels hot enough to singe the frame, while the stream looks weirdly refrigerated."

When you put the versions beside each other, this stops feeling like a minor color-grading complaint. The atmosphere of a scene can actually change. Fire doesn’t feel as hot, shadows don’t feel as rich, and colors that helped give these hand-drawn Disney movies their personality lose some of their punch.

Disney does have an interesting new project on the way that embraces some of the texture associated with traditional animation. Enrico Casarosa is directing Gatto, an animated film that combines 2D hand-painted textures with modern CGI.

The movie follows Nero, a black cat living in the superstitious city of Venice, Italy. Because Gatto is being produced with modern digital presentation already part of the equation, its filmmakers can design its colors and textures around how audiences will actually see the finished movie.

Films such as Hercules and The Hunchback of Notre Dame were created for a specific visual medium, and moving them into another one without faithfully reproducing that theatrical appearance can change the artwork audiences originally experienced.

For anyone who grew up watching these movies on the big screen, the 35mm comparisons are both awesome and a little painful. They’re a reminder of how gorgeous Disney animation could look when those colors were presented the way the filmmakers expected.

Hopefully Disney eventually gives these classics digital restorations that get closer to their original theatrical presentation.

If streaming is going to become the primary way future generations discover these movies, they should at least get to see why they looked visually so good in the first place.

The Disney renaissance movies used to look different. They were planned to be printed on 35 mm film -- that's how they were first released.

Modern editions skip that last step in the process. It was a highly developed, overlooked craft, as we explore:
─➤https://t.co/FoVH6xdJjp pic.twitter.com/nSZfpRpwxD

— Animation Obsessive (@ani_obsessive) September 15, 2026

Pokémon cards have gone from playground currency to serious collectibles, and some of those old cards sitting in binders and boxes are now worth ridiculous amounts of money.

The Pokémon brand has generated an estimated $148 billion USD in profits since launching 30 years ago, but collectors have managed to get a piece of that enormous pie too. Pokémon first appeared on collectible cards in 1996, and rarity, special features, condition, and professional grading have helped turn certain cards into incredibly valuable collectibles.

The most extreme example came in February 2026, when Logan Paul resold a 1998 Pikachu card for more than $16.2 million.

Of course, finding a Pokémon card worth millions is a little like catching an actual Mewtwo. Still, a new study from idealo suggests there are plenty of Pokémon cards gaining serious value, including some that collectors might not immediately expect.

The study analyzed historical pricing data from PriceCharting for ungraded Pokémon cards valued above $9.94. Researchers compared prices between March 2025 and March 2026, looking at individual cards, complete Pokémon card sets, and the average performance of cards featuring specific Pokémon.

One card absolutely crushed the competition. The Japanese Snorlax LV. X #127 increased in value by a massive 691% since March 2025, giving it the largest price increase of any individual Pokémon card included in the study.

Snorlax apparently figured out how to make money while sleeping. Another surprising winner was Plusle. The Generation III Electric-type Pokémon, usually paired with Minun, saw cards featuring the character increase by an average of 263% over the year. That was the highest average increase for any Pokémon analyzed.

The bigger story, however, is what happened across the Pokémon card market as a whole. According to the study, the average ungraded Pokémon card worth more than $10 increased in value by 71.5% between March 2025 and March 2026. For comparison, Google shares increased 84.3% during the same period.

That certainly doesn’t mean everyone should empty their investment account and start buying booster packs. Pokémon cards can be unpredictable, and there’s no guarantee that a card climbing today will continue gaining value tomorrow. It does show why Pokémon card investing has become much more than a niche hobby for collectors.

Some cards originally bought by kids for the equivalent of only a few euros during the 1990s are now worth thousands. Even more surprising, certain Pokémon card sets purchased just a year ago are now valued at around four times their original price.

When it comes to popularity, one Pokémon still rules the mountain. Charizard is the most searched-for Pokémon when people look for cards featuring the original 151 Pokémon. idealo used Ahrefs Keywords Explorer to combine worldwide search volume for the various card versions associated with each Generation I character, and Charizard came out on top.

Not exactly a shock. Charizard cards have been collector favorites for decades, and that fire-breathing orange monster continues to have an absurd hold on Pokémon fans.

To see how Pokémon cards compared with more conventional investments, idealo also calculated the average monthly price appreciation of qualifying cards and plotted their performance against major global technology stocks and market indexes.

The results make a pretty good argument for checking that old Pokémon card collection before tossing it into the donation pile.

The cards worth watching aren’t necessarily limited to the obvious icons, either. A Japanese Snorlax card producing a 691% increase and Plusle cards averaging 263% growth show how strange and unpredictable the collectible card market can be.

Condition still matters, professional grading can have a major impact on resale value, and rarity remains one of the biggest factors in determining what collectors are willing to pay. There’s also plenty of risk involved, so Pokémon cards shouldn’t automatically be treated like stocks simply because some have produced impressive returns.

Still, if you collected Pokémon cards as a kid, it might be time to dig out that binder. Just try not to get too excited when you find 37 battered Energy cards and a Psyduck with a soda stain on it.

Corridor Crew is smashing its way through more than 50 years of Hulk history as Sam, Niko, and Jordan rank some of the most memorable transformations of Marvel’s big green rage monster.

The video jumps from The Incredible Hulk (1978) and Hulk (2003) through The Incredible Hulk (2008), Disaster Movie (2008), The Avengers (2012), The Amazing Bulk (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), She-Hulk (2022), Captain America: Brave New World (2025), and Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026).

That makes for a wild range of Hulk CGI evolution, ranging from old-school practical transformations to modern digital effects and a few hilariously rough attempts that have to be seen to be believed.

The guys have a lot of fun breaking down the visual effects and deciding which Hulk transformations deserve the top spots. Every version has its own weird charm, but some definitely sell the bone-crunching transformation into the Hulk better than others.

It’s also pretty cool seeing how dramatically Hulk VFX have changed across movies and TV over the decades. Check out Corridor Crew’s ranking below, then let us know what your favorite Hulk transformation is!

Lanterns may have accidentally given away a pretty huge Hal Jordan secret, and it came from the last place most fans would think to look: the subtitles.

Episode 5, “Lights Out,” left Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan in rough shape following the attack on Rushville. Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart finds his injured mentor buried beneath the rubble, and during their emotional exchange, John finally takes the Green Lantern ring from him.

Pretty major moment. But fans watching with Spanish subtitles caught a strange detail that completely changes how the scene could be interpreted.

The subtitles identify Hal as “Clone de Hal,” which literally translates to “Hal Clone.” If that description is intentional, John may not actually be talking to the real Hal Jordan at all.

One theory making the rounds is that this version of Hal could be a projection created by his Green Lantern ring. We’ve already seen the show establish that this is possible. Earlier, Hal chipped off a piece of the ring and seemingly used it to create a projection of his younger self, sending the duplicate away to conduct reconnaissance.

That projection hasn’t been seen since. So, could Hal have created another version of himself? The Hal John encounters beneath the rubble certainly looks current. He’s older and wearing the same clothes, so this wouldn’t simply be the younger projection returning.

It raises the possibility that Hal somehow created a more recent duplicate before escaping, leaving the projection behind to pass the ring to John and potentially convince everyone that Hal Jordan died.

It also opens up a much bigger question that if the real Hal survived Rushville and intentionally disappeared, what exactly is he planning?

Of course, there’s another explanation that’s considerably less exciting. “Clone de Hal” could simply be a subtitle mistake. Someone handling the Spanish localization may have used an incorrect character label, and fans could be building an elaborate Green Lantern conspiracy around a translation error.

Still, the fact that Lanterns has already introduced Hal projections makes this particular mistake suspicious enough to keep an eye on.

There are only three episodes left, and the recent mid-season trailer is already teasing Sinestro’s return along with more answers surrounding Hal Jordan’s death. Whether “Clone de Hal” was an accidental spoiler or just an unfortunate subtitle choice should become clear soon.

Via: GamesRadar+

HBO has some seriously ambitious plans for Harry Potter, but fans shouldn’t expect a new season to magically appear every year.

Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content, has offered a clearer picture of how the network plans to handle its massive Harry Potter TV series.

While HBO wants to move through the books without lengthy gaps between seasons, Bloys says the realities of producing something this big make a strict annual release schedule unlikely.

The new series will retell J.K. Rowling’s seven-book saga for television, with each season adapting one of the original novels. HBO previously described the project as a roughly decade-long commitment, but Bloys is now looking at the series on a more season-by-season basis rather than locking the entire run into a rigid timeline.

Asked by Deadline whether HBO could realistically release a season every year considering the production demands, Bloys gave a straightforward answer.

"No. We’re trying as hard to bring it back as quickly as possible. It’s not going to be two years [between seasons], but we’re trying hard to keep it as compressed as possible."

That seems like a reasonable approach for a production of this size. HBO has to recreate the Wizarding World on a massive television scale, while also working with a young cast that will naturally grow up during production. Keeping the seasons moving without rushing them is going to be an interesting balancing act.

As for whether HBO still expects Harry Potter to run for the previously discussed ten years, Bloys isn’t committing to an exact number.

"Who knows? Each book is a huge event. I’m right now thinking about season by season as far as what it all adds up to."

One date Bloys sounds much more confident about is the beginning of the adventure. The series will launch this December with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and HBO is going all-in on Christmas for its premiere.

"Christmas Day is going to be a great launch day for Harry Potter," Bloys promised.

Bloys also addressed Rowling’s continued connection to the adaptation. When asked whether the author’s controversial public views had caused difficulties with casting or production, he responded: "Not even a little bit."

Rowling also remains creatively involved in bringing the books back to the screen. When asked about whether she continues to participate in developing the series, Bloys answered: "Yes absolutely"

So while the exact long-term schedule remains flexible, HBO clearly wants to keep Harry Potter moving at a steady pace. There may not be a new season every Christmas, but the network also doesn’t intend to leave viewers waiting two years between trips to Hogwarts.

The new Harry Potter series begins, appropriately enough, with Harry believing there’s nothing particularly remarkable about his life. His Aunt Petunia certainly doesn’t think there is.

Everything changes on his 11th birthday when an acceptance letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry reveals a hidden world of magic, friendship, adventure and some very dangerous connections to his past.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone premieres on HBO Max this Christmas.

Black Bear Pictures has dropped the first teaser trailer for Wife & Dog, and Guy Ritchie is heading straight into the vicious world of Britain’s obscenely wealthy elite. Money, murder, family betrayal, and Benedict Cumberbatch and Rosamund Pike looking perfectly at home among terrible rich people? Yeah, this could be fun!

The upcoming black comedy centers on the Fairbank family and the ruthless fight over who gets what. Greed drives the family and everyone orbiting them toward betrayal and murder as the battle for succession gets increasingly nasty.

The official description calls the film a "return to the colourful, back-stabbing world of the British aristocracy" and says it "follows the relentless greed of the Fairbank family and their associates who fuel betrayal and murder in the battle for succession."

It sounds a little like Ritchie taking a swing at Succession, only with his own taste for criminals, violence, dark humor, and wealthy people behaving horribly.

Cumberbatch and Pike lead an impressive cast that also includes Anthony Hopkins, Cosmo Jarvis, James Norton, Paddy Considine, and Pip Torrens.

The teaser keeps most of the movie under wraps, offering just enough of its characters, aristocratic atmosphere, and nasty family dynamics to sell what Ritchie is cooking. It doesn't need to spell everything out. The cast and premise already make Wife & Dog one worth watching.

Ritchie wrote and directed the film and also serves as a producer alongside Ivan Atkinson and John Friedberg. His long filmmaking career includes Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Revolver, RocknRolla, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Disney's Aladdin, The Gentlemen, Wrath of Man, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, The Covenant, Fountain of Youth, and In the Grey. He's also been keeping The Gentlemen going as a Netflix series.

Wife & Dog will open in theaters on February 19, 2027.

Zach Braff is stepping into much rougher territory with his new film Clean Hands, a new action thriller and drama inspired by an unbelievable true story.

Vertical has released the first trailer and poster for the film, giving us a look at Zach Braff as Sergeant Kevin Simmers, a Maryland police officer fighting the opioid crisis on the streets while facing an even more painful version of it at home.

The trailer puts Braff in the middle of a story that looks intense, personal, and far removed from the comedy projects he's best known for.

Simmers leads a police task force targeting the drug trade in Hagerstown, Maryland, a major stop along the so-called "Heroin Highway." His work has made the opioid epidemic part of his everyday life, but the job takes on an entirely different meaning when his 19-year-old daughter Brooke becomes addicted.

Brooke, played by newcomer Esther McGregor, initially becomes dependent on pain medication before her addiction escalates to heroin. Kevin suddenly finds himself confronting the limitations of the same system he's spent his career serving, as being a cop offers no easy answer for saving his daughter.

It's a heavy role for Braff and a major change of pace from his best-known work as J.D. in Scrubs and his performance in Garden State. He's taken on dramatic projects before, but Clean Hands pushes him into particularly dark material as a father watching his family get torn apart by the same crisis he's fighting professionally.

The movie comes from writer-director Jake Allyn, whose previous feature was Ride. The real story behind the film also extends beyond what happens onscreen.

Clean Hands was made in partnership with Brooke's House, the nonprofit all-women recovery home founded by the real Kevin Simmers in Hagerstown in 2018. The organization has since helped hundreds of women dealing with addiction.

That partnership became part of the production itself. Women in recovery were given opportunities to learn different filmmaking jobs through an on-set work program, while Brooke's House graduates were cast in the movie to portray people within the world of addiction. One-third of the film's profits will also go to Brooke's House.

Braff and McGregor are joined by Abigail Spencer, Holt McCallany, and Lucas Till. Allyn produced Clean Hands alongside Conor Allyn, Brian Loschiavo, James Suttles, Jason Winn, and JR Rappaport, with Braff also serving as one of the film's executive producers.

The trailer points to a raw and emotionally charged role for Braff, with the actor playing a man forced to confront the opioid crisis from opposite sides of his life. It's certainly a different kind of performance for the actor, but it looks like a great film!

Clean Hands arrives in select theaters and On Demand on October 16.

David Corenswet’s Superman is growing up a little, but hopefully he isn’t losing the optimism that made fans connect with him in the first place.

One of the biggest DCU movies on the horizon is Man of Tomorrow. The sequel to 2025’s Superman is set to hit theaters on July 9, 2027, with David Corenswet returning as Clark Kent.

There are already plenty of questions surrounding Man of Tomorrow. Fans are wondering who Adria Arjona will play, with Wonder Woman being a popular theory despite nothing being confirmed, and there’s speculation about whether the film could connect directly to Lanterns.

Now Corenswet has offered another interesting detail about where Superman himself is headed. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Corenswet teased that Clark won’t be exactly the same hero we met in Superman.

“The character is a little more mature. They’re going to go a little bit deeper.” He also teased some “crazy stuff” coming in the sequel, including Nicholas Hoult suiting up as Lex Luthor in his War Suit.

A more mature Superman makes sense. Time has passed, Clark has more experience under his belt, and the events of the first movie gave him plenty to process. The big question is what “more mature” actually means for this version of the Man of Steel.

One of the best things about Corenswet’s Superman was his youthful sincerity. This Clark believed in people, looked for the good in them, and held onto hope even when the world gave him reasons not to. That personality helped distinguish him from some of the more serious interpretations of Superman we’ve seen over the years.

Growing as a character doesn’t have to mean losing any of that. Clark can become more experienced and face more complicated situations while remaining the hopeful hero audiences embraced. Hopefully, Man of Tomorrow doesn’t mistake maturity for making Superman more stoic, cynical, or emotionally distant.

That would be especially strange considering what Clark already survived in Superman. Learning the truth about his biological parents could have completely shattered his view of himself, yet he came through that revelation without abandoning the values that define him. It would take something pretty extreme to suddenly turn this Superman into a pessimist.

There’s also more pressure on Man of Tomorrow after Supergirl disappointed at the box office earlier this summer. One underperforming movie doesn’t determine the future of an entire franchise, but another successful Superman film would certainly help reinforce the foundation of the DCU and show that the first movie’s success wasn’t a one-time thing.

That makes Clark’s characterization particularly important. Corenswet’s version of Superman already works, so there’s no need to reinvent him. Let him grow, challenge him, and put him through some crazy comic book insanity, especially with Lex Luthor running around in a War Suit, but keep the qualities that made this Superman so likable.

Man of Tomorrow arrives in theaters July 9, 2027.

Josh Cooley is heading into one seriously dangerous forest for his next project, and he’s bringing Sam Raimi along for the ride.

After directing Transformers One, Cooley has signed on to write 99 Nights in the Forest, a feature adaptation of the massively popular Roblox survival game for 20th Century Studios.

The studio secured the rights after a highly competitive battle for the property. A director hasn’t been attached yet, but there’s already some great genre talent involved on the producing side.

Raimi, whose credits include Send Help and the Evil Dead franchise, will produce alongside Rob Tapert (Don’t Breathe) through Ghost House Pictures. The combination of Cooley and Raimi makes this a pretty interesting project, especially considering just how creepy the game can get.

Produced by Grandma’s Favourite Games, 99 Nights in the Forest drops players into a haunted wilderness where the goal is exactly what the title promises: survive 99 nights. At the same time, players are tasked with rescuing four missing children while trying not to get killed by a vicious deer and the other creatures roaming the woods.

The game hasn’t even been around for a full year, yet it has already become the seventh most-played game of all time on Roblox. It has racked up nearly 26 billion lifetime visits and currently holds a 90.6% player rating.

Game creators Alec Kieft, also known as Cracky4, Matthew Hufton, aka ForyxeV, and Cameron Angland, aka Viridial, will serve as executive producers. Ghost House’s Romel Adam (Evil Dead Rise) and Jose Cañas (Play Dead) are also executive producing.

Cooley brings an impressive animation résumé to the adaptation. He won an Academy Award for Toy Story 4, his feature directorial debut, and recently directed Transformers One, the first fully CG-animated feature in the Transformers franchise, which was actually really good! His Pixar credits also include Inside Out, Coco, Incredibles 2, Onward, and Soul.

There’s no word yet on whether 99 Nights in the Forest will be live-action, animated, or some combination of the two. There’s also no release date or casting information at this point.

Still, a survival horror story involving missing kids, a haunted forest, vicious creatures, and a nightmare deer sounds like material that fits nicely under the Ghost House banner.

Now we’ll have to see what Cooley comes up with for the screenplay and who 20th Century Studios eventually brings in to direct.

Mckenna Grace (Young Sheldon, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) made her Marvel debut in the 2019 film Captain Marvel, in which she played the young version of Carol Danvers.

As this was a flashback scene, it gave context to the story, but her character was not revisited moving forward. So could the rumor be true that Grace is up for a “huge” new role in the MCU that would have more staying power for the star?

Reliable Marvel Scooper @MyTimeToShineH shared a post on X, writing, “McKenna Grace is being eyed for a huge role in the MCU. Who do you want her to play?”

There’s no way to know who Marvel boss Kevin Feige could be considering her for. I know that X-Men is in active casting, with a few roles still up for grabs, but there is still so much untapped story and characters in Marvel comics, it would be hard to guess who she could be.

But that’s also kind of the fun of it. Are there any roles in Marvel you haven’t seen on the big screen yet that you’d be stoked to see Mckenna Grace play?

Let us know below!

McKenna Grace is being eyed for a huge role in the MCU.

Who do you want her to play? pic.twitter.com/RZF7Wq3RkJ

— MyTimeToShineHello (@MyTimeToShineH) September 17, 2026

Zack Snyder is getting ready to march back into the world of 300, and it sounds like he may personally direct part of the long-awaited prequel TV series.

Snyder recently offered an encouraging update on the project, confirming that development is moving forward and teasing his potential directing involvement. While story details are still being kept under wraps, the filmmaker sounds pretty excited about where the series is headed.

Speaking with Josh Horowitz on Happy Sad Confused, Snyder was asked about the status of the 300 prequel and what fans can expect from his return to the franchise.

“It’s a very rich universe, the 300 universe,” Snyder said. He also described the project as “very exciting and very good.” Horowitz then asked whether Snyder intends to direct some of the episodes himself, and Snyder replied, “I think so.”

That should be welcome news for fans of the original movie. Snyder's 300 had such a specific visual identity, from its highly stylized battles and dramatic slow motion to its heightened depiction of ancient warfare. Having Snyder direct episodes of the series could help connect the prequel visually to the film that started it all.

The potential Netflix series would also continue Snyder's relationship with the streaming service following projects including Army of the Dead and the Rebel Moon films.

Exactly what story the 300 prequel will tell remains a mystery, but Snyder has clarified that it isn't connected to Blood and Ashes, another project that originally started life as an idea for a 300 movie.

Snyder developed Blood and Ashes during the COVID-19 pandemic, but his research eventually sent the project somewhere completely different.

“It was an Alexander the Great story that got hijacked by history when I did my research, and it turned into… a love story between Alexander and Hephaestion,” Snyder further explained. “It just completely diverged from the 300 universe completely and became its own thing.”

With Blood and Ashes becoming its own story, the new TV project is the one being developed specifically within the 300 universe.

Snyder directed the original 2006 film, which starred Gerard Butler as King Leonidas and followed the Spartan king and his warriors into the Battle of Thermopylae. The movie became a major box-office hit and played a huge role in establishing the filmmaker's recognizable action style.

Nearly two decades later, a prequel series gives Snyder a chance to explore more of that world without simply retelling what audiences have already seen.

There are still plenty of questions surrounding the story, cast, and production timeline, but knowing Snyder expects to direct at least some of it makes this return to 300 a lot more interesting.

Now we just need to find out which corner of the 300 universe Snyder plans to unleash on us next.

It’s kind of crazy that we’re actually talking about a World War Z sequel moving forward again. After more than a decade of false starts, abandoned plans, and years where it seemed like the sequel might never happen, Brad Pitt is officially returning and Paramount has tapped Edward Berger to direct.

I’m seriously excited about this! I really enjoyed the first World War Z. It was a big, intense zombie movie with some fantastic sequences, and watching those massive swarms of zombies climbing over each other like a tidal wave of bodies was wild. The movie had a great sense of scale, and Pitt was great in it.

Getting that movie made wasn’t exactly easy, either. The original World War Z had a notoriously difficult production, including major rewrites and extensive reshoots that resulted in the entire third act being reworked.

Considering all the problems surrounding the production, it’s impressive that the finished movie turned out as well as it did. It went on to earn more than $540 million worldwide and became Pitt’s biggest box office hit at the time.

The film was based on Max Brooks’ bestselling 2006 novel, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, although the movie took the material in a very different direction.

You’d think that kind of box office success would have made a sequel relatively straightforward. Nope. The road to World War Z 2 has been even longer.

Pitt has been trying to make this movie for more than a decade. One of the most exciting versions would have reunited him with longtime collaborator David Fincher, who came close to directing. I would have loved to see what Fincher could have done with a massive zombie movie starring Pitt, but budget issues ultimately killed that incarnation and Fincher walked away.

The sequel went back into development limbo, but Pitt apparently never gave up on getting it made. Things finally started moving again last summer when Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg became Co-Chairs of Paramount Pictures.

The studio made World War Z 2 a high-priority project and confirmed at CinemaCon in Las Vegas that it wanted to get the sequel made. Skydance also played a major role in getting the original film off the ground, and founder David Ellison shares Pitt’s desire to continue the franchise.

Now Pitt has found his director. Pitt and Berger recently wrapped production on A24 and Scott Free’s The Riders, and the two apparently had such a good experience working together that they were already looking for another project to tackle. Pitt reportedly began pitching Berger on World War Z 2 early during production and felt he would be perfect for it.

By the time The Riders finished shooting, Berger was on board. Paramount has since closed deals with both Pitt and Berger to move forward with the sequel.

Dennis Kelly is writing the screenplay, while Pitt, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner will produce through Plan B Entertainment. Berger will executive produce. As for what Gerry Lane will be dealing with this time around, those details are being kept secret.

The project also continues Pitt’s relationship with Paramount. He’ll next appear in the survival thriller Heart of the Beast, which reunites him with his Fury director David Ayer, and he’ll also be seen later this year in Netflix’s The Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth.

After everything the first World War Z went through just to make it into theaters, it’s fitting that the sequel has endured its own marathon journey. Still, it’s been more than a decade! I honestly reached the point where I figured World War Z 2 was one of those movies we’d keep hearing about every few years without ever actually seeing it happen.

I’m glad they never completely gave up on World War Z 2, because there’s a lot more that can be done with this world. I had a blast with the first movie, and after this insanely long road to a sequel, I’m excited to see what Pitt and Berger ultimately deliver.

Source: Deadline

Following Jason Momoa’s exit from the project, Alan Ritchson is in talks to star in Sony Pictures’ upcoming adaptation of Helldivers, with Justin Lin still attached to direct. If the deal comes together, the Reacher star will play one of the Helldivers sent into battle to defend Super Earth.

Sony hasn’t commented on the potential casting, and additional roles have yet to be announced. Plot details are also being kept under wraps, but the Helldivers movie already has a theatrical release date set for November 10, 2027.

Ritchson is a perfect fit for this particular universe. The Helldivers games mix massive sci-fi warfare, awesome amounts of firepower, chaotic teamwork, and a satirical obsession with spreading freedom and Managed Democracy across the galaxy.

Ritchson has the physical presence for the action, and he’s also proven that he can handle comedy without losing the tough-guy edge that has made him such a strong action star.

The original Helldivers launched in 2015 as a cooperative twin-stick shooter from Arrowhead Game Studios. Players join the elite Helldivers and fight alongside one another to protect Super Earth from humanity’s enemies in an intergalactic war.

Helldivers 2 took that concept to a much bigger scale when it arrived in 2024. I’m a big fan of the game and still enjoy playing it. In it, Helldivers charged with spreading peace, liberty, and Managed Democracy using some of the biggest and most destructive weapons available.

The sequel became a monster success, and that success makes a Helldivers movie an obvious addition to Sony and PlayStation Productions’ growing lineup of video game adaptations.

Hutch Parker is producing alongside PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Lin through Perfect Storm Entertainment.

Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions have already teamed up on several major game adaptations, including Uncharted, starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg. Unfortunatley, it sucked. The companies have also worked on Peacock’s Twisted Metal series and HBO’s Emmy-winning The Last of Us.

The big question now is what kind of Helldivers movie Lin and Sony are putting together. The games have plenty of material for a huge sci-fi action spectacle, but their absurd propaganda, dark comedy, friendly-fire disasters, and over-the-top patriotism are a huge part of what makes the franchise so much fun.

Ritchson could fit right into that madness!

Source: Deadline

Jeffrey Dean Morgan wants into Zack Snyder’s Escape From New York, and he’s apparently making sure Snyder doesn’t forget it.

The Walking Dead star has been campaigning for a shot at playing Snake Plissken in Snyder’s upcoming reboot of John Carpenter’s sci-fi classic. Snyder recently confirmed that Morgan has been contacting him about the project.

"He's been literally hitting me up," Snyder said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "He's the best. I love him. He's great."

That doesn’t confirm Morgan is getting the role, but the actor certainly isn’t waiting around for Snyder to call him first. Morgan would actually be an interesting choice!

Snyder was announced in June as the writer and director of the new Escape From New York. The project has already gone through a few different creative teams. Back in 2022, Scream filmmakers Radio Silence were attached to direct, with Leigh Whannell writing the screenplay. Both eventually departed the project in 2024.

Snyder explained his approach to the remake saying: “The approach is for me — the movie is going to be set in 97. It’s from the perspective of 1981.

“I set the movie — the war between the United States police force and the criminal elements takes place on July 9, 1981 which is the release date of the original movie. The rest is pretty much Escape From New York.”

The original 1981 film starred Kurt Russell, who was awesome as Snake Plissken, a former Green Beret turned convicted criminal who gets one hell of a deal.

After the President of the United States becomes trapped inside Manhattan, which has been converted into a massive maximum-security prison, Snake is given 24 hours to rescue him in exchange for his freedom.

Morgan previously talked about wanting to get involved during a previous interview and he made it very clear that Snyder has already heard from him.

"Bro, don't think I'm not texting him or calling him," Morgan said. "I already am. I mean, I think that Snake will probably be a little younger than I am, but you know, there's some roles in there...

“Grizzled Snake wouldn't be bad, by the way. It would be cool. Look, I'm going to do my due diligence and stalk him for a little bit, because that's one of my all-time favorite films."

A grizzled Jeffrey Dean Morgan version of Snake Plissken is certainly easy to picture. Morgan already has the weathered attitude and swagger that could work for the character, although, as he points out himself, Snyder may be looking for someone younger.

Morgan and Snyder also have some history. The actor played Thomas Wayne in Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, so this wouldn’t be their first time working together.

For now, Snyder hasn’t revealed who he has in mind to inherit Snake’s eyepatch from Russell. Morgan is making his interest impossible to miss, though, and if Snyder’s phone keeps lighting up with messages from him, at least we know what he wants.

Would you like to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan play an older, grizzled Snake Plissken in Snyder’s Escape From New York?

Well, that certainly took an unexpected turn!

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil spends most of its lean 90-minute runtime putting its hero through an increasingly nasty and intense survival horror nightmare, only to completely pull the rug out from under us in its final minutes.

I genuinely wasn’t expecting the movie to end where it does, and I imagine plenty of fans are going to walk out wondering what the hell they just watched.

Personally, I really liked it. It’s strange, gruesome, surprisingly heartbreaking, and completely bonkers. More importantly, it feels perfectly at home in the Resident Evil universe. I’m very curious to see how audiences react because this is absolutely the kind of ending people are going to want to talk about.

Cregger taking on Resident Evil was already an exciting choice. After making Barbarian and Weapons, he could have continued focusing entirely on original horror, but instead he jumped into a franchise with a long and very uneven history of movie adaptations.

Some fans were disappointed when it became clear that his film wouldn’t directly adapt a particular storyline or center on one of the familiar heroes from Capcom’s games. Instead, Cregger went after something different. He made a movie designed to capture what it feels like to actually play a survival horror game.

It paid off. Resident Evil is the highest-rated movie in the franchise and the highest-rated video game movie of all time. The film throws viewers into a fast, nightmarish trip through Raccoon City, but its ending is where Cregger takes his biggest swing.

The story follows Austin Abrams as Bryan, a courier desperately trying to deliver something to Raccoon City General Hospital. Getting there becomes an insane nightmare as he encounters increasingly horrific creatures, including a mutant dog and an infected little girl who manages to bite him on the arm.

Bryan eventually ends up in a car with an Umbrella Corporation executive, and that’s when he finally learns what he’s actually carrying. Bryan is transporting part of a cure for Umbrella’s virus. His job is to get it to a laboratory team capable of synthesizing it.

That information suddenly becomes very important to Bryan because, well… he’s infected. He wants some of the cure for himself, but Resident Evil isn’t about to make things easy for the poor guy.

Bryan has to survive zombies, acid-spewing monsters, and a horrifying amalgamation creature before finally reaching the lab and handing over what he’s been carrying. By then, however, something is very wrong.

Bryan tries hiding the mutation spreading through his hand, but his body quickly becomes impossible to control. Tentacles erupt from his back. A massive mouth filled with teeth tears open across his stomach.

The guy we’ve followed through this entire horrific journey transforms into something that looks like it wandered out of John Carpenter’s The Thing. This is where the ending really got me.

Bryan is still in there. He’s begging the scientists for the cure while his mutated body essentially betrays him, with his new extremities violently killing the people around him. After watching him struggle to survive for the entire movie, there’s something genuinely sad about seeing him finally reach his destination only to lose control of himself.

Then Cregger goes for the throat.

The cure slips away and falls more than 20 stories to the ground. A National Guard helicopter appears, its spotlight lands on the fully mutated Bryan, and the screen cuts to black.

Resident Evil.

Roll credits.

I was very shocked! I expected things to get crazy because this is Resident Evil, but I didn’t expect the movie to turn Bryan into the monster at the end of his own story. It’s such a wonderfully jacked-up way to finish his journey.

The more I thought about it, though, the more I liked what Cregger was doing. The Resident Evil games frequently tell stories through pieces of information players discover while exploring.

You’ll find documents, scientific notes, recordings, journals, and other scraps explaining what happened to people before you arrived. Sometimes you’re essentially discovering the horrible origin story of the creature you’re eventually going to fight.

That’s what Bryan’s story feels like. The creature he becomes isn’t pulled directly from the games. It’s an original monster created for the movie. Yet the entire film can almost be viewed as the tragic backstory of a massive Resident Evil boss encounter.

We didn’t just stumble across the monster. We spent 90 minutes getting to know the poor bastard who became it.

That makes the ending much more interesting to me. If another character eventually encounters mutated Bryan, the audience already knows exactly what happened to him. Imagine someone like Leon Kennedy walking into that lab during a game, finding a few scattered documents describing Bryan’s delivery, and then eventually encountering this gigantic mutated monstrosity.

Except this time, we watched the entire story contained in those documents. There’s currently no guarantee that a sequel will happen, although Cregger has expressed interest in continuing. The movie certainly leaves Bryan in a position where his story could continue, even if the film itself doesn’t explicitly promise anything.

For anyone wondering whether Resident Evil sneaks in a mid-credits or post-credits scene teasing the future, it doesn’t.

Once that Resident Evil title card appears following Bryan’s transformation, the movie is finished. There’s no Leon Kennedy reveal, no Umbrella tease, and no extra scene telling us who might encounter Bryan next.

I actually appreciate that restraint. The ending is weird and abrupt enough that throwing another franchise tease onto it could have taken some of the punch away.

Of course, if Bryan ever does return as a giant boss monster, Cregger has created an amusing problem for audiences. Who are we supposed to root for? If Leon or another familiar Resident Evil character eventually has to unload a ridiculous amount of ammunition into this thing, part of me is still going to be thinking, “Come on, Bryan!”

That’s what makes the ending work for me. It’s bleak, gross, sad, funny in a twisted way, and completely unexpected. I definitely wasn’t expecting Resident Evil to end with its protagonist becoming the kind of horrifying creature you’d normally spend an entire game preparing to fight.

It’s a pretty bonkers choice, but within the world of Resident Evil, it fits! I can also see it being divisive. After following Bryan for the whole movie and rooting for him to get that cure, some viewers may not love having the story cut to black at the worst possible moment for him. Others are probably going to eat up the sheer insanity of it.

I landed in the latter camp. The surprise is a big part of why I enjoyed it. Now I want to know what everyone else thought!

Sauron is having some serious trouble with his latest arts and crafts project, and unfortunately for the Orcs of Mordor, failure comes with a pretty horrific body count.

Charlie Vickers returns as the Dark Lord when The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3 and the story will push Sauron further toward the version of the villain fans know from The Lord of the Rings, including his attempt to forge the One Ring.

New script pages revealed by Entertainment Weekly offer a look at Sauron’s introduction in Season 3, and it sounds much nastier than expected.

Five years have passed when the season begins, and Sauron is working inside his forge at Barad-dûr. Co-showrunner Patrick McKay explained that the creative team wanted to “start in a slightly different way.” That opening finds Sauron already consumed by his effort to create the One Ring.

His experiments aren’t going well. Sauron produces a golden ring and orders a nervous Orc to put it on. The moment the Orc slips it onto his finger, his hand erupts in flames. The fire consumes him until nothing remains but a smoldering pile of bones.

The prototype doesn’t fare much better. It disintegrates in Sauron’s hand. Even worse, this poor Orc isn’t Sauron’s first test subject.

Sauron has apparently spent the past five years trying and failing to forge the One Ring. Co-showrunner J.D. Payne says he still “hasn’t got the recipe right yet.”

This isn’t just about making another magical ring. Sauron needs something powerful enough to dominate the three Elven Rings, seven Dwarf Rings, and nine Rings of Men. The problem is that his own arrogance has left him without the knowledge required to finish the job.

After believing he had learned everything he needed from Celebrimbor, Sauron ordered the records of the legendary Elven smith’s ring-making methods destroyed. Now Celebrimbor is dead, the records are gone, and Sauron discovers that maybe he didn’t know quite as much as he thought.

Payne explained, “Sauron’s own hubris has gotten the better of him.” Those repeated failures also start getting inside Sauron’s head. Vickers said, “Sauron has fallen back down that rabbit hole of frustration and darkness.”

He added, “In killing Celebrimbor, he has lost control and killed the person that could have helped him most on this quest. So he is doubting himself.”

That frustration sends Sauron searching for whatever remains of Celebrimbor’s work. He orders the Orcs to hunt down any surviving records, which brings Marnûkh into the story and gives Sauron another person he can manipulate to get what he wants.

Opening Season 3 with Sauron essentially running lethal One Ring experiments on Orcs sounds like a pretty effective way to show where his head is at. He’s frustrated, obsessed, and willing to burn through bodies until he finally creates the weapon that will help him dominate Middle-earth.

We already know where this road ends. Watching Sauron figure out how to get there could be one of the more interesting parts of The Rings of Power Season 3.

Nicholas Hoult is robbing banks, broadcasting the chaos, and taking a swing at the system in the new trailer for How to Rob a Bank, the latest action thriller from David Leitch.

Amazon MGM Studios has released a new trailer, and this looks like a great film! The story follows a crew of social media-savvy bank robbers who document their heists online while using their crimes to call out corruption. Naturally, turning bank robberies into viral content comes with a few complications.

As their online fame grows, the crew catches the attention of a veteran FBI agent and a gifted software engineer played by and Zoë Kravitz, who begin tracking them down. With the authorities closing in, the robbers decide to go even bigger, risking everything on their most ambitious heist.

The official synopsis reads: “Who's robbing who?" In David Leitch's next action-packed movie How to Rob a Bank, a crew of social media-savvy bank robbers broadcasts their daring heists, unaware that their growing viral fame has put them in the crosshairs of a veteran FBI agent and a brilliant software engineer.

“Despite the unlikely duo closing in on the crew, the crime syndicate pushes past their limits, putting everything on the line for their beliefs — and their most ambitious heist yet.

Hoult and Kravitz are joined by Anna Sawai, Rhenzy Feliz, Christian Slater, Pete Davidson, and John C. Reilly, with Reilly playing one of the federal agents hunting the crew.

Leitch certainly knows his way around big, slick action movies. His previous directing credits include Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Once Upon a Deadpool, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Bullet Train, and The Fall Guy. How to Rob a Bank was written by Mark Bianculli.

The movie comes from MGM, Imagine Entertainment, and 87North Productions, with Brian Grazer, Jeb Brody, Allan Mandelbaum, Leitch, and Kelly McCormick producing.

What makes How to Rob a Bank look particularly fun is the way it mixes the heist movie formula with social media culture and a group of young criminals who see themselves as fighting a corrupt system. The trailer sells plenty of slick action and attitude, but that idea could give the movie something more interesting to play with between robberies.

Hopefully, it commits to these characters as the heroes of their own story all the way through. Watching Hoult and the rest of this crew tear into the system while attempting increasingly insane robberies looks like a good time!

Amazon MGM Studios will hit theaters on November 13, 2026. Im excited about watching this one!

Fans finally have their first look at Aslan in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, and this version of the legendary lion comes with a couple of noticeable changes.

The new image reveals that Aslan will have two different colored eyes, with one blue and the other brown. That’s an interesting visual choice for one of fantasy’s most recognizable characters, but it isn’t the biggest change Gerwig’s movie is making to Aslan.

Meryl Streep is reportedly voicing the character, taking over a role previously performed by Liam Neeson in the 2000s Chronicles of Narnia films.

We also have a first look at Emma Mackey's take on the White Witch. 

Whether you grew up reading C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia books or have a soft spot for the previous movies, Aslan carries a lot of weight in this world. Changing the character’s voice and giving the lion a new physical feature immediately sets Gerwig’s interpretation apart.

Gerwig, who directed Barbie, is currently working on The Magician’s Nephew for Netflix, with the film slated for release in February 2027. It will also mark Netflix’s first movie to premiere in theaters.

There have already been signs that Gerwig is putting her own stamp on Lewis’s story. Set photos have pointed to a significant change in the story’s timeline, and reports have suggested that The Magician’s Nephew could become Netflix’s most expensive movie yet.

The changes are already getting a strong response from fans, particularly from those who aren’t sold on the direction Gerwig is taking. Responding to the first-look image shared by Empire Magazine, one commenter wrote, “So many unnecessary creative liberties…Going to skip this …Never liked any Greta Gerwig movies anyways.”

Another fan responded, “Greta, you in danger girl,” alongside an image of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi saying, “This is not going to go the way you think.”

Another commenter was concerned that the new adaptation might not deliver the version of Narnia they’ve been hoping to see: “With this casting and that picture, my faith in this adaptation is starting to erode, and I hate that. I have wanted and hope this would be better than the Disney abomination. Getting vibes this one may be on par or worse. Dang it.”

Of course, a first-look image and a casting choice don’t tell us how the finished movie will turn out. Streep is an incredible performer, and it’ll be interesting to hear what she brings to Aslan and how Gerwig approaches the character within the larger story.

Still, adapting The Chronicles of Narnia comes with plenty of pressure. Lewis’s books have generations of readers attached to them, while the previous films have their own loyal following. Fans are going to notice every change, especially when it involves a character as important as Aslan.

Gerwig clearly isn’t simply recreating what came before. We now know her Narnia will feature a different period, a different voice for Aslan, and a new look for the character. The real question is how all of those choices work once we actually see The Magician’s Nephew.

Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew is currently scheduled to arrive in February 2027.

🚨WORLD-EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK 🚨

Greta Gerwig opens the doors to Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew in the new issue of Empire – detailing her revolutionary rock’n’roll adaptation.

Here’s your first look at Aslan – and he’s voiced by the legendary Meryl Streep.

On sale Thurs… pic.twitter.com/zsXC1yRkJD

— Empire (@empiremagazine) September 17, 2026

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The Spawn reboot is still being dragged through Hell with it’s long development process. Despite rumors that Blumhouse’s long-in-development movie had been shelved, Todd McFarlane says the project is still alive. The problem is the script still isn’t the Spawn movie he has in his head.

For fans who have been following this project through years of updates, delays, writers, and creative changes, that probably sounds painfully familiar. McFarlane knows the wait has been frustrating, but he doesn’t want to approve a screenplay just to get the movie made.

“We’re just still trying to get the script right,” McFarlane tells Dread Central. “I know it’s frustrating to everybody, especially me. I haven’t signed off because I just am not reading what I have in my head.”

The challenge appears to be finding the right balance between using decades of Spawn mythology and creating something that can stand on its own. McFarlane doesn’t want filmmakers completely reinventing his creation, but he’s equally uninterested in another straightforward adaptation of Al Simmons’ origin.

“What’s happening is people are either going too far off the reservation, or they’re being too loyal to it. To me, there’s nothing worse than somebody coming up to me going, ‘Hey, I’m going to do a Spawn movie, and I’m going to take your first five issues, and I’m going to redo the origin issue.’

“First off, we’ve already had that movie. And second off…There’re 380 issues of Spawn. I’m telling you right now, very little of the conversation would be the first five issues. I’ve got 380 chapters. Spawn is not defined by the first four or five chapters.”

That opens up a lot more material than another retelling of how Al Simmons became Spawn. McFarlane has spent decades expanding the mythology around the character, and he wants the reboot to dig into that larger world while also carving out its own identity.

His preferred approach also sounds far removed from the glossy superhero blockbuster formula. “It should just be really dark and gritty and unsettling.

“When I see examples like Obsession or Backrooms, you go, ‘The audience will consume this.’ We don’t need to do superhero. As a matter of fact… we should be trying to do something different because, again, we’re not going to have a $200 million budget like other superhero movies.”

That feels like the right territory for Spawn. He doesn’t need to be competing with massive comic book spectacles. The character comes with horror, demons, Hell, violence, and plenty of seriously messed-up imagery already baked into his DNA.

McFarlane announced in 2024 that the reboot would be titled King Spawn, suggesting the movie could pull at least some inspiration from the comic series of the same name. Its official synopsis reads:

“King Spawn further expands the Spawn Universe with a growing presence of Hell, Heaven, and Heroes here on Earth. A classic villain from Spawn's past has begun asserting his powers on Earth by corrupting as many souls as possible. And only Spawn knows that he even exists.”

The movie has been kicking around since 2017, and its creative team has changed considerably during that time. In 2022, Scott Silver, writer of Joker, Malcolm Spellman, known for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and Captain America: New World Order, and Matthew Mixon joined the project as writers.

As far as we know, Jamie Foxx remains attached to play Al Simmons, although after such a long development process, it’s possible the casting situation has changed.

McFarlane once planned to direct the film himself, but he has since reconsidered whether that would be the best move as the project has attracted higher-profile talent.

“If we’ve got an A-list actor, A-list producers, A-list writers, then do you want to shoot for A-list directors, A-list cinematographers?” he said in a recent interview. “The answer is, ‘of course.’ Let’s keep the momentum going.”

Spellman has also talked about what Spawn meant to him growing up and what the writing team wants to preserve from McFarlane’s comics.

“I grew up in Berkeley, which is a comic book city. Todd McFarlane’s SPAWN character was always one of my favorites — a Black superhero that was no bullshit, he was cool and dealt with modern issues.

“Myself, Matt Mixon, and Scott Silver are pledged to honoring what Todd started and what SPAWN is at its core, delivering something that’s relevant and edgy and unlike any other superhero movie out there.”

Spawn was one of the biggest comic books of the 1990s, even though the character doesn’t have quite the same mainstream presence today. The 1997 live-action Spawn movie certainly didn’t give the character, his villains, or his mythology the treatment fans wanted. HBO’s Spawn animated series fared much better and remains worth seeking out.

So, King Spawn is still crawling its way through development. McFarlane simply isn’t willing to give the script his approval until it captures what he believes this movie needs to be. Considering how long fans have already been waiting, that means the reboot could still be a ways off, but at least it hasn’t been killed.

If they eventually crack the script and actually get this thing in front of cameras, a nasty, horror-driven Spawn movie that avoids trying to imitate a $200 million superhero blockbuster could be a pretty cool way to bring Al Simmons back to the big screen.

Hideo Kojima has found the star of his next big espionage game. Physint will be led by Bill Skarsgård, the actor known for John Wick: Chapter 4, Nosferatu, and his terrifying run as Pennywise in the It films.

Kojima revealed the casting during the Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2026 Broadcast, where he shared updates on his projects with Xbox Game Studios.

While OD is "steadily taking shape" following continued performance capture this year, Kojima confirmed that Physint is also moving forward at its new home. "The project continues to make steady progress."

The game was originally being developed in partnership with Sony before Xbox acquired the project after Sony decided to cancel it. Despite that major change, Kojima’s ambitions for Physint certainly haven’t gotten any smaller.

Kojima describes it as "the culmination of more than 40 years of my career: a project that will redefine 'action espionage,' unbound by any existing genres in digital entertainment."

That’s a massive goal, but Physint is also a project that pulls Kojima back toward the kind of action espionage experience that defined Metal Gear Solid. Kojima previously explained that the idea came to him after becoming sick during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he realized how many fans still wanted him to create something in the vein of Metal Gear.

Now we know who will be at the center of it. Skarsgård will portray the lead character, joining previously announced cast members Charlee Fraser, Don Lee, also known as Ma Dong-seok, and Minami Hamabe.

Kojima explained his connection with Skarsgård and why the two decided to work together: "We are both long-time fans of each others' work, and we've decided to embark on this new adventure together."

Skarsgård feels like a fascinating fit for a Kojima game. He’s built a career playing characters who can be intimidating, strange, and unpredictable. Considering Kojima’s love of cinematic performances and memorable characters, there’s a lot of potential in seeing what the two create together.

Kojima also addressed Xbox’s involvement with the project following its move away from Sony, saying: "I would also like to thank our partners at Xbox for believing in our vision and walking this path toward the future alongside us."

He continued: "We are incredibly excited about the road ahead and look forward to sharing much more with you in the future."

Fans hoping to see Skarsgård sneaking around and snapping digital necks anytime soon should probably settle in for a long wait. Kojima said last year that Physint was still "another five or six years" away, and the publisher transition may have added some extra time to development.

So gameplay could still be a ways off. What we have now is a much clearer idea of what Kojima is building: a new action espionage game drawing from more than four decades of his career, with Skarsgård taking the lead and Xbox backing the project.

For anyone who has spent years hoping Kojima would return to the world of espionage games after Metal Gear Solid, Physint is becoming an interesting project to watch.

Michael B. Jordan apparently has another career path in mind, and anyone who has followed the Sinners star’s longtime anime obsession probably won’t be surprised by it.

Jordan won the Best Actor Oscar for playing the dual roles of Smoke and Stack in Sinners, the 2025 vampire film that also took home three other Academy Awards, including Best Director for Ryan Coogler.

Despite reaching one of the biggest milestones an actor can hit, Jordan is still thinking about what else he wants to create. Anime is high on that list.

Speaking with Vogue, Jordan discussed his love of anime, with the publication revealing that he already has anime projects in the early stages of development.

Jordan then joked about how far he might take that passion: "I might just quit it all and make anime the rest of my life."

Hell, why not! If that’s what he’s passionate about and he’s having a fun time creating anime projects, he should do it! I don’t think he will disappear from movies, I don’t see why he couldn’t just do it all, I’d absolutely want to see what kind of anime projects he would produce, though.

It’s no secret he’s a huge fan of anime, and he recently named Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke as his favorite movie of all time. Anime has also influenced his filmmaking, including elements of the Creed franchise, so moving into original anime projects feels like a natural extension of his interests.

Anime continues to grow into a major force at the global box office. Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle even outgrossed Superman last year, another sign of just how massive the audience has become.

While Jordan figures out how much anime he wants in his future, Coogler is heading back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for Black Panther 3.

The movie is set to arrive in 2028 and will star David Jonsson as T'Challa II, with Denzel Washington also joining the cast in a currently undisclosed role.

Coogler previously spoke about finding the right performer to play the grown-up T'Challa: "In this next film, he grows up, comes of age, and we had to find an incredible actor,"

Jordan obviously has plenty of options after the success of Sinners, but the possibility of him pouring his geeky love of anime into projects of his own might be one of the more interesting directions he could take.

Just maybe don’t quit acting completely, Michael. We can have both.

A new rumor from the Avengers: Doomsday corner of the internet has surfaced that claims to reveal insight into Sue’s emotional story arc in the film, and her ties to the villainous Dr. Doom.

In The Cosmic Circus’ September 2026 Q&A with Marvel insider Alex Perez, he was asked what he could reveal about Sue’s arc in the movie, and he said:

“It’s a pleasure! Sue’s arc is a very interesting one to see develop. Mainly because Sue will be one of those few characters who’s going to have a personal relationship with Doom and will understand what his motivation is. And it’ll put her in the difficult position of trying to sympathize with her friend while also trying to protect her family.”

This hasn’t been confirmed, but it would make sense that there’s a deeper connection between Sue and Doom, considering the first time we saw Victor von Doom, he was crouched down in Sue and Reed’s living room, eye to eye with their son, Franklin.

There’s also a complicated past with Doom and the Fantastic Four in the comics, but we just have to wait and see which direction the movie goes.

Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released in theatres on December 18, 2026.

After spending years in development limbo, Disney’s live-action Aladdin 2 is reportedly back in the works, and the studio is said to be looking for new writers to tackle the sequel.

According to scooper MyTimeToShineHello, Aladdin 2 has returned to active development at Disney, with the studio currently searching for writers. Disney hasn’t officially confirmed the report, so for now, this one should be treated strictly as a rumor.

Still, it’s an interesting development considering how long the sequel has been floating around without much movement.

Mena Massoud, who played Aladdin in the 2019 live-action film, previously admitted that he didn’t have any concrete information about what was happening with the project.

While promoting The Sacrifice Game, Massoud explained that the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes had put the sequel in limbo. After years of waiting since making the first movie, he had reached the point where “life just goes on.”

It’s easy to understand why Disney would remain interested in returning to Agrabah. Directed by Guy Ritchie, Aladdin starred Massoud alongside Naomi Scott as Jasmine, Will Smith as the Genie, Marwan Kenzari as Jafar, and Navid Negahban as the Sultan.

The live-action remake followed street thief Aladdin as he discovered a magical lamp containing the Genie and became caught up in Jafar’s plan to take control of Agrabah.

Made for an estimated $183 million, Aladdin went on to earn approximately $1.054 billion worldwide, including more than $355 million in North America. That’s a pretty convincing financial reason for Disney to keep Aladdin 2 somewhere on its radar.

The movie also connected more strongly with audiences than critics. Aladdin currently has a 6.9/10 rating on IMDb, while Rotten Tomatoes has it sitting at 57% from critics and 94% from audiences. Fans have continued to praise the cast, music, and visual effects. I personally enjoyed the film!

Should Aladdin 2 finally get moving again, Disney also has an opportunity to take the story somewhere new rather than simply adapting one of the animated sequels.

Jasmine ended the first film as the new Sultana of Agrabah, which gives a sequel plenty to explore. Watching her deal with the responsibilities of ruling while Aladdin figures out where he fits into that world could provide a natural continuation of their story.

Of course, a search for new writers means there’s still a long road between development and cameras actually rolling. There’s also no official word yet on whether Ritchie, Massoud, Scott, Smith, or the rest of the original creative team and cast would return.

For now, Aladdin 2 remains an unconfirmed Disney project that may have found some new life. Considering the first film crossed the billion-dollar mark, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Disney take another trip to Agrabah if the right story comes together. I’m just surprised it didn’t come together sooner.

Apple TV has released the full trailer for Tenzing, an epic true-story adventure about the historic first ascent of Mount Everest, with Tom Hiddleston stepping into the climbing boots of legendary New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary.

The film comes from Jennifer Peedom, the filmmaker behind Solo, Miracle on Everest, Sherpa, Mountain, River, and Deeper. After years of making documentaries in some of the world's most extreme mountain environments, Peedom makes her narrative feature debut with a story she clearly knows how to bring to the screen on a massive scale.

At the center of Tenzing is Genden Phuntsok as Tenzing Norgay, the gifted Himalayan climber who joined Hillary on the first successful expedition to the summit of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953.

Rather than simply turning that achievement into another survival movie about people battling their way up a mountain, Tenzing digs into Norgay's place within the expedition and what reaching the summit meant to him personally and spiritually.

Tenzing doesn't view Everest the same way as the Western climbers around him. To them, the mountain represents something to conquer. To Tenzing, Chomolungma is sacred, the mother goddess.

That becomes an important part of the story as the expedition navigates class, cultural divisions, ambition, and the very real possibility that the mountain could kill them.

Encouraged by his wife Dawa, played by Thinley Lhamo, Tenzing finds support from expedition secretary Jill Henderson, played by Caitríona Balfe. The two help convince British expedition leader Colonel John Hunt, played by Willem Dafoe, that Tenzing deserves to be part of the climbing team rather than simply serving the expedition.

Eventually, Tenzing and Hillary find themselves high above everything that separates them, relying on trust and mutual respect as they attempt something no one had successfully accomplished before.

The synopsis reads: “What follows is an ascent defined as much by tensions between backgrounds, classes and competing ambitions as by the perils of the mountain itself. But high above the world, empire, rank and aspiration fall away, leaving two outsiders bound by mutual respect and trust — and for Tenzing, the fulfillment of both a lifelong dream and a spiritual calling.”

Luke Davies wrote the screenplay, with Desray Armstrong, Iain Canning, Davies, Peedom, Emile Sherman, and Liz Watts producing.

The movie is premiering at the 2026 Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals before Apple TV releases Tenzing in select U.S. theaters for a one-week run beginning October 9, 2026. It will then make its streaming debut on Apple TV on October 16.

Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who, Attack the Block) has signed on to play a hotshot media lawyer in the ITV drama In Contempt. Ahead of her role in the Hulu pilot Chicks and a part in the London-set Only Murders in the Building Season 6, Whittaker will star in the “high-stakes” legal drama as barrister Olivia Savareid.

The character’s top-drawer advocacy skills have built her a career defending people’s reputations and engaging in multi-million pound litigation to prevent their names from being destroyed on social media, but the series will see the tables turned on her.

In Contempt establishes Olivia’s challenging working relationship with veteran news director Greg Dalman, who edits a London daily newspaper prone to pushing the boundaries of what can be published.

With a reputation for taking no prisoners, Greg has the capability of acting recklessly if he believes it’s in the public interest, and and as his legal counsel, Olivia, must summon all her skills and expertise to keep him out of libel court.

She is also the mother of 15-year-old daughter, but when an explosive situation erupts at work, she makes a crucial misjudgement and Olivia’s own reputation is suddenly on the line.

Steve Thompson (Sherlock) is the show’s writer, with Sue Vertue and Steven Moffat the executive producers. Ed Bazalgette (The Last Kingdom) is the director and Lawrence Till (Douglas is Cancelled) the producer. ITV’s Director of Drama, Polly Hill, who commissioned the show is also overseeing production for the broadcaster.

Sherlock and Dracula maker Hartswood Films is producing in association with its parent, ITV Studios (ITVS), with the show airing in the UK on ITV and STV and on streamers ITVX and STV Player.

via: Deadline

A new rumor is circling around the casting of Marvel’s upcoming X-Men reboot. It’s already been announced that Sadie Sink is set to reprise her Spider-Man: Brand New Day role as Jean Grey, with Inde Navarrette as Rogue, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Christopher Abbott as Professor Charles Xavier, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Maya Boyd as Storm, and Adam Driver as Nathan Milbury/Mr. Sinister. It was also recently revealed that Asa Germann will play Angel.

Actors playing the characters Beast and Ice-Man have not yet been announced, but it seems the reboot may also introduce some supporting characters to set up future projects in the Mutant Saga.

As for casting those supporting roles, scooper Daniel Richtman revealed (via CBM) that the studio is "still looking to cast a few more roles, including a female role that will have a small part in the first film and a larger role in the sequel, a male POC role who would be either Native American or Latino (they haven’t decided yet) in a supporting role, and an Asian female supporting role."

There are several characters that could fit these descriptions, but if Marvel does go with a Native American hero, it will most likely be Forge, Thunderbird, or Warpath. Sunspot is the most prominent Latino male mutant in the comics, but there's also Empath and El Águila. As for the Asian female, it could be either Psylocke or Jubilee.

These assumptions would line up if these cast members are on the side of the good guys. If they are villains, that opens up the possibilities even more.

What are your ideas about who these characters could be?

X-Men will be directed by Jake Schreier (Thunderbolts*), and it will be released exclusively in theaters on May 5, 2028.

Universal Studios Hollywood’s new Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift rollercoaster has officially opened, and while theme park fans are screaming with excitement, some nearby Toluca Lake residents would really like them to stop screaming.

I actually had the opportunity to ride Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift, and it was a blast! It’s easily one of the best rollercoasters I’ve been on. Of course, I screamed while riding it, so I guess that made me part of the problem.

The new Universal Studios Hollywood attraction launches riders along 4,100 feet of aerial track at speeds reaching 72 MPH and forces of up to 3.6 Gs. Unfortunately for some of the park’s neighbors, those thrills come with a soundtrack they can hear from their homes.

Residents say the problem started when Universal began testing the rollercoaster in June. One of those residents is Roy P. Disney, the great-nephew of Walt Disney, whose family has long-standing ties to Toluca Lake.

Disney lives on Valley Spring Road, an area where the screams from Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift can be heard clearly. He says the sound reaches inside his home and even into his bedroom.

With the attraction now operating and riders expected to hit the track from 10am to 10pm daily, Disney and other residents want Universal to take additional action.

“I feel like I’ve been talking to myself,” said Disney. “I feel like I’m talking to myself. I feel like the complaints go into what I call a round file, and I feel like they figure it’s part of the war they’re playing, and they’re not listening to us, they’re not honoring us, and so we have to do more.”

Residents have created a community advisory panel to push for changes, and Universal has agreed to meet with them on September 30 at the Universal City Lot.

Importantly, the residents aren’t demanding that Universal shut down Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift. They’re looking for ways to contain the sound while keeping the rollercoaster running.

Longtime resident and interior designer Fred Berri, whose family has lived in the neighborhood for more than 50 years, has a few ideas that could potentially address the noise while making the attraction more immersive.

“We are not asking for Universal to close down the ride. We know it’s not going to go away. But there are ways to make the noise contained. There are many suggestions, one of which is from the movies. All the cars have hard tops.

“On the coaster, they’re convertibles. Why don’t they build plastic hard tops on those train cars? And then another really good suggestion came from a fan on Instagram who rode the ride. He said he really loved it but it’s ugly. You see nothing.

“Why don’t they build fake facades of the buildings from the movie so when you’re in the coaster you’re immersed in that experience? Not only could that wall serve a dual purpose of making the ride better, it’ll shield the sound from the neighborhood.”

Adding themed buildings or other Fast & Furious scenery could potentially help block some of the sound while giving riders more to look at as they race around the track.

Universal has already incorporated several noise-reduction measures into the attraction. The coaster track sits on pea gravel designed to reduce its roar, transparent “scream screens” have been installed around one of the ride’s higher curves, and the park constructed a 940-foot sound wall.

Residents, however, believe more needs to be done. A Universal Studios Hollywood spokesperson responded to the complaints, saying:

“Community feedback has been an important part of this process and has directly informed our work, including an additional sound barrier to further lessen sound levels in adjacent neighborhoods.

“Testing completed to date confirms the attraction is operating in compliance with sound ordinances applicable to Universal property, which are more stringent than City and County codes.”

Universal, meanwhile, is celebrating the coaster’s arrival. Scott Strobl, EVP and GM of Universal Studios Hollywood, said in the attraction’s opening announcement:

“Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is officially open, and we are so excited to be able to put guests in the driver’s seat of one of the most celebrated film franchises in history. The debut of this first-of-it-kind roller coaster is a literal game changer for Universal Studios Hollywood, and we look forward to sharing this thrilling experience with fans of the FastSaga and our guests visiting from around the world.”

The dispute has also drawn the attention of Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger. Because Universal Studios sits on county land, Barger contacted the Toluca Lake community and said that “my office will continue working directly with residents and Universal Studios to monitor the attraction and identify any measures that may be necessary to minimize noise or other impacts on surrounding neighborhoods.”

For some residents, the problem isn’t limited to an occasional scream in the distance. Nancy Jundi lives on the opposite side of Lankershim Boulevard near Valleyheart Drive, an area she describes as Universal Studios’ “front yard.”

From her backyard she can see the park’s giant Minion, and she says the screams from the rollercoaster are loud enough to interrupt Zoom calls for her cloud-based post and production company. “I knew I was moving into our version of Disneyland, but I didn’t expect all of this,” said Jundi.

It’s a strange problem for Universal to have. They built a rollercoaster that succeeds at making people scream, but those screams are now the thing causing trouble.

Now Universal and its Toluca Lake neighbors will have to figure out how the park can keep delivering those thrills without everyone living nearby having to experience them from their bedrooms and Zoom meetings.

Source: Deadline

Zach Cregger has apparently found the right combination of herbs because Resident Evil has landed a great Rotten Tomatoes score.

Cregger’s new horror movie has debuted with a 97% critics score, making it the highest-rated live-action video game adaptation ever on Rotten Tomatoes.

That’s especially impressive considering the film leaves familiar characters like Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield on the sidelines, something fans had plenty to say about before its release.

Turns out, Cregger didn’t need them.bAt 97%, Resident Evil edges past The Last of Us Season 1 and Fallout Season 2, which both sit at 96%. When it comes specifically to movies, the gap is much wider, with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 sitting at 86%.

The overall video game adaptation crown still belongs to animation, though. Arcane Season 2 currently holds a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score.

The strong reviews for Resident Evil aren’t surprising after seeing the movie. I personally loved it! It’s scary, fun, and takes the audience on a crazy ride. It’s easily one of the best video game adaptations and horror films of the year.

Critics have also responded enthusiastically to Cregger’s decision to make something that captures the spirit of the games without simply recreating familiar characters and storylines.

IndieWire offered one of the more colorful reactions, calling the movie "a massive and rapidly mutating middle finger to the Comic-Con-brained idea that video game adaptations should just give 'the fans' what they think they want."

The Hollywood Reporter also praised what Cregger has done with the long-running franchise, saying, "The talented filmmaker has completely rejuvenated the series, leaving the six original films and the misbegotten reboot attempt Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City in the dust."

This version of Resident Evil follows Austin Abrams as Bryan, a worn-down organ delivery guy whose night goes completely to hell in Raccoon City. He doesn’t stumble across Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield, or the other recognizable heroes fans might expect to see.

That choice could still rub some fans the wrong way, but it’s also a big reason the movie works. Cregger gets to play inside the Resident Evil universe without being chained to characters and stories audiences already know.

Daily Dead summed up that approach saying: "The essence of Capcom’s survival horror franchise is alive, yet Cregger’s horror-comedy snapshot centered around the Raccoon City outbreak creates its own glorious nightmares."

The movie isn’t escaping criticism entirely. Several reviews point to the final act as its weaker stretch, particularly after spending so much time getting audiences invested in Bryan. I personally liked the ending though. It was completely unnexpected!

The Guardian noted, "After doing a great job making us care about [Bryan] for more than 90 minutes, Cregger seems to abandon him a few steps shy of completing any real journey."

Even with that complaint, a 97% Rotten Tomatoes debut puts Cregger’s Resident Evil in rare territory for a video game adaptation.

Cregger made a Resident Evil movie that feels connected to the games while still being its own bloody, weird horror ride. Based on the critical response, plenty of people are happy to come along for it.

Resident Evil arrives in theaters September 18.

Getting Zack Snyder’s Justice League released was a long, messy road, but the filmmaker eventually got something else out of the experience: a little vindication from inside Warner Bros.

Zack Snyder has once again opened up about his departure from DC and the battle surrounding his original version of Justice League. Years after leaving the film and watching the studio take it in a completely different direction, Snyder says an unnamed former Warner Bros. executive admitted that the director had been right.

Snyder originally directed Justice League before stepping away from the production. Joss Whedon was brought in to finish the movie, overseeing extensive reshoots and changes that resulted in the theatrical version released in 2017.

Snyder still hasn’t watched Whedon’s version, because his wife told him not to after she saw it. But after years of fan campaigning, Warner Bros. eventually gave him the opportunity to finish his own cut. Zack Snyder’s Justice League arrived on HBO Max in 2021, restoring his original vision as a four-hour superhero epic.

Speaking with Variety, Snyder recalled a conversation with a Warner Bros. executive that gave him some closure after everything that happened:

"There was this catharsis of, I met with this executive at Warner Bros. who's long gone since – I won't say who it was – and he said to me, 'You know, Zack, I've got to tell you one thing: You were right about everything.' And I was like, 'That's kind of you.' And he goes, 'We were fighting you, and in the end you were right.'"

That's a pretty wild conversation to have after spending years fighting to get your version of a movie released.

Reports from the time indicated that Warner Bros. wanted significant changes to Snyder’s original approach, including a shorter runtime and more humor. What ultimately emerged as the Snyder Cut went hard in the opposite direction, running roughly four hours and embracing the filmmaker’s darker, more expansive take on the DC heroes.

The response also differed considerably from what greeted the 2017 theatrical cut. Zack Snyder’s Justice League was the fourth-most-streamed movie of 2021, while its critical reception was notably more positive than Whedon’s theatrical version.

None of that erases how difficult the experience was for Snyder, but hearing a former Warner Bros. executive acknowledge that the studio had fought him only to later conclude he was right apparently offered the filmmaker some long-awaited catharsis.

Snyder discussed the experience while promoting his latest film, The Last Photograph, a passion project that takes him into different territory from the massive superhero and sci-fi productions he’s become known for.

The Last Photograph recently debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival, though its first wave of reviews hasn’t exactly been kind.

Still, Snyder’s Justice League story remains one of the strangest chapters in modern superhero filmmaking. Now we know that somewhere along the way, at least one Warner Bros. executive looked Snyder in the eye and admitted, "We were fighting you, and in the end you were right."

Marvel’s Wolverine has landed in a rougher spot than Insomniac Games and Sony probably hoped for, but the studio isn’t ignoring the criticism. With players and reviewers pointing out problems following the game’s release, Insomniac says it has been listening closely and is already working on changes.

Insomniac community director James Stevenson addressed the response on X, making it clear that the team is paying attention to what players have been saying.

"We have been 100% listening over the last few days," Stevenson said, adding that "the team has been cooking hard today in response to some of the feedback."

That should be encouraging for anyone enjoying Marvel’s Wolverine but frustrated by some of its issues. There’s no word yet on exactly what Insomniac plans to change and fix. But it’s good to know they are working on giving players a better gamming experience.

The timing certainly isn’t ideal for Insomniac or Sony. Marvel’s Wolverine has become Insomniac’s worst-reviewed game in roughly a decade, even though the general response doesn’t suggest it’s outright bad.

Instead, it has arrived as a game with noticeable problems during a period when Sony badly needed a major PS5 exclusive to hit hard.

September is also a little crowded. Onimusha: Way of the Sword and The Blood of Dawnwalker arrived with strong critical reception, while Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave and Control: Resonant add even more competition.

Sony has plenty of other headaches surrounding PlayStation right now. PS5 hardware prices continue to climb, with the PS5 Pro reaching $900, while the company’s move away from physical game production has fueled months of debate among players.

Then there’s Physint, Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear-style espionage game. News that Sony wanted to cancel the project, only for it to end up with Xbox, surfaced shortly before the Wolverine reviews arrived. Taken together, it made Marvel’s Wolverine an especially important release for PlayStation.

The good news is that a disappointing launch doesn’t necessarily lock a game into its original state anymore. Live-service and multiplayer games have spent years rebuilding themselves after rocky releases, with No Man’s Sky remaining one of the most famous examples. More recently, single-player games have started receiving similarly substantial post-launch work.

Crimson Desert, which launched earlier this year, has repeatedly been updated in response to player complaints. Last month, it even received a major patch that overhauled parts of its story and added new content and language options.

It remains to be seen how far Insomniac intends to go with Marvel’s Wolverine. Patches fixing technical problems and smoothing out frustrating mechanics are one thing. Larger changes based on criticism would be considerably more interesting.

For now, Insomniac has heard you. Considering how quickly Stevenson says the team got to work, we may not have to wait too long to see what it’s been cooking.

We have been 100% listening over the last few days and the team has been cooking hard today in response to some of the feedback - in case you were wondering what that smell out of our kitchen was 😉 https://t.co/6gP7baydE5

— James Stevenson (@JamesStevenson) September 15, 2026

Jason Voorhees may be many things, but apparently a government-engineered killing machine isn’t one of them.

The new trailer for Crystal Lake gave fans their first substantial look at Brad Caleb Kane’s upcoming Friday the 13th prequel series, and horror fans immediately started dissecting every frame.

Linda Cardellini looks great as Pamela Voorhees, the violence looks appropriately nasty, and some mysterious shots of sterile facilities and laboratory-style doors raised a pretty big question about Jason.

Was Crystal Lake about to rewrite Jason Voorhees as some kind of government experiment? Some fans even wondered if the series was taking Jason into Stranger Things territory and giving him an origin similar to Eleven. Kane has now stepped in to kill those theories before they get any further.

Responding to the trailer speculation on Instagram, Kane said: "It's not the CIA. He's not a gov't super soldier or an Eleven," assured Kane. "He’s probably just a Chud. Or at worst a Trog.

“In any case, all will be known Oct. 15. Y'know, they called Copernicus a heretic at first, too. And look how that turned out! Well, bad for him, I guess. Nevermind. Enjoy!!!"

So, no CIA-created Jason Voorhees. No secret government super soldier program. No Hawkins Lab-style explanation for the Camp Crystal Lake killer. Whatever those strange images in the trailer actually represent, Kane is making it pretty clear that the biggest fan theories currently circulating aren’t where the story is headed.

That should come as a relief to Friday the 13th fans who were worried that Crystal Lake might completely reinvent Jason’s mythology.

The series digs into the tragedy that started everything, with young Jason’s apparent death at Camp Crystal Lake and Pamela refusing to accept that her son is gone. While the rest of the town believes Jason drowned, Pamela becomes increasingly desperate to find him.

Of course, this is Pamela Voorhees we’re talking about, so her search isn’t exactly going to be a healthy journey through grief.

As Pamela continues digging for answers, more of her history begins coming to the surface, and the bodies start piling up. The trailer makes it clear that campers are in serious trouble, with sharp objects, blunt instruments, and whatever else happens to be within reach being put to gruesome use.

That sounds much more like the Friday the 13th we know. The big mystery now is what those strange facility scenes actually mean and how they connect to Jason, Pamela, and the larger history of Crystal Lake. Kane clearly knows exactly what fans are theorizing, and he seems to be having a good time watching everyone get it wrong.

We won’t have to wait much longer to find out what’s really going on. Crystal Lake premieres October 15, bringing audiences back to the camp where one seriously messed-up horror legacy began.

Zack Snyder has figured out one of the biggest questions surrounding his remake of John Carpenter’s Escape From New York: How do you remake a futuristic movie when its future is already nearly 30 years in the past?

You don’t modernize it. You go back to 1981 and imagine 1997 all over again. Snyder has shared some new details about his upcoming Escape From New York remake for Warner Bros., and instead of dragging Snake Plissken and Carpenter’s dystopian Manhattan into the modern world, he plans to preserve the retro-futuristic perspective that helped make the original so damn cool.

The new movie will still be set in 1997, but it’ll be a version of 1997 imagined through the eyes of 1981, the year Carpenter’s original film hit theaters.

Snyder explained his approach during a conversation with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, saying: “The approach is for me — the movie is going to be set in 97. It’s from the perspective of 1981.

“I set the movie — the war between the United States police force and the criminal elements takes place on July 9, 1981 which is the release date of the original movie. The rest is pretty much Escape From New York.”

That’s an interesting way to tackle a remake like this. Rather than asking what Escape From New York would look like if it were made today, Snyder is asking what another version of the movie might have looked like if it had grown out of the same era and cultural fears as Carpenter’s film.

Snyder also wants to retain the strange personality of the original, which mixed dystopian action with satire, social commentary, and plenty of camp. He described Carpenter’s film as a combination of “kitsch and camp” pointed out how it used its genre premise to comment on government power and overreach.

Carpenter’s 1981 classic takes place in a dystopian 1997 where Manhattan has been converted into one massive maximum-security prison. The island is sealed behind walls and guarded from the outside, while the criminals trapped within are essentially left to govern themselves.

Things get ugly when terrorists hijack Air Force One and crash it into Manhattan. The President survives, only to be captured by the Duke of New York, who controls the island’s criminal population.

With the clock ticking, the government sends in Snake Plissken, the legendary former war hero turned convicted criminal played by Kurt Russell.

His mission is to rescue the President and retrieve a crucial government tape. To make sure Snake doesn’t wander off and forget about the assignment, authorities implant explosives in his body that will kill him if he doesn’t finish the job before the deadline.

It’s a beautifully nasty premise, and Snake remains one of Russell’s best and coolest characters. Warner Bros. is developing Snyder’s Escape From New York and his decision to keep the 1997 setting makes this project more interesting than a standard modern remake.

There are still plenty of questions, especially the biggest one of who is going to play Snake Plissken? Any suggestions!?

The Incredible Hulk is one of the strongest Avengers to have ever avenged, and he has proven his strength in fighting off villains, as well as members of his own team when he is not under control. But could his own cousin who also has the ability to Hulk out actually take him down in a fight?

During a recent episode of Zeteo’s We’re Not Kidding with Mehdi Hasan, Tatiana Maslany, who played She-Hulk, Bruce Banner’s cousin, in the 2022 series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, was asked who would win in a fight between the green goliaths. Maslany didn’t even have to think about the question, as she quickly replied, “She-Hulk!”

While the series never featured a head to head serious fight between the pair, it did showcase competition between the two in the form of She-Hulk training. During a montage, it showed that Walters was a fast learner, picking up skills from Ruffalo’s Hulk that took him years to master. So while Maslany’s answer may just be biased in favor of her own character, it’s also altogether possible that She-Hulk would stand a chance in defeating The Hulk.

In the comics, there have been some showdowns with these characters, and Hulk has won some of them, but many of them have ended in a draw. So it’s not completely out of the question. There’s no way to know if we will ever see this happen.

Despite her willingness to return and her series performing well at Disney+, some fans were unhappy with the character, and she hasn’t yet returned to play her. Time will tell if She-Hulk will fully integrate into the MCU, but for now, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is available to stream in its entirety.

via: SuperHeroHype

Matthew Lillard finally made his long-awaited return as Stu Macher in Scream 7, but the actor now says his excitement over stepping back into the franchise kept him from seriously considering the circumstances surrounding Melissa Barrera’s firing. Looking back, Lillard says he feels “ashamed” and “embarrassed” that he agreed to appear in the movie.

Lillard originally played Stu in Wes Craven’s 1996 horror classic Scream and reprised the role in Scream 7. The sequel opened in February and went on to become the highest-grossing installment in the franchise with $214 million worldwide.

During a recent Q&A celebrating the 30th anniversary of Scream, a fan asked Lillard about the challenges actors face when publicly discussing political and social issues. Lillard, who attracted attention last year after saying “fuck ICE” at another Scream screening, explained why he feels compelled to speak publicly about certain issues.

“I don’t know how else to do it,” Lillard told the fan. “For me, I have queer kids. If I’m not standing up for queer kids or kids in the trans community, then what the f-ck am I doing? If I’m not standing up against ICE, then what the f-ck am I doing?”

Lillard acknowledged that speaking publicly can come with professional consequences, and he pointed to Barrera’s experience with the Scream franchise. Barrera starred as Sam Carpenter in Scream and Scream VI before Spyglass Media Group fired her in 2023 following social media posts about Israel and Gaza.

At the time, Spyglass said it had “zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech.” Barrera had criticized Israel on Instagram and accused the country of “genocide and ethnic cleansing.”

Lillard made clear that he disagrees with how Barrera’s firing was handled and believes she was right to speak out.

“Melissa Barrera, who’s a beautiful actor, was fired for what she said after the whole Palestinian — what started happening in Israel,” Lillard said. “It’s really fucking bullshit and really hard, and she’s on the right side of history. When they start coming after your job, sometimes things are worth it…

“When that happened to Melissa, the whole world didn’t pipe up. But she was a year early on what the fuck’s going on. But the whole world should have popped up and said, ‘She’s right.’ And they didn’t. And that’s brutal.”

The actor then turned the criticism toward himself. When the opportunity arrived to bring Stu Macher back, Lillard says he was caught up in the excitement of returning to Scream and didn’t fully consider Barrera’s situation before accepting the role.

“I went back to do ‘Scream,’ and I got called out. And I’m like, ‘Oh, f-ck. That’s brutal,’ I feel bad about that. I feel ashamed about that. Because in that moment I was so excited to go back, I didn’t really think about Melissa and that journey. I didn’t say no. I’m embarrassed; that’s the truth… I blew that. I’m on the wrong side of history for that. I still like being in the movie [but] it may not have been the best idea.”

Barrera’s firing became a major point of controversy surrounding Scream 7. Supporters criticized Spyglass’ decision, and protesters gathered outside the Los Angeles premiere in February calling for a boycott of the film and expressing support for Palestine. Variety reported that roughly 25 demonstrators gathered outside the Paramount Studios lot with flags, drums and bullhorns.

Lillard isn’t distancing himself from Scream 7 itself. He says he still likes being part of the movie and clearly enjoyed getting another shot at Stu Macher. His regret is focused on the decision he made when he agreed to return and what he now believes he failed to consider at the time.

For a comeback that Scream fans waited nearly 30 years to see, that makes Lillard’s feelings about returning considerably more complicated.

Source: Variety

Netflix is throwing Anya Taylor-Joy into a marble mine with a group of armed eco-warriors, a bunch of wealthy hostages, a mysterious relic, and a prophecy that could change the world.

That’s the wonderfully strange story driving Sacrifice, the new satirical action thriller from Romain Gavras, and the official trailer offers a wild look at what he’s cooked up.

The film marks Gavras’ first English-language feature and follows Taylor-Joy as Joan, the leader of a radical environmental group that crashes an elite fundraising gala being held inside a stunning marble mine. The activists are hunting for a relic they believe can unlock supernatural powers.

Joan and her siblings were changed by the fiery death of their mother, and a mysterious volcanic prophecy has convinced them they’ve been chosen to cleanse the Earth. Their mission leads them to hijack the gala and take three people for a sacrificial ritual.

Those hostages include movie star Mike Tyler, played by Chris Evans, whom the group considers a hero; billionaire Ben Bracken, played by Vincent Cassel, whom they see as their villain; and Katie, an unfortunate performer played by Ambika Mod, who becomes their designated lover.

From there, the night spirals into something much stranger as the story plays around with belief, performance, salvation, sacrifice, and just how far people will go when they’re convinced they’re doing something necessary.

Netflix describes the movie as: "Thought-provoking, visually arresting, and powered by a kinetic original script co-written with Will Arbery (also of Succession), Gavras' Sacrifice is a satirical action-adventure & visually explosive epic led by a magnetic star-studded ensemble."

Taylor-Joy and Evans are joined by Salma Hayek, Sam Richardson, Yung Lean, Charli XCX, and John Malkovich, along with Cassel and Mod.

Sacrifice comes from a filmmaker who knows how to create visually intense chaos. Gavras previously directed Our Day Will Come, The World Is Yours, and Athena, along with numerous music videos and short films. This time, he co-wrote the screenplay with Will Arbery, whose credits include Succession.

Sacrifice originally premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, where the response proved pretty divisive. Some viewers hated it, others found things to like, and some were completely on board with Gavras’ ambitious swing.

Netflix will release Sacrifice for streaming on October 16th, 2026.

Mike Flanagan has enough horror projects cooking right now to make you wonder when the guy actually sleeps. His Carrie series is headed to Prime Video, he’s currently making a new The Exorcist movie, and somewhere in that schedule he’s also writing a new adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist.

If you’re wondering why we need another version after Frank Darabont’s excellent 2007 film, Flanagan has already asked himself the same question. His answer is pretty simple: he wouldn’t be making it if he didn’t have something different in mind.

Speaking with Collider about his new take on The Mist, Flanagan made it clear that his script won’t simply reshuffle what Darabont already did. "The differences start page 1. I'm writing it now," he said.

Flanagan also addressed the project on Bluesky, where he explained why he was interested in returning to King’s monster-filled nightmare in the first place.

"The Mist is going to be great," he promised. "If there wasn’t an excellent answer to 'why', I wouldn’t do it."

Darabont’s The Mist has developed a strong following since its 2007 release, with its famously brutal ending remaining one of the movie’s defining elements. Flanagan isn’t trying to replace that film or recreate it.

"I love Darabont's film, and there's zero point in remaking it. Which is why I'm going in a different direction."

Flanagan knows comparisons are coming regardless. He’s already spent plenty of time playing in the worlds of Stephen King, including Doctor Sleep, which had the particularly tricky job of following Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining while also adapting King’s novel.

When a fan asked whether the inevitable arguments surrounding a new version of The Mist concerned him, Flanagan explained that he stopped trying to anticipate fan reactions a long time ago.

"I learned a long ago never to try to predict what the fans will or won't argue about (everybody needs to relax, frankly; I just saw a whole chain of people foaming at the mouth over fan-made AI slop posters for The Exorcist)... but yeah, this isn't a retread. The differences start page 1."

What those differences actually are remains a mystery. Flanagan is still writing the screenplay, so it could be some time before we find out exactly what direction he’s taking King’s story.

Considering how specifically he keeps stressing that this won’t follow Darabont’s path, though, it sounds like audiences familiar with the 2007 movie shouldn’t assume they know what’s waiting inside the fog. I imagine he’s developing a completely new story with new characters set during the events of King’s novel.

Before The Mist rolls in, Flanagan has plenty else on his plate. His Carrie series premieres on Prime Video on October 9, while his new The Exorcist film is currently in production.

Marvel’s VisionQuest is getting closer to its Disney+ premiere, and a trio of new posters puts Vision, Ultron, and Speed front and center.

More importantly, new details from the series reveal exactly what Ultron is trying to accomplish, and it brings his original plan from Avengers: Age of Ultron back into play in a pretty wild way.

With less than a month until the series arrives, Marvel Studios has released three character posters that spotlight Paul Bettany’s Vision, James Spader’s Ultron, and Ruaridh Mollica’s Thomas Shepard, aka Speed. The posters offer a fresh look at the major players in what serves as the final chapter of the WandaVision trilogy.

We’ve known for a while that Vision’s internal world would be populated by familiar artificial intelligence programs from across the MCU. Now, new details from ScreenRant’s set visit reveal that VisionQuest will introduce the so-called “AI Avengers” inside Vision’s Mindscape.

F.R.I.D.A.Y., E.D.I.T.H., J.A.R.V.I.S., and other AI personalities are part of Vision’s programming, each helping him understand his identity and what it means to be human. Unfortunately for Vision, Ultron is also in there, and he has much bigger plans than offering existential advice.

According to the report, Ultron manages to seize control of Vision’s physical body in the real world. That’s a nasty development considering this is essentially what Ultron wanted all the way back in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. More than a decade later, he finally gets what he was after.

ScreenRant describes one scene: “The scene included the AIs trying to break free from a lock placed upon them by Ultron, who is in control of Vision's body in the real world. Each of them has different things to do in this scene, from FRIDAY emphasising her security protocols by stating that taking down Ultron's firewall to fight him on the outside is a mistake.”

The report continues: “EDITH, as more of an over-the-top, impulsive AI, criticizes this, pushing Vision to take the fight to Ultron. After this, Vision discovers what Ultron is doing on the outside, as well as information about the mysterious Paladin.”

Ultron running around in Vision’s body while Vision and the other AIs are trapped inside his Mindscape sounds like a fun way to bring Spader’s villain back into the MCU. It also gives VisionQuest a direct connection to Age of Ultron rather than simply reviving the character for another round.

Then there’s Tommy Maximoff. Mollica plays Thomas Shepard, the mysterious young man who may be the reincarnated son of Vision and Scarlet Witch. Marvel Comics fans know Tommy as Speed, but Mollica refused to reveal whether audiences will actually see the character unleash his superspeed in VisionQuest.

The story finds Vision rebooted and hiding after escaping those who wanted to turn him into a weapon. While searching for meaning, he begins consulting the AI personalities embedded within his programming, including F.R.I.D.A.Y., E.D.I.T.H., J.A.R.V.I.S., and Ultron.

His attempt at staying out of sight falls apart when a bounty is placed on his head, forcing him on the run with Thomas Shepard. Vision must figure out who Thomas really is while dealing with those hunting him and fighting Ultron’s growing influence.

VisionQuest could also have some major consequences for the larger MCU. Aside from Daredevil: Born Again Season 3, it’s the only upcoming live-action Marvel Television series currently on the way.

The cast also includes Todd Stashwick, T'Nia Miller, Lauren Morais, Orla Brady, Diane Morgan, Polly Frame, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Emily Hampshire, and James D'Arcy.

The series is directed by Christopher J. Byrne, Gandja Monteiro, Vincenzo Natali, and Terry Matalas. Matalas created the Marvel Comics adaptation for television and writes alongside Cindy Appel, Christopher Monfette, Nicole Falsetti, and Matthew Okumura.

VisionQuest premieres October 14 on Disney+.

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The Last of Us may be getting ready to call it quits after Season 3, and that could be exactly what the HBO series needs.

The third season is expected to arrive in 2027, and while HBO hasn’t officially stamped it as the end of the road, the current plan appears to be wrapping up the story rather than pushing the series beyond the material that made it work in the first place.

Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content, recently confirmed the 2027 window and addressed whether Season 3 will be the final season, saying: “I think [showrunner] Craig [Mazin] has planned it as the final season.”

If that plan sticks, it could help The Last of Us avoid one of the biggest problems that hit Game of Thrones during its final years.

Both shows are adaptations, but Game of Thrones eventually ran into a problem that The Last of Us can still avoid: it ran past its completed source material.

The first four seasons of Game of Thrones had George R.R. Martin’s published novels to draw from. Once the series caught up with the books, showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss had to rely more heavily on Martin’s outlines while taking the story toward its conclusion.

By Season 7, Martin said he was no longer involved in the show’s creative decisions. Benioff and Weiss ultimately brought Game of Thrones to an end with a shortened eighth season, and the response wasn’t pretty.

The final episodes, particularly the series finale, received harsh reviews from critics and fans who felt the story rushed toward its conclusion. They pretty much shit the bed.

It’s impossible to know how those seasons would have turned out if Martin’s remaining novels had been available, but having finished books to adapt certainly would have given the series a more complete roadmap.

The Last of Us could soon face its own version of that problem. Craig Mazin has two Naughty Dog games providing the foundation for the HBO adaptation. Season 3 will continue adapting the second half of The Last of Us Part II, meaning the show is getting close to exhausting the existing game storyline.

Going beyond that point would require Mazin and the writers to start creating substantial new material that doesn’t currently exist in the games.

Could Mazin pull it off? Sure. He’s an accomplished writer and has already shown that he can expand and alter elements of the games for television without simply recreating them scene for scene. Still, there’s a big difference between expanding existing material and continuing the entire story without another game to follow.

There’s another important change heading into Season 3 as well. Neil Druckmann, the Naughty Dog creative who helped create The Last of Us, is no longer involved in the HBO series’ creative decisions.

Druckmann’s knowledge of the games paired with Mazin’s television experience played an important role in shaping the adaptation. Season 3 now leaves Mazin steering the series without that same creative partnership.

That doesn’t mean the third season is in trouble. Mazin knows this world, these characters, and how to translate the games into television. The bigger gamble would be continuing after the available story has been exhausted simply because HBO has a successful show on its hands.

Television has plenty of examples proving that more seasons don’t automatically make a better series. Sometimes the smartest move is knowing when the story is finished.

If The Last of Us Season 3 can complete its adaptation of The Last of Us Part II and give the characters a satisfying conclusion, ending there makes plenty of sense. There’s little reason to create an unnecessary Game of Thrones-style source material problem when HBO has the chance to avoid it altogether.

Jimmy Hurdstrom is officially riding back into the Yellowstone universe, but he’s showing up in the last place I expected.

Jefferson White is set to reprise his fan-favorite Yellowstone role as Jimmy in Season 2 of Marshals, where he’ll have a recurring role. I’m thrilled to have Jimmy back on TV, but I’ve also got questions because his return through this particular series is pretty surprising.

By the later seasons of Yellowstone, Jimmy’s story had taken him away from Montana and planted him firmly in Texas. That made Dutton Ranch seem like the natural place for him to pop up again, especially since that series is based in the Lone Star State.

Instead, Jimmy is heading into Marshals, which has primarily kept Luke Grimes’ Kayce Dutton and his story in Montana.

That unexpected connection makes Jimmy’s return a lot more interesting. White sounds just as excited to jump back into the Yellowstone world. In a statement to CBS, he said:

“I’m thrilled to dive into the world of MARSHALS and continue exploring the American West. The cast and crew are stacked full of my favorite actors and filmmakers, and I’m honored to join them. Jimmy and I have been through a lot together, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for us.”

Jimmy certainly went through plenty during Yellowstone with his character arc. He started as the lost awkward ranch hand who could barely stay on a horse and eventually found a life and career for himself in Texas. His journey ended in a much different place than where it began, which makes his next chapter especially intriguing.

There are some obvious questions Marshals Season 2 can answer, most importantly, what gets him involved with Kayce and the Marshals?

The fact that White has a recurring role makes that final question particularly interesting. Jimmy apparently isn’t dropping in for a quick cameo. He’ll have enough of a presence to suggest there’s an actual story connecting him to what Kayce is dealing with.

There’s also a pretty convenient Texas connection already waiting for him. The Marshals Season 1 finale ended with Tate being taken to Texas.

Considering Jimmy’s ties to the state, it’s easy to wonder whether that storyline could provide the bridge that brings him back into Kayce’s orbit. Nothing has been revealed about the reason for Jimmy’s return, so that remains speculation for now, but the pieces are certainly sitting there.

Whatever brings Jimmy back, seeing Jefferson White return is awesome news. Jimmy became one of Yellowstone’s most entertaining characters because we actually got to watch him grow up, screw up, get knocked around, and eventually figure out where he belonged.

Bringing him into Marshals opens another chapter without simply dropping him back onto the Yellowstone ranch and pretending nothing changed.

Now I just want to know what Jimmy has gotten himself into this time. Marshals Season 2 premieres Sunday, October 4 at 8:30 p.m. ET on CBS.

The midseason trailer for Lanterns has arrived, and things are about to get a whole lot stranger for John Stewart and Hal Jordan.

DC Studios and HBO have released a new look at the final three episodes of the season, teasing the cosmic side of the Green Lantern mythology, John’s encounter with Sinestro, the return of Guy Gardner, a glimpse into Hal’s childhood, and a major revelation about what happened in Rushville back in 2016.

For anyone waiting for the series to venture further beyond its Earth-based murder mystery, it looks like the best, and blackest, night is still ahead.

The biggest reveal concerns Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan. Following the events in Rushville, Hal was arrested and imprisoned for his role in the deaths of the townspeople.

The trailer shows he took the fall for Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart, and when the two unexpectedly reunite before Hal’s death, Hal makes sure John remembers exactly what he did for him.

That creates another big question. What happens between their reunion and the discovery of Hal’s frozen body in the football stadium?

John and Sheriff Kerry Kane eventually find Hal dead, and the trailer certainly makes his death look legitimate. Still, Lanterns is playing in a corner of the DC Universe where appearances can be deceiving.

One particularly strange shot shows the 2026 version of Hal waking up as a prisoner somewhere. The most straightforward explanation is that this happens before his body ends up at the stadium.

Of course, there’s also the possibility that some shapeshifting alien weirdness is involved and someone, or something, has taken Hal’s place to mislead John, Kerry, and Guy Gardner.

The trailer also delivers more cosmic material. John comes face-to-face with Sinestro, while Guy Gardner also returns to the story. Those moments suggest the Rushville investigation may be connected to something much larger than the murder mystery that kicked off the season.

We’ll also get a look at Hal’s childhood. That could provide some important context for the man he eventually became and, hopefully, give the series an opportunity to explore at least part of his early history as Green Lantern.

Chandler recently discussed Hal’s actions in Rushville and his conflict with the Manhunter Zoe, played by Poorna Jagannathan, explaining why Hal viewed her presence in the town as a threat rather than some mutually beneficial arrangement.

"I saw the description as not a symbiotic relationship with her in that town. I think of it more parasitically," Chandler said. "The only reason she's doing what she's doing is so she can keep her safety. She's still a threat, and she's still a danger."

He continued: "It's like a really bad guy settling in, saying, 'Hey, I'm gonna hang out here. Don't tell anyone, and until I leave, I'll let you have free dinners,'" the actor continued.

"Once she's gone, she's not gonna care about whether [Rushville's citizens] starve or not. So I say the hell with her, and I'm glad she's gone! As a person, I love Poorna – she's great. But as a character, nah, I could care less [for Zoe]. I did my job."

The series follows new Green Lantern recruit John Stewart and veteran Lantern Hal Jordan as the two intergalactic cops become caught up in a murder investigation in the American heartland. What begins as an Earthbound mystery is now looking increasingly connected to the much larger cosmic world surrounding the Green Lantern Corps.

Alongside Chandler and Pierre, the Lanterns cast includes Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Jagannathan, Nicole Ari Parker, Jason Ritter, J. Alphonse Nicholson, and Jasmine Cephas Jones.

Four episodes of Lanterns are currently streaming on HBO Max, with three episodes remaining. Hal’s arrest, his mysterious imprisonment, Sinestro’s arrival, and all that cosmic activity give the back half of the season plenty to play with.

The biggest question, though, remains Hal Jordan himself. Is the legendary Green Lantern really dead, or is Lanterns hiding another nasty surprise?

James Reece has spent enough time looking over his shoulder. Chris Pratt is back in action in the first trailer for The Terminal List Season 2, and this time his Navy SEAL Commander is taking the fight around the world.

I loved the first season of The Terminal List. It was intense, brutal, and packed with the kind of tactical action that made the series so satisfying to watch. Chris Pratt was great in the role, and I loved seeing him tap into a darker, more dangerous side of his performance.

The eight-episode second season picks up Reece’s story following the violent events of Season 1. Based on Jack Carr’s second novel, True Believer, the new season finds Reece searching for some kind of purpose after completing his list and getting his revenge.

While the first season played primarily as a psychological revenge thriller, Season 2 is going much bigger with a globe-trotting espionage story. Reece’s new mission takes him across the Indian Ocean, Southern and Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Europe as he gets pulled into another dangerous conspiracy.

This one stretches from Moscow to Langley and, making things even more personal for Reece, connects to his own family history.

Several familiar faces are returning for the mission, including Tom Hopper as Raife Hastings, Constance Wu as Katie Buranek, Dar Salim as Mohammed Farooq, and Luke Hemsworth as Jules Landry. Gabriel Luna joins the series as Freddy Strain.

Season 2 is also bringing in Costa Ronin, Olga Kurylenko, Yul Vazquez, Martin Sensmeier, Arnold Vosloo, Jeremy Bobb, and Shiraz Tzarfati.

Pratt sounds especially proud of what the team managed to pull off with the new season and how it represents the special operations community.

“This season is a love letter to the special operations community,” Pratt shared. “I’m incredibly proud of the journey we went on and what we were able to put on screen.

“It was a monumental effort by a lot of people over the course of many years, and I think you can feel that commitment in every frame. Yes, it’s an action thriller, but there’s also real beauty and poetry in it.”

He continued, “At its heart, this season is dedicated to the men and women who do this work—the people who operate in the shadows, make extraordinary sacrifices, and rarely ask for recognition. We wanted to honor them and get it right. I couldn’t be more proud of what we made.”

Carr’s The Terminal List novels already gave the series plenty of material to expand beyond Reece’s original revenge mission, and adapting True Believer opens the door to a much larger world. Reece is dealing with an international conspiracy while trying to figure out what comes after revenge.

With Season 2 expanding the story into a globe-trotting espionage thriller, I’m excited to see where Reece’s mission takes him next. If the new season delivers the same hard-hitting action and intensity while opening up the world in a bigger way, we should be in for one hell of a ride.

All eight episodes of The Terminal List Season 2 premiere Wednesday, October 21.

David Corenswet already went toe-to-toe with Lex Luthor in Superman, but apparently punching Nicholas Hoult is about to become a much more painful experience.

The two actors will reunite for Man of Tomorrow, which puts Superman and Lex in the uncomfortable position of working together against a much bigger threat. This time, however, Lex is coming prepared for a fight with an impressive new warsuit, and Corenswet’s first reaction to seeing Hoult wearing it was amusing.

While talking about the next chapter of the DCU, Corenswet teased how Superman has changed since we last saw him.

"The character is a little more mature. They're going to go a little bit deeper. Not to mention all the crazy stuff, Nick Hoult in the warsuit.”

When Corenswet was asked what went through his head when Hoult showed up on set wearing the armor, he immediately considered the practical problem Superman was about to face. "He's going to be hard to fight. I’m going to rip my knuckles up punching you."

Lex’s new green warsuit has already been revealed in an image shared by James Gunn, and it looks considerably more intimidating than the business suits Hoult wore while tormenting Superman in the previous film.

The armor also shares some visual similarities with the gear worn by the Raptors in Superman, although Lex’s version is much flashier.

Superman and Lex will have bigger problems than beating each other senseless in Man of Tomorrow. The film will introduce Brainiac to the DCU, with Lars Eidinger playing the highly intelligent alien villain. Brainiac’s obsession with collecting and bottling civilizations for study gives Superman and Lex a pretty good reason to put their differences aside, at least temporarily.

They’ll also have some help. Aaron Pierre is set to appear as John Stewart following Lanterns, while Xolo Maridueña will return as Blue Beetle. There’s also the possibility of Wonder Woman entering the picture, with Andor star Adria Arjona rumored for the role.

That makes Man of Tomorrow a much bigger DCU gathering, but the Superman and Lex relationship remains one of its most interesting ingredients. Watching these two enemies reluctantly fight on the same side should be fun.

Man of Tomorrow is set to hit theaters on July 9, 2027.

Zack Snyder still has one Batman story he’d love to bring to the big screen, and he thinks the current state of superhero movies makes this the perfect time to do it.

The filmmaker says he’d return to the world of DC for an adaptation of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, the legendary 1986 comic that helped redefine Batman and superhero storytelling. For Snyder, it would also serve as a fitting companion to his 2009 adaptation of Watchmen.

While promoting his new film The Last Photograph, Snyder explained why The Dark Knight Returns remains the comic book project he wants to tackle.

"The reason why it's The Dark Knight Returns, if anyone would ever let me do it outside of the DC Universe since it's a novel that just happens to have superheroes in it, is if I could do Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, those two books next to each other, to me, represent the complete cycle of the superhero comic book medium," Snyder told Variety.

"You can do no more than those two books. Watchmen came at the beginning of the superhero movie phase, so it would be super fitting to have The Dark Knight Returns come now, at what I would say is possibly – I don't want to call it the twilight, but we're down the road of the superhero movie genre, and I think audiences would understand the why of it."

Anyone familiar with Snyder’s DC movies knows how much Miller’s comic has influenced his vision of Batman. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice pulled heavily from The Dark Knight Returns, from the massive armored Batman suit to several images that looked like Miller’s comic panels brought to life.

Snyder has always had an eye for translating comic book imagery to the screen. 300 and Watchmen are packed with shots modeled closely on their source material, and Batman v Superman gave us a taste of what his take on Miller’s Batman could look like.

What interests Snyder now, though, is the timing. He believes superhero movies have reached a point similar to where comics were when The Dark Knight Returns arrived in 1986.

"Let's not forget: The Dark Knight Returns was written for a comic book audience that was very exhausted by comic books in the same way that Watchmen was, so having that movie written now for people who are exhausted by comic book movies would be a good time," he added.

That’s an interesting argument, although whether moviegoers are actually tired of superheroes is another question. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is currently the biggest movie of the year, and Marvel Studios still has Avengers: Doomsday coming to theaters on December 18. There’s clearly still an audience ready to show up when a superhero movie catches their attention.

Still, The Dark Knight Returns isn’t exactly a conventional superhero adventure. Miller’s story follows an older Bruce Wayne who comes out of retirement and puts on the Batman suit again in a brutal Gotham City.

It’s a darker examination of Batman, aging, violence, politics, and the superhero mythology itself, which helps explain why Snyder sees it as something that could stand apart from an ongoing cinematic universe.

Whether anyone at DC would actually hand Snyder the keys to Batman again is a completely different matter. His time with the character ended before the DC Universe moved into its current era, and there’s currently no indication that a Snyder-directed Dark Knight Returns is being developed.

Batman already has another major theatrical outing on the calendar as Robert Pattinson is set to return as Bruce Wayne in The Batman: Part II, which arrives February 18, 2028.

Even so, a standalone Dark Knight Returns movie directed by Snyder is easy to imagine. He’s been pulling inspiration from Miller’s comic for years. Giving him the chance to finally adapt the whole thing would certainly make for one hell of a Batman movie.

Would you want to see Snyder finally make his version of The Dark Knight Returns?

DC fans expecting Man of Tomorrow to turn into a massive superhero team-up might want to adjust those expectations. James Gunn has made it clear that his upcoming Superman sequel belongs primarily to Clark Kent and Lex Luthor, regardless of how many familiar DCU faces are showing up.

Gunn recently responded to fan speculation on Threads about possible “secret characters” appearing in the movie. According to the filmmaker, fans shouldn’t expect “substantial amounts of other characters” outside the central players because the story is focused on Clark and Lex.

A lot of DC characters have already been connected to Man of Tomorrow. Superman’s Justice Gang heroes are returning, while Aaron Pierre will appear as John Stewart, Milly Alcock as Supergirl, and Xolo Maridueña as Blue Beetle.

Adria Arjona is also part of the movie, and there has been plenty of speculation that she could be playing Wonder Woman. Gunn’s comments suggest that whether she’s Wonder Woman or someone else entirely, audiences probably shouldn’t go into the movie expecting these supporting heroes to dominate the story.

Gunn expanded on what he meant by “substantial amounts,” explaining that he was talking about both the number of characters and how much screen time they’ll receive.

He also pushed back against some of the speculation surrounding the film, saying things online “have been blown way out of proportion” and that “most stuff is just dead wrong.”

So while Green Lantern, Blue Beetle, Supergirl and other DCU heroes may be joining the fun, Man of Tomorrow doesn’t sound like it’s secretly becoming an Avengers-style gathering of superheroes. Clark Kent and Lex Luthor remain the main attraction.

There are still some mysteries surrounding the cast. Sinqua Walls and Matthew Lillard are both playing undisclosed characters, and fans naturally asked Gunn for information about their roles. He didn’t give anything away.

Gunn also recently talked about his approach to Maxwell Lord and how the larger DCU relates to the comics. He explained that the DCU “is not a xerox of DC Comics” but rather “an alternate universe.”

He went on to describe himself as “a huge fan of the deeply flawed but hardly malevolent Max” from the original Justice League International comics by J.M. DeMatteis, Keith Giffen, and Kevin Maguire.

That philosophy gives Gunn plenty of room to remix characters and relationships without being locked into recreating specific comic book stories. It also makes all the speculation surrounding Man of Tomorrow a little harder to predict, especially when Gunn himself is warning fans that much of what’s circulating online isn’t accurate.

David Corenswet returns as Superman alongside Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, while Lars Eidinger joins the DCU as Brainiac, the film’s main antagonist.

Production on Man of Tomorrow wrapped on August 26 after roughly 93 days of filming. Warner Bros. Pictures will release the movie on July 9, 2027.

There are clearly plenty of DC characters in the mix, but Gunn seems determined to keep the movie centered on the complicated relationship between Superman and Lex.

Cliff Booth is getting a pretty interesting comeback, and Quentin Tarantino isn’t limiting the character’s return to the screen.

Quentin Tarantino has written a new novel titled The Adventures of Cliff Booth, which will continue the story of Brad Pitt’s effortlessly cool stuntman from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The book arrives December 8, placing it right between the upcoming movie’s IMAX theatrical release and its Netflix streaming debut.

The new film, The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, hits IMAX theaters on November 25 before making the jump to Netflix on December 23. Brad Pitt returns to the role that earned him an Academy Award, while David Fincher takes over directing duties from Tarantino.

Tarantino wrote the screenplay for the $200 million Netflix production. The novel is being published by HarperCollins and continues Tarantino’s growing interest in expanding his movies through books. He previously wrote the novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood after the film's 2019 release.

Both versions of the new Cliff Booth story jump forward to Hollywood in 1977, eight years after the events of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Exact story details for the movie remain under wraps, but the description for Tarantino’s book offers a fun idea of what Cliff has been doing with himself:

“The Swinging Sixties are long gone — but Clifford Booth keeps on keeping on…War hero, stuntman, bartender, cinema projectionist…with the occasional “clandestine services” for his friends…”

The original Once Upon a Time in Hollywood followed Leonardo DiCaprio as fading television actor Rick Dalton and Pitt as his longtime stunt double and friend.

Set in late-1960s Los Angeles against the backdrop of the Manson murders, the film also featured Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate, the rising actress who was married to director Roman Polanski.

Sony released the movie in 2019, and it became one of Tarantino’s biggest successes. It earned more than $400 million worldwide on a reported $90 million budget, scored 10 Academy Award nominations, and won two Oscars, including Pitt’s Best Supporting Actor trophy.

The most interesting part of The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth may be the combination of Tarantino and Fincher. These are two filmmakers with very different approaches, and Fincher getting a $200 million Netflix production built around one of Tarantino’s most memorable characters is a wild creative pairing.

Tarantino chose not to direct the film himself because he still intends to make only 10 movies. He currently counts nine films in his directing career, including Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs and Inglourious Basterds, and he doesn't want his final movie to revisit territory he has already explored.

He previously explained: “I love this script, but I’m still walking down the same ground I’ve already walked,” Tarantino said. “It just kind of unenthused me. This last movie, I’ve got to not know what I’m doing again. I’ve got to be in uncharted territory.”

So Tarantino gets to continue Cliff Booth’s story without using his final directing slot, while Fincher gets to play around in Tarantino’s version of 1970s Hollywood with Pitt back in the driver's seat.

Fans will also have three chances to experience the new chapter in different forms: The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth hits IMAX on November 25, Tarantino’s The Adventures of Cliff Booth novel arrives December 8, and Fincher’s film streams on Netflix beginning December 23.

Michael B. Jordan had several high profile TV roles under his belt before meeting director Ryan Coogler, but had never led a film in a starring role. Coogler changed that when hiring Jordan to star in his 2013 docudrama, Fruitvale Station, which was also Coogler’s debut feature film.

Since then, the pair have worked together on the first two Black Panther movies, Creed, and most recently, Sinners, which won Jordan the Best Actor Academy Award and Coogler the Best Original Screenplay Award.

Coogler obviously saw very early the talent in Jordan that everyone else now sees in every performance, but part of Jordan’s magnetism is in his charm, and Coogler actually believes that aspect of his personality worked against them in making Black Panther.

In the film, Jordan plays T’Challa’s cousin, Erik Killmonger, the son of Prince N'Jobu (T'Chaka's brother). After T'Chaka kills N'Jobu for betraying Wakanda, a young Erik is left behind in America. He grows up to become a brutal U.S. Navy SEAL and black-ops operative, earning the nickname "Killmonger" for his high body count.

He travels to Wakanda to challenge the throne, and viewers are faced with complicated feelings for a villain whose past and intentions are not clearly evil.

Killmonger was both a revolutionary and a cynic, understandably embittered by the world’s injustice, and eager to remake the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda in his own image, or, perhaps, destroy it.

Coogler said of the character, “We’ve got to believe that he can take down all of Wakanda, that he’s capable of harming our heroes. That’s even harder to do when you have that charisma.”

In typical comic book villains like Green Goblin, Thanos, Gorr the God Butcher, Red Skull, and many more, you see them and know they are clearly a grotesque evil entity, but with characters like Killmonger, it’s not only easier to empathize, but easier to dismiss them as a threat. Luckily Jordan is as good an actor as he is charismatic, and he pulled off the role with ease.

Coogler is currently in pre-production on Black Panther 3, as well as the Untitled X-Files reboot, for which he will direct at least one episode. Jordan is in post-production on his remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, in which he stars and directs.

He is also in pre-production on Miami Vice ‘85, in which he will star opposite Austin Butler. Jordan will also be working on Creed IV, which he will return to star in and direct.

Around three years ago, Ben Affleck was casting his upcoming film Animals, which he was set to direct from a script he co-wrote with Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray. His longtime friend and collaborator Matt Damon had signed on to star in the movie alongside Affleck’s ex-wife Jennifer Garner.

Affleck talked to EW about the casting process, and explained, “I thought, God, Jen Garner would be amazing for this role. It also has the added benefit of, like, both of us will see our kids more because we do a week and a week and back and forth. I thought, well, we can coordinate our schedules around it.”

With Animals, Affleck thought, “She can bring something interesting that she hasn’t [done], that I kind of know she can do, that I don’t think she had a chance to do in one movie.”

But then, two weeks before production, Affleck heard from a friend that Spike Lee and Denzel Washington were making the movie Highest 2 Lowest (2025), and it dealt with themes similar to Animals.

Even though Animals is an original script, Affleck wanted to avoid any mistaken perception that he was creating a “competing version,” joking, “I’ve already been in one of the two asteroid movies” (referring to his 1998 movie Armageddon, which premiered the same year as Deep Impact). After a lot of contemplation, Affleck canceled the project.

But after a couple of months after he stepped away from the film, Affleck said, “I was like, God, this is really sticking with me, and I actually wanna do this.” But by that time, Matt Damon was no longer available. He was off to make a “smaller” film, as Affleck joked, with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.

So Affleck stepped in to take on the lead role himself, which landed him in the awkward position of playing the husband of his ex-wife in a movie about a rocky marriage. “I talked to Jen, and she was like, ‘We don’t wanna do that. You just get baggage,’” he says.

“I would love to work with her, frankly,” he continued about Garner. “She’s fabulous, and we’re really good friends, and I’m profoundly grateful to her, and we have a great thing. I still would wanna work with her in the future, but what you don’t wanna do is take the audience’s baggage and have it work against you, you know?”

Then with Garner’s blessing, Affleck recast her role with Emmy winner and Golden Globe nominee Kerry Washington. The film also stars Gillian Anderson and Steven Yeun.

Animals will be available theatrically in select cities and streaming on Netflix on October 9th.

John Travolta is heading into one of America’s most endlessly debated mysteries, and this time the CIA isn’t the conspiracy theory taking center stage.

Ketchup Entertainment has released the official trailer for November 1963, a JFK assassination thriller from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Roland Joffé, director of The Killing Fields, The Mission, Fat Man & Little Boy, City of Joy, and The Scarlet Letter.

The movie takes place across the tense 48 hours surrounding President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963.

Rather than retelling the familiar official account or focusing on theories involving U.S. intelligence agencies, November 1963 explores allegations that the Chicago Outfit was directly involved in Kennedy’s death.

Ketchup Entertainment describes the movie as a historical thriller told from the perspective of Sam Giancana’s brother.

Travolta stars as mobster Johnny Roselli, with Robert Carlyle playing Jack Ruby, Dermot Mulroney as Chuckie Nicoletti, Mandy Patinkin as Anthony Accardo, and Jefferson White as Lee Harvey Oswald. Thomas Fiscella plays Chicago crime boss Sam Giancana.

The film’s story draws on accounts attributed to the Giancana family and centers on an alleged arrangement between Joe Kennedy and the Chicago Outfit during JFK’s rise to the White House.

According to the movie’s version of events, the relationship soured after the Kennedy administration began aggressively pursuing organized crime, leading the mob to seek revenge.

The official description teases: "With a secret plan, a second shooter waiting in the shadows, and a 'patsy' positioned to take the fall, November 1963 reveals a side of the JFK assassination rarely seen before."

The movie is being promoted with another ominous hook: "One president. Two shooters. One conspiracy that changed history."

November 1963 comes from writer Nicholas Celozzi with the story credited to Joseph Giancana and Celozzi. The filmmaker says the story originated with his uncle Joseph "Pepe" Giancana, who allegedly witnessed events surrounding the purported plot. The movie presents that family account as its foundation.

Celozzi explained the approach while the movie was in production: "The whole essence of the story, the project, why we are doing this, is that it came from Sam Giancana’s brother, Pepe, who was in the room with Sam during these two days.

“The story, the screenplay is their story, my family story that specifically focuses on the ‘outfit,’ Giancana, and their involvement in setting up the ‘assassination’ including the second shooter, who was sent there as a fail-safe backup to carry out the mission."

The JFK assassination has generated conspiracy theories for more than six decades, so another movie challenging the accepted account isn't surprising. What makes this one different is how specifically it plants its flag with the Chicago Outfit theory and presents the story through people connected to Giancana.

It's also hard not to wonder why this particular JFK conspiracy story is arriving now and why the filmmakers chose to put the mob theory front and center rather than the CIA-related theories that continue to dominate so much of the conversation around Kennedy’s death.

Either way, the trailer makes November 1963 look like an interesting piece of historical crime fiction, especially with Travolta, Carlyle, Mulroney, Patinkin, and White playing some notorious figures from the era.

Ketchup Entertainment will release November 1963 in U.S. theaters on November 20, 2026.

Nick Nolte and Milo Gibson are heading into some nasty family territory in the upcoming indie horror film Vested, and we’ve got our first look at the project.

Nolte, best known to many movie fans for 48 Hrs., stars alongside Gibson, who appeared in Hacksaw Ridge. The film recently wrapped production in British Columbia, Canada, with a story built around a remote mountain town, a seriously damaged family, and a curse that comes alive under the full moon.

Here’s the official synopsis: “Set in a remote, decaying mountain town, Vested follows a fractured family bound by an inherited legacy of violence and secrecy.

“When a series of brutal deaths expose a hidden bloodline curse tied to the full moon, two estranged brothers are forced to confront their past—and their father—before the violence consumes them all.”

That sounds like a fun mix of family horror, buried secrets, grisly deaths, and supernatural mayhem. Putting Nolte at the center of a family carrying generations of violence is a great piece of casting.

The film was written by The Michaels, Michael Mitton and Michael Bafaro, with Jay Stamatis and Edmond Giovanni Coisson serving as co-writers. Bafaro also directed the movie.

Nolte recently appeared in Casey Affleck’s Venice Film Festival Competition drama Company. Gibson, the son of Mel Gibson, recently starred opposite Tom Berenger in the action film The Sheriff.

The newly revealed first-look image gives audiences their first peek at what Bafaro and his team have cooked up.

No release date has been announced yet for Vested.

Source: Deadline

UFOs, alien abductions, telepathy, near-death experiences, prophetic dreams, and messages from beyond are all getting pulled from the archives for AMC’s latest paranormal series, and this looks like it could be a fascinating ride into the unexplained.

AMC has released the first trailer and poster for Archive X: Unexplained Phenomena, a six-part paranormal docuseries digging into strange encounters and extraordinary human experiences that continue to defy easy explanations.

I’ve always been fascinated by this stuff. UFO sightings, alien encounters, paranormal experiences, and the possibility that reality might be much stranger than we understand are subjects I can easily get lost in. So, naturally, Archive X: Unexplained Phenomena has my attention.

The series is hosted by Professor Jeffrey J. Kripal, one of the leading scholars studying extraordinary human experiences. It draws from Rice University’s Center for the Impossible, home to one of the world’s largest collections of paranormal research.

Rather than simply digging through old documents, the series brings in everyday people to share their own encounters with unexplained phenomena. Several of these individuals have never publicly discussed what happened to them before.

The trailer gives us a glimpse at the enormous collection of archival research involved, with footage and evidence tied to astral projection, hovering objects, space-time mysteries, telepathy, alien abductions, prophetic dreams, UFO encounters, near-death experiences, and possible messages from the beyond.

The stories featured in the series join an archive containing more than one million pieces of evidence collected across nearly a century. The trailer frames everything around one creepy idea: “the world is not what it seems.”

The series also examines work from Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard psychiatrist Dr. John E. Mack and bestselling author Whitley Strieber, whose research and accounts feed into one of the show's biggest questions: What if these seemingly separate mysteries are not separate at all?

That’s the part of the premise I find especially interesting. Rather than treating UFO encounters, telepathy, near-death experiences, and other paranormal events as completely unrelated subjects, Archive X: Unexplained Phenomena is looking at whether there could be connections between them.

The series was developed by Harris Fishman and October Films Ltd. Fishman executive produces alongside Chris Muckle, Tom Thayer, Ellen Rocamora, and Mike Warner, who also serves as showrunner. Charlotte Chalker and Dan Howlett serve as story producers, while Amy Lee-Jones and Fishman direct.

Archive X: Unexplained Phenomena premieres Thursday, October 1 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SundanceTV, AMC+, and All Reality. New episodes will debut weekly across all three platforms.

If you’re into UFO documentaries, alien abduction stories, paranormal investigations, and strange mysteries that leave you questioning what the hell is actually going on in our world, this looks like one worth checking out.

Here’s a fun piece of movie trivia! Tim Curry was considered to play Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park.

During Curry’s visit to the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library before he passed away, he was shown archival casting notes from his career that included some major roles he was considered for but never played.

One of the biggest was Ian Malcolm, the mathematician and chaos theorist who ultimately became one of Jeff Goldblum’s most iconic characters.

The interviewer broke the news to Curry, saying: “So, another place you showed up was in the casting notes for Jurassic Park. They had you on the list to be Malcolm, which ended up being Jeff Goldblin's role. Do you remember worried about that?”

Curry’s response was wonderfully uneventful. “No. No, none at all.” Curry doesn’t appear to remember the possibility at all.

Still, it’s a fascinating casting what-if. Goldblum made Malcolm completely his own, bringing an eccentric rhythm, dry humor, swagger, and nervous energy to the character. It’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role after seeing his performance.

Curry, however, would have made Malcolm a very different character. Considering Curry’s sharp comic timing, theatrical personality, and talent for giving characters a mischievous edge, his version of the chaos theorist could have been a blast.

Now, just close your eyes and imagine Tim Curry sitting in the back of the Jeep watching a T. rex chase him down.

Goldblum was absolutely the right Ian Malcolm for the movie we got and I loved him in the role, but Curry wandering around Jurassic Park warning everyone about chaos theory is one alternate casting choice I would have loved to see.

HBO Max has released a new character poster for Lanterns featuring Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, and the timing couldn’t be better. This week’s episode finally revealed how this abrasive Green Lantern ended up wearing the ring in the first place, and it turns out Guy was pretty far down the Guardians’ list.

Episode 5, “Lights Out,” answered one of the bigger questions surrounding the DCU series: Why has Gardner been carrying the Green Lantern ring for the past decade instead of John Stewart or Hal Jordan?

The answer comes after John takes down Hal and gets possession of the ring from his mentor. Rather than claim it for himself and recite the Green Lantern oath, John decides he wants nothing more to do with the Corps.

After everything he’s witnessed, he returns the ring to Guardian Lianna and walks away from his chance to become a Green Lantern. That leaves an opening for Guy Gardner.

The reveal makes Guy’s place in the DCU a little funnier because he apparently wasn’t the Guardians’ second choice, or even their third. Somehow, the ring eventually landed on the finger of the guy who has spent much of his screen time proving he can be an incredible asshat.

Guy will make his Lanterns debut in next week’s episode, and a recently released clip has already shown him paying a visit to an incarcerated John Stewart.

Fillion previously appeared as Gardner in Superman, and the character is becoming one of the recurring faces connecting different corners of the DCU. During an interview with EW, Fillion was asked whether Guy’s growing number of appearances makes him something of an “anchor being” for the franchise.

Fillion explained: “I don’t know if I’m an anchor being. I do think I am a thread being. The quilt of the DC universe is being assembled before us.

“We’re witnessing the pieces coming forth, and now we’re starting to see threads between those pieces tying them together. Guy Gardner is enjoying being one of those characters that is the backdrop to this universe. It affords some consistency.”

Guy doesn’t necessarily need to be at the center of every DCU story, but having him pop up across different projects gives the universe another familiar face connecting its characters and events.

Fillion also talked about getting more opportunities to play Gardner and how each appearance gives him a chance to add another piece to the character’s history:

“Anytime you get to spend time with a character, it fills out their history a little bit," the Firefly alum added. "I feel very fortunate.

“I don’t wanna say I feel a sense of ownership because I did not invent the character, I did not write the character, I didn’t design the costume. The hairpiece is fantastic. So many other people are responsible for this character. I feel like I’m leasing the character.”

With Lanterns finally explaining how Gardner got his ring, his arrival next week should add another interesting piece to the story, especially now that we know John Stewart willingly gave up the opportunity Guy ultimately received.

The Guardians may not have gotten their first choice, but they definitely got the loudest one.

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Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike is taking the Bad Lieutenant franchise to Tokyo, and that combination sounds like it could get seriously wild.

The new official Japanese trailer for Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo has arrived giving us a fresh look at Miike’s crime thriller starring Shun Oguri and Lily James in a story packed with corruption, addiction, violence, the yakuza, and one very troubled detective.

Miike, the filmmaker behind Audition and Ichi the Killer, has spent decades exploring extreme violence, damaged characters, crime, horror, and some wonderfully strange territory, and Bad Lieutenant looks like another strong movie.

Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo serves as a standalone sequel to Abel Ferrara’s 1992 film Bad Lieutenant. That movie was later followed by Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans in 2009.

This time, the story shifts to Japan and follows a detective whose life is coming apart as his latest case pulls him into an increasingly dangerous mess.

The official synopsis reads: “A disgraced Tokyo detective spirals into a world of corruption, addiction, and violence as he becomes entangled in a twisted investigation involving a vengeful ex-yakuza, an enigmatic FBI agent, and a missing daughter of a powerful American family.”

Oguri, who appeared in Godzilla vs. Kong, leads the film alongside James, known for Baby Driver. They’re joined by WWE superstar Liv Morgan, Shotaro Mamiya, Shūhei Nomura, Nanase Nishino, and Yuka Mukai.

The screenplay comes from Daisuke Tengan, whose previous credits include Audition and 13 Assassins. There’s also a direct connection to the original film on the production side. Sam Pressman, son of original Bad Lieutenant producer Edward R. Pressman, is producing.

Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo will be released in the United States later this year through NEON. Check out the new Japanese trailer below.

Marvel’s Wolverine is finally here, and Logan’s claws aren’t the only things coming out. Insomniac Games released Marvel’s Wolverine exclusively for PS5 on September 15th, with a $69.99 price tag.

While critics have given the game a middling 77 on Metacritic, the reaction from some players has been considerably harsher. Social media is filling up with complaints about the combat, graphics, and whether the game offers enough to justify spending $70.

One player summed up the frustration with some heavy sarcasm: “Peak gaming experience delivered to you by Insomniac Games for the low price of $70.”

Peak gaming experience delivered to you by Insomniac Games for the low price of $70

Marvel's Wolverine 💀 pic.twitter.com/hICZVw6ovY

— Geralt of Goonia (@GeraltofGoonia) September 14, 2026

A major target of the Wolverine backlash is its combat. Some players argue that Insomniac has made too many actions feel automated, taking control away from the player during fights.

One fan didn’t hold back: “THE GAME PLAYS ITSELF. Wolverine deserves all the hate it’s getting im not even kidding anymore.”

THE GAME PLAYS ITSELF.

Wolverine deserves all the hate it’s getting im not even kidding anymore pic.twitter.com/SnyzJEvXt5

— 𝕾𝖍𝖆𝖉𝖔𝖜𝕳𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙 🖤🗡️ (@xShephardx) September 15, 2026

Guys I really can’t take it anymore 😂😂😂#NoDiscNoBuy https://t.co/BbEOleBCA1 pic.twitter.com/gsoWHoiArn

— Bad Leroy Brown (@Levonaxper) September 14, 2026

Another player took the criticism even further: “I was informed the wolverine game plays itself and I could earn platinum trophy without touching controller. Wtf is this shit I want a refund. Where is ai technology playing the game for me.”

I was informed the wolverine game plays itself and I could earn platinum trophy without touching controller
Wtf is this shit I want a refund
Where is ai technology playing the game for me pic.twitter.com/X1Z73VU6Fz

— TopBaton (@topdoog11) September 15, 2026

For a character as aggressive and physical as Wolverine, combat was always going to be one of the biggest parts of the experience. Players expecting to feel completely in control of Logan’s brutal fighting style clearly aren’t all satisfied with what Insomniac delivered.

The game’s visuals are getting hammered as well, particularly its water effects. One player wrote, “Wolverine has the absolute WORST water I’ve EVER seen in a modern video game. N64 graphics. YIKES!”

Wolverine has the absolute WORST water I've EVER seen in a modern video game. N64 graphics. YIKES! pic.twitter.com/qyAltZ9uJv

— Michael Does Life (@MichaelDoesLife) September 16, 2026

Others are criticizing the overall design philosophy behind the game, suggesting it feels tailored toward players accustomed to fast, highly guided entertainment. One fan put it this way: “oh god they made a wolverine game for the average tiktok user.”

oh god they made a wolverine game for the average tiktok user pic.twitter.com/hnx60zSa03

— kewlbot 🍏🍎🍏🍎🍏 (@kewlbot) September 10, 2026

The reaction is especially notable considering Insomniac’s recent history with PlayStation and Marvel. The studio previously delivered Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, both of which received stronger critical scores.

With Wolverine currently sitting at 77 on Metacritic, it ranks among Insomniac’s lower-rated games in recent memory, and that number has continued shifting as additional reviews arrive.

Of course, angry social media posts don’t represent everyone playing Marvel’s Wolverine, but the complaints are remarkably consistent.

Wolverine can take a beating and keep moving. Insomniac may be finding out whether its new game can do the same.

Marvel’s monsters deserve another night out, and Gael García Bernal would very much like fans to help make that happen.

The actor, who played Jack Russell in Marvel Studios’ Werewolf By Night, is still hoping to return for another supernatural adventure in the MCU. More than that, he’s encouraging fans who loved the special to make some noise and remind Marvel that they want more.

During a recent Reddit Ask Me Anything session, Bernal was asked about his experience making the 2022 Marvel Studios Special Presentation. His response made it pretty clear that he isn’t ready to put Jack Russell away just yet.

“I urge you to do whatever you can, whatever is in your power, to push Marvel into some sense of responsibility and also of ambition.”

Bernal also revealed that Werewolf By Night was originally meant to be the beginning of something bigger. Marvel had plans to continue exploring Jack and this supernatural corner of the MCU, although those ideas have yet to materialize.

“It was for me a wonderful project to do; I loved doing it; I had so much fun experiencing that, and for me it was only a taste,” he added. “I wish I could do more; we had many plans. I hope they materialize one day!”

The special introduced Jack Russell alongside Elsa Bloodstone, Man-Thing, and several other monster hunters and creatures, giving Marvel a strange and wonderfully creepy playground that felt different from most of the MCU.

The ending also left plenty of room for another story, with Jack and Man-Thing together and seemingly ready for more adventures. Despite the positive reception and continued fan interest, Marvel Studios still hasn’t officially announced a sequel.

There is at least some reason for fans to keep hope alive. Earlier this year, director Michael Giacchino said he was still planning to make a Werewolf By Night sequel, even though getting it together has taken much longer than expected.

Since the original release, Marvel has kept the special around in other forms. The black-and-white presentation was later released in color on Disney+, while the documentary Director by Night gave viewers a look at Giacchino and the team making the project.

Bernal has stayed plenty busy in the meantime. His recent projects include La Máquina, The End of It, and Magellan, and he’ll next appear in Zero A.D.: The Birth of Christ later this year.

Werewolf by Night remains one of Marvel Studios’ more unusual MCU projects, and it opened a door to characters and stories that have barely been explored since. Bernal wants another shot at it. Giacchino wants another shot at it. Now they just need Marvel to turn the full moon back on.

Werewolf By Night is currently streaming on Disney+.

If you walked out of Hope wondering how the this insane sci-fi monster story will continue, director Na Hong-jin has some very good news. He’s already thinking beyond one sequel, and the story he has in mind could require three movies to finish.

I absolutely loved Hope. The movie was completely bonkers, and I happily embraced every bit of its insanity. By the time the credits rolled, I needed to know where this story was going next. Thankfully, Na has a much bigger plans for this world.

The Korean filmmaker recently talked about his ideas for Hope 2 and revealed that the story grew so much during development that a sequel might not be enough.

“As I was developing the story, it got longer, and I realized I would need at least a sequel, or maybe three films, to tell the whole thing. The first film takes place entirely in the daylight, but the sun is setting as we get to the end, right? Well, this is a bit of a preview, but when night comes in part two, military backup is going to arrive.”

Hope already threw its characters into a wild and increasingly chaotic situation, and bringing military forces into the picture at night could crank the monster mayhem up considerably.

Na also offered a very interesting tease about Bum-seok, played by Hwang Jung-min. The character was severely injured at the end of the first movie, but his story clearly isn’t finished. “He’s still alive and in the fight, right? Don’t be surprised if he crosses over to the North…”

Na didn’t elaborate on what that means, but the obvious possibility is that Hope 2 could take some of its story into North Korea. Considering everything the first movie unleashed, expanding the conflict across the border could take this sci-fi monster saga in a crazy new direction.

Hope stars Hwang alongside former Squid Game star Jung Ho-yeon. The cast also includes Zo In-sung, Eum Moon-suk, Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell, and Cameron Britton.

The movie has received a solid response from critics and audiences. The bigger question is whether the numbers will support Na’s ambitions for a full Hope trilogy.

The first movie reportedly cost $46 million to make and has earned just over $41 million at the box office so far. If the plan really is to make Hope 2 and eventually a third film, the sequel will likely need to pull in a much larger audience.

I really hope Na gets the opportunity to finish this thing. Hope hooked me with its monsters, weirdness, chaos, and willingness to go completely off the rails. I loved the ride, and after seeing how the first movie ended, I need to know how this whole story plays out.

I’m absolutely ready to see how much crazier Hope can get.

I’ve been waiting a very long time to say this about a live-action Resident Evil movie… They finally freakin’ got it! As a huge fan of the video game franchise, I’ve had a complicated relationship with the movies over the years.

I’ve enjoyed several of them for what they are, and some have delivered plenty of ridiculous action and cool horror, but none of them have completely captured what I love about playing these games. Zach Cregger finally cracked it.

His Resident Evil, starring Austin Abrams, is the most Resident Evil movie ever made because it understands that this franchise is supposed to be scary, gross, funny, unpredictable, violent, ridiculous, and occasionally so insane that you can’t believe what you’re looking at.

Cregger takes all of that and builds an original story around it rather than simply recreating one of the games. The result is a bloody, gory, hilarious survival-horror ride that feels like somebody took the experience of playing Resident Evil, injected it with cinematic adrenaline, and blasted it onto the big screen.

I had an absolute blast with this movie, and while I do have a few issues with it, they were completely overwhelmed by how much fun I was having.

The sstory is wonderfully simple. Abrams plays Bryan, a medical courier who is given one final assignment on a freezing, snowy night. He has to transport a high-priority package to Raccoon City Hospital as quickly as possible. That’s the mission. Get the package from Point A to Point B.

Easy enough, right? Unfortunately for Bryan, he’s in a Resident Evil movie, so his delivery route quickly turns into the worst night imaginable. Almost immediately, everything starts going horribly wrong, and from there the movie becomes one giant exercise in escalation.

Every time Bryan survives one horrible situation, something even more screwed up is waiting for him. His resources evolve right along with the threats. He starts small, gets his hands on a handgun, eventually upgrades to a shotgun, and the weapons keep getting bigger as the monsters get increasingly nasty.

It feels exactly like progressing through one of the games, right down to those moments where Bryan has no reasonable option except to walk into some horrible dark place that anyone with functioning survival instincts would avoid. Dark tunnel filled with potential nightmare fuel? Well, buddy, the hospital is on the other side, so I guess we’re going through the damn tunnel.

What makes all of this work so well is Abrams, because this movie is largely riding on his shoulders. There are other characters who pop in and out of the story, but for the most part, Resident Evil is Bryan’s increasingly terrible adventure, and Abrams gives the character the perfect underdog quality.

Bryan isn’t some unstoppable badass casually slaughtering monsters while looking cool. He’s a normal guy who gets scared, frustrated, confused, angry, exhausted, and completely baffled by the increasingly absurd crap happening around him. That made him incredibly easy for me to relate to.

There were several moments where he would mutter something to himself, react to a frustrating situation, or say something out loud and I found myself laughing because I’ve done the exact same thing. Obviously, I’ve never said those things while running from a mutated monstrosity in Raccoon City, but I recognized the reaction.

I saw little pieces of myself in Bryan, and that made me want to follow this poor bastard wherever the movie was dragging him. He’s terrified and confused, but he keeps going. No matter what disgusting nightmare crawls into his path, Bryan finds some way to press forward because he has a job to finish and, more importantly, he would very much like to remain alive.

The comedy is also a huge part of why the movie works. The audience I watched it with was laughing throughout the film, and it wasn’t because the horror failed. The comedy actually makes the horror better because Cregger understands when to release the pressure before tightening the screws again.

Bryan’s reactions are funny because there comes a point where the insanity surrounding him becomes so absurd that laughter is practically the only reasonable response. Then, right when you’re comfortable and laughing, the movie smacks you with another scare. And this damn movie actually got me!

I watch a lot of horror, and I’ve become pretty desensitized to jump scares. I can appreciate a good one, but I’m rarely the guy making noise in the theater. At one point during Resident Evil, I let out an audible gasp. An actual noise escaped my body before my brain had time to stop it.

I sat there afterward almost offended that the movie managed to catch me that badly. I have to applaud it for that because it just doesn’t happen to me anymore. Cregger manages to balance the humor, scares, tension, gore, action, and complete lunacy in a way that keeps the movie moving without turning the horror into a joke.

The creatures are another big reason this feels so authentically Resident Evil. Of course, the Umbrella Corporation is involved because apparently no amount of catastrophic biological horror can convince those people to stop screwing around with things they absolutely shouldn’t be touching.

There are recognizable elements that fans will pick up on, but Cregger doesn’t build the entire movie around dragging familiar monsters onto the screen so audiences can point at them. Instead, he comes up with some wonderfully disgusting new creations to torment Bryan, and I’m not going to spoil any of them.

Discovering what horrible thing is waiting around the next corner is part of the experience. Some of these creatures are disturbing, some are hilariously twisted, and some made me wonder what kind of messed-up brainstorming session produced them.

The unpredictability is fantastic because that’s such an important part of Resident Evil. When I play these games, I love the nervous anticipation of opening a door or walking down a hallway without knowing what might be waiting for me.

Cregger recreates that feeling without copying a particular game. You might think you know what’s about to happen, but the movie keeps twisting situations into something stranger, grosser, or more ridiculous than expected.

The decision to keep us so closely attached to Bryan is one of the movie’s biggest strengths, but it’s also where some of my issues come in. We’re basically trapped in this nightmare with him, and if Bryan doesn’t know what’s happening, neither do we.

That makes the survival horror incredibly effective, but it also means the larger scope of the situation doesn’t hit as hard as I wanted it to. This is Resident Evil, a franchise filled with Umbrella conspiracies, viruses, biological weapons, enormous disasters, and people making spectacularly stupid scientific decisions that threaten countless lives.

The movie gives us enough worldbuilding to understand what’s happening, but I wanted a little more of it. I occasionally wanted the story to pull back and let me feel the full scale of this disaster. The same thing applies to Bryan’s emotional journey.

We get some material involving his girlfriend Michelle and the problems in their relationship, which helps establish who Bryan is before his evening descends into monster-filled hell, but the movie moves so quickly that there isn’t much room to deepen that emotional side of the story.

I liked Bryan, cared about him, and absolutely wanted him to survive, but I think there was an opportunity to make that connection hit even harder.

Those issues didn’t bother me nearly as much as I expected because Cregger clearly knows what kind of movie he wants to make. This isn’t a giant Resident Evil mythology lesson. It’s essentially a survival-horror video game transformed into a movie, and judged on that experience, this thing freakin’ rips.

There’s an objective, a destination, limited resources, increasingly powerful weapons, horrific enemies, environmental obstacles, and one exhausted dude desperately trying to survive long enough to complete his mission. The action gets crazier, the gore gets nastier, and the creatures become increasingly outrageous while Bryan keeps dragging himself toward and through Raccoon City Hospital.

I love the simplicity of it. All this guy wants to do is deliver one damn package, and the universe responds by throwing every possible nightmare at him. It also leads into an ending that genuinely surprised me.

I’m not going anywhere near spoilers because I think people should experience where Cregger takes this story without knowing what’s coming. I wasn’t quite sure how the movie was going to wrap everything up, and when it got there, it definitely wasn’t what I expected. I’m extremely curious to see how audiences and longtime fans react to it.

Ultimately, Resident Evil gave me something I’ve wanted from this franchise on the big screen. I walked out of this movie energized by how much damn fun I had. Cregger understood that making a great Resident Evil adaptation isn’t about copying a game scene by scene or cramming the screen with recognizable characters and monsters.

It’s about capturing the experience of playing these games: the dread of walking into a dark hallway, the relief of finding a better weapon, the panic when something horrible suddenly comes charging at you, and the increasingly ridiculous realization that the nightmare somehow keeps getting worse.

This movie is violent, bloody, gory, scary, hilarious, disgusting, completely bonkers, and ridiculously entertaining. If you’re into horror movies, creature features, survival horror, or you’re a longtime Resident Evil fan like me, this is one hell of a ride.

After years of waiting for a live-action adaptation that actually captures what makes these games so much fun, I can finally say it, this is the Resident Evil movie I’ve been waiting for.

Simu Liu may have just casually confirmed that Shang-Chi is sticking around for both of Marvel’s upcoming Avengers movies, while also giving fans another small update on the painfully long wait for a sequel to his solo MCU adventure.

We already know Avengers: Doomsday is bringing together a massive collection of Marvel characters, including Liu’s Shang-Chi. The cast of Avengers: Secret Wars has been much harder to pin down, though Letitia Wright’s Shuri and Paul Bettany’s Vision have previously been linked to the film.

Now Liu appears to have added his own name to the Secret Wars roster. During a fan signing captured in a now-deleted Instagram video from Itzyreviews and later shared on Reddit, Liu was asked when we might finally see Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 2.

Liu didn’t have a release date to offer, but his response provided a pretty interesting look at what comes first on his Marvel schedule: "First Doomsday, then Secret Wars, then…"

The fan jumped in with the rumored sequel title Shang-Chi and the Wreckage of Time, prompting Liu to respond: "Let's hope."

Marvel Studios hasn’t officially announced Liu for Avengers: Secret Wars, so this isn’t confirmation from the studio. Still, Liu mentioning Secret Wars as part of his upcoming Marvel workload certainly sounds like Shang-Chi will survive whatever insanity awaits him in Doomsday and return for the follow-up.

That would make plenty of sense. Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame operated as two halves of one enormous MCU event, and Doomsday and Secret Wars are expected to deliver another massive conflict involving Doctor Doom, played by Robert Downey Jr., and a whole lot of Marvel heroes.

Shang-Chi getting a role across both movies would be cool to see. Liu hasn’t appeared as the character in a live-action Marvel project since Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings arrived five years ago.

The bigger question remains what happened to Shang-Chi 2. The sequel has been discussed for years, but it still hasn’t made its way onto Marvel Studios’ release calendar. The project obviously remains somewhere in his future, just on the other side of Doomsday and Secret Wars.

For now, Shang-Chi fans may have to settle for watching the Master of the Ten Rings throw down alongside the Avengers before he gets another movie of his own.

Considering how long Marvel has kept the character on the sidelines, seeing him involved in two big Avengers movies at least brings him back into the fight.

Hopefully Shang-Chi 2 isn’t too far behind.

Netflix’s political pressure cooker is about to boil over. The first full trailer for The Diplomat Season 4 puts Keri Russell’s Kate Wyler in an ugly position as a secret operation involving the White House threatens to push the United States toward war.

Season 4 picks up after the events of the third season, with Kate facing the consequences of a covert move orchestrated by President Grace Penn, played by Allison Janney, and Vice President Hal Wyler, played by Rufus Sewell.

Their actions against the Russian and British governments have created one hell of an international mess, and Kate is once again stuck trying to keep everything from falling apart.

This time, the trouble isn’t limited to foreign policy. Kate’s already complicated marriage to Hal is caught directly in the middle of the crisis, while her relationship with President Penn has become another dangerous part of the equation.

The official Season 4 logline lays out just how bad things have gotten: “Two marriages threaten to eat each other alive. One catastrophic moment shatters the fragile peace Kate Wyler brokered between the US and UK, as well as the crumbling marriage she’s trying to save.

“While she fights to stem the bleeding, President Grace Penn and VP Hal Wyler’s conspiracy to steal Russia’s most powerful weapon hurtles the United States toward war. Kate and Todd (Bradley Whitford), at best an uneasy pair, unite to stop the Grace-Hal alliance from upending the balance of power abroad and at home.”

That puts Kate in the brutal position of trying to prevent an international conflict while taking on an alliance between her husband and the President. To make matters even more complicated, she’ll have to work with Todd, played by Bradley Whitford, despite the two being far from natural partners.

The eight-episode fourth season also brings back Ato Essandoh, Ali Ahn, Nana Mensah, and Rory Kinnear alongside Russell, Janney, Sewell, and Whitford.

Debora Cahn, who created The Diplomat, returns as showrunner and executive producer. The series is coming off another strong showing with the Emmys, earning 10 nominations this year, including Outstanding Drama Series. Allison Janny also took home a win for Best Supporting Actress.

The Diplomat Season 4 premieres October 15 with all eight episodes.

Zack Snyder was never interested in making his DC superheroes feel like they belonged in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

While Marvel built a blockbuster machine around action, humor, spectacle, and crowd-pleasing momentum, Snyder was chasing something heavier. He wanted gods, mythology, fear, power, and heroes who looked like they could be carved into an ancient monument.

That difference shaped Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and Snyder now admits his approach may not have been the easiest way to compete with Marvel.

While promoting his 2026 indie drama The Last Photograph, Snyder reflected on his time making DC movies and explained why Marvel Studios’ enormously successful formula wasn’t something he wanted to imitate.

He said: “[Marvel is] like an amusement park ride, right? The ups, the drops, the kind of cruising part, and then another drop. At the end, you’re like, ‘Wow, that was crazy, that was awesome.’

“I had no interest in that. And you know, maybe that was a mistake. But I don’t think that way. I can’t do that. I’d rather just kind of talk about the mythology of them. And maybe that’s not as fun.”

That philosophy is all over Snyder’s DC work. Man of Steel presents Superman as an almost biblical figure while asking what humanity would actually do if someone with godlike abilities suddenly appeared among us.

Batman v Superman pushes that idea even further, turning Superman’s existence into an argument about power, responsibility, fear, and whether anyone should have that much control over the world.

Even Zack Snyder’s Justice League, with its massive four-hour runtime, plays less like a breezy superhero team-up and more like an epic about fallen gods, resurrection, sacrifice, and an approaching apocalypse.

Marvel has obviously played with mythology as well, sometimes with actual gods. The difference is in the presentation. Snyder wanted Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the Justice League to carry a larger-than-life weight. Humor and spectacle were part of his movies, but they weren’t driving the experience.

His admission that “maybe that was a mistake” is interesting considering what was happening at the box office during his DC run. The MCU had turned its interconnected superhero universe into a monster success, and Warner Bros. was trying to establish the DCEU alongside it.

Snyder could have moved closer to Marvel’s crowd-friendly style, but that apparently wasn’t a movie he knew how, or wanted, to make.

This also isn’t a new philosophy Snyder has adopted years after leaving DC. Back in 2014, while he was still working with Warner Bros., the filmmaker talked about superheroes as a form of modern mythology.

He believed these characters could function similarly to old myths, giving audiences stories through which they could examine themselves and the world.

Snyder was also a fan of Marvel’s movies. His point wasn’t that Marvel’s approach was wrong. He simply believed DC had an opportunity to give audiences something different.

Whether that approach worked is still one of the great superhero movie debates. Snyder’s DC films inspired a passionate fanbase while also generating plenty of criticism, and some of his creative decisions will probably be argued over for as long as people are still arguing about Batman and Superman.

Snyder wasn’t attempting to build DC’s version of Marvel. He wanted superheroes to feel like modern gods walking among ordinary people, complete with all the fear, consequences, and philosophical baggage that comes with that idea.

Maybe it wasn’t as fun as the amusement park Marvel ride. For better or worse, though, it was unmistakably Zack Snyder.

After years of wondering whether Tree Gelbman will get dragged into another murderous time loop, Happy Death Day 3 finally has some real movement.

Jessica Rothe says she and filmmaker Chris Landon have cracked the story for the third movie, and now they’re waiting for Universal Pictures and Blumhouse to give it the greenlight.

Rothe shared the update while speaking with Deadline, revealing that she and Landon recently got together and worked out the entire story.

“So, Chris Landon and I have actually broken the whole story, which was really fun,” Rothe reveals. “We went to an undisclosed location—a Le Pain Quotidien in between our houses—and sat there for hours and broke the third movie. And now, we’re just waiting for Universal and Blumhouse to [give us] just a little money. This is a Deadline exclusive. You heard it here first.”

That’s one of the most encouraging updates we’ve had on the long-awaited sequel. The creative work is moving forward, Rothe and Landon know what the movie will be, and the biggest remaining obstacle appears to be getting Universal and Blumhouse to officially back it.

Rothe previously said that she and Landon were committed to doing as much work as possible before taking the project back to the studio.

“We are dedicated to do the legwork on our end, in terms of developing it and getting it to where it needs to be so that it becomes a no-brainer for the studio. Chris feels really strongly, and I agree, he’s come up with an incredible, incredible end of the trilogy and a way to kind of perfectly cap the movies.”

The financial history of the franchise may be part of what Universal and Blumhouse are considering. Happy Death Day was a major success in 2017, earning $125 million worldwide. Its 2019 sequel, Happy Death Day 2U, dropped to $64 million globally, which likely hasn’t helped the chances of getting a third movie made.

Still, Landon has had ideas for the finale for years. Back in 2020, he revealed that the working title was Happy Death Day to Us and described the planned third installment as being “different than the other two films.”

The good news is that Happy Death Day 3 sounds less like everyone involved would like to make and more like an actual movie waiting for studio approval. Rothe and Landon are ready. They’ve figured out the story. Now Universal and Blumhouse just need to open the wallet and let Tree die a few more times.

Come on, guys. Let them finish the trilogy!

Episode 5 of Lanterns forced Hal Jordan and John Stewart to make one hell of a choice, and Kyle Chandler has made it pretty clear where he stands on the fate of Rushville’s resident Manhunter, Zoe.

In the recent episode, Hal sets out to bring Zoe to justice, regardless of what it takes. He’s still trying to prove himself to the Guardians of the Universe and keep his Green Lantern ring, which certainly complicates his motives.

By the end of the episode, however, it’s John who makes the final call, putting a bullet in Zoe’s head and seemingly killing the Manhunter. The question is whether John did the right thing.

Zoe’s existence in Rushville wasn’t entirely horrific on the surface. After assimilating into the Nebraska community, she made sure its residents didn’t get sick. She cured William Macon’s cancer and, based on what “Lights Out” suggested, may have even given Sheriff Kerry her son.

Of course, those gifts came with some pretty nasty strings attached. Rushville’s residents were indebted to Zoe, and she was perfectly willing to murder them while trying to drain Hal’s Green Lantern ring.

Speaking with Radio Times, Chandler explained why he views Zoe’s relationship with the town as something far more sinister than mutually beneficial.

“I saw the description as not a symbiotic relationship with her in that town. I think of it more parasitically,” he explained. “The only reason she's doing what she's doing is so she can keep her safety. She's still a threat and she's still a danger.”

Chandler had an even more colorful way of describing Zoe’s arrangement with Rushville, saying: “It's like a really bad guy settling in, saying, 'Hey, I'm gonna hang out here. Don't tell anyone, and until I leave, I'll let you have free dinners.'

“Once she's gone, she's not gonna care about whether [Rushville's citizens] starve or not. So I say the hell with her, and I'm glad she's gone! As a person, I love Poorna – she's great. But as a character, nah, I could care less [for Zoe]. I did my job.”

Kelly Macdonald, who plays Sheriff Kerry, sees things a little differently. She explained that Kerry’s mother-in-law, like many people, isn’t necessarily “ever truly one thing or another.”

Macdonald added, “Zoe has really made my character a life. I think she's found a safe haven. But there was something a bit Stepford Wives about it. This little town has a bubble around it and protection. It all comes at a cost.”

That cost became much clearer in Episode 5. We learn that the Manhunter is programmed to force her way into a society and gradually find ways to bring its people under her control. Rushville was following that pattern.

Zoe’s relationship with John was part of it as well. She seduced him to get him on her side and was willing to let him burn until he agreed to serve her in exchange for being healed. Whatever good she brought to Rushville, it ultimately served her own survival and control over the community.

Aaron Pierre, who plays John Stewart, didn’t offer a firm judgment on whether killing Zoe was the right decision. Instead, he pointed to how Lanterns allows viewers to wrestle with these questions themselves.

“At no point do you ever feel as though you're being lectured,” he shared. “You feel like you're being invited to have a conversation as an audience member, and I think that's where the best moments exist.”

That’s what makes the whole Zoe situation interesting. She helped Rushville and changed people’s lives for the better, but none of that erases what she really was doing there. Her generosity was another method of control.

Hal may have his own reasons for wanting the Manhunter eliminated, but after everything Episode 5 reveals, his assessment of Zoe looks pretty damn accurate. John ultimately reached the same conclusion. The difference was that John was the one who pulled the trigger.

I was recently invited to Universal Studios Hollywood to experience their new ride Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift, and riding it once wasn’t enough for me. Neither was twice. Or three times. I rode this freakin’ thing four times in a row, and it became more fun every single time!

I’ll admit the first experience on the ride kinda scared the hell out of me. By the fourth ride, my hands were in the air and I was laughing like an idiot while this mechanical lunatic threw me around the track at 72 mph.

That pretty much sums up my experience with Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift. This ride is completely insane, ridiculously fast, surprisingly scary, and easily one of the most exhilarating roller coasters I’ve ever been on, and I came out thinking I had just found a new reason to keep going back to Universal. It’s fast, it’s furious, and holy crap, does it drift!

I love roller coasters. I’m a huge roller coaster guy, so I was already excited about Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift long before I actually got into one of those cars. I’d been to Universal Studios Hollywood several times while the coaster was under construction, and later I got to see them testing it.

Every time I watched those cars screaming around the track, twisting through the layout and whipping around those turns, I kept thinking, “Man, that thing looks absolutely nuts.” Watching it from the ground, though, doesn’t prepare you for actually being strapped into the damn thing.

One of the first things that got my attention when I got on the ride was the restraint. Where the hell is the shoulder harness?! It’s not there! You’re sitting in this little four-person car getting ready to launch into what looks like a giant steel knot of bad decisions, and instead of having some massive restraint coming over your shoulders and locking your entire upper body into place, you’ve got a lap bar. That’s it. A lap bar.

I know these things are engineered and tested to keep riders secure, but my brain didn’t care about any of that at the moment. I looked at the track, looked at the restraint, prayed that it wouldn’t break loose, looked back at the track and thought, “Wait... we’re doing WHAT with THIS?”

Then the ride takes off, and from there, you’re committed. There isn’t much time to process what’s happening because Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift starts attacking that track like somebody just dropped the green flag on the most unhinged race of your life.

The coaster hits a top speed of 72 mph, runs across roughly 4,100 feet of track, features four separate magnetic LSM launches, and pulls up to 3.6 Gs. And let me tell you, you feel that shit! The G-forces on this thing are no joke. There are moments when the coaster absolutely crushes you into the seat, followed by moments when it feels like the ride is trying to fling you into another zip code.

Then you have the inversions. You’ve got a corkscrew, dive loop, zero-G stall, and barrel roll, all packed into a ride that lasts somewhere around a minute and a half to two minutes. That might not sound very long, but when you’re actually on this monster, your brain enters a completely different relationship with time. There’s so much happening that it feels like the coaster is constantly coming up with new ways to screw with you.

The coolest part of the ride, and the thing that really separates Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift from other roller coasters I’ve ridden, is the vehicle itself. These aren’t traditional coaster trains.

The ride uses individual four-person cars featuring 360-degree rotation technology, but they aren’t simply spinning around randomly. The rotation is controlled to simulate drifting, which is obviously perfect for a Fast & Furious attraction. So while the coaster itself is launching, dropping, twisting, diving and flipping you around, your freaking car is also rotating!

That changes everything because you’re not always facing where the track is taking you. That is such a wonderfully evil idea. There are moments where the car starts rotating and suddenly your brain has no freaking clue what direction you’re traveling anymore.

You can see the track doing something crazy, but your orientation to it keeps changing, so anticipating exactly what’s coming becomes much harder. It gives the whole ride this unpredictable quality where you know something insane is about to happen, but you’re not always sure exactly how you’re going to experience it.

The drifting also gives the coaster this fantastic combination of smoothness and chaos. It isn’t spinning just for the sake of spinning. The movement works with the track, so you actually get this sensation that your vehicle is sliding and drifting through these insane maneuvers. It’s freakin’ awesome, and it makes the coaster feel unlike anything else I’ve experienced.

There were moments when I genuinely didn’t know where the hell I was looking anymore. Track, sky, buildings, track again, and suddenly I’m upside down. Great! Let’s keep doing this!

Universal also went all-in on the Fast & Furious flavor with the coaster vehicles. The trains are modeled after cars from the franchise, including Dominic Toretto’s 1970 Dodge Charger, Han’s Mazda RX-7, Brian O’Conner’s Nissan Skyline GT-R, and his orange Toyota Supra.

Even better, each vehicle has its own onboard audio system with custom engine sounds based on the specific car you’re riding. That detail rules. You hear the engine roaring and revving around you while you’re being fired across the track, and it adds another layer to the experience.

Instead of feeling like you’re sitting in a generic roller coaster train with some Fast & Furious decorations slapped onto it, the vehicle actually really make it pop. And really, if you’re making a Fast & Furious roller coaster, the cars better be cool.

During that first run, I was genuinely scared. That wonderful roller coaster terror where your body is screaming at you that whatever is currently happening makes absolutely no freaking sense. You’re flying, rotating, upside down, and getting hammered with G-forces.

At some point during all of that madness, I just started laughing. I couldn’t help it. That’s one of my favorite feelings on a great roller coaster. You reach this point where the experience becomes so ridiculous that your brain apparently gives up trying to understand it and decides laughter is the only appropriate response.

I was laughing because I couldn’t believe how much damn fun I was having. It was scary as hell, but it was also so freaking awesome that the fear became part of the fun.

When that first ride ended, there was only one thing I wanted to do. Go again. So I did. Then I did it again. And then, because apparently I had completely surrendered myself to this thing, I rode it a fourth time.

What’s funny is that the experience changed every time I rode it. That first run was mostly about survival. I had no idea exactly how the drifting would feel, I didn’t know how intense the launches were going to be, and I didn’t know how my body was going to react to the combination of rotation, inversions and G-forces.

The second time, I knew what I was getting into, so I could enjoy it more. By the third ride, I was fully onboard with the insanity. By ride number four, the hands were up. Screw it. Let’s go!

That fourth ride might have been my favorite because the fear had mostly transformed into pure adrenaline-fueled joy. I could stop bracing for everything and just let the coaster throw me around. I knew the madness was coming, and instead of preparing for impact, I could enjoy every second of it. Oh, and I got the coaster all to myself!

Man, what a blast! It’s one of those rare attractions where immediately after getting off, I wanted to get right back in line. I honestly could have kept riding it until somebody from Universal politely informed me that the park was closed and I needed to go home.

Here’s probably the biggest compliment I can give Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift. This coaster alone makes me want to visit Universal Studios Hollywood more often. I’ve always enjoyed Universal. I go to Halloween Horror Nights every year, and if friends or family are visiting Los Angeles and want to hit the park, I’m happy to go with them. But outside of that, I haven’t necessarily felt the need to randomly wake up and think, “You know what I need today? Universal Studios.”

This ride changes that for me. Now I absolutely want to head over there specifically because I want to ride this thing again. More importantly, I want to take other people on it. That’s when I know an attraction has really worked on me.

I don’t just want to experience it again myself. I want to drag my friends and family onto it so I can watch them experience the same insanity. Someone comes into town now? Cool. We’re going to Universal because there’s something you need to ride. I already know I’m going to become annoying about this.

For me, Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is easily worth the price of admission to Universal Studios Hollywood. I know that’s a big statement to make about a single attraction, but I had that much fun riding it. This isn’t a ride where I got off thinking, “Yeah, that was pretty cool.” I rode it four freaking times in a row. My actions have already betrayed any attempt I could make at pretending to be reasonable about this.

This coaster wrecked me in the best possible way. The 72 mph speed is exhilarating. The four launches keep the momentum ripping along. The inversions are bonkers. The 3.6 Gs hit hard enough to remind you that physics has decided to participate in the violence.

The rotating vehicles completely change how you experience the track, and the drifting mechanic gives the coaster its own crazy personality. There’s a lot of cool technology making this thing work, but none of that matters if the end result isn’t fun. Thankfully, Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is ridiculously, stupidly, gloriously fun.

That’s ultimately what I want from a roller coaster. I want to get off laughing. I want my adrenaline going. I want that slightly shaky-legged feeling where I’m trying to process the insanity I just experienced. I want to look at the person next to me with that ridiculous grin that says, “Did we seriously just do that?” Most importantly, I want my immediate response to be, “Again.”

Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift gave me all of that. Four times. I’ve ridden a lot of roller coasters. I love roller coasters. This might be my favorite one yet.

If you’re in Southern California, you love thrill rides, hit up Universal Studios Hollywood, you’ve got to experience Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift! Just be prepared for that moment when you sit down, look at the lap bar, look at the insanity waiting in front of you and start questioning some of your recent life decisions. Then enjoy the ride!

Every new look at Laika’s Wildwood makes it harder to believe this thing was actually made by hand. The final trailer has arrived, offering another gorgeous look at director Travis Knight’s stop-motion fantasy adventure.

The scale, environments, character animation, and tiny handcrafted details are incredible, but this trailer also puts more focus on the characters and emotional journey driving the spectacle.

Knight, whose credits include Kubo and the Two Strings and Masters of the Universe, looks to be taking everything Laika does so well and pushing it into a much bigger fantasy world.

There are strange creatures, talking animals, massive landscapes, dangerous encounters, and plenty of adventure packed into the footage.

At the center of Wildwood is Prue McKeel, voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee, a teenager who ventures into a mysterious forest after her baby brother is taken by a murder of crows. Jacob Tremblay voices her loyal classmate Curtis Mehlberg, who joins her on the dangerous journey.

Laika describes the story: “After her baby brother is abducted by a murder of crows, headstrong teenager Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) launches a desperate rescue mission into the Impassable Wilderness—an enchanted forest hidden just beyond Portland, Oregon.

“Joined by her hapless but loyal classmate Curtis Mehlberg (Jacob Tremblay), Prue navigates a world of talking animals, bandits, and powerful figures driven by grief and ambition.

“As the pair is drawn into a conflict threatening the balance of the forest itself, Prue must find a way to save her brother while confronting forces that could determine Wildwood’s future.”

The voice cast Laika assembled for this world also includes Carey Mulligan, Angela Bassett, Mahershala Ali, Richard E. Grant, Awkwafina, Amandla Stenberg, Tom Waits, Charlie Day, Blythe Danner, Maya Erskine, Jake Johnson, Rob Delaney, Jemaine Clement, and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, among many others.

What continues to grab me about Wildwood, though, is just how insanely beautiful it looks. Laika has created some stunning stop-motion animation over the years, but the scope of this movie appears enormous.

That craftsmanship matters even more when it’s serving a story you actually want to experience. This final Wildwood trailer makes the movie look like a wonderful old-school fantasy adventure filled with danger, heart, strange characters, and a huge world waiting to be explored.

I’m incredibly excited to experience this one on the big screen. A movie this visually rich deserves to be seen on the big screen, where all those handmade environments, miniature details, and sweeping fantasy imagery can really shine.

Wildwood arrives in theaters on October 23.

Marvel is sending Earth’s Mightiest Heroes back to theaters, and it’s giving fans a little extra incentive to see them on the biggest screen possible.

Avengers: Endgame: Encore arrives later this month with additional material connected to Avengers: Doomsday, but exactly how much you get depends on where you watch it.

A new TV spot and poster have also been released, leaning hard into the history of the original Avengers and the emotional payoff of the Infinity Saga.

The theatrical runtimes have now been officially confirmed, and there are two different versions. Standard screenings will run 3 hours, 3 minutes, and 3 seconds, while IMAX and Infinity Vision screenings clock in at 3 hours, 6 minutes, and 14 seconds.

That gives premium-format audiences a little more than three additional minutes of footage. Marvel Studios hasn't revealed what those extra minutes contain, which leaves some fun and interesting possibilities on the table.

Anthony Russo and Joe Russo could have filmed something new specifically for Avengers: Endgame: Encore, or Marvel may have found a way to weave footage from Avengers: Doomsday directly into Endgame.

Whatever Marvel has planned, keeping it under wraps certainly makes the IMAX and Infinity Vision screenings more tempting for fans who want to see everything.

The newly released TV spot takes a nostalgic route, revisiting the first appearances of the Avengers before jumping forward to where each hero ended up in Avengers: Endgame.

It works as a quick celebration of the Infinity Saga and a reminder of just how much changed between the heroes' introductions and their final battle against Thanos.

For anyone who grew up watching these characters over the course of more than a decade, Marvel knows exactly which emotional buttons it's pushing here.

The rerelease could also make Marvel box office history even bigger. Avengers: Endgame currently sits at $2.799 billion worldwide, putting it within striking distance of Avatar and its $2.923 billion global haul.

A strong theatrical return could potentially push Endgame past James Cameron's sci-fi epic and reclaim the worldwide box office crown.

There's also an even crazier milestone within reach. Could Avengers: Endgame become the first movie in history to cross $3 billion worldwide? We'll soon find out.

The original film brought Marvel's first 22-movie saga to its massive conclusion as the surviving Avengers dealt with the aftermath of Thanos wiping out half of all life in the universe.

With the team shattered and the universe devastated, the remaining heroes came together for one final attempt to undo the Mad Titan's victory.

Seven years later, Marvel is giving audiences another shot at that experience on the big screen, this time with a tease of what comes next for the MCU.

Avengers: Endgame: Encore arrives in theaters September 25.

Part of the journey is the end.

Experience Avengers: Endgame on the big screen again when it returns to theaters September 25, and stream the full Infinity Saga now on @DisneyPlus. Get tickets: https://t.co/BqAjEHmxDg pic.twitter.com/sjEEdCZUjH

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) September 14, 2026

Whatever it takes. 

🎨 illustrated by @SG_Posters

Reassemble the team in theaters when Avengers Endgame: Encore returns September 25. Get tickets now: https://t.co/pZZ4PiOyQb pic.twitter.com/7QRg3iONC0

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) September 14, 2026

Nobody has to convince Tom Cruise to give 100%. The guy has spent decades throwing himself into movies with the kind of commitment that has him jumping motorcycles off cliffs, hanging from aircraft, and pushing himself through increasingly insane stunt work.

Cruise knows he has a reputation for being intense, and apparently, he’s heard all the stories too. While promoting his upcoming film Digger, Cruise spoke with GQ about his approach to filmmaking, working with other people, and why he still considers the theatrical experience something television and streaming can’t replicate.

Cruise made it clear he has nothing against entertainment made for the small screen. His preference for theaters comes down to the communal experience of sitting in a room full of people and watching a movie together.

"I have nothing against cable or TV or Netflix. I think it’s great. Create jobs and everything," he assured. "But what I like about cinema is it is all of us coming together in a room and sharing an experience.

“I say, 'Understand the tools, then go create what you want to create.' When I’m working with people, I’m not afraid to, as I’m acting, to look foolish, to do it."

That attitude tracks with pretty much everything we’ve seen from Cruise throughout his career. His commitment to movies has become especially visible through the Mission: Impossible films and Top Gun: Maverick, where his determination to make things feel as real as possible has resulted in some ridiculous practical stunt work.

Cruise also understands that his approach can make him an intense person to work alongside. He doesn’t seem particularly bothered by that reputation. In fact, he’ll happily confirm it.

"I'm like, ‘Trust me, the rumors are true. I’ll be here before you. What experience do you want?’ And I’m very open. It’s not like we don’t have a plan. We have scripts, we have plans, we’re going through it.

“But I also feel that level of responsibility for – I guess, for everyone. Even when I was a kid, they were like, 'Oh, come on, Tom. You’re so intense.' I’m like, "I don’t know what to say. I am intense.'"

At least Cruise can laugh about it. For him, the intensity seems to come from wanting to understand whatever he’s working on as thoroughly as possible.

"I got a very good sense of humor about it, but it was like: When I’m interested in something, I want to learn it. I want to understand it. And you want to blast through the confusion and kind of build up that ability."

That sounds about right for a guy whose idea of learning a skill for a movie can involve piloting aircraft, performing HALO jumps, or figuring out how to survive another outrageous Mission: Impossible stunt.

Next up, Cruise is teaming with director Alejandro G. Iñárritu for Digger, which puts the actor under prosthetics for a story in which his character is responsible for bringing about the end of the world.

Digger arrives in theaters October 2, and with Cruise and Iñárritu working together, it’ll be interesting to see where all that famous intensity takes them.

Zach Cregger has unleashed his take on Resident Evil, and as someone who has already seen it, I can tell you this movie is a freakin’ blast! It’s scary, funny, insanely gory, and one of those horror movies that is just so much fun to experience in a theater packed with people.

As a longtime fan of the Resident Evil franchise, I loved what Cregger did here. This isn’t a retelling of one of the games, nor does it lean on familiar heroes like Leon S. Kennedy or Jill Valentine. Instead, Cregger takes what makes playing Resident Evil so nerve-racking and entertaining and builds an original story around that experience.

The result does the franchise justice while giving us something scary and awesome. Fans are going to have a hell of a good time with this one, and the first reactions from critics are just as enthusiastic.

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff calls it "one of the best video game adaptations I’ve ever seen" and adds that it's "also one of the best horror comedies I've ever seen. Cannot believe how many hilarious beats this movie has without ever diminishing the stakes or sheer terror of the situation."

That balance between horror and comedy is a huge part of what makes the movie work. Cregger knows when to make you laugh, but the humor doesn’t deflate the danger.

Fandango’s Erik Davis also praised the way the film captures the experience of playing Resident Evil rather than simply recreating a specific game. He says the movie is "less an adaptation of a game and more a movie that makes you feel like you're playing one."

Davis continued: "Don’t get stuck on what is or isn’t in the Resident Evil games. This is a film that takes the spirit of playing those games and runs wild with it."

That’s exactly what Cregger is going for. The film embraces survival horror, escalating danger, grotesque monsters, zombies, and the constant feeling that something horrible is waiting around the next corner.

Tomatometer critic EJ Moreno says it’s a movie that “you have to see on the biggest screen with a big crowd! A true horror blockbuster.”

He continued: “Zach Cregger goes bigger, scarier, and at his most fun. This is how you make horror into a cinematic spectacle.”

That packed-theater experience absolutely adds to the fun. Hearing an audience laugh, scream, and react together makes the craziness hit even harder.

Film critic Mark Cassidy also believes Cregger has found a way to remain faithful to the games without relying on their characters and storylines, writing: "#ResidentEvil may not feature recognizable characters/storylines, but by tapping into the relentless tension of the games, Zach Cregger has actually delivered the most faithful take yet."

He added: “Very bloody, very funny, and it made me jump at least 3 times (no easy task). The fella sitting in front of me hid behind his jacket for most of the movie. Easily among the best video game adaptations I’ve seen.”

Kellvin Chavez, editor-in-chief of SplashReport.com, was equally fired up after seeing the movie. “HOLY SHIT!!! #ResidentEvil has its foot on the gas from the opening scene and NEVER hits the brakes,” Chavez wrote.

“Zach Cregger delivers relentless suspense, gloriously gory action, and some seriously twisted, Thing-esque creature designs. Pure SURVIVAL HORROR and easily the best Resident Evil movie yet. Austin Abrams is terrific.”

Film critic Tristian Circa ‘89 praised the movie’s combination of horror and comedy along with its lead performance.

“It’s just as intense and horrifying as you’d expect a Resident Evil movie to be while integrating some great humorous moments throughout. Austin Abrams plays an everyman in way over his head, but his natural charm makes him a lead worth rooting for.”

Variety’s Jordan Moreau also came away loving the film, writing: “Zach Cregger is the fucking man and #ResidentEvil is one of the best video game adaptions ever made, and one of the best horror movies in recent memory. Incredible title drop, Austin Abrams is hilarious to watch stumble around killing zombies, 10/10.”

The new Resident Evil reunites Cregger with his Weapons star Austin Abrams, who plays a medical courier caught in a zombie outbreak while attempting to make a delivery to Raccoon City General Hospital.

Cregger, who previously directed Barbarian, co-wrote the screenplay with Shay Hatten. The supporting cast includes Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser.

One of the biggest decisions Cregger made was leaving established Resident Evil characters out of the story. Cregger wanted to tell an original story within the Resident Evil universe, a choice that hasn’t gone over well with every longtime fan.

The filmmaker has even admitted he was “naive” to think he could tell a completely new story inside an existing franchise without getting some heat for it.

Having seen the movie, I think that approach works. The characters may be new, but the survival-horror DNA is 100% Resident Evil. More importantly, the movie understands why these games are fun.

You’re constantly waiting for the next horrible thing to show up, and Cregger keeps finding entertaining ways to crank up the pressure.

Hollywood has been trying to crack Resident Evil on the big screen for more than two decades. Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez starred in the original 2002 film, with Jovovich returning for Resident Evil: Apocalypse in 2004, Resident Evil: Extinction in 2007, Resident Evil: Afterlife in 2010, Resident Evil: Retribution in 2012, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter in 2017.

Johannes Roberts later rebooted the property as writer and director of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City in 2021. Across its theatrical history, the movie franchise has grossed more than $1.2 billion worldwide.

Now Cregger gets his shot, and this feels like the Resident Evil movie fans have been waiting to experience in a packed theater.

It’s nasty, funny, tense, bloody, and loaded with some awesome horror. Most importantly, it captures that feeling of playing a really good Resident Evil game where survival always seems one bad decision away from going completely to hell.

Resident Evil opens in theaters September 18 from Sony Pictures.

The new trailer for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is here, and Haymitch Abernathy’s trip into the arena looks every bit as brutal as readers are expecting. We already know Haymitch survives the Second Quarter Quell. The real question is what surviving costs him.

The Hunger Games franchise has delivered plenty of painful deaths over the years. Rue, Prim, and Finnick Odair are among the characters whose fates hit fans hard, but Suzanne Collins pushed the tragedy even further with Sunrise on the Reaping.

The story follows a young Haymitch after he is selected for the Second Quarter Quell, a particularly horrific edition of the Hunger Games that doubles the number of tributes. Nearly 50 kids are sent into the arena to fight to the death.

That makes Sunrise on the Reaping one of the franchise’s most violent stories, but the real horror goes far beyond the arena. Haymitch’s life before and after the Games is filled with loss, and the new trailer gives audiences a taste of just how painful his story will become.

It also shows a version of Haymitch that is very different from the man fans originally met in The Hunger Games.

When Haymitch first appeared, he came across as an apathetic and often harsh mentor to Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. It soon became clear that there was much more going on with him. He fought to secure sponsors for Katniss and later put himself in danger to protect Katniss, Peeta, and Gale in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Sunrise on the Reaping goes back further and reveals how fiercely Haymitch opposed the Capitol long before Katniss became the Mockingjay. The trailer leans into that side of the character, showing a young man willing to fight back against the system controlling Panem. His actions helped lay the groundwork for the revolution that would come years later.

President Snow makes sure Haymitch pays for what happens in the arena, and the punishment reaches far beyond the Games themselves. Snow’s history with District 12, explored in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, adds another layer to that conflict.

By the time Sunrise on the Reaping reaches its end, audiences will understand exactly why the older Haymitch became the broken, cynical man introduced in The Hunger Games. He survives his Games, but he loses virtually everything he cares about along the way.

For fans who already know what’s coming, this trailer is basically a warning to prepare for some rough stuff. For everyone else, Haymitch Abernathy’s story could completely change how they see one of the franchise’s most important characters.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping opens in theaters November 20th. I’ve looking forward to watching this! It looks great!

James Gunn would apparently love to pull off something nearly impossible with Man of Tomorrow by getting audiences into theaters without showing them much of anything beforehand.

The Superman follow-up has wrapped filming, which means DC fans are naturally waiting for the marketing campaign to kick into gear. A trailer, a proper look at Superman’s updated costume, and especially our first official glimpse of Brainiac are all high on the wish list. Gunn, however, would rather keep those cards hidden for as long as possible.

When a fan on Threads asked when we might see Superman’s new suit, Gunn replied: "If I could just drop it in theaters without showing anything I would."

That same philosophy applies to Brainiac, the major villain of Man of Tomorrow. Lars Eidinger, known for Babylon Berlin, is playing the iconic DC villain, whose arrival will apparently force Clark Kent and Lex Luthor into the unlikely position of working together.

When another fan asked Gunn directly whether a first look at Brainiac was coming, the filmmaker explained: "Again, I'd rather show people nothing and have people see everything in theaters. But unfortunately we can't entirely do it that way."

Yeah, it’s going to be hard pulling that off in the modern blockbuster marketing machine. It’s easy to understand why Gunn would want to protect these big reveals.

Seeing a major comic book character fully realized for the first time can be a hell of a lot more exciting on a giant movie screen than buried inside a trailer months earlier.

Of course, Warner Bros. still has a very expensive superhero movie to sell, so keeping everything hidden until opening night isn’t exactly realistic.

So far, fans have had to make do with leaked set photos, including images offering a peek at Superman’s slightly redesigned suit. There’s still no trailer for Man of Tomorrow, and with the film scheduled to hit theaters on July 9, 2027, we could be waiting until 2027 before DC Studios starts showing us the good stuff.

Gunn has also cautioned fans against expecting the movie to introduce huge numbers of new characters. At its core, Man of Tomorrow is centered on Clark and Lex, with David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult returning to their respective roles.

They’ll have plenty of familiar DC company. Milly Alcock returns as Supergirl, Aaron Pierre is back as John Stewart, and Rachel Brosnahan will once again play Lois Lane.

One new addition generating plenty of curiosity is Adria Arjona. The Andor star has joined the cast in an undisclosed role, and speculation over her character has been running wild.

Early reports pointed toward Maxima, but more recent speculation has Arjona potentially playing Wonder Woman. Her intense physical training for the movie certainly hasn’t done anything to slow those theories down.

Whether Diana Prince actually appears remains to be seen, and considering Gunn’s desire to keep Man of Tomorrow surprises under wraps, we might be waiting a while for an answer.

Before Man of Tomorrow arrives, the DC Universe has more on the way. Lanterns is currently airing weekly on HBO Max, while Clayface is heading to theaters soon.

As for Brainiac, I’m all for Gunn keeping Eidinger’s full transformation hidden if he can pull it off. Give us enough footage to sell the movie, tease the threat, maybe let us hear his voice, but save the complete Brainiac reveal for the theater.

Some things are simply more fun when the trailer hasn’t already shown you everything.

Rhea Seehorn won the Emmy this week for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her starring role in creator Vince Gilligan’s series Pluribus. The show is incredibly original and it gained a fanbase quickly for it’s great writing and twisty turny sci-fi storyline. So when can we expect a second season? Probably not for a while still.

The first season premiered in November 2025, and while some shows, especially those on network TV, come out regularly at the same time each year, streaming shows have a little more variability. The Pluribus IMDb page says the second season is expected in 2027, and an update from Seehorn and Gilligan at the Emmy’s confirms that we definitely have a wait ahead of us.

Deadline reports that during a backstage conversation with the press, Seehorn said Gilligan has completed the first two scripts of Season 2, but “I don’t have anything,” she said, meaning she hasn’t seen the scripts.

Gilligan, who also won an Emmy for Drama Series Writing, explained, “It took us a while, we figured it out, but Season 2 is not technically all written. We’ve broken it out, which is the hard part. In other words, the plot of all episodes (is figured out).

The first and second are written. The rest of them are in various stages of being written, but we know what the whole season is, and we will share it soon with Rhea. Sometimes the actors like Karolina and Samba, sometimes they don’t necessarily want to know. They kind of want to be surprised, which I kind of like that.”

Season 1 ends with Carol demanding the alien hive mind deliver an atom bomb in a crate, which they make good on. Carol tells Manousos, who like her is one of the few humans untouched by the alien virus, “You win. We save the world,” using the bomb as her insurance policy if the collective tries to force a conversion of them.

Gilligan and Seehorn both discussed how they adore fans’ theories on what the show is about, with the highest mentioned themes around Covid, AI, grief and isolation. Gilligan said that when it comes to AI and the pandemic being inspirations, “The idea (for this show) predated both those things.”

Gilligan added, “Someone said that it’s sort of a contemplation of loss. I think all these things are true. They all have validity. I really like hearing other people tell me what my show is about.”

Season 1 of Pluribus is streaming now on Apple TV, and season 2 will arrive sometime in 2027. Stay tuned for updates.

The HBO series Lanterns has brought the Green Lanterns to this modern DC era, and as we are over halfway through the first season, fans are interested to see where these characters go from here.

The show hasn’t been renewed for a second season yet, but in superhero universes, the stars can easily go from one project to another depending on how the people in charge see the whole story trajectory. But a new rumor claims that the next step for the Lanterns will be a jump to the big screen.

A new rumor has cropped up social media that claims DC Studios is now fast-tracking a Green Lantern movie starring Aaron Pierre and Nathan Fillion. There's no word on whether Kyle Chandler will return as Hal, but we've heard the actor only signed up for a single season of Lanterns.

Plus, as far as we can tell from the first five episodes of Lanterns, Hal is dead by the end of the season. But we will just have to wait and see if that changes.

The first five episodes of Lanterns are now streaming on HBO Max, with the final three episodes releasing this Sunday through Sunday, October 4th.

Few things make found footage horror hit harder than watching someone walk straight into a place they clearly shouldn't be. Shudder’s upcoming Infirmary takes that idea into an old psychiatric hospital, where a security guard’s first shift ends with his disappearance and some seriously disturbing bodycam footage.

Directed by Nicholas Pineda, the Shudder Original arrives October 2, giving horror fans a creepy new mystery to throw on the Halloween watchlist. The official synopsis reads:

“A guard vanished on his first night at an old psych hospital in 2023. His bodycam footage shows unexplainable incidents that continue to baffle investigators.”

Paul Syre, Mark Anthony Williams, and Danielle Kennedy star in Infirmary, which joins Shudder’s Season of Screams lineup for the Halloween season.

This year’s Season of Screams is a four-month horror celebration that continues through the holidays, with Shudder rolling out new movies, series, specials, screening events, and live watch parties on Shudder TV. New premieres are planned for every Friday through the end of the year.

There’s plenty coming for horror fans. The lineup includes Parasomnia, V/H/S/Mixtape, the latest installment in the V/H/S franchise, Infirmary, body horror thriller Bloody Tennis, supernatural nightmare The Cycle, and the Milly Shapiro-led Hallowarrior.

Shudder is also bringing back The Creep Tapes for another season, along with the 2026 FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards and a new Halloween special, Joe Bob’s Halloween House Party.

Among all of that horror, Infirmary has a simple story that could make it an especially fun watch for found footage fans.

Infirmary premieres October 2 exclusively on Shudder.

Robert De Niro may be heading to the Dodgers dugout. The Oscar-winning actor is in talks to play legendary Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda in Tommy & Me, a new Skydance Sports movie that will be directed by Reid Carolin.

It’s a pretty solid casting choice for a larger-than-life baseball personality whose career stretched across decades and included two World Series championships.

Details on exactly what part of Lasorda’s life the movie will focus on haven’t been revealed, but there’s obviously a lot of territory the filmmakers could explore. With DeNiro being more on the elderly side, I’m sure it will take place in his later years while he was manager of the Dogders in the ‘80s.

Skydance Sports is the lead studio on the project, with Jesse Sisgold, Jason T. Reed, and Sandino Moya-Smith producing for the company. Peter Guber is producing for Mandalay Pictures, along with Keri Selig and Diane Galardi of Intuition Productions. George Gallo, Cambron Clark, and Carolin wrote the screenplay.

Lasorda’s road to becoming one of the most recognizable figures in Dodgers history was a long one. He started his professional career with the Philadelphia Phillies organization, served a brief stint in the U.S. Army, returned to the minor leagues, and joined the Brooklyn Dodgers organization in 1949.

His playing career was largely spent in the minors, though he did pitch in the majors for both the Dodgers and Kansas City Athletics. His real mark on baseball came after his playing days.

Lasorda worked his way through the Dodgers organization as a scout and minor-league manager before reaching the major-league coaching staff. In 1973, he became the team’s third-base coach under Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston. Three years later, Lasorda took over as manager, a job he would hold until 1996.

During those two decades, Lasorda led Los Angeles to four National League pennants and World Series championships in 1981 and 1988. He was named National League Manager of the Year in 1983 and 1988, managed four All-Star Games, entered the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997, and had his No. 2 retired by the Dodgers.

Even retirement from the Dodgers dugout didn’t end his time managing baseball. Lasorda took charge of the U.S. team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and led the Americans to a gold medal after defeating heavily favored Cuba.

Lasorda remained closely associated with the Dodgers and Los Angeles for the rest of his life. He died in 2021 at the age of 93.

De Niro taking on Lasorda could be a lot of fun to see. Lasorda had a huge personality, plenty of fire, and a career packed with memorable moments, giving the actor plenty to work with if the deal comes together.

De Niro is coming off Netflix’s serial killer thriller The Whisper Man. He’ll next appear in Focker-in-Law, the fourth installment of the Fockers franchise, which is scheduled to open November 25.

Carolin previously co-directed the 2022 Channing Tatum film Dog and is also directing the upcoming Amazon MGM motorcycle racing drama Isle of Man.

What do you think about De Niro playing Tommy Lasorda?

Prime Video has released a trailer for their upcoming horror comedy series Prefiero la Muerte aka I Would Rather Die, starring Diego Bernal as the lead character, Archie.

The series is directed by Sebastian Sarinana, who previously directed the short film Love and Faith, as well as the shows Vgly, The War Next-Door, and The Manny. Sarinana created and co-wrote the series with Cynthia Fernández Trejo, Carlos González Sariñana, and Fernando Rasé.

The show’s synopsis reads, “after being bitten by a zombie at the corner mini-mart, Archie, the high school loser, along with his goth-girl best friend and his platonic crush, try to stop an evil plot that could unleash the apocalypse to Mendoza, the unremarkable provincial Mexican town where they live.

“A pyramid scheme selling vitamins, a group of hardcore religious ladies, and a school bully are just some of the things they must face in their quest to figure out what the hell is happening.”

This looks like kind of a fun coming-of-age/zombie show reminiscent of the quirky 2013 film Warm Bodies. Check out the trailer below, and watch I Would Rather Die on Prime Video on October 2nd.

Comedian and actress Amy Schumer is working on her next film, the comedy feature Best Divorce Ever. The movie comes from writer-director Sean Mullin (Bob Trevino Likes It, Amira & Sam), with Concourse Media launching worldwide sales in Toronto next month.

Best Divorce Ever follows Clarissa (Schumer) and Franklin, who after 20 years together decide they’re done with marriage – but not with each other. Determined to pull off the world’s most amicable divorce, they throw an ‘Untying the Knot’ party and eagerly embrace their newly single lives.

But when disastrous dates, suspicious children and spectacularly misguided attempts at ‘conscious uncoupling’ throw their perfect plan into chaos, Clarissa and Franklin discover that getting divorced is the easy part. Figuring out how to stay a happy family is where things get complicated.

Matthew Shreder, CEO of Concourse Media, said of the project:

“Amy is one of the few people who can take something as painful as divorce and make it brutally honest and incredibly funny. Sean has written a smart, funny script with a ton of heart and gives Amy a great playground to do what she does best.

“It feels like exactly the kind of commercial comedy audiences are ready for, and we’re thrilled to be part of it. Divorce has a branding problem,” said Mullin, whose script was inspired by his owned amicable divorce. “I think we need to change the narrative that the only successful way to end a marriage is for one person to die.”

Schumer went through her own divorce last year after seven years of marriage, and if anyone can see the humor through painful life events, it’s a comedian. I enjoy her movies and stand-up, so I look forward to seeing this movie. Stay tuned for updates as Best Divorce Ever moves into production.

via: Variety

Apple TV clearly has no intention of sending Jackson Lamb and his dysfunctional crew out to pasture. Fresh off another Emmy win, Slow Horses has officially been renewed for Season 8, with Gary Oldman returning as the wonderfully unpleasant MI5 veteran.

Production on the eighth season is expected to begin shortly, and the story will adapt Mick Herron’s ninth Slough House novel, Clown Town. The renewal arrives just as Season 6 is set to premiere, while Season 7, based on Herron’s Bad Actors, has already been announced.

Basically, there’s a whole lot more Jackson Lamb headed our way. Season 8 will put Lamb on a collision course with Diana Taverner, played by Kristin Scott Thomas, in what Apple describes as their most explosive confrontation yet.

A failed attempt to blackmail the Park sends Taverner on the offensive, forcing Lamb to dig into one of MI5’s darkest secrets and find a way to shut the whole mess down for good.

That’s exactly the kind of nasty espionage situation where Lamb thrives, usually while insulting everyone unfortunate enough to be standing nearby.

Apple TV Creative Director, International Jay Hunt said of the renewal: “Slow Horses continues to charm audiences all around the world and I’m delighted that Jackson Lamb and his gang of lovable misfits will be back for an eighth season. Their acerbic take on the high-octane world of espionage is completely unique,”

The series also stars Jack Lowden and Jonathan Pryce, and it continues to pick up major awards attention. At the latest Emmys, Saul Metzstein won for Drama Directing, while Apple had a strong night overall, including Widow’s Bay setting a record for the most comedy wins.

Keeping Slow Horses moving at its current pace has required some effort. Oldman recently explained that it has been a “struggle and a fight” to prevent the series from falling into the years-long gaps that have become increasingly common with major streaming shows.

So far, that fight appears to be paying off. With Season 6 arriving, Season 7 already confirmed and Season 8 preparing to enter production, Slow Horses remains one of Apple TV’s most reliable ongoing series.

Slow Horses is produced for Apple TV by See-Saw Films, which is part of the Mediawan group. Season 8 will be adapted for television and executive produced by Ben Vanstone, with Adam Randall returning to direct.

Eight seasons is a hell of a run for any streaming series, and Slow Horses has earned it. The combination of sharp spy storytelling, a terrific cast and Oldman shambling around as one of television’s most entertaining disasters of a human being continues to work.

Now we know Lamb and the Slough House crew have at least two more seasons of MI5 chaos ahead of them.

Avengers: Doomsday is reportedly still clocking in at a massive runtime, and if the latest test screening report is accurate, Marvel Studios isn’t looking to make its next Avengers movie a quick trip to the theater.

There’s been plenty of chatter surrounding the production, from supposed clashes between cast members to reports about Joe Russo and Anthony Russo beginning principal photography without a completed script.

Much of the more dramatic talk has since been disputed, but putting together a movie this enormous has clearly been a complicated process.

Reshoots recently wrapped, and the Russos now have a couple of months to fine tune what could become one of Marvel Studios’ biggest movies.

According to scooper MyTimeToShineH, the rumored feud between two Doomsday stars has "been resolved" and "there are currently no issues with Doomsday."

Marvel Studios has also reportedly held another internal test screening of the film. This version apparently included the unfinished post-credits scene "that was just filmed."

Even more interesting is the claim that the screening scores are "much higher" than those for Avengers: Endgame.

Endgame became one of Marvel’s successful and defining movies. If Marvel’s internal response to Doomsday really is stronger, fans could be in for something special this December.

As for how much time audiences will be spending with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the latest report says Doomsday is "still around 2 hours and 45 minutes long," despite the Russos continuing to make adjustments.

That would put Doomsday at roughly 165 minutes, making it about 16 minutes shorter than Endgame, which runs approximately 181 minutes. It would still rank among the MCU’s longest movies, which probably isn’t surprising considering how much ground this story has to cover.

Joe Russo also recently addressed the decision to shoot while the screenplay was still evolving, explaining that this is simply part of the brothers’ filmmaking process.

"We always view the script as a living organism. We’re improvisation-based, rehearsal-based directors. We like to see what the actors bring to the characters, and sometimes you don’t get the actors until a few days or a few weeks before you shoot them. And a lot of the time, that’s when the magic happens."

He also acknowledged just how difficult it is to tackle projects of this size, especially with another Avengers movie being made alongside it.

"When you’re doing one of these movies, it’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done. When you’re doing two of them, it’s almost inconceivable. But it’s the second time around we’re doing two back to back."

A 2-hour-and-45-minute runtime could obviously change before release, particularly while editing and visual effects work continue. For now, though, it sounds like the Russos are making Doomsday every bit as big as fans would expect from an Avengers event.

Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters December 18.

Mike Flanagan has spent a lot of time playing in Stephen King’s universe, and his upcoming Prime Video series Carrie may be doing more than revisiting the tragic story of Carrie White. It could also plant a few seeds for Flanagan’s long-planned adaptation of The Dark Tower.

Flanagan has plenty keeping him busy right now. Carrie arrives next month, The Exorcist: Martyrs is headed to theaters next year, and another King adaptation, The Mist, is high on his list of projects to tackle. Then there’s The Dark Tower.

Flanagan has been talking about bringing King’s massive fantasy saga to the screen for years, and the project remains alive at Amazon. In a new Entertainment Weekly profile focused on Carrie, Flanagan confirmed that The Dark Tower is still “very much on the table.”

What’s interesting here is his approach to Carrie appears to reach beyond Carrie White’s individual story and into the larger mythology surrounding the psychic abilities found throughout King’s work.

Flanagan said: “Carrie’s abilities aren’t named, really, in the book. He calls it ‘the TK gene’ for telekinesis, but if Steve had written this just a little later, Carrie White would have ‘the Shining.’”

It’s a cool way to look at the character. King’s books are filled with people who possess strange psychic gifts, including characters in The Shining, Doctor Sleep, and The Institute. Flanagan seems interested in treating Carrie as part of that broader tradition rather than keeping her powers isolated within one story.

The series will apparently explore that idea directly. Entertainment Weekly reports, “Each episode of Carrie, beginning with the second, will speak to the main character’s place within that larger world through opening vignettes that depict a different woman with extraordinary abilities from different time periods.”

That gives Flanagan an interesting playground. Those vignettes will expand the mythology of Carrie while also introducing concepts, characters, or connections that eventually lead somewhere much bigger. Like The Dark Tower.

When asked whether Carrie could provide a “backdoor entry point” into his adaptation of King’s epic saga, Flanagan said the possibility has crossed his mind more than once.

“I may have asked this very question several times along the way. It’s certainly not impossible. There are characters in the Tower canon who would serve a very specific purpose in that story, who audiences wouldn’t necessarily recognize because they only exist in certain books.”

That opens up some fun possibilities without requiring Carrie to suddenly turn into a Roland Deschain prequel. Flanagan could introduce someone connected to The Dark Tower mythology without announcing who they really are, allowing the character to function naturally within Carrie before their larger importance becomes clear later.

For readers familiar with King’s sprawling universe, that kind of connection would fit right in. The Dark Tower acts as connective tissue between numerous King stories, characters, locations, and supernatural ideas. Flanagan clearly understands how much material there is to play with.

“How the various Stephen King worlds can connect is always on my mind.” The big question is how far he plans to take it.

Flanagan’s eventual Dark Tower adaptation has a huge job ahead of it, especially after the 2017 movie starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey failed to launch the franchise many King fans had hoped for.

If Flanagan wants to start laying groundwork before Roland and the Man in Black officially return to the screen, Carrie could give him a surprisingly natural place to begin.

For now, nothing confirms that Carrie will directly introduce a Dark Tower character or storyline. Flanagan is simply acknowledging that the opportunity exists, and apparently he’s been thinking about it.

That makes those opening vignettes in Carrie a lot more interesting. King fans may want to pay close attention to who shows up in them. Someone who initially looks like a small piece of Carrie White’s expanded world could eventually have a much larger role to play when Flanagan finally reaches the Tower.

Zack Snyder’s history with DC is complicated, to put it mildly. The filmmaker helped shape Warner Bros.’ original DCEU, saw his plans fall apart under incredibly painful circumstances, eventually returned to complete his version of Justice League, and then watched the entire franchise get rebooted under new leadership.

Now, Zack Snyder is opening up about that period, including losing control of the DC universe he helped build, the Joss Whedon version of Justice League, his thoughts on James Gunn’s DCU, and the unexpected advice Gunn asked him for while making Superman.

Speaking with Variety, Snyder reflected on what was happening when he stepped away from Justice League following the tragic death of his daughter, Autumn. At the time, what was happening with the movie simply couldn’t compete with what his family was going through.

"The circumstances around it were so particular. It just kind of crawled over me. What was happening with me and my family was so intense."

After Snyder left the project, Joss Whedon took over and extensively reworked the film through rewrites and reshoots. Snyder says he wasn’t really following what Warner Bros. was doing with the movie at the time.

"It was so loud — that part was so loud — that, in retrospect, asking, 'How’s the movie going?' And they go, 'Oh, it’s fine! They’re doing some reshoots.' And I go, 'Oh, OK. [frick] it.'

“So, Debbie went and watched the Joss [Whedon] version of the movie, and to have her come back to me and say, 'You can never see that movie,' and to realize then that it was 60 pages of rewrites that they did for it… I’ve never seen the movie, so I don’t know."

Snyder still hasn’t watched Whedon’s theatrical cut of Justice League. His wife and producing partner, Deborah Snyder, saw it and decided one viewing in the family was more than enough.

Snyder eventually got the opportunity to finish his original vision with Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which made the massive differences between his movie and the 2017 theatrical release pretty clear.

Looking back at his larger DC plans, Snyder says Warner Bros. repeatedly pushed back against his vision and wanted greater control over the franchise.

He understands why the studio wanted that control, but he also believes some executives viewed his departure as an opportunity to reclaim the movie, with the attitude being: “This thing that happened to Zack is a window for us to take the movie back now.”

Years later, Snyder says he had an interesting encounter with a former Warner Bros. executive.

"But there was this catharsis of, I met with this executive at Warner Bros. who’s long gone since — I won’t say who it was — and he said to me, 'You know, Zack, I’ve got to tell you one thing: You were right about everything.' And I was like, 'That’s kind of you.' And he goes, 'We were fighting you, and in the end you were right.'”

DC has since moved into a completely different era under DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran, but Snyder hasn’t jumped into their new universe as a viewer just yet. He revealed that he hasn’t watched Superman or Supergirl because his connection to DC remains too personal.

"I haven’t seen the movies. It’s a little bit too personal for me. Too soon, I guess you could say. I do like James [Gunn]. And I do have an appreciation for his [vision]."

Despite not watching Gunn’s Superman, Snyder actually had a small consulting role before the film arrived. Gunn contacted him with a very important Superman question: What about the trunks?

Snyder, who ditched the classic red trunks for Henry Cavill’s Superman costume in Man of Steel, had some thoughts. A lot of thoughts.

"He asked me a question about the underwear. You know, I can’t even remember now, but I think it was about the underwear. Sorry, but I’m going to do a little diatribe.

“Watchmen is a superhero deconstruction film — neuroses, sexual impotence around their costumes, the fetishism, everything. You can’t undo that. I think about everything that way.

“So, the underwear on the outside of the superhero costume comes from Victorian strongmen. The Victorians were so prudish that they’d wear flesh-colored leotards and then put the underwear over it. That’s how it started.

“It was really just a reflection of the Victorians not wanting to show any real skin due to their prudish fear of nakedness. So to me, that’s such a dinosaur. We don’t feel that way anymore. We live in an era where we’re OK without putting the underwear on.

“But maybe we’re not OK! Maybe the message is that you put the underwear back on Superman because we haven’t moved on from our Victorian prudishness. But I thought we had!"

Gunn clearly landed on the other side of that debate. David Corenswet’s Superman proudly rocks the classic trunks.

While Snyder doesn’t appear to be preparing a return to the main DC Universe, there is one DC Comics project that could tempt him back: The Dark Knight Returns.

Frank Miller’s legendary Batman story has influenced Snyder’s work before, particularly Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but Snyder wants to make a full adaptation. For him, The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen represent two essential bookends in the evolution of superhero comics.

"The reason why it’s The Dark Knight Returns, if anyone would ever let me do it outside of the DC Universe since it’s a novel that just happens to have superheroes in it, is if I could do Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns, those two books next to each other, to me, represent the complete cycle of the superhero comic book medium.

“You can do no more than those two books. Watchmen came at the beginning of the superhero movie phase, so it would be super fitting to have The Dark Knight Returns come now, at what I would say is possibly — I don’t want to call it the twilight, but we’re down the road of the superhero movie genre, and I think audiences would understand the why of it.

“Let’s not forget: The Dark Knight Returns was written for a comic book audience that was very exhausted by comic books in the same way that Watchmen was, so having that movie written now for people who are exhausted by comic book movies would be a good time."

It’s easy to understand why Snyder remains interested in that particular story. A filmmaker with a taste for darker, operatic superhero material adapting an aging Batman story about superhero fatigue certainly fits.

Whether DC Studios would ever actually hand Snyder the keys to The Dark Knight Returns is another question. Snyder and Gunn have remained in contact since the DCEU reboot into the DCU was announced, and Gunn reaching out about Superman’s costume shows that their relationship isn’t defined by some imaginary rivalry between competing DC camps.

A full Snyder return still seems unlikely, especially with Gunn and Safran building their own DC Universe. The Elseworlds banner, however, gives DC Studios room to make projects outside its primary continuity.

If Snyder ever did get another shot at a DC movie, The Dark Knight Returns feels like the one project capable of bringing him back.

For now, Snyder appears content to leave Gunn to his Superman trunks while keeping one eye on an older, meaner Batman.

A few weeks ago, DC revealed the official direction of the previously untitled Jimmy Olsen series, telling fans that The People v. Gorilla Grodd will be a new mockumentary comedy that takes the super intelligent Flash villain and drops him into a true-crime murder investigation.

The eight-episode first season at HBO will star Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen and Jimmy Tatro as Gorilla Grodd, along with Superman supporting players Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard, Mikaela Hoover as Cat Grant, and Wendell Pierce as Perry White. Mary Holland, Eduardo Franco, Arian Moayed, Dan Perrault, Andrew Leeds, and Tim Baltz are also on board in undisclosed roles.

But these may not be the only main characters on board. CBM reports that insider Apocalyptic Horseman revealed in a post on X that The People v. Gorilla Grodd will also feature the DCU debuts of Heather Kelley and the Newsboy Legion.

Kelley was a Daily Planet reporter and anchor of the show "News Around the World," who was introduced as a potential new love interest for Clark Kent in the pages of Superman.

The Newsboy Legion, meanwhile, goes back much further. They were a team of reformed juvenile delinquents active during World War II. The Guardian, aka Officer Jim Harper, took the youths under his wing and made sure that they stayed on the straight and narrow.

Check out the post below, and let us know if you’d like to see Heather Kelley and the Newsboy Legion appear.

EXCLUSIVE: ‘The People v. Gorilla Grodd’ Set To Feature Heather Kelley And The Newsboy Legion pic.twitter.com/T8BakyCWDu

— Apocalyptic Horseman (@ApocHorseman) September 6, 2026

Netflix and Sega are putting the pedal down on a new batch of video game adaptations, and they’re starting with one of Sega’s most wonderfully chaotic arcade games.

A Crazy Taxi feature film is officially in development as the first project under a new multititle deal between Netflix and Sega. The companies are also developing a new animated Sonic the Hedgehog series for younger viewers and a film based on Stranger Than Heaven, the upcoming action-adventure game from RGG Studio.

Crazy Taxi certainly feels like the wild card of the group, and potentially the funniest. The movie will be written by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, the writing team behind the 2025 reboot of The Naked Gun.

Neal H. Moritz and Toby Ascher of Original Film will produce alongside Sega’s Toru Nakahara, with the trio already having plenty of experience bringing Sonic to the screen.

“Great games already have what every adaptation is chasing — characters people love, worlds they know by heart, and fandoms that show up,” said Brandon Riegg, VP of nonfiction and transmedia at Netflix, in a statement.

“With Crazy Taxi, Sonic and Stranger Than Heaven, we get to work across three completely different eras of Sega’s catalog, celebrating everything fans love, while introducing them to new audiences.”

Crazy Taxi made its arcade debut in 1999 before becoming closely associated with Sega’s Dreamcast. The game puts players behind the wheel of a cab and rewards them for getting passengers to their destinations as quickly and recklessly as possible.

Sega describes the experience as playing a “fearless cabbie racing the clock through chaotic city streets — flying off ramps, dodging traffic and chasing tips with punk-rock energy that became the series’ signature.”

That arcade-style insanity could make for a pretty damn fun comedy if Gregor and Mand lean into what made the games work. The timing also makes sense for Sega, as the franchise is returning with Crazy Taxi: World Tour, which is scheduled to launch in 2027.

Moritz and Ascher clearly shared in a statement: “We couldn’t be more excited to continue our longstanding relationship with Sega and bring Crazy Taxi to life with our partners at Netflix.

“This film is for anyone who’s spent hours behind the wheel of a yellow cab on their Dreamcast, with the music cranked up, smashing through everything in sight just to make the next fare.”

Meanwhile, Netflix and Sega are heading back into Sonic territory with another animated series. Carlos Stevens and Nakahara are developing the show, which is being created for an upper preschool audience and will once again feature Sonic and his friends as heroes.

Sega describes the project as a “high-voltage, comedic, yet emotionally grounded series built for kids who want to feel a little edge, a little attitude, and a lot of ‘that’s my crew’ wish fulfillment.”

Netflix already has a history with the blue speedster thanks to three seasons of Sonic Prime, all of which are currently available on the streaming service. This new show sounds like it will target a younger audience while keeping some of Sonic’s trademark attitude.

Nakahara offered an idea of what Sega wants from all three projects: “Expect something cute yet cool for Sonic, hilariously crazy for Crazy Taxi and a badass action drama for Stranger Than Heaven, because we’ve got some amazing creative ideas lined up and we are just getting started. The whole team is absolutely thrilled!”

Stranger Than Heaven takes things in a much different direction. The game comes from RGG Studio, the developer behind the bestselling Like a Dragon: Yakuza franchise, which has sold more than 30 million copies.

Set in early 20th century Japan, the game follows a foreigner who rises from a life of poverty to become a feared yakuza and eventually an entertainment tycoon. It’s currently scheduled for release in January 2027, with Nakahara also attached as a producer on Netflix’s film adaptation.

Shuji Utsumi, president and COO of Sega, said: “We’ve watched Netflix take on stories across every kind of format and treat each one with real craft, and seeing that same dedication applied to Sonic, Crazy Taxi and Stranger Than Heaven is something we at Sega are incredibly proud to be a part of.

“The fandoms of these games deserve storytelling that honors what makes each title special, and we know Netflix shares that commitment. This is just the start of what these titles can become.”

The streamer also has a live-action Assassin’s Creed series and Gears of War movie in the works, along with animated adaptations of Minecraft, Magic: The Gathering and Clash of Clans.

There’s also the Overcooked competition series, second seasons of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, and the third and final season of Devil May Cry.

Of the newly announced Sega projects, Crazy Taxi might be the most interesting simply because of how wonderfully ridiculous the source material is. Fast cars, angry passengers, insane shortcuts, punk-rock attitude and drivers treating traffic laws like suggestions sounds like solid material for a comedy.

Now they just need the right cast, the right soundtrack, and plenty of property damage.

Source: Variety

Camp Crystal Lake is getting a new history, and longtime Friday the 13th fans are going to notice some major changes to Jason Voorhees’ infamous origin story.

The upcoming Peacock and A24 series Crystal Lake will take viewers back to the early days of Pamela and Jason Voorhees, with the story unfolding eight years before the events of the original Friday the 13th.

The official trailer revealed that young Jason drowns at Crystal Lake during the summer of 1971. That’s a significant change from the original Friday the 13th mythology, which placed Jason’s drowning in the late 1950s.

Now we have a clearer picture of how the new Friday the 13th timeline works. According to Empire, Jason’s drowning happens in 1971, while the majority of Crystal Lake takes place in 1972.

That means this prequel series is reworking the franchise chronology rather than trying to squeeze its story perfectly into the timeline established by the 1980 movie.

Brad Caleb Kane, showrunner of the series, explained what life at Camp Crystal Lake looks like before everything goes horribly wrong:

“Pam is a cook at Camp Crystal Lake, Jason is an eleven-year-old camper participating in all activities despite his physical limitations, and his mom is absolutely intent on making sure he has a normal summer outdoors with other kids… but with ultimately tragic consequences.”

The series will explore what happens to Pamela following the death of her son and how she eventually becomes the killer fans met in the original film. Kane teased:

“Things take some twists and turns on the way to Pam’s total psychotic break and subsequent bloody rampage.”

Linda Cardellini stars as Pamela Voorhees, while Callum Vinson, who previously appeared in Chucky, plays the young Jason Voorhees.

The story follows Pam nearly a year after Jason drowned. The single mother remains consumed by grief over the death of her young, sickly son when two strangers suddenly show up at her door asking questions about her past.

Their arrival triggers a disturbing chain of events throughout Crystal Lake, with the people living there beginning to question exactly who Pamela Voorhees really is.

Knowing that Crystal Lake takes place eight years before Friday the 13th also gives the series plenty of room to chart Pamela’s transformation and build toward the murderous events that eventually hit Camp Crystal Lake.

All eight episodes of Crystal Lake premiere October 15 on Peacock.

After crashing at the box office this summer, Supergirl has finally found an audience, and apparently a pretty big one.

There’s plenty happening in the DCU right now. Lanterns is a smash hit on television, Man of Tomorrow is on the way, and The People v. Gorilla Grodd is currently filming, with the wild set photos and videos getting fans increasingly curious about what James Gunn and company are cooking up.

Still, DC hasn’t had a perfect year, and Milly Alcock’s Supergirl was easily one of its biggest disappointments.

The film arrived in theaters in June hoping to build on the success of Superman from the previous year. That didn’t happen. Supergirl bombed at the box office and earned a mixed response from critics.

Now Kara Zor-El is getting something of a second chance. Supergirl officially hit HBO Max on September 10th, and the movie has become the number one film on the streaming service. According to FlixPatrol, it’s currently outperforming the second-place movie, Practical Magic, by nearly two to one.

It also continues a trend we’ve seen plenty of times during the streaming era. A theatrical release can come and go without making much noise, only for the same movie to suddenly find a much larger audience once people can watch it from home as part of a subscription they’re already paying for.

The audience response to Supergirl also paints a more interesting picture than its box office numbers. The movie currently holds a 53% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, while its audience score sits at 72% from more than 5,000 ratings. With the film now easily accessible on HBO Max, that audience number could continue to grow.

Part of the theatrical problem could simply come down to how people are choosing to spend their money. Going to the movies has become expensive, particularly for families, and audiences know that many major releases will be available at home within a relatively short period of time.

This summer also had Spider-Man: Brand New Day competing for superhero fans' attention and cash. For anyone interested in Supergirl but not desperate to see it immediately, waiting for HBO Max probably made plenty of financial sense.

Personally, though, I don’t think the disappointing theatrical performance can simply be blamed on ticket prices or audiences waiting for streaming.

I thought Supergirl was a super rough movie to get through. After all the talk from James Gunn about DC Studios making sure it had strong scripts before moving projects forward, I found the script and story here incredibly weak.

It was a frustrating disappointment because there were so many opportunities to do something genuinely cool with Kara and her corner of the DC Universe. One of the biggest missed opportunities was Jason Momoa as Lobo. Why wasn’t Lobo the primary villain!?

Building the movie around Kara and Lobo going head-to-head could have completely changed the dynamic of the story and given Supergirl a much stronger personality. Momoa playing Lobo is such an obvious piece of fun casting, and using him more substantially could have given Kara an awesome character to clash with.

Ugh. DC has to be smarter with these characters.

Regardless of how I feel about the movie, plenty of viewers clearly disagree, and its HBO Max numbers show that people are interested in watching Kara's adventure. That’s ultimately good news for the character because Supergirl’s future in the DCU isn’t tied entirely to the performance of her solo movie.

Kara Zor-El is already confirmed to return in next year’s Man of Tomorrow. We still don’t know how large her role will be, but her inclusion makes it clear that Gunn and DC Studios intend to keep her involved as this universe expands.

A direct Supergirl sequel seems unlikely after the movie’s theatrical performance, but that doesn’t mean Kara is going anywhere. She can continue appearing in other DCU projects, and if the movie keeps pulling strong streaming numbers, perhaps Warner Bros. and DC Studios will find another opportunity to give her the spotlight.

Hopefully, if that happens, Kara gets a stronger story worthy of the character. Alcock is a great choice for Supergirl, and there’s still a ton of potential here.

For now, though, Supergirl has accomplished something it couldn’t manage in theaters: it has become a hit.

A new trailer has arrived for Other Mommy, the upcoming creepy horror film starring Jessica Chastain, and this latest look cranks up the nightmare of a child realizing the woman who looks exactly like her mother may be something much more sinister.

The film comes from director Rob Savage, the filmmaker behind Host and The Boogeyman, and follows a young girl named Bela as her home life takes a terrifying turn. She begins interacting with a strange entity that looks uncannily like her mother, but its intentions toward Bela are anything but maternal.

The first trailer introduced Chastain’s disturbing dual role as both Bela’s human mother and the creature mimicking her appearance. This new footage pushes further into that creepy dynamic, including an unsettling bubble bath and a trip into a kiddie ball pit that becomes considerably less fun once Other Mommy decides to join in.

Unlike 2026 horror hits Obsession and Backrooms, Other Mommy comes from a novel. The movie is based on Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman, the author of Bird Box.

Savage directs Chastain alongside Arabella Olivia Clark (The Housemaid), who plays Bela. The young girl gradually realizes that her mother's doppelganger isn't nearly as “nice” as she initially appears, and the entity becomes increasingly aggressive as it tries to get what it wants.

James Wan is producing the adaptation and joining Chastain and Clark in the cast are Jay Duplass, Dichen Lachman (Severance), Arian Moayed, and Karen Allen, best known to many movie fans for the Indiana Jones films.

The new trailer also plays up the film’s connections to Obsession and Backrooms, while Savage brings his own brand of child-level terror to the story.

Bubble baths and ball pits really shouldn't be this creepy. Other Mommy arrives in theaters October 9.

Matt Reeves has a big task ahead of him with The Batman: Part II. The first film gave audiences a grimy detective story, a killer Gotham City, and one of the strongest modern takes on the Dark Knight. So how do you follow that? According to Sebastian Stan, the answer might involve going bigger in all the right ways.

Production on The Batman: Part II is underway, with Robert Pattinson returning as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Reeves once again guiding his corner of the DC universe. Details about the story remain tightly guarded, including the identity of Stan’s mysterious character.

Stan has spent enough years in the Marvel machine to know how to keep secrets, but he did offer a pretty wild comparison while speaking with Variety about his experience making the Batman sequel.

"I go to set sometimes and I look around and I’m like, 'I think we’re making f*cking Godfather Part II.'"

Comparing any sequel to The Godfather: Part II is sure to get people’s attention. Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 crime epic is widely considered one of the greatest sequels ever made, so Stan understands exactly how huge that comparison sounds.

He added: "I really don’t want to raise it up, but I do feel like it's going to be a payoff."

The Batman gave Reeves a strong foundation to build from, and Stan’s comments suggest the filmmaker is taking full advantage of everything established in the first movie rather than simply trying to repeat it.

The big question surrounding Stan remains who he’s playing. One popular theory has him taking on Harvey Dent, Gotham City’s doomed district attorney who eventually becomes the villain Two-Face after suffering a horrific disfigurement.

Dent would fit naturally into Reeves’ crime-driven version of Gotham, especially if the sequel continues exploring the corruption running through the city.

Another theory points to Victor Zsasz, the sadistic serial killer known for carving a mark into his body for each of his victims. The character previously appeared briefly in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, but Reeves’ darker Gotham could offer a very different version of the villain.

For now, Stan’s role remains a mystery, and that’s probably how it’ll stay until Reeves and Warner Bros. are ready to reveal more.

Still, hearing an actor standing on the set of The Batman: Part II look around and think of The Godfather: Part II is one hell of a way to raise expectations. Reeves already proved that his Batman world can support a sprawling crime story. Now we’ll see just how far he takes it with the sequel.

James Gunn is working diligently on the next chapter in his Superman saga, with all the perspective of the first film under his belt. Man of Tomorrow has officially wrapped production, and between the info that Gunn loves to tease fans with and the leaks and rumors that are pouring out from various sources, we can all get excited about the countdown to the film’s summer 2027 release.

A handful of rumors from Superman Saga News have been released (via CB) that claim some interesting story aspects for the sequel. The scooper said:

“Brainiac’s look is described by production members as ‘terrifying,’ with the appearance being able to convey a sense of fear to the general public.”

And regarding Lex Luthor, they stated that he’ll be getting “more action scenes than Superman, including a sequence at the beginning of the film where a shirtless Lex gets involved in a prison fight.”

Not only do we have the addition of Brainiac (Lars Eidinger) to the cast, but Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart, and Adria Arjona’s all but confirmed role as Wonder Woman will work to round out this already rock ensemble.

Superman Saga News also said that Gunn conducted in-depth research on Superman’s negative reviews to help this next story be the best version possible.

It’s been said that the film as a whole will have a more mature feel to it, drawing comparisons from industry insiders to Gunn’s highly praised Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Tying into that more mature vibe will likely be the scenes where Clark finds himself spending more time on the farm, helping Pa Kent (Pruitt Taylor Vince), who is now requiring a wheelchair.

I’m sure there’s plenty more news and rumors that will surface before we are through, but I’m just excited to see a trailer. Head back to GeekTyrant and we will update you with all the news that rolls out. Man of Tomorrow will be released on July 9, 2027.

Netflix has dropped the full trailer for Animals, a tense new kidnapping thriller directed by and starring Ben Affleck, and this looks like the kind of pressure-cooker crime story that suits him incredibly well.

The film follows Los Angeles mayoral candidate Mark Kimball, played by Affleck, whose carefully managed life begins to collapse after his son is kidnapped. Mark and his wife Abigail, played by Kerry Washington, are suddenly racing against the clock to come up with the ransom while trying to figure out who they can trust.

The story asks the question: What happens when money and political influence can’t save you? As the official tease puts it, "How far would you go to protect your family? Who can you trust?"

The situation becomes even more complicated because Mark has poured much of his money into his political campaign. Getting the ransom together means crossing lines, digging into parts of their lives they’d rather keep hidden, and potentially exposing secrets that could destroy everything they’ve built.

The film’s synopsis offers another ominous warning: "Power can't protect you." There’s also a very familiar foundation underneath Animals. While Netflix isn’t officially selling the movie as a remake, the premise clearly draws from Akira Kurosawa’s classic 1963 kidnapping thriller High and Low.

Affleck’s film appears to take that basic framework and reshape it around modern Los Angeles, politics, wealth, cultural divisions, relationships, and affairs. That gives Animals room to explore its own characters and conflicts rather than simply recreating Kurosawa’s film in a new city.

The cast also includes Gillian Anderson, Adriana Paz, Ray Fisher, Christopher Woodley, Matt Gerald, Jacob Estrada, Steven Yeun, and Luis Gerardo Méndez.

Affleck previously directed Gone Baby Gone, The Town, Argo, Live by Night, and Air, so he’s certainly comfortable working with crime stories built around characters making increasingly difficult choices.

The screenplay was written by Connor O. McIntyre, Billy Ray, and Affleck. Brad Weston, Collin Creighton, Affleck, Matt Damon, Dani Bernfeld, and Luciana Damon produced the film through Artists Equity, Makeready, and Fifth Season.

The trailer makes Animals look like a slick, intense little thriller about what people are willing to sacrifice when their family, reputation, career, and secrets are all put on the table at once. Throw Affleck into that kind of moral mess and give him a ticking clock, and I’m interested.

Animals will open in select U.S. theaters and begin streaming on Netflix on October 9th, 2026.

One of horror’s creepiest cult movies may finally be getting the prequel I’ve wanted to see for years.

Director Brad Anderson’s Session 9 is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and Anderson has revealed that he’s actively developing a prequel titled Session 1. Even better, the movie would dig into the disturbing history of Mary Hobbes and reveal exactly what happened to her before the events we know from Session 9.

Anderson shared the news during a special 25th anniversary screening of Session 9 at Mass Mini Con, where he was joined for a Q&A by co-writer and actor Stephen Gevedon.

During the event, Anderson explained that he and Gevedon have been working on an idea for Session 1 and already have a pitch for the project.

“Would that be of interest? To see a movie that’s about the origin story?” Anderson asked the crowd. “So we’ve been toying with this for a while.

“But we have a pitch for a movie that’s sort of a prequel to [Session 9]. It’s called Session 1. It’s really about the origin story of Mary Hobbes, the young girl in the movie… the woman who has the multiple personality disorder.”

That’s exactly the corner of this story I’d want a Session 9 prequel to explore. Mary’s recorded therapy sessions are among the most unsettling and haunting elements of the original film, and there’s a lot about her past that Anderson could dig into.

He went on to reveal when Session 1 would take place and just how dark Mary’s story gets, saying: “It’s about her life, growing up in the late ’60s in Boston, and what happened to her and how she got possessed.

“And how she killed her family. I’m saying that because we’re trying to get that movie off the ground and we think there’s an audience for that.”

Yeah, I’m part of that audience. Released in 2001, Session 9 follows a hazardous materials crew brought in to clean out an abandoned mental hospital with a horrific past.

As the crew works through the building, disturbing discoveries begin surfacing and tensions between the men intensify. Paranoia, psychological deterioration, and the institution’s history start bleeding together until it becomes increasingly difficult to tell where the real horror is coming from.

The movie didn’t exactly explode when it first arrived in theaters, but it eventually found its audience and became a genuine horror cult classic. I was a very unique horror film for its time.

I’m a huge fan of Session 9. It’s one of my favorite horror movies, and I’ve always thought Mary Hobbes was the perfect character to build a prequel around. Her story leaves plenty of disturbing territory to explore, with what happened to her, her family, and the events that eventually led to those horrifying recordings.

Anderson previously shared: “The general gist of the story was that it’d be about Mary Hobbes, the character in the original movie who’s on the tapes and who has these alternate personalities and who would ultimately realize she killed her family on Christmas Day.

“Here we’d learn the entire Mary Hobbes story — how she went from being a fairly normal 12-year-old girl in 1959 and ’58 to slaughtering her whole family, and why. Our story was gonna be kind of a portrait of madness through the eyes and the lens of that little girl in the late ’50s, early ‘60s.

“It’s called Session 1. The movie ended with the first session, which would then become a series of sessions that this girl would go through, and ultimately would lead to Session 9.”

This would be an awesome prequel. Session 1 isn’t officially moving forward yet, but Anderson and Gevedon have a pitch and are trying to get the project off the ground.

Hopefully somebody gives them the chance to make it happen because after 25 years, I’m absolutely ready to return to the nightmare of Session 9.

Via: Broke Horror Fan’s Alex DiVincenzo

Lanterns just ripped the mask off one of its biggest mysteries, and Zoe Macon turned out to be far more dangerous than anyone in Rushville realized.

Episode 5 picks up after the reveal that Zoe, played by Poorna Jagannathan, is actually the Manhunter who has been hiding at the center of the season’s mystery. The funny part is that Jagannathan was apparently one of the last people to know.

She didn’t learn Zoe’s true identity until she received the Episode 4 script. While talking to Variety, she said with a laugh: “Everyone saw it coming except me!”

That lack of knowledge may have worked in her favor. Had she known what Zoe really was during her audition, Jagannathan thinks her performance might have gone in a very different direction.

“Obviously, I’m grateful that they didn’t tell me initially, because in my audition I know I would have acted like a robot.”

Episode 5 reveals exactly how Zoe built her strange hold over Rushville. Years earlier, Sheriff Kerry, played by Kelly Macdonald, was running from gangsters looking to collect money owed by her father. They find her at the local diner, where Zoe happens to be sitting alone.

Zoe suddenly snaps one gangster’s neck and orders the other to return to his boss with the story that Kerry is dead. She then offers Kerry something she desperately needs: a safe life in Rushville. Of course, it comes with a price. Kerry will eventually have to protect Zoe.

Jagannathan says: “[Co-creator] Chris [Mundy] and Geeta Patel, the director of that episode, wanted a sense that that scene is emblematic of the contract Zoe has made with every single person in the town. Her survival depends on you agreeing to your survival. It’s a Faustian play she makes.”

That arrangement explains why Rushville is ready to go to war when Antaan, played by Paul Ben-Victor, comes hunting for Zoe. The townspeople arm themselves because their lives and Zoe’s survival have become tied together.

Meanwhile, Hal, played by Kyle Chandler, has left John, played by Aaron Pierre, trapped inside their wrecked vehicle following the crash from Episode 4. Hal wants Antaan and Will Macon’s militia to tear each other apart while he finds Zoe and hands her over to the Guardians.

Zoe gets to John first. She finds him just as the vehicle catches fire, but she doesn’t rescue him. She watches and waits for the explosion. John survives, horribly burned and barely clinging to life, and is eventually brought to the hospital.

There, John reveals that he knows the Guardians created the Manhunters. Zoe sees an opportunity and offers him one of her familiar deals. She’ll heal him with alien technology if he allows Hal to die and tells the Guardians there’s nothing to worry about.

“She waits for John to burn, and he is hanging by a thread to life,” Jagannathan says. “What you understand is she waits for people to be at their most vulnerable point, near death — and she comes in to save them.”

Jagannathan doesn’t think Zoe actually intended to let John die. A Green Lantern owing her his life would be the ultimate piece of protection, or as the actress describes it, Zoe’s “her crown jewel.”

“She quickly assessed who is her biggest threat,” she says. “She quickly assessed who could be her strongest protector, and it wasn’t Hal — it was John. She sees something in John where she knows that he is going to be the better Green Lantern.”

While all of this is happening, Antaan and his crew arrive in Rushville. Hal meets them at the diner and claims Will Macon, played by Garret Dillahunt, is the Manhunter. Antaan doesn’t completely buy the story, but he and his heavily armed team head for Will’s ranch anyway.

John eventually accepts Zoe’s offer. As she prepares to heal him, he asks why an alien machine would choose to present itself as a South Asian woman. Zoe explains that appearing as an outsider gives her a “higher vantage point” for infiltrating society.

That part of Zoe immediately connected with Jagannathan. “My outsiderness over the years has definitely become my strength. It’s the thing that I bring to the party. So when I read that monologue, I was like, ‘OK, that’s my in.'”

“You just don’t get asked a lot of questions if you are presented as outsider,” she continues. “No one really knows what questions to ask you. You can hide in plain sight, and that’s the tactic she chose in order to come and live on this planet.”

Once John is healed, he pieces together another major part of Zoe’s history. She killed Abin Sur, the Green Lantern who eventually passed his ring to Hal. Abin Sur was prepared to leave Zoe on Earth, but she couldn’t take the chance that he might someday reveal her location to the Guardians.

Jagannathan sees the characters in Lanterns as operating across plenty of moral gray areas, but she also views Zoe as a “victim of her programming” as a Manhunter. Zoe’s choices may be vicious, but survival is hardwired into how she operates.

Things get even uglier at Will’s ranch. Will waits for Antaan while calling Zoe to thank her for giving him more time to live. Following Zoe’s instructions, he pretends to be the Manhunter in an attempt to protect her identity.

Antaan isn’t satisfied with simply killing him. He cuts out Will’s heart and confirms that he was human. Zoe then turns Rushville itself into bait.

She fires space-based weapons at the town, forcing Hal to burn through the power in his Green Lantern ring. Hal manages to locate Zoe, but she gets away, leaving him with little choice but to return to the motel and recharge.

John is waiting for him. The tension between the two finally explodes into a vicious fight. John beats Hal and nearly takes the ring, only for one of Zoe’s satellite weapons to obliterate half the motel. Hal uses the small amount of power remaining in his ring to protect both of them.

John escapes the wreckage, while Zoe arrives with a gun to kill Hal herself. Hal laughs because he understands something Zoe doesn’t: if John truly wanted him dead, he could have finished the job.

John is nearby with a sniper rifle aimed directly at Zoe. She turns toward him with an unexpectedly soft expression before he pulls the trigger.

“John is the only person she has ever encountered that she didn’t predict,” Jagannathan says. “Everyone else has always fallen into line. I think the last look is kind of game-recognized-game.

“It was a complete appreciation for someone whose sense of morality outdid anything and everything, and ultimately that’s the only thing that could have killed her. Someone who broke the contract, and no one ever has.”

It’s a fitting end for Zoe. Her entire existence in Rushville was built around figuring out what people needed, waiting until they were vulnerable and offering them survival at a cost. John was the person she couldn’t reduce to that equation.

The episode closes with John returning to the ruined motel and taking Hal’s Green Lantern ring and lantern. He walks through what remains of Rushville before reaching the local bar, where Lianna, played by Laura Linney, is waiting.

John finally has the ring he’s wanted, but instead of embracing what it represents, he walks away from Lianna and leaves it behind.

It’s been a decade since Captain America: Civil War tore the Avengers apart, and Chris Evans may finally be switching sides. Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, led his own team in the film against Iron Man, but Evans himself now admits Tony Stark might have had the better argument.

The 2016 Marvel movie turned a superhero showdown into an ideological fight over who should keep the Avengers in check. Following the destruction of Sokovia in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony Stark supported the Sokovia Accords, which would place the team under United Nations oversight.

Steve Rogers wanted nothing to do with it. Captain America had already seen what could happen when powerful organizations became compromised, and he wasn’t willing to hand over the Avengers’ ability to decide when and where they should act.

That disagreement eventually exploded into Team Iron Man vs. Team Cap, with pretty much every major MCU hero at the time choosing a side.

Ten years later, Evans has reconsidered where he personally lands. During the new Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday podcast, host and Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani asked Evans whether his opinion on the conflict had changed since making the film.

Evans explained: "You know, as the character I stand by Team Cap's position," he replied. "Me personally? You know, I might be Team Iron Man. I know that's probably controversial to say, but you know?"

Steve Rogers would probably have some words for him. It’s also easy to understand why the debate remains interesting a decade later. Neither side had a particularly clean answer.

Stark believed people with that much power needed accountability, especially after what happened in Sokovia. Rogers feared that handing control to governments would mean political agendas could determine which crises deserved intervention. That argument has aged surprisingly well.

Evans has once again stepped into Steve Rogers’ boots with Avengers: Doomsday, where he is returning to the MCU as Steve.

This time, the character is said to be following his Nomad storyline. Steve has become disillusioned with representing a single country and instead operates as a man without one.

How that version of Captain America fits into a story involving Doctor Doom remains unclear, but we’ll find out when Avengers: Doomsday arrives on December 18.

Academy Award winner Gary Oldman has played many memorable roles over the years, but one fan favorite was that of Sirius Black in the Harry Potter film franchise.

The beloved character was perfectly embodied by Oldman, and while a new actor will take on the role in the upcoming Harry Potter series on HBO, Oldman believes this iteration of the story could be even better than the films.

Oldman told Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview that he thinks the series will be “more satisfying” for viewers than the movies because the nature of television allows it more space to tell the full story. 

“We had to cut a lot, and still we could only get the films down to, like, three hours. I believe [the TV series is] gonna do it pretty much word-for-word, which I think, as a viewer, would be more satisfying.” 

When it came to the films, Oldman shares that “a lot of character detail was sacrificed” along the way so that they didn’t extend past their traditional “two-and-a-half-hour window,” adding, “So I wish them luck with it.”

In general, Oldman says that he’s “proud” and “grateful” for his time spent in the Wizarding World “because it is such a phenomenon, the like of which I don’t think you’re ever gonna see again.”

He continues, “When you think of that initial cast, someone in the story who doesn’t get a lot of credit anymore is Chris Columbus, who set the world up and cast it. We were extraordinarily lucky to have those people come back again, and again, and again, and literally grow into those roles.” 

To this day, Oldman adds that he’s still asked to sign photographs of Sirius Black, but admits he hasn’t reflected on his time playing the misunderstood wizard in many years. “I haven’t really looked back much at all,” he says. “You do look at things like old work… it’s old work. You just don’t revisit it.”

HBO has not yet announced who will play Sirius in its television adaptation, but we should be getting a trailer soon. The fantasy series, which is set to premiere on Christmas Day, follows Harry Potter (Dominic McLaughlin) and his friends Hermione (Arabella Stanton) and Ron (Alastair Stout) as they embark on adventures while studying at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

A longline for the series reads: “There is nothing special about Harry Potter — or so his Aunt Petunia tells him. But when a mysterious letter of admission to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry arrives, it opens the door to a hidden world of magic, friendship and adventure.

“Yet behind Hogwarts’ enchanted walls lie dark secrets. Harry must find the courage to prove himself against the darkest wizard of all.” 

Harry Potter heads to Hogwarts on Christmas Day on HBO. The series will also be available to stream on HBO Max.