The upcoming Death Stranding movie is inching closer to becoming a reality. Director Michael Sarnoski (Pig, A Quiet Place: Day One) told Variety that he recently turned in a second draft of the script with the hope of shooting the film next year in Iceland and Northern Ireland. It seems like it will be his next project, as he told Variety he has plans for a low-budget personal project once he wraps up Death Stranding.

Not much is known about the Death Stranding film, but it is expected to be an original story set in the universe created by Hideo Kojima. With that said, Sarnoski did tease that there are "overlapping characters" from the games that will excite fans.

"I want it to feel big, but also offbeat and character driven," Sarnoski says. "This takes place in the world of the video game, but I have my own set of characters. There are some like overlapping characters that fans will be excited to see, but it’s very much my own story within this universe."

It's unclear when the Death Stranding movie will be set in relation to the games, or what characters might appear. Hideo Kojima already utilized a star-studded cast of familar film actors across both Death Stranding games, meaning it wouldn't be a stretch for Sarnoski to take advantage of them in his adaptation. Norman Reedus has already stated he would be down to reprise his role as Sam Porter Bridges in the film, but perhaps we'll see other faces like Lea Seydoux's Fragile, or Troy Baker's Higgs.

A24 will produce the film in partnership with Ari Aster and his producing partner, Lars Knudsen. Kojima is also heavily involved with the film's production. Kojima has stated he has ideas for a third Death Stranding game, but has no plans to make it himself. In the meantime, it seems like the universe will be fleshed out in other media, as an animated TV series and anime film are also in the works.

In the meantime, Kojima is working on two other games: OD and Physint. The former is an episodic horror game, focusing on different kinds of fears. It's currently unclear when it will be released, but it seems to be a higher priority now that Death Stranding 2 is out the door. Physint is Kojima's return to the world of tactical espionage action and is expected to be a PlayStation 6 game.

Sarnoski's latest film, The Death of Robin Hood, is out this week. IGN's review noted this "brutal period piece [is] his most niche and least accessible film yet" but found its "heady mix of mournful drama and murderous action certainly distinguish it from the litany of other Robin Hood films in existence."

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

Tom Holland did his homework while developing Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

The Spider-Man actor told Esquire that he made an effort to become more involved in the film's pre- and post-production periods, so he could help shape the film with fans in mind. He claims to have spent hours watching YouTube and listening to podcasts to find out what fans were “yearning for,” and then acted upon their desires. One such example is that he looked at what fans liked about Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire's suits and applied some of those learnings to the new suit.

Holland has been pretty open about his desire to make Spider-Man: Brand New Day the best Spidey film he has done to date. Although all three of his films have had massive success, they have also been criticized by die-hard fans for various reasons. Some felt he was always relying on the help of others like Iron Man, he's overreliant on tech, he doesn't swing around enough, and his villains are often motivated by other characters – like Mysterio having a grudge against Tony Stark.

Holland also had leverage with this film. His contract for Spider-Man was up after No Way Home, which meant he was able to have some control over how fast they made the next movie. Not only did he seemingly want a break from playing Peter Parker, but he has also talked openly about wanting to make the movie worthwhile rather than doing it just because people expect another Spider-Man movie. The actor recently told GQ that his experience on The Odyssey influenced his approach to his return to Spider-Man.

“I was really able to lay down the law and say, ‘We are not going to come to set and figure it out,’” Holland said. “‘We need to know why we are making this movie beyond the fact that it’s Spider-Man 4 and they make loads of money and we’re going to just have a big summer. Why are we making this movie?’ And Destin was super instrumental in that, but it was just really great to constantly be calling up the studio and [producers] Amy [Pascal] and Rachel [O’Connor], who I love, and be like, ‘Well, Chris is doing it this way. This is how I think we should be doing it.’”

Ultimately, we'll have to wait and see if Spider-Man: Brand New Day sticks the landing, but it certainly feels like a different movie from the last three. A new trailer is expected to drop tomorrow alongside ticket sales, so fans should get an even better idea of what's to come.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day will hit cinemas on July 30th, but Amazon Prime users will be able to buy tickets to an early showing on July 28th.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

Brandon Sanderson's influence is spreading faster than ever. Not only does he have Apple TV adaptations currently in the works and tabletop games coming out, he's also still writing more excellent books that feed into the sprawling fantasy universe known as The Cosmere. Sanderson fans are definitely spoiled with an avalanche of great content from the prolific author.

Of all of Sanderson's books, it's his Mistborn series that has served as the main entry point into The Cosmere for most folks. It's no coincidence that Mistborn is the first book Sanderson is writing a screenplay for, after all. It's also no coincidence that Amazon is currently running a massive '3 for 2' sale on all of the Mistborn books and box sets right now ahead of Prime Day.

Mistborn Era 1 Sale

Mistborn Era 2 Sale

The LEGO Marvel S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, inspired by the 2012 Avengers film, is an elaborate centerpiece – the perfect, extravagant gift for a dedicated MCU fan. I say "dedicated," because the Helicarrier is not on the level of cultural saturation, as, say, the Batwing or a TIE Fighter, for which the audience is broad and diverse. This is not an impulse purchase; anyone devoted enough to want an intricately detailed, microscaled model of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier will rationalize the $400 expense to purchase it. And for that select, niche audience, this set is everything it needs to be.

Divided into 27 bags with two instruction booklets and one sticker sheet, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier is a formidable undertaking. It has a high piece variance; I've used all these build elements in prior sets, but rarely have they all been present in a single set and brought to bear on a single result.

You start by building the bowls of the ship, which includes the control room, where the majority of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents carry out their classified duties; the holding area where the Avengers hold Loki prisoner; and Bruce Banner's lab, where Banner and Tony Stark analyze Loki's scepter. There is also the basement area where Banner gets trapped under rubble and goes into a Hulk rage.

The designers represent the humans in these scenes not through minifigures, but through miniature stacks of LEGO studs. Two black studs with a brown stud on top is Nick Fury. A purple stud sandwiched between two olive-green studs is Hulk. A peach stud stacked on a purple stud stacked on a dark gray stud is Hawkeye. It is deeply amusing to recognize these characters via their most minimalist depictions.

After building the ship's underbelly, you build the ship's propulsion engines, which attach to the back of the ship, Then you build the ship's runway, a long element. which 'slides' over the living areas, concealing them. At around the same time, you decorate the top of the Helicarrier to look like an airbase, with supply containers, and fighter jets waiting to dispatch. You can even build a minimalist version of the Quinjet, which you suspend mid-air with a clear peace.

Then, you build the four rotors that keep the ship in the air, and you attach them to the sides of the build via Technic pins.

Next, you build an extendable part of the runway, which contains a mechanism that allows it to rotate. You build the control tower, and add it onto the right side. And then finally, you build black display base upon which it sits, giving the impression that it's actually floating mid-air. The set includes full-sized minifigures for Winter Soldier, Captain America, Phil Coulson, Maria Hill, Hawkeye, and Nick Fury, but they are not proportionally scaled to the Helicarrier; instead, you use clear pieces to anchor the minifigures, mid-air, around the display stand.

When evaluating a LEGO set, most people care most about the end result. How does this look on my shelf? Do its play elements work the way they should? What Easter eggs are buried out of sight? What ancillary visual details enhance the overall presentation?

But the more I build LEGO sets, the more I've come to realize that focusing exclusively on a set's end result does its designers a disservice. One should also judge the build process – of layering bricks, fitting pins in holes, plating Technic elements with smooth surfaces, and reappropriating odd pieces into different contexts – on its entertainment value . Because there are some builds that look phenomenal, but are a chore to get through; the decision to purchase comes down to whether it's worth the aggravation.

The LEGO S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier is a surprisingly fun build; don't let the monotonous gray color scheme fool you. This is not like any other LEGO vehicle, in which the underlying build is essentially the same, and the colorful, outer plating contains the only significant difference. There's lots of sharp curves and angles – lots of unconventional contouring – that forced the designers to get creative.

To create the ship's nose, the designers used clamps to "lock" the plated bricks into an acute angle. But to accomplish that effect, they needed to allow these pieces some mobility and give. And that means they had to plan, from the outset of the build, how the bricks in Bag 2 would eventually connect to the bricks in Bag 25. It's an art, in and of itself, to keep this all straight – to tell a coherent 'story,' of sorts – and take the builder on an epic journey with unexpected twists.

Leviticus will be released in theaters on June 19.

A year of strong films from debut horror directors continues with Leviticus, the feature debut from Australian writer/director Adrian Chiarella.

Joe Bird stars as Naim, a teenager living in a small, very religious town. Naim’s newfound secret romantic relationship with his classmate Ryan (Stacy Clausen) and subsequent discovery of Ryan’s dalliances with another boy, Hunter (Jeremy Blewitt), have terrible consequences when, fueled by jealousy, Naim outs Ryan and Hunter. When a so-called “Deliverance Healer” (Nicholas Hope) is called in by the community, his methods of stopping the boys from acting upon their urges involve very dangerous and potentially deadly methods.

Amongst horror’s many subgenres, this is essentially a classic curse movie in which the curse causes those afflicted to see something that looks and sounds exactly like the person they most desire, only for that entity to attack and try to kill them when they let their guard down. And it’s a very well made curse movie, with Chiarella doing an excellent job both of setting the scene and building tension throughout the story, as these boys realize just how much danger they’re in and how little they can trust their own eyes.

Obviously, this is a movie about homophobia — a story about how painting a young person’s love and desire as inherently wrong and something to be suppressed at all costs can have terrible consequences. The extra messed-up thing here is that these teenagers — including a girl we meet in the film’s classic-style opening kill sequence — are seeing the face of the person they love as their potential killer. But that’s because the people around them have decided that just loving or lusting after this person is something that is so despicable, death is an acceptable way to “solve” the problem if they can’t just somehow turn off their feelings.

Chiarella commendably shapes his film’s actual storytelling as very straightforward and often understated, correctly trusting that the metaphors and analogies he’s using will work just fine on their own. There’s no out-of-place speechifying here; Naim and Ryan aren’t suddenly stopping to deliver out-of-character pointed monologues about what it feels like to grow up gay in this judgmental environment. They speak like normal kids, where any talk of wanting to get out of this town already has plenty of context for why it would be especially important for them.

The film rests on the shoulders of its young leads, who are very much up to the challenge. Bird — who made an impression in 2022’s Talk to Me, another recent attention-getting Australian horror movie — is excellent as Naim. It’s an often quiet and contemplative role where he’s able to show us a lot about the character through his expressions and demeanor, selling us on Naim’s frequent discomfort and the more easygoing, happy side that begins to manifest when he’s with Ryan. This in turn gives way to his fear and terror, both at what begins to happen and his own responsibility for setting these events in motion, all of which Bird expertly conveys.

Clausen is also great as Ryan. His character is not as fully fleshed out as Naim, since we don’t have as clear a picture of his home life or as much perspective on the before and after of what he goes through; unlike the more reserved Naim, it seems he’s a popular kid, but his dynamic with his friend group isn’t really represented. But Clausen is able to imbue Ryan with a lot of sweetness and empathy beneath his outward bravado, along with showing the big changes in his attitude once that Deliverance Healer pays him a visit.

Also doing strong work is Mia Wasikowska, who’s been mostly sticking to small, independent movies since her days starring in big budget films like Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland or Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak. As Naim’s mother, she plays things impressively ambiguous, depicting a woman who watches her son from afar with expressions that could read as loving, menacingly judgmental, or perhaps a conflicted mixture of both depending on the moment.

Chiarella makes sure his queer horror movie never forgets it's a horror movie. Leviticus is genuinely creepy and filled with tension, especially after Naim himself falls under the same curse as the others. The idea of never knowing if the person you most long to see is actually this evil thing out to kill you gets plenty of mileage here, as both Naim and the audience share the same doubts and fear every time “Ryan” shows up to see Naim. One scene in particular does a great job of using that uncertainty to flip around an expected outcome in a very clever way. Chiarella also knows how to deliver a heart-pounding jump scare when he needs to, never overplaying that approach but making sure there’s a couple times that are definitely scream-worthy.

The film also benefits from Jed Kurzel’s evocative score, which blends together feelings of both eeriness and melancholy. Kurzel’s music is just right for the story being told and its conclusion, which offers no easy solution to this scenario yet doesn’t fall into utter hopelessness in a manner that feels appropriate for the subject matter.

Toy Story 5 is in theaters on June 19.

Woody, Buzz and the gang are back in theaters for Toy Story 5, a fourth sequel to Pixar’s flagship franchise that proves no matter how well you wrap up a story, there’s always room for more. This time, the now-very-antique toys are faced with their most dangerous challenge yet… screen time.

But how necessary was this sequel? And how can the brain trust at Pixar successfully pull these toys out of the attic again? To find out, I took both my film critic hat and my kids (7 and 11) to a press screening of Toy Story 5.

Right off the bat I can say that the movie does Pixar proud in the visual department. It isn’t quite the revolutionary jump in graphics that Toy Story 4 had over its predecessors, but the usual Pixar bump is there. In fact one scene that starts with an establishing shot of the sky and trees and a school bus had me thinking for a split second that they'd actually shot some real footage for the film before kids from the uncanny valley came running into frame.

My son had a quote about that as well… “better grafics." He almost got it. To be fair, he took my notebook in the middle of the theater and wrote it in the dark, so there’s a chance he knows how to spell it right.

My kids were very excited to tag along to this press screening, but less so when I started asking them questions on the ride home. My daughter, who just finished fifth grade, said it was starting to feel like homework, and I had to remind her that this was, in fact, my job and yeah, it’s a little like homework.

For starters, it’s difficult to talk about Toy Story 5 without a heavy dose of context for the entire franchise. Obviously it’s a sequel and there are four movies worth of story to keep in mind, but more than that this is a franchise that has had two separate occasions to wrap up in a pretty satisfying way. There are crowds of people who would agree it should have just been a trilogy, ending on Bonnie’s porch at the end of Toy Story 3. And while Toy Story 4 started the conversation of “why are we still doing this” for some, it defied the odds and put a decently neat bow on the franchise again, and with even more finality.

So “why do we need a Toy Story 5?” is a bigger question here than it has been even for other long-running franchises. That is, fair or not, the hole that this movie was starting in for me. For my kids, though? Not so much. In fact, their least favorite entry in the franchise is the widely beloved Toy Story 3. But my daughter had a very interesting reason for that – one that leads me back into this review proper.

First and foremost, a Toy Story movie, and I would argue a Pixar film in general, needs to be fun, and Toy Story 5 certainly trots out some fun moments. The animation style of Bonnie’s imagination and the scenarios she concocts while playing with her favorite toys is maybe the strongest of any such sequence in the whole series. And from a battalion of stranded next-gen Buzz Lightyears trying to find their way back to Star Command to forgotten toys wasted in the wake of tech, there are plenty of memorable laughs. Conan O’Brien in particular is hilarious as Mr. Smarty Pants, a potty-training assistant.

In fact, the trio of new characters – including Smarty Pants, the kids-first digital camera Snappy, and Atlas, a map device that’s, for some reason, a hippo – were my daughter’s favorite characters in the entire movie, and I can’t really argue with that. They’re a blast. (They also do one of my favorite Toy Story things, which is questioning their own existence in a legitimately terrifying way.)

However, on the balance this movie may be more of a downer than it was fun. There’s a maudlin sense of dread that hangs over most of the first half of the movie, where a real sadness revolves around Bonnie and her inability to make friends that can meet her where she’s at. Now, this was something that my daughter and I had an interesting conversation about. After Bonnie’s parents get her Lillypad (Greta Lee), her first tablet nervously purchased as a way to help her connect with all the other kids in her orbit who already have one, Bonnie’s online dynamic in a chat group goes pretty immediately bad. My kid and I talked about who was to blame for it – the bullies who were being mean, or Lillypad, who served as an easy conduit, providing access to Bonnie for the bullies. She actually blamed Lillypad, saying, “It’s important to know who good people are in real life.”

There’s wisdom beyond her 11 years in that, and I’m proud of her, but also she agreed it was the iPad’s fault, so joke’s on her – she’s getting less screen time from now on. Meanwhile, my 7-year-old son said, “I like how the tech took over,” so… I guess for sure less screentime for him too.

And, to finally get back to my daughter’s point, the other thing a Toy Story movie needs is a good villain. To quote her thoughts on Toy Story 3… “I hated that the villain was just evil the whole time.” I thought that was an interesting take because Lillypad, for her part, is doing what she thinks is best for Bonnie which, based on the conversation my daughter and I had, makes placing the “villain” label on her a little more difficult. She’s a stand-in for the idea of technology causing kids to grow up too fast, not necessarily the antagonist in and of herself.

Now, I think that’s in the Pro column for this movie, as some of the franchise's best moments are from villains who see the error of their ways and are big enough to pivot. I would argue Tom Hanks’ Woody actually represents the best version of that in the original Toy Story because he was straight-up the bad guy of that movie, but that’s probably a different article.

Toy Story films also need a relatable phase of life at their center – something universally experienced, like growing up, leaving home or letting go. These are all things just about everybody can relate to without any extra direction from the filmmakers, and Toy Story 5, for at least the first half, is very much missing that universality. Growing up with social media is a modern and I suppose widely relatable experience that wasn’t around 30 years ago when the first Toy Story came out. But instead of being about “remember how it can be difficult to be a kid?”, a lot of Toy Story 5 is more focused on “kids these days and their screens, amirite?” The difference there is that Toy Story 5’s statement feels like it’s the filmmakers’ telling us about it instead of letting us get there emotionally ourselves. The result is an out of touch-ness that is, quite frankly, surprising to see from Pixar. For a lot of the film’s runtime Toy Story, very uncharacteristically, doesn’t have much to offer to the conversation about young people’s relationship to their screens and there’s not a lot of the real emotional stakes this series has been trading in for four movies prior to this.

To be fair it doesn’t let parents off the hook either. As a remote worker myself, I felt properly seen and criticized by a scene where a parent is just shouting “you’re muted” while parked in his home office on zoom. It’s difficult though to take the critique too seriously coming from Pixar, a company sprung from the same Steve Jobs that brought us the iPad in the first place. But that also might just be me being defensive. But I followed up about this scene with my kids and if it reminded them of me, to which my son said “oh 100% totally. It wasn’t funny because it was work.” So the movie does have its finger on the pulse of human connectivity in, lo, these modern times to some extent.

I know I’ve been more negative than not about this movie for like 1500 words now, but really the second half of Toy Story 5 is much better. A lot of what I like about it and how the movie lands gets into some spoiler territory, so it’s just harder to get into detail about it. Before I attempt to though, I feel like I have to call out everybody’s favorite cowboy. This movie did not need Woody. It’s a testament to the job the franchise has done of ending in a satisfying way twice now that he feels so tacked on in this one. In fact, it’s enough to make me wonder if he wasn’t even in the early drafts of the movie, until an exec got hold of it and said, “put the cowboy in, you maniacs.”

You could lift Woody straight out of the movie and there would only be two differences. Number 1, the movie would be maybe two minutes shorter. He’s got no business to do off on his own that affects the plot in any meaningful way. And number 2, it would actually help out Buzz (Tim Allen). This movie wants so badly to be a two-hander between Buzz and Jessie (Joan Cusack), and it almost pulls it off. But when Woody comes back and starts hatching plans, it takes away Buzz’s agency. Buzz could’ve taken a next step into responsibility, adulthood, leadership, whatever box needed to be ticked for one of those universally relatable life phases that Toy Story has always hung its hat on. Instead, he just kinda keeps following orders and it feels like an opportunity was missed in favor of rehashing some of his and Woody’s old dynamic.

Now, again, pretty much all of my issues with this film are in its first half, but I think that’s also in part because I was dreading how they were going to attempt to stick the landing. But happily, the second half of the movie manages it a lot better than I’d feared.

From the midpoint of the movie, Toy Story 5 really starts to nail the things Pixar does best. It’s adventurous, with well-choreographed and stylish action, and just a lot funnier. The heart of the movie finally shows up to deal with things like what it means to really make meaningful connections or the distinction between games and actually playing. Woody also starts to fade into the background, leaning into more of a comic-relief role than being front and center, and, surprise surprise, the film is better for it.

Most importantly, after all the hemming and hawing about “what’s to be done with tech,” the film finally takes a stand. It’s not an overly ambitious one, or even one that will surprise you, but it was very necessary to walk out of the theater feeling good about it. Ultimately, Toy Story 5 does have something to add to the conversation beyond old guys shaking their fists at clouds about “kids and their tablets these days.”

But speaking of kids and their tablets, mine apparently have not had enough of Toy Story. I asked them what they’d like to see in a Toy Story 6 and my son just started yelling about needing Spoony to join Tony Hale’s Forky and his knife bride Karen Beverly (Melissa Villaseñor). He kept getting louder and doing different goofy voices every time my daughter would try to chime in. But finally she was able to articulate just wanting more Toy Story. Couldn’t get more detail out of her than that. Maybe it’s the idea that she, like Andy or Bonnie or, it would seem, Pixar, just can’t bear the idea of leaving these toys behind.

The first proper teaser trailer for Shrek 5 has been released, teasing an exciting new adventure for DreamWorks' beloved ogre.

The new trailer reveals that Shrek, his family, and Donkey will travel to a new kingdom known as Further, Further Away. It's unclear what brings them there, but either way, the city appears to be much sketchier than Shrek 2's Far, Far Away. In the trailer, a filthy, melting Olaf-esque snowman can be seen asking Donkey if he wants to "date a snowman," clearly riffing on the iconic song from Disney's Frozen. The gang is also chased by police and thrown into jail for unknown reasons.

Zendaya's character is notably absent from all of the footage, however. A short video was released last year revealing that Zendaya would play a significant role in Shrek 5 as the titular ogre's daughter, Felicia. Shrek can be seen in his jail cell with Fiona and his two sons, so Felicia may have either been captured by a villain or may have even run away from home.

It has been a long road to Shrek 5, as the last film in the series, Shrek Forever After, was released in 2010. For years, DreamWorks and Universal have teased the possibility of more Shrek films, but it took a while for it to materialize. Shrek 5 has also suffered multiple delays, but it seems like it's finally going to hit its date this time.

Spinoffs revolving around Puss in Boots have kept the Shrek universe alive, with Puss in Boots: The Last Wish being regarded as one of the best animated movies in recent years. IGN gave Puss in Boots: The Last Wish a 9/10, noting that it "mixes stunning animation with a poignant, surprisingly mature story to deliver the Shrek franchise's answer to Logan we didn't know we needed."

Eddie Murphy has also stated that a Donkey spin-off has been greenlit and is expected to enter production after Shrek 5, but no release date has been set in stone. In the meantime, Shrek 5 is slated to release in theaters on June 30, 2027.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

Lord of the Rings fans have given their reactions to the announcement that Anya Taylor-Joy has been cast as a new character not originated by J.R.R. Tolkien in the upcoming spinoff film The Hunt for Gollum.

Taylor-Joy's casting comes with few other details about her role, other than the fact that the Super Mario Galaxy Movie star will play a Sindar Elf of the Woodland Realm, described as "a trusted and lethal agent of King Thranduil."

Reacting to the news, many fans have commented that Seren's role sounds similar to Tauriel — the character played by Lost and Ant-Man star Evangeline Lilly in Peter Jackson's Hobbit movies — who was also an elven aide for Thranduil, as well as being one of that trilogy's most controversial additions.

"Who the hell is Seren?" wrote PuzzleheadedBag920, succinctly summing up many fans' thoughts in a lengthy thread on reddit. "The name of the Goddess of the Elves in RuneScape, funnily enough," added another fan, Any-sao.

Perhaps it is not a surprise that The Hunt for Gollum must feature additional characters not in Tolkien's work — simply because the movie's entire premise is based on a period only mentioned briefly in The Lord of the Ring's text. The film dramatizes Gollum's whereabouts prior to Fellow of the Ring, while Gandalf, Aragorn and Sauron's forces all seek the Ring. If you're adding enough material to turn that into a two-hour movie, then it's likely you're going to need plenty of characters to do so.

"My favorite part of the three paragraphs in which Gandalf described the Hunt for Gollum was when Seren came in and did whatever she's going to do or not do," quipped another fan, aragonaut. "I'm so glad they got Anya Taylor Joy to interpret such an unsung hero."

"I absolutely adore Anya as an actress so this isn't directed at her as a person," AnonyMcnonymous began, "but I really wish they would stop making up s*** and adding it to the story. Didn't they learn anything from that train wreck that happened in the last movies they made about Bilbo's journey?"

"New elf character worked so well in The Hobbit movies, why not run it back?" commented jayhawk8.

"As far as I'm concerned they made three films in the early aughts and then Warner Bros put the franchise on the boat to Valinor," claimed ASCII_Princess.

Other Tolkien fans have criticized Seren's name, which appears to have originated from the real-world language of Welsh.

"Seren means 'star' in Welsh," revealed No_Imagination5705. "Welsh and Finnish were linguistic sources of inspiration for Tolkien when he developed Quenya and Sindarin (the languages of the Elves). Call me pedantic, but that does not make Welsh canon, nor does the name [make] etymological sense in the fiction. Nearly all names in Tolkien's works have meaning, and with so many Tolkien scholars today, why not derive a Quenya or Sindarin name?

"Gil means 'Star-light', Elen 'Star'," they continued. "[So you could have] Elenya, Eleneth, Eleniel, Elenwë, Gilwen, Elenissë, Eleriel, Elenindë, Giliel, Elenwen. There's literally so many options they could've chosen that made sense. Seren doesn't."

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will bring Taylor-Joy to Middle-earth when the film premieres December 17, 2027. For more while we wait for updates, you can read about why Jackson compared the prequel movie to Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker.

Image credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is expected to get its long-awaited second trailer tomorrow — and ahead of then, here's a brand new image from the movie.

The photo shows Spider-Man's best buddy and guy in the chair Ned Leeds, who in Brand New Day is revealed to have set up an online fansite for New York's favorite webslinger — that real-life fans will be able to access fully from tomorrow.

You can already head over to SpideyTracker.net to watch a video welcome from Ned, though the site will get a full launch tomorrow. Once live, the website will feature details of upcoming Spidey events, Easter eggs, and in-universe information on characters. (Hey, maybe we'll finally find out who Sadie Sink is playing?)

In a cunning bit of brand synergy, Spidey Tracker is sponsored by Samsung Galaxy, which just so happens to be the brand of foldable phone we can see Ned holding in the movie itself. In a press release, Samsung said its partnership reflected "the reality that even our closest relationships can evolve as life takes us in new directions," requiring technology that "helps people stay close to those who matter most."

Of course, Brand New Day will see Ned and Peter Parker's former girlfriend MJ unable to remember the identity of their former friend — though the trio will still cross paths, as glimpsed in the movie's record-breaking first trailer. Will the pals reunite before the film's finish? That remains to be seen, and there's certainly plenty of other plotlines going on, including whatever's going on with Sadie Sink's character, a horde of villains including Scorpion, Tarantula, Tombstone, Boomerang and The Hand, plus the Department of Damage Control and a rampaging version of the Hulk.

This week, Spider-Man star Tom Holland talked again of plans to eventually hand over his Spidey suit to someone else — and this time even named an actor he'd pick to follow him in the role.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrives in theaters on July 31 — and keep an eye out for that trailer tomorrow.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Tom Holland has once again discussed passing the Spider-Man torch to another, younger actor, this time suggesting the star of Adolescence for the iconic role.

In a profile published in Esquire, Holland singled out Owen Cooper, the 16-year-old British actor who played teenage murder suspect Jamie Miller in last year’s Netflix megahit, Adolescence, as the potential next Peter Parker.

“Owen Cooper would be awesome,” Holland said. “Obviously he’s super-talented and the talk of the town right now.”

Last month, Holland said he wanted to help set up a new era for the Spider-Man franchise, shepherding in a fresh Spider-Man, or Spider-Woman, as his replacement. "For whoever's next, whether that is a Miles Morales or a Spider-Gwen or a Spider-Woman or something like that, I would love to be a part of setting up the next chapter," Holland told Empire.

The big question is, how many more Spider-Man movies does the 30-year-old Tom Holland have left in him? He’s in next month’s Brand New Day, of course, but he’s not yet confirmed for either this December’s Avengers: Doomsday or next year’s Avengers: Secret Wars, although it’s hard to imagine Spider-Man failing to show up at some point. Could Brand New Day mark the beginning of the end for Holland’s time as Spider-Man?

There is a danger of reading too much into these sorts of comments. Some expect Brand New Day will begin a fresh trilogy for Holland’s Spider-Man. Indeed, Holland has himself suggested he hopes to return several more times. Still, he can’t play Spider-Man forever. There will come a time when Sony and Marvel Studios have to replace Holland as Spider-Man, perhaps the most bankable superhero in the world. After all, the billion dollar Spider-Man movies must continue.

Meanwhile, in the same interview with Esquire, Holland confirmed his marriage to Spider-Man co-star Zendaya, although he refused to offer any details. Zendaya plays Michelle Jones Watson in Holland’s Spider-Man movies.

Photo by Pablo Cuadra/Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Half a decade on from the launch of Marvel blockbuster Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, director Destin Daniel Cretton has said that a sequel is still in development.

Shang-Chi launched back in August 2021, and won a positive reception for its lead character played by the charismatic Barbie actor Simu Liu. Five years later, however, the prospect of a quick follow-up has faded. Indeed, audiences haven't even seen a whiff of Shang-Chi at all in subsequent Marvel movies — though Liu will finally reprise the role in this December's Avengers: Doomsday.

To be fair to Cretton, the past five years have been very busy. Initially tapped to direct Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (later delayed and retooled into Doomsday), changes in priority within Disney and the firing of Kang actor Jonathan Majors saw Cretton move on to helm the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day instead, all while incubating the hit Disney+ series Wonder Man.

All of this appears to have postponed Shang-Chi's return, with the character's next solo movie seemingly pushed into the MCU's next phase, following December 2027's climactic Avengers: Secret Wars. Still, at least it sounds like Shang-Chi will survive for a while yet.

"We're working on it," Cretton told Deadline when asked about Shang-Chi 2. "The first film's reception was incredible, and we want to honor that. It's evolving in a way we're excited about."

Asked whether the sequel would pick up from where the first film left off — something that now seems exceedingly unlikely — Cretton simply responded that he couldn't talk "specifics, but the emotional core is very important to us."

Shang-Chi's finale saw the hero called to join the Avengers — something we'll see much more of later this year as he teams up with old and new heroes (plus X-Men and The Fantastic Four) against the villainous Doctor Doom. Shang-Chi's sister Xialing, meanwhile, becomes head of the Ten Rings criminal organization — although it remains to be seen whether this plot thread will be returned to.

Word that the film is "evolving" is also intriguing — perhaps a nod to the fact its events will now likely take place within the MCU's upcoming mutant era, rather than its Multiverse Saga. Exactly when Shang-Chi 2 will finally arrive, however, remains to be seen.

Image credit: Ryan Emberley/Getty Images for Disney.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

The upcoming DC Universe HBO TV series starring Jimmy Olsen from last year's Superman movie is “both a Jimmy Olsen AND a Gorilla Grodd show,” James Gunn has clarified.

Yesterday, DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran revealed that the Gorilla Grodd HBO show — as he described it — starts shooting this year. That news sparked questions about the nature of the Jimmy Olsen show DC Studios was thought to be working on. But based on Gunn’s comments, it’s as much about the supervillain as it is about the Daily Planet photojournalist.

“It's both a Jimmy Olsen AND a Gorilla Grodd show. And it's one of my favorite projects. We start filming soon,” Gunn said in a post on Threads.

Jimmy Olsen, played by Skyler Gisondo, was one of the breakout characters in last year’s Superman and was immediately tipped for a spinoff. Gorilla Grodd, meanwhile, debuted in The Flash #106 back in May 1959. He is a super-intelligent ape who possesses super strength and speed as well as the powers of telepathy and telekinesis.

Late last year, it was reported that DC Studios and HBO Max were developing a fictional true crime series set in the DCU called DC Crime. According to Variety, it would look and feel like a true crime docuseries presented by Jimmy Olsen, and the first season would focus on Gorilla Grodd. But Gunn has now denied the show is called DC Crime, saying in another post on Threads: “It is not and has never been called DC Crime.”

In an Instagram comment, Gunn denied claims the series started out as a Jimmy Olsen show and has become a Gorilla Grodd show instead. "It didn't become anything," he said. "It is what it's always been, including pitching it as part of the package before I even started at DC."

So, we don’t know yet what this upcoming show is called, or really how it will work or fit into the ongoing DCU, which continues this summer with Supergirl, and then with next year’s Superman follow-up, Man of Tomorrow.

Speaking to journalist Matías Lértora at a screening of Supergirl at Río de Janeiro, Safran said that once Gunn is finished with Man of Tomorrow, fans will find out what the future of the DCU looks like post-2027.

“When James is done with Man of Tomorrow, we’ll really sit down and talk about what the next part of the story looks like,” Safran said. “We have a pretty good sense of what’s happening for at least the next couple of years, that’s for sure.”

So, what might that involve? We know DC Studios plans to introduce its own Batman with The Brave and the Bold, and there are plans to eventually tie everything together with a Justice League movie. Gunn recently confirmed the Booster Gold and Paradise Lost shows are still alive (and we can now say with certainty that the Jimmy Olsen spinoff will come out), but The Authority movie has fallen by the wayside.

The Authority was one of the surprise projects announced as part of Gunn and Safran’s overarching Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters DC Universe reboot three years ago. At the time, Gunn described The Authority, which revolves around the infamously brutal superhero team of the same name from the WildStorm Universe, as a "big movie," but it ran into significant issues.

Right now, we have confirmed release dates for HBO show Lanterns, movies Supergirl and Clayface, and the aforementioned Man of Tomorrow.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Hot off the heels of another successful weekend at the box office, Obsession director Curry Barker has said that, if there's anything he's learned in the last month, it's that "Gen Z will show up" to theaters if the films are good enough.

As audiences head to the movies in droves to check out Backrooms and Obsession, Barker has found himself caught in a wave of appreciation for low-budget horror. When asked about his takeaways on Happy, Sad, Confused, he touched on the important role Gen Z played in the movement.

"The lesson is that Gen Z will show up to an original film," Barker explained. "Maybe that's all that needs to be said: that we will show up to a film. I don't think it's about IP, necessarily. You know what? It's not even about being original or not being original. I think we're all really hungry for good stories, and we're kind of – and I can only speak for myself – a little tired of films that feel rushed or overly produced."

Barker, 26, falls firmly in the Gen Z camp. While Obsession has made waves as an original horror pic since its wide release in May, his future in Hollywood will see him trying to prove he can both continue to tell original stories and dive into franchise filmmaking.

His next film is Anything But Ghosts, another original story that stars Barker himself, Cooper Tomlinson (Obsession), Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World), and Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad). Further down the road is his Texas Chainsaw Massacre project with A24.

From Barker's point of view, moviegoers his age simply "want good stories with good characters, and even good filmmaking." When asked about what he wishes studios understood about Gen Z audiences during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Barker offered a blunt response.

"I wish they understood that we're tired of slop," he said. "We want good movies back. People are still hungry for movies that are original without some big IP, as long as the story is good."

While some viewers, regardless of age, will be there to see Anything But Ghosts or his Texas Chainsaw Massacre day one, others are hoping a proper Obsession 2 is on the way. For now, Barker has said he has "a cool idea" for a follow-up, but he's not in any rush to make it happen. While we wait to hear more, you can read IGN's 8/10 Obsession review.

Photo by Harold Feng/WireImage.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Steven Spielberg is among the most powerful and influential people to have ever worked in Hollywood. The famed director has entertained countless viewers in his nearly half-century-long career, and he's got a new film out right now -- Disclosure Day.

But what are his greatest movies ever? It's a highly subjective topic, of course, but we've done our best to put together what we think are the 10 films that represent his best work as a director.

These are our picks for the 10 best Steven Spielberg movies of all time.

10. Munich

Munich is arguably the most mature and unsentimental movie Spielberg has ever made. Hewing far closer to political potboilers like The Conformist than the director's own portrayals of historical events, Spielberg crafts a daringly ambiguous and dramatically credible rendition of events that took place following the murder of eight athletes in Munich during the 1972 Olympic games. His mastery as a showman and purveyor of spectacle is the stuff of Hollywood legend, which is why the sophistication and intelligence of Munich is all the more impressive. Where even his previous forays into starkly dramatic material occasionally veered into shameless sentiment, here Spielberg approaches his subject with deadly-serious gravitas, never taking some position of moral justification to elevate the Israeli agents above their victims, nor reducing them to bloodthirsty murderers out for vengeance.

9. Lincoln

Foregoing the conventional “greatest hits” biopic route in favor of focusing on the final few months of Lincoln’s life, Spielberg’s film tells the story of the president's quest to pass the 13th Amendment that will abolish slavery as the bloody Civil War draws to a close. This is President Lincoln at his most world-weary and yet most powerful, as he must use every political favor, ruse, and tactic he and his team can muster to get the amendment passed. The film is an engaging, albeit stagebound drama that finds the heart and humor in Abraham Lincoln as he led the Union during its bleakest days, and it succeeds most as a showcase for all the amazing acting talent involved, particularly the incomparable Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role. It’s one of Steven Spielberg’s finest films.

8. Catch Me If You Can

Leonardo DiCaprio stars in this serio-comic film based on the autobiography of Frank Abagnale, Jr., one of the world's greatest con men and among the youngest individuals ever placed on the FBI's Most Wanted List. The film features a familiar "Spielbergian" theme of a kid from a broken home, only Frank reacts to his parent's divorce by running off and becoming an impostor airline pilot, forging checks, and spending years avoiding capture. Things never really get dark or foreboding, as they could in different hands, but instead Spielberg keeps the pace up and the tone light. After Spielberg spent so much time with serious films like A.I. and Amistad, Catch Me If You Can came as a welcome change of pace.

7. Jurassic Park

You know why this movie still works, 25 years after it unleashed the power of CG everything on audiences? Because when Alan Grant first looks up to see that veggiesaurus get on its hind legs to eat some tree leaves, we still, even now, mouth "wow" every time. It's that sense of awe and wonder that only a Spielberg movie can provide. We still get geek goosebumps when Hammond says, "Welcome to Jurassic Park." And while the story about dino experts forced to survive a hellish Disneyland-esque ride is merely a clothesline by which Spielberg can hang big set-pieces on, it does deliver plenty of emotion and character work to elevate the film above simple popcorn entertainment. In fact, it makes it one of the genre's best examples of popcorn fare, a sci-fi tale that reminds man for the millionth time that he should never play God.

6. Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan was a vastly different type of World War II film when compared to Spielberg's Schindler's List. Depicting the invasion of Normandy Beach and several bloody conflicts that followed, Private Ryan drew in viewers with the tragic quest of Tom Hanks and his squad to track down the last surviving brother in a family of soldiers. In between the explosions and ground skirmishes, Ryan explores the toll of war. The film works best when the mission detours into the messiness of human conflict, like when Spielberg turns a set piece inside a bomb-ravaged village into a tense game of cat and mouse that practically plays out in real time, with our boys' best sniper (the underrated Barry Pepper) blessing his rifle before pulling the trigger on his Nazi counterpart. We still scratch our heads as to why this movie lost the Best Picture Oscar to Shakespeare in Love.

5. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Spielberg's first alien-centric blockbuster forever set the tone for the director's unique brand of Hollywood filmmaking, that of grounding the extraordinary within the perspective of a working-class family with "real" interactions and problems, a trope the director would revisit in such films as E.T. and 2005's War of the Worlds. Moreover, the movie shows us that not all aliens are malevolent; some just want to show off their musical Lite Brite skills and make with the trust falls. The script was written by Spielberg, which is pretty rare for the director, and the result is a classic that reminds us that sci-fi doesn't have to have explosions or aliens murdering people – it just has to be good, and that's enough.

4. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

This is quintessential Steven Spielberg. Henry Thomas' Elliott, a lonely young boy living with his single mom and siblings, finds some direction and meaning in his life when he stumbles upon a lovable alien critter who he dubs E.T. Stranded on Earth and trying to phone home, E.T. forms a bond with Elliott that rivals some of cinema's greatest teams. The animatronic alien is and was unique and convincing, the performances from a mostly young cast are superb, and best of all, the film's exploration of the mysteries of childhood is thoughtful, sensitive, and at the same time often fun. Also sad… but in a good way!

3. Raiders of the Lost Ark

Recoiling from the commercial and critical failure of the WWII comedy 1941, Spielberg partnered with George Lucas to create what would eventually become one of his most enduring films -- and franchises. The Indiana Jones series launched in 1981 with this unforgettable action classic. Inspired by 1930s movie serials, this adventure opens with one of cinema's most unforgettable sequences -- Indy's nimble victory over a booby-trapped temple -- and never stops until the bad guys have (literally) melted away and the hero gets the girl. A triumph of writing, directing, and acting, Raiders perseveres today as perhaps the thrill ride by which all others are judged, and confirms Spielberg's status as the greatest of all living mainstream directors.

2. Jaws

The first blockbuster ever and the scariest movie (maybe even the best one?) Spielberg's ever made, Jaws is equal parts monster movie and character piece, centered on an island called Amity that's preyed upon by something that leaves teeth the size of shot glasses in the hulls of boats and turns their owners into decapitated flotsam. Roy Scheider gives a career-defining performance as Chief Brody, the local sheriff with a fear of water, who's put in charge of taking down the shark of the title. Joining him are Richard Dreyfuss' Hooper and Robert "Find 'im for 3, Catch 'im and Kill 'im for 10" Shaw as Quint. But you already know that. Jaws is made out of the type of movie magic that warrants repeat viewings and lots of praise using words like "perfect" and "classic."

1. Schindler's List

Playboy industrialist Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) never aspired to be a hero. He was a capitalist, pure and simple. He took over a confiscated enamelware plant in Krakow, Poland, thanks to help from some Nazi connections, with the hopes of making a quick buck supporting the war. But along the way his attitude changed. The conscience-stricken Schindler ends up broke, but helps save over a thousand Jews along the way. Spielberg never preaches, pontificates or engages in contrivances designed to manipulate our emotions with this movie. He puts Schindler and the Nazis and Jews out there for the people they are and let's us figure it out. The result is a deeply moving and powerful human drama, and an example of filmmaking at its best.

What's your favorite Steven Spielberg movie? Vote in our poll and let's discuss in the comments!

Note: This story was updated on June 15, 2026.

Furiosa and The Queen's Gambit star Anya Taylor-Joy has joined the cast of The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum as an elf named Seren.

Warner Bros. announced the news today, confirming she'll play a new character in the upcoming prequel. A press release for the film describes Seren as "a Sindar Elf of the Woodland Realm" and "a trusted and lethal agent of King Thranduil (Lee Pace)."

Taylor-Joy joins an already stacked cast of actors that includes both Middle-earth newcomers and veterans. You can see a The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum teaser video for Seren below.

Taylor-Joy has spent the last few years playing parts in some of the biggest franchises film has to offer. Since her breakout role in Robert Eggers' The Witch, she's gone on to be featured as Princess Peach in The Super Mario Bros. Movie and its Mario Galaxy sequel, Furiosa in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and she's set to show up in Dune: Part 3 following a small role in Part 2. She also appeared in X-Men spin-off The New Mutants in 2020, and was featured as Gina Gray in Peaky Blinders.

There's no denying that it's another big get for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which is already swimming in big names. Andy Serkis, who is also directing the film, will reprise his role as Smeagol/Gollum, with Ian McKellen back as Gandalf and Elijah Wood returning as Frodo Baggins. Jamie Dornan will take over for Viggo Mortensen as a younger Strider, with Kate Winslet on board as Marigol, and Pace as Thranduil.

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum was announced in 2024 as a prequel that's set to explore events that take place between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. Its screenplay is written by Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, as well as Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou. Walsh and Boyens are also producing, as are Zane Weiner, Ken Kamins, Jonathan Cavendish, and Serkis. Original Lord of the Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson is also producing.

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will bring Taylor-Joy to Middle-earth as Seren when the film premieres December 17, 2027. For more while we wait for updates, you can read about why Jackson compared the prequel movie to Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker.

Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

As Obsession continues to control the box office after its fifth weekend, director Curry Barker has confirmed he has no intention of moving on to a sequel too quickly.

The budding filmmaker spoke about how he's taking a careful approach to the next chapter in his new horror universe during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. It's a conversation that arrived one month after Obsession's wide theatrical release convinced audiences across the world to show up to the box office for low-budget horror.

All eyes are on Barker as fans wait to see how the magic of the One Wish Willow will be used to create new nightmares in what could eventually be called Obsession 2. However, even as his movie runs victory lap after victory lap in theaters, he's not in any rush to make it happen.

"I don’t want to go straight into Obsession 2," Barker said when asked what he doesn't want from his future in film. "I have such a cool idea for it that I won’t say."

Barker clarified that he isn't saying Obsession 2 is still five or six years away, but he doesn't want to rush a follow-up to Nikki's story out the door. At the least, he's confident that fans will show up for a sequel, even if he takes his time.

"But I think people would be just as excited for it if it came a little down the road. It’s a whirlwind, and I’m trying to figure it out."

Obsession wished its way into theaters May 15 and has become one of the biggest movie success stories of the last decade. Starring Inde Navarrette as Nikki, Michael Johnston as Bear, Cooper Tomlinson as Ian, and Megan Lawless as Sarah, the Focus Features film's be-careful-what-you-wish-for story has helped it tear through the box office with a global total of more than $286.49 million so far (via Box Office Mojo). These would be solid returns for even some Marvel movies, but for a small-scale horror movie like Obsession, which worked on a budget of about $750,000, it's almost unheard of.

He's so far played coy when it comes to how Obsession and the One Wish Willow may evolve in future installments. However, he did tell Total Film last month that he's toyed with the idea of potentially making an Obsession anthology series, where each episode follows a new character's wish. He elaborated on what the future may hold during an interview with Happy, Sad, Confused, today.

"This just happens to be a premise where there is a lot more to be done. It's not really a sequel," Barker said. "It's just a new guy or girl with a One Wish Willow: What does she wish for, and how did that mess up her life? There's so many stories to be told.

As Barker refines the idea for what may one day become Obsession 2, he's already signed on to take the reigns on something with a little more meat on its bones: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He spoke about his plans for a new chapter in the decades-old horror universe during his interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

"I wouldn’t be interested if I didn’t think I could find a way in that feels fresh and new, while still respecting the original," Barker explained. "The canon itself is all over the place, so there’s not much to stay loyal to other than the original. I want to make a new generation of people scared and give them this feeling of: 'What if you went on a road trip with your friends and this happened to you?' I want to capture the rawness and the grounded-ness of the original."

Barker is just getting started. While we wait to see how Obsession 2 and his Texas Chainsaw Massacre will take shape, you can read IGN's 8/10 Obsession review.

"Obsession should and will put Barker on the map as a horror filmmaker you need to watch with this addictive sour Valentine's Day counterprogramming," we said after watching its 2025 Fantastic Film Festival screening.

Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/WireImage.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Spider-Man: Brand New Day's official plot synopsis is now availale, and it teases the villain fans will see in the upcoming Marvel movie.

Ahead of tomorrow's ticket pre-sales for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, a new synopsis of the movie has been released on the film's official website. It's similar to previous plot summaries, but there is one key difference: the new synopsis mentions a "powerful villain no one can even see."

"It's a Brand New Day for Peter Parker," the synopsis says. "Fighting crime full-time as Spider-Man in a world that doesn’t remember him — and the pressure of seeing his old friends move on without him —sparks a change in Peter he may not have the power to control. But that transformation might also be the only thing that can stop a shocking new threat to the city and those he loves — a powerful villain no one can even see. The world may have forgotten Peter Parker, but he hasn’t forgotten them."

Currently, the confirmed villains for Spider-Man: Brand New Day include Scorpion, Tarantula, Boomerang, The Hand, Tombstone, and, seemingly, a corrupted version of The Hulk. It has long been speculated and rumored that Sadie Sink is playing Jean Grey, leading some to believe she is the film's villain. Could she be using her powers to remain unseen to others? Would Marvel want to reintroduce this character as a villain instead of a hero? It's hard to say right now.

The trailer for the film also indicated that whoever the villain is, they have some kind of mind-control powers or can possess other people. Jean Grey certainly has the power to hijack someone's mind, which has lent some credibility to these theories. Either way, it's interesting that Marvel is holding back on revealing the film's villain.

Instead, Marvel seems to be leaning on the emotional core of the story, which is that Peter Parker is living a lonely, isolated life after wishing that everyone would forget about him in No Way Home. It suggests Brand New Day may dig a bit deeper with heightened personal stakes. Leaks have also indicated that this will be the longest Spider-Man movie to date, at two-and-a-half hours long, so there will be plenty of time for the film to breathe.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day releases on July 31, but Amazon Prime users will be able to see the film two days early.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

IGN can exclusively reveal that the official Studio Ghibli store, also known as Donguri Republic, is opening for the first time in the U.S. in Los Angeles on June 23. The shop will feature over 400 officially licensed products from such beloved films as My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and more.

The first-ever Donguri Republic in the U.S. will be located at Del Amo Fashion Center (Shop No. 179 at 3525 W. Carson St., Torrance, CA), and it aims to "recreate the warmth and wonder of Studio Ghibli's storytelling through a beautifully designed retail experience featuring wood-inspired interiors, whimsical displays, and a giant Totoro waiting at a bus stop for the Cat bus." Custom storefront artwork with Mei and Little Totoro will also be on display.

The store will remain open in Los Angeles until December 31, 2026, and guests who spend $100 or more will get a limited-edition Donguri Republic Los Angeles tote bag while supplies last. It will also be open every day, with hours Monday through Saturday 10am–9pm PT, and Sunday 11am–7pm PT.

Fans who attend screenings during Studio Ghibli Fest 2026 will also be able to get exclusive movie film-style bookmarks with qualifying purchases.

There will be merch from many of Studio Ghibli's films. Others specifically mentioned are Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso, Whisper of the Heart, Princess Mononoke, The Cat Returns, Ponyo, and The Boy and the Heron.

For more, check out our ranking of the best Studio Ghibli movies and where you can stream the studio's films online.

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst, Instagram, and TikTok, and listen to his show, Talking Disney Magic.

LEGO has revealed a first look at its upcoming KPop Demon Hunters set, featuring Derpy the supernatural blue tiger.

The previously-teased design, now officially unveiled as the 825-piece Derpy Tiger and Sussie Bird set, will be available from August 1, priced at $69.99. You can preorder the new set directly from LEGO.

The set includes two expressions, letting Derpy give off a goofy grin or have him open-mouthed, with his "Hello Friend" love letter stuck to his tongue. There's even a flowerpot for Derpy to knock over, then pick back up again, then knock over again.

The set measures up as 8.5 in. (21 cm) high, 6 in. (15 cm long) and 6 in. (15 cm) wide, when Sussie is standing on Derpy’s head.

KPop Demon Hunters fans may mourn the lack of any LEGO minifigures in this set, though there's still hope. The Huntr/X trio already turned up in LEGO form within Fortnite, suggesting physical versions of their minifigures may still follow. And with the KPop Demon Hunters franchise looking like it has a bright future, there's plenty of time for more LEGO sets to come.

A full KPop Demon Hunters sequel is now in early development, with Netflix snapping up directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans as part of a multi-year writing and directing deal. However, a reported 2029 release date is apparently unlikely, due to the complex nature of mounting a satisfactory follow-up.

LEGO's KPop Demon Hunters collab has dropped, with an 825-piece LEGO Derpy Tiger and Sussy Bird set coming out August 1 and up preorder now at LEGO's site.

Time will tell if this one is a LEGO Store exclusive, but given how massively popular the initial LEGO Kpop Demon Hunters tease was back in February, it wouldn't surprise me too much if this set appears at Amazon and the others either this week, or shortly after its release date.

LEGO Derpy Tiger and Sussie Bird