It’s never easy to choose just one favorite character from among the many we meet in our travels through fictional worlds. Even when we narrow the scope to just one year of television, movies, and more, defining what makes for a favorite or “best” character seems like a herculean task. And though we say this every year, this year, we truly were spoiled for choice when it came to nerdy offerings that graced our screens. From fantastical realms to multiverse shenanigans to spectacular season twos, spinoffs, and original stories, we received a veritable buffet of characters to love (or to love hating) in 2023. And so, despite the difficulty, the Nerdist team has set out to narrow down the greatest of them all. Here are Nerdist‘s picks for the best characters of 2023.

Monkey D. Luffy From Netflix’s Live-Action One Piece

Selected by Rotem Rusak

I went into the live-action One Piece series as cold as possible for a franchise that’s been around for so long. And though I had no prior love or loyalty to the series, Iñaki Godoy’s Luffy immediately had me signing on to become a Straw Hat Pirate. How could anyone resist when Luffy just wants you to treasure your dreams and be the best you that you can be?

Having now watched some of the anime, I can confidently assess that Iñaki Godoy’s rendition captures all the hallmarks of the original Luffy: his unbounded joy, his intent enthusiasm, his determined love of his crew, and his sometimes overly excited tendencies. But above and beyond that, Godoy injects Luffy with a tremendous heart and warmth that is all his own, which deepens, rounds out, and evolves the character, taking him to new heights and pulling us all along for the ride. 

With Iñaki Godoy’s Luffy as captain, it makes total sense that everyone he meets falls in love with him and decides to follow him to the ends of the earth, fans included. And that makes live-action One Piece‘s Monkey D. Luffy one of our best characters of 2023. 

Egwene al’Vere From The Wheel of Time

Selected by Amy Ratcliffe

We had to wait a couple of years, but The Wheel of Time season two finally happened. The adaptation of Robert Jordan’s books of the same name leveled up in a number of ways from season one, including character development. Egwene al’Vere was one of the MVPs, standing out as one of the best characters not just in The Wheel of Time, but in all the television I watched this year. Performed by Madeleine Madden, Egwene found herself pulled out of the White Tower in the worst way possible: betrayed by a member of the Black Ajah and given to the Seanchan to take as damane. Collared and enslaved by the Seanchan, Egwene faced horrors unknown to most Aes Sedai. The Seanchan controlled Egwene’s ability to use the One Power and used her as a weapon. They broke her.

But Egwene, powerful in every way that matters, fought back. She made a difficult choice, one that will impact her for years to come. But she made it. No one decided her fate for her. In season two, Egwene rose above pain. She showed her mettle and protected her friends. It was a moving, terrible, important step on her journey.

M3GAN From M3GAN

Selected by Eric Diaz

True horror icons come two, maybe three for decade. In 2023, it came in the form of a killer robot doll with a judgmental glare—and who has no time for your crap—going by the name of M3GAN. From the moment we saw M3GAN’s pre-murderbot rampage dance in the trailer for her big-screen debut, she was poised for star status. When Gerard Johnstone’s film was finally released in January of 2023, she earned that status. Screenwriter Akela Cooper created a true icon in M3GAN, and not one of us will ever hear the song “Titanium” the same way again. M3GAN is definitely one of 2023’s best characters.

Marie Moreau From Gen V

Selected by Tai Gooden

A world full of superheroes seeped in debauchery, lies, and murder leads to a lot of blood. For Gen V’s Marie Moreau (played by the brilliant Jaz Sinclair), the constant spilling of this bodily fluid works to the advantage of her ever-expanding hemokinetic powers. Marie’s enthralling and tumultuous journey throughout season one spans from an orphan grieving her parents’ accidental demise to a self-assured young woman who confronts internal and external shaming and bravely redefines what it means to be a hero.

As she further steps into her personal power, her abilities expand and allow her to rewrite her destiny. Marie Moreau has heart, but she won’t completely sacrifice herself for the sake of others. She’s broken and resilient, passionate and terrified, and socially awkward yet keenly aware of her place and space within society on multiple levels as a Black woman. Watching her conjure blood from the soaked grassy quad and shoot it like daggers was perhaps the most empowering moment in this universe so far. She’s a true gem in a mine of new TV characters.

Roderick Usher From The Fall of the House of Usher

Selected by Mikey Walsh

The full depth of Bruce Greenwood’s incredible performance on The Fall of the House of Usher couldn’t be totally appreciated until it was over. Long before his final moments, we knew the pharmaceutical CEO was responsible for a massacre of untold millions. Roderick Usher’s body count had few equals in history. Worse, he amassed his empire by sacrificing his kids’ future to a supernatural entity. And yet, even knowing all of that, Greenwood made Roderick compelling by making it hard to fully hate him. Hadn’t Roderick started out with good intentions? Didn’t he want to end suffering rather than inflict more? And wasn’t his punishment more than anyone deserved? Didn’t his mistakes and remorse make his story a tragedy because he was a flawed person rather than a real monster?

No. His final confession wasn’t about the murders he’d committed or the deal he’d accepted. It was about the greatest lie he’d told. He’d always known exactly what Ligodone was and what it would do to the world. It was only then we knew the truth—he really was the Devil, and he had tricked us into thinking he’s not. That’s why Roderick Usher is among 2023’s best new characters.

Caine From John Wick: Chapter 4

Selected by Kyle Anderson

The John Wick series has always offered action movie fans a cadre of wild underworld characters and hardened assassins to go up against our favorite gun-fu fighter. John Wick: Chapter 4 is easily the best of the bunch in this field, and while offering a number of cool new characters, none were as great as Caine, played by Donnie Yen. The sightless assassin with a sword in his walking stick and a pocket full of sound grenades gives John his toughest battle yet, and the fact that Caine is a reluctant combatant, an anti-villain trapped in a tough spot, endears us to him all the more. And yes, he kicks the most amount of butt; it’s Donnie Yen! Why wouldn’t he?!

O.B. From Loki Season 2

Selected by Mikey Walsh

This year proved it doesn’t matter which multiverse you find yourself watching, Ke Huy Quan is an absolute joy in all of them. The recent Everything Everywhere All at Once Oscar-winner joined Loki in season two and promptly stole all of his scenes. (No small feat considering his costars.) His brilliant, way-too-literal, wonderfully straightforward O.B. was a constant source of both humor and information. What really made Ouroboros one of 2023’s best new characters, though, was the way Quan was able to also convey the inherent sadness of the O.B.’s life, even if the engineer himself wasn’t fully aware of his plight. That gave the TVA employee a depth that easily could have been lost with a lesser performance. We wanted to hang out and listen to Ouroboros while also giving him a big hug. Just like we’d love to do with Ke Huy Quan himself in every universe everywhere.

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Anyone paying attention to the career of Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos might have assumed he was veering away from his weirder efforts—Dogtooth, Killing of a Sacred Deer—after his Oscar-winning “mainstream” outing, The Favourite. Had the surreal-leaning director lost his edge? I mean… no, of course not. Just watch his latest, Poor Things, an adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel of the same name. The movie is a wickedly funny, supremely subversive look at gender roles and sexuality through the lens of Victorian horror. It’s good shit, is what I’m saying.

If you’ve seen the trailer, you know the movie has a pseudo Frankenstein vibe. Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), a scientist who specializes in vivisection and splicing animal parts together, makes a woman he names Bella (Emma Stone). Though a fully grown adult, she begins the story with the mind of a child. Dr. Baxter aims to observe her and her ability to learn, employing a medical student (Ramy Youssef) to take notes for him. In the most unsubtle of touches, Bella calls Dr. Baxter “God,” and in keeping with that moniker, he’s withholding and fairly patrician.

As Bella learns—quite quickly it should be said—she discovers her own bodily functions and urges, and eventually a cad named Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo in an outrageously funny and sad performance) whisks her away for a sex-fueled trip around the world. But Bella won’t be contained, and does what she wants, unmoored by the trappings of polite society. She reads philosophers and poetry and begins to learn who and what she is, all the while various men in her life seek to control her for their own selfish and rather petty reasons. It’s the Victorian era, let us not forget.

Lanthimos creates a gorgeous, heightened world for Bella to inhabit, period appropriate but never realistic as such. The world needs to look strange and new and vibrant because Bella is seeing everything for the first time. The whole movie has a glorious artifice to it for most of the runtime. Each segment of Bella’s adventures has its own visual style and color scheme. God’s house is drab and cold, while Monte Carlo is bold and colorful like a painting.

Poor Things has a certain amount of cringe to it at the beginning with regard to how men leer at Bella, who has the mind of a child. It’s creepy. But that’s the point. As she begins to learn and question, she decides she needs sexual gratification but not the stigma or ownership men place on it. Duncan may think she’s his plaything but quickly he has to learn he’s actually hers. This does not sit well with him, even though the circumstances have hardly changed. One of the major themes of the movie is how men have traditionally commodified women and sexual conquest of them but always to the detriment of the women in question. Bella refuses to be exploited or controlled.

If I have one complaint about the movie it’s that I think it gilds the lily a bit toward the end. The final vignette, in which a brand new character appears who has ties to the overall plot but had never existed previously, shows up and throws a wrench in Bella’s works. It’s not a bad sequence, but I felt as though it didn’t ultimately change anything other than to provide one last horrible man for Bella to overcome. Far be it from me to say a movie is too long. I just felt like nothing truly new or revelatory came out of this part. Ultimately it just added 20 minutes.

That aside, Poor Things is one of my favorite movies of 2023. The world Lanthimos creates is so vivid and strange while the themes it explores are so universal. Anyone iffy about sex scenes should be aware Poor Things has a lot of them. As the movie is about destigmatizing sexuality, and specifically women’s sexuality, they’re integral to Bella’s journey. The shock wears off. People are both base and enlightened, carnal and intellectual. If you engage with the movie on those levels—and marvel at the weirdness—you’ll probably love it too.

Poor Things ⭐ (4 of 5)

Poor Things opens December 8.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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There’s a lot of excitement about Deadpool 3 for many reasons. First, it marks the return of this raunchy yet loveable character to the big screen over five years after the last film. Then there’s the excitement of Deadpool officially joining the MCU. Finally, this film is the only Marvel movie coming in 2024. We obviously live in a world where leaks and spoilers pop up all the time, so it’s not shocking that there are unofficial snapshots of Deadpool 3 during filming. There are images on the internet to the chagrin of many who don’t wish to see unofficial photos that reveal possible plot points and new characters. One very important person who wants the Deadpool 3 photo leaks to stop is Ryan Reynolds, who released a statement about it on his Instagram page. 

Here is a reader-friendly version of the statement for all:

“Surprises are part of the magic of theatrical movies. It is important for us to shoot the new Deadpool film in real, natural environments, using practical effects as opposed to making the movie indoors and digitally. Telephoto lenses continue to spoil surprises and create a difficult situation for everyone. Here’s hoping some of the websites and social channels hold back showing images before they’re ready. The film is built for audience joy—and our highest hope is to preserve as much of that magic as possible for the finished film and the big screen. Part of the reason people post spoilers is because they’re excited. I realize these aren’t real world issues and it’s firmly in the ‘good problems’ bucket. I love making this movie.”

Joy is something we all need and it is nice to go into something with fresh eyes. Knowing nothing only amps up the energy. Basically, spoilers suck for a lot of fellow fans. Ryan Reynolds makes lots of good and heartfelt points in his statement about Deadpool 3 leaks, indeed. 

The actor did recently share a photo of him as Wade Wilson without that infamous mask. Yes, he still looks like an avocado or perhaps a n*tsack, depending on who you ask. The latter is even wilder with the dog licking the side of his face.

Deadpool 3 is coming our way on July 26, 2024. We know there will be plenty of wonderful clips, photos, and trailers coming in the near future. For now, this post will tell you everything you need to know about Deadpool 3.

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Professional wrestling’s long history includes many famous clans who made the sport a family affair. Fans know all about the Harts, the McMahons, the Anoa’i, the Funks, the Guerreros, and the Rhodes. Lots of famous households strapped up their boots and got in the squared circle together. They then taught the family business to new generations of stars. But while fans can debate the best, most talented, most important pro wrestling families ever, there’s no question over the industry’s most tragic. The name Von Erich is as synonymous with talent as it is with grief. Now the legendary Texas clan’s sad story is coming to the big screen in A24’s The Iron Claw, and we are getting a glimpse at the behind the scenes action of it all.

We never thought we’d see Zac Efron portray a wrestler but he, along with co-stars Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickerson, put the work in. It looks like they built a great friendship along the way. The film’s trailer gives us a great look at The Iron Claw‘s story, which has a depth of heartbreak that’s hard to believe even though we know it’s true.

The Iron Claw is the pro wrestling movie that needed to be made. But it will be hard for those who don’t already know about the Von Erichs to believe what happened to the family. Even the official synopsis for The Iron Claw, which released alongside the trailer, only hints at the fate of a family who made a lasting mark both in the ring and out of it.

From A24:

The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the biggest stage in sports. 

Unfortunately, pro wrestling is no different than life: immortality doesn’t always come the way you hope.

Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene) both wrote and directed this movie. The Iron Claw stars Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Stanley Simons, Maura Tierney, Holt McCallany, and Lily James. It climbs into the ring later this year when it premieres in theaters on December 22, 2023.

Originally published on October 11, 2023.

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We’ve known that a Blade movie is coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2019. Who can forget with the film’s star—Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali—put on a hat that said “BLADE!” and caused an excited uproar in San Diego Comic-Con’s Hall H?! Though there have been some ups and downs with this movie, hopefully, we’ll only see smooth sailing for our favorite vampire from here on out.

Thankfully, Ali says things are still moving forward to some degree in a direction that he approves. “We’re working on it. That’s the best I could tell you,” he said in an Entertainment Weekly interview. “I’m really encouraged with the direction of the project. I think we’ll be back at it relatively soon.”

Here’s everything we know about the upcoming Blade movie.

Title

The title of this movie is simple: Blade.

Blade‘s Plot

Right now, we don’t have any plot details for Blade. But, we can imagine the film will borrow from the character’s comic origins. Blade debuted in the tenth issue of Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula comic back in 1973, from writer Marv Wolfman and penciller Gene Colan. He quickly became a supremely popular character, a half-vampire killer of vampires and other occult baddies. Blade first made it to the big screen in 1998 starring Wesley Snipes. Two sequels followed—one of them good—but eventually, that franchise sort of fell by the wayside.

We do know that Blade will be rated R; the rating was recently confirmed by the movie’s director Yann Demange. Blade marks the second MCU movie to receive an R-rating, although we bet that it will be a very different R-rated experience than Deadpool 3. The rating opens up a whole new world of possibilities for the MCU movie and we can’t wait to see what how they will manifest.

Behind the Scenes

Playwright Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen) wrote an early draft of the script. In 2021, Bassam Tariq confirmed he will direct the film via The Playlist podcast. However, Tariq has since left the project.

The director offered a brief statement about his experience with Blade.

Now Lovecraft Country‘s Yann Demange has come aboard as Blade‘s new director. In addition, Michael Starrbury wrote a new script for the vampiric movie. According to The Hollywood Reporter, True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto has recently joined the project to work off of Starrbury’s script.

Blade‘s Cast

As mentioned above, two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali will play the daywalking half-vampire badass in the upcoming Blade movie. Meanwhile, Delroy Lindo is joining Ali in film. While we don’t formally know who Lindo is playing, we think he could be Jamal Afari, who in the comics raised Blade and taught him all about vampire slaying. As we saw (or rather, heard) at the end of Eternals, Kit Harington will cross paths with Blade, reprising his role as Dane Whitman.

Krypton actor Aaron Pierre has joined the cast of Blade in another undisclosed character. Unlike Lindo, however, this role will seemingly have bigger implications on the Marvel Cinematic Universe than just this one film. And Deadline has also reported that X and Pearl star Mia Goth will join the cast in an unspecified role.

Blade‘s Release Date

The Blade Marvel movie will arrive in theaters on November 7, 2025.

Originally published on July 20, 2019.

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The pandemic prevented or delayed the theatrical release of many movies. More than one studio leveraged the closure of theaters to boost their streaming services, including Disney+. Disney made the baffling decision to premiere three Pixar movies directly on Disney+: Soul, Luca, and Turning Red. The latter was especially confusing, as it released in March 2022. Theaters had been open again for months. But now, whatever decisions were made in the past, these three Pixar movies are coming to theaters nationwide. We can finally see Soul, Luca, and Turning Red in the format they (and all the people who worked on them) deserve.

That trailer is a brief reminder of how excellent each of these movies is. Rewatching them on Disney+ hasn’t been the same. Plus, now that Pixar movies will be in theaters, they each get the traditional animated short film airing ahead of them. Even though the shorts aren’t new, it’s comforting to see these films following form.

Here’s the release schedule:

• Soul with “Burrow” – January 12
• Turning Red with “Kitbull” – February 9
• Luca with “For the Birds” – March 22

We can’t wait to go see our friends on the big screen.

Featured Image: Pixar

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I believe movie fans will come to remember 2023 as a truly great year for cinema. I have zero doubt which two films will come to define these past 12 months of movies. Barbie and Oppenheimer both arrived in theaters on the same day. Despite being about as different as two films can be, they’re forever connected. The two global blockbusters combined to give us “Barbenheimer,” an unofficial double feature created organically by fans. If, like so many others, you’re one of them, you can now appreciate both movies in a whole new way. Their respective stars, Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy, sat down to interview each other in the latest episode of Variety‘s “Actors on Actors” web-series.

Their delightful conversation provided tons of great tidbits and insights into the making of each film. It’s a conversation so good it should be an extra on both Barbie‘s and Oppenheimer‘s Blu-rays.

This fun, informative, entertaining chat between two of 2023’s most notable stars has too many amazing moments to mention all of them. Robbie and Murphy touched on a wide range of subjects covering almost every aspect of their movies, from pre-production through the overwhelming success of both. They also discussed everything and anything about their directors, Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan, from their approach to filmmaking to each directors’ wardrobe choices on set. The two also talked about developing their characters, how they research their roles, finding the right accent, and what it was like to carry such a heavy burden as their films’ stars. If you love learning how the Hollywood sausage is made, this is a must-watch.

That’s also true if you also like listening to two talented, charming people enjoying each other’s work. That’s how you’ll learn which one ends up talking to themself in a basement before filming starts. Or which one loves wearing masks to see their own films while the other can’t stand to see themself on-screen. And it’s how you’ll learn they both love writing letters to people they hope to work with someday, how much they know about memes, and what they’re okay with people screaming at them on the street.

Peaky Binders fans will also be thrilled to know Robbie got to ask Murphy about the show. Meanwhile, he asked her about a possible Barbie sequel. And you definitely won’t expect which one of them used David Bowie as a reference in developing their character. (Seriously. It wasn’t Robbie. Seriously!)

Barbenheimer already made 2023 a great year for movie lovers. Turns out that phenomenon had even more to give us.

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Despite some of the bigger franchises in Hollywood having less-than-stellar years, 2023 has been outstanding for films. From arthouse hits to horror triumphs, you don’t need DC, Marvel, or Star Wars to have some fun at the movies. Below is a list of Nerdist‘s top 10 movies of the year, as decided upon by our great staff. This doesn’t represent anyone’s individual list, nor does it represent every good movie that came out this year. But it does have two movies based on Marvel properties. It’s still a geek website after all. Let’s start the countdown!

10. Evil Dead Rise

I have to admit, when I first saw Evil Dead Rise, I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it. It was a completely new take on the material, moving the action from a cabin in the woods to a dilapidated apartment building. Instead of hot teens out for some action, the curse of the Book of the Dead befalls a family just trying to get by. But at its heart, this new installment keeps much of the blood-soaked hallmarks of the original Sam Raimi movies, especially the hallowed Evil Dead 2. I’ve watched it several times since and I think it kinda rips.

9. Asteroid City

Another one that slow-burned its way onto this list. For a filmmaker already obsessed with artifice, Wes Anderson really outdid himself in Asteroid City. A story within a story within a story, layers and layers of separation between reality and fiction, and yet it’s entirely compelling from start to finish. The cast is outstanding, as per, and it might have the best use of Bryan Cranston since Breaking Bad. Anderson hides the real story under layers and layers of artifice and distance to give us a treatise on the American Theatre, UFO culture, and mid-century emotional stunting. It’s also super goofy and plays like a greatest hits of previous Anderson films. It’s a bafflement, but I can’t not applaud it for that.

8. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1

What a world we live in. Any other year, this latest installment in the unbelievably good Mission: Impossible series should have made a billion dollars, easy. But in 2023, it underperformed. That is by no means a reflection of quality. While it didn’t work quite as well for me as either Rogue Nation or Fallout, it’s still a tremendously enjoyable, exciting action adventure. The car chase through Rome with Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell handcuffed together would be enough to make it a good movie. Then we get to the end where they have to climb through a train that is simultaneously falling off a cliff. Just an incredible action sequence. These movies rule.

7. Talk to Me

2023 was actually a pretty amazing year for horror movies. The aforementioned Evil Dead Rise is but one. Possibly the best of the bunch is the indie Talk to Me, written and directed by Australian YouTubers-turned-filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou. A take on teenage drug use as a form of coping, replacing demonic possession for narcotics, the main character’s slow descent feels like you’re watching a movie about addiction more than a horror movie. And that’s what makes it all the scarier. I said it before, but it’s like Euphoria but with seances, in the best way.

6. Poor Things

A dark horse addition to the list, Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest is a dark fairytale-esque look at women’s sexuality through the guise of a Frankenstein story. Emma Stone plays a newly revived experiment who quickly learns the wonders of life and lust only for “proper Victorian values” (which feel oddly accurate to today) try to keep her down. Mark Ruffalo gives a tremendously funny performance as the dandyish would-be lothario. It’s a very weird movie, as you’d expect from Lanthimos, but thoroughly engaging from start to finish.

5. Barbie

Surely you’ve heard of this one. It was only the biggest thing in the world this summer. It’s delightful, it’s gorgeous, it’s funny and touching. No one expected a movie based on a doll would be the year’s biggest success story, but here we are. The suits will takeaway that the public wants more Mattel movies, or more toy movies. The real lesson is give Greta Gerwig a budget and people will flock to the cinema in record numbers.

4. Oppenheimer

The other half of the one-two punch of the summer, Christopher Nolan’s surprisingly taut exploration of the man behind the atomic bomb is maybe the most engaging and resonant biopic we’ve seen in forever. A cast the size of the universe, and filmmaking prowess for miles, Oppenheimer proved Nolan’s more than gimmickry and tricksy narratives. If Cillian Murphy doesn’t win an Oscar, there’s a problem with the Academy. (Spoiler: there already is one.)

3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Look, we’re not going to mince words. Most of the recent Marvel Studios offerings have been lacking a bit of lustre. We were really hoping James Gunn would bring his trilogy of Guardians of the Galaxy movies home in a satisfying way, especially since he’s moving on to run DC. We needn’t have worried. The third installment is maybe not as raucous or expansive as the previous two, but it focuses on the characters and gives everyone a satisfying conclusion. Plus it has a good villain in the High Evolutionary. Plus plus, that corridor fight sequence in faux-one take is truly masterful.

2. John Wick: Chapter 4

While I appreciated the action prowess of the second and third John Wick movies, neither held a candle to the first in terms of compelling narrative. That all changed with Chapter 4, which goes full spaghetti western-meets-samurai-showdown. Donnie Yen’s blind swordsman, Shamier Anderson’s nameless gunfighter, and Skarsgård’s repugnant aristocrat make for some superb additions to the saga’s underworld. But at the heart, it’s John Wick trying to survive an onslaught of millions and that makes it work. No hyperbole, it’s one of the best action movies ever made. The entire third act in Paris—a riff on Walter Hill’s The Warriors—is perfect. If John never appears again, he got a fitting (and bloody) send-off.

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Look. I also didn’t think they’d ever match the glory of Into the Spider-Verse. How do you improve on perfection? You can’t. But you can do something different also perfectly. Expanding the roster of Spider-People by about 90 million and putting Gwen Stacy in the protagonist role changed things up in just the right way. Miles gets to be the catalyst for everything, and prove why uniqueness is good, while Miguel O’Hara shines as the de-facto antagonist. We cannot wait to see how the story concludes, but there’s enough in this entry to make it outstanding and rewatchable on its own forever. Also Spider-Punk is our new deity.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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After many false starts and canceled projects, Star Wars is finally ready to return to theaters. Lucasfilm announced three new upcoming standalone movies during the opening of Star Wars Celebration 2023. These new Star Wars movies include a story about the founding of the Jedi, a movie that will serve as the finale to this era of interconnected Disney+ shows, and the return of Daisy Ridley’s Rey.

Speaking of the upcoming Rey movie, there is now a reported filming date in play. According to Productionlist.com, which tracks production updates for the Film & Television Industry Alliance, the Rey movie will start shooting on April 7, 2024 in London. Hopefully, that means we will get casting news soon.

And with that, the galaxy far, far away is finally going back to the big screen. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy revealed James Mangold (Logan, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), Dave Filoni (The Mandalorian, Ahsoka), Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel, Saving Face) have all been tapped to direct these new Star Wars movies.

While Lucasfilm shared few official details about the films, the little they tell us says a lot. Here’s what we know about these new Star Wars movies so far.

James Mangold’s New Star Wars Movie Tells the Story of the Force

James Mangold’s “will go back to the dawn of the Jedi,” a time set tens of thousands of years earlier than anything we’ve ever seen on screen before. That might mean we’ll meet the figure known as Prime Jedi. That’s the person who founded the Order on Ahch-To sometime around 25,000 years before the events of A New Hope. Fans already know Ahch-To well. They first saw it in The Last Jedi when it served as Luke Skywalker’s hideaway. A release additionally shares, “James Mangold will take audiences deep into the past, telling the tale of the first Jedi to wield the Force and harness it as a liberating power in an era of chaos and oppression.”

Mangold further noted to Empire that his new Star Wars movie “takes place 25,000 years before Episode IV, and it’s about the discovery of the Force.” He further shares, “I told Kathy [Kennedy, head of Lucasfilm] I wanted to make a kind of Bible movie, a kind of Ten Commandments of Star Wars – kind of a Cecil B DeMille film about the arrival of the Force, and that’s what I’ve been pecking away at between press events. That’s the idea.”

James Mangold’s New Star Wars Movie Connects with Rey’s Next Appearance

Kennedy also recently shared that this movie will help inform the new Star Wars movie featuring the return of Rey. She noted to Total Film, “I think it’s a really nice compliment to what we’re doing with moving into the future with Rey, and then understanding a bit more of where this all came from,” she explains. “Because it will be at the heart of creating the new Jedi Order, so to get a real sense of where that might have began with the dawn of the Jedi could be pretty cool.” 

According to a new official Star Wars eras list revealed by LucasFilm, this movie will most likely take place in the “Dawn of the Jedi” era, but could even take place earlier than that.

Dave Filoni’s Film Will Bring Together Many Current Disney+ Series

The next new Star Wars movie will come from franchise veteran Dave Filoni. His film “will focus on the New Republic and close out the interconnected stories told in The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and other Disney+ series.” That’s huge news for both the television and movie side of Lucasfilm. When we get a release date for Filoni’s film, we’ll know just how many more seasons of The Mandalorian we might see. Clearly, there’s already an end in sight to Din Djarin and Grogu’s story. Although, we suppose they could continue on beyond a culminating movie. A release further shares, “Dave Filoni will orchestrate the escalating war between the Imperial Remnant and the fledgling New Republic.”

Rey Will Return in Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Star Wars Movie

The third and final new Star Wars movie announced will focus on the future. Obaid-Chinoy’s movie will take place after The Rise of Skywalker. It will mark the return of Daisy Ridley as Rey. Set 15 years after the ultimate defeat of the Sith, she will be trying to build a new Jedi Order. Hopefully, that goes a lot better than her mentor Luke Skywalker’s attempts. According to the new list of Star Wars eras, it seems like this movie will take place in the “New Jedi Order” era.

Kathleen Kennedy shared more about the movie with Variety. She noted:

Well, we’re 15 years out from ‘Rise of Skywalker,’ so we’re post-war, post-First Order, and the Jedi are in disarray. There’s a lot of discussion around, ‘Who are the Jedi? What are they doing? What’s the state of the galaxy?’ She’s attempting to rebuild the Jedi Order, based on the books, based on what she promised Luke, so that’s where we’re going.”

Speaking to Empire, Kennedy added, “The First Order has fallen, the Jedi are in chaos – there’s even a question of how many exist anymore – and Rey’s building the New Jedi Order, based on the text that she was given and that Luke imparted on her.” She also offers, “Rey has made a promise to Luke, and that’s really the core of where we’re going and what this story will be. And I think it offers just tremendous opportunity to introduce new characters and start with something fresh, because we culminated with what George [Lucas] was creating, and now we take all of that and move it to the next chapter.” 

On the topic of a possible Luke Skywalker presence in the new Star Wars movie, Kennedy said: “I don’t know if we’ll spend a lot of time in flashbacks or [on] Force ghosts or things like that, but certainly, the spirit of what he represents to her is going to be significant.”

Recently, Daisy Ridley herself gave her first comments on her new Star Wars movie. While her comments remain vague, she noted to Collider, “I’m very excited. The story is really cool. I’m waiting to read a script because, obviously, I don’t have any other updates. It’s not what I expected, but I’m very excited.” And additionally told the The Hollywood Reporter, ” I’m genuinely really excited about the next one [Star Wars movie]. I haven’t read anything, but I know the story. It’s really worth telling, worth exploring, and I think people will be excited.”

Something tells us it won’t be smooth sailing for Rey, though. The dark side of the Force has a way of always creating shadows over the galaxy far, far away, especially in theaters.

As previously noted, this movie is expected to start shooting in April 2024.

Originally published on April 7, 2023.

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No one can be Tony Stark or Iron Man. But with LEGO’s new Avengers Tower set, you can pretend. The massive set replicates the Avengers Tower we know from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s not really the Tower, formerly known as Stark Tower, at any fixed point in time, but more a showpiece of a key MCU location and the Avengers who have made it their base. That’s the best way to look at it—it’s a highlights reel of the Avengers throughout the Infinity Saga in towering LEGO form. Seriously, you don’t realize how tall Avengers Tower is until you assemble it. LEGO sent Nerdist a copy to unbox and snap together, piece by piece. It’s a mostly satisfying build that dwarfs anything else in my LEGO collection.

LEGO Avengers Tower Specs

The LEGO Avengers Tower comes with a whopping 5,201 pieces. (The pieces come in 39 bags!) It’s 10 inches deep, 14 inches wide, and 36 inches tall. That makes it LEGO’s tallest brick-built skyscraper. And so yes, it’s taller than the Daily Bugle set. (For what it’s worth, it’s also a far more interesting design than the Daily Bugle.) The set comes with 31 minifigures, the most ever included in a single LEGO set.

You can get the LEGO Avengers Tower for $499.99.

Building the LEGO Avengers Tower

Build Time

This is a set that will keep you occupied. I put around 13 hours into the build, most of it on my own. A little repetition comes with constructing a tall building with LEGO bricks. I felt that with the windows, of which the set has many. So many. In fact, it has the most windows in a single LEGO set. But watching it all come together to form the elegant outline of the skyscraper made it worth it.

Overall Design

If you have any LEGO City buildings, the Avengers Tower will bring a drastic change to your cityscape. It adds plenty of height and it brings another style of building to put alongside your shops. Adding it to a LEGO City street also means you can scatter some of the minifigs through town. The Kevin Feige minifig should, for example, be guzzling coffee at a café. Instead of attaching a Chitauri Leviathan to the tower, it could be casually invading your LEGO City. You have a lot of posing possibilities.

The options are dang near endless if you construct the tower as a standalone piece, too. You can dangle Hulk and Chitauri warriors off the side or remove the front of the building to showcase scenes from the history of the MCU Avengers. Though one quick note: if you’re used to LEGO City buildings with multiple floors, you are accustomed to the modular way of LEGO life. The Avengers Tower is not modular. Once you get a floor into place, it remains there.

Overall, it’s an architecturally sharp design. I wouldn’t have pegged LEGO as the best medium to bring the Avengers Tower and its curvy building to life, but it’s beautiful. The building’s construction and the storytelling present throughout come together as a tribute to the Marvel superhero team. Once you complete assembly, you’ll see every part of the building has things happening. It’s literally covered in content.

As mentioned earlier, the set comes with 31 minifigs, which is a lot. I would not have chosen the same 31 minifigs. Multiple Tony Stark figures come with the set, but no Bruce Banner. Meanwhile some other minifigs have no direct connection to Avengers Tower, nor are they part of the Avengers.

Surprises

This actually isn’t a surprise, because LEGO always delivers when it comes to detail, but the design goes above and beyond with discovery. It comes with a Captain Marvel beeper to put behind the building. A LEGO shawarma is by the dumpster. Maybe you’ve seen lots of photos or videos of the Avengers Tower set online. Even if you have, discovering and building the Easter eggs and all the MCU scenes is a delight. The set has two Captain America minifigs just to recreate the America’s a*s scene from Endgame. One of the upper floors has a Quinjet launchpad that has room for the ship to roll in and out of place. Those are only a few of the little touches in the set, and they really make it.

Click To View Gallery

In summary, the LEGO Avengers Tower is a beast of a build that shows off the best of the Avengers. The designers are clearly giant MCU nerds, and we appreciate them for it. If you love the MCU and have a passion for LEGO, this is a set to save for.

The post You Are Not Prepared for How Big the LEGO Avengers Tower Is appeared first on Nerdist.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney Parks is one of the most immersive theme park lands in history. When you set foot inside, it truly is like you’re on another world in the galaxy far, far away. But that doesn’t mean that it’s perfect. The great John Williams did record a new theme for the land. However, you never hear a hint of any classic Star Wars music while you’re wandering Black Spire Outpost. Well, in 2024, that will change at the location in Anaheim’s Disneyland Resort.

According to Disneyland, 2024 will see the return of Season of the Force at Disneyland. This will include a new Star Tours adventure featuring Ahsoka Tano. Also, the event will feature the Hyperspace Mountain re-theme of Space Mountain and something new. The official announcement says “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will provide a fresh perspective on the fireworks above Disneyland Park, with galactic music sweeping through the spires.” Although obviously not 100% confirmed, we imagine “galactic music” is actual music from the many Star Wars films and Disney+ series.

Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland is uniquely positioned for such a show. One can clearly see the fireworks above the peaks of the planet Batuu. But if you’re in Galaxy’s Edge, you don’t hear any music to go with the fireworks. It’s the perfect opportunity to create a totally separate musical score for the fireworks that only those visiting Galaxy’s Edge can hear. We’re already excited at the prospect of hearing Williams’ main theme, or “Duel of the Fates,” “Battle of the Heroes,” and “Imperial March,” all while fireworks explode above. The lack of classic Star Wars music has always been an issue with Galaxy’s Edge, and this would go a long way in correcting that mistake. Here’s hoping it stays past the allotted limited time. 

Season of the Force is celebrated at Disneyland Park from April 5-June 2, 2024.

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After years of speculating, in 2022, Marvel Studios confirmed that Deadpool would officially join the MCU for a third installment of the R-rated comic book franchise at the start of Phase Six. This would mark the first official character of the Fox X-Men universe joining the MCU (although Patrick Stewart as a variant Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness kinda counts too, we suppose).

Most recently, “Dogpool” shared a look at Ryan Reynold’s Wade Wilson without his mask in Deadpool 3. Of course, the true star of the show, Dogpool, is also present.

Here is everything we know so far about Deadpool 3.

Title

Right now, everyone is calling the film Deadpool 3. However, for superpowered mercenary Wade Wilson’s first entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, at least the first official entry, we think they may choose to give it a more creative title.

Deadpool 3‘s Plot

The plot of Deadpool 3 remains a mystery. All we know is that Hugh Jackman is returning as Wolverine, and that it takes place before the feral X-Man’s death in Logan. In fact, Jackman has confirmed that time travel will be involved in the threequel in a big way.

As most folks know by now, Deadpool’s third solo film will reunite him with his X-Men Origins: Wolverine co-star. Deadpool and Wolverine will work together, although they have made it very clear that these two characters “hate each other.” It will not be a love-fest in this story. But the fact that Deadpool 3 is smack in the middle of the Multiverse Saga should give us all a clue as to what’s going to go down, and probable multiversal shenanigans will ensue.

Dogpool, of course, will also star.

Make sure to follow him on Instagram.

Deadpool 3‘s Cast

We know Hugh Jackman will return, along with the very obvious Ryan Reynolds. Here’s who else we know about: Karan Soni, cab driver Dopinder, Leslie Uggams, Emma Corrin, and Matthew Macfadyen. In exciting news, Morena Baccarin and Stefan Kapicic are reprising their roles as Vanessa and Colossus in Deadpool 3. So are Rob Delaney’s Peter, Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead), and Shioli Kutsuna (Yukio). Jennifer Garner’s Elektra from the 2003 Daredevil Marvel Fox movie is also reported to reprise her role in this MCU film.

Behind the Scenes

Deadpool 3‘s director for this third outing will be Shawn Levy, most recently known for his work on Stranger Things. This would be a reunion for Levy and Reynolds, as the pair previously worked together on the movie Free Guy. Levy is also known for the time travel movie The Adam Project.

On the writing side of things are Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin, writers for the popular animated series Bob’s Burgers. The writers for the first two Deadpool films, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, are also contributing to the third film’s screenplay, as is Ryan Reynolds himself.

Deadpool 3 Release Date

Deadpool 3 will arrive on July 26, 2024.

Originally published on January 4, 2023.

The post Here’s Our First DEADPOOL 3 Look at Wade Wilson Without the Mask appeared first on Nerdist.

Barbie didn’t just make a lot of money for Warner Bros. Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster is the Warner Bros. highest grossing film in its 100 year history. Now, after a record-setting box office run, the movie is getting a new mojo dojo casa house. It’s coming to Max this month. And when Barbie hits Max for streaming on December 15 it will feature a more inclusive way for fans to watch thanks to an ASL version.

If you’re scheduled to beach on that release day, you might want to call in sick. Barbie will rollerblade its way to Max at 3AM ET for your streaming pleasure. Barbie‘s themes of inclusivity will truly shine with its ASL version, too. In a press release Warner Bros. and Max explained how it went about creating this new way to watch:

Grounded in research and feedback from the Deaf community, as well as counsel from community leaders, Barbie with ASL was produced for Max featuring ASL performer Leila Hanaumi (Deaf Austin Theatre’s “The Laramie Project,” ASL cover for Tove Lo in “True Romance” music video). Barbie with ASL will be displayed as a unique title in-app and can be identified by its key art with the sign language symbol

Star Margot Robbie will also join Hanaumi for a conversation at a “special community screening” of Barbie with ASL. The event is being held in conjunction with Deaf West Theatre in Los Angeles on December 14.

“Max is the premiere destination for storytelling, so being able to share the biggest movie of the year in ASL, the first language for many, will make this story resonate in a more meaningful way,” said Casey Bloys Chairman and CEO, HBO and Max Content, in a statement. “By offering sign language interpretation, we will build upon the film’s empowering message of inclusiveness and offer a unique viewing experience for the Deaf community to enjoy with family and friends.”

Safe to say Barbie would approve of this version. Every Barbie.

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What if you were on the International Space Station and war broke out on Earth? That’s the general premise of Bleecker Street‘s space thriller I.S.S. We have the first trailer for the upcoming sci-fi film that tests astronaut’s alliances when the unthinkable happens. Floating untethered in space sure seems like it would magnify every possible emotion. The I.S.S. trailer leverages the heightened feelings of horror and shock with precision.

It’s a messy, dread-infused situation. The movie stars Ariana DeBose, John Gallagher Jr., Masha Mashkova, Pilou Asbæk, Costa Ronin, and Chris Messina. Gabriela Cowperthwaite directs the script from Nick Shafir. The official synopsis for I.S.S. states:

Tensions flare in the near future aboard the International Space Station as a worldwide conflict breaks out on Earth. Reeling, the US and Russian astronauts aboard each receive orders from the ground; take control of the station by any means necessary. Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite brings together a stellar cast including Academy Award-winner® Ariana DeBose in this high-stakes space thriller.

“Tensions flare” certainly seems like an understatement. All of those astronauts will have to make decisions that will affect the entire Space Station. Does it matter who’s in control if something breaks and threatens everyone?

I.S.S. premieres on January 19, 2024.

Featured Image: Bleecker Street

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Mad Max: Fury Road introduced us to Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa in 2015. We haven’t stopped thinking about the inimitable character since. She blazed across the dusty Wasteland and into our souls. Fury Road writer and director George Miller hasn’t let go of her either. In 2019, he expressed interest in making two more Mad Max movies—one of them being a prequel story about Furiosa. Filming for that tale began in 2022. And now, finally, we have our first trailer and images for the film starring Anya Taylor-Joy as a young Furiosa. And we’ve even learned where in the franchise timeline the movie takes place. It was worth the wait because Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga looks amazing.

The trailer teases Furiosa’s origins and Taylor-Joy showing, even in a couple minutes, how much she is embracing the powerful role. She has a large shaved head to fill, but by all appearances, she’s doing just fine. Set 45 years after the Collapse, Furiosa must find her way home. And we know the world, so we know it won’t be easy. Knowing how her story continues makes watching her challenging odyssey somewhat easier. Only somewhat. And Chris Hemsworth as Warlord Dementus? We’re already sold.

Click To View Gallery

Furiosa: A Mad Max’s Saga official synopsis is as follows:

As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland, they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.

Director George Miller additionally clarified where Furiosa fits on the Mad Max franchise timeline. He shared, “This story happens 15 years directly before Mad Max: Fury Road, and it runs straight into it, and Max is lurking around somewhere in this story, but it’s really the story of Furiosa and how she got to be… A lot of the film will be familiar, and a lot of it’s new, which we haven’t seen before.”

Get us back to the Wasteland now, please and thank you. Miller wrote the script with Nico Lathouris and is back in the director’s role.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will arrive in theaters on May 24, 2024.

Originally published on November 30, 2023.

Featured Image: Warner Bros.

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The battle of the Titans that was Godzilla vs. Kong ended in something of a draw, with the two putting their pheromones behind them to take on Mechagodzilla. After that, Godzilla went back to roaming, and Kong returned to take his place as king of the Hollow Earth. But nothing in the Monsterverse is as easy as that. At CCXP on Sunday, Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures unveiled the first trailer for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which sees our big boys team up again against a new foe… and get some new upgrades to boot.

The biggest (ha) thing to notice about the new trailer is Godzilla seems to have some kind of power-up. His scales and atomic breath are bright pink rather than cool blue. Not sure exactly what that indicates, but it’s an evolution for sure. This is not a new thing for the big lizard in previous Toho movies, but it’ll be a first for the Monsterverse. Additionally, Kong at one point seems to have a power glove. They must need to up their game against the evil, scary-looking ape.

Along with the trailer, we also got a glimpse of the new poster for the movie, which is pretty rad.

Adam Wingard, who directed Godzilla vs. Kong, returns for GxK, along with stars Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry and Kaylee Hottle. Joining them will be Dan Stevens who gets to experience the wild awe of the Hollow Earth for himself.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire will hit theaters April 12, 2024.

Click To View Gallery

Editor’s Note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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From tantalizing The Last of Us season two teases to incredibly orange Cheez-It nail polishes, here are some of our favorite pop-culture news odds & ends from this week.

• Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu Reveals First-Look Images and Release Date
• Iman Vellani Reveals Kamala Khan Will Be “Frodo” of Marvel Zombies, Returns to Voice Character and Pen New Comic
• The Last of Us Season 2 Will Feature Content From Lost Levels
• Chris Pine Feels Confident a Dungeons & Dragons 2 Movie Will Happen
• Cheez-It Nail Polish Is coming!
• Hazbin Hotel Sets Release Date
• Twilight Director Would Cast Jenna Ortega and Jacob Elordi as Leads in Movie Today
• Margot Robbie Reveals No Barbie Sequel Is Heading Our Way
• You Can Now Watch the Halo Live-Action Series Free on YouTube

Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu Reveals First-Look Images and Release Date

Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu has been brewing for a while. But we finally have our first looks at the movie and a release date. Nosferatu will officially release on December 25, 2024. That’s one delicious Christmas gift for goths. The vampiric tale stars Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, and Willem Dafoe.

Learn more about the influence of the original Nosferatu with our article, here.

Iman Vellani Reveals Kamala Khan Will Be “Frodo” of Marvel Zombies, Returns to Voice Character and Pen New Comic

Iman Vellani has emerged as one of the MCU’s truest heroes. So we couldn’t be more thrilled that she’ll soon be back to voice Ms. Marvel in the Disney+ series Marvel Zombies. In an interview with The Direct Vellani reveals, “We’ve done the whole thing. It was amazing. It was so much fun. And I love—there are a lot of cool characters in the ‘Marvel Zombies‘ show. And Kamala is kind of the center of the show. They described it to me, it’s like, ‘She’s basically the Frodo of the story.’ And I was like, ‘That’s amazing.'” It’s what Ms. Marvel deserves.

Vellani will also be back to pen another Ms. Marvel comic. She and co-writer Sabir Pirzada will write the Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace series, a follow-up to Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant. According to GamesRadar, the pair will be joined by artist Scott Godlewski. The series is set to release in March.

The Last of Us Season 2 Will Feature Content From “Lost Levels“

If you’re looking for hints about The Last of Us season two than look no further than the remastered “Lost Levels.” These Lost Levels are playable sequences that were cut from The Last of Us Part II. But they’ll be back in the remastered version of the game that is releasing on January 19, 2024. And Neil Druckmann is teasing that they hold some insights for the HBO series. He notes to Entertainment Weekly, “As a tease, I will say there is at least one element from a cut level that is planned [for] the show… I say that with the caveat that we haven’t started filming the show yet, and all things are subject to change based on what we ultimately feel will be best for the show.”

The Last of Us Part II Remastered and its mysterious Lost Levels will be available to pre-order on December 5.

The Last of Us season two is already off to an ominous start.

Chris Pine Feels Confident a Dungeons & Dragons 2 Movie Will Happen

Although it was bad news for Star Trek 4, Chris Pine recently gave a positive update about the future of the Dungeons & Dragons movie franchise. He shared the following with GamesRadar about a potential Dungeons & Dragons 2, “I’ve heard some rumors about it… But I don’t know anything yet. But I feel pretty confident that it may happen.” He also added that he’d be “absolutely” happy to return to the universe. And we too would be absolutely happy to see it happen. Roll for Dungeons & Dragons 2.

Unfortunately, Chris Pine wasn’t so optimistic about Star Trek 4.

Cheez-It Nail Polish Is coming!

Enough said, no? Cheez-It and Nails Inc. Polish are collaborating on two cheesy colors, “Orange You Feelin’ the Cheeziest” and “Flexin’ in the Red Zone.” And who doesn’t want their nails to look like a little cheesy? This polish, perfect for mani/cheddiz, will be available for pre-order on Dec. 29 at CheezIt.com.

Hazbin Hotel Sets Release Date

Who doesn’t want an animated musical series about the princess of Hell trying to rehabilitate demons? Hazbin Hotel is created by Vivienne Medrano and is based on “her popular animated pilot released on YouTube in 2019.” Additionally a release shares, “The series blends adult humor, unforgettable characters, and catchy musical numbers creating a wholly original and unique world.” It certainly looks good in its preview. And now it has a release date. Hazbin Hotel will release on January 19, 2024. The series stars Erika Henningsen, Stephanie Beatriz, Alex Brightman, Keith David, Kimiko Glenn, Blake Roman, Amir Talai, Christian Borle, and Joel Perez. And it will feature exciting guest stars such as Darren Criss (Saint Peter), Jeremy Jordan (Lucifer Morningstar), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Carmilla Carmine), Patina Miller (Sera), and Jessica Vosk (Lute).

We can’t wait to check in to this hotel.

Twilight Director Would Cast Jenna Ortega and Jacob Elordi as Leads in Movie Today

Twilight just wouldn’t be Twilight without the incredible performances of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. But who doesn’t love a fan-cast for today’s day and age? Speaking to the Watch-a-long podcast, Twilight‘s director Catherine Hardwicke shared her picks for Bella and Edward, should a reboot of the series happen. Her selections? Jenna Ortega and Jacob Elordi. We accept these choices. Ortega could definitely help give Twilight a more horror-focused lean and Elordi really does give off strong vampire vibes.

There is a Twilight series brewing, after all…

Margot Robbie Reveals No Barbie Sequel Is Heading Our Way

Alas, it’s unlikely we’ll say “Hi, Barbie 2.” But that’s most likely for the best. Not everything needs a sequel. Of course, this could all change in a moment, especially since Barbie was so immensely popular. But for now, Margot Robbie shares, “I think we put everything into this one. We didn’t build it to be a trilogy or something… Greta put everything into this movie, so I can’t imagine what would be next.”

We bet Warner Bros. could… But we’ll cross our fingers Barbie gets to stand on her own.

Barbie is now available to stream at home.

You Can Now Watch the Halo Live-Action Series Free on YouTube

In case you’ve been waiting for a sign to watch the live-action adaptation of Halo, here it is. The Halo series is now available on YouTube in its entirety via Paramount+’s official channel. And it’s totally free. So now nothing is stopping you from watching Pablo Schreiber’s hunky Master Chief in all his sci-fi/action glory. We know we’re pressing play.

You can find the Halo playlist here.

We’re also getting a live-action series adaptation of Fallout.

The post NOSFERATU Shares Release Date, Chris Pine Optimistic About DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 2, and Other News Odds & Ends appeared first on Nerdist.

Everyone loves Miles. The web-slinging teen is back in our lives with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and will return once again next year in Beyond the Spider-Verse. We absolutely adore Miles Morales in his animated form, but many fans have been wondering if the character will make a live-action debut in the near future. Well, according to Variety, producer Amy Pascal says a live-action Miles Morales movie, a Spider-Woman animated film, and Spider-Man 4 are in the works. Tom Holland also chimed in on what upcoming movies might hold.

Spider-People Movies Are in the Works, Including a Live-Action Miles Morales Film

On the topic of a Miles Morales live-action movie and a Spider-Woman adventure, Pascal noted, “You’ll see all of it… It’s all happening.” And that’s what we love to hear, especially when it comes to Miles Morales getting his own live-action solo adventure.

Fellow producer Avi Arad hinted that the Spider-Woman film will actually come sooner than most fans are expecting. That makes a lot of sense considering things are going well with the current animated franchise.

Meanwhile, Pascal also said that a fourth Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland and Zendaya is in the works, noting, “Are we going to make another movie? Of course, we are.”

Tom Holland on Spider-Man 4

But Pascal is not the only one discussing a fourth outing for the MCU’s Spider-Man. Most recently, Tom Holland shared that he was actively engaging in conversations about Spider-Man 4. But he cautioned that he would only return as Spider-Man for a story worth telling. He noted:

All I can say is that we have been actively engaging in conversations about what it could potentially look like for a fourth rendition of my character. Whether or not we can find a way to do justice to the character is another thing. I feel very protective over Spider-Man. I feel very, very lucky that we were able to work on a franchise that got better with each movie, that got more successful with each movie, which I think is really rare, and I want to protect his legacy. So, I won’t make another one for the sake of making another one. It will have to be worth the while of the character.

Of course, should the right story emerge, Holland is more than eager to resume his role in the MCU. He went on to say, “But that said, if we can figure that out, I would be a fool not to put the suit back on again because I owe everything to Spider-Man. I love the character and the people I get to work with. So, I would love to tell another story, but I’ll only tell it if we can find the right one.”

We’ll Cross Our Fingers for More Spidey Updates Soon

Ultimately, It could be a couple of years or five years before any of this stuff happens… if it happens at all. Corporations do change their minds, whether we like it or not. But hopefully, we’ll see traction for all our Spider-People.

And even more hopefully, Sony will give Miles what he deserves, which is to exist in every form with lots of adventures for fans to enjoy. For now, let the speculation on who would absolutely crush a live-action Miles Morales movie begin.

Originally published on May 31, 2023.

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Some films are obviously Christmas movies, like Noelle. But that designation is not so clear cut for others. They may be set during the holiday season, and they may even touch upon Christmas themes, but does that mean they truly qualify in the traditional sense? To find out, we’re putting those movies on trial and laying out all the evidence for and against them by answering some pertinent questions, just as we did with Die Hard, Gremlins, Edward Scissorhands, Iron Man 3, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Rocky IV, and Batman Returns. And the latest movie to take the stand in our great Christmas movie debate is hoping its season stock(ing) is about to go up. That’s right, it’s time to buy or sell holiday shares in Trading Places.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, ask yourself…

How much of Trading Places takes place at Christmastime?

Roughly 75% of Trading Places is set during Christmas time in chilly Philadelphia. (The other 25% runs from New Year’s Eve to January 2, with the final sequence on a tropical island taking place a during an unknown time in the near future.) The film is full of festive trees and other holiday decor, though not much Christmas music. A big important sequence also takes place during a Christmas Eve work party, which Dan Aykroyd’s Winthorpe crashes in the dirtiest Santa costume ever put on screen. It’s both delightful and disgusting.

Would Trading Places be fundamentally different if it were set at any other time of the year?

Story wise not really. There aren’t a lot of specific plot elements that tie directly into the holiday. Christmas is mostly present in decorations and the cold weather. The Christmas Eve party and following scenes are the only aspect that would fundamentally change if they took place during another time, but mostly because you’d lose the visual of a drunk, totally out of control Santa. Hiding an entire salmon filet in an Easter bunny costume just doesn’t deliver the same type of laugh.

Do any of the film’s major themes apply to Christmas?

Some very important themes have no connection with traditional Christmas ones. Those include racism, nature vs. nurture, and revenge. But some of the film’s biggest ideas certainly apply to the season. Greed, class structure, friendship, and kindness are all out of Charles Dickens’ holiday playbook.

The problem in trying to give Trading Places thematic Christmas credit is that while greed leads to the villains’ downfall, greed is also how the good guys win. And it’s not like they use their new unimaginable wealth to spread goodwill. They all move to a remote paradise where they reside like kings. That’s not in the spirit of the season. There’s a reason A Christas Carol doesn’t end with Bob Cratchit bankrupting Scrooge and moving Tiny Tim into Buckingham Palace.

Does watching Trading Places at Christmastime enhance the experience?

Trading Places is a comedy set during Christmas rather than a Christmas comedy. There’s only a tangential relationship between the events on screen and living through the holiday season. It’s not any more or any less funny if you watch it any other time of year. Eddie Murphy is equally charismatic and hilarious 365 days.

It would be different if the big payoff—when Billy Ray and Winthorpe ruin the Duke brothers—happened on Christmas rather than around New Year’s. That “out with the old/in with the new” ending does land with a little more oomph if you watch Trading Place around January 1st. The conclusion has more to do with the spirit of New Year’s than the spirit of Christmas.

Has this film been accepted as a Christmas movie tradition?

You’re not going to believe this, but an R-rated comedy that includes nudity, adult-language, homophobic slurs, drug use, blackface, and the strong insinuation a gorilla sexually assaults a human has not become a seasonal viewing staple during the most wonderful time of the year.

Okay, maybe you do believe it. But in fairness, while many elements of Trading Places—like so many other ’80s comedies—have not aged well, the film is great enough to still get played on basic cable any time of year.

THE FINAL VERDICT

This one is close. Any film setting during the holiday season that ends with two rich, greedy, corrupt, amoral, racist a-holes getting their complete comeuppance is a Christmas miracle we want to re-experience every December. And if that payoff took place during Christmas we’d probably find in favor of the film’s holiday bonafides. Instead we have to short this movie’s holiday stock, especially since it has not become a traditional part of the season yet.

Not that Billy Ray and Winthorpe should care. They’re looking good and feeling good even if Trading Places does not qualify as a Christas movie.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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Actor Bruce Campbell and director Sam Raimi go together like peanut butter and jelly. The pair have worked together ever since the first Evil Dead way back in 1981. You could say Campbell is like Raimi’s lucky charm. (Along with that 1973 Oldsmobile that appears in all of his movies). And Campbell’s “lucky charm” status has extended to Marvel films. He appeared in Raimi’s three Spider-Man films in cameo roles, and in 2022 he appeared as street vendor “Pizza Poppa” in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. But according to an interview with Comic Book, Campbell says those are all the same guy. Here’s what he had to say:

“The cameos are like, in the Spider-Man movies — if you know anything about the multiverse, you know now, retroactively, I’m in the multiverse now because of Doctor Strange. I’m not a pizza vendor, OK? That would be a massive mistake to think I’m just a pizza vendor, or an usher, or a ring announcer, or a maître d’. It’s called the multiverse, my friend. So, yes, he is the same character, but we don’t know who he really is. It has not been revealed yet. I just got off the phone with the guys at Marvel, and we’re getting close to finding out.”

We don’t know if Mr. Campbell is just yanking our chains, or if he really knows more about these cameo characters being the same person. We’ll throw out this suggestion, though. What if Bruce Campbell is playing a rouge Watcher? Just a cosmic entity who happens to be there at key moments in the lives of superheroes across the multiverse? Yes, we know that in the comics and in What If…? the Watchers are these giant aliens with big old heads. But they can also assume other forms to disguise themselves. We’re not sure if Bruce Campbell is going to appear in any future non-Raimi Marvel films. However, we’d like to nominate him for Beyond the Spider-Verse and Deadpool 3. Who wouldn’t want to see Bruce and Ryan Reynolds on screen together? Make it happen, Kevin Feige!

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These days, nearly every ‘80s and ‘90s movie is getting or has already had a legacy sequel. But we bet this is one you did not expect to ever see. We learned in May 2022 that Rob Reiner was re-teaming with the original cast of his debut film This Is Spinal Tap for a sequel. Aside from directing, Reiner will also star again in his role as filmmaker Marty DiBergi. Also coming back are David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), and Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest). The original movie is one of the all-time cult classics of the era. It’s even part of the National Film Registry.

Rob Reiner gave a basic premise for the new film, saying the following:

When it was announced that Spinal Tap would reunite for one final concert, Marty DeBergi saw this as a chance to make things right with the bag who viewed This Is Spinal Tap as a hatchet job. So he left his position as visiting adjunct teacher’s assistant at the Ed Wood School of Cinematic Arts in pursuit of film history.

Reiner recently appeared on RHLSTP with Richard Herring and said of the This Is Spinal Tap sequel, “We’re going to start shooting at the end of February and everybody is back.” He added Elton John and Paul McCartney will feature in the sequel, as will Garth Brooks.

This Is Spinal Tap pretty much invented the mockumentary format. The film’s screenwriter and star Christopher Guest even turned the format into a whole career. Especially with films such as Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show. In the past, the fictional band has actually played several concerts, always leaving audiences cheering for the ridiculous songs from the film. We can’t wait to hear the songs they perform now that they’re all senior citizens trying to recapture their glory days.

Originally published on May 12, 2022.

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For decades now, we’ve heard rumors about a sequel to Beetlejuice, Tim Burton’s 1988 hit, which cemented his signature style. The story of a young goth girl (Winona Ryder) who tries to help two ghosts in her haunted home scare her parents away. The ghost they hire is a “Bio-exorcist” named Beetlejuice to do the deed. A cult classic to this day, plans for a sequel have always been rumored. During the ’90s, they even floated “Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian” to Kevin Smith.

But now, some 35 years after the original hit theaters, a sequel to the adventures of the “Bio Exorcist” is finally on the way. Original star Michael Keaton, director Tim Burton, and Scream and Wednesday star Jenna Ortega have all signed on.

Earlier this year, the movie paused production in accordance with the Hollywood strikes with only a little bit left to shoot. And happily, Beetlejuice 2 has now concluded filming, keeping it on good track to meet is current release date of September 6, 2024. Director Tim Burton shared the exciting news on his Instagram and offered us a sneak peek at one of the sets from the sequel movie.

So, let’s bust out that Handbook for the Recently Deceased; here is everything we know about the upcoming Beetlejuice sequel.

Title

We have no idea what the Beetlejuice sequel will be titled. At least not yet. It might just be a very basic Beetlejuice 2. But we’re hoping for Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! That way, if they ever make it a trilogy, they can call the third one Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! and Michael Keaton will magically appear when summoned, just by saying the title.

The Beetlejuice Sequel’s Plot

We don’t know much about the plot either, aside from it centering on the daughter of Lydia Deetz from the first film. And somehow, the previously unknown wife of Beetlejuice will play a part as well. We think it’s safe to say that both ghosts and the afterlife will play a rather large role.

The Beetlejuice Sequel Cast

The cast for the Beetlejuice sequel is shaping up to have a combination of stars from the original, and other actors Tim Burton has recently worked with. Michael Keaton will return as the titular character, joined by Jenna Ortega, who recently worked with Burton on Wednesday, as the daughter of Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz character from the first film. Winona Ryder is returning as well, as so is Catherine O’Hara as her stepmother. Other original cast members, like Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin, are likely not returning.

New to the cast is Willem Dafoe, who is playing a law enforcement officer in the afterlife. Another new face is Justin Theroux, in an as-yet undisclosed role. Also new to the world of the afterlife is Monica Bellucci, who will play the previously unknown wife of Beetlejuice. This will be the first time working on a Tim Burton project for all three actors.

Behind the Scenes

Returning behind the camera is original filmmaker Tim Burton. Al Gough and Miles Millar, the creators of the hit Netflix Burton/Ortega collaboration Wednesday, wrote the screenplay for the sequel. Tim Burton’s longtime friend and collaborator Danny Elfman is returning to compose the score. It just wouldn’t feel like Beetlejuice without an Elfman score, would it?

Beetlejuice Sequel Release Date.

The long-awaited sequel to the Tim Burton horror/comedy classic Beetlejuice hits theaters on September 6, 2024.

Originally published on May 15, 2023.

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Recently, we heard discussions about the original Avengers returning to the MCU, saw a Mean Girls sequel (kind of), and learned the secrets of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 post-credits scenes and Easter eggs. But in the mix of all of that, there have been some truly exciting announcements and reveals we wouldn’t want you to miss out on.

Here are some of our favorite pop-culture news odds & ends from this week.

This Week’s Odds & Ends in News

Jump to:

• Horror Sequels Galore! The Black Phone 2 Will See Return of Original Cast, Terrifier 3 Sets Release Date and Shares Teaser, and It Follows 2 Is On the Way
• Another John Wick Spinoff Show and an Anime Series Are Apparently In Development
• Poltergeist TV Series Is in Development at Amazon MGM Studios 
• Disney+’s Cancelled Captain Nemo TV Series Nautilus Saved By AMC
• The Fall of the House of Usher Prop Auction Invites You to Purchase Something Haunted and Stylish
• Bratz Dressed Up as Barbie for Halloween, and Rick and Morty Dressed as Five Nights at Freddy’s
• The Boys Will Likely Have More Seasons Than Originally Planned
• Sesame Street Is Changing Its Format to Include “More Peril”
• Fourth Wing TV Series in the Works From Amazon and Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society
• Jurassic World LEGO Sets Are Roaring to Life in January 2024

Horror Sequels Galore! The Black Phone 2 Will See Return of Original Cast, Terrifier 3 Sets Release Date and Shares Teaser, and It Follows 2 Is On the Way

Fall may be drawing to a close, but Halloween season never is. And it’s a good thing, too, because a ton of horror sequels are coming our way.

The truly terrifying Universal and Blumhouse movie, The Black Phone, is set for a sequel. The Black Phone 2 will release on June 27, 2025 and, per Variety, it will be the “launch of a sinister new franchise.”

We don’t yet know much about what The Black Phone 2 will entail, but in a fascinating turn of events, The Black Phone‘s original cast will all return for more scary calls. Yes, Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, and Miguel Mora will all return for the sequel terror.  Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill will also return to write The Black Phone 2. We have chills already.

Terrifier 3 and its terrifying slasher Art the Clown will arrive in theaters on October 25, 2024, for another round of Christmas horror. We can’t wait to see what terrifying naughty-list mayhem will transpire.

To get us into the holiday spirit, Terrifier 3 has shared its first teaser trailer, and it’s certainly festive. Santa who? A release further shares of Terrifier 3, “The upcoming installment will be Christmas-themed, adding an extra layer of anticipation for horror enthusiasts. In the third installment of Damien Leone’s breakout horror film, Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve.” We’ll be seeing this Saint Nick in our dreams tonight.

It Follows will also receive a sequel titled They Follow. The writer and director of It Follows, David Robert Mitchell, will return for the sequel alongside star Maika Monroe. It Follows was a movie that encapsulated the terrifying feeling of someone always lurking behind you, and we bet its sequel will double the sensation.

In case you were curious, we’ve broken down the horoscopes of 12 iconic horror villains.

Another John Wick Spinoff TV and an Anime Series Are Apparently In Development

Surprise! Another John Wick spinoff series is apparently in development, according to John Wick director Chad Stahelski. And that’s not all, a John Wick anime is in the works as well. Stahelski noted to Collider, “We’re doing a John Wick TV show, which, again, keeps my head going.” And added, “I would love to do a couple of episodes of the TV show just because I think I’d have fun trying things that we didn’t get to try in the films. I mean, absolutely. There’s some great ideas. And to work with a different cast and a different story structure without John Wick, it would be a fun challenge.”

He also shared with The Discourse podcast, which we saw via IGN, that “Lionsgate is having us develop the John Wick TV show, so we thought we could explore The High Table in that a little bit.” But confirmed this was separate to The Continental. Stahelski noted, “Yeah, I love Donnie [Yen], I love Rina [Sawayama], love the Tracker (Shamier Anderson), and the TV show and the ancillaries will give us a chance to expand the kind of fun world we’ve created… It doesn’t have to be John Wick, the character specific, you know what I mean, so that we can explore all that stuff.” Of course, which, if any of these characters would stare in a new John Wick TV series has not yet been confirmed.

On top of that, Stahelski broke the news that a John Wick anime is also in development. He shared, “We’re doing that and a Japanese anime because I love Japanese anime so much… So to create all the cool stories that anime could achieve better than we could and the TV show to expand our world, we’ll still get our fix, you know what I mean? And we’ll still have all the fun.” We guess we’ll stay tuned to see what develops.

As if that weren’t enough John Wick, John Wick 5 is still on the table.

Poltergeist TV Series Is in Development at Amazon MGM Studios 

You can never be free of some ghosts. Variety reports a series adaptation of the classic ’80s movie Poltergeist is in the works at Amazon MGM Studios. Currently, no plot details or writers are attached to the series. However, we know “Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey will executive produce on behalf of Amblin Television.” In 1999, Showtime released a four-season series adaptation set in Poltergiest‘s world—but television has come a long way since.

For more horror-based TV, check out what we know about Max’s The Conjuring show.

Disney+’s Cancelled Captain Nemo TV Series Nautilus Saved By AMC

In a worrying streaming trend, shows are being ordered and completed only to be canceled before release. But sometimes, there is good news. Deadline reports that although Disney+ canceled its Nautilus series, a 10-episode TV show based on Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, AMC has now saved the series. Nautilus will air on AMC and AMC+ in 2024 and tell the origin story of the iconic Captain Nemo.

To see what we learned about Nautilus initially, check out our write-up here:

The Fall of the House of Usher Prop Auction Invites You to Purchase Something Haunted and Stylish

Mike Flanagan’s final show with Netflix, The Fall of the House of Usher, was filled with horrifying yet beautiful visuals. If you loved the show’s aesthetic, you can now take a part of it home with a special prop auction.

The Fall of the House of Usher auction will take place from November 15-29 with 100% of its proceeds going to charity. Among other items, you can bid on “Verna’s (Carla Gugino) Rave Costume with Red Cloak,” “Napoleon ‘Leo’ Usher’s (Rahul Kohli) Drywall-Covered ‘Thor’ Hammer Replica,” and “Arthur Pym’s (Mark Hamill) Briefcase with Files and Accessories.”

For more about The Fall of the House of Usher‘s aesthetic, take a look at what its use of color really means.

Bratz Dressed Up as Barbie for Halloween, and Rick and Morty Dressed as Five Nights at Freddy’s

Happy Halloween from our favorite franchises. In a bit of a shady move, some Bratz dolls dressed as the unimpressed teens looking at Barbie for Halloween—a truly hilarious spin on a Barbie movie costume which was, admittedly, very popular this year.

Meanwhile, Rick and Morty‘s characters disguised themselves as Five Nights at Freddy’s animatronics, homaging the popular game series that just released its movie adaptation. We love series dressing as series!

If you enjoyed Five Nights at Freddy‘s, you may be wondering what that sound at the end of the credits means.

The Boys Will Likely Have More Seasons Than Originally Planned

The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke originally planned for the series to have a five-season run. But it looks like that number is now defunct, and The Boys will likely have more seasons than that. Kripke shared with Inverse, “I have since realized that literally, no one in history is worse at predicting the amount of seasons of a show, like literally. I have learned my lesson, and I’ve stopped predicting how many seasons these shows go. You will find out in hindsight.” With the popularity of The Boys and its spinoff Gen V, that seems like a fair assessment to us.

Catch up with Gen V‘s most gory and shocking moments, here:

Sesame Street Is Changing Its Format to Include “More Peril”

Sesame Street wants you to know you can reinvent yourself at any age. Recently, The Hollywood Reporter revealed Sesame Street‘s format would be “reimagined” for season 56. The show will drop its “magazine style” format, which has been around for decades, in favor of “two longer, more narrative-driven segments, which will be paired with a new animated series, Tales From 123.”

Wilson Stallings, the executive VP and chief creative development and production officer for Sesame Workshop shared, “Kids love a little bit of peril, they love having emotional stakes, and in nine minutes, it’s kind of hard to really dive into those areas really effectively.” The show hopes to be able to tell a more compelling tale with these changes.

Be that as it may, we have to wonder, does Sesame Street really need more peril?

All we have to say is that Sesame Street had better keep gems like this.

Fourth Wing TV Series in the Works From Amazon and Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society

Amazon MGM Studios and Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society will be bringing to life a TV series based on Rebecca Yarros’ popular fantasy series, Fourth Wing. This overall deal includes all the books from the Fourth Wing universe titled The Empyrean, including its sequel Iron Flame, releasing on November 7, and the three books slated to follow.

Per Variety, the logline for the TV series shares:

Enter the brutal world of Basgiath War College where there is only one rule: Graduate or Die. Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail expected to live a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general― her tough-as-talons mother―has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders. If the fire-breathing beasts don’t kill her, one of her fellow riders just might. Suspense, action, romance, and dragons blend together in a propulsive fantasy adventure from NYT bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.

In other fantasy novel adaptation news, House of the Dragon season two will release in the summer of 2024.

Jurassic World LEGO Sets Are Roaring to Life in January 2024

Show off your dino love with these two new Jurassic World LEGO sets. First up is a Dinosaur Fossils: T. rex Skull LEGO set, which turns LEGOs into bones. The official description of the set shares, “The first Jurassic World set made for display features a skull with an opening jaw, a stand with an information plaque, a hidden ‘amber’ piece at the back of the model and a ‘fossilized’ footprint.” Honestly, building a T. rex skull out of LEGOS, teeth and all, is pretty cool.

Also available is the “Baby Dinosaur Rescue Center” LEGO set and it comes complete with a bunch of, you guessed it, baby dinos. D’aww. Both Jurrasic World LEGO sets will release on January 1, 2024.

Click To View Gallery

For more creative and nature-focused LEGO fun, check out LEGO’s insect collection.

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That very familiar Godzilla roar is currently coming from a very odd source. Thanks to the folks at IGN, we’ve discovered how one Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Godzilla fan has mashed up both properties together for a fan film. Created by sumoguri2323 on Twitter, they have made a whole Godzilla-inspired film entirely within Tears of the Kingdom, and it’s genuinely a sight to behold. And it’s all thanks to Tears of the Kingdom’s customizable crafting mechanics. You can watch this short fan film, which currently has over a million views on Twitter and counting, down below.

In this short video, we witness as a Lurelin Village must contend with the Zonai/Godzilla hybrid kaiju emerging out of the ocean depths. And it’s about to treat the poor village and its inhabitants in the very same manner that Godzilla usually does with Tokyo. They created the mashup of Godzilla and the Zonai using Zonai materials and devices and the Ultrahand ability. We see tanks fire on the rampaging creature with abandon. But once we hear that familiar roar, and see the electricity charge up its spine? We just know that the poor village is toast. Also, points for using the classic Godzilla theme from the old Toho movies. It really adds to the whole mood.

Godzilla is having quite a moment this year. The Big Guy currently appears (sporadically anyway) in the excellent Monarch: Legacy of Monsters series on Apple TV+. Plus, he’s starring in two movies. There’s the Japanese Godzilla Minus One, and next year’s continuation of the Monsterverse version, with Godzilla x Kong: The New Kingdom. But we’ll take any version of the King of the Monsters we can get. Even one with a Legend of Zelda makeover. Now, is anyone out there up for Zonai/Mothra mashup?

Editor’s Note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks

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The Sonic movie universe is something that I never saw coming. Well, not since I dreamed about it in the ‘90s as a lover of the speedster’s video games and TV show. But that is what we got when the first Sonic film sped into theaters at the beginning of 2020. You know, back in the olden days before, well, all of this stuff happened. Since then, we’ve gotten the gift of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 with famous characters like Tails and Knuckles (the best angry sweetie ever) coming into the fold. Better yet, we got news back in February that a third Sonic the Hedgehog movie and a Knuckles series were coming soon. Now, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 officially has a release date. The third Sonic movie is coming on December 20, 2024. It’s a holiday celebration, so we expect to see our favorite characters sipping hot chocolate. 

Now, what will happen in the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie? We don’t know any firm details right now. But we do have our first look at the movie. And it stars some iconic shoes belonging to a certain Shadow.

The end of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 left us with the Wachowskis taking in even more furry and powerful creatures. Tails and Knuckles are part of the family alongside Sonic, and they are guarding the Master Emerald. But the end of the film hinted at a new set of troubles. We find out that Shadow the Hedgehog is in a secret facility, primed to break out and cause havoc. And we bet that havoc will head our way in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

In the game universe, Shadow was created by Doctor Eggman’s grandfather and plays more of an antihero role in many storylines. Think the Punisher vs. Daredevil except with much less violence. We aren’t sure if Shadow the Hedgehog will be the sole villain in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, but they certainly won’t be friends. The Wachowskis cannot take in another cartoony animal at this point. And, he will give Knuckles something to smash. Our guy likes a good fighting/venting session.

Until then, fans can rewatch the second Sonic film on Paramount+. Hopefully, we will get the Knuckles series to carry us through until 2024. In either case, we feel excited to finally know when we can expect Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Originally published on August 9, 2022.

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What are you afraid of? That question has countless answers. We all have different things that give us chills, whether it is a damp basement or leaving our bedroom door open while we sleep. One legit fear that I have is deep, dark waters. I do not want to go for a night swim nor do I desire to go far out into the ocean. Everything I cannot clearly see frightens me. I’m surely not alone in this because there’s an entire movie confirming this fear. The trailer for the upcoming supernatural horror film Night Swim introduces a lady pool demon that nabs those who dare dive into her waters. 

Here’s a quick synopsis of Night Swim to bring its trailer into focus: 

Based on the acclaimed 2014 short film by Rod Blackhurst and Bryce McGuire, the film stars Wyatt Russell as Ray Waller, a former major league baseball player forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness, who moves into a new home with his concerned wife Eve (Kerry Condon), teenage daughter Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle) and young son Elliot (Gavin Warren). 

Secretly hoping, against the odds, to return to pro ball, Ray persuades Eve that the new home’s shimmering backyard swimming pool will be fun for the kids and provide physical therapy for him. But a dark secret in the home’s past will unleash a malevolent force that will drag the family under, into the depths of inescapable terror. 

Ahh there’s nothing like moving into a home and finding out it is a haunted place. Night Swim will hit theaters on January 5, which may give some movie fans pause. Historically, January is notorious for being the place where bad films go to die.

But after the success of M3GAN last year, there’s a chance Night Swim will be a thrilling watch. In fact, Atomic Monster and Blumhouse—both producers of M3GAN—are behind Night Swim alongside James Wan. Bryce McGuire is writing and directing this watery adventure, which makes sense considering he helped create the original short film. Let’s see what this killer Pisces queen (please let her team up with Samara from The Ring) has in store for the Wallers.

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I really enjoyed The Marvels, as did most fans who saw it. The problem for Disney is not enough people have seen it. The film’s box office is currently the lowest in franchise history. The lackluster response is part of a bigger problem for the MCU. It’s no longer the bulletproof entity it was just a few short years ago when Avengers: Endgame was a worldwide phenomenon. What can the MCU do to reach those lofty heights again? Ms. Marvel herself Iman Vellani has some ideas, and it’s hard to imagine anyone who loves the MCU will disagree with her.

Vellani recently spoke to The Direct’s Russ Milheim about the MCU’s current status in the world of pop culture. During their talk she offered suggestions on what the franchise can do to get back to its former heights. She started with talking about what Marvel Studios doesn’t have to do. She said it’s not “about just getting bigger and bigger and bigger.” Instead she thinks the focus should be “about making the audience care about their characters.” And Iman Vellani believes that will be easy since the last Phase of the MCU introduced “so many wonderful” new ones.

Of course, it’s hard to make us care about even great characters when the MCU doesn’t have them show up for years. Remember Shang-Chi? It’s not clear that Marvel does!

Vellani’s other big suggestion would solve that problem, too. Like many viewers, Vellani also thinks more team-ups will draw people back in. She offered a hypothetical Kamala Khan and Red Guardian combo as an example that would entice people. To that we say YES AND PLEASE. Considering her character also just put the Young Avengers in motion, she might soon get what we all hope to see.

Know what else would help the MCU get back its mojo? Putting Kamala Khan in more shows and movies. She was the best part of The Marvels and will be a big reason why the MCU will eventually recover from this dip.

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse did what every great sequel aims to do. It somehow surpassed the original installment of the franchise. It did so while introducing a ton of new characters and without sacrificing Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy’s story arcs. The script was written by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Dave Callaham who, in their own words, was “inspired by the work of thousands of writers and artists over sixty or so years.” Now, as part of Deadline’s Read The Screenplay series, you can read the entire 158-page script for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse for free.

There are a few fun facts about this particular script. The writers named it “Whac-A-Mole,” no doubt due to the hundreds of spider-people in the movie. Not only did it include Spider-Man 2099 Miguel O’Hara, but also Spider-Woman Jessica Drew and Spider-Punk Hobie Brown. Even ’90s favorite Scarlet Spider Ben Reilly made the cut. And those are just the spider folk who had speaking lines! Animated films rarely get Academy Award nominations for their screenplays. However, we have a strong feeling that this coming year will be different, as Across the Spider-Verse showcased one of the best scripts of any film this year, animated or live-action.

The third Spider-Verse film was originally scheduled for release in March 2024, but it’s now off the schedule. This uncertain delay is probably giving the creative team more time to craft something worthy of the first two films. After that shocking conclusion for Across the Spider-Verse, and the unanimous praise for the film, they know they need to deliver a Return of the Jedi-style conclusion to that Empire Strikes Back cliffhanger ending. Hopefully, we won’t have to take too much longer to see Miles Morales and our favorite arachnid heroes again.

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The folks at Loungefly have created a metric ton of festive backpacks featuring all manner of pop culture properties, from Disney to horror movie icons. Now, the folks at AMC Theatres are teaming up with Loungefly to produce an exclusive backpack just for AMC Stubs Premiere and A-List members, and it’s designed to look like a fashionable pinstripe suit. But not just any pinstripe suit. This backpack captures the spirit of the the suit Nicole Kidman wears in the now-iconic AMC ads running in every theater in the chain. The back of the backpack even includes her often-parodied quote, “Heartbreak feels good in a place like this.” Lovers of the Nicole Kidman AMC ad can check out images of this unique Loungefly backpack below:

Qualifying AMC Stubs Premiere and A-List members can purchase this Nicole Kidman-inspired backpack on the official AMC website, exclusively at 11:00 am EST on December 4, 2023. To qualify, members must already have active enrollment into AMC Stubs Premiere or A-List that existed before 11:59 pm EST on November 26. Qualifying member will need to enter their AMC Stubs account number within the checkout flow process to qualify. Members are limited to one Nicole Kidman AMC backpack per member. Limited quantities are available. We should note, that AMC Stubs ember status does not guarantee item availability.

The Nicole Kidman ad first appeared in September 2021. The theater chain intended to excite audiences about the moviegoing experience. This was in the wake of most theaters shutting down for a year during the height of the pandemic. AMC only meant for the ad to run for one year. But it became so iconic (and parodied online) that it’s still running today, over two years later. At one point, AMC trimmed the ad down, removing Kidman’s “heartbreak” line. Yet fans demanded that they restore the “Kidman cut,” and it was. As this new Nicole Kidman/AMC-inspired backpack proves, you just can’t deny the power of a glittery pinstripe suit.

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It’s the age of the adaptation. And one particular live-action anime/manga adaptation has been in the zeitgeist for quite a while. We first heard reports of a live-action Naruto movie in 2015. At the time, Lionsgate was in negotiations for the film rights to the franchise. And it was reported that Michael Gracey would helm the live-action Naruto movie, acting as its director. But since that exciting announcement, very little progress has happened with this film. But, here we are, over eight years later, and finally, it looks like momentum is picking up for the Naruto live-action movie. Most recently, we learned the film officially has a writer. Here’s what we know about this adaptation so far.

The Live-Action Naruto Movie Gets an Update

In its “10 Screenwriters to Watch for 2023” article, Variety highlighted Tasha Huo, who wrote another anticipated upcoming movie, Red Sonja. The profile shares, “After developing scripts for Red Sonja, Naruto and an animated version of Tomb Raider, Huo says she considers it a fan’s dream come true to adapt beloved properties.” And the publication additionally notes, “Next up for the writer is Naruto, a feature adaptation of the iconic anime for Lionsgate.”

Obviously, this doesn’t give us much information about the Naruto live-action movie. But, it does seem to indicate that progress on the film will happen soon. And, after so long without any news at all, it is good to hear the Naruto live-action film is still in development.

What Else Do We Know About This Anime/Manga Adaptation?

The article makes no mention of whether Michael Gracey is still on tap to direct the movie. The last we heard from him, via IGN, was in 2018. Gracey gave an update on the progress of the Naruto live-action movie where he shared, “So many Hollywood adaptations of really popular manga series just don’t get it right, and for me, what was really important was that if I was gonna do Naruto, I wanted to actually work with [Naruto creator Masashi] Kishimoto and get a script to a stage where he would look at it and be excited about realizing it… Because no one knows the world better than the person who created it.” That sounds like a promising perspective, in any case. So we hope the movie keeps it regardless of who is involved behind the scenes.

Of course, it is much too early for any casting news around the live-action Naruto. But it’s not too early for fans to get their dream casting lists together. Hopefully, we’ll get to hear more about this adaptation soon.

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“In space no can hear you scream,” but in a packed theater everyone can. Alien movies have made audiences do just that since Ridley Scott first brought a Xenomorph to the big screen in 1979. Now the iconic monster is set to return to theaters once again. While Noah Hawley is developing an Alien TV show, a new installment in the film franchise will premiere in 2024. Who will direct space’s most fearsome creature next? And how does this entry fit into series?

Recently, star Cailee Spaeny revealed more about where exactly Alien: Romulus sits in the franchise’s timeline. She noted to Variety, “It’s supposed to slot in between the first movie and the second movie… They brought the same team from ‘Aliens,’ the James Cameron film. The same people who built those xenomorphs actually came on and built ours. So getting to see the original design with the original people who have been working on these films for 45-plus years and has been so much of their life has been really incredible.”

This means that Romulus occurs between 1979’s Ridley Scott-directed Alien and James Cameron’s 1986 movie Aliens. There’s no word, however, how closely this movie will interact with elements of either one of the existing movies. Still, it seems like a great place to set a new Alien film. This placement leaves room for Alien: Romulus to reference events that already happened on the franchise’s timeline and to allude to things that viewers know are to come. We also love hearing that plenty of xenomorph fun is on the way.

Here’s everything we know about Alien: Romulus so far.

Title

The ninth movie in the franchise is currently called Alien: Romulus. It’s unknown if that working title will ultimately be the film’s final one.

Alien: Romulus‘ Plot

The film does not have an official plot yet, but it’s described as an “original stand-alone” entry unconnected to previous films. It will feature “a group of young people on a distant world” who “find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.” Most recently we learned that Romulus is set between Alien and Aliens on the franchise’s timeline.

When the movie was originally intended to debut on Hulu, it was compared in scope to the original film in the franchise. For those trying to decipher any meaning from the film’s title, Romulus was the legendary founder of Rome and its first king.

Behind the Scenes

Director Fede Álvarez (Don’t Breathe, 2013’s Evil Dead) co-wrote the script with Rodo Sayagues. Ridley Scott is an executive producer on the film. Álvarez told Scott about his idea for the spinoff movie years prior, and Scott eventually reached out and asked Álvarez if he wanted to make it.

In early July 2023 the director announced on Instrgram the end of filming after nearly four months of shooting primarily in Budapest. His celebratory post would have made Red Auerbach proud.

Alien: Romulus‘ Cast

Alien: Romulus stars Cailee Spaeny (Mare of Easttown). Joining her in the young cast are David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu.

Alien: Romulus‘ Release Date

Alien: Romulus will arrive in theaters on August 16, 2024.

The thin, warm summer air will help anyone in space hear audiences scream.

Originally published on August 9, 2023.

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When it comes to popular people, there is perhaps no one quite like Jesus Christ. For many people, he is the Messiah who walked the Earth, died on the cross for their sins, and experienced a resurrection three days later. For others, he’s a well-known prophet or an overall historical figure they are familiar with. There have been many books, shows, films, and more about the life and death of Jesus; however, none of them are quite like this one. The Book of Clarence examines this Biblical epic from the viewpoint of its titular protagonist in an intriguing new trailer. 

There’s so much to discuss about this clip. First, the physical depiction of Jesus and those around him lines up with what the Bible itself and historians have affirmed for many years.

What we wish this trailer kept was the brilliant use of Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U,” which we heard in the first teaser trailer. That song fits this film’s theme perfectly. Prince will forever be a music god, after all. This story isn’t about the Messiah himself, but rather the allure of his influence on one man’s life.

Here’s a quick plot synopsis to bring things into clearer focus: 

From visionary filmmaker Jeymes Samuel, The Book of Clarence is a bold new take on the timeless Biblical-era epic. Streetwise but down-on-his-luck, Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield) is struggling to find a better life for his family, while fighting to free himself of debt. Captivated by the power and glory of the rising Messiah and His apostles, he risks everything to carve his own path to a divine life, and ultimately discovers that the redemptive power of belief may be his only way out. The film features new music by Jeymes Samuel, JAY-Z, and more. 

In addition to the trailer for The Book of Clarence, check out these gorgeous exclusive images from Vanity Fair of this upcoming film.

Jeymes Samuel takes a big swing with ‘The Book of Clarence,’ but that’s all he knows how to do.

“He has this fearlessness to him,” says Jay-Z of his longtime collaborator. “He’s very confident, but it’s not off-putting.”

🔗: https://t.co/Nr9A54rL71 pic.twitter.com/f0xLo9V2PV

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) August 28, 2023

Exploring the life and times of Jesus through the eyes of everyday man is a great concept. And LaKeith Stanfield is having quite the run recently with The Changeling preparing to hit Apple TV+ soon. In addition to Stanfield, this film stars Omar Sy, RJ Cyler, David Oyelowo, Alfre Woodard, Teyana Taylor, Caleb McLaughlin, James McAvoy, and Benedict Cumberbatch. The Book of Clarence hits theaters sometime in 2024.

Editor’s Note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks.

Originally published on August 29, 2023.

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Some films are obviously Christmas movies, like The Muppet Christmas Carol. But that designation is not so clear cut for others. They may be set during the holiday season, and they may even touch upon Christmas themes, but does that mean they truly qualify in the traditional sense? To find out we’re putting those movies on trial and laying out all the evidence for and against them by answering some pertinent questions, just as we did with Die Hard, Gremlins, Edward Scissorhands, Iron Man 3, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Rocky IV. And the latest movie to take the stand in our great Christmas movie debate asked for a courtroom in Gotham. That’s right, it’s time to send up the Santa-Signal for Batman Returns.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, ask yourself…

How much of Batman Returns takes place at Christmastime?

Outside of the opening scene, all of Batman Returns takes place during the Christmas season. Oswald Cobblepot is not born during the holidays, but by the time his parents decide to abandon their cat-eating newborn in the sewers their giant tree is already up. When his circus gang then attacks Gotham 33 years later it’s during the city’s big tree lighting ceremony. The entire movie, which is full of seasonal decorations, presents, and snow, then ends by Christmas Day.

Would Batman Returns be fundamentally different if it were set at any other time of the year?

The film features major scenes connected to the fact that it’s Christmas. There’s actually two big tree lighting sequences. (RIP Ice Princess who was also an actress.) Mistletoe also ends up playing a significant role in the development of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle’s relationship. And just like the North Pole, it’s full of penguins who shouldn’t live there. Yet, if you moved the film to any other time of year and slightly changed the details/décor you would still have the exact same story. The movie takes place entirely during Christmas. It’s just not really connected to Christmas beyond scenery. The tree lightings could just as easily be the opening of a new building. The mistletoe could be a star constellation.

The only thing you couldn’t change without ruining everything was how the city made workers clean up after a terrorist attack while dressed as elves. There’s no equivalent indignity.

Do any of the film’s major themes apply to Christmas?

Batman Returns is about the duality of self and identity, isolation, and acceptance. Batman, Catwoman, Penguin, and Max Shrek all have two different identities—their public persona and their secret self—and they struggle to find a balance between the two. Interesting, but not very Christmas-y. The movie’s also about revenge, power, greed, and class. The closest any of those come to being traditional holiday themes are greed and class, but considering Bruce Wayne is the film’s hero, it’s not exactly Gotham’s take on It’s A Wonderful Life. The billionaire is the guy we want to see come out on top.

Does watching Batman Returns at Christmastime enhance the experience?

Even though the film’s plot and themes have nothing to do with the holiday, the film is so specifically set during Christmas that watching it in December does enhance the experience.* It’s easy to get caught up in the characters’ lives while also personally surrounded by a Christmas tree and festive lights. And when Bruce Wayne ends up alone at the end you feel a little extra sting because you know it will be another lonely holiday for him. You can really feel the holiday blues in the moment.

*This was obviously not the case when it first came to theaters. Batman Returns premiered in June 1992.

Has this film been accepted as a Christmas movie tradition?

Some fans consider Batman Returns a Christmas movie, but not enough. The film also has yet to break into the holiday movie zeitgeist the way a movie like Die Hard has. Since it didn’t before the streaming era began we can’t imagine it will anytime soon. If will likely need to start airing on basic cable a lot more in December to do that. If/when it does we’ll reevaluate this section. For now it’s simply a niche Christmas-adjacent movie.

THE FINAL VERDICT

We love Batman. He’s also provided us with lots of great Christmas memories over the years. For those reasons and more it would make us very happy to judge this film a true holiday entry. We just can’t do it after looking at the evidence objectively. Because while this movie embraces the feel of the Christmas season, it’s not a Christmas story. Not by its plot, themes, or characters. And since it hasn’t established itself as a holiday viewing staple, there’s only one verdict we can give.

Turn off the Santa-Signal, because Batman Returns does not qualify as a Christmas movie.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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Recently, it was announced Destin Daniel Cretton would no longer direct Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. But now, we have more interesting news about the MCU film. According to Deadline, Loki creator Michael Waldron has come aboard to write the screenplay for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Waldron was already tapped to write the movie set to follow Kang Dynasty, Avengers: Secret Wars. And now he will reportedly take hold of the story behind both films. Waldron also wrote Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Ultimately, if the two Avengers movies end up closely connected, it makes sense for Waldron to pen them both. After all, it seems to have worked for the MCU in previous. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely wrote both Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame to great acclaim. We still don’t know very much about either of the upcoming Avengers movies, though. Not even, specifically, which heroes will feature as the new Avengers team that will protect the universe. But, of course, it seems to follow that The Kang Dynasty would greatly feature Kang. Loki season two seemed like it might set up the next MCU villain in a big way, but in the end, the series focused largely on its protagonist. There’s no word yet on whether the changes and evolutions made to the team behind The Kang Dynasty will impact its story in any way.

As of now, no new director is in place for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. However, the movie presently retains its release date of May 1, 2026. Ostensibly, they will still be a part of the MCU’s Phase 6 and help conclude the Multiverse Saga. Hopefully, with Waldron penning Kang Dynasty‘s script, the much-anticipated next Avengers movie will deliver a strong story. We’ve certainly seen him deliver great MCU work before. For our part, we just hope both Loki and Doctor Strange get to play a sizable role. It would only be fair.

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It is a historic time in Hollywood! After Writers Guild of America (WGA) members fought to receive an incredible deal for their union, many hoped it would not be long until Hollywood’s actors were also offered a fair deal from the studios. This SAG-AFTRA strike is a historic one; it is the longest strike that actors have ever participated in, and it lasted 118 days. But finally, the AMPTP offered SAG-AFTRA a deal that it could accept. As of 12:01 am on November 9, 2023, actors are free to return to work. Of course, we are excited to see some of our favorite productions begin to live again, but the most important part is that those creating them will be working under fair and respectful terms.

Here’s what the SAG-AFTRA contract looks like.

SAG-AFTRA Strike Ending Deal Is “of Extraordinary Scope”

A release from SAG-AFTRA further shared:

In a contract valued at over one billion dollars, we have achieved a deal of extraordinary scope that includes “above-pattern” minimum compensation increases, unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI, and for the first time establishes a streaming participation bonus. Our Pension & Health caps have been substantially raised, which will bring much needed value to our plans. In addition, the deal includes numerous improvements for multiple categories including outsize compensation increases for background performers, and critical contract provisions protecting diverse communities.

Most importantly, SAG notes, “We have arrived at a contract that will enable SAG-AFTRA members from every category to build sustainable careers. Many thousands of performers now and into the future will benefit from this work.” Truly, this marks a historic achievement for the actors and one we feel very glad to see come to pass.

As the strike draws to a close, the details of SAG-AFTRA’s agreement with the studios are now available, including a draft of the full TV/Theatricals Contracts Memorandum of Agreement for those wanting to peruse all the details. Of course, no deal is ever perfect, and areas of concern over aspects such as the threat of AI to the industry remain.

However, SAG-AFTRA’s leadership stresses the gains won in areas such as wage increases, pension and health caps, protections for the casting process, and more.

It also views the AI agreements as “the most progressive AI protections ever written.” You can take a look at the specific AI regulations in the current contract below.

The entertainment industry offers joy and relief to so many with its offerings. It is only fair that those working to make our favorite series and movies also be allowed to have sustainable and safe existence. We are glad to see the SAG-AFTRA strike culminate in exactly these results.

The Actors’ Strike Is Over, What’s Next?

While the SAG-AFTRA strike is over and a tentative agreement has been reached with the AMPTP, there are still steps that must be taken to finalize the deal. The agreement went to SAG-AFTRA’s national board for approval and passed with 86% of the vote. Now, SAG-AFTRA has released details of the contract, and all union members will get to vote on the agreement. And then, if members ratify the deal, then SAG-AFTRA will have a new contract for the next three years. The ratification vote will be open until December 5.

We look forward to learning more about the deal itself and seeing the final resolution of the SAG-AFTRA strike. But for now, wish only to offer SAG-AFTRA members and supporters a hearty congratulations on this achievement!

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Not everyone loved the news Chris Pratt was going to voice Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. To some he just seemed like an odd choice to play an Italian plumber. But no one was upset when, soon after, Pratt was also given the role of Garfield in a new animated film. No one was upset because no one believed the report. How could he be the only star in Hollywood capable of voicing two very famous characters? And back-to-back, no less? It was—and it remains—weird. A lot of consternation went away, though, when it turned out his Mario was actually pretty good. And now we know what his iconic cat sounds like. The first trailer for The Garfield Movie has finally given us a chance to hear Chris Pratt’s lazy, Odie-kicking feline.

If you love the sound of Chris Pratt’s normal voice, you are in for a real treat with this Garfield movie.

Do you hate Mondays but love Chris Pratt sounding like he does on a normal Monday? If so, The Garfield Movie‘s first trailer has likely left you feeling conflicted this morning. At least we can all feel good about baby Garfield, an adorable, very hungry kitty. How did Garfield end up alone in the streets, though?

Released alongside the trailer, here is The Garfield Movie‘s official synopsis from Sony Pictures:

Garfield, the world-famous, Monday-hating, lasagna-loving indoor cat, is about to have a wild outdoor adventure! After an unexpected reunion with his long-lost father – scruffy street cat Vic (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) – Garfield and his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered life into joining Vic in a hilarious, high-stakes heist.

Pratt also recently shared a behind-the-scenes look at the movie where he does seem to be embodying Garfield.

Directed by Mark Dindal with a screenplay from Paul A. Kaplan & Mark Torgove and David Reynolds, the Garfield cast also includes Hannah Waddingham, Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Cecily Strong, Harvey Guillén, Brett Goldstein, and Bowen Yang.

That’s an incredible lineup of stars. Will they all simply be using their totally normal voices, too? We won’t know until The Garfield Movie comes to theaters on not Monday/Friday, May 24, 2024.

Originally published on November 13, 2023.

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Ready to celebrate the holidays in the galaxy far, far away? No, we don’t mean Wookiee Life Day. But if you want to attempt Princess Leia’s song from the Star Wars Holiday Special, be our guest. No, we mean regular Earth holidays like Christmas and Chanukah. Well, the folks at RSVLTS have just the right Star Wars-inspired holiday shirts to wear this season, and they are so festive they will put Emperor Palpatine in the spirit. You can check out images of the three 2023 holiday season button-up shirts from RSVLTS right here:

Star Wars – “I Am Your Father Christmas”

The first shirt, “I Am Your Father Christmas,” shows Darth Vader in the Santa role, commandeering his sleigh through the skies. Only, instead of being led by flying reindeer, it’s flying Imperial AT-ATs. As Santa Vader flies past the Death Star, we can see his wrapped gifts of lightsabers, remotes for saber training, and an Imperial torture droid?? Just what little Luke always wanted to find under the tree. It comes in four styles: Men’s ($70), Long sleeve ($72), Women’s ($70), Preschool ($39), and Youth ($45).

Star Wars – “Festival of Lightsabers”

Their next shirt celebrates Chanukah, droid style. Instead of a Festival of Lights, we get a Festival of Lightsabers. (The dad jokes keep on coming with these shirt names). This button-up shirt showcases the Rebel Alliance symbol as a menorah, surrounded by the lightsabers in question, and many versions of R2-D2. It comes in four styles: Men’s ($70), Long sleeves ($72), Women’s ($70), Preschool ($39), and Youth ($45).

Star Wars – “Vader’s Little Helpers”

And now, we’re back to the Dark Lord of the Sith as Santa again. And Kris Kringle thought he had it bad when Jack Skellington replaced him. With “Vader’s Little Helpers,” we see Darth Vader running things in his factory in the North Pole (or is that Hoth?) He’s even got Stormtroopers instead of Elves wrapping gifts. Like the previous two shirts, it also comes in four styles: Men’s ($70), Long sleeves ($72), Women’s ($70), Preschool ($39), and Youth ($45).

So get ready for the holiday season and grab one (or four) of these Star Wars RSVLTS as soon as possible.

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It’s hard to believe Ahsoka wrapped its first season well over a month ago. The Star Wars series centered on Ahsoka Tano took fans to a distant galaxy and left behind many questions. With the then-ongoing WGA and SAG strikes, the creators and actors couldn’t discuss the series while it aired, but now both strikes are over. Vanity Fair spoke with Dave Filoni about Ahsoka and more. Filoni served as showrunner on Ahsoka and has worked on all the live-action Star Wars series so far. And now, he has an even larger role to play in the galaxy far, far away. Dave Filoni is Lucasfilm’s chief creative officer.

Filoni shared the new title with Vanity Fair, explaining he’ll be part of the development process for upcoming Star Wars stories sooner. He said, “In the past, in a lot of projects I would be brought into it, I would see it after it had already developed a good ways.” Filoni also added the following about his Lucasfilm promotion, “In this new role, it’s opened up to basically everything that’s going on. When we’re planning the future of what we’re doing now, I’m involved at the inception phase.”

Filoni will work closely with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and head of development Carrie Beck. He worked with Beck for years on animated series. He started his time at Lucasfilm working with George Lucas on Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Filoni then went on to tell stories in Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars Resistance, The Bad Batch, and Tales of the Jedi. His involvement in Star Wars animation decreased as he worked more on live-action Star Wars with Jon Favreau, which began with The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.

Filoni has told hours and hours of Star Wars stories. He said to Vanity Fair about his new role, “I’m not telling people what to do. But I do feel I’m trying to help them tell the best story that they want to tell. I need to be a help across the galaxy here, like a part of a Jedi Council almost.”

This new Lucasfilm role comes in addition to Filoni’s upcoming Star Wars feature film and a possible second season of Ahsoka.

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Cobra Kai is coming to an end, but Daniel LaRusso’s story is not. Ralph Macchio is returning to the big screen for an all-new The Karate Kid movie. Only this installment will combine generations of big-screen entries. Jackie Chan, who joined the series in a 2010 reboot as the Kung Fu master and mentor Mr. Han, will join him in the Karate Kid film. All that’s left is for them to find a new student to teach. Macchio and Chan announced a global search to find the next Karate Kid in the movie’s announcement video.

Sony Pictures has decided to wax on another movie in The Karate Kid franchise. While the studio is not yet releasing plot details for the film, in a press release, Sony said it will bring Macchio and Chan “together to continue the mythology of the original franchise.”

Jonathan Entwistle will direct with a screenplay from Rob Lieber. Surprisingly, the film will come to theaters on December 13, 2024. We’re surprised by that date because the movie doesn’t have its proverbial Karate Kid, yet. Macchio and Chan’s video also announced a worldwide hunt for a young star. The parameters for the open call reveal some more information about the film and its production.

According to KarateKidCasting.com, Sony is looking for a 15-17 year old to play Li Fong in the new Karate Kid movie. The studio describes Li Fong is as “smart, scrappy, and a skilled martial artist.” Any actor interested must speak English, with conversational Mandarin “a strong plus.” Also considered a strong plus is “any sort of martial arts, movement, gymnastics, and/or dance experience.”

The part does not require previous acting experience, but anyone cast must be available to film from March to June of 2024. If you or someone you know sounds right for the starring role in this latest Karate Kid movie, email KarateKidCasting@sony.com. It’s free to apply.

Although, you might ultimately have to pay in the form of an evil dojo who wants to destroy you. Being the new Karate Kid sounds great, but it also comes with enemies.

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Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the final chapter in the DCEU that we’ve known it for the past decade, is a mere month away. And now, we have our final (or close to final) trailer for director James Wan’s newest adventure for the Sovereign of Atlantis. Jason Momoa is back as our titular King of the Seven Seas, and so is Patrick Wilson as his brother Orm, Nicole Kidman as their mother Atlanna, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen as Black Manta. Plus, there’s a new addition to the cast of characters, the adorable Aquababy. You can watch the full trailer for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom right here:

So this Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom trailer is definitely on the spoilery side of things. We know that Black Manta is on a mission of revenge against Arthur Curry for his defeat in the previous film, vowing to destroy everything in his life. Judging from what we see here, he destroys Aquaman’s childhood home, the lighthouse of Thomas Curry, Aquaman’s human father. And probably Thomas Curry himself. He also kidnaps Arthur Jr., from the look of things. Now, in the comics, Black Manta famously murdered Aquaman’s son. Will this blockbuster movie go that dark? We doubt it, but the trailer is definitely playing with the comic book fan’s expectations.

We also see that Black Manta is seeking to eradicate the entire bloodline of the Royal Family of Atlantis in the Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom trailer. This forces King Arthur to team up with his half-brother Orm. Will these two siblings reconcile? We were hoping that perhaps we would see one of the Aqualads in this movie, either Garth or Jackson Hyde. The latter of the two is the son of Black Manta in the comics. But, we’ll probably have to wait for James Gunn’s new DCU before we see those additions to the Aquaman family on the big screen. At least we get to see Aquaman ride a giant seahorse this time. Who doesn’t want to see that?

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom hits theaters on December 22.

The post AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM’s Latest Trailer Gives Us More Aquababy appeared first on Nerdist.

There’s been a lot of chatter about the state of the MCU lately. And with that, as ever, murmurs about bringing back the original Avengers, the heroes that made the franchise so popular to begin with, have risen to the surface. Of course, the best-positioned OG Avenger to return to the MCU is Chris Hemsworth’s Thor. After all, technically, Thor hasn’t left the MCU at all. In Thor: Love and Thunder, a.k.a. Thor 4, Thor even started a whole new storyline with his adopted daughter. And, of course, there’s the question of coming full circle to let Thor and Loki finally reunite and see the sun shine on them once more. But one person who’s unlikely to be involved should Thor 5 become an MCU reality is Taika Waititi.

In recent interviews, Taika Waititi shared that he doesn’t see Thor 5 as a current possibility for him, given everything he has on his plate. But he did, reportedly reveal that Chris Hemsworth was in talks with Marvel for another Thor movie. Here’s what Waititi shared.

Speaking to Business Insider about Thor 5 and rumors of its development, Waititi offered, “I wouldn’t know if that’s accurate…I know that I won’t be involved. I’m going to concentrate on these other films that I’ve signed on for… So that’s six, seven years gone. I’d imagine another Thor would be a lot sooner than that. But I love Marvel, I love working with them. I love Chris [Hemsworth].”

Additionally, according to Inverse, “Waititi said that while he heard star Chris Hemsworth and Marvel are in talks about making a fifth Thor movie, Waititi ‘needed a break from that.’” That’s the first anyone has spoken concretely of Hemsworth returning for a Thor 5, so we’ll be interested to see how if we receive any more news on that front.

And while it seems unlikely Waititi would return for Thor 5, don’t count him out for another MCU movie. You never know if Thor 6 will become a reality. He notes to Business Insider about the idea of Marvel hiring another director for the fifth Thor movie, “I would never feel like they are cheating on me… We’re in an open relationship, and it’s like if they want to see other people, I’m happy for that. I’d still get back into bed with them one day.” Fair enough. For the moment, regardless of Waititi’s schedule, there’s no Thor 5 slated to happen. However should it happen without Waititi at the helm, we would feel curious to see where exactly it would go.

In addition to discussing Thor, Waititi also recently shared a little update about his Star Wars movie, noting that “It’s still marinating. I’ve been writing it.” Waititi also offered to ET, “At the moment, I’m still developing something with them. Like me, they have a lot of projects going on. I think they’re gonna push it until I finish these other projects. I’ve got about four other scripts that I’m trying to finish. My thing is, I want to take my time with that and get it right. I don’t want to rush this movie.”

Originally published on November 14, 2023.

The post Chris Hemsworth in Talks with Marvel for THOR 5, Says Taika Waititi appeared first on Nerdist.

A recent article in The Telegraph caused a big stir when it shared that beloved studio Aardman Animations might be in some sticky trouble. Aardman, of course, is known widely for its unique claymation stop-motion movies. The studio has created fan-favorite films such as Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit in its iconic style. The piece shared that Aardman’s clay of choice, Newplast plasticine, however, won’t be around much longer. This very special clay is reinforced with nylon and doesn’t require additional steps such as glazing and firing to be functional. But it turns out, only one factory in the world was making Newplast plasticine, and it closed in March. And this, The Telegraph reports, means Aardman now faces a clay shortage and is running out of its favorite material.

Aardman has been using Newplast plasticine to make its movies since the early 1970s. And the clay’s ability to hold its shape while remaining malleable, even under intense conditions, has been a great help in creating Aardman’s intricate masterpieces. But although it does seem like Aardman will have to find a new favorite substance from which to create its movies, we don’t yet need to ring any alarm bells about the studio running out of clay and not being able to make any more films.

Aardman took to Twitter to share an update about the Newplast clay situation after great fan concern.

In full, the note from Aardman Animations reads:

We are touched about recent concern over the future of our beloved clay creations, but wanted to reassure fans that there is absolutely no need to worry. We have high levels of existing stocks of modelling clay to service current and future productions and, much like Wallace in his workshop, we have been tinkering away behind the scenes for quite some time with plans in place to ensure a smooth transition to new stocks to continue to make our iconic productions.

The Telegraph did report that Aardman had purchased all remaining stock of Newplast clay from Lewis Newplast before the factory closed its doors. And it sounds like the stock will hold out to bring many future movies to life while the company transitions to a new material. So you can settle in and enjoy Chicken Run 2: The Dawn of the Nugget when it releases fear-free. Aardman and its claymations will live to mold another day.

The post Aardman Gives Positive Update After Clay Shortage Concerns Emerge appeared first on Nerdist.

It’s always a wild ride in the world of entertainment. This week, Nerdist had the pleasure of speaking to The Marvels‘ Iman Vellani, we saw some potential Fantastic Four casting news, and we got our first good look at Madame Web. But that’s not all that took place.

Here are some of our favorite pop-culture news odds & ends from this week.

This Week’s Odds & Ends in News

Jump to:

• Harley Quinn Renewed for Season Five on Max
• Yes, Frozen 4 Is in the Works Even Though Frozen 3 Has Not Released Yet
• Completed Coyote vs. Acme Movie Canceled and then Uncanceled By Warner Bros.
• It’s Ranch Time: Ranch Popcorn Arrives at AMC, and a Double-Headed Ranch Bottle Can Soon Be Yours
• Welcome to Wrexham Renewed for Season Three
• Blumhouse’s Imaginary Brings Us a Killer Teddy Bear
• Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Will Launch on Digital
• Critical Role Prequel Novel for Bells Hells Campaign to Release in 2024
• Dr Pepper Reveals Spicy New Flavor, Dr Pepper Hot Take
• Central Perk Coffeehouse, a Modern Take on Friends Location, Now Open in Boston

Harley Quinn Renewed for Season Five on Max

A show renewal, especially on Max, is cause for great celebration these days. And we’re definitely cheering on Harley Quinn, which will receive a season five on Max. Five seasons is no easy feat for any series, but this fabulously queer show definitely deserves them. As a release from Max shares, Harley Quinn is full of “hilarious, heartwarming, and deranged stories with our lovable group of DC misfits.”

Harley Quinn is also heading to the Joker sequel, Folie á Deux

Yes, Frozen 4 Is in the Works Even Though Frozen 3 Has Not Released Yet

“Let it go, let it go!” These lyrics made Frozen‘s Elsa famous. But it seems like Disney is certainly not ready to let go of Frozen, Anna, or Elsa. Although Frozen 3 has not even begun to become a reality, it turns out Frozen 4 is already in the works. Per Variety, Disney’s CEO recently shared, “Frozen 3 is in the works, and there might be a Frozen 4 in the works too… [Director] Jenn Lee, who created the original Frozen and Frozen 2, is hard at work with her team at Disney animation on not one but actually two stories.”

Remember when Disney sequels went direct to VHS?

In the meantime, check out our review of Disney’s latest animated film.

Completed Coyote vs. Acme Movie Canceled and then Uncanceled By Warner Bros. Discovery

It’s a messy time in the entertainment industry. Fully completed movies and series are being unceremoniously canceled for tax break purposes, and that should be illegal, literally. The latest finished movie to almost get canceled is Coyote vs. Acme, starring Will Forte, John Cena, and Lana Condor. Warner Bros. Discovery even announced its cancellation but was met with great public outcry from fans and creators alike. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the studio has since reversed course and will now allow director Dave Green to try to sell the movie instead. Potential buyers include Amazon. It’s still not a great situation, but it’s better.

Unfortunately, more and more streamers are canceling finished products. But happily, some of them, like The Spiderwick Chronicles, are getting saved.

It’s Ranch Time: Ranch Popcorn Arrives at AMC, and a Double-Headed Ranch Bottle Can Soon Be Yours

‘Tis the season, it turns out, for ranch. First up, Hidden Valley Ranch is bringing ranch dressing to AMC theaters with a brand-new Hidden Valley Ranch gourmet popcorn flavor. A release shares this movie theater treat will offer the “right balance of tangy Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning with AMC’s perfectly popped popcorn.” Yum! Hidden Valley Ranch movie theater popcorn is now available at select AMC theaters.

Additionally, for the top ranch aficionados, Hidden Valley Ranch has created “Double Ranch, the ranchiest ranch yet. Double the herbs. Double the spices. Double the flavor. Double the bottles.” You have our attention.

This double-headed Ranch bottle will “be available nationwide through a Snapchat lens on Saturday, November 18, while supplies last. The custom Snapchat lens will recognize any “X” that users come across, prompting the Double Ranch bottle to appear on the screen and providing a Swipe Up feature to purchase.” 222 bottles of this double-headed ranch monster will be available.

This isn’t the weirdest ranch has gotten; it once turned into a diamond ring.

Welcome to Wrexham Renewed for Season Three

Our favorite feel-good docuseries will return once again. Welcome to Wrexham has been renewed for a third season by FX, and it will arrive in spring 2024. That means Rob McElhenney, Ryan Reynolds, and the Wrexham AFC team will all be back for more football fun before we know it. We expect season three will make us cry and then laugh, and we can’t wait. In the meantime, we’ll enjoy watching back through Welcome to Wrexham‘s now-completed first couple of seasons.

If you haven’t yet, check out all the fun of Welcome to Wrexham season two.

Blumhouse’s Imaginary Brings Us a Killer Teddy Bear

Obviously, one thing missing from our lives is a new horror movie about a killer teddy bear. So thank god that Blumhouse’s Imaginary trailer is here to bring us what we need. This movie offers a dark take on the notion of imaginary friends.

You don’t want to cross these angry spirits, and you certainly don’t want to ever leave them behind. Or else, they’ll possess stuffed animals and come for you. Better watch out for how you treat your teddy bears.

We don’t know how this movie will turn out yet, but these are our favorite final scenes from horror movies.

Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Will Launch on Digital

Want to relive the magic of a whole trove of classing Jurassic Park video games? Well, you’re in luck because a collection of them is launching on digital on November 22.

A release shares, “The 8-and 16-bit era of Jurassic Park games has returned. This nostalgic release includes a lineup of classic titles and adds new features, including save states for each game, new in-game maps, and various quality-of-life fixes that bring these titles into the modern era of gaming.”

The Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection includes seven games that were originally released across NES, Game Boy, SNES, and the SEGA Genesis:

• Jurassic Park (NES)
• Jurassic Park (SNES)
• Jurassic Park (Game Boy)
• Jurassic Park (Genesis)
• Jurassic Park: The Chaos Continues (SNES)
• Jurassic Park: The Chaos Continues (Game Boy)
• Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition (Genesis)

You can pre-order the collection now.

Did you know dinosaurs may have been cuddly?

Critical Role Prequel Novel for Bells Hells Campaign to Release in 2024

Critical Role‘s current campaign Bells Hells is getting a prequel novel titled Critical Role: Bells Hells—What Doesn’t Break. This new book will “[chronicle] the unexplored years before fan-favorite character Laudna joins up with the crew of Bells Hells, following her departure from Whitestone and her solo adventures on the road toward Jrusar.” Sounds like it will be an epic adventure! This Critical Role novel will be written by Cassandra Khaw and release on July 24, 2024.

Experience more Bells Hells with this animated opening sequence from the campaign.

Dr Pepper Reveals Spicy New Flavor Dr Pepper Hot Take

Get ready for a spicy new flavor of Dr Pepper, Dr Pepper Hot Take. A release shares, “Dr Pepper has harnessed the bold and blistering flavor of spicy peppers to create the limited-edition flavor. It’s the iconic Dr Pepper taste fans know and love, but with a zesty, fiery kick.” That’s hot. The flavor is available exclusively through “Pepper Perks” and can either be won in a game of scratch-and-win or purchased for 3,000 points. We must admit, we feel very curious about it.

You think that’s hot? Check out this IRL lightsaber.

Central Perk Coffeehouse, a Modern Take on Friends Location, Now Open in Boston

Our favorite Friends location is coming to life with a modern twist. Central Perk Coffeehouse opened in Boston on November 14. According to People, the “2,600-square-foot venue, a collaboration between Warner Bros. Discovery Global Themed Entertainment and CenPer, is filled with Friends-inspired memorabilia and subtle nods to the show’s characters and plot lines. And of course, it features an oversized orange couch. There are also coffee cup sleeves featuring iconic quotes from each of the six Friends.”

This location will be permanent. On its opening day, the cafe honored the late Matthew Perry.

We’ll never forget Chandler Bing or his impact on the TV world.

The post FROZEN 4 In the Works, COYOTE VS. ACME Uncanceled, and More News Odds & Ends appeared first on Nerdist.

Disney’s newest animated musical, Wish, is technically about a girl helped by a magical creature after learning her beloved sorcerer king is not so wonderful. But Wish is really about Disney writing itself a love letter. The film is overtly based on “When You Wish Upon a Star” and “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes.” It’s also overstuffed with elements, like singing woodland creatures and a fairy tale framing, meant to pay homage to Golden Age Disney classics. And it’s structured like the studio’s Renaissance era movies while looking like an early 2000s release. It’s Disney-Inception. And none of it works.

All that self-adulation and referential storytelling detracts from a great idea, as does a woefully incomplete, subpar script. The result is a film with a major identity crisis made worse by subpar animation. If not for its clever premise and insightful themes, two leading stars, and some great songs it would be a total nightmare. Instead it’s merely a disappointing dream.

As someone who craves the return of shorter movies, it pains me to say the 92-minute long Wish desperately needs at least 15 more minutes. That way it could incorporate elements most good movies tend to have have, like meaningful characterization and plot development. Instead the film has too many shallow characters defined by a single trait, inexplicable plot points, and payoffs that come out of nowhere.

The script—which is actively unfunny the harder it tries to be humorous—is so incomplete that the more you think about it the worse it gets. The fantastic performances of stars Ariana DeBose (the young hero Asha) and Chris Pine (the villain King Magnifico) cover up many of Wish‘s flaws. As do some incredible songs. Wish has memorable numbers that are are more musically mature and intense than a lot of Disney fare. (Which is a pleasant surprise after a very standard opening number.) But not even DeBose and Pine can cover up some huge, obvious mistakes in the screenplay. The movie’s biggest emotional moments and some very important scenes, like the big ending, aren’t earned. More focus on incorporating basic storytelling elements would have been a huge improvement.

Unfortunately Wish isn’t interesting to look at, either. The animation style is not “retro” so much as it’s regressive. It seems to want to recreate the look of Disney film’s like Tangled and Bolt, but it looks like a cheap knockoff of those movies. What’s especially frustrating is that it occasionally employs other animation styles that look amazing. Wish has backgrounds that are truly gorgeous. A simple, stunning post-credits scene also shows what could have been. I wish we got to see the version of the movie with that animation instead.

The film isn’t a total disaster, though, even beyond its leads and songs. It’s premise is so good it covers up some of the movie’s many failings. Wish takes place in the magical kingdom of Rosas. People from all over the world come to live on the beautiful, peaceful island under King Magnifico’s protection. All he asks of them is when they move there or turn 18 they literally give him their heart’s most important wish via magic. The sorcerer then keeps their wish, which they don’t remember, as floating blue orbs. He not only keeps them safe, he grants one person their wish every month. All of which sounds great until Asha realizes why that’s horrible. That leads her to wish upon a star, which in turn brings the magical being called Star to Rosas.

Star’s arrival results in Magnifico going full villain. Only, his transformation doesn’t carry any heft. But nothing that happens in Wish does, since it’s main focus isn’t the story, but rather celebrating Disney. It’s somehow overly meta despite being total earnest. There’s no “winking” at the camera, at least not until the credits roll, and yet it’s so overtly about Disney it still feels meta. It’s too bad, because the rare times Wish does its own thing it’s a lot of fun. There are also a few moments where it seems like it might get weird and interesting, but then a talking bunny shows up and it feels trite. There’s a fine line between tribute and banal. Wish is not close to the line. It revels in being derivative.

The perils of the film’s Disney-ness is best exemplified in its title. If the movie only cared about telling the best story possible, Wish wouldn’t be Wish. It would be Dream, because that’s what it’s really about. This movie is about how the dreams we hold dearest in our heart shape us, both good and bad. It’s about how dreams can push us to greatness just as much as they can fill us with disappointment and regret. And it’s about the fact that who we entrust with helping make our dreams come true is just as important as what our dreams are.

That’s exactly the type of idea that should make for a great Disney animated movie. But the word “wish” does not have the same connotation as the word “dream.” One has a power the other does not. “A wish is a dream your heart makes” doesn’t sound as good as the original because it’s not. We send our wishes far away to the stars, but we keep our dreams in our hearts.

Too bad for us that long ago Jiminy Cricket didn’t sing “When You Dream Upon a Star.” It might have led to a much better movie now.

⭐ (2.5 of 5)

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter and  Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post WISH Will Have You Wishing a Great Idea Got a Much Better Movie appeared first on Nerdist.

Ridley Scott recently told historians calling out historical inaccuracies in Napoleon to “Get a life.” And that seemed to indicate that his big-screen adaptation of Napoleon’s story would be more concerned with the spirit of Napoleon’s history, reimagined to enthrall audiences, than the letter of it. But, though touted by trailers as a cinematic spectacle of massive scope, Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is simultaneously too much biopic to be a larger-than-life feature and not factual enough to deliver a compelling history. The movie is ultimately a focused meditation on Napoleon, one that thankfully doesn’t glorify him, but it fails to offer audiences any kind of interesting storyline or meaningful takeaway throughout its nearly three hours of runtime.

This is not a problem exclusive to Napoleon, but the overarching issue with imbuing any biopic with a compelling narrative is that a person’s life, even a person as objectively fascinating as Napoleon, is just their life. And that’s a fine thing to embrace. But Napoleon doesn’t really seem to believe itself to be recounting the history of a person and instead seeks to tell an epic of a larger scale. And in that, it does not succeed. Napoleon oscillates unevenly, and often abruptly, between massive battles (not all of which are engaging), a love story of sorts, and attempts at depicting historical events it isn’t really prepared to delve into fully. And that leaves viewers occasionally fascinated, sometimes confused, and unfortunately, more often than desired, bored.

The main structure of the film really highlights this issue. Napoleon‘s sprawling screen time divides itself into many small chapters, indicated to the audience with a chapter heading that literally appears on the screen to announce a new section. Each of these chapters revolves around a specific moment or battle in Napoleon’s life. But they rarely shift smoothly from one to the next. Napoleon jumps from being merely a successful general to being a key leader of France to crowning himself Emporer with little in the way of explanation of how he moves from one stage to the next.

It seems like any one of these periods and transitions might have made for a compelling movie. Instead, we rifle through Napoelon’s life like a flipbook, jumping in where Scott feels something particularly interesting has taken place. But, much like a flipbook, it’s hard to tell a story with meat on its bones in this fashion. While some moments end up shining, most are just a page passing by.

A particular bright spot, for instance, comes during Napoelon’s frozen winter battle of Austerlitz. In this sequence, you get a taste of the movie Napoleon aspires to be. The cinematography is stunning, the scope is epic, and the music is swelling. There’s cleverness in the characters and the storytelling. In this sequence, you feel drawn into Napoleon’s world and what it has to offer. But, unfortunately, the chapter turns, the moment recedes, and virtually none of the rest of the movie captures the same brilliance. It’s a strong note but swallowed in a sea of weak to moderately interesting ones.

For me, Napoleon fails as both a war movie and an epic history. It really works best when read as a film depicting the slow unraveling of a narcissist. I commend Scott for starting viewers at a point where Napoleon seems like yet another socially inept, self-important upstart and then gradually pulling back the curtain until the strong realization that he’s really a narcissistic psychopath hits hard. That throughline is well done. But while the movie certainly doesn’t seem to praise or glorify this aspect of Napoleon, it doesn’t very strongly condemn it either.

A title card at the end of the film points to the amount of deaths Napoleon has on his hands. And some of the battle sequences and political moments create the feeling that war is a confusing, harrowing experience played out at the whims of the powerful. But while we might know these things are true and terrible, both the dramatic title card and this feeling go largely unexamined in the movie itself. Instead, the movie holds tightly to Napoleon and his perspective of things. This choice doesn’t allow us to see the true impacts of his decisions and the larger context in which they play out. And so, if Napoleon‘s strongest points simply hover, stated, but not explored, what purpose, then, does this movie fulfill exactly?

Strangely, in this way, Napoleon is very much in conversation with the contemporaneously released The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Both movies elect to follow their nefarious leads as they reflectionlessly embark on their respective descents into blind ambition and their desires to dominate. But in both cases, this perspective narrows the scope of what the movies can thusly say about the characters, sticking largely to their perspectives of themselves and setting aside wider, more interesting explorations. The blood on Napoleon’s hands and the impact his wars and conquering efforts had on so many people, countries, and the world would have made for a fascinating exploration of the historical figure. Instead, Napoleon stays inside of Napoleon’s head, where there is no reflection possible.

The film does have some well-done battle sequences that fans of war movies will no doubt enjoy. (Although fair warning, horses are not treated very kindly in this movie. There is a very graphic scene of a horse getting a cannonball to its body very early on.) Napoleon also contains some lines that will no doubt be repeated for years to come. (“Destiny has brought me this pork chop.” “You (the British) think you’re so great because you have boats.”)

Of course, the acting is also steller. Joaquin Phoenix does a tremendous job embodying Napoleon in the movie. Vanessa Kirby, too, shines as the emperor’s much-tormented wife, Joséphine. And she is responsible for the scenes that have the most life and interest in them, aside from the battles that really land. There’s also a strange humor to the staging, dialogue, and overall energy of the movie’s scenes that mirror Napoleon’s character in an interesting way. And, as mentioned, at times, it does capture the imagination and draw the viewers in.

But ultimately, for a movie that does go on, Napoleon doesn’t have very much to say at all.

Napoleon ⭐ (3 of 5)

The post NAPOLEON’s Lengthy Character Study Lacks a Compelling Story appeared first on Nerdist.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced a Fantastic Four movie at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019. Then at the same convention in 2022, Feige announced a release date and that the movie about the quartet would kick off Phase Six. We recently learned the film is being pushed to May 2, 2025—that was after hearing director Matt Shakman say the film will shoot in London in 2024. Shakman said he would be announcing casting soon once the SAG-AFTRA strike ended. Now that strike is over, and rumors point to Pedro Pascal playing Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic.

Daniel Richtman shared the report, and /Film confirmed with sources that Pascal is taking the role. Deadline, however, reports it’s still in negotiations. With Pascal’s very full schedule, it’s hard to imagine adding the superhero flick. Marvel movies aren’t exactly chill, and Reed would be a leading role. Pascal has the Gladiator sequel, The Last of Us, and The Mandalorian (though he’s largely been doing voice-over only for that role). Marvel hasn’t said anything yet, but here’s hoping they’ll tell us about Pascal as Reed and fill us in on casting for Sue, Johnny, and Ben. The Fantastic Four is Marvel’s first family and expectations for their arrival in the MCU are high.

We love the idea of Pascal as Reed. He could bring exactly the right kindness and sharpness for Reed. We know Pascal has the reluctant dad bit down, and Reed is that type of figure for the Fantastic Four.

Regardless of whether this report ends up being true: Pedro, bud, we hope you’re taking care of yourself and staying hydrated. Drink an extra glass of water for us, okay?

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Destin Daniel Cretton, the director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, has stepped away from directing duties on Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Deadline reported this news on Wednesday afternoon. The fifth Avengers film is still set to debut on May 1, 2026, but currently has no director attached. Cretton is not leaving the MCU, however—far from it. The original report suggests he is still continuing work on the Wonder Man series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen, of which he directed the first two episodes. The show will resume production now that the WGA and SAG strikes have ended. Cretton’s also still returning for the sequel to Shang-Chi.

Cretton is both the showrunner and EP of Wonder Man, a series he co-created with Andrew Guest. It’s resuming production after Thanksgiving under the Marvel Spotlight banner introduced for Echo. This means it will be a standalone project, not connected to the overall Multiverse Saga. This also likely means that Simon Williams in this series won’t become one of the main Avengers (which is kind of a bummer). But who knows, things could change. Rumors ran rampant that Marvel Studios was going to cancel Wonder Man, but this seems to not be the case.

Hopefully, this means that a sequel to Shang-Chi is on the fast-track now for Marvel Studios. It’s been two years since the first film hit theaters, and not a word since. It would not surprise us at all if Shang-Chi’s continuing adventures take the place of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty on the MCU calendar, and debuts on May 1, 2026 instead. It seems the Marvel Studios is rethinking a lot of what the next Avengers are going to be—especially after the financial and critical disappointments of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels. For all we know, The Kang Dynasty will transform into something else entirely.

The post Destin Daniel Cretton No Longer Directing AVENGERS: THE KANG DESTINY appeared first on Nerdist.

Sometimes the perfect holiday gift is an item you’ve been eyeing all year. Other times the perfect holiday gift is an actual holiday-themed item. If you’re looking for the former this season we already have you covered whether you’re a pop culture lover or a tabletop enthusiast. But if you’re on the lookout for the latter, we’re also here to help. We’ve put together a massive list of great seasonal merchandise celebrating our favorite TV shows, films, video games, and more. From advent calendars and home goods, to comfort wear and ornaments, to so much more, we have plenty of present options for every wish list this December.

Advent Calendars – Elf: The Official Advent Calendar ($29.99)

We’re living in the golden age of advent calendars. They aren’t merely daily chocolate delivery systems anymore. You can now get just about any kind, offering whatever kind of treats you like. Those many options include advent calendars inspired by pop culture favorites, including this obviously perfect Elf option from Insight Editions. All month long you can open up gifts like stickers, tin buttons, key chains, Christmas decorations, and more based on the Will Ferrell holiday classic.

Looking for more pop culture advent calendars?

• Sonic the Hedgehog Advent Calendar ($49.99)
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation Advent Calendar ($49.99)
• The Office Funko Advent Calendar ($59.95)
• Jurassic World 30th Anniversary Holiday Advent Calendar Mini Figure Set ($32.99)
• Stranger Things 4 Advent Calendar ($48.99)

Glassware – Joy Jolt Star Wars Ugly Christmas Sweater Glasses Set ($29.95)

Joy Jolt’s Disney and Star Wars collections have enough fantastic items for fans of the Mouse House and galaxy far, far away that you could knock off most of your 2023 gift shopping list at the site. But if you’re looking for a Christmas-specific set of glasses you’ll want Joy Jolt’s delightful Star Wars Ugly Christmas Sweater collection. These four glasses are fun, practical, and, despite their inspiration, strangely stylish. They would even make Palpatine smile on Christmas morning.

Looking for more pop culture holiday glassware?

• Batman: The Animated Series Joker Christmas Pint Glass ($12.99) – Yeah, we’re using this glass, based on one of the show’s best episodes, year round.
• Saturday Night Live Schweddy Ball White Mug ($12.95) – As the kids say, “If you know, you know.” And anyone who does will love this mug celebrating a truly iconic SNL sketch.

Ornaments – Rick and Morty Ornaments ($19.99)

What duo says “Christmas” more than Rick and Morty? Uh… literally any other pair? I mean, there’s probably some couple in the infinite multiverse who captures the holiday spirit less, but who cares! We want to decorate our tree with television’s most absurd cartoons, and this double Hallmark set will let us do just that. If we’re celebrating TV and Christmas at the same time this is :burp: how we’re going to squanch it. The fact they’ll both look terrified of our tree makes it even better.

Looking for more pop culture holiday ornaments?

• Elf: Buddy The Elf Singing Ornament ($9.99)
• Roy Kent Ted Lasso Christmas Ceramic Ornament ($9.95)
• Dungeons & Dragons: Forged Monstrous Merrymakers Mimic Ornaments($36.99)
• Squid Game – Dalgona Candy Ornament Set ($35)
• Magic the Gathering 3-Piece Christmas Ornament Set ($12)
• Hand Painted “Eye Of Sauron” Lord of the Rings Ornaments ($12/15)
• Nicolas “Picolas” Cage Christmas Ornament ($14.99) – Please please please click this link to see this pickle-themed option. We love it oh so much.

Ugly Holiday Sweaters – Loki: The Christmas Variant Ugly Christmas Sweater ($59.99)

Merchoid has so many fantastic pop culture Christmas sweaters to choose from it’s almost impossible to settle on just one. It’s a massive collection covering film, TV, literature, video games, and more. So we opted for a piece of clothing that truly captures what’s great about all of them. The MCU’s Loki is now the God of Stories. He’s responsible for every reality, which means he’s responsible for every ugly Christmas sweater. Talk about a glorious holiday purpose.

Looking for more pop culture ugly holiday sweaters?

• House Of The Dragon Holiday Sweater ($51.95)
• The Lord Of The Rings Ugly Christmas Sweater ($39.95)
• Ted Lasso Ugly Christmas Sweater ($34.95 – $37.95)
• Doug Nickelodeon Ugly Christmas Sweater ($54)
• Fallout Gary Ugly Christmas Sweater ($54)
• Rugrats Tommy Pickles Maccababy Holiday Sweater ($59.90)
• Stranger Things Hellfire Club Ugly Christmas Sweater ($48)

Home Goods and Decor – Lenox “Grinchmas” Collection

You could easily put together an entire holiday-themed gift guide made up entirely of Lenox’s pop culture options. The company offers ornaments, frames, decorations, kitchenware, and more from The Peanuts, Star Wars, and Disney. But our Christmas movie-loving hearts are partial to Lenox’s The Grinch Who Stole Christmas “Grinchmas” collection. From mugs, plates, salt and pepper shakers, trays, mugs, and more, you can turn your home into a big celebration of the holiday’s iconic green villain-turned-softy

Looking for more pop culture holiday home goods and decor?

• Nintendo Super Mario Super Star Light-Up Tree Topper ($35.99) – Mamma mia! What a perfect pop culture tree topper!
• Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk Nutcracker ($64.99) – This is an amazing decoration and not a functioning nutcracker, but that’s for the best. We don’t want our nuts crushed, not smashed.
• Mickey Mouse Hanukkah Salad Plate Set ($44.99) – You’ll want to use these elegant plates more than eight nights a year.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation “Make It Snow” Pillow ($32.95) – Make this charming gift so for the Captain Picard fan in your life.

Comfort Wear – Pokémon Holiday Long John Pajama Set ($25-$39)

Some families like to wear matching clothes in their holiday photos. It’s a playful way to celebrate Christmas, and you can do that while also celebrating your favorite game with Hanna Andersson’s Pokémon long john collection. Thanks to the color of a Poké ball they don’t even look out of place as holiday-themed comfort ware. And there are PJs for everyone in your herd, no matter their age or size.

Looking for more pop culture holiday comfort wear ideas?

• Star Wars Han Solo “Han In Hanukkah” Sweatshirt ($44.90) – Needless to say this Han Solo Hanukkah sweatshirt is “not too shabby.”
• Elf Crocs ($64.99/$74.99) – Young or old, wearing Elf-themed Crocs on Christmas morning sounds so perfect it makes us think Santa is real. (And that we know him.)
• Studio Ghibli My Neighbor Totoro Forest Spirits Holiday Sweater ($59.90) – Why wasn’t this Box Lunch My Neighbor Totoro exclusive included in our ugly sweater section? Because it’s gorgeous!

Toys – LEGO Ideas Home Alone McAllister House Set ($299.99)

We’ve been obsessed with LEGO’s Home Alone McAllister House set since it was merely a LEGO Ideas submission, but can you blame us? The most expensive item on our list is a toy, a collectible, and a Christmas decoration all in one. It’s everything you could want from a holiday-themed item, one that celebrates so many things we love. And any time we can honor a holiday classic while also having some fun we will

Looking for more pop culture holiday toys?

• Star Wars The Black Series Holiday Figures ($27.99 each) – Every year Hasbro brings Christmas to the galaxy far, far away and every year we love every holiday-themed collectible.
• Mickey Mouse and Friends Disney Parks Holiday Train Set ($141.99) – Another toy that also doubles as Christmas decor? Oh boy!

Pet Toys – BARK Season’s Treatings Advent Calendar for Dogs ($49.99)

Advent calendars aren’t just for humans any more than Christmas gifts are. And since we know you’re definitely going to get your pup some presents this year, we had to highlight BARK’s holiday box for dogs. It will let you give your very good furry best friend something every day for 24 days. This Costco-exclusive dog advent calendar box comes with eight Christmas-themes toys and sixteen treats from their

Looking for more pop culture pet holiday gift ideas?

• ZippyPaws Holiday Burrow – Reindeer Pen ($16.99) – We won’t say how cute we think this little Rudolph toy is, but you can probably guess.
• Frisco Holiday 8 Days of Hanukkah Cardboard Calendar with Toys for Cats ($19.99) – Did you really think we’d forget about cats? Zero chance. We love them almost as much as we fear their wrath.

Board Games – Asmodee’s The Nightmare Before Christmas ($35)

It was another big year for Asmodee, one of our favorite tabletop publishers. You can easily fill up all the space below the board game fan in your life’s tree this holiday season with award-winning games like Challengers!, Unlock!, Star Wars: Shatterpoint, Marvel D.A.G.G.E.R., and more. But if you’re looking for a Christmas-themed game option this December we suggest Asmodee’s new The Nightmare Before Christmas card game, which lets you play as your favorite characters from the film

Looking for more holiday-themed board games?

• Betrayal at House on the Hill with Betrayal Evil Reigns in the Wynter’s Pale the Yuletide Tale Expansion ($21.99 for Expansion) – We know, this is not a board game you expected to see for a Christmas guide. But this horror classic from Avalon Hill is ready for December thanks to an all-new spooky Yuletide expansion.
• A Christmas Karen ($9.99) – If you want something light for your extended family to play this Christmas, Asmodee also has a game perfect for everyone except your actual Aunt Karen.

The post A Holiday-Themed Gift Guide for Film, TV, and Video Game Fans appeared first on Nerdist.

You don’t need a crystal ball to know the Spider-Verse is about to get even bigger. You just need an internet connection. Sony Pictures has released the first teaser trailer for Madame Web starring Dakota Johnson. The standalone film takes place in a new world within the franchise’s multiverse, but she’s not the only Spidey figure who lives there. Or, rather, will live there. Maybe. We know, it’s confusing, but that’s what happens when powerful beings are all fighting to control a future only they can see and change.

Surprise Adam Driver! We’re in. It doesn’t hurt the film also stars Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced, Tahar Rahim, Mike Epps, and Emma Roberts. But what exactly is going on in this intense trailer? And why is someone who looks like Spider-Man hunting down three young women who seem destined to be webbed-slingers themselves? Here’s the film’s official synopsis from Sony:

“Meanwhile, in another universe…” In a switch from the typical genre, Madame Web tells the standalone origin story of one of Marvel publishing’s most enigmatic heroines. The suspense-driven thriller stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic in Manhattan who may have clairvoyant abilities. Forced to confront revelations about her past, she forges a relationship with three young women destined for powerful futures…if they can all survive a deadly present.

Sony also shared a featurette with Johnson discussing the character.

This is a big spotlight for a comic book character who has never really had a chance to shine like this. So while Cassandra Webb is now part of the Spider-verse, it makes sense her story takes place in its own universe. The movie can focus on her story for now rather than how she fits into another Spider-Man’s reality.

Madame Web comes from director SJ Clarkson with a screenplay by Claire Parker and SJ Clarkson. It comes to theaters early next year, on February 14, 2024.

The post MADAME WEB Joins the Live-Action Spider-Verse in First Trailer appeared first on Nerdist.

Initially, when we saw that Chicken Run 2 would be called Dawn of the Nugget, we kind of thought nugget referred to Ginger and Rocky’s new bundle of joy, Molly. But no, it turns out Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget actually makes reference to the fictional advent of the chicken nugget. Uh oh… That’s definitely a chicken’s worst nightmare. But as they say, you either live free-range or die frying. That is kind of a dark thing to say if you ask us. But let’s take a look at the full official trailer for Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.

All the charm of Chicken Run returns in this sequel movie. And we especially love the stop-motion animation work done by Aardman. Even just from Dawn of the Nuggets‘ trailer, we can already see we’re in for a visual treat. It seems like this will be a hilarious sequel that brings out what we love most about the original, a little absurdity, a little darkness. After all, chickens, they’re just like us. They want to grow up, they want to see the world, and they sometimes end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Last cinematic outing, our favorite Chicken Run poultry were trying to break out of a farm, and this time, they’re trying to break into one. But luckily, that makes them the best chickens possible to be on the case in Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.

This Dawn of the Nugget trailer also gives us our best idea yet about the story Chicken Run 2 will tell. Ginger and Rocky are living an idyllic life, but their freshly hatched daughter just wants to get out and see the world. Unfortunately, the world isn’t kind to chickens, and she ends up in a creepy Stepford wives-style farm/industrial complex run by the dastardly Mrs. Tweedy. Now it’s up to her parents and their assortment of animal friends to save her. (And all of the other chickens trapped in the nefarious chicken trap, we imagine.) Chickens are about to run really hard. We can feel it.

The logline for Chicken Run 2 shares, “For Ginger and the flock, all is at stake when the dangers of the human world come home to roost; they’ll stop at nothing even if it means putting their own hard-won freedom at risk to save chicken-kind. This time, they’re breaking in!” The movie stars Thandiwe Newton (Ginger), Zachary Levi (Rocky), Bella Ramsey (Molly), Imelda Staunton (Bunty), and more.

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget will begin streaming on Netflix on December 15.

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