6 Questions We Still Have About Captain Marvel

6 Questions We Still Have About Captain Marvel

We are just a few days away from the release of a brand new Marvel movie. Thanks to critics, we have an idea of Captain Marvel's quality, and it's tracking for a massive $100 million domestic opening, with some analysts going as high as $135 million. But there's still a whole bunch that we don't know about Captain Marvel. Those answers aren't going to come to us until Thursday night, but we can't help lingering on the mysteries.

Marvel has gotten pretty good at keeping its cards close to the chest for its blockbusters; It wouldn't even share the title of Avengers: Endgame until last December. That secrecy extends to Captain Marvel, which has a few mysteries involving characters names, origins and the true nature of a certain cat. Things are bound to leak, but unless it's been confirmed by Marvel, then it doesn't really count. Here are the six big questions we still have about Captain Marvel.

How Does Carol Get Her Powers?

Captain Marvel is an origin story, but it bucks the trend by starting with a fully-formed superhero. The twist is that Carol doesn't remember how she got her powers, and it's an answer she (and the audience) will discover throughout the film. That's a nice way to ditch the origin story formula, and at the moment we are left guessing as to how she learned to shoot photon blasts. There aren't too many hints, but footage has shown Carol during her years as pilot getting caught in an explosion that's likely related to the Kree. In the comics, a blast of Kree DNA is what gives Carol her tremendous powers, so we'll see if that's still the case for the film.

How Does Carol End Up On Hala?

Captain Marvel was raised on Earth, but she somehow finds herself on an elite team of warrior heroes for the Kree. Carol lives on the homeworld of the Kree, known as Hala, which is maybe trillons of light years away from Earth. One would figure that the Kree took her under their wing after whatever incident grants her her powers. It's pretty significant when you just move to a new state, so a new planet is a pretty far leap. With Carol's amnesia, I have to wonder if her relocation was entirely her choice to begin with. Given that Carol doesn't know anything about her past, that increases the chances that the Kree haven't been entirely truthful to her.

Why Does Captain Marvel Have Amnesia?

Well, this woman is just a regular bag of mysteries, right? The reason that Carol doesn't know the origin of her powers or of her time on Earth is because she has amnesia. An incident with the Skrulls sends her back to Earth in search of answers, which are likely to be a big revelation. It's possible that the incident that gave her powers also caused the amnesia or that her memories were hidden by the Kree to cover something up. Amnesia is usually a pretty suspicious thing to have and I doubt it's a random side effect of her powers. At least a good chunk of the film will be devoted to Carol piecing together the remnants of her past.

How Will Nick Fury Lose His Eye?

You know that joke in Hot Tub Time Machine where the guy is destined to lose his arm, and you just keep waiting for some horrible accident to take it from him? That's what I'm going to feel like watching young Nick Fury in Captain Marvel. Nick Fury's eye patch is an iconic part of his look, but he hasn't yet lost an eye when he first meets Carol Danvers in the '90s. There's no way that we aren't going to see him lose the eye, so it's just a matter of how. Fury once said it was because he trusted someone, so could a shape-shifted Skrull be the cause? Another important question with Fury is how this experience leads him to become the always-prepared Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. we know best.

What Are the Skrulls After?

The center of the conflict of Captain Marvel is the centuries-old war between the Kree and the shapeshifting Skrulls. Captain Marvel and Earth will be right in the middle of this conflict, and the Skrulls have been billed as the main villains of the movies. We can see a group of them on Earth led by Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), but their ultimate objective is unclear. Are they looking for Carol? If so, then why? Is there some kind of MacGuffin on Earth to turn the war in their favor? They must have a reason for infiltrating the planet and it might be leading to a major comic book storyline called Secret Invasion for further down the road.

Is This Cat An Alien Or What?

Finally, we get to the most important question! Goose the cat may seem like an ordinary cat, and for all we know he will be, but comic book fans know that he's more than what he seems. In the comics, Goose -- actually called Chewie -- is an alien that just looks like a cat, but on the inside it's got a bunch of purple tentacles for swallowing people whole. The alien species is called Flerken, they lay eggs and are generally really weird. There's been no indication that's the case for the movie, but given how much the cat has been involved in the marketing, it might just be a secret alien.

So, clearly, there's still a lot that we don't know about Captain Marvel. Carol Danvers is a ball of secrets wrapped inside of an enigma waiting to be unpackaged by moviegoers. Marvel has become so skilled at secret-keeping over the past decade that it can build hype for their films by barely telling us anything. At least we don't have to wait too much longer for the answers to finally be revealed because the movie is out in theaters on March 8. But seriously, that cat better be an alien.

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During Clueless Cast Reunion, Paul Rudd Finally Explained Why He Never Ages

During Clueless Cast Reunion, Paul Rudd Finally Explained Why He Never Ages

Clueless came out in 1995, and it has become a running joke that Paul Rudd -- who will turn 50 on April 6, yes, 50! -- simply does not age. The cast of Clueless just reunited for a panel at Chicago's C2E2 expo. Paul Rudd (Josh) ended up a main attraction, after he arrived a little bit late, sitting next to co-stars Alicia Silverstone (Cher Horowitz), Breckin Meyer (Travis Birkenstock), and Donald Faison (Murray).

During the panel, Ant-Man star Paul Rudd was asked about the recent death of Stan Lee, and told a wonderful story. Rudd was also asked about his own apparent lack of aging, and had a great response, with backup from Breckin Meyer:

Paul Rudd: I'm 80-years-old on the inside. It's a mess underneath all this.

Breckin Meyer: On the set of Clueless they would come and they would get us like 20 minutes before set, and then on Paul's trailer they would knock like an hour beforehand because he had to finish sucking the lifeblood out of the babies he takes in order to maintain [his youth], and then he was camera-ready.

Paul Rudd: Hey, it's a tough business.

As IF the rest of the cast has aged much in the past 24 years either.

Thanks to Danielle Solzman for asking that question during C2E2, and sharing more of the context around his answer. This next one is great, with Ant-Man star Paul Rudd talking about "the real thrill" of meeting and working with Marvel icon Stan Lee for his cameo:

One of the things that I will always treasure was when we were working on the first movie and he did his cameo, he showed up and it was like the president showed up. Everyone on the crew, we were all kind of starstruck and reverential. He couldn't have been sweeter to everybody. Then he stayed and watched a bit of the scene. We were sitting and he was telling me how happy he was that Ant-Man was being made into a film....

Paul Rudd's story continued, and you can watch in a fan's full video below. Rudd said Stan Lee was excited to see his vision of Ant-Man from the comic book finally play out on screen.

Very sweet. Since it was a Clueless panel, they did talk some Clueless. @ClareKramer was there with some great live feed Q&A reactions. Here's one funny exchange:

Of course, Paul Rudd was partly a focus of attention because there's so much hype for Avengers: Endgame, and he seems to be a major player in what happens. Ant-Man and the Wasp ended up a key bridge between Infinity War and Endgame with the Quantum Realm factor, and we'll have to see how it all plays out when Endgame opens April 26. That hugely anticipated movie is just one of the many titles heading to the big screen in 2019.

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Why Movie Franchise Fatigue Isn’t Really Happening, According To One Theater CEO

Why Movie Franchise Fatigue Isn’t Really Happening, According To One Theater CEO

If you’ve been to the movies in recent years, it’s hard to miss the fact that the film industry -- particularly domestically but also internationally -- has heavily relied on franchise content, returning to stories, universes and characters that breed familiarity and (often) fond feelings. However, at the same time, there is a faction of people who are vocal about not wanting interconnected franchises, and there are common gripes about the proliferation of remakes and reboots as well.

If you ask Jane Hastings, however, movie franchise fatigue isn’t really a thing. At least, not yet.

Speaking during an event at CinemaCon 2019, Jane Hastings, CEO & Managing Director, Event Hospitality & Entertainment Ltd. spoke out about the biggest movies of 2018, noting that all of them were in some ways continuations of popular franchises.

She said at CinemaCon that box office year over year has shown that franchise fatigue isn’t really a thing and that the audience still has an appetite for the larger budget franchise movies, noting,

Regardless, if a franchise is new, if it’s good, if it’s quality, it will work… So, we’re in good shape. Why? Because people always want to be entertained.

Citing 2018’s box office as evidence, Jane Hastings also mentioned the top five movies in the past year were all returns to worlds and characters that have found love with audiences in prior years and movies.

The five biggest movies last year were as follows:

Avengers: Infinity War

Black Panther

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Incredibles 2

Aquaman (With a late release date, this box office also led into 2019)

It’s not just franchise movies that are absolutely dominating the box office, but bigger movies in general. Last year, a whopping 83% of movie box office totals came from “the majors,” or what Janes Hasting cites as the biggest budget movies with the most oomph in terms of budget and advertising from the major studios.

This means that fewer titles are actually contributing to more of the box office intake than happened in the past within the theater and movie industries. It's a trend that should continue into 2019 as there are a slew of franchise movies set to launch this year from the major studios. This includes but is definitely not limited to Avengers: Endgame, Godzilla: King of The Monsters, Frozen 2, Hobbs and Shaw, Jumanji 3 and plenty more.

Looking at two of the biggest movies of last year, Black Panther and Aquaman, both are origin stories, yet they do fall within the larger Marvel and DC comics universes. They are part of a bigger picture, and despite only having one solo appearance, the character of T’Challa, for example, has already made three big screen appearances so far. The trajectory is similar for Jason Momoa’s Aquaman character. Both origin flicks also have a lot of additional stuff in common, including making over a billion dollars internationally and easily earning greenlights for Black Panther 2 and Aquaman 2.

So, people are still clearly seeing these franchise movies, and Jane Hastings cites an increase in connecting with fans and creating good products as to why franchise fatigue isn’t really a thing.

It's not like every franchise movie that comes out is great. The same is true of original movies, which run the gamut from good to bad. There may come a point when we've hit franchise fatigue, too. Sort of like how some long-running TV shows go on a little too long and a percentage of the audiences loses interest after a while. Clearly we aren't there with Marvel or DC content yet, but we have seen recent Transformer movies do less well than their predecessors. When that happened, Paramount pivoted and gave us Bumblebee, a spinoff that renewed interest in the franchise.

It's also true that every franchise has to start somewhere, and there are still a lot of studios pushing out interesting and new content at all budget levels. We will get plenty of original movies this year, ranging from Once Upon A Time In Hollywood to Artemis Fowl. Then again, with the latter, there is presumably the hope of a franchise given the large number of books to draw from; Disney will just have to wait and see how the box office pans out.

So, if you were hoping for more original movies – at least of the big budget variety in the future – the box office itself is telling a different story. Which leads me to the question: Do you agree? Has box office intake taken over quality or have franchises managed to create engaging stories with familiar characters and universes?

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Will Ferrell And Adam McKay Are Breaking Up, Creatively, After 13 Years

Will Ferrell And Adam McKay Are Breaking Up, Creatively, After 13 Years

Like Detectives Gamble and Hoitz, racers Ricky Bobby and Cal Naughton Jr., newspeople Ron Burgundy and Veronica Corningstone, and stepbrothers Brennan Huff and Dale Doback, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay have been an unstoppable team, finding success in Hollywood for over a decade. But all good things must come to an end, and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are breaking up, creatively.

The two men have decided to go their separate ways for future creative endeavors, thus ending a creative partnership that has lasted 13 years. Together Will Ferrell and Adam McKay formed the comedy generating production company Gary Sanchez, which spawned a spinoff company, the female-centric Gloria Sanchez. Those Paramount-based production companies will see through development and completion of their existing projects, but will probably be winding down as Will Ferrell and Adam McKay move on to new things.

In a statement released to Deadline, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay confirmed the split while ending things on a thankful and positive note. The statement reads:

The last 13 years could not have been more enjoyable and satisfying for the two of us at Sanchez Productions. We give massive thanks to our incredible staff and executives and all the writers, directors and actors we worked with through the years. The two of us will always work together creatively and always be friends. And we recognize we are lucky as hell to end this venture as such.

Although they may be breaking up from their formal creative partnership, this parting is not an unhappy one, as the two seem to be quite thankful and proud of the time they spent together and projects they worked on. This is not an acrimonious split, but an amicable and mutual decision. While their business relationship is coming to an end, their personal one is not, and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay remain close friends.

This isn’t the end of their work together either. As they say in their statement, they will continue to work together creatively. The two still have a huge slate of shared projects, so although this is the end of one chapter of the Ferrell/McKay partnership, we may still see Adam McKay and Will Ferrell’s name in the credits of future movies (fingers crossed Step Brothers 2 will reunite them one day).

The two have begun to diverge in their creative pursuits, with Adam McKay moving more towards politically charged films, like last year’s Vice, while Will Ferrell continues with the more traditional comedy fare that has made him a household name. As far as the future is concerned, the details are still being worked out, but both Ferrell and McKay will explore new endeavors and projects individually, and they are each expected to form new ventures for their post-Gary Sanchez careers.

So ends a partnership that is probably best measured in the number of laughs delivered. In addition to collaborating as producers on films like Daddy’s Home, Adam McKay directed Will Ferrell in a slew of modern comedy classics, including Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Anchorman and Anchorman 2, The Other Guys and Step Brothers.

Will Ferrell will next be onscreen later this year in James Franco’s long-delayed Zeroville, a star-studded film about Hollywood in 1969, not to be confused with Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which is also a star-studded film about Hollywood in 1969. That should make for an interesting double feature.

After his multiple Oscar nominations for Vice, Adam McKay is next attached to direct Bad Blood, another ripped-from-the-headlines story, this one about biotech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes. The film is supposed to star Jennifer Lawrence and Will Ferrell is also attached as a producer.

Check out our 2019 release schedule to keep track of all the movies coming to theaters this year, and let us know your favorite Will Ferrell and Adam McKay film in the comments below.

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Richard Madden As The Next James Bond? Rocketman Star On His 'Flattering' Odds

Richard Madden As The Next James Bond? Rocketman Star On His 'Flattering' Odds

Now that the new Batman has been found in the form of Robert Pattinson (probably), it's time to turn to another pop culture icon with casting rumors: James Bond. Daniel Craig is reprising the role for the final time, but that hasn't stopped people from speculating on who will pay James Bond in the next movie. One of the most popular rumors has been Richard Madden, and while the actor is flattered by the speculation, he denied being up for the part.

Ever since Daniel Craig famously said he'd rather "slit his wrists" than make another James Bond movie after the release of Spectre, rumors have run rampant about who the next Bond could be. Names have included Tom Hiddleston, Tom Hardy, and Idris Elba, but Richard Madden has become a recent favorite for the iconic spy.

Daniel Craig is evidently not slitting his wrists and will play Bond one last time in Bond 25, but after that it's anyone's game. Madden's name is once again popping up as a potential candidate, but the actor is (predictably) denying any intention to play the character.

Richard Madden might be an unfamiliar name to some, but fans will most likely recognize him from his work on Game of Thrones as Robb Stark. The actor also proved his action chops in the acclaimed BBC series Bodyguard, which helped add fuel to the James Bond fire. Madden can be seen in the upcoming Elton John biopic Rocketman, which premiered at Cannes this week to rave reviews.

Richard Madden was at Cannes this week promoting Rocketman, and it didn't take long for someone to ask him a James Bond question. One journalist told him that the odds of him playing James Bond increased 2-1, and the white suit that Madden wore on the red carpet certainly put James Bond in people's minds (via Variety). Here's what Madden said:

It’s very flattering to be involved in that conversation at all, but it’s all just talk, and I’m sure next week it’ll be someone different.

Well, he's not wrong that someone else will inevitably be the next rumor, but it's not like Richard Madden would be able to give any definitive answers if he were up for the part. However, Madden is also up for a lead role in Marvel's Eternals, which would presumably take up most of his time.

Thankfully, his Rocketman co-star Taron Egerton was there to have some fun with the situation. After Richard Madden gave his answer, Egerton starting humming the iconic James Bond theme, which got a good laugh from from Madden.

It's unclear who will play the next James Bond, but lets not put the cart before the horse. We still have to deal with Bond 25, which is slated to release in theaters on April 8, 2020. That's less than a year away, but you can keep yourself occupied with our 2019 movie release guide.

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Wait, Is Avengers: Endgame Getting An Intermission Internationally?

Wait, Is Avengers: Endgame Getting An Intermission Internationally?

One of the most talked about aspects of Avengers: Endgame has been the film's length. It clocks in at over three hours long, which has many people wondering how they're going to withstand it, sitting in a theater for that long, not really wanting to take a break for fear of missing anything. It turns out this might only be a problem domestically, as Avengers: Endgame may be getting an intermission in other countries.

The above image purportedly comes from a screening of Avengers: Endgame which recently took place in Italy, the film opened there on April 24. It appears that if you see the film in cinemas there, there is a five minute intermission inserted into the film.

This is something that a lot of people in North America would probably like to see. A five minute break to run to the bathroom or go get more snacks or just to stretch your legs would not be out of line. There are certainly going to be people who need to use the bathroom but aren't going to want to leave the theater for fear of missing something important in a movie that has built up over the last 11 years.

Intermissions aren't entirely unheard of in film, but they haven't been common in recent years. Films like Gone with the Wind and Lawrence of Arabia had intermissions built into them. Many films around three hours long did decades ago.

The most recent film with an intermission that I can recall was Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, though that was only included as part of the longer "Road Show" version of the film. I found it a nice break, and it was structured in such a way that it helped add to the tension of the story. You had a few extra minutes to wonder what was going to happen next before you saw the result. Certainly, such a thing could certainly happen with Avengers: Endgame. And if we're all here for over three hours, what's an extra five or ten minutes?

It's unclear how widespread this phenomenon is. It could be just Italy, or even just this one theater, that has added the intermission, but it certainly wouldn't be surprising to see other places do something similar.

While movies, especially of the epic blockbuster variety, are routinely breaking the two hour mark these days, a movie hitting three hours is still a fairly rare occurrence. It's just a long time and it's a potentially difficult thing to juggle. On the one hand, you don't want to go to the bathroom in the middle, so maybe you forego food and drink before the film. But then again, you don't want to be distracted by your own hunger during the movie, so maybe food is needed.

Some places may get an extra break, but it won't be happening here, so if you're prepping for Avengers: Endgame tonight, be ready for three straight hours of sitting. Hopefully the chair is comfortable.

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Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Is Opening Earlier That We Thought, But There's A Catch

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Is Opening Earlier That We Thought, But There's A Catch

Fans of Star Wars and Disney have been waiting to experience the galaxy far, far away for themselves when Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge finally opens at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. We knew the land was coming this year, but you can't book your hotel room without an exact date. Now we have it. At a Walt Disney Investor Meeting this morning Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that Galaxy's Edge will open earlier than anticipated, at Walt Disney World on August 29 and at Disneyland May 31. However, not all parts of the land will be up and running on opening day.

Previously, the Disneyland version of the land was set to open in the summer, so Disney is getting more than a month jump on that date. Walt Disney World is doing even better. It was given an opening date of late fall 2019, but now it will be opening before the summer ends. However, the Rise of the Resistance attraction will not be open on day one apparently at either location. It will open later in the year as part of a second phase of the land.

There had not been any discussion of Galaxy's Edge being opened in two phases previously. We fully expected both big E-ticket attractions to be up running when the land opened. However, it sounds like the Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run attraction will be ready to go earlier, so it was either let the one ride sit idle while Disney waited for the other, or open with the land with one ride and wait for the other.

There will also be an additional catch at Disneyland. anybody wanting to visit the land between opening day and June 23 will need to make a "no-cost reservation." In order to get a reservation, you need to book a room at one of the three Disneyland hotels.

It isn't necessarily all that shocking that Rise of the Resistance is taking a bit longer. Based on the details revealed last week, the scope of the attraction is just physically massive. You can only work so fast when you have to build full size AT-ATs and realistic hallways inside Star Destroyers.

When phase two is expected to open was not revealed on the investor call. It's possible, even likely, that we could see Rise of the Resistance opening closer to the original Galaxy's Edge opening windows, so sometime this summer at Disneyland and in the fall at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

To get you that much more excited a new teaser with the official dates was also released. Check it out below.

Of course, the biggest downside may be that this means the lines for Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run are going to be that much longer on opening day, and every day until Rise of the Resistance opens. With only the one big attraction available, everybody will be waiting for it.

Still, for those people who just want to be there on day one, you now know which day that will be. I'm sure a lot of people are making Disney hotel reservations right now since we finally know which days to make them for. Will you be getting to Galaxy's Edge on day one, or waiting for phase two? Let us know in the poll below.

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The Unexpected Challenge That Came With Creating The Portals For Avengers: Endgame

The Unexpected Challenge That Came With Creating The Portals For Avengers: Endgame

Warning: SPOILERS for Avengers: Endgame are ahead!

We’d already seen magical portals created in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before Avengers: Endgame, but not on this massive a scale. After Hulk brought those who were dusted at the end of Avengers: Infinity War back to life, Doctor Strange and his fellow sorcerers created gigantic portals to transport those MCU heroes and their numerous allies to the battlefield where Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the others were already engaged with Thanos and his forces.

This portals sequence definitely ranked as one of the most epic moments in Avengers: Endgame, but just as you probably imagined, it was a huge effort to pull off. As Weta Digital visual effects supervisor Matt Aiken told me when I recently interviewed him, the massive size of the portals required he and his team to tackle creating them differently than how that task had been carried out in past movies. Aiken explained:

… Just in terms the technicalities in terms of achieving them, we’ve got portals on a much larger scale than they've ever been seen before. So our simulation team had to find a recipe that would recognizably be… we need to know that this is Doctor Strange’s portals that we're seeing here. They need to feel like the same because they've been seen on a more human scale in the past, but they all had to be optimized because we've got shots of many, many portals. So they would have been prohibitive to generate and render that if we just used the original technique out of the box.

Creating portals is one of those most useful spells a sorcerer can conjure in the MCU, but until Avengers: Endgame, we only saw Doctor Strange and others creating portals big enough to transport one or a couple people. For Endgame, the portals needed to be large enough for armies to walk through with ease. That makes for quite the visual spectacle, but for the VFX crew, it required them to rethink the process of bringing these portals ‘to life’ while still making them feel like what’s been shown before.

But it wasn’t just the size of the portals that posed a challenge in Avengers: Endgame. It was also showing the locations that these individuals were coming from, whether it be somewhere else on Earth or a planet on the other side of the galaxy. Matt Aiken continued:

And then we’ve got the challenge of creating all the worlds that we see inside the portals as well, because these are all these CG environments, there’s no filmed elements inside the portals, and that’s necessary because we need to film those environments with the same camera move that we're filming the ruined Avengers compound on the other side of the portal because everything has to lock together and parallax. And so recreating the fields outside the city in Wakanda, we’re creating New Asgard, we’ve got Kamar-Taj for the sorcerers and Contraxia for the Ravagers. We even got a few shots that where we’re just in deep space, and we've got Ravagers coming out on their sky cycles. And then of course there’s Titan itself, we’ve got that in a few shots as well. That was an opportunity for us to go back to a place that we spent quite a lot of time at last year.

The Marvel characters who were dusted wasted no time banding together once they were brought back to life five years later, and while I’m still curious how they were able to coordinate efforts so quickly, they arrived just in the knick of time from all corners of the universe. It sounds like this sequence wouldn’t have been possible had the Avengers: Endgame team relied on recreating the actual sets of these other MCU locations, but through CG manipulation, it was a much easier, but still ambitious endeavor.

Needless to say that had all those reinforcements not arrived through the magical portals, the heroes we’d been following along with since the beginning of Avengers: Endgame would have been pulverized by Thanos and his minions, who came from 2014 to invade Earth thanks to 2014 Nebula disguising herself as her 2023 self and opening up the Quantum Realm for them. However, even with these extra bodies, the battle didn’t automatically shift in the heroes’ favor.

It wasn’t until Tony Stark swiped the Infinity Stones from 2014 Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet, put them in his own nanotech Infinity Gauntlet and snapped his fingers that the bad guys were defeated. Sadly, such a move is too much for a normal human to handle, and the man we watched fight evil as Iron Man for over a decade died soon after. Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow, met her demise earlier in Avengers: Endgame, and while he survived to the end of the movie (albeit much older), Steve Rogers’ story also wrapped up, as he passed on the Captain America mantle to Sam Wilson, a.k.a. Falcon.

The MCU isn’t wrapping up anytime soon, but it’ll probably be a long time before we see a battle of this scale again. The portals sequence was a cool way to set up the final leg of Avengers: Endgame’s climax; it’s hard to imagine all those heroes arriving on the scene in a more powerful way. The music, as if often the case with movies, also helped the moment emotionally resonate more.

For those of of you who are looking to experience more proper sorcery in the MCU, you’ll get that in spades whenever Doctor Strange 2 arrives, and perhaps some other movies coming down the pipeline will find a way to incorporate magic. Regardless, at least we know that if there’s ever a need to transport crowds of back-up into a messy conflict, Doctor Strange and his cohorts are on the job.

There’s still plenty of time to re-watch Avengers: Endgame in theaters, and while a Blu-ray/DVD release date hasn’t been announced yet, the movie will premiere on Disney+ December 11. If you’re wondering what’s coming up next in the MCU, head over to our Marvel movies guide for that information. If you’d rather learn what non-Marvel content is on the way later this year, look through our 2019 release schedule.

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Sad News, Aunt May Turned To Dust From Thanos’ Infinity War Snap

Sad News, Aunt May Turned To Dust From Thanos’ Infinity War Snap

Just your friendly neighborhood writer giving you the heads up that there are SPOILERS ahead for Avengers: Endgame.

Avengers: Endgame may have offered the universe some much-needed avenging, but there’s still a lot to be addressed about what’s next for many of the MCU's characters after the snap. When things pick up next with Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Far From Home, we’ll learn more about the fallout of Thanos’ Infinity War with the Avengers, including the new dynamic between the dusted and the those who have lived five years without them.

According to a recent Fandango interview with Far From Home director Jon Watts, we have some clarity about the fate of Aunt May prior to the upcoming Spidey film. Here’s what he said:

She disappeared and came back.

It looks like Marisa Tomei’s May suffered the same fate as her nephew. Strangely enough, this is probably preferable to if she’d survived, because she would then be mourning Peter following the previous death of Uncle Ben if she had. How heartbreaking! Directors Joe and Anthony Russo said in an interview last year that she had survived, but during the making of Far From Home, things changed.

Jon Watts also teased how the Spider-Man movie will tie into Endgame with these words:

So many things happened in Endgame, but you don't see any of the fallout. So I used Peter Parker/Spider-Man as an opportunity to get that ground-level perspective to show you what it would look like if all these crazy things had happened. What would day-to-day life be? If you were snapped away, you’d have to work backwards and retake your midterms.

The biggest way Endgame shifts the Spider-Man sequel is he’ll be going to high school in a world where half of his past classmates now have an age gap with him, and Watts has confirmed that Far From Home will definitely be addressing this. Looking at this through the world of Peter Parker’s story arc is a great choice to because he’s the most ground-level hero dealing with everyday life as a student in NYC.

Jon Watts said Far From Home will pick up almost immediately after Endgame and deal with the implications of the Infinity Saga culmination. In addition to Peter and May, it looks like Ned, Michelle Jones, Flash Thompson and Betty Brant were victims of the snap as well since they don’t look like they got older and will be going on a class trip to Europe.

Additionally, it looks like Peter will be dealing with the death of his mentor Tony Stark and a new exciting addition to the MCU: the multiverse. According to the recent trailer, one of the Infinity Stones-powered snaps ripped a hole in the universe, bringing in a much nicer Mysterio than comic book fans remember, as well as the Elementals. The film will wrap up Phase 3 when it hits theaters on July 2.

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Charlie Says Trailer Debuts Matt Smith's Charles Manson

Charlie Says Trailer Debuts Matt Smith's Charles Manson

Is Matt Smith in Star Wars: Episode IX or isn’t he? I suppose we’ll have to wait until that film’s first trailer or its December release to know for sure, but in the meantime, the former Doctor Who star will definitely be showing up in Charlie Says, where he plays someone who unquestionably belongs to the dark side. Take a look below to see the trailer for Charlie Says and see the debut of Matt Smith’s Charles Manson.

Charles Manson doesn’t show up for almost a minute into this trailer, but his presence is felt from the start as we see some of what befell those who followed him into the darkness. When Matt Smith appears as the cult leader, he really looks the part: bearded, longhaired and charming, and along with Hannah Murray’s Leslie Van Houten, we see the appeal of what he’s selling and how he roped people in.

The kumbaya lovefest he is pitching bears quite the resemblance to Chris Hemsworth's character in Bad Times at the El Royale, so you can see from whom that film took its inspiration. That lovefest turns as the things Manson is saying begin to have seriously dark connotations. When Grace Van Dien’s Sharon Tate opens the door and Charles Manson is just standing there, Matt Smith, more known for his roles as good guys, gives off some seriously creepy vibes.

Matt Smith has a magnetic presence and that is crucial to this film that will explore both how Charles Manson convinced people to kill for him in the first place and the powerful hold he had on these women long after they were sent to prison for their crimes. He can’t just be a crazy creep, we have to be drawn in by the actor’s portrayal and see how he appealed to his followers and they wanted to believe in him.

The book The Long Prison Journey of Leslie van Houten: Life Beyond the Cult, written by Karlene Faith (here played by The Walking Dead’s Meritt Wever, serves as inspiration for Charlie Says. That gives this film an interesting perspective as it looks at these women who committed horrible crimes as victims themselves, who made excuses and rationalized their behavior as a result of Charles Manson’s manipulation and their loyalty to him.

We see that in this trailer, especially with Sosie Bacon's Patricia Krenwinkel clinging to something that captivated her not wanting to take responsibility or acknowledge the truth. Also, Hannah Murray looks to be giving quite the performance as Leslie Van Houten as she come to grips with the truth of what she did and who Charles Manson was years later.

Charlie Says comes from director Mary Harron who created one of the staples of the serial killer genre in American Psycho. Most recently Harron directed episodes of Netflix’s Alias Grace.

Since 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Manson murders, Charlie Says is just one of the cinematic looks at the notorious crimes that both puzzle and fascinate to this day. Actress Hilary Duff stars in The Haunting of Sharon Tate, due out April 5, and the second season of Netflix’s Mindhunter will also feature Charles Manson. In an interesting twist, the actor starring as the cult leader in Mindhunter, Damon Herriman, will also play Manson in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Charlie Says arrives in theaters on May 10 and on VOD a week later on May 17. Check out our 2019 release schedule to keep track of all the biggest movies headed your way this year.

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Samuel L. Jackson Confirms Sequel The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard Is Finally In Production

Samuel L. Jackson Confirms Sequel The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard Is Finally In Production

We’re only two films in to Samuel L. Jackson’s especially stacked 2019 and the prolific actor is already hard at work making sure he’ll be lighting up the silver screen for years to come. In 2020, the actor will star in The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, the sequel to the 2017 action-comedy The Hitman’s Bodyguard, which starred Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds. Now, the busy actor has confirmed The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is finally in production. Take a look:

This image confirms The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is now in production and shooting in Croatia, the European country where Game of Thrones spent so much time and that also served as Canto Bight in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. It may technically be work, but as you can see from Samuel L. Jackson’s Instagram photos, the picturesque country on the Adriatic Sea is lovely and definitely not a bad place to be filming a fun action movie.

Croatia won’t be the only place The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard shoots though. The sequel will also be filming in London and Italy, giving the action sequel even more international, European flavor after the first film shot in London, The Netherlands and Bulgaria. Ryan Reynolds’ Michael Bryce and Samuel L. Jackson’s Darius Kincaid won’t just be sightseeing or going on a vacation in Europe, they’ll actually be trying to save it.

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard will find Michael Bryce attempting to live a peaceful life after the events in the last film where notorious hitman Darius Kincaid and his wife, Salma Hayek’s Sonia, drag him in to their mission to cause chaos on Italy’s Amalfi Coast that is somehow meant to help save Europe. Needless to say, Ryan Reynolds’ character will once again find himself with a difficult job and even more difficult clients.

The first Hitman’s Bodyguard earned $176.6 million worldwide back in 2017, sitting atop the domestic box office for three straight weeks from August to early September. On a modest $30 million budget, that made it a big enough of a hit to warrant a sequel, a sequel that looks to be upping the ante by putting together an impressive cast.

In addition to the delightful returning cast of Samuel L. Jackson, Ryan Reynolds, Salma Hayek and Richard E. Grant, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard will also star Antonio Banderas, Frank Grillo and, in his first ever film with Samuel L. Jackson, Morgan Freeman. The sequel also recently added Tom Hopper, who you may know from Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, Starz’ Black Sails or as the riotously named Dickon Tarly in Game of Thrones.

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is expected to arrive in theaters in 2020. There’s plenty to see before then though and you can check it all out in our 2019 release schedule. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for all the latest movie news.

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7 Period Movies Marvel Should Make In The Future

7 Period Movies Marvel Should Make In The Future

As long as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to exist it will consistently produce contemporary stories – but it’s been shown that the occasional period piece can be a real treat for audiences. We’ve only really seen a couple of examples from the franchise so far, including Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger and Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel, but there are few that would disagree that the details in the settings and aesthetics of those features set them apart from the 20-plus other offerings from Marvel Studios.

Obviously period storytelling presents some specific challenges for a continuity-centric franchise, as filmmakers have to create explanations for keeping characters around for decades, and reasons why audiences haven’t previously heard about the adventures. All the same, they present flavorful stylistic opportunities that can be incredibly fun to explore. This in mind, we’ve taken a trip back through history (skipping the already-done 1940s and 1990s), and formulated ideas for potential new Marvel big screen stories – starting with the decade that everything started with Timely Comics…

1930s – Namor The Submariner

One could make the argument that Marvel Comics was built on the backs of three heroes: Captain America, Human Torch (the android, not Johnny Storm), and Namor The Submariner. They were among the first heroes introduced in the aforementioned Timely Comics, and their pages helped shape the superhero world as we know it. The first two have appeared in the MCU – the former as a primary hero, the latter as an Easter egg in Captain America: The First Avenger – but, sadly, certain rights complications have prevented us from seeing a big screen version of Namor. Right now we don’t know what the future will hold for the character, but if it were up to us, we would get to see a movie featuring him in the decade he was created: the 1930s.

The DC Extended Universe has already beaten the Marvel Cinematic Universe to the punch when it comes to undersea adventure, as Aquaman is the biggest hit the brand has ever released, but that doesn’t mean a Namor The Submariner movie couldn’t still work. Not only does there still exist plenty of material for land vs. sea conflict, but the early origin could set up the Atlantian King/hero/anti-hero/villain for appearances in some other potential period stories (especially what we have in mind for the 1960s).

1950s – Man-Thing

Superheroes have been a staple of comic books for decades, but during the 20th century there was a lull in their popularity, and one particular genre simultaneously hit its stride. That period was during the late-1940s and early-1950s and the genre was horror. Marvel’s predecessor, Atlas Comics, was deep into this game, scaring audiences with monsters in the pages of Amazing Mysteries and Marvel Tales – and it’s in recognition of this history that the Marvel Cinematic Universe could make an excellent Man-Thing feature.

Not to be confused with DC Comics’ Swamp Thing (which was introduced around the same time), Man-Thing is a creature that lives in the Florida Everglades – formerly a scientist forced to dose himself with his own secret serum while being pursued by terrorists. This could be a very different kind of film for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, specifically an opportunity to dig into a genre that has not yet been explored by the studio, and there is room to be heavily inspired by 1954’s Creature From The Black Lagoon.

1960s – The Fantastic Four

With 20th Century Fox being bought by the Walt Disney Corporation, Marvel Studios will soon have the ability to create their own version of the Fantastic Four, and redeem the big screen legacy of Marvel’s first family. In doing this, the company could certainly go the easy route and introduce them as a team of new heroes ready to join the fight against evil alongside the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy – but if they were to go the period piece route there could be some real fun to be had. (With a hat tip to Peyton Reed – who we very much hope someday gets to execute his vision.)

Like Namor and Captain America, this would be another case where the characters are introduced within the same decade they made their debut on the page, as the Fantastic Four made their debut in 1961. What would be wonderful about this version is not only the possibility of differentiating itself from the previous cinematic adaptations, but also exploring the beautifully weird 1960s sci-fi aesthetic, taking notes from classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Fantastic Voyage, and Planet Of The Apes. As for where the characters have been in the decades since, it’s very easy to believe that they went off on some kind of space exploration mission and never returned, got trapped in another dimension, or somehow got erased from existence because of a time travel incident.

1970s – Blade

Basically being half-vampire, Blade a.k.a. Eric Brooks ages at a much slower rate than most Marvel heroes, which makes him a perfect candidate for period storytelling. It’s very easy to establish that the guy has been hunting the undead for decades without having to recast or use advanced makeup/effects when he makes contemporary appearances. Add in the fact that he was created in 1973 by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan to hunt Dracula, and you have a recipe for an awesome new Marvel Cinematic Universe film.

Like Man-Thing, this is another opportunity for the franchise to dip into the horror genre, and also distance itself from the version of the character we’ve already seen from a different continuity. Given the era, perhaps this version of Blade could have the affection of being like Shaft with vampire hunting – maybe even straight-up having him travel to Transylvania to hunt Dracula. In the hands of the right filmmaker that could be a blast.

1980s – The Astonishing Tales Of Ant-Man And The Wasp

This entry is a bit different than every other one in this feature as it centers on characters with whom we are already familiar. No, I’m not talking about Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne – I’m talking about Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne. Portrayed by Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer, we know from the previous Ant-Man movies that they were spies working together for S.H.I.E.L.D. during the Cold War, and a 1980s-set prequel film titled something along the lines of The Astonishing Tale Of Ant-Man And The Wasp could do exactly that.

One of the “drawbacks” of using established characters is that the project would have to make heavy use of the impressive de-aging technology that Marvel has been employing in recent years, but there’s every reason to be confident that it could be done. After all, not only is the digital work done on Samuel L. Jackson in Captain Marvel absolutely flawless, but we’ve already seen what magic can be done with both Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer in the previous two Ant-Man films.

2000s – She-Hulk

While the first Marvel Studios films were released in 2008 - Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk – technically we have not yet seen a 21st century aughts story in the MCU. Given the way things line up in the continuity, the former is set in 2010, while the latter unfolds in 2011. That on the table, however, a She-Hulk film set during the previous decade may still be possible. After all, fans will remember that the first Hulk story in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not an origin story, and there is a period of four to five years that we don’t know much about in between Bruce Banner’s disastrous gamma experiment and where we first caught up with him. This is where Jennifer Walters’ tale could start.

It is possible that we could meet the future She-Hulk at some point this mystery time, with an accident leading her to get a blood transfusion from her on-the-run cousin, Bruce Banner. The result is that she experiences a different form of his Hulk condition – transforming into a powerful green giant, but keeping her personality and intelligence. Given the trouble Banner experiences as a fugitive, she tries to control her transformations and live a normal life… all while the age of heroes is just about ready to bloom.

2099 – Marvel 2099

Period pieces aren’t necessarily relegated to the past, and Marvel Comics has already provided the movies with an interesting roadmap towards looking at the distant future. Marvel 2099 was an imprint published throughout the 1990s that had writers and artists on a wide variety of books telling stories set approximately 100 years in the future. This included new versions of Spider-Man, the X-Men, Hulk, the Fantastic Four, and more, and all of them could possibly come together in a different kind of Marvel Cinematic Universe event feature.

There is enough existing Marvel 2099 source material that Marvel Studios could use for an entire Phase’s worth of features, but assuming that won’t happen it would be cool to use one massive blockbuster to let audiences peek into the highly advanced world. You could use time travel as an entry point into the story, with a contemporary character being hurtled into the distant year, but from there fans could be introduced to a completely different vision of the MCU that has been altered by all the events that have already been depicted.

What do you think of these ideas? Do you think they would work? Do you have ideas of your own? Hit the comments section below with your thoughts, and check out Captain Marvel in theaters this Friday, March 8th.

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Why Harry Potter Fans Are Now Mocking J.K. Rowling With X-Rated Tweets

Why Harry Potter Fans Are Now Mocking J.K. Rowling With X-Rated Tweets

The Harry Potter fandom has turned on Fantastic Beasts writer J.K. Rowling, however temporarily, after her latest comments on the sexual relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. It doesn't seem to be a torches-and-pitchforks kind of backlash, more of an eyeroll "here she goes again" kind of frustration from fans tired of the author adding extra details on characters outside of the books and movies. Show don't tell, Jo!

Some of the fan tweets tried to make serious points on sexuality and inclusion, and actually practicing what you preach. Like this one:

But most of the tweets tried to make the same points about oversharing and pseudo-representation through jokes, often using the same format -- no one asking anything, followed by J.K. Rowling revealing something pornographic about a Harry Potter character. Like this:

J.K. Rowling was trending over the weekend as fans tried to outdo each other with sex-related jokes, mocking Rowling's habit of revealing new information about characters outside of the books and movies. Her latest comments mentioned a "sexual dimension" to the relationship between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald when they were younger.

Some fans weren't happy because they want to keep sexuality out of the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts stories. But many more fans weren't happy on the opposite side -- because they see it as cheap for J.K. Rowling to keep adding details like this in interviews while never actually putting any real representation in the books or movies. If Dumbledore and Grindelwald had a sexual relationship, why keep talking about it now instead of adding it to the books or making it more clear in the current movie series?

So we get tweets like this:

And this:

It keeps going:

Some fans took the sexuality out of it and just mocked J.K. Rowling's continued changes to canon after finishing the Harry Potter book series:

Some fans did have J.K. Rowling's back, appreciating her latest comments on the sexual relationship between Grindelwald and Dumbledore:

It's too late for J.K. Rowling to write Dumbledore's sexuality into the Harry Potter books, but we are not even halfway through the Fantastic Beasts film series. There are meant to be five films in total, leading up to the duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. Johnny Depp and Jude Law didn't actually share any scenes together in the second movie, but Dumbledore saw Grindelwald's reflection in the Mirror of Erised, showing his greatest desire. Their relationship is still at the heart of the series, and we know they'll have to face off by the end of the franchise.

Fantastic Beasts 3 just delayed production because it's said to be bigger than the previous two films combined. Here's what we know about the movie so far. Keep track of everything headed to theaters this year with our 2019 movie schedule.

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Ron Howard Calls Out 'Trolling' As One Reason For Solo's Disappointing Box Office

Ron Howard Calls Out 'Trolling' As One Reason For Solo's Disappointing Box Office

Now that a full year has passed since Solo: A Star Wars Story hit theaters, fill-in director Ron Howard is sharing his nuanced take of what went right and what went wrong.

He jumped into the mix late in the game, after the departure of directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The box office for the May 2018 movie was huge for Ron Howard, but disappointing by Star Wars' standards, and he knows that. However, he came in eager to help the team, and had a blast in his short experience in the galaxy. A year later, there's even a big push for Solo to get a sequel.

Here's part of Ron Howard answer on whether a Christmas release for Solo would've given it $100 million more than its spring release.

I feel very good about the way it turned out. I love the way it played to audiences, which I witnessed and was a part of. So all of that I'm able to feel good about. Sure, I wish it would've done [better] and lived up to the box office and so forth, so that's disappointing. Why? Maybe it's the release. Maybe it's the idea that it's sort of too nostalgic, going back and revisiting an origin story for a beloved character may not be what the fans were looking for. It kind of seemed to me, looking at it, the opening -- which was big, not as big as the others, it was probably my biggest opening, personally, it was still disappointing to them -- I think those are the hardcore fans. It sort of tells you how many people are tagalongs who need to wait to see what people think and whether it's essential, if it's a zeitgeist movie or not, and whether it's just 'I love Star Wars and I want to see what's next.'

Ron Howard had more to say on that topic on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, but I like his take on core Star Wars fans vs. "tagalongs" -- or casuals -- who wait to see if a movie becomes a major watercooler topic before jumping in with their own time or money. Casual fans sometimes wait for strong reviews from critics (Solo's reviews were middle-of-the-road) but even more often they wait to see fan reactions. They want to hear the buzz, see the audience ratings, scores, and word-of-mouth. (Think Venom.)

When the audience scores for Solo looked lower than usual, and words like "underperformed" and "disappointing" started coming out about the ticket sales, casual/tagalong fans might've come away thinking it was a movie they could safely skip. (The problems behind-the-scenes probably left more than a few fans expecting disaster, making them more wary to spend time and money on the movie.)

Here's more from Ron Howard on that angle, and how "trolling" from fans who hadn't even seen Solo yet may have led the tagalong types to pass on seeing Solo in the theater. Howard knows the pushback against Solo came from several different directions, but also included some Star Wars fans who were upset with Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

So whatever millions [Solo] made worldwide, those were the core fans, but it didn't hit that zeitgeist point, for whatever reason. Timing, young Han Solo, pushback from the previous movie, which I kept hearing was maybe something. And some trolling, definitely some trolling. Some actual aggressive... It was pretty interesting. Not so much, a little bit the Twitter feed, yes, but it was especially noticeable prior to the release of the movie. Several of the algorithms, whether it was Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes, there was an inordinate push down on the 'want to see' and on the fan voting. And when you look at it, it's like 3, 4, 5 -- or whatever the rating is, I forget what the rating is on Rotten Tomatoes, whether it's a scale of 1-5 or 1-10 -- but pretty high, and then a series of 0s or .5s or 1s.

Yeah, Rotten Tomatoes has actually changed the audience score function now, wanting more proof that fans have actually seen the movies before they rate them. Non-fans could rate a movie "0" before it even came out, but that is changing now.

Ron Howard isn't too familiar with that online world, but he said some friends from Silicon Valley explained the algorithms to him and basically let him know Solo was being trolled by fans who were boycotting its existence, in addition to those who did actually watch the movie and just didn't like it. Howard praised young Han Solo star Alden Ehrenreich, who was put in the center of the fray, and noticed the backlash has turned more in favor of the movie a year later:

Under that circumstance, I didn't take it personally at all, but I felt badly. And I thought Alden didn't a really great job, an incredibly talented guy, and dedicated guy, and I had a blast with everybody. And look, a year later, it's kind of interesting, you wouldn't think you'd participate in a Star Wars project and have it be a cult movie, but I can already tell those who have affection for it are pretty adamant in their feelings, and that's nice.

Ron Howard already responded, briefly, to the Solo sequel campaign on Twitter. Is it likely to happen? Maybe. Probably not. The point seems more to show support for the movie, which was clobbered from all sides last year for disappointing the franchise. Now the quieter core fans are speaking up to say they liked Solo, thank you very much, and they would be happy to see the story continue.

Now Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is in the hot seat, as the final movie in the Skywalker Saga, but also the next trilogy movie after Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which divided a fandom that has been debating the merits of every new Star Wars addition since the arrival of Ewoks. The Rise of Skywalker opens in theaters December 20.

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How Candyman's Jordan Peele And Director Nia DaCosta Bonded Through Horror Fandom

How Candyman's Jordan Peele And Director Nia DaCosta Bonded Through Horror Fandom

This past weekend saw the phenomenal release of Jordan Peele’s Us, and the good news for those already hungry for more horror stories from the filmmaker is that he has many irons in the fire. For example, there is the new version of The Twilight Zone that he is producing and hosting for CBS All Access – but on the feature side of things there is the tremendously exciting new take on Candyman that he is making with writer/director Nia DaCosta.

News of DaCosta’s hiring came just a couple months after the announcement about the project’s development late last year, and also just a few months after the world premiere of her feature debut, Little Woods (which played at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival). In the time since, not much has been revealed about the direction of the new Candyman, but while sitting down with DaCosta this past weekend, I learned about a key ingredient in her collaboration with Jordan Peele:

I think something that we connect on a lot was the way we view horror, and our love of horror. I love Candyman, but also just like breaking down what horror is, how it's represented, what it means, and why it's important. I think we really connected on that, and so that's a lot of what our conversations have been about… that I can tell you (laughs). It's been great. He's a wonderful creator, collaborator, human, artist.

With the film set to be released in a few weeks, Little Woods held its Los Angeles press day on Sunday, and it was at the end of my interview with Nia DaCosta and star/executive producer Tessa Thompson that I inquired about the development of her upcoming horror remake. Specifically I asked about the conversations that she had been having with Jordan Peele, and she explained how a shared vision of what horror can do and why it’s effective is really driving their work together on Candyman.

Naturally I felt compelled to follow-up by asking about her philosophy in the genre, and what she stressed was both engaging with the audience, and also telling stories that bring home important messages in subversive ways. It’s a key staple of horror that has existed from the beginning, and a tradition that Nia DaCosta plans to uphold in her venture. Said the filmmaker,

What I like about genres like thrillers, and why I think tensions are important for all movies, including dramas, it's physicalizing what the characters are feeling for the audience. That's really important, and gets the audience to engage and to lean in. And then with horror you can sneak in messages. You know sneak in what you think about the world around you, and how actually horrifying the world is. You get to hide it in these layers. 'This is about a ghost, but really it's about paranoia and a woman's place in the world.' Or, you know, 'This is about a guy meeting his girlfriend's parents, but really it's about... Actually a guy meeting his girlfriend's parents.' (laughs)

Based on a short story by Clive Barker that was first adapted in 1992, Candyman centers on an urban legend that is being investigated by a college student – specifically one about a violent entity who appears and attacks anyone who dares to say his name five times into a mirror. Yahya Abdul-Matten II, who has earned notoriety in recent months thanks to his performance in James Wan’s Aquaman and Jordan Peele’s Us, is currently the only member of the cast, set to play the titular villain.

With Nia DaCosta directing and Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld writing the script, Candyman is currently on track to be released on June 12, 2020 – produced by Monkeypaw Productions and MGM. For those of you who want to get a taste of what DaCosta is bringing to the table as a filmmaker, however, (and I highly recommend that you do), Little Woods is set up with distribution from Neon, and will be getting a limited release starting on April 19th.

For more about the film, and more from my interview with Nia DaCosta and Tessa Thompson, be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend!

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Original Child’s Play Director Co-Signs Mark Hamill’s Casting As Chucky

Original Child’s Play Director Co-Signs Mark Hamill’s Casting As Chucky

The next big horror franchise to get the reboot treatment is Child's Play. Over the weekend at WonderCon it was revealed that the new voice of the killer doll will be none other than Mark Hamill. The remake is currently a somewhat controversial project, but the announcement of Hamill's involvement has received a major endorsement from the co-writer and director of the original film, Tom Holland, who took to Twitter to call the casting a "smart movie."

While Chucky might not be quite in the same league as horror icons like Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger, the homicidal little doll certainly has a devoted fan base, which has been enjoying new Chucky films right up until recently. It's only been two years since the last film in the franchise was released, making the reboot a somewhat surprising decision for many.

Don Mancini, who originally created the character, and co-wrote the screenplay for the first film with Holland, has made it clear that he's less than thrilled with the remake. He's currently working on his own Child's Play TV series, but since he doesn't own the rights to the original movie, the remake is moving forward without him.

Tom Holland, not the Spider-Man guy, who also directed the original Fright Night and wrote Psycho II, has largely remained quiet regarding his feelings about the Child's Play remake. His endorsement of Mark Hamill isn't necessarily an endorsement of the project as a whole. One can certainly agree with a casting choice, even in a movie that you don't care for overall.

And it's unlikely many will take issue with this casting choice. While Mark Hamill will forever be known first as Luke Skywalker, the second thing that he's known for is his career as a voice actor. His most famous role in that regard is as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, which he has gone on to continue in numerous other Batman video games, animated movies, and other series.

Hamill is a great voice actor and there's little doubt he'll create a unique and interesting character with the new Chucky. The trailers haven't given us that good a look at the crazed doll, and his voice was obviously being kept back for a major reveal. Now that we have it, perhaps we'll get a new trailer soon that lets us hear Chucky's new voice.

Fans, especially those that strongly support Child's Play creator Tom Mancini, are likely still withholding judgement. Many like Jennifer Tilly who co-starred in several of the Child's Play sequels, have come out very publicly against the remake. Will the new Chucky be able to sway any of them to give the new movie a chance? We'll have to wait and see.

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