Jesse Eisenberg Explains Why The Zombieland: Double Tap Cast Is Working Extra Hard

Jesse Eisenberg Explains Why The Zombieland: Double Tap Cast Is Working Extra Hard

Aside from superheroes, one of the most popular macguffins in entertainment world are zombies. The undead have captivated audiences since back in 1968's Night of the Living Dead, with endless adaptations coming on both the silver and small screen. While The Walking Dead may have revolutionized zombies for the modern audience, Ruben Fleischer's Zombieland arrived in theaters years before Rick Grimes woke up in the apocalypse.

The zombie comedy hit is finally getting a sequel with Zombieland: Double Tap, which is set to arrive this October. The four leading actors are set to reprise their roles in the highly anticipated follow-up: Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, and Jesse Eisenberg. Eisenberg recently revealed that everyone involved in Double Tap is working especially hard. After joking about phoning it in, he said:

No, the opposite. We’re working so hard. It’s one of these movies that, people loved it for personal reasons. So it’s not just a big hit movie. People love it for personal reasons so you want to make sure it’s as funny and as personal as the other one.

It looks like Jesse Eisenberg and the rest of the Zombieland: Double Tap cast truly understands just how beloved the first movie is. As such, they're taking special care to provide the same mixture of laughs and heart with Ruben Fleischer's sequel.

Jesse Eisenberg's comments to Movieweb will no doubt excite the many fans of the first Zombieland movie. The blockbuster defied genre, and made light out of the zombie apocalypse in a fresh and exciting way, while also making an impressive amount of money in theaters. The years since Zombieland arrived have elevated the project to cult status, so the pressure is on to deliver something as unique and twisted as the first movie.

Director Ruben Fleischer will be back to direct Zombieland: Double Tap, fresh off the massive success of his comic book movie Venom. He brought his same unique tone and vision to that Sony blockbuster, so he should hopefully have the momentum to bring back his zombie franchise to theaters. And with the original cast also returning, the pieces of the puzzle have presumably been set up for a great sequel.

The quartet of returning actors aside, there is some new and exciting talent being brought into the franchise in Zombieland: Double Tap. Newcomers including Rosario Dawson, Silicon Valley's Thomas Middleditch, Luke Wilson, and Zoe Deutch (Why Him?). It's a significantly larger cast than the first film, so it appears the surviving humans will factor heavily into the upcoming film's narrative. While Zombieland was mostly the four people vs the dead, it should be interesting to see how the world has changed since we last saw those returning characters.

Zombieland: Double Tap will arrive in theaters on October 11th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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Palpatine's Return For The Rise Of Skywalker Raises Major Questions

Palpatine's Return For The Rise Of Skywalker Raises Major Questions

At last week’s Star Wars Celebration, we finally got our long-awaited first look at J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode IX in the form of a teaser trailer. From Rey’s lightsaber acrobatics to the return of Lando Calrissian to the intriguing title, the trailer gave us plenty to discuss, but the moment that made Star Wars fans lose their minds came at the end of the Rise of Skywalker trailer when we heard the laugh of franchise villain and presumed dead Sith Lord, Emperor Palpatine.

It was a hell of a tag to end the trailer on, and just so there's no ambiguity, J.J. Abrams confirmed to Empire's James Dyer that Ian McDiarmid's Emperor Palpatine is in the movie. This is incredibly exciting for a Sequel Trilogy that is arguably in need of a truly fearsome villain after the death of Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Yet while this cackling fan service-y reveal seemed to go a long way towards getting everyone amped for Star Wars again, Emperor Palpatine’s return opens up a whole can of worms (or Exogorth space slugs if you prefer).

Both in-story and on a macro level for the franchise as a whole, Palpatine’s return in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker raises major questions that will need to be answered by the time the final credits roll in December. There is a lot to unpack and we may know more as we get closer to the film’s release, but these are some of the most obvious questions that come to mind.

Does Palpatine's Return Diminish The End Of Return Of The Jedi?

Until Disney bought Lucasfilm and announced a new Star Wars trilogy in 2012, 1983’s Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi was presumed to be the chronological end of the franchise. That was fine because that film wraps up the trilogy in a narratively and thematically satisfying way. After years in service to it, Darth Vader rejects the Dark Side and kills Emperor Palpatine. In doing so, he saves the galaxy from the yoke of the Empire and his son Luke from death at the Emperor’s hands. Vader then dies as he was born, as Anakin Skywalker.

There is an argument that no matter what form he returns in, Palpatine’s return in The Rise of Skywalker diminishes that relatively perfect ending. If Darth Sidious still holds some sway in the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker’s redemptive act at the end of Return of the Jedi does not have the same level of consequence. Anakin’s sacrifice still matters, but it does not have the finality that it once did. It is no longer the final victory against that evil, but merely a smaller battle won in an even greater war.

You could say that Vader still saved Luke so that he could one day meet Rey and help her to one day finish Palpatine for good, but it’s not the same. The manner and form of Palpatine’s return will matter a lot as far as how this question will be answered, and the execution must be perfect for this not to feel like a forced return for a villain that already had a great death. If nothing else, the fact that J.J. Abrams consulted with George Lucas about the story is encouraging.

Is He Actually “Alive”?

Just because Ian McDiarmid is definitely in The Rise of Skywalker doesn’t mean that we will see Emperor Palpatine alive and interacting with the Sequel Trilogy characters in the 'present day.' All we've heard is a laugh; we haven't seen him yet. As far as we know, Sith don’t get Force Ghosts, an afterlife trade-off for the spoils they enjoy in the mortal realm. Ian McDiarmid also seemed to indicate that Palpatine is dead, at least to start off the film. Yet there are still ways that he could appear that wouldn’t undo the end of Return of the Jedi.

Emperor Palpatine could still be in the film and play a crucial role even if he isn’t a Force Ghost or resurrected. One possibility is that he could appear in hologram form. If Rey or Kylo came across a Sith Holocron owned by Darth Sidious, Ian McDiarmid’s character could impart knowledge and influence events from beyond the grave. Maybe it’s an arms race between Kylo and a Holocron versus Rey and the Jedi texts. If Palpatine appears via hologram, we would get to see him, but he would still be dead.

Another possibility that is very intriguing is that Palpatine could appear via flashback. The Sequel Trilogy has introduced flashbacks to the Saga and Palpatine flashbacks could provide further insight into this franchise villain. Flashbacks could also be used to answer some of the other questions on this list, like what connections he has to the events taking place in the film’s present.

If He's Alive, How And In What Form?

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has a lot of heavy lifting to do to close out this trilogy and the Skywalker Saga as a whole, and if Darth Sidious returns in physical form, that adds significant weight to that load. This Sequel Trilogy has introduced new wrinkles to the mythology, so maybe being a Force Ghost is on the table, and appearing as a hologram would be easy to do, albeit something of a tease. But an actual physical return would require a lot of explanation.

If Palpatine is alive, as our own Mick Joest suspects, there are several possible explanations. In the jettisoned Expanded Universe, Palpatine had clones made of himself as a safeguard against permanent death. The EU is gone, but Lucasfilm has shown a willingness to cherrypick certain elements from it when needed. Another possibility is that his essence went into some Sith artifact after his body was destroyed, and Kylo Ren discovers it and somehow returns him to life.

There is also the Darth Plagueis elephant in the room. Palpatine indicated to Anakin that Plagueis taught his apprentice everything he knew. Palpatine also told Anakin that he didn't know the secret to saving Padmé. This could have been a lie and Palpatine truly did know how to cheat death like his master before him, but misled Anakin because Padmé would have only divided Anakin’s loyalty. Whatever the reason, we need to know how and why he is back and where he has been this whole time.

Was Palpatine’s Return Always The Plan?

We may never know definitively, but based on things that have been said over the years and the ways in which The Last Jedi diverges drastically from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it kind of looks like there was never a definitive and overarching plan for the Sequel Trilogy. So you could be forgiven for thinking that bringing back Sheev Palpatine in Episode IX is a last minute Hail Mary to unite the fanbase and give the Sequel Trilogy the imposing villain (and path to Kylo’s redemption) it has been lacking.

Speaking with Yahoo’s Kevin Polowy at Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy indicated that Palpatine’s return has been in the works for a while, but they hadn’t decided on how exactly to bring him back. In some ways it makes sense; Palpatine was the big bad in the first two trilogies, so why not have this entire saga be about one family’s multigenerational battle against this one great evil. That may be the case, but it definitely makes you wonder why seeds weren’t really planted in Episode VII or Episode VIII.

Maybe J.J. Abrams is doing things in Episode IX that make Darth Sidious’ influence in the previous two films more obvious in hindsight (flashbacks perhaps?), but there is definitely a question about if there will be enough time to make it all work. If it was the plan all along, the execution will determine its effectiveness.

What Is His Relationship To Snoke And Kylo Ren?

If this were Episode VII, Palpatine could come back with far fewer needles to thread, but as it stands, he is returning in a Sequel Trilogy that has been focused on new, seemingly separate villains. It would be a bit strange to have Palpatine return just for one movie, so I expect The Rise of Skywalker to retroactively hint at his presence and influence throughout this trilogy. That means we need to know his relationship to the other Dark Side users we’ve met, namely Snoke and Kylo Ren.

Those two are supposedly not official Sith, but the distinction is a bit unclear. It would make Sidious look weak (and make us lament Snoke’s death) to find out that he was biding his time waiting for Snoke to fall. You havr to think he had some kind of relationship with Snoke. Maybe the late Supreme Leader was a puppet of Palpatine’s, a proxy while the Emperor worked from the shadows and regained his strength.

There is also a theory that Snoke was Palpatine, i.e. a host body ravaged by the power of the Sith Lord. Snoke’s obsession with Kylo Ren’s Skywalker bloodline and desire to make a new Vader certainly had parallels to Palpatine’s desires to turn Luke. As far as the Knights of Ren are concerned, there was a rumor that they were in “The Beyond” (Unknown Regions?) this whole time and there they encountered a new threat. If true, Palpatine’s spirit could have been out there figuring out how to become even more powerful and he finally revealed himself to the Knights of Ren.

How Do The Heroes Kill Him For Good?

With history’s greatest Sith Lord back to threaten the galaxy once more, and with the Skywalker Saga coming to a close, the heroes only have one movie in which to defeat him, and to bring closure to this saga, he must be completely defeated. But the very fact that he is back when we thought him gone means that killing him will prove quite the task though because if he didn’t perish completely after being vaporized at the end of Return of the Jedi, how do the heroes finish him off for good?

If Palpatine is a Force Ghost, we’d have to hope Luke could defeat him in that realm (this seems unlikely). If his spirit is still lingering in the galaxy, yet not able to take physical form, a la Sauron, Rey, Finn and Poe will have to figure out how to eliminate it. And if he is back in a body and knows how to cheat death, perhaps this will be a Horcrux situation where the heroes need to eliminate artifacts that his spirit could retreat into, so that when he meets his match he will be mortal once more.

One possibility is that Rey could get her Samwell Tarly on by turning to ancient texts to try and find answers to defeating an existential threat. Those sacred Jedi books have to come into play somehow. Maybe they contain a chapter titled ‘How to Kill a Sith For Good’ and finding something to do the trick, the film’s MacGuffin, will be one of the movie’s major plot points and the journey the heroes go on together.

Bringing Emperor Palpatine back shows that J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm are really swinging for the fences to unite the fanbase and end the Skywalker Saga with a bang. To that end, it is obvious that a lot of people are excited about Emperor Palpatine’s return, myself included. However, taking a swing this big is no easy thing, it comes with a lot of questions and potential pitfalls, but if they knock it out of the park it could be incredible. If nothing else, we’ve got plenty to speculate about from now until the next trailer.

Let us know your thoughts on these questions and any we didn’t think of in the comments below. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker blasts into theaters on December 20. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see all the movies you can look forward to before then, and for all the latest Star Wars news, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.

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New John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum Clip Has Him Taking Care Of His Dog, Because Duh

New John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum Clip Has Him Taking Care Of His Dog, Because Duh

Sure, John Wick might be a former hitman with a kill count in the triple digits, but he’s not a bad guy. We know this because of how much he loves his dogs and will do anything to protect them, including literally killing people. Even with the world’s assassins united against him in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, this animal lover will still make sure to take care of his pit bull, because of course he will. Check it out in the clip below:

He may occasionally shoot the wrong people in the wrong places, but John Wick still has his priorities in order, and that means taking care of his unnamed dog just as we’d expect him to. Baba Yaga pays the cab driver a gold coin to take his dog to the concierge at the Continental, thus ensuring his safety. And of crucial importance, John Wick tells his dog that he is a good dog before he goes.

This is incredibly endearing and exactly why we root for John Wick. He’s got an army of highly trained assassins out for his head and he’s worried about his dog. It’s also encouraging because it hopefully means that no harm will come to John Wick’s pit bull in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum since it’s being taken care of at the Continental.

Which makes me wonder, if he is cut off from all Continental services, are dogs the exception, never suffering consequences for their owner’s actions? Or is he still within the 1 hour window and the dog will be grandfathered in to protection? Also, if NYC cabbies are part of this underworld too, who isn’t?

It’s unclear in this clip if John Wick is still within the one hour grace period before the excommunicado order goes into effect that Winston gave him at the end of John Wick: Chapter 2 (it’s nighttime, so I don’t think so), but he is clearly in a race against the clock. So I’m wondering what his plan was.

If he’s still within the time window, maybe he initially thought he could take his dog with him to the New York Public Library and then drop him off at the Continental after and still be within the time window to take advantage of those services. Then when he saw the traffic would be too great a time suck, he opted to take care of his dog now and find a different route to where he has to go.

We’ve seen John Wick riding on horseback through rainy NYC streets, so maybe that comes after this scene as he makes his way towards the library and whatever is there that can help him, comfortable in the knowledge that at least his dog is safe.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum opens on May 17. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule for all the biggest movies headed your way as the summer movie season kicks off.

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Dumbo Box Office: The Baby Elephant Doesn't Quite Soar

Dumbo Box Office: The Baby Elephant Doesn't Quite Soar

Disney has pretty much every one of its major brands in operation this year - with Marvel, Pixar, and Walt Disney Animation all putting out big titles - but one area where the studio is really going all-in this year is with its live-action remakes of animated classics. There are a total of four titles being released between now and the end of December, with movies including The Lion King, Aladdin, and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, but after this past weekend one wonders if there might be some concern growing. Because while Tim Burton's Dumbo did nab the top spot at the box office, it's numbers aren't exactly spectacular. Check out the Top 10 below, and join me after for analysis!

Overall this was a strong weekend at the box office, and Disney is seeing cash rolling in from two of the top three movies in the country, but the studio certainly must have had higher expectations for Dumbo. Prognostications from earlier this month estimated that the three day haul for the elephant-centric family feature would be around $50 million, and it's not wonderful that the film fell $5 million short of that bar. It's worse when you consider that the first predictions suggested a high end of $65 million.

Those estimates were proven to be too high, but when you look at the numbers, it's not hard to figure out why the pros were a bit off. Disney has been having a tremendous amount of success in recent years with their live-action remakes of animated classics, and with the exception of the 2016 sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass they all arrived with strong openings. Prior to the release of Dumbo, the lowest first weekend total was Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella, which made $67.9 million back in March 2015. That film wound up making over $200 million domestically - but at this point it doesn't look like the 2019 release will be crossing that particular milestone.

It's definitely all far from doom and gloom, however, thanks to a few positive factors. For starters, while Dumbo received a mostly tepid response from critics, those who went to go see it seem to be digging it, and delivered it an "A-" on CinemaScore. As for the numbers, the film is also obviously going to get a big boost from international ticket sales. It has already made over $70 million from foreign markets. So while it won't be the billion dollar hit that Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland was back in 2010 (arguably the release that fueled this entire trend), it still will be a profitable release for Disney.

Sticking with the Mouse House for a minute, while Dumbo may not wind up being a member of the three comma club, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's Captain Marvel absolutely will. And while the film didn't quite get there this weekend, it most definitely will be happening in the next few days. The ticket sales abroad over the last three days, as well as the $20.5 million it made here at home, have now brought its global total to $990.6 million. To put that in some perspective, that means it is now the seventh most successful Marvel Cinematic Universe film, having passed the $880.2 million that Spider-Man: Homecoming made in 2017. What's more, it's not entirely out of the question that it could wind up beating Captain America: Civil War as well, which made $1.2 billion three years ago. That's one hell of a launch for a hero expected to play a massive role in the franchise going forward.

Jumping back to the number two slot, Jordan Peele's Us had a solid, if not unspectacular second weekend, dropping about 52 percent and adding $33.6 million to its domestic total. Not only was the money more than enough to push the film across the $100 million mark, but it also now looks like it is indeed on pace to make more money at the box office than Peele's Get Out did in 2017. The director's sophomore effort did have a budget four times the size of its predecessor - $20 million vs. $4.5 million - but that's basically negligible when you consider the numbers that the release is ultimately looking at. Factoring in the money from outside North America, it's already gone north of $174 million, and one nice trick it has in its back pocket is that it's a feature that begs to be seen more than once. There is no questioning Peele's status as a blockbuster director at this point, and expectations are only going to get higher for whatever he does next.

What's also helping take a bit of heat off of Dumbo is the disappointing release of Harmony Korine's The Beach Bum - which sadly now exists as the worst opening of Matthew McConaughey's career, and is the second big disappointment for the Oscar winner this year following the release of Serenity back in January. The movie had a much smaller release than most titles found in this weekend's Top 10, only showing in 1,100 theaters nationwide, but it doesn't exactly have a high per screen average either. It's not all-together unexpected, as the film got a fairly tepid response when it premiered a few weeks ago at SXSW, and that buzz has been consistent since. Still, it won't look good in the history books next to Korine's last feature, Spring Breakers, which made a surprising $31.7 million in its worldwide theatrical run back in 2013.

Looking ahead, we should see some major shake ups in the Top Five this week, as we are about to see some anticipated features arrive in wide release. The first is another dose of kick-ass superhero action, this time arriving in the form of David F. Sandberg's Shazam! (which is looking at a three day total between $40 and $45 million, and is expected to become the new number one movie in America). Also arriving, though, is the latest Stephen King adaptation: Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer's Pet Sematary - which could not only steal some attention from the new DC Extended Universe feature, but also Us. How will things shake out? You'll have to come back next Sunday for our box office column to find out.

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John Boyega Reveals Why He Was Pumped About Finn’s New Costume In Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

John Boyega Reveals Why He Was Pumped About Finn’s New Costume In Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

Anybody who is a Star Wars fan is excited for The Rise of Skywalker. The first images we saw of the film in the first trailer during Star Wars Celebration have got fans talking and looking forward to when the movie finally releases in December. However, the viewers aren't the only ones excited by a new film. It turns out that John Boyega was also quite enthusiastic about going back to the galaxy far, far away, especially after seeing his new costume.

During the Star Wars Episode IX panel at Star Wars Celebration, Boyega revealed that due to Finn's character arc, his clothes in the two previous films didn't really help define him as a character, but he feels like that has changed with The Rise of Skywalker. According to Boyega...

I think the last two movies Finn couldn’t decide where he belonged. And in this film he’s a full-fledged Resistance sexy young man. At the beginning my big thing was costume. I always felt that Finn didn’t have his identity through his costume. And J.J. was like ‘You’re going to love this one.’ I saw the pre-packets coming out… and I was like, ‘I’m in Star Wars now!’ So, it’s been great.'

Finn's entire story has been about a man figuring out where he belonged. He starts the story as a Stormtrooper but quickly realizes that life is not for him. Throughout most of Star Wars: The Force Awakens he's mostly concerned with just getting the hell away from the First Order as quickly as possible. In The Last Jedi his goal is reuniting with his friend Rey.

Finn literally had no identity at the start of the trilogy, and part of his journey has been figuring out who he is an independent person. Most of us use our clothing as a way to show a piece of who we are to the world. Finn hasn't been able to really do that because he hasn't known that answer. It makes sense that John Boyega's costumes haven't shown Finn's identity, but clearly the actor is happy that Finn will finally find himself in the new film.

While we get a few different quick shots of Finn in the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer, the best look at Finn's costume comes near the end as part of the group shot. Check it out below.

Everybody has new outfits in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and it will certainly be interesting to see how these costumes reflect the people inside them. How has the galaxy changed following the events of Star Wars: The Last Jedi? We'll find out for sure when the movie finally arrives December 20.

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The Last Jedi’s Rian Johnson Really Loves First The Rise of Skywalker Trailer

The Last Jedi’s Rian Johnson Really Loves First The Rise of Skywalker Trailer

Unofficially, there seems to be a war between those who support Star Wars: The Last Jedi and those who are embracing Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. With J.J. Abrams returning to the fold as co-writer and director of this new film, it felt to some like a bit of a rejection of the bold new direction that Rian Johnson had brought his Star Wars film towards. Those feelings are invalid now, as Johnson himself saw the trailer for the ninth episode of the Skywalker Saga, and shared the following rave review:

It’s hard to argue with a statement like that, as Rian Johnson is as much of a Star Wars fan as J.J. Abrams is. While some may have thought that Abrams’ return would look radically different from Johnson’s middle installment of this third act trilogy, the trailer to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker looks like it fits nicely into the trajectory that the previous film already set up.

What’s also nice to know is the admiration between these two directors is mutual, as earlier today J.J. Abrams handed out a very special thank you to Rian Johnson, in particular for hiring actor Kelly Marie Tran. This comes after Johnson commented on how he’s actually interested to see what J.J. Abrams does with the Star Wars universe in his latest film, even if it happens to retcon pieces of The Last Jedi in order to close this portion of the series.

Though it’s not like Rian Johnson isn’t heading back to that galaxy far, far away himself. Much as Abrams came back for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Johnson will be making more magic in the franchise himself. As previously reported, Rian Johnson is still on track for the trilogy of Star Wars films that take place outside of the Skywalker Saga’s episodic structure. When exactly that’ll take place is in question, particularly in the light of the hiatus recently announced by Disney CEO Bob Iger. But at least for now, as exhibited in his Twitter feed’s latest output, Johnson is still very much on board for whatever comes next.

Star Wars fans, as any fandom at its best behavior, lift each other up in the name of their appreciation of the series. Now that both J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson have provided a bridge between their theoretical halves of the property, it’s up to the fans of both directors to meet in the middle, as they await this next and last chapter of the classic story arc to come to a close.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker heads to theaters on December 20. However, if you’re looking for some movie excitement to tide you over until then, head to our 2019 release schedule to get a jump on this year’s biggest debuts.

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Dark Phoenix Footage At WonderCon Shows Off Outer Space Chaos And An Emotional Battle

Dark Phoenix Footage At WonderCon Shows Off Outer Space Chaos And An Emotional Battle

Though Dark Phoenix has been in the works for a while, we really haven’t seen all that much footage from the blockbuster. Sure, we’ve seen a couple of trailers come out, but when considered in the context of how much time there was between previews, what we’ve seen doesn’t amount to much. It’s a bit of a surprise, given that the film is now just a few months away from release, but the marketing for the movie broke the drought in a big way today by showing off a couple of full scenes at WonderCon.

20th Century Fox held a special Dark Phoenix panel at the Anaheim Convention Center today, and in addition to having a panel featuring a bunch of stars and filmmakers, the film also showed off nearly 20 minutes of footage. It’s all pretty cool stuff, and you can find the details about it below:

The sequence started with a shot from behind the X Mansion, with the basketball court opening up and the Blackbird launching from the hanger underneath. The X-Men are on a mission - on board are Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Quicksilver (Evan Peters), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), and Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) – but it isn’t a typical Earthbound adventure. For the first time ever they are making their way into space, and it’s clear that it’s not an environment in which they are totally comfortable.

News stations from around the world are broadcasting the event, showcasing the popularity of the world’s first superhero team. While the X-Men are on the move, Professor X (James McAvoy) is in Cerebro communicating with NASA, who are reporting an incident with a shuttle in trouble involving a solar flare. As we see through the eyes of the mutant team, however, it’s not exactly a normal cosmic event, as it looks more like there is a dangerous mass floating and getting closer to the troubled spaceship – which is shown spinning out of control with a busted thruster.

Calling the shots, Mystique notes that before they can do anything they need to stop the rotation of shuttle, but Nightcrawler notes that he can’t teleport in because he can’t see into it. The job then falls to Cyclops, who is told that he needs to blast the thruster and stop the spin. He goes below deck, lines his specialized visor up with a periscope-esque targeting system, and successfully fires an optic blast that gets the in-trouble ship to stop.

With the situation more manageable, Nightcrawler and Quicksilver are called into action to teleport to the NASA vessel – and meanwhile Storm seals the damage that’s been done with ice. In hyper-speed mode, Quicksilver takes the seatbelts off all of the astronauts, and then tosses them towards the back of the shuttle where Nightcrawler is waiting. Once everyone is collected, they BAMF and find themselves back on the Blackbird.

All seems well and good and the call is made to head home… until one of the rescued astronauts points out that the mission isn’t done yet. Their commander was in the airlock trying to fix the thruster at the time of the rescue, and he remains there with the “solar flare” getting closer and closer. Mystique wants to leave, not wanting to risk the members of her team for one more person, but Professor X insists that they stay and do everything they possibly can to save the remaining life in danger.

With Storm no longer able to keep the ship together with ice, Jean Grey boldly claims that she can slow the destruction, but she needs to get closer to the ship. Both Cyclops and Professor X back her up, though Beast notes that there is less than a minute before the solar flare hits and becomes too dangerous to survive. The call is made, and Nightcrawler and Jean teleport over, with the powerful telepath keeping the construction of the ship together. The commander is saved by Nightcrawler, but as time runs out Jean finds herself trapped as the flare hits. Cyclops screams asking where Jean is, but all they can do is helplessly watch from afar as the cosmic energy engulfs the damaged shuttle.

With Jean, we watch as she starts to absorb the energy – screaming as she does – and it’s an experience that it seems Professor X has right along with her. What adds an interesting note, however, is that while part of the solar flare seems to try and reach out to the Blackbird, Jean uses her concentration to divert it, and winds up absorbing all of it. The shuttle explodes and everyone thinks that Jean is dead. Once all the chaos is over, Nightcrawler teleports and brings her to be back with the X-Men – and while the group initially mourns, she then opens her eyes to reveal that she is alive (with a bit of orange swimming around in her irises).

The X-Men land back on Earth to much fanfare, and the celebrating continues when they get back to the X Mansion. Everyone is happy, and Professor X is feeling enough pride to cancel all classes for the rest of the day, but Mystique is definitely not happy about the whole situation. After Xavier checks in on Jean Grey, sending her to get a full medical exam, Mystique takes him into his office, and she has a frank discussion with him about the increased risks that are being taken. She is worried about the safety of the recruits, and is afraid that the wheelchair-bound telepath is taking on bigger and bigger challenges just for the sake of his ego. He counters, however, by acknowledging that mutants are being accepted unlike any other time in history, and that only one bad day could result in their kind being hated and despised again. It’s clear that it’s not an issue that is going to be solved with one discussion, but at the very end Mystique gets in one last shot, noting not only that it’s been a minute since Xavier last risked his own life, and that women are so consistently saving the men that the team name should be changed to X-Women.

Jumping ahead in the movie (and clearly skipping over some major, major developments), the other big sequence in the Dark Phoenix footage showed off a showdown that seemingly happens in the second half of the film – so if you don’t wish to be spoiled on anything, you may want to stop reading here.

Starting with Xavier in Cerebro with Cyclops, it’s made clear that Jean Grey has started to go off the deep end, and that crap is really starting to hit the fan. Beast has teamed up with Magneto, and they have decided that Jean needs to die – which, naturally, Professor X is unwilling to let happen. He psychically connects with Nightcrawler, showing the place where he needs to go, and together they travel along with Storm (after some argument) to try and stop the assassination.

The members of the X-Men then quickly find themselves in a confrontation with Magneto and Beast in Central Park, as well as two other mutants: one, Red Lotus, with braids that basically act as prehensile tentacles, and another, Selene, with the ability to control minds. Following a verbal scuffle (including an F-bomb from Cyclops), a battle begins as Magneto makes his way towards a building where Jean Grey and Jessica Chastain’s mystery character are staying, and they know that he is on his way to kill Phoenix – what is basically spelled out as an act of revenge for the killing of Mystique. The fight rages on, but the Master of Magnetism gets the upper hand when he uses his powers to pull an entire subway car out of the ground and positions it to block the entrance of the aforementioned building.

Once inside, Magneto is confronted by Jean Grey and Jessica Chastain’s character, and his big move is executed by pulling a metal banister from its spokes and pointing the jagged end at Jean. As emotional as he is, though, he can’t go through with it. Unfortunately for him, it seems that Jean doesn’t feel the same way. With her heightened abilities, she starts to crush Magneto’s head with the villains helmet… though it cuts to black before we can see what happens.

Overall, the footage was interesting if not just because it shows off a lot of new stuff that we haven’t actually seen in past X-Men movies. The titular team operates in a completely different way than other iterations – particularly with the way in which it pairs certain mutant abilities together in order to achieve a certain goal. It’s also a bit that gives us quite a lot of clarity when it comes to where all of these characters stand within this story – particularly Professor X, Mystique, Magneto, Cyclops, and particularly Jean Grey.

We’ve obviously been waiting for Dark Phoenix for a long time, but it’s now actually almost here. The film will be arriving in theaters everywhere on June 7th, and be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for not only more of our WonderCon footage, but also our interviews at the convention with the movie’s filmmakers and stars.

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