Joel Kinnaman Reportedly Out As Flag For The Suicide Squad

Joel Kinnaman Reportedly Out As Flag For The Suicide Squad

We have heard that James Gunn’s Suicide Squad sequel will be something of a soft reboot or a relaunch of the franchise. And the more things develop, the more that rings true as the film is looking less and less like it will resemble David Ayer’s 2016 film. It looks like there will be very few returning characters and perhaps one less than we thought because Joel Kinnaman is reportedly out as Rick Flag in The Suicide Squad.

THR reports that some of the characters from Suicide Squad expected to return for the follow-up are Harley Quinn, Deadshot and Rick Flag. However, another of The Hollywood Reporter’s sources says that Rick Flag will not be in James Gunn’s film. So there is definitely some ambiguity about the situation, but fans should prepare for the possibility that the commander of the team in the first film will not be returning for the sequel.

Given this ambiguity about Rick Flag’s presence in James Gunn’s film, it makes you wonder if there is a scenario where Rick Flag the character returns, but Joel Kinnaman does not play him. We just saw this play out with the character of Deadshot. Will Smith could not reprise his role due to scheduling conflicts and now Heimdall himself, Idris Elba will replace him, hopefully giving the actor a meatier comic book role.

That would potentially get into some weird territory though, if multiple characters are played by different actors in the sequel while Harley Quinn is still played by Margot Robbie. Recasting one character is fine (see War Machine in the MCU) but multiple could get into a murky area that would just seem kind of weird. But if Rick Flag is not in the film at all as has been reported, that would gel with the word that James Gunn will primarily be using DC characters that were not in the first movie.

It’s hard to say how Rick Flag’s absence will affect the sequel, given that we don’t know what the story will be. The character did play an important role in the first film, both as the leader and handler of the team and as the boyfriend of June Moone, who became the villain. But there are other major players who could fill his shoes so he doesn’t have to return.

Harley Quinn and Deadshot were the standouts of the first film and the most visible, so those two feel like the characters that must return and they supposedly are, albeit with Idris Elba playing Deadshot. If Rick Flag is out it will be just another differentiator between the two films, and lend to the sequel's supposed direction as a soft reboot.

With all the changes, it does make you wonder if The Suicide Squad will even acknowledge the events of the first film. It’s all kind of interesting because while Suicide Squad was a critical failure, it was a hit at the box office, so changing things up to such a degree could be risky.

That said, Warner Bros. seems to have a lot of faith in James Gunn to move pieces around and makes the movie he wants to make to hopefully duplicate the critical and commercial success he had with Guardians of the Galaxy for the DCEU.

We’ll keep you updated as this movie comes together. The Suicide Squad opens in theaters on August 6, 2021. For movies you can look forward to a little bit sooner, check out our 2019 Release Schedule.

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Watch The Spider-Man: Far From Home Cast Surprise Disneyland Guests

Watch The Spider-Man: Far From Home Cast Surprise Disneyland Guests

One of the best things about Disneyland is that you can feel like you're inside the worlds of classic Disney animated movies, Star Wars, and Marvel Comics all at the same time. While most of the Marvel themed entertainment planned for Disneyland Resort is currently under construction, you can still get your picture taken with numerous Marvel heroes like Captain America and Spider-Man.

However, one group of kids got a bit more than they were expecting from the wall crawler yesterday when the cast of Spider-Man: Far From Home photobombed them. But that was nothing compared to what happened when Spider-Man removed his mask. Check it out.

A group of kids are simply having fun getting their picture taken with Spider-Man at Disney California Adventure. But then things get crazy when Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Jacob Batalon, show up and join the photo. Even Spider-Man himself looks surprised to see them and is getting the audience to give them a round of applause. Of course, even that is a set up as the big reveal is that the costumed character playing Spider-Man is the same guy who plays him on the big screen, Tom Holland.

Getting a picture with Spider-Man is cool. Getting a picture with the Spider-Man is something else entirety. You cab hear the crowd going nuts in the video from Disneyland Insiders, especially when Holland reveals himself.

While Marvel is the hottest thing in the world right now thanks to the fact that Avengers: Endgame has become the second highest grossing movie of all-time in only two weekends, many fans are already looking forward to the next chapter. The newest trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home just dropped, something which almost certainly wasn't a coincidence considering the timing of this appearance, and that's got fans buzzing all over again.

The trailer drops the word "multiverse" into the conversation, which if true, is a game changer for the MCU. We've been told that the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be something quite different compared to what we're used to, and the fact that alternate realities could come into play would certainly qualify.

Tom Holland and company's appearance at Disneyland Resort is far from the first time we've seen celebrities invade an attraction related to their franchise. Johnny Depp has made appearances both in person and via screen to promote both Pirates of the Caribbeans films and the live-action Alice in Wonderland franchise. Mark Hamill has also dropped in on Star Tours.

Fans looking for even more Spider-Man at Disneyland won't have to wait too much longer. The new Marvel themed land that will opening only feet from where this clip was taken is set to debut in 2020 and we know it will include a Spider-Man themed attraction, though exactly how it will work remains clouded in Imagineering mystery.

Considering that the one existing Marvel attraction at Disney California Adventure, Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout, includes performances by the actors in the film franchise, it seems like there's a good chance Tom Holland could be part of the upcoming attraction, though that has yet to be confirmed.

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There’s A John Wick Video Game In The Works

There’s A John Wick Video Game In The Works

Ahead of the release of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (which critics are absolutely loving so far), fans can rest easy that the franchise doesn’t look to be ending anytime soon. Additionally, an action-packed strategy video game is also on the way. Good Shepherd Entertainment and Lionsgate are teaming up for an original game about the titular hitman called John Wick Hex.

The upcoming game will have players taking the role of Keanu Reeves’ character in what’s being described by the publishers as “fight-choreographed chess brought to life in a video game”. John Wick Hex will come from game director Mike Bithell (Thomas Was Alone, Volume) and the help of the creative and stunt teams behind the John Wick franchise. It’s being developed for consoles and PC, exclusively for the Epic Games store.

It will be an interactive experience that will implement the “gun fu style” from the movies and expand the universe previously established on the big screen. Players will be able to unlock various weapons, John Wick suits and locations as they play. There will be limited ammo provided within the game to remain realistic and add an element of strategy to the game play.

Gamers will need to carefully choose every action and attack they make, with the cost and consequences in mind (hence the “fight-choreographed chess” element). Each strategically planned fight will contribute to the player’s progress on their hit job. 

There currently isn't a release date announced for the game, but Ian McShane will voice his role of Winston and Lance Reddick will return as Charon in the game and additional actors will soon be announced-- per The Hollywood Reporter.

Check out the announcement trailer for John Wick Hex below:

From the first peak, the game certainly looks to have maintained John Wick’s stylish flair, and gives us an idea about what to expect visually during game play. Looks like a fun time, especially for fans of the film franchise who will get to play in the assassin’s shoes in a brand new adventure from the character.

The two John Wick movies have made over $260 million at the box office worldwide so far, and the third is expected to open at around $30 to $40 million next weekend for the franchise’s highest first weekend yet. The action thriller will follow the hitman on the run, after killing a member of the international assassin’s guild. Halle Berry is joining the cast this time around as an old acquaintance of Wick named Sofia. She rolls with two Belgian Malinois dogs and looks badass as usual.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum opens in theaters on May 17, alongside A Dog’s Journey and A Sun is Also a Star. Are you looking forward to playing the game as well as going out to see the third installment? Let us know in the comments below.

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Marvel Producer Says The World Is Ready For An LGBT Superhero

Marvel Producer Says The World Is Ready For An LGBT Superhero

The Marvel Cinematic Universe changed rapidly in Phase Three, leading to plenty of success for Disney in the process. In addition to the box office and critical performance of each blockbuster, Phase Three also made the MCU a more diverse place. While the first two phases were largely focused on white male characters, people of color got a chance to shine in movies like Black Panther, Ant-Man and The Wasp, and Captain Marvel.

The call for onscreen inclusion has been a major subject in the film world, especially when it comes to major franchises like the MCU and Star Wars. Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige has been open about the franchise's dedication to diversity, even going so far as to say an LGBT superhero would enter the shared universe before long. Victoria Alonso has been a producer on every MCU installment, and when asked about the recent report that The Eternals was seeking an openly gay actor, Alonso added fuel to the fire, saying:

The world is ready, the world is ready.

Well, that certainly seems hopeful for advocates and moviegoers hoping that the Marvel Cinematic Universe will include its first gay superhero. Victoria Alonso thinks the world is ready, which may hint at the plans for the MCU in Phase Four. After all, The Eternals is being actively developed.

Victoria Alonso's comments to Variety show that the Marvel Cinematic Universe will only continue to get more diverse after Avengers: Endgame. While the studio is keeping its cards close the chest to avoid spoilers, obviously there are big plans cooking. Alonso may be unable to reveal any concrete information until Phase Three concludes, but she didn't deny the report of The Eternals seeking an openly gay actor for a leading role. So that development just gained some momentum

Of course, some might say that the Marvel Cinematic Universe already introduced an LGBT character during Phase Three. Tessa Thompson made her Marvel debut as Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok, and revealed she was playing the Asgardian heroine as a bisexual woman. In fact, Taika Waititi's threequel originally included a scene that alluded to Valkyrie's sexuality, although it ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor. Still, the character was one that fans seemed to respond to, so smart money says she'll back in one way or another during Phase Four.

Now that people of color and women have been given more of a chance to shine, it seems only natural that Marvel Studios would continue making its shared universe an even more inclusive place. Kevin Feige has teased that the future of the MCU is female, so there's no telling what the release schedule could look like after Avengers: Endgame finally arrives in theaters.

Answers will come once Avengers: Endgame concludes Phase Three on April 26th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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Adam Driver And Daisy Ridley Address Kylo And Rey's Relationship In The Rise Of Skywalker

Adam Driver And Daisy Ridley Address Kylo And Rey's Relationship In The Rise Of Skywalker

Initially enemies in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rey and Kylo Ren’s relationship morphed into something different in The Last Jedi. With a little help from Supreme Leader Snoke, the two loners, struggling to find their place and purpose, developed this deeply personal connection and despite being on opposite sides of a war. And they found something they lacked in each other.

With December’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker set to complete the Skywalker Saga, this trilogy and the stories of these characters, one of the big questions heading in will be the relationship between Rey and Kylo, and how that relationship/ Force connection will impact their stories in the film. Addressing the relationship with Rey in The Rise of Skywalker, Adam Driver said:

And then he had been forging this maybe-bond with Rey, and it kind of ends with the question in the air: is he going to pursue that relationship, or when the door of her ship goes up, does that also close that camaraderie that they were maybe forming?

As Adam Driver told Vanity Fair, whether or not Kylo Ren continues to pursue some kind of relationship with Rey is one of the biggest questions for his character in The Rise of Skywalker. After the fight with the Praetorian Guard in Snoke’s throne room, Rey thought Kylo had turned and sought his help to save the rebellion. Kylo had different plans though and held out his hand, beckoning Rey to join him and rule alongside him.

Rey rejects him and ultimately leaves with the Resistance at the end of the film. That impasse between them could be seen as a breaking point. It seems their differences couldn't be solved, leading to a parting of the ways. The same would seem to hold true here, literally closing the door on their relationship.

But if Kylo values that relationship and still believes he can turn Rey to him, then he could choose to pursue that bond. Whether he would find Rey receptive to such a thing and she still sees the light in Kylo is another matter entirely. Ben Solo’s entire life as Kylo Ren has been a rejection of all the things that Rey values, as Daisy Ridley explained:

I think there’s a part of Rey that’s like, dude, you fucking had it all, you had it all. That was always a big question during filming: you had it all and you let it go.

Rey has been waiting for and seeking family since we first met her, and cannot understand how Ben could eschew the one thing she’s always wanted. Meanwhile, Ben Solo had a family and a good one. They weren’t some abstract concept Kylo told her horrible stories about either, Rey knows Leia and in the brief time they shared together Han Solo became something of a father figure to her. She also came to know and love Luke. Ben had all these great people in his life that loved and cared about him and he threw it away.

Not only did Ben eschew Han and Luke and Leia, he killed one, tried to kill another (and kind of succeeded) and is at cross-purpose with his mother. Any relationship with someone who has such fundamentally different values than her will be extremely fraught and difficult for Rey.

But families always look different to those who are in them than they do from the outside. From Kylo’s perspective, he didn’t have it all, rather, the pressure of his family and their expectations for him are what have caused him such internal strife, as Adam Driver continued:

How do you form friendships out of that? How do you understand the weight of that? And if there’s no one around you guiding you, or articulating things the right way … it can easily go awry.

We don’t have a ton of insight into Ben Solo’s childhood or his turn to the Dark Side in film canon. But from Adam Driver’s perspective, growing up as the son of the heroes of the galaxy was no picnic. He was always worried about not measuring up to a family legacy laden with tragedy and triumph. Either from a lack of guidance or an approach that didn’t speak to him, this pressure led Ben astray.

According to Vanity Fair, the inside word is that Rey and Kylo’s Force connection will run even deeper than what we’ve seen so far, meaning that it was definitively not severed with Snoke’s death. What that means for their relationship in the film and their respective arcs, will they team up to fight Palpatine, will Kylo be redeemed, etc., gives us plenty to speculate over.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker blasts into theaters on December 20. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of all this year’s biggest movies.

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Avengers: Endgame Directors Reveal If A Fan Has Ever Guessed What Happens

Avengers: Endgame Directors Reveal If A Fan Has Ever Guessed What Happens

The marketing for Avengers: Endgame has been so secretive that we can probably summarize everything we know about this movie in a few short sentences. Marvel and the Russo Bros. want to replicate the moviegoing experience before the internet existed, which means going into a movie as spoiler-free as possible. But the internet DOES exist and in response to a lack of official details, fans have created and shared their theories about Endgame, some of which are close to the truth but are never 100% correct.

Endgame fan theories have been spreading like wildfire over the last few months as fans try to connect the dots from trailers, set photo leaks, and whatever else their imaginations can come up with. Some popular fan theories include the use of time travel, who might be a Skrull, and what exactly will happen to Captain America. Fan theories can be fun to create and read, but how close do fans actually get to predicting the movie?

According to the Russo Bros., fans have gotten close in some instances, but no one has ever predicted exactly what is going to happen in any of their Marvel movies. The duo detailed their thoughts on fan theories during a press interview with Jake Hamilton. Here's what they said:

Anthony Russo: Here's the thing, the fans are so passionate and they spend such a long time living with these characters, thinking about these characters, and they're using their imaginations to follow where these stories could possibly go. Sometimes they're wildly off, sometimes they're kinda next door to what might happen. ... Here's the thing, nothing's ever THAT close. You can get kinda close, but it's never exactly.

Joe Russo: Our mission's always to surprise people. So we try to make really surprising choices.

Sorry, to break it to those who want Ant-Man to jump up Thanos' butt and explode him from the inside, but you are only sort of correct.

It's not that surprising to learn that no one is a psychic and has figured out what happens in Endgame. The stars of the film have said it's impossible to guess what happens. The people who make these movies wouldn't be doing their job if they weren't able to surprise people like they did with the ending of Avengers: Infinity War. That being said, I bet that there are some theories that are close to the target, but we won't know which ones until Endgame finally arrive in theaters later this month.

At least the wait isn't too much longer! Avengers: Endgame arrives in theaters on April 26, so get those last theories out there while you've still got a chance. If you'd like a refresher on Endgame, we've got you covered. Here's everything we know so far about the highly anticipated blockbuster film.

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Taron Egerton Hopes Rocketman Makes Even Half Of Bohemian Rhapsody’s Money

Taron Egerton Hopes Rocketman Makes Even Half Of Bohemian Rhapsody’s Money

Rocketman is not Bohemian Rhapsody. Taron Egerton is aware of it. There are easy comparisons, of course, in that Egerton is playing Elton John in a music biopic the same way Rami Malek played Freddie Mercury. They even have director Dexter Fletcher in common, since Fletcher stepped in to finish Bohemian Rhapsody after Bryan Singer was fired.

Since Bohemian Rhapsody made a mind-boggling $903,175,016 at the box office, off a projected production budget just over $50 million, it's a ridiculously high bar for the next music biopic to face.

Taron Egerton was candid about the comparisons, just hoping for the best:

I'm at peace with however much money it makes. But I hope it does really, really well. If it made half of [Bohemian Rhapsody], it would be terrific for my career.

True. As Taron Egerton suggested in his quote to THR, half of Bohemian Rhapsody's record-breaking money is still about half a billion dollars worldwide, a success by any metric for a film of this size. The 29-year-old actor is clearly keen to advance his career. He's known to many as Eggsy from the Kingsman movies, and also the titular Eddie the Eagle. He also has some singing experience from the movie Sing. And he was the lead of the notorious 2018 bomb Robin Hood.

All it takes is one movie to launch your career -- just ask Rami Malek, who was best known from Mr. Robot before being shot to fame, picking up a Best Actor Oscar for Freddie Mercury, and now playing a Bond villain.

Rocketman will inevitably be judged next to Best Picture-nominated Bohemian Rhapsody, but they aren't exactly apples to apples. For one thing, Rocketman is Rated R, vs. Bohemian Rhapsody at PG-13. They are also telling their stories in very different ways. Rocketman has a lot of sex and drugs -- and that sex is between men, with Taron Egerton's Elton having sex scenes with Richard Madden's John Reid.

Apparently that's one reason why Rocketman stalled at Universal. Producer Matthew Vaughn recalled a conversation with studio chairman Donna Langley:

I rang her up and she's like, 'You definitely want to make it an R-rated film and you're going to make it for over $35 million?' And I said, 'Yes.' And she said, 'Good luck.'

Despite reports that Paramount asked director Dexter Fletcher to tone down the film -- to make it more marketable in a huge box office like China, which usually bans any gay scenes -- the filmmakers say Rocketman still depicts Elton John coming to terms with his sexuality and also shows his issues with substance abuse.

Another difference between Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman is Elton John is still with us (unlike Freddie Mercury) and was able to be there for the film and give his blessing. He praised Taron Egerton's performance to THR, saying the film made him forget it was Taron up there, he thought he was watching himself. "That's the highest compliment I can tell you."

Rocketman is opening in theaters on May 31, which puts it squarely up against Godzilla: King of the Monsters. It's going to have to grab onto the rest of the audience and hope to leg out from there. Early tracking put Rocketman's opening weekend around $20 million.

If Rocketman gets good reviews -- from fans even more than critics -- it could theoretically enjoy success on a level next to Bohemian Rhapsody, which just kept quietly making money week after week until we all turned around and it was knocking on the door of $1 billion worldwide. Most of that money came from overseas, though -- especially Japan, which just went crazy for Queen -- and it's much less likely that Rocketman will be embraced by the foreign box office in the same way. But we'll see. Keep up with all of the 2019 movies ahead with our handy release schedule.

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