The Cat From Pet Sematary Has Died For Real

The Cat From Pet Sematary Has Died For Real
Church in Pet Sematary

In Pet Sematary, the Creed Family cat named Church, short for Winston Churchill, is hit by a truck on Halloween and killed. The beloved cat is buried in the titular pet sematary and comes back to life, notably dirtier and more aggressive than he was before. Now comes the sad news that the cat that played Church in Pet Sematary has died for real. Take a look:


The cat actor that played Church in Pet Sematary was named Leo in real life and he has sadly passed away. The Instagram post from Leo’s trainer and owner Kirk Jarrett assures us that Leo will be missed by his friends and family, as you would expect and hope would be the case for any beloved family pet. Leo will just have more people mourning him than the average pet thanks to his role in Pet Sematary.


There may be no supernatural burial ground inhabited by the evil spirit Wendigo to bring him back, and doing so would be against the message of Pet Sematary anyways, but Leo’s star will indeed always shine bright. Not many cats get to be immortalized in film, and playing an iconic feline character no less. More than that though, Leo’s star will continue to shine in the hearts and minds of his family.




Although we didn’t know him and never got to pet the fluffy Leo, any of us who have owned and lost a pet can sympathize with what Leo’s family is going through. It does seem odd that he has passed so soon when we just saw him on the big screen only a couple months back. That said, we don’t know how old Leo was or what caused his death, but I like to think that he lived a long, happy and full life.


Judging by his Instagram, the beautiful and photogenic Leo had quite the life, playing outside, having photo-shoots and getting to hang out on the set of the movie. Leo was also apparently extremely well trained and a very mellow cat because he is seen wearing all kinds of costumes and hats, the likes of which would send most cats into a resurrected Church-esque rage.


Although Leo has died, he is not the only cat who played Church in Pet Sematary. Cats are notoriously uncooperative creatures, so it was a joint effort with Leo and other cats, eight in total, to create the performance in the film. Each cat brought their own special skills, like jumping, hissing and staring, to the role, and they all proved to be quite the divas on set.




We offer our condolences to Leo’s family and say Leo, you were fluffy and gorgeous and terrifying, so rest in peace. Check out Leo’s performance in Pet Sematary, arriving on digital on June 25 and Blu-ray on July 9. Take a look at our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of all the biggest movies headed to theaters this summer.


Bond, James Bond: 8 Actors Who Played 007, From Past To Present

Bond, James Bond: 8 Actors Who Played 007, From Past To Present
Climax Barry Nelson James Bond sits at the card table

When Ian Fleming created the character of James Bond in his 1953 novel Casino Royale, he probably never imagined that it would start a media franchise that would not only outlive him, but also span more than 50 years of action. With countless books, 24 films, and other adaptations and depictions having taken place, there's certainly a lot of Bond to go around for anyone who wants it.


But those who have most indelibly ingrained the character on our minds are, of course, those who got to play the character on film, and for one brief instance on television. Those eight actors are the historic watermarks for James Bond's longevity on the screen, and without their contributions, the series just might not be the behemoth that it has evolved into. Who are the people who have played James Bond over the years? Let's catch up on them all.


Barry Nelson




Year(s) Active: 1954

Number Of Films: 1


Believe it or not, James Bond began his journey to the silver screen as a live TV adaptation for the hit show Climax! Adapting the first book in the series, Casino Royale, writers Charles Bennett and Anthony Ellis made a rather interesting change to the source material in order for Barry Nelson to star as 007 himself. Which is why this is the only version you'll see with an American James Bond, and a British Felix Leiter. All other versions after this would revert Bond back to being a renowned super spy for MI6, but in the Climax! version, he works for the Combined Intelligence Agency.


Sean Connery


Year(s) Active: 1962 – 1967, 1971, 1983

Number Of Films: 7

Probably the most iconic James Bond to ever hit the screen, Sean Connery is the person that everyone thinks of when you say the words, “Bond, James Bond.” While Ian Fleming initially doubted the casting, his successful debut in 1962's Dr. No not only won the author over to his side, it also caused him to write the character closer to the actor's own background in subsequent novels. But while he's one of the most iconic actors to have played the role, he's also one of the most complicated actors to have taken the role.




This is because of the fact that while he had a straight five year run as the character, from 1962 to 1967, he was lured back twice after that golden age to reprise the character. One of those performances, 1983's Never Say Never Again, is counted as an unofficial James Bond film; considering it was made outside of the EON Productions canon, and is a remake of Thunderball, driven by the film's original creator, Kevin McClory. Save for a video game voice-over role in an adaptation of From Russia With Love, that was the last time Connery ever donned the tuxedo – and it's still a source of debate between Bond fans who love it or hate it.


David Niven


Year(s) Active: 1967

Number Of Films: 1

Whenever David Niven enters a conversation on film, the James Bond series is something folks wouldn't be likely to cite as part of his resume. And yet, when Columbia bought the rights to turn Casino Royale into a comedy send-up of the still young 007 franchise, he was indeed the man they chose to play the O.G. James Bond. The second of the non-EON Productions films that is argued to either be canon or not, it took an interesting approach to the character that saw Niven being the classiest, most atypical Bond of all.




In the 1967 spoof, MI6 decides to name several agents James Bond, complete with the 007 designation. Their reasoning? Because it'll confuse the enemy. And the one to train all of them is Niven's Sir James Bond, who doesn't do fancy gadgets or womanizing, but instead is a stiff upper lip type who knows his craft. The film remains an oddity for Bond fans to discuss, and while co-stars like Peter Sellers and Woody Allen technically had the Bond name as covers, David Niven was the only one to really be James Bond.


George Lazenby


Year(s) Active: 1969

Number Of Films: 1


A first time actor and Australian model, George Lazenby was the man selected to take on the role of James Bond after Sean Connery had first bowed out of the role after 1967's You Only Live Twice. His one, and only, turn in the role was in the 1969 format breaker On Her Majesty's Secret Service. It's a format breaker for two key components: there's only one, big gadget used in the entire film, and Bond ends up having a female partner / love interest.




While he was considering returning for The Man With The Golden Gun, back when it was slated to be the next film in line, Lazenby eventually vacated the role, triggering Connery's first return to the role. Apparently, the production of On Her Majesty's Secret Service was so disheartening for George Lazenby, as he felt the creative forces mistreated him and he had grudges with two of his co-stars. Though after this slight bump in the road, the James Bond franchise would experience its most stable period yet.


Roger Moore


Year(s) Active: 1973 - 1985

Number Of Films: 7


Thanks to his work on a rather Bond-esque television adaptation of Leslie Charteris' The Saint, Roger Moore was eventually cast as the fifth actor to take on the role of 007. Starting in 1973's Live and Let Die, the actor would set a record for official installments played by a single actor, as he racked up seven films by time 1985's A View To A Kill hit theaters. Though if you were to ever discuss his tenure with die-hard Bond fans, you'll hear some of the same criticisms come up over and over again.




Between the more joke-laden tone that the Moore films took, and the fact that Roger Moore might have been wise to retire while he could still do most of his stunt work, you'll get some people labeling him as the worst James Bond of the lot. But it's hard to deny that he did possess the charm that the role requires, and when allowed by the material he was given, was able to lend an air of gravitas in moments that truly counted.


Timothy Dalton


Year(s) Active: 1987 - 1989

Number Of Films: 2


When On Her Majesty's Secret Service was trying to cast the role of James Bond, one particular actor was considered but eventually deemed too young for the role. That man was none other than Timothy Dalton, a classically trained actor who was eventually given another chance when someone with a very similar situation had to back out when casting 1987's The Living Daylights. Naturally, the role went to Dalton, and the rest was rather interesting history.




Known as a super serious Bond, Dalton only made two very experimental appearances as the character, with 1989's License To Kill being his swan song. In both films, 007 ditched the Moore era's tone of winks and smiles, and instead delved more into Ian Fleming's original intent for the character to be a noir-ish hard case. Even the trademark womanizing was toned down, as Bond focused more on his job and less on the ladies surrounding him on both occasions. He would never get to reprise the role, as legal troubles for the series would delay production on his proposed third film so long, his contract had expired and not been brought up for renewal.


Pierce Brosnan


Year(s) Active: 1995 - 2002

Number Of Films: 4


After legal troubles, and the end of the Cold War took place in the gap between License To Kill and 1995's Goldeneye, the storied franchise of 007's exploits was going to need a pretty severe revamp. And who better to lead the way than another actor who was previously approached for the role, but had to pass. We could have had a version of The Living Daylights starring Pierce Brosnan, but you can thank contractual obligations with NBC's hit TV show Remington Steele from letting that happen. But as history has shown us, sometimes losing the role once means it just wasn't your time.




With one foot in the wittier side of the pool that Roger Moore's films occupied, and the other in Sean Connery's era of a killer edge, Brosnan's tenure in the role was a mixed, but exciting bag. Starting off with the very serious Goldeneye, but finishing with the very silly Die Another Day, the Pierce Brosnan era also brought another pleasant surprise – his first female boss. Through four films together, Brosnan and Dame Judi Dench gave the flagging series a more contemporary update, which also saw its lead surprisingly replaced with very little notice. While his last film would celebrate 40 years and 20 films in the James Bond canon, change was once again in the air.


Daniel Craig


Year(s) Active: 2006 - 2020

Number Of Films: 4 (to date)


Enter the most recent cast change, and our current era of Bond history – the age of Daniel Craig. In a casting contest that had the likes of Clive Owen and Henry Cavill competing for the role, Craig won out when it came to the role of England's premiere covert operative. And it was at a moment that the series really needed a strong hand, as 2006's Casino Royale was announced as not only the 21st James Bond film, but also a reboot to the character's first assignment as a 00-agent.




Like a brick through a plate glass window, the film was the smash that revitalized the series that has now been operating into its fifth decade of film history. Craig brought back the edge of Timothy Dalton and the vulnerability of George Lazenby, and the charm of Sean Connery, into a cocktail that would serve Craig, and his audience, very well in the years that followed. While he was originally deemed by fans as unfit for the role, most memorably after being labeled as “James Blonde,” it didn't take long for him to convince the world that he was one of the best Bonds to have come along in some time.


While Quantum of Solace and Spectre have been seen as slight dips in quality, Skyfall delivered a 50th birthday present that only guaranteed that James Bond would be returning for some time to come. And as Bond 25 serves as Daniel Craig's rumored final entry as 007, the page will now turn for a new era of Bond history. Who will occupy the role next is left to be discovered. If we've learned anything from this re-examination of history, it's that whoever fills the tuxedo next will probably be an unexpected surprise, but one worth sticking around for.


Sylvester Stallone Has Thoughts On The New Cliffhanger Remake Plans

Sylvester Stallone Has Thoughts On The New Cliffhanger Remake Plans
Cliffhanger Sylvester Stallone

Did you know they're making another Cliffhanger movie? Sylvester Stallone starred in and co-wrote the screenplay for the 1993 movie directed by Renny Harlin. New reports say Ana Lily Amirpour will be directing the reboot/remake, with Aquaman himself Jason Momoa in talks for a key cameo and the lead played by an actress they are now casting.


We've been talking about a Cliffhanger sequel for over a decade, and a remake for at least five years. Apparently there was a long tug-of-war to get the rights from StudioCanal, and now Fast and The Furious franchise producer Neal Moritz will produce, with the first draft of a new script by Sascha Penn (Creed II) expected in a few weeks.


That's the word from Deadline, and it sounds like Sylvester Stallone is excited about the new film and wishes the team well:




Hang in there, he says! Since he was already talking about Cliffhanger, Sylvester Stallone dug up some old photos and shared a little bit more about how that sausage was made:


It doesn't sound like it was the easiest film to make, and there were some struggles in post-production too. Back in 2006, Sylvester Stallone answered a fan's question on whether there were plans for a director's cut release of the film, since the theatrical and DVD versions were supposedly "very cut." Here's Sly's response, via Ain't It Cool News:



No, actually the director’s cut was met with a lot of disapproval at the screening and received some alarmingly low scores. Mainly because the stunts were absurdly overblown. For example, the average man can jump maybe twelve feet across a gorge, and the stunts had me leaping maybe three hundred feet or more, so situations like that had to be pared down and still then were fairly extreme… so you’re probably better off with this cut. By the way, the 2nd unit crew that filmed the majority of the action was extraordinary.





No offense, Renny Harlin? The 1993 Cliffhanger made $255,000,211 worldwide off a reported production budget of $70 million, per Box Office Mojo. Not too shabby.


According to the Guinness World Records, Cliffhanger had stuntman Simon Crane perform the most expensive film stunt in air. It was performed just once, and his trick of moving between two jets at an altitude of 15,000 feet cost $1 million. Sylvester Stallone is said to have offered to reduce his salary by $1 million to make sure the stunt happened.


Sylvester Stallone is pretty good about sharing behind-the-scenes details. He just noted that he would be going to the Cannes Film Festival for a career retrospective and to show portions of Rambo V: Last Blood, which opens in theaters on September 20.




Sly had previously mentioned that Rambo 5, unlike some past films, was going "beautifully" in the editing process. He also recently plugged the upcoming 40 Years Of Rocky documentary, which he narrates himself. It was also just announced that Stallone's Escape Plan: The Extractors -- co-starring Dave Bautista and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson -- will be released on Digital, Blu-ray, and DVD on July 2.


And we're still waiting on more updates for The Expendables 4, which will hopefully bring back the whole gang. If Sylvester Stallone is into the idea for this Cliffhanger remake, maybe he'd even be up for a cameo? We'll have to see how this plays out as the new movie moves forward. Keep up with everything that already has a 2019 date attached with our handy movie schedule.


Marvel’s Shang-Chi Movie Just Took A Big Step Forward

Marvel’s Shang-Chi Movie Just Took A Big Step Forward
Shang-Chi Marvel Comics character

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is ready to continue make history following the thunderous response to its more inclusive titles, Black Panther and Captain Marvel. The studio has just hired Asian-American director Destin Daniel Cretton to helm a film for martial-arts hero Shang-Chi, the first superhero movie lead by an Asian protagonist.


While Marvel’s official future slate hasn't been announced to the public yet in order to focus on the events of Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home first, the comic series inspired by martial artist Bruce Lee’s pop culture prominence in Enter the Dragon will soon be adapted to the cinematic universe.


The project is certainly starting to shape up as Destin Daniel Cretton is now attached as director, in addition to Chinese-American writer Dave Callaham writing the screenplay, via Deadline. Up next, Marvel will also enlist a primarily Asian cast to the movie as well.





Ironically enough, Destin Daniel Cretton has spent much of his directing career teaming up with Captain Marvel actress Brie Larson in Short Term 12, Glass Castle and for his upcoming drama Just Mercy, which will will have her playing opposite Black Panther’s Michael B. Jordan. Maybe Larson played a part in Marvel’s decision to enlist Cretton for the project. It's food for thought.


Shang-Chi was first announced back in December, when reports said Marvel Studios was fast-tracking the movie with script writer Dave Callaham, who created the Expendables franchise and story for 2014’s Godzilla reboot. The writer also co-wrote the Wonder Woman 1984 script and has signed on to the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel.


The hero debuted in Marvel Comics in 1973, at a time when martial arts films were at an all-time popularity high. Shang-Chi grows up and is educated in the confines of a compound in China, where he intensely trains in the ways of martial arts to an expert level. His father allows him to go into the outside world under his orders, but Shang-Chi eventually finds out that his father is a centuries-old villain whose various identities include Fu Manchu and The Devil's Doctor. The father and son become sworn enemies.





Following the achievement of Black Panther, the highest-earning movie of 2018, Marvel’s first Best Picture contender and winner of three Academy Awards, the studio has placed a new focus on diversity in the upcoming films. Kevin Feige teased that Black Panther is just the beginning. The recent release of the first female-fronted flick Captain Marvel is another step in that direction and Shang-Chi follows this mission.


This news certainly puts the Shang-Chi movie in the running to be part of Marvel’s Phase Four slate, along with the Black Widow solo film, Black Panther 2, The Eternals, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Doctor Strange 2. Until then, you can read up on the comic book character with our Shang-Chi guide.


Horror Directors Who Later Made Superhero Movies

Horror Directors Who Later Made Superhero Movies
The Omen Damien stands in the graveyard Superman The Movie Superman flies into the sky

What is it about horror directors that draws them to make comic book adaptations? While it may feel like Aquaman and Shazam! are the start of a new trend in hiring horror talent for superhero stories, history shows that there are quite a few directors who have moved between both worlds. And in some cases, there’s pretty prolific films on both sides of the aisle, stemming from those who decided to walk the line between screams and dreams. Some might surprise you, while others are pretty standard; but all made their mark in these twin worlds of fantasy. So without further ado, let's go down the list, shall we?


Richard Donner


Arguably the most classic example of the worlds of comics and horror crossing over, director Richard Donner’s resume spans work from varied genres, with two big films sticking out. The Omen from 1976 and 1978’s Superman: The Movie were Donner’s big, back to back contributions to horror and heroes, and taking them both into account, the filmmaker kind of made the same film twice - telling a story of a family taking in and raising an incredibly powerful being. The big difference is that Damien doesn't leap tall buildings in a single bound, and Superman doesn't flip out when approaching a house of worship. But the same steady hand guided both stories, and while Donner didn't get to do everything he'd set out to with his Superman films, his work still remains as the gold standard for the character.


James Gunn


Everyone knows James Gunn’s work from Guardians of the Galaxy as his major calling card in the industry today, and having made two films of comedy, music, and heart, he’s just been brought back to do a third one. But before it was all about Star-Lord’s famous Walkman and awesome mixes, Gunn had a different film that shocked the world into paying attention to him, and it was called Slither. A creature feature of the highest order, it was the film that brought Gunn together with the likes of Michael Rooker and Nathan Fillion, enabling him to cast them in later projects - including both Guardians movies. Of course, it also showed how well he worked with disgusting monsters that threaten a ragtag group of heroes.




James Wan


Back when films like Saw and Dead Silence were director James Wan’s bread and butter, if you had asked anyone if he’d be their first choice to direct an Aquaman movie you’d probably get a lot of laughter. But that’s exactly what happened, as the man who was crafting a whole cinematic universe of scares with The Conjuring films was brought in on the King Tide to send Jason Momoa’s titular hero shooting up the box office charts. Now, with Aquaman 2 obviously in the water, we just might be seeing the same hands that put reverse bear traps and creepy puppets into our nightmares spinning tales of superpowered heroism again in the near future.


David F. Sandberg


Speaking of The Conjuring, it’s only taken three years and three movies for the talented David F. Sandberg to go from horror newbie to superhero newbie, and with the results have been impressive. Back in 2016 we saw Sandberg adapt his short film Lights Out into a blockbuster horror hit, which eventually sent him to not only rehabilitate the Annabelle franchise with its sequel Annabelle: Creation, but eventually landed him in the position to call the shots on the aforementioned Shazam! Judging by the reaction we've seeen to that film so far, from both critics and fans alike, it sounds like Sandberg is going to fit into this long legacy of filmmakers just fine.


Guillermo del Toro


Yes, even Guillermo del Toro directed a superhero feature. While some modern comic book movie fans might not remember the Blade franchise, 2002’s Blade II was brought into the world by the steady hands of del Toro himself - doing a wonderful job actually mixing to two genres. What’s even better about this particular example of a horror and comic enhanced resume is the fact that Guillermo del Toro never stopped making horror films, and didn’t stop at one superhero film either. From Chronos to Pan’s Labyrinth, he's always been scaring the pants off of audience, and the man also found time to sneak in two Hellboy movies onto his dance card.




Sam Raimi


Debuting with a film like The Evil Dead immediately helped Sam Raimi establish himself in the horror world, and eventually direct his career to create a foundation based on the genre of screams. But eventually those howls turned to fantasies, as 1990’s Darkman saw Raimi break into superhero storytelling with pretty fantastic results (while still including a few jumps). That being said, it's still not the man's greatest achievement in the realm, as a little over a decade later the director brought the world our first ever Spider-Man movie, and then two sequels. It was a film that really changed big screen comic book movies forever, and one could argue that the landscape wouldn't be what it is today without it.


Scott Derrickson


Scott Derrickson is a man who has made one hell of a living off of the horror genre, later making the successful jump into the world of the caped and the courageous. Derrickson made his big splash as a director with The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and only continued to frighten the world with features like Sinister and Deliver Us From Evil for quite a long stretch of his early career. Proving clearly adept with genre storytelling after turning Doctor Strange into a smashing success, Derrickson looks like he’ll continue to play both sides of the fence, as Doctor Strange 2 is basically confirmed, and at least one other horror flavored project, Two Eyes Staring, looks to be in his future as well.


Ruben Fleischer


Zombieland was all it took for director Ruben Fleischer to become a hot new talent in the year of 2009. An irreverent zombie film that didn’t skimp on the kills or the laughs, the film became a pop culture hit almost instantly. However, it took another nine years for Fleischer to make the jump into superhero films, with one of the most horror fueled entries in the genre’s recent history: Venom. While the movie wasn't all that well-received by critics, there's also no arguing about its incredible success, as the Tom Hardy hit from last year is on track to be the basis for a whole new superhero continuity. And in the meantime, Fleisher is set to return to his horror roots with Zombieland: Double Tap currently filming and set to be released later this year.




Wes Craven


You might want to prepare yourself for a bit of a shock with this next one, because while Wes Craven is mostly known for bringing audiences face to face with their nightmares, he also took a superhero film on as a project in the earlier days of his career. By the time Craven had Last House On The Left and The Hills Have Eyes under his belt, he found himself wandering into the world of Swamp Thing, bringing the DC hero to life for Hollywood in 1982. Here’s the fun part though: you’ll notice that there’s one particular film that wasn’t made at that point, as A Nightmare On Elm Street wouldn’t exist for another two years. Seeing as that film was a box office smash, and Swamp Thing became a cult classic at best, Craven can’t be faulted for staying in the realm of horror.


Tim Burton


Picture this: you’re a young hot shot director named Tim Burton, and you’ve always kind of been taken with the world of gothic horror. After making Pee Wee’s Big Adventure the success that it is, what’s the first project you choose to do? Naturally, you'd cash in those favors and swing for a home run in your genre of choice, like Burton did with 1988’s horror-comedy classic Beetlejuice. That decision proved to be a classic success, because after turning on the juice and seeing the box office magic that shook loose, Tim Burton was brought in to usher a new era of superhero films into being. Using his gothic sensibilities, Burton jumpstarted Batman in 1989, and the rest was Danny Elfman enhanced history, continuing with Batman Returns three years later. In the years since he's not only continued to occupationally dabble in the world of horror - such as with the Oscar winning Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - but his aesthetic is still having an impact on comic book movie storytelling 30 years later.


Zack Snyder


For our last example, we’ve saved quite probably the most interesting. In recent years, director Zack Snyder has become primarily known as the director that tried in vain to get the DC Extended Universe off of the ground. After comic hits like 300 and Watchmen, Snyder graduated to Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League. But before any of those films, the man had a pretty impressive claim to fame: he directed the 2004 remake of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, created with a script from the aforementioned James Gunn. Though more than half of his filmmography is now superhero movies, Snyder's feature roots are in horror, and to it he is returning to the genre next with the Netflix film Army of the Dead.




Looking at this list, maybe some directors best known for superhero movies should think about taking a page from the books of these intrepid filmmakers and pull a reverse migration into the world of horror. If the results are as promising as the stories we’ve recounted above, the scariest genre could see an even bigger boost than the one its currently experiencing.


We Saw New Avengers: Endgame Footage And It Revealed The Heroes' Plan To Take On Thanos

We Saw New Avengers: Endgame Footage And It Revealed The Heroes' Plan To Take On Thanos
Captain MArvel in Avengers Endgame Final Trailer, new footage from Marvel

We’re going to get into a spoilery-ish scene we screened from Avengers: Endgame today in this piece. If you want to go into the upcoming Marvel movie fresh – and I totally don’t blame you – please hop out now and check out one of our other lovely articles. If you love reading everything you can about the movie, forage on!


We’re so close to Avengers: Endgame I can taste it. In fact I got a taste of it today at CinemaCon 2019 when Disney shared a lot of brand new footage and other content from its upcoming 2019 slate of films. (No Star Wars Episode IX though, sorry.) Among these moments was an extended scene from Avengers: Endgame that captured more of Captain Marvel interacting with some of the other Avengers as well as revealed a little bit about the heroes’ plan to take on Thanos.


First and foremost, the scene opens with some footage we’ve seen snippets of in the trailers so far. Cap, Rhodey and some of the other Avengers are strategizing about when and how to take down Thanos. Captain Marvel really feels like it’s her fight, but the other Avengers assert “it’s our fight too.”




As it turns out, it’s also Nebula’s fight. We’ve known for a while now that Nebula would play a key role in Avengers: Endgame. In fact, actress Karen Gillan previously revealed she believes Nebula will sway the audience in a different way this time around noting:



She's evolved from a villain to someone we've developed empathy towards. I think she's going to be a character we're all rooting for.



In the new clip, Nebula reveals that while she was busy attempting to earn Thanos’ approval and please him, he always talked about wanting to go to The Garden. (Hilariously, Rhodey quips that’s it’s just peachy Thanos “has a retirement plan.”) The Avengers use some fancy technology to track an energy signature that seems to be a second use of the stones. Assumedly that’s a tie-in to Thanos terraforming the planet.




The team then spends the next few minutes deciding they’ll need to go into space, find the planet, take on Thanos, and then use the stones to undo what happened prior during Avengers: Infinity War.


There’s a little bit of a debate about what will be different this time around. Captain Marvel quietly and effectively says "me," but it seems there may still be some skeptics among the other heroes. I'm assuming they don't know the whole breadth of what the character can do or they wouldn't rib her so much, but it's hard to tell given the context.


You’ve seen part of this clip in a recent trailer for Marvel's Avengers: Endgame, in which Thor stands up, retrieves Stormbreaker and declares about Carol Danvers, “I like her.”




This whole scene fits in line with recent footage we’ve seen. In the last trailer, Thanos noted:



You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me.



That seemingly implied at the time the Avengers were the ones tracking down Thanos in order to restore balance to the universe and eventually found him, but now we know how they get started. The clip ends with a shot of plenty of Avengers in a space ship: Captain Marvel, Bruce Banner, Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Nebula, Rhodey and Rocket. That’s footage, too, that was confirmed in a recent trailer.




Still, seeing an extended moment confirmed a little bit more of the plan, it got me even more pumped to get into the nitty gritty of what happens and it reminds me that although a lot of the marketing for Avengers: Endgame has been serious, this movie is going to have some new team-ups among the heroes. In addition, the clip confirmed it’s going to be fun to have Captain Marvel be “the new kid” in the gang, and the convos she has with the other heroes are pretty amusing.


We won’t have much longer to wait to see how this whole story plays out. Avengers: Endgame is finally out on April 26 and if you don't have tickets yet for opening weekend, they seem to be selling quickly.


John Wick 3 Filming Was Hijacked By A Thousand Ballsy Cats

John Wick 3 Filming Was Hijacked By A Thousand Ballsy Cats
Keanu Reeves and Halle Berry in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

So far, 2019 has been the year of the movie cat -- between Captain Marvel’s Goose and Church in Pet Sematary. So while the John Wick franchise has always centered on dogs, including the upcoming third chapter, felines marked their territory.


John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum director Chad Stahelski recalled a particular cat invasion during the filming of the sequel in Essaouira, Morocco. The sequence features Keanu Reeves’ Wick and new character Sofia (played by Halle Berry) and her pair of Belgian Malinois hound protectors fighting off a small army of assassins. Here’s what happened, in Stahelski’s words:



The Moroccans are not big on canines. Love a fucking cat, though. There had to be thousands. We went there in the winter when we scouted and they weren’t that prevalent. We were like, There’s a few cats here, we’ll get a cat department, and we’re going to move all the cats out. We show up to shoot and there were literally a thousand cats, okay? And the cats have balls of steel. They’re not afraid of anything.





The irony! The director told Entertainment Weekly that, as a result, the crew had to build massive cages to house the cat residents while they shot the scene. They also tasked themselves with feeding them, Chad Stahelski commenting that there were more felines to feed than cast and crew members put together.


Halle Berry’s hounds, who she trained herself, were to be a major component of the scene in Morocco. But, as you can imagine, thousands of cats are distracting. Chad Stahelski continued with these words:



What do Belgian Malinois love to chase? Fucking cats! While Keanu Reeves is killing ten guys over there, Halle is killing ten guys over here, and [there is the] stunt guy the dog’s got to focus on. You want that dog focused on what he’s supposed to bite, and what he’s not supposed to bite. Hit the mark, right? And there’s ten cats walking around and you’re going, ‘Oh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus.’ You’re sitting behind the monitor going, ‘What’s the dog looking at? What’s the dog looking at? Oh my god oh my god, he’s going to bite — Argh!’ It got a little crazy between cat-wrangling, and dog-wrangling, and people-wrangling. And you’ve got the studio back [in America] going, ‘Why are you a little behind? Just get the dog to do [it].’ And you’re like, I don’t speak dog. If I did I’d be fucking rich! Anyway, that was kind of fun.





Sounds like a bit of a mess… but it makes for a great story and hopefully some great content for the John Wick 3 bonus features. The crew did not expect to run into cats, of all problems on set -- especially during a scene featuring dogs, no less.


In addition to working closely with the hounds -- such as a sequence where one of the dogs jumps off her back, scales a wall and takes someone down from above -- Halle Berry also trained hard to do her own badass stunts during the movie’s fight scenes. The actress has the bruises to show for it because she actually broke three ribs during rehearsal. She doesn’t know how it happened but considers it her "badge of honor."


Unexpected cat setbacks aside, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is shaping up to be a highly-anticipated release. It's already being highly praised by critics, with one reviewer deeming it an “action masterpiece." The movie is expected to make $30 to $40 million during its opening weekend, making it the biggest debut for the franchise yet. John Wick hits theaters on May 17.