film trailers

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Robert Pattinson gets the crappiest immortality in trailer for Mickey 17

bong joon-ho, culture, Entertainment, film trailers, Mickey 17, Robert Pattinson, science fiction film, Trailers, Warner Bros. / /

How (un)lucky can one guy get? —

“Let’s blow up these second-hand baloney boys.”

–

Robert Pattinson’s character didn’t read his contract’s fine print in Mickey 17, director Bong Joon-ho’s latest film.

It has been five long years since director Bong Joon-ho’s film Parasite topped Ars’ list for best films of the year, whose prior work on Snowpiercer and Okja are also staff favorites. We’re finally getting a new film from this gifted director: the sci-fi comedy Mickey 17, based on the 2022 novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. Judging by the trailer that recently dropped, it feels a bit like a darkly comic version of Duncan Jones’ 2009 film Moon, with a bit of the surreal absurdity of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (1985) thrown in for good measure. And the visuals are terrific.

Ashton’s inspiration for the novel was the teletransportation paradox—a thought experiment pondering the philosophy of identity that challenges certain notions of the self and consciousness. It started as a short story about what Ashton called “a crappy immortality” and expanded from there into a full-length novel.

Ashton told Nerdist last year that Bong’s adaptation would “change a lot of the book,” but he considered the director a “genius” and wasn’t concerned about those changes. The basic premise remains the same. Robert Pattinson plays the space colonist named Mickey Barnes, who is so eager to escape Earth that he signs up to be an “expendable” without reading the fine print.

Expendables are basically disposable employees (aka “second-hand baloney boys”). If they happen to die on the job, their consciousness is uploaded to a new body, and the cycle starts all over again. When a multiple unexpectedly survives while on an expedition to colonize the ice world Niflheim, Mickeys 17 and 18 discover that the policy in such cases is to exterminate all the multiples, and they must fight for their right to keep existing.

In addition to Pattinson, the cast includes Steven Yeun as Berto, Toni Collette as Gwen Johansen, Mark Ruffalo as Hieronymous Marshall, Naomi Ackie as Nasha Adjaya, Holliday Grainger as Red Hair, Angus Imrie as Shrimp Eyes, and Steve Park as Agent Zeke. Anamaria Vartolomei, Thomas Turgoose, Patsy Ferran, and Daniel Henshall have also been cast in as-yet-undisclosed roles. Perhaps one of them plays the person in the giant pigeon costume who briefly appears in the trailer.

Mickey 17 hits theaters in the US on January 31, 2025. It will premiere in other countries on January 28, 2025. Ashton penned a sequel, Antimatter Blues, which was published last year, so maybe Bong Joon-ho will adapt that one, too.

Listing image by YouTube/Warner Bros.

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Final trailer for Venom: The Last Dance introduces Knull, god of symbiotes

culture, Entertainment, film trailers, Sony Pictures, Sony's Spider-Man Universe, Trailers, Venom: The Last Dance / /

The end is near —

“This world can’t survive if you stay together.”

–

Tom Hardy returns for one more round as host of an alien symbiote, in Venom: The Last Dance.

Tom Hardy is back for one last hurrah as investigative journalist Eddie Brock, host of an alien symbiote that imparts superhuman powers to its host, in the final trailer for Venom: The Last Dance. The trailer has all the wise-cracking “buddy cop” vibes and fast-paced action we’ve come to expect from the franchise, including a trip to Vegas where Venom discovers the addictive allure of slot machines. But there are also hints of an inevitable bittersweet farewell—because this time they’ll face off against Knull, god-creator of the symbiotes.

(Spoilers for Venom and Venom: There Will Be Carnage below.)

As previously reported, the first film in the franchise served as an origin story for our antihero. A bioengineering firm called the Life Foundation discovered a comet covered with symbiotic lifeforms and brought four samples back to Earth. Brock’s then-fiancée, Anne Weying (Michelle Williams), showed him classified documents revealing that the foundation was conducting human/symbiote experiments. The symbiotes needed oxygen-breathing hosts to survive, but they invariably ended up killing those hosts.

Brock ended up infected with one of the symbiotes, named Venom. Venom revealed that the symbiotes are intent on taking over Earth by possessing/devouring all humans, but Brock ultimately struck up a bargain with Venom, and they decided to protect Earth instead. Together, they took on Life Foundation CEO Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), infected with a symbiote called Riot. Naturally, they won.

Venom was released in October 2018 and was roundly panned by critics, several of whom specifically bemoaned the lack of a Spider-Man connection. Audiences, however, begged to differ. Venom racked up $856 million globally. Hardy had already committed to two sequels, and a mid-credits sequence featured Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady taunting Brock (who was interviewing Kasady for a story) from his cell. Kasady vowed to escape and bring “carnage,” leaving little doubt as to the villain’s identity in a sequel.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage, directed by Andy Serkis, was released in 2021, also to mixed reviews and a strong box office, grossing $506.9 million worldwide. That film ended with Brock and Venom victorious over Kasady and heading off for a well-deserved vacation while the duo pondered their next steps. In a post-credits scene, Venom told Brock that he and his fellow symbiotes knew about other universes, at which point there was blinding light, and they were transported into the Marvel Cinematic Universe—a direct result of the spell cast by Doctor Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home. (At the time, there were plans for a future crossover film with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man.)

“With you to the end”

Serkis was unable to return as director for The Last Dance, but Kelly Marcel, who wrote the screenplay for Carnage, stepped in to make her directorial debut. Per the official premise:

In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.

In addition to Hardy, Peggy Lu is back as convenience store owner Mrs. Chen, who befriended Eddie and Venom early on. Also returning is Stephen Graham as Detective Patrick Mulligan, who figured prominently in There Will Be Carnage and is now infected with his own symbiote named Toxin.

Cristo Fernández will reprise his role as the bartender in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man. Rhys Ifans played Curt Connors/Lizard in that film but will play a man named Martin in The Last Dance. Is there a secret connection? We’ll have to wait and see. (It seems after two outings, Williams won’t be reprising her role as Anne in the third and final film.) The cast also includes Chiwetel Ejiofor as a soldier intent on capturing Venom; and Alanna Ubach and Clark Backo in as-yet-undisclosed roles.

Venom: The Last Dance hits theaters on October 25, 2024.

Listing image by YouTube/Sony Pictures

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Jack Black stars as expert crafter Steve in A Minecraft Movie teaser

A Minecraft Movie, culture, Entertainment, film trailers, gaming, minecraft, Warner Bros. / /

Kadoosh! —

“Anything you can dream about here, you can make.”

–

Jason Momoa and Jack Black star in A Minecraft Movie.

Minecraft is among the most successful and influential games of the early 21st century, winning many awards and selling over 300 million copies (so far) since its 2011 release. So it was only a matter of time before Hollywood gave us a feature film based on the 3D sandbox game, simply titled A Minecraft Movie. Sure, one might have reservations about yet another video game-based movie, but on the plus side, we’ve got Jason Momoa and Jack Black co-starring. And the first teaser is full of eye-popping candy-colored cubic visuals and sly references to the game that should please fans.

Within a year of Minecraft‘s initial release, Mojang Studios was fielding offers from Hollywood producers about making a TV series based on the game, but the company wanted to wait for “the right idea.” There was a 2014 attempt to crowd-source a fan film, but game creator Markus “Notch” Persson didn’t agree to license that effort since he was already negotiating with Warner Bros. about developing a film based on the game. Thus began a long, convoluted process of directors and writers being hired and leaving the project for various reasons.

When the dust finally settled, Jared Hess (who worked with Black on Nacho Libre) ended up directing. The COVID pandemic and 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike delayed things further, but filming finally wrapped earlier this year in Auckland, New Zealand—just in time for a spring 2025 theatrical release. Per the official synopsis:

Welcome to the world of Minecraft, where creativity doesn’t just help you craft, it’s essential to one’s survival! Four misfits—Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa), Henry (Sebastian Eugene Hansen), Natalie (Emma Myers) and Dawn (Danielle Brooks)—find themselves struggling with ordinary problems when they are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into the Overworld: a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. To get back home, they’ll have to master this world (and protect it from evil things like Piglins and Zombies, too) while embarking on a magical quest with an unexpected, expert crafter, Steve (Jack Black). Together, their adventure will challenge all five to be bold and to reconnect with the qualities that make each of them uniquely creative… the very skills they need to thrive back in the real world.

Game players will recognize Steve as one of the default characters in Minecraft. The teaser is set to The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” and opens with our misfits encountering a fantastical Tolkien-esque landscape—only with a lot more cube-like shapes, like a pink sheep with a cubed head.  We get the aforementioned Piglins and other creatures before Black appears and dramatically announces with great fanfare, “I…. am Steve.” Honestly, we’ll probably watch it just for Black’s performance alone.

A Minecraft Movie hits theaters in April 2025.

Listing image by YouTube/Warner Bros.

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Kraven the Hunter’s new trailer gives us a dark, gore-filled revenge story

culture, Entertainment, film trailers, Kraven the Hunter, Sony Pictures, Sony's Spider-Man University, Trailers / /

“When the man comes around” —

It’s the latest installment in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, which has floundered recently.

–

Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Bullet Train) plays the title character in the forthcoming film Kraven the Hunter.

Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) got off to a strong start with Venom (2018) and Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), both of which racked up high box office earnings despite mixed-to-negative reviews from critics. But then the studio foundered badly with a couple of box office flops: 2022’s Morbius and 2024’s Madame Web.

Sony hopes to right the ship with a third Venom film in October (The Last Dance) and the much-delayed Kraven the Hunter this December. We’ve got a new trailer for the latter, leaning heavily into R-rated gore and set to Johnny Cash’s moodily atmospheric “The Man Comes Around.” It’s an entirely different, darker vibe from prior offerings: a revenge narrative rife with violence and daddy issues. Color us intrigued.

Comic book fans are well acquainted with Kraven as one of Spider-Man’s most formidable foes, a founding member of the Sinister Six. He’s a Russian immigrant with an aristocratic background who fled his home country when Tsar Nicholas II’s reign collapsed in 1917. He’s a big game hunter with enhanced abilities thanks to ingesting a mysterious potion made from jungle herbs. He’s very hard to injure, has super-human strength, and enhanced sight, hearing, and smell, as well as being a good tactician with excellent hand-to-hand combat skills.

Screenwriter Richard Wenk has said that Sony intended to adapt the critically acclaimed 1987 storyline in Kraven’s Last Hunt by J.M. DeMatteis, Mike Zeck, and Bob McLeod, which leaned heavily into the character’s Russian origins to create a very Dostoyevsky-like arc of a tortured soul. That storyline features an older Kraven whose health is failing who decides to hunt Spider-Man one last time, whereas the film is clearly an origin story. And Kraven actually dies by suicide in that comic arc, but we’re guessing Sony has plans to use him in other SSU films, with or without his arch-nemesis Spider-Man.

Per the official premise:

Kraven the Hunter is the visceral, action-packed origin story of how and why one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Kraven, a man whose complex relationship with his ruthless father, Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.

In addition to Taylor-Johnson and Crowe, the cast includes Ariana DeBose as the voodoo priestess Calypso, Kraven’s love interest; Fred Hechinger as Dmitri Smerdyakov, aka Chameleon, Kraven’s half-brother; Alessandro Nivola as Aleksei Sytsevich, aka Rhino, a Russian mercenary who can transform into a human/rhino hybrid; Christopher Abbott as a mercenary and assassin called the Foreigner; and Levi Miller as young Sergei.

Kraven the Hunter hits theaters on December 13, 2024.

Listing image by YouTube/Sony Pictures

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Gaga’s Harley Quinn joins the Clown Prince of Crime in Joker: Folie à Deux trailer

culture, Entertainment, film trailers, Joaquin Pheonix, Joker: Folie à Deux, Trailers, Warner Bros. / /

a perfect match —

“For once in my life, I have someone who needs me.”

–

Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga star in Joker: Folie à Deux.

This weekend will be all about San Diego Comic-Con and the hotly anticipated theatrical release of the summer blockbuster Deadpool and Wolverine, but Warner Bros. is already looking ahead to the fall. The studio dropped the official trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to 2019’s smash hit Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix. This time, he’s joined by fellow asylum inmate Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga) to bring a comic book criminal partnership for the ages to gritty life.

(Spoilers for 2019’s Joker below.)

Joker was intended to be a standalone film—part of DC Films’ decision to move away from the shared-universe approach of its prior franchise DCEU films. (DC Studios CEO James Gunn is now calling it the “DC Elseworld” project.) It had no relation to the Justice League films that came before, so that freed Phillips to create his own darker, grittier version of this iconic character. He cited Martin Scorsese films like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The King of Comedy among his influences. There’s no real origin story for the Joker in the comics—not a definitive one, anyway—so Phillips and screenwriter Scott Silver were able to cherry-pick the canonical elements they needed and make up the rest. (In Batman: The Killing Joke, for instance, the Joker is a failed comedian.)

The sequel was officially announced in 2022. In addition to Phoenix and Gaga, Zazie Beetz returns as Sophie, Arthur’s former neighbor and a single mom, on whom he had a crush, and Leigh Gill and Sharon Washington reprise their roles as Arthur’s therapist and social worker, respectively. The cast also includes Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland, Steve Coogan, Ken Leung, and Harry Lawley.

Per the official premise, “Joker: Folie à Deux finds Arthur Fleck institutionalized at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love but also finds the music that’s always been inside him.” The first teaser was released in April and showed Fleck meeting Gaga’s Dr. Harleen Quinzel, a fellow inmate who becomes increasingly obsessed with Arthur… and vice versa. It was clear the pair fed one another’s particular delusions, right down to show-stopping fantasy musical numbers.

This latest trailer, set to the dulcet tones of Frank Sinatra, mostly offers more of the same, although we do get some new footage of Joker representing himself at his trial: “Look around at all these people!” he exclaims, perhaps referring to the throngs of frenzied admirers cheering him on outside. “I will no longer allow any of you to keep me down.” With Harley by his side, he’s ready to give the people what they want. We’re guessing they’re going to choose violence.

Joker: Folie à Deux hits theaters overseas on October 2, 2024, followed by a US theatrical release on October 4, 2024. The film will make its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September.

Listing image by YouTube/Warner Bros.

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Final Deadpool and Wolverine trailer features a familiar face from Logan

culture, Deadpool and Wolverine, Entertainment, film trailers, marvel studios, Trailers / /

Are you ready? —

We all have a moment that defines us.

–

Ryan Reynolds and High Jackman join forces in Deadpool and Wolverine.

If there’s anything the Deadpool franchise is known for, it’s R-rated cheeky irreverence. The forthcoming Deadpool and Wolverine clearly has that in spades, but the final trailer strikes an uncharacteristically somber note, reminding us just what Wade Wilson/Deadpool stands to lose if Wolverine can’t rise to the challenge. Bonus: There’s a surprise cameo from Hugh Jackman’s co-star in Logan.

As previously reported, Ryan Reynolds found the perfect fit with 2016’s Deadpool, starring as Wade Wilson, a former Canadian special forces operative (dishonorably discharged) who develops regenerative healing powers that heal his cancer but leave him permanently disfigured with scars all over his body. Wade decides to become a masked vigilante, turning down an invitation to join the X-Men and abandon his bad-boy ways. The first Deadpool was a big hit, racking up $782 million at the global box office, critical praise, and a couple of Golden Globe nominations for good measure. Deadpool 2 was released in 2018 and was just as successful.

Deadpool and Wolverine reunites Reynolds with many familiar faces from the first two films. Morena Baccarin is back as Wade’s girlfriend Vanessa, along with Leslie Uggams as Blind Al; Karan Soni as Wade’s personal chauffeur, taxi driver Dopinder; Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead; Stefan Kapičić as the voice of Colossus; Shioli Kutsuna as Negasonic’s mutant girlfriend, Yukio; Randal Reeder as Buck; and Lewis Tan as X-Force member Shatterstar.

Along with Sabretooth, the mutants Toad and Dogpool should be on hand to make some trouble. New to the franchise are Matthew MacFadyen as a Time Variance Authority agent named Paradox and Emma Corrin as the lead villain. There have been rumors that Owen Wilson’s Mobius and the animated Miss Minutes from Loki may also appear in the film.

Marvel released a two-minute teaser for the new movie during the Super Bowl in February, featuring the trademark cheeky irreverence that made audiences embrace Reynold’s R-rated superhero in the first place, plus a glimpse of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine—or rather, his distinctive shadow. And yes, Marvel is retaining that R rating—a big step given that all the prior MCU films have been resoundingly PG-13. Marvel dropped a full trailer in April that was chock-full of off-color witticisms, meta-references, slo-mo action, and a generous sprinkling of F-bombs. And last month, another one-minute trailer dropper with a surprise appearance: Sabretooth, played by the same actor, Tyler Mane, who portrayed the character in 2000’s X-Men.

Someone needs a pep talk

This final trailer takes an entirely different tone, playing like a love letter to the Wolverine of the X-Men franchise. It’s basically Wade/Deadpool having a bona fide heart-to-heart with the Wolverine in this alternate timeline. “I know I turn everything into a joke, but I care,” he says in a voiceover accompanying footage from prior X-Men films, rendered in nostalgic gray tones. “I waited a long time for this team-up. In my world, you’re well-regarded. You were an X-Man. Fuck that, you were THE X-Man. The Wolverine. He was a hero in my world.”

Wolverine’s response: “Yeah well, he ain’t shit in mine.” We learn that this version of Wolverine resisted all attempts to persuade him to officially don the suit and join the X-Men and now he believes it’s just too late to make a difference. As a last-ditch effort, Wade shows him a picture of the nine people he loves who make up his entire world and tells him he has no idea how to save them—but Wolverine does.

And who shows up at the crucial moment but Dafne Keene’s Laura Kinney, the cloned mutant formerly known as X-23, who inherited the Wolverine mantle in the comics. When Wolverine insists they’ve got the wrong guy, she replies, “You were always the wrong guy… until you weren’t.” We’re betting Wolverine’s gonna step up.

Deadpool and Wolverine hits theaters on July 26, 2024.

Listing image by YouTube/Marvel Studios

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Space colonizers battle ultimate killing machines in Alien: Romulus trailer

20th Century Studios, Alien: Romulus, culture, Entertainment, film trailers, Ridley Scott, Trailers / /

not-so-lucky star —

“Whatever comes, we’ll face it together.”

–

Director Fede Alvarez brings us Alien: Romulus, coming to theaters next month.

The face huggers and chest bursters return with a vengeance in a few weeks when Alien: Romulus finally hits theaters. It’s the latest installment in the Alien franchise from horror director Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe, Evil Dead), and the final action-packed trailer just dropped.

(Spoilers for Alien and Aliens below.)

As previously reported, Alien: Romulus is set between the events of Alien and Aliens (and is not related to FX/Hulu’s Alien prequel series slated to premiere next year). That is, after Ellen Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo, destroyed the killer xenomorph and launched herself into space in the ship’s lifeboat—along with the ginger cat, Jonesy—and before she woke up after 57 years in hypersleep and battled more xenomorphs while protecting the young orphan, Newt (Carrie Henn). Per the short-and-sweet official premise: “While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”

Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla, Pacific Rim: Uprising) stars as Rain Carradine, Isabela Merced (The Last of Us) plays Kay, and David Jonsson (Murder Is Easy) plays Andy. Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone) plays Tyler, Spike Fearn (Aftersun) plays Bjorn, and Aileen Wu plays Navarro. But we aren’t likely to see iconic badass Ellen Ripley (immortalized by Sigourney Weaver) in the film. At this point in the timeline, she’s in the middle of her 57-year stasis with Jonesy as her escape shuttle travels through space toward her fateful encounter with a xenomorph queen.

Haunted house in space

We got our first look at Alien: Romulus, the ninth installment in the sci-fi franchise, in March with a brief teaser. That footage showed promise that Alvarez could fulfill his intention to bring this standalone film back to the franchise’s stripped-down space horror roots. There was also some special footage screened at CinemaCon in April featuring the expected face-huggers and chest-bursters. A full trailer dropped in March, and it looked as gory, intense, and delightfully terrifying as the seminal first two films in the franchise, with some spooky haunted house-in-space vibes thrown in for good measure.

  • Space is beautiful, but horrors lurk.

    YouTube/20th Century Studios

  • The face huggers claim another victim.

    YouTube/20th Century Studios

  • That feeling when something alien is about to burst out of your chest.

    YouTube/20th Century Studios

  • Kay is justifiably horrified.

    YouTube/20th Century Studios

  • XENOMORPH!

    YouTube/20th Century Studios

  • The xenomorph stalks another victim.

    YouTube/20th Century Studios

This final trailer has a lot of the same footage but gives us a few more details as to the plot. The young space colonizers are gearing up to steal “highly regulated equipment” from the aforementioned derelict space station, mostly because Tyler thinks it “could be our only ticket out of here.” The team thinks it should be a quick job, in and out in 30 minutes. But we know better, don’t we?

They are welcomed to the Romulus Space Station by MU/TH/UR (the ship’s computer), and Bjorn is the first to say out loud that this space station is super creepy. Poor Bjorn gets the first face hugger, followed by Navarro—she’s the one we’ve seen in prior footage discovering she’s got an alien growing inside her chest. In this trailer, we see the chest burster preparing to emerge, to Kay’s understandable horror. Kay, Rain, Andy, and Tyler break out the weaponry, prepared to face the monsters together. But how well do we like their odds of survival against the ultimate killing machines? Especially given that ominous final countdown to an “impact event”…

Alien: Romulus hits theaters on August 16, 2024.

Listing image by YouTube/20th Century Studios

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Captain America: Brave New World teaser introduces Red Hulk to the MCU

Anthony Mackie, Captain America: Brave New World, culture, Entertainment, film trailers, marvel studios, MCU Phase Five / /

new world order —

There are quite a few familiar characters from 2008’s The Incredible Hulk.

–

Anthony Mackie wields the shield in Captain America: Brave New World.

Marvel Studios has dropped the first teaser for Captain America: Brave New World, star Anthony Mackie’s first cinematic appearance as the new Captain America after the Phase Four 2021 TV miniseries, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. This is the fifth film in the MCU’s Phase Five, directed by Julius Onah (The Cloverfield Paradox) and building on events not just in F&WS but also the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk. The teaser feels like a half-superhero movie, half-political thriller, and with the tantalizing introduction of Red Hulk, it promises to be an entertaining ride.

(Spoilers for Avengers: Endgame and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier below.)

As previously reported, F&WS picked up in the wake of Avengers: End Game, when Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) handed his Captain America shield to Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson (The Falcon) and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes (The Winter Soldier), having chosen to remain in the past and live out his life with Peggy Carter. Sam and Bucky had to grapple with losing Steve and the burden of his legacy. Meanwhile, the US government had named its own new Captain America, John Walker (Wyatt Russell), a decorated veteran and ultimate “good soldier” who thought he could better embody “American values” than Rogers.  

All three men found themselves battling a terrorist group known as the Flag Smashers, many of whom had been enhanced with the Super Soldier Serum. Where did they get it? From a mysterious person known only as the Power Broker. The Flag Smashers were targeting the Global Repatriation Council (GRC) set up to help those who disappeared in the Snappening (or the Blip) and then returned and had to re-acclimate to a very different world. (Apparently, the Flag Smashers liked it better before everyone came back.) Everything culminated in a knock-down fight between a serum-enhanced Walker, Sam, and Bucky, ending with Sam’s wingsuit destroyed. Walker escaped with a broken arm, sans shield, and we saw him in a post-credits scene melting down his military medals to make a new shield.

A new adventure

Frankly, I didn’t love F&WS as much as other Ars staffers and critics; mostly I thought it was “meh” and wasted a lot of potential in terms of character development. But Russell’s performance as Walker was excellent, and who could forget that priceless scene with the evil Baron Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl) dancing? So I’m down for another Captain America adventure with Mackie wielding the shield.

Anthony Mackie is back as Sam Wilson, the new Captain America.

Enlarge / Anthony Mackie is back as Sam Wilson, the new Captain America.

YouTube/Marvel Studios

Per the official premise:

After meeting with newly elected US President Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford in his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.

In addition to Mackie and Ford, the cast includes Liv Tyler as the president’s daughter, Betty Ross, and Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns, both reprising their roles in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. (Ford replaces the late William Hurt, who played Ross in that earlier film.) Carl Lumbley plays Isaiah Bradley, reprising his F&WS role as a Korean War veteran who had been secretly imprisoned and given the Super Soldier Serum against his will, enduring 30 years of experimentation. (He told Sam he couldn’t imagine how any black man could take up Captain America’s shield because of what it represented to people like him, and one could hardly blame him.)

Rosa Salazar plays Rachel Leighton, Danny Ramirez plays Joaquin Torres, and Shira Haas plays Ruth Bat-Seraph. Giancarlo Esposito will also appear in an as-yet-undisclosed role, but based on the brief glimpses we get in the teaser, it’s an antagonistic role.

Ooh, a glimpse of Red Hulk, mutant alter ego of Thaddeus Ross.

Enlarge / Ooh, a glimpse of Red Hulk, mutant alter ego of Thaddeus Ross.

YouTube/Marvel Studios

The teaser opens with Wilson visiting the White House to meet with President Ross. “You and I haven’t always agreed in the past,” Ross tells him. “But I wanna make another run at making Captain America an official military position.” Wilson has well-justified doubts after the events of F&WS, asking what would happen “if we disagree on how to manage a situation.” Ross just reiterates his invitation to work with Sam: “We’ll show the world a better way forward.”

Then Bradley appears at a public event and tries (unsuccessfully) to assassinate the president. Wilson warns Ross that his inner circle has been compromised, but the president appears to be in denial—or there’s something more nefarious going on. “Global power is shifting,” we hear Sterns say in a voiceover. “You’re just a pawn.” Is it a warning or a threat? (Reminder: in the 2008 film, Sterns was a cellular biologist trying to find a cure for Bruce Banner, only to be accidentally exposed to Banner’s blood and begin mutating himself into Leader.)

Cue much explosive action and mayhem. And in true Marvel fashion, there is one final shot of Red Hulk, the alter ego of Thaddeus Ross, whose big red hand is also prominently featured in the official poster below. It should be quite the showdown.

Captain America: Brave New World hits theaters on February 14, 2025.

Marvel Studios

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It’s another bloody power struggle for Rome’s future in Gladiator II trailer

culture, Entertainment, film, film trailers, Gladiator, Gladiator II, Paramount Pictures, Ridley Scott / /

Those who are about to die…. —

“What is the dream of Rome if our people are not free?”

–

Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal star in director Ridley Scott’s long-awaited sequel, Gladiator II.

Ridley Scott’s epic 2000 historical drama Gladiator was a blockbuster hit that has become a classic over the ensuing two decades, thanks to powerful performances and spectacular special effects—especially in the gladiator arena. The director has long wanted to make a sequel, and we’re finally getting Gladiator II later this year. Paramount Pictures just dropped the first trailer, and it promises to be just as much of a visual feast, as a new crop of power players (plus a couple of familiar faces) clash over the future of Rome.

(Spoilers for 2000’s Gladiator below.)

For those who inexplicably haven’t seen the original: Russell Crowe starred as Maximus, a Roman general who leads his army to victory against Germanic tribes on behalf of his emperor, Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris). The aging emperor wishes Maximus to succeed him and restore the Roman Republic, passing over his own son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Commodus secretly murders his father instead and proclaims himself emperor, executing Maximus’ wife and son because Maximus would not acknowledge his rule. Commodus also harbors squicky incestuous longings for his sister, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), mother to Lucius (Spencer Treat Clark) and former lover of Maximus.

Maximus escapes his own execution and ends up being sold by slave traders to gladiator trainer Proximus (Oliver Reed), who tells him he can earn his freedom by “winning the crowd” during the gladiator games in Rome. And win the crowd he does. Who could forget the epic scene where the gladiators are forced to re-enact the Battle of Zama, when the Romans defeated the Carthaginians? With Maximus in command, the tables are turned and the “Carthaginians” prevail in the re-enactment. Maximus is ultimately able to exact his revenge by killing Commodus in the arena, dying himself to join his wife and child in the afterlife.

Gladiator II focuses on the grown-up Lucius, originally played by Spencer Treat Clark.” height=”428″ src=”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/gladiator9-640×428.jpg” width=”640″>

Enlarge / Gladiator II focuses on the grown-up Lucius, originally played by Spencer Treat Clark.

YouTube/Paramount Pictures

Gladiator received much critical praise, grossing $464 million globally and receiving 12 Oscar nominations. It won five: Best Picture, Best Actor (Crowe), Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, and Best Costume Design. Scott was already planning for either a prequel or a sequel the following year, with the idea for a sequel centered on an older version of Lucius, hinging on the secret of his biological father (strongly hinted to be Maximus in the first film). But when Dreamworks was sold to Paramount in 2006, the Gladiator sequel project was shelved. Paramount finally green-lit the project in November 2018 with a production budget of $165 million. (That ballooned to a rumored $310 million during filming.)

Strength and honor

Gladiator II does indeed center on Lucius Verus (Paul Mescal), son of Lucilla and former heir to the Roman Empire, given that his father (also named Lucius Verus) was once a co-emperor of Rome. Lucius hasn’t been seen in Rome for 15 years. Instead, he’s been living in a small coastal town in Numidia with his wife and child. Like Maximus before him, he is captured by the Roman army and forced to become a gladiator. Pedro Pascal plays Marcus Acacius, a Roman general who trained under Maximus, tasked with conquering North Africa. Although the young Lucius once idolized Maximus, Marcus Acacius apparently will be a symbol of everything Lucius hates.

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Brad Pitt stages a Formula One racing comeback in first teaser for F1

Apple TV Plus, Brad Pitt, culture, Entertainment, F1, film, film trailers, Formula 1, Warner Bros. / /

Vroom, vroom —

Pitt: “You’ve never seen speed, you’ve never seen just the G forces like this.”

–

Brad Pitt and Damson Idris co-star in F1, coming to theaters next summer.

Can a washed-up Formula One driver come out of retirement to mentor a young rookie into a champion? That’s the basic premise for F1, a forthcoming film starring Brad Pitt and directed by Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy, Top Gun: Maverick). Warner Bros. dropped the first teaser for the film yesterday, right before the 2024 British Grand Prix.

Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a fictional Formula One driver who crashed horribly in the 1990s and retired from the sport. Then his longtime friend Ruben (Javier Bardem), owner of the fictional team APXGP, approaches him about coming out of retirement to mentor his team’s rookie prodigy, Joshua “Noah” Pearce (Damson Idris). “They’re a last place team, they’re 21-22 on the grid, they’ve never scored a point,” Pitt told Sky Sports last year. “But they have a young phenom (Idris) and they bring me in as kind of a Hail Mary and hijinks ensue.”

In addition to Pitt, Bardem, and Idris, the cast includes Kerry Condon as Kate; Tobias Menzies as Banning; Kim Bodnia as Kaspar; Shea Wigham as Chip Hart; Joseph Balderrama as Rica Fazio; Sarah Niles as Noah’s mother, Bernadette; Samson Kayo as Cashman; Callie Cooke as Jodie; and Layne Harper as Press.

  • Brad Pitt plays mentor to Damson Idris’ hotshot rookie driver.

    Warner Bros/Apple TV+

  • This film is really about the cars.

    YouTube/Warner Bros.

  • Racing footage was shot on location during the regular F1 season.

    YouTube/Warner Bros.

  • Ready for its closeup.

    YouTube/Warner Bros

  • In the driver’s seat.

    YouTube/Warner Bros.

Playing themselves in the film: seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr., Sergio Perez, Benoit Treluyer, and the rest of the F1 drivers and team members. Hamilton is a co-producer on the film and was also involved during the script-writing process to keep the film as realistic as possible by drawing on his own experiences. “We want everyone to love it and to really feel that we can encapsulate what the essence of this sport is about,” Hamilton said last year.

We don’t get much dialogue in this first teaser, or much information about the plot. Honestly? The teaser comes off as a bit cheesy from a marketing standpoint. (Since when do people in the racing community scoff so dismissively at safety concerns?) But that’s all real racing footage shot on actual tracks during bona fide F1 Grand Prix weekends. Pitt himself raced an adapted F2 car between practice sessions around the Northamptonshire circuit.

“There are cameras mounted all over the car,” Pitt told Sky Sports during filming at the 2023 British Grand Prix. “You’ve never seen speed; you’ve never seen just the G forces like this.” Based on the teaser, the visual efforts to immerse audiences in the F1 experience paid off. This is a film you’ll probably want to see in IMAX.

F1 arrives in theaters in the summer of 2025 and will stream on Apple TV+ sometime after that. It’s the sixth film from Apple Original Films to snag theater distribution, following in the footsteps of Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated Killers of the Flower Moon and this weekend’s Fly Me to the Moon, among others.

Apple Original Films/Warner Bros.

Listing image by Warner Bros/Apple TV+

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Teaser for Hellboy: The Crooked Man brings the low-budget horror vibes

culture, Entertainment, film trailers, films, Hellboy, Hellboy: The Crooked Man, Ketchup Entertainment / /

“smells like death” —

Hellboy creator Mike Mignola co-wrote the screenplay based on his short story from comics.

–

Hellboy: The Crooked Man is based on a 2008 limited series by Mike Mignola and artist Richard Corben.

It has only been a few years since David Harbour starred in the 2019 reboot of the Hellboy film franchise—a critical and box office failure, although Harbour’s performance earned praise. But via Entertainment Weekly, we learned that there’s a new reboot coming our way: Hellboy: The Crooked Man. The project wrapped filming in May and now has a teaser—inexplicably released in 480p—giving us our first glimpse of star Jack Kesy’s (Claws, Deadpool 2) take on Mike Mignola’s iconic character.

It’s definitely a very different look and vibe from the previous big studio releases. Director Brian Taylor (Crank) is clearly leaning into the low-budget folk horror genre for this, but will fans embrace a bargain-basement Hellboy reboot—even one co-written by Mignola himself?

Mignola based his script on a 2008 Hellboy limited series he created, with artwork by Richard Corben. That story features a younger Hellboy wandering in the Appalachian Mountains in 1958 after “finishing up some stuff down South.” He meets regional native Tom Ferrell, coming home after decades away. When he was young, Tom was initiated as a witch and has returned to atone for that, even though he has never actually practiced magic—apart from a magical “witch-bone” he carries with him.

Tom and Hellboy team up to protect a young witch named Cora from having her soul reaped by the Crooked Man, aided by a blind pastor, the Reverend Watts. The Crooked Man was an 18th-century war profiteer named Jeremiah Witkins. Witkins was hanged for his crimes but returned from Hell and became the resident devil in those parts. Witkins wants Cora’s soul, and he also covets Tom’s witch-bone, but his evil machinations prove to be no match for Hellboy.

Jack Kesy steps into the role of Hellboy, following in the footsteps of Ron Perlman and David Harbour.

Enlarge / Jack Kesy steps into the role of Hellboy, following in the footsteps of Ron Perlman and David Harbour.

Ketchup Entertainment

The new film seems to hew fairly closely to the source material—understandably so given Mignola’s direct involvement. Per the official premise: “In the 1950s, Hellboy and a rookie BPRD (Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense) agent, stranded in rural Appalachia, discover a small community haunted by witches, led by a local devil with a troubling connection to Hellboy’s past: the Crooked Man.”

In addition to Kesy, the cast includes Jefferson White as Tom Ferrell; Adeline Rudolph as rookie BPRD agent Bobbie Jo Song; Joseph Marcell as Reverend Nathaniel Armstrong Watts; Leah McNamara as Effie Kolb; Hannah Margetson as Cora Fisher; and Martin Bassindale in a dual role: Trevor “Broom” Bruttenholm, founder and head of the BPRD and Hellboy’s adoptive father, and Jeremiah Witkins, aka the Crooked Man.

The teaser opens with some scenic shots of Appalachia as Hellboy makes ominous comments in a voiceover about “evil” lurking and how the forest “smells like death.” It doesn’t take long for that evil to make itself known, as a levitating woman is bitten by a snake, plagues of insects and other creatures wreak havoc, and Hellboy is assured that “all your friends are gonna die.” The poor quality of the teaser is unfortunate and frankly does not instill tons of confidence, but I like the folk horror vibe; some of those scenes look hella scary. Tonally, the teaser feels a bit like The Blair Witch Project meets The Conjuring or The Witch.

What it doesn’t feel like is the Hellboy we have come to know and love. Look, diehard fans are still mad that Guillermo del Toro never got to complete his planned trilogy after the massive success of Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). Originally titled Hellboy III: Dark Worlds, the project was canceled due to lack of financing, and the fans haven’t forgotten… or forgiven.

Lionsgate tried to reboot the franchise instead with Harbour in the titular role, but that film turned out to be one of the biggest flops of 2019. Director Neil Marshall actually disowned the film, calling it “godawful” and “the worst professional experience of my life.” He had pitched the project as a darker, R-rated horror version of Hellboy, but studio interference meant he had very little creative control in the end. Now it’s Taylor’s turn to bring us his own darker, horrific R-rated vision, working on a smaller scale—if nothing else, it hopefully reduced the aforementioned studio interference. There’s not yet a release date, but we’ll see how it turned out soon enough.

Listing image by Ketchup Entertainment

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It’s a showdown with Sabretooth in latest Deadpool and Wolverine trailer

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“Ground and pound until he makes no sound” —

“People have waited decades for this fight. It’s not gonna be easy.”

–

Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman star in Deadpool and Wolverine.

It’s safe to say that Marvel Studios’ Deadpool and Wolverine is one of the most hotly anticipated releases of the summer. We’ve had a teaser and full trailer, and now the studio has released a second one-minute trailer with a surprise appearance bound to delight X-Men fans everywhere. It’s none other than Sabretooth, played by the same actor, Tyler Mane, who portrayed the character in 2000’s X-Men. And he’s got a score to settle with Wolverine.

As previously reported, Ryan Reynolds found the perfect fit with 2016’s Deadpool, starring as Wade Wilson, a former Canadian special forces operative (dishonorably discharged) who develops regenerative healing powers that heal his cancer but leave him permanently disfigured with scars all over his body. Wade decides to become a masked vigilante, turning down an invitation to join the X-Men and abandon his bad-boy ways. The first Deadpool was a big hit, racking up $782 million at the global box office, critical praise, and a couple of Golden Globe nominations for good measure. Deadpool 2 was released in 2018 and was just as successful.

Deadpool and Wolverine reunites Reynolds with many familiar faces from the first two films. Morena Baccarin is back as Wade’s girlfriend Vanessa, along with Leslie Uggams as Blind Al; Karan Soni as Wade’s personal chauffeur, taxi driver Dopinder; Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead; Stefan Kapičić as the voice of Colossus; Shioli Kutsuna as Negasonic’s mutant girlfriend, Yukio; Randal Reeder as Buck; and Lewis Tan as X-Force member Shatterstar.

We’re also getting some characters drawn from various films under the 20th Century Fox Marvel umbrella: Pyro (Aaron Stanford)—last seen in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand—and Jennifer Garner’s Elektra, who appeared in the 2003 Daredevil film as well as 2005’s Elektra. Along with Sabretooth, the mutants Toad and Dogpool should be on hand to make some trouble. New to the franchise are Matthew MacFadyen as a Time Variance Authority agent named Paradox and Emma Corrin as the lead villain. There have been rumors that Owen Wilson’s Mobius and the animated Miss Minutes from Loki may also appear in the film.

  • The battle is going pretty well and this dynamic duo wants to know: “Who’s next?”

    YouTube/Marvel Studios

  • “Oh. My. God. Sabretooth.” Our feelings exactly.

    YouTube/Marvel Studios

  • Deadpool calls for a timeout because Wolverine “looks ridiculous” with all those weapons sticking out of him.

    YouTube/Marvel Studios

  • Wolverine is not amused.

    YouTube/Marvel Studios

  • Battle!!!

    YouTube/Marvel Studios

Marvel released a two-minute teaser for the new movie during the Super Bowl in February, featuring the trademark cheeky irreverence that made audiences embrace Reynold’s R-rated superhero in the first place, plus a glimpse of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine—or rather, his distinctive shadow. And yes, Marvel is retaining that R rating—a big step given that all the prior MCU films have been resoundingly PG-13. Marvel dropped a full trailer in April that was chock-full of off-color witticisms, meta-references, slo-mo action, and a generous sprinkling of F-bombs. (But no cocaine! Wade promised Kevin Feige!)

This latest trailer has a lot of the same footage as that April trailer until the 26-second mark. That’s when Wolverine growls, “Who’s next?” after battling a horde of foes. Who should jump into the fray with an answering growl but Sabretooth. We are all Deadpool when he exclaims, “Oh. My. God.” Sabretooth breaks out his claws and asks Wolverine if he’s ready to die. That’s when Deadpool calls a timeout to pull a few weapons out of his frenemy and offer a few tips on how to defeat the other mutant, to Wolverine’s annoyance.

“People have waited decades for this fight,” Deadpool insists. “It’s not gonna be easy. Baby knife. Shoot the devil, you take him down. Side control. Then full mount, and you ground and pound until he makes no sound because he’s dead. OK, good luck, I’m a huge fan.” We’ll have to wait a few more weeks to find out if Wolverine takes any of that advice.

Deadpool and Wolverine hits theaters on July 26, 2024.

Listing image by YouTube/Marvel Studios

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