Shazam! Director Points Out A Joker Easter Egg Some Fans Missed

Shazam! Director Points Out A Joker Easter Egg Some Fans Missed

Shazam! just topped the box office for a second week in a row. How many of this weekend's fans were repeat viewers, watching a second or even third time to try and catch all of the Easter eggs? Director David F. Sandberg is doing his part to get even more fans into seats to see the DC movie. When a fan pointed out a key little nugget in the background of a scene, Sandberg shared it as an argument for people to go back and watch Shazam! again:

Since David F. Sandberg seemed fine with this fan sharing a screenshot of his movie, here's a larger shot of the Easter egg in question, visible in the top right corner:

Yes, that ACE Chemicals logo ties to the Gotham storyline, specifically the Joker. According to the DC story, the Joker fell into a vat of chemical solution at ACE and transformed into the villain we know and love to hate today.

The ACE logo was shown during Shazam!'s warehouse scene, when Billy and Freddy tried to figure out the extent of Billy's new powers. Some fans replied to the original tweet saying they missed this particular Easter egg when watching the movie.

Another tie to the DCEU is where the empty warehouse was filmed. According to ScreenRant, they used the Hearn Generating Station outside of Toronto -- the same location used for ACE Chemicals during Suicide Squad.

Since David F. Sandberg pointed out the Easter egg himself, he probably hoped some fans would put the pieces together, even if it took multiple viewings. The director has been sharing little Easter eggs for the past year, long before the movie even opened -- including nods to Man of Steel, and a copy of The Daily Planet in Freddy's room, with a report on Lex Luthor.

As you probably know by now, Shazam! had originally hoped for a cameo from the DCEU's current Superman, Henry Cavill, but scheduling issues got in the way. Shazam! still managed to include a version of its intended scene, in honor of superhero-obsessed Freddy. You might consider the Shazam! director's own cameo in the movie an Easter egg, since it's not at all obvious.

Shazam! is a movie that lends itself to repeat viewing, and also post-viewing research. For example, here's some help deciphering the end credits scene. And don't forget how all of this ties into Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Black Adam movie, which he said would start filming in about a year. The producers said they will probably move pretty quickly on a sequel to Shazam! and not just because of fan demand.

Shazam! is owning April so far, but don't forget (as if you would) Avengers: Endgame is coming April 26. Keep up with everything headed to the big screen with our 2019 movie release date schedule.

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The Lion King Fans Aren't Sold On The New Scar After First Look

The Lion King Fans Aren't Sold On The New Scar After First Look

This morning brought Disney fans something they’ve been waiting for: the first full trailer for the upcoming Lion King. While a first look at the movie, featuring a shot-for-shot reenactment of the iconic “Circle of Life” opening scene and James Earl Jones return to the role of Mufasa, came out late last year, it left many wanting to see and hear more from the new additions to the Disney classic. The latest footage introduced fans to a couple notes of Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen's Timon and Pumbaa, a few frames of Nala, and most importantly, Chiwetel Ejiofor taking command of the movie’s notorious villain, Scar.

However, many fans may have struggled to recognize The Lion King baddie due to his new look. Once it’s made clear who Scar is when he stands in front of his hyena minions and tells young Simba to never return to Pride Rock, some found themselves disappointed in this realistic take on Scar, Naturally took to Twitter to share their thoughts. Take a look:

When you look at the animated and “live-action” Scars side by side, you can definitely tell there were some creative liberties taken with the latter that separates him from the green-eyed, sassy villain. The new Scar looks looks like a realistic lion who would be the brother of Mufasa, as he has the same light-colored mane. Though he nonetheless retains a gritty look, shown through the cut in his left ear and the iconic, though less prominent scar down his eye.

One criticism many fans voiced is that Scar just simply doesn’t look like his animated character. While some noted that the villain’s look in the original film wouldn’t be found in the wild, this Twitter user proved otherwise. Check it:

There you have it! Disney could have easily made a little more effort to meet fans in the middle and give Scar a black mane as they remember him to have, even if the green and yellow eyes were off the table. That’s not all the qualms they have with his look though. @_Zeets felt like the studio straight up has done the character wrong. In his words:

As he hilariously comments, Scar wasn’t characterized through his look as a more menacing as this scrawny version of him portrays him as. The lion had a commanding presence that brought about fear in the eyes of much of our childhoods. I feel like Simba could totally take this Scar.

There is another matter at hand here with the differences between the animated and realistic Scars that is very much due to the medium being used to recreate the iconic baddie. Here’s what @alip1118 contributed to the discussion:

There’s just something magical about that hand-drawn animation that will always be close to the hearts of Disney fans, and the CGI technology the new Lion King movie is using may take some of that away with their realistic representations. Besides that, the voice work of Jeremy Iron from the '90s is close to a lot of hearts as well, per this comment:

There’s still a lot to be seen from The Lion King then has already been seen in this first look. Perhaps the movie is trying to set the character apart from the original to deter comparisons to the original, and he may have a different character arc then the one we know already. So far, this Lion King looks like it’s borrowing a lot from the animated version visually and with much of the dialogue we’ve seen but the remake may be more than a nostalgia fest.

The Lion King comes to theaters 100 days from now on July 19 (as director Jon Favreau noted today). The epic is sure to make tons of money for the studio, which has become known for reimagining its beloved animated classics into blockbusters.

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What Surprised Jude Law and Gemma Chan The Most About The Captain Marvel Set

What Surprised Jude Law and Gemma Chan The Most About The Captain Marvel Set

The MCU family continues to expand with each new release, perhaps until each and every actor in Hollywood has a Marvel Comics inspired role. Captain Marvel brings in some red-hot names – on the planet of Hala, we will meet a handful of Kree officers including Jude Law’s Yon-Rogg and Gemma Chan’s Minn-Erva. The two actors had some of the buzziest adapted roles in 2018, as Law took on playing a younger Dumbledore in Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald and Chan played Astrid in summer hit Crazy Rich Asians.

I got the chance to speak to Jude Law and Gemma Chan together, during recent press in Los Angeles for Captain Marvel, and asked them if there was something unique about starring in a Marvel film for the first time that took them by surprise. They both chipped in agreement with these words:

Gemma: Secrecy. I’ve never had to wear a cloak before to get from the trailer to catering, that’s very cloak and dagger.

Jude: Yeah, cloaks all over, cloaks wherever you go and you’re just aware that you’re entering into something that has huge amounts of curiosity surrounding it and prying eyes, spies and hunger for any kind of information, so you have to be on your guard.

Cloaks, huh? If only Jude Law could steal away Harry Potter’s Cloak of Invisibility. Too bad, wrong timeline! Jude Law had to be especially covert, as the identity of his character was kept under wraps until just recently. We’d been speculating between the actor portraying Mar-Vell and Yon-Rogg for months and after hopping off set, Law had to dodge questions left and right about his Captain Marvel role.

Few movies have the combination of being high-profile and extremely secretive as Marvel films are – except maybe Star Wars. Check out the actors talk about their experience on set of Captain Marvel from our interview, below:

Being in the MCU sounds a bit stressful. The two actors sound like they are describing their lives as spies, though it’s all about going the extra mile to give audiences a good experience at the movies when Captain Marvel comes out. Even though much of the time Marvel fans are hungry for any sliver of info about coming releases, many of us can say we do appreciate the actors remaining a little concealed on set and tight-lipped in service of their characters.

In Captain Marvel, the pair are members of a Kree military unit called Starforce that Carol Danvers is also a part of when we first meet the character. Jude Law’s character has been teased to be a mentor to Danvers, while Minn-Erva looks like a bad-ass soldier fighting at their side. You can see for yourself when Captain Marvel hits theaters on March 8.

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Netflix And The WGA Are Disputing Over How Much Its Writers Are Paid

Netflix And The WGA Are Disputing Over How Much Its Writers Are Paid

Last year was perhaps Netflix’s most successful yet when it comes to its original films, with Roma netting Oscar wins and movies like Bird Box and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before proving extremely popular. Now the streaming service’s original films are the subjects of a new dispute with the Writer’s Guild of America over how much its writers are paid.

According to Deadline, the WGA has filed an arbitration claim against Netflix over the residuals it says are owed to the union’s writers of 33 of the streaming service’s original movies. These were Netflix original films that were released in theaters to qualify for awards contention at the same time or close to it that they debuted on the streaming service itself.

The WGA’s dispute with Netflix is over the manner in which Netflix applies residuals formulas to its original films. The residuals for the original films owed to the writers are calculated based on licensing fees. Netflix pays itself to license the films to stream on its platform and the crux of the issue is the way in which Netflix allocates these licensing fees.

Because these films are being released in theaters for awards consideration, they are being licensed for the streaming services and by the sound of it, the WGA thinks that Netflix is handling its licensing fees and calculating residuals in a fashion that is shortchanging the writers who are owed more money than they are being paid.

A whopping 51 Netflix original movies were made under WGA contracts last year alone and the growth of the simultaneous streaming and theatrical release model means that the result of this arbitration claim could impact other streaming services if the WGA wins here. With Amazon, Hulu and Apple also releasing original films in theaters in the quest for golden statues, they too could be targets of the WGA over this issue.

It is interesting how this dovetails with the recent tumult over whether or not Netflix movies and those of other streaming services should be eligible for Oscars after qualifying for contention with limited theatrical runs. Director Steven Spielberg is seemingly against it, thinking that streaming movies should compete for Emmys, not Oscars, because of his belief in the importance of the theatrical experience and a desire to preserve it.

These are just some of the issues that arise in an industry that has been shaken up by the explosion of streaming services. At one point streaming service movies were just for the small screen, but with some movies from Netflix and others now getting to shine on the big screen, the waters get ever muddier and there are no clear answers because these are all new issues.

These conversations and disputes will only become louder and more important because of the increasing share of the industry streaming services command. Netflix alone plans to produce some 90 original movies this year.

To keep track of all the biggest movies coming to theaters in 2019, check out our release schedule and take a look at our guide to see what's headed to Netflix this month.

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Clark Gregg Calls Captain Marvel Trolls ‘Butthurt’

Clark Gregg Calls Captain Marvel Trolls ‘Butthurt’

It's a very exciting time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Phase Three will come to an end next month with Avengers: Endgame, one year after audiences were left mouths agape at the horrifying twist ending of Infinity War. But before that we have Captain Marvel, the 90's set origin story which flew into theaters this weekend, making a ton of money in the process. In addition to introducing Carol Danvers, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's Marvel blockbuster included plenty of familiar faces including Nick Fury, Korath, Ronan, and Phil Coulson.

Clark Gregg is back on the silver screen playing a younger Phil Coulson, who is still a rookie at S.H.I.E.L.D.. Ahead of its release, Captain Marvel fell victim to online trolling, including the film's Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes pages. While measures were made to fix this issue, Gregg had some choice words for those trolls and haters. He recently spoke to the trolling situation, saying:

I don’t know if the expression is butthurt about seeing someone else get a hero that looks like them, but that’s because they’ve always had heroes that looked like them.

Just when you thought you'd heard it all, there's Agent Coulson using the expression "butthurt". But Captain Marvel haters do seem to have a certain axe to grind, with the anger directed at Brie Larson specifically, especially from white men who took umbrage with her previous comments about diversity in the press.

Early into the press tour for Captain Marvel, Brie Larson expressed her disappointment that reviewers and film journalists she'd run into were primary white males. While encouraging inclusion in all aspects of the film world, she majorly ticked off certain fans who felt like she was trying to exclude them from the upcoming blockbuster. Those naysayers took to the internet to explain their issues, and Captain Marvel's reviews and scores ahead of its release plummeted.

In his same conversation with Nerdist, Clark Gregg went on to explain how futile the resistance against Captain Marvel and other female-led properties ultimately is, As he describes it,

There are people that get very bent out of shape about the fact that she’s a woman, and that Brie’s a woman, and wants to see women moving into an equal place in humanity to men. It’s sad. It must be sad to be that kind of dinosaur wandering towards the tar pits.

Phil Coulson isn't here for Captain Marvel trolls, and he's making his feelings known. While some actors have been known to curb their language about haters, Clark Gregg went so far as to call the haters butthurt dinosaurs. So yeah, he's not exactly holding back much regarding the naysayers for the newest Marvel blockbuster.

You can see Clark Gregg's conversation about Captain Marvel below, dinosaurs and all.

Clark Gregg has spent a great number of years in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, on both the small and silver screen. As such, he's got a particular level of investment. So when trolling begins, he responded in an honest way.

The backlash for Captain Marvel started back in June of 2018, when Brie Larson was accepting an award at the Crystal + Lucy Awards. While discussing the call for inclusion both in front and behind the camera, Larson discussed how diversity also needed to be reflected in the press. Her original comments read:

[Audiences] are not allowed enough chances to read public discourse on these films by the people that the films were made for. I do not need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn’t work for him about [A] Wrinkle in Time. It wasn’t made for him. I want to know what it meant to women of color, to biracial women, to teen women of color, to teens that are biracial.

While uttered many months ago, Brie Larson's comments citing a 40-year-old white dude ended up being the catalyst for online Captain Marvel hatred. Websites like Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango saw a ton of negative comments about the Marvel blockbuster, weeks before it actually arrived in theaters this past weekend. The trolling specifically cited Larson's speech, with white men claiming to boycott the blockbusters in response.

Brie Larson eventually clarified her comments during the press junket for Captain Marvel. Reelblend co-host Kevin McCarthy discussed the controversy with Larson shortly before the movie arrived in in theaters. The Oscar winner had this to say:

What I’m looking for is to bring more seats up to the table. No one is getting their chair taken away. There’s not less seats at the table, there’s just more seats at the table.

While Brie Larson got the chance to expand her comment, there was still plenty of trolling heading to Captain Marvel in the days before it finally arrived. But that controversy doesn't seem to have negatively affected the blockbuster. Brie Larson's Marvel debut made a whopping $153 million domestically during its opening weekend, with pre-sales among the MCU's biggest. The movie has also made $303,285,175 internationally, so Marvel Studios is really raking in the dough with Captain Marvel.

It should be interesting to see if/when the Captain Marvel the trolling ceases, especially as the title character becomes a bigger presence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She's expected to have a meaty role in Avengers: Endgame, as the surviving heroes will need all the help they can get in order to face off against Thanos and hopefully reverse the affects of The Snap. Carol Danvers is the strongest hero in the entire shared universe, so it should be especially exciting if she lays the smack down on Josh Brolin's big purple villain sometime during the upcoming blockbuster.

As for Phil Coulson, it's unclear if he'll get another silver screen appearance. While the character is the focus of the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers still believe him to have died at the hands of Loki. But with the future of the MCU after Endgame largely a mystery, it seems anything is possible.

You can see a digitally de-aged Phil Coulson in Captain Marvel, which is in theaters now. Carol Danvers will return to the MCU with Avengers: Endgame on April 26th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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Stuber Trailer Has Dave Bautista And Kumail Nanjiani On A Funny, Wild Ride

Stuber Trailer Has Dave Bautista And Kumail Nanjiani On A Funny, Wild Ride

While Dave Bautista is an actor clearly physically built for action movies, the guy has also proven that he has real comedic chops. Some of the funniest moments from the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies have Drax at the center, and while he didn't exactly spit out endless zingers in movies like Spectre and Blade Runner 2049, it was really only a matter of time before he took on a big studio comedy. Now we're finally seeing that project in the form of Michael Dowse's Stuber, and what makes things even better is that it's a buddy cop pairing that has him teamed up with the amazing Kumail Nanjiani. Check out the first full trailer for the movie below!

Based on an original screenplay by Tripper Clancy, Stuber centers on an Uber driver named Stu (get it?) who finds himself in a bizarre and dangerous situation when his car is hired by a tough-as-nails cop, Vic, on a mission. Not being the bravest individual, it's not a circumstance that Stu is really prepared for, and things only get worse and worse as the danger escalates.

Interestingly, this has been a rather crazy week for both Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani. In the case of the former, not only is Stuber his second trailer of the week following My Spy, but we also recently got the news that he has joined the cast of Zack Snyder's upcoming Army Of The Dead. As for the latter, we learned just a few days ago that he has joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as he will be starring opposite Angelina Jolie in Chloe Zhao's The Eternals; plus he was front and center in the first episode of the revamped The Twilight Zone on CBS All Access. Both of these dudes are seeing their careers heat up in a big way right now, and it's exciting that we will be getting to see them in a new comedy together.

What's surprising, though, is that Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani aren't the only big names featured in Stuber - they just happen to be the ones primarily featured in this trailer. Natalie Morales, known for her work on The Grinder and Santa Clarita Diet, briefly appears, but this is a cast that also includes the likes of Karen Gillan, Betty Gilpin, Iko Uwais, Mira Sorvino, and Jimmy Tatro. It's possible that they aren't featured in the footage because their roles might be too spoilery, but no matter what the case is, hopefully it means that there are a lot of surprises in store when the film arrives in theaters.

Stuber just had its world premiere last month at the SXSW Film Festival, and is set up to be one of this summer's big comedies. The film is currently scheduled for release on July 12th, and hopefully between now and then we'll also be treated to a red band trailer.

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Avengers: Endgame’s Runtime Revealed, And It’s Long

Avengers: Endgame’s Runtime Revealed, And It’s Long

Avengers: Infinity War was already an epic long superhero movie with a run time of two hours and 29 minutes. However, almost as soon as attention shifted toward the fourth Avengers film, it seemed we were in for an even longer experience. The Russo Brothers said the movie could be three hours or more and rumors continued to circulate that the film was clocking in at Titanic levels of length. Now, it appears that we have final confirmation that Avengers: Endgame will, in fact, just barely break the three hour mark, with an official run time of three hours and two minutes.

The run time was briefly posted by AMC Theaters before being taken down, but Fandango has now posted the exact same length, and with those two reliable sources, we can pretty much call this one a done deal.

The three hour and two minute run time is all the more important because, since we're talking about a Marvel movie, every minute counts. The full run of credits is included in that length, and if this were any other movie fans would likely cut out and save themselves eight or ten minutes by skipping the credits, but with Marvel we all know we'll be hanging around until the very end to see if there's a final scene at the end of all the credits.

Marvel has gotten in the habit of running multiple scenes once the credits start, interspersed throughout. Quite often, the important bits that tease future films now come earlier than the end, but with Avengers: Infinity War the Captain Marvel tease came at the very end, so there's every reason to expect that a scene that either sets up Spider-Man: Far From Home or teases where the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be going in Phase Four will be the very last thing we see.

A three hour run time is no joke. That's a seriously long time to sit and watch a movie. On the one hand, you want to make sure you're properly supplied for such an event, you don't want to get hungry and be distracted by your stomach for the bottom half of the film. On the other hand, you certainly don't want to be called away to the bathroom in the middle of the movie, so you might want to take it easy on the fluids.

Three hour movies are not uncommon but back in the day they used to all include intermissions. I saw the road show version of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight which included an intermission, and I thought it was actually quite nice to have. I wouldn't be against seeing something like that happen in Avengers: Endgame but that's pretty unlikely. We're all going to need to power through this thing together.

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That James Wan Produced Mortal Kombat Movie Is Really Happening

That James Wan Produced Mortal Kombat Movie Is Really Happening

Not too long ago, a new Mortal Kombat reboot was announced that would bring the franchise into theaters once again. As New Line Cinema is still the force of studio nature that will be making the film, and James Wan is producing the film with his steady hands of action and horror, fans have undoubtedly been excited for things to get going on the film’s production.

But even with the initial whisperings surrounding the project, the consensus was it wasn’t going to happen for a while. Well, the wait is closer to being over, as Mortal Kombat just rang the bell on pre-production, putting the film in the process of making its move for big screen glory.

The project’s status update came from an announcement made by several South Australian government officials, including premier Steven Marshall. Mortal Kombat is a huge prospect for the region’s film industry, and one that producer James Wan is happy to see being brought to life in the country where he made his last huge hit, Aquaman.

What’s even more interesting about this new Mortal Kombat movie is its choice in directing talent. Making his feature film debut, and still signed on after almost two years of development hell, is Australian director Simon McQuoid, who up until now has been known for his commercial work. However, looking at his resume in that field, one can see how and why he got the gig.

Having directed commercials for such franchises as Halo and Call of Duty, as well as ads for Playstation and Duracell, McQuoid has shown a slick visual flare that just happens to pair well with geek friendly properties. Especially when that Duracell ad just happened to be one that saw Star Wars, and the power of imagination, in the middle of the action.

With Simon McQuoid’s resume boasting such material, it cannot be stated enough that Mortal Kombat is a good fit for the man’s talents. What's also interesting is that thanks to the details that Variety has reported on the project, it sounds like the film will be the largest to ever shoot in South Australia when it finally kicks into high gear.

Unfortunately, the good news of Mortal Kombat’s pre-production start within the month comes with some uncertainty about what the film’s story will cover. Previously, there were two different concepts being talked about: one in which a brand new character would be created for the story to follow, and one in which we’d see the return of Christopher Lambert’s Raiden, as well as some dimensional portal hopping. Seeing as the former draft has been searching for a 14-year-old to play the thunder god of the Mortal Kombat realm, it doesn’t seem likely these two concepts will be folded together.

Still, in a world where Pokemon has drawn successfully from the nostalgia well, Mortal Kombat seems primed to deliver a very similar result. And if the world building holds up as well as Pokemon: Detective Pikachu's did, there's no telling where the world of this gruesome action spectacle might go with the public.

While Mortal Kombat may not have a release date to speak of, that doesn’t mean the theaters are empty. Head over to our 2019 release schedule, and see what’s waiting for your hard earned movie money today!

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Dark Phoenix Will Have More Than One Major Character Death

Dark Phoenix Will Have More Than One Major Character Death

Many of today’s movie trailers have certainly been known to cross the line and give away too much before audiences get a chance to buy a ticket. This happened in a big way during the marketing of Dark Phoenix when one trailer spoiled the death of Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique at the hand of Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey.

No one slipped up. Director Simon Kinberg has said that he made the decision to reveal this early plot point in order show the high stakes the X-Men will be dealing with during the last film in the franchise. Mystique won’t be the only character to say goodbye in Dark Phoenix either. Check out Kinberg’s tease:

There are certainly other major casualties in this.

Looks like Dark Phoenix won’t be messing around. The movie is set up with tragedy for the team and it will only continue as the film rolls along, perhaps with even more beloved characters kicking the bucket as the long-running franchise closes out and makes room for the comic title joining the MCU sometime in the future.

While it was a surprise to see Mystique die in the trailer, it’s no shock that the character was going to be killed off in this X-Men film. Jennifer Lawrence has been vocal about her distaste with being turned blue in the harrowing makeup process since 2011, and has reportedly wanted out of the franchise for some time. The actress already has a convenient exit with the Disney/Fox merger sure to change things up, but maybe that wasn’t enough and she needed it to be official on screen.

Simon Kinberg’s words to EW do beg the question: Who else is going to die? Will the franchise go so far as to kill off the franchise’s huge players, Charles Xavier and Magneto? Though James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are likely to be finishing off their time as these characters with Dark Phoenix, will their last moments be their deaths?

There are tons of other X-Men characters in play here who could see their demises as well -- such as Nicholas Hoult’s Beast, Evan Peters’ Quicksilver, Tye Sheridan’s Cyclops and Alexandra Shipp’s Storm. Considering J-Law was on the table to be killed off, who knows if they’ll make it out either.

The movie already has the tough job of creating a satisfying conclusion to the Fox franchise that started with 2000’s X-Men. The film has undergone massive reshoots and multiple release date shifts, and it may face the lowest earning opening weekend for the franchise to date, as The Secret Life of Pets 2 aims to be its biggest competition on its debut.

The movie follows the team as they venture on a space mission and Jean gets hit by a solar flare, leaving her with a new powerful burst of energy and powers to attempt to control. When she kills Mystique, the X-Men must figure out what to do about her: kill her or save her somehow? Dark Phoenix hits theaters on June 7.

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Sylvester Stallone Shares Gritty Video From Rambo V: Last Blood Set

Sylvester Stallone Shares Gritty Video From Rambo V: Last Blood Set

Like fellow action stars Vin Diesel and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Sylvester Stallone is quite generous with giving his fans behind-the-scenes looks at his movies and showing some of the magic that made them possible. Later this year, the actor returns to his iconic character John Rambo one final time in Rambo V: Last Blood. While we have yet to see a trailer for the movie, Sly has shared a gritty video from the set on social media. Check it out:

We are used to seeing the final product where Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo dispatches bad guys with ruthless brutality, but this video shows how those kinds of scenes are set up. Sylvester Stallone is rehearsing the choreography of the scene, what motions he has to perform and what marks he has to hit. It looks like a lot of fun too, other than the fact that the environment he is in looks rather unpleasant.

As Sylvester Stallone said in the caption on his Instagram, they are underground in a dusty cave where it is hard to breathe. You can clearly see what he’s talking about in the video and it’s an environment that surely adds another level of difficulty to the physical action that he has to perform in the scene.

As for the scene itself, it finds Sly’s Rambo emptying and dropping a shotgun that one imagines he has already used on someone. He then grabs a spear to kill someone on the other side of the wall. The part at the end is the best though, where Rambo dives and gets ready to cut the leg off some poor fool who dared to be on the wrong side of things.

It’s some classically awesome Rambo savagery. Dobby from the Harry Potter stories didn’t mean to kill, only to maim or seriously injure, but Rambo, Rambo means to do all three. He’s a warrior who is just as deadly with modern firearms as he is with hunter-gatherer and early weapons like bow and arrows and spears.

We don’t know the context this scene takes place in during Rambo V: Last Blood, but we know enough about the story to take some guesses. The film sees Rambo living on a ranch when his housekeeper’s granddaughter, who is like a surrogate daughter to him, goes missing in Mexico while searching for her father. It turns out she was kidnapped by a dangerous drug cartel and Rambo goes on a path of vengeance to rescue her.

So maybe this scene takes place in some sort of underground drug tunnel that the cartel uses or is some kind of hideout Rambo must infiltrate in his pursuit of Yvette Monreal’s Gabriella and the deaths of those who kidnapped her. Maybe we’ll get a look at this scene when the first trailer drops, which should hopefully not be that far off.

Rambo V: Last Blood opens in theaters on September 20. Before that there’s plenty still to look forward to this summer, check it all out in our 2019 Release Schedule.

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When You Can Book A Reservation For Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge

When You Can Book A Reservation For Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is about to become the hottest ticket in town. The new land will be open at Disneyland in just over a month, but if you want to visit it within the first three weeks, you'll need a special reservation. This morning Disney Parks released new information via press prelease about how to get that reservation. While we already knew that guests staying at a Disneyland Resort hotel will get a reservation for the new land automatically, everybody else will want to be ready on the morning of May 2.

Reservations will be available to those not staying at Disneyland Resort hotels beginning at 10:00 AM Pacific Time on May 2. However, the exact process for how to acquire one won't be revealed until two hours earlier, so those looking to grab one will want to be ready at 8:00 AM to get all the important details.

One key piece of information that was revealed today was that you'll need an account on the Disneyland website, so if you don't currently have one and plan to be going after a reservation, you'll want to setup the account soon so you won't have to worry about it later. Since the Disneyland website will likely be a hub of activity as people try to make reservations, you'll absolutely want to be sure you don't have extra steps you'll need to complete. Also, of course, you'll need to buy valid theme park admission to get into the park at all.

Reservations will be needed to get into Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge beginning on opening day, May 31, and will last for about three weeks until June 22. We've known since opening day was announced that reservations would be needed, and that Disneyland hotel reservations would get you one, but it wasn't clear until now just how available reservations would be to locals who don't need hotels or others who maybe couldn't afford to drop the cash in a Disneyland hotel.

If you want to be absolutely sure you get into Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the hotel room route is still an option. While not every Disneyland Resort hotel is still available for every evening, there are still rooms available, including for the night before and the day of Galaxy's Edge opening. Although, with the reservation process now officially confirmed, one wonders how quickly those rooms might fill up.

Early expectations were that people were going to come out of the woodwork when Galaxy's Edge opened and far more people than the park could handle would show up and try to get in. With the announcement of the reservation system it seems that won't be the case, at least not until the reservation period ends. To that end, showing on opening day might actually be the best idea. It seems likely that crowds will be kept to a level that's manageable for Disneyland.

At a certain point, there's only so much you can be prepared for until crowds start showing up and so the first few days or weeks might actually be the least crowded that the land will be for the foreseeable future, at least until the park is sure that everything in the new land is functioning as it should be.

In addition to offering new attractions based on Star Wars, that would be more than enough to bring a lot of people, Galaxy's Edge is offering a level of world immersion entirely new to Disney, if not theme parks entirely.

Star Wars; Galaxy's Edge is set to open at Walt Disney World, at Disney's Hollywood Studios, on August 29.

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Suicide Squad 2: What We Know So Far

Suicide Squad 2: What We Know So Far

David Ayer's Suicide Squad is a film with a complicated history. The film was famously rushed through development, had to undergo many mid-production changes, and ultimately received some vicious reviews from professional critics when it came out in the summer of 2016. Despite all of this, however, the movie wound up being a massive hit all around the world -- bringing in nearly $750 million worldwide -- so it's not really a huge surprise that Warner Bros. and DC Comics are currently developing a Suicide Squad 2.

The status of the sequel was up in the air for several months, but we know have more crucial details about things like who'll be writing and potentially directing the film that's now known as The Suicide Squad. We also finally have a release date and some information on how this long-gestating sequel is being viewed by the studio, and many of these new tidbits are sure to get you excited for the film! We plan to address all of those things and more with this new edition of our What We Know So Far guides. So read on, and find out absolutely everything we've learned about the development of The Suicide Squad!

What Is The Suicide Squad Release Date?

It's become customary for major movie franchises to announce full slates of projects that look as many as five years into the future -- but that route hasn't worked out so well for the DC Extended Universe so far. As a result, until recently, the only developing blockbuster with actual release dates were James Wan's Aquaman, which dominated the box office when it came out on December 21, 2018, and Shazam!, which is heading for release on April 5, 2019. Recently, though, we actually got the specifics of when we will be seeing Warner Bros. release The Suicide Squad into theaters: August 6, 2021. And, the movie is coming along with an intriguing slate of other DC films now due out in the same year.

As we know, DC and Warner Bros. have been very good at announcing new projects that are in development, without giving so much as a hint as to when they plan for those projects to begin filming or even when we should expect to see them on the big screen. But, this changed in late January 2019, when the release date for The Suicide Squad was revealed along with another long developing and hotly anticipated project, Matt Reeves' The Batman, which is due in theaters on June 25, 2021, and something that hadn't been announced previously, DC Super Pets, which is looking at a May 21, 2021 debut. While it originally seemed as though Suicide Squad 2 could hit a 2019 release, and the wait may seem excruciating, there are reasons to be happy for the delay, which we'll get into in just a bit.

What Is The Suicide Squad Rating?

Films like Deadpool, Deadpool 2 and Logan have done a radical job completely changing the comic book movie game where ratings are concerned. While it was once believed that the blockbusters had to be PG-13 in order to bring in key teenager demographics, it has been shown multiple times that it's very possible to make a crazy amount of money while only appealing to adults. It's not an industry development that Warner Bros. has yet to take advantage of with their DC Extended Universe franchise just yet, and as a result there's every possibility that Suicide Squad 2 will have the same rating as its predecessor -- but it remains a question that doesn't actually have a firm answer.

Prior to the release of Suicide Squad in the summer of 2016, writer/director David Ayer told a reporter that the thought of an R-rated Suicide Squad 2 was an idea "worth lobbying for" -- so with the right minds at work, one could see the approach as still being on the table. That being said, Ayer is not actually making the sequel himself anymore, and the man who is handling The Suicide Squad might wind up thinking that an R-rated approach is stupid. We won't know more on this front until the project moves further into development, which makes for a perfect segue into our next point of discussion...

Who Is The Suicide Squad Writer And Director?

Until recently, the subject of who Suicide Squad 2's director would be was a fluid one, as the project existed without a mind to guide it for a while. Given the financial success that the first movie experienced, you'd expect that Warner Bros. would bring David Ayer back for the follow-up, but he's actually unavailable because of his work on another DC Comics property. In early September 2017, the studio finally filled the vacancy, with The Accountant's Gavin O'Connor being hired to direct and write the upcoming blockbuster.

But! That was not the end of the writer/director saga that will eventually bring The Suicide Squad to theaters. In early October 2018 it was announced that James Gunn had been hired to write the film, with word coming in late January 2019 that he was also now set to direct the newest villain team up. Both these bits of news came as a pleasant surprise to superhero movie fans everywhere, as Gunn had been fired from Marvel in the summer of 2018 (after completing the script for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3) when old, offensive tweets of his were dredged up online. As of this writing, Guardians 3 is in serious limbo with no director and pre-production having been shut down months ago, but Suicide Squad 2 has netted itself a fine creative mind.

What Is The Suicide Squad Story?

It's early days yet for The Suicide Squad, so we don't know much about the story or who will be included in it. But, when word came down about the new title and release date, there was also a tidbit on information that tells us that this film might be significantly different from its predecessor. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio see this movie as more of a relaunch than a direct sequel, with Gunn being free to take the property in a new direction and use a mostly new cast of characters, if he so chooses.

Of course, the whole "rag tag band" concept behind The Suicide Squad already fits with Gunn's aesthetic. Plus, at one time he was interested in writing and directing a Thunderbolts movie for Marvel, but, because that comic book team is so similar to DC's Suicide Squad, the idea for that movie was abandoned once Suicide Squad got off the ground. No matter what he decides to do with the story, though, it's sure to be intriguing and likely a lot more fun than what we saw in the original.

Deadshot

Given the star power of Will Smith, talk about a possible Deadshot spin-off began almost immediately after Suicide Squad's release in the summer of 2016. However, when Warner Bros. and DC announced their upcoming slate at San Diego Comic-Con in 2017, that particular project wasn't revealed as part of their plans. As such, we were basically led to believe that the next time we would see the sharpshooter antihero would be in The Suicide Squad - but apparently that won't be the case.

In late February 2019 it was reported that Will Smith would not be able to reprise his role as Deadshot in The Suicide Squad due to scheduling conflicts. It's not entirely clear what project it is that is keeping Smith out of the blockbuster sequel, but the word is that there is no ill will felt by either party, and the split was amicable.

Harley Quinn

The first Suicide Squad was as divisive as big blockbusters really get, but if most movie-goers and critics could agree on anything, it was appreciation for Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn. Sure, her involvement in the story didn't make a lot of sense (given that she was primarily being used for her connections with the Joker, and the Joker wasn't a part of the actual mission), but, still, it was easy to enjoy Robbie's take on the vivid personality, and it satisfied years of anticipating the character's big screen debut. As entertaining as the performance was, however, right now there doesn't seem to be an absolute guarantee that Harley will be coming back for Suicide Squad 2.

We've heard rumblings that Warner Bros. is interested in creating a trilogy of new films that star the mallet-obsessed former psychologist, and while The Suicide Squad could certainly end up being one of those, there are several other movies in the works set to star Harley Quinn. Part of the reason why writer/director David Ayer isn't coming back for the sequel is because he's been actively developing Gotham City Sirens -- and should that fully move forward, it may see the DC Extended Universe prefer to pair Harley Quinn with Poison Ivy and Catwoman instead of reuniting her with the Suicide Squad. The character will next be seen in Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), which began filming in mid-January 2019, and there have also been rumors of a Harley / Joker film. Nothing is set in stone yet, and it's very possible that Harley will ultimately be back for Suicide Squad 2, but right now it's a situation that's very much up in the air.

The Joker

There is no future more unclear in the DC Extended Universe than that of Jared Leto's The Joker. The Oscar-winner notoriously acted like a total (admittedly in-character) nutcase while filming the original Suicide Squad, and not only was his performance ultimately derided by critics, but Leto himself was also very outspoken about the final cut of the blockbuster. As a result, we really have no idea when we can next expect him to appear in the franchise, whether it be in Suicide Squad 2, or possibly never again.

Certainly one major factor in all of this will be whether or not the sequel winds up seeing the return of Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, as we just discussed. If it's decided that she should be used in Birds of Prey, then saved for Gotham City Sirens and left out of Suicide Squad 2, the studio may also not bring back the Clown Prince of Crime either. Another thing potentially standing in the way of Leto's version of The Joker coming back for the sequel? He's currently attached to star in Sony's Spider-Verse film Morbius The Living Vampire, which has been adding to its cast and seems to be moving right along through production. So, where will The Joker show up next? We'll just have to wait and see.

Killer Croc

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's Killer Croc was one of the main characters in the first Suicide Squad, but we didn't exactly get to know too much about him. We know he prefers living underwater, eats raw meat/flesh, has tough lizard-like skin, and enjoys watching BET, but that's really all the backstory that the DC Extended Universe provides for the anti-hero. As such, we hope that he will wind up getting more opportunities to shine in Suicide Squad 2 -- should he return.

From an effects standpoint it was very cool to see a strange comic book character like Killer Croc come to life in Suicide Squad, but it also wasn't hard to be disappointed by the lack of characterization he was provided. He has a very long history in DC Comics, primarily going up against Batman under the streets of Gotham City, and, hopefully, if James Gunn decides to use him he can figure out a proper way to utilize Croc beyond "he can swim really well."

Captain Boomerang

While both Deadshot and Killer Croc walked away from their first Suicide Squad mission with a few perks, Jai Courtney's Captain Boomerang really got screwed. Thanks to his perpetual escape attempts, the Australian thief doesn't get a TV in his room or even an espresso machine -- but instead is rewarded with what looks like a permanent stay in solitary confinement where he is monitored constantly by an armed guard. Basically, Karma is a bitch.

Captain Boomerang has long been a mainstay in Suicide Squad comics, and considering he was one of the actual highlights of the first movie, one would like to assume that we will see him return in Suicide Squad 2, but there are no guarantees right now. Another thing don't know is, if he does show up, what kind of shape will he be in? When we first met him he was constantly cracking jokes and being generally offensive, but maybe time in his tiny, tiny cell will help adjust his attitude a bit.

Katana

Provided that she actually comes back, Katana would need some serious redemption in the storyline of Suicide Squad 2. While Karen Fukuhara certainly looked badass in the role, she was given nothing to do in the first movie other than swing her special sword and be the target of other character's exposition, and it's hard to even recall if she had any lines. The character's legacy from DC Comics deserves much more than that, and we'll see if the sequel actually delivers.

In the DC Extended Universe, Katana isn't a rehabilitating prisoner, but instead is an associate of Rick Flag's who was apparently asked to be a part of the first Suicide Squad mission. Given the flimsiness of that set-up, properly fitting her into The Suicide Squad might actually be a tricky endeavor for Gunn, but it's not an impossible job. That being said, she could ultimately be left out of the sequel entirely.

Rick Flag

Last time around, Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) was supposed to be the true leader of the Suicide Squad -- the moral soldier who could control the supervillains -- but that didn't exactly work out as planned. Instead, the guy pretty much screwed up his entire job by getting super emotional about Dr. June Moone (Cara Delevingne), and letting the Enchantress go wild. As far as overall job performance goes, the guy basically got a "D-" ... which is why we're not entirely sure if he'll be coming back as part of the Suicide Squad 2 ensemble.

Being a team that is technically representative of the government, the Suicide Squad makes a bit more sense as a unit when it's led by someone who isn't criminally insane, but that job doesn't have to belong to Rick Flag -- and in the world of the DC Extended Universe it would probably make sense if it doesn't going forward. Even if the character doesn't come back with a key role to play, however, we can at least hope that The Suicide Squad gives us an idea of what happened to him. Joel Kinnaman seems confident that the project will find a role for him to play, so we'll have to wait and see how it all shakes out.

Amanda Waller

Amanda Waller is one of the toughest tough cookies in all of DC Comics lore, and that definitely came across in Viola Davis' first Suicide Squad performance. The woman not only has an extremely clear idea of what she wants in this life, but is also willing to go to some pretty extreme personal lengths in order to get the job done. Most importantly, though, she rules the titular team with an iron thumb, and it's why we definitely expect her to be back in action in Suicide Squad 2.

Admittedly things didn't exactly go as planned the first time that Amanda Waller worked to assemble a team of supervillains, but if there's anyone out there who can convince her higher ups of giving her another shot, it's Waller. One can assume she will once again be put in the position of not only assembling the eponymous unit in The Suicide Squad, but will also be the one to assign them whatever mission they need to accomplish.

Be sure to keep checking back with this guide to get updated information on The Suicide Squad prior to its release. In the meantime, you can check out a wide array of our What We Know So Far Guides right here!

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How A Sons Of Anarchy Hiatus Led To Charlie Hunnam Landing A Gig With Guy Ritchie

How A Sons Of Anarchy Hiatus Led To Charlie Hunnam Landing A Gig With Guy Ritchie

Charlie Hunnam has successfully transitioned from TV to the big screen following his lead gig on FX’s Sons of Anarchy, but while appearing ahead of the release of his new Guy Ritchie collaboration The Gentlemen, the actor revealed that it was only thanks to a Sons of Anarchy hiatus that he had the opportunity to work with the longtime director.

I worked with Guy on King Arthur and he absolutely did not want to hire me for that. So, I was shooting a TV show that I was doing at the time, Sons of Anarchy. He was casting this right at the time and he was taking a week of meetings right at the time that I coincidentally had my hiatus.

Speaking at an STX panel at CinemaCon 2019, Charlie Hunnam and fellow The Gentlemen star Henry Golding both revealed how their respective first meetings with longtime director Guy Ritchie went. While Golding was taking meetings for The Gentlemen just ahead of the premiere for his massive global hit Crazy Rich Asians, Hunnam previously worked with Guy Ritchie on King Arthur: Legend of The Sword.

Charlie Hunnam then revealed that although Guy Ritchie wasn’t actually interested in him for the King Arthur role, he talked his way into a 3 ½ hour meeting that ended up working out for both parties involved.

So, although he said he wasn’t really interested in meeting me, I said, ‘Fuck that, I’ll fly myself over and can we just have a cup of tea together,’ because I felt if I got into a room with him I could sort of ‘wow him’ with my insight and passion for the script.

Sons of Anarchy finished out its epic run on FX back in 2014, so Charlie Hunnam was certainly looking around for a new gig around the time that project was ending. It’s just lucky the show happened to be on hiatus the week Guy Ritchie was meeting potential actors for the role.

It took a few more years for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword to actually premiere in theaters in 2017, but even though that movie only went on to make a little over $148 million worldwide (on a reportedly $175 million budget), it led the actor and director to consider working together again, this time on the STX production The Gentlemen. (Previously this project was known as Toff Guys or Bush.)

As for Henry Golding, the whole process of both meeting and filming with Guy Ritchie ended up being very different, as that actor shot The Gentlemen simultaneously while filming a holiday movie. He said of the experience:

It was sort of waking up in this [sic] gangster role. There were some days I would do [The Gentlemen] in the morning and then report to set for a Christmas movie with Emilia Clarke, so it was a very sort of strong contrast.

That movie is about drug lords, drugs and (sometimes comedic) moments of violence and it sports an all-star cast, including Charlie Hunnam and Henry Golding, but also previous collaborator Hugh Grant, Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farrell, Michelle Dockery and Jeremy Strong.

The Gentlemen doesn’t have a release date yet, but if you missed or weren’t fond of King Arthur, the footage looks to be a very different type of movie, yet still with Ritchie’s signature pacing and style. We’ll bring you the trailer as soon as it drops, but for now the very least you can do is throw on episode of Sons of Anarchy or throw on your own "cup of tea" to toast Jax.

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Looks Like The Fox And Disney Merger Will Cause A Ton Of Layoffs

Looks Like The Fox And Disney Merger Will Cause A Ton Of Layoffs

Even if you've never personally been part of a business merger of any kind (and I have), it's not hard to predict many of the things that will happen as a result. When two companies that used to do largely the same thing come together, you end up with one company that has a lot more employees doing the same job than it may necessarily need. That means layoffs. When two companies the size of Disney and 20th Century Fox come together, that's a lot of employees, and that means a lot of potential layoffs. Specifically, 7,500 people are expected to end up unemployed as a result of the merger.

Needless to say, 7,500 people is a lot of people who likely will be viewed as redundant after the dust settles. The Disney/Fox merger is expected to be finalized on paper as early as next week. We likely won't see a bunch of people out of work on day one. A lot of the work of combining these two massive companies together likely hasn't even started yet, waiting for the merger to become official.

Certainly, not everybody coming on board is going to lose their job. Fox, and its various subsidiary divisions, is going to remain as a separate distribution label under the Disney umbrella, similar to Marvel Studios or Lucasfilm. Those parts of the company will still need people to run them and handle various jobs inside.

While it's easy to assume that layoffs will hurt a lot of the people in smaller positions, and it certainly will, nobody is entirely immune from layoffs. The new company doesn't necessarily need any more vice presidents or other top level executives than it already has, so some layoffs will take place at every level. Though, certainly things will hurt the lower level employees more.

Most of these layoffs will likely come from the Fox side of things. Disney is the company retaining control over the new company, it's easier for Disney to simply keep all its people in place and simply add in the necessary Fox people, but there's no way to know for sure.

It shows just how big the new Walt Disney Company will be that it is adding an entirely new film division, some smaller film subsidiaries, like Fox Searchlight, as well as new cable channels, and more, and will still need to layoff something close to 7,500 people. THR says that the massive merger between AT&T and Time Warner won't result in nearly as many lost jobs. While there are some undeniably cool things that a Disney/Fox merger may create on the content side of things, it can't be overstated that this merger is changing the media landscape forever.

Wheels will begin turning next week once the merger is official and the new Walt Disney Company begins to move forward and figure out what it is going to be. Hopefully, the people who find themselves without a home in the new company won't be without a job for too long.

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How Much Pet Sematary Is Expected To Make Opening Weekend

How Much Pet Sematary Is Expected To Make Opening Weekend

Next month should really kick the movie season into high gear. There’s not one but three superhero releases hitting theaters during the month of April, and competing with those releases will be flicks like Penguins and Pet Sematary. Although those sound like they could be related, they should be anything but. Unlike the former Disneynature documentary, the latter is actually a (probably r-rated but currently unrated) horror film based on a Stephen King novel, and now we have some idea how it will compete with Shazam!.

The answer is, well, decently. Current estimates have Shazam! opening at $40-45 million. (Long-range tracking had that film at closer to $48 million so we’ll see.) Meanwhile Pet Sematary opens the same weekend and is expected to pull in around $20 million, but those numbers could improve all the way to $30 million domestically during opening weekend.

So, it’s not expected to win the weekend, but it does look competitive, and depending on what the budget for Pet Sematary is and how big the audience ends up being in subsequent weeks, it could do just fine in box office totals. We don’t know right now how much the Pet Sematary remake cost, but it should have been cheaper than Shazam! to produce.  Back in 1989, the original cost $11.5 million to make and went on to make over $57 million domestically.

The other good news is that the box office range for Pet Sematary has stayed steady over time. The latest numbers come from Deadline, but Box Office Pro had forecasted Pet Sematary in the $20-$30 million range weeks ago.

Of course, it’s worth pointing out the horror film will only have a few weeks to go before it is superseded by Avengers: Endgame, which should be a box office juggernaut. Early estimates have that movie making $282 million domestically opening weekend, which is a really specific and incredible number.

At that point, the other movies that are still in theaters from March and into April should be doing lower numbers as a lot of fans flock to the box office to for the highly anticipated Marvel film. What Pet Sematary has going for it is counter-programming, but it’s worth noting that by the end of the month, Pet Sematary will be three weekend into its run. It opens on April 5 while the Marvel flick opens on the 26th.

We should be hearing more about Pet Sematary over the next few days as the film is expected to screen at SXSW, and we’ll be able to hear how audiencegoers feel about the upcoming movie.

Trailers for the upcoming movie have been mysterious and eerie, although they have revealed the movie is taking some liberties from Stephen King's source material and will at least be changing one major plot from the book. That the non-spoilery way of mentioning that, if you want spoilers, we have you covered. All in all, there's been a wave of Stephen King properties coming out in recent years -- and even a big nod to King in Ready Player One -- and we'll have to see if Paramount's new movie stands out from the pack.

While we wait, you can see what flicks are heading into theaters in March with our full schedule.

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