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Thunderbolts Asterisk Reveal, Jeremy Renner on Hawkeye Season 2, Tariffs on Hollywood May 08, 2025

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Marvel Studios has been in the news a lot during the last week with varying topics. We’ll break them down, but first some bullet points.- Thunderbolts* took the top spot at the box office with a $76 million domestic opening and a global total of $162.1 million. For those CinemaScore fans, the movie is sitting at an A-. SPOILER ALERT: The studio also flipped the title of the movie based on the events that occur within it and the film is now being marketed as The New Avengers - the big reveal of what the asterisk stood for. Marvel Comics even joined in with this gag, revealing today that a previously announcednew series called New Thunderbolts* is actually going to be called The New Avengers.

- Jeremy Renner was interviewed by podcast High Performance about his new memoir “My Next Breath,” and revealed Marvel offered him a role in a second season of Hawkeye, but only offered half the salary he received in season one.

- The Hollywood Reporter has received information from sources saying that Ryan Reynolds is in the early stages of developing a new Deadpool movie that would feature X-Men characters with Deadpool potentially in a supporting role.

- Lastly, Fantastic Four: First Steps Director Matt Shakman revealed that voice actor Matthew Wood is doing the voice work for the role of HERBIE in the film. Wood is known for voicing General Grievous and has worked in sound for Lucasfilm and Disney for many years.

Perhaps the biggest story to hit Hollywood since the writers/actors strikes a few years ago, U.S. President Donald Trump announced on his social media platform on Monday that he aims to start including Hollywood in his tariff plan. In his comments, Trump announced he wants to institute a 100% tariff on movies coming into the United States and that are produced in foreign countries. It is unclear how this would be implemented at this time as films are not goods. However, many films take advantage of tax incentives offered by states and countries to film in their locations and these could be affected. In an already turbulent time for Hollywood, what could this mean for the future?

FX has officially confirmed an upcoming season two of its Emmy-award winning series Shogun. The series co-creators and showrunners Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks recently wrapped a writers room for the coming season which will begin production in January of 2026.

Guy Ritchie has signed on to direct Road House 2, the sequel to Amazon MGM Studios’ hit action movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Will Beall, whose credits range from comic book movies such as Aquaman to action movies including Bad Boys: Ride or Die, is writing the script.

Sgt. Rock, DC Studios’ action war movie that was to shoot this summer, will no longer move forward at the current schedule due to location shooting issues. The film, set to be directed by Luca Guadagnino and star Colin Farrell, apparently needs to be shot during the summer and not the winter, which held up production. Insiders tell the Hollywood Reporter that the project is not necessarily going away however, and would be reassessed at the end of the year for a possible summer shoot in 2026.

Chris Hemsworth has been cast to star in Subversion, a submarine thriller that Patrick Vollrath will direct for Amazon MGM.

Star Wars: The Last Order, is a newly-announced novel, written by Kwame Mbalia and will look at Finn and Jannah's mission to save more children from the First Order. The novel will be released this year on October 21.

AppleTV+ has renewed Seth Rogan-led series The Studio for a second season ahead of its May 21 season one finale.

Practical Magic 2, starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, will release in theaters on September 18, 2026.

In box office news, Sinners crossed $240 million worldwide while A Minecraft Movie continues to creep to a billion dollars with an $875 million worldwide total.

F4: First Steps Comic Tie In, Harry Potter Stars Contend with Creator Controversy, Predator: Badlands Teaser Trailer Apr 30, 2025

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Marvel Studios is returning to its roots and the source of its inspiration – the comics! For the first time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s history, the studio and the comic publishing arm of the company are collaborating to create a tie-in comic for The Fantastic Four: First Steps. While there have been official tie-in comics to the films before, it was a case of the comics working within the confines of what was already planned and established for the films, not a true collaboration from the ground up. To that end, Marvel has pulled out all the stops by bringing talent the likes of writer Matt Fraction, who was allowed to visit the films set along with other creators working on the comic. The comic, a one-shot that releases July 2, ahead of the film’s July 25 release, is said to be designed to act as media that exists within the film’s continuity.

20th Century Studios released the teaser trailer for Predator: Badlands, the highly anticipated sequel to Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey. The trailer, while brief at just over a minute, is jampacked with footage that includes vistas, locales, creatures and technology never seen within the franchise, including two mysterious characters: one being what seems to a Predator protagonist and Elle Fanning in an enigmatic, humanoid role who begs more questions than answers.

A couple weeks ago we discussed the casting of several key figures in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series, including John Lithgow as Hogwarts Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Now, while speaking the London Times last week, the actor revealed that he was not prepared for the resulting public outcries and backlash in response to his participation - given series creator J.K. Rowling’s involvement; as Rowling’s public transphobic stance and comments in recent years have been the subject of controversy. Elsewhere, David Tennant, who played Barty Crouch in the films, offered his appropriately timed insights on the author while receiving an allyship award at the British LGBT Awards, saying, “We shouldn’t live in a world where that is worth remarking on — I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up.” The lines between the worlds of make believe and our real one are often blurry and the decision to separate art from a problematic artist is a complicated and personal one.

The review embargo has lifted on Thunderbolts* and from 107 total reviews, the film currently has a certified fresh rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The upcoming prequel Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping has cast Joseph Zada as Haymitch Abernathy and Whitney Peak as his girlfriend, Lenore Dove Baird. Mckenna Grace will play District 12 tribute Maysilee Donner, Jesse Plemons will portray a young Plutarch Heavensbee, and the film is set for release on November 20, 2026.

Netflix has released the first teaser trailer for the upcoming Jenna Ortega-led series Wednesday. The series will follow a split release schedule with part 1 dropping on August 6, and part 2 to follow on September 3.

Sydney Sweeney is set to star in a film adaptation of hit video game “Split Fiction” with Jon M. Chu directing, Variety has learned. The script for the movie is being written by “Deadpool & Wolverine” screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

Emma Mackey has been cast as the White Witch in Narnia, Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia fantasy novels.

Over the weekend, “Minecraft” collected $37.8 million overseas and $60.5 million worldwide in its fourth weekend of release. Meanwhile, “Sinners” added $13.5 million internationally and $58.5 million globally in its second week. For the second consecutive weekend, Warner has nabbed the No. 1 and 2 spots on international, domestic and global box office charts.

The Fantastic Four Trailer Reaction, Star Wars Celebration News, and The Sandman Season Two Trailer Reaction Apr 23, 2025

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Marvel Studios skipped a countdown or other hype train idea and finally gave us the first full trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps last Wednesday. We’re treated to a longer taste of Matt Shakman’s take on Marvel’s First Family as well as our first real look at Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer who heralds the film’s big bad, Galactus.

Over the last weekend, Lucasfilm held Star Wars Celebration in Japan. Celebration typically takes place every one or two years. The next event will be in Los Angeles in April 2027. As far as the news from this year’s event, let’s break it down into bite-sized chunks.- Shawn Levy’s Star Wars film starring Ryan Gosling will be called Star Wars: Starfighter and will come out in May 2027. The film takes place a couple of years after The Rise of Skywalker, but is a standalone project.- A Darth Maul animated series starring Sam Witwer called Maul: Shadow Lord will debut on Disney+ in 2026.- First footage from The Mandalorian and Grogu was shown to attendees, but no trailer has been released yet for the 2026 film from Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni.- Animated anthology series Star Wars: Visions will return for a third season this October with three of the most popular storylines from season one continuing.- Dave Filoni talked about Ahsoka season 2, confirming Hayden Christensen will return and showed first looks at Rory McCann as the replacement for Ray Stevenson in the role of Baylan Skoll.

Netflix released the first trailer for the second and final season of The Sandman. The trailer showed us more of the family of cosmic beings who are coming together after Morpheus, the King of Dreams, has been rebuilding his kingdom. The show will release six episodes on July 3 and the final five on July 24.

Alicia Silverstone is attached to reprise the role of Cher Horowitz in a Clueless sequel series at Peacock that is currently in early development.

Warner Brother's Ryan Coogler film Sinners took the number one spot at the domestic box office from A Mincraft Movie this weekend, pulling in $45.6 million dollars. The film is the first R Rated horror movie to earn an A Cinema Score in 35 years.

A reboot film of Highlander directed by Chad Stahelski and starring Henry Cavill has been in development for nearly a decade at Lionsgate. Now, the project is moving forward, but it will be headed to Amazon MGM Studios’ United Artists, which is in final negotiations to acquire the package from Lionsgate.

The first trailer for Jordan Peele's latest horror film Him has been released. The film stars Marlon Wayans and Tyriq Withers and will be released in theaters on September 19.

Oscar voters will no longer be able to cast final ballots in categories in which they haven’t seen all of the nominees, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Monday.

Lost showrunners Carlton Cuse and Nick Cuse are developing a Star Wars series for Disney+ that is in the very early stages of development.

Michael Bay and Sydney Sweeney are teaming up for a film adaptation of the Sega racing video game OutRun for Universal. Bay will direct and Sweeney will produce. The project is in the very early stages of development.

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Elijah Wood have been cast to star in Searchlights Ready or Not: Here I Come. The film from Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett is a follow up to 2019's horror hit Ready or Not. Gellar and Wood will star alongside Samara Weaving, who reprises her role as Grace, and Kathryn Newton.

The first trailer has been released for season 8 of Rick and Morty. The new season will begin streaming on May 25 on Adult Swim.

Another Enola Holmes film is officially in the works at Netflix, the third in the series. Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill will both return to star. Production is now underway in the UK.

Thunderbolts* Projections, Stunts at the Oscars, and HBO’s Harry Potter Series Cast Announcement Apr 17, 2025

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Marvel Studios kickoffs of the summer blockbuster season in just 2 weeks with the release of Thunderbolts* on May 2. With tickets now on sale, box office tracking and projections ahead of the film’s release are forecasting a solid, if not somewhat soft, opening weekend; with most estimates landing between $63 to $77 million. While that is on the lower side for an MCU movie, optimists believe the general lower level of familiarity with the characters on the roster, combined with the positive test screenings, could give the film significant potential and room to grow in subsequent weeks via word of mouth. Elsewhere, Captain America actor Anthony Mackie offered some insights on Avengers: Doomsday while promoting Twisted Metal Season 2 for Peacock, saying, “It's going to give the audience that old Marvel feeling that they always had.”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the introduction of a new Oscar category for Achievement in Stunt Design, set to debut at the 100th Academy Awards in 2028, honoring films released in 2027. This decision follows years of advocacy from industry professionals, including director and former stuntman David Leitch and stunt coordinator Chris O'Hara, who was notably credited as the first official "stunt designer" for his work on The Fall Guy. While the specific criteria and presentation details are yet to be finalized, this move is seen as a significant step toward recognizing the creative and technical artistry of stunt professionals in filmmaking. However, there is notable disappointment that earlier works, such as Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible series, will not be eligible for this new recognition.

HBO has officially announced the adult cast for its upcoming Harry Potter TV series, confirming several roles and actors we’ve discussed, along with new additions. John Lithgow will portray Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer is cast as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu takes on Severus Snape, and Nick Frost will play Rubeus Hagrid. Additionally, Luke Thallon has been cast as Professor Quirinus Quirrell, and Paul Whitehouse will portray Argus Filch. Casting for the central trio—Harry, Ron, and Hermione—is still underway, with over 32,000 children auditioning for these iconic roles.

In an interview with Deadline, Warner Bros’ Mike De Luca and Pam Abby confirmed that the studio is moving forward with sequels to A Minecraft Movie and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. This weekend, A Minecraft Movie crossed a half a billion dollars at the global box office.

A24 has released the first trailer for Ari Aster's Eddington, which stars Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, and Emma Stone. The film will premiere next month at the Cannes Film Festival and then will release in theaters on July 18th.

Comedian Nate Bargatze will host the 77th annual Emmy awards which will be held on September 14th

The Last of Us season 2 debuted to 5.3 million viewers, a 13% increase from the season 1 premiere.

Insider Jeff Sneider is reporting that a remake of the 1988 horror cult classic Killer Klowns From Outer Space is in the works at MGM with Ryan Gosling attached to produce. This scoop is currently unconfirmed at this time.

Jurassic Park star Sam Neill has joined the cast of the upcoming Godzilla x Kong monsterverse sequel which will be directed by Grant Sputore.

Ahead of Star Wars Celebration this weekend, a new Darth Vader novel titled Master of Evil from author Adam Christopher has been announced which will release on November 11th.

Minecraft Takes the Box Office, New Mission: Impossible Trailer, and Tron: Ares Trailer Apr 10, 2025

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Warner Bros. now has the biggest movie opening of the year so far, as A Minecraft Movie raked in more than $300 million dollars globally in its opening weekend. If you’re surprised, don’t be, as video game movie adaptations seem to be the hot ticket. Minecraft’s opening marks the largest ever for actor Jason Momoa and comes in second for Jack Black.

Tom Cruise’s seemingly last outing as Ethan Hunt was finally shown in a full trailer for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, hitting theaters on May 26. The high-octane trailer looks back at previous Mission: Impossible entries and hints that all that has happened to the main character has been on purpose.

Lightcycles meet the real world in the trailer for Tron: Ares, Disney’s newest entry to the Tron universe. The trailer, featuring music for the film by Nine Inch Nails, shows us what it will look like when the digital Tron world infiltrates the real world. The film stars Jared Leto and the cast includes Greta Lee, Gillian Anderson, Jeff Bridges, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Cameron Monaghan. The film marks a nearly 15-year gap since the last Tron entry.

Colossal Biosciences has gene-edited a modern wolf species to re-create a new version of the extinct species used in fantasy lore such as Game of thrones, Dire Wolves. They are returning to the world after being extinct for more than 12,000 years. The first two new dire wolves, Romulus and Remus, were born in October. Colossal has a mission of de-extinction and claims this is proof it can be done.

After the debut of a sizzle reel for upcoming shows this year on Max that featured some very brief shots of Peacemaker season 2, Jame Gunn confirmed that the series will begin streaming on August 21.

Tangled, Disney’s live-action reimagining of its 2010 animated film, has been put on pause, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The project had been in active development, with The Greatest Showman helmer Michael Gracey on board to direct and a script by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. As of now, the future of the film remains uncertain.

HBO has officially renewed The Last of Us for a third season ahead of its second season premiere this weekend. A decision has not been made yet on whether or not the third season will be the series’ last.

Sources tell Deadline that A Quiet Place: Day One director Michael Sarnoski will write and direct the highly anticipated live-action adaptation of Hideo Kojima’s genre-defying video game, Death Stranding, with A24 and Kojima Productions producing.

Variety has learned exclusively from sources that Summer H. Howell is nearing a deal to star in Mike Flanagan’s upcoming “Carrie” TV series at Amazon in the title role.

Slow Horses star Jack Lowden is currently in talks to play Mr. Darcy in Netflix’s upcoming Pride and Prejudice series. First unveiled last year the series is being penned by “Everything I Know About Love” author Dolly Alderton.

Deadline reported exclusively that Robert Pattinson is a star Denis Villneuve has his eye on for a role in Dune 3, which is scheduled to start shooting this summer.

Late last year, 20th Century Studios boss Steve Asbell revealed that there were two Predator movies in development. The first was already known: Predator Badlands, a live-action take directed by Prey‘s Dan Trachtenberg starring Elle Fanning. The second was a secret project, one that now has finally been revealed as an animated film titled Predator: Killer of Killers. 20th Century shared the trailer Tuesday, as well as a release date of June 6 on Hulu and Disney+.

X-Men actor Alan Cumming, in an interview with NBC’s Today With Jenna and Friends, explained that in early makeup tests for Avengers: Doomsday, the timeframe for the process of his Nighcrawler makeup routine has dropped from 4-5 hours to 90 minutes.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Superman Sneak Peek, and TONS of CinemaCon News Apr 04, 2025

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CinemaCon, the world’s largest gathering for the motion picture industry, where studios and exhibitors showcase their upcoming film and theatrical offerings, reigns supreme this week, as the event was held in Las Vegas, March 31 through April 3. Several of the major studios we talk about on a near-weekly basis had plenty to dazzle us with, so let’s break it down by studio and/or IP:

Sony leaned heavily into its Cash Cow, meaning it was all things Spider-Man. In addition to placing Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, the final film of the animated Spider-Verse trilogy, back on the calendar for a June 4, 2027 release, Tom Holland took the stage to reveal the official title for his upcoming fourth Spider-Man film: Brand New Day, along with a new July 31, 2026 release date.

Over at Warner Bros and DC, James Gunn ran the show, as he’s been known to do. While the filmmaker shared an extensive sneak peek at his upcoming Superman, which was released online the next day; he also revealed that, circa 2018, he was approached to direct a Henry Cavill-led Superman film for the DCEU but opted to direct Suicide Squad instead. On the subject of James Gunn’s Superman, Nathan Fillion, who portrays Green Lantern Guy Gardner in the film, was announced to be reprising the part in HBO’s upcoming Lanterns series.

Marvel Studios shared a new trailer for Fantastic Four: First Steps with CinemaCon attendees, which reportedly ‘electrified’ and confirmed a fairly significant plot point regarding Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm, as well as giving a first look at Julia Garner’s Shala Bal Silver Surfer. Marvel’s other, fast approaching, summer tentpole, Thunderbolts*, also had time to shine as Florence Pugh shared 5 minutes of footage with the audience, which teased the various miscreants' initial allegiances.

Independent of CinemaCon, but still timely, Lucasfilm released the trailer for Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld, an animated anthology series that follows in the footsteps of previous ‘Tales’ series, this time with a focus on bounty hunters Asajj Ventress and Cad Bane.

Disney’s offerings also included CinemaCon exclusive trailers for Avatar: Fire & Ash, Tron: Ares and Zootopia 2.

Lionsgate announced an animated John Wick prequel directed by Shannon Tindle and with Keanu Reeves expected to voice the titular character. Chad Stahelski is developing John Wick 5 with Reeves returning, and Donnie Yen will direct and star in a spinoff.

Sam Mendes revealed that all four Beatles biopic films will be released in April of 2028. Set to star in the films are Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr. Each of the four movies will focus on one of the members.

Danny Boyle unveiled the 28 Years Later trailer and confirmed Nia DaCosta directed its sequel, The Bone Temple. He also noted financing for the third film is still pending, urging fans to support the first two.

Universal showed off a trailer for Jurassic World: Rebirth that has not been made available to the public, but stars Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and director Gareth Edwards, took the stage to voice their love and enthusiasm for the franchise.

Lightning Round

Sony’s live-action version of The Legend of Zelda hits theaters March 26, 2027, as announced by Nintendo on Friday. Directed by Wes Ball (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes), the film has yet to reveal its plot or cast.

Lili Taylor has joined Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 in a recurring role as a political rival to Wilson Fisk, per Deadline.

Ketchup Entertainment has officially closed a deal with Warner Brothers for around $50 million dollars to bring the shelved film Coyote vs. Acme to audiences. The film is now expected to get a theatrical release in 2026.

Doomsday Cast Announcement, New James Bond Leadership, Snow White’s Box Office Failure, Severance’s Success Mar 27, 2025

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Today, Marvel held a five and a half hour long casting announcement live stream. Twenty-six cast members were announced painstakingly slowly and wordlessly, via the backs of chairs and it all ended with Robert Downey, Jr. himself strolling in and shushing the viewer. Also in an interview this week, Scarlet Witch herself, Elizabeth Olsen, claims Wanda will not be returning for either of these Avengers films.

Amy Pascal and David Heyman have officially been named as producers on the next James Bond film, according to a Variety article from Tuesday. Pascal is known for her work at Sony and continues to work with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller on different projects such as Spider-Man: Noir. Heyman’s name ought to be familiar to Harry Potter fans as he produced all eight of the original films and is also in pre-production on the new series.

Though it took first place this weekend, the $43 million domestic opening of Disney’s live action remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a box office failure. Along with dismal revenue for the controversy-embroiled film, it has received an overall CinemaScore of B+ - something no Disney live action remake has done yet. Robert DeNiro’s Alto Knights also debuted to disappointing figures and the Jonathan Majors-led Magazine Dreams only cracked $700,000 in its limited release.

Apple’s streaming service had a huge win after finishing the second season of Severance last week when the show became the most-streamed series on AppleTV+, surpassing Ted Lasso. Severance hit the Nielsen streaming report for five consecutive weeks, clocking in with 681 million minutes viewed. Apple CEO Tim Cook quickly gave the show the greenlight for a third season last Friday morning. On the heels of this news, it may be surprising - or not - to hear that Apple loses $1 billion a year on the streaming service and only has 45 million subscribers. But based on what the tech giant has said in the past, this may not matter.

Speaking at Disney's annual shareholder meeting, Bob Iger confirmed that Pixar is developing a sequel film to Coco with a targeted theatrical release date sometime in 2029. The sequel will bring back members of the creative team from the original film, including director Lee Unkrichn and co-director Adrian Molina. Mark Nielsen will produce.

WME is shopping the rights to the Jason Bourne franchise as well as the full library of Robert Ludlam properties to potential suitors since the rights have officially expired at Universal. Skydance, Apple and Netflix are said to have met with the estate for the rights. Universal, too, could potentially win the rights back if it made an attractive bid.

Sherman Augustus has joined the cast of HBO's Lanterns in a recurring role. He will play John Stewart's father, John Senior. J. Alphonse Nicholson was also cast last week in the series and will play a younger version of John Senior.

Agency Verve, which has represented the rights for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise since 2017, is reportedly looking to sell the rights to revive the franchise. A rumored interested party, according to Deadline, is filmmaker JT Mollner and producer Roy Lee and if they get a script together, word is that Glen Powell would like to read it. A24, Lionsgate and others are reportedly expressing interest in that vision. Mollner and Lee are currently coming off the heels of cult hit Strange Darling.

Two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz and two time Oscar winner Renee Zellweger have joined Only Murders in the Building Season 5.

Joe Russo Calls Doomsday a “New Beginning”, Colin Farrell Up for Another DC Starring Role, and 2025’s Worst Weekend at the Box Office Mar 20, 2025

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Last week, during an interview with Brazilian pop culture and media YouTube outlet, Omelete, to promote their new film, The Electric State, Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars directors, Joe and Anthony Russo offered insights on how the upcoming pair Avengers of films differ from their previous multi-phase, saga-concluders: Infinity War and Endgame; describing the duology as a “new beginning.” Joe Russo went on to reiterate the real motivation for the creative duo returning to the franchise after leaving on an all-time high more than 5 years ago.

In a double dose of DC casting news, sitcom vet Jason Ritter has joined the cast of Lanterns in a recurring role as Billy Macon, a ‘good-looking charmer who does his father’s bidding, clings to his small-town ego and has everything to lose.’ Elsewhere, The Penguin actor, Colin Farrell has entered negotiations to replace Daniel Craig as the titular sergeant of Luca Guadagnino’s Word War II film, Sgt. Rock.

Despite the release of several new genre films, last weekend’s domestic box office was notably slow – at an approximate $54 million total, sluggish enough to earn the title of 2025’s worst box office thus far. Paramount’s R-rated action comedy, Novocaine, starring Jack Quaid, took the top spot with $8.7 million, slightly below expectations. Meanwhile, Mickey 17 suffered a 60% drop in its second weekend, barely managing to stave off Steven Soderbergh’s spy thriller, Black Bag, with hauls of $7.51 and $7.5 million, respectively.

After more than a year of speculation, Apple TV+ has officially ordered a fourth season of its Emmy-winning comedy Ted Lasso. The pickup comes after co-creator and star Jason Sudeikis closed a deal to reprise his role as the titular character.

Disney has released the first official trailer for body swap comedy reunion sequel Freakier Friday starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. The film hits theaters on August 8th, 22 years after the original.

Conan O’Brien, who hosted the 97th Oscars telecast on March 2, has agreed to return and host the 98th Oscars telecast on March 15, 2026, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday. CBS has also announced that comedian Nikki Glaser will return in 2026 to host the 83rd annual Golden Globes.

More than a year after Warner Bros. shelved Coyote vs. Acme for tax incentives, independent distributor Ketchup Entertainment is reportedly nearing a deal to acquire the film for around $50 million. Ketchup recently handled the theatrical release of The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, which has earned $3.9 million since its March 14 debut.

Columbia Pictures is plotting a new Starship Troopers movie, tasking District 9 filmmaker Neill Blomkamp to write and direct an adaptation of the classic sci-fi novel story by Robert A. Heinlein.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned “zero progress” has been made on Saw XI since writing partners Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan turned in a draft back in spring of 2024. Speaking on the project, Melton said “The reason it’s held up is just, there’s inter-squabbling between producers and Lionsgate. They just can’t quite get on the same page.”

A24 has released the first trailer for romantic feature film Materialists starring Pedro Pascal, Chris Evans, and Dakota Johnson. The film hits theaters on June 13th.

Netflix has released the first trailer for Adam Sandler-led sequel Happy Gilmore 2. The film begins streaming on July 25th.

Darren Aronofsky is in talks to direct Netflix’s Cujo, a remake of Stephen King’s classic horror novel about a vicious St. Bernard.The project is still in early development, and sources say Aronofsky has yet to hold creative discussions with Netflix. If the deal goes through, this would be his first feature film for a streaming platform.

RDJ is Building Dr. Doom, New Thunderbolts* Teaser REACTION, and The Last of Us Season 2 Trailer Mar 14, 2025

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This doctor makes house calls! Russo brothers Joe and Anthony told Entertainment Tonight that Iron Man turned Doom actor Robert Downey, Jr. is doing a lot of work to prepare for his new role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Joe Russo commented that Downey is “dialed in” and the actor is even writing a backstory for the character, immersing himself in the role.

In a new move for Marvel Studios, the latest Thunderbolts* teaser had title cards between shots of the movie showcasing all of the talent behind the film that people might recognize. Shots of actors were intercut with cards citing their acting credits outside of the MCU aynd behind-the-camera credit for writing, directing, composing, cinematography, and editing, was also featured. Projects mentioned by these credits include Midsommar, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Beef, The Green Knight, and A Different Man, as well as a couple of others. Director Jake Schreier cited a goal given by Kevin Feige to make this film different and this seems to be one of the ways Schreier is attempting to do so.

On March 8, HBO released an official trailer for The Last of Us Season 2. Several of us on this panel have a special place in our hearts for this show…let’s talk about it!

Stranger Things star Sadie Sink has joined the cast of Spider-Man 4. It’s unclear who she will play at this time, though Deadline, which first reported the casting news, hinted that her role will be “significant.”

Disney has released the first full trailer for the upcoming live action remake of Lilo & Stitch, which hits theaters on May 23.

A series adaptation of “Crazy Rich Asians” is in development at Max. Adele Lim, who co-wrote the 2018 film, has been set as showrunner and executive producer, while director Jon M. Chu will also return to executive produce.

Emmy award winning comedy Hacks will return for its fourth season on April 10. Max has also released the first teaser trailer for the upcoming season, which will run for 10 episodes.

Netflix has released the trailer and first-look images for the fifth and final season of its psychological thriller series “You.” The series begins streaming on April 14.

David Arquette will officially reprise his role as Dewey Riley from the first five “Scream” movies in the upcoming seventh installment of the horror franchise.

Disney is hosting a Hollywood premiere of Snow White on March 15, but the studio won’t be rolling out the red carpet like it usually does. The afternoon festivities will include a pre-party and screening at the El Capitan Theatre with stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot expected to attend. However, the red carpet will not include the dozens of media outlets usually invited by Disney to interview the cast and creatives at its premieres. Instead, coverage will be limited to photographers and a house crew.

Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi space epic Mickey 17 has finally landed at the box office, where it opened to a sluggish $19.1 domestically. Nevertheless, it was more than enough to come in at No. 1 at the box office, with a $53.3 million dollar worldwide total. Captain America: Brave New World took second place with $8.5 million dollars domestically, bringing its worldwide total to $370.8 million dollars in its fourth weekend.

Netflix has released the first official trailer for season 7 of sci fi anthology series Black Mirror. The series will begin streaming on April 10th.

In an interview with InStyle, Scarlett Johansson spoke on the potential return of Black Widow in the MCU, saying “Natasha is dead. She is dead. She’s dead. Okay? They’re like, ‘But she could come back! Look, I think the balance of the entire universe is held in her hand. We’re going to have to let it go. She saved the world. Let her have her hero moment.”

Avengers Doomsday Concept Art Leaks, Lanterns First Image & Our Oscars Reactions Mar 05, 2025

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Leaks and rumors aren’t our usual foray, but in a week that’s light on earth-shattering headlines, we can’t forgo the opportunity to talk about the reported leaked Avengers Doomsday concept art pieces circulating the web. Consider yourself warned and bear in mind the images in question have not been officially released and are in their very nature, conceptual, so everything discussed should be considered with a healthy amount of scrutiny and discernment. On the same coin, if the leaks are to be taken seriously, the pieces potentially reveal major plot points and crucial information. Potential spoilers in 3, 2, 1…

HBO celebrated and announced the commencing of production on its Lanterns series last week by revealing our first look at stars Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler, as Jon Stewart and Hal Jordan, respectively. The image showcases our heroes not adorned in the typical attire befitting a Green Lantern, but in regular clothing and walking down an empty road and looking a little worse for wear. Still no word on when exactly we should expect the 8-episode season to air;

With Sunday evening’s 97th Academy Awards ceremony, the Awards Season has concluded, but the conversation about the show and its winners and losers is just getting started. Host Conan O’Brien ushered the show along in true comedic fashion and by the time the dust settled, Anora ended up dominating the evening with 5 wins total, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress. The Brutalist, which was considered the odds-on favorite, followed with 3 wins for Cinematography, Score and Best Actor. Dune: Part 2 and Wicked were competitors in the technical categories, with 2 wins each, as was the case for Emilia Perez. Finally, Conclave, A Real Pain, The Substance, Flow and I’m Still Here rounded out the awards with one win each.

Supernatural stars Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins will guest star in The Boys' final season, reuniting with former co-star Jensen Ackles who joined in Season 3.

Zendaya will voice Shrek's daughter in Shrek 5, while a controversial first-look teaser revealed animation changes to main characters.

Oscar Nuñez, who played accountant Oscar Martinez throughout The Office’s run, will reprise his character in the upcoming Peacock Office spinoff series.

Stranger Things star Jamie Campbell Bower has joined the cast for season 3 of Amazon's The Rings of Power.

Matthew Lillard has joined the cast of the second season of Daredevil: Born Again. At this time, there are no details on the character he is playing.

Jessica Jones star Krysten Ritter has been cast for a guest arc on the upcoming Showtime Dexter continuation series Dexter: Resurrection.

Gene Hackman, two time Oscar winner known for his roles in The French Connection, Unforgiven, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Superman died last week at the age of 95. Both Hackman and his wife were found dead in their home and an investigation is still ongoing.

John Jackson Miller's upcoming novel, Batman: Revolution, is set between Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film and its 1992 sequel, Batman Returns. This installment introduces the Riddler, a character Burton had originally envisioned for a sequel, with the story focusing on Norman Pinkus, a brilliant but overlooked copy boy who transforms into the enigmatic villain. As tensions rise in Gotham City, Batman faces a new adversary who challenges him with a perilous game of riddles, uncovering hidden secrets about the city's past that could have dire consequences for its future.

In an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live executive producer and director of AppleTV+ series Severance Ben Stiller revealed that he originally asked former President Barack Obama to voice the narration of Lumon’s puppet propaganda video in season two. Obama responded that he could not fit it in his schedule, so Stiller opted to go with Keanu Reeves instead.

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