The Avatar sequels are coming…in two years. A decade since James Cameron’s record-breaking sci-fi film and years of delays on the subsequent films have brought us to his: the completion of live-action production for the year. Whoo whoo? Yeah, there’s still a crap ton of work that needs to be done before we see just the first piece of footage, a photo, anything that will ever wind up on the big screen. But at least we have a new set photo, I guess.
As the caption from Avatar‘s official Twitter reads: “Check out this photo of the aft well deck section of the Sea Dragon, a massive mothership that carries an array of other sea-going craft in the sequels.”
That’s a wrap, Na’vi Nation! ?
It’s our last day of live-action filming in 2019, and we’re celebrating with a sneak peek. ?
Check out this photo of the aft well deck section of the Sea Dragon, a massive mothership that carries an array of other sea-going craft in the sequels. pic.twitter.com/AXgAve6aTG
So this is far from an ordinary set on some backlot in the middle of nowhere. There are two vehicles I can see, one in the back and one submersible-looking one in the front, which are both inside of a much larger ship. I see some members of the crew in breathing masks, so either they’re on Pandora where humans can’t breathe the air, or they’re going underwater. It may be the latter since we know the majority of the first sequel will take place in an aquatic environment, perfect for that deep sea-diving fool James Cameron.
This looks like it cost an astronomical amount, which it probably did. Cameron has never been one to tighten the purse strings, and certainly isn’t on his pet franchise. Four sequels are planned but will largely depend on the success of the first two. I have doubts they’ll come close to reaching the $2.7B heights of the original. Too much time has passed and history hasn’t looked back at Avatar as fondly as I think Cameron does. Then again, after all this time he could be building up a tremendous amount of anticipation.
Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, and Matt Gerald with new additions Kate Winslet, Edie Falco, Michelle Yeoh, Vin Diesel, Jemaine Clement, and Oona Chaplin, Avatar 2 arrives on December 17th 2021, followed by Avatar 3 on December 22nd 2023. Sequels arriving in 2025 and 2027 may follow.
If you’ve been itching for some new footage from the next James Bond film, No Time to Die, the wait won’t be long. The first full trailer will drop on Wednesday, and it’s been teased with a brief 14-second promo that you can watch below.
This will be the fifth and likely final turn for Daniel Craig as James Bond, having begun with 2006’s Casino Royale. This latest outing finds Bond an ex-super spy having retired to Jamaica, only to be brought back into the action by his old CIA friend Felix Leiter, who needs securing the rescue of a kidnapped scientist. This turns out to be deadlier than Bond expected, as a he faces” a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.”
That villain will be played by Oscar winner Rami Malek, and it’s possible we get a look at him in this teaser’s final shot, behind a mask and a thick layer of glass. Seems excessive and flamboyant, two traits perfectly suited for Bond villains.
We get to see a lot here in just a short few seconds: motorcycle jumps in exotic lands, possibly Ana de Armas’ character Paloma firing off twin barrels, and I think that’s Lashana Lynch as the current 007 raising up her sunglasses from the passenger seat.
I’m pumped. How are you feeling about the return of James Bond?
Directed by Cary Fukunaga, No Time to Die opens April 8th 2020.
1. Frozen 2– $85.2M/$287.6M
Disney’s Frozen 2 put a cold chill on the Thanksgiving record books, earning $85.2M over the three-day weekend and a whopping $123.7 over the five-day holiday. That number bests the previous record holder, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire‘s $109M from 2013. The puny 34% drop shows Disney was smart to open this the week before Thanksgiving, making it a two-week-long box office blitz. Worldwide the numbers are staggering, as the sequel already has $739M.
2. Knives Out (review)- $27M/$41.7M
The presence of Frozen 2 couldn’t dull the edge from Rian Johnson’s star-studded whodunnit, Knives Out, which scored $42M over the five-day weekend and $70M worldwide. This is already shaping up to be the biggest non-Star Wars film for Johnson, besting the $66M domestic haul of Looper in 2012. We’ve often talked about there not being any true box office stars anymore, but an ensemble of this magnitude, featuring Chris Evans, Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis and many more, can still be a star-driven vehicle under the right guidance. The cast was always a huge draw, and having them under the direction of a fan-favorite director like Johnson. If Johnson does pursue a sequel following Craig’s southern gumshoe Benoit Blanc don’t be surprised to see another stellar cast surrounding him.
3. Ford v Ferrari– $13.2M/$81M
4. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood– $11.7/$34.3M
5. Queen & Slim (review)- $11.7M/$15.8M
The modern-day Bonnie & Clyde film Queen & Slim did strong business with $11.7M over the weekend and $15.8M in total. The film stars Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith, and was targeted primarily at the black audience eager for a new spin on the classic outlaw narrative. The marketing worked, as it did better in fewer locations, earning $9.3K in 1690 sites.
6. 21 Bridges– $5.8M/$19.4M
7. Playing with Fire– $4.2M/$39.2M
8. Midway– $3.9M/$50.2M
9. Joker– $2M/$330.6M
10. Last Christmas– $1.9M/$31.6M
Subtlety has never been the corner stone of Emperor Palpatine’s personality so I suppose it’s appropriate that he closes out this latest TV spot with the on the nose announcement that “The final battle has begun”. While most of the footage is recycled from previous trailers and spots the honey pot comes right in the begining with an awesome show of Kylo leading his Knights of Ren down a hallway. It’s nothing ground breaking but it does end any speculation about what role they would play. It seems, at least at some point in the film, the Knights are his personal guard, his roll dawgs if you will. I don’t care that the footage is mostly recycled every single time I see these scenes I get a sense of excitement that only Star Wars has every been able to bring. I know we’ll have no shortage of a Galaxy Far Far Away in the coming years this is still the end of an era as the Skywalker Saga comes to an end (unless the other films fail miserably). December 20th can’t come soon enough!
There’s a lot of new stuff to see in the latest Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker TV spots, so if you’re one of those who wants to go in knowing as little as possible these are probably to be avoided. I’m actually at that point, too, but when one spot is titled “Duel” and features John Williams’ epic “Duel of the Fates” these from The Phantom Menace, it’s extremely tough to ignore. You’ll also hear a lot more from the returning Palpatine, whose evil presence was absolutely necessary for wrapping up the Skywalker Saga according to director JJ Abrams.
The second spot, titled “Space Monster” does indeed include a giant creature about to swallow the Millennium Falcon. It seems like that happens a lot. Maybe another mode of transportation would be smart?
You can check out both spots below, as well as a new behind-the-scenes featurette exploring the makings of this historic movie. The Rise of Skywalker is less than a month away, opening on December 20th!
If you’re an actor looking to win your first Oscar, just call up Anthony McCarten and he’ll get the job done for ya. McCarten’s screenplays for Darkest Hour, The Theory of Everything, and Bohemian Rhapsody led to Best Actor victories, and some are already predicting the same for his latest, The Two Popes.
Starring screen legends Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes centers on a unique moment in time, as Pope Benedict prepares to step down and pass the torch to the future Pope Francis. No one has resigned from the papacy in hundreds of years, and McCarten imagines a spirited, lively debate between the two ideologically-opposed men of God.
Along with my friend and colleague Tim Gordon, I had the chance to talk with Anthony McCarten about The Two Popes, his approach to screenwriting, possible future ideas, and what his recent acclaim means to him. You can listen to that interview below, and check out my review of The Two Popeshere!
Titled “Sanctuary”, the fourth episode of Disney’s The Mandalorian dials back on the intense action of the first three episodes. Fittingly, it offers Mando and his Baby Yoda charge a small oasis of peace and tranquility for much of this episode, directed by actress Bryce Dallas Howard. Of course, this peace is short-lived as the duo just can’t seem to stay away from trouble, even when it isn’t directly looking for them.
Picking up where the last episode left off, “Sanctuary” finds Mando and the child (“Stop touching things”, Mando playfully scolds) looking for a backwater skughole to lay low for a while. It’s obvious Mando still has no plan as to where to go or what to do. Will he raise Baby Yoda on his own? Deliver him to the Resistance? Find him a suitable home where he can have a real childhood?
Spotting the planet Sorgan, Mando decides it’s just remote enough for them to hideout for a couple of months. Naturally, that means they’ll be spotted pretty quickly, right? It doesn’t help that Yoda doesn’t like to follow instructions. Warned to stay in the ship while Mando scopes out the area, the precocious kid is nevertheless right by his side just moments later. With curiosity in his big wide eyes, Yoda takes in the shabby little tavern Mando enters. It’s also where we first spot Gina Carano’s Cara Dune, eying them from a corner table. Mando is immediately wary of her, and when she vanishes goes out to take a look. She quickly gets the jump on them and they have an all-out brawl where we see, yet again, that Mando is a much better gunfighter than hand-to-hand combatant. She gets the better of him, but they end up pointing blasters in a close standoff, only to be interrupted by an adorable, green onlooker who had slipped outside to watch. Oh that Yoda!
Cara Dune is an interesting addition to The Mandalorian. An ex-Rebellion shocktrooper who saw most of her action post-Endor (meaning after Return of the Jedi), she gave up that life when politics started to intercede. She came to Sorgan to live a life of quiet solitude, and needs Mando to get out of town so she can do that. Turns out he and a Baby Yoda draw a lot of attention. But before they can depart, a pair of villagers from a nearby fishing village approach Mando with a request. They need protection from Klatoonian raiders, seen in the episode’s intro laying waste to the peaceful village. Mando rejects them repeatedly, until he comes to think it might be a suitable, out-of-the-way home for Baby Yoda.
One of my favorite aspects of Rian Johnson’s divisive The Last Jedi was that it offered a slice-of-life look at the impacts of constant war. “Sanctuary” offers some of that , too, as Mando let’s his guard down and fits naturally with the people he’s helping to protect. A conversation with Omera (Julia Jones), a single mother who takes a liking to Mando, reveals that he hasn’t taken off his helmet in front of another person since childhood. We also learn that his introduction to the Mandalorian culture may not have been 100% his choice, but it’s one he’s come to accept. “This is the way”, he says, repeating the catchphrase that could overtake “May the Force be with You” among Star Wars geeks. As Omera’s daughter Winta and the other children play with Baby Yoda, this place looks more and more like home.
But a home needs to be protected. The townspeople aren’t fighters…well, except for Omera who is sweet with a blaster. After giving them some basic training, Mando and Cara Dune do some scouting only to discover their problems are bigger than anticipated. The raiders have in their possession an Imperial AT-ST chicken walker. This will be no easy task. Breaking into the raider camp, a pitched battle ensues while the tick-tick of a bomb winds down. The explosion alerts the AT-ST, which is being drawn to the camp in hopes of falling into a well-laid trap, which it eventually does after some quick thinking and a heroic act by Cara Dune using Mando’s awesome disintegrator rifle.
Weeks pass, and Omera thinks Mando and Baby Yoda would be better staying where they are. It’s clear she wants him to stay, the “come hither” eyes she’s giving him say everything. But Mando doesn’t think he belongs there, even if Baby Yoda does. He plans to leave the little kid behind to be cared for, live a normal life. That plan is interrupted by a bounty hunter hiding in the forests. His sniper scope trained first on Mando, then horrifyingly on Baby Yoda. When the shot fires and we fear the absolute worst, we can’t help but be relieved to see that Cara Dune has taken the would-be assassin out. But it’s all the proof Mando needs that Baby Yoda won’t be safe there, or anywhere, and only he can keep him safe.
As The Mandalorian continues to veer from Eastern and Western influences with a plot taken straight from Seven Samurai and Magnificent Seven, it also sets up a purely episodic status quo. While things could change in the final few episodes, it has mostly stuck to a standalone, low-stakes structure and I think that’s pretty cool. Important threads carryover, of course, including more revelations about Mando and the Mandalorian culture, but we may be wrong to expect the series to get swept up in huge intergalactic battles and Imperial intrigue. More than any other, “Sanctuary” also shows the evolution of Mando from a cold-hearted warrior into a protector, not just of Baby Yoda but of anyone who is defenseless. This doesn’t seem natural to the Mandalorian code, and I wonder if conflicts will arise from it.
While this episode dials things down a little too much on occasion the action we do get is bolstered by Carano’s MMA background, lending credibility to Cara Dune as a badass. This is also the first episode where we see the effects budget pushed to the limit, and while that shot of the AT-ST looming ominously in the forests is pretty awesome, it’s clear the concessions that had to be made elsewhere because of it. Now that we’ve had our breather, the return of Dave Filoni as director means we can expect The Mandalorian to go full throttle once again, and I can’t wait to see what trouble Mando and Baby Yoda have to free themselves from.
We never got a sequel to Steven Spielberg’s classic E.T., and that’s probably for the better. Best to leave some things alone. However, if you tuned into the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade yesterday morning you may have seen the closest thing to a sequel we’re ever going to get in a commercial for Comcast’s Xfinity service.
Henry Thomas returns as Elliot, who is reunited with E.T. when the Reese’s-loving alien returns for a visit. What unfolds is a charming, tear-jerking walk down memory lane, but also the future as Elliot introduces his two kids, who go on to love E.T. just as much as their father did as a child.
Is it a cynical play on our emotions by a corporate entity (Comcast and Universal came together on this) just looking to make a quick buck this holiday season? I mean…yeah? Of course it is. But is it also effective? You damn right. This is pretty terrific, and according to Thomas it went forward with Spielberg’s blessing…
“The audience is going to get everything they want out of a sequel without the messy bits that could destroy the beauty of the original and the special place it has in people’s minds and hearts…Looking at the storyboards, I could see exactly why Steven [Spielberg] was really behind it. Because the integrity of the story isn’t lost in this retelling.” [Deadline]
If you’ve heard of the Ned Kelly gang you’re either Australian, a fan of outlaw culture, or you remember the Heathe Ledger movie from 2003. Considered the “Australian Robin Hood” by many, Kelly will be the subject of a new film, True History of the Kelly Gang, from Macbeth and Assassins Creed director Justin Kurzel.
Based on the novel by Peter Carey and adapted by Shaun Grant, the film tells the story of the 19th-century outlaw and bushranger, one of eight kids born to rebellious Irish parents. His life of crime began early and grew over time, eventually leading his own gang that wore suits of body armor into gunfights.
While Kurzel’s last film was a big, high-profile miss, there are a lot of reasons to be excited about his one. First of all, it’s likely to gain more attention with George MacKay in the leading role. MacKay is being eyed as a potential Best Actor contender for his role in Sam Mendes’ 1917. The rest of the cast is stellar, as well. You knew Russell Crowe couldn’t be far from a project like this, playing another notorious bushranger, Harry Power. Thomasin McKenzie, Nicholas Hoult, Essie Davis, Sean Keenan, Jacob Collns Levy, and Charlie Hunnam co-star.
One look at the rock star vibe Kurzel is bringing should tell you he’s playing loose with the facts, but the reviews out of TIFF were pretty good and to me this looks like a blast. Can’t wait.
True History of the Kelly Gang opens in Australian/UK theaters on February 28th 2020. Hopefully, we’ll have a date around the same time.
With Noah Hawley’s Doctor Doom movie put on ice, it’s unclear when the Fantastic Four nemesis might make his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Strangely, a dubious new rumor from former MCU Exchange writer Charles Murphy suggests Doom won’t debut along with the FF, but in Black Panther 2.
There aren’t a ton of details offered by Murphy, other than to say this isn’t an actual “hot scoop” yet, just something he heard from a supposedly reliable source that claims “Victor Von Doom will began expanding his empire, conquering parts of Africa and, ultimately, come into conflict with the nation of Wakanda and the Black Panther.”
That storyline is pretty basic and anybody who has read a Marvel Comic could’ve come up with it, so I don’t put much stock into it, or this particular rumor. I find it hard to believe Marvel would have Doom debut anywhere other than alongside the Fantastic Four. He may go on to be a much bigger threat from there, but it’ll start with the FF I’m certain. Also, with Black Panther 2 not scheduled for release until May 2022, Ryan Coogler is probably just figuring out what the storyline will be. It’s way too early to know anything for sure.
Maybe this means the FF will be in Black Panther 2, as well?
