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‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Super Bowl Spot: The Avengers Assemble For Their Greatest Test

While we’re all on pins and needles waiting for Black Panther, don’t forget that right around the corner is Avengers: Infinity War, the film that brings to a head a decade’s worth of stories in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is a big deal, and Marvel is playing cautious to prevent leaks of the story. In fact, they’ve gone so far as to have fake scenes written into the script.

How do we know? Paul Bettany, who plays Vision, revealed to Total Film [via ScreenGeek] that his script had whole scenes in it that were bogus, just to throw newshounds off the scent…


“When I read the script, there were fake scenes in it, I got the directors on the phone and they walked me through what were the fake scenes. They’d had three leaks already, so they’d written a script with lots of fake scenes. There were three Hero iPads that had the only real scripts on them.”


Crazy, right? Hopefully all of those set photos sites have been leaking for months will amount to nothing.

Tonight’s Super Bowl spot for Avengers: Infinity War reveals some new footage that clearly wasn’t fake, including what looks to be Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange’s first foray into space. Or maybe they’re just on board Thanos’ ship. We also see Captain America, or the Nomad version of him, with a new shield-type weapon, probably designed by Black Panther and the geniuses in Wakanda. I guess we’ll find out when the film hits on May 4th. Here’s the synopsis followed by the teaser:

As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment – the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain.

‘The Cloverfield Paradox’ Trailer, Netflix To Release The Film Tonight!

Formerly titled God Particle, Netflix picked up the oft-delayed third chapter in the Cloverfield franchise and have done the smart thing: They’ve put Cloverfield right in the title. Now known as The Cloverfield Paradox, the Julius Onah-directed film takes the monster movie series into deep space for a star-studded affair led by David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ziyi Zhang, Elizabeth Debicki, Daniel Brühl and Chris O’Dowd.

Oh, and another thing Netflix has gone and done? They’ve decided to release the movie today, like immediately following the Super Bowl. D’oh! Well, I guess they weren’t lying about releasing it before its previous April date.

Here’s the synopsis:   In the near future, a group of international astronauts on a space station are working to solve a massive energy crisis on Earth. The experimental technology aboard the station has an unexpected result, leaving the team isolated and fighting for their survival.



‘Mission: Impossible-Fallout’ Trailer: Tom Cruise Is Back For Another Explosive Sequel

It’s funny that, mere moments after the Skyscraper TV spot shows Dwayne Johnson leaping from a tall building, foot out and ready for impact, comes the trailer for Mission: Impossible-Fallout, in which Tom Cruise broke his  foot doing the same type of stunt. Except it was ACTUALLY Cruise doing it.  Cruise, still showing ’em up at his age.

The sixth movie in the M:I franchise brings back director Christopher McQuarrie along with Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin, Ving Rhames, and Michelle Monaghan, along with Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett, and Vanessa Kirby. Here’s the synopsis:

The best intentions often come back to haunt you. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT finds Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team, along with some familiar allies  in a race against time after a mission gone wrong. Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett, and Vanessa Kirby also join the dynamic cast with filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie returning to the helm.


Mission: Impossible-Fallout opens July 27th.

‘A Quiet Place’ Super Bowl Spot: Silence Is Safety For Emily Blunt & John Krasinski

After all of these years Emily Blunt and John Krasinski are finally making a movie together. Somehow he managed to convince his wife to star in his latest directorial effort, A Quiet Place, his followup to 2016’s solid family dramedy, The Hollars. This time he’s venturing into genre territory, while also making his first big studio effort, in a film that co-stars breakout child actors Millicent Simmonds (Wonderstruck) and Noah Jupe (Suburbicon, Wonder).

Here’s the synopsis: A family living on a farm hides from a supernatural evil attracted to sound by avoiding making sound and communicating in sign language.


A Quiet Place opens April 6th.

‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Super Bowl Spot: The Rogue’s Journey Begins Now

It’s here. After months of mystery and, let’s just be honest, rather crappy buzz surrounding Solo: A Star Wars Story because it seemed like Lucasfilm was hiding it from us, the first real footage from the film is here. And, yep, it feels like a Star Wars movie alright, and that’s what we really needed to see from this brief teaser.

Ron Howard took over as director when Phil Lord and Chris Miller were unceremoniously dismissed, while concerns have been that star Alden Ehrenreich doesn’t have the goods to replace Harrison Ford as Han Solo. Well, that’s like asking Pete Myers to replace Michael Jordan; nobody is going to be truly happy.  We see glimpses of Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca of course, and the Millennium Falcon.

Here’s the synopsis:  Board the Millennium Falcon and journey to a galaxy far, far away in Solo: A Star Wars Story, an all-new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy. Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars saga’s most unlikely heroes. 


Also starring Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Paul Bettany, and Joonas Suotamo, Solo: A Star Wars Story opens May 25th.  A full trailer will be revealed tomorrow!

‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ Super Bowl Trailer: Chris Pratt Survives A Dino Rampage

Are you ready for a return to Isla Nublar? Well, you won’t be staying long because it’s going up in flames. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom brings back Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard for a sequel that finds them racing to get all of the dino life off the island before the whole thing explodes. The new Super Bowl spot is, as expected, super-sized and features more than we’ve seen so far, including a surprising number of kids in danger from the rampaging creatures. Plus I think we’re under-selling just how big of a role Justice Smith is going to have. He’s absolutely everywhere in all of the promos we’ve seen.

J.A. Bayona (A Monster Calls) is behind the camera this time with Colin Trevorrow co-writing the script. Jeff Goldlbum returns, and so does B.D. Wong, while Ted Levine, Daniella Pineda, James Cromwell, Rafe Spall, Toby Jones, and Geraldine Chaplin co-star.  Here’s the synopsis: 
It’s been four years since theme park and luxury resort Jurassic World was destroyed by dinosaurs out of containment. Isla Nublar now sits abandoned by humans while the surviving dinosaurs fend for themselves in the jungles.
When the island’s dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event. Owen is driven to find Blue, his lead raptor who’s still missing in the wild, and Claire has grown a respect for these creatures she now makes her mission. Arriving on the unstable island as lava begins raining down, their expedition uncovers a conspiracy that could return our entire planet to a perilous order not seen since prehistoric times.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opens June 22nd. 

‘Red Sparrow’ Super Bowl Spot: Jennifer Lawrence Goes Super Spy For The Super Bowl

Here we go. The night’s cavalcade of Super Bowl spots begins with Red Sparrow, the action thriller that looks like Jennifer Lawrence if she were doing a Black Widow movie. The film is directed by her Hunger Games director, Francis Lawrence, and co-stars Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeremy Irons, Joel Edgerton, Mary-Louise Parker, and Charlotte Rampling. Here’s the synopsis:

Dominika Egorova is many things. 
A devoted daughter determined to protect her mother at all costs. 
A prima ballerina whose ferocity has pushed her body and mind to the absolute limit. 
A master of seductive and manipulative combat. 

When she suffers a career-ending injury, Dominika and her mother are facing a bleak and uncertain future. That is why she finds herself manipulated into becoming the newest recruit for Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people like her to use their bodies and minds as weapons. After enduring the perverse and sadistic training process, she emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow the program has ever produced. Dominika must now reconcile the person she was with the power she now commands, with her own life and everyone she cares about at risk, including an American CIA agent who tries to convince her he is the only person she can trust.


Red Sparrow opens March 2nd.

Podcast: Let’s Talk About Sundance, Shall We?

Not so fresh from Park City and recovered from a week long bout of the Sundance Flu, I can finally get back to the business of Cinema Royale! And on a week where the only new movie was Helen Mirren’s WINCHESTER, which they didn’t even bother to screen for us, it’s as good a time as any to recap the best from Sundance!

My home Chris Bumbray of Joblo.com will be joining me because he’s the only guy I know who sees and reviews more Sundance movies than me. We’ll discuss whether there were any potential Best Picture nominees, breakout flicks, and trends.
Plus, I’ll bring you my interview with Nic Cage, director Panos Cosmatos, and Linus Roache to talk about their Sundance Midnight hit, MANDY! 

Box Office: Helen Mirren’s ‘Winchester’ Targets $9M; ‘The Greatest Showman’ Nears Box Office Record

1. Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle– $11M/$352.6M
2. Maze Runner: The Death Cure– $10.2M/$39.7M
As expected, Maze Runner: The Death Cure will be doing most of its damage overseas. The franchise finale fell 57% domestically for $10.2M and $39M overall here, but has $137M worldwide which isn’t too bad but far from what we saw from the prior chapters, each grossing well over $300M.
3. Winchester– $9.2M
The only major release this week was the Spierig Brothers’ horror, Winchester, a spooky ghost story starring Helen Mirren, Jason Clarke, and Sarah Snook. Yep, it’s mostly an Australian production as you probably guessed based on the talent involved. Mirren stars as Sarah Winchester, the real-life heiress to the Winchester Repeating Arms Co., the rifle folks, who spent vast amounts of her fortune building onto her massive mansion because she believed she was cursed by those who had been killed by the family business. They didn’t bother to screen the film for press so I paid for a ticket yesterday and the joint was practically empty. Obviously we were in the minority because a $9M launch isn’t too bad for the small-budgeted thriller.
4. The Greatest Showman– $7.8M/$137.4M
At $137M, The Greatest Showman is now within whistling distance of La La Land‘s $151M for the biggest original live-action musical ever. Whoa.
5. Hostiles– $5.5M/$21.2M
6. The Post– $5.2M/$67.1M
7. 12 Strong– $4.7M/$37.3M
8. Den of Thieves- $4.6M/$36.2M
9. The Shape of Water– $4.3M/$44.5M
10. Paddington 2– $3.1M/$36.3M

Richard Donner Says His “Very Dark” ‘Lethal Weapon 5’ May Never Happen

It looks like a proper reunion between Riggs and Murtaugh will have to wait. Last fall we learned Warner Brothers had managed to convince Richard Donner, Mel Gibson, and Danny Glover to return for Lethal Weapon 5, a film they’ve been trying to get off the ground for years. Channing Gibson, who wrote Lethal Weapon 4, was also coming back to write the script, but it looks like his efforts may have been for nothing.

Donner, while appearing on the Malton on Movies podcast, revealed a few things about the potential sequel. First, the title, second that the tone would be much darker than the buddy comedies we’re used to, and lastly that he thinks the film will never happen. D’oh!

“And I’m ready to do 5. It’s called Lethal Finale. It’s very dark. And we were all set to go and now Warner Bros. is doing their old-fashioned tricks. Not Warner Bros., there’s this guy who runs the studio who’s great but they have these people in the legal department who do the negotiating in the most counter-productive way. They should be sent to a studio and work with the producers and directors and actors, and learn what makes a film, and then negotiate. But it’s just embarrassing. And it’s too bad, because there’s a wonderful writer named Channing Gibson, who wrote 4 for me, and we have a really great story. It is dark, but I wanted to end it on an emotional note, and I don’t think it’s gonna happen. It’s heartbreaking.”

I’m not sure I want a “dark” Lethal Weapon movie anyway. Lethal Finale? Geezus that sounds grim.  It may be that the only way to get your Riggs/Murtaugh fix is on the small screen, although I doubt this is the last we’ve heard of this situation.  There’s no way a brand like Lethal Weapon is ever really dead.