20th Century Studios has released a new trailer for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. This is the fourth movie in the most recent series that began with 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Matt Reeves’ War for the Planet of the Apes in 2017 marked the end of a trilogy, and it’s Wes Ball who has taken over the directing reins to continue the story in a new trilogy.
Ball directed The Maze Runner trilogy to surprisingly consistent success, which is what won him the job tackling Planet of the Apes. Gone are the big names of previous films, which makes sense considering its the VFX and motion-capture performances that matter most.
Owen Teague takes the lead mo-cap role as Noa, a young chimp born nearly 300 years after events from the previous movie. The Witcher‘s Freya Allen, Kevin Durand, William H. Macy, and Peter Macon are also in the cast.
Here’s the synopsis: Director Wes Ball breathes new life into the global epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar’s reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously, and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes hits theaters on May 24th.
The Wizard of Oz is maybe the most beloved movie of all-time. That’s nice and all, but how can it be franchised? There have been many different spins on the original story by author L. Frank Baum. Remember Oz, the Great and Powerful? Yeah, me neither. Well, the most popular to emerge has been Wicked, the Broadway stage musical from Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz, an adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s 1995 book.
A feature film of Wicked has been in the works for ages, but the pieces didn’t come together until Universal hired Jon M. Chu to direct. He’s got a knack for big-screen musicals, having directed In the Heights, and other blockbuster films including Crazy Rich Asians and Now You See Me 2…and GI Joe: Retaliation.
Leading the cast are Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Throp, with the story centering on her journey to become the Wicked Witch of the West. Ariana Grande plays Glina Upland aka Glinda the Good.
Also in the cast are Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater, and Marissa Bode.
Here’s the synopsis: Wicked, the untold story of the witches of Oz, stars Emmy, Grammy and Tony winning powerhouse Cynthia Erivo (Harriet, Broadway’s The Color Purple) as Elphaba, a young woman, misunderstood because of her unusual green skin, who has yet to discover her true power, and Grammy-winning, multi-platinum recording artist and global superstar Ariana Grande as Glinda, a popular young woman, gilded by privilege and ambition, who has yet to discover her true heart. The two meet as students at Shiz University in the fantastical Land of Oz and forge an unlikely but profound friendship. Following an encounter with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads and their lives take very different paths. Glinda’s unflinching desire for popularity sees her seduced by power, while Elphaba’s determination to remain true to herself, and to those around her, will have unexpected and shocking consequences on her future. Their extraordinary adventures in Oz will ultimately see them fulfill their destinies as Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.
It’s been a long road, and this is a big story, which is why it’s been split into two movies. Wicked: Part One opens in theaters on November 27th. Wicked: Part Two arrives on November 26th 2025.
The biggest event of the year is the perfect time to tease the most anticipated movie of the year. Marvel has dropped the first Deadpool 3 trailer, which now has the official title of Deadpool & Wolverine. It marks the ninth time that Hugh Jackman has suited up as Logan, the X-Men’s most feral mutant, and his first time teaming up with Ryan Reynolds, who obviously returns as Deadpool and has been campaigning for this movie to happen.
Directed by Shawn Levy, who knows Reynolds and Jackman very well at this point, the film appears to be a road trip movie of sorts. Both Deadpool and Wolverine were part of the Fox cinematic universe along with the X-Men, but this movie will bring them both into the MCU so they can hang out with Avengers and stuff.
The fun of this premise is similar to what Marvel and Sony did with Spider-Man: No Way Home. You can expect to see cameos from other characters from Fox/Marvel films in the past, with the rumor being that we’ll at least see Jennifer Garner as Elektra. But you have to assume that Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy will return as Charles Xavier, right?
Emma Corrin and Succession‘s Matthew Macfadyen are new additions to the cast. They join returning stars Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Stefan Kapičić as the voice of Colossus, Shioli Kutsuna as Yukio, and Rob Delaney as Peter. Some of the other ill-fated X-Force crew shows up, too, as you’ll see in the footage.
You’ll also see a fairly obvious connection to the Loki series.
Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters on July 26th, and is the ONLY Marvel movie this year.
Prior to the Super Bowl, Illumination has dropped the new Big Game teaser spot for Despicable Me 4. Good, get all of these damn things out of the way now so there are fewer during the game itself! Anyway, the footage barely looks like it’s for the upcoming sequel. Instead, it’s more like a skit involving the beloved Minions and the rise of Artificial Intelligence.
The teaser shows the Minions goofing around with AI, using it to create silly photos that they share with another. Zooming out, we see what looks like thousands of Minions doing the very same thing, with the voice of Jon Hamm telling us the “future is in good hands.”
Here is the synopsis: Following the 2022 summer blockbuster phenomenon of Illumination’s Minions: The Rise of Gru, which earned almost $1 billion worldwide, the biggest global animated franchise in history now begins a new chapter as Gru (Oscar® nominee Steve Carrell) and Lucy (Oscar® nominee Kristen Wiig) and their girls —Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Madison Polan)—welcome a new member to the Gru family, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad. Gru faces a new nemesis in Maxime Le Mal (Emmy winner Will Ferrell) and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina (Emmy nominee Sofia Vergara), and the family is forced to go on the run.
Also voicing characters in the film are Joey King, Stephen Colbert, and Chloe Fineman, with Pierre Coffin back voicing the Minions, and Steve Coogan as Silas Ramsbottom.
Minions co-creator Chris Renaud co-directs alongside Patrick Delage, from a script co-written by Ken Daurio and Mike White, creator of The White Lotus and writer of Migration.
The Starks have been reunited…sorta. Two of Game of Thrones’ most prominent actors, Kit Harington and Sophie Turner, are teaming up, not on one of the many HBO spinoffs of that hit show, but on something entirely different. Deadline reports Harington and Turner will star in The Dreadful, a gothic horror film directed by Lucky and V/H/S/85 segment director Natasha Kermani.
Written and directed by Kermani, The Dreadful is set in medieval England during the War of the Roses, and “follows Anne (Turner) and her mother-in-law Morwen, who live a solitary, harsh life on the outskirts of society. But when a man (Harington) from their past returns, he will set off a sequence of events that become a turning point for Anne.”
Turner is also a producer on the film, which is out to buyers now. She most recently starred in the miniseries The Staircase, and the Netflix dark comedy Do Revenge. Her role as Jean Grey in X-Men: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix has largely been forgotten at this point, for good reason, mostly. Harington also has a Marvel connection, having appeared as Dane Whitman/Black Knight in Eternals. He recently had a role on the Apple TV+ series, Extrapolations.
The first trailer for spinoff A Quiet Place: Day One is only a few days old, but Paramount has plans for the film to be teased in front of millions at the Super Bowl. And we know that because the Big Game TV spot has already dropped for it.
While John Krasinski still has a true A Quiet Place sequel on the way, the first stop takes us all the way back to the first arrival of the extraterrestrial creatures that hunt by sound. Michael Sarnoski (Pig) directs the film, which is led by Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o. Alex Wolff, also of Pig, is in the cast along with Stranger Things actor Joseph Quinn and Djimon Hounsou who returns as “Man On Island” from A Quiet Place Part II.
Sarnoski and Krasinski, which sounds like a musical act from the ’80s, developed the story with the former writing the script. Michael Bay is aboard as a producer through his Platinum Dunes banner.
A Quiet Place: Day One hits theaters on June 28th.
To be perfectly up front, I went into Marmalade with extremely low expectations. The directorial debut of Paul Blart actor Keir O’Donnell has all of the trappings of the kind of festival darling I typically hate: quirky, frivolous rainbow-colored vibe, “cool” cast of up ‘n comers doing a stylized version of a story you’ve seen dozens of times before. To my surprise, O’Donnell has a bit more up his sleeve. And while the film is far from perfect, and indeed has many of the aforementioned traits I despise, performances with surprising gravitas and a deft mix of heist and film noir sensibilities make Marmalade an unexpected charmer.
Stranger Things star Joe Keery leads the film as Baron, a simple Southern boy who we first meet after he’s been hauled away to prison. He doesn’t rest on his laurels for long; Baron needs to get out and reunite with his enigmatic sweetie, Marmalade (Camila Morrone), and to do it he’ll need the help of his cellmate, Otis, played by the actor I really tuned into this movie for, Aldis Hodge. Otis, a breakout king of some renown, agrees but only after he’s told a long-winded tale of love and bank heists, sick moms, and Moon Pies.
The film largely centers around the mysterious Marmalade, with Morrone playing her like a Manic Pixie Dream Femme Fatale. It’s a fun role for Morrone, who has shown her comedic chops on the brilliant Never Goin’ Back and her dramatic range on Mickey and the Bear. The way Baron tells the story, she’s got his innocent ass all twisted around her little finger, and he’ll do anything that she says, and that includes robbing banks to pay for his ailing mom’s drugs. And why shouldn’t he listen to her? She’s gorgeous, more worldly than he is, and has a sob story that could break the hardest of hearts. But don’t let the wild, colorful hair and crazy fashion sense fool you; this Marmalade is anything but sweet when she wants to be.
O’Donnell has a lot of influences at play here. I’ve mentioned the femme fatale role for Morrone, but Keery’s Baron also resembles some of the duped patsies from that genre. But he’s also clearly inspired by the likes of the Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino. Marmalade resembles a mix of Raising Arizona and True Romance, although the screenplay isn’t nearly as clever, the characters never as interesting.
I have to confess that my opinion of Marmalade shifted three or four times during the movie’s brisk 100-minute runtime. I went from hating it for all of the reasons I entered into it; to appreciating the performance by Morrone; to disliking it for the seeming misuse of Hodge; and then finally it won me over with twists that genuinely caught me off-guard. In class film noir style, almost nobody in the film is exactly who they say they are, and the film has to reorient itself with each reveal. In one case it adds considerable weight to a significant, tragic moment for Baron, and ultimately adds to our understanding of Marmalade. As for Hodge, his role as Otis expands into something that an actor of his skill can chew into, and he makes the most of it with a commanding presence that nearly steals the film from everyone.
But Marmalade is still a bit too cute for its own good, and O’Donnell can’t help throwing in a dash of whimsy to please the Gen Z arthouse crowd who expect that sort of thing. A surreal dance break emerges out of nowhere and disrupts the flow of the entire movie just as it’s really starting to cook. By the time it comes around, though, you’re probably already on the hook for whatever O’Donnell is going to throw at you. Appropriately, Marmalade concludes on a sticky sweet note, but also a surprisingly heartfelt one that will leave audiences feeling all warm inside.
Marmalade is available in theaters and VOD now.
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The Predator franchise is alive and well, folks. You have no idea how happy that makes me, and millions of others who love it. Prey revitalized it like nobody could’ve predicted, and while a sequel to that film is still in the works, the same creative team as another Predator movie on the way, so start getting excited now.
Deadline reports that Prey director Dan Trachtenberg and writer Patrick Aison are teaming up for Badlands, another standalone Predator movie for 20th Century Studios. The duo are coming up with the story together, but there are currently no plot details available.
The title is suggestive, though. It sounds like it could be a Western, which is something Predator has never tackled before. You could also see Badlands referring to another indigenous story, but I think they’ll save that for the Prey sequel, which could bring back Amber Midthunder in the lead role. Badlands is expected to arrive first, though.
Prey was a gigantic hit for Hulu back in 2022, breaking viewership records and earning six Emmy nominations. Here’s where my head is at, though. While it was definitely a streaming success story, Predator is typically a theatrical franchise. Will Disney, which owns 20th Century Studios, see big money in a move back to theaters?
Well, that didn’t take long. It was just days ago that Universal had David Leitch in mind to direct their next Jurassic World film, the start of a brand new trilogy. Well, scratch that, because Deadline reports that talks have fallen through and it’s back to the drawing board.
So much for that. Leitch and the studio simply couldn’t agree on the right creative direction for the dinosaur film, and so there’s been an amicable split. It’ll be interesting to see who Universal turns to next. Leitch is a popular filmmaker with a string of blockbuster hits to his credit, including Bullet Train and Deadpool 2. He’s a director who brings a big, bold vision to every project. Next for him is The Fall Guy with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt.
And a big vision is what’s going to be needed for this new Jurassic World movie, which will be a reboot with no returning characters. Only original Jurassic Park writer David Koepp, and producers Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall are franchise veterans.
For now, Universal is keeping the July 2nd 2025 release date, but if the search runs long don’t be surprised if Jurassic moves to a new spot.
The question I have following Zac Efron’s impressive turn in The Iron Claw is whether he maintains that massive bulk, or if he tries to revert to a more normal size. We’ll get the answer to that admittedly worthless question when he stars in Ricky Stanicky and A Family Affair later this year. But Efron has another gig lined up, and if he does decide to maintain that muscle, he might take up the entire screen because it’ll be a dual performance.
Deadline reports Efron will play two roles in Famous, a celebrity thriller about an overzealous fan and the Hollywood actor he’s the spitting of. The fan will do whatever it takes to be famous, and heads to Hollywood to make the most of the one asset he’s got.
The film is based on the New York Times bestselling by author Blake Crouch and is adapted by screenwriter Chad Hodge. It was Hoge who previously adapted Crouch’s Wayward Pines trilogy into a series.
Sam Esmail is a producer on the film, following up his buzzy Netflix thriller Leave the World Behind. He’s also the creator of Mr. Robot.
Jody Hill is the director on Famous, which means there will probably be a role for Danny McBride in there somewhere. Hill previously directed films such as Observe & Report, The Foot Fist Way, and most recently The Legacy Of A Whitetail Deer Hunter in 2018. He’s probably best known for his TV work on Eastbound & Down and Vice Principals.
