‘The Marvels’ Reportedly Adds ‘Parasite’ Actor Park Seo-joon

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June 15, 2021

One of the surprises to emerge from Marvel’s summer preview reveal was the name of the upcoming Captain Marvel sequel. Titled The Marvels, it won’t just feature Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, but Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani making her big-screen debut as Kamala Khan, and WandaVision’s Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau. And now we know one more who may be joining them: Parasite actor Park Seo-joon.

According to a South Korean news outlet, and since picked up elsewhere, Park Seo-joon has reportedly joined The Marvels cast in an unknown role. If true, he is “scheduled to leave for the United States in the second half of this year” for the start of filming.

Also part of the cast is Velvet Buzzsaw actress Zawe Ashton in a villainous role.

The Marvels opens November 11th 2022, directed by Nia DaCosta (Candyman) from a script by WandaVision writer Megan McDonnell.

‘The Tomorrow War’ Final Trailer Reveals Alien Threat Chris Pratt Must Go To Battle Against

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Travis Hopson

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June 15, 2021

We’ve seen Chris Pratt battle aliens before, but nothing quite like what he faces in The Tomorrow War. The final trailer for the Amazon Prime sci-fi flick has arrived, offering the best look yet at the creatures Pratt will be fighting against alongside other time-flung heroes.

Directed by Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie) in his live-action debut, The Tomorrow War stars Pratt as science teacher and family man Dan Forester. He’s recruited along with others to travel into the future and battle an alien force that threatens all of humanity. And as we see in this footage, the aliens are pretty frickin’ gnarly looking.

Also in the cast are Betty Gilpin, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Edwin Hodge, Keith Powers, J.K. Simmons, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Sam Richardson, and Jasmine Matthews.

Watch out for my interview with Chris Pratt and The Tomorrow War cast later today!

The Tomorrow War hits Amazon Prime Video on July 2nd.

In The Tomorrow War, the world is stunned when a group of time travelers arrives from the year 2051 to deliver an urgent message: Thirty years in the future, humanity is losing a global war against a deadly alien species. The only hope for survival is for soldiers and civilians from the present to be transported to the future and join the fight. Among those recruited is a high school teacher and family man Dan Forester (Chris Pratt). Determined to save the world for his young daughter, Dan teams up with a brilliant scientist (Yvonne Strahovski) and his estranged father (J.K. Simmons) in a desperate quest to rewrite the fate of the planet.

‘Great White’ Trailer: Katrina Bowden Stars In A Shark Survival Story With A Biting Twist

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Cortland Jacoby

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June 15, 2021

A group of friends go out in a seaplane, and after a series of unfortunate events, are suddenly at the mercy of a great white shark. In the same tradition of Jaws, Deep Blue Sea, and The Shallows, production company RLJE’s newest venture Great White combines the classic horror with a modern survival story.

In the new trailer, we see said group people being picked off one by one by a hungry shark as the remaining members try to figure out a way to get back to civilization. It seems no matter what they do, whether they swim and fish during the day or try to fix the raft by night, at least one shark is bound to find them and attack.

The official synopsis is as follows.

When a sea plane is destroyed in a freak accident, five people find themselves drifting on a raft. At the mercy of the tide and with no hope of rescue, the helpless situation takes a horrifying turn when they are terrorised by a ravenous great white.

Great White is directed by Martin Wilson and written by Michael Boughen and stars Katrina Boden, Aaron Jakubenko, Kimie Tsukakoshi, Tim Kano, and Te Kohe Tuhaka.It has already premiered internationally and will be released in the United States July 16th in theaters and VOD.

New ‘Belle’ Trailer Confirms U.S. Theatrical Release For Mamoru Hosoda’s Latest

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Travis Hopson

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June 15, 2021

Good news for anime fans, and fans of good animated movies in general, because GKids has gained domestic distribution for Mamoru Hosoda’s new film, Belle. The plan is for it to hit theaters in winter. If that’s the case, it could be another Oscars contender just as Hosoda’s previous 2018 film, Mirai.

As part of the announcement, a new trailer for Belle has been released. Directed by Hosoda, the story “follows Suzu, a 17-year-old high school student living in a rural village with her father. For years she has only been a shadow of herself. One day, she enters “U,” a virtual world of 5 billion members on the Internet. There, she is not Suzu anymore but Belle, a world-famous singer. She soon meets with a mysterious creature. Together, they embark on a journey of adventures, challenges, and love, in their quest of becoming who they truly are.”

The film will be released stateside in both Japanese language and dubbed in English. A voice cast for the latter has yet to be named.

Joining Hosoda on Belle is a talented group that includes Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart, directors of the recent Oscar-nominated Wolfwalkers. Ludvig Forsell follows up his work on Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding video game by making his feature composing debut, while Disney veteran Jim Kim helped design Belle herself.

Belle has yet to be given a stateside date, but will open in Japan on July 16th.

‘LFG’ Trailer: Megan Rapinoe And The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Fight For Pay Equality In New HBO Max Doc

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Travis Hopson

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June 14, 2021

What does four World Cups and four Olympic gold medals earn you in the world of U.S. Soccer? In the case of the U.S. Women’s Soccer team, it gets you paid less than your male counterparts, who have zero World Cups and no gold medals. That’s the subject of the upcoming documentary LFG, which chronicles the team’s toughest match yet: pay equality.

Directed by local DC filmmakers Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine, LFG takes a look at the USWNT who filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation in 2019, just as the team was blazing a championship trail through the World Cup. Interviews with star players Megan Rapinoe, Jessica McDonald, Becky Sauerbrunn, Kelley O’Hara, Sam Mewis give voice to how they are just part of a larger fight for women’s rights in every aspect of life.

LFG hits theaters in NY and LA, as well as HBO Max, on June 24th. The film will have its world premiere on June 17th as part of the Tribeca Film Festival.

‘Die In A Gunfight’ Trailer: Alexandra Daddario And Diego Boneta Are Forbidden Lovers In The Middle Of A Blood Feud

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Travis Hopson

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June 14, 2021

The only thing better than a story about forbidden lovers is a story about forbidden lovers whose families are engaged in a blood feud. Sweet. Alexandra Daddario and Diego Boneta lead Die in a Gunfight, a star-studded story of deadly romance, but this is no simple Romeo & Juliet story.

Directed by Collin Schiffli, the terrific ensemble includes Travis Fimmel, Billy Crudup, Justin Chatwin, Wade Allain-Marcus, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nicola Correia-Damude, John Ralston, Michelle Nolden, Stuart Hughes, John Tench, and Nevin Pajkic.

Here’s the synopsis: In Die in a Gunfight, Mary (Alexandra Daddario) and Ben (Diego Boneta) are the star-crossed black sheep of two powerful families engaged in a centuries-long feud – and they’re about to reignite an affair after many years apart. Their forbidden love will trigger the dominoes that will draw in Mukul (Wade Allain-Marcus), Ben’s best friend, who owes him a life debt; Terrence (Justin Chatwin), Mary’s would-be protector-turned-stalker; Wayne (Travis Fimmel), an Aussie hitman with an open mind and a code of ethics; and his free-spirited girlfriend, Barbie (Emmanuelle Chriqui). As fists and bullets fly, it becomes clear that violent delights will have violent ends.

So you already know I was signed up for this one at the mere mention of Alexandra Daddario, but I also dig the changes in style, and that Mary and Ben aren’t young and inexperienced at love. They’re coming back into something they let go of years earlier, and that comes with its own complications.

Die in a Gunfight opens in select theaters, on digital and on-demand July 16th.

‘The Flash’ Movie Rumored To Include A Grant Gustin Cameo
Plus An Up Close Look At Ezra Miller's New Costume

By
Travis Hopson
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June 14, 2021

Does one good turn deserve another? You’ll recall that Ezra Miller suited up as The Flash in the Arrowverse‘s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover so he could come face-to-face with Grant Gustin’s version of the Scarlet Speedster. Well, now a rumor from The Illuminerdi says Gustin will pay that visit back by coming to the DCEU as part of The Flash‘s upcoming movie.

If true, Gustin’s role is said to be little more than a “cameo appearance”, which makes sense. It’ll probably be just as long as Miller’s brief role and probably framed in a similar manner. They are, after all, going through a pretty familiar crisis dealing with multiple alternate universes and different versions of heroes we know and love.

I’m curious to see if WB tries to draw distinct connections either to the Arrowverse or HBO Max shows. I don’t think it’ll go beyond a further acknowledgement they are all part of the same multiverse, but you never know.

Meanwhile, director Andy Muschietti has dropped a close-up look at the new costume Ezra Miller will be rockin’ in The Flash. We saw some concept art of it during last year’s DC Fandome, but this offers a more detailed image and should quiet those who weren’t digging his homemade suit in Justice League.

The cast includes Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton and different versions of Batman, Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, Sashe Calle as Supergirl, Maribel Verdú as Nora Allen, and Ron Livingston as Henry Allen. The Flash opens November 4th 2022.

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‘Greenland’ Sequel On The Way With Gerard Butler, Ric Roman Waugh, And Morena Baccarin Returning

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Travis Hopson

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June 14, 2021

Nobody was more shocked than me when Gerard Butler’s latest disaster flick, Greenland, turned out to be pretty damned good. In fact, in my review I sorta hoped it would turn into a franchise. Well, my prayers have been answered. Get ready for more planet-destroying action in Greenland: Migration!

Deadline reports Butler will reunite with director Ric Roman Waugh and writer Chris Sparling for Greenland: Migration. Also returning is Morena Baccarin as Butler’s wife. The sequel will find them dealing with the aftermath of the interstellar comet that nearly became an extinction-level event. Now the Garrity family must leave the comfort of their Greenland bunker on a dangerous journey across the frozen wasteland of Europe to find a new home.

Filming will begin next year. Greenland suffered numerous delays due to the pandemic, before opening as a VOD exclusive last December. It turned out to be pretty successful, earning $52M on a budget of $35M.

Jessica Henwick Joins Rian Johnson’s Awesome ‘Knives Out 2’ Cast

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Travis Hopson

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June 14, 2021

If you’re like me and Jessica Henwick’s Colleen Wing was the very best thing about Iron Fist and pretty much all of Marvel Netflix? Then this has been a pretty good time for you, because Henwick has been on quite a roll. She’s already wrapped a lead role in The Matrix 4, in what will undoubtedly be the most prominent of her career, and now Henwick is heading back to Netflix for Rian Johnson’s anticipated Knives Out 2.

Deadline reports Henwick has joined the increasingly awesome Knives Out 2 cast. The first of two sequels Johnson is doing for Netflix, the whodunnit will see Daniel Craig return, joined by Dave Bautista, Janelle Monae, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Madelyn Cline and Edward Norton. Other than Craig’s eccentric detective Benoit Blanc, we have no idea who the others are playing, and that includes Henwick.

Henwick is currently shooting another Netflix blockbuster, The Gray Man, alongside Ryan Gosling and a pair of Knives Out veterans in Chris Evans and Ana de Armas. It was a busy 2020 for Henwick as she starred in Love & Monsters, Underwater, and On the Rocks.

Knives Out 2 begins shooting later this month.

Alexander Payne Reunites With Paul Giamatti For Christmas-Set Comedy ‘The Holdovers’

By

Travis Hopson

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June 14, 2021

It’s been a tough road for Alexander Payne of late. His previous film, the sci-fi comedy Downsizing, was the biggest of his career but also perhaps his biggest flop. Since then he’s struggled to get anything off the ground, whether it was culinary comedy The Menu, which is now being directed by someone else, a Babette’s Feast remake that’s stalled, or his Mads Mikkelsen drama that got axed days before production. But it looks like he’s ready to make a proper return, and he’s bringing along old friend Paul Giamatti to help make it happen.

It’s going to be a Sideways reunion between Payne and Giamatti as they’ll team up for The Holdovers. The comedy has a script by David Hemingson (Whiskey Cavalier) from an idea Payne cooked up after watching a 1930s French film about boarding school life. Here’s how the film is described by Deadline…

“Giamatti plays a universally disliked teacher at the prep school Deerfield Academy. His non-fans include his students, fellow faculty and headmaster who all find his pomposity and rigidity exasperating. With no family and nowhere to go over Christmas holiday in 1970, Paul remains at school to supervise students unable to journey home. After a few days, only one student holdover remains — a trouble-making 15-year-old named Angus, a good student undermined by bad behavior that always threatens to get him expelled. Joining Paul and Angus is Deerfield’s head cook Mary—an African American woman who caters to sons of privilege and whose own son was recently lost in Vietnam. These three very different shipwrecked people form an unlikely Christmas family, sharing comic misadventures during two very snowy weeks in New England, and realizing that none of them are beholden to their past.”

Yep, that sounds like the perfect combination of quirkiness and human drama from the guy who gave us Nebraska, The Descendants, and About Schmidt.

“The story focuses on one kid in particular, a real smart ass troublemaker, who’s 15 years old and a good kid underneath,” Payne said. “His widowed mother has recently married a rich guy and she wants to use this vacation as her honeymoon. At the last minute she breaks the kid’s heart and tells him he has to stay at the school. Selected this year [to watch the stranded students] is Paul Giamatti, this curmudgeonly walleyed disliked history teacher. Eventually, the other three or four boys find other places to go and it becomes a two-hander, but actually a three-hander because of the cook who stays behind and it becomes about the adventures of these three over a very snowy Christmas holiday in New England.”

Filming begins early next year in New England.