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‘The Long Walk’ Trailer: Cooper Hoffman David Jonsson Enduring A Walking Nightmare

THE LONG WALK opens on September 12th

Stephen King loves his games of life and death, and that passion was established with his first completed novel, The Long Walk. That book is now a feature film, appropriately enough from The Hunger Games franchise director, Francis Lawrence, and a new trailer for the dystopian thriller is here.

Featuring a cast of rising stars such as Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Ben Wang, Charile Plummer, and Roman Griffin Davis, The Long Walk is set in a dystopian future version of the United States, and follows a group of contestants in a grueling annual walking contest where they must never drop below a certain pace or face elimination. The last walker standing wins.

Also in the cast are Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Jordan Gonzalez, Joshua Odjick, Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill. Lawrence directs from a script by JT Mollner, the Strange Darling filmmaker who recently signed on to another Stephen King adaptation, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

SYNOPSIS: Set in a dystopian alternative version of the United States ruled by a totalitarian regime, the story follows 50 young men who sign up for THE LONG WALK, where they walk at a pace of 3 miles per hour until contestants are eliminated one by one and only one winner is left.

The Long Walk opens in theaters on September 12th via Lionsgate.

‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’ Teaser: Holiday Horror Remake Sends Santa On A Killing Spree

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT opens December 12th

Horror fans are likely very familiar with 1984’s Silent Night, Deadly Night. When it comes to holiday horrors, it’s one of the classics, spawning four sequels and a remake in 2012. Now Cineverse, the distributor behind The Toxic Avenger and Terrifier 3, has a fresh reimagining on the way. But never fear, the killer Santa isn’t going anywhere.

Silent Night, Deadly Night is written and directed by Mike P. Nelson, the director behind horror films Wrong Turn and The Domestics. It stars Rohan Campbell, Ruby Modine, Mark Acheson, David Lawrence Brown, and David Tomlinson.

Here’s the synopsis, which sticks closely to the original:

A reimagining of the controversial 1984 cult horror classic – When Billy witnesses his parents’ grisly murder on Christmas Eve at the hands of Santa, it ignites a lifelong mission to spread holiday fear. Every Christmas, he dons the jolly red suit and delivers a blood-soaked massacre to feed his twisted sense of justice. This Christmas Eve, Billy wants to know: “Have you been naughty?”

Cineverse will release Silent Night, Deadly Night into theaters on December 12th, just in time for Christmas.

New ‘Predator: Killer Of Killers’ Shock Ending Reveals Arnold Schwarzenegger And Danny Glover

The PREDATOR franchise keeps expanding

Right now, we are in the midst of the greatest period in Predator franchise history. That’s kind of crazy, considering how good it’s been in the past, but also how far it had fallen. At San Diego Comic-Con, the man behind this resurgence, Prey director Dan Trachtenberg, had a huge surprise for fans of the ultimate alien hunter. Beware, because there are spoilers for the animated anthology Predator: Killer of Killers below!

During the SDCC panel for Predator, Trachtenberg revealed to eager fans a new ending for Predator: Killer of Killers, which he also directed. The Hulu film comes to a conclusion by revealing that Amber Midthunder’s character in Prey, Naru, is frozen and kept as a Predator trophy. But then the camera pans over to reveal two other shocking trophies: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch from the original Predator movie, and Danny Glover’s Mike Harrigan from Predator II.

Pretty wild, right?

So what does this mean? While it’s doubtful we’re going to see the Governator, Glover, and Midthunder suddenly team up in a live-action movie, what about another animated film? You don’t prepare something like this just to do nothing with it, so we can expect that Trachtenberg has a plan. And I, as a major Predator mark myself, am excited to see what that is.

Coming up next this November is Predator: Badlands, which we recently learned is set in the same universe as Alien. Both of these franchises have been reinvigorated lately. What a great time to be a fan.

DC Readers: Attend A Free Screening Of ‘The Naked Gun’

THE NAKED GUN opens August 1st

We’re happy to offer our DC readers the chance to attend a free screening of The Naked Gun, starring Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson!

SYNOPSIS: Only one man has the particular set of skills… to lead Police Squad and save the world! Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) follows in his father’s footsteps in THE NAKED GUN, directed by Akiva Schaffer (Saturday Night Live, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) and from producer Seth MacFarlane (Ted, Family Guy). Joining the case are cast Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand, Cody Rhodes, Liza Koshy, Eddie Yu, with Danny Huston.

The screening takes place on Monday, July 28th at 7:00pm at AMC Tysons Corner. If you’d like to attend, RSVP at the Gofobo site here. Please remember all screenings are first come first served and you’ll need to arrive early to ensure seating. Enjoy the show!

The Naked Gun opens in theaters on August 1st.

Interview: Matt Shakman On Bringing The Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, And Galactus To The MCU

Matt Shakman

The Fantastic Four: First Steps has finally landed in theaters, and it marks a turning point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s also a turning point in the career of director Matt Shakman. He’s become Marvel Studios’ go-to-guy for nostalgic takes on superheroes. Shakman wrote every episode of the groundbreaking Disney+ series, WandaVision, which explored explored the relationship of Scarlet Witch and Vision through the lens of a 1950s family sitcom. It was Shakman who realized that many of the same sensibilities were needed when tackling the Fantastic Four, with an emphasis on the “family” aspect of the close-knit team.

I had the pleasure talking with Matt Shakman about The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and what a blast this was. We talked about his reaction when first learning that he got the job, but also any hesitation about centering their story in a 1960s retro-future version of Earth. Shakman revealed some of his comic book influences in developing the film, and also the challenge of bringing in two heavy-hitter characters in Silver Surfer and Galactus to the MCU.

All of this and a lot more. Shakman is a great interview, and I hope you’ll check it out! The Fantastic Four: First Steps is in theaters now.

 

‘Elden Ring’: Cailee Spaeny Reunites With Alex Garland For Epic Video Game Film

Cailee Spaeny has joined Alex Garland's ELDEN RING

Cailee Spaeny is reuniting with her Civil War director Alex Garland on his most ambitious project yet. According to TheInSneider, Spaeney has joined the cast of Garland’s Elden Ring movie for A24. The film is based on the massive FromSoftware video game that has sold over 30M copies worldwide.

Spaeny joins Kit Connor and Ben Whishaw who joined the cast a few weeks ago. Garland will write and direct the George R.R. Martin-influenced film, set in the Lands Between, a mystical realm controlled by the Outer Gods, one of which created the powerful Elden Ring, later shattered by its vessel, Marika. An exiled group known as the Tarnished is gifted power from a mysterious source, and tasked with repairing the Elden Ring, defeating hordes of enemies, to become the Elder Lord.

This is the third time Spaeny and Garland have worked together. First on the FX series Devs, then on last year’s hit film Civil War which made $127M globally and became A24’s second highest-earner ever.

Spaeny was last seen in Alien: Romulus and will return for the sequel that begins filming in October. She will appear next in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out sequel, Wake Up Dead Man.

‘The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon’: Stephen King Horror Lands ‘Strange Darling’ Director JT Mollner

JT Mollner received a ton of acclaim for last year’s thriller Strange Darling, including from us, and it has only led to bigger things. Mollner is the screenwriter of Francis Lawrence’s Stephen King adaptation, The Long Walk, that opens later this year. And now Mollner is sticking with King for another film, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

THR reports that Mollner will write and direct an adaptation of King’s 1999 horror novel, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. The story follows a nine-year-old girl who gets separated from her family in the deep woods and lost for days. Her only means of survival? A few items of food, a soda, her Walkman, and her love for Major League Baseball pitcher Tom Gordon, which manifests in critical ways.

“JT is a filmmaker we believe has a bright future,” said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group president Erin Westerman in a press statement. “Throughout his work, he creates characters, and especially young characters, that are so compelling, heartbreaking, and emotional that they pop off the screen. And of course, that’s what Stephen King does on the page as well. The story of survival and perseverance in “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon” is timeless. We’ve loved this tale for a long time, and JT is the perfect choice to adapt and direct this King fan favorite.”

Mollner, who also wrote and directed the 2017 western Outlaws & Angels (review of that one here), is on a roll. More on The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon should be made available soon.  There have been multiple attempts to bring King’s novel to the big screen. George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead) was attached to a version before his death, and Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin) was announced as director in 2020, but that attempt fell apart.

‘Ne Zha 2’: A24 Drops English-Dubbed Trailer For Biggest Film Of 2025

Screenshot

As we learned earlier this month, A24 will be re-releasing the biggest global hit of the year, Ne Zha 2, into theaters US theaters on August 22nd in IMAX, 3D, and other premium formats. The Chinese animated sequel has earned a massive $2.2B so far, and that’s going to increase substantially as it invades the West.  With Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh aboard to lead lend her voice, a new trailer for the English dubbed version has been released.

Directed and written by Jiaozi, Ne Zha 2 is based on the titular Chinese mythological hero, a demigod with immense powers who fights against his destiny to destroy the world.

Jiaozi also directed 2019’s Ne Zha which earned $742M globally.

Yeoh is joined in the voice cast by Crystal Lee, Aleks Lee, Vincent Rodriguez III, and Damien Haas.

The latest synopsis assumes that Ne Zha 2 will be the first time many are experiencing this franchise.

SYNOPSIS: A rebellious young boy, Ne Zha, is feared by the gods and born to mortal parents with wild, uncontrolled powers. Now he’s faced with an ancient force intent on destroying humanity, he must grow up to become the hero the world needs.

Ne Zha 2 is certainly going to be in the shortlist of nominees for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards, and A24 is wise to make a big deal about its arrival.

 

‘War Of The Worlds’ Trailer: Ice Cube Stars In Screenlife Reimagining Hitting Prime Video Next Week

Ever wanted to see how H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds would play out on a bunch of smartphone screens and computer monitors? Look no further than Timur Bekmambetov’s War of the Worlds. Bekmambetov is the filmmaker behind the “Screenlife” series of movies such as LifeHack, Open Windows, Searching, and Unfriended.  The film was shot way back in 2020, but it’s finally getting released, surprisingly on Prime Video, next week.

Directed by Rich Lee in his feature debut, War of the Worlds stars Ice Cube as Will Radford, a top cyber-security analyst for Homeland Security, who spends his days tracking potential threats to national security through a mass surveillance program, until an attack by an unknown entity leads him to question whether the government is hiding something from him … and the rest of the world.

Also in the cast are Eva Longoria, Clark Gregg, Andrea Savage, Henry Hunter Hall, Iman Benson, Devon Bostick, and Michael O’Neill. The screenplay was written by Kenneth Golde and Marc Hyman.

Universal Pictures originally had the rights, but clearly disliked it or didn’t know what to do with it. The decision was made to dump it onto streaming, which is where Prime Video comes in. War of the Worlds will be there on July 30th. It looks pretty awful, but who knows? Some of the ScreenLife flicks have been decent.

Kevin Feige Talks “Youth-Oriented” X-Men Reboot With Classic Costumes

The Foxverse of Marvel heroes are slowly being introduced into the MCU. We’ve already had Deadpool & Wolverine with that defunct universe’s two biggest characters, and this week brings The Fantastic Four: First Steps (review here) as the introduction of the Marvel’s First Family of superheroes. Next up is the X-Men, and Kevin Feige has given an update to Nerdist, including a confirmation of Jake Schreier (Thunderbolts*) as director.

“Yeah, it’s official. Jake Schreier is doing ‘X-Men’ for us. Very lucky, and we’re very, very lucky to have him, and very excited to have him. And so we’re beginning. It’s all starting now. Script’s underway. Jake’s an incredibly smart guy, and he’s an incredibly talented filmmaker,” Feige said.

“We had a great experience with him on Thunderbolts, and if you saw that movie, what he did with those character interactions, he also has his pulse on, shall we say, a younger demographic. Not, he’s younger than me, for sure, but he’s tapped into that in a way that I think is important. It was important for Thunderbolts, much more important for X-Men, because ‘X-Men,’ as it was in the comics, will be a very youth-oriented, focused, and cast movie.”

The script is being written by Michael Lesslie, known for Macbeth and Assassins Creed. But perhaps most notable in this case is that he penned The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Feige says this X-Men will be very youth-focused, and that’s something Lesslie has experience writing to.

One thing Feige is committed to is giving the X-Men the comic book-style costumes that were so badly missing from the Fox movies. To be fair, those early X-Men films were of a different time, and even the comics were stripped down to present a sleeker look similar to The Matrix. But as we saw with Logan’s classic yellow and blue costume in Deadpool & Wolverine, it’s long past due to bring the colorful superhero costumes back…

“Look at Galactus […] look at Wolverine in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’. We want to embrace that which was not embraced 25 years ago,” Feige said in a recent interview captured by Screenrant.

The casting of X-Men should be very interesting, as we know nothing of the team composition. Will Marvel pull from the Jim Lee era of the comics? Maybe go classic Chris Claremont rosters? Or something more recent? Only time will tell.