Why Booksmart Feels So Similar To Superbad

Why Booksmart Feels So Similar To Superbad

In the years since John Hughes arguably carved out the high school movie as its own unique genre, many have risen to the challenge of creating iconic movies to define specific eras. Superbad very much did that when it hit theaters back in 2007, and it did so by taking DNA from films like Dazed and Confused and melding it with a Judd Apatow-style comedy focusing on friendship.

Now, Olivia Wilde is doing the same with her directorial debut, Booksmart. In fact, as producer David Distenfeld explained to CinemaBlend and other outlets during a visit to the film’s set earlier this year, the comparisons to Superbad make a lot of sense because the movie focuses on a friendship set against the backdrop of a crazy evening. The producer said:

In terms of the Superbad comparison, it's that friendship. Yes, there was all that craziness going around Michael [Cera] and Jonah [Hill], but friendship is what the movie is about. As much as they go through that crazy night, the friendship of these two girls is really what sort of grounds it.

So, it sounds like we can generally expect Booksmart to go to some pretty wild places when it finally premieres. The movie is aiming to heighten reality in a very similar way that Superbad did, but it’s also going to do so while anchoring the narrative in the friendship of two lovable characters.

Viewing a project like Booksmart through that lens, producer David Distenfeld seems to think the comparison to Superbad is actually fairly apt.

Of course, Superbad is not the only film that features this type of structure or narrative style in the creation of a high school movie. Despite the similarities between Superbad and Booksmart, it’s also worth noting that films like American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused have similarly employed the one-wild-night structure in the creation of legendary high school movies.

Superbad just happens to feel like one of the most apt comparisons because it specifically focuses on a pair of awkward teens making their way through a raunchy, hard-R night.

Booksmart centers on two young, intelligent girls on their last day of high school. Upon coming to the realization that they have squandered their four years focusing on academics and not paying attention to the social scene, they set out to have one wild night before graduation.

CinemaBlend will bring you more information related to Booksmart as new details about the film are made available to us. Keep it here for more updates related to Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut, and head on over to our movie premiere guide to read up on all of the films that will hit the big screen before the end of the year.

The 9 Best Nicole Kidman Movies, Ranked

The 9 Best Nicole Kidman Movies, Ranked

Nicole Kidman is a great actress. One would be extremely hard-pressed to say otherwise. For the past three decades, Kidman has proven herself to be an exceptionally versatile and vulnerable performer, capable of astonishing range and dramatic fortitude, with projects like To Die For and Lion. There are no shortage of strong, powerful performances from Nicole Kidman, and we want to take a moment to highlight a mere few of her exceptional roles throughout her extensive career.

Whether it's comedy, drama, action, adventure, fantasy or musical, to name a few of the genres she has worked in throughout her busy career, Nicole Kidman has provided audiences everywhere with an extensive array of compelling performances, challenging herself in a variety of acclaimed and intriguing titles. While not all of them can be winners (perhaps the less said about 2005's Bewitched or 2007's The Invasion, the better...), Kidman has displayed an impressive and accomplished showcase of her talents, and we want to take this opportunity to highlight a few of our personal favorites.

Now before we ruffle any feathers, we should note some of the films that didn't make the cut. That's not because they weren't worthy of being considered, but because we only have a certain amount of time and space and we can't give every movie its fair due. For instance, after going back and forth, we decided to cut Birth, Margot at the Wedding, Lion, Australia, The Stepford Wives, Dogville, Practical Magic, To Die For, Days of Thunder and, perhaps most controversially, Moulin Rouge.

The reasons vary between personal preference, differing opinions and some critical blind spots in my viewing habits. Nobody is perfect, after all, and I can't say I've seen every movie on Nicole Kidman's resume — though I should definitely make a point on catching up on a few. In any case, keep all that in mind. Now, without further ado, here's how we would rank some of the best of Nicole Kidman's movies.

The Beguiled

Sofia Coppola's 2017 film, The Beguiled, is certainly one that lives up to that title. Filled with intrigue and spellbinding visuals, it's a captivating film. And part of that reason is because Nicole Kidman's subtle, dependable performance carries the film through its soft presentation.

Commanding as ever as the woman who runs a girl school in Virginia in the midst of the Civil War, Nicole Kidman's performance is certainly one that demands respect. In just one glance, she channels so much intensity and ferocity, and for an actress as great and commendable as Kidman, it's great that she is capable of providing so much in such a simple gesture. This movie doesn't get as much attention and notoriety as some of the other films on Nicole Kidman's resume, but it's certainly one that's worth checking out if you are a fan.

Stoker

Park Chan-Wook's English-language debut, Stoker, is certainly a hard film to describe. A psychological thriller written by Wentworth Miller and brought to the same sort of chilling conclusion as some of Chan-Wook's other noteworthy films, it is probably best to leave the details of the plot a mystery if you haven't had a chance to see the film for yourself. But if you're looking for a good reason to see Stoker, one would certainly be Nicole Kidman's performance.

The actress once again displays the ruthless energy that is found in her best work, displaying a commendable sense of conviction and devastation in even a single utterance of a well-written sentence. The result is a ferocious performance that also contains the tenderness found inside her best work.

The Others

Nicole Kidman has found herself inside the horror genre more times than one would assume, as displayed in this article. But to date, one of her most memorable genre exercises remains the tense, twisty tale of The Others. Allowing the actress to display her strengths in a genre that — at the time — was not at one of its peaks, the result is another compelling performance in a role that once again allows the actress to flourish.

To reveal too much more would probably be unkind, since the film relies quite heavily on its twists, but The Others has become in one of the actress' most popular films. And while the horror genre doesn't always garner the best reviews — often unjustly — this film remains one of the most celebrated and acclaimed films on her resume, which is certainly saying something, considering the number of high-grade movies she has starred in.

Paddington

Who can hate sweet, dear Paddington? The formal, well-spoken and immensely polite little British bear is one of the kindest, sweetest souls to make his way to the big screen in quite some time. And while the trailers for 2015's film adaptation, the appropriately-titled Paddington, were dire, the film turned out to be a ravenous surprise, filled with great bouts of wit, charm and flights of whimsy. It's hard not to fall instantly in love with Paddington.

With that said, Nicole Kidman really had her work cut out for her in this family-friendly romp. As the villain of the movie, she had to do something damn near impossible: be antagonistic to that lovely English cub. Nevertheless, it's a major credit to her acting talents that she not only pulled it off, but pulled it off so convincingly. As if audience members needed more reasons to root for Paddington, Nicole Kidman provided them plentifully here. And while it's easily among Nicole Kidman's most well-liked and well-reviewed movies, it's not entirely fair to call it a "Nicole Kidman movie." Hence, why it is a little lower in this ranking than it would've otherwise been.

Cold Mountain

Though it doesn't get remarked upon quite as often now as it did in the decade prior, Cold Mountain is a commendable, richly textured tale. And it's made even stronger by its three central performances from Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Oscar-winner Renee Zellweger. The film demands a lot out of its viewer through its two-and-a-half hour runtime. And it does like to take its time in slow, contemplative measures. Yet, through the compelling, mindful performances of our lead actors, the journey is worth the trail.

While Renee Zellwegger got the most attention and accolades for her performance, Nicole Kidman is also quite commendable in her role. As a woman hoping to keep things together during the troubles of the Civil War, she displays her talents for showcasing strength and vulnerability in equal measures. It's a strong performance, and one that doesn't often get as much consideration as it should in Nicole Kidman's strong-filled career.

Rabbit Hole

Emotionally authentic yet dramatically challenging, Rabbit Hole continues to be one of Nicole Kidman's finest performances to date. Given the fantastic material from playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, who adapted his play of the same name, and compelled by the sensitive, yet impactful, direction of the great John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole is a tragedy, filled with sorrow and pathos at every scene. But it never falls into misery, thanks largely to the incredible performances from Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest and a pre-fame Miles Teller. But Kidman, in particular, stands out.

As a mother who is grieving from the death of her young son, Nicole Kidman delivers a commanding, yet deeply vulnerable, performance, filled with emotional intensity and dramatic nuance. It's a tremendous showcase for her dramatic versatility, showcasing the wide range of troubled emotions that come to a person when something this tragic, traumatic and heartbreaking is unfortunately found in someone's lives. The result is a beautifully-realized, delicately somber tale filled with sadness and tenderness in each measures. Kidman was also rightfully nominated for an Oscar for this role.

The Killing Of A Sacred Deer

Before Yorgos Lanthimos won awards voters' affections with last year's wickedly entertaining The Favourite, the Greek filmmakers alienated more than a few viewers with his divisive dark psychological horror flick, The Killing of a Sacred Deer. The film, which follows a cardiac surgeon (Colin Farrell) who makes the sullen company of a strange teenager (Barry Keoghan) who begins to torment the medical expert's family before the surgeon's past sins, is definitely not one that can be enjoyed by a wide audience. It's a moody, bleak, ruthlessly oppressive film, and that is at its kindest moments. But if you're someone who likes their movies a little more bitter than most, The Killing of a Sacred Deer is one that's most certainly worth your while.

And one of the film's greatest strengths is Nicole Kidman. The actress plays Colin Farrell's romantic partner in the movie, and through her commanding, often chilling performance, she helps to capture the unsettling in the everyday mundanities of white collar suburban living. It is most certainly a supporting turn in the film, but Kidman's presence is still welcomed nonetheless, and she helps capture the darkened mood perfectly. Come to think of it, The Killing of a Sacred Deer would make a strange, yet sort of perfect double feature with the next film on this particular ranking.

Eyes Wide Shut

Stanley Kubrick's final picture, 1999's moody, mysterious Eyes Wide Shut, is a confounding conclusion to some, and a melodic, poetic final brush stroke for others. I can't speak for everyone, but I'm definitely in the latter category. Kubrick's swan song doesn't quite reach the same heights as a few of his other masterpieces, but this bizarre, yet alluring, cult film (in more ways than one) is, nonetheless, benefitted enormously by Nicole Kidman.

As carefully constructed as every movie from Stanley Kubrick's filmography, Eyes Wide Shut can often seem haphazard and indecisive as you watch it. But it's one that definitely sticks with you and one that matches the obsessive compulsion that is found in our bewitched main character, played by Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman's real-life husband at the time. Although the couple on-screen share a real, intimate relationship together, one that feels real for that very reason, they don't have quite the same radiant chemistry —intentionally so — that you would expect from your Hollywood A-listers. It is a credit to Kidman, though, that she often sells the humanity and the mystery that is so crucial to this story. And for what it's worth, there are only a few stars who have dropped the f-bomb as well as Kidman does here.

The Hours

In what might remain her most transformative performance to date, The Hours was the film that finally won Nicole Kidman her Oscar back in 2003, and it's not hard to see why. The actress disappears into the role, physically as well as emotionally, in her memorable, stunning portrayal of Virginia Woolf. And that's certainly not a role that an actress can play lightly, particularly with the emotional tribulations that her character goes through here.

Portraying the mental illness that is found in the literary figure, Nicole Kidman dives deep into the role, capturing the emotional highs-and-lows of this character through her acting prowess. The result is widely considered one of her strongest performances to date, and the role is well-accoladed for that particular reason. If you have a chance to check it out, you should do so.

So that's our lineup of the best Nicole Kidman movies, but what do you think? Let us know what's your favorite among the actress' filmography in the comments below.

Kevin Feige Says There Will Be No Time To Pee During Avengers: Endgame

Kevin Feige Says There Will Be No Time To Pee During Avengers: Endgame

After Avengers: Endgame was officially announced as a three hour and two minute epic, one particular question came up that hasn’t really been raised with any other Marvel Studios film: Will there be time to pee? Sure, three hours sounds intimidating, but with so many other films before it running close to that length in the MCU, is it really that big of a question? Well if it’s an issue close to your heart, producer/mastermind Kevin Feige has given an answer as to when is the best time to pee during Avengers: Endgame. Unfortunately for those with small bladders, that answer is never.

What I’ve always said is a movie is as long as it should be. And we are not fans of overindulging movies. We are not fans of laborious lengths for no reason. We are fans of movies that you wish didn’t end. Movies that you want to see again as soon as it’s over. And movies that you just don’t ever find a good time to run out to the bathroom. That’s when a movie’s working. And if a movie doesn’t feel like that to us we continue to trim, we continue to shape, we continue to bring that time down. That happened to a certain extent on this movie. But we got to a point where it feels very exciting and goes by very quickly and in the end is the perfect length. And everybody that saw the movie felt the same way.

This particular subject was raised at this weekend’s press junket for the Infinity Saga’s swan song, and Feige explained that they tweaked the movie until they got to the point where there was no downtime in the film.

So, rather than being a sadistic response to a rather public issue, Kevin Feige is saying that Avengers: Endgame is such a well-woven story that every second of screen time is earned in the eyes of the creators. If that claim holds up, and everything we’ve seen come out of the film’s marketing indicates such a scenario may be likely, you’re definitely going to want to go to the bathroom before taking the trip to defeat Thanos and not whilst in the middle of it.

You could pretty much expect this piece of information Kevin Feige told io9 to spark up the debate of whether or not an intermission is required during Avengers: Endgame, and for sure this information changes the terms of that discussion. If the plot to this particular film is so hypothetically dense there’s little-to-no period of time the audience can be absent, then even those who feel that a film of this stature doesn’t require a breather might be persuaded to change their tune. This only makes the claim that the second half of the film is apparently mind-blowing all the more intriguing.

Of course, this is coming from Kevin Feige, and to say he’s biased towards Avengers: Endgame, or any of the MCU films, is an understatement. What may be an invaluable moment of Ant-Man joking about defeating Thanos through the worst re-enactment of Fantastic Voyage ever for some, might be another audience member’s perfect time to purge the soft drinks he or she consumed earlier.

Avengers: Endgame will be in theaters on April 26th, but if you’re seriously concerned about bladder-pacing issues, you might want to wait a little while for some public feedback to see whether or not this film will give you a problem. Which gives you a little more time to study our feature on what order you should experience the MCU prior to Avengers: Endgame.

Disney’s New Aladdin Has Cast Its Iago

Disney’s New Aladdin Has Cast Its Iago

Just after we were granted the first full length trailer for Disney’s live-action Aladdin, here’s another long overdue detail – it looks like Doom Patrol star Alan Tudyk will be playing the hilarious parrot on Jafar’s shoulder, Iago. The actor has voiced characters apt with offering comedic relief in many recent Disney movies, such as Heihei in Moana and K-2SO the droid in Rogue One.

Alan Tudyk was also King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph, Knowsmore in Ralph Breaks the Internet, the Duke of Weselton in Frozen and Duke Weaselton in Zootopia. That must be some sort of Disney record?! Insert the line “I think I’m gonna have a heart attack and die from not surprise!” from the original Iago on this casting news from The Hollywood Reporter.

The latest addition to Aladdin’s cast is an exciting one. The actor has been used again and again by Disney for a reason, as he’s an expert character voice actor and will undoubtedly bring some new memorable moments to the live-action movie, just as he has to his other Disney supporting characters.

Tudyk will follow Gilbert Gottfried, who voiced the role in the 1992 animated film, which is still among the comedian’s most iconic roles to date. While there has been some brief sightings of Iago’s presence in a few sneak peaks for the live-action Aladdin, we have yet to hear the parrot talk, and Alan Tudyk being on board is evidence the character will.

Disney might have decided to muzzle up the character for a more realistic take on the world surrounding the animated Aladdin, but following the latest look of the upcoming release, it looks to be heavily recreating the beloved ‘90s flick. What would a remake like this be without the sassy back and forth between Iago and Jafar?

Jafar in this Aladdin will be played by Marwan Kenzari, alongside Will Smith’s Genie, Mena Massoud’s Aladdin, Naomi Scott’s Jasmine, Navid Negahban’s Sultan and Nasim Pedrad in a new role as Jasmine’s handmaid/friend. The movie will be a musical as the classic was and feature two new songs from La La Land and Greatest Showman songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

Before the latest look at Aladdin, a previous teaser trailer went viral when a disturbing look at the blue genie went viral last month. Disney’s full length trailer shows a much more finished look at Will Smith’s Genie that may ease fans, along with showing a closer look at the movie’s song and dance numbers as well.

Alan Tudyk’s casting perhaps shows the film is using one of its tried and true animated voices to give the film a feel closer to the original, though we have yet to see the actor’s take on the character. Aladdin comes to theaters on May 24, following another Disney live-action take on Dumbo coming on March 29.

Fantastic Four Director Just Keeps Trashing His Movie

Fantastic Four Director Just Keeps Trashing His Movie

Sometimes a reboot manages to successfully bring a superhero back onto the big screen and portray them in a new light while still staying true to the source material. And then there’s Fantastic Four, which was a critical and commercial bomb to the point that it killed 20th Century Fox’s future plans for this iteration of Marvel’s First Family. Four years after Fantastic Four’s release, director Josh Trank has no issue with trashing his own movie, as evidenced by this latest tweet.

This past weekend saw the release of Jordan Peele’s Us, and like many moviegoers, Josh Trank decided to check it out. Unlike most moviegoers, though, Trank has a movie that was not well-received by the public, and evidently the passage of time has allowed him to poke fun at his time helming Fantastic Four, as he’s quite comfortable declaring on Twitter that Us is the complete opposite of his 2015 movie. That’s not saying much, although Us has indeed been met with critical acclaim and made over $174 million worldwide so far. If you have a choice of watching one of these two movies, it’s pretty clear which one you should pick.

This comment follows a couple of weeks after Josh Trank responded “hold my beer” to a tweet declaring that no superhero movie fails. It is true that for the most part nowadays, superhero movies are usually at least commercially successful, with a good portion of them also doing well among critics. Fantastic Four was not one of those movies, and while much of the blame was placed at Trank’s feet for its poor performance, the director wrote in a tweet deleted shortly thereafter that the final cut of the movie was not the one he’d planned on giving to audiences, indicating studio interference. In any case, Trank appears to have made peace with Fantastic Four and doesn't have a problem making fun of himself for it, though it doesn’t sound like we should expect more self-deprecating comments from him anytime soon.

Originally the plan was for Fantastic Four to kick off a new film series, with the sequel coming out in June 2017. However, following the movie’s disappointing performance, Fantastic Four 2 was later removed from the calendar and eventually cancelled. While Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley has been working on a Doctor Doom movie, with Fox now under the Disney banner, it’s unclear if that project will still move forward or if Marvel will put its own Fantastic Four movie into development that better fits within the Marvel Cinematic Universe mythology. As for Josh Trank, his next movie is Fonzo, which stars Tom Hardy as Al Capone as he wrestles with dementia following his stint in prison.

Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for any major updates concerning the next chapter of the Fantastic Four film franchise, but in the meantime, you can look through our Marvel movies guide to learn what’s coming down the pipeline in Phase 4, as well as our 2019 release schedule to plan your trips to the theater later this year accordingly.

We Saw Early Terminator Footage, And Yes, Linda Hamilton Is Badass

We Saw Early Terminator Footage, And Yes, Linda Hamilton Is Badass

There’s been a lot of talk about the new Terminator sequel and what it will be about. We know Tim Miller is helming the project, there are new cast members and original cast members Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger will be involved. We've also seen some images from the new movie, but there’s a hell of a lot we don’t know about Terminator: Dark Fate and at CinemaCon 2019 the lips of cast members like Linda Hamilton, Schwarzenegger and Mackenzie Davis were clamped tightly about plot points. Luckily, the Paramount footage people were not.

We got to see some original footage from Terminator: Dark Fate and while it focused a lot on the new characters, it also tied into nostalgia in a big way.

But first, here’s what happened.

The footage starts on a bridge with an electric bubble that rips up the road and causes car crashes. Out of it drops Mackenzie Davis’ Grace, who falls from the bridge, utterly naked, and ends up landing several floors off the bridge and down onto the ground hard. A couple making out sees the fall and rushes over, only for the police to show up and assume the naked Mackenzie Davis is in trouble.

Quickly, we see the scene portrayed from her own visual viewpoint, seeing some of what her terminator-like abilities are. She sizes up the police and takes them out, prompting the young couple to thank her for saving them. She says, “Don’t thank me yet,” before stealing the young man’s clothes and the couples’ car--seemingly a nod to Terminator.

Later, there’s a scene we’ve touched on previously, in which and actress Natalia Reyes’s character Dani Ramos are running from Gabriel Luna’s new Terminator character, who is hellbent on attacking them. Just when things look dire and Mackenzie Davis tells the other young woman to run when they “start to kill her,” Linda Hamilton shows up on the scene in a vehicle, whips out a gun and shoots before she asks any questions.

Even if you’ve never seen a Terminator movie before this scene would likely be enough to hook you.

Obviously, we’ve already seen early images of Linda Hamilton back as Sarah Conner, not to mention Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return; however, seeing her in action was something different altogether. It moved director Tim Miller enough that he had some tears in his eyes on the stage and he shared with the audience that being brought in for Terminator: Dark Fate was a ‘labor of love.’

To say that working on this film was a labor of love for me is an enormous fucking understatement. I mean I think all of you can imagine just what a responsibility it is… If I could go back in time, you know time travel’s a big thing in this movie, I’d tell that incredibly handsome young nerd that one day he’d be continuing the story of these iconic characters in a new movie I would have passed out in my fucking popcorn. Even more incredibly, I get the chance to do it the right way.

So where does this nostalgia come in? Notably, at the very end of the lengthy preview, in which a cool as a cucumber Sarah Conner nonchalantly notes “I’ll be back.”

Paramount’s presentation today is big on tying back to James Cameron’s original Terminator movies. Tim Miller noted that when he spoke, but so did Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton. The former attributed his success and his catchphrases to Terminator while the latter said it would only have taken a special project to pull her back into the Terminator fold 30 years later.

Well it has been nearly 30 years since I last stepped into the shoes of Sarah Conner, a character who definitely changed my life. And only a script, a story, a cast, a director like this could bring me back into this world.

Terminator: Dark Fate will be released into theaters on November 1. To find out what it’ll be competing with at the box office, take a look at our full movie release schedule.

What About X-Men? The Rights Issues That Complicate Marvel And Disney's MCU

What About X-Men? The Rights Issues That Complicate Marvel And Disney's MCU

Avengers: Endgame was the fantastic end to the first arc of an even more ambitious experiment in film history: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A mega conglomerate of various characters previously scattered to the winds through various rights holders, the MCU is basically the Infinity Gauntlet of cinematic universes.

But if you go back a couple decades, it was a possibility that didn’t look like it’d ever get off the ground. It took a lot of time and business dealings through various movers and shakers, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe eventually formed into the beast that it is today through some well-timed moves.

Of course, there are still some properties out there, in the wild, waiting to come home. And then there are others, with Fox's X-Men franchise being arguably the biggest, which have recently been brought back into the fold, but need to have their entrances planned. Either way, the history behind Marvel’s cinematic endeavors, and how they came to be, spell out the hurdles of both the company's past and future films, and how they complicate the completion of Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe. So let's go over them!

How The Marvel Movies Came Into Existence

Before Marvel Studios existed, Marvel Entertainment Group was the big tent under which Marvel Films operated as a division. The properties of the storied Marvel Comics brand would be shopped to other studios for production, and this era led to some interesting results.

Under the Marvel Entertainment Group era, the original film versions for both The Punisher with Dolph Lundgren and Captain America with Reb Brown were made, as well as an entire film version of The Fantastic Four produced by Roger Corman. That last project was never officially released, seeing as it was merely made in order for production company Constantin Films to keep the rights, but neither The Punisher or Captain America were terribly big hits.

Eventually, Marvel Studios was born out of Marvel Films’ past history, and started with a big deal involving 20th Century Fox. For seven years, Fox and Marvel Studios would make films like the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises, as well as Daredevil and Elektra. But even with that deal in place, and producer Avi Arad as the big wheel behind it all, the universe of Marvel films was fractured due to a lot more licensing deals in the works with other studios.

How The Rights For Marvel’s Early Films Were Split

As previously mentioned, The Punisher and Captain America were both previously made into films, as was The Fantastic Four under the older Marvel Entertainment Group run of things. But in addition to those properties, there were two really big hits that happened at other studios, all thanks to Marvel’s practice of licensing to almost anyone who had the right deal.

The first was 1998’s Blade, which made New Line Cinema a big name in the late ‘90’s, as well as boosted Wesley Snipes’ star standing in Hollywood. The franchise would run for three films, and one TV show, with Blade: Trinity being the final film in that particular line.

The second, and perhaps most successful run of films outside of the Fox deal was Spider-Man, which was licensed to Sony alongside a whole bunch of spinoff possibilities. Starting with 2002’s Spider-Man and running through 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the five Spidey films ran before and during the MCU’s launch.

Some other notable set-ups in the wilderness years were the fact that New Line Cinema originally had the rights to Iron Man, as well as the fact that Lionsgate precursor Artisan Entertainment had a deal to make films with heroes such as Thor, Black Widow, Deadpool and The Punisher. Lionsgate would make an attempt at Marvel cinematic glory with Punisher: War Zone, but the film would only find its feet as a cult hit in the years after its release.

Last, but not least, Universal Studios held the rights to two characters, Hulk and Namor the Sub-Mariner, which would only see one of those characters leading their own movie pre-MCU (2003's Hulk). Still, this positioned the studio to become a future power player as Marvel Studios entered its next phase.

How The Marvel Cinematic Universe Came Together

There was an idea: that Marvel Studios would partner with a big Hollywood fixture to create a singular slate of superhero hits for the public to see. And this idea ultimately came down to two potential partners: Universal, which had Hulk and Namor, and Paramount, which was a more amenable partner when Universal didn’t work out.

As early as 2004, Marvel Studios had a slate of heroes it wanted to use which included the following heroes and properties: Ant-Man, The Avengers, Black Panther, Captain America, Cloak & Dagger, Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Power Pack and Shang-Chi. The initial plan was to deliver two films a year, aimed squarely at the PG-13 rating.

Eventually, acquisitions would be made, and Iron Man would join that group, as well as Universal coming aboard with a deal that allowed an MCU-set Hulk film to be made. Hulk’s rights would be at Marvel, with Universal retaining a stake in that character, as the studio has right of first refusal for distribution.

Through all of these shake-ups and shifts in power, one man rose to the top: Kevin Feige. Starting out in the early days of Marvel Studios, Feige went from junior executive to President of Production with Iron Man, installing him as the mastermind who would see the MCU become a beacon of comic movie making.

The studio that started operations out of a Mercedes Benz dealership became a powerhouse with 2008’s Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr, and eventually was bought in 2009 by the Walt Disney Company for a cool $4 billion. Slowly, other properties like Daredevil, The Punisher and Blade would be reacquired after their runs with other studios expired. That said, there are still some interesting logistics that would need to shake out, in order for the MCU to become whole again.

The Notable Properties Still Outside Of The Marvel Cinematic Universe

While the Marvel Cinematic Universe is, by and large, a pretty collective whole, there’s still some gaps that are outstanding in the total portfolio. While some of these are patched thanks to recent deals and shared agreements, it’s still an interesting landscape to take a deeper look into.

In particular, there seem to be three studios that have stood in the way of Disney and Marvel completing their Infinity Gauntlet of intellectual property. One has already become a vanquished foe of sorts, with two still going strong. Here’s where we stand so far with the most notable properties outside of the MCU, and the studios that hold the cards. First off, let's look at that vanquished foe, Fox.

The Marvel Rights Held By Fox

Obviously, before its acquisition, 20th Century Fox held some pretty powerful cards in its Marvel Universe deck. While Daredevil and Elektra eventually went home to Marvel proper, Fox still held onto some pretty big names in the Marvel Universe. Most importantly, Fox still had the X-Men series, with The New Mutants and Deadpool spun off from that world.

But in addition to those popular titles, 20th Century Fox had the Fantastic Four series in its back pocket. With two relatively successful films in 2005 and 2007, and the not-so-successful reboot in 2015, Fox retained ownership of that particular property, making any potential crossover adaptations even harder to potentially execute.

However, since 20th Century Fox has been newly acquired by the Walt Disney Company, the only real questions with these characters is how to incorporate them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe fold, through both pre-existing films and/or reboot potential. Still, this turn of events being such a recent development does scupper any sort of crossover hopes for the time being, as even Kevin Feige has mentioned that in the case of the X-Men, it’ll be years before anything happens.

The Marvel Rights Held By Universal

While Universal only has two properties that it can lay claim to tying up, both seem to be in somewhat usable shape with Marvel Studios. In the case of The Hulk, the problem isn’t as pronounced, as Marvel and Universal share ownership of the character.

However, the big problem comes from Universal getting a right of first refusal for distribution rights to any future Hulk films. Which means that so long as that clause is in play, and the public demands a solo film with Bruce Banner and his green rage filled half, it probably won’t happen as Disney’s going to want to distribute without as much interference as possible

The only other character that Universal laid claim to was Namor the Sub-Mariner, and while he has recently reverted to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are still some complications involved. Though, when last asked about the subject, Kevin Feige specified that it was really a matter of where or when Namor would pop up in the MCU.

The Marvel Rights Held By Sony

The greatest thorn in the side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is, without question, Sony and its grasp on the rights to the Spider-Man films. With Disney and Sony sharing the usage of Peter Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sony still gets to “finance, distribute, own and have final creative control” over Spider-Man.

On top of that, there are other Marvel characters that Sony maintains ownership over, with an entire slate of films that it has branched its properties out into. Starting with last year’s big hits Venom and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, the Sony contingent looks strong as ever. Though there are further films that are in the works that will only complicate any future moves that Disney may have in the works to make Peter Parker a part of its family.

In particular, the Morbius and Spider Women films in production could potentially make Sony the biggest source of competition for Disney and Marvel Studios. Should the Silver Sable or Black Cat projects that were previously mentioned as in production get back on track in their own ways as well, that’s another source of revenue that only makes Sony’s hold on Spider-Man that much greater.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a pretty expansive haven of Marvel Comics’ intellectual property, and in its current state, it’s pretty comprehensive. But with the outstanding rights issues and decisions ahead that Marvel Studios still faces, there will still be limits as to which characters and storylines will be able to be integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

For now though, Avengers: Endgame signifies the height of the MCU’s character roster, and can be enjoyed by audiences all over in theaters now.

Why Aquaman Couldn't Actually Film In Italy

Why Aquaman Couldn't Actually Film In Italy

Most of Aquaman takes place under water and as such, it of course required the majority of the film to be shot on a soundstage. The same is true of the film's detour to Italy when Arthur Curry and Mera make their way to the island of Sicily. Everything you see there was created by the set designers. However, it turns out that wasn't originally going to be the case. The original plan had been to shoot the chase and Black Manta fight sequence on location in Erice, Scicily. Unfortunately, it turns out the town rejected the production's request to film there. It's maybe not too surprising considering what the movie wanted to do. According to Aquaman producer Peter Safran...

We were originally going to shoot in Erice until they found out what we wanted to do there.

Of course, what they wanted to do was stage one of the film's major action sequences. It starts with some statues being destroyed as Black Manta attacks Aquaman and Mera with some Atlantean soldiers in tow. The battle then breaks in half as Mera is chased by one of the soldiers while Aquaman and Black Manta face off. It's an incredibly well done sequence that, thanks to some digital trickery, appears to all be happening in a single take.

While I'm sure the Aquaman production wasn't actually planning to blow up any bell towers, it's probably somewhat difficult to film a massive superhero battle without doing a little bit of damage. If nothing else the crew and machinery required to film everything would have been massive. The town of Erice has been around for centuries and apparently wasn't interested in having a huge movie action scene take place in the middle of their town, so instead, the production team just copied the parts of the town they needed and rebuilt in on a stage in Australia. According production designer to Bill Bzeski...

At the end of the day, going to Italy and working in a historical town wasn't going to work for us if you're going to blow stuff up. So we built, literally, a whole portion of the town.

It appears that if you're familiar with Erice, Sicily, you might actually mistake what you see in Aquaman for the real place, because what was created by the crew is called a "perfect replica" of part of the actual town, in one of the special features attached to the new Blu-ray release of Aquaman.

It's too bad that Aquaman wasn't able to film in Italy. With all the time the production spent on stages it probably would have been nice to get out and be on location someplace. At the same time, I'm not sure you can fault the town for not wanting to see their historic home blown up.

Aquaman is available now on Digital HD and Blu-ray.

Avengers: Endgame Character Poster Has Fans Thinking Vision Survived

Avengers: Endgame Character Poster Has Fans Thinking Vision Survived

Is this Avengers: Endgame green line a hint, a glitch ... or just wishful thinking? It might be a combination of things, but the existence of a splash of color toward the bottom of Vision's "Avenge the Fallen" character poster has some fans hopeful he survived Thanos' snap. The posters featuring characters who survived the Avengers: Infinity War Decimation are all in color, with those confirmed to have been in the less lucky 50% shown in black-and-white. (Side note: It's like the Big Brother memory wall.) So that's why the green line in Vision's poster raised eyebrows:

You can see a green line across Vision's neck, in the poster BossLogic tweeted with this note:

My boy vision has one line of color on his poster, this could be the best sign of life error on a poster ????

He's an artist, but he didn't create that poster image. There's also a green line in the poster actor Paul Bettany tweeted. However, as many fans noted, there is no such green line in the posters shared by Avengers: Endgame directors the Russo Brothers or by Marvel Studios.

It's possible Vision's green line was a technical glitch Paul Bettany passed along. But this is Marvel, and fans have been trained to read into every little detail -- or at least fans have decided to go ahead and read into every little detail. There are any number of things that bit of color could mean, if it wasn't a mistake.

Some fans think this might be a hint to Vision returning as a ghost of himself, as he did in Marvel Comics. As CBR noted, when Thanos killed Vision the second time in Infinity War -- after turning back time from when Scarlet Witch finally destroyed the Mind Stone -- a close-up of Vision's face showed his eyes turn completely white. That was read as a possible hint to the "West Coast Avengers" storyline where Vision had been disassembled, and was essentially dead, but Hank Pym was able to put him back together as this ghost version. The new Vision wasn't just white, though, he also lacked the emotion of the previous Vision. That was particularly hard on Scarlet Witch, who was then his wife.

It's possible Paul Bettany's poster just had a technical error. But maybe... Fans don't have long to wait for answers on who might return in Avengers: Endgame. The task at hand for the survivors is to somehow fix what happened -- bring back the 50% who were snapped. Whatever it takes.

Don't forget that Disney+ is also planning some kind of Vision and Scarlet Witch series for the new streamer. Disney+ is meant to premiere later this year, and we're on standby for more details on these standalone series. Avengers: Endgame has to come out first, ending Phase 3, to give us a big hint on the direction of the MCU from here.

Avengers: Endgame opens in theaters Friday, April 26, and it will almost certainly be the biggest movie of 2019, which is jam-packed with major films. Here's more of what we know about Endgame, now that we are less than a month away from its opening.

Stan Lee’s Business Manager Has Been Charged With Elder Abuse

Stan Lee’s Business Manager Has Been Charged With Elder Abuse

After his November passing, Stan Lee left behind an incredible legacy with his contributions to Marvel. However, the last year of his life was not kind to the comic book icon, namely with the tumultuous relationship between him and his former business manager, Keya Morgan. After Lee was granted a restraining order against Morgan back in August for claims over mishandling over $5 million of his money receiving physical and emotional abuse from him, Morgan has been charged with five counts of elder abuse against Stan Lee.

The Los Angeles superior court has issued an arrest warrant against Stan Lee’s former business manager with charges that include false imprisonment, fraud and forgery, per The Guardian. Along with allegedly taking advantage of the Marvel Comics legend’s fortune, Keya Morgan also has been accused of moving Lee to an undisclosed location to isolate him from his family and friends and using their relationship to embezzle artwork as well.

An incident in May 2018 fueled the fire when Keya Morgan reportedly dialed 911 while with Stan Lee’s Los Angeles home with visiting police and a social worker to get them arrested for “trespassing” while they were called to help him perform a welfare check. Morgan was arrested with charges of filing a false police report. While in June, Stan Lee originally refuted claims regarding Keya Morgan, he decided to file the restraining order a few months later. It required Morgan to stay at least 100 yards away from Lee for three years.

The business manager was also accused of taking hold of Stan Lee’s Twitter account to post some irregular tweets and being behind a 2018 $1 billion lawsuit by Lee against his own company Pow! Entertainment, which was dropped a couple months later by the comics creator. Morgan has defended the accusations against him with claims that they are motivated by Lee’s daughter JC, who is leading a “witch hunt” with their lawyer because she could not stand how much Stan Lee liked him so much.

The lawyers representing Stan Lee Lee and his daughter, Kirk Schenck and Jonathan Freund said that since Lee lost his wife Joan in 2017, multiple people have attempted to get close to Stan Lee, his business and affairs to take advantage of him. In Schenck’s words to The Guardian:

Elder abuse is becoming more and more common as celebrities and famous world figures are living longer and longer, amassing a significant wealth profile along the way. Many elderly artists like Stan Lee are creative personality types that tended to defer financial decisions to others their whole life. The problem arises as celebrities get older and slowly lose their ability to monitor their fiduciaries – even ones they’d trusted for years.

Sounds like Stan Lee was facing a tough reality at the end of his life as multiple people close to him were seeking to exploit his fortune. In addition to recently becoming a widower, Lee was faced with over $2 million dollars in robberies that year, health issues and someone even stole some of his blood to forge his signature on Black Panther comic books in Las Vegas.

Controversies aside, the Marvel legend played a part in the recent MCU culmination by providing his last cameo in Avengers: Endgamewhich has made well over $2.5 billion at the box office worldwide in less than three weeks on the big screen.

The Avengers: Endgame Cast And Crew Are Thanking Everyone Who Made The Movie Possible

The Avengers: Endgame Cast And Crew Are Thanking Everyone Who Made The Movie Possible

This morning, it was announced that Avengers: Endgame is the movie that has been tweeted about the more than any other. Are we surprised, Marvel fans? If our timelines were full of crazy theories and anticipation before, since its release, the social media platform has been flooding with gushes about the MCU movie as fans attempt to process and recover from record-breaking box office hit.

What was a mere three-hour experience for the audience was a series of years and memories for the cast of Endgame and a chapter of their lives that some may be leaving behind following the conclusion of the Infinity Saga. Many of the stars of the film have taken to social media to express their love to fans for coming out to see the Avengers assemble and their team with sweet messages.

The man who started it all kicked things off on opening night with a simple post sharing how much his role of Tony Stark has meant to him since 2008’s Iron Man. Check out what Robert Downey Jr. said:

That's proof that Tony Stark has a heart! Let’s move on to Hawkeye who shared some amazing photos of himself and the cast at the Avengers: Endgame world premiere in Los Angeles and the Hollywood Walk of Fame where the original six Avengers placed their hands in concrete last week. He gave a shout out to fans and his fellow superhero actors on Instagram below:

The franchise’s Thor also shared the Hollywood Walk of Fame milestone over the weekend to show his love for the Avengers he started his journey with on the first Avengers film in 2012. Check out Chris Hemsworth’s recent Twitter post:

As fans started seeing Endgame in theaters, the hashtag #ThankYouAvengers started trending. Captain America wouldn’t let all the love rest on their hands and pushed the love right back around. Chris Evans tweeted this out:

Zoe Saldana took the time to particularly celebrate the Captain America actor with one of her Instagram posts. She shared a throwback post of the pair on 2010’s The Losers, a previous project that came out before they joined the expansive cinematic universe. Look at this cute photo!

Anyone else tearing up yet? Gwyneth Paltrow also went for nostalgia in her “thank you” post by sharing a photo of the Iron Man 2 squad coming together while the shooting of Endgame. Take a look:

That’s right, Jon Favreau’s Iron Man started this whole thing off! It’s since grown and morphed into something huge, such as with the recent success of the studio’s first female-led film, Captain Marvel. Brie Larson may have come a little late to the party, but she’s certainly felt the impact of the franchise (her movie is even booming again at the box office thanks to Endgame) and took to social media to share an on-set photo and a shoutout to all the love from fans, with this:

Theaters were absolutely rampant with fans over the weekend going to see Endgame, probably because so many people were tweeting about it! Mark Ruffalo (aka The Hulk) offered his love to moviegoers and the people who worked around the clock to provide service while the film played:

To close things out, Chris Pratt also showed his love for Endgame with a sneaky on-set video of much of the cast filming that huge battle sequence in the movie. Check it:

What an amazing time to be an MCU fan! Endgame certainly satisfied a lot of moviegoers who have religiously gone out to see these films over the course of eleven years and 22 movies. What now? Time to await Spider-Man: Far From Home and Phase 4.

If you're curious about what other Marvel movies are coming down the pipeline, look through our comprehensive guide.

Why Us' Twist Ending Was Necessary, According To Jordan Peele

Why Us' Twist Ending Was Necessary, According To Jordan Peele

The following contains major spoilers for Us.

Us is a movie that has a lot of audiences talking. It's a horror movie with a lot of symbolism and metaphor that has sent many back to see the film more than once and still left them with questions. However, nothing has more people talking than the film's twist ending. At the end of the story we learned that not everything was exactly what it seemed. According to director Jordan Peele, that twist was necessary because it served the entire theme of the story.

In the final moments of Us we discover that the character that we've known as Adelaide isn't exactly who we thought she was. She had changed places with her "above ground" counterpart and taken over her life as a child. This confusion over who was the "hero" and who was the "villain" of the story was exactly what the story was always about, as the director tells the Empire Film Podcast. According to Jordan Peele...

This movie’s about maybe the monster is you. It’s about us, looking at ourselves as individuals and as a group. The protagonist in the movie is the surrogate for the audience, so it felt like at the end of the day, I wasn’t doing my core theme any justice if I wasn’t revealing that we have been the bad guy in this movie. We’ve been following the villain. I say villain lightly because I think there are many experiences of the film, and I think a lot of people go through a question of what is good and evil? Does that even exist? Both characters are lovable and terrifying, based on the lives they’ve led they’ve just sort of inverted the paths.

Jordan Peele had spoken at length, even before Us was released, about how the idea of the movie was about looking at ourselves and realizing that the true enemy might not be some sort of nebulous "other," but actually ourselves. This is obvious in the fact that the "monsters" of this horror movie are dark and twisted versions of the main characters.

However, this idea is taken to another level when the film's twist is revealed. The audience is forced to question who the real monster is. We now have some degree of sympathy for the character we knew as Red, who had her life stolen from her at an early age. At the same time, the character we know as Adelaide is largely still the same person that we've known through the movie. She's still the same wife and mother trying to protect her family, even if it all came about following a questionable act as a child.

Even if you figured out the twist early in the film, as I was unfortunately, able to do, it doesn't really lessen the impact of the moment. In fact, if anything, seeing where the movie is going early on only causes you to consider the movie's questions for a longer period of time, as you watch the events unfold. That's probably the mark of a good twist.

Marvel Has Given The First Three Phases Of The MCU An Epic Name

Marvel Has Given The First Three Phases Of The MCU An Epic Name

In just over a month’s time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 3 will come to an end in Avengers: Endgame. More than closing out Phase 3 though, Endgame also puts a cap on the first eleven years of the MCU, a journey that consists of three Phases and twenty-one films. We’ve been told that Avengers: Endgame represents a culmination; the end of the book and narrative that began with Iron Man. Now, as we race towards its climactic conclusion, we finally know what it’s called. And it is epic.

According to Empire Magazine, Kevin Feige has revealed that the first three phases of the MCU are called The Infinity Saga.

Yup, that is an appropriately epic and fitting name for the 21-film journey we have been on since 2008. It’s a super cool name that is going to look awesome emblazoned on a massive and expensive Blu-ray box set one day. Considering that we didn’t even know that these first three phases would have a specific name (think of all the speculation we missed out on!) beyond just Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, it is a pleasant surprise as well.

Marvel has clearly taken a page out of corporate brother Lucasfilm’s book with this name. Like ‘The Skywalker Saga’, the word ‘saga’ just conveys an extra level of grandiosity and has an epic quality to it, befitting a heroic tale, vast in scope and long in telling. Series or chronicle doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. The only thing that comes close is ‘cycle’ which is what George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novel series is often referred to as.

Sometimes the most obvious answers are the right ones and The Infinity Saga frankly sounds like the most obvious and appropriate name for the Marvel Cinematic Universe films to date.

The Tesseract, which contained the Space Stone, was introduced all the way back in Phase 1 in Captain America: The First Avenger and the Infinity Gauntlet (albeit a replica) first appeared in Thor. Thanos first appeared in the end-credits scene of The Avengers and he and the Infinity Stones have acted like a specter hanging over everything and propelling the plot ever since. That the Infinity Saga built to the Avengers: Infinity War shows that this name is the right one.

I’m honestly not sure what the MCU’s first three Phases would be called other than The Infinity Saga. The Stan Lee Saga would honor the man who Marvel owes so much to and left such a legacy in the films, but it wouldn’t speak to the story. The only other choice would have been The Avengers Saga, but we may get more Avengers movies after Endgame, so that wouldn’t hold as much weight.

There are more stories yet to come in the MCU, and Endgame is a demarcation line between what came before and what comes after. What’s interesting about finding out this name is that if The Infinity Saga is book 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, what’s book 2?

We know so little about Phase 4 (if it’s even called that) that it’s difficult to make an educated guess at this point. The New Avengers Saga? The Secret Invasion Saga? The Galactus Saga? Or, wishful thinking here as this may be more book 3 material but The Mutant Saga? We probably won’t know for some time, maybe in another 21 films, but it’s fun to think about.

Avengers: Endgame concludes The Infinity Saga on April 26. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of all of this year’s biggest movies.

Glass’ Original Opening Scene Was Way More Chilled Out

Glass’ Original Opening Scene Was Way More Chilled Out

Here’s a new M. Night Shyamalan twist: the Glass director famous for his unexpected endings actually has an alternate opening he’s revealed as it's released digitally today. The final film in the trilogy that began with 2000’s Unbreakable and continued with 2016’s Split was going to begin at the psychiatric facility that much of the film is set in.

The brief alternate opening (via Entertainment Weekly) has men on ladders installing cameras to the walls of Glass' main location before the eerie string music sets the scene for the movies and the opening titles roll. M. Night Shyamalan has explained why he originally thought this scene would open the movie thusly:

Structurally, what I wanted to do with the movie was to kind of say to the audience that the whole movie is going to take place in one location… My original concept of how to set up that premise: the whole movie is going to take place in this one place, we’re going to come back here. So, I wanted to start in this mysterious place where they were setting up this ambiguous kind of rooms and things for we don’t know what purpose.

This alternate scene certainly builds a bit of tension for the audience in the beginning of Glass, but it was decided that it wasn’t particularly necessary to the film. Since many of us went into the movie knowing the facility was going to be a huge part of Glass’ storyline, I’d say it was a good call. Directors such as M. Night Shyamalan have to make a ton of tough decisions when cutting together their movie, and this is an interesting one that certainly would have worked. However, here’s why he decided against it:

Ultimately it didn’t end up in that structure because there were too many beginnings and the beginning of the movie. What I did was move Patricia to the front, immediately start with her and pick up right after Split.

So instead of starting with the mysterious, Shyamalan went for the familiar. James McAvoy’s Split character was likely what many had most recently seen from the franchise, so it served as a great refresher to pick up with the story with Patricia, one of the Horde’s identities. The director also said Glass already had too many beginnings, since it also needs to quickly fill a large gap of time between David Dunn’s role in the franchise, so taking this portion out likely served the movie well.

Shyamalan has said that Glass used to be way longer, with a runtime of three hours and 20 minutes before shaving it off to a more reasonable time of 2 hours and 9 minutes. The director certainly seems like he had a grand vision for the trilogy closer. Considering the overall positive reactions of fans (polarizing the brutal critical reviews) and its $246 million worldwide gross, things turned out great.

Glass is available on Digital HD today and will be released on Blu-Ray and DVD on April 16.

Angelina Jolie Gets Threatening In First Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil Trailer

Angelina Jolie Gets Threatening In First Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil Trailer

Robert Stromberg's Maleficent was a massive hit when it hit theaters back in the summer of 2014, ultimately making over $750 million at the global box office - but it took a minute for a sequel to get the green light. While Disney continued to mine their expansive animated library for new live-action material, the idea of a sequel to the villain-centric fairy tale stayed on the back burner. Five years later, however, the studio is now finally getting ready to unleash Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil on the world, and today we got our very first look at the new blockbuster. Check it out!

The first Maleficent surprised a lot of people in the way in which it added new context to the primary antagonist of 1959's Sleeping Beauty, giving audiences an interesting opportunity to see the villainess in a new light. Taking that into consideration, it will be interesting to see what the sequel winds up doing with her, as this debut trailer for Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil definitely suggests that the film will be developing the character's sinister side quite a bit.

Directed by Joachim Rønning, who previously worked with Disney co-directing 2017's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the Maleficent sequel picks up years after the events of its predecessor, and continues to explore the complicated maternal relationship between Angelina Jolie's titular character and the princess Aurora (Elle Fanning), whom the eponymous fairy memorably cursed on the day of her birth. The new movie features a number of actors who were featured in the original, including Imelda Staunton as Knotgrass, Juno Temple as Thistlewit, Lesley Manville as Flittle, and Sam Riley as Diaval, but there are also a number of new faces joining the franchise, including Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Skrein, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Harris Dickinson - who replaces Brenton Thwaites in the role of Prince Phillip.

Though production on Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil wrapped up last August, we initially thought that we were going to have to still wait quite a while for the release of this movie... but that all changed back in March in a significant way. While Disney had initially featured the film on their release schedule for May of 2020, apparently some significant moves were made behind the scenes that allowed them to push it up nearly a full year on the calendar. Now the blockbuster sequel is scheduled to arrive in a theater near you this October - meaning that it will be one of four different live-action adaptations of classic Walt Disney Animation features released in 2019 (the other three being Dumbo, The Lion King, and Aladdin). It will have some pretty stiff competition at the box office, with other releases that month including Joker, Zombieland: Double Tap, Gemini Man, and the animated Addams Family, but the studio clearly doesn't want to make fans of the original wait any longer than they have to for the anticipated sequel.

Are you excited for Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil? Hit the comments section below with all your thoughts, feelings, and opinions about the brand new teaser trailer, and be sure to check out our 2019 release calendar for a glimpse at everything that's coming out between now and the end of December.

Samuel L. Jackson Is Giving Mixed Signals About Working With The Cat On Captain Marvel

Samuel L. Jackson Is Giving Mixed Signals About Working With The Cat On Captain Marvel

It's a particularly exciting time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as there are just two more releases left in the highly successful Phase Three. Before it all comes to an end with Avengers: Endgame, Carol Danvers will get a 1990's origin story in Captain Marvel. In addition to bringing the title character to audiences, Anna Boden and

Ryan Fleck's Marvel blockbuster will also feature plenty of familiar faces including Phil Coulson, Ronan The Accuser, Korath, and Nick Fury. The latter is played by the always delightful Samuel L. Jackson, who is saying some conflicting things about Carol's pet cat Goose.

Goose has been rumored to be stealing the show in Captain Marvel, which arrives in theaters in a matter of days. Samuel L. Jackson and Brie Larson had to work with a number of cats during filming, and it doesn't seem like either of them are exactly cat people. When speaking with CinemaBlend's own Sarah El-Mahmoud, Jackson seemed to have worked well with his feline co-stars, saying:

There were actually four cats, Reggie was the main cat we worked with, he adjusted to us and was more people friendly than I think the others were. Yeah, always a good day when he was there. All snack based, you give them the right snack at the right time and use the right tone of voice. He was a very accomplished and fun cat to work with. He always hit his mark, always look at you and do what he was supposed to do, he was friendly.

Cats aren't known for being overly friendly, so it must be somewhat nerve-wracking to act alongside them. But as Samuel L. Jackson told CinemaBlend, there was one Goose actor that was a bit more easy to get along with. That cat was Reggie, who is reportedly doing much of the film's heavy lifting as Goose the cat. But now the question is: is Reggie the one on the awesome character posters?

You can check out Sarah El-Mahmoud's conversation with Samuel L. Jackson below.

Seems like Samuel L. Jackson had a pretty copacetic relationship with the cats on Captain Marvel's set, right? Well, it turns out he might have been a bit less enthused than he let on to CinemaBlend.

Given how much buzz is around Goose's role in Captain Marvel, Samuel L. Jackson has fielded plenty of questions about the feline cast member. After all, there's that old saying about working with animals and children in show business. When speaking with io9 about his role as Nick Fury, Jackson revealed he wasn't a big fan of the cats. Mostly because he's not a pet person in general. As he tells it:

No, I am not a cat person. But I’m also not a dog, bird or a fish person, either. I don’t engage pets. You know, Reggie is like most animals that people bring to set that have been trained to do this, that, or the other — he’s snack-oriented. You give him something to eat, he shows up. You give him something to eat, you talk softly and nice to him, give him something to eat again. They love you. You know, so, it works out. And… there were actually four cats, but Reggie did the majority of the heavy lifting most of the time.

Well, that certainly paints a different picture. It looks like working with Reggie and the rest of the cats wasn't exactly Samuel L. Jackson's cup of tea. But Nick Fury has no fear, so Jackson had to put his game face on, and try to connect with Carol Danver's pet Goose on camera. Fury can be seen petting the cat during the trailers for Captain Marvel, already proving that the actor succeeded in making that specific situation work. As if we'd expect anything else from Sam Jackson.

Goose may be poised to be a scene stealer in Captain Marvel, but some changes were already made to the character from the Marvel comics. Namely, Carol Danver's pet was given a different name. In the comics, he's called Chewie-- named after Chewbacca from the Star Wars franchise. That ultimately got canned for the live-screen adaptation, and he was given the name of another well-known fictional character: Goose, Anthony Edwards's character from Top Gun. This is an especially adept pop culture reference, given that Tom Cruise will bring back the franchise with Top Gun: Maverick.

The cat's name was changed from Chewie to Goose to it would relate even close to Carol Danver's mysterious time on Earth. Brie Larson's hero is an Air Force pilot, so it makes sense that Top Gun might be an important movie from her past. This will no doubt create plenty of opportunities for comedy in Captain Marvel, as the MCU has made levity an important part of its formula over the years. We'll see just how much Goose factors into the narrative when Captain Marvel arrives in theaters in a matter of days.

Smart money says that Goose won't be just a regular cat in Captain Marvel. With the movie's story tied to the cosmic side of the MCU, fans assumed the cat might end up actually being an alien of some sort. That also vibes with Chewie's backstory from the page. The cat is actually a creature called a Flerken, and has even come to blows with Rocket Raccoon. If Goose joins Captain Marvel for her highly anticipated role in Avengers: Endgame, that could even come to fruition in The Russo Brothers' upcoming blockbuster.

Indeed, Captain Marvel has been teased to have a major role in the future of the MCU. With so many of the OG Avengers likely departing due to actors' contracts coming to an end, the new class of heroes will be needed to fill in the gaps. Cue Brie Larson's Carol Danvers, teased to be the most powerful hero in the shared universe.

You can judge for yourself when Captain Marvel arrives in theaters on March 8th, and the character will pop back up again in Avengers: Endgame on April 26th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Rogue One Originally Had A Happy Ending

Rogue One Originally Had A Happy Ending

The epic conclusion to 2016’s Rogue One was bold, tragic and yet incredibly satisfying. One might call killing off each and everyone of the rebels introduced to in the Star Wars spinoff a brutal ending, but it added new depth and emotion to A New Hope and showed the stakes of the series’ conflict more than ever before. However, the scene that sticks in our minds of most when we think Rogue One wasn’t initially in the backbone of the script.

Shocking isn’t it? Rogue One’s co-writer Chris Weitz recently said before he came on to the project, the spinoff actually had a happy ending. In his words:

The version prior to [my involvement] didn’t have everyone die. As a matter of fact, it ended with a wedding I think it was on the presumption that Disney wouldn’t allow characters to die with such abandon.

Wait? Does this mean Jyn and Cassian were going to originally tie the knot at the end of Rogue One? Chris Weitz doesn’t specify, but what could have been certainly doesn’t top the perfect finale we got in the 2016 spinoff. Looks like the writers’ early draft was aimed to please the Disney brand, but wasn’t doing service to the story to be told.

When Chris Weitz came on as screenwriter, he told The Cult Popture Podcast that he pushed for the characters’ mission to become a suicide mission for this smart reason:

I felt it was necessary because nobody ever mentions them or sees them again. But also because we’ve done this whole sort of theme about sacrifice that it was appropriate that all of our main characters die.

If the writers didn’t kill off the cast of Rogue One, fans would have certainly wondered why they were never mentioned in the Star Wars franchise starting with A New Hope. In the movie, they are able to send out the weakness of the Death Star to the Rebellion right before their demise, allowing for Luke Skywalker’s heroic journey to still make sense and feel untouched. So, the end of Rogue One just had to end the way it did and without it, the movie would not have been so highly regarded by fans.

Thanks to positive reception of Rogue One, the series is getting a spinoff of its own for the studio’s upcoming streaming platform Disney+. The Rogue One television series will by a spy thriller starring Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor, taking place before the events of the 2016 movie. The developing series has The Americans writer and executive producer Stephen Schiff signed on as the showrunner.

Disney+ has a Star Wars series titled The Mandalorian from Jon Favreau coming to the platform when it launches later this year. The Skywalker saga is also set to conclude when Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20, 2019.

How Brightburn Weirdly Benefitted From James Gunn’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Firing

How Brightburn Weirdly Benefitted From James Gunn’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Firing

When James Gunn was fired by Disney last summer, one of the projects most directly affected was David Yarovesky’s Brightburn. More than the fact that Gunn had a direct link to the movie as an Executive Producer, the news about his removal from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was announced just hours before the start of a San Diego Comic-Con panel that was scheduled to see the film’s title and plot revealed to the world prior to its scheduled November 30, 2018 release date. Because of the controversy, the decision was made to push the horror feature, and Screen Gems ultimately decided to make it a May 2019 release.

But while this may all seem like it would be a bad thing, in retrospect, David Yarovesky feels that it actually wound up helping Brightburn a lot.

Earlier this month I had the wonderful pleasure of sitting down with David Yarovesky to interview him for our superhero podcast HeroBlend, and the first question I asked was about what happened at San Diego Comic-Con last summer. Curious about his perspective on the ordeal, I asked how the events wound up impacting Brightburn as a movie, and he explained why it surprisingly wound up being a good thing for the project. Said the director,

I'm a filmmaker, so any chance I have to have more resources, more time, more anything I'm going to take it. I worked on this movie until the very end, and I kept working on it. One of the producers, Simon Hatt, who I was very close with on the movie, he said to me that ‘no movie is finished; they're pried out of the director's hands.’ And he told me that he was going to be the one to pry this movie out of my hands. I always love him saying that to me because it felt like this kind of like sweet mercy that was coming for me - like he was going to take me out in the woods and shoot me at the end of the process. So I just went to work.

There are many filmmakers who find themselves begging for more time and resources when they are working on a feature, and while David Yarovesky surely would have preferred getting both of those things for Brightburn under totally different circumstances, things did weirdly wind up working in his production’s favor at the end of the day (not to mention the fact that James Gunn was eventually rehired by Disney, bringing everything back to status quo). Yarovesky wound up getting an extra six months to make his second film as good as it could be, and it was time he took full advantage of when it was given.

I followed up by asking about exactly how David Yarovesky took advantage of the situation, and while he didn’t get extremely detailed in the discussion, he did note that the period allowed for a small amount of extra production time, as well as some much-needed edit bay work. He even admitted that Brightburn may have been delayed even without the whole “James Gunn being fired” incident, as the schedule as it had been established apparently may not have been enough for the film. He explained,

With more time came more resources, and we were able to do a little additional photography and we were able to spend time. These movies go so quick, and to be totally honest with you, there was a part of me that was betting that the movie was going to get pushed anyways because of how fast we were moving to make that deadline. It was pretty tight. And so there was a bit of, 'Okay, now we can really explore and dive in.’ So that was great.

The subject of the delay was one of many things that I had the opportunity to discuss about the making of Brightburn, and we really had a wonderful spoiler-free conversation. You can listen to my entire chat with David Yarovesky on the latest episode of our HeroBlend podcast, which is available to stream and download right now:

Starring Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson Dunn, and Matt Jones, Brightburn is a twist on the classic Superman mythos, and crafts a story questioning what would happen if a Man of Steel-esque being was filled with natural malevolent intent. The movie is now playing in theaters everywhere, and we’ll have more for you about the feature in the coming days here on CinemaBlend!