Godzilla: King Of The Monsters Director Has Big Ideas For What Happens Right After His Movie Ends

Godzilla: King Of The Monsters Director Has Big Ideas For What Happens Right After His Movie Ends

Warning: SPOILERS for Godzilla: King of the Monsters are ahead!

The general public wasn’t aware that the Titans existed before the events of Godzilla, but the giant reptile’s clash with the MUTOs changed everything. Five years later, Godzilla’s collision with Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah in Godzilla: King of the Monsters resulted in even more destruction across the world, and now the public is fully in the loop on these beasts since Monarch shared the information it’d collected about them over the decades.

So how does humanity go forward from here? Obviously we’re not done with Titan fights by a long shot, as Godzilla vs. Kong is less than a year away. But in terms of the overall status quo, Godzilla: King of the Monsters director Michael Dougherty told CinemaBlend’s own Jeff McCobb that the population will need to heed the late Dr. Ishiro Serizawa’s (played by Ken Watanabe) advice and make peace with the Titans’ existence. As Dougherty put it:

I feel like humans have no choice but to live by Serizawa’s words, which is that we have to learn how to coexist with the Titans. Now that the genie’s out of the bottle, we have no choice but to accept the fact that mankind is no longer at the top of the food chain.

During Godzilla: King of the Monsters, there was a debate over whether it was better to learn to coexist with the Titans or if we were better off killing them. The U.S. government certainly tried its best to kill both Godzilla and King Ghidorah with its Oxygen Destroyer, but the weapon only seriously harmed Godzilla, with King Ghidorah barely being fazed.

Had Dr. Ishiro Serizawa not sacrificed his life to revive Godzilla so that the reptile could defeat his arch-nemesis once and for all, Earth would be destroyed. So as Thomas Middleditch’s character, Sam Coleman, mentioned early in the movie, there are some Titans that are here to help us, and some that are here to threatens us. It’s great to learn which is which, but humanity now needs to learn that the beasts have been here longer than us and are here to stay.

Judging by the Godzilla: King of the Monsters credits, it looks like a lot of folks are getting used to this. Along with Monarch publishing all its research, it was also revealed that some cruise ships have passed by Godzilla himself, prehistoric plants are popping up that some consider to be “superfood,” and Earth is starting to be healed thanks to the Titans no longer being influenced by King Ghidorah, who wasn’t even native to our world.

Still, that doesn’t mean that everything is all fine and dandy in the MonsterVerse now that King Ghidorah is gone. It was also noted in the Godzilla: King of the Monsters credits that Skull Island has started to become unstable, with many new Titans setting up shop there, which will undoubtedly not sit well with the island’s ruler, King Kong.

This sets the stage for Godzilla vs. Kong, which will see these two behemoths clash for the first time in an American production. While their battle will be the main draw, the fourth MonsterVerse entry will also show Monarch delving into the Titans’ origins and a conspiracy to wipe out these creatures being uncovered.

You can listen to Michael Dougherty’s full remarks about the post-Godzilla: King of the Monsters MonsterVerse in the video below.

Be sure to read CinemaBlend’s review of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and stay tuned for coverage on Godzilla vs. Kong, which hits theaters on March 13, 2020.

Shazam!’s Director Wants To Return For A Sequel

Shazam!’s Director Wants To Return For A Sequel

The next DCEU film may not have hit theaters just yet, but it looks like the filmmakers had such a blast working on the movie that they would say yes to making a sequel in a Shazam! Director David F. Sandberg and producer Peter Safran have confirmed their interest in continuing Billy Batson’s story past his upcoming superhero origin story, so stay tuned!

There’s still a couple of weeks before Shazam! hits theaters, but the movie has already received some early positive buzz from critics and will follow the DCEU hype after the recent massive success of Aquaman. So, whispers of sequels may not be completely beating the studio to the punch.

During an interview with ComicBook, Sandberg and Safran were asked if they were ready to take on a second Shazam! The producer jumped in first with an enthusiastic “Absolutely!” before turning to the Shazam! director, who said “Let’s do it!” How the movie is received when it makes its way to theaters does have quite the pull, so if you’re already excited for a sequel go see Shazam! On the big screen!

Early tracking estimates that the superhero flick will makes around $50 million during its opening weekend, as Stephen King remake, Pet Sematary treads closely behind with at around $40 to $45 million. In comparison, Aquaman nabbed $67 million during its first weekend alongside other big new openers Mary Poppins and Bumblebee and went on to become an over $1.1 billion hit. On the other hand, Aquaman wasn’t sandwiched between Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame.

Shazam! will also follow the releases of Disney’s live-action Dumbo and Jordan Peele’s second film after his buzzy Get Out debut. How will this change how much attention the next DCEU film gets in the midst of so many exciting releases? Only time will tell.

The movie starring Zachary Levi has been getting a warm reception so far, as early audiences have called it delightful, funny, heartwarming and a sweet call back to classics such as Big, The Goonies and Superman. Shazam! is unique from other superhero films because it is told from the perspective of kids and also looks to feature tons of DCEU jokes with jabs at Batman and Aquaman.

Shazam! follows Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), a pair of foster kids, as Billy obtains the ability to transform into an adult hero with superpowers (Zachary Levi). While the teenagers start off having a fun time playing around with his abilities, Billy must learn to become an actual superhero and take on a formidable foe named Dr. Sivana (Mark Strong).

The DCEU has had a mix of successes and disappointments, but from the looks of it, Shazam! has the makings of starting a hot streak for the franchise that could call for a sequel. Check out Shazam! on April 5 and maybe David F. Sandberg and Peter Safran will get their wish after all.

Jared Leto Shares Moving Image From Morbius

Jared Leto Shares Moving Image From Morbius

Jared Leto already showed off a first look at his main character in Morbius last month, but that was really more of a glimpse. This new motion photo gives a full figure look at his Dr. Michael Morbius in the second movie in Sony's Marvel Universe following Venom:

OK. If he's a vampire, maybe the people don't see him as he stands there right in the middle of the sidewalk. Still seems rude, though.

Morbius the Living Vampire started as a nemesis for Spider-Man in Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider Man in the 1970s. In the comics, Dr. Michael Morbius is a biochemist who tries to cure a fatal blood disease by injecting himself with a bat-based treatment serum. That little trick gave him a form of vampirism, including superhuman strength but also a love for human blood. Over time, Morbius evolved into an antihero with his own comic.

Morbius is now filming, with Adria Arjona reportedly playing Martine Bancroft, who is engaged to Dr. Michael Morbius in the comics. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Matt Smith will play the film's villain, Loxias Crown, Morbius’ best friend who also suffers from the same blood disease. Jared Harris is meant to play Morbius’ mentor, with Tyrese Gibson as an FBI agent trying to hunt down Morbius. Jared Leto -- aka the Joker in DC's Suicide Squad -- is taking the lead here as the Marvel antihero himself.

After the huge $855 million success of Venom, Sony has big plans for its universe, which it's technically calling Sony's Marvel Universe -- not to be confused with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and also not quite confused with the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse movie and its sequel/spinoffs. Spider-Man is part of too many universes, in my opinion. There's been talk of MCU peeps possibly eventually squaring off with Tom Hardy's Venom, and maybe Morbius will be part of that action someday, if it ever happens.

Tom Holland's Spider-Man is busy with his own problems in Spider-Man: Far From Home, which arrives in theaters this July, not quite three months after Avengers: Endgame hopefully explains how Peter Parker is getting his own film when he was snapped by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.

Venom is getting its own sequel, which is now in the works. Morbius -- directed by Daniel Espinosa (Safe House) -- is scheduled for release in theaters in the U.S. on July 31, 2020. That's already looking like a very busy month. (Release dates may change, though, so stay tuned.) As we wait for more news about Morbius, and eventually a trailer, catch up on everything you need to know about Marvel's Living Vampire. And be sure to keep our 2019 movie release date schedule handy to stay up-to-date on everything opening on the big screen this year.

See What Ricky Whittle Could Look Like As Green Lantern John Stewart

See What Ricky Whittle Could Look Like As Green Lantern John Stewart

In advance of the Season 2 premiere of American Gods, star Ricky Whittle revealed that he is a huge fan of Green Lantern and has actually had talks about playing the Emerald Knight in Green Lantern Corps. He has the support of Michael Green, the screenwriter behind 2011’s Green Lantern and 2017's Logan, as well as the former showrunner on American Gods, but can he get the Green Lantern fanbase behind him? This fan art imagining what Ricky Whittle could look like as John Stewart certainly won’t hurt his case.

In brightest day in blackest night, no evil shall escape Shadow Moon’s sight! Actor Ricky Whittle makes for a pretty convincing John Stewart and he definitely has the look to play the part. Looking at this fan art from BossLogic, you can see why Ricky Whittle’s name has been out there, and he has even had conversations with the powers that be (The Guardians of the Universe?) about donning the power ring on the big screen.

This is just one interpretation of what Ricky Whittle could look like as the character, but there is a lot to like about the potential casting beyond just this pretty picture. There’s a reason Ricky Whittle often plays badass characters. That’s what he looks like and you put him in a Green Lantern suit with a power ring on his finger, and that effect is just increased.

Also, it should be said that hopefully Warner Bros. takes a cue from this fan art and goes with a more practical costume for whoever plays Green Lantern next versus the all-CGI suit used in the 2011 film. If that were to happen and Ricky Whittle were to be cast, he has said that he would do tours to watch the film with fans in full costume. That’s how much he wants the role.

Ricky Whittle has a very intense and magnetic presence in this image, and that is true of his onscreen roles as well. In American Gods he plays Shadow Moon, an ex-con acting as a bodyguard to the mysterious Mr. Wednesday. That may be his most prominent role, but he also proved his action chops in the under-seen and under-appreciated series The 100 as Lincoln.

Both of those characters are silent badasses, preferring to speak softly and carry a big stick, peaceful men with lethality hidden just beneath the surface. That could really work for John Stewart who is sometimes portrayed as stoic, with a quiet intensity as opposed to the arrogant and brash Hal Jordan or the goofy and childish Guy Gardner.

Based on his previous roles, I think that Ricky Whittle would be a compelling choice for John Stewart in Green Lantern Corps, and the fact that he’s had conversations about the film means that someone involved sees something in him as well. So perhaps this fan art will prove to be an early look at things to come.

DC’s Green Lantern Corps is expected to feature both Hal Jordan and John Stewart, although we haven’t heard much about the film since last summer when Geoff Johns updated fans that he just wanted to write the best script he could for the film before development really ramped up.

We’ll keep you updated on Green Lantern Corps and everything going on in sector 2814. Be sure to check out our 2019 release schedule to see all the movies headed your way this year.

Brie Larson Wasn’t In The Room With The Avengers For The Captain Marvel Mid-Credits Scene

Brie Larson Wasn’t In The Room With The Avengers For The Captain Marvel Mid-Credits Scene

Thanks to modern digital effects, there's essentially nothing that can't be made real in the movies. However, it's possible that's all being taken a bit too far. It turns out that a scene as simple as the mid-credits sequence of Captain Marvel, which required no special effects whatever, was actually done with a green screen.

The scene shows Captain America, Black Widow, and War Machine in the aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War. They're clearly still figuring how just how much damage has been done, but they've picked up Nick Fury's pager from the post-credits scene of that film and are monitoring it to see what it's all about. After the pager's battery dies, the team turns around to see Carol Danvers.

It turns out that, the two sides of the interaction were filmed separately and combined in post-production, as when Brie Larson did her side of the filming, she was all alone. According to Larson...

There was nobody else there — I was by myself on a green screen. I walked in, and they were like, 'Just real quick, we're just going to whip pan over to you and you're gonna go, 'Where's Fury?'

Brie Larson even says she was so in the dark on what was happening with the scene, she had to clarify just how she was asking the question? Was Fury in the room? Was he close by? Was she asking for directions or an explanation? Things were being so closely guarded at the time that she had very little information about what was going on with the scene.

It seems like an odd step to have to go to, to film the scene on a green screen, but Brie Larson tells The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, that since she actually filmed Avengers: Endgame before she filmed Captain Marvel, and there wasn't even a script for Marvel at that point, there really wasn't much of a choice.

If the mid-credits scene had been written, it could have been filmed during the production of Endgame, but since nobody knew they needed the shot, the green screen was the way to go, it was easier then getting all the Avengers together to film one scene.

Over the past two months Marvel fans have been sure to catch up on Captain Marvel. It's made over $1 billion at the box office and is the last chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe before Avengers: Endgame opens this evening. We've seen Captain Marvel return to earth, but what happens once she gets there? The answers will finally be revealed tonight. If somehow you still haven't caught Captain Marvel, it's still in theaters and you can probably still catch it before Endgame opens.

Check out Brie Larson's complete comments on The Tonight Show in the video below.

Watch Keanu Reeves Show Off His Duke Caboom Toy Story 4 Poster

Watch Keanu Reeves Show Off His Duke Caboom Toy Story 4 Poster

You didn't forget Keanu Reeves was going to be in Toy Story 4, did you? Yes, right after fighting for his life in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum in May, Reeves is going to shrink down for his mighty role as new motorcycle daredevil character Duke Caboom in Pixar's 2019 Toy Story movie.

Disney has been gathering the new Toy Story 4 stars to show off their special character posters, so here's Keanu Reeves unveiling "the man, the myth, the legend -- Duke Caboom!"

YES! That's Ally Maki with him, and she voices Officer Giggle McDimples in Toy Story 4. She reposted Disney's Duke Caboom video with her own very relatable fangirl gushing over Keanu Reeves, adding that "he is so hilarious in this movie":

Only watched Speed 837 times as a kid in preparation for this moment. The man the myth the legend Keanu Reeves. He is so hilarious in this movie.

Keanu Reeves may not be known for comedy post-Bill & Ted, but just go find a copy of I Love You To Death and enjoy it because his comic timing is perfect. He really should be in more comedies, and I'm looking forward to what he does with Duke Caboom.

Duke Caboom was actually first introduced as an Easter egg in Incredibles 2, although fans didn't know that toy in the background would be showing up in Toy Story 4 -- and voiced by none other than Keanu Reeves.

Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear) is the one who first told fans Keanu Reeves would be playing a role in Toy Story 4:

Keanu Reeves has got a great part. Actually, a little inside story, even [Reeves] said --- gentle, wonderful guy that he is --- 'This sounds too much like Buzz Lightyear.' And his character does have an edge to that. And the guy said, 'So we calmed him down a little bit,' and they reminded me his toy is only that big.

Keanu Reeves later explained he got a call out of the blue "from the lovely people at Pixar" and they pitched the character to him. They let him "kind of riff on it," he said, and it was a lot of fun.

Keanu Reeves later added to EW that he figured Duke should love what he does, since he's the greatest stuntman in Canada, so he wanted Duke to constantly be doing poses on his bike while he was talking. A motorcycle enthusiast himself, Reeves teased more of his character's story in the movie:

Duke becomes an important part of trying to save Woody and Bo’s mission. They take his skills as a motorcycle daredevil and ask him to confront his fear of failure in order to help the greater good.

Speaking of failure, Keanu Reeves said he wanted Duke to be an extrovert, but also have a bit of a sad backstory. (That appears to be going around in the Toy Story world.) Every kid has their toy, and apparently Duke let his kid down when he couldn't do what a commercial said he could do:

So he’s a wounded person! He’s needing to have some, I don’t know, catharsis. Some feeling. I wanted him to have a real sensitivity and a soft heart.… I also saw him as a character that has a really wide dramatic bandwidth in the sense of being so big. ‘Kaboom! Kapow! Let’s go!’ But who can also then share his wounds, like, ‘You have a kid? I had a kid. I let him down!’ And he can get quiet. So it was really a lot to play with on the playground.

Director Josh Cooley told EW Keanu Reeves added a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and ideas for the character:

Once Keanu came to the table, he was just asking all of these great questions about the character… and it made us realize that we weren’t digging deep enough for this character and there’s a real opportunity to have him support Woody’s story in a much bigger way.

I'm looking forward to seeing more from Toy Story 4, beyond the already intriguing and funny clips. It should be quite an emotional ride, based on previous teases from both Tim Allen and Tom Hanks (Woody). Toy Story 4 opens in theaters on June 21 as one of the many movies to keep track of through our 2019 movie release date schedule.

The Batman’s Filming May End Up Being Delayed

The Batman’s Filming May End Up Being Delayed

While the DC Extended Universe is embarking down a different path than what was initially planned, one of its most popular heroes isn’t going anywhere. The Batman is still chugging along, and while someone else will be taking over the Caped Crusader role from Ben Affleck, it remains one of the DCEU’s most highly anticipated projects. However, delivering exceptional products takes time, and in The Batman’s case, that could result in another filming delay.

Back in March, writer/director Matt Reeves, who’s been attached to The Batman since early 2017, said that it looked like the movie would start rolling cameras “around year’s end.” Now Variety’s Justin Kroll has heard that some script changes might result in that launch date being pushed back a bit. He wrote:

It’s taken a while for The Batman script to come together, as Matt Reeves was still busy with War for the Planet of the Apes when he first boarded the project, and he also re-wrote it from scratch to allow for more creative freedom. The script is closer than ever to completion, but polishing up the story is part of the game, and moving back production by just a couple months isn’t too big of a deal.

However, The Batman delaying production isn’t set in stone just yet. If these script changes don’t end up taking too much extra time, The Wrap reporter Umberto Gonzalez has heard that filming is set to begin on November 4 in London. So The Batman is still gearing up to finally begin principal photography, the question now is whether it will be unfold pre or post-Christmas 2019.

Of course, even if The Batman begins production within the next year, it’ll still be a long journey for the finished product to arrive. The movie isn’t being released until summer 2021, and while there are a few DCEU movies before then to keep fans entertained, it’ll have been four years since Ben Affleck’s Batman made his final appearance in Justice League. Still, it was a seven-year wait between Batman & Robin and Batman Begins, so this isn’t as bad.

Ben Affleck Confirms He's Done Playing Batman

In any case, it sounds like we’re still in for a long wait regarding who will inherit the Batman mantle from Ben Affleck. All we know for certain is that a younger actor is being sought to put on the cape and cowl, and that Matt Reeves reportedly wants someone famous. It’s also worth clarifying that even though this Batman will be younger, The Batman is not an origin story akin to Year One.

Beyond that, Matt Reeves revealed that The Batman will a noir-driven story that highlights the eponymous protagonist’s detective skills, which weren’t prominently featured in previous Batman movies. He also noted that many members of Batman’s rogues gallery would appear, with The Penguin reportedly among them.

The Batman will cast its shadow over theaters on June 25, 2021, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates. In the meantime, you can look through our DC movies guide to find out what else is coming down the DCEU pipeline.