Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Might Be Introducing An Intriguing Force Power

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Might Be Introducing An Intriguing Force Power

Most of the main saga Star Wars movies have shown off new ways to harness the Force, like how Luke Skywalker was able to project himself from Ahch-To all the way to Crait in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. If a new rumor is to be believed, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will contribute to the expansion of the Force through something called “Force Flash Fights.”

It was teased during the Rise of Skywalker panel last week at Star Wars Celebration that new Force powers would be on display in the upcoming movie. Supposedly “Force Flash Fights” is likely the main power that was being alluded to, although it might be given a different name later on. So what are “Force Flash Fights”? Basically, as two Force-users are engaged in a lightsaber duel, the environment around them changes.

As Making Star Wars’ report notes, when Rey and Kylo Ren meet again during The Rise of Skywalker, both are much more powerful since we last saw them in The Last Jedi, which makes sense given that there’s a time jump. Whereas before Snoke was responsible for mentally linking the two together, apparently now they’re able to do that on their own. This time, as the two are flighting, they’re still physically in the same location, but Force-wise, the background will change to different places.

And these aren’t just any random places in a galaxy far, far away, by the way. They’ll be places that we’ve already visited in previous Star Wars movies, although no specific locations were identified. Still, considering that The Rise of Skywalker is the final chapter of the Skywalker Saga, it’d be fitting to look back at where some of the Star Wars franchise’s biggest events have gone down, even if the characters aren’t actually there.

As for how Rey and Kylo Ren end up in a “Force Flash Fight” with one another, it sounds like this could happen after that moment from the teaser trailer when Rey ignites her lightsaber, gets a running start and then leaps over Kylo Ren’s TIE Fighter as it flies towards her. She damages the ship, Kylo emerges from the wreckage and they begin this trippy battle.

However, it’s also worth mentioning that other sources that spoke with MSW say that Rey and Kylo Ren will team up against an “outside threat.” Maybe it’s Emperor Palpatine, maybe it’s the Knights of Ren, maybe it’s someone/something new that still hasn’t been revealed or even rumored, but regardless, it’s possible that if Rey and Kylo do form an alliance later in the story, they might engage in a “Force Flash Fight” with this threat.

Although this sounds like a cool way to elevate lightsaber fights up a level, given how some fans reacted to Force Projection in The Last Jedi, if “Flash Force Fights” do indeed factor into The Rise of Skywalker, I suspect that will also be met with controversy. At the very least though, seeing all these different locations flash by as Rey and Kylo Ren have their respective blue and red blades locked in combat should make for quite the visual treat if pulled off effectively.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in theaters on December 20, and you can find out when this year’s other big movies are coming out in our 2019 release schedule.

The Trick To Getting The Marvel Audience Excited For What’s Next, According To Joe Russo

The Trick To Getting The Marvel Audience Excited For What’s Next, According To Joe Russo

Modern blockbuster filmmaking can be tricky, particularly if you are working within the confines of a franchise. At a recent CinemaCon event featuring Elizabeth Banks, Anthony and Joe Russo, Dexter Fletcher and Olivia Wilde, the directors were talking about what the real trick is to keeping people excited for what’s coming next.

It was actually Elizabeth Banks who hit the nail on the head when she mentioned she makes sure “there’s a surprise built-in somewhere for the audience” particularly noting for people “who think they knew who this person was but there’s another layer, something more.”

Riffing off of Banks’ initial comments based on her work in Pitch Perfect 2 and Charlie’s Angels, Avengers: Endgame director Joe Russo revealed Banks hit the nail on the head. That is, in fact, exactly what he and Anthony Russo try to do to keep Marvel audiences excited. He elaborated:

I think that’s actually the critical kind of a something [Anthony] and I talk about all the time is that, in the age of social media the job of storyteller is to surprise because that’s what generates conversation. And I think just looking at the work we do on these Marvel films, the choices that we make, at the end of each film there’s something dramatic that happens to surprise the audience and then generates an incredible amount of excitement as they wait for the next movie.

At a CinemaCon luncheon, Joe Russo mentioned generating a conversation is key to keeping a narrative alive in the age of social media, but I also think this factor is important for keeping a conversation alive when there are more films coming in a franchise.

While Avengers: Endgame is being billed as the culmination of a 22-film narrative, certainly the Russo Brothers’ other films with Marvel have had to continue a through storyline in the franchise, and even Marvel as we know it won’t be just completely ending after Endgame. Instead, it'll likely just look a little different with a focus on different characters moving forward.

Joe Russo also admitted the whole goal is to start a conversation about what just happened so that the fans can engage with the storytelling as they wait for the next chapter.

They can discuss it and argue about it. It’s a really critical factor in modern storytelling, this notion of surprise.

I don’t think anywhere has this concept been clearer than in the final minutes in Avengers: Infinity War in which our heroes almost defeat Thanos only to lose. In those minutes, Marvel fans worldwide saw many of their heroes disappear into dust and it’s an idea and a surprise we’ve been chewing on for a year as we wait for Avengers: Endgame.

Luckily, that wait is nearly over. Avengers: Endgame will be out on April 26 and we’ve already seen a full scene from the upcoming film, which also dropped during CinemaCon this year.

Now, the only question is: What surprise will the Russo Brothers have in store for us this time?

Zac Efron Thinks His Baywatch Body Was ‘Unrealistic’

Zac Efron Thinks His Baywatch Body Was ‘Unrealistic’

It’s no secret Zac Efron got intensely ripped for Baywatch. He had to film opposite the insanely fit Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson after all, and that’s no small feat that just anyone could accomplish. These days, however, Efron would not recommend anyone getting into the shape he got into for Baywatch. He revealed it’s “too big,” noting,

That’s too big. For guys, that’s unrealistic. I’m telling you, I got very big and buff for that movie. But I don’t want people to think that’s the best way to be. Be your size… I don’t want to glamorize this.

While on Ellen this week, Zac Efron was confronted with a Madame Tussaud’s version of his Baywatch character, Matt Brody. Although the statue seemed slightly taller than Efron in real life (particularly given it seemed taller even given the fact he has taller hair now); however, he seemed impressed by the level of detail to the wax sculpture, which got his abs and his arm veins right.

While looking at the wax statue, Zac Efron both admired the craftmanship, yet made it clear being a size and shape that makes you comfortable should be the goal and not getting bulky to the point where you are totally unhappy and unable to enjoy your life.

He also showed off a little skin, and honestly, he still looks pretty ripped.

This isn’t the first time Zac Efron has been blunt about the way he trained for the movie version of Baywatch. He previously called his gym routine not “a healthy or normal way” to live, elaborating,

It's a finite period of time, but I would not consider that a healthy or normal way to live everyday life. My mood was terrible. In retrospect I can look back now and say that. People weren't telling me I was mean or anything, but I could feel that lack of carbohydrate.

Looking great is not always the same thing as feeling great, and while we can admire Zac Efron’s 2017 abs, it’s definitely worth noting that he seems a lot happier with where he is as a person now, trendy haircut and all.

Zac Efron also told Ellen DeGeneres that an early wax sculpture of him from way back in the High School Musical days also did not make him particularly happy, so assumedly there’s a balance he found somewhere between his cutesy locks as a young man and his Baywatch look. You can check out more from the interview in the video below.

Although I’m assuming that balance won’t be found in his next project Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile, as he’s set to be emulating serial killer Ted Bundy in that movie. Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile hits Netflix this Friday.

While you ponder Zac Efron’s abs, be sure to check out what else is coming to the streaming service in May.

Why Tolkien’s Work Is Timeless, According To The New Movie’s Cast

Why Tolkien’s Work Is Timeless, According To The New Movie’s Cast

Between the various incarnations of both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, as well as the new biopic Tolkien, the fascination with the world of Middle-Earth is one that is still as strong today as it was when this literary legend first got its start.

It certainly isn’t by accident, as the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy franchise has captivated the imagination of audiences since The Hobbit’s first publication in 1936. And no one knows this better than the cast of director Dome Karukoski’s film centered around the years that Tolkien himself spent in the halls of academia and the trenches of war.

Depending on who you talk to, there are various aspects to J.R.R. Tolkien’s work that attract any particular reader. And as it happens, CinemaBlend was on hand during the press day for Tolkien, and was able to ask the actors present on the day just what makes those works so timeless. In the case of Nicholas Hoult, the man who plays Tolkien himself, those works of literature stand out for the following reasons:

I think it feels so real, and that is a testament to how creative and in depth his knowledge of language and the worlds he created were. It’s completely immersive, his work. So that’s something that no matter what age you read it at, and luckily for me going back to revisit it to research this, I appreciated it in a whole new way.

Of course, J.R.R. Tolkien didn’t create the world of Middle Earth in a vacuum, and there were a couple very important people that stand out in both the story of the author’s life, as well as the film version that Tolkien will dramatize for audiences that will see the film in theaters.

One such person was the love of his life, Edith Bratt, who is played in the film by Lily Collins. When asked what she felt made Tolkien’s work so special, she shared some of the same aspects that Nicholas Hoult had highlighted, but with some additional details as to how her character fit into the legend behind the history.

In particular, Collins had the following to say on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien:

I think his love of language, and his love of magic and fantasy is something that people are going to always resonate with, because it’s a form of escapism. Edith [Bratt] got that out of his storytelling, and it was a way for her to really leave her present existence. You know, she was a woman of the time, she was an orphan, she had a very specific social standing, and didn’t have many prospects, and so this allowed her the ability to disappear. I think we love the ability to go somewhere else for a little while in our heads, and these stories allow us to do that.

As there is a lot of romantic love to be highlighted in the world of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, especially when it comes to the Elvish beauties that Edith Bratt had inspired Tolkien to create, there’s also a strong bond of fellowship.

That particular branch of the mythos that J.R.R. Tolkien wove into his works came from the friendship he had with a personal society of school friends known as the Tea Club, Barovian Society, or TCBS for short. In Tolkien, the world of this informal fraternity is depicted at length, as the author and his friends, Geoffrey Bache Smith, Robert Q. Gilson, and Christopher Wiseman, are seen creating the club and using it to achieve their great goal in life: to change the world through art.

Played respectively by actors Anthony Boyle, Patrick Gibson, and Tom Glynn-Carney, they too had a unique perspective as to why J.R.R. Tolkien’s work translates so well through the ages, as shown below in their individual remarks during a grouped interview:

Glynn-Carney: His incredible capability to create another world, out of nothing. To be as imaginative as he is, and to see it in such vivid technicolor, and be able to bring it to life.

Boyle: Few authors have had the sort of cultural impact that Tolkien has had.

Gibson: And to be able to incorporate such human stories at the middle of a fantastical world, you feel like you could know those characters, yet it’s a tree. It’s Treebeard, and you think you’ve met him before.

With both massive sales of his printed works, as well as the various adaptations for stage and screen that have seen The Lord of the Rings presented to the world, J.R.R. Tolkien’s impact on the world of fantasy is one that isn’t going to go away any time soon. This is especially true when taking into account the fact that Amazon is about to bring the world of Middle-Earth back to the masses, courtesy of their upcoming epic TV series.

Though you can see just how excited the cast is about the works of Tolkien, as well as their part in bringing his personal story to life, in the footage from the Tolkien press day shown below:

While storytelling and fantasy have come a long way since J.R.R. Tolkien's era of literature, the core values of Tolkien's storytelling have never gone out of style. So even if audiences aren't particularly keyed into the author's famous tales, his work lives on due to his influence being felt on stories like Harry Potter and even Game of Thrones.

Tolkien opens in theaters in early showings this Thursday night. If you’re interested in more coverage with the cast of the film, stay tuned to CinemaBlend for further updates as the week goes on.

Marvel Producer Says The World Is Ready For An LGBT Superhero

Marvel Producer Says The World Is Ready For An LGBT Superhero

The Marvel Cinematic Universe changed rapidly in Phase Three, leading to plenty of success for Disney in the process. In addition to the box office and critical performance of each blockbuster, Phase Three also made the MCU a more diverse place. While the first two phases were largely focused on white male characters, people of color got a chance to shine in movies like Black Panther, Ant-Man and The Wasp, and Captain Marvel.

The call for onscreen inclusion has been a major subject in the film world, especially when it comes to major franchises like the MCU and Star Wars. Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige has been open about the franchise's dedication to diversity, even going so far as to say an LGBT superhero would enter the shared universe before long. Victoria Alonso has been a producer on every MCU installment, and when asked about the recent report that The Eternals was seeking an openly gay actor, Alonso added fuel to the fire, saying:

The world is ready, the world is ready.

Well, that certainly seems hopeful for advocates and moviegoers hoping that the Marvel Cinematic Universe will include its first gay superhero. Victoria Alonso thinks the world is ready, which may hint at the plans for the MCU in Phase Four. After all, The Eternals is being actively developed.

Victoria Alonso's comments to Variety show that the Marvel Cinematic Universe will only continue to get more diverse after Avengers: Endgame. While the studio is keeping its cards close the chest to avoid spoilers, obviously there are big plans cooking. Alonso may be unable to reveal any concrete information until Phase Three concludes, but she didn't deny the report of The Eternals seeking an openly gay actor for a leading role. So that development just gained some momentum

Of course, some might say that the Marvel Cinematic Universe already introduced an LGBT character during Phase Three. Tessa Thompson made her Marvel debut as Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok, and revealed she was playing the Asgardian heroine as a bisexual woman. In fact, Taika Waititi's threequel originally included a scene that alluded to Valkyrie's sexuality, although it ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor. Still, the character was one that fans seemed to respond to, so smart money says she'll back in one way or another during Phase Four.

Now that people of color and women have been given more of a chance to shine, it seems only natural that Marvel Studios would continue making its shared universe an even more inclusive place. Kevin Feige has teased that the future of the MCU is female, so there's no telling what the release schedule could look like after Avengers: Endgame finally arrives in theaters.

Answers will come once Avengers: Endgame concludes Phase Three on April 26th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

The Charlie’s Angels Reboot Has Been Pushed Back

The Charlie’s Angels Reboot Has Been Pushed Back

If you're a fan looking forward to the new reboot of the Charlie's Angels franchise from Elizabeth Banks, there's some bad news. You're going to have to wait a bit longer to see it. On the plus side, the film's new release date greatly improves its box office chances, making the possibility that we could see a new franchise born here that much greater. And you won't have to wait too much longer. The film, originally set for a November 1 bow, will now arrive on November 15 instead.

The movie release calendar is basically a just a bunch of dominoes, and when one falls, the rest follow suit. That's what happened last year when Warner Bros. made the decision to push Wonder Woman 1984 from it's November 1 date to the summer of 2020. When that happened, two big movies jumped into that space. The first was Charlie's Angels moving into the same weekend where the Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, version of the franchise had released, the second was the new Terminator movie, which we now know to be called Terminator: Dark Fate.

This set up an unlikely showdown, where two major tentpole releases were going to hit the same weekend. However, that showdown is now cancelled as Charlie Angel's has now jumped back two more weekends to mid-November.

The reason for the switch is two-fold. First, as with Wonder Woman 1984, the weekend just opened up, following Kingsman spinoff The Great Game leaving that date for February 2020. The other reason apparently has less to do with competing with Terminator domestically, but perhaps more with doing so internationally. Deadline says that the studio thinks the new Charlie's Angels has strong international potential and so the new release date will help with that.

The previous Terminator film wasn't a massive hit in North America, but it did much better overseas, especially in China, so it could be that Angels wants to avoid doing battle in those markets as much as possible.

While Charlie's Angels and Terminator aren't necessarily a pair of franchises that are drawing largely from the same audience, it's still nice that they'll both be given some breathing room. Fewer fans will now need to choose between them and both will be given a chance to succeed or fail on their own merits rather than simply losing business because the other film siphoned some away.

At the same time, it's been so long since we've seen a couple of major films actually go up against each at the box office on opening weekend, it would have been interesting to see who came out on top. Terminator is certainly the more established franchise, but with the success that many female centered films have had in recent years, one certainly wonders if Charlie's Angels might have shocked everybody.

Of course, to get an idea, we'll have to actually get a look at the film. We're still waiting on a trailer.

James Marsden Would Totally Play Cyclops For The MCU

James Marsden Would Totally Play Cyclops For The MCU

Can you believe it? We are approaching the end of an era for Marvel movies. First it will be “endgame” for quite a few of the OG Avengers with the highly-anticipated MCU flick hits theaters later this month. For the X-Men, Dark Phoenix will close out the longtime Fox franchise that started almost twenty years ago with the Disney/Fox merger now finalized, and Disney laying out plans to bring the mutants to the MCU.

Fox’s X-Men franchise has certainly seen a lot of highs and lows, switch-ups and time jumps on the big screen. James Marsden played Cyclops in the first trilogy and made an appearance in Days of Future Past before Tye Sheridan took over as a younger iteration of the role for 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse. Marsden has now told ComicBook.com that he would don those red-tinted sunglasses all over again if given the opportunity. Here's what he said:

Sure, I'd be down. I think that world, there just are no rules. You can do whatever you want. If there's some iteration down the line where we're involved...that's been a special thing to be a part of for a good period of my life and I love those fans and I love playing that character so, yeah, I'd be totally open to that.

The actor doesn’t seem to need much convincing to join the massive MCU, and we don’t blame him – there’s some seriously amazing things coming up for the Marvel franchise. It would be interesting to see Disney carve out a place for the actor in the future as his iconic role of Cyclops, as long as we don’t have to witness anything close to The Last Stand, which left a bad taste in the mouths of many for some odd years.

However, it does look like Disney’s take on the X-Men may try to differentiate themselves from what’s been established in the past 20 years, and reboot these characters in a new and refreshing way. So bringing back an original character from Fox’s X-Men movies just doesn’t sound like it’d likely be on the table. James Marsden could certainly be a great fit for another comic book character out there in the X-Men universe, and if he’s chosen for it, this would allow the actor to bring something new to the franchise-- while his presence would also be a nice nod to its roots.

Not every member of the X-Men family has shown the adamant interest James Marsden recently has about joining the MCU. Alexandra Shipp, who will soon reprise the role of Storm in Dark Phoenix said she was against it because her character already doesn’t have many lines already. James McAvoy also recently admitted the strength in numbers with the Avengers, plus the mutants just may not well work together.

James Marsden's schedule does look quite stacked between Westworld, his upcoming Netflix series Dead To Me and the Enchanted sequel in the works, but we know he's down! Would you like to see James Marsden reprise his Cyclops role or perhaps take on another comic book role in the MCU? Feel free to leave your thoughts below.