DC's Zachary Levi Shows Off His Shazam! Muscles In 'Thirst Trappy' Video

DC's Zachary Levi Shows Off His Shazam! Muscles In 'Thirst Trappy' Video

Someone better tell Henry Cavill he has some Instagram muscle shot competition out there from a fellow DC Comics superhero. Shazam! is still picking up money at the box office, even in a post-Endgame world, and Zachary Levi is doing his part to keep the attention on DC (or at least himself) as Marvel takes over the globe.

Zachary Levi recently posted a pretty shameless plug for his Flow Supplements brand -- and I say shameless because he knew he was getting his Shazam! fans in a tizzy with his shirtless workout video. He added a note at the end of his caption acknowledging "Also, fine, maybe the video is a little 'thirst-trappy', so sue me." Judge for yourself:

Chuck alum Zachary Levi had plenty of fans before Shazam! but he is an outright superstar now, and the fan comments on his post are hilarious. One fan wrote "NSFW, dude! A little warning would be nice next time."

Normally I say leave the intense workout videos to The Rock and Chris Hemsworth, but Zachary Levi was basically posting an ad for his supplements, and that directly relates to working out. So he has an excuse.

As you might imagine, Zachary Levi had to spend a lot of time at the gym to train for Shazam! with that costume showing off the usual amounts of superhero bod. At least he got to eat a lot, though, to build muscle mass -- saying he was at the gym 5-6 days a week and ate 3,500-3,700 calories a day. But they had to be "clean calories," not leftover Easter candy or ice cream.

Zachary Levi likes to keep in touch with Shazam! fans by posting messages and answering questions. Several months ago, he answered a fan's question on eating broccoli for breakfast while making Shazam! He said he basically ate the same macros all day long -- a combination of meat and veggies five times a day. Apparently he used to eat a lot of eggs but gave them up due to an intolerance of some kind.

He may have to return to that diet and exercise routine fairly soon. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will be joining the Shazam! world as Black Adam and he said he thought they'd start filming the Black Adam movie in about a year. Due to the ages of the younger Shazam! stars, the producers said they might move into sequel production sooner rather than later so the "kids" don't start looking older than Zachary Levi.

It is Superhero Season at the box office, with the MCU's Captain Marvel and DC's Shazam! followed now by Marvel's Avengers: Endgame. Those costumes show every flaw, so stars work hard to make it look like their human physiques are as superheroic as the characters they play (even though many of the stars are now above 50). After working so hard, I can't really blame them too much for wanting to show off the results on Instagram. If I had a personal trainer getting me in shape, or if I bothered getting myself in shape, I might show it off too.

Keep up with everything heading to theaters this year with our 2019 movie schedule guide.

New Godzilla: King Of The Monsters Trailer Intimidates With Bright Lights, Explosions, and Fight Scenes

New Godzilla: King Of The Monsters Trailer Intimidates With Bright Lights, Explosions, and Fight Scenes

We're only about two months out from Godzilla: King of the Monsters giving audiences a showdown they're likely to never forget. Pitting the king himself against the various other MUTO in the MonsterVerse, the sequel to 2014's smash hit is going to need to pack quite a punch to match up to that previous success. Judging by the clip shown below, it looks like Godzilla will have no problem delivering the goods:

The bulk of the new footage in this look at director Michael Dougherty's Godzilla: King of the Monsters seems to take place at an underwater observation post for the cryptozoological organization known as Monarch. With the returning faces of Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins, alongside franchise newbies Kyle Chandler and Thomas Middleditch, we see Godzilla engaging in an intimidation display for all aboard to see.

Of course, what good is an intimidation display of glowing light if it isn't followed up by Godzilla swimming too close for comfort? As you see in the dialogue presented in the scene, that message is more than gladly received. This triggers some quick shots of Rodan being released from a volcano, King Ghidorah spewing fire breath from all three heads, and tons of property destruction. All in the name of crowning the true king of the monsters.

Now there's something interesting to note in this new look at footage from Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and it's all to do with Vera Farmiga's Dr. Emma Russell. In the latest trailer, there's a brief moment where Dr. Russell is looking rather distressed, and either injured and/or dying.

As the rain hits her face, and she gazes at something off camera, she says, “Long live the king,” much as Charles Dance did in the first look at the film. While some might think that pertains to Godzilla himself, there could be another interpretation.

For instance, Dr. Russell could be cheering on King Ghidorah, who seems to be the MUTO head honcho squaring off against Godzilla's sort of rogue agent of balance in the world. After all, it's her band of rogue scientists that seem to be deliberately releasing the would be Titans from their prisons around the globe.

This is far from confirmed, but just something to think about in the run up to Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and the implications it might have for the film.

Despite whatever this footage from Godzilla: King of the Monsters means in the long run, the short term effect is that we're just that much more anxious to see the film. And if this sort of action doesn't get your heart going, then there's plenty of other fish in the sea. Just make sure they steer clear of Godzilla and his challengers when the big fight goes off.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters smashes into theaters on May 10th. But if you're looking for some big ticket, destructive action before then, you can head on over to our 2019 release schedule to plan something in the more immediate future.

What We Want To See From The Star Wars: Episode IX Trailer

What We Want To See From The Star Wars: Episode IX Trailer

It has been roughly 1 year and 4 months since Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the last film in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, hit theaters. In all that time we have yet to see so much as a single frame from the next and final film in the trilogy, J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode IX. Fortunately, that long wait will soon be at an end.

Star Wars Celebration begins this week in Chicago, and with a Star Wars: Episode IX panel featuring director J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy scheduled for Friday, April 12, the prevailing wisdom and expectation is that is when we will finally get the trailer for the film. A trailer for a new Star Wars film would be eagerly anticipated regardless, but this one has even more riding on it.

This trailer, which is for the final movie in the Skywalker Saga, comes after the bumpy patch of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Solo: A Star Wars Story. Those factors mean that this trailer has to deliver. So what do we want from the Star Wars: Episode IX trailer to make it worth the wait? Here are a few things we’d like to see.

A Title

This one is obvious and pretty much a given (how weird would it be if we got a trailer but no full title?) but that doesn’t diminish the fact that we want to know what this movie is called. This will be the latest we have found out the title of any movie in the Sequel Trilogy and while the title doesn’t matter insofar as the quality of the film is concerned, on a macro level, it is important. This is the end of the Skywalker Saga and an over 40-year journey, the concluding chapter title is more than a point of speculation. It should have weight and meaning and sound cool.

In our long wait for the title reveal, there have been a ton of rumored and potential contenders thrown out there, from Son of Darkness and The New Order to Balance of the Force and Skywalkers. We’ll soon find out if any of these guesses were right. I expect that this title reveal will be done as it was for Avengers 4, with the title being revealed at the end of the trailer. If it’s a banger, it will be a heck of a way to close out the first trailer for Star Wars: Episode IX and send fans into a frenzy.

The Knights Of Ren

Glimpsed in the first full trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Rey’s lightsaber vision in the film) and talked about in both Episode VII and Episode VIII, we still have yet to see the enigmatic Knights of Ren in person in the sequel trilogy. Rumors have indicated that Kylo Ren’s coterie of force-wielders will finally show up in Star Wars: Episode IX and if that’s true, they need to be in the trailer.

At this point, the villains are just Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, General Hux, and a bunch of faceless First Order soldiers. The Star Wars: Episode IX trailer could up the stakes and the threat level in a major way by giving us a group of badass darksiders showcasing some serious skills and powers or doing something menacing. J.J. Abrams introduced the idea of the Knights of Ren all the way back in 2015’s The Force Awakens, its time to finally deliver and that should happen starting with the Episode IX trailer.

The Original Trilogy Characters

In the official Star Wars: Episode IX casting announcement, Lucasfilm let us know that Mark Hamill would be reprising his role as Luke Skywalker, Billy Dee Williams would be returning to the franchise as Lando Calrissian, and the late Carrie Fisher would appear as Leia Organa thanks to unused footage from the previous two films. Although the focus of this film will likely be on the new characters like Rey, Finn, and Kylo, the trailer for Episode IX, the end of the Skywalker Saga, should honor its history by showing these Original Trilogy characters.

Lucasfilm made the bold decision to reveal that Luke Skywalker would be back (in some form) in Episode IX, choosing not to keep it a secret despite his death in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. With Luke returning being public knowledge, we should see him in the trailer. With regards to Leia, without knowing how much footage they had to work with, I wouldn’t want too much revealed ahead of time, but just a shot or two would be enough. And Donald Glover’s Lando stole the show in the Solo trailers, and just seeing Billy Dee Williams as Lando again in the Episode IX trailer would be great.

Lightsaber Moments

There are few inventions in fiction as cool and beloved as the lightsaber, and seeing an awesome lightsaber ignite or some signature lightsaber combat is a great way to have people freaking out over a trailer. Just think back to the trailer for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace when you saw Darth Maul whip out a double-bladed lightsaber or in the teaser for The Force Awakens when Kylo Ren pulled his jagged crossguard lightsaber. The trailer for Episode IX should have a similar ‘Holy Shit!’ lightsaber moment.

I know Rey’s/Anakin’s blue saber is/was broken and I’m not saying we need to see a new kind of lightsaber in the trailer, but it feels like we do need to see some kind of lightsaber moment that surprises you and has you pumping your fist. The Last Jedi didn’t feature any lightsaber on lightsaber battles but I hope and expect J.J. Abrams to give us plenty of that in this film. If we could see some of that in the trailer it would help get everyone back on board with this saga and hyped about this film.

The New Characters

Star Wars: Episode IX may be the last film in this trilogy and the Skywalker Saga at large, but there are still new faces that will be introduced. Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, Dominic Monaghan, and Naomi Ackie are all joining the cast in roles that are yet to be officially revealed. There is also still something of an open question whether or not Matt Smith is in this movie. Exciting new characters interacting with our faves and doing cool things is a good way to build the hype for the film and hopefully the Episode IX trailer does just that by showing them.

That said, there is a caveat to this wish list item; if any of the new characters or their roles in the film are meant to be a surprise, like Yoda in The Last Jedi, I’m fine with omitting them from the trailer, as I don’t think any of us want major plot beats spoiled. But we should be able to see at least some of these new characters in the trailer, if only enough to whet our appetites and give us something to speculate over until December.

An Idea Of The Story

Generally speaking, I’m a huge advocate of trailers that go light on plot details and heavy on establishing the tone of a film, and while that latter part is also important, I think that the first trailer for Star Wars: Episode IX needs to really give us an idea of what the story is. This isn’t a teaser that’s arriving a year before the film releases, this is a trailer that’s giving us our first anything from this film a mere eight months before its release.

Unlike The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi didn’t leave us with a cliffhanger or a ton of huge questions in need of answering, so the story feels wide open with where it could go in Episode IX. This trailer needs to give us some idea of where it is going, what’s at stake in this film and what the characters will be up to. Obviously it will be a battle between The First Order and the Resistance, but what’s the current dynamic between those forces after the time jump? What are the characters up to and what’s going on with Kylo and Rey? Is there a new enemy or a quest that must be completed? I feel like tone alone isn’t enough; we need at least a few plot details (nothing too spoilery, of course).

These are just a few of the things that we’d like to see in the Star Wars: Episode IX trailer. The wait alone for this trailer has built up a ton of anticipation and that means expectations are sky high. This is the last time we'll ever see the first trailer from a Skywalker Saga film for the first time. That's momentous and the trailer should convey that.

Whatever it includes or doesn’t, this trailer has a lot of work to do to get everyone excited and on board for a new Star Wars film after the past two entries haven’t been universally beloved. The Episode IX trailer can do that by delivering on some of these elements, feeling epic and maybe even including a surprise or two.

Star Wars: Episode IX blasts into theaters on December 20. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule for all of this year’s biggest movies. We’ll keep you updated on all the latest Star Wars news as it drops and let us know in the comments below what you want to see in the Episode IX trailer.

George Lucas Writes Sweet Tribute To Peter Mayhew

George Lucas Writes Sweet Tribute To Peter Mayhew

Star Wars fans were saddened to learn about the recent death of Peter Mayhew, the man who brought the Wookie Chewbacca to life for the majority of the franchise. Friends and colleagues have been sharing their thoughts on the iconic actor. George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars has penned his own tribute to the man where he talks about how Mayhew was discovered and placed in the film that would define his career.

According to George Lucas, finding somebody to play Chewbacca was actually quite complicated. While all Lucas was really looking for was somebody tall enough to play the part, finding that proved difficult. Eventually however, a hospital attendant named Peter Mayhew was found and Lucas cast him as soon as he saw how tall the man was. According to Lucas...

Peter was a wonderful, wonderful man. He kept his job in the hospital through the first three movies. But he fell in love with the character. And then as Star Wars grew in fame, and he started doing more festivals and public appearances, he realized he could actually make a living just off the personal appearances. He was very gentle, very sweet, very easy to get along with. He was more like a Wookie than I originally imagined a Wookie to be. Originally, I envisioned Chewie as some big ferocious beast, but Peter's Chewie wasn't really ferocious. No matter how hard he tried, he wasn't ferocious. He would be your best friend until he got angry, then stand back. He was a gentle giant.

The idea that Peter Mayhew kept his job working at a hospital while also being in the biggest movie franchise of all-time is just adorable and hilarious.

While Mayhew would have a handful of other acting jobs over the course of his career, he really did just make a living being Chewbacca for the most part. It's clear he truly loved playing the character.

Mayhew hasn't played Chewbacca at all in the last couple films, with the costume being handled by Joonas Suotamo in both Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Solo: A Star Wars Story. Mayhew hadn't been in the best health of late, so his passing wasn't necessarily a shock, but it was still sad news.

George Lucas' comments in THR are a wonderful tribute from the man who created Chewbacca and found the perfect person to give him life. While Lucas says he initially envisioned Chewbacca as a ferocious beast, it was Mayhew who turned him into the lovable giant he became. It's impossible to think of Chewbacca as anything else now.

Chewbacca will live on. Joonas Suotamo is set to bring the character back in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. While Mayhew may never inhabit the suit again, his contribution will certainly never be forgotten.

A Popular Walt Disney World Attraction Is Making Its Way To Disneyland Resort

A Popular Walt Disney World Attraction Is Making Its Way To Disneyland Resort

While there are many great attractions that exist at both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World, there are also those that you can only experience if you visit one park or the other. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride hasn't been at Walt Disney World in a long time and the only remaining Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in North America is at Walt Disney World. Since 2003, if you wanted to experience the 3D film Mickey's PhilharMagic, you had to go to the east coast, or another country, but that's about to change, as the popular attraction will be making its debut at Disney California Adventure next month.

The show will open soon at the Sunset Showcase Theater in Hollywood Land. The location was the former home of Muppet*Vision 3D before being replaced by a Frozen Sing-Along Celebration in 2014. Since 2016 however, the location has been a theater without a theme that has been primarily used to show previews of upcoming Disney theatrical releases.

According to the Disney Parks Blog, Mickey's PhilharMagic will take place at the Sunset Showcase Theater, not replace it. This would seem to imply that this means the show will only be a limited engagement, rather than a new permanent attraction, though no official opening or closing date have been announced, so that's not clear.

The show is making the move during a year long celebration of Mickey Mouse, called Get Your Ears On – A Mickey and Minnie Celebration, so if I were a betting man, I'd expect to see PhilharMagic hang around for the rest of this year at least.

While the name of the attraction is Mickey's PhilharMagic, the real star of the show is Donald Duck. All of your favorite classic Disney characters, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy are preparing a concert for the audience. Donald, while getting the orchestra ready to perform, picks up Mickey's sorcerer's hat from Fantasia, which results in a lot of magical chaos and ends up throwing the duck through a number of musical moments in classic Disney animated movies like Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.

In addition to the 3D film, a number of "4-D" effects, like water being sprayed at the audience, and various scents being pumped into the theater help deepen the immersion of the experience. The Muppet Theater was outfitted for at least some of these, so it's likely they'll make the jump to California.

Of the various 3D shows that have appeared at Disney Parks over the years, Mickey's PhilharMagic is absolutely one of the better shows, so seeing it be added to Disney California Adventure, in what has been a criminally underutilized space in recent years, is very nice. Hopefully, the show will hang around until something more permanent is created for the theater. The show may be 15 years old, but a decades old show is a better use of the theater than glorified movie trailers.

Images courtesy WDWnews.com/Disney

Ava DuVernay Totally Wants To Direct A John Wick Movie

Ava DuVernay Totally Wants To Direct A John Wick Movie

Ava DuVernay has become one of the most prominent and well known directors in Hollywood today. She has a strong following on socaia media and has helmed films from the Oscar winning Selma to Disney's adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time. However, there is one particular area of Hollywood, the tentpole action blockbuster, which Duvernay says she has yet to get an opportunity to make, and she's very interested.

Specifically, the director of the upcoming Netflix miniseries, When They See Us, says that if she'd been offered John Wick Chapter 3, she would have been all over that. According to Duvernay...

I don’t get offered a lot, and what I do get offered is usually historical or something to do with women and black people. Like, I’m not getting John Wick 3, even though I’d love to make it. I have a good friend who directed second unit on Star Wars and is kicking ass. I have a friend who’s on Westworld right now. Are there enough of us? No. Certainly not for a lack of women being interested in or capable.

All three John Wick movies to date have been directed by Chad Stahelski, (the first was a co-directing effort with an uncredited David Leitch). Following three successful films in the franchise, and Stahelski's own comment that he's happy to keep making the films as long as people keep wanting to watch them, it seems unlikely that anybody will be taking over that director's chair anytime soon.

Having said that, Ava DuVernay's broader point, that she's not being offered many movies at all, and especially not of the genre's that tend to have broader audience appeal, is a point well taken. It seems that because DuVernay has made her name thanks to historical biopics and stories about Black people, those are the projects she's being offered.

There have been some exceptions of course. DuVernay made history becoming the first woman of color to direct a movie with a budget over $100 million with A Wrinkle in Time. She's also signed on to direct her first comic book movie with DC's New Gods. Still one would think that with DuVernay's track record there would be studios lining up to offering her work.

As she points out to The Guardian, the number of women and women of color who are working in prominent directing positions is an unfortunately small list. She does mention, Victoria Mahoney, who is the second unit director on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, so there are steps forward being taken.

While we might not see Ava DuVernay direct a John Wick movie, hopefully someday she'll get a shot a big budget action movie. She could certainly bring a new perspective to the genre that it's never seen before, which might be just the sort of thing that Hollywood needs.

Meagan Good Loves A Very Specific Part About Her Top Secret Shazam Role

Meagan Good Loves A Very Specific Part About Her Top Secret Shazam Role

Warning: This story contains major SPOILERS for Shazam!

In one of the best kept superhero movie secrets in recent memory, the end of Shazam! saw Billy Batson transform his foster siblings into the Shazam Family to help him defeat Doctor Sivana. This necessitated adult actors to play the grown up, superhero versions of the kids. Among them was Meagan Good, who plays the superhero version of Faithe Herman’s Darla Dudley.

CinemaBlend got to speak with Meagan Good in St. Louis while she was promoting her new film The Intruder. During the conversation, the actress spoke about the very specific part she loved about her top secret Shazam! role. She said:

More action. More action, more fighting. I also love, because I definitely wanted to do the action and be kick-ass, but I love that I get to be a little girl. I love that I get to show the goofy side of myself because I don’t get to show that in most of the characters that I play, so it’s kind of like the best of two worlds.

Like most actors it seems, Meagan Good was thrilled to do all of the fun action and fighting that her superhero role required, but the part that she really loved was that her character was a kid. Although Superhero Darla may look like an adult on the outside, on the inside she was still just the sweet and precocious little girl that we had seen throughout the film.

The nature of the role allowed Meagan Good to let her inner kid come out, have fun with her performance and act goofy. As she said, her goofiness is not the kind of thing that she usually gets to show in most of her roles, and certainly not in something like The Intruder, which is a thriller that pits her against an insane Dennis Quaid.

You see that goofiness in Meagan Good’s performance in Shazam! and it really sells the fact that this is a little girl that has suddenly found herself with incredible powers in an adult superhero body.

So the actress loved her secret cameo as Superhero Darla in Shazam! because it gave her something different to do than what she generally does from an acting perspective, while also allowing her to express herself and show a side of her personality that people don’t often get to see.

Combine that with the opportunity to do a bunch of kick-ass action, and it really made Shazam! a rewarding experience for Meagan Good. Hopefully that experience gets to continue and play an even bigger part of the story in Shazam! 2. Although a sequel hasn’t been confirmed as of yet, there are some signs that it is in the works and it would be a shame if we didn’t get to see more after one of the DCEU’s best films to date.

You can listen to Meagan Good speak to CinemaBlend about her top secret role in Shazam! in the video below:

While we don’t know when you’ll be able to see Meagan Good back in the superhero realm, you can still catch the actress on the big screen now in The Intruder. Next year she stars in the video game adaptation Monster Hunter. For everything heading to theaters this year, check out our 2019 Release Schedule.