Margot Robbie Reveals Filming Has Wrapped On Birds Of Prey

Margot Robbie Reveals Filming Has Wrapped On Birds Of Prey

It’s been a while since we were introduced to Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad, but she’s finally making her grand return to the DC Extended Universe next year in Birds of Prey. Granted, that is still a ways off, but for the cast and crew behind the film, they’ve just crossed a huge milestone, as filming has officially wrapped. Here’s how Robbie commemorated the big occasion.

Finishing principal photography is a big deal for any movie, especially blockbusters. Birds of Prey began rolling cameras in January in Los Angeles, and there was also filming conducted in Georgia. Now, after three months, this stage of the creative process, and while there’s still a lot more work to be done until Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (yes, that’s still a mouthful) is completely finished, as far as the performing side of things go, Margot Robbie and the other actors have done their part.

Granted, there’s the possibility that Margot Robbie and others might have to come back later this year for reshoots, but those usually aren’t anywhere near as grueling as the main shoot. In any case, Robbie made sure to have her new Harley Quinn outfit on in the picture she shared on Instagram, so that was nice.

Thus far, all we’ve officially seen of Birds of Prey is a video titled ‘See You Soon’ showing the main cast members in their current costumes, with Margot Robbie getting the most attention, no doubt because we’re already familiar with Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad. She’s definitely rocking a look significantly different than during her first outing with Task Force X and even in the comics, but that just lines up with her changed status quo in the eighth DCEU movie.

When we last left off with Harley Quinn at the end of Suicide Squad, she was broken out of Belle Reve by The Joker and his goons, and the two were clearly still head over heels for one another. However, just like what’s happened in the comics, Birds of Prey sees Harley breaking up with The Clown Prince of Crime and embarking on her own in Gotham City, which is now unprotected due to Batman’s mysterious disappearance.

It’s in this environment that Harley Quinn will cross paths with Cassandra Cain, a young girl who’s being hunted by Roman Sionis, a.k.a. Black Mask, because she’s come across a diamond belonging to the crime lord. Harley will team up with Huntress, Black Canary and Detective Renee Montoya to protect Cassandra from Sionis, although given that Harley is usually fond of lawlessness and chaos, just because she’s working with some good guys doesn’t necessarily mean she won’t complicate this already dangerous situation.

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) opens in theaters on February 7, 2020. Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on how it’s coming along, and don’t forget to look through our DC movies guide to learn what else this superhero franchise has coming down the pipeline.

That Time C-3PO Stole Oscar Isaac’s Thunder Wrapping Star Wars Episode IX

That Time C-3PO Stole Oscar Isaac’s Thunder Wrapping Star Wars Episode IX

The public still has to wait another nine months for Star Wars: Episode IX, but for the movie’s cast and crew, the journey is over. Episode IX’s principal photography concluded last month, and for most, if not all of these actors, this could their final on-screen appearance in the Star Wars universe given that this movie is the final installment of the Skywalker saga. Unfortunately for Oscar Isaac, his last day of shooting Episode IX was the same as Anthony Daniels’, meaning that Poe Dameron’s thunder was stolen by C-3PO. Isaac recalled:

It was such a milestone. What was particularly special was the day that I finished on these three massive movies that for me have been such a huge part of my life, right after it was like, ‘Okay, Oscar’s done.’ And then I said a few words. ‘And it’s also Anthony Daniels’ last day on set!’ Way to take the thunder.

Look, Oscar Isaac is one of the main actors in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, and there’s no question that Poe Dameron has gained a lot of fans over the last several years. But looking at the entire Star Wars franchise, Anthony Daniels is definitely the heavier hitter. He’s been playing C-3PO since the beginning, with the golden protocol droid being present for many of the galaxy far, far away’s biggest events over the last century. So while Isaac may be the more famous actor, when looking through a Star Wars lens, I can’t say I’m surprised that Daniels got more attention on that last day of filming for the two performers.

Nevertheless, Oscar Isaac didn’t have any hard feelings about this, acknowledging during his appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that Anthony Daniels has been part of the franchise since A New Hope and that George Lucas originally envisioned the Star Wars saga as a story about C-3PO and his partner, R2-D2. Isaac continued:

[Daniels] was super emotional about it and hanging up the golden cowl. And I think, really, and I mean this, this time he kept saying this was the most fun he’s had ’cause he had so many fun things to do and we got to work a lot together. It was just amazing to see that piece of history close.

The Star Wars franchise is keeping its big screen run going in the coming years with Rian Johnson’s trilogy and the trilogy from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, but Episode IX truly marks the end of an era. In Anthony Daniels’ case, it sounds like this could be the final time he ever plays C-3PO, although he probably felt the same way when the original and prequel Star Wars trilogies concluded too, so there’s always the possibility he might don the gold suit again.

For now, Daniels is the only actor to appear in every Star Wars movie, because along with playing C-3PO in most of them, he also appeared in Solo: A Star Wars Story as a freed slave on Kessel. Daniels has also voiced C-3PO on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, and even in projects set outside of this strange galaxy like The LEGO Movie and Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20, so stay tuned for CinemaBlend for more coverage. In the meantime, look through our 2019 release schedule to learn what other movies are coming out later this year.

6 Insane Us Easter Eggs That Appear To Have Much Deeper Meanings

6 Insane Us Easter Eggs That Appear To Have Much Deeper Meanings

The following contains significant spoilers for Us.

Based on the weekend's box office results, it appears that a lot of people went to see Jordan Peels's new movie Us. It's a movie that has a lot going on. It has so much happening that it's very possible you didn't catch many or everything worthy of note -- especially if you only saw the movie once.

There are lots of easter eggs and references hidden inside Us, but rather than simply existing within the film so that the audience might catch them, many -- if not all -- of these little moments seem to be clearly chosen by Jordan Peele to help build on the larger themes of Us and foreshadow the story to come. Here are just a few my favorites.

Those Video Tapes

Us opens with a very odd sequence in which we watch a small child watching television in the 80s. Specifically, she's watching a promotion for Hands Across America, the fundraising stunt that was designed to bring attention to homelessness and poverty. Why we're seeing this is far from clear, but what's even more interesting than this dated advertisement is the collection of VHS tapes surrounding the television.

Among the tapes on display are The Goonies, a movie about kids who go exploring through a collection of hidden tunnels under the ground, and C.H.U.D., a horror film about monsters living in the sewers. We also see the box for The Man with Two Brains. While the movie itself doesn't necessarily connect to the concepts behind Us, the idea of two minds being connected is certainly key to understanding Us.

Thriller

Us opens in the 1980s, more specifically in 1986 at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. It's there we meet Adelaide for the first time. She's a young child watching her father compete in carnival-style games where he's able to successfully win her a prize, a Michael Jackson t-shirt specifically, one promoting Thriller, one of the biggest albums ever made.

Bringing up Thriller isn't simply an easy reference to make it clear you're watching a scene from the 1980s. Instead, we're talking about a song that created one of the most memorable music videos of all-time. In the video, Jackson's character shows that he has a dark side. He is both a man and a monster in the same way that the actors in Us play both roles. We also see a horde of zombie-like characters come up from underground, the same place they live in Us.

The Lost Boys

One of my personal favorite references in Us comes just after Adelaide gets her Michael Jackson T-shirt. The family is looking for something else to do at the boardwalk and Adelaide's mother makes a throwaway reference that there is a movie shooting down the boardwalk, and maybe they should try to get in the movie as extras.

This isn't just a random comment. The scene we're watching is taking place in 1986, which would have been exactly when the '80s classic The Lost Boys would have been filming in Santa Cruz, as it was released in 1987. The movie, which takes place in a fictionalized version of Santa Cruz, called Santa Carla, supposes there is a world full of vampires that exists alongside the world that we know. They've always been there, we just didn't know they were there, just like the tethered.

The Shining

For many there is no creepier horror movie than Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Us pays its own sort of tribute to the classic by borrowing and re-purposing one of its most iconic images, a pair of creepy twins. The Wilson family is friends with another family, the Tylers. Husband Josh is played by Tim Heidecker and wife Kitty by Elizabeth Moss. Like the Wilson family they have two children, but in this case they are twins Becca and Lindsey.

Everybody in Us has a twin of course, but we don't know that at this point in the story. Of course, these twins, like everybody else in the film, have evil duplicates too. In fact, it's them that commit the first killing of "normal" characters when they rush their opposites from either side with knives drawn. Clearly, twins are just evil.

Jaws

The beach sequence when the Wilsons go to Santa Cruz owes more than a little to the classic Steven Spielberg film Jaws. If you needed that explained, there's the fact that son Jason is actually wearing a Jaws t-shirt to the beach in the scene. In both cases we see a seemingly idyllic beach town fall into terror and violence.

However, beyond that, the end of the scene plays out in much the same way as a key sequence in Jaws. Adelaide is sitting on the beach and not really listening to Kitty when she realizes Jason has disappeared. She begins to look around for him and the tension builds to panic as Adelaide tries to cut out all the ancillary noise and find her son. Roy Schneider goes through a nearly identical sequence in Jaws. Although, things actually turn out OK for Jason, at least in that moment.

Alice in Wonderland

While most of the references in Us are front and center (even if their meanings aren't always clear), this one is a bit less obvious, but the implications are certainly there.

Rabbits are an important symbol in Us. We look at them as the opening credits run, and we learn they were the primary food that the tethered had to eat. We also see daughter Zora sporting a t-shirt with a rabbit on it early in the film. When Adelaide finds herself back in the hall of mirrors and she first opens the door into the tunnels, the first thing she sees is a rabbit coming out, and then down the rabbit hole she goes, as in Alice in Wonderland. Once again, we're dealing with the idea that an entirely new world we weren't aware of has existed beneath us all this time.

This is certainly not an exhaustive list of the references in Us. It seems that Jordan Peele left little to chance and nearly everything that we see is there for a reason. What Easter eggs or references did you catch in Us that you thought were especially telling? Let us know in the comments below.

Captain Marvel Is Well On Its Way To Hitting A Billion Dollars

Captain Marvel Is Well On Its Way To Hitting A Billion Dollars

Captain Marvel has been putting up impressive box office numbers since it opened and it's not done yet. The movie has been open for all of 13 days and while we don't have official totals for yesterday's box office yet, it's all but guaranteed that the movie cleared the $800 million mark, putting it well on its way to do doing a billion dollars before it's all said and done.

Through Tuesday of this week Captain Marvel had brought in just short of $797 million in total global box office. Even if the film did half as much business yesterday as it did on Wednesday of last week, which is how the numbers appear to be tracking, it will still do well over $4 million, putting the movie over the $800 million mark in total.

While the box office is clearly slowing down for Captain Marvel, it's doing so much slower than your average blockbuster. The film only saw a 55% drop in sales from its opening weekend to its second weekend, which is actually a pretty small number when compared to other major superhero movies. This weekend's big release is Jordan Peele's horror movie Us, which, while one would expect it will have a big weekend, is still in a genre, and with a rating, that isn't going to bring in the widest possible audience, meaning Marvel is still in a strong position to have a nice weekend of its own, even though it likely won't take first place.

In actuality, while the official numbers, according to Deadline, still put Captain Marvel behind $800 million, it's probably already past that numbers. We don't have perfect reporting up through this week in all foreign territories where the film has opened, and as such it's probably got a lot of foreign dollars that need to be added to the total. The film has done two-thirds of its total business overseas and that's where it will likely still continue to do a lot of business.

If Captain Marvel is able to hit the billion dollar mark it will become the seventh Marvel Cinematic Universe movie to do so. This will happen just ahead of Avengers: Endgame hitting the same mark, which the film is fully expected to do.

Even if Captain Marvel doesn't quite join the billion dollar movie club, it's still a massive hit that has done some incredible numbers. We can fully expect to see Brie Larson's Captain Marvel returning to the MCU beyond Avengers: Endgame as the character is clearly popular.

2019 is almost guaranteed to be a banner year for Disney at the box office and Captain Marvel has gotten the studio off to an epic start. Now we just wait to see how many billions the studio will bring in before the year comes to an end.

What's The Best Way To Make Solo 2 Happen?

What's The Best Way To Make Solo 2 Happen?

By the standards of Star Wars films, as well as most Disney releases of recent years, Solo: A Star Wars Story was a flop. Though it made a lot of money, it allegedly wasn't enough to recoup budget costs. Chalk it up to disgruntled fans, a late start in advertising, or a potential case of fatigue in celebrating all things Star Wars; however it happened, the film didn’t perform up to the standards that the Lucasfilm brass would have liked it to, which led to some dominoes falling in that particular universe.

Yet, if you take a look at the chatter on the internet, the buzz supporting Solo: A Star Wars Story only seems to be growing louder. Much like director Ron Howard saying a sequel’s best chances will be in the fan response, we’re seeing that exact thing happening all over Twitter.

Seeing as the movie’s currently on Netflix’s streaming library, and will probably move to the Disney+ library once that platform is up and running, increased access may have given this film the boost it needed. Especially considering how one of the latest Twitter campaigns to be featured in the news involves the call to #MakeSolo2Happen.

It all leads to that big question that’s the elephant in the room, right next to that wookie that has a thing for winning money in Holochess matches: What’s the best way to make Solo 2 happen? Well, from where I’m sitting, I think the best way to make Solo 2 into a reality is pretty simple; the project should be a Disney+ film, helping to cement the Star Wars galaxy’s presence on the platform.

Disney+ Is The Perfect Platform For Experimental Projects

Seeing as there are enough people that want a sequel to Solo: A Star Wars Story, but there might not be enough people to make such a prospect a gigantic theatrical hit, having an original film on the Disney branded streaming platform feels like a perfect business opportunity. It just would need the right budget this time.

Much like Disney's Lady and The Tramp remake, the project is an unknown quantity based off of a known brand. So, splitting the difference and designating the project a streaming original would help manage the expectations of the film’s success while also giving it a space to exist in without too much at stake.

Solo 2 Could Boost Disney+ Subscriptions By Its Mere Existence

While Solo 2 may not be a sure fire box office hit, you can bet that people would sign up for Disney+ subscriptions to watch a Solo sequel film. Those subscribers, once they’re through the door, will be more inclined to stay and enjoy all of the legacy catalog titles that will be included on the platform from day one.

Also, it would help to build the Disney+ library by having more recognizable original films, as the influx of Marvel and Star Wars series are already pretty well accounted for. With most of the original movies being remakes or new projects, original feature length content based off of one of Disney’s big ticket IP libraries would only further drive fans of Avengers: Endgame or Star Wars: The Last Jedi into the content rich arms of Disney+.

Disney+ Offers A More Cost Effective Path To Produce Solo 2

In that same vein, Solo 2 just might have to take a bit of a hit in the budgetary department, as its streaming exclusive status doesn’t exactly mean it needs the same $275 - $300 million budget that Solo: A Star Wars Story had. The positive side to the production of a sequel is that a lot of the same assets used in both the Star Wars movies and any upcoming prequel series could very easily be tied into the production resources for Solo 2.

Planets and characters created for Solo 2 could be used for either of those other corners of the storytelling universe, and vice versa, which builds the Star Wars universe in a more cost effective manner. So pleasing the fans with a sequel wouldn’t be for nothing, as it would just mean more resources would be available for the Star Wars galaxy on the whole to flourish. Just don't expect another expensive train sequence.

Solo 2 Could Tie Up Some Loose Ends, And Provide Material For More Disney+ Originals

Perhaps the greatest reason that Solo: A Star Wars Story should get a sequel is that, much like the budgetary reason we just addressed, the story that was originated in last summer’s would-be blockbuster has already opened some doors for future Star Wars projects to connect to. The saga of Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, and Qi’ra’s intertwined fates would help flesh out the criminal underworld that we’ve always heard about, but barely seen in the Star Wars universe.

With Solo 2 in place, the characters that are created and enhanced through the film’s events would be ripe for the picking, ready for any Disney+ series or film to use their stories to enhance their own. Not to mention, should Solo 2 actually be accounted for as a hit in the Disney+ space, there’s always the potential to give our favorite smugglers their own limited series to tie up their stories properly, and set up their continuities properly to fit in with both the classic and modern Star Wars movies.

Disney+ Allows The Company To Better Tune Into Its Fans

As Netflix takes the internet by storm with some of the most viral hits like The Perfection, Disney+ could become a part of the same sort of social media frenzy with a film like Solo 2. Should it succeed, Disney would have a new strategy of success for films that occupy that grey area between theatrical and streaming glory.

Should fans start a new hashtag that, hypothetically, pushed enough support for a Hocus Pocus sequel rather than a remake, Disney+ could always pivot to that point better and faster than if that petition was lobbied towards Disney’s big screen component. So if Disney+ is able to take on Solo: A Star Wars Story’s sequel, then there’s no telling what could other, fan-pleasing possibilities could be next.

Despite my excellent idea, It's still not super likely that Solo 2 will happen, unless Disney somehow takes the fact that director Ron Howard approves of this prospect and seems up for more, and decides to make room on its slate for the continuing adventures of Han, Lando, Chewie, and Qi’ra. But it wouldn’t hurt to consider how the brand new streaming platform could be best leveraged when it comes to keeping the online hype surrounding a project strong.

Disney+ is still in that phase where Disney can do pretty much anything in the name of strengthening the library and public profile. So if there’s any chance that Solo 2 could become a real project in the making, this feels like the best and most calculated way to make it happen.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is currently streaming on Netflix, with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker debuting in theaters on December 20th. And if you’re hyped up about Disney+ after reading all of this discussion, you can read more about what we know pertaining to that platform, as well as all of the new material expected to debut on Disney+, when it comes online on December 11th.

Christopher Nolan Used Superman: The Movie To Help Him Make Batman Begins His Way

Christopher Nolan Used Superman: The Movie To Help Him Make Batman Begins His Way

While there are cases where a director is able to tackle a movie with complete creative control, when it comes to blockbusters, all too often we hear about studio executives pushing for the story to go in a different direction than what the director or the other creative minds wanted. For Batman Begins, the movie that brought the Caped Crusader back to the big screen seven years after Batman & Robin critically flopped, Christopher Nolan wanted to take a different approach with adapting Bruce Wayne’s mythology, and he turned to 1978’s Superman: The Movie to help convince the Warner Bros bigwigs that he was taking the right course of action.

Although Batman Begins opted to take a more realistic approach to Batman’s crimefighting capers in Gotham City, Christopher Nolan nonetheless used Superman: The Movie as inspiration. One of the things Nolan studied when preparing to make Batman Begins was at what point superheroes ‘put on their capes’ in movies, i.e. when they officially become defenders of justice. As anyone who’s seen Batman Begins knows, Bruce Wayne doesn’t actually become Batman until around the halfway point, and when Warner Bros executives came to Nolan concerned that Bruce wasn’t donning the cape and cowl until much later in the story, Nolan backed this move by pointing to Superman: The Movie, though he slightly fibbed in the process. As Nolan recalled:

I was able to say ‘Well, Christopher Reeve didn’t put on the suit until 53 minutes in… That statistic is not true by the way. It’s actually a little earlier.

Christoper Nolan told this story recently during a Q&A session held during an IMAX 70mm screening of the Dark Knight trilogy (via THR), which concluded seven years ago with The Dark Knight Rises. Although the superhero movie genre had started to become popular in the late ’90s and early 2000s with offerings like Blade and X-Men, when Nolan boarded Batman Begins, the landscape was definitely a lot different than how it looks now. The director wanted to give Batman Begins the weight of “event cinema” so that it wouldn’t be dismissed like many superhero movies had before, and while ultimately Bruce Wayne would have to put on the Batsuit, Nolan successfully used Superman: The Movie to back up his choice to have it happen later. If it worked for Christopher Reeve’s Man of Steel, it would work for Christian Bale’s iteration of the Dark Knight.

Batman Begins was definitely quite different from the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher cinematic Batman era, and that paid off for Warner Bros, with the movie earning critical acclaim and making over $375 million worldwide. Its successors would both go on to gross more than $1 billion, and The Dark Knight in particular is not only considered to be one of the best superhero movies of all time, but one of the best films of the 21st century. Had the Warner Bros brass forced Nolan to have Bruce Wayne suit up earlier, perhaps Batman Begins wouldn’t have been as successful. Fortunately for Nolan, arguably the most famous on-screen version of Superman was in his corner, and while the director did have to fudge the truth a little to get his point across, it all worked out in his favor.

Christopher Nolan’s time in the superhero genre is done, but he’s now moving forward with his Dunkirk follow-up, which is currently untitled, but will be released on July 17, 2020 and star John David Washington, Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki. Don’t forget to look through our 2019 release schedule to find out what movies are being released in theaters later this year.

Shazam! 2 Has Already Taken A Big Step Forward

Shazam! 2 Has Already Taken A Big Step Forward

It’s only been four days since Shazam! opened (including Thursday preview screenings), but it’s has been doing quite well for itself in that short amount of time. Along with earning a lot of positive reviews, the latest DC Extended Universe movie has also collected nearly $160 million so far. With a performance like that, it seems like a logical assumption that Warner Bros will move forward with Shazam! 2, and sure enough, word’s come in that the project has been given the green light, with Shazam! screenwriter returning to pen the sequel.

Henry Gayden, whose writing credits also include Earth to Echo and the upcoming Last Human, will reportedly be back to write Shazam! 2, which makes sense given Shazam!’s critical and commercial reception. As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The Wrap’s report also notes that director David F. Sandberg and producer Peter Safran are also expected to return, although their involvement isn’t quite nailed down yet. If as much of the Shazam! creative minds can band together again for Shazam! 2, then the better chance this next movie has at succeeding, if not being outright better than its predecessor.

If you pay attention to DC movie news, you know that this franchise has a lot of projects in development, some of which were announced years ago and have barely made any progress. For Shazam! 2 to already have secured a writer when the first movie has only just come out is a big deal, although as Peter Safran recently acknowledged, this sequel requires a quicker turnaround. Because most of the movie’s main cast are adolescents, the filmmakers need to get Shazam! 2 out sooner rather than later to ensure that the kids don’t look too much older.

Even with that in mind, it’s hard to say when Shazam! 2 will come out. Even if Henry Gayden churns out his Shazam! 2 script rather quickly, it’s unlikely that the movie could be ready in time for late next year, following Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984. The Batman and The Suicide Squad already have summer 2021 covered, so maybe Shazam! 2 could be ready to go by fall or winter of that year, thus finally giving fans three DCEU movies in a year. We’ll have to wait and see, but Warner Bros is clearly on board for keeping the Shazam! corner of this franchise going.

I won’t include any spoilers here, but Shazam! definitely lays the groundwork for what we can expect in Shazam! 2, so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of specific story Henry Gayden crafts. One can also imagine that Shazam!’s success means that the Black Adam movie stands a better chance of finally happening, especially with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson having been set to play Kahndaqian anti-hero for years. But when will we actually see Shazam and Black Adam thrown down in fisticuffs? That’s likely an event years down the line, but keep checking back for updates.

You can see Shazam! in theaters now, and be sure to read CinemaBlend’s review of the movie. Don’t forget to also look through our DC movies guide to learn what else the DCEU has coming down the pipeline.