New Avengers: Endgame Video Pays Tribute To Every Single Marvel Movie

New Avengers: Endgame Video Pays Tribute To Every Single Marvel Movie

It's almost hard to believe, but we're mere days away from the arrival of Avengers: Endgame. It's been a long year since Infinity War arrived in theaters, and left the public shocked as Josh Brolin's Thanos took victory. In the meantime, we met Captain Marvel and The Wasp, although all eyes are on what the Russo Brothers' upcoming blockbuster will contain, and how it'll wrap up Phase Three.

Avengers: Endgame has been teased to be the cumulation of the past 21 movies, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know coming to an end in the process. Endgame's contents are almost a complete mystery, with the marketing material methodically releasing footage ahead of its release. The newest trailer paid tribute to each of the preceding blockbusters, and it's enough to make some fans misty eyed. Check it out.

I'm not crying, you're crying. Avengers: Endgame has been a long time coming for Marvel fans, as cinephiles have put up a ton of money and actively followed the shared universe for a decade.

The above Avengers: Endgame trailer fails to provide any exciting new footage, but that doesn't make it any less powerful. Footage from the past decade of filmmaking are seamlessly woven together, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe's countless characters make appearances. The video's narration is provided by a variety of characters throughout the MCU, and is edited together to make up one coherent monologue. The studio pioneered serialized storytelling, and this Endgame trailer is certainly no exception.

It should be interesting to see how much Avengers: Endgame goes into the shared universe's long history. This trailer seems to indicate an emphasis on the past, but it may just be a way to advertise the movie without giving away new footage. Still, the OG Avengers all managed to survive Thanos' finger snap of death, so Endgame does appear to be going back to its roots in some ways.

Avengers: Endgame has also been long theorized to include time travel, which should allow The Russo Brothers to really delve into Marvel's tenure in theaters. While it's unclear exactly how that could be done (the Quantum Realm? The Time Stone?), early reports indicated the heroes would be returning to The Battle of New York from the first Avengers movie. We'll just have to see if those rumors come to fruition.

The surviving heroes have a ton of dirty laundry to unpack, as they grapple with half of Earth's life suddenly fading to dust. Captain America and Iron Man have yet to repair their relationship, while Hawkeye seems thoroughly changed from Thanos' snap. Nebula and Rocket are also in deep mourning, and Thor must live with knowing he didn't aim for the head. All of the MCU has lead to this, and Endgame should be an emotional and epic final ride with the titular team of heroes.

All will be revealed when Avengers: Endgame arrives in theaters on April 26th. In the meantime, fill out our Endgame death pool, and be sure to check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

No, Avengers: Endgame Doesn't Need An Intermission

No, Avengers: Endgame Doesn't Need An Intermission

How hotly awaited is Avengers: Endgame? Well, it's the only film I can remember in recent memory where the unveiling of the running time has been a cultural event. That revelation happened this morning, as it was noted that the end of the arc now known as The Infinity Saga is going to run three hours and two minutes. But even in the hyping of that eventual revelation, there was a somewhat common thread that kept cropping up in commentary about the film's impending release: the demand for an intermission to run somewhere during the film. I think that's a bad idea.

While intermissions have been used for epic event movies in the past, and even most recently in The Hateful Eight's roadshow edition, it's a practice that isn't used too often. Quite frankly, the outcry for an intermission in Avengers: Endgame's theatrical exhibition is rather weird, and I don't think it's a requirement for enjoyment of the film. In fact, I firmly believe that to put a useless intermission in Avengers: Endgame is to ruin the experience of how the film will play out.

Let's jump back quickly to a film that will probably be cited quite often during this piece, which is Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. Running at a brisk two hours and 48 minutes in its standard version, there was a 70mm “Roadshow” version that QT put out with a slightly longer running time of three hours and two minutes. Yes, that's exactly the same running time as Avengers: Endgame; however, there's a big difference between these two cases of exactly the same length – and it's all in the storytelling.

While The Hateful Eight runs the same length as the Marvel Cinematic Universe's big tentpole title, that film's use of an intermission was baked in from day one. The film was written in a style that sort of mimics a stage play, and even in how the overture and intermission are presented, it feels like a crucial part of the experience. You leave the story at the right moment, only to pick up at a time that feels like a natural place to pick back up after a short interval.

It's highly doubtful that the Russo Brothers, and their Avengers: Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, have written an intermission into the tale that will be told on the big screen this April. So including one randomly, without any particular story reason, just doesn't feel like a good idea. What it does feel like is an extended commercial break that would step on the pacing, and make the entire film feel disjointed. If an intermission was absolutely crucial to the enjoyment of Avengers: Endgame, it would have been better to hear about it sooner than a month before the film's release date.

Originally, intermissions were meant to give the theatrical projection equipment a break, either because the film was a truly epic in its length or because it was in the early days of 3D where twin film projectors were being used. While seeing something like Lawrence of Arabia, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, or The Sound of Music in your local movie theater required a break in the extended action, it also helped that those films were of the proper length and structure in order to use an intermission to their advantage.

Then, as the intermission began to be removed from theatrical releases, films learned to get along without having to use them. The Godfather trilogy, and even The Lord of The Rings trilogy never ran with an intermission in their over three-hour running times; and those were films dense enough that they could possibly have used such a break. Yet, audiences were able to enjoy them without such an interruption, because they evolved with the disappearance of the practice.

Plus, the greatest argument against an intermission in Avengers: Endgame is rooted right in the very aspect where the demand for one started: its running time. Consider this: Avengers: Infinity War ran for 2 hours and 29 minutes when it hit theaters last May. As we learned today, Avengers: Endgame is clocking in at 3 hours and 2 minutes of emotional sobbing/ass-kicking action. Comparing the runtimes between the two films, that's only a 33 minutes increase in showtime that folks will need to be in their seats for. Right now, I don't feel that's nearly enough to warrant an intermission in this scenario.

Now if you were to run Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame back-to-back in a seamless, almost six-hour mega epic, that's a situation that most definitely would call for a break in the middle. In fact, you could probably run that event for the first week, and people would volunteer in a heartbeat to witness it. But Endgame as a solo film is an occasion that just doesn't require a short five-minute suspension of plot and action in order for the audience to either take a break or decompress from what they've seen. Again, unless the inclusion of an intermission is organically written into Avengers: Endgame's story, I don't believe throwing one in for the sake of having one isn't going to do the audience any favors.

We are currently in a culture that binge-watches shows and movies for hours on end without getting up, even while being in the comfort of our own homes and able to pause on demand. Also, moviegoers have gotten used to grand spectacles that run without intermissions, and at lengths longer or similar to what Avengers: Endgame will be approaching. So, the sudden demand for one into this latest Marvel Cinematic Universe product is rather surprising, and at least in my eyes, a frivolous demand.

But, of course, should the public raise enough of a demand for such a device's inclusion, it may possibly find its way into the film somehow. In which case, I politely suggest that the intermission be placed before any hypothetically gigantic 40-minute sequence where every Avenger runs Thanos into their own individual car of the collective pain train. If there's any moment that requires preparing one's body, soul, and snack supply for the show stopping action this film is promising, then that would undoubtedly be it.

Avengers:Endgame will do whatever it takes to close out The Infinity Saga on April 26th.

Shazam's Editor Reveals The Scene That Was The Toughest To Get Right

Shazam's Editor Reveals The Scene That Was The Toughest To Get Right

Warning: SPOILERS for Shazam! are ahead!

As one expects from a superhero movie, Shazam! was packed with a lot of action-packed moments, all of which came with their own unique challenges to pull off. As a result, just because a scene or sequence was envisioned in a particular way on script or while shooting doesn’t mean it came together looking exactly like that when finally assembled.

One of those sequences was the final battle between the eponymous protagonist and the Seven Deadly Sins-powered Doctor Sivana, which led to Billy sharing his power with his adoptive siblings so they too could become adult superheroes. I learned this when I recently spoke with the editor of Shazam!, Michel Aller, as this was her response when I asked what scenes changed the most from how they were initially shot to how they were edited together:

The end battle, really, was the biggest one that evolved. It had so many moving pieces that we had to work with and figure out, showing these new characters, the adult family, and giving them enough screen time, and still having the screen time between Sivana and Shazam. That end sequence, I wouldn’t say it’s just one scene, but the whole end battle was the one evolved the most.

There’s definitely a lot going on in that final Shazam! battle. It would be one thing if it had just been a straightforward fight between Shazam and Sivana, but not only did Mary, Freddy, Eugene, Darla and Pedro joining the fray widen the scope, but there was also the fact that the Seven Deadly Sins were able to separate from Sivana and go their own ways. So there were numerous things to keep track of within that carnival battleground.

As a result, not only was the final Shazam! battle the sequence that evolved the most during the editing phase, it was also the hardest one to cut together. In Michel Aller’s words:

It was probably the hardest, because you want to balance all these characters, telling everyone what’s going on, where they’re at, and keeping them interested and keeping the story moving forward. It was definitely the end battle. You have a lot of moving pieces to work with.

Even with all those moving pieces to track, ultimately the battle culminated with the showdown between Shazam and Sivana, adversaries that have been fighting on the printed page and in other media for eight decades. Remembering that main antagonist loses his powers if all of the Sins are out of his body, the superpowered Billy Batson managed to goad Envy out of Sivana, leaving the chrome-domed baddy helpless. Upon taking the Eye of Sin from Sivana, Billy imprisoned all of the Sins back within it, and the Shazam family redeposited the artifact back at the Rock of Eternity.

While this sequence had to go into the Shazam! final cut no matter what, there were 20-24 minutes of scenes that were taken out. However, Michel Aller expects you’ll be able to watch most of these when Shazam! comes out on Blu-ray and DVD later this year, with some of these excised scenes possibly including one where Mary confronts Billy as he’s sneaking out of the Vasquez house and the original version of Sivana’s murder spree. For now, catch Shazam! in theaters while you can, as the next DCEU movie isn’t coming out until next February (although Joker is holding down the overall DC fort in October).

Be sure to read CinemaBlend’s review of Shazam! and stay tuned for updates on how Shazam! 2 is coming along. Those of you interested in learning what other DC movies are in development can find that information in our handy guide, or you can look through our 2019 release schedule to plan when you’ll be going to the movie theater later this year.

Admiral Ackbar Actor Calls His Death In Star Wars: The Last Jedi A Huge Disappointment

Admiral Ackbar Actor Calls His Death In Star Wars: The Last Jedi A Huge Disappointment

The past few years have been very kind to Star Wars fans. Once Disney acquired Lucasfilm, there's been a variety of new and exciting projects hitting theaters, expanding the galaxy far, far away in the process. Standalone films and the upcoming Mandalorian TV series broke new ground for the property, although the main focus on the generations of fans is on the main franchise.

J.J. Abrams' kickstarted the story back up with The Force Awakens, which saw plenty of familiar faces return to the big screen. This includes the always meme-worthy Admiral Ackbar. But the iconic rebel met a swift end in The Last Jedi, and that's a decision that seriously upset the puppeteer who brought him to life over the years. Tim Rose is the man behind Ackbar, and recently expressed his disappointment about the character's handling in the sequel trilogy. He said:

After The Force Awakens -- for whatever reason, length of picture, whatever -- it all got cut out. So after waiting 30 years to reprise Ackbar I was a little disappointed with Ackbar's role in that picture. So in The Last Jedi, I was quite looking forward to maybe them giving him something more juicy. We were only given the script on the day when we were shooting that piece of script, so each day I would come to work going, ‘Is today the day when Ackbar gets something a bit more involving?’ And I looked at my script and I went, ‘Oh, Ackbar's going out of the window. Well, that's that then!’ I wasn’t quite dead yet.

Yikes. It turns out that Admiral Ackbar had a larger role in The Force Awakens, but it ultimately landed on the cutting room floor. There was a decent amount of world building to get through in Episode VII, so Tim Rose understood. At least, until he was killed off in The Last Jedi's opening sequence.

Admiral Ackbar might not have been as popular as franchise favorites like Han Solo or General Leia, but his role in the Star Wars franchise goes back to 1983's Return of the Jedi. As such, Tim Rose was hoping he'd have a meaty role once the sequel trilogy finally happened. Unfortunately, Ackbar's presence was mostly tertiary, and he got an unceremonious death scene.

Related: All The Major Star Wars: The Last Jedi Character Deaths

Ackbar was killed along with the rest of The Resistance Leaders when the First Order attacked the fleet, and a TIE fighter blew up the commanding ship's bridge. Leia was able to use her dormant Force Abilities to save herself, but the rest of the leadership wasn't so lucky.

In his same conversation with Jamie Stangroom, Tim Rose described how salt was rubbed in his wound on the set of The Last Jedi, saying:

We finished all of our bits and they asked me to come down to camera. And I thought, ‘Oh well, maybe they’re going to say thank you for being one of the heritage characters and giving 30 years and all that.’ But what they did was, they gave me a Millennium Falcon sign that had the day and the date on it, the scene number, and they said, ‘Can you look at camera and say "It's a wrap?" Because that would be really funny.’ … I was actually in tears in the suit because I thought - after everything, after hoping there’d be something, after knowing there wasn't going to be anything else, Ackbar's final moment before he went in to the box was a big joke about ‘It's a wrap.’ They just thought ‘Wouldn’t it be funny?’ And that was the sum total of my life as Ackbar.

Ouch. While the Resistance Leaders were killed off in The Last Jedi in order to move the story forward, Tim Rose's feelings were hurt in the process. And when he was asked to film some B-roll for special features/sizzle reels, there was an extra level of betrayal for the puppeteer.

As a reminder, you can check out the scene below. Ackbar isn't featured, but can be seen behind Leia before the bridge is destroyed.

Aside from his onscreen appearances, Admiral Ackbar has had a life on the page and small screen. Plus, his iconic "It's a trap!" line from Return of The Jedi has been meme-d more times than one can count. So while Tim Rose might have been disappointed with his tenure as the character, Ackbar will still live on forever with the generations of Star Wars fans.

The next installment in the Star Wars franchise is The Rise of Skywalker on December 20th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

How The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter Creates Harry's Patronus In The Sky

How The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter Creates Harry's Patronus In The Sky

Earlier this year, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood debuted a new nighttime show called Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle. The 8-minute show uses projection mapping onto the castle to tell a story dedicated to the darker side of magic, the kind they won’t teach you at Hogwarts. The grand finale of the show sees Harry Potter’s stag Patronus light up the night sky in a beautiful display that seems like magic.

It is obviously (and sadly) not real magic though. It is actually achieved thanks to the magic of technology, specifically dozens of drones that emit the bright lights that makeup Harry’s brilliant stag Patronus. According to Forbes, Universal Studios Hollywood partnered with the Intel Drone Group, which had experience putting on drone light shows, with the express purpose of lighting up the sky with the stag Patronus that Harry Potter shared with his father James.

You can’t just go to the local electronics store, buy a bunch of drones and hope you can make them form a pattern in the sky though, and that’s why Universal Studios reached out to Intel in the first place. There are a lot of variables and calculations that have to be made to get the desired effect and have it be as magical as possible.

In addition to getting approval to use the airspace where the drones would be flying, Intel Drone Group also needed to account for the environment, where the drones would launch from and what the animation is that they would have to perform. It’s an involved process that can take months to realize and undoubtedly part of why Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle was in development for over two years.

Universal Studios Hollywood’s Senior Director of Entertainment Production Stephen Siercks wouldn’t divulge the specifics of exactly how they pull off the show’s phenomenal Patronus finale, but did say that it is a “really complex program that blends both technology and choreography.”

While the technical side of such spectacles is always fascinating, it is sometimes cool to not know how it works and just suspend your disbelief as much as possible and allow yourself to be immersed in a fantastical world. Although I imagine a video doesn’t do this justice, you can check out Harry’s Patronus in the sky in the video below.

Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle ran for 15 days earlier this year and returned to the Wizarding World at Universal Studios Hollywood for Memorial Day weekend. The show next returns to the park on June 22 and will run through August 11. Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle is also coming to Universal Studios Orlando, but dates have not yet been announced.

Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see what movies will be creating magic on the big screen this year and let us know what your Patronus is in the comments below.

There’s A Wild Star Wars Rumor About Rey’s Parents

There’s A Wild Star Wars Rumor About Rey’s Parents

The last few years have been very kind for Star Wars fans, as new and exciting properties have been introduced to help expand the galaxy far, far away. Standalone films broke new ground for the property, while The Mandalorian will be the first live-action TV series set in the galaxy. But the true attention of the fandom is one the main franchise, as The Rise of Skywalker is only months away.

J.J. Abrams will return to the director's chair for Episode IX, which will be in the final chapter in the Skywalker Saga. The movie will also wrap up the narrative that Abrams started with The Force Awakens. Rian Johnson revealed in The Last Jedi that Rey's parents were nobodies who abandoned her on Jakku, but some fans thought this might be red herring. Now a new rumor has been swirling, claiming that her father is none other than Harrison Ford's Han Solo.

This new rumor comes to us from Making Star Wars' Patreon podcast. The publication is a go-to source for all thing Star Wars, and touched on the new theory that Han is actually Rey's true father. The story is that when Leia was busy training with Luke in the wake of Return of the Jedi, Harrison Ford's smuggler had an affair--leading to the birth of the sequel trilogy's hero.

If this rumor comes to fruition, it would truly blow the minds of the generations of Star Wars fans. Rey's parentage has been a major point of conversation with the sequel trilogy, with endless theories arising in the years between The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. But the latter movie consistently subverted fan expectations, and that includes Rey's bloodline.

If Han Solo were Rey's father, it would make a great deal of sense. He served as a mentor and father figure in The Force Awakens, and the two characters hit it off quickly. What's more, Rey's piloting of the Millennium Falcon came extremely easy to the emerging Jedi. She's still the person in possession of the iconic vessel, and has a close relationship with Chewbacca as well.

Related: All The Major Theories About Rey's Parents

When J.J. Abrams signed on to direct The Rise of Skywalker following the departure of Colin Trevorrow, fans were excited to see how Abrams will wrap up the story that he began with The Force Awakens. And if he didn't agree with Rian Johnson's creative choice regarding Rey's lineage, then perhaps the director will retcon that out of the canon, and reveal a larger twist.

There was certain doubt about Rey's parent reveal in The Last Jedi basically as soon as the movie arrived in theaters. It was Kylo Ren who revealed that Rey came from a pair of unremarkable parents. But could he have been lying in an attempt to bring Rey to her side and rule the galaxy together? It doesn't seem out of the question.

You can check out the scene in question below.

As you can see, Adam Driver's villainous Ben Solo doesn't reveal how he knows about Rey's parents. Instead, he prays on Rey's biggest insecurities, and simply fills in the blanks after she admits she came from nothing. So it would be pretty easy for J.J. Abrams to do an aboutface, and give her a more epic family tree.

All will be revealed when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Wait, Did Vin Diesel Join The Avatar Sequels?

Wait, Did Vin Diesel Join The Avatar Sequels?

Right now, under the strictest measures of security, writer/director James Cameron is making the sequels to his record breaking opus Avatar, in anticipation of the releasing the first follow up at the end of next year. And while taking a break from the rigors of that gargantuan task, Cameron decided to record a short video on set with a new friend, Fast and Furious lead and celebrity uber-nerd Vin Diesel. But, wait a second, could this mean that Diesel has joined the ranks of the cast for this big ticket event franchise?

This prospect seems to be pretty likely from where we’re standing, as this feels like one of the only reasons that the stereotypically cryptic James Cameron would even let Vin Diesel glimpse at what he considers top secret materials of a sensitive nature. Sure, there’s a possibility that Diesel and Cameron are mutual fans of each others’ work and just wanted to hang out, but this doesn’t seem like the kind of place to do that unless some sort of Avatar business was involved.

In addition to that speculation, and between the lighthearted joking and friendly patter shown on display between the two titans, there were some choice remarks made by Vin Diesel that have us questioning if some sort of big announcement is coming our way in the future.

Specifically, Diesel said the following, which set off alarm bells in our heads:

It’s long overdue. There is one person in Hollywood I’ve always wanted to work with, and learn from. … All things come, I guess, to those who wait.

Cue some shenanigans with funny voices and references to Kung Fu, and you’ve got a perfect recipe for a cute viral video that could lead to a lot more if the implications are correct. But there’s another interesting point to make, as this Instagram post’s contents snuck in one more potential bit of news.

Right at the beginning of the video, James Cameron announced that he and Vin Diesel were on the set of “Avatars 2, 3, 4, & 5,” which is interesting considering those last two sequels don't have an official green light just yet. While this doesn’t particularly mean anything, seeing as how Cameron is probably more than optimistic he’ll get those last two films off the ground, it wouldn’t be surprising if that was another featured bit of news coming down the pike in the near future.

With the Disney/Fox merger now complete, and the Aliens filmmaker more than entrenched with both halves of that corporate cookie, this new alliance could be the moment everyone was waiting for before pulling the trigger on Jake Sully’s continuing adventures. And with new sequels come new cast members to help flesh out the 5 film story James Cameron has planned.

You can parse out the action for yourself, as we’re providing the entire video for your viewing pleasure below:

Now we must remind you dear Avatar fans that this isn’t an official announcement of any sort of partnership or deal for Vin Diesel to join on for Avatar 2-5, or that the entries 4 and 5 are confirmed to be officially in the works. Hell, we can’t even tell you if the titles that supposedly leaked are legit or not. All we can say is that Diesel has been spotted on the set with James Cameron, and it really sounds like the two are thick as thieves, plotting an otherworldly adventure that could change the movie world again.

What we can tell also you, among other things, is that Avatar 2 is scheduled for release on December 18, 2020; and that you can visit the attraction Pandora – The World of Avatar at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom. Which will probably be super easy to access once that other big Disney Parks attraction opens at various periods this year.