The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is heading to theaters this month, and it marks the first film in the franchise since The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 was released back in 2015. Each film in the franchise is based on the books by Suzanne Collins, and the first series of books and films was a huge phenomenon. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to chat with Nina Jacobson, who has produced every Hunger Games movie in addition to the upcoming prequel. We asked about the new film's darker themes and if there were any discussions about how a huge portion of the original film's fan base are now adults.

"We certainly thought a lot about the fact that, on the one hand, like I say, we have incredible fanship for these books and movies," Jacobson began. "We have, I think, really smart, creative, insightful fans. And so, we're always trying to live up to the promise of the material and the way that Suzanne is able to connect with her audiences, but I also think that we knew that a lot of people would be coming to this without having ever seen the movies. Now, Netflix and the run of the original movies on Netflix really brought a lot of new fans, people who hadn't grown up with it, who really discovered it recently on streaming, but we also wanted the movie to work for people who had no familiarity with any of it and to make sure that we made a movie that would work as well for the fans, we hope, as it does for the uninitiated."

Nina Jacobson Talks The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Casting:

During ComicBook.com's interview with Jacobson, she opened up about the film's casting and the importance of finding the right actors to play younger versions of well-known characters in addition to relatives of well-known characters.

"Well, of course, any time that you're casting somebody, like you say, who's related or a younger version, obviously you're going to lop off a whole bunch of people who could be great, but who just don't look like they would ever grow up to be that person," Jacobson explained. "So you have the demands of, 'Can I believe that this young man becomes that older man?' And then also on the Lucy Gray [Rachel Zegler] front, even though she's not related to anybody, she has to be able to sing to inhabit that performer's personality, but also to kind of convey both the sort of savviness and street smarts of this character."

"And to have those questions of like, 'Is she Songbird or is she Snake?' Because she's always singing, but she's also always got a snake, or not always, but a good amount of the time," Jacobson continued. "So, just a reminder that none of these characters are meant to be all one or the other. And so, you have to get actors who can bring that level of complexity and nuance. It's much easier to just play a straight-up good guy, straight-up bad guy, but to have to kind of live in the middle and the pull and the push, and we wanted audiences to also wonder, is it real or not real?"

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set to open in theaters on November 17th. You can watch our interview with Jacobson at the top of the page.

This summer, the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer became more than an impressive time for the box office. It was a full-on cultural phenomenon the likes of which hasn't been seen for a long time going so far as to get its own moniker -- Barbenheimer. It's no surprise that such a massive event would spark the attention of those making films about and inspired by the phenomenon and in August, Charles Band, the creator of the Puppet Master horror franchise, announced that he is producing a film called Barbenheimer about dolls trying to make a nuke. Now, Band has revealed that film's synopsis.

The film is set to follow Dr. Bambi J. Barbenheimer, described as a "brilliant scientist doll living in Dolltopia, a world of endless summers and beach parties" and her boyfriend Twink Dollman. However, incensed by the brutal treatment dolls receive at the hands of human children, Dr. Barbenheimer ventures into the real world and experiences humanity at its worst and decides to build a giant nuclear bomb to take it all out. "They got great looks and a super attitude. Oh, and now they've got the bomb," the synopsis reads (via The Hollywood Reporter.)

While the synopsis might sound a little silly, Band isn't denying that. In fact, the filmmaker embraces it and says that the world needs a little humor.

"It's so silly," Band says. "But it seems like every other feature is dark and depression, it's like, god, we need a little humor going into 2024."

Band is also open about the film being an attempt to cash in on the "Barbenheimer" cultural phenomenon.

"It's 100 percent true," he said. "But it's also an opportunity to have fun with the bizarre coupling of these two movies and the combination of Barbie's vibe and the darkness of Oppenheimer. You mix that together and you have such an opportunity for dark humor.

The Actual Barbie Movie Almost Poked Fun At A Movie Other Than The "Snyder Cut" of Justice League

During a recent appearance at the Writers Guild of America West headquarters, Barbie director and co-writer Greta Gerwig revealed that the film's reference to the "Snyder Cut" of Justice League -- with Barbie (Alexandra Shipp) admitting she felt like she was "very invested" in the film while brainwashed by the hyper-masculine Kens -- wasn't in the original script. Instead, there was actually a line referencing 1982's Blade Runner, and the infamous debate over its voiceover element.

"One of the Barbies says to Ken, 'Oh my god, I never would have realized that Deckard was a replicant,'" Gerwig recalled with a laugh. "Then when she gets unbrainwashed, there's a version where she said, 'I liked the voiceover. I needed it to help me understand what was happening. Nobody's following this.'"

According to co-writer Noah Baumbach, there were very brief plans to include Blade Runner director Ridley Scott in Barbie in a cameo appearance, but it did not pan out.

"It wasn't making fun of him. We loved him as we love all of our references," Baumbach said, with Gerwig adding, "Every reference we had was out of love. We love Sly Stallone. Everything was a lighters-up tribute."

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is heading to theaters this month, and it's the fourth film of the franchise to be helmed by Francis Lawrence. The new film is based on Suzanne Collins' book of the same name and takes place 64 years before the first Hunger Games. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to interview Lawrence about the film, and he talked about working with Collins and creating the look of the fictional time period and the "fun" of bringing the 10th Annual Hunger Games to life.

"I think part of what was fun about this... I mean, maybe I did [learn lessons] just because I've done some of the Games before on the other ones. And so, when you come back to these Games, and even though the arena is very different and it's much more rudimentary, you want to make sure that you're approaching the Games in very different ways, and that the beginning of the Games and the way the Games start and all of that has really specific emotional values that differ from the ones we've seen before," Lawrence explained.

"More of what she and I would talk about is maintaining the rudimentary nature of the Games themselves," he continued. "And we had talked a lot about the sort of level of technology. And then, really, I worked with Uli Hanisch to kind of create the look of this. And I think Suzanne always gives me the freedom to go where I want to go with that. And we really just looked at reconstruction-era Berlin, 1945, the end of the war. How do you sort of rebuild from all that damage after the dark days of war? And that's kind of what we looked at and why we ended up really shooting in Berlin for most of the movie.

Who Stars In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes?

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes stars Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow, Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, Viola Davis as Head Gamemaker Volumnia Gaul, Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom, Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman, Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow, and Josh Andr?s Rivera as Sejanus Plinth.

The movie will also include Fionnula Flanagan as Grandma'am, young Coriolanus Snow's grandmother. Isobel Jesper Jones is playing Mayfair Lipp, the daughter of the mayor of District 12. Honor Gillies will be making her professional acting debut as Barb Azure. Eike Onyambu has been cast as Tam Amber, Konstantin Taffet will be playing Clerk Carmine, Burn Gorman is Commander Hoff, Scott Folan is Beanpole, Carl Spencer is Smiley, and Michael Greco and Daniela Grubert have been cast as Strabo Plinth and Mrs. Plinth, the wealthy parents to Sejanus Plinth, Coriolanus's best friend. Nick Benson, Laurel Marsden, Lilly Cooper, Luna Steeples, and Hiroki Berrecboth are also a part of the cast.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set to open in theaters on November 17th. You can watch our interview with Lawrence at the top of the page.

Star Trek: Lower Decks wrapped its fourth season on Thursday with an episode that brought back some familiar characters and pushed the beloved series protagonists serving on the lower decks of the U.S.S. Cerritos into new places. The episode also featured some cinematic action and a grander tone appropriate for a finale and perhaps more. In the past, the biggest Star Trek shows jumped from television to film. Star Trek: The Original Series did it, with Star Trek: The Next Generation doing the same. Now Paramount+ is plotting new straight-to-streaming Star Trek movies, the first being Star Trek: Section 31 with Michelle Yeoh. ComicBook.com asked Star Trek: Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan if he had an idea for what a Star Trek: Lower Decks movie could look like. It turns out that he has multiple ideas spanning animation and live-action, as well as characters beyond those in Lower Decks.

"I have an idea for an animated Lower Decks movie," McMahan tells ComicBook.com. "I have ideas for live-action Lower Decks movies. And I have ideas for brand new, totally original Star Trek movies that don't tie into anything we've seen before. I think Star Trek is an amazing genre to think about. I love the idea of not micro but small-budget Star Trek movies, where you get the bigness of a movie set, but you get to tell a Star Trek story that drives across a moment instead of a thing that has to be dealt with, like a Khan."

He continues, "I think there are cool ways to make Star Trek movies that aren't quite like the Marvel system and aren't quite like DC or the superheroes in general, but I would love a world where there's going to be Star Trek movies all the time, and when you go, you don't know which crew it's going to be about or if it's going to be a comedy or suspense or a drama. I loved Captain America: The Winter Soldier, that it went from the first one [Captain America: The First Avenger] being a period piece superhero movie to being a spy thriller. I think there are ways to make Star Trek movies like that so that when you go, you don't know what you're going to get, you just know that you trust seeing that Starfleet Delta and that you're going to get a cool movie within that genre."

One might think that Paramount+'s first Star Trek movie project being about Section 31, a morally gray spy unit working largely independently of Starfleet's chain of command, is a step in that direction. McMahan would agree.

"Yes, and I am a big fan of Craig [Sweeny, writer] and everybody with Section 31," McMahan says. "I think it's going to be awesome. And I'm Mr. More when it comes to Star Trek. I want to see Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which sounds awesome. I want to see more Prodigy. I want to see more movies. More, more and more like, let's go."

ComicBook.com also spoke to McMahan more in-depth about the Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 finale and what it means for the show's future. Here's what he had to say:

Star Trek: Lower Decks Creator Mike McMahan on the Season 4 finale

ComicBook.com: At what point did Mariner's backstory firm up in your mind? Was this always the plan? Because it feels like an explanation for her attitude towards taking responsibility in Starfleet could have gone several different ways. How did you end up landing here?

Mike McMahan: I knew for a long time that Mariner was affected by her time in the Dominion War. There's a lot of earlier hints about that in the series. I always wanted to tie her to that original "Lower Decks" foursome, because it fits into the timeline. I held back for a really long time partially because part of me doesn't want to tell people why Mariner or any character is behaving the way they are. I just think there's a chance that you're jumping the shark at that, and I also wasn't sure if tying Mariner directly to a character from a previous episode would be too distracting or too specific. And oftentimes, I'm too cautious with stuff like, "When can I bring T'Lyn in?" or "When can I promote them?" And I'm really, really careful.

This is such an important show to me, and this is such an important franchise to me, that I tend to maybe be too careful. Part of it is I want people to love watching Lower Decks. I don't want to make people feel like they don't know what's going on. A lot of the time, with the legacy stuff, I am waiting until I can find a way where if somebody has never seen the stuff I'm referring to, it doesn't matter because they still get it. Locarno is a bad guy from the past, Sito was an old friend, things that if you know it all, you'll know it. If you don't know it all, it's fine, or maybe it'll inspire you to go watch more Star Trek, which is even better.

But this season being about Mariner gets promoted, but Ransom won't let her get demoted -- there's that episode earlier on where he is like, "I know what you're up to. I'm going to support you unconditionally" -- that creates Mariner's story arc this season, that she can't do the pressure release that she usually does. And then when she's in that cave with that Klingon in a fight-to-the-death rain delay and she knows she can talk about stuff that will never get out because Ma'ah will die or she will die, it's kind of a win-win for her. That's the first time she's able to communicate honestly about something because she is in a space, weirdly a Klingon therapeutic space, where she can speak about it. It's so painful. That felt earned to me. That felt like a thing where I'm like, "This feels honest, this feels good," and that's when I let myself do that stuff.

I understand that it's not the same thing as what you're talking about, but it's also a little funny to hear you say you're too careful about things after giving us the "Naked Time" orgy scene a couple of seasons ago. I get it, but it's funny.

Well, it's funny too because it's a two-second thing that makes total sense within the world of the show. And I don't think of Star Trek as being a Puritan thing. I think of Star Trek as being human. It's funny. I wasn't the one who put that kind of stuff into Star Trek. But also at the same time, I want to make a show that makes you laugh. That makes you go, "God, that was fun." Or like, "Oh, I've never seen that before." I'm incredibly careful about canon stuff, and I'm a little less careful about, "Is this going to make you laugh out loud? Will this make you love this? Is this something you haven't seen in Star Trek before?" It doesn't have to be a history book. This is a whole different genre for Star Trek. And I am dancing between all the classic Trek and something totally new for Trek, and it just has to be a funny show on its own.

This finale ends up forming this third chapter of what is now a trilogy of episodes that started with "The First Duty" and then the original "Lower Decks" episode. Now we have this "Locarno trilogy" or whatever fans might want to call it. Was that on your mind, this larger franchise meta-story, or was your focus entirely on your characters?

No, I mean, it's a Nicholas Meyer Wrath of Khan. I was trying to make it very clear that Star Trek does this really well, and it did it once with features after an episode hadn't aired for a really long time. Now this is what Star Trek can do animated. You see that people a lot of the time are like, "Oh, animation is good for Star Trek because you can see more squiggly arms on aliens, or go to more places." But another power of it is it is this kind of magic of doing what Star Trek does best and saying that these one-off characters could, possibly, show up again.

You mentioned that Mariner goes through a lot this season. She comes to terms with a lot of things. I know you are deep into Star Trek: Lower Decks Season Five at this point. I know you probably don't want to say too much, but how different should fans expect her to be going forward now that she's resolved a lot of things?

Mariner hasn't resolved anything, but she's been unburdened by them. I think it's important to say that mental health isn't something you solve, it's something that you take care of and that you are aware of, and that communication and there not being a stigma about it and things that you carry don't necessarily have to be heavy. There is a possibility to diffuse them. Going forward, Mariner is Mariner. Mariner is a funny, loving, chaos-creating, sci-fi badass, who is just a little less burdened by the things that she was carrying before. I find, because I'm done writing season five, the Mariner in Season 5 is the Mariner that I love from Seasons 1 through 4, just happier.

As you said, this episode is very Wrath of Khan, including the ships hiding in the clouds sequence. Considering you had done those "Crisis Point" episodes that lovingly made fun of the Star Trek movies, was there any worry going into this about, "How do we get the audience to take us seriously now after we had so much fun taking the piss out of the Star Trek movies?"

No, because even when we're taking the piss out of the Star Trek movies, it's clear we love it and we're doing a cool movie. A lot of it is the framing and the stakes and the music a lot of the time. Something Lower Decks does well in my opinion is makes you laugh and then immediately pivot to real stakes. That's a skill of ours that is partially the performances, the editing, the music, but I'm never worried we're not going to make a moment land because my directors and everybody, they know the score, they know what we're up to and we can pivot like that.

A lot of this episode is about Mariner, but Boimler also gets his big moment in this episode when he gets to captain for the first time, which is interesting because, in one of the earlier interviews I did with Jack Quaid, I asked him about Boimler potentially becoming Captain. He's said something like, "I know he wants it, but I don't know if he actually wants it." Is this a reaffirmation that maybe he really does want it and will be good at it? What made this the right time and what does it mean for him now?

What spoke to me about that moment was that it ties directly to that Redshirts episode in a previous season where, in this moment, Boimler was trusted by Ransom and the Captain to get this done. And what I think is interesting is, people love that they see him in the chair because they believe in Boimler too. But what being a Captain is about isn't about sitting in a chair in the middle of a bridge during a high-stakes moment. Freeman is being the captain there. Freeman is putting herself in danger, flying through a fireball. Boimler is being trusted and he's in that chair, and it's great. But being a captain is more than just that moment, and moving forward, Boimler's now had a taste of the epic part of being a Captain, but you have to earn being a Captain in a lot of different ways, and the thrill of that does not take him across the finish line yet with where we're going.

I have time for one more question. Since I didn't get a chance to ask you about this towards the beginning of the season. I'm going to roll it back to the premiere to have you weigh in on one of Star Trek's biggest controversies: Did Janeway do Tuvix wrong?

Janeway didn't only do Tuvix right, she also did us right. Although, I don't know if she did him right, but look, listen, she's not in the Alpha Quadrant. She's surviving, and she's doing what she has to with the resources that she has. Now, did Tuvix beg for his life, and she still murdered him? Yeah, that was pretty rough. But you know what, dude? Did anybody, did any of us really want more Tuvix? I was relieved. I did not want to watch another five seasons of Tuvix. I didn't want to lose Tuvok for that. I think people are still allowed to argue about the ethics of Janeway's decision, which is fine. Sometimes things are not black and white. Sometimes you're allowed to do the right thing, but it not be good. Sometimes you can do everything right and still not win. But ultimately, I'm glad we didn't have to watch Tuvix again. What a sigh of relief that he wasn't in the next episode, Tuvixing it up.

That is the 100% correct answer. Thank you.

[Laughs] Of course.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Cast

Star Trek: Lower Decks stars "lower decks" crewmembers of the U.S.S. Cerritos Ensign Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Ensign Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), Ensign Tendi (No?l Wells), and Ensign Rutherford (Eugene Cordero). Provisional Ensign T'Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) joined the crew in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3. The U.S.S. Cerritos' bridge crew includes Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis), Commander Jack Ransom (Jerry O'Connell), Lieutenant Shaxs (Fred Tatasciore), and Doctor T'Ana, (Gillian Vigman).

Mike McMahan (Rick and Morty, Solar Opposites) created Star Trek: Lower Decks. In Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4, "an unknown force is destroying starships and threatening galactic peace. Luckily, the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos isn't important enough for stuff like that! Instead, Ensigns Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, Rutherford, and Provisional Ensign T'Lyn are keeping up with their Starfleet duties, avoiding malevolent computers and getting stuck in a couple caves - all while encountering new and classic aliens along the way."

How to watch Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4

CBS' Eye Animation Productions, Secret Hideout, and Roddenberry Entertainment produced Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4. Secret Hideout's Alex Kurtzman, Roddenberry Entertainment's Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth, and Katie Krentz (219 Productions) are executive producers with showrunner Mike McMahan. Aaron Baiers (Secret Hideout) also serves as an executive producer. Titmouse (Big Mouth) serves as the animation studio for the series.

Star Trek: Lower Decks streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and Latin America. In Canada, Star Trek: Lower Decks airs on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel. Star Trek: Lower Decks will also be available to stream on Paramount+ in the UK, Australia, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and South Korea later this year.

According to a new report, a Bloodborne movie is in the works at Sony Pictures via producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and writer Darren Lemke. There is currently no mention of a director on the project, which may suggest Sony has not found its director yet. As for the two names attached, writer Darren Lemke's story and writing credits include Shazam!, Gemini Man, The Wheel of Time, Goosebumps, Shrek Forever After, Jack the Giant Slayer, The Parts You Lose, and Turbo. Meanwhile, Lorzeno Di Bonaventura has served as a producer since 2005. His work includes many Transformer and G.I. Joe movies, as well as video game movies such as DOOM and Dead Rising.

As for the report itself, it comes the way of industry insider Daniel Richtman, a source that has proven both reliable and been off the mark in the past. To supplement his claim, Richtman provides a supposed logline for the movie which, unfortunately, is very generic. In other words, it doesn't add any salient details.

"Sony project based on the PlayStation game of the same name," reads the leaked document. "Bloodborne follows the player's character, a Hunter, through the decrepit Gothic, Victorian-era-inspired city of Yharnam, whose inhabitants are afflicted with a blood-borne disease which transforms the residents, called Yharnamites, into horrific beasts. Attempting to find the source of the plague, the player's character unravels the city's mysteries while fighting beasts and cosmic beings."

Is any of this true? There's no way of knowing. Considering PlayStation has done absolutely nothing with Bloodborne since its release in 2015, despite substantial demand, it's hard to imagine it would out of nowhere appear with a movie adaptation, but the source in question is generally pretty reliable. Whatever the case, so far it's not drawn any comment from Sony. We don't expect this to change for a handful of reasons, but if it does, we will be sure to update the story accordingly. In the meantime, be sure to take this information with a grain of salt. Even if it is accurate, it's subject to change that may eventually render it inaccurate.

2023 has been a big year for horror, and one of the first hits of the year was M3GAN, the story of an AI doll who goes rogue. The movie earned a 93% critics score and a 78% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a sequel was teased soon after the film was released. James Wan, who has a story credit on the film in addition to producing the project, recently spoke with Empire Magazine and teased the return of M3GAN in M3GAN 2.0.

"It's early yet, but M3GAN is coming back in a big way," Wan shared. "The first film came just at the right time [when concerns about AI were mounting], and we're definitely leaning into that on the next one. We're exploring the AI universe even further."

At the beginning of the year, it was revealed that Blumhouse w beould merging with James Wan's Atomic Monster, and an article from The New York Times teased the future of M3GAN.

"It was actually Mr. Wan who got the ball rolling on M3GAN," the article revealed. "Atomic Monster first pitched the idea to Warner Bros. executives, who passed, in part because Warner already has the Annabelle evil doll series. Mr. Wan then brought the project to Mr. [Jason] Blum, who pounced. Universal is so pleased with how M3GAN turned out that it is already talking about a M3GAN sequel. TikTok posts tagged #M3GAN have been viewed 300 million times since the trailer was released a month ago."

What Is M3GAN About?

You can read the official synopsis for M3GAN here: "M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child's greatest companion and a parent's greatest ally. Designed by brilliant toy-company roboticist Gemma (Get Out's Allison Williams), M3GAN can listen and watch and learn as she becomes friend and teacher, playmate and protector, for the child she is bonded to. When Gemma suddenly becomes the caretaker of her orphaned 8-year-old niece, Cady (Violet McGraw, The Haunting of Hill House), Gemma's unsure and unprepared to be a parent. Under intense pressure at work, Gemma decides to pair her M3GAN prototype with Cady in an attempt to resolve both problems -- a decision that will have unimaginable consequences."

Stay tuned for more updates about the M3GAN sequel. In the meantime, the first film is currently available to watch on Amazon's Prime Video.

Nicolas Cage has over 110 acting credits to his name with many famous films under his belt. Last year, the actor played himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent which sparked a lot of conversations about his career and his favorite projects from his filmography. Cage's next film is Dream Scenario, which sees him playing a professor named Paul Matthews who goes viral when he starts to appear in people's dreams. Of course, Cage is no stranger to being popular online. During a recent interview with The Guardian, the actor opened up about becoming a meme.

"I got into acting because I was moved by film performance more than any other art form. I didn't get into movies to become a meme," Cage explained. "That was new. I made friends with it but it was an adjustment. I thought maybe they would compel someone to go back and look at the movies. But I had no control over it. The same thing happens with Paul in Dream Scenario: he has no control over this inexplicable phenomenon."

Nicolas Cage Reacts To His Cameo in The Flash:

In another interview with Yahoo Movies, Cage talked about his brief cameo in The Flash earlier this year and addressed director Tim Burton's recent comments about AI. Back in the '90s, Burton almost directed Cage as Superman.

"First and foremost, I was on set," Cage explained. "They did put a lot of time into building the suit ... and I think [Andy Muschietti] is a terrific director, he is a great guy and a great director, and I loved his two It movies. ... What I was supposed to do was literally just be standing in an alternate dimension, if you will, and witnessing the destruction of the universe. Kal-El was bearing witness [to] the end of a universe, and you can imagine with that short amount of time that I had, what that would mean in terms of what I can convey. I had no dialogue [so had to] convey with my eyes the emotion. So that's what I did. I was on set for maybe three hours."

"When I went to the picture, it was me fighting a giant spider. I did not do that. That was not what I did. I don't think it was [created by] AI. I know Tim [Burton] is upset about AI, as I am. It was CGI, OK, so that they could de-age me, and I'm fighting a spider. I didn't do any of that, so I don't know what happened there," Cage continued.

"I get where Tim's coming from. I know what he means. I would be very unhappy if people were taking my art ... and appropriating them. I get it. I mean, I'm with him in that regard," Cage added. "AI is a nightmare to me. It's inhumane. You can't get more inhumane than artificial intelligence."

Cage continued, "But I don't think it [was] AI [in The Flash]. I just think that they did something with it, and again, it's out of my control. I literally went to shoot a scene for maybe an hour in the suit, looking at the destruction of a universe and trying to convey the feelings of loss and sadness and terror in my eyes. That's all I did."

Dream Scenario is heading to theaters on November 10th.

007: Road to a Million star Brian Cox says that he's "always wanted to play a Bond villain." In a new piece with Variety, the Succession star explains his role in the Prime Video reality series. Cox plays the game master for a group of fans who are charged with completing challenges based on the James Bond franchise. It's all wild stunts and pulse-pounding trials, the exact stuff you expect from a show with 007 in the title. But, this is a funny moment for the actor who had dreams of being on the big screen opposite the titular spy. When asked why he signed on to 007: Road to a Million, Cox joked, "They paid me an enormous amount of money. And that's always attractive."

"I thought 'Oh, 007, finally,'" he mused. "I should have realized that we haven't got a new James Bond so why would they be casting a villain? But I thought: 'This might be my big moment to play a Bond villain.' I've always wanted to play a Bond villain."

The New 007 Show Trailer Highlight Brian Cox

007: Road to A Million shines a spot on Cox as he slides into the role of the mastermind villain. Now, that's a little bit different from his last role that TV fans absolutely loved. Succession was a massive cultural moment for prestiege TV watchers. However, this type of evil is on a completely different path. With all these people hopeful for their chance at a massive cash prize, it's up to Cox and his increasingly dire challenges to stand in the way. If it weren't bad enough to be battling a Bond villain, they other competitors aren't going to sit down and just let you run away with the prize either.

Prime Video provided a synopsis of the show: "007: Road to a Million will see contestants competing in teams of two on a global adventure to win the ultimate prize of up to ?1 million. Filmed in iconic Bond locations - from the Scottish Highlands to Venice and Jamaica - this cinematic format will be a test of intelligence, endurance and heroism. In addition to conquering obstacles, the contestants, who will compete in two-person teams, must correctly answer questions hidden in the different locations around the world to advance to the next challenge."

"The Controller revels in the increasingly difficult journeys and questions the contestants must overcome. He has millions of pounds to give away, but he doesn't make it easy. Whilst he lurks in the shadows, he is watching and controlling everything."

Is There More James Bond TV Coming?

As 007: Road to a Million begins, there have been observers wondering if more James Bond TV is on the way. Well, according to Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, that's not in the plans a this current time. In a conversation with The Guardian, she explained MGM's vision for the franchise. When it comes to 007, they believe the spy is basically more well-suited to the big screen. That's not to say they won't find inventive ways to get the brand into smaller projects. But, you can probably retire those hopes of a James Bond limited series anytime soon.

"Our focus is making the feature films. When we get going on a Bond movie it takes our full attention for three or four years so that's our focus," Broccoli said when asked about 007's TV future. "We make the Bond movies for the big theatrical screen and everything about the Bond movies is for audiences to see around the world on that format, so we've not wanted to do television."

Do you think Cox would be a good Bond villain? Let us know in the comments!

Albert Hughes revealed why he passed on Marvel Studios' Blade during a recent podcast appearance. The Continental director spoke to Josh Horowitz about the Blade movie on Happy, Sad, Confused. When discussing the project, he said that the studio mandates and requests might have overwhelmed his vision for Blade. Basically, signing up for a Marvel project essentially gives you a lot of clout. But, with that notoriety comes some control concessions. Kevin Feige and the producers have certain asks of each project and the creatives in charge have to work together to achieve that vision along with their own hopes and desires for individual heroes. Check out what Hughes had to say below!

The director began, "I've been in talks with the obvious studio about superhero movies a couple of times, but I always felt uncomfortable because I knew it was a system. And they're very nice, and I went through a long process. In fact, I broke down all their movies and put them in a spreadsheet and broke down the box office, watching the title scores, where the VFX ranks, I had to do a deep dive on them."

"And I got, halfway, not very close, halfway through the process, and I go, 'No, I would implode from the kind of controlled nature of that world and not being able to do what I do.' And I don't understand why a real filmmaker would want to be in that system," he added. "I understand why up-and-comers would, which they do a good job of. finding people at the right time. But I think I would implode."

The Marvels Director Nia DaCosta Reflects On The Marvel Experience

The Marvels drops in just a few short days and Nia DaCosta is behind the camera for that Marvel Studios movie. She talked to Vanity Fair about some of the same concerns that Hughes shared. A lot of film fans believe that the individual directors have little to no input on the final product when it comes to the MCU. DaCosta argues that this isn't the case. But, she also had to acknowledge that producers like Kevin Feige are going to have requests that necessitate you to really be flexible when making movies of this size and scope.

The studio encouraged her to talk to other Marvel directors about their experience. Black Panther filmmaker Ryan Coogler simply told her to be herself, and she had a fun response to that. "I said, 'Ryan, what are you talking about?'" DaCosta said. He would explain, "You can't do anything but be yourself, so bring that to the table. They can choose to take some and leave some, but that's what your job is."

"It is a Kevin Feige production, it's his movie," DaCosta continued. "So I think you live in that reality, but I tried to go in with the knowledge that some of you is going to take a back seat."

What's Going On With Blade?

Well, the movie is still in development. Blade recently changed writers and directors after it became clear that Marvel Studios wanted something different with their approach. Now, Yann Demange will be in charge of the vampire hunter's big solo movie. MCU fans will remember we've already heard Mahershala Ali's Blade back in Eternals. Producer Nate Moore walked ComicBook.com's Phase Zero through the story of how that happened last year.

"[Blade] was [part of the scene] for reasons hopefully that would become apparent as you see more things, but [Mahershal Ali] wasn't there on the day," Eternals producer Nate Moore told our panel. "And we talked about two versions of that, one where we would cut to him and one where we wouldn't. 'How textual do you want it to be?' And again, it was more just for the fun of it, to tease it a little bit, to hear the voice and not see the man. He was game to do it. Because the Ebony Blade, the characteristics of the Ebony Blade are not dissimilar to some degree to vampirism and we think that's an interesting kind of thing to play with. So, we kind of knew that was on the table."

Do you agree with the director about Marvel movies? Let us know in the comments!

Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon hasn't debuted yet, and the Justice League director is already putting some ambitious world-building plans in motion across multiple mediums. Snyder will direct the Rebel Moon movies -- once a single film but now split into two parts, with Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire debuting later this year and Rebel Moon: Part Two - The Scargiver following in 2024, and plans in place to make it a trilogy. In October, Titan Comics revealed its upcoming Rebel Moon prequel comic. Snyder now tells Total Film that he has additional plans for an animated series, "animated comic book," and podcast series all set in Rebel Moon's universe.

"I'm the gatekeeper for what's possible. I'm the only one who knows where the whole story is going, and I do have it mapped all the way," Snyder tells the magazine. "We're doing a narrative podcast, and an animated comic book, and an animated series. They all take place before the events of the movie. So you can start to understand the vastness of the mythology that we've been working on."

Rebel Moon co-writer Kurt Johnstad notes how detailed and well-documented Snyder's fiction universe is already. "The world is very, very detailed and fleshed out," he said. "There's hundreds and hundreds of pages of documents of methodology and mythology and lore. The timeline goes back 800 years, from our movies."

These are but the latest franchise expansion plans that Snyder has mentioned for Rebel Moon. He's previously hinted at a Rebel Moon video game project being in the works, a four-player action/RPG exclusive to Netflix's subscribers (the Rebel Moon movies will stream on Netflix). He's also said there are plans for a television series about Regent Balisarius, the tyrant, played by Fra Fee, who rules Rebel Moon's Imperium. A novelization of the first Rebel Moon movie is also in the works, written by V. Castro and published by Titan. Meanwhile, a canceled Rebel Moon tabletop RPG led to a lawsuit against Netflix.

Will there be a Rebel Moon director's cut?

Snyder will also stick to form, with plans for a Rebel Moon director's cut already in his mind. "I can't help myself," Snyder "The hope is for it to come out down the road. It was cool because I think the one thing with Netflix was coming off Justice League, and look, I've done since Dawn of the Dead, I did a Director's Cut for Dawn... Watchmen. I have two, there's two Director's Cuts, which is crazy. Yeah, BvS, of course, is one of my favorites, of course. And Justice League, that goes without saying. And so, it was just cool in the initial conversation I was having with Netflix about just this concept of them saying like, 'Oh, well, why don't we make it part of the plan?' That makes it a lot easier.

"There's a great history of director's cuts that are just cool. When I was in film school, I just always thought that was cool that there was this other movie that you could discover. And so, for me, there's a lot of... When you make a movie, you have a lot of voices in your own creative mind telling you what would be narratively just the strongest solution. And then, you have this other tug on you. I do anyway, that is like, 'Well, what if there's rabbit holes that are really amazing to go down and just kind of learn about different aspects of the characters?' For me, those have always been a thing that in the drawing when I draw the scenes or when I am writing the script, I always end up with a lot of that stuff that I feel like really tells the sort of deeper dive story."

Who is in the Rebel Moon cast and when is the release date?

Rebel Moon stars Sofia Boutella as Kora, Charlie Hunnam as Kai, Michiel Huisman as Gunnar, Djimon Hounsou as General Titus, Doona Bae as Nemesis, Ray Fisher as Darrian Bloodaxe, Cleopatra Coleman as Devra Bloodaxe, Jena Malone as Harmada, Fra Fee as Regent Belisarius, Ed Skrein as Admiral Atticus Noble, and Anthony Hopkins as the voice of Jimmy. Snyder directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Johnstad.

Rebel Moon will have a limited theatrical release on December 15th before making its streaming debut on Netflix on December 22nd. Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver will debut on April 19, 2024.

The Marvels director Nia DaCosta was reportedly "very much involved" during post-production on the Marvel Studios film. Collider reported that DaCosta actually stared involved in the editing process while being in London for her next project. A recent piece from Variety claimed that The Marvels' director basically took off the first chance that she could have. But, these new details from Collider paint a different picture. While working on her next project, Hedda starring MCU favorite Tessa Thompson, DaCosta moved to London. From there, she helped with the film through post-production as questions and decisions arose. So, it seems as though that bombshell Marvel report has some interesting cracks.

Other parts of the Variety article that have been refuted in recent days include the comments from an unnamed source about Marvel Studios' Blade movie. One of the project's former writers said on Twitter that he had never heard of a script where Blade was playing second (or really third?) fiddle to some other women characters in the movie. A lot of fan reacted with outrage to the claims that a Blade movie wouldn't center the main character. However, the writer's comments throw that report into question. As the new cycle around Marvel continues to percolate, patience might just win out in this wild environment where everyone is competing for eyeballs.

Nia DaCosta Has Been Happy With The Marvel Experience

DaCosta has had to do a lot of the promotional heavy-lifting around The Marvels. With the writers' strike still going on, Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani can't really speak on the film like a normal Marvel press tour. So, the director has had to give her comments. Vanity Fair asked DaCosta about her experience working with Marvel Studios. The clear respect from other industry professionals during production is something that surprised her and made this who task easier. The Marvels director remembered moments on the Candyman set where people said, "things that are super inappropriate, that you would just never say to anyone else because they were so specific to my gender, my race, my age."

"I realized it wasn't ever gonna be about how much power I amassed or how many great movies I made, or if I won awards, it was always just going to be the people that I surrounded myself with," DaCosta added. "The thing that I've been most surprised by lately is how much respect I'm getting from these middle-aged white dudes that I work with."

The Marvels Hits Theaters Extremely Soon

In The Marvels, which arrives in theaters on November 10th, Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson ) has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan, Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani ) aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol's estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris ). Together, this unlikely trio must team-up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as "The Marvels."

The Marvels will also see the franchise returns of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury , Saagar Shaikh as Aamir Khan, Zenobia Shroff as Muneeba Khan, and Mohan Kapur as Yusuf Khan. New cast members include Zawe Ashton , Park Seo-joon, and Shamier Anderson . Produced by Marvel Studios , The Marvels is directed by Nia DaCosta with a script from DaCosta, Megan McDonnell, and Elissa Karasik.

Are you excited about The Marvels? Let us know in the comments!

Barbie easily became one of the biggest movies of this year, grossing over $1 billion at the global box office and sparking countless trends. The film sported an ensemble cast portraying a number of Barbies and Kens, and it sounds like Barbie director and co-writer Greta Gerwig had a unique reaction to one cast member's performance. In a recent interview on Variety's Awards Circuit Podcast, Gerwig praised Kingsley Ben-Adir's work in one of the film's final scenes, in which he turns to address the crowd at Barbieland. According to Gerwig, her direction to Ben-Adir was to "ascend the throne," and she feels that his performance was a perfect audition for him to potentially play James Bond.

"Everybody's jaws dropped," Gerwig explained. "I was like, get this footage to whoever is making James Bond immediately."

Will There Be a Barbie Sequel?

According to a recent report from The Hollywood Reporter, there are currently no options or deals in place for Gerwig and stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling to return for a Barbie sequel. Robbie, in particular, is reportedly not obligated to return to her role of Stereotypical Barbie, but could return as a producer on a Barbie sequel if she wanted to.

As the report outlines, Warner Bros. Pictures "made overtures" about Gerwig possibly returning to direct a Barbie sequel, but her team delayed those talks until the first film's debut. With negotiations around new projects on hold until the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are over, there's a chance that Gerwig, Robbie, and Gosling could return for a new Barbie movie -- but they would probably have to negotiate much more lucrative contracts, in response to the film's box office performance. Gerwig has indicated that she currently does not have any ideas for a sequel film.

"At this moment, it's all I've got," Gerwig revealed. "I feel like that at the end of every movie, like I'll never have another idea and everything I've ever wanted to do, I did. I wouldn't want to squash anybody else's dream but for me, at this moment, I'm at totally zero."

Who Will Be the Next James Bond?

At the moment, an actor for the upcoming reboot of James Bond has yet to be cast. According to franchise producer Barbara Broccoli, the task of finding a successor to Daniel Craig's Bond is not easy.

"I go back to GoldenEye when everyone was saying 'the cold war is over, the wall is over, Bond is dead, no need for Bond, the whole world's at peace and now there's no villains' - and boy was that wrong!" Broccoli explained earlier this year. "Daniel gave us the ability to mine the emotional life of the character ... and also the world was ready for it. I think these movies reflect the time they are in, and there's a big, big road ahead reinventing it for the next chapter and we haven't even begun with that."

Would you want to see Kingsley Ben-Adir be the next James Bond? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

The Multiverse Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is beginning to encompass an ever-growing number of stories, which have been told both in movies and in original programming on Disney+. One facet of the franchise that fans have been eager to see onscreen is Blade -- but unfortunately, it has crossed an unusual milestone. At San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Marvel Studios' Blade reboot was announced to be released in theaters this weekend, on Friday, November 3, 2023. Obviously, that has yet to come to pass, with the film ultimately being delayed to a current release date of February 14, 2025.

At the time of this writing, Blade has not yet started production, with a director change, a number of writers changes, and a shutdown due to this year's writers' strike and actors' strike. Earlier this week, a report from Variety shed light on some of the narrative iterations Blade has gone through, with a report indicating that one version had the titular character as a supporting character of a female-led ensemble. The report hints that Marvel hopes to make the film for a budget of less than $100 million.

Just announced in Hall H:

Marvel Studios' Blade, in theaters November 3, 2023. #SDCC2022 pic.twitter.com/EPEOPT8cH9

-- Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) July 24, 2022

What Is Marvel's Blade Reboot About?

Blade will star Mahershala Ali as Eric Brooks, a half-vampire "Daywalker" who moonlights as a vampire hunter. Ma Goth, Delroy Lindo, Aaron Pierre, and Milan Ray have all been attached to the film. The film will tentatively be Ali's second appearance in the MCU, after his voice was heard in the post-credits scene of 2021's Eternals.

"[Blade] was [part of the scene] for reasons hopefully that would become apparent as you see more things, but [Mahershal Ali] wasn't there on the day," Eternals producer Nate Moore previously told ComicBook.com's Phase Zero podcast. "And we talked about two versions of that, one where we would cut to him and one where we wouldn't. 'How textual do you want it to be?' And again, it was more just for the fun of it, to tease it a little bit, to hear the voice and not see the man. He was game to do it. Because the Ebony Blade, the characteristics of the Ebony Blade are not dissimilar to some degree to vampirism and we think that's an interesting kind of thing to play with. So, we kind of knew that was on the table."

What do you think of the newest update surrounding Marvel's Blade reboot? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Blade is currently set to be released exclusively in theaters on September 6, 2024.

Terrifier 2 set the box office on fire in a way that made it one of the biggest surprises of the year, and the wait for Terrifier 3 just got shorter. Director Damien Leone and Bloody Disgusting confirmed the news, revealing that the Terrifier 3 release date will be October 25, 2024. Though Terrifier 3 will debut in theaters in time for Halloween, the slasher sequel will actually be set at Christmas time, joining a rare collection of holiday-themed horrors that we can enjoy in October and in December. Currently no other movies are scheduled to be released in theaters on October 25, 2024, but the untitled Smile sequel is set to arrive the week before, October 18, 2024.

"Terrifier 2's remarkable success was driven not only by the insatiable appetite for new and thrilling horror icons like Art the Clown but also by its unparalleled theatrical release and marketing, along with its unyielding spirit," Leone said in a statement about Terrifier 3's release date. "In a cinematic landscape where risk-taking is scarce, I will continue to push boundaries in Terrifier 3, and I can't wait for you to see what's in store for Art the Clown."

"It achieved revenues of roughly 60 times the production cost and was powered almost exclusively by social marketing," Cineverse chairman and CEO Chris McGurk previously said of Terrifier 3. "We are thrilled that Damien and Phil have chosen to stay true to the franchise and keep the film uncut and independent vs. going the studio route. We aim to make this film the centerpiece of our releasing strategy which is focused on creator-friendly collaboration to generate fan-favorite franchises and remakes that work theatrically and drive streaming subscription revenues."

Terrifier 2 arrived in 2022 having been made on just a $250,000 budget, slicing open the box office and bringing in over $11 million thanks to its release strategy. This major success was a shock to non-genre fans since the film had no known stars in the cast, a limited marketing budget, and its content lacked mainstream appeal due to the very graphic nature of the film's gore. That success paved the way for the third movie though, and potentially a fourth one too.

In a previous interview with Variety, Leone teased that he'd been considering the plot for Terrifier 3 while working on the second film. "There are so many questions brought up in 'Part 2' that are not answered, and that was part of the design because I know I'm going into a 'Part 3,'" Leone said. "I pretty much have the entire treatment ready for ' Part 3,' but it's getting so big that it could potentially split into a ' Part 4' because I wouldn't want to make another 2 hour 20 minute movie. So we'll see."

How to Train Your Dragon has grown to be one of the most beloved animated franchises of the 21st century, combining a fantasy setting with lovable characters. A live-action remake of the saga has been reported to be in the works for the better part of a year -- but now, it looks like we'll have to wait a bit longer to see it. According to a new report from Deadline, Universal and Dreamworks have now delayed the live-action How to Train Your Dragon from March 14, 2025 to June 13, 2025. The decision was reportedly made due to the still-ongoing SAG-AFTRA actors' strike, which has delayed the start of filming.

Who Stars in the Live-Action How to Train Your Dragon?

Earlier this year, it was announced that Mason Thames and Nico Parker have been cast as the lead roles of Hiccup and Astrid in How to Train Your Dragon. Thames is best known for starring in The Black Phone, as well as stints on Walker and For All Mankind. Parker portrayed Sarah Miller in the premiere episode of HBO's The Last of Us, and also had roles in Dumbo and The Third Day.

The live-action How to Train Your Dragon will be written, directed, and produced by Dean DeBlois, who will be making his live-action debut after spearheading much of the animated franchise. Marc Platt, whose work includes Legally Blonde and the studio's upcoming Wicked movie, will be producing.

What Are the How to Train Your Dragon Movies About?

This will be the first instance of an animated DreamWorks franchise being carried over into live-action. Loosely based on the books of Cressida Cowell, the How to Train Your Dragon franchise spanned three films from 2010 to 2019, which starred Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, and Craig Ferguson. It also led to multiple short films and television spinoffs including DreamWorks Dragons, DreamWorks Dragons: Rescue Rider, and DreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms.

"We definitely wanted it to feel hopeful but also conclusive," DeBlois previously said of a potential reboot. "And I think what we tried to do was deliver a satisfying ending that ultimately meant that Hiccup and Toothless would go their separate ways, but also reassure the audience it was for the best, that we see them thrive in their adulthood. For me it's a satisfying end, and that was the intention, to really kind of bring it back to the disappearance of dragons and having them kind of fall away into legend, but we the audience kind of know they're still around. And beyond that, I don't own the franchise, so I think if Dreamworks wanted to open it up again at some point, I would hope that it a different timeline, different characters, with the Hiccup/Toothless story remained intact."

What do you think of the live-action How to Train Your Dragon getting delayed? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

The ComicBook Nation Crew breaks down Marvel's ECHO trailer and asks the hard question: Can the MCU recover from the multiple disasters detailed in a new report? Is Loki Season 2 Episode 5 a hopeful indicator that the series will end strong and make this Multiverse Saga make sense?

PLUS: Amazon Prime Video's Gen V hits its finale just as Invincible Season 2 premieres - and we look back at It Follows ten years later as a sequel, They Follow, is announced!

Invincible Season 2 Part 1 Review

ComicBook Nation Guest-host Logan Moore had the following to say in his Invincible Season 2 review:

The first four episodes of Invincible Season 2 feel like they barely scratch the surface of where this series is heading. In fact, the long wait between Episode 4 and 5 is likely the biggest problem that I have with Season 2 so far, as I would have preferred to see all of these episodes release in one go. Despite this, Invincible continues to be one of the best and most unique superhero shows around and almost certainly won't disappoint those who have been counting down the days until its return.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

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The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is heading to theaters this month, and it marks the fifth film of the franchise to be produced by Nina Jacobson. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to chat with Jacobson about the upcoming prequel, and she opened up about the casting process and the importance of finding the right people to play younger versions of known characters as well as new characters who are related to known characters. Jacobson also spoke about the lessons she learned from the previous films that she carried into this one.

"Well, I think what we've learned from the beginning is that Suzanne [Collins] gives us an incredible blueprint as a storyteller," Jacobson said of The Hunger Games author. "She writes from theme and character, and you know what is critical to her is always sort of critical to the movie, and so there's that side of it, which is just knowing that if I keep turning to her and keep reading the book and looking deeper in the book, we'll find the answers we need. And she's also great... She's not slavish in the adaptation. She knows that there are things that have to go, and so trying to make sure that even so, when you're compressing an act, how do you make sure that these characters really have enough time together and that you're not repeating a beat? Because there's new information in different scenes."

Jacobson continued, "And so in the beginning of the book, there's a lot more back and forth. You can't kind of keep back and forthing in a movie, so how do you hold on to what really matters? Just for me, following Suzanne's lead and also not being afraid of the themes, letting the themes really percolate, and also giving audiences a chance to not necessarily agree with each other, to kind of take different things from it, to have different ideas about the relationship of the characters and to hope that you've given people a complex enough movie that they might all have their own experience and not some unilateral intended experience."

Who Stars In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes?

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes stars Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow, Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, Viola Davis as Head Gamemaker Volumnia Gaul, Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom, Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman, Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow, and Josh Andr?s Rivera as Sejanus Plinth.

The movie will also include Fionnula Flanagan as Grandma'am, young Coriolanus Snow's grandmother. Isobel Jesper Jones is playing Mayfair Lipp, the daughter of the mayor of District 12. Honor Gillies will be making her professional acting debut as Barb Azure. Eike Onyambu has been cast as Tam Amber, Konstantin Taffet will be playing Clerk Carmine, Burn Gorman is Commander Hoff, Scott Folan is Beanpole, Carl Spencer is Smiley, and Michael Greco and Daniela Grubert have been cast as Strabo Plinth and Mrs. Plinth, the wealthy parents to Sejanus Plinth, Coriolanus's best friend. Nick Benson, Laurel Marsden, Lilly Cooper, Luna Steeples, and Hiroki Berrecboth are also a part of the cast.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set to open in theaters on November 17th. You can watch our interview with Jacobson at the top of the page.

Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy is pointing to Star Wars as a major source of inspiration for what he hopes to achieve in his Deadpool and Wolverine team-up film. In a new interview, Levy talks about a specific moment in Star Wars - specifically in the third Original Trilogy film Return of the Jedi - that captured his imagination and inspired his goals as a director:

"I went to the theater again and again to see Return of the Jedi. I vividly remember the scene in which Luke is hiding from Vader in the Emperor's room and Vader gives the speech that ends with 'If you will not turn to the dark side, then perhaps your sister will.' It was dead quiet. Pin-drop silence. Suddenly Vader has pushed the wrong button. Luke comes screaming out of the shadows and just goes to town in a lightsaber battle against Vader. The way that felt: The forty seconds of stillness from the audience, then the spectacle and emotion, is seared not just in my eyeballs but in my heart..."

Levy went on to tease Esquire with exactly how he's now incorporating that scene from Return of the Jedi into Deadpool 3:

"I'm now making Deadpool 3, the production of which was paused because of the actors' strike. For one key scene in the movie, I said to my stunt and action team, 'Guys, this is the Jedi moment.' I pulled up that scene of Vader and Luke on my phone and restudied how it was photographed, how it was blocked, the framing, the tempo. The keen Star Wars fan will see the shot in my Deadpool movie that was inspired by a moment that I saw in a theater decades ago. That's a forever memory. And that's a treasure."

In recent weeks Levy has said a very interesting mix of things about Deadpool 3: he's confirmed the movie is 'very much part of the MCU,' but that it will still have a hard-R rating and the meta-humor that fans of the Deadpool movie franchise expect. At the same time, Levy also says that Deadpool 3 has a "F-kload more" heart than most Marvel fans would expect. If that all wasn't enough, Levy has teased that Deadpool 3 has landed some epic cameos - with many Marvel fans wondering if Taylor Swift isn't going to finally make that appearance as Dazzler.

For now, Deadpool 3 has lost its original release date of Feburary 2024. No new release date has been decided.

Timoth?e Chalamet's Wonka is tracking for a surprisingly low opening at the box office. New estimates around the Paul King-directed project had Chalamet's latest weighing in somewhere around $20 million according to Deadline. Wonka hits theaters on December 15th and there's some time for box office estimates to improve. One thing definitely in Wonka's favorite as the weeks go by is that popular IP that forms the bedrock of what Warner Bros. is trying to do as a business right now. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory will ring some bells when more people see the trailer. That and the brand awareness could end up going a long way next month.

Chalamet himself might end up being a bit of a boost for Wonka as the star is going to be around in pop culture a lot this month. There's a GQ cover planned and a guest-host stint on Saturday Night Live to weigh as well. Even though, currently, the actors' strike is ongoing, there is optimism that it could resolve in the next week or so. That might even open the door for some press interviews surrounding Wonka. Chalamet's other high-profile part this fall was pushed to 2024 because of the strike. So, Dune fans looking forward to Dune 2 got burned there. Hopefully, Wonka works out better.

What's New With Wonka?

One of the fun parts about other Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory adaptations is the music. And, Wonka doesn't disappoint in that regard according to the director. He spoke to Total Film about Chalamet's singing voice and what fans can expect on that front. If these comments are to be believed, the young star has the goods.

"[Chalamet]'s got a beautiful singing voice," King explained. "The person it reminded me of was Bing Crosby. There's quite a range, because it does go from a couple of bigger, showstopper-y sort of things, to moments of real, pure emotion and he can do it all... I'm going to sound like a crazed fan."

"The Oompa Loompas sing a lot in the book, and Roald Dahl always uses poetry," King responded to questions about Wonka being a musical. "But I didn't want it to just become a musical where people are singing dialogue to each other for no discernible reason. I felt like it was more like a movie with songs than a musical."

What's Wonka About?

"From Paul King, writer/director of the "Paddington" films, David Heyman, producer of "Harry Potter," "Gravity," "Fantastic Beasts" and "Paddington," and producers Alexandra Derbyshire (the "Paddington" films, "Jurassic World: Dominion") and Luke Kelly ("Roald Dahl's The Witches"), comes an intoxicating mix of magic and music, mayhem and emotion, all told with fabulous heart and humor. Starring Timoth?e Chalamet in the title role, this irresistibly vivid and inventive big screen spectacle will introduce audiences to a young Willy Wonka, chock-full of ideas and determined to change the world one delectable bite at a time-proving that the best things in life begin with a dream, and if you're lucky enough to meet Willy Wonka, anything is possible."

"Starring alongside Chalamet are Calah Lane ("The Day Shall Come"), Emmy and Peabody Award winner Keegan-Michael Key ("The Prom," "Schmigadoon"), Paterson Joseph ("Vigil," "Noughts + Crosses"), Matt Lucas ("Paddington," "Little Britain"), Mathew Baynton ("The Wrong Mans," "Ghosts"), Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins ("The Shape of Water," the "Paddington" films, "Spencer"), Rowan Atkinson (the "Johnny English" and "Mr. Bean" films, "Love Actually"), Jim Carter ("Downton Abbey"), with Oscar winner Olivia Colman ("The Favourite," "The Lost Daughter") and Hugh Grant ("Paddington 2," "A Very English Scandal"). The film also stars Natasha Rothwell ("White Lotus," "Insecure"), Rich Fulcher ("Marriage Story," "Disenchantment"), Rakhee Thakrar ("Sex Education," "Four Weddings and a Funeral"), Tom Davis ("Paddington 2," "King Gary") and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith ("Paddington 2," "Zack Snyder's Justice League," "Mary Poppins Returns")."

Are you excited for Wonka? Let us know in the comments!

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is heading to theaters this month, and it's based on Suzanne Collins' book of the same name. Every film from the series has been adapted from her stories, which has some fans wondering if she plans to write more. The new film follows 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) before he becomes the tyrannical president of Panem, which means the story takes place 64 years before The Hunger Games. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to interview Francis Lawrence who directed the upcoming film in addition to Catching Fire, Mockingjay - Part 1, and Mockingjay - Part 2. We asked if there are any more stories from The Hunger Games universe he'd like to see brought to life.

"I don't know," Lawrence began. "I think what I've always been interested in is the way that Suzanne writes from a thematic foundation. The original series is about consequence of war, many facets of those themes. This really is about the sort of 'state of nature' debate. And so I think if she were to come up with something else, I'm less interested in where it takes place within the world of Panem and even who the characters are, as long as it has that thematic foundation. And I know if Suzanne does it, it'll have it."

During our chat with Lawrence, the director also talked about adapting the longest book in Collins' best-selling franchise.

"I don't think it was really anything that we fought to keep in," Lawrence shared. "I think the trick was figuring out how to keep as much of the information in the story as possible, but we had to compress it because this is the longest book in the series. And so making sure that we can get it down to a feature-length, that was just the tricky part."

You can watch our interview with Lawrence at the top of the page.

Who Stars In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes?

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes stars Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow, Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, Viola Davis as Head Gamemaker Volumnia Gaul, Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom, Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman, Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow, and Josh Andr?s Rivera as Sejanus Plinth.

The movie will also include Fionnula Flanagan as Grandma'am, young Coriolanus Snow's grandmother. Isobel Jesper Jones is playing Mayfair Lipp, the daughter of the mayor of District 12. Honor Gillies will be making her professional acting debut as Barb Azure. Eike Onyambu has been cast as Tam Amber, Konstantin Taffet will be playing Clerk Carmine, Burn Gorman is Commander Hoff, Scott Folan is Beanpole, Carl Spencer is Smiley, and Michael Greco and Daniela Grubert have been cast as Strabo Plinth and Mrs. Plinth, the wealthy parents to Sejanus Plinth, Coriolanus's best friend. Nick Benson, Laurel Marsden, Lilly Cooper, Luna Steeples, and Hiroki Berrecboth are also a part of the cast.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set to open in theaters on November 17th.

The Hunger Games prequel novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the longest book in the series, which means that the movie adaptation earned the longest run time in the franchise. The amount of material The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes covers is so dense, in fact, that director Francis Lawrence briefly toyed with the idea of breaking up the material into two films. He only briefly toyed with this idea, however, as he had regretted the decision to split the events of the final book, Mockingjay, into the two movies The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 and Part 2. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes hits theaters on November 17th.

"There was, like, one second where I thought, 'Do we do two movies?'" Lawrence revealed to Entertainment Weekly. "I decided, no, we're not going down that road again."

Franchise producer Nina Jacobson added, "The length was daunting," though admitted that the story "really goes by so fast."

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes follows a young Coriolanus (Tom Blyth) who is the last hope for his failing lineage, the once-proud Snow family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With his livelihood threatened, Snow is reluctantly assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a tribute from the impoverished District 12. But after Lucy Gray's charm captivates the audience of Panem, Snow sees an opportunity to shift their fates. With everything he has worked for hanging in the balance, Snow unites with Lucy Gray to turn the odds in their favor. Battling his instincts for both good and evil, Snow sets out on a race against time to survive and reveal if he will ultimately become a songbird or a snake.

When the Mockingjay films were released, it was part of a trend of YA adaptations, as the final Harry Potter story and final Twilight story were both broken up into two parts. The filmmaker even expressed his regret over breaking up the story, or at least including something of a cliffhanger at the end of Mockingjay - Part 1.

"I totally regret it. I totally do. I'm not sure everybody does, but I definitely do," Lawrence revealed to PEOPLE. "What I realized in retrospect -- and after hearing all the reactions and feeling the kind of wrath of fans, critics, and people at the split -- is that I realized it was frustrating. And I can understand it. In an episode of television, if you have a cliffhanger, you have to wait a week or you could just binge it and then you can see the next episode. But making people wait a year, I think, came across as disingenuous, even though it wasn't ... Our intentions were not to be disingenuous."

He continued, "In truth, we got more on the screen out of the book than we would've in any of the other movies because you're getting close to four hours of screen time for the final book. But ... I see and understand how it frustrated people."

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes hits theaters on November 17th.

Do you wish the book was broken up into two parts? Let us know in the comments!

With the Highlander franchise spanning multiple movies, TV shows, animated series, comics, and other mediums, there's a lot of lore that has already been explored in the concept, with different elements resonating with different audiences. For the upcoming reboot of the premise from director Chad Stahelski, one of the key concepts will be the idea of immortality, with the filmmaker expressing how those ideas will offer "existential" storytelling opportunities in his revival. Despite how much people love all the sword fighting in the franchise, Stahelski thinks that grappling with mortality is something the series has yet to fully embrace to its maximum potential.

"If you're a fan at all, you know about the TV shows and the mythology there, the things that worked in the feature aspect of the franchise, what didn't. I would like to think that it has -- I guess, I hope I'm bringing to it the realization of the potential that we all see in that franchise," Stahleski expressed to Screen Rant. "Now, we probably don't love all the other ancillary stuff that's come out of it, but we love the potential of it. There isn't an episode of the TV show that I didn't watch hoping for more or wanting more. That's not to say they did a good or bad job, just that I want more. For whatever reason, 20 years later, I want more Highlander."

He continued, "I think that franchise with the mythology of people going through the centuries, and the burden of immortality as much as the wish fulfillment of immortality, you know, how you relate to people you love and don't love, both mortal and immortal, and what you can do with that is some of the most romantic, interesting, existential stuff I've ever seen. I think it's a playground for everything that I love about the John Wick series, and everything that I can't do in the John Wick series, because I'm dealing with mortals, so it gives me another realm to play in. So, I just look at it as a natural evolution of worldbuilding and potential behind that is more than any other property that I'm attached to. And I know that, so hopefully, that's where I'll put my energies and whatever talent I have."

The original 1986 movie starred Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, and Clancy Brown, which explored a world in which immortals were hunting each other down in contemporary New York City, with the origins of these warriors going back centuries. While various incarnations of the story resonate with genre audiences, there's a bit of campiness and absurdity present in all corners of the lore, so while the franchise has a passionate following, some fans would argue that no one story has fully lived up to the potential of the premise. Stahelski clearly agrees with that perspective.

Stay tuned for details on the upcoming Highlander reboot, which is set to star Henry Cavill.

Are you looking forward to the reboot? Let us know in the comments!

One of the more effective and minimal horror movie releases of 2022 was Fall, an experience that saw two climbers stranded at the top of a decommissioned radio tower with no access to safety. The thrilling experience proved promising enough that a sequel was announced earlier this year, with The Hollywood Reporter confirming this week that the movie is about to become a trilogy, as a third film has been announced. The outlet also confirmed that, rather than replicating the premise with an entirely new set of characters, the upcoming films could see figures from the debut movie making returns, while also leaving the door open for the debut of new characters. Fall 2 is set to begin shooting in June 2024.

"I am thrilled to be continuing the Fall journey and taking it to the next level," co-writer/director Scott Mann said of the upcoming movies. "We've got a really special cinematic experience planned and I'm immensely grateful to my fellow producers for backing the vision. I'm also excited to be working with new collaborators as well as reuniting with the original gang, and obviously can't wait to be back filming thousands of feet up."

Producer Christian Mercuri added, "These two new sequels are wonderful opportunities to expand on the original. We want to now take the franchise even further as we assemble the very best team and ideas to ensure the next hair-raising, death-defying, and pulse-pounding film to global audiences."

The original Fall is described, "For best friends Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) and Hunter (Virginia Gardner), life is all about conquering fears and pushing limits. But after they climb 2,000 feet to the top of a remote, abandoned radio tower, they find themselves stranded with no way down. Now Becky and Hunter's expert climbing skills will be put to the ultimate test as they desperately fight to survive the elements, a lack of supplies, and vertigo-inducing heights in this adrenaline-fueled thriller from the producers of 47 Meters Down. Costarring Jeffrey Dean Morgan."

Following the reveal of a sequel being developed, star Currey weighed in on possibly returning to the series.

"I am definitely excited about the idea of [returning for a sequel]," Currey shared with The Hollywood Reporter. "It's been a surprise to see how much people love that movie and how it's had a little bit of a wildfire on streaming platforms. And for the first time, people are coming up to me in public and going, 'You look like that girl who was stranded on the tower.' So it's wild, and I don't think we expected it to get such a loving response. It definitely makes us happy just because we didn't think we were gonna have a movie when we were shooting it. It was such a nightmare just trying to get the movie shot."

She continued, "Fall was the most challenging project I've ever worked on in my life, and I've never grown so much from a project. So the idea of getting to return would definitely be really cool, and I'm sure it would try to one-up the first one, which is a little scary to think about."

Stay tuned for updates on the Fall trilogy.

Are you excited that the film will become a trilogy? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

Warner Bros. Discovery announced this week that they will be making changes to ad-free subscriptions to Max, the streaming platform that serves as the home to new HBO and DC content. The announcement, which impacts both the number of users who can share the account as well as the features available, suggests that WBD as a whole wants to move toward a return to ad-supported TV content -- something mirrored elsewhere in the industry, with the rise of FAST (free, ad-supported TV) channels and the inclusion of an ad-supported option on Netflix.

The new changes will mean that users on the standard ad-free tier ($15.99/month) will no longer be able to stream in 4K beginning on their next billing date. The number of allowable concurrent streams will also drop from three to two. These changes were actually announced back when the Ultimate tier was introduced in May, but did not formally go into effect yet. This week's email to customers marks a "point of no return" warning.

"On your next billing date, on or after December 5, 2023, the price of your subscription will stay the same, but some of your plan features will change," an email to Max subscribers reads. "You can still stream all your favorite blockbuster movies, fresh originals and iconic series. Or even switch to the Ultimate Ad-Free plan to unlock more features."

The "Ultimate Ad-Free Plan," which is an extra $5 per month, will not change at this time. Both plans can be purchased at a discounted annual rate, which suggests some users will continue to have their old plan grandfathered in for a while. Don't try to game the system now, though, because "your next billing date" would likely become today. The Ultimate plan also allows for four concurrent streams, so if your Max plan is for a family that's pretty active on the platform, that could quickly become the more desirable tier.

Here's how the pricing tiers for Max break down:

• Max Ad-Lite: ($9.99/month or $99/year) Two concurrent streams, 1080p resolution, no offline downloads, 5.1 surround sound quality
• Max Ad-Free: ($15.99/month or $149.99/year) Two concurrent streams, 1080p resolution, 30 offline downloads, 5.1 surround sound quality
• Max Ultimate Ad-Free: ($19.99/month or $199.99/year) Four concurrent streams, up to 4K UHD resolution, 100 offline downloads, Dolby Atmos sound quality

h/t Variety

Apple TV+ might be bringing giant monster fans back to Legendary Pictures' MonsterVerse this fall thanks to Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, but this isn't the only venture for the lizard king. Next month, Godzilla fans in North America will have the opportunity to watch Godzilla Minus One in theaters. Presenting a killer kaiju that is far from friendly to mankind, a new trailer has arrived that further documents Godzilla's reign of destruction and the humans that are caught in its wake.

Godzilla Minus One won't be bringing back any previous iterations of the giant beast, with the previous entry in Japan being Shin Godzilla. Instead, this story will revolve around a new Godzilla making landfall in Japan shortly following the events of World War 2. The title for the film, "Minus One", refers to the lizard king's path of destruction taking the country even further back as Japan still reels from the destruction left in the wake of the Second World War.

Godzilla Minus One Trailer: Watch

While 2023 has some major projects involving the giant beast, Godzilla will also have a big reunion in 2024. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire will be the next movie created as a part of Legendary's MonsterVerse, and will hit theaters on April 12th, 2024. While Godzilla and Kong were at one another's throats in the first film, it seems as though the two beasts might be joining forces in the face of a new kaiju that just so happens to be a primate, like the ruler of Skull Island. Whether in North America or Japan, Godzilla is taking over the world.

If you want to learn more about Godzilla Minus One, here's how Toho describes the upcoming film that gives us a terrifying new take on the lizard king, "After the war, Japan's economic state has been reduced to zero. Godzilla appears and plunges the country into a negative state." The movie has just arrived in theaters in Japan as of today November 3rd, and will be hitting the silver screen in North America on December 1st.

Which Godzilla project are you most looking forward to in the future? Do you think Godzilla MInus One will live up to its silver screen predecessors such as Shin Godzilla? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of kaiju.

Kendall and Kylie Jenner celebrated Halloween this year with a pair of themed costumes that served as a throwback to their very early childhood. The celebrity spawn dressed up as Sugar and Spice, Two-Face and the Riddler's molls in Batman Forever. The characters, originally played by Drew Barrymore and Debi Mazar, were the angel and devil on the villains' shoulders during the film (and presumably a welcome distraction for Tommy Lee Jones, who reportedly grew frustrated with Jim Carrey's zany antics behind the scenes during the film's production). In the script, the pair were known as "Leather and Lace," an aesthetic that remained even after the name change.

The Jenners shared some photos on Instagram (and a short clip featuring the costumes to TikTok). In the photos, you can get a good sense for how much effort and expense went into the costumes.

You can see a side-by-side comparison of the original movie versions, and the Jenner costumes, below.

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A post shared by Kylie jenner fan page (@kyliecacts)

The characters are part of a long tradition of Batman adaptations bringing on beautiful women to serve in morally gray roles, not too far off from what you might expect from James Bond. After Forever, Schumacher's Batman & Robin featured Vivica A. Fox as Ms. B. Haven, who hung out with Mister Freeze (Arnold Schwazenegger).

Looking back on the movie, Fox said that while she's sorry it didn't resonate better with audiences, she has continued to sign dozens of photos of her Batman and Robin character over the years as fans approach her with 8x10s at the ready.

"I think that was the most popular aspect of the movie -- they liked my costume, and Uma's," Fox joked during a June interview with ComicBook.com.

As for Sugar and Spice, the novelization of Batman Forever reveals that they fled Gotham after their bosses got caught. Presumably, we would have seen that beat take place in the Joel Schumacher cut of the movie; the novelization comes from an earlier draft of the script, and numerous elements that don't make it into the movie, are in the book. While not part of the comic book canon, the characters of Sugar and Spice have since shown up in an Arkhamverse comic, flanking Two-Face in Batman: Arkham City and proving that, in the wide multiverse of DC, almost no characters are truly one-off.

Loki finally gave Mobius a Jet Ski and fans are over the moon with the reveals in Season 2 Episode 5. Loki producer Kevin Wright told Marvel.com about the decision to finally let Owen Wilson's character sit upon his chariot. Over the course of the Disney+ series, Mobius has mentioned jet skis a lot, and ti was finally time to reveal his origin story in Episode 5. Viewers learn that he worked at Piranna Powersports in Cleveland, Ohio selling personal watercraft. Wright and the creative team felt like giving fans a happy moment after all the intensity last week was very important. While Mobius wasn't out on the water, it was a fun scene for fans who have been asking for exactly that kind of nod since Season 1 of Loki. Here's what the producer had to say.

"We knew in the script [the jet ski] was going to be something funny," the Executive Producer told the website. "There was always joke ideas of tags for the end of Season 1 or other things. We knew eventually we were going to have to pay it off, but it was just kind of waiting for the right moment so that it would be its most fulfilling."

"We wanted to find a way to do it in an unexpected way," Wright would continue. "I mean, there's been so much anticipation, and I think we could have just plopped him on a jet ski riding around a lake, and people would have been just as happy. Owen said something really funny, which was he compared it a little bit to an old TV romance -- will they, won't they? He's like, well, the second you do it, the thing kind of is done. So he's like, if we're going to do it now, it's got to be really fun and really unexpected."

Loki Season 2's Best Is Still To Come

According to Loki cinematographer Isaac Bauman, the final episode was "the most meaningful day" on-set. So, he told ComicBook.com to emotionally prepare for these final two episodes. Loki has really been on this massive journey throughout the two seasons. The fact that everyone associated with the show marks the finale so highly should encourage viewers before taking that final leap. Episode 5 did little to dull expectations as the praise is all over social media. Check out what the cinematographer said right here.

"We shot the climactic sequence of the season, at least a major piece of it, the significant piece, on a single day, on a sound stage very near the end of our shoot," Bauman revealed during our interview. "I think it was probably the most meaningful day of the whole production because you could feel just the weight of this story, Loki's story, which has gone on for so long, closing this chapter at least."

"It felt like once we're finished shooting this sequence, we as a crew, as creatives, we have now contributed a very significant chapter in the story of one of the greatest characters of our generation," Bauman continued. "It actually felt that way on set, which is incredible."

What's Hiding In That Finale?

With all that forward momentum, people involved with Loki are saying that Episode 6 will top the explosive Episode 4 and the catharsis of Episode 5. Producer Kevin Wright sat down with Marvel.com to discuss the critical finale episode of the Disney+ series. Episodes 5 has some pretty big reveals and the footage from the most recent trailer is almost all used up. Wright explained how there were even more surprises laying beneath the surface.

"What we always like to do in all of the scripts, and in all of our storytelling, is that thing you think is going to happen in Episode 6, or could happen in the finale or towards the end, what happens if we move that forward? What if we just accelerate all of the storytelling, hit it early," Wright shared.

"I think that's the beauty of Episodes 5 and 6. If people liked Episode 4, I genuinely think 5 and 6 are maybe the two best episodes of the series," Wright mentioned. "They're beautiful and they're profound. They're deeply moving. And we only get to go there because of that story acceleration."

Loki Season 2 Charges Toward A Conclusion?

Marvel Studios fan-favorite Tom Hiddleston stars in Loki Season 2, returning as the titular God of Mischief for another round of time-traveling hijinx on Disney+ on October 6th. Loki is once again joined by Mobius (Owen Wilson) as the two attempt to keep the timelines intact. After the events of Season 1 saw his variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) kill He Who Remains and unleash the wrath of Kang the Conqueror upon the Multiverse, Loki must once again embark on an adventure to keep reality from collapsing.

Loki was last seen in the post-credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, where he and Mobius were keeping tabs on one of Kang's mysterious variants. Loki Season 2 will continue the story of the Multiverse Saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Are you happy that Mobius finally got to ride a jet ski? Let us know in the comments!

The Sanderson Sisters are returning for another adventure at some point in the not-too-distant future, and a new movie could be just what they need to get revenge on the town of Salem. Hocus Pocus 2 arrived on Disney+ last fall and became the streamer's biggest ever original film, so it should come as no surprise that the beloved property has a third movie in the works. The ending of Hocus Pocus 2 left Winifred Sanderson and her two sisters in a place that doesn't feel like it warrants another story, but the film's writer thinks the nature of the characters allows for them to be swayed by things as simple as revenge.

Speaking to Collider about the Hocus Pocus films, screenwriter Jen D'Angelo said that getting back at Salem is what Winifred has always wanted, and that could get all of the Sanderson Sisters back on their brooms for a third story.

"With the Sanderson sisters, the thing that makes them so fun is that they really are like herding cats," D'Angelo explained. "So I'm like, 'Yes, Winifred learned a very valuable lesson, she loves her sisters more than anything in the world,' but she will also just immediately get distracted by whatever's put in front of her. So if you dangle the carrot of a potential revenge against Salem, which she has always wanted, she might have a backslide where she gets singularly focused on the wrong goal again."

D'Angelo also opened up about the challenges of making a sequel to a movie as beloved as Hocus Pocus, and how rewarding it was to have found success.

"With Hocus Pocus 2, you had the challenge of revisiting these beloved characters and wanting to really make it worthwhile, this sequel," said the writer. "And I feel like we had so much fun making it, it turned out so well, I'm so thrilled and honored and humbled by all the response that it got."

The Witch Mother in Hocus Pocus 3

The second installment of the Hocus Pocus series not only saw the Sanderson Sisters return to Salem, but it also introduced the witch that gave them their powers. Hannah Waddingham's character was only a small part of the story in Hocus Pocus 2, but her presence set the stage for a lot of new story and lore.

While speaking to Entertainment Weekly, D'Angelo shared that there's a lot more to learn about the Witch Mother, something that could potentially happen in Hocus Pocus 3.

"We're still in the story phase, we're still working on it," D'Angelo said of the Hocus Pocus 3 script. "We've been working on some ideas, and it's been fun to dive back into that world and we have so many directions in which to go and so many new characters to explore. We've only scratched the surface of Hannah Waddingham's mother witch."

What do you hope to see from Hocus Pocus 3? Let us know in the comments!

The Loki we're seeing right now on Disney+ is very different from the one that first appeared as a dastardly villain in Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tom Hiddleston's beloved character is trying to rewrite the story on his self-titled TV series, but his early days in the franchise were spent working for Thanos, attacking the Avengers, and trying to harness the power of the Infinity Stones. Thursday's penultimate episode of Loki Season 2 dropped a reference to that period in the God of Mischief's existence, including a big nod to Marvel's The Avengers and the Battle of New York.

WARNING: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the latest episode of Loki! Continue reading at your own risk...

After the big reset at the end of last week's episode of Loki, the penultimate episode began with the God of Mischief hopping through time and across timelines, appearing in times where all of his TVA friends had been scattered. We got to see where on the timelines all of the variants came from, and Hunter B-15's location immediately stole the attention of longtime Marvel fans.

On one of the branched timelines, B-15 could be found in New York City in the year 2012. Of course, that was the exact place and year Loki invaded Earth with the Mind Stone.

B-15 was a doctor, working with a child who had broken her arm. There was no indication that the Battle of New York had happened or was about to happen in the scene, especially since she didn't recognize Loki when he visited for the first time. Considering it was a branched timeline, rather than the Sacred Timeline, there may not have ever been a Battle of New York where B-15 was from.

Loki Season 2 Finale

Over the last two weeks, Loki has certainly set itself up for an unbelievable finale. Natalie Holt, the show's composer, recently spoke to ComicBook.com and said she "can't wait" for everyone to see how Season 2 comes to a close.

"I can't wait for people to see Episode 6," Holt told us recently. "And, for me, it was the most, just satisfying thing to write. Yeah, I just felt, I feel kind of like so emotionally tied up with the character. Because I've been working on th show for such a long time now. What it feels like. And, you know, what happens to Loki, I feel like I go on this journey with him every time I worked on a season. So, I just feel... Yeah, it was sort of sad to say goodbye and I didn't want to stop working on it. Yeah, it feels... I can't.... Yeah. All I can say is I can't wait for people to see it."

Marvel Studios fan-favorite Tom Hiddleston stars in Loki Season 2, returning as the titular God of Mischief for another round of time-traveling hijinx on Disney+ on October 6th. Loki is once again joined by Mobius (Owen Wilson) as the two attempt to keep the timelines intact. After the events of Season 1 saw his variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) kill He Who Remains and unleash the wrath of Kang the Conqueror upon the Multiverse, Loki must once again embark on an adventure to keep reality from collapsing. Loki was last seen in the post-credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, where he and Mobius were keeping tabs on one of Kang's mysterious variants. Loki Season 2 will continue the story of the Multiverse Saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

A new generation of Ninja Turtles arrived on the big screen this year, with the debut of the critically acclaimed movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. The film took a different approach to the iconic franchise, focusing more on the lives of the turtles as teenagers, as well as some of the other mutant characters that aren't usually featured as prominently as Kang or Shredder. That said, a final tease in the post-credits scene revealed that Shredder will be coming in the sequel (which is already in the works), and it sounds like he won't be the only villain joining the party.

During an interview with Collider, Mutant Mayhem director and writer Jeff Rowe was asked about his work on the upcoming sequel. He explained that he is working to make Mutant Mayhem 2 a "villain-forward film" with Shredder as the centerpiece.

"That is exactly what I am trying to figure out and what my next meeting will be about," Rowe said. "That is what we are in the thick of now. Shredder is just a great character. He's an iconic, classic, loved character. He's like the Joker. You know who he is, even if you're not a fan of the source material. I think we definitely wanna do a villain-forward film. We're currently trying to make decisions about that, but those decisions for us as filmmakers are always going to come from the place of what tells the best story, specifically about our main characters, the Turtles."

Mutant Mayhem Sequel Introducing New Characters

Shredder is the character that fans seem most excited to see in the Mutant Mayhem sequel, but there are a ton of beloved characters from throughout TMNT lore that have an opportunity to show up in the next big screen adventure. Kevin Eastman, co-creator of the Ninja Turtles, spoke to ComicBook.com about other characters he hopes to see in this iteration of the franchise.

"Through the experience of the Nickelodeon 2012 animated series, which just wonderfully brought in some original concepts from the original cartoon series to all the elements, the Tricetons had such a big role in there," Eastman told us. "So we've been lucky enough to experience this in so many ways and so many opportunities. I look forward to seeing where the sequels to Mutant Mayhem are going to go; not just the series, but the next movie because, you know, you've got Casey Jones waiting in the wings. You've got Krang out there, and you've got the Rock Soldiers and Neutrinos. So I'm, I'm pretty pumped."

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is now streaming on Paramount+.

Blumhouse has had a recent string of surprises, with films like M3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy's continuing to evolve the horror movie space. As it turns out, that catelogue of films could soon involve an original entry from True Detective creator Nico Pizzolatto. During a panel at the Austin Film Festival (via /Film), Pizzolatto mentioned that he has begun work on a horror movie for Blumhouse. The film doesn't have a title or any official details, outside of Pizzolatto describing it as "an occult detective story."

"Blumhouse contracted me to write and direct a horror movie, which I gave them the script for last week. It's kind of an occult detective story. But I just took a meeting with them once and we just kind of shot the s*** and we had some common friends and we were wrapping up and Couper [Samuelson], the VP of Blumhouse, said, 'Look, if you ever have an idea for a horror movie ...' And I go, 'Actually, I have one idea for a horror movie and I've had it for 10 years,' and I told it to him and he's like, 'Let's go make this.' I've got to see what they think of the script, but hopefully we'll be doing that."

What Are Nico Pizzolatto's Upcoming Projects?

This is the latest project Pizzolatto has in the works, as it was confirmed earlier this year that he will be writing and directing the indie drama Easy's Waltz. The cast of the film will include Vince Vaughn, Michelle Monaghan, Al Pacino and Simon Rex. The project is being described as "Swingers meets A Star Is Born" and follows a down-on-his-luck comedian-crooner navigating modern Las Vegas with old-school Vegas personalities. He is also developing a new Western drama series which already has a series commitment from Amazon Studios, and reportedly revolves around a former outlaw who must reckon with a threat from his past in order to keep the life and family he has worked so hard to build.

Pizzolatto also was previously reported to be writing Marvel's Blade reboot, although it is unclear if he is still involved with the latest iteration of the script, which is being written by Logan and Blade Runner 2049's Michael Green.

Will There Be a New Season of True Detective?

To the surprise of some of the franchise's fans, True Detective is set to return in the near future under a new title, True Detective: Night Country. In the series, when the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, the six men that operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace. To solve the case, Detectives Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves, and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice. The series stars Jodie Foster as Liz Danvers and Kali Reis as Evangeline Navarro. A fourth season of True Detective has been in the works for quite some time, with Pizzolatto originally planning an idea for Season 4, before HBO shifted gears on the project in 2021.

"I had this idea, and to me, I think it's a really strong idea, and it would be something I've never seen on television before," Pizzolatto previously shared with IndieWire. "But since then, I've had another idea that I've talked about with an actor, and that, to me, would be the most exciting thing we could do with True Detective."

What do you think of the first details surrounding Nico Pizzolatto's Blumhouse movie? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

A number of horror franchises began with humble origins, delivering audiences a compelling premise and earning multiple sequels, though the follow-up films rarely match the successes of the debut entry. It's exactly because of this dropoff in quality with most horror movies that filmmaker Michael Dougherty isn't rushing to make a sequel to his Trick r' Treat, despite a sequel seemingly being confirmed back in 2013. Understandably, given how passionate fans have become about the film, if there's any dip in overall quality, it could be considered a disappointing experience, but he confirmed that we might not be far off from meeting his expectations.

"I love all of our favorite horror franchise characters as much as any of us, but not all of them are great," Dougherty explained at an in-person screening of the original movie, per Collider. "And I know we've grown to love even the lesser chapters of our favorite horror series. There's always a cheese value to them, but if I'm gonna do a sequel, I want it to be as good if not better than the original, and good things take time. The last thing I would want is to see 'Trick 'r Treat Part 9: Sam Goes to Space,' you know? Although that does have potential, I will say."

The movie initially screened at festivals starting in 2007, but it wasn't until 2009 that Trick r' Treat earned a wider release, as it ultimately went straight to video. It wasn't until streaming became more popular and more audiences had access to the film that its following grew, with its support growing so strong that it has become a staple with Spirit Halloween's decor selection and was honored with a haunted house at Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights.

While Dougherty is surely glad to see the film find a passionate following, the more time that passes, the more pressure there is on a sequel, and the higher the standards might be to get a sequel. The original film was an anthology that delivered multiple sequences that all took place on Halloween night and delivered tales of terror highlighting lore connected to the holiday, so, luckily, Dougherty doesn't have an expiration date on delivering a sequel, since the follow-up will have an all-new cast.

Stay tuned for updates on the Trick r' Treat sequel.

Are you disappointed it has taken so long to make a second movie? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

One of the more unexpected and exciting elements of Halloween Kills was that the opening scenes took audiences back to 1978, authentically immersing viewers in the sights and sounds of the original Halloween and the immediate aftermath of that movie's conclusion. In the new book Halloween: The Official Making of Halloween, Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends, author Abbie Bernstein chronicles how early versions of that 2021 sequel included more flashbacks, which would have included more time with a teen-aged Laurie Strode, though these elements were abandoned not only because of the special effects for such scenes to be costly, but also that they would distract viewers from the immediacy of Kills' storyline.

Per /Film, it was co-writer Scott Teems who had developed those flashbacks but they were abandoned under the leadership of director David Gordon Green. For the flashbacks in the released film, Michael Myers was the only character featured prominently, with his mask making it easy to replicate him from 40 years ago. The flashbacks also included shots of Dr. Samuel Loomis, originally portrayed by the late Donald Pleasence, with these shots being a combination of facial prosthetics on a performer and a vocal double that resembled Pleasence's voice.

For a younger Laurie, the book confirms that the filmmakers either would have had to hire a new performer entirely to take the place of a teen-aged Jamie Lee Curtis, understandably putting undue pressure on them to match Curtis' performance, or they would have had a younger actor's face replaced with special effects to make her look like a young Curtis.

The book explains that Green "liked a lot" of those flashbacks, but they were too distracting from the present-day story. Co-writer Danny McBride also "liked [the extended flashbacks], but people should be more concerned with what's happening in the storyline we set up."

It's currently unclear if these Laurie flashbacks would have merely offered new looks and perspectives of the fallout of Halloween night in 1978 or if we would have gotten more insight into how the babysitter coped with the terror caused by Michael Myers. Given that the TV rights to the Halloween franchise were secured last month by Miramax, which are said to help revive the cinematic franchise as a whole, we could still spend time with a young Laurie in whatever future projects are being planned.

Stay tuned for updates on the Halloween franchise.

Would you have liked to have gotten these Laurie flashbacks? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

A writer on Marvel Studios' Blade reboot is taking a wooden stake to rumors that the vampire hunter was to be "the fourth lead" in his first solo film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Variety reported that the twice-delayed reboot -- which Marvel producer Kevin Feige announced at San Diego Comic-Con back in 2019 -- "at one point morphed into a narrative led by women and filled with life lessons" and relegated Mahershala Ali's Blade to the background. And Ali, the two-time Oscar winner who called the studio and told Feige he wanted to be Blade, was reportedly "ready to exit" the turbulent production that has gone through two directors and at least five writers.

One of those writers, Michael Starrbury, has offered a comment amid speculation that Blade was to focus on Brielle Brooks, the half-human, half-vampire daughter of Blade.

"I worked on a draft of this before the strike. Never saw a version where Blade was 4th lead or it was a 'narrative led by women and filled with life lessons' but I suppose a lot could have happened since I had anything to do with it. He was in 99% of the scripts I was a part of," Starrbury wrote on X (formerly Twitter). In a subsequent post, the Emmy-nominated When They See Us writer added: "Whatever is going on with Blade I'm hoping for the best. Some good folks are involved in that joint."

Starrbury then added that Ali's Blade "was in almost every scene" while he was on board the project. "I don't know what happened but I'll just say I seriously doubt he was ever the 4th lead in any draft."

Starrbury boarded Blade last November when Yann Demange (Lovecraft Country, White Boy Rick) replaced director Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli). Deadline reported at the time that Marvel Studios was eyeing a "darker tone" on Blade "than other MCU projects have been in the past," though it was unclear if it would be as dark as the R-rated trilogy that starred Wesley Snipes.

Stacy Osei-Kuffour (HBO's Watchmen) was the first scribe hired on Blade. Tariq took another stab at the script, and Beau DeMayo (Marvel's Moon Knight, X-Men '97) turned in a draft before Starrbury was hired with Demange. In April, Marvel tapped Ali's True Detective writer Nic Pizzolato around the time that Blade cast X and Pearl star Mia Goth in an undisclosed role. According to Variety, Feige hired Emmy and Oscar-nominated writer Michael Green -- whose credits include Fox's gritty, R-rated Logan and Blade Runner 2049 -- to overhaul Blade and start from scratch.

Blade is currently set to release on February 14, 2025.

It will not be long before Godzilla Minus One makes its way to theaters. The kaiju flick promises to hit theaters in Japan this week, and Godzilla will travel overseas for a North American comeback in December. With director Takashi Yamazaki at the helm, film critics from Japan are already freely sharing compliments with Godzilla Minus One. And in a recent interview, director Gareth Edwards went so far as to say Godzilla Minus One may be the IP's best film yet.

The conversation comes from Cinema Today as the publication brought Edwards and Yamazaki together. It was there the two directors talked about their work with Godzilla as Edwards oversaw the 2014 adaptation of Godzilla for the MonsterVerse. During their chat, Edwards was asked about his impression of Godzilla Minus One, and he admitted he was rather jealous watching the movie.

"There were a lot of things that I felt were very new for Godzilla, and I felt jealous the whole time I was watching the movie," the director shared. "This is what a Godzilla movie should be."

Continuing, Edwards went on to share the following stunning compliment: "[Godzilla Minus One] must be mentioned as a candidate for the best Godzilla movie of all time." So for those on the fence about Yamazaki's film, rest easy.

If you are not familiar with Godzilla Minus One, the movie promises to be a powerhouse. The film marks the monster's 37th outing to date, and Godzilla Minus One is set in a truly desperate Japan. Fresh from its loss in World War II, Japan finds itself back at zero as the nation must rebuild. This process becomes horribly complicated when Godzilla makes land in Japan, and the nation's people must rise above to fight for their very future.

Currently, Godzilla Minus One is slated to hit theaters stateside on December 1. The movie will hit theaters in Japan on November 3. So if you want to check out this epic flick, you'll get the chance soon!

What do you make of this latest praise for Godzilla Minus One? Let us know what you think in the comments below as well as on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!

The four films in The Hunger Games franchise were Jennifer Lawrence's breakout projects, as her Katniss Everdeen became a cinematic icon in the 2010s. The franchise is returning with the upcoming The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, and with the film taking place decades before Katniss was even born, it means we won't see Lawrence in the adventure, and even producer Nina Jacobson and director Francis Lawrence doubt we would ever see Katniss get a sequel, as they both believe that the character's journey came to an end. If author Suzanne Collins were to craft a novel about Katniss, however, there's more likelihood that such a story could be adapted for the big screen. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes lands in theaters on November 17th.

"If Suzanne has something to say, then she'll write a book about it," Jacobson shared with Yahoo! Entertainment about getting more Katniss. "Honestly, as much as I love Katniss, I think her story is complete. And I think that Suzanne feels that her story is complete. But if that changes, and Suzanne has something she wants to say, and it involves Katniss, then I would be thrilled. But really any chance to be back in this world, and lead with Francis and Suzanne, I would take regardless of who it was about."

Director Lawrence, who helmed three of the original movies, echoed Jacobson's reaction, yet also noted that if such an opportunity were to present itself, he'd gladly direct actor Lawrence in another Katniss outing.

"What I've always loved is that Suzanne usually writes these things because she has a thematic idea she wants to explore," the director detailed. "So I think that if for whatever reason she had some thematic idea that made sense to tell another Katniss story, I'd be in, and then I'm sure Jen would be in. But it really all comes from theme and idea, and Suzanne."

The trilogy of original books -- The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay -- were released between 2008 and 2010. It would be a decade before Collins would release The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, so while there might not currently be plans for spending more time with Katniss in any medium, it's not something that can be ruled out entirely.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes lands in theaters on November 17th.

Would you like to get another Katniss film? Let us know in the comments!

The Boy and the Heron is ready to make its way to the United States. After going live in Japan this July, director Hayao Miyazaki's latest film is nearly a month out from its stateside launch. Now, GKIDS Films has released its first English dub trailer for the movie, so you can watch the breathtaking promo below.

As you can see, The Boy and the Heron features a truly impressive cast. Christian Bale returns to the Studio Ghbili family to voice Shoichi Maki, the lead of The Boy and the Heron. He is joined by other Hollywood stars such as Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Mark Hamill, and more.

"I know it's a lie. But I have to see."

Here is your first look at the new English version of Hayao Miyazaki's THE BOY AND THE HERON. Watch it in theatres starting December 8. pic.twitter.com/O2DgA0uNRa

-- Studio Ghibli (@GhibliUSA) November 2, 2023

And of course, you cannot overlook Robert Pattinson here. The A-list actor voices the film's Gray Heron, and he puts on quite the voice for the mysterious figure.

Directed by Miyazaki, this new film will hit theaters in America on December 8. A select number of previews will be shown in New York City as well as Los Angeles ahead of time on November 22. Of course, the movie has already enjoyed its U.S. debut courtesy of several film festivals. So now, all that is left is for fans to tune into The Boy and the Heron.

If you are not familiar with the film, The Boy and the Heron dates back years as Miyazaki first mentioned work on a new feature-length film in July 2016. It didn't take long before Studio Ghibli confirmed the film's title and its hope of releasing The Boy and the Heron in tandem with the 2020 Summer Olympics. Sadly, a number of production delays sparked by COVID-19 slowed work on the film, but Miyazaki's team strove forward. The Boy and the Heron was officially released in Japan on July 14, 2023 with almost zero press to accompany it. And in true Miyazaki fashion, the film has earned little but acclaim since its launch.

What do you think about this latest trailer for The Boy and the Heron? Let us know what you think in the comments below as well as on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!

Legendary horror filmmaker John Carpenter returned to the director's chair this year to helm an episode of John Carpenter's Suburban Screams, with A24 Films confirming that Carpenter will be working behind the scenes on their new dark comedy Death of a Unicorne. Carpenter, along with Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter, will be crafting the score for the new film, which stars Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega. While Carpenter is mainly known for his work in the horror and sci-fi realms, his 1992 film Memoirs of an Invisible Man integrated comedy, though that film's score was composed by Shirley Walker. Stay tuned for updates on Death of a Unicorne.

The movie is described, "A father (Rudd) and daughter (Ortega) accidentally hit and kill a unicorn while en route to a weekend retreat, where his billionaire boss (Richard Grant) seeks to exploit the creature's miraculous curative properties."

Also starring in the movie are T?a Leoni (Jurassic Park III, Spanglish), Will Poulter (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), Anthony Carrigan (Bill & Ted Face the Music, Barry), Sunita Mani (Servant, Glow), Jessica Hynes (Shaun of the Dead, Paddington 2), and Stephen Park (Asteroid City). Death of a Unicorne was written and directed by Alex Scharfman's (Resurrection, Lyle), which had Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar) serve as a producer.

Production on the film wrapped this summer under an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA. While the film doesn't currently have a release date, the film entering its post-production phase means we'll likely see its release sooner rather than later.

Carpenter composed the scores for a majority of the films he directed, initially as a cost-efficient method of finding the right tone for his movies. After directing 2010's The Ward, Carpenter focused much more on music, releasing three albums of original tracks, while also going on multiple global tours. In addition to the score for Death of a Unicorne, Carpenter recently teased another original album was in the works.

While speaking with ComicBook.com about plans to do more live shows, Carpenter detailed, "No plans, exactly, but we'll see what happens. We have another Lost Themes in the making coming up, so we'll see. Never say never in this business."

Carpenter, Davies, and son Cody also crafted the scores for David Gordon Green's Halloween, Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends, as well as the score for last year's Firestarter.

Stay tuned for updates on Death of a Unicorne.

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

Olivia Rodrigo is a songbird with something to say. The "GUTS" singer-songwriter has recorded the featured song in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Lionsgate and Rodrigo revealed Wednesday. "Soooo beyond excited that I got the opportunity to write a song for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes," the pop superstar wrote on Instagram. A snippet of the track, titled "Can't Catch Me Now," can be heard in a 60-second sneak peek (below) before the full song releases November 3 on Spotify and Apple Music.

The 17-song Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes album, also featuring the single "The Hanging Tree (Lucy Gray's version)" performed by star Rachel Zegler, will be available to download or stream on Nov. 17.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Olivia Rodrigo (@oliviarodrigo)

"From the very beginning of this franchise, we have been fortunate to attract some of the world's most talented recording artists whose music has accentuated and complemented the drama of the films while underscoring the emotional weight carried by the characters," director Francis Lawrence said in a statement. "With her highly charged lyrics and urgent voice, Olivia Rodrigo taps into all of that as much as any artist today. She's an absolute thrill to work with and we couldn't be more excited that her music is a part of the movie."

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Soundtrack List

Olivia Rodrigo - Can't Catch Me Now

Rachel Zegler - The Hanging Tree

Flatland Cavalry - Wool

Rachel Zegler - Nothing You Can Take From Me

Sierra Ferrell - The Garden

Rachel Zegler - The Ballad of Lucy Gray Baird

Molly Tuttle - Bury Me Beneath the Willow

Rachel Zegler / James Newton Howard - The Old Therebefore / Singing at Snakes

Bella White - Burn Me Once

The Covey Band - District 12 Stomp

Rachel Zegler, The Covey Band - Nothing You Can Take From Me (Boot-Stompin Version)

Billy Strings - Cabin Song

Rachel Zegler - Lucy Gray (part 1)

Rachel Zegler, The Covey Band - Pure As The Driven Snow

Charles Wesley Godwin - Winter's Come & Gone

Josie Hope Hall, The Covey Band - Keep On The Sunny Side

Rachel Zegler - Lucy Gray (part 2)

In theaters Nov. 17, the Hunger Games prequel takes place more than 60 years before Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) became the victor of the 74th Hunger Games in Lionsgate's blockbuster young adult saga between 2012 and 2015. Songbirds and Snakes follows Lucy Gray Baird (Zegler), a tribute from Capitol 12 who is mentored by an 18-year-old Coriolanus "Coryo" Snow (Tom Blyth), the future President of Panem; the cast includes Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman (Jason Schwartzman), weathercaster-turned-first television host for the 10th Hunger Games; Coriolanus' cousin, Tigris Snow (Hunter Schafer); Coriolanus' good friend, Sejanus Plinth (Josh Andr?s Rivera), who coined the "Coryo" nickname; Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis), head Gamemaker of the 10th Hunger Games; and Casca "Cas" Highbottom (Peter Dinklage), dean of the Capitol Academy credited as the architect of the Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes opens only in theaters Nov. 17.

It's hard to believe, but 2024 is right around the corner, so you won't have to wait long to get your hands on the new LEGO Jurassic World sets that are slated for release on January 1st. The hot ticket item will undoubtedly be the 76964 Dinosaur Fossils: T-Rex Skull (577 pieces), which we hope will be the first set in a series. There's also the 76963 Baby Dinosaur Rescue Center playset, which includes 139 pieces.

The Dinosaur Fossils: T-Rex Skull set is actually reasonably priced by LEGO standards at $39.99. It features a T-Rex skull with an opening jaw, a stand with an information plaque, a hidden 'amber' piece at the back of the model and a 'fossilized' footprint. It will be available to order here at the LEGO Shop starting at 12am ET on January 1st.

The Baby Dinosaur Rescue Center playset includes 5 dinosaur toy figures (baby Ankylosaurus, Triceratops and Velociraptor, a small Velociraptor and an adult Pteranodon, plus Darius and Sammy minifigures), a brick-built, 4-wheel-drive off-road vehicle, feeding area with a shed wall and a research area with solar panels, cave wall and a computer workstation. It will also be available to order here at the LEGO Shop starting at 12am ET on January 1st for $39.99.

On a related note, the highly anticipated 10326 LEGO Icons Natural History Museum was recently revealed, and it is loaded with fun exhibits like a giant brick-built Brachiosaurus skeleton in a 4,014-piece build. It is available to pre-order here at the LEGO Shop priced at $299.99. It's slated to ship on December 1st, so expect that pre-order window to close ahead of the official launch at 12am ET on the launch date. Details about the set can be found below.

The Natural History Museum is a two-story structure that includes dual atriums, a removable roof and middle floor. "To the right of the entrance, visitors are welcomed by a giant brick-built Brachiosaurus skeleton. This dinosaur is so large, its neck rises above the first floor and stretches into the second. It's flanked by several smaller exhibits including a sabretooth skull, a fossil, and yes, even dinosaur eggs. Up on the landing, the museum's geology section showcases a colourful array of quartz, geodes, stalagmites and spotlighting a cutaway of the earth and its molten core."

"Heading up to the second floor, witness a large map of the planet showing the projected orbit of a new rocket, a detailed orrery of the solar system, and a diorama of a future space base. Up on the roof, the museum's curator recounts their experiences and travels in their detailed office writing memoirs."

You can find more upcoming LEGO releases for October 1st here in the "Coming Soon" section. After the launch, they will shift here in the "Available Now" section. You can sign up for LEGO Insiders program right here (free to join) to get additional perks on purchases from LEGO.

It seems like X (Twitter) is about to lose another big-name presence. In the aftermath of Elon Musk's takeover of the social media platform, things are on edge for X. With ad revenue down more than 50% and monthly users in a slump, X is bleeding love. Now, Studio Ghibli has confirmed its plans to leave the site, and the company plans to shutter its page ASAP.

As it turns out, Studio Ghibli will be closing its official X account in less than 24 hours. This means Studio Ghibli will not be sharing behind-the-scenes goodies with fans through X, and the decision to exit X comes after the launch of Hayao Miyazaki's new film.

"As of November 3 at midnight, Studio Ghibli's official Twitter page will be closed. We want to thank all of the people who supported this account which began three years ago in preparation for the premiere of director Hayao Miyazaki's How Do You Live. We sincerely thank you. The film will continue to screen through the year-end and New Year holidays," Studio Ghibli shared with fans online.

Based on this letter, it seems Studio Ghibli is leaving X on good terms. The company is famously traditional when it comes to marketing, and social media has never factored into its ploys. Studio Ghibli only launched an official page on X years ago to promote Miyazaki's upcoming film. And now that is has launched in Japan, well - the page is ready to shut down.

According to recent reports, Studio Ghibli is just one of many pages to turn away from X. Back in October 2022, Musk closed the deal to buy Twitter after making a $44 billion USD bid for the site. After failing to back out of the deal, Musk's oversight of X has been fraught with controversy, and the drama has impacted X's overall stats. According to Variety, global use of X had dived 15% while use in the United States was down 18% year over year. As for advertising, a number of top-name investors pulled advertisements from X in light of its controversies which dropped its ad spending by about 54%.

What do you make of Studio Ghibli's decision to exit social media? Let us know what you think in the comments below as well as on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!

The Planet of the Apes franchise is returning to the big screen next year with a brand new chapter in the storied saga. The new film is titled Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and it comes from The Maze Runner director Wes Ball. Fans have been intrigued to see what this new era of Planet of the Apes might look like, especially after the previous two films, from director Matt Reeves, received such critical acclaim.

We won't see Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes until May, but 20th Century Studios has revealed the first footage from the upcoming movie so fans can get a taste of what's to come. On Wednesday, the first trailer for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was announced, with Thursday bringing the entire trailer online. You can check it out below!

Ball directs Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes from a screenplay written by Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, and Patrick Alson. The film stars Owen Teague, Freya Allen, Peter Macon, Eka Darville, Kevin Durand, Travis Jeffery, Neil Sandilands, Sara Wiseman, Lydia Peckham, Ras-Samuel Weld A'abzgi, Dichen Lachman, and William H. Macy.

Andy Serkis' Advice for Planet of the Apes

Motion capture master Andy Serkis starred as ape leader Caesar in the last three Planet of the Apes films, but he isn't set to appear in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. That didn't stop the veteran from sharing some wisdom with the next generation.

While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Owen Teague revealed what advice he received from Serkis when approaching his new Apes role.

"Well, we all talked to Andy Serkis. He and I had a meeting, and he was part of why I became an actor," Teague explained. "So this was something that I'd been wanting to do my entire life, and it was literally a dream come true to get to do this job and play this character. The hardest part about it was just learning how to be in a suit all day and have a camera strapped to your head. But you get used to it after about a week, and I remember Andy being like, 'You'll get used to it and you'll stop worrying about it after the first week.' And he was absolutely right."

"The rest of motion capture is just what you would do otherwise, and the difference between a human and whatever you're playing just becomes a costume, so you don't even really think about it that much," he continued. "It's just acting and it's no different. So I took to it very quickly and very happily, and it's something that I'd like to do a lot more of. So I hope I get to, because I really enjoy it. It's actually freeing. It's the fun of acting boiled down to the very essence of what it is. You get to be anything you want, and it doesn't have to be even remotely similar to what you are in real life. So you just have to put yourself in that being and exist. It was wonderful."

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is set to hit theaters on May 24, 2024.

The Fall Guy is Universal's adaptation of the TV series of the same name that is set to star Ryan Gosling (Barbie) and Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place) as well as Winston Duke (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once), and Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso). Yesterday, new images from the upcoming film were released by Vanity Fair, and now the first trailer is here...

What Is The Fall Guy About?

The Fall Guy was directed by David Leitch (Deadpool 2) and is expected to have a different spin than the show it's based on. Gosling is playing a "past-his-prime" stuntman who finally lands a job, but the star of the movie goes missing. According to a previous report from THR, Blunt plays a prosthetic makeup artist who has a romantic history with Gosling's character, Waddingham plays the producer of the troubled movie, Duke plays the stuntman's best friend, and Hsu plays the movie star's assistant.

Kelly McCormick is partnering as a producer on the project with a script from Drew Pearce who also worked with Leitch on Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. Gosling will also serve as a producer with original series creator Glen A. Larson executive producing.

Will Emily Blunt Join the MCU?

While Emily Blunt's real-life husband, John Krasinski, recently played Reed Richards, she's not interested in portraying a superhero. There was a time when Blunt was almost cast as Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and fans of the actor have been hoping to see her play another part in the MCU for years. The fan-casting has been in full force ever since it was announced Marvel Studios would be making a Fantastic Four reboot with many fans hoping Blunt would play Sue Storm. However, the role is not on Blunt's radar.

"It's not that it's beneath me," Blunt revealed on The Howard Stern Show. "I love Iron Man and when I got offered Black Widow. I was obsessed with Iron Man. I wanted to work with Robert Downey Jr.--it would've been amazing...but I don't know if superhero movies are for me. They're not up my alley. I don't like them. I really don't. It's been exhausted. We are inundated--it's not only all the movies, it's the endless TV shows as well. It's not to say that I'd never want to play one, it would just have to be something so cool and like a really cool character, and then I'd be interested."

Stay tuned for more updates about The Fall Guy, which is scheduled to be released on March 1, 2024.

Netflix's ad-supported users could see some rewards for binge-watching shows on the platform. That's right, Netflix users subscribed to the ad-based plan could get some ad-free episodes if they're chugging through a show on a slow Sunday afternoon. The news comes courtesy of the streamer itself, as they celebrated 15 million users being subscribed to the ad0based tier of their service yesterday. Netflix President of Advertising Amy Reinhard mentioned the added benefit for ad-supported tier subscribers during her blog post on the milestone yesterday. At this point, most streaming operations have already integrated an ad-supported plan or are in the process of getting that together.

"Starting in Q1 2024, our advertisers globally will be able to utilize our new binge ad (wt) format that taps into the viewing behavior of watching multiple episodes in a row," she wrote. "After watching three consecutive episodes, members will be presented with a fourth episode ad-free. In early 2024, we will also launch the ability to showcase QR codes in advertising creative running on Netflix in the US. "

Netflix Moves Towards Ads

As most streamers lurch toward advertisements, Netflix was leading the way. In a landscape that resembles broadcast TV or cable more with each passing day, the new focus on advertisements is just the latest trend in the quest to recreate the past. With streaming password crackdowns and rising prices all around, companies are trying to find ways to keep that cash flow up despite economic shifts and the continued effects of a global health situation that have not abated. Here's what the ad exec had to say about the first year of ads for Netflix.

"One year ago we launched Netflix's ad-supported plan. We have built an incredible foundation, focusing on areas advertisers told us matter most, all while delivering unmissable entertainment at an unbeatable value," Reinhard explained. "As we continue to build and adapt our service, we're excited about the progress we've made and that we now reach 15 million global monthly active users."

"Our goal isn't just to offer the same products and tools the industry has come to expect -- although we've made a lot of progress on that front over the last year. It's to build something bigger and better than what exists today," the executive continued. "We want to shape the future of advertising on Netflix and help marketers tap into the amazing fandom generated by our must-watch shows and movies."

Netflix Eliminates Password Sharing

One of the big pushes that Netflix has made is that passwords can no longer be shared between households. So, if you were using your parents or grandkids Netflix account, you were basically forced to buy your own account. In the United States and other territories, this decisions was paired with rising costs and that caused considerable outcry on social media. However, the company argues it has been worth it in the long run, but a lot of the numbers are still very fresh and need more unpacking.

"While we've made steady progress this year, we have more work to do to reaccelerate our growth," Netflix said to shareholders in a previous letter. "We remain focused on: creating a steady drumbeat of must watch shows and movies; improving monetization; growing the enjoyment of our games; and investing to improve our service for members."

"Now that we've launched paid sharing broadly, we have increased confidence in our financial outlook," they added. "We expect revenue growth will accelerate in the second half of 2023 as monetization grows from our most recent paid sharing launch and we expand our initiative across nearly all remaining countries plus the continued steady growth in our ad-supported plan."

Do you think this ad-supported change is a good idea? Let us know in the comments!