Cinema isn’t just about the latest Disney/Pixar project or Star Wars spin-off. Memorable storytelling is happening all over the film industry, from Hollywood’s box-office-busting superhero smashes to small, innovative indie experiments. The Verge’s film section is here to help you sort through the latest Hollywood news and reviews, from favorite genres like sci-fi, fantasy, and horror to the independent movies that matter.
Because trashing theaters has become part of how some fans engage with A Minecraft Movie, the feature now opens with a PSA encouraging people in the audience to stop throwing buckets of popcorn that someone is eventually going to have to clean up.
Writer / director Drew Hancock’s new thriller Companion stands somewhere between M3gan and Lars and the Real Girl with its story about a man (Jack Quaid) whose girlfriend (Sophie Thatcher) doesn’t know that she’s actually a sophisticated android. The movie’s an inspired entry in the growing canon of AI panic horrors, and if you missed it during its theatrical run, you’ll be able to catch it on Max beginning April 19th.
One of the many decisions a director has to make is what format they’ll use to shoot a movie. Ryan Coogler, the director of Black Panther, Creed, and the upcoming Sinners (hitting theaters on April 18th, 2025) breaks down the various analog film formats still in use today, their aspect ratios, and the creative reasons why a director would opt for one format over another.
The company is partnering with Range Media with AI on Screen, a program to “commission films about the relationship between humanity and AI,” according to a blog post.
Two films are already in the works for a scheduled release later this year.
[blog.google]
If you’re headed to Star Wars Celebration in Japan later this month, Audio-Technica has announced a pricey souvenir for you, as spotted by Notebookcheck. Unlike its Star Wars-themed wireless earbuds, only 10 of these ATH-AWSW DV headphones, featuring wooden ear cups adorned with images of Darth Vader made using traditional Japanese crafting techniques, will be available.
Each pair is priced at 990,000 yen, or around $6,817.
This new trend of people in Minecraft movie screenings having meltdowns when Jack Black references Chicken Jockeys was already getting weird. But maybe seeing Jimmy Fallon trying to get in on the hype will make everyone realize that trashing movie theaters for fun is kind of terrible, actually.
While fans of Andor and The Mandalorian are busy arguing with one another about which is the superior Star Wars spinoff, Tony Gilroy is out here telling Empire what should be obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of how franchises work:
“The success of The Mandalorian gave us the platform to jump off. Their success is what would fuel the whole thing. I mean, no Baby Yoda, no Andor. Seriously. Don’t think that we don’t know that.”
It’s the biggest US opening ever for a video game adaptation according to The Hollywood Reporter, taking home $157 million — compared to $146 million for The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023, which eventually hit $1 billion worldwide. Reviews for Minecraft are mixed, but theater audiences seem to be having a blast.
Alongside the success of Detective Pikachu and the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, it suggests video game movies are becoming quite the cash cow.
With Talk to Me, directors Danny and Michael Philippou gave us an enthralling taste of their ability to spin deeply disturbing horror tales. And the new trailer for their latest feature, Bring Her Back, makes it looks like they’re about to leave us all terrified once again when the film hits theaters on May 30th.
While we won’t be seeing more of the animated Miles Morales for another two years, Sony and Marvel announced at this year’s CinemaCon that the wait for Tom Holland’s live-action Spider-Man is going to be much shorter. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is set to hit theaters on July 31st, 2026, and both the movie’s logo and subtitle suggest some big changes are on the way.
Dead Talents Society, Taiwanese director John Hsu’s supernatural comedy about ghosts who have to earn haunting permits and sometimes compete in reality competitions for the deceased, was one of the most fantastic movies out of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. And now that it’s streaming on Netflix, you should do yourself a favor and give it a watch.
After 44 years of being held in Park City, Utah, the Sundance Film Festival is moving to Boulder, Colorado starting in 2027. According to the Sundance Institute’s Board of Trustees, Boulder’s “small-town charm with an engaged community, distinctive natural beauty, and a vibrant arts scene,” were part of what sealed the deal.
A mysterious livestream is revealing cast members one at a time — so far including Chris Hemsworth, Vanessa Kirby, and Anthony Mackie. They’ll appear in Avengers: Doomsday, set to hit theaters on May 1st 2026, with Robert Downey Jr. making his return / debut as Doctor Doom.
It’s taking Marvel 13 minutes to announce each name so far though, so we might be here a while.
Though Final Destination: Bloodlines could have been a full-on reboot, the movie’s new trailer makes it look a proper continuation of the franchise’s original story that will bring back the late Tony Todd’s William Bludworth when it hits theaters on May 16th.
(Well, Fox Searchlight technically.) It’s been over twenty years since Jon Heder starred in one of the most unexpected indie film breakouts, and its success came from a savvy combination of word of mouth and a very online marketing campaign.
[marketingbrew.com]
Seth Rogen’s new comedy series is a scathing and celebratory takedown of the entertainment industry’s madness.
A Death Star is coming together in the latest trailer for Andor’s final season, and every member of the Resistance seems to know exactly what needs to be done to take the thing out.
According to Deadline, Netflix has greenlit and is now looking to cast competitors for The Golden Ticket, Eureka Production’s new Willy Wonka-inspired reality series that “will challenge players not just physically, but mentally as they navigate games, tests, and temptations designed to probe their instincts, resilience, and ability to thrive in chaos.”
Valnet, the Canadian media conglomerate that owns a number of entertainment blogs like Screen Rant, MovieWeb, Collider, and Comic Book Resources, is the subject of a damning new report from The Wrap detailing how some of the sites have been turned into “borderline like almost sweatshop-level” content mills where underpaid employees who speak up about their working conditions often wind up being put on blacklists.
Though Warner Bros. wasn’t interested in selling its shelved Coyote vs. Acme project to any of its streaming competitors, the studio is reportedly in talks with Ketchup Entertainment — the same production company that scooped up The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie — for a distribution deal that would put the film in theaters in 2026.
Neon has dropped a teaser for Together, director Michael Shanks’ upcoming psychological horror about a married couple (Alison Brie and Dave Franco) whose plan to start new lives out in the countryside takes a supernatural turn after they encounter a malevolent presence. The trailer (and title) makes it seem like the pair’s relationship might be the real issue at hand, but we won’t know for sure until the film’s out on August 1st.
The first Ballerina trailer made it seem like John Wick might just show up for a quick trailer, but it’s looking more and more like the spin-off will feature a full-on brawl between Keanu Reeves and Ana de Armas when it hits theaters on June 6th.
