Film

Sony has released some new first-look images of its upcoming Spider-Verse sequel, alongside confirmation that the movie is expected to land in theaters on June 18th, 2027 — a week earlier than the last reported date of June 25th. That’s a pleasant pivot from the delays it was previously blighted with.

That’s the message Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman had for theaters at CinemaCon, pushing for them to make screening windows longer, tickets cheaper, and include fewer pre-show ads.

In a statement to Deadline, Paramount argues that its merger will ensure “creators have more avenues for their work, not fewer:”

Ben Stiller, Joaquin Phoenix, Tiffany Haddish, Bryan Cranston, and Lin-Manuel Miranda are among the over 1,000 Hollywood professionals pushing back on the $110 billion deal that they say will “further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape:”

If you’re missing Stranger Things, Netflix has a new series executive produced by the Duffer brothers, only this one skews slightly older. It follows some strange goings on at a retirement community, and if nothing else, it has an incredible cast with the likes of Alfred Molina, Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard, Denis O’Hare, Clarke Peters, and Bill Pullman.

Another Hunger Games movie is on the way, and this one is possibly most notable for the cast: a whole bunch of stars are playing younger versions of characters from the original trilogy. The newcomers include the likes of Jesse Plemons, Ralph Fiennes, Kieran Culkin, and Elle Fanning. The movie hits theaters November 20th.

Sony is working on a Metal Gear Solid movie directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein, the directors behind Final Destination: Bloodlines, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

That’s Brad Bird talking about animation, just as Netflix released the first batch of images for his upcoming retrofuturistic detective movie Ray Gunn. It doesn’t have a premiere date yet, but we do know the main cast, which includes Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Waits as a one-eyed alien.

While Tencent and Jared Kushner’s private equity firm are no longer contributing to Paramount’s $110 billion bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, The Wall Street Journal reports that $24 billion of the proposed deal is still being provided by sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi.

Though Netflix insisted that it bought Ben Affleck’s AI company InterPositive to help filmmakers, Deadline reports that one of the startups big selling points listed in its 2024 patent application is its ability to bring production costs down by millions of dollars.

If you’ve visited the official Project Hail Mary website on mobile rather than desktop, you may have missed the free STL file that you can download to replicate this popular prop from the movie. You’ll have to acquire the Xenonite yourself though, obviously.

Supergirl continues to look very Guardians of the Galaxy-inspired in its latest trailer, which makes it clear just how important Krypto the dog will be to the story. The Superman follow-up hits theaters on June 26th.

Following recent releases Iron Lung and Undertone, next up we have Backrooms, a liminal horror movie directed by YouTuber Kane Parsons. It hits theaters on May 29th.

Apple TV has a big lineup of new series this year, and one of the more notable is Cape Fear, inspired by Martin Scorsese’s ‘90s film of the same name (which was itself a remake). If nothing else, the cast looks great, and you can check out the first teaser below.

Project Hail Mary has surpassed $300 million at the box office, making it the highest grossing Amazon MGM film to date — though that doesn’t count MGM movies prior to the acquisition. Still, it’s a great sign for an original sci-fi film, even if it may end up becoming a franchise.

Been meaning to catch the film, maybe I will once it’s available to stream. My colleague Kevin Nguyen reviewed it last year.

Project Hail Mary premieres tomorrow, and it’s the kind of big, exciting sci-fi movie I’d highly recommend seeing on a big screen. For more on the movie, check out my review as well as my interview with author Andy Weir and screenwriter Drew Goddard about adapting the story for film.

Though Val Kilmer — who died last December — was too sick to actually shoot any scenes after being cast in writer / director Coerte Voorhees’ upcoming film As Deep As The Grave, Variety reports that Kilmer’s estate has agreed to let an AI-generated facsimile of the actor appear in the movie.

The first image from Dune: Part 3 isn’t particularly revealing, but it does give a glimpse into Paul Atreides’ new look, which has something of a Sub-Zero vibe. The movie hits theaters in December.

Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein won a handful of Oscars last night, including one for best make-up and hairstyling. Last year I had the chance to talk to Mike Hill, who designed the creature from the film, about his relationship with del Toro and all the work that went into recreating the character.

At this year’s Oscars, Sinners’ Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman to win Best Cinematography. And just about a year ago, I sat down with Arkapaw to talk about her approach to bringing the film’s supernatural world of southern beauty to life.

Apparently he wasn’t satisfied with just the book. Sort of a shame McKenzie couldn’t release it on April 1, don’t you agree?

So here’s a lengthy trailer for the Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which includes a dramatic rendition of Mario saying “mama mia” and a surprising amount of action. More importantly is the news that Yoshi will be voiced by Donald Glover. The movie hits theaters on April 1st.