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  • Stephen Lang on His Villainous Return in ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’

    Stephen Lang on His Villainous Return in ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’

    In 2009’s Avatar, Stephen Lang played Colonel Miles Quaritch whose disdain for the inhabitants of Pandora made him both memorable and hateful. At the film’s end, Quaritch met his fate at the hands of Neytiri making the actor’s return for the sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, an interesting proposition. Director James Cameron stated that the character will be the main antagonist for the next three Avatar films and it was revealed earlier this year that Quaritch’s return came with a twist: his consciousness has been uploaded into a Na’vi avatar.

    During the global press event for Avatar: The Way of Water, Lang sounded thrilled for the opportunity to return to the role that gained him some significant cachet in Hollywood.

    Oh it was very exciting to come back and it was, I was just so honored to be able to deepen and expand on the vision that Jim had for this character. I think in the first film he’s very, very colorful, he’s got personality, he’s got some great qualities. But essentially he moves through like a mindless shark, in a way.

    Stephen Lang

    Continuing on, Lang talked a bit about the “irony” of returning as what is known in the film as a Recombinant and how it lead to a new understanding of the character

    …There’s the absolute magnificent irony that Jim has written of coming back as the very thing he has been trying to destroy. And having to make the adjustment to that, to adapt to that. And I think it’s just, it’s been a… it was a total pleasure for me to continue to massage this character, and find the depth, and maybe some of the humanity that’s in him.

    Stephen Lang

    As for that humanity, Quaritch seems like a character who might be fairly hard to redeem. As Lang quipped, “He’s such a warm character, and beloved by so many…” and to that end, there are probably a lot more fans waiting to see him suffer more than anything.

    Avatar: The Way of Water will continue the villainous tale of Quaritch when it hits theaters December 16th.

  • Golden Globes: ‘Wakanda Forever,’ ‘Andor’ Earn Nominations

    Golden Globes: ‘Wakanda Forever,’ ‘Andor’ Earn Nominations

    On Monday morning, the nominees for the 2023 Golden Globes were officially announced. While films like Avatar: The Way of Water, Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis seemed to dominate most categories, there were a few surprising inclusions. Among them were nominations for Marvel Studios’ latest film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and the latest Star Wars small-screen venture, Andor.

    Wakanda Forever, the critically acclaimed sequel to 2018’s Black Panther, earned two nominations. The always-fantastic Angela Bassett was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Motion Picture for her role as Queen Ramonda. The film was also nominated for Best Original Song, Motion Picture with “Lift Me Up” which hails from Tems, Ludwig Göransson, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler.

    As for Andor, the Star Wars series only received one nomination. Leading man Diego Luna was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama. Luna, of course, plays the titular character Andor in the series, which is now streaming exclusively on Disney+.

    Source: Variety.

  • Peyton Reed Teases “Great” ‘Fantastic Four

    Peyton Reed Teases “Great” ‘Fantastic Four

    Long before Marvel Studios regained the live-action rights to Fantastic Four, director Peyton Reed pitched a version of the film to the execs at Fox. That film obviously was never made and Reed has since gone on to become the driving force behind Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man franchise. With the third film in the franchise, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, next up on Marvel Studios’ theatrical slate, it seems that the first round of press has begun and Reed found himself asked about his never-was Fantastic Four.

    In an interview with Somos Geeks, Reed quickly dismissed his take on Marvel Studios’ First Family in favor of hyping the upcoming film which is due to hit theaters on February 14th, 2025. Marvel Studios Fantastic Four was originally set to be directed by Jon Watts, who directed Marvel Studios and Sony’s Spider-Man trilogy; however, Watts had to depart the project and after a long search, Marvel Studios brought WandaVision director Matt Shakman on board. Though Shakman has only been on the project for a little less than four months, development on Fantastic Four has been ongoing for years, including an ongoing cycle of concept art. That art, it turns out, is something Reed has been fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of while hanging out at Marvel Studios. “Matt Shakman is gonna do great,” said Reed, continuing on to say. “and I’ve seen initial artwork for the Fantastic Four…stuff around the Marvel offices…it’s gonna be great.”

    Concept art does not a movie make, of course, but Reed’s vote of confidence, which he volunteered on his own, should not be taken lightly. While there are some parts of the internet who don’t appreciate the Ant-Man films or believe Reed should be helming Marvel Studios projects, the perception of the director by those in charge of Marvel Studios couldn’t be any more different than that. Reed’s voice and passion for Marvel are valued and respected at the studio and he may even be a contender to direct the capstone of the Multiverse Saga, 2026’s Avengers: Secret Wars. Concept art isn’t just lying around everywhere at the studio, so Reed’s ability to take a peek could hint as his involvement in Secret Wars. Of course, it could also mean absolutely nothing. But as every day goes by without a director for the sixth Avengers film and the release of Quantumania (which is going to really surprise MCU fans) draws nearer, one does have to consider the very real possibility that Reed might be on the shortlist to helm the big saga-ending project.

    Source: YouTube

  • ‘Sonic Frontier’s Ending Makes a ‘Sonic Boom’ Character Canon

    ‘Sonic Frontier’s Ending Makes a ‘Sonic Boom’ Character Canon

    Sonic Frontiers has finally released and offered Sonic the Hedgehog fans a very different kind of entry. While some staples remain, it’s the first true attempt by Sonic Team to offer something that is open world-esque and while it’s not perfect, it might be the most emotional story set in the franchise since perhaps the Sonic Adventure games. Interestingly enough, there’s a curious little detail for those that manage to finish the game at any difficulty.

    If you haven’t played through Sonic Frontiers yet, be wary of spoilers to the ending and first post-credit sequence ahead.

    After the first credits roll and you managed to escape Cyber Space with your friends Tails, Amy, and Knuckles. You get a small cutscene as they set out from the island on Tail’s plane, the Tornado. Yet, briefly before, each character hints at their big plans after the events of this adventure; which recently was hinted as potential DLC with all three playable at some point in 2023. During this cutscene, Amy drops the line confirming that a Sonic Boom character is canon in the mainline franchise.

    I wonder if Cream and Sticks are free?

    Amy

    For those that might not know, Sticks the Bader is a character first introduced in the Sonic Boom franchise, which was an attempt to reboot the franchise. The game was riddled with bugs and ended the franchise long before it even got a chance to get going but it seems they still had some plans for the character moving forward. Perhaps it’s a hint that Sticks could appear as part of the upcoming DLC that is scheduled for next year.

  • The Sunday Paper—December 11, 2022

    The Sunday Paper—December 11, 2022

    dc studios future
    superman cavill

    This week the news fell into an alternate reality where DC is making all of the headlines. A huge report pointed to several shakeups in the newly-formed DC Studios. The report indicated that not only did they pass on Patty Jenkins‘ third Wonder Woman film, but also won’t move forward with a Black Adam sequel; even as Dwayne Johnsondesperately crunches the numbers to prove it’s a success. The biggest shock was also the fact that Henry Cavill may have returned briefly as Superman but is unlikely to do so once again. The upcoming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom may be the last we see Jason Momoa in the role, though news coming out of that film’s test screening will disappoint both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton Batman fans apparently.  

    For his part, co-CEO James Gunn took to Twitter to vaguely half-confirm the report. Though it is probably safe to say that even the top of the totem pole does not have all the answers. While the studio’s“lack of communication to talent reps and content creators” is reportedly “creating a riot”, Gunn did take the time to confirm to fans on Twitter that the character of Superman is a big priority for DC Studios going forward.

    daredevil born again cast

    In Marvel Studios news, we’ve gotten a couple of potentially big rumors about Avengers: The Kang Dynasty this week, including who the first Avengers to fall to Kang might be and a very interesting potential ally in the fight against the Big Bad. In the spirit of the first-parters to major MCU crossover events, we also saw some interesting concept art of a character mash-up between Iron Man and Doctor Strange that was cut from Avengers: Infinity War. 

    This week, we learned that actresses Margarita Levieva and Sandrine Holt have joined Daredevil: Born Again in major roles. While the roles are not confirmed, there is a chance Holt could be portraying Tyger Tiger, a character with more links to Madripoor than Hell’s Kitchen, but could tie together some criminal enterprises. 

    guardians of the galaxy nova

    As Black Panther: Wakanda Forever remains in theaters, we keep learning interesting tidbits. Michael B. Jordan opened up about what it took to keep Killmonger’s return in the film a surprise, and new concept art reveals alternative Namor designs. With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on the near-ish horizon, we speculate which characters might meet their untimely fate in the film which is promised to be an emotional last outing for the team.  Whether or not there will be more adventures for a new iteration of the team is a decision that Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, and his trusted Parliament have to make but in-universe, Guardians or not, the galaxy still needs heroes—and we have just the suggestion.

    In the gaming world, it appears Marvel’s Avengers video game experiment is coming to an end. Developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix, Marvel’s Avengers was an ambitious attempt at launching Marvel’s biggest superhero brand in the digital marketplace. Marvel’s Avengers will reportedly “sunset” in 2023 with support for the game and new content slowly ceasing to exist. 

  • Cryptic ‘One Piece’ Tweet Teases an Upcoming Announcement

    Cryptic ‘One Piece’ Tweet Teases an Upcoming Announcement

    One Piece may have one last announcement before it wraps up its 25th anniversary. While we haven’t heard much on the various projects that are currently in development outside of a few trailers building up momentum for One Piece Odyssey’s release in January, it does seem like one more announcement is heading our way. The best part: it seems we’ll find out what it’s all about by tomorrow.

    A new cryptic tweet from the official account has included a “Coming Soon on 12 Dec 2022” tagline alongside.an image teasing a new logo that is close to the design of the original combined with a few changes alongside what seems to be Luffy’s straw hat below. It does include a link to “toei-anim.com” which may hint at something related to the anime.

    It seems highly unlikely that this is in anyway related to the live-action series or even the manga. There’s a good chance that this might be some new collaboration for some merchandise or even special art pieces based on the popular manga and anime series. They might also share some news on the next arc for the anime that is likely going to introduce a filler arc to let the manga run a bit longer so it doesn’t catch up too fast. Of course, it’s just speculation at this point but it’ll be interesting to see what is heading our way.

    Source: Twitter

  • SNL is the Reason ‘Avatar’ Changed its Logo and Font

    SNL is the Reason ‘Avatar’ Changed its Logo and Font

    Have you ever wondered why James Cameron‘s Avatar suddenly changed its logo and font? At the time, there was the righteous assumption that perhaps it was mainly done with Disney’s usual knack of marketing its projects but it seems that it was more a reaction to a joke by Saturday Night Live. Yes, you read that correctly, the SNL sketch starring Ryan Gosling jokingly referring to the font as Papyrus is one of the reasons.

    Producer Jon Landau got a chance to talk to Entertainment Weekly, where he reflected on the joke and even went on to highlight that the correct font wasn’t actually Papyrus but Toruk. It seems the fact that it had a very plain logo, the SNL sketch in combination with people questioning its actual cultural relevance inspired the need to establish a logo that screamed Avatar.

    When we realized that the movie was going to expand into a franchise and we’d have other IPs, we went out and created our own font that we’re now using, and we call it Toruk, and it’s available for people to use. But the Papyrus font is a fun thing, and I also love the fact that… it was certainly several years after the movie came out, and I guess it illustrated to people who were questioning Avatar’s cultural relevance that it was still part of the culture.

    Jon Landau

    Even with The Way of Water set to make a massive opening box office, and a secured but rare China release, the discussions are still making the rounds on how relevant this franchise truly is. The first film has the heavy burden of having to make $2B to be considered a success but there’s also the dead market at the moment that could drag it down. For now, we have to see what’ll happen once it releases next week.

    Source: Entertainment Weekly

  • ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ Becomes Paramount’s Most-Watched Trailer Ever

    ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ Becomes Paramount’s Most-Watched Trailer Ever

    Steve Caple Jr.’s upcoming Transformers film subtitled Rise of the Beasts has become one of Paramount’s most watched trailers. After dropping during CCXP in anticipation of the dangerous Marvel panel later in the day, we got our first look at the latest addition to the Transformers franchise; the first since Bumblebee back in 2018. It’s been 4 years since we last saw one of cinema’s biggest franchises dominate the market and they are back in style with some more animalistic friends joining the fray in June of next year.

    Not only is it making its grand return but also seemingly broke a record for Paramount, as the film’s first trailer pulled in 494M globally in its first week. That beats out even Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s 182M and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’s 77M. 238M checked out the trailer within the first 24 hours, which is above any other theatrical trailer released by Paramount and only behind Avengers: Endgame‘s 268M and Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s 355.5M.

    Supposedly, it’s even the most shared trailer to date beating out Jurassic World: Dominion‘s 185K with 400K. For those wondering if this is a sign that Rise of the Beasts will domiante theaters, it’s not exactly an easy comparison drawn. Solo: A Star Wars Story once drew in massive trailer viewership and had a better first-day ticket sale than Black Panther but lost a lot of momentum, as pointed out by The Wrap. Yet, there’s likely a big curiosity about the return of the franchise, especially since Michael Bay‘s films dominated the box office back in the day and we haven’t seen one in quite some time.

    Perhaps the surprise drop combined with a “oh, this is back” element could’ve gotten word-of-mouth going but its box office will strongly depend on Paramount going all-in with its marketing. Bumblebee didn’t make as much as its predecessors did and it does seem like they are trying to pull back some elements from Bay into this sequel, but perhaps it was simply the insanity of “Bayhem” that truly had people going to theaters back in the day; looking for that thrill similar to Top Gun: Maverick early this year. We’ll know more once the next trailer drops and popularity remains building up into its June release next year.

    Source: The Wrap

  • James Gunn Swiftly Debunks Popular ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3’ Casting Rumor

    James Gunn Swiftly Debunks Popular ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3’ Casting Rumor

    The moment rumors hit the web that Bradley Cooper‘s Rocket would be joined by his love interest Lylla, everyone already had an idea who they’d want to play the character. Lady Gaga instantly became a fan-favorite to take on the role with even some rumors circulating online. The first poster recently dropped giving us our first official look at the film alongside the confirmation of her inclusion. Like clockwork, people started speculating once more and it seems director James Gunn silenced any more theories moving forward.

    To celebrate the release of the first trailer, James Gunn shared it on his personal Instagram account. Most shared their enthusiasm for the next Marvel entry and return of the popular band of intergalactic misfits. There were some, however, that used the opportunity to see if the actress voicing Lylla might have a name that ended with “ga” which the director swiftly denied without any further elaboration.

    Lady Gaga won’t be a stranger to the comic book world, as she’s set to take on the role of Harley Quinn in the upcoming Joker sequel: Folie á Deux. Yet, the casting of her as Lylla seems mostly inspired due to the chemistry that she and Cooper shared in the remake of A Star is Born. Ever since the film’s release, she’s ended up as a must-casting for the character and generally has become quite popular to appear alongside the actor. Yet, it seems that those that have imagined this happening, it seems

    Source: Instagram, The Direct

  • ‘Avatar’ Producer Cautions Fans About Leaked Sequel Titles

    ‘Avatar’ Producer Cautions Fans About Leaked Sequel Titles

    In 2018, the BBC reported that they had seen documentation indicating the titles of the next four films in the Avatar franchise. The BBC is certainly not known as a hotspot for pop culture leaks, but it is absolutely one of the most reputable news sources there is. The report listed the following titles for the films:

    Avatar: The Way of Water

    Avatar: The Seed Bearer

    Avatar: The Tulkun Rider

    Avatar: The Quest for Eywa

    At this point, the accuracy of the BBC report doesn’t seem to be in question; however, according to franchise producer Jon Landau, fans might want to pump the brakes on having the future titles added to their Avatar tattoos. “We have decided on titles,”Landau told i09, “but I would not go by those other three titles that were out there. You know, if you roll the dice one in six times, you’ll pick the right number.”

    Landau’s comments are especially noteworthy given the fact that the BBC’s report has already been proven 25% true and one would assume that the documentation for the other films they referenced is from the same source as that which correctly gave them the title The Way of Water. Of course, there’s nothing less important than the name of a film no matter how much of hot button topic it is among fans. Avatar 5 could be called Avatar: Lots of Blue People and as long as the film is well-done, audiences will grow to love it.

    While we wait to find out what the titles for Avatar 3-5 turn out to be, the wait for Avatar: The Way of Water is getting shorter by the day as it hits theaters on December 16th.

    Sources: BBC, iO9