Carl Roberts 
Carl brings us up to date with this week’s hottest stories from the biggest studios in Hollywood
We started the week with the Super Bowl and the influx of trailers that come with it. The game itself was a letdown, becoming the lowest scoring Superbowl in history but the trailers that were featured during the commercials more than lived up to expectations.
Sadly, no Star Wars: Episode IX trailer (as was previously reported) but we were treated to a new spot for Avengers: Endgame which sent the rumour mongers and people who dissect trailers frame by frame into a frenzy. The various theories started to come out of the woodwork as they usually do but the spot was again Captain Marvel free. The internet was abuzz not with what the trailer showed but more of what it didn’t show. And in particular, a shot that showed a large space between two characters, giving way to speculation as to what SHOULD be in said space. Have Disney/Marvel digitally removed a character from the scene as not to spoil what is to come in the film?
In related news, it’s been confirmed the film still has a three hour running time after the latest round of test screenings. This would make it the longest Marvel film so far to date. I for one think the three-hour runtime if confirmed will be needed to end this phase of the Marvel Universe. The film has a lot to get through and to bring various character arcs to a conclusion.
Captain Marvel herself nabbed a Super Bowl spot too, adding to the excitement for her big debut next month on the silver screen. A nifty 45-second clip from the film added to the buildup and again brought the internet into a near frenzied meltdown. New posters arrived too to aid the momentum of the film.
Fast And Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw gave us a nice TV spot giving us nothing that we didn’t see in the trailer released a week previously. Guillermo Del Toro gave us a fair few mini spots for his upcoming film ‘Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark‘. The spots gave us hope that Del Toro has returned to his horror roots and will once again give us a film that will scare the audience silly. Wonder Park gave us a sweet new trailer. The animated film arrives next month and tells the story of a little girls imagination bringing an entire amusement park to life. Alita: Battle Angel presented a TV spot for the film that is released across the world today.
Toy Story 4‘s spot gave us another look at Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele’s brand new characters being made to feel the pain again by Buzz Lightyear. ‘Us‘ gave us another mysterious spot about the upcoming psychological horror film written and directed by Jordan Peele, following on from his acclaimed film ‘Get Out‘.
Spots for the upcoming TV series Hanna, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Twilight Zone reboot, Our Planet and Game Of Thrones completed the line up on Superbowl Sunday.
Walt Disneys upcoming live-action remake of ‘Dumbo‘ got itself a new trailer and some snazzy new posters to boot this week, bringing the hope that the film will be as charming and loved as the original 1940 cartoon. Tim Burton directs Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito in his take on the classic tale.
We sadly said goodbye to actress Julie Adams. She will best be remembered for her role in Universal’s classic black and white horror/creature feature ‘The Creature From The Black Lagoon‘. May she rest in peace knowing that she helped the film to be regarded as one of the best of the classic creature movies Universal made back in the day. Thank you for the memories, Miss Adams.
The upcoming remake of Stephen King’s Horror novel, ‘Pet Semetary’ gave us a new trailer and poster, bringing us again face to face with the horror contained within. Jason Clarke and John Lithgow star this time around.
The hippest Mother F****r of all time made himself known again as Warner Bros and New Line Cinema presented us with the trailer and poster for its upcoming continuation of ‘Shaft‘. This time around though Samuel L Jackson is joined by his on-screen son JJ (John Shaft Jr) played by Jessie T Usher as well as the original, legendary John Shaft himself Richard Roundtree. I love the idea of three generations of Shaft being together in one movie. I love the original 1971 Shaft, to me its one of the greatest ‘Blaxplotation’ movies of them all alongside ‘Foxy Brown‘. Samuel L Jackson’s take on the material was completely brilliant so I am looking forward to seeing this film upon its June 14th release. One thing though is the family that unoriginal that all the men in the family are all given the first name John?!
Paramount gave us two pieces of news with different aspects of the industry. The first piece of news they released was their intention of making a brand new ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ movie. Bravely moving away from the Michael Bay-produced series (I kind of liked the first one, the second not so much), the intention is to go back to basics and make an updated but faithful adaptation of the comic book. No word yet on any stars but we can hope we get a Turtles movie that will do the property justice.
On the other side, however, Paramount finally gave up the ghost and pulled the plug on the long-delayed sequel ‘World War Z 2‘. The original 2014 film starred Brad Pitt as a doctor trying to find a cure for an out of control Zombie infestation. The film suffered from having its third act completely reshot and its ending changed but managed to pull in a profit nonetheless. Attempts to make a sequel have been gestating ever since the original with little success. Brad Pitt tried to bring in Director David Fincher to take a shot at writing the screenplay with an eye on him also directing the film while Pitt again produced the film through his production company ‘Plan B’. Sadly, despite everyone’s attempts to get the project off the ground, the property now lies on the scrapheap and the project is dead.
Warner Bros. this week has released the sequel to ‘The Lego Movie’ called ‘The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part‘. Ok, the title isn’t that imaginative but our own Phil Roberts was honoured to attend a press screening in London last week and has reported that the film is worthy of paying the admission price. Check out his review right here on Future Of The Force.
And finally, a rumour is doing the rounds that I really hope is true. It seems Warner Bros. and writer/director George Miller have finally resolved their differences (and Miller’s lawsuit against them) and are now primed to film a follow up to 2015’s ‘Mad Max: Fury Road and the fifth film in the Mad Max series. Fury Road not only was a box office success but gained awards around the world, surprising many people in Hollywood, gaining ten Oscar nominations including Best Picture and winning six. Miller stated back in 2015 that he was writing two sequels to the film, one of which would focus on Charlize Theron’s character of Furiosa. The second was to be titled ‘Mad Max: The Wasteland’ and follow Tom Hardy’s take on the character played three times previously by Mel Gibson. Both Hardy and Theron are contracted for the sequels and Hardy stated a few weeks back that he was just waiting for the call to return as the anti-hero.
Hardy and Theron famously didn’t get on during the making of Fury Road and it remains to be seen if they both return for a sequel together. However, this is great news for Mad Max fans and for the fans of George Miller around the world. We can only hope that the rumour turns out to be true and that Hardy is available to film the sequel and his ‘Venom‘ commitments do not delay the films start date.
Until next time my friends.
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Future of the Force News Editor,Liverpool F.C fan,Halloween Movie Fan, Friday The 13th movies fan, Star Wars Fan, Star Trek Fan.
