After a nice long gap, we are getting a new Star Wars film, the final part in the saga and the last one for quite a while. Episode IX, which is due to be released on December 20th, 2019, now has a name. JJ Abrams has returned to direct after Colin Trevorrow was given the boot for that classic reason: creative differences. The name of the new Star Wars film is The Rise of Skywalker
The third part in the latest trilogy is said to be a fitting end to the Saga with Mark Hamill returning (from the dead? ZOMBIE LUKE!) as well as Billy Dee Williams reprising his role as Lando Calrissian and Carrie Fisher making an appearance using archive footage. Walt Disney CEO, Bob Iger has said that after Episode IX, Star Wars will take a break. He says, “We have not announced any specific plans for movies thereafter. There are movies in development, but we have not announced them.” During the Star Wars Celebration event in Chicago, Stephen Colbert presented the Episode IX panel which included JJ Abrams, Anthony Daniels, Kathleen Kennedy, Billy Dee Williams R2D2, Oscar Issac, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Naomi Ackie, Joonas, Suotamo, Kelly Marie Tran and BB8. During the discussion, they spoke of their previous experience in and outside of Star Wars as well as the current film, whilst new images of the characters appeared on the screen behind them. Some we know well, some we will get to know. We also received the first teaser trailer which shows how the previous Jedis have passed on all that they know to the current generation. We see Rey, Finn, Poe, C3PO, BB8 as they all do battle with Kylo and the dark side. Lando comes back to fly his Millennium Falcon, as we are told no one is ever really gone. Besides Luke, who else will return?
John Boyega, Oscar Issac, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong’o and Domhnall Gleeson all return for the final go in the Skywalker Saga. The Rise of Skywalker has been written by Abrams and Chris Terrio, with Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly getting co-writing credits. After this film, we know that there is The Mandalorian TV series by Jon Favreau, with episodes being directed by Deborah Chow, Dave Filoni, Rick Famuyiwa, Bryce Dallas Howard and Taika Waititi but that’s about it for now. A break makes sense after Star Wars fatigue did seem to settle in after the release of Solo just a few months after The Last Jedi. We’ll see how long this break is but I’m extremely excited for the final chapter on this 42 year old Saga.
So, this is a bit later than normal. To be fair I was relaxing on Sunday and time just got away from me. Yes I was being lazy… I was going to mention the World Cup and England but it seems redundant now after France won it yesterday. Congratulations by the way.
Anyway, this has been a great week for creepy posters (hello Winnie you weirdo), getting our first look at Glass, an exciting BFI London Film Festival announcement and yours truly received a history lesson. Apparently I don’t know everything.
Trailers and Posters
The Favourite
Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz star in The Favourite, the latest offering from Yorgos Lanthimos. An unstable Queen Anne (Colman) sits on the throne whilst her friend Lady Sarah (Weisz) starts to bond with a new servant Abigail (Stone). It looks as odd as you’d expect from Lanthimos.
Orange is the New Black
Orange is the New Black isn’t just the current President, it’s also a damn good TV show. Although I’m a few seasons behind, I’d love to catch up! Here’s a new poster and trailer for the upcoming sixth season
Christopher Robin
Creepy in the trailer and creepy in the posters. Say what you want, these characters look freaking weird! Check out the new trailer and character posters for Christopher Robin.
Life Itself
Life Itself tells the story of a couple who after meeting at college, get married and have a baby. Their life and relationship creates events which echo across the world. Starring Oscar Isaac, Olivia Cooke, Mandy Patinkin, Olivia Wilde, Antonio Banderas and Annette Bening.
Castle Rock
More of Stephen King’s writing is getting it’s own adaptation. This time it’s Castle Rock, a fictional town in which strange things start to happen after a young man shows up at Shawshank prison
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
The (potentially pointless) reboot of Sabrina aka Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, has an eerie new poster in which Salem takes centre stage. Why? Not a clue! Coming to Netflix in 2018 and a trailer is landing at this year’s SDCC.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Coming from it’s success at Sundance The Miseducation of Cameron Post has an official trailer. Showing an oppressed young girl who is forced in gay conversion therapy
Mary Queen of Scots
Mary Queen of Scots has a couple of character posters which have a grainy painted effect. Nice! Starring Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan it tells the story of how Mary Stuart attempts to overthrow her cousin Elizabeth I and is condemned to prison. (My knowledge of history is terrible normally but I nicked this from IMDB ) There’s also a trailer which looks pretty good but I’m feeling a bit meh about this film…
The Meg
The Meg is about to have a furry snack, not the dog you bastard! Why would you do that?! 🐶🦈
News
Captain Marvel
It was confirmed this week by none other than Brie Larson that they have wrapped on Captain Marvel. Exciting times for the 21st MCU movie which is out on March next year, JUST before Avengers 4. This will be the first MCU movie which has been fronted by a female lead character and after 10 years it’s about time.
The Predator
A couple of new images of the upcoming new Predator film, showing off some new hardcore armour. Starring Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Sterling K Brown, this rebooted version will be out in September
Lando Calrissian Returns In Episode IX
It seems the unanswered question of where the hell is Lando is finally being answered after it was announced that Billie Dean Williams is returning as the charismatic character in 2019’s Star Wars: Episode IX. More on it here.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
A new image from Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald has been released. Here’s Newt Scamander in all his glory, I hope this is better than the last one which, let’s be honest, was pretty average…
Birds of Prey
I must have missed this but there’s yet another Harley Quinn movie in production, this one is called Birds of Prey and will be directed by Cathy Yan. To sum up there’s this, Gotham City Sirens, Suicide Squad 2 and a Joker/Harley Quinn movie (plus other non Harley Quinn films) all in the works. Seems a bit much DC!
Robocop Returns
Neill Blomkamp is making a return to the big screen after 2015’s Chappie with Robocop Returns, a sequel to the 1987 original. *sigh* how about we do something original instead??
Shazam
The first official image of the utterly ridiculous looking Shazam ⚡. I mean, really?? 😂
Glass
A few brightly coloured images have been released for Glass, the sequel by M. Night Shyamalan which merges Unbreakable and Split into one. A bizarre concept which feels like it could just work. Starring Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson, James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy and Sarah Paulson
Black Widow
Cate Shortland has been picked from a long list of directors (apparently it was about 70 ) to helm the solo Black Widow movie. Traditionally an indie filmmaker, it’s great to see a big budget film go to her. Looking forward to see what they will do with this
Godzilla: King of Monsters.
The first images for Godzilla: King of Monsters have been released and it looks like he’s got a bit of bad breathe… Starring Millie Bobby Brown, Vera Farmiga, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, Kyle Chandler and Charles Dance, the next in the monster franchise is out in 2019
Widows
After being announced as the opening film of BFI London Film Festival, here’s a new image from Widows. Directed by Steve McQueen the film is out in November.
A Downton Abbey
A Downton Abbey movie has been confirmed by Hugh Boneville’s Instagram account. The script has been written by Julian Fellowes and will be directed by Brian Percival who helmed the Downton Abbey pilot. Out in 2019, this should class the cinemas up a bit
Industry News
DreamWorks Animation Launches New Programme
A new animation which has been designed to be more inclusive and focus on short animated films has been launched DreamWorks Animation. For more on this story, please click here.
BFI London Film Festival
The opening film of the 62nd BFI London Film Festival has been announced as Steve McQueen’s Widows which is the directors return to the big screen after 2013’s 12 Years a Slave. Read more about this exciting announcement here.
Reviews
Mini Review: Skyscraper
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Chin Han, Noah Taylor
A man is framed for causing a life threatening fire in the world’s tallest building. He must battle against the odds in order to clear his name and save his family.
Thanks to Dwayne Johnson and the outrageous stunts he pulls off during the film, Skyscraper is exactly what you expect it to be. It has a pretty thin plot with characters who are never fully fleshed out but it’s so much mindless fun, you won’t care about that. With action sequences that’ll make you feel and wince, Skyscraper is the dumb summer film we’ve been waiting for.
When the Force Awakens was released in 2015, one of the questions it raised was where is Lando?? Well it seems JJ Abrams would like to answer that for you since it’s been announced that Billy Dee Williams is making a comeback as Lando Calrissian. After Donald Glover’s turn as the charismatic character, it seems they want to keep him around. It’ll be interesting to see where he’s been.
How he will fit into the film is anyone’s guess but at least he’s in it. At the moment Keri Russell is in talks to join the eleventh live action Star Wars film as the cast list grows. Whilst he may have been away for a while and only appeared in two films, Williams has voiced the character on other occasions including The Lego Movie as well as Star Wars Rebels.
Joining Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver and Lupita Nyong’o, the film due for release in December 2019 with Abrams working the script with writer Chris Terrio who has previously written Argo and Justice League.
This week there were reports that due to the apparent poor reception of Solo: A Star Wars story at the box office, Lucasfilm was putting their spinoffs on hold and concentrating their efforts on Episode IX and other projects.
However they have weighed in on the rumours to claim that they are false (of course they have!) A statement released yesterday says that these reports are inaccurate and that there are multiple films still in development outside of the confirmed new works by Rian Johnson (currently developing a new trilogy) and Game Of Thrones duo David Benioff and DB Weiss.
Just to get you up to speed, Collider reported that after Solo didn’t do as well as they had wanted, films like Obi-Wan and Boba Fett were no longer in production whilst the company focused on its primary films. Despite the fact that nothing had been confirmed, it seems Lucasfilm wanted to put this fire out before the rumours spread, perhaps a lesson learned after constant Solo production gossip got a little out of hand.
Solo has made $196.2m in its first three weeks, by comparison Rogue One had made $455m in the same amount of time which is going to be a concern for those involved. Soon after the release of Solo, news was released regarding of a Boba Fett movie being directed by James Mangold, what exactly is going to happen to this remains to be seen.
Keep. It. Reel.
It seems Lucasfilm and Disney are eager to keep the Star Wars fandom alive with the news coming out regarding a new stand alone film this time about bounty hunter, Boba Fett. Yes this was rumoured quite some time ago but only now have they revealed it is officially going ahead with James Mangold in the directors chair as well as taking up writing duties.
As you’d expect details are scarce with this breaking just a day after Solo: A Star Wars story has hit the cinemas. It seems they are confident with their spin-off films being primarily about one main character, with Solo, Boba and a possible Obi-Wan project in the making with Stephen Daldry in negotiations to direct.
Now, I’m a big Star Wars fan. I’ve loved the franchise for years despite its mistakes. Yes I’m looking at you, shitty prequels. However, with the release of Solo less than 6 months since The Last Jedi (don’t groan, it was excellent and did more for Star Wars than most of its films have ever done) as well as Rian Johnson’s new trilogy, Jon Favreau’s live action series and yet another animated series in production, it’s become overkill. The Disney takeover was an exciting adventure into a galaxy far far away. We left it for a while then it came back roaring with the sound of a thousand TIE fighters but now it’s become too much, as if being weighed down by Jabba the Hutt.
The fact that the filmmakers themselves have been kind of varied (besides the poor decision to bring back JJ Abrams for Episode IX) might mean that these projects are good however by now you’d expect there to be some diversity and not only be helmed by white men. The Last Jedi showed us a wider universe with men and women of different ethnicities and backgrounds but it seems that whilst it’s looking good in front of the camera behind it is a whole other story.
A mutual decision by Lucasfilm and Colin Trevorrow has resulted in the director leaving Star Wars Episode IX. It was announced by Disney yesterday that due to having different ‘visions on the project’ they have parted ways leaving it open for another director to step in.
In a statement regarding Trevorrow, Disney has said ‘Lucasfilm and Colin Trevorrow have mutual chosen to part ways on Star Wars Episode IX. Colin has been a wonderful collaborator throughout the development process but we have all come to the conclusion that our visions for the project differ. We wish Colin the best and will be sharing more information about the film soon.’
The news comes after Ron Howard replaced the fired Phil Lord and Chris Miller on the Han Solo movie in June. Recent rumours have surfaced regarding their sacking including their attempt to make Han Solo similar to Ace Ventura. The directors had been working on this film for almost 2 years so this came as quite a shock.
Trevorrow was announced as director of Episode IX on 2015 after the success of Jurassic World which has rebooted the franchise after making $1.6bn at the box office.
A replacement director has not been announced just yet so watch this space. Star Wars Episode IX is due for release on June 21st, 2019 with the next part of the saga The Last Jedi in cinemas on December 14th, 2017.
After the recent shock departure of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from the Star Wars spin off Han Solo project, there were rumours which quickly sprouted of Ron Howard taking over. Well, it seems in a rare twist a rumour turned out to be true! The director of Rush and Apollo 13 has been announced as the replacement director, taking over for the next few weeks of shooting as well as the films planned reshoots, scheduled for later this year.
Ron, who has been previously rumoured for Phantom Menace, will be working for the next 3 weeks, ensuring it’s steered in the right direction. It’s unclear what credit Lord and Miller will receive if any who allegedly had several disagreements with producer Kathleen Kennedy.
Lucasfilm moved quickly to find a replacement due to the fact that they are not changing the scheduled release date. Shooting is due to resume on July 10th, giving the crew time to take stock of the situation. Kennedy said, “At Lucasfilm we believe the highest goal of each film is to delight, carrying forward the spirit of the saga that George Lucas began 40 years ago. With that in mind we’re thrilled to announce that Ron Howard will step in to direct the untitled Han Solo film. We have a wonderful script, an incredible cast and crew and the absolute commitment to make a great movie.”
It was announced that Lord and Miller left the project due to creative differences. Hearsay from the set says that the directing duo were not happy with the control Kennedy had over the creativity of the project. It’s been rumoured that they didn’t have as much control as they would have liked and also butted heads with writer and Star Wars veteran Jon Kasdan.
With the movie taking a break until next month, they’ll have to work fast to have it finished on time. Let’s hope this doesn’t have an affect on production.
Starring Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, the movie is to be set around the early days of the Millennium Falcon pilot as a smuggler. It also stars Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Woody Harrelson, Michael K. Williams and Emilia Clarke. The project is still slated for release on May 25th, 2018.
It’s been announced that Phil Lord and Chris Miller have left the Han Solo project after clashing several times with producer Kathleen Kennedy. The pair left on Tuesday after they were not being given the freedom to run their own production of the Star Wars spin off movie.
In a released statement, Lord and Miller have said, “Unfortunatemy, our vision and process weren’t aligned with our partners on this project. We normally aren’t fans of the phrase ‘creative differences’ but for once this clichè is true. We are really proud of the amazing and world-class work of our cast and crew.”
Lord and Miller also butted heads with writer and producer Larry Kasdan, who has been part of Star Wars ever since Empire Strikes Back. It’s claimed that he was never a fan of the pair’s directing style.
Kennedy said, “Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are talented filmmakers who assembled an incredible cast and crew but it’s become clear that we had different creative visions on this film and we’ve decided to part ways.”
With a few weeks still left to shoot, plus reshoots planned for later on, the Han Solo movie needs a new director. Ron Howard has been rumoured but nothing is being confirmed as of yet.
Starring Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, the movie is to be set around the early days of the Millennium Falcon pilot as a smuggler. It also stars Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Woody Harrelson, Michael K. Williams and Emilia Clarke. The project is still slated for release on May 25th, 2018.
In November 2014, we received news of a name and the first trailer for the next Episode in the Star Wars saga, The Force Awakens. We were briefly introduced to Poe, Rae and Finn as well as Kylo Ren whilst knowing virtually nothing about the film. What we did know is that it was still slightly more than 13 months away.
Well here we are, eleven months to go with no information at all of the ninth live action film and the eighth Episode. Until today. We’ve been given a name, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Stars Wars. Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. It’s an intriguing title due to where we left our heroes at the end of the Force Awakens. Rey located Luke Skywalker who previous to discovering her abilities was thought to be at the last Jedi, so presumably Mark Hamill will earn his pay cheque a lot more than the last film! With its ominous red glow it’s considerably different to previous titles we’ve seen. Perhaps a much darker tone? We’ll see!
The film is directed by Rian Johnson and is to be released in December 2017. This film will have a particularly different feel what with the tragic death of Carrie Fisher who passed away towards the end of 2016. Whilst Fisher had filmed all of her parts for the upcoming movie, it’s unclear exactly what Disney plans on doing with her character.
So much news. Very little time. A week to be exact. With any luck this will be a regular feature every week on either Sunday or Monday where I round up a bunch of news, just in case you’ve missed anything. Yes, I can be THIS nice. As well as these regular news updates, I’ve got a few new bits coming in the new year which I’m hoping will become regular features. Stay tuned. In the mean time, let’s get this started.
Cars 3
And we begin with Cars 3 trailer. This is without question the least Pixar the Cars movies has ever looked. A very gritty, off-kilter, shocking and a greyish trailer which comes with a message: From this moment everything will change. What does that mean? Are they destroying Cars as we know it? Will people actually like this one? (I’ve not seen either of them so I can’t comment but apparently Cars and Cars 2 sucks.) Has the colour been turned down for good? No-one knows but we will certainly find out in 2017.
John Boyega in Pacific Rim: Maelstrom
We’ve just seen John Boyega featuring in a new image from Pacific Rim 2. It was announced a while ago that he was part of the sequel, he then released a photo to show us the title which is Pacific Rim: Maelstrom. And that’s it. That’s pretty much all we know (without reading more about it to avoid spoilers) however I do hope that we’ll see more dumb awesomeness with even more massive robots punching massive monsters!
Release of Rogue One tickets
They are out people! This is not a drill! I’ve booked my ticket to watch it on the 17th December. I’m very excited, I love the idea for this film and it look great from the trailers. Rogue One this year, Episode VIII in 2017, Han Solo movie in 2018, Episode IX in 2019 and another spin-off in 2019. So much to look forward to if you’re a Star Wars fan, which I wasn’t a while ago. But that’s something for another time. You can book your tickets here.
Deadpool 2 director announced
Director of Deadpool 2 announced as David Leitch, who is the man behind 2014’s John Wick starring Keanu Reeves. This is going to be a challenge for Leitch. First of all, John Wick was very successful, enough to make a sequel in fact, however it was dark, there wasn’t much humour in it. But the action scenes were superbly choreographed and the entire film was well directed. It’s an interesting choice after Tim Miller departed due to creative differences (there are lots of rumours, related to budget constrictions, disagreeing on who to cast as Cable and so on) but it’ll be a good one that’s for a sure.
Emilia Clarke in Han Solo movie
That’s it. This is all we know. She’s paying the female leads apparently and that’s it. I think it’s a good move for Clarke to go into such a major franchise considering her work besides Game of Thrones hasn’t exactly been strong. Time will tell, this is going to be the second spin-off for Star Wars with many more planned especially as they have recently announced that after Episode IX, there will be no more Episode films. It makes sense, there’s only so far a story can go and there are plenty of other ideas to be explored.
Silence trailer and poster
Can you imagine working on something for 28 years, finishing it off and then releasing it to the world? Well this is exactly what the film Silence is to Martin Scorsese. The trailer for his epic new film, starring Adam Driver, Andrew Garfield and Liam Neeson has finally been released. Check out what all the fuss is about right here. They also released a poster, looking forward to this.
Sherlock Season 4 images
We’ve seen the trailer, now check out these images! Yeah okay, they aren’t that great but frankly I very eager to see what they have planned for this set of episodes which might be the end of Sherlock. It certainly needs to end. Season 3 was good but not as good as 1 and 2, plus the main duo are constantly busy with other films and stage performances. It all beings again on January 1st 2017. I’ve thrown in all of the new images, a couple of old ones AND the trailer. Enjoy your Sherlook-gasm…
The Comedian trailer
This is what he doe best. Good character acting. I love the look of this film, it looks charming, funny and warm, plus the role of DeNiro’s character seems to be a much stronger one than he’s played recently (all I will say is Dirty Grandpa). Check out the trailer below.
Neels Reel Deel 
