Following the exciting Wonder Woman 2 portion of Warner Bros.' massive Hall H panel at Comic-Con 2018, moderator Aisha Tyler invited Zachary Levi onstage to finally debut the upcoming Shazam. Naturally, they showed the movie's eagerly awaited first trailer.
The trailer showed Billy Batson, the young boy who will become Shazam, struggling in the foster system. He goes home with a new family and meets his foster brother. The tone is funny, as expected.
After a confrontation with some bullies, he flees to the subway, but winds up in a cave, where he meets a mysterious, bearded, lightning bolt-adorned Shazam. He utters his name, and stands up as Zachary Levi. Naturally, the first thing he does is show off for his foster brother. The two proceed to test out his new powers, testing whether he can fly. He also walks around at a mall zapping people's phones to charge them, but accidentally blows one up. In a convenience store robbery, he gets shot and learns that--thankfully--he's immune to bullets.
Just before the trailer debuted, Levi took the stage to introduce it, holding a beer. "Jason Momoa gave me this Guiness. I'm having a great day," Levi joked. He said playing Shazam is "complete wish fulfillment" for him. "And the whole movie's about wish fulfillment," he said.
This story is developing--check back for further updates.
During Warner Bros.' massive Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2018, the studio brought Wonder Woman 1984, showing off some never before seen footage of the eagerly anticipated sequel.
In the exclusive footage, which was called "a rough cut of what we're working on" (the movie has only just begun filming recently), Wonder Woman fought a pair of gunmen in a 1980s mall. She tossed a little girl to safety, crushed the men's guns with her bare hands, then lassoed them with her iconic, glowing rope. In a later scene, she ran so quickly through a crowded street that she appeared to almost float, gracefully, above the pavement.
Wonder Woman 2 director Patty Jenkins took the stage with actors Gal Gadot and Chris Pine for some discussion, too. Naturally, moderator Aisha Tyler asked how Chris Pine can be in this Wonder Woman sequel, given the events of the first film.
"I'm actually not really here right now," Pine joked. "No, I can't...I can't tell you that."
"What is he back here for?" Jenkins continued. "Well, it's something I'm super excited for everybody to see--the movie--to find out. It's a very important part of our movie."
As far as Wonder Woman 1984's story, "it's not a sequel," Gadot said--it's a brand new movie and "its own story."
Jenkins went on to say that she believes Wonder Woman is more human than most heroes--that people of all types, regardless of gender, age, or any other factor, can see themselves in her. She said they want to capture that same feeling in Wonder Woman 2.
This story is developing--check back for further updates.
The popular cartoon Steven Universe is getting its very own movie, simply called Steven Universe: The Movie. The announcement concluded the Saturday morning Steven Universe panel at San Diego Comic-Con.
EW reported that the panel was hosted by Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar and stars Zach Callison, Estelle, Michaela Dietz, Shelby Rabara, and Deedee Magno Hall. The announcement was followed by a short teaser trailer for the upcoming movie and a message that the film is coming soon to Cartoon Network. The teaser is a short 20-second clip of a heart-shaped gemstone spinning closer to the camera, with main characters from the series reflected upon its surface.
Steven Universe is the first animated show to debut on Cartoon Network that is solely created by a woman. It first premiered in November 2013 and went on to form a following of devoted fans. A coming-of-age story, Steven Universe follows the adventures of Steven, who lives with magical aliens called Crystal Gems, in his quest to protect his fictional hometown of Beach City and the world at large. Being half-Gem, Steven possessing a range of superpowers that he slowly comes to terms with over the course of the show.
Steven Universe's success has led to books and comics based on the show, as well as a video game spin-off. The show continues to air on Cartoon Network on Saturdays at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET.
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part portion of Warner Bros.' massive Hall H panel at Comic-Con 2018 opened with a LEGO version of Aisha Tyler moderating a pre-recorded panel with LEGO Batman, LEGO Aquaman (both versions--the classic orange-suited one and the Jason Momoa Justice League version), plus Lego Movie stars Emmet (Chris Pratt) and Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks).
The unfinished, exclusive LEGO Movie 2 footage shown gave attendees a new glimpse at the now-apocalyptic LEGO world--basically, it's Mad Max with LEGOs. "Everything was awesome. Now, everything is bleak," Wyldstyle says. Of course, Emmet quickly breaks the mood by cheerily showing up with coffee. In the footage, the movie's new villain, General Mayhem, kidnaps Wyldstyle. LEGO Harley Quinn points out that rescuing her is a "suicide mission," a tongue-in-cheek reference to Suicide Squad.
Most importantly, the clip introduced us to Rex Dangervest, a new character also voiced by Chris Pratt, who among his many jobs is a "raptor trainer," a cute little Jurassic World joke. The two characters show the dual sides of Pratt, who, as the actor pointed out during the panel, started his career as the hapless Andy on Parks and Rec and is now a superhero and action movie star.
Unlike the first LEGO Movie, which was directed by Chris Miller and Phil Lord, the follow-up will be helmed by Mike Mitchell. It's set five years after the first film and, along with those mentioned above, the cast consists of Jonah Hill (Green Lantern), Will Arnett (Batman), Channing Tatum (Superman), and Stephanie Beatriz (Sweet Mayhem). It releases on February 8, 2019.
Prior to San Diego Comic-Con 2018, all we knew about Netflix and Matt Groening's new show, Disenchantment, was what we saw in a brief teaser trailer: It's a fantasy show, made by Groening (the creator of The Simpsons and Futurama), and it stars an irreverent, relatable princess played by Broad City's Abbi Jacobson. During group interviews at the convention, we learned a whole lot more.
Groening, who's been embroiled in controversy lately, was totally focused on promoting Disenchantment during Comic-Con. Alongside longtime collaborator Josh Weinstein--who also worked on both The Simpsons and Futurama--he described his influences for the show, which go back to his childhood dreams of an "enchanted forest."
He didn't want to make a straight fantasy show, though, and he and Weinstein hope to subvert the genre's many tropes--both old and new. "The princess is a perfect example," said Weinstein. "It used to be like the Disney princess, but also, I think a lot of writers make the mistake too of going the other way--it's like, 'She's totally kick-ass and she's perfect.' So we wanted to bust that trope and actually make, what if the princess were just like, a realistic 19-year-old young woman?"
"The tendency in a lot of epic fantasies and science fiction is 'good vs. evil,' and we tried to shade it a little bit," Groening added. "[King Zog, played by Bender and Jake the Dog actor John DiMaggio] here starts out pretty villainous, but then you find out he has his reasons, and he's not all bad. And same thing with [Princess] Bean, who's the star of the show, and who it's all about. She's not perfect by any means--she makes some bad mistakes and she has a lot of flaws, but you like her anyway."
Monty Python and the Holy Grail proved to be a big influence, unsurprisingly, given the setting. But Disenchantment's home on Netflix allowed Groening and Weinstein more freedom than they're used to. Netflix has become known as a place where creators can fulfill their visions without studio meddling--for better or worse. One way they're experimenting is with length and pacing--the show's first episode is around 35 minutes long, and later episodes vary in length, which isn't possible on network television.
Disenchantment also has more adult content than The Simpsons and Futurama, but they didn't want to be gratuitous.
"If there's nudity, it's going to be King Zog"--i.e. a character most people wouldn't want to see naked, Weinstein said. "If there's violence, it has to be funny or clever so it's not gratuitous."
"We do have a lot of severed limbs and decapitations in this show," Groening added.
Dropping all the episodes at once has advantages, too. "This was a different kind of storytelling than we've ever done, in that you don't have to wrap things up at the end of the episode," Groening said. "And so we have a lot of fun with cliffhangers--a literal cliffhanger at the end of Episode 1."
"Some of the best jokes come from when you don't have to push the story forward so much," he continued. "On The Simpsons and Futurama and other cartoon shows like that, you're so pushing the story forward that you don't have time for some of the best jokes, which are free-standing."
Groening and Weinstein said they designed the show first as if it was a drama, getting the story beats in place before subverting things to add the humor. Weinstein brought up a "rule" that he said Groening has had "from the very beginning of The Simpsons": that characters have to react emotionally to the story in realistic ways.
"We especially thought that in a fantasy, and in an epic tale, and with a character like Bean, if those emotions, and her relationship with her dad, if those aren't real, you'll just disconnect, and it would just be like, a stupid parody show," Weinstein said.
In addition to Jacobson and DiMaggio, Disenchantment's voice actors include Eric Andre, Noel Fielding, and many other talented comedians and actors. The music is atypical for a fantasy show, created by Mark Mothersbaugh, an accomplished film composer and frontman of the band Devo. And the show will be chock full of secrets, according to Groening, from the very first scene.
"The very first thing you see is a giant clue," he teased. "The first animation you see reveals a giant clue, and it's staring you right in the face. And I'm being very legalese here, and my wording is very precise, so it will pay off later."
Most of all, he said, they want to create a show that elicits a wide range of emotions--not unlike The Simpsons and Futurama before it. "We hope we choke people up and break some hearts and maybe cause a tear here and there," Groening said. "But that's after we make you laugh."
By Anonymous on Jul 21, 2018 11:43 pm Mike and Dave discuss the latest details on Netflix's Disenchantment from Comic-Con 2018. Matt Groening's new show premiere's August 17 on Netflix.
Nightflyers is a novella by George RR Martin, writer of the Song of Ice and Fire series which was adapted into HBO's Game of Thrones. Now, Nightflyers is being adapted into a TV show, and Syfy released the first trailer for it at Comic-Con.
The novella was very well received, winning several awards and accolades including the Hugo award for best novella. It follows a group of scientists as they embark on a mission to find a race of alien nomads. The group gets on the Nightflyer spaceship, ready to explore, unaware that the man who captains their ship is murderously insane.
The trailer as well as the plot summary that Syfy has released offers a similar premise but with a bit of a twist. The earth is dying and the scientists are on a mission to find aliens who they believe can help. It doesn't mention anything about a crazy captain, but instead suggests that whatever they're looking for in space isn't nearly as frightening as whatever--or whoever-- is already on the ship with them.
The show is described as a psychological thriller, and there are some clips of what looks like hallucinations driving people insane, so I'd say we're in for a bit of a scare. Starring Eoin Macken (Resident Evil: The Final Chapter), Nightflyers will premiere this fall on Syfy.
DC movies weren't the only thing Warner Bros. showed off during its massive Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2018. The studio also brought the latest Harry Potter universe film, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and showed off some brand new footage with the cast in attendance to answer fans' burning questions.
The new Fantastic Beasts 2 trailer began with a welcome look at Jude Law's young Dumbledore walking the halls of Hogwarts, and teaching a young Newt Scamander in Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Newt reveals that his biggest fear is "having to work in an office."
Johnny Depp's Grindelwald was a big focus, advocating in the trailer for wizards coming out of the shadows. On a foggy bridge, Dumbledore tells Newt that he can't go after Grindelwald himself--it has to be Newt. The special effects look amazing, from Newt's furry, dangerous creatures to a glimpse at a showdown between Newt and Grindelwald. "Mr. Scamander, do you think Dumbledore will mourn for you?" Grindelwald asks.
The trailer ended with a surprising meeting with Nicolas Flamel, a famous alchemist central to the backstory of the Harry Potter books. Thankfully, Warner Bros. released the trailer online shortly after it debuted at the panel, so you can see it for yourself above.
As a final surprise, Johnny Depp appeared onstage in full Grindelwald costume and character, delivering a speech about the inferior "No-maj" people.
At the panel's start, a larger-than-life video of Newt Scamander welcomed attendees to Paris, the movie's setting, from the inside of his carrying case. As his giant face uttered the spell "Lumos," the bracelets given to attendees as they entered lit up with the Deathly Hallows logo. Eddie Redmayne took the stage shortly afterward to thunderous applause. The rest of the cast joined him onstage shortly afterward.
"There's an awful lot at stake. It's very much a 'Whose side are you on?' story," Jude Law said during the panel. He said the wizarding world and the human world will be pitched against each other, but wizards will fight wizards as well--and that Fantastic Beasts 2 will go to darker places than we've seen in the Harry Potter universe before.
Later in the panel, asked what she would do with her own magic powers, actress Zoë Kravitz quickly answered she'd "impeach Trump," eliciting laughter and cheers from Hall H's enormous crowd. Prompted by moderator Aisha Tyler, actor Dan Fogler even created the spell on the spot: "Impeachious Maximus," he invented, after ruminating on it for a moment.
This story is developing--check back for further updates.
After offering a teaser for The Walking Dead, AMC recently released a full length trailer for Season 9 at Comic-Con. The trailer is as lengthy as it is revealing; clocking in at just about six minutes, it has a lot to offer in terms of what we can expect from Season 9.
This season will take place ahead of where Season 8 left off with Negan captured and the Saviours beaten. It opens with Rick looking a little older with his grey beard, and the whole crew living happily inside a large network of communities. There are a ton of members, new and old, and for a while, everyone looks safe and happy building a home for the group, but it's not without some tension.
Rick has kept Negan in a cell this whole time, and apparently periodically checks in with him to let him know how the community is doing and how successful things can be without being run on fear and violence. Despite his status as Rick's prisoner, Negan is as cocky as ever, letting on that he believes this whole thing is going to go up in flames.
What appears to be some sort of post-apocalyptic paradise begins to tear at the seams as tensions between certain members of the group begin to flare up. Maggie is frustrated with Rick, Carol is frustrated with the new members, and Daryl is frustrated with the whole situation. By the end of the trailer, things don't look so copacetic, especially as the show's original corpsified villains show up to remind everyone what the true danger is.
Season 9 of The Walking Dead will premiere on October 7, and we're all wondering how they plan on getting Rick out of the picture as actor Andrew Lincoln confirmed that he will be leaving the show after this season.
The Walking Dead's longtime protagonist Rick Grimes may not be long for the world of the walkers. During a panel at SDCC 2018, Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) confirmed that he will be leaving the show after Season 9 airs.
In light of the new Season 9 trailer, which you can watch above, there's been some speculation that Lincoln would be headed out shortly. Robert Kirkman, the author of the original Walking Dead comics, when asked about Lincoln's departure, didn't confirm anything, but did say "It's looking that way."
"Lincoln has been leading the show since the very first episode, and despite what you may think given Rick's southern drawl, Lincoln is actually based in England, and has to leave his family every year to film in Georgia," Kirkman said. "This is a human being. This is someone I've known for almost a decade, somebody that I love. He's been sweating in Georgia away from his family for so long."
Lincoln bid an emotional farewell to fans at SDCC 2018, thanking the showrunners and fans for the experience he had on the show. TV reporter for Variety, Joe Otterson, caught the moment and shared it on Twitter, which you can watch below.
"This will be my last season," Lincoln says. "I love this show, it means everything to me. I love the people who make this show--I promise not to cry, I've done enough crying on screen--I am also deeply fond of the people who watch this show, you people. This has been the most extraordinary, amazing, and beautiful experience of my career made largely because of you guys."
We got our first look at Titans, a reimagined and darker version of Teen Titans from the DC universe, at SDCC 2018 and there's one line that jumped out at as all. Without significant context, Robin proclaims "F*** Batman." So what's with the angsty boy wonder turning against his once comrade?
Titans follows Dick Grayson as an adult; he's grown up and become a police officer, and eventually the leader of the Titans. From the first trailer, we can tell that the majority of the series will center around Raven, who is trying to manage the darkness within her. What caught us off guard in the trailer was this moment: as Robin is fighting a mob of criminals, one says "Where's Batman?" to which he replies "F*** Batman."
In a discussion with Polygon, Geoff Johns, DC's former president and CCO who is now a writer and executive producer on Titans, explains. "The trailer shows a piece of the tone of the show--the show's not all that," Johns said. "But it does make you go, 'Why is he saying ['F*** Batman']?'
Titans will air this fall on DC's streaming service DC Universe. We don't have an exact date yet, but we know the 10-episode series will air with the launch of the service. For everything else we know about the series so far, make sure to check out the trailer reveal story.
The highly anticipated multiplayer update for Stardew Valley has been in beta for some time now, but it's about to make its debut on PC sooner than you might think. Rebuild your grandfather's farm with a little help from your friends starting August 1.
Stardew's multiplayer is all about working together. You and up to three other players can create the farm of your dreams, or duke it out with some monsters. Just make sure that when your friends come to visit, they have a cabin to call home.
Aside from taking on the chores of the valley with an extra set of hands, multiplayer has quite a lot to offer. There will be a new chatbox and emojis to keep everyone on the same page, as well as marriage and divorce. Of course, you can still choose to woo one of the strapping young lads or ladies from Pelican Town, but you can also craft a ring for that special someone online. But if things go sour, there's a way out--all you have to do to divorce or ban a player from your farm is destroy their cabin, just like they destroyed your heart.
Got a friend who's a little wetter behind the ears? Not to worry, another feature is scalable difficulty. You can do this by adjusting scale profit margin or produce sold. This will scale the difficulty of your farm to be a little easier or difficult based on the experience of you and your friends.
With the PC update comes a load of deals you might not want to miss out on, especially if your friends don't have a copy of their own. Starting today, for 24 hours on Chrono.gg, you can grab one copy of the game for 27 percent off. Grab two for 33 percent off, and four for 37 percent off.
Keep in mind, this update will only be available on PC through Steam, GOG, and WeGame on August 1. Eric Barone, aka ConcernedApe, has not announced when the update will come to Switch, Xbox One, or PS4, but we do know from today's reveal trailer that those platforms will see the update soon. Barone previously announced that Switch would see the update shortly after the PC update, but no further word has confirmed this yet.
Last night it was reported that director James Gunn has been fired from the Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 by Disney, following the resurfacing of tweets he made made several years ago. Now his Guardians star Dave Bautista has weighed in on the subject.
Bautista, who plays Drax in the Guardians movies, took to Twitter to comment that he was not happy with the decision to remove Gunn as writer and director of Vol.3. The actor stated that he would have more to say on the subject at a later date, but defended Gunn as "one of the most loving, caring, good natured people I have ever met." Read his full tweet below:
I will have more to say but for right now all I will say is this..@JamesGunn is one of the most loving,caring,good natured people I have ever met. He's gentle and kind and cares deeply for people and animals. He's made mistakes. We all have. Im NOT ok with what's happening to him
The tweets that led to Gunn's dismissal date back almost a decade, and saw the director joking about topics like pedophilia and rape. They resurfaced online via conservative website The Daily Caller, and Disney were quick to sever ties with him. In a statement, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said, "The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James' Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio's values, and we have severed our business relationship with him."
Gunn offered a subsequent statement in which he took responsibility for the tweets and accepted Disney's decision. "My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative," his statement read. "I have regretted them for many years since--not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don't reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.
"Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today. Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse."
The news emerged in the midst of San Diego Comic-Con 2018, where Marvel was not expected to have any major announcements. Gunn himself was set to appear at SDCC on Friday during the Sony Pictures panel to promote a new project, but Sony subsequently pulled this announcement from its schedule.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 had been set for release in 2020, though Gunn's removal could affect that. The events of Avengers: Infinity War stand to have a potential impact on the film, though Avengers 4--due out next year--could always make further changes. Without saying how, Gunn had previously teased that Guardians 3 would be "very different."
The 1978 horror classic Halloween was a hit with audiences, so much so that sequels and reboots followed it for the next two decades. Michael's killer mask may have gotten a little shabby by now, but it looks like he's no less ready to terrorize Haddonfield, Illinois.
We've hit the midway point of July, which means that San Diego Comic-Con 2018 is upon us. Things get underway on Thursday, July 19, so we'll soon have a ton of movie and TV show news among other things. To get ready for what we might see from Halloween, we're reviewing everything we know about the movie so far and breaking down what we hope to get a look at during SDCC. [SDCC update: a clip from the new Halloween movie was shown at Comic-Con, here about it and what Jamie Lee Curtis had to say about the movie here.]
What It's About
Halloween will focus on Laurie Strode and her family, a few decades after the events of the original Halloween movie where she and a few of her friends were terrorized by a serial killer in a mask named Michael Myers. The movie will reportedly be ignoring the events of the other sequels in the franchise, and is instead acting as a direct sequel to the original movie.
Myers has been locked up in prison for all of these years, but he finally escapes after a convenient bus crash, and now, he's coming back for Strode and potentially her whole family. This time, though, Laurie will be ready for him because she knows he's coming and has been getting ready for it since the events of the first movie.
Who's Who
Crew
The film will be directed by David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express).
Green, Jeff Fradley, and Danny McBride penned the script together.
John Carpenter, writer and director of the original film, returns to the franchise as executive producer, consultant, and composer of the movie's score.
Cast
Jamie Lee Curtis is reprising her role as scream queen-turned-badass grandma Laurie Strode.
Nick Castle is returning to the role of Michael Myers for the first time since the original film--at which point he was credited as "The Shape."
Judy Greer (Jurassic World) will play Karen Strode, Laurie's daughter.
Andi Matichak (Orange is the New Black) plays Allison, Laurie's granddaughter.
What's Been Released So Far
Universal released a trailer for the upcoming slasher film in June. It starts with a look at what life has been like for Strode since the initial event; she has become something of a mythical figure in her city's lore. There are several shots of her training with weapons, seemingly preparing for Michael's eventual return. The question that remains is whether anyone else is ready. There are several shots of panic as Michael makes his long awaited return, and a good jump scare at the end.
Universal has a whole lot of titles coming out soon that would fit into the Comic-Con niche, but they will be focusing onHalloween and M. Night Shyamalan's Glass; two of its most highly-anticipated films.
We know that some of the cast and crew will attend, including Jamie Lee Curtis. We want to know more about Michael's killer intentions, if they are more complex than just blood, that is. And we'd like to know more about how Laurie and her family have been doing since that infamous Halloween night years ago. Apparently, there will be some sort of surprise at the presentation, but whether it has to do with Glass or Halloween, or both, we can't say at this point.
Regardless of whether the surprise is about Halloween, we should get some new information before ithits theaters October 19, 2018.
Pokemon Go players will soon have another chance to capture Zapdos. As a reward for meeting the Global Challenges goal during Pokemon Go Fest last weekend, the Legendary bird will return to the game this Saturday, July 21, but it won't be available for long.
For a three-hour window of time, players will be able to encounter Zapdos again as a Raid Battle at Gyms. As with other Raid Bosses, you will first need to team up with other players in-person to battle the Legendary Pokemon; if you manage to defeat it, you'll then earn an opportunity to capture it.
As an Electric- and Flying-type, Zapdos is vulnerable to Rock-type Pokemon such as Golem and Tyranitar. Each Zapdos that is captured during the special event this weekend will know the Thunder Shock attack. Players will also be able to receive up to five free Raid Passes by spinning Photo Discs at Gyms. These passes are required to participate in Raid Battles.
Zapdos will be available at different times depending upon which part of the world you live in. You can find the hours the Legendary Pokemon will appear in each region below. Niantic teases that players may also have a chance of encountering a rare Shiny Zapdos during the event hours.
North America, South America, and Greenland
11 AM - 2 PM PT
2 PM - 5 PM ET
Europe, Africa, Middle East, and India
10 AM - 1 PM BST
Asia-Pacific
12 PM - 3 PM JST
The final stop of the Pokemon Go Summer Tour is the Safari Zone event in Yokosuka, Japan, which takes place from August 29 to September 2. Even if you can't attend the event in person, players around the world will be able to participate in Global Challenges and help unlock in-game bonuses and rewards.
Mike and Dave discuss the latest details on Netflix's Disenchantment from Comic-Con 2018. Matt Groening's new show premiere's August 17 on Netflix.
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