Month: April 2021

Movies are coming back. Nature is healing. Distributors are still looking at their films on a case-by-case basis, and that means each movie has a separate distribution plan. Similarly, Universal is staggering the worldwide release of the upcoming F9: The Fast Saga, Deadline reports.

According to the report, Fast & Furious 9 will release in China on May 21, five weeks before its North American release date of June 25. South Korea will apparently be able to see the film even earlier, on May 19. Deadline notes that one element that may be driving the early release date is the upcoming 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, which occurs on July 1.

The Fast & Furious films have become a huge attraction for movie-hungry Chinese audiences, with the last few films grossing three to five times in international markets what they have domestically.

As vaccination rates climb, release dates will likely sync up more and more, but for now we’re left waiting. That leaves plenty of time to read about the Fast & Furious going to space or to check out the latest trailer, which prominently features magnets. We also ranked the Fast & Furious series by how bonkers the titles are, and you definitely shouldn’t miss that.

If you watch any amount of television and film, you’ve seen the “Made in Georgia” emblem in the credits to something. Following the passing of a restrictive voting law, though, there’s been some question about whether various productions will pull out of the state and find a new place to film. Marvel Studios’ Black Panther 2 will stay in Georgia, though, director Ryan Coogler said in a new op-ed published in Shadow and Act.

“When I was informed of the passage of SB202 in the state, and its ramifications for the state’s voters, I was profoundly disappointed,” Coogler writes. “While I wished to turn my concern into action, I could not do so without first being educated on the specifics of Georgia. Having now spoken with voting rights activists in the state, I have come to understand that many of the people employed by my film, including all the local vendors and businesses we engage, are the very same people who will bear the brunt of SB202. For those reasons, I will not be engaging in a boycott of Georgia.”

Instead, Coogler writes, he intends to continually speak out about SB202 and its effects and ways to overturn it, as well as donating to appropriate organizations. In the piece, Coogler also asks the United States Senate to further consider passing the recently-introduced voting rights legislation, the For the People Act. While Coogler intends to stay in Georgia, at least one production, Will Smith’s Emancipation, has announced the intention to film elsewhere. James Mangold, director of Logan and the upcoming Indiana Jones 5, also said that he plans to boycott. Major League Baseball also pulled its July All-Star Game from the state. Atlanta-headquartered companies like Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines have spoken out against the law as well.

Black Panther 2 will begin filming in July and is currently scheduled to hit theaters on July 8, 2022. Both Coogler and Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige have stated that they will not recast the late Chadwick Boseman, who starred as King T’Challa in Captain America: Civil War, the Avengers Infinity War and Endgame films, and Black Panther.

If you missed your earlier chances at the PvP favorite hand cannon Igneous Hammer in Destiny 2, good news–it’s back in this weekend’s Trials of Osiris. You’ll absolutely want to play some this weekend to earn one (or several), along with the other new Trials gear this season. Here’s the map you’re facing this week and a full rundown of the rewards you can earn.

As always, this weekend’s Trials event continues to the Tuesday weekly reset, so you’ve got until April 20 to earn rewards and spend tokens with Saint-14.

Trials of Osiris Map And Rewards (April 16-20)

• Map: Cauldron
• 3 wins — Igneous Hammer, Solar hand cannon
• 5 wins — Hunter, Warlock, or Titan Class Item: Pyrrhic Ascent Cloak, Bond, or Mark
• 7 wins — Exile’s Curse, Arc fusion rifle
• Flawless run — Igneous Hammer (Adept)

The Trials of Osiris is Destiny 2’s toughest challenge, but even if you’re not a Crucible champion, you shouldn’t hesitate to participate. You can still earn Trials rewards–some of the best gear in the game, like Igneous Hammer–just by playing matches. The End Game bounty from Saint-14 awards each week’s three-win reward even if you rack up a bunch of losses. There’s also a Seasonal Challenge that awards another weapon drop if you can win a total of seven rounds (as opposed to complete matches).

The Trials of Osiris takes place from Friday to Tuesday every week, and it represents some of the highest-level challenges and rewards in the game. Your goal is to win as many matches as possible before you suffer three total losses, which forces you to reset your Trials run, or Passage, and try again. You’ll earn loot at certain points as you rack up victories, but the best rewards in the event come when you go on a winning streak of seven matches in a row–a “Flawless” run.

If you can manage to go Flawless, you’ll visit the Lighthouse and earn exclusive rewards. Opening the chest in the Lighthouse now gets you an “Adept” weapon, which has extra stat boosts you can’t get almost anywhere else.

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Rumors have been swirling for months that Alfred Molina would reprise his role as Doctor Octopus for Spider-Man: No Way Home, and treated as all but confirmed. Now, though, we have word straight from Doc Ock himself thanks to a new interview with Variety about his role in the recent thriller Promising Young Woman.

“When we were shooting [Spider-Man: No Way Home], we were all under orders not to talk about it, because it was supposed to be some great big secret,” Molina told Variety. “But, you know, it’s all over the internet. I actually described myself as the worst-kept secret in Hollywood!”

Going back to the role of Otto Octavius, Molina said, “was wonderful.”

“It was very interesting going back after 17 years to play the same role, given that in the intervening years, I now have two chins, a wattle, crow’s feet and a slightly dodgy lower back,” Molina continued.

Molina appeared as Spidey’s classic foe in the 2004 film Spider-Man 2. At the end of the film, Spider-Man talks Octavius into doing the right thing, neutralizing his critical fusion reactor and himself in the process. Molina said that his story picks up from “that moment.”

Molina was rightfully concerned about playing a supervillain at his age. Molina is currently 67 years old, two years older than Michael Keaton was when he appeared as Adrian Toomes/Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

“[Director Jon Watts] just looked at me and said, ‘Did you see what we did to Bob Downey Jr. and Sam Jackson?'” Molina explained, referencing the de-aging technology used on the two actors in Captain America: Civil War and Captain Marvel respectively. Even so, a 67-year-old man moves differently from a 50-year-old one, but then Molina said he had an epiphany.

“It’s the tentacles that do all the work!” he said. Variety described what Molina called his basic physical move as Doc Ock, in which Molina “glared intensely at the Zoom camera and made a menacing noise.”

“I just do that a lot, and the arms are doing all the killing and smashing and breaking,” Molina said. “I’m just going (glares again) with a kind of mean look on my face. It was fantastic.”

It also probably helps that Sam Raimi is off directing another Marvel film, since the Spider-Man 2 director is infamous for beating the snot out of his actors.

Marvel still has not commented on Molina’s casting, or that of Jamie Foxx’s rumored return as Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

The first season of Amazon’s highly anticipated Lord of the Rings show will cost around $465 million to produce. The news comes via The Hollywood Reporter, which states it has confirmed the incredible cost of Season 1.

The series is currently shooting in New Zealand. The cost of the season was initially revealed by Stuart Nash, the country’s Minister for Economic Development and Tourism, who said that “Amazon is going to spend about $650 million in Season 1 alone,” referring to the cost in New Zealand dollars. While Amazon has not commented on this, THR has confirmed the figure as correct.

This is considerably higher than the $500 million that was initially reported as the cost for the first two seasons, and will make it it the most expensive show ever made. However, Amazon will be gaining a considerable tax rebate of US $114 million. This means the New Zealand government will, in effect, be subsidizing the show’s production, but the employment and potential tourism it will create is considerable.

The Lord of the Rings series doesn’t have a confirmed title or release date yet. While plot details are currently under wraps, we know it will be set in the Second Age, which is long before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Amazon has released a synopsis, but it doesn’t reveal any new details beyond the fact it will feature characters “both familiar and new.” The showrunners are JD Payne and Patrick McKay, and the first two episodes are directed by Jurassic World: Dominion’s J.A. Bayona.

The cast includes Roberto Aramayo (Nocturnal Animals), Morfydd Clark (Crawl), Owain Arthur (The Palace), and Ismael Cruz Cordova (Ray Donovan). In March, actor Tom Budge revealed he had left the show, stating that Amazon had “decided to go in another direction with the character I was portraying.”

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We’ve reached the penultimate episode of Falcon and The Winter Soldier, which means the series finale is just one week away. Still, despite the clock rapidly ticking down, we’ve got plenty of mysteries and unanswered questions left swirling around the show to dig into–so many, in fact, that there’s a real chance we may not get resolutions for all of them in only one episode. But the potential for a second season or any number of spin-off shows or movie cameos for the cast remains on the table, of course. This is the MCU, after all.

This week picked up in the aftermath of John Walker’s homicidal meltdown. After a knock-down-drag-out fight, Sam and Bucky were able to wrangle the shield from him leaving him to return to the US for court martial. Walker is given an “other than honorable” discharge and basically left to slink off with his tail between his legs–that is until a mysterious newcomer, Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), arrives to make Walker a strange and inscrutable offer of support along with an apparently blank business card.

In the comics, the Contessa is a spy-slash-femme fatal who originated back in the ’60s for a Nick Fury solo comic book series. She would typically show up to complicate issues for both Nick and his teammate, Dum Dum Dugan, and then eventually went full villain and became Madame Hydra–a moniker used by specific HYDRA leaders in the comics. HYDRA has been mostly inactive in the MCU since the aftermath of Winter Soldier, which exposed their roots in SHIELD, but they could potentially regroup and make a comeback. It’s unclear if this incarnation of the Contessa will be spearheading that movement, or if she represents the interests of another group we haven’t met yet.

While Walker continued his descent into villainy, Sam and Bucky took some much needed downtime in Louisiana, helping Sam’s sister figure out next steps with the family boat. A substantial part of the episode dealt with Sam’s complicated feelings on the legacy of the shield, a problem exacerbated by a visit with Isaiah Bradley who told him in no uncertain terms that no “self respecting Black man” would ever want to be part of that legacy. However, after working with Bucky and spending time with his nephews, Sam began to see things from a different perspective and decided to undergo a full-on Rocky training montage during which he learned to handle the shield like a pro.

Meanwhile, back in Madripoor, Sharon continued to pull strings to some unknown end. It’s still looking like she’s actually the Power Broker (though Contessa may be another possible suspect now–we simply don’t know enough about her to make a call yet.) It turns out Sharon is the one who sent Batroc to hijack the planes back in the first episode and now wants to send him to the Flag Smashers to offer weapons. And speaking of the Flag Smashers, part of their plan was also revealed–they intend to disrupt an upcoming GRC vote about “repatriation” of refugees who settled in new places during the Blip.

Of course, it would be strange for Sharon, if she is indeed the Power Broker, to suddenly want to help the Flag Smashers who stole her serum, but her actual motives could be more complicated and insidious.

Speaking of insidious, Zemo–who escaped during a chaotic fight in Episode 4–was quickly run aground by Bucky back in Sokovia. Zemo didn’t actually seem that interested in trying to get anywhere or accomplish anything with his newfound freedom, and went willingly with the Dora Milaje, who told Bucky they would be taking him to the floating supermax prison the Raft.

Is this the last we’ve seen of Zemo in the MCU? It’s too hard to call–but certainly people have escaped from the Raft in the past (like Steve’s entire Civil War team, for example) so anything is possible.

The episode ended with a mid-credits scene of Walker having his very own “built this in a cave with scraps” style moment, bunkered down in what looks like a garage forging a shield all his own. It’s clearly not vibranium, but considering Walker is now a super soldier, it’s likely to still be a very formidable weapon.

Things to remember as we head into the finale:

• Bucky had the Wakandans make something for Sam–likely a vibranium Captain America costume, or at the very least a new set of wings–but we haven’t actually seen it yet.
• Joaquin Torres was given the old wings by Sam after they were badly damaged in a fight with Walker. Torres will likely use his tech prowess to fix them up and become the new Falcon.
• Isaiah Bradley’s grandson, Eli, had a brief cameo in this episode–he’s definitely one to keep an eye on if the MCU ever decides to build a Young Avengers team.