Author: Trafficblast

Phase 4 is right around the corner.

Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to be something entirely new, combining the big-screen spectacles we’ve come to know and love with smaller scale streaming TV shows on Disney+, and the Super Bowl just gave us our first look at the not one, not two, but three of the upcoming MCU shows.

The Disney+ Marvel Super Bowl spot showed us a look at The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, WandaVision, and Loki, which will begin rolling out on the streaming service this fall and will continue into 2022. First up is The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which will chronicle Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes in a post-Captain America world as they deal with not only the return of Baron Zemo (of Captain America: Civil War fame) but the emergence of US Agent, a new character who will likely pose a threat to Sam Wilson’s stake in the Captain America mantle. The clips shown in the promo gave us our first look at Sam Wilson throwing the shield, Zemo coming face-to-face with Bucky Barnes, and Bucky sporting his newly cut hair.

Next up is WandaVision, a self-described surrealist, “f***king bonkers” journey through the, uh, 1960s flavored sitcom life of Wanda Maximoff and Vision. If the clip is anything to be believed, it looks like we’ll have a lot of wackiness to look forward to–including what may or may not be a pregnant Wanda. Fans of the comics will remember that Wanda and Vision are (strange as it may seem) the parents of two other Marvel characters, Billy Kaplan and Thomas Shepherd (don’t worry too much about the last names for now), who become superheroes in their own rights.

Finally, we got a look at Loki, which features an alternate version of Loki from the Avengers timeline–that is, pre-change of heart, genocidal Loki who was still very much working for Thanos. We saw him flee the scene back in Avengers: Endgame during a kerfuffle with the Tesseract. In case you somehow forgot that this will not be cute, funny Thor: Ragnarok-era Loki, he proudly announces that he’s going to burn this place to the ground in the clip. Yikes.

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, the first of the MCU Disney+ shows, is slated to hit the streaming service this fall. WandaVision follows later in the year, and Loki arrives in 2021.

It’s been a fascinating weekend for movies, with two new records being broken. Bad Boys For Life finished on top with $17.7 million, while the two new wide releases opened below expectations, and The Rhythm Section did particularly poorly.

Bad Boys For Life has now earned $148,051,531 in its first 16 days of release, according to Box Office Mojo. As Forbes points out, that makes it the highest grossing film to ever release in January. The spot was previously occupied by a movie you might not have guessed–Paul Blart: Mall Cop, which earned $146,336,178 following its January 16, 2009 release.

There’s a reason for this. January is often a dumping ground for studios, when movies that are obviously not going to be part of the awards conversation or play well over summer are released. Bad Boys For Life has been such a huge success that a fourth movie in the series has already been greenlit.

On the other end of the scale, The Rhythm Section broke a different record–it had the worst opening ever for a movie releasing on over 3000 screens. Going into the weekend, estimates put the film at earning around $5 million, which would have been the fifth worst weekend for a movie opening this wide; instead, it earned just $2.8 million and took the number one spot. The movie earned an average of $918 per screen, which makes it the first movie ever to release this wide and bring in a per-screen average below $1000.

The film earned so-so reviews, and the star power of Blake Lively, Jude Law, and Sterling K. Brown does not seem to have been enough to get this action film off the ground. The weekend’s other new release, Gretel & Hansel, brought in $6,050,830, which still isn’t great–it’s the 18th lowest opening for a movie on over 3000 screens.

Here’s the full domestic top ten for the weekend of January 31 through February 2.

1. Bad Boys for Life: $17,675,000
2. 1917: $9,660,000
3. Dolittle: $7,700,000
4. Gretel & Hansel: $6,050,830
5. The Gentlemen: $6,010,000
6. Jumanji: The Next Level: $6,000,000
7. Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker: $3,193,000
8. The Turning: $3,050,000
9. Little Women: $3,015,000
10. The Rhythm Section: $2,800,000

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Super Bowl LIV brought with it a slew of new movie trailers, including one for No Time To Die, the next entry in the James Bond franchise. The movie is expected to be the last with Daniel Craig starring as 007, and it is setting up some big changes for his future.

Exactly what those changes are remain a mystery, but what we do know is that it has something to do with Madeleine Swann, the returning character played by Léa Seydoux. Of course, Rami Malek’s villainous Safin will also play a role. Christoph Waltz appears in the trailer too, so expect to see Blofeld have some part to play in the future of Bond.

No Time To Die is expected to hit theatres on April 10. Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, and Léa Seydoux (who also appears in Death Stranding) play M, Q, Miss Moneypenny, and Madeleine Swann respectively. In an unprecedented move, No Time To Die’s composer has been changed late into production. Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer (The Lion King, Gladiator, Blade Runner 2049) has taken over from Dan Romer.

There have been numerous other movie trailers shown during the game, including Mulan, Black Widow, and The Quiet Place 2, among others. You can watch them all in our Super Bowl movie trailer round-up.

Black Widow is Marvel’s next movie, and the start of the studio’s “Phase Four” block of films. It releases on May 1, and alongside the film’s new Super Bowl spot, Marvel has released four new character posters today.

The latest Black Widow posters revealed on Twitter show off the film’s four main characters–Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Rachel Weisz’s Melina Vostokoff, and David Harbour’s Red Guardian. Check them out below.

This is Johansson’s eighth appearance as Black Widow, but the first time she has headlined her own movie. Florence Pugh is currently nominated for an Oscar for her work in Little Women, while David Harbour is best known for playing cantankerous police chief Jim Hopper in Stranger Things. Rachel Weisz is a huge star, who was most recently seen in 2018’s The Favourite.

Also worth noting is that Black Widow is suddenly sporting a lot of earrings, with upwards of nine visible piercings on the one visible ear. Whether this will have any bearing on the plot or character remains to be seen, but odds are that they’re being showcased so that fans have something to speculate on.

It’s also interesting to note that while the other characters appear to be glancing into the distance, Black Widow’s glance is right towards the camera.

This is likely to be Johansson’s last appearance as Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe–and since it’s set before Avengers: Endgame, it’s possible that a few other characters will pop up one last time, too. Marvel will also release The Eternals in November.

When it rains, it furiously pours. Hot on the heels of the first trailer for F9, a new 30-second spot for the film has arrived. While it’s mostly made up of footage we’ve already seen, there is a new look at returning character Han (Sung Kang), in his car–where he belongs.

In case you somehow missed the news when the trailer arrived Friday, the first trailer for F9, the ninth installment in The Fast Saga, revealed that not only is Han still alive, but he’s part of the action. Reacting to the trailer release at the Fast and Furious 9 concert, Kang said, “It’s good to be home.”

How is he home, you might be wondering? It’s a great question, but one we’re going to have to wait a while to get an answer to. Of course, that didn’t stop GameSpot from coming up with 14 different ways his miraculous resurrection could be explained.

Of course, the return of Han isn’t all that F9 has going for it. The movie is also introducing Jakob, a character played by John Cena who happens to also be Dom’s (Vin Diesel) long-lost little brother we’ve never heard about before now. How convenient! Get ready for Diesel and Cena to stare at each other angrily for many scenes, in addition to the inevitable scene where they play chicken with their cars.

F9 races into theaters on May 22.

There sure are a lot of ads during the Super Bowl. Sure, the evening is all about the best of the NFC and AFC battling each other for NFL dominance, but most people like talking about the commercials. Companies put up millions of dollars for ads to try and get your attention.

Many times, these ads have a comedic slant, and sometimes, they’re actually funny–and often, they fail miserably. Over the course of Super Bowl LIV, there were a ton of ads, but only a few of them were actually really funny. So we collected the best ones from the NFL game and have them for you below.

If you want more from the Super Bowl check out all the movie trailers revealed during the evening as well as all the commercials.

Cheetos

When your hands are covered in Cheetos dust, you may not want to touch anyone or anything. MC Hammer pops up to sing the chorus from his hit song “U Can’t Touch This.”

Avocados From Mexico

Every year, Avocados From Mexico puts out some hilarious commercials for the Super Bowl. This year, it spoofs the Home Shopping Network with accessories for your avocado.

Rocket Mortgage

Apparently, Jason Momoa isn’t the man we all thought he was. Just watch the commercial for yourself, as it’s easily one of the best of the evening.

Pringles

Ricky & Morty make an appearance in this year’s Pringles commercial, poking fun at the other Pringles commercials from the past year. Also, there are Pringles robots now.

Doritos

Lil Nas X and Sam Elliot got into a dance-off during this Doritos commercial. Is there anything funnier than a horse with a sound system strapped to it? That’s rhetorical because the answer is obviously “no.”

Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company.

The countdown to the MCU’s first movie of Phase 4, Black Widow, is slowly ticking down so naturally, the promotional campaigns are ramping up–and what better time than the Super Bowl to debut a brand new 30-second spot for the upcoming film? The big game may have only just begun but Natasha has joined a slew of heavy-hitting franchises from F9 and Mulan to A Quiet Place 2.

In the clip, Natasha admits through voice-over that the Avengers weren’t her first family and that, “at some point, we all have to choose between who the world wants you to be and who you are.” She’s, of course, referencing her time spent in the Red Room, the secret Russian training program responsible for Black Widow operatives like herself and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), which has only been vaguely explored through the eyes of the MCU since Natasha’s entrance into the cinematic universe back in Iron Man 2. Along with Yelena, Black Widow will be exploring Natasha’s connections with Red Guadian (David Harbour) and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weiss).

The only real new footage not already shown in the trailer released late last year features the film’s new villain, Taskmaster, displaying some very Captain America-flavored moves with his trademark “T” shield. This is definitely by design–though we may not know if it’s actually Tony Masters (yes, that is his real name–comics!) under the mask in the MCU’s version of the character, we can definitely assume the character’s “super learning” combat skills will come into play in one way or another. In the comics, Taskmaster is able to learn any fighting style instantly just by seeing it one time, meaning it’s more than possible for him to mimic not only Steve Rogers, but any other Avenger (or any other villain) with ease. Masters was even responsible for training US Agent to use the shield while he took over as Captain America in Steve’s stead.

Black Widow hits theaters on May 1.