Matthew Monagle
Tom Cruise Is Still Screaming Weird in the Second ‘The Mummy’ Trailer
To understand why I’m more excited than most for The Mummy, it’s important to make a list of all the things that I’m a sucker for. Tom Cruise movies? Check. Trailers or commercials that use the Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint it Black’ as a musical cue? Check-check. Movies where soldiers fight monsters? Check-check-check. In fact, if you do the math, the only thing on my Hollywood wishlist that the second The Mummy trailer doesn’t deliver is a John Wick-style gunfight, and there’s still time. One of those might still find its way into the final movie.
Behold, the Pulp Masterpiece That Is the Final ‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’ Trailer
Popular culture travels in waves. A decade or so ago, when every studio was trying to copy The Matrix and start their own action franchises dripping with self-serious stylization and slow-motion fights, I would’ve killed for a summer movie that took a grounded approach to heroes and villains. Now, after several years of Marvel movies and grimdark blockbusters, the pendulum has swung back the other way. It’s not that Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword looks like a good movie, per se. It’s just that I’m in a place where I can really appreciate its goofiness.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Had a LOT of Guests
It might be a tale as old as time, but audiences have proven there’s still a few petals left on that old flower. Despite being projected to open at somewhere between $214–245 million worldwide, Beauty and the Beast knocked the pants off those projections, eclipsing $350 million at the international box office and setting a March record for domestic releases along the way. Let’s take a look at how things shook out this past weekend with some of the expected grosses.
The First Poster for ‘The Dark Tower’ Is Finally Here
With Sony being uncharacteristically quiet when it comes to The Dark Tower movie, fans have learned to take any new marketing material with a grain of salt. So when a fantastic new poster for the film found its way online last night, people who would normally be ecstatic about a new look at the upcoming release hesitated. Was this an official release from Sony or another piece of fan art masquerading as the real thing?
Mark Hamill Shares the ‘Very First’ Photo of Himself as Luke Skywalker
For franchise movie fans, nothing grates on the nerves quite like the lull between the day production wraps on a new movie and the day the first teaser drops. Production has been finished on Star Wars: The Last Jedi for a few months now, and since we’re not quite sure when Disney will be releasing the first trailer for the film, we’re latching onto any piece of information we can get about the new film or any new Star Wars content, period. In short, we’re in the business of reading too much into Mark Hamill’s Twitter account.
Rocket Plans a Disgusting Revenge in This ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ Clip
If the first batch of trailers and clips have shown us anything, it’s that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is going to be Drax show. Dave Bautista famously cried when he was told that he would be playing Drax in Marvel’s new franchise; the direct-to-video market is littered with the work of former professional wrestlers who tried their hand at becoming action stars, and playing Drax meant that Bautista would escape the same outcome of some of his peers. As a result, Bautista poured his heart and soul into this character. It definitely shows.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Kong: Skull Island’ Climbs to the Top of the Charts
While the giant ape in Kong: Skull Island may not climb any New York skyscrapers this time around, he certainly did climb the box office charts. The latest Warner Bros. monster movie shot all the way to the top spot in its opening weekend, with Logan and the surprising hit Get Out both shifting one spot down to accommodate him.
A New ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’ Clip Shows Humanity’s Dark Future
With Michael Bay hanging up his transforming robot spurs after this summer’s Transformers: The Last Knight, a lot seems to be hinging on the success of his final outing. Paramount already has plans to create a Transformers cinematic universe with a series of movies based on individual characters from the series; should Bay’s final film trip coming out of the gate, it could throw a wrench into a pretty expensive set of gears. And while no one would confuse me with the world’s biggest Transformers fan, the hint of time travel and goofy historical retconning at least makes this one seem kind of fun.
Find Your Inner Major With a New ‘Ghost in the Shell’ Trailer and Website
While I don’t typically pay attention to the box office tracking numbers for upcoming releases, I’ll admit, I’ve checked in a few times on Ghost in the Shell. The blend of intriguing trailers and negative publicity surrounding the film make it a tough cookie to crack; those who would normally be excited by the prospect of a blockbuster action movie starring a woman have good reason to stay at home, while the fans who might normally boost its box office numbers may be disappointed that Paramount is tinkering with a classic. As of right now, Ghost in the Shell is estimated to bring home about $105 million domestically, a very poor showing for a project of this size. I’m fascinated by the whole thing.
Watch the Action-Packed First Two Trailers for Edgar Wright’s ‘Baby Driver’
Right now, at this very moment, there are people in Austin, Texas who have seen Edgar Wright’s new film Baby Driver. And yes, I’ll admit it, I’m insanely jealous. It’s not just that Baby Driver is the first film by Wright since 2013’s The World’s End; it’s also not that Wright has assembled one of the more effortlessly cool heist film casts in Jon Bernthal, Jon Hamm, Lily James, and Kevin Spacey; it’s also that the first trailer for Baby Driver seems to show Wright pushing his own stylish sense of rhythmic editing to the max, going all in on his visuals in a way we still haven’t seen in one of his movies. You thought you liked Wright before? Try him with a couple of machine guns a few really fast cars.
Diana Trains to Be a Queen in the Latest ‘Wonder Woman’ Trailer
With all eyes on the next entry in the DC Cinematic Universe, it’s hard to say what is under more pressure: Wonder Woman, the World War II-era superhero and savior of the modern world, or Wonder Woman, the first female-directed movie in the modern blockbuster era and a stab at social relevance for the beleaguered executives at Warner Bros. The first Wonder Woman trailer that debuted at Comic-Con hit all the right notes for an exciting and female-driven superhero movie; would additional trailers walk back that promise or deliver more of the same?
Rami Malek Leads Two Lives in the ‘Buster’s Mal Heart’ Trailer
Rami Malek is a fascinating physical actor. In a matter of moments, Malek is capable of switching from conventionally attractive — skinny, soulful, everything we might want from our next Internet’s Boyfriend — to unconventionally creepy, a dispassionate outsider who seems to be watching those around him like objects in a petri dish. As a result, Hollywood seems to have a hard time figuring out what to do with him. Time will tell if the actor can reach his 99% percentile as the next Jeff Goldblum or just sort of fall off the map as this century’s Anthony Perkins.