Brenda Song told Jennifer Hudson her fiancé, Macaulay Culkin, might have tarnished her tradition of watching Home Alone.

Has Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin committed a Christmas-related cinematic crime? According to Running Point and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody actress and Culkin’s fiancé Brenda Song, the Mac Attack’s first-hand insight into the film’s making could have “ruined” her viewing of Home Alone, the “Die Hard for kids”-like holiday classic.

While appearing on The Jennifer Hudson Show, Song said that when she and Culkin started dating, she suggested watching Home Alone to continue a holiday tradition. Culkin agreed, but then the curtain fell, and Macaulay’s unique perspective started to feel like a swinging paint can to the face.

“Christmastime came around — and it’s a tradition, I’ve always watched Home Alone every Christmas,” Song said. “He hadn’t seen the movie in almost a decade — he didn’t want to watch it — and I forced it. I was like, ‘We have to.’”

Culkin eventually caved, but that’s when the trouble began. While watching the film, Song says Macaulay “started telling me all the behind-the-scenes stories. And I was like, ‘Stop. Stop. You’re ruining it for me.’” To clarify, Song continued, “The movie holds such a special place in obviously so many people’s hearts, it’s just hard for me, that’s all.”

Some stars find watching former projects challenging. I get it. I often avoid rewatching my JoBlo interviews, but my wife always insists. They’re always better than I remember, and I’m glad she pushes me to watch. Everyone’s their own worst critic, after all.

In the 1990 holiday classic Home Alone, Macaulay Culkin stars as Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old accidentally left behind on Christmas vacation. While enjoying his newfound freedom, Kevin catches wind of The Wetr Bandits’ (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) plot to rob his family home. Instead of running to the authorities, Kevin hunkers down, sets traps throughout the house, and tortures the robbers until they’ve no choice but to give up. Culkin starred in the sequel, Home Alone: Lost in New York, which followed a similar premise but with a much larger playground for his antics.

Is Brenda Song’s tradition of watching Home Alone during the holidays tarnished forever? Has anyone ever ruined a movie for you with their intimate knowledge of its production? Let us know in the comments section below.

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He’s also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You’ll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.

In response to the Covid pandemic, Warner Bros. gave all of their 2021 films day-and-date theatrical and Max streaming releases – and one movie that really benefited from the streaming side of that strategy was the video game adaptation Mortal Kombat, released in April of 2021. As reported by Business Insider, Mortal Kombat had the best weekend of any of the Warner Bros. releases on Max, with a total of 3.8 million viewers during its first few days. In addition to that, the film, which cost $55 million to make, earned $83.6 million at the global box office. So, within months of its release, Warner Bros. was already developing sequels and spinoffs. The first follow-up will be making its way into theatres sometime in 2025 – and here’s everything we know about Mortal Kombat 2.

DIRECTOR

Commercial director Simon McQuoid made his feature directorial debut with the 2021 Mortal Kombat, following in the footsteps of Paul W.S. Anderson, who directed a popular 1995 film based on the video game franchise, and John R. Leonetti, who was the cinematographer on the ’95 Mortal Kombat before being promoted to director on the poorly-received 1997 sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. McQuoid landed the job because producer Todd Garner was impressed by a Duracell commercial he directed, which was set in the Star Wars universe.

McQuoid actually turned down the job offer at first. As he explained to The Hollywood Reporter, he told his agent, “The first movie out, I think it shouldn’t be a video game. I’ve done video game commercials, and I get it, but let’s try to get something other than that.” But then, he was won over by the script and agreed to make the movie. And since the movie turned out to be a success, the producers and Warner Bros. decided to have McQuoid return to the helm for the sequel.

WRITER

Greg Russo and Dave Callaham received screenplay credit on Mortal Kombat ’21, with Russo also credited for crafting the story with Oren Uziel, working from the ideas presented in the video game franchise created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. That film had the following synopsis: MMA fighter Cole Young, accustomed to taking a beating for money, is unaware of his heritage — or why Outworld’s Emperor Shang Tsung has sent his best warrior, Sub-Zero, an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt Cole down. Fearing for his family’s safety, Cole goes in search of Sonya Blade at the direction of Jax, a Special Forces Major who bears the same strange dragon marking Cole was born with. Soon, he finds himself at the temple of Lord Raiden, an Elder God and the protector of Earthrealm, who grants sanctuary to those who bear the mark. Here, Cole trains with experienced warriors Liu Kang, Kung Lao and rogue mercenary Kano, as he prepares to stand with Earth’s greatest champions against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe. But will Cole be pushed hard enough to unlock his arcana — the immense power from within his soul — in time to save not only his family, but to stop Outworld once and for all?

A synopsis hasn’t been revealed for Mortal Kombat 2 yet, but we do know who wrote the script: in January of 2022, it was announced that Jeremy Slater, who was the lead writer on Marvel’s Moon Knight series and created the TV series based The Exorcist, had been hired to write the sequel. Soon after the announcement, the writer spoke with The Direct to give an update on the script and tease that the filmmakers learned from the mistakes of the first movie. Slater said, “It’s really fun so far. We’re about halfway through the script. I’m working really closely with the director and the studios, and the game guys, and I think—I can’t say anything about the actual story, but I think they definitely learned some lessons the last time around in terms of, ‘Here’s the stuff fans responded to, and here’s what people liked out of the movie, and here’s the stuff that didn’t work out as well as we hoped.’” He added that they’re viewing the Mortal Kombat sequel as “the chance to take everything that worked in the first one and do it even better and give the audience even more, and make something that is just incredibly satisfying, and really exciting, and unpredictable.” He went into this job wanting to make the Mortal Kombat sequel that no one is expecting, one that can sneak in and “blow everyone away.“

CAST

Lewis Tan played Cole Young in Mortal Kombat, a new character who had some mysterious ties to the mythology of the series. He reprises the role in the sequel – and before production started, he told Film Updates, that he hoped Mortal Kombat 2 would be bigger and bloodier than the first movie. “We got an amazing writer, Jeremy Slater, who wrote Moon Knight for Marvel, on board. His writing is really good and he’s really smart. I’m excited to see what he develops, because it’s a tricky one with Mortal Kombat. There are so many storylines. It’s very complex; there are so many characters. It’s a hard one to get done in a two-hour period or an hour and a half. Hopefully, they can make the sequel a little bit longer and we can explore more characters and more themes, and just make it even bloodier and even bigger than the first one. That’s our plan.”

In addition to Tan, cast members returning from the previous Mortal Kombat movie are Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han and Sub-Zero, Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion, and Max Huang as Kung Lao.

Now, the new additions. Fans have been anxiously waiting to see the Johnny Cage character, and there were a lot of fan casting suggestions: Ryan Reynolds, James Marsden, wrestler The Miz. That last one was such a popular bit of fan-casting, The Miz even told ComicBook.com that he had been hitting the gym to make sure he would be prepared to play the character if he got the call. “I have been working on my splits. I’ve been working on my kicks. As soon as I saw that Mortal Kombat was out and there was no Johnny Cage yet and my name was literally trending worldwide No.1, ‘We want Miz as Johnny Cage’, I was like, ‘if they want that to happen, I need to basically make sure that I am prepared and ready if that opportunity presents itself, then I will be ready and focused.” But, the job didn’t go to The Miz. Instead, it was The Boys star Karl Urban who was cast to play Johnny Cage. And it sounds like he had a blast working on the project. He wrote on social media that Mortal Kombat 2 was “hands down the most action packed fun I’ve ever had on a film!“

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina actress Adeline Rudolph was cast to play Princess Kitana, who is 10,000 years old and the stepdaughter of the evil Shao Khan. Rudolph’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina co-star Tati Gabrielle was cast as Jade, the friend and bodyguard of Princess Kitana.

Bodybuilder/actor Martyn Ford (F9: The Fast Saga) landed the role of Outworld emperor Shao Kahn, with Ana Thu Nguyen (Suka) as Kahn’s wife Queen Sindel, Damon Herriman (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) as Netherrealm demon Quan Chi, and Desmond Chiam (Joy Ride) as Jerrod, who was the King of Edenia (and married to Sindel) until Edenia’s warriors lost in the Mortal Kombat tournament. It looks like we’ll be seeing a flashback to Jerrod’s downfall in this movie. Speaking to ComingSoon, Ford, who also played Goliath in the Prime Video series House of David said that Shao Khan was a dream role. “The last few years I’ve had a massive opportunity to play various characters of stature. It just seems like one dream happens and the next one comes. The last three characters I’ve played have been Flamma (in Those About to Die), who is a gladiator within history, the greatest gladiator of all time. Then Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat 2, and then to play Goliath just topped it off. So for me, I’m not sure where I go from this as far as baddies are concerned. I think I’ve probably hit three of the greatest baddies of all time and Goliath being the ultimate icing on the cake.“

Ludi Lin told Screen Rant the sequel is “gonna be pretty immense, everything is going to be bigger. The story’s going to be great. Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, I hope you guys are ready, because he’s going to blow your socks off.” He said that Urban fills out the role of Johnny Cage, and the essence that he brings to the character adds another dimension to it, helping bring the movie to the next level.

Speaking with The Direct, Lawson took a moment to hype up the return of his character Kano, who was killed in the first movie. “I can say that in the second Mortal Kombat, Kano has a new chapter in his life, that being death. And, you know, death alters you. So yeah, prepare yourselves for a Kano 2.0. As we all know, if anyone’s a fan of games, Kano’s alliances can change at the drop of a hat, and that’s certainly true in the second one… [It’s going to] keep you on your toes guessing [about] who Kano’s kind of siding with.“

PRODUCTION

Mortal Kombat 2 started filming in June of 2023 – but hadn’t been rolling for long before production had to shut down due to the writers and actors strikes. After a four month break, filming resumed in November and wrapped in January of 2024. James Wan’s Atomic Monster and Michael Clear are producing Mortal Kombat 2 alongside Broken Road Production’s Todd Garner. Simon McQuoid and E. Bennett Walsh are also producers on the film. Also more involved in the process this time around was Mortal Kombat video game co-creator Ed Boon.

Lewis Tan also told ComicBook.com, “Now, we have Ed Boon with us as well, so we got the stamp of approval from the legend himself. #2 is just going to be absolutely insane. Way bigger.” Ed Boon told Polygon, “Warner Bros. owns the IP, but I’m actually more involved now. I’m involved with the animated series, and the next movie that’s coming out, so it’s very exciting, because there’s some really cool stuff that’s being worked on. Just being involved in the scripts and which characters we’re going to include [in projects], and all that stuff, is very exciting for me. Before, I was involved, but not in an official capacity. Now, it’s a little bit more official. And it’s an exciting time — I can’t wait to see people’s reaction to some of the crazy stuff that’s coming out.“

The 2021 Mortal Kombat was rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout, and some crude references. In November of 2024, we learned that sequel has been rated R for strong bloody violence and gore, and language.

As production came to an end, producer Todd Garner took to social media to share some behind-the-scenes images, while cast members also celebrated the successful completion of the film.

In February of 2025, the film’s logo and a Johnny Cage poster were unveiled:

And that’s everything we know about Mortal Kombat 2… for now.

Opus features John Malkovich at his absolute best, but goes off the rails in the last thirty minutes.

PLOT: A group of journalists are invited to a remote compound where a reclusive pop star (John Malkovich) plans to unveil his first album in thirty years. However, when they arrive, they realize the artist has built himself a cult, which may or may not mean harm to the assembled journalists. 

REVIEW: You can tell that Opus’s writer-director, Mark Anthony Green, is a former entertainment journalist (he spent years working at GQ). Having participated in my share of junkets and set visits as part of my work with JoBlo, I certainly find it surreal to be taken into an entertainer’s orbit. It’s an exhilarating experience, and Green, who’s clearly experienced this many times himself, mines it beautifully in the film’s first half, where a young writer at a music magazine, Ariel (Ayo Edebiri), unexpectedly gets invited to singer Alfred Moretti’s (John Malkovich) compound as he unveils what’s supposed to be a musical masterpiece.

The first hour of the film, which is light on the horror aspects being teased by A24, works well as a kind of satire on modern entertainment journalists and their relationships with the entertainers they write about. Malkovich is at his best in an atypical piece of casting. Who would ever imagine him as the world’s greatest pop star? Yet, Malkovich, who actually cut several tracks with Nile Rogers (of CHIC) and The Dream, pulls it off, with him looking like he’s having the time of his life playing a kind of New Wave version of Vincent Price. 

Everyone seems in on the joke, with the performances fairly broad, with Murray Bartlett a veteran entertainment journalist (and Ariel’s boss) who’s an old hand at rock star debauchery. At the same time, Juliette Lewis plays a gossip columnist who has a history with Moretti. 

This first part of the film is a ton of fun, but for me, it starts to go off the rails when the horror aspect kicks in. As the trailer reveals, Moretti’s the head of a kind of New Age cult, and soon, the journalists realize they’ve been lured to the retreat for sinister reasons. However, we’ve seen many cult movies over the years, from Midsommar to The Sacrement, and both did the horror part better. When they kick in, the genre parts almost feel like an afterthought, like Green shoehorned his rather fun satire into a horror film, and the mix is uneven. It’s better when it plays as a kind of music-driven version of The White Lotus. 

Ayo Edebiri, who’s incredible on The Bear, does her best with what amounts to a fairly two-dimensional “final girl” role, with her as the only journalist at the compound who finds the fact that this nineties pop star has a cult of personality built up around him unusual. Despite being our protagonist, she’s also a frustratingly passive heroine, even once Moretti’s retreat becomes deadly. The one who’s really having fun in this one is definitely Malkovich. 

Another problem with Opus’s detour into horror, other than the lack of originality, is the fact that it’s not scary. Nothing here happens that you haven’t seen before, and once the carnage gets going, it becomes predictable, with very little in the way of inspired chaos. It also has a very anticlimactic ending that tries to explain away the motivations behind the entire plot, but this doesn’t amount to much, ending the film on a sour note.

Considering the talent involved, Opus turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. It’s still a decent first film for Green, who certainly has a promising voice as a director, but the fact is that the last forty minutes of the film don’t live up to the promise of the film’s first hour, which is a ton of fun. As such, Opus is a letdown, but it is still worth watching, especially for A24 fans, of whom there certainly are many. If you go in expecting more of a satire, you’ll probably like this more than if you were to go in expecting anything scary. 

Matlock and Accused star Jason Ritter is ready to bask in Green Lanterns light for HBO’s upcoming Lanterns series.

In darkest day, in blackest night, Matlock and Accused actor Jason Ritter is ready to bask in Green Lantern’s light. Ritter is the latest star to join DC and HBO’s Lanterns, a television series revolving around the comic publisher’s imaginative space cops series. Ritter joins Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre, and Kelly MacDonald for the series spearheaded by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and comic book mastermind and author Tom King.

According to reports, Jason Ritter will play Billy Macon for Lanterns, “a good-looking charmer who does his father’s (Garret Dillahunt) bidding. Capitalizing on his family’s reputation, he clings to his small-town ego and has everything to lose.”

Previously, we learned that Lanterns will have True Detective vibes (let’s hope it’s the first season), with Green Lanterns Hal Jordan (Chandler) and Jon Stewart (Pierre) investigating an Earth-based murder mystery in the American heartland. Poorna Jagannathan (Zoe), and Ulrich Thomsen (Sinestro) also star in the series. HBO produces the eight-episode series with Warner Bros Television and DC Studios. Mundy, who serves as showrunner, Lindelof, and King are co-writing and executive producing.

Lanterns experienced backlash when DC revealed the show would take a “grounded” and “believable” approach to the comic property’s over-the-top premise and Kyle Chandler’s casting as Hal Jordan. However, DC Studio’s boss, James Gunn, is unconcerned about misinformed fans. Speaking with IGN, Gunn said, “Wait a second, comic book fans had an opinion on casting. What are you talking about!?”

“The truth is Chris [Mundy] and Tom [King] and Damon [Lindelof] wrote an amazing series, like an incredible series. I’m so excited for people to see this. It’s very grounded, very believable, very real. The kind of things that you would never think that would be the truth about a Green Lanterns television series. And very human, adult and wonderful. And the story that they wrote fit a couple of actors who were of these ages and so that’s who they cast. Those were their choices. I totally backed them up. I love them.”

Honestly? I’m here for it. I hope the Lanterns use their rings to help solve the mystery, but I’ll reserve judgment until we see the final product. Additionally, I’m the type of person who appreciates when creative forces think outside the box and give us something unexpected. If I wanted a traditional Green Lantern, I’d pick up one of the thousands of comics available in stores and online apps.

What do you think about Jason Ritter joining the cast of HBO’s Lanterns? Let us know in the comments section below.

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He’s also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You’ll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.

Night of the Living Dead: The Official Story of the Film book is a 192 page look at the creation of the George A. Romero classic

Back in 1968, George A. Romero brought the world the horror classic Night of the Living Dead, the film that changed the definition of what “zombies” could be without even calling its ghouls zombies! This September, author Simon Braund is teaming up with Titan Books to bring us a 192 page book on the making of that masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead: The Official Story of the Film. To be exact, the book will be reaching store shelves on September 30th.

Directed by Romero from a screenplay he wrote with John A. Russo, Night of the Living Dead has the following synopsis: A disparate group of individuals takes refuge in an abandoned house when corpses begin to leave the graveyard in search of fresh human bodies to devour. The pragmatic Ben does his best to control the situation, but when the reanimated bodies surround the house, the other survivors begin to panic. As any semblance of order within the group begins to dissipate, the zombies start to find ways inside — and one by one, the living humans become the prey of the deceased ones. The film stars Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Marilyn Eastman, Karl Hardman, Judith Ridley, Keith Wayne, Kyra Schon, Bill Hinzman, George Kosana, Russell Streiner, and Bill “Chilly Billy” Cardille.

Night of the Living Dead: The Official Story of the Film has the following description: Released in 1968, George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead revolutionized horror, redefining the zombie subgenre and influencing filmmakers for generations. This official retrospective tells the full story of how the film was made by a small group of people at the outset of their film-making careers. Interviews with cast and production company members explore the genesis of the movie, from persuading friends and family to become investors, finding the perfect run-down farmhouse in rural western Pennsylvania for the central location, assembling a cast of extras to portray “flesh-eating ghouls”, including the ground-breaking casting of a black actor in a leading role—Duane Jones as Ben—to the rough-and-tumble guerilla-style shoot. The book explores how Night of the Living Dead went from controversial to iconic over the years, gaining critical acclaim and a hardcore cult following. And how zombies—as envisioned by Romero and his co-creators—now permeate everything from video games to literature, all tracing back to the unparalleled original. Illustrated with movie stills, memorabilia, and unpublished on-set photos never previously seen, and including analysis of the original shooting script annotated by George A. Romero, this book is a must-have for horror fans.

The original Night of the Living Dead is the movie I have watched more than any other, my default choice to put on when I just want to sit back and relax, and I’m always happy to see it continue to be referenced and celebrated. Night of the Living Dead: The Official Story of the Film sounds like a great, “must own” addition to this horror fan’s collection.

Will you be reading Night of the Living Dead: The Official Story of the Film? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Matthew McConaughey delivers one of his best performances in Andrew Patterson’s superb southern yarn, The Rivals of Amziah King.

PLOT: Following the death of her mother, Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass) reunites with her beloved former foster father, Amziah King (Matthew McConaughey), a honey-maker working in the backwoods of rural Oklahoma.

REVIEW: It’s hard to believe, but it’s been six whole years since Matthew McConaughey has appeared in a film (The Gentlemen). Sure, he’s done some voice work and commercials, but walking into The Rivals of Amziah King, I didn’t realize just how much I missed him until the movie’s bravura opening sequence. In this expertly directed introduction to what’s undoubtedly the best film I saw at SXSW this year, McConaughey’s Amziah pulls up to an outdoor eatery where he meets some friends and jams with them, playing homegrown roots rock, with all of them singing and playing with the type of joy that can’t help but wash over the audience.

It’s a great way of introducing Amziah, who’s shown in the film to be the beloved backbone of his community, making friends wherever he goes and putting as much good into the world as he can. It’s a role tailor-made for McConaughey, with his good ol’ boy charm infectious. Director Andrew Patterson, whose previous film, The Vast of Night, was underrated, directs with such verve and style that this will likely get a major release and turn into a new favourite for many, with the premiere absolutely bringing the house down here at SXSW.

Yet, as much as the movie benefits from McConaughey’s star-power, it doesn’t necessarily rely on it either. As the movie goes on, the actual lead is revealed in Angelina LookingGlass’s Kateri. The relationship with Amziah is touching, with her having happily lived with him and his wife as a foster child before being taken away by the state after his wife died, with them deeming a single father unfit to care for a child. Now that she’s back in his life as a young, capable adult, Amziah wastes no time training her to take over his honey business, which turns out to be a lot more cutthroat than you’d expect.

The movie also does a great job depicting the sense of community, with the rural Oklahoma setting a joyous collection of people living their lives the best they can. They immediately welcome Kateri into her ranks, with her quickly growing attached to the rogue’s gallery of misfits who work for Amziah. There’s Scott Shepard and Jake Horowitz as Amziah’s ex-con pals, who Kateri finds to be surprisingly reliable in a pinch, as well as Rob Morgan as his best friend, the town’s lawyer, who provides all involved free legal advice, and is a central part of Amziah’s band. Tony Revolori has one of the movie’s most memorable sequences early on, where, in a shockingly bloody moment, we learn why ponytails and honey-making machines don’t mix. The great Kurt Russell also enters the fray later on as the film’s villain, an affable local businessman whose methods contradict Amziah’s community-first principle and desire to help all those around him.

In its second hour, the film gets surprisingly dark, with LookingGlass’s Kateri revealed to have a harder edge to her than initially thought, with her angelic smile camouflaging the fact that, as someone who knows firsthand how brutal the world is, she isn’t afraid to fight dirty.

All of this helps make The Rivals of Amziah King one of the most unpredictable and wildly entertaining films I’ve seen in a while. Hopefully, someone snatches it up, as it’s a great piece of work and should rank among McConaughey’s best-ever roles. 

District 9’s Neill Blomkamp is set to write and direct a new Starship Troopers movie based on the original novel by Robert A. Heinlein.

THR reports that Neill Blomkamp will write and direct a new Starship Troopers movie for Columbia Pictures. The report states that this won’t be a remake of Paul Verhoeven’s sci-fi classic, but will follow the original novel by Robert A. Heinlein, which was published in 1959.

The novel follows Juan “Johnny” Rico as he joins the Federal Service and goes through the toughest boot camp in the universe as an interstellar war between Earth and an alien species known as Arachnids rages on. Although the novel was very successful, even winning the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1960, some have criticized it for its militaristic and fascist elements. Verhoeven took the concept to the extreme for his movie, presenting a satire of authoritarian governance.

Blomkamp will also produce the new Starship Troopers movie alongside his wife and partner, Terri Tatchell, who co-wrote District 9 and Chappie.

This project will mark Blomkamp’s return to sci-fi after his last two projects, a direct sequel to Aliens and a follow-up to Robocop, fell apart. His long-awaited District 9 sequel is still in the works, although the director didn’t exactly sound enthused about the project the last time he spoke about it. “I don’t know if I even want to make that right now,” Blomkamp said in 2023, “but at some point down the line, it’ll probably get made.“

Blomkamp most recently directed Gran Turismo. The film was based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional racecar driver. The film grossed $122 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews, including one from JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray. “Blomkamp also does a good job walking a fine line between depicting the racing action in a realistic, immersive way while staying true to the style of the gameplay,” Bumbray wrote. “While this lacks the hardcore tone of Blomkamp’s sci-fi films, it’s a good stab at mainstream studio filming from the director, and he’s done an excellent job making a family crowd-pleaser.” You can check out the full review right here.

What do you think of Neill Blomkamp directing a new Starship Troopers movie?

Kelsey Asbille, Emma Roberts, and more have been cast in the psychological thriller The Technique, from the creator of Hemlock Grove

Brian McGreevy is the author who wrote the novel Hemlock Grove, then worked with Lee Shipman and Eli Roth to develop the concept into a television series that ran on the Netflix streaming service for three seasons and a total of 33 episodes. McGreevy went on to co-create the Western TV series The Son, which ran on AMC for two seasons, a total of 20 episodes. Now, Deadline reports that McGreevy is set to make his feature directorial debut with a psychological thriller called The Technique – and he has assembled a solid cast to bring the story’s characters to life. That cast includes Kelsey Asbille (Yellowstone), Emma Roberts (American Horror Story), Nicholas Alexander Chavez (Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story), Ben Platt (Theater Camp), Laura Harrier (Spider-Man: Homecoming), and Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

McGreevy has also written the screenplay for the film, but Deadline wasn’t able to dig up any information on the plot. As they said, the details are being kept under wraps.

Miles Skinner of Hypothesis and Andrea Bucko of Raised By Wolves are producing The Technique with Jordan Drake, David Duque-Estrada, Chadd Harbold, and Russ Posternak. Zak Williams of Hypothesis, Jordan Claire Robbins, and Nini Le Huynh of Raised By Wolves serve as executive producers alongside John Kalafatis, Joanna Kalafatis, and Daniel Cypress of York Films, as well as Chris K. Daniels of Cinelaunch and Emanuele Morretti. Pete McClellan is serving as a co-producer. Raised By Wolves is providing the financing for the film.

Honestly, I have never read a McGreevy novel, nor have I watched Hemlock Grove or The Son, but I’m already interested in this film due to the cast. I’m totally on board to watch a psychological thriller that stars Kelsey Asbille , Emma Roberts, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Ben Platt, Laura Harrier, and Noomi Rapace. I don’t even need to know what’s causing the psychological thrills at this point, but I am looking forward to learning more about the story.

Does The Technique sound interesting to you? Share your thoughts on this project and the cast Brian McGreevy has assembled for it by leaving a comment below.

The leak of concept art from Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars has been debunked by the Russo brothers.

Marvel fans got an unexpected peek into Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars last week when concept art for the highly anticipated movies was leaked. The concept art was posted (and quickly removed) by Marvel artist Mushk Rizvi, but the damage was done, and fans dissected every image. However, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars directors Joe and Anthony Russo have denied that the concept art is from their movies.

While speaking with THR, the Russo brothers were asked if fans should be worried about the concept art spoiling the movies. “No,” said Joe, “because that artwork was not from Avengers: Doomsday or Secret Wars.” Anthony chimed in, “Nothing spoiling in there. That’s not our concept art.“

Despite the denial, fans aren’t completely buying it, as Disney put out many copyright hits on accounts sharing the art (although it’s still easy to find). It’s also possible that the concept art was done very early in preproduction, well before the Russo brothers were involved in the films. So, they would still be correct in saying this is not “our” concept art.

Production on Doomsday and Secret Wars will kick off soon, and the Russo brothers recently said they wanted to outdo Infinity War and Endgame. “Absolutely, we want to beat those younger versions of ourselves,” Joe said. “We have to be, right? Because we have to outdo those movies in a way, or we at least have to take you on an equally engaging journey.” Anthony added, “These movies are an incredible opportunity for us, and they’re an incredible opportunity for audiences. So we’re doing what we can to deliver the experience everyone, I think, hopes for.“

Infinity War and Endgame still rank as the highest-grossing films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but a lot has changed in the last six years, both in the world and in the MCU itself. However, the Russo brothers aren’t letting themselves get worried about things they can’t control. “We can’t control the economic environment. We can’t control what’s happening in the world around the time of the release,” Joe said. “We can’t control the audience’s desire to leave their homes or not. All we can do is make the best movie possible in the hope that it excites them.” Avengers: Doomsday is slated for a May 1, 2026 release, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians has been renewed for season 3 at Disney+, with the premiere of the second season still many months away.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians has been renewed for season 3 at Disney+. This is quite the early renewal, as the second season isn’t slated to be released until December. The third season will focus on The Titan’s Curse, the third novel in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series.

“We’re so grateful to be continuing the story of Percy Jackson on Disney+,” Riordan said in a statement. “This third season will be new territory for the screen, bringing fan favorites like the Hunters of Artemis and Nico di Angelo to life for the first time. It’s a huge sign of commitment from Disney, and speaks volumes about the enthusiasm with which the fandom has embraced the TV show. Thank you, demigods worldwide!“

Ayo Davis, president of Disney Branded Television, added, “From the moment ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ debuted, it was clear this series had struck a chord with fans of all ages. With season two set to premiere this December, we’re thrilled to announce that Percy’s journey will continue with a third season. Huge thanks to our incredible cast and creative team, our partners at 20th Television, and our visionary and talented producers who continue to bring Rick Riordan’s world to life with such depth and imagination.“

The early renewal will allow production on the new season to proceed as quickly as possible, which is advantageous as the young stars — Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri — could wind up being much older than their characters if there was a sizable gap between seasons.

There will be one big change when Percy Jackson and the Olympians returns for its second season later this year. The first season featured the late Lance Reddick as Zeus. It was announced last year that Courtney B. Vance would be stepping in to replace him. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to join the extraordinary cast of Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” Vance said. “There are few moments in an actor’s career when you can honestly say that you’re about to board a series that has such a devoted fan base filled with characters beloved around the world and is based on a wildly successful book series. I know that stepping into this role of Zeus will be a memorable experience and I’ll be giving my brother, Lance Reddick, who left us way too soon, a heavenly hug.“