Here's Who Helped Bring Doomsday To Life For Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice

Arguably the biggest surprise that came from the second Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer in December was the appearance of Doomsday, confirming months of rumors that he would appear. While opinions are divided about his CGI look and presence in the movie, he’s clearly being set up as the movie’s main physical threat, and today it was revealed that accomplished voice actor Robin Atkin Downes performed the dangerous villain.

Robin Atkin Downes announced on his Twitter page that he "helped bring Doomsday to life" in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In addition his voice work, Downes is also a motion-capture actor, but he didn’t specify which of those he did in this case, if not both. Doomsday’s never been much of a talker, but from what he saw in the trailer, he’s in his "mindless beast" phase. So if Downes did provide the monstrosity’s voice, it was likely just grunts and roars, much like The Hulk’s usual utterances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
I could fill a whole article just listing Robin Atkins Downes’ comic-related work, but some notable DC-centric offerings include voicing Harvey Dent in Batman: Year One, Oliver Queen In Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2, Gentleman Ghost in Justice League Unlimited, and numerous characters in the video game LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. Over in the world of Marvel, Downes has voiced characters in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., and Ultimate Spider-Man, among others. Downes is the latest actor to play Doomsday in some fashion. Previous actors include Michael Jai White in Justice League/Justice League Unlimited, Sam Witwer (in human form) in Smallville, and Khary Payton in Injustice: Gods Among Us.

The exact circumstances of Doomsday’s creation in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice have yet to be revealed, though it’s strongly indicated that he’ll emerge from the corpse of General Zod following experimentation by Lex Luthor. All we know for certain is that somehow he’ll be unleashed on the world, leading Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to join forces and take him down. Director Zack Snyder also hinted that Doomsday will continue to play a role in the DC Extended Universe, like possibly Justice League: Part One. As one of Superman’s strongest enemies, Doomsday has proven nearly impossible to kill in the comics, as each time he is defeated, he evolves so he can better combat threats. So even if the DC Trinity defeat him in this movie, there are no assurances he’ll stay down for good.

Moviegoers can see Doomsday in action when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hits theaters on March 25. 

Infinity War Part 1 Will Feature Even More Characters

The upcoming Avengers: Infinity War is going to be absolutely enormous in scale of production, as well as cast. Captain America: Civil War is essentially going to test what Marvel can do, assembling a large ensemble cast and putting them in battle with each other. Infinity War will go a step further, assembling the plethora of MCU characters in an epic battle to save the earth against Thanos. The Russo brothers have taken Joss Whedon’s place as the brain behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and will be directing both Civil War and the upcoming Infinity War. 

The Russo brothers made a recent appearance at Wizard World Cleveland Comic Con, where they apparently opened up to correct a previously miscounted number of cast members that will take arms in Infinity War. According to Cleveland.com the following was clarified:

The Russos also took a moment during the panel to correct a mistake they made earlier this year when describing the plot to the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War, which they are on board to direct. The movie features 68 distinct characters, not 67.

We previously reported that 67 players were being maneuvered in Infinity War, it now appears that the numbers are not quite set in stone. 

While the addition of one more character doesn’t seem especially mind-blowing, the concept that there is still fluidity in the casting process is an exciting one. There have been so many heroes introduced in the various forms of media which the MCU covers, that everyone has a favorite character they want to see pop up in Infinity War. 

Specifically, fans of the Netflix Marvel series, as well as the actors themselves, have been campaigning to crossover into the silver screen. Since Daredevil and Jessica Jones have been so successful, and they occupy a timeline with the MCU films, it seems perfectly logical that The Defenders would join the fray in an apocalyptic event. Seeing the gritty and imperfect style of the Defenders teaming up with the highly effective Avengers would make for a nice moment of juxtaposition. Krysten Ritter recently opened up thinking that Jessica Jones and Tony Stark would make for a brilliant team since they’re both snarky and would booze it up while being acquainted with each other.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. also contains a handful of characters who could very well make an appearance in Infinity War. Of course, many of the protagonists are government agents, rather than superheroes so it might not be as interesting for people who don’t watch the ABC series. 

Since the first part of Infinity War will be premiering in May 2018, there is still quite a bit of time for the various Marvel chess pieces to be assembled in a way that makes sense. We’ll continue to keep you updated on the development of this ensemble piece as details become public.  

Someone Edited The Batman V Superman Footage In Chronological Order, And It's Awesome

Movie trailers have essentially become short films in their own right. Fan anticipation for new footage in major franchises is extreme, and we’ve now become custom to counting down the release of new trailers while also waiting for the film itself. One of the upcoming films which capitalized on this new system of trailer fandom is Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. Footage was slowly and methodically released during moments of high viewership, such as football Sundays and specials like the CW’s run of Dawn Of The Justice League. Now, one fan has edited all of the trailers together into what they believe will be the chronological order of Batman V Superman. Check out all of the madness below (it's worth it, even though the video has no thumbnail). 



Honestly, this looks pretty legit. Youtuber M1llion clearly took a lot of time in cleanly editing the footage from a few different places into one cohesive video. And we can actually gather a few things from watching this fan edit.

First off, this video helps to dispel the idea that the trailers have already shown us too much information. After the full-length trailer was released, many fans felt as if Zack Snyder revealed too much of the film’s plot. Specifically, the inclusion of Doomsday as the seemingly final villain was seen as overkill and too much exposure. After all, why couldn’t Doomsday have been the big surprise reveal in theaters?

Well, as we see from the above video, perhaps we worried too quickly. Indeed, the chronological video, which contains all of the trailers’ footage, clocks in at only ten minutes. Considering that Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice is currently listed as running 2 hours and 30 minutes (via its imdb), there is over 2 hours of film that we haven’t remotely seen. Perhaps Zack Snyder is planning more twists and turns than we originally anticipated. Maybe Doomsday is a red herring, and the real battle between Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman hasn’t been revealed yet. 

The chronological video is also just impressive to watch. While cutting together bits of footage from trailers would normally result in a choppy and disjointed video of nonsense, the video made by M1llion flows more like a short film. While this is partly the editor’s skills in mixing and transitions, Batman V Superman as a whole can be praised. The footage itself is captivating, as well as which images that the producers and editors decided to include in the marketing material. If this ten minute clip can somehow be both effective and captivating, then I can only imagine what the finished project will be like. Especially if you take into account the all-star cast that Zack Snyder has assembled to kickstart the DC Extended Universe.

TMNT 2 Character Posters: Watchful Guardians in a Half-Shell

The upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (no connection to Activision’s 2013 video game of the same name) is the continuation of the TMNT live-action film franchise reboot released in 2014. TMNT (2014) director Jonathan Liebesman has been replaced as the helmsman on Out of the Shadows by David Green, the filmmaker who made his mark with the 2014 found-footage adventure Earth to Echo. However, most of the other key players behind the scenes on the 2014 TMNTmovie returned to work on Out of the Shadows too, including screenwriters Josh Applebaum and André Nemec – and of course, producer Michael Bay.

Out of the Shadows will boast many a new cast addition, but the core cast of the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie are reprising their roles here. That includes the four actors who bring the Turtles to life via motion-capture performances – Pete Ploszek (Leonardo), Noel Fisher (Michelangelo), Jeremy Howard (Donatello), and Alan Ritchson (Raphael) – as well as Megan Fox as reporter (and Turtles ally) April O’Neil and Will Arnett as April’s cameraman, Vernon Fenwick.

Thus far though, the marketing for Out of the Shadows has kept the spotlight focused foremost on the Turtles, in keeping with the cast’s claims that the heroes-in-a-half-shell get double the screen time in the sequel as they got in the 2014 TMNT film. Paramount Pictures has released four TMNT: Out of the Shadows character posters that likewise feature only the Turtles, as they watch over New York City in their respective ways (Raphael unsmiling, Michelangelo looking a bit happier than the others, and so on). Check out the one-sheets, below.

While these TMNT: Out of the Shadows characters posters are fairly no-nonsense in terms of their tone and style (well, as no-nonsense as posters featuring Ninja Turtles can be), Out of the Shadows trailersand TV spots released by Paramount thus far have painted the sequel as being more playful and good-humored, on the whole. When we spoke to the Turtles actor during our visit to the Out of the Shadowsset, they admitted that the 2014 TMNT reboot was something of a hodgepodge, as far as tones go – the result of them having shot three different versions of the film, it turns out. However, Pete Ploszek in particular noted that the experience proved useful to the returning TMNT cast and crew alike, when it came to settling on a firmer storytelling approach for Out of the Shadows:

I think that has informed our approach to this one though in the sense that I think we’re all very aware of the movie we made last time. What worked. What didn’t work. When you see what made it and what didn’t make it (into the final cut), it really informs your choices as an actor. Even just seeing your translation of yourself to a motion-captured turtle, it’s pretty damn educational. So that’s sort of greased the machine for us this time around. It’s been a good fast start.

Indeed, Out of the Shadows looks and feels more like a live-action version of TMNT cartoon series past (the 1980s version especially) – between its jokey temper and the addition of many fan-favorite, larger than life, TMNT characters, including: Arrow‘s Stephen Amell as hockey-loving (human) vigilante Casey Jones; Tyler Perry as mad scientist Baxter Stockman; the WWE’s Stephen “Sheamus” Farrelly and Gary Anthony Williams as mutant thugs Rocksteady and Bebop; and, as we found out recently, the villainous alien Krang (voice actor TBA). Credit where credit’s due: no matter if it ultimately flies high, fails hard, or something in between, Out of the Shadows is committing fully to its colorful and cartoonish vision of the TMNT universe.

University of Iowa System Aims to Predict Box Office Profitability

From the moment that the first moving picture came to life over one hundred years ago, the concept of cinema has changed enormously. As styles came and went throughout the years, they gave way to experiments with things like sound, visual effects, aspect ratios as well as film and video formats. Cinema grew exponentially over these years – and continues to grow even today.

As time passes and filmmaking undergoes these revolutionary periods, profit making as an end goal has risen to a level of prominence previously unheard of. Make no qualms about it – filmmaking is a business like any other. Moviegoers vote with their wallets, which in turn determines a studio’s ability to sink or swim. A profitable film is always the hope, but who can guarantee that?

As reported by CB, the University of Iowa (apparently) can. The school’s professor of management sciences, Kang Zhao has developed a method by which scientific calculations can apparently determine whether a film will be a box-office hit or not. For example, according to the system designed by Zhao, the upcoming Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice has a 32 % chance of turning a profit, while fellow forthcoming 2016 tentpole Warcraft has a slightly better outlook, with a 39% chance of profitability. By comparison, Walt Disney Pictures’ animated Zootopia is apparently more likely than both of those films to turn a profit (with a 55% chance right now).

To begin, several questions must first be answered about the film – such as cast, plot, director, release date etc – at which point these findings are entered into a machine-learning, data-based algorithm for a final verdict. The key elements that the algorithm uses to decide whether or not a film has what it takes to turn a profit have much to do with things like the director’s track record, whether or not they’ve worked with the current cast before or not, what the genre is (and how profitable it typically is) as well as what time of year the film is released. The films that received the lowest likelihood of profitability were those with plots based around music, war or espionage, had an R-rating or were of the dramatic or foreign genres.

Though Zhao’s system does provide some food for thought and is an interesting attempt at making the unknowable knowable, it’s hardly a dependable source. If it were accurate, none of Quentin Tarantino’s infamously R-rated films would have turned a profit – particularly not Inglourious Basterds, which aside from being R-rated also has a war based plot and is subtitled for the majority of its run-time. In fact, Tarantino’s films are a mere drop in the bucket of titles that appear to refute Zhao’s findings, as does the very recent box office success of the R-Rated Deadpool.

Still, Zhao is not claiming that he’s found the miracle system for defining whether or not a film will be a hit. Science can’t answer every question (at least not yet), but the fact that this system exists can help to determine what any given film has going both for and against it, by the time it opens in theaters.

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice opens on March 25, 2016, which is followed by Suicide Squad on August 5, 2016; Wonder Woman on June 23, 2017; Justice League Part One on November 17, 2017; The Flash on March 16, 2018; Aquaman on July 27, 2018; Shazam on April 5, 2019; Justice League Part Two on June 14, 2019; Cyborg on April 3, 2020; and Green Lantern Corps. on June 19, 2020.

Ant-Man And The Wasp Bringing A Key Figure Back For The Sequel

Ant-Man may be Marvel’s tiniest superhero, but last year he made a big debut on the silver screen. After earning mostly positive reviews and making a solid amount of money, Marvel announced Ant-Man and the Wasp for 2018. As the title suggests, Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lily will reprise their Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne roles, respectively, and Michael Douglas will likely be back as Hank Pym. Behind the scenes, Peyton Reed will direct again; Rudd, Gabriel Ferrari, and Andrew Barrer were confirmed to pen the sequel; and now we can count on Ant-Manscript contributor Adam McKay to return as well.

Adam McKay, writer and director of comedies like Anchorman and Stepbrothers, informed Nerdist at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival he’ll be involved with Ant-Man and the Wasp. In his words:

We’ve been talking to Marvel actually. We just talked to them the other day, and it looks like I will be involved. I don’t know if it’s gonna be right from page one. But it looks like I will definitely be involved. There you go. There’s a little headline for the fanboys!

After original director Edgar Wright departed Ant-Man in May 2014 due to creative differences, Adam McKay entered negotiations to replace him, but dropped out soon afterwards. Instead, he rewrote the screenplay with Paul Rudd, and their changes included adding different characters and new action beats, while also making sure it felt more connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Gabriel Ferrari and Andrew Barrer were later called in to make further revisions, and the result was what moviegoers saw in theaters last July. McKay expressed interest in helping script Ant-Man and the Wasp on several occasions, and now fans can take comfort knowing he’ll be participating to some degree.

With Ant-Man and the Wasp still two years away, details are sparse on what to expect. However, Adam McKay’s return is further indication that Marvel is bringing back much of the creative talent from the first movie to give the sequel a familiar feel. By all accounts, McKay enjoyed working with Marvel the first time, so participating again should be enjoyable for him. It remains to be seen whether McKay will be one of the main group of writers or if he’ll be called in to rewrite it, but he’s already spoken with Paul Rudd about ideas for the movie, so clearly making Ant-Man and the Wasp a good story is important to him.

Ant-Man and the Wasp hits theaters on July 6, 2018, but Marvel fans can see Scott Lang participate in Captain America: Civil War this May. As for Adam McKay, his latest movie, The Big Short, is up for five Academy Awards, with him specifically being nominated for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. 

'Walking Dead' Bosses Dissect "Big Pivotal Moment" in "Horrifying" Midseason Premiere

Creator Robert Kirkman, showrunner Scott M. Gimple and exec producer Greg Nicotero, who directed the episode, talk with THR about the shocking midseason premiere.

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from episode 609, "No Way Out," the midseason premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead and the comic book series the show is based on.]

AMC's The Walking Dead delivered one of its most explosive episodes ever with Sunday's shocking and devastating midseason premiere that was sure to leave many viewers heartbroken on Valentine's Day.

The episode, which picked up immediately after the events of the midseason finale, saw the zombie drama based on Robert Kirkman's comic book series kill off three key people, while one of the show's most untouchable characters suffered a massive loss.

First Look At Star Wars Monopoly Rey Figure

WARNING: This post contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Force Awakens

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As many people know, film is hardly the only area where Star Wars generates mass revenue. The property is a merchandising giant, offering fans numerous tie-in products so they can bring their favorite characters home. Licensed materials are such a big thing now, Disney and Lucasfilm are making the Force Friday unveiling event an annual shopping day, recently scheduling a date in September 2016 for the debut of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story merchandise.

It’s fun to collect the various Star Wars materials, but during the buildup to Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens there was some controversy. Despite being the lead protagonist of the movie, there was a shortage of Rey products on store shelves, a development that even upset Force Awakensdirector J.J. Abrams. Things reached a boiling point when an edition of Hasbro’s Star Wars Monopoly did not include the Jakku scavenger, and the manufacturer later promised she’d become a part of the board game. They’ve now shared the Rey Monopoly figure.

The company used the New York City Toy Fair (hat tip The Verge) as the platform to debut the piece, which features Rey wielding Luke Skywalker’s original lightsaber – the weapon she used in her duel with Kylo Ren.

When #WheresRey went viral and fans questioned why she wasn’t part of the Monopoly game, Hasbro claimed that they wanted to avoid spoiling key story details for The Force Awakens in their products. It’s not a coincidence then, that the Rey figure is holding the lightsaber, an element that was saved for the film’s premiere. After several moviegoers have seen the movie, the second wave of Star Wars 7merchandise is now emphasizing Rey as a Jedi in training, Lucasfilm’s partners becoming comfortable incorporating more events from the film.

At the same time, this could be perceived as a not-so-subtle cover on Hasbro’s part. There’s still no reasonable explanation for why Rey was excluded before. The earliest Force Awakens marketing materials always featured Rey holding on to her staff, so she easily could have been part of Monopoly with that item instead of the lightsaber. The whole “no spoilers” justification doesn’t hold much weight with some fans, especially those who found it odd and frustrating Rey was difficult to find in stores during the height of Force Awakens mania. Regardless, it is nice to see that Hasbro did not turn a blind eye to the situation and worked on a means of rectifying it quickly. The new version of Star WarsMonopoly (which includes Rey) will be released this fall – just in time for holiday shopping.

Hopefully history does not repeat itself as merchandise for the upcoming Star Wars films is revealed. Much like The Force Awakens, Rogue One features a female lead in Felicity Jones who will most likely factor heavily into the plot. As advertising for the spinoff gears up, there will probably be a great deal of interest in her character, so the onus is on the toy companies to make sure they don’t shortchange her like they initially did Rey.

Star Wars: Episode 7 – The Force Awakens is now in theaters, and will be followed by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on December 16th, 2016, Star Wars: Episode 8 on December 15th, 2017, and the Han Solo Star Wars Anthology film on May 25th, 2018. Star Wars: Episode 9 is expected to reach theaters in 2019, followed by the third Star Wars Anthology film in 2020.

X-Men Producer Simon Kinberg Says R-Rated X-Force Movie Could Happen

It’s official: Deadpool is a success. The big screen, R-rated take on the Merc With a Mouth is plowing through all sorts of box office records, and while studios may or may not learn the right lessons from its success, one thing is for certain: there will be sequels.

A direct sequel has already been greenlit, and it will see the addition of Cable, a character who is new to the X-Men movie universe but who has acted as Deadpool’s friend and foe on numerous occasions in the comic books. Many of their team-ups and showdowns have happened in the pages of X-Force, and since an X-Force movie has been circling development for a while now, it seems like a logical next step to use those two characters to bring some name recognition to it. Given that Deadpool was rated R, though, can the same be expected of X-Force?

Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds has already expressed his desire to see the eventual team outing earn an R rating, and now Collider reports that X-Men and Deadpool producer Simon Kinberg has chimed in, too, saying that an R-rated X-Force is a real possibility. Kinberg spoke at a Q&A following a preview screening of Deadpool, and had this to say:

“I think there are some stories that could be R-rated. I don’t know what they are, I mean I think the mainline X-Men movies have their own tone, which is a more operatic tone. It’s more dramatic, it is more PG-13 in a way. X-Force I could see being R-rated, and who knows?”

While no date has been set for the X-Force movie, Deadpool‘s success has certainly renewed talk of its development. Reynolds has said X-Force is a “priority” for Deadpool’s future, and at least one actor (unfortunately not Jon Hamm) is already campaigning for the role of Cable, whose presence in the Deadpool sequel will no doubt add even more visibility to the project.

There are already a number of other X-Men sequels and spinoffs in the works before X-Force can happen, though. In addition to the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse, there is also the Channing Tatum-led Gambit movie, the third (and possibly last) Wolverine solo movie, The New Mutants, and of course Deadpool‘s direct sequel. With a slate that full, it may be a while before any new announcements are made. Fox’s X-Men cinematic universe is getting bigger and bigger, and with all that Deadpool money coming in, there are no doubt more developments to come.

Deadpool is now in theaters; X-Men: Apocalypse opens on May 27, 2016; Gambit sometime in 2017; Wolverine 3 on March 3, 2017; and an unannounced X-Men film on July 13, 2018. The New Mutants and Deadpool 2 are also in development. Screen Rant will provide updates on X-Force as they become available.

‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’: Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern Join Cast

Laura Dern and Benicio Del Toro have joined the cast of “Star Wars: Episode VIII,” Disney confirmed on Monday.The studio also announced that newcomer Kelly Marie Tran will have an unspecified role in the latest installment of the space opera.Dern scored Oscar nominations for her work in “Rambling Rose” and “Wild,” and effectively ducked velociraptors and T-Rexes in “Jurassic Park.” Upcoming projects include Jennifer Fox’s “The Tale” and Kelly Reichardt’s “Certain Women.”

Del Toro scored an Oscar playing a morally conflicted cop in “Traffic,” earned another nomination for “21 Grams” and headlined the likes of “Sicario” and “Savages.” He next reprises his role as the Collector in “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2.” An earlier Variety report said that Del Toro will play the villain role in the new “Star Wars.”

Principal photography on “Star Wars: Episode VIII” begins Monday at Pinewood Studios in London. The film hits theaters on Dec. 15, 2017, when it should mint money.“Looper” director Rian Johnson wrote the screenplay and will replace “The Force Awakens'” J.J. Abrams behind the camera. Cast members Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie and Andy Serkis will all return for the latest sequel.

Star Wars 8 Production Begins Teaser; Official Cast Announced

Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens is still in theaters, adding to its all-time domestic box office record, but Lucasfilm is already moving on from J.J. Abrams’ film. Their attention is now turning to Star Wars: Episode VIII, which is written and directed by Rian Johnson. The studio is running a fairly tight production schedule, with the next installment of the Skywalker family saga slated to hit theaters on December 15, 2017.

Various Force Awakens stars have spent the past few weeks preparing for the start of principal photography on Star Wars 8, with Disney CEO Bob Iger confirming last week that filming has begun. Today, Lucasfilm officially announced the beginning of Episode VIII production by releasing a teaser video (watch it above) to get fans even more amped for the upcoming chapter of the beloved space opera.

The clip primarily consists of footage at Skellig Michael in Ireland, where Johnson was reportedly doing some filming last fall, before Force Awakens even came out. It depicts the fateful meeting between grizzled Jedi Master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and his would-be apprentice Rey (Daisy Ridley) at the end of Episode VII. Rey holds out Luke’s old lightsaber, and then Johnson announces cut. He welcomes the crew to Episode VIII as the iconic Star Wars main theme plays.

In conjunction with the video, a post on the Star Wars website listed the cast members for Episode VIII. Returning from The Force Awakens are Hamill, Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Gwendoline Christie, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Andy Serkis, Carrie Fisher, and Anthony Daniels. Harrison Ford, of course, is the most notable absence, an expected development given Han Solo’s emotional death in The Force Awakens. There was some speculation that the actor could return for a flashback sequence, but unless Lucasfilm is holding something back for a surprise, it would appear that his time with the franchise is over.

Other names missing from The Force Awakens cast are Peter Mayhew and Kenny Baker, who reprised Chewbacca and R2-D2, respectively. However, fans should not take this as a sign that the characters will not appear in Star Wars 8. Both roles were partially handled through other means in Episode VII, so most likely the torch has been passed. Case in point: it’s long been reported that actor Jimmy Vee is taking over for R2-D2, so viewers have not seen the last of the Wookie and feisty astromech droid.

Star Wars 8 also has three newcomers joining the Star Wars universe. After many reports concerning his involvement, Oscar winner Benicio del Toro is officially on board. Joining him are Academy Award nominee Laura Dern and relative unknown Kelly Marie Tran. Obviously, Lucasfilm is keeping details about their characters under wraps, so fans will once again be theorizing about how these three factor in. Tran presumably landed the role that Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Bel Powley were considered for at one point, but it’s important to remember Lucasfilm did not announce the full Force Awakens cast when they shared a photo of the group in 2014. There could always be some more additions later on.

It’s an exciting time to be a Star Wars fan. As the hype surrounding The Force Awakens cools down, anticipation for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is starting to build. And as moviegoers wait for the first Anthology film to arrive this December, they’ll be able to follow the production (and rumor mill) for Episode VIII, trying to piece together what will happen. The galaxy far, far away is once again omnipresent in pop culture, and if the results are anything like The Force Awakens, viewers are in for a treat.

Deadpool scores highest ever opening for R-rated movie at US box office

Ryan Reynolds’s $58m romp earned $260m in its first week and could alter Hollywood’s approach to superhero movie-making

The irreverent Ryan Reynolds superhero flick Deadpool earned $150m at the US box office over the four-day President’s Weekend – the highest opening of all time for an R-rated movie.

In a game-changing debut for a comic-book movie, (Hollywood had previously taken the view that such films need to be relatively family-friendly in order to achieve blockbuster status) Tim Miller’s film more than quadrupled its $58m production budget at the global box office, taking $260m worldwide.

Deadpool was greenlit after test footage of Ryan Reynolds as the sharp-talking, pansexual mutant was lapped up by fans on the internet. Miller’s film tells the origins story of the “Merc with a Mouth”, who enters a sinister programme that promises to save his life after he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. 

He emerges scarred, though possessed of new powers of invincibility and primed to take revenge on his enemies. Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, TJ Miller and Gina Carano make up the supporting cast.The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw wrote that: “Deadpool is neurotic and needy – and very entertaining. An innocent pleasure.”

Deadpool's success accelerates the inevitable: total geek domination

 

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The unexpected success of Deadpool, as well as its own scathing reviews, meant that the R-rated comedy sequel Zoolander 2 floundered at the box office, with just $15.7m on its debut in fourth place. Ben Stiller’s return to the role of the intellectually challenged male model Derek Zoolander was beaten by the Dakota Johnson/Rebel Wilson romantic comedy How to be Single, which opened with $18.8m in third. The Guardian’s Nigel M Smith described the latter as “silly and fun until it wears out its welcome,” adding: “Johnson comes out unscathed with a naturalistic performance that provides a wonderful counter to Rebel Wilson’s brazenly outlandish turn as her boozing best pal.”

The animated sequel Kung Fu Panda 3 continued to perform well in second, with $19.7m in its third week of release, for a total of $93.9m. And the top five was rounded out by the Oscars frontrunner The Revenant, which took $6.9m. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film now has $159.2m in North American box office receipts after eight weeks in cinemas.