Emma Stefansky
The New ‘Star Wars: Aftermath’ Novel Could Explain the Origins of the Knights of Ren
For every cool new character The Force Awakens introduced, and every familiar face it brought back, ten new questions popped up in their wake. It’s been more than thirty years since Darth Vader’s death and the destruction of the Empire, and the galaxy has changed quite a bit since then. Plenty of new players have entered the game, including a mysterious organization known as the Knights of Ren. Our buddy Kylo Ren is one of these Dark Side fanatics, but he seems to be the only one. So, what happened to the other Knights of Ren? And how are they, exactly?
Come Face-to-Face With the Beast in Three New ‘Kong: Skull Island’ Clips, Plus an IMAX Featurette
Kong: Skull Island is a kind of sequel to 2014’s Godzilla, and, since it’s also about a giant monster, has a lot to live up to in terms of creating a ridiculously huge sense of scale. Kong is bigger than anything should be allowed to be, and it’s sometimes tough to make a monster look big without making it look silly and unbelievable. A few new clips from Kong: Skull Island show us that this movie will have the same sense of wonder and awe as Godzilla — and maybe even more.
Rumor: ‘The Last Jedi’ Details Hint at a New Spaceship and What’s Next for Finn
When The Last Jedi hits theaters this December, it’ll be two whole years since we saw Rey, Finn, Poe, Kylo Ren, and the rest of the gang from the new trilogy. There’s no telling what kind of trouble they’ll get themselves into this time around, and all we have to go on is a mysterious recently-released official title. But that doesn’t stop the rumor mill from churning right along, and some insiders might have gotten a few new details about a brand-new spaceship and what a certain ex-Stormtrooper will be doing onboard. If you’d like to go into the movie knowing as little as possible, search your feelings and stop reading here.
‘Star Wars’ Han Solo Spinoff May Feature the Franchise’s First Major Female Droid
The Star Wars universe has always been a pretty great place for women (unless you’re a director, that is), so why is it that we haven’t yet seen a female droid in as significant a capacity as C-3P0 or R2-D2, or scene-stealer BB-8? There have been female droids in the canon, but usually that’s not revealed until after the fact, and no woman has ever voiced a major speaking role for a robot. With the new Han Solo prequel/spinoff, that’s about to change.
Jada Pinkett Smith Has a Little Too Much to Drink in ‘Girls Trip’ Red Band Trailer
There’s a definite appeal to all of these recent movies featuring grown women getting up to the kind of antics we’d normally expect from the college-aged sorority girls from those crazy recruitment videos. Director Malcolm D. Lee, of The Best Man and The Best Man Holiday, is giving us a Bridesmaids-style caper with an entirely black cast in Girls Trip, and from the looks of the new trailer, it could be a similar hit. This is Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith we’re talking about.
The Live-Action ‘Aladdin’ Will Have a Diverse Cast, Promises Producer
There’s been a lot of talk about whitewashing in the news lately, what with two big blockbusters, The Great Wall and the live-action Ghost in the Shell, poised to hit theaters soon. Disney has plans for both a live-action Mulan and Aladdin in the works, and the production of both will be scrutinized for how they handle casting. But not to worry, because the producer of Aladdin says the cast will be fittingly diverse for a movie set in the Middle East.
’Sup Bat-fans, Watch LEGO Batman Give a Tour of Wayne Manor for ‘Gotham Cribs’
The self-aware superhero thing seems to be becoming a trend. Last year, Deadpool charmed audiences with his irreverent, R-rated take on the origin story, cursing up a storm and breaking the fourth wall every five minutes. LEGO Batman, possibly the best part of The LEGO Movie, was similar, throwing in jabs now and again to his dark, broody characterization in The Dark Knight Trilogy. The LEGO Batman Movie promises more of the same in this new “Gotham Cribs” clip, which shows LEGO Batman trying really hard not to let everyone know he and LEGO Bruce Wayne are the same person. If he were any more aware of himself, he’d ascend to nirvana.
Snitches Get Stitches in the ‘Fist Fight’ Red Band Trailer
A few hundred years ago we had gladiators, now we have the cinema, and it looks like 2017 is the year we get to see our favorite actors beat each other up. The new Red Band trailer for Ice Cube and Charlie Day’s Fist Fight starts off with a brief overview of how horrible the students are at this rough school, but it’s the teachers themselves who’ll start a royal rumble once one of them gets on the other’s bad side.
Watch the First Three Minutes of ‘Rings’ Right Now, We Dare You
The Ring sequel no one was asking for is about to hit theaters, and if watching a movie about people dying because they watched a movie appeals to you, you probably want to check out the full first scene Paramount released today. It features a doomed plane, some doomed people, and a girl crawling out of a — well, you know the rest.
This ‘My Life as a Zucchini’ Clip Is as Funny as It Is Heartbreaking
My Life as a Zucchini, the French-Swiss stop-motion film about a boy who goes to live at an orphanage that’s been nominated for a Best Animated Feature Oscar this year, is coming to U.S. theaters with our own English-language dub. The trailer for the new version features the voice talents of Will Forte, Ellen Page, Nick Offerman, and Amy Sedaris, and today the film has just released a new clip showing us how young Zucchini, as he prefers to be called, ended up at the orphanage in the first place.
Dan Aykroyd’s Tribute to Carrie Fisher Is Fascinating, Honest, and Hilarious
It’s a pretty well-known fact by now that Carrie Fisher had the ability to out-funny Hollywood’s funniest stars, and her friend and former fiancee Dan Aykroyd was no exception. The actor, who was engaged to Fisher for a brief time after proposing to her on the set of The Blues Brothers, wrote a funny and honest tribute to her for Empire magazine’s latest issue, which contains a 27-page farewell to
Mark Hamill Likes the New ‘Star Wars’ Title’s Samurai Movie Roots
We finally know what the title of the next Star Wars movie is, and it’s a pretty great one. “The Last Jedi” is full of drama and mystery, giving nothing away while implying a whole lot. As it turns out, the movie’s stars like the title just as much as the rest of us do, and Mark Hamill had a pretty great reaction to it.