Did you watch Scott Mann's 2022 TV tower thriller Fall and think, "Yeah, this is neat, but I could really do with the action moving about 2,000 feet higher a few more loose footholds, and a lil' pinch of extra lurching shots over perilous drops?" Well then do we have the movie — and trailer — for you. The Spierig Brothers have picked up Mann's vertigo-inducing thriller gauntlet for Fall 2: Deadpoint, a sure-to-be-nerve-shredding sequel set 5,000 feet above ground, featuring a new cast of emotionally vulnerable adrenaline junkies climbing things they really probably should leave well alone — this time, a bunch of mile-high perilous planks. Check out the trailer below;

Okay, okay, okay... that was barely a minute long and we're already feeling a little dizzy and a lotta nausea — sheesh! This is a teaser trailer that's pretty much all tease with admittedly little trail to follow, but as tone-setters go, it more than does the trick. On-screen infographics remind us of all the mental and physical effects of climbing at high altitudes (did you know oxygen drops to 13.7% at 11,000 feet?) as we hear some seriously shallow breathing, and then suddenly we're with Queen Charlotte star Arsema Thomas' Luce and her pals, stranded up plank creek without a sturdy plank paddle. Cue ominous shots of loose makeshift steps, dangling backpacks, perilous rocky outcrops all the way down, and — YIKES! — a seemingly unsurvivable fall. And all that in just a minute. Yeah, we're thinkin' Fall is back!

The official synopsis for The Spierig Brothers' vertiginous thriller — which also stars Harriet Slater, Tom Brittney, Virginia Gardner, and Grace Caroline Currey — gives us a little more context, and reads: "After losing her fearless sister Hunter, a deeply damaged Jax (Harriet Slater) sets out on a dangerous climb with Hunter’s old friend to honor her memory. As they tightrope walk the perilous planks of Mount Kwan, a terrifying rockslide leaves them stranded 5,000 feet above ground. In the face of vertigo-inducing sequences, dark truths, and cruel twists, Jax must confront her deepest fears head-on to fight for survival and closure."

While we'd still recommend anyone with deep-rooted trauma and mental health vulnerabilities to maybe pursue some slightly less dangerous acts of catharsis, we nevertheless are very excited/terrified to see where The Spierig Brothers' movie *cough* drops *cough* with fans when Fall 2: Deadpoint hits cinemas on 2 September. Before then, we're off for a lie-down and some deep breathing exercises because that trailer alone was pure stress...

When The Acolyte was cancelled after a single season on Disney+, fans of Leslye Headland’s Star Wars series were left with all kinds of questions. What was the deal with Manny Jacinto’s dark and dangerous Stranger? What would become of Amandla Stenberg’s Osha after her turn to the dark side? And where would those teases of Yoda and Darth Plagueis have led? Without a second season, we’ll never know – but fresh hope for the show arose recently when it re-charted on Disney+, around the release of Maul: Shadow Lord.

As more audiences caught up with The Acolyte years on, Empire spoke to Headland – who expressed that she would return if a second season of the show ever got the green light. “I would still want to do it! Absolutely,” she says. “As more people discover it, I think people may want to see some form of the story come back.” While a chapter of the story closed at the end of the season, Headland is clear on where she wanted to go next. “We did have a lot of stuff that we wanted to explore — including tying in lore to the sequels,” she teases. “Getting into who exactly Manny’s character is, his connection with [Jedi Master] Vernestra, his connection with Plagueis, and then his connection with other sequel-established things.”

For now, fans can binge Season 1 without waiting a week between episodes – a viewing experience Headland recommends. “It was designed that way,” she says. And in a galaxy rife with possibilities, there may come a time for The Acolyte to, somehow, return. “The weather changes with Star Wars,” she says. “There was a real negative reaction to [the Prequels], especially from a particular generation. And 25 years later, Hayden [Christensen] is at Celebration.” Trust in the Force.

Read Empire’s full story on The Acolyte in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day issue, on sale now. Order a copy online here. The Acolyte is streaming now on Disney+.

In jazz, the magic happens in the silences. Miles Davis once suggested that true genius lies in “the notes you don’t play”. Fittingly, Köln 75 — a film about the story behind The Köln Concert, Keith Jarrett’s improvised 1975 performance that went on to become the bestselling solo piano album of all time — is ingenious in how it riffs around one striking omission: none of Jarrett’s music appears in the film.

Rather than awkwardly dance around that absence, director Ido Fluk transforms it into the film’s central idea. In place of Jarrett’s music comes the frantic, infectious energy of Vera Brandes, the teenage concert promoter who somehow convinced the notoriously difficult pianist to take the stage in Cologne and ended up creating jazz history.

The film’s sheer, chaotic momentum usually carries it through.

Crucially, Jarrett himself is barely the point. The film belongs entirely to Vera, played by Mala Emde with charming, kinetic verve. Though older than the real-life teenager she portrays, Emde captures the reckless obsession of someone utterly consumed by art, throwing herself into jazz culture with the kind of evangelical earnestness that feels almost alien today. Vera isn’t simply organising a concert; she’s chasing transcendence. John Magaro (Past Lives), meanwhile, plays Jarrett as a man permanently teetering between artistic purity and total exasperation, giving the film a prickly counterweight to Vera’s idealism.

Fluk attacks the material with restless formal energy. Fourth-wall breaks, rapid-fire editing and knowingly absurd pop-culture detours give the film a self-aware swagger that occasionally strains for profundity. There are moments where the film tries a little too hard to mythologise jazz as a near-spiritual force, while Michael Chernus’ rambling critic character often arrives to dump exposition rather than add to the narrative. Some of the film’s broader comedic flourishes also sit awkwardly alongside its more sincere emotional beats. Still, the film’s sheer, chaotic momentum usually carries it through.

That momentum becomes exhilarating in the final stretch, as Vera scrambles through a mounting series of disasters threatening to derail the concert entirely. A faulty piano, Jarrett’s exhaustion, backstage chaos— Fluk stages it all like a ticking-clock thriller. Even knowing the outcome, the film builds genuine suspense from the logistical nightmare. Then comes the elephant in the room: the missing music. The now 81-year-old Keith Jarrett’s lack of involvement with the production means the climactic performance unfolds without a note of The Köln Concert itself. For some, that will be an unforgivable anticlimax. Yet there’ssomething strangely fitting about a film that rolls with the punches around that limitation. By the end, the missing music feels less like a flaw than part of the magic.

In the last few years, Anya Taylor-Joy has mostly been seen (and heard) in the realms of sci-fi and fantasy — whether as The Super Mario Galaxy Movie's Princess Peach, Furiosa's eponymous warrior heroine, or as Paul Atreides' sister Alia in Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Two. In Jonathan Tropper's upcoming Apple TV limited series Lucky however, adapted from Marissa Stapley's bestselling book, our gal Anya — here playing the titular role, a con artist on the lam after a multi-million-dollar heist gone awry — is brought back down to Earth with a thud. Check out the trailer below;

Now there's a trailer! Sure, having a career-criminal Timothy Olyphant for a dad and a stylish federal agent Annette Bening for a mother-in-law might sound like a dream come true on paper, but as this first look at Lucky shows us, in reality it's a set-up that puts Anya Taylor-Joy's trying-to-be-reformed robber in a real pickle. But Lucky's daddy issues/missing hubby/missing money losses look most assuredly like our gains, with Taylor-Joy switching up wigs, costumes, and stress-levels effortlessly — running across rooftops and excavating childhood traumas — as she leaves the law asking, "How can someone so small cause so much trouble?"

The short-but-sweet official synopsis for Lucky — which also stars Queer breakout Drew Starkey, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, and Clifton Collins Jr. (Train Dreams) — reads: "When a multimillion-dollar heist goes sideways, con artist Lucky (Taylor-Joy) is forced to go on the run. Pursued by both the FBI and a ruthless crime boss, Lucky must fight for her life — and a way out."

With adrenalised action, tense familial drama, and a classic 'one last job' hook, the omens are strong for Tropper and Taylor-Joy's passion project, the latest from Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine production label. We'll see whether we're feeling Lucky when it hits Apple TV on 15 July.

When Kevin Williamson pitched a meta slasher called ‘Scary Movie’ to Miramax, the suits felt the title was too flippant for a horror film and changed it to Scream. The rejected title didn’t go to waste, and was stuck on the Wayans family’s parody, which founded a parallel franchise. The Wayanses’ involvement ended after Scary Movie 2, and Scary Movie 5 was the last entry, in 2013. Until now: with Scream relaunching through 2022’s ‘requel’, it was inevitable that Scary Movie would be back with this ‘rebootycall’. And the Wayanses are back with it.

Just as the first Scary Movie was more a remake of Scream with gross-out comedy footnotes than an actual parody, this sticks close to the plot of Scream (2022) — simply restaging scenes with the odd wink to camera about how obvious the mystery is or dig at the modern-day Scream films’ ‘woke’ tendencies. Besides Wayanses old and new — there’s a joke about how many of them there are — pretty much all of the cast of the first Scary Movie return, still hammering their running jokes into the ground. Shorty (Marlon Wayans) is still stoned, and Ray (Shawn Wayans) is still pretending not to be gay, while talented comedians Anna Faris — who takes a ribbing for being in Scary Movie 3 and 4 — and Regina Hall do their best with not-exactly A material. Olivia Rose Keegan, Savannah Lee Nassif, Cameron Scott Roberts and Sydney Park — one of many 1997 babies who might have been named after the Neve Campbell character in Scream — are shrill stands-ins for Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, and Jasmin Savoy Brown from the requel — which is, by now, two Screams ago.

Scary Movie tradition is to refer to job-lots of other films in scenes which only barely qualify as send-ups. It’s also series tradition to be just behind the curve, so nods to Terrifier, Sinners, Get Out, Weapons, Longlegs, M3GAN, Candyman, The Substance, and Nosferatu will be old news to audiences who’ve moved on to Backrooms, Obsession, and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (the likely targets of a seventh instalment). There are okay-ish jokes about the OG SM crew being stuck in the early 2000s, but the film at least references some current concerns — ICE raids, insistence on preferred pronouns, a history curriculum predicated on slavery not being a bad thing. The last ten minutes before the extended end-credits almost start to be funny, playing on tension between the cast holdovers from the first Scary Movie and the younger generation — but it’s a long haul to get there.

Charli XCX’s post-Brat pivot to cinema has so far seen her ease her way in, taking small roles in 100 Nights Of Hero, Faces Of Death, and I Want Your Sex, as well as playing herself in tour mock-doc The Moment. But Erupcja is a bolder leap: an intimate indie character-drama that hinges on her not playing Charli XCX, or a version thereof. It’s a film that proves she may well have a future in movies, the sort of cool underground Euro-picture that she herself would log on her eclectic Letterboxd page.

While XCX’s pop persona has never been the most outsized, she strips it all back to play Bethany — a ‘normal’ woman in her thirties on the brink of settling down. Her nice-but-dull boyfriend Rob (Will Madden, perfectly pitiable) has whisked her away to Warsaw (her suggestion, he wanted Paris) where he plans to propose. But Bethany has ulterior motives for picking Poland: she used to live there, and has a powerful unspoken bond with local flower-shop-owner Nel (Lena Góra). Whenever Beth and Nel are together, a volcano erupts — quite literally. When Mount Etna belches ash, cancelling flights across Europe and unexpectedly extending Beth and Rob’s trip, she can’t help but be drawn back into Nel’s orbit.

The film’s greatest asset, its compelling core? It’s Charli, baby.

Director Pete Ohs keeps things low-key but engaging as the tectonic plates shift in Beth and Rob’s relationship; it’s painful watching him flail, trying to bridge the distance and conjure romance as she pulls further away. For all his niceties, they’re clearly not aligned. “With him, the Earth doesn’t shake,” Beth admits. The exact nature of her connection with Nel — whether romantic, sexual or spiritual — isn’t spelled out, but their chemistry is undeniable, both potent and volatile, causing ruptions in Nel’s other entanglements too. Through Rob and Nel, Erupcja prods at possible paths in Beth’s future: is the stability he represents boring? Is her connection with Nel — for all its excitement and unpredictability — ultimately selfish? Rather than try and offer answers or moralistic judgment, Ohs simply lets his characters exist in the mess of it all.

The overall vibe is one of a hangout, with shades of Richard Linklater’s Before films; you sense it was filmed that way too, since Ohs shares a writing credit with all the key cast members, including XCX, Madden, Góra and playwright Jeremy O. Harris (who plays a small role as an expat artist). That looseness is inviting, all contained in a 71-minute runtime that doesn’t outstay its welcome. There’s style here — a boxy aspect ratio, colourful interstitials, volcano cutaways — and a drolly funny voiceover that lends wry humour to the drama. But the film’s greatest asset, its compelling core? It’s Charli, baby.

A new era is dawning for Spider-Man in Brand New Day – picking back up with Tom Holland’s Spidey in a world where nobody remembers Peter Parker. The new issue of Empire takes a major new look at Marvel’s summer blockbuster – and you can pre-order a copy right here.

While the issue doesn’t hit shelves until June 4, here’s a sneak peek inside its pages.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

New York’s friendly neighbourhood hero thwips back into action in Spider-Man: Brand New Day – and Empire gets the first word, speaking to stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal, Marvel boss Kevin Feige, director Destin Daniel Cretton, and producer Amy Pascal.

Supergirl

James Gunn’s DCU returns with Supergirl – a punky space-opera that isn’t afraid to explore the messiness of its complex central hero. Empire speaks to Milly Alcock, director Craig Gillespie, and writer Ana Nogueira on a different kind of comic book movie.

Jackass

For decades now, Johnny Knoxville and crew have been raising hell for our entertainment. As they prepare to bow out with Jackass: Best And Last, they talk Empire through their wildest moments – and the camaraderie that’s kept them together.

Minions & Monsters

The little yellow Minions have dominated the globe for years now. And as they prepare to take on Hollywood in Minions & Monsters, Empire meets their creator (and voice actor) Pierre Coffin to discover what makes them so irresistible.

Timothy Olyphant

Whether playing heroes, villains or anything in between, Timothy Olyphant is a magnetic screen presence – and his choices are only getting bolder. He sits down for a major new Empire interview and shoot.

10 Years Of Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

The cult classic comedy turns 10 – and Empire sat down with the ever-humble trio known as The Lonely Island to discuss its legacy, its initial box office flop, and what was left on the cutting room floor.

The Deep Dive: Houdini In Hollywood

Our latest exploration of the annals of movie history explores the time legendary escape artist Harry Houdini broke his way into cinema.

First Word

This month’s news section takes aim at Brad Bird’s long-awaited animated passion project Ray Gunn; goes to the beach with the surviving members of Monty Python; straps in for Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma with director Jane Schoenbrun; digs into the mysteries of Silo Season 3; ventures to Dreamworks’ much-hyped Forgotten Island; lights the spark on Evil Dead Burn; explores the resurgence of The Acolyte on Disney+ with creator Leslye Headland; and much more.

Final Cut

In the home entertainment section, Charlie Cox discusses the seismic Season 2 finale of Daredevil: Born Again; we rank the best movies of 1996; Cyrano de Bergerac gets the Masterpiece treatment; Lawrence Kasdan discusses Body Heat; we break down the big moments of Jack Ryan movie Ghost War with director Andrew Bernstein; and plenty more.

Reviews

In this issue, you’ll find reviews of the Nicolas Cage-starring Spidey spin-off Spider-Noir; John Travolta’s directorial debut Propellor One-Way Night Coach; Jodie Foster thriller A Private Life; Charli XCX Euro-drama Erupcja; and many more.

Order a copy of the issue online here

Great things happen when Brad Bird goes animated. This is the filmmaker who cut his teeth on The Simpsons in its prime, and went on to helm The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and its sequel, and Ratatouille. And running through the background of it all, he’s always wanted to make Ray Gunn – a retro-sci-fi noir which he’s been stewing on since the 1990s. Now, it’s finally real, arriving as an animated feature on Netflix later this year, with some stellar voice talent to boot.

In the role of the brilliantly-named Ray Gunn himself is Sam Rockwell. “He’s pretty much your Main Street private detective,” Bird tells Empire of his hero. “A hard-bitten character, but not without a sense of humour.” And getting someone as expressive as Rockwell in the booth only adds to the personality of your hero. “Sam is just an amazing actor, and he’s quirky and unpredictable,” says Bird. “He never phones it in. It inspires you to bring something to the table as an animator.”

As Gunn – the last human private detective in a world inhabited by all kinds of galactic beings – becomes embroiled in a twisty-turny mystery, Bird promises audiences are in for a ride. “It has no shortage of thoughts in it. But it’s primarily meant to be good with a box full of popcorn,” he explains. “It’s meant to be a really good time.” Plus, in true Brad Bird style, it’s a real genre blend. “There’s a lot more action in this movie than a normal noir, and there’s more comedy,” he says. “It’s a blend of things going on at once.” Sounds like it’ll be worth the seriously long wait.

Read Empire’s full Ray Gunn story in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day issue, on sale Thursday 4 June. Order a copy online here. Ray Gunn comes to Netflix later in 2026.

It’s been 10 years since Tom Holland first entered the MCU as Spider-Man, thwipping his way into Captain America: Civil War. Across a decade which brought an entire Spider-Man trilogy and several super-sized Avengers team-ups, Holland really got to know what makes his Spidey tick. And so, after taking a break from the character after the world-conquering Spider-Man: No Way Home, when the time came to return for the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Holland became instrumental in creatively contributing to the next era of Peter Parker.

Who better to help steer Spidey’s new adventures than the guy in the suit? “This is the first time in my tenure as Spider-Man that I was kind of welcomed into the writers’ room,” Holland reveals to Empire, adding that he and the producers would “meet once every two weeks to pitch ideas and discuss our ambitions and what we wanted to try and do.” He was even instrumental in kick-starting one of Brand New Day’s most significant plot points: that Parker’s powers are evolving in unusual and unexpected ways. “My pitch when I came to the table with it was called ‘Spider-Puberty’,” he says. “What happens if Peter Parker is losing control and things are changing?” That core proved instrumental in what Brand New Day became. “‘Spider-Puberty’ was my tagline pitch to the studio — which was immediately shot down,” Holland says. “But they liked the kernel of the idea and it grew into what we have in the movie now.”

Returning to the character nearly five years after we last saw him, Holland is ready to steer Spider-Man into the future – and ensure that, eventually, there’s life beyond Peter Parker too. “For whoever’s next, whether that is a Miles Morales or a Spider-Gwen or a Spider-Woman or something like that, I would love to be a part of setting up the next chapter,” he says. “Whatever that looks like, I don’t know. But if I could do what Downey did for me, then I would be so content swinging off into the sunset.” Spoken exactly like a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

Read Empire’s full Spider-Man: Brand New Day cover story – speaking to Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Kevin Feige, Destin Daniel Cretton, Amy Pascal and more – in the July 2026 issue, on sale Thursday June 4. Pre-order a copy online here. Spider-Man: Brand New Day comes to cinemas from July 29.

In recent years, the Evil Dead series has not messed about. While Sam Raimi’s sequels fused his hardcore horror sensibilities with gallons of slapstick gore, the likes of Fede Alvarez’s 2013 Evil Dead and Lee Cronin’s 2023 Evil Dead Rise have veered closer to the transgressive terror of Raimi’s original film; albeit with a sadistic wink in their eye. Next up is the turn of French filmmaker Sebastien Vaniček, whose Evil Dead Burn will subject a new family to the hellish exploits of Kandarian demons. The Necronomicon is open for business once more.

At the heart of the madness this time is Souheila Yacoub’s Alice, playing on a different register to Bruce Campbell’s outlandish Ash. “When we created Alice, we wanted a character who’s really grounded,” Vaniček explains. “She’s mourning someone, she arrives in this house, and crazy stuff happens. I wanted to create characters that are behaving like it’s real life.”

While Alice won’t have a chainsaw hand, Vaniček is still pulling ideas that spring from fighting Deadites in a domestic space. “I really want the audience to feel different when they use their dishwasher after watching the movie,” he says. And Alice will really have her work cut out, battling the Necronomicon’s nastiest. “I needed to stay in touch with what makes these demons not like the ones from The Exorcist,” says Vaniček. “They are smart. They are playing with you. When I was talking with the actors, I was telling them, ‘Behave like animals.’ Every one of these Deadites has a fighting style that is completely different.” Expect a groovy time at the movies.

Read Empire’s full Evil Dead Burn story in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day issue, on sale Thursday June 4. Order a copy online here. Evil Dead Burn comes to cinemas from July 10.

A movie based on an old cartoon, based on a toy, about a character who voluntarily goes by the name ‘He-Man’, should not be taken too seriously. If you feel nostalgic about it and think it deserves respect, imagine listing off the characters to an unfamiliar fellow adult and see how long it takes you to feel embarrassed (even if you get past Ram Man, good luck navigating Fisto). That’s presumably why director Travis Knight has taken a distinctly winking approach to the self-styled Masters Of The Universe, and leaned into the utter ridiculousness in a way that, largely, works.

A wordy prologue establishes the scene: our hapless hero Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) was once a prince of Eternia, a magical land that the royal family and the Sorceress (Morena Baccarin) protected against evildoers like Skeletor (Jared Leto). But when that bad guy attacks, the King (James Purefoy) and his chief Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba) are overwhelmed, and the child Adam is sent through a portal to Earth. He instantly loses the magical sword that would allow him to return. Fifteen years later, he’s a misunderstood cog in a corporate machine, but he finds his weapon at long last and is immediately hunted by Skeletor’s goons.

Travis Knight and his cast get the big stuff right.

His childhood friend Teela (Camila Mendes) helps him escape home, where they must keep the weapon away from Skeletor and reach Castle Grayskull to… well, it’s not entirely clear. The result is a chase movie, with the pantomime bony baddie determined to get his hands on Adam’s sword (steady) and crush all opposition to his rule.

The decision to make Adam a hapless doofus is a source of great comedy — Galitzine sends himself up as gamely as he bulks up — but his childish dependence on Teela and the rest reduces the narrative propulsion. Adam needs to avoid Skeletor and Alison Brie’s underused Evil-Lyn, sure, but he has no real plan to reclaim his throne or restore Eternia. He’s just swept along by events. That might be okay, as he muddles towards a rebellion, but the muddle needed to be very funny and very sharply scripted, and there are a few lulls in the pace here.

That all said, Knight and his cast get the big stuff right. This will appeal to small kids with its bold colours, big characters and utter lack of deep thought (how does Mekaneck’s blood reach his brain when his neck suddenly telescopes 20 feet?), and will appeal to adults who remember being small kids playing with action figures. Certainly, it’s vastly more fun than the misfiring 1987 attempt, and welcome proof that Hollywood has finally given up on making everything darker and more serious.

To me, my X-Men... '97 Season 2 trailer! When last we saw our beloved mutants in X-Men '97's breathless Season 1 finale, things weren't looking so great for our heroes. Scattered across time, Magneto, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Beast, and Xavier wound up in Ancient Egypt circa 3000BC, landing directly in the path of a young En Sabah Nur — aka 'the first mutant' Apocalypse. Meanwhile Jean Grey and Cyclops were flung 2000 years into the future, reunited with their son Nathan in a literal post-Apocalypse world. And as the first trailer for X-Men' 97 Season 2 shows us, we're picking right back where we left off with our mutie crew — check it out below;

Hoo boy — if X-Men '97 Season 1 proved Marvel knows exactly how to handle its mutants, then it looks like Season 2 is doubling down and then some. Rogue mourning Gambit... Apocalypse pledging to strike the X-Men at their most vulnerable ("The 1990s!" obviously)... Morph going full Deadpool... Polaris! Sheesh, we need a Time Machine — or just a replay button, really — to process all the cool mutant shenanigans teased here. Handily, amid our delirium we did find Marvel's official Season 2 synopsis as our superheroes — and villains — prepare for a battle across the ages. It reads: "X-Men '97 Season 2 continues with the heroic mutant team of X-Men, divided and thrown across different eras in time as they struggle to navigate their return home. Meanwhile, back in the 1990s, suspicious foes and new strains of mutant intolerance are on the rise in the wake of the X-Men’s absence."

Among the voice cast for X-Men '97's nine-episode Season 2, you'll be relieved to hear, are Ross Marquand as Professor X, Matthew Waterson as Magneto, Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, Lenore Zann as Rogue, and George Buza as Beast. We'll see whether they — and the rest of our heroes — make it back to the 90s in one piece when X-Men '97 Season 2 drops on Disney+ on 1 July. Now can we get a “Bwa-na-na-na naaaa na-na”? Thank you!

Given how many of Kristin Scott Thomas’ on-screen characters could kill you with a single withering look, it’s perhaps a surprise that her screenwriting and directorial debut is a gentle and cosy affair, about a middle-class British family working through their emotional hang-ups. Think chintzy cottage, idyllic streams and enviable day dresses and you’re halfway there. What’s less surprising is the quality of performance and self-assurance on display.

There’s a sense of real feeling to Scott Thomas’ work here. Written with her journalist husband John Micklethwait, this was inspired by elements of Scott Thomas' own life. She lost both her pilot father and later her pilot stepfather to plane crashes in early life, at a time when she was old enough to remember both tragedies. While she had made short animations for her younger brothers about their missing fathers, she wanted here to explore the experiences of three children shaped in contrasting ways by the same events, which not all of them remember in the same way. It's an ambitious undertaking, an attempt to examine all three women’s lives, marriages and approaches to motherhood, as well as their own mother’s response. It can't quite drill down into all those elements sufficiently deeply, but what's here is beautifully played.

It can't quite drill down into all those elements sufficiently deeply, but what's here is beautifully played.

Naturally given her reputation, Scott Thomas was able to assemble a superb cast. She enlisted her Four Weddings And A Funeral brother, James Fleet, as her fiancé Geoff, and her Horse Whisperer daughter Scarlett Johansson (with a solid English accent) as her oldest and most tightly wound daughter, Katherine, who’s about to become the Royal Navy’s first female aircraft carrier captain. Sienna Miller is the movie-star middle-child Victoria, and Emily Beecham the youngest and most stay-at-home, Georgina, an NHS nurse. Over the course of a few days, they must all face blockages in their lives, and hopefully find a way to move forward.

There are a few awkward shifts of tone, a few too-obvious tells (Saltburn's Joshua McGuire, as Georgina’s husband, is so often cast as a buffoon that there are no surprises to his storyline), and one satisfying but arguably too-pat mother-solves-it-all scene with the sisters. Still, the cast deliver enough substance, with enough nuance, to carry it off, and create something as charming and evidently loved as their country-cottage setting.

You know the saying about how when one door closes, another one opens? Well, when it comes to revivals of sci-fi franchises based on a 1994 Roland Emmerich movie, it's more like when one Stargate opens, the same Stargate closes. Yes, just seven months after Amazon announced a new Stargate series from Blindspot creator Martin Gero would soon be heading our way, Variety is reporting that Uncle Bezos has closed his wallet and the show has already been axed before ever making it into production.

According to Variety's sources, Amazon's top brass got cold feet around Stargate because they became worried "that Gero’s take on the series would not have broad appeal beyond the franchise’s already dedicated fanbase." Given that the company happily hired Gero as writer-showrunner however, a Stargate veteran who's worked on each of the franchise's last three TV iterations, it's unclear what ultimately proved the straw that broke the camel's back for Amazon. If there is a silver lining to be found in this disappointing news though, it is that despite Gero's series not moving forwards, Amazon is still exploring new ways to bring the franchise back to our screens.

With 16 years having passed now since the franchise's last TV outing, Stargate Universe, hopes for a fully-fledged revival of the hard sci-fi saga are admittedly dwindling at this exact moment. But given the infinite potential of the premise — an ever-refreshing expeditionary team uses ring-shaped portals to virtually instantaneously travel anywhere across the universe — surely, surely it's only a matter of time before the Stargate truly does open once more. Only then will the holy trinity of Star franchises — Wars, Trek, and Gate — be whole again. Fingers crossed!

Streaming on: Apple TV

Episodes viewed: 6 of 10

As soon as the familiar, ominous horns blare over the first scene, it’s clear that this new Cape Fear has no hang-ups about being a remake. The same Bernard Herrmann theme stalked the 1962 J. Lee Thompson original and 1991 Martin Scorsese version. Music is far from the only thing the show affectionately borrows, particularly from Scorsese’s take (he’s an executive producer here). It imitates respectfully and stylishly, with visual nods and reinterpretations of key scenes. What this Apple TV show does less surely is establish its own convincing identity.

In the earlier versions, Max Cady is a violent rapist who emerges from prison with a volcanic grudge against a lawyer he blames for his conviction. Here, there’s a tweak. Cady (Javier Bardem) has served 17 years for murdering his pregnant wife but is released when an ex-lover confesses to his crimes, then immediately kills herself. News of his freedom terrifies his former lawyer, Anna Bowden (Amy Adams), who is now married to Tom (Patrick Wilson), the prosecutor who put Cady away. The terror is intensified when Cady heads to the Bowdens’ neighbourhood and takes a keen interest in them and their two unhappy teenage children.

The movies were straightforward cat-and-mouse. This is a bit more cat-and-ball-of-string.

In the movies and the original novel, The Executioners, Cady is a guilty man set on vengeance. The tension builds as he gets closer to his stated goal of destroying the life of the lawyer he holds responsible. The show makes Cady more ambiguous. Is he fundamentally evil or was he broken by prison? Was he wrongly jailed or wrongly freed? As practised as Bardem is at being sinister, it reduces the character. To keep Cady interacting with the Bowdens, and string out the mystery, he has to be partially defanged, leading to some unconvincing plot-turns. Anna is forced to work with Cady, which she finds uncomfortable rather than unbearable. Tom has the odd drink with him. They circle each other cautiously and repetitively. The movies were straightforward cat-and-mouse. This is a bit more cat-and-ball-of-string.

It becomes a better watch as the series progresses, the Bowdens’ paranoia boiling over and the tone edging into campy thriller. Early episodes have moments of it, with overwrought Hitchcockian camerawork and some cheesy storytelling tricks — newspaper headlines and televised reports do some expository heavy-lifting — but they’re playful little smudges on a more prestige, serious surface. By Episode 6 (the first six of ten were made available for review) it gets looser, with some ludicrous revelations, all well-sold by the excellent cast. It’s silly, garish fun and actually more of a piece with the adaptations it’s following: another serving of well-made pulp.

“Love is a state of temporary psychosis,” claims Sigmund Freud, in the opening title card of Finding Emily. Once upon a time, of course, this particular psychosis was less of a temporary presence on our cinema screens and more of a regular feature. But in the streaming era, romcoms are a rare breed; how pleasing, then, to see an unabashed romantic comedy back on the big screen, and a homegrown British one from _Four Weddings And A Funeral_production company Working Title, no less.

This is a sweet little film which makes no bones about following in the tradition of its Richard Curtis-ian forebears, even if it tries to inject a bit of Gen-Z self-awareness and subversion along the way. Our star-cross’d story begins in a Manchester Student Union bar: one night, scruffy music technician Owen (Spike Fearn), with a Stone Roses haircut and a fidgety soft-lad Gallagher swagger, stumbles upon a cute girl named Emily (Sadie Soverall). They enjoy a slow-motion meet-cute, where the world around them seems to fade away, West Side Story-style. They vibe. But then Emily disappears, and though she gives Owen her number, it’s one digit short.

Alicia MacDonald’s direction almost feels like a Mancunian take on Rye Lane, colourful and vibrant with music everywhere...

So, Owen sets out on a romantic/obsessive (delete as appropriate) mission to track her down — which is how he bumps into the wrong Emily (Spider-Man’s Angourie Rice), an American psychology student and confirmed romance cynic who believes that love is an act of insanity. Struggling to find a suitable subject for her thesis, she realises that Owen’s desperate mission to find the real Emily might be the perfect case-study of self-sabotage. Thus, a 10 Things I Hate About You-style ‘secret scheme’ is hatched — a classic romcom conceit — in which Emily creates her very own deeply unethical “Stanford prison experiment”, as she puts it, without Owen’s awareness or consent. Or, as her Romcom Best Friend suggests, in the Gen-Z vernacular: “It’s giving illegal.”

It all goes about the way you might expect it to go, with a romance they didn’t realise was happening until it was right in front of them, a love that goes unrequited until it is, inevitably, requited. Plenty of stuff here stretches credulity, even for this genre — are podcasts really blared out on big screens and loudspeakers, live across university campuses, like it’s Times Square in a film about the end of the world? — and there are some fairly broad caricatures of ‘woke’ politics, which slightly undermine a real point the film wants to make.

But the script, by Rachel Hirons, has some strength to it, self-aware enough to reference genre tropes like Manic Pixie Dream Girls, and robust enough to have a genuine narrative debate on earnestness versus cynicism. And it sails by with charm and warmth: Alicia MacDonald’s direction almost feels like a Mancunian take on Rye Lane, colourful and vibrant with music everywhere (shout-out to Nia Archives and Tom Tom Club on the soundtrack); while Rice and Fearn are bright and breezy company, both game for self-effacing comedy and with bags of chemistry between them. For a good romcom, that’s half the battle.

By any action aficionado's standards, stuntman-turned-director David Leitch's filmography is pretty impressive. Producer of John Wick, director of Atomic Blonde, Bullet Train, Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, and veritable actionpalooza The Fall Guy, and one of the reasons we're finally getting a Stunt Oscar, when it comes to cinematic ass-kicking the man kicks ass. And his latest movie, Nicholas Hoult and Zoë Kravitz led cat-and-mouse heist thriller How To Rob A Bank, looks like another balls-to-the-wall cinematic adrenaline rush. Check out the trailer below;

Nicholas Hoult in a wolf mask? Check! Zoë Kravitz and John C. Reilly teaming up to take on Hoult and his gang of viral crooks? Check! Bank job POV shots, two-footed dropkicks, and a primo slice of anti-capitalist sentiment? Check, check, and triple-check! Yeah, we're thinkin' Leitch is back. And honestly, if this first trailer for How To Rob A Bank is anything to go by, with its acerbic wit, kinetic action, and palpable tension as 'what if Robin Hood was a content creator in a furry outfit?' Hoult and co gear up for their biggest job yet, then we could be in for a real treat.

The official synopsis for How To Rob A Bank — which also stars Anna Sawai, Rhenzy Feliz, Christian Slater, and Pete Davidson — reads: "A crew of social media-savvy bank robbers broadcasts their daring heists, unaware that their growing viral fame has put them in the crosshairs of a veteran FBI agent and a brilliant software engineer. Despite the unlikely duo closing in, the crime ring pushes past their limits, putting everything on the line for their beliefs – and their most ambitious heist yet.”

We won't know whether the cops or the robbers will out until How To Rob A Bank hits cinemas on 4 September, but David Leitch has already scored big: we're more than ready to shut up and let him take our money with this one.

When you think of Jackass, you think of a bunch of brawling bros in a giant shopping trolley, careening down a steep road. Or, ‘bee limo’, in which they filled a limo with bees, while their friends were still inside it. Or, Johnny Knoxville getting flipped by an angry bull. But underneath all those daft and dangerous pranks, there’s always been a camaraderie to the Jackass crew, one that persists to this day. Hence why the gang returns, one last time, in the upcoming Jackass: Best And Last – which sees them recreate that legendary shopping trolley stunt from the first film.

As member Steve-O puts it, there’s a warmth to Jackass that keeps the team – and the audience – coming back. “It might sound counter-intuitive, but I consider Jackass to be deeply wholesome,” he tells Empire. “I think it’s built into the male DNA to want to be macho and tough, and I think our willingness to not look cool is somehow endearing.”

Over the years, those involved in making the movies (and the original show) have been through ups and downs, with Jackass a constant among it all – and while the core conceit means they’ve never truly grown up, they have matured. “I’m so grateful for the growth in both the franchise and in myself,” says Steve-O. “The trajectory is one of tremendous spiritual growth.” Looking back on the films, he can see significant chapters in his own life. “On the third movie, I was newly sober, which is great, but sobriety is a very slow and uncomfortable process. I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin. I had not found my voice,” he reflects. “And then on the fourth movie, with so much time having elapsed, I just felt like a butterfly. I just blossomed.” Long live Jackass.

Read Empire’s full Jackass feature in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day issue – on sale Thursday June 4. Pre-order a copy online now. Jackass: Best And Last comes to UK cinemas from June 26.

Tip Toe begins with a woman screaming, “Monster!” in horror, but to label the show itself as horror suggests this to be a work of heightened fiction. In truth, the dread and terror evoked here are all too real. While It's A Sin reflected on gay history (it’s set between 1981 and 1991) and Years And Years took a prescient look at the near-future, this latest rallying cry from Russell T Davies is rooted in the here and now. Specifically, the fear, rage and despair that characterise modern-day life as a queer person in the UK.

Queer joy does pop up occasionally, connecting Leo (Alan Cumming) to his chosen family on Canal Street, for example. But these aren’t the moments that will stick with you. No, it’s Clive (David Morrissey) showing up in Leo’s home unannounced; it’s Leo no longer apologising for simply existing; and most of all, it’s the sight of Leo’s feet dangling from the lamppost he’s been hanged from in the street. That’s not a spoiler, by the way. Tip Toe opens with Stephanie (Elizabeth Berrington) broken at the sight of her friend strung up for all to see, establishing an immediate sense of dread as we jump back ten days to understand how we reached this point.

Knowing Leo’s story ends this way creates a constant unease heightened by each individual conflict. Small at first, the clashes build primarily in taut two-handers, with Cumming and Morrissey both doing career-best work that finds nuance in even the most difficult moments. Director Peter Hoar, who’s previously collaborated with Davies on Nolly, It’s A Sin and Doctor Who, expertly handles the shifting tension as it ebbs and flows, the abrasive drama hurtling towards a crescendo that's almost too hard to watch. Watch we must, though, because Tip Toe wrestles with vital conversations that remain overlooked elsewhere.

As such, it’s easy to forgive the occasional heavy-handed monologue. The most effective one comes early on via Leo’s friend Melba (Paul Rhys): “I used to walk into a room and just go, ‘Ta-da!’ Now I tiptoe, just in case.” We are lucky that Davies refuses to do the same, loudly calling out the real horrors queer people face at a time when everything should be getting better, not worse.

For a few years now, Adam Wingard has been in MonsterVerse mode. But for all the rock-‘em-sock-‘em delights of Godzilla Vs Kong and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, his return to original fare is particularly exciting. Because, long before he was going full monster-mash, Wingard made films like You’re Next and The Guest – small, sharp, ultra-knowing genre works that made him a cult sensation. And his latest, Onslaught, looks to be very much in that mould, pitching Adria Arjona against a batch of super-soldiers. Check out the trailer:

Now that looks like a rad time at the movies. Onslaught seems to be something like The Guest with the action dial cranked way up – with a big, burly (and seemingly supernatural) military monster, played by Alex Pereira, on the march. Can Arjona’s battle-hardened Celeste stop him? Judging by the way she revs that chainsaw (“Come on, you little bitch!”), we wouldn’t count her out just yet. The cast also includes The Terminator legend Michael Biehn, Reginald VelJohnson, and Rebecca Hall, who also starred in Wingard’s Godzilla/Kong films.

The real question is, will this have any connective tissue to The Guest? It has that military theme, it’s a collaboration with Wingard’s regular screenwriter Simon Barrett, and Dan Stevens is also in the cast (and mysteriously absent from this trailer). It wouldn’t be the first time Wingard and Barrett pulled a switcheroo on audiences, after their 2016 film ‘The Woods’ turned out to be a secret Blair Witch sequel. Whatever Onslaught ends up being, it looks like a blast. It’s due in US cinemas on September 6, and hopefully won’t be out much later in the UK.

It’s no secret that Jason Momoa has always wanted to be Lobo. But, given that he also spent years as Aquaman in the DCEU ‘Snyder-verse’, that option was never really open. Until, that is, the universe got rebooted into the DCU, with James Gunn and Peter Safran holding the reins. The morning that was announced, Gunn received a text from Momoa that simply said “fucking LOBO”.

Cut to summer 2026, and Momoa’s dreams have come true: he’s playing Lobo, the intergalactic bounty hunter, in the Gunn-produced Supergirl movie, directed by Craig Gillespie. And if Momoa was bullish about playing the part, nobody can deny that he was perfect for the role. “I was thrilled to have him,” Gillespie tells Empire. “I couldn’t imagine anybody else, but it’s a pressure... [we asked ourselves a] million questions to pay homage to the original.”

It’s a sentiment shared by Supergirl herself, Milly Alcock, whose Kara Zor-El is set to cross paths with the motorbike-riding badass when she sets off on a vengeful quest through the galaxy. “Jason had such presence,” Alcock says. “He is Lobo. And it was exciting to see somebody living out their dream.” Remember: it’s never too late to manifest.

Read Empire’s full Supergirl feature in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day issue – on sale Thursday June 4. Pre-order a copy online here. Supergirl comes to cinemas from June 25.

For years now, the pursuit of an _Escape From New York_remake has been a fool's errand. To write one is impossible. To direct one is insane. Len Wiseman was going to tackle it in 2007 with Gerard Butler. Joel Silver wanted to make a whole trilogy in the mid-2010s. Just a few short years ago, Radio Silence signed on to bring Snake Plissken back. But now, per THR's reporting, it appears that Zack Snyder is set to be the man to go in and remake John Carpenter's dystopian cult classic.

According to THR, Snyder — who's most recently been working on low-budget passion project The Last Photograph after the high-profile releases of his Justice League and Rebel Moon movies — is aboard to write and direct 'a reimagining' of Carpenter's 1981 action flick. For those who may not know, Escape From New York was set in a dystopian future where the isle of Manhattan had been turned into a maximum security prison. In the OG film, Kurt Russell starred as tattooed, eye-patch wearing anti-hero Snake Plissken, a disgraced former military hero sent on a one-man-Suicide-Squad style mission to enter the island and extract the crash-landed President of the United States. Part character piece, part black comedy, all post-Vietnam/Watergate individualism and anti-establishment sentiment, Escape From New York oozes a cool and an idiosyncrasy filmmakers have been looking to replicate ever since. That Snyder's version, which will have Carpenter aboard as Executive Producer, is being eyed for theatrical release by StudioCanal is a promising sign that maybe someone has finally cracked a modern take on the source material.

We don't know who'll be in Snyder's Escape From New York just yet, just as we don't know when his The Last Photograph will reach our screens. What we do know however is that Snyder has previous for reinvigorating long-since considered untouchable classics (hello Dawn Of The Dead!), sources suggest the 300 filmmaker is opting for a 'down-and-dirty' approach to the material, and we are very interested to see what his vision of Carpenter's movie will look like. And, of course, who will be playing Snake Plissken. Our eyepatches are at the ready, and our stick-on cobra tattoos are waiting. Give us a call!

Streaming on: Apple TV

Episodes viewed: 5 of 8

The pressure of making Star City — a spin-off of the beloved alternate-history drama For All Mankind — must have been immense. That surely pales in comparison to the strain endured by the characters of the show itself, though. Never mind that these scientists and cosmonauts are ahead in the Space Race: they’re not doing this for themselves, and they’re not doing it for all mankind either — they’re doing it for Mother Russia, whose iron grip is absolute.

Taking us back to the late ’60s, showrunners Ben Nedivi and Matt Wolpert retell key events from the first season of For All Mankind without repeating what’s come before. Star City is a much harsher beast, trading in the optimism of its predecessor for something far bleaker, but no less compelling. To pull this off, the writers ground all the relentless paranoia and snitching with characters to root for, including some younger versions of recognisable faces such as Sergei Nikulov (Josef Davies) and Irina Morozova (Agnes O’Casey).

[Anna Maxwell] Martin Martin has never been better, elevating what could be rather dour into scenes that thrum with energy...

O’Casey is the breakout star, mesmerising to watch as she observes a married couple who may or may not be faithful to their country. Everyone understandably has their guard up at all times, but as specific relationships gradually thaw and even heat up, other standout personalities emerge as well. The two-hander that pulls it all together isn't half as guarded, however: the ‘Chief Designer’ (Rhys Ifans) and Lyudmilla Raskova (Anna Maxwell Martin) are at odds from the start, despite fighting for the same cause. The air is thick with their contempt for each other, and Raskova is especially vicious in her cold austerity. Martin has never been better, elevating what could be rather dour into scenes that thrum with energy, even when trapped in a brutally oppressive Soviet setting.

Would this ring truer if the cast spoke in actual Russian? Absolutely, but if you're willing to overlook the ‘Chernobyl Effect’, Star City is a worthy successor to For All Mankind, proving that there’s still life in this world (and potentially worlds beyond it too).

Look up! It isn't a bird. It isn't a plane. And it sure as Krypton ain't Superman. It is however our first look at James Gunn's upcoming Superman sequel Man Of Tomorrow — or at least Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor on the set of the upcoming DCU blockbuster. Yes, in what is now becoming typical Gunn fashion, the DC Studios head honcho took to Instagram this afternoon to reveal a photo of Hoult's supervillain Luthor, in full emerald green Warsuit mode, 'live from the set of Man Of Tomorrow' — per his own words. Check it out below;

Hoo boy — here we go! Now yes, before you come out swinging with your "ackshyually"s, we know Lex Luthor's war suit in DC comics is traditionally represented as an exoskeleton essentially designed to help Luthor level the playing field with the Kryptonian thorn in his side. But, as we also know, Man Of Tomorrow is actually set to see Hoult's Lex and David Corenswet's Supes buddy up to take on a threat far bigger than their feud, classic silver age comic book supervillain Brainiac (Lars Eidinger). So, the smart money is on Lex either breaking out of prison dressed as the world's deadliest Christmas tree decoration before allying with the Man of Steel against Brainiac, or debuting his high-tech new threads on the field of battle itself. (It is of note that Luthor appears to be either on a sandy planet, or just a sort-of Dune-looking beach, in this shot — so perhaps there's some more off-world action heading our way as Gunn bulks out his more cosmic take on the DC Universe.)

Outside of the return of Hoult and his shiny bonce, and Corenswet's Clark Kent, we also know that Man Of Tomorrow is going to bring us Adria Arjona as Maxima, an alien queen with a serious Supes obsession (at least, she has one in Marvel's comics). Elsewhere, Lanterns star Aaron Pierre is bringing his Green Lantern, John Stewart, from the small to the big screen for Gunn's latest blockbuster, Matthew Lillard has been cast in an as-yet-unrevealed role, and Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane), Skyler Gisondo (Jimmy Olsen), Isabela Merced (Hawkgirl), Guy Gardner (Nathon Fillion) and Edi Gathegi (Mister Terrific) are all set to return for next summer's DC blockbuster. We'll see how they all fare when Man Of Tomorrow soars into cinemas on 9 July, 2027. But before then, Supergirl awaits! 26 June better come around faster than a speeding bullet or we might have to bust out our own warsuits... and you don't want that!

Ever since it was revealed that Spider-Man: Brand New Day would see Tom Holland’s Peter Parker rub spider-shoulders with Jon Bernthal’s gun-toting Punisher, fans have wondered how the ultra-violent exploits of Frank Castle will mesh with the Friendly Neighbourhood vibe of everyone’s favourite wall-crawler. But then, there’s the flip-side of that question: what would it be like for Spider-Man to pop up in a Punisher project, should Marvel pursue more post-One Last Kill?

As it turns out, the thought has crossed Tom Holland’s mind too. “I would love to pop up in one of [Punisher’s] shows,” he tells Empire. “Let’s see what an R-rated version of Spider-Man looks like. I’m so grateful for Jon for taking the leap and being a part of the film, and I would love to repay the favour.”

Holland and Bernthal’s friendship goes way back, when they starred together in film Pilgrimage – during which time they were each auditioning for their Marvel roles, helping each other through the process. “I really wasn’t familiar with the Punisher. I wasn’t a huge comic-book guy,” admits Bernthal. “Tom was really the one that said, ‘Man, this character’s so great,’ and he explained it to me.” Now, all these years later, it’s coming full circle – and not just in Brand New Day. “We’ve remained friends over the years, but what a beautiful opportunity to do two movies back to back with him with The Odyssey and Spider-Man,” says Bernthal. “I love him. I’m so proud of him.” Sounds like more Spidey-Punisher team-ups could have real (spider) legs.

Read Empire’s full Spider-Man: Brand New Day cover story – speaking to Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Kevin Feige, Destin Daniel Cretton, Amy Pascal and more – in the July 2026 issue, on sale Thursday June 4. Pre-order a copy online here. Spider-Man: Brand New Day comes to cinemas from July 29.

Unless your name happens to be Din Djarin or Grogu, this past weekend's box office takings should put a smile on your face — even if it is two horror movies making the big bucks right now. Yes, the great YouTuber horror boom continues to reign victorious at cinemas near and far. Curry Barker's monkey's paw joint Obsession has just crossed the $148 million mark as it continues to, er, obsess cinemagoers in its third week since release, while Kane Parsons' liminal nightmare Backrooms has racked up an almighty $118 million globally in its opening weekend — the biggest ever open for an A24 movie. And the good news doesn't stop there, either.

Since Danny and Michael Philippou — aka RackaRacka — rocked up on the scene with cursed hand chiller Talk To Me in 2023, the YouTuber-turned-horror-filmmaker pipeline has proven particularly fruitful at the box office, with the likes of Chris Stuckmann's Shelby Oaks, Mark Fischbach's Iron Lung, and the the Philippous' sophomore feature Bring Her Back all reaping the rewards of passionate fan bases, relatively meagre budgets, and Gen Z enthusiasm for the genre. With Obsession and Backrooms though, both of which have opened against — and handsomely beaten — the first new Star Wars movie in seven years (The Mandalorian And Grogu), it feels like a watershed moment has arrived. Backrooms, directed by 20-year-old genre wunderkind Kane Parsons and generally garnering rave reviews, has enjoyed the third biggest opening weekend for a horror movie in US history on a budget of just $10 million. Obsession on the other hand has achieved a feat unseen since E.T The Extraterrestrial, experiencing an increase in ticket sales in its second and third weekends, proving in the process that this horror bubble — far from bursting — is only growing, with plenty of space for all comers.

Now, as more major YouTubers start to realise the potential of harnessing their legions of supporters and cut-price content creation nous to enter the cinema sphere, it seems we could be in for a radical new generation of filmmakers — just like the Movie Brats, Super 8, and Film School generations before them. Irish YouTube megastar JackSepticEye is already on board to produce and tackle a Bloodborne animated movie, Parsons is already thinking about Backrooms sequels, and Barker has expressed interest in seeing what other dreams the 'One Wish Willow' can turn into all-too-real nightmares. All of which is to say, watch this space! (And if PewDiePie fancies making a Star War, now may be the perfect time...)

You never know quite what you’re going to get with a Minions movie. Sometimes it’s a classic Gru-and-family adventure, as in the Despicable Me films. Sometimes it’s a ‘70s B-movie depicting the rise of Gru, as in Minions: The Rise Of Gru. Or in the original Minions spin-off, it was a jaunt through history as the little guys worked to find their ultimate overlord. Now, prepare for something completely different: Minions & Monsters isn’t just a new Minions movie; it’s a Minions monster movie, specifically about the Minions trying to make a monster movie in 1920s Hollywood. Think Babylon, meets James Whale's Frankenstein, with Minions.

Having the nonsense-babbling creatures front and centre – while pairing them with other supernatural creatures – means that Minions & Monsters will feature an entire 15-minute section spoken only in ‘Minionese’, the quasi-language voiced by creator Pierre Coffin – who also directs here, for the first time since 2017’s Despicable Me 3. It helps that the Minions have always been indebted to early cinema. “All the Minions stuff is heavily inspired by silent-movie stars,” Coffin tells Empire. “There’s this magic element to it.”

Placing them in the early days of Hollywood – and alongside other fantastic beasts – should result in the kind of anarchy that the Minions have always embodied. “I want to hope that the reason why the Minions are successful is that in this era of highly political correctness, they’re on the edge of being insolent,” Coffin explains. In a way, the Minions unite us all. “The whole point of it is that you don’t understand them when they speak — but you understand them nonetheless,” he says. Global domination: achieved.

Read Empire’s full Pierre Coffin interview – talking the legacy of the Minions, and what’s to come in Minions & Monsters – in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day issue, on sale Thursday June 4. Pre-order a copy online here. Minions & Monsters comes to UK cinemas from July 1.

Even in space, families can be dysfunctional. So it appeared when the final act of James Gunn’s Superman gave us our first glimpse at the DCU’s Supergirl, Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock), who swaggered in with rockstar energy, collected her unruly pooch Krypto, and swiftly waved goodbye to her do-gooding cousin. Think is a Kryptonian was having a Brat summer. Now, Supergirl is front and centre in her own movie – one that looks to channel the raucous energy of its main character, who beneath all the partying is dealing with real inner turmoil.

For Alcock, it was reading the Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow comic that unlocked what DC boss Gunn wanted the Kara in his movie universe to be. “I understood at that point that James is trying to do something very different and unexpected with her,” she tells Empire. “She’s such a good contrast to Superman, because she’s a survivor of trauma in the purest sense. I was excited to play someone so beautifully flawed and resilient.” Hey, if you lost your entire planet and people, you’d probably be messed-up too.

It was this approach which opened up the film for Craig Gillespie too, who’s previously made big bold films about complicated women in I, Tonya, and Cruella. “I have a very specific tone I’m attracted to,” he explains. “I always loved the first Iron Man: flawed, complex and conflicted. They sent me the Ana Nogueira script [for Supergirl], and two scenes in, I was like, ‘I’m in.’ It was exactly what I hoped for; it’s all character. She went from an incredibly, incredibly dark scene to this irreverent character scene, all in the first 15 pages.” Get ready for a big swing in presenting a superhero, flaws and all. “[Supergirl] has got a lot of trauma, a lot of demons; she’s unapologetic,” he teases. “You get to have a character that can be punky and edgy and not take off those rough edges.” Bring on the noise.

Read Empire’s full Supergirl feature in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day issue – on sale Thursday June 4. Pre-order a copy online here. Supergirl comes to cinemas from June 25.

It had to happen eventually. And when the time came, Daredevil: Born Again made its big moment count. In the Season 2 finale, Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock made a major move – SPOILER WARNING! – and announced to the world his secret: he is Daredevil. And he did so to bring down Wilson Fisk within the boundaries of the legal system he so deeply believes in. While the move finally forced Mayor Fisk out of his NYC office, it also landed Murdock behind bars – setting the stage for even bigger things to come in Season 3.

As Cox tells Empire, it was time to take a seismic shift with the character. “My response to anything like that is, I’m all for big and bold,” he says of the Season 2 finale. From here, there’s no going back on Matt’s secret. “That’s a very difficult thing to put back in the box in our show,” he explains. “It’s been done in the comics, but the kind of show that we make has a kind of grounded element to it. It’s hopefully as much based in reality as any of the Marvel projects are, and it’s a harder thing to wind back. The powers-that-be said, ‘Yeah, we understand that.’ Fine, great.”

It remains to be seen how Matt outing his own vigilante secret will affect his journey in Season 3 and beyond, but we do know the next run of episodes will see more appearances from Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones, and Mike Colter’s Luke Cage. Not that comics fans should expect characters from those shows to undo the Season 2 bombshell any time soon. “I think Purple Man’s children in effect do Daredevil a solid and wipe the memories of New York or something,” says Cox of where things evolve in the comics. “I don’t want to do that, although I’d be a huge advocate of having David Tennant on the show.” Stranger things have happened in the multiverse.

Read Empire’s full Charlie Cox interview on Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day issue, on sale Thursday June 4. Pre-order a copy online here. Daredevil: Born Again is streaming on Disney+.

Streaming on: Prime Video
Episodes viewed: 8 of 8

In his New York office, private investigator Ben Reilly — wholly inhabited by Nicolas Cage — receives a client who believes his wife is cheating on him. The supposed cuckold is in the advanced stages of middle-age, and a stout fellow at that. Not a looker. So much so that when he hands Reilly a photo of his very beautiful, much younger partner, the droll gumshoe double-takes. “You a rich man?” inquires Reilly, indelicately trying to make sense of it. Later, having learnt more about the woman in question, Reilly comments to his secretary, “The only thing I can say with any certainty is that she isn’t married to that syphilitic walrus.”

Spider-Noir contains multitudes. Set in 1933, it is film noir with a keen wit and a sharp bite, its lead character (played, we must again stress, by Nicolas Cage) a variation on Spider-Man — except Reilly is more Humphrey Bogart than Peter Parker, lobbing out sardonic put-downs instead of friendly-neighbourhood wisecracks. It is an absurdly brilliant, brilliantly absurd concoction, on paper a ridiculous idea but in execution, genius. It is uncompromisingly hard-boiled, rattling along with rat-a-tat-tat dialogue, wall-to-wall with private dicks, shady dames and super-villains. And if you’re a fan of Nicolas Cage losing his shit, oh boy.

This isn’t the Spider-Man Noir from the comics, or the one from the animated Spider-Verse films, which Cage voiced; it takes its cue from all that, but then runs — and runs, and runs — with it. Here, he is The Spider, possessed of all the arachnid advantages we’ve come to expect, but when we find him in 1933, he’s hung up his woolly mask, scarred by his failure to save the life of his girlfriend five years earlier. Instead, he’s thrown himself into his PI work, although that soon involves run-ins with a motley crew of super-powered undesirables, all borrowed from the comics, and all here connected to the non-powered but very powerful mobster running New York’s underbelly: the snarling, cigar-chomping Silvermane (a particularly Irish Brendan Gleeson, providing genuine menace). Some ugly, brutal gangster violence goes down with this guy. It ain’t for kids.

It just gets better and better, with a finale that delivers on every level.

The show really is none more noir, shot in the most gorgeous black-and-white, although it was simultaneously filmed in colour for philistines who might want that option. In monochrome, this New York is as romantic as it is dangerous. Blinding-white sheets of rain blast onto the streets. Sunlight smashes through Art Deco windows. Frames are painted by cigarette smoke. There is high-contrast lighting and rich shadow-play, accenting the themes: just as duality is a mainstay in noir, so it is here. Ben Reilly/The Spider provides that in (Sam) spades, and this show never met a mirror it didn’t like.

What makes it truly noir, though, is the sad heart pumping through it. Reilly is classically nihilistic. Still, his abandonment of costumed heroism doesn’t last too long, and let’s just say that from the start, it’s hard to deny the simple thrill of seeing Nicolas Cage web-sling his way around a skyscraper. The actor is having the time of his life here, munching on the scenery like he hasn’t eaten in weeks: he resists delivering conservative line-readings at the best of times, and this show lets him run amok. One morning, when Reilly is still drunk, and hungover, he says, “I need scrambled eggs, sausages… and… a biscuit,” like he’s simultaneously caressing and mocking the English language. A sequence in which he is finding his way with his powers again, contorting his limbs, clicking his bones, is maximum kabuki. Elsewhere, Cage’s facial expression, as Reilly stumbles while trying to improv some Latin, is a facial expression quite possibly never seen before.

It’s a miracle that all of this works so well together. And it is full of surprises: one later episode, outstandingly titled ‘Nightmare On A Gurney’, serves up hallucinatory, Buñuelian stuff, going psychologically and biologically deeper than any other Spider-Man outing has. It just gets better and better, with a rug-pulling season finale that delivers on every level, with Nicolas Cage in the middle of it all, fulfilling a lifelong dream he possibly didn’t know he had, with every pore of his body, every restless, fizzy atom of his being.

Things get awkward on this week's Empire Podcast, folks. Not just because Chris Hewitt seems to be wearing a Skeletor mask for some of it, nor because he's so heat-addled that he forgets to introduce James Dyer properly. No, things get awkward because the team — Chris, James, Helen O'Hara, and Ben Travis — discuss whether it ever gets awkward for them when visiting film sets. Then, our intrepid quartet also discuss the week's movie news, including the shocking news of Paddington 4's potty-mouthed writers, and review Daniel Roher's Tuner, John Carney's Power Ballad, Kane Parsons' Backrooms, and Kristin Scott Thomas' directorial debut, My Mother's Wedding. Oh, and Chris sits down for a lovely chat with Leo Woodall, star of the excellent Tuner (spoiler for the reviews section there — it's great!), and discovers that Woodall has some hidden talents. Enjoy!

And if all of the above isn't quite enough Empire Podcast for you, then there's plenty more where that came from. You can listen to this week's episode (which, if you're counting, is #719) on the pod app of your choice. There, you'll also find the latest episode of Empire Pod regular The Shameless Plug, which sees Chris Hewitt and our intrepid leader, Nick de Semlyen, deliver a monthly behind-the-scenes deep-dive into the making of the world's biggest movie magazine. This month, the duo become a trio as James Dyer joins Nick and Chris to discuss how our Aliens 40th Anniversary issue came to be, and just how exactly the team managed to get James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn and Jenette Goldstein to come together on Zoom in celebration of the ultimate sci-fi blockbuster sequel.

Want to make sure you never miss out on the latest movie news, reviews, and Empire exclusives again? Click here to add Empire as your go-to source on Google Feed.

Hot on the heels of Mark Fischbach’s Iron Lung and Curry Barker’s Obsession, Kane Parsons’ Backrooms is another horror movie by a fledgling feature director whose shorts have built up a huge subscription base on YouTube. But this surreal offering is quite unlike any horror movie you’ve seen. If references must be offered as fingerholds to cling to, it’s something like The Blair Witch Project spliced with Cube blended with Synecdoche, New York, mostly shot in liminal spaces lit in queasy mono-yellow.

Confused? You will be. Unless, of course, you’re familiar with Parsons’ web series that grew out of a 4chan creepypasta image of a large, oddly shaped room. From the thrumming disquietude of that image, Parsons built 20-plus instalments revolving around fictional research facility Async as it attempts to document a dimension outside of reality. Now, in the movie, Async scientists led by Mark Duplass haunt the periphery, but the main focus is civilian Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who inexplicably passes through a wall in the basement of his drab furniture store, into the Backrooms. Shocked, scared, intrigued, he sets about exploring its strangely angled, segmented spaces connected by tapering passageways, jutting staircases and small, Alice-In-Wonderland-type doorways. What he discovers is a seemingly endless maze that makes the Overlook Hotel look like a roadside motel. (Twice Parsons directly nods to The Shining, which shares Backrooms’ corridors-as-neural-pathways metaphor.)

Backrooms is one of the most out there art-horror features since Eraserhead.

Occasionally the rooms possess items, like dirty laundry or a Christmas tree or furniture melted into the floor; always there is the insistent buzz of fluorescent lights and the drone of an ambient score that might be whale music in Satan’s spa. “None of it makes any sense,” he tells therapist Mary (Norwegian arthouse queen Renate Reinsve), whose own traumatic childhood lends her a mysterious link to this otherworld. Many viewers will likely nod in sympathy. But for all those who will doubtless be relieved that a nightmarish final scene and then a coda offer hints of explanation, others will wish that Parsons kept us entirely in the dark (or should that be in the scuzzy yellow?).

Switching between the rigorous lensing of an objective camera and lurching, found-footage-style perspectives, Backrooms is one of the most out there, surreal, art-horror features since David Lynch’s Eraserhead. The web series might boast 200 million views since debuting in 2022, but this movie is most certainly not for everyone. It favours opacity, half-glimpsed creatures and a steady sense of unease over crowd-pleasing jumps, and is sure to spark endless debate and interpretations among those who aren’t bored silly by it.

Is it even considered a break-up if one party literally doesn’t remember the other’s existence? No, we’re not talking Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind – this is the fate of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker and Zendaya’s MJ as we enter Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Due to the reality-altering events of previous film No Way Home, the MCU at large no longer remembers Parker, nor that he’s the civilian counterpart to New York’s friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. And that includes Peter’s best mate Ned (Jacob Batalon), and his girlfriend MJ too – who each ventured off to college while the newly-anonymous Peter committed to full-time hero-dom.

It was a bittersweet ending to the Jon Watts-directed Spider-Man trilogy, and true to the sacrificial essence of the character’s ‘great responsibility’. And now, as Brand New Day picks up, MJ has another romantic interest – played by Ahsoka’s Eman Esfandi – while Peter has to simply watch on. Even for its cast, it’s emotionally wrenching. “As someone who cares about the characters and cares about these films, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, it’s so heartbreaking,’” Zendaya tells Empire. “You just feel so bad because you want them to be happy, and you know ultimately they would be happier together.”

While MJ doesn’t remember Peter, she does – of course – still know about Spider-Man, and it seems the pair will cross paths in the more spandex-centric side of Brand New Day. Given the nature of Doctor Strange’s magic spell, get ready for a different kind of MJ-Spidey dynamic. “It’s easy in a way, because I don’t have to play that I know this person,” explains Zendaya. “I don’t have to play all the history that they have together because seemingly, to her, they don’t.” Here’s hoping love, uh, finds a way.

Read Empire’s full Spider-Man: Brand New Day cover story – speaking to Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Kevin Feige, Destin Daniel Cretton, Amy Pascal and more – in the July 2026 issue, on sale Thursday June 4. Pre-order a copy online here. Spider-Man: Brand New Day comes to cinemas from July 29.

It’s finally here. After years of watching Americans live their best, most streamlined streaming lives, HBO Max has officially landed in the UK and Ireland. The flagship streaming platform from Warner Bros. Discovery has settled into its new home across the Atlantic, and is giving British audiences direct access to the combined catalogue of HBO and Max originals, Warner Bros. films and TV, and DC Studios — all under one metaphorical roof for the very first time.

But here’s the thing: with a brand new streamer on the block that’s coming in hot, absolutely rammed with movies and series to get stuck into (and vying for your attention among the likes of Netflix, Disney+ and Apple TV), figuring out where to start can be a bit of a daunting prospect. Luckily for you guys however, our crack team of critics here at Empire are on hand with your essential HBO Max starter pack..

Whether you’re looking for an adrenaline hit from The Pitt, a trip to Westeros with A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, or a chance to revisit some modern and timeless cinematic classics — from One Battle After Another and Sinners to Lord Of The Rings and Singin’ In The Rain — our list of 22 TV shows and movies you need to watch on HBO Max UK has got you covered.

So pull up a pew, grab some gabagool, and read on for our rundown of what needs to be on your shiny new watchlist…

The Best TV Shows And Movies On HBO Max UK (June 2026)

The Pitt (2025—)

Creator/Showrunner: R. Scott Gemmill

Starring: Noah Wyle, Katherine LaNasa, Patrick Ball, Supriya Ganesh, Taylor Dearden, Isa Briones, Gerran Howell

R. Scott Gemmill’s medical drama The Pitt is the show that’s been withheld from UK audiences the longest, and that HBO Max are most sure you’ll be signing up to see. And honestly? It’s more than earned that billing. Noah Wyle – yes, Dr. Carter from ER, back in his scrubs – stars as Dr. Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch, a trauma physician running a punishing shift at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. It’s a simple but effective format, with each episode covering a single hour of the shift in real-time – meaning the tension never lets up, the clock is always ticking, and the patients’ stories range from the bizarre to the heartbreaking. You can devour the whole of Season 1 now, then start tucking into Season 2’s weekly-dropping episodes straight after. And just to seal the deal, we already know Season 3 is well on its way, so there’s no better time to scrub up!

Streaming now on HBO Max.

Read Empire’s review of The Pitt Season 1.

Euphoria (2019—)

Showrunner/Creator: Sam Levinson

Starring: Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi, Hunter Schafer, Maude Apatow

One of the most anticipated — and, if the Hollywood trades have it straight, most toxic — seasons of TV in 2026 is the third instalment of Sam Levinson’s Euphoria, which finally manages to round up its numerous breakout stars (including Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Hunter Schafer and Jacob Elordi) and catch up with their chaotic characters several years after high school. Taking aim at America’s synthetic opioids crisis while continuing to dive deeper into its own heady world of sex, trauma, and mental illness, Euphoria Season 3 finds recovering addict Rue (Zendaya) trapped as a drugs mule smuggling gear between ‘Murica and Mexico. Elsewhere, Cassie (Sweeney) is playing tradwife to slimeball Nate (Elordi), while Jules (Schafer) — now in art school — is apparently caught up in a sugar baby situation. All of which is to say, this is maximum Euphoria: proceed with caution.

Streaming now on HBO Max.

One Battle After Another (2025)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring: Chase Infiniti, Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Alana Haim

Paul Thomas Anderson has mastered so many genres and tones over the years, you’d think he’d done it all. And yet, in comes One Battle After Another, an entirely singular cinematic experience – part kidnap thriller, part revolutionary drama, part shambling shaggy-dog comedy – in the form of a dad-and-daughter love-letter. Leonardo DiCaprio is hilariously addled as Bob, the former revolutionary who’s been raising his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) and numbing his brain ever since his activist group went down. But when the past resurfaces, he has to dredge up his former life to chase Willa down, while pursued by Sean Penn’s bone-chilling Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw. Like the best of PTA’s work, there’s a pace and energy to One Battle that sees its significant runtime fly by – perfectly calibrated to make every gag, every emotional beat, every gut-punch land just right. Deservedly the movie that finally earned PTA his first Best Director and Best Picture Oscars, this is revolutionary cinema, delivered with no fear. Just like Tom Cruise.

Streaming now on HBO Max.

Read Empire’s review of One Battle After Another.

Sinners (2025)

Director: Ryan Coogler

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton, Wunmi Mosaku, Hailee Steinfeld, Delroy Lindo, Jack O’Connell

After years spent earning his spurs taking existing IP and making it feel brand new, Ryan Coogler delivered a true original with our pick for the best movie of 2025. On the face of it, Sinners is a vampire siege movie that sees bloodsuckers descending upon twin gangsters Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan, on Best Actor winning form) as they open their juke joint. But a reheat of From Dusk Till Dawn’s nachos this ain't. Rather, Coogler marries the bloodsucking action with a music-fuelled blues explosion – galvanised by mercurial new talent Miles Caton – indelibly infused with the cultural context of 1930s Mississippi. Come for double Michael B. Jordan and a fearsome, fanged Jack O’Connell: stay for a soul-stirring diegesis on the communal, cultural power of art and the stain on human history that is colonialism. And one helluva soundtrack. That, too.

Streaming now on HBO Max.

Read the Empire review of Sinners.

Superman (2025)

Director: James Gunn

Starring: David Corenswet, Nicholas Hoult, Rachel Brosnahan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, Skyler Gisondo

Bright, zingy, colourful, and positively overflowing with hope and optimism, James Gunn’s DCU directorial debut, Superman, is a far cry from the near-monochromatic Man of Steel that fans found in Zack Snyder’s more po-faced DCEU outings. Sure, it would be fair to say Gunn’s movie — which drops viewers into a world where David Corenswet’s Superman has been known to the world for three years and finds himself facing geopolitical conflict, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), and monsters galore all at once — is simultaneously more than a little bit daffy and a little bit much at times. But this cosmic caper, with its Silver Age stylings, terrific ensemble cast, and earnest belief in Supes/Clark Kent’s greatest qualities — his humanity, his resilience, his boundless empathy — is a real bright light amid dark times. In other words, it’s pretty super, man. (Sorry.)

Streaming now on HBO Max.

Read Empire’s review of Superman.

Rooster (2025—)

Showrunners/Creators: Bill Lawrence, Matt Tarses

Starring: Steve Carell, Danielle Deadwyler, Phil Dunster, Charly Clive, Lauren Tsai, John C. McGinley

For almost four decades now, Bill Lawrence has been knocking out of the park delivering some of the best TV series on the box — from Spin City and Scrubs to Ted Lasso and Shrinking. And now, having explored the human experience on the pitch, in therapy, at Sacred Heart hospital, and in the mayoral office of NYC, Lawrence (alongside longtime collaborator Matt Tarses) turns his observational eye to faculty matters with sweet ten-part dramedy Rooster. Steve Carell stars — and shines — as Greg Russo, an author whose complicated relationship with his professor daughter Katie (Charly Clive) comes into sharper focus when he finds himself contributing at her college campus and unexpectedly getting in with its frat crowd. By turns cringe-inducing, poignant, and gently profound, Rooster is as Bill Lawrence-y as Bill Lawrence shows gets — but that’s no bad thing.

Streaming now on HBO Max.

The Comeback (2005 — 2026)

Showrunners/Creators: Lisa Kudrow, Michael Patrick King

Starring: Lisa Kudrow, Laura Silverman, Damian Young, Lance Barber, Dan Bucatinsky

Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King’s (Sex And The City) industry satire The Comeback has really lived up to its title over the years. Unceremoniously cancelled after its first season on HBO back in 2005, Kudrow and King’s show — a mockumentary chronicling ageing sit-com star Valerie Cherish’s attempts to return to the spotlight — came back with a triumphant second season in 2015, and is now back again, eleven years later, in 2026. Embracing the times we’re living in, The Comeback’s swan song opens amid the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes before jumping to an alt-present day where Valerie, who’s now added a podcast and a stint on The Traitors to her portfolio, finds out the new sit-com she’s making has been written entirely by AI. How absurd! If you dig The Studio, then think of The Comeback as its equally biting, also hilarious telly-centric equivalent. Don’t skip it!

Streaming now on HBO Max.

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms (2026—)

Showrunner/Creator: Ira Parker

Starring: Peter Claffey, Dexter Sol Ansell, Daniel Ings, Shaun Thomas, Cara Harris, Sam Spruell

The main characters may be known as Dunk and Egg, but Ira Parker’s Game Of Thrones spin-off A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms is no yolk, people. Shifting the focus away from Westeros’ halls of power to tell a street-level shaggy dog tale, AKOTSK’s set-up is simple: each episode, we follow as hedge knight Ser Duncan The Tall (Peter Claffey) and his impish squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) venture across Westeros, looking to prove their worth and find their purpose as they bond and trade barbs. Unmoored from Thrones’ grander plot (this is set a solid century before winter comes to Westeros), Parker’s show is a refreshingly low-stakes affair full of charm, chivalry, and a brand of thematically important toilet humour that’d bring a tear to Chaucer’s eye. Also! Don’t forget you can cop the whole of Game Of Thrones and House Of The Dragon on HBO Max, too, for even more fantasy fun.

Streaming now on HBO Max.

Read Empire’s review of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms.

IT: Welcome To Derry (2025—)

Creators/Showrunners: Jason Fuchs, Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti

Starring: Bill Skarsgård, Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, Brad Caleb Kane, Matilda Lawler, Blake Cameron James

Set within the same world as his two-part Stephen King adaptation (2017’s IT: Chapter One and 2019’s IT: Chapter Two — both also on HBO Max), Andy Muschietti’s IT: Welcome To Derry turns the clock back to 1962, 27 years before The Loser Club’s first encounter with cosmic clown-faced child killer Pennywise, for a chilling, newly invented prequel. Really, this is a tale of two halves: one side of the narrative finds a new batch of outsider kids on a spooky adventure trying to solve a schoolmate’s mysterious disappearance; the other finds Derry’s adults dealing with the real-world terrors of racism, bigotry, and nuclear threat. And amidst it all, lay in wait, is Bill Skarsgård’s Dancing Clown, whose ancient origins are unspooled as his hunger grows. If you’re after legit chills couched in another intricately told coming-of-age tale, then look no further. And yes, a Season 2 is on its way.

Streaming now on HBO Max.

Read Empire’s review of IT: Welcome To Derry.

The White Lotus (2021—)

Showrunner/Creator: Mike White

Starring: Jennifer Coolidge, Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Aimee Lou Wood, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey

With production on The White Lotus Season 4 about to get underway during this year’s Cannes Film Festival, there’s never been a better time to check in to Mike White’s anthological, hotel-based satire. The first three seasons of White’s blackly comic show have whisked us away to luxurious White Lotus hotels from Hawaii to Sicily to Thailand, changing up the locales each time while sticking to the same basic recipe: take a bunch of bougie hotel guests, played by the best and most in-demand actors of the moment, and watch as their secrets, dramas, and fraught relationships unravel over a stay filled with sun, sea, and usually at least a death or two. It all makes for intensely bingeable, frequently eye-widening telly, and frankly it’s way cheaper than actually going on holiday right about now. Winner!

Streaming now on HBO Max.

Read Empire’s review of The White Lotus Season 3.

The Last Of Us (2023—)

Creators/Showrunners: Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann

Starring: Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Isabela Merced, Young Mazino, Gabriel Luna, Kaitlyn Dever

In a landscape historically plagued by lazy videogame adaptations and half-baked dystopian TV, HBO’s The Last Of Us — Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin's (Chernobyl) adaptation of Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic survival horror game — is the cure. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey share astonishing chemistry as Joel and Ellie, two fiercely guarded souls, both carrying their own deep-rooted traumas, who rediscover their humanity as they traverse an America that’s both figuratively and literally losing its own. The zombie-like Clickers — human beings infected by a terrifyingly plausible fungus-based virus - are scary, but the real nightmare fuel is the series’ sobering depiction of the monstrous things people will do to survive in a broken world. A stunning Season 2 cemented the show's status among the greats, and we’ve still got a third season to look forward to yet.

Streaming now on HBO Max.

Read Empire’s review of The Last Of Us.

Succession (2018 — 2023)

Creator/Showrunner: Jesse Armstrong

Starring: Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Matthew Macfadyen, Alan Ruck

A recent but very high-ranking addition to our most recent 100 best TV shows list, Jesse Armstrong’s lacerating comedy-drama Succession — which chronicles the personal and professional dramas of the terribly rich and terribly, er, terrible Roy family — is rated so highly for a reason. That the show now so comfortably sits among the very greatest series ever made is a testament to the way its creator, his writers, his cast (Brian Cox! Kieran Culkin! Jeremy Strong! Sarah Snook!), and his crew continuously upped their game season after season. From first frame to devastating last, Armstrong and co never pulled their punches as they skewered the cannibalistic world of the mega-rich with spiky dialogue, barbed banter, and a frankly Shakespearean level of crossing, double-crossing, backstabbing, and familial feuding. Be warned though, the cringe level is high with this one: just you wait until you hear Roman Roy’s birthday rap. Now can we get an L to the mother-effin’ OG?

Streaming now on HBO Max.

Read Empire’s review of Succession.

The Sopranos (1999 — 2007)

Showrunner/Creator: David Chase

Starring: James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Steven Van Zandt, Robert Iler, Tony Sirico

Decidedly not a documentary about opera singers, The Sopranos is instead a dark, offbeat, psychologically needling drama about a New Jersey gangster with a fixation on the ducks who visit his swimming pool. As the first season wore on, viewers became hooked on creator David Chase's uncompromising vision of an old-school criminal organisation beset by all the stresses and tensions of the modern day. It's not hard to figure out why: Chase and his writers locked in on what made Tony and co. work. James Gandolfini delivered a career-best performance as our way into the show, while the family and "family" around him anchored stories that poked below the gangster surface to what made these people truly tick. When you think of HBO, it’s not a coincidence that your brain probably goes straight to The Sopranos. Load up on gabagool and get stuck in. To the show — and then the gabagool.

Streaming now on HBO Max.

The Wire (2002 — 2008)

Showrunner/Creator: David Simon

Starring: Dominic West, Lance Reddick, Sonja Sohn, Wendell Pierce, Idris Elba, Michael Kenneth Williams

David Simon famously once said that he intended The Wire as "lean-in" television. Here is a Baltimore-set series that demands your attention, its slow-burn storytelling never less than totally compelling: no scrolling necessary. Simon crafted a series that skips the usual procedural tropes, looking instead at the linked worlds of cops and criminals in a way that highlights the humanity clouded by labels. High stakes, big emotions and even a scene conducted almost entirely with creative use of the F-word are all part of the reasons why this show became one of the greatest. Later seasons expanded the focus to other areas — politics, the school system, and newspapers, to name a few — but the laser accuracy remained the same. The ensemble cast (the likes of Idris Elba and Michael B. Jordan among them) never put a foot wrong. If you've somehow never leant in before, then lean in now. You won't regret it.

Streaming now on HBO Max.

Girls (2012 — 2017)

Showrunner/Creator: Lena Dunham

Starring: Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Adam Driver, Zosia Mamet, Alex Karpovsky

Pitching itself as a sort of anti-Sex And The City for the post-feminist mumblecore age, Lena Dunham’s Girls— which follows aspiring writer Hannah (Dunham) and her twenty-something gal pals as they navigate their twenties in the Big Apple — garnered a loyal following for its authentic depiction of young womanhood and Dunham’s raw, almost confessional, entirely unapologetic mode of writing. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Girls changed the game for half-hour dramedies, blazing a trail the likes of Michaela Coel’s Chewing Gum and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag would follow. Also, we can thank Girls for Adam Driver’s rise to prominence; his three-time Emmy-nominated supporting role as the at-once rootable and reviling Adam Sackler made the former Marine a household name. All of which is to say: watch Girls.

Streaming now on HBO Max.

The Leftovers (2014 — 2017)

Showrunner/Creator: Damon Lindelof

Starring: Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon, Christopher Eccleston, Liv Tyler, Margaret Qualley, Ann Dowd

Four years and a fistful of blockbuster movie writing gigs after Lost came to an end, co-creator Damon Lindelof returned to our screens with another noodle-twisting, breathtaking work of water cooler television excellence. His adaptation of Tom Perrotta's novel — co-written with him — for HBO takes place three years after two percent of the global population vanished for reasons that remain unexplained. The world is still trying to cope with the scale of the tragedy and the emotional ramifications, with cults springing up and madness slowly descending. Powerhouse performances from Justin Theroux, Christopher Eccleston, and a particularly outstanding Carrie Coon act as our way into and through a traumatised, fractured America. In lesser hands, this could be a real misery fest, but in Lindelof and Perrotta's, the story rocks a rich vein of black humour and sticks the landing, cementing its place as one of the most gripping shows of the 21st century. Some would say this is even better than Lost. (We are some.)

Streaming now on HBO Max.

Six Feet Under (2001 — 2005)

Showrunner/Creator: Alan Ball

Starring: Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Freddy Rodriguez

With dark, surreal comedy and stark, blunt truths about life and death, it's little wonder that Six Feet Under flowed from the same pen that gave us the equally incredible American Beauty. Alan Ball's series about a dysfunctional Pasadena family that runs an independent funeral home is a wonderful meditation on family, love and grief. Headed up by Peter Krause as prodigal elder son Nate Fisher and featuring Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose and Rachel Griffiths, the cast, like every facet of this compelling production, oozes class, gifted with sharp writing and a finale that — no spoilers here — offers what remains to this day one of the most emotional wrap-ups in telly history. It’s a bit of a hidden gem, but we assure you, it’s dead good.

Streaming now on HBO Max.

Friends

Showrunners/Creators: David Crane, Marta Kaufman

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox

Okay, so technically it isn’t a HBO show, but Friends very much is a HBO Max exclusive — and you can find all ten seasons on the streamer right now. It seems almost redundant to say anything more about the show, because by now we surely all know that this is the perfect sit-com, but over two decades later David Crane and Marta Kaufman’s show remains worth shouting about. In its earliest days, the adventures of six beautiful New York-dwelling pals who apparently earned money by drinking coffee featured writing much sharper than the cuddly exterior suggested. Even when the quality dipped a little mid-run, the ensemble remained perfectly matched and the best comedy collective on TV. And by the time the show reached its conclusion, watching Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey, and Phoebe say their final farewells truly felt like the end of an era. Could it be any more emotional? We think not!

Streaming now on HBO Max.

The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (2001 — 2003)

Director: Peter Jackson

Starring: Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Sean Astin, Christopher Lee, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd

The Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum is heading our way next year. Shadow Of The Past is set to follow soon after. And Prime Video’s The Rings Of Power is due to continue apace with a third season very soon, too. But let’s face it, you just can’t beat the original trilogy, can you? (No, not that original trilogy.) From the idyll of The Shire to the Mines of Moria, the Battle of Helm’s Deep to Frodo’s final journey into the west, Peter Jackson’s epic adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendary fantasy saga is as irresistible and powerful as the One Ring itself. A singular tale of friendship, fellowship, and the ultimate triumph of light over darkness — of good over evil — rendered in the grandest cinematic terms, The Lord Of The Rings trilogy exemplifies the immersive escapism that cinema is all about. And now you can rewatch ‘em all, whenever you like. Anyone for second breakfast and a Rings marathon? We’ll bring the Lembas.

Read Empire's reviews of Fellowship Of The Ring, The Two Towers and Return Of The King.

The Wizarding World Saga (Harry Potter & Fantastic Beasts)

There isn’t a child (or indeed adult) alive who doesn’t know the name of Warner Bros. behemothic blockbuster series of Wizarding World adventures. The Harry Potter franchise is the perfect example of a page-to-screen adaptation done right. Helmed by four distinctive filmmakers, each of whom offer their own unique yet faithful take on J.K. Rowling’s source material across eight blockbuster adventures, this franchise — and its young stars — pulled off something singular. Seeing them — and it — grow and evolve before our very eyes was… well… magical. And even if they had a little rockier a road, David Yates’ Fantastic Beasts movies — which follow Eddie Redmayne’s Magizoologist Newt Scamander and his pals’ adventures and take the Wizarding World global — still have plenty to spellbind. Those eleven films — and HBO Max’s exclusive documentary on the making of Mark Mylod and Francesca Gardiner’s upcoming Harry Potter reboot — should tide you over ‘til Christmas. Accio, remote!

Streaming now on HBO Max.

Read Empire's Harry Potter ranked list.

The Conjuring Universe (2013—)

Boy wizards not so much your thing? Fancy something a little darker to dig into? Well, look no further. While there’s no shortage of horror goodness to get stuck into on HBO Max (The Exorcist, Malignant, Final Destination), one of the streamer’s real boons is having all of The Conjuring Universe in one place. Yes, now you can enjoy/cower in fear from all of couple goals duo Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren’s (Vera Farmiga) paranormal investigations in the four mainline The Conjuring movies, get your creepy doll fix with the complete Annabelle trilogy, and bore — sorry, scare — your socks off with The Nun duology without having to switch platforms once. Heck, you can even watch TCU adjacent flick The Curse Of La Llorona as a spirit-filled chaser if you fancy. And when that Conjuring TV series finally materialises? Yeah, that’ll be on HBO Max as well. You lucky ducks!

Streaming now on HBO Max.

SIngin’ In The Rain (1952)

Director: Stanley Donen

Starring: Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor, Jean Hagen

Another rabbit hole you’ll likely find yourself tumbling down with HBO Max is its seriously deep catalogue of Hollywood classics. We’re talkin’ Gone With The Wind, The Wizard Of Oz, An American In Paris, Barry Lyndon, Gremlins, The Goonies, The Shawshank Redemption, Little Shop Of Horrors, Casablanca, Excalibur for crying out loud! But if we’re going to spotlight a deepcut in the library, and a movie that’s dipped in and out of streaming availability that we’re particularly recommending now that it’s got a permanent digital home, then it’s surely gotta be Stanley Donen’s 1952 shot of pure cinematic sunshine, Singin’ In The Rain. It’s Gene Kelly splashing in puddles. It’s Debbie Reynolds beaming as she sings ‘Good Mornin’’. It’s Donald O’Connor running up the walls — literally — during ‘Make ‘Em Laugh’. And it’s Jean Hagen squeaking “I can’t standim” in glorious three-strip Technicolor. Whether you watch it on your own, with the family, with whoever and indeed wherever, this is the kind of masterpiece that should always be on your watchlist.

Streaming now on HBO Max.

Read Empire’s review of Singin’ In The Rain.

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So, there you have it. Whether you're signing up solely to finally watch The Pitt, working your way through a prestige back catalogue that puts most other streamers to shame, or are just really glad Friends has found its rightful home, HBO Max has arrived in the UK with something for everyone. We didn’t even mention all the Nolan films, or the Tim Burton Batman movies, or Barry, or Deadwood, or… okay, you get the idea. There’s still a lot to explore beyond this list. At its best though, HBO Max is now home to some of the greatest movies and TV shows ever made – and with new Euphoria, House Of The Dragon, Lanterns and an entire wizarding saga still to come, it sounds like it’s going to have been worth the wait.

It’s in the name: the Punisher, well… punishes. Violently. As Marvel fans most recently saw in MCU Special Presentation The Punisher: One Last Kill, with Jon Bernthal taking centre stage once more as vengeful ex-marine Frank Castle – a role he originated in Netflix’s Defenders shows, and reprised in Daredevil: Born Again. Next stop for the Punisher? Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is less likely to feature the kind of bone-crunching no-holds-barred smackdowns seen in One Last Kill. Still, it sounds like director Destin Daniel Cretton – along with Bernthal and Spidey himself, Tom Holland – has found ways to bring an authentic Punisher into Peter Parker’s world, without landing Brand New Day in hot water.

As Holland tells Empire, fans will see consistency with what’s come before from the Punisher. “I know that there are concerns about taking a sort of R-rated character and putting him into one of these movies, but the way that we’ve designed the world around him feels very authentic to the Frank Castle we know,” Holland explains. If the MPAA would look less favourably on The Punisher’s actions, the same goes for Peter Parker himself. “There are fun ways to get around the fact that he swears all the time and kills people,” teases Holland.

And don’t expect Castle to go soft in the presence of Spidey, either. “Frank Castle is perfectly at peace in a world of absolute darkness,” says Bernthal. “He’s not looking for a buddy, he’s not looking for a friend, he’s not looking for a hand to pull him out of the hole that he’s in. He’s fine living in there. In fact, all he wants to do is dig deeper.” Get ready for another perfect pairing of mismatched allies in the MCU. “I think, begrudgingly, Frank would tell you, if he had to be honest, he does care about Peter,” Bernthal promises. Just, don’t get on his bad side.

Read Empire’s full Spider-Man: Brand New Day cover story – speaking to Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Kevin Feige, Destin Daniel Cretton, Amy Pascal and more – in the July 2026 issue, on sale Thursday June 4. Pre-order a copy online here. Spider-Man: Brand New Day comes to cinemas from July 29.

Every filmmaker worth their salt has their recurring obsessions, whether it’s the confines of privilege (Sofia Coppola), symmetry and pastels (Wes Anderson) or naked bare feet (you know who). For Irish writer-director John Carney, it is the enervating quality of music to connect and forge relationships of all stripes. From Once to Begin Again, Sing Street to Flora And Son, ex-muso Carney has plied his trade in funny, unashamedly uncynical song-centric films that wear their heart and art on their sleeve. His latest, Power Ballad, is no exception, again playing his favourite theme, this time adding some fresh new licks.

The set-up is efficiently, entertainingly sketched. Giving up his dreams of musical stardom to start a family in Ireland, American rocker Rick Power (Paul Rudd) is the frontman of wedding band The Bride And Groove (chef’s kiss), playing cover versions and occasionally harshing the buzz with his own compositions. During a reception at an Irish castle, friend of the groom and floundering former boy-band alumnus Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas) joins the band on stage and duets with Rick on a kickass version of Stevie Wonder’s ‘I Wish’.

Sharing an easy chemistry, Rudd and Jonas are such a delight together that there’s a dip when the demands of the story split them up.

The pair click and Danny invites Rick back to his hotel room, a makeshift studio filled with guitars, keyboards and recording equipment. In a lengthy sequence, Carney has a ball watching the music lovers vibe: if the jam session isn’t quite Paul McCartney making up ‘Get Back’ on the fly, it is a joy to watch the two men create, especially when the two riff on a Rick composition, ‘How To Write A Song (Without You)’. The two go their separate ways until Rick, six months later, is walking through a Dublin shopping centre and hears his tune, now an over-produced sad banger, seeping out of the PA system.

Sharing an easy chemistry, Rudd and Jonas are such a delight together that there’s a dip when the demands of the story split them up. Just wanting acknowledgement for his involvement, Rick becomes obsessed, alienating his bandmates, wife Rachel (Marcella Plunkett) and daughter Aja (Beth Fallon) while Danny returns to LA with 100 million views, an arena tour and a renewed sense of purpose. It’s refreshing to see the eternally youthful Rudd play crumpled middle age: smoking, swearing, seeing his lifelong dream become a nightmare. Jonas is eminently winning as a former star who, like Rick, just wants to prove his worth musically, buoyed by his agent (Carney regular Jack Reynor). To its credit, there are no villains in Power Ballad. Carney and co-writer Peter McDonald (who, in an endearing comedic turn, plays Rick’s bestie Sandy) do a smart, convincing job of blurring the lines of creative ownership. Like Carney’s other work, it’s a big-hearted film that likes its people, whatever their faults and foibles.

A former bassist with The Frames, Carney pulls off that rare trick of making ‘fictional’ pop music in his films sound not only credible but memorable. After working with Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová on Once and New Radicals’ Gregg Alexander on Begin Again, this time around Carney has collab’d with Gary Clark, lead singer of ’80s popsters — hey! — Danny Wilson (their biggest hit, ‘Mary’s Prayer’, can be heard in a pub), who contributed to Sing Street and Flora And Son. There’s less music here than usual, but the pair make ‘How To Write A Song (Without You)’ an irresistible, iPhone-torch-in-the-air anthem about the importance of a muse for a love song. That song is not only memorable but also feeds into a twist in the tale that makes you feel differently about its relationships.

It might not have the soul of Once or the exuberance of Sing Street, but Power Ballad sees Carney try something different. It is consistently funny — an extended set-piece where Rick and Sandy gate-crash Danny’s LA pad hits the mark, in broad strokes — but it’s not out-and-out comedy. Carney is exploring more here than just laughs, tapping deeper and more earnestly into middle-age despair, youthful insecurities and thwarted aspirations. It’s a new palette that makes you wonder what a Carney film might look like if the guitar stayed firmly in its case.

Through the years, Spider-Man fans have seen various elements of the wall-crawler make it to the big screen. First came Tobey Maguire’s boy-next-door take on Peter Parker, followed by Andrew Garfield’s cooler kick-flipping version, before the MCU introduced Tom Holland’s decisively teenaged iteration, following the character through high school. (Plus, of course, we’ve had Miles Morales in the Spider-Verse films too.) But the arrival of Spider-Man: Brand New Day will take Holland’s Parker into a new era: now a fully-fledged Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man operating in New York City, isolated from his friends – and Zendaya’s MJ – since the world no longer remembers who he is (courtesy of some Doctor Strange sorcery).

As Marvel boss Kevin Feige explains, it sets the stage for perhaps the most comics-accurate Spidey yet. “It is the first Spider-Man film that we’ve made in the MCU that is focused on the classic elements of Spider-Man,” Feige tells Empire in our world-exclusive Brand New Day issue. “He’s doing the Spidey thing of living in a rather sad, small apartment, listening to the police scanner and going out and using his great power responsibly.”

In the absence of his friends – and following the losses of Aunt May and Tony Stark – Brand New Day sees Peter burying himself in his web-slinging work, while his powers undergo strange transformations. “He is dedicating his entire existence to his job. That’s the core theme that I find incredibly relatable,” says director Destin Daniel Cretton. “I think most people at certain points in our lives have gone through loss. At least for me, and I think for many people, the result can be: ‘Screw it. I’m just going to work. I’m going to do nothing else but work.’ That’s obviously not the most healthy state.”

The hope is to get deeper under Peter Parker’s skin than ever before – – still with all the thrills fans expect from a big summer Spidey blockbuster. “[Brand New Day] is a more internal movie,” producer Amy Pascal teases, “and the bigness of it is emotional, not worlds exploding.” Get ready for Spider-Man’s all-new evolution.

Read Empire’s full Spider-Man: Brand New Day cover story – speaking to Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Kevin Feige, Destin Daniel Cretton, Amy Pascal and more – in the July 2026 issue, on sale Thursday June 4. Pre-order a copy online here. Spider-Man: Brand New Day comes to cinemas from July 29.

The last time we saw Spider-Man in the MCU, the entire universe shifted. 2021’s world-conquering No Way Home not only broke down the walls of the Spider-Verse, but ended with a seismic shift in Peter Parker’s existence: by which we mean, the entire world forgot about it, courtesy of some Doctor Strange magic. So, the return of the wall-crawling hero marks the start of a new era, kick-starting a new phase of Spidey’s lifecycle as a fully-functioning Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, living anonymously in New York City – with some surprising evolutions on the way. Get ready for the dawn of a Brand New Day.

This month’s issue of Empire takes a world-exclusive deep dive into Spider-Man: Brand New Day, getting the first word from the web-slinger himself – Tom Holland – and co-stars Zendaya and Jon Bernthal, as well as Marvel boss Kevin Feige, producer Amy Pascal, and incoming director Destin Daniel Cretton. Inside, we explore how Brand New Day finally brings vintage-comics Spider-Man to the screen, dig into the emotional stakes as Peter’s closest allies no longer remember him, discover how the Punisher meshes with New York’s friendliest superhero, and unpack the mysteries of the film’s spider-mutation story. And it’s packed with never-before-seen images, offering your best look yet at Spidey’s action-packed comeback.

This month’s newsstand cover sees Spider-Man – and nefarious ninjas The Hand – soaring through the New York skyline.

And the subscriber cover sees Spidey drawing The Hand into his web, illustrated exclusively for Empire by Edgar Ascensão.

And that’s not all! This month’s issue also meets the man behind the Minions, as Minions & Monsters prepares to unleash mayhem; goes on set of Supergirl to get the inside scoop on DC Studios’ second major movie; revisits the legacy of Jackass with cinema’s premier pranksters; ventures to The Lonely Island for a 10-year look-back at Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping; and goes to the beach with members of Monty Python. It’s not to be missed.

Thwip over to your local newsstands to pick up the Spider-Man: Brand New Day issue of Empire, on sale from Thursday June 4. Pre-order a copy online here. Spider-Man: Brand New Day comes to cinemas from July 29.

Good news for Tolkien-heads: more Rings Of Power are being forged. Prime Video’s Lord Of The Rings series has been a significant undertaking for the streamer in recent years, exploring the Second Age of Middle-earth during Sauron’s initial rise. And ahead of Season 3 arriving later in 2026, it seems things are going swimmingly in the Rings Of Power camp, with Season 4 already in development.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, plans are a-hairy-foot for Season 4 of The Rings Of Power, and it’s expected to start rolling cameras in early 2027. While the season has not officially been greenlit, wheels are in motion to begin pre-production before the end of this year. From the beginning, showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay were vocal about having a five-season plan for the show, while Prime Video has previously touted positive streaming numbers for the series.

Stay tuned for the official greenlight on Season 4 – and we’ll see in Season 3 where all the assembled Elves, Orcs, Harfoots and more end up; the new episodes are set to shift the timeline forward by several years. Season 3 starts streaming on Prime Video from 11 November.

Platforms: PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2

The wait for a cinematic successor to Daniel Craig’s James Bond has been long, but the gap between 007 games has been even longer. After a 14 year hiatus, Hitman developers IO Interactive have accepted the mission, bringing the famed Secret Service agent back to gaming with an original story that’s entirely divorced from its movie counterparts. At its best, it makes for a thrilling action-espionage tale, though some refinements in certain areas would not go amiss.

It helps that IOI has chosen to focus on Bond’s origins, a hitherto unexplored period in his onscreen life that covers his recruitment into MI6, his training (a cleverly constructed early chapter), and his first globetrotting mission across approximately 14 hours. The freedom that comes with this fresh angle is well utilised here; we get to experience Bond, well, bonding with his fellow 00 recruits, as well as the formative relationships with M, Q, Moneypenny, and his reluctant mentor John Greenway (a perfectly cast Lennie James) that help mould him into His Majesty’s finest spy.

Once the wider plot truly kicks off, the escalating narrative is a mixed bag. In one sense, it’s well crafted – a mid-game twist is quite nifty, and the ultimate scheme is reminiscent of past Bond flicks. But it's also slightly convoluted, with too much talk of quantum computers and AI that threatens to encroach on the fun. It’s a shame too that the true villains are neither quirky nor formidable enough to be memorable.

Thankfully, the level design is almost always strong, while the transitions between stealth and climbing segments, all-guns-blazing battles, and cinematic cutscenes are seamless. Hitman meets Uncharted may sound reductive, but it’s also accurate (and complimentary).

Gameplay leads into thrilling cutscenes that wouldn’t feel out of place on a big screen.

When it does come time to take enemies down, there are multiple ways to get creative and achieve objectives, whether you opt for stealth and guile or gunplay and gadgetry. The forward momentum the game actively encourages is when things really click into place, with the gunplay feeling especially slick and impactful. The melee combat is less smooth; while the use of environments to aid you mid-beatdown is wonderfully satisfying and makes fights feel more dynamic, the counter system – especially with large groups of enemies – is at times sluggish and clunky. The gameplay often leads into some thrilling cutscenes that wouldn’t feel out of place on a big screen, and there are a handful of moments that make you feel like Bond too, from a cool and chaotic plane sequence to a mission that has you driving a bin lorry through Kensington.

Patrick Gibson’s Bond performance is giving more Eggsy from the Kingsman franchise than the experienced and hardened agent we all love and recognise at this stage. That makes sense for a raw, pre-00 Bond, and there are still enough building blocks in place – his charm, instincts, and rule-breaking tendencies remain intact – that it’s believable both character and actor will grow into the role. It’s a good thing, too; First Light is being billed as the first chapter in an ongoing James Bond game universe, and it has more than enough going for it for us to want to see – and play – what happens next.

Leo Woodall’s charm has already got him through a trip on the Italian coast (The White Lotus), Netflix’s most devastating modern romance (One Day), and even a run-in with Bridget Jones, but with Tuner, he’s finally handed a true star vehicle, proving well and truly ready to take the wheel. In Daniel Roher’s romance-cum-thriller-cum-drama, Woodall plays Niki, a piano tuner with a rare hearing condition who, after being hit with mounting medical bills, decides to put his extraordinary ears to some less-than-legal use. And while the film borrows familiar notes from The Thomas Crown Affair and Baby Driver, it’s the committed character work and lead performance that ensure a mostly clean getaway.

With its breezy banter between Woodall and Dustin Hoffman’s mentor figure Harry, alongside Roher’s jazzy, quick-cut editing style, Tuner quickly becomes a very easy film to like. It’s equally easy to get wrapped up in Niki’s everyman world, too. There’s a quiet confidence to Woodall here, completely assured in what he does for work, yet refreshingly unassured in how he handles people, with the actor note-perfect at jumping between the two.

Not since Whiplash has a film made audiences so aware of every note, key or click.

The world Niki inhabits only becomes more engaging once he crosses paths with pianist Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), in what is, crucially, a genuinely convincing budding romance. Where other films would reduce this to a secondary plot point, Tuner gives it real importance. Woodall and Liu dance through Roher’s dialogue with ease; romantic, yes, but also allowing time for two people who experience the world through sound to slowly use words to show us who they really are, a pairing of two actors who have long hovered around leading roles and have finally been given the space to properly shine.

Tuner’s next star is its sound design. Not since Whiplash has a film made audiences so aware of every note, key or click. Whether it’s a piano performance or Niki hearing each increasingly deafening turn of a safe dial, Roher makes sound feel tactile and always dialled up. The film plays many scenes from Niki’s point of view, with every raised voice or pin-drop pulling us deeper into his world. It not only creates some genuinely nerve-crunching tension, but makes us feel Niki’s disorientation and sensitivity in a way that brings us even closer to him.

If there’s a flaw in this grand heist, it’s that Tuner can’t quite get away with all the genres it’s trying to pull off. Its crime antics are never as convincing as the drama and romance the film invests so heavily in, and as those increasingly far-fetched hijinks take centre stage in the third act, the film does lose some of its cool. Still, when the loot on display has this much character and charm, it’s hard to be dissatisfied. It may not be 18-carat gold, but Tuner is still a damn good watch.

We were all thinking it: Paddington – and Paddington 2, and Paddington In Peru – were all pleasant watches, but they could have done with more swearing. Maybe Paddington could have told Mr. Gruber, “Fuckity-bye” as he left the antique shop; or Mrs Brown could have called the kindly bear an “omnishambles” after he wrecked their Windsor Gardens house for the umpteenth time. Well, good news: Paddington 4 officially has a writing duo, and none other than Armando Iannucci – of The Thick Of It, and Veep, and The Death Of Stalin pedigree – is one half of it, the other being his regular collaborator Simon Blackwell.

The news was confirmed by Variety, who also reports that Paddington In Peru director Dougal Wilson is in talks to return behind the camera for a fourth outing of British bear shenanigans. While Iannucci and Blackwell are known for penning some of the most foul-mouthed creations in comedy history, their appointment continues the Paddington tradition of drawing from British comic greats, following in the footsteps of Paul King and Simon Farnaby (who directed and wrote on the first two films).

Quite what the fourth film will entail remains to be seen – it was announced earlier this year at CinemaCon, but details are currently scarce. Perhaps it’ll involve a farewell to Brown children Jonathan and Judy, with actors Samuel Joslin and Madeleine Harris now in the mid-20s; or maybe it’ll be another globetrotting adventure after Peru took Paddington back to his homeland. Either way, expect Peter Capaldi's Mr. Curry to have some particularly brutal lines this time. Here’s hoping Iannucci and Blackwell can cook up something great, like a delicious batch of marmalade.

Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC

If you've played a Forza Horizon entry in the last decade, you've already put the pedal to the metal in some of the coolest cars while zooming around the world's most picturesque locales. But developer Playground Games has somehow outdone themselves with Forza Horizon 6, a superb sequel that not only further refines and polishes the series' genre-defining formula, but crams even more enhancements and content beneath its hood.

As expected, this latest entry retains the franchise's rewarding behind-the-wheel gameplay, nailing the sweet spot between accessible arcade-style racing and deeper, simulation-like mechanics. Of course, a massive selection of optional assists and customisation options also allow players of all stripes to lean further in either direction, tailoring the experience to their skill level and preferred playstyle.

Expansive, diverse, dense, and incredibly detailed, the game's richly realized Japan setting is as fun to experience as a camera-toting tourist as it is for a speed limit-obliterating adrenaline junkie.

But whether you buckle-up as a returning racer or you're revving your engine for the first time, you can expect to tear up the blacktop around the series' biggest, most beautiful open-world yet.

Expansive, diverse, dense, and incredibly detailed, the game's richly realized Japan setting is as fun to experience as a camera-toting tourist as it is for a speed limit-obliterating adrenaline junkie. And that's before you account for the immersion-ratcheting variety fuelled by changing seasons, weather patterns, and a day/night cycle that seems to frame every location — from Tokyo's neon-soaked streets to the postcard-perfect Japanese Alps — in the absolute best light.

Whether you want to casually take in the sights — or take tight turns at insane speeds while white-knuckling the wheel — there's never any shortage of things to do in Horizon 6. If it's competition you crave, there are countless courses, contests, events, and challenges, all tied to the campaign's Horizon Festival, allowing you to rise through ranks, collect hundreds of cars, and even chase a towering mech through Tokyo.

Equally layered and deep are the game's "Discover Japan" activities, which are less about crossing the finish line first, and more about exploring and appreciating the vast island nation's landmarks, culture, and personality. That's not to say this side of the game isn't packed with its own unique thrills and skill-testing tasks. While this more exploratory side of the experience will have you completing fun food-delivery challenges, it also hosts Touge Battles: incredibly intense one-on-one races on some of the map's most perilous mountain roads.

Tying everything together is Forza Horizon 6's pair of rewarding progression systems. Whatever you choose to do among the game's hundreds of activities, it all continually fuels your progress, either within the competitive Festival or the Discover Japan activities. This results in a constant drip of rewards, unlocks, and upgrades — from the 550-plus cars and customisation options to garages, houses, and even estates where you can build your own tracks - that significantly elevate the progression path beyond just simple character growth.

Forza Horizon 6 is the best entry in an already stellar series, retaining — but refining and polishing — what's worked in previous instalments, while also significantly building on the franchise's rock-solid foundation with a ton of fresh inclusions. A must-play for racing game fans, as well as complete newcomers seeking an accessible entry point into the genre, Playground Games' latest lap is a rubber-burning blast.

All hail the Alien Queen! For the legendary Sigourney Weaver, star of some of the finest sci-fi films of all time, is our esteemed guest on this week's episode of the Empire Podcast, as she tells Chris Hewitt all about starring in her first Star War, The Mandalorian And Grogu. [44:47 — 58:17 approx] Then, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to discuss their predictions for the biggest movies of the year; cast their eye over the week's movie news, including a shocking development in the hunt for the new James Bond and a welcome update on Netflix's Cliff Booth movie release plans; and review The Mandalorian And Grogu, Jack Ryan: Ghost War, Finding Emily, Tom & Jerry: Forbidden Compass, and Passenger. Oh, and the team eat some burgers, but thankfully they don't bang on about it. Enjoy.

And if all of the above isn't quite enough Empire Podcast for you, then there's plenty more where that came from. You can listen to this week's episode (which, if you're counting, is #718) on the pod app of your choice. There, you'll also find the latest episode of Empire Pod regular The Shameless Plug, which sees Chris Hewitt and our intrepid leader, Nick de Semlyen, deliver a monthly behind-the-scenes deep-dive into the making of the world's biggest movie magazine. This month, the duo become a trio as James Dyer joins Nick and Chris to discuss how our Aliens 40th Anniversary issue came to be, and just how exactly the team managed to get James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn and Jenette Goldstein to come together on Zoom in celebration of the ultimate sci-fi blockbuster sequel.

Want to make sure you never miss out on the latest movie news, reviews, and Empire exclusives again? Click here to add Empire as your go-to source on Google Feed.

The Boys is dead, long live The Boys — or, at least, the Vought Cinematic Universe. (Hey, it's what Clara would've wanted!) Yes, less than a week since the finale of Eric Kripke's r-rated superhero series landed on Prime Video, Amazon have gone full Vought and released the first trailer for Vought Rising, the streamer's upcoming post-WWII set prequel series. For those craving more of Jensen Ackles' Soldier Boy and some impeccably presented Golden Age clobber, check out the new trailer below;

Tantalisingly described by showrunner Paul Grellong and The Boys creator and executive producer Kripke at SDCC 2024 as "a twisted murder mystery about the origins of Vought in the 1950s, the early exploits of Soldier Boy, and the diabolical maneuvers of a Supe known to fans as Stormfront (Aya Cash)," we've long since known — and hoped — Vought Rising would have something truly diabolical in store for fans. And this first trailer — which offers glimpses of a more idealistic Soldier Boy, his fascist former lover Clara Vought/Stormfront, Elizabeth Posey's Forces' sweetheart styled Private Angel, Mason Dye's fighter pilot inspired Bombsight, and Will Hochman's naval hero Torpedo — doesn't disappoint. Anachronistic needle drops, blood spatter, torture, satirical swipes, and our old friend Compound V are all present and correct as the trailer teases a thorough examination of Vought's grim origins and how the Soldier Boy we meet in The Boys came to be.

Also set to star KiKi Layne, Jorden Myrie, Nicolo Pasetti, Ricky Staffieri, and Brian J. Smith, Vought Rising has plenty of intrigue surrounding it — not least in terms of how it may illuminate information that comes to light in The Boys' final season surrounding the nature of Soldier Boy and Stormfront's relationship. We can look forward to going back to where supes began when Vought Rising hits Prime Video in 2027, by which point we may have finally processed the events of that final episode.

What with EO, Cow, and Kedi, cinema seems more interested in the inner lives of animals than ever before. György Pálfi’s nail-biting drama Hen is the latest in this creaturely canon, offering a bird’s-eye-view of human affairs. With the help of their plucky protagonist, the Hungarian filmmaker and co-writer Zsófia Ruttkay take a cold, hard and sometimes darkly comic look at casual human cruelty.

The film’s opening sequence makes this starkly clear from the outset. A visceral close-up of a chicken mid-laying cuts to mechanised conveyor belts ferrying eggs (and, soon enough, fuzzy yellow chicks) through their various life stages — contrasting the vitality of these living beings with the bleak, metal-clad emotionlessness of mass-scale farming. The prodigious fowl of Pálfi’s title is one of many birds destined to be discarded.

The result is an understated, remarkably moving portrayal of the hen’s emotional existence.

But a second shot at life arrives when a farmer fortuitously leaves a window in his vehicle open, and the heroic hen bolts for freedom. In a series of what can only be described as action sequences, the hen wends its way through protests, markets and shops, and navigates a close call with a fox, gradually getting its bearings in this unfamiliar, manmade world. Pálfi’s drama relies heavily on the star power of its animal protagonist — played by eight talented real-life chickens — and cinematographer Giorgos Karvelas’ roving camera honing in on minute details in the hen’s behaviour and the outer environment. The result is an understated, remarkably moving portrayal of the hen’s emotional existence.

This endearing birdie often eclipses the humans of the tale, though. The wayward hen winds up being taken in by the gentle-natured proprietor of a seafood taverna (Yannis Kokiasmenos); in turn oppressed by his mobster son-in-law (Argyris Pandazaras). Their portion of the story is significantly leaner, meaning the connection the film tries to make between human and animal suffering doesn’t feel robust. Yet this hardboiled parable is fascinating — and, with help from Szőke Szabolcs’ droll score, funny — at every turn, and is sure to make you think twice next time you’re in the egg aisle of the supermarket.

“Why don’t we just wait here for a little while… see what happens?” It was with this eerily ambiguous line, delivered coldly by Kurt Russell’s R.J. MacReady, that John Carpenter’s The Thing ended, in iconic fashion. Fans of the film have waited a good long while since 1982 for its reevaluation. Upon release, the film was a critical and commercial failure; now, 44 years on, it is widely and correctly lauded as a masterpiece — an achievement emphatically confirmed with The Thing Expanded, a vast celebratory ‘making of’ documentary.

This comes from writer-director Ian Nathan, who has crafted it in the same mould as his previous documentary, Aliens Expanded. (Full disclosure: Ian Nathan is a former editor of and writer for Empire magazine. This had no bearing on the writing of this review.) Like that previous film, this is stuffed to the gills with detail, overflowing with several new talking-heads interviews, and as such arrives with a runtime that far outlasts that of the film it is discussing. Where The Thing was a thrifty 109 minutes, The Thing Expanded — as the name suggests — runs to a buttock-threatening 312 minutes, or just over five hours.

This is something clearly aiming to be the definitive text on the film, and it’s hard to see what ground it couldn’t have covered.

For some viewers, that might mean it’s better treated as a miniseries than a movie, something to be digested — like the alien chest of Norris-Thing, devouring a pair of arms — in bitesize segments. But for fans of Carpenter’s sci-fi, it is worth the patience. This is something clearly aiming to be the definitive text on the film, and it’s hard to see what ground it couldn’t have covered.

The interviewees are the stars here. Nathan assembles practically everyone involved in the film still alive and willing for on-camera chats. John Carpenter, Kurt Russell and the surviving cast, most notably, make significant contributions; Carpenter — these days having a reputation for being more reclusive and irascible — is found in a happy, amiable mood, clearly proud as punch to still be talking about a film that critics mauled at the time. (Pleasingly, his interview is conducted with him sitting next to a scale model of Mrs Pickman from In The Mouth Of Madness.)

Key crew-members appear, too, including cinematographer Dean Cundey, editor Todd C. Ramsay, and producers Stuart Cohen and Larry Franco (who doubled as the Norwegian firing shots at the dog in the opening scene), and there’s below-the-line talent too, including make-up artist Margaret Beserra and Erik Jensen, the line producer on the special make-up effects unit. That’s not even mentioning the legion of famous faces waxing lyrical about the film, from Frank Darabont and Guillermo del Toro (in conversation with each other, for some reason) to Stephen Colbert (who declares it his favourite film), Eli Roth and Matthijs van Heijningen Jr, director of the much-maligned 2011 prequel. Along with writers, journalists, authors, an astrobiologist and even a winter manager at the South Pole (who shows the film to new arrivals every first goddamned week of winter) added to the mix, it amounts to nearly 30 contributors on screen.

So, few stones go unturned. While some stories might be familiar to die-hard MacReady-mad fans, there’s a ton of fascinating details uncovered. Nathan’s approach is chronological, but allows for plenty of diversions, with clips from important influences and reference points, from the claustrophobia of 12 Angry Men to the important sci-fi groundwork laid by Dark Star and Alien.

Tantalisingly, we hear of some of the tensions that existed on the largely male set. David Clennon, who played Palmer, offers this gem: “Peter Maloney was the right guy to play Bennings, I think.” Before adding: “And that’s not necessarily a compliment.” (Russell, diplomatically, calls him “sweet”.) The stifling masculinity of the shoot seemed to have got to them all. “It’s grim on an all-male set, let me tell you,” notes Carpenter.

Yet this is not an all-male documentary, with great insights from superfans like critic Anne Billson and filmmaker Issa Lopez, who point out that the only female voice in The Thing, the chess computer that MacReady tinkers with in an early scene, was voiced by Carpenter’s wife at the time, and posit the theory that the Thing itself is female — a writhing, twisting symbol of male fear and paranoia.

All that gorgeously practical writhing and twisting is given a full tribute, too — though Rob Bottin, the special make-up effects designer and “smartest man on the film” according to producer Stuart Cohen, is sadly not interviewed, having retired from the industry. His presence looms large, though: rather than share space on a Mount Rushmore of make-up artists, he “would have his own mountain”, says Darabont. We do get a good idea of just how ingenious his work was — among the most mind-blowing nuggets of trivia, we learn that 62 puppeteers operated the climactic Blair-Thing, and that the team regularly went to a local rendering plant to collect dogs and cats that had been euthanised or found roadkill, which would subsequently be taken to a taxidermist for use in the film.

There are tons of eye-popping details like this, more than even the most die-hard Thing fan would have previously encountered. The Thing Expanded’s enormous length might put off those who aren’t entirely die-hard, to be fair — but it is worth the time, even for casual fans. Like the great DVD extras of yore — the Lord Of The Rings Special Editions and their ilk — this is really a masterclass in filmmaking and film appreciation, an earnest and nerdy celebration of great art. “People write to me all the time, they know every frame of the film,” says Thomas G. Waites, who plays Windows. After watching The Thing Expanded, you’ll feel like you know practically every frame, too.

Van life, as it’s known, is a subject that’s ripe for a horror movie. Alone on the highway, far away from normality, its practitioners are free to go where they like, yet always trapped in the samemetal box. So it proves for our newly engaged heroes, Maddie (Lou Llobell) and Tyler (Jacob Scipio). “If we can survive six weeks on the road, we can survive anything,” says Tyler. Here’s hoping.

Sparely scripted by T.W. Burgess and Zachary Donohue (The Den), and stylishly directed by Norwegian André Øvredal (The Last Voyage Of The Demeter), Passenger takes a spooky concept, then puts the pedal to the metal so there’s no time to question it.

A fantastic opening sequence — all blaring horns, red warning lights and expertly timed jump-scares — introduces half-glimpsed antagonist the Passenger (Joseph Lopez), a creepy old man who’s given to popping up unannounced in the back of vehicles. Imagine It Follows retooled for Jeremy Clarkson and you get the idea.

Delivers some skin-prickling set-pieces.

Things step up a gear when the Passenger begins stalking Maddie and Tyler. Alone in an empty car park, she finds herself menaced by an ominous figure, unexplained footsteps and all manner of automotive trickery, the camera twirling tense pirouettes around her to create a sense of all-pervasive dread.

“The road can be a scary place,” warns grizzled van-lifer Diana (Melissa Leo), who might have stepped straight out of Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland. She’s not wrong. While the film is many milessouth of subtle, and any attempt at characterisation is jettisoned early on, Øvredal directs the hell out of it, skirting the idea’s potential silliness to deliver some skin-prickling set-pieces.

If things run out of steam a little during the climax — after all, most supernatural phenomena are best left under-explained — it doesn’t ruin what went before. In a strong year for original horror, Passenger is a trip to remember.

Over the last two decades, Jason Clarke has quietly staked his claim as one of Australia's greatest acting exports. From Lawless and Zero Dark Thirty to Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and Mudbound, and from First Man to Oppenheimer to A House Of Dynamite, the man virtually never misses (shh, Terminator Genisys never happened!) And now, per Deadline's reporting, it looks like Clarke may be reuniting with the director of one of his formative films, Public Enemies. Yes, Clarke is currently circling a role in Michael Mann's hotly anticipated crime sequel Heat 2.

While no cast deals have been locked in yet for Michael Mann's follow-up to his 1995 crime epic, Deadline has multiple sources corroborating the potential Clarke casting coup. And, what's more, those self-same sources continue to indicate that Leonardo DiCaprio and another Public Enemies star, Christian Bale, remain in the conversation to play pivotal roles in the film.

For those unfamiliar with Heat 2, Mann's Meg Gardiner co-authored 2022 novel (which takes place both before and after the events of the first film), it's very much a book of two halves. One half is dedicated to charting the younger years of rookie cop Vincent Hanna and up-and-coming crook Neil McCauley and his gang in the 1980s, while the other follows Hanna's pursuit of an on-the-run Chris Shiherlis in the present as past actions intersect with present consequences. The sequel book does also introduce an all-new antagonist, the outright evil and downright psychopathic home invader, murderer, and rapist Otis Wardell. Who Clarke — perhaps most well known for portraying villains — would prospectively play in the movie remains unknown.

With production due to get underway on Heat 2 this year, we fully expect some concrete casting confirmations to start pouring through on Mann's cat-and-mouse sequel as cameras get closer to rolling. Even going on little more than a book and some whispers of names looking to get involved in the action, we're starting to feel the heat around the corner once again...

You are a visitor to the Empire website. You are here for some exciting movie news. You must find a buzzy announcement regarding two in-demand filmmakers and a globally beloved book series they are set to adapt. If you decide to go with this article's gimmick, read on. If you think it's already run its course, read on anyway because it's actually pretty cool news. Yes, as you may have figured out, Deadline is reporting that Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett — aka Ready Or Not and Abigail directorial duo Radio Silence — are tackling a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' adaptation at 20th Century Studios.

Created by Edward Packard back in 1979 and comprising, in its original run, 184 books in which readers could become hyperspace travellers, Cold War spies, ghost hunters, and even monsters, the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' series is, by nature, a source of infinite storytelling possibilities. As such, we have no plot information on Gillet and Bettinelli-Olpin's movie, and couldn't even hazard a guess as to what they might have in store. What we do know however is that the duo will be working from a script penned by Andor and The Disaster Artist scribe Mike Bissell, and that we'll likely have a little bit of a wait on our hands before this one reaches our screens: Radio Silence are currently hard at work preparing to bring back The Mummy (no, not the Lee Cronin one, or the Tom Cruise one — the proper one!)

Given the cultural influence of 'Choose Your Own Adventure' on everything from video games like Life Is Strange, The Walking Dead, and Detroit: Become Human to Netflix's Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, The Daniels' Possibilia, and much more besides, the prospect of Radio Silence heading back to the source and doing their thing is very exciting. If you agree, proceed to get hyped. If you disagree, leave this page forever — we thank you for your click. The End.

Naomi Ackie has developed an affinity for going against the grain. In the upcoming I Love Boosters, Boots Riley’s extravagant, satirical stab at the fashion industry, she plays noble shoplifter Sade — who undergoes molecular restructuring and time-travel to invent the perfect outfit. Not a conventional second goes by.

For the past few years, the 34-year-old Londoner has chosen to work with directors who aren’t afraid to confront the darkness of humanity, and who back it up with provocative, daring visions. But her career is about more than just ticking off the likes of Bong Joon Ho (sci-fi comedy Mickey 17), Steve McQueen (semi-autobiographical school drama ‘Education’, part of anthology Small Axe) and Zoë Kravitz (eat-the-rich satire Blink Twice) from her bucket list — she’s worked with enough esteemed directors to know how to sniff out a good one. “It’s a trend I noticed amongst filmmakers,” she says, kicking back in a London photo-studio after Empire’s shoot in April. “The more open they are, the more curious they are, the better the work.”

Ackie has dabbled in franchise fare: she wielded a bow and arrow on furry-alien horseback in Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker. She delivered full-bodied commitment to the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody. She picked up a BAFTA for her breakthrough as a repressed murderer in Channel 4’s The End Of The F***ing World. But of late, she has been pushing more and more against convention.

This October, we’ll see her in DC’s Clayface — a comic-book film, but one written by Mike Flanagan and directed by Speak No Evil’s James Watkins. And with I Love Boosters, Ackie could shape-shift under costumes that grew more elaborate with each passing day, and deliver an anti-capitalist rallying cry all at once. It was just what she needed to feed that hunger for rebellion.

———

EMPIRE: You work with filmmakers who have a lot to say and have singular ways of expressing those ideas. Is that something you’ve felt drawn to?

NAOMI ACKIE: The thing is, I love talking about big ideas. I come from a family [where] around the dinner table, we always end up talking philosophy and politics and religion and faith and the world. That feels like a really natural part of the way that I communicate. And then when it comes to projects, I think big concepts allow me to be way more specific about performance, because if you’re working with someone who’s like, “Hey, here’s the entire world — this is going to be your specific task, to build this world out,” that feels way easier for me than being part of a story where I can make any decision I want about who the character is. When it’s a very specific [world] with a very specific message and the message matters more than the character, that’s when I know exactly what I need to do.

That aligns with I Love Boosters, where your character has a very specific role in a very specific world.

I was like, “This is a bit of me!” Boots is so incredibly specific [in] his world-building. All the films and projects he’s made belong in the same world, and yet tell different stories. There is this element of magic realism and absurdism that I’m really in love with. I like to play on that scale. If I think about Mickey 17, that has a level of surreal absurdity to it. Strangely, I even think about The End Of The F***ing World. The message sits stronger, I think, when the world is more specific. Those big-question ideas like I Love Boosters, which is essentially about people coming together to fuck up shit.

I Love Boosters is essentially about people coming together to fuck up shit.

What was it like being privy to Boots Riley’s creativity, which seems so boundless?

Some parts of the script, I was like, “I don’t know what it’s going to look like.” There are images within there where I was like, “I guess I’m gonna have to just go with it.” You can’t quite visualise some of the stuff and yet it really works. In my career, I really trust whoever’s leading. Luckily for me, the people I have been able to work with I really respect, and I think if you surrender to someone’s vision, and you say, “Okay, what do you need [from] me to help flesh out this idea that you have?”, then the acting becomes in service to a story, and less about you. It’s an important tool so that you can hold onto your ego and constantly remind yourself that this is not about you. This is about a character, supplying something to the story and to a message that could possibly enlighten people down the line.

What did you see as your character’s function in this story? In this world, the ‘boosters’ (shoplifters) are rebelling against the system but are also attracted to it.

Sade is the grounding force. [Keke Palmer’s] Corvette is a big dreamer and we need big dreamers in the world. Much like myself when I was younger, sometimes dreaming big makes you very individualistic and selfish. That’s why you need really important grounding forces in your life to remind you that it’s not just about you. Your special talent isn’t there just to show off. It’s useful for potentially building community, and I think my character’s influence in the film is this reminder that community is the most important thing. What is the point of being celebrated as the best fashion designer in the world if you’re fucking people over? There’s no joy in that. I think she’s the one who delivers that message to Corvette.

Mickey 17 also has a very specific world that you got to play around in. (Set on a planetary colonisation mission, Ackie plays the loyal partner to Robert Pattinson’s Mickey and his numerous disposable clones.)

Bless Rob, I think he was knackered on that job! He did not get an easy time. There were details within those sets and within the costumes that I don’t even think people really got to see. You know when our characters get arrested and they get put into the prison cells? There were these water bottles that were shaped like [the ones for] a gerbil in a cage. I revel in people’s creativity.

Mickey 17 is funny and ambitious, but the most moving thing about it is that it’s actually really romantic. Your character Nasha finds her person and loves every version of him, even the parts of himself he doesn’t like.

I love the fierceness of the love. I love how brash Nasha is and how much she will fuck a bitch up to protect that love. I might do it in the future, but it doesn’t feel like me to do a really classic romantic film, because that’s not how I see relationships. I think romantic relationships are beautiful because they’re quite messy and visceral. It’s got its own complete DNA structure that can’t be replicated. The thing that another human being brings out of you is so specific and it can be just the most wonderfully eye-opening experience. Mickey 17 is probably the most romantic I will ever get.

You also mentioned The End Of The F***ing World. Was it tricky to find your character, Bonnie?

That was probably the hardest to find. Once I did, it clicked, but I remember getting the breakdown for Bonnie. It said something like “odd”. I remember that key word. Playing odd is not possible. It’s so subjective that you have to try many different things. With Bonnie, we actually did get rehearsals for that one, and that was really helpful because I needed to figure out how she moved in the space. I realised through rehearsal that if I placed my energy backwards, so, like, energetically I’m trying to move away from everyone that I see, it did something to my eyes. I could pretend to try and be a human being and everything was kind of dead. So really, instead of her being odd through other people’s eyes, she feels odd in her own body.

At one point you had considered giving up on acting, but then you won the BAFTA for The End Of The F***ing World. Did it mean something to you to win at that point in your life?

It was transition time. I won the BAFTA during Covid. The laptop was on a cardboard box because I was moving house. The thing about awards is they are always so subjective. It’s a group of people in a room who might all happen to agree that this is their favourite performance, but that doesn’t really mean much. It’s a great compliment and it’s an amazing message of, like, “You’re doing something good.” To be honest, that validation happened when I got nominated, not necessarily the winning. It gave me a bit of a confidence boost when I needed it.

Do I want to do a kick-butt film? Yes.

Did Star Wars come at that transitional time of your life?

I filmed it before [The End Of The F***ing World], but The End Of The F***ing World definitely came out first. That was so funny because it’s like, the movies! People are like, “We’re gonna make you a star!” I was 26 and I was thrust into this giant world where they were like, “Your life is going to change,” and it didn’t.

This is a mad story. I had done Star Wars, [but] it hadn’t come out yet. I had auditioned and gotten one of the main parts for the Game Of Thrones prequel, ‘The Long Night’. I did the pilot, and I had a great time and my part was really cool. I was like, “Wow, now I’ve got Star Wars AND Game Of Thrones.” And then a Marvel audition came along and I was in the last round for that. I was talking to my family, like, “Guys, this could be it for me. I’m going to be some sort of Comic-Con legend.” And within the same week, I found out that I didn’t get the part in Marvel and the Game Of Thrones [show] wasn’t going ahead. My dad had to take me on a drive around London because I was crying my eyes out. But I think back now and I’m grateful, because I wouldn’t have the career I have now. I have so much freedom. I’ve just been a part of a DC [movie]. It comes around.

You’ve mentioned before that you grew up watching Marvel movies, hoping you’d be in them one day.

As I’ve gotten older, the things that I want to do or express have changed. Do I want to do a kick-butt film? Yes. All I want to do is play a role where I get to wear something really cool and kick people’s arses. It’s a goal and I want to achieve it. I don’t know when in my life, but I want to achieve it. I have huge respect for those films. I adore doing combat stuff.

You were able to do combat in Star Wars, at least.

God, that was fun. There was even more — I think they cut some of Jannah’s (Ackie’s character) stuff. But all of that was a huge lesson for when you’re approaching physical work. I just finished doing a boxing film (Ruth Greenberg’s sports drama Sugar, co-starring Eve Hewson). It was eight months training in boxing. It’s exciting stuff. The beginning of those skills that I learned in Star Wars have paid off ten years later.

The DC film you have coming up is Clayface. On paper, it sounds like something really different because you’re working with director James Watkins and screenwriter Mike Flanagan, who both have horror backgrounds.

This is what I mean — the right things find you. My love will always be smaller films. I really love genre films, and I love acting in genre films. The fact that it’s the DC world with this indie influence and this genre-led influence feels like the world I belong to. This project was so much fun to make and the community there was incredible. It was the same kind of deal with Rob on Mickey 17. Tom [Rhys Harries, who plays Clayface] went through a lot more than I did. The thing I love about genre work is that you know what the criteria is, and your job is to push it to its furthest limit. So this mash-up [between] a horror film and a comic-book film is interesting. I think it’s really smart of DC, because it brings in horror lovers, comic-book lovers. We’ll see what happens.

In the past you’ve talked about the difficult journey you had with I Wanna Dance With Somebody, but what were the lessons you took from that experience that informed your choices moving forward?

The most positive thing about playing Whitney was I realised that I love getting very specific about the body. I heard this song the other day, and it really made me want to learn how to do samba. I was like, “Oh, maybe I’ll tell my agents I want to do a film that centres around dance so that I can learn how to dance.” With Whitney it was like this crash course into a skill of how to be a superstar singer. But there was so much joy in the time it took to do it, in the same way that there’s so much joy in the seven months of horse-riding training I had to do for Star Wars. Or the eight months of boxing training [for Sugar]. There was a lesson there of letting go of the idea of perfection and also digging in, getting your hands dirty, and doing the work. You can’t shortcut those things and the result always ends up on camera. I remember feeling certain things, and the body’s starting to do it before your mind does it. It just feels like magic. My boyfriend said that when we first met, I was still dancing like Whitney.

You’ve worked with so many incredible, experienced directors. Where does Steve McQueen rank in that?

Very highly, and I hope he hires me again. I was on that project for, like, two days. (Ackie plays a child psychologist in Small Axe’s ‘Education’, McQueen’s five-film anthology centred on the lives of West Indian immigrants). It was a really quick thing for me, but I got to observe him and he’s so encouraging and specific. I think that’s my favourite quality: if a director is specific, I feel like I can do anything, because all I need is a good note. Steve McQueen is incredible. He has the power to access these worlds that not a lot of people get to see and he expands it. He’s just so sensitive to story, and what he was doing was a huge feat. The fact that this was a world that was real, for one. It’s historical, and it is a culture that not a lot of people get access to. It’s a really hard thing to pull off, and he pulled it off incredibly.

Conversely, you’ve also worked with a number of first-time directors. Recently you starred in Zoë Kravitz’s Blink Twice and Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby, which overlap slightly in themes around power and sexual violence, but they also bring levity in their own distinctive ways. How did you find walking that tightrope of joy and darkness in both films?

I’m always attracted to things that can hold many things in the same space, because that’s what life actually is. Sorry, Baby feels extremely grounded and extremely real, and then obviously Blink Twice is a little bit fantastical, but only a little bit. But even so, the world that Zoë created within Blink Twice was extremely vivid and very visceral. The thing that actually makes it easier to access the tougher ideas, the darker elements, is that you have this brightness, because it gives you somewhere to go. It’s what they say about Shakespeare: don’t play the tragedy. And sometimes there’s a mistake made with these really dark things, that you have to hold that atmosphere constantly. The most effective thing for an audience, I think, is when they are able to slightly forget that things are maybe going to go a bit wrong. Those things feel more real than just staying in the darkness. Or doing comedy. I don’t think I’d do well in a comedy.

No?

Not without it having some level of something else to it. Some people can do it because they’re funny. I’m not funny. I did Blink Twice and then Sorry, Baby came up and I remember talking to my team and being like, “Do I want to do another film that covers this subject?” Because the subject means a lot to me. Would it cross the same lines? And it just didn’t feel like it did, partially because my character [in Sorry, Baby] was there to support Eva’s character and that felt different. But it also felt like [Blink Twice] is about the trauma and what happens immediately after. Sorry, Baby is about the healing process. It felt like looking at the same thing from different perspectives. Those are cool projects. Who knows what I’ll be up to next time?

This article was originally published in the Summer 2026 issue of Empire Magazine. Naomi Ackie was photographed exclusively for Empire at Loft Studios, London, on 13 April, 2026. I Love Boosters is in US cinemas from 22 May and arrives in UK cinemas later this year.

Middle-earth is no stranger to the world of video games. Back in the era of Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings trilogy, the films received a series of tie-in hack-and-slash games that were surprisingly above the bar for licensed movie games at the time (and allowed you to gleefully tear through orcs as Gandalf). In more recent years, the franchise has seen the highs of the Shadow Of Mordor series, which blended Assassin’s Creed-style gameplay with Monolith’s (RIP) incredible Nemesis System. Then there were the lows, namely The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, which the less said about, the better.

However, those looking for a big Middle-earth RPG in the vein of Skyrim or Avowed may finally be in luck, as Warhorse Studios – the team behind the critically acclaimed Kingdom Come: Deliverance series – has announced on social media that it is working on an “open-world Middle-earth RPG”, alongside a new Kingdom Come game. Details are scarce, but it’s safe to assume this may not be set during the events of The Lord Of The Rings, and could instead explore another part of Tolkien’s wider fantasy world and timeline.

Warhorse seems like a very strong fit for Tolkien’s world, given its approach to immersive worlds and realistic melee combat from the Kingdom Come: Deliverance series – it’s easy to imagine how that might look when blended with Hobbits, Orcs, Elves and more. Given how strict the studio has traditionally been about historical accuracy, this would mark a major departure for Warhorse as it heads into fiction territory, but considering its strength in telling expansive, grounded stories, the One Ring appears to be in very safe hands. And, with a new season of The Rings Of Power arriving this year, alongside an all-new Lord Of The Rings film next year, it seems there will be no shortage of Middle-earth any time soon.

If you’ve seen Obsession, chances are you’re… well, obsessed. Curry Barker’s studio debut is a top-notch horror that proves a major new talent has arrived – no wonder he’s been handed the keys to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre by A24 (plus he’s already shot upcoming feature Anything But Ghosts for Blumhouse, due in 2027). As you’ve likely heard, Barker rose up via a YouTube channel – named ‘that’s a bad idea’ – alongside collaborator Cooper Tomlinson. The good news is, that means he has plenty of pre-Obsession films which are freely available for you to watch online.

From an all-out feature to ultra-creepy shorts, it’s worth burrowing down the digital Curry Barker rabbit-hole – especially if Obsession got your blood pumping – and seeing the formative works that turned him into one of the most exciting new filmmaking talents around. Here are five other Curry Barker films you can watch right now, for free.

Milk & Serial (2024)

It’s on the short side for a full-on feature (roughly 60 minutes), but if you’re looking for a second helping of Curry, then make Milk & Serial your first port of call. Made for just $800, this smart, twisty found-footage horror takes the ‘YouTube prank video’ format and warps it to sinister ends. (Frankly, all YouTube pranks are sinister.) Curry stars alongside Tomlinson, playing ‘Milk’ and ‘Seven’, respectively – two roommates who host a prank channel together. The film slyly blurs the boundaries of what is and isn’t a practical joke as the duo attempt to out-do each other, with seriously dark ends. Of all his early work, Milk & Serial is the project that most shows what Curry would be capable of with a feature film.

The Chair (2023)

This short – which runs at about 25 minutes – is more akin to Obsession, since it depicts a relationship torn asunder by supernatural meddling. And it’s also a ‘cursed object’ film, in which Reese (Anthony Pavone) brings home an old wooden chair he finds in the street, much to his girlfriend Julie’s (Haley Schwartz) disdain. Her creep-factor with the freaky furniture might be justified though: Reese suddenly finds that a week of his life has disappeared from his memory, and his nightmare has only just begun. It’s creepy stuff, packing a lot into a brief runtime – while Julie switching between sweet and sinister has shades of Obsession’s Nikki.

Warnings (2023)

This atmospheric 20-minute chiller has a great hook: Sean (played by Barker) finds an ominous Sharpie-written note – ‘I’M BEGGING YOU TO STOP’ – on his car on Halloween, and soon finds his grip on reality unravelling as he finds other notes appearing elsewhere too. There are some particularly eerie dream sequences in Warnings, and it boasts the spookiest on-screen walk since Reese Shearsmith emerged from that tent in A Field In England.

Enigma (2023)

Here’s something much sweeter, albeit with an apocalyptic bent – billed as a psychological thriller, Enigma is more of a bittersweet melancholic character drama, as Adam (Tomlinson, who penned this one too) stews away in his apartment while the days tick down to the end of the world. Despondent and unsure how to spend his final days – ordering Papa Johns and eating buckets of Ben & Jerry’s isn’t the worst shout, to be fair – he finds a modicum of hope in the embers of a lost relationship. The result is on a different tonal register to Barker’s other shorts, with a heartfelt core.

Heavy Eyes (2022)

Barker’s shortest short takes one of his signature moves – the uncanny dream sequence – and lets it play out across five minutes. He plays Seth, applying for jobs at home while his mum works late at the hospital. Except, odd noises in the house suggest he’s not alone, and there are more nightmarish implications at play. While maintaining a strong psychological bent, this is Barker playing at pure horror tropes, and succeeding in short form; proving he can do nuts-and-bolts spookiness in a matter of minutes.

Good news for anyone who loves Maika Monroe in scream queen mode: there’s more where that came from. Ever since the double-whammy of It Follows and The Guest made her a genre favourite – continuing more recently in the likes of Watcher and Longlegs – it’s been clear that Monroe has an affinity for tales of terror. And in Victorian Psycho, it seems she’s the one unleashing bloody havoc on polite society, in a 19th Century-set horror thriller. Check out the trailer here:

The film – from Sanctuary director Zachary Wigon – sees author Virginia Feito adapt her own novel of the same name, with Monroe playing Winifred Notty, a governess with violent tendencies. When she moves to a new estate, Ensor House, she struggles to keep her urges at bay, the longer she spends with the Pounds family. Wigon has assembled a great cast for this one – as well as Monroe, the film stars Thomasin McKenzie, Jason Isaacs, and Ruth Wilson, as well as Hamnet’s Jacobi Jupe, and Wednesday Season 2’s Evie Templeton.

Victorian Psycho is screening imminently at Cannes, so expect first screening – or, screaming – reactions soon. UK audiences will get to see it when it comes to cinemas this autumn, though no date is yet confirmed.

There is a school of thought that Tom and Jerry are godlike beings, locked in a battle that can never truly end. No matter how often either is flattened, blown up or electrocuted, they cannot abandon one another. They are the immovable force and unstoppable object of philosophical exploration; their struggle is every being’s struggle for ease and security and being neither beaten nor eaten alive. Clearly, that’s something that the makers of their latest film, Tom And Jerry: Forbidden Compass, wanted to emphasise, because it feels like a fight for survival just to sit through it.

The opening is upbeat, pop-soundtracked nonsense, like a thousand other kid films, as Jerry makes his way across Manhattan (for some reason) to visit a museum where Tom stands guard. But very quickly the pair are magically shifted via an item on display, the titular compass, to Gold City in the “Far East”, according to extensive introductory subtitles. This enlightened settlement is under attack from Mega Rat but its guardian, Phoenix Master, is focused on earning his way back into heaven. Both are keen to get their hands on the compass that Tom now wears around his neck, and so begins a relentlessly scored running battle with no ebb and flow, and no sense of real pace, that goes on for most of the film.

You can’t be this loud, for this long, and yet leave people this sleepy.

Tom and Jerry are technically present throughout, but barely involved in any of the major moments. It’s really about showcasing Chinese design and characters, with the two visitors largely reduced to onlookers and occasional sources of (barely needed) extra chaos. Given their cartoon’s popularity, following extensive airing on Chinese TV in the ’80s and ’90s, this begins to look like cultural appropriation of the two Americans, shoehorned into a local story with no real contribution to make.

The character design of the titular pair doesn’t work in this 3D style, and some of the other characters, notably Mega Rat, are ugly but not in a way that feels purposeful — just inept. The animation and environments are pretty enough, and it might make you want to go on holiday to China, which may have been the principal aim. But the storytelling is simply bad. You can’t be this loud, for this long, and yet leave people this sleepy. These two forces of absolute chaos deserve better. They deserve to create mayhem that matters.

Streaming on: Netflix
Episodes viewed: 8 of 8

Mere months after Stranger Things bowed out with its fifth and final season, the Duffer Brothers return to Netflix as executive producers of a new show that flips their signature hit upside down — replacing the kids with pensioners to face off against an otherworldly threat. If Stranger Things was a love letter to the ’80s, The Boroughs, created by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, is about people in their eighties — or at least, around that age — centring an older generation for a horror-fuelled sci-fi story of their own.

Where Stranger Things introduced an ensemble of pre-teen unknowns to an unsuspecting public, The Boroughs comes with a healthy pedigree of experience and background. This show is stacked with talent, perhaps more than any other title streaming this year. Alfred Molina, as Sam, is on fantastic, crabby form in the lead, teasing out the loneliness and heartbreak that lurks just beneath the surface. “I was an engineer, but now I’m a prisoner,” he drily tells a transition manager upon arriving at retirement community The Boroughs, described by one character as “a special town just for grown-ups”. To his relief, it’s not long before Sam strikes up new friendships — relationships that you’ll root for from the get-go.

A place you’ll be more than happy to retire to.

Geena Davis, Clarke Peters, Alfre Woodard, Bill Pullman and Denis O’Hare all play a vital role in the story too, each bringing their own unique quirks — and a surprising amount of horniness — to the table. The unique selling point of The Boroughs is this older perspective, reminding us just how rare it is to see the singular outlook of those in their autumn years foregrounded in big-budget genre fare. It’s just as rare to see this many big players aged 60 and above shine as part of an ensemble on screen too, even if the writing on the show itself doesn’t always match their calibre.

For at times, the show’s genre thrills falter somewhat. Early reveals that come too soon and pacing issues in the middle undercut the impact of what could have been a gripping mystery. For better and for worse, this isn’t just “Stranger Things, but for older people”; despite being understandably foregrounded in the press and marketing, the Duffers are strictly on executive-producer duties only. The budget doesn’t quite match Stranger Things in its heyday, either, with various effects and prosthetics that often underwhelm, even if that initial monster design comes out creepy in all the right ways. Still, if all of Netflix’s money was spent on the cast, it was money well spent, because even with its flaws and that pesky monster rattling around, The Boroughs is a place you’ll be more than happy to retire to.

And away we go! While we still can't quite wrap our heads around the fact that David Fincher has directed a full-on, Quentin Tarantino penned and Brad Pitt starring sequel to QT's 2019 alt-history Tinseltown epic Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, we are incredibly excited for it. And following that fleeting, never-to-be-seen-since Super Bowl trailer for the movie unofficially known as The Adventures Of Cliff Booth, Netflix has today confirmed that the Hawaiian shirt sporting stuntman's return is getting an IMAX cinema release and hitting Netflix this year. Check out the announcement below;

There you have it! Booth's big-screen comeback is filling the slot previously held by Greta Gerwig's Narnia and getting an exclusive two-week IMAX cinema run from 25 November, ahead of a 23 December Netflix streaming drop just in time for Christmas. And what's more, while we still don't have a full, official synopsis for The Adventures Of Cliff Booth yet (pretty much all we do know is that the movie's set to catch up with a Rick Dalton-free Booth in late 70s LA, where he's earning a living as a Hollywood fixer), we do have a principal cast list to get excited about. Per Netflix's announcement, Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Carla Gugino, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Peter Weller, Matt Groove, JB Tadena, Corey Fogelmanis, and Karren Karagulian are all taking a trip back in time with Fincher's movie.

With Netflix having given the likes of KPop Demon Hunters (belatedly) and Stranger Things (reluctantly) theatrical releases in recent months, and Greta Gerwig's Narnia still set to hit IMAX cinemas itself in the New Year, it's heartening to see that Fincher and Tarantino's unexpected but hotly anticipated team-up is following suit. It also gives Tarantino — whose current side quest is mounting a West End production of his first original play, The Popinjay Cavalier — a chance to release a new movie without it counting as his final movie. The crafty sod.

Now here's one for you: as a director, how do you recast an Oscar-nominated actor who's just starred in an Odyssean epic for your secret new sci-fi blockbuster? The answer, at least if you happen to be Everything Everywhere All At Once directorial duo The Daniels anyway, is you find yourself an Oscar-winning actor who's just about to star in the Odyssean epic. Yes, according to Deadline, The Odyssey star Matt Damon is reportedly in talks to replace Ryan Gosling in Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's upcoming Universal sci-fi joint.

Fresh off the back of his winning turn in Phil Lord and Chris Miller's Project Hail Mary, Ryan Gosling had been announced as the lead for the Daniels' latest at the beginning of last month, with production due to get underway in Los Angeles this summer. However, barely a week later, Gosling swiftly exited the project, with various sources citing 'scheduling conflicts' as the reason for the Canadian's premature departure. According to Deadline's sources, Damon — who had been planning some well deserved time off after shooting The Rip and The Odyssey last year — met with Kwan and Scheinert about the film recently, giving the duo a tentative thumbs-up. Should a deal close for Damon to star, that originally planned summer shoot will go ahead just as soon as the in-demand actor finishes the press tour for Christopher Nolan's inbound IMAX epic.

Though details on Oscar winners The Daniels' latest remain strictly hush-hush for now, we do know a little about what the guys are cooking over at Universal. Deadline notes that the film is predominantly eyeing younger stars for its wider ensemble. Elsewhere, the movie was described by Daniel Kwan as "a fun sci-fi, action comedy with a big heart" that's "very existential" in a recent Collider interview — all of which fit the bill for Damon, who of course led Ridley Scott's 2015 sci-fi smash The Martian. With Kwan and Scheinert's film still slated for theatrical release on 19 November, 2027, watch this *ahem* space for more updates in the weeks and months to come.

With Father’s Day fast approaching, dad-friendly content is suddenly filling our screens. In the coming weeks, get ready for an onslaught of action movies, World War II documentaries and _Top Gear_knock-offs. Sure enough, right on time, Jack Ryan — the CIA analyst-turned-super-spy originated by Tom Clancy in his bestselling novels, and Hero To All Dads – is back. Having served four workmanlike seasons on Prime Video, John Krasinski returns to the role for Jack Ryan: Ghost War, his first feature-length outing and the first for the character since 2014’s largely forgettable (and similarly vaguely titled) Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

Krasinski is now by far the longest-serving steward of a character whose sensible-spook suit has previously been filled by the likes of Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine. He seems as comfortable as he did with Jim in The Office, playing him with dependably steady competence, quiet calm and a dash of natural amiability. But Ghost War feels like the weakest entry in his series, a franchise now seemingly running on fumes.

At the end of the last season, Jack had resigned his post as Deputy Director of the CIA and was attempting to live a life outside the spy game. When we rejoin him, he’s back behind a desk, applying his considerable brain to the private sector. Naturally, his ol’ pal James Greer (Wendell Pierce), the agency’s new Deputy Director, decides to pull him back in for One Last Job, recruiting him as a freelancer for a meeting with a contact in Dubai. (The reason why it simply had to be Jack Ryan, and not any one of the many CIA agents still at the agency, amounts to simply: well, the film is called ‘Jack Ryan’.)

Naturally, the Dubai meeting does not go to plan and soon Jack is forced to contend with the mysterious Liam Crown (Max Beesley), a snarling Northerner in the Ed-Harris-in-The-Rock villain template: a disgruntled decorated military vet who turns to terrorism to make his point. Except, it’s not entirely clear what his point is, beyond nebulous statements about “sending a message”. This is one of those films with a plot both needlessly convoluted and actually quite stupid, if you think about it too much.

Essentially plays like an extended episode.

So opaque and exposition-heavy is the script, in fact, that there is practically no room for any character beats. Jack gets a cursory, “I just want a normal life!” moment. Sienna Miller earns a thankless role as an MI6 agent whose one and only personality trait is to chain-smoke cigarettes. Michael Kelly’s Mike November is relegated to weak comic-relief duties. (The most unintentionally funny part of the film is that there is a pivotal, frequently referenced character called Nigel; with the greatest of respect to all Nigels, that is not a name that belongs in an action film.)

To its credit, the film attempts to place the plot within a political context, the villain positioned as a product of the post-9/11 War On Terror and its ugly ramifications. But the overall politics feel wobbly at best; Clancy was obviously as hawkish as they come, but talk of American ideals and “national pride” seems tone-deaf and somewhat outdated with the current situation in the United States. Instead, its most notable position seems to be accepting fairly brazen product-placement for Emirates Airlines and the UAE as a whole. (“Dubai is one the most technologically advanced cities in the world!” coos one character.)

At least the action is serviceable enough. The film’s high-point comes with a genuinely tense car-chase and shoot-out across central London; if you can look past the geographical crime of action moving from Greenwich to Westminster in seconds, it’ll raise the pulse here and there. Sadly, by the end, it devolves into thoughtless empty gunfire exchange, devoid of tension, excitement, or logic. It doesn’thelp that it rarely feels cinematic, with dull head-and-shoulders framing and flat TV lighting.

Ultimately, Ghost War is simply following a recent trend of TV shows-turned-films that look and feel almost exactly like the TV version — a generous runtime, and a bit of extra cash in the budget, sure, but essentially playing like an extended episode. (See also: Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, Karate Kid: Legends, The Mandalorian And Grogu). Dads deserve better

It may be hard to believe, but it's somehow been three years already since Michael B. Jordan's knockout directorial debut Creed III hit cinemas, delivering a haymaker at the box-office and swiftly spawning talk of a sprawling new Creed-verse from MBJ's Outlier Society label. Now, per Deadline's reporting, one of Jordan's spin-off-of-a-spin-off plans (lest we forget, the Creed series is itself a Rocky off-shoot) — namely Prime Video bound elite boxing academy series Delphi — has actually revealed its line-up and entered production in Los Angeles.

Hailing from showrunner Marco Ramirez (The Defenders, Daredevil), Delphi "follows a group of gifted young boxers in an elite academy fighting to achieve their dreams and reach the pinnacle of the sport." Among Delphi's young boxers will be dysfunctional brothers Santi (Benji Santiago) and Nico Torres (Juan Castano), and introverted, anxious, yet incredibly talented wunderkind Kai Katsaros (Victoria Vourkoutiotis). They're joined by Demián Bichir as tough-love Torres family patriarch (and gym owner) Hector; André Holland as boxing strategist and Delphi Academy lead instructor Teddy ‘T-Bone’ Parker; Andre Royo as walking boxing encyclopaedia Elmer Tatum, a man who 'can predict a final outcome based on what the fighters had for breakfast'; Sofia Black-D’Elia as accountant with elite boxing academy trainer ambitions Bobbi Weiss; and Wood Harris as Little Duke, legendary trainer of Apollo Creed and current trainer of Delphi Academy's new contenders.

Ramirez is cooking already here with a rock-solid ensemble of instantly intriguing-sounding characters and a hooky Cobra Kai-ish premise, and that's even without knowing anything about the rest of the series' regulars: Niles Fitch's Dante, Dasan Frazier's Remy, Graham Patrick Martin's Jackson, Brittany Adebumola's Mina, Rene Moran's Iggy, Okieriete Onaodowan's Freddie, and Breanna Yde's Ana. We look forward to finding out whether Michael B. Jordan and co's latest entry in the expanded Rocky universe is gonna fly now — or if it's got the streaming equivalent of a glass jaw — whenever it eventually lands on Prime Video.

If you’re something of an online cinephile – and if you’re here, then you surely tick both of those boxes – chances are you’ve heard all the hype around Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie. The big-screen outing of Canadian comedians Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol has been one of the most acclaimed movies of 2026, a hugely-hyped comedy film that hit cinemas in the US and Canada at the start of the year. But it’s been all quiet on the UK release front – until now.

Finally, Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie has a confirmed release date in the UK and Ireland, set to hit cinemas here on July 3, with some previews on July 1 too, having been picked up by Vertigo Releasing. That means, after months of waiting, there’s only a month and a half more waiting to go until we get one of the year’s most talked-about movies. The film – directed by Johnson, who also directed 2023’s Blackberry, and is behind the camera too on upcoming Anthony Bourdain movie Tony – is the latest escalation of his and McCarrol’s comedy project, which began as a YouTube mockumentary series in 2007, and became a TV sitcom in Canada in 2017.

Here’s hoping that this Canadian comedy lives up to the hype – be sure to bring your own box of Timbits.

Streaming on: Netflix

Episodes viewed: 6 of 6

Working for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) might seem dull — and it probably is, for the most part — but there is another, more gripping story behind the tedious bureaucracy of it all, one that’s never been depicted on screen until now. Scottish screenwriter Neil Forsyth follows up BBC’s The Gold with another true-crime story that’s hard to believe, this time adapting a memoir that details the 11 years Guy Stanton spent working undercover to prevent drug-smuggling.

If that sounds serious, it often is. Legends — the latest in an increasingly long line of gang-based shows on Netflix (see also; Top Boy, Peaky Blinders, Narcos) — deals with the life-and-death stakes that people in way over their heads were forced to contend with, all for a job that hardly paid well considering the risk of it all. Scenes where various members of the team are almost found out are genuinely thrilling, and the impact that these drugs had (and continue to have) on the general public isn't shied away from either. Note how the operation begins because a cabinet minister’s daughter died from drugs, not because of the working-class lad who also died from an overdose on the exact same day.

Coogan’s gravelly chief shows yet another side to the acclaimed comedian...

But there is humour too, often in the banter shared among these officers who are just normal people trying to get by and find relief. As the operation escalates, some names might slip by as you try and keep up with the intricacies of it all. What you won’t forget, however, are the two leads.

Coogan’s gravelly chief shows yet another side to the acclaimed comedian, whose determination and stoic charisma just about help him pull off lines like, “The kind of legend he’s building is the kind you’re never really out of.” Don is talking about Guy (Black Bag's Tom Burke), the officer whose memoir this show is based on, the one who took to undercover life almost too well. Watching Guy try to reconcile his darker urges with doing right by his family, Queen, and country is utterly absorbing, as is Burke’s performance, both he and Coogan ably fulfilling the title’s promise.

Cannes 2026 is in full swing and, with it, comes one hell of a line-up of films. One of them is the latest feature from South Korean director Na Hong-jin, who previously brought us the serial killer thriller The Chaser, the action thriller The Yellow Sea, and the haunting horror epic The Wailingback in 2016. Now, after a 10-year absence, he returns with an all-new sci-fi actioner, Hope, which debuted at Cannes last night alongside the release of its first trailer, which you can watch below:

Now, there’s a lot to unpack here: aliens, shoot-outs, some incredibly intense horseback chases, and what looks like a collection of absolutely bonkers action sequences. Although the plot is being kept relatively under wraps, the film’s official synopsis reads:“A mysterious discovery is made on the outskirts of a remote harbour town. The residents find themselves in a desperate fight for survival.”

It all looks very intriguing. There’s a dash of A Quiet Place about the whole thing, but it also looks set to deliver some huge action spectacle. Either way, this is a big-budget South Korean sci-fi film from one of the country’s most talented auteurs, so it’s definitely worth getting excited about.

The film stars Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, and Squid Game favourite Hoyeon in lead roles. Perhaps even more intriguing, though, is the fact that Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Taylor Russell also appear in currently undisclosed roles. Everything surrounding the film is being kept very hush-hush, so it remains to be seen exactly how they fit into the story. Neon is handling the UK release, although the film does not have a release date yet, we do know it will be hitting US cinemas in the Winter. Keep your eyes peeled, though — we’re hoping to see much more from Hope very soon.

Streaming on: Disney+

Episodes viewed: 5 of 12

Remember when hair was bigger? When shoulders were padded? When TV was fun with a capital “F”? In its second season, Rivals continues to delight in the hedonism of Dame Jilly Cooper’sracy book series with ’80s flair and cheeky schoolboy antics. Bums abound in this preposterously silly yet addictive adaptation, where it feels like everyone is having a good time in the way only two (or more) people can. But beyond all the willies and hairspray, Rivals’ second helping manages somehow to go deeper.

Amid the melodramatics and endless shagging, Season 2 expands the world of Rutshire to spotlight many secondary female characters who were previously sidelined. Beyond the central rivalry, it’s women like Sarah Stratton (Emily Atack) and Lady Monica Baddingham (Claire Rushbrook) who intrigue the most now, as they navigate the inherent misogyny that’s unavoidable both at work and home. Rupert Campbell-Black MP (Alex Hassell) also moves past caricature into something more nuanced in his evolving relationship with Taggie (Bella Maclean), which felt a bit one-note before.

As such, it’s tempting to suggest that Rivals has become more serious, maturing in its second year. While that is true to some degree, have no fear: men still rip their pants and shirts off with soothing regularity, while debauchery continues to (Buck's) fizz with wild abandon. This time, however, the writing juggles comedy, drama and sheer horniness with more finesse.

One standout kitchen sequence in Episode 2 ambitiously combines all three, calling to mind British sitcoms of yesteryear. The only occasional drawback is that all this excess sometimes proves a tad, well, excessive. Plus, certain elements (such as a key storyline for Gary Lamont’s Charles Fairburn) do feel slightly rushed. Still, watching acting royalty like David Tennant chew on the scenery (and his cigar) remains delightfully fun with a capital “F”. And that's something we’re in short supply of these days.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away — specifically, November 2019 — Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin first stepped into a seedy cantina in the Outer Rim. Set during the fragile peace of the Star Wars’ New Republic era — the Weimar-esque interwar years, post-Vader, pre-Ren — The Mandalorian was an unusual offering. Star Wars’ first foray into live-action TV (notwithstanding the Star Wars Holiday Special or Ewoks: The Battle For Endor), this was a series with no major star, no legacy characters, no lightsabers.

That feels like a long time ago. Legacy characters and sabers (dark or otherwise) have since snuck their way into the series, while Pedro Pascal’s profile has risen faster than the Millennium Falcon bombing it down the Kessel Run. The show’s scope and scale was never small, so it makes sense that Mando and Grogu have found their way to the big screen; still, the series seemed to find a natural conclusion at the end of Season 2, when Din tearfully left his little green mate in the capable hands of one L. Skywalker. Since then, it’s felt a little like treading water, with a third season that introduced lots more Mandalorians but fewer compelling stories. That feeling isn’t entirely shaken off in this feature-length tale, which doesn’t add much to the canon.

The first half of the film rattles along at a merry old pace with some stirring action, and characters both old and new peppering the background.

Instead, it’s a back-to-basics adventure, obeying the founding principles of the show: blending elements of Westerns and old Saturday-morning one-reels into a ripping-yarn caper, while studiously avoiding getting bogged down in complex lore or anything too deep. It begins confidently in this manner, with Mando — introduced heroically in the shadows — engaging in some satisfying gun-slinging and cowboyish drawls (“I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold,” he snarls, nodding to the pilot episode.)

The first half of the film rattles along at a merry old pace with some stirring action, and characters both old (Star Wars Rebels’ furry blue pilot Zeb, voiced by Steve Blum, makes his film debut here) and new (Sigourney Weaver adds another nerd notch to her CV as Colonel Ward) peppering the background. Mando is now working full time as an “independent contractor” for the New Republic: still a bounty hunter for hire, but exclusively for the good guys. This is how he enters the orbit of the Twins, the Hutt gangsters desperate to retrieve their roided-up nephew Rotta (voiced by Jeremy Allen White), son of the fearsome Jabba.

Rotta is the film’s first stumble: while the twins speak in traditional tongue-twisting Huttese, Rotta bafflingly speaks Galactic Basic with a New York accent, with which he whines about being a nepo baby (nepo-Jabb-y?) while getting a droid-based sports massage. Rotta might be a fan-favourite from his appearance in the original Clone Wars film, but here his presence begins to make the film feel repetitive — quite literally, sluggish. Time and time again, Mando is forced to fight reams of CGI aliens where the stakes rarely rise above, “How is Mando going to get out of this pickle?”

Just when you think the film has forgotten the second character named in its title, the pace abruptly slows in the third act, when Mando takes a backseat to the Artist Formerly Known As Baby Yoda. There is a lovely, bucolic, near-wordless sequence in which Grogu takes the lead, demonstrating quiet tenderness, resilience and leadership that belies his mere 50-something years. While the film sometimes coasts on his cuteness — the introduction of multiple equally adorable Anzellans adds to this feeling — it never forgets that he remains its greatest asset.

What it does slightly forget to do, though, is move the story forward in any meaningful way. Oddly, it feels like the least consequential Mandalorian chapter yet, with previous episodes from the TV incarnation — or even segments of the much-maligned Book Of Boba Fett — having more impact on the narrative. It’s thinner than skimmed blue milk, with longtime series stewards Jon Favreau (director and co-writer) and Dave Filoni (co-writer and new Galactic Emperor of the entire franchise) largely playing it safe. Perhaps after the relative disappointment of The Rise Of Skywalker, this is all it needed or was intended to be. The Mandalorian And Grogu is, primarily, For Kids, as George Lucas always insisted Star Wars was, and on those modest terms, it finds the way.

In brightest day, in blackest night, no HBO Max trailer shall escape Empire's sight. Let those who worship DC Studios' might, beware its power... Lanterns' light! Yes, Chris Mundy, Tom King, and Damon Lindelof's HBO detective series Lanterns — the ring-wielding Green Lantern Corps' first proper outing in James Gunn's DCU — is well on its way. And now, along with a newly confirmed 17 August premiere date, we have a whole new trailer for the show, which is about to introduce us to Kyle Chandler's grizzled Lantern Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre's charismatic up-and-comer John Stewart. Check it out below;

Okay, now there's a trailer. As we saw in the last Lanterns teaser, Lindelof and co's new show is set to see Chandler's Hal Jordan and Pierre's John Stewart butt heads as they reluctantly team up to solve a grizzly crime — a decent enough hook in and of itself. But as we perhaps didn't see so much last time, this also looks to be a series with licks of comedy, hints of cosmic shenanigans afoot, and bigger aspirations than merely 'What if DC did True Detective?' Here we see Chandler's Lantern using his Power Ring to conjure counterfeit cash and conjure force fields. We see Hal Jordan suiting up — and seemingly heading off-world — while John Stewart faces the institutional biases of the law and fights to prove his worth as a member of the Corps. And we hear a simple but important question, 'Are you afraid?', being asked as unseen threats circle and John Stewart tries Hal's Power Ring on for size. Oh! And three-time Oscar nominee Laura Linney's just joined the cast, as if it wasn't stacked enough already.

The official logline for Lanterns — which also stars Kelly Macdonald, Jason Ritter, Nathan Fillion, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Ulrich Thomsen, J. Alphonse Nicholson, and Jasmine Cephas Jones — reads as follows. "[Lanterns] follows new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland."

Where exactly is the threat coming from in Lanterns? Can Hal Jordan and John Stewart set aside their differences long enough to solve the series' mysteries? Could we even see one of them break bad and end up on the wrong side of the supe divide? And will Guy Gardner ever get a better haircut in this DCU? We guess we'll find out when Lanterns hits HBO Max on 17 August...

When Sam Raimi makes a new horror movie, it's a kind of magic. But when Sam Raimi makes a new horror movie that's also a remake of a Richard Attenborough directed, Anthony Hopkins starring 1978 cult classic about a ventriloquist who finds himself at the mercy of his diabolical puppet? Well, in that case, it's a kind of Magic. All of which is to say that, per Deadline's reporting, Sam Raimi is remaking Magic... or, more accurately, adapting anew William Goldman's original 1976 novel. And, what's more, he's bringing Send Help writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift along for the creepy puppet ride.

As stated above, Magic was originally a 1976 book from William Goldman (yes, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, All The President's Men, and The Princess Bride writer William Goldman). The story follows a failed magician, Corky, who becomes an overnight success when he starts incorporating potty-mouthed puppet Fats into his act. But here's the rub: Fats is a murderous menace whose dominance over Corky threatens not only the magician's fragile sanity, but also his recently rekindled romance with his high school crush. In Attenborough's film, Hopkins delectably pulled double-duty as both puppet and master, resulting in an eerie, intense psychological thriller gilded by horror imagery. All we know so far about Raimi's take is that it will be a modern take on Goldman's book, though with Raimi, Shannon, and Swift at the helm of this adaptation, we think it's safe to assume we may be in for a slightly more visceral, wild experience with these guys' Magic.

“Sam is the dream director for this project — in fact, his coming aboard represents one of the truly great matches of director and material,” said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Adam Fogelson in a statement accompanying Magic's announcement. “The script is fantastic, and we could not be more excited to see Sam’s direction and creative vision take it to another level. We are absolutely thrilled he has chosen to direct the film.”

Having dipped his toe back into genre waters after a spell away with 2022's Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, Raimi took a deeper dive back into horror territory with blackly comic survival thriller Send Help earlier this year, finding in Shannon and Swift two writers more than capable of matching his outré horror freak. Here's hoping the trio can conjure up a treat — and that nobody's left looking a dummy — when their Magic comes to our screens.

“Be careful what you wish for” is such a threadbare cliché of life and cinema that it’s hard to believe anything new can be breathed into any story using the term as its foundation — much less a thrilling horror film. Yet here’s 26-year-old writer-director Curry Barker with his Obsession. It might just become yours.

Lovesick Bear (Michael Johnston) has fancied his mate Nikki (Inde Navarrette) for yonks. Desperate to tell her he loves her, he even rehearses his declaration in front of other friends. Despite ample time spent working together in a musical-instrument shop and on the lash downing shots, Bear bottles it. One day, he drops Nikki’s necklace down a drain and while trying to find a replacement, sees a ‘One Wish Willow’ charm. He’s warned about the trinket’sundesirable effects but buys it and uses it anyway, predictably wishing that Nikki falls in love with him. And she does — to extraordinary excess.

Barker, in only his second feature after 2024 micro-budget debut Milk & Serial, proves accomplished at supplying scares, be they jump or slow-burn.

There’s a satisfying ‘snap’ when Bear uses the charm that will remind viewers of the carnage that ensues when a similar process occurs in Weapons. But where that riotous chiller caused instant aggro, the feeling here is one of creeping dread and, eventually, complete terror.

Barker, in only his second feature after 2024 micro-budget debut Milk & Serial, proves accomplished at supplying scares, be they jump or slow-burn. Navarrette is sensational as the increasingly unhinged, violent Nikki, and her outlandish actions provide many of the film’s finest moments. To go into too much detail would be to spoil — but a memorable packed lunch, an excruciating party sequence and a devastating car scene are highlights.

This blackly funny, gory take on W.W. Jacobs’ 1902 short story ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ — and the hundreds of screen versions derived from it — is obviously far from an original idea. But the way in which it twists and warps the dusty material into a startling meditation on unhealthy infatuations is hugely impressive.

Fly, you fools! Yes, that's right, Ian McKellen — the legendary English actor who is Gandalf and Magneto, get over it — is our guest on this week's Empire Podcast. John Nugent pops over to McKellen's own pub, The Grapes in Limehouse, for a lovely chat about his new film, Steven Soderbergh's The Christophers, in which he plays a bitter artist who's a 'one-off half-monster'. [46:32 - 1:00:02 approx]

Speaking of Christophers, back in the podbooth Chris Hewitt is joined by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Harry Stainer for a fun episode in which they discuss the greatest characters who joined franchises after the first film (Puss In Boots hive, assemble!), and whether event cinema is making a comeback. They also run their eye over the week's movie news, including news of a possible Tintin 2, and review Curry Barker's Obsession, The Christophers, The Punisher: One Last Kill, and Ben Wheatley's Bob Odenkirk action fest Normal. Enjoy!

And if all of the above isn't quite enough Empire Podcast for you, then there's plenty more where that came from. You can listen to this week's episode (which, if you're counting, is #717) on the pod app of your choice. There, you'll also find the latest episode of Empire Pod regular The Interviews, which brings you even more chat with the cast and crew behind the biggest new releases. The most recent instalment sees Chris Hewitt sits down in person with James Cameron for even more Hit Me Hard And Soft chat, and then the great Guillermo del Toro, with the Mexican director coming to town to receive the BFI Fellowship and launch a season of his films at the BFI Southbank. (That is an excerpt from a longer del Toro interview which will be up on its own next week.). Finally, Sally Field and Lewis Pullman, the stars of new Netflix movie Remarkably Bright Creatures, Zoom in for a spirited chat with Chris.

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Marvel Studios' latest Special Presentation, The Punisher: One Last Kill, may have only hit Disney+ just this morning, but our *ahem* vision is already being directed towards the MCU's next major small-screen outing. At Disney's latest Upfront presentation in New York's Javits Center, the House of Mouse confirmed that long-gestating, Paul Bettany led series VisionQuest — the final part of a trilogy that began with 2021's WandaVision and continued with 2024's Agatha All Along — is officially set to start streaming on Disney+ on 14 October, 2026.

Hailing from showrunner Terry Malala's (Star Trek Picard) and starring Paul Bettany as everybody's favourite synthezoid once more, VisionQuest is set to explore 'White Vision''s search for purpose in a post-Thanos, post-Wanda world over the course of an eight-episode run, with each episode emulating a different kind of film. Plot specifics on the show are, as we've come to expect from MCU projects, pretty thin on the ground right now — but the series' cast does provide some compelling context for what Matalas and co have been cooking.

For starters, James Spader's Ultron — aka Vision's creator — is back, promising some testy father-son relationship tension. Then there's Todd Stashwick's Paladin, a Boba Fett style bounty hunter who's after Vis; Ruaridh Mollica's Tommy Maximoff is back, too; and T'Nia Miller is aboard the VisionQuest too, playing vengeful robot — and Marvel comics deep-cut — Jocasta. They're joined by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, James D’Arcy, Orla Brady, Emily Hampshire, Lauren Morais, and actual Philomena Cunk herself, Diane Morgan. There's even rumours of Chris Pratt's Star-Lord rocking up in VisionQuest at some point, but there's been no official confirmation of that just yet, so we're confining that to the realm of wild speculation for the time being.

By the time VisionQuest hits our screens, it will have been half a decade since WandaVision came along and kicked off Marvel Studios' DIsney+ era, and over two years since Agatha Harkness headed down, down, down the road (down the witches' road) in Agatha All Along. But, with Disney hailing VisionQuest as the 'final instalment' in a decidedly unconventional streaming series trilogy, and one heck of a cast assembled, we do see the vision — and we will see the Vision on 14 October.

In case further proof was needed that time is a construct, somehow it has been fifteen years — yes, FIFTEEN years — since Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson's The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn hit cinemas, bringing Hergé's bequiffed reporter/adventurer and his adorable dog Snowy to a whole new generation. But despite the movie being a critical and commercial smash, all these years later we find ourselves still pining for the Tintin 2 that never quite materialised. And here's a plot-twist: Peter Jackson's still down for it, too. In fact, he's working on it right now.

As Screen Daily reports, Jackson — who's currently at the Cannes Film Festival having just received an honorary Palme d'Or on the fest's opening night — revealed during a career-spanning Rendezvous session this morning that not only is he still working on a Tintin sequel, but he's even been writing it while on the French Riviera. “I’ve been working with Fran [Walsh, Jackson’s screenwriting partner] on another Tintin script, I was writing it in the hotel room here,” shared Jackson. “It’s an active real thing, and I’m getting back into the Tintin world, and I actually love it.”

What's more, all being well, the plan is for Jackson to helm the Tintin sequel himself, honouring a pact he made with the first movie's director, Steven Spielberg, when The Secret Of The Unicorn came out. “The deal was that Steven directs one and I direct another,” Jackson, producer of that first film, revealed during his talk. “Steven did his film, then for 15 years I haven’t made mine. I feel very awkward about that.”

Right now, we don't know anything further about the sequel than that Jackson is working on it. It was at one point subtitled Prisoners Of The Sun, referencing Hergé's 14th Tintin adventure, which involved some magical crystal balls and a hidden Incan civilisation — but that title is over a decade old at this point and may well have changed. Still, should Jackson's long, long gestating Tintin sequel plans come to fruition, Tintin 2 — or 2 Tin 2 Tin as nobody is calling it — will mark the New Zealand filmmaker's first foray into narrative feature filmmaking since 2015's The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies. Here's hoping this film turns out a little better than one, eh? In Peter Jackson we trust.

Buzzy 2026 reimaginings of literary classics with troubled anti-heroine protagonists named Cathy are like buses: you wait years for one, and then two come along at once. And while the jury remains out on just how well Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights ultimately lived up to its hype, our hopes remain high that Zoe Kazan's upcoming East Of Eden — a seven-episode epic Netflix adaptation of John Steinbeck's multigenerational opus, starring Florence Pugh as the novel's iconic anti-heroine Cathy Ames — will deliver the goods. And if the newly dropped first teaser for the series is anything to go by, our optimism looks to be well placed. Check it out below;

"When I was a little girl, I imagined that I could grow smaller. So small that the bad things couldn’t find me, and I could disappear," says Flo Pugh's Cathy in this atmospheric first teaser for Kazan's long-gestating East Of Eden. "Because this world is so full of evil." It's an ominous opening gambit to set out the stall for Kazan's take on Steinbeck's classic, but one that immediately establishes the unique hook of this adaptation: the Trask family saga is being retold here from the point of view of Cathy Ames, the 'psychic monster' and 'malformed soul' described in Steinbeck's book. Even just in this minute-long glimpse at the series ahead, we see the way the men in Cathy's life — namely feuding Cain and Abel-like brothers Adam (Christopher Abbott) and Charles (Mike Faist) — seek to impose themselves upon her, and how she in turn resists being owned or otherwise having her autonomy compromised.

The official synopsis for Kazan's East Of Eden, which elsewhere stars Tracy Letts, Martha Plimpton, Ciarán Hinds, and — in the James Dean role of Cal Trask from Elia Kazan's 1955 classic — soon-to-be Hunger Games star Joseph Zada, reads as follows. "Pugh plays the indelible antihero Cathy Ames, whose life is intertwined with the lives of generations of men from the Trask family — notably those of Adam (Christopher Abbott) and Charles (Mike Faist) — as the characters live out the darker side of the California dream."

Given Zoe Kazan's own familial connection to East Of Eden (yes, she is grand-nepo-baby of On The Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire, and OG East Of Eden filmmaker Elia Kazan), the all-star ensemble assembled, and just how long this has been in the works, things are looking promising for another stellar adaptation of one of the great American novels. We'll see whether Kazan's series is streaming paradise — or destined to see her expelled from the garden of great telly — when East Of Eden hits Netflix later this year.

UPDATE: Brian Tyree Henry and Sebastian Koch have now also joined The Batman Part II's cast.

Now that The Batman Part II is finally ready to take flight, director Matt Reeves is wasting no time getting the bat signal lit and stacking his superhero sequel's call sheet. Over the last few days, Reeves has headed to social media to begin teasing camera tests for Robert Pattinson — aka R-Battz — and co's return to The Batman's dark, gritty Gotham City. And in the past 24 hours, the filmmaker has upped the ante, confirming key returning players and — as of today — three new additions to the Dark Knight's Bat-rolodex. Yes, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, and Charles Dance are officially heading to Gotham — and we've got the GIFs from Matt Reeves' X account to prove it. Check 'em out below;

Okay, okay, so we had heard that Stan, Johansson, and Dance were in line for Reeves' Bat-sequel before, and rumours of Stan playing iconic Batman baddie Harvey Dent/Two-Face — though, importantly, unsubstantiated as of yet — have been doing the rounds for months now. Still, it's good to get actual confirmation straight from the director himself, and to add some further fuel to the fire regarding their potential Dent family roles.

There's not much we can parse from the GIFs Reeves has shared, admittedly, mostly as the shots have come from other films. Even so, the captions suggest ScarJo is making her way into Gotham rather than arriving as a citizen of the city already. Meanwhile for Stan, who we hasten to again acknowledge has not been confirmed to play Harvey Dent, Reeves has plumped for a shot carrying an intensity that doesn't scream "I'm one of the good guys!" And as for Dance, well, he doesn't look like he'd be out of place playing Harvey Dent's dad, right? Presumably, we will be hearing a lot more about all three cast newcomers' roles as shooting gets underway on the Reeves and Mattson Tomlin-penned movie. (UPDATE: Since posting, Deadline now reports that Scarlett Johansson is set to play Harvey Dent's wife Gilda in the film. This hasn't been officially verified yet, however.)

Elsewhere, previous Reeves GIFs have already revealed that Robert Pattinson is — surprise surprise! — back as Batman, as is Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Colin Farrell as Oz 'The Penguin' Cobb, Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, Jayme Lawson as Gotham City Mayor Bella Reál, and Gil Perez-Abraham as Officer Martinez. Where exactly The Batman Part II will take our heroes and villains next as they deal with the aftermath of the first movie's floody finale very much remains to be seen — but, after many, many delays, be seen it shall be. The Batman Part II is set to swoop into cinemas on 1 October, 2027.

The next James Bond movie has a home: Amazon MGM Studios. It has a director: Denis Villeneuve. It has a writer: Steven Knight. It even has not one but two high calibre producers, too: Amy Pascal and David Heyman. But still it seems there's something — some crucial ingredient in the 007 recipe — that's missing. Oh yeah! Bond 26 hasn't actually got a Bond yet. But fear not, folks, as Amazon is working on that. Today, Deadline's sources have confirmed that Oscar-nominated Hamnet, Conclave, Andor, and Game Of Thrones casting director Nina Gold is leading the hunt for the next 007. And what's more, Amazon has shared its own update via social media on the casting process for Bond. Check it out below;

“The search for the next James Bond is underway," reads the statement from Amazon MGM Studios' socials. "While we don’t plan to comment on specific details during the casting process, we’re excited to share more news with 007 fans as soon as the time is right.” Lovely stuff! So we'll have our new James Bond confirmed real soon then, right? Well, not quite. Per Deadline's sources, fully fledged auditions for MI6's finest are still a way off right now as Denis Villeneuve and Steven Knight continue to polish their script for the movie. Even so, this is still a major step forward on the road to Bond 26 — and perhaps a reminder to not invest too much stock in the casting rumours that have been doing the rounds over the past few months.

While the likes of Callum Turner, Harris Dickinson, Jacob Elordi, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Tom Holland among many other have all had a spin on the rumour mill since Daniel Craig's explosive farewell in No Time To Die, it would appear that they have all been a tad premature. The real search for Bond No. 8 has only just begun. And so, by our reckoning, we're all still in with a shout. Even I, Online Writer Jordan King, am in with a shout. Nina, call me!

After Nobody and its sequel, the similarly titled Normal could easily be mistaken for the latest in Bob Odenkirk’s one-everyman-army series. And that wouldn’t be entirely wrong. While Normal sees the former Saul Goodman playing a world-worn cop rather than a retired family-guy assassin, and has a different setting (an apparently sleepy, snowy town slap-bang in Coen territory), it is very much a companion piece. Once again, Odenkirk has teamed with Nobody/John Wick writer Derek Kolstad. And once again he proves surprisingly limber as a gritty action hero, who in one sequence gets handy with a meat tenderiser during a brutal diner-kitchen brawl, and in another metes out explosive justice with a repeating grenade-launcher.

In a familiar Western-vibed plot that’s essentially Assault On Precinct 13 via Hot Fuzz, Odenkirk’s interim sheriff Ulysses is assigned to a recession-hit middle-of-nowhere which has recently lost its chief. Expecting the usual “good people, small problems”, he plans to leave the place exactly as he found it. Although, he’s a little puzzled by the station’s hugely overloaded armoury. And the fact that the little old lady who runs the yarncraft store has a police scanner. And what’s with those nine-fingered Japanese security guards? Still, he doesn’t want to rock any boats, and insists that “life’s a little easier when you care a little less”. Ulysses isn’t a cynic so much as relatably — and likably — realistic. But when a pair of out-of-towners unwisely decide to rob the bank during a blizzard, it all kicks off in a bullet-torn shitstorm, where the line between ally and enemy refuses to stay put. The time for being realistic is over.

Wheatley is as adept at bringing out Ulysses’ warmth and weariness as he is revelling in the solidly choreographed, town-trashing savagery...

To conduct all the grindhouse-style chaos that ensues, Odenkirk and Kolstad have pleasingly enlisted our very own Ben Wheatley. They evidently appreciated the Essex-born director’s ability to blend the comedically mundane with tongue-in-cheek extremity, and it’s easy to relate Normal to a few of his previous joints, not least Sightseers and Free Fire. Wheatley is as adept at bringing out Ulysses’ warmth and weariness as he is revelling in the solidly choreographed, town-trashing savagery, while also letting the story’s MAGA-era critique seep through.

Coming in at a lean 91 minutes, Normal doesn’t mess about. While its sprightly pacing is mostly to its credit, it does have a habit of highlighting a detail — Ulysses’ tragic backstory, the ostracisation of the previous sheriff’s trans kid (Jess McLeod), the presence of Lena Headey in the cast — and then not really taking it anywhere. Thankfully, this isn’t enough to derail the film’s borderline-silly fist-and-trigger antics, and it’s about as fun and subversive as you’d hope for an Odenkirk/Wheatley collab.

Now how's this for an un-par-alleled delight? Having dabbled in serialised comedy TV a fistful of times over the years, SNL legend and blockbuster comedy icon Will Ferrell is biting the bullet with his own self-created Netflix series, The Hawk. Following the travails of one Lonnie 'The Hawk' Hawkins (Ferrell), a fictitious former World No. 1 golfer looking to swing his way back to the top (not in that way) two decades on from his heyday, The Hawk looks — and sounds — like it could be a real hole-in-one from Ferrell. And if you don't believe us, check out the newly dropped teaser trailer below;

He looks like the natural evolution of Zoolander's Jacobim Mugatu. He offers folk 'Lonnie Juice'. When when he's not hitting innocent bystanders with his rusty drive, he's writhing in a bunker trying to dig his ball out of the sand. And his son is our Theater Camp fave Jimmy Tatro. Honestly, Happy Gilmore better watch his six because it feels like a new problematic fave golfer forged in the crucible of sketch television has just arrived. And given Ferrell's familiarity with sports comedy fare — from Blades Of Glory to Talladega Nights to Semi-Pro — we wouldn't bet against him delivering the goods with The Hawk... even if it does have an ever so slight whiff of Apple TV's Stick about it.

The official synopsis for The Hawk — which co-stars the likes of Molly Shannon, Jimmy Tatro, Fortune Feimster, Luke Wilson, and Chris Parnell — reads: "Lonnie Hawkins (Will Ferrell), 2004’s number one golfer, struggles on the back nine of his career to recapture his magic. His body says retire, but his heart says he’s not done yet. His ex-wife and his son Lance, golf’s new golden boy, know he’s through. But with one more major to win to complete golf’s Grand Slam, Lonnie refuses to believe he’s anything other than one stroke away from the greatest comeback in golf history."

With The Hawk set to make its Netflix debut on 16 July, we don't have long to wait until we find out whether Ferrell's latest comedy venture is destined to leave its sports comedy rivals green with envy — or if it's a load of old alba-dross. Fore!

In the first of Adam Sandler's Grown Ups movies, old dear Gloria Noonan-Hilliard preferred that "in life, the first act is always exciting. The second act... that is where the depth comes in." Whether Grown Ups was exciting — or indeed whether depth came in with Grown Ups 2 — is very much up for debate, but it does beg a question: what does life/a comedy franchise's third act have in store? Honestly, we don't know... but we're about to find out. Per Deadline's reporting from Netflix Upfront, Grown Ups 3 is in the works at Netflix, with Happy Gilmore 2's Kyle Newacheck attached to direct.

Penned by Adam Sandler and long-time Happy Madison Productions collaborator Tim Herlihy, Grown Ups 3 — which is entering development some 13 years after the goofy summer vacation-based franchise's last instalment — is set to reunite all of the major players from the original films, including Grown Ups 2 absentee Rob Schneider. A since-removed synopsis from Deadline's original write-up on the new film had suggested the gang would be heading to Europe for their latest adventure, but a Netflix source tells Empire that synopsis is not official and no plot details are confirmed as of yet. We do still know however that Lenny (Sandler), Marcus (David Spade), Rob (Schneider), Kurt (Chris Rock), Eric (Kevin James), and their significant others are all expected to return for the latest instalment in the franchise.

Considering the fact that Happy Gilmore 2 ranks among the most streamed movies of last year, notching up an insane 2.89 billion minuted viewed in its first week (whatever that actually means), it's no surprise that Netflix — and Sandler's Happy Madison label — have moved quickly to capitalise on a current trend in cosy comedy nostalgia. Who knows? Maybe life/Grown Ups' third act is where a decent script comes in. Watch this space!

As the saying goes, all good things to those who wait. And with 15 years having passed now since Laika Studios first optioned the rights to Colin Meloy's Wildwood, the Oregon-based animation outfit — and its fans — have done their fair share of waiting. But now, after months of tantalising teasers, eye-opening featurettes, and that one very cool Empire digital motion cover, the first trailer for Travis Knight's star-studded stop-motion fantasy epic is here — and it does look very good. Check it out below;

'My Tears Are Becoming A Sea' needle drop? Check. Stunningly realised woodlands, intricately detailed characters, and Narnia-like flights of fantasy? Check. A murder of crows abducting a small child in a way that's both terrifying and sort of oddly mesmerising? Check. Yeah, we're thinking Laika are back! Sure, this near-wordless first trailer for Wildwood only slightly peels back the curtain on what Kubo And The Two Strings director Knight's Chris Butler penned return to stop-motion has in store for us, but what we do glimpse — our first proper looks at heroes Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) and Curtis (Jacob Tremblay), antagonist Alexandra (Carey Mulligan), the anthropomorphic denizens of Wildwood, and what looks to be one hell of a massive battle — certainly has our curiosity piqued and our attention held. Knight certainly doesn't seem to have been kidding when he told Empire that Wildwood is the 'hardest' film Laika has ever made.

The official synopsis for the movie — whose constellation of stars includes *deep breath* Carey Mulligan, Richard E. Grant, Angela Bassett, Mahershala Ali, Awkwafina, Amandla Stenberg, Tom Waits, Charlie Day, Maya Erskine, Jake Johnson, Rob Delaney, and Jemaine Clement — reads as follows. “After her baby brother is abducted by a murder of crows, headstrong teenager Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) launches a desperate rescue mission into the Impassable Wilderness—an enchanted forest hidden just beyond Portland, Oregon. Joined by her hapless but loyal classmate Curtis Mehlberg (Jacob Tremblay), Prue navigates a world of talking animals, bandits, and powerful figures driven by grief and ambition. As the pair is drawn into a conflict threatening the balance of the forest itself, Prue must discover the strength and belief she never knew she possessed. If she hopes to save her brother and protect Wildwood’s fragile future, she will have to risk everything.”

Will Prue McKeel save her baby brother? What's the deal with the boy crying on the rooftop in the rain? And will we ever get 'My Tears Are Becoming A Sea' out of our heads? We'll find out the answers to these questions and many more when we head into the woods with Wildwood on 23 October.

In the first episode of Ahsoka Season 1, Rosario Dawson's twin-saber wielding Togrutan heroine Ahsoka Tano tells would-be Padawan Sabine that "I go where I'm needed." And while it feels like Star Wars fan favourite Ahsoka — or, as we know her best, Snips — has been gone a real long time now (it's been three years since her solo series' debut), it looks like Lucasfilm CEO and series showrunner Dave Filoni has decided she needs to be back on Disney+ very soon. Per Deadline's reporting from Disney's Upfront presentation today, Ahsoka Season 2 is finally set to hit our screens in early 2027.

Since learning that Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker would be returning in Ahsoka Season 2 — and getting our first proper look at Rory McCann as Force-sensitive mercenary Baylan Skoll — at Star Wars Celebration Japan last year, communications from a galaxy far, far away have gone pretty quiet. But, taking to the stage at New York's Javits Center today, Rosario Dawson confirmed the timeframe for Ahsoka's return, promising those in attendance that "this season, the battles are bigger and the stakes are higher." We'll say! Though we've yet to get a proper trailer for Ahsoka Season 2 just yet, Empire was at the series' Celebration panel last year, where we learned that not only are Ahsoka Tano and Baylan Skoll — and Admiral Ackbar and Grand Admiral Thrown — set to face-off this season, but, as our heroes find themselves battling across two galaxies, there'll be more Mortis Gods revelations, more Dathomirian Witch shenanigans, and even some giant metal machines to contend with out in the uncharted territories of Peridea. So bigger battles and higher stakes then, just as Dawson promises.

With Disney and Lucasfilm having somewhat pumped the brakes on their live-action Star Wars streaming series plans in the last nigh-on two years, only releasing Andor Season 2 and Skeleton Crew in the last 23 months, all eyes will be on Ahsoka Season 2 now to see how Filoni handles the return of one of the saga's greatest characters after a lengthy absence. But before then, there's the small matter of The Mandalorian And Grogu to attend to — and that's just days away now. Here's hoping the Force is strong with Star Wars' long-awaited big screen comeback on 22 May, and just as strong when Ahsoka Season 2 rolls around early next year. This is the way...

Considering the fact that a third 28 Years Later movie was confirmed to be in the works at Sony nearly half a year ago now, there's been an awful lot of speculation about whether 28 Years Lat3r (as nobody is calling it) will actually happen. Despite being a critical hit, Nia DaCosta's 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple — the follow-up to last year's Danny Boyle directed, franchise-reviving 28 Years Later — bowed to a box office showing the director herself recently told Empire she was 'disappointed' by, and Sony execs have been real quiet about Boyle's planned trilogy capper since Christmas. But hope springs eternal, and a new Instagram post from series star Alfie Williams — aka Spike — has caught our eye. Check it out below;

Well we don't know about you, but it is kind of hard to see what else could prompt Alfie Williams to upload a photo of himself training with his bow and arrow alongside a caption reading 'It's great to be back!' If the young star had said it's great to be back training, or that it's great to be back down at his local archery club, then fair enough, maybe we'd be inclined to chalk it up to bait and carry on with our day. But the declaration — 'It's great to be back!' — feels like it can mean only one thing. And following the tense climax of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, in which *SPOILER WARNING* our boy Spike and former Jimmy Ink Kellie (Erin Kellyman) find themselves running for their lives from the Infected, straight into the path of Cillian Murphy's Jim and his daughter *SPOILER ENDS*, there's no doubting that this is a story that knows exactly where it's heading next.

Now, until we get official (re)confirmation from Sony that 28 Years Later is going to get the Danny Boyle directed trilogy closer it was always meant to have, we'll resist giving in to speculation and rumour millery. But if Alfie Williams is back in training, and it is for a return to the Rage-ravaged world of Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's creation, then that's all very good news to us. Until we hear more though, excuse us while we go crack out the black eyeliner, conjure up a big ol' circle of fire, and rock out to 'The Number Of The Beast'. Woe to you, oh earth and sea...

“The following is intended only for mature audiences. Viewer discretion advised.” So begins the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s third ‘Special Presentation’, The Punisher: One Last Kill, marking the latest appearance of Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle. Given that we will soon see the murderous vigilante in the (presumably much more family-friendly) Spider-Man: Brand New Day, that opening statement plays like an especially notable promise: that the next 40 minutes or so will be full of the brutal and bloody mayhem we’ve come to expect from the Punisher. With a script from director Reinaldo Marcus Green and Bernthal himself, we certainly get that — but not before taking a dark, emotional, and winningly substantive tour through Castle’s fractured psyche.

When last we saw Frank, he was escaping from Wilson Fisk’s secret prison at the end of Daredevil: Born Again’s first season. When we rejoin him here, we find him mentally spiralling, at his wits’ end, tormented by haunting memories of his past. And now that everyone connected to the deaths of his family have paid in blood, he’s struggling to find reasons to go on living. He’ll need to figure it out quickly before it’s decided for him —there’s a price on his head, and it seems everyone in his comically crime-ridden neighbourhood is out to collect.

When it comes time for the Punisher to unleash hell, the symphony of violence that follows is ruthless and visceral.

For fans of the Punisher’s Netflix era, Castle’s internal trauma will be broadly familiar territory. But that doesn’t make this any less of a compelling watch. Frank’s biggest battle has and always will be with himself, and it’s here that Bernthal is at his vulnerable best, making you feel every ounce of Castle’s hopelessness. The gravesite conversations with the ghosts of his wife and kids in particular is the kind of deep, soulful work that stays with you.

When it comes time for the Punisher to unleash hell, the symphony of violence that follows is ruthless and visceral. Not only do fists, bats and axes fly, but there’s an abundance of skilful gunplay too. In one sequence, which evokes scenes from The Raid and John Wick, Frank repeatedly runs out of ammo before finding another weapon to fire, escalating for minutes on end. Crucially, it isn’t all action for action’s sake; there are key character moments embedded within the chaos, and it feels right that Castle works out his emotions best while in the heat of conflict.

All in all, this (beautifully) bearded man-of-few-words take on the Punisher is a far cry from the clean-shaven and quippy one teased in Brand New Day. It also feels like the truer, more authentic version of the fan-favourite anti-hero. Here’s hoping we won’t have to wait too long before we see him back in his natural element.

Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC

Nostalgia isn’t memories, it’s feelings; emotions connected to life’s milestones eternally more resonant than the blunt reality of events. That’s especially true for the brief, almost liminal space between finishing school and stepping into adulthood — and a sensation that Mixtape captures perfectly.

Set in the late ‘90s, it charts the friendship between three teenagers on the eve of a final party. Music-obsessed protagonist Stacy Rockford knows the perfect song for any occasion, creative genius Van Slater is two decades late for true hippy status, while Cassandra Morino is a wannabe rebel trapped by her authoritarian parents’ suburban perfectionism. If those archetypes sound suspiciously familiar, it’s because Mixtape is unashamedly inspired by John Hughes’ filmography. It’s not a straight cover though, also sampling Kevin Smith’s Mallrats and Allan Moyles’ (vastly underrated) Empire Records for a pitch-perfect vibe of disaffected youth.

This is about feelings though, not cold mechanics, and there Mixtape utterly succeeds.

Told over a single day, the story sees the trio ostensibly hunting booze for the rager, but really they’re dragging out their final night before the world intrudes. Trinkets scattered about bedrooms — a photo here, a trophy there — spark memories, each one a playable recollection of their time together, and it’s with these that Mixtape goes off on some Bueller-esque whimsical tangents.

These sequences are brief but gloriously weird: an interactive awkward first kiss, controlling both tongues; guiding a stoned Van around as the camera warps; stomping through an abandoned theme park like a kaiju. They’re often bizarre, sometimes trippy, but all evoke a beautifully misspent youth.

Every beat is set to a track on Rockford’s painstakingly curated setlist, each introduced to the camera with an explanation of its importance. Appropriately, it’s filled with achingly cool period hits, such as Lush’s ‘Monochrome’ and The Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Love’, but travels back through New Wave delights like Devo’s ‘That’s Good’, or the extremely niche, borderline hipsterish inclusion of Harpers Bazaar’s ‘Witchi Tai To’. Despite Rockford’s High Fidelity-worthy cooler-than-thou musical tastes, every song fits each scene perfectly, reframing even Stan Bush’s brilliantly cheesy ‘The Touch’ (from 1986’s Transformers: The Movie) into a laser-targeted attack on the feels.

Mixtape does stumble in places. Each of those playable memories feels little more than a Warioware microgame, while the visuals — a pseudo-stop motion evocative of Into The Spider-Verse — work beautifully for those bespoke experiences, but the deliberately low frame rate makes controlling Rockford in-between feel like manoeuvring a juddering marionette.

This is about feelings though, not cold mechanics, and there Mixtape utterly succeeds. Coming-of-age outings are rare in gaming, but this pulls it off with barely a dud note. Mixtape is a short, almost dreamlike experience that plays like a memory you wish you had.

News about the imminent return of any epic fantasy series would doubtless be a precious thing, but news about the imminent return of The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power's return? Well, that is a most precious, precioussss thing, indeed. And it's exactly what we've got for you. Following teases late last year of Sauron's return and Elendil wielding Narsil in the next chapter of Prime Video's billion-dollar Rings prequel, today Amazon announced at its annual Upfront event that The Rings Of Power Season 3 is coming this year: 11 November, 2026 to be precise. And they even gave us our first official photo of the upcoming season — check it out below;

Raven-black hair. Morgoth's crown. The glow of a forge's flame. The side-profile of one Charlie Vickers. If we didn't know any better, we may be given to suspect that we're about to see the Dark Lord Sauron dabbling in another spot of ringmaking in the next season of The Rings Of Power. Luckily for us, we do know better, because there's a full-on synopsis already out there that confirms our suspicions quite emphatically. It reads as follows: "Jumping forward several years from the events of Season Two, Season Three takes place at the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron, as the Dark Lord seeks to craft the One Ring that will give him the edge he needs to win the war, bind all peoples to his will – and at last rule all Middle-earth." That'll be a yikes from us! (And a yikes for Sauron if he happens to read The Lord Of The Rings before The Rings Of Power finishes...)

While it's a smidge too soon for a full cast list or trailer for The Rings Of Power Season 3 just yet (July's San Diego Comic Con may be a reasonable shout for one or both of those), we have already learned of a few stars heading to Middle-earth as J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay's prequel series barrels towards the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Stranger Things' Vecna, Jamie Campbell Bower, and Supacell star Eddie Marsan are both joining the cast, with the former expected to play "a handsome high-born knight" and the latter 'a Scottish-accented character with a brother.' (Yes, leading theories still favour Bower playing either Galadriel's as-yet-unseen husband Celeborn or uber-powerful elf Glorfindel, while Marsan seems a shoo-in to rock up as Durin's oft-mentioned brother and advance his claim to Khazad-dûm.)

With The Rings Of Power having really gone its own way over the course of a both figuratively and literally very heavy metal second season, it'll be fascinating to see how Payne and McKay up the ante with Season 3. And we don't need a palantir to do that at this point. 11 November, 2026 we're heading back to Middle-earth, precious.

Ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma — ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma... Now, received wisdom would have it that those iconic sounds from Harry Manfredini Friday The 13th score are syllabic representations of Jason Voorhees' voice in his mother's head saying "kill her, mother!" We put it to you that it's actually short for "keep, keep, keep, making, making, making Friday The 13th projects," which is what we imagine the folks at Peacock and A24 heard while shooting upcoming prequel series Crystal Lake. But now the voices may hush, as Crystal Lake is in the can and officially has a release date!

Hailing from creator, writer, showrunner, and executive producer Brad Caleb Kane (Tokyo Vice, Fringe), Crystal Lake is due to hit Peacock stateside on 15 October. Admittedly, Thursday the 15th doesn't quite have the same ring to it as Friday the 13th, but it is releasing two weeks before Halloween, making for some suitably spooky seasonal programming nevertheless. Plot specifics on Kane's long-gestating series are still being kept pretty hush-hush for now, but we do know that the show will see Linda Cardellini play a younger Pamela Voorhees, introduced here as 'a mother who gave up a singing career to raise a special needs child and takes a dark turn when she loses her son.' Said child — said son — is, of course, Jason Voorhees, the restless spirit who becomes a hockey mask wearing, hack-and-slashing machine in each of Friday The 13th's sequels. Joining Cardellini in the cast for this one are William Catlett, Devin Kessler, Cameron Scoggins and Gwendolyn Sundstrom.

Despite jesting at the vast quantities of Hollywood horror sequels/reboots at the top of this piece, it's worth noting that by the time Crystal Lake hits Peacock on 15 October (and hopefully somewhere accessible here in the UK soon after), it will have actually been almost 18 years since the Voorhees' last appearance. Here's hoping this return to Crystal Lake works out a little better!

When it comes to tackling stories of theme parks going rogue, adapted from Michael Crichton penned source material, suffice it to say that David Koepp has some previous. As the man who gave us the scripts for both Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park: The Lost World, the legendary screenwriter knows exactly what to do when the doo-doo hits the jacked-up-fun-fair fan, because he's the one who put it there in the first place. And now, per Deadline's reporting, it looks like Koepp is ready for some more Crichton shenanigans as he's been tapped to write a new Westworld movie at Warner Bros.

Originally a Crichton written and directed 1973 movie (then, later, a seven-time Emmy-winning prestige Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy HBO series), Westworld takes a thrilling 'What if?' premise — what if there existed a robot-filled theme park where humans could live out their wildest historical (mostly Old West) fantasies, and what if said theme park had a bot go rogue and start turning said fantasies into visceral, violent realities? — and delivers a sharp sci-fi treatise on the perils of getting what you wished for. While the OG movie starring Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, and James Brolin was more of an out-and-out gung-ho action-thriller, Nolan and Joy's series took a more philosophical approach to its own story of violent delights and violent ends, delving into artificial consciousness and what it means to be human. Where David Koepp's Westworld will fall on that spectrum very much remains to be seen, but it's a hell of a spectrum to consider wherever his script eventually settles.

While we have no kind of synopsis, casting news, or release timescale for Warner Bros.' Koepp-penned Westworld just yet, one interesting nugget of info is buried in Deadline's reporting: 'a major filmmaker is circling.' Now, there are a lot of major filmmakers out there, and Koepp has worked with a lot of 'em (Sam Raimi on Spider-Man; Brian De Palma on Mission: Impossible; Steven Soderbergh on Black Bag.) Most recently however, Koepp has re-teamed with Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg — on sci-fi blockbuster Disclosure Day. And remember how Spielberg's been talking up making an original Western in recent months? Well, Westworld has a sci-fi Western thing going on, and while it is technically an existing IP, it does have a lot of room for originality. Okay, so that might be a bit of a reach, but still... major filmmaker has got our curiosity piqued. Put it this way: we'll be there for rope-drop when the park reopens!

"Reacher said nothing." Pick up any one of Lee Child's thirty-odd Jack Reacher novels and you'll find those words repeated over, and over, and over again. But while Reacher may not be much of a talker (in the books anyway), it turns out Amazon has got plenty to say about the crimefighting giant and his on-screen future. Ahead of Reacher Season 4's Prime Video premiere later this year, Amazon has today confirmed that Alan Ritchson's former military man and perpetual absolute unit will be back back back for Reacher Season 5, which has just officially gotten the green light.

With its third season having given Prime Video its biggest streaming series hit since Fallout Season 1 just last year, and a fourth season already locked in before that, Reacher has become one of the biggest franchises in Amazon's arsenal over the last half-decade. And with Season 4 set to adapt Lee Child's 13th Reacher novel, 'Gone Tomorrow', in which the big fella finds himself 'drawn into a complex and deadly game that pits him against ruthless foes from the highest echelons of power', the stakes are only getting raised higher and higher with each successive season of writer-showrunner Nick Santora's show. (As if we'd have it any other way.)

“From Lee Child’s globally beloved novels to its standout on-screen adaptation, ‘Reacher’ has evolved into a true powerhouse franchise,” Amazon MGM Studios' head of global television Peter Friedlander said in a statement accompanying today's announcement. “The series’ ability to combine high-octane action with compelling character storytelling continues to resonate with tens of millions of viewers around the world. We’re excited to move forward with a fifth season ahead of Season Four’s debut and to build on this incredible momentum. We’re grateful to our outstanding creative partners, cast, and crew — Nick, Alan, Lee, Skydance, and CBS Studios — for continuing to bring this world to life in such a bold and compelling way.”

With 25 more Reacher books at Amazon and Nick Santora's disposal, Alan Ritchson showing no signs of becoming any less of a brick dookie-house anytime soon, and the streaming figures — and critical/fan reception — only trending in one direction, Reacher can say nothing all he likes. We say: bring it on!

What happens when you take the director of the best movie of 2025 (Sinners), the newly minted Oscar-winning star of one of the other best movies of 2025 (Weapons), and set them to work together on a reboot of one of the greatest TV shows of all time? Frankly, we don't know — but we are about to find out, folks. Per Deadline's reporting, Ryan Coogler's upcoming The X-Files reboot at Hulu has just set its guest stars — and leading a starry array of supporting players is none other than Aunt Gladys herself, Amy Madigan!

In recent months, we've already learned that Himesh Patel will be playing the (figurative) Mulder to Danielle Deadwyler's (figurative) Scully in Coogler's Hulu-bound reboot pilot, with the duo set to play a pair of chalk-and-cheese detectives 'assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena'. And now we've got another eight names in total to add to the project's exciting call sheet, including the above-mentioned Madigan. Also seeking the truth and dabbling in unexplained phenomena in Coogler's retooling of Chris Carter's cult classic series will be Steve Buscemi, Ben Foster, Devery Jacobs, Lochlyn Munro, Tantoo Cardinal, Joel D. Montgrad, and — last but not least — Sofia Grace Clifton.

Set to be written and directed by Coogler, with Jennifer Yale serving as showrunner, although The X-Files reboot may still seem like a bit of a pipe dream to some (especially those of us still licking our Buffy: New Sunnydale wounds *sigh*), with each new casting announcement we find ourselves wanting to believe just that little bit more that this thing is actually happening. Let's face it, who doesn't want to see Oscar winner Ryan Coogler direct Oscar winner Amy Madigan in a prestige reimagining of the show that gave us Vince Gilligan, the Scully effect, and that one episode with the invisible pregnant elephant? Yeah —nobody, that's who!

Dominic Toretto may live his life a quarter-mile at a time, but Vin Diesel — the man who has given the Fast & Furious franchise's talismanic petrolhead life these past 25 years — most assuredly doesn't. Not only is Mr. Diesel gearing up to release blockbuster saga closer Fast Forever in cinemas on 17 March, 2028, and not only is Mr. Diesel about to put the pedal to the metal at the Croisette with a 25th anniversary screening of The Fast And The Furious at the Cannes Film Festival later this month, but now he's only gone and announced that four — yes, four! — Fast & Furious live-action TV series are in the works at Peacock.

As Variety reports from this morning NBCUniversal upfront presentation in New York, Vin Diesel took to the stage alongside Jimmy Fallon to announce the ambitious set of new projects that are set to expand the F&F universe. “For the last decade, we have realized that the fans have wanted more,” Diesel said. “They wanted us to expand the legacy characters, their stories. And for the last decade, the desire has been for us to enter the TV space that Fallon has mastered. And I had to wait till it was right… It became right when Donna Langley started to oversee it all, because that’s when I knew that the integrity of the characters, the international appeal, what makes us all feel like family would be protected in the TV space… The news that I have here today is that Peacock is launching four shows from the ‘Fast and Furious’ universe.”

Now, we don't know what these four new Fast And Furious shows will look like yet, who will star in them, or what stories they will tell, but we do know that A) Vin Diesel has promised they'll honour the franchise's legacy, B) Vin Diesel will serve as producer, and C) Sons Of Anarchy's Mike Daniels and Shades Of Blue's Wolfe Coleman will serve as co-showrunners and executive producers on — and write the pilot for — at least one of them. Stay tuned for more news just as soon as we get it — the Fast family (faaaaamily) is about to get a whole lot bigger!

For a show named after the noun for your teenage years, Adolescence — and Adolescence bagging major telly awards — sure doesn't get old, does it? Having already cleaned up at the Emmys, Golden Globes, National Television Awards, Actor Awards, Film Independent Spirit Awards, and just about every other gong-giving ceremony out there, Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham's dizzying one-shot Netflix drama picked up another four awards at last night's glitzy BAFTA TV Awards 2026 — including Limited Series, Lead Actor for Stephen Graham, Supporting Actress for Christine Tremarco, and, making BAFTA history as its youngest ever recipient, Supporting Actor for 16-year-old Owen Cooper.

During a two-hour telecast from the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in London, hosted by Greg Davies and featuring performances from AURORA and Cat Burns, 29 statuettes were handed out in total. While Adolescence swept the major categories on the night, there was no shortage of worthy winners spread across the evening's other key races. ITV1's groundbreaking deaf-waitress-turned-police-lip-reader crime drama Code Of Silence bagged Drama Series; Seth Rogen dedicated Apple TV satire The Studio's International Series win to the late Catherine O'Hara; Narges Rashidi deservedly landed Lead Actress for British-Iranian factual drama Prisoner 951; and, in a crowd-pleasing moment worthy of a hearty A-HA! (and perhaps even a 'back of the net!"), Steve Coogan took home Male Performance in A Comedy Programme for the brilliant How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge).

Elsewhere on the night, Alan Carr's Celebrity Traitors triumph was crowned the year's most memorable TV moment, while the Academy also took the time to honour Dame Mary Berry with the BAFTA Fellowship and Martin Lewis with BAFTA's Special Award, with both recipients offering touching speeches as they paid tributes to lost loved ones and celebrated receiving richly deserved recognition for their work.

Find the full list of the night’s major winners below. [Winners highlighted in bold.]

Drama Series

Code Of Silence (ITV1)

A Thousand Blows (Disney+)

Blue Lights (BBC One)

This City Is Ours (BBC One)

International

The Studio (Apple TV)
The Bear (Disney+)
The Diplomat (Netflix)
Pluribus (Apple TV)
Severance (Apple TV)
The White Lotus (Sky Atlantic)

Limited Drama

Adolescence (Netflix)
I Fought The Law (ITV1)
Trespasses (Channel 4)
What It Feels Like For A Girl (BBC Three)

Leading Actress

Narges Rashidi - _Prisoner 951 (BBC One)
_Aimee Lou Wood - _Film Club (BBC Three)
_Erin Doherty - _A Thousand Blows (Disney+)
_Jodie Whittaker - _Toxic Town (Netflix)
_Sheridan Smith - _I Fought The Law (ITV1)
_Siân Brooke - Blue Lights (BBC One)

Leading Actor

Stephen Graham - _Adolescence (Netflix)
_Colin Firth - _Lockerbie: A Search for Truth (Sky Atlantic)
_Ellis Howard - _What it Feels Like for a Girl (BBC Three)
_James Nelson-Joyce - _This City is Ours (BBC One)
_Matt Smith - _The Death of Bunny Munro (Sky Atlantic)
_Taron Egerton - Smoke (Apple TV)

Supporting Actress

Christine Tremarco - Adolescence (Netflix)
Aimee Lou Wood - The White Lotus (Sky Atlantic)
Chyna McQueen - Get Millie Black (Channel 4)
Emilia Jones - Task (Sky Atlantic)
Erin Doherty - Adolescence (Netflix)
Rose Ayling-Ellis - Reunion (BBC One)

Supporting Actor

Owen Cooper - Adolescence (Netflix)
Ashley Walters - Adolescence (Netflix)
Fehinti Balogun - Down Cemetery Road (Apple TV)
Joshua Mcguire - The Gold (BBC One)
Paddy Considine - MobLand (Paramount+)
Rafael Mathé - The Death of Bunny Munro (Sky Atlantic)

Female Performance In A Comedy Programme

Katherine Parkinson - Here We Go (BBC One)
Diane Morgan - Mandy (BBC Two)
Jennifer Saunders - Amandaland (BBC One)
Lucy Punch - Amandaland (BBC One)
Philippa Dunne - Amandaland (BBC One)
Rosie Jones - Pushers (Channel 4)

Male Performance In A Comedy Programme

Steve Coogan - How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge) (BBC One)
Jim Howick - Here We Go (BBC One)
Jon Pointing - Big Boys (Channel 4)
Lenny Rush - Am I Being Unreasonable? (BBC One)
Mawaan Rizwan - Juice (BBC Three)
Oliver Savell - Changing Ends (ITV1)

Scripted Comedy

Amandaland (BBC One)
Big Boys (Channel 4)
How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge) (BBC One)
Things You Should Have Done (BBC Three)

Single Documentary

Grenfell: Uncovered (Netflix)
Louis Theroux: The Settlers (BBC Two)
One Day In Southport (Channel 4)
Unforgotten: The Bradford City Fire (BBC Two)

P&O Cruises Memorable Moment

The Celebrity Traitors - Alan Carr wins (BBC One)
Adolescence - Jamie Snaps at the Psychologist (Netflix)
Big Boys - I didn't make it, did I? (Channel 4)
Blue Lights - The police are warned of an ambush plot to silence a key witness (BBC One)
Last One Laughing - Bob Mortimer and Richard Ayoade's speed date (Prime Video)
What It Feels Like For A Girl - Byron leaves for Brighton to start Uni, where she introduces herself as Paris (BBC Three)

BAFTA Special Award

Martin Lewis

BAFTA Fellowship

Dame Mary Berry

And for the BAFTA Television Craft Award winners, announced at an earlier ceremony last month, please head on over to the BAFTA website.

Slip inside the eye of your mind, don't you know you might find... some exciting Oasis news! It's hard to believe it's been almost a year already since the guns fell silent, the stars aligned, and Noel and Liam Gallagher finally stopped scrapping long enough to get back on stage. And now, whether you were there on Gallagher Hill or half the world away, the Oasis Live '25 experience is heading to a screen near you very soon. Today, Disney has confirmed that an as-yet-untitled official Oasis reunion documentary, created by Steven Knight and directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace (Meet Me In The Bathroom), is heading for cinemas and Disney+ this year.

Per Disney's press release, Knight and co's rock'n'roll star documentary — which will feature 'unprecedented on stage and backstage footage' from the Gallagher brothers' Live '25 tour and the duo's first on-camera interviews together in over 25 years — is heading for IMAX cinemas worldwide on 11 September ahead of a Disney+ streaming launch later this year. “I genuinely cannot wait for the world to see this film,” said Knight in a statement accompanying Disney's announcement of his movie's release plans. “I believe it captures the spirit and emotion of a global cultural moment and does justice to the wit and genius of two exceptional people. I wanted to tell the story of the brothers and the band, but just as important, the story of the fans whose lives the music has touched and sometimes changed forever. It is also the story of how music and songwriting can unite generations, cultures, countries and in a time of spite and division, give us all some reason to hope.”

The Gallagher brothers and their exploits — both in Oasis and in their solo careers beyond that fateful night at Rock en Seine, Paris in 2009 — are no stranger to cinema screens. Over the years, fans have had Liam Gallagher: As It Was, Supersonic, and bone-rattling 2021 concert movie Oasis Knebworth 1996 to remind us that the lads will live forever. But after the sold-out stadium phenomenon of last year's reunion tour, it's a fair bet we'll be feeling supersonic when Knight, Southern, and Lovelace's access all areas documentary hits the big screen later this year. It's gonna be, in a word, biblical. C'mon!

This week's Empire Podcast sees Alex Godfrey sit down for an audience with music superstar Billie Eilish and her co-director on her new concert movie, Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard And Soft: The Tour, one James Cameron. Blimey! Then Alex slides into the podbooth to join Helen O'Hara, James Dyer and host Chris Hewitt for a fun-filled episode in which they discuss Karl Urban's killiest characters, the best movie farmers, a whole bunch of trailers (including The Odyssey, Evil Dead Burn, and Resident Evil), and review the aforementioned Billie Eilish movie, The Sheep Detectives, Remarkably Bright Creatures, and Mortal Kombat II, a Helen-led review that may be more fun than the film. Oh, and what the hell is Thrawnhub? Enjoy!

And if all of the above isn't quite enough Empire Podcast for you, then there's plenty more where that came from. You can listen to this week's episode (which, if you're counting, is #716) on the pod app of your choice. There, you'll also find the latest episode of Empire Pod regular The Interviews, which brings you even more chat with the cast and crew behind the biggest new releases. The most recent instalment sees Chris Hewitt sits down in person with James Cameron for even more Hit Me Hard And Soft chat, and then the great Guillermo del Toro, with the Mexican director coming to town to receive the BFI Fellowship and launch a season of his films at the BFI Southbank. (That is an excerpt from a longer del Toro interview which will be up on its own next week.). Finally, Sally Field and Lewis Pullman, the stars of new Netflix movie Remarkably Bright Creatures, Zoom in for a spirited chat with Chris.

Want to make sure you never miss out on the latest movie news, reviews, and Empire exclusives again? Click here to add Empire as your go-to source on Google Feed.

Platform: PS5

The first thing that strikes you in Saros isn't a barrage of lethal, orb-like projectiles — plenty of those come later — but its eye-popping visual presentation, immersive sound design, and absorbing storytelling. That's saying something, as developer Housemarque's latest sci-fi third-person shooter is another roguelite, a subgenre that's typically recognized for its player-punishing, progress-stripping difficulty rather than its cinema-rivaling qualities.

Make no mistake, much like the studio's tough-as-nails Returnal, Saros will see you regularly meeting your demise and losing hard-earned ground before being sent back to the starting line to do it all over again. But even after your first dozen or so unceremonious deaths, you probably won't be comparing Saros to similar games as much as you'll be appreciating its parallels to the likes of Alien, The Thing, and the works of H.R. Giger.

[...] it never feels like you're just juggling systems and mechanics; instead, you're naturally progressing through a compelling sci-fi yarn you want to see to its conclusion.

Players don the space armor of protagonist Arjun Devraj (superbly performed by Rahul Kohli,) an elite soldier sent to a monster-infested, eclipse-plagued planet to find out what happened to a missing mining colony. Of course, things go sideways real fast, and it's not long before Arjun and his crew find themselves at the center of a sanity-decaying cosmic nightmare. And that's before the above mentioned sun-obscuring event kicks in, transforming an already terrifying place into an absolute hellscape.

While Saros' focus on storytelling immediately separates it from many of its contemporaries, it deserves equal credit for organically blending its narrative with its incredibly polished gameplay. As in Returnal, its bullet hell-fueled deathloop is actually part of the plot, as are the many ways in which Arjun can grow more powerful with each run. So, whether you're sent back to the beginning following a thumb-blistering boss battle or are prepping for your next attempt by investing in upgrades, it never feels like you're just juggling systems and mechanics; instead, you're naturally progressing through a compelling sci-fi yarn you want to see to its conclusion.

It doesn't hurt that Saros is far more accessible than its predecessor and peers, scaling back the tedium, repetition, and controller-chucking frustration that often comes with even the highest-regarded roguelites. In terms of difficulty, it's more than capable of repeatedly handing you your backside. But it refreshingly balances its steep challenge with a number of permanent upgrade paths and other quality-of-life features — such as allowing you to skip completed areas — that lead to you feeling noticeably stronger with each run.

Still, Saros is no pushover, and even as a more approachable entry in the notoriously difficult subgenre, it won't be one for the faint-hearted. But, if you're a new roguelite recruit seeking a great entry point — or a more seasoned fan craving a fresh take that prioritises presentation and story as much as enemy-obliterating flow-state shooting — this outstanding shooter is absolutely worth a trip to the deadly, sun-deprived planet for.

Where once music divas became film actors, it is now de rigueur for the biggest stars to direct: less Diana Ross and more Barbra Streisand. In recent years, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift shaped their own music for the screen, maintaining control of their creative vision. Two-time Oscar-winner Billie Eilish now follows, but does something different for her third concert movie. While there’s a clear sense here that she has a guiding hand, she has also recruited James Cameron as co-director, giving this a unique mix of intimacy and clear-eyed distance.

Filmed over four nights, mostly in Manchester, this does a superb job of capturing Eilish’s skills as a performer, running the gamut from rabble-rouser to cult leader to angelic preacher. She’s a fascinating figure, dressed like early Eminem and running around the stage like the Beastie Boys in the ’90s, but capable of breaking hearts like Adele. You don’t have to know the set-list well for this to make you reflect on her idiosyncratic energy and the unusual place she has carved out in the pop landscape. As she conducts the crowd like a maestro, it’s obvious that she’s speaking to something necessary, and bringing outsiders into her orbit by rejecting the usual pop posing.

Cameron includes only a few minutes of behind-the-scenes interview and scene-setting with her, but he chooses his moments well.

Cameron includes only a few minutes of behind-the-scenes interview and scene-setting with her (for more on Eilish's backstory, check out 2021 doc The World's A Little Blurry), but he chooses his moments well. It’s genuinely interesting to see how she reaches the stage, what shaped her performance choices and why some very good dogs play a key role. He also marshals his battalion of cameras as expertly as you’d expect, capturing all the dazzling light and fire effects in a way that justifies the 3D surcharge. But importantly, he doesn’t neglect Eilish herself or the fans in his pursuit of a pretty image.

This is not a revelatory, in-depth documentary about Eilish as an artist, no Shut Up & Sing or Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster. But it’s a well-crafted concert film with just enough insight to satisfy. There’s also something quite touching in Cameron’s constant deference to his co-director and her vision for the work. If the famously fiery Cameron can accept co-billing with a pop star because he sees a talent worthy of respect, think what the rest of us have to learn from this Gen Z iconoclast.

Steven Soderberg seems to be on something of a hot streak at the moment. The prolific director’s latest film — his 37th! — comes barely a year after his last effort, the supremely satisfying spy thriller Black Bag, and he stays in London for The Christophers, a similarly sharp experience, though less flashy and fast.

This is a film which benefits from three elements. There’s Soderbergh’s careful, sly, unshowy direction, which keeps things compelling. There’s the delicious original script by Ed Solomon (Bill & Ted and Men In Black), full of poison-tongued dialogue and rug-pulling turns. And there are sublime performances from its leads, Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel, both absolutely at the top of their game.

Save for a couple of brief appearances from James Corden and Jessica Gunning, this is very much McK-versus-Mic. It plays a little like 1972’s Sleuth, in which two acting titans (Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier) duke it out in a big house for a battle of psychological warfare, one-upmanship and smack talk.

Coel is fabulous here: with this and Mother Mary, she seems to be finding a new groove as a leading woman.

McKellen plays Julian Sklar, an ageing artist and painter once considered the brightest talent in Britain, before consigning himself to a needlessly cruel TV art show and recording cheap Cameo-style video messages for cash. Coel, meanwhile, plays Lori Butler, an art-restorer and frustrated young painter living in a studio squat, hired by Julian’s children (Corden and Gunning, both playing it a bit too broad) as a fake assistant for him — in actuality, recruited to make forgeries of the titular Christophers, Julian’s great unfinished-paintings series, to sell after his death.

Solomon’s script finds delightful tension in the generational, racial and gender divide between the two characters — there are some excruciating exchanges about polyamory (“I was once in a throuple,” Julian offers, unhelpfully) — and in their wildly different philosophies on art and life. Their dynamic dances around, from exploiter to exploitee and back again, both standing their ground, the film never accelerating anywhere too surprisingly, but never quite landing where you might think.

Coel is fabulous here: with this and Mother Mary, she seems to be finding a new groove as a leading woman. And McKellen is genuinely superb, shambling around the house with elderly bluster yet delivering broadsides with the precision of a master draughtsman. He is cantankerous, yet also sad and wistful, finding many shades of a man being forced to take stock towards the end of his life, confronted with disappointments and regrets. It is full of pathos and passion and perspicacity, and while we know it won’t be his last role — he’s suiting up for Gandalf again as we speak — it would make for a beautifully bittersweet swansong for the 86-year-old actor, should he ever decide to consider taking his Equity pension.

To many members of Generations Alpha and Z, Iron Maiden are likely the band whose banging tune ‘The Trooper’ made for iconic graduation-day music during the final episode of Stranger Things. Others — over 18, at least — might know them for the frenzied riffs that accompany Ralph Fiennes’ satanic freak-out in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. But if you really want to get The Number (Of The Beast) on one of the biggest outfits in heavy metal, this dynamic documentary is a fine start.

Directed by Malcolm Venville (44 Inch Chest, documentary miniseries Theodore Roosevelt), Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition will also please hardcore fans, placing their extended-family, through-thick-and-thin relationship with the band front and centre as it opts for a chronological trawl. It’s all here, even if, at 106 minutes, it’s a whistle-stop tour: bassist Steve Harris forming Maiden in 1975, as an alternative to punk; vocalist Paul Di’Anno fired two albums in because his rock ’n’ roll lifestyle impeded Harris’, well, burning ambition; new vocalist Bruce Dickinson powering the terminal-velocity years of ’82-’88 (five albums, non-stop touring, global success — despite minimal airplay); Dickinson, burnt out, leaving in ’93, then rejoining in ’99, post-grunge; Dickinson’s recovery from throat cancer in 2015; drummer Nicko McBrain’s stroke in 2023…

Some viewers might feel that Venville’s chronicle plays it too coy [...] but Maiden’s brand has always been professionalism and decency.

Some viewers might feel that Venville’s chronicle plays it too coy — Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster goes far deeper and uglier — but Maiden’s brand has always been professionalism and decency. A shy, down-to-earth bunch when they’re not shredding it on stage, they eschew the spotlight, letting zombie-like mascot Eddie, created by artist Derek Riggs, hog their album covers. It’s the same here: Maiden offer their voiced thoughts but aren’t interviewed on camera; Eddie stalks his way through the ace animated sequences that punctuate electrifying footage and impassioned talking heads, including Chuck D, Lars Ulrich and super-fan Javier Bardem.

If there’s a theme, it’s that music provides escape and community. Maiden were forged during the Winter Of Discontent, amid strikes, inflation and unemployment, and one startling sequence sees the band take their 1984 world tour to Poland, behind the Iron Curtain. It’s here, as thousands of oppressed fans lose their shit in front of a wall of armed guards, that Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition goes up to 11.

In 1971, Warner Bros. released two films on either side of the Atlantic that have gone down as being among the most controversial in cinema history. Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, adapted from Anthony Burgess’ novel, drew critical acclaim and outrage for its ultraviolent brand of nihilism, but made it to screens in one piece. Ken Russell's The Devils on the other hand, a positively blasphemous adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s 1952 historical novel The Devils of Loudun starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave, had to be hacked down mercilessly in the edit to achieve a theatrical release. But now, 55 years later, 'The Russell Cut' of The Devils is finally about to be unleashed.

Per a press release issued by Warner Bros. earlier today, the director's cut of Ken Russell's The Devils is, in an instance of poetic happenstance, set to be the inaugural release from the studio's new 'Clockwork' imprint. A new 4K restoration of the movie that's been 'cut to Ken Russell’s specific direction', the director's cut of The Devils is set to make its world premiere in the Cannes Classics strand of the Cannes Film Festival later this month. Then, for the rest of us, we can look forward to seeing the film release in cinemas globally later this year, with the BFI partnering on the movie's UK release.

For those who haven't seen The Devils in any of its existing forms, the movie — long since championed by the likes of Mark Kermode and Guillermo del Toro, garlanded with Venice Film Festival and U.S. National Board of Review Best Director nods, and legendary among horror movie lovers for its boundary-pushing content and borderline mythic missing scenes — is set in 17th century France and details the ‘true’ story of a group of Ursuline nuns’ experience of demonic possession, the mass exorcisms which followed, and the public trial and burning of one Father Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed). Exploring themes of religious manipulation, absolution, institutional and moral corruption, the dark side of power and the strength of the human spirit, The Devils may shock in content but only as much as it awes in its artistry. From Derek Jarman’s neofuturistic, Metropolis inspired set designs, to Peter Maxwell Davies’ unholy score, to Reed and Redgraves’ career-defining performances, it's a hell of a thing to behold — at times quite literally.

Ken Russell's director's cut of The Devils — the long awaited and now soon to be publicly seen for the first time ever 'Russell Cut' — is due to hit cinemas stateside for one week only on 16 October, 2026. International rollout of this historic cinema release will follow soon after. So say your prayers, make your peace with your chosen higher power, and be prepared: The Devils is coming, and you don't want to miss it.

It’s a big year for fighting video games getting the big-screen treatment. In October, Street Fighter will hadouken its way back into cinemas. Before that comes another round of Mortal Kombat. 2021’s reboot film was a solid enough re-introduction to the franchise and its characters, but with no actual fighting tournament to speak of, it all felt like a prologue to the main event. In that respect — and a couple of others — Mortal Kombat II, directed by the returning Simon McQuoid, offers more to chew on than its predecessor, even if it remains largely nutrition-free.

The most noticeable upgrade is the sequel’s change in lead protagonists. Instead of the bland Cole Young (Lewis Tan), we get Kitana (Adeline Rudolph) and Johnny Cage (Karl Urban). What heart the movie has is due to Kitana, who bears a personal grudge against evil Outworld emperor Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford). Rudolph isn’t given much room to truly delve into her character’s difficult history or her bond with her sister and fellow Kombatant Jade (Tati Gabrielle), a tantalising storyline that’s itching for more focus. Still, there’s a suitable grit and determination to her Kitana that shines through, and her bladed steel fans are certainly put to creative use. As for Cage, Urban teases out every bit of humour he can as a washed-up Hollywood actor who’s suddenly pulled into the world of Mortal Kombat, and it works more often than not.

The fatalities are pleasingly gory when they arrive...

But any Mortal Kombat film knows its audience’s primary concern is the fighting tournament itself — which we actually get to see this time — and in that regard the sequel by and large delivers. The fatalities are pleasingly gory when they arrive, and though some of the CGI and excessive green-screen is off-putting, there’s just enough variety and inventiveness to keep each battle entertaining. The high point comes when Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) faces off against his old ally Kung Lao (Max Huang), the former’s fire powers clashing with the latter’s lethal razor-rimmed hat against a colourful backdrop. It’s a flawless, satisfying meld of hard-hitting, innovative choreography and special-effects wizardry that other brawls — which run the gamut from decent to impressive — can’t match.

Elsewhere, the balance between the serious and the stupid isn’t quite as tight. A lot is made of the huge stakes in Mortal Kombat — every loss and every death Earthrealm’s champions suffer is potentially devastating. At the same time, this sequel traffics in necromancy and resurrections to such a degree that death also doesn’t seem to matter all that much in this universe. True to the games or not, it’s a strange mix that makes it difficult to fully emotionally invest in proceedings.

Thankfully, just as he did in the first movie, Kano (Josh Lawson) is on hand to constantly and entertainingly remind us how ridiculous all of this is. Indeed, he might as well be breaking the fourth wall given the Deadpool-esque nature of his jokes and one-liners, which are consistently hilarious. Lawson is a blast in the role, and the knowing nods to the absurdity of Mortal Kombat helps everything else go down a little easier.

In news that will comes as no surprise to anyone who watched Chloé Zhao's emotional tour de force Hamnet — or indeed the press tour for Chloé Zhao's emotional tour de force Hamnet — it looks like stars Paul Mescal and freshly minted Oscar winner Jessie Buckley are already gearing up to fall in love and break our hearts on the big screen once again. As Deadline reports, the stars and IRL best pals are set to reunite in Hold Onto Your Angels, an epic new romance from Oscar-nominated Beasts Of The Southern Wild director Benh Zeitlin.

Set to be introduced to potential buyers at Cannes later this month ahead of a prospective February 2027 shoot, Hold Onto Your Angels is set to see writer-director Zeitlin return to the bayous of South Louisiana for a love story that sounds poles apart from Mescal and Buckley's last team-up. Per the description shared by Deadline, Zeitlin's latest “follows a hell-bound outlaw (Mescal) and a ferocious shepherd of lost souls (Buckley) who fall in catastrophic love as their crumbling bayou paradise drags them under.” Honestly, Zeitlin had our curiosity at 'hell-bound outlaw', our attention at 'ferocious shepherd of lost souls', and our tickets bought by the time we got to 'catastrophic love'.

"Hold On To Your Angels is the most impossible love story I’ve ever witnessed — an outlaw romance for the end of America, set on the crumbling edge of South Louisiana," shared Zeitlin in a statement accompanying the movie's announcement. "I’ve been dreaming of telling it since its hero, Pam Harper, walked into an audition for Beasts of the Southern Wild seventeen years ago. It’s a love letter to an endangered way of life — and a rallying cry for empathy across a fractured planet."

Added production company Plan B: "“Benh Zeitlin absolutely stunned us and the world at large with the cosmic sorcery of Beasts Of The Southern Wild. With Hold On To Your Angels, Benh has set his powerful mix of intense realism, myth, and magic against the large scale of an epic love story. This is a writer/director with a vision for the ages and we could not be more proud to be by his side to make this film with Jessie and Paul.”

Just how exactly Zeitlin's fantastical sounding latest will take form is anybody's guess at this point: if Beasts Of The Southern Wild taught us anything, it's that Zeitlin is a filmmaker who very much marches to the beat of his own drum. Suffice it to say however, with Mescal and Buckley leading and Benh Zeitlin at the helm, hold onto your butts before you Hold Onto Your Angels — it's gonna be a must-see.

Actors and filmmakers often talk about making movies as bonding experiences for the cast and crew alike. And clearly that must've been the case for star Charlize Theron and director Baltasar Kormákur as they set about making this year's cat-and-mouse Netflix streaming sensation Apex out in the Australian Outback, as the duo have already set their next project together. Per Deadline's reporting, Kormákur is set to produce and direct an adaptation of Stan Parish's unpublished novel Six Clean Kills at Universal, with Theron aboard to produce and prospectively star.

According to Deadline, Theron had actually been circling Six Clean Kills for some time before today's announcement, and having enjoyed the adrenalised experience of working with Kormákur on Apex, this project has provided the perfect opportunity to work together again as soon as possible. Admittedly, we don't actually know what the source material for Six Clean Kills is about just yet, but it wouldn't feel like too far of a stretch to suggest the talent involved and the nature of the title suggest this probably isn't likely to be a rom-com or a nature documentary. What's more, not only are Kormákur and Theron best known for cerebral films often set within action-thriller territory, but Parish's last novel, Love And Theft, was itself a full-on international heist thriller.

Now, it's worth noting that we're not likely to see Six Clean Kills hitting cinema screens anytime soon — Theron is currently shooting Amazon 'culinary thriller' Tyrant with Julia Garner and Demi Moore, while Kormákur is in production on true story inspired Netflix joint The Big Fix with Mark Wahlberg and Riz Ahmed. That being said, after the throwback action movie thrills of Apex (seriously, it's one of the best Netflix movies we've had in a good while), we're sure that Six Clean Kills will be *ahem* summit worth waiting for.

It’s an odd experience, to find yourself thinking, “I’d really like to see more Putin.” Yet that is what you’ll likely feel during Olivier Assayas’ long, broad-scoped and often plodding account of the man’s rise to power and the remoulding of Russia into the rogue nation — sorry, “sovereign democracy” — it is today. Adapted from a satirical Italian novel (by Giuliano da Empoli) about a fictional spin doctor loosely based on one-time First Deputy Chief Vladislav Surkov, The Wizard Of The Kremlin is less concerned with the Russian President than the people who enabled his ascent amid the turmoil of the Soviet collapse, and consolidated his position through some pretty audacious political chicanery. In this sense, Assayas’ film has value as a kind of semi-documentarian account of a geopolitically tumultuous era, and how the self-interest of oligarchs garrotted Russian democracy and created a surly, grey-faced monster. If you’re not already aware of the details, it’s a timely eye-opener.

However, the movie’s framing and structure leave much to be desired. The entire story is couched as an unconvincing conversation between Surkov avatar Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano) and an American journalist (Jeffrey Wright), making it lean far too heavily on expository voiceover. Assayas takes an unadventurously chronological approach, clumsily segmenting the film into chapters while trying to fold in an unaffecting love story, with Alicia Vikander popping up in a variety of looks as Baranov’s opportunistic inamorata, who barely makes a dent on the narrative.

Dano sure-handedly underplays every scene, conveying the sense of a highly intelligent man whose air of faint, supercilious amusement and self-confidence are honestly felt, even if the web he’s so expertly spinning will ultimately trap him along with everyone else. But he is a cold fish of a protagonist, ultimately less interesting than the machinations he devises.

A film that drags on for longer than it should.

Far more compelling is the “Tsar” of this Slavic tragedy, bravely portrayed by Jude Law without a lick of prosthetics and no attempt to do an accent. Still, it is quite a transformation, as Law-Putin scowls, struts and manspreads his way to supreme power, fists clenched and mouth turned down throughout. There’s no big, grandstanding scene, but Law impresses by teasing evidence of his character’s deep-seated frustration and chilling us with Putin’s almost listless ruthlessness.

There are also even one or two laughs, such as the moment he gruffly asks Baranov, “What is Daft Punk?” But he is in too few scenes, making the part more of an extended cameo in a film that drags on for longer than it should — especially when he’s not on screen.

If you haven’t been watching Saturday Night Live UK, what have you been doing? Going out, on a Saturday night, having fun IRL? Fine, good for you. But for the rest of us, SNL’s British experiment has proved a real success, assembling a mega-talented young lineup who have delivered several instantly iconic sketches. (This week’s pork advert skit was one for the ages.) It seems the powers that be at Sky – and SNL boss Lorne Michaels – are happy too, as there are set to be many more sketches to come.

It’s been confirmed that SNL UK has been picked up for Season 2 – and it’s going to be a super-sized return, with a 12-episode order. Season 1, which currently has two remaining instalments to come, will total eight episodes, itself an extension from the initial order of six eps. And if fans are sad to be saying goodbye to the likes of Jack Shep, Al Nash, Emma Sidi, George Fouracres and Hammed Animashaun in the next two weeks, there’s good news: the wait for Season 2 won’t be a long one. The show will be back in September, heading into early 2027. “I’m incredibly proud of our team and the show. It keeps getting better every week,” says Lorne Michaels in a statement. “I’m grateful to Dana Strong and Sky for believing in and supporting SNL UK. I’m excited for the season ahead.”

For now, let’s relish these final two Season 1 episodes, and start manifesting a third ’45 Seconds With Fouracres’.

Streaming on: Netflix
Episodes viewed: 7 of 7

Any new Man On Fire adaptation has some big shoes to fill. A.J. Quinnell’s 1980 novel of the same name has been brought to screens twice before — the most notable being the 2004 Tony Scott film starring Denzel Washington as John Creasy, an alcoholic ex-mercenary who paints a masterpiece of death all over Mexico City. Created by Kyle Killen, this Netflix series quickly establishes itself as its own thing. And a typically excellent lead performance by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II keeps proceedings compelling, even amid some uninspired plotting.

One thing that remains consistent between this and previous Man On Fire iterations is Creasy’s connection with his young charge. In the Washington film, a young Dakota Fanning was Creasy’s protectee. This time around, it’s Poe (Billie Boullet), a rebellious teen who’s orphaned after her family is murdered. At its best, their dynamic is sweet, emotional, and refreshingly honest, with each helping to pull the other out of a darkness that constantly threatens to swallow them whole.

A slight cut above many thrillers of this ilk.

There’s also an effort to make this feel big. While the quality of the action is mostly serviceable, one set-piece on a runway is impressively ambitious. And with much of the action taking place in Rio, the series makes full use of its location, where a sense of authenticity shines through, and its inhabitants. In that regard, Alice Braga brings warmth and guts to Valeria, a driver who comes to Creasy and Poe’s aid. And the most pleasant surprise of the season is Iago Xavier as Vico, a street-smart gang-leader who proves to be much more than a cliché.

While there’s plenty that works well, much of Man On Fire’s plot (which has been re-worked to incorporate elements of Quinnell’s second Creasy novel, The Perfect Kill) feels by the numbers. In addition to being exceedingly predictable — no prizes for guessing who the bad guys behind the bad guys are — there are multiple frustrating and silly plot contrivances, with characters making dumb decisions that feel designed to extend proceedings unnecessarily.

It is the central performance from Abdul-Mateen II which steadies the ship. Creasy starts the series by attempting suicide, having been broken by PTSD; his journey back to the light, fighting not just for vengeance but to live — which Abdul-Mateen II navigates with deeply felt precision — is patient and hard-won. And that makes this a slight cut above many thrillers of this ilk.

When it comes to head spinning franchise chronologies, Planet Of The Apes takes some beating. Since that breathtaking Statue of Liberty denouement to Franklin J. Schaffner's original 1968 movie, we've had four direct sequels (Beneath The, Escape From, Conquest Of, and Battle For The Planet Of The Apes), a modern reboot trilogy (Rise Of, Dawn Of, and War For The Planet Of The Apes), the first chapter of a planned sequel trilogy to the reboot trilogy (Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes), and that Mark Wahlberg one. Still following? Cool. Because now we're getting a new Planet Of The Apes movie that isn't connected to any of the others!

Per Deadline's reporting, The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman and that movie's co-writer, Josh Friedman (also, notably, a writer on Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes and Avatar: Fire And Ash), have signed on to tackle a new, as-yet-untitled original Apes movie for 20th Century Studios. And while Deadline is quick to state that the nature of this new film and its potential connection to the wider Apes universe is unconfirmed, it is believed that this won't be a follow-up to Wes Ball's $397 million grossing critically and commercially successful Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes. In fact, the future of any sequels to that movie, set 300 years after Caesar breathed his last, remains very much up in the air at the moment — not least because Wes Ball is currently still off battling bokoblins as he gets his Legend Of Zelda movie ready for release next year.

Precious little else is known about Shakman and Friedman's take on Planet Of The Apes at this point beyond the fact it's in development, so we've no plot details, casting, or even rough timeframes for shooting or release to offer up just yet. We do at least know that longtime Apes producers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver are aboard the latest instalment in the nearly $2 billion grossing franchise. Who knows, by the time this next chapter in the saga of apes and man hits our screens, maybe we'll have finally wrapped our heads around how everything does or doesn't connect and what exactly Tim Burton was thinking back in 2001. Maybe...

There's just no stopping Matthew Lillard right now — and honestly, who'd even want to? Following a crowd pleasing return to the role of Stu Macher in Scream 7 earlier this year, an impressive showing in Cross Season 2 back in February, and a hell of an entrance into the MCU as Daredevil Born Again Season 2's slippery spy Mr. Charles, Lillard is about to add another major franchise role to his infinity gauntlet of IP appearances. Per Deadline's reporting, Lillard has landed a role in James Gunn's upcoming Superman sequel, Man Of Tomorrow, at DC Studios.

Currently in production ahead of a planned 9 July, 2027 cinema release, Man Of Tomorrow is set to see David Corenswet's Man of Steel team up with arch nemesis Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) to take on classic silver age comic book supervillain Brainiac (Lars Eidinger). Further plot details on the movie are being kept under wraps for now, as is the role Lillard is set to play in Gunn's self-written and directed Supes sequel. We do however know who will be starring alongside the former Shaggy Rogers when he makes his DCU bow. Adria Arjona is set to play Maxima, an alien queen with a serious Supes obsession in Marvel comics, in the film, while Lanterns star Aaron Pierre is bringing his Green Lantern, John Stewart, from the small to the big screen for Gunn's latest blockbuster.

The DCU newcomers join a slew of returnees including *deep breath* Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane), Skyler Gisondo (Jimmy Olsen), Isabela Merced (Hawkgirl), Guy Gardner (Nathon Fillion) and Edi Gathegi (Mister Terrific). We'll find out what's in store for them — and just who exactly Matthew Lillard is playing — when Man Of Tomorrow hits cinemas next summer. But before then, there's no shortage of big screen DC goodness to look forward to. Supergirl is due to take off on 26 June, while James Watkins' very intriguing body-horror Clayface is heading our way just in time for Halloween on 23 October. Superhero fatigue, you say? Clearly James Gunn never got that memo!

Hear ye, hear ye muggles — HBO Harry Potter news coming at you faster than a Nimbus 2000! Sure, we may still be seven months or so out from the release of Mark Mylod and Francesca Gardiner's Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone on HBO Max, but that hasn't stopped HBO from moving quickly to confirm the future of its ambitious Wizarding World reboot. Per Deadline's reporting, the TV and streaming giant has already given the greenlight to Harry Potter Season 2 — presumably soon to be officially titled Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets after the second book in JK Rowling's boy wizard saga.

As confirmed by Deadline, the second season of Harry Potter — which is due to begin filming later this year ahead of The Philosopher's Stone's Christmas release — will bring with it a little bit of a shake-up on the creative side of things. While Francesca Gardiner is set to continue as the series' showrunner, for the saga's second instalment she won't be going it alone: Season 1 writer and fellow Succession alum Jon Brown is being promoted to co-showrunner for Season 2 as Harry (Dominic McLaughlin), Ron (Alastair Stout), and Hermione (Arabella Stanton) prepare to tackle giant spiders, bloody basilisks, and Moaning Myrtle.

“As we have laid out our plans for the overlapping production schedules to finish season one by Christmas and to return to production for season two this Autumn, it has become clear that bringing on a co-showrunner is the key to maintaining our momentum,” said Gardner in a statement following Brown's appointment as co-showrunner. “I’ve loved working with Jon from the very first day we met on Succession through to these recent times together on Harry Potter. Not only do I have huge admiration for his writing, but he’s also a brilliant collaborator and a lovely person. We are lucky to have him.” Added Brown in his own statement: "I’m incredibly excited to be collaborating with Francesca as co-showrunner. It has been a joy to write on Philosopher’s Stone and I’d like to thank Francesca and HBO for putting their faith in me to continue this remarkable journey. Seems you’re never too old to get your invitation to Hogwarts.”

At the time of writing, production on Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone — whose veritable constellation of stars includes Nick Frost, Paapa Essiedu, John Lithgow, and Janet McTeer among others — is still actually underway. But with that Christmas Day release date looming, and plans for The Chamber Of Secrets quickly coming together, it won't be long before we're back aboard the Hogwarts Express for the beginning of another seven-year stint at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

If there's one thing we've learned to expect from an Ari Aster movie it is, cliché as it may sound the unexpected. From lamppost decapitations and satanism to sunshine and folk horror (Hereditary and Midsommar), and from penis monster fuelled anxiety trips to pure COVID chaos (Beau Is Afraid and Eddington), no two Aster movies are the same. And for his next move, per Deadline's reporting, Aster is set to team up with none other than Scarlett Johansson on a secretive new A24 movie, simply titled Scapegoat.

Despite the fact ScarJo is one of the most booked and busy actors in Hollywood just now, with shooting only just wrapped on Mike Flanagan's The Exorcist retooling and The Batman Part II looming on her horizon this summer, the two-time Oscar nominee wasn't going to miss a chance to work with Ari Aster. According to Deadline's sources, after reading Aster's Scapegoat screenplay, Johansson was so intent on making the movie — whose plot, as you may expect, remains firmly under wraps — that the film's producers were willing to commit to filming later this year to accommodate her schedule and land Aster his leading lady.

Having starred in both The Phoenician Scheme and Jurassic World Dominion last year and released her directorial debut, Eleanor The Great, Scarlett Johansson could've been forgiven for pumping the breaks this year and taking a breather. Instead, she's doubling down on new projects. Along with Scapegoat, The Batman Part II, and The Exorcist, ScarJo has already got James Gray's Paper Tiger and Brad Bird's long-gestating Ray Gunn in the can (and, in Paper Tiger's case, in the Cannes — film festival that is.) Here's hoping Scapegoat works out well for Johansson and Aster. And hey, if it doesn't, we're sure they can find someone else to blame it on. Now if only there were a word for that...

Matt Damon is a man who knows a thing or two about playing a dude who's just trying to get home. The Martian, Elysium, Interstellar, Dogma, and even Saving Private Ryan (albeit against his will) all find Damon either trying to find a way back to where he belongs or folk trying to get him back there. In Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey however, Matt Damon is about to undertake the granddaddy of all homeward bound voyages as his Odysseus embarks upon a decade-long journey home to his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and son Telemachus (Tom Holland) after the fall of Troy. And if the new trailer for Nolan's latest blockbuster is anything to go by, he'd better hurry up. Check it out below;

Hoo boy — it's a long old road back to Ithaca, ain't it? In this latest trailer for The Odyssey — which, in case you needed reminding, took over two million feet of film to shoot — we find Charlize Theron's nymph Calypso asking our man Odysseus what he remembers of his life. "A wife, a son, we won the war," recalls Damon's bearded hero, before a hard cut to him pleading with the gods, "help me go home." Standing between him and his family though, as we see here, are no shortage of monsters and men. Here we get a glimpse of the dread cyclops in all its troglodytic brutality, the elemental fury of the gods, and R-Pattz's leering would-be suitor Antinous, whose attempts to weasel his way into Penelope's affections look to be causing no shortage of discomfort and tension in Ithaca as Odysseus' family desperately await his return. As we say, Odysseus had better hurry up and get home sharpish — we've already seen Robert Pattinson at a wedding once this year, and we definitely don't need him at another!

Also here for Odysseus', er, odyssey are a veritable constellation of stars including John Leguizamo as Odysseus’s servant Eumaeus, Jon Bernthal as Greek king of Sparta Menelaus, Zendaya as the goddess Athena, Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, Himesh Patel as Eurylochus, Mia Goth as Melantho, and Jimmy Gonzales as Cepheus. Lupita Nyong'o and Will Yun Lee are also aboard for the journey in as yet undisclosed roles. We'll find out how they — and Odysseus — fare when Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey hits cinemas in all its shot for IMAX glory on 17 July, 2026. "Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns..."

When it was first announced that Danny Boyle and Alex Garland were returning to the world of 28 Days Later, it was made clear that their plan extended beyond one film. They envisioned 28 Years Later as a trilogy, with the first film to be helmed by Boyle himself, and the second chapter – The Bone Temple – to be directed by Candyman’s Nia DaCosta, shot back to back and later to be followed by Part Three. But while 28 Years Later and The Bone Temple both received rapturous critical acclaim (and love from audiences too) the second instalment struggled at the box office. Released in January, The Bone Temple amassed $58 million worldwide, just over a third of 28 Years Later’s $151 million haul.

As DaCosta tells Empire, the drop-off in turnout came as something of a surprise to all involved. “It’s so funny, because literally every barometer we use in the industry to determine whether or not a movie is good, and people like it and want to see it, was through the roof, and yet our box office wasn’t there,” she says in a major new interview, reflecting on 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. “I made a great film, and I’m really proud of it, and people liked it.” While fans only had to wait a matter of months between the two films hitting cinemas, DaCosta queries whether it was “maybe too soon, because people were like, ‘Oh yeah, I saw that last summer!’ I’m like, ‘No, no, so there’s a sequel!’”

While The Bone Temple’s box office numbers proved underwhelming, DaCosta can stand by her work. “My friend said to me years ago, ‘Nia, your career is for you to enjoy,’ and I really have been trying to put that into practice and take that to heart over the course of the past few years,” she says. “And so when this came out and it didn’t do as well in terms of the money it made, I was disappointed. But I also was like, ‘I’m so happy that when people find the film, they’re going to enjoy the film.’ I wish it made more money, but I’m really proud of it.”

For now, the question remains: will Boyle and Garland get to cap off their trilogy with the planned third film? Prior to The Bone Temple’s release, the final instalment was confirmed to be moving ahead – but it’s been quiet since the second film’s lower-than-hoped numbers. There’s only one thing for it: who’s up for a 28 marathon?

Read Empire’s full Nia DaCosta interview – on 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and her career so far – in the Aliens issue, on sale Thursday May 7. Pre-order a copy online here. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is available now on 4K, Blu-ray, DVD, and digital.

It’s been 40 years since Aliens proved exactly what a sequel could do – and it’s lost none of its power in the intervening decades. The new issue of Empire is a massive celebration of James Cameron’s stellar sequel, and it’s about to burst onto newsstands. (You can order a copy online here, too.)

But first, here’s a sneak peek inside its pages…

Aliens At 40

Game over, man! Empire reunites James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn and Jenette Goldstein for an epic 14-page interview, looking back on the making of Aliens, and their enduring friendship.

Toy Story 5

‘You’ve got a friend in me’ doesn’t just apply to Woody and Buzz. As Toy Story 5 approaches, Empire sits down with Tom Hanks and Tim Allen to talk 30 years of working together on Pixar’s childhood saga.

The Boys: Season 5

The most shocking show on television is about to go out with a bang. The Boys creator Eric Kripke, and stars Antony Starr, Jack Quaid, Karl Urban, Erin Moriarty, team up for a group Empire interview reflecting on a decade of superhero sex, gore, and swearing galore.

Scary Movie

Wazzuuuup! Cinema’s most successful horror spoof franchise returns, with decades of material to lampoon. Empire speaks to returning creatives Marlon and Shawn Wayans about why the world needs to laugh.

A.I. In Hollywood

It’s the biggest conversation in Hollywood right now: is A.I. going to make or break the movies? Empire speaks to industry insiders about the good, the bad, and the ugly of a seismic technological shift.

Naomi Ackie

Beyond Star Wars and Whitney Houston, British actor Naomi Ackie has emerged as a force in uncompromising films like Sorry, Baby, Mickey 17, and Blink Twice. Ahead of a starring role in Boots Riley’s bold I Love Boosters, Ackie talks through her career so far in a major new Empire interview.

First Word

In this month’s news section, we explore why cinema is looking to the skies right now; RSVP with director Olivia Wilde on her fiery thriller The Invite; explore the foundations of Masters Of The Universe’s Castle Grayskull – and call Saul himself, Bob Odenkirk, for the Pint Of Milk interview. And much more.

Final Cut

In the home entertainment section, we talk to 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple director Nia DaCosta on her stellar sequel and its box office performance; go role-by-role with Ben Whishaw through his career; dig into the spoilers of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man with director Tom Harper; give Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar the Masterpiece treatment; rank the Jurassic movies; and much more.

Reviews

In this issue, you’ll find reviews of John Carney’s latest music-based movie, Power Ballad, Ben Wheatley’s action film Normal, Steven Soderbergh’s art thriller The Christophers, rock-doc Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition, gritty survival thriller Apex, rural murder-mystery The Sheep Detectives, and plenty more.

By the time Anthony Bourdain died, aged just 61, in 2018, the six-time Emmy award-winning celebrity chef and writer had long since crossed the rubicon into the realm of pop cultural legend. A thrill-seeker and a humanist with rockstar swagger and a try everything attitude to life ("Your body is not a temple, it's an amusement park. Enjoy the ride," he once wrote), Bourdain burned bright and carried that heat constantly, with many of his highs — and lows — captured either on camera or in print. With A24's borderline anti-biopic Tony however, director Matt Johnson (Blackberry) and star Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers) are set to shift our attention to Bourdain's formative years as a 19-year-old living and working in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Check out the trailer below;

The old adage goes, "If you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen." But as we see in this first trailer for Tony, it seems more like it was a case of "if you can't handle the heat, get into the kitchen" for Anthony Bourdain, who we see here missing out on a prestigious writing fellowship, dropping out of college, and hitting the bottle (and his bedroom wall) before landing a life-changing gig working in a seafood restaurant under Antonio Banderas' head chef, Ciro. "You work in a kitchen before?" asks Ciro as we see Bourdain fumble pots and pans. "Yeah," deadpans the budding chef. Cue Bourdain earning his spurs in Ciro's kitchen with new bud Sal (Leo Woodall) as he navigates a fiery relationship with love interest Nancy (Emilia Jones), develops his punk-rock approach to cooking, and begins what would go on to be a life- and career-long inquiry into the human spirit — both in himself and the world around him.

“We chose to support Tony because it is not a standard biopic and doesn’t attempt to summarize a life,” shared Bourdain's estate in a statement explaining their support for Johnson's film. “Guided by the vision of director Matt Johnson, the film depicts one transformative summer in 1975 in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It is an interpretation, as that part of Tony’s life will always remain somewhat unknown." Continuing, the estate praises Tony's representation of Bourdain and its potential to remind viewers of its subject's adventurous spirit. “We appreciate the portrayal of Tony’s complexity, his intellectual appetite and his conviction — qualities that eventually took him around the globe and endeared him to so many," they write. "We hope this film serves as a reminder that every journey has a start, and that audiences see the beginnings of the man who taught us how to be better explorers on our own paths.”

We look forward to seeing what Matt Johnson, Dominic Sessa, and co have been cooking when Tony arrives in cinemas this summer. Until then, we're off to binge all of Parts Unknown again... as if we really needed an excuse.