Back in August, a wide-ranging Ridley Scott interview with The LA Times left Alien fans with a tantalising smoking gun: the octogenarian auteur still wants to make a third and final Alien prequel movie centred around Michael Fassbender's sinister AI David. And while we've yet to receive further word from Scott on such a film, this evening THR has revealed something that could prove to be a key piece in that particular puzzle's assembly. Aaron Guzikowski, who collaborated with Sir Ridders on Raised By Wolves and also wrote Prisoners, has been tapped to write a new Alien movie at 20th Century Studios.

Per THR's reporting, Guzikowski — who created Raised By Wolves, on which Ridley Scott served as executive producer and two-episode director — is currently penning a mystery Xenomorph flick to be released under the Scott Free production banner. While specifics on the project are being shrouded in secrecy for the time being, we do know two things. Firstly, this isn't the currently in development sequel to Alien: Romulus — or anything to do with Noah Hawley's forthcoming Alien: Earth Season 2 for that matter. Secondly, and far more interestingly, THR's sources indicate that this project is connected to Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, with the common thread being — you guessed it! — Fassbender's David. Crucially however, Michael Fassbender hasn't signed on for anything at this stage.

Should Guzikowski's mystery Alien movie turn out to be Scott's mooted prequel trilogy caper, then we know from Scott himself that the plan would be for Fassbender to reprise his role as rogue AI android David in a movie that'd continue to explore the ramifications of malfunctioning artificial intelligence as the soft-spoken but incredibly sinister synth creates "a brave new world for himself." Now, of course, Guzikowski's film could turn out to be nothing to do with that idea at all. But it also could, and as Prometheus and Covenant truthers here at Empire HQ, we're choosing to believe we'll see David again someday. Watch this space!

This week's Empire Podcast sees Simon Farnaby, Mathew Baynton, and Kiell Smith-Bynoe, three members of the gargantuan cast of Ghosts: The Possession Of Button House, the big-screen debut of the beloved BBC sitcom Ghosts, possess the podbooth and have a delightful and deliciously daft chat with Chris Hewitt which, at one point, involves trying to explain the concept of Taskmaster to Farnaby. Either side of that, Chris is also joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer and, visiting us from the US of A, Anthony Breznican, who makes his pod debut in excellent fashion. Our intrepid quartet discuss the week's movie news, including the new issue of Empire and Steven Soderbergh stepping in on The Batman Part II, chat about their favourite documentaries, review Wildwood, Ghosts: The Possession Of Button House, Clayface, Klara And The Sun, and Fatherland, and take a listener question from a most unusual source. 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 #739) on the pod app of your choice. There, you'll also find the latest episode of Empire Pod regular The Interviews. This week's episode sees two dynamic duos drop in for lovely cinema-connected chats. First, Chris Hewitt comes face-to-face with Austin Abrams and Josh Brolin, the actors who play out a fractious father-son relationship in Brian Duffield's Whalefall, in which Abrams gets trapped inside the stomach of a sperm whale, and they talk about what scares them as actors, filming inside a giant stomach, and more. Then, Alex Godfrey has a lovely chat, some of it concerning pick & mix, with Kitao Sakurai and Andrew Koji, the director and star respectively of Street Fighter, the film which adapts the classic fighting video game. Hadoukens at the ready!

While MCU heads may be glued to the synthezoid shenanigans of VisionQuest on the small screen just now, the folks at Marvel Television aren't slacking when it comes to preparing their next major MCU show. With the studio having surprise announced secretive new spy series Zodiac at New York Comic Con just a couple of weeks ago, triggering no end of online speculation about S.H.I.E.L.D symbols and Great Wheels, Deadline is now reporting that Marvel has found its writing team for the show: original Israeli Euphoria creator Ron Leshem and his Trust No One and Bad Boy collaborator Amit Cohen. And that's not all the trade is sharing, either.

Upon its October 8 announcement, precious little was known about what Zodiac may entail: its title references a prominent criminal organisation from Marvel Comics, while the 'O' and 'A' in the series' title treatment seemingly hint towards both writer Jonathan Hickman's shadowy, Illuminati-like comics supergroup and a reintegration of spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D into the MCU. Now however, Deadline is offering a little more plot detail, stating that the series "will follow a pair of spies who are chasing targets who have special abilities". It is, admittedly, not a hell of a lot more to go on than we had before, but does seemingly validate fans' speculation on both the show's title and its treatment's symbolic lettering. It also opens the door just a crack to legitimising online scuttlebutt that this new project may be gearing up to introduce entirely original characters as its leads and then have them investigate, among other things, some of the characters introduced in the Multiverse Saga who have fallen by the wayside in recent years.

With production on Zodiac due to get underway in London next year ahead of a planned 2028 Disney+ streaming release, expect to hear plenty more on Marvel's new spy series in the weeks and months ahead. And in the meantime, we guess it wouldn't hurt to binge all seven seasons of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D and the entire Multiverse Saga thus far just in case any of it becomes relevant in the near future. Any excuse, really....

Have you heard the Carrie news? No, not the fact that Chris Hargensen is ‘carrie red’. Nor that Carrie White, er, burned down the school prom and destroyed most of her town in the process. No, the Carrie news is much brighter than that – Mike Flanagan’s series adaptation of Stephen King’s novel has officially been picked up for a Season 2.

Yes, a Season 2. Even before Season 1 dropped, Flanagan teased that his plans for the show extend way past the novel, hoping for something in the region of three seasons. And – SPOILER ALERT – since Season 1 did indeed end with the prom sequence, and Carrie not dying, there is a clear set-up for more Carrie madness to come. The first season closed out with Carrie on the road with her fellow telekinetically-powered friend Emaline, who has connections to a wider network of mind-meddling people led by Kate Siegel’s mysterious psychic.

In a statement, Flanagan said: “From the beginning, we imagined a story that goes far beyond the prom, and I’m incredibly grateful for Stephen’s trust and support in exploring what comes next.” King, who is a producer on the show, also gave his blessing for Carrie’s story continuing. “I can’t wait for audiences to get to see what’s down the road for Carrie White,” he said. “Mike Flanagan and I are excited about what comes next. It’s bound to be thrilling.”

It’s unconfirmed who else will return in Season 2 beyond Summer H. Howell’s Carrie – but it’ll be fascinating to see where Flanagan and his team take the story without King’s roadmap to follow; and to see where he’ll draw further connections into the wider King-verse. Time to Shine.

It's been a long, long wait to discover who will play the next James Bond. It’s somehow already been over half a decade since Daniel Craig's explosive farewell in No Time To Die, and a lot has happened in the years since the Blonde Bond's departure. But now, with Amazon having taken over the franchise, Denis Villeneuve aboard to direct Bond 26, and Peaky Blinders mastermind Steven Knight having put pen to paper — or finger to keyboard — on the script for His Majesty's finest's return, casting director Nina Gold is almost ready to hand the next 007 his license to thrill.

According to Deadline, Amazon MGM Studios is setting its final auditions for the tux-sporting super spy as we type, with those crucial last screen tests potentially set to begin as early as tomorrow. As for the all important question of who will be taking part in those final screen tests, it's Deadline's understanding that at least four actors have made it to the final round for the role, and that three of those contending for the part are Masters Of The Air star Callum Turner, Challengers and La Chimera leading man Josh O'Connor, and Slow Horses' borderline anti-Bond standout Jack Lowden. Interestingly, contrary to various bits of online and trade scuttlebutt, THR is reporting that Sinners' Jack O'Connell and recent hot tip Jacob Elordi are not among those vying to take up the Walther PPK.

THR's sources indicate that there'll be three primary components to the final round of testing in the hunt for Daniel Craig's successor, with stunts, camera presence, and dialogue all coming under the microscope as Amazon look to lock down the face of a bold new era in Bond. With word on the street being that an announcement is expected before the year is through, and the reported shortlist of candidates promising we're about to see another major talent made a bona fide movie star, we are shaken, stirred, and more than ready to meet the next Mr. Bond. Your move, Amazon.

When Godzilla Minus One stomped into cinemas in 2023, it was instantly hailed as one of the greatest Godzilla films ever made – and rightly so. Director (and writer, and VFX supervisor) Takashi Yamazaki not only made the nuclear lizard scary again, but paired his arrival in post-World War II Japan with a touching human story. As well as critical acclaim and $113 million box office haul, the film even won an Oscar for its visual effects. So, how do you possibly hope to live up to it in a sequel?

That’s the question Yamazaki was faced with for Godzilla Minus Zero – and he looked to one of Hollywood’s finest for the answer. “I’m going to have to give credit to James Cameron,” he tells Empire, citing Aliens and Terminator 2 as some of his favourite sequels. “He looks at the original and finds another interesting hook point and digs much deeper. Oftentimes his sequels will take a slightly different angle, but still rooted in a lot of what was built in the first film. I was curious how his second films are outperforming the originals in a lot of ways.”

For Yamazaki, that additional hook this time is not just a greater scale to the kaiju action, but expanding the emotional focus too. In Minus One, kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima wrestled with his wartime guilt as he battled Godzilla, all while forming a bond with fellow survivor Noriko and kid Akiko. In Minus Zero, it’s all about the trio as a family unit. “The shift from Shikishima as an individual, to putting the focus on the family, was a different vector for Minus Zero,” says the director. It also continues an allegorical story of Japan’s post-war state of mind. “I think there are parallels between the recovery of Japan at the time, and the building of the Shikishima family,” he explains. “In Minus Zero, the state of the country as well as the state of Shikishima’s family is improving. Hence, they’re approaching ‘zero’ in a way, and a new threat appears that basically threatens to take that away.” Bigger, beefier – and with higher stakes. That’s the James Cameron way.

Read Empire’s full Godzilla Minus Zero story in the Dune: Part Three issue – on sale now. Order a copy online here. Godzilla Minus Zero comes to IMAX from November 3, and in UK cinemas from November 6.

You know a horror movie probably isn’t quite firing on all cylinders when one character is forced to take another aside and explicitly state: “I am actually scared”. Indeed, when Jessica Chastain’s Ursula delivers this line towards the end of Other Mommy, the audience, too, may need reminding that they’re supposed to be watching from between their fingers, given they’ve just seen Ursula larking about with a cocktail in hand while being hunted by a demonic entity. It’s a tonal glitch that encapsulates the film’s core problem — Other Mommy pinballs at breakneck speed between austere supernatural thriller, Raimi-esque OTT horror-comedy and earnest family drama, never quite sticking the landing on any of them.

The film’s Coraline-y premise is this: seven-year-old Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark) lives with her standoffish, workaholic mum (Chastain) and cuddly, stoner, stay-at-home dad (Jay Duplass). But Bela has a secret: she is regularly visited by ‘Other Mommy’ (also Chastain) — a malevolent shape-shifter that takes the form of Ursula, and harbours the rather vague intention of being “let into” Bela’s heart. The initially novel thing about the film is that Bela’s secret doesn’t remain secret for long. While other child-meets-monster movies might dedicate a good hour to the adults whispering anxiously about whether this is all in the kid’s head, ‘Other Mommy’ reveals herself to the entire family within the first 15 minutes, via a series of heart-jolting jump scares. From there, Bela, dad and ‘Real Mommy’ spend the rest of the runtime being chased by the eerily grinning doppelgänger through a series of increasingly ludicrous locations, from a high-tech seance to a soft-play centre.

There appear to be no clear rules here about the physics of the monster.

Director Rob Savage previously explored both demons and seances in his superb 2020 breakout Host. But while that movie was lean and clear-eyed, its terror carefully grounded in reality, Other Mommy feels as rubbery and disjointed as its antagonist’s limbs. There appear to be no clear rules here about the physics of the monster: one minute it can’t get through a barricaded door, the next it’s managed to fill a locked car with colourful plastic balls. All of which conspires to make ‘Other Mommy’ feel less like a genuine, nightmare-inducing threat, and more a tour guide on a carnival ride of bombastic hallucinatory sequences that often don’t even feel linked to one another.

Chastain gives it her all as Ursula and ‘Other Mommy’, and she’s immensely watchable as both — icily distant as the former, psychotically overbearing as the latter. And there’s fun to be had in some of the more gory moments, particularly the monster’s inability to manifest the correct number of human fingers (extra-dimensional demons apparently have much in common with AI slop). But when the film enters its third act, and we are suddenly plunged into the family’s history and internal machinations, we find we simply don’t know these characters well enough to be able to invest. And ultimately, just as the dramatic elements aren’t quite sufficient to stir the emotions, the horror never truly gets under the skin, either. Other Mommy might occasionally leave you shocked or startled — but “actually scared”? Probably not.

It's been a rollercoaster few weeks for fans of all things Detective Comics. Damon Lindelof's DCU series Lanterns recently wrapped up a stellar debut season; production suddenly halted on Matt Reeves' The Batman Part II, only for Steven Soderbergh to swoop in to provide a last-minute assist; and James Watkins' hotly anticipated body-horror Clayface is heading to cinemas this very week. And if that all hasn't fully twisted your noodle, then get this: Deadline is reporting that The Penguin showrunner Lauren LaFranc is in talks to join a new Poison Ivy focused TV series in development at Warner Bros. and DC.

Per Deadline's reporting, LeFranc is currently only eyeing a producorial role on the series and isn't expected to serve as either writer or showrunner on the project — one that had been temporarily put on the back burner amid Paramount and Warner Bros.' mega-merger but is very much now back on the board. While nothing is known about the series' plot, setting, or indeed casting as of yet (Lake Bell voices Poison Ivy in animated show Harley Quinn, but otherwise the character has been conspicuously absent from DC Studios' output), it is at least known that this show isn't expected to relate or connect to Matt Reeves' established The Batman universe, which itself — not at all confusingly — isn't connected to James Gunn's mainline DC Universe featuring Superman, Supergirl, Lanterns, and Clayface.

Perhaps most memorably previously brought to life on screen by Uma Thurman in Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin, and by Diane Pershing in Batman: The Animated Series, Poison Ivy — aka Dr. Pamela Isley — has been a mainstay in Batman's rogues' gallery since her first comic book appearance in Batman #181 in 1966, but hasn't really been given a proper chance to shine in live-action to date. With Clayface and The Penguin having given some of Bats' best baddies a whole new villainous lease on life in recent times though, maybe a Lauren LeFranc overseen Poison Ivy show will give Dr Isley chance to really, er, plant her flag in the on-screen DC pantheon. Watch this space!

Technically, Clayface — based on the DC character’s adventures in print — is a comic-book movie. And sure, it’s set in Gotham City, and there’s mention of a “clown” here and there. But this is a film that requires no previous DC Universe knowledge — only a strong stomach.

Tom Rhys Harries, an actor whose star is on the rise, plays Matt Hagen, an actor whose star is on the rise. Charming, handsome and newly award-nominated, Matt has everything going for him. That is, until he sleeps with a mobster’s girlfriend, and receives a horrifying comeuppance — his chiselled, screen-ready face is sliced to pieces. Matt loses his roles and his agent, and throws good money after bad on surgery that leaves him scarred and unrecognisable.

Desperate to regain his face, and the fame and fortune it brought him, Matt turns to experimental scientist Caitlyn Corr (Mickey 17 and Blink Twice’s Naomi Ackie), and volunteers as a human-trial test subject for her nanocell technology, designed to regenerate damaged tissue. It works, sort of, but also unleashes a whole host of disturbing side effects that send Matt into a violent spiral.

Clayface is a continuation of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DC Universe, the third big-screen entry after 2025’s Superman and this year’s Supergirl — but is pitching itself very differently in tone and genre to the previous movies. Both of those were PG-13, cape-wearing superhero romps; Clayface is a bleak, bloody character-study-slash-origin-story, earning its R rating through balls-to-the-wall body horror. Think the meta-acting narrative of A Different Man meets the outlandish, escalating gore of The Substance, plus a sprinkle of the Polyjuice Potion scenes in Harry Potter, and you’re pretty much there.

Tom Rhys Harries feels like the perfect subject for all of it.

The initial attack on Matt comes very early, with not as much build-up as you’d think but plenty of impact, the overhead shot of chief wrong’un Markos Szabo (David Dencik) slashing the star’s mouth with a penknife (just one of several Joker-esque visual nods) as he’s pinned down truly wince-inducing. But with that, the nastiness is only just getting started. There’s fleshy surgical stuff; a watch-through-your-fingers plane bathroom scene involving half-closed eyes and nail scissors; an unexpected spine extraction; a stand-out nightclub massacre sequence; and enough face-melting to put you off ever watching The Great Pottery Throw Down again. Director James Watkins (who most recently impressed with his James McAvoy-starring version of social-boundary-pushing thriller Speak No Evil) really is pulling no punches, employing remarkable prosthetics and genuinely new-feeling CG bodily transformations to make every cut, peel and stab as visceral as possible.

Harries feels like the perfect subject for all of it: his big eyes, high cheekbones and sharp jawline are both a vessel for Matt’s star quality on talk shows and red carpets, and an ideal canvas on which his artificially intelligent new cells wreak havoc. We’re not given much time to get to know pre-attack Matt, and his descent into mushy madness happens at pace, but Harries manages to make even the most unlikely character swings feel convincing. His connection with Ackie’s sincere, empathetic Caitlyn (who is given even less dimension and development than Matt) is crucial to keeping you invested, and the film keeps that at the forefront during all of Matt’s ups and downs.

But all that brilliant body horror can’t quite make up for Clayface’s script being so — aptly — skin-deep, especially in its exploration of the themes behind its protagonist’s many transformations. Its recent forebears feel like they explored similar terrain more successfully: The Substance was a powerful examination of the pressure of adhering to conventional beauty standards; A Different Man interrogated what makes someone attractive, inside and out.

Clayface gets nowhere close to this level of thought-provoking, instead adhering to the tired trope of visible facial differences being feared, reviled, something to cure or hide. It is Matt’s differences that become his power, eventually — but this is a villain story, after all, and any catharsis is experienced via Matt’s quest for revenge rather than any kind of empowerment. Remove its fleshy, liquescent mask, and you’ll not find a lot of memorable meat underneath, but at least Clayface’s brutal exterior offers savage delights.

The world of Star Wars gaming is in pretty rude health just about now. In the last couple of months alone, we've gotten two of the best-reviewed games to come out of that galaxy far, far away in ages in the form of XCOM style tactics joint Star Wars: Zero Company and high-octane podracing banger Star Wars: Galactic Racer. Now, after weeks of whispers and years of rumours, Variety is reporting that a long clamoured for new title — Star Wars: Battlefront 3 — is in active development at EA DICE and Respawn.

News of a third game in the modern era Battlefront revival — started with 2015's Star Wars: Battlefront, and continued with similarly ingeniously titled 2017 follow-up Star Wars: Battlefront II — will no doubt be music to the ears of Star Wars fans. Battlefront II, which overcame micro-transaction based controversy upon release to become a feature-rich and worthy sequel to DICE's 2015 resurrection of their own shooter franchise, received its last update six years ago, meaning virtually the entire Disney+ era of Star Wars — including Andor, The Mandalorian & Grogu, Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew, The Bad Batch, Maul: Shadow Lord, and more — has been left untouched and untapped in the non-Fortnite gaming world. Presumably, any new game would rectify that dearth of up-to-date content, and potentially feature maps and characters from new and upcoming projects too, like Star Wars: Starfighter (and, of course, Glup Shitto of the moment, Biddy Blas!)

News of Battlefront 3 being in active development comes on what has otherwise been another rough day in the gaming industry, one which has seen EA confirm that 3% of its current workforce (approximately 14,000 employees) are being laid off and that legendary studio BioWare — of Mass Effect, Knights Of The Old Republic, and Dragon Age fame — is being shut down. But hey, at least we're getting Battlefront 3, a new Jedi series game, and that Iron Man one, too, eh? Silver linings and all that...

Across two seasons, sixteen episodes and counting, Amazon's billion-dollar high fantasy big swing The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power has slowly been moving its elf, dwarf, wizard, Harfoot, and human-shaped pieces into place to herald the single most consequential event in Middle-earth's history: Sauron's forging of The One Ring in the lands of Mordor, where the shadows lie. Now, in Prime Video's forthcoming The Rings Of Power: Season 3, Charlie Vickers' Dark Lord is finally set to do the deed and plunge the world into darkness, which would be terribly frightening if it didn't all look so damn cool. Just check out the newly dropped final trailer for the new season below;

Blimey — that's a whole lot of trailer! Teasing proto-Ringwraiths, the arrival of Jamie Campbell Bower's Celeborn, Daniel Weyman's first fully fledged season as Gandalf The Wise, and all manner of battles and beasts — Fell, Balrog, Mumakil, and more — this latest look at The Rings Of Power's third outing really leans into the all-consuming sense of darkness and foreboding surrounding J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay's show as it starts to enter the back-half of its five-season arc. And yet amid all the grandeur, preciouses, and large-scale conflict, it looks like the emotional core of the show holds true, with Morfydd Clark's Galadriel plagued by visions of Sauron, the Dwarf kingdom dealing with its recent loss and present power vacuum, and all the peoples of Middle-earth barrelling towards the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, tasked with setting aside their differences in the face of the greatest evil their world has ever seen.

And here's the official synopsis for Rings Of Power's return: "Season 3 finds Sauron transformed into his legendary armored form as he enslaves his ring-servants, the Nazgnagôl, and sows destruction across Middle-earth through deception and might. Meanwhile, Gandalf emerges as the iconic wizard of lore and Galadriel continues her evolution into the wise and powerful elven Lady of Lothlórien. And, for the first time on screen, audiences will witness the foundational moment that shaped Middle-earth and became a cornerstone of popular culture: the forging of the One Ring – capping Sauron’s quest for ultimate power as he battles the resistance of Elves, Dwarves, and Men."

So there we have it. The stage is set. The One Ring is being forged, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men approaches, and it looks like Celeborn, Galadriel, and Sauron are about to give us the unlikeliest telly love triangle of 2026. November 11 can't come soon enough!

Ever since Meet The Parents, the central tension of the Focker-verse (as nobody is calling it) has been between two greats: all-timer Robert De Niro, and comedy legend Ben Stiller. Now, 16 years after trilogy-closer Little Fockers, the series is back with Focker-In-Law, which adds an unexpected new ingredient into the heavyweight mix: Ariana Grande. This time, Ben Stiller’s Greg (aka Gaylord) Focker is the mistrustful parent unsure of his son’s new beau, Grande’s CIA hostage negotiator Olivia. And, of course, De Niro’s Jack instantly takes a shine to her, upping the awkwardness.

As it turns out, Grande was the perfect person to face off against Stiller and De Niro. “She very smoothly went toe-to-toe with Ben and got right in there with De Niro and the rest of the ensemble. She brought so much,” director John Hamburg tells Empire. She was, he says “a filmmaker’s dream. She pushed me to rewrite and make her character as good as possible.” All this despite blockbuster movies still being relatively new territory for her. “I can't believe she's been in as few movies as she's been in,” says Hamburg. “She made a joke to me: ‘John, I've been in two movies and they're both called Wicked.’”

De Niro describes Grande as “terrific”, while Stiller said she’s “the only person who could have played that role” – noting that she found several sides to Olivia’s character. “She really understands how to be both someone who is Type A and strong-willed, but also be a foil for Greg and able to play that back and forth. And then you're also rooting for her too, and that's a hard line to walk,” Stiller enthuses. “I really believed her as this character. She has great timing and just has this amazing thing on screen where she emanates something you want to watch. It's cool to work with someone like that, in the same way like with De Niro – somebody just has something and they bring it.” Ready to meet the new Focker in town?

Read Empire’s oral history of the Focker franchise in the Dune: Part Three issue, on sale Thursday October 22. Pre-order a copy online here. Focker-In-Law comes to cinemas from November 25.

Can you hear the space bagpipes a-piping? That can mean only one thing: Dune: Part Three is nearly here. Even better news? Empire’s Dune: Part Three issue is even closer, set to hit newsstands this Thursday, October 22 (or you can order your copy online here).

Before it arrives on shelves, here’s a sneak peek inside.

Dune: Part Three

Time to say goodbye to Arrakis. Empire gets the first word on Denis Villeneuve’s trilogy-closer, speaking to the director – plus Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert Pattinson, Jason Momoa and more – about the game-changing final chapter.

Quentin Tarantino & David Fincher

What happens when you combine the screenwriting of Quentin Tarantino and the directorial mastery of David Fincher? You get The Further Mis-Adventures Of Cliff Booth, the follow-up to Tarantino’s OUATIH. The pair unite for their first in-depth interview on their unexpected team-up.

Blade Runner 2099

Calling all humans and replicants: the next chapter of Blade Runner is incoming. Empire speaks to showrunner Silka Luisa and stars Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer about moving the story on 50 years from Blade Runner 2049.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping

The games are afoot, again. The second Hunger Games prequel brings the most brutal bout to the screen – packed with as much political commentary as the saga always has. Director Francis Lawrence and his cast tell Empire why the franchise keeps on fighting.

Ray Gunn

For decades, the great Brad Bird has hoped to make his animated sci-fi-noir passion project. Now, Ray Gunn is finally real. He tells Empire about the 30+ year journey to make the film he always deeply believed in.

Make The Fockers

From Meet The Parents to the impending Focker-In-Law, the so-called Focker franchise has been one of Hollywood’s biggest comedy success stories. Empire get the full story, speaking to director Jay Roach, stars Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller and more for an oral history on how it all happened.

Tupac In The Movies

Before his untimely death, Tupac wasn’t just a music icon – he was carving an impressive film career too. His co-stars – including Tim Roth,  Thandiwe Newton, and Jim Belushi – tell Empire about their experiences working with a seismic talent whose legacy still resonates.

First Word

In this month’s news section, we explore the vibrant world of fantasy blockbuster Children Of Blood And Bone; go big with Godzilla Minus Zero director Takashi Yamazaki; speak to the stars of wartime football drama The Mosquito Bowl; ask John C. Reilly how much is a pint of milk; dive into the dark heart of Primetime with Lance Oppenheim; talk couture, capitalism and colour with I Love Boosters director Boots Riley; and much more.

Final Cut

In the home entertainment section, we look back on the legacy of Interview With The Vampire with director Neil Jordan; talk the biggest spoilers of Toy Story 5 with director Andrew Stanton; celebrate 25 years of 24 Hour Party People with Michael Winterbottom, give The Haunting the Masterpiece treatment; rank the Star Trek TV shows; and plenty more.

Reviews

In this issue you’ll find reviews of Laika’s jaw-dropping stop-motion epic Wildwood; movie making-of drama I Play Rocky; Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine; the Robert Pattinson-starring Primetime; TV-to-big-screen leap Ghosts: The Possession Of Button House; Taika Waititi’s robo-drama Klara And The Sun; kaiju clash Godzilla Minus Zero and many more.

For a man who, not eighteen months ago, we had been led to believe was contemplating retirement, Denzel Washington is working pretty damn hard just now. He's been in Othello on Broadway with Jake Gyllenhaal, teased two more Equalizer movies, casually dropped word that he'll be in Ryan Coogler's Black Panther 3, and wrapped shooting on heist joint The Take (fka Here Comes The Flood) with Robert Pattinson and Daisy Edgar-Jones. And he isn't stopping there, either. Per Deadline's reporting, Denzel Washington is set to lead an intriguing new thriller from Mission: Impossible — Final Reckoning director Christopher McQuarrie at United Artists and Amazon MGM Studios.

Penned by Scott Barkan and Gregg Zehentner, McQ's latest — which doesn't yet have a title — will find Denzel Washington in familiar territory, playing a man seeking a shot at redemption (see also; The Equalizer trilogy, Man On Fire, Flight, He Got Game). This time around, Washington is playing a former police detective, serving a life sentence for an as-yet-undisclosed crime, who is granted compassionate release from the slammer when he is diagnosed with brain cancer and told he has just months to live. Reunited with an estranged daughter and introduced to a grandson he never knew existed, Washington's dying cop clearly wants to make amends and put his past behind him, but — whaddaya know? — his past has other ideas.

For McQuarrie, this new project will represent a return to the territory of past hits like The Usual Suspects and The Way Of The Gun after over a decade spent almost exclusively dealing with the Impossible Mission Force. Our mission then, should we choose to accept it (which, given that this is McQ and Denzel teaming up, we absolutely will!), is to be seated in the nearest cinema on October 1, 2027 when this one hits cinemas.

Keanu Reeves has been an exceptionally busy man in the last couple of years. If he hasn't been playing an angel in Good Fortune or voicing a gun-toting hedgehog in Sonic The Hedgehog 3, he's been rocking out on stage with his band Dogstar and acting out on stage with his buddy Alex Winter in Waiting For Godot. Heck, he even brought back Canada's Greatest Stuntman Duke Caboom, albeit briefly, in this summer's Toy Story 5. Now, THR is reporting that Reeves is in talks to add something very exciting to his pipeline: James Wan's English-language remake of Lee Won-tae's 2019 action-thriller The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil.

A crowd-pleasing hit in the Midnight Madness slot at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, Lee Won-tae's twisty, turn-filled original movie starred Don Lee — who also goes by Ma Dong-seok — and Kim Mu-yeol as a gangster and a cop who reluctantly team up to catch Kim Sung-kyu's psychopathic serial killer. A ripping thriller that speaks the universal language of pulse-pounding action and suspense, The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil was actually snapped up by Paramount four years ago for the remake treatment. Wan's movie, whose screenplay has been through the typewriters/laptops of Eric Pearson (Thunderbolts*, The Fantastic Four: First Steps), John Wick and Rebel Moon writing alum Shay Hatten, and L.A. Confidential scribe Brian Helgeland thus far, will see Lee reprise his role from the original film. Whether Keanu Reeves is on as 'The Cop' or 'The Devil' remains to be seen at this stage (though the Constantine fans within us will, of course, be hoping he's the former.)

All being well, The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil is set to mark James Wan's long-awaited return to the feature directorial hotseat, his last directing gig to date having been 2023's Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom. As for Reeves, this is just another exciting project on the ever-busy actor's horizons, joining the likes of pirate-and-shark-fighting time loop actioner Shiver, Sonic The Hedgehog 4, Ruben Östlund's The Entertainment System Is Down, and an as-yet-untitled mystery LEGO movie from Josh Cooley and Patty Jenkins. Breathtaking, we think you'd all agree!

When he arrived in 1998, the character of Ali G was a parody of a culture of rap-inflected excess that was already dying. Twenty years on, he's a relic, something all of director and star Sacha Baron Cohen’s efforts at deconstruction and reinvention in this new film can't change. Still, his creator captures some of the most shocking set-pieces of his career here, despite the failings of Mr G himself.

This is less a sequel to the fictionalised Ali G Indahouse and more a story about oblivious marks meeting an Ali G onslaught, in the style of Borat or Bruno. In 2026, Ali G is unemployed and unemployable in Staines, resisting the “gold-digging” attempts of girlfriend ‘Me Julie’ (Morgana Robinson) to marry him, and appalled to learn she's heavily pregnant. When he learns of an offer from HBO for a third season of his show, the pair head off to a brave new dawn in Los Angeles.

Baron Cohen finds some extraordinary patsies that make the last act gobsmacking viewing, if you can make it that far.

There, he is the target of a cancellation attempt by “Professor of African Diasporic Ethno-Musicality Nira Cain-Degeocello” (also Baron Cohen), an unfunny parody of hyper-liberal types who try to explain Black culture to Black people, hailing from a Berkeley filmed as if it were a Middle Eastern city in an American war movie. Ali casts around desperately for money-making schemes, falling foul of not only the Professor but also an Israeli security specialist (also Baron Cohen) who is training a bunch of right-wing anti-immigration warriors to take down threats.

Baron Cohen, as director, relies on these additional characters to manipulate everyone on screen into a spectacular denouement, but that pay-off follows a lot of nothing from the film’s title character. He has a few gently funny scenes — a polite and remarkably chill estate agent is a welcome antidote to all the weirdness and bombast — but too much of the first and second act feel like they’re treading water and, importantly, not always punching up. For the first half-hour, the only giggles come from stings of Ali’s music, and that’s not exactly a compliment.

Mercifully, Baron Cohen finds some extraordinary patsies that make the last act gobsmacking viewing, if you can make it that far. There’s an example of AI use that is actually funny, a bone-chilling TV game show and a decision involving a drone that is the most horrifying thing a real human has done on the screen this year. There’s even an inspired appearance during the end credits that is better than 90 per cent of what’s gone before. Still, it might be time to retire this character permanently.

It’s a strange time to make a film about a likeable robot who dreams of a relationship with a human owner, because the last thing most people want to hear about now is artificial intelligence. But this odd little story, taken from a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, has more to say about humanity than AI. If little of Taika Waititi’s film adaptation feels entirely original, there’s real charm in the quest of Jenna Ortega’s Klara to understand what makes humans tick, and where she belongs in the world.

We first meet Klara in the shop where she eagerly awaits purchase, petitioning the sun she glimpses each morning that this will be the day she finds her human owner. After watching the world through a window to try to understand love, life and death, she finally finds a home with Josie (Mia Tharia) and her mum Chrissie (Amy Adams). But there Klara learns about grief, and finds that her prayers to the sun can’t solve every problem.

Waititi just about keeps the story whimsical rather than twee...

Josie’s little family is shaped by grief, which strangely seems to be a near-constant in stories about humanity’s theoretical relationship with sentient robots. From Isaac Asimov’s The Bicentennial Man to Steven Spielberg’s A.I.: Artificial Intelligence or Kogonada’s After Yang, the ability of artificial humans to replace those we’ve lost, or offer true human companionship, seems to be a constant. That melancholy streak also reflects Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, and the questions about robotic service and loyalty even recall his earlier The Remains Of The Day, but Klara’s naivety and innocence make this more of a fairy tale than either. Waititi’s setting — a beautiful house surrounded by ripe cornfields — adds to the impression that we’re in some kind of Oz, even if occasional scenes in a post-World War III big city suggest more of a dystopian Blade Runner reality existing just past the horizon.

Waititi, who’s at his strongest with stories about outsiders — such as Hunt For The Wilderpeople, Boy and Thor: Ragnarok — just about keeps the story whimsical rather than twee as Klara tries to make Josie and her mother happy, helped by Ortega’s wide-eyed wonder and endless determination. But otherwise the tone is uneven and lumpy. There’s broad comedy in scenes with Josie’s monstrous classmates and much gentler laughs in Klara’s attempts to get to grips with human behaviour; the quiet tragedy in Chrissie’s attempts to manage her grief become monstrous in the way she asks Klara to help her. And just as you’re lulled into accepting this as a gentle fable about the things we sacrifice for those we love, there’s a moment of disturbing violence. It’s as if all the parts of this story are interesting in their own right, but none of them quite fit together as they should.

We really are living in the era of the GameCube and PS2 remaster, and while it's expected that we'll see the likes of the iconic Grand Theft Auto trilogy make their way to modern consoles, or even get to see kaiju clash again in a remaster of Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee in the coming weeks, one of the most exciting remasters of the era has just been announced. You see, remasters are like onions: they have layers, and the deepest cut of all is heading back to consoles. That's right, ahead of Shrek 5's release next year, DreamWorks' hallowed Shrek 2 tie-in game is returning, and there's even a trailer — ready for you to check out below;

Hats off to whoever decided to ride the wave of GTA 6 trailer hype with this announcement, which confirms Shrek 2 Remastered is heading for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 on November 10, 2026. The original was one of the standouts in a wave of memorable film-to-game tie-ins of the early noughties, arriving alongside the likes of The Incredibles, Spider-Man 2, and The Warriors to name but a few. It offered a fun co-op platformer retelling of Shrek's journey through Far Far Away, with the chance to play as Fiona, Donkey and more.

Originally developed by Luxoflux and published by Activision, the game is now being brought to modern consoles by Aspyr. According to the game's official storefront description, the remaster will feature “better textures, enhanced UI, [and] 4K resolution”, as well as an all-new Photo Mode and a Cheat Mode that lets you modify the game. It'll support both local and, wait for it… online co-op! A first for the Shrek games.

So there we have it. And honestly, what better excuse could you need to get your old pals together, bust out the munchies and fizzy pop, kick back and take in a nostalgic trip back to one of the PS2's most memorable platformers? Let's just hope that jail escape level isn't as difficult as we remember. *Shudders*

Are you watching closely? Well, soon you will be. Very closely, in fact. Yes, following hot on the heels of the outsized box office success of this summer's supersized blockbuster The Odyssey, today — on the 20th anniversary of Christopher Nolan's duelling magicians movie The Prestige's US theatrical release — Disney has just confirmed some very exciting news. On January 29, 2027, Nolan's Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman starring fifth feature is set to reappear in cinemas on 70mm, IMAX, 35mm, and 2D digital formats, offering audiences old and new alike a chance to experience the magic of a low-key underrated Nolan classic as it was always meant to be seen. Check out the announcement below;

Based on Christopher Priest's novel and structured like an illusion — complete with its own Pledge (the set-up), Turn (the surprise twist), and Prestige (the big reveal) — Nolan's chronologically tricksy tale casts Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as competing 'magicians' in the Victorian age, each intent on one-upping the other and discovering their secrets, no matter the (perhaps terrible) cost. While not perhaps as immediately apparent a blockbuster as a Dark Knight, an Oppenheimer, or indeed The Odyssey, don't let the wrapper fool you, friends: The Prestige — boasting a cast that includes Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine, and actual David Bowie as actual Nikola Tesla — is a perfect rendering of exactly what it means to have an audience in the palm of your hand, to cast a spell that'll leave all viewers totally enrapt as they scratch their heads and scoop their jaws from the floor.

“I’m very excited to bring The Prestige back to the big screen,” said Nolan in a statement accompanying today's announcement, “and particularly thrilled to offer audiences the chance to see it on 70mm film, and on IMAX for the first time.” And you can see a new poster for the re-release below;

With cinema's celluloid revival in full effect right now, spearheaded by the likes of Nolan's Odyssey as well as Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, Ryan Coogler's Sinners, Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Digger, and Greta Gerwig's forthcoming Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, the prospect of getting to see a modern classic such as The Prestige on the biggest canvas around is a tantalising one, indeed. Whether you've seen it before or not, it promises to be a magic time at the movies! *Ba-dum-tsh!*

Buckle up, people: Cliff Booth is back. In Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Brad Pitt stepped into the role of a rough-and-ready stuntman who – literally – changed the course of history (and earned Pitt an Oscar to boot). Now, the character returns in The Further Mis-Adventures Of Cliff Booth, a sequel-of-sorts that marks a remarkable talent team-up. Not only is Pitt back, with a fresh screenplay from Tarantino himself – but the duo tapped the great David Fincher as director this time around. The new issue of Empire features the first joint interview with Tarantino and Fincher talking about the film – and they promise a different kind of Cliff Booth (mis)adventure.

Where OUATIH revelled in letting the audience spend time with Booth (and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton, and Margot Robbie’s Sharon Tate) in 1969, the 1977-set follow-up has more momentum. “I don’t think of it as a hangout movie at all,” says Tarantino of Cliff Booth. “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood was a hangout movie, but you know you’re going to Cielo Drive (site of the Manson murders). It has this force, thus I didn’t need a lot of plot. This script was very different.” Expect something that harks back to the feeling of, say, Jackie Brown. “To me, it had the flavour of an Elmore Leonard paperback: a crime-story paperback feel,” he teases.

For Fincher, that was much of the appeal. “I liked the idea that it’s a story around a bonfire,” the director says. “It wasn’t about the plot as much as it was about how the participants collided with one another in the back alleys of Hollywood in 1977.” He had plenty of material to work with, courtesy of Tarantino’s expansive screenplay. “The first draft I read was 230 pages. It was essentially two movies,” says Fincher, noting that he cut 60 pages – resulting in a movie around 2 hours and 20 minutes long. “Somewhere in there was the Venn diagram of what Brad wanted to do, what I want to do, what Quentin wanted to do. Not “want to do”, but the areas we would focus on.” Who’s ready to get back in the Booth?

Read Empire’s full exclusive Quentin Tarantino and David Fincher interview – talking their long-awaited team-up on The Further Mid-Adventures Of Cliff Booth – in the Dune: Part Three issue, on sale Thursday October 22. Pre-order a copy online here. The Further Mid-Adventures Of Cliff Booth comes to IMAX from November 25, and streams on Netflix from December 23.

Over the last decade or so, Jeremy Saulnier has proven himself to be something of a modern master of suspense, quickening our pulses and testing our nerves (complimentary) time and again with the likes of Green Room, Hold The Dark, and — most recently — Aaron Pierre led Netflix action-thriller Rebel Ridge. With forthcoming, punnily titled A24 killer thriller Slayground however, it looks like Saulnier is heading as close as he's gotten yet to pure horror territory, serving up a Halloween-set chiller about a disturbed dude named Michael (Cory Michael Smith) who finds himself at the centre of a manhunt with dead bodies all around him. Luckily nothing like that's ever happened before, eh? Check out the trailer below;

Autumn vibes? Check. Masked menace(s)? Check. An escaped convict on the loose whose bloody history is tied up in a sleepy town's trauma-stricken past? Triple check! So far, so Halloween, right? Well, not quite. Instead of evil incarnate descending on Haddonfield, here the full picture is a little less clear, with Cory Michael Smith playing a guy who wakes up at a Halloween Horror Nights style haunted attraction to the realisation that everyone around him is dead and he's now a fugitive. Did he kill them all? Why can't he remember what happened? And what's with the creepy masked dude at the end of the trailer? Saulnier is playing all tease and little trail for now, but the set-up is clearly here for a slasher/murder mystery hybrid shot through with Saulnier's trademark precision-engineered sense of tension and escalating stakes.

And here's the official synopsis for the movie — which also stars Chase Sui Wonders, Sophie Wilde, Imogen Poots, Young Mazino, Stanley Simons, Matty Matheson, James Badge Dale, and Stephen Root. "Scare-actor “Metal Mike” Graves wakes up in a haunted attraction surrounded by the dead bodies of his co-workers with no memory of how they got there. As a state-wide manhunt closes in, he races to uncover the truth – even if the trail leads straight back to him.”

Curiously, despite its spooky season setting and slasher vibes, Slayground isn't actually heading our way until January 29, 2027 (in the US, at least.) But with a killer cast, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross handling the score, and Saulnier on the script and behind the camera, consider us locked in and ready for a visit to the Slayground. After all, we guess everyone's entitled to one good scare, right?

For fans of BBC sitcom Ghosts, it’s been three long years since Season 5 concluded on a bittersweet note that still hangs in the air. It’s a pleasure, then, to be back in the spirited company of disgraced Tory MP Julian (Simon Farnaby), Edwardian matriarch Fanny (Martha Howe-Douglas), World War II captain, er, Captain (Ben Willbond), youth-group leader Pat (Jim Howick), caveman Robin (Laurence Rickard), failed Georgian poet Thomas (Mathew Baynton) and naive Georgian noblewoman Kitty (Lolly Adefope).

Forever bickering and bonding, they’re resigned to haunting ramshackle manor Button House, having died there over the centuries; and all have been bored silly since the last owners, Alison and Mike (Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe), upped sticks at the end of the TV show.

Alison and Mike sold Button House so that it might be turned into a hotel and golf resort, but 112 days on, nothing’s happened. “Can’t get the tradesmen,” huffs Julian, who opens the movie by spelling out “LEAVE” on a Ouija board when some local kids break in to hold a séance. They scarper before he can add “EUROPE”.

It’s no surprise that The Possession Of Button House offers non-stop chuckles.

The team behind Ghosts, sitcom and movie, are Them There, the comedy troupe that created Horrible Histories. It’s therefore no surprise that The Possession Of Button House offers non-stop chuckles. It’s neatly plotted, too, introducing a band of eco protestors, a corrupt MP and the aforementioned group of kids, led by anguished foster child Jack (I Swear’s Scott Ellis Watson). Each party has a role to play in the titular abode’s fate. As do Alison and Mike, who the Ghosts track down.

So, why exist as a movie? Well, apart from the formal language being a tad more cinematic (crane shots!), it comes down to Them There conjuring up a standalone story by having our fab phantoms learn that they can possess the kids. This gives fans such unexpected, thrilling sights as Julian, who’s been without trousers since dying in a 1993 sex scandal, wearing jeans.

Also fresh is the mix of genres, with Ghosts’ mild scares and domestic-sitcom giggles now spliced with antics borrowed from body-swap, coming-of-age, culture-clash, political-conspiracy and action movies. In a film that nonetheless feels familiar and comforting, it’s a surprising medley. As the Captain would undoubtedly say: bally hell!

If you’ve seen the original Hunger Games saga, you’ll know it takes until the arrival of Katniss Everdeen for the Capitol of Panem to be toppled, with plenty of casualties along the way. So, heading into the series’ second prequel, Sunrise On The Reaping – following 2023’s Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes – you already know that things aren’t necessarily going to be sunshine and rainbows for the fledgling rebellion around the 50th Hunger Games (Katniss was first reaped for the 74th edition, over two decades later). Add in that Woody Harrelson’s alcoholic former victor Haymitch is a shell of a man when Katniss meets him, and it’s clear he goes through hell.

Sunrise On The Reaping is the tragic story of Haymitch’s Hunger Games – with an even bigger bodycount than usual, since his deathmatch saw double the amount of tributes picked in a blockbuster ‘Quarter Quell’. Even more so than any other games, it’ll push our protagonist to the edge. “His whole persona is the stick-it-to-the-man thing,” says relative newcomer Joseph Zada, who plays the young Haymitch. “At what point does Haymitch break?” Rather than ape Harrelson’s performance, he’ll be showing a new side to the character. “This is a completely different person at a very different part of their lives,” he explains. “I wanted to try and make a very big contrast between the two.”

For all the bleakness of the Hunger Games saga, there is a smidge of hope in there too – a note of resilience and holding on to principles, even if victory is literally decades away. “You have to be a part of something and have your voice heard, no matter what side you’re on,” says returning director Francis Lawrence. “And you have to do it not necessarily expecting instant gratification. That change has to start, but it may not happen for generations. It may not happen in our lifetimes, but we’re all part of a continuum, and you need to speak up.” The real heart of Sunrise On The Reaping, and Haymitch’s story? “It’s the choice to keep fighting,” says Lawrence. Game on.

Read Empire’s full The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping story in the Dune: Part Three issue, on sale Thursday October 22. Pre-order a copy online here. The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping comes to UK cinemas from November 20.

The cast list for Gina Prince-Bythewood's Children Of Blood And Bone is, frankly, ludicrous. There’s a whole stack of legends: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Regina King, Idris Elba, Viola Davis, Cynthia Erivo, Lashana Lynch. And then there’s a crop of some of the best young talent around too: Amandla Stenberg, Rocks’ Bukky Bakery, Tosin Cole, Thuso Mbedu, and Damson Idris. It’s the kind of ensemble that makes the film’s intention clear: this is an event movie. While the idea of blockbuster Afrofuturism went mainstream with Black Panther, Children Of Blood And Bone conjures a world of Afrofantasy – set in the fictional kingdom of Orïsha, where magic once existed, but has been banished.

As Damson Idris – who plays Inan, a prince who forms an important bond with Thuso Mbedu’s protagonist Zélie – tells Empire, there’s never been anything quite like this before, especially with this kind of cast. “It was just really exciting to be in this world and to see an absolute transformation of so many amazing actors doing something of heritage and culture and importance,” he explains. “It felt like we were making something brand-new, and it felt really fresh. And that to me is what symbolised what Children Of Blood And Bone is.”

The role of Prince Inan was one he knew he could embody – and there’s plenty of meat in the role as he undergoes a transformative character arc. “He wants to be a different type of king, and in meeting Zélie when he’s sent on the mission to stop magic, he essentially is faced with a mirror,” Idris teases. “‘Who am I? What type of king do I want to be, and what type of man do I want to be?’” Get ready to find out on the biggest screen possible, filled with legends old and new.

Read Empire’s full Children Of Blood And Bone story in the Dune: Part Three issue, on sale Thursday October 22. Pre-order a copy online here. Children Of Blood And Bone comes to cinemas from January 22, 2027.

So there we have it, folks. Everyone's filed out of the Royal Festival Hall, the autograph hunters have abandoned their posts outside the BFI Southbank, our 7am coffee-fuelled pilgrimages to Picturehouse Central are over, and just like that, the 70th BFI London Film Festival has come to an end. And while we've already picked our favourites from this year's fest and continue to ride the buzz of watching Paul Bettany tackle the steps at the BFI IMAX for our special presentation of VisionQuest, the official competition winners at 2026's LFF has now been officially unveiled. Let's get into it, shall we?

Presided over by jury presidents Sam Pollard (Official Competition), Amir El-Masry (First Feature Competition), Sandhya Suri (Documentary Competition) and Helen Simmons (Short Film Competition), this year's LFF Competition strands were about as hard-contested as they've ever been, with the winners speaking to the breadth and depth of cinematic discoveries at this year's festival. 2026's Official Competition winner was Sergei Loznitsa's Imperium, a sweeping excavation of the social and cultural landscape of 70s Soviet Union. On the First Feature front, Southeast Asian filmmaker Sompot Chidgasornpongse's spiritual and visually striking Thai pilgrimage movie 9 Temples to Heaven took home the top honour, with British filmmaker Bertil Nilsson's queer character study Masc coming in for a special mention from the jury.

Elsewhere, the Grierson Award for the best documentary at the London Film Festival went to the richly deserving Concrete Land, Asmahan Bkerat's sensitively handled, intimate portrait of a Jordanian family facing — and fighting — erasure and displacement within their home country. And last but by absolutely no means least, this year's Short Film Award went to Rahul Roye's tremendous Aman. Available to watch for free on the BFI Player, Roye's 16-minute movie follows a trans man forced to wrestle with notions of masculinity and fatherhood when he discovers he is pregnant the night before gender-affirming surgery.

Now, this isn't quite the full list of winners at this year's LFF, as LFF Audience Awards voting is still open until Wednesday 21 October (tomorrow!) — and so Best Feature Film and Best British Discovery will be announced in due course and then updated here. But even so, it's safe to say the 70th BFI London Film Festival has been yet another inspiring and eye-opening celebration of cinema in all its forms. Here's to the next 70 years!

It indisputable: Brad Bird is one of the GOATs, particularly in the animation game. This, after all, is the director of The Iron Giant, The Incredibles (and its sequel), and Ratatouille. But even so, his latest animated movie, Ray Gunn, is a long, long time in the making. Bird first had the idea for it – a sci-fi noir movie, mashing up something like Chinatown with a retro-futurist world packed with aliens and oddities – way back in 1989. For all his success, nobody was quite ready to take a punt on his passion project. Until now.

“The reaction was that it was strange. People were kinda frightened by it,” Bird tells Empire of the original Ray Gunn script. Simply put, it’s not the kind of movie that mainstream Hollywood animation studios were making at that time. “The money men were like, ‘Where are the fuzzy bunnies?’” recalls Bird. “It’s a movie I’ve always wanted to see. But if I’d chosen to wait for someone else to make it, I would have died waiting.”

Now, though, Ray Gunn is real, and coming soon to cinemas and Netflix – and Bird is ready to unleash his latest vision. Expect another dazzling world from the man who delivered The Incredibles’ nostalgic ‘60s-inspired superhero universe, and Ratatouille’s sensory dream of Paris. “The future we always have [in movies is] a declining post-apocalyptic landscape. But what if World War II didn’t happen and the optimism of the 1930s kept going?” he teases of Ray Gunn’s universe. “What if Art Deco kept going and the entire world became [styled] like the Golden Gate Bridge? What if we had a utopian rather than a dystopian version of the future, but still had corruption and weasels and lies?” Finally, our world is ready.

Read Empire's full Ray Gunn feature in the Dune: Part Three issue – on sale Thursday October 22. Pre-order a copy online here. Ray Gunn comes to cinemas from December 4, and on Netflix from December 18.

For 40 years now, Little Shop Of Horrors has been a cinematic cult classic, gleefully devouring new generations of fans with its vibrant musical sequences, cast of comedy legends, and still-mind-blowing puppetry and effects, courtesy of the legendary Frank Oz. Released in 1986, Oz’s film – adapted from the stage musical, itself adapted from Roger Corman’s original 1960 film – is packed to the gills with some of the greatest talents of its day, mashing up genres with riotous abandon. And it’s even better than ever before in an all-new 4K Ultra-HD transfer that makes every moment shine.

As its title suggests, Little Shop Of Horrors is a monster movie at heart, in which extraterrestrial entity Audrey II invades a down-on-its-luck flower shop on 1960s Skid Row, New York, growing out of control as it gains a taste for human blood; making the film ripe for a Halloween re-watch. Given Oz’s legendary talents – as one of the original Muppets crew, and the man behind Yoda – the puppetry of Audrey II is nothing short of jaw-dropping as the creature grows increasingly large and animated, a remarkable feat of fluid movement and personality-led performance, voiced by Motown legend Levi Stubbs (of the Four Tops).

Stubbs and the rest of the cast throw themselves into a string of stellar musical numbers, penned by legendary duo Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. The pair, who wrote the stage musical, channel the story’s satirical streak into funny and absurdist songs filled with energy – beginning in an R&B and doo-wop Motown mode, with a Supremes-style Greek chorus of singers, before Audrey II crashes in and brings rap and rock’n’roll into the mix with wild numbers like ‘Feed Me’ and ‘Mean Green Mother From Outer Space’. And all the while, there’s real heart too in the songs from love-struck shop workers Seymour and Audrey, blending sincerity into the smarts. Ashman and Menken went on to write the songs for Disney mega-smashes The Little Mermaid, Beauty And The Beast, and Aladdin, but Little Shop is where it all started.

Those legendary songs – and Oz’s effects – are compounded by a beloved cast. Rick Moranis stars as Seymour Krelborn, the nerdy shop worker who stumbles upon the mysterious intergalactic flora and tends to its vicious appetite, growing in confidence and notoriety himself as Audrey II spreads its tendrils further; all while struggling to make his feels known for his colleague, the human Audrey (Ellen Greene, who reprises her role from the stage show). Along the way, you get a who’s-who of ‘80s comedy greats: Steve Martin gets a sizeable role as Audrey’s despicable dentist boyfriend Orin Scrivello; John Candy pops up as a local DJ; Moranis’ Ghostbusters co-star Bill Murray briefly appears as a dental-surgery enthusiast; and you’ll spot Jim Belushi (in the theatrical cut) and Christopher Guest too.

Put it all together, and you get a campy fun horror story, a genuinely hilarious comedy, and a musical of the highest pedigree – all decked out in glorious B-movie trappings. Corman was the master of cinematic schlock, and filtered through the minds of Ashman, Menken, and Oz, Little Shop Of Horrors becomes an anarchic and sharply drawn riot, in a lineage of other botanical sci-fi horror classics like Day Of The Triffids, and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. There’s truly nothing else quite like it.

Not only is Little Shop Of Horrors now available in 4K Ultra-HD – in both the original theatrical cut, and the thrillingly darker restored Director’s Cut, with a completely different ending – but it can be found in various formats too. There’s a standard release, as well as a SteelBook edition – packed with special features, including new featurettes, a Frank Oz commentary and more. Or go bigger with the Collector’s Edition box set, which includes the SteelBook, as well as a 34-page booklet, posters, art cards, and more, all housed in a rigid slipcase.

Whether you’re a Little Shop devotee, or discovering the delights of Audrey II for the first time as Halloween comes around, it’s the perfect time to check out a movie like no other. Is it a monster movie? A musical? A horror? A comedy? All of the above: it’s Little Shop Of Horrors.

Buy Little Shop Of Horrors now in 4K at warnerbros.com

Since bursting onto the scene with V/H/S/ 2's Gareth Evans co-directed segment 'Safe Haven', Indonesian filmmaker Timo Tjahjanto has steadily built a very robust directorial CV — delivering the one-two punch of 80s Hong Kong action homage The Night Comes For Us and horror joint May the Devil Take You before proving his Hollywood genre chops with last year's violent delight Nobody 2. Now, in the same week the first trailer dropped for Tjahjanto's second Hollywood sequel on the trot, The Beekeeper 2, Deadline is reporting that the action man is set for original Miramax action comedy The Burnout.

Now, we tend to err on the side of caution when movies get floated with tantalising 'X meets Y' descriptions (although Send Help's 'Cast Away meets Misery' was a recent one that proved deliciously right), but The Burnout comes with a real doozy. Per Deadline, Tjahjanto's next movie is being billed as — wait for it! — The Big Lebowski meets Jason Bourne, with the action following a past his prime former CIA agent, whose life as a carefree burnout (hey, that's the title!) in Ibiza is upended when he finds himself reluctantly dragged back into action. Penned by Tom O’Connor (The Hitman's Bodyguard), with further punch-ups by Hunter Toro, the movie may have a premise that feels distinctly Nobody-esque, but that stoner comedy/espionage thriller comp bodes well for an actioner that'll come carrying its own distinct flavour and tonality.

The Burnout is just the latest exciting genre movie plate Timo Tjahjanto is spinning at present, and joins a pipeline that elsewhere includes a planned Simu Liu led Sleeping Dogs adaptation, a sequel to Netflix hit The Shadow Strays, and an as-yet-untitled Indonesian-language thriller that's currently in production at Netflix as well. All of which is to say that if you happen to be a Timo head (which we very much all do here at Empire HQ) then it looks like there'll be no shortage of Tjahjanto-shaped treats punching, kicking, and otherwise fighting their way onto our screens in the near future.

There's just no stopping Tom Holland right about now, is there? Having taken a brief acting hiatus following The Crowded Room's 2023 release, everyone's favourite friendly neighbourhood actor man has been making up for lost time of late. In 2026 alone he's starred in the summer's two biggest movies, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, started training for his long-gestating Fred Astaire biopic, and shot a World Cup ad with Lionel Messi. Now, Deadline is reporting that the in-demand Brit is lining up a starring role in Penthouse, an original thriller from The Fall Guy writer Drew Pearce.

Per Deadline, Sony Pictures has just snapped up the Pearce-penned thriller, a co-production from Holland's Billy17 and Pearce's Point Of No Return banners that's currently being developed as a Tom Holland star vehicle. For Pearce, whose past work includes co-written joints Iron Man 3 and Hobbs & Shaw, as well as the criminally underrated self-written and directed Hotel Artemis, Penthouse — whose plot details are currently being kept under lock and key — will follow his work on Michael B. Jordan's forthcoming The Thomas Crown Affair remake. As for Holland, presumably this project would come further down the line after his Fred Astaire movie and, one would suspect, next Christmas' Secret Wars, if indeed he appears in The Russo Brothers' Avengers: Doomsday follow-up.

While further details on Penthouse aren't forthcoming for now, the prospect of seeing Holland — who's shown real genre chops in the likes of The Devil All The Time and The Crowded Room before — back in thriller territory is a very exciting one, indeed. And given Pearce's long-since proven genre bona fides, Penthouse already sounds like it has the bones of a pretty suite movie. (Sorry, not sorry.)

The world painted in Ridley Scott’s original classic Blade Runner is impossible to forget – dank and rain-drenched, vast and awe-inspiring, futuristic but recognisable. And it served for the backdrop to an existential odyssey for Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard, a ‘Blade Runner’ who’s assigned to hunt down a rogue group of ‘replicants’, artificial humans who are running loose in the film’s then-future 2019 Los Angeles. Then, in 2017 we got an evolution of the world in Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049. And now, in Prime Video’s limited series Blade Runner 2099 – set, you guessed it, 80 years after the original – the status quo of the world has entirely changed.

The new show, set in the continuity of both Scott and Villeneuve’s films, follows the timeline to a moment where the original premise is flipped. The replicants have taken over. Michelle Yeoh’s Blade Runner Olwen is a replicant, whose job it is to hunt down rogue humans. And LA is warming back up. “The idea here is that we’re doing sunshine noir,” showrunner Silka Luisa tells Empire. “The show is really about a city coming back to life, a rebirth. So it’s hot and sticky and chaotic.” Her pitch for the show was all about this inversion of the first film: “Everyone, globally, has been very aware of this palpable fear of the end of our species. Climate change, pandemics. A sense of our own mortality. Blade Runner is about imagining even beyond that. What does the world look like when it’s no longer ours?”

Yeoh relished playing a replicant, despite Olwen facing the end of her lifespan. “They have a much longer lifespan,” she explains. “Stronger, faster, they definitely have improvements. That’s why they won the war. They learned how to adapt, how to move forward.” She finds herself in the orbit of Hunter Schafer’s Cora – a human who’s disguised herself as a replicant to infiltrate the LAPD. “Cora is very raw,” Schafer tells Empire. Expect a new identity-probing double act to sit alongside Blade Runner’s Deckard and Rachael, and 2049’s K and Joi. “I think there’s a lot of beauty in even the small moments of humanity,” says Schafer of the pairing. “Despite Olwen being a replicant.” Unicorn origami, anyone?

Read Empire’s full Blade Runner 2099 feature in the Dune: Part Three issue – on sale Thursday October 22. Pre-order a copy online here. Blade Runner 2099 comes to Prime Video from November 25.

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

Back in the 1990s, Final Fantasy was a Nintendo staple. Then the PlayStation came along. With its whopping 32 bits of power and spacious discs, bigger games with CD-quality audio and groundbreaking cutscenes were finally possible. Developer Square jumped ship to Sony, Final Fantasy VII launched on the PS1, the series transitioned from pixels to polygons, and the rest is history.

But what if history had zigged instead of zagged? What if Square had stuck with Nintendo, with the earlier style of Final Fantasy games, with pixels? The result might be a lot like Final Fantasy Resonance, a modern game built in the same retro HD-2D style as The Adventures of Elliot, and serving as both throwback and celebration of an earlier era.

Well, almost. Resonance’s origin story isn’t quite so whimsical – the weird twist is that it began life as a different game entirely, the now-defunct smartphone title Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. However, it’s been remade from the ground up here, and given the opportunity to tell its story unencumbered by the terrible addiction-mechanics and microtransactions that blight mobile games.

Narratively, Resonance effortlessly channels the best of classic Final Fantasy games, without emerging as a retread. It plays the hits early on: as young knight Rain and his adopted brother Lasswell, you serve the kingdom of Grandshelt, until the nation’s Earth Crystal is destroyed by a group of villains called the Sworn Six. Joined by the amnesiac young woman Fina, you’re swept up in a continent-hopping chase, recruiting a host of allies along the journey – so far, so Final Fantasy. Yet as events unfold, you learn you’re caught in a complex chain of events spanning centuries, and while the bombastic main plot takes some unexpected turns, it’s the individual character arcs that most impress; packed with surprising depth and emotion, they deliver more than a few tear-jerking moments.

Although Resonance is adapting Brave Exvius’ plot (and you can still see the joins in places, with the chapter-based progression here very roughly mapping to the mobile version’s bite-sized events), beats are reshuffled and it’s all vastly expanded upon. It’s also not covering everything from its predecessor, leaving plenty of material for potential sequels with a similar degree of glow-up.

Resonance is, hands down, the best-looking HD-2D game Square Enix has delivered yet.

And what a glow-up! This might be channelling the SNES era with its aesthetic, but it’s taken to a whole new level. Character sprites are packed full of personality, and every location is beautifully designed and crammed with subtle environmental details, but it’s all modelled into 3D spaces, allowing the camera to sweep around for some unbelievably striking shots during cutscenes. Even Limit Break attacks in battle – super-charged moves unleashed after your heroes have taken enough damage – fill the screen with brilliantly animated assaults. Resonance is, hands down, the best-looking HD-2D game Square Enix has delivered yet.

Combat itself enjoys one of the biggest overhauls from Brave Exvius, now adopting an elevated turn-based combat system. It’s a style that Square Enix has largely shied away from in recent years – to the point where Final Fantasy XVI was an action game – but the popularity of the likes of Sea of Stars and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has served as a reminder of how engaging and enjoyable turn-based can be.

Here, your four-member party dishes out attacks, skills, or spells as you’d expect, but the key to success isn’t just womping down enemy health, it’s mastering the stagger mechanic. Depleting a foe’s stagger bar by taking advantage of elemental weaknesses earns the attacking hero an extra turn at the end of the phase; stagger all the enemies in a battle, and not only does your entire team get to have another go, but you can tack on a Vision attack, a powerful assault from the spirits of past Final Fantasy characters. These break from the pixel art approach for dazzling full CGI attacks, feeling a little like the cinematic summons from the PS1 era Final Fantasy games. Actual summons – where you basically unleash a tethered god on your opponents – operate here more like those in Final Fantasy VII Remake, arriving in another flash of CGI then hanging around to lend a powerful hand in battle.

Those Visions are the real wild card of Resonance. Aside from flashy finishers, they can be paired to Resonance’s cast, giving them a host of representative powers and abilities. Keep them paired long enough, and those abilities are learned permanently, allowing a fantastic degree of customisation in how you build your party. Vision powers can be mixed and matched with a character’s innate ones – line everything up and you can kit out your squad with passive skills that replenish health, magic, and Limit Break gauges mid-battle, for complete domination.

The only problem is that chasing those skills can result in over-levelling your main characters without even trying. Vision bonds level-up much slower than Rain and co. themselves do, so the more you grind regular fights to max out those bonds and unlock more skills, the more Resonance’s characters grow in baseline power, and the easier the game feels, even on the toughest difficulty. Acquiring more Visions also presumes familiarity with past Final Fantasy games – legendary heroes are found in shrines scattered around the world, but most involve incredibly spoiler-heavy introductions, revealing major events from their respective title.

It makes for a game that feels a bit too in love with its own history at times, but if you share that nostalgia – especially for the pixelated period that Resonance most celebrates – this is an absolute blast; a classic Final Fantasy experience that plays like a warm hug. If you don’t, the nostalgic myopia and the ease with which it’s possible to over-power characters may hamper your enjoyment. It’s still worth most RPG fans’ time though, even if just to see the sheer spectacle this miraculously wrings from the humble pixel.

Poor old Duncan Idaho. In Dune, Paul Atreides’ warrior mentor was the closest thing he had to a friend: a slick, suave, swaggering asset of House Atreides, who helped the young heir of the dynasty build his combat skills back on Caladan, before leading the takeover of the Spice operation on Arrakis. But if you saw Denis Villeneuve’s epic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel, you’ll remember that Jason Momoa’s charismatic Duncan perished before the end of Part One – sacrificing himself to Sardaukar soldiers in order for Timothée Chalamet’s Paul and his mother, Rebecca Ferguson’s Lady Jessica, to survive. RIP to the realest one on Arrakis.

Or, perhaps not. In Dune: Part Three, Jason Momoa somehow returns – though not necessarily as Duncan Idaho. Get ready to meet the ‘ghola’ known as Hayt, a genetically engineered human replica of the man himself, bearing some memories of the man he used to be. “It was nerve-wracking,” Momoa tells Empire of returning in a new form. “It’s one of those things where you’re like, ‘I didn’t sign up to play this guy. I signed up to play the other guy.’” But safe to say, there’s some of the old Duncan Idaho hiding in Hoyt’s genetic code. “I was just waiting to get to that point where you’re like, ‘This is my guy, man. I’m going to unleash hell on everyone!’”

If Duncan Idaho has changed, so too has his young ward – with Paul now the fearsome Emperor whose reign casts a bloody shadow across the galaxy. “It’s a whole ’nother person, what he brings to being the Emperor,” Momoa says of Chalamet in Part Three. “It’s just strong, silent and violent.” Prepare for a very different dynamic between them than in the first Dune. “Me and him will geek out a little bit [between takes], but then we got to get back to being serious. He was really in it,” Momoa enthuses. “I was like, ‘Wow, I cannot believe he just went toe to toe with me physically and mentally.’ That guy comes in like a nuke, man.”

Read Empire’s full Dune: Part Three cover story – speaking to Denis Villeneuve, Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert Pattinson, Jason Momoa, and Florence Pugh about the epic final chapter – in the December 2026 issue, on sale Thursday October 22. Pre-order a copy online here. Dune: Part Three comes to cinemas from December 18.

For over a century now, filmmakers and cinema goers alike have been in thrall to lupine tales of transformation beneath the moonlight. From Henry MacRae's lost 1913 short The Werewolf to Universal's classic 1941 Lon Chaney Jr. starrer The Wolf Man, and from An American Werewolf In London all the way up to Leigh Whannell's hotly anticipated new Wolf Man movie with Christopher Abbott, there's just something about seeing folk take a walk on the wild side in a werewolf movie that continues to chill and thrill us.

And so, with that in mind, we thought it high time to list and rank 10 of the very best films the sub-genre has to offer. Whether you prefer your werewolves in small-town horror-comedies, supernatural romances starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Jack Nicholson, or made in a haze of extraordinary practical FX in 1981 (we've got two of those!), there's something here for all comers to enjoy. And rest assured, the only howlers here are the lycanthropes on screen — every film included on this list is a bona fide beast!

Without further awoooo— er, *ahem*, ado, here are the 10 Best Werewolf Movies as chosen by Empire.

For British cinephiles, the arrival of the BFI London Film Festival is a significant date in the calendar – bringing some of the most exciting movies from across the world to the UK capital (and across the nation too) for an early peek. Packed with gala screenings, premieres, and first looks, it’s a monumental celebration of movies – and having seen some of the best there is to offer, Empire has a handful of must-see titles that you need to place at the top of your watchlist.

We’ve been at this year’s LFF watching all kinds of exciting upcoming features – and we have some recommendations for you.

Empire’s Reviews Editor John Nugent chose his highlights from this year’s festival – the first being Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth!, a classical music-based drama starring Pedro Pascal. This is Gilroy’s first feature film in 14 years, and marks his first project since shepherding all-time-great Star Wars series Andor, bringing him back down to earth for the story of an ambitious cellist (Pascal’s Alex), who reckons with a return to home in LA after 20 years.

Nugent’s other highlight is Laika studios’ Wildwood, a mind-bogglingly ambitious epic fantasy film told in stop-motion animation; arriving seven years after their previous film, Missing Link, and marking director (and Laika boss) Travis Knight’s animated comeback, 10 years after his previous film Kubo And The Two Strings. With its jaw-dropping scope and wild imagination, it’s not to be missed.

And there are more recommendations too:

Empire’s Social Media Editor Harry Stainer praises Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial as the real successor to The Social Network – starring Andrew Garfield as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a scathing and satirical look at the reckless development of Artificial Intelligence in Silicon Valley.

Stainer also highlights Jordan Firstman’s feature debut Club Kid, a sweet and tender New York drama in which Firstman also stars (and writes) as Peter. A party promoter in the queer NYC club scene, Peter discovers that he has a 10-year-old son (Reggie Absolom’s Arlo) who he never knew about – bringing a new perspective to his world as he synthesises the two.

Elsewhere, it’s been a packed festival – the first two episodes of Marvel’s VisionQuest screened in association with Empire, while the festival opened with the Andrew Scott-starring Elsinore, and closed with Jesse Eisenberg’s much-anticipated The Debut. Add in Godzilla Minus One, a secret screening of I Play Rocky, and an early peek at the restoration of Ken Russell’s The Devils, and it’s clear: the magic of the movies is very much alive.

Until last night, it had been 3,304 days, 192 episodes, and approximately 5,760 minutes (ad breaks included) since The Simpsons' fan-favourite Kwik-E-Mart owner Apu Nahasapeemapetilon last spoke in the show. As you may recall, original voice actor Hank Azaria bowed out following 2017's Season 29 premiere 'The Serfsons' and the subsequent release of Hari Kondabolu's thought-provoking doc The Problem With Apu, which explored the impact of the character and his presentation on South Asian people. But now, after years restricted to wordless background appearances, Apu — and his beloved wife Manjula — are back back back, now voiced by Sunil Malhotra (The Legend Of Korra) and Janina Gavankar (The Morning Show) respectively. Check out the duo's post marking the Nahasapeemapetilons' return below;

Apu's long-awaited return comes in Treehouse Of Horror XXXVII lead-in 'The Revengening', which finds a man in a monastic robe and Daft Punk helmet (yes, a Daft Monk) who has been accidentally killed over and over again by Springfield residents decide that enough's enough, turning the tables on the townsfolk's would-be killers by offing them himself, one at a time. Eventually, the town's residents are gathered at Springfield City Hall, where the masked man reveals himself, pointedly referring to himself as "the man you left for dead" and "the one you pretended never existed" before defiantly revealing his true identity and shouting "I am Apu!" Cue a classically meta rest of the episode as the Simpsons' writers wrestle with Apu's erasure — and return — in-text, with Marge and Bart leading the apologies for casting him out, Lenny referencing "internal conversations" about reintegrating him, and Homer paying genuinely touching tribute to Apu's importance to Springfield while acknowledging how he has been taken for granted.

The return of Apu and his family is about as perfect and thoughtful a comeback as you could reasonably hope for, and comes with an "It was all a dream" denouement that tees up future appearances — something new VA Malhotra is very keen for. "I’d be lying if I didn’t say that the sweetest part of all was unleashing that righteously rage-fueled “I AM APU!” — on behalf of so many of us — over and over in the studio until we got it just right,” said the actor in an interview with Variety. “I really feel like we did and I can’t wait for fans to see more Apu.” And to that we can only say thank you, come again!

Over the last half-decade or so, we've gotten pretty used to what could be called Schrödinger's Star Wars movies — films that have been announced but haven't been made, and whose status has been largely left unconfirmed. James Mangold's Dawn Of The Jedi, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's New Jedi Order, a new Rian Johnson trilogy, and an original Taika Waititi joint have all come and gone and come again in recent years. But now, while in London for the premiere of his latest movie, Klara And The Sun, Taika Waititi has clarified what's going on with his trip to that galaxy far, far away. And it's not great news, folks.

Speaking to Inverse on the Klara And The Sun press tour, Waititi was asked about the current state of his Star Wars universe project, which he had, as of last update, been working on with Poor Things and The Favourite scribe Tony McNamara. "I hate to break this to you, but we're going to actually put it on ice," Waititi told Inverse, before adding that he and McNamara are now "working on a different thing together." While news of another Star Warsian project having fallen by the wayside is disappointing, the filmmaker isn't ruling out revisiting his jump to lightspeed entirely. “Ice ages do come to an end,” the Hunt For The Wilderpeople mastermind reminded his interviewer.

While Waititi Wars may not be happening anytime soon, there's no shortage of work from the New Zealander still to look forward to all the same. As of right now, Taika is still juggling a new Charlie And The Chocolate Factory movie, an adaptation of The Incal, What We Do In The Shadows' long-awaited feature follow-up, and a big-screen take on Deb Olin Unferth's satirical bestseller Barn 8, with Very Young Frankenstein and another major literary adaptation, of Percival Everett's Huckleberry Finn reimagining James, in the pipeline too. And until Taika does get his Star Wars movie, we'll always have his IG-88 — and that ain't nothin'...

Compared to your Pixars, your Ghiblis, your Sonys, your Laikas or your Cartoon Saloons, DreamWorks Animation sometimes seems like a studio built on franchises of diminishing returns. For every Orion And The Dark, there is a Boss Baby; for every The Bad Guys, there is a Trolls: World Tour.

Which is what makes Forgotten Island such an unexpected treat: another example of how the animation industry is in such rude health, each rival studio pushing the other to greater heights. It is a sugar-rush of a film, full of ideas and fizzing with imagination — boasting the cultural specificity of Moana, the bittersweet memories of Coco and the chaotic anime flourishes of One Piece.

This is a film very much of its time and place — that time and place being the Philippines in the 1990s — and a film squarely about teenage female friendship, a subject that still feels like an odd rarity for such a common experience. Jo (voiced by Filipina-American pop star H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano) meet as young children, finding solidarity in being outsiders, both sent to the principal's office. A moving montage set to INXS's ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ — a needle drop most memorably used in the Director’s Cut of indie darling Donnie Darko — is the first hint that what we are watching might not be the usual franchise-building fare.

We then jump to a few years in the future, where teenage Jo and Raissa are making plans beyond high school, and it seems that said plans for the first time might not align. Just as this conflict threatens to torpedo their friendship, they stumble across a mysterious portal which appears to confirm the folklore of the world of Nakali, as relayed to them by Jo’s grandma, Fatima, as true.

Interestingly, the pair wake up the morning after their arrival, as Nakali does funny things to the memory, it turns out, and so they emerge a little like the bros of The Hangover, slowly trying to piece together the madcap events of their first evening in this strange realm. Why does Raissa suddenly have wings? Why is a were-dog named Raww (Dave Franco) claiming to be their best friend? And why is a torso-detaching demon, a “manananggal” known as Manang (Lea Salonga), trying to kill them?

This memory element weaves into the story with more emotional punch than you might expect, leaning on the kind of bittersweet themes explored in the likes of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. What is most impressive about this is the juggling of tones: directors Joel Crawford (who was also behind the unexpectedly excellent Puss In Boots: The Last Wish) and Januel Mercado wring huge pathos from this thread, the complicated friendship the pair have and the tension of their future plans as a whole life stretches before them.

But this is also simultaneously a hugely funny and frequently bizarre film. The animation is full of saturated colour and popping with life, both in the real world of the film and the heightened fantasy of the Island. In common with a lot of recent mainstream Hollywood animated efforts, there are some neat anime tropes, from exaggerated eye effects to 2D thought bubbles, which feel inventive and fun and a reflection of the characters and their scatty teenage brains. And the imaginative design and performances really tips it over the edge — shout-out especially to Manny Jacinto as a three-eyed demon baby who is both adorable and terrifying, and Kevin McCann as Mermahn, an absurd Aquaman knock-off with singing starfish for nipples.

There are plenty of times where you can feel the story strictly tied to the railroad of formula and cliché, and the ending might prove a little too earnest for a film which also features singing starfish nipples. But this is overall a very strong entry for DreamWorks Animation’s 50th feature, full of pep and heart and fun.

Across 12 years, five seasons, and 30 episodes, HBO's True Detective has delivered some of the best police procedural telly on the box — and key to the anthology series' continued to success has been the strength of each season's central cop pairings. From Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in Season 1 through to Jodie Foster and Kali Reis in Night Country, the show has never lacked for star power at any point in its run. And now HBO has officially confirmed True Detective Season 5's powerhouse pairing: actual Nicolas Cage and actual Antonio Banderas. Check out the announcement below;

Hailing from True Detective: Night Country showrunner Issa López, the latest season of HBO's critically acclaimed anthology series is set to relocate the investigative work to Jamaica Bay, New York. And while we don't yet know what the case is going to be, who else will star alongside Cage and Banderas, or when we can even expect the fifth instalment of TD to hit our screens, we do know a couple of things for certain. Firstly, if not character specifics then we do at least have names for our new cop pairing: Banderas is set to star as Rai García while Cage is on to play the role of Henry Logan. And secondly, we also know that filming isn't too far off, with the current plan being for shooting to start in 2027.

While Banderas doesn't bring a whole heap of experience playing true detectives to his latest assignment, Cage on the other hand is a bit of a pro at this point, having starred as private eye Ben Reilly in Spider-Noir already this year and previously notably flexed his investigative chops — for better and worse — in Bad Lieutenant, Snake Eyes, and that remake of The Wicker Man, too. For now however, all we really need to know is that we're getting a Banderas x Cage x López team-up. A killer combo, we can surely all agree.

It's been almost two years now since we learned that Liverpool FC and A24 would be teaming up on a new longform drama, set to chart the rise and reign of legendary club manager Bill Shankly as he turned the team from Second Division slouches to champions of England. But now, after 22 months of radio silence on the project, penned by Adolescence scribe and lifelong red Jack Thorne, Deadline has just dropped a major update on the series: British acting titan — and Spurs fan — Jude Law has just signed on to play Shankly in the show.

With aspirations to become an almost The Crown style series not only exploring the culture at the club that Shankly fostered on the pitch and in the boot room during his tenure, but also the culture of the city of Liverpool as it stood in the 1960s — a hub of music and art, the birthplace of The Beatles, Cilla Black, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and the Merseybeat — and beyond, it's not hard to see the appeal of a role and a project as meaty as this for Law. Given that Shanks took up post at Anfield in December 1959, stayed until 1974, and won no less than three league titles, two FA Cups, and a UEFA Cup in his time at Liverpool, there's certainly no shortage of scope for the show should it take a more generational approach to the story of England's most successful football club and its home.

“It’s a story about family and relationships through the lens of a football club,” said Liverpool FC Chairman — and experienced producer — Tom Werner of the as-yet-untitled project. "Bill Shankly understood that it wasn’t just about finding the best talent on the team. It was about forging a connection with a fan base, and the reason that Liverpool is so special to me, besides the fact that you could say it’s got a billion fans worldwide, is that the relationship between the club and its supporters is really unique. If we can articulate that in a mini-series that starts with Bill Shankly and continues through its journey, we can touch on things like the Beatles." Added scribe Thorne, who's already written the series' first two episodes, " “My feeling is, if you do nothing more in that first episode than show 50,000 people singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, I defy anyone who won’t be moved by that one scene."

Should A24 and Liverpool FC's collaboration prove successful, future seasons of the show could go on to handle some of the other epochal moments of the club's history over the decades, both triumphant and tragic, including the Hillsborough disaster of 1989 among other things. If handled right, which under Jack Thorne's supervision you'd imagine it will be, another landmark piece of television may well be on its way. Stay tuned for more updates on this one as development continues.

Ah, prequels. If the windows into the early lives of Michael Myers, Leatherface and those pesky door-rapping kids in The Strangers have shown us anything, it’s that our monsters are best left unmasked. To feel for their formative experiences is to divest them of menace. And yet this eight-part series doubles down by showing us how both Jason Voorhees (Callum Vinson) and his ma-ma-mammy Pamela (Linda Cardellini) — the killer in the original Friday The 13th movie, as Casey so memorably forgets at the start of Scream — reached a point where slaughtering teens was their squad goal.

We already know the salient facts, right? It’s there in the 1980 movie, Pam telling Final Girl Alice (Adrienne King) how little J drowned, unsupervised, as two counsellors got hot and heavy. Well, Crystal Lake both tweaks and builds on that exposition-dump (Pam’s revenge on the shagging couple is restaged beat-for-beat, but with a clever reveal), just as it switches up timelines and alters franchise lore. But that’s nothing to the events of Episode 7, which flashes the action back from the main narrative strand set in 1972 to Jason’s birth in 1960. It’s an out-there origin story, more in line with the early work of both Stephen King and David Cronenberg than the bread-and-butter (meat-and-ketchup?) stalk-’n’-slash offerings of the Friday films. Or, to put it in a modern context, it’s all very Stranger Things.

Linda Cardellini is excellent as Pam

There is, of course, nothing wrong with turning source material inside-out, as Mike Flanagan’s just-dropped Carrie series resoundingly demonstrates. Only here the big swings miss, perhaps reflecting the show’s tortuous production history as showrunner Bryan Fuller departed and It: Welcome To Derry’s Brad Caleb Kane stepped in. So, while it’s fascinating to see Pam withdraw from the community of Crystal Lake and flounder as she’s tentatively romanced by kind-hearted police chief Levon (William Catlett), do we really need Jason’s immortality explained? It’s a good deal more disturbing to simply know that you can hack him repeatedly in the head with his own machete (Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter) or drown him in toxic waste (Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan) and his hockey mask will be back in place for a new instalment.

Still, Cardellini, fresh from her Emmy for DTF St. Louis, is excellent as Pam, plumbing shuddersome levels of genuine anguish while maintaining Betsy Palmer’s bonkers energy in the original movie. The kills, though too spaced out, are rightly brutal (though tame now, the Friday movies pushed boundaries in the ’80s). And fans will undoubtedly thrill to the series returning to the New Jersey locations of the original picture, with canoes drifting over the lake, archery targets being set up, killer-POV shots twitching to Henry Manfredini’s ki-ki-ki-ma-ma-ma title theme, and Jason sporting the burlap-sack fashion choice of Friday The 13th Part 2. It’s enough to save Crystal Lake from being doomed, as fan-favourite ‘Crazy Ralph’, who’s thankfully on show here, would surely put it. Whether you’ll be lobbying for a second season is another thing.

After a failed 1994 film adaptation and several recent film outings for its rival, Mortal Kombat, no-one was hankering for another Street Fighter movie. But here it is anyway, muscles bulging and fireballs flying, and the sucker-punch is that it's actually quite fun.

All the familiar game characters and their signature moves are here, skimpy clothing and ridiculous hairdos in place. The saving grace is that director Kitao Sakurai has immense affection for the game but also doesn't take it all too seriously, with a background in comedy serving him well. He quietly sets about subverting all the derring-do, giving us world-ending stakes but also dysfunctional characters and clever little comic beats.

Go in with low expectations and be roundhouse-kicked in the face by laughs.

Fan-favourites Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken (Noah Centineo) give the plot some focus. As shown in a high-anime style flashback, Ryu won the last Street Fighter tournament in 1987, but only by giving in to his inner demons, who are also actual demons. He's been in self-imposed exile ever since, while Ken has become a show fighter rather than the real thing. During the movie’s table-setting first hour or so, the pair are among those called back for the new 1993 tournament, run by the patently nefarious Lord M. Bison (David Dastmalchian, bringing Alan Rickman levels of sneering).

The rest of the fighters are present and correct. Chun Li (Callina Liang) is an undercover agent, and therefore operating in the same mode as Ryu; 50 Cent is a boxer named Balrog; Jason Momoa’s Blanka is not the Hulk for legal reasons but sure goes to the same gym; Guile (Cody Rhodes) has surprisingly hilarious lines for a guy who could have skated by on his outrageous haircut. When the fight scenes come, Sakurai keeps them short and sweet, offering just enough to justify the film's title but giving each one a sense of identity. Importantly, there's enough physical contact here that it doesn't feel as weightless and CG-heavy as the last Kombat offering; most of these people fight like martial artists.

There's far too much plot, admittedly; a nearly unforgivable sequel-baiting ending, and some odd anachronisms in this alternate universe (4 Non Blondes did not release one song, appearing here in 1987, until 1993). But the film leavens the exposition with little shots of subversion (“There's some in my mouth!” wails an audience member after a particularly explosive match-up) and a winking sense of humour. Go in with low expectations and be roundhouse-kicked in the face by laughs.

It’s well known that Robert Pattinson likes to walk on the weird side. So when the opportunity arrived to become a part of the Dune saga, it simply had to happen, despite his packed schedule – this year has seen him star in The Drama, The Odyssey, and Primetime already, while he’s currently shooting The Batman: Part II. Entering the world of Spice, sandworms, psychic visions and more, Pattinson was ready to embrace both his blockbuster instincts and his penchant for cinematic oddity. Though, director Denis Villeneuve initially saw it differently.

Pattinson arrives in Dune: Part Three as assassin Scytale, a shape-shifting ‘Face Dancer’ from the genetic-meddling Bene Tleilax people. Sounds perfect for some Pattinson weirdness, right? “I went into it being like, ‘I want to look like an alien,’” the actor tells Empire, “and initially Denis was saying, ‘Well, I think he’s got to fit in with everybody. I think he just looks like you. He’s normal.’” It was not quite what Pattinson hoped for. “I was a little bit disappointed,” he acknowledges.

But, before the shoot came around, Villeneuve settled on something much more up Pattinson’s alley. What if Scytale had an eerie blankness, with bleached hair and no eyebrows? “It wasn’t even that far before I started shooting; he sent me an email saying, ‘I’ve had this idea of a look,’” recalls Pattinson. “And I’m like, ‘Okay! This is very much not like a normal guy at all.’” The result is the perfect mix of Pattinson’s sensibilities, and Villeneuve’s approach to Frank Herbert’s source material. “It’s like he’s grown in a lab,” Pattinson says of the character. “There’s a little element of a baby about him, which I really, really liked.” Bring on the madness.

Read Empire’s full Dune: Part Three cover story – speaking to Denis Villeneuve, Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert Pattinson, Jason Momoa, and Florence Pugh about the epic final chapter – in the December 2026 issue, on sale Thursday October 22. Pre-order a copy online here. Dune: Part Three comes to cinemas from December 18.

Over in the Monsterverse, Hollywood’s take on Godzilla is becoming increasingly silly. His last appearance, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, saw the fearsome kaiju having a cheeky nap in Rome’s Colosseum in-between mega-bouts. Back in his native Japan, however, the monster is no joke. 2023’s Godzilla Minus One, from original production company Toho and director Takashi Yamazaki (the “Japanese James Cameron”), was a stunning, back-to-basics, 1940s-set reboot which found a freshly emotional, politically charged direction for the prolific series.

Putting aside the confusing title (surely “minus zero” equals positive zero?), this direct sequel continues the first film’s approach: more heart-in-mouth action; more staggering visual effects on a budget to give Hollywood a run for its money; more emotional human storytelling that, this time, is occasionally overwrought.

We pick up two years after the events of Minus One, which saw Godzilla seemingly killed, and post-war Japan seeking to rebuild. An electrifying opening sequence confirms that while Godzilla may be gone (yeah, sure!), a new unstoppable kaiju has arrived. Yamazaki shows his talent for staging disaster from a ground-level perspective, imbuing an immersive sense of terror and peril that most monster movies lack.

This remains the most confident vision of this storied national icon.

The set-pieces are just as impressive as they were in the previous film: one thrilling dogfight sequence through the air plays like The Dam Busters crossed with House Of The Dragon. Laced through this city-levelling shock and awe, Yamazaki again centres the national collective trauma that it symbolises; one plotline even makes the implicit subtext of the series more explicit, in a devastating way.

But some of the drama feels overcooked, with a story less compelling and more clichéd than before. Dialogue, whether in the original script or the English subtitles, plays out a little hammily (“Will we ever live in peace?” wails one character), which would be fine for a B-movie, less so for one with A-movie aspirations. Some narrative choices feel familiar, too: there is an echo of the “Let them fight” scene from Gareth Edwards’ 2014 take, while one character’s flair for weather-forecasting is a mirror of this year’s Pressure. And after a two-hour-plus runtime that occasionally drags, it ends on a note of pure melodrama that will either leave your eyes rolling or watery, depending on your constitution.

Yet this remains the most confident vision of this storied national icon, one teeming with trenchant anxieties and emotions. As the original theme by Akira Ifukube blasts through — blended with Naoki Satō’s frantic, heart-rending new score — in his 39th big-screen appearance, Godzilla still has the power to make us tremble.

If there are three things that are hot right now, then those three things are fantasy series (see also; House Of The Dragon, The Rings Of Power, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms), romances (see also; Heated Rivalry, Off Campus, The Love Hypothesis), and juicy book adaptations (see also; all those Harlan Coben and Colleen Hoover films and series). And with Fourth Wing, Prime Video's upcoming adaptation of writer Rebecca Yarros' wildly popular YA romantasy series, Amazon is hoping to hit the trifecta. Key to the show's success will be how well it pulls off protagonists Violet Sorrengail and Xaden Riorson's enemies-to-lovers relationship — and so fans have been eagerly awaiting casting news for the spicy series' leads. That wait is now over, Empyreans.

Per Variety's reporting, We Were Liars and Obi-Wan Kenobi star Esther McGregor (yes, daughter of Ewan) has signed on to star as reluctant dragon rider in the making Violet, while German actor Emilio Sakraya — perhaps best known for the likes of Warrior Nun, Those About To Die, and his recent casting in One Piece — is on as the brooding, shadow-wielding Xaden. Per the books, the chalk-and-cheese pair cross paths at Basgiath War College, a cutthroat institute looking to train the next generation of fictitious nation Navarre's elite dragon riders. The college's single rule is literally "Graduate or Die", and Yarros' books' mix of dragon-centric high fantasy with slow-burning, sensual romance and constant high stakes has made the Fourth Wing books a global phenomenon, with readers all over deeply invested in Violet, Xaden, and the goings-on at Basgiath.

Boasting Anne With An E's Meredith Averill as showrunner, Fallout duo Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan and Michael B. Jordan among its executive producers, and now two fan-approved stars as its romantic leads, Prime Video's Fourth Wing — which, all being well, is expected to adapt Yarros' full five-novel sequence (of which three are already out there, with a further two to come) — is already off to a flying start. We expect we'll be hearing a lot more about this one in the weeks and months to come. Game Of Thrones, watch your six!

It's official: Radio Silence duo Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin's hotly anticipated The Mummy legacy sequel is less than a year away! And with filming well underway on the long-awaited return of Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz's adventuring spouses Rick and Evelyn O'Connell, Universal Pictures has taken to its socials to reveal the title of Radio Silence's latest franchise revival. Introducing... *drum roll* The Mummy: Book Of The Dead. Now there's a loaded title — and you can see the official treatment below;

For those who may be seeing that title and thinking 'The Book of the Dead' rings a bell, that'd probably be because it's the very important, ancient, obsidian spellbook that brings the dead back to life and summons the mythic Warriors of the Book in the franchise. And while we don't know anything about the plot of Book Of The Dead at this exact moment in time, we do know that it brought back the franchise's titular mummy, Imhotep, in both 1999's The Mummy and its 2001 sequel, The Mummy Returns. So, with this legacy sequel eliding Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor's existence and bringing back the franchise's OGs — including Oded Fehr's dashing, Imhotep-halting warrior Ardeth Bay — it seems a reasonably safe bet that some unsuspecting/suspect soul might've found the book and brought back yer mummified man Imhotep once again in the new movie.

Rocking a script from The Family Plan scribe David Coggeshall, The Mummy: Book Of The Dead is set to see the above-mentioned Fraser, Weisz, and Fehr return to our screens along with fellow franchise veterans John Hannah and Kevin J. O'Connor, joined by Obsession star Michael Johnston in an as-yet-undisclosed role. And with directors Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin having previously told Empire that screenwriter Coggeshall has turned in "a very beautiful and sweeping and scary and fun" script, anticipation for The Mummy's return only grows greater by the day. We can't wait to unwrap the blockbuster sequel's secrets when Book Of The Dead hits cinemas on October 15, 2027. Less than a year to go!

As a certain fictitious district attorney famously once said, "The night is darkest just before the dawn." And though DC Studios' The Batman Part II has had more than its fair share of dark nights over the last four years, it looks like there is light at the end of the tunnel for director Matt Reeves' long-awaited sequel. Per Deadline's reporting, as Reeves continues to deal with an ongoing personal situation, fellow filmmaker and admirer Steven Soderbergh has come aboard to help finish principal photography on the already near-complete movie.

Earlier this month, we reported that production on Matt Reeves' Robert Pattinson starring superhero sequel had halted amid an undisclosed personal issue, with Reeves — given DC Studios' full support — temporarily stepping away from the shoot. Now, with that situation still ongoing, Soderbergh has come in to help Reeves' vision come to fruition in the home stretch. “As Matt Reeves continues to attend to an ongoing family matter, Steven Soderbergh, as an admirer of Matt’s work, approached Matt and will step in, with the full support of DC Studios, to help the writer-director complete the final weeks of principal photography on The Batman Part 2," said DC Studios in a statement. "Matt and Steven will work closely together with the actors and crew to fulfill Matt’s vision of the film.”

Of his involvement in the movie's completion, Soderbergh — coming in fresh from the recent release of art fraud flick The Christophers — said the following: "I thought Matt Reeves’ work on The Batman was stunning; it was intentional, specific, and rigorously coherent. The goal here is to work with Matt and his team to generate footage that will integrate seamlessly with what’s already been shot so Matt can properly finish his film.” As alluded to here, while Soderbergh will physically be on set directing the remainder of the movie's London shoot, Reeves is expected to take back over for post-production in Los Angeles once principal photography is complete. And you can see Reeves’ own personal update following today’s announcement below;

Boasting a cast including returnees Robert Pattinson, Andy Serkis, and Colin Farrell alongside franchise newcomers Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Brian Tyree Henry, Jayme Lawson, Charles Dance, Gil Perez-Abraham, and Sebastian Koch, Matt Reeves' The Batman sequel — still currently slated for release on February 18, 2028 — was mere weeks from wrapping production before filming came to a halt. Now, with the incredibly capable Soderbergh on hand to help, the finish line is back in sight for what has been a real labour of love. Our best wishes remain with Matt Reeves, and we hope that he is able to get back to doing what he does best in the near future.

A week ago, actor Richard Summers-Calvert read the phrase ‘Glup Shitto’ for the first time. “I went, ‘What's this?’,” he recalls of seeing it hit his mentions. “’Is it rude?’”

Yes, and no. Coined by Tumbler user ‘gomjabbar’ in 2020, the term began as a somewhat derisory Star Wars meme, poking fun at the saga’s myriad oddball bit-players. That guy in the background of the Cantina, who someone will inevitably claim as their favourite Star Wars character? Oh, that’s Glup Shitto. In the intervening years, the notion of a ‘Glup Shitto’ has been re-embraced. It’s a badge of honour. If you love Star Wars, it’s likely for the Glup Shittos. And a new one has just entered the chat: welcome, Biddy Blas.

It happened as soon as Star Wars: Galactic Racer launched; a new super-speedy racing game which casts players as Shade, a rising star battling on the track for dominance against all kinds of galactic foes. There’s Sebulba from The Phantom Menace, your in-game nemesis Kestar Bool, and… wait, who’s that? A little crocodile man, with a snout full of jagged teeth. Waist-height, in human terms. A little helmet and goggles on. And it gets weirder when he speaks: a screaming high-pitched yelp, belting out Huttese phrases with gleeful venom. The only way Jabba would ever speak like this is if someone stood on the tip of his tail. He is Biddy Blas, the one and only. And he’s voiced by Summers-Calvert, who had no idea the sort of instant internet fame the character would achieve.

The memes began on day one. “And then day two, it was just another thing. It just got bigger and bigger and bigger,” he says. “When something like this happens, it can be quite daunting.” Thankfully, the internet only has love for Biddy Blas. “Whether you love him, or you love him because you love to hate him, [Biddy] is unanimously appreciated,” he grins.

There’s one big question, though. “I'm having people argue online if I am a Glup Shitto, or not a Glup Shitto,” he says. “I absolutely am a Star Wars fan. I love Star Wars. However, this experience has made me realise maybe how little I knew about Star Wars. I'm just below the knowledge of ‘Glup Shitto’.” Start your engines.

----

Even before he knew what Biddy Blas looked like – before he knew about Glup Shittos, before he even knew that he was auditioning for a new Star Wars game – the limited character information Summers-Calvert received led him down a specific path. “I decided that this character has little man syndrome,” he says. “Maybe lacking confidence, slightly anxious, and it comes out in rage.” This is what he channelled in his first read (in Basic, of course).

It wasn’t exactly what developers Fuse Games first envisioned. “I was imagining in my head more of a deeper fantasy dwarf voice,” says Ren Alex-Rose, Narrative Designer. “And then when we heard Richard's audition, we were like, ‘No, that's it. That's absolutely it. That is the perfect direction for this character.’”

We wanted a bad loser, and a worse winner.

In the game’s earliest stages, Biddy Blas was simply known as ‘Rager’ – one of many memorable competitors for Shade to race against. “We wanted a character that really embodied the spirit of anger and rage – a bad loser, and a worse winner,” says Nathaniel Daw, Galactic Racer’s Narrative Director. The influences were many. It was partly Daw’s own outbursts when playing games online (“There’s a reason I don’t play multiplayer anymore,” he laughs), and Alex-Rose’s dog. “He's small and he's got an underbite, and he's very angry about that all the time,” she says.

Cross-referencing this archetype with the roster of Star Wars species, they settled on a little-seen one: the Crocin, briefly glimpsed in Solo: A Star Wars Story, angrily losing a game of Sabacc and shredding his cards in his jagged maw. “As soon as we saw the artwork, we said ‘This is perfect. Put him in,’” says Daw. In fact, we have his wife to thank for Biddy Blas’ eventual design. “She said, ‘You need more little weird guys [in the game]’,” he recalls. “In the last week, she's been saying, ‘I told you! I told you that's what you needed!’”

Summers-Calvert knew none of this when he first went up for the role. But hearing about the demeanour and stature of ‘Rager’, he was ready to take a bold creative swing. “The moment I heard there's a smaller character, I went higher pitched,” he remembers. “His energy needs to be three times the size of him.” It was an instant hit with the Fuse team; the role was his. But stepping into the booth brought new challenges. “I found out I was speaking Huttese when they displayed gibberish up on the screen,” laughs Summers-Calvert. “And I was like, ‘What is this?’”

That might be a key reason why Biddy Blas has become so beloved: frankly, you’ve never heard Huttese spoken like this. For all the character’s screeching alien dialogue, it’s easy to transpose it over the English translation underneath; it’s nonsense, but intentional nonsense. “[The lines] are authentic,” Summers-Calvert says. “I have read the English verse, so I know exactly what I'm saying, the inflection’s in the right places. And then I go from that to sight-reading Huttese. That's why it's worked, I feel. I'm very proud of that.”

‘Ding dong, bookie, ding dong!’ is just iconic.

That wild Biddy Blas energy was apparent in the recording sessions. “I do think we laughed more in Richard's sessions than maybe any other,” admits Daw, who was there through it all. He would help direct Summers-Calvert’s performance, modulating between Blas’ in-race put-downs (“Remember, you’re a high-pitched menace”), paddock interactions (“For this, we can bring it down”), and pure high-speed terror. “I have a fond memory of intense screams during the racing,” the actor laughs. “I remember veins popping out of my head.”

All the pieces were in place: the Crocin design, the rage-fuelled character dynamic, the unhinged voice. Even before release, the Fuse team wondered if a star was born. “I can remember doing an interview before release where someone said, ‘Who's your favourite character?’ And I did say Biddy Blas,” says Daw. “So before all of this, I called my shot. I'll claim that!”

It was time for the world to meet him.

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“Scrib doon!” This is the Biddy Blas line that did it. In the first stage of Galactic Racer’s campaign, players get an early interaction with the Crocin rager: a braggadocious encounter in which he gleefully informs you of his name (“Biddy Blaaaas!”) and tells you to write it down. Or, in Huttese, “scrib doon”. This was the clip that Summers-Calvert put on his own social feeds, by way of announcing that he had – against all his expectations – somehow entered the Star Wars galaxy.

The genie was not going back in the bottle. “The next morning, I woke up and my followers had jumped up,” he says. “It got to a point where I'm seeing likes and shares and retweets that are so beyond what my brain can fathom.” Affection for Biddy Blas spread across the internet like wildfire. “I've never experienced anything like this. Not to this level,” he adds. New Biddy memes arrive every day. ‘Scrib Dune’, with sandworms. ‘Scrib Doom’, like the classic ‘90s shooter. ‘Absolute scrib doon’, to paraphrase internet-Scorsese. The world at large seems charmed and delighted by the unexpected anti-hero.

The deeper you get into the game, there’s much more than just “scrib doon” – Galactic Racer is littered with meme-worthy Biddy-isms. “‘Ding dong, bookie, ding dong!’ is just iconic,” the actor laughs. “I really love that one.” (“In Huttese, ‘Bookie’ is ‘buddy’,” clarifies Daw). There’s the misspelt trophy. “‘It says Buddy Blas!’, he’s screaming at them,” Daw chuckles. “It’s the worst thing that could happen to him.”

And then there’s the character’s unexpected sweet side. Beneath the blaze and the bluster, all that obnoxiousness, is a character simply wanting to make his family proud. “He's very much a mama's boy,” says Alex-Rose. “He'll send his credits home to his mama, and it's his mama's dream to see him on a cereal box. Yes, it's his dream to be famous – but it's all for mama.” There’s an inherent goofy pathos to Biddy Blas that’s hard to dislike. “People online love just seeing him sat down,” points out Summers-Calvert. “It’s because his legs don’t touch the floor. His limbs are too short.”

Already, Biddy Blas is making his way beyond Galactic Racer. Fans are building custom LEGO sets, imagining fan-canon, and… other things. “The Biddy Blas thirst traps... that is so left field,” laughs Summers-Calvert. There’s the more wholesome stuff too. “I love seeing all the fan art,” Alex-Rose says. “Seeing people engage with our work using their own talents, their own interpretations, little comics that they make, is really fulfilling. I have people that I haven't spoken to in a decade sending me things. It's wild.”

I love him so much, I want to throw him at the wall.

The next step? Biddy Blas cosplay, surely. “Please. Please,” begs Daw. “Nothing would please us more than to see cosplay of all these characters. Please do it!” Who knows – maybe even an appearance in live-action, or an animated series, could be on the cards. “Our dreams are as big as Biddy's dreams,” saw Daw. “He wants to be the most famous Crocin in the galaxy.” Alex-Rose concurs: “It’s our dream for him too.”

For now, gamers can spend plenty of time with Biddy Blas as they race through Galactic Racer’s hard-as-nails campaign. “Yes, I’m playing the game,” says Summers-Calvert. “Yes, I love the game. Am I any good at it? That’s another question.” Whizzing round those tracks means even the actor himself is being taunted by Biddy Blas. “He's incredibly annoying,” he laughs. “There's that thing called ‘cuteness aggression’. I love him so much, I want to throw him at the wall. That's how I feel about Biddy Blas.” Your new favourite Glup Shitto is here, and you’ll want to remember his name. Scrib doon.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and more

2020's Minecraft Dungeons successfully spun its survival-sandbox source material into a Diablo-like dungeon crawler. Mixing Minecraft's charming voxel aesthetics with action-RPG gameplay, it crafted an entirely fresh experience that appealed to existing franchise fans while putting the series' iconic pickaxe into the hands of new players.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 nicely builds on this foundation, expanding on both the base game's blocky universe and its spin-off's hack-and-slash action. The former comes courtesy of an original dimension dubbed "The Sift." This vibrant, supernatural realm is a highlight, complementing the gameplay and storytelling, but also giving fans of the vanilla game a peek at the franchise's first new dimension in over a decade.

This absorbing addition alone should be enough to hook longtime Minecraft players, but those introduced to the cube-constructed world via Dungeons will be more drawn in by the numerous gameplay updates and inclusions. While the first entry provided a satisfying dungeon dive, it could still seem pretty bare-bones compared to its looting-and-leveling contemporaries.

The sequel addresses this, starting with a much deeper, more layered gear system. On top of a greater variety of ranged and melee weapons, armor is now broken into four categories – helmets, chestplates, leggings, and boots – with each item becoming more powerful through leveling and enchanting. New artifacts and talismans further complement your monster-slaying build, adding various active and passive abilities that can be mixed and matched.

Combined, these varied, abundant options allow for lots of customisation and experimentation, encouraging players to breach the boundaries of their more class-based comfort zones. Regardless of what kit you put together, your blades, bows, and fireballs now carve through a wider, organically interconnected world. Where the original could be a bit linear in its level design and rigid in its mission structure, the follow-up's semi-open environments makes it feel like a proper action-RPG, with plenty of room to explore and optional activities to tackle. Best of all, the new ability to jump makes traversing this bigger, more immersive world feel far more fun and natural to navigate.

The sequel is literal leaps and bounds better than its predecessor...

The sequel is literal leaps and bounds better than its predecessor, but it's not without a few cracks in its cubes. At its core, Minecraft Dungeons 2 is a family-friendly experience that prioritizes accessible, all-ages entertainment over potentially intimidating RPG depth. So, while clearing its dungeons is an absolute blast – especially with a buddy in local co-op – seasoned genre fans might find it a bit shallow.

It's also lacking a little in post-campaign content, as the relatively short main story isn't followed by a whole lot to do. That said, if the first chapter's prolific DLC output is any indication, the sequel's weekend's worth of adventuring is just the warm-up.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 doesn't so much evolve its chosen genre as much as it dramatically improves upon the solid foundation laid in the first game. It also delivers the year's best reason to recruit a friend or family member and save the world from the comfort of your couch.

2026 has been a pretty big year for Zendaya, by all accounts. Already the star of the year's two biggest movies thus far, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey and Destin Daniel Cretton's Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the in-demand actor also has a little movie you may have heard of called Dune: Part Three coming in just a couple of months' time. And now, per Deadline's reporting, another exciting project has just been added to the Zendaya pipeline: Alex Garland's secretive new A24 sci-fi movie.

With Garland having recently wrapped shooting on his ambitious upcoming Elden Ring adaptation at A24, shooting on his latest movie — which continues a fruitful relationship with the studio that's previously produced Men, Civil War, and Warfare — is due to get underway next year. And while we don't know what it is set to entail just yet, the casting of Zendaya — who's just led her own A24 hit in Kristoffer Borgli's discourse-stoking The Drama — is something to get stoked for already.

Having cut his directorial teeth on the likes of Ex Machina and Annihilation, Alex Garland has been switching up genre modes in recent years, flitting between war dramas like the above-mentioned Warfare and Civil War, and then more esoteric fare like Men and a writing return to zombie horror with the 28 Years Later movies. As such, the prospect of a proper sci-fi homecoming for Garland is very exciting indeed. Watch this space for more as shooting gets underway in the coming months...

Sci-fi sagas don’t come more sandworm-sized in ambition than Denis Villeneuve’s blockbuster adaptation of Dune. First came the operatic world-building of Part One, bringing Timothée Chalamet’s young Paul Atreides to the barren, Spice-rich planet Arrakis; then came Part Two, a romantic war epic which saw Paul meet his literal dream-girl, Zendaya’s Fremen warrior Chani, as the sands of power shifted. And now, Villeneuve and his cast are finishing what they started, closing out his thunderous trilogy. Dune: Part Three is the filmmaker’s final word on Frank Herbert’s opus, with the fate of Paul, Chani, Arrakis, and the entire Imperium in the balance. War, worms, and weirdness: it all ends here.

You don’t need the Eyes Of Ibad to look ahead to Villeneuve’s Dune finale – Empire’s world-exclusive Dune: Part Three issue is packed with insights and brand new interviews, speaking to Villeneuve about his decision to end his adaptation now, the distinctive flavour of this final chapter, and why he had to make it before moving on to James Bond. Plus, we speak to Timothée Chalamet about Paul Atreides’ darkest chapter; Zendaya about the personal betrayal Chani is wrestling with; Anya Taylor-Joy about the wildcard addition of Paul’s psychic sister Alia; Robert Pattinson about his shape-shifting assassin Scytale; Florence Pugh about Empress Irulan’s political machinations; and Jason Momoa about his return, despite the death of his Duncan Idaho in Part One. It’s a stacked cast, and Empire has the first word from all of them.

The Dune: Part Three issue comes in two collectible cover variants – the first featuring Chani on the warpath, as Paul Atreides looms large, flanked by Alia and Jason Momoa’s mysterious Hayt.

The second cover has Paul striding towards his destiny, with the spectre of Chani hanging over him – and Scytale and Irulan plotting in the shadows.

And the subscriber cover is a portrait of a crumbling Paul Atreides, bathed in glowing Spice, haunted by Chani’s blue scarf – illustrated exclusively for Empire by Greg Ruth.

And that’s not all. This month’s issue also features the world-first joint Quentin Tarantino and David Fincher interview for The Further Mis-Adventures Of Cliff Booth; we revisit the entire Meet The Parents series with its cast and creators, including Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller; we go on set of Blade Runner 2099 to meet a whole new generation of Replicants; the co-stars of Tupac reflect on his movie career; we answer all your burning Avengers: Doomsday questions; and much, much more.

It’s an unmissable issue – and you don’t even have to travel to Arrakis to get one. Pre-order a copy online here, or pick one up on newsstands from Thursday October 22. Dune: Part Three comes to cinemas from December 18.

In the world of Dune, there are intergalactic stakes. Power, political hierarchies, piles of Spice – it all comes into play in the sprawling tapestry of Frank Herbert’s story. But Denis Villeneuve’s trilogy adaptation, set to conclude with Dune: Part Three this December, also hones in on the personal, emotional stakes at play. Much of Part Two was a love story between Timothée Chalamet’s idealistic young nobleman Paul Atreides, and Zendaya’s Fremen warrior Chani. While the pair fell for each other in the vast deserts of Arrakis, Paul’s dark destiny dragged him into a position of corrupted control come the closing credits – not just altering the fate of the galaxy, but betraying Chani’s heart too.

Going in to Dune: Part Three, Chani is still reeling with the fallout of Paul’s decision to marry Princess Irulan and ascend the throne, having toppled Emperor Shaddam IV. “I think there is a deep pain, a deep mistrust, a deep betrayal,” Zendaya tells Empire of Chani’s headspace this time around. “In the previous film, she opened herself up to the idea of letting someone in, allowing a space for love or gentleness. Well, we see how that goes. That part of her life is not as present anymore.” In Paul’s possession, Chani’s blue scarf becomes a symbol of their lost love. “Think about things that are just items until someone you know or loved has touched [them],” she says of its totemic value. “Then there’s distance, or there’s loss, and that item is now something much more.”

For Villeneuve, Part Three – among everything else – is effectively a divorce movie, with galactic consequences. “It’s a movie that is talking about something that is very human, which is the idea of a separation, the idea of a divorce,” he explains. “With me, it happened. The idea about the broken family is something that the book gave me the opportunity to explore.” Zendaya concurs: “He brought it up many times,” she says. “He’s like, ‘Oh… been here.’” Expect a final chapter that holds a Gom Jabbar to your heart.

Read Empire’s full Dune: Part Three cover story – speaking to Denis Villeneuve, Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert Pattinson, Jason Momoa, and Florence Pugh about the epic final chapter – in the December 2026 issue, on sale Thursday October 22. Pre-order a copy online here. Dune: Part Three comes to cinemas from December 18.

The moment Paul Atreides stepped onto the planet Arrakis in Dune, he was destined to change. Arriving as an idealistic teenager to the Spice-rich desert, he soon faced the harsh realities of life: the death of his father, in a coup from the Harkonnens that drove the surviving Atreides from their home, before taking a transformative trip into the vast dunes, where he forged an uneasy alliance with the Fremen, and a romantic attachment to Zendaya’s Chani. And then, Paul really changed; drinking the Water Of Life, transcending his human consciousness, overthrowing Emperor Shaddam IV, and ascending the throne. In Dune: Part Three – the final part of Denis Villeneuve’s trilogy – the weight of Paul’s transformation will come to bear. Everything has changed.

“The idea was to try to make a movie that will have the same DNA — it’s a Dune movie — but it’s a very different movie,” Villeneuve tells Empire in our world-exclusive Dune: Part Three issue. “It has a different pacing.” It’s not just Paul that’s different – set 17 years after Part Two, he has spent the intervening time exerting his terrifying power as Emperor, re-shaping the galaxy. “We are back with the same characters, but this time the world has totally changed,” says Villeneuve. “Their psyches, their perspective on reality has totally changed, and Paul is living with the burden of what he created, trying to find a way out of this spiral of violence.”

For Chalamet, it offered a chance to evolve Paul Atreides in all-new ways, continuing his descent into darkness. “That phrase ‘anti-hero’ gets thrown around a little too loosely perhaps, but it’s fantastic to chew on as an actor, where it’s not purely redemptive,” he tells Empire. Part Three, he notes, is “its own beast. It’s its own story, its own siege, its own hail of paranoid isolation.”

It was always going to end here for Villeneuve, adapting Frank Herbert’s sequel novel Dune: Messiah for Part Three. Having been firmly in the world of Spice, space and sandworms for three back-to-back movies, it was the right time for the filmmaker to bring the story home. “I said, ‘Maybe it’s a good idea to go back to this project, not out of nostalgia, not because I miss it, but the opposite — I’m tired of it,’” he says. “I want to make sure that I will be severe with the material. That I will not be complacent.” Next up? 007 awaits… “I thought, ‘When it’s done, I need a very powerful rocket to pull me away from Arrakis.’ When I was asked to do the next Bond, I said: ‘Okay, this is what I need.’” Mission: accomplished.

Read Empire’s full Dune: Part Three cover story – speaking to Denis Villeneuve, Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert Pattinson, Jason Momoa, and Florence Pugh about the epic final chapter – in the December 2026 issue, on sale Thursday October 22. Pre-order a copy online here. Dune: Part Three comes to cinemas from December 18.

In early 2025, the future of London's legendary Prince Charles Cinema was thrown into uncertainty. There was an ominous statement from management announcing the multiplex was under "serious threat of closure", a looming September 2025 lease expiry, and concerning talk of leaseholder Zedwell's desire for a redevelopment clause in any new contract, potentially putting the cinema at risk of being randomly closed at any given time with just six months' notice. But, happily, today The Prince Charles Cinema has announced that following a major campaign to save the cult picturehouse, the cinema has officially been saved, with a new 25-year lease having been signed with no break clause, guaranteeing the lights will stay on — and the reels will continue to spin — for another quarter of a century at least, undisturbed. Check out the official announcement below;

As the only independent cinema in the West End, The Prince Charles Cinema — championed by the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Emerald Fennell, and Edgar Wright among many others — has been at the beating heart of the bricks-and-mortar moviegoing experience in the UK. As such, to see its future affirmed so emphatically at a moment where widespread anxiety about the state of cinema has come up against Hollywood's best year at the box office since records began is a real vote of confidence in the theatrical experience and its preservation for generations to come.

For the full official statement on The PCC's future, read below;

"The Prince Charles Cinema is thrilled to announce that we have signed a new 25-year lease with no break clause, ensuring our projectors will keep rolling for years to come. After 21 months of uncertainty, we’re delighted to have secured the future of the cinema, and we couldn’t have done it without the support, commitment and belief of many, many people. To every one of the 168,645 people (and counting) who signed the petition and ensured we never felt outnumbered. To the Soho Society who recommended that Westminster Council officially designate us an Asset of Community Value, and the Council who did so. To the members of the media who championed our cause in such a positive way, often including their own experiences, acting as a welcome reminder as to why we exist.  To the global community of filmmakers, producers, actors, writers and everyone else in between. And above all, to our phenomenal staff who have kept things going without missing a beat, and the army of film-lovers who keep coming through our doors, proving that the magic of a cinema is truly the community that shares the movies it presents. We are so incredibly thankful to each and every one of you. You have all placed your trust in us, and as we continue on for at least another 25 years, we promise to never forget that. We’ll be right here… Prince Charles Cinema."

So there we have it. The Prince Charles Cinema has been saved. Long live The Prince Charles Cinema. And long live singalong screenings of Rocky Horror, spoon-throwing screenings of The Room, and quote-along screenings of the Scooby-Doo duology!

What is it that so fascinates Ben Affleck about kidnapping? His career behind the camera has frequently returned to the subject: his excellent directorial debut, 2007’s Gone Baby Gone, was all about the search for a missing four-year-old, while his entertaining 2012 Oscar-winner Argo dramatised the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. There are even kidnapping elements to 2010’s The Town and 2016’s Live By Night. And so it goes with Animals, perhaps his weakest directorial effort so far but one still with some merits.

Affleck here casts himself as Mark Kimball, a lawyer and army veteran-turned-wannabe politician gunning to be mayor of Los Angeles. An opening-credits montage plays out like a political ad campaign, showing Affleck — a figure never afraid to show his political stripes off-camera — making for a very believable career-politician type, square-jawed and sharp-shouldered. It marks a clear contrast for the rest of the film, when his feathers become significantly ruffled.

For Mark is about to have, as his kidnapper promises through a voice-modulated phone call, the worst day of his life. While out trick-or-treating, his son is supposedly kidnapped, leaving Mark and his wife Abigail (Kerry Washington) in total panic. Playing out their sudden new reality in real time with a stressful oner, Affleck authentically abandons all calm here, the couple’s response to the crisis immediately moving to frantic, breathless and shouty.

It’s here that things start to devolve into genre silliness. When the Kimballs can’t raise the $7 million ransom demanded by the kidnappers, Mark’s snakelike adviser Sam (Steven Yeun) suggests a somewhat more legally grey option, hiring the mysterious Dayle (Gillian Anderson, in Iron Lady mode) as a kind of white-pant-suited Winston Wolf. She solves problems. She is also one of the more overwritten characters, lumbered with dialogue like, “Leverage is the balance between the allure of incentive and the consequence of refusal.”

Affleck is clearly trying to pitch this film as the kind of chewy mid-budget potboiler thriller they don’t make anymore, and there are flashes of that here. There’s some nice stuff about the secrets kept in long-term relationships (“In marriage, like any criminal conspiracy, you’re either all in or all out,” says Mark, cynically) — which would have been a fascinating watch, had Affleck’s real-life ex-wife Jennifer Garner played Abigail, as she was originally cast.

Ultimately, though, it feels a little disposable, somehow designed more for streaming than the weighted theatrical fare of his earlier directorial efforts. There are some neat moral quandaries to get your teeth into, and some genuinely interesting social and racial politics weaved into the narrative, but also some very cheap and obvious tropes leaned on, and a very silly deus ex machina in the final big blow-up. Let’s hope his next kidnapping film lands with more success.

Streaming on: Disney+

Episodes viewed: 8 of 8

After five years and many other shows, Marvel returns to its original, and arguably best, small-screen project. 2021’s WandaVision was the studio’s most ambitious swing, putting Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and her supposedly dead love, Vision (Paul Bettany), in a surreal sitcom world, created by Wanda to avoid processing her own grief. VisionQuest picks up the title character’s solo story in a sometimes fun, overly complicated off-shoot that lacks its progenitor’s light touch.

After the loss of Wanda and his two fictional children, Vision is now working in a pub in Scotland, hoping not to attract attention. He lives a rich internal life, literally. In his digital mind, Vision shares a big house with other artificial entities from the MCU, including J.A.R.V.I.S. (James D’Arcy), F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Orla Brady) and, perhaps unwisely, his creator, Ultron (James Spader). Despite possessing the sum of all human knowledge, Vision is still working out who he is, a question further complicated when he meets Tommy (Ruaridh Mollica), who claims to be his child, one who cannot logically exist. Over eight episodes, Vision tries to answer his questions of identity while, naturally, being hunted by mysterious forces.

It’s a bit ‘Doctor Who does The Matrix Reloaded’

In tone, it’s a bit ‘Doctor Who does The Matrix Reloaded’, with a mix of goofy sci-fi and head-scratching philosophy about the blurry lines between man and machine. It’s best when just playing with the characters, letting the various AIs bicker, or having Vision and possible son try to connect, a dynamic made extra-awkward by one being a machine. The cast is excellent, particularly Bettany, now very settled in Vision’s underplayed humour and emotion, and James Spader as Ultron, being deliciously mean to everyone. The plot, sadly, can be a slog, taking a convoluted path to places that aren’t necessarily surprising.

VisionQuest exemplifies something that’s become tricky for the larger Marvel franchise, which sometimes treats plot like a memory quiz, testing how much you’ve been paying attention over the years. This plucks from across the MCU, all the way back to Iron Man, in a way that’s quite clever in its tying together of disparate elements, and might be thrilling to dedicated fans, but is verging on hostile to the casual viewer. If you watched WandaVision, the Avengers movies and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, you should be fine, though if you didn’t bother with, say, Agatha All Along, certain key moments won’t land. All the elements for a great time are here — if only it were less of a test of who’s done their homework.

Out of sight, in the inky abyss, nature’s greatest battle has never been caught on camera. In an awesome, ominous, goosebump-plucking recreation, Whalefall brings us face-to-face with a sperm whale hunting a giant squid in the chasm of Monterey Bay. For scuba diver Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams), it’s a case of wrong place, wrong time, wrong dinner. Lassoed by a lashing tentacle, he’s dragged into the leviathan’s maw.

For sheer, intense spectacle, that set-piece alone will rip you a new blowhole, even if it is biologically dubious. They may have traffic-cone teeth and a jaw like a drawbridge, but a sperm whale’s gullet isn’t much wider than a dinner plate. Still, why let science get in the way of a good movie? Whalefall is unlike anything you’ll see this year.

How Jay came to be lunch is mapped out from the get-go. After his estranged dad commits suicide by drowning, Jay dives down to rescue his remains in an act of closure — and gets enclosed in the most hellish place imaginable. What unfolds is a kind of biological escape room as Jay relies on his wits to keep him alive (shout out to the luminous jellyfish cast in the unlikely role of Cast Away’s Wilson).

Lit in sickly phosphorescent green, the artillery drum of a colossal heart counting down like a booming clock, this is body-horror writ large: a Lovecraftian nightmare of ooze, pump and heaving flesh, lung-crushingly claustrophobic, deliberately disorientating and, for a Hollywood film, bracingly avant-garde.

No other film looks, sounds or feels remotely like it.

Taking a leaf from solo survival classic 127 Hours, Whalefall breaks from the horror through Jay’s flashbacks to his dad, an alpha-male seadog and savage idealist played by Josh Brolin with a face like a clenched fist. The whale, of course, comes to symbolise Jay’s suffocating relationship with him.

Brian Duffield’s last film, the ingenious near-silent alien-invasion drama No One Will Save You, feels like a blueprint here. Scuba regulator clamped in his mouth, Abrams — who only recently attempted to escape an outbreak of Raccoon City’s infected mutants in Resident Evil — is mute for long stretches, enduring squid bites, stomach-acid burns and perforated eardrums, the fear and desperation played out in the eyes.

If it’s not already obvious, here’s a movie committed to taking wild creative swings, culminating in Brolin’s spirit barking guidance like a grumpy Jedi ghost. Hard to swallow? Maybe, but the risk pays off with a surprisingly poignant closing shot. Occasionally, the father-son flashbacks stall the momentum of survival, but Whalefall is a gutsy response to those claiming Hollywood is out of ideas: no other film looks, sounds or feels remotely like it. Take a deep breath and dive in.

Greta Gerwig has done coming-of-age movies (Lady Bird). Greta Gerwig has done major literary adaptations (Little Women). And Greta Gerwig has done mega franchise movies (Barbie). But with the visionary filmmaker's upcoming Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, Greta Gerwig is about to do all three — bringing the weird and wonderful urtext of C.S. Lewis' beloved Chronicles Of Narnia to blockbuster life as a Bowie inspired fantasy rock-opera, set across multiple worlds, that stars Meryl Streep as God-lion Aslan, Emma Mackey as chaotic witch Jadis, and Daniel Craig as scheming magician Uncle Andrew. And you can check out the trailer below:

Greta really wasn't kidding when she called this a fantasy rock-opera, was she? Set to Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway To Heaven', this first trailer for Netflix's biggest franchise swing yet has got a lot going on. Nostalgic glimpses of a certain wardrobe? Yup. Our first proper leap into the Wood Between The Worlds (for more on that, head here) with young heroes Digory (David McKenna) and Polly (Beatrice Campbell)? Also that. Emma Mackey in full White Witch mode and Daniel Craig giving peak cantankerous magician uncle as Uncle Andrew? You bet. And the cosmic form of Aslan literally creating the world of Narnia through song and roar is here too. Which is all to say nothing of the mythical beasts, magical rings, and mad musical — and visual — invention that Gerwig has brought to her latest passion project. Cross an 80s kids' movie, Thor: Ragnarok, and C.S. Lewis' foundational world-spawning novel, and it would probably look something like this.

While we have seen takes on The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and Voyage Of The Dawn Treader before, this looks like a wholly new take on this universe. And if the new trailer has you chomping at the bit to return to Narnia, you can take a little step closer before the film officially releases with our world-exclusive The Magician's Nephew issue of Empire — which is on sale now and still available to order online here. Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew comes to cinemas from February 12, 2027, and on Netflix from April 2, 2027.

Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC

You’d be forgiven for never having played an Ace Combat game. But while it may not have the instant name recognition of a Call Of Duty, Namco’s aerial combat franchise has been going since the ‘90s, spanning more than 18 entries that have taken its dogfights from traditional military skirmishes to futuristic warfare (even venturing into outer space). From a distance, it might look like the kind of franchise where you need to know your F-16s from your F-22s in order to fully appreciate, but it in reality, Ace Combat is the closest videogames get to Top Gun. Its latest entry, Wings Of Theve, is also the most accomplished instalment yet, delivering exhilarating aerial combat and a melodramatic story that should prompt even the most aviation-averse players to take to the skies.

The series has never been about perfect runway landings or accurately reading instrumentation —  Microsoft Flight Simulator, this is not. Rather, Ace Combat is exactly what it sounds like: a game with its head in the clouds and its finger on the trigger, delivering on the fantasy of being an ace fighter pilot. Wings Of Theve fulfils that promise and then some. Intuitive, beginner-friendly controls make you feel like a master of the sky right from the off, striking a satisfying balance between arcade-style action and aircraft that still feel weighty, without ever becoming cumbersome. After blazing through the thoughtful tutorials, you’ll find yourself pulling high-G turns, weaving between incoming missiles and chasing enemy pilots through the clouds with hardly a second thought.

No two dogfights play out the same, making every sortie feel ripped directly from an action movie.

It’s when the skies get crowded that Wings Of Theve really comes into its own. Missiles thunder past your wings, bullets light up the sky and mid-flight wrecks become real obstacles to dodge. Unlike the carefully choreographed set pieces of Uncharted or Call of Duty, the blockbuster moments here unfold organically from the chaos of combat. One minute, you’re chasing an enemy through the clouds, the next, you’re weaving through debris as half a dozen aircraft battle it out around you. No two dogfights play out the same, making every sortie feel ripped directly from an action movie (one specific action movie). There’s a real knack to getting on an opponent’s tail, and a fist-pumping satisfaction in finally lining up a shot after a prolonged exchange of bullets.

However, as dramatic as things get up in the air, there’s even more drama waiting to unfold on the ground. Set in the series’ fictional world of Strangereal, Wings Of Theve follows a federation fighting to survive an invasion. With their forces struggling, they need a hero to rally behind, and that’s where you come in. When Jan Cope, the original Wings Of Theve, is killed, you assume his identity, becoming an instant legend that you’re expected to live up to.

It’s an engaging set-up, and while the story reaches for bigger ideas than those explored in the series’ other entries, it never quite digs beneath the surface of its central themes, particularly the wartime propaganda. The game is far more comfortable with pilots trading dramatic one-liners over the radio, and military briefings delivered with the sort of seriousness usually reserved for end-of-the-world scenarios. But that’s all part of the fantasy, and the first-person cutscenes certainly help sell it. By placing you among the flight crew and letting conversations unfold between missions, the game builds a real sense of camaraderie among your wingmen, and gives you a feel for life as part of the team.

The missions themselves rarely allow you time to get comfortable. One sortie might have you locked in a dogfight, while the next asks you to take down weapons installations or protect your fleet. Rather than throwing wave after wave of enemy aircraft at you, Wings Of Theve keeps finding new ways to mix things up, introducing fresh objectives before any one task has time to outstay its welcome. In a genre where plane-to-plane combat can quickly become repetitive, Ace Combat 8 goes out of its way to ensure the campaign never feels like it’s running on autopilot.

Those wanting to tinker with their aircraft can also do so to their heart’s content, with new jets and upgrades allowing you to tailor your loadout. Towards the endgame, though, being spoilt for choice can start to feel more like homework than preparation for the next dogfight. It’s a minor gripe in an otherwise breezy experience, but one that occasionally becomes a source of frustration.

If the Ace Combat games have always stayed off your radar until now, Wings Of Theve makes a convincing case for locking on and discovering the rush this series has to offer. Its explosive dogfights make for one heck of a ride. Just don’t expect your next Flight Simulator session to feel anywhere near this exciting.

After dates in Bruges, Los Angeles, Missouri and Inisherin, the Martin McDonagh world tour now lands at Easter Island. Against the backdrop of those giant stone heads (Moai), Wild Horse Nine mixes the one-liners and bursts of violence of In Bruges with the emotional wallop of The Banshees Of Inisherin, enriched by a bittersweet meditation on ageing that is new in McDonagh’s work. Perhaps best of all, it is vividly brought to life by electric performances from John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, both working at the peak of their considerable powers.

Some of McDonagh’s best work centres on the complexities of male friendship — usually between Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson — and Wild Horse Nine delves deeper into this fascination. Chris Carlisle (Malkovich) is a seasoned, ornery, increasingly forgetful CIA agent, who taught the Irish how to build bombs and has “killed people in countries you can’t spell”; he may have even supplied the rifle that killed JFK ten years earlier. His only friend (seemingly) is Lee Chesterfield (McDonagh regular Rockwell), a younger, less cynical, more together operative who can kill a man while eating a cheeseburger. The pair have been stationed in Chile for a year, working covertly to destabilise the newly elected socialist prime minister Salvador Allende, engineering a Pinochet-led military coup at the behest of the Nixon administration. Now it’s time for a break.

The twists and turns emerge out of character, but really the film’s strengths lie in the chemistry between the two leads.

On the orders of CIA chief MJ (Steve Buscemi, in his best role for years), Carlisle and Chesterfield are dispatched to Easter Island. The whys and wherefores of the sortie are best left to discover yourself but, as is McDonagh’s wont, it is less about subterfuge and spycraft and more just a terrifically entertaining hang-out movie. Carlisle and Chesterfield shooting the shit (rather than politicians) is a joy. We get killer convos about moths, the correlation between ‘gay’ countries (it’s very clear Chris and Lee are men out of time) and good cheese, a dwarf carrying a basketball and whether it’s better to date a junkie or an alcoholic. En route, they meet a pair of Chilean students (Mariana di Girólamo, Ailín Salas) who berate the oldies for not using the island’s proper name, Rapa Nui (“You shouldn’t know the word ‘indigenous’ at your age,” barks Carlisle). Carlisle also has spiritual encounters with a horse, the equine star giving a nuanced performance that makes Banshees Of Inisherin’s donkey look like a ham. Take a bow, animal wrangler Fabián Gabelli.

At 72, Carlisle is dictating his memoirs and this is the closest thing the story gets to an engine, as MJ looks to Chesterfield to discover the secrets the spook will spill (MJ doesn’t know the book opens with musings about whether there are dinosaurs in heaven). The twists and turns emerge out of character, but really the film’s strengths lie in the chemistry between the two leads. Ostensibly a funky straight man, Rockwell threads a needle between charismatic and exasperated, hinting at hidden reservoirs of feeling toward his pal — there are also a couple of priceless phone calls between Chesterfield and his brassy wife Marge (Parker Posey, excellent), who has cheated on Lee with both a banker and a clown. After years of more forgettable villain roles, Malkovich is on fire here, by turns laconic and irascible, putting his own imprint on McDonagh’s rich poetry — watch him wrap his mouth around “cahoots” — but also finding the soulfulness in Carlisle’s predicament.

For, as well as all the cool, colourful dialogue, it’s a deeply human film shot through with melancholy, regret, remorse and the difficulty in parsing mortality, the emotions beautifully underlined by Carter Burwell’s elegiac score. The music also points to another touchstone. With its wide-open spaces, fascination with horses and the sense of an ageing gunslinger coming to terms with his violent past, the film has Western vibes, a kind of Unforgiven with zingers. That Wild Horse Nine can knit all these disparate elements — Western, politics, black comedy, thriller, relationship study — into a seamless whole is a breathless act of juggling. If you want to nitpick, McDonagh’s imagery doesn’t lodge in the memory as much as his words. But when the furrow is this fruitful, who cares?

Pitching itself as a sort of anti-Sex And The City for a 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 in its original run for its authentic depiction of young womanhood and Dunham’s raw, almost confessional, only occasionally controversial mode of writing. Now, almost a decade after ending its run and cementing its status among the all-time great TV shows, Girls is about to make a shock comeback, with THR reporting that a five-episode revival of the series is on its way.

Per THR, Skydance-owned HBO has picked up a limited-run revival of Dunham's widely talked about show, with Dunham set to return on both sides of the camera alongside her OG fellow girls Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet, and Jemima Kirke — and OG boy Andrew Rannells, naturally. Conspicuous though expectedly so in their absence are Jenni Konner, who stopped working with former creative partner and co-showrunner Dunham back in 2018, and Adam Driver, whose on-again-off-again boyfriend to Dunham's Hannah would appear to be off again for good following claims made by Dunham about her co-star's anger on set in recent memoir, Famesick.

“We always said we would only return to Girls if there was a specific story we were burning to tell,” said Dunham in a statement accompanying the revival's announcement. “I’ve missed these characters, but for a long time I couldn’t quite picture them in the present day. Then, right around my 40th birthday, they started talking to me in the shower. And, as you may remember, once this fivesome starts talking it’s pretty hard to get them to stop. It’s rare that you get the chance to return to something that changed your life with the gift of hindsight and a whole new level of gratitude and understanding. I love these girls (and boy), our friends at HBO, and all the people who have continued to discover the show and remind us afresh why we do this, which is the joy of being together … and the chance to wear yellow mesh.”

Having seen Hannah and co finding their feet as twenty-somethings in New York last time out, it'll be interesting to see what the gal pals are all up to a decade on and a decade older in the revival. And with shooting due to get underway in 2027, it hopefully won't be long until we get to hear Dunham's self-proclaimed "voice of a generation" and friends chewing the fat once again.

Ever since we first got word that Ryan Coogler was interested in rebooting The X-Files back in 2023, we've wanted to believe that the man responsible for Black Panther, Creed, and Sinners would actually get a shot at bringing back one of the greatest TV shows ever made. And now, following a pilot order from Hulu back in February, the truth is officially out there: Coogler's The X-Files — starring Danielle Deadwyler (Till) and Himesh Patel (The Odyssey) as two chalk-and-cheese FBI agents investigating unexplained phenomena — has been ordered to series, with a UK Disney+ release confirmed. Check out the reveal below;

Mysteriously referred to as "The X-Files project" in its official announcement, Coogler's reboot of Chris Carter's OG X-Files has already filmed its pilot episode, with Coogler himself serving as writer, director, and executive producer, and a whole host of guest stars joining Patel and Deadwyler — including freshly minted Weapons Oscar winner Amy Madigan, Steve Buscemi, and Ben Foster. As for the main show itself, Coogler will remain aboard as executive producer, with See's Jennifer Yale attached as showrunner.

“I’ve loved The X-Files for a long time, so getting the chance to write and direct the pilot has meant a great deal to me,” said Coogler in a statement accompanying today's news. “What Chris Carter created is special, and we wanted to honour everything that made the original series connect with so many people while also finding our own way into that world. Danielle and Himesh, along with the rest of our cast, have brought such original perspectives and performances to these characters, and watching that come together has been one of the most rewarding parts of the experience. I couldn’t have asked for better collaborators than my crew, colleagues at Proximity Media and our partners at Onyx Collective and 20th Television. I’m grateful for the trust and support they’ve given us as we take on this new chapter.”

While plot specifics on Coogler's X-Files remain scarce at this point, we do have a brief yet tantalising synopsis for the show that promises we're in for a proper return to OG X-Files territory. It reads: "Two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena.” With Ryan Coogler at the helm, Deadwyler and Patel front and centre, and a full season already in the works, we couldn't be more ready for the FBI's most unwanted to return... watch this space!

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

Forever Ago is, on the surface, a narrative adventure game, filled with all the hallmarks of the genre – deeply story and character focused, and with gameplay mostly consisting of finding Important Object A to get past Inconvenient Obstacle B. Look closer, though, and you’ll find it’s actually a thesis on loss, grief, life, love, memories; how they all swirl around and fold in on each other, and how you can find beauty in even your darkest, lowest moments.

You play Alfred, an elderly man setting out on a road trip in his camper van. He’s guided only by a journal left by his late wife Audrey, directing him to revisit important places from their decades together. It’s largely linear, with developer Third Shift laser-focused on the couple’s lives, but expands on genre norms with a brilliantly implemented photography mechanic. Alfred carries an old instant camera, a sentimental relic really, but one that both factors into exploration and puzzle-solving, and allows players to take their own snaps to add to the journal along the way.

The game soulfully explores how things we think of as eternal and immutable still change and end.

You may not like Alfred much at the start, though. He’s crotchety and cantankerous, clearly not wanting to go on this journey but driven by love, promise, obligation – take your pick. It’s easy to see why he’s so reluctant, too. Beyond being in mourning, each stop – the charming roadside diner that’s now a soulless chain, the favourite theme park that’s long since closed and been reclaimed by nature, even the truck stop that’s under new management – is a reminder of Alfred’s own mortality. The game soulfully explores how things we think of as eternal and immutable still change and end.

However, it’s also about coming to terms with those changes, and all the other trials life throws up at every turn, and slowly, subtly, shows Alfred beginning to heal. Unlikely figures he meets along the way give him new perspective, and a stray dog he picks up – or rather, who picks him – forces him to start caring for another living being again. After a few legs of the tour, it’s impossible not to root for the guy, even after he’s blown up at an oblivious young waitress.

Coming from publisher Annapurna, Forever Ago invites immediate comparison to stablemate Mixtape, another grounded, slice-of-life narrative adventure that won innumerable plaudits earlier this year. In some ways, this is the matching bookend to that game, a celebration of a life well lived sat in between them. However, this is a slower, more ponderous affair – Alfred is a senior citizen, after all – with an almost magical realist edge to it.

At each stop, Alfred stumbles upon scatterings of Mariposa petals, Audrey’s favourite flower, each triggering memories. Find a complete set and the petals reform as crude silhouettes to be snapped with that all-important camera, revealing vignettes of the couple’s life over the years. Every time, the memory lingers, the flowers themselves almost taunting Alfred, and every time he moves towards the floral effigies, he’s ripped back to the present. Other flashback scenes, usually when Alfred suffers a physical or emotional setback, take a deeply surreal approach, having him move through bizarre, ever-shifting, half-focused memories of the couple’s home, each one revealing a little more of Audrey’s fate. It’s all rather dreamlike, making wonderful use of the game’s painterly aesthetic to create images that sear into your memory.

Unfortunately, Forever Ago frustrates by making some parts of Alfred’s road trip missable, particularly those petal-powered vignettes. The game only permits one active save file, and you can’t replay chapters if you accidentally move the plot along before you found every collectible you wanted to hunt down. For a game that’s so powerfully character driven, and that hangs on the idea that every moment with loved ones, the highs and the lows, is worth remembering, having some of those moments be left unseen seems counter-intuitive. Also, and ironically for a game so focused on photography, the camera (your view of the game, as opposed to the object Alfred uses) is a bit of a pain, often not allowing you to highlight objects you need to interact with, leading to a fiddly dance as you try to line everything up just to open a door or read a note.

Control and progress wonks aside, Forever Ago is a beautifully poignant and often heartbreaking experience. Its pace may be too slow for some, and its raw subject matter too uncomfortable for others, but it’s a trip worth taking.

It is possible to make a good film about a commercial product: Barbie proved that, and there were decent dramas about BlackBerry and Tetris. But it doesn’t follow that every brand is going to be golden fodder for filmmakers, and sadly this latest foray into branded content by Skydance shows that some concepts are destined for creative bankruptcy.

We open on what looks like an AI-generated aerial shot of an idyllic small town, a scene straight out of the ’50s but theoretically 1997. We meet a young Sean (Graham Harvey, later John Cena), who has a group of friends and a searing crush on Aimee (Reagan Marum, later Jessica Biel). He wants to express this crush by giving the motor-obsessed girl a Matchbox version of her dream car, so there’s a lengthy scene where their mentor Smalley (Bill Camp) waxes lyrical about the greatness of Matchboxes as a toy. Sean chickens out, and soon moves away, but 28 years later as a superspy, he’s still pining.

He goes home to attend Smalley’s funeral after his latest mission (retrieving a lost nuclear warhead), and reunites with his old friends, including Ted (Arturo Castro), Crosby (Sam Richardson) and Charmaine (Teyonah Parris). But Sean, Aimee and the gang are abducted and find that the warhead is missing and they’re the suspects. They must find it to clear their names, blah blah blah.

Capable cast like Corey Stoll, Danai Gurira and Golshifteh Farahani provide allyship/suspicious behaviour as needed, with Extraction director Sam Hargrave running the show. But none of it takes off. There’s no real connection here between the toy cars and the real vehicles they occasionally remember to drive around, so every reminder of the film’s title is jarring and a bit sad. The action is flat — particularly shocking given Hargrave’s history in stunts and previous films — and the characters forgettable. Cena and the gang are accomplished enough that they deliver a few laughs, but there’s no sense of connection there. It’s a car crash even when there are no cars crashing, and a terrible branding move for the toy company.

It is with great sadness that we report that R.J. Mitte, star of Breaking Bad and staunch disability rights advocate, has died at the age of 34. The actor, who played Walter White's son across all five seasons of Vince Gilligan's critically acclaimed crime drama, passed away today in Brownsville, Texas. No cause of death has been confirmed at this time, but Mitte's representatives have issued a brief statement on the actor's passing, writing, "It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of beloved actor, philanthropist and passionate disability rights advocate R.J. Mitte."

Roy Frank Mitte III was born on August 21, 1992 in Jackson, Mississippi. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of just three, a young R.J. refused to let his condition define his potential, and upon moving to Los Angeles, California with his family as a young teen, it didn't take long before Mitte caught the acting bug. A grafter from the start, the fledgling actor started his career doing supporting artist work on everything from TV shows like The Hannah Montana Show, Weeds, and Everybody Hates Chris, to extra gigs on Epic Movie and Drillbit Taylor. Somewhat cosmically fittingly, one of Mitte's first auditions upon arrival in LA — as revealed on The Joe Vulpis Podcast just last week — was for an anti-meth PSA. And though he didn't get that particular gig, you could say he got a far bigger anti-meth project before long.

In 2008, after five rounds of auditioning from Los Angeles to New Mexico, R.J. Mitte landed the role of Walter White Jr. — son of Bryan Cranston's chemistry-teacher-turned-drugs-kingpin Walter White — in AMC's Breaking Bad. Across five years, five seasons, and 56 episodes of television, Mitte's Walt Jr. — or Flynn, as he very much preferred — played a crucial role in Vince Gilligan's sprawling drama, not only as one of the series' few true moral anchors and symbols of innocence, but also as the last member of the White family to uncover his father's secret, setting in motion Heisenberg's ultimate downfall. What's more, playing a character who shared his own condition as a cerebral palsy sufferer, Mitte brought invaluable visibility and awareness to CP itself while lifting up and championing those working with disabilities in the industry. To that end, Mitte received the SAG-AFTRA Harold Russell Award in 2013 for his portrayal of Walter White Jr., and proudly became SAG's spokesman for actors with disabilities — as well as a representative of Inclusion in the Arts and Media of Performers with Disabilities — in the years that followed.

While R.J. Mitte will almost definitely be best remembered for his role in one of the greatest TV shows of all time, he worked consistently his whole life through, prioritising — by his own admission — performance and the collaborative act of creating art over paycheques. With over 30 credits to his name, including most recently the Dove Cameron co-starring, TIFF debuting dark romantic thriller Cassi, suffice it to say that Mitte created more in his 34 years than many could hope to in a far longer span of time.

“Mitte built a platform on disability awareness and inclusion,” said R.J. Mitte's representatives in further comment on the star's passing. “Beyond entertaining friends and family around the world, he served as an ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy and Shriners Children’s. He also served as president of The Mitte Foundation, supporting philanthropic efforts and community initiatives while using his platform to challenge stereotypes and promote greater representation for people with disabilities.”

R.J. Mitte will be remembered as a talented actor, measured philanthropist, steadfast advocate, and trailblazing ambassador, and we will continue to appreciate his work for years to come. Our thoughts are with his friends, family, and loved ones at this difficult time.

Grab your sunnies and stick your floral shirts on, people: Miami Vice ’85 is officially a-go. For a good while now, a fresh take on the hit ‘80s TV show has been circulating in Hollywood – and it’s finally rolling cameras, with considerable talent both in front of and behind the lens. Notably, the stars leading this latest hit on the cops-vs-crime formula are Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler, as Ricardo Tubbs and Sonny Crockett, respectively, leading a stacked cast for what looks to be a big summer blockbuster. Here’s your first look at the pair in costume.

Miami Vice ’85 is being directed by Joseph Kosinski – the man behind Top Gun: Maverick – marking his follow-up to last summer’s F1. The script this time comes from Dan Gilroy, brother of Tony, who also worked with him on Andor, and wrote and directed Nightcrawler. And joining Butler and Jordan in the cast are the likes of Alden Ehrenreich, John Leguizamo, Walton Goggins, André Holland, Whitney Peak, Danny Ramirez, and more. Like we said: a stacked roster. In the original Miami Vice show, which ran from 1984-1990, Tubbs and Crockett were played by Philip Michael Thomas and Don Johnsson. In Michael Mann’s 2006 film, the roles were played by Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx.

Miami Vice ’85 is set to arrive in cinemas in May 2028 – here’s hoping it’ll be a big blast of stylish summer fun. And in the meantime, Vice-heads can get excited about the new Director’s Final Cut of the Michael Mann movie that just debuted at Beyond Fest. Tubbs and Crockett for everyone!

It’s the sets you notice first. Production design isn’t normally the first thing that sticks out. And it will not be your only takeaway from watching Wildwood. But what sets! What vistas! Reportedly over 100 ‘locations’ were built for this film, an enterprise which seems to laugh in the face of the normal limitations placed on stop-motion animation, a technology once dismissed as quite primitive. Yet watching this, you have the curious feeling as if you’re watching a live-action movie — while at the same time, never once forgetting this was all conjured up by hundreds of artists, incrementally moving models by millimetres.

In every sense, this marks a significant step-up for Portland’s Laika, in its sixth film. Not just technically, with animation more naturalistic and realistic, smoother motion and greater integration between practical and CG assists — but also more mature storytelling and a bigger, bolder narrative canvas. Their last film, 2019’s Missing Link, was a likeable but slight comedy about a Sasquatch named Susan. This, the second animated film directed by the company’s CEO Travis Knight, is more in the mould of his last animated effort, Kubo And The Two Strings: a serious if playful adventure about grief and loss.

There is something of Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke in its tone.

It is based on the book written by Colin Meloy (lead singer of Portland rock heroes The Decemberists) and illustrated by his wife, Carson Ellis. For Laika — who snapped up the cinematic rights before publication — it perfectly matches their sensibilities: sensitive and earnest material, teeming with fantasy and magic but just as interested in humanity and pathos.

Like Laika itself, this is a product of, about, and set in Portland, Oregon, and Knight has fun gently playing with the Portlandia-esque stereotypes — look out for the unicycling, fire-breathing Darth Vader — without ever feeling judgmental. It’s more an affectionate love letter, the city beautifully rendered, with laser-printed pink blossom and cobbled streets. It’s in this quirky, independent-minded city that we meet the McKeel family: mum and dad (voiced by Jake Johnson and Maya Erskine) are classic Oregon hippies and Burning Man veterans who knit their own beanies; their daughter Prue (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) is a precocious, wiser-than-her-age teen who refuses to believe in magic, finds her hometown weird, and grumbles about having to babysit her brother Mac. When Mac is kidnapped by a murder of crows, she best start believin’ in fairy tales: she’s in one.

Alongside dorky but good-hearted hanger-on and tabletop RPG enthusiast Curtis (Jacob Tremblay), they begin a rescue mission for her brother into the titular wildwood, the ‘Impassable Wilderness’. When Prue and Curtis enter a mysterious bridge-set portal — one of many Narnia-y touches — the pair find themselves thrust into a world of talking animals, druid mystics and warring factions, the weirdness of the city mirrored tenfold. As well as C.S. Lewis, there are flashes of J.R.R. Tolkien, Guillermo del Toro, the animal bureaucracy of Zootropolis and all-out eccentricity of Labyrinth (sure, why not have coyotes firing muskets?). There is also, in its reverence for and terror at the majesty of the natural world, something of Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke in its tone, mysterious and moody and bloody.

Like Hayao Miyazaki’s film, this is a dark piece of work. At one point we see a burnt-out battlefield strewn with the bloodied bodies of dead soldiers. The film even opens with a suicide, of sorts. With the kind of body count normally found in a 1980s Arnie actioner, this is definitely not suitable for very young kids. It’s not just the violence, either. There are meaty themes here about grief and trauma, about family secrets and poisonous ideologies spreading like ivy, about learning to move past differences and join a deadly collective effort for an honourable cause. It is, among other things, a war film, with a jaw-dropping final battle sequence that recalls a Game Of Thrones set-piece or the wushu of Zhang Yimou.

But while it is defiantly high fantasy — characters include an enormous bird named Owl Rex (Richard E. Grant) and a law-enforcement bunny called Constable Samuel (Rob Delaney) — Knight maintains his focus on the character work. It is the nuanced, lovingly studied character animation that marks Wildwood as such a step-up. From the micro to the macro, this is a film which stretches the bounds of what cinematic stop-motion can be. If anything, it’s too good, Laika’s perfectionist tendencies meaning it’s sometimes hard to tell where the hand-generated animation begins and the computer-generated touch-ups step in. That is the effect of a film like Wildwood: like all great animation, it makes you believe in magic.

On a fundamental level, Ridley Scott's seminal sci-fi noir Blade Runner asked what it means to be human, using the central mystery of Harrison Ford's Deckard and whether he was man or Replicant machine to explore our mortal condition. Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 flipped the script, taking Ryan Gosling's known replicant Officer K and reverse-engineering an enquiry into the soul and what makes life real. Now, Silka Luisa (Shining Girls) Prime Video bound Blade Runner 2099 is going further yet, pushing the narrative 50 years on and bringing together ageing Replicant Olwen (Michelle Yeoh) and human-disguised-as-a-Replicant Cora (Hunter Schafer) as they search for missing Replicants and find themselves faced with a new existential question: What if Replicants were always meant to be more than 'More Human Than Human'? It's a hell of a question, we know — and there's a hell of a cool new trailer below asking it;

A pseudo Red Light District selling human experiences to machines in a post-Replicant Uprising LA? Check! A thickly accented android asserting Replicants' destiny to become gods? Check! Industrial synths, apocalyptic blue-and-orange aesthetics, and an inscrutable Schafer and Yeoh reluctantly teaming up to hunt down fugitive Replicants while simultaneously A) on the lam from the LAPD, and B) getting monologued at by a kind of Roy Batty 2.0 Tom Burke? Triple-check! This is so Blade Runner that we're actually fairly certain androids dream of this instead of electric sheep. Do we have any idea what the amniotic fluids, 'Replicant cure', and all of the threads dangled here entail? Not really. But Yeoh's Olwen and Schafer's Cora both aren't 100% sure in this trailer either, so we're happy to live in the ambiguity for now, anyway.

The official synopsis for Blade Runner 2099 — which also stars Dimitri Abold, Matthew Needham, Daniel Rigby, and Lewis Gribben among others — reads: "Fifty years after the events of Blade Runner 2049, Los Angeles has been reborn, just not by humanity. Cora, a fugitive in a final bid to stop running, takes on one last identity: a Blade Runner. Forced to partner with Olwen, a Replicant days from dying, she hunts down a runaway hiding a truth that could collapse their fragile city.”

We look forward to finding out how Blade Runner 2099, Blade Runner 2049, and the OG Blade Runner are interlinked (within cells interlinked, within cells interlinked, within cells interlinked....) when Silka Luisa's new series hits Prime Video on November 25.

Mike Flanagan is well acquainted with the intersection of horror and Catholicism. Just look at Midnight Mass, or the religious fervour he retained in his just-released adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie. Next, he’s approaching the final boss of that topic: a new film in The Exorcist franchise. Written and directed by Flanagan – one of the great voices in contemporary horror – The Exorcist: Martyrs promises a new, original take on the saga.

The filmmaker has much experience to bring to it. “Being raised Roman Catholic is a wonderful on-ramp into the horror genre,” he laughs, talking Empire through the first Martyrs trailer. His new entry is a serial killer thriller with an unholy agenda, offering “an opportunity to restage some of what I think are the most horrible ways for a human being to die that I've ever heard.” And while Exorcist and exorcism horror films are nothing new (“There are hundreds of regurgitations, reinterpretations, extensions of the personal possession story,” he notes, “several of which star Russell Crowe”), if anyone can breathe new life into it, it’s Mike Flanagan.

Ready to unpack what he’s cooking up with The Exorcist: Martyrs? The power of Mike compels you…

The downstairs place

Stairs are an ominous thing in an Exorcist movie – just ask Father Karras. And whatever is at the bottom of these stairs surely won’t be nice. Flanagan confirms that Martyrs will take us into the abyss. “It's the scariest thing I've ever made,” he promises. “It is dark. It is vicious, at times.” Given his reputation for sentimentality in his storytelling, it was a chance for Flanagan to change things up. “That's part of the appeal for me. Especially coming off Carrie, which was so rooted in empathy and kindness, and The Life Of Chuck as well,” he points out. “I don't often get to flex those muscles. I don't often want to flex those muscles. But this was the story to do it, and it's harrowing.” Maybe bring a crucifix with you – the film will “go as dark as we're comfortable going, and then go darker,” says Flanagan. Gulp.

Scarlett goes scarlet

Think about it: you’ve never seen Scarlett Johansson in a scary movie. And for good reason. “She doesn't like horror,” laughs Flanagan. “But she really, really responded to this script. She was like, ‘I don't know that I'll ever watch it, but I can't wait to be in it.’” She’s conquering her fears as Julie Miller, an NYPD detective facing up to a personal nightmare. “She rose to prominence as a rookie officer when she brought down a notorious serial killer who staged these very religious crime scenes,” Flanagan explains. “She's now a single mother, trying to find some semblance of work-life balance as what appears to be a copycat killer emerges, specifically leaving crime scenes for her.” Having been a Johansson fan since Lost In Translation and Girl With A Pearl Earring, Flanagan was more than impressed with her IRL. “It's one of my favourite performances of hers,” he enthuses.

New York, a hell of a town

Pazuzu’s holiday destination of choice was always Washington DC. But Martyrs is a Manhattan movie. “There's no city in America like New York City. It's a harrowing city,” says Flanagan. “For all of its lights, it has extraordinary darkness as well. It's like a wasps’ nest.” And, notably, it has a history of serial killer activity. “I thought so much about the citywide panic that was born when Son of Sam was active in Manhattan,” he recalls. “And you see these towering skyscrapers, this shrine to the modern world, right next to an original ancient 17th century crypt and church. It's a wonderful schizophrenia.” It allowed him to make a movie with something of a David Fincher vibe. “Setting this there reminded me of how I felt watching Seven, where the city starts to close in.”

What’s on the cross??

A serial killer story isn’t new territory in the Exorcist franchise. See: The Exorcist III (“A movie I adore and think is wildly underappreciated, and really was at the forefront of my mind with this movie,” confirms Flanagan). With Martyrs serving up stomach-churning religiously-themed murders, the film is both “a serial killer procedural” and a possession story. “Those two ideas are oddly in harmony with each other. They're both about hunting down and identifying darkness hidden within humanity, and darkness that infiltrates,” Flanagan argues. “I'm curious to see how people react.”

Our Father

The ensemble cast here features several Flanagan regulars: Hamish Linklater, Carl Lumbly, Rahul Kohli, Robert Longstreet, Samantha Sloyan, Kate Siegel, Benjamin Pajak… The list goes on. Literally, because Chiwetel Ejiofor is here too, back for his second Flanagan film in a row after The Life Of Chuck. “He's absolutely brilliant and chilling in this,” says the director. “He plays a priest, Father William. At one time he was a prison chaplain, so he's connected to this world of crime and punishment in a very profound way.”

Legendary Leguizamo

Fresh off his killer performance in The Odyssey, John Leguizamo is about to give a different kind of killer performance in The Exorcist: Martyrs. “He taps into a profound well of darkness that really you have to see to believe,” warns Flanagan. If all goes to plan, he’ll be a new regular in the filmmaker’s ensemble of players. “This is my first time working with John, but it will not be the last,” he says. “I immediately was just like, ‘Oh, you're forever welcome here anytime.’”

He’s beginning to believe

Here’s an Empire theory for you: we think Laurence Fishburne might be the exorcist of The Exorcist: Martyrs. Flanagan is keeping it cryptic, though. “He plays a priest with a very particular set of skills, who is called in for a very specific reason in the story,” he laughs. Whether or not he’s playing the titular role, the part “needed to carry an enormous amount of weight and authority, and I think few people can carry that with them into a room like Laurence Fishburne.” The question is, is he also carrying a rosary and some holy water?

The haunting of Miller’s house

From what we see in the trailer, it seems that Martyrs will see the religious terror infect Julie Miller and her son’s home life – an integral part of The Exorcist’s DNA. “I've always believed is that horror at home is particularly frightening, because that's where you're meant to be the safest,” says Flanagan. It’s something detective Julie Miller won’t take lying down. “When home is the home of a NYPD homicide detective, that makes for an incredibly active protagonist,” he teases. “[She] meets it not with fear, but with interrogation, because it's her job to charge headlong after that kind of darkness.”

Hey Siri, play ‘Tubular Bells’

It’s only a brief shot. But there it is: an external shot of a house, with a lamppost out the front – and that’s enough to invoke The Exorcist scene so iconic, it became the poster too: the arrival of Father Merrin. “I can't help it,” Flanagan laughs of referencing it here. “There are very few things in this movie that I felt like we had to gesture back to what came before. We were really so determined to be striking out on our own limb. But that was an opportunity where you do have to acknowledge the tree.”

Hello, martyr

Flanagan’s fascination with religious fervour looks set to come to full fruition this time around. “One of the things that always struck me growing up was the nature of martyrdom,” he teases of the significance of Martyrs’ title. “A martyr could be viewed as a tragic outcome, but in the church it's celebrated. It's a death that serves a greater purpose. They say the church is built on the blood of the martyrs, which to me is also a horrifying thing – as though, in order for the church to advance, it requires an enormous amount of suffering from these very specific people. It was an idea that I've always been equally parts fascinated and horrified by.” Let the reign of terror begin.

The Exorcist: Martyrs comes to cinemas from March 12, 2027

The Stargate may have to be renamed the Star-revolving-door at this rate, Empirians. Last November, Amazon announced a new Stargate series from franchise veteran and Blindspot creator Martin Gero. Then, just seven months later, Uncle Bezos decided to close his waller and Gero's Stargate was unceremoniously axed before it had even begun. Now, per Variety's reporting, it looks like Amazon are ready to reopen the Stargate again after all, only this time with WandaVision creator Jac Schaeffer aboard to send some new recruits through the series' titular ring-shaped portals.

According to Variety, Schaeffer — who has an overall deal with Amazon MGM Studios — is developing an all-new Stargate series for Prime Video, with a writers' room expected to be open in the very near future and producer spouses Joby Harold (Obi-Wan Kenobi) and Tory Tunnell (Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters) aboard to executive produce. Further details on what Schaeffer is cooking, and whether past projects such as the original 1994 Kurt Russell movie, Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Stargate: Universe will remain canon or have any connection to this proposed new series all remain firmly under wraps... at least for now.

Living as we do in an age of peak sci-fi TV, with everything from Alien: Earth to The Expanse, Foundation to Silo, and 3 Body Problem to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds lighting up our small screens to give us our speculative fiction fix in recent times, maybe — just maybe! — now could finally be the time to bring Stargate back after 16 years on the backburner. And if anyone can do it, then Schaeffer — whose WandaVision and Agatha All Along both demonstrate proper genre bona fides and still rank among the finest series of the MCU's Disney+ era — surely can. Consider us Primed and ready to go down, down, down the road, down the Stargate road once more... if this one actually makes it to air!

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

The secret sauce for Hellraiser has always been its interplay between sex and death – or rather, pleasure and pain, with creator Clive Barker infamously being inspired by extreme BDSM clubs, then taking that dichotomy to even greater extremes through a horror lens. However, video games, as a medium, are notoriously awful at handling sex, so can any attempt at bringing Barker’s sadomasochistic world to interactive life capture what made those early films so darkly compelling?

Developer Saber Interactive certainly understands the guiding principles, with Hellraiser Revival starting with a kinky session between protagonist Aidan Lynch and his artist girlfriend Sunny, with her piercing his flesh with needles while he scratches her back open with some strange box he found earlier. As anyone who’s seen the films knows: terrible idea. Before you can say “Lament Configuration”, Pinhead and Pals have popped by, offered Sunny an eternity of forbidden pleasures, torn her to shreds with meat hooks (consensually!), and dragged her to hell. Poor Aidan, meanwhile, passes out from the experience and gets scooped up by a gang of Cenobite-worshipping cultists, then tortured for information on how to summon them back.

Around here is where the game really starts to earn its 18 certificate (as if the aforementioned meat hooks weren’t enough). You awaken strapped to a chair in the filthy basement-turned-lab under a sex club, treated to a first-person view of your penis, and forced to slice your right arm free from being stitched into your stomach, while your left hand has been nailed into the chair. Once you’ve done that, you’re left to explore the cultists’ artistic efforts – a pair of corpses stitched together into an ‘angel’, another body splayed open, a few too many moments of having to root around in their remains for key items to aid your escape (likely a nod to Kirsty doing similar to Frank in the uncut original film).

Eventually, you’re drawn into the hellish Labyrinth dimension yourself, chasing visions of a naked Sunny and evading unstoppable Cenobites. Nudity alone isn’t inherently sexual though, and aside from that opening sex scene, there’s none of the forbidden eroticism of the films here. Instead, there’s a lot of naked gore, in both realities. But does that make Revival a good horror game, at least?

Kind of — more so if you’re squeamish. From the disturbing character designs and the trypophobia-inducing walls of the Labyrinth, to the slow, almost too-detailed kills of cultists, Hellraiser Revival is best when its trying to unsettle players, rather than outright terrify them. Everything else just gets so extreme you’re likely to become numb to it – evisceration should never be met with a shrug. It’s somehow both gratuitous and often boring.

Mechanically, it all feels thoroughly average.

Mechanically though, it all feels thoroughly average. Aidan wields the puzzle box that accidentally consigned Sunny to hell as a weapon-turned-tool, allowing him to telekinetically move objects around, shift energy sources, and otherwise solve environmental puzzles (and before purists cry about continuity, this is technically the Genesis Configuration, a same-but-different box to that from the films). It’s a suitably video game-y twist for the franchise, but nothing gamers won’t have experienced elsewhere. Otherwise, this feels a lot like Resident Evil with considerably more of the red stuff splashing about.

This does lean a bit more into stealth territory in places, with it often being better to avoid cultists than engage them, while visits to the Labyrinth are often more focused on escaping Cenobites as the landscape shifts around you (which involves an infuriating control inputs of having to simultaneously pull down and click in the left thumbstick to enact a quick-turn). It’s not enough to salvage the overall experience, though.

There are some dark delights for long-time Hellraiser fans. Barker himself advised on the plot and overall direction of the game, so there’s an air of authenticity to it all, while original actor Doug Bradley returns to the role of Pinhead for the first time in two decades, imbuing the iconic Hell Priest with appropriate gravitas. Any time he’s on screen the game is improved enormously. Unfortunately, in a year that’s already crammed with some fantastic horror games – Resident Evil Requiem, Silent Hill: Townfall, or the slow-creep chills of the Twin Peaks-inspired Silver Pines, just to scratch the surface – Revival just doesn’t do enough to win over anyone who’s not already swayed by its dubious pleasures. The Hellraiser name alone isn’t enough to overcome seen-it-all-before gameplay wrapped in fetish gear.

Bok bok, bitches — Crazy Rich Asians is finally getting a sequel! Only *checks notes* eight years, a couple of back-to-back follow-up movies fallen by the wayside, and an also-unmade spin-off on from the release of Jon M. Chu's wildly popular, groundbreaking rom-com adaptation of Kevin Kwan's book, our favourite crazy, rich (and crazy rich) Asians are back back back... only this time, we're getting eight hour-long helpings. Yes, Crazy Rich Asians' long-awaited sequel is a HBO Max bound streaming series, written and showrun by movie co-writer Adele Lim and starring OG cast members Henry Golding, Constance Wu, Ronnie Chieng, and Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh. Check out the announcement below;

Set to begin shooting next year, the not-at-all-confusingly titled Crazy Rich Asians series — HBO's first pick-up since coming under Skydance's ownership — is set to pick-up where the Crazy Rich Asians movie left off, presumably right after Nick (Golding) and Rachel's (Wu) lavish engagement celebrations in Singapore. Conspicuous in their absence from the cast list (for now at least) are Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, and Awkwafina, who were each attached at one time or another to various planned continuations of the franchise — and who we can only hope may get announced for the show further along the line as production ramps up.

**“**It’s a CRAZY RICH family reunion!" shared writer-showrunner Lim in a statement accompanying Crazy Rich Asians' series announcement. "This series is the sequel we’ve been waiting for, but instead of just one movie, we get eight episodes to delve into the characters and worlds of Kevin Kwan’s brilliant books. Getting to work with the original creative team with the support and vision of HBO and Warner Bros. Television has been a dream. Our writers room is humming and we can’t wait to share what we’ve come up with.”

In his own statement, the original movie's director Jon M. Chu added: " “Eight years ago, CRAZY RICH ASIANS changed my life, and I got to make it with the most creative and hilarious group of people I’ve ever known. Since then, this cast has become movie stars, superheroes, arena-filling performers and even an Oscar winner, so bringing everyone back together feels like coming home. It’s been incredible watching audiences make this movie part of their lives, from mahjong nights to becoming the ultimate airplane movie, and I can’t wait to share what comes next. Finally, I get to answer the question I’ve been asked almost every day for eight years: ‘When are we getting the sequel?’ Well… bok bok bitch, we’re back.”

With the rom-com renaissance in full effect of late thanks to the likes of Voicemails For Isabelle, One Night Only, Office Romance, Finding Emily, and — most recently — Reylo fanfic adaptation The Love Hypothesis, our long wait for a return to the love and chaos-filled world of Crazy Rich Asians may actually prove, in a weird way, perfectly timed. Keep 'em peeled for more on this one as cameras get closer to rolling!

WARNING: Contains spoilers across various Mike Flanagan series and films

If you know, you know. Samantha Sloyan might not (yet) be a household name, but she is one of the finest actors working today. Recurring roles in the likes of Scandal, Grey’s Anatomy and The Pitt lend credibility to such a statement, but it’s her appearances for horror maestro Mike Flanagan that make it inarguable. Get this: the LA thesp has starred in no less than seven films and TV shows for Flanagan in the last 10 years, with her latest – and arguably strongest yet – performance being her startling take on the indomitable Margaret White, aka Carrie’s religious-fanatic momma, in Amazon Prime’s eight-part reinvention of Stephen King’s debut novel, Carrie.

And if that’s not enough for you (what do you people want, pig’s blood?), Sloyan is making it the Great Eight for Flanagan by appearing in next year’s The Exorcist: Martyrs.

Here, she talks Empire role-by-role through her key team ups with Flanagan, past, present and future.

Carrie (2026)

Role: Margaret White

Flanagan looked at more than 1000 candidates before settling on Summer H. Howell as Carrie – but he wrote his version of Margaret White especially for Sloyan. “It's incredible,” she gasps. “I don't think you could ask for a better situation than a writer you admire having you in his ear as he writes a character. And he'll really fight for somebody if it's something that he believes in, and he was willing to fight for me for this one.”

Flanagan first mentioned Margaret to Sloyan when she was over for dinner, as they stood by the food bin, scraping leftovers. She was initially fearful that there might be overlap with her portrayal of cruel church leader Beverly Keane in Midnight Mass, but Flanagan assured her that he was doing something different, reimagining Margaret as a loving mother who fiercely protects her daughter when she’s mercilessly bullied at school. It meant that Sloyan need not fear repeating herself, and that she could also step out of the shadow of Piper Laurie’s iconic, Oscar-nominated turn in Brian De Palma’s masterful 1976 movie.

“Mike fundamentally changed the Margaret-Carrie relationship, so I felt like it unhitched me from the past,” she says. “I actually went back and watched Piper's performance because I liked her danger, her unpredictability, the ethic of terror, and I wanted to make sure that I still had moments of that. So I really tried to pull from her performance instead of forgetting it.”

Also new for this version of Margaret White – who emerges blinking from a housebound existence after her husband Ralph dies at the start of the series – is the tsunami of social media that hits her. The torture of Carrie is amplified online, and Margaret surprisingly fights back by launching her own regular vlogs. She even buys a ring light. Sloyan could see the dark humour in the situation despite playing it severe and straight. “I love that whole arc for Margaret,” she grins. “She gets just as titillated and addicted to it [as the teens bullying Carrie], but is completely unaware of that. I think it's really fun to watch that happen to her, because she’s being seen, feeling important, feeling powerful – all her soft spots after all those years locked away.”

Hush (2016)

Role: Sarah

Sloyan first came to Flanagan’s attention through her good friend Kate Siegel, who’s also appeared in many of the writer-director’s projects (Siegel and Flanagan married in 2016, and have two children together). Siegel and Sloyan studied together, and when the former was cast as lead Maddie in super-suspenseful home-invasion movie Hush – about a deaf-mute author being terrorised by a masked man – she suggested Sloyan to play neighbour Sarah. Sloyan has only a couple of scenes in the movie, the first returning a copy of Maddie’s novel – titled, easter egg alert, ‘Midnight Mass’ – and the second being (SPOILER WARNING!) stabbed multiple times.

“It was my first time being murdered,” she laughs. “For our scene where it's just Maddie and Sarah talking, I felt pretty comfortable. I know how to have a conversation. But the second scene, the stunt scene, I got really excited for. You just give it your all: scream your head off. And it's so much fun! I love the stunt side, the makeup side, the effects side, the way it's lit, the way it's shot. And having been a fan of watching these scenes growing up, just to be a part of it and see how it's all done, it’s really thrilling.” She laughs again. “I’ve had friends watch that scene and say, ‘Does Mike like you?’”

And when Sarah handed the ‘Midnight Mass’ book back to Maddie, did Sloyan know then that she’d end up in the actual Midnight Mass Netflix show five years later, about vampires infiltrating a small island community? “No! I certainly never imagined myself cast as Beverly Keane,” admits Sloyan. “Which is particularly funny because in Hush I'm talking about how much I love Riley and Erin, these two characters who I attempt to murder the whole time [in the show]!”

Midnight Mass (2021)

Role: Beverly Keane

Regarded by many as Flanagan’s masterpiece, Midnight Mass sinks its teeth into a Catholic community based on Crockett Island, where the residents’ lives are changed forever by the arrival of a mysterious priest. Sloyan’s Beverly Keane is a school administer and church leader who spits sanctimonious venom (“Those who have been coming to church and taking Communion, they have nothing to fear tonight. As for the rest of them… let God sort them out!”)

Sloyan considers it her juiciest role to date. “I mean, her speeches and her vitriol!” she chuckles. “It's like all the glory is for Bev.” But there are parallels with Margaret White regarding motivating factors. “Bev feels small and lost and forgotten on this island. I think it's a chance to feel like she matters in the world, and not in a lovely way, but in a terrifying way.”

As in Hush, her character is (SPOILER!) killed off spectacularly – having gone full-vampire, Bev burns on a sunlit beach as she tries to cover herself with sand. “We did that twice,” she recalls. “We did it on an actual beach, which is always fun when you're chasing the sun. And then we did it on set, where they built a big sandbox and we could make the sun set as many times as we wanted.”

The Haunting Of Hill House (2018)

Role: Leigh Crain

Made for Netflix, Flanagan’s first piece of long-form storytelling was this dazzling reworking of Shirley Jackson’s masterful novel. It dives deep into the relationships of the fractured Crain family, who fled from their house in 1992 but continue to be haunted by memories of paranormal assaults. Sloyan plays Leigh Crain, the separated wife of the eldest son of the plagued clan, Steven.

“l had read the novel and seen the movies [Robert Wise’s 1963 masterpiece and Jan de Bont’s 1999 disasterpiece, both entitled The Haunting],” says Sloyan, who was greatly impressed by how Flanagan broadened and deepened the tale. “I was caught by how heartbreaking so much of Mike’s version is. Given eight hours instead of just a two-hour movie, you can find so much more.”

Leigh and Steven’s story is a prime example of how Flanagan freights supernatural chills with real-world drama; the couple are torn apart by their inability to conceive a child. “I would argue that that helps amplify the horrific stuff,” says Sloyan. “Mike does it also with Carrie. If you really care, the stakes feel higher.”

The Fall Of The House Of Usher (2023)

Role: Tamerlane Usher

Just as he did with Jackson’s The Haunting Of Hill House and Henry James’ The Turn Of The Screw (adapted as 2020’s The Haunting Of Bly Manor), Flanagan uses Edgar Allan’s Poe’s short story as a leaping-off point. From its rancid bones, he fleshes out an eight-part gothic drama set between 1953 and 2023, chronicling the rise of Roderick Usher, the CEO of a pharmaceutical company, and tracking the disturbing deaths of all six of his children.

Sloyan is Roderick’s second eldest child Tamerlane, the CEO of a lifestyle firm. Selfish and controlling, she is also beset by insomnia, anxiety and paranoia. Stir all of this together and you get some BIG moments. “I loved her breakdown on stage,” grins Sloyan, referring to Tamerlane experiencing hallucinations and then lashing out at the audience while speaking at a launch gala. “Mike gave me a big audience of people to watch me burn, and I loved it! And I got to actually smash televisions, which was a thrill. I just had to keep reminding myself, ‘Don't smile when you're smashing the televisions!’”

And there is, naturally, another (SPOILER!) spectacular death scene for Sloyan, this time impaled by a shard of a ceiling mirror when Tamerlane trashes her opulent bedroom. “What a beautiful death scene,” she smiles. “I got to do wire work for the first time. They dropped me from very, very high up to get like the proper hair movement. I love that stuff.

As it turns out, dying on screen is quite life-affirming. “Doing those scenes actually lightened me,” she says. “I got to put all of my own anxieties and paranoia and angers and frustrations into them.”

The Life Of Chuck (2024)

Role: Miss Rohrbacher

In The Life Of Chuck – based on Stephen King’s same-titled novella – we see, in reverse chronological order, three stages in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz. Sloyan appears as Miss Rohrbacher in the final (which is to say, first) chapter, teaching young Chuck to dance in the after-class Twirlers and Spinners club. We briefly get to see Sloyan dance several styles (jazz, swing, cha-cha, moonwalk) during the sessions.

“I got really lucky, I got to work with choreographer Mandy Moore,” says Sloyan of collaborating with the mind who mapped out dance moves for La La Land and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Even so, she insists that she still possesses two left feet. “It's amazing how not skilled I am, considering how much guidance they gave me. But I did learn that dancing is the best form of exercise – your brain is like, ‘Ah this really feels great’.”

On set, Sloyan didn’t get to meet or dance with Tom Hiddleston, whose heart-swelling moves in the second chapter were also choreographed by Moore. Sloyan feels it was probably for the best given her own limited repertoire of moves. “They really did have to drag me up the mountain! But I did my best.”

The Exorcist: Martyrs (2027)

Role: Unknown

Flanagan has dared to make a sequel to The Shining (2019’s Doctor Sleep) and to escort Carrie to the prom. These are Holy Grail IPs. But next up is his scariest mission yet: making The Exorcist franchise spooky again. The Exorcist: Martyrs will see Scarlett Johansson’s NYPD detective apprehend a serial killer and attend his execution, only to learn that evil, real evil, does not die so easily.

Sloyan says that she only has a small role in the movie, and is wary of spoiling anything – but has plenty of praise for a movie set to blend Seven and The Exorcist into something completely new and genuinely terrifying.  “What I will say from what I watched on set is that it’s a stunning-looking movie, and I do really believe the script that I read – and what I saw Mike doing – makes it his scariest piece. By far,” she says. “It's genuinely upsetting.”

But is it really possible to still make a truly distressing Exorcist movie? In 1973, when William Friedkin’s original turned heads, a child spewing profanities and pea-soup was… well, ungodly. Now we’ve seen a zillion beds levitate. “You can still make it scary because he's doing the same thing that he's done with Carrie and The Haunting Of Hill House,” she stresses. “Mike's not redoing what you've had, but he is breaking down these iconic pieces into building blocks, and then reassembling a structure. He’s giving himself that freedom to allow it to be something new.”

Sloyan confirms that her character will “cross paths” with Johansson’s Detective Julie Miller, promising a special performance from the leading star. “You get somebody who is as skilled and experienced as Scarlett is, and you give her a director that wants to pull from all the information she has….” She whistles in admiration. “I mean, the woman's phenomenal. And she's very down to earth. I didn't feel like she was in a bubble. She was really of the cast. Mike works best with ensembles, and she felt very much like the head of this particular one.”

The Mist (TBC)

Role: TBC

Flanagan is currently writing a new film version of King’s novella The Mist, which he promises will be markedly different from the Frank Darabont 2007 movie that he so admires. Can we presume that Sloyan desires to walk among the mist-wreathed beasties? “I do!” she beams. “The Mist is one that I…” She pauses and offers one last smile. “I think it's the first time where I actually said, ‘Please Mike, I'd really very much like to be in this one.” Who could say no?

Carrie is streaming now on Prime Video

The last few months in the world of Marvel Television have been a bit of a rollercoaster, haven't they? We've had the highs of Daredevil: Born Again and Wonder Man, and we've had the lows of Daredevil: Born Again setting a Season 3 wrap-up and Wonder Man getting cancelled. But at the studio's NYCC presentation today, Marvel TV chief Brad Winderbaum has officially revealed something recently rumoured but now tantalisingly confirmed: Zodiac, a new live-action spy thriller series set to hit Disney+ in 2028. And this could be very interesting — just check out the title reveal below;

Well that's not not an Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D 'A' in that title treatment, is it? Yes, while ABC's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D series — which followed the exploits of peacekeeping spy agency Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division — ended its seven-season run back in 2020, with the likes of S.W.O.R.D and the DoDC seeming to fill the organisation's place in the MCU since, it certainly looks like Zodiac may be preparing to bring them back in some way. While nothing has officially been confirmed other than the series' title, genre, and a planned Spring 2027 London shoot ahead of a 2028 Disney+ drop, Zodiac — first floated in the wake of news of Daredevil: Born Again's ending — does share a name with a prominent comics criminal organisation most commonly seen butting heads with *drum roll* those pesky Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Surely that can't just be a coincidence, right? Right? Well, we don't know, but that eagly 'A' sure has got our Spidey senses tingling...

Now, while news of a new live-action MCU TV series will always be welcome here at Empire HQ, we have been burnt before (*cough* Secret Invasion *cough*), and so we'll proceed with caution for the time being until we hear a little more about this one. But still, with Kevin Feige looking to adopt a more quality-over-quantity approach to the MCU's small-screen outings going forwards, and at least a hope here that S.H.I.E.L.D may be making a comeback, consider us very curious to see whether Zodiac turns out to be a killer. Watch this space!

Sci-fi cinema has taken us to many weird, wonderful, and tech-suffused worlds over the years — from the dust-strewn, neon-lit Los Angeles of Blade Runner (and its 2049 and 2099 follow-ups) to The Matrix's Mega City, Akira's Neo-Tokyo, and RoboCop's gritty, industrial Detroit. And soon, we'll be punching our ticket and hopping on the metro to add Night City to that list, as Deadline is reporting that CD Projekt Red's bestselling RPG Cyberpunk 2077 is gearing up to receive the blockbuster video game adaptation treatment at Paramount, with Transformers franchise mainstay Lorenzo Di Bonaventura attached to produce.

According to Deadline, Paramount's movie — which will join the likes of Sonic The Hedgehog, Halo, and the upcoming Street Fighter and Call Of Duty movies in the studio's game-to-screen stable — will be "a live-action film set in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe". As such, it sounds as if the project, which currently has no director or screenwriter attached, will be free to diverge from — or at least not directly adapt — CD Projekt Red's game. For those unfamiliar with said game, the plot broadly follows reluctantly biochip-enhanced mercenary V and their fight to take down nefarious Night City overlords the Asaka Corporation before their consciousness is fully overwritten by legendary rockstar/terrorist Johnny Silverhand... who just so happens to be played in the game by actual legendary rockstar, actor, and not-terrorist Keanu Reeves. As for where Paramount's Cyberpunk will head, the possibilities are pretty much endless. Heck, for all we know, maybe Idris Elba's charisma cannon of a government agent Solomon Reed, first introduced in the game's very popular Phantom Liberty expansion, might even make an appearance.

Given the previous success of Cyberpunk's anime offshoot, Edgerunners, along with the eye-catching aesthetic, epic sprawl and scope, and timely thematic concerns explored within the Cyberpunk universe, the prospect of seeing that world realised on the big screen — especially amid a new era of peak game-to-screen adaptations — is a tantalising one, indeed. The campaign for Keanu Reeves to reprise Johnny Silverhand in the movie starts here, friends. Grab your iron... let's mobilise!

Having previously tackled the likes of United 93 and Captain Phillips, Paul Greengrass here brings his intense cinema vérité to a detailed historical drama, in which Andrew Garfield plays a sickle-wielding symbol of the proletariat. The erstwhile Spider-Man delivers a fearsome performance as an oppressed man in mourning who shoulders great responsibility. Going only by the name of ‘Ploughman’, an echo of the 14th-century poem Piers Plowman, he leads the Peasants’ Revolt which — if some recent, disputed film marketing is to be believed — birthed the Robin Hood legend. Regardless of this claim’s veracity, The Uprising belongs to a roughly similar time period that birthed enduring English folklore about stealing from the rich to feed the poor — a concern which resonates today.

The year is 1381. To preserve his economy in the wake of the Black Plague, the boy-king Richard II (Woody Norman) levies ruthless taxes on his peasantry, upon the advice of his cunning council — played by a murderers’ row of English character actors. The domino effect is swift, as word of Ploughman defying a sinister royal guard spreads far and wide to spur historical leaders like conscientious rebel Wat Tyler (Cosmo Jarvis) and fiery preacher John Ball (Jamie Bell) into organising a march on London. The desperate Ploughman, meanwhile, must reckon with his evolving moral code: many of the other agitators desire their pound of flesh, with this righteous fury best embodied by Thomasin McKenzie’s Alyce, a rebel who harbours a painful past that binds the two characters together.

A blood-boiling historical drama that spirals quickly and with abandon.

The Uprising accelerates through controlled chaos, the kind typical of Greengrass’ work. And yet the contrast between his naturalistic lens and the period backdrop adds an intriguing layer, making what can sometimes be a stilted, formal genre feel entirely of-the-now, with a volatility that often turns into vengeful bloodshed. The story is told through the actions of a mob of thousands, whose grievances keep them oscillating between violent reprisals and specific political demands — all as they maintain a religious deference towards their king. To their considerable credit, Greengrass and editor William Goldenberg find a precise balance between the momentous masses and their individual figureheads.

In the role of Richard II, Norman crafts a haunted figurehead whose dreams of torment drive his decision-making, and lack thereof, when his unscrupulous aides conspire from the shadows. In tandem with the presence of Richard’s principled mother, the Fair Maid of Kent (Katherine Waterston), the young actor draws sympathy as the juvenile ruler, even from viewers who might not revere him like the peasants do — which smartly informs the movie’s rug-pulls.

As Greengrass sows these seeds of doubt, a handful of characters become his emotional anchors. He tracks the advancing mutiny, as well as the fomenting royal response, through detailed reaction shots amid the growing anarchy. One such bit player is Sky Yang’s nameless royal scribe, who is dutybound not to speak (except to relay the king’s words), but whose silent emotions create a riveting throughline. But it’s Garfield who remains the film’s most magnetic fixture. Ploughman’s wrath remains rooted in a palpable agony, the kind he’s lived with for years, until it becomes a part of his every word and movement. This simmering undercurrent forces him to wrestle with his true motives, and reckon with that of every rebel he meets.

The eruptive set-pieces eventually give way to riveting negotiations, as the movie roots its modern class concerns within an archaic religious consciousness. At first, this may feel alien to modern viewers, but it imbues the characters with sudden ethical quandaries, which turn action beats into spiritual dilemmas. Notions of justice and revenge become uncomfortably entwined, and the drama reaches alternating crescendos of catharsis and unquenchable anguish, the film’s quiet, reflective valleys punctuating its cacophonous peaks.

In an era of ‘eat the rich’ satires, The Uprising provides a straightforward, unflinching glimpse at what this devourment might look like. It achieves this by way of a blood-boiling historical drama that spirals quickly and with abandon, en route to a surprising conclusion that finds catharsis in the darkness.

Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC

Is there a series in gaming more resistant to evolution than Gears of War? 2019’s Gears 5 tried valiantly, even pointedly dropping the “of War” from the title as it attempted to yank the franchise away from rote cover shooting with a veneer of plot and towards more serious sci-fi storytelling. Yet in the seven years since, developer The Coalition has only seen fit to look backwards. First came 2025’s Gears of War: Reloaded, a 4K upgrade of 2015’s Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, itself a remake of the 2006 original, and now comes E-Day, a prequel to the entire saga – and while it’s at least entirely new content, it feels like a step back in all the worst ways.

Set 14 years before the first game, this details ‘Emergence Day’, an event often referenced to as a near-apocalyptic moment within the series’ lore. That’s when the Locust Horde first crawled out from the depths of the colony world Sera, attacking humanity right as we’d wrapped up a devastating war amongst ourselves over control of the planet’s energy source, Imulsion. For long-term fans of the series, it’s going to be great to play through a key period of Gears history, but it’s ultimately held back by the same problems that plague most prequels.

[E-Day] basically has the Solo: A Star Wars Story problem, existing to answer questions most people won’t care about...

Chiefly, that means a mix of navel-gazing that’s redundant to anyone other than the most hardcore fans, and a vague sense of pointlessness, since pieces have to line up for the chronologically later games. It’s basically the Solo: A Star Wars Story problem, existing to answer questions most people won’t care about – did anyone really wonder how Han did the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs? Or, in this case, how leading man Marcus Fenix got some of his scars, and why some guns have chainsaws?

E-Day mainly serves as an excuse to bring back Fenix and his brother-in-arms Dominic Santiago (and, more importantly, returning voice actors John DiMaggio and Carlos Ferro, respectively, both clearly relishing bringing the characters to life again), after Gears of War 4 time-skipped to follow the next generation. Here, they’re joined by rookie soldier Lucas Reyes and discharged veteran Mags Carter, thrown together into a ramshackle unit dubbed Bravo Squad. Carter stands to be the breakout character of the game, a fierce warrior with a complicated past, and the first openly LGBTQ+ character in the franchise, but again, prequelitis strikes – she’s brand new here, and never seen later, so you probably shouldn’t get too attached.

Mechanically, too, this feels like a step backwards. Or maybe more standing in place – for the campaign at least (online multiplayer was not available during the review window), it’s another round of linear runs through corridor environments, taking to waist-high cover spots and shooting wave after wave of gribbly alien monsters. Rinse and repeat a few times, intercut with bigger open areas that give a vague illusion of freedom, and throw in boss battles against even bigger gribbly alien monsters – which, to be fair, are pretty cool – and that’s E-Day.

In its best moments, E-Day manages to capture the sheer horror and panic of the event it’s chronicling.

It’s all just very… Gears-by-numbers, with decidedly few surprises, or even attempts to surprise. Some of the more open areas have the odd side mission, such as defending bases from waves of foes, but there’s not enough to really spice things up.

The game world is, at least, beautifully realised. Kalona City, where the Locusts decided to begin their rampage, is brilliantly presented, a blend of dieselpunk urban sprawl and futuristic elements. The environmental detail tells a good chunk of the story, even as much of it is reduced to rubble. A litany of collectibles to find in each chapter tell another chunk, although after a while, finding them feels like busywork.

In its best moments, E-Day manages to capture the sheer horror and panic of the event it’s chronicling, conveying the sheer desperation of humanity coming face to face with an enemy it has no idea how to handle, just as peace was right around the corner. It delves smartly and often sympathetically into its characters’ lives and perspectives, and explores the costs of war and the exploitation of soldiers in war. But then you realise that new characters might as well be wearing red shirts, and that there’s zero tension surrounding those we do know survive, and it all becomes a big “so what?”

If you care about those Kessel Run-tier questions and niche details of about Gears of War lore, E-Day will likely delight. For everyone else, it’s the series in a holding pattern, practically unchanged after 20 years.

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

David Lynch never directed a video game, but if he did, it might look a lot like Silver Pines. The debut title from Wych Elm Games, this takes notable structural influence from survival horror classics Resident Evil and Silent Hill, but tonally, it masterfully captures the unsettling feel of Twin Peaks.

As private detective Red Walker, you wake up in a diner in Silver Pines, a quintessential slice of small town America, somewhen in the ‘90s. Your head is swimming, your memory hazy. No one is around — a result of the town being evacuated due to the looming threat of a disastrous storm. An incoming call to a phone booth from the enigmatic Mr Jackman reminds you you’re in town to find Eddie Velvet, a musician who may be connected to a missing woman. And so, you set off into the rain-slicked town, hunting for clues among the boarded-up buildings, haunted by surreal visions and ethereal voices – and getting health upgrades from coffee and donuts. See? Twin Peaks in a nutshell.

Although the game plays out in 2D, there’s a fantastic sense of depth and scale to the town, with Walker passing back and forth through planes as you explore. As you do, those two primary gaming influences weigh large. The town is full of bizarrely intricate puzzles in the vein of Resi – think gilded birdcages requiring specifically coloured statues to unlock, or safes with keycodes hidden in artwork scattered around a police station – and the oppressively sinister airs of Silent Hill. While Silver Pines might be abandoned, curious figures still linger; a woman in a motel room who will only speak on the phone, an old man staring at a derelict apartment building, another relentlessly digging a hole. Progress towards finding Eddie Velvet comes slowly, methodically, and – again like Resi – even saving your progress is a luxury, requiring coins to call the mysterious Mr Jackman.

Then there are the remnants — shadowy, pained figures lurking in the empty streets — like the shambling grunts or juddering nurses of Silent Hill. They’re where Silver Pine’s combat comes in, with its tight, tank-like controls, breakable melee weapons, and limited scope of weapons and ammo. Walker is meant to feel vulnerable, often better served by dodging past enemies than wasting bullets or degrading tools, especially since inventory space (another nod to the game’s influences, a strict grid where every item held has to justify its slot) is limited.

Unfortunately, combat is where Silver Pines stumbles. Those tank-like controls, again nodding to classic Resident Evil, translate to 2D well enough to suffice against regular enemies, but fall apart when it comes to boss battles. Walker is simply not reactive enough to deal with these challenging encounters, with his pained, desperate dodge rarely seeming to even register while trying to evade attacks. Attempting to create space, heal, and maybe reload weapons requires a level of responsiveness that the game doesn’t cater for. Oddly, given how strikingly Resi and Silent Hill hang over the title, many of these encounters lack any real emotional or psychological weight to them either – the first is against a sort of demon praying mantis that burrows in and out from the top of the screen, which has no bearing or relation to anything that precedes it.

Wych Elm has crafted a haunting (and likely haunted) world that pulls you ever-deeper into its Lynchian setting, carving its own identity as a slice of gaming strangeness in the process.

Still, the two survival horror titans aren’t the only games you can find strands of DNA from in Silver Pines. There are also hints of the paranormal strangeness of Alan Wake, with Walker able to equip supernatural mementoes to tweak his abilities, or the precise movement of the original Prince of Persia games. Clearly marked progression gates beckoning you back once you have the right tool harken back to Metroid’s approach to exploration, and there are even hints of Another World and Flashback in the game’s use of painstakingly captured rotoscoped animation, and of Disco Elysium in the character portrait art.

Yet Silver Pines emerges as more than a collection of homages. Wych Elm has crafted a haunting (and likely haunted) world that pulls you ever-deeper into its Lynchian setting, carving its own identity as a slice of gaming strangeness in the process. It looks phenomenal, making fantastic use of lighting and a subdued palette to bring the blighted town to life, while the animation is beautifully detailed, down to the flicks of Walker’s raincoat in the wind. The voice cast, including Lies of P’s Chase Brown, Stargate SG1’s Suanne Braun, and Cyberpunk 2077’s Gavin Drea elevate things further, bringing the dwindling population of Silver Pines to life.

Genre-savvy players will likely be able to pull out every one of Silver Pines references, but it reshapes them into such an enjoyable horror-thriller experience that you won’t mind. Tighter boss fights would have been the cherry on top, but this is still a town worth visiting.

When we last saw him in The Social Network, Facebook (co)founder Mark Zuckerberg could be seen sitting alone in a legal office, repeatedly clicking refresh to see if his ex-girlfriend had accepted his friend request. If you were expecting The Social Reckoning (same writer: Aaron Sorkin; different director: Aaron Sorkin) to follow that difficult-but-fascinating guy’s two-decade journey/moral erosion from a lonely, youthful tech whizz to an embattled “free-speech absolutist”, then we’re afraid you’re on the wrong site. Despite sharing a writer, two words in the title and one key character (no longer played by Jesse Eisenberg), this isn’t strictly a sequel to David Fincher’s 2010 movie.

Sorkin’s main subject here is not Zuckerberg. He’s now the antagonistic corporate Goliath with little screentime but big scenes (ably handled by Eisenberg’s nasal, buttoned-up understudy Jeremy Strong), in a fresh drama that is less about litigation than investigative political journalism. While there’s a welcome seam of valuing old media and slow news, embodied by a likeably unflappable Jeremy Allen White as reporter Jeff Horwitz, the focus is on Mikey Madison’s Frances Haugen, the employee who blows the whistle.

Mikey Madison remains brilliantly brittle-yet-empathic throughout

Similar to Zuckerberg in The Social Network’s early scenes, she’s initially presented as an awkward, often abrasive outsider in a brash and problematic community (the Silicon Valley offices of Facebook subbing for the halls of Harvard). Haugen is a woman on a mission: to address the way Facebook’s algorithm lures users into extremist groups — not to mention Instagram’s impact on the mental health of young women. And it’s a mission that irritates her co-workers and superiors, who dub her a “Cassandra”.

But unlike Zuckerberg, her alienation doesn’t result in an act of vengeance. As the consequences of Facebook’s policies become horrifically apparent in the Capitol insurrection of January 6, 2021 (partially recreated by Sorkin, though not to the extent he re-staged the 1968 riot in The Trial Of The Chicago 7), Haugen’s uneasy conscience blossoms into selfless heroism. Madison remains brilliantly brittle-yet-empathic throughout, and particularly shines in her ping-pong banter with White.

As you’d expect from Sorkin, this is a dialogue-rich environment, salted with wit, snark and the kind of lines nobody would ever say but we all wish we could. Where the film suffers slightly is in visual and stylistic comparison with its Fincher-programmed predecessor; lacking that director’s verve (not to mention the scoring genius of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross), it feels a touch less exciting and somehow smaller, despite its much higher stakes. However, the material is what really matters here, and in the hands of a solid cast, it still makes for a compelling new chapter in a timely story.

If you’re still yet to see The Odyssey in IMAX, we have good news. And if you were planning on catching Digger in IMAX and haven’t yet (I mean, it’s been out for less than a week), we have slightly less good news. Christopher Nolan’s summer blockbuster has been a complete box office smash, currently at $1.76 billion and counting. That has, sadly, not been the fortune of Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s film, starring a heavily makeup-ed Tom Cruise, which significantly underperformed in its opening weekend, with a current tally of $20 million worldwide. And in the wake of that outcome, it seems the IMAX schedules are getting a shuffle.

Digger – which was shot on film in VistaVision, similarly to Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another – was released on IMAX screens last Friday, October 2. But it’s been confirmed that from October 9, The Odyssey will already be returning to IMAX (and IMAX 70mm) screens, with significant demand still for Nolan’s Greek epic on the world’s biggest screens. At London’s flagship BFI IMAX cinema, Digger will still be screening alongside The Odyssey, with screenings for Iñárritu’s film through to Thursday October 15. In short: if you’re hoping to see Digger in the biggest format (or, in cinemas at all) you might want to fast-track those plans.

Beyond Digger, the next films with planned IMAX releases are Street Fighter on October 16, and Godzilla Minus Zero from November 3. Keep your eyes out for more Odyssey screenings too, as Nolan’s film continues to pull in huge audiences.

It's been four months now since Doctor Who's Christmas special was cancelled at the BBC amid showrunner Russell T. Davies and producers Bad Wolf's exits from the show, plunging the iconic timey-wimey series into its third wilderness period in as many decades. But with the Beeb having now officially put the show out to tender ahead of a proposed 2028-2029 return, several bids have emerged from candidates hoping to spearhead Who's latest regeneration. And among the frontrunners pitching to take on the world's longest-running sci-fi series, per Deadline's reporting, is none other than Line Of Duty showrunner Jed Mercurio.

According to Deadline, Mercurio's production company Hat Trick Mercurio has submitted a formal proposal to take over the keys to the TARDIS, with Mercurio himself — no stranger to BBC sci-fi projects as the creator of classic Beeb series Invasion: Earth — eyeing an executive producer role on the show's seventeenth season. Whether Mercurio would also be in the mix to serve as showrunner or writer very much remains to be seen as the feted British telly maker has his hands full at the moment with Line Of Duty's return next year and upcoming Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Richard Madden starring Netflix thriller Trinity.

HTM isn't the only company vying to get the two hearts of everyone's favourite Time Lord beating again, either, though. Deadline also report that Line Of Duty producers World Productions are keen to get in on the Whoniverse action, potentially as part of an audacious move to bring the show to ITV Studios, while Blue Lights and Criminal Record production outfit STV Studios have expressed interest in taking the show even further afield yet, relocating the series from South Wales to Scotland in keeping with the BBC's stipulation that any future Who should continue to be made outside of London. By Deadline's own admission however, it's worth noting the trade's list of bidders is by no means exhaustive, and so we'll almost definitely hear of more bidders in the weeks and months to come.

With fan-favourite David Tennant story 'The Satan Pit' getting a cinematic release soon, the Beeb pressing on with kid-focused animated offering Doctor Who: TARDIS Crew, and the main series drawing no shortage of pitches to usher in a bold new era for Doctor Who, the future — while uncertain — is hopeful yet for Whovians. (Also, the campaign for Adrian Dunbar to be the next Doctor just so he can say "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and the wee Dalek" begins here...)

Paramount and Warner Bros.' merger — and what that entails for the future of cinema — may be hogging the headlines today, but the movie news cycle keeps spinning all the same. And, in a Paramount-related piece of potentially very promising film news, it looks like the studio's prized Autobots are getting ready to rollout once again... with some familiar faces being eyed for the job. Yes, per Deadline's reporting, Paramount Pictures and Hasbro are looking to bring those robots in disguise back to the big screen for the first time since 2024's Transformers One, with Steven Spielberg aboard as creative producer and franchise veteran Michael Bay in early talks to direct the blockbuster series' next outing.

As Deadline state, Spielberg has been enlisted alongside long-time producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura to oversee the creative direction of what will be the eight live-action Transformers movie, reprising a role not dissimilar to that which he occupied on Michael Bay's 2007 franchise starter Transformers and its 2009 follow-up, Revenge Of The Fallen. Jason Fuchs, of IT: Welcome To Derry and Argylle fame, has penned the script for the bots' first live-action outing since 2023's underwhelming Rise Of The Beasts. And while plot details are being shielded from any potential Decepticon interference for now, it's understood that this next movie — expected to be set in the modern day — will represent a return to the tone of the franchise's earlier instalments. (A piece of news Robert Pattinson will surely be very happy about after his recent comments about the first Transformers being the 'definitive movie of the 2000s'.)

Reportedly, Paramount Pictures' Co-Chairs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg made getting a new Transformers movie cooking — and one with Spielberg steering creative — a priority following the completion of the Paramount-Skydance merger last summer. Luckily for them, Spielberg met Fuchs' latest script with enthusiasm and agreed to oversee the project. And now, after a meeting with Spielberg earlier this week, it would appear that Michael Bay — who's long-since been open to a return to the franchise under the right circumstances — has decided it's high time to get back in the directorial hotseat for more bot-bashing blockbuster shenanigans. Here's hoping, after all these years, Bay's still got the touch... still got the power... that when all hell's breaking loose he will ride the eye of the storm. Watch this space!

The hierarchy of power in the entertainment industry is about to change. 10 months after Netflix announced it had acquired Warner Bros. Discovery and just eight months after the big red N gave Warner Bros. the ol' "That's all folks" and peaced out of the deal amid a slurry of increasingly lucrative bids from Paramount Skydance, it's finally official: Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery's mega merger, valued at a reported $111 billion, is complete, with the two major Hollywood studios now set to operate under David Ellison's Skydance banner.

With the closing of this historic merger, which has been subject to intense legal — and public as well as industry-wide — scrutiny in recent months, the likes of DC Comics, Harry Potter, Hanna-Barbera, Game Of Thrones, HBO (and HBO Max), Paramount+, New Line, CNN, CBS, Nickelodeon, and much, much more besides all now fall under the Skydance umbrella, making the company a new superpower in Hollywood.

"Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry," said From the start, our ambition was to bring these two storied studios together and create a stronger competitor, with the talent, resources, and reach to tell great stories in every genre, on every platform, for audiences everywhere,” Paramount CEO David Ellison said in a statement accompanying news that shares in Skydance will officially hit the New York Stock Exchange today. “Now that ambition is a reality. We’re grateful to everyone who made this possible – the employees, creative talent, and production teams of both companies, who worked tirelessly to get us here and inspire audiences around the world every day, as well as the advisors and partners who guided this transaction to completion. Our focus now turns to the future: building a company that empowers creatives, entertains audiences and rewards shareholders. We couldn’t be more excited to get to work."

As we reported earlier this week, Ellison has made several massively consequential promises to get the Paramount-Warner merger over the line and satisfy the legal disputes brought by no less than 12 state attorney generals and the Writers Guild Of America. Among those promises is a commitment from Ellison that at least 30 movies will be put into theatres in 2027 and 2028, rising to 32 between 2029 and 2031, with 45-day exclusive theatrical windows and a 90-day moratorium on streaming premieres from the date of any given movie's cinema release. It remains to be seen however where — if indeed anywhere — that commitment leaves space for the production of mid-budget movies such as Weapons and Sinners of the world — especially given Paramount's agreement to a $30 million fine for each movie short it falls of that initial 30-32 film commitment.

Suffice it to say, lots of questions still surround this merger, even now the ink has dried on the deal itself. As ever though, your friendly neighbourhood Empire will be around to consider and wrestle with the answers as and when we get them, so stay tuned for more on this still-developing story in the weeks and months to come.

In 2015, long before his dealings with blade runners, sandworms, and loquacious extraterrestrials, Denis Villeneuve delivered one of the best thrillers of the 21st century in the form of brutal War On Drugs thriller Sicario, which introduced the world to Emily Blunt's hard-as-nails kidnap-response specialist Kate Macer and dynamic DOD duo Matt (Josh Brolin) and Alejandro (Benicio del Toro). In 2018, we got Sicario 2: Day Of The Soldado, a thriller no less scintillating despite the absence of Villeneuve, Blunt, and cinematographer Roger Deakins. Now, per Deadline's reporting, an unexpected trilogy capper awaits: Sicario 3 is officially happening, and the original leading trio are all coming back for it.

As Deadline states, Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, and Josh Brolin are all heading back to the land of the wolves for Sicario 3, which is currently in the works from Black Label Media and Thunder Road. Padraic McKinley, fresh off the release of his Ethan Hawke led period drama The Weight, is set to direct the series' latest instalment from a screenplay by Peaky Blinders creator and Bond 26 scribe Steven Knight. Franchise creator Taylor Sheridan isn't expected to have any involvement in the thriller threequel, and plot details — as you may expect — are currently being kept firmly under wraps. It is worth noting however that a script has already been written, or a draft at least anyway, and that said draft was enough to bring Blunt, del Toro, and Brolin all back aboard.

According to Deadline, McKinley and Knight are fine tuning the screenplay at the moment with input from their stars, with the aim being for shooting to get underway potentially as early as the top of 2027. Before any of that, you can check out Padraic McKinley's The Weight in cinemas now to get a sense of how his gritty filmmaking style lends itself to the Sicario franchise, and there's a Brolin double to look forward to before the year's through in the form of sperm whale thriller Whalefall and the third movie in another critically acclaimed, Villeneuve spawned trilogy: Dune: Part Three. We'll bring you more on Sicar3o (as nobody's calling it) just as soon as we get it.

With the season finale of Lanterns airing today, James Gunn already hard at work penning his next movie post-Man Of Tomorrow, and Tom Rhys Harries starrer Clayface mere days away, things have been pretty busy of late at DC Studios. One of the company's most hotly anticipated — and long awaited — projects is, however, about to take an unforeseen sabbatical. Per Deadline's reporting, production on The Batman Part II — which had finally started filming this summer after several delays — has been paused due to director Matt Reeves having to temporarily step away for undisclosed personal reasons.

In a statement shared by Deadline, Warner Bros. affirmed their support for Reeves and commitment to bringing its sequel to The Batman to our screens. “Production on The Batman Part II has been temporarily paused while Matt Reeves focuses on a family matter,” said the studio's statement. “Matt has the full support of DC Studios and we look forward to continuing the journey soon.” As above stated, the nature and cause of Reeves' absence is unknown, as is whether the ongoing situation may have any impact on the movie's planned February 18, 2028 cinema release. Deadline's sources simply state that it's too early to say one way or another what effect the current stoppage could have on DC's theatrical slate.

With the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Brian Tyree Henry, Jayme Lawson, Charles Dance, Gil Perez-Abraham, and Sebastian Koch all set to appear in Reeves' long-gestating sequel in as-yet-undisclosed roles alongside a returning Robert Pattinson, Andy Serkis, and Colin Farrell, The Batman Part II may be shrouded by secrecy and may have faced its fair share of difficulties on its path to our screens, but after that first film we maintain high hopes that the juice will have proven well worth the squeeze. Until then, while we don't know what Matt Reeves may be going through right now, our thoughts are with him and we sincerely hope he is able to get back to doing what he does best in the near future. As a famous fictitious DA once said, "The night is darkest just before the dawn." Here's to that dawn coming soon.

Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now it's here. Or should we say Avengers: Endgame Encore is, enabling Anthony and Joe Russo's blockbuster 2019 Infinity Saga ender to beat James Cameron's Avatar at the box office once again. Yes, in news that will surprise approximately nobody, Marvel Studios' strategically timed pre-Avengers: Doomsday Endgame re-release has built on its chart-topping $86 million opening last weekend and delivered another $40-odd million this week, bringing the movie's lifetime haul to an eye watering $2.925 billion, squeezing past Avatar's $2.923 billion to become the highest-grossing movie of all time once again.

As we recapped last week, James Cameron's Avatar became the highest-grossing movie of all-time back in 2009 as the self-proclaimed king of the world delivered a sci-fi epic that sung to the tune of a whopping $2.78 billion globally during its phenomenal theatrical run. Then, a decade later, The Russo Brothers' Endgame took the Na'vi Nation's title with a super $2.81 billion showing at the box office. Never one to be beaten easily, Cameron's sci-fi smash flexed its blue muscle at the Chinese box office with a cheeky re-release in 2021 to reclaim the top spot once more. And now, by a margin of a mere $20 million (well, mere in Disney money terms), Endgame has usurped ol' JC (James Cameron, not the other guy) to reclaim the blockbuster throne and no doubt generate some healthy additional Doomsday buzz.

Despite Endgame's big box office showing earning this week's ticket sale headlines, however, not all of this week's releases have shared the same level of success — not by a long chalk. The imminent completion of Warner Bros.' merger with Paramount was marked this weekend with the release of Digger, which will almost definitely now be the last cinematic release by Warner Bros. as its own studio. Unfortunately, despite having Alejandro González Iñárritu at the helm, a timely climate change story to tell, and a starry cast headed up by a never-better Tom Cruise, Digger seems to have dug itself a bit of a hole with cinemagoers, opening to a paltry $8 million domestically and $20 million globally against a reported budget of $160-180 million. Suffice it to say that, barring a minor miracle, Digger Rockwell will not return in the box-office chart top spots. But who knows, at this rate maybe he will return in Avengers: Doomsday. That'd certainly be one way to get Digg to No. 1!

In 2018, J.A. Bayona — then perhaps best known as the director of The Orphanage and A Monster Calls — injected a fresh shot of Gothic horror into the Jurassic Park franchise's DNA with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. It may have divided critics and fans upon release, but we praised it from day dot for bringing the fear factor back to the dino saga, and it has steadily grown in audiences' estimations in the eight years since its release. Which may prove just as well, as The Wrap is reporting (via The InSneider) that Bayona is the surprise frontrunner to helm the next jurassic World movie.

News of Bayona's potential Jurassic comeback come in the wake of the recent bombshell that Jurassic World: Rebirth helmsman Gareth Edwards has left the franchise's next entry, citing 'creative differences'. While the nature of said creative differences remain unknown, it is still believed that Rebirth's follow-up — once again penned by series veteran David Koepp — will see the returns of the last movie's new trio of stars, Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and Jonathan Bailey. How exactly Bayona — whose most recent movie, Society Of The Snow, was a survival thriller of an altogether different kind to the Jurassic saga's creature feature shenanigans — would re-enter the fray, and what vision he would bring to the project after the big, ballsy swings he took with Fallen Kingdom very much remain to be seen.

Per The Wrap's reporting, sources close to the franchise maintain a core belief that it's producers Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall's status as the foundational architects of these films that make them tick, with the revolving door of directors and casts all serving as a natural part of the franchise's evolution. With shooting set to get underway on the latest Jurassic adventure potentially as early as next year, we'll have to wait and see if J.A. Bayona, uh, finds a way back to the director's hotseat or not. As Fallen Kingdom truthers, we're hoping for the former: more Gothic dino action please, Mr. Bayona!

It’s a match made in heaven: Richard E. Grant, one of our greatest screen talents, and the Celebrity Traitors. And since the man himself has – light spoiler warning – been instantly picked as a Traitor (and blurted out to his fellow players that he was selected as a baddie), it seems he’ll be living up to his reputation as a livewire screen presence even on a reality celeb gameshow.

Of course, right from his first film performance in Withnail & I, Grant has been an iconic actor – and being a Traitor on The Traitors is far from his first time breaking bad. While you wait for more episodes of Celebrity Traitors to arrive (Thursdays and Fridays on BBC One, if you’re watching), have a watch of these Richard E. Grant villain and antihero roles.

Logan (2017)

Director: James Mangold | Runtime: 2hrs 17m | Streaming on: Disney+

Okay, okay, so Richard E. Grant may be doing the odd murder or two in the Traitor Mansion in the coming weeks (if he can somehow survive that first episode clanger), but no amount of celeb slaying will put more red on Grant's ledger than his turn as Dr. Zander Rice in James Mangold's mutie masterpiece Logan. Not only did Rice secretly engineer and distribute a genetically modified virus to suppress the X-gene and decimate the mutant population, but the Essex Corp head and leader of the Reavers also engineered, enslaved, and tortured his own mutie kiddos, too, illegally experimenting on them for profit. On the plus side, he does meet a satisfyingly grim end as the last person Hugh Jackman's Logan kills before he meets his own maker.

Read Empire's review of Logan.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

Director: Marielle Heller | Runtime: 1hr 48m | Streaming on: Disney+

‘Can you ever forgive me?’ is surely what Grant will be asking his Traitors co-stars as he bumps them off one by one. And he was a standout in Marielle Heller’s wonderful drama of the same name, full of morally grey characters. Jack Hock is far from a villain, but he’s not someone you’d trust either; with a shoplifting habit, the kind of connections that can help you sell forged letters from literary greats, and poor form as a cat-sitter too. You’ll feel plenty of sympathy for him, and Melissa McCarthy’s Lee Israel too, as they pull off their illegal scheme – but hey, you also feel some sympathy for the Traitors too as they go about their murderous business.

Read Empire's review of Can You Ever Forgive Me.

Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise Of Skywalker (2019)

Director: J.J. Abrams | Runtime: | Streaming on: Disney+

Whatever your thoughts on Episode IX, few would argue that one of its highlights is the arrival of new First Order baddie, Allegiant General Pryde. Grant fills that uniform with venomous glee, evidently thrilled to do the bidding of both Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, and the resurrected Emperor Palpatine – and you can retroactively imagine him in previous iterations of the Empire, just left of camera. From his delicious line deliveries (“Tell him we’ve found our spy!”), to the way he menaces General Hux at FO meetings, to his full-throated role in the Exegol finale, it’s a brief role that has Grant on brilliantly evil form.

Read Empire's review of The Rise Of Skywalker.

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Have these dastardly Richard E. Grant roles got you wanting it darker? Why not check out our list of the 50 greatest movie villains next? Or the most iconic horror characters? Heck, why not go all-in on the dark side with our rundown of the best horror movies ever made? Spooky season is upon us, after all...

The title of this week's episode of the Empire Podcast is a delightful phrase that comes from none other than our star guest, Ethan Hawke, who tells Jamie Graham all about his new film, The Weight, and how it was one of the biggest challenges of his storied career. Either side of that, Chris Hewitt is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Amon Warmann for a fun episode that asks the big question: are there any good short Best Picture winners? And then very quickly moves onto the biggest question of them all: why didn't Predator win Best Picture? The gang also tackle a ton of movie news, including the rumour that Jon Watts is going to direct Star Wars Episode X, and cast their collective eye over the Cruise/Iñárritu collaboration, Digger, British coming-of-age comedy Extra Geography, the aforementioned The Weight, and steamy-but-not-quite-as-steamy-as-Amon-would-like thriller, Verity. Do we love any of these movies? And will they love us back? To find out, have a listen.

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 #736) on the pod app of your choice. There, you'll also find the latest episode of Empire Pod regular The Interviews. This week's episode is all about editors-turned-directors. First, we have an extended interview between Chris Hewitt and David Kittredge, the director behind the excellent documentary, Boorman And The Devil, which chronicles the wild making of John Boorman's legendary-for-all-the-wrong-reasons sequel, Exorcist II: The Heretic, and even rehabilitates the film's reputation somewhat. That film is in cinemas right now. After that, Jamie Graham is back again for another fun chat about The Weight — this time with director Padraic McKinley — as it hits cinemas. Enjoy!

It has been seven months since we first learned that Netflix's bid to buy Warner Bros. had fallen through and that Paramount, in a shock twist, were set to hijack the deal to acquire the iconic movie studio and its associated brands. Now, several antitrust lawsuits, about a million think-pieces, and an industry-wide existential crisis later, Paramount CEO David Ellison's $110 billion merger is projected to be finalised this coming Tuesday. In recognition of the virtually done deal, Ellison took to X this afternoon to reveal that post-merger, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery will be known simply as Skydance. Check out the announcement statement and video below;

So there you have it. No ParaBros, no WarnerMount, no ParaWarner Mount Discovery. Paramount and Warner Bros. will keep their own brands ultimately, but they'll be housed under the Skydance corporate umbrella. "We chose this name for a few important reasons," said Ellison on X of the merger's new name. "First and foremost, as we bring Paramount and Warner Bros. together, we wanted to preserve what has made each of these studios iconic. Both have distinct identities, extraordinary legacies and brands that have resonated with audiences for generations. We never wanted a new corporate identity to diminish, alter or overshadow either one. Instead, we wanted a name that would give the combined company an identity of its own while allowing Paramount and Warner Bros. — and all our extraordinary brands — to remain in the spotlight."

Speaking of those extraordinary brands, among the ones spotlighted in the video announcing Skydance are Paramount and Warner Bros. film studios, CBS, HBO Max, Paramount+, DC Comics, Nickelodeon, and CNN, which gives some small sense of the huge scope and scale of Ellison and his company's newly established power. What remains to be seen now is how that power is wielded. In order to get this merger over the line, Ellison has made promised that at least 30 movies will be put into theatres in 2027 and 2028, rising to 32 between 2029 and 2031, with 45-day exclusive theatrical windows and a 90-day moratorium on streaming premieres from the date of any given movie's cinema release. Where this commitment leaves mid-budget movies like the Weapons and Sinners of the world — especially given Paramount's agreement to a $30 million fine for each movie short it falls of that 30-32 film commitment — is just one of several big question marks unlikely to resolve until we see the merger in action.

How Skydance will play out, what shape the movie industry will take in a post-Paramount-WBD merger landscape, and where cinema — and streaming — goes from here is anybody's guess at this exact moment. But whatever comes next, and however this all shakes out, your friendly neighbourhood Empire will still be here, reporting the news as it reaches us and celebrating the films and shows that head our way.

In this current age of Peak TV, stars from all over are flocking to the small-screen to get their slice of the streaming pie. It's a trend that's given us Robert Downey Jr. in HBO's The Sympathizer, Harrison Ford in Apple TV's Shrinking, Sylvester Stallone in Paramount+'s Tulsa King, and Javier Bardem in Cape Fear. And, as reported by Variety, it's a trend that's set to continue as legendary funnyman and actor Eddie Murphy is lining up his first ever dramatic TV role in Peacock's The Chairman, an original series from Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner.

Now, it should be noted that The Chairman — while having a major creator and now a major star also attached — is currently only in development at Peacock, and has yet to receive a formal green light just yet. There's also no plot details or logline currently available, though we suspect the proposed series may involve a chairman of some description and that said chairman may be played by Eddie Murphy (just a hunch!) Even so, given Weiner's pedigree as both the creator of one of the best TV shows of all time and as both a writer and executive producer on The Sopranos, along with The Chairman promising SNL icon and all-round industry megastar Murphy's small-screen debut proper, the chances seem fairly high that Peacock won't pass this one up.

With Shrek 5, swampland spin-off Donkey, and a long-gestating reboot of The Pink Panther all currently on Eddie Murphy's horizons, the prospect of an original, longform project from the one-time Academy Award nominee is a very exciting one indeed. Watch out for more updates on this one as The Chairman moves around the Peacock board.

Platforms: PS5, PC, Xbox Series X|S

When fans first stumbled out of cinemas after watching The Phantom Menace, their minds spinning from talk of trade route taxation and midichlorian counts, one thought shared by almost everyone was that podracing is very, very cool. Outside of a tie-in game and a couple of PlayStation 2-exclusive titles, podracing has been a relative blind spot in the expanded world of Star Wars. Who better, then, to bring landspeeders, speeder bikes and podracers to modern consoles, then, than many of the same people who brought us the smashing and crashing Burnout series? Here, the galaxy’s alien oddballs show up for the Galactic Racing League, including grade-A cocky socialite Kestar Boll, who you, stepping into the shoes of upcoming racer Shade, are tasked with taking down...

With floaty drifting around corners and turbo-boosting past racers, the Galactic Racer has its roots in classic arcade games, carrying with it the satisfying sense of speed. Environments whiz past you so quickly you can barely see them, making the experience feel more akin to the high-speed action racing of Wipeout than anything Burnout had to offer. Yet once you pop the hood and dig around, changing parts and spending credits, Galactic Racer’s arcade shell gives way a surprisingly in-depth Star Wars game, where not crashing at high speed becomes the very least of what you have to juggle.

A well-curated tour of the Star Wars universe.

What’s initially notable is how its campaign has far more in common with addictive roguelikes like Hades and Returnal than traditional racers. Working your way along branching paths, you can choose to partake in straight up races, brutal elimination matches, or try out new vehicles in field tests. Crash out or lose and it’s all the way back to the beginning, but not without upgrades and credits to spend, making you more prepared on your third, fourth or fifth go-around. It’s a loop that gets under your skin as you etch further and further along each run and, critically, makes you hyper-aware of each change you make to your vehicle.

While the focus is often on the racers exploding around you, it can’t be understated what a well-curated tour of the Star Wars universe Galactic Racer is. As you progress, you’ll quickly find yourself flying through film-accurate desert landscapes on Tatooine, drifting through the ruins of a Star Destroyer on Jakku and blasting across the red sands of Crait. The game also excels at making these places ones you’ll also have to adapt to as a racer. Icy environments can cause your engine to freeze, so boosting or going through one of the well-placed heat sources becomes a necessity.  Conversely, boosting too much over volcanic landscapes will see thrusters quickly overheat, causing your vehicle to paint the track with exploding metal parts (at the very least providing plenty of scrap for greedy Jawas). This risk-reward battle of managing your vehicle while aggressively pursuing other racers lends each race palpable stakes and emotional payoff, particularly when you manage to dart past other speeders and cross the finish line moments before your engine blows into oblivion.

Despite the family-friendly Star Wars exterior, Galactic Racer offers a fairly punishing difficulty that, at times, will likely have you howling at the screen like a disgruntled Wookiee. Those who get sucked into its interplanetary endurance runs will eat up the challenge, but casual players may well overwhelmed by the fine-tuning required and harsh punishment for minor mistakes. Meanwhile, the great track design is occasionally let down by wide open areas where it’s not initially clear where to go, derailing your hot streak by sending you hurtling into a dead-end canyon.

In the end, though, Galactic Racer is everything you could want from a Star Wars racer, taking both the galaxy far, far away and its identity as a proper racing game very seriously. The best such titles have you itching to come back the second you put down the controller and, while you may occasionally want to throw yours as Sebulba leaves you in his dust (unsurprisingly, he’s a dirty cheat!) there’s never much doubt you’ll be back again to start a new run and do it all over again. Podracing, it turns out, really is very, very cool.

Streaming on: Netflix

Episodes viewed: 7 of 7

John Steinbeck is one of the Great American Authors, and his 1952 book East Of Eden is widely considered one of the Great American Novels. It was speedily adapted for screen just three years after publication by filmmaker Elia Kazan, a film largely notable for being the debut of one James Dean. That was a truncated adaptation, borrowing only the final part of the book. Now, seven decades on, Kazan’s granddaughter, Zoe Kazan (Wildlife), is finally finishing the job.

To say this is an ambitious bit of work is to perhaps misuse the word “understatement”. East Of Eden is a grand, epic family saga, covering three generations and two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, telling a richly philosophical, near-operatic story about Biblical morality, about young men wrestling with their better and worse natures, and taking personal responsibility for their actions, the micro and the macro on every page. It is pure Americana: a text about, and of, its country.

This is a sprawling, generational canvas that Kazan is painting on and it proves a largely lavish, thoughtful adaptation.

The natural inclination in adapting a book of this stature, so revered and so heavily studied by schoolchildren, is to go prestige-by-numbers, and Kazan — who serves as writer and co-showrunner — is not immune to some of the tropes that were once catnip to awards voting bodies. There is a wistful narration in the first couple of episodes which feels like a clunky bookish device, thankfully dropped. The first two episodes, set in the late 19th century, also struggle with younger actors who don’t possess the gravitas of their elder counterparts — though Tracy Letts puts in a superb turn as the Trask patriarch, a pompous and stern Victorian father who pits his sons against each other.

But when it gets going, East Of Eden really sings: this is a sprawling, generational canvas that Kazan is painting on and it proves a largely lavish, thoughtful adaptation. It is, among other qualities, a very handsome piece of work; series directors Garth Davis (Lion) and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre (Presumed Innocent) make the most of the New-Zealand-doubling-for-California scenery.

Where the book was chiefly concerned with the travails of the Trasks and the Hamiltons, it is Cathy Ames (played here by Florence Pugh) that Kazan seems most fascinated by, transforming Steinbeck’s study of morality by dialling up more modern ideas of gender and patriarchy. In the book, Cathy is a symbol of pure evil, an allegorical avatar of Eve’s original sin, but in Kazan and Pugh’s hands she becomes something far more complex. They never make her despicable actions feel forgivable, but they contextualise them enough to feel understandable.

“God has given me authority over you,” Cathy’s father tells her in one key scene. “You’re my property.” It is crystal clear the intention of the writing here, and frames what she does next — no spoilers for a 74-year-old book — as a fight for emancipation rather than a mere act of empty evil. Pugh plays her with incredible poise, with a Katharine Hepburn-esque drawl, pure controlled chaos. But the series in turn deftly emphasises the very real dangers posed by men lurking around every corner, how the routes to liberation and safety were ruinously limited for women at this time, and how Cathy takes a fascinatingly explicable shortcut. “The only true freedom in this world,” she states, perhaps correctly, “is economic freedom.”

Elsewhere, Kazan deepens and expands the role of Lee, the Chinese-American housekeeper for the Trasks, with an astonishingly moving and soulful performance from Hoon Lee, who deserves immediate awards consideration. The Hamilton storyline is understandably trimmed from the book to keep the story more focused and streamlined, though Ciarán Hinds puts in beautiful work as Samuel Hamilton, and there is a standout scene between Samuel and Lee in which the two compare notes on their experiences as outsiders and immigrants in white America.

Like the earlier episodes, the latter episodes suffer somewhat from featuring less experienced actors, but the overall effect works. In our late-peak-TV era, it is refreshing to see big, serious, literary work tackled with care and craft and meaning like this.

Walton Goggins is no stranger to playing a baddie or two. From Justified's loquacious white supremacist Boyd Crowder to The Shield's corrupt detective Shane Vendrell to Django Unchained's callous Candyland overseer Billy Crash, the man has a knack for channelling the darker side of (in)humanity. Hell, much as we love him, even his Fallout bounty hunter The Ghoul has more than a spot of morally dubious red on his ledger. Now, per Deadline's reporting, Goggins is getting ready to break bad once again in Joseph Kosinski's upcoming Miami Vice '85, a new big-screen retooling of the classic 80s cop show.

According to Deadline's sources, F1 director Kosinski has been eyeing Goggins for a villainous part in his Austin Butler and Michael B. Jordan led movie, due to enter production in New York and Miami this November, for some time. Thankfully, despite early concerns that Goggins' work on the upcoming Fallout Season 3 might've rendered him incapable of boarding the project, things have worked out and the three-time Emmy-nominated actor is now clear to play assassin henchman to John Leguizamo's cartel king lead villain in the film. Goggins joins an increasingly stacked cast that elsewhere includes Whitney Peak, Alden Ehrenreich, Camila Morrone, and Danny Ramirez.

Penned by Dan Gilroy (brother of Tony, and writer-director of Nightcrawler), Joseph Kosinski's Miami Vice '85 — which is set to take a deep dive into the glamour and corruption of Miami in the decade the original series was born — is being shot for IMAX and currently racing towards a planned May 19, 2028 release. Fans of synthed-out, super-stylised 80s buddy cop hijinks, the time has come to iron your white slacks, whack out your shades, and dust off your tape deck — Vice City awaits!

If you're among the 10 million people who have seen Dylan Clark's viral horror short film 'Portrait Of God', then you will no doubt have been very excited to hear last December that a feature-length version of the film is in the works, with Jordan Peele and Sam Raimi teaming up through their respective Monkeypaw and Ghost House Pictures production companies to help bring the project to life. Well, prepare to get even more excited, as Lionsgate — who took the reins on this one from Universal earlier this year — have just revealed that Chase Infiniti, breakout star of last year's One Battle After Another, has signed on to star in the religious chiller. Check out the announcement below;

For anyone previously unfamiliar with 'Portrait Of God', Clark's original short centres around a religious young academic who, while preparing a presentation on an art piece dubbed — you guessed it! — 'Portrait Of God', finds herself coming face to face with the divine in truly unholy fashion. And while plot details on the theatrical take on Portrait, penned by Clark alongside co-writer Joe Russo (no, not that Joe Russo!), have yet to be confirmed, the reveal of Infiniti's casting does lead with the same ominous biblical quote as the short: "No man shall see me and live." Suffice it to say, we suspect Clark isn't about to make an about turn and suddenly take a sunshine-and-rainbows approach to visualising and grappling with God here...

In a statement accompanying Chase Infiniti's casting, Clark — who's most recently been working on a Blumhouse Atomic Monster reboot of The Blair Witch Project — said: "With Blair Witch, I’m experiencing firsthand the trust Lionsgate places in its filmmakers, and I couldn’t be happier that Portrait of God has found a home there as well. I’m also thrilled to welcome Chase Infiniti to our team. She blew me away in One Battle After Another and is one of the most exciting young actors working today.”

Coming amid something of a moment for genre films made by directors who earned their spurs in the online expanses of YouTube (see also: Backrooms' Kane Parsons, Obsession's Curry Barker, Bring Her Back's Phillipou brothers, Iron Lung's Markiplier), Portrait Of God has the talent — and the timing — to potentially be another hit in the ongoing horrorenaissance (as approximately nobody's calling it.) Now all we need is a release date... and potentially a priest. God help us all!

To date, Hasbro's G.I. Joe has spawned a beloved toyline, comic books, animated series, and technically a six-star film franchise. Well, 2009's G.I. Joe: Rise Of The Cobra, 2013's G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and 2021 prequel joint Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins earned six stars from Empire between them, anyway. But despite a somewhat underwhelming cinematic showing thus far, a new G.I. Joe movie is in the works at Paramount from The Righteous Gemstones co-creator and star Danny McBride. And, in a very promising turn of events, Deadline is reporting that Bradley Cooper has signed on to play First Sergeant Duke — previously portrayed by Channing Tatum — in the film.

According to Deadline, after McBride beat off multiple other G.I. Joe pitchers earlier this year to land the gig directing the military-centric franchise's latest big-screen outing, the multitalented actor-writer-comedian drew up a wish list of dream stars — and Cooper's name was right near the top. Luckily for McBride, despite Cooper currently being in production on his own self-written, directed, and starring Ocean's prequel and coming fresh off the also-self-written, directed, and starring Is This Thing On?, his script clearly captured the actor's imagination and convinced him to commit to the series' newest retooling.

Plot details for McBride's take on G.I. Joe — which, at its most basic level, follows an elite special missions force and their ongoing conflict with Cobra, a ruthless terrorist organisation bent, naturally, on world domination — are largely being kept under wraps for now. The filmmaker did however reveal on Joshua Horowitz's Happy, Sad, Confused podcast back in July that the film follows Duke and a group of other Joes, and that "there's a town called Springfield that is secretly all Cobra [...] which is where our film takes place." Beyond that, the only other thing we do know for certain is that the new film won't be connected to any past projects, including the officially no-longer-happening Transformers x G.I. Joe crossover. And knowing is half the battle, as the old toons famously used to tell us. Stay tuned for more updates as G.I. Joe gets back in action...

What a week this is turning out to be for fans of the Reacherverse, folks. On Monday we brought you news that, following another barnstorming season on Prime Video, Amazon's Alan Ritchson led action-thriller series Reacher has landed itself an early Season 6 renewal. And now, nary 72 hours later, the good news keeps on coming as THR has confirmed that the franchise's first spin-off, Neagley, centred around Maria Sten's Chicago-based PI Frances Neagley, has just scored a renewal of its own and will be returning for Season 2 at the streamer.

Having premiered on Prime Video just two weeks ago and landed as the platform's fourth most-viewed streaming debut of all time, Neagley — which found Sten's standoffish private eye teaming up with local detective Hudson Riley (Greyston Holt) to investigate the grizzly murder of one of her childhood friends — has proven a hit with fans, proving that the Reacher franchise can work without its eponymous man mountain. In fact, part of the draw with Neagley has been seeing co-creator Nicholas Wootton and showrunner Nick Santora relish the opportunity to draw outside the lines of Lee Child's Reacher books while exploring the whens, whys, and hows of Frances Neagley, her haphephobia (fear of touching), and what makes her tick.

“Audiences around the world have embraced Frances Neagley as a force all her own,” said Peter Friedlander, Amazon MGM Studios' head of Global Television, in a statement accompanying the show's renewal. “Maria Sten delivers a commanding, layered performance that drives every episode, and [co-showrunners] Nick Santora and Nicholas Wootton have built a world that is both thrilling and compelling.” We look forward to being thrilled and compelled all over again whenever Neagley Season 2 — and Reacher Season 5 and 6 for that matter — hits our screens. All hail Prime Video, the home of dadcore streaming series. Long may its reign continue!

It takes a certain kind of mind to sit all day, imagining monstrous things, without becoming at least haunted by those dark visions — and perhaps consumed by them. At least, that's the premise of this thriller, adapted from a Colleen Hoover bestseller. But while struggling young crime writer Lowen (Dakota Johnson) is plagued by lots of suspicion and worried about possible manipulation, Verity never quite goes for the throat.

Johnson’s reserve suits Lowen, who's recently bereaved and further traumatised when she witnesses an accident right in front of her. Although she's yet to make her mark as an author, she hesitates to step into another woman's life and series when she's asked to help ghostwrite for best-selling crime writer Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), who has recently suffered both a death in the family and a devastating car crash. But she reconsiders after a personal plea from Crawford’s husband Jeremy, played by Josh Hartnett in full gee-shucks mode.

There's a lot of meandering around and not much actual revelation.

The first sign that she might have made a mistake is that Jeremy holds back just what kind of state Verity is in. Lowen reaches their (idyllic) house before she learns that the famous author is entirely catatonic and that she'll be working alone, from notes and fragments of ideas.

Naturally, it's not that simple. Lowen is haunted by the possibility that Verity is still, secretly, up and about, and distressed by the author's dark and twisted secret diary. But can she really trust Jeremy? Or her own perception? It’s all standard thriller stuff. Director Michael Showalter, who showed a sure hand with tone in the likes of The Big Sick, never quite feels as certain here; there's a lot of meandering around the beautiful modernist house and not much actual revelation, for all the occasionally creepy music cues and sudden cuts.

All three leads are on decent form: Hartnett likeable with just a hint of darkness underneath; Johnson unsettled but keeping it together; and Hathaway, largely seen in online clips and flashback, impossibly beautiful and eerily unreadable.

The issues here are more structural. The revelations of the last act are largely unscary and deeply unsatisfying, so that the film limps to a halt rather than building to a finale. Maybe it's trying to say something about looking too long and too deep into the abyss, but it mostly just mumbles about the importance of trust in relationships to no great effect instead.

Streaming on: Prime Video
Episodes viewed: 8 of 8

Mike Flanagan’s Carrie opens with Ewen High School on fire. The town of Chamberlain, Maine, is an inferno. Two hundred dead. Later on, high-school student Sue Snell (Siena Agudong) says to the authorities, “You think you know what happened at prom?”

We all know what happened at prom, right? Stephen King’s debut novel and Brian De Palma’s pyrotechnic adaptation are part of pop culture; even those who ‘don’t do horror’ are familiar with the sad, scary tale of bullied teen Carietta White and how she unleashes her telekinesis to exact raging revenge on her peers. But anyone who’s followed Mike Flanagan’s career will also know how he likes to take revered texts — Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting Of Hill House, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall Of The House Of Usher — and use them as a leaping-off point.

Summer H. Howell's Carrie is impossible not to care for

Carrie is the same, with showrunner Flanagan embroidering King’s novel at every twist and turn. The unstoppable momentum and sense of tragic inevitability remain intact, but now there are additionally complicated relationship dynamics, entirely new characters, and supplementary sub-plots.

As Carrie, startling newcomer Summer H. Howell is not the clenched, frightened hero that Sissy Spacek played, but a bright, curious girl made alien by her kindness. Her religious mama Margaret (Samantha Sloyan) is a fiercely loving mother who’s trying to protect her daughter. Chief bully Chris (Alison Thornton) is a (prom) queen bee with a truly vicious sting, but she’s also impossible not to care for as her life implodes and she directs all of her cruel anger at Carrie.

Does everything work? The efforts to widen and deepen the story by locating Carrie’s condition within the historical context of gifted women who have been wronged feels a little try-hard, and there’s one particular sub-plot, haunting the edges of the action, that reeks of a set-up for a second season. The prom scene, meanwhile, inevitably falls short of De Palma’s dazzling mix of suspense, giddy emotion and explosive technique.

And yet Carrie remains a remarkable triumph, Flanagan transposing King’s classic tale to a modern high school where mass-shooting drills are routine, and where every jibe, assault and barbaric practical ‘joke’ are captured on camera to be uploaded. “Things are going to change,” mutters Carrie as she harnesses her powers, seeking out vacant lots to levitate objects and make broken-down cars go kaboom, like some trainee superhero. Well, Carrie ain’t kidding. Things do change, frequently and fundamentally, in this resourceful, affecting series. And as Flanagan has proved before, change can be good.

Platforms: PS5, PC

Seconds into Silent Hill: Townfall, you'll find yourself exploring the picturesque St. Amelia, a remote island off the coast of Scotland. As new protagonist Simon Ordell, you'll soak in the detail-packed, near-photorealistic setting from an immersive first-person perspective — a departure from the long-running series' standard over-the-shoulder view.

As you pass by discarded lobster traps, flickering street lights, life jackets hung on posts, reflective puddles, and colourful flags flapping in the wind, you'll swear you can taste the salt in the air. Of course, as the latest chapter in Konami's survival horror franchise, Townfall's most prevalent visual element is its suffocating fog, which serves as a stark reminder that you've definitely not stepped into a travel brochure.

If the heavy, foreboding mist doesn't clearly communicate that St. Amelia shouldn't be your next vacation destination, however, the fleshy, mutated monsters roaming its streets should do the trick. Like most Silent Hill games, Townfall combines exploration, stealth, puzzles and, yes, plenty of nightmare-conjuring creatures, all wrapped in a cryptic, dread-inducing story. But this latest standalone entry also separates itself from the skin-crawling pack with some welcome new inclusions.

For starters, Townfall leans pretty heavily — and disturbingly — into medical-based body horror. Simon, for example, washes up on St. Amelia with a mysterious IV jammed into his arm. As unsettling as the intravenous needle is, though, it pales in comparison to an enemy you'll later encounter that attacks by shooting a similar, tube-tethered apparatus from its open chest cavity.

Thankfully, Simon's IV — which also serves as a second-wind lifeline when he's downed — isn't the only object in his unconventional arsenal. He also carries an old school portable TV, a chunky, static-emitting handheld device that offers puzzle clues, creepy narrative bits, and the ability to locate nearby enemies.

Sort of like a retro take on the Alien movies' motion tracker, the weathered gadget is the primary representation of the game's larger focus on dated, analog technology. Townfall takes place in 1996, so the ancient tech perfectly fits the era, but it's also brilliantly blended into the gameplay.

Beyond the CRTV, you'll gain access to other tools — sometimes while controlling different characters — like a doctor's beeping pager. But other nostalgia-fueling items are spread all over the quaint town's exteriors and interiors, ensuring you'll crack conundrums and gather intel using payphones, cassette players, boxy computers, floppy disks, fax machines, and more.

The pitch-perfect audio of a dial-up modem or dot-matrix printer effectively places you in this mid-nineties nightmare, but some flaws can also occasionally shake you from it. Townfall's combat can be clunky, its stealth finicky, and that enemy-tracking CRTV unreliable. These rough edges might be by design, as dealing with them can certainly ramp the tension. But they can also breed frustration, especially when coupled with a checkpoint system that frequently feels unforgiving.

Like a degrading wood plank cracked over a creep's skull, the immersion is sometimes broken by these issues. That said, such moments are easily overshadowed by an otherwise stellar survival horror experience that continues the franchise's resurgence – following the Silent Hill 2 remake and Silent Hill f — while also ensuring fans remain terrified of the fog.

A breakout at this year’s Sundance, Padraic McKinley’s grimly determined debut is an indie throwback to the man-versus-wild movies of the ’70s: gritty films like the Robert Redford-starrer Jeremiah Johnson, or The Last Hard Men. Admittedly, The Weight’s impact is lighter than the title suggests, and sticks to formula like a superglued barnacle, but here’s another showcase for the endlessly versatile Ethan Hawke: truly the Swiss Army knife of acting.

We meet his car mechanic Murphy hurtling towards skid row: jobless, homeless, and after a scuffle with cops, sentenced to a labour camp. “When I get out,” he tells his daughter Penny. “I’m gonna come get you.”  That promise is the fuel to Murphy’s dying fire. Four months later, he’s cracking rocks with a chain gang and building a road to nowhere. A tenuous bond with Russell Crowe’s warden leads to an offer he can’t refuse. The government are seizing gold. Black Hawk Mine is next. Lead a crew through 50 miles of wilderness, deliver the bullion at a rendezvous and he’s a free man. Cue a men-on-a-mission movie in Depression-era rags.

The Weight gropes for a consistent tone in its overlong first act, finally finding its pulse in the savage wilds of Oregon.

The Weight gropes for a consistent tone in its overlong first act, finally finding its pulse in the savage wilds of Oregon. As Murphy’s band of felons grapple with the wilderness (and each other), those looming pines begin to look a lot like prison bars. Episodic perils abound: shoot-outs with vagrants, dodging timber in a downriver log drive and a heart-in-throat crossing over a groaning rope bridge that owes a debt to the infamously hair-raising sequence in William Friedkin’s Sorcerer. McKinley stages the action with stripped-down grit, but there’s a horror director in the making here. Set to a strobing lightning storm, the callous killing of a wounded member is genuinely unnerving.

Eventually, the weight of the title becomes clear. It’s not the gold. It’s the pain each convict is carrying, revealed in walk-and-talk backstories. Sadly, only two characters register: oily snake Rankin (Austin Amelio) and indigenous runaway Anna (Julia Jones, formidable until a needless romance). Crowe is clearly in Dark Mode after playing Goring in Nuremberg. Clancy — a glowering, tobacco-spitting mood tyrant — is another ripe addition to his growing villain gallery, brief though it is. Ignore the top-billing: he’s a bookend to Murphy’s journey.

This is Hawke’s vehicle, and his dogged presence drives the film. Those once boyish features are hardening into a crag of weathered rock. The eyes are as soulful as ever, though, and the role of grizzled hero fits him like a dirty glove. Weirdly, the credits run a smiley you’ve-been-watching cast roll-call to Lynyrd Skynyrd. Great for a cast-and-crew screening, but it pulls you right out of the desolate mood.

The Charli XCX lyric, “It’s so confusing sometimes to be a girl,” is a perfect descriptor for the core ethos of Molly Manners’ charmingly offbeat directorial debut. Focusing on the graduation from girlhood to womanhood, Extra Geography joins the growing canon of British films that take teenage girlhood seriously, like Rocks and Last Swim, but Manners’ film offers a fresh take on friends growing  up and apart.

Based on Rose Tremain’s 2007 short story, Succession writer Miriam Battye opens the film with confident Minna (Galaxie Clear) and timid Flic (Marni Duggan) lying on the lacrosse field worrying about their future and Oxbridge applications. With no boys, drugs or part-time jobs to distract them from their studies, their main concern is to become more “worldly” with a simple summer project: to fall in love. The subject of their experiment turns out to be their flustered geography teacher, Miss Delavigne (Alice Englert).

The commanding performances of Galaxie Clear and Marni Duggan are the real triumph here.

However, this endeavour divides the girls for the first time. A production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream steals Minna’s focus: she’s Fairy Queen Titania and hangs out with boys from a neighbouring school, while Flic is cast as a tree, and so she dives into studying love as an academic pursuit. Jealousy wedges itself between them and their friendship starts to wilt. Mirroring the Shakespeare play, Extra Geography takes on a five-act structure, but the film’s balancing act of several narrative threads unfortunately becomes tangled as its razor-sharp bite isn’t sustained across the full 94 minutes.

While Manners and Battye deserve credit for their deft handling of teen angst with brooding desires and snappy comedic one-liners, the commanding performances of Clear and Duggan are the real triumph here. This formative, symbiotic friendship is beautifully lived-in, with the fresh-faced actors capturing the ugly, strange and impulsive reality of teenage girlhood.

This oddly endearing coming-of-age drama is contained to the isolated boarding school, which serves as a well-lit dollhouse for them to roam, suspended in time and place. Though this creates some beguilling visuals, the film’s handling of class (Minna holidaying in Lanzarote while Flic is reminded she’s on a scholarship) and emerging queer sexuality (hints at sapphic longing permeate dreamy frames) raises interesting ideas but falls short at grappling with the nuances of it all. What prevails, though, is an original and painfully accurate portrait of first love being your best friend.

The annals of cinema history are strewn with great screen Santa Clauses. From traditional Kris Kringles (Richard Attenborough in Miracle On 34th Street) to bad Santas (Billy Bob Thornton in, er, Bad Santa), sheepish Clauses (James McAvoy in Arthur Christmas) to kick-ass Father Christmases (David Harbour in Violent Night, Kurt Russell in The Christmas Chronicles), we've had 'em all. Well, not quite all. This year, three decades after starring in holiday turkey Jingle All The Way, Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in festive mode and stepping into the boots of the man with the bag in Prime Video's aptly titled The Man With The Bag, a Christmas heist joint directed by Adam Shankman (Hairspray) and co-starring Awkwafina and Alan Ritchson. Sound wild? Well, check out the teaser trailer below — it looks pretty wild too;

Okay, okay, okay, so 41 seconds isn't very long and makes The Man In The Bag's teaser trailer mostly all tease and little trail, but the second we saw Arnie in the red, white, and bushy beard we knew we were sold on this one. And, credit where it's due, 79-year-old Austrian and sometime Terminator Schwarzenegger looks to be having a whale of a time here playing a version of old Saint Nick whose precious sack has been stolen and who subsequently finds himself teaming up with Jack Reacher (well, Alan Ritchson, at least) to take it back from an Awkwafina played rogue elf. There's knitwear, naughty elves, sleigh bells jingling, and Arnie maniacally shouting "I'm back!" What more could you ask for, honestly?

Oh. You could ask for a synopsis? Here you are then: "When Santa’s (Schwarzenegger) iconic red bag is stolen by a rogue elf with a grudge (Awkwafina), Christmas is suddenly at risk. With his biggest night of the year fast-approaching, Santa recruits a thief (Ritchson) from his ‘Naughty List’ who quickly assembles a crew of criminally skilled misfits — with a little help from elves and reindeer — to pull off the most unexpected heist of their lives."

Described by Amazon as "a holiday heist adventure about second chances, unlikely friendships, and discovering that sometimes even Santa needs a little help delivering Christmas," we'll find out whether The Man With The Bag is an early Christmas gift — or a cinematic lump of coal — when Adam Shankman's movie hits Prime Video on December 2. Here's ho-ho-hoping it at least clears the Jingle All The Way bar...

For a movie that was officially confirmed to be in the works last Christmas, there's been an awful lot of doubt surrounding 28 Years Later's plannedthird — and final — instalment. Even an Instagram post of the horror franchise's young star Alfie Williams — aka Spike — back in archery training earlier this year didn't totally allay fears that, despite 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple being a critical hit, its disappointing box office showing may have killed off Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's Rage-filled threequel. But fear not, fans: Danny Boyle has stated once again that the movie will get made.

Per Variety's reporting, during an appearance at the Zurich Film Festival, Boyle — in attendance to present his upcoming Rupert Murdoch movie Ink — gave a promising update on 28 Y3ars Later (as nobody is calling it.) “28 Years 3, or whatever it ends up being called, will get made because people keep asking about it," Boyle, who has been planning to direct the trilogy's closing chapter himself, told the crowd in Zurich. "Quite when I’m not sure, but there’s a script – a very good script by Alex Garland.” Continuing, the Bury-born filmmaker also confirmed that fans of the horror saga can expect more of Cillian Murphy's Jim, only briefly glimpsed at the end of The Bone Temple, in Part 3. “[It will have] a lot of Cillian Murphy in it," said Boyle, before quipping, "whether he’ll take his kit off anymore, that I don’t know. He’s got the Oscar now.”

Whether or not the 28... franchise's Rage-infected folk are technically undead brain-munchers or not, the horror series' latest two chapters have both immediately marked themselves out as being among the best zombie movies out there. If and when 28 Years Later's third instalment hits our screens (and yes, there is still a smidge of an 'if' in the mix despite Boyle's assurances), we could well be looking at one of the great movie trilogies of modern times. Now we just have to hope the apocalypse doesn't catch up with us in real life before we can catch back up with it in the cinema, eh? *Chuckles nervously*

By any metric, Zach Cregger is on a hell of a filmmaking run just now. Having burst out of the blocks in 2022 with AirBnB chiller Barbarian, the sketch comedian turned genre filmmaker has since gone on to bewitch audiences with last year's noodle-twisting psychological thriller Weapons, and is currently riding high at the box office with survival horror game adaptation Resident Evil. And in his bid to continue this hot streak, Variety is reporting that Cregger has just recruited Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence to star in his buzzy upcoming sci-fi thriller The Flood.

Cregger is set to write, direct, and produce The Flood, based on his own original idea, under Warner Bros.' New Line Cinema banner. And while any sort of concrete plot or premise descriptions are being kept in a watertight container for the time being, we have had some hints as to what Cregger's been working on already. In a recent interview with Esquire, Cregger shared that a viewing of Brad Pitt starrer Ad Astra with his wife prompted him to think about the scariest thing that could happen to a person in space, and that his answer to that question sold producer Steven Spielberg on the project. Elsewhere, in a conversation with Men's Health, Cregger opened up a little more, teasing a "bizarre narrative structure" and citing 2001: A Space Odyssey as a key influence on his latest movie. "I think 2001 is a really thrilling horror movie about human nature, and obviously about artificial intelligence, but it asks big questions," said Cregger. "And I think, in that way, there's some similarity with Flood."

Having brought horror to a single house in Barbarian, to a suburban town in Weapons, and to a whole city in Resident Evil, a terrifying jaunt to the abyssal vacuum of space seems like a logical escalation for Cregger in his bid to thrill and chill us on ever larger, more mind-bending scales. Consider us primed and ready to let The Flood, starring Jennifer Lawrence, wash over us when it hits cinemas on August 11, 2028.

Since scoring a critical and commercial hit earlier this year with 'One Wish Willow' chiller Obsession, YouTuber-turned-filmmaker Curry Barker has suddenly found himself one of the most hyped, most talked about directors in town. But what's next for horror's newest enfant terrible? Well, not one to rest on his laurels, Barker actually shot his sophomore studio feature, Anything But Ghosts, before Obsession even hit cinemas. Now, Deadline has confirmed that movie has locked in a release date from Focus Features and Blumhouse Atomic Monster: May 7, 2027.

Starring Aaron Paul, Cooper Tomlinson, Bryce Dallas Howard, Violet McGraw, Chris Reinacher, and Barker himself, Anything But Ghosts — which finished shooting in April, just a month before everyone's Obsession obsession took hold — sees Barker and Tomlinson play two fake paranormal investigators who find themselves coming face-to-face with actual ghosts on the job, unravelling their dodgy business practices as things massively spiral out of control. Further plot specifics are being kept under white sheets for now, but Barker has previously confirmed that Anything But Ghosts does take place in the Obsession universe, and that his latest — which boasts a 130-page script and shot in just 26 days — is the most challenging project he's tackled to date. “The hardest day on Obsession was the easiest day on Anything But Ghosts," said Barker in a recent Deadline interview.

While news of Anything But Ghosts' theatrical release plans is very welcome, it is worth noting that the supernatural horror isn't the only movie looming on Curry Barker's horizons. As we reported back in June, Barker's third studio film has already found a home at Universal and Blumhouse Atomic Monster, with the filmmaker describing the as-yet-untitled project as a movie he's "been excited to make for a while." Clearly our one wish, for more Curry Barker movies, has been granted. And with no cat sandwiches or car-based head banging necessary. Winner!

You remember how Amazon cancelled Spider-Noir a few weeks back? And how, within the news of Spider-Noir's cancellation, there was talk about the folks at Prime Video and Sony TV actively pursuing another secretive SPUMC project? Well that secretive SPUMC project is secret no longer, folks. Per Deadline's reporting, Amazon MGM Studios is close to giving the green light to a new live-action Spider-Man series based on Marvel Comics' classic 'Clone Saga' — the run which introduced two new Spidey variants, Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker, to the world.

Written by American Born Chinese creator Kelvin Yu, this proposed new Spider-Man series is set to take inspiration from — but, crucially, not directly adapt — the second arc of the Clone Saga, with two potential routes for Reilly and Parker's live-action introductions reportedly being considered. The first would follow Ben and Kaine — two genetic clones of Peter Parker created by mad scientist Miles 'The Jackal' Warren in the comics — as they grapple with their newly discovered identities as clones while also facing off against other Spider-clones, sort-of Across The Spider-Verse style by the sounds of it. Another suggestion from Deadline's sources is that the show could dispense with Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker's established good/evil Peter Parker clone origins entirely, constructing all-new identities for the pair on their paths to becoming Scarlet Spiders. Given the way Spider-Noir gave its titular gumshoe Spidey variant Ben Reilly's name seemingly entirely due to rights-related reasons, there is an established precedent for SPUMC projects going off-piste in their approaches to the webhead and his many manifestations.

Amy Pascal, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller, who oversee the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters for Sony TV are expected to executive produce the new show should it get that all-important green light. Many question marks hang over the project at this stage, from its approach to one of comics' most (in)famously convoluted storylines, to who'll be running the show, to how it may address the existence of another Ben Reilly in SPUMC's knotty continuity. Even so, the possibility of another big creative swing from the Sony side of the Spider-Verse — especially after the brilliance of Spider-Noir — is surely a good thing. And while we wait for further updates on this one, we recommend cloning yourself so you've got two heads to try and wrap around the ins and outs of The Clone Saga. It's been over 30 years and we're still puzzling that one out....

What do you get when you take the director of several of the best episodes of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, the writer of several of the best episodes of Andor, and then set them both loose on Game Of Thrones' first ever big-screen outing? It's a tantalising prospect even just to consider. And, per Variety's reporting, on June 6, 2029 we are going to find out folks, as that is the date that Game Of Thrones: Aegon's Conquest — Warner Bros.' long-mooted Thronesian prequel feature — is officially set to arrive in cinemas.

Aegon's Conquest is set to be directed by Owen Harris — the man behind Thrones spin-off A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms' stunning fifth episode, 'Trial Of The Seven' — from a screenplay by Beau Willimon, whose penchant for penning pieces filled with politicking has been well-evidenced in Andor's Narkina-5 and early Season 2 Ghorman arcs. Plot specifics on the duo's film are being kept pretty firmly under wraps at this point, but we do know that the movie, set hundreds of years before Thrones itself, will centre around the, well, conquest of Aegon I, the OG Targaryen and tyrant from whom all else — House Of The Dragon's family feuders, AKOTSK's Egg (short, of course, for Aegon), and eventually one Daenerys Targaryen — originate.

Suffice it to say that while we don't know how exactly Aegon's Conquest will shake out, this probably won't be a heartwarming, carefree jaunt to Westeros from Harris and Willimon. But with House Of The Dragon set to end after its forthcoming fourth season, a release date for the fantasy franchise's blockbuster bow — coupled with A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms' second season to look forward to in the coming months and a West End transfer of Thrones play The Mad King — leaves us happily assured there's plenty more fire and blood (and hopefully not Hedge Knights pooping on trees) in our near future. Good times!

Alejandro González Iñárritu has often been a polarising filmmaker. Depending on your view, his style is either bravura technical audacity or pure indulgence. At his best, his wild trickery amplifies compelling characters. Birdman's single shot echoes a man’s inability to escape himself. The Revenant's relentless bloody chaos reflects the savagery of a man’s life, inside and out. One of many frustrating things about Digger is that all Iñárritu’s exquisite staging and narrative Russian doll-ing aren’t in service of anything particularly effective. The presentation is challenging but Digger doesn’t dig very deep.

Iñárritu kicks us into his film like a boot from behind. The titular character, an elderly oil tycoon played by Tom Cruise encased in prosthetics from balding head to bum crack, is roused from bed by an urgent call. Within minutes, one of Digger’s Arctic oil fields has ruptured, an iceberg named Judy is on her way to decimate Scandinavia, the US President’s on the phone, and the end of the world looks distinctly possible. There’s no time to steady yourself. The dizzying momentum continues as Digger (sort of) tries to avert Armageddon.

For a film about the complexity of mankind, it shows scant interest in actual people.

This becomes wearing rather than exciting because there’s nobody for us to grip onto as we hurtle along. We’re as adrift as Judy amid a sea of characters with little interior life. Digger is a bumptious blowhard. A fantastic supporting cast — Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Jesse Plemons — each play a single note. Only Riz Ahmed, as a conflicted scientist who could have bumbled in from a Wes Anderson picture, has any dimension. An early meta twist tries to give the story some grounding and explain away the cartoonishness, but it doesn’t entirely make sense, even by its own logic, and functions mostly as a way for Iñárritu to comment on his own work. This is the film’s chief problem— that it appears more concerned with itself than with the audience. Its apparent message — that the planet’s dying and we’re complicit, as much as we crave villains to blame — is delivered in almost hectoring terms, often in loud monologues. For a film about the complexity of mankind, it shows scant interest in actual people.

If the whole isn’t successful, elements are. Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography and Dennis Gassner’s production design achieve the Kubrickian grandeur Iñárritu clearly intends. Cruise emerges with a win, reminding us how riveting he can be as an actor, not just as a movie star. A role so oversized and absurd demands fearless commitment, which he certainly gives. The big swing is laudable. If only the film were more rewarding.

If you have a Prime Video subscription or indeed access to the internet at all, then there's a pretty good chance you'll be well aware of The Love Hypothesis, the streamer's hotly anticipated adaptation of Ali Hazelwood's romance novel — a book that famously started life as a work of Reylo (yes, that's Rey and Kylo Ren off of Star Wars) fan-fiction. And if you have seen said movie, which stars Lili Reinhart and actual Rey actor Daisy Ridley's actual husband Tom Bateman, then you'll know it's actually a pretty fun rom-com. And clearly Hazelwood's publishers and Amazon MGM Studios agree, as the author has today confirmed that a sequel book, The Two-Body Problem, is on its way, with a follow-up film currently in development, too. Check out the announcement below;

Per Hazelwood's own tease of The Two-Body Problem book, which is due out on February 2, 2027, the sequel — once again following lovebirds Olive and Adam (yes, the Reylo fanfic's male romantic lead is called Adam) — "spans a couple of years, and it’s a mix of slice of life, postdoctoral turmoil, and unflinching exploration of the hardest challenge one will face in a long-term relationship: deciding what to have for dinner." As for the follow-up book's cinematic ambitions, Hazelwood is quick to state that "nothing is guaranteed" at this stage. That being said, given the instant streaming success of director Claire Scanlon's adaptation, the many, many clips filling social media feeds right now (yes, we have all seen the 'Rey Theme' moment and the bajillion Reylo edits dominating TikTok), and the recent times resurgence of rom-coms in the mainstream (see also: Voicemails For Isabelle, One Night Only, Office Romance, Finding Emily), it seems a pretty safe bet The Two-Body Problem won't represent a two-movie problem for Prime Video.

A BookTok sensation and a New York Times bestseller, The Love Hypothesis — like Twilight fanfic adaptation Fifty Shades Of Greybefore it — has proven a force (or, more aptly, a Force) to be reckoned with among movie-watching, book-loving romantics. And now, with a sequel book on the way, another film in the works, and — in case we forget to mention — the Daisy Ridley on board on the producorial side of things, we hypothesise that the love for the burgeoning franchise is only set to grow and grow. And just know this, Love Hypothesis-pilled Reylos: you are not alone.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the highest-grossing movie of all time at the domestic box office. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the third-highest-grossing film of all time, period. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is still in cinemas worldwide, with Tom Holland's triumphant wall-crawling return continuing to entertain the masses months after its release. And Spider-Man: Brand New Day is, according to Deadline, also preparing to hop on Avengers: Endgame Encore's bandwagon with a new cinema re-release featuring a bunch of extra, previously unseen footage.

Per Deadline's 'The Dish' sidebar, sources are saying that Destin Daniel Cretton's Spidey fourquel is looking to capitalise on its staggering theatrical run with an extended cut, which would include — among other things — previously cut scenes involving MCU 'Netflix Era' fan-favourite Claire Temple, the vigilante-tending nurse played by Rosario Dawson. Now, Dawson has spoken publicly about her involvement in the movie since Brand New Day's release, so we know that footage is out there, somewhere. And there is a suspiciously Claire Temple shaped gap in the movie between a certain event involving Tom Holland's Spidey, Jon Bernthal's Punisher, and an impromptu hospital trip to consider, too. All of which is to say that a 'Temple Cut' (as nobody is calling it) does make a fair bit of sense.

Perhaps the more intriguing, eyebrow-raising element of Brand New Day's purported re-release plans is Deadline's comment that "we understand that there will be more surprises in the extra footage." Could that extra footage retroactively help tee up Avengers: Doomsday, Endgame Encore style? Might we get an extended oner of Pete, MJ, and Ned building Lego, quoting Lord Of The Rings, and eating Banh Mi? Or do Kevin Feige and co have something even more tantalising (and money-spinning) in store? Well, we don't actually have official confirmation of Spider-Man: Brand New Day Encore — The Temple Cut, but we suspect all will be revealed soon enough... and probably before December 16. Stay tuned for more MCU updates as we get them!

They say that in this life there are three guarantees: death, taxes, and Amazon renewing its most popular dadcore series of the moment. And in time-honoured tradition, just as another kick-ass season of Prime Video's Lee Child adaptation Reacher has, well, reached its conclusion, THR has confirmed that another Reacher round is already on its way. Yes, in addition to the already-shooting Reacher Season 5, Alan Ritchson's former military man and forever absolute unit Jack Reacher has only gone and landed himself a well-earned early Season 6 renewal.

The fourth season of Reacher, which wrapped less than a fortnight ago and adapted Lee Child's 2009 Reacher novel Gone Tomorrow, reportedly racked up a not-too-shabby 66 million views inside its first month on Prime Video — and that's with the latest season airing simultaneously alongside Maria Sten led spin-off show Neagley. Reacher Season 5, which is currently in production out in Toronto, is set to adapt Make Me, the 20th — and, arguably, most brutal — book in Child's series, following our taciturn tank of a hero as he uncovers a chilling deep-web conspiracy in an isolated midwestern town. As for where Season 6 may be heading, Amazon is taking its cues from Reacher himself for now and is saying nothing.

One book we know Reacher Season 6 definitely won't be adapting is Alan Ritchson's personal fave, 1998's Die Trying, in which Jack Reacher carves a bloody path through a white supremacist militia camp. "My favorite book," said Ritchson of Lee Child's sophomore Reacher outing, responding to a fan post on Threads. "Fun fact: I had it approved until someone got re-elected." Well, with Season 5 shooting ahead of presumably a sometime-2027 release, and Season 6 now confirmed and likely to follow the year after, maybe come 2029 Ritchson will get his Reacher wish. Until then, we're saying nothing....

A quick glance at the recent films of 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg reveal something of a pattern. 2022's Prey gave us a Predator movie with a Comanche twist. 2025's Predator: Killer Of Killers gave us a Predator movie with an animated battle royale twist. And late last year, Predator: Badlands gave us a Predator movie with a buddy-comedy twist. Yeah, we know: Dan Trachtenberg really likes making movies with a twist! And so it follows that Deadline is reporting Trachtenberg's next Disney team-up will be on an original, Sleeping Beauty inspired film, with the twist this time being that this seemingly is not a Predator movie in any way, shape, or form. Who'd have thunk?!

According to Deadline's sources, Trachtenberg has come aboard with an original take on Walt Disney Animation Studios' 1959 animated classic, itself adapted from Charles Perrault's macabre 1697 fairytale. Per Deadline, this Sleeping Beauty is set to take the story in "an entirely new direction with Trachtenberg’s distinct sensibility." What exactly that entails in the context of Trachtenberg's distinct sensibility to date being predominantly dystopian/sci-fi fare — from the aforementioned 10 Cloverfield Lane and Predator joints to episodes of Black Mirror and The Boys — very much remains to be seen, as do any sort of plot details on this secretive project. We do however know that it's believed this film will have no connection to live-action villain origin movie Maleficent or indeed its sequel, Mistress Of Evil.

Trachtenberg and Raya McClendon came up with the story for this one, while Alex Anfanger and Dan Schimpf — best known for self-described 'slapstick drama' Big Time In Hollywood, FL — are penning the script, possibly giving some sense of the tonal ballpark for this latest take on the perennial classic. For now, that's about all we know so far, but stay tuned for more updates on this one as it moves along in development: if this is somehow a stealth Predator spin-off, you'll be the first to know!

Gearing up for Avengers: Doomsday? Of course you are – it’s only a few months now until the long-awaited MCU blowout hits the big screen, including the return of Robert Downey Jr, this time as Doctor Victor von Doom. And to get everyone in the mood, Marvel has put the knockout finale of the Infinity Saga back into cinemas as Avengers: Endgame Encore, featuring a few additional scenes and tidbits to get your brain whirring for what comes next.

As well as featuring clues, story threads, and surprise characters, the four new Encore scenes are meant to act as the perfect warmup for Doomsday – and Empire got to ask returning directors Joe and Anthony Russo all about them. Here’s what they teased out…

Loki interrupts Steve and Peggy’s domestic bliss

EMPIRE: With this new beat, you're crashing straight into the end of Endgame. Can you talk about that decision?

Anthony Russo: We really thought about that ending [in Endgame] as the perfect ending for Steve Rogers. And the idea of just going one moment past that perfect ending, and thinking about how radically that moment can change by just taking one step past it… That was a big part of the delight in the new idea for what Doomsday is and where the story goes.

Joe Russo: Yeah. The Marvel Universe is a giant experiment, and has been for years. I think part of the fun of coming back was, we thought, ‘Could we reach back to pull the story forward?’ And nobody's done that before. Nobody's ever had an opportunity to do it before. And this is a fluid universe, right? So you could do it in this universe, and it felt like an interesting way to start the story of Doomsday.

One of the delights of Doomsday is, you're going to get a new incarnation of Loki.

The final line of Endgame is Steve saying to Sam: “No, I don't think I will”, regarding the story of his life with Peggy. Is that because his story would be, “Well, we were having a lovely dance, and then literally 30 seconds later, the God of Mischief showed up, and it all went horribly wrong after that…”

Anthony Russo: You know what? We can't say yes to that. [laughs] Because when we made Endgame, we were very much thinking about it as an ending. That was our creative limitation that we gave ourselves ­– to really make the most of that movie because our creativity had been working continuously at a narrative level, flowing from movie to movie, and we wanted to think about Endgame differently. We wanted to give ourselves a different lens to look at these characters through. And so we were very committed to it being an ending. It was many years later before the idea – this idea, that we actually committed to – came up, on how to move past that moment. A big motivation for releasing Avengers: Endgame Encore is the idea that, now we're looking back at that movie thinking about going forward, instead of not thinking about going forward.

Talk to me as well about matching that Endgame scene, because you have to make Chris and Hayley look exactly the same as they did seven years ago.

Joe Russo: We had to do a bit of that in Endgame. There were moments like [Chris] Pratt dancing that we had to go back, and reimagine a scene from a different perspective, or carry a scene forward, or show you something you didn't see from that scene. And we like that concept. We like that it's that Rashomon [thing] – how do you look at this from a different point of view? How do you bring a different point of view to it? The magic is done with makeup. Evans and Hayley both look incredible, so it wasn't difficult, I'll say that.

Did you have to recreate the same lenses, the same set?

Joe Russo: Yeah. Same lighting, same lenses, same set. We do all of it.

One different thing is, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki crashes the party. What can you say at this point in time about Loki's presence in this, given where we know he is in the MCU at this current point in time?

Anthony Russo: I mean, look, the God of Mischief proves to be the God of Mischief. Loki's one of the most fascinating characters, and he's had so many incarnations. One of the delights of Doomsday is, you're going to get a new incarnation of that character.

The scenes we see here today in Encore, we won't see these in Doomsday? These are specifically shot to bridge the gap, is that correct?

Joe Russo: Yeah, that’s right.

Hulk gets Doom’d

We see Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner deep underground, being paid a visit by Doctor Doom, who we hear off camera. What might that scene tell us about Doomsday?

Joe Russo: [laughs] Anth, I’ll let you handle that… I haven't thought through it in a way where you can step around the [spoilers].

Anthony Russo: There's really no way to step around that. You know us. We’re just fighting ourselves to save the presents for Christmas morning.

Joe Russo: Now, somebody pays [Banner] a visit, in what he thinks is perhaps the most secure place on the planet. And clearly he's there dealing with the trauma and the fallout from what happened in Brand New Day, and trying to protect the world from him. And somebody found him…

We will not confirm nor deny Mark Ruffalo's appearance in Doomsday.

That somebody would seem to be Doctor Doom. We hear him say something along the lines of, ‘I've come to collect you.’ Can you shed any light on what that might mean? Because there is a thread running through the footage you guys have released about people ‘living stolen lives’. Banner doesn't seem to be living a stolen life. So, what would Doom's interest be in him at this point?

Anthony Russo: Gosh, you're really making us sweat here.

I can see a single bead of sweat dripping down, just like Total Recall.

Joe Russo: I mean, look, his interest may extend beyond just Banner. So, that's what we'll say about that.

Okay. Because Ruffalo was not one of the names on the chair reveal.

Joe Russo: Yeah, you’ve got to save some surprises. [laughs]

We have already had some surprises – we've had Chris Evans, we’ve had Hayley Atwell. Is this sting confirmation that Ruffalo will be in Doomsday?

Joe Russo: I think [what] we could say is, [Banner] is certainly involved in the story that revolves around Doom. We will not confirm nor deny his appearance in Doomsday.

Anthony Russo: The farthest we can go is to say, there are characters and actors who have not been announced, who are a part of Doomsday.

The multiverse collapses

The TVA sequence is fascinating. We see Ke Huy Quan as Ouroboros, we see Owen Wilson as Mobius, we see the TVA tech guy from Deadpool & Wolverine as well. What can you say about the significance of that sequence? You have OB literally saying that the multiverse is collapsing. So is that, in a way, the most crucial new sequence?

Joe Russo: It’s the most profound thing that's ever happened to the MCU. It is the perceived end of times. Everything the TVA was set up to do is to protect the timelines from collapsing, and now they're in a catastrophic collapse. And so that scene, I would argue, yes, has a great level of importance. I wouldn't say that it is more important than another scene. But it is certainly critical to the storytelling of Doomsday.

Anthony Russo: It is the unifying principle of combining the X-Men universe, the Avengers universe, the Fantastic Four universe. That is at the heart of the collision of these universes.

There are clues in Endgame, things that are said, that will pay off in Doomsday.

We get a sense of that, watching the computer screens with these universes literally fighting each other to stay alive. Is that, again, a hint as to what's going to happen in Doomsday?

Joe Russo: Everything is premeditated. Every inch of footage that you see has some relevance in some way. There are clues in every piece of that new footage, that can lead you to a greater story in Doomsday.

Are you saying I need to go see the footage again?

Joe Russo: It's up to you. I mean, I would argue if you're gonna go see it, who knows if this movie will ever be back in theatres? This was a request of ours to go back into the movie, and really push this film back out again. Because one of the greatest sights of our lives was getting to stand there at the back of a theatre on opening night of Avengers: Endgame, and all the work we'd done over seven years, all that hard work paying off. The energy felt like a rock concert. That sense of community, everybody sharing that story together. And there's a generation that has only seen it from their couch, or their living room. And people like to go see these movies with family members, and with children and with grandparents. This is just one more opportunity for them to go out and have a communal experience again. Movies are, frankly, one of the only things left that really truly bind us and give us shared experiences. That, sporting events, concerts, you know. And so to have an opportunity to take a movie like this, that really galvanised people, we're excited, and we really wanted that opportunity to be there again for the audience.

Doom masks up

The very last thing we hear at the end of Endgame is Tony banging the anvil that led to the creation of Iron Man. And now that has been morphed, warped into the creation of Doom. What can you say about that little brief flash of Doom?

Joe Russo: It's been planned all along. [laughs]

Anthony Russo: It's almost like the same actor is playing both characters! [laughs]

Joe Russo: There is certainly a symmetry at play here. There is an interesting examination of good and evil at play. And I think that that scene at the end, obviously it's intended to be almost identical. It's because there's a duality being explored.

I’m fascinated to explore whether choices that are made in Endgame – by Tony and others – pave the way in some way for Doom, and what’s to come. But we’re out of time!

Joe Russo: I will say this: there are clues in Endgame, things that are said, that will pay off in Doomsday. So if you want to go back and revisit the movie again – not the new footage but lines that are said in the movie – [there are some] that have an impact on Doomsday.

Avengers: Endgame Encore is in cinemas now. Avengers: Doomsday comes to UK cinemas from December 16.

Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC

"Find the Fremen, wake the Sleeper". You probably don't remember that from either Frank Herbert's original Dune novels or Denis Villeneuve's films, but it's the starting impulse for this survival focused MMO, set in a timeline where Paul Atreides was never born.

Wait – didn’t we do this before? Yes, Dune: Awakening is back, and like Malibu Stacy in that one episode of The Simpsons, she has a new hat – or rather, a new, dedicated single-player mode, updating the survival MMO into more of a survival RPG.

A single-player mode was, by Funcom’s own admission, one of the most requested features right from the game’s debut, and credit is deserved for delivering on that.

It’s an interesting direction for developer Funcom to take, given its ambition for the original 2025 release was to create a world that presented the desperate struggles and ever-shifting political landscapes of Herbert’s distant future, all while player interactions, territorial raids, and battles shifted the balance of power in real time. Yet from the off, the game’s isolationist framing – particularly the early hours, roaming the deserts of Arrakis, scavenging materials and piecing together basic facilities and tools to aid survival, all while dodging predatory sandworms – felt like a solo experience, even once you reached more populated sections. A single-player mode was, by Funcom’s own admission, one of the most requested features right from the game’s debut, and credit is deserved for delivering on that.

The new single-player focus, which comes as the game finally launches on PS5 (version tested) and Xbox Series X|S, doesn’t wholly supplant the multiplayer version though – if you’ve been enjoying the game in its original form, or want to jump into that competitive online world now, that version still exists. The solo mode runs alongside it as an entirely separate instance (meaning you can’t take your player character, with all its progress, online), intended for those who want to experience this alternate universe slice of sci-fi without interference. It also introduces some welcome difficulty tiers – a more story-focused one for those who prefer not to spend all their gaming time hunting down dew drops to stave off dehydration, and a more challenging one for survival experts. There’s also the option to customise difficulty parameters to your liking.

Aspects of the game that were once driven by player activity are now virtualised, turning the Exchange marketplace into more conventional in-game shops, while Awakening’s version of the Landsraad – the political body representing Dune’s great houses – now simulates the machinations of rival powers. The 2026 update also streamlines a few things across the board, such as making powerful sandstorms a bit less destructive, making progress in the dangerous “Deep Desert” areas a touch less gruelling, while construction has slightly more forgiving resource requirements.

One of the most welcome improvements is to combat, especially melee. Parrying incoming blows now feels a lot more predictable, while the ability to dash past foes helps encounters feel less like a staid trading of blows as you try to pierce Holtzmann shields. It’s still not amazing – Onimusha has nothing to fear when it comes to precise, thrilling swordplay – and Awakening’s ranged weaponry still feels a bit ‘spray and pray’, but is a material improvement on 2025’s effort.

That said, many of the problems of the original version remain untouched. Even with quest markers, progress can feel a bit directionless, while the actual act of building bases – placing floors, walls, roofs, one panel at a time – can be incredibly tedious, especially early on. The UI remains cluttered too, despite some degree of overhaul for the update. It’s clearly still designed for a PC-first experience, making navigating basic functions on console confusing. Crafting in particular is often obscured by pop-up menu elements, which can lead you to craft the wrong item – producing a dozen basic helms when trying to produce ammo was a ‘fun’ way to both waste precious resources and instantly flood inventory. Hopefully, future updates will continue to improve matters here though.

Is the 2026 version of Dune: Awakening enough of an improvement to turn it into a bona fide must-play destined for gaming’s hall of fame? Probably not. But it is significantly more accessible for anyone who wants to conquer Arrakis on their own terms, while across the board quality of life improvements and refinements also benefit the multiplayer side. Ultimately, the main attraction remains the game’s zig-zagged timeline, packed with big, bold ideas that make this a mesmerising “what if?” – but if you’re not already a hardcore Dune fan, its charms may still flicker out of view like a desert mirage.

Oasis fans in the area. Concert movie fans in the area. Music documentary fans in the area. Whether you're riding the high of having just secured Oasis Live '27 tour tickets this past weekend or find yourself licking your wounds and staring mournfully at your treasured bucket hat and three stripes gear, we've some good news to share. Oasis: Don't Look Back In Anger, the Steven Knight masterminded, Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace directed documentary about Noel and Liam Gallagher's historic 2025 reunion tour has locked in an October 9 Disney+ streaming release date. And, what's more, it's bringing some never-before-seen footage of the Burnage boys' comeback with it. Check out the announcement teaser below;

Having arrived in cinemas as definitely, maybe the best concert movie of the decade so far, Don't Look Back In Anger's streaming release looks to affirm the old adage about never having too much of a good thing. Per Disney+'s press release for the doc's streaming drop, the streamer will "host never-before-seen footage that includes material from the joint interview with Liam and Noel Gallagher, and full performances of songs “Wonderwall” and “Slide Away”." On top of more from the Gallaghers' first on-screen interview together in over two decades, Don't Look Back In Anger's Disney+ release will also contain performances of “D'You Know What I Mean?” and “Half The World Away” that were previously not included in the film's cinema release.

At a time where concert movies from the likes of Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Beyoncé and more have all seen fans clamouring for a chance to relive the experience of seeing their favourite artists perform live, Don't Look Back In Anger — as much a celebration of Oasis fans as the band themselves and their music — has proven an unlikely feel-good hit with cinemagoers. So, if you somehow haven't seen it already, then prepare to get supersonic (gin and tonic optional) when Oasis: Don't Look Back In Anger hits Disney+ on October 9. Until then, we're off to pay an Etsy witch to curse ticket touts and bots... as you were.

Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC.

“Evil dies tonight!” cry the angry residents of Haddonfield in a call to end Michael Myers’ reign of terror in Halloween Kills. In Halloween: The Game, though, Evil jumps out of a cupboard only to get the shit kicked out of him by four 16-year-olds screaming down their microphones. Like Jason and Leatherface before him, it’s Michael Myers’ now gets the multiplayer videogame treatment, pitting four online players against another in the role of The Shape, as they try to save as many of the town’s residents as possible and escape before Michael slices, dices or creatively hurls them through a TV screen.

With many such games have tried to recreate the success of crowned king of horror multiplayer Dead by Daylight, but they almost invariably fall short by never fully embracing the wacky horror franchises they’re pulling from. It’s to Halloween: The Game’s credit that it displays such a deep love for Michael Myers as a character — despite his many issues. The person stepping into the killer’s shoes is encouraged to embrace the experience entirely, properly stalking your victims, with three levels of fear available to inflict by doing so. Rather than sneaking up behind people, it’s very much in your interests to appear from behind a bush in full view and watch your victim properly freak out, with higher fear levels making them trip as they run, marking terrified targets on the map, or allowing Michael to unleash one of his many macabre special abilities.

The best of these murder methods, and where the game truly shines on both sides of its killer/survivor coin, is Michael’s “Shape Jump” ability, which sees the masked killer travel to new locations in an instant, dishing up some organic slasher-film moments. It’s an absolute joy to have a survivor lock themselves inside a house, only for Michael to suddenly appear, staring back at them from the top of a staircase (made more satisfying by screams of terror over proximity-based microphone chat). On the flipside, it also provides some Carpenter-level scares for survivors as you turn a corner, only for Myers’ firm hand to grab you by the throat, leaving you helpless and thoroughly spooked.

As a survivor, you’ll have a town full of NPCs to save, keeping you (and by extension Michael) consistently busy. However, the lack of maps and a relatively limited menu of objectives — including a way-too frequent button-tapping minigame to persuade townspeople to call the police — does get old before too long. With no roadmap to expand the game, either, this focuses on quick thrills over long-term engagement.

Neither does the game quite manage to get away from some of the jankiness that is prevalent in the asymmetrical multiplayer genre. Here, melee knife swings often soar straight past your target, and there’s slowdown when executing some of the game’s many (very gory) environmental kills. Still, that doesn’t mean there’s no fun to be had in slamming the local jock into a window frame, and it never derails the experience as a whole.

Halloween: The Game is also a rare example of the genre that comes complete with a single-player mode. Clocking in at a brisk three hours, it’s essentially a glorified tutorial, but those with an affinity for John Carpenter’s original will certainly get a kick out of playing through the 1978 slasher from Michael’s POV (including the opening scene, first-person and all).

While this never escapes the problems that plague similar games, thanks to gameplay that fully embraces all the franchise’s unique quirks, this will nonetheless walk (very slowly) into the hearts of those who love Halloween.

It's been a strange few months for fans of The Last Of Us. While the second series of HBO's survival horror game adaptation launched — like the first — to critical acclaim last year, since then we've had confirmation that not only has the game's creator and series co-writer/co-showrunner Neil Druckmann exited theshow, but also that Naughty Dog will have no involvement in the forthcoming Season 3 either.  But as the games teach us, "When you're lost in the darkness, look for the light," and that light is coming via some exciting casting news courtesy of Variety.

Per the trade's reporting, Craig Mazin's The Last Of Us Season 3 has just cast John Goodman and OG The Last Of Us Part II voice actors Laura Bailey and Ian Alexander in some key roles. Goodman and Alexander, the latter of whom voiced Lev in TLOU Part II, are set to play Joey and Paco — aka “Heroes of the Highway” — in the latest instalment of HBO's survival horror series, two original characters who have been created specifically for the show. Meanwhile, Laura Bailey — best known to fans as the original voice behind Abby (and, in a fun cameo, one of the operating theatre nurses in the Season 1 finale) — is on to play Elizabeth, one of the leaders of cult-like religious sect the Seraphites. The trio of new stars join previously announced Season 3 cast members Clea Duvall, Patrick Wilson, Jason Ritter, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Michelle Mao, and Kyriana Kratter, along with returnees including Kaitlyn Dever, Bella Ramsey, Isabella Merced, Gabriel Luna, and Jeffrey Wright.

As players of The Last Of Us will recall, the second game undergoes a distinct tonal and narrative shift midway through, pretty much at the exact point where Mazin's HBO show finished its second outing. It'll be interesting then to see how The Last Of Us' third — and potentially final — season ultimately shakes out when it arrives on our screens sometime in 2027. Until then, we'll just have to endure and survive the agonising wait for more emotional/terrifying adventures in the post-apocalypse.

In 2009, James Cameron's Avatar became the highest-grossing movie of all-time with a whopping $2.78 billion box office haul. In 2019, The Russo Brothers' Avengers: Endgame took the Na'vi Nation's title with a super $2.81 billion global haul. Then, in 2021, a cheeky Avatar re-release saw Cameron's sci-fi smash reclaim the top spot, with its lifetime total now sitting at an eye-watering $2.92 billion. Now, in the latest round of the battle between cinema's biggest A-named blockbusters, Avengers: Endgame Encore has just assembled itself an impressive $86 million worldwide opening weekend, reopening the race for that coveted all-time No. 1 spot.

Per Variety's reporting, Endgame Encore — which comes boasting four tantalising new scenes that help tee up the Russos' forthcoming Avengers: Doomsday — took $26 million in North America and $60 million overseas as fans flocked to their nearest IMAX/Infinity Vision equipped multiplex to relive the end of the Infinity Saga and usher in the beginning of the end of the Multiverse Saga. As a result, the MCU blockbuster's current overall box office cume to date has now bumped up to $2.88 billion, placing it just $39 million behind Jake Sully's first Pandoran adventure.

With Endgame Encore largely serving as an appetiser for the MCU's main 2026 cinematic event, Avengers: Doomsday (now releaseing on December 16 in the UK), there's every chance that Marvel Studios' well-timed re-release will see Endgame take the all-time box office record once more before its run is through. But after Spider-Man: Brand New Day's wild $2.48 billion box office run this summer, the big question is surely whether Doomsday can mount a serious challenge for No. 1 itself. As we come to the final stretch of Hollywood's best year since records began, with the MCU finally back back, all bets are off. Who knows? The first ever $3 billion movie might be mere weeks away... watch this space!

Over the last decade we've watched, regularly dumbstruck, as Robert Eggers has brought us tales of witches (The Witch), briny eldritch terrors (The Lighthouse), vikings (The Northman), and vampires (Nosferatu). But while this week's online discourse has been dominated by news that the modern master of horror is soon set to turn his hand to William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet, before Eggers tackles the bard's suicidally star-crossed teen romance we can first look forward to taking a walk on the wild side with upcoming 13th century-set chiller Werwulf. For Aaron Taylor-Johnson going quite literally beast mode as werewolf hunter Willem Dafoe tracks his latest lycanthropic quarry, look no further — check out the Werwulf trailer below;

The list of truly great werewolf movies is not a very long one, truth be told, but even so this already has all the makings of one of the good ones, doesn't it? Sure, plot specifics on Robert Eggers' lycanthrope chiller are scarce beyond the basic "Aaron Taylor-Johnson's got a beast inside him, Lily-Rose Depp's his poor wife tending to their fraught family as hubby turns into an actual monster, and Willem Dafoe's the kooky hunter on ATJ's tail" (pardon the pun), but honestly that's about all we need to know because it's the feel of Werwulf that's got its claws in us already.

Yes, part of the appeal is the era-accurate Middle English dialogue and the attention to historical detail in the movie's aesthetic and lore, but when Eggers told Empire not so long ago "If you're not smelling the shit, you're not experiencing it properly" he wasn't kidding: this looks grim, grimy, and all kinds of bleak and ominous, with slaughtered sheep and petrified peasants strewn across the movie's wolf-ravaged land. “My husband… he is a good man. For the love, I bear him,” says a patently nerve-shot Depp in this trailer. “Please, make him safe from his cursedness.” We wouldn't get our hopes up on present evidence...

We'll see whether Eggers' latest, shot by regular DP Jarin Blaschke and penned alongside co-scribe Sjón, is the dog's bollocks — or an unlikely howler — when Werwulf hits cinemas stateside on Christmas Day, and British and Irish multiplexes on New Year's Day, 2027. Until then, if you really want to go down the werewolf hole, there is an official AR game promising a 'rare reward' for all those who complete it. And you can find that at the brilliantly titled website https://www.devourethallmankynde.com. Godspeed!

Punch it, Chewie: it sounds like Jon Watts is coming back to Star Wars. For a while now, the future of Star Wars movies – beyond next year’s in-the-can Starfighter, directed by Shawn Levy – has been subject to several writers (from Damon Lindelof, to Steven Knight) and several directors. But a new report indicates that the next era of the galaxy far, far away is finally firming up, with Simon Kinberg having spent a couple of years now as the writer in charge of cooking up a new trilogy in the saga. According to The Hollywood Reporter (and Knight Edge Media), Watts is the director who’ll be leading the way – and he not only has form in handling major franchises, having delivered the multi-billion grossing Spider-Man ‘Home’ MCU trilogy, but he’s no stranger to Star Wars either, having co-created Disney+ pirate adventure series Skeleton Crew.

While Lucasfilm hasn’t commented on the reports, there is plenty to speculate on, regarding Watts and Kinberg’s film. It’s heavily rumoured that Kinberg’s trilogy could be a new Skywalker Saga trilogy, which would make Watts’ film an official Episode X (though this is unconfirmed). It’s also expected that Kinberg’s story will feature Daisy Ridley’s long-announced return as Rey Skywalker; if so, it’s unclear whether Watts’ film would subsume, or replace, or co-exist with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s ‘New Jedi Order’ film. And the report states that Watts’ film is not officially greenlit by Disney yet, so keep that in mind.

Since Star Wars: Starfighter will move the saga forward in May 2027 – the first canon film or TV project set beyond the events of Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker – it remains to be seen if it will set in motion events to be picked up in the film Watts could direct. Either way, the director has proven he knows how to bring charm and adventure to the galaxy, with Skeleton Crew’s romping tone and Goonies-style narrative. Stay tuned to see if this kyber crystal successfully ignites.

In 2026, Tom Holland has held down the Ithacan fort — and fired an arrow or two — in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, thwipped into action alongside The Punisher and faced down a Savage Hulk in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and done a Pepsi advert with footballing GOAT Lionel Messi. But as we reported back in July, the in-demand actor isn't stopping there — he's already limbering up to finally make his long-gestating Fred Astaire biopic with Wonka director Paul King. And now Deadline has confirmed that the project has just cast actor-turned-pop-megastar Sabrina Carpenter and The Substance's Margaret Qualley in two pivotal roles.

Set to be directed by King from a script by Fosse/Verdon and the Tick, Tick... BOOM! movie writer Steven Levenson, we've long since known that this Fred Astaire biopic is expected to centre around the legendary performer's relationship with sister Adele Astaire, tracing their journey from simple midwestern Vaudeville act to Broadway, the West End, and beyond — first together as a duo, then apart, as Adele settled down while Fred's star ascended alongside new partner Ginger Rogers to the Hollywood heights. And now we know that Qualley — a classically trained ballet dancer in her own right — will play the Adele to Holland's Fred Astaire, while triple-threat talent Carpenter is on board to play the iconic Ginger Rogers. And the duo are in good company with Holland, whose career started in the West End's Billy Elliot and whose formidable moves have been evident in everything from his Spider-Man acrobatics to that viral 'Umbrella' lip sync battle.

Based on the book The Astaires: Fred & Adele by Kathleen Riley, King's Fred Astaire biopic has been in development for a solid half a decade at this point. But with Holland coming fresh from a sensational summer both critically and commercially, two massive stars now aligning with him to bring his passion project to life, and the man who gave us Paddington at the helm, it seems now really is the time to bust out the Top Hat and get ready for a Hot Fred Summer... coming soon to a cinema near you.

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast is all about birthdays, folks. Partially because Chris Hewitt just had one, but also because this week's listener question asks our Three Colleagues Of Such Lethal Cunning — Chris, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer — to discuss the best movies released on their birthdays. The answers will shock and, in one case, depress the hell out of you. Elsewhere, our intrepid trio — joined by this week's workie, Grace — discuss a number of trailers, including The Further Mis-Adventures Of Cliff Booth, and compare audiobook casts for starriness; and review David Ayer's Brad Pitt-and-dog survival thriller, Heart Of The Beast, the new version of Sense And Sensibility, rom-com The Love Hypothesis, Exorcist II documentary Boorman And The Devil, and Na Hong-jin's gonzo South Korean action movie, Hope. And speaking of Heart Of The Beast, that film's director, David Ayer, sits down on Zoom for a lovely natter with Chris. He's a good director, Brant.

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 #735) on the pod app of your choice. There, you'll also find the latest episode of Empire Pod regular The Interviews. And this week's instalment is, truly, different class. First up, Chris Hewitt has a lovely Zoom with Jarvis Cocker — yes, THE Jarvis Cocker — as the Pulp frontman and all-round legend talks about the band's new movie, the Garth Jennings-directed Pulp: What Do You Do For An Encore, which is in cinemas for ONE DAY ONLY, Friday September 18 (today, in other words), before heading to MUBI from September 25. So have a listen to this, and then catch it if you can. After Jarvis exits the building, Helen O'Hara has a one-to-one with the Danish director Susanne Bier about her new movie, Practical Magic 2, which is conjuring up a storm at the box office right now. Enjoy!

While the much-anticipated release of Avengers: Endgame Encore may be hogging the headlines this week, there is another wildly entertaining, kind of unwieldy, ridiculously ambitious near-three-hour-long sci-fi blockbuster that's got us really excited right now: Na Hong-jin's gonzo creature feature Hope.

Heavily reported on as the most expensive South Korean movie ever made, Director Na's latest — which sees two police officers in a small town near the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea find themselves under attack from a mysterious creature — hits UK cinemas this week amid major hype and the promise of an experience that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible.

As Hope stomps into multiplexes across the land, Empire's resident expert on one of South Korea's greatest filmmakers is here to guide you through Director Na's filmography to date. Read on as we walk you through the three Na Hong-jin films you need to see next — and where to stream them.

The Chaser (2008)

Runtime: 2hrs 5m | Streaming on: Prime Video, Arrow Video, Shudder

Starring: Kim Yun-seok, Ha Jung-woo, Seo Young-hee, Kim You-jung, Jung In-gi

Thought David Fincher’s Se7en or Zodiac were among the most harrowing serial killer thrillers? The incredibly remorseless murderer in Na’s breakout feature makes John Doe seem pretty chill in comparison, and even gives Bong Joon Ho's Memories Of Murder a run for its money while it's at it. Set in a world soaked in rain and blood, this cat-and-mouse story has an all-pervasive sense of hopelessness running through it, but is so relentlessly paced and utterly gripping that you won't be able to take your eyes off it. Throw in a sharp critique of Korea's policing and legal systems, and The Chaser makes the emergence of a major new filmmaking talent incredibly clear.

Read Empire's review of The Chaser.

The Yellow Sea (2010)

Runtime: 2hrs 36m | Buy/Rent on: Apple TV

Starring: Ha Jung-woo, Kim Yun-seok, Cho Seong-ha, Lee Cheol-min, Kwak Do-won, Im Ye-won

Continuing his bleak streak, the director’s man-on-the-run thriller soaks its lead taxi driver, Gu-nam (Ha Jung-woo), in a world of desperation. After his contract kill goes wrong, he faces mobsters wanting to break his legs, and the police wanting to break them too. It’s a brutal take on a man limping his way out of one sticky situation and into another, with many bloodied knives and smashed heads along the way. It’s a sweaty, sweaty film that’ll leave you desperate for a breather by the end of its whacking great 156-minute runtime.

Read Empire's review of The Yellow Sea.

The Wailing (2016)

Runtime: 2hrs 36m | Streaming on: Prime Video

Starring: Kwak Do-won, Hwang Jung-min, Chun Woo-hee, Jun Kunimura, Kim Hwan-hee, Heo Jin

Going full-bore into the horror genre, Director Na delivered one of the most downright terrifying films of the 21st century – channelling something primal in the tale of a South Korean village torn apart by supernatural murders, seemingly linked to a local Japanese stranger. It begins as a police procedural of sorts, as local copper Jong-goo (Kwak Do-won) investigates the terrible killings, before the film shifts into all-out waking nightmare mode. Gorgeously shot, incredibly atmospheric, and with a final act that instils terror on a primal level, this 150-minute epic is a legitimate all-timer and yet still, somehow, criminally underseen. Get on it!

Read Empire's review of The Wailing.

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All caught up on Na Hong-jin's oeuvre? Why not see where The Wailing landed on our rundown of the best horror movies of the 21st century? Or check out more world cinema with our ranked list of the 100 best movies ever made? And if you've not already clocked it, then Hope is in UK cinemas now. Run, don't walk to witness the wildness of Director Na's latest for yourself.

It’s been a few years since director Andrew Haigh, along with Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott, delivered the devastating but equally beautiful All Of Us Strangers. A film also more than earned its spot at the top of our best films of 2024. Now, the director is back with an all-new film, A Long Winter, and we now know when it will be heading to UK cinemas, along with its new poster, which you can see here:

MUBI has announced that the drama will be hitting UK cinemas from 15 January 2027, taking us away from the loud streets of London in his last film to an unforgiving winter in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains in 1951. Led by Fred Hechinger and everyone’s favourite Taylor Swift lip-syncer Ebon Moss-Bachrach, the film follows a son (Hechinger) whose life is thrown upside down after his mother vanishes into the wilderness. The film follows a father, son and their town as they are rocked by her disappearance and set out to find her, leading them on a journey of self-discovery.

The film looks to be just as soulful as the director’s previous outing and, from the few shots we have seen, looks beautifully shot by André Turpin, capturing an ice-cold winter landscape. The cast also includes Caitríona Balfe, as well as a mini Warfare reunion with Kit Connor and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as part of the ensemble.

The news comes following its world premiere at the 2026 Telluride Film Festival, with the film also set to show at the 70th BFI London Film Festival this month, where it will receive its UK premiere on 14 October. We’re sure it won’t be long before a trailer we will see a trailer for A Long Winter, but do wrap up warm as you head to cinemas to see this one.

The moment his Twilight years ended, Robert Pattinson decided to get weird. Once he hung up the Edward fangs, the actor teamed up with auteur directors, plunged himself into arthouse fare, and put his A-list profile aside to make all kinds of weird and wonderful movies. It’s already been a banner Pattinson year with The Drama and The Odyssey – and as he returns to cinemas with Primetime, there’s a treasure trove of great, unexpected, oddball Robert Pattinson performances you can watch on streaming too.

From interstellar existential odysseys, to car-set Cronenberg collaborations, to talking birds, here are three excellent, weird Robert Pattinson movies to watch at home, picked by Empire’s movie experts.

Cosmopolis (2012)

Director: David Cronenberg | Runtime: 1hr 49m | Streaming on: BFI Player

In 2026, Cronenberg and a going-viral-for-all-his-wacky-interviews Pattinson seem like a match made in heaven. But back in 2012, this was a big move for an actor fresh from the Twilight saga. Set over a single day in NYC, much of Cosmopolis is spent with Pattinson’s cold and calculating billionaire, who gives us one of his first truly great performances, fully committing to every bizarre line delivery and ambiguous monologue that Cronenberg throws his way. Mostly set inside the claustrophobic and sterile walls of a limo, Cronenberg’s late-stage-capitalism tale only makes those walls feel like they’re getting tighter and tighter as it ramps up towards its rather explosive conclusion. We’ve seen R-Pattz shine in plenty more dramatic roles in recent years, but it’s never a bad time to revisit one of his first — and best. HS

Read Empire’s review of Cosmopolis.

High Life (2018)

Director: Claire Denis | Runtime: 1hr 53m | Streaming on: Tubi

If you ever watched Interstellar and thought, “Hmm, this is pretty good, but it would be better with a few gallons more semen, a Juliette Binoche manned ‘Fuck Box’, and some lactation-based leakage sequences,” then boy do we have the Robert Pattinson movie for you! Long before Mickey 17, R-Pattz’s first sci-fi suicide mission came in the form of High Life, Claire Denis’ fluid-filled first English-language film. But in a movie that’s nutty in more ways than one, Pattinson is on mercurial form as the monk-like Monte, a Death Row prisoner and doting father stuck on a one-way trip to extract energy from a black hole. Like his abstinent character, Pattinson keeps his spunk to himself here, opting instead for a low-key but subtly strange turn that plays out often in silence, often in close-up, making a movie ostensibly centred on a sperm-obsessed mad scientist something far more profound and meaningful than that sounds.

Read Empire’s review of High Life.

The Boy And The Heron (2023)

Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Runtime: 2hrs 4m | Streaming on: Netflix

The American dubs for Studio Ghibli films are always a real cut above – there’s no shame in watching these not in the Japanese language. And Hayao Miyazaki’s most recent masterpiece brought Pattinson on in a particularly surprising capacity. He voices the heron of The Boy And The Heron – a talking supernatural bird-man with a squawky, gravelly voice that you would never in a million years guess was the man behind Edward Cullen. The character is so expressively animated, and Pattinson matches its unhinged tenor in a voice performance for the ages. BT

Read Empire’s review of The Boy And The Heron.

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All up to date on your Pattinson pictures now? Why not take a deep-dive into Jacob Elordi’s best projects next? Or some underrated Tom Holland movies? If you’re feeling even more adventurous, then our list of the 100 best movies ever made is always there for a mega movie marathon, and our rundown of the greatest TV shows of all time has those who prefer their storytelling serialised covered.

WARNING: Contains spoilers for the Encore re-release of Avengers: Endgame

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over seven years now since Avengers: Endgame first arrived in cinemas, bringing the MCU’s Infinity Saga to an emotional, euphoric conclusion with a snap of Tony Stark’s fingers. And yet here we are, fifteen films and about a bajillion streaming series later, preparing for the beginning of the end of the Multiverse Saga with the Russo Brothers’ upcoming Avengers: Doomsday.

Ahead of Doomsday’s newly confirmed December 16 UK release, Avengers: Endgame Encore is now in cinemas, with special Infinity Vision and IMAX screenings packing four new scenes and credits stings that help set the stage for Doctor Doom’s MCU debut proper.

Whether you’re fresh from a screening and still processing what you’ve just seen, or simply can’t wait to know what’s new with Endgame Encore, your friendly neighbourhood Empire’s got you covered. Read on as we run through all the juicy new stuff in Avengers: Endgame Encore and unpack what it might mean for Doomsday. Empirians… assemble!

Loki’s knocking at Steve’s door

What’s new: Endgame originally ends with Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers heading back in time to be with his sweetheart, Peggy Carter. The lovebirds dance, credits roll, and Cap gets his happily ever, right? Well, not any more. Encore’s final moments see Steve and Peggy’s two-step interrupted by a knock at the door from none other than Tom Hiddleston’s God of Mischief God of Stories Loki, who arrives in full TVA get-up offering his help to the couple.

What it might mean: “But why would Peggy and Steve need Loki’s help?” we hear you cry. Well, what if Steve staying in the past somehow broke the multiverse? What if his happy ending created an unauthorised branch timeline, the repercussions of which destroyed one Victor Von Doom’s world and started the incursions? What if Steve and Peggy and their wee bairn were never meant to be? What then, huh? While we’ve learned to never fully trust an Avengers trailer, Doomsday’s teasers suggest Doom believes our heroes are living “stolen lives”. Perhaps Loki’s “help” is getting Steve and Peggy the hell out of dodge and tucking them away in some other timeline before Doom comes to steal his life back.

Doctor Doom is having a Banner year — literally

What’s new: A new mid-credits sequence turns our attention to Dr. Bruce Banner, seemingly confirming Mark Ruffalo’s Doomsday return in the process. Vlogging from a military complex two miles beneath the Earth following his destructive Spider-Man: Brand New Day Hulk-out, Banner — who’s been spending his time in confinement experimenting with a new gamma radiation suppressor — assures us the big green guy’s safely in check where nobody can reach him. Clearly Doctor Doom didn’t get that memo. Arriving off-screen amid flickering lights and camera glitchery, Doom, er, doomfully intones, “Dr. Banner, I’ve come to collect you,” Cue Bruce seeing — and sounding — green as Doom does a disappearing act with his irradiated quarry, leaving some sinister glowing Latverian symbols on the floor as they go.

What it might mean: With Doom having seemingly come to abduct Reed Richards and Sue Storm’s superkid Franklin Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ post-credits, and now nabbed himself a Hulk, too, it remains to be seen what the Latverian baddie’s, er, endgame is. Is he siphoning superbeings’ powers for his own use? Is he building an army? Is he recruiting big brains to build something even bigger? One thing’s for sure: it’ll be fascinating to see what battles — or Battleworlds, even — Victor has in mind for Franklin and Bruce come Doomsday.

New mask, same task

What’s new: The final thing we heard in the original Endgame was the poignant sound of Tony Stark forging his first Iron Man suit (in a cave, with a box of scraps, natch.) Well, all that clanging has taken on a whole new meaning post-Endgame Encore as every hammer strike is now timed to shots of Robert Downey Jr.’s Victor Von Doom forging his Doctor Doom mask (in, it must be said, distinctly Tony Starkian fashion.)

What it might mean: Well, we all remember RDJ’s words in Hall H at Comic Con, don’t we? “New mask, same task.” And while that’s probably just a cool line to say, and the recontextualising of the Endgame credit clanks is probably just a neat-o way to pretend Doom was always coming, and we know Downey is definitely playing Victor Von Doom, the Russos know what they’re doing drawing parallels between Stark and Doom, two maverick minds with massive egos and a love of metalwear. Could this still somehow be some kind of Stark-gone-wrong variant situation? Or is this a classic Marvel Cinematic Universe bait-and-switch? Robert Downey Jr. is a great actor, obviously, but surely — surely — there’s more to his Doomsday casting.

TVA excursion teases incursions… and the collapse of the Multiverse

What’s new: Loki, Bruce, and Doomsmithing are all well and good, but Endgame Encore’s post-credit scene — an intense trip to the TVA — that really turns the Doomsday hype up to eleven. As Tara Strong’s ever-chipper Miss Minutes reminds her colleagues at the Time Variance Authority how important it is that everyone stays in their own universes (oops!), TVA employee Casey informs Owen Wilson’s Mobius — clearly pulled out of “just letting time pass” mode following Loki’s Season 2 finale — that Earth-10005 (Fox’s X-Men’s Universe) and Earth-1127 are about to collide. Initially shrugged off as an anomaly, things get more serious when the two Earths start launching missiles at each other. Suddenly, reports start flooding in of more universes beginning to collide — three, then a hundred, a thousand, three thousand — as Eric Bana’s Hulk universe (Earth-400083), the 2015 Fantastic Four universe (Earth-15886), Captain Carter’s What If? Universe (Earth-82111) and more are marked as destroyed.

What it might mean:  Well, Ke Huy Quan’s Ouroboros probably puts it best: “The multiverse is collapsing.” But to extrapolate a little, the imminent destruction of Fox’s X-Men universe might explain how they come to be in the MCU’s core universe. Maybe they're just doing what mutantkind has always had to do: adapt and survive. And with trailers and promo material teasing Doctor Doom using anti-mutant tech (hello Sentinels!) and some potential hostility between the Avengers and X-Men, perhaps the seeds are being sown for Doom to pit the teams against each other, framing them as one other's greatest existential threats to distract from his own sordid schemes. We wouldn't put it past him — his name's not exactly Dr. Doesnicethings, is it?

With worlds colliding, the multiverse collapsing, and the Avengers preparing to assemble once again, if Endgame Encore has taught us anything for certain then it is this. Dread it. Run from it. Doomsday arrives all the same. Roll on December 16…

After two failed attempts to revive the iconic Saw franchise in the last decade — first with 2017's barn-bound Jigsaw, then 2020's bizarre Chris Rock starrer Spiral: From The Book Of Saw — it had, until fairly recently, seemed that the Jigsaw puzzle was one Hollywood simply couldn't piece together any longer. But after 2023's fan-pleasing Saw X and last year's exciting announcement that Blumhouse Atomic Monster had bought Saw's rights, things have been looking up for the bloody billion-dollar saga. And now, per Deadline's reporting, Saw's next chapter has found its director: Beware Boiúna director Mike P. Nelson.

No stranger to bringing something new to known and gnarly horror IP, Nelson — whose past works include 2021's Wrong Turn, a short in V/H/S 85, and last year's underseen yet deliciously icky Silent Night, Deadly Night — is an exciting pick to steer Saw's latest revival, a lesser-known filmmaker but one with proven genre bona fides. And James Wan, who'll be producing the movie alongside OG Saw co-scribe Leigh Whannell and Jason Blum, clearly agrees. “Making the original Saw was a defining experience for me, so it was essential to find a director who would honor that world," said the Atomic Monster founder and filmmaker in a statement accompanying today's news. "Mike has a raw, distinctive filmmaking voice with an inventive approach to the genre, and I believe he’ll bring something truly unique and special to the franchise.”

In his own statement, Nelson — whose giant snake creature feature Beware Boiúna has been causing a stir since its Fantastic Fest world premiere last week — shared his excitement to be stepping into Saw's sadistic cinematic world along with writers written by Gregory Weidman and Geoff Tock (Below, Dune: Prophecy). “Being asked to play in this twisted sandbox with James is nothing short of a dream come true," said Nelson. "Greg and Geoff and James have crafted such a wild script that brings the mystery of the original while exploring new insane bloody ideas that meld so well with the brutal moral compass of the franchise. Let the games begin!”

With Wan and Whannell back aboard, a buzzy emerging voice in horror at the helm, and the genre having experienced not so much a moment as a whole movement in recent times, now may just be the perfect time to get the Jigsaw back out of the box. Let the games begin, indeed. *Alexa, play 'Hello Zepp'*

When is a limited series not a limited series? Well, if you look to the likes of Shōgun and Big Little Lies, then the answer is simple: when it's bagged itself heaps of critical acclaim and a buzzy awards run, of course. And so seems to be the case once more as Variety is reporting that Netflix's prestige cat and mouse thriller The Beast In Me — whose first outing just helped star Matthew Rhys make history at this year's Emmys — has been renewed for Season 2 at the streamer. And, what's more, Claire Danes' Aggie Wiggs is returning too, presumably to collect more morbid inspiration for her next book.

The first season of The Beast In Me saw Danes' grieving mother and blocked-up author Aggie drawing dark inspiration for her latest book from new next-door neighbour Nile (Rhys), a real-estate magnate's son who may or may not have been involved in the mysterious disappearance of his first wife. And while we won't spoil how Season 1 eventually panned out, sole confirmation of Danes' return in front of the camera certainly suggests a new story awaits both for her and for us. First season showrunner Howard Gordon is back for Season 2 though, this time sharing his duties with the series' executive producer Daniel Pearle.

“We always told ourselves we’d only do a second season of ‘The Beast in Me’ if we found a story that was worthy of the first – and I’m thrilled to say we found it,” said Gordon in a state confirming the psychological thriller's return. “We loved making this show and our audience seemed to love watching it, so we’re enormously grateful to Jinny Howe and Netflix, and to Karey Burke and 20th Television for giving us the chance to get the band back together and do it again.”

At this point, what creator Gabe Rotter has in store for us with The Beast In Me Season 2 very much remains to be seen — plot, cast, release date, the whole kit and caboodle. But after that first outing and its jaw-slackening finale, one thing is for sure: we'll be seated whenever The Beast In Me is uncaged once again. Watch this space!

One of the best TV shows of 2024, the first season of Giri/Haji creator Joe Barton's Black Doves arrived as the perfect Christmas gift from Netflix: a ridiculously smart, incredibly fun spy thriller starring Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw as Helen and Sam, a spook and an assassin whose double-lives cross dangerously following an alarmingly close-to-home murder. Two years later, the duo are coming back with a bang this Bonfire Night, bringing some new pals — and some old foes — with them. Check out the trailer below;

Mrs. Reed's gone missing. Black Doves are dropping like flies. Helen's hubby's about to become prime minister while she's off bonking baddies on their bonces with bottles of bubbly, while Sam's in it up to his neck (again) dealing with mysterious emissaries (Sam Riley) and suspiciously Neve Campbell-looking defence envoys. Ah, Black Doves, how we've missed you! Despite the fact that the stakes have clearly been raised for round two of Barton's propulsive spy-thriller series, this first trailer for Season 2 — bringing the likes of One Day's Ambika Mod and Babou Ceesay into the fray while welcoming back the brilliantly droll Eleanor (Gabrielle Creevy) and Williams (Ella Lily Hyland) — is everything we've come to expect from the show: whipsmart, frenetic, twisty-turny espionage hijinks shot through with wicked humour and slick action.

The official synopsis for Black Doves Season 2 reads: "In S2, Helen is still betraying her nation’s secrets to the covert organization she serves, the Black Doves. But after the misadventures of last Christmas, and with her husband, Wallace, preparing to become prime minister, she’s walking a more treacherous line than ever. As Helen’s enigmatic handler, Mrs. Reed (Sarah Lancashire), is ensnared in a ruthless plot to undermine her position in the Black Doves, Helen is reunited with her best friend, Sam (Ben Whishaw). The once high-end triggerman is now reduced to lonely drinks in Soho bars and low-rate hits. As they search for answers, loyalties are weaponized, trust is shattered, and the fight to protect the people they love could cost everything."

With all six hour-long episodes of Black Doves due to hit Netflix on November 5, it looks like Christmas is coming early this year for fans of British spycraft at its very best. And whether you're going out or staying in, expect sparks to fly this Bonfire Night.

It’s a weird time to be a Doctor Who fan. While the beloved British sci-fi instruction is currently in a regeneration period – with the latest iteration of the show coming to a somewhat unceremonious end, and the property put out to tender for a fresh take – there are still 60-plus years of TARDIS adventures for Whovians to revisit in the meantime. And one of the very best Nu-Who adventures is getting a whole new feature-length re-edit this November, with additional material that’s never before been seen.

The BBC has confirmed that two-parter ‘The Satan Pit’ (with its predecessor ‘The Impossible Planet’) is getting a cinema release in a new ‘Extended Movie Cut’. The two part episode, roughly totalling 90 minutes in its televised form, was part of Series 2 of the revived show, featuring David Tennant’s Doctor and Billie Piper’s Rose – with a dark story in which the duo meet alien slave race the Ood, experience some unsettling possession aboard a deep-space station, and eventually come face-to-face with… well, we don’t want to spoil it, but it is called The Satan Pit, so use your imagination.

The TV episodes were written by Matt Jones and directed by James Strong – and the BBC’s Charlie Lowe confirms that the new cut “brings together restored deleted scenes and other material that never escaped the cutting room floor, creating an extended version of the story”.

Doctor Who: The Satan Pit will be getting a cinema release on Doctor Who Day (that’s November 23, for anyone without a Sonic Screwdriver), which should hopefully keep fans happy while the future of the show is figured out.

“People will say I’ve become unrelatable,” worries one character in Her Private Hell. This doesn’t feel like an anxiety that Danish filmmaker Nicholas Winding Refn has ever struggled with. He wasn’t especially relatable when making gritty crime dramas like Pusher and Bronson. His breakthrough film, the Ryan Gosling thriller Drive, deployed taciturn masculinity and ultraviolence alongside cool detachment. His work since then has become increasingly strange, held at a remove from the audience: from The Neon Demon’s eye-swallowing fashion horrors to the pig-squealing sex scenes of Copenhagen Cowboy.

Her Private Hell — or to give it its full myopic title, Her Private Hell By NWR, taking auteur theory to exciting new levels of annoying — goes the furthest yet in the unrelatable stakes. Ostensibly, it’s another surreal, metaphysical, psychosexual fairy tale, the neon demons multiplied, an exercise less in style-over-substance than style-instead-of-substance. But more than any of his previous films, it feels like his lifelong quest for making challenging, aesthete-led art, unencumbered by convention or coherence, has finally run out of road.

As in Drive and The Neon Demon, Refn casts a doleful-looking young ingénue and subjects them to horrific violence and trauma. Here it is Gen-Z scream queen Sophie Thatcher; her character is a film star called Elle (a nod to Refn alum Elle Fanning?). We open in an eerie, misty-pink cityscape, the garish colours of Refn’s beloved giallo horrors immediately present. In the lobby of a vast hotel skyscraper, Elle meets a fan named Hunter (Kristine Froseth), and invites her to the well-appointed penthouse of her (wicked?) stepmother, Dominique (Havana Rose Liu).

There is talk of evil mist, and whispers of an otherworldly, serial-killing boogeyman called the Leatherman, whose face, we’re told, “is an infinite abyss”. Also in the mix, somehow, is Charles Melton’s Private K, an American GI: a strong, silent type out to exact vengeance for wrongs committed against women, yet who still finds time, in-between bloody beatings, to comb his impeccable hair.

It would be inaccurate to label this film as hell. Hell would be much less boring.

It’s not that there isn’t a plot or characters here: there very much is, with a woozy love triangle of sorts, a gruesome revenge thread, and clear nods to the dark Hans Christian Andersen fable The Darning Needle. There are hints at a meta-narrative, too, a film about filmmaking: Elle stars in a hyper-stylised adaptation of a cheesy sci-fi comic book called Candy Floss, which plays as a kind of wanky fashionista Flash Gordon. “Making a movie is like going to war,” notes one character, suggesting this is Refn working through some stuff. But whether directly or indirectly, details are either fuzzy or ruinously incoherent. Mystery and ambiguity in filmmaking is always welcome, but the choices here feel just sloppy, patience-testing and childishly provocative. Often they simply don’t deliver; Dougray Scott’s Johnny Thunders is spoken of in whispered terms, yet disappears almost immediately.

Far more often — far too often — the female characters just seem like objects upon which to hang beautiful clothes and make-up, lining up to pose in straight-down-the-lens vignettes: as if props for a glamour magazine shoot, rather than living, breathing humans for a narrative. The male gaze is everywhere here, even if dressed in the veneer of female queerness. Refn’s camera smacks of Asian fetishism, too, a criticism he has fielded before in Only God Forgives.

What is it really about? The cycle of abuse? The Fall Of Man in boogeyman form? Something to do with mist? It’s never clear. Perhaps it makes sense to Refn. Across a two-hour runtime that feels like four, the film teeters precariously between the poles of captivating and insufferable, and too often lumbers into the wrong side.

Undoubtedly, Refn is a master stylist, and surrounds himself with master craftspeople. The production design by Gitte Malling is ambitious and imposing, a rare example of modern-day miniature work. The sound by Kristian Eidnes Andersen dials up the squeak of the leather and the crunch of the necks. The sweeping score from Pino Donaggio lends everything an operatic quality. The lurid palette of Magnus Nordenhof Jønck’s cinematography is jaw-dropping. Yet the finished product is just endlessly frustrating. The experience is akin to watching extremely beautiful paint dry. It would be obvious but not accurate to label this film as hell. Hell would be much less boring.

It’s finally real: Gremlins 3 is officially happening. After years of development hell (if only there was a name for creatures who could be blamed for such problems in the system) the Mogwai – and presumably, their Gremlin counterparts – will be returning to cinema screens for the first time since 1990’s unhinged Gremlins 2: The New Batch. And to prove it, we have a very, very short teaser, just a teeny-tiny taste – but one that offers your very first look at Gizmo’s comeback:

There’s not much to go on there – but boy, does it feel good to see our favourite Mogwai back in action. For the deep Gremlins fans, there is something notable in Gizmo’s appearance, which looks closer to the original Chris Walas design in the original film than the tweaked Rick Baker design in The New Batch. Details on Gremlins 3 are scarce, but the film will be directed by Chris Columbus, who penned the first movie, with Steven Spielberg back as producer. Columbus has worked on the script with Final Destination: Bloodlines directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein.

It’s currently unknown whether Zach Galligan will return – but given that he reacted to the teaser with a ‘looking eyes’ emoji, we can speculate that Billy Peltzer might be involved in the mayhem.

What we do know is, there’s a bit of a longer wait than expected. Gremlins 3 has a new release date of October 6, 2028 – having previously been expected in November 2027. But hey, we’ve waited this long already. Let the carnage commence!

Jake Schreier's X-Men movie has its cast. Spider-Man: Brand New Day has proven a record-shattering hit. Avengers: Endgame Encore is mere days away. A Ryan Gosling Ghost Rider movie is actually happening. And — AND! — Avengers: Doomsday is just around the corner, bringing with it the introduction proper of Robert Downey Jr. as one Victor Von Doom. Seriously, could things get any better for MCU fans just now? Well, if you happen to live in the UK then yes, actually, they can. As confirmed to Digital Spy by Disney, The Russo Brothers' upcoming multiversal epic is officially set to hit British cinemas on December 16, a whole two days before the movie's December 18 release elsewhere.

With both Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame having previously landed in UK cinemas a day or two before their wider international rollouts, and the above-mentioned Brand New Day hitting British shores a couple of days before the US and Canada, Doomsday's early arrival on this side of the pond isn't necessarily surprising. Even so, with Dune: Part Three now getting preview screenings from December 15 and the much-hyped Dunesday no longer confined to that December 18 drop, an earlier Doomsday release gives British cinemagoers a chance to space out their probably-three-hour-long blockbuster epics (or, more realistically, cram in extra trips to Latveria and Arrakis before the mother of all geeky double-bills.)

Before Doomsday, Dunesday, or any of those pre-Christmas festivities kick off however, Marvel stans can look forward to putting together the next piece (or about four) of Avengers: Doomsday with Avengers: Endgame Encore on September 25, which promises 'special footage with an extended runtime' for those who check it out in Infinity Vision and IMAX formats. *Alexa, play 'Portals' by Alan Silvestri* Avengers... assemble!