Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 1859

Patty Jenkins Hints At “Totally Different” WONDER WOMAN 2

Wonder Woman was the superhero movie of 2017, no small achievement in a year with no shortage of great superhero movies. Director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot knocked it out of the park with Princess Diana’s origin story, so now that everyone is officially on board for the sequel, the question becomes “where do we go from here?” In a recent interview, via Slashfilm, Jenkins dropped a hint about the upcoming Wonder Woman 2:

“We’re actually making a totally different film with a lot of the same…things that we love, but it’s its own movie completely, so it’s not ‘two’ to us. It’s an entirely new adventure together that we couldn’t be luckier [to do].”

Well, that is pretty vague, but it hints that the second film won’t be a direct follow up to the events of the first film. Which means that we probably won’t see Wonder Woman II: The Wrath of Ares or anything like. For a lot of fans, David Thewlis’ portrayal of the God of War was the film’s weakest aspect, so although Ares is Diana’s Joker or Lex Luthor, expect that chapter to be closed, at least for now.

Rumors abound that the movie will take place during the Cold War era 1980s, but that hasn’t been confirmed. Although it almost definitely will have a time jump of some kind, the question becomes does the movie take place in modern day, or anytime during the last century? Wonder Woman 2 could take a page from Marvel here, shadowing how Captain America: The Winter Soldier did a sequel to a period piece superhero film. If Wonder Woman 2 is anywhere near as good as that film, we will all be very lucky moviegoers.

Jenkins comments might also suggest that a Wonder Woman sequel might break with the first film in that it won’t be a story rooted in Greek mythology, as many of Wonder Woman’s most well regarded comic book stories tend to be. Of course, over 75 years of publishing history at DC Comics, there are plenty of examples of Wonder Woman stories not based on gods and goddesses.

On of Wonder Woman’s most infamous examples of a big departure from her traditional mythos came in 1968, when she lost her powers, her costume, and her access to her fellow Amazons, who departed to another dimension. Wonder Woman became a sort of female James Bond, travelling the world in a white jumpsuit and karate chopping bad guys. To say that feminists of the time were not happy about Diana losing her powers and iconography is perhaps an understatement. Within four years, prominent feminists had rallied for Wonder Woman’s powers and costume to be restored, and DC Comics obliged.

However, the “female Bond” era had a lasting impact, as the Lynda Carter television series offered a mix of both takes on Diana. Her secret identity of Diana Prince worked for one of those made up government spy agencies, so she still kicked ass fighting terrorists and the like as something of a super spy. She also happened to still be able to turn into a super powered demi-goddess when she felt like it. Could Jenkins new movie be picking up on that angle from the comics for a sequel?

Another big departure from Wonder Woman’s traditional mythological storytelling was when Diana was exiled into space, and ended up leading a slave revolt on an alien world. This multi-part “Space Pirates” story ran in the mid ’90s, and it wasn’t terribly popular, but it was a break from the usual “Wonder Woman fights a gorgon” type stories fans had become used to. I could see Patty Jenkins maybe doing a loose adaptation of this and turning it into something cool.

Another offbeat Wonder Woman story is Paul Dini and Alex Ross’ OGN Spirit of Truth, which finds Diana fighting terrorists, but also finds her confronting the fact that she is often separated most from the people she’s sworn to protect. It would be sort of an odd choice to inspire a movie, but aspects of it could creep in. Actually, Diana’s introduction in Justice League is inspired by the graphic novel at least in part. And say what you will about that film, but Diana’s introduction is pretty great.

Wonder Woman 2 is currently set to hit theaters November 1, 2019.

What non-traditional Wonder Woman comic book stories would you like to see inspire a sequel? And which villains would you like to see used? I know I’m personally rooting for Circe and the Cheetah. Be sure to let us know who you would like to see down below in the comments.

Images: Warner Brothers / DC Comics

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Our 13 Most Anticipated Movies at Sundance 2018

With the advent of 2018 comes the arrival of yet another edition of the Sundance Film Festival. Founded by Robert Redford in 1985, the celebration of all things cinema takes over Park City, UT once more from January 18-28 where more than 100 films from around the world will screen for thousands and thousands of celluloid-obsessed film fans. As this year’s awards season is demonstrating, films that make their debut at Sundance—e.g. Get Out, , The Big Sick—are the ones that will have critics and audiences buzzing months later. So in order to help you get a jump on what to look out for at the year’s first major film festival, here are our most anticipated films of Sundance 2018.

American Animals

The place: Lexington, Kentucky. The year: 2004. The plan: to steal an incredibly valuable collection of rare books from the local university. Such is the situation in which Spencer, Warren, and their unwitting friends find themselves in when they decide to pull off the heist of the century without really knowing what the hell they’re doing or why they’re doing it. Come for Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Blake Jenner, and Jared Abrahamson trying to get away with the perfect crime, but stay for the thoughtful exploration of young men coming to grips with adulthood in a comedic, meaningful, and profound way.

Lu Over the Wall

Was your biggest issue with Ponyo that it wasn’t psychedelic enough and didn’t place a big enough emphasis on teenagers pursuing music careers? Then enter the weird, wild world of Masaaki Yuasa’s Lu Over the Wall. The Ghibli-esque anime film, which took home top honors at the prestigious Annecy International Animated Film Festival, tells the story of a quiet boy named Kai who escapes the stresses of his fractured home life by composing music. One day, while practicing with his band in an abandoned amusement park by the sea, Kai encounters a mysterious new fan: a mermaid named Lu, who was lured by the band’s music. While they try to keep Lu’s existence a secret from the town, old prejudices begin to surface and put Kai and Lu’s newfound friendship to the test.

Yardie

Idris Elba isn’t just an in-demand DJ, engrossing actor, and smolderingly handsome haunter of your dreams; he’s now also a director. The mulitalented Elba makes his directorial debut with Yardie, a coming-of-age crime drama based on Victor Headley’s cult novel about Denis Dread, a young Jamaican man who gets caught up in a life of gang violence and winds up hunting down his brother’s assassin in the streets of London.

Wildlife

Perhaps Zoe Kazan took a note from her The Big Sick co-star Kumail Nanjiani because the talented multihyphenate co-wrote Wildlife with her partner Paul Dano, for whom the film marks a directorial debut. Set in small-town Montana in the 1960s, Wildlife tells the story of Joe (Ed Oxenbould), an only child who witnesses his family life dissolve before his very eyes when his father (Jake Gyllenhaal) loses his job and leaves to fight wildfires along the Canadian border, and his mother (Carey Mulligan) begins an affair with an older man. Forced into sudden and unexpected adulthood, Joe, a sensitive 14-year-old, must come to grips with the fact that the nuclear family you see on TV isn’t always the one you’re born into.

I Think We’re Alone Now

If the world came to a sudden and abrupt end, who would you want to spend the rest of your days with? Well if you’re a surly recluse played by Peter Dinklage, then the answer is absolutely no one because silence is golden and you value your personal space. But the apocalypse is full of surprises, and this particular end-of-days scenario finds a second survivor (Elle Fanning) arriving on the scene as a harbinger of the greatest threat of all: unwanted companionship.

Assassination Nation

What would you do if someone started posting every detail of your personal life online, sharing your most intimate posts, text messages, and secrets with everyone in your small town? You’d probably get mad, right? Well, that’s exactly what happens in the small town of Salem, but then things go from zero to 100 real quick and people start straight-up murdering one another. Imagine The Purge meets The Warriors with a slick veneer of the social media-obsessed culture in which we live, and you have a small taste of the unbridled insanity of Assassination Nation. As one of Sundance’s “Midnight” selections, you can guarantee that it’s going to be one of the wildest cinematic experiences of the year.

Lizzie

Growing up in Massachusetts, it was difficult to escape the long, bloody shadow cast by Lizzie Borden, the Fall River native who allegedly brutally murdered her parents with an axe. Although Borden was ultimately acquitted, her legend grew and the facts of the case twisted into myth and hearsay over time. Now director Craig William Macneill seeks to cast Borden in a new light in Lizzie. The film stars Chloë Sevigny as Lizzie Borden and Kristen Stewart as the family’s live-in maid, Bridget, and looks to examine Bordern’s interiority in a way we’ve never seen before. What starts as a furtive friendship between the two soon evolves into an intimate relationship, an emotional oasis in the brewing storm of abuse and oppression within the Borden household.

The Catcher Was a Spy

Many people know that Julia Child served as an operative for the OSS (Office of Security Services) during World War II, but she was far from their only famous employee. Major League baseball player Moe Berg is one of the great unknown heroes of American espionage. Berg wasn’t just a dynamo on the field; he spoke nine languages, regularly appeared on a popular TV quiz show, and held an Ivy League college degree. He was also a closeted gay man, which was a much more dangerous secret to keep back in those days. But perhaps most importantly, Berg was drafted by the U.S. intelligence apparatus to stop a German scientist from building an atomic bomb for the Nazis. Now his story will be brought to life on the big screen, with Paul Rudd playing Moe Berg and a supporting cast including Guy Pearce, Paul Giamatti, and Jeff Daniels.

Beirut

No, it’s not a dramatization of New England college students playing beer pong; Beirut tells the story of a U.S. diplomat (Jon Hamm) who is forced to flee Lebanon in 1972 after experiencing an unexpected tragedy. A decade later, the diplomat finds himself traveling to Beirut, a country wracked by violence, in order to help the CIA (Rosamund Pike) on a very important mission: to negotiate for the life of a friend whom he left behind all those years ago. Could this be Jon Hamm’s Argo? Only time will tell, but the political thriller already has us on the edge of our seats.

Mandy

The year is 1983 and Red Miller (Nicolas Cage) and Mandy Bloom (Andrea Riseborough) live a nice, quiet existence in the Pacific Northwest. Their world is suddenly and violently upended when a sadistic cult, led by the nefarious Jeremiah Sand, destroys their home, slaughtering Mandy in the process. In the aftermath, Red embarks on a single-minded mission to seek retribution for those who have wronged him and will not rest until those who murdered the love of his life have shuffled off this mortal coil in the most gruesome way possible.

Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind

When Robin Williams passed away in 2014, it felt as though the laughter had died. However, the dynamic comedian’s legacy lives on, inspiring generations of children, performers, and artists to create works of their own. In this new documentary, filmmaker Marina Zenovich unearths a treasure trove of rare footage, archival material, and never-before-seen interviews with the people who knew Williams best. The result is a portrait of a man who effortlessly touched the world while battling inner demons of his own, and a celebration of a life that always deserves to be celebrated.

Inventing Tomorrow

In a time when America—and especially those in power—seem to be actively rejecting science, getting people engaged in scientific discourse and STEM careers is more important than ever. In filmmaker Laura Nix’s documentary Inventing Tomorrow, she follows six remarkably high school students as they prepare for the largest high school science competition in the world: the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Rather than watch the world around them crumble, these teenagers saw what was happening in their own communities and the world at large and took action in order to make the earth a better place. And honestly, that kind of optimism and civic engagement is just what the doctor ordered for 2018.

Sorry to Bother You

If you went to go see any movie last year—including the phenomenal Get Out—there’s a 90 percent chance it starred Lakeith Stanfield. At least that’s how it felt, which is a good thing considering that Stanfield is one of the most dynamic and talented young actors working today. Stanfield’s ubiquity continues with Sorry to Bother You in which he plays a 30-something telemarketer named Cassius Green. Suffering from self-esteem issues, Cassius manages to ascend the corporate ladder with alarming alacrity while selling truly vile products to unwitting customers. It’s a macabre workplace comedy about why you should never underestimate your own powers, and features an all-star cast including Tessa Thompson and Armie Hammer to boot. So mark my words—this is absolutely going to be one to watch.

And those are the films we’re most excited to see at this year’s Sundance Film Festival! But they are just a fraction of the amazing movies that will be on display at this year’s festival. Which films are you most intrigued by? Let us know in the comments below, then keep your eyes on Nerdist for our in-depth coverage during the 2018 Sundance Film Festival!

Images: Courtesy of Sundance Institute

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Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of books about Star Wars and the Avengers. Follow him on Twitter (@DanCasey).

The ANIMANIACS Return With a New Series on Hulu

Twenty years ago, the groundbreaking Animaniacs cartoon came to an end after just 99 episodes. And we can only assume that the Warner brothers and their Warner sister, Dot, have spent the ensuing two decades locked up in the studio’s water tower. But that’s about to change, because the Animanics are getting a comeback on Hulu!

Steven Spielberg‘s Amblin TV is re-teaming with Warner Bros. Animation for a brand new Animanics series, which has already received a two-season commitment from Hulu. The only downside is that we’ll have to wait until 2020 to see the new episodes roll out. But in the meantime, we’ll be able to catch every single episode of the classic series on Hulu. And that’s not all! Hulu is also getting Tiny Toons, Pinky and the Brain, and its somewhat unloved spinoff, Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain.

Presumably the new Animanics will maintain the series’ zany sense of humor as well as the catchy songs that could even be considered educational. We’re still singing some of those songs today! Hopefully the surviving original cast will reprise their roles for this new series. Speaking of which, Rob Paulsen, the voice actor behind Yakko, Pinky, and so many others, is the host of Talking Toons, which is one of our original series on Alpha. If you ever loved Animaniacs, you’re gonna want to check it out.

How do you feel about the upcoming Animaniacs revival? Put some baloney in your slacks and share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Images: Amblin TV/Warner Bros. Animation

THE X-FILES Return Raises More Questions Than Answers

The following contains SPOILERS for The X-Files season 11/event series part 2 episode “My Struggle III.” If you haven’t seen the episode and don’t wish to be spoiled, please click away now and come back when you’ve watched! 

The mythology of alien invasion and government conspiracy in The X-Files has always been complicated and twisty, made even more so once the series had to extend itself past its original five-seasons-and-a-movie plan. (Click here to read the whole history of this tangled web.) But ultimately, for nine years plus six episodes in 2016, we were led to believe the aliens have been on Earth for a while, striking shady deals with people in power in the USA’s corrupt and secret government. The mythology arc episodes have always, more or less, played fair, but “My Struggle III” feels a lot like it’s starting to cheat.

“My Struggle II” which ended the event series in February 2016 was all about the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis), not dead like we thought, using former FBI agent Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) as a pawn to enact worldwide devastation. His plan included an alien virus that had been given to the population through regular inoculation, and awakened by chemtrails that would kill all but the immune, people like Agent Scully (Gillian Anderson). That episode ended with a cliffhanger in which the alien ship appears as the world is going to hell. Quite the place to leave the story, but if you thought “My Struggle III” was going to resolve this–like I foolishly did–you’re left scratching your head.

Apparently, if I’m piecing all of this together, none of the previous events actually happened. It was actually a prophetic vision of the future that Scully had and she has a seizure and passes out, leaving Mulder (David Duchovny) and Assistant Director Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) to take her to the hospital and get answers. Scully, in and out of consciousness, relays to Mulder what’s happening: the Cigarette Smoking Man is behind everything, Mulder needs to find and kill him, and they need to get their son William back.

Scully has always been an integral part of the alien mythos, stemming from the real-life issue of having to write Anderson out for a few episodes during season 2 when she went on maternity leave. Creator Chris Carter had Scully abducted by aliens, implanted with an alien chip, and given an alien strain of cancer. Eventually she’d become the catalyst for the immunity to whatever disease is on its way. But she’s never, to my recollection, been clairvoyant to this degree: she’s seen an entire episode that apparently didn’t happen yet.

This is how the show cheated. As much as I didn’t care for the Carter-written-and-directed episodes of season 10, he’s always given us the information we need. Yet his entire previous finale amounts to “it was all a dream.” What is the timetable for this actuality? It sure seemed like it was all happening immediately after the previous episodes. Was all of last season a dream?

More likely, the reset button was used to get Carter out of the corner he’d backed himself into. A lot of the other given circumstances have changed now too, and just about all of them feel cheap. Agent Spender (Chris Owens) is evidently the only person who knows the whereabouts of William, and that seems to be because Carter now needs William to show up in this new season, since he is immune to the effects of the virus. There is now a group of shady people working against CSM and Reyes, another guy who smokes, and Barbara Hershey, who all want to use Mulder as an assassin. We also learn that the CSM faked the moon landing to make America the world leaders he wanted them to be.

It’s all a bit ridiculous, and that’s not even the thing that bugs me the most. CSM has struck a deal with Skinner to help him find William, because, as it turns out, William is NOT the biological son of Fox Mulder, but he is, like Mulder and Spender, a child of the CSM himself. Both of these things completely undercut some of the series hallmarks. Skinner hasn’t always been easy to get along with, but he’s always been on the side of the truth, and a skeptical but crucial ally to Mulder and Scully. Suspicious Skinner was a plot point in the first damn season. And if William is indeed the child of Cigarette Smoking Man and Scully, then so much important character development between Scully and Mulder in the last few seasons will be for naught.

It’s hard to get excited for the rest of the series when there’s this much rewritten history. Do I think all of this will remain the status quo? I don’t; in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if all of THIS season were Scully’s hallucination after the aliens arrived at the end of “My Struggle II.” Because honestly, this episode felt very haphazard.

But the main reason I am still excited for the rest of the season is to see the monster-of-the-week cases. If nothing else, “My Struggle III” staved off a full-fledged worldwide epidemic which would have changed the fabric of the show, and it ended in relative normalcy which then allows the next several episodes to go on with business as usual. Not the way I’d have enjoyed it, but if this storyline ends up allowing good one-offs to happen again, then I’m fine with it.

Images: Fox

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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RICK AND MORTY “Appeared” at Deadmau5’s New Year’s Eve Show

Being a Rick and Morty fan means waiting a long time for more episodes, like how we’re probably not getting season four until late 2019. But some very lucky people not only didn’t have to wait long to see the pair again, they got to ring in 2018 with them after Rick and Morty made an unexpected “appearance” at Deadmau5‘s New Year’s Eve show in California.

In a story we came across at The A.V. Club, the Adult Swim pair popped up in their VR form on the D.J.’s big block video board a few minutes before midnight during his show at the Insomniac Countdown theater in San Bernadino. Rick thought they had arrived at Disneyland, but quickly realized it wasn’t Mickey they had found, but just “some other shithead wearing a mouse helmet.” When a countdown then popped up, the smartest man in the universe thought it was for a bomb he couldn’t diffuse.

This video from the crowd isn’t the best view of them, but you can clearly hear both Rick and Morty’s dialogue. That’s why we know their language is definitely NSFW. (Fast forward to about the 2:00 minute mark if EDM isn’t your thing.)



This might seem like a random place for them to show up, but Deadmau5 did buy one of those promotional gallons of McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce for 15 thousand dollars last year. And that purchase seems to have included a bonus Rick and Morty sketch.

Considering how long we have to wait for new episodes we’d say it was well worth the money.

What other performance should they show up at next? Tell us your squanchiest ideas in the comments below.

Featured Image: Adult Swim

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Is It Too Late for a SLENDER MAN Movie?

Weeeeee’re (Nerdist News Talks) Baaaaack! We’re thrilled to be discussing the biggest pop culture stories of the day with you again. For the first show of 2018, we broke down the new Slender Man trailer, the mystery surrounding the next Cloverfield sequel, and our first Star Wars roundup of the year.

Helping host Jessica Chobot kick things off was producer Jason Nguyen, Bizarre States’ Andrew Bowser, and Nerdist editor Kyle Anderson. They started with the first trailer for Slender Man, the new horror film based off the popular 2009 creepypasta. What do we think of the trailer? Is it a little too late for this movie to come out, or are we still excited to see it? Are we creepypasta aficionados? What other urban legends deserve the big screen treatment?

In other horror movie news, the next Cloverfield movie has been pushed back from February to April. We still don’t have a trailer or official title (just the working “God Particle” title), so what’s the deal? Is J.J. Abrams too busy with Star Wars, or is this something else? Do we like the first two movies in the franchise? Did we prefer the found footage style of the first, or the more traditional storytelling of the second?

Finally, we ended last year discussing all things The Last Jedi, but how many times have we seen it since then? Has our opinion of the movie changed after multiple viewings? What do we like more or less now? What do we hope to see in Episode IX? And what do we make of the report Christian Bale auditioned for a role in Solo?

Remember now that Nerdist News Talks Back is back, we’re live every weekday at 1:00 p.m. PT on our YouTube and Alpha channels. Tune in then so you can join in the conversation with us. Because while it’s nice to get a break, we missed talking with all of you.

We still want to hear your thoughts on today’s topics, so talk back to us in the comments below.

Images: Sony, Lucasfilm

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Damascus Steel Watches Cut Through Time with Samurai Sword Hands

If you have a passion for swords, samurai, and steel, but no good way to show it on your person, please step this way and have a look at these MUSHA watches. They’re made of Damascus steel, and in celebration of the “Japanese Knife Capital” where the watches are made, the hands are shaped like miniature samurai swords.

These watches will literally metaphorically cut time into little pieces for you.

The MUSHA watches, which come via RocketNews24, were made possible with crowdfunding via Makuake, a Japanese equivalent of Kickstarter. MUSHA had a relatively modest goal of 500,000 yen (around $4,500), but managed to earn a whopping 4.3 million yen, or roughly $40,000.

It’s no wonder the campaign managed to earn more than eight times its original goal. The watches all look like they’re meticulously crafted, and RocketNews notes that every piece of every watch is “painstakingly polished” by the company’s founder, Masayuki Otsuka. A closer look at the different watch combinations available, which include options for  stingray leather or simple braided straps, is available in the image gallery below.

Although the watches are made from Damascus steel, which has its own rich history as a famous, distinctively mottled alloy, the real history of the MUSHA watches comes from where they’re made — Seki, in the Gifu Prefecture. The city is famous for its sword-making prowess, hence the samurai sword hands and material traditionally used for making swords. On top of that, the watch faces are also carved in likeness of the crest of 16th century Daimyō, Oda Nobunaga. It’s hard to say if the early Japanese unifier would’ve approved of the watches, but for our money, we’d say these are some proper, heritage-pleasing timepieces.

Speaking of money, you’ll have to dish out roughly 40,000 yen or $350 in order to grace your wrist with MUSHA. Which may be a surprisingly good bargain when you keep in mind founder Otsuka “painstakingly polishing” each watch piece.

What do you think about these Damascus steel watches? Give us your thoughts in the comments below!

Images: Musha

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Did Spider-Man’s LEGO Minifigure Spoil an INFINITY WAR Secret?

2018 is here, and we are just a few months away from Marvel’s ultimate team-up movie, Avengers: Infinity War. With the clock ticking down towards the arrival of Thanos, some new details from the film have started to emerge from one of our favorite sources of intel: LEGO! Images of the Infinity War LEGO minifigures may have confirmed that Spider-Man‘s costume is getting a major upgrade that is straight out of the comics. Today’s Nerdist News is breaking bricks to figure out what it all means.

There are potential spoilers ahead for Infinity War. Consider this your first and last warning.

Join host and secret Spider-Slayer, Jessica Chobot, as she runs down the Infinity War LEGO video that’s been making the rounds online. If this leak is real, then it appears that Peter Parker’s new Spidey suit is going full Iron Spider. As in multiple limbs and enough new hardware to make Peter’s Spider-Man: Homecoming outfit look hopelessly outdated.  Just over a decade ago in Marvel’s comic book universe, Peter adopted the Iron Spider costume during his first stint with the New Avengers, when he was taken under Tony Stark’s wing.

Of course, this wasn’t the only thing to catch our eye in the LEGO video. Black Widow is getting a new green outfit, which may have some stealth capabilities. And Captain America looks like he’s sporting some Wolverine style claws in place of his signature shield. It also appears that Thanos will be rockin’ his helmet after all, despite what the first trailer showed us last month.

What do you think about the potential introduction of the Iron Spider suit? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!

Images: Marvel

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The First SLENDER MAN Trailer Gets In Your Head

In less than a decade, the Slender Man mythology has taken on a life of its own. What started as an internet meme has become a full-fledged horror phenomenon—it’s almost as if people are willing Slender Man into existence. And as you can see in the first trailer for Sony’s upcoming Slender Man movie, ignoring the title character’s influence can prove to be fatal. People don’t just disappear in this story, and the Slender Man has a way of getting into his victims’ heads.



The first trailer for Slender Man is light on story details and heavy on atmosphere, as we witness several terrified children falling under his sway and committing acts of violence in his name. The footage suggests that the victims of Slender Man aren’t necessarily able to stop themselves from doing his bidding, but that doesn’t make them any less deadly than the featureless creature himself.

Joey King, Julia Goldani-Telles, Jaz Sinclair, and Annalise Basso star in the movie as four teenage girls who take it upon themselves to debunk the legend of Slender Man (Javier Botet). We can safely assume that isn’t going to go well for the girls or their loved ones. By going after Slender Man, they’ve inadvertently invited him into their lives. That will probably prove to be a very costly mistake for all of them.

Screen Gems will unleash Slender Man in theaters on May 18.

What do you think about the first look at the Slender Man movie? Unleash your thoughts in the comment section below!

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Images: Screen Gems

Marvel Announces New EXILES Series with Blink and Nick Fury

It’s been almost a decade since Marvel’s Exiles headlined their own comic book series. But later this year, Blink will return to lead an all-new team of inter-dimensional adventurers on a quest to save the Marvel multiverse. And one of Blink’s latest allies will be none other than the original Nick Fury!

Marvel has announced that the relaunched Exiles ongoing series will be written by Saladin Ahmed and drawn by artist Javier Rodriguez. The first cover image by David Marquez reveals most of the new team, which includes Blink, Iron Lad (a younger and more heroic version of Kang the Conqueror), Khan, an older version of Ms. Marvel, and a bizarre and cartoonish incarnation of Wolverine called Wolvie. The identity of the fifth member of the team is currently under wraps.

Long time Marvel fans should recall that Nick Fury Sr. hasn’t exactly been himself since he murdered the Watcher during the Original Sin crossover event. As penance, Fury was transformed into the Unseen and forced to become a near omniscient observer of the Earth, just as the Watcher had been for untold years. Within the new Exiles series, Fury/the Unseen becomes aware of a new threat to Marvel’s recently rebuilt multiverse. From there, he recruits Blink and her new team to save all of reality.

While the previous Exiles series tended to be oriented around the X-Men, the inclusion of an older Kamala Khan and Iron Lad suggests  the new series may explore a larger cross-section of Marvel’s multiverse. We’ll learn more when Exiles #1 is released on Wednesday, April 11.

Are you excited about the relaunch of Exiles? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: Marvel Comics

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