Moviefone Editorial

Tag: alien-romulus

  • CinemaCon 2024: Disney Presentation

    Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Shawn Levy, Barry Jenkins, Amy Poehler and Kevin Feige at Disney's 2024 CinemaCon Presentation.
    (L to R) Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Shawn Levy, Barry Jenkins, Amy Poehler and Kevin Feige at Disney’s 2024 CinemaCon Presentation. Photo: Disney.

    Preview:

    • Disney, as expected, went big on Pixar and Marvel.
    • The likes of ‘Deadpool’, ‘Inside Out 2’ and more were showcased.
    • ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ also showed footage.

    Disney might not be enjoying quite the same cinematic dominance as it once did, but it still has some heavy hitters thanks to the likes of ‘Avatar’, ‘Star Wars’ and more.

    Before the main presentation, we were treated to a PSA from no less than Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in their ‘Deadpool and Wolverine‘ outfits, reminding the audience not to silence cellphones (it included a skit about Deadpool trying to spoil Marvel’s upcoming Avengers movie ‘Secret Wars’, but being interrupted by a ringing phone, leading to a filthy rant.)

    Disney Co-Chair Alan Bergman kicked things off by saying that while every movie can’t be on the level of ‘Avatar’, but that the company continues to invest in event movies. A timeline on screen certainly attested to that, with confirmations of the various ‘Avatar’, Marvel and other titles.

    And talking of event movies…

    Related Article: ‘Gladiator’, ‘Transformers’ and More Headline the Paramount CinemaCon Presentation

    ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’

    Proximus Caesar (voiced by Kevin Durand) in 20th Century Studios' 'Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes.'
    Proximus Caesar (voiced by Kevin Durand) in 20th Century Studios’ ‘Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes.’ Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

    First up was the next generation of the ‘Apes’ franchise, which has the unenviable task of following the Matt Reeves films.

    Set decades after those movies, Wes Ball’s new effort is focused on the young ape known as Noah, and a couple of footage clips looked truly impressive –– Weta’s effects team once more working wonders on the motion capture apes.

    ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ is in theaters on May 10th, so not too long to wait now.

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    Switching things up, we swim to…

    ‘The Young Woman and the Sea’

    Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle in Disney’s live-action 'Young Woman and the Sea'.
    Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle in Disney’s live-action ‘Young Woman and the Sea’. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2024 Disney Enterprises Inc. All Rights Reserved.

    This based-on-truth tale stars Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle, the first woman to successfully swim the English Channel. Directed by Joachim Rønning and written by Jeff Nathanson, a new trailer for the movie was shown, which you can find below:

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    ‘The Young Woman and the Sea’ paddles into theaters on May 31st.

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    Next up was Pixar’s next big sequel…

    ‘Inside Out 2’

    Amy Poehler at Disney's 2024 CinemaCon Presentation.
    Amy Poehler at Disney’s 2024 CinemaCon Presentation. Photo: Disney.

    The return to the world of a young girl’s head has been a controversial one so far, with several of the voice cast deciding not to return after low pay offers.

    But Amy Poehler is back as main character Joy, here confronting some new emotions as her charge Riley enters the tween/teenaged stage.

    Poehler was present to introduce roughly 35 minutes from the start of the film and enthuse about how much Joy means to her.

    As you might expect from Pixar, the footage went over very well, packed full of emotional power. (The likes of Maya Hawke, Ayo Edebiri and Paul Walter Hauser are among the new voices for this one.)

    ‘Inside Out 2’ will be out on June 14th.

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    And so we leave the sweet animation world for somewhere very different…

    Marvel: ‘Deadpool & Wolverine‘ and more

    Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige at Disney's 2024 CinemaCon Presentation.
    Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige at Disney’s 2024 CinemaCon Presentation. Photo: Disney.

    Kevin Feige walked on stage to talk about upcoming Marvel output. In keeping with Disney’s new mandate of quality over quantity, there is only one main movie from the MCU gang this year.

    Feige cracked that they had Deadpool design a popcorn bucket to tie-in with ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ and can’t wait for us to… experience it. The mind shudders.

    ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ will be with us on July 26th.

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    Feige moved on to future movies. He dropped word that the ‘Thunderbolts’ movie is actually titled ‘Thunderbolts*’ and that the asterisk will be explained at some point soon. That movie will be with us on May 5th, 2025.
    Then it was time to look further –– Feige mentioned that his team is developing two of their movies to shoot with IMAX cameras, including ‘The Fantastic Four’, which will finally kick off production in a couple of months.

    Anthony Mackie and Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige at Disney's 2024 CinemaCon Presentation.
    (L to R) Anthony Mackie and Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige at Disney’s 2024 CinemaCon Presentation. Photo: Disney.

    The Marvel boss moved on to ‘Captain America: Brave New World‘, citing the influence of ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’. He described the movie thus far as fast-paced and grounded and focused on Sam Wilson.

    With that, Anthony Mackie took the stage, to a salute from Feige –– “you should always salute your captain.” Mackie was to show the audience a clip. Cut the check!

    The footage has Harrison Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross –– who is now President –– telling Sam Wilson that he wants him to help rebuild the Avengers. There’s also a moment where a mind- controlled former super-soldier Isiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) tries to kill the Prez.

    ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ arrives on February 14th next year.

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    And in case you thought Team Marvel didn’t somehow find time to hype ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ one more time, director Shawn Levy closed out the company’s section of the Disney presentation with 9 minutes from the movie.

    As could have been predicted, the ‘Deadpool’ footage is chaotic, funny and meta. We won’t give away too much here but suffice to say it’s everything you might be hoping (or fearing), including a shot of Chris Hemsworth’s Thor crying over Wade Wilson’s body. (“That happens in the distant future”, our hero is told.)

    Hey! Talking of the future, next up…

    ‘Alien: Romulus’

    Xenomorph in 20th Century Studios' 'Alien: Romulus.' Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios.
    Xenomorph in 20th Century Studios’ ‘Alien: Romulus.’ Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2024 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

    The new entry in the ‘Alien’ franchise comes from Fede Alvarez, and if you’ve seen the first teaser, you know it’s very much in the horror mode.

    Nine minutes of footage was screened for the audience. It was largely a scene featuring a legion of involved a series of small Facehuggers attacking scientists in a cryo Lab. One of the creatures manages to swim like a shark through some water and escape the lab. As the clip ends, many Facehuggers escape and start filling the ship…

    We also see a scene of an alien explosively birthing itself from the chest of a human victim, all while the ship it is aboard is crashing though the walls of a giant structure.

    ‘Alien: Romulus’ heads to theaters on August 16th.

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    From strange creatures to strange filmmaking…

    ‘Kinds of Kindness‘

    Fresh of Oscar victory (and box office success), the Searchlight team arrived to promote Yorgos Lanthimos’ next collaboration with stars Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe. They confirmed that the movie will debut at Cannes but didn’t offer much beyond the trailer that has already been shown online.

    ‘Kinds of Kindness’ is due in theaters on June 21st.

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    The movie was simply mentioned along with a batch of other Searchlight releases, including ‘The Amateur’, starring Rami Malek (due out April 11th next year) and ‘Nightbitch,’ which has Amy Adams starring (and will be out on December 6th).

    A little more attention was given to…

    ‘Ella McCay’

    ‘Ella McCay’ is the latest film from James L. Brooks, who has quite the cast attached to his latest film, about a young politician juggling life and work as she prepares to try and take over for her mentor.

    Here’s the list (many of which have been announced): Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Albert Brooks, Woody Harrelson, Kumail Nanjiani, Jack Lowden, Ayo Edebiri, Spike Fearn and Rebecca Hall.

    The movie has yet to lock down a release date.

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    And the next big title for Disney?

    ‘Mufasa: The Lion King‘

    Director Barry Jenkins at Disney's 2024 CinemaCon Presentation.
    Director Barry Jenkins at Disney’s 2024 CinemaCon Presentation. Photo: Disney.

    We already knew that Barry Jenkins was working on this prequel to the 2019 photo-realistic remake of the animal drama.

    Jenkins headed on stage to explain how incredibly personal Mufasa is to him, and how he watched the original hand-drawn animated version hundreds of times as a kid and then with his nephews. He sees the new movie as a chance to share a similar message and feeling with a new generation.

    “This is a massive f*****g film,” Jenkins said, “and it was my job to fill it with massive heart.” He jokes that he can’t share who is performing the music for the movie because Disney won’t let him.

    He debuted the first trailer from the movie, on which he’s been working for 3/12 years. It is, as you would expect, full of lion goodness.

    ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ is in theaters on December 20th.

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    And finally? Time to rock.

    ‘Moana 2’

    Dwayne Johnson at Disney's 2024 CinemaCon Presentation.
    Dwayne Johnson at Disney’s 2024 CinemaCon Presentation. Photo: Disney.

    By which we mean, of course, The Rock. Dwayne Johnson was on stage with a phalanx of Polynesian dancers to introduce the animated sequel to the 2016 hit.

    This new movie was famously adapted from the planned TV series featuring the character, and Johnson explained how his performance as demigod Maui was inspired by his grandfather.

    He was surprised on stage by receiving the NATO Spirit of the Industry and seemed genuinely touches.

    Johnson wrapped things up by showing some ‘Moana 2’ material. “You’re welcome!”

    The footage has Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) singing about how happy she is to be home. But before long, she’s off on another adventure.

    ‘Moana 2’ makes landfall in theaters on November 27th.

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    And that’s it for Disney and the big CinemaCon studio presentations!

    Dwayne Johnson at Disney's 2024 CinemaCon Presentation.
    Dwayne Johnson at Disney’s 2024 CinemaCon Presentation. Photo: Disney.

    Upcoming Disney Movies:

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  • Timothy Olyphant Joins the ‘Alien’ TV Series

    (Left) Timothy Olyphant in FX's 'Justified.' (Right) 2012's 'Prometheus.'
    (Left) Timothy Olyphant in FX’s ‘Justified.’ (Right) 2012’s ‘Prometheus.’

    Preview:

    • Timothy Olyphant will reunite with ‘Fargo’s Noah Hawley for his ‘Alien’ TV series.
    • The show will resume filming early next year.
    • On the big screen front, Cailee Spaeny has offered an update on Fede Alvarez’ ‘Alien’ movie.

    Not content with ‘Fargo’ returning for a fifth season, Noah Hawley has been working on his ‘Alien’ prequel TV series for cable channel FX.

    And it appears he’s recruited someone who has previously on the darkly comic crime series, as Timothy Olyphant is, according to Deadline, set to take one of the lead roles.

    Olyphant, of course, appeared in Season 4 of ‘Fargo’, playing Dick ‘Deafy’ Wickware.

    Related Article: Fede Alvarez’s ‘Alien’ Movie Gets Seal Of Approval From Ridley Scott

    What’s the Story of the ‘Alien’ Series?

    Prometheus Alien
    2012’s ‘Prometheus.’

    So far, very few details have been revealed about the new show. We do know that it’ll factor into the main ‘Alien’ storyline (so has no connection to the ‘Alien Vs. Predator’ movies, which were set on Earth and closer to present day) but located on Earth and taking place roughly 70 years in the future.

    Thanks to the Deadline story, we now know that Olyphant is reportedly playing Kirsh, a synth who acts as a mentor and trainer for Sydney Chandler’s Wendy who is a hybrid, a meta-human who has the brain and consciousness of a child but the body of an adult. We’d caution that no official confirmation has arrived for that.

    Who Else is in the ‘Alien’ Series?

    Timothy Olyphant with feet up
    Timothy Olyphant in FX’s ‘Justified.’

    Olyphant joins a cast that also includes Alex Lawther as a soldier named CJ, Samuel Blenkin as Boy Kavalier, a CEO, as well as Essie Davis as Dame Silvia, Adarsh Gourav as Slightly and Kit Young as Tootles.

    And just now, Deadline also reported that fellow ‘Fargo’ veteran (albeit from the current fifth season) David Rysdahl is also aboard for an unknown role.

    What’s Happening with the ‘Alien’ Series?

    Ridley Scott on the set of 1979's 'Alien.'
    Ridley Scott on the set of 1979’s ‘Alien.’

    With ‘Alien’ director (and franchise overseer) Ridley Scott giving his stamp of approval as executive producer, the series kicked off shooting in Thailand on July 19th, just four days into the actors’ strike.

    It initially got around the SAG-AFTRA shutdown film utilizing members of the cast who are affiliated with the British actors’ union Equity. But after a little more than a month, it had to stop.

    Now, Hawley and his team will apparently gear the cameras back up in early 2024.

    ‘Alien’ On the Big Screen

    Cailee Spaeny in 'Priscilla.'
    (L to R) Cailee Spaeny in ‘Priscilla.’ Credit: Sabrina Lantos.

    Our TV screens are not the only places those crafty xenomorphs are invading. Fede Alvarez has been hard at work on ‘Alien: Romulus’, the latest movie in the franchise.

    Now, according to lead Cailee Spaeny (who was back on the press circuit for ‘Priscilla’), we now know when the movie will take place.

    Here’s what Spaeny told Variety:

    “It’s supposed to slot in between the first movie and the second movie. They brought the same team from ‘Aliens,’ the James Cameron film. The same people who built those xenomorphs actually came on and built ours. So, getting to see the original design with the original people who have been working on these films for 45-plus years and has been so much of their life has been really incredible.”

    ‘Alien: Romulus’ will be in theaters on August 16 next year.

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  • Ridley Scott Has High Praise For New ‘Alien’ Movie

    (Left) Director Ridley Scott on the set of 'Black Hawk Down.' Photo: Oscars.com. (Right) A scene from 2012's 'Prometheus.'
    (Left) Director Ridley Scott on the set of ‘Black Hawk Down.’ Photo: Oscars.com. (Right) A scene from 2012’s ‘Prometheus.’

    Preview

    • Director Fede Alvarez has been working on a new ‘Alien’ movie for release next year.
    • Original ‘Alien’ director Ridley Scott, who’s also producing, has seen it and declared it “great.”
    • The new film from Alvarez, director of ‘Evil Dead’ and ‘Don’t Breathe,’ is said to be a standalone story.

    If you’re filmmaker Fede Álvarez, you’re feeling pretty good right about now.

    The Uruguayan-born writer and director of the 2013 ‘Evil Dead’ remake and 2016’s sleeper horror hit ‘Don’t Breathe’ has been quietly toiling away on a new ‘Alien’ movie for 20th Century Studios, but little has been heard about it since it was first announced in early 2022.

    Speaking with Guillermo del Toro at the DGA Latino Summit 2023 (via Deadline), Alvarez noted that he has shown the movie, titled ‘Alien: Romulus,’ to legendary director Ridley Scott, who’s a producer on the film.

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    What Ridley Scott said about ‘Alien: Romulus’

    Ridley Scott on the set of 1979's 'Alien.'
    Ridley Scott on the set of 1979’s ‘Alien.’

    Scott was of course also behind the camera for the original ‘Alien’ and two later entries in the series, ‘Prometheus’ and ‘Alien: Covenant.’ His reaction to the new film?

    According to Alvarez:

    “…he did say, ‘Fede, what can I say? It’s f***ing great.’ For me, it was like… My family knows it was one of the best moments of my life to have a master like him, whom I admired so much, to even watch a movie I made, but particularly something like this… and talk to me for an hour about what he liked about it.”

    Alvarez noted that Scott is notoriously tough on films, both his own and those made by others, even apparently giving a “meh” to ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’ the sequel to his late brother Tony Scott’s 1986 ‘Top Gun.’

    The new movie, the first in the series since ‘Alien: Covenant,’ is said to feature a group of young colonists on a distant planet and is not connected to the previous eight entries in the franchise (including the two ‘Alien vs. Predator’ spinoffs).

    The cast includes ‘Priscilla’ star Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, David Jonsson, Aileen Wu, and Spike Fearn, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

    Related Article: Cailee Spaeny in Talks To Play the Lead in Fede Álvarez’ New Alien Movie

    What has been happening with the ‘Alien’ franchise in recent years?

    Prometheus Alien
    2012’s ‘Prometheus.’

    ‘Alien: Romulus’ will be the first film in the franchise since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios) in 2019.

    After seeing diminishing returns with the ‘Alien vs. Predator’ movies in the mid-2000s, the studio put the series on the back burner until Scott himself returned to direct 2012’s ‘Prometheus,’ a prequel set in the same universe as the previous ‘Alien’ films.

    While ‘Prometheus’ wasn’t a box office blockbuster, it did well enough for Scott to keep going, helming ‘Alien: Covenant’ in 2017 and promising two more films for an entirely new trilogy.

    But a tepid response from moviegoers to ‘Covenant,’ as well as the pending sale of the studio to the Mouse House, also put those plans – along with another proposed sequel by director Neill Blomkamp – on a seemingly permanent hold.

    The only other activity since then, before the announcement of Alvarez’s film, has been the development of an ‘Alien’ TV series by Noah Hawley (‘Fargo,’ ‘Legion’), set decades before the first film and set to stream via FX on Hulu. Filming began this past summer but was halted by the SAG-AFTRA strike.

    According to Variety, ‘Alien: Romulus’ was initially slated for a Hulu debut as well, but will now be released in theaters on August 18, 2024.

    'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' Producer Fede Alvarez.
    Director Fede Alvarez.

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