Hello and welcome to VultureHound‘s weekly news round-up, where we bring you the biggest and best news to come out of the film industry every Sunday.
The big thing this week is trailers. We’ve got new trailers for Ant-Man and the Wasp and Duncan Jones’ passion-project Mute. Noticeably absent from the line-up is the long awaited trailer for the Han Solo solo movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story, which was theorized to be attatched to The Last Jedi, then earlier this week, then on the Superbowl tonight, and now… Monday on Good Morning, America?
But honestly, who knows. Many have speculated the lack of a trailer means that Disney is worried about their upcoming Ron Howard movie, but really, let’s be honest – this is Star Wars we’re talking about. People are going to see it regardless of when the trailer comes out, and while us film fans may understand that this film is set over thirty years, in-universe, before the events of The Last Jedi, it does make sense for Disney to hold off on the trailer while The Last Jedi is still in cinemas.
Furthermore, the fact that a lot of the film was reshot means that they’re cutting the actual finishing of the film rather close to hit that May release date, so putting out a trailer to appease the naysayers probably wasn’t high on their list of priorities.
But I digress.
For now, let’s just hope we’ll find out what’s going on with Solo tomorrow, and get on with the news:
Peyton Reed goes all out with size-changing shenanigans
So, trailer number one: Ant-Man and the Wasp.
The third Marvel movie to drop this year, after Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, will see size-changing superhero Scott Lang reunite with his mentors Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne after the events of Captain America: Civil War, to go on the run from the FBI and face off against shady businessmen and ghostly super-criminals alike.
Returning director Peyton Reed seems to have gone all out with what Hank Pym’s Pym Particles can do, shrinking everything from trucks to whole buildings, and displaying all the kick-ass features of Hope’s new Wasp costume. While a lot of it looks like it could be standard Marvel fare, it’s definitely one to keep an eye on, what with it being the first Marvel Studios film to feature a female hero’s name in the title.
You can check out all the action for yourself in the trailer below:
Ant-Man and the Wasp flies into cinemas on July 6th 2018.
Early reactions for Black Panther set us up for a ‘different’ and ‘real’ Marvel movie
Speaking of Marvel Movies, Black Panther is very nearly upon us, and like Ant-Man and the Wasp sees the first female superhero get her name in the title, so too does Black Panther grant that same privilege to a black Marvel Studios hero.
It was hard to truly predict what Black Panther was going to be. Full of an Afro-Futurist aesthetic, sure. Packed with some powerful actors, yes. Slightly more spiritual than previous Marvel movies, maybe? Another Marvel movie where the villain was a dark mirror of the hero in costume and powers – an increasingly worrying possibility.
However, whatever conclusions you came to, some people have been lucky enough to have seen the film, and as is their way, have posted some early reactions on the Twitters:
Watched Black Panther on Monday night. Haven’t stopped thinking about it for even a moment. Tremendous fun. Smart.
— robliefeld (@robertliefeld) February 3, 2018
BLACK PANTHER. Incredible. Real world building with Wakanda. Great mythology building around the Black Panther. Solid character development. Top notch action. Great narrative. Wonderful villain (rare for Marvel). Killer soundtrack. Fav MCU film since Civil War.
— John Campea (@johncampea) January 30, 2018
BLACK PANTHER is like a Marvel movie, but better. the action is predictably awful, but this is the first MCU film that has an actual sense of identity & history & musicality. Wakanda is alive. whole cast is great but the women (and the war rhinos) steal the show — Danai Gurira!
— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) January 30, 2018
#BlackPanther is exceptional – the James Bond of the MCU. You've seen nothing like this in a superhero movie – it's bold, beautiful & intense, but there's a depth & spiritualness that is unlike anything Marvel has ever done. It's 100% African & it is dope af. pic.twitter.com/Z77IjnIjf2
— Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) January 30, 2018
BLACK PANTHER is incredible, kinetic, purposeful. A superhero movie about why representation & identity matters, and how tragic it is when those things are denied to people. The 1st MCU movie about something real; Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger had me weeping and he’s the VILLAIN
— jen yamato (@jenyamato) January 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/kumailn/status/958264381434880000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fbirthmoviesdeath.com%2F2018%2F01%2F30%2Fget-hyped-with-the-first-reactions-to-black-panther
Black Panther claws its way into cinemas on February 12th 2018.
Duncan Jones channels his inner Ridley Scott with Mute
Duncan Jones is known for a few things; bringing us smaller hits like Moon and Source Code, being the son of legendary musician David Bowie and being the man bold enough to try and tackle the adaptation of the epic video-game franchise World of Warcraft.
However, one thing you may not know is that he’s been trying to get a spin-off to Moon made for quite some time. Despite some media coverage, a lot of the work has been done under the radar, and now, the release date for the film, Mute, is almost upon us.
Set in the same universe as Moon, Mute follows a mute bartender who goes hunting for his missing girlfriend in the underworld of future Berlin. The film follows Alexander Skarsgård as the lead character, and he will be joined by the likes of Paul Rudd, Justin Theroux and perhaps even a cameo appearance from Moon-star Sam Rockwell.
The film, as you can probably see from the trailer, is heavily inspired by Blade Runner, bringing an array of jazzy, yet gritty scenes and an interesting new look at our future:
Mute hits Netflix on February 23rd 2018.
The Men in Black are coming back
Talk of when and how the Men in Black franchise will return to screens has been going on for a while now at Sony. There were various discussions about making a fourth film, and both Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones claimed they would be up for returning.
That, obviously, never happened, and instead, Sony started looking into crossover territory, announcing that under the direction of James Bobin (Flight of the Concords, The Muppets), the next film would be MiB 23 – a crossover between the Men in Black and the 21 Jump Street gang, where, presumably, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill would fill in for the Men in Black duo. Both cast members would later voice their uncertainty about how well a third Jump Street film would work.
That was over a year ago.
Now, Sony seems to have changed gears, and are instead just going for a straight-up reboot. Sort of.
Director F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job, Straight Outta Compton, The Fate of the Furious) will be helming the movie, which is described by Deadline specifically as a ‘relaunch’ in the same vein as Jurassic World and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Smith and Jones aren’t expected to return, but casting shouldn’t be too far off, as the film is expected to drop next year.