Dark Phoenix Was Always Going To Be The End Of The X-Men Franchise

Dark Phoenix Was Always Going To Be The End Of The X-Men Franchise

Superhero movies are everywhere, as it has become the most profitable genre in the filmmaking world. As such, plenty of studios have gotten in on the action, and attempted to create their own cinematic universe. But years before Marvel Studios changed the filmmaking world with Iron Man, Marvel's heroes had hit theaters with the X-Men franchise.

The X-Men movies began with Bryan Singer's original blockbuster back in 2000, and was a big risk for Fox in regards to budget and fan interest. But the property is still going strong today, extending to both spinoffs and main installments. Dark Phoenix will arrive in June, and is expected to be the final installment in the franchise, as Fox and Disney's merger has been finalized. But it turns out the upcoming release was always meant to end the long running narrative. As director Simon Kinberg recently revealed:

From the beginning of conceiving what we were going to do with this film and writing it, which was three plus years ago, so long before there was a Disney merger, I felt like this was the natural culmination for this cycle of X-Men movies. Because it is seeing this family that you've come to love and know for how ever many films, and if you count the originals almost 20 years now, you see that family tested in a whole new way. You see that family start to fall apart in a real way for the first time, ultimately come back together.

Well, that's a relief. While some cinephiles have been scared for Dark Phoenix to be the finale of the X-Men franchise as we know it, looks like that was always the plan. As such, the conclusion will hopefully end up satisfy the generations of X-fans out there.

Simon Kinberg's comments to Comic Book should be a relief to lovers of Marvel's mutant group. Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox has put much of the developing X-Men projects in jeopardy. Just look at The New Mutants, which may not even make it to theaters, and whose reshoots haven't occured yet. So when it comes to Dark Phoenix being the big finale, moviegoers assumed the ending would fail to wrap up the narrative. But if Kinberg's directorial debut was always meant to be the finale, then perhaps the movie can deliver in the end.

Ignoring the merger with Disney, it does seem like a good time to finally wrap up the X-Men franchise. The property has been going for nearly two decades, and has a long and convoluted canon. There's been two generations of cast members, and their timelines should be pretty close to colliding. So it's best to end franchise, especially as the current cast departs their roles.

Dark Phoenix will arrive in theaters on June 7th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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Dark Phoenix Footage At WonderCon Shows Off Outer Space Chaos And An Emotional Battle

Dark Phoenix Footage At WonderCon Shows Off Outer Space Chaos And An Emotional Battle

Though Dark Phoenix has been in the works for a while, we really haven’t seen all that much footage from the blockbuster. Sure, we’ve seen a couple of trailers come out, but when considered in the context of how much time there was between previews, what we’ve seen doesn’t amount to much. It’s a bit of a surprise, given that the film is now just a few months away from release, but the marketing for the movie broke the drought in a big way today by showing off a couple of full scenes at WonderCon.

20th Century Fox held a special Dark Phoenix panel at the Anaheim Convention Center today, and in addition to having a panel featuring a bunch of stars and filmmakers, the film also showed off nearly 20 minutes of footage. It’s all pretty cool stuff, and you can find the details about it below:

The sequence started with a shot from behind the X Mansion, with the basketball court opening up and the Blackbird launching from the hanger underneath. The X-Men are on a mission - on board are Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Quicksilver (Evan Peters), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), and Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) – but it isn’t a typical Earthbound adventure. For the first time ever they are making their way into space, and it’s clear that it’s not an environment in which they are totally comfortable.

News stations from around the world are broadcasting the event, showcasing the popularity of the world’s first superhero team. While the X-Men are on the move, Professor X (James McAvoy) is in Cerebro communicating with NASA, who are reporting an incident with a shuttle in trouble involving a solar flare. As we see through the eyes of the mutant team, however, it’s not exactly a normal cosmic event, as it looks more like there is a dangerous mass floating and getting closer to the troubled spaceship – which is shown spinning out of control with a busted thruster.

Calling the shots, Mystique notes that before they can do anything they need to stop the rotation of shuttle, but Nightcrawler notes that he can’t teleport in because he can’t see into it. The job then falls to Cyclops, who is told that he needs to blast the thruster and stop the spin. He goes below deck, lines his specialized visor up with a periscope-esque targeting system, and successfully fires an optic blast that gets the in-trouble ship to stop.

With the situation more manageable, Nightcrawler and Quicksilver are called into action to teleport to the NASA vessel – and meanwhile Storm seals the damage that’s been done with ice. In hyper-speed mode, Quicksilver takes the seatbelts off all of the astronauts, and then tosses them towards the back of the shuttle where Nightcrawler is waiting. Once everyone is collected, they BAMF and find themselves back on the Blackbird.

All seems well and good and the call is made to head home… until one of the rescued astronauts points out that the mission isn’t done yet. Their commander was in the airlock trying to fix the thruster at the time of the rescue, and he remains there with the “solar flare” getting closer and closer. Mystique wants to leave, not wanting to risk the members of her team for one more person, but Professor X insists that they stay and do everything they possibly can to save the remaining life in danger.

With Storm no longer able to keep the ship together with ice, Jean Grey boldly claims that she can slow the destruction, but she needs to get closer to the ship. Both Cyclops and Professor X back her up, though Beast notes that there is less than a minute before the solar flare hits and becomes too dangerous to survive. The call is made, and Nightcrawler and Jean teleport over, with the powerful telepath keeping the construction of the ship together. The commander is saved by Nightcrawler, but as time runs out Jean finds herself trapped as the flare hits. Cyclops screams asking where Jean is, but all they can do is helplessly watch from afar as the cosmic energy engulfs the damaged shuttle.

With Jean, we watch as she starts to absorb the energy – screaming as she does – and it’s an experience that it seems Professor X has right along with her. What adds an interesting note, however, is that while part of the solar flare seems to try and reach out to the Blackbird, Jean uses her concentration to divert it, and winds up absorbing all of it. The shuttle explodes and everyone thinks that Jean is dead. Once all the chaos is over, Nightcrawler teleports and brings her to be back with the X-Men – and while the group initially mourns, she then opens her eyes to reveal that she is alive (with a bit of orange swimming around in her irises).

The X-Men land back on Earth to much fanfare, and the celebrating continues when they get back to the X Mansion. Everyone is happy, and Professor X is feeling enough pride to cancel all classes for the rest of the day, but Mystique is definitely not happy about the whole situation. After Xavier checks in on Jean Grey, sending her to get a full medical exam, Mystique takes him into his office, and she has a frank discussion with him about the increased risks that are being taken. She is worried about the safety of the recruits, and is afraid that the wheelchair-bound telepath is taking on bigger and bigger challenges just for the sake of his ego. He counters, however, by acknowledging that mutants are being accepted unlike any other time in history, and that only one bad day could result in their kind being hated and despised again. It’s clear that it’s not an issue that is going to be solved with one discussion, but at the very end Mystique gets in one last shot, noting not only that it’s been a minute since Xavier last risked his own life, and that women are so consistently saving the men that the team name should be changed to X-Women.

Jumping ahead in the movie (and clearly skipping over some major, major developments), the other big sequence in the Dark Phoenix footage showed off a showdown that seemingly happens in the second half of the film – so if you don’t wish to be spoiled on anything, you may want to stop reading here.

Starting with Xavier in Cerebro with Cyclops, it’s made clear that Jean Grey has started to go off the deep end, and that crap is really starting to hit the fan. Beast has teamed up with Magneto, and they have decided that Jean needs to die – which, naturally, Professor X is unwilling to let happen. He psychically connects with Nightcrawler, showing the place where he needs to go, and together they travel along with Storm (after some argument) to try and stop the assassination.

The members of the X-Men then quickly find themselves in a confrontation with Magneto and Beast in Central Park, as well as two other mutants: one, Red Lotus, with braids that basically act as prehensile tentacles, and another, Selene, with the ability to control minds. Following a verbal scuffle (including an F-bomb from Cyclops), a battle begins as Magneto makes his way towards a building where Jean Grey and Jessica Chastain’s mystery character are staying, and they know that he is on his way to kill Phoenix – what is basically spelled out as an act of revenge for the killing of Mystique. The fight rages on, but the Master of Magnetism gets the upper hand when he uses his powers to pull an entire subway car out of the ground and positions it to block the entrance of the aforementioned building.

Once inside, Magneto is confronted by Jean Grey and Jessica Chastain’s character, and his big move is executed by pulling a metal banister from its spokes and pointing the jagged end at Jean. As emotional as he is, though, he can’t go through with it. Unfortunately for him, it seems that Jean doesn’t feel the same way. With her heightened abilities, she starts to crush Magneto’s head with the villains helmet… though it cuts to black before we can see what happens.

Overall, the footage was interesting if not just because it shows off a lot of new stuff that we haven’t actually seen in past X-Men movies. The titular team operates in a completely different way than other iterations – particularly with the way in which it pairs certain mutant abilities together in order to achieve a certain goal. It’s also a bit that gives us quite a lot of clarity when it comes to where all of these characters stand within this story – particularly Professor X, Mystique, Magneto, Cyclops, and particularly Jean Grey.

We’ve obviously been waiting for Dark Phoenix for a long time, but it’s now actually almost here. The film will be arriving in theaters everywhere on June 7th, and be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for not only more of our WonderCon footage, but also our interviews at the convention with the movie’s filmmakers and stars.

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Dark Phoenix Final Trailer Shows Off New, Dark Powers For Jean Grey

Dark Phoenix Final Trailer Shows Off New, Dark Powers For Jean Grey

Breaking news: a random mutant sighting has been reported this morning, and it’s a pretty big one. That’s right, Fox has dropped another trailer for Dark Phoenix, and it's all about Jean Grey and her newer, darker powers. Better still, this is probably the best trailer for the latest, and probably the last X-Men film we'll see for a while. But don't take my word for it, as you can see for yourself below:

Perhaps the greatest asset this trailer for Dark Phoenix presents is the fact that we see a clear line of story for Jean's ascendence into darkness. From the shuttle rescue that she and the rest of the crew are sent to execute, straight to her confrontation with Magneto, we see some slick storytelling at work.

Of course, there are quite a bit of powers that are used to tell that story as well, and we see Jean not only absorb the alien power force that will turn her into the Phoenix, but she also deflects lightning attacks launched by Storm, and even shatters Magneto's helmet into pieces. That's some pretty damned powerful mutation at work there.

While the usual gang of young X-Men are on display (we see Storm, Nightcrawler, and Cyclops all strutting their stuff), it's Sophie Turner's Jean Grey that's definitely ruling the show here. Seeing what we've got in front of us with this final trailer, her big moments with Michael Fassbender's Magneto and even James McAvoy's Professor Xavier look to be some of the most powerful stuff in the series.

Just the scene where she confronts Magneto "threatening her" speaks volumes on the potential that this film has to close out this chapter of X-Men history in a strong, satisfying manner.

As we've also seen in Dark Phoenix trailers of (future) past, Jean Grey is indeed going through a bit of a crisis. Something so big that the mysterious Jessica Chastain is trying to spur it on, and the rest of the X-Men universe is still trying to decide how to handle. It all comes to a head in director Simon Kinberg's big summer blockbuster, as the other side of Jean we started to see in X-Men: Apocalypse's big finale is shining through in full force. And may the spirit of Stan Lee help anyone who gets in her way.

The kitchen sink is proverbially thrown in Dark Phoenix, as there looks to be quite a bit of heartache heading our way, with Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique being one of the many victims we should expect in this final installment of the series’ revitalization that started with 2011’s X-Men: First Class.

It’s truly an end of an era, and it looks like Dark Phoenix is planning to close this saga out with some heavy firepower.

Dark Phoenix marks the end of the X-Men saga as we know it on June 7th. Though that shouldn't stop you from taking the 2019 release schedule and finding some super-powered and/or more grounded delights to take in at the movies!

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Dark Phoenix Director Explains Why The Hellfire Club Wasn’t Included

Dark Phoenix Director Explains Why The Hellfire Club Wasn’t Included

Superhero movies are everywhere, but there was a time when the genre seemed like a serious gamble for studios. Before shared universes became commonplace, 20th Century Fox (RIP) brought X-Men to theaters back in 2000. The property hasn't been far from theaters in the nearly two decades since, although it will all come to an end with Dark Phoenix.

Dark Phoenix is the franchise's final run in theaters, and the second attempt at adapting the titular comic book story. On the page, the Hellfire Club is an integral part of the plot, manipulating Jean and the dark power that lives inside her. But they won't be in the upcoming blockbuster, and director/writer Simon Kinberg explained this choice, saying:

I think if I had four hours to tell this story I would've included the Hellfire Club, I might've included Lilandra. Because I wanted it to be so focused on Jean and I wanted to really tell a character story a little differently than we have in the past in the X-Men. In the past it's been a little more horizontal, meaning there was a breadth of character, there was a bunch of characters. In this one I wanted to go a little more vertical, I wanted to go deep with our main characters, and especially with Jean.

Simon Kinberg has been a long-time producer in the X-Men franchise, so he clearly knows the mutants and their adversaries very well. And while he may have liked to include the Hellfire Club and cosmic character Lilandra in Dark Phoenix, the full story is simply too dense for one movie. Instead, he pivoted his focus onto the psyche of Sophie Turner's Jean Grey, giving the title character the chance to carry the movie.

Related: Why Dark Phoenix Reshot Its Original Ending, According To Simon Kinberg

From the looks of Dark Phoenix's trailers, Sansa Stark is going to be given the true focus of the movie, with Sophie Turner getting the chance to show off a different side of her acting abilities. This should hopefully streamline the narrative, while also allowing the other mutants to split in their allegiances in the wake of Jean's dark power. Even if that means comic book characters ended up on the cutting room floor.

In his same conversation with Digital Spy, Simon Kinberg went on to explain how The Hellfire Club's inclusion may have weighed down Dark Phoenix. As he put it:

So while I loved the Hellfire characters and their role in the Dark Phoenix saga in the comics, and I loved the Lilandra storyline in the comics, all of those felt like they were going to start to compete with the main story of Jean and her emotional crack-up and the break-up of the X-Men family. And I didn't want to draw away from that main emotional through-line.

Simon Kinberg may be making his directorial debut with Dark Phoenix, but he's been working on the franchise since the very beginning. As such, he's seen all the peaks and valleys of the X-Men movies over the years. This no doubt helped his creative process with the upcoming blockbuster, as well as his decision to exclude certain comic book characters.

Members of the Hellfire Club have already appeared in an earlier installment in the franchise, so adding them to Dark Phoenix would make the timeline a bit more confusing and convoluted. Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost were antagonists in X-Men: First Class, and that's a timeline that is still being utilized in Dark Phoenix. The characters have a relationship with the Hellfire Club, especially Professor X, Mystique, and Magneto.

While Lilandra hasn't been adapted to live-action, there were many thought that Jessica Chastain would be playing the character in Dark Phoenix. Chastain's role still hasn't been revealed, although the trailers show her manipulating Jean to give into her new dark persona. Only time will tell who she ends up playing, and how similar to Lilandra the character ends up being.

All will be revealed when Dark Phoenix arrives in theaters on June 7th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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Dark Phoenix Director Compares Movie To Avengers: Endgame And Game Of Thrones

Dark Phoenix Director Compares Movie To Avengers: Endgame And Game Of Thrones

In 2019, we’ve already witnessed the the end of an era in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the polarizing end to HBO’s Game of Thrones. But wait, that’s not all! The X-Men franchise and current Star Wars saga are also coming for our hearts this calendar year.

The mutants are up next with the release of Dark Phoenix, and the film’s writer/director Simon Kinberg is prepping fans to say goodbye. Check out his recent words:

I approach this movie as the culmination of 20 years of storytelling, of living with the X-Men for all this time and watching this family come together, and this movie is the movie that challenged that family and tears them apart in a new way. And so I imagined it as the culmination, and I even pitched it to the studio, as this is the culmination of this cycle of X-Men stories. Which there will be more X-Men movies in the future no doubt, but this particular cycle with this cast, it felt like it was time to do kind of what Game of Thrones has done, what Endgame has done, really see them challenged in a new way and sort of survive and go off into the sunset.

Did all our favorite franchises coordinate to leave our lives all at once? Because I feel like we need a breather here. These are a lot of farewells at once. Dark Phoenix will hit theaters less than three weeks after the Game of Thrones finale and a little over a month away from Avengers: Endgame, the culmination of the MCU thus far. Now that we’ve grown accustomed to bittersweet endings, will this X-Men conclusion measure up?

When Simon Kinberg sat down with Comicbook.com, he also teased the movie as being the most intense of the X-Men films. When Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey gets hit by a solar flare during a mission in space with the rest of the team, she develops new incredible powers that threaten the X-Men and the world.

One trailer for the film particular heightened the stakes when it showed that Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique would be killed off by Jean in the first act. While the decision to reveal this in the trailer surprised many, Kinberg has said Mystique’s death won’t be the only major casualty in Dark Phoenix.

The movie also marks the last of Fox’s main X-Men movies, since Disney recently obtained the rights to the franchise. So while the mutants will likely be seen again someday in the MCU, Kinberg took this chance to close out the stories told through the franchise since 2000’s X-Men. He has noted that it has always been the plan to end the series with Dark Phoenix; this isn’t only a side effect of the Disney/Fox merger.

Ride off into another fictional sunset with the X-Men with Dark Phoenix coming to theaters on June 7.

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Dark Phoenix - What We Know So Far About The New X-Men Movie

Dark Phoenix - What We Know So Far About The New X-Men Movie

Looking back, the X-Men franchise was key in the development of the modern comic book movie genre, and 19 years after it started it's still serving up superhero shenanigans. While the Disney-Fox deal has certainly changed what the future could look like for the franchise, there are still a lot of possibilities for interesting-looking spin-offs, not to mention new takes on previously shown characters and events which the folks at Disney and Marvel are surely already working to figure out. Not to be forgotten yet, however, is the main series of films, and it's the next chapter that we're here to discuss today.

After a relatively quick production period, but lots of delays, X-Men: Dark Phoenix is now finally less than a week away from release nationwide. But what is it about? Who is making it? What characters can we expect to appear? We cover all of these questions and more in our What We Know So Far guide below, so read on and learn!

What Have We Seen From Dark Phoenix?

It's been a long road, but September 26, 2018 finally delivered the first trailer from the highly anticipated movie. While that first look went heavy on the stress caused to Jean by meeting with the Phoenix force, and the resulting toll that will take on her friends and the world around her, the final trailer (above) gave us a better sense of some of the other action. This includes cool scenes of that meeting and a lot of the space action that would have led to it.

What Is Dark Phoenix's Release Date?

While June 7, 2019 will finally see Dark Phoenix hit theaters, it was a long road to get there. In 2017, the Marvel Cinematic Universe achieved something never before seen in Hollywood: releasing three franchise titles in the span of one calendar year. Well, in 2018 the X-Men movies were ready to compete. January through June should have seen both Josh Boone's The New Mutants and David Leitch's Deadpool 2 unleashed on the world, with 20th Century Fox is saving X-Men: Dark Phoenix for the winter months, having set it to come out on November 2, 2018.

That changed with some shakeups to scheduling in January and March of 2018, though. First, The New Mutants was pushed from April 13, 2018, to February 22, 2019, then to August 2, 2019 and now it rests at April 3, 2020. Dark Phoenix retained its November release date through the first scheduling change, but late March saw the superhero film get pushed to February 2019.

But then, just two days after the first trailer was released in late September 2018, Fox did more shuffling and set Dark Phoenix down in June 2019. With the exception of Deadpool and Logan, which hit theaters in the first quarters of their respective years, the X­-Men movies have traditionally been spring and summer releases, which makes this new strategy fall more in line with what we generally see.

While February is no longer a stranger to comic book blockbusters in the modern era, thanks to the aforementioned Deadpool and the recent, completely massive success of Black Panther, this release makes a lot more sense for the film. Rumors on the date change have suggested that the studio believes X-Men: Dark Phoenix will simply perform better then, especially in China, which went crazy for the trailer after it came out.

What Is Dark Phoenix's Rating?

Unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe, the X-Men franchise has been a bit more experimental when it comes to the ratings of their comic book movies -- and it's resulted in some incredible success. Even though audiences under 18 couldn't see them without a parent or guardian, the aforementioned Deadpool and Logan both managed to bring in tons of cash appealing to more mature audiences. Because of these wins, there are now ratings conversations to be had about many developing superhero titles, but you can bet that X-Men: Dark Phoenix won't be rocking the boat.

To date, all of the main X-Men titles -- including X-Men, X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse -- have all been PG-13, and that trend will continue with X-Men: Dark Phoenix. It surely will have (mostly bloodless) violence and thrilling sequences that might be too much for young viewers, but don't expect tons of gore, nudity or profanity.

Who Is Directing Dark Phoenix?

Simon Kinberg has been an important part of the X-Men world for years. He first became involved back in 2006 when he was hired to write the script for Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand, but has really been a key player ever since X-Men: First Class. Starting with that 2011 movie he has produced all of the franchises' features, and he is also a credited co-writer on X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse. He's also done script work on Dark Phoenix, but the bigger story is the fact that he's making the film as his directorial debut.

It's not often that you see a filmmaker dipping his toe into directing with a major superhero blockbuster, but he does have a good amount of experience within the industry in the last 15 years. We can't say much for the style we expect him to bring to X-Men: Dark Phoenix, but that's just another part of what we're anticipating when we head to the theater.

What Is Dark Phoenix About?

The Dark Phoenix Saga is one of the most famous storylines in the history of Marvel Comics - which fully explains why this movie will actually be the second big screen attempt at adapting it. The franchise tried to put its own spin on the familiar narrative with X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006, but it's widely agreed that the job was botched. Following the continuity-changing events of X-Men: Days of Future Past, the movies saw an opportunity to try and tell the story again, and that's what we're getting in Simon Kinberg's X-Men: Dark Phoenix.

Set a decade after the events of X-Men: Apocalypse (following a pattern set up by the previous two movies), Dark Phoenix is set in the early 1990s, and is set in a world that has changed quite a lot. In the 1980s people everywhere knew about the existence of mutants, but now the X-Men are basically rock stars. Under the leadership of Professor X (James McAvoy), the team is known worldwide for their heroics, and celebrated for them.

All good streaks come to an end, however, and the X-Men find theirs come to a conclusion in outer space. During a cosmic mission, an accident occurs involving what they believe to be a solar flare, but this energy merges with Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) in the process. It's found it greatly enhances her powers, but the team begins to witness some serious changes in her personality, and her lack of control over her new powers.

Those familiar with the Dark Phoenix Saga from the comics -- which is an arc big enough to span two feature films -- will recognize that this doesn't exactly match up with the source material, but it certainly is a hell of a lot closer than what X-Men: The Last Stand delivered. There is still a lot that we don't know about the story take and the adaptation, but we obviously don't have long until we can learn more.

Jean Grey

Jean Grey has been an important character in the X-Men movies from the very beginning, originally played by Famke Janssen, but now she is in her second generation. While Jean was initially introduced as a teacher at Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, X-Men: Apocalypse was the first film in the canon to show her as a student, brought to life by Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner.

Like many of her fellow X-Men in that film, the young telepath/telekinetic was only just starting to get a handle on her special mutation when she was doing battle with Apocalypse -- but, all the same, still demonstrated some incredible power. We can assume that her abilities and her control over said abilities will be much better at the start of X-Men: Dark Phoenix (there's a lot Professor X can teach in a decade), but even those practiced strengths will be nothing compared to what she is able to do when imbued with the Phoenix Force.

As powerful as Jean is naturally, her abilities intensely escalate when she is transformed into Phoenix, to the point where she becomes one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Opening stargates, destroying matter at the subatomic level, and generating cosmic fire are only a few of the scary skills in her arsenal, but also certainly not helpful is the way that the power tends to corrupt the user.

Charles Xavier a.k.a. Professor X

Going back to X-Men: First Class, we've watched Charles Xavier a.k.a. Professor X come a long way. He earned his doctorate at the age of 30, shortly thereafter establishing Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, and through X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse we've watched him evolve into the legendary leader we've always known that he would become.

By the time we catch up with him in Dark Phoenix, Professor X will have 30 years of leadership under his belt, but evidently he somewhat becomes a victim of his own bravado. He is very proud of the students that he has taught, and blissful with the reputation and popularity that the X-Men have received. There are obvious positive sides to this, but, unfortunately, the confidence also leads him to send his team into outer space for a mission that they aren't prepared for, leading to Jean Grey's accident.

As a leader and a teacher, Professor X has a very important responsibility when it comes to the X-Men, and one can imagine this mistake having a crucial impact on his arc in X-Men: Dark Phoenix. That said, he shouldn't have a ton of time to devote to self-reflection and self-flagellation if he's properly responding to the threat that the titular force represents.

Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops

It's no secret that the X-Men movies don't have a great track record of doing right by Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops. The character has been a fan favorite in the comics for decades, but on the big screen he was totally sidelined by a Wolverine-centric approach that painted him plainly as a romantic competitor for the heart of Jean Grey. It's partially because of this shortcoming that the franchise hit the restart button on Cyclops in X-Men: Apocalypse, and now they'll have the chance to properly explore the character in X-Men: Dark Phoenix, portrayed by Tye Sheridan.

Cyclops was only shown wearing his famous visor in the final moments of X-Men: Apocalypse, still learning how to control his optic blasts, but he should be a seasoned veteran with the equipment when we catch up with him. His specific role in the Dark Phoenix storyline still seems to be based on Scott's romantic bond with Jean Grey, with him trying to convince everyone she can be saved when she seems too far gone and dangerous to be allowed to live.

Ororo Munroe a.k.a. Storm

Within the post-X-Men: Days of Future Past continuity, we don't have much experience watching Ororo Munroe a.k.a. Storm as a hero. Portrayed by Alexandra Shipp in X-Men: Apocalypse, we got a glimpse of her upbringing in Egypt, but the titular villain was able to get to her far faster than Professor X. She was enlisted as one of the Four Horsemen, but the all-powerful blue mutant's Svengali-like hold over her was shattered when she saw her hero, Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) in battle. Following her change of heart, Storm started fighting alongside the X-Men, and at the end of the movie we saw her suited up as a full-fledged member of the team.

Unfortunately, that's basically where details stop in regards to what we can expect from Storm in X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Like everyone else, she will be 10 years older and wiser, and have much greater control over her abilities to control the weather, but we don't really know much more than that. Given how limited the character's time on screen has classically been -- going back to the Halle Berry era -- hopefully a nice chunk of narrative will be devoted to her.

Kurt Wagner a.k.a. Nightcrawler

We first got to see the fan-favorite teleporting mutant known as Nightcrawler up on the big screen in X2: X-Men United... but his run didn't exactly last long. Despite putting on a fantastic performance, Alan Cumming didn't return to reprise the part in X-Men: The Last Stand, and in the movie world Nightcrawler was ultimately put on ice for 13 years. That unfortunate trend ended in 2016 with Kodi Smit-McPhee playing a younger version of the character in X-Men: Apocalypse, and next we'll get to see him perform his advanced circus-like antics in Dark Phoenix.

In X-Men: Apocalypse, Nightcrawler was basically used to demonstrate that the world was accepting of his odd appearance -- but we didn't really get to learn much about him. Hopefully Simon Kinberg is able to successfully balance X-Men: Dark Phoenix as a true ensemble, and give Kurt Wagner the proper moments to shine that fans want to see, and that his legacy deserves.

Peter Maximoff a.k.a. Quicksilver

The last seventeen years have brought us an endless list of ridiculously awesome big screen superhero moments, but the usage of Evan Peters' Peter Maximoff a.k.a. Quicksilver in both X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse are certainly near the top. Bryan Singer made impressive use of modern filmmaking technology to craft sequences unlike anything we've ever seen with a speedster character, and in doing so also happened to create two of the most memorable movie music moments of the young century. He's an exciting presence in this franchise, which is why we're stoked that he will be back in X-Men: Dark Phoenix.

The full details regarding Quicksilver's development as a character have not yet been revealed, but we can probably take a few guesses regarding where he is at. Given his personality type, one can imagine that he is absolutely loving the celebrity status that the X-Men have earned, and is happy to take advantage of it every moment that he can -- which is pretty often given the way he moves.

We'll have to wait and see if he winds up reaching out to Magneto to reveal that he is his son (if that hasn't already happened in the last decade), but that situation is made tricky given the status of Magneto at the start of Dark Phoenix, which we'll get into a bit later.

Hank McCoy a.k.a. Beast

Fans were initially disappointed when Hank McCoy a.k.a. Beast didn't make the roster for Bryan Singer's first X-Men movie, but ever since X-Men: First Class he has been a key player. Portrayed by Nicholas Hoult, we have watched the character undergo some serious change -- some quite literally -- but he's certainly developed into the hero that Marvel readers have loved for decades.

Beast will once again be back fighting the good fight in X-Men: Dark Phoenix, serving alongside Jean Grey, Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Quicksilver, and Mystique under the guidance of Professor X. Hank still seems to have control over his appearance, but we do get a lot of him totally blue and furry during the trailer, so we'll probably be treated to his natural state a lot of time, especially during the action scenes.

Raven Darkhölme a.k.a. Mystique

Similar to Wolverine, Raven Darkhölme a.k.a. Mystique wasn't always a core member of the X-Men character lineup in the comics, but the films have certainly treated her that way. Rebecca Romijn was very memorable in the original X-Men trilogy, but the fact that she has been played by A-lister Jennifer Lawrence since X-Men: First Class has kept her in the franchise's spotlight. At the end of X-Men: Apocalypse she was firmly established as one of the good guys, and apparently that's exactly where she starts at the beginning of Dark Phoenix as well.

Mystique has classically been an enemy of the X-Men, but now that she's a part of the titular team, we'll see her take on a leadership position because she's older and has been fighting longer than most of the other X-Men. It also looks like she'll handle Jean Grey's transformation into the Phoenix by pointing out some important truths to Charles, and by being a true leader and trying to help Jean even though she knows how dangerous she's become.

Erik Lehnsherr a.k.a. Magneto

At the end of X-Men: Apocalypse Michael Fassbender's Erik Lehnsherr a.k.a. Magneto aided in the reconstruction of Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, but he made the decision not to stick around. Having lost his wife and daughter, and nearly aiding in the destruction of the planet, he decided that it was best that he leave and start a life for himself elsewhere in the world. It's noteworthy that X-Men: Dark Phoenix will address the question of "Where?" and it turns out the answer is super interesting: the island of Genosha.

While Genosha has a bit of a spotty history in Marvel Comics, in Dark Phoenix it will be portrayed as a safe haven for mutants who can't find a home anywhere else in the world -- and it's where Magneto has worked to try and rebalance his life. He finds himself involved with the main narrative because Jean Grey seeks him out for guidance in the midst of his transformation.

The Mysterious Villain

Yes, that's a super vague heading, but the reality is that we don't have much to work with in this area. It's been confirmed that Jessica Chastain will be playing the central villain in X-Men: Dark Phoenix, but in a move that seriously increases our curiosity, the folks behind the film will not identify her character. It has been said that she is an "otherworldly shapeshifter" who is out to control the power of the Phoenix, but nothing else is known beyond that.

We just have a few day now until X-Men: Dark Phoenix is in theaters, so be sure to head out and get the rest of the answers to what this movie has in store for audiences for yourself!

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Danny DeVito Teased Michael Keaton About Dumbo's Batman Returns Role Reversal

Danny DeVito Teased Michael Keaton About Dumbo's Batman Returns Role Reversal

For Tim Burton’s remake of the 1941 Disney classic Dumbo, the prolific filmmaker reassembled his Dark Knight and Penguin from Batman Returns to play alongside the soaring circus elephant. 27 years later, Burton opted to give Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito a different roles in his film to play this time around. Looks like DeVito couldn’t get enough of the role-reversal, per his recent words:

In Batman, [Keaton] plays the good guy. Now in Dumbo, I play the good guy and he plays the bad guy. I needle him about it all the time.

Insert DeVito’s penguin chuckle here. The character actor is well-known for playing a signature baddie, especially in 1992’s Batman Returns, alongside Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, along with his other iconic roles of Mr. Wormwood in Matilda and his longtime mischief as Frank on It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. He loved the idea of going back to playing a character of a softer, kind-hearted nature with Disney’s Dumbo, especially since Keaton would now be the one he gets to steal the good guy glory from.

In the family-friendly flick, Danny DeVito plays Max Medici, a ringmaster of a financially struggling circus who is approached by Michael Keaton’s V. A. Vandevere, a powerful entrepreneur who has bigger plans and dollar signs in his eyes for his popular spectacle Dumbo soon becomes.

Michael Keaton recently pulled off another villainous role in Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017, so it’s not a big surprise for audiences. Danny DeVito’s recent comments to Entertainment Weekly seem to indicate a fondness for how the tables have turned since their last movie together. Although, there’s another reason why he was attracted to taking on a more friendly role in Dumbo. In his words:

Sometimes I embarrass my kids. On Sunny, I do a lot of crazy things. Sometimes I cringe when I think about how this is gonna play with my kids. In Dumbo, I think they were all pretty happy. I’m in good shape with my kids.

In recent years, Danny Devito has been seen seldom on the big screen due to his hilarious 13 season stint as Frank on his FX comedy series, where the actor will do or say just about anything for a good bit. As you can imagine, the often twisted humor that’s a regular on the show doesn’t always play well with his children.

It’s certainly nice to see Danny DeVito back in a movie, and with Michael Keaton as they take on opposite dynamics from their Batman Returns roles. DeVito will also star in more family-friendly faire in the upcoming Jumanji sequel alongside Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart and Jack Black coming in December.

As far as Batman and Penguin go, the upcoming new iteration of the character from Matt Reeves is rumored to feature the two adversaries facing off once again, following Tim Burton’s 1992 take.

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Danny Boyle Opens Up About Quitting Bond 25

Danny Boyle Opens Up About Quitting Bond 25

While superhero and Star Wars movies may be the biggest releases in the film world, there's a franchise that was there before it all: James Bond. The 007 movies began back with 1962's Dr. No, and the spy property is still going strong today. Daniel Craig will take his final bow as James with the mysterious Bond 25 movie, although the project has had a few noticeable setbacks. Most famously, the departure of Danny Boyle as director.

Danny Boyle left the director's chair of Bond 25 in August of 2018, giving the generations of fans some panic. He was ultimately replaced by Cary Joji Fukunaga, but Boyle has kept largely quiet about the details surrounding his exit. Now he's opened up about the decision, saying:

We were working very, very well, but they didn’t want to go down that route with us. So we decided to part company, and it would be unfair to say what it was because I don’t know what Cary is going to do. I got a very nice message from him and I gave him my best wishes. It is just a great shame.

Is anyone else's FOMO going through the roof? Danny Boyle was happy with his work in the development of Bond 25, but we'll unfortunately never get to see it. It looks like he was doing in a direction that the Eon Productions wasn't comfortable with. As such, he departed the still unnamed project.

Danny Boyle's comments to Variety show the thought process that went behind his departure from the James Bond franchise. Given how iconic and beloved the property is, most directors would jump at the chance to get behind the camera. But when his creative vision was stifled by the larger company and franchise heads, he decided it would be better to walk away.

In his same comments, Danny Boyle also references his replacement, Cary Fukunaga. Boyle doesn't seem to bare any ill-will, and has spoken with Fukunaga about his new gig. The show must go on, and the James Bond franchise certainly isn't going to slow down too much due to Boyle's departure. That being said, it's unclear when production will finally start up, and Bond 25 will become more of a reality.

The pressure is certainly on for Bond 25, as it will be Daniel Craig's swan song as the iconic spy. Craig brought a hulking physical presence to the role, as well as a more realistic and flawed version of the character. Fans are eager to see how he'll be sent off, and how the current slate of films ends. It was originally unclear if the actor would return to the role, as he said he'd rather slash his wrists than do so after the long hours of Spectre.

Bond 25 is currently set to hit theaters on April 8th, 2020. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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Daniel Radcliffe Talks Avoiding Blockbusters After Harry Potter

Daniel Radcliffe Talks Avoiding Blockbusters After Harry Potter

When actors who are involved with major franchises –think the likes of Twilight films or Harry Potter or even The Hunger Games franchise – there is usually a period after the series ends where they are a hot commodity, able to sign on for whatever types of projects they wish. Some of these actors end up trying to do bigger budget movies whereas others tend to head to TV or appear in smaller, often more under-the-radar films.

Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter for eight movies after the turn of the century, ended up taking the latter path. Instead of trying to take bigger and bigger movies as he grew up and grew away from playing the kid with glasses and a lightning bolt scar, he instead gravitated toward projects that were odder and tested the limits of his acting. However, if you ask Radcliffe, it wasn’t a conscious decision to avoid the blockbuster circuit. He said in a recent interview:

It’s not a deliberate decision (to stay away from blockbuster films). I go where the scripts are. It’s hard to get anyone to spend money on (scripts that are) too big of a risk. A lot of the big studios, I find the scripts are not as challenging or weird or interesting as the stuff they make in the indie world or even in the TV world. So the things that I gravitate to, so far they just happen to be in the indie world.

Ahead of the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Daniel Radcliffe was already testing the limits with weird projects. He made headlines when he appeared in the long-running play Equus and was tasked with getting nude for the role.

As the Harry Potter movies were wrapping, Daniel Radcliffe took different types of indie roles. He played Allen Ginsburg in Kill Your Darlings. He played a corpse in Swiss Army Man. He played a pilot delivering illegal cargo in Beast of Burden.

The closest thing Daniel Radcliffe came to a blockbuster was taking a part in Now You See Me 2, and that movie wasn't exactly a critical success. (He also has a small role in Amy Schumer's more successful vehicle Trainwreck.)

In the interview with StarLifestyle, Daniel Radcliffe did reveal that he would be happy to be involved in another large movie one day, but for him, it’s really about finding the right role and going for it.

But if there’s something happening in the studios and I love the script, I would love to be a part of some crazy big movie. It’s just about waiting for the right script.

Sometimes it’s difficult to believe it has been eight years since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 graced the big screen. But in that time, the young cast especially has had to forge new paths. Daniel Radcliffe’s doing the indie thing, with roles on both TV and in movies. Rupert Grint has taken on a lot of TV, although he has occasional movie gigs. Evanna Lynch even just did Dancing with the Stars. Emma Watson probably has the biggest acting career of the kids in the cast, and she often chooses to forego acting for other humanitarian work; she is set for the Little Women remake.

These days, Daniel Radcliffe is a grown adult and kids have stopped recognizing him as Harry Potter. However, until he takes on another gigantic role as an adult, his time playing the young wizard will likely stick out as his most notable role for many. For now, you can catch the actor in the TV series Miracle Workers on TBS, also starring Steve Buscemi.

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Daniel Craig Thinks James Bond Could Change Gender Or Race

Daniel Craig Thinks James Bond Could Change Gender Or Race

Daniel Craig is coming back to play James Bond one more time, but the actor admits that this is almost certainly his last go-round as the super spy. That means the part will need to be recast for the film that comes after Bond 25, and when that happens, some have suggested that the part should go to a woman or a person of color. Craig himself seems quite open to that possibility, saying that nobody should be eliminated from consideration for the part automatically. According to Craig...

The right person for the job, I think that's what it should be. I think that everybody should be considered.

Since the character's inception, James Bond has always been a white dude. While the actors who have played him have come from all parts of the UK, and even once from Australia, the rest hasn't changed much. However, James Bond, being part of one of the longest running film franchises ever, has now become more icon than man, and there are those that believe that the character can move forward as a different race or even a different gender and still be James Bond.

James Bond certainly isn't the same character today that he was when Sean Connery originated him for the screen. The character has evolved with the times and there's no reason the character couldn't continue to evolve in this way.

At the same time, while Daniel Craig says that everybody should be considered for the role of James Bond, he also tells ET that the larger issue is that the number of great roles for women and African Americans is more limited than it should be. He seems to feel that this is part of the reason there is interest in roles like James Bond.

For women and for African Americans, there should be great parts anyway, across the board. It shouldn't have to be Bond that takes... it doesn't need to be Bond. It just needs to be written -- some good parts.

At the end of the day, the fact that James Bond as a character has survived and thrived for so long, and that there is no equivalent character played by a woman or a person of color, is certainly part of the issue. All actors want to play great roles, but some of them, surely, want to play popular ones too, and there are few bigger than James Bond. At the end of the day, whether a person can play James Bond should come down to a talent and not the happenstances of birth.

Hopefully, as Craig says, everybody will be considered and when the time comes to find a new James Bond, the right person will get the job. Until then, we have one more adventure with the current Bond, that will hit screens next year.

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Daniel Craig Has Been Working Out For 12 Hours At A Time For Bond 25

Daniel Craig Has Been Working Out For 12 Hours At A Time For Bond 25

If you're a good worker, you do what you have to in order to get the job done. Maybe it's putting on a tie around the office and being a good listener, or making sure your emails have that polished sheen of professionalism that gets the point across. The point is, when you give 150% to your chosen profession, you're going to do what needs to be done. And if you're Daniel Craig, it's apparently working out in multiple 12 hour power sessions to become physically fit for his fifth, and presumably last, outing as James Bond in Bond 25.

Apparently some of Craig's co-workers on the set of the latest 007 film have noted that the man who's played the suave asskicker since 2006's Casino Royale has paid important attention to keeping his physique in tip top shape. On top of working out for basically half a day, Daniel Craig has also been keeping a strict diet regimen that is helping give him the look that he's rocked in all of his outings as the character.

Keep in mind, this isn't just Daniel Craig cramming in a bunch of exercise to get ready for Bond 25. The man certainly hasn't let himself go by any means. True, it's been almost four years since Spectre brought the action, but with work in other projects like Steven Soderbergh's Logan Lucky, and this year's Knives Out with Rian Johnson, it's safe to assume that Daniel Craig hasn't been slacking off.

Still, James Bond movies must attempt to go above and beyond what the public is expecting. So this report from the Daily Mail stating that Mr. Craig is undergoing several 12 hour workout sessions in a week is no surprise. It's certainly not the most insane plan we've seen, as Dwayne Johnson probably has Daniel Craig beat out in that respect. But it definitely highlights why Bond 25 is probably going to be Craig's last time out in the role.

Playing a character like James Bond is much like the experience that Hugh Jackman had while playing Wolverine in his X-Men films and spin-offs. There's opportunity to stretch the acting legs in-between goes, but ultimately there comes a time when you want to ditch the diets and the workouts and just play the field of acting in a much less physically demanding way. Perhaps the most important part of such a decision, especially in the Bond franchise, is to quit while people still believe you're able to do the stunts.

When all is said and done with Bond 25, Daniel Craig will have given roughly 15 years and five movies to the franchise that helped skyrocket him to the megastar that he is today. And he'll have paid for it with the crazy sorts of diet and exercise routines that he's currently working with. It's an insane method, but the results for sure cannot be argued with.

Bond 25 will cross the gunbarrel in theaters on April 8, 2020; but you can see Daniel Craig much sooner when he takes part in Knives Out on November 27th, 2019.

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Dana Carvey Actually Quit The Wayne's World Movie Over The Script

Dana Carvey Actually Quit The Wayne's World Movie Over The Script

Mike Myers and Dana Carvey reprised their roles as Wayne and Garth for the 1992 feature film adaptation of their recurring Saturday Night Live sketch, Wayne’s World. That film remains the most successful film based on an SNL sketch and Wayne and Garth are two icons of the '90s. However, it almost didn’t happen, or history might have viewed Wayne’s World differently, because Dana Carvey actually quit the film at one point over the script, as he explained:

Mike was writing it, and I was putting stuff in. Then I would see that the stuff wasn’t in anymore. And so I actually, three weeks before we started shooting, said ‘thanks, but no thanks.’ I actually quit the movie.

Mike Myers, Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner are credited with writing the script for Wayne’s World, but during the writing process, Dana Carvey was trying to have some creative input by adding things in. As he told Howard Stern on The Howard Stern Show, everything that he was putting into the story was getting cut and that led to him quitting the film shortly before production was set to begin.

Based on his conversation with Howard Stern, Dana Carvey was trying to beef up his role in the film and give the character of Garth Algar more to do. He still viewed Garth as the sidekick, but wanted to add in things to the story to give him more of an arc. Carvey felt that he had nothing to do otherwise and there was no point in him even being in it with such a limited role.

These additions were not accepted though and they all got the axe, resulting in a story where he felt his character was getting short-changed. Dana Carvey understandably became frustrated that he wasn’t getting a creative say, and that frustration built to the point that he no longer wanted to even be a part of the film.

Apparently the powers that be didn’t initially believe that Dana Carvey was really quitting, and had he not come back, Wayne’s World would have presumably recast the role of Garth if it went forward at all. Fortunately, Dana Carvey’s exit wasn’t permanent.

Although the comedian/actor didn’t elaborate on what specifically changed his mind, Wayne’s World got to party on and went forward with him and Mike Myers as the two metalheads, ultimately becoming the cult classic it is today. Dana Carvey also said that he and Mike Myers wound up getting along during the making of the film and noted how great Wayne’s World turned out.

It is unfortunate that Dana Carvey felt like he didn’t get much creative input, but given Wayne’s World’s classic status, it’s hard to say that changing it would have improved it. Wayne does have a more robust story arc with his various girl troubles, but the film needs Garth too, even if his story is very much tied to Wayne.

Mike Myers and Dana Carvey reprised their roles as Wayne and Garth for the Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary a few years back and the two comedians showed up on stage together at this past Academy Awards. Whether that means we’ll ever get a Wayne’s World 3 is anyone’s guess, but Mike Myers hasn’t closed the door on it.

Dana Carvey lends his voice to the character Pops in The Secret Life of Pets 2, in theaters on June 7. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of all this year’s biggest movies.

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Dan Aykroyd Wants A Ghostbusters Prequel To Happen

Dan Aykroyd Wants A Ghostbusters Prequel To Happen

Fans of the Ghostbusters movies are certainly looking forward to the upcoming sequel that will return the franchise to the world of the first two films, being directed by the son of Ivan Reitman. There have clearly been plans to bring the Ghostbusters brand back as a major franchise, and it seem Dan Aykroyd already has a host of ideas for follow ups to the new film, including a prequel series that would take the characters Venkman, Stantz, and Spengler, back to high school.

Yes, in case you were curious, it seems that the three original Ghostbusters first met in high school. While the idea for the project is still several years away, Dan Aykroyd has apparently written a treatment for the concept which could apparently work as either a feature film or a television project. According to Aykroyd...

I’ve written Ghostbusters High, where they meet in New Jersey in 1969 and we’re looking to do that as probably a glorified feature or pilot within the next maybe five years.

It's not exactly clear what Ghostbusters High would actually be all about. Assuming that it is supposed to act as a direct prequel to the original 1984 Ghostbusters, that film makes it clear that the trio had never come that close to an actual ghost before the opening scenes of the film, so the series wouldn't actually follow the three characters actually fighting ghosts, would it?

Still, for fans of Venkmen, Stantz, and Spengler, the concept probably sounds like a lot of fun. The new Ghostbusters film is expected to include much of the original cast, but it won't actually be about them, so fans who want another story that actually focuses on the original characters, this could be their best bet.

It seems the idea for Ghostbusters High would be to ultimately become a television series. Dan Aykroyd apparently gave the idea to Jason Reitman even before the current Ghostbusters movie idea became a reality. Aykroyd is clear that this idea is part of a long term plan so we shouldn't expect to see it anytime soon, but he's clearly excited by the concept...

And it would lead to a television project and I thought of [Jason Reitman] immediately for that. It’s on his desk but that’s years away from the current project. But it’s a neat idea for a prequel. Imagine casting the three characters as teenagers!

Dan Aykroyd tells 660 News that he actually envisions this series as a sort of finale on the current Ghostbusters plans. After the current film, the actor/writer/vodka entrepreneur says there are one or two other film projects that are planned, and he sees Ghostbusters High coming after those films, as a sort of finale. Of course, that also means that if the new Ghostbusters movie doesn't hit, it could scuttle the entire plan.

Do you want to see the Ghostbusters as teenagers? Let us know in the poll below.

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Dan Aykroyd Teases The New Ghostbusters Will Be ‘Quite Scary’

Dan Aykroyd Teases The New Ghostbusters Will Be ‘Quite Scary’

It’s a famous line from the original Ghostbusters theme song. “I ain’t afraid of no ghost.” Because the ghosts in Ghostbusters, both the original and it sequel, were never meant to be scary. The guys were making comedies that happened to involve the supernatural, not horror thrillers with a few jokes mixed in. But with a new Ghostbusters story potentially coming to theaters, chills and scares may be on the menu.

Dan Aykroyd, an OG Ghostbuster, was out promoting his vodka and answering Ghostbusters questions for The Canadian Press (via 660citynews.com). When asked about the script that Jason Reitman has produced for a possible Ghostbusters sequel, Aykroyd opened up a little and explained:

Ivan Reitman’s son Jason has written a beautiful script, I can’t say too much about it but it’s going to get made and hopefully there’ll be some familiar faces. … It’s so different from even the first and second [movies]. This just takes it to a new generation and a new direction that is so warm, heartfelt and, indeed, quite scary when you confront some of the issues that are being discussed.

The “quite scary” nod got us excited, because that would be a new direction for the franchise, and also for Jason Reitman as a director. Yes, he’s the son of the original director, Ivan Reitman. But nothing on Jason’s resume suggests that he’d be willing to tackle horror – though that doesn’t mean that he’s not ready to give it a try.

Also, with the reported casting of both Finn Wolfhard and Carrie Coon, the new movie might be leaning into a Stranger Things vibe, which taps into nostalgia by embracing ‘80s culture, but isn’t afraid to turn up the thrills when the story calls for it.

That first tease that Reitman filmed for this new Ghostbusters certainly set that mood:

But we don’t know a whole lot of details beyond that teaser, as the movie hasn’t yet gone into production. It is believed that the original stars Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson will return for this new movie, but we don’t know how they will be used in the story.

If Dan Aykroyd gets his way, however, the new movie will be the start of several new Ghostbusters stories, as he goes on to say in the interview:

I’ve written Ghostbusters High, where they meet in New Jersey in 1969 and we’re looking to do that as probably a glorified feature or pilot within the next maybe five years…. And it would lead to a television project and I thought of him immediately for that. It’s on his desk but that’s years away from the current project. But it’s a neat idea for a prequel. Imagine casting the three characters as teenagers! … We have other stuff after the Jason Reitman-helmed movie. We have at least one or two other concepts for the Ghostbusters and then we’ll look at doing the prequel, which will be a perfect button on all we’ve done up to that point.

Of course, those plans stop if the new movie can’t get the franchise back off of the ground. If the Paul Feig movie caught fire, the franchise could have continued in that direction. But for now, we are sitting back and anticipating a new Ghostbusters movie from Jason Reitman on July 10, 2020. Will you check it out?

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Daisy Ridley Doesn’t Want Rey To End Up With Kylo Ren

Daisy Ridley Doesn’t Want Rey To End Up With Kylo Ren

We have no idea what the future has in store for our favorite Star Wars characters when The Rise of Skywalker arrives later this year. Fans have been coming up with ideas and theories almost since the beginning. However, the other thing fans have been doing since the beginning, because this is the internet, is building relationships between characters.

Many are deeply invested in whatever is going on between Finn and Poe, but just as many are wondering what might happen between Rey and Kylo Ren. However, one person who is not into "Reylo" is Daisy Ridley herself. According to the actress...

I do know about Reylo. I don’t know how I feel about it, because everyone’s talking about the toxic thing of a relationship when it’s essentially emotional [abuse]. It’s a tricky road. I do feel like, deep down, Kylo thinks what he’s doing is right and he doesn’t think he’s wrong, but he has also killed so many people. So I can’t really get behind it, no, in a personal way.

And just like that, millions of 'shippers cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

Daisy Ridley just isn't on board with the idea of Rey and Kylo Ren getting together romantically. She recognizes that whatever sort of relationship the two do have isn't exactly healthy. Ben Solo, however right he may feel he is, has left a lot of bodies in his wake to get to where he wants to go, including one who was his actual father. While Ridley, of course, stays quiet about what we will actually see in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, she tells Steele Wars that personally, she doesn't support the relationship.

Daisy Ridley does tease that redemption for Ben Solo, or at least exploration of the idea of redemption, might be part of the new film. Star Wars: The Last Jedi even teased the idea with Kylo Ren killing Supreme Leader Snoke, and fighting alongside Rey, though it eventually turned out that ultimately that was all for his own selfish reasons.

Ren wanted Rey to join him and use the First Order to remake the galaxy. Now Ren leads the First Order and with The Rise Of Skywalker seeing a significant jump in time after the events of The Last Jedi, it's likely much will have changed in the organization when we see it next.

Thus far the new Star Wars trilogy has been decidedly light on romantic entanglements of any kind. At the end of The Last Jedi we saw that Rose has feelings for Finn, but where that will go, and if relationships are in the cards for any of our other characters, we'll have to wait and see. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrives December 20.

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