According to The Hollywood Reporter, Justin Lin (Fast and Furious, Star Trek: Beyond), is set to helm the upcoming adaptation of the hit manga. What’s more, Rick and Morty writers Dan Harmon and Heather Anne Campbell are said to be currently rewriting the script.

The last big udpate we got for this movie was back in 2020 when it was first announced. By that time the script was said to come from Venom screenwriters Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner.

For context, One Punch Man by authors Yusuke Murata and ONE tells the story of Saitama, a regular person who decided to become a ‘hero for fun.’ The main schtick of it is, Saitama becomes so powerful that he manages to defeat any kind of opponent with literally one punch. The real arc of the character comes with Saitama’s existential crisis and boredom that follows when he realizes he can’t find anyone that would give him a challenge.

We don’t know what kind of direction the live-action One Punch Man is going to go, but Harmon himself has been known to satirize the comic book genre with properties like Rick and Morty and Community. Even Rick and Morty have some jabs at anime from time to time.

What fans do know about Harmon is that he is very particular when it comes to proper character arcs, and him and Campbell may be the right people to try and flesh out Saitama’s story for the big screen.

No release date has been set for the live-action One Punch Man movie.

Check out the first trailer for Fly Me to the Moon:

Here’s the official description:

Starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, FLY ME TO THE MOON is a sharp, stylish comedy-drama set against the high-stakes backdrop of NASA’s historic Apollo 11 moon landing. Brought in to fix NASA’s public image, sparks fly in all directions as marketing maven Kelly Jones (Johansson) wreaks havoc on launch director Cole Davis’s (Tatum) already difficult task. When the White House deems the mission too important to fail, Jones is directed to stage a fake moon landing as back-up and the countdown truly begins…

Culturally, there are several rumors about how the Moon Landing was pulled off, so it’s no mystery that there are multiple films tackling what and what could’ve happened. One infamous rumor is that they got Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey) to fake the Moon Landing, and that’s why Johansson’s character mentions him in the trailer.

It’s not clear how much of this is actually true to life, but I’m game for a silly story about the NASA marketing team who were tasked with getting the people to back a mission to go to the moon during the height of the Space Race.

Fly Me to the Moon lands in theaters on July 12.

We’ve known about the cast for a while, but now director Jonathan Entwistle has confirmed the start of production by sharing the slate for Karate Kid:

 

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A post shared by Jonathan Entwistle (@jonathan_entwistle)

There’s also a photo of the slate with new lead Ben Wang (American-Born Chinese):

https://twitter.com/CultureCrave/status/1775417879921598811

Not only will this movie be bringing back the OG Karate Kid Ralph Macchio, but the story will also be bringing into canon the 2010 Karate Kid which starred Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. Though a lot of fans like to argue that KK2010 is more of Kung Fu Kid than Karate Kid, it did have its good amount of fans and it will probably tug at some nostalgia for adult Gen-Z audiences.

As for Cobra Kai fans, show creators Jon Hurwitz, John Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg may not be directly involved, but it was reported that they have given their notes to the scripts for the film, and show their full support to the director.

Personally, I’d love for there to be more appearances from Cobra Kai regulars like Billy Zabka (Johnny Lawrence) and Xolo Mariduena (Miguel Diaz), but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Heck, I’d be happy to see Jaden Smith make a cameo.

Karate Kid is set to hit theatres this coming Dec. 13.

While we expect a bunch of different directors to make the short list, one helmer who has worked on multiple huge franchises was said to have entered the discussion.

According The InSneider (via @DiscussingFilm), Justin Lin (Fast X, Star Trek Beyond) is currently in the mix to direct the next Spider-Man movie. No details have been revealed about the story, but it’s said that production is being eyed to begin in September or October.

While nothing official has been revealed about the plot, rumors are going around that Marvel Studios would like to keep things at a ‘street-level’ story for Peter Parker, but Sony is trying to get them to do another Multiverse story where they can bring in some more Spider-Man variants.

We don’t know what the studios are ending up with, but at this point, Spider-Man seems to be over-inflated with multiverse stories (even in animation) and this Peter Parker could use some time to focus on his own life and universe in the meantime.

For now, Sony is still perplexing fans with their approach to their biggest superhero IP, with projects like Madame Web, Kraven the Hunter, and Venom: The Last Dance. Sure the Spider-Verse films have been getting great reviews, but after Beyond, what direction does the studio plan to go?

No release date has been set for Spider-Man 4, but a 2026 release could be realistic.

Though a lot of people have been asking stars like Dakota Johnson what they felt about the movie failing in the box office, Sydney Sweeney says that it was a necessary building block for her career. Talking to GQ, she explains how Web got Sweeney connected to some major decision makers over at Sony. She explains:

“To me that film was a building block, it’s what allowed me to build a relationship with Sony. Without doing Madame Web I wouldn’t have a relationship with the decision-makers over there… Everything in my career I do not just for that story, but strategic business decisions. Because I did that, I was able to sell Anyone But You. I was able to get Barbarella.”

Admittedly, Sweeney’s onscreen work isn’t the only thing that’s been turning heads for her fans. She’s also slowly attaching herself as a producer for more of her projects, including the massively successful rom-com Anyone But You as well as her upcoming horror movie Immaculate.

For now, Sweeney has definitely been getting better bookings based on her filmography, and even though a lot of people consider Madame Web to be a huge stumble, it’s possible that it could gain some kind of cult following now that more people have access to it. Kind of like Diablo Cody’s Jennifer’s Body.

Madame Web is now available on digital.

The third movie is expected to come out later this year, and we now have an official title for Venom 3. Sony (via ComicBookMovie) has officially announced that the title of the upcoming film will be Venom: The Last Dance and the film’s release date has been pushed earlier from November to October 25, 2024.

So far, we don’t know what kind of story The Last Dance will be about, but it does feel like the movie is going all-in on the relationship between Eddie and the symbiote. After all, the films do feel like they’re pseudo-love stories between the two beings that make up ‘Venom’. With each entry introducing more and more symbiotes, it’s likely we could see a whole army of them by the time the third film rolls in.

At this point, it’s not likely this Venom is going to be clashing with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker anytime soon. We thought they were building up to it when they brought Eddie over to the MCU, but he was just zapped back into his own reality by the end of No Way Home. At least we see some of the symbiote is left over in the timeline, so there is still a chance we can get a story closer to the original comic origin where it latches on to Peter first before finding Eddie Brock.

Watch out for Venom: The Last Dance when it comes to cinemas on Oct. 25.

As per Deadline, director Sam Mendes (1917, Skyfall) and Neal Street Productions are teaming up with Sony Pictures Entertainment to deliver, not one, but four standalone Beatles movies, each one telling the story of each member. The site writes:

“Mendes conceived this grand vision. He’ll tell interconnected stories, one from each band member’s point of view. The dating cadence of the films will be revealed closer to the films’ release.”

With each member of the band being larger than life on their own, it does kind of make sense that they would try to tell their story across four movies; but I think a safer route would have been a connected miniseries.

Then again, with the Beatles also having their own influence in film with movies like Hard Day’s Night and Yellow Submarine, some fans have been pitching that each biopic would be a different kind of genre.

This can only work if they are all vastly different genres:

Paul: typical Hollywood musical biopic

John: heart-rending romantic drama about him and Yoko

George: animated spiritual odyssey that's more tone poem than linear story

Ringo: screwball comedy https://t.co/Rge3n3d1Tf

— retro anime possum (@KaiserBeamz) February 20, 2024

With the recent rise of musical biopics like Bohemian Rhapsody, Elvis, and Rocketman, it was only a matter of time before someone got to The Beatles. I’ll admit, the concept of four theatrical films does seem like a huge gamble, but it should be a huge payoff if they manage to deliver.

No release date has been set for the four Beatles solo movies.

Just in, Sony has dropped two new trailers (the second being an international trailer), and they both go at the story in different ways. Here’s the one for the US release:

Admittedly the official trailer does seem to lean to heavily on fanservice and everyone recognizing Walter Peck and all the other nods; but the international trailer does lean in more on the spooky/comedy vibes of the franchise, and we get to see a lot more including Winston’s new Ghostbusters lab. Check it:

With Afterlife leaning in on a returning villain in the form of Gozer, this sequel does promise to introduce us to some new ghosts (and some we’ve met before). While the Ghostbusters simply trapped the ghosts in earlier films, this new one is now all about studying them and finding out a place where they can be stored.

It’s also worth noting that James Acaster’s look as the new technician strongly resembles that of the animated Egon Spengler from the cartoons, with the wacky blonde hair and gray suit. Harold Ramis himself may be gone, but at least they found a way to bring Egon back along with the rest of the original crew.

Here’s the official synopsis:

In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the Spengler family returns to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.

Watch out for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire when it comes out in theaters on March 21.

It’s not entirely sure what Peter Venkman’s role in the new movie is going to be, but Empire does give us a new image of him in the film with Paul Rudd; and we also have a description from director Gil Kenan about where the story could go.

Here’s Murray with Rudd:

We don’t have any specifics on this scene, but it does look like the ghost containment chamber behind Paul Rudd, which was teased to be in an alarming state by the end of Afterlife.

With the Spengler’s closing the book on Gozer in the first film, director Kenan is excited to introduce a bunch of newer things with Frozen Empire. He says, “Because the Spengler family story drove the narrative in Afterlife, bringing Gozer back to centre-stage was a natural way to close the book on the past… But we are now in the post-Gozerian era of the Ghostbusters saga, so that means we’re able to stretch out and create an entirely new mythology. And that’s thrilling as a storyteller, because there are all-new and terrifying stakes with fresh visual references to draw on.”

Though I do love that we’re back in the original Ghostbusters continuity, I am worried that the film could be relying too much on nostalgia to be great. Even the appearance of the original Ghostbusters in Afterlife started to feel too pander-y.

Hopefully with Frozen Empire, we get a new crew at the firehouse and some new monsters. How about some love from the animated series like Extreme Ghostbusters?

Hell will freeze over in New York when Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire comes to cinemas on March 29, 2024.

Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) and Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria) star in Anyone But You, and we have our first trailer:

Here’s the official description:

In the edgy comedy Anyone But You, Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell) look like the perfect couple, but after an amazing first date something happens that turns their fiery hot attraction ice cold – until they find themselves unexpectedly thrust together at a destination wedding in Australia. So they do what any two mature adults would do: pretend to be a couple.

Admittedly, the biggest story of this movie was that the two stars were suspected of having an affair seeing as Powell and Sweeney had such great chemistry with each other, but the stars themselves have put the rumor down.

But it is telling that Powell’s ex Gigi Paris had unfollowed Sweeney on social media around the time the photos of Powell and Sweeney started coming out online.

Either way, both stars are ridiculously known for their looks and this feels like a classic jab at Hollywood trying to draw an audience in with solely star power. I hope Powell and Sweeney just have what it takes to be a box office draw.

Anyone But You comes exclusively to theaters on Dec. 15.

Watch this:

We don’t know what the full story of the film is going to be, but it does look like Madame Web (Johnson) is going to be going up against another Spider-person in the form of Ezekiel Sims. In the comic, Sims has all the powers of Spider-Man, but he got them through more mystical means.

It’s unclear what Sims could be wanting with the girls that Madame Web would be protecting, but it does seem like they all have their own unique spider powers; maybe Johnson will be their version of Professor X. Julia Carpenter (Sweeney), Anya Corazon (Merced), and Mattie Franklin (O’Connor) are all different Spider-Women in the comics—maybe Madame Web is trying to go at it with a Charlie’s Angels angle?

If you’ve read the comics, you’ll know that Madame Web is a paralyzed old woman, and it looks like we’re going to be seeing her origin story and the origin of several other Spider-Women. We still have no idea where Sony wants to go with this franchise, but some are guessing it’s all building up to more Multiverse shenanigans that will introduce more Spider-Man characters besides Tom Holland’s Peter Parker.

Regardless, the internet is already having fun with the trailer, especially counting the reputation of Sony’s Spider-Verse spinoffs:

https://twitter.com/TheQuiver_/status/1724801441079218229

Sony when Madame Web’s opening weekend box office numbers roll in pic.twitter.com/jPH4XHr0JS https://t.co/A9MiBpR0Yn

— Garrick (@KI_Garrick) November 15, 2023

something felt off to me but I think I figured it out pic.twitter.com/IPon4hLi31

— Paul Tassi (@PaulTassi) November 15, 2023

Madame Web is set to release in theaters on Feb. 14, 2024.

Check out the first trailer for The Garfield Movie:

Here’s the official description for the film:

Garfield (voiced by Chris Pratt), the world-famous, Monday-hating, lasagna-loving indoor cat, is about to have a wild outdoor adventure! After an unexpected reunion with his long-lost father – scruffy street cat Vic (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) – Garfield and his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered life into joining Vic in a hilarious, high-stakes heist.

Besides Pratt and Jackson, the film’s cast also includes Nicholas Hoult (The Great), Harvey Guillen (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish) and Ted Lasso stars Hannah Waddingham and Brett Goldstein.

By the time this film comes out, it would have been 20 years since the last Garfield movie released. Back in 2004, there was an attempt to bring Garfield to live action with Bill Murray voicing the lazy cat. The film was successful enough to earn a sequel, but it never quite got the same kind of hold on pop-culture that Alvin and the Chipmunks or The Smurfs did when those movies came out.

With the success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Across the Spider-Verse, maybe Garfield can find new legs with an animated reboot.

Catch The Garfield Movie when it hits cinemas on May 24, 2024.

Here’s the first teaser:

In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the Spengler family returns to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.

Though the first movie had brought back classic villain Gozer, it does seem that the sequel is now going to be bringing back a new villain. We don’t know where exactly they come from, but it was teased in the last movie that the ghost containment unit in the fold firehouse was in danger.

Besides the returning faces from the first film, we also have confirmation that the original Ghostbusters will also be returning. We also have new characters played by Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt joining the fray.

I’ll admit, I thought Afterlife as a movie kind of took itself too seriously, and it seems like they’re doing the same thing with Frozen Empire. Hopefully, we still get some more comedy out of the film, and this is just for me personally, but it would be fun if they brought back some of the capitalist satire of the first films.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire comes to cinemas on March 29, 2024.

As announced by Nintendo, Ball is now attached to direct a live-action adaptation of the Legend of Zelda franchise. The film will be produced by Nintendo and Arad Productions Inc. (as in Avi Arad of the Spider-Man movies), with Nintendo providing more than 50% of the financing and Sony Pictures in charge of the distribution.

We don’t have any more specifics like casting, or even concept art, but based on what we’ve seen from the Maze Runner films and the upcoming Planet of the Apes movie, Ball does know how to tackle some huge worlds with some high-end digital effects.

After the massive success of the Super Mario Bros. animated movie, a lot of people had speculated that Nintendo would start opening up their IP to even more adaptations; and The Legend of Zelda was everyone’s guess for the next upcoming film. Though I was expecting the feature to be animated, it does seem that Ball already has a good idea of what he wants the movie to be. After all, he did say it was his dream project way back in 2010.

Wes Ball tweeted about his hopes to direct ‘LEGEND OF ZELDA’ over 13 years ago.

He is now attached to direct the live-action film. pic.twitter.com/VmSYNJDWhd

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) November 7, 2023

As for Zelda, the games have been known to reboot its story with every entry, so we can expect the movie to do the same with its timeline. They just have to set it in Hyrule, and have Link, Zelda, and Ganon as central characters. Hopefully we get a look at it sometime next year.

The Legend of Zelda movie is yet to have a release date.

Napoleon is set to release in theaters this thanksgiving season, and we have a new trailer with Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Ludivine Sagnier, and Catherine Walker. Watch this:

Here’s the official description for the movie:

Napoleon is a spectacle-filled action epic that details the checkered rise and fall of the iconic French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, played by Oscar®-winner Joaquin Phoenix. Against a stunning backdrop of large-scale filmmaking orchestrated by legendary director Ridley Scott, the film captures Bonaparte’s relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his one true love, Josephine, showcasing his visionary military and political tactics against some of the most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed.

With Phoenix having played nervous wrecks in movies like Joker and Beau is Afraid, it’s going to be interesting to see him back in a historical biopic playing a ruthless ruler.

Personally, I’m kind of interested to see if the movie is going to delve into the reason history brands Napoleon as short. While he was actually a man of above-average height at the time, it was said that cartoonist James Gillray had portrayed Napoleon to be short in his political cartoons, and the image of a short, temperamental ruler just kind of stuck.

Napoleon is set to hit theaters on Nov. 22.

The film is set to come out later this September, and we have our first trailer starring Paul Dano, Nick Offerman, Seth Rogen, Pete Davidson, and Shailene Woodley. Check this out:

Here’s the story description:

Dumb Money is the ultimate David vs. Goliath tale, based on the insane true story of everyday people who flipped the script on Wall Street and got rich by turning GameStop (yes, the mall videogame store) into the world’s hottest company. In the middle of everything is regular guy Keith Gill (Paul Dano), who starts it all by sinking his life savings into the stock and posting about it. When his social posts start blowing up, so does his life and the lives of everyone following him. As a stock tip becomes a movement, everyone gets rich – until the billionaires fight back, and both sides find their worlds turned upside down.

The film is directed by Craig Gillespie who also brought us movies like I, Tonya and Cruella. While there have already been several documentaries and essays about what went down with the GameStop short squeeze, it’s going to be interesting to see the events actually dramatized in a movie.

I don’t expect them to be 100 percent accurate, but I’m hoping the film manages to easily explain the events without the audience getting lost in a lot of the stock market jargon (looking at you, The Big Short).

Watch out for Dumb Money when it comes to cinemas on Sept. 22.