Author: Empire

54 years. That’s how long it took for Guillermo del Toro to get from falling in love with Mary Shelley’s Gothic sci-fi masterwork Frankenstein through James Whale’s 1931 masterpiece as a seven-year-old boy to finally, finally bringing his own version to our screens courtesy of Netflix. But GdT’s journey with Shelley’s Promethean tale isn’t over just yet. Today, boutique physical media label The Criterion Collection announced a lavish, director-approved four-disc 4K Blu-Ray release of Frankenstein is on its way this October. And that’s not all: the new release brings with it a 158-minute extended ‘Reborn’ director’s cut of the film. Now,…

Of the many casualties sustained in the fall of the DCEU, Angel Manuel Soto’s Blue Beetle — which introduced Xolo Maridueña as DC Comics’ Mexican-American, alien scarab powered superhero — was surely one of the roughest. Maridueña was a breath of fresh air as Jaime Reyes, the movie’s Hispanic-American cultural specificity lent the whole movie an air of genuine originality, and Blue Beetle easily had the coolest supersuit of the DCEU era. Happily then, we mourn Blue Beetle’s loss no more, as Variety is reporting that Xolo Maridueña is coming back back back in James Gunn’s upcoming Superman sequel Man…

For the last few years now, certain corners of the internet have been telling us comic book movies are on their way out. “They’re about to supernova,” they say. But perhaps we heard them wrong. Perhaps what they really meant to say is they’re about to get super Nova — as in the deep-cut Marvel Comics superhero, Nova. That’s the message we’re getting from Deadline at least, which is reporting that Loki creator/head writer Michael Waldron is developing a Nova movie at Marvel Studios, with hopes to write — and potentially also direct — the MCU debut of the supe…

The critics may have (mostly) said ‘Beat It’. The movie may have come mired in controversies surrounding both its subject and its creation. But Antoine Fuqua’s jukebox King Of Pop biopic Michael has risen above the noise and proved itself quite the ‘Smooth Criminal’ at the global box office, backed by legions of loyal Michael Jackson fans. And now, three months after it first hit the big screen, Michael has just moonwalked past $1 billion in ticket sales, making history as the first biopic to ever hit that ten-figure milestone. Previously, the highest grossing musical biopic was Bryan Singer’s Freddie…

Things are heating up again on Heat 2. The long-awaited follow-up to Micheal Mann’s seminal crime story – which he’s already written up as a best-selling novel, co-authored with Meg Gardiner – continues to gather pace with another heavyweight set to join the cast. For a while now, an exciting crew has been circling the film, including A-listers Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale – and it looks like Stephen Graham is set to join their ranks. While no cast deals have been officially confirmed yet, The Wrap reports that Graham is in talks to take on the role of Neil…

Praise be to Muad’Dib! Thank the heavens for Dune: Part Three! Because, frankly, without the launch this week of the trailer for Denis Villeneuve’s latest, and last, venture into Frank Herbert’s sandy world, Helen O’Hara and James Dyer (for they are in charge this week, in Chris Hewitt’s absence) would have had very little to talk about in terms of movie news on this latest episode of the Empire Podcast. Thankfully it came along in the nick of time, and they bang on about it accordingly — yippee! Elsewhere, Helen and James have plenty to talk about as they discuss…

It’s a good year for Godzilla fans. Earlier this year, MonsterVerse fans got some delicious morsels of cinema’s greatest kaiju when he popped up in Monarch Season 2. But that was just an amuse-bouche for the real main course: the much-anticipated arrival of Godzilla Minus Zero, the latest ‘zilla film from Japan’s Toho studio, and the sequel to 2023’s outstanding Godzilla Minus One. As the film (from Minus One’s returning writer-director-VFX-supervisor Takashi Yamazaki) stomp-stomp-stomps closer to release, there’s good news for UK fans – with release details officially confirmed, and some shiny new stuff to look at too. First up:…

On a day where one President Donald J. Trump has lost a bid to have his name added to Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, along comes a stonking new trailer for Dune: Part Three — and with it a warning from star Timothée Chalamet that this film serves as a warning to be wary of charismatic leaders. Funny how these things work, isn’t it? But if reality is a little too much to handle right now, then Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming trilogy capper to his grand cinematic dream, a colossal three-part adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune, is just what the doctor ordered.…

When a high profile filmmaker manages to make a new movie in secret, especially in this day and age, you’ve got to respect it. But when a high profile filmmaker manages to make a new Ali G movie in secret, well, you’ve really gotta give it some serious respek. And that’s exactly what Sacha Baron Cohen, the man responsible for West Staines’ finest shell-suit sporting hip-hop interviewer, has done. Yes, per Deadline’s reporting, Cohen has just wrapped filming on a surprise follow-up to 2002’s Ali G InDaHouse. Booyakasha! In recent weeks, there have been rumblings and rumours doing the rounds…

Slowly but surely, Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse is coming. It’s been three years now since Across The Spider-Verse arrived, taking everything that made Into The Spider-Verse such a delight and maximising it – not only sprawling across multiple universes, but delivering the first half of a huge two-part narrative for Miles Morales. There’s a lot riding, then, on Beyond – which will not only bring the entire story home, but could secure the series a place in the list of ‘best trilogies of all time’ if it manages to stick the landing. As Spider-Verse writer-producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller…