Author: Empire

Just last year, Alex Garland put his own stamp on the war movie in Civil War – a film that hit close to the bone, imagining fractured factions of the USA locked in combat, while also refusing to give easy answers about the nature of its conflict. And while, as co-director of the upcoming Warfare, it might seem like Garland is continuing to explore similar territory, the reality is quite different. His next film, directed alongside former Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza, is a real-time war movie based on a real firefight Mendoza experienced, attempting to recreate the events with as…

The world of The Last Of Us is a harsh one. Not just because of all those cordyceps mushroom-zombies, but because of the hard-scrabble existence the aforementioned infected have plunged humanity into. For all the hardships still to come in The Last Of Us Season 2 (taking inspiration from The Last Of Us Part II game) there are glimmers of hope and lightness too – mainly in the form of Dina. Isabela Merced’s incoming character is set to bring a new dimension to the life of Bella Ramsey’s Ellie, with their dance together (as seen in the exclusive image above)…

Across the MCU so far, Avengers Tower has been a beacon of hope in New York – the home of Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and co, keeping a watchful eye on the city, ready to protect its citizens from danger. It was the scene of that epic Loki-Hulk smackdown in Avengers, hosted a rockin’ party in Avengers: Age Of Ultron (until the titular AI gatecrashed and killed the vibe), and was the location for a pivotal time-heist moment in Avengers: Endgame. But in the wake of Tony Stark’s death, and with no Avengers line-up to speak of, it isn’t Avengers…

Avatar: Fire And Ash almost didn’t exist at all. James Cameron’s original plan was to follow up his 2009 mega-smash Avatar with three sequels, but when he and his writers’ room got into developing the story, there proved just too much juicy material. Hence, as Cameron tells Empire in our latest Path To Pandora dispatch, some of the story planned for Avatar: The Way Of Water got developed as a whole other film. “In a nutshell, we had too many great ideas packed into act one of movie 2,” Cameron says, unpacking the process of the Avatar writers’ room. “The…

This week’s Empire Podcast features two cracking interviews with two directors at two very different stages of their career. First, actor-turned-director Jack Huston sits down on Zoom and talks to our very own Chris Hewitt about how he managed to make his directorial debut, the black-and-white drama Day Of The Fight, about recruiting Joe Pesci for a supporting role, and about the influence of his famous grandfather, John Huston, on his craft and love of film. [26:52 — 47:11 approx.] Then, rounding out our one-two punch of filmmaker chats, Helen O’Hara sits down with the great Bong Joon Ho and…

Pop quiz, hotshot: What happens if you take the co-director of Shin Godzilla, give him the premise of Speed and the bones of the classic 70s Japanese action thriller that inspired it, and stump up some serious Netflix moolah to let him fully off the leash? Answer: Bullet Train Explosion. Yes, having gotten his kaiju on with big lad twofer Shin Godzilla and Shin Ultraman over the last near-decade, filmmaker Shinji Higuchi’s latest is an incredibly does-what-it-says-on-the-tin titled Netflix remake of Jun’ya Satô’s 1975 joint Bullet Train. The set-up is simple — there’s a bomb hooked up to a Shinkansen…

Back in October, we shared the very exciting if ever so slightly head-frazzling news that Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin’s 2019 horror-comedy Ready Or Not has a sequel in the works at Searchlight Pictures, with star Samara Weaving set to return as shotgun-toting final girl Grace. Since then, it’s been pretty much radio silence from the Radio Silence boys as they tinker away at their latest chiller — until now. Per Deadline’s reporting, the horror movie maestros are set to reteam with Abigail star Kathryn Newton on Ready Or Not 2. Much like the plot for Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin’s sequel,…

Something strange — well, stranger than the usual Ghostface stabby-stabby antics — is going on in Woodsboro. As production ramps up on Kevin Williamson’s upcoming Scream 7, the last few weeks have seen both Matthew Lillard’s Stu Macher and Scott Foley’s Roman Bridger confirmed to be making a comeback in the slasher saga’s seventh instalment, despite both having been pretty clearly killed off when we saw them last. And now, per Deadline’s reporting, we’re getting word that David Arquette’s fan favourite Deputy Dewey Riley is returning to the fray too as the horror franchise continues to bring back its dead.…

After a chaotic and, at times unpredictable awards season, it all came down to this –– the big show. Hosted by Conan O’Brien, the 97th Academy Awards happened Sunday evening in Los Angeles, and Anora emerged as Best Picture. With a surprising sweep of several major categories –– also including Best Director, Original Screenplay and Editing for filmmaker Sean Baker (who becomes the first person to win four Oscars in one night) and a somewhat surprising win for star Mikey Madison over Demi Moore –– Anora became the little indie that could. This was a year that the academy members…

So there we have it — the 2025 Oscars have been and gone! And now, as the dust settles on the 2025 Academy Awards, Anora mini-sweep and all, we leave in testament to another crazy old year of golden statuette doling our live blog of the night exactly as it all played out. As has become tradition, we here at Team Empire were with you through the wee small hours of the morning for every single award, every single winner, every single live performance, and every single unmissable moment as it happened. The winners and snubs will be discussed for…