Author: Empire

You might want to slap on some Factor 50 (or, honestly, about 5000) before your next visit to Pandora, folks — things are seriously heating up in the new trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire And Ash. With the blockbuster auteur’s sci-fi saga set to continue in less than three months’ time and the movie’s promotional push now in full flow, Disney has just dropped an epic new trailer for Cameron’s latest — and it is intense. For a closer look at Oona Chaplin’s villainous Varang and her Mangkwan clan’s roots, and the fresh conflict that’s set to bring Jake…

Everyone’s favourite gruff, world-saving everyman John Garrity — aka Gerard Butler — is back, dusting off his apocalypse gear for Greenland 2: Migration, Ric Roman Waugh’s sequel to his own surprisingly kinda brilliant 2021 disaster flick Greenland. And if the first trailer for Garrity’s return is anything to go by, then it looks like things are about to get even more intense than last time as Gerry B’s apocalyptic fight for survival continues. Take a look at it here: After a reminder of how much shit hit the fan in the first film, the new trailer catches up with the…

This week’s episode of the Empire Film Podcast is one of those jam-packed ones in which we specialise, folks — so buckle up! Guest-wise, Chris Hewitt is blessed with the presence of our old chum, Brett Goldstein, who talks beards, bums, and baring his soul in new Apple TV+ romantic drama, All Of You [18:37 — 36:33 approx]; and Chris also has a lovely chat with Dame Emma Thompson as she enters her action hero era in Dead Of Winter. [1:01:07 — 1:16:03 approx.] And as if that weren’t enough to get us all giddy, Alex Godfrey also chips in…

At first we didn’t believe it. Then we couldn’t believe it. Hell, there were some among us who maybe didn’t even want to believe it. But, somehow, Spaceballs returned. And now, over a year after we learned of Mel Brooks, Josh Gad, and Josh Greenbaum’s Spaceballs 2 plans, and just a few short months after the bombshell dropped that Rick Moranis would be coming out of retirement to star alongside Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, and Brooks himself in the surprise sci-fi spoof sequel, we’ve got our first look at the old gang back together again — along with some new…

Across the Alien movies, there’s been a rich tradition of outstanding android performances. In Ridley Scott’s original, you had Ian Holm’s Ash; then Lance Henriksen’s Bishop in Aliens; Michael Fassbender’s meddling in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. So, since Elle Fanning’s character in Predator: Badlands, Thia, is confirmed to be a Weyland-Yutani synth, in a thrilling bit of crossover world-building, she had plenty to draw from. But there was one synth performance that really stood out, a particularly recent one: David Jonsson’s Andy, as seen in Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus last summer. “We went to see Alien: Romulus while we were shooting,” Fanning tells Empire. “[Jonsson] is such a great actor.” Across the film, Jonsson…

Casinos are, by their very nature, overstimulating environments. Flashing lights, slot machine sound effects, the buzz of the big winners, the palpable despair of those down on their luck. And so, with his high-rolling thriller Ballad Of A Small Player, Conclave director Edward Berger is piling on the razzle-dazzle – plunging Colin Farrell’s Lord Doyle into escalating heights of danger as his debts pile high. As he tells Empire, Farrell was drawn to the material’s thematic resonances, one that he could relate to in a very particular context. “The story is about the power of reinvention,” he explains. “In a cheesy way, I could…

Ever since the film adaptation of Wicked debuted, fans have been debating: just who, exactly, is playing Dorothy? The hero of The Wizard Of Oz – ruby slippers, “no place like home”, little dog too; you know the one – was briefly glimpsed in the opening suite of the first film in Jon M. Chu’s two-part adaptation. And, no spoilers, but anyone familiar with Act 2 of the stage play will know that the events of follow-up film Wicked: For Good will take audiences into Wizard Of Oz territory. Just check out the above exclusive image, of a very familiar Kansas farmhouse crashed in Munchkinland. So then: who…

If you’re a Wicked fan, chances are you’ve listened to the soundtrack over and over again – there’s a reason why the songs of Stephen Schwarz have proved so pop-u-lar. And while big-screen musical adaptations often require some changes to the source material, the second half of Jon M. Chu’s Wicked two-parter, Wicked: For Good, brings with it a gift: two new songs, never-before-heard, sprung forth from Schwartz’s own pen, getting back into the heads of his two central witches. For Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba, that results in a song titled ‘No Place Like Home’ – a phrase with real meaning…

Long before she got the part of Glinda, it’s clear that Ariana Grande has been a true Wicked devotee. And so, when one of the most soaring voices of her pop generation was cast as the Good Witch in Jon M. Chu’s cinematic adaptation, it was a true ruby-slipper moment. The wish fulfilment is elevated even more so in Wicked: For Good, adapting the second half of the stage musical, since Grande truly gets to put her own stamp on Glinda: receiving a brand new song from original composer Stephen Schwartz, providing even more insight into the character’s complex world.…

Sometimes, the course of friendship doesn’t run smooth. Just take Wicked, the perspective-altered reframing of The Wizard Of Oz’s iconic characters, in which the Wicked Witch Of The West is our heroic Elphaba, her destiny entwined with that of Glinda the Good Witch. As those who saw the first film in Jon M. Chu’s two-part adaptation of the hit stage musical know, the kinship of Elphaba and Glinda – played by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande – began with loathing; unadulterated loathing. And yet, through careful increments, they became friends amid the tumult of a sinister plot in Oz. And…