Batgirl has been on the docket for Warner Bros/DC Films for a substantial amount of time now, with one of the last widely reported attempts at getting it off the ground in 2017 when script duties were given to a post-Justice League Joss Whedon. The now-controversial filmmaker ultimately admitted defeat, first citing that he couldn’t crack the script, later extrapolating that he was just being polite and the film “didn’t fit in the space that was left for it [by Warner Bros]”, and that it “sort of crumbled in my hands”. We don’t know what any of that means either, so let’s just read between the lines and go with the age-old ‘creative differences’ angle. Naturally, with so much potential in getting Barbara Gordon’s legacy on screen, DC has plowed on in the meantime, and has now announced who will be donning the cape and cowl!

After testing several actors recently including the fantastic Zoey Deutch (The Politician), it’s now been revealed that Leslie Grace will step into the roll. If you’re not familiar, then it’s likely you’ve not seen In the Heights, in which she’s garnered much praise for her debut role as Nina Rosario. The musical, from Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and director Jon M. Chu (who we still haven’t forgiven for ruining Jem and the Holograms), is in UK cinemas right now, so go check it out if you want to see Grace in action.

Leslie Grace

As you might expect for a movie at this stage in its development, that’s about it for details for now, but we do know that it will be the first DC movie to be produced specifically for HBO Max, the company’s streaming service. What that means for its release in the UK remains to be seen, but with no HBO Max presence here coupled with the calibre of the property, we currently expect to be seeing it on the big screen.

After years of false starts, Clerks III is finally a go, with Lionsgate announcing they’ve acquired worldwide distribution rights to the long-awaited sequel.

Kevin Smith has struggled to get the passion project made for some time, with the screenplay going through multiple iterations. Though an initial stumbling block was the reluctance of Jeff Anderson to return for a third movie (he expertly portrayed the cantankerous clerk Randal in 1994, reprising him as a belligerent burger flipper in 2006), it appears he eventually had a change of heart, and has finally signed on. Coincidentally, it’s the pivotal character’s heart that will be central to the film’s story itself…

After suffering a life-threatening heart attack – similar to that of Kevin Smith’s own 2018 medical emergency – Randal Graves decides to make a movie about himself and his friends. Clerks, basically. On hand to help, Dante (Brian O’Halloran), Becky (Rosario Dawson), Elias (Trevor Fehrman), and, of course, Jay & Silent Bob themselves.

Expect cameos aplenty from the vast View Askewniverse, though we hope given the subject matter and Clerks’ legacy they’ll be significantly less winking at the camera than we recently saw on display in the divisive Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. It’s also worth noting that this will mark the fourth film – after Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot – in which Smith uses the making of a movie to fuel the plot, so let’s channel some Buddy Christ energy and all have faith the legendary filmmaker has something fresh up those trademark baggy sleeves of his!

The movie starts production next month on location in New Jersey for a 2022 release.

Source: Deadline

Given that shooting is now in full swing on Indiana Jones 5, we’d be forgiven for thinking we were fully up to date on all the major players joining the adventure-loving archaeologist for his swansong. Not so it seems, with news arriving recently that Antonio Banderas has been added to the cast. The 61-year-old actor has been relatively quiet over recent years (probably laying low after Doolittle), but between this movie, a third outing for the ever-popular Puss in Boots, and the highly anticipated video game adaptation of Uncharted all hitting next year, it looks like the Desperado star will shortly be back with a vengeance!

Naturally, details as to who he will be playing are – like the title and plot itself – a closely guarded secret. Until the first trailer comes out later this year and tells us absolutely everything.

Banderas will be joining a cast that includes Phoebe Waller-Bridge (as Indy’s daughter and future star of the franchise itself?), Mads Mikkelsen, Boyd Holbrook, and Shaunette Renée Wilson. Though not officially announced yet, Toby Jones will also feature (thank you set pics!), and Karen Allen is thought likely to reprise Marian Ravenwood (it would be a crying shame if she didn’t!).

As for the rumours yesterday regarding a surprise return of Mutt Williams, if there’s any stock in them at all, we can be rest assured the character is recast. After he was outed as an abuser by former girlfriend FKA Twigs in January during an interview with Louis Theroux, we don’t expect to see Shia LaBeouf in a movie ever again. Turns out that when Ford himself called his Crystal Skull co-star a “fucking idiot” in 2011,  he was actually just being polite.

INDIANA JONES 5 hits cinemas July 29^th 2022