Matt Smith Joins STAR WARS: STARFIGHTER

matt smith in house of the dragon

He’s travelled in the TARDIS as Doctor Who, ridden the skies in House of the Dragon, and ruled the United Kingdom and Commonwealth in The Crown — now, Matt Smith is heading to a galaxy far, far away. He’d previously been eyed to appear in 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, but has now been confirmed to join Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter.

According to Deadline’s sources, he’ll be stepping into one of multiple villain roles, with Levy still looking to cast a female antagonist. Mikey Madison was being eyed for that part, but reportedly failed to sign on to the project over pay disputes.

Matt Smith joins Ryan Gosling on the project, who was previously announced to star. Mia Goth is also on board, with Levy directing the pic. Jonathan Tropper penned the script.

Star Wars: Starfighter is scheduled to release to cinemas on May 28th, 2027. Elsewhere in the universe, The Mandalorian and Grogu will be the next Star Wars feature to hit the big screen, and will be released on May 22nd, 2026.

Next up for Smith, he has the Sony and Darren Aronofsky thriller Caught Stealing, in which he stars opposite Austin Butler and Zoë Kravitz.

Alison Brie Announces Directorial Debut With Horror-Comedy

alison brie in together

Still on the press circuit for NEON’s body-horror Together, Alison Brie has just announced that she’ll soon be making her directorial debut with a horror-comedy.

Speaking in an interview with Marie Claire, Brie revealed that she co-wrote a horror-comedy film alongside Alice Stanley Jr., and that she’ll be taking the director’s seat for the first time on a feature project.

“While we were writing it,” Brie tells Marie Claire, “I felt like I was writing it to direct it. I could see every shot in my head.” She goes on to tease that the feature film is “female-forward,” with a “very fun energy.” She further explains that “the older I get, the more I realise that the heart of everything is just trusting yourself. I’m running at the things that excite me.”

The actress previously directed an episode of the Netflix series GLOW, a show in which she also starred.

Right now, real-life partners Alison Brie and Dave Franco co-star in Together, which releases in the UK on August 15th. In the film: Years into their co-dependent relationship, Tim (Franco) and Millie (Brie) find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the remote countryside, abandoning all that is familiar in their lives except each other. With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish supernatural encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh.

John Krasinski Returns As Writer-Director For A QUIET PLACE PART III

john krasinski returns to write and direct a quiet place part iii

John Krasinski is officially returning to his critically acclaimed horror franchise and will write and direct A Quiet Place Part III. Paramount is setting a summer release date of July 9th, 2027.

The franchise, which originated from a script by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, has grossed more than $900 million globally across three films — the two Krasinski-directed Quiet Place films released in 2018 and 2021, and the spinoff/prequel A Quiet Place: Day One, from director Michael Sarnoski and which starred Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn.

No cast has yet been set, but the first two installments were led by Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe. It’s far from the first time Krasinski has toyed with the idea of a third film in the mainline series: he mentioned brainstorming ideas as far back as 2020, and the film was formally announced in 2022. However, since Sarnoski’s prequel film and 2024’s video game A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead, it was unclear whether Part III would really happen.

The films take place in a world in which alien monsters have crashed to Earth. While they are blind, they are extremely sensitive to sound and will kill anything that makes noise. As a result, surviving humans are forced to stay quiet or be violently killed.

SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY To Feature The Hulk

mark Ruffalo as bruce banner aka the hulk to appear in spider-man: brand new day

Spider-Man: Brand New Day will see Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk, return to the big screen, joining Tom Holland in the Sony/Marvel film. Though Ruffalo has been part of the MCU franchise for 14 years now, he most recently appeared in the Disney+ TV series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and had a cameo in Brand New Day director Destin Daniel Cretton’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Also aboard is the previously announced Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/the Punisher, making his big-screen debut. Bernthal first appeared as the vigilante in the Netflix series Daredevil, before starring in his own series for two seasons. He recently returned for a handful of episodes in Disney+’s Daredevil: Born Again. He is set to return for season two of the show, and is also getting a stand-alone film for Disney+, which Bernthal is co-writing.

Michael Mando (best known for his work on Better Call Saul and Orphan Black) is also joining the cast and returning as Scorpion, having previously played the villain in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming.

In 2021’s No Way Home, fans saw Spider-Man’s real identity as Peter Parker be completely erased from people’s memory by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), so that now, even his girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya), and best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) have forgotten him.

Destin Daniel Cretton is directing the feature from a script by regular Spider-Man scribes Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Plot details are still, in the usual Marvel manner, being kept top secret. Filming has recently begun in England.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day will release in cinemas on July 31st, 2026.

Brennan Lee Mulligan To Host Critical Role

Campaign 4, the next season of Critical Role’s main show, will be Dungeons Mastered / hosted by celebrated actual play creator and storyteller Brennan Lee Mulligan, replacing previous DM / Host, Matt Mercer.

Fans of Mulligan’s work may find this difficult to believe, as Mulligan recently participated in a prank announcing that Mulligan was retiring from his role as Dungeon Master for Dropout.TV’s D&D show Dimension 20 in order to make tiny shoes for children’s toys. This was a comedic bit for Dropout’s critically acclaimed game show, Game Changer. However it has been confirmed by Critical Role; Brennan is the Dungeon Master for their next campaign.

Mercer will play, not Dungeon Master, campaign four.

“We’ve been enormous fans of Brennan’s for many years now, and when it came to giving both Matthew Mercer and the world of Exandria a bit of a breather, Brennan felt like the perfect storyteller to take our community somewhere entirely new.” said Travis Willingham, CEO, co-founder, and cast member of Critical Role. “Critical Role has always been about genuine connection through storytelling first and foremost, and as Brennan himself will tell you, he’s still played more TTRPGs away from a camera than in front of it. His passion and drive for worldbuilding is infectious, and it’s been an absolute joy to spark off him as we forge ahead.”

Following the beloved sagas of Vox Machina (Campaign 1), The Mighty Nein (Campaign 2), and Bells Hells (Campaign 3), Critical Role’s new campaign represents a bold evolution for the franchise, ushering in a new era with new legends to be forged in a brand new world.

“What a gift, a privilege and an honor to be invited behind the screen of Critical Role for this next epic adventure,” said Mulligan. “Every collaboration we have had together has brought nothing but sheer joy, and Campaign 4 will be no exception. I’m finally playing *almost* as much tabletop as I’d like to!”

“We’re not just turning a page – we’re starting a whole new book,” added Marisha Ray, Creative Director, co-founder, and cast member of Critical Role. “Everything about Campaign 4 is fresh; new world, new tone, new possibilities. We can’t wait for the fans to experience what we’ve been building.”

We have been able to confirm that that Mulligan will also continue to Dungeon Master game for Dimension20 after the current campaign, Cloudward Ho! ends. STARBURST is fairly confident that it will not be Dimension 20 On A Bus with Katie Marovitch, as that was also a prank for Game Changer.

Critical Role Actors 2025

THE MEDIUM Video Game To Be Adapted To Film

the medium video game artwork by bloober team

Coin Operated, the horror banner founded by It and Annabelle writer-producer Gary Dauberman, has locked in the screen rights to the award-winning video game The Medium, from Bloober Team.

Set in the post-Communist era of Poland in 1999 and taking place mostly in a fictional abandoned hotel resort in Krakow, the game tells the story of a woman named Marianna, imbued with psychic abilities and the ability to travel between the physical and spiritual planes, who is called to unravel a tragic mystery.

Dauberman and Mia Maniscalco, Coin Operated’s president, will produce the adaptation. They are currently looking for a writer and director for the project. “With its compelling story and incredibly cinematic visuals, The Medium is a natural for a feature film adaptation,” said Dauberman in a statement. Dauberman previously worked on adapting horror video game Until Dawn, directed by David F. Sandberg, which Screen Gems released earlier this year.

“When I talked to Piotr [Babieno, Bloober CEO] about it, we immediately connected on our mutual love of horror and his vision for where the genre is headed. I have no doubt anything Bloober develops is going to push horror forward in unique and terrifying ways, and I’m excited to be working alongside them,” continued Dauberman.

Dauberman’s company is also currently developing a modern era reboot of Urban Legend, based on the 1990s Screen Gems slasher of the same name.

THE CONJURING: LAST RITES Releases Final Trailer

the conjuring last rites trailer

The final trailer has been released for The Conjuring: Last Rites, which will see the Warrens face a demon in their very last case. The fourth and final film in the Conjuring series follows Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) as they take on the Smurl case, which involves a family tormented by a demon for more than a decade. It is, as always, inspired (however loosely) by a true story.

“There’s something in the attic. Ed, there’s an evil here. Something I’ve felt before,” Lorraine says in the trailer footage. “This thing in your house is a demon. It’s the first one that we’ve ever encountered,” Lorraine says to the family before later saying to Ed, “We were young. We were scared. We ran away. And after all these years, it wasn’t done with our family.”

Last Rites is the sequel to The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and marks the ninth entry in The Conjuring Universe. 

Mia Tomlinson, Ben Hardy, Steve Coulter, Elliot Cowan, Rebecca Calder, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Beau Gadsdon, Shannon Kook, and John Brotherton also star. Michael Chaves returns to direct the film, as do James Wan and Peter Safran as producers. Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick wrote the script.

The Conjuring: Last Rites releases in cinemas on September 5th. Watch the trailer below:

Steven Knight Tapped For JAMES BOND 26

james bond barrel sequence - james bond 26 to be written by steven knight

Steven Knight is the latest scribe to tackle James Bond. The prolific writer will pen the script for filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, who is directing the next 007 film for Amazon MGM Studios. Knight also joins producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman.

It’s the end of an era for the Bond franchise, where writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade had been working with the franchise beginning with 1999’s The World Is Not Enough, and ending with 2021’s No Time To Die. They contributed to the screenplays of seven Bond films over more than two decades.

Steven Knight is known for co-creating the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, as well as BBC’s Peaky Blinders and SAS: Rogue Heroes. In terms of feature films, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for 2004’s Dirty Pretty Things, and wrote for The Girl In The Spider’s Web, Allied, and Burnt. He also worked with Pablo Larraín on both Spencer and Maria. He also wrote and directed Locke, Serenity, and Hummingbird.

Just like Villeneuve has other projects coming up before work on Bond can begin, so too does Knight. His next project is The Immortal Man, a continuation of Peaky Blinders that will see Cillian Murphy, Stephen Graham, and more return to the screen for Netflix.

Who will play James Bond in this new era for the franchise is still a hotly speculated-upon topic, on which there have been no further updates.

Marvel Artist Unveils Poster for Trieste Science+Fiction Festival

Italy’s premier sci-fi event celebrates its 25th anniversary from October 28th to November 2nd, 2025, with a vibrant program of cinema, literature, exhibitions, video games, and emerging technologies – all curated in its hallmark fusion of science and science fiction.

To mark this milestone edition, the Festival has unveiled its official 25th edition poster, an exclusive artwork by acclaimed Marvel artist Sara Pichelli, co-creator of Miles Morales, the new Spider-Man and star of the Oscar®-winning animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Pichelli’s illustration is a powerful visual statement: at its centre, a female figure exudes both fury and vulnerability, holding a flower – an emblem of resistance and fragility. The artwork speaks to the ongoing tension between authenticity and artificiality in an era of AI and fluid identity.

“I knew I would represent a human figure,” Pichelli explains. “What emerged was a woman who is frightened, furious, and trapped – yet ready to reclaim herself. Now more than ever, we must validate the effort to remain authentic, true to ourselves, and therefore human.”

This year’s festival will unfold across key venues, including Politeama Rossetti and Teatro Miela, with the spectacular Sci-Fi Dome returning to Piazza della Borsa as the hub for extra events and immersive experiences.

Highlights include Mondofuturo, a science and science fiction outreach series featuring prominent communicators and visionaries; IVIPRO DAYS, exploring how video games can promote local heritage and cultural identity; the Fantastic Film Forum, industry-focused sessions for professionals in film and audio visual production; and the Mondofuturo Literary Prize, now in its second edition, recognising the best original science fiction book published in Italy in 2024.

 “There’s something magical about gathering to discover what could become the next great science fiction masterpiece,” says Artistic Director Alan Jones. “For 25 years, we’ve built a home for genre lovers and visionary creators alike. This year promises the most unexpected, thrilling, and unforgettable edition yet. Blockbusters, quirky indies, mind-expanding docs, cult classics, and high-profile guests – we’ve got it all. And yes, you’ll have to wait and see how we top last year’s alien sing-a-long!”

For more information head to sciencefictionfestival.org

Eddie Murphy Confirms Donkey-Centred SHREK Spinoff

michael myers as shrek and eddie murphy as donkey

Eddie Murphy revealed some major Shrek news during a recent interview, promising that a Donkey spinoff feature was in the works.

While promoting his upcoming film The Pickup in an interview with Screenrant, the comedy actor was asked about his upcoming role in Shrek 5 as fan-favourite Donkey. He explained that he’s still recording the DreamWorks animation, and will soon begin recording for a Shrek spinoff.

“We’re still in the booth, and literally, we’re still doing Shrek,” Murphy told Screenrant. “We start in September on Donkey — we’re doing a Donkey one, and that’ll [be released] three years from now. But we’re about two years into Shrek 5. Still in the booth and about to start Donkey in September.”

He continued to state: “Donkey‘s going to be like how Puss in Boots had his own movie, Donkey’s going to have his own movie — [his] own little story with his dragon wife and his kids that are half-dragon and half-donkeys. They’ve written this funny story. We’re doing that, starting that in September.”

Eddie Murphy has teased a Donkey-centred film in the past, but these have been his most concrete comments yet. DreamWorks, however, had no comment.

Shrek 5 is due to release in cinemas on December 18th, 2026.