Rob Zombie Reveals First 3 FROM HELL Images of Otis and Baby

It was only yesterday that we were reporting that Rob Zombie’s hotly anticipated The Devil’s Rejects’ follow-up, 3 from Hell, wouldn’t be arriving until early next year at the earliest, but now the director has moved to give us our first look at the returning Otis and Baby.

3 from Hell will see Bill Moseley’s Otis, Sheri Moon Zombie’s Baby, and Sid Haig’s Captain Spaulding returning from the grave following the explosive finale to 2005’s The Devil’s Rejects.

As for those images, find them below:

In addition to that returning trio, 3 from Hell will also feature Danny Trejo, Dee Wallace, Clint Howard, Richard Brake, David Ury, Daniel Roebuck, Pancho Moler, Kevin Jackson, Sean Whalen, Austin Stoker, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Bill Oberst Jr., Dot-Marie Jones, Tom Papa, and Richard Riehle.

As ever, expect more on 3 from Hell as we get it.

THE LEGO MOVIE Sequel’s Title Revealed

The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part

One of the most hotly anticipated films on the to-see list of many a genre fan is the upcoming The LEGO Movie sequel. And now, we know what the title of that follow-up will be.

The film’s official Twitter account has confirmed that the movie will be titled The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part:

Previously, we’ve heard how Tiffany Haddish will be providing vocals for a female lead in the sequel, with the actress joining returning names such as Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Jonah Hill, and Channing Tatum. No particular plot details are known at this stage.

To be directed by Sky High, Shrek Forever After and Troll’s Mike Mitchell, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part is set for a February 2019 release.

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 Adds Halle Berry, Anjelica Huston, and Asia Kate Dillon

John Wick

With Keanu Reeves’ John Wick returning for a third outing, now comes word on some new additions who’ll be joining him in the threequel.

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, X-Men actress Halle Berry will be playing the female lead called Sofia, The Addams Family’s Anjelica Huston will be playing a mysterious figure called the Director, and Orange is the New Black’s Asia Kate Dillon is playing the Adjudicator of the High Table.

For Berry’s part, she took to Instagram to reveal this news:

It’s a date. 5.17.19

A post shared by Halle Berry (@halleberry) on

The official word on John Wick: Chapter 3 reads:

John Wick is on the run for two reasons… he’s being hunted for a global $14 million dollar open contract on his life, and for breaking a central rule: taking a life on Continental Hotel grounds. The victim was a member of the High Table who ordered the open contract. John should have already been executed, except the Continental’s manager, Winston, has given him a one-hour grace period before he’s “excommunicado” – membership revoked, banned from all services and cut off from other members. John uses the service industry to stay alive as he fights and kills his way out of New York City.

In addition to Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane and Lance Reddick are also returning for this third picture.

To be directed by Chad Stahelski, John Wick: Chapter 3 is set for a May 2019 release.

Michael Keaton Returning for SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING Sequel

Michael Keaton Vulture

Following the news that Jake Gyllenhaal is in talks to play Mysterio in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel, now comes word on another villain who’ll be featuring in the follow-up.

As per Variety, Michael Keaton will be reprising his role as Adrian Toomes, aka the Vulture. Already, tongues are wagging that this could be further leaning towards the foundations of the Sinister Six being laid in the Homecoming sequel.

The Sinister Six, of course, is a group of nefarious Spidey rogues who all band together to try and wipe out the Wall-crawler for good. Over the decades, the line-up itself has often changed, but both Mysterio and Vulture have been frequent members of the team. Similarly, Mac Gargan, aka Scorpion, is another who has been a part of the group – and he was previously seen in Homecoming as played by Michael Mando.

In addition to this, the outlet also reports that the sequel is currently auditioning actresses in the 20s for a lead role in the picture. Just who that character is remains to be seen.

Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers are currently putting together the to-be-titled sequel’s screenplay, with Homecoming director Jon Watts returning to direct the July 2019 release.

First Look at Zachary Levi as SHAZAM

Shazam!

Earlier this year we finally saw the movie’s logo revealed, and now Warner Brothers has given us our first official look at Zachary Levi’s titular hero from David F. Sandberg’s Shazam!

It was left to Levi himself to reveal that ‘first look’, with the actor taking to his Instagram account with the following:

The official word on Shazam! reads:

We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam, courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana.

As well as Levi on board as the titular hero, Shazam! also features Asher Angel as Billy Batson, Ron Cephas as the Wizard, Mark Strong as the ‘big bad’ of the picture, Doctor Sivana, Marta Milans and Cooper Andrews as Billy’s foster parents, and then roles for Jack Dylan Grazer, Grace Fulton, Ian Chen and Jovan Armand as pals of Billy’s.

To be directed by David F. Sandberg, Shazam! is set for an April 5th, 2019 release.

Toho Planning for a Shared GODZILLA Universe

Godzilla

Well, this is pretty fantastic news for fans of the King of the Monsters and his supporting players. As the headline suggests, Toho is to move forward with a shared cinematic realm for Godzilla and their kaiju-driven properties.

At this stage, the Toho Company has a deal with Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures through until 2021. But after that deal comes to an end, it appears that Toho will be branching out to create their own shared universe.

Speaking to Nikkei Style, Toho’s Keiji Ota explained, “After 2021, we’re thinking of a potential strategy that [releases] Godzilla movies uninterrupted at a rate of every two years, although there is a preference for a yearly pace as well. The future of the series and its forwarding developments are very conscious of the method of ‘shared universe’. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, etc. could all share a single world view much like a Marvel movie where Iron Man and the Hulk can crossover with each other.”

In other news to come out of the same interview, Ota would confirm that plans won’t be moving forward for Shin Godzilla 2. Despite that film impressing many, Toho is said to be focussing their attention on creating a greater, boarded shared world for Godzilla and their other famed characters right now.

Before Toho’s deal with Warners and Legendary comes to a close, of course, Mike Dougherty’s Godzilla 2 is booked in for a March 2019 release, and then there’s still that Godzilla vs Kong crossover that’s set for 2020.

Expect more on all of this as we get it.

Rob Zombie’s 3 FROM HELL Not Expected This Year

One of the most hotly anticipated movies on many a horror hounds’ slate is Rob Zombie’s long-awaited follow-up to The Devil’s Rejects, 3 from Hell. Well, Zombie himself has now moved to explain how you’d better not hope to see the film by the time 2018 is over.

Filming on 3 from Hell actually wrapped this past April, but the issue now is that Zombie is heading out on tour shortly – and thus the editing process is having to be put on hold.

As Zombie explained to Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation, “We’re done shooting it. And, basically, the process just stops and waits for me. ‘Cause the film will just basically sit and wait till I get back from tour, which is the end of August, maybe… I don’t remember when the tour ends… beginning of September. And then we’ll start editing, and that’ll take me through the rest of the year.”

The tour in question is The Second Coming along with Marilyn Manson, and that now means that fans of the Firefly clan will have to wait until next year for 3 from Hell to finally be made available.

Zombie would go on to add, “The editing will be five or six months, maybe. But I like it. I have a studio at my house, and we just bring the editors there and set up, and we just sequester ourselves away. It’s actually the same studio we make the records in; we just switch out the gear.”

All being well, 3 from Hell will be released in the first half of 2019, although we guess we’ll have to wait and see.

In terms of plot, all that’s known at this stage is that Sheri Moon Zombie’s Baby, Bill Moseley’s Otis, and Sid Haig’s Captain Spaulding are being brought back from the dead following the explosive finale of The Devil’s Rejects. As well as those three back in the fold, the film will also feature Danny Trejo, Dee Wallace, Clint Howard, Richard Brake, David Ury, Daniel Roebuck, Pancho Moler, Kevin Jackson, Sean Whalen, Austin Stoker, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Bill Oberst Jr., Dot-Marie Jones, Tom Papa, and Richard Riehle.

As ever, expect more on 3 from Hell as we get it.

Jake Gyllenhaal in Talks to Play Mysterio in HOMECOMING Sequel

Mysterio Jake Gyllenhaal

Despite, y’know, what happened in Avengers: Infinity War, it’s still full steam ahead for Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel. And now, that film is closed to landing a major, major name as its ‘big bad’.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Jake Gyllenhaal is in advanced talks to play Mysterio in the Homecoming follow-up. This isn’t the first time that the Donnie Darko and Nightcrawler star has been up for a superhero movie, and it’s not even the first time that he was in the frame for a Spider-Man picture.

If you remember back, Gyllenhaal was one of those up for the role of ol’ Web-head in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. That role would of course go to Tobey Maguire, and Maguire would play the Wall-crawler in three movies. However, after some serious back issues ahead of Spider-Man 2, it at one stage looked as if Maguire was going to have to give up the famed red and blue duds. Who could step in to fill those particular shoes? Why, that’d be Jake Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal would actually get fitted for his own Spidey costume when it appeared that Maguire’s back problems were too severe, although all of that would ultimately come to nothing when Maguire managed to get himself fixed up and ready to go in time for Raimi’s first Spider-Man sequel.

Since then, Gyllenhaal has turned down the role of Rick Flag – a role that would go to RoboCop’s Joel Kinnaman – in Suicide Squad, and only earlier this year he was apparently Matt Reeves’ top pick to replace Ben Affleck in the cape and cowl for Reeves’ The Batman.

Focussing on the Mysterio character, he’s a long, long-standing member of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery. In fact, his roots go bac to 1964’s The Amazing Spider-Man #13. A special effects master, Quentin Beck decides to use his Hollywood skills of smoke and mirrors to his advantage as a criminal mastermind. Like many of Spidey’s most famous rogues, Beck wasn’t the only one to take on the moniker of Mysterio, with Daniel Berkhart and Francis Klum just some of those to take on the nefarious identity as their own over the years.

For those of you who know your trivia, Mysterio was originally planned to appear in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4. Of course, that film never actually happened due to the so-so response to Spider-Man 3. In that realm, we’d already actually seen Mysterio but never knew it. You see, in Spider-Man 4 it was to be revealed that Bruce Campbell’s character – who had had minor roles butting heads with Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker in the three previous films – was really none other than Mysterio. He would have been a small side villain for Spidey to deal with as he looked to tackle the Vulture as the main villain of the piece, but that never came to be as Raimi departed the franchise and a reboot would follow with Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man.

At this stage, Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers are working on the screenplay for the Homecoming sequel, with director Jon Watts also to return. The to-be-titled follow-up is currently booked in for a July 2019 release.

As ever, expect more on all of this as we get it.

Universal’s DARK UNIVERSE May Still be Alive and Kicking

Dark Universe

You can’t keep a good monster down, eh? Apparently so.

While Universal Studios had grand plans to develop what they’d dubbed the Dark Universe, that shared cinematic realm seemed doomed before it ever really got going.

The first picture in the shared monster movie-verse was the Tom Cruise-fronted The Mummy, and from there the studio had plans in place for Johnny Depp to headline The Invisible Man, Russell Crowe to get a Jekyll & Hyde film, Javier Bardem to play the monster in Frankenstein, and speculation of Angelina Jolie starring in Bride of Frankenstein, Dwayne Johnson to snarl as The Wolfman, and Scarlett Johansson to put a female spin on The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Only all of those future movies or potential movies were seemingly scrapped once The Mummy bombed and apparently became both the first and last film of this shared realm.

Now, artist Robert Vargas has taken to his Instagram page to reveal he’s had a meeting to discuss all things Dark Universe – suggesting that Universal’s array of classic monsters aren’t quite as dead as we thought.

What this means for the Dark Universe moving forward remains to be seen, but expect more on this shared realm if and when it continues to develop.

Batwoman to Join the Arrowverse

Batwoman

Holy Bat-family, dear readers!

Yes, as the headline suggests, The CW’s Arrowverse is to introduce Batwoman.

The news was revealed as this week’s ongoing networks upfront presentation, with CW head Mark Pedowitz revealing that the next crossover event will be adding “the city of Gotham into the Arrowverse. This will be another full-throttled, action-packed event.”

As per EW, Arrow star Stephen Amell added, “We’re incredibly excited to announce that we’ll be doing another crossover event this fall on The CW, and we’ll be introducing a new character. For the very first time appearing, we’ll be fighting alongside Batwoman, which is terrific. The crossover is going to make it to air in December. I need to leave right now and start filming it.”

Terrific indeed, Stephen.

To date, the shared Arrowverse realm of Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and (kind of) Supergirl has made mention to plentiful Bat-tropes, such as name-dropping Gotham, Blüdhaven and even Bruce Wayne, not to mention a whole host of famed Bat-villains have been utilised across those shows.

For those not familiar with Batwoman, she’s a character who’s found herself back in the spotlight again in more recent years, although her origins actually date back to a 1956 debut as Kathy Kane in Detective Comics #233. The Kathy Kane character was a creation of Edmond Hamilton and Sheldon Moldoff, and soon become synonymous with the Silver Age expansion of Batman’s supporting cast of players.

In more recent years, Batwoman was given a spruce up as part of DC Comics’ New 52 reinvention. Now while The New 52 as a concept was largely flawed and found wanting for a number of reasons, the change to Batwoman was one of the more positive moves to come from the rejig. After seemingly dropping off the face of the Earth, Batwoman was brought back into the fold in that 2006 refresh, reimagined as Kate Kane, a Jewish lesbian with bucket-loads of cash behind her. Inspired by Batman, she decided to use her hefty resources to don the cape and cowl and become one of Gotham City’s protectors.

In the last month or so, Arrow has been renewed for a seventh season, The Flash for a fifth, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl both for fourth years. As alluded to by Stephen Amell, the next crossover between these shows is pegged for this December; and it’s then that we’ll see Batwoman brought into the picture.

What this means for the Arrowverse going forward remains to be seen, but it could open up a whole pandora’s box of possibilities if the powers-that-be see fit.