Léa Seydoux has joined Mikey Madison in The Masque of the Red Death, an A24 and Picturestart re-imagining of the 1842 Edgar Allan Poe short story from filmmaker Charlie Polinger.
The Hollywood Reporterwrites that Madison would play twin sisters in a story that sees a mad prince take in the noble class into his castle while a plague devastates the peasantry. The story follows a long-lost twin, hidden among the lower class, enter the castle and into a decadent world of orgies, opium, power schemes, revenge and decapitations.
Léa Seydoux will play a scheming lady-in-waiting who is plotting and conniving her way to the top. The French actress is best known for her appearances in huge blockbusters like Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol, the James Bond film Spectre, and Dune: Part Two. This year, the actress will be seen in Arthur Harari’s The Unknown, in Marie Kreutzer’s Gentle Monsters, and in the Zellner Bros.’ Alpha Gang.
And while A24 has been keeping quiet about the official plot, they have described The Masque of the Red Death as “wildly revisionist and darkly comedic”.
Polinger wrote the screenplay, which was featured on the 2023 Black List. He also made his feature directorial debut this year with The Plague, a psychological horror film about a socially awkward tween who endures the ruthless hierarchy at a water polo camp.
Birds of Prey and The Flash scribe Christina Hodson is officially the writer for The Brave and the Bold, the feature project centred on Batman and Robin (the Damian Wayne version).
One of the first films announced when DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran revealed their Gods and Monsters slate, The Brave and the Bold is expected to introduce the Bat-family to the DCU. This adaptation of Grant Morrison’s comic book run centres mainly around Damian Wayne, a prolific assassin and Robin who turns out to be Bruce’s biological son.
Two years ago, Andy Muschietti was announced to direct Batman’s entry into Gunn and Safran’s DCU world. Whether that remains the case is unclear, given his series IT: Welcome to Derry‘s success last year means the filmmaker is in high demand at the moment.
There’s still no clear timeline on this project, but with Hodson officially aboard as writer, there’s hope that the project will go ahead soon, perhaps even with some Batman and Robin casting news in the near future!
Further to her DC titles, Christina Hodson is known for having written the very excellent Transformers prequel, Bumblebee. In 2025, Hodson was also announced as the writer for an Untitled Firefighter Movie by Ron Howard.
By the power of Grayskull, we have the first trailer for Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel Studios’ live-action Masters of the Universe film!
In the trailer, we meet Adam Glenn (otherwise known as Prince Adam, or He-Man, and played by Nicholas Galitzine), a HR representative unhappily working in his corporate American cubicle. He’s been stranded on his mother’s home planet of Earth since the age of ten, separated from his ancestor’s Power Sword of Grayskull. Thankfully for us sword and sorcery-loving audiences, though, he soon gets a lead on the whereabouts of the family heirloom and makes his way home to Eternia.
The trailer also grants us glimpses of He-Man’s He-friends, including Teela (Camila Mendes), Duncan/Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba), and the evil Skeletor (Jared Leto). Also starring are Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Morena Baccarin, Charlotte Riley, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, and Kristin Wiig as the voice of Roboto.
Travis Knight, the founder of stop-motion champions Laika, is helming the film based on the popular toy brand introduced in the 1980s. The screenplay was written by Chris Butler, following initial drafts by David Callaham and brothers Aaron and Adam Nee.
Watch the Masters of the Universe trailer below, ahead of its release on June 5th, 2026.
An impressive cast has been announced for feature film The Rebooted, which is set to go before the cameras in March. Heading the line-up is Andrew Lee Potts, which will delight his avid fanbase.
The Rebooted will be brought to you by Panchariya Brothers Productions and the feature debut of Sussex-raised filmmaker Matthew Rowney, from his own story. Filming will take place in Ticehurst, East Sussex, on the Downash Woods Estate, bringing a striking and atmospheric UK location to a genre traditionally dominated by large-scale studio productions.
The film is a comic book thriller with a major narrative twist, exploring the growing influence of artificial intelligence on society while directly engaging with the current conversation about the struggles and evolution of the comic book movie (CBM) genre. The movie aims to deconstruct modern hero mythology, blending grounded suspense with genre commentary.
The Rebooted cast also boasts a mix of familiar faces including Gerard Christopher (former Superboy actor), Stephanie Waring (Hollyoaks), and Amelia Flanagan (Emmerdale), and Martins Imhangbe, best known for his role in Netflix’s Bridgerton. The film also features major social media figures Liberty Poole (Love Island) and Dan Spragg, a prominent TikTok creator, reflecting the film’s contemporary themes and cultural reach.
We spoke exclusively with Andrew Lee Potts to discuss the film and his role. “I play Tom. He’s a family man, thrown into a situation he doesn’t quite understand and it’s a constant rollercoaster of him trying to grasp what is happening without losing focus of his family and staying alive.” The character allows the actor to give his fans what they expect from him while also showing a deeper side. “Once again, I play a bit of an accidental hero. There’s a bit of humour in there, but it’s pretty intense as well. For me, it’s a perfect balance because I love doing the lighter-hearted stuff, but as the film goes on, it gets much darker, and I get to flex my versatility in a sense, which is always a lovely thing for me to do.”
“There are definitely life or death situations, but the superhero side of it is a really interesting take,” he continues. “I’d say it’s very apt in a sense of social commentary on how AI is coming in and affecting everything.”
Always busy, Andrew is looking forward to filming, “It’s been a while since my last couple of films, it’ll be good to get my feet back on a film set as I’ve been doing TV last year. Last summer, I was in Montpellier for the whole summer, shooting a five-part drama for Channel Five”. In between films and TV, he’s also taken up a role teaching acting. “I’ve always done screen acting classes online for a lot of age ranges, which has been going really well since lockdown. I’ve really enjoyed that and then I got approached to teach a college campus. So I’m at the moment, I’m like teaching 16-year-olds screen acting. I didn’t realise how much I actually love teaching and how much I had to offer in that area, I guess from being on screen since I was seven years old, and it’s great to share my experience with them.”
Fans can meet Andrew at Megacon Live at London’s ExCel on Saturday and Sunday, January 24th and 25th.
Writer-director Matthew Rowney commented, “This story is deeply personal to me – not just as a filmmaker making my first feature, but as someone who grew up loving comic books while watching the world rapidly change around technology”.
With production commencing in March, The Rebooted is set to be an ambitious new entry into the UK indie genre scene, blending modern themes, iconic talent, and fresh creative voices. You will certainly hear more about it from STARBURST. Watch this space!
Glen Powell is in final negotiations to collaborate with Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail on Tesseract, a science fiction film that has landed at Amazon MGM and United Artists.
Powell is looking to star in the project and to produce with Dan Cohen, his partner at their Barnstorm production banner. Esmail is also producing Tesseract via his label, Esmail Corp, alongside Chad Hamilton. United Artists’ Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt round out the producing team.
The plot is being kept tightly under wraps, but we do know the movie calls for two further lead roles, both of whom are women. Should the project be greenlit, current plans aim to begin filming this summer.
Powell was recently seen in Edgar Wright’sThe Running Man and will be on screens again this month with How to Make A Killing. The in-demand actor is also shooting season 2 of Chad Powers, his sports comedy Hulu series.
Esmail is best known for the cyberthriller series Mr. Robot, which starred Rami Malek and ran from 2015 to 2019. He co-wrote and directed Leave the World Behindfor Netflix, and is currently in post-production on Panic Carefully, a Warner Bros. thriller starring Julia Roberts, Elizabeth Olsen, and Eddie Redmayne.
The Bride! has released its first trailer, teasing the upcoming Gothic crime-romance that stars Jessie Buckley in the titular role. Maggie Gyllenhaal writes, co-produces, and directs the feature that draws inspiration from the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein by James Whale, itself inspired by Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
Starring opposite Buckley are Christian Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Penélope Cruz.
Per the film’s synopsis, a lonely Frankenstein (Bale as the monster, here given his creator’s name) asks Dr. Euphronius (Bening) to create a companion for him. The two revive a murdered young woman, and The Bride (Buckley) is born. What ensues is beyond what either of them imagined: Murder! Possession! A wild and radical cultural movement! And outlaw lovers in a wild and combustible romance!
The trailer teases a Bonnie & Clyde-esque crime spree by the lovers, complete with an impressive Florence and the Machine needle drop. Watch it below.
Meanwhile, Buckley is busy raking in awards for her starring turn in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, with eyes on an Oscar nomination this coming season. Needless to say we will be sat for this one as well.
Cate Blanchett is following in Gerard Butler’s footsteps and reprising her role as Viking warrior Valka, moving from a voice role into live-action portrayal.
The two-time Oscar winner will star in Universal Pictures’ live-action How to Train Your Dragon 2. Dean DeBlois, who co-created the franchise and both wrote and directed last year’s first live-action adaptation, is back as writer, director, and executive producer of the sequel.
Cate Blanchett joins Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Butler, Julian Dennison, Gabriel Howell, Bronwyn James and Harry Trevaldwyn in the sequel.
Adapting the second animated installment, which was released in 2014, the film continues the adventures of Hiccup (Thames), the dragon-befriending Viking who opened up his village to the possibilities of coexisting with the flying, fire-breathing creatures. Valka Haddock is Hiccup’s long-lost mother and the wife of leader Stoick the Vast (Butler). She’d been presumed dead after she was abducted during a dragon attack, but was actually living among them for two decades, learning their ways and becoming a fierce advocate of peace between their races. In the second film, she reunites with Hiccup and teaches him more about dragons.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 will be released in cinemas on June 11th, 2027.
Rook Films and Anti-Worlds Releasing have teamed up to release Ben Wheatley’s latest film, BULK, this coming January and February. Wheatley has been presenting the film at genre festivals across the world over the past few months and will embark on a 20-date Q&A tour of the country’s most glorious independent cinemas – starting at London’s boutique grindhouse cinema The Nickel in January and ending at the BFI IMAX. A Blu-ray release will follow on March 2nd.
BULK is a mind-bending sci-fi thriller in the tradition of Alphaville and Primer, but also a love letter to film writing and making. Written, directed, and edited by Ben Wheatley, the film stars Alexandra Maria Lara, Sam Riley, Noah Taylor, and Mark Monero, with narration from Bill Nighy.
When an overzealous scientist pushes his experiments with string theory too far – his brane explodes. Thats ‘brane’ not ‘brain’ – but that means someone has to sort out the mess he has created.
Corey Harlan (Riley) is sent in – kicking and screaming – to find the heart of the brane and its creator Anton Chambers (Monero). Now manifested as a normal townhouse hosted by the enigmatic and multi-dimensional Aclima (Lara) – his adventure begins. A house where opening a door from one room to another can lead you to other worlds not just the kitchen.
Echoing the fate of our protagonists the very fabric of the film – the sets – and even the cameras used to make it film are deconstructed throughout.
Check out this clip:
Wheatley said “BULK is a multidimensional sci-fi adventure, and the tour will be a multidimensional venue trip around the UK- from its smallest and weirdest cinemas to its biggest. BULK is a very personal film for me and made with a spirit of true independence, so we wanted to be able to share it and talk about it with the audiences at the UK independent cinemas.”
The tour dates so far are:
Thursday 15th Jan – NICKEL London
Friday 16th Jan – MAC Birmingham
Saturday 17th Jan – CULTPLEX Manchester
Sunday 18th Jan – FILMHOUSE Edinburgh
Sunday 18th Jan – GFF Glasgow (Evening show)
Monday 19th Jan – DCA Dundee
Tuesday 20th Jan – TYNESIDE CINEMA Newcastle
Wednesday 21st Jan – DUKES THEATRE Lancaster
Thursday 22nd Jan – HYDE PARK PICTUREHOUSE – Leeds
Friday 23rd Jan – PLAZA Liverpool
Saturday 24th Jan – DEPOT Lewes
Tuesday 27th Jan – IFI Dublin
Wednesday 28th Jan – TRISKEL THEATRE Cork
Thursday 29th Jan – BFI IMAX London
Friday 30th Jan – CHAPTER -Cardiff
Saturday 31st Jan – PONTIO ARTS CENTRE Bangor, Wales
Saturday 31st Jan – HOME Manchester (Evening show)
Sunday 1st Feb PHOENIX Exeter
Sunday 1st Feb – WATERSHED Bristol (Evening show)
More dates will be added.
For more information, or to pre-order the Blu-ray and purchase the cool fanzines Ben makes, head over to https://rookfilms.co.uk/
Heir today, gone tomorrow… Glen Powell finds himself with seven people in the way of his inheritance in the trailer for the A24 thriller How to Make a Killing. Hailing from writer and director John Patton Ford, the film also stars Margaret Qualley, Jessica Henwick, Zach Woods, Topher Grace, Bill Camp, and Ed Harris.
Loosely inspired by Robert Hamer’s 1949 Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets, the feature centres on Becket Redfellow (Powell), who has been cast aside by his incredibly wealthy family and will go to any lengths necessary to ensure his inheritance.
“There were seven of them — seven rich pricks between myself and $28 billion,” Powell says in the trailer about his extended family. And as Qualley’s character quips: “Call me when you’ve killed all of them.”
Ford’s screenplay originally appeared on the 2014 Black List under the title Rothchild. In 2019, Jon S. Baird signed on to direct the film, with Shia LaBeouf and Mel Gibson due to star. Development of the project resumed in 2023, with plans for Ford to direct the film, which was then retitled Huntington. The new title, How to Make a Killing, was revealed just last month.
This will only mark Ford’s second feature film, having previously helmed the Aubrey Plaza-starring crime thriller, Emily the Criminal. Powell was most recently seen in Edgar Wright’s The Running Man.
Watch the final How to Make a Killing trailer below, ahead of its release in UK cinemas on March 13th, 2026.
Prepare to be ensnared in a killer cult nightmare, as Lure, written and directed by Oliver Cox, is heading to digital on February 2nd. We have an exclusive reveal of the trailer below…
Lure is a bold and blood-soaked new British horror, that fuses the cutthroat courtship of The Bachelorette with the high-stakes survival of Ready or Not. A wealthy, ruthless heiress believes her bloodline must be preserved at any cost, she curates a shortlist of six seemingly eligible bachelors, each selected for their suitability to father her future heir. She invites the unwitting victims to her remote ancestral estate, but the guests are unaware of the horrific and gruesome games that await them. With escape impossible, each man is tested to their very limits and must decide how far they are willing to go to survive and whether winning is even worth the cost. Twisted, stylish, and bloody, Lure promises to entice with a night of terror that lingers long after dawn.
LURE is available on digital platforms on February 2nd from Reel2Reel Films.
