Thanks to EW, we have three official images from Star Wars: The Force Awakens showing off Supreme Leader Snoke and Maz. The magazine also conducted an interview with Andy Serkis in which he discussed his character. 

He explained that when he did the motion-capture work for the character he didn’t exactly know what the character would look like.

“When we first started working on it, he had some rough notions of how Snoke was gonna look, but it really hadn’t been fully-formed and it almost came out of discussion and performance.”

EW went on to point out that there is a lot of speculation that Snoke might end up being Darth Plagueis, who was mentioned in the prequel films, but Serkis confirms that he...

“turns out to be… just Snoke.”

Serkis says that he was aware of the events in the previous films and says that his character is a new addition to the saga. Serkis goes on to explain his character:

“Supreme Leader Snoke is quite an enigmatic character, and strangely vulnerable at the same time as being quite powerful. Obviously he has a huge agenda. He has suffered a lot of damage. As I said, there is a strange vulnerability to him, which belies his true agenda, I suppose.”

More will be revealed regarding this character as the story arc for the new trilogy continues to play out. I’m very curious to know Snoke’s story. I’m sure whatever it is, it will surprise us all, unless the information leaks out early! 

Over the holiday weekend, Olivia Munn shared a new behind-the-scenes photo of herself as Betsy Braddock, a.k.a. Psylocke, in Bryan Singer’s X-Men Apocalypse. The photo came along with a little comment about the character: 

"She's a telekinetic telepath who chooses to kill with a sword because she wants to do it up close and intimate and killing from afar just seems too easy and no fun."

Sounds like my kind of ruthless killer! It’s good to see Munn taking on a villainous role like this. It suits her. 

To say hello to 2016, I'm gonna say GOODBYE TO 2015 with my Top 5 Favorite Memories of 2015 (that I can think of)... #4 Getting to play #Psylocke in #xmenapocalypse. She's a telekinetic telepath who chooses to kill with a sword because she wants to do it up close and intimate because killing from afar just seems too easy and no fun. 💜

A photo posted by Olivia Munn (@oliviamunn) on Jan 1, 2016 at 12:36pm PST

Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshiped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.

X-Men: Apocalypse is set to open in theaters on May 27th, 2016.

I was never a big fan of the XXX franchise, so this third film isn’t really that big of a deal to me. Vin Diesel is set to reprise his role in the new film, called XXX: The Return of Xander Cage, and he will be reuniting with Samuel L. Jackson in the movie. Now it looks like a couple of heavy martial arts hitters will be joining the project!

According to Twitch, the DJ Caruso-directed film has cast action stars Jet Li and Tony Jaa in the sequel. Also joining the project is Indian superstar actress Deepika Padukone, who will be one of Xander’s allies in the story.

There’s no word on who they will be playing in the film, but if the martial arts stars actually have decent sized roles, and we’ll get to see them show off some of their badass fighting skills, that would be worth the price of admission for me! It would be even better if we got to see them face off against each other! 

It was already revealed by Diesel that UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor has also joined the film, so it seems like there could be a lot of hardcore fight sequences to watch in this thing. 

Now that most Star Wars fans have seen The Force Awakens, the film’s director of photography, Dan Mindel, has posted several behind the scenes photos from the film on his Instagram feed that I think fans will appreciate. 

These images offer us a candid look at what it was like to be on the set of the movie that breathed life back into the Star Wars franchise. 

Here’s a selection of what he’s posted in the last couple of days:

A photo posted by Dan Mindel ASC, BSC (@dan_mindel) on Dec 31, 2015 at 7:19am PST

A photo posted by Dan Mindel ASC, BSC (@dan_mindel) on Dec 30, 2015 at 8:07am PST

A photo posted by Dan Mindel ASC, BSC (@dan_mindel) on Dec 29, 2015 at 3:43pm PST

@imax.movies

A photo posted by Dan Mindel ASC, BSC (@dan_mindel) on Dec 29, 2015 at 8:24am PST

A photo posted by Dan Mindel ASC, BSC (@dan_mindel) on Dec 24, 2015 at 9:48am PST

A photo posted by Dan Mindel ASC, BSC (@dan_mindel) on Dec 25, 2015 at 9:37am PST

A photo posted by Dan Mindel ASC, BSC (@dan_mindel) on Dec 27, 2015 at 4:23pm PST

A photo posted by Dan Mindel ASC, BSC (@dan_mindel) on Dec 23, 2015 at 7:48am PST

A photo posted by Dan Mindel ASC, BSC (@dan_mindel) on Dec 18, 2015 at 9:48am PST

A photo posted by Dan Mindel ASC, BSC (@dan_mindel) on Dec 12, 2015 at 6:35am PST

A photo posted by Dan Mindel ASC, BSC (@dan_mindel) on Jan 2, 2016 at 10:11am PST

After Avengers: Age of Ultron was released, director Joss Whedon passed on directing Avengers: Infinity War for Marvel. He explained that it was a difficult production for him to work on and that he wanted to do different things.

Well, during a Q&A at Oxford Union, the filmmaker clarified that not only is he not directing Infinity War, but he’s also done with working with Marvel completely. Whedon had a hand in helping to shape the entire second phase of the MCU, but he's not around to help anymore. He’s not even a part of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. because he walked away from that as well! He explains:

"I've gone off the reservation for a while. It was five years that I was working on either Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. That was an enormous gift they gave me; they handed me several hundreds of millions of dollars and said 'do what you do,' which is very rare and I was very lucky. At the same time, it's important for me not just to have my own thing and do something smaller, but also to create a new challenge for myself because I will start to repeat myself."

When asked to clarify how "off the reservation" he was, Whedon was very blunt in his answer saying: 

"No, you know, I was their sort of consigliere for a while... but I sort of had my finger in all of the films in the second phase but then I just had to concentrate only on Ultron and sort of know that when it was done, I was just going to stop, so I made a completely clean break."

I guess there’s always a chance he could come back to help Marvel out again, but talk of making a “clean break” doesn’t sound like someone who is looking to go back. I really did love what Whedon did with the Avengers, and it’s sad that things didn’t play out differently between him and Marvel. It will be fun to see what he does next, though! 

Hot Toys has officially unveiled their 1/6th scale Deadpool collectible action figure, and you can check out several of the product photos below. As you might expect from Hot Toys, they completely nailed the look of this character as he appears in the upcoming movie. This is a must have for any Deadpool fan! It will probably be the greatest Deadpool action figure you'll ever be able to get your hands on! If that's not incentive enough, I don't know what is. 

“Wait ‘til you get a load of me.”

Marvel’s most unconventional superhero, Deadpool, will finally hit the silver screen in full glory with his over-the-top personality, dark twisted sense of humor, and tendency to break the fourth wall which fans have always loved! Today, Hot Toys is very excited to officially introduce the one and only 1/6th scale Deadpool collectible figure based on the upcoming Deadpool Movie! 

In this new film, the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson will be unfolded, who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.

The movie-accurate collectible figure is specially crafted based on the image of Deadpool from the film. It features a newly developed masked head sculpt with 5 pairs of interchangeable eye pieces to create numerous combinations of Deadpool’s expressions, newly developed body, meticulously tailored Deadpool suit with weathering effects, Deadpool’s signature katanas and pistols, variety of interchangeable hands with gestures, and a specially designed Deadpool themed dynamic figure stand perfect for aerial poses.

You just can’t pass up on this opportunity to add the beloved Merc with a Mouth to your collection and witness the beginning of a happy ending.

Disney Has released a little sneak peek showing off the first official footage from their upcoming animated film Moana. 

The movie stars Auli’i Cravalho as the title character, along with Dwayne Johnson, who takes on the role of the demigod Maui. His character will aid Moana on her journey. Here’s a synopsis that was released for the film previously:

In the ancient South Pacific world of Oceania, Moana, a born navigator, sets sail in search of a fabled island. During her incredible journey, she teams up with her hero, the legendary demi-god Maui, to traverse the open ocean on an action-packed voyage, encountering enormous sea creatures, breathtaking underworlds and ancient folklore.

I got to see some footage from the movie at D23 ast summer, and I loved what I saw. This movie is beautifully animated, and it looks like it will be another hit for Disney Animation. 

Moana is directed by animation vets Ron Clements and John Musker (The Little Mermaid), and it will be released on November 23rd, 2016.

Thanks to the UK's VUE Cinema, we have a new, detailed synopsis for Zack Snyder's Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice. We also recently posted a possible spoiler-filled first reaction to the movie that you can check out here in case you missed it. 

It still seems like we've got a long way to go before this movie is released. It's been interesting to see the mix of fans who are excited for it and fans who aren't. This is one of those films that looks awesome, but at the same time, fans aren't getting their hopes up. 

I'd really love to see Snyder knck this movie out of the park and give us something incredible! I know he's got it in him. He proved it with Watchmen. We'll just have to wait and see! Here's the synopsis:

Following his titanic struggle against General Zod, Metropolis has been razed to the ground and Superman is the most controversial figure in the world. While for many he is still an emblem of hope, a growing number of people consider him a threat to humanity, seeking justice for the chaos he has brought to Earth.

As far as Bruce Wayne is concerned, Superman is clearly a danger to society. He fears for the future of the world with such a reckless power left ungoverned, and so he dons his mask and cape to right Superman’s wrongs.

The rivalry between them is furious, fuelled by bitterness and vengeance, and nothing can dissuade them from waging this war. However, a dark new threat arises in the form of a third man: one who has a power greater than either of them to endanger the world and cause total destruction.

The superhero stand-off that the world has been waiting for is finally arriving in cinemas, with an all-star cast bringing to life the characters we all love.

Zack Snyder (300) returns as director following the huge success of 2013’s Man of Steel, along with Henry Cavill (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) in the role of Superman.

Also starring Ben Affleck (Gone Girl) as Batman, Amy Adams (American Hustle) as Lois Lane, and Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious 7) as Wonder Woman, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is an explosive, action-packed blockbuster that is sure to thrill DC fans everywhere.

Batman v Superman will be released in theaters on March 25th, 2016. 

It looks like the theme for Consumer Electronics Show 2016 is "paper thin and futuristic as f***." The Verge tells us LG is planning on showcasing an 18 inch screen that "folds like a newspaper." The concept first made its debut LAST YEAR (shout out to Facebook commenters who won't read and say this news is old), but this is the first time the public will see the product in action. Its many advertised uses included...

• Tablet too cumbersome? Put it in your pocket...also it won't break easily.
• Touchscreen car displays that contour to the shape of your dashboard!
• Make that screen wrap around a wall!

You get the idea. Bottom line is this is looking to be the item that will change the future of technology as we know it. Then again...that's probably said atleast once every CES, so only time will tell.

Up to now, all we've seen from Toho's Godzilla: Resurgence film is a teaser trailer and poster. Neither one of them really showed us what the new design of the monster would look like. Well, now we have some photos of Godzilla, and I've gotta say... it looks delightfully terrifying. I don't know what's going on with Godzilla, but the gruesomeness of the design is awesome. 

The movie was written by Hideaki Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion), who also co-directed the film with Shinji Higuchi. He is known for his visual effects for the Gamera trilogy, among other film projects. You can easily see their influence in this design. 

Say hello to the full design of Shin Godzilla. #Godzilla resurgence! pic.twitter.com/CPZUQLshAD

— the big bad Ben (@Thebigbadben90) January 4, 2016

There are still no story details for this movie yet. The only thing that the teaser trailer offers us is the iconic Godzilla roar and some shots of a crowd of people running wildly through the streets of Japan. I would too if I saw this thing stomping toward me! 

This will be Toho's 29th Godzilla movie, and it's set to be released in Japan on July 29th, 2016. I'm excited to see how this movie turns out! What do you think of the new design for the creature?

I've got a great teaser trailer for you to watch today for an awesome looking Russian superhero film called Defenders. It follows a team of heroes who are supposed to protect the USSR from supernatural threats. This first trailer teases the superheros and the powers they have. Here's the brief synopsis:

During the Cold War, a secret organization "Patriot" has created a squad of superheroes, which included participants from various Soviet republics. For years, the heroes had to hide their identity, but in hard times, they again take the case.

The movie is supposed to come out sometime this year. Not sure if we'll get to see it here in the states, though. All I know is that I want to see it, and I'm sure I'll eventually get that chance. Check out the teaser and let us know what you think about it!

Thanks to io9 for the heads up on this! 

Here are some photos and concept art from the film:

Простите за долгое молчание!! В Крыму большие проблемы с интернетом. На фото - бой Хана в пустыне...самое интересное будет дорисовано на графике))

A photo posted by @zaschitniki2016 on Jul 16, 2015 at 1:26pm PDT

Самые тяжелые смены.....

A photo posted by @zaschitniki2016 on Jun 27, 2015 at 11:38pm PDT

Ксения и декорация Останкинской Башни!

A photo posted by @zaschitniki2016 on Jul 1, 2015 at 3:20am PDT

Back in my day if I wanted to feel inadequate as a child I'd watch one of those compilation shows on ABC on a Friday night. Now I swear every time I turn on the internet there's some damn kid one-upping the fact that I was runner up in a Pokemon Trading Card game tournament at my local comic book shop. My accolades aside, the level of proficiency this little girl shows in performing the theme to Back To The Future is downright astounding!

She doesn't miss a beat, and absolutely makes me wish I had a DeLorean to make some changes to my childhood!

I know many people here are leery of Mirror when they report things, but I really hope this one is true. "Sources" say that Christoph Waltz is open to reprising his Spectre role as Ernst Stavro Blofeld for future Bond films provided that Daniel Craig is involved. Per the article...

"But the important clincher of it is that Blofeld can only work with Daniel back in the role to keep continuity."

It's important to note that no one in Waltz's camp has confirmed or denied this, BUT it's not something that sounds completely outrageous. It does put a little more hype as to whether Craig will be signing on for his fifth Bond film, which has been rumored to be a higher likelihood than when the actor said he'd rather "slash his wrists" during the press junkets.

Personally, I'd love to see Waltz play Blofeld again. I felt like we were merely teased with what could have been a phenomenal performance. If they do it again, I would like much more screen time for Waltz!

Happy 2016, everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday season. The gang at Supercutonline decided to kick off the year by creating a new supercut, and this time they've scoured film and television archives for examples of characters falling on vehicles. Inexplicable? Yes. But isn't that the point of supercuts — to point out the surprising regularity of a particular action or phrase in the pop culture we consume? Delay your return to productivity by taking less than two minutes to check this out:

Just to bring some clarity to a situation that has gotten out of control in viral trending, Colton Haynes may or may not be gay. The only real clarity here is that Colton Haynes did not in fact come out on Tumblr in a post. He responded to a fan with a message that is making this whole incident hilariously ironic...

Let's look beyond the fact he neither confirmed nor denied, kissed another dude in a photo shoot, and takes a lot of pictures with women. A man posts a very insightful comment telling those concerned to just move on with life and go with the flow and the message is....

HE'S GAY!

I don't think he is. I don't think he isn't. Truthfully, I don't care. To me he's Roy Harper, and that's all we really should be concerned about! If you truly are passionate about the truth in this situation, you might need to prioritize what you are worried about in life. End rant.

Mashable's latest entry in their "watercooler" series recuts Michael Bay's Transformers into a trailer for a low budget 1950s-style B movie, complete with stylized voiceover narration. The concept doesn't quite work since the special effects are obviously far beyond anything that could have been created in the '50s, and a large part of the B movie appeal is seeing the budget restrictions those filmmakers had and how they embraced it and (hopefully) managed to create something worthwhile in spite of their limitations. But this did remind me that in the 2007 Transformers film, at least I could actually appreciate the visual effects; as the franchise grew, so did the unintelligibility of not only the narratives, but also the editing and effects, reducing most of the action to nothing more than gnashing metal. 

It has been quite awhile since we Final Fantasy fans have been excited for a new entry in the franchise. With each console we've seen how much Square Enix can push in-game graphics, but the gameplay has slowly gotten more... View Full Post on GameTyrant

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The floodgates have opened when it comes to information about Marvel Studios' upcoming superhero film Doctor Strange, and studio president and producer Kevin Feige is giving interviews left and right and providing new bits of info about the film and how it's being created. Now he's told EW why they cast Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role, despite big names like Joaquin Phoenix, Ethan Hawke, Matthew McConaughey, Ewan McGregor, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Oscar Isaac being rumored for the role at one point or another.

“[Cumberbatch] was someone that we were very interested in for a very long time. [But] he kept getting more and more popular! [Laughs] Which is not [essential] for us. Chris Pratt was not popular when we cast him in Guardians. That’s not a prerequisite needed for us casting [someone]. But he kept getting more popular, and more popular, and he kept getting busier, and busier, and it looked like the timing wasn’t going to work.” So we looked at some other actors for a while and ultimately decided, ‘We have to try and make it work with Benedict and with his schedule.’ Which is why we shifted the production schedule around. He finished Hamlet here in London, and I think had a day off, and then went to Kathmandu, Nepal, to shoot the first day of Doctor Strange.”

Cumberbatch looks like an excellent choice for the role, and I'm excited to see what he brings to the role of Stephen Strange for director Scott Derrickson. Everything I've seen and heard so far indicates that this is going to be unlike any other movie in the MCU thus far, which is cool because I'm just now starting to feel like some of these movies are beginning to feel a little too similar to each other from a visual perspective. I'm looking forward to the trippy visuals we can expect from this magic-infused story, and we'll find out how it turns out when Doctor Strange hits theaters on November 4th, 2016.

Spoilers ahead for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but considering how the movie is close to passing Avatar's financial record, there's a good chance you've already seen it (multiple times) by now.

Much of the film hinges on one question: where is Luke Skywalker? I initially thought the marketing department was just being coy by not including images of Mark Hamill in the film, but when you see the film and realize he's only in it for a single minute or less, it's clear they couldn't have tipped their hand in any early trailers.

When Rey (Daisy Ridley) does eventually find the Jedi master, he's on an ancient-looking island in the middle of the ocean. That real location is an island called Skellig Michael, which is off the coast of Ireland. Here's a cool featurette about how that location was found, and it includes some footage of J.J. Abrams and the crew filming the crucial end of the movie. If I ever make it out to Ireland, this looks like it would be an awesome place to visit:

Via: io9

There are some very light spoilers ahead for Independence Day: Resurgence.

Even if you haven't been closely following news about the upcoming sequel to Independence Day, when the first trailer came out and Will Smith — who starred in the original — was nowhere to be seen, you could probably figure out that he wouldn't be showing up to reprise his role of Captain Steven Hiller. That's because his character was killed off during a test of alien technology, as revealed by a viral website set up by 20th Century Fox:

“While test piloting the ESD’s first alien hybrid fighter, an unknown malfunction causes the untimely death of Col. Hiller. Hiller’s valor in the War of 96 made him a beloved global icon whose selfless assault against the alien mothership lead directly to the enemy’s defeat. He is survived by his wife Jasmine and son Dylan.”

Now Smith has commented to Yahoo about his character's off-screen death:

“I was working on Suicide Squad during that time,” he said, referring to the film’s production. “[Independence Day director] Roland [Emmerich] and I had talked about it. The trailer looks really cool. I’m going to be sitting around with tears in my eyes when that one comes out… It was terrible when I found out my character died.”

Considering Suicide Squad is one of the most anticipated movies of this year, I think Smith will be just fine. Still, it would have been cool to see him reunite with Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman to fight off aliens one more time. Maybe, if this sequel does well enough and he wants to come back for a third film, someone can figure out a way for Hiller to have faked his death or something. Independence Day: Resurgence hits theaters on June 24th, 2016.