Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four was such a big turd. Even the marketing leading up to the films’ release was lackluster. I bet fans would have been a lot more excited about seeing the film if Fox would have released posters like this!

These are illustrated posters that were created for the film by artist Dave Rapoza, and for some stupid-ass reason, Fox didn’t end up using them in their marketing campaign. Rapoza apparently helped Fox with some original ideas for the posters of the film and he recently posted them online.

Talking to io9, the artist explained that he was approached by his Art Director Neri Rivas to work on the project because of a series of X-Men portraits he had created in a comic book style. He said, “They were throwbacks to my old favorite versions of all the X-Men from the early 90s and the posters were done with retro colors and were sort of made to look old.” He went on to talk about his process of creating these awesome posters:

“We learned as the job went on that they would most likely be in regular street clothes for most of the movie, but I also wanted to have fun so I just designed whatever I thought they should look like. I had a feeling that the Thing might want to show his face in the final movie, I’m glad they didn’t go for that, but that’s why in mine I wanted to show the actor’s face in mid-transformation. Basically, it’s mostly guess work on my part for the outfits and their appearance.

“I really wanted to nail down an energy I really hadn’t seen from the Fantastic 4 so far. I don’t have a lot of love for making everything dark and gloomy with the super-serious vibe, so I wanted to counter the aggressive mood with some lighter colors.

“Everything is mood to me. I want to show whatever I think is the coolest aspects of the characters, if it is about characters in the movie, and show that above all else. I always think back to when I was a kid and the feeling I had playing with action figures, making my own poses and trying to move them around for different camera angles.”

Using these posters might have been the best decision that Fox could have made for this movie, but they obviously don’t understand their audience. It's crazy that these are the best things to come from this movie, and they weren't even utilized. Yeah, the movie still would have sucked, but launching a marketing campaign around it with a cool look and feel like this probably would have helped get more people to go see it. 

Earlier this morning, Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, director Guillermo del Toro, actor John Krasinski, and director Ang Lee announced the nominations for the 88th Academy Awards.

I'm happy to announce that The Revenant leads the pack with 12 nominations and Mad Max: Fury Road came in with the second-most nominations with 10 of them. Both of them are up for Best Picture, which category also includes The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, The Martian, Room, and Spotlight. I'd honestly be happy to see any of these films win, but it'll most likely go to The Revenant. 

All of these films were great, and they all deserve to be there. I'm sure a lot of fans were hoping to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens on the list, but I didn't think it would be. It was nominated for a bunch of technical awards, though!

The Oscars will be hosted by Chris Rock, and the award ceremony will take place on Sunday, February 28th, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Here are the full list of nominations. Are there any people or films you felt were snubbed this year? One thing I didn't notice was that Ridley Scott didn't get the Best Director nomination for The Martian. 

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR

“The Big Short” Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers
“Bridge of Spies” Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers
“Brooklyn” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Doug Mitchell and George Miller, Producers
“The Martian” Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer and Mark Huffam, Producers
“The Revenant” Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Mary Parent and Keith Redmon, Producers
“Room” Ed Guiney, Producer
“Spotlight” Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin and Blye Pagon Faust, Producers

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

“The Big Short” Adam McKay
“Mad Max: Fury Road” George Miller
“The Revenant” Alejandro G. Iñárritu
“Room” Lenny Abrahamson
“Spotlight” Tom McCarthy

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Bryan Cranston in “Trumbo”
Matt Damon in “The Martian”
Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Revenant”
Michael Fassbender in “Steve Jobs”
Eddie Redmayne in “The Danish Girl”

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Cate Blanchett in “Carol”
Brie Larson in “Room”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Joy”
Charlotte Rampling in “45 Years”
Saoirse Ronan in “Brooklyn”

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Christian Bale in “The Big Short”
Tom Hardy in “The Revenant”
Mark Ruffalo in “Spotlight”
Mark Rylance in “Bridge of Spies”
Sylvester Stallone in “Creed”

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Jennifer Jason Leigh in “The Hateful Eight”
Rooney Mara in “Carol”
Rachel McAdams in “Spotlight”
Alicia Vikander in “The Danish Girl”
Kate Winslet in “Steve Jobs”

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

“The Big Short” Screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
“Brooklyn” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
“Carol” Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy
“The Martian” Screenplay by Drew Goddard
“Room” Screenplay by Emma Donoghue

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

“Bridge of Spies” Written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
“Ex Machina” Written by Alex Garland
“Inside Out” Screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
“Spotlight” Written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy
“Straight Outta Compton” Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

“Embrace of the Serpent” Colombia
“Mustang” France
“Son of Saul” Hungary
“Theeb” Jordan
“A War” Denmark

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR

“Anomalisa” Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson and Rosa Tran
“Boy and the World” Alê Abreu
“Inside Out” Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera
“Shaun the Sheep Movie” Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
“When Marnie Was There” Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshiaki Nishimura

ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN

“Bridge of Spies” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo and Bernhard Henrich
“The Danish Girl” Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Michael Standish
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Production Design: Colin Gibson; Set Decoration: Lisa Thompson
“The Martian” Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Celia Bobak
“The Revenant” Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Hamish Purdy

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY

“Carol” Ed Lachman
“The Hateful Eight” Robert Richardson
“Mad Max: Fury Road” John Seale
“The Revenant” Emmanuel Lubezki
“Sicario” Roger Deakins

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN

“Carol” Sandy Powell
“Cinderella” Sandy Powell
“The Danish Girl” Paco Delgado
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Jenny Beavan
“The Revenant” Jacqueline West

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING

“The Big Short” Hank Corwin
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Margaret Sixel
“The Revenant” Stephen Mirrione
“Spotlight” Tom McArdle
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

“Amy” Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees
“Cartel Land” Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellin
“The Look of Silence” Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
“What Happened, Miss Simone?” Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby and Justin Wilkes
“Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” Evgeny Afineevsky and Den Tolmor

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

“Mad Max: Fury Road” Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin
“The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared” Love Larson and Eva von Bahr
“The Revenant” Siân Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE)

“Bridge of Spies” Thomas Newman
“Carol” Carter Burwell
“The Hateful Eight” Ennio Morricone
“Sicario” Jóhann Jóhannsson
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” John Williams

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)

“Earned It” from “Fifty Shades of Grey”
Music and Lyric by Abel Tesfaye, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Daheala Quenneville and Stephan Moccio
“Manta Ray” from “Racing Extinction”
Music by J. Ralph and Lyric by Antony Hegarty
“Simple Song #3” from “Youth”
Music and Lyric by David Lang
“Til It Happens To You” from “The Hunting Ground”
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga
“Writing’s On The Wall” from “Spectre”
Music and Lyric by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING

“Bridge of Spies” Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Drew Kunin
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo
“The Martian” Paul Massey, Mark Taylor and Mac Ruth
“The Revenant” Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom and Chris Duesterdiek
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING

“Mad Max: Fury Road” Mark Mangini and David White
“The Martian” Oliver Tarney
“The Revenant” Martin Hernandez and Lon Bender
“Sicario” Alan Robert Murray
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Matthew Wood and David Acord

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS

“Ex Machina” Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams
“The Martian” Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence and Steven Warner
“The Revenant” Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

“Body Team 12” David Darg and Bryn Mooser
“Chau, beyond the Lines” Courtney Marsh and Jerry Franck
“Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah” Adam Benzine
“A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
“Last Day of Freedom” Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

“Ave Maria” Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont
“Day One” Henry Hughes
“Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)” Patrick Vollrath
“Shok” Jamie Donoughue
“Stutterer” Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

“Bear Story” Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala
“Prologue” Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton
“Sanjay’s Super Team” Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle
“We Can’t Live without Cosmos” Konstantin Bronzit
“World of Tomorrow” Don Hertzfeldt

"Rebel Scum" is a Star Wars fan film that comes to us from Blood Brother Cinema. The short is an homage to the original Star Wars trilogy, and the story follows a Rebel pilot who is forced to survive on the ice cold planet Hoth. Here’s a short story summary:

A Rebellion pilot is hounded by death from the merciless Empire and a frozen grave, after being abandoned during the retreat of the Rebel Alliance from Hoth.

The movie was shot on location in Alberta, Canada at the Columbia Icefield in -30°C (-22°F) weather. One of the things I really liked about it was their attempt to create nearly all of their visual effects without the use of CGI. For example, there’s an AT-AT in the short that was animated via stop-motion. They used models, miniatures, and matte painting to achieve their effects.

It may not be the best Star Wars fan film ever made, but it is a true Star Wars fan film with soul. You can tell a lot of love and effort went into creating it. I also included a behind the scenes video for you to watch.

Zack Snyder showed up on Conan last night to talk about his upcoming film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. On the show he showed off the first official clip from the film in which Superman confronts Batman and basically tells him to shut down his Batman operations because, "The bat is dead." Batman isn't easily intimidated by Superman, though, and it's at that moment that he asks Superman if he bleeds. Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice hits theaters March 25th, 2016.

Lindsey Sterling is one hell of a talented person. She can play the violin like a champion! She also makes fun music videos for the music she creates. About a year ago she released a beautiful Dragon Age: Inquisition-inspired fantasy video for her rendition of the score for the game. Today we have another fun music video for you to watch for an original score she composed called "Heist," and the video is an action-packed adventure in which we see her fight a horde of villains in Scott Pilgrim style. You'll also notice that it was heavily inspired by the '80s. Sterling definitely knows how to cater to her geek audience. This is a very vibrant and entertaining video, and I hope you all enjoy it!

As the battle between network television and streaming wages on, Entertainment Weekly tells us NBC dropped some knowledge on a secret that Netflix has kept closely guarded up until now...their ratings. Using a sample group, NBC hired tech company Symphony to load "soundtrack recognition" software that could distinguish what show you were watching by listening through your phone's audio.

Of course, the data they provided was skewed towards making NBC look like it's winning the battle against Netflix and streaming, when in actuality it's far more complicated than that. Here are the numbers though for the shows they did sample...

• Jessica Jones-4.8 million viewers
• Narcos-3.2 million viewers
• Master of None-3.9

Essentially, they have the ratings of good CW shows.

While not competitive against The Voice with its 9 million viewers, that's NBC's highest rated show presently. It's very convenient that NBC chose not to sample data on Orange is The New Black, Daredevil, or House of Cards, or Making A Murderer, which are undoubtedly higher. Mind you, this is all independent speculation on NBC's part and in no way official numbers...but they seem valid.

Beyond that, you can't measure Netflix by the same standard as you do network television. Shelf life is much higher for Netflix shows, and really, the only reason networks have ratings are to show advertisers who watches their show and when so they can sell them ads. Netflix shouldn't have to give their ratings out to the public if they don't want to sell ads! I know this is a bit techy, and "yawn" kind of news, but I think it's important we stay in the loop as the war against Netflix will truly begin this year. Any thoughts on your end?

From the very first issue in 1961, to the latest to hit the stores last week. Through the grace of the geek gods, a private collector has bestowed his entire collection of EVERY MARVEL COMIC EVER to B Bop Comics In Kansas City. All the heroes, all the one and dones, even the graphic novels! Newsarama tells us they are offering anyone with $200,000 the opportunity to buy it all. If no buyer steps forward, they'll eventually break it down into smaller groups.

Now I'm sure Money Bags McGee is sitting here reading and wondering what kind of quality they'll get on the investment, which we all know sounds too good to be true. B Bop says that while the earlier collections are spotty in quality, everything 1970 and on is in fine to mint condition! Overall you'd be walking away with give or take 36,000 comic books.

As much as I hate to be a skeptic, I really have to question the true quality of this collection. I know some of those comics in that collection alone could account for 10% of the overall cost of the collection so I'm curious as to why this shop is so quick to let it go as opposed to cherry pick what they want. Do you think it's worth the price?

Those interested in buying can check out the offer right here.

When word came out a couple of days ago that director George Miller reportedly said he wasn't going to direct any more Mad Max films, I was immediately suspicious. The report came from the New York Post's Page Six, which hasn't always been a beacon of accuracy, but Miller's advancing age combined with his comment about how the movies take forever to make ultimately caused me to believe the story. Turns out my initial suspicions were warranted, because Miller has now clarified his comment to THR:

Miller told THR that a recent interview that stated he wouldn’t direct another Mad Max film got a “bit jumbled.” He explained, "I was saying I didn’t want to do Mad Max right away. ... I have a few other stories to tell. I wanted to do something small and fast. It got all very jumbled.”

If you've been paying attention, this isn't really new news. Miller has been saying for months that he's interested in making a smaller film before returning to the wasteland, even reiterating that desire as recently as last week. 

Mad Max: Fury Road earned an astonishing ten Oscar nominations this morning, and while I don't think the movie has a legitimate chance at winning Best Picture, the Academy might actually give Miller the Best Director Oscar. We'll find out on February 28th, but in the meantime, are you happy that Miller isn't giving up on the Mad Max franchise?

The folks at Mashable really outdid themselves with this one. This editing job and musical score really makes you feel like Dumb and Dumber could pass for a romantic drama...albeit a strange one. While the looks aren't on point, the casting of Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels for a drama sounds like a dream casting given the duo's cinematic achievements! You know, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of those two playing side by side in a drama. Can we make that happen, please?

In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Lupita Nyong'o's Maz Kanata tells Rey, "I am no Jedi, but I do know the Force." As it turns out, she seems to know the Force well enough to tap into it and put it into action! 

During an interview with Collider, SFX supervisor Chris Corbould revealed that there was a scene in the film that didn't make the final cut which featured Maz using her power to stop a group of Stormtroopers from killing her in her castle. He explains:

"There was a particular part of a scene that never made it, where they go underneath the castle and they’re going into the underground passageways, and Stormtroopers are coming down the stairs and Maz uses her powers to collapse the ceiling. From my point of view, [that] worked absolutely brilliantly because you had all the main actors running up and then Maz does her bit and then the whole ceiling collapses in front of them, but that never made it. That was a shot I was quite proud of, actually, it worked really, really well."

Maybe we'll get to see this scene included in the special features of the Blu-ray/DVD. It sounds like an exciting scene that turned out well, so why did Abrams remove it? Was it for time? Did he not want to reveal that Maz had powers? Did he change his mind about Maz having powers? Who knows, but it could be a story arc for her character that we see unfold over the next two films.

My question is, if she can tap into the Force and do something like that, why doesn't she consider herself a Jedi...unless she was hiding the fact that she was? Maybe she's just Force-sensitive to the max. I'm curious to see if this is something that Lucasfilm will play with in the upcoming films. 

What are your theories?

It's always odd when actors die. Of course they were near and dear to their family, but they're also near and dear to us as fans. The weird thing is, we essentially loved completely different people. There are always the roles, and the person behind them. When a celebrity dies, I always enjoy seeing candid moments of them not in character, just to get a small sense of what they were like when they weren't in a movie.

I managed to find this Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban outtake in which Alan Rickman coordinates a stunt to prank Daniel Radcliffe with a fart machine, and I absolutely love it. I typically view him as stoic, which is undoubtedly a byproduct of his roles, so it's a trip to see him so casual and capable of something so basic and funny as this. As far as this is concerned, he seemed like he was as well-loved off screen as he was on it.

Netflix and Channel 4 are getting together to bring a six-part series to the streaming service that takes place half in the real world, and half inside virtual reality. Engadget reports that Kiss Me First is currently slated for production and after its run on British television, it will come to Netflix for an American debut. Here's a brief synopsis of the show:

It follows Leila, a 17-year-old girl, who quickly becomes addicted to Agora and meets Tess, a "confident party girl" who also "harbours a dark secret." The pair become friends in the real world, but Tess soon disappears, leaving Leila to assume her identity in Agora and find out what happened.

The show will be half live action and half "cutting edge CGI," according to the network. I'm definitely interested to see how "cutting edge" it'll be, considering so many shows have tried the concept and it never really measures up to the quality of modern gaming we have today. Another thing I'm interested in is that the series is being written by Bryan Elsley, who wrote the British teen drama Skins. No release date yet, but we'll keep you posted as more info becomes available!

Tim Burton's 1989 movie Batman was not only an awesome, noir-inspired comic book film in a time when those kinds of movies simply weren't being made, it was also hugely influential on superhero movies of the modern era. It's one of the most important comic book movies ever made, so chances are high that you already know a lot about it, either from actually living through the time when it was in theaters or from growing up with the movie and researching it on your own. (As you might have guessed, we've written a lot about it on this site over the years.)

So when Cinefix's latest "Things You Didn't Know" video takes aim at Burton's Batsterpiece (TM), chances are you probably do know at least a few of the things mentioned here. But you'll have to watch it to find out for sure:

I haven't made time to check out director Jeremy Saulnier's first film, Blue Ruin, but I've heard nothing but good things about the unconventional revenge thriller. Saulnier's next film, Green Room, has been surrounded by similar buzz since its debut at last year's Cannes Film Festival, and now Empire has debuted the first international teaser trailer for the film to give us a sense of what to expect.

This looks terrific, and I definitely need to make a point to finally sit down and watch Blue Ruin before I see this new movie. If you like what you saw in this trailer and you live in the United States, I have even more good news for you: that May 13th release date at the end of the trailer is only for UK theaters. Thanks to A24, Green Room opens in the US over a month earlier on April 1st.

Down-on-their-luck punk rockers The Ain’t Rights agree to a last-minute gig in a backwoods Oregon roadhouse only to find themselves targeted by a ruthless club owner and his associates leading to devastating consequences. 

From the internationally acclaimed filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier (BLUE RUIN), GREEN ROOM is a nerve shredding thrill-ride with a thick vein of dark humour and featuring gripping ensemble performances from Patrick Stewart, Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, Macon Blair and Callum Turner.

I'll always associate Alan Rickman with Die Hard villain Hans Gruber, but there's an entire generation who grew up reading J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels and watching the film adaptations who will forever connect him with the role of Severus Snape.

Rowling took to Twitter this morning to share her thoughts about Rickman's untimely death:

There are no words to express how shocked and devastated I am to hear of Alan Rickman's death. He was a magnificent actor & a wonderful man.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 14, 2016

My thoughts are with Rima and the rest of Alan's family. We have all lost a great talent. They have lost part of their hearts.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 14, 2016

Daniel Radcliffe shared a touching tribute to his Potter co-star on his Google Plus page (of all places), tipping his hat at "one of the first adults to treat [him] like a peer rather than a child." Here's his statement in full:

Alan Rickman is undoubtedly one of the greatest actors I will ever work with. He is also, one of the loyalest and most supportive people I've ever met in the film industry. He was so encouraging of me both on set and in the years post-Potter. I'm pretty sure he came and saw everything I ever did on stage both in London and New York. He didn't have to do that. I know other people who've been friends with him for much much longer than I have and they all say "if you call Alan, it doesn't matter where in the world he is or how busy he is with what he's doing, he'll get back to you within a day".

People create perceptions of actors based on the parts they played so it might surprise some people to learn that contrary to some of the sterner(or downright scary) characters he played, Alan was extremely kind, generous, self-deprecating and funny. And certain things obviously became even funnier when delivered in his unmistakable double-bass.

As an actor he was one of the first of the adults on Potter to treat me like a peer rather than a child. Working with him at such a formative age was incredibly important and I will carry the lessons he taught me for the rest of my life and career. Film sets and theatre stages are all far poorer for the loss of this great actor and man.

Rest in peace, Mr. Rickman.

Paramount Pictures continues to come up with creative ways to advertise the upcoming sequel Zoolander 2. In addition to the trailers and TV spots for the actual movie, the studio has created a marketing campaign for a fake fragrance called "No. 2," which appears to be an in-movie cologne that Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson) are paid to promote. There are five posters and a fake TV spot, which features the appropriately cheesy joke, "Nothing attracts like the scent of No. 2."

I hope this movie isn't a disappointment, but quality films like Mad Max: Fury Road and Creed are outliers when it comes to sequels that arrive years late, and it's even tougher to recapture the magic with comedies. We'll find out how it does on February 12th.

What you see here is a new, officially licensed Spider-Man hoodie. The hoodie comes from Merchoid, but it was Marvel who helped them with the design. I guess this could give us a hint at what Spider-Man's costume will look like in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War. The clothing company was getting so many questions regarding the hoodie that they released a statement from Merchoid community manager Jessica Adams. She sheds some light on how the hoodie design came into existence:

“There’s been lots of talk online and people have been really excited that this could be what reveals the new look Spider-Man. However, Marvel is doing a fantastic job of keeping the new Spider-Man costume under wraps, so we haven’t yet seen it! What we can say is this hoodie was designed in partnership with Marvel, who provided all the design elements from their 2016 merchandise range, including the ‘messy’ webbing, which we haven’t yet seen in any prior Spider-Man costume. We’re really excited to see what Spider-Man fans think! …Whether or not this is based on the new Spider-Man costume, the reaction so far has been incredible. We can’t wait to hear what people think about the final product when it releases in July.”

I did find the messy webbing an interesting touch, and it'd be cool to see that in the final design of the character, but as of right now we just don't know for sure what Marvel is planning. We'll just have to wait and see. I doubt that Marvel would allow the reveal of the costume to come in the form of a hoodie, though. 

What a great match of filmmaker and source material. Deadline reports that director Guillermo del Toro is "developing to potentially direct" the movie adaptation of the classic Alvin Schwartz book series Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark, a project that's been in the works at CBS Films for quite some time. John August (Big Fish, Go) wrote the screenplay, but there's no clear timetable for when this project will actually go into production since del Toro has so many options on his plate at the moment. 

Stephen Gammell's illustrations from these books probably still occasionally haunt the dreams of people who read them when they were kids, and del Toro is such a big fan of the books that he reportedly owns ten of Gammell's original illustrations. It certainly seems like this project is in the right hands now. Del Toro will definitely be producing the film, but whether or not he directs seems to depend a lot on timing. I missed Mama, but the last horror project I saw that del Toro produced but didn't direct was Don't Be Afraid of The Dark; that movie was a massive disappointment, so let's hope it works out so he's able to actually direct this time.

You can listen to audiobooks of all three of the Scary Stories series right here.

You've seen those Action Movie Kid videos, right? DreamWorks animator Daniel Hashimoto utilized his skills with visual effects to turn some home movies featuring his young son, James, into cool VFX-filled clips involving rockets, explosions, lasers, and more. We've written about them a bunch of times on the site (here, here, here, and here).

Hashimoto co-wrote an Action Movie Kid book last year, and now THR reports that writer Andrew Dodge has been hired by Fox 2000 to write a screenplay based on the popular YouTube videos in an attempt to turn the concept into a full-length feature film. Dodge is best known for having written the Jason Bateman comedy Bad Words, but he also penned the screenplay for O'Lucky Day, an upcoming R-rated film starring Peter Dinklage as a guy who may or may not be a real leprechaun. The book is a pretty straightforward adaptation of the videos, centering on young James, a boy who uses his imagination to battle monsters, robots, and aliens. One assumes the movie will share that premise, but we'll have to see what Dodge does with it. Watch some of the Action Movie Kid videos below:

J.J. Abrams originally planned to kill off Oscar Isaac's fighter pilot character Poe Dameron early in the development of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but thankfully he changed his mind. Though Poe disappears for a large chunk of the movie, he was still one of the most enjoyable aspects, and I'm excited to see what Rian Johnson does with him moving into Episode VIII.

But we won't have to wait that long to see the character back in action again. USA Today reports that Dameron is getting his own Star Wars comic series from Marvel, written by Charles Soule and drawn by Phil Noto. The comic "focuses on the lead-up to the opening scene of The Force Awakens, which saw Poe seeking out mysterious traveler Lor San Tekka (Max von Sydow) on the planet Jakku for a key to finding the missing Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)."

The potentially coolest part? A new villain is going to be introduced:

The series will dig into Poe's status as the top X-wing fighter jockey for General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) and leader of a squadron with an important mission. But the evil First Order also has a goal of finding Luke, and a new villain from the organization is introduced as Poe’s chief nemesis.

“Sometimes it can feel like the Star Wars universe is so well trodden and so many stories have already been told,” Soule explains. “But the way the Episode VII galaxy is set up, there are opportunities for new archetypes almost, and the bad guy we’re working with is going to feel fresh and cool.”

[Soule] and Noto promise to flesh out more of Poe’s personality, explore locations new and old in the Star Wars galaxy, showcase legacy characters and other rookies — Poe’s lovable droid BB-8 is one of the comic’s co-stars, and Soule teases appearances from other new X-wing pilots — while also bringing depth and expanding the world of The Force Awakens.

Sounds great to me. The comic will debut sometime this April, so keep your eyes peeled.