Luc Besson is going back to his roots and directing a new sci-fi film that he will write and direct. The movie is called Valerian, and it's an adaptation of the iconic 1967 French sci-fi graphic novel series created by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières.

Besson revealed the news on Twitter and also announced that Dane DeHaan (The Amazing Spider Man 2) and Cara Delevingne (Paper Towns) will star the feature. In his first tweet ever, the filmmaker said:

"My first tweet ever! Let’s share a real news! My next film is a big sci-fi: #Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets."

It was then followed by this tweet:

Starring @danedehaan & @Caradelevingne. Shooting in December. In theaters 2017. 🐬 pic.twitter.com/R3STb1aPsf

— Luc Besson (@lucbesson) May 12, 2015

DeHaan and Delevingne will take on the roles of Valerian and Laureline (respectively), who are a pair of spatio-temporal agents who help defend a utopian 28th century Earth and its neighboring planets from evil villains. He also shared the first teaser logo art for the film, seen here. 

This is a space opera adventure that plays with time travel themes. It's the perfect project for Besson to take on as it has some similarities to his 1997 film The Fifth Element. 

Here's a description from the first volume of stories:

VALERIAN is a saga that every fan of Star Wars and Star Trek will identify with and love. Valerian and his beautiful, sharp-witted and sharp-tongued partner, Laureline, live adventures set against visually stunning backgrounds: complex architectural inventions, futuristic machines, otherworldly landscapes, and odd-looking aliens that are staples of artist Mezieres's seemingly boundless visual inventiveness. The stories are gripping and of epic proportion, sweeping along in trilling, hyper-space speed.

I'll be looking forward to this.

I've wanted a jetpack since the moment I first saw The Rocketeer back in 1991. Practically every vision of "the future" that was presented through the media I watched as a kid included images of people soaring through the sky using jetpacks, but as I grew older, I realized those visions probably weren't going to come true. But we can always dream.

One guy has made his dream a reality. Yves Rossy, one of the world's leading jetpack flyers, and his friend Vince Reffet took to the skies above Dubai in a new video, and the first half — which plays out over a nearby desert — is basically like watching a dogfighting sequence from Top Gun unfold in real life. The second half gets even crazier as they cruise past the Burj Khalifa and over the city itself.

My guess is it won't be too long before we see this technology put to use in a huge action blockbuster film. The footage they manage to capture is astounding, but don't take my word for it: you really need to see this for yourselves.

Via: The Verge

Fans of the Assassin's Creed franchise will be pleased to know that a new game is coming this year. After some early rumors hit the internet, Ubisoft has confirmed (via ComingSoon) that the title of the game is Assassin's Creed Syndicate, and they've released a synopsis, the first official trailer, and some new gameplay footage. Also, after a huge controversy last year about the lack of female assassins in the game, the company has included a playable female assassin in this new game. More on that in a bit.

London. 1868. The Industrial Revolution. An age of invention and prosperity, built on the backs of working class slaves. As gangster assassin Jacob Frye, you will recruit your gang to fight for justice on behalf of the oppressed working class. Lead the underworld to take back London in a visceral adventure filled with action, intrigue and brutal combat.

Looks pretty awesome to me. That rope launcher looks like it could be a game changer for this franchise, and if it's half as fun as the grappling hook in Just Cause, that thing is going to be a heck of a lot of fun to play with. Check this out:

As for the playable female assassin, that'll be Evie, Jacob's twin sister, "who has perfected the silent, swift, invisible strike." There have been female assassins in this franchise before, but after the uproar from last year, it's good to know that Ubisoft has made this a priority. There's really no excuse for not having a playable female character in these games, since studies from last year show that half of gamers are women.

Here's the first gameplay video:

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate will be available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on October 23, 2015.

When I was a kid I sure did love my underoos! I have plenty of embarrassing pictures of myself wearing those things when I was a young lad. I think it's hilarious that they are making adult-sized versions of the underoos. They sure do tug on the nostalgia strings of those of us who grew up with them. We posted a set of superhero-themed underoos earlier this year,  now there's a new Star Wars line that has been revealed. So far the line only includes the Luke Skywalker Rebel Pilot uniform and Boba Fett's Mandalorian armor..

They're each only $19.60, and you can buy them here if you want. I already got myself the full collection, so look out! 

Marvel isn't waiting until the release of Thor #8 tomorrow for people to find out who exactly the new female Thor is. The comic book publisher decided to leak it early so that no one else could. For those of you who have eagerly been waiting for confirmation on the identity of the woman who took up Mjolnir, the wait is over.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

It's been a mystery in the comics since her first appearance, but now we know who the new God of Thunder is. It's unsurprisingly Dr. Jane Foster, the former girlfriend of Thor, who was played by Natalie Portman in the movies. Like many of you, I kind of figured that this was going to be the case early on. Of course, there was also a lot of speculation that it could have been Thor's sister Angela. 

It makes sense to me that it would be Jane. Comic writer Jason Aaron had this to say about the reveal:

"Jane Foster has been part of the Thor comics and the Thor mythology from almost the very beginning. The very act of picking up this hammer, of becoming Thor, is killing her. Where we go from here is the real story."

Sounds like things are going to get even more intriguing. Who knows where exactly the story will go from here? She will be teaming up with the Avengers in the Secret Wars crossover event, though. 

It makes me wonder if this is where the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be headed, as well. Is it possible that one day Natalie Portman could be the new Thor? I think that would be pretty badass. What do you all think of Jane Foster as the God of Thunder? 

Source: New York Times

As you know Marvel has a really hard time keeping some of its secrets under wraps. There are people out there with inside sources who are willing to talk. There's a lot of stuff out there regarding what we might see happen down the road in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Ant-Man director Peyton Reed decided to jump in the the spoilerific fun by not really spoiling anything. 

Yesterday on Twitter, Reed said he would be spoiling the ending of Ant-Man in two parts. Not in the way you would think though. Fans were eager to see what he would reveal, and it came in the form of a funny one-shot comic called Fred Hembeck Destroys the Marvel Universe. It's a hilarious one-shot comic that sees the death of all the Marvel Universe's various heroes and villains at the hands of Crackers, the Clown Prince of Death. Here are the comic pages that he posted.

This has to be one of the worst ways a superhero could go:

In a major act of self-sabotage, I have decided to spoil the ending of ANT-MAN. Here it is, in two parts. Part One: pic.twitter.com/PEAQSIrStz

— Peyton Reed (@MrPeytonReed) May 11, 2015

And ANT-MAN Ending Spoiler, Part Two: pic.twitter.com/31krqZ4tEU

— Peyton Reed (@MrPeytonReed) May 11, 2015

No joke, Ant-Man meets his demise by being thrown into a microwave by an old woman who just wanted to dry him off. What a way to go. 

It was recently announced that Agent Carter was officially renewed for Season 2 and Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D. for Season 3. I couldn't be happier that Agent Carter will be back to kick some more ass. Thanks to EW, we have brief synopses to share for each one.

Agent Carter Season 2: 

Dedicated to the fight against new atomic age threats in the wake of World War II, Peggy must now journey from New York City to Los Angeles for her most dangerous assignment yet. But even as she discovers new friends, a new home — and perhaps even a new love — she’s about to find out that the bright lights of the post-war Hollywood mask a more sinister threat to everyone she is sworn to protect.”

So she's moving to L.A.! That should prove to be interesting, especially with Hollywood's involvement. There's a lot of fun stuff to play with in this setting. I'm curious to see who or what she'll be taking on. 

Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3:

Director Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) embarks on a deadly new secret mission to protect the world from new threats in the wake of SHIELD's wars with Hydra and a rogue faction of Inhumans.

This last season of S.H.I.E.L.D. was ok. I wasn't blown away, but I sure would like to be! Maybe it will happen in Season 3, but I'm not counting on it. I have such a love-hate relationship with this show. 

Ben Burtt is about as close to a rock star as a sound designer can get. He's celebrated by cinephiles everywhere because of his work on the Star Wars franchise, and even outside of those films, he's the voice of Wall*E and did the sound design for Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, among many others. But he'll always best be known for the iconic sounds of a galaxy far, far away, and rightly so: those sounds have become instantly recognizable, from Darth Vader's breathing to a lightsaber powering on and a TIE fighter speeding through space.

A new video from editor Rishi Kaneria (via The Playlist) celebrates some of Burtt's most famous work, and it's worth checking out if for no other reason than to think about the work Burtt did here and appreciate it all over again.

In 1977, with the release of "Star Wars: A New Hope," Ben Burtt introduced a new lexicon of sounds into our aural vocabulary.

This video is a celebration of those iconic sounds that have been rattling around my head since childhood and that have since become ingrained in our collective pop culture psyche.

It is also a celebration of Ben Burtt's genius.

Like pretty much everyone I know, I loved Jim Henson's The Muppets when I was a kid. Seeing the 2011 film The Muppets brought back a wave of those memories, and I was excited to see Kermit, Fozzie, Miss Piggy, and the rest of the gang reclaim their position in the cultural zeitgeist. But their follow-up film, Muppets Most Wanted, looked so bad that I didn't even bother seeing it, and I assumed they were about to sink back into obscurity.

Thankfully, ABC picked up a new TV show starring the lovable gang, and now we have the first trailer for the show, which is also called The Muppets. It looks like a return to form for these characters, and I can't wait to check this out. I don't think I've been this excited about an ABC show since LOST went off the air. The Muppets will air on Tuesdays at 8pm.

The Muppets return to primetime with a contemporary, documentary-style show. For the first time ever, a series will explore the Muppets’ personal lives and relationships, both at home and at work, as well as romances, breakups, achievements, disappointments, wants and desires. This is a more adult Muppet show, for “kids” of all ages.

CREATORS

Writer: Gail Simone, Rhianna Pratchett

Penciller: Derlis Santacruz, Nicolas Daniel Selma

Inker: Andy Owens, Juan Gedeon

Colorist: Michael Atiyeh

Cover Artist: Andy Park

The recent Tomb Raider reboot had multiple goals, I’m sure: one being to restore a once great franchise to prominence (as well as financial bankability), and secondly to bring some humanity to the character of Lara Croft. The game did just that, showing a Lara who wasn't impervious to everything around her, but rather extremely fallible and human. Some aren't fond of that transformation, but I for one am hugely fond of this rediscovered vulnerability. She is relatable, and that one trait alone escalates her character drastically.

If you haven’t read Vol. 1 of the Tomb Raider series, I highly recommend it. It takes off pretty soon after the events of the game, and with the upcoming sequel quickly approaching, it's not a bad time to catch up. Today we are talking about Vol 2: Secrets and Lies. The book is co-written by Gail Simone and Rhianna Pratchett, and the two writers show a such a strong understanding and sense of who Lara is and has become, that honestly I just can’t envision her any other way. Not that the other games and comics didn't happen or should be forgotten, but in no other time or place have I truly felt as if I knew this character any better than I do now.

Both Simone and Pratchett are constantly giving you reasons to love her. The book is peppered with little character morsels throughout that just don’t appear enough in other books. Intertwined with all the gunplay and world traversing are things like Lara having to star in a production of Pride & Prejudice. The events that transpire are good for a laugh or two, but also showcase some unrevealed fears and vulnerabilities. This series walks that line really well, never overdoing it in one area at the expense of another. After some action, it's a flashback, then some supporting cast moments, and then some humor, etc, etc. It flows extremely well.  

The book also encapsulates Lara’s strongest trait: her sense of loyalty. She cares about her friends, and as we are farther and farther removed from the events on Yamatai, those unfortunate events are burdens that Lara won’t leave behind, simply for the sake of those she cares for. To forget, to move on, that is to leave those she loves vulnerable, and that won’t happen again on her watch. Slowly but surely she’s becoming comfortable with who she is, even indulging a bit in her skills. It doesn't make everyone comfortable, per se, but that’s okay. You can’t please everybody, and to see Lara react to these particular people and their ideas on what she should be and ultimately what she is, makes for good reading.

On art duties, the duo of Derlis Santacruz and Nicolas Daniel Selma do a solid job of keeping you visually entertained, but never losing focus of the characters. At times things do blend together a bit art-wise, but the action scenes are well done, and their depictions of Lara kicking ass are stellar.

If you’re a fan of Lara Croft, I highly encourage you to hop on board the Tomb Raider train. Lara is getting the attention she deserves again, along with a creative team that really understands the character to her core.

You can pick up Vol. 2: Secrets and Lies now at your local comic shop, and you can see the free preview below.

Thanks to Method Studios, we have a very cool look into the visual effects that they created to help bring Joss Whedon's epic Avengers: Age of Ultron to life for audiences. There's a video below for you to watch, as well as some official pre/post stills that showcase some of the CGI work done for many pivotal elements in the movie. Some of them include official looks at the new costume designs for Scarlet Witch, War Machine, Falcon, and the Vision, which could very well carry over into Captain America: Civil War.

Some of the stuff included here reveal spoilers for those of who haven't seen Age of Ultron yet. But if you have seen it, then you'll definitely want to check this stuff out! Make sure to head over to Method Studios to read through all of their commentary. There's a lot of interesting stuff there. 

Via: CBM

About a week ago, my wife and I were marveling at how the hell Chumbawamba's "Tubthumping" was able to top the US Billboard charts back in 1997. This is a song that prominently features a woman in a singsong voice crooning the line "pissing the night away" over and over again, and barely any lyrics other than the now-famous refrain "I get knocked down, but I get up again, you ain't never gonna keep me down." I suppose 1997 was a simpler time.

I'm guessing most of you probably haven't given the song a second thought since the late '90s, but it still has some use as the background music for this mashup with Marvel's Daredevil TV series. I've heard amazing things about the show but still haven't had time to binge the whole thing, but it's clear that Daredevil takes his fair share of knocks throughout the first season. Check out the mash up below:

Via: Uproxx

Harrison Ford has already donned the fedora as Indiana Jones for a third sequel, he's stepping back onto the bridge of the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and he's signed on to reprise his role as Rick Deckard in a sequel to Blade Runner. Could the actor also return for a sequel to yet another one of his most successful films?

Deadline reports that Warner Bros. has put a "new installment" of The Fugitive into development with writer Christina Hodson penning the screenplay, but there's no word on whether Ford will be back as Dr. Richard Kimble. There's also no word on whether Tommy Lee Jones will return, but the actor — who earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work in the original film — has already reprised his role as Sam Gerard in the 1998 sequel U.S. Marshals, so at least there's precedent in place for him to come back.

The Fugitive was a massive success when it was released in 1993, scoring a Best Picture nomination alongside its huge box office earnings. It seems like Ford may have had a conversation or two with Sylvester Stallone on the set of the third Expendables movie since he seems to be emulating the old action hero and coming back to revisit many of his famous characters. I wouldn't be surprised for the studio to somehow work him into this one, but we'll see what direction they decide to take this story in as development continues.

It was awesome to see War Machine back in action and kicking ass in Avengers: Age of Ultron. He wasn't in the movie much, but he still made a great addition to the team. Hot Toys and Sideshow Collectibles have revealed their War Machine Mark II collectible 1/6th scale action figure, which is a must own for any War Machine fanatic. 

Sideshow Collectibles and Hot Toys are excited to present the new War Machine Mark II Sixth Scale Collectible Figure as a Hot Toys Exclusive item! The newest addition to the MMS Diecast series is made of diecast material and is realistically designed to look even more like the armor as it appears in the film!

The movie-accurate War Machine Mark II Collectible Figure is crafted with great detail and is based on the image of Don Cheadle as James Rhodes/War Machine in Avengers: Age of Ultron. It features a highly detailed head sculpt, metallic black and dark silvered colored armor with decals, LED light-up functions, rotatable machine gun, and a specially designed Avengers: Age of Ultron figure stand. 

Gear yourself up for this super exciting film and expand your Avengers collection with this diecast figure because "War Machine rocks!" 

If you want one you can pre-order it here for $339.99.

Eddie Redmayne, who won an Oscar earlier this year for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, was once considered the frontrunner to star in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. Redmayne was battling against other contenders like Matt Smith, but now Deadline says Warner Bros. has made him an offer and he's officially negotiating for the role.

Director David Yates, who helmed the last four Harry Potter films, will direct this movie, which is set in New York City and takes place 70 years before the events of the first Potter movie. It follows the character of Newt Scamander, a "magizoologist" who writes a book that eventually becomes required reading for Harry and his friends at Hogwarts. J.K. Rowling, who authored every Potter novel, wrote this film's screenplay (her first), and just turned in the first draft. Producer David Heyman called the script "wonderful" earlier this year, and we're eager to see if Rowling's talents translate to the realm of screenwriting.

Redmayne didn't exactly receive rave reviews for his work in Jupiter Ascending earlier this year, but there's speculation that he could be up for another Oscar with his performance in Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl, in which he plays a transgender artist. It seems like he has the right sense of whimsy to fit well into Rowling's wizarding world, so hopefully this casting works out.

I'd never heard of "Black Angel" before today, but there's a fascinating story that accompanies the 34-year-old short film. It was directed by Roger Christian, the Oscar-winning art director of Star Wars and Alien, and George Lucas commissioned the short to be made so it could debut in front of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in theaters in Europe. It's a fantasy film that had a big influence on sword and sorcery movies that followed, including John Boorman's Excalibur (Boorman showed it to his entire crew before filming that movie), and also impacted Empire itself, since Lucas used Christian's "step-printing" technique to slow down one of the lightsaber fight sequences.

The short was lost for decades and was recently unearthed, and now io9 points us to the full film that you can watch below, including a cool introduction from Christian himself that fills you in on the whole backstory:

If you've been following the news about Fox's upcoming Deadpool film, you'll know that star Ryan Reynolds tweeted that the movie would be rated PG-13 before revealing that it would actually be rated R in a video in which Deadpool kills Extra host Mario Lopez. It was a creative and interesting way to mess with fans on April Fools' Day, and now that production is under way, it seems that Deadpool still has a bloodlust for former Saved By The Bell stars.

You'll see what I mean in a new set photo from the film that comes from Lopez's Instagram account (via CBM):

Why is it every time I see Ryan Reynolds he tries to kill me? What's up with that?! #Deadpool

A photo posted by Mario Lopez (@mariolopezextra) on May 11, 2015 at 10:00am PDT

For much more on Deadpool, including more photos and videos from the set, click here.

I admittedly haven't finished reading George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire yet, but it seems to me that the characters of Jon Snow and Luke Skywalker have a lot in common. (Spoilers for Star Wars and Game of Thrones ahead.) They're both young men whose families are brutally killed, and they're thrust into an adventure before they're ready that causes them to grow up, become men, and defeat evil against seemingly impossible odds — real Hero's Journey 101 kind of stuff.

French artist Tizieu thought it would be cool to combine the characters into one, and he's right: his piece, "Jon Skywalker," is an awesome mash-up that looks exactly like Kit Harington wearing Mark Hamill's Star Wars costume. I like to imagine this character jumping in an X-wing and flying off to battle one of Dany's dragons in a dogfight.

Via: Geek-Art and /Film

The popular 1980s cartoon Jem and the Holograms is getting a live-action film adaptation from director Jon M. Chu, and now the first trailer has arrived courtesy of Universal. It basically looks like a Millennial version of Tom Hanks' That Thing You Do!, and as someone who has zero familiarity with the original cartoon, this looks like about as grounded an adaptation as one could make. The film opens on October 23rd. Let us know what you think in the comments.

As a small-town girl catapults from underground video sensation to global superstar, she and her three sisters begin a one-in-a-million journey of discovering that some talents are too special to keep hidden. In Universal Pictures’ JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS, four aspiring musicians will take the world by storm when they see that the key to creating your own destiny lies in finding your own voice.

Marvel Studios is looking to bring on Selma director Ava DuVernay to develop one of their upcoming superhero films. The Wrap is reporting that she could either take on Black Panther or Captain Marvel. According to their inside sources, Black Panther is the more likely possibility. 

The report says that DuVernay has already had discussions with the studio about taking on one of these highly anticipated projects. She’s not the only filmmaker that they are looking at, but apparently there is a mutual interest in having her join the MCU family.

Marvel still has yet to have a female director take on one of their film properties, but at one point they did hire Patty Jenkins to direct Thor: The Dark World. They ended up parting ways due to creative differences, and she was ultimately replaced by Alan Taylor. She's now set to direct Wonder Woman for Warner Bros. 

Inside sources say that the studio is “intent on hiring an African-American director for Black Panther and a female filmmaker for Captain Marvel. DuVernay’s hiring would make her Marvel’s first African-American and first female director.”

Black Panther will star Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa, the prince of Wakanda. After his father is killed, T’Challa takes over his throne and avenges his death. The movie will be released on July 6th, 2018. An actress has yet to be cast in Captain Marvel, but it will focus on the Carol Danvers version of the character, who receives powers after encountering an alien from the Kree Empire. The film is set for release on November 2nd, 2018.

DuVernay is a very talented director who did an amazing job on Selma. Many felt that she got snubbed at the Oscars this year for her work on Selma. Directing a film like Black Panther or Captain Marvel will definitely be a game-changing career move for her.