Something Strange Happens During The Avengers: Endgame End Credits

Something Strange Happens During The Avengers: Endgame End Credits

The following will get into what could be considered a very minor spoiler for Avengers: Endgame, so stop reading now if you are waiting to see the movie this weekend.

By now, Marvel fans know the drill: Stay in your seats until the final credits has tolled, because you never know when an extra scene of tantalizing footage might screen. Usually, it’s a clue as to where the story is going – Captain Marvel had a scene that fed right into the narrative of Avengers: Endgame, as a recent example. And sometimes it’s a joke aimed at people who wait for end-credit scenes.

But at the very end of Avengers: Endgame, something entirely different happened – at least, at the world premiere in Los Angeles, and in press screenings across the country. And it appears to be happening in public screenings, now that the movie has started to screen worldwide.

There is a beautiful tribute to the main cast of the MCU. And by “main,” I mean virtually every name that appears in a Marvel movie of note. William Hurt, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tom Holland, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Douglas, Robert Redford… a laundry list of legends get proper shout outs in the credits. Then, the credits transition to the Avengers team, proper. The six cast members who make up the initial team get video tributes, with the actors providing their signatures. It’s touching and beautiful, and well-deserved.

This segment goes where the normal mid-credits scene goes. However, true fans know that you have to stay seated until the very end, where a second scene usually surfaces.

Only, nothing happens at the end of Avengers: Endgame. Actually, that’s not accurate. There’s no scene. But at the press screenings (including the one that I attended), and at public screenings that have begun already, there’s a sound that comes through the theater speakers as the Marvel Studios logo comes up.

Those of us in the theater thought that something was about to happen. But no new footage comes up. Only the sound. What kind of sound is it? It’s a distinct “ting,” that sounds very close to the noise Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) makes while working on his initial suit of armor in the cave in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man. Is this what we are hearing? Is it an audio tribute to Stark, because the MCU started with Iron Man, and should end with Iron Man?

Possibly. In fact, that makes more sense than anything else, because there’s really nothing for Avengers: Endgame to tease. The only movie on its way is Sony’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, and there’s no scene in this movie that sets that up.

There was speculation in journalist groups that Marvel Studios possibly was saving a scene for the public screenings. That has happened before. Except, I polled people who have been to public screenings, and additional footage has not been attached to the very end of the end credits.

But that sound was there.

Did you stay until the very end of the Avengers: Endgame end credits? Did you hear this sound? What is your take on what it is? It’s definitely there, so it’s included for a reason. But what’s the reason? Head to the comments below and give us your best guesses.

Ever Wonder Who Played That Big Superhero Cameo In Shazam?

Ever Wonder Who Played That Big Superhero Cameo In Shazam?

Warning: SPOILERS for Shazam! are in play. If you haven’t seen the film yet, say the magic word and bookmark this story for future reading.

At the end of Shazam!, just when the audience thinks the film has played its last punchline with Billy Batson’s heroic alter ego having lunch with his foster family at school, there’s one last turn that drove audiences wild. In that moment, we see the last son of Krypton, Superman himself, standing with a lunch tray in hand. However, his head missing is from the frame, which lead the public to wonder who was really standing in that role. Well, we finally know who physically played that role, and it’s one of the film’s stunt men, Ryan Handley.

For those of you who thought that maybe Henry Cavill was standing in the lunch room of Fawcett Central, we’re sorry to let you down. But for those of you more interested in Handley’s previous credits, he’s also the stunt double for Zachary Levi’s Shazam in the David F. Sandberg-directed film. Ryan Handley has also served as a super heroic stunt man in films such as Suicide Squad, as well as both Deadpool movies. He can now add Superman to his list of superheroes played on screen.

As previously reported, Handley wouldn’t have had to fill in if the original plan for Shazam’s ending cameo were fulfilled. Henry Cavill was asked to fill the costume again, but because of scheduling issues, the Man of Steel star wasn’t able to oblige. Then, of course, there was the big announcement that Cavill is pretty much done with the character, although officially that still hasn't been confirmed. In any case, though this was kind of a sad happening, in a sense, producer Peter Safran thought the creative solution without Cavill’s participation actually helped the film’s ending work even better.

Which leads to Ryan Handley’s official confirmation of playing Superman in Shazam!, a fact that German film site Filmstarts confirmed directly from the studio itself. It certainly helps that Handley was already in superhero shape to bring Shazam to living, breathing life; so using him to play one of the Daily Planet’s finest was a convenient fix to a big problem.

Though it might be a good thing that Henry Cavill wasn’t on the set, because if he and Zachary Levi were to physically have an actual conversation about whether Batman or Superman was the better hero, we know exactly where both of them would land. Though, to be fair, it’d probably resulted in a scenario where both of their stunt doubles did their fighting for them, and since Ryan Handley played them both in Shazam!, it’d be a very interesting hypothetical fight.

Shazam! is currently in theaters, but if you’ve already seen it once, maybe even twice, you might be in the market for something new in theaters. In which case, feel free to visit out 2019 release schedule, as we’ve got everything you could need on the calendar for the year.

Dwayne Johnson Reveals Plans To Start Shooting His Black Adam Movie

Dwayne Johnson Reveals Plans To Start Shooting His Black Adam Movie

After many, many years of development, and plenty of starts and stops, Shazam! finally hit theaters this past weekend, and it's proving to be a big hit. Not only is it doing tremendously well with both critics and audiences, but it also just opened number one at the box office while exceeding expectations. Naturally there are already whispers about a potential Shazam! 2, but all of the buzz also has many people talking about another massive DC project: the Black Adam movie.

Dwayne Johnson has been attached to play the character for years - one of the great adversaries of Shazam - but it's never been clear exactly when the film would start to really come together. Now that David F. Sandberg's movie is out and proving to be excessively popular, however, Johnson has provided an update on Black Adam, and it will definitely get fans excited:

Those who know the comic books and the mythology of the comics of Shazam know that Shazam is connected to Black Adam. Black Adam is an anti-hero, or villain, who I cannot wait to play. I've been developing this, and it's been with me and my DNA for over 10 years now. We should start shooting that in about a year.

Despite the fact that he doesn't actually appear in the movie, Dwayne Johnson is credited as an Executive Producer on Shazam! via his Seven Bucks Productions shingle, and earlier today he posted a video on Instagram celebrating the new film's success. While discussing the long road that the project has taken, and discussing its popularity, he let slip his plans to start production on his Black Adam movie, which will apparently start filming in the first half of 2020.

This is obviously exciting, and it means that we will probably start hearing some big announcements about the feature very soon. After all, there are some key roles that still need to be filled, and that includes the person who will be sitting in the director's chair. The project does currently have a script in the works, with Adam Sztykiel (Due Date, Rampage) credited with the screenplay, but the identity of the filmmaker who will be bringing it to life has not yet been revealed. If this project really wants to see any forward movement, it's going to have to find somebody for that job first.

As Dwayne Johnson further explained in his social media post, there was originally a plan to introduce Shazam and Black Adam simultaneously in the same project, but complications arose in the creative process that prevented that from happening. Specifically, the project was trying to pack two full origin stories into one blockbuster, and it was felt by Johnson the filmmakers developing the movie that the feature was trying to do too much. As a result, the Black Adam part of the tale was put on the shelf, and Shazam was given some breathing room in a true blue solo movie. In the actors' own words,

This project, Shazam, we had some challenges and we took a risk. And that risk is, as we were developing this a few years ago, the challenges and the struggles that we were having and that was gnawing at my gut is that we were trying to tell two origin stories in one script.... The challenges were, as you guys can imagine, you're trying to tell two very big origin stories in the world of comic books of this DC universe. Two very important characters trying to tell both their origin stories in one script. I didn't think it was working. Finally I called up Warner Bros., Toby Emmerich, my good buddy who runs Warner Bros., and I said, 'Brother, we have to split these stories and make two different movies.' He said, 'You know what? It is a great idea and let's do it.'

Now that Shazam has been made and is proving to be successful, now it's apparently Black Adam's turn to be in the spotlight.

Created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck back in 1945, Black Adam a.k.a. Teth-Adam in the comics was born in ancient Egypt, and initially seen as a potentially great hero by the wizard Shazam. He was granted powers because of this potential, however, things didn't exactly turn out as planned. Teth-Adam was corrupted, and after killing the Pharaoh installed himself as a fascistic leader, ultimately murdering swaths of people. As a result of this, the wizard becomes extremely wary about the prospect of sharing his powers again, and decides not to do so for more than a century.

If this sounds familiar, it's probably because you just saw a version of this story play out on the big screen this past weekend - albeit not specifically starring Dwayne Johnson. Audiences got to see a preview of this origin tale in Shazam!, as it was told using a light show projected by the wizard (Djimon Hounsou) in the Rock of Eternity when he is introduced to Billy Batson (Asher Angel).

You can watch Dwayne Johnson discuss his history with the project, and demonstrate his elation about the success of Shazam!, by clicking play on the embed below.

Dwayne Johnson is one of the most popular and productive actors currently working in the industry, regularly starring in three to four movies per year, and if everything goes according to plan it seems like Black Adam is going to be one of his films for 2021 (the same year as Matt Reeves' The Batman and James Gunn's The Suicide Squad) or possibly 2022 (the same year as Aquaman 2). We won't have a clearer understanding of exactly when it will get going until more pieces start to fall into place, but regardless of when it starts coming together we're just excited that it's actually happening.

Hopefully it won't be too long until we start learning more about the progress of Black Adam - and you can be sure that we will keep you updated with all of the details here on CinemaBlend as they become available. For now, though, be sure to head to your local theater and check out Shazam!, which is now being projected on screens all around the world.

Kevin Feige Says There Will Be No Time To Pee During Avengers: Endgame

Kevin Feige Says There Will Be No Time To Pee During Avengers: Endgame

After Avengers: Endgame was officially announced as a three hour and two minute epic, one particular question came up that hasn’t really been raised with any other Marvel Studios film: Will there be time to pee? Sure, three hours sounds intimidating, but with so many other films before it running close to that length in the MCU, is it really that big of a question? Well if it’s an issue close to your heart, producer/mastermind Kevin Feige has given an answer as to when is the best time to pee during Avengers: Endgame. Unfortunately for those with small bladders, that answer is never.

What I’ve always said is a movie is as long as it should be. And we are not fans of overindulging movies. We are not fans of laborious lengths for no reason. We are fans of movies that you wish didn’t end. Movies that you want to see again as soon as it’s over. And movies that you just don’t ever find a good time to run out to the bathroom. That’s when a movie’s working. And if a movie doesn’t feel like that to us we continue to trim, we continue to shape, we continue to bring that time down. That happened to a certain extent on this movie. But we got to a point where it feels very exciting and goes by very quickly and in the end is the perfect length. And everybody that saw the movie felt the same way.

This particular subject was raised at this weekend’s press junket for the Infinity Saga’s swan song, and Feige explained that they tweaked the movie until they got to the point where there was no downtime in the film.

So, rather than being a sadistic response to a rather public issue, Kevin Feige is saying that Avengers: Endgame is such a well-woven story that every second of screen time is earned in the eyes of the creators. If that claim holds up, and everything we’ve seen come out of the film’s marketing indicates such a scenario may be likely, you’re definitely going to want to go to the bathroom before taking the trip to defeat Thanos and not whilst in the middle of it.

You could pretty much expect this piece of information Kevin Feige told io9 to spark up the debate of whether or not an intermission is required during Avengers: Endgame, and for sure this information changes the terms of that discussion. If the plot to this particular film is so hypothetically dense there’s little-to-no period of time the audience can be absent, then even those who feel that a film of this stature doesn’t require a breather might be persuaded to change their tune. This only makes the claim that the second half of the film is apparently mind-blowing all the more intriguing.

Of course, this is coming from Kevin Feige, and to say he’s biased towards Avengers: Endgame, or any of the MCU films, is an understatement. What may be an invaluable moment of Ant-Man joking about defeating Thanos through the worst re-enactment of Fantastic Voyage ever for some, might be another audience member’s perfect time to purge the soft drinks he or she consumed earlier.

Avengers: Endgame will be in theaters on April 26th, but if you’re seriously concerned about bladder-pacing issues, you might want to wait a little while for some public feedback to see whether or not this film will give you a problem. Which gives you a little more time to study our feature on what order you should experience the MCU prior to Avengers: Endgame.

What Keanu Reeves Really Hoped To Accomplish With John Wick: Chapter 3

What Keanu Reeves Really Hoped To Accomplish With John Wick: Chapter 3

When getting into gear for a third entry in a series as kinetic and hard-edged as John Wick has been, a lot of effort has to go into what makes each film a bar raising spectacle. In the case of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, star Keanu Reeves and the team backing him had a lot of specifics in mind when it came to making sure this latest sequel would top John Wick: Chapter 2 in all the right ways.

During a press day for the film, CinemaBlend was on hand to hear exactly what Reeves and company had hoped to accomplish from their latest venture into the underworld of assassins and honor bound codes that make John Wick’s world so satisfying to revisit with each outing. Specifically, after learning John Wick: Chapter 3 was greenlighted, Keanu Reeves mentioned there were specific goals for this third film, saying,

The most exciting part was, first of all, [being] grateful that we had the chance to come back to it and tell another chapter. Yeah, I mean, we had a lot of hope and ambition, and we wanted to do a lot. You know, we wanted to open up the scale, the worlds of John Wick. We wanted to different kinds of action, but also raise the bar on the traditional kind of John Wick action, Gun-Fu.

While the world that John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum expands could go on forever and sequel ideas are theoretically limitless, more movies are not always a given. So, having a third time out is a thrilling prospect in and of itself, because director Chad Stahelski and star Keanu Reeves get another chance to outdo themselves in the name of audience satisfaction.

Judging not only by the audience reaction to the John Wick series, but also the results that John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum have brought to the table, that satisfaction seems pretty much guaranteed on both ends. So, this universe’s plans to expand outward into various mediums, such as the TV series The Continental, as well as any potential film sequels and spinoffs, don’t seem like premature hopes but rather prudent plans for the future.

At the heart of it all though is that gratitude for the fans that made John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum possible, as well as thanks to those who helped in the filmmaking process as well. Keanu Reeves wasn’t shy to express that sentiment, as he continued with the following during CinemaBlend's interview:

It was exciting to get into preparing for it. It was exciting to do it, wonderful new artists in the show: Halle Berry, Anjelica Huston, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon. And characters we love [coming] back: Laurence Fishburne, the Bowery King, Ian McShane’s Winston. There was excitement everywhere.

It’s hard not to be enthusiastic about the world of John Wick, as it’s brought a new level of action filmmaking and stunt work to the attention of the world at large. On top of that, the franchise’s mixture of neo-noir storytelling alongside those aspects have made it into a gust of fresh air that knocks down tons of rival assassins when it arrives in theaters.

You can even feel that excitement of Keanu Reeves describing the efforts that went into making John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum a next level action spectacular, courtesy of the clip we’re sharing below from our sit down with Mr. Reeves:

Of course, that excitement needs to spill out into the crowd, especially if John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum wants to compete with the box office hopefuls of this weekend, in the hopes of another return for future glory in its extremely wicked and colorful world. Whether there’s an official greenlight for more down the line or not, it’s good to know that whenever the call goes out, Keanu Reeves is ready to work with his famed collaborators, and anyone new who wants to jump in, to take John Wick deeper into the world he inhabits.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum prepares for war, in the name of peace, in early showings on Thursday night. And stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more coverage leading up to the film’s release in theaters.

Allison Williams Explains How Her Get Out Performance Enhances Her Character In The Perfection

Allison Williams Explains How Her Get Out Performance Enhances Her Character In The Perfection

There are many reasons why Jordan Peele’s Get Out is a phenomenal film, but certainly high on the list is the performance given by Allison Williams. Throughout the movie she does such an amazing job representing herself as an ally to Daniel Kaluuya’s Chris, so when the big twist goes down it basically feels like taking a shovel to the face. It’s become one of the most beloved surprises in modern horror, which makes it all the more exciting that Williams is returning to the genre with the upcoming The Perfection.

Interestingly, though, the connection between the two features doesn’t end with that. Without giving too much away, Allison Williams stars as a character in The Perfection that’s purposefully hard to get a full read on, and as a member of the audience you spend the majority of the runtime not quite sure if you can fully trust her. As you might imagine, this is a feeling that is only enhanced by those who associate the actress with her part in Get Out – and it’s a connection that Williams definitely recognized in the making of the new movie.

With The Perfection set to hit Netflix this Friday, I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Allison Williams, co-star Logan Browning, and writer/director Richard Shepard last week at the film’s Los Angeles press day, and during the interviews I took the opportunity to bring up the movie’s unique relationship with Get Out. Discussing the influence of audience perception of her character, Williams agreed with my analysis, and noted that it was something that occurred to her shortly after reading the script for the first time:

Richard [Shepard] sent it to me and said, 'This is insane. You need to call me after you read it.' And I was like, 'Okay, well if you think it's insane, and you're insane, and I think it's insane, and I'm insane, this must be really, really crazy.' And it was! And I called him right afterwards and as we were talking about it, it occurred to me that if you have a sort of associative hangover of me from Get Out, it's very helpful to go into The Perfection with that.

In the new movie, Allison Williams stars as Charlotte Willmore, a former cello prodigy who, at a young age, had to drop out of one of the most esteemed music schools on the planet when her mother got sick. Following her mother’s death, she tries to reconnect the world she was forced to disconnect from, and in the process gets to know Elizabeth Wells (Logan Browning) –the star student who joined the aforementioned school when Charlotte left. The two quickly hit it off during a special event in China, eventually making plans to go on a two-week vacation together in the country, but things start to go very badly very quickly on the adventure.

Without getting into spoiler territory, as the story progresses in The Perfection you’re never quite sure how to feel about Charlotte’s relationship with Elizabeth – and this is where memories of Allison Williams' Rose Armitage from Get Out start to play a role. As Williams explained, she loved that her past role tweaks the way we look at her new performance, while at the same time fully appreciating that Charlotte is an absolutely wonderful character independently. Said the actress,

I thought, what is more fun than using that to make people very, very untrustworthy when they see me for the first time and very wary of sending us off on a bus together in rural China - as you should be in the movie! And so I thought that was a very interesting sort of meta level to it. But first and foremost I was just fascinated by Charlotte. I thought she was so interesting and I just had to play her so that I could understand what makes that girl tick and what, what is going on in there.

This was a sentiment shared by Richard Shepard, who noted that he wrote the role of Charlotte in The Perfection with Allison Williams specifically in mind – having previously worked with her directing episodes of the HBO comedy series Girls. And while Get Out may not have had any specific influence in the writing process, it is something that he acknowledges will have an effect on the way people watch his film. Said Shepard,

The fact that people don't initially really trust Allison because of Get Out helps us enormously because Alison's playing a character that you're not quite sure is a good guy, or a bad guy. You can't quite get a grasp on her. And that's really important in a movie like this because people are projecting what they think. So Allison's sort of baggage helps a lot.

Continuing, the filmmaker further added that part of what makes Allison Williams such a talented performer is the way in which she is able to modulate her emotional reactions to effective degrees. She doesn’t show her full hand until exactly the right moment, and when that happens it can be powerful and affecting. Explained the director,

I've always seen in Allison an ability to hold back her emotions until it's really ready to show. And in this it was perfect because she was holding back just enough to keep the audience leaning in, and then when she needed to show it she really could.

You can watch Allison Williams and Richard Shepard discuss the special influence of Get Out on The Perfection by clicking play on the video below!

Also starring Steven Weber, Alaina Huffman, Mark Kandborg, and Graeme Duffy, The Perfection is a horrific delight that first premiered at Fantastic Fest last year, and will be available soon to set your brain on fire. As mentioned earlier, the movie will be available on Netflix this Friday, May 24th – and we’ll have more from my interviews with the cast and filmmakers coming your way soon here on CinemaBlend!

Looks Like Indiana Jones 5 Has Switched Writers

Looks Like Indiana Jones 5 Has Switched Writers

While Lucasfilm has been very focused on Star Wars since Disney purchased the studio, it's never completely forgotten about its other big property, Indiana Jones. A fifth installment was rumored for years before finally being confirmed by Disney, but the fifth installment keeps getting delayed, and now one wonders if the release date may get pushed once again, as the project is now in the hands of yet another writer.

When Indiana Jones 5 was first confirmed, David Koepp, the screenwriter behind the previous Indy adventure Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, was brought on pen the script. Then, a little less than a year ago the word was that Solo: A Star Wars Story co-writer Jonathan Kasdan was taking a crack at the story.

Now, Making Star Wars is reporting that Dan Fogelman, the writer of This is Us as well as other Disney films like Tangled and Cars, has now been handed the script. It appears Fogelman is starting over from scratch and won't be building on any of the previous scripts.

It's unclear what the central focus of Fogelman's script is, or will be, though based on the fact that he's not using Jonathan Kasdan's idea, it seems there's one premise we know Indiana Jones 5 won't be about.

MSW reports Kasdan's script focused on the Wa?brzych Gold Train legend which claims that a train full of gold and valuables was buried by the Nazis in a series of mines in Poland.

Whatever the new writer brings to the table, there's clearly been something about the previous script attempts that has been lacking. On the one hand, it's good to know that everybody involved want to make sure they start this process with a good story. On the other hand, at some point one begins to wonder if Indiana Jones 5 is ever actually going to happen.

Currently Indiana Jones 5 has a release date set for July 9, 2021, but that date has been pushed back before as developments, like the previous change in writer, have forced things to be delayed. There's clearly still plenty of time to get a working script before Indiana Jones 5 would need to go into production, but that assumes that the new writer finds a working idea.

Harrison Ford will turn 77 years old later this year, which means he'll be nearly 80 by the time the new movie comes out if it makes its current date. The man is still in remarkable health and physical shape, there's no question about that, but at some point it will simply be too late to make this movie, and it really feels like we're coming quite close to that point.

Of course, we all want a new Indiana Jones movie. When they're good, they're some of the greatest adventures ever put on screen. Hopefully the new writer will be the key to solving the mystery of the script and Indiana Jones can get to solving a mystery of his own very soon.

Kingsman 3 Will Be The Final ‘Chapter’ Of Eggsy And Harry’s Story

Kingsman 3 Will Be The Final ‘Chapter’ Of Eggsy And Harry’s Story

When an upcoming Kingsman film appeared on the release board for late 2019, it was an exciting prospect to catch back up with Taron Egerton’s Eggsy and Colin Firth’s Harry Hart after 2017’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle. However, it was later confirmed that the film would be a prequel lead by an entirely new cast. So, will the spy team we’ve grown to love ever come back? Check out this update from writer/director Matthew Vaughn about Kingsman 3:

We've got to finish off the Eggsy and Harry relationship. The final chapter of their relationship needs to be told, which we've got ready to do, and I'm hoping to shoot that later this year or the beginning of next year. But this Kingsman (prequel) has been pushed back to February 14th for coming out, and so, yeah, as soon as that's done, we're looking forward to… It's funny. As Taron was saying, he's looking forward to becoming Eggsy again, because emotionally it's a lot less draining.

Manners maketh man, and Matthew Vaughn is doing right by keeping fans in the loop with these words. As the filmmaker told Digital Spy, Kingsman 3 is in the works in addition to the prequel. The upcoming origin story to be titled Kingsman: The Great Game is being prioritized though, as it has a February 14, 2020 release date to make. Once the project, also written and directed by Vaughn, is complete, he plans to move over to the Kingsman trilogy closer right away.

Since The Golden Circle, Matthew Vaughn and Taron Egerton have collaborated again on the Elton John musical biopic Rocketman. Vaughn is a producer on the flick starring Egerton as the music icon. The connection between the back-to-back projects run even deeper, since Elton John himself had a memorable cameo in the spy sequel.

A ton of preparation went into Taron Egerton’s Elton John role, as he had to sing, dance and convincingly portray the musician, sometimes with the man himself in front of him. It’s been an emotional yet rewarding experience for the actor to star in Rocketman, but it has made him even more excited to return to his more familiar role as Eggsy and conclude the story that launched his career back in 2014.

Since The Great Game takes place during World War I (approximately 100 years before Eggsy began his life as a spy), Taron Egerton will understandably not be in the film. However, the movie has rounded out a cast full of impressive talent including Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Matthew Goode, Gemma Arterton, Charles Dance, Daniel Brühl, Ralph Fiennes, Djimon Hounsou, Rhys Ifans and Stanley Tucci. Not much else is known about the Kingsman prequel, but it will reportedly serve as an origin story for the spy service.

Fans can now also look forward to some closure concerning Eggsy and Harry’s story arcs established with the Kingsman movies, though we’ll have to wait over a year (at least) before we see Colin Firth and Egerton return to these roles. In the meantime, you can catch Egerton in Rocketman this Friday, May 31.

Hellboy Reportedly Had Some Serious Behind The Scenes Drama

Hellboy Reportedly Had Some Serious Behind The Scenes Drama

The Hellboy reboot finally arrives in theaters tomorrow, and thus far the early reception to it has not been stellar. It’s received a lot of negative reviews from critics and ranks (at the time of this writing) at a measly 12% on Rotten Tomatoes. Now word has come in that Hellboy reportedly dealt with a lot of behind-the-scenes drama during the production process, namely between director Neil Marshall and producers Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin.

According to The Wrap, Neil Marshall had a series of disagreements with Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin that “boiled over” when the producers replaced Marshall’s cinematographer, Sam McCurdy, with Lorenzo Senatore. Two people familiar with the situation who spoke to the outlet allege that McCurdy was fired because Gordon and Levin were trying to send a message to Marshall that even though he was Hellboy’s director, he was not truly in charge. While he wouldn’t comment on the reasoning behind McCurdy’s firing, Levin’s attorney, Martin Singer, responded that it was a “group decision” that wasn’t about sending a message, and accused Marshall of encouraging this story.

But this is just one clash that supposedly occurred during the making of Hellboy. Other issues reportedly included Lloyd Levin repeatedly interrupting Neil Marshall as he was rehearsing the actors to give different directions; David Harbour walking off set several times and refusing to deliver the extra takes Marshall wanted; and the script being rewritten throughout production, with one rewrite being handled by Harbour and co-star Ian McShane, among others.

However, perhaps the most bizarre issue that reportedly popped up during the making of Hellboy was a disagreement over a “surreal tree” that appears in the movie. Neil Marshall wanted the tree to be asymmetrical and “realistic-looking,” but Lloyd Levin ignored that request and had the tree be symmetrical, though the tree ultimately became asymmetrical as originally intended during postproduction.

Furthermore, after Neil Marshall handed in his cut of Hellboy, the producers allegedly took over and applied their own changes to the movie. Martin Singer claims that Marshall had never been promised the final cut on Hellboy.

It’s hard to say just how much of this information is accurate and who is truly responsible for what, but it sounds like the Hellboy journey was a long and difficult one. Unfortunately, it’s not like this story is anything new in the Hollywood sphere. There’s no shortage of reports about behind-the-scenes difficulties during the making of a major motion picture, like the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot.

It’d be one thing if despite all these disagreements, Hellboy still managed to come together as an exceptional product, but evidently that’s not the case going off the overall critical reception. It’s safe to say that this will not go down in the film history books as one of the more beloved comic book movies, but as far as this behind-the-scenes drama goes, it’s possible this isn’t the last we’ve heard about it, and that more details will be revealed in the near future.

You can judge Hellboy for yourself starting this weekend, but if you’re interested about what other movies are opening this year, look through our 2019 release schedule.

Is Shazam! OK For Kids? Here's What The Director Says

Is Shazam! OK For Kids? Here's What The Director Says

It's clear from the trailers that Shazam! is a somewhat different superhero movie than we are used to seeing. It looks a lot funnier and many of the main roles are played by young kids. But if kids are the stars of Shazam! does that mean Shazam! is also a movie for kids? A fan recently asked director David F. Sandberg this question, and he replied that parents worried about too much violence shouldn't need to worry too much, as Shazam! is no worse than a classic blockbuster...

I’d say the type of violence and scares are comparable to Jurassic Park so if they can handle that it should be fine.

A fan on Twitter was all set to bring a pair of young children, ages four and nine, to see Shazam!, but had recently heard the film was much scarier in some scenes than the trailers we'd seen had implied. David F. Sandberg does seem to confirm that here are some potentially scary bits of the movie that certainly aren't like anything we've seen in the film's promotion so far, but if your kid can get through Jurassic Park ok, then they shouldn't have much problem with Shazam!.

With superhero movies being so popular there are certainly a legion of young viewers who would like to see their favorite superheroes on the big screen. And while, with the exception of the Deadpool movies and Logan, the vast majority of audiences would have little problem with any of them, there have certainly been some that could be too intense for some younger viewers. Shazam! certainly looks ok for those young kids. It probably mostly is.

Shazam! is rated PG-13, which is the standard rating for every superhero movie under the sun. It's become such a popular and well used rating that at this point it can cover quite a lot of ground. There's a lot of violence or language that might be too much for the PG rating but not technically bad enough to justify the R. This means that parents might find some PG-13 movies acceptable for younger kids, and others not so much.

Jurassic Park certainly had its intense moments. The T. Rex sequence as well as the one where the two child characters attempt to hid from a pack of hungry raptors, are certainly moments that ratchet up the tension and you can easily see some kids not doing well with those moments. Heck, there are probably some adults that get anxious in those moments.

Since two of the main characters in Shazam! are kids, though one takes the form of Zachary Levi much of the time, there probably will be moments where children are in similar jeopardy in this movie.

The early reaction to Shazam! has been overwhelmingly positive. That means even more people will likely want to see the movie. It looks like most of them will be able to enjoy it.

How Does One Return The Soul Stone? We Asked The Avengers: Endgame Writers

How Does One Return The Soul Stone? We Asked The Avengers: Endgame Writers

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Avengers: Endgame. If you have not yet seen the film, read on at your own risk!

While we don’t actually see it play out, Captain America takes on one hell of a mission at the end of Avengers: Endgame. Needing to shut down off-shoots in reality, he volunteers to travel in time and put the Infinity Stones back where they belong – ultimately also deciding to live out a normal life with Peggy Carter and fully experience the second half of the 20th century. Most of the trip is pretty straight forward, from bringing the Tesseract back to the secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility in 1970, to bringing the Power Stone back to Morag in 2014, but of the individual six missions, the returning of the Soul Stone would seem to be a strange and unique challenge.

As audiences will remember, unlike most of the Infinity Stones (which could be taken by the Avengers provided they had proper containment), the Soul Stone was a bit trickier to acquire. Rather than simply being recovered from an amulet or extracted with a special device, obtaining the ingot not only required a trip to the mysterious planet Vormir, but also making an important sacrifice. Knowing this, an interesting question is raised about Captain America’s final mission: how does one go about returning the Soul Stone?

This is a matter that vigorously rolled around in my head following my first screening of Avengers: Endgame, and I was fortunate enough to recently have the opportunity to ask the perfect people about it. Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely for the latest episode of our HeroBlend podcast, and I made it a personal priority to ask them about the Soul Stone. It was a question that they not only appreciated, but also had an answer for, explaining,

Stephen McFeely: It's a good question. I think it is an everlasting exchange.

Christopher Markus: There's a slot.

Stephen McFeely: That's right. Yeah, that's right. It's like an old time bank. It's a pneumatic tube.

Christopher Markus: You put it back, but you don't get anything in return. It's not like a pawn shop.

There was some hope among fans that Captain America returning the Soul Stone to Vormir would potentially mean the resurrection of Black Widow, who died so that the Avengers could acquire the key treasure during their time heist, but that’s evidently not the case. While Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely's answer was a tad jokey, it seems that once that particular trade is made, there are no takebacks - so despite Cap making the effort to fix the timeline, that particular death is permanent.

This information also seems to confirm that the upcoming Black Widow movie will definitely be a period piece that will be set prior to the events of Avengers: Endgame. This is something that has been rumored for a while now, but if the titular heroine is most definitely dead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe then there really aren’t any other story options available to the filmmakers.

Of course, there is also still another major component that needs to be discussed here, which is that Captain America returning the Soul Stone would presumably also result in a reunion with his World War II nemesis, Johann Schmidt a.k.a. the Red Skull. Because of the way things play out in Avengers: Endgame, it’s a situation that is simply left to our imaginations, but one has to figure that Steve Rogers would be pretty damn surprised to discover the fate of the former head of Hydra following his handling of the Tesseract in 1945.

That being said, the writers of the latest Marvel Studios blockbuster definitely wish it was a reunion that they could have somehow included in the movie. After all, in addition to writing both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, they also penned the scripts for the entire Captain America trilogy. I asked Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely if the 2019 film had ever included a scene where Cap and Red Skull were reunited, and they explained what happened thusly:

Christopher Markus: That was hard for me personally to get over.

Stephen McFeely: That's right. That's true. I remember.

Christopher Markus: Because I very much wanted like, 'How are we not getting Cap into space to see the Red Skull?’ And it just otherwise was not the story to tell for Cap, but it is extremely tempting.

And while one could hope that perhaps someday we’ll get to see a movie that features Captain America’s version of Infinity Watch, it sadly sounds like that’s never going to happen. This is specifically because directors Joe and Anthony Russo have confirmed Chris Evans’ retirement playing the character, and that’s most definitely a film that you couldn’t make without him. Perhaps the actor will eventually change his mind and decided that he really misses the character, but for now audiences should really just feel satisfied with the perfect send-off that he gets in the new film.

This particular conversation is just a taste of the awesome, deep dive discussion I got to have with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely about Avengers: Endgame, so do yourself a favor and listen to the HeroBlend interview in full by clicking play on the embed below!

Does this take on the Soul Stone jive with your own personal theories following Avengers: Endgame? Are you like Christopher Markus and truly wish that a Captain America-Red Skull reunion happened on the big screen? Let your voice be heard in the comments section below.

Avengers: Endgame is now playing in theaters all around the world, and we’re really only just getting started with our in-depth analysis and what the movie means for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We have many more features and articles coming your way in the next few weeks, so stay tuned here on CinemaBlend – and be sure to subscribe to our HeroBlend podcast so that you’ll get to listen to new episodes as they are released every Friday!

Looks Like Bond 25’s Script Is Getting Help From Killing Eve’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Looks Like Bond 25’s Script Is Getting Help From Killing Eve’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Another chapter of the James Bond franchise is closing soon. Barring some last minute change, the still-to-be-titled Bond 25 will mark Daniel Craig’s last mission as 007, so it goes without saying that this movie will need to stand out and wrap things up with a bang. To improve the likelihood of that happening, Killing Eve creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge has been recruited to polish Bond 25’s script.

Last September, following the departure of director Danny Boyle and writer John Hodge from Bond 25, longtime James Bond franchise contributors Neal Purvis and Robert Wade were brought in to rework the upcoming movie’s script. However, when making a major motion picture, sometimes it becomes necessary for another writer or several to join the proceedings. Scott Z. Burns hopped aboard in February to work on the script, and now Phoebe Waller-Bridge is picking up where he left off.

According to The Observer, Daniel Craig specifically requested for Phoebe Waller-Bridge to bring “her wit and quirkiness” to the Bond 25 screenplay. Craig is reportedly a fan of the other TV series she created, Fleabag (which just concluded its second and final season in the U.K.), and felt that she could do a good job with livening up Bond 25.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge has recently been in New York City performing a stage version of Fleabag, and while in the Big Apple, she met with Daniel Craig about polishing the Bond 25 script to add more humor and the kind of “offbeat style of writing” she’s known for. So while the story as a whole doesn’t sound like it’ll be overhauled, tonally Waller-Bridge will be making some adjustments.

This marks the second major cinematic franchise that Phoebe Waller-Bridge gets to contribute to. Last year, she appeared as L3-37, Lando Calrissian’s droid partner in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Waller-Bridge’s other notable credits include The Iron Lady, Goodbye Christoper Robin, Broadchurch and Crashing.

Phoebe-Waller Bridge working on Bond 25 is the latest step in this movie’s long journey to rolling cameras, but assuming the changes Phoebe Waller-Bridge are met with approval, then production should finally begin in a few weeks. Cary Fukanaga of True Detective and Maniac fame was brought in to take over as director from Danny Boyle, who exited the project due to creative differences.

Aside from Daniel Craig reprising James Bond for the fifth and final time, Bond 25 will also see the return of Lea Seydoux’s Madeleine Swann, Ben Whishaw’s Q, Naomie Harris’ Eve Moneypenney and Ralph Fiennes’ Garteth Mallory, who succeeded Judi Dench’s character as M. No new characters have been announced yet, although Rami Malek is being eyed to play the villain.

Originally set for release this November, Bond 25 was pushed back to February 2020 and is now scheduled to hit theaters on April 8, 2020. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on its progress, and don’t forget to look through our 2019 release schedule to learn what’s headed to the silver screen a little sooner.

Shazam!’s Director Is Totally Reading The Early Reviews

Shazam!’s Director Is Totally Reading The Early Reviews

On Thursday night, early viewers of DC’s Shazam! were given the go-ahead to share their early reactions of the film ahead of its April release… and the reviews are glowing! Critics are raving about the upcoming superhero flick for being a delightful, humorous and lovable addition to the DCEU.

Looks like Shazam’s director David F. Sandberg was lurking around Twitter just as fans started to sing their praises. The filmmaker recently took to Instagram to share some of the positive reactions to the film. Take a look:

David F. Sandberg captioned the slideshow of radiant reception with “my evening” – probably amidst celebration and sighs of relief to see his film out in the world and embraced with open arms.

Since most of us have yet to see Shazam!, the Twitter blurbs offer some hype for the coming blockbuster. Early comparisons are to 1978’s Superman, The Goonies, Harry Potter, Big and Home Alone. There have also been reports that it’s the best DCEU movie yet, while being family-friendly and heartful. The main cast of Zachary Levi and Jack Dylan Grazer were additionally given a pat on the back as well.

The Instagram post ends with the filmmaker hitting F5, a.k.a. the refresh button, to probably bask on more positive takes on Shazam! We can imagine David F. Sandberg is on cloud nine after all of those nice words about a project he has been developing for some time and many fans are getting ready to buy their tickets!

Shazam! is certainly David F. Sandberg’s biggest directorial project to date, as he has helmed just two other feature length films prior: horror films Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation. The hero also isn’t exactly as popular as say Batman or Superman. The DCEU hasn’t always been seen in a positive light, so it was certainly wasn't a surefire winner when the filmmaker took it on.

The upcoming movie looks like it delivers on humor and action, per the footage we’ve seen thus far. And these early reactions certainly give moviegoers more confidence to check it out. Shazam! follows a 14-year-old foster kid, Billy Batson (Asher Angel) who is chosen to become an adult superhero (Zachary Levi) and has fun with his new powers alongside his friend Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), until a formidable villain, Dr. Sivana (Mark Strong) comes into the picture.

Shazam! will hit theaters on April 5, in between Marvel’s releases of Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame. Early tracking has Shazam! opening at $50 million but as the release draws closer, we’ll have a better idea of how much of a success it will be. Last time DC released a superhero flick it made over one billion worldwide (Aquaman), so who knows? This early positive buzz certainly can only help the movie at the box office.

New Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Image Reveals How Massive The Land Is

New Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Image Reveals How Massive The Land Is

Disney told us from the very beginning that Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge was going to be the single largest land expansion in the history of Disneyland when it was finally here. However, Disney Parks are already so massive that it's difficult to get an idea of exactly what that means. Just how big is Galaxy's Edge?

While the land doesn't open to the general public (or more specifically, those with reservations) for a little over a week, Galaxy's Edge has been giving sneak peeks to some including press members recently, and it recently held a cast member event in the space. From that event has come one of the few official photos of the new land that has been released, that includes 1400 people surrounding the Millennium Falcon. Check it out.

While there's certainly a lot of people in this photo, the fact is that Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is so much more than what you see in the picture, that it's going to clearly be able to hold an insane number of people due to its size. The other major E-ticket attraction, Rise of the Resistance, though it won't be open on May 31 with the rest of the land, isn't even visible in this picture. That means there's a lot of space left empty that thousands more people will be able to inhabit.

The picture, posted on Instagram by Disneyland President Josh D'Amaro, also shows just how big the Millennium Falcon actually is. For many, simply standing in the presence of a full sized replica of the iconic ship will be the ultimate Star Wars experience.

One can certainly imagine an aerial photo of Galaxy's Edge looking this packed most of the time if Disneyland actually lets enough people into the new land. Of course, it's not clear at this point exactly how many people will actually be getting to Galaxy's Edge when it opens.

Getting access to Galaxy's Edge for the first three weeks will require a reservation. All of the reservations made available to the general public in that time are already gone. The only way to be able to visit the planet of Batuu now is to book a reservation at a Disneyland Resort hotel, for which rooms are still available even now.

After the first three weeks, access to Galaxy's Edge will be handled through a digital queue system where guests will be notified on their smartphone when they can visit the land. One assumes this process will last until the crowds die down to a level where people will be able to enter and exit at their leisure, although, considering how popular the new land is going to be, it could be quite some time before that happens.

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opens at Disneyland May 31 and an identical land will open at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World August 29. A second phase including the second E-ticket attraction, Rise of the Resistance will open at an as yet undisclosed time in both parks later this year.

How Tim Burton Is Different From Every Other Director Danny Elfman Works With

How Tim Burton Is Different From Every Other Director Danny Elfman Works With

The collaboration between Tim Burton and Danny Elfman is one of the great director/composer relationships in modern cinema. The two men first came together for Pee-wee's Big Adventure back in 1985, and while they’ve both worked with other filmmakers in the time since then, that does nothing to undercut the fact that they’ve made 17 features together (18 if you count Henry Sellick’s The Nightmare Before Christmas). Clearly it’s a special relationship for both men, and as I recently learned during an interview with Elfman, it’s one that is unique in some very key ways.

Specifically, it comes down to the amount of time that Danny Elfman and Tim Burton actually spend talking about the work. When working with other filmmakers, having discussions about music and the proper approach can take multiple days of analysis, but that just apparently isn’t the way that Burton functions. As I learned from the legendary composer during the recent Los Angeles press day for Dumbo, going through a score discussion with the director apparently barely takes more than an afternoon. Said Elfman,

The spotting sessions we do, where we go through the whole film and talk a little bit about each piece of music, Tim is quicker than any director I've ever worked with. I'm working right now on a film where the spotting session will take two days. We did half of it last week, and I do half of it tomorrow. And with Tim, if it's a two hour movie, the spotting sessions are two-and-a-half hours. If it's an hour and 45 minute movie, it's two hours and 15 minutes.

That’s pretty intense, but one could argue that it very much speaks to the power of the collaboration between the two men.

When I followed up by asking why it is that Tim Burton is able to plow through those spotting sessions, Danny Elfman’s explanation was simple: he doesn’t like to dissect, and instead is more interested in just jumping around and just expressing where it is that he wants specific cues. Music is apparently a detail of the filmmaking process that he doesn’t put a tremendous amount of thought into – but Elfman also made it clear that part of that extends from the fact that there is a lot of trust in their collaboration:

He doesn't want to talk about it. It's just like, 'Okay let's start the music here. And then skip to the end of the scene.' He skips to the end. 'I think this is a good place to come out.' And then he might have like three words. He goes, 'Keep it kind of understated here. Okay, next.' It's like, 'Oh yeah, make sure you play the something here. Okay, next.' He doesn't analyze. Some people get very analytical, and they really want to talk about the psychology of a scene, and Tim doesn't. He's like, 'You know, there's music. You'll find it. When you find it, I'll know it.'

What’s extra funny about this, though, is that it’s not exactly a recent development that began with their work together on Dumbo. This whole conversation was accessed when I asked Danny Elfman about the evolution of his relationship with Tim Burton since they first started working together in the mid-1980s – and the four time Oscar nominee explained that things have basically been the way they are now since the very beginning. Said Elfman,

It's still more or less the same, other than he's much more sure of himself and what he likes and doesn't like then when we started, obviously, in Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and he was just like, 'Oh, great. Music. Cool.' And now he's much more selective. But other than that, the process is really similar. He doesn't talk about the movie a lot, and he doesn't talk about the music a lot.

It’s pretty incredible to learn this when you consider the power of their work together – but also clearly a situation of “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”

Audiences can now hear the latest score from Danny Elfman in theaters everywhere, as Dumbo is now playing in wide release. And for those of you interested in playing it at home, the MP3 album is available now, and CDs will be released this Friday, April 5th.

Explaining John Wick, The Continental, And The Rules The Assassins Follow

Explaining John Wick, The Continental, And The Rules The Assassins Follow

Last weekend, action fans flooded movie theaters to check out John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the latest adventure of Keanu Reeve's increasingly iconic, deadpan, dog-loving assassin. The John Wick films are known for incredibly slick choreography and memorable action sequences, but one thing that never gets much attention is the surprisingly complex mythology. John Wick may go around tallying up head shots left and right, but even he has a strict set of rules that he needs to follow.

Obviously the main draw for a John Wick movie is action over the story, but the films place such emphasis on the hitman's world that it's tough to ignore. There's a unique mythology at play here, as John Wick's word is populated by secret clubs, assassin hotels and a whole network of goods and services purely for people of the underworld.

Each film expands the lore, but it doesn't give any real explanation. It lets the audience try to figure it out before moving right into the next action scene.

It can be kind of confusing, but that's where we come in! John Wick likes to throw a lot of seemingly random rules at you, but when you piece them all together, it starts to make some sense. Here are some of the most important aspects of John Wick's underworld and how it works.

The Baba Yaga

It makes sense to start right at the beginning with the man himself. John Wick's backstory is never really brought up in detail, though Parabellum tries to shed some light on the subject.

While the movie doesn't spend a lot of time explaining, it's implied that John Wick was raised by Angelica Houston's The Director, the leader of the Ruska Roma. In addition to teaching ballet, she apparently trains orphans to become assassins, and John Wick (whose real name is Jardani Jovonovich) eventually became her most successful student.

Basically, John was one of the greatest assassins who ever lived. He was so deadly that he earned the nickname Baba Yaga, which means The Boogeyman. John Wick spends an unknown amount of years racking up the kill count, building his reputation, and meeting a ton people.

The movies make it seem like basically every assassin knows who John Wick is. However, one day he falls in love with a woman named Helen and decides to get out of the life, something that is implied to be very hard to do and no one has ever done.

Apparently, you can't just leave the underworld, so John had to undergo an "impossible task" to earn his freedom. We don't know what he did, but it involved killing a lot of people. He succeeded and left his old life behind to start a new one with Helen. It didn't last long however, and that's where the first John Wick begins.

Assassins Have Unbreakable Vows

In John Wick: Chapter 2, we learn that John didn't complete his impossible task on his own. He needed help from an Italian crime lord named Santino D'Antonio. In order to secure this help, John offered his marker, which is the underworld's version of an unbreakable vow from Harry Potter.

The marker is essentially an amulet with a bloody fingerprint inside. If someone gives their amulet away for a favor, it means that they are making a blood oath to do any task the person asks of them in the future. If someone like John Wick gives away his marker, then that means you basically have the world's greatest assassin in your pocket for one favor.

If you give away your marker, then the debt must be honored. You have to do whatever it is that the person asks. The assassin world takes this very seriously, and it's one of the only two unbreakable rules. John Wick tried to break it and his house was burned to the ground as a result.

The Continental

One of the major locations of the John Wick films is the Continental, and it's more than just a fancy New York City hotel. The building caters exclusively to assassins and all its amenities are geared toward their specific purposes. For example, instead of recommending a nice restaurant, the concierge will point you to the secret backdoor of your target's safe house.

The Continental is a branch of worldwide hotels, and each one is run by a manager. Ian McShane's Winston runs the New York location, Halle Berry's Sophia is in charge of the Casablanca Continental and Julius looks after the Rome Continental. It's implied that each Continental offers the same services and follows the same guidelines, but the day-to-day stuff depends on the manager.

The most important thing about the Continental is that absolutely no business can be conducted on hotel grounds. In other words, no assassin is allowed to kill another assassin inside the hotel. It's the No. 1 rule of the underworld, and if broken, it's punishable by death or being labeled as "excommunicado."

That means that the assassin loses all access and privileges to the Continental's underworld resources. That's a major setback for any professional hitman, but it becomes a real headache if they have an open contract on their head. John Wick dealt with that exact scenario after he killed Santino in the Continental, as the High Table doubled the contract that was already out on him.

The Goods And Services

The life of a professional killer is dangerous and there are a number of resources scattered around the world to help assassins. For instance, a seemingly ordinary doctor's office can be a late night emergency room for a quick patch up if a mission goes wrong. Or you can visit a historian and get old blueprints or maps to find secret pathways to a seemingly impenetrable fortress. Even taxi drivers are in on it.

Assassins can also find the best guns and ammunition to fit their specific needs. There are also tailors who will custom make bullet proof suits to help protect the killers who still want to look damn good. All of these services are pretty much hidden right in the open, but a well-connected assassin knows the best spots.

All of these services don't come free. The underworld has its own special form of currency in the form of gold coins. If an assassin kills their mark, they get rewarded with coins, which can then be spent at the Continental or any other underworld establishment. A skilled assassin like John Wick will tally up enough coins to save for emergencies and keep secret stashes in convenient places.

The High Table

All these rules had to come from somewhere, and in the underworld, the High Table is the highest authority. Not much is known about the group, but they are a council of crime lords who oversee all the wheeling and dealings. They set the rules and if anyone breaks them, then they decide the punishment through an agent called The Adjudicator.

Basically everyone in the underworld works for the High Table in some form or they are at least expected to serve when called. For example, the Continentals all answer to the Table.

The only person that we know of who is ahead of the High Table is the Elder, who lives out in the middle of dessert and does... something. His job is pretty unclear, but he's the only one who can reverse a decision made by the Table. Only a few people know who he is or how to find him.

We don't know the identity of anyone currently on the High Table, how many members there are or what their origins are. However, they seem to be fairly disliked by the people who have to answer to them, and John Wick is especially not a fan by this point. The High Table essentially marked him for death, and he's been a frequent source of trouble.

It's not every day that an action franchise comes along that tries to build its own unique world. The star of John Wick is unquestionably the action, but part of the reason that these movies are so popular is that it's a cool world. Nothing is every really explained and literally everyone seems to know who John Wick is, but that does help to make the world feel lived in.

At the end of the day, you don't want your action movie to spend five minutes explaining the bureaucracy of the hitman's job when you could be watching a sword fight on motorcycles. However, it's still fun to piece it all together once the gunfire dies down.

The John Wick franchise will continue with the release of Chapter 4 on May 21, 2021.

Yes, Disneyland Will Hand Out Bathroom Passes For People In Long Galaxy's Edge Lines

Yes, Disneyland Will Hand Out Bathroom Passes For People In Long Galaxy's Edge Lines

Disneyland is a place where we love in indulge ourselves. While buying food at Disneyland tends to get expensive, it's also incredibly good, and so whether you schedule reservations for dinner at the Napa Rose or just eat your weight in churros, food is as much a part of the Disneyland experience as anything. However, with Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge about to open, and insane lines expected from day one, guests might have been afraid to drink gallons of blue milk, so as not to have to worry about bathroom runs while standing in line for Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run. However, you won't need to choose because Disneyland will be providing bathroom passes for those in line at the new land.

It's also all the more important as Disneyland will apparently make snacks and drinks available for purchase to people standing in line. The queues for both new E-ticket attractions will also be designed with interesting things for guests to look at and interact with to keep guests' attention as a way to make the prolonged waits a little easier to deal with. Although, Disney has yet to reveal much about exactly what the queues will include. A collection of app based games that are only available while inside Galaxy's Edge will also be playable for guests to keep them busy while in line.

In actuality, according to People, hopping out of line to use the bathroom has always been an option at Disney Parks, though it's not something that the parks have made much a point to publicize. Still, it's good to know for sure that the option will be available when Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opens, as it's likely to be even more important. Galaxy's Edge will be the first place the public can purchase alcohol at Disneyland, so the restrooms will probably be getting more a workout than ever before.

Star Wars; Galaxy's Edge is set to open at Disneyland in less than two months. The crowds might not be quite as insane on opening day as anticipated, because for the first three weeks after opening the land will require reservations to enter. Still, one certainly expects that nearly everybody who can get into the land will be making their way to the Millennium Falcon attraction first. The Rise of the Resistance attraction won't be available on opening day, which means the crowds won't even be broken up between the two attractions and the line for Smuggler's Run will be even longer than expected until the second attraction opens. That will happen later this year, though an exact date is unknown.

So the good news is you can drink as much blue or green milk as you want an you won't need to worry about losing your place in line. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opens at Disneyland May 31  and at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World August 29.

Andy Serkis Went Through Extensive Makeup For Long Shot, Despite Nobody Asking Him To

Andy Serkis Went Through Extensive Makeup For Long Shot, Despite Nobody Asking Him To

Since his breakout role as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Andy Serkis has established himself as one of the most brilliantly transformative actors in modern Hollywood. Obviously a big part of it is his dedication to and expertise in the world of performance capture, but even when it comes to his “live-action” parts he rarely appears as he does in everyday life.

All that being said, you wouldn’t necessarily expect him to bring that same kind of energy to a role in a comedy like Jonathan Levine’s Long Shot, and yet he did… with absolutely nobody actually telling him to do it.

I learned the full story about Andy Serkis’ serious commitment when I attended the Los Angeles press day for Long Shot late month and had the pleasure of sitting down with the director and stars. Having gotten word about Serkis’ special initiative in the making of the movie, I first brought up the actor’s work during my interview with Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron, and both of them expressed their genuine surprise about their co-stars’ transformation into the role of Australian media mogul Parker Wembley:

Seth Rogen: We offered him the role, and then he was like, 'Okay.' And then he started sending ideas for what he would look like. And we were like, 'What do you mean? I thought he kind of looked a lot like Andy Serkis.' But he was like, 'No, I got this whole thing.' And we were like, 'Whatever, man!'

Charlize Theron: It was impressive!

The same sentiment was echoed later by Jonathan Levine, who confirmed that nobody actually asked Andy Serkis to sit in the make-up chair for many hours each day so that he could fully embody his vision of the character. At the same time, though, the director ultimately came to the realization of what the actor was doing, and got to understand the importance of physicality in the parts that Serkis takes on. Said Levine,

Andy Serkis made choices that nobody asked him to make, and that sounds like a negative thing, but as a director, actually, that's one of the most beautiful gifts you can give a director. Because he really dove into the character, and he really wanted to make it his own. The biggest thing was that he decided to be in prosthetic makeup for six hours a day. But you start to realize that this is how Andy Serkis accesses characters. If you think about Andy Serkis' career, it's facial expressions; it's very primal stuff. And so that really helped him figure out this guy.

In Long Shot, Andy Serkis’ Parker Wembley is basically halfway between Rupert Murdoch and Richard Branson, and is quickly introduced to the story as an antagonist. He winds up purchasing the independent newspaper for which Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) works as a reporter, and because Flarsky disagrees with Wembley’s politics he decides to quit. This quickly establishes legitimate conflict, but his role becomes more substantial because of his interest in gaining influence over Secretary of State Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron), who has ambitions to run for President of the United States.

Andy Serkis’ level of devotion to his craft should be obvious to this point, but what makes the whole thing even more jaw-dropping is the extra detail that Seth Rogen dropped during our conversation. After all, it’s one thing to be willing to sit in a make-up chair for six hours every day, but the choice becomes even more extreme when you learn that sometimes he would go through the entire process and then not shoot a single frame of footage:

Seth Rogen: It was ridiculous! And there were some days, because it was self-inflicted, there were some days - and this happens a lot of movies - where you think you're going to shoot a scene, and then you don't, and then you shoot it the next day or something like that. And he would go through like six hours of makeup or something like that, and then we would just be like, 'Oh, we're not to do it today.' And he's just like, 'All right!'

Charlize Theron: He was fine!

Seth Rogen: You're just like, 'Dude! Like, wow.' He's truly one of the nicest dudes in the world, which is weird cause he like exclusively plays evil people. [laughs]

This is pretty insane to think about, particularly when you consider that actors regularly complain about the process of going through extreme transformations – but perhaps it’s a bit like taking long car trips: if you go on them regularly enough, eventually you just kind of get numb to their monotony.

You'll obviously be able to see Andy Serkis' full performance in the film, but he can briefly be spotted a couple times in the trailers - the first being in the screenshot above, and a second time in the shot below:

Regardless of exactly how Andy Serkis was able to put himself through that painstaking process in the making of Long Shot, at the end of the day it was something for which Jonathan Levine expressed extreme admiration and appreciation. Said the director,

It was amazing for us, because for me it reminded me of Coming To America or Dick Tracy, you know - movies where you're like, 'Who is that guy?' and that part of it becomes part of the fun of the movie. So it was always came from a fun place, and it was always consistent with what we were going for tonally. What's great about Serkis is he's a director too, so he knew he wasn't like 'going rogue.' It was a collaborative decision, but it was one that I was just kind of like, 'Dude, you really want to be here six hours longer than you have to?' I love directing, but you know, as soon as that whistle blows, I'm out the door. [laughs]

You can watch Seth Rogen, Charlize Theron, and Jonathan Levine discuss their time working with Andy Serkis in the making of Long Shot by clicking play on the video below.

Also starring O’Shea Jackson Jr., Ravi Patel, June Diane Raphael, Alexander Skarsgard, and Bob Odenkirk, Long Shot is a romantic comedy that ultimately follows the relationship between the aforementioned Fred Flarsky and Charlotte Field, the latter having previously been the former’s babysitter. After losing his job, Flarsky winds up becoming a part of Field’s speechwriting team, and while he starts to learn how to not constantly get in his own way, she is also inspired to stand up for the ideals in which she believes. It’s one of the best comedies of the year so far, so be sure to look for it in a theater near you when it’s released this Friday.

Shazam! Made A Major Change To Billy's Parents And It Really Worked

Shazam! Made A Major Change To Billy's Parents And It Really Worked

Warning: SPOILERS for Shazam! are ahead!

Lost parents are a common trope when it comes to superhero storytelling, particularly in the DC universe. Occasionally ‘lost’ is literal, but more often than not it’s figurative, with the mother and/or father being deceased. Billy Batson is among the many DC superheroes who has lost his parents, although depending on the continuity, they’re either killed (usually the case) or are indeed missing. Shazam! took the latter approach, although it applied a unique twist that did a wonderful job reinforcing the ‘family isn’t blood’ theme.

After kicking off with showing us the adolescent Thaddeus Sivana being brought to Rock of Eternity in 1974 and failing to be selected as the wizard Shazam’s new champion, Shazam! flashed forward to show us Billy Batson as a small child attending a carnival with his mother, Rachel. Billy’s mother was trying to win Billy a stuffed tiger at a balloon-popping game, and while she didn’t succeed in doing so, she did win him a compass, which she told him he could use to find his way home.

Unfortunately (and ironically) for Billy, he was soon after separated from Rachel at the carnival. In the years following he bounced throughout the foster care system, never staying too long at a home, no matter how loving the family was, because he was determined to find his mother. Billy failed to accomplish this one his own, but luckily for him, one of the members of his latest foster family, Eugene, is a computer whiz kid, and he not only tracked down where Billy’s mother was currently living, but also discovered that her real name is Marilyn, just like in the comics.

You’d think that a reunion between mother and son would be a happy occasion, but as Billy learned upon arriving at his mother’s apartment, she didn’t reciprocate his excitement. It turned out that Marilyn did track down Billy at the fair after briefly losing him, but when she saw him being cared after by police officers, she decided he was better off being looked after by another family. Apparently our previous look at Billy and Marilyn together had been filtered through Billy’s romanticized memory, and Marilyn was actually having a difficult time caring for her son as a single parent. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Billy’s dad, C.C., is in prison.

Learning that your mother abandoned you is bad enough, but sinking the knife in further, Marilyn also told Billy that now wasn’t a good time for her to begin forming a new relationship with him, and assumed that he was doing just fine with whatever family he was living with. Understandably shocked and disappointed with how this reunion turned out, Billy handed his mother the compass she’d given him years back and returned home, at which point he returned home, gave his adoptive siblings superpowers, defeated a glowing-eyed maniac and realized he finally had found his true family. Yay, there was a happy ending for the kid after all!

When you’re making a comic book adaptation, it’s obviously necessary to take creative liberties in order for the story to flow smoothly within a cinematic framework. Every now and then, one of these changes ends up being better than what was originally depicted on the printed page, and with the kind of story Shazam! was telling, it was a better call to simply not have Billy’s parents in his life as opposed to them being dead or their whereabouts being a big mystery needing to be solved.

For those unfamiliar with the Shazam mythos, in the various pre-Flashpoint continuity stories, C.C. and Marilyn Batson usually due while traveling, with Billy being forced to live with his cruel uncle Ebenezer until being tossed onto the street. In the graphic novel The Power of Shazam!, Billy’s parents were archaeologists killed by Theo Adam, descendant of Black Adam, while on a dig in Egypt. In the New 52 universe, it’s never specified what happened to C.C. and Marilyn, although in the current Shazam comic book, Billy’s father has returned to reunite with his son. Whether this is the real C.C. or an impostor has not yet been revealed.

Regardless, had Shazam! gone the route of having Billy’s parents be dead/gone tied to some kind of conspiracy, similar to what was done was done with Peter Parker’s parents in the Amazing Spider-Man movies, would have been a mistake. Shazam! was about how people don’t need to be biologically related in order to be a family. Billy spent so much time looking for his mother that he didn’t open himself to the possibility that he could find love elsewhere in his life. With the Vasquez’s, he’s finally found that home and sense of belonging that he wanted.

There are more than enough Shazam stories from nearly 80 years to provide material for more Shazam! movies; a big mystery surrounding Billy’s parents didn’t need to be one of them. And while it may seem ridiculous commenting on realism in a movie about a boy who turns into an adult superhero by saying a magic word, it was a novel and logical idea to have Billy’s mom not caring for him because she didn’t want to. As heartbreaking as it is, there are people who have just been abandoned by their parents for selfish reasons, and by taking this approach, Asher Angel’s Billy becomes a more relatable character.

It’s also worth mentioning that this ‘family isn’t blood’ idea extends particularly well to one of Billy Batson’s siblings, Mary Bromfield. Before The New 52, Mary was Billy’s biological sister, reuniting with her brother years after their parents died. However, like in the New 52, Shazam!’s versions of Billy and Mary are not related by blood, but by the end of the movie they finally form that brother/sister bond and still get to be superheroes with their other siblings. It’s a win-win.

It’s possible Billy Batson’s biological parents could factor into future Shazam! movies. Maybe Marilyn will change her mind and decide she does want to build a relationship with Billy, and/or maybe his father will be freed from prison and decides to seek out Billy. But even if this does happen, Billy already has a family who loves and cares about him. These people care about him and have his back, and vice versa. And especially with his siblings, there won’t be any lack of excitement in their lives going forward.

Be sure to read CinemaBlend’s review of Shazam! and stay tuned for updates on how Shazam! 2 is coming along. You can also look through our DC movies guide to learn what else is in development for the DCEU.