Skip to main content

Film

Cinema isn’t just about the latest Disney/Pixar project or Star Wars spin-off. Memorable storytelling is happening all over the film industry, from Hollywood’s box-office-busting superhero smashes to small, innovative indie experiments. The Verge’s film section is here to help you sort through the latest Hollywood news and reviews, from favorite genres like sci-fi, fantasy, and horror to the independent movies that matter.

A
Twitter
Andrew Webster
We’ve got Chicken Jockey at home.

Well, soon we will, at least. Warner Bros. has confirmed that A Minecraft Movie will be available digitally on May 13th, though there’s no word on when it might hit streaming platforms.

A
Youtube
Andrew Webster
Walk hard.

The first trailer for The Long Walk, the latest Stephen King adaptation, starts out pretty cheerful and wholesome before fully revealing its much darker premise. It’s being directed by Francis Lawrence, best-known for his work on The Hunger Games series, and hits theaters on September 12th. It’s also not the only dystopic King film in the works, as Edgar Wright is making a new version of The Running Man due out in November.

A
Youtube
Andrew Webster
So happy (?) together.

Fair warning: the new trailer for Michael Shanks’ Together may only be two minutes long, but it’s full of body horror moments that will stick with you. The movie hits theaters on July 30th.

A
Youtube
Andrew Webster
The gang is back together.

Here’s the first, very brief, teaser for Highest 2 Lowest, which has Denzel Washington and Spike Lee working together once again. The thriller is a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low, only set in New York in the present, and it also stars Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, and A$AP Rocky. It hits theaters on August 22nd before streaming on Apple TV Plus on September 5th.

Thunderbolts* is Marvel’s latest attempt at clawing out of an existential void

The MCU’s new crossover tentpole is focused on trauma, bad jokes, and getting the movie franchise back on solid footing.

Charles Pulliam-MooreCommentsComment Icon Bubble
C
Youtube
Charles Pulliam-Moore
40 Acres and a theatrical debut.

After premiering at last year’s TIFF, R.T. Thorne’s post-apocalyptic thriller 40 Acres is finally making its way into movie theaters this summer on July 2nd.

C
Youtube
Charles Pulliam-Moore
See you at the Powerline concert.

It has been 30 years since A Goofy Movie first hit theaters, and to celebrate the film’s anniversary, Disney just uploaded an immersive, virtual reality version of the Powerline concert sequence that features 360 degree audio and a handful of new easter eggs.

J
Jay Peters
Fortnite is offering a free Stormtrooper outfit.

...if you link your Epic Games account to your MyDisney account, according to a blog post. It’s a “first step” ahead of the planned “universe” Disney and Epic are building together that’s tied to Fortnite. You’ll also be able to catch two episodes of Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld in Fortnite starting May 2nd, which is two days before the show debuts on Disney Plus.

Fortnite’s Star Wars-themed season kicks off on Friday.

A picture of the First Order Stormtrooper Outfit in Fortnite.
J
Twitter
Jay Peters
Layoffs at Respawn.

The studio will “step away” from “two early-stage incubation projects” and is making “targeted team adjustments” across its Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi teams. That translates to layoffs, though it’s unclear how many people are affected, per an IGN report.

C
Youtube
Charles Pulliam-Moore
It’s prom night on Fear Street.

Co-writer / director Matt Palmer’s Fear Street: Prom Queen is the first of Netflix’s new trilogy of horror features inspired by R.L. Stine’s books, and the movie’s first trailer makes it look like it’ll be a teen-friendly (albeit R-rated) riff on classic slashers when it debuts on May 23rd.

W
Wes Davis
Studio Ghibli’s movie stills remain as lovely as ever.

Kottke.org reminds us today about that time in 2020 when the famed animation studio published hundreds of stills from its animated films. Ghibli promised it would put up more over time, and so it has — including 2023’s The Boy and the Heron.

A crop of one of Ghibli’s posted images from The Boy and the Heron.
A crop of one of Ghibli’s posted images from The Boy and the Heron.
Image: Studio Ghibli
C
External Link
Charles Pulliam-Moore
The Chicken Jockey screenings are here.

For folks who absolutely need to lose it when the Chicken Jockey shows up in A Minecraft Movie, Warner Bros. is rolling out new “Block Party Edition” screenings where talking and singing along with the movie (but not throwing stuff around) is encouraged.

C
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Ryan Coogler is right, and he should say it.

In light of all the bad faith noise that’s been made about Ryan Coogler securing a very good contract with Warner Bros. for Sinners, the director stopped by Democracy Now! to point out how odd (and telling) it is that he’s being singled out for his deal when a number of other filmmakers have been able to do the exact same thing.

J
Twitter
Jay Peters
General Grievous is coming to Fortnite.

Star Wars prequel memes are undefeated.

C
External Link
Charles Pulliam-Moore
The Split Fiction movie has found one of its leads.

There’s no word on whether she’ll be playing Zoe or Mio, but Variety reports Sydney Sweeney has been cast in the upcoming Split Fiction film adaptation that will be directed by Wicked’s Jon M. Chu and written by Deadpool & Wolverine scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

Sinners’ cinematographer wants you to feel the Mississippi Delta’s vastness

To bring Sinners to life, director of photography Autumn Durald Arkapaw had to focus on the big picture.

Charles Pulliam-MooreCommentsComment Icon Bubble
D
Youtube
Dominic Preston
Succession, but make it tech.

HBO just dropped a trailer for Mountainhead, the new film from Succession creator Jesse Armstrong, which hits HBO and Max on May 31st.

While Succession skewered the media, Mountainhead has its sights on big tech. Steve Carell, Cory Michael Smith, Ramy Youssef, and Jason Schwartzman play Silicon Valley billionaires holed up in a mountain retreat while the outside world works through some crises, and I’m guessing they’ll have one or two of their own.

C
Youtube
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Got any summer plans?

Summer is still a few months away, but there’s a new trailer for director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s I Know What You Did Last Summer, which looks fine save for the conspicuous lack of Brandy Norwood’s Karla Wilson. The movie’s out July 18th.

R
External Link
Richard Lawler
Another Sega gaming franchise is turning into a movie, directed by Michael Bay.

After the success of Sonic, Mario, and (most recently), Minecraft, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter say that Universal has found its next videogame-to-movie adaptation: OutRun.

Yes, the arcade racer with little more than a convertible driving down a road scrolling into infinity reportedly has Michael Bay attached to direct and produce, along with actress Sydney Sweeney as a producer, and Jayson Rothwell (Polar) writing the script.

C
Twitter
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Sinners don’t need popcorn buckets.

Instead of selling Sinners-themed popcorn buckets, IMAX theaters are giving out commemorative film strips, which is feels like a stroke of genius.

C
Youtube
Charles Pulliam-Moore
In Weapons, the kids come out at night.

Warner Bros.’ unsettling new teaser for writer / director Zach Cregger’s latest film Weapons doesn’t reveal all that much. But the movie’s promotional website makes it seem like we might be in for an expansion of the Barbarian universe when it hits theaters on August 8th.

Andor’s second season traces the long arc of Star Wars’ revolutionary history

Andor’s final chapter feels like a series of mini-movies about how wars for freedom are won in fits and starts.

Charles Pulliam-MooreCommentsComment Icon Bubble
W
Youtube
Wes Davis
Peter Dinklage’s next movie is toxic.

After a long struggle to find a distributor — one producer told World of Reel it was seen as “unreleasable” because of how gross it is — the Dinklage-starring remake of The Toxic Avenger is finally due for theatrical release on August 29th in the US.

In its second teaser, Dinklage’s Winston Gooze, AKA Toxie, seeks help for a mysterious illness from the head of his company, played by Kevin Bacon. And yeah, it looks gross.