Movies

Disney and Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame has stormed into historic territory, earning $2.19 billion worldwide in less than two weeks to become the No. 2 film of all time, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.

That exalted number, which includes the film’s estimated take of $145.8 million this three-day weekend in North America, pushes the superhero blockbuster past Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which netted $2.07 billion, and even Titanic ($2.18 billion).

Rami Malek wasn't going to let Bond 25 pass him by. 

ET was the only entertainment show invited to sit down with the cast of the upcoming movie at GoldeEye in Jamaica, where the late Sir Ian Fleming created James Bond, and where the newest film will be set. ET's Kevin Frazier got all the details from star Daniel Craig, director Cary Fukunaga and more on Thursday -- while Malek (who's playing the new villain) joined in via satellite. 

Now that we're all getting over Avengers: Endgame, Sony has released a new trailer for this summer's Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel. Now that Endgame's spoiler ban has lifted (according to the Russo brothers at least), the trailer also definitively reveals that Spider-Man's new movie takes place after the Avengers film in the MCU.

If you haven't seen Endgame yet, stop now.

The three-minute trailer, released Monday, shows Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) grieving the loss of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), the latter having perished at the end of Endgame. Parker quickly reveals to police officers (in his Spidey costume, of course) that he's going on vacation with his friends, all of whom appear to have been dusted and resurrected since it appears Ned (Jacob Batalon), Michelle "MJ" Jones (Zendaya) and Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori) are all the same age.

Parker is seen avoiding a phone call from Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), much to Hogan's dismay. But as seen in the earlier trailer, Fury and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) recruit Parker from his European trip and introduce him to Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal) -- who is revealed to be from another Earth in a different dimension.

The trailer confirms that there is now an MCU Multiverse, one in which Gyllenhaal's Beck is from another Earth apparently caused by Thanos' snap tearing a hole in the dimension (something we even hinted at coming after Endgame).

Parker is hoping to continue his trip, but Fury tells him that other heroes like Thor and Captain Marvel are not available right now. Also, if it wasn't obvious enough that Spider-Man is the only available option to deal with threats to Earth, MJ tells him it's obvious that Parker's Spidey.

We also get looks at Mysterio flying through the city, Spider-Man dealing with a fiery Molten Man and Hogan trying to rescue Parker's friends by saying he works with Spider-Man.

In the comics, Mysterio is typically an acclaimed "bad guy," but it looks like we may be getting a European buddy-comedy in this film -- which leaves many fans with a lot of questions. The official movie description from Sony seems to insinuate that Spidey will at least team up with someone, but maybe it's just Fury instead of Beck:

Our friendly neighborhood Super Hero decides to join his best friends Ned, MJ, and the rest of the gang on a European vacation. However, Peter's plan to leave super heroics behind for a few weeks are quickly scrapped when he begrudgingly agrees to help Nick Fury uncover the mystery of several elemental creature attacks, creating havoc across the continent!

This multiverse was rumored previously, and only somewhat fueled by an interview the directors did with EW, wherein Joe Russo confirmed that Ned was also dusted during the Snap and his reunion with Peter in Endgame is just that: "That's the two of them seeing each other for the first time after having disappeared."

There's also been much speculation about the film's name; Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige himself said he likes the multiple meanings behind it, telling sister site ComicBook.com: "It ties into Homecoming, not just keeping that word going, which we like and we liked it more than Homecoming 2, but that notion of 'home' is a word that has dual meanings we'd like to continue with this [MCU] version of Spider-Man. So, Far From Home has multiple meanings."

Far From Home arrives in theaters on July 2.

Avengers: Endgame review -- Marvel thrill ride tops Infinity War: The satisfying superhero epic doesn't leave a second to spare. No spoilers.

Endgame confirms Captain America as my favorite Avenger: Steve Rogers reminds us again that it’s not the star-spangled suit and Vibranium shield that make a hero.

Jon Favreau’s upcoming “The Lion King” is not a live-action movie, but don’t expect to see the upcoming remake of Disney’s 1994 classic in the 2020 Oscar race for Best Animated Feature. IndieWire caught up with the director at the “Avengers: Endgame” world premiere where he revealed there is only one live-action shot in the entirety of his “The Lion King” remake. Favreau snuck in the shot just to see whether or not viewers will be able to tell the difference between live-action and the movie’s photorealistic visual effects.

Favreau has worked predominantly with CGI animation before on “The Jungle Book,” his 2016 family tentpole that grossed $966 million worldwide and won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. “The Jungle Book” had one major live-action component thanks to child actor Neel Sethi, but “The Lion King” is completely animated. Motion capture was not used on “Lion King.” The actors who worked on the film (James Earl Jones returns as the voice of Mufasa, Donald Glover is the adult Simba, and Chiwetel Ejiofor is Scar, among others) provided only the voices for their characters.

While Favreau’s “The Lion King” is technically an animated movie, the director and Disney have approached the film as live-action. Favreau is aiming for believable naturalistic realism, even though moviegoers will have to accept that the animals will move their mouths to speak. The project was even set up under Disney executive Sean Bailey’s live-action banner. To distinguish the film even more as a live-action effort, Disney is likely to skip an awards campaign for animation and instead focus on the Best Visual Effects race. Disney handled “The Jungle Book” the same way and it paid off with the Oscar. As Favreau told IndieWire about his film’s blurring the visual lines between live-action and animation, “I love the way things are fuzzy.”

Favreau made news earlier this month by going on record saying his “Lion King” remake will not be a shot-for-shot remake of the 1994 animated movie. With that being said, Favreau said some of the 1994 movie’s shots were so iconic he couldn’t possibly leave them out of his new version. “The original holds up incredibly well,” Favreau told USA Today, “so the challenge here was to tell a story in a different way but still deliver on people’s expectations while surprising them somehow.”

Disney will release “The Lion King” in theaters nationwide July 19.

Disney-Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame” is heading for a record-shattering opening weekend of about $300 million in North America, early estimates showed on Friday.

The fourth and final “Avengers” opened astronomically in North America with a record $60 million from Thursday night previews. It’s expected to take in another $80 million on Friday. One estimate placed “Avengers: Endgame” in the $315 million range.

Anticipation has been sky-high this year for “Avengers: Endgame,” which launches at a record 4,662 North American theaters this weekend — the widest release of any movie at the domestic box office.

Should current projections hold, “Avengers: Endgame” will obliterate the debut weekend record for North America, set a year ago when “Avengers: Infinity War” launched with $257.7 million, topping the previous mark of $248 million set in 2015 by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

Avengers: Endgame” earned more than P205.6 million on its first day, making it the highest-grossing opening in Philippine cinema.

Warner Bros.’ second weekend of “The Curse of La Llorona” will lead the rest of the pack in the $9 million to $10 million range. Disney’s eighth frame of “Captain Marvel” should follow with $7 million to $8 million, giving the title a 52-day domestic total of around $413 million by the end of the weekend.
Warner’s fourth frame of “Shazam!” will likely earn about $6 million to lift its 24-day North American total past $130 million.

With Jean Grey a.k.a. Phoenix (played by Game of Thrones’ Sophie Turner) out of control in the final trailer reveal of X-Men: Dark Phoenix, her fellow mutants unite to save her from wreaking havoc on earth and to the rest of the X-men force.

“X-Men: Dark Phoenix sees the X-men on a rescue mission in space when Jean was struck by a powerful solar flare and returned to earth unknowingly transformed into the most dangerous lethal weapon. Wrestling with this entity inside her, Jean unleashes her powers in ways she can neither comprehend nor contain.
With Jean spiraling out of control, and hurting the ones she loves most, she begins to unravel the very fabric that holds the X-Men together. Now, with this family falling apart, they must find a way to unite—not only to save Jean’s soul, but to save our very planet from aliens who wish to weaponize this force and rule the galaxy.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix also stars Michael Fassbender as Magneto, James McAvoy as Professor X, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Alexandra Shipp as Storm, Evan Peters as Quicksilver, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops, Andrew Stehlin as Red Lotus, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler, and Kota Eberhardt as Selene with Jessica Chastain in a mysterious role.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix opens in Philippine cinemas on June 5 from 20th Century Fox.