So Many People Are Going to Galaxy's Edge, Disneyland Has To Actually Expand Entryway

So Many People Are Going to Galaxy's Edge, Disneyland Has To Actually Expand Entryway

We're coming into the home stretch before Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opens at Disneyland, but the park still has a lot of work to do to get ready. In anticipation of the major crowds that are expected to swarm the park, Disneyland recently took to modifying the entrance to Adventureland, which will be one of the major pathways to Galaxy's Edge, in order to allow it to accommodate more people. This included removing the iconic sign above the hub entrance, though the word is Disney Parks plans to reuse as much of the sign as possible for the brand new entrance.

Disneyland's hub and spoke design is an iconic part of the park's layout that allowed guests to enter any of the park's major areas once they reached the end of Main Street USA. However, even with the park's first major expansion back in the 1960s, this concept began to fall apart. New Orleans Square was built out of a corner of Frontierland, meaning guests had to go through either Adventureland or Frontierland to get there.

Mickey's Toontown likewise requires guests to trek all the way through Fantasyland to see it.

The only space that Disneyland has had available for expansion has been in the back of the park, in an area previously holding offices and other "behind the scenes" cast member areas. This is going to make traffic a serious concern at Disneyland as the new area that everybody is going to be headed towards requires guests to pass through the rest of the park, making pretty much the entire park feel more crowded.

Adventureland Sign Removal

In order to make this a little more painless, Disneyland recently widened the path between the hub and Adventureland. One problem, that has DIsney fans a little sad, is that the wider path means the existing Adventureland sign no longer fits.

The permit to remove the iconic Adventureland sign was first uncovered by theme park fan Matthew Gotula in early April. The new entrance has been largely completed, and now has a very small sign denoting your location.

While there is only a small sign there now, a new larger sign is planned to be created, which will utilize as much of the previous sign as possible. The plan, according to the OC Register, is to have the new sign in place in time for the Galaxy's Edge opening May 31.

Dole Whip Diversion

A number of other changes are being implemented to help deal with crowds. One potentially surprising change is that the Dole Whip stand in front of the Enchanted Tiki Room will be closed on busy days, in order to prevent the crowds that often line up to get the popular soft serve pineapple treat.

Fear not, however, Dole Whip will still be available at the new Tropical Hideway, the grab-and-go food stand that opened late last year. Dole Whip is always available there. Also, you can get it with rum at the Disneyland Hotel coffee house, if you're inclined to such things.

The Dole Whip stand situation shows just how important these changes are. Normally, on a busy day, Disneyland would want to have as many places to buy Dole Whip, or anything else for that matter, as possible. However, in this case traffic flow is actually even more important than selling more food.

Project Stardust

All of these changes are part of a large, park wide, traffic review called Project Stardust (Star Wars+ Pixie Dust). Everything from seating and planter locations to stroller parking has been under review, and much of it has been moved or removed, in order to make it easier for people to make their way through the park.

Early estimates were that Disneyland could see as many as 200,000 people on the opening day of Galaxy's Edge. While the exact capacity of the park is unknown, estimates put the number at someplace around 85,000 people.

It's unclear if things will be quite that dire, since Disneyland has instituted a reservation system for the first three weeks after Galaxy's Edge opens. You can secure a reservation for Galaxy's Edge by making a Disneyland Resort hotel reservation. Everybody, booked into the room is guaranteed entry into Galaxy's Edge during one day of the booked stay, for a period that appears to be four hours long.

Anybody not staying on property will have an opportunity to book a reservation for Galaxy's Edge on May 2.

While the reservation system will likely keep those that don't have reservations away, the four hour block will mean that those waiting for their reservation time will be all over the rest of Disneyland, making traffic flow important not only in the areas that lead to Galaxy's Edge, but everywhere in the park.

Of course, the big question is just how long the massive crowds are expected to fill Galaxy's Edge? The interest in Galaxy's Edge clearly exceeds anything that has ever come before. The new attractions will likely be the most popular in the park for years to come. Does that mean the crowds won't die down for years?

One item that could prolong the popularity of Galaxy's Edge is that the initial opening will actually only be the beginning of phase one for Galaxy's Edge. Only one of the two E-ticket attractions, Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run will be open on say one. The second attraction, Rise of the Resistance will come later. Exactly when has not been announced, but it will come later in 2019.

This means that even those that get to experience Galaxy's Edge early will have every reason to want to return if only to get a chance to ride the second attraction.

It's also unclear just how much you'll be able to do in a four window. Will that be enough time to ride Smuggler's Run and have dinner, or will you have to come back if you want to do both?

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opens at Disneyland May 31 and will come to Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World on August 29.

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Joe Russo Is Interested In Directing A Batman Movie

Joe Russo Is Interested In Directing A Batman Movie

By now, you are likely more than a little familiar with Avengers: Endgame, the massive comic book movie that is climbing its way to being the highest-grossing film of all time. In that case, you also might know Joe Russo, the co-director of Endgame and three other of Marvel's best films. With Endgame out in theaters, Joe Russo and his partner/brother Anthony Russo are done with the MCU, but not necessarily with comic book movies. If given the chance to direct a DC movie, Joe Russo would like to take his shot at Batman.

Hot off of co-directing two massive and successful Avengers films, the Russo Brothers are taking a break from Marvel for the foreseeable future. The duos' next project will reunite them with Tom Holland for the drama film Cherry. While the two talked about what projects would bring them back to the MCU, nothing is in the works at the moment.

However, that doesn't mean that they are done with superheroes. There are plenty of non-Marvel options out there, with the biggest one being DC over at Warner Bros. While appearing in a live chat with ComicBook, Joe Russo was asked by a fan what DC Comics character he'd like to direct in a movie. The answer was one of the biggest superheroes of all time.

As far as what I collected as a kid, I collected Batman. [That] was one of the DC characters I collected. So it would have to be Batman.

If Joe Russo wants to direct a Batman movie, he'll have to get in line. Matt Reeves is currently working on the next Batman film. The project has been a little touch-and-go, with Ben Affleck leaving the role and a few behind-the-scenes changes before Reeves stepped in.

There haven't been many updates about The Batman, but it'll be a noir detective-style story. The script is still being worked on and there's no shortage of casting rumors for Batman.

After tackling the Avengers franchise, there's little doubt the Russos are more than up to the task of directing a Batman movie. After handling a cast of over, like, 20 characters, I'm sure it'd be refreshing for the brothers to turn their gaze to just one superhero.

Given the almost unprecedented success of the MCU and the Russo Bros.' role in it, I would wager that Warner Bros. would offer them any superhero movie that struck their fancy. Much like with James Gunn taking over The Suicide Squad, I'm sure DC is willing to play ball with the Russos if they want. The door is wide open for the duo after Avengers: Endgame.

You can see the Russo Bros.' latest film (as if you haven't already) Avengers: Endgame in theaters right now. For everything else coming to theaters near you this year, check out our 2019 movie release guide.

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A True Cloverfield Sequel Is Happening, Here’s What We Know

A True Cloverfield Sequel Is Happening, Here’s What We Know

The Cloverfield Universe has grown and expanded since the original Cloverfield flick came out back in 2008. In the time since, producer J.J. Abrams and co. have expanded the universe with stories that touched on the original premise, but were also wholly their own distinct stories. However, at CinemaCon this week, Paramount and Abrams revealed that another Cloverfield movie is in development, and this time it is planned to be a "true, dedicated" sequel to the original film.

During a panel created for all things Paramount, J.J. Abrams was talking about the upcoming film Overlord. That flick is definitely not a Cloverfield sequel, as the horror film is set during WWII and will feature supernatural stuff and other strange happenings, although it was previously rumored to be the project that could be the Cloverfield sequel. During the taped introduction of that movie, J.J. Abrams admitted that a real sequel is in the works and that it will be heading to theaters sooner rather than later. The news comes a couple of months after reports indicated the still-untitled Cloverfield 4 had already been greenlighted, although that news was tied to Overlord and now holds at least somewhat untrue.

If you are familiar with the Cloverfield Universe, the original film introduced us to an invasion and a new sort of movie monster. The movie was well-received, and in 2016, 10 Cloverfield Lane was introduced. Intriguingly, the movie had not started out as another movie in the universe J.J. Abrams had created. By the time Bad Robot nabbed it and the final product was created, those two movies were on different timelines, although they still work within the confines of the same universe. This year, Netflix and Paramount also released The Cloverfield Paradox. While less well-received overall, that movie is also set in the same universe and answers some questions previously put forth by the universe. Again, The Cloverfield Paradox was a situation where the movie didn't start out in the Cloverfield Universe and the concept was added to the movie when it was already filming, as Abrams has previously confirmed.

However, neither 10 Cloverfield Lane nor The Cloverfield Paradox are direct sequels to Cloverfield. They don't pick up after the time the U.S. government nabbed the camera documenting Rob and Beth's day together in New York, and they feature very different characters and settings. So, the idea that a direct sequel to the 2008 film should be very exciting for anyone who has been keeping tabs on the universe in the decade since its inception.

We'll keep you updated as more details about Cloverfield 4 (or 2?) are confirmed. However, one other tenet of this universe happens to be the secretive way that it has been pushed out in the past, with The Cloverfield Paradox getting its first trailer during the Super Bowl this year, and spectacularly coming out just after the game. For now, keep your eye on the prize with our full movie schedule and stay tuned for more CinemaCon coverage from on the ground.

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Why Airlines And Studios Should Allow First Run Movies On Flights

Why Airlines And Studios Should Allow First Run Movies On Flights

When it comes to flying, there can be a lot to complain about. Leg room is always an issue, the food is subpar at best, and somehow there's never enough room for luggage. For all the complaints one can find with flying on a commercial flight, however, the television and film selections are usually pretty solid. Most new Digital releases can be found on flights, and sometimes you don't always have to pay to see them!

As good as movie options on airlines typically are, they could always be better. In fact, it would really be the best if studios would collaborate with big companies to allow first run movies to play on flights. Like some in-flight services, it could be offered as a luxury to passengers for an added fee. It doesn't seem like it would be all that hard to implement and could be something that could be mutually beneficial to studios and airlines.

Why Is This A Good Idea?

For airlines, the pros behind providing first run films on flights is obvious. Movies may not be the deciding factor in someone's airline choice, although it's more than fair to say the right movie could potentially factor into choosing an airline. For example, if I were choosing a flight the Friday Avengers: Endgame opens and I saw one provider had it available on my flight, I'd likely choose them provided my flight was as long as its runtime. Plus, there's potential for happier customers who are watching first run movies instead of no movies or content they've already caught before.

Of course, there would probably be some on the flight who wouldn't care about the film or might choose a different flight if it were cheaper or had better times, for example. That's unfortunate, but not a deal breaker as airlines already have a system in place for those to pay for additional content. As long as the price for a film is left off of the plane ticket, folks shouldn't complain.

Of course, theater chains might be less pumped, as many are already scrambling to bring audiences back to movie theaters with various ideas. Giving airlines first run rights likely wouldn't sit well with some at first, especially those with theaters already in some airports. Granted, that's an experience only a select few airports offer worldwide, and it's more than fair to say this an arrangement shouldn't hurt the average theater's bottom line.

After all, it's not like someone is going to book a flight cross-country every time a movie they want to see premieres. Additionally, folks flying to and from locations probably aren't planning to go to a theater that day anyway, although I suppose an argument could be made this might inhibit an eventual trip to a theater. With that in mind, perhaps this is why this plan has not happened yet. But I say theater chains should really get involved!

How Theaters Should Get Involved

This is why it's a good thing theaters can get in on this action as well, and make the allure of watching first run movies on flights even more attractive. Sure a new movie on a flight is awesome, but imagine being able to watch the latest and greatest movies during those crushingly long layovers at airports? Suddenly, six hours sitting in a random terminal sounds a lot more bearable.

There are some logistical issues with this of course, seeing as people would be flying in and out of airports at varying times, and choosing any combination of movies to view. The bottom line is that simply building a movie theater to accommodate this experience is impractical, and would be the wrong way to approach this.

With that said, if a theater chain had a row of kiosks available to travelers getting off flights to resume their movie, that would be great. A kiosk prevents multiple people from crowding in (comfortably anyway) to piggy back on one purchased film, and would allow another person a reasonable amount of privacy to relax and enjoy the rest of their film and possibly another while waiting on a connection.

So How Would This Work? 

Presumably, a person's progress on a film would be linked to their plane ticket and could be scanned at a kiosk, or they could be given a QR code to photograph with their smartphone to pull the film back up at the airport. Either way, a method like this would be necessary, as buying the rights to view a film twice when the first viewing was interrupted would be something most consumers wouldn't tolerate.

Additionally, a way of tracking one's progress in a film and transferring it would be handy for those with connecting flights. Pausing a film and then being able to seamlessly resume it on the next flight would be remarkably simple, which quite frankly, would be a godsend considering how stressful making a connecting flight can be. Of course, there'd probably be instances where airlines wouldn't honor each others purchases, so this plan isn't full proof.

A third party were to do the legwork on making this a thing. That would at least encourage mass adoption across airlines, and resolve the headache of them having to directly interact with each other. It's a niche market, but surely there's enough demand for one company to do it well and usher in a brave new movie experience? I don't have a business degree, I just have ideas.

I also have a mild anxiety of flying that would be severely lessened by the fact I'd get a chance to see a new movie. As mentioned, the options on flights are sometimes pretty solid, so a move like this would merely be an upgrade to one of the nicest parts of a flying experience. That is, until VR on planes becomes a thing and I can simulate any other type of experience that isn't flying high in the sky.

Readers, would you pay the extra money on a flight for a first run film? Sound off in our poll, and hop down to the comments for any additional thoughts you may have. For more on things happening with theaters, check out one form of transportation that may be getting a unique viewing experience in the future.

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That Time Scarlett Johansson Had To Pick Up Guys While Filming A Movie

That Time Scarlett Johansson Had To Pick Up Guys While Filming A Movie

2013’s Under the Skin was certainly one of the most bizarre roles to date for Scarlett Johansson. The actress played an alien masquerading as an alluring woman who scours the streets of Glasgow for men, entices them to have sex with her and then murders them in cold blood. As it turns out, during the making of Under the Skin Johansson had quite the unconventional experience with several of the men playing opposite of her. Here’s what she said:

A remarkable aspect of Under the Skin is that a lot of the people who appear in it aren’t actors. They’re normal people – who happen to be walking down a road minding their own business when a pretty lady pulls up in a van alongside them and offers them a lift to Tesco and then a film crew clutching disclaimers leaps out of the back.

Wait… what? Many of the men featured in Under the Skin were actually picked up by Scarlett Johansson herself, whilst she was in character in short black hair. In an interview with The Guardian, she was asked at what point did director Jonathan Glazer tell her they didn’t have other actors and the plan was to drift through the streets and find some during the making of the 2013 sci-fi drama? Her answer:

That happened later on. And none of us knew how it was going to work. We toyed with lots of different things like prosthetics, teeth, all kinds of things that would change my face but only slightly, when in fact there was no need to do any of that.

Under the Skin was an indie film with just a $13 million budget, which explains the lack of actors in the film. It was unclear if this method would actually work though. Would they recognize the actress? It seemed to work out in the film’s favor and lean into the realism of the experience.

Daily Mail spoke with one of the men who was approached by the famous actress. 29-year-old Kevin McAlinden stopped him while in her car, rolled down the window and asked “Are you single? What are you doing tonight?” He didn’t recognize her as Scarlett Johansson, but noticed the actress’ undeniable beauty had recently split with his partner. He thought he won the jackpot. In his words:

I thought, 'Yes! This is unbelievable!' I’d been having quite a tough time in my personal life, so this was like a lucky break. I should have known it was too good to be true.

When he got into the car, he of course was told he was being recruited for a movie role. Can you imagine? That’s Black Widow, man? Duh! She’s only the most successful actresses in the world. Either way this is a crazy story about the behind-the-scenes of Under the Skin and certainly calls for a second-viewing after learning this about it.

You can see Scarlett Johansson next in Avengers: Endgame starting April 26.

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Issa Rae May Be Doing a Lot More Projects With Will Packer After Little

Issa Rae May Be Doing a Lot More Projects With Will Packer After Little

Insecure series creator and star Issa Rae is making her leading big-screen debut this weekend alongside Marsai Martin in Big switcheroo, Little. The comedy may be the start of a beautiful partnership between the talent and Will Packer Productions, who has previously given Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish breakout movie roles (Ride Along and Girls Trip) that rocketed them into super-stardom.

Only time will tell if Little is Issa Rae’s, but you can bet Will Packer fell head over heels for Rae’s comedy chops in their first collaboration. In my recent interview with the producer, he couldn’t help gushing about her. In Packer’s words:

I love Issa, I would do a lot with her.

Yes! The actress has made a name for herself on HBO as the voice of her own series that centers on her own awkward experiences (mostly hilarious, sometimes a whole lot of dramatic) living in Los Angeles but more roles on the big screen is certainly the next step for her. Will Packer continued showing his love for Issa Rae by discussing the next he has going with her. Check out what he told me:

We've got another movie that is actually shooting right now. It's a love story called The Photograph and it's her and LaKeith Stanfield, a movie that's written and directed by a young female filmmaker named Stella Meghie. I'm very excited about it. I think that it's going to allow Issa to do something different. She's still going to bring her charm and her charisma. She's got a very unproduced quality about her. She's very natural, straightforward, what you see is what you get quality that I think is relatable to audiences. So she's bringing that to that project. But I just think that she is somebody that is the voice of the millennial generation in a different way than anybody else is doing right now.

This is definitely exciting. We may be witnessing the start of a very successful comedic career for Issa Rae with her work with blockbuster producer Will Packer. The Photograph is her next project that Universal has wasted no time getting up and running as it’s currently in production. According to Variety, the romantic-drama will focus on two intertwining love stories in the past and present and has a release date set for Valentine’s Day in 2020.

Issa Rae will be starring alongside LaKeith Stanfield who recently starred in Sorry to Bother You and Get Out. The actress also just wrapped filming a rom-com with Kumail Nanjiani called The Lovebirds. The film also set for release in early 2020 will be directed by Michael Showalter, who helmed Oscar-nominated rom-com The Big Sick. Issa Rae is also signed on to star in two other comedies in the future called Empress of Serenity and American Princess.

Get ready for a whole lot of more Issa Rae! The actress certainly has a relatable and funny charm that looks to be taking her far. Her new comedy Little is in theaters now.

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Chewbacca Actor Joonas Suotamo Pens Tribute To Peter Mayhew

Chewbacca Actor Joonas Suotamo Pens Tribute To Peter Mayhew

There’s a disturbance in the Force. The Star Wars family lost one of their own when the original Chewbacca, Peter Mayhew, died last week at 74. There’s since been an outpouring of love and homage paid to the actor who portrayed the lovable Wookie for almost 40 years.

Peter Mayhew’s apprentice, Joonas Suotamo, who shared the Chewbacca role with him in The Force Awakens before completely taking on the role for The Last Jedi, Solo: A Star Wars Story and The Rise of Skywalker, has joined in to pay tribute as well. Suotamo reminisced about working with the icon with these words:

We had a camp-like session together at [London's] Pinewood [Studios] for a week or so before we began filming The Force Awakens. We watched footage of the original movies and talked about Chewbacca's mannerisms, his nature, his attributes, his physical movements. It was the cocking of the head in a certain way, and also the proud chest of Chewbacca and the way the arms flail all over when he gets angry or excited. We talked a lot about all that.

Joonas Suotamo talked about the memorable time he shared with Peter Mayhew to The Hollywood Reporter when they worked together for the 2015 Star Wars film. It looks like Mayhew set up a Chewbacca boot camp of sorts for him to teach Suotamo how the character moves and acts – including to lead with the chest. Suotamo continued by describing how the actor felt about passing the character to him:

I think it was a tender situation for Peter because he'd been Chewbacca all his life, and to pass the baton — it's not easy. But I always told him, he's the original Chewbacca, and everything I would do was to pay homage to how he set up the character. He took it so well.

George Lucas cast Peter Mayhew for 1977’s A New Hope, and he reprised the role for the entire trilogy whilst keeping his other job at a hospital. Due to his love for the character (and Chewbacca’s global popularity), Mayhew made his living in the role and through public appearances. In a recent tribute, Lucas said he was “more like a Wookie than I originally imagined a Wookie to be.” Mayhew reprised the role in Revenge of the Sith among other reappearances.

Joonas Suotamo closed out his recent words about his Wookie mentor by saying:

Peter was always a very kind, very likable person who didn’t make a big deal about himself. He was quiet but very wise in his words — he chose his words carefully. And he was honest. The first time when I met with him, he told me I was too skinny to play a Wookiee. We laughed a lot about that. He was a giant man with a big heart.

This is so sweet! The two developed a great relationship and Joonas Suotamo got to get to know Peter Mayhew as he genuinely was. The new Chewbacca actor joined in tribute after Star Wars actors including Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill reacted to his passing. Mayhew died soon after suffering a heart attack and had undergone spinal surgery last year to improve his mobility. The actor was over seven feet tall due to a connective tissue disorder called Marfan Syndrome.

Joonas Suotamo was a Finnish basketball before taking on the role of Chewbacca, and he towers at 6'11''. He was approached while the search was on for a very tall man with blue eyes and the role fit the bill for him. Chewbacca will live on in Suotamo when he reprises the role in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on December 20.

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Fans Won't Stop Casting Dave Bautista As Bane In The Suicide Squad, And We're Here For It

Fans Won't Stop Casting Dave Bautista As Bane In The Suicide Squad, And We're Here For It

After years of waiting for news on the proposed sequel to Suicide Squad, things have really been moving forward in the past few weeks. We've known for several months now that James Gunn would be taking over to write the second big screen appearance of the supervillain team, and he's also on tap to direct, as well. Because of that, folks can't stop hoping that Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista will step in to fill a role somewhere in the new film, with a lot of people set on him playing Bane, and now one artistically inclined fan has offered up some inspiration for just such a dream to come true. Take a look:

Oooh...impressive, right? All the elements are here. Instagram user willgrayart has done a fantastic job of turning Dave Bautista into a perfect vision of what his Bane could look like in _The Suicide Squad. He's clearly got some Venom pumping through his veins, via the neon green tubing that wraps around his body in various spots, and the artist managed to really make the character look like Bautista by including one of his very recognizable real-life tattoos. We're even gifted the luchador-esq mask that Bane often sports in the comics, while still obviously getting a look at what Bautista would look like in such a getup. My only semi-complaint would be that Bautista actually doesn't look quite as hugely muscled as he usually does, but there's only so much you can fit into an Instagram post and still have us be able to see all the awesome details, so, I'm not mad at it.

Interestingly enough, this is the second time that someone has given us a look at what Bautista could look like as Bane in the new movie. Several months ago, fan favorite Boss Logic gave us another glimpse at Bautista in the potential role, but that one noticeably left out details that made the hulking actor recognizable. So, while that was a cool effort that definitely gave fans something to chew on, and offered up lots of details that were missing from our last big screen representation of Bane, the work of willgray_art has some additional positives going for it.

Ever since James Gunn was fired by Disney last summer amid some of his insensitive old tweets resurfacing, which put the future of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in jeopardy, the cast of that film, and several of Gunn's fellow superhero movie directors, have stood by him. While everyone in the cast was vocally supportive, with everyone signing a letter asking Disney to reconsider the decision to fire him, Dave Bautista was the only one who was obviously angry at the decision and publicly said he'd be willing to skip out on Guardians 3 if Gunn's vision for the movie wasn't fulfilled somehow, with either him returning as director or his completed script being used.

While there has been some talk of Bautista potentially boarding the total reboot of the franchise, most of the rumors on that front have come in the form of Bautista taking on the part of a less well known character, Peacemaker, who is actually much more of a hero than a villain in the comics. But, we saw some good guys join forces with the team before, so this wouldn't be any kind of stretch.

With fans lamenting the lack of Will Smith's Deadshot...and then rejoicing in the inclusion of Idris Elba's new take on the character, and without knowing how much Harley Quinn we might be able to expect, lots of people are wondering just how James Gunn's version of the team will shape up in The Suicide Squad, so the inclusion of someone who's been so eager to take part in the film would do wonders to keep up excitement for the still sort of mysterious project.

We're sure to get more news about The Suicide Squad, and whether or not Dave Bautista will be involved, in the coming months, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest!

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Keanu Reeves Is Down To Play John Constantine Again

Keanu Reeves Is Down To Play John Constantine Again

Right now, Keanu Reeves is garnering a lot of attention for his third turn as John Wick, and naturally a lot of people are quite familiar with him from the Bill & Ted and Matrix movies. However, let’s not forget that Reeves has also left his mark in the comic book movie realm, as he played John Constantine in 2005’s Constantine. That movie never got a sequel, but nearly a decade and a half later, Reeves is still interested in reprising the character, saying:

I've always wanted to play John Constantine again. I just love that world, too, and I love that character. I just had a blast playing a character and in that world.

Made off a $100 million budget and ultimately making nearly $231 million worldwide, Constantine, which came out the same year as fellow DC Comics movie Batman Begins, was met with mixed reviews. Director Francis Lawrence talked about making a sequel six years later, one that would lean harder into the R rating, but nothing ever surfaced with that. Now Keanu Reeves is keeping busy with other projects, including the John Wick franchise and Bill & Ted 3. So while the idea of Constantine 2 might sound nice on paper, the chances of it actually coming to fruition are slim.

Keanu Reeves was also asked in his interview with Variety if he’s ever been approached to be in a superhero movie, to which the actor noted he had a “brush” with that genre, but it “didn’t work out.” While John Constantine has operated in the DC universe for years and fights the forces of evil, he doesn’t fit into the traditional superhero mold, and that was especially the case with his movie, which felt more at home in the horror genre.

Constantine certainly left the door open for a follow-up down the line, and even though Keanu Reeves’ version of the character didn’t resemble his comic book counterpart, nearly every other aspect of him felt faithful to the source material, from the chain-smoking to exorcising demons. The movie’s supporting cast included Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Djimon Honsou, but even if we assumed that Constantine 2 is a legitimate possibility, who knows if the sequel could successfully gather most, if not all of those actors together again.

Nowadays if you want to see John Constantine in live action, you’d turn to Matt Ryan’s version, who led a short-lived NBC series and then popped up on Arrow before being thrown into Legends of Tomorrow a couple years later. There’s also been talk in recent years of John Constantine returning to the big screen in a Justice League Dark movie, which Guillermo del Toro and Doug Liman were lined up to direct at different points. Colin Farrell was once rumored to be up for the Constantine role, but lately it seems like that’s one of the lesser priority projects for the DC Extended Universe.

Rest assured, if there’s any news about John Constantine appearing in another theatrical movie, we here at CinemaBlend will let you know about it. In the meantime, you can currently see Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, which was the highest-grossing domestic movie this past weekend.

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Why George R.R. Martin Liked Avengers: Endgame So Much

Why George R.R. Martin Liked Avengers: Endgame So Much

After a long year of waiting, Avengers: Endgame arrived in theaters a few weeks ago, delivering an extremely ambitious blockbuster that was built on the previous 21 MCU releases. Endgame did the impossible, exceeding expectations and providing all the emotional payoffs fans were hoping for. The movie has been met with wild box office numbers and critical acclaim, and now even Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin has weighed in.

The combination of Endgame's release and Game of Thrones' Battle of Winterfell episode kept the fandom on edge for a full week, but George R.R. Martin hasn't spoken much about the show's final season. He did, however, recently revealed that he loved Avengers: Endgame-- and for one specific reason: it wasn't just a mindless action flick. As Martin tells it,

There’s plenty of action here, but this is not just A Big Dumb Action movie, of which there are far too many these days. Stan Lee would have been proud. Could he ever have dreamed that all those characters he and Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko and the rest of the Marvel team created in the early '60s would one day come to dominate global culture? There’s an amazing story for you.

George R.R. Martin knows about balancing action and story, as his A Song of Ice and Fire novels contain both. What's more, Game of Thrones has found a way to properly include both aspects of the fantasy series on the small screen.

George R.R. Martin's Endgame comments come from a recent post on his blog, which he regularly updates to keep in touch with Game of Thrones fans. But rather than discussing the contents of the show's final season on HBO, Martin instead shared his impression of Avengers: Endgame. And it was a glowing review, one that echoed the feelings of the moviegoing public.

Related: The 25 Most Emotional Moments In Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame had a ton of action scenes, spread out among both the second and third acts of the film. But those sequences weren't gratuitous or mindless, they helped move the overall narrative forward. It's this fact that seems to have impressed George R.R. Martin most, as The Russo Brothers crafted a story that was very much character-driven. Especially for the OG members of the team.

Endgame was so emotionally charged because it was deeply connected to the previous movies, and allowed its super powered characters to be vulnerable and utterly flawed. The survivors were left truly shaken by the affects of Thanos' snap, and their grief lasted years. And with actors like Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. reaching the end of their contracts, major Avengers were given their endings in the MCU.

As for Game of Thrones, it should be interesting to see what George R.R. Martin is feeling about the divisive final season. The HBO series must wrap up a story that began with Martin released his first novel back in 1996. And the show's narrative choices might not be the same that Martin had in mind for Westeros.

Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now. Be sure to check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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Anthony Russo Is 'Almost Disappointed' About One Aspect Of Avengers: Endgame’s Opening Weekend

Anthony Russo Is 'Almost Disappointed' About One Aspect Of Avengers: Endgame’s Opening Weekend

Can a comic book movie be too successful? The simple answer is probably, “No.” Especially if you happen to be a studio executive. And yet, for Joe and Anthony Russo, they did reflect on the recent historic run enjoyed by their new movie Avengers: Endgame and find one small reason to be disappointed. This came up when the brothers sat down with CinemaBlend’s own ReelBlend podcast, where Anthony Russo admitted:

I have to be honest with you. I'm almost disappointed that the movie did so well, because it's like, the box office story is literally dominating the conversation and it’s not the most interesting part of the story.

We imagine all of that will change once the unofficial Spoiler Embargo on Avengers: Endgame lifts on Monday, May 6, and fans are able to speak openly about the massive swings that occur in this recent Avengers movie.

But Joe and Anthony Russo also understand fully why box office became the focal point of the discussion in the days following Avengers: Endgame, because their blockbuster was behaving in ways we’d never seen before – and may never see again. The movie earned more than $1.2 billion globally in its first five days of release. BoxOfficeMojo notes that the movie is heading into its second weekend looking to surpass the domestic grosses of the original The Avengers movie, which needed 154 days to pass $623.6 million. Endgame might reach that figure in 10 days.

Anthony Russo talked to the ReelBlend podcast about the box office performance of the movie, and their expectations for opening weekend. He elaborated:

When you're charged with writing the final chapter of the book, and executing it, our hope was that -- with any favorite story, you always want the end to be the best part of the story. So that was really what we were hoping to do. Even if we got anywhere close to that, that was our aspiration. And it seems like, at least for some people on some levels, that we delivered an ending that seems satisfying.

While Joe Russo took it from a business standpoint, adding:

It’s always about the narrative, too, of these movies in the marketplace. How did it do? Did it break a record? Did it beat the last one? That stuff is really critical to the life of a movie. And of course, we were hoping that it was going to break the international record. Because that's a story, right? And then you're hoping and praying that it beats the domestic, which was set by Infinity War last year. Otherwise, frankly, [for] some people looks like a failure. It's crazy that a movie like this has these kinds of demands on it.

And yet, Avengers: Endgame is meeting those demands. And now we’re excited to see what the sequel can do in its second weekend. The goal, for most, is to see it surpass Avatar as the highest grossing global film. It has a while to go, but the record seems feasible.

Listen to the full, non-spoiler conversation with the Russo Brothers as part of this week’s ReelBlend podcast:

And if you haven’t yet, check out Avengers: Endgame, in theaters as we speak.

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The Trick To Getting The Marvel Audience Excited For What’s Next, According To Joe Russo

The Trick To Getting The Marvel Audience Excited For What’s Next, According To Joe Russo

Modern blockbuster filmmaking can be tricky, particularly if you are working within the confines of a franchise. At a recent CinemaCon event featuring Elizabeth Banks, Anthony and Joe Russo, Dexter Fletcher and Olivia Wilde, the directors were talking about what the real trick is to keeping people excited for what’s coming next.

It was actually Elizabeth Banks who hit the nail on the head when she mentioned she makes sure “there’s a surprise built-in somewhere for the audience” particularly noting for people “who think they knew who this person was but there’s another layer, something more.”

Riffing off of Banks’ initial comments based on her work in Pitch Perfect 2 and Charlie’s Angels, Avengers: Endgame director Joe Russo revealed Banks hit the nail on the head. That is, in fact, exactly what he and Anthony Russo try to do to keep Marvel audiences excited. He elaborated:

I think that’s actually the critical kind of a something [Anthony] and I talk about all the time is that, in the age of social media the job of storyteller is to surprise because that’s what generates conversation. And I think just looking at the work we do on these Marvel films, the choices that we make, at the end of each film there’s something dramatic that happens to surprise the audience and then generates an incredible amount of excitement as they wait for the next movie.

At a CinemaCon luncheon, Joe Russo mentioned generating a conversation is key to keeping a narrative alive in the age of social media, but I also think this factor is important for keeping a conversation alive when there are more films coming in a franchise.

While Avengers: Endgame is being billed as the culmination of a 22-film narrative, certainly the Russo Brothers’ other films with Marvel have had to continue a through storyline in the franchise, and even Marvel as we know it won’t be just completely ending after Endgame. Instead, it'll likely just look a little different with a focus on different characters moving forward.

Joe Russo also admitted the whole goal is to start a conversation about what just happened so that the fans can engage with the storytelling as they wait for the next chapter.

They can discuss it and argue about it. It’s a really critical factor in modern storytelling, this notion of surprise.

I don’t think anywhere has this concept been clearer than in the final minutes in Avengers: Infinity War in which our heroes almost defeat Thanos only to lose. In those minutes, Marvel fans worldwide saw many of their heroes disappear into dust and it’s an idea and a surprise we’ve been chewing on for a year as we wait for Avengers: Endgame.

Luckily, that wait is nearly over. Avengers: Endgame will be out on April 26 and we’ve already seen a full scene from the upcoming film, which also dropped during CinemaCon this year.

Now, the only question is: What surprise will the Russo Brothers have in store for us this time?

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Samuel L. Jackson Surprised Italian Marvel Fans At Avengers: Endgame Screening

Samuel L. Jackson Surprised Italian Marvel Fans At Avengers: Endgame Screening

This weekend Marvel fans the world over will be able to see a ridiculous number of their favorite stars on the big screen, as Avengers: Endgame collects characters from all corners of the beloved Cinematic Universe for one big blockbuster. Very few, however, will be able to watch the movie with a real Marvel star in attendance - but that's exactly what one screening in Italy recently got to experience thanks to a surprise appearance by Samuel L. Jackson:

Samuel L. Jackson has been an integral part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe from the very beginning - specifically ever since the original Iron Man when he first told Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark about the existence of the Avenger Initiative - but due to his shooting schedule he wasn't one of the stars who attended the world premiere of Avengers: Endgame earlier this week. That was almost surely a bummer for the actor, but the good news is that it didn't take him too long to catch a screening of the film.

Per Samuel L. Jackson's personal Instagram account, he recently made a special appearance at the Cinema Ambasciatori in Trieste, Italy where he surprised fans by ducking into a screening of Avengers: Endgame. Jackson is currently in the region doing work on both the upcoming The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard and reshoots for Spider-Man: Far From Home, and it seems that he got a break in his schedule long enough to squeeze in a cool surprise for Italian cinema fans.

Since appearing in Iron Man, Samuel L. Jackson has been a consistent presence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, having notably signed an early nine picture deal with Marvel Studios when the franchise was still in its infancy. Jackson followed up his cameo as Nick Fury in the 2008 Jon Favreau film with a more substantial part in Iron Man 2, and then he was back on the big screen again as the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Captain America: The First Avenger. Following his turn in The Avengers, he made a special appearance in the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and was then in both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age Of Ultron.

After that we didn't see much of him for a few years, but 2019 is pretty huge for Nick Fury. Not only did we just recently see him playing a major role in Captain Marvel, but this summer we expect him to have a key part in the aforementioned Spider-Man: Far From Home, where he will be recruiting Peter Parker (Tom Holland) for a mission while the high schooler is on a European field trip.

What will come next for him? Only time will tell. You'll just have to go see every Marvel movie from here on out and wait for Samuel L. Jackson's potential presence. And even if he doesn't appear on screen, he may wind up sitting next to you in your local theater.

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Best Kids Movies: Films The Whole Family Will Love

Best Kids Movies: Films The Whole Family Will Love

The phrase “kids movie” does not always have the best reputation these days. For some grown-ups, it can feel like a sacrificial task to take your children to whatever new film the big studios have released with younger audiences in mind.

That is exactly the issue. Movies made just for kids, with no attention brought to the adult purchasing the ticket or pressing PLAY on the remote, lack the appeal to satisfy audiences of all ages. However, when you replace the word “kids” with, say, “Pixar” or “Spielberg-produced,” that is usually enough to get the parents’ eyes to light up at least a little.

The best kids movies could be more accurately described as family movies, films with stories and themes that can appeal not just to an adult's inner child, but a grown-up’s mature mind as well, which makes for a fun time for everyone.

I have compiled a list of the best kids movies (or best family movies) that you will be proud to share with your children. Some of these are just one Netflix click away. Enjoy!

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

For decades, society cowered at the thought of visitors from other planets touching down on Earth. Thanks in no small part to H.G. Wells, aliens were associated with sinister intentions, like human extinction or vile experimentation.

In the early 1980s, director Steven Spielberg wanted to tell a much different story.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a story about a boy (Henry Thomas) who is emotionally abandoned by his family who meets an alien literally abandoned by his family, on accident, of course. The unlikely pair rely on each for support, which proves tricky when the government gets involved and E.T. begins suffering from a deadly case of homesickness.

Nominated for nine Academy Awards and the winner of four, E.T. is a timeless classic still, decades after entrancing the world with its charm and heart wrenching drama. It is impossible for the whole family to not get swept up in John William’s rousing score, themes of loneliness and friendship, and the heartbreaking final line E.T. says to Elliott, “I’ll be right here,” as he points to his forehead.

The Goonies (1985)

It is the film that launched the careers of a few notable (and some infamous) names in Hollywood. It is also the movie that has allowed audiences to keep doing the Truffle Shuffle for decades.

The Goonies, from director Richard Donner and executive producer Steven Spielberg, is the kind of classic adventure involving police chases, booby traps, mutants, and other thrills all from a child’s point of view. Follow the titular group of youngsters as they get into more trouble than ever searching for a pirate’s treasure buried somewhere beneath their hometown.

As you watch (whether it is your first or 50th time), take a closer look at brothers Mikey and Brand. They are Sean Astin (Samwise in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and Josh Brolin (Thanos in Avengers: Endgame) making their feature film debuts.

The Sandlot (1993)

Is there a film that captures the joys of summer, the thrill of the game, and the perils of childhood more authentically than The Sandlot? I do not think so, given that the movie was already a nostalgia juggernaut upon release.

The Sandlot is a celebration of an era in which young boys lived out their fantasy of playing America’s favorite pastime, baseball, for no other reason than the love of the game. They never kept score, they never stopped playing until the day is done, and they were willing to risk their lives facing a “beast” on the other side of the fence to retrieve a baseball signed by Babe Ruth.

This is the kind of movie for children that a father would willfully take their kids to upon release, and those kids would grow up to show it to their kids. The Sandlot is the rare kind of family film that genuinely appeals to the whole family because everyone has a memory they associate with it.

Toy Story (1995)

One of the great things about Pixar’s trilogy (and soon to be four-part franchise) revealing the secret world of children’s playthings is that you can make an argument for why each movie is the best. This is my argument for why the first Toy Story is one of the best family movies (and movies in general) ever, period.

Pixar changed the world with this film, the first full-length computer animated feature of all time. Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz headline a story that not only changes your perspective of how you treat your toy collection, but is a relatable tale about hubris, disillusionment, petty ignorance, jealousy, and other common human flaws one would not expect from a kids movie.

Toy Story was nominated for three Academy Awards in 1996. Had the Academy developed the Best Animated Feature category back then, I believe it would have been a slam dunk.

Shrek (2001)

Speaking of the Academy Awards’ Best Animated Feature category, this reinvention of the children’s fantasy genre from Dreamworks was the first recipient of that award. A slam dunk, it was.

Never has an ogre been the subject of such widespread love and admiration, almost to uncomfortable levels, before Mike Myers’ Scotch-accented, green curmudgeon teamed up with an Eddie Murphy-like donkey to rescue a heavily guarded princess (Cameron Diaz) by request of the petty Lord Farquad (John Lithgow). Furthermore, animated films, and lighthearted bedtime stories, were never seen the same again after Shrek.

Best of all, Shrek provides the audience with a lesson, as most bedtime stories do, about believing in oneself despite how others may see you and that love is not just true in fairy tales. Yeah, I just quoted Smash Mouth’s “I’m A Believer” cover. Does not make it any less true.

The Incredibles (2004)

As far as superhero movies go, there lies a debate of which tone is more appropriate: light or dark? Some go too dark (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) and some go too light (Green Lantern). Writer and director Brad Bird figured out a way to make his costumed avenger story just right.

Bob Parr (Craig T. Nelson) is having a mid-life crisis and longs to relive his days as Mr. Incredible, before costumed vigilantes were outlawed. When he gets a second chance to relive the glory days, his family is accidentally put in peril by a ruthless villain. Good thing his family has powers, too.

I do not believe for a second that Brad Bird made The Incredibles for kids. If this were not a Pixar movie and Disney went the live-action route, the movie’s grim, high-stakes violence (the villain dies from getting his cape caught in a jet propeller) and adult themes (Helen Parr thinks Bob is cheating on her at one point) would keep it from barely making the PG-13 cut. Yet, that is what makes it a blast for everyone.

Best Kids Movies On Netflix

Sometimes you don't have the time for a night at the movie theater and would rather settle for family night in the comfort of your own home. Of course, there are also times when you may not own the movie of your choice and your town's lone surviving video rental store does not have a copy.

Fortunately, Netflix has some of the best kids movies available and these are a few choice recommendations:

Mulan (1998)

Do you consider Mulan a Disney princess? I struggle with associating her with the traditional, definitive characteristics of that title because she does not represent any of them.

Mulan is not the story of a privileged woman in a war torn China who needs a manly warrior to rescue her. It is the story of a country that needs a woman to save it, a task she takes upon herself to prevent her elderly father from serving in the fight against the Huns.

Mulan is a role model like no other Disney character whose belief in her own strengths and perseverance against traditional gender roles makes her a legend in battle. She is a great heroine to take inspiration from and her movie is a perfect choice for a family Netflix night.

Tarzan (1999)

Tarzan is an iconic character of adventure fiction who has existed since Edward Rice Burroughs first introduced him in his 1914 novel Tarzan of the Apes. While Burroughs deserves all the credit, if you ask nearly anyone nowadays who the definitive image of the human jungle king is, it’s not Alexander Skarsgard in 2016’s The Legend of Tarzan. It’s Tony Goldwyn in Disney’s animated interpretation.

Goldwyn provides the voice of Tarzan, a man raised by apes since infancy with acrobatic skills of navigating the jungle by vine swinging who go through a bit of an identity crisis when he discovers a lost woman, Jane (Minnie Driver), whose species better resembles he than his animal allies. On top of that, his adoptive mother, Kala (Glenn Close), has to face the reality that her human cub has grown up and it may be time for him to flee the nest.

When Phil Collins’ Oscar-winning original song “You’ll Be In My Heart” plays over Tarzan’s emotional goodbye to Kala, there is not a dry eye in the house, no matter your age. Of course, he and Jane decide to stay in the jungle in the end, making for a happy ending to a wonderful adventure perfect for children.

Not to mention, you have the lead singer of Genesis providing the music, so the parents are happy.

Stuart Little (1999)

Say, speaking of interspecies adoption, how wonderfully weird was Stuart Little? Michael J. Fox provided the voice of an impressively animated CGI mouse invited into the house and lives of a well-to-do family of New Yorkers, which turns out to be a challenging transition for all, especially with the Littles’ mischievous cat, Snowbell (Nathan Lane) stirring the pot.

Did you know that the original 1945 novel by E.B. White is even stranger and darker?

In the book, Stuart is not a talking mouse lucky enough to be adopted by human parents. He is a boy born to human parents who, by a bizarre defect, bears the resemblance of a rat. The 1999 interpretation from director Rob Minkoff (The Lion King) changes it up a bit, into a story easier for children, and parents, to swallow.

I have always found that Stuart Little was an impressive achievement in production design, taking place mostly in a house of elegant aesthetic, but what I really admire it for is what great role models the Littles (Hugh Laurie, Geena Davis, and young Jonathan Lipnicki) are. The parents recognize their adoptive son’s human qualities and encourage him to achieve goals much, much bigger than he is.

Stuart Little is a family movie that makes you proud of your family, no matter how you define yours.

Spy Kids (2001)

I grew up with James Bond and always found him to be the definitive spy, with Aston Martins loaded with lethal features, conveniently handy gadgetry, and a smooth talker with ladies. However, the life of James Bond is not at all how children really envision the life of espionage. It would be a lot wackier than that.

That is why Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids is the ultimate childhood spy fantasy. The dream-like plot is complete with impossibly complex gadgets, gravity-defying martial arts, and a villain with an incomprehensibly bizarre plan for world domination that does not even require covert intrigue to put a stop to. You just have to be good at sneaking into places and pushing the right buttons before the clock runs out on the “bad guy” device.

Spy Kids is a riotously fun, visually impressive film that will keep your children’s eyes glued to the screen and even relates to the parents by serving as a great metaphor for the stakes of raising a family. Sometimes it feels like saving the world.

Monster House (2006)

I always grew up wishing that I could watch horror movies, but two things stopped me: my mother and my own lack of courage. Thus, I am very thankful that Monster House could serve as a proper introduction for me to the genre.

The initial idea of the movie (from the mind of co-writer and future Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon) is brilliant. Halloween is just around the corner when three children discover that the creepy house across the street is even weirder than they realized. It’s alive.

Monster House does not hold back on thrills, keeping your convinced that the house’s victims result in multiple fatalities in a PG movie nonetheless, until the bittersweet conclusion. Also, being one of the first feature-length films to be made primarily with performance capture gives the film a nearly unprecedented, immersive quality that puts you right into the belly of the wooden beast.

Monster House is a great way to being the family closer together on Netflix night… since you will be holding each other tightly the entire time, but also laughing along the way. For horror fans, this is a film you can proudly show your children without shame.

Coco (2018)

Some people do not always find peace with their families. Some people want to find a way to escape their families, just like Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) in Coco (one of the best kids movies in recent years). Miguel finds solace in music, which has been banned in his family for generations.

All it takes is one grand visit to the afterlife on Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) for Miguel to bring his Mexican family together through the very thing they claimed would curse them: Academy Award-winning music.

Coco is an infectious, heartfelt animated musical adventure from Pixar that inspires you to remember what family means to you. As much fun as you and your family will have with it, I would also recommend keeping tissues handy.

If these films are proof enough, not every kids movie is just for kids. Even these are not all of the best kids movies out there. Whether you are watching Netflix, renting a Blu-ray, or taking that family trip to the theater, movies that the whole family can enjoy are not, and most likely never will be, in short supply.

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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.

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Why Star Wars Can't 'Do What Marvel Does' With Film Releases, According To Kathleen Kennedy

Why Star Wars Can't 'Do What Marvel Does' With Film Releases, According To Kathleen Kennedy

When Disney bought Lucasfilm is was made plain that the plan was to bring the franchise back in a big way. A new trilogy was announced and following that, additional films were confirmed and several others began to be rumored. It looked like Disney was getting ready to launch another massive franchise to rival their own Marvel Cinematic Universe, but now, it appears things won't be happening quite like that.

While Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will mark the fifth Star Wars movie in five years, after that, Star Wars will be taking a brief break. The next movie, from the creators of the Game of Thrones series, will be arriving in 2022, and we'll only be getting one movie every other year, rather than getting one movie or more in a year like Marvel now does. Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy says that this is necessary, as Star Wars simply won't work the way Marvel does as a franchise...

I think there is a larger expectation that Disney has. On the other hand, though, I think that Disney is very respectful of what this is, and right from the beginning we talked about the fragility of this form of storytelling. Because it’s something that means so much to fans that you can’t turn this into some kind of factory approach. You can’t even do what Marvel does, necessarily, where you pick characters and build new franchises around those characters. This needs to evolve differently.

It's hard to imagine that this response from Kennedy in Vanity Fair isn't a direct response to the fact that the last Star Wars movie, a film designed around a set of characters picked out from the franchise, didn't do well. While Solo: A Star Wars Story still made good money in an absolute sense, it still didn't make nearly as much money as the other new films have done, and its behind the scenes issues made the film more expensive than it was supposed to be, resulting in the first Star Wars film to reportedly lose money.

It's also true that because of the way that Star Wars has existed in the past, with two, and now three, movie trilogies, each separated by decades, there's a feeling that Star Wars is something special, that it needs to be handled slowly and with care. One of the reasons that has been given for Solo's poor performance is that it was released only six month after Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and fans didn't like to see so much happening so fast.

Whether or not Star Wars is truly "fragile" and thus prevents the sort of approach that Marvel has been using or not, it does seem clear that Disney now believes that it is, otherwise you could be sure we would be getting exactly that. Kathleen Kennedy is honest about the "larger expectation" that Disney has, certainly the parent company wants to be able to do as much with Star Wars as possible because the brand is successful and that means profit for the company.

It's possible that the solution has been found in a sort of middle ground. A pair of new Star Wars series are set to debut on the Disney+ streaming service over the next couple of years, and so it could be that instead of releasing multiple movies over the next several years, the plan could be to supplement the few films we get with series like The Mandalorian.

I'm not sure that I buy that Star Wars can't work as a larger franchise. If Marvel can maintain a level of quality as it has, it certainly seems that Star Wars could as well, but if the feeling is that it needs to move slower to stay good, I'd certainly rather have fewer movies that are better.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters in December.

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Terminator: Dark Fate Director Teases Upcoming Trailer With New Sarah Connor Image

Terminator: Dark Fate Director Teases Upcoming Trailer With New Sarah Connor Image

Yesterday marked a very special anniversary for fans of the Terminator franchise. It was 35 years ago that the first Terminator film was released. 35 years later the sixth film in the franchise is in post production getting ready for release this fall. Director Tim Miller celebrated the anniversary by letting fans know that the first trailer for Terminator: Dark Fate is on the way, and showing us a single shot from that trailer, Sarah Conner looking badass.

Linda Hamilton's return to the Terminator franchise has to be the highlight of the upcoming film. We haven't seen the original Sarah Connor on the big screen since Terminator 2: Judgement Day in 1991. The fact that Linda Hamilton would return to the franchise after all this time is seen by many a good sign. If she's willing to return now after turning down previous, generally viewed as bad, sequels, then this means that Terminator: Dark Fate has what those other movies were missing, right?

Well, one thing those sequels were certainly missing was Sarah Connor holding a rocket launcher, and it looks like Dark Fate has that based on the single frame we see of the upcoming trailer. This is exactly the sort of thing that fans are probably looking forward to with the new film.

In the original Terminator Sarah Connor was a woman in over her head and the run for her life. However, knowing that she needed to be able to protect herself she became a fighter and had transformed by the time we saw her in Judgement Day. It seems the plan for Terminator: Dark Fate is to pull the same movie as the recent Halloween sequel, by ignoring all sequels that came after T2 and picking up the story from there.

This is probably a good move as the most recent sequel, Terminator: Genisys, didn't really go over well except in China. It made some pretty significant changes to the canon which didn't sit well with fans. Although, the fact that the movie came out so recently, certainly has the potential to confuse fans if the new movie is just going to pretend it didn't happen.

While the post on Twitter doesn't reveal when we'll see the new trailer, Terminator: Dark Fate is a Paramount Pictures film, and the next big release from that studio is the Elton John biopic Rocketman so there's a good chance the plan is to attach the trailer to that film. Of course, since most trailers get dropped online first, we'll likely see this trailer hit sometime in the next two weeks ahead of the movie.

Since the previous Terminator film didn't do all that well in North America, this trailer has some important work to do. It has to convince fans that they need to check out the new movie, after many have apparently decided to write off the franchise. It seems so often that trailers exist only to increase the hype for things people already want to see, but this one really will need to energize an audience that has clearly become tired of this particular franchise.

Terminator: Dark Fate is set for release November 1.

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Avengers: Endgame’s Runtime Revealed, And It’s Long

Avengers: Endgame’s Runtime Revealed, And It’s Long

Avengers: Infinity War was already an epic long superhero movie with a run time of two hours and 29 minutes. However, almost as soon as attention shifted toward the fourth Avengers film, it seemed we were in for an even longer experience. The Russo Brothers said the movie could be three hours or more and rumors continued to circulate that the film was clocking in at Titanic levels of length. Now, it appears that we have final confirmation that Avengers: Endgame will, in fact, just barely break the three hour mark, with an official run time of three hours and two minutes.

The run time was briefly posted by AMC Theaters before being taken down, but Fandango has now posted the exact same length, and with those two reliable sources, we can pretty much call this one a done deal.

The three hour and two minute run time is all the more important because, since we're talking about a Marvel movie, every minute counts. The full run of credits is included in that length, and if this were any other movie fans would likely cut out and save themselves eight or ten minutes by skipping the credits, but with Marvel we all know we'll be hanging around until the very end to see if there's a final scene at the end of all the credits.

Marvel has gotten in the habit of running multiple scenes once the credits start, interspersed throughout. Quite often, the important bits that tease future films now come earlier than the end, but with Avengers: Infinity War the Captain Marvel tease came at the very end, so there's every reason to expect that a scene that either sets up Spider-Man: Far From Home or teases where the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be going in Phase Four will be the very last thing we see.

A three hour run time is no joke. That's a seriously long time to sit and watch a movie. On the one hand, you want to make sure you're properly supplied for such an event, you don't want to get hungry and be distracted by your stomach for the bottom half of the film. On the other hand, you certainly don't want to be called away to the bathroom in the middle of the movie, so you might want to take it easy on the fluids.

Three hour movies are not uncommon but back in the day they used to all include intermissions. I saw the road show version of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight which included an intermission, and I thought it was actually quite nice to have. I wouldn't be against seeing something like that happen in Avengers: Endgame but that's pretty unlikely. We're all going to need to power through this thing together.

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Sorry, Kevin Conroy Isn't Voicing Batman For Shazam!

Sorry, Kevin Conroy Isn't Voicing Batman For Shazam!

The long awaited second trailer for Shazam! debuted last week, and in it there is a fun moment where Shazam throws a large Batman doll at Mark Strong’s Doctor Sivana. The toy delivers the Dark Knight’s trademark line “I’m Batman!”, and some fans excitedly thought that it was Batman: The Animated Series actor Kevin Conroy whose voice they were hearing. Sorry, but sadly, that is not the case, as director David F. Sandberg explained:

I hate to disappoint but it’s sound designer/supervisor Bill Dean getting to live out his dream of being Batman.

In his response to a fan’s query on Reddit, David F. Sandberg cleared up the issue of who is voicing the Batman doll in the Shazam! trailer, revealing that despite fan speculation, it is not Kevin Conroy, the iconic voice of the Caped Crusader throughout numerous television shows, animated movies and video games. Instead, Shazam! sound designer and supervising sound editor Bill R. Dean got to lend his own dulcet tones to the character.

By the sound of it, Bill Dean has long dreamt of being Batman (who hasn’t?), and this gave him the opportunity to forever have his voice attached to the superhero, albeit a toy version of him. It is also perhaps the highest compliment you could give someone doing a Batman voice to mistake them for Kevin Conroy.

So on top of living out his dream of being Batman in this small way, Bill Dean should be quite proud of himself, knowing that his “I’m Batman!” sounded like the most iconic voice ever attached to the character. It’s also quite cool of David F. Sandberg to let him have some fun and deliver this line.

Admittedly, it would have been awesome to have Kevin Conroy lend his voice to the Batman toy as a fun Easter egg in Shazam!, but this is presumably the only time the Batman voice is used in the film, so it would have been unnecessary.

Although, it’s a pity that Matt Reeves hasn’t cast his Batman yet, because one fun idea would have been to have the new actor playing Batman in his film say the iconic line and let audiences spend the next couple of years trying to figure out who it was.

While Kevin Conroy isn’t voicing the Batman toy in Shazam!, you can still hear his Bruce Wayne in a movie this year. Justice League vs The Fatal Five is the latest DC animated universe film and it reunites Kevin Conroy’s Caped Crusader with some other voices from the beloved Justice League animated series, George Newbern’s Superman and Susan Eisenberg’s Wonder Woman. Justice League vs The Fatal Five releases digitally on March 30 and on home video on April 16.

Shazam! bolts into theaters on April 5 and the early reactions to the film are very positive. Check out our 2019 release schedule to keep track of all the biggest movies headed to theaters this year.

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