Warner Bros. Entertainment has dropped the first teaser trailer for the upcoming two-part, R-rated animated Watchmen movie, which I must admit, I had entirely forgotten about.

The project was first announced in 2017, but we haven’t heard much since. The trailer was screened for audiences at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, where it was confirmed that the CG-animated movie would be released in two parts. Chapter I will be released later this summer (with Blu-ray.com giving an August 13th release) with Chapter II coming in 2025.

The acclaimed graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons examines “the lives of the eponymous superhero team as they seem to decay alongside the ever-darkening America around them. Rorschach, Nite Owl, the Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandias reunite to investigate who’s behind a teammate’s murder, but find that the truth may be even more grim than the world they seek to protect.”

The cell-shaded CG animation in the Watchmen trailer certainly pays homage to Gibbons’ original artwork. The project is expected to be a faithful adaptation of the comic, but it’s not the first time Watchmen has been brought to life.

The story, which was considered notoriously tricky to adapt, made the leap to live-action with Zack Snyder’s 2009 movie after decades of failed attempts. Snyder also released a director’s cut of the movie with roughly 24 minutes of additional footage, as well as an animated adaptation of the Tales of the Black Freighter comic within the story featuring Gerard Butler. The last release was an “Ultimate Cut” edition incorporating Tales of the Black Freighter throughout the live-action movie.

Damon Lindelof developed a Watchmen TV series for HBO, which served as a sequel to the comic book, picking up 34 years later. Despite a great deal of uncertainty from fans leading up to its release, the series was actually highly regarded, receiving widespread acclaim.

What do you think of this trailer for the animated Watchmen movies?

The post Check out the first trailer for upcoming R-rated Watchmen animated movies appeared first on JoBlo.

For years now, Bloodborne fans have wanted the popular PS4-exclusive RPG ported to PC, hopefully with performance improvements and graphical options. And while FromSoftware’s president Hidetaka Miyazaki didn’t confirm that such a port is happening, he did say he’s not opposed to it and suggested that many people at…

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For years now, Bloodborne fans have wanted the popular PS4-exclusive RPG ported to PC, hopefully with performance improvements and graphical options. And while FromSoftware’s president Hidetaka Miyazaki didn’t confirm that such a port is happening, he did say he’s not opposed to it and suggested that many people at…

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Disney Plus’ latest Star Wars series, The Acolyte, was always going to court controversy. The Star Wars fandom has an infamously vocal minority who are, for lack of a better term, bigots, and Lucasfilm had already promised to stand up to them ahead of the series’ launch. But after The Acolyte episode 3, an entirely…

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Disney Plus’ latest Star Wars series, The Acolyte, was always going to court controversy. The Star Wars fandom has an infamously vocal minority who are, for lack of a better term, bigots, and Lucasfilm had already promised to stand up to them ahead of the series’ launch. But after The Acolyte episode 3, an entirely…

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When the action-adventure game Neva was first revealed a year ago with a trailer that included the immediate emotional death of a large wolf-like creature, I knew this game would be a tearjerker. That isn’t surprising given developer Nomada Studios’ track record. Its first game, 2018’s emotional platformer Gris,…

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When the action-adventure game Neva was first revealed a year ago with a trailer that included the immediate emotional death of a large wolf-like creature, I knew this game would be a tearjerker. That isn’t surprising given developer Nomada Studios’ track record. Its first game, 2018’s emotional platformer Gris,…

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Back in January, Universal Pictures made a surprising announcement: not only did they have a new Jurassic World movie in development, but the screenplay – by original Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp, returning to the franchise for the first time since The Lost World: Jurassic Park – had already been written, and the movie was on the fast track to production. Soon after, we learned that it’s aiming for a July 2, 2025 theatrical release. The project has been assembled in a mad scramble over the last five months. At one point, The Fall Guy director David Leitch was in talks to direct, but he had a different vision than Universal was looking forward, so they turned to Godzilla director Gareth Edwards. And with Edwards at the helm, the movie officially went into production today, filming in Thailand.

According to Variety, the new Jurassic World movie will be filming in Thailand through July 16th, with locations including Bangkok, Trang, Phang Nga, Phuket, Chiang Mai and the Huai To Waterfall, which is within the Khao Phanom Bencha National Park in Krabi province. Filming at the waterfall is expected to take a full week. Outside of Thailand, the movie will be filming at studios in Malta and the U.K.

Through equipment rentals, accommodation, venue hire, transportation, and catering services, the production is expected to bring $18 million of economic benefit to Thailand. It’s also expected to seek local subsidy through Thailand’s 20% production spending rebate system. That system is open to international productions that spend more than $2.75 million in the country.

The Variety article mentions that Koepp’s script is a completely fresh take, launching a new Jurassic era, following three adults and three teens getting stuck on the Island. Apparently the project is being referred to as Jurassic World 4 and/or Jurassic City by those who are working on it… but I wouldn’t expect either of those to stick. The previous Jurassic World sequels didn’t have numbered titles, so why would they drop a number in there at 4? And if the story is once again set on “the Island,” why would it be called City? We’ll have to wait and see on the title issue.

We do know that this new Jurassic World movie won’t be featuring any returning lead characters from the previous Jurassic Park / Jurassic World movies. Those played by Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, and Laura Dern are out, as are the ones played by Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. The new characters are set to be played by the likes of Mahershala Ali (Green Book), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton), Rupert Friend (Anatomy of a Scandal), and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer) – all of whom had their roles directly offered to them. Luna Blaise (Manifest), on the other hand, had to (according to Deadline) “beat out a number of actors” to land her role. This new Variety article adds that David Iacono of The Summer I Turned Pretty is also in the cast… along with a bunch of hungry dinosaurs.

Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) was also offered a role, but he turned it down because he felt his presence in the movie wouldn’t help it. He did say that the script is great, though.

Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley are producing the film for Kennedy/Marshall. Steven Spielberg is executive producing through Amblin Entertainment. Universal’s executive vp of production development Sara Scott and creative executive Jacqueline Garell are overseeing the project for the studio. 

Are you glad to hear that the new Jurassic World movie is already in production? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

The post New Jurassic World movie is now in production; filming locations and plot details revealed appeared first on JoBlo.

The long-awaited Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover movie has tapped Derek Connolly to write the script. Connolly is no stranger to big-budget franchise movies, having had a hand in writing the scripts for Jurassic World, Kong: Skull Island, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Detective Pikachu, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Chris Hemsworth has been in talks to star in the crossover between Transformers and G.I. Joe’s, with Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, Michael Bay, Tom DeSanto, and Don Murphy set to produce.

There have been rumblings of a live-action crossover between the Transformers and G.I. Joe franchises for quite some time, but the first steps were taken in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. At the close of the film, Anthony Ramos’ character gets a job offer from the Joes. Director Steven Caple Jr. told THR last year that while the studio was keen on the idea, it took almost two years to get everyone to sign off. “I had to talk to all the producers and let them know the vision or direction I was going in,” Caple Jr. said. “I didn’t know all of it at the moment when I had first pitched it or when they first read it, but throughout the process of making this movie, it started to get deeper and deeper. So I knew a little bit more of the direction I wanted to go in with the Joes, but the studio was on board since the beginning. It just took a while to get all the parties on board and settled.“

Derek Connolly is also working on the script for the upcoming live-action adaptation of the classic video game The Legend of Zelda, which will be directed by Wes Ball of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Ball has previously said that his vision for the project is “this awesome fantasy-adventure movie that isn’t like Lord of the Rings, it’s its own thing. I’ve always said, I would love to see a live-action Miyazaki. That wonder and whimsy that he brings to things, I would love to see something like that.“

What would you like to see from this Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover movie?

The post Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover movie to be written by Jurassic World’s Derek Connolly appeared first on JoBlo.

When Ubisoft unveiled Assassin’s Creed Shadows in May, there was backlash directed at the inclusion of Yasuke, the game’s Black samurai co-lead and real-world historical figure. Some argued that the reaction was simply over a matter of what they saw as historical inaccuracy, as they repeated that the real Yasuke was…

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