January releases are here. Normally, the month is a dumping ground for films that studios have little faith in to become moneymakers. However, that is not to say that enjoyable films can’t come out in January. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera was enjoyed by our Chris Bumbray in his review despite not being a big fan of the first film. Other critics have been giving the action heist sequel a lukewarm reception as the movie currently sports a fresh 67% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Deadline now reports that the Thursday previews for the Gerard Butler/O’shea Jackson Jr. film has taken in $1.35 million in early Thursday previews. Showtimes started yesterday at 6 pm and the appeal of the sequel doesn’t cast a notably wide net as an R-rated heist film. Additionally, Los Angeles, which is the largest market in the country, will affect the numbers as the city is currently in a state of emergency. Other places in the U.S. are also being hit with winter weather that discourages people from leaving home. The movie is projected to hit $11 million-$13 million at 3,008 theaters.
In his review, our EIC had a blast with the movie as he says, “I enjoyed Den of Thieves 2: Pantera much more than I thought I would. With the sunny European locales and international flavor, it’s the perfect mid-level January release and should prove popular enough among Butler’s fans that I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually get a third movie in the series. It’s surprisingly fun!”
And recently, the film’s star, Butler, revealed that he was coming off of surgery when filming the movie. “This was a weird time for me at the beginning of this movie because I’d been through a pretty intense surgery, and then I tore my ACL fully about a month later and then started this movie,” Butler said. “So I was not in the best shape, and it was a pretty physical movie, and I didn’t have a chance to get the surgery on my ACL, so I made this movie with a freshly torn ACL, and it was pretty rough.“
Butler continued, “But yeah… I wanted to put a ‘but’ in to make it sound positive, but it wasn’t positive; it was a nightmare! And I was a whiny little bitch!“
Microsoft has made no secret of wanting to bring more of its Xbox exclusives to other platforms, and it sounds like Halo might finally be making the leap. The platfor- defining franchise will see its Halo: The Master Chief Collection come to PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 in 2025, according to gaming insider NateTheHate.
Microsoft has made no secret of wanting to bring more of its Xbox exclusives to other platforms, and it sounds like Halo might finally be making the leap. The platfor- defining franchise will see its Halo: The Master Chief Collection come to PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 in 2025, according to gaming insider NateTheHate.
What’s going on with the incredible Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Although his adversaries Red Hulk and The Leader (as well as his ex-girlfriend Betty Ross) are known to be in Captain America: Brave New World, it doesn’t seem that he’s going to show up in the movie – and if he does, it’s likely to just be a cameo. Last time we saw him, he was still in “Smart Hulk” mode but also equipped with a Hulk Inhibitor Device that allowed him to turn back into his regular human form. He served as a mentor to his cousin Jennifer Walters on She-Hulk, where he also introduced his son Skaar. We’re likely to see him again in Avengers: Doomsday (coming May 1, 2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (coming May 7, 2027) – but now, there are RUMORS that Marvel may also be developing a World War Hulk movie (with George Miller in the running to direct it!) and hoping to have Hulk face off with Spider-Man and The Punisher in the fourth Spider-Man film!
The World War Hulk rumor began with a Production Weekly listing that claims Marvel plans to get the film into production by the end of 2025. World of Reel‘s sources told them that these plans are not “official” yet, but Marvel is indeed hoping to put World War Hulk on the fast track. They wrote, “Mark Ruffalo is set to come back in the titular role, and his character will have a very busy year as this coming February’s Captain America: Brave New World will set up World War Hulk for him, and a few months later, Thunderbolts* will be the ‘connecting branch’ for the character’s solo MCU movie.” They added that Chris Hemsworth set up a meeting between his Furiosa director George Miller and Marvel head Kevin Feige, putting the Mad Max franchise creator (who was attached to make a Justice League movie about 15 years ago) in the running to direct either World War Hulk or Thor 5. Miller has previously said he is an MCU fan and watches all of the movies. The World War Hulk comic follows the tragic death of Hulk’s wife. A more powerful Hulk then vows vengeance against the Illuminati and Earth’s heroes, and wreaks havoc against waves of Earth’s mightiest defenders, taking out a slew of targets on his chaotic path.
Industry scoopers Jeff Sneider and John Rocha discussed the World War Hulk / George Miller rumor on their podcast The Hot Mic, and along the way, Rocha dropped a rumor of his own: “From what I hear from a very strong source in the business, the plan for the new Spider-Man movie was Spider-Man fighting the Hulk with the Punisher. So it was going to be ground-based, but he was gonna fight the Hulk because Marvel wants to move away from the intelligent Hulk we saw in the Avengers movies and make him much more of the brutish Hulk, the violent Hulk, the rage Hulk. That seems to be the approach they want to go in.” Rocha doesn’t know if Spider-Man 4 has changed, but that was apparently the plan for it at some point.
We know that Spider-Man 4 is on track for a July 24, 2026 release date, with Tom Holland back as the title character, but nothing is known for sure about the plot. There have been rumors about a Daredevil team-up and a Venom crossover, there have even been rumblings about Mephisto (who is expected to make his MCU debut in the Disney+ series Ironheart, which is set to premiere on June 24, 2025)… but Sneider felt the Hulk / Punisher rumor has a ring of truth to it, because the deal Marvel and Sony have for producing these Spider-Man movies is that Marvel has to have at least one of their other marquee characters appear in each movie. This is why Iron Man was in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Nick Fury in Spider-Man: Far from Home, and Doctor Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Mephisto may not be popular enough to live up to the requirement, but Hulk certainly is, and the Punisher would be a nice added bonus.
Played by Jon Bernthal, The Punisher will be appearing in the Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again, which premiers on March 4, 2025. There’s a rumor that he might be getting his own show again, and Marvel Head of Television and Streaming Brad Winderbaum has said there’s “absolutely a future for him in the MCU.” So maybe he will be showing up in Spider-Man 4. It would be fitting – after all, the character was introduced in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #129.
Would you like to see George Miller direct World War Hulk? (And/or Thor 5?) Would you like to see Spider-Man and The Punisher team up to fight Hulk in Spider-Man 4? Share your thoughts on these rumors by leaving a comment below.
One of the coolest things to happen to me when I was covering TIFF back in the fall, was that Paramount invited me to interview the iconic singer Robbie Williams, who was at the fest for the premiere of his big-screen biopic, Better Man. If you’ve read my review or seen any of the ads, you’ll know this isn’t a conventional film. Directed by The Greatest Showman’s Michael Gracey, the film represents Williams in a highly unusual way – a CGI Chimpanzee plays him. That’s right, Williams is a monkey in the movie, while everyone else is human (although the character is meant to be human as well – it’s more metaphorical).
While I’ll grant you that aspect might make people tune out, it works tremendously well. I was lucky enough to sit down with Williams for an extended chat, in which he explained to me why he was down for this crazy approach. One thing Williams noted (with good humour) is that he’s nowhere near as well-known in North America as he is in Europe, and he hopes that folks who don’t know his turbulent life story might see some of themselves in this CGI monkey.
I also spoke to Jonno Davies, the actor who plays Wiliams in mo-cap, and director Michel Gracey, who was more than happy to explain why he wanted this famous pop star to be played by a CGI monkey. As I told Gracey, when I heard the premise, I thought he was crazy, but in the end, he turned out to be crazy like a fox because the movie is damn good.
Check out the interviews embedded above, and let us know what you think of the movie in the comments!
One of the coolest things to happen to me when I was covering TIFF back in the fall, was that Paramount invited me to interview the iconic singer Robbie Williams, who was at the fest for the premiere of his big-screen biopic, Better Man. If you’ve read my review or seen any of the ads, you’ll know this isn’t a conventional film. Directed by The Greatest Showman’s Michael Gracey, the film represents Williams in a highly unusual way – a CGI Chimpanzee plays him. That’s right, Williams is a monkey in the movie, while everyone else is human (although the character is meant to be human as well – it’s more metaphorical).
While I’ll grant you that aspect might make people tune out, it works tremendously well. I was lucky enough to sit down with Williams for an extended chat, in which he explained to me why he was down for this crazy approach. One thing Williams noted (with good humour) is that he’s nowhere near as well-known in North America as he is in Europe, and he hopes that folks who don’t know his turbulent life story might see some of themselves in this CGI monkey.
I also spoke to Jonno Davies, the actor who plays Wiliams in mo-cap, and director Michel Gracey, who was more than happy to explain why he wanted this famous pop star to be played by a CGI monkey. As I told Gracey, when I heard the premise, I thought he was crazy, but in the end, he turned out to be crazy like a fox because the movie is damn good.
Check out the interviews embedded above, and let us know what you think of the movie in the comments!
Looking for the best settings to maximize performance and frame rate in Marvel Rivals? The new hero shooter makes crossplay refreshingly simple, but optimizing your settings is a bit more of a complex task. Getting the best performance that you can out of the game on PC will take a little more legwork than getting…
Looking for the best settings to maximize performance and frame rate in Marvel Rivals? The new hero shooter makes crossplay refreshingly simple, but optimizing your settings is a bit more of a complex task. Getting the best performance that you can out of the game on PC will take a little more legwork than getting…
Looking to wicked the evil ways of the symbiote with Venom, the best dive tank in Marvel Rivals? With so many players jumping into what is arguably the hottest hero shooter right now, it can be hard to rise above the rest of the pack in Marvel’s new hero shooter. However, learning this character is a great way to…
Looking to wicked the evil ways of the symbiote with Venom, the best dive tank in Marvel Rivals? With so many players jumping into what is arguably the hottest hero shooter right now, it can be hard to rise above the rest of the pack in Marvel’s new hero shooter. However, learning this character is a great way to…
