Mortal Kombat director Simon McQuoid is back at the helm for the sequel Mortal Kombat 2, and while the video game adaptation wrapped production back in January after a bumpy ride through the year of the strikes, they had to go back for some reshoots this past summer. So we still don’t know when this movie is going to be released – but it shouldn’t be much longer before we’re hearing release date news, because the Motion Picture Association ratings board has seen the movie and given it a rating! Mortal Kombat 2 has been rated R for strong bloody violence and gore, and language. The previous movie was rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout, and some crude references.

The screenplay for Mortal Kombat 2 has been written by Jeremy Slater, who was the lead writer on the Marvel / Disney+ series Moon Knight. Last year, Slater said that working on the project had been “really fun so far. … I’m working really closely with the director and the studios, and the game guys, and I think—I can’t say anything about the actual story, but I think they definitely learned some lessons the last time around in terms of, ‘Here’s the stuff fans responded to, and here’s what people liked out of the movie, and here’s the stuff that didn’t work out as well as we hoped.’ … (The sequel is) the chance to take everything that worked in the first one and do it even better and give the audience even more, and make something that is just incredibly satisfying, and really exciting, and unpredictable.“

The sequel stars returning Mortal Kombat cast members Lewis Tan as MMA fighter Cole Young, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han and Sub-Zero, Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion, and Max Huang as Kung Lao. New additions include Karl Urban (Dredd) as Johnny Cage, Adeline Rudolph (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) as Princess Kitana; Tati Gabrielle (You) as Jade, the friend and bodyguard of Princess Kitana; Damon Herriman (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) as Netherrealm demon Quan Chi; bodybuilder/actor Martyn Ford (F9: The Fast Saga) as Outworld emperor Shao Kahn; Ana Thu Nguyen (Suka) as Kahn’s wife Queen Sindel; and Desmond Chiam (Joy Ride) as Jerrod, who was the King of Edenia (and married to Sindel) until Edenia’s warriors lost in the Mortal Kombat tournament.

Are you looking forward to Mortal Kombat 2? What do you think of the reasons given for the R rating? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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There has been no shortage of thoughts on the effects of artificial intelligence, with the most notable names in Hollywood – we’re talking James Cameron, Guillermo del Toro, Nicolas Cage, Robert Downey Jr., etc. etc. – giving their opinions and predictions on just where it could lead the industry. Now we can add Ben Affleck to the conversation, as the actor/director/you name it at this point recently gave his thoughts on both the limitations and dangers of AI.

Speaking at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha Summit (via The Hollywood Reporter), Ben Affleck took the stance that certain parts of the film industry will be safe from the harm of artificial intelligence for a while because, unlike monkeys with all the time in the world, it can never actually reproduce works of brilliance. “Movies will be one of the last things, if everything gets replaced, to be replaced by AI. AI can write you excellent imitative verse, that sounds Elizabethan. It cannot write you Shakespeare. The function of having two actors or three or four actors in a room and the taste to discern and construct that is something that currently entirely eludes AI’s capability and I think will for a meaningful period of time.”

Ben Affleck added, “What AI is going to do is going to disintermediate the more laborious, less creative and more costly aspects of filmmaking that will allow costs to be brought down, that will lower the barrier to entry, that will allow more voices to be heard, that will make it easier for the people who want to make Good Will Huntings to go out and make it. Look, AI is a craftsman, at best. Craftsmen can learn to make Stickley Furniture by sitting down next to somebody and seeing what their technique is and imitating. That’s how large video models and large language models basically work. Library of vectors of meaning and transformers that interpret it in context, right? But they’re just cross-pollinating things that exist. Nothing new is created.”

Ben Affleck is putting a lot on the table with his comments on AI, particularly because he and Matt Damon launched Artists Equity in 2022, with the mission being to give more monetary meaning to those in the industry, from A-list stars to costume designers. But as we see artificial intelligence emerging in ways that we have long been skeptical of, its companies like Affleck’s that we expect to defend artists and not rely on AI.

As for those who might not fall under certain blankets, Ben Affleck does predict dire things for VFX artists due to the growing use of and reliance on AI. “I wouldn’t like to be in the visual effects business. They are in trouble. Because what costs a lot of money is now going to cost a lot less, and it’s going to hammer that space, and it already is. And maybe it shouldn’t take a thousand people to render something. But it’s not going to replace human beings making films.”

What do you think of Ben Affleck’s take on AI? Let us know in the comments section below.

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The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman writer/director Robert Eggers‘ remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent classic Nosferatu (watch it HERE) is set to reach theatres on Wednesday, December 25th – and with that date just one month away, the Motion Picture Association ratings board has revealed that they’ve given the film an R rating. Nosferatu earned that rating with its bloody violent content, graphic nudity, and some sexual content.

An unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the original Nosferatu has the following synopsis: In this highly influential silent horror film, the mysterious Count Orlok (Max Schreck) summons Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. The eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen (Greta Schroeder). After Orlok reveals his vampire nature, Hutter struggles to escape the castle, knowing that Ellen is in grave danger. Meanwhile Orlok’s servant, Knock (Alexander Granach), prepares for his master to arrive at his new home. Werner Herzog directed his own remake of the film in 1979.

Eggers’ take on Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman in 19th century Germany and the ancient Transylvanian vampire who stalks her, bringing untold horror with him.

The cast includes Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man: No Way Home) as crazy vampire hunter Von Franz, Lily-Rose Depp (The Idol) as Ellen Hutter and Nicholas Hoult (Renfield) as her husband Thomas – a role Skarsgard was going to play at one point. Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Bullet Train) is in there as Thomas’s friend Friedrich Harding, with Emma Corrin (The Crown) as Friedrich’s wife Anna, Ralph Ineson (The Witch) as Von Franz’s cohort Dr. Wilhelm Sievers, and Simon McBurney (The Conjuring 2) in an unspecified role. Bill Skarsgard (It) is the title character and has said that playing Nosferatu / Count Orlok was like “conjuring pure evil. It took a while for me to shake off the demon that had been conjured inside of me. … I do not think people are gonna recognize me in it.“

The first reactions to the film recently made their way online, and they were very positive.

Are you looking forward to the Nosferatu remake? What do you think of the film’s R rating? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Robert De Niro is set to star in the first regular TV role of his career with Zero Day, a conspiracy thriller which will premiere on Netflix on February 20, 2025.

The acclaimed actor stars as “respected former U.S. President George Mullen, who, as head of the Zero Day Commission, is charged with finding the perpetrators of a devastating cyber attack that has caused chaos around the country and thousands of fatalities. As disinformation runs rampant and the personal ambition of power brokers in technology, Wall Street, and government collide, Mullen’s unwavering search for the truth forces him to confront his own dark secrets while risking all he holds dear.“

In addition to De Niro, the six-episode series stars Angela Bassett, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, Joan Allen, Connie Britton, Dan Stevens, and Matthew Modine. Guest stars include Bill Camp, Gaby Hoffmann, Clark Gregg, and McKinley Belcher III. That’s quite the cast, and I’m very curious to see what De Niro’s first major TV series looks like.

Zero Day is created by Eric Newman (Narcos) and Noah Oppenheim (The Maze Runner). “Zero Day is about the aftermath of a devastating cyberattack that kills thousands of people and threatens to push a nation already on the precipice over the edge,” said Newman. Oppenheim added that “the show also looks at the cost of power for those who are asked to take on these enormous challenges — what it means for them personally, and what it means for their families.” Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland) will direct all six episodes of the series and is also an executive producer.  

As well as starring in the series, De Niro is also involved as a producer. “[De Niro] very much became our partner in this process — very hands-on, very involved, read everything at every stage, and it’s been an incredible honor and privilege,” said Newman. “You can count on one hand the actors and actresses in history who bring this level of gravitas, pedigree, and talent to their work.”

Peter Friedlander, Vice President of Scripted Series on Netflix, added, “Zero Day is a shrewd, heart-pounding conspiracy thriller that will keep audiences at the edge of their seat. What an honor to have this A-list caliber of talent assembled, led by the iconic Robert De Niro and brought to life by the unrivaled talents of Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim, Lesli Linka Glatter and Michael S. Schmidt.“

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The Night Agent received an early season 3 renewal last month, and the cast is already coming together. Genesis Rodriguez is now in talks to join the new season of The Night Agent in a series regular role.

Details on her role are being kept under wraps, but The Night Agent season 3 is slated to start shooting in Istanbul at the end of the year and continue in New York in early 2025. Based on the novel by Matthew Quirk, The Night Agent is “a sophisticated, character-based, action-thriller centering on a low level FBI Agent who works in the basement of the White House, manning a phone that never rings — until the night that it does, propelling him into a fast moving and dangerous conspiracy that ultimately leads all the way to the Oval Office.” The series stars Gabriel Basso, Luciane Buchanan, Hong Chau, D.B. Woodside, Eve Harlow, Sarah Desjardins, and more.

The Night Agent won’t be Rodriguez’s first experience with an action spy thriller, as she’s currently starring in the second season of Taylor Sheridan’s Lioness. The Paramount+ series stars Zoe Saldaña as Joe, an agent who leads undercover CIA operations in the war on terror by enlisting women operatives that are known as Lionesses. Rodriguez plays Captain Josephina Carrillo in the second season, a US Army Apache pilot who is recruited into the Lioness program.

The first season of The Night Agent was hugely popular upon release, with 98.2M views in its first 91 days. It currently occupies the #7 spot on Netflix’s Top 10 Most Popular (English) TV Shows of all time, standing alongside Netflix heavyweights such as Stranger Things, Bridgerton, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, and Wednesday. The official synopsis of the upcoming second season reads: “Based on the novel by Matthew Quirk, The Night Agent is a sophisticated, character-based, action-thriller centering on a low level FBI Agent , Peter Sutherland, whose efforts to save The President in Season 1 earn him an opportunity to become a Night Agent in Season 2. But working in the secretive organization of Night Action will propel Peter into a world where danger is everywhere and trust is in short supply.“

The Night Agent season 2 will debut on Netflix on January 23, 2025.

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The DC Universe will officially kick off with the release of Creature Commandos next month, but as certain elements and actors from previous DCEU projects are returning, fans have been confused about what is canon and what isn’t in the new universe. While speaking with IGN, DC Studios co-head James Gunn said almost all of the first season of Peacemaker is canon, with one big exception.

“Now in Creature Commandos, you’ll hear them talk about things that happened in [The] Suicide Squad or Peacemaker. Well then, those things automatically become canon,” Gunn said. “The truth is almost all of Peacemaker is canon with the exception of Justice League… which we will kind of deal with in the next season of Peacemaker.” The finale of Peacemaker‘s first season involved the Justice League (with Jason Momoa as Aquaman and Ezra Miller as Flash) showing up late to the party, with Peacemaker (John Cena) and friends having already saved the day.

I still believe the DCU should have started from scratch. New actors. New stories. Bringing in actors from the DCEU just feels like it will be confusing to general audiences. However, I do have faith that Gunn will be able to pull it off. That said, some fans have questioned why the elements which have made the cut happen to be from Gunn’s own projects.

When asked why he didn’t make a different show instead of risking confusion with Peacemaker season 2, Gunn has promised that the shift from DCEU to DCU will work out just fine. “Because it’s my favorite thing to do, it’s the biggest original Max show ever, and I have a way in,” Gunn said. “It won’t be confusing.” Peacemaker season 2 will debut on Max in August 2025.

Creature Commandos features the voices of Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., David Harbour as Eric Frankenstein, Indira Varma as The Bride, Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana Rostovic, Alan Tudyk as Doctor Phosphorus, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, and Steve Agee as John Economos, and Sean Gunn as Weasel. The series tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. When all else fails… they’re your last, worst option. Creature Commandos will debut on December 5th on Max, with Superman hitting theaters on July 11, 2025.

Do you think Peacemaker season 1 should be canon to the new DCU?

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Emma MacKay is set to star alongside Glen Powell (The Running Man) and Jenna Ortega (Wednesday) in the new mystery box movie from J.J. Abrams. The actress is best known for starring in Netflix’s Sex Education, which wrapped up its four-season run last year.

Plot details are being kept under wraps (big surprise). It was previously speculated that the film would involve time travel, but sources have said that’s not the case. Damn you, mystery box! The project is expected to kick off production next year with Abrams directing from a script he wrote. He will also produce through his Bad Robot banner. This will mark Abrams’ first feature film since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which was released in 2019.

Since breaking onto the scene with Sex Education, MacKay has appeared in Death on the Nile, played Emily Brontë in Frances O’Conno’s Emily, and was featured as Physicist Barbie in Barbie, the billion-dollar behemoth.

MacKay has several projects coming up, including Ella McKay from director James L. Brooks. She stars as the title character, an idealistic young politician who juggles familial issues and a challenging work life while preparing to take over the job of her mentor, the state’s longtime incumbent governor. The film also stars Woody Harrelson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ayo Edebiri, Albert Brooks, Kumail Nanjiani, Rebecca Hall, and more.

She’s also starring in Hot Milk, an adaptation of Deborah Levy’s novel of the same name. The film follows Rose (Fiona Shaw) and her daughter Sofia (MacKay) as they travel to a seaside resort in Spain to consult with a physician who may hold the cure to Rose’s mystery illness. However, “in the sultry atmosphere of this sun-bleached town, Sofia, who has been trapped by her mother’s illness all her life, finally starts to shed her inhibitions, enticed by the persuasive charms of enigmatic traveller Ingrid (Vicky Krieps). Sofia’s increased freedom becomes too much for her controlling mother, and as the hot sun beats down, their relationship simmers with pent-up resentments and bitterness, threatening to tear the fragile threads that hold them together, and leading them to a dramatic conclusion.“

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There’s a new entry in the Jurassic Park / Jurassic World franchise heading our way, with Jurassic World Rebirth set to reach theatres on July 2, 2025 – and during an interview with Empire, director Gareth Edwards said that the new movie goes back to what he loved about the original Jurassic Park.

News of the new Jurassic World movie first hit back in January, when it was revealed that 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. The project was assembled in a mad scramble after that, with Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards ending up at the helm. This new Jurassic World movie won’t be featuring any returning lead characters from the previous Jurassic Park / Jurassic World movies, so describing it as a “Rebirth” could be accurate. The characters 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 played by the likes of Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton), Mahershala Ali (Green Book), Rupert Friend (Obi-Wan Kenobi), 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. David Iacono of The Summer I Turned Pretty, child actress Audrina Miranda, Philippine Velge (Station Eleven), Ed Skrein (Deadpool), and Béchir Sylvain (Diarra from Detroit) are 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. 

Here’s what we know about the plot now: Jurassic World Rebirth sees an intrepid team racing to secure DNA samples from the three most colossal creatures across land, sea and air. Five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, the planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived. The three most colossal creatures within that tropical biosphere hold the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.

Johansson’s character is Zora Bennett, “a skilled covert operations expert contracted to lead a team on a top-secret mission to secure genetic material from the world’s three most massive dinosaurs. When Zora’s operation intersects with a civilian family whose boating expedition was capsized by marauding aquatic dinos, they all find themselves stranded on an island where they come face-to-face with a sinister, shocking discovery that’s been hidden from the world for decades.” Bailey is playing paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis, with Ali as Zora’s most trusted team leader, Duncan Kincaid. 

Edwards told Empire, “It goes back to what I loved about the original, with an embarrassment of riches of different set-piece-type scenarios and tense, fun action moments. There were a lot of opportunities as a filmmaker to have a lot of fun and try and play games with the audience.” The movie will be packed with the dinosaurs movie-goers are hoping to see, as “there are certain dinosaurs it would be a crime against cinema not to include.” And the director also took the opportunity to build up Johansson’s character, saying, “She’s looking for meaning in her life after leaving the military, and this opportunity comes along where [after it] basically she’d never have to work again. But through that journey, she starts to question the ethical rights and wrongs of what they’re doing.“

Are you looking forward to watching Jurassic World Rebirth next year? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Jared Hess’s A Minecraft Movie wants to invite you into a world of imagination and ingenuity, and Jack Black is your guide! Warner Bros. Pictures debuted the latest trailer for A Minecraft Movie on Tuesday, giving fans of the elaborate exploration and action-oriented franchise a reason to tunnel their way to theaters on April 4, 2025. Audiences concerned about the live-action adaptation’s overall look can rest easy knowing director Jared Hess and his team have taken great care in recreating the world of Minecraft for this unprecedented presentation, and a lot more than Creepers await those who buy the ticket and take the ride.

Here’s the official synopsis for A Minecraft Movie courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures:

“Welcome to the world of Minecraft, where creativity doesn’t just help you craft, it’s essential to one’s survival!  Four misfits—Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Momoa), Henry (Hansen), Natalie (Myers) and Dawn (Brooks)—find themselves struggling with ordinary problems when they are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into the Overworld: a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination.  To get back home, they’ll have to master this world (and protect it from evil things like Piglins and Zombies, too) while embarking on a magical quest with an unexpected, expert crafter, Steve (Black).  Together, their adventure will challenge all five to be bold and to reconnect with the qualities that make each of them uniquely creative…the very skills they need to thrive back in the real world.”

In WB’s A Minecraft Movie trailer, Jack Black plays Steve, a minor whose dreams of tunneling his way to a new world come true unexpectedly. When a group of outsiders – Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, and Sebastian Eugene Hansen find their way to the mysterious land, they quickly discover they’re the only thing standing between a world of wonders and those aiming to rule it with an iron grip. The trailer highlights the film’s practical sets and effects, playful character chemistry, and Minecraft-specific building methods. Regarding authenticity, A Minecraft Movie is taking great strides to appeal to longtime fans of the franchise.

What do you think about Jared Hess’s A Minecraft Movie trailer? Let us know in the comments section below.

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While fans of the Showtime series Yellowjackets (read our review of season 2 HERE) patiently wait to see the bonus episode that’s going to air sometime between the second and third seasons, a short promo has just dropped online to reveal that Yellowjackets season 3 is set to premiere on February 14th! You can check out the promo in the embed above.

Yellowjackets is described as “equal parts survival epic, horror story, and coming-of-age drama.” The story centers on a team of wildly talented high school girls soccer players who become the (un)lucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the Ontario wilderness. The series will chronicle their descent from a complicated but thriving team to warring, cannibalistic clans, while also tracking the lives they’ve attempted to piece back together nearly 25 years later, proving that the past is never really past and what began out in the wilderness is far from over.

Created, written, executive produced by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, the series stars Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Ella Purnell, Sammi Hanratty, Sophie Thatcher, Steven Krueger, Amy Okuda, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Courtney Eaton, and Liv Hewson. New cast additions in Yellowjackets season 2 included Elijah Wood (the Lord of the Rings trilogy), Lauren Ambrose (Servant), Simone Kessell (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Nicole Maines (Supergirl), François Arnaud (The Borgias), Nia Sondaya (Truth Be Told), and guest star Jason Ritter (Freddy vs. Jason). Lyle and Nickerson serve as showrunners with Jonathan Lisco.

We’ve previously heard that Yellowjackets season 3 will be adding characters played by Community‘s Joel McHale and two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank (Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby). McHale has a guest star role, while Swank will have a recurring role. We’ve heard “she’ll make her first appearance in the latter stages of the season.”

I’m all caught up on Yellowjackets, and while I thought season 2 was a step down from its predecessor, I’m eagerly looking forward to season 3. Are you a Yellowjackets fan, and will you be tuning in when season 3 has its premiere in February? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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