Believe it or not, some movie news has nothing to do with the Oscar nominations. (Well, almost nothing.) And today (after you finish placing your bets on who will take home the coveted gold statue on February 22nd), you can sip its sweet, sweet nectar — including confirmation on a favorite character’s appearance in Captain America: Civil War, some surprising info on Kong: Skull Island, and oh so much more!

Captain America: Civil War

Director Anthony Russo has confirmed, for those in doubt, that Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow will follow her appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron by returning for Captain America: Civil War, co-helmed by Anthony and his brother Joe Russo. Johansson will join what looks like an already full roster of heroes and villains, including Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, Anthony Mackie’s Falcon, Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther, Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier, Daniel Bruhl in an as yet unidentified role, Frank Grillo’s Crossbones, and — if the rumors prove true — Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, and Samuel Jackson’s Nick Fury. Whew! Captain America: Civil War is waged on May 6, 2016.

Here’s are the brothers Russo talking at the press event in Beijing where this news broke…

[Coming Soon]

Kong: Skull Island

Newly minted Oscar nominees J.K. Simmons and Michael Keaton spoke with MTV yesterday about their upcoming Kong: Skull Island, and dropped a bombshell regarding the film’s setting — in addition to taking place on the fabled titular home of The Eighth Wonder of the World, the action in director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and writer John Gatins’ Skull Island will also occur in 1971 in Detroit, Michigan. Wha?! Here are the two actors discussing the project…

Universal and Legendary will take all of us to Skull Island on March 10, 2017.

[MTV]

The Lego Movie

Yes, we’re still in mourning that the year’s funniest animated film was snubbed when yesterday’s Oscar nominations were announced. But we’re delighted that it’s given The Lego Movie‘s co-director Phil Lord the excuse he needed to go ahead and build his own, much cooler Oscar…

It’s okay. Made my own! pic.twitter.com/kgyu1GRHGR

— philip lord (@philiplord) January 15, 2015

[The A.V. Club]

Sharknado 3

Syfy and the Asylum have announced that Sharknado franchise stars Ian Ziering (pictured above in last summer’s Sharknado 2) and Tara Reid will indeed return for Sharknado 3, arriving in July on the Syfy Channel. This time around, Washington D.C. will be menaced by the twister with teeth — before it races down the eastern seaboard, presumably to decimate Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Director Anthony Ferrante and writer Thunder Levin also return.

[Syfy]

The Dirt

Metallica got their due with 2004’s Some Kind of Monster, and now another seminal Los Angeles heavy metal band is getting its story told on screen — albeit, rather than in a documentary, in biopic form. The epic tale of Motley Crue will be told in The Dirt, which has just been announced by Focus Features.

Jackass director Jeff Tremaine will helm the film, based on the autobiography The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band, by band members Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars, and Nikki Sixx (all of whom are producers on the film), with author Neil Strauss. The casting search will begin soon.

[The Hollywood Reporter]

Christ the Lord

In other Focus Features news, the company has also announced it’s moving the release date of its adaptation of Anne Rice’s bestseller Christ the Lord, from its original release date on the Wednesday before Easter to a date twelve days prior — March 11, 2016. The reason why? To avoid competing with Warners’ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, of course, which opens on March 25, 2016, as well as Paramount’s Beverly Hills Cop. Christ the Lord will now open the same day as Universal’s Warcraft. Insert joke about Batman and Superman being bigger than Jesus here. Then cue the comic-book burnings.

[Deadline]

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