Happy Friday, and welcome back to Movie Morsels! Today is the day that Star Wars: The Force Awakens officially opens! And Harrison Ford is very displeased with anyone who would spoil its surprises for other people. Trust us, you don’t want to piss off Han Solo himself.
Also on tap for the last Movie Morsels of the week: Alien: Covenant has its leading lady, the Ghostbusters reboot has a few new posters, Vin Diesel talks Riddick 4, the Power Rangers reboot gets pushed back, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice profiles Lex Luthor, and we’ve got the new trailer for Kung Fu Panda 3. Begin!
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
After ten years, a new live-action Star Wars movie is in theaters. Nerdist’s Kyle Anderson wrote our spoiler-free review for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which you can read here. If you weren’t one of the thousands of Star Wars fans to brave the preview night screenings, beware of spoilers online! Some “fans†are trying to ruin the experience for everyone…and that is not cool.
Star Wars icon Harrison Ford has a message for anyone who spoils The Force Awakens:
Seriously. Just don’t do it. And may the Force be with you, always.
[Buzzfeed]
Alien: Covenant
Ridley Scott may still be on the awards circuit for The Martian, but Alien: Covenant has its leading lady! Inherent Vice standout Katherine Waterston has been cast in Alien: Covenant as Daniels, the main character of the movie.
Very little is known about the Alien: Covenant story, but Daniels and the crew of the Covenant will arrive on a seemingly abandoned world, where they will encounter the android known as David (Michael Fassbender), who was last seen in Prometheus.
Alien: Covenant will be released on October 6, 2017.
[Deadline]
Ghostbusters
The new female-led Ghostbusters movie is just a few months away, but Sony Pictures isn’t wasting any time! Yesterday, four solo Ghostbusters posters were released that put the spotlight on the leading ladies of the rebooted franchise.
First up, Kristen Wiig’s Erin Gilbert. She’s the leader of these new Ghostbusters, so perhaps that makes her the Egon of the team.
Next is Melissa McCarthy’s Abby Yates, who co-authored a book on the supernatural with Erin Gilbert. Does that make Abby the Ray of the new team?
You can find the posters for Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon’s characters at the link below.
Ghostbusters will be in theaters on July 15, 2016.
[Nerdist]
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
In a clever bit of promotion for Batman v Superman, Wired has run a profile piece on Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor as if he were a real person. In the piece, “Luthor†name drops A.R.G.U.S. and he had a few choice words about Batman.
“I’d say he’s all too human,” says Luthor. “Any objective analyst will tell you that his brand of justice, vigilantism, is painfully outmoded, designed to be effective in an age when the law carried billy clubs because crime carried knives.”
“The most dangerous guy on the street worked in the shadows because he was cowardly and superstitious. That’s all you needed to play upon in order to disrupt their operations. You want to clean up the streets? Dress up like the boogeyman, switch on a fog machine and lower your voice.”
Although Luthor doesn’t refer to Superman by name, there’s no mistaking his meaning in the following quote:
I think to be a super human, one should begin by being, you know, from this planet…We should all be careful when we elevate anyone, human or alien, to ‘super’ status.
Also of note, the following chart compared Luthor’s company to others in the DC Extended Universe, including a few (like Kord Industries and Queen Industries) that haven’t appeared yet. That definitely paves the way for Blue Beetle, Metamorpho, and Green Arrow.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will be released on March 25, 2016.
[Nerdist]
Riddick 4
It’s been a good week for Vin Diesel. He just closed a development deal with Universal TV that may bring his Chronicles of Riddick universe to television. But that doesn’t mean that he’s done with the Riddick feature films. In a new video posted to his Facebook page, Diesel revealed that the title of the proposed fourth Riddick movie is Furia.
“Are you guys excited to hear about Furia? Do you want to know where it all began with that dark character Riddick? … I dunno if ‘Furia’ is rated R, it might be a little more expansive in its mythology.â€
Diesel’s collaborator and director, David Twohy described Furia as an origin story for Richard B. Riddick, and Diesel added that it may begin filming in 2017.
Power Rangers
You know what time it is? It’s definitely not Morphin’ time! The big screen reboot of the Power Rangers has been delayed again, but this time it may be due to The Divergent Series: Ascendant. Lionsgate is moving the final film in the Divergent saga to June 9, 2017. The Power Rangers movie is taking over Ascendant’s former release date, March 24, 2017.
Because of that, Power Rangers will now open head-to-head against Universal’s reboot of The Mummy.
Kung Fu Panda 3
Next month, Jack Black is back in the third Kung Fu Panda movie, which will introduce Bryan Cranston as Po’s father! Po is going to return to a hidden village of pandas and he has to find a way to train them in the ways of kung fu before the evil spirit Kai (J.K. Simmons) comes for them all.
Kung Fu Panda 3 opens on January 29, 2016.
That’s a wrap for today’s Movie Morsels! Share your thoughts on today’s stories in the comment section below.
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Featured Image: Lucasfilm
