Future Stories

Screenshot: Lucasfilm Star Wars is well-known for its iconic costumes, but neither Padmé’s gowns nor Han Solo’s blue/brown jacket are as infamous as maybe the skimpiest garment worn on-screen in the entire franchise: Princess Leia ’s bikini, prisoner garb forced upon the captive Rebel by Jabba the Hutt . Now, the costume once worn by Carrie Fisher is going up for auction, with an estimated price as huge as the garment is small. Image: Heritage Auctions/HA.com The starting bid for the ensemble seen in 1983's Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi is $30,000 at Heritage Auctions , which bills it as a “production made bikini costume from [ILM chief sculptor] Richard Miller.” It comes with the following: bikini brassiere, front and back “bikini plates,” two hip rings, one armlet, and one bracelet, all crafted by Miller in collaboration with Return of the Jedi costumer designer Nilo Rodis-Jamero. More details: “The bikini brassiere is the early version crafted of rigid re...

Image: Sony Pictures/Marvel All told, Spider-Man is one of the weirdest high-profile superheroes. Peter Parker will always be famous, and that means anything he ends up headlining will just eventually have an odd aura around it. Look no further than his own movies: after Sam Raimi’s trilogy , Sony didn’t maintain the proper hold it had on the franchise, eventually resulting in a shared custody deal with the character which brought him to the Marvel Cinematic Universe via Tom Holland. Holland’s Peter Parker made his debut in Captain America: Civil War, and has ultimately split his MCU time as a guest star and three-time headliner. Of the current trilogy, the sophomore effort of Spider-Man: Far From Home , which released on July 2, 2019, came with baggage greater than 2017’s Homecoming. Coming just over two months after Avengers: Endgame , the movie got right to the point and positioned Peter as a potential MCU anchor now that most of the Avengers (and Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Star...

Chainsaw not pictured. Image: Lionsgate Borderlands’ August 9 release is just over a month away, and it’s still almost incredible that this movie exists. The fact that it’s directed by Eli Roth and based on the mega-popular video game isn’t so odd; rather, it’s the stacked ensemble cast that includes Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Hart, Ariana Greenblatt, Edgar Ramírez, the voice of Jack Black , and... Cate Blanchett ? Lest you think that Blanchett, who’s more known for dramatic roles (though she doesn’t turn down franchise opportunities; see: the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok), signed on to play space outlaw Lilith merely for a paycheck, let the two-time Oscar winner set you straight. Speaking to Empire , Blanchett explained “covid madness” might have influenced her decision to join the cast, under the guidance of Roth, who she’d worked with previously (along with Black) on 2018's The House With a Clock ...

Mia Goth is Maxine in MaXXXine. Image: A24 There was a moment while I was watching Ti West’s latest film, MaXXXine, that I thought I figured it out. Not the plot or any big twists mind you, but merely what the film was trying to say about fame, Hollywood, and these characters . Just as that happened though, things took a turn in a way that was far simpler and tamer than I’d given it credit for. Which, I soon, realized was MaXXXine in a nutshell. It’s a film filled with ideas and potential that feels oddly constrained. Set after the events of West’s previous two films, X and Pearl (which you don’t need to see for this though it can’t hurt), MaXXXine stars Mia Goth as the title character, a young adult film star who has moved to Hollywood to conquer the big time. Maxine is a confident, capable woman who will stop at nothing to achieve her dreams and, after booking her first major film, she’s closer than ever to doing just that. However, as we saw in X (and in flashes here), Maxine...

Deadpool & Wolverine’s four limited edition pizzas from DiGiorno. Image: Fox/Marvel Warning: this article is going to make you hungry . There’s simply no way around it. Even as we humorously break down the good and bad of Deadpool & Wolverine teaming up with DiGiorno on a series of limited-edition pizzas, talking about pizza at all is going to make you crave a slice. But what slice to eat? Well, there are four options, all of which should be in stores now tied to the massively anticipated Marvel Studios multiverse movie, opening July 26. Here’s the breakdown with official descriptions: The Wade Special : A sweet and salty combo not just for mercs, made with pineapple and black olives to pay homage to Wade Wilson’s pizza in the first movie. Gimme Chimi : A chimichanga-inspired pizza that is a fiesta for your tastebuds and topped with spicy cumin sauce, beef topping, jalapeno, and cheddar & mozzarella cheeses. Spicy Wolvie Pie : Crafted with Wolverine and other mea...

Image: Lego After the Eye of Sauron heralded a busy start to the summer for Lego fans , you’re getting a bit of a break in July—with just six major releases bidding for your time and attention to beat the heat with large amounts of plastic bricks. And one of those is a book! But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few things keeping an eye out for. The new transforming Bumblebee —Lego’s second Transformers set after Optimus Prime a few years ago—is definitely the highlight of the month, but we’ve got a few cool Disney sets, a very cool car, and an even cooler book celebrating 25 years of Lego Star Wars. Check out what’s coming for Lego releases in July below! Lego Icons Transformers Bumblebee Image: Lego Designed to be in scale with 2022's fully transformable Optimus Prime, Bumblebee is ready to roll out with the Autobot leader as he transforms into both his robot mode and his classic, VW Beetle-inspired vehicle form. ($90, available here ) Lego Star Wars: The Force of Cre...

Daemon (Matt Smith) finds some surprises on his Harrenhal holiday. Image: Ollie Upton/HBO A lot happened on last night’s House of the Dragon , a quality the show’s many fans have come to expect from HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel. But you have to assume most viewers gasped at the big cameo in “The Burning Mill,” featuring a character even diehards weren’t expecting to see. In a new interview with Variety , “The Burning Mill” director Geeta Vasant Patel—who’s also behind the camera for the season two finale, so imagine all the secrets she could spill—talks about some of episode three’s most startling moments... including that wild surprise. That includes Aemond’s nude scene, the clandestine Rhaenyra-Alicent meeting, and how Ser Criston Cole has rapidly become House of the Dragon’s most hated character—an impressive feat considering he’s not even a Targaryen. But Patel also had some insights into that startling cameo, featuring the very familiar face of Milly Alcock, who played y...

Wade and Peter in Deadpool & Wolverine. Image: Marvel Studios Marvel Studios recently released new photos from Deadpool & Wolverine and while they’re not groundbreaking, each is our best look yet at characters on opposite sides of the spectrum. On the one side, there’s Cassandra Nova, the evil, likely main villain in the film played by The Crown’s Emma Corrin . Then there’s Peter, one of Wade’s best friends played by Rob Delaney. That’s one of the new images above, featuring Wade (Ryan Reynolds) and Peter at work together. It’s from a scene early in the film that screened at CinemaCon 2024 and you can read all about it here . Basically, Wade and Peter are car salesman and while Peter wants Wade to go back to being Deadpool, Wade does not. This is before the birthday party you see in the trailers. Then here’s another photo of Peter that looks more like it’s from Superstore than a superhero film but hey, he’s great so we like it. Image: Marvel Studios Finally, here’s ...

The Babysitter Photo: Tony Rivetti Jr., SMPSP While this list isn’t quite a “horror comedy” grouping— as much as we love horror comedies —what follows are 10 Netflix picks that will leave you feeling satisfied and entertained, and possibly a bit grossed-out and terrified along the way. What more could you ask for, really? Thanksgiving THANKSGIVING - Official Trailer (HD) A tasty treat any time of year, Eli Roth’s 2023 make-good on his screamingly fun fake movie trailer from 2007's Grindhouse combines classic slasher holiday antics with “did that just happen?” splatter. Stream on Netflix . X X | Official Trailer HD | A24 Little did we know, when Ti West’s X hit theaters in 2022, that a new horror franchise was being born—and Mia Goth was becoming a new kind of scream queen. Trilogy-capper Maxxxine hits theaters July 5 , so there’s no better moment to remember where (deep in the heart of Texas, circa 1979) the character’s Hollywood dreams got their sticky beginnings....

Image: Warner Bros. Discovery Summerween gives theme park fans a preview of what to expect this fall at Universal Studios , Disney Parks and Six Flags, with major IP coming to all the seasonal offerings. From Beetlejuice Beetlejuice getting its own pop-up afterlife walk though, to Stranger Things and The Conjuring Universe moving to Fright Fest at Six Flags, to Ghostbusters returning at Universal Studios, there’s a lot of horror haunt fun on the way. Plus the Guardians of the Galaxy jump aboard the Treasure Disney Cruise, Oogie Boogie Bash tickets go on sale, and Disney says goodbye to Genie+ as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure finally opens. And over at Universal Studios Orlando, Danny Elfman makes an epic announcement while cinema classics are celebrated all summer. Spooky summer fun and more awaits in this week’s theme park news ! Beetlejuice Beetlejuice “The Afterlife Experience” Tickets are set to go on sale July 3 at 10 a.m. PT through www.BeetlejuiceExperience.com for WB’s imm...

Denis Villeneuve directing Arrival. Image: Paramount After spending several years on Arrakis, director Denis Villeneuve said he wanted to go somewhere else for his next project. And while we don’t know “where” that is, we do know “when.” Warner Bros. just set a December 18, 2026 release date for Villenuve’s next movie, which is described as an “event film.” It better be too, because, as it stands now, the other movie set to release on that date is a new Star Wars film. In the aftermath of Dune: Part Two’s release earlier this year, Villeneuve not only spoke about making a third Dune, Dune Messiah, but was attached to at least one other project . That’s Nuclear War, based on a non-fiction book by Annie Jacobsen that attempts to paint a realistic picture of what an actual nuclear war, and its fallout, would look like. This 2026 film could be that or, in a huge twist, it might actually be Dune Messiah. Deadline seems to think it’s Dune and the Hollywood Reporter teases the same....

Screenshot: Lucasfilm This week’s episode of The Acolyte makes for one of the most brutal half-hours of Star Wars action we’ve had in a while, as a group of Jedi come face to face with the sinister threat of the Stranger— a masked monster that proves a lot more than they could’ve ever anticipated handling. Suffice to say, things don’t go well for the Jedi. But how not-well? We decided to rank the apparently myriad ways you can punk them. 8) Not Even Being Worth Showing Screenshot: Lucasfilm This poor guy. Imagine you get to be a Jedi in the episode of a Star Wars show where there’s just a load of Jedi—a load of Jedi getting to do a cool ass big fight sequence against a Dark side baddie! And then you exist entirely to be a surprise corpse reveal at the start of the episode, without even a swing of your lightsaber. That’s gotta sting. 7) Not Even Being Worth Showing, But More Ominous Screenshot: Lucasfilm We’re cheating for a moment jumping back to the end of episode f...

Gif: Lucasfilm With a swing of a wrist gauntlet, and the head-butt of a sinister helmet , The Acolyte’s mysterious dark Stranger carved a path into Star Wars history this week with a single, shocking move: strikes that sent the laser blades of his Jedi foes sputtering out of existence. But while we’ve seen lightsaber-resistant material in Star Wars plenty already, what could cause this strange effect? An infamous material from the Expanded Universe. What Is Cortosis? A very rare and very brittle material, cortosis was first introduced in 1998 novel I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole. On top of its rarity, cortosis was extremely difficult to mine due to its conductive properties. Like several other materials in the galaxy far, far away, it was capable of resistance to standard energy weapons like blasters—but unlike others, cortosis found a niche with the discovery that it could also conduct the energy of a lightsaber blade, shorting out the weapon for a period of up to several minutes...