Latest news with #Thunderbolts*
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
I Rewatched Black Widow After Seeing Thunderbolts*, And It Has Me A Lot More Emotional Over Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. It's hard to believe, but Fantastic Four: First Steps is the only title left among upcoming Marvel movies before we get our first Avengers movie since Endgame, Avengers: Doomsday. And while I probably wouldn't have believed you if you told me before seeing it, Thunderbolts* is my favorite MCU movie in years, and I have to say a lot of that is thanks to Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova. Never mind the actress already being some of my favorites in movies like Dune: Part 2 or Midsommar, her character is quickly rising in the ranks in the current superhero lineup. And when I rewatched her first appearance in Black Widow, it only made me appreciate her more. I remember digging Black Widow when it came out, but I'll be honest, I've kind of forgotten about it since I saw it. Of course, there's the fact that it probably came out at the wrong time, given the COVID-19 pandemic was still heavily affecting theaters and Disney was experimenting with its Disney+ service, perhaps to the detriment of the movie's performance. But, I need to talk about how seeing Thunderbolts* reminded me to go back to the 2021 release and deepen my love for Yelena Belova further. SPOILERS are ahead for Thunderbolts* and Black Widow. There's a lot to love about Thunderbolts* in my opinion, but the biggest highlight of the movie for me is the relationship between Yelena and her 'dad,' the Red Guardian. My favorite scene was definitely in the third act of the movie when Yelena gets honest with him about how she's been feeling really alone and having a lot of regrets about her life. In response, Red Guardian tells Yelena that when he looks at her, he 'doesn't see' her mistakes. Instead, he remembers who she was as a kid, and how she wanted to be the goalie on her childhood soccer team in order to be the 'person everyone relies on when they make a mistake.' Without that scene in the movie, I just don't think Thunderbolts* would be as good as it is. It had me thinking back to when Yelena and Red Guardian's relationship was established in Black Widow. I remember the two actors being just as funny and grounded in the 2021 movie, and yet I hadn't placed the movie high in my mind to realize this going into seeing Thunderbolts*. So I made it my mission to revisit Black Widow after seeing the latest Marvel movies. When it comes to Marvel movies in order, I had actually forgotten that the movie takes place in 2016 in the MCU timeline, two years prior to the events in Infinity War and the events of Thunderbolts* takes place a little over a decade after Black Widow (with the five-year gap of the snap in between to think about). And after seeing Black Widow again, I think the movie does a good job of establishing an older Yelena who has dealt with a lot more life and loss, and having the context of her upbringing with the Red Guardian and Melina really helped me understand her better. It was so much fun to see how the character was introduced in the movie, because Pugh very much stays true to who Yelena is between them. Oh, and it slipped my mind how quotable Yelena was in Black Widow to the point of actually stealing the thunder off of Scarlett Johansson's MCU sendoff. But the one thing that really caught me off guard is how much Yelena clearly looks up to Natasha Romanoff throughout the movie, even if she's always taking shots at her Avengers position and "posing". While I read it more as MCU banter the first time I saw it, this time I noticed how much that relationship really gives sister energy, and while Natasha kind of brushes Yelena off (as big sisters often do), Natasha means a lot to her. I realized getting to do a mission with her and reunite with their 'parents' is kind of the best thing for Yelena, because she's spent a lot of time alone. Throughout the movie, you see how, while Natasha has kind of lost her respect for her parental figures, Yelena is still attached to them. As she says in one memorable line: "It was real to me." It made me extra sad about the death of Natasha in Endgame, and how in Thunderbolts*, Yelena feels like she wants to make a difference like her sister did, but she's having problems making the transition (inwardly and outwardly). So, when I finished Black Widow, knowing that her second MCU movie ends with her becoming a new Avenger, I found it especially poignant. She still clearly feels the loss of Natasha, now she's going to get the chance to serve with the Avengers and be the person she has always looked up to: her sister! I'm not crying, you are. Disney+: from $9.99 a month w/ ad-supported planYou can stream Black Widow now as I did with a Disney+ subscription. In fact you can check out every MCU movie on Disney+, starting at $9.99 a month for its new ad-supported plan. Go ad-free and pay $15.99 a month or save 16% and pre-pay $159.99 for a Deal While the Thunderbolts* director has suggested the movie isn't a Black Widow sequel, I would argue the new Marvel film wouldn't have worked for me as well as it did if it weren't for the 2021 movie. If I hadn't seen the scene where Yelena and Red Guardian sing 'American Pie' together, I wouldn't have bought into their continued father-daughter dynamic as much, and there's a kind of twisted found family element in the Kate Shortland film that spiritually carries over into Thunderbolts*, I think. The only thing that really bummed me out after seeing Black Widow is how the movie perfectly served Thunderbolts* the chance to feature Scarlett Johansson one more time through the shame rooms created by Sentry. I think it would have been really beautiful if she had shown up for a moment and allowed Yelena to get some closure or something. But, I also understand that Johansson is hesitant to return to the MCU after her long stint, and I was kind of into the fact that Thunderbolts* wasn't packed full of cameos. Because while Yelena Belova kind of sees herself as not as good as Natasha, the fact is she's being given way more to do in the MCU already than her sister was. Sure, it was different times, but I've always felt so conflicted about how Black Widow was handled as a character. She's very much in the center of things going into Doomsday, and I love that for her, but now I'm never getting out of my mind how the character will be constantly missing her sister as she becomes a hero in her own right.
The Courier
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Courier
DCA cinema ticket stub turns 'collector's item' after comic book artist's tribute
Superhero films have divided critics recently, but they're back in a big way this year. Marvel's Thunderbolts*, starring Florence Pugh, was confirmed this week as having made more than 300 million dollars (£222m) at the box office, making it the fourth biggest film of 2025 so far. Thunderbolts is the latest in a long line of superhero cinema smashes from the Marvel comic book universe. Yet when Dundee comic artist Dan McDaid saw Thunderbolts*, it wasn't the action scenes and fighting which connected with him, so much as the film's unexpected focus on mental health issues. It would spoiler the film to go into detail, but more than one character in it has depression. McDaid was so inspired by how Thunderbolts* discussed mental health, that he's drawn the team of anti-heroes on his cinema ticket from Dundee Contemporary Arts and is auctioning it on eBay for the UK mental health charity Mind. 'I feel like the Marvel films had been growing a little uneven and lacklustre over the last few years, and there was too much additional homework needed to understand what was going on,' says McDaid, who has lived in Dundee for twenty years and is originally from Cornwall. 'Thunderbolts* was refreshingly free of that. It's incredibly exciting and very funny, but it also goes out of its way to say something about mental health issues and dealing with trauma.' As one of the leading comic artists in the UK, who has drawn the adventures of such diverse and well-known characters as Superman, Judge Dredd and Doctor Who, as well as previously working with Trainspotting novelist Irvine Welsh, anything McDaid puts his pen to is a collector's item. This auction, then, is a means of drawing attention to mental health issues in a different way. 'The idea just popped into my head,' he says. 'I'd been to see the film once, loved it, went to see it again, loved it even more, and felt very moved by the movie's themes. 'I think everyone has someone in their lives who has been touched by mental health issues, so the theme is universal, and this film tackles it in such an intelligent and accessible way. 'Anyway, I looked at my big DCA ticket stub, thought 'you could probably fit a pretty nice sketch on that' and just went for it. Mind seemed the most obvious beneficiary of the auction.' As well as paying tribute to the film and helping a good cause, McDaid's auction also tips its hat to Dundee Contemporary Arts, which has shared his auction on its social media. 'The DCA is the jewel in Dundee's crown for me, a world class arts cinema with a great restaurant, bar and creative hub for local artistic talent,' he says. 'I'm down there usually a few times a month, either for a drink or to catch a film. It's also one of the few cinemas that still offers a proper ticket stub instead of a simple receipt, and long may it continue.' The auction ends on Saturday May 24.
Straits Times
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
‘Grateful for my anxiety': Actor Lewis Pullman related to Thunderbolts* character's struggles
NEW YORK – Lewis Pullman is still not sure if he is playing a hero or a villain in the latest Marvel movie Thunderbolts*. 'He's very malleable and easily influenced because he hasn't had a real, strong, reliable source of love in his life,' the American actor said of his character, a dark Superman-like figure known as Sentry/The Void – although his civilian name, Bob, is how you might remember him best. Think what would happen if Superman were super-depressed. Also, Bob appears capable of vapourising people with a flick of his hand. 'There's a contrast between being this all-powerful being and then having your greatest weakness and your main Achilles' heel be your own self,' Pullman, 32, said in video call from his apartment in Los Angeles. He had just returned to the city, where he was born and raised, after a shoot in Vancouver, British Columbia, for the Netflix movie Remarkably Bright Creatures, based on American author Shelby Van Pelt's enormously popular 2022 novel. That was followed by a whirlwind press tour that had taken him from London and New York to Los Angeles and Miami to back to Los Angeles, just in time for his brother's wedding. Pullman – the son of 71-year-old American actor Bill Pullman (While You Were Sleeping, 1995; Independence Day, 1996) – is the breakout star of Thunderbolts*, which has attracted praise for its candid depiction of mental health. 'What I love about this film is that it is so adamantly trying to rid our society' of the stigma around mental health, Lewis Pullman said. Like his character, he has an introspective bent, turning over every question in his mind before answering. Although he had never read the comics featuring Sentry – also known as Robert Reynolds , shortened to Bob in Thunderbolts* – he was drawn to the profound sadness and isolation of the character, whose Mr Hyde-like alter ego is the Void, the darkness that lives inside Bob. Struck by bouts of melancholy, Bob forges an unlikely friendship with Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, who was trained as a child to be a Black Widow assassin. 'She sees something of herself in him,' Pullman said. 'She sees that they are both at the end of their lines.' The role is a breakout turn for Pullman, who earned a supporting actor Emmy nomination in 2024 for his portrayal of a brilliant scientist in the Apple TV+ period series Lessons In Chemistry (2023). Before that, he played a pilot – also named Bob – in the 2022 hit Top Gun: Maverick. 'I should probably take a breather from playing Bobs,' he said with a laugh. Lewis Pullman at the Thunderbolts* screening on April 30 in New York. PHOTO: AFP How did you first get involved in Thunderbolts*? I got a phone call that was very vague and cryptic, and I was like: 'I should meet Jake (Schreier, the director) and see what this is all about.' He couldn't give me the script, so he told me the story old-fashioned style, word by word. It was great to have that experience. You don't get it very often. I had only three days to prepare for the screen test and audition, which wasn't as much time as I'd like. So, I tried to go as broad as possible, and then shrink it down and go as specific as possible in finding and discovering where it was that I, as Lewis, could relate to this character. What did you pull from for the role? What was so exciting and terrifying was how much I related to this character. In terms of the mental health parts of it, the anxiety and the depression, I have a dose of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) , self-doubt and the negative self-talk that can paralyse you. I'm lucky to have come from a great family that was very proactive and resourceful about helping me figure it all out. So, to try to inhabit somebody who didn't have that – I was close enough to those alleyways to be able to see what it would have looked like had I not had those. Have you had candid conversations with people in your own life about mental health? I was a social work major in college in North Carolina, so I have had many conversations about these topics. Coming into this project, it was obvious that it was a major theme. But it was never our goal to make this a PSA (public service announcement). This is still an incredibly fun, large-scale blockbuster film. But by shining a flashlight on it, it becomes more real. In many ways, my anxiety is something I'm grateful for. It's there as a protective mechanism. You don't just make a movie about it and then the conversation's over. I'll be talking about it until I circle the drain. And that's something I've come to be okay with and embrace. Do you have personal experience with depression? That's something that's less of a consistent force in my life. It comes in waves. But it's something that's deep in my marrow because, when you feel that, it's very hard to forget. I was able to tap into that in a way that was safe, with therapy, and then friends and support. I go about therapy in the same way that I go about acting. I assume that I never know anything, that there's always something to learn. I did a lot of cognitive behavioural therapy in high school and now I'm in talk therapy. I've realised that the times when you should stick with therapy the most is when you think you're doing the best without it. That's a mind game that I've fallen for a couple of times. What would you say to people who feel like Bob? It's okay to not smile, it's okay to cry, it's okay to let all those feelings out, and to not bottle them up. You'll find that, more often than not, there will be somebody there to catch you, if you're vulnerable enough to let them. NYTIMES Thunderbolts* is showing in Singapore cinemas. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A Minecraft Movie Box Office Crosses Huge Milestone, Gets Closer to $1 Billion
With A Minecraft Movie crossing $900 million and Thunderbolts* and Sinners dominating the charts, box office momentum remains a key focus this season. While Thunderbolts* continues its MCU run with a steep second-week drop, Sinners holds strong in its fourth weekend. Meanwhile, A Minecraft Movie edges closer to the $1 billion mark, despite increasing competition from summer releases. A Minecraft Movie has officially surpassed $900 million worldwide, reaching a total of $909,586,434. The film has grossed $408,986,434 domestically (45%) and $500,600,000 internationally (55%) in its first 38 days of release (via Box Office Mojo). Distributed by Warner Bros., the PG-rated movie opened on April 4, 2025, in 4,263 theaters and earned $162.7 million in its debut weekend. According to Variety, the film is currently the third-highest earner at the domestic box office, behind Thunderbolts and Sinners. In its sixth weekend, it earned an estimated $9 million, indicating a steady slowdown amid rising competition during the summer movie season. It remains the second-highest-grossing video game movie of all time, following 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.36 billion). On Friday, April 4, the film opened with $57,113,324 and saw a Saturday increase to $59,409,839. Its first weekend concluded with $162.7 million. By its second Friday, earnings dropped to $20.5 million, and by the third Friday, it posted $16 million. The most recent Sunday figure, May 11, stood at $2.5 million, contributing to the cumulative $408.9 million domestic total. North America and several international territories drove the film's strongest performance. Fan-driven attendance and strong promotion boosted its success. Warner Bros. produced the film with a reported budget of $150 million. The story follows four misfits navigating a cubic universe to find their way home. The film has already crossed $400 million domestically and $900 million worldwide. However, industry observers consider the $1 billion milestone unlikely. Rising summer competition and falling weekly averages may limit future earnings. The post A Minecraft Movie Box Office Crosses Huge Milestone, Gets Closer to $1 Billion appeared first on - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
USA Today
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Marvel's ‘Thunderbolts*' lands in China despite escalating trade war
Marvel's 'Thunderbolts*' lands in China despite escalating trade war Show Caption Hide Caption 'Thunderbolts*': Marvel castoffs get their own movie adventure Ace assassin Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) teams with her dad, Red Guardian (David Harbour), and other unlikely heroes in Marvel's "Thunderbolts*." New Disney DIS.N movie Thunderbolts* is poised to test Chinese appetite for Hollywood blockbusters as it opens in cinemas around China on Wednesday, making it the first American film to hit movie theaters in the country since a new trade war began. The film, a part of the sprawling Marvel franchise, was approved for release in China before Washington and Beijing slapped tit-for-tat tariffs on each other. That meant the movie, which sees an unconventional band of antiheroes brought together to combat a supervillain, escaped a decision by China to curb Hollywood imports earlier this month as part of its retaliation against the United States. In 2024, a total of 42 American films were released in China, but Chinese audiences have been gravitating away from Hollywood for some time. Releases so far in 2025 have included Snow White, which made 9 million yuan ($1.24 million) at the Chinese box office, and Captain America: Brave New World, which pulled in 104 million yuan. 'That's Biden:' Trump blames predecessor for economy slowing and touts his tariffs In comparison, 2025 box office leader Ne Zha 2 has grossed more than 7 billion yuan in its home market. "It's hard to remember the last American film I watched..." said Beijing resident Pan Lei, a frequent cinema-goer. "I think it should be Dune, which was four years ago." Pan, 49, said that American films like the Marvel movie franchise have been standard fare for nearly 20 years, and any novelty of their production and visual effects has largely worn off. "I miss the days when we could watch wonderful Hollywood films like Titanic, Speed, True Lies and Iron Man in cinemas," he said, adding: "I think the younger generation doesn't share the same idea of Hollywood as my generation." While Chinese moviegoers around Pan's age were once accustomed to Hollywood films dominating China's box office, the rapid development of a homegrown industry has seen domestic films with local stars and specifically Chinese stories rise to supplant them over the past decade. Since 2015, Chinese films have ranked number one at the local box office each year, while the number of foreign films at the top of the box office takings have become rarer. Even without a new trade war and a rise in geopolitical tensions between the United States and China, it's doubtful Hollywood films will ever be able to regain their once-dominant position in the Chinese market, analysts say. "China will continue to dominate its home market," said Stanley Rosen, professor of political science at the University of Southern California. "China has learned a lot from Hollywood — for example, from their earlier collaboration with DreamWorks in Shanghai — and simply does not need the Hollywood blockbusters anymore." "Only two Hollywood films made over $100 million in China last year, and I don't expect any will do so this year," he added. ($1 = 7.2645 Chinese yuan renminbi) Reporting by Casey Hall and Sophie Yu; Editing by Shri Navaratnam
