Latest news with #sci-fi
The Verge
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Star Trek, superheroes, and lots of Stephen King: the best of SDCC 2025
Another San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone, and while there were no explosive reveals like last year's surprise appearance of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, there were quite a few interesting developments. That includes several Star Trek spinoffs, a new sci-fi show on Apple TV Plus, trailers for everything from Peacemaker to Gen V, and a surprising amount of Stephen King. Here's everything notable that you might have missed. We've got our first look at Nickelodeon's newest entry in the animated Avatar franchise, and while Seven Havens doesn't have a firm release date just yet, we now know that Pavi (the new Earthbending Avatar) is good friends with a cat / lemur hybrid. Writer / director Juan Meza-León's upcoming animated feature for DC Studios reimagines the Dark Knight as an Aztec warrior whose life is turned upside down when his father is murdered by Spanish conquistadors. If it's anything like Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League, Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires is going to be wild, and after it hits HBO Max on September 18th, we're probably going to be seeing a lot of fan art of these inspired costumes. The feel-good story of this formerly canceled movie continues. We already knew it was coming to theaters next year, and now there's a specific date: August 28th. The kids are not alright in the new trailer for Gen V's upcoming second season. But when the show returns on September 17th, Marie (Jaz Sinclair) and her friends are going to be on a mission that forces them all to level up and become the kind of superheroes that might be able to take down Homelander. No one in their right mind would ever move to Derry, Maine, if they knew what kind of monster was lurking in the town's shadows. But everyone in the new trailer for HBO's It prequel is pretty clueless about Pennywise, who seems like he's going to be eating very well when the show premieres later this year. When The Long Walk was first published in 1979, the idea of people entering a deadly walking competition in hopes of winning a prize probably seemed much more far-fetched. But everything about Lionsgate's new adaptation that's premiering on September 12th feels unsettlingly plausible given the state of the world in 2025. There wasn't much Star Wars presence at Comic Con, but we did at least get the first still image from this Darth Maul animated series coming to Disney Plus next year. As an added bonus, Lucasfilm also showed off a new image from the second season of Ahsoka. Now that Superman has become a headliner in DC Studios' new cinematic universe, HBO Max's Peacemaker series looks like it's stepping its game up and getting much weirder in its second season due out on August 21st. Apple's run of science fiction doesn't appear to be slowing down with the reveal of Pluribus from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan. While the teaser doesn't reveal much, we at least know it'll start streaming on November 7th. The gang is back together (again) in this side-scrolling beat-'em-up from the team behind Shredder's Revenge. The latest trailer focuses on the gameplay and is full of some great Anamanaguchi tracks. The Rick and Morty cinematic universe is growing, as Adult Swim announced a spinoff called President Curtis, which will see Keith David reprise the titular role as he deals with everything from 'interdimensional diplomacy to paranormal investigations and unexplained phenomena.' No word on when it will air. Another Star Trek spinoff is coming to Paramount Plus, but this one focuses on a fresh cast of recruits at the academy in a futuristic San Francisco. There's no date yet, but it'll be streaming in 2026. While season 3 is currently airing, Paramount provided a surprise glimpse at the upcoming fourth (and penultimate) season of the show. It's surprising because, well, there's a muppet. AMC's other Anne Rice adaptations have yet to have any significant overlap. But the network's upcoming series about an organization of humans keeping an eye on the supernatural world seems like it's going to change all of that when it premieres on October 26th. Lestat (Sam Reid) is going on tour in the third season of AMC's Interview With the Vampire series, and it seems like he's doing everything in his power to reveal the existence of his kind to the human world Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Andrew Webster Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Charles Pulliam-Moore Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Comic-Con Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Comics Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Entertainment Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Film Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Gaming Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Roundup Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All TV Shows
Gizmodo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
The First ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash' Trailer Is a Huge Level Up for Pandora
Give James Cameron three years to tinker with the same world, and everything is going to get bigger and better. That's the main takeaway in this first trailer for Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third film in Cameron's mega-blockbuster sci-fi series. Everything in this trailer takes what we expect from Avatar and brings it up a notch. The action is bigger. The sets are more elaborate. The characters are more emotional. And, if we've come to learn anything from Cameron and this franchise, it's sure to all come together in an even bigger way. The trailer for Avatar: Fire and Ash debuted exclusively in theaters with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but if you didn't see Marvel's latest, it's now online. Check it out. As a first trailer, this does a great job of teasing the story and visuals while also not explaining much of it. For example, clearly there's a lot going on with this new Fire tribe we've heard so much about. But there are also issues with Jake (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) and their remaining children Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Lo'ak (Britain Dalton). That throughline with Spider (Jack Champion) and his now Na'vi father Quaritch (Stephen Lang) is also still lingering. Plus we get visuals of new places, our favorite whales, and so much more. But how does it all link together? We don't know. Basically, at this point, Fire and Ash just looks like the next evolution of Avatar, and we are very much here for it. You do, however, get the sense that with two more movies to follow, and the fourth one not scheduled for release until 2029, Cameron is going to make this his Empire Strikes Back. I'm sensing a big-time revelation or cliffhanger here. We'll see how it goes. We'll find out much more in the coming months, but, for now, are you excited for Avatar: Fire and Ash? Are you still a fan of these unique visuals? Let us know below. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The future of Alien, without Sigourney Weaver
In space, no one can hear you scream. But what about down here? Well, we're about to find out. Having spent seven movies in the furthest reaches of the galaxy, the Alien franchise, begun by Ridley Scott in 1979, is about to be, quite literally, brought down to Earth. In Noah Hawley's upcoming Disney+ TV series, Alien: Earth, a research vessel owned by the megacorp Weyland-Yutani, familiar from the films, crash-lands into the Bangkok of 2120 (two years before the events onboard the spaceship Nostromo in the first Alien film). The crash brings HR Giger's unmistakable Xenomorph, plus a whole host of other nasty intergalactic beasties, to our planet. The snappy new tagline tells you all you need to know: 'We were safer in space.' Hawley – the writer-director known for his innovative take on Marvel superheroes in Legion and his daring extension of Coen Brothers' lore in the Fargo anthology series – has given the sci-fi horror franchise another twist. Alongside the familiar 'synths' – the unsettling androids made famous in the franchise by Ian Holm, Lance Henriksen and (in the Prometheus films) Michael Fassbender – and cybernetically enhanced 'cyborgs' (humans with hi-tech additions), Hawley has introduced an even more troubling creation: the 'hybrid'. These are synthetic beings downloaded with human consciousness, created by a shadowy corporation named Prodigy. In this case, the consciousness of a group of terminally ill children, who become known as 'the Lost Boys'. Forget Alien, this is Frankenstein for the 21st century. 'The first idea when I started thinking about Alien was the fact it's not just a monster movie,' says Hawley. 'The Ian Holm reveal – that he was a synthetic. He was artificial intelligence, and that artificial intelligence was trying to kill them.' When Hawley began writing the show, 'ChatGPT didn't exist', but the series' central question about our reliance on and suspicion of AI has become eerily prescient. 'It's like Noah saw into the future,' says Sydney Chandler, who plays Wendy, the leader of the Lost Boys and the central figure of Alien: Earth. It is the past, however, that has inspired Hawley. The look and feel, particularly in the opening scene, is pure 1970s. Andy Nicholson, the production designer, pored slavishly over the original two films (1979's Alien and James Cameron's 1986 follow-up Aliens). He used the Nostromo as a blueprint for the vessels and taking inspiration from 1970s Italian furniture and car interiors. 'We decided it should be the future as imagined in 1979,' says Nicholson, 'and not to go in the direction of Prometheus'. Scott, an executive producer on the project, was happy to let them get on with it. 'Every time I spoke to him, he was storyboarding,' says Hawley. 'First House of Gucci, then The Last Duel, and then Napoleon. He made at least three movies while I was making one season of television.' Both Hawley and Nicholson are careful not to criticise Scott's Prometheus movies, but it's clear they want a clean break from them. 'The 1970s movie-ness of Ridley's film and the very 1980s movie-ness of Cameron's film, those were a big part of it for me,' says Hawley. 'Prometheus is a prequel, but one in which the technology feels thousands of years more futuristic. So I had a choice. And there was just no way to make Alien without the retrofuturism of technology.' Indeed, much of the look has stuck so closely to the first two films' concepts that many of the original designers have been given production credits on Alien: Earth. This is seen most starkly in the very first few minutes of the show, which begins just as Alien did, with a group of workers on board a vessel bound for Earth, the Weyland-Yutani owned Maginot, waking up from cryostasis. The aesthetic – from the furnishings and computer graphics to the sweaters and the moustaches – is pure 1979. 'I really wanted to send a message that the movie I was most inspired by was Ridley's,' explains Hawley. Even Jeff Russo's soaring score apes that of Jerry Goldsmith's memorable intro music – with a twist. 'You want to pay homage to what came before and yet also forge a new identity – that's the trick, right?' says Russo. As we approach the Maginot, Russo's orchestral title track is assailed by distortion and, most disturbingly, human voices. It's Alien, Jim, but not as we know it. Soon the Maginot, and its mason jars of alien lifeforms, are lying in pieces in Prodigy City, 'New Siam', on a sweltering Earth. Those lifeforms were the major challenge. Hawley decided they could not simply rely upon Giger's world-famous, biomechanical Xenomorph. Nicholson felt the pressure: 'The Xenomorph was the scariest space creature you'd ever seen. And these creatures had to be worse.' Before the Maginot goes down in flames, we see the jars and glass boxes filled with all sorts of primordial, unearthly beings. 'The first movie is rooted so much in body horror and a genetic revulsion about parasites,' says Hawley, 'and this really uncomfortable, pseudosexual, penetrative design aesthetic. So I just went with: what is the worst thing? What makes me the most uncomfortable or repulsed or disgusted?' The answer, seemingly, lies in a creature known as T Ocellus, a grotesque, tentacled octopus/jellyfish thing that seems to be made out of eyes. 'That was the one,' says Nicholson, wincing. 'I saw the design and thought, 'Oh God, who came up with that?'' The jury is out on whether it is the creatures that will scare the living daylights out of viewers or whether it will be Boy Kavalier, a 20-year-old tech trillionaire played by Samuel Blenkin who runs Prodigy and has created the synthetic-human hybrids. In the world of Alien: Earth, humanity is controlled by five megacorporations who, in the style of the East India Company, have largely usurped democratic governments. The companies are in an arms race for control of the Earth, the known galaxy and the future of human life itself. Thus when Weyland-Yutani's ship crashes into Prodigy City, Kavalier smells an opportunity. An unscrupulous tech CEO with a god complex? Which real-life equivalent could Hawley have been thinking of? All of them, he says: 'It's narcissism that defines so many of these figures. The 'Great Man' has come back. And yet in many ways none of them want to grow up. If there's a metaphor between our show and our present moment, it's when you look around at all the really deep, complicated, intrinsic problems that we're having on this planet. What they really require to solve them is adults.' Not wanting to grow up is key to the Peter Pan-obsessed Kavalier, who has named his research facility Neverland and reads the book to the children each night. When they transition to their synthetic bodies, Kavalier rechristens them all from JM Barrie's story – alongside Wendy, there's Slightly, Tootles, Curly, Nibs and Smee. Kavalier, of course, is The Boy Who Never Grew Up. 'He likes that analogy,' says Hawley. 'Peter Pan is a dark book. There's a moment where Peter is angry and frustrated, so he breathes in and out as quickly as he can, because he believes that every breath he takes kills a grown-up. And it is implied that as the Lost Boys mature, he 'thins them out', to keep that out of his world. And those elements felt like they fit, thematically.' Chandler's Wendy is the first of the Lost Boys to transition and acts as a big sister to the others as they get used to their new – adult, superhuman, immortal – bodies. Chandler, the 29-year-old daughter of actor Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights, Bloodline), is a relative unknown, yet was determined to land the role. She flew out to Canada, where Fargo was being filmed, the morning after reading the script, and convinced Hawley to let her take him for dinner. Her determination (she calls it 'impulsivity') and passion for the role impressed him. It's a great piece of casting – Chandler imbues Wendy with an otherworldly gawkiness, a disarming innocence and an unnerving unknowability. The actress, understandably, wishes to avoid comparison between Wendy and Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley. 'You can't recreate Alien. You can't recreate Ripley. If the scripts had gone in that direction, I wouldn't have wanted to do it. My goal was to bring as much strength and honesty and integrity and backbone to the character [as I could], because that's what I looked up to when I saw Alien for the first time.' For all the ingenious concepts within Alien, what underpins the franchise is human greed and the extent to which corporations are happy to play God. Like all classic sci-fi, the humans in the TV series unleash forces they can no longer control. Does Hawley feel that, via AI, we are at such a point now? 'I don't think AI is going to take my job,' he says. 'But I'm at a rarified level of storytelling, with an idiosyncratic approach. [However] I think if you are a writer on Law & Order, you should be worried.' But Hawley has bigger concerns, and they can be seen in the blood, guts and synth fluid of Alien: Earth. 'Europe does a much better job of regulating technology and thinking about the human implications of it. In the US, it's still about the dollar. And I worry there are no brakes on this train, because the people who would be the brakes are not incentivised to slow it down. I worry it's going to get away from us very quickly. If it hasn't already.' Alien: Earth comes to Disney+ on August 13 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Solve the daily Crossword
Geek Tyrant
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
TERRESTRIAL Trailer Unveils a Mind-Bending Alien Thriller From HOT TUB TIME MACHINE Director Steve Pink — GeekTyrant
Steve Pink, best known for the outrageous comedy Hot Tub Time Machine , is venturing into mind-bending territory with his new sci-fi thriller Terrestrial . According to the official synopsis, 'The film centers around four college friends reuniting in Los Angeles at the beautiful and incredibly expensive mansion belonging to Allen (Fowler). Allen, a writer working on his first book, paints his life as a beautiful masterpiece, but cracks in the story begin to form. 'The discrepancies in his story and suspicious happenings around the house cause Allen's friends to question the stories he tells. As his story unravels, the three friends soon learn they are involved in something they never signed up for.' The trailer teases a surreal, paranoia-driven descent that flirts with sci-fi horror, psychological tension, and a dash of cosmic weirdness. The movie stars Jermaine Fowler ( Sorry to Bother You, Coming 2 America ), the ensemble cast also includes James Morosini ( It's What's Inside ), Pauline Chalamet ( The Sex Lives of College Girls ), Edy Modica ( Jury Duty ), Rob Yang ( Succession ), and Brendan Hunt ( Ted Lasso ). The script comes from Connor Diedrich and Samuel Johnson. Pink, who co-wrote classics like High Fidelity and Grosse Pointe Blank , appears to be channeling that sharp sense of character and dialogue into a very different sandbox. It looks like an eerie, psychedelic trip. The film will have its world premiere at the 29th Fantasia International Film Festival on July 20.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Predator Fans Mixed on Return of Dutch and Harrigan in Killer of Killers: ‘Harrigan and Dutch Had Good Endings. Zero Reason This Needed to Be Done'
Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch is back in the world of Predator via an extended version of animated movie Killer of Killers — and it's sent fans of the long-running sci-fi franchise down a lore rabbit hole that calls into question the endings of the original movies and what was thought to be a canon Predator video game. This week at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, current Predator custodian Dan Trachtenberg announced a surprise extended version of Killer of Killers that shows Dutch from the original Predator and Danny Glover's Mike Harrigan from Predator 2 captured and frozen by the Yautja. Trachtenberg said during a panel at Comic-Con that Schwarzenegger had given his blessing to use Dutch in future stories, leaving the door open to a Killer of Killers follow-up that would see Dutch and co revived and pitted against a Predator once again. The extended version of Killer of Killers is out now, so fans are already analyzing it to within an inch of its life. Reaction appears to be mixed. While some are excited about the iconic characters' return, some are disappointed with the idea that the Yautja kidnap victorious humans in the first place. Let's remember the iconic scene at the end of Predator 2 where an elder Yautja rewards Harrigan with an antique flintlock pistol as a trophy. The suggestion now is Harrigan was later kidnapped and put in stasis, which some believe devalues the human victories seen in previous Predator movies. 'It just feels like shit knowing your favorite human survivors are just going to be kidnapped and probably killed in an arena by another human or by the Warlord,' said redditor Vector_Mortis. 'Why would the Yautja congratulate Harrigan, give him the pistol, and leave just to come back, take the pistol, and kidnap him?' wondered Slow_Obligation2286. 'I'm not a fan of this at all,' added Hanesman12. 'Harrigan and Dutch had good endings. Zero reason this needed to be done. Purely nostalgia bait.' 'This removes everything we previously knew about Dutch and Harrigan's timelines after the movies,' said Originalname888. 'This removes the honor code. This removes everything.' Fans are now latching onto a potential explanation for what is going on here: that the whole kidnap human survivors thing is the work of the Yautja tribe we see in Killer of Killers, which does not represent the Yautja as a whole. Perhaps this particular tribe has gone rogue and will eventually be put in its place. On that we'll have to wait and see, but what is irrefutable is that it is now canon that Dutch and Harrigan were kidnapped soon after the events of their movies and remain in stasis at this undetermined point in the future. But there's an additional tricky Predator lore question that revolves around Dutch. 2020's Predator: Hunting Grounds, developed by IllFonic, features Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role as Dutch. In the run up to the game's release, the developers talked about working with people at previous rights holder Fox (this is before Disney bought the company and its franchises) to cement Hunting Grounds' place within the official Predator lore. This was exciting for fans as it meant Hunting Grounds officially revealed what happened to Dutch after the events of the first Predator movie — and there was no mention of being kidnapped by Yautja. Indeed, Hunting Grounds shows an older Dutch in the year 2025. So, is Hunting Grounds no longer canon? Is Trachtenberg ignoring it? Is there another explanation? These are just some of the questions fans are trying to answer in the wake of Dutch's return in Killer of Killers. Whatever Trachtenberg's master plan, there remains huge interest in the upcoming Predator: Badlands, the first 15 minutes of which were shown at Comic-Con. The Alien franchise links are clear, but will there be an AVP movie afterwards? We'll have to wait and see. Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ or confidentially at wyp100@
