1. James Cameron really hopes you’re free in December 2025

Managing to lend an element of bombast and futurismo to an otherwise standard scheduling announcement, James Cameron has unleashed the release dates of the next four Avatar films upon tan unsuspecting world. According to the Aliens and Piranha II: The Spawning director, Avatar 2 will hit cinemas December 18, 2020. Avatar 3, 4 and 5 will all follow in December 2021, 2024 and 2025.

Not content with stacking up release dates, Cameron will apparently shoot all four sequels concurrently. So yes, Sam Worthington is going to be busy for a good while. Don’t worry though, Jai Courtney should be free. [via Variety]

Great to be working with the best team in the business! Avatar takes flight as we begin concurrent production on four…

تم نشره بواسطة ‏‎Avatar‎‏ في 22 أبريل، 2017

2. It’s Hell or Highlands for Chris Pine and Ben Foster

Netflix are getting a largely-unseen back together. It seems the streaming service was a big fan of David Mackenzie’s 2016 pic Hell or High Water and wants to reunite the director and his two stars – Chris Pine and Ben Foster – for Outlaw King. The film will follow Robert’s war against The English during the First War of Scottish Independence and likely won’t be anywhere near as insufferable as Braveheart. Only time will tell though. If the deal goes through, Mackenzie will direct from his own screenplay and Chris Pine will play the Scottish king. Foster will play James Douglas – Robert’s loyal aide. [via The Hollywood Reporter]

3. Come to think of it, Golden Circle has a nice ring to it

Last week’s Kingsman: Golden Circle teaser didn’t give away too much – unless you slowed the whole thing down to get a few out-of-context clips, anyway. However, this week’s offering does its best to correct that. If you’ve avoided certain casting news – no, not the heads up on Elton John – then you might want to give this one a miss. If you haven’t, go nuts. Taron Egerton looks to be in over his head this time, but with Mark Strong at his side and some nifty umbrella tricks in his head, who knows?

4. Jeff Goldblum, uh, finds a way to be in Jurassic World 2

Depending on who you ask, Jurassic World was either a lazy plothole-riven affair devoid of innovation or a enjoyably thrilling return to form for the franchise. Our own Daniel Orton commended its formula as “equal parts thrilling, scary, and funny” as well as its crucial “BD Wong” factor. Well, imagine how psyched he’ll be when he reads that Jurassic World 2 is all ready to dip into that nostalgia casting once more.

According to The Hollywood Reporter Jeff Goldblum is returning to the franchise. A Monster Calls’ J.A. Bayona will have the honour of directing Goldblum’s Dr. Ian Malcolm as he bemoans his fate, muses on dinosaur droppings and presumably uploads a virus to take down the Head Dinosaur. Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell, Justice Smith and Toby Jones will also star in the sequel. But they’re not Jeff Goldblum

5. Predator gives away its position one more time

Firstly, the bad news: Shane Black’s Predator sequel is being moved back in the schedules by a whole six months. Now the good news: this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As Collider are keen to point out, Predator’s new release window is a lot more competitive, suggesting 20th Century Fox think they have a hit on their hands. The first week of August has worked out pretty well for films like Guardians of the Galaxy and Suicide Squad (such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Suicide Squad) in the past few years and suggests a degree of confidence up in that well-lit Fox buiding. If the release calendar stays relatively stable until then, it’ll go up against the Will Ferrell-John C. Reilly-led Holmes & Watson and open just a week after Mission: Impossible 6. It’s going to be a bumper summer, alright.

6. Let Tilda Swinton talk to you about pig dreams

Okja is supposedly about a young girl (Ann Seo-hyun) who risks it all to stop a shadowy corporation from kidnapping a large animal she has befriended. The latest teaser makes it more like an origins story for Futurama‘s Mom Corp. Watch below and see Tilda Swinton’s Lucy Mirando explain just how benevolent her particular shadowy corporation is, and how other, certainly no-less, shadowy corporations likely prompt night terrors in pigs. Okja, from Snowpiercer and Mother writer-director Bong Joon,-ho is released worldwide on Netflix June 28.

7. Ang Lee eyes his next project

Ang Lee’s last film, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, did not do so well. The feature scraped its way to just over $30 million worldwide and couldn’t even rely on critical acclaim to soften the blow. That’s not enough to keep Ang Lee down, though! The man directed Hulk ferchrissakes! Instead, the Life of Pi director is said to be circling Gemini Man, a project from Game of Thrones co-showrunner, David Benioff.

A spy thriller, the film revolves around an ageing NSA agent who realises that his erstwhile employers have sent his younger clone to kill him. It’s sort of like an inverse Moon. Warning: the preceding sentence contained spoilers for an eight year old film. The script has been floating around Tinselwood for a few years now – Variety dates it to 1997 – but Ang Lee’s visual style is about as a good a guarantee as any.

8. Hakuna Macasta

Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner are almost ready to fart and sing their way into our hearts. According to The Wrap, the two actors are in final negotiations to join Jon Favreau’s live action Lion King project. If the site’s sources are correct, Rogen is set to play Pumbaa while Eichner will take the part of Timon. Disney haven’t commented on the rumours but, if confirmed, Rogen and Eichner will join the already-cast Donald Glover and James Earl Jones. If you’re curious as to whether Rogen and Eichner’s chemistry can match that of Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella, here’s an entertaining video of Eichner telling the people of New York that Seth Rogen has died. He hasn’t.