A breakdown of the biggest movie news from the last week (13 February – 19 February).
TRAILERS
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (13 February)
A number of trailers dropped this week during Super Bowl LVI, which made for a number of big cinematic reveals. Perhaps the biggest of these was the latest trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which contained one or two bombshells about the upcoming MCU release.
As well as a Captain Marvel-esque figure and Iron Legion drones, Patrick Stewart’s familiar voice could be heard, indicating that he will reprise his role as Professor X in order to bring the X-Men into the MCU.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is scheduled to release theatrically on 6 May, 2022.
DC Teaser (13 February)
Another trailer dropped on Super Bowl Sunday was the DC teaser trailer, which offered glimpses at multiple upcoming DC glimpses in one tantalizing trailer.
Perhaps the most notable of these was the footage from Black Adam, including a good look at Dwayne Johnson in character as the anti-hero and Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate attempting to talk him into joining the Justice Society of America.
The next DC release will be The Batman on 4 March, followed by the latest installment into the DCEU, Black Adam, which is set for 29 July. The Flash is currently set for 4 November, with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom set to release on 16 December.
Nope (13 February)
Outside of the all-encompassing superhero genre, the first trailer for Jordan Peele’s Nope also dropped this week. Nope is Peele’s third directorial effort, after Get Out and Us, and will concern a small California town that face a mysterious threat from above.
Details on Nope are currently scarce, but the film is set to release on 22 July.
The Contractor (16 February)
Among some of the more high-profile trailers released this week, The Contractor‘s seemed to slip through the cracks. An action thriller starring Chris Pine as a discharged Special Forces operator who begins working for an underground military force. Pine will be joined by Kiefer Sutherland, Ben Foster, and GIllian Jacobs.
The Contractor is set to release on 1 April in the US, with no confirmed UK release date at present.
Baz Lurhmann’s Elvis – Official Trailer (17 February)
One final trailer in a week heavy with glimpses at upcoming movies was the official trailer for Baz Lurhmann’s long-awaited Elvis biopic, simply titled Elvis. Austin Butler plays the man himself, with Tom Hanks joining him as Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
Elvis will release on 24 June.
Ivan Reitman Dies, Aged 75 (14 February)
Legendary producer and director Ivan Reitman died this week aged 75.
Reitman had a hand in a number of smash hits throughout his career, including Animal House, Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, Stripes, Blues Brothers, Beethoven, Twin, Kindergarten Cop, Junior, Old School and Ghostbusters: Afterlife (which saw Reitman work with his filmmaker son Jason).
Netflix Adapting A BioShock Movie (15 February)
Fans of video game movies (okay, that might not be too many people, but still) rejoice – a BioShock movie is coming!
Netflix are working on an adaptation of the massively popular action sci-fi game, which is set in a gothic biopunk underwater city named Rapture.
Given that it’s early days for the BioShock movie, there are few details about the adaptation, but it’s certainly a game franchise that could lend itself well to a big screen adaptation.
Star Trek 4 Announced (16 February)
As part of Paramount’s investor day, the studio announced a number of projects. For sci-fi fans, one of the biggest was J.J. Abrams announcing that work on Star Trek 4 is going ahead, with his Kelvin timeline cast including Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, and Simon Pegg returning.
Abrams’ rebooted the franchise in 2009 with Star Trek, which started a series of films in a separate continuity known as the Kelvin timeline. Its first three films were critically well-received, although the third, Star Trek Beyond, was a box office bomb. This, combined with six years of no news on a follow-up, caused many to wonder if the offshoot franchise was dead, but it’s now official: Star Trek 4 is on the way, and the only real question is what grammatical abomination will be used for its subtitle.
A Quiet Place 3 Announced (16 February)
Another announcement from Paramount’s investor day was that of A Quiet Place 3. While there’s been talks of a third film unrelated to A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place 2, the announcement of another direct sequel is welcome news to fans of the burgeoning franchise.