Taika Waititi Forgot Natalie Portman Was In "Star Wars," "Rise Of Gru" Meme Mania, And 13 Other Pieces Of Movie News From This Week
Y'all — we had a trailer-heavy week and were gifted with much newness, so let's not waste any time here and jump right in:
1.First up, we got a trailer for the new horror film, Hypochondriac, further cementing my insistence that the very second July 4 has passed, it's spooky season:
The film follows a young man with a loving boyfriend who finds his seemingly perfect life uprooted when a figure from his past reemerges, causing him to spiral back down into reliving his childhood trauma — all while losing control over his own body. Also, the poster alone (see above) gave me the heebie-jeebies (medical term)! I don't like masks!
Hypochondriac is slated to hit theaters July 29!
2.We also received a new trailer for AppleTV+'s adorable upcoming animated feature, Luck:
After the "unluckiest person in the world" stumbles upon the secret societies of good and bad luck, she teams up with some magical creatures and seeks to finally turn her own luck around. Also, I was unaware AppleTV+ was making a movie about me, I wish they'd told me first (seriously, from the haircut to the black cat to the bad luck...I feel seen and attacked simultaneously).
Luck is slated to hit AppleTV+ August 5!
3.Next up, we got a look a Aubrey Plaza's latest film, Emily the Criminal:
In this one, Aubrey plays an unemployed woman drowning in student loan debt who becomes embroiled in a credit card scam that keeps getting riskier and riskier to keep up with. Needless to say, the trailer alone stressed me out, so I can only imagine the suspense the full feature will bring!
Emily the Criminal is slated to hit theaters August 12!
4.And we also got a look at South Korea's Emergency Declaration, which stars Parasite's Song Kang-ho:
While the film was released last summer in South Korea, it's finally making its premiere here in the states! The self-described "disaster-action film" is based on a real-life story in which an airplane was unable to land due to a terrifying incident, and needed to remain in the air — so, basically, my worst nightmare come true! I am horrified of flying! And I have to get on a plane in a month for a thing! And this trailer scared the daylights out of me!
Emergency Declaration is slated to hit theaters August 12!
5.Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. also received its first trailer this week:
Starring two of my absolute FAVES in a duo straight out of my dreams — Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown — this satirical mockumentary follows the aftermath of a scandal that rocked a megachurch. It already looks great, but, if you need an extra reason to check it out, it was executive produced by Jordan Peele and Daniel Kaluuya!
Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. is slated to hit Peacock Sept. 2!
6.THAT'S RIGHT, WE'RE GETTING ANOTHER CLERKS FILM! Clerks III got its first official trailer this week:
In this nostalgia-packed meta-fest, we see Randal Graves decide to make a movie about his life working at the Quick Stop after surviving a heart attack, and you already KNOW this one will be filled with all kinds of fun cameos!
Clerks III is slated to hit theaters Sept. 13!
7.Next, we received our first look at The Woman King:
Based on the true story of the Dahomey Amazons — and, in specific, General Nanisca — the film follows the all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey. And honestly? Just start engraving Viola Davis's name on that Oscar right now. Save yourselves some time.
The Woman King is slated to hit theaters Sept. 16!
8.Last but certainly not least for trailers, we got our first look at David O. Russell's latest (and his first film since 2015's Joy), titled Amsterdam:
The film follows three friends in the 1930s who become suspects in a murder. Also...this cast is STACKED, including the likes of Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Zoe Saldaña, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Timothy Olyphant, Andrea Riseborough, Matthias Schoenaerts, Alessandro Nivola, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro, and Taylor Swift — yes. TAYLOR. SWIFT.
Amsterdam is slated to hit theaters Nov. 4!
That's all for trailers! Next up, let's take a look at some fun making-of/behind-the-scenes news stories:
9.In my personal favorite celeb story of the week that, quite literally, made me tear up laughing — Taika Waititi asked Natalie Portman if she'd consider starring in his upcoming Star Wars film...completely forgetting that she was already a lead character in three of them.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Taika said, "Natalie said to me, 'What do you do next?' And I said, 'I’m trying to work on a Star Wars thing. Have you ever wanted to be in a Star Wars movie?' She said, 'I’ve been in Star Wars movies.' I forgot about those ones."
This is, on one hand, delightfully hilarious and relatable, as I also forget embarrassingly obvious things all the time. However, on the other hand, this is Padmé Amidala erasure to the highest degree, and — as an outspoken Padmé fashion fan — I will not stand for it.
10.Next, the internet overall continued to be a wild place to live, as ~*Rise of Gru Meme Mania*~ took over this week. Basically, with the release of Rise of Gru last weekend, we saw a ~rise~ in memes and jokes on Twitter and TikTok about those pesky little minions, like this one:
used to hate minions then i gru up 😈
And this one:
Minions rise of gru gonna be the first movie to make 1 minlion dollars
And, of course, can't forget this one:
No, really, they're everywhere! Check out more here.
11.Then, in some surprising news, director/writer James Cameron announced that he might not be back to direct any further Avatar sequels.
After the first film became a mega-hit back in 2009, James announced his plans for FOUR SEQUELS with the first, titled Avatar: The Way of Water, slated for release later this year and the third slated for release in 2024.
However, of the fourth and fifth installments, James recently told Empire Magazine: "The Avatar films themselves are kind of all-consuming...I think eventually over time — I don’t know if that’s after three or after four — I’ll want to pass the baton to a director that I trust to take over, so I can go do some other stuff that I’m also interested in. Or maybe not. I don’t know."
12.In Marvel news, director/writer James Gunn is currently in the editing process on the highly anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3, and recently took to Twitter to sing the cast's praises.
After a quote from Chris Pratt noted that he considers the third installment to be a "true masterpiece," James said, "The cast — from Chris to Zoe to Dave to Karen to Sean to Pom — all gave it everything they had and left it all out on the floor."
In truth, the cast - from Chris to Zoe to Dave to Karen to Sean to Pom - all gave it everything they had & left it all out on the floor & I’m so very proud of them as I watch these initial cuts. It makes my favorite aspect of filmmaking - the editing process - even more fun. https://t.co/Tqm5PQ2Pd5
And, while the threequel is slated for May 23, 2023, you can still get your Guardians fix this weekend, as they make in appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder!
13.Let's wrap this section up with a couple of pieces of casting stuff: first, we have news of Taron Egerton campaigning for the role of Wolverine in the inevitable Marvel Cinematic Universe X-Men project.
While speaking with The New York Times, Taron noted that he did, in fact, meet with Marvel's president Kevin Feige about potentially taking on the role of the iconic mutant in the future.
"I’d be excited, but I’d be apprehensive as well, because Hugh [Jackman] is so associated with the role that I’d wonder if it’d be very difficult for someone else to do it," he said. "But hopefully if it does come around, they’ll give me a shot."
14.Also, the cast of Zoë Kravitz's directorial debut, Pussy Island, was announced in full, and — whew buddy — is this movie positively PACKED with stars!
While Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, and Simon Rex had previously been announced for the film, this week we received a finalized cast list courtesy of Deadline, which included the likes of Christian Slater, Geena Davis, Alia Shawkat, Adria Arjona, Kyle MacLachlan, Haley Joel Osment, Liz Caribel Sierra, Levon Hawke, Trew Mullen, and Saul Williams!
The film is centered around a cocktail waitress (Naomi Ackie) in Los Angeles with her eyes set on entering the inner circle of a tech mogul/philanthropist (Channing Tatum). Madness is almost guaranteed to ensue!
And finally, this is the part of the post where I usually end with an exhaustive list of all of the movies coming to theaters this weekend...but y'all...there's literally only one new movie coming out, apparently:
15.Thor: Love and Thunder
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Chris Pratt, Jaimie Alexander, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Sean Gunn, Jeff Goldblum, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper.
When it premieres: July 8 in theaters
After everything that went down in Avengers: Endgame, we follow Thor's various attempts to define his life outside of his superhero status. However, his peaceful self-discovery journey is cut short when he's forced to face Gorr the God Butcher, who — as his positively rad name suggests — seeks to destroy all of the gods.
You can watch the trailer here:
There ya have it! What movie news excited you the most this week? Share in the comments below!
Oh, and if you missed last week's installment of movie news, it's never too late to catch up here!
