Samuel L. Jackson Fought To Balance Comedy With Action In The New Shaft

Samuel L. Jackson Fought To Balance Comedy With Action In The New Shaft

When thinking about the Shaft franchise of films, comedy isn’t something that really springs to mind in the forefront of possibilities. But with the legendary bad mother heading back to screens later this month, in the second reboot to carry the Shaft name, it’s readily apparent that the smooth action will be balanced by a comedic tone that the series will be new to.

It’s a prospect that could scare both fans of the original and anyone new trying to get into the Shaft series with the fresh start offered by Tim Story’s reboot. But those concerns were put to ease to a certain extent, based on what Samuel L. Jackson told CinemaBlend and a selected group of journalists, during a set visit that took place early last year. In particular, Jackson provided the following commentary on how he fought to keep the balance between the jokes and the action:

The previous Shaft was a little more serious, I guess, in terms of what was going on between me and Peoples (Jeffrey Wright’s villain). The level of danger in this changes, because they want it to be light, and there was a conversation about it. The first script was a ‘ha, ha, ha, ha, ha’ script, and I’m like ‘Wait a minute, you really can’t do that because Shaft means something to us, iconically, historically, and mythologically.’ So we can show the lighter side of who he is, in terms of what his attitude is, but the level of danger, of what’s going on in the script, has to be the same thing. So when it’s serious, it has to be very serious.

Shaft certainly isn’t the first reboot to take a storied franchise and inject it with a sense of humor that wasn’t previously there. But as we’ve seen in the past, that experiment doesn’t always work, and sometimes can be kind of embarrassing. So it’s noteworthy and important when someone like Samuel L. Jackson, who is a fixture of the franchise since his turn in the John Singelton-directed 2000 movie, raises concerns as to how to make a leap into more comedic waters believable.

Samuel L. Jackson’s efforts seem to have worked pretty well, as in addition to the remarks he provided above, all on hand were shown a sizzle reel for the film, put together from raw footage of what Shaft had filmed up to that point. And from that early footage, the mixture of swagger and laughter seemed pretty balanced.

In one moment, Shaft is mocking his own son for his more modern sensibilities, and in the next he’s breaking a man’s arm for information. It’s something so legit, it was included in the film’s trailer; and that particular well of humor was something that Jackson also spoke towards during the Shaft set visit.

Complimenting what Samuel L. Jackson said about honoring the character and franchise that John Shaft and his descendants are at the heart of, Jackson discussed how the story of Jessie T. Usher’s JJ learning to become a true Shaft plays into the humor of the film. Which, according to Samuel L. Jackson, involves the following:

And to take a kid that [his mother] molded into what he is now: an I.T. graduate who’s an FBI agent, that has no real street sense, he’s a suburban kid who has the name Shaft. And now he’s in an environment that he has to live up to in a specific way. Because of who Richard [Roundtree] was, because of who I am, because of what he needs to be. So when people say, ‘That’s a Shaft,’ they have to see a Shaft. So he’s learning to be a Shaft against everything he’s been taught him.

The generation gap in the Shaft family is something that’s been played well in the marketing campaign for the film, so at least in that respect, the comedy/action mix looks to really be working. Three generations of complicated men, with no one to understand them but each other and the women in their lives, is something that assuredly lends itself to a fair amount of humor.

And as we’ve seen in the reactions to the looks at Richard Roundtree, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jessie T. Usher in action, the fans are ready to see this family team up to solve crime on the streets of any city they choose to hit. If everything else can line up in the constellation of jokes and jabs, this just might be the sleeper summer hit that Warner Bros. is hoping for the film to be.

Shaft opens in theaters on June 14, and if you’re interested in more content pertaining to the film’s release, stay tuned to CinemaBlend as we’ll have more coverage in the coming weeks.

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Why The John Wick Franchise Is Better Than Mission: Impossible

Why The John Wick Franchise Is Better Than Mission: Impossible

There is a general consensus among many movie fans, as well as a lot of film critics, that the best modern action movie franchise is the Mission: Impossible series. Tom Cruise has taken action to the next level by not only performing all his own stunts, but performing some practical stunts on screen like we've never seen before.

I would never claim that what Tom Cruise has accomplished in the Mission: Impossible franchise isn't amazing. It absolutely is. However, while Tom Cruise climbing the world's tallest building is phenomenal on its own, as a franchise, I actually find the John Wick movies to be far superior in many ways. Here are some reasons why.

John Wick Is More Human

It's true that, for the most part, both John Wick and Ethan Hunt are essentially superheroes. They are men of incredible talent and skill who are successful to a ludicrous degree in everything they do. However, I find John Wick to simply be a much more relatable character.

When we first meet Mr. Wick, he's not busy murdering a room full of assassins. He's in his house, alone, mourning. The first thing that we learn about Wick is his weakness and vulnerability This is important, because for the rest of the movie he is running around murdering rooms full of assassins, but now we can better relate to him.

By contrast, Ethan Hunt is a near perfect superspy who free climbs dangerous mountains alone for fun in his free time. The franchise has done a better job of humanizing him in more recent films, but it's been working backwards. It made him the invincible hero first and that's just not as relatable.

It Has Superior World-Building

The first thing that jumped out at me about the John Wick franchise was the excellent way it created the world in which Wick and the other characters lived. The idea that this whole world of professional killers is happening all around us in plain sight is incredibly entertaining. There's a serious lack of expository dialogue as well. Instead, the film just drops you into the world and lets you understand how it works as you go along.

Nobody tells us where the Continental hotel comes from or where its traditions originated. It's just there; one assumes it always has been. Because the characters can navigate this world with ease, it comes across as normal to us and we learn what we need to know by watching what happens.

We don't even need the explanation of who John Wick is that the first movie gives us. Everything we need to know about the level of badass we're talking about here is expressed in the dialogue between two other characters. The reaction spells it all out.

The Mission: Impossible franchise isn't without its own world-building, specifically as it pertains to the IMF itself, but for the most part the IMF just feels like any spy agency in the real world. I enjoy the more fantastic elements of John Wick.

There's A Cohesive Story

One of the things that set the Mission: Impossible movies apart was the way that each installment was handled by a new director. This let each one take the property in a different direction and use it to try and do something different. This was a great idea and it gave us a lot of different flavors of Mission: Impossible to enjoy, and also a John Woo movie.

Unfortunately, one negative side effect was that each movie feels so different that they barely feel like they're part of the same franchise. Only in the last couple films have we seen real sequels that feel like they belong together, and that's because Christopher McQuarrie has been overseeing things.

By comparison, the John Wick films are so tightly woven together, the second film follows almost immediately after the first and we know the same will be true of John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. The entire trilogy takes place over a matter of days. Each event that happens follows directly on the events that came before. The events of Chapter 2 happen because of what happened in the first movie. Parabellum's plot is a consequence of Chapter 2. The reason that the following installments are called chapters is because they really are just pieces of a longer narrative.

More Visceral Action

Action scenes are largely a matter of taste and the type of action that one person loves might not work for another, but personally, I'm a fan of action that is simple and personal. Give me a good sword fight or fist fight, when well shot and choreographed, and I'm in heaven.

Mission: Impossible certainly isn't without this sort of action. The bathroom fight scene in Mission: Impossible - Fallout is a thing of beauty and my favorite part of that film. However, the rest of the action in that movie involves Tom Cruise doing HALO jumps and flying helicopters. They're big, amazing moments, but I find them to be so big that the character of the moments gets lost.

John Wick, by comparison is almost nothing but these close quarters hand-to-hand fights and gun battles. Everything feels more intimate, and therefore, more tense. When John Wick gets thrown off the balcony of the dance club you don't just see him hit the ground with a thud, you feel that impact.

John Wick isn't about one massive set piece stunt, it's about a collection of stylish, perfectly choreographed action sequences, where each one ever so slightly out does the one that came before building to an epic finale.

It's Got Style For Days

While the action of John Wick may feel more real, the rest of the world, to be sure, does not. The world of assassins that exists around our own is somewhat fantastical, that's true, but that's what makes it so much fun.

It exists out of time, with operators using an old fashioned switchboard and typing out contracts on vintage typewriters. Contracts are sent out on the modern cell phone network, but they come from a computer that looks like it came out of a silicon valley garage in the 1970s. The timeless element adds so much to the overall feel of the story.

The fight scenes are an extension of this style. Everything in them is beautifully choreographed. It's like watching a big song and dance number in a very bloody musical. Watching all the players perform their steps to perfection is a joy to watch.

I still love the Mission: Impossible franchise. I look forward to the two additional films that are coming from Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie, and I can't wait to see what they have in store for us next. There's no question we'll see some epic stunts. However, outside of those epic stunts, I'm just not sure there's going to be enough in the story to keep me excited when the big stunt is over.

Instead I'm much more excited to see John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, and if there are even more chapters in John Wick's story left to tell, I'll be even more excited for those. I find John Wick to be a more compelling character, who also is really good at killing lots of people in very pretty ways.

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Dumbo Is Expected To Have A Big Worldwide Opening Too

Dumbo Is Expected To Have A Big Worldwide Opening Too

Disney has never had trouble making money with the remakes of animated classics. It's the main reason that we're getting three of them this year. However, the level of success can still be quite variable. Beauty and the Beast make a billion dollars while Cinderella made only half a billion. Dumbo may turn out to see numbers on the lower end of that spectrum, but it's still looking like it will have a pretty impressive global opening, as the film is currently tracking to bring in something around $140 million for it's opening weekend.

Dumbo is opening in nearly every territory where it is opening at all by this Friday. That means that this weekend is going to be key to the overall success of the film. It's opening in the U.S. and China, the two biggest box office markets in the world, which means it's pretty much all downhill from here.

The official range for Dumbo's opening weekend, according to Deadline is between $137-$155 million. The U.S. is looking to make up a bit less than half that business as the domestic number currently projected is around $60 million at the low end. It doesn't have much competition for the box office title. No other major wide releases are hitting screens on Friday. Jordan Peele's Us will probably have a solid second weekend, but that movie really isn't competing with Dumbo for audience share.

For comparison, 2015's Cinderella saw a domestic opening weekend of $67 million and ended up grossing $543 million globally. If Dumbo finds itself on the low end of projections, it could end up coming in beneath that number. Still, when your competition is a series of films that have largely made a half billion dollars or more, you can come up short by comparison and still be a massive hit in absolute numbers.

Dumbo is the earliest of the Disney animated films to be given the remake treatment, which is something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it's had the longest time to become popular to multiple generations. At the same time, it may not resonate with fans in quite the same way as a more modern film simply because of its age.

Of course, the last time Tim Burton directed a Disney remake it was a little film called Alice in Wonderland that made a billion dollars, so who knows? If lightning strikes twice we could see Dumbo become an absolutely massive hit.

Regardless of Dumbo's numbers, it is sure to be a big year for Disney remakes. In just two months we'll see the live-action version of Aladdin, and two months after that we'll get the new version of The Lion King. Those two films are almost certainly destined to be box office successes. The latter film could find itself competing for the box office crown of the year if it does as well as the animated original.

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The 6 Best Jim Carrey Movies, And The 4 Worst

The 6 Best Jim Carrey Movies, And The 4 Worst

If high-energy slapstick with rambunctious, rubber-faced characters is the kind of comedy you crave, there is no better person to look to than Jim Carrey. The man behind icons like Ace Ventura, the title character of The Mask or Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber is a one-man army of non-stop explosive hilarity,

The actor is also never afraid to bring out the deeper side of his acting talent for more dramatic roles like The Truman Show. Jim Carrey’s versatile talent has resulted in some of the funniest comedies and most moving dramas of the last few decades… not to mention a few forgettably laughless bores and overblown messes.

Shall we take a look back at Jim Carrey’s fascinating career by analyzing our picks of his biggest hits and most sheepish misses among the Jim Carrey movies? Allllllllrighty then!

The Best Jim Carrey Movies

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)

It seems pretty obvious to include the film that skyrocketed Jim Carrey to fame on his best list. Yet, by that criteria alone, it deserves it.

Jim Carrey is Ace Ventura, a private investigator with a knack for solving animal-related crimes and has a tremendously bizarre personality. When he is hired to find Snowflake, the kidnapped mascot for the Miami Dolphins, Ace’s unusual detective methods keep putting him in the hot seat, but still closer to solving the case than anyone else.

Following his successful run on In Living Color, this was the film that introduced audiences to Jim Carrey’s definitive, rubber-faced character traits. With Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Carrey led a one-man comedy revolution by doing what no actor had ever done before: talking through his butt.

The Mask (1994)

Boy, was 1994 a good year for Jim Carrey. First Ace Ventura: Pet Detective makes a box office killing, then Dumb and Dumber finds critical success later that year. That summer, however, there came a movie that defied expectations, solidified Carrey as a multi-layered comedic tour de force and earned him his first Golden Globe nomination.

The Mask, a much, much lighter interpretation of a Dark Horse comic book series, stars Jim Carrey as down-on-his-luck bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss, who gets a chance to turn his life around when he finds a mysterious mask. Putting it on turns him into living cartoon character with superhuman powers and a menacing disposition.

Never has Jim Carrey been so animated, versatile and out of control. He carries this inventive story with Oscar-nominated special effects to comedic gold of historical measure.

Liar Liar (1997)

Jim Carrey put his manic, explosive acting style to its most appropriate and uproarious use in this story of an average person (unusual for Carrey at the time) with a really weird problem.

In Liar Liar, Lawyer Fletcher Reede (Jim Carrey) makes a living out of stretching the truth to help get his clients out of trouble. Unfortunately, his dishonest habit often pours into his personal life, feeding into his strained relationship with his ex-wife and dwindling trust from his son, Max (Justin Cooper). When Max makes a birthday wish that Fletcher can not tell a lie for just one day, suddenly, he finds himself literally unable to tell a lie for the next 24 hours.

Watching Jim Carrey drive himself to the brink of insanity over his inability to lie is painfully hilarious, but watching him facing his demons and learning to be a better person and father is heartwarming. Liar Liar was one of Jim Carrey’s first roles that allowed him to show his sensitive side to wonderful effect.

The Truman Show (1998)

Jim Carrey’s next major role took far more advantage of the actor’s sensitive side than ever before. I would even consider Truman Burbank to be one of the most soulful and devastating performances of his career.

Truman (Jim Carrey) is an average, likeable, married insurance salesman who cannot seem to escape his mundane existence, let alone his picturesque hometown. Little does he know that his unexplained sense of entrapment is by design of the creator of a television show that gives hope and joy and inspiration to millions, and he is the star.

Nominated for three Academy Awards, The Truman Show is a brilliant satire on the influence of “reality” television on its viewers and its subjects, tackling themes more relevant now than ever. As one of Jim Carrey’s first departures from his comedic reputation into a more dramatic setting, he knocks it out of the park.

Bruce Almighty (2003)

Jim Carrey re-teamed with the director of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Liar Liar for this ambitious romp of heavenly proportions. That is not me being incredulous. It is thematically appropriate.

After dissatisfied field reporter Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) loses his job, he blames God for his current losing streak. Thus, the Almighty One himself appears to Bruce, in the appropriately cast form of Morgan Freeman, to offer him His job and endow him with his powers. Thrilled, at first, by his omnipotence, Bruce soon realizes that being God is no easy feat.

Bruce Almighty succeeds at being more than a story of a man who fixes his problems by acquiring great power. It is a clever, heartfelt morality tale about a man who learns to rediscover his humanity by becoming larger than life. Not to mention, I laugh painfully hard at the scene where Jim Carrey makes Steve Carell speak gibberish every single time.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Maybe director Michel Gondry’s critically acclaimed 2004 dreamy fantasy does not come to mind when you think of Jim Carrey. Nevertheless, if you have seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it should come to mind when you think of stunningly unique and remarkably absorbing dramas.

Following a painful break-up with his girlfriend, Clementine (Kate Winslet), Joel (Jim Carrey) undergoes a procedure to have her erased from his memory. It is not until he is knee-deep in the procedure when he realizes that he would rather keep the memories.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a visually hypnotic, unfathomably clever and ultimately heartbreaking masterwork. Few films before or since have come close to its level of originality and its authentic examination of the complexities of tragic romance is gripping.

This is Jim Carrey like you have never seen him before in a world like you could never imagine.

The Worst Jim Carrey Movies

Batman Forever (1995)

There is a lot of back-and-forth among Batman fans about what should be considered the shining example of the comic character as portrayed on film. Rarely does one agree which is best, but many agree that it is certainly not Joel Schumacher’s 1995 revamp of the franchise.

Batman Forever is the third installment in Warner Bros’. Batman franchise that started with Tim Burton’s interpretation. Following lackluster box office results and parent protests over 19922’s Batman Returns being “too dark,” the studio put Joel Schumacher in the director’s chair, Val Kilmer in the cowl and Jim Carrey in the villainous role of The Riddler, partnered with an unnecessarily unplugged Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face.

To be clear, the faults of Batman Forever are not to be put on Jim Carrey, even if his performance gets to be a little much sometimes. What this overblown, nonsensical, uncomfortably goofy toy commercial does to deserve a spot on this list is make a mockery out of its title character and all he stands for.

Me, Myself & Irene (2000)

The Farrelly Brothers brought out the lovably kooky side of Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber. Somehow they must have felt that a good way to stretch their legs a bit was to bring out a more unlikeable and inappropriate side of him.

In Me, Myself & Irene, Jim Carrey plays Charlie, Rhode Island state trooper who has allowed a life’s worth of misfortune bottle up inside, resulting in a condition referred to as “advanced delusionary schizophrenia with involuntary narcissistic rage.” That’s the movie’s highly incorrect way of describing Charlie’s split personality, Hank, who gets him a whole heap of trouble involving a woman in need of protection named Irene (Renee Zellwegger).

Peter and Bobby Farrelly are behind some of the most celebrated comedies of the 1990s (Kingpin, There’s Something About Mary), but there is a reason this R-rated 2000 critical failure has been since forgotten. It is a lazy, laughless bore that lacks any much-needed heart and makes poor use of Jim Carrey’s talents in physical comedy.

The Number 23 (2007)

Perhaps director Joel Schumacher realized that Batman Forever was too lighthearted and decided that his next collaboration with Jim Carrey should be much darker. He forgot another Batman Forever mistake that The Number 23 could have also used: a story that makes sense.

Jim Carrey goes completely humorless for this thriller inspired by a real-life conspiracy theory that all bad things are somehow related to the number 23. Carrey plays a man who becomes obsessed with a disturbing book that seems to be imitating his life while the aforementioned number keeps popping up everywhere he turns.

The Number 23 is another example of Jim Carrey not being at fault for a film’s failure. He struggles to carry a plot that barely keeps your attention until it reaches its irritatingly unoriginal “twist” conclusion. If the conspiracy of tragedy related to the number 23 is true, this movie is some fine evidence.

Yes Man (2008)

Remember Liar Liar, in which Jim Carrey is unable to tell a lie? What if we basically remade that with one crucial twist.

Yes Man, from future Ant-Man director Peyton Reed, stars Jim Carrey as a guy who compulsively says no to everything, even things that sound pleasant. When he decides to make the decision to compulsively say yes to everything, even things that do not sound pleasant, his life begins to change for the better… until it doesn’t.

Yes Man has a wonderful, inspirational message that encourages living life to the fullest, but in the end, it defeats itself by admitting that saying yes can eventually prove problematic. It’s hard to decide what Jim Carrey and Peyton Reed wanted people to take this film. Laughter? Nah, it can’t be that.

Jim Carrey is one of our most beloved iconic comedians, but like any actor, his career is not without its missteps. However, The Number 23 or Me, Myself & Irene will not be what he's remembered for best. We will always think of him as a comedian with unprecedented energy and enthusiasm who taught that world that a man who talks with his butt actually can be pretty funny.

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Hobbs And Shaw Just Re-Wrapped After Filming Some Major New Scenes

Hobbs And Shaw Just Re-Wrapped After Filming Some Major New Scenes

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson posts so many "wrap" photos he could stack them under a Christmas tree. (I'll see myself out.) He just wrapped Jumanji 3 and now he has announced another wrap for Hobbs & Shaw.

That Fast and Furious franchise spinoff is coming out August 2, not even three months from now, so it would be strange to see it just wrap filming this week. Dwayne Johnson previously shared an emotional wrap video in mid-February, when initial filming was complete. But it's common to head back to set for reshoots and "additional photography," and it looks like Hobbs & Shaw did just that for a few key scenes -- including a massive showdown with Idris Elba's criminal mastermind Brixton Lore.

Here's The Rock's first of three posts on re-wrapping Hobbs & Shaw, with this one teasing the fight ahead as the "Biggest showdown the FAST & FURIOUS franchise has ever seen":

After that, The Rock -- aka Pig Daddy? -- showed off his ride before filming one last scene for the movie.

Finally, he shared an official this-is-it production wrap post, sharing this photo to tease "a fun final touch for our movie":

Nice! Hobbs & Shaw takes place two years after The Fate of the Furious. Dwayne Johnson's "ice cold can of whup-ass" Luke Hobbs has to team up with "champagne problem" Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw to take down Idris Elba's former MI6 agent Brixton, who is now a "super-human" terrorist (aka "Black Superman"). Vanessa Kirby co-stars as MI6 field agent Hattie Shaw, who happens to be Deckard's sister, with Helen Mirren as Magdalene Shaw.

The official title of this thing is Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, but that still sounds like a variety show to me. Hobbs & Shaw opens its can of whup-ass in theaters on August 2, as one of the many movies worth keeping track of in 2019.

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Why James Gunn’s Brightburn Is Rated R

Why James Gunn’s Brightburn Is Rated R

Currently there are two movie genres especially blowing up box office numbers and discussion amongst moviegoers: superheroes and horror. The upcoming James Gunn-produced film Brightburn will explore a bit of both genres by putting a terrifying spin on the Superman origin story. The horror flick starring David Denman and Elizabeth Banks looks to be leaning a lot more into its horror elements, per the recent release of its rating. Check it out:

Rated R for horror violence/bloody images, and language.

The Motion Picture Association of America has deemed Brightburn with a rating only fit for mature audiences, so get ready for some serious frights and gore. The horror will be set off by a young boy named Brandon Breyer (Jackson A. Dunn) who mysteriously falls to Earth in a spaceship as a baby, is found by the Breyers and raised as their own. The story is quite reminiscent of Clark Kent, right down to having superpowers such as super strength, flight and heat vision. There’s a twist though: instead of becoming a boy scout superhero who saves the world time after time, the boy starts using his powers to inflict pain on others and looks to become the evil entity of Brightburn.

From the trailers that have been released for Brightburn so far, it looks terrifying. So it doesn’t come as much of a surprise the flick would receive an R-rating ahead of its spring release. The footage sees Brandon transform from an unassuming kid who is bullied to one who resorts to violently breaking the hand of a classmate and testing the limits of his powers. Once he gets the gist of his strength, he starts to use it to wreak havoc on people all over town in a red mask, even putting in danger his adopted parents.

Brightburn was written by James Gunn’s two brothers Mark and Brianz and is directed by David Yarovesky, who helmed The Hive in 2014. As mentioned earlier, Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn is also on as producer for this intriguing take on a familiar origin story that is usually much more innocent. The movie certainly looks to be a fun take on the Superman story that flips it on its head and goes for a much more mature and frighteningly dark tale. How else will it use its comic book roots, I wonder?

Brightburn was originally set to come out in fall of 2018, but with the controversy surrounding James Gunn's firing from Disney possibly factoring in, the film was pushed back to May 24, alongside the live-action remake of Aladdin. Since the date shift, Gunn has been hired to helm The Suicide Squad for Warner Bros and rehired for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, putting the filmmaker’s name in much better condition to be slapped on marketing for Brightburn, beside the many other exciting 2019 releases coming this spring.

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Glass’ Poor Reviews Made M. Night Shyamalan Cry

Glass’ Poor Reviews Made M. Night Shyamalan Cry

It’s never easy to learn that something you’ve made isn’t liked by others. Director and writer M. Night Shyamalan has experienced this several times in his career, most recently with Glass, the final chapter of his Eastrail 177 trilogy that began with Unbreakable and continued with Split. In fact, Shyamalan cried upon learning that Glass was taking a critical beating back in January. As he recalled:

I was in London when I heard the U.S. reviews for Glass were poor. I was in a makeup chair for a TV show, and I cried… We’d just come back from the London screenings, which were through the roof. We had only great screenings of the movie around the world. So essentially I wasn’t prepared. I had this false sense of being a part of the group in a safe way. But boy, did I feel distraught that day.

For nearly two decades Unbreakable was a standalone feature in M. Night Shyamalan’s filmography, but the filmmaker finally revisited that world with Split, which, in typical Shaymalan twist fashion, had Bruce Willis’ David Dunn appear at the end. Like Unbreakable, Split was met with positive reception, so shortly after its release, Shyamalan announced he’d be making Glass next. The hype surrounding Glass only grew over the next two years (give or take), especially after the first trailer dropped last summer.

Unfortunately for M. Night Shyamalan, Glass didn’t receive anywhere near the same level of approval as its predecessors, ranking at 37% among critics on Rotten Tomatoes. In other words, it wasn’t a flop across the board (as The Last Airbender and After Earth basically were), but it wasn’t a critical triumph either.

Hearing that Glass wasn’t being well-received was enough to make M. Night Shyamalan shed some tears while he was promoting the movie across the pond, but he felt better once he accounted for how commercially successful it was. Elaborating on how he felt at the time during a recent lecture at NYU’s Stern School of Business (via Indiewire), Shyamalan said:

Honestly, I was feeling like, ‘Will they never let me be different without throwing me on the garbage pile?’ The feeling of worthlessness rushed me, and to be honest, it doesn’t ever really leave. But anyway, the film went on, right? It became number one in every country in the world, and it represents my beliefs.

Glass ended up making nearly $247 million worldwide off a $20 million budget, so on the money side of things, it definitely performed splendidly, although it still ended up falling short of Unbreakable and Split’s hauls. In any case, M. Night Shyamalan appears to have made peace with how things turned out on Glass, though he still acknowledged that he still gets “tired” dealing with this kind of critical reaction to his work.

M. Night Shyamalan is now working on his upcoming Apple series Servant and also has a movie called Labor of Love in development. When more details become available on either of those projects, we here at CinemaBlend will let you know about them. Glass can be purchased Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD, and you can look through our 2019 release schedule to learn what movies are coming out later this year.

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Has Anyone Seen The Ending To Avengers: Endgame Yet? Here's What The Russos Say

Has Anyone Seen The Ending To Avengers: Endgame Yet? Here's What The Russos Say

When Avengers: Endgame comes to an end, it will mark not just the ending of a 3-hour film, it will also complete the fight began in Avengers: Infinity War, close out Phase 3 and conclude the 11-year, 22-film Infinity Saga. Needless to say, this is a highly anticipated ending, and that hype is matched only by the secrecy surrounding it. However, some people have already seen the ending to Avengers: Endgame, as the Russo Brothers explained:

Joe Russo: We haven’t told anyone. Certainly people have seen it. We have a lot of technicians who are working on the movie at the end there. There’s a couple of hundred people who have seen the film.

Anthony Russo: But it’s important – look we wouldn’t want to spoil the film for anybody. We love the experience in the theater, you know, and the sense of discovery you have as the movie unfolds. We just try to provide for others what we want for ourselves.

The Russo Brothers are trying to keep the film’s secrets as best as possible, and although they haven’t told anyone the ending to Avengers: Endgame, they are far from the only ones that have seen it. This is to be expected. The Russo Brothers are the directors, but there are a ton of people that need to work on a film, especially one of this magnitude, after the cameras stop rolling.

So while secrecy is paramount, those production realities, especially with the movie so close to its theatrical release, necessitate that other people see the ending to Avengers: Endgame. As Joe Russo told Digital Spy, there are a couple hundred people who have seen the ending to Endgame at this point; a couple hundred people that know how the dusted characters return and who sacrifices themselves to ensure that victory.

That might sound like a lot, but there is no way for this film to be complete and have an ending without some people working on that ending. Those lucky technicians putting the finishing touches on the ending also had the pleasure of seeing that much speculated and theorized-about conclusion before any of us. That early look seems like a fair trade off for their hard work and secrecy.

Nevertheless, as Anthony Russo added, the directors really want audiences to go in and enjoy Avengers: Endgame unspoiled. The Russo Brothers love sitting in a theater and being surprised like the rest of us and they want to preserve that pure experience for audiences as much as possible. It’s important to them that this movie, that they have worked so hard on for so long, is able to surprise and thrill audiences in the way it was meant to.

Therefore, I imagine Marvel and the Russos have kept the circle of trust as small as they could, which I expect means that Tom Holland and Mark Ruffalo have not yet had the privilege of seeing Avengers: Endgame. But even the secrets that the actors do know have been quite stressful to keep, as Scarlett Johansson recently lamented. It’s one thing to keep a secret between friends, it's another entirely for a massive film with a budget in the hundreds of millions and people constantly asking and trying to trick you into revealing its mysteries.

You can find out for yourself how Avengers: Endgame ends when it opens on April 26. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see this and all the biggest movies headed your way this year.

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John Wick 3 Filming Was Hijacked By A Thousand Ballsy Cats

John Wick 3 Filming Was Hijacked By A Thousand Ballsy Cats

So far, 2019 has been the year of the movie cat -- between Captain Marvel’s Goose and Church in Pet Sematary. So while the John Wick franchise has always centered on dogs, including the upcoming third chapter, felines marked their territory.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum director Chad Stahelski recalled a particular cat invasion during the filming of the sequel in Essaouira, Morocco. The sequence features Keanu Reeves’ Wick and new character Sofia (played by Halle Berry) and her pair of Belgian Malinois hound protectors fighting off a small army of assassins. Here’s what happened, in Stahelski’s words:

The Moroccans are not big on canines. Love a fucking cat, though. There had to be thousands. We went there in the winter when we scouted and they weren’t that prevalent. We were like, There’s a few cats here, we’ll get a cat department, and we’re going to move all the cats out. We show up to shoot and there were literally a thousand cats, okay? And the cats have balls of steel. They’re not afraid of anything.

The irony! The director told Entertainment Weekly that, as a result, the crew had to build massive cages to house the cat residents while they shot the scene. They also tasked themselves with feeding them, Chad Stahelski commenting that there were more felines to feed than cast and crew members put together.

Halle Berry’s hounds, who she trained herself, were to be a major component of the scene in Morocco. But, as you can imagine, thousands of cats are distracting. Chad Stahelski continued with these words:

What do Belgian Malinois love to chase? Fucking cats! While Keanu Reeves is killing ten guys over there, Halle is killing ten guys over here, and [there is the] stunt guy the dog’s got to focus on. You want that dog focused on what he’s supposed to bite, and what he’s not supposed to bite. Hit the mark, right? And there’s ten cats walking around and you’re going, ‘Oh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus.’ You’re sitting behind the monitor going, ‘What’s the dog looking at? What’s the dog looking at? Oh my god oh my god, he’s going to bite — Argh!’ It got a little crazy between cat-wrangling, and dog-wrangling, and people-wrangling. And you’ve got the studio back [in America] going, ‘Why are you a little behind? Just get the dog to do [it].’ And you’re like, I don’t speak dog. If I did I’d be fucking rich! Anyway, that was kind of fun.

Sounds like a bit of a mess… but it makes for a great story and hopefully some great content for the John Wick 3 bonus features. The crew did not expect to run into cats, of all problems on set -- especially during a scene featuring dogs, no less.

In addition to working closely with the hounds -- such as a sequence where one of the dogs jumps off her back, scales a wall and takes someone down from above -- Halle Berry also trained hard to do her own badass stunts during the movie’s fight scenes. The actress has the bruises to show for it because she actually broke three ribs during rehearsal. She doesn’t know how it happened but considers it her "badge of honor."

Unexpected cat setbacks aside, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is shaping up to be a highly-anticipated release. It's already being highly praised by critics, with one reviewer deeming it an “action masterpiece." The movie is expected to make $30 to $40 million during its opening weekend, making it the biggest debut for the franchise yet. John Wick hits theaters on May 17.

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Godzilla Fan Dies Before Drive-In King Of Monsters Screening Can Be Arranged

Godzilla Fan Dies Before Drive-In King Of Monsters Screening Can Be Arranged

It's a scenario we've seen several times in the last few years. Somebody is a huge fan of a particular movie property, excited to see the next installment that's set to come out. Unfortunately, this fan is terminally ill and may not live until the official release date. Social media then picks up the call to try and make an early screening happen. It's remarkable how frequently these stories have had happy endings. Unfortunately, the most recent example has had no such result. George Root III, who wanted nothing more than to see Godzilla: King of the Monsters, has passed away before having a chance to do so.

It was only within the last couple of days that the story of George Root III broke through the noise of the internet to really get noticed. Root had stage four cancer and was a massive fan of two things, Godzilla and the Transit Drive-In in Lockport, New York. Root was friends with the theater's owner, Rick Cohen and it was Cohen who attempted to get his friend's dying wish to come true and get a screening of the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters to screen at the theater for Root.

Unfortunately, almost as soon as the request began to pick up steam, it was announced that it was already too late. George Root III died Thursday of the cancer he'd been fighting for four years.

Part of what makes this all the more heartbreaking, is that there's a pretty decent chance that if Root had lived, he would have received his wish. This is far from the first time that a terminally ill person has made a request like this and frequently, those requests have been granted. Disney has granted personal screenings of both Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avengers: Endgame to under similar circumstances. Studios have been remarkably willing to accommodate these requests so there's no reason to believe this one would have been any different.

Yesterday Godzilla: King of the Monsters director Mike Dougherty retweeted a post referencing George Root's struggle, after he had passed, which means the director had been made aware of the situation. Things really might have worked out if only the timing hadn't been so tight.

Considering that we're dealing with terminally ill patients, it's actually remarkable just how often these stories have happy endings. Of course, that makes it all the sadder that this one does not.

Still, those that picked up the call for George Root III aren't done simply because he's gone. According to the Buffalo News, those that were once campaigning to get him a screening are now campaigning to get him added to the credits of Godzilla: King of the Monsters. It would certainly be nice to see a dedication or "In memory of" added to the beginning or end of the film. Such a tribute would probably mean the world to the loved ones he left behind.

We'll have to wait and see if anything like that happens. Godzilla: King of the Monsters will be in theaters May 31.

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The Last Jedi’s Rian Johnson Really Loves First The Rise of Skywalker Trailer

The Last Jedi’s Rian Johnson Really Loves First The Rise of Skywalker Trailer

Unofficially, there seems to be a war between those who support Star Wars: The Last Jedi and those who are embracing Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. With J.J. Abrams returning to the fold as co-writer and director of this new film, it felt to some like a bit of a rejection of the bold new direction that Rian Johnson had brought his Star Wars film towards. Those feelings are invalid now, as Johnson himself saw the trailer for the ninth episode of the Skywalker Saga, and shared the following rave review:

It’s hard to argue with a statement like that, as Rian Johnson is as much of a Star Wars fan as J.J. Abrams is. While some may have thought that Abrams’ return would look radically different from Johnson’s middle installment of this third act trilogy, the trailer to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker looks like it fits nicely into the trajectory that the previous film already set up.

What’s also nice to know is the admiration between these two directors is mutual, as earlier today J.J. Abrams handed out a very special thank you to Rian Johnson, in particular for hiring actor Kelly Marie Tran. This comes after Johnson commented on how he’s actually interested to see what J.J. Abrams does with the Star Wars universe in his latest film, even if it happens to retcon pieces of The Last Jedi in order to close this portion of the series.

Though it’s not like Rian Johnson isn’t heading back to that galaxy far, far away himself. Much as Abrams came back for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Johnson will be making more magic in the franchise himself. As previously reported, Rian Johnson is still on track for the trilogy of Star Wars films that take place outside of the Skywalker Saga’s episodic structure. When exactly that’ll take place is in question, particularly in the light of the hiatus recently announced by Disney CEO Bob Iger. But at least for now, as exhibited in his Twitter feed’s latest output, Johnson is still very much on board for whatever comes next.

Star Wars fans, as any fandom at its best behavior, lift each other up in the name of their appreciation of the series. Now that both J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson have provided a bridge between their theoretical halves of the property, it’s up to the fans of both directors to meet in the middle, as they await this next and last chapter of the classic story arc to come to a close.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker heads to theaters on December 20. However, if you’re looking for some movie excitement to tide you over until then, head to our 2019 release schedule to get a jump on this year’s biggest debuts.

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The Perfection’s Director And Stars Really Want You To Keep The Movie’s Big Twists A Secret

The Perfection’s Director And Stars Really Want You To Keep The Movie’s Big Twists A Secret

Every movie ever made is made better when you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen before you watch, but that’s being said, The Perfection is a special case. Simply put, it’s one of the most surprising horror features released in recent memory, and possesses some major twists during its runtime that audiences will definitely not see coming. As such, it’s a feature that deserves extra protection from widely spread spoilers as it makes its way to Netflix this week – and that’s not just me talking, but also the film’s director and stars.

This past week I had the immense pleasure of sitting down with writer/director Richard Shepard and actresses Allison Williams and Logan Browning, and one subject that I brought up during both conversations was the way in which they hope that audiences will wind up discussing the movie. There’s a bit of an extra challenge involved given that it will be available to watch instantly by Netflix subscribers everywhere on Friday, but as Browning put it, The Perfection isn’t a film that you should recommend to your friends by simply explaining it beat for beat:

I really don't want people to spoil it for each other…. So you have to kind of go in early and then really respect your friends and just encourage them to go watch it. Because I think it's way more fun, way more enjoyable to talk to someone about, 'Oh, remember when that happened?' instead of telling them everything and then they have a ruined experience. So yeah, just don't spoil it, and enjoy it!

For his part, Richard Shepard agreed that the movie is best experienced when audiences know as little about it as possible – but also added that even if you are aware of some plot details, there is still a lot going on in the film that people will be able to appreciate. The Perfection is purposefully built with different layers (he describes it as “unique and sexy and weird and dark, and also funny”), and is personally excited to hear about the conversation that surrounds it following its release. He explained,

The greatest genre movies always have more than one thing going on. There's social commentary, there's hopefully film aesthetic commentary, and then there's just the fun of a good genre movie. And I hope that The Perfection has all of those things… But part of the joy of this movie is kind of going in a little blind. So it's going to be interesting as it drops all over the world on the same day. But in a way that's kind of what the beauty of this situation is. It's like, 'Here it is. Now let's see if people gravitate toward it.'

While I most certainly won’t spoil the movie for you here, it’s safe to mention that The Perfection stars Allison Williams as a former cello prodigy named Charlotte Willmore, who finds her way back into the music world following the death of her mother – whose sickness was the reason she left in the first place. Reuniting with her former instructor (Steven Weber) during an event in China, she has the opportunity to meet Logan Browning’s Elizabeth Wells, who has experienced all the global acclaim and fame to which Charlotte once came so close. The two of them immediately bond, agreeing to go on a two week vacation together, but things start to go horribly wrong when a night out partying results in Lizzy starting to feel exceptionally sick.

Allison Williams, of course, has some notable experience with big twists thanks to her acclaimed part in Get Out, and she had her own interesting perspective to add to the conversation. She definitely agreed with Logan Browning that specific details from The Perfection shouldn’t just be dropped on friends or blasted on social media, but she also has a certain hands-off approach that recognizes that the movie doesn’t really belong to the filmmakers or stars once it’s released; it belongs to the audience. Said Williams,

This is now that weird moment where it's not ours anymore. And so I can hope that people interact with this theme or that theme or whatever, but for the most part I'm learning this is when we just throw up our hands and say, 'Okay, we've raised you as best we can. Now be good in the world and take care of yourself!' I'm so curious to see what people's reactions are to it, because that's always this other phase of doing a movie. You learn stuff about it when you hear other people thinking and engaging with it. So I agree. Don't spoil it for people. Memes will happen, and hopefully people just won't know the context of them.

You can watch my conversation with Logan Browning, Allison Williams, and Richard Shepard about protecting The Perfection spoilers by clicking play on the video below.

The Perfection co-stars Alaina Huffman, Mark Kandborg, and Graeme Duffy, and arrives on Netflix this Friday. To be totally safe, you should definitely watch the movie as early as possible – and we can promise you it’s a decision you won’t regret.

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John Wick Has A Deleted Scene Out There Showing His Totally Unexpected Hobby

John Wick Has A Deleted Scene Out There Showing His Totally Unexpected Hobby

John Wick was already a fascinating dude, but now I want to see the scenes they cut showing his "hobby" and "vocation." Keanu Reeves is out promoting John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, and he revealed they actually did film a scene for the first 2014 movie showing his hobby.

The story came up when Keanu Reeves was asked about John Wick's hobbies. What did he do in his free time, or what would he be doing if they hadn't killed his beloved Beagle puppy, launching the drama of the three films so far?

In the first script they had John Wick described as working with old leather-bound books and book restoration. [...] Yeah, we filmed it. It’s not in the movie, but we filmed it.

Book restoration. I ... never would've guessed John Wick would retire from the hitman life just to go into book restoration. I need to see this.

John Wick starts with the title character grieving the death of his wife Helen to illness. She's the one who gave him little Daisy as a gift, knowing he'd need some help to cope after she was gone. So if the Russian gangsters hadn't shown up to steal his car and kill the puppy, John would quietly be doing book restoration right now instead of running for his life. As Keanu Reeves continued to Uproxx:

Yeah, he had a hobby and a vocation. That’s what he did. Best case, yes, his wife had passed, and that’s what he had decided to do once he got out after the impossible task, that was his vocation.

The "impossible task" was referenced in the first film. When John Wick wanted to retire, Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist) gave John an "impossible task" -- apparently a bunch of assassinations in a short time -- and John actually succeeded. John earned the legendary status of Baba Yaga (boogeyman).

Maybe when all of this is over -- even if it's 10 years from now -- John Wick will go back into book restoration. It would be easier on his body than all the stunt work he's had to do to stay alive through the past two movies.

David Leitch helped co-direct the first John Wick movie with Chad Stahelski, and in the directors' commentary ,Leitch said the original cut was over two hours long. They cut over 39 minutes of footage, including a fight between John and Viggo. Leitch also said (via CBR) there were "a ton of great shots... that's just Keanu Reeves walking in cool environments" that had to be left on the cutting room floor.

Back when they were making the first movie, they had no idea the John Wick franchise would become so popular. Now that fans are eager for the third movie to open next week, it would be a great time to dig up all of the old deleted scenes and share them with the class.

John Wick 3 is meant to be a lot bigger than the past two movies, and that means a higher death count. Mr. Wick is on the run, with a global contract out for his life. Parabellum has gotten rave reviews so far, and it should do some healthy business at the box office.

Heck, maybe it could even top Avengers: Endgame at the May 17-19 weekend box office. If anyone can kill off Marvel's streak, it's John Wick.

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How Robert Downey Jr. Really Felt About Tony Stark's Endgame Story

How Robert Downey Jr. Really Felt About Tony Stark's Endgame Story

Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS for Avengers: Endgame ahead!

Since 2008’s Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. has been on a journey with Tony Stark, and in that time the Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown in stature and scope around him. While that growth will continue, it would appear it will now be without Robert Downey Jr. because in Avengers: Endgame, Tony Stark sacrificed himself by using the Infinity Stones to defeat Thanos.

It was a heroic and poetic end for the character, closing out the Infinity Saga and these first 11 years of the MCU by circling around back to its beginning. But how did Robert Downey Jr. feel about it? While speaking about how the film's actors responded to their character’s fates, co-director Anthony Russo addressed just that. He said:

A lot of the actors are not opinionated about what we do. They like the fact that we are sort of in control of these stories and we are driving where they should go and we have a vision for where they should go and they trust in that. I think Downey may have had mixed emotions about thinking about [where Tony Stark ends up in Endgame], but I think at the end of the day, he totally accepted it.

By the sound of it, Robert Downey Jr. wasn’t completely gung-ho about what happens to Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame. Unlike some of the other actors in the cast who had a more laissez faire attitude towards where their characters went, happy to let the writers and filmmakers decide, it sounds Robert Downey Jr. had his own opinions. Which, if we're being honest, totally fits for the guy who plays Tony Stark.

The Russo Brothers pitched Robert Downey Jr. Tony Stark’s arc in the film to make sure that he was comfortable with it. Although he ultimately accepted it and was cool with what happened, based on what Anthony Russo told THR, the actor had some mixed feelings about where Tony Stark ends up in the film.

It will be interesting to hear from Robert Downey Jr. himself about what he thought of Tony Stark’s fate in Avengers: Endgame and why he felt however he did, but mixed emotions are certainly understandable. The actor has spent over a decade with this character, so he likely had a great deal of investment in Tony Stark and his own ideas about what would happen to him and how his story should end.

This is purely conjecture, but maybe Robert Downey Jr. liked that Tony Stark got a poetic and heroic end, but had hoped that he wouldn’t die at all. So he may have accepted and appreciated the ending on a story level, but still wished that this character that he played for so long and was paid so handsomely for could have survived. Maybe he preferred a purely happy ending where Tony and Pepper lived happily ever after and he got to watch Morgan grow up.

The fact that Robert Downey Jr. had mixed emotions about the end of Tony Stark’s arc reminds me a bit of Mark Hamill’s feelings about Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. While that was a case of Mark Hamill being somewhat vocal in his disagreement with his character’s choices in the film, it was also an instance of an actor who genuinely cared about his character and had opinions and ideas about the way his story should go.

You can see Robert Downey Jr.’s brilliant work as Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame, in theaters now. If you’re going to see it for a second, third or fifth time, be sure you know what ticket to buy. Also check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see all the biggest movies headed your way this summer.

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Sylvester Stallone Met The Most Adorable Rocky Fan While Editing Rambo 5

Sylvester Stallone Met The Most Adorable Rocky Fan While Editing Rambo 5

Sylvester Stallone's franchises recently collided in the sweetest way. Right now, he's busy editing Rambo V: Last Blood for the movie's release this September. But while at work, he had a visit from some Rocky fans. He shared a video meeting one young fan who was only 9-years-old, but loved Rocky. Her family told Sly she adored him -- he was truly meeting his biggest fan. Sly, age 72, was understandably both confused and very moved by that news.

The young Rocky fan asked Sylvester Stallone how he became such a good actor and a star. Here's his fantastic response:

A lot of critics would debate that! Certain characters you just feel they're part of you. It's like, playing Rocky is like breathing, I just feel it. Whereas another character I may not. But that particular one, I just believe everything the character says and what I say. That's why I like to write it. It comes from deep inside. But some other characters, it's not quite the same. But that one's just [special].

Watch the conversation play out:

How sweet is that? Also, how can people just drop by the Rambo 5 editing bay? Asking for a friend.

Sylvester Stallone's Instagram is a treasure trove for fans of both Rocky and Rambo (and also The Expendables, but we'll get there in a minute). He recently gave fans an update on Rambo V: Last Blood editing, saying sometimes editing a film is like pulling teeth, but the fifth John Rambo movie was coming together "beautifully." He also teased a battle to the end, with an "unexpected" ending.

For Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone had suggested he was done playing the role after Creed II. However, he still has a lot of love for the character, as you can tell in his answer to his biggest fan, and also because he's been promoting his upcoming documentary on 40 years of Rocky. The first Rocky movie came out in 1976 and won the Oscar for Best Picture; Sly was also nominated for Best Actor and for Best Original Screenplay, since he wrote the script.

Creed II came out in 2018 and Rambo V is scheduled to be released this September 20. Sylvester Stallone also has Escape Plan: The Extractors set for release this year, but so far it looks like only Russia has announced a theatrical release date of June 20. Not sure what's going on there.

What about The Expendables 4? That's my big question. Sylvester Stallone got fans excited with a recent throwback photo to the second movie in that franchise. Last we heard, the fourth movie was back on, and we're hoping the core gang will get back together soon for filming -- once Rambo 5 is done, of course.

As we wait for more updates, keep up with everything headed to the big screen this year with our handy 2019 movie schedule.

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There’s A Petition To Change Tony Stark’s Avengers: Endgame Fate, Because Of Course

There’s A Petition To Change Tony Stark’s Avengers: Endgame Fate, Because Of Course

Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame has been in theaters for over a month, and the moviegoing public still hasn't stopped discussing every frame of the massive blockbuster. The Russo Brothers had an impossible task ahead of them, wrapping up a 22 movie narrative, and following the massive success of last year's Infinity War. And they succeeded in doing just that, and gave a fitting end to Captain America, Iron Man, and Black Widow.

Tony Stark's story came to an end in the final battle of Endgame, swiping the Infinity Stones and snapping Thanos and his forces out of existence forever. But the power and radiation from the stones was too strong, and it cost the original MCU hero his life. Now there's a petition that Marvel give him a happier ending. Because, of course.

The fan-made petition comes to us from Change.org, titled "BRING TONY STARK BACK TO LIFE" The online campaign has 16,852 signatures at the time of writing this story, with those passionate Marvel fans wishing that Iron Man was given a happier ending a la Steve Rogers. His sacrifice was perhaps the most emotional aspect of Endgame, but the petition and its followers maintain that Tony deserved better.

The MCU was throw into chaos following Avengers: Infinity War, as half of all life was wiped out by Thanos' snap. The five year time jump revealed that Earth was still very much recovering from such a loss, and Tony Stark and Pepper Potts were one of the few lucky ones to keep their family intact. They had each other after the dusting, and even got married and had their daughter Morgan.

Tony actually found happiness, despite Thanos' assault on the galaxy. That's why Iron Man originally rejected the idea of Scott Lang's time travel plan; he was scared of losing everything he'd gained in the past five years. Ultimately Pepper Potts encourages him to rejoin the Avengers for Time Heist, a decision that brought 2014 Thanos to the present and ultimately cost Tony his life.

Related: The Game Of Thrones Writers, After Years Of Great Work, Deserve Better Than This Petition

The petition to change Tony's fate is a symptom of a larger trend within the entertainment world, where fans feel like they can will studios and filmmakers into re-doing projects to their liking. We saw something similar happen with the series finale of HBO's Game of Thrones. Fan outrage regarding Season 8's contents launched a petition in hopes of the entire season being reshot.

It's basically an impossibility that either of these campaigns will go anywhere, but Marvel Studios is likely happy to see so much engagement from the fandom-- even those were unhappy with the contents of Avengers: Endgame. Tony Stark's death was extremely powerful, and with Robert Downey Jr.'s contract with Marvel officially up, smart money says we won't see the billionaire playboy genius philanthropist back on the silver screen.

Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now. Be sure to check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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Why Superhero Movies Are So Popular, According To The Shazam! Filmmakers

Why Superhero Movies Are So Popular, According To The Shazam! Filmmakers

Whether you love superhero movies or your name is James Cameron and you're waiting for "Avenger fatigue" to set in, there's no question superhero movies are more popular than ever. Sure, they can fail sometimes, just ask Fantastic Four. But more often than not, superheroes win and they win big. DC's Shazam! just joined the ranks of the winners with a solid #1 opening weekend at the box office.

Shazam! follows the $1 billion success of DC's Aquaman and the $1 billion success of Marvel's Captain Marvel, and precedes the probably $2+ billion success of Avengers: Endgame -- which itself follows the $2 billion success of Avengers: Infinity War. Phew! If you follow the money, it leads right to Marvel and DC.

But why? Why are comic book superheroes so popular right now? It's a question many have been asking, and Shazam! director David F. Sandberg and producer Peter Safran shared their takes:

David F. Sandberg: Partly I think it's the wish fulfillment. And that's why I love Shazam! so much, because it's kind of the ultimate wish fulfillment with this kid getting to be a superhero.

Peter Safran: And I think it's really about the great characters that populate a lot of the superhero movies. Each superhero movie is different than the other superhero movies. It's a large genre, but within it you have heist movies, you have comedies, you have pure action. So I think there's a lot of room.

I especially like Peter Safran's take to Collider. Because it's true, it's almost like Superhero has become its own genre like Comedy or Drama and there are subgenres within that go in many different directions. I also think good superhero movies inspire and elevate others -- competition is good for the market (until it isn't).

Hollywood is notorious for wanting to just copy what works, and right now superhero movies just work -- they not only make tons of money, they tend to be crowd and sometimes even critic pleasers. That leads to repeat viewing in theaters and also at home, which brings even more money.

David F. Sandberg has a background in horror, and CinemaBlend's own Mike Reyes recently asked him why he thinks horror directors make such good superhero films. After all, Shazam! is following in the footsteps of The Conjuring king James Wan's Aquaman, which is the highest-grossing DC Comics film yet. Sandberg had a pretty good answer on that.

Not everyone is thrilled with superhero movies flooding theaters, often pushing away anything that isn't Marvel or DC related. That could be an issue in the next couple of months, especially when theaters are going to want to have as many showings of Avenges: Endgame as possible.

What will that mean for any film not named Avengers: Endgame? Hopefully there's room for everyone, from superhero movies and other action blockbuster sequels (Star Wars: Episode IX, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, John Wick 3) to Disney's 9 million live-action remakes (see you soon, The Lion King and Aladdin) right down to original non-sequel movies. Like Us.

Speaking of horror directors and superhero movies, though, is there any way to drag Jordan Peele into the DC or Marvel universes? Or would it be better if steered clear?

For more Shazam! points to ponder, listen to ReelBlend's recent interview with David F. Sandberg and Peter Safran. The DCEU movie is now playing in theaters as one of the many movies to try and keep up with in 2019.

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Samuel L. Jackson Shares Photo From Spider-Man: Far From Home Reshoots

Samuel L. Jackson Shares Photo From Spider-Man: Far From Home Reshoots

It's currently a very exciting time for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After a long year of waiting, Avengers: Endgame will finally arrive in theaters this week, picking up the narrative from last year's Infinity War. While all eyes are on how the survivors will face off against Thanos again, another Marvel blockbuster will arrive shortly after. Spider-Man: Far From Home will bring Tom Holland's Peter Parker to Europe, and have him interact with Marvel favorites like Happy Hogan, Maria Hill, and Nick Fury.

Spider-Man: Far From Home will mark Samuel L. Jackson's whopping 11th appearance as Nick Fury, with ranging from major roles to quick cameos. Fans are eager to see how he interacts with Peter Parker, as well as Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio. Jackson is currently in the midst of reshoots for the upcoming sequel, and posted a photo from the set. Check it out.

Samuel L. Jackson may have been able to discard the eyepatch for much of Captain Marvel, but it looks like he's back to his regular cycloptic appearance in order to film Spider-Man: Far From Home.

This behind the scenes glimpse comes from Samuel L. Jackson's personal Instagram page. It seems the 70 year old actor has been very busy lately, reprising his role as Nick Fury while also working on the Hitman's Bodyguard sequel. He's sure to plug both of these projects in the post, although all eyes (pun intended) are on what's next for Fury in the MCU.

The image doesn't show much, but the presence of Nick Fury's eyepatch shows that Sam Jackson is once again back in character as the S.H.I.E.L.D. legend. Fury's first appearance teased a much bigger world for Tony Stark, and his words proved to be true throughout the last decade of filmmaking. Now he'll get to team up with the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and see if the newest Avenger is up to snuff.

Per the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer, it looks like Europe is seeing a bunch of enhanced beings cause a ruckus. This is likely what brings Nick Fury and Maria Hill into the action, and why he eventually recruits Spider-Man to join their efforts. Fury's ultra seriousness and Peter Parker's naivety should foil each other interestingly in the upcoming movie, and it should be interesting to see how the MCU continues after the events of Endgame.

Related: Samuel L. Jackson Really Wanted To Be In Black Panther

The stakes for Spider-Man: Far From Home seemingly got higher recently, as Kevin Feige recently revealed Jon Watts' upcoming sequel is actually the last installment in Phase Three, not Endgame. As such, it may have a closer connection to The Russo Brothers' massive blockbuster. It's going to take some creative storytelling to bring Peter, Fury, and Hill back from the dead. So perhaps Spider-Man's sequel will help get things back on track after Thanos' attack on the galaxy.

Kevin Feige's revelation also means that Spider-Man got his first two solo flick in Phase Three, in addition to his role in Captain America: Civil War and the Avengers movies. It looks like the web crawler will only continue becoming a bigger presence in the shared universe, as we watch Peter Parker mature as a hero and teenager.

Nick Fury has had a long tenure in the MCU, and it doesn't look like it's coming to an end anytime soon. But Samuel L. Jackson was noticeably missing for the majority of Phase Three, despite being an OG member of the shared universe. He wasn't seen in Captain America: Civil War, and was also absent from the events of Black Panther, both of which displeased the actor.

But Nick Fury is getting his time to shine during the final installments of this phase, starting with his post-credits scene in Avengers: Infinity War. Following that cameo, he had notable role in Captain Marvel. The origin story was set in the 1990's, with Samuel L. Jackson being digitally de-aged to play a less experienced version of Fury. The S.H.I.E.L.D. director will next set his eye on your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, who has an upcoming role in aiding Europe from elemental antagonists.

Before Samuel L. Jackson's signature Marvel character flies to Europe and meets the web crawler, he'll presumably be revived sometime during Avengers: Endgame. Nick Fury was one of the many Marvel characters who faded to dust as a result of Thanos uniting the Infinity Stones, alongside Maria Hill. Spider-Man also perished on Titan after losing to Thanos, in Infinity War's most heartbreaking death scene.

It's unclear how the dusted characters will return to life, although the most recent Avengers: Endgame trailers indicate that the survivors will attempt to unite the Infinity Stone and reverse Thanos' extermination. This should be a difficult task, and Thor is probably the most likely candidate to rock the Infinity Gauntlet. But it's also been teased that the Quantum Realm and time travel might also factor into the mysterious story.

It should be interesting to see how Nick Fury continues factoring into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as there should presumably be a seismic shift when Phase Three finally concludes. Many of the original Avengers actors are coming to the end of their contracts, and the newer superheroes will presumably need to step up and take on leading roles.

If a new group of Avengers are keeping the team together, they may look to Nick Fury for some guidance. With cosmic and local threats, Earth's Mightiest Heroes will be all the more necessary. Fury has always been known to prepare for the worst, so he may be the perfect character to unite a new team.

Since Captain Marvel finally arrived in theaters, Nick Fury's role in the future of the MCU seems all the more important. Kevin Feige has been quoted saying Carol Danvers will help lead the next phase of Marvel movies, and Fury's relationship with Captain Marvel precedes her long awaited arrival in Avengers: Endgame. Perhaps he'll also be a supporting character in the inevitable Captain Marvel sequel.

Avengers: Endgame will arrive in theaters on April 26th, and Spider-Man: Far From Home will follow shortly on June 2nd. In the meantime, fill out CinemaBlend's Endgame death pool, and check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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