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Two Trailers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day

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If you ask me, I might tell you that one of the most remarkable things the Marvel Cinematic Universe has done is cast Tom Holland as Spider-Man. His bumbly exuberance seems so appropriate (for the character) and genuine (if at times exhausting, at least if you’re approaching old-farthood like I am).

Holland is about to star in another Spidey story now, and, as the movie is about a month away, we have two trailers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY – Official Trailer (HD) by Spider-Man et al. on YouTube

SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY – New Trailer (4K) by Sony Pictures Entertainment on YouTube

Spider-Man’s abilities seem to be shifting or changing (by way of mutating-DNA-handwaving). Peter seeks help from Professor Banner, who seems to have gotten his funky Hulk abilities under control with the help of a wrist gadget.

Somehow unfolding events (and/or a danger anyone can’t control or see) will also endanger Peter’s friends Ned and MJ, who (along with the rest of the world) were magicked to forget Peter’s identity as Spider-Man at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Neither trailer was clear about the hows and whys of this story point. (The last we heard was that both Ned and MJ were accepted to MIT; now they’re done and presumably moving back to the tri-state area?)

In addition we have red jail ninjas, potential hallucinations, totally black eyes, and what seems to be a final boss-fight with the Hulk, and somehow they are supposed to make a coherent story. Okay?

I snort-laughed about MJ’s quip about a friendly neighbor and Spidey’s comment on stretching being good for you since he’s not in high school anymore. (The young whippersnapper!) In addition, Ned’s totally not weird Spider-Man stalker board seems geared to generate some laughs. So, hopefully, the new story will include plenty of snarky Spidey humor among the darker stuff.

SM:BND opens July 29-31, 2026.

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The Second Trailer for The Latest Odyssey Adaptation

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There’s now a second trailer for Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey.

The Odyssey | Official New Trailer by Universal Pictures on YouTube

This trailer does address some of my complaints after the first trailer: firstly, it contains more hints of color. Secondly, we see sunny scenes and/or daylight. And thirdly, there is a much more coherent picture of the story. All right, not bad.

New actors are also revealed. Tom Holland as Odysseus’ son Telemachus is a pleasant surprise (with no unnecessary buckles, it seems, which is another source of joy). He plays young people quite well, as far as I can tell; I do hope he won’t be typecast as a bumbly youth forever. Robert Pattinson’s Antinous—one of Penelope’s suitors—seems to be as smily a ball as he is in the original. It’s also nice to see Charlize Theron as Calypso.

That’s not all, however. According to IMDB, Zendaya plays the goddess Athena and Lupita Nyong’o Helen of Troy. Very nice! It should be interesting to see Mia Goth as Melantho, but how small or large they will make the role remains to be seen.

And there’s a puppy! Whether the puppy, the women, and the increased color will be enough to offset all of the angsty, dark, toxic angst and tempt me into the theater after all will still remain to be seen. There’s so much ugly in the world at the moment I don’t need or want it in my escapism, please and thank you.

The Odyssey will release on July 17, 2026.

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Third Trailer for Masters of the Universe Reboot

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Here’s the third trailer for the Masters of the Universe reboot:

Masters of The Universe – Official Final Trailer by Amazon MGM Studios on YouTube

There is a little more plot, a glimpse of fighting on Earth, and definite comedic promise in this trailer. Also more side characters are introduced. Sounds like nostalgia is going to be a big part of the draw of this reboot, so for me the theatrical release is a miss.

There is a question, however, which I haven’t yet seen addressed: where is Orko? Are the clips and effects with copy-pasted look a hint that the production has, indeed, gone over where the fence is lowest and not even tried to include him?

MotU officially opens today, June 05, 2026.

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To Come: Shadow of the Past, Another New Movie Set in Middle-earth

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The news has been our for a while that Tolkien mega fan Stephen Colbert is working on a Middle-earth-themed movie script. The working title is The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, and it will be written by Stephen Colbert, Peter McGee (Colbert’s son), and Philippa Boyens.

The project was confirmed well before April 01, which is good—I’ve seen some comments that it sounds like an April Fool’s prank.

The story is set 14 years after the passing of Frodo and has “Sam, Merry, and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter, Elanor, has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the War of the Ring was very nearly lost before it even began.”

Unsplash T L Dark Hobbiton Movie Set Sm

Apparently Colbert has said that the plot is “basically the chapter ‘Three is Company’ through ‘Fog on the Barrow-Downs'” and wondered whether “that could be its own story that could fit into the larger story? Could we make something that was completely faithful to the books while also being completely faithful to the movies that you guys [Peter Jackson et al.] had already made?'”

Hmm…! If the writing team is allowed to write (and capable of producing) a script faithful enough to the book, it might be really interesting. I’m looking forward to hearing more, at the least.

Image: dark Hobbiton movie set by T L via Unsplash

The Hunt for Gollum Update

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By all appearances, the Tolkien adaptation project The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is chugging steadily along. As publicized earlier, Andy Serkis directs. The writing team consists of Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, Phoebe Gittins, and Arty Papageorgiou.

The latest big news are threefold: the casting of Kate Winslet, the recasting of Aragorn, and the return of Lee Pace as Thranduil. (Please share if you have other tidbits!)

IMDB Winslet A Little Chaos

At this writing, according to IMDB, returning to their previous Middle-earth roles are Elijah Wood (Frodo), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Lee Pace (Thranduil), and Andy Serkis (Gollum); new actors and/or roles include Kate Winslet as Marigol, Jamie Dornan as Strider, and Leo Woodall as Halvard.

It’s not surprising that a new role was created for Winslet, since female characters are few and far between in that section of Tolkien’s writing. However, there’s as of yet no indication what kinds of characters Marigol and Halvard might be or even which cultures or races they might come from.

Neither does it surprise me that Viggo Mortensen isn’t returning as Aragorn, as he’s getting on in years (and computer-aided de-aging is never very good anyway). Once the recasting was confirmed, there were a lot of speculation and rumors flying around. Apparently Dornan doesn’t yet have many big-name roles under his belt. I did see somewhere that the production was looking for someone who looks like a younger Viggo Mortensen; whether that’s true I have no idea, but it at least appears plausible.

IMDB Dornan New Worlds Cropped

Casting Lee Pace as Thranduil is nice; he did a fantastic job earlier and he’s still young enough to plausibly appear in the role. And, of course, seeing his character would be completely logical given Tolkien’s original references to Mirkwood and Mirkwood Elves around this plot element.

Apparently the start of production is happening this month. Actual progress! Reactor Mag also reports that filming will continue until October, and that HfG is the first planned movie in a duology. The production just might turn out to be more interesting than I thought earlier.

The release has been pushed forwards by a year (earlier info mentioned 2026). At this writing, HfG is slated to hit the theaters on Dec 17, 2027.

Images: Winslet in A Little Chaos, photo by Alex Bailey via IMDB. Dornan in New Worlds via IMDB (cropped).

The Sheep Detectives Trailers

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The Sheep Detectives is almost out, and I can’t believe I haven’t come across this production before—it looks absolutely hilarious!

Before some comments, here are the two trailers:

The Sheep Detectives | Official Trailer by Amazon MGM Studios on YouTube

The Sheep Detectives | Official Trailer 2 by Amazon MGM Studios on YouTube

Hugh Jackman’s shepherd George—who turns out much more than a simple farmer—is murdered. He had a habit of reading murder mysteries to his flock, who take it upon themselves to solve his killing. It involves crossing a road—gasp!—to leave their beloved pasture, conducting investigations, and attempting to point the poor hapless local bobby in the right direction.

The supporting cast sounds incredible. We have for instance Emma Thompson and Patrick Stewart, Tosin Cole and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brett Goldstein and Nicholas Galitzine (who is going to be He-Man in the upcoming reboot of Masters of the Universe).

The script is by Craig Mazin and Leonie Swann, based on Swann’s book; Kyle Balda directs. I know some of Mazin’s work from the series Chernobyl (which was great) and Balda’s from Minions (ditto), so here’s hoping that the plot works.

Can’t wait! 😀

The Sheep Detectives is set to open next Friday, May 08, 2026.

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Second Trailer for Masters of the Universe Reboot

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Here’s the second Masters of The Universe trailer:

Masters of The Universe – Official Trailer by Amazon MGM Studios on YouTube

We see a little more in this version—like Adam starting to re-gather his team from jail—but how much more can there really be in an origin story? The fight scenes don’t seem to contain anything interesting, either. (I’m really not the prime target audience for this reboot, since it doesn’t seem to do anything new and inventive, merely new as in ‘an updated version’.) Adam’s relationships with his friend(s) on Earth show some comedic promise, at least.

I do wonder how they got such a cast to sign up for what appears a rather uninspired reboot? Unless the trailers lie again?

As MotU really was more my younger siblings’ cup of tea, I think for me it’ll be a movie to get from the library.

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First Trailer for Dune: Part Three

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I remember being impressed with Dune: Part One but much less so with Dune: Part Two, so I stopped tracking what’s happening with Dune: Part Three. We’re now approaching the release of D3, however, and a trailer has dropped:

Dune: Part Three | Official Teaser Trailer by Warner Bros. et al. on YouTube

Lots of feels and fleeting character moments, but not many impressions of what will happen in this version of the story. That seems in line with how trailers for block busters work these days.

While much less excited about this conclusion of director Villeneuve’s trilogy than about the Frank Herbert’s originals, I am somewhat interested in how Villeneuve was able to turn a book trilogy plus its sequel novel into a movie trilogy. Perhaps I’ll wait till the disc is out and borrow it from the library.

At this writing, Dune: Part Three is set to release on December 17 or 18, 2026.

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The First Trailer for The Latest Odyssey Adaptation

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The Christopher Nolan adaptation of The Odyssey has a trailer out.

The Odyssey | Official Trailer by Universal Pictures on YouTube

Right. The biggest thing staring at me are the colors. They are too muted, IMO—by now there’s plenty of evidence that the ancient world was awash with color. Some of it is explained by the weather in the trailer scenes, but there really should be more color. Even the glimpse of Penelope’s (Anne Hathaway) turquoise gown is left in the shadow of her head, making it appear darker.

(This is a tendency in some modern films I just can’t abide; wash-out tones like sepia have never appealed to me. History was colorful! And don’t get me started on the pervasiveness of black. Like slapping on unnecessary buckles and straps, pretensions of historicity while choosing black clothes for earlier periods has started to seriously irk me. Sure, if your film is about puritans, go for it. The antiquity? Black is certainly not as omnipresent as this!)

Otherwise, we see hints of several scenes from the epic. Perhaps too many; the whole feels jumbled, disorganized, and erratic. I am likely to want to see the movie, but unfortunately this trailer did nothing to encourage me to visit a theater to do so. Endless dark scenes of men in dark costumes glancing apprehensively around in dark surroundings, while I myself am sitting in a dark auditorium, holds no attraction for me. (For that much dark, we have Finnish winters, thank you very much.) I might as well wait for the disc and see it at home in greater comfort to offset all of that gloom.

The Odyssey will open on July 17, 2026.

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First Trailer for Masters of The Universe Reboot

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Oho—another upcoming movie that I’ve missed: He-Man and pals are getting a reboot. Here’s the first Masters of The Universe trailer:

Masters of The Universe – Official Teaser Trailer by Amazon MGM Studios on YouTube

Well, now. This is clearly an origin story. I’m hazy on how—and why—would little Adam be sent to Earth to hide and what, exactly, there is at Castle Grayskull to protect in this version of the story. Perhaps that’ll become clearer in future trailers.

The protagonist is played by Nicholas Galitzine, a complete unknown to me, but the supporting cast has some very big names like Morena Baccarin, Idris Elba, Jared Leto, James Purefoy, and Kristen Wiig, and smaller familiar ones like Alison Brie, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson.

Like Molly Templeton said at Reactor magazine, so far it “looks like the generic version of Thor: Ragnarok, as ordered from a questionable website.” Agreed! Also, some clips and effects look almost like they’re copy-pasted from other Marvel Cinematic Universe content.

I haven’t bothered to dig up the MCU cinematographers or visual effects companies for comparison, to see whether there is a real overlap or whether this could be a case of a visual language being increasingly adopted within the genre movie industry in general. (It could also be a blatant case of stylistic copying to try and lure in MCU fans, of course.)

But I do have to wonder, if visuals across big productions are starting to resemble each other to this extent, what does it forebode for future genre action movies? I’ve gotten quite tired of the stagnant action movie structure, to be honest. For a while the larger story arc across the separate MCU movies was interesting, since it had never been done before on that scale. (In fact, MCU reminds me of Babylon 5, the first to introduce really extensive story arcs for SFFnal tv shows.) But is there going to be anything interesting that’ll define action franchises anymore? Thematic differences like fast custom cars (vroom vroom!) or superpowered individuals or big monsters will remain, sure, but anything worth caring about? I guess I’m hankering after a paradigm shift in action movies, really.

Annnyway. 🙂

Travis Knight is directing a script by Chris Butler, Aaron Nee, Adam Nee, and Dave Callaham. Callaham at least I recognize from the 2014 Godzilla, Wonder Woman 1984, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

The release date for the U.S. and U.K. for MotU is listed as June 05, 2026.

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