Matthew Monagle

While Disney might be holding back some of its best stuff for Comic-Con this year, that doesn’t mean there weren’t a few Star Wars: The Last Jedi teasers that they could share at this past weekend’s D23. Just yesterday, we were treated to a new featurette that went behind the scenes of the production; right on the heels of that comes these new character posters, a beautiful new mix of familiar faces and bright colors. It’s not exactly the brand new trailer that some were hoping for, but it should keep us occupied until the next opportunity presents itself.

This has been a good weekend for Planet of the Apes fans. Not only did we get our first look at some of the early buzz for the final film in the trilogy  —  buzz that suggest that War for the Planet of the Apes might just be the best and bleakest movie in the series yet  —  we’ve also been treated to a special Father’s Day trailer that explores the universal truths of fathers, sons, and legacy. Sentient apes or human, we’re all just trying to leave behind a better world for our children.

Most cinephiles have heard that old Gene Siskel chestnut about a movie needing to be more interesting than a dinner table conversation between its stars. I would like to add the following qualifier to that adage: any Tom Cruise movie should be more interesting than a behind-the-scenes interview on Cruise performing some of the film’s biggest stunts. Cruise’s attention to detail for action sequences is legendary, and while I may not have enjoyed The Mummy, I’ve honestly had a blast watching Cruise talk about the filmmaking process in every video that Universal Pictures has released.

While most fans walked away from Universal’s Fate of the Furious impressed by the movie’s use of New York City, it was the film’s use of Cuba that really opened the eyes of American audiences. Back in April, Variety sat down with Fate of the Furious director F. Gary Gray and discussed what it was like to be one of the first major studio films to be shot on location in Cuba. Gray recalled several logistical challenges  —  hotel rooms, location shoots, and the like  —  while also complimenting the people they had met on their trip. By all accounts, Fate of the Furious was to be the film that opened up the Cuban film market to the broader Hollywood community.

With all the new pieces in play in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it sure seems like Lucasfilm is setting the Star Wars universe up to go somewhere special. Once Kathleen Kennedy and company made the decision to blow up the preexisting Star Wars canon, we watched firsthand as they began the process of stitching together a new continuity. There were Star Wars books explaining the events that followed Return of the Jedi, new television shows that wove together the old and new trilogies, and even video games fleshing out some of the new planets and species we’d seen in The Force Awakens.

Look, I’m a pretty simple guy. I don’t ask for a lot out of life. Life doesn’t ask for a lot out of me. But I do have one very small goal, and that’s to eventually do something well enough that a bunch of colleges around the United States decide to praise me with honorary doctorate degrees. A pretty modest aim, right? One pithy news article about Star Wars rumors, and suddenly, the University of Southern California and UCLA are competing to see who can give me the most pieces of paper with my name on it. In the immortal words of Cannibal! The Musical, that’s all I’m asking for.

Despite a reputation that suggests he’d rather walk through glass than slog through another Hollywood junket, Harrison Ford has been surprisingly game when it comes to reprising iconic characters. Not only has Ford starred as Indiana Jones in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he’s also set to return as Rick Deckard in this falls’s Blade Runner 2049. And in each case, it would seem that Ford’s curiosity got the better of him, inspiring him to revisit some of his dynamic action heroes in the twilight of his career.

In the beginning, there was a messed up kid with an inside-out William Shatner mask, and it was good. And then, through countless sequels and reinterpretations and bigger budgets, the Halloween franchise became the story of an unstoppable killing machine. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to like about some of the later Halloween movies, but there’s a reason characters like Michael Myers have become a cliche in the horror genre. When everyone’s anticipating the “shocking” moment where it turns out the killer isn’t dead, how scary can your film really be?

With the recent announcement that Transformers: The Last Knight would be hitting theaters two days earlier  —  moving from Friday, June 23 to Wednesday, June 21  —  fans are closer than ever to seeing their favorite Autobots (and humans) throw down against a reluctantly evil Optimus Prime. This is the summer of heel turns by beloved franchise characters; first we saw Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto betray his family in The Fate of the Furious, and now we’re counting down the days until Optimus Prime stabs Bumblebee in the face. Rough summer for heroes, it would seem.

While Wonder Woman fans might’ve been worried about the lack of advertising for the upcoming film, pundits were quick to tell audiences to relax, they’re coming, you just have to let them get to the other side of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. It would seem the pundits are right: last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live with Wonder Woman co-star Chris Pine capped a week of new television spots, publicity photos, and interviews with the cast and crew. And now Warner Bros. has gone all out with a brand new trailer for Wonder Woman during tonight’s MTV Movie & TV Awards.

After breaking the record for the most trailer views in a single day, expectations couldn’t be higher for Andres Muschietti’s remake of It. It wasn’t long ago that this seemed like a project destined for trouble; the film’s original director  —  and still credited screenwriter  —  Cary Fukunaga dropped out of the production after the studio wouldn’t budge on letting him make an ‘unconventional’ horror film, causing fans to worry we were in for another bland adaptation of a Stephen King novel. All was forgiven, of course, when New Lined delivered that amazing first It teaser trailer, but could they keep it up?

The MTV Movie & TV Awards have always been kind to our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. In 2003, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man took home awards for Kirsten Dunst and Best Kiss  —  seriously, who can forget that upside down kiss in the rain?  —  as well as nominations for Best Actor, Best Villain, and Best Movie. So with Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming on its way into theaters this summer, what better place to premiere a brand new trailer? Odds are MTV’s voters will have Tom Holland on the stage next year for Best Hero in the upcoming film. Man, I wish all award shows had categories this fun.