Disney’s sequel sensation continues at the box office, as Zootopia 2 broke records this last weekend when it opened to the highest global box office for an animated film of ALL TIME with $556 million. Other global and domestic records were exceeded and the film paired up with its studio sibling Moana 2, which has the highest Thanksgiving opening of all time and now Zootopia 2 has the second. Wicked: For Good is standing strong at second place in domestic theaters and Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is trailing well behind it at third.

It’s a feather light news week, so we’re going to talk about some of the most anticipated movies coming out next year and the ones we’re really looking forward to!

Paramount has announced that the untitled hybrid live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles feature from producer Neal H. Moritz will hit theaters Nov. 17, 2028. Additionally, an untitled film in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is set for theatrical release on Dec. 22, 2028.

Prime Video’s series adaptation of the popular God Of War video game has added Emmy-winning director Frederick E.O. Toye who has worked on Shōgun and The Boys to direct the first two episodes of the action-adventure series from Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios. He joins Ronald D. Moore, the series’ showrunner, writer and executive producer. The series has also received a two season order and early casting has begun.

Justin Lin, best known for his work on the Fast and Furious action movies, is set to direct Sony Pictures’ and PlayStation Productions’ adaptation of Helldivers, based on the popular video game franchise from Arrowhead Game Studios.

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When Wicked: Part One released this time last year, it broke a slew of records for a Hollywood adaptation of a Broadway Show, as well for its talent behind and in front of the camera. Now Wicked: For Good has finally arrived on the scene and with a $150 million domestic, and $226 million global opening weekend, it has broken nearly every record its predecessor established, including Best Global and Domestic Opening for a Movie Based on a Broadway Show, as well as for stars Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and director Jon M. Chu. It’s no surprise with numbers like these that Universal Pictures is already “underway” with ways to continue the franchise on the screen, according to the studio’s chief marketing executive, Michael Moses.

Scarlett Johansson will star in Mike Flanagan’s upcoming adaptation of The Exorcist. Backed by Universal and Blumhouse, Flanagan’s film is said to be in the universe of The Exorcist, but is not a remake or sequel according to the director. Flanagan’s take on the story was greenlit last year, more than 50 years after the original film came out in 1973.

Wolverines never say die…at least that’s the takeaway from Hugh Jackman’s comments recently on the Graham Norton show. When asked about his time as the iconic X-Men character, Jackman replied “Maybe. I’m never saying never again…” and went on to elaborate about having declared he wouldn’t play Logan until the Deadpool & Wolverine opportunity came about.

Amazon is officially moving forward with a new Stargate TV series from producer Martin Gero, who began his career in the original franchise. The project continues the legacy that started with the 1994 film starring James Spader and Kurt Russell and expanded through Stargate SG-1 and multiple spinoffs.

HBO has renewed several HBOMAX series for second seasons including crime drama Task and comedies I Love LA and The Chair Company as well as House of the Dragon for a 4th season and Knight of the Seven Kingdoms for a 2nd season.

Paramount, Comcast and Netflix have submitted bids to acquire all or part of Warner Bros. Discovery and a sale decision is expected to be made before Christmas, although regulators would most likely take at least a year to approve the sale.

Per an exclusive from The Hollywood Reporter exclusive, we’ve learned that Paramount is actively in talks with veteran producer Neal H. Morris, whose claims to fame include the Fast & The Furious and Sonic The Hedgehog film franchises, to kickstart a new live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film franchise.

Sony Pictures has made one of the biggest book acquisitions of 2025, landing film adaptation rights to James Islington’s Hierarchy series. The move comes as the book series’ second installment, The Strength of the Few, debuts at No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list following its Nov. 11 U.S. release.

A24 has dropped the first trailer for How To Make A Killing, which stars Glen Powell and Margaret Qualley. The film debuts in theaters on Feb. 20th.

Eva Green has been cast as Aunt Ophelia in season 3 of Netflix's Wednesday, a character that was teased at the end of season 2.

FX will adapt Ubisoft's video game series Far Cry into an anthology series, Variety has learned. Noah Hawley and Rob Mac will create the series and Mac will also star.

Barbara Broccoli‘s Eon Productions, the former producer of the James Bond franchise, and Qatar’s newly launched Film Committee are jointly producing a film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Othello,” directed and starring David Oyelowo, and also featuring Rachel Brosnahan and Cynthia Erivo.

Toby Wallace has been cast in a lead role in Netflix‘s upcoming “Assassin’s Creed” TV series.

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Sinners mastermind Ryan Coogler confirmed that Black Panther 3 is the next film he’s working on during Contenders Film: Los Angeles last week, an event put on by Deadline. This is exciting news for us MCU fans, as work on the third Black Panther film has been mostly quiet other than Denzel Washington’s confirmed slip up that he is in the movie.

A new Star Trek movie is being created under the writing and direction of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the duo behind Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and Game Night as well as the recently wrapped Apple film Mayday, starring Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh. With the last feature film being Star Trek Beyond in 2016, there’s been little movement on both the Chris Pine-led series and new takes on the universe, but this new film will move forward unconnected to anything done previously.

Glen Powell in The Running Man was a favored first place winner at the box office this weekend, but was ousted by the sleight of hand of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, the third movie in that franchise. Now You See Me racked up a global $75 million opening, while The Running Man limped across the finish line at $28 million. This marks Powell’s first big box office miss, when compared to openings for Twisters, Top Gun: Maverick, and Anybody But You, but the action film did have to compete against Predator: Badlands, which is holding strong at the box office still.

Nintendo and Illumination have released the first trailer for Super Mario Galaxy, the follow up to 2023's hit The Super Mario Brothers Movie. The film will hit theaters on April 3rd, 2026. The trailer reveals some new characters and cast members including Bowser Jr. who will be voiced by Benny Safdie and Rosalina who will be voiced by Brie Larson.

Amazon Prime has released a new, extended trailer for “Fallout” Season 2. The season begins streaming on December 17.

20th Century Studios has released a very short teaser trailer for The Devil Wears Prada 2, the follow up to the 2006 fashion comedy that starred Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, who are reprising their roles for the sequel. The film opens on May 1, 2026.

Apple TV has set Friday, February 27 for the Season 2 premiere of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and has dropped a first trailer. The 10-episode second season will premiere globally on Feb. 27 with the first episode, followed by one episode every Friday until May 1.

Disney has released the first trailer for the live action adaptation of Moana which hits theaters on July 10, 2026.

According to Deadline, Sadie Sink will appear in Avengers: Secret Wars following her appearance in Spider-Man Brand New Day.

Hideo Kojima‘s groundbreaking video game franchise Death Stranding is set to expand with an all-new animated series that’s heading to Disney+. The show, which is titled Death Stranding Isolations is expected to debut sometime in 2027.

Peacock has decided not to renew Poker Face for a third season. Natasha Lyonne exits as star, but series creator Rian Johnson has begun an effort to shop the show to other broadcasters for a two-season commitment and has cast Peter Dinklage to take over the role of Charlie Cale from Natasha Lyonne.

Sony Pictures has picked up the rights to the Chinese doll brand Labubu with the intent to launch a franchise based on the dolls in the near future.

Nintendo's live action Legend of Zelda movie has begun production and Nintendo social media accounts posted first look images earlier this week of Link and Zelda, the film's main characters. The film is currently set for release in May of 2027.

Peacock has renewed Twisted Metal for a third season, with David Reed taking over as showrunner and executive producer following Michael Jonathan Smith’s exit. Reed has previously been a producer on series like Supernatural and The Boys.

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Though Disney and Marvel Studios have remained tight-lipped and cagey concerning details around the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, the Internet, and a few reputable trades, have collectively discerned that we apparently “know when the Avengers: Doomsday trailer is coming.” The prognosticators have deytermined the trailer will be attached to December’s Avatar: Fire & Ash – big news, if true! Another unconfirmed, but believable rumor that has taken the Internet by storm concerns Marvel TV’s Wonder Man series and its episode run times, which places the longest episode at 34 minutes and the shortest at 23 including credits.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, DC Studios has greenlit a Superman spinoff series focusing on standout Skyler Gisondo’s Jimmy Olsen and coming to us from Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda, the creators of Netflix’s award-winning mockumentary American Vandal. The series is said to focus on Olsen and other Daily Planet reporters, (though Lois Lane and Clark Kent were conspicuously excluded,) as he tackles cases involving superpowered villains, with Season One featuring Flash rogue Gorilla Grodd as a big bad.

Predator Badlands was the apex, ahem, predator at the box office last weekend debuting to $40 million domestically and doubling the haul internationally at $80 million worldwide. The film outperformed expectations, representing a much-needed shot of adrenaline in what has been a lethargic Fall box office, while also putting up bests for the franchise; beating out 2004’s Alien Vs Predator and 2018’s The Predator in the domestic and global arenas, respectively.

Blue Beetle and Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña has been cast in season 3 of Netflix's One Piece and will play the character Portgas D. Ace.

Jennifer Lawrence recently revealed that she and Emma Stone are developing a movie about the iconic Muppet Miss Piggy with Oh, Mary! writer and Tony winner Cole Escola penning the script, marking the character’s first solo outing siynce Jim Henson debuted her on The Muppet Show in 1976.

Netflix and Sony have finalized a deal for another “KPop Demon Hunters” movie, with plans to release the animated musical sequel in 2029.

Lionsgate has released the first trailer for Michael Jackson biopic 'Michael' starring Jaafar Jackson, the nephew of the late pop icon. The film from director Antoine Fuqua is set to hit theaters on April 24, 2026, after its release was delayed several times.

Prime Video announced that season two of The Night Manager, starring Tom Hiddleston, will premiere on January 11. The second season comes back to Prime ten years after the first season debuted.

Warner Brothers has set a release date for the next film in The Gremlins franchise of November 19th 2027. Steven Spielberg is returning to executive produce “Gremlins 3” while “Harry Potter” filmmaker Chris Columbus is set to direct and produce.

Disney has released the first official trailer for season 2 of Percy Jackson and The Olympians, which begins streaming on December 10th.

In gaming news, Skydance Games is once again pushing the release for the much-anticipated “Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra” video game from May 2026 to November 2026. Rockstar Games also announced that they would be delaying Grand Theft Auto 6 once again, this time from May 2026 to November 2026 as well.

Ryan Reynolds and Amazon MGM have teamed up to develop a remake of Thunderbolt & Lightfoot, a 1974 action comedy that starred Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges. Reynolds is eyeing to star in the adaptation and is also collaborating on the script with writers Enzo Mileti and Scott Wilson, a writing team who worked on season four of comedic crime show Fargo. Shane Reid, who edited Reynolds’ Deadpool & Wolverine, will make his directorial debut with the project.

The battle for Warner Bros. Discovery is seeing a new champion enter the ring, with Netflix making some moves to put their own bid in for the studio’s properties. According to Reuters, the streaming pioneer engaged with investment bank Moelis & Co. in order to prepare an offer. Ironically, this is the same bank that worked with David Ellison at Skydance to take over Paramount whose first bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery was rejected.

It was the worst weekend at the box office this year, with ticket sales coming in at just $52.4 million. This also makes it the lowest-grossing Halloween weekend in 31 years, excluding theater closures due to COVID in 2020. While new film Regretting You took in a respectable $50 million, Black Phone 2 really has the crown from the weekend having now brought in $104 million globally - another huge win for horror this year. Yorgos Lanthimos’ new film Bugonia, starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, is sitting at a small $11.1 million globally after breaking into more theaters.

Both Scream 7 and Stranger Things Season 5 released trailers recently. Stranger Things’ official trailer showed us a bit more of what to expect from that property and Scream 7, which releases on February 27, 2026, gave us a glance at the returning original cast members of Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, and David Arquette. As we discussed last week, Stranger Things will release in three parts on holiday weekends, four episodes on November 26, three episodes on Christmas Day, and the finale on New Year’s Eve.

A 'Conjuring' prequel film is in development at Warner Bros. and New Line, with short film director Rodrigue Huart in talks to direct. Franchise veterans Richard Naing and Ian Goldberg, who co-wrote the two prior “Conjuring” films, 2023’s “The Nun II” and this September’s “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” are on board to pen the screenplay.

After landing the rights to turn one of the world’s biggest video games into an epic movie, Paramount has now landed two A-list filmmakers to develop it. Sources tell Deadline that Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan and Peter Berg have joined Paramount and Activision to develop and produce a Call of Duty movie, with Paramount distributing a live-action feature film.

Hulu has ordered two more seasons of the revived King of the Hill animated series, the 16th and 17th overall and third and fourth seasons as a streaming original. Season 14 premiered in August and is the first half of Hulu’s initial two-season, 20-episode order; season 15 is set to debut in 2026.

Sam Mendes' four Beatles films have filled out the cast by adding the spouses of the four band members. Saoirse Ronan will play Linda McCartney, Anna Sawai will play Yoko Ono, Aimee Lou Wood will play Pattie Boyd, and Mia McKenna-Bruce will play Maureen Starkey.

Ariana Grande has joined the cast of season 13 of American Horror Story, which is currently on track to debut around Halloween 2026.

Toho has officially revealed the title of its next “Godzilla” feature that will serve as a sequel to Godzilla: Minus One as “Godzilla -0.0” (Godzilla Minus Zero). The film will once again be written, directed and produced by the same team behind 2023’s “Godzilla Minus One.” Currently, there are no plot details, but the studio is currently targeting a release date in late 2026.

Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are going back to the desert for The Mummy 4. The film will be directed by the duo known as Radio Silence, composed of Martin Bettinelli-Opin and Tyler Gillett, who directed 2019’s Ready or Not.

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During a recent round of interviews with various comic-centric YouTube channels last week, James Gunn seemingly revealed that despite rampant speculation, his DCU is not building toward the character of Darkseid as a “big bad”. As to why he’s not pursuing what many fans might argue is the obvious direction for the studio, he cited the efforts of the comic book cinematic universes that paved the way for his own, saying, "Using Darkseid as the big bad now is not necessarily the thing... because Zack did it so cool in his way and because of Thanos and Marvel." Gunn expanded his thoughts on both, acknowledging some of the shortcomings of the DCEU and detailing how similar Thanos and Darkseid are that it wouldn’t feel fresh for audiences.

While Marvel has yet to confirm the much-discussed Scarlet Witch’s return to the MCU, in a new interview with beauty, fashion and pop culture outlet InStyle, Elizabeth Olsen reiterated that she's ready to step back into the role. "It's ridiculous," she said of making MCU movies. "We're grown people behaving like children on a playground. We're flying. We're shooting things out of our hands. And it's a character that I've gotten to return to so many times over 10 years. It's good to put her down and then I miss her, and I want her back. I'd jump at the opportunity to be in her shoes again."
Last week, Netflix revealed its plans to release the feature-length finale of Stranger Things' final season in theaters, reversing course after the streamer had previously rejected the Duffer Brothers' theatrical release pitch. Theaters will screen the finale starting Dec. 31 at 5 p.m. PT — coinciding with its global Netflix debut — and continuing through Jan. 1, 2026.

• Disney+ will begin streaming The Fantastic Four: First Steps on Nov. 5, following the film's $521 million worldwide box office haul over the summer.

• Over the weekend, Sony's Crunchyroll released Chainsaw Man – The Movie, which topped the domestic box office with $17.2 million and reached $108 million globally. Black Phone 2 continued its solid run, surpassing $80 million worldwide. Regretting You debuted in third place with a better-than-expected $22.9 million, while the Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere disappointed with $16.1 million in its opening weekend.

• Paramount Pictures is finalizing a deal to acquire Ti West's adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, with Johnny Depp set to play Ebenezer Scrooge. The film will release on November 13, 2026.

• Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler are in talks to star in Joseph Kosinski‘s big-screen reboot of Miami Vice.

• Sony Pictures Animation will produce a sequel to its 2021 Oscar-nominated feature The Mitchells vs. the Machines. Production is expected to begin early next year.

• IMAX has unveiled its planned releases for 2026 at an Investor Presentation and at this moment, Spider-Man Brand New Day is not included in the lineup. The film will be released on July 31, which means it's debuting right in the middle of a pretty crowded IMAX season: the live-action Moana and The Odyssey are arriving on July 10 and July 17, respectively.

• Disney has officially exited its partnership with the BBC on Doctor Who after two years. For now, the BBC does plan to air an upcoming Christmas special next year and then continue the series on the network.

• Captain America star Chris Evans and his wife Alba Baptista have welcomed their first child, a girl named Alma Grace Baptista Evans

Mia Goth is the latest actor shedding a bit of light on the long-shelved Blade movie from Marvel Studios. In an interview with Elle, promoting her upcoming appearance in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, Goth shared only that she is still attached to the film and commented that “It’s for the best that it’s taken the time it has. They want to do it right.” This is in line with Kevin Feige’s comments this summer that the film is still moving forward.

In an interview with the AP this week, Adam Driver dropped some major information about the Ben Solo movie in Star Wars that never was. Driver explained that Lucasfilm was interested in continuing his character’s story in a film that had a script written by Steven Soderbergh. Driver was supportive of the script and the creative team took it to Bob Iger and Alan Bergman at Disney who turned the project down as they “didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive.”

Fan favorites Amber Midthunder and Walton Goggins will star in a new action movie from the creator of the John Wick franchise. The film, called Painter, has a major executive producer credit - with Avatar and Titanic director James Cameron serving in that role. Stunt coordinator Garrett Warren, who worked with Cameron on the last two Avatars as well as Logan and the Road House reboot, is directing the movie; a debut effort. The movie’s plot will focus on Midthunder’s character, trained as a child who must save her father after he is kidnapped.

Lightning Round

• Kate McKinnon has joined the cast of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” Season 3 and will play Aphrodite.

• Jim Carrey is in talks to star in a live action film adaptation of The Jetsons from Warner Bros. Pictures that has Colin Trevorrow attached to direct and write the script. There have been attempts to reboot the animated series from the 1960s in some form at various times over the years, but this is the first project that seems to have some traction.

• Blumhouse's The Black Phone 2 took the number one spot at the box office this weekend with a worldwide box office opening of $42 million, with $26.5 million from North America and $15.5 million from international markets. Disney’s Tron: Ares is at $103M global for ten-days and is currently bound to lose more than $132M off a $220 million net production cost.

• Colman Domingo has been cast as the voice of the Cowardly Lion in “Wicked: For Good.” The announcement was made on the “Wicked” Instagram account on Monday, with Domingo hiding behind a lion stuffed animal before revealing himself and saying: “See you in Oz!”

• Netflix has won the rights to adapt the popular Asmodee board game Settlers of Catan and is planning an array of projects — scripted and unscripted, live-action and animated based on the franchise.

• AppleTV has released some first look photos for Shrinking season 3 and has confirmed a release date. The series starring Jason Segel and Harrison Ford returns with a one-hour episode on Jan. 28, 2026 on Apple TV. The 11-episode season will then release new episodes weekly on Wednesdays, until the April 8 finale.

• Netflix has entered development on a series about the Kennedy family, described as the American version of ‘The Crown’ and Michael Fassbender has been cast as Joseph Kennedy Sr.

• Andor actress Denise Gough has joined the cast of Greta Gerwig’s Narnia adaptation.

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While Marvel Studios allegiance to San Diego and Hall H seems to have waned in recent years, not so for last weekend’s New York City Comic Con where our favorite cinematic universe teased the latest and greatest for their small screen offerings. Let’s rundown the biggest headlines from Marvel Television:

• Wonder Man released its official teaser trailer alongside the announcement that the 8-episode series had been delayed from December 2025 to January 27, 2026

• Fans in attendance were treated to an exclusive trailer for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, presented by Daredevil actor Charlie Cox who was reunited with Jessica Jones actor Krysten Ritter. The series was confirmed for a March 2026 release on Disney Plus and we also learned Wilson Bethel’s Bullseye will return and Matthew Lillard will be an antagonist to Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin.

• Separate from NYCC, but still worth mentioning on the subject of Daredevil: Born Again, speaking with Entertainment Tonight Marvel TV Head Brad Winderbaum shared the season’s connection to Spider-Man: Brand New Day, saying "We are communicating a lot with the team on Spider-Man: Brand New Day to make sure that there's coherence there. We don't want to spoil anything, but it very much exists in the same world and it is important."

• VisionQuest and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season 2 were confirmed for Fall 2026 release windows, while X-Men ’97 Season 2 was announced for Summer 2026. All three shows debuted exclusive trailers not yet released to the public and both animated series confirmed their third seasons to be in development.
  

On the DCU TV side of things, Peacemaker Season 2 aired its final episode last week, and while we’ll avoid getting specific with spoilers given the recency, when asked about a third season James Gunn did provide comments on the series’ future and its impact on the DCU at large, saying, “This is about the other stories in which this [cliffhanger] will play out,” he said. “Never say never. But right now, this is about the future of the DCU.” Gunn also shared that he spoke with Ryan Reynolds about a Deadpool cameo in Peacemaker and that while the actor was interested, the logistics required to pull off the crossover were ultimately deemed too daunting.

Despite Tron: Ares’ number one spot debut at the box office last weekend with a $60.5 million global haul, the numbers are disappointingly muted when weighed against projections of $85-95 million and a reported $180 million budget. The film currently holds a 56% on Rotten Tomatoes and B+ Cinemascore.

HBO revealed the debut trailer for Game of Thrones spin off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms at New York Comic Con last week and has announced a premiere date of Jan. 18.

Bradley Cooper is in talks to star opposite Margot Robbie in the Ocean’s Eleven prequel at Warner Bros. Twisters director Lee Isaac Chung is attached to direct with Robbie's Lucky Chap producing.

Warner Brothers has announced that an untitled follow up to A Minecraft Movie will hit theaters on July 23rd, 2027. Jared Hess returns to direct and will write the script with Chris Galletta, one of the writers of the original.

Disney has officially resumed development on a live action adaptation of Tangled. The project has The Greatest Showman's Michael Gracey attached to direct a script from Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. Scarlett Johansson is being eyed to star as Mother Gothel.

Christopher Briney, one of the leads of Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty, has joined HBO Max’s Emmy-winning comedy Hacks for its upcoming fifth season, which is currently in production.