One Piece Spark

Netflix will launch its first streaming-only franchise, with the news (via Bloomberg) that it’s greenlit a sequel to Will Smith film Bright, which is set to stream beginning December 22. Bright has the budget of a Hollywood blockbuster, and a fantasy setting that could be a good fit for an episodic film franchise, given what has traditionally done well with fans in terms of big-budget cinematic universes. Bright had a budget of $90 million, and of course stars Will Smith, himself a draw that you’d typically associate with big Hollywood theatrical productions. It’s not the typical Netflix original movie; those tend to be indie films with modest budgets, and a better chance of resonating with home audiences than dazzling with big-screen special effects. There’s a lot riding on this franchise, now that Netflix has decided to dip its toes into these waters: Sequels are reliable revenue wells for Hollywood studios, as proven by the continued success and popularity of series inclu...

The last Harry Potter movie came out in 2011, but in that time, the best way to relive the series has been to buy the movies outright or wait for an ABC Family (er, Freeform) marathon of the films; they’ve never really been available on any major streaming service in the US. Fortunately for Potter fans, that’ll be changing on January 1st, 2018, when all 8 Harry Potter films are coming to HBO Go and HBO Now for on-demand streaming, via Business Insider reporter Kim Renfro. HBO will also be marking the occasion by airing a straight marathon of all eight films (and Fantastic Beasts). The availability on HBO comes alongside a shift in the basic cable rights of the Potter films from Disney, which previously owned them, to NBCUniversal, which will be airing the films on SyFy and USA Network starting in 2018. The choice of HBO as the streaming home also makes sense, given that Harry Potter is a Warner Bros. property, and both HBO and Warner Bros. are owned by Time Warner cable. For the c...

It appears that Mr. and Mrs. Grey’s honeymoon is short-lived. The first full Fifty Shades Freed trailer dropped on Monday, November 6, and teased that Anastasia and Christian’s life as newlyweds isn’t all wedded bliss. “Did you sleep with her?” a visibly upset Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) asks Christian (Jamie Dornan) in the video. Fans who did not read the books will have to wait until Valentines Day to find out the answer to that question. The jealously between the on-screen pair doesn’t stop there. Ana is threatened by the contractor Christian hires to build their house, Gia Matteo, played by Arielle Kebbel. “Please stop speaking to my husband as if I weren’t here,” Anastasia says to Gia. She adds, “Call me Mrs. Grey” when the new character calls her by her first name. The trailer features a new tagline “Don’t miss the climax” for the final installation, which picks up where 2017’s Fifty Shades Darker left off. The original film, Fifty Shades of Grey, based on the book ser...

We’re getting closer and closer to the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and during Game 7 of the World Series Disney and Lucasfilm released yet another quick glimpse at the upcoming film. At this point in the hype cycle, every single new shot can be something to fawn over, and this trailer has a great one: Luke Skywalker stepping back into the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. The rest of the spot covers some shots we’ve seen before, leaning heavily into some space combat with TIE Fighters and the Falcon. But it’s perhaps the last moment in the trailer that leaves the most chilling impression. “This is not going to go the way you think,” Luke Skywalker says while on the ground, in a shot we’ve seen before but then the trailer cuts to a grim-faced Rey, raising her lightsaber in what appears to be triumph over the Jedi Master. Is this the way the moment will actually play out in the film? Is this some editorial sleight-of-hand to make audiences wonder just how bad things are re...