Retrospective 2019- A Year in Film
July
High Summer Hijinks
Image sources: Sony, Disney, Universal & Lionsgate
As usual mid-summer brought the big summer blockbusters out to play, with Sony and Marvel still on good terms delivering superhero sequel ‘Spider-Man: Far from Home‘ and Disney continuing their domination with their ‘live action’ adaptation of ‘The Lion King‘, which would go on to become the seventh highest grossing film of all time. July also threw up some comedic shenanigans in the form of odd couple action flick ‘Stuber’ and Jim Jarmusch’s socially-perceptive zom-com ‘The Dead Don’t Die’, as well as horror fare like the latest in ‘The Conjuring’ series ‘Annabelle Comes Home’ and Ari Aster’s memorably creepy sophomore effort ‘Midsommar‘.
The Con 2019
As always summer in Northern California brought the yearly mass geek pilgrimage to San Diego, as fans and media conglomerates alike converged on the city’s oceanfront for the world’s biggest comic-book, video game, film and pop-culture convention—giving us all a glimpse of what to expect over the next 12 months and beyond. You can check out our full movie recap of Comic-Con 2019 here, featuring cast panel videos and more, below is a taste of some of this year’s movie highlights.
Of Paramount Importance
Terminator: Dark Fate
Image Source: Getty Images
With several big studios giving the con a miss this year, and with newly acquired 20th Century Fox not having an official presence, it was left to their production partners Paramount to flog their collective wares, keeping faith in their ‘Terminator’ franchise despite the 2015 critical and box-office dud that was ‘Terminator Genisys’—treating the Hall H audience to behind-the-scenes gossip and a closer look at the latest, even more female-led instalment of the beloved dystopian sci-fi series ‘Terminator: Dark Fate‘.
The film’s director Tim Miller (Deadpool) was joined by in Hall H by stars Linda Hamilton, Natalia Reyes, Diego Boneta, Mackenzie Davis, Gabriel Luna, and the Austrian oak himself Arnold Schwarzenegger, to talk all things Skynet and Sarah Connor, and tease the Hall H audience with new footage.
Return of the Mav- Top Gun: Maverick
Image Source: Getty Images
Not ones to miss a promotional opportunity, Paramount followed up the ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ panel with an unexpected Hollywood superstar visit for another of their 2020 releases, as Tom Cruise made a surprise and very brief appearance to talk ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and debut the first trailer. ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is out on the 26th of June 2020 in the US, and on the 17th of July 2020 in the UK.
Westerosi Closure
Game of Thrones: Season 8
Image Source: Getty Images
Despite this being a Comic-con movie recap, we can never resist a Seven Kingdoms visit to San Diego, and this year proved to be the last for this first class of George R. R. Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ on the small screen. Stars Isaac Hempstead Wright, Conleth Hill, John Bradley, Maisie Williams, Jacob Anderson, Liam Cunningham and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau paid a visit to Hall H to talk season 8, and as expected the bratty reactions to the final season from some fans—as well as the accompanying media stoking of the fires—was a topic of discussion . . . along with many other things.
The Return of the Chosen Ones
Marvel Studios
Image Source: Getty Images
After abandoning Hall H in the last couple of years for the their native expo Disney’s D23, Marvel Studios returned to San Diego in style on Saturday to effectively save this year’s movie programme, as Marvel president Kevin Feige introduced us to a more progressive and representative, and less interconnected phase in the MCU, teasing us with details of phase four’s first two years, as well as the upcoming series which will help launch Disney’s highly anticipated streaming service Disney+ in November.
Watch the full panel video, courtesy of Films That Rock:
The Eternals
mage Source: Getty Images
The MCU extravaganza was kicked off by Marvel’s resident dysfunctional and diverse family of immortal alien Earth protectors ‘The Eternals’, as director Chloé Zhao fresh from filming in London gathered her stars Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Lia McHugh, Ma Dong-seok and Angelina Jolie in Hall H to introduce a new set of guardians to the world. ‘The Eternals’ is out on the 6th of November 2020 in the US.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Image Source: Getty Images
Phase four will also welcome glorious Kung-Fu and Eastern mysticism into the MCU when master ‘Shang-Chi’ hits the big screens in February of 2021, and director Destin Daniel Cretton brought along his star Simu Liu to briefly tease the Hall H crowd.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Image Source: Getty Images
As well as introducing a host of new heroes, phase four will also reunite us with fan favourites, including the MCU’s head wizard ‘Stephen Strange’ who will return in May of 2021 for a darker and more bizarre outing in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’. Director Scott Derrickson was joined on stage by star Benedict Cumberbatch and new addition to his storyline Elizabeth Olsen as ‘Scarlet Witch’, to briefly talk about a tonal change for their magical cloaked protector.
Thor: Love and Thunder
Image Source: Getty Images
Saturday also saw another MCU sequel hit the stage and an unexpected return for the ‘God of Thunder’ to Hall H, as returning director Taika Waititi brought along his stars Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson and Natalie Portman to briefly tease the future for Thor . . . and the future is feminine. ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ is out November 2021.
Black Widow
Image Source: Getty Images
This year’s con also saw the unveiling of the most imminent and perhaps most requested standalone movie in the MCU’s ten year history, as agent ‘Romanoff’ finally gets her own movie. Director Cate Shortland brought along stars David Harbour, Florence Pugh, O-T Fagbenle, Rachel Weisz and of course Scarlett Johansson to briefly tease the currently in production ‘Black Widow’, which is out in US cinemas on the 1st of May 2020.
Blade
Image Source: Getty Images
As he did with Brie Larson in 2016, Kevin Feige left the biggest and briefest surprise of the day for last, as he introduced another Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali as the ‘daywalker’ vampire hunter in an upcoming reboot of ‘Blade’, which has no confirmed dates yet.
You can check out our full San Diego Comic-Con 2019 movie recap here.
Those We Lost
Image source: Universal, Sony, Warner & Disney
July saw the passing among others of veteran character actors American Eddie Jones (84) (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Seabiscuit), Brit Freddie Jones (91) (The Elephant Man, Dune), and notorious Hollywood wild-child with the greatest name in showbiz Rip Torn (88) (Men in Black, The Larry Sanders Show). We also felt the loss of Dutch screen legend Rutger Hauer (75) (Blade Runner, Ladyhawke), plus prolific voice-over actress and voice of Minnie Mouse Russi Taylor (75) (Totally Minnie, The Simpsons).
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