Nintendo is working on multiple movies currently based on its franchises, including another Mario animated film and a live-action Zelda movie. Chris Pratt, who voiced Mario in 2023’s box-office smash The Super Mario Bros. Movie, has now teased that he is “very excited” about the prospects for more Nintendo films.

“I can’t tell you much but I can say that there is another Mario movie coming. It gets me very excited thinking about the world of Mario and Nintendo in general, I think over the next decade we will be seeing lots of stories coming out of that world,” he told GamesRadar. “I was thrilled, honored, and blessed to be part of the first one and moving forward I’m open to doing as much and as little as they want from me. I can’t say much but I am just as excited as everyone else.”

Nintendo has not said if the next Mario animated film is a direct sequel to the 2023 film or something else. Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, who created Nintendo and is a producer on the film, said, “This time, we’re thinking about broadening Mario’s world further. It will have a bright and fun story.”

This untitled Mario animated movie, which is being made by Minions studio Illumination, is set to debut in theaters in April 2026. In addition to this next animated Mario movie, Nintendo and Sony are teaming up for a live-action Zelda movie that has Maze Runner and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes director Wes Ball signed on. This film currently has no release date, nor do we know who may star in it.

Outside of Nintendo franchises, there are dozens of other video game films in the works, including the Borderlands film that comes out this year.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie earned more than $1.3 billion at the box office to become 2023’s No. 2 highest-grossing movie, trailing only Barbie. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was 2023’s most profitable big movie, though, grossing a reported $500 million+ after all of its costs were factored in.

April 3, 2026

Amazon’s buy one, get one 50% off sale has officially ended, but several books included in the event are still on sale. The most notable books are by J.R.R. Tolkien, with a variety of Lord of the Rings books down to some of their best prices of the year.

The standout offer is for The Lord of the Rings: Special Edition Illustrated (Hardcover), as it’s just hit its lowest-ever price. Typically listed for $250, you can snag the 1,248-page tome for just $106. The book includes all three novels along with illustrations by the author, making it one of the best ways to experience the trilogy. It’s bound in a gorgeous red hardcover and includes a matching slipcase for easy storage. Whether you’re buying it for yourself or the dad on your Father’s Day shopping list, this is a pretty impressive deal.

There’s no expiration date listed for the price cut, so consider checking it out soon.

Other good discounts include The Hobbit Illustrated (Hardcover) for $43 (down from $75), The Silmarillion Illustrated (Hardcover) for $30 (down from $75), and The Lord of the Rings 3-Book Box Set (Hardcover) for $35 (down from $60). The LOTR Box Set is particularly notable, as it comes with a unique pocket slipcase to hold the collection and gives you a cool way to display the books on your shelf.

If you’re not sold on anything above, here’s a look at all the Tolkien and Lord of the Rings content up for grabs.

Best LOTR Book Deals

Charlize Theron’s Furiosa wasn’t overly talkative in Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015, but her successor, Anya Taylor-Joy, will have even less to say in the upcoming prequel film, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. The new movie will chronicle 15 years of Furiosa’s life as she transforms from a captive into a warrior. But Furiosa will only have 30 lines of dialogue in the entire two-and-a-half-hour film.

That info came from The Telegraph‘s feature on director George Miller, who explained his philosophy that dialogue slows things down when a film’s pace should be going at full speed. He also shared his appreciation for the classic silent films of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, which didn’t need words to be understood. “[Alfred] Hitchcock defined as movies where they don’t have to read the subtitles when they’re screened in Japan.”

Miller also shed some light on the 15-minute action sequence in Furiosa that took 78 days to film. The scene in question is Furiosa’s first road war as her vehicle is pursued by bandits on “flame-propelled parachutes, hang-gliders and kites.” And the sequence wasn’t achieved through CGI trickery.

“We had to work out how to do it for real,” said Miller. “Because the brain is very good at gauging physics. If the movements of those vehicles aren’t totally genuine, your audience is far less likely to buy into anything else.”

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will hit theaters on May 24.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, the ride that replaces Splash Mountain at Walt Disney World, will open on June 28, it has been announced. The ride closed for good in January 2023 as part of an effort to redesign the iconic water ride after it was criticized for stereotypes about black people and the glamorization of the American South after the civil war. Water from the original ride hit eBay for more than $150.

Functionally, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is similar to Splash Mountain in that guests will ride a boat through a dark area before plummeting five stories down into the water with a big splash. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will feature characters from Princess and the Frog, including Princess Tiana, Mama Odie, Louis, and “all-new friends.” The ride will feature jazz music and aims to capture the essence of a “New Orleans celebration.” It also has Disney’s newest impressive animatronics, which you can see below.

The ride features cute critters like an otter, rabbit, raccoon, beaver, and others who are playing instruments made of natural materials local to the bayou. The music will be a blend of Zydeco, Rara, and Afro-Cuban tunes, as well as new, original music and songs from the movie.

Some of the actors from the movie are lending their voices to the ride, too, including Bruno Campos as Prince Naveen, Jenifer Lewis as Mama Odie, Michael-Leon Wooley as Louis, and Anika Noni Rose as Princess Tiana.

For guests waiting in line, you’ll see artwork from Louisiana-based artist Malaika Favorite, along with metalwork designs from master blacksmith Darryl Reeves and his apprentice, Karina Roca. Also, the smell of beignets warm in the oven will be pumped into the attraction to help guests feel as if they are walking through the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is also coming to Disneyland in California later in 2024, but a specific opening date has not been announced yet.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is located at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom park. Disney is planning to majorly expand the park as part of a $60 billion expansion, though many key details remain unknown.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes opened in theaters this past weekend and it had a strong start. The movie made $56.5 million in North America for the Friday-Sunday period. It made $72.5 million from international markets. Combined, the film opened globally with $129 million.

For the domestic numbers specifically, $56.5 million is the second-best start of the new Apes series, trailing only Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ($72.6 million). It’s also the best start ever for director Wes Ball, who previously made the Maze Runner movies. What’s more, it’s the biggest opening for movie studio 20th Century since Avatar: The Way of Water premiered in December 2022 (via Fandango’s Erik Davis).

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes had a reported $160 million production budget, and this doesn’t include any advertising expenses, according to Variety.

Overall, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the 10th Planet of the Apes movie dating back to the franchise’s debut in 1968 that starred Charlton Heston. This newest movie is set years after the reign of Andy Serkis’ Caesar. It tells the story of a young ape named Noa (Owen Teague) who befriends a human named Mae (Freya Allan) as they try to foster peace between humans and apes.

Ball is set to direct a live-action adaptation of The Legend of Zelda next. He recently said Zelda was one of the last “untapped” properties that was due for a cinematic adaptation.

GameSpot’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes review scored the film a 7/10.

“It’s the sort of movie that will probably leave you with some unnecessarily nagging questions, but as an experience, it’s unique and well-constructed enough that I can overlook most of those issues,” reviewer Phil Owen said.

Despite having a rocky time at the box office in 2023, all indications are that Deadpool and Wolverine is going to be a major hit for Marvel Studios this summer. Unlike any of the previous MCU films, it has the benefit of having both Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in their iconic roles, complete with an R-rated script. But if Deadpool and Wolverine director Shawn Levy had made a different choice, he could have already directed Jackman’s character a decade ago.

While speaking with Empire, Levy revealed that Jackman approached him while they were working on Real Steel to ask him to come on board The Wolverine as the director. According to Levy, refusing that offer has haunted him for years.

“When we were making Real Steel, Hugh was looking to do The Wolverine, and he asked me if I wanted to do it,” recalled Levy. “And like a moron, I said, ‘No’. Because I was thinking at that time, ‘Well, it’s your fifth time playing the character, I’m doing original films et cetera’. And I regretted it deeply for years. And so, when the opportunity came around again, thank God I was older and wiser enough to jump at the opportunity.”

The Wolverine was ultimately directed by James Mangold, who went on to reteam with Jackman in the critically acclaimed 2017 sequel, Logan. Years later, Levy was asked by Reynolds to take on Deadpool 3 before it became Deadpool and Wolverine. And this time, Levy didn’t make the same mistake.

“On the set of The Adam Project, Ryan asked me if I would consider doing Deadpool 3,” said Levy. “And I remember him saying, ‘I know you’re gonna say no, but I’m really going to try and talk you into it.’ And my response was, ‘I’m not gonna f**king say no, are you kidding? It’s a hard and immediate yes, sir!'”

Deadpool and Wolverine will hit theaters on Friday, July 26.

There was a time when Bart Simpson was seen almost as a national threat to corrupting the youth. His catchphrases were jotted across all types of clothing, especially his “don’t have a cow, man” expression. Voice actor Nancy Cartwright, who has voiced Bart since his start on the Tracey Ullman shorts in the late 1980s, revealed that the origin for that particular phrase was tied to her marching band days in high school.

Answering fan questions and spouting fun facts on Twitter, Cartwright explained that the line was ad-libbed as she thought of something she used to do while playing her trumpet.

“It was high school. I was in the marching band. I was a squad leader. Trumpet player. And we were marching [and screaming] ‘eat my shorts! Eat my shorts!’,” she said. “[There were] 200 of us saying eat my shorts! Years later, at a reading for The Simpsons and this was just at the top of my head. It was an ad-lib that Bart called out, and everybody…it was like BAM! Locked it in. And that became the first catchphrase for Bart.”

The phrase can be heard all the way back in the second episode of the show, “Bart The Genius.” Bart became so synonymous with the saying that it was one of the only two audio lines included in the video game The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants, the other being “Cool Man”.

It was long speculated that Simpsons creator Matt Groening got this phrase from the stoner rebel John Bender (Judd Nelson) in the John Hughes 1985 classic, The Breakfast Club. That theory was seemingly supported by Groening’s use of the character’s last name for Futurama’s foul-mouthed mechanical menace. In another weird connection, “Eat my shorts!” is also exclaimed by a main character in Stephen King’s 1986 movie Maximum Overdrive, coincidentally starring the voice of Lisa Simpson, Yeardley Smith.

It appears Shogun may come back for a second season. Deadline reports that Shogun star Hiroyuki Sanada has closed a deal to reprise his character, Lord Yoshii Toranaga, in a new season of the show.

Shogun, a 10-episode miniseries based on James Clavell’s novel, was a huge success for FX. Deadline said FX is till working out deals for other actors and “other elements” of a potential Season 2. Also uncertain is whether or not Shogun will be reclassified as a drama series as opposed to a limited series, which could affect the show’s categorization amid the 2024 Emmy campaign.

Before this, Shogun series co-creator Justin Marks said he would be open to the idea of making more seasons of Shogun if the team found the right story.

“I think if we had a story, if we could find a story, we would be open to it,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “But I don’t think that anyone ever wants to be out over their skis without a roadmap and everything. And it’s also just about, do people want more of it?”

The answer to that question is probably yes, but Marks said a concern is that a potential Season 2 would take the story beyond what Clavell wrote.

“How do you even equal the roadmap that Clavell laid out? And I don’t know if it’s possible. I don’t know if Clavell could have done it either. That’s probably why he moved on to other books too, right? He knew what he had done,” Marks said.

All 10 episodes of Shogun are streaming now. The show takes place in Japan in the year 1600 at the start of a civil war. The story focuses on Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Sanada) as his enemies unite against him. As that’s happening, a European ship is marooned nearby, and navigator John Blackthrone (Cosmo Jarvis) gets involved in the story.

Shogun the book was published in 1975, and Paramount first adapted it for a TV show in 1980.

Actor Joel Edgerton was among those who auditioned to play Star-Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy series, a role that Chris Pratt ultimately landed and is now famous for. Edgerton said on the Bingeworthy podcast (via Variety) that he didn’t understand the tone of what director James Gunn was going for with Star-Lord and that ultimately he’s glad he didn’t get the part.

“I wasn’t really sure how I could be a part of that tone. And I truly think that the world is a much better place that I’m not Star-Lord, even if I had the opportunity or I did a good enough audition because it is the way it’s meant to be,” he said. “And there was never a real conversation that it would have definitely been me. It was just, I had the opportunity to try and audition. I just didn’t quite understand it.”

Edgerton isn’t the only actor who auditioned for Star-Lord. Adam Brody previously discussed trying out for the part and how he really “wanted that one.” Other actors who auditioned for Star-Lord or were said to be in the mix for the part included Lee Pace, Eddie Redmayne, James Marsden, Jim Sturgess, and Glenn Howerton. The It’s Always Sunny star was reportedly Gunn’s second choice.

Pratt played Star-Lord in three Guardians of the Galaxy movies and multiple Avengers movies. While some of his Guardians co-stars, like Drax actor Dave Bautista, are saying goodbye to the series, Pratt has said he would be open to playing Star-Lord again, even without Gunn directing. Gunn, of course, is the new co-head of DC Studios and is not likely to make another Marvel movie anytime soon. The ending to Guardians of the Galaxy 3 teased the return of Star-Lord, but it remains to be seen how or when it could happen.

Edgerton currently stars on the Apple TV+ series Dark Matter.

Following its breakout from this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the nonagenarian action comedy Thelma, starring Oscar nominee June Squibb (Nebraska) and the late Richard Roundtree (Shaft) is heading to theaters on June 21.

The feature marks the directorial debut of Josh Margolin, who also wrote the film has Squibb as the titular Thelma, a feisty 93-year-old grandmother who gets conned by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson (Fred Hechinger). The film follows Thelma and her family attempting to get her money back. Check out the trailer below.

Loosely inspired by a real-life experience of Margolin’s grandmother, Squibb was eager to do most of her own stunts, getting praised by the director.

“When we first got that scooter, we realized it could go up to about 25-30 miles an hour; we ended up putting a limiter on it because we were like, this is insane. But what was really cool was that June was really game and excited to do as much of the scooter driving herself as possible, which was not something we went into the shoot planning on doing,” Margolin told Entertainment Weekly. “But it became clear as things progressed that, basically, that was the only way it was going to be. Once she got on that scooter, she was like, ‘I want to do this.'”

The film features the final performance of Shaft icon Roundtree and co-stars Parker Posey, Clark Gregg, and Malcolm McDowell.