To me, the best time of year is any time when horror movies are crushing at the box office, and the horizon is dotted with upcoming horror TV shows, and this week is especially great due to all the genre love showcased in this year’s Emmy nominations. (Huzzah for Widow’s Bay!) Stephen King’s influence was certainly part of the festivities, with IT: Welcome to Derry earning two nominations. So now that the HBO series is officially an Emmy nominee, what’s up with Season 2?

Despite impressive viewership numbers across HBO and HBO Max, and overall positivity and acclaim from fans and critics, IT: Welcome to Derry still doesn’t have an official Season 2 order in place, which feels like a crime so monstrous only Pennywise himself could be responsible. But as the channel’s head honcho put it when speaking with Variety about the whopping 122 Emmy nominations across linear and streaming, the ball(oon) is in the court of co-creators and producers Andy and Barbara Muschietti. In his words:

Thankfully, this explanation does seem to be in line with updates he’s shared previously, in that he makes it sound more like a “when it happens” situation, and not an “if it happens” one. Unless Bloys is just better act acting than anyone showcased on the network, he has me convinced that the desire and eagerness to see more from Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise are fully present.

It’s just that the brains behind the scenes have their own creative benchmarks to surpass before feeling ready to bring the full Season 2 playbook out. Which technically could come parceled with a Season 3 pitch, since the Muschiettis have expressed taking this particular upcoming Stephen King adaptation back into the past for Pennywise’s cyclical appearances in Derry in 1935 and 1908.

Hopefully everyone involved with the writing process is feeling like their in a creative sweet spot for the rest of time, because I kinda need this show to be back in my life ASAP. I guess the closest I'll get for now is seeing how it fares when the Emmys air in September.

IT: Welcome To Derry's 2026 Emmy Award Nominations

• Outstanding Title Design
• Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Season Or A Movie

While we obviously won’t be seeing Season 2 pop up on the 2026 TV schedule, IT: Welcome to Derry Season 1 can be streamed in full via HBO Max subscription while waiting for more updates.

Of the many upcoming DC movies that have been announced under James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new reign over the comic book franchise, one of the more anticipated ones is the Batman: The Brave and the Bold movie. When CinemaBlend sat down with the filmmakers set to be behind it for their latest movie They Will Kill You, we talked fan casting!

The Muschietti's React To Fan Casts Ahead Of Batman: The Brave And Bold

Since The Brave and the Bold was announced back in 2023, fans have been taking it upon themselves to imagine what actors could embody the leading roles of Batman and Robin. Here’s what happened when our own Hannah Saulic brought up the topic to Andy and Barbara Muschetti:

The Muschettis have made it clear in the past that they need to remain coy about The Brave And The Bold, but they did offer some interesting thoughts about if they pay attention to the fan castings that have been going around. Andy, who’s set to direct this Batman movie, said he’s been “curious” about what people are saying. His sister and collaborator Barbara followed up his comments by showing love to fans, but noting at the end of the day, they’re going to make the decision themselves.

What Are Popular The Brave And The Bold Fancasts?

If you haven’t been following along with the fandom on fancastings, there’s a big one you should know about. Lately, DC fans have been talking a lot about Love Story’s Paul Anthony Kelly as Batman. So much so that the actor was even asked about by GQ last month. Here’s what he said:

There’s plenty of other names in the mix though. Supernatural and The Boys’ Jensen Ackles is a longtime favorite for The Dark Knight, along with Reacher’s Alan Ritchson, The Haunting Of Hill House’s Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and even Wicked’s Jonathan Bailey. And when it comes to the casting for Robin/Damian Wayne, How To Train Your Dragon’s Mason Thames has been a popular pick.

All that being said, it could be awhile before we learn about the casting for The Brave And The Bold. A recent rumor claimed that James Gunn wants to wait for Robert Pattinson’s The Batman trilogy to end before bringing a new Bruce Wayne into the mix. As things stand, The Batman: Part II is expected to come out on October 1, 2027 and Part III would take at least a couple of years to come out. If the rumor is true, we might not see The Brave And The Bold until the 2030s.

In the meantime, you can check out Andy and Barbara Muschetti’s latest movie, They Will Kill You, now in theaters. Supergirl is the next flick from DC Studios, out June 26.

What separates a scary movie from the best horror movies of all time? Oftentimes it has a lot to do with how the filmmakers deal with walking the line between freaking us out and leaving something to the imagination for our brains to fill in for us. We just talked to the producers behind the IT movies, Welcome To Derry and the latest of the 2026 movie releases, They Will Kill You, and they shared their thoughts on what “the line” is for them.

When CinemaBlend’s own Hannah Saulic sat down with the horror producers and siblings, she asked about their relationship with shooting gore these days for their new action flick, They Will Kill You. Here’s what Andy Muschietti had to say:

Their latest film, They Will Kill You, revolves around Zazie Beetz’s Asia, a young woman who checks in at an exclusive high rise building where she quickly has a target on her back. Asia, who is an ex-convict, proves to be a worthy adversary to a series of masked intruders who go after her. Barbara Muschietti added the following during our interview:

The twist? Her attackers don’t exactly stay dead. We’ll leave all the bloody specifics for when you check out the movie in theaters for yourself this weekend. And as the Muschietti's added, while the gore in They Will Kill You “totally is” there for the sake of gore, it’s also “for good reasons” and “not cruel” like movies that lean in the “torture porn” genre can definitely be.

Of course, what the audience considers just enough or too much gore can be different from person to person. But hey, we’d say the Muschietti’s have a solid track record of delivering the right amount of gory thrills. They Will Kill You stars Harry Potter’s Tom Felton, Severance’s Patricia Arquette, Industry’s Myha’la and Heather Graham. It is co-written and directed by Kirill Sokolov based on a “running joke” he and his wife had their building belonged to a cult when they moved to a 17-floor high-rise in Russia.

Those who have seen They Will Kill You thus far have been given high praise (it even has a fresh Rotten Tomatoes score) for being “electrifying action cinema,” having a “thrilling sense of carnage” and “a riotously great time at the theater.” You can check it out on big screens now.

Because of weird inside reasons, IT: Welcome To Derry hasn't gotten the official green light for a Season 2 from HBO yet, but that's not stopping work from getting underway. There is a big picture vision for the show, with seasons that travel further back in the canon's timeline, and while we don't know when production will begin on future episodes or when they will premiere, wheels are turning, filmmakers are planning, and writers are writing. And that's not the only current goings on when it comes to the world of IT either, as director Andy Muschietti is also still making promises about his planned IT: Chapter One and Chapter Two supercut.

The filmmakers most recent comments about the blockbuster Stephen King project leads this week's edition of The King Beat, but there is actually a plethora of other developments to highlight as well – including an in-depth interview with Wil Wheaton about "The Body" and Stand By Me; comments from Heather Graham about Mike Flanagan's upcoming Carrie miniseries; and a warning that one of the best Stephen King movies of all time is about to leave Netflix. This is a packed column, so let's dig in!

Andy Muschietti Doubles Down On Supercut Promises Even While Welcome To Derry Takes Precedence

The IT franchise is presently in a very good place. The reason why work is continuing on IT: Welcome To Derry without a renewal is because all of the success experienced at the end of 2025 speaks for itself: the show got a very positive reaction from both critics and fans alike, and ratings only grew during Season 1's eight-episode run, with the finale being the biggest hit. There exists plenty of juice for the brand to try some big swings, and Andy Muschietti is very aware of that fact – but for now, the filmmaker is opting to stay laser focused on the future of the show… instead of side projects like the IT supercut.

The filmmaker himself has multiple irons in the fire (as one example, he's a producer on the new action horror film They Will Kill You, which arrives in theater this Friday), but when it comes to IT, he recently told SlashFilm that Welcome To Derry has his sole focus for now. Said Muschietti,

Muschietti has been talking about making an IT supercut since before IT: Chapter Two was released, and on paper, the idea is pretty simple: instead of IT: Chapter One and IT: Chapter Two being experienced as independent features, he intends to not only edit the existing films together, but to also add back in deleted material. All together, it will be a roughly six-and-a-half hour cinematic experience that properly reflects its epic Stephen King source material.

The big hold-up in making this cut a reality is that not all of the material needed exists: it will require some additional filming. Clearly Muschietti doesn't think it would be any kind of challenge to acquire a proper budget for the work, but there's apparently no time to schedule the work required amid work on IT: Welcome To Derry Season 2.

The danger here should be obvious: if the HBO series ends up petering out in future seasons and loses its audience, that would make it much harder for the director to get the money that he would need for the supercut. There's an argument to be made that he should strike while the proverbial iron is hot, but he clearly has a great deal of confidence in the future of IT: Welcome To Derry (Season 1 of which is available to stream now with a HBO Max subscription).

Stand By Me's Wil Wheaton Discusses His Favorite Scenes In Stephen King's "The Body"

This is a big week for Stand By Me fans. As of two days ago, Stephen King fans everywhere can now purchase and listen to the new audiobook of "The Body" narrated by Wil Wheaton, and starting tomorrow, you can also go to theaters to see the film adaptation on the big screen, as the Rob Reiner movie is getting a domestic re-release to celebrate its 40th anniversary. For some, that might be enough, but if you can't get enough of Stephen King's beloved coming-of-age tale, allow me to recommend a wonderful piece from The New York Times.

In celebration of the new audiobook, the newspaper has published a new multimedia feature centering on Wil Wheaton and his special relationship with "The Body" – which began in the mid-1980s when he was cast as Gordie LaChance in Stand By Me. The interview, featuring film clips and audio excerpts, digs into the actor's favorite scenes from the story, memories from set, and mourns the tragic loss of the adaptation's director.

It's a quick, fun read that is entertaining to explore and insightful about a literary and cinematic masterwork.

Heather Graham Discusses Her Role In Mike Flanagan's Carrie And How It Updates The Classic Stephen King Story

In Mike Flanagan's upcoming Carrie series, Heather Graham is joining the FlanaFamily in what should be a fascinating role – in part because it's one that has been created for the show. People familiar with the Stephen King book and the previous adaptations will remember the evil bully Chris Hargensen, and you may even remember her dad, who complains to the principal when she is barred from prom. One character we've never met is Chris' mom, but that will change with the latest take on King's seminal novel.

Graham has confirmed to Collider that she will be playing Mrs. Hargensen in Mike Flanagan's new series, and while she didn't offer much insight regarding how the character fits into the story in the interview, she did shed some light on how the new take on Carrie will stand apart from both the book and the three feature versions audiences have previously seen. She said,

Obviously even the concept of "cyberbullying" didn't exist when Stephen King wrote Carrie over a half-century ago, and it's not at all surprising that Mike Flanagan is working with a contemporary setting for the show – but Heather Graham's mention of "guns in school" is intriguing. In previously writing about the book and its adaptations, I've made the argument that Carrie White is essentially a supernatural school shooter, and I now wonder how that comparison might be significant in the show's vision.

We'll have to wait and see, as while Heather Graham may have seen the first three episodes of the show, it's been recently suggested by co-star Katee Sackhoff that the Carrie limited series won't be debuting until the fall.

Rob Reiner's Misery Is Leaving Netflix At The End Of The Month, So Watch It While You Can

I'll wrap up this week's King Beat by circling back to the subject of Rob Reiner-directed Stephen King movies. While Stand By Me is playing in theaters this weekend, opening it up to audiences who may never have seen it on the big screen, a particular window is closing for 1990's Misery. The Oscar-winning film is currently available to watch with a few clicks if you have a Netflix subscription, but that won't be the case for long as the brilliant thriller is leaving the library at the end of the month.

March 31 (this coming Tuesday) will be your last day to stream the brilliant classic, which stars James Caan as an author who finds himself the captive of his number one fan… who also happens to be totally out of her mind. Even if you've seen the movie a hundred times, it's worth screening again if not only to witness the genius that is Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes. And after you watch it, you can check out my piece about the history of both the movie and the novel it's based on.

And if you don't have time to watch Misery in the next few days or simply don't have Netflix, I have great news: it's still widely available to watch elsewhere as well… though you'll have to pay for it. In addition to digital rental and purchase options, Kino Lorber put out a 4K UHD edition in the last few years that is absolutely beautiful.

That brings us to the end of this edition of The King Beat, but there is always more to discuss about Stephen King, and I'll be back here on CinemaBlend next Thursday to highlight all of the most interesting stories that crop up about the author and his beloved work.

The horror genre has been thriving for years now, on both the small and silver screens. Some of the best horror movies in recent memory were Andy Muschietti's pair of IT movies, and that universe was expanded back in October with the TV spinoff Welcome To Derry. That series, (which is streaming with a HBO Max subscription) teased more stories to come, but I've been bummed that we haven't heard about an official renewal.

Welcome to Derry's Season 1 finale was full of easter eggs and intriguing connections to the movies. And Andy Muschietti teased that he was planning on taking the story back further in time, showing more about Pennywise's timeline. But Season 2 hasn't officially been greenlit just yet, and Barbara Muschietti spoke to Collider, and seemed to be confident they'd make more episodes. As she put it:

Muschietti claimed that the network is still invested in bringing Season 2 of Welcome to Derry to life, and that they "Just need the material." So perhaps HBO will officially green light the show's sophomore season once its written. Still, I have to assume I'm not the only fan who is feeling antsy about the show's future.

IT: Welcome To Derry instantly went viral, after its premiere massacred a group of kids in a brutal way. It feels like it was in opposition to the final season of Stranger Things, which largely failed to kill off its cast. Later in her same interview, Barbara Muschietti went on to say:

Well, she certainly seems confident that fans will eventually be treated to more of Welcome to Derry. Hopefully these comments quell the fears of HBO subscribers who were worried about the lack of news. I'm going to go ahead and include myself in that group, and I absolutely loved the first season of the book to screen adaptation.

Both IT and Welcome to Derry are currently streaming on HBO Max. Unfortunately fans shouldn't expect Season 2 of the prequel to arrive as part of the 2026 TV schedule. Still, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for another season, as well as more connections to Andy Mushietti's pair of movies.

The first season of IT: Welcome to Derry proved that the cursed Maine town at the center of Stephen King’s universe still has plenty of horrifying stories left to tell, both on the TV schedule and movie calendar. The series, streaming with an HBO Max subscription, expanded on the mythology established in IT and IT Chapter Two, diving deeper into Derry’s long history of violence, tragedy, and supernatural terror connected to Pennywise. Now it sounds like the creators may already know where they're headed in season 2, and I have got some ideas.

During a recent press conference at the Saturn Awards, co-creator Andy Muschietti teased what could be ahead if the show returns for another chapter. During this appearance (via ScreenRant), the filmmaker hinted that the team is aiming to raise the bar even higher. He explained:

That’s a pretty exciting promise, especially since the series has already been a major success for HBO. Season 1 earned strong reviews and impressive viewership, even taking home the Saturn Award for Best Horror Television Series. But the really interesting part of the show’s future may come from when the story takes place.

If Season 2 Goes To 1935, There’s One Story That Would Be Perfect

In previous interviews, the creative team has suggested that Welcome to Derry was designed with a multi-season timeline in mind. The first season focused on events surrounding Pennywise’s cycle in 1962, while later seasons could move further back into the town’s disturbing past.

One rumored time period for Season 2 is 1935, which happens to line up perfectly with one of the creepiest events referenced in King’s novel. I’m talking about the Bradley Gang shootout.

In the lore of the novel IT, the Bradley Gang robs a bank and attempts to escape through Derry. The situation escalates into a violent shootout with police, leaving multiple people dead in the streets. But the truly disturbing part comes from the witnesses. Some people claimed they saw Pennywise watching the violence unfold from a rooftop, clapping and laughing as the chaos played out below.

Other Dark Stories The Show Could Explore

Even if the Bradley Gang storyline isn’t the main focus, there are several other horrifying moments from IT lore that would be fascinating to see brought to life. One that would fit the show particularly well is the Sleepy Silver Dollar massacre, one of the earliest violent events tied to Derry’s dark history.

In Stephen King’s novel, the Sleepy Silver Dollar was a bar in Derry where a brutal killing spree took place in 1905. A man named Claude Heroux, enraged after the murder of several union organizers he supported, entered the bar carrying a double-bitted axe and attacked a group of men connected to the crime. The massacre was swift and brutal, leaving nearly everyone at the poker table dead.

What makes the story especially unsettling is how the other patrons behaved. According to the account later told to Mike Hanlon, no one in the bar tried to intervene or even react during the killings. People simply watched, refusing to get involved. Afterward, Heroux calmly sat down and waited for police to arrive.

Even creepier, one witness later recalled that a clown had been present in the bar that night, entertaining patrons before the violence erupted.

Moments like this perfectly capture the eerie atmosphere of Derry and the way Pennywise’s influence seems to amplify the town’s darkest instincts. The event also contributes to the larger cycle of violence that haunts the town throughout its history.

Beyond that, the show could also dive deeper into the Ritual of Chüd, the cosmic mythology connecting Pennywise to larger forces in King’s universe. The films and season one only touched on this idea briefly, but the next season of the television book-to-screen adaptation has more room to explore the strange and fascinating lore behind it.

If Season 2 really aims to be “greater,” as Andy Muschietti teased, expanding Derry’s horrifying past could be the perfect way to do it.

The current state of IT: Welcome To Derry has successfully flummoxed fans. The 2025 Stephen King TV series was welcomed with a warm reception by critics, got big ratings numbers throughout its first season (with the finale earning the biggest audience of all)... and yet, HBO has not yet announced any kind of renewal – be it for a single season or multiple seasons. Patience has been tested as we’ve waited for some kind of news since the last episode aired in mid-December, and while we don’t have confirmation today that Season 2 is happening, we do have an extremely optimistic update to share.

During a recent sitdown with HBO chief Casey Bloys, Deadline got an update about IT: Welcome To Derry Season 2, and the news is unexpected: it seems that it’s not executives holding up news of an official renewal, but instead a creative delay. While it seems that the premium cable channel would be all too happy to see more episodes head toward production, an announcement has been slowed by efforts to make sure that the filmmakers know precisely what story they want to tell. Said Bloys,

If you’re a bit confused by this update, I can totally understand. Going into the making of IT: Welcome To Derry, producers Andy and Barbara Muschietti and showrunners Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane have talked extensively about a big picture plan for the series – one that will each season take place 27 years before the previous one (with 27 years being the amount of time that IT a.k.a. Pennywise spends in hibernation before waking and terrorizing the titular Maine town). But just because there is a framework doesn’t mean that the filmmakers have long known exactly what stories they want to tell within it, and that part of the creative process is apparently holding up Season 2.

As for what we do know: while the show won’t necessarily be abandoning all of the characters we got to know and love from 1962, Season 2 will principally focus on IT’s rampage in the year 1935. Most of what plays out will be newly invented material (including a special new perspective for Bill Skarsgård’s IT), but to contradict Casey Bloys a bit, there is a plan to still use Stephen King’s beloved 1986 novel as key source material – specifically the “Interlude” that recounts the deadly Bradley Gang Massacre that was Pennywise’s coup de grâce of the time period.

It seems that when we get IT: Welcome To Derry Season 2 will wholly depend on when the filmmakers can crack exactly how they want to move forward with the show – which is bad news for impatient people but good news for fans who don’t want to see the series get rushed. It should go without saying that we here at CinemaBlend are keeping a very close eye on developments, so be on the look out for more updates on the site in the coming weeks and months. For now, all episodes of Season 1 are available to watch and rewatch with an HBO Max subscription.

The superhero genre continues to be popular, and things are changing on the DC side of things. Co-CEO James Gunn has crafted a brand new shared universe, with the first slate of DCU projects titled Gods and Monsters. One of the titles that was revealed was The Brave and The Bold, which will be helmed by IT And The Flash director Andy Muschietti. A new report about that project offers a thrilling update, and I so hope that it's legit.

What we know about The Brave and The Bold is limited, but fans are invested thanks to Muschietti's involvement... especially after his work on Welcome to Derry (which is streaming with a HBO Max subscription). Fans have been curious about what's been going on behind the scenes, and a report from Dread Central's social media claims:

Do you hear that sound? It's Batman super fans collectively cheering. Because if this post is to be believed, there is finally a screenplay for The Brave and The Bold, as well as a plan for release. We'll have to wait to see if this claim about the upcoming DC movie is legit, but it seems like there are some moves being made behind the scenes to bring Batman and Robin to the burgeoning DCU.

DC fans have been curious about how/when The Dark Knight will get to join the fun of the DCU, which has already released three titles across movies and TV. It sounds like he may be introduced as soon as 2028, if Muschietti's The Brave and The Bold goes as planned. Although there's one detail from the above report that I'm particularly focused on.

When the Gods and Monsters was announced, The Brave and The Bold was listed as a movie about Bruce Wayne and his son Damian Wayne aka Robin. This was a thrilling concept, especially since none of Batman's protégées ever made it into the previous DCEU, except for the dead Robin's suit from Batman v Superman. Unfortunately, James Gunn put some doubt on whether or not the father/son story would actually make it into Muschietti's movie. And I'm really hoping it still happens, and we finally get a new Robin on the big screen.

Given the wild popularity of Batman, it's only a matter of time before Gotham City's protector ends up joining the DCU. Exactly how this will be done is currently a mystery, and I'm really hoping that the original plans for a movie about Bruce and Damian Wayne shakes out.

It's currently unclear when The Brave and The Bold will hit theaters, but the next DC movie heading to theaters is Supergirl on June 26th as part of the 2026 movie release list. Hopefully we get information about the above report sooner rather than later.

As soon as IT: Welcome To Derry premiered in October, the prequel became a HBO show that got the world talking, and not just Stephen King fans. The full season (which is streaming with a HBO Max subscription) is now in the rear view, with the finale including some big reveals about Pennywise and big connections to the IT movies. If it gets renewed for Season 2, I know exactly what I want to see in the next batch of episodes.

IT: Welcome to Derry's finale included some big easter eggs, and thrilling connections to the movies. We saw an appearance by Bev, as well as the revelation that Matilda Lawler's Marge was actually the mother of Richie from the movies (played by Finn Wolfhard and Bill Hader). And since Pennywise experiences the past, present, and future all at once, I'm hoping that we get to see adult Marge if Season 2 ends up happening.

If Season 2 Happens, I Want To See Adult Marge

Marge has one of he best arcs in IT: Welcome: To Derry, going from someone the audience hated to one of the biggest fan favorites throughout the season. She eventually got on the right side of history, fighting Pennywise and falling in love in the process. Rich's death in Episode 7 was heartbreaking for her, and the finale essentially confirmed that she'd eventually name hero own child after her childhood boyfriend/martyr.

The reveal that Marge was Richie's mother was a payoff some fans saw coming, but that didn't make Pennywise's exposition any less thrilling to behold. We even got to see the flyer about Richie being missing that freaked him out so hard in the first IT movie. Now that everything is confirmed, I'm hoping that we get to learn more about what happened to Marge as an adult.

Richie's mother is shown briefly in the IT movies, getting the most screen time during Stanley's Bar Mitzvah scene. She doesn't have any lines, but clearly isn't happy when her son stands up to applaud his fellow loser for cursing in the middle of the ceremony. She's basically unrecognizable from the scrappy young women we met in Derry's first season, so I need more information about what happened to her.

Marge's glasses were a big hint that she was actually Richie's mother, although this fan theory did have some details working against it. Namely that adult Marge's eye doesn't seem to have any sign of injury in the IT movies. While we know that Derry has a way of making adults forget their memories of Pennywise, maybe this is a hint that it can also cure old wounds. In any case, I'd love to see her back in the action if/when the prequel series returns to the 2026 TV schedule or beyond.

There's currently no indication that a second season is coming, but IT: Welcome To Derry's popularity certainly offers hope for fans who want more. For now, you can stream all eight episodes on HBO Max.

Many celebrities were shocked on Sunday when it was learned that James Ransone had died at age 46, allegedly by suicide. The actor was known for his roles in movies like It: Chapter Two, The Black Phone and its sequel, as well as TV shows including The Wire. Many of Ransone’s friends and fellow actors took to social media to pay tribute upon learning about the tragedy.

Andy Muschietti, who directed James “PJ” Ransone in the 2019 Stephen King adaptation's sequel, posted a picture to Instagram of himself with the Eddie Kaspbrak portrayer, who was holding a puppy:

The director included a heartfelt message, expressing his love for the late actor by saying:

Filmmaker Spike Lee worked with James Ransone on several movies — Inside Man, Red Hook Summer and Oldboy. He also acknowledged the great loss by posting a photo of the two of them with a caption that read:

On December 19, Los Angeles police officers responded to a call at James Ransone’s home, where they found the actor alone in his shed. His death was being investigated as a suicide by hanging, and no foul play was suspected.

Madeleine McGraw, who worked with Ransone on his last credited project the 2025 movie Black Phone 2 (as well as its predecessor), posted a lengthy tribute to her co-star on Instagram Stories. She recalled The Black Phone premiere, where McGraw said he pulled her and her parents aside for 45 minutes to share advice on how they could guide and protect McGraw through a career in the entertainment industry. Her post read, in part:

Sean Baker, the director of Best Picture Oscar-winner Anora, had the opportunity to work with James Ransone several times and wrote on Instagram that he would miss his friend dearly. Filmmaker Larry Clark, who worked with Ransone on Ken Park also posted his condolences.

Wendell Pierce, who starred in the HBO dramas Treme and The Wire with James Ransone, included a heartbreaking apology in his tribute on X, writing:

This is such a terrible loss for so many who worked with PJ Ransone over the course of his career. This year, in addition to The Black Phone 2, he appeared on the 2025 TV schedule in the Poker Face Season 2 episode “One Last Job,” which can be streamed with a Peacock subscription.

Other notable projects from the actor, including It: Chapter Two, The Wire and Treme, can be streamed with an HBO Max subscription.

Our condolences go out to all of those affected by James Ransone’s death. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of self-harm, please call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Halloween is behind us, but the scares are going to keep coming thanks to IT: Welcome to Derry. The prequel series is Andy Muschietti's latest book-to-screen adaptation, airing new episodes on HBO (and streaming with a HBO Max subscription). After Welcome to Derry's bloody season premiere I started recommending it to everyone in my life, and their reactions to tuning in have absolutely given me life.

While I wish Welcome to Derry premiered earlier in October, the quality and terror of the first two episodes have definitely made the wait worth it. I was absolutely floored by the end of Episode 1, which saw most of the young cast we'd been following brutally murdered by that winged baby creature. After catching my breath, I started sharing my love for Muschietti's series, and I felt so validated by how my loved ones responded to the show.

Everyone Who Has Tried Welcome To Derry Has Loved It

With the first two episodes of Welcome to Derry arriving during Halloween week, I texted a few friends about how they needed to get into it. That includes fellow horror nuts like me, as well as more casual enjoyers of the genre. After all, everyone deserves a few jump scares to celebrate the holiday.

Critics enjoyed IT: Welcome to Derry, but the real test was going to be the fans. And I'm pleased to say that not a single person I recommended the new series to has disliked it. I got some A+ texts back from people who tuned in to watch its horrifying premiere, like the following:

Another friend who isn't a horror superfan like me also tuned in, and came over to watch the second episode on Halloween night (thanks for giving it to us early, HBO). While he watched moments from behind his hands, there's enough heart and genuinely scary moments in the show that he enjoyed it thoroughly. I'm hoping that this reaction is shared widely, allowing the series to get more than one season on the air.

Perhaps this shouldn't be all that surprising, as Muschietti's pair of IT films were some of the best horror movies to arrive in theaters in recent memory. But, the fact that none of the cast is safe in the prequel, even the kids, adds sky high stakes to every new episode. Another one of my friends expressed their shock at the end of Episode 1, which saw the brutal deaths of Teddy, Phil, and Susie. He texted me:

Welcome to Derry is yet another HBO Show that's got the world talking, resulting in huge numbers. It's premiere reportedly got 5.7 million viewers in just three days, becoming one of the highest performing premieres alongside House of the Dragon and The Last Of Us. With Pennywise barely appearing in the first two episodes, one can only imagine how popular the show might become when Bill Skarsgård's signature character takes center stage.

Thanks to how many friends I recommended Welcome to Derry to, it's going to definitely make the show water cooler talk for me. I've got a number of folks to check in with after every episode, and to talk about what scared us the most. As such, I'm glad that we're getting weekly episodes rather than a full season release. I want this fun discourse to continue! Plus there are even more people I need to recommend the show to.

IT: Welcome to Derry airs new episodes Sundays on HBO as part of the 2025 TV schedule. I can't wait to see what brutal scary scenes and/or kills come with each new entry.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains spoilers from the first episode of IT: Welcome To Derry. If you have not yet watched the show, you check it out with a HBO Max subscription.

We’re only one episode into the run of IT: Welcome To Derry, but there are already all varieties of Stephen King references and easter eggs for fans to chew on – but obviously, the most prominent are those that tie the series to the movies IT: Chapter One and IT: Chapter Two. The show is a canon prequel, and that means that there are going to be numerous threads that tie characters and events together. For those telling the story, that’s immensely tricky, but the showrunners had a great fictional mentor to follow: Mike Hanlon.

IT: Welcome To Derry’s Showrunners Saw Themselves In The Lead Researcher Of The Losers Club

Hanlon, of course, is one of the members of the Losers Club in IT, and he is the self-designated prime historian of Derry, Maine – using his job as a head librarian to perform deep-dive research into his town’s dark past. When I spoke with IT: Welcome To Derry’s showrunners earlier this month and asked about managing the timeline and connection, Jason Fuchs explained how they took inspiration from the wonderful Stephen King character. He explained,

The tragic story of The Black Spot is included in one of the book’s interludes, and it also expands on the history of the Hanlon family in Derry, as Mike learns about the horrible fire from his own father – who was there to witness it. In the show, things are changed around and it’s Leroy Hanlon, Mike’s grandfather, who will be involved when the show eventually gets to the blaze… but viewers will also soon be meeting Leroy’s wife Charlotte and his son Will.

But what about other familiar names and families? The pilot features a character named Teddy Uris, who is clearly related to Losers Club member Stanley Uris, but there is plenty where that came from, according to Brad Caleb Kane:

(I’ll note that I’ve seen five of the episodes in the show’s first season, but Jason Fuchs suggested that there is something particularly special in this area coming in the final three.)

Get Ready To Enter The Macroverse

When I asked the same question to Andy and Barbara Muschietti – who co-created IT: Welcome To Derry with Jason Fuchs – they took a step beyond the comments by Fuchs and Kane by acknowledging an even bigger big picture plan. Mike Hanlon’s interludes in IT provides the framework for anthology-esque stories that play out across three seasons, but the show has aspirations to go beyond not just Derry, not just Maine, but the boundaries of reality.

The fire at The Black Spot, the massacre of the Bradley Gang, and the explosion at the Kitchner Ironworks are respectively the three basic plots that will play out across three seasons (all from Stephen King’s book), but the ultimate goal is to dig into that mysterious shapeshifting monster known as IT. Andy Muscheitti told me,

It’s established in Stephen King’s novel that IT is a fear-feasting entity who originates from a reality known as the Macroverse, and while the IT movies have lightly grazed that side of everything, the show will be going right at it. Muschietti continued,

That larger mythology, however, can’t be fully explored without going beyond just what’s featured between the covers of IT. Constant Readers of Stephen King know that the author has constructed an elegant web within his bibliography that sees titles connected to one another either directly or lightly. Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane told me that fans can expect the show to feature nods to books like Firestarter and The Dark Tower, and Barbara Muschietti echoed that idea, saying,

Needless to say, there is a whole lot of exciting stuff on the way for Stephen King fans in IT: Welcome To Derry Season 1. If you dug what you saw in the premiere, you should know that the second episode is set to debut early, as it’s going to debut for HBO Max subscribers on Friday in celebration of Halloween.

[Practices best clown laugh in the mirror for an uncomfortable amount of time, not realizing others are watching.] Oh, crap! I mean, oh, hello there, semi-constant readers! Welcome to the first chapter in our season-long line of IT: Welcome to Derry live blogs, where I'll be diving into my most anticipated upcoming horror TV show of 2025 and beyond. Just about every new Stephen King-related adaptation that comes out gets my excited interest, but I'm especially giddy to return to Derry.

No reason to "beep, beep" me or bring out any monsters holding canes to drag me off the stage. Check out some of our IT: Welcome to Derry exclusives below, and read on! (NOTE: The updates will post in reverse-sequential order while the article is still live, and will revert to being sequential from top to bottom after the final update.)

• How IT: Welcome To Derry’s Co-Creators Feel About Comparisons Between The Stephen King Series And Ryan Coogler’s Sinners
• Will Welcome To Derry Feature Nods To Other Stephen King Books Beyond IT And The Shining? I Love The Answer I Got From The Showrunners
• IT: Welcome To Derry Co-Creator Says Stephen King ‘Was Mystified’ By The Show’s Three-Season Plan, But There’s A ‘Specific Reason’ For The Approach
• IT: Welcome To Derry's Premiere Is Full Of Stephen King Easter Eggs, And My Favorite Involves Bathroom Graffiti

IT: Welcome To Derry Live Blog Starts Here

Not to steal from the name of this show, but welcome one and all to this live blog, which is being written from an undisclosed location adjacent to Derry that is unaffected by its deep-rooted horrors. At least that's what my sink pipes are telling me, and I'm inclined to believe them. The episode is about to kick off, so here's a quick poll to chime in on before (or while) watching.

A Musical Opening And Special Message

Good news for fans, as Episode 2 of the show will begin streaming early, on Halloween night, instead of two days later.

IT: Welcome to Derry is starting off exactly like any horror fan might have suspected….with The…Music…Man? And a kid with a pacifier who didn’t pay for his ticked. So far, all boxes checked.

Here we meet Amanda Christine’s Ronnie Grogan and Stephen Rider as her father Hank Grogan, and it already looks like Ronnie is one of the good guys, as it were. I guess unless this kid is constantly sneaking in and making everyone’s life a living hell.

Look! It’s the titular sign! That doesn’t happen nearly as often as titular lines, especially when Paul Bunyan references are included.

Matty's Nightmare Car Ride

Hitchhiking in Derry should be avoided at all costs.

I definitely don’t think this family is the one this kid should have jumped into a car with. The son shows up wonky-eyed in one of the trailers, which doesn’t bode well for Matty.

Okay, that didn’t take long to jump from uncomfortable to demented. I’m already not a big fan of liver, but I’ll use this sequence to further justify why I don’t wanna eat it. I also don’t want to watch any spelling bees after this S-H-I-T-S-H-O-W. Shitshow.

Nope nope. Vasectemy, strangulation and plenty of other terrifying words to hear a family use so casually during an impossible car ride. If there was ever a time to justify accidentally knocking a pregnant woman in the stomach, it's when that stomach houses a fucking demon-beast like the flying monstrosity that pushes itself out of the woman's presumably gnarly womb.

I mean, WTF was that thing? And where can I buy a toy version?

Leroy Hanlon Arrives At The Military Base

Seemingly not a whole lot of blatant exposition set up in this seen, though I'm very interested to hear what Chris Chalk's Dick Halloran knows. He's the driver who doesn't say anything.

High School Sucks, And Derry High Is No Exception

This spectacled gal is giving Yellowjackets' Misty, which already makes me want to distrust her, but maybe that's unfair.

This kid Teddy's hair is out of this world, which makes me want to trust him more, but maybe THAT's unfair.

Loving the Burt the Turtle references and that one kid's nutty conspiracy theories seemingly tapping into IT's extraterrestrial origins, though I'm not loving the pickle jar-related bullying on display.

IT: Welcome To Derry Identifies Its First Obvious Racist

As Hanlon and Russo are being introduced to other soldiers, the one dude named Masters (nothing on the nose there) is the one who refuses to give his Black superior a salute, saying:

• “I’ll get you next time, brother."

I certainly hope he gets his in whatever way.

Teddy's Sci-Fi Room

Despite the potential for boobs happening at the neighbor's house, my attention is more on all the details in Teddy's room, such as the Creature from the Black Lagoon poster, which is an obvious reference to one of IT's forms in the novel. But there are also UFOs and other evidence of sci-fi fandom all over the place. Way too decorated for a kid's room in the '60s, but still cool.

More signs that alien storytelling is coming, perhaps.

Lilly's Horrifying Tragedy And Voices In The Pipes

Here we get a flashback to Lilly sharing her deep trauma with Matty, the reason for the pickle jars in her locker: her father was killed in a most horrific fashion by being completely dismantled after falling into a piece of machinery. Which, in hindsight, makes the school bullies' actions COMPLETELY FUCKED UP BEYOND BELIEF. Those responsible should be forced to eat nothing but defective pickles for the rest of their lives.

Also, WTF is wrong with Matty for thinking Lilly's vulnerability was the key time to lean in for a smooch? Kids are dumb.

Back at home, Lilly thinks she hears Matty's voice in her pipes, but he says he isn't being allowed to leave. But was that REALLY Matty, or just one of IT's traps?

Sometimes Girls Fart, Okay

The current all-star in this episode is the girl who clearly farted and then tried to deny it with:

• "It wasn't me."

Keep living your dreams, gal.

The Reason Why Leroy Hanlon Was Brought To Derry

James Remar's General Shaw delivered some much needed insight during his convo with Leroy, cluing audiences into the latter's injuries suffered during Korea after showing some fearless behavior. It's clear they want to use him as a weapon, but how, and against what exactly? IT?

Props to this line attributed to Hanlon's father, who will no doubt be introduced during Season 2 if it happens:

• "’There's nothing wrong with this county that can't be fixed by what's right with this country.’ I aim to prove him right, sir.”

Stitch that first part on a pillow.

The Uris Family Should Probably Leave Derry, Or At Least Get New Lamps

Teddy Uris, whose connection to IT's Stan Uris isn't fully explained at this point, gets chastised by his loved ones for inquiring about a potential kidnapping situation. Instead of looking for extra information about why he might be asking such questions, Teddy's father instantly brings up atrocities that their family experienced during World War II. (It always goes back to Nazis.)

It's too bad part of the dad's story included lamp shades made out of people's faces, because that's clearly the bit that stuck itself inside Teddy's brain for IT to latch onto and exploit in the most horrifying way.

Fuck Teddy's brother for reacting only with this careless line:

• "I can't believe we're related."

I hope that kid's face gets turned into ottoman upholstery. Good on Teddy for reading Batman comics, though.

Leroy Hanlon Gets Assaulted By Masked Men

As Hanlon is waiting to drift off to dreamland, several masked men break into his room and attack him, demanding specs and info about the B-52 bomber that General Shaw talked to Hanlon about earlier. Our protagonist doesn't flinch while being held at gunshot, and a larger brawl ensues when Russo interferes.

Russo's hair thankfully made it through the encounter without a fatality.

But who were those guys? Pretty sure they would have been far more violent if they really wanted to kill him.

The Kids Team Up For The Worst Theater Visit Ever

Nothing beats this kind of kid logic employed after the group of young protagonists made it into the Capitol theater.

• "Isn't this breaking and entering?"
• "We didn't break anything. It's just entering."

This screening isn't for shits and giggles, though, as they're there to see if The Music Man can give them a sign of what happened to Matty, whose disappearance occurred after Phil and Teddy bailed on going to Matty's birthday party. That kid's life is the epitome of a Stephen King ruffian's existence.

Astoundingly enough, their plan works, and they actually DO see Matty inside the movie, along with the "family" that abducted him. Of course, it's not a kid at all, but IT, which goes back into "giant fucking mutant baby" form, coming out of the screen and wreaking havoc on the young characters. Shockingly enough, some of them actually die, despite the marketing making it seem like they'd be around for a while.

It looks like Teddy, Phil, and Phil's little sister Suzie were all goners, although we don't actually see any of them completely lifeless, so they may just be taken to the standpipe to exist in a zombified state. Only Lilly and Ronnie made it out intact, if perhaps deeply disturbed by everything that went down.

I have to give it to Clara Stack for how convincing her performance was during this entire sequence. She truly gave Heather Langenkamp vibes from A Nightmare on Elm Street, and I hope the show doesn't kill her off early as well. Her screams from the theater floor, as well as the final shot where she's still holding Suzie's arm: spectacularly piercing and golden.

Wait, It's Over Already? - The Live Blog Ends Here

That hour pretty much flew by faster than a winged, baby-headed demon in a closed theater, but thank Maturin that we've got another seven weeks of this gloriousness to go.

Here are some of my lingering final thoughts:

• I totally expected to meet the rest of the Hanlon family in the premiere.
• I also totally expected Dick Halloran to get a line.
• I hope Leroy Hanlon gets a cool nickname soon.
• I don't trust anyone at Derry's military base, even ones played by generally trustworthy James Remar.
• I wonder if these three kids' deaths will make bigger public waves than Matty's disappearance did.
• Ronnie is a beast for knowing how to load that film projector with ease.
• I'm already dreading everything pickle-related that's coming up.
• I love seeing familiar locations like the Jade Orient and Nan's, as well as seeing all the nods to the novel and other movies. I can't wait to keep my metaphorical magnifying glass out for future easter eggs as well.
• The lack of an opening title sequence was...unfortunate.

Thank you to everyone for reading along with me during the episode, or for following it at any other point. I hope everyone had as much liver-grabbing fun as I did, and I hope to see everyone again next time. Same Derry time. Same Derry channel.

Consider this logline: in mid-20^th century America, a collection of Black citizens join together to create a juke joint where they can drink, party, and be free from the tension generated by racist members of the local community, but the endeavor is met with disaster thanks to supernaturally-charged efforts of the local Klan. Now, did I just describe the plot of Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, or did I just describe the plot of the new HBO series IT: Welcome To Derry?

The answer is “Yes to both,” and it’s a coincidence that I felt compelled to bring up earlier this month while covering the virtual press day for the upcoming Stephen King TV series. Speaking with Andy and Barbara Muschietti (who co-created IT: Welcome To Derry with co-showrunner Jason Fuchs), I made note of the comparison and asked for their thoughts, and the former noted that the similarities are definitely a coincidence – while noting that the plot in question comes straight from Stephen King’s book. Said the filmmaker,

In Stephen King’s IT, the story of the Black Spot is one that is recounted to young Mike Hanlon as he is at the bedside of his dying father. The elder Hanlon recalls being stationed in Derry during his time in the army, and he joined a group of other Black soldiers in transforming a decommissioned shed into a safe space for partying. There are some key differences in the story that Ryan Coogler tells in Sinners, but the similarities are also undeniable.

Following her brother’s comments, Barbara Muschietti added that she was one of the many who purchased an opening weekend ticket to see the 2025 crime/horror masterpiece earlier this year, and she was happy to sing its praises to anyone… but it wasn’t until someone pointed out the similarities to IT: Welcome To Derry that she connected the dots:

The story of The Black Spot is at the core of IT: Welcome To Derry Season 1, but there is definitely a whole lot more going on beyond that particular plot thread – and horror fans everywhere will soon be able to discover that for themselves. After years of waiting, fans will be invited to return to the worst city in Maine this Sunday, October 26 when the show premieres on HBO (and it will be instantly available to stream with a HBO Max subscription). The series has been getting exciting buzz, and having already seen the first five episodes personally, I can promise you that it’s a delight… and you should definitely stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more from my interviews with the filmmakers and stars of the new show.

The superhero genre is showing no signs of slowing down, and fans who watched the DC Movies in order will recall how Andy Muschietti's The Flash (which is streaming with an HBO Max subscription) was one of the final installments in the DCEU. The IT director recently responded to the hate the movie got, saying people "like to talk shit". He also spoke about how the PR surrounding star Ezra Miller might have influenced the movie's performance.

While co-CEO James Gunn is crafting a new DCU, many fans are still unpacking what went down with the previous shared universe. Case in point: Muschietti's conversation with The Playlist, where he addressed what went down with The Flash's box office and critical performance. He offered:

I mean, he's not wrong. The internet is a relentless place, and there are plenty of moviegoers who enjoy talking smack about various projects. The Flash's CGI has gotten a ton of criticism, including viral clips that might have dissuaded people from giving the DC flick a chance. Add in the fact that the new DC Universe has already been announced, and some folks simply didn't bother to see Muschietti's blockbuster.

There is another big factor that might have influenced so few people seeing The Flash in theaters: various controversies surrounding star Ezra Miller at the time. They had a number of legal shakeups leading up to The Flash's release in theaters. And while Miller eventually apologized and sought treatment for mental health issues, their personal life did feel like a cloud surrounding the DC movie. Muschietti briefly touched on this, saying:

When I finally saw The Flash, I didn't understand why it got so much hate. I thought it had a unique, fun multiversal story that featured both comedy and some epic crossovers. And while Andy Muschietti has theories about why it didn't perform at the box office, he stands by the movie itself. As he went on:

Suddenly I'm feeling the urge to give The Flash a re-watch. While it's not a perfect movie, I thought it looked and felt like it jumped right off of the comic book page. Plus who doesn't want to see Michael Keaton return as Batman?

The Flash is streaming now on HBO Max, which will also be the home of Andy Muschietti's forthcoming IT prequel Welcome to Derry. That series will debut October 26th as part of the 2025 TV schedule.

Are you getting hyped for IT: Welcome To Derry yet? Well, you should be, particularly after this week. On Sunday, we reported on the story of how the brilliant Bill Skarsgård ended up getting called back to the role of Pennywise The Dancing Clown… and as if that wasn’t notable enough, the first reaction to the series arrived online from Stephen King himself (he calls it “amazing” and highlights the debut episode as being “terrifying”). Excitement for the upcoming King show is presently high, but there is something that audiences should know about the show ahead of its arrival in a few weeks.

The main story in this week’s edition of The King Beat concerns why fans shouldn’t anticipate that the first episode of IT: Welcome To Derry will be filled to the brim with Pennywise action, as there is a specific approach being taken with the killer clown in the new show. But that’s not all, as I’m also taking a quick look at how Stephen King movies have been performing at the box office this year. There’s a whole lot to discuss, so let’s dig in!

Prepare To Be Patient, As IT: Welcome To Derry Plans To Keep Us Champing At The Bit For Pennywise

“For 27 years, I've dreamt of you. I craved you! Oh, I've missed you!” That line, of course, is from IT: Chapter Two, and while it hasn’t been two-and-a-half-plus decades since that film came out, I think it’s nonetheless a fair assessment of how fans are awaiting the return of Pennywise in the new HBO series IT: Welcome To Derry. It was finally revealed that Bill Skarsgård would be reprising the evil role for the show in May 2024, and audiences have been anticipating the resurrection ever since – left to be satiated by minor glimpses of the sinister clown in trailers and previews.

The hunger is very real… which is probably why it’s a good idea to let audiences know now (a little over two weeks before the series premiere) that fans are going to have to be a bit patient when it comes to the revival of IT’s most famous form.

In an interview with SFX Magazine on CinemaBlend (the new issue is in stores now!), Welcome To Derry co-creators/producers Andy and Barbara Muschietti detail the methodology that was taken when it came to featuring Pennywise on the show, and the methodology can be described as “Jaws-esque.” The monster that feeds on fear is a shapeshifter that can take any number of forms, and Barbara Muschietti explained how the series is using that to its advantage:

Is that asking a lot of audiences in an age of immediate gratification? That’s to be seen – but it certainly is an extension of tradition in horror.

There is a long history of filmmakers flooding audiences with fear while also keeping them on the edge of their seats for the big monster reveal. While it’s worth pointing out that IT: Chapter One is not a movie that follows this formula (I’m sure I don’t have to remind any of you of the scene with Georgie’s encounter with Pennywise in the sewer), but Andy Muschietti says that the Jaws approach is being taken with the show – referencing the Steven Spielberg classic directly. Said the filmmaker,

So what is the payoff? To keep the comparison to Jaws going, I imagine that anyone who has seen the movie will never forget seeing the shark pop out while Roy Scheider’s Brody is at the back of the Orca scooping chum into the water. We may all like and have grown accustomed to instant gratification, but delayed gratification has its big perks too, like satisfying ballooning expectations (yes, that pun was entirely intentional).

When we do finally get a full dose of Pennywise on IT: Welcome To Derry, Andy Muschietti promises that audiences will get that satisfaction, saying,

This brings us to an important question: if the series isn’t going to be sending chills down our spines with the nightmarish visions of Pennywise, how is it going to be generating its scares? Looking back on the IT movies, you’ll remember that wasn’t an issue in the slightest, with its horrifying alternate forms including a rotting leper, a distorted woman from a Modigliani-esque painting, a monstrous Paul Bunyan statue, and much more.

In the interview, Barbara Muschietti acknowledges that there is a demand for every episode to offer up a fresh terror worthy of Pennywise’s brand, and the show aims to satisfy. She said,

What does “a while” mean? Will we see the Dancing Clown in episode three? Episode five? Episode seven? That’s not made clear – but I suppose that not knowing when Pennywise will arrive will make it all the scarier when it does finally show up.

So, are you ready to float? With reports about the show first arriving in early 2022, the wait for IT: Welcome To Derry has been considerable, but it is now so close that we can practically smell the wastewater of the Derry sewers. Arriving as the penultimate Stephen King title of 2025 (following The Monkey, The Life Of Chuck, The Institute and The Long Walk), the show will be debuting on HBO starting October 26, and it will be made available to stream instantly for those with an HBO Max subscription.

Looking At Stephen King Box Office Numbers In 2025, Two Films Have Made The Top 20 List Of King’s Highest-Grossing Adaptations

With all of this discussion of IT, this week’s King Beat feels like an appropriate time to look at how Stephen King movies have been performing at the box office thus far in 2025. IT: Chapter One and IT: Chapter Two remain the highest-grossing titles of all time when it comes to King adaptations, making $704.1 million and $473.1 million respectively in 2017 and 2019, and now a new title has come anywhere near those blockbuster numbers, but how do the most recent titles stack up in the legacy?

Consulting the data from The Numbers, it turns out that two titles from this year have entered the Top 20 when it comes to worldwide box office grosses for Stephen King movies. The highest-grossing of the pair is Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey, which was made with a tiny budget ($10-11 million, per Vulture) but finished its big screen run in the early months of the year making $63.7 million. Without adjusting for inflation, that’s not quite as much as what Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep earned six years ago ($72.4 million), but it eclipsed Rob Reiner’s Misery in the ranking.

More recently, Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk entered the Top 20, and it’s worth noting that the critically acclaimed film is still playing in theaters nationwide. To date, the movie has made $43.9 million, which is good enough for it to be declared as the 18^th biggest Stephen King movie of all time – having now made more money at the box office than Paul Michael Glaser’s The Running Man from 1987 ($48.1 million).

Will Edgar Wright’s upcoming remake of The Running Man, starring Glen Powell, be able to out-gross them all when it arrives in theaters on November 14? In just a little over a month.

That wraps up this week’s edition of The King Beat, but as always, I’ll be back here on CinemaBlend next Thursday with a brand new roundup of all the biggest news out of the world of Stephen King. And if you’re as excited as we are for IT: Welcome To Derry, you should most definitely pay close attention to the site in the coming weeks, as we’ll have a lot of exciting original interviews and features coming your way!

I can say without any hesitation that IT: Welcome To Derry wouldn't be nearly as anticipated if it didn't feature the return of Bill Skarsgård as the malicious shape-changer best known as Pennywise The Dancing Clown. While it's cool that the upcoming Stephen King TV series is going to be diving into the dark history of the titular town from the IT movies, the whole enterprise would have felt lesser if it featured a different actor in the canon's most iconic role.

Thankfully, Skarsgård did make the decision to come back, and we'll see him back in his terrifying makeup later this month... but series co-creator Andy Muschietti has revealed that getting him to come back definitely wasn't the simplest aspect of the production.

Recently speaking with SFX Magazine on CinemaBlend (the new issue of the magazine arriving on October 8), the filmmaker explained that the actor wasn't totally on-board when IT: Welcome To Derry was first being conceived. Conversations about telling more Pennywise stories were had between the two men on the set of IT: Chapter Two, but Muschietti said that there was indecision caused by the mental stress of playing the intense part and a desire not to repeat himself too much. Said the director/producer,

In recent years, Bill Skarsgård got to have some fun playing the sinister Marquis in John Wick: Chapter 4 and took part in some hand-to-hand combat making Boy Kills World, but he's certainly best known for his parts in films that go to very dark places, including Barbarian and Nosferatu. One can understand why he might want a bit of a reprieve.

So what ultimately changed the actor's mind? Andy Muschietti doesn't claim that it was anything specific; instead, it was apparently just him getting excited about what IT: Welcome To Derry had planned in terms of digging into the character and the story that was being told. Said the filmmaker,

To date, previews for IT: Welcome To Derry have only teased us with Bill Skarsgård's return as Pennywise (very effectively, I might add), but we won't be waiting much longer for more. After years of waiting – reports of the project dating back to 2022 – the show is finally ready to debut, and it will be debuting just ahead of Halloween 2025 – specifically on October 26. Also starring Taylour Page, Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, James Remar, and Stephen Rider, the eight-part series will see episode premiere on HBO and be made available immediately for HBO Max subscription holders.

There are few things Hollywood loves more than an established IP, which is why there’s always a loud clanging of excitement every time the rights to a franchise go up for sale. The loudest of those recent clangs was, of course, the James Bond franchise, which was purchased by Amazon, but in the background, there’s been another clang emanating from a classic horror franchise. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre rights are apparently back with the original owners and being shopped after Legendary decided not to renew, and there are several big names starting to flirt, including Glen Powell.

The Hollywood Reporter claims the actor, who is steadily ascending to A-Lister, is involved in a package that includes director JT Molner and producer Roy Lee. World Of Reel claims if they secure the rights, they might work with A24 to make it. That seems like a natural fit given the studio’s elevated horror background, but Powell and company apparently aren’t the only suitors in town. Andy Muschietti, who made the recent It adaptations, as well as The Flash (which I still think is good), is also said to be interested in a remake. It’s unclear what producers and/ or studio he might get involved with, but I’m sure plenty would line up to get in business with him on a classic horror franchise like this.

The rights to these types of franchises are very complicated and can be sold in a number of ways. Sometimes the original rights holders sell off everything in its entirety. Sometimes they simply sell the rights to make movies for a specific period of time, which can be extended if films are consistently made, and sometimes the owners stay very involved and produce themselves, as part of a more collaborative process. Right now, it’s unclear what producer Pat Cassidy, screenwriter Kim Henkel and son Ian Henkel want to do, but they’ve enlisted the agency Verve to get some options.

The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an all-time fantastic genre movie that is revered by millions of hardcore horror fans. Eight sequels have been made over the years since the 1974 original, and there have been multiple attempts to reboot the franchise entirely, including once in the early 2000s by Michael Bay with Jessica Biel as the lead, but unfortunately, none have been able to recapture the magic of the original. I think the franchise can be rebooted for a more modern audience, but it’s going to need to take a strong adaptation and positive word of mouth since there’s not the same level of name recognition amongst casuals that many other classic horror franchises have.

I don’t know if Glen Powell is going to end up with the rights here, but I love that he’s interested enough in a horror deep cut like this to make a play. Sometimes when people’s careers are taking off, they’re exclusively focused on making the biggest possible studio-driven event films that will lead to the most money and in theory, the most star power. The best path to having a long career in Hollywood, however, is to do some of that but also mix in passion projects and buzzy genre movies so you can hit on a variety of fronts and no one gets sick of you doing the same thing. It's nice to see Powell doing that.

In some ways, it’s hard to believe that in just a matter of months, The Flash will turn two years old. Andy Muschietti’s superhero spectacle raced into theaters during the summer of 2023 and was met with mostly mixed reactions. Ultimately, the DCEU film didn’t make much of a dent at the box office and was considered by analysts to be a misfire on Warner Bros.’ part. Now, ahead of his new upcoming DC movie, Muschietti is reflecting on the film’s performance and, with that, he shared an honest take on why the film flopped (and it's not about those infamous CGI babies).

The It filmmaker spoke to Radio TU, during which he discussed a myriad of topics. Eventually, talk turned to his aforementioned comic book movie. The filmmaker explained that a film with a $200 budget from a major studio needs to have wide appeal, even to the point of one being able to bring their grandmother to the theater to see it. As for why the movie seemingly didn’t strike a chord, the Argentina-born director (as translated by Flash Legacy Brasil) pointed to a supposed lack of interest in the character amongst certain demographics:

When it comes to the massive pantheon of comic book heroes, the Flash – in this case, the Barry Allen iteration of the character – sits in an interesting position. Allen is beloved amongst comic book fans and has been featured in various forms of media over the years. That includes The CW’s Arrowverse series, which ran for a whopping nine seasons. On the other hand, there may indeed be a number of people who aren’t interested in the Scarlet Speedster. Regardless of where you stand on the comments Andy Muschietti shared in the YouTube stream, one should acknowledge the other factors surrounding his film.

One particularly significant detail that hovered over the film ahead of its release was the fact that lead actor Ezra Miller was ensnared in a number of legal issues between 2020 and 2022. Among the issues were a reported choking incident, an instance of felony burglary and alleged grooming, of which a legal complaint was recently dropped. Before Flash was even released, there was much speculation that Miller’s issues could sink the film. Whether it indeed did that is debatable, though it could be argued that it’s worth considering.

Also, Andy Muschietti’s movie arrived near the end of the DC Extended Universe’s lifespan, at which point other films in the franchise underperformed as well. 2022 saw Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam have a lukewarm box office debut. And, while it outgrossed some other DC movies of the time, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’s BO intake was somewhat meager, in the long run, as well. I’d argue that fatigue with the DCEU and the knowledge of the now-in-effect DCU continuity may have contributed to a lack of interest in these titles.

Speaking of the DCU, it still appears as though Andy Muschietti is planning to bring his talents to a title in that franchise. He’s been attached to the Batman-centric film The Brave and the Bold, which may not be with us for a little while. Muschietti recently shared an update with Radio TU, saying that he hadn’t spoken to DC Studios Co-President James Gunn since he started filming his superhero movie. Whenever the Mama director truly does get started, I’d wager that he’ll utilize what he’s learned from his experiences with The Flash.

You can still stream The Flash now using a Max subscription.

For more than 30 years, Batman has been the most reliable comic book character on the big screen. We’ve seen numerous different actors play Batman, with nearly all of them achieving some level of success. We know we’re getting more Batman. In fact, two upcoming DC movies will star the Caped Crusader. Unfortunately, both are taking far longer than anticipated, and The Brave and the Bold, the movie that will introduce is to the new DCU Batman, is an even bigger question.

Fans waiting for the next Batman movie starring Robert Pattinson were recently hit with bad news as the project was hit with yet another delay and The Batman Part II’s release date has now been pushed to October 2027. Unfortunately, hopes that the other Batman movie, The Brave and the Bold, directed by Andy Muschietti, might pick up the slack were dashed when the director said the film has also been delayed, to the point that he might make another movie before making the superhero flick since he hasn't spoken to DC Studios co-head James Gunn in a long time. In a conversation with Radio TU (and translated by ComicBookMovie). Muschiett said...

To be fair, directing a movie is sort of a big job that takes a lot of time and attention, so it’s not necessarily a shock if James Gunn has been a little busy and hasn’t had a chance to really talk about a movie that’s a bit further down the production calendar. At the same time, this implies that Muschietti and Gunn may not talk again until after the Superman release date in July, and that just means The Brave and the Bold is getting further and further away.

Of course, it’s possible that the movie is moving forward, and that we simply aren’t aware of it. No screenwriter has ever been officially announced for the film, which could mean there isn’t one yet, in which case the movie is sitting around doing nothing. But it could also mean that somebody is currently working on a script and we simply don’t know who that is. If there is a screenplay being written right now, then The Brave and the Bold might actually be moving forward, just in a way we don’t see.

Having a DCU without Batman seems impossible, so it’s all but certain that The Brave and the Bold will happen and this won’t be a development hell situation. Still, for the first time in a long time, it seems like actually making a Batman movie isn’t easy. At least The Batman: Part II is still on the way, and Superman will get the theatrical side of the DCU going on July 11.

The main narrative in Stephen King's IT centers primarily on two time periods (following the protagonists as children and then 27 years later as adults), but the full story of the monstrous Pennywise The Dancing Clown isn't just limited to his encounters with the members of The Losers Club. The shapeshifting creature's history of terror extends far beyond those two special battles – and if filmmaker Andy Muschietti has his druthers, fans will get a much better sense of that intense scope via his expansive vision for the HBO series IT: Welcome To Derry.

It was officially revealed last year that the first season of the upcoming Stephen King TV series will be taking place in the year 1962 (27 years prior to the events that unfold in IT: Chapter One), and the show's co-creator has now revealed that it is the first arc of what he sees as a three season series. Muschietti recently did an interview with Radio TU (translated via Bloody Disgusting), and he explained in the conversation that there is a plan that will see the story progressively step back further in time with each new run of episodes. Said the filmmaker,

To save you doing the tough math involving multiple subtractions of 27, that means that IT: Welcome To Derry Season 2 would be set in 1935 and Season 3 would take place in 1908. Of course, it should be noted that this is theoretical for now. The series has not yet been renewed for additional seasons, which means that executing the full plan for the show will require it to experience a level of success. I'm very much hoping that it does, as it sounds like an amazing opportunity for some great small screen horror.

"The fire in the Black Spot" that Andy Muschietti mentions will be the focal point of IT: Welcome To Derry Season 1 – which features an ensemble cast including Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, Taylour Paige, James Remar, Stephen Rider, and the return of Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise. In the book, the Black Spot is a bar/club that is built in the titular Maine town by a collection of Black soldiers stationed at a local military base (including the father of Losers Club member Mike Hanlon). The establishment meets a tragic end because of racist locals who set the speakeasy ablaze, and Pennywise fans the flames all along the way.

While we don't yet have a specific release date, IT: Welcome To Derry is one of as many as six Stephen King adaptations set to be released in 2025, and the expectation is that it will premiere on HBO in the fall (timed to spooky season). There is a lot of anticipation for the show, so stay tuned here on CinemaBlend in the coming days, weeks, and months for more updates, and for a regular fix of Stephen King news, check out my weekly column The King Beat, which runs every Thursday.

There’s a long history of filmmakers adapting the works of Stephen King, but doing so is far from what any of them would call an easy task. The author’s famed verbosity often clashes with feature runtimes, requiring screenwriters to trim and cut sequences and storylines, but there are also some wild ideas that prove too complicated to bring to the big screen. This week’s main story in The King Beat concerns the latter – specifically the challenge of bringing the great turtle Maturin to life in the 2019 movie IT: Chapter Two.

But that’s not all, as this week has also provided an exciting Stephen King-related development for awards season, and the author has offered his fans a brand new streaming recommendation (hopefully your Netflix subscription is presently active). There’s a lot to discuss, so let’s dig in!

James McAvoy Made Overt Efforts To Include References To Maturin The Turtle In IT: Chapter Two

“See the TURTLE of enormous girth! On his shell he holds the earth.” That’s a line with which any Dark Tower readers will be familiar, and it speaks directly to the significance of Maturin, one of the great forces of good in the Stephen King universe. In addition to having an important place in King’s Mid-World epic, the character is probably best known for his part in IT… though you might not know that if you’ve only ever seen the adaptations of the novel.

Between the 1990 miniseries and director Andy Muschietti’s two-part blockbusters, references to Maturin are limited to simple Easter eggs – but apparently this isn’t for a lack of trying. According to IT: Chapter Two star James McAvoy, he tried to include more references to the great turtle in the film, but none of them made it out of the editing suite.

McAvoy is currently earning acclaim for his role in the new horror movie Speak No Evil, and he spoke about some of his history in the genre during an interview in the most recent episode of ReelBlend. The actor plays Losers Club leader William "Bill" Denbrough as an adult in IT: Chapter Two, and while he is proud of how the movie represents its source material on the big screen, he also noted his efforts to include more references to Maturin during production. Said McAvoy,

Unfortunately, these efforts were for naught. Andy Muschietti evidently tolerated James McAvoy performing takes with references to Maturin, but none of it made it into the finished cut of the film. The actor continued,

To the credit of Andy Muschietti and screenwriter Gary Dauberman, IT: Chapter Two is a more faithful adaptation of the “adult” side of the book compared to the aforementioned 1990 miniseries. For example, it includes a version of The Ritual Of Chüd that is used to defeat Pennywise (albeit it is not exactly the same as what’s in the novel). Maturin, the great cosmic enemy of the Deadlights whom Bill connects with while seeking an answer to save the town of Derry, Maine, however, is not a character who ends up having a role.

The good news is that the door is still open for Maturin to have a part to play in the canon. While 2017’s IT and its 2019 sequel pretty thoroughly cover the story of the Losers Club, audiences will soon get the chance to revisit the world via the upcoming HBO prequel series Welcome To Derry, which is on track for an unspecified 2025 release date. It has been confirmed that Bill Skarsgård is reprising his role as Pennywise on the show, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility that we might finally see Maturin become involved.

Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest updates about Welcome To Derry, and if you’re now in the mood to watch IT and IT: Chapter Two, neither movie is presently available to watch on any subscription streaming service, but you can rent or purchase the films digitally or buy them on 4K UHD.

The Life Of Chuck Won An Exciting Prize Following Its Premiere At The Toronto International Film Festival

As I noted in my Toronto International Film Festival reaction earlier this month, writer/director Mike Flanagan’s The Life Of Chuck will be remembered as one of the great Stephen King movies. It’s a beautiful and emotional film that plays as a wonderful crowd pleaser – and you don’t just have to take my word for it. That fact can already be proven via hardware, as it was announced this week that the new King adaptation won the vote for the Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award.

The lineup at TIFF this year was impressive, with other excellent titles including Edward Berger’s delicious drama Conclave and DreamWorks Animation’s hilarious and gorgeous The Wild Robot, but it was The Life Of Chuck that earned the most love from TIFF attendees. Following the announcement, an emotional Mike Flanagan recorded a video response, which you can watch below:

Stephen King was in attendance at the world premiere of The Life Of Chuck, which is based on the novella of the same name from King’s 2020 collection If It Bleeds, and he too was elated to hear the news about the People’s Choice Award. He wrote on Twitter,

Of note in this conversation is where this leaves The Life Of Chuck in the 2024 awards season, as there is an interesting history of People's Choice Award recipients going on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. There isn’t a direct correlation, but the list of titles that have won both prizes in the last 14 years includes Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, Peter Farrelly’s Green Book, Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave and Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech.

One notable thing that is holding The Life Of Chuck back presently, however, is the fact that a distributor has not yet been announced, and it will need to get some kind of theatrical release between now and the end of the year if it wants to qualify for consideration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. That being said, it feels safe to assume that the indie film has a number of suitors lined up vying for a deal following its big win at TIFF, so it probably won’t be too long until we get some exciting news.

Stephen King Is Also Part Of The Rebel Ridge Fan Club

Looking for a new movie to stream this weekend? If you haven’t already checked out writer/director Jeremy Saulnier’s new film Rebel Ridge, it’s a title that you should put on your watch list right now. The Netflix title has been earning widespread critical acclaim, with the performance from up-and-coming star Aaron Pierre getting a lot of love, and Stephen King has now joined the chorus as well.

Posting to his personal Twitter account, the author acknowledged that he is unaware whether or not Rebel Ridge is a Netflix original film (it is), but he is a huge fan and directly compared it to an action classic:

When a filmmaker’s work gets praise from Stephen King, it’s common for them to be bowled over by the reaction, and Jeremy Saulnier is no exception. The writer/director wrote his own reaction to King’s reaction a day after King’s post went live, and he explained that there was actually a pre-existing connection between King and Rebel Ridge in the form of a present he purchased for himself following the completion of his latest movie:

Cycle Of The Werewolf was previously adapted as the 1985 film Silver Bullet (based on a screenplay that Stephen King wrote himself), but if Jeremy Saulnier is in any way suggesting interest in developing a remake here, I would totally be on board with that idea.

Co-starring Don Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, David Denman, Emory Cohen, and Zsané Jhé, Rebel Ridge is now streaming on Netflix.

That brings this edition of The King Beat to an end, but be sure to head back here next Thursday for my latest roundup of all the biggest news out of the world of Stephen King. In the meantime, you can discover all of the King-related projects in the works with our Upcoming Stephen King Movies and TV guide, and learn about the full history of King on screen with my Adapting Stephen King column.

DC fans are starving… despite the fact that they are getting a steady stream of quality entertainment, and have for years. Top DC projects typically fall near the top of our lists whenever we rattle off the best Marvel and DC movies of the year. And Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie a Deux easily ranks as one of the most anticipated upcoming 2024 movies heading toward theaters. But even as James Gunn and Peter Safran toil away on their new Superman movie, and confirm that the animated Creature Commandos is reaching the Max service in December, DC fans want more. They crave information, and even misinformation.

One of the announced projects that’s getting an inordinate amount of attention is The Brave and the Bold, a Batman project in the DCU that will explore (for the first time in live action) Bruce Wayne’s relationship with his son, Damian Wayne. Damian’s a maniacal little assassin, having been raised by the League of Shadows, so his dynamic with Batman will be interesting. Since the earliest days, The Flash director Andy Muschietti has been attached to The Brave and the Bold. This was even confirmed on June 20 in a Deadline article about the upcoming Max series The Penguin.

But all it takes is one podcast to mention that they heard Andy Muschietti is out on The Brave and the Bold for the rumor mill to begin turning. ComicBookMovie covers a statement made on The Hot Mic that they heard The Flash director will not be in the chair for the DCU’s Batman movie, and that WB just hasn’t made it official yet.

Maybe? Who’s the source? Deadline is a trade. They report that Muschietti’s still attached. The Hot Mic says they heard differently. Pick your poison. None of this really hold much weight, in my opinion, because The Brave and the Bold is so far down the chain of command at DC at the moment, I’m willing to bet that James Gunn hasn’t given it a second thought. For one thing, he’s knee deep in both Superman and the just-started Peacemaker Season 2, which he wrote but will pass off directing duties (on most of the episodes).

Beyond Peacemaker, the DCU seems poised to move forward on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, an adaptation of Tom King’s acclaimed run of comics. We already know that Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) has been cast in the role of Kara Zor-El, and expect her to make her first appearance in Gunn’s Superman.

We also have heard solid developments on both Matt Reeves’ The Batman: Part II (which isn’t reaching theaters until 2026) and the Max original series Lanterns, a story akin to True Detectives that will focus on iconic Green Lantern Corps members Hal Jordan and John Stewart. If all of those projects are happening ahead of The Brave and the Bold, would we really know for sure if Andy Muschietti were still attached? Heck, he could break off and direct two mid-budget horror movies before he had to be back to helm the DCU’s Batman installment.

When The Flash came out, James Gunn fell all over himself to praise the director’s work, saying on the record:

Trust me, I understand that a lot can happen between now and whenever The Brave and the Bold heads into production. Just ask Mahershala Ali about his experiences with Blade. But I think it’s early to be believing stories about directors walking off of projects that likely are still in the prepubescent stages of development.

Of all the upcoming Stephen King projects on the way — or hell, out of all the upcoming horror TV shows in general — I’m easily most intrigued by the streaming prequel Welcome to Derry, which will explore the world of the King’s IT and its two film adaptations, years before the Losers Club came around. But it sounds like my anticipation will need to get stretched out even more, as HBO and Max CEO Casey Bloys shared some bad news concerning both the Derry-set horror and the idyllic resort drama The White Lotus Season 3.

Welcome To Derry Update

While it was perhaps to be expected, if not desired, the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike and the WGA strike before it took a toll on the programming plans for both HBO and its streaming platform, and Casey Bloys revealed that those with Max subscriptions will be waiting for an undetermined amount of time for Welcome to Derry’s premiere. The previous goal to have the still-secretive project drop on fans’ laps during the next Halloween season is no longer feasible, with Bloys sharing this at a press event in New York (via Variety):

I think we can all agree that an October arrival would have been a most ideal plan, presumably with a big focus on Andy Muschietti’s two IT films to set up the prequel’s narrative. Still not much is known about the project beyond some of Welcome to Derry’s cast members, though it seems plausible fans might have had a brief teaser to gnaw on by this point if not for the strikes, as the series began filming in May ahead of the production’s eventual postponement. At least we do know that Henry Bowers’ police chief father Clint Bowers will be in the mix, though it may be quite a while before we find out more.

Not to play the evil clown’s advocate here, but I can only hope that Casey Bloys saying “likely 2025” is tipped toward optimism that it could debut in December 2024 if anything falls into place. But I can’t help but feel as if he might be saying episodes may not be finalized for streaming until 2026. Maybe that’s just Derry’s bad vibes messing with my head, though. I’m just glad we don’t have to wait for a 27-year cycle to wrap up before it gets here. 

The White Lotus Season 3 Update

Casey Bloys also shared a similarly dour announcement for the future of HBO’s thrilling mystery drama The White Lotus, which creator Mike White shifted to Thailand for Season 3. Unfortunately, White’s forward progress in shaping the future episodes was stymied by the WGA strike, and though it’s unclear where he’s currently at in that process, the new season hasn’t revealed any cast members beyond returning star Natasha Rothwell. So the crew probably still won’t be able to jump right into filming whenever that’s possible. As such, we’ll be waiting more than a year to see more rich people’s lives go wrong, as Bloys said: 

Though The White Lotus will no doubt feature far more gorgeous scenery than Welcome to Derry, it likely won’t have as much effort being put into effects and other post-production necessities as the latter will no doubt need to bring IT’s haunting nature to life in full. So it may not take quite as long to come together once the cameras are rolling. Either way, we’ll be going through at least another four seasons before either one arrives.

In the meantime, both chapters of IT can be streamed on Max, as well as the first two seasons of The White Lotus.

For all the wildly varying opinions that audiences had about Ezra Miller’s The Flash and its multiversal shenanigans, I still can’t believe that it’s the movie that finally delivered Nicolas Cage’s first live-action Superman appearance. The gobsmacking cameo came during the superhero movie’s world-smashing climax, with a giant eight-legged reference to Tim Burton’s unproduced Superman Lives feature. Cage previously addressed his joy in finally donning the Man of Steel’s emblem, but has now opened up about the actual process, revealing there weren’t any giant spiders involved in conversations during filming.

Though a number of The Flash viewers believed Nicolas Cage’s cameo to have been birthed entirely through CGI, possibly with A.I. assistance, the Dream Scenario actor confirmed he was indeed physically present within the Superman suit, and had nothing but compliments for director Andy Muschietti while also revealing what he was told the scene was going to be about. Here’s how he put it in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment: 

So he was apparently told to just stare out into the destruction of oblivion, which is a pretty tall order. Cage continued, directly addressing the spider-ness of it all.

I dunno about you guys, but I’m more than a little baffled to know that Cage was literally kept in the dark over what that moment was going to look like in its final form on-screen. It seems odd to have one of Hollywood’s most interesting thespians in a Superman suit, and to mostly just have him stand there looking at what he believes to be the total annihilation of an entire universe. That’s a hard concept to wrap one’s head around, regardless of what the context of the situation is.

Obviously the time constraints had a lot to do with that, since Andy Muschietti & Co. couldn’t exactly set up any super-complicated shots or sequences for Cage to take part in. And I’m sure it would have been that much more complicated to de-age those facial features if his Kal-El was facing the camera while flying around and blasting shit. But still, at least tell the guy there’s a multi-legged monster involved.

Perhaps holding back on that information was due to the creative team not actually knowing what that scene would look like. Considering all the pre-visualization and effects work in the film, it’s hard to imagine any shot making it to the filming stage without being storyboarded to death, but maybe that’s how the scheduling worked out. Or maybe they just didn’t want to admit in the moment that they were resurrecting Jon Peters’ bonkers idea for a superhero climax. Can’t totally blame anyone if that’s the case, considering that idea killed a whole movie.

Whatever the case may be, here’s hoping Nicolas Cage at least enjoyed watching sort-of-himself fighting a bigass monster in The Flash, and that it somehow inspires James Gunn to tap the actor’s talents for his and Peter Safran’s new DCU. While waiting to see what happens there, Barry Allen’s time-traveling antics can be streamed with a Max subscription. 

The comic book genre has been dominating the entertainment industry for years now. But there are a few heroes who stand out as fan favorites, and for DC that's definitely Batman. The Caped Crusader has been adapted for film countless times throughout the years, most recently appearing in Andy Muschietti's The Flash. And to celebrate Batman Day, the filmmaker shared BTS images from his trio of Bruce Waynes. Let's break it all down.

Andy Muschietti shocked audiences when his recent DC movie not only included Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton's Batman, but the ending of The Flash also brought back George Clooney as Bruce Wayne. The IT filmmaker recently posted some images from the set on Instagram to celebrate Batman Day, and they're pretty striking set photos. Case in point, the following shot with Keaton.

I mean, how cool is that? Michael Keaton is the OG big screen Batman, and you can't deny how awesome he looks in the cape and cowl. Fans were hyped when Keaton reprised his role in The Flash, in addition to his role in the scrapped Batgirl movie. But  it's currently unclear if he'll ever get the chance to play Gotham's protector again.

Of course, Keaton wasn't the only version of Batman to appear during The Flash's runtime. While he was the Caped Crusader in the alternate universe Barry Allen accidentally creates, Ben Affleck was also featured as Bruce Wayne. Muschietti posted a shot of him BTS, check it out below:

While the trailer The Flash confirmed those two versions of Batman, moviegoers were shocked when a third Bruce Wayne popped during its final moments. Because after Barry tried to set the multiverse right by undoing his choice to save his mother, it turns out things didn't really go back to normal. Because George Clooney's Bruce Wayne appears in a truly wild cliffhanger.

Andy Muschietti did the impossible by getting Clooney to pay Batman considering how often he's poked fun at his work on Batman & Robin. Check out a shot of them collaborating on set below:

While this cliffhanger ending for The Flash was mind blowing, it's unclear if we'll ever get any answers or see this story continued. Andy Muschietti's movie was a box office disappointment, and star Ezra Miller was involved in a number of controversies. Add in James Gunn becoming new co-CEO of the DCU and crafting a new vision for the shared universe, and it seems unlikely that we might get a second Flash movie. Only time will tell. But given how wild it was that George Clooney played Batman again, I'm hoping we get a bit more from this plot point. 

The Flash is streaming now on Max. Be sure to check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

The DC Universe has had plenty of peaks and valleys since it started with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. The past few movies have been box office disappointments, including Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and The Flash. The latter was the most recent release, and has been dunked on countless times online. I was traveling when the movie first hit theaters, and therefore didn’t get the chance to see it. But I finally watched The Flash, and I don’t understand why it got so much hate.

Andy Muschietti’s The Flash was a long time coming, as the movie was delayed countless times throughout the years and went through a number of directors. By the time it hit theaters this summer, DC had gotten new leadership with James Gunn and Peter Safran, and star Ezra Miller was the subject of legal issues and controversies. The cards were stacked against the blockbuster, and unfortunately The Flash was a box office failure. But putting aside all of that baggage, I had a fun time renting and watching the movie from the comfort of my couch. And it might be one of my favorite DCU movies to be honest.

First and foremost, The Flash looks and feels like a true comic book. It’s funny, colorful, and contains a number of beloved returning characters including Alfred, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman. Even if some of these are mere cameos, the DCU feels like a living, breathing place. Considering crossovers were largely scrapped after the theatrical release of Justice League, this was a welcomed change.

The Flash’s tone and penchant for comedy is also why I was so instantly sold on Ezra Miller’s DC blockbuster. Despite The Flash’s cast of heroes and the multiversal stakes involved, the movie doesn’t take itself too seriously. It's similar to Birds of Prey in that way, which I still think is my favorite movie from the shared universe. In a time where gritty superhero movies are so common, this brighter take helped The Flash’s 144-minute runtime fly by. 

Some of the online criticism aimed at the latest DC movie has been aimed at The Flash’s visual effects. And indeed, there were some moments of the movie where the CGI simply looked unfinished– specifically when Barry Allen is traveling through the Speed Force. But even though this was noticeable at moments, the visual language of the movie itself is so unique and intriguing that it didn’t even ruin those sequences for me. 

Given Andy Muschietti’s acclaimed work on the IT franchise, perhaps I should have always expected to enjoy what he’d bring to the table with The Flash. He applied that same level of care to the DCU, creating a movie that’s shot beautifully. And while there were the aforementioned comedic beats, there were still emotional beats that hit me in the feels, especially related to Barry and his mother.

Overall, I had a blast watching The Flash, and am psyched for a re-watch once it’s available with a Max subscription. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from The Flash. 

After what felt like an eternity of anticipation, countless script revisions, a history of delays, and a merry-go-round of directors, The Flash has finally sprinted onto the silver screen. With its apparent aim to indulge the nostalgia of enthusiasts of DC movies (even featuring a cameo referencing a scrapped Nic Cage Superman film), the movie has sparked a blend of reactions among critics, ranging from enthusiasm to skepticism. However, one aspect has resonated across the board: disappointment with the visual effects accompanying the Scarlet Speedster's maiden cinematic adventure. In response to the chorus of fan complaints, director Andy Muschietti has stepped forward to reveal that those seemingly subpar visual effects were, in fact, a deliberate choice.

Much of the viewers' discontent centers around a particular opening sequence, in which Ezra Miller's heroic speedster races against time to rescue infants, a faithful dog, and a courageous nurse from a crumbling hospital. The portrayal of the computer-generated imagery (CGI) newborns in the adrenaline-pumping opening action scene has been described as "inhuman" and "highly unrealistic," and the same sentiment applies to the human characters throughout the film's manifold time-travel sequences. It was during an interview with io9 that Andy Muschietti confronted the contentious visuals head-on, acknowledging their peculiar appearance while reaffirming their intentional design. He provided insight into his creative vision, saying:

The Mama director’s explanation sheds light on his ambitious attempt to capture the speedster's unique perspective. By distorting visual elements, he immerses the audience in an otherworldly realm that mirrors Barry Allen's view of the world. This departure from conventional aesthetics may raise questions about artistic intent versus rushed visual effects.

Despite the mixed critical reception of The Flash, Andy Muschietti's future with Warner Bros. and DC Studios seems bright. The company heads, James Gunn and Peter Safran, have enlisted him to helm their upcoming Batman project, The Brave and the Bold. (It's important to note that this venture stands apart from Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson's The Batman and its confirmed sequel.

While Andy Muschietti initially remained tight-lipped about a potential take on The Brave and the Bold, recent reports confirmed him as the top choice for the project. It remains to be seen how Flash audiences will respond to his audacious vision, the film's unique visual effects, and whether it will affect the box office performance. Nevertheless, with Muschietti officially helming another take on the Dark Knight, it’s possible he may consider fans’ complaints while bringing the Bat Family to the screen again.

The Flash is currently playing in theaters nationwide, so be sure to check your local listings for showtimes. And while you're at it, remember to peruse our schedule of 2023 news movie release to stay updated on the other films that are hitting cinemas this year.

Andy and Barbara Muschietti, the brother/sister filmmaking team behind DC’s The Flash, speak with the ReelBlend boys about the revolutionary technology behind Ezra Miller playing duel roles, how Michael Keaton came on board the project, what to expect from the film’s deleted scenes and much, much more. We also get into reviews for Extraction 2 and tons of behind-the-scenes interview shenanigans. 

Timestamps (approx. only)

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:55 - Interview

00:23:23 - Behind the interview

00:28:00 - the Flash Spoiler Free Reaction

00:40:15 - Extraction 2 Reviews

00:49:23 - Outro

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As if the expansion of Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe through The Batman: Part II and Max’s The Penguin series wasn’t enough to keep fans enticed in the coming years, the new DC Universe will be introducing its own Caped Crusader through The Brave and the Bold. Well, that upcoming DC movie has officially taken a major step forward, as it’s been officially announced that The Flash’s Andy Muschietti will direct it.

Fresh off delivering the Scarlet Speedster’s solo movie to the masses, Andy Muschietti is now on deck to helm The Brave and the Bold, which will feature a new actor wearing the cape and cowl, as well as Bruce Wayne’s son, Damian Wayne, fighting crime by his father’s side as Robin. Additionally, Barbara Muschietti, Andy’s sister and creative partner, will produce The Brave and the Bold through their Double Dream production company alongside DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran, who said the following to Variety about selecting the Muschiettis to oversee this project:

As shared by THR, along with Andy and Barbara Muschietti working on The Brave and the Bold, the duo have also signed first-look deals with Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Bros. Television Group/Max. This continues their solid relationship with the studio going back over half a decade now, starting with IT in 2017, followed by IT: Chapter Two in 2019. Speaking of Pennywise the Clown, the duo are currently putting together the Welcome to Derry prequel series for Max subscribers, and presumably once work on that is finished, then they’ll turn their attention to The Brave and the Bold. As of this writing though, there is no screenwriter attached to this particular Batman movie.

It certainly helps that Andy Muscheitti already has some Batman cinematic experience under his belt, since The Flash features both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton’s versions of Gotham City’s Dark Knight. It’s also worth mentioning that Muschietti sitting in The Brave and the Bold’s director chair doesn’t come as a complete surprise. In late May, when asked what kind of spin he would put on Batman for a “Brave and the Bold direction,” the filmmaker said he didn’t think he could “talk to that.” Then last week, it was reported that Muschietti was the “top choice” to helm this Batman movie, and now we know for sure that it’s happening.

The Brave and the Bold is one of five movies currently in the DC Universe’s Chapter One slate, titled Gods and Monsters, with the others being Superman: Legacy (which comes out on July 11, 2025), The Authority, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and Swamp Thing. This franchise’s TV lineup so far consists of Creature Commandos, Waller, Lanterns, Paradise Lost and Booster Gold. Meanwhile, DC projects that don’t take place within this continuity, like the aforementioned The Batman stories and the Joker movies, fall under the “DC Elseworlds” classification.

Now that Andy Muschietti is officially directing The Brave and the Bold, perhaps that means more big updates about the movie will arrive in the coming months, such as when it will come out and who will star in it. Once those details are in, count on CinemaBlend to pass them along.

The DC Universe has had a wild tenure in theaters, full of peaks and valleys. In addition to the narrative twists on the big screen, there’s also been plenty of leadership shakeups behind the scenes. The next upcoming DC movie hitting theaters is The Flash, which has been a long time coming. The movie’s star Ezra Miller recently compared Zack Snyder and Andy Muscheitti, and now the DC fansdom can unite.

The DCU began with Zack Snyder’s trio of blockbusters, before he and Warner Bros. eventually went separate ways. Andy Muschietti’s The Flash will bring it back to the events of Man of Steel (bringing back Michael Shannon in the process), albeit seemingly in an alternate universe. Ezra Miller surprised the public by appearing at the DC movie’s premiere, where they compared their two directors. The clip is going viral on Twitter, with Miller saying:

Well, there you have it. While Zack Snyder has a very strong and vocal fanbase, perhaps they’ll be able to enjoy The Flash since Andy Muscheitti has been compared to him by Miller. Regardless, I bet there are still going to be corners of the internet pleading for WB to #RestoreTheSnyderverse.

While Ezra Miller didn’t do press for The Flash ahead of its release, that changed at the movie’s premiere event. They did a few interviews on the red carpet, and wore an outrageous outfit. Although given what Miller has worn for premiers like Fantastic Beasts 2, perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise. You can check out their look for the premiere of The Flash below:

It’s exciting that The Flash has finally had its premiere, as the movie’s fate was precarious for a period of time. Ezra Miller was involved in a number of controversies and legal issues last year, which seemed to put the DC flick in jeopardy. But Miller has since apologized for their actions, and is seeking treatment for complex mental health issues. We’ll just have to see how the movie ultimately performs at the box office; The Flash’s reviews are rather positive. Can Muschietti’s work really be compared to Snyder’s? Luckily audiences will be able to judge for themselves.

All will be revealed when The Flash hits theaters on June 16th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

The superhero genre has been a powerful force in the entertainment industry for over a decade now. There are various cinematic universes in play as a result, including the DCU. The next upcoming DC movie hitting theaters is Ezra Miller’s The Flash, which has been a long time coming. Producer Barbara Muschietti recently opened up about the film getting major praise from the likes of Tom Cruise and Stephen King.

The Flash debuted at CinemaCon back in April, and since then a number of notable film icons have caught early screenings. The great Stephen King shared his approval online, saying that he “loved” the DC flick. Tom Cruise also praised The Flash, which might help get moviegoers to the theater. Barbara Muschietti recently appeared on CinemaBlend's podcast ReelBlend, and opened up about this early reception. She offered what it was like from the inside, saying:

Well, there you have it. It looks like Tom Cruise's reaction to The Flash was a surprise to even the filmmakers themselves. And they were doubly gobsmacked when the Mission: Impossible star took the time to hop on the phone and talk to them about the long-delayed DC blockbuster.

Of course, it’s not only names like King and Cruise who have shared their support over the Muschiettis’ DC blockbuster. Reviews for The Flash have also been favorable, which has helped raise the public’s anticipation for the project. Later in the same chat with Reeblend, Barbara Muschietti offered intel about Stephen King's reaction. In her words:

How sweet is that? Given how much Tom Cruise has championed the theater industry during/after COVID, perhaps this story shouldn’t be a surprise. He’s passionate about the theatrical experience, including superhero flicks like The Flash. And he took the time to really dig deep on what he liked about the project with the Muschiettis. As for King, he's passionate about good storytelling. 

Of course, there are plenty of moviegoers out there who would love to see Tom Cruise himself get involved in a superhero project. His name was tossed around to play Tony Stark ahead of Iron Man, and some fans hoped he’d appear as a variant of Iron Man sometime in the MCU. But it’s unclear if/when he might jump into a comic book role.

The Flash hits theaters on June 16th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

Andy Muschietti has proven himself to be a valuable asset for Warner Bros. Pictures for more than half a decade now. First he helmed the IT movies, respectively released in 2017 and 2019, and now we’re just a few weeks away from seeing the director’s work on display in The Flash, which finally puts Ezra Miller’s title Scarlet Speedster onto center stage. While Muschietti has already said he’ll bring back Miller if The Flash 2 happens, word’s come in that there’s a different upcoming DC movie that the filmmaker has lined up instead.

While nothing is set in stone just yet, THR shared that Muschietti is currently WB’s “top choice” to direct The Brave and the Bold, the upcoming Batman reboot that will be part of the new DC Universe shared continuity that DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran are putting together. The project currently doesn’t have a script, and work on that won’t progress until the writers strike is over. As such, Muschietti doesn’t have a “formal commitment” to The Brave and the Bold right now, but assuming there aren’t any major shakeups, his odds of directing it are looking quite strong at the moment. 

This, of course, won’t be Andy Muschietti’s first time leaving his stamp on Batman, as The Flash cast includes both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton’s versions of the Caped Crusader. In fact, Muschietti being tied to The Brave and the Bold doesn’t come as a complete surprise. In late May, he was asked about what kind of spin he would put on the Batman reboot, to which he answered, “I don’t think I can talk about that.” Now we know why he was unwilling to say anything: because pieces are moving into place for him to direct the movie.

The Brave and the Bold was announced in late January as part of the DC Universe’s Chapter One slate, titled Gods and Monsters. All we know about this project so far is that a new actor will be cast to play Batman, this version of the hero will team up with his son Damian Wayne, a.k.a. Robin, and the movie will be inspired by Grant Morrison’s run on the Batman comics. Meanwhile, Robert Pattinson’s version of Batman will continue operating in his own continuity as one of the DC Elseworlds branches. Other DC Universe movies coming up include Superman: Legacy, The Authority, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and Swamp Thing, while the TV lineup consists of Creature Commandos, Waller, Lanterns, Paradise Lost and Booster Gold.

We’ll let you know if/when it’s officially confirmed that Andy Muschietti will direct The Brave and the Bold. Until then, read CinemaBlend’s review of The Flash ahead of its June 16 wide release, and use your Max subscription to stream all sorts of DC movies and TV shows.

This summer is chock-full of big movie releases, including plenty of superhero action for those looking to escape the heat. For DC fans, it’s an especially exciting time, as seeing Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen in The Flash has been a long time coming. The wait is nearly over now, with Andy Muschietti’s blockbuster set to speed onto the big screen on June 16, and the reviews are here to tell us everything we want to know before purchasing a ticket.

The movie will dive into the popular Flashpoint storyline from the comics, in which Barry goes back in time to try to prevent his mother’s murder — as well as his father being wrongly accused — which is sure to cause some interesting things to happen, as is the case when history gets course-corrected. Critics’ reactions to the film’s CinemaCon premiere were overwhelmingly positive, with CinemaBlend’s Sean O'Connell and Hannah Saulic saying it exceeded their expectations. Let’s see what others are saying, starting with CinemaBlend’s review of The Flash. Nick Venable rates the blockbuster an impressive 4.5 stars out of 5, calling it DC lore-building at its finest. He continues: 

Kevin Harley of GamesRadar rates the movie 3 out of 5 stars. While the critic points out its effective emotional stakes, he says the film often caves to excess, with too many under-integrated elements. More from the review: 

Jenna Anderson of ComicBook.com rates it 3 out of 5, calling The Flash “undoubtedly fun,” if not sometimes inconsequential. But its liveliness is infectious, and moviegoers will witness some truly unbelievable moments, Anderson says. The critic continues: 

Alex Flood of NME gives the movie 4 out of 5 stars, calling it a funny, action-packed and (naturally) fast-paced adventure with a moving story at its core. According to the review: 

Tom Gliatto of People is in line with other critics who find The Flash funny and original, even calling the blockbuster “giddy.” Gliatto says it almost feels like a re-evaluation of the entire Justice League, writing: 

As noted by the previous critic, it does seem like DC sometimes isn’t regarded as highly as the rival Marvel Cinematic Universe, but The Flash seems to have everything from a heart-wrenching story to loads of humor and plenty of time-traveling hijinks. If this is a superhero movie you want to check out, you can do so starting Friday, June 16, when The Flash hits the big screen. Be sure to see what other flicks are headed our way with our 2023 Movie Release Calendar. 

In the DC Extended Universe, Ben Affleck’s Batman is still active and fighting crime both solo and with his fellow Justice Leaguers, including Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen, a.k.a. The Flash. However, when Barry makes his way into another reality in The Flash movie, he’ll meet Michael Keaton’s Batman, who’s not only a few decades older than Affleck’s version, but has also long been retired from vigilantism. Now director Andy Muschietti has teased the reason for why this Bruce Wayne quit being Batman.

Back in March, we got our first confirmation from merchandise that Keaton’s Batman has “long been retired as Gotham City’s protector,” and The Flash trailer released in April teased this through the Batcave looking like it hadn’t been used in a long time. While appearing on CinemaBlend’s Reelblend podcast alongside his sister/producer Barbara Muschietti, Muschietti told hosts Jake Hamilton, Kevin McCarthy and our own Sean O’Connell that it was important for Keaton’s version of Bruce Wayne to be in a significantly different place compared to where audiences left off with him in 1992’s Batman Returns, saying:

Although Val Kilmer and George Clooney succeeded Michael Keaton in the original Batman film series, The Flash is ignoring the events of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. As such, the last time we saw this version of Batman was when he was dealing with Danny DeVito’s Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, but rather than having continuously fought crime over the last 30 years, at some point during that period, he hung up the cape and cowl. As Andy Muschietti noted, the movie itself won’t delve into the specific reasoning for doing so, but he did provide some vague commentary regarding the superhero’s decision. In his words:

Given that Michael Keaton’s Batman lives in a world that isn’t populated with metahumans and other more fantastical technology like the DCEU is, I’m hesitant to think that he went so far as to develop/obtain a way to time travel, but failed to change the past. However, I can envision this Batman going too far with his crimefighting, akin to when Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man said in Spider-Man: No Way Home that he stopped pulling his punches after Gwen Stacy’s death in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Then again, this Batman had no problem killing certain individuals in his two prior film appearances, so we’ll simply have to speculate about what prompted his retirement until those deleted scenes on The Flash’s home media release can be viewed.

In any case, once Barry Allen and his doppelgänger arrive at Wayne Manor, Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne will be coaxed back into being Batman. These three, along with Sasha Calle’s Supergirl, will team up to prevent this universe’s General Zod, reprised by Michael Shannon, from accomplish the same mission his DCEU counterpart attempted in Man of Steel, i.e. terraforming Earth into a new Krypton. The Flash’s cast also includes Kiersey Clemons, Maribel Verdú, Ron Livingston and Antje Trade, and behind the scenes, Christina Hodson wrote the screenplay.

The Flash opens in theaters on June 16, so Max subscribers will want to make sure they’re caught up on the Scarlet Speedster’s DCEU appearances beforehand. And as always, keep visiting CinemaBlend for continuing coverage on upcoming DC movies and upcoming DC TV shows.

The Flash has been a popular subject of late for two reasons: The Flash movie is finally coming out nearly a decade after being announced, and The Flash TV series recently concluded after nine seasons. Well these two projects have now converged in arguably the biggest way since Grant Gustin and Ezra Miller’s versions of Barry Allen met in Crisis on Infinite Earths. The movie’s director, Andy Muschietti, recently stated that he thinks Miller’s the only one who could effectively play the character, and fans of Gustin’s Scarlet Speedster were not pleased with that comment.

Muschietti shared this opinion while talking about how if The Flash 2 happens, he would definitely bring back Ezra Miller rather than recast the role. Fans have wondered if the latter is an option given the numerous controversies that have surrounded the actor in the last several years, with last summer seeing the actor issue a public apology and saying that they had “begun ongoing treatment” for their “complex mental health issues.” In any case, Muschietti’s saying that Miller’s the only actor fit to play The Flash resulted in Grant Gustin enthusiasts coming to his defense, like @lexibexwrites:

Although The Flash TV show didn’t premiere until September 2014, Gustin first appeared as Barry Allen in the Arrow Season 2 episodes “The Scientist” and “Three Ghosts,” meaning he played the role for nearly 10 full years. After so much time, it’s no wonder Gustin’s take on Barry has so many fans, with @SmashTriviaJohn having this to say:

Interestingly enough, Ezra Miller’s casting as Barry Allen in the DC Extended Universe was announced on the same day that The Flash TV show’s second episode aired. Miller has since played Barry in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, both versions of Justice League, the Peacemaker Season 1 finale and the aforementioned Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. While Miller’s Barry certainly isn’t lacking in fans, there are also those who feel he hasn’t been a good fit in the role, including @SimplyDango:

All this isn’t to say that The Flash TV show was a perfect product; you certainly don’t have to look long to find criticism concerning the later seasons. Nevertheless, if you feel the same way that @TigheSammy does, Gustin’s performance as its leading character was never one of the show’s problems:

Naturally opinion is subjective, so whether Ezra Miller or Grant Gustin is the better Flash is up to each individual person. Still, it’s clear that Gustin’s fans won’t stand for the claim that Miller is the only one capable of bringing Barry Allen to life. As @thcfastestman put it:

Unfortunately, despite the two Flashes meeting each other a few years ago and this movie delivering a multiversal adventure, Grant Gustin will not appear in Ezra Miller’s Flash story. What moviegoers can look forward to is Miller’s Barry teaming up with both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton’s versions of Batman, Sasha Calle’s Supergirl and even his own doppelgänger, who also gains super speed. The Flash opened to critical acclaim at CinemaCon in late April, and a DC video showed various moviegoers sharing their positive reactions after early screenings.

The Flash movie races into theaters on June 16, and for those of you interested in watching the entirety of The Flash TV show, all nine seasons can be streamed with a Netflix subscription. Keep your eyes peeled on CinemaBlend for more coverage on upcoming DC movies and upcoming DC TV shows.

With Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ theatrical run over and now being available to stream with a Max subscription, the next upcoming DC movie on the docket is The Flash, which puts Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen on center stage following his appearances in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, both versions of Justice League, the Peacemaker Season 1 finale and even The CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. However, its release also comes after years of Miller being embroiled in numerous controversies, so if The Flash 2 ends up happening, would they return? Director Andy Muschietti has provided that answer.

We know that The Flash is one of the final movies of the DC Extended Universe era to come out before the new DC Universe spearheaded by James Gunn and Peter Safran launches, so there’s no guarantee at the moment that a Flash sequel will be greenlit. Should it move forward though, Muschietti said on an upcoming episode of The Playlist’s Discourse podcast that Miller will be sticking around as the Scarlet Speedster. In his words:

On August 15, 2022, Ezra Miller issued a public apology for their behavior over the last few years, which included being charged with felony burglary in Vermont (Miller later pleaded guilty to the charge), allegedly choking a woman at a bar in Iceland and being arrested multiple times in Hawaii. Miller acknowledged that they are “suffering complex mental health issues” and had “begun ongoing treatment.” The actor has kept a relatively low profile since then, but given how much controversy has surrounded them, plus the big DC Universe changes coming, there’s been talk about if someone new might take over as Barry Allen following The Flash’s release. According to Andy Muschietti, that’s not on the table; he’s so impressed with how Miller played not one, but two versions of Barry Allen, that he wants them to keep that run (pun fully intended) going.

Producer Barbara Muschietti echoed her brother’s thoughts on the matter, saying that she too was impressed by the performance Ezra Miller turned in for The Flash. As she put it:

The Flash opened to critical acclaim at CinemaCon in late April, with Ezra Miller’s performance among the most praised aspects of the movie. There was also a video released recently of various average moviegoers sharing their positive thoughts on The Flash, and Stephen King even complimented it, so while we’ll have to wait and see how the movie ends up doing commercially, critically at least, it’s on solid ground. Still, with characters like Superman and Batman being recast for the DC Universe, one can’t be faulted for wondering if the same will happen with Flash, but as long as the Muschiettis are involved, that won’t happen. Having said that, the DCU Chapter One slate, titled Gods and Monsters, is pretty packed at the moment, so even if The Flash 2 does end up happening, it could be a long time before it makes its way to the big screen.

The general public can judge The Flash for itself when it hits the big screen on June 16. Be careful of spoilers in these final weeks though, because along with fans thinking they spotted something a big plot twist in an international trailer, Andy Muschietti revealed a major cameo that would have made a great surprise for people seated in the theater.

Although we know that The Flash is just a few weeks away from hitting theaters, director Andy Muschietti nonetheless dropped a huge cameo spoiler last week. Fortunately, there are numerous surprises in store, and one of the upcoming DC movie’s biggest public draws is that Ezra Miller's version of the Scarlet Speedster will team up with two different versions of Batman, respectively played by Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton. However, when Muschietti was asked about the next reboot focused on Gotham City’s Dark Knight, he gave a very interest answer.

In late January, DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran announced their plans for the new DC universe franchise’s Chapter One slate, titled Gods and Monsters, and one of the movies announced was The Brave and the Bold, which will see a new actor playing Batman. Narcity Canada’s Josh K. Elliot shared a video on Twitter of him asking Andy Muschietti what kind of spin he’d like to put on Batman for a “Brave and the Bold direction,” and the The Flash filmmaker only said this:

How intriguing! The fact that he chose not to answer might suggest he’s currently involved with The Brave and the Bold in some way, right? I’m not saying that he’d already scored the directing job, but if he’s not willing to disclose his ideas for a Batman solo movie in an interview, then that suggests he’s either pitched about it to Gunn and Safran, or at least would like to at some point. Considering how Gunn raved about The Flash and said Muschietti did an “amazing job” on it, that would surely be enough for Muschietti to get a meeting with the DC Studios heads, no questions asked.

All we know about The Brave and the Bold so far is that it will team Batman up with his son Damian Wayne, a.k.a. the current Robin in the comics, and will be inspired by Grant Morrison’s Batman run in the comics. While this Batman holds down the fort in the new shared DC Universe, Robert Pattinson’s Batman will continue operating in his own separate reality, which is being spearheaded by Matt Reeves and will expand with next year’s The Penguin limited series, followed by The Batman: Part II in 2025, among other projects. At one time, Michael Keaton’s Batman was set to return in Batgirl and take over as the DCEU’s Caped Crusader, but those plans, along with the Leslie Grace-led movie, have obviously been scrapped.

The only DC Universe movie currently scheduled is Superman: Legacy, which comes out on July 11, 2025. So it may be a while until we get any major updates on The Brave and the Bold, but rest assured that once it’s announced who will sit in the director’s chair, be it Andy Muschietti or someone else, we’ll let you know. For now, The Flash races into theaters on June 16, so make sure you catch up on the DC movies in order with your Max subscription before going to see it.

Spoilers ahead for The Flash.

The DC Universe is in a major state of flux. James Gunn and Peter Safran's roles as co-CEOs have seen the studio going through sweeping changes in order to create a more cohesive cinematic universe. But there are a few upcoming DC movies filmed before this change in leadership, including Ezra Miller's The Flash. Director Andy Muschietti recently dropped a huge cameo spoiler, and now it's everywhere.

Superhero movies are known for their tight security, as fans try to avoid spoilers online before heading to theaters. But the latest leak about The Flash that has circulated online came from Muschietti himself. When in an interview with Esquire Middle East, he revealed that Nicolas Cage has a cameo in the movie, and is finally playing Superman in the process. He was quoted saying:

Well, my mind is blown. Not only because of this news about The Flash's wild cameo, but also because the blockbuster's director would reveal this weeks before the movie actually hit theaters. Smart money says what role Cage has in the forthcoming DC flick is going to have way less of an impact as a result. 

Hardcore superhero fans will know that Nic Cage actually came very close to playing Superman on the big screen before. He was going to play the Man of Steel for a solo movie directed by Tim Burton and written by Kevin Smith. Unfortunately, the project ended up being scrapped by the studio shortly before production began. Although there are some images and clips of Cage suited up that have made their way online. And up until now, how he'd play Superman has been a notorious "What If?" in Hollywood history. 

While Andy Muschietti seemingly let the cat out of the bag early, the exact details of Nicolas Cage's role as Superman in The Flash remains a mystery. He makes it seem like it's a small cameo, especially when compared to Sasha Calle's role as Supergirl. Luckily we won't have to wait all that long for our questions to be answered. 

It should be fascinating to see how this came is handled, and if it influences the DC Universe as a whole moving forward. The Flash was expected to course-correct the shared universe's official timeline, although the concept of having two different Batmen as well as two Supermen and Supergirl raises more questions than it answers. 

The Flash premiered at CinemaCon, and got rave reviews in the process. We'll just have to see if audiences agree with this assessment, and if it lives up to the hype. There's been a ton of praise coming at The Flash, including the approval of Stephen King. 

The Flash will hit theaters and answer our questions on June 16th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.

Director Andy Muschietti's The Flash movie is already riding high on a wave of positive buzz. The film is still a few weeks away from hitting theaters, but an unfinished version premiered at CinemaCon last month and got a very positive response on social media. Fans are already champing at the bit to see the new blockbuster from DC Studios, but hype is growing today thanks to the fact that Stephen King has joined the chorus singing the feature's praises.

King has a previous relationship with the director, as Andy Muschietti directed IT: Chapter One and IT: Chapter Two, and it feels safe to assume that helped him get an early look at The Flash. The author shared his opinion of the film on his personal Twitter page, saying that while he doesn't usually like superhero movies, this one is "special." Check out his full message below:

Stephen King's take on The Flash matches a lot of the opinions that were shared out of CinemaCon last month. Critics (including myself) also lauded it's mix of emotion, comedy, and action. The film has certainly had a lot of issues as it has moved through development, but the end result wows.

Muschietti's first film since IT: Chapter Two in 2019, The Flash tells the story of speedster superhero Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), who, on one fateful night, discovers that his powers give him the ability to travel through time. His mother dead and his father falsely imprisoned for her murder, he decides that he will try and change history so that his family can be reunited – but while doing so, he underestimates the ripple effect that his alterations make. The movie features a stellar cast that includes Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle, Kiersey Clemons, Maribel Verdú, Ron Livingston, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Rudy Mancuso, Luke Brandon Field, and Michael Shannon.

It's not often that Stephen King shares praise for major blockbusters; he more often uses his Twitter page to comment on what genre fans view as his bread and butter: horror movies. In the last few months, for example, he's notably put his weight behind director Rob Savage's The Boogeyman, which is the latest adaptation of one of his stories. He's not only promoted the film actively on social media, but he even had a hand behind the scenes getting it moved from Hulu to theaters.

The Boogeyman will be playing on the big screen on June 2, but it will be followed just a couple weeks later by The Flash, which will be playing in cinemas everywhere starting on June 16. You can keep track of all the Stephen King projects that are in the works with our Upcoming Stephen King Movies and TV guide, and if, unlike the author, superhero films are your thing, we recommend you check out our Upcoming DC Movies feature.  

More to come...

At present, very little is known about the developing Welcome To Derry – the upcoming HBO Max series that will serve as a prequel to the hit blockbusters IT and IT Chapter Two. Obviously the "prequel" part tells us that the show will be set before the events of the movies instead of after (a.k.a. the mid-20th century), but we have yet to get official confirmation of the exact setting, and while a number of actors have signed on, we don't know who any of them are playing. Information is very valuable right now for all Stephen King fans anticipating the project – which is why its exciting to learn both that production has begun, and that there will be at least one character with a firm link to a key player in the films.

Director Andy Muschietti has revealed via his personal Instagram page that he has started filming the pilot for Welcome To Derry – and while the caption he's included doesn't offer us much information, the image is intriguing. Check out his post below:

While the full name of Derry's chief of police may not ring any bells, the last name certainly should. Henry Bowers, played by Nicholas Hamilton, was the savage and sadistic bully who tortured the members of the Losers' Club when they were children in 2017's IT. Henry's father is Oscar Bowers, played by Stuart Hughes, and he is a police officer, so my guess would be that Clint Bowers is Henry's grandfather in addition to being the top cop in Maine's most haunted town.

So who is playing Clint Bowers? When one looks at the actors who have been announced as part of the ensemble thus far, it's not hard to suss out that's it's probably veteran character actor James Remar. If Clint turns out to be anything like his offspring, or his offspring's offspring, we can probably expect that he is going to be a hateful son of a bitch and one of the show's main villains.

One significant question that is raised by this image regards how Welcome To Derry is being impacted by the on-going Writers Guild of America strike. Major shows like Stranger Things have halted production amid the ongoing conflict, but it appears that the IT prequel is still rolling cameras for now. One has to wonder if there may be schedule pressure for Andy Muschietti in play, as the filmmaker is surely going to be heavily promoting the upcoming blockbuster The Flash in the coming weeks, with the much-buzzed about DC film set to hit theaters next month. 

Hopefully we'll only continue to learn about more connections between the IT films and Welcome To Derry as the show continues to move through development (you can refresh yourself on the movies right now if you have a HBO Max subscription). Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for the latest updates and keep track of all of the Stephen King projects Hollywood has in the works with our Upcoming Stephen King Movies and TV guide. You can also learn about the full history of adaptations with my Adapting Stephen King column, and discover the titles considered the best of the best with our rankings of the best Stephen King movies and the best Stephen King TV projects.

The DC Universe has had plenty of peaks and valleys since its inception, along with oodles of behind the scenes shake-ups. While James Gunn and Peter Safran were recently named co-CEOs of the franchise, a few projects are hitting theaters that were shot before this change. One of the most highly anticipated upcoming DC movies is The Flash, which stars Ezra Miller in the title role. The Flash recently premiered at CinemaCon ahead of its wide release, with director Andy Muschietti addressing Miller’s controversy for the first time.

In the time period between The Flash photography and its upcoming release, actor Ezra Miller was involved in a number of controversies and legal issues. Those issues seemed to put the DC blockbuster in jeopardy, before they issued an apology and sought treatment for complex mental health issues. Andy Muschietti recently debuted the movie at CinemaCon, which CinemaBlend was present for. During this presentation, the IT filmmaker spoke about the state of Miller, saying:

Well, that’s certainly a hopeful message. While Miller’s legal situation is still playing out, it seems that they’ve continued to put a focus on their mental health. It remains to be seen if the Fantastic Beasts actor will end up doing press for The Flash, especially considering that they’re playing multiple versions of Barry Allen throughout the course of its runtime. 

For those unfamiliar, there were a number of serious legal issues and allegations made against the 30 year-old actor over the past few years. Miller got arrested multiple times in Hawaii, and also recently plead guilty to a trespassing charge. But it seems that they’re getting the help they need, and The Flash has been getting super positive responses. Producer Barbara Muschietti spoke to Miller’s work ethic on the DC flick saying:

While moviegoers will have to wait until June to finally see this work on the big screen, the trailers for The Flash definitely make it seem like a wild ride. It should be fascinating to see how the two versions of Barry Allen function together, especially joined by the likes of Supergirl and Michael Keaton’s Batman.

The Flash will hit theaters on June 16th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

It was 2014 when Ezra Miller was first announced to be portraying the The Flash, and now, nearly a decade later – after appearances in Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice and Justice League – fans will finally get to see them lead their own movie. The Flash held its world premiere at CinemaCon tonight ahead of its June 16 release, and the first reactions are here to help expand what we know about The Flash. Is the upcoming DC Extended Universe movie worth all the delays, director drop-outs and rewritten scripts? 

Fans have a lot of questions about what’s to come from The Flash, and we’ll keep it SPOILER-FREE here, but we do know the movie will follow the “Flashpoint” storyline, which is one of DC’s most important, with the potential to change the DCEU as we know it. Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen screws with time to the point of rewriting history and affecting other DC characters’ paths. The latest trailer featuring Michael Keaton’s Batman proves that the Caped Crusader will factor heavily into this. CinemaBlend’s Eric Eisenberg was one of people who screened The Flash at CinemaCon, and he Tweets that it is safe for fans to go ahead and get excited: 

CinemaBlend Managing Editor Sean O’Connell has a similar sentiment post-screening, praising Ezra Miller’s performances (plural!) and writing that his viewings of the blockbuster will hit triple digits: 

Nicola Austin calls The Flash a love letter to DC, and this writer is one of many making note of just how funny this film is: 

This one’s for the nerds, Erik Davis of Fandango says, as the movie left him in tears. He is floored by how good The Flash is. While there was some question about how much Ben Affleck is actually in The Flash, Davis says he gives some of his best Batman moments, and Michael Keaton and Ezra Miller are “amazing” as well: 

Scott Menzel of We Live Entertainment is just one of the CinemaCon patrons calling The Flash one of the best superhero films of all time. The critic says avoid spoilers at all costs, because there are some awesome surprises awaiting audiences:

Brandon Davis of ComicBook.com Tweets that the movie is inventive both in its storytelling an style. He also joins pretty much all of the other CinemaCon audience members in saying he can’t wait to see a repeat viewing: 

Ezra Miller is, as expected, garnering a lot of praise, but Michael Keaton is the center of a lot of the reactions as well, including that of film critic Scott Mantz, who says The Flash is the perfect blend of action, heart and humor: 

Daniel Howat of Next Best Picture raves about what he calls “one of the better multiverse movies out there.” The moviegoer also notes how well the movie balances some great humor with intense emotional stakes, Tweeting: 

Of all the upcoming superhero movies, this one so far sounds like a can’t-miss option. The CinemaCon crowds seem to be really fired up, so now we’ll just be counting the days until The Flash hits theaters on Friday, June 16. In the meantime, you can see what else is coming to theaters soon with our 2023 Movie Release Schedule. 

I hate the DCEU. Without being hyperbolic, I think the DCEU (and more specifically the Snyderverse) is the worst thing to ever happen to DC in the entirety of its nearly 90 year run. I wrote an article last year about five good things that I could actually say about the Snyderverse, but spent a portion of that article dancing on the grave of the failed extended universe. 

So, here’s my question then: Why is it that after I saw the trailer for the new The Flash movie, my heart started racing, and I got super excited? After doing some thinking on that score, I came up with five answers.

Uh, Hello! Multiple Batmen 

There are some spicy rumors swirling around concerning this new Flash movie (like Christian Bale appearing in it as Batman), but many of those rumors seem to be false – or, at the very least, highly unlikely. It would be cool if Bale appeared in this movie since he’s considered by many to be the best live-action Batman, but it doesn't really matter because my personal two favorite Batmen, Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton, are 100% in this movie. 

Having grown up seeing Batman in the theaters back in 1989, Michael Keaton has always been my live-action Batman (with the late Kevin Conroy being my Batman of choice when it comes to voice actors), but I also love Ben Affleck’s portrayal of the Caped Crusader as well – despite the fact that I despised Batman v. Superman. He is the best (and probably the only good thing) about that movie. So, Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck as different Batmen in the same movie? Sign me up! 

Multiple Flashes, Too!  

To state the obvious, I don’t condone any of Ezra Miller’s controversial recent actions. I also don’t like that this is still going to be considered “Ezra Miller’s Flash movie,” because if anybody was going to be cut from this film, I would have preferred it to be Miller.   

That said, for some reason, this trailer really makes me like the DCEU Flash –  even though I’ve detested this version of the character in the past. Perhaps it’s because The Flash won’t just be a side character to spit corny one-liners this time, and instead it look like the hero will have interesting story arc where he wants to save this world because his mother is still alive in it.

Or, maybe it’s because I just like the concept of two different Flashes (“You stole my face”) having to coexist and work together. Whatever the reason, I found myself not despising Miller as The Flash when I saw the trailer, which is staying a lot since there are two of them around this time.  

It’s Covering The Flashpoint Storyline, Which Is One Of My Favorites In DC 

As far as company-changing events go, the Flashpoint story arc may be one of the biggest ones in DC history since it essentially revamped the brand and helped establish “The New 52” – setting up new first issues for almost every character and pretty much rebooting DC as a whole. The fact that it's inspiring the new Flash movie feels appropriate given that James Gunn and Peter Safran are now at the helm of DC Studios and changing things up quite a lot. 

Flashpoint is a truly bonkers comic book story, and I wonder how much of that zaniness can actually be captured in the film – and, when I say bonkers, I’m talking about stuff like Thomas Wayne being Batman, and Martha Wayne becoming the Joker. If this movie can even touch upon the strangeness that was the comic book event, I can only be thankful that the Snyderverse led us up to this point.

I Want To See General Zod Get Another Shot In The DCEU

I was actually happy when I heard that Wonder Woman 3 and Man of Steel 2 were canceled because Wonder Woman 1984 was atrocious, and I felt Man of Steel tripped over its own cape from the very start – leading the DCEU in a downward spiral from the beginning. And, you know who I also thought could have treated been much better? General Zod. 

As much as I hated Man of Steel, I didn’t think Michael Shannon as General Zod was the worst part about it. In fact, he was probably the only slightly shining light in that abysmally dark movie. That said, after he was killed and they used him for some nonsense in Batman v. Superman, I never really got a fair shake as a villain. Michael Shannon is a great actor, and none of the Snyderverse DC movies have really used him to his full potential. Thankfully, we’re getting Zod again in this Flash movie, so I just hope that they utilize him better this time. 

Would I have preferred if we had gotten characters like Reverse Flash (Who might actually BE in the movie), or Queen Diana instead of Zod to make it closer to the actual comic? Sure, but since we’re getting Zod again, he’ll hopefully be much more interesting this time around rather than how he was misused in the past.  

Supergirl Looks Awesome! 

Since the Flashpoint comic book was the major event back in 2011 for DC, it featured pretty much everybody under the sun that you could think of. I’m talking Batman, Cyborg, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, you name it, they were in it. So, it’s kind of cool to see Supergirl will be replacing Superman in the movie version.

Actress Sasha Calle has already reacted to her Supergirl footage finally debuting, and my reaction is much the same: I’m super pumped. As somebody who has seen the original Supergirl movie starring Helen Slater, I can say with 100% certainty that this version looks MUCH cooler, and I can’t wait to see her in the movie.   

James Gunn is certainly hyping the Flash movie, calling it "one of the best superhero movies [he's] ever seen," and we'll find out for ourselves when the blockbuster hits theaters on June 16.

The first trailer for The Flash has arrived, and with it came the first footage of actress Sasha Calle as Supergirl. Supergirl's brief scenes left a powerful impression on fans, and now that the footage is out there, Calle is over the moon excited. The actress took to social media with an all-caps reaction to people finally seeing her suited up as Kara. 

Supergirl smashed, zapped, and flew all throughout The Flash trailer, and made an already exciting movie that much more anticipated. Few online were as psyched as Sasha Calle, however, who sent a tweet full of energy and excitement in addition to a video of her watching her scene from the trailer: 

Sasha Calle seems amped for the world to finally see her Supergirl in action, and I totally get it. Calle reportedly beat out 400 other actresses for this role and will be the first Latina actress to play Kara. She has every right to be jazzed about the role, especially with how badass she looked in The Flash's trailer. 

Hopefully we'll get a fair amount of scenes with Sasha Calle as Supergirl, though it is worth noting that she isn't the title character of this movie. Still, it does appear as though she may play a role in the takedown of Michael Shannon's General Zod, who is back from the Man of Steel without a snapped neck. 

It seems like Kara might have to take on Superman's job of bringing him down, which might be easier said than done given how well-prepared for an invasion this Zod looks to be. Luckily, it seems plenty of other heroes may lend a hand, and even multiple versions of the same hero. 

For all the hype of the trailer and the footage of Sasha Calle as Supergirl and Michael Keaton in action as Batman, it seems there are more on board with seeing The Flash even as we near the cusp of a revamp of DC films. Even James Gunn, who has had to make some tough decisions about casting a new Superman and other things, has a very high opinion of the movie. Could the positive praise that's surrounding Calle's debut as Supergirl push even more potential viewers on the fence to a theater to see this movie? 

It's the big question surrounding The Flash, as there's definitely a community online reminding excited fans that Ezra Miller is still attached as the star the movie. Miller garnered all sorts of attention over the past couple of years for various legal troubles, violent incidents, and generally odd behavior. It's certainly led some to move against supporting them and the movie, though it remains to be seen just how many people will skip out on the feature when the opening weekend finally arrives. 

Look out for The Flash in theaters when it arrives on Friday, June 16th. With all the cameos rumored and confirmed from past DC projects, now might be a great time to check out our guide to watching the DC movies in order to revisit some of the classic movies from the superhero franchise. 

While some of our reviewers were not so keen on Mama (see the review here) when it dropped in 2013, over the years, the horror movie about two young orphans being parented by an unknown supernatural entity has only grown in popularity and cult status. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the supernatural flick and his directorial debut, Andy Muschietti shared a sweet post on social media. 

January 18, 2023, marked ten years since Andy Muschietti’s big-screen adaptation of his 2008 short Mamá. While he may now be known as the man who adapted Stephen King’s killer clown tome of a novel IT into a two-part, highly successful pair of blockbusters, at the time he was making Mama, Muschietti not well known, and the marketing for his debut focused more on producer Guillermo del Toro’s involvement. Now the well-known It director took to his Instagram to celebrate the film’s release, and he thanked everyone involved for bringing his first movie's vision to life.

What a sweet sentiment from the director. While many fans and colleagues commented in support, the most heartwarming was from Mama actress Isabelle Nélisse. The Canadian-born actress, who played one half of the pair of young traumatized sisters, wrote:

While Mama’s content may be terrifying for audiences, the behind-the-scenes was anything but. Both Nélisse and her on-screen sister, played by Megan Charpentier, reteamed with their director for his Stephen King adaptations. While Nélisse played the minor role of Girl in Bathroom, Charpentier played the oh-so-much-more-memorable part of Gretta. Horror movie and King fans will recognize Gretta as the mean-talking pharmacy girl responsible for giving Eddie Kaspbrak the ‘loser’ tag on his cast. 

The actresses might very well team up again with Muschietti again because he has a tendency to work with actors on projects over and over again. For example, even though he’s only directed four movies for the big screen, two of them have featured Jessica Chastain. The Oscar-winning actress plays Annabel in Mama, the two orphan girl’s reluctant new mother figure and the focus of the evil entities’ rage. She reteamed with the director for IT: Chapter II, where she brilliantly played the adult Beverly Marsh. 

Andy Muschietti’s next high-profile project is the DC movie, The Flash, which has been plagued by a history of delays. However, the upcoming superhero movie is finally set to speed into cinemas this summer on June 16 according to the 2023 movie schedule. The director has also been attached to adapt the beloved manga and anime Attack on Titan for the big screen. From a small indie horror flick where no one knows your name to directing an adaptation of one of the biggest anime properties in the span of ten years is quite the glow-up. 

We want to wish everyone involved with Mama a happy 10-year anniversary! We are also very excited to see where director Andy Muschietti’s career goes from here. For only having four movies under his belt, he’s not doing too shabby for himself. 

The past few months have been a wild time for DC fans, as the studio has been making sweeping changes to the shared universe that has left the public dizzy. James Gunn and Peter Safran were named co-CEOs of DC Studios, and are working behind the scenes to transform the universe into a cohesive, interconnected place. One of the upcoming DC movies hitting theaters this year is Andy Muschietti’s The Flash, and he recently shared a set photo as rumors swirl about Ezra Miller and the blockbuster itself.

Recently moviegoers have watched as the Bagirl movie and Wonder Woman 1984 were scrapped, and as Henry Cavill officially departed the role of Superman forever. Amid this uncertainty, fans have been worried about the Flash movie, especially considering the controversies that Ezra Miller was wrapped up in last year. But it looks like the movie is currently being released as planned, and might have the chance to clarify the shared universe’s timeline. IT filmmaker Andy Muschietti is the man behind the camera for The Flash, and recently shared a throwback on Instagram that shows off one of the movie’s set pieces. Check it out below:

Is it June yet? The Flash has been a long time coming, with a a number of delays happening over the years. And while countless questions surrounding the DCEU, Andy Muschietti is helping to buoy hype around his upcoming blockbuster. Now the question is: when are they going to give us a damn trailer?

Andy Muschietti shared this photo from his time working on The Flash, and it seemingly shows one location in Central City aka Barry Allen’s stomping grounds from the comics. And with James Gunn and Peter Safran helping to finally bring serialized storytelling to the shared universe, it should be fascinating to see if/how Central City ends up factoring into the larger DCEU. Muschietti’s caption shows how hyped he is to finally bring the long-awaited movie to theaters.

Fans have been concerned about The Flash amid the recent DC twists, as well as the controversies still surrounding lead actor Ezra Miller. They got involved in a number of legal shakeups over the last year, before issuing an apology and starting treatment for mental health issues. Right now the movie is going on as planned, although some reports indicated this was contingent on Miller staying out of trouble moving forward.

The Flash is currently set to arrive in theaters on June 16th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. Let’s just hope that the studio reveals its plans for the DCEU sooner rather than later. 

When Andy Muschietti’s IT Chapter One arrived in theaters in 2017, IT Chapter Two was not a guarantee. While New Line Cinema committed to the idea of Stephen King’s book being adapted as a pair of films early in the project’s development, no promises were initially made that Chapter Two would be given the green light. If the first was an outright flop, plans for the second would have been abandoned, and Constant Readers would have been left in the position of simply appreciating the movie that was made (one of the best Stephen King movies of all time).

But IT Chapter One wasn’t a flop; it was a phenomenon. Its first day in theaters alone netted the R-rated horror hit $51 million domestically, and the $123 million it made in its first weekend was a record for a horror film. By the time it was done playing on the big screen in multiplexes around the world, it earned $700.4 million – but, of course, it didn’t take that long for New Line and Warner Bros. to get the message regarding what to do about a sequel. The buzz was so intense and pre-sales so strong in the run-up to the release that screenwriter Gary Dauberman was officially hired to write IT Chapter Two hours before the first public screenings of Chapter One, and Andy Muschietti was in negotiations to return to the director’s chair.

Andy Muschietti’s IT Chapter Two began principal photography on June 20, 2018 with confidence from the studio and superior financial resources compared to the 2017 movie… but also with the pressure of extreme expectations. Putting aside box office numbers, the blockbuster sequel inherently had the mission to match the quality of its critically acclaimed and beloved predecessor – and it was at a disadvantage from the start. Talented stars were cast to play the adult members of the Losers Club (in fact, a lineup that partially matches the dream ensemble imagined by the young cast of IT Chapter One), but the charms of the period setting and youthful leads were no longer principal assets for the story, and the production had to make do with the ending from Stephen King’s book, which has been a subject of controversy among fans since 1986.

With these external factors in play, it could be argued that IT Chapter Two was always doomed to underwhelm, even while still being a solid interpretation of the source material, and whether or not that’s fair is the debate at the core of this week’s Adapting Stephen King.

How Andy Muschietti's IT Chapter Two Differs From Tommy Lee Wallace's IT Miniseries

Like IT Chapter One, IT Chapter Two marks the second time that we’ve seen the source material brought to life, as the Tommy Lee Wallace-directed miniseries from 1990 was the first successful adaptation of Stephen King’s book. Also like IT Chapter One, the sequel finds a few ways to incorporate details and story elements from the novel that the made-for-TV production didn’t/couldn’t – and they are scattered throughout the film.

Right off the bat there is the hate crime that leads to the death of Adrian Mellon (Xavier Dolan), a character who is cut out of the miniseries entirely. The timeline of events is compacted in the film, but all of the key elements are featured, including the Canal Day Festival, the “I Love Derry” hat, Adrian being assaulted because he is gay, Adrian being thrown over a bridge, and Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) attacking while a flood of balloons magically float down.

The introductions of the adult members of the Losers Club in IT Chapter Two feature some deviations from the book (which I’ll get into more in the next section), but the film does a great job incorporating one detail from Stephen King that was changed for the TV adaptation: just as in the novel, Eddie (James Ransone) doesn’t still live with his mother, but he is instead married to a woman who is exactly like her – and she is actually played by Molly Atkinson, the same actor who played Eddie’s mother in IT Chapter One.

In the second act of the film, when the main characters are reacquainting themselves with the town of Derry, Maine and collecting their memory artifacts, two never-before-adapted sequences from the book are included – and they are actually two of the best moments in the entirety of IT Chapter Two. The first is young Richie (Finn Wolfhard) having an encounter with the Pennywise-possessed Paul Bunyan statue that stands in the middle of town. The second is adult Bill (James McAvoy) finding his old bike, Silver, in a pawn shop. The scene features Stephen King as the disgruntled shopkeeper, and it’s vastly superior to the miniseries where adult Mike reveals that he has kept it in storage.

There is a case to be made that the film features a more faithful adaptation of the journey taken by adult Henry Bowers (Teach Grant), though it too puts an original spin on things. In the book, Henry assaults Mike (Isaiah Mustafa) at the library and then goes to kill Eddie at the Derry Townhouse where everybody is staying. The TV version compresses the action, with the psychopathic bully’s violence being limited to the townhouse; IT Chapter Two features the attacks at both locations, though the order of events is swapped, and Henry is killed at the library instead of Eddie’s hotel room.

Lastly but perhaps most notably, there is the Native American mysticism and the notorious Ritual of Chüd – both of which are wholly cut out of the IT miniseries. There are major changes from the novel in the way that both are presented (which, again, I’ll get into in the next section), but the stab it takes is still technically more faithful than what was done for the 1990 version.

How Andy Muschietti's IT Chapter Two Differs From The Book

If I were to slap a number on it, I’d estimate that about 80 percent of IT Chapter Two originates from between the covers of Stephen King’s classic tome – but that other 20 percent isn’t insignificant. Most of the license-taking can be found in the movie’s third act in the showdown with Pennywise, but there are a great number of standout examples where we see the creativity of the filmmakers.

To point to some minor examples, I’ll circle back to the reintroductions of the Losers Club. The lives of adult Bill, Beverly (Jessica Chastain), Ben (Jay Ryan), and Stan (Andy Bean) mostly lineup with what is in the book, but Richie (Bill Hader) is a stand-up comic instead of a radio personality, Eddie is a risk analyst instead of the co-owner of a limo service, and Mike isn’t just the head librarian, but actually lives above it.

Bill and Beverly still have their respective spouses in Audra (Jess Weixler) and Tom (Will Beinbrink), but one of the most substantial cuts featured in IT Chapter Two is their complete removal from the story beyond their first scenes. In the book, Tom, being the abusive asshole that he is, pursues his wife to Derry, and, while under the influence of Pennywise, kidnaps Audra – who travels to Maine because she is concerned about her husband. These plotlines are wholly eliminated from the film.

When it comes to the adult Losers traveling around Derry in the movie, the aforementioned Paul Bunyan and thrift shop scenes with Richie and Bill come straight from the novel, as does Beverly’s trip to her old house, but the same can’t be said of the adventures in memory with Eddie and Ben. The sequences in the basement of the pharmacy and at the school are inventions for the movie – and while on the subject, the same can also be said of Bill’s sprint to the Canal Day Festival so that he can try and rescue the kid who lives in his old house (Luke Roessler).

As far as the larger plot of the film is concerned, the most original development that IT Chapter Two throws into the mix is a further exploration of one of the changes in IT Chapter One: young Beverly (Sophia Lillis) getting caught in the Deadlights. Unlike the book, the Losers aren’t unified after their terrifying encounter at the Jade of the Orient restaurant, and what brings them together – for the most part – is the revelation from Beverly that she has had persistent nightmares that have predicted the deaths of her friends.

Returning to the subject of Henry Bowers, his trips to the library and the Derry Townhouse being flipped in the story isn’t the only alteration to that plot thread. In the movie it is Richie who ends up taking Bowers out instead of Eddie – specifically by driving an axe into his skull – but what’s more important is that it happens before the former high school bully can stab Mike in the femoral artery. In the novel, Mike is hospitalized during the final battle with Pennywise, but IT Chapter Two skips that development and has him fighting alongside his childhood pals.

Bringing up this big change for Mike provides a segue into the promised discussion of Native American mysticism and the Ritual of Chüd. In the book, the young Losers Club set up what they call a smoke-hole in their underground clubhouse and burn “green wood” to inspire visions that tell them about the history of Pennywise arriving in Derry. Separately, Bill’s research into ways to defeat the creature leads him to learn about the aforementioned ritual – which is a psychic fight that (metaphorically) sees opponents bite into each other’s tongues and tell jokes until one party laughs and loses.

Only vague parts of all that ends up in IT Chapter Two. Instead of having the kids have a group hallucination via smoke-hole, the movie has Mike learn about the origins of Pennywise via a local indigenous tribe called Shokopiwah and ingesting a root called Maturin (which takes its name from the giant turtle that, in the book, is It’s greatest adversary), and then he drugs Bill to pass the vision along. Furthermore, the Ritual of Chüd is made much more palpable for mainstream audiences, and simply involves the Losers burning tokens of their childhood and solidifying their collective faith in hopes of trapping the Deadlights in a special container.

There is what could be described as a psychic battle at the end of IT Chapter Two, but between the change to the ritual and the all-but-total deletion of Audra from the story, the list of details taken from the book for the movie are pretty much limited to Pennywise taking the form of a giant spider, Eddie being killed, the Losers ripping It’s heart out, and Ben and Beverly finally getting together.

Is It Worthy Of The King?

In August 2019, a full month before the release of IT Chapter Two, Andy Muschietti revealed that he had made plans for a supercut – a single, epic feature that would edit together what he called “a special director’s cut of number one and a special director’s cut of number two.” To date, it’s still a form of the modern IT movies that we have not yet seen get released, but I’m patiently waiting for it, as I can’t let go of the feeling that it will fix the parts of the sequel that don’t work and let the best part of the film shine.

As structured, one of the unfortunate flaws of this half of Stephen King’s story is that a large percentage of the film has the characters taking their own paths through Derry to mentally return to the mission at hand. Outside of being a nostalgia-tinged coming-of-age story, IT Chapter One makes magic with the protagonists’ camaraderie and the group’s interpersonal dynamics, and while we get a taste of that returning in the Jade of the Orient sequence, the Losers Club almost immediately fractures. By the time they are back together for the third act, the plot clouds the chemistry.

There is a reason why Stephen King wrote IT to be non-linear and jump back and forth in time, and the theatrical cut of IT Chapter Two shines a light on it. It’s not a bad film (as I explain in greater detail in my CinemaBlend review), but it’s missing the full power of its predecessor, and it’s easy to imagine an edit of the movies that better reflects the structure of the book could be the superior cinematic experience – even while potentially being seven hours long.

How To Watch Andy Muschietti's IT Chapter Two

Like both the IT miniseries and IT Chapter One, IT Chapter Two is presently available to stream if you have an HBO Max subscription, but other digital options including purchasing and renting the movie via Amazon, Google Play, Apple, and Vudu. If you’re building the Ultimate Stephen King Collection, you’re going to want to get the movie on 4K.

Come Wednesday, the next edition of Adapting Stephen King is going to be returning to the CinemaBlend Television section because I’ll be taking a look at the third and final season of Mr. Mercedes – which is based on the novel Finders Keepers. In the meantime, you can explore all of my previous columns by clicking through the banners below.

The making and release of Tommy Lee Wallace’s IT miniseries from 1990 was a landmark moment in the history of Stephen King adaptations. Not only did it pull off the impossible by bringing to life an epic book thought of as being unadaptable, but it opened King’s eyes to the possibilities that existed on the small screen for his work – which in turn resulted in the development of 1994’s The Stand miniseries, 1997’s The Shining miniseries, and more. The small screen nightmare left an indelible mark, and the face of Tim Curry’s Pennywise The Dancing Clown haunted audiences for years.

Despite this immense success, the dream of bringing IT to the big screen didn’t wholly dissipate, and the effort became renewed in 2009 when Warner Bros. purchased the rights to Stephen King’s book. Initially Dave Kajganich was hired by the studio to pen the screenplay, but that version stayed locked in the development stages for years. It wasn’t until 2012 and the hiring of writer/director Cary Fukunaga that things started moving forward in earnest, as it was then that a key, game-changing idea was introduced for the adaptation: instead of making IT as one movie, it would become two.

Unfortunately, that brilliant decision didn’t exactly lead to smooth sailing ahead. In the next couple of years, the project moved to Warner Bros. subsidiary New Line Cinema, got Stephen King’s personal stamp of approval, and even hired Will Poulter to star as Pennywise… but then it suffered a massive blow in early 2015. Just months before the scheduled start of production, it was announced that Cary Fukunaga was leaving the film. There were whispers that the Warner Bros. was balking at the idea of developing IT as two separate movies, and Fukunaga later said that the studio feared they “couldn’t control” him.

Panic was in the air among Constant Readers, who feared that the dream of seeing Pennywise on the big screen was dead. But then the ship was righted. It was reported in July 2015 that Mama director Andy Muschietti was coming aboard the production, and the two-part approach was back on the table. A little less than a year after that, the studio officially put the film on their release schedule for September 2017, and principal photography began in summer 2016 with a talented young cast including Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, and Jeremy Ray Taylor as the members of The Losers Club, and Bill Skarsgård as the monstrous Pennywise. Cary Fukunaga and Chase Palmer are still credited for their work on the screenplay, with Gary Dauberman having written the later drafts.

Anticipation for the movie was high, but the actual results were unprecedented. Andy Muschietti’s IT: Chapter One became a global phenomenon and the biggest horror movie of all time – grossing over $700 million at the worldwide box office. Ironically released 27 years after the 1990 miniseries (a.k.a. the length of Pennywise’s hibernation period), the film has a stellar legacy as both a remake and a treatment of the beloved novel, and I’m digging into both aspects in this week’s Adapting Stephen King.

How Andy Muschietti’s IT Differs From Tommy Lee Wallace’s IT Miniseries

As I noted in my column about Tommy Lee Wallace’s IT miniseries, the original adaptation of Stephen King’s monster epic is remarkably faithful – though there are limitations that is has as a direct result of it being a miniseries that aired on network television. As everyone knows, there are particular limitations regarding language and violence (and they used to be far stricter in the 1990s). Being made as an R-rated feature, Andy Muschietti’s IT: Chapter One never had that leash around its neck, and it shows. Just as in the novel, the kid characters curse up a storm a la normal kids, and Pennywise is freed to be its sadistic and savage self, starting with biting off the arm of little Georgie Denbrough (Jackson Robert Scott) in the movie’s opening scene.

In addition to Pennywise’s attacks being just as brutal as they are in the book, it’s also worth highlighting that the character’s depiction is also closer to what King described on the page than the Tim Curry version – who memorably is decked out in a bright yellow, green and purple suit. For the film, the costume designers went back to the “white-silver clown suit” with colorful pompom buttons (albeit minus the pair of “oversized orange shoes”), and Bill Skarsgård is utterly terrifying.

In regards to the narrative, both the miniseries and IT: Chapter One use most of the same plot points and make the same exclusions, but one thing that the 2017 release has that the 1990 one doesn’t is the house on Neibolt Street. The creepy building isn’t mentioned at all in the original adaptation, but Andy Muschietti’s film restores it as the access hub for the Losers Club to find Pennywise, and properly utilizes it as a den of horrors for one of the movie’s most memorable sequences.

There are other, smaller ways that the film utilizes material from the book that the miniseries doesn’t – like Pennywise coming back every 27 years instead of every 30; there being more of an emphasis on Stan’s Judaism; and a few turtle-related Easter eggs – but there are definitely more comparisons to be made than contrasts.

How Andy Muschietti’s IT Differs From The Book

When IT was first announced as a two-part film project, it was an idea that fans immediately appreciated because of how obvious and workable the approach would be. Stephen King’s book goes back and forth between two time periods on the same timeline, and while properly covering both would have been impossible with the runtime real estate of the average feature film, it was wholly logical to separate the two halves of the narrative and make them stand up on their own. As such, the most prominent thing that stands out about the movie compared to the novel is the fact that the adult versions of the main characters aren’t featured at all, and the kids’ part of the story is changed from being flashbacks to being linear.

The second biggest change is the time shift. When Stephen King’s IT was first published in 1986, the adult-centric half of the novel was written to be contemporary, and the movie adaptation essentially restores that idea… mostly. It’s clear that the filmmakers wanted the work to still have heavy 1980s energy, so the children’s half of the story was moved from 1957/1958 to 1988/1989 (positioning 2019’s IT: Chapter Two to be set in 2016/2017).

As far as the depictions of the characters go, the most significant change is the treatment of Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs). In the book, it’s Mike who is the one who serves as the de facto historian of the group and has the resources that reveal the long history of Pennywise in Derry, Maine – but the fact that he is the seventh and final member of the Losers Club seemingly prevents that from happening, as the movie needs to get that information into the story before the whole group comes together. With Mike not becoming a prominent figure in the narrative until the second hour of the film, it’s Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor) who ostensibly teaches his pals about the town’s rotten past.

The majority of major plot lines from the book are kept in the adaptation, but there are certain scenes that are missing – including some that are featured in the 1990 miniseries. The movie skips over the team-building scene where the characters work together to build a makeshift dam in the woods (resulting in them getting yelled at by a police officer), and it doesn’t include the Losers getting ahold of silver nuggets and discovering that Beverly is the best amongst them with a slingshot. There are other details left out as well, but notably some are restored to the “canon” with sequences in IT: Chapter Two (such as Ritchie having a terrifying encounter with Derry’s Paul Bunyan statue).

The most significant changes definitely come at the end. The movie totally skips over everything about the Ritual of Chüd as a means of killing Pennywise, and it invents the bit with the group splitting up and Beverly (Sophia Lillis) being kidnapped. The adaptation also opts not to include Belch (Jake Sim) and Vic (Logan Thompson) in the third act – including their gruesome murders) and instead has Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton) attack the Losers Club by himself at the Neibolt House.

Lastly, there’s the matter of the monsters. When Stephen King was writing IT, a significant part of his approach was the idea of making the book a monster extravaganza that would feature all varieties of ghouls and horrors – including werewolves, mummies, a Frankenstein, and more (all of whom, of course, are Pennywise in alternate forms). The film still includes the leper that attacks Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer), as he really is the perfect form to torment the hypochondriac character, and there is a moment in the final battle when It transforms into a mummy, but mostly it opts to create new forms for the eponymous shapeshifter, such as the burnt corpses that haunt Mike, the headless boy that comes at Ben in the library, and the flute-playing woman in the Modigliani-esque painting that torments Stan.

Is It Worthy Of The King?

When I reviewed Andy Muschietti’s IT for its theatrical release, espousing my full appreciation for the work required about 1,200 words… and in this section of this column I only have about 300 words. That puts me at disadvantage when it comes to fully and properly addressing the question posed above, so I’ll start by addressing the subject in absolute terms: IT: Chapter One is unequivocally among the best Stephen King adaptations ever made.

There are two primary elements behind this fact. The first is the depiction of the Losers Club and the phenomenal casting job that was done to find each young actor. Every single one of them stands out individually in their own unique way, but what’s really special is the effortless rapport that exists in their group chemistry. If I didn’t know any better, I could be convinced that Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, and Jeremy Ray Taylor already knew each other prior to joining the project and were cast based on their preexisting bond.

And then there’s Pennywise. Going into the film, every Stephen King fan I knew put Tim Curry’s performance from the 1990 miniseries on a pedestal – and deservedly so, given how phenomenal his work is.  But that just makes what Bill Skarsgård does all the more impressive. While horror is typically a genre of diminishing returns, Skarsgård’s Pennywise is chill-inducing no matter how many times one watches the movie. His drooling, eye-shifting performance is every shade of phenomenal and perfect, with the work of makeup, special effects, and visual effects teams turning him into one of cinema’s greatest modern monsters.

IT: Chapter One is the best adaptation of the best half of one of Stephen King’s best books, and while IT: Chapter Two has a significant impact on its legacy, I’ll wait to address that more directly in my Adapting Stephen King column scheduled for November 16.

How To Watch Andy Muschietti’s IT

Andy Muschietti’s IT has had a tendency to bounce around between streaming services, but at the time of this movie’s publication it’s possibly as widely available as it has ever been, as it is available on both Netflix and HBO Max. If you don’t have subscriptions to either one, you still have plenty of options, including digital rental and/or purchase on Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, and Apple. The best option for physical media collectors building their own Ultimate Stephen King collection will find that the best option is the 4K set released in 2018.

Coming up next week, Adapting Stephen King will be jumping back to the CinemaBlend streaming section, as I’ll be taking a look at what is another one of the best Stephen King movies of all time: Mike Flanagan’s Gerald’s Game, which was released in 2017 as a Netflix original. The column will be up on the site next Wednesday, and you can discover all of the previous installments by clicking through the banners below.

Warner Bros. seems to have really hit their stride when it comes to DC projects, set both within and outside the main DCEU. One of the most highly anticipated upcoming DC movies is Andy Mushcietti’s long-awaited blockbuster The Flash. The movie’s cast includes two different Batman actors, as well as the introduction of Supergirl, played by Sasha Calle. And the latter Flash star recently spoke about the “emotional” experience of being the first Latina Supergirl.

The contents of The Flash are being largely kept under wraps, but it will seemingly open up the multiverse for the DCEU. Fans are eager to meet the shared universe’s version of Supergirl, who will be played by Sasha Calle. She recently spoke to V Magazine about the importance of representation, and the strong emotions she felt on set as the beloved Kryptonian. As Calle put it,

How sweet is that? Clearly her role as Supergirl means a great deal to Sasha Calle. And she’s not only invested because of her personal career, but because of how young Latina women might feel seeing her fly around and kick ass in The Flash and beyond. The 26 year-old actress seems to wish she had such positive representation on the big screen when she was young.

Considering how emotional Sasha Calle got from seeing the dailies on The Flash, there’s no telling how much of a punch her role as Supergirl will be once the movie is edited together and given appropriate visual effects. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until next year to see how it all plays out on the big screen. 

As previously mentioned, Warner Bros. has been keeping their cards close to the chest regarding the mysterious contents of The Flash. The movie hasn’t been given a trailer yet, although some limited footage was revealed at DC Fandome. Some brief moments were also featured in DC’s 2022 super trailer, which you can watch below. Check it out,

The Flash movie sat in development hell for a number of years, with a number of directors signing on and promptly departing the project. But IT filmmaker Andy Muschietti followed through, and completed photography for the mysterious blockbuster. Unfortunately, it recently faced yet another delay, moving from November 2022 to June 2023. Hopefully we’ll get to see some more of Supergirl sooner rather than later.

The Flash will hit theaters on June 23rd. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.