The action-packed first trailer for James Cameron‘s next Avatar fantasy epic has leaked online — and the footage looks spectacular.
Disney has released the trailer for Avatar: Fire & Ash “exclusively” in theaters in front of Fantastic Four: First Steps. And just like with Christopher Nolan’s “only in theaters” trailer for The Odyssey earlier this month, grainy unauthorized copies have begun to circulate online. Disney is clearly trying its best to cut down on the viral spread — the Fire & Ash trailer has been a bit tougher to find Nolan’s — with copies being taken down almost as fast as they pop up.
Needless to say, reaction from moviegoers who watched the trailer in theaters on Friday has been effusive. Fan site The Sietch of Sci-Fi said the trailer “looks incredible.” Another raved that the trailer was “some of the most beautiful footage I’ve seen all year [and I was] struck by the real sense of doom and rage — fist fights inside of cosmic volcanoes, heroes terrified, huge aerial battles.” While another entertainment writer wrote, “[The trailer] started out as ‘meh, more of the same’ and ended with ‘yup, another billion to James Cameron.’” And a film critic wrote: “The visuals are (somehow) on another level. There is no doubt in my mind that this WILL be the biggest movie of 2025, and ‘epic’ doesn’t feel like it does this trailer justice.”
The trailer returns moviegoers to Pandora and introduces two new tribes, the Wind Traders and the fire-hurling Ash People clan. The footage shows (trailer spoilers here — if that’s a thing) Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), his partner Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and his Na’vi family engaged in intense arial fighting with the Ash People clan. There’s also the return of the sinister Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), now sporting dramatic white, black and red warpaint, suggesting he might have made an alliance with the Ash People. At one point, a captive Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) is told by a new villain, Varang (Oona Chaplin), “Your goddess has no dominion here.” While Sully warns Neytiri, “We cannot live like this,” and is taken captive and paraded before the Pandora occupation forces. And young Spider (Jack Champion) seems like he’s in jeopardy quite a bit.
The first Avatar, released in 2009, became the highest-grossing film of all time, raking in $2.9 billion globally. The first sequel, 2022’s The Way of Water, charted as the third-highest-grossing movie of all time (with $2.3 billion), beating expectations and silencing doubters that the Oscar winner could pull off another Avatar blockbuster. At this point, few doubt Cameron’s ability to generate massive box office returns with the Avatar franchise and confidence is high that Fire & Ash will deliver when its released as a major holiday tentpole on Dec. 19.
While a run time hasn’t yet been announced, Cameron has teased that Fire and Ash “will be a bit longer” than The Way of Water. The last film was three hours and 12 minutes.
“In a nutshell, we had too many great ideas packed into act one of [Way of Water],” Cameron recently said. “The [film] was moving like a bullet train, and we weren’t drilling down enough on character. So I said, ‘Guys, we’ve got to split it.’ [Fire & Ash] will actually be a little bit longer than [Way of Water].”
Cameron plans five Avatar films and has said he intends to direct them all, as well. Much of the footage, Cameron has said, has already been shot. Avatar 4 is set for Dec. 21, 2029, and Avatar 5 will arrive Dec. 19, 2031.
Cameron also hopes to adapt the Charles Pellegrino books Ghosts of Hiroshima and Last Train From Hiroshima as soon as his Avatar schedule permits. The film would focus on the true story of a Japanese man during World War II who survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima as well as the explosion in Nagasaki. If it comes to fruition, it would mark Cameron’s first non-Avatar film since 1997’s Titanic.
Fire & Ash cast members include Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Britain Dalton, Jack Champion, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Matt Gerald, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Bailey Bass, Jemaine Clement and David Thewlis.
The official description of Fire and Ash: “Jake and Neytiri’s family grapples with grief after Neteyam’s death, encountering a new, aggressive Na’vi tribe, the Ash People, who are led by the fiery Varang, as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges.”
This group of rising actors have crossed their latest project off their lists.
Crossed, the post-apocalyptic comic book adaptation from The Boys creator Garth Ennis, has set its ensemble cast, which is led by Devin Druid (13 Reasons Why) and Ash Santos (American Horror Story).
The duo star as Stan and Cindy, the leaders of a group of strangers thrown together as they attempt to escape northward away from the inflicted konwn as the Crossed. In this world, those affected by a mysterious disease appear to have a cross on their foreheads, with these people follow their worst impulses. Imagine if zombies were just humans who their intellect, but are also homicidal maniacs.
The cast includes other survivors on the run, played by Ethan Jones Romero (Law & Order) as Thomas; Kyla Hee (Psychosis) as Kelly; Chido Nwokocha (Top Gun: Maverick) as Kitrick; Spenser Granese (Dope Thief) as Brett; Bob Morley (The 100) as Randall; Ana Mulvoy Ten (American Crime) as Sheena; Steven Hack (Little Death) as ‘Geoff; and newcomer Lorenzo Ross as Patrick.
Owen Harn (Cobra Kai) leads the infected Crossed as the villain Horsecock. He is joined by Fedor Steer (Haunted Mansion) as Face and Kelvin Adekunle (City of Love) as Stump.
The cast also includes Angie Campbell as Amy and Peter Falls as Joel.
Six Studios is backing the project, which is now in post-production after wrapping principal pphotography in Los Angeles. Ennis penned the script, inspired by the original 10 issues he published from 2008-10. Rob Jabbaz directed.
“Fans of Crossed have speculated on our cast for some time, and in the spirit of helping all Crossed fans survive the coming apocalypse, we are pleased to reveal our exceptional cast who are bringing Garth’s thrilling and horror-filled comic series to life on screen,” said producer Carl Choi of Six Studios.
Its creative team also includes cinematographer Benji Bakshi (Bone Tomahawk), production designer Freddy Waff (Megalopolis), stunt coordinator Steve Brown (Avatar: The Way Of Water) and editor Greg D’Auria (Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3). David Guglielmo oversaw casting.
Druid is represented by Untitled Entertainment and Gang Tyre; Santos by Gersh and M88; Romero by Gersh and Vickery Management; Hee by Innovative Artists and Corner Booth Entertainment; Nwokocha by TalentWorks and Main Title Entertainment; Granese by Untitled Entertainment; Morley by Brave Artists; Mulvoy Ten by TalentWorks and Strand Entertainment; Hack by O’Neill Talent Group; Ross by Osbrink Agency; Harn by Amber Management; Steer by Burton & Robinson Agency; Adekunle by Aqua Talent Agency and Mattiee Management; Campbell by NBS Entertainment; Falls by Bohemia Entertainment.
Twenty-seven years ago, Armageddon benefited from a marketing campaign that left a lasting impression.
Director Michael Bay’s sci-fi disaster movie starred Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton and Liv Tyler in the story of a team of oil drillers sent into space to destroy an asteroid before it hits Earth. Disney’s Buena Vista Pictures released the film July 1, 1998, and THR reported then that the TV advertising spend was less than for a typical tentpole due to increased visibility elsewhere.
“We benefited from some very creative executions,” then-Buena Vista Pictures Marketing president John Cywinski told THR at the time.
As noted in the story, a key example was “a series of building art in Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas where they made it appear as if an asteroid had blown a hole through the building.” The concept, which likely wouldn’t have been approved post-9/11, was the talk of the town, with trompe l’oeil billboards near the 101 and 405 freeways in L.A.
“It was very smart and shows a great way to use outdoor campaigns,” says Russell Schwartz, former New Line president of theatrical marketing. “Most outdoor [marketing] is wasted because they’re basically taking the poster and just blowing it up.”
The unsettling visuals helped the film hit big, as Armageddon collected $553 million at the box office (more than $1 billion today) to leave the year’s similarly themed Deep Impact in the dust and become 1998’s highest-grossing title.
Today, Armageddon continues to get buzz from Affleck’s snarky DVD commentary track. (“It’s a real plan at NASA to train oil drillers?” Affleck recalled asking Bay.) Earlier this year, Affleck quipped that his commentary track is “maybe my best work in my career.”
This story appeared in the July 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
In 1996, former hockey player Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) was able to take three steps and pound his grandfather’s “really old” driver 400-plus yards. For self-serious golfers, it required suspension of disbelief at the highest levels. General audiences sure didn’t seem to mind.
Since that time, the only technology that has accelerated as quickly as golf clubs can be seen in the changes to our video distribution systems. In Netflix’s Happy Gilmore 2, the contents of Happy’s bag get a major upgrade — whether or not streaming is an upgrade to theatrical in the delivery of video content is an entirely different conversation.
Martin Borgmeier, who can actually can drive the golf ball 400 yards — and that’s just with a warmup swing — has embraced to great success how physics inform the long ball. So who better to break down the biomechanics of Happy Gilmore’s long game than the man who beat out all-world golfer (and a big hitter in his own right) Bryson DeChambeau at the 2022 World Long Drive Championship. We got a few tips to try out along the way.
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You were five years old when Happy Gilmore came out — what is your relationship to that movie?
It was the first golf movie I watched as a kid. I started golf at the age of nine. It was definitely the first (golf) movie I’ve watched, and all of the rest came after that — so, like, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Tin Cup…because it was my big dream as a like 10-14 year old to become a professional golfer and basically become the next Tiger Woods. It didn’t work out. (Laughs.) But like all these movies, obviously, were a big part of my life. And Happy Gilmore— actually, I’ve watched it back, like, maybe 10 years ago or so, and I realized at that point [that] all the jokes and all that stuff, most of it didn’t even [register]. But the one thing I I knew as a kid — and I remember it was — he hit it extremely far. He had his super-crazy pre-shot routine and everything — the run-up and all that stuff — and I just found it funny and enjoyed the long drives and terrible putts as a kid.
We’ve all tried the Happy Gilmore swing — have you had success with it?
Yeah, it’s so funny you say that because I just posted a Reel on my Instagram for a Bad Birdie giveaway. (Bad Birdie is a golf apparel company and a Borgmeier sponsor.) It was an ice hockey jersey (Gilmore’s first sport). [I did] the crazy approach — the Happy Gilmore swing — a little bit exaggerated, even with, like, probably 10-15 steps and a little bit of yelling involved as well. So yeah, I’ve tried it, and actually it worked pretty well.
[But] the way I did it in the video — obviously on purpose — I’m kind of just like poking the golf ball a little bit, and it falls off tee (for comedic effect). That turned out to be much harder than actually striking it well, because the biomechanics behind it— [The Happy Gilmore swing] is actually a great drill for long-drive. What you have to accomplish is, you have to get your pressure forward into your lead leg just before you make contact with the golf ball, and at the same time, stay back with your upper body, because otherwise you cannot swing up on it. So basically, forcing that by running up to it is a great way to practice that element.
Your posted longest drives are 484 yards in competition and 520 yards in exhibition — how far did a good Happy Gilmore-swing go for you?
I mean, when I really pounded it, it’s probably not even that different to when I’m really going after it (with a normal long-drive swing.) It’s not too much about the speed. I think the speed is pretty much the same — it’s fast (Borgmeier’s record ball speed is 239.3 mph) — but the crazy thing is really making the contact while keeping the face square.
Adam Sandler as Happy Gilmore in Happy Gilmore 2.
Courtesy of Netflix
You’re 6’4” and 240 lbs. There’s undoubtedly a big strength factor in long drives. But you mostly talk about biomechanics as a means to long drives — what do you see as the breakdown of brains vs. brawn?
Eighty-twenty. 80 percent mechanics and the remaining 20 percent is — let’s call it strength. But all of the work we do in the gym is mostly to stay healthy and actually make our bodies be capable of handling all the stress we put onto them on a daily basis, right? Because, I mean, obviously it’s a one-sided motion. We rarely hit golf balls left-handed…so it’s really about staying strong and healthy and being able to withstand all the stress we put onto it.
But to really hit it far, let’s say 80 percent is biomechanics, and then that remaining 20 percent I called strength, is basically your body allowing yourself to swing faster because it knows it can withstand all of that and allows you to do that, if that makes sense. Because otherwise, when you look at strongmen, right, the strongest people in the world — if strength was such a big part of it, they would [have the fastest ball speeds] in the world. They’re not. So that’s really how it works, and that’s also what I’ve been doing over the past, like, five, six, seven years, [trying] to figure out, like, how much of what is really important. And if I had to do one thing for the rest of my career, it would be biomechanics only.
Can you analyze Happy Gilmore’s swing for me?In movie-land, his drives go 400-plus yards (with old clubs). How far can a guy of his Adam’s stature and that swing with those clubs really drive a golf ball?
I would guess a 250[-yard drive] would be an amazing drive with that equipment. Because what’s going to happen with modern golf balls and his clubs, is it’s just gonna spin too much. So a lot of the energy— even if he swung really fast with that Happy Gilmore swing, he would lose a lot of energy of that ball just ballooning up in the air [instead of going] forward. Even if it was a really low-degree driver, with current golf balls and titanium drivers, obviously, that energy transfer is going to be much better than with wooden clubs.
When we talk “smash factor” — that’s one of the efficiency data points we use with launch monitors — modern titanium drivers would be around one-and-a-half of the club head speed would be ball speed. So let’s say you swing at 100 mph, it would turn into 150 mph ball speed. I would see that factor at like, roughly 1.3 or something with the wooden club. So it would be much, much, much slower than a titanium driver.
My distance sucks. Give me one or two things I could do, sight unseen, that would instantly add yardage?
It’s a combination of two things. So first of all, being aware that a driver swing is different to an iron swing. So with a driver swing, the golf ball is on a tee, so we don’t have to take the divot after the ball, we can actually swing up on it…and that’s going to improve the launch with the spin, and eventually make the golf ball go up further.
And so the other bit is — it’s actually fairly close to the Happy Gilmore swing, because, [while] he’s doing it in an extreme way, being more athletic in general and being less of a robot, and actually using a little bit of the athleticism we know from other sports…Look at any other sport — even baseball, they move, they freaking move before they swing! The pitcher, before he throws, he’s gonna move, utilizing a little bit of that [athletic movement]. That could just be a slight little trigger move before you take away the club, so making that body shift to the right before you take away the club — or it could be as extreme as the Happy Gilmore swing, but eventually moving our bodies a little bit could definitely help to get a little bit more power into that swing.
I’m gonna try some crazy shit in my garage tonight.
[Laughs] Don’t break your leg!
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Even Tom Basden is surprised by how affecting his new film is.
The Brit, who stars in and wrote The Ballad of Wallis Island with comedian Tim Key, is talking to The Hollywood Reporter about finally getting his film out in theaters in his native Britain and, oddly enough, being a little taken aback by its reception.
“We hit a few ideas early on,” he explains, referencing the short film he, Key and director James Griffiths first made about the characters all the way back in 2006. “Herb’s a little bit washed up, pining for his mid-20s, Charles has been obsessed with this band for a very long time and used to watch the gigs with his wife, who’s now died. Quite organically, a sadness began to come out on the page, a kind of longing,” Basden recalls. “It took us by surprise. And even at the point where we were watching a finished film with an audience, I don’t think we realized how emotional those threads were. It’s very hard to plan for the moments that the audience is going to become emotionally invested.”
Basden and Key’s comedy-drama debuted earlier this year at Sundance, later earning a limited theatrical release in the U.S. in March before it hit theaters in the U.K. in May through Focus Features. It follows musician Herb McGwyer (Basden), formerly half of folk duo McGwyer Mortimer, who has been contracted to play a private gig on the remote Wallis Island by widowed superfan Charles Heath (Key).
But things start to go awry when Herb discovers Charles has also invited ex-bandmate (and actual ex) Nell Mortimer, played by Carey Mulligan, to join. Akemnji Ndifornyen stars as Michael, Nell’s American husband, and Sian Clifford as Amanda, the island’s sole shopkeeper. What transpires is a film bursting at the seams with heart, adored by laymen and critics alike.
“We drew up a list for who could play the part of Nell and Carey was at the top of that list, but we didn’t know her,” says Basden about getting Oscar nominee Mulligan on board. “Tim had been emailed by her about five years earlier, so he had her email by stealth and basically cold-called her.”
According to Basden, Mulligan connected with the material immediately. “She just really responded to the script — I think she wanted to do a comedy,” he says. “She’d done quite a lot of, let’s say serious, quite dark films in the last few years. She wanted to do something that was more comic and more touching. She really believed in it as it was, and had exactly the same aims for the type of film that we wanted it to be.”
Carey Mulligan as Nell and Tim Basden as Herb in The Ballad of Wallis Island.
Focus Features
After the release of their 2007 short, Basden and Key left Wallis Island well alone until 2018. It was then — and with the help of an industry-shattering pandemic — that the pair returned to their feature-length dreams in earnest.
The low-budget movie got everything it needed in just 18 shooting days on location, but even at a cheaper rate, it took some time to find the financing.
“We really believed in the script and we deliberately made it very small,” says Basden. “We’re all in our 40s, or in James’s case, 50s. We’ve made a lot of TV, we understand budgets. We made it a very small film with a very small cast, all shooting in basically two locations and even so, we struggled to get any interest,” he admits. “We were turned down by all the funding bodies in the U.K.: Film4, the BFI…”
“And Tim is such an idealist that he always believed we’d make it,” continues Basden. “I’m a bit more defeatist. (Laughs.) Then we sent it to Carey and not only do you suddenly have something quite real to hold onto — a genuine, Oscar-nominated film star attached to your film — but it gives renewed momentum and confidence for us that people, someone like Carey, really likes the script. But it just feels quite arbitrary, the funding system in the U.K… It’s a fundamentally British film and it’s done best in the U.K., but it took American money to actually get the thing made.”
Basden hopes that The Ballad of Wallis Island — a well-received, popular movie written and starring British talent, about British people and shot in Britain — will provide hope to fellow filmmakers. “I believe that it’s possible in cinema to make things that are original and also really popular,” he says. “There shouldn’t be this divide between reboots, sequels, recycled IP and live-action and then the slightly soporific art-house movies. We must be able to make stuff that’s original and funny and moving but also can be popular and attract a mainstream audience. I haven’t given up on that.”
One of the more amusing aspects of releasing the film both in the U.S. and in the U.K. has been seeing different reactions from Americans and British audiences to the adventures of Herb, Charles and Nell. He says that being in the States when The Ballad of Wallis Island debuted reminded him that his project was “very much an international movie.”
“They’d never seen anything like Tim’s character,” he remembers. “[They were like], ‘He just makes no sense to me.’ And then you show it in the U.K., and we all know people like that. One in four people in the U.K. are like that,” he says of Charles’ bumbling awkwardness and quirky personality. “It’s a very different thing [in the U.K.], where people just tap into the very British subtext of it. But American audiences have been really into it. I think they feel like they’ve discovered something really fresh.”
The heartwarming success of The Ballad of Wallis Island has only left fans with one question: what do Basden and Key have planned next? He jokes: “Carey talks passionately about the sequel and I think, because we made the short and 18 years later released the feature, I think 18 years later we should come back and make the sequel to the feature. Maybe Charles and Amanda will get married, and McGwyer Mortimer are playing at the wedding.”
He tells THR that him and Key have a few ideas they’re working on — one or two of which they are “very excited by.” For now, the duo are trying to soak up the fervid fan reaction to this pretty neat indie they’ve put out into the world. “There’ll come a point where we think about another one, maybe with a slightly bigger budget [and] made with love… But it feels very special to us that we’ve got here.”
With Friday’s streaming launch of Adam Sandler‘s comedy sequel Happy Gilmore 2, Netflix has made sure to tap the movie into the public consciousness.
Ever since Netflix confirmed last year that it was making a sequel to Adam Sandler’s popular 1996 movie, Happy Gilmore, fans have been eagerly awaiting the follow-up. Director Kyle Newacheck‘s new movie sees Sandler reprise his role as an unlikely golfer known for his long drives. Bad Bunny, Benny Safdie and Haley Joel Osment are among the cast additions alongside returning stars Christopher McDonald, Julie Bowen and Ben Stiller.
Even before the trailer dropped in May, the film’s marketing had kicked into gear, with McDonald appearing in character as cocky golfer Shooter McGavin at the WM Phoenix Open golf tournament months prior. Then, the trailer’s release proved to be a big success, according to the streamer.
“People love the original movie,” Netflix content chief Bela Bajaria told the audience during the film’s premiere at New York’s Lincoln Center. “When we released the trailer, fans went nuts. It’s the best trailer performance we’ve had for any Netflix film.”
Christopher McDonald (left) as Shooter McGavin and Adam Sandler as Happy Gilmore in Happy Gilmore 2.
Scott Yamano/Netflix
As The Hollywood Reporter previously reported, Netflix capitalized on this momentum with moves including brand partnerships with U.S. Bank, Callaway, Topgolf and Subway, with the latter featuring prominently in both movies. The ads for Subway center on McDonald, who is also the face of the sandwich spot’s Happy Gilmore meal.
“Subway was a big part of the first one, and so they stepped up and wanted to be in the second one as well,” McDonald recently told THR. “Luckily, we had some great writers from the Happy Gilmore camp who gave me some really fun lines.”
Other unique methods of spreading awareness for Happy Gilmore 2 included transforming the iconic Times Square ball into a golf ball with the titular character’s likeness. Additionally, Sandler appeared in character at last month’s NHL Draft to announce the pick for Happy’s favorite hockey team, the Boston Bruins, and the star even had his own category on Jeopardy! this week.
“Capturing the tone of the iconic first film and preparing fans for the next chapter is a lotta pressure,” says Netflix vp of films marketing Jonathan Helfgot. “You gotta harness the good ideas, block out the bad. Harness. Good. Block. Bad.”
The exec adds, “In all seriousness, Happy is the ultimate disruptor, and it was so much fun to push the limits on this campaign in his style. You could feel the excitement growing with every beat, and it won’t stop now that we’ve released. We can’t wait to celebrate fans’ new cult-favorite moments every step of the way.”
Indeed, the excitement does continue, with Netflix announcing Friday that easter-egg video game Happy Gilmore: Golf Mayhem ’98 Demo is now available to members on eligible TVs and Netflix.com. The retro game allows fans to golf, square off against familiar foes and generally cause mayhem. It’s enough to send Happy Gilmore to his happy place.
