Netflix has shared more images from Guillermo del Toro‘s hotly anticipated Frankenstein.
The film is based on Mary Shelley’s classic tale of a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.
New photos released Tuesday show Jacob Elordi in character as the famed monster, as well as stars Mia Goth (Elizabeth Lavenza) and Oscar Isaac (Victor Frankenstein) on set.
The movie, produced by del Toro and also starring Felix Kammerer, David Bradley, Lars Mikkelsen, Christian Convery, with Charles Dance, and Christoph Waltz, is set to premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival, followed by a global release on Netflix in November.
Del Toro is best known for his three-time Oscar-winning Pan’s Labyrinth (2006); his flair for horror also winning over audiences in 2017 with The Shape of Water. With Frankenstein, he continues a relationship with Netflix formed by Pinocchio, nominated for the Academy Award for best animated feature in 2023.
See more from Frankenstein below.
Mia Goth in ‘FRANKENSTEIN’.
Netflix
Oscar Isaac, Guillermo del Toro behind-the-scenes for ‘FRANKENSTEIN’.
The new film from Japanese director Naomi Kawase (Embracing, The Mourning Forest) that stars Vicky Krieps (Corsage, The Dead Don’t Hurt, Hot Milk) has been added to the competition lineup of the 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival.
Yakushima’s Illusion (L’Illusion de Yakushima) is a French, Japanese, Luxembourgish, and Belgian co-production.
Past plot descriptions of the movie have said that it tells the story of Corry, a French heart transplants department coordinator who gets sent to a hospital in Japan to help improve its transplants department given that organ transplants are still largely taboo. She lives with a photographer, Jin, who is originally from the island of Yakushima in the south of Japan.
“When I make a movie, I follow an invisible thread – one woven into the larger tapestry of dreams,” said Krieps. “This particular thread led me deep into the ancient forests of Yakushima and back into the gentle heart of childhood.” Concluded the star: “I walked the delicate line between ghosts and reality, drawn by the mystery of love.”
The film, which according to IMDb also stars Kan’ichirô Satô, will have its world premiere in Locarno on Friday, Aug. 15, festival organizers said on Tuesday. Krieps is also listed as an executive producer on IMDb.
“Thus bringing the total films in the Concorso Internazionale to 18, Kawase’s latest work will join the new films by Abbas Fahdel, Abdellatif Kechiche, Alexandre Koberidze, Ben Rivers, Dane Komljen, Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter, Fabrice Aragno, Hana Jušić, Ivana Mladenović, Janicke Askevold, Julian Radlmaier, Kamal Aljafari, Maureen Fazendeiro, Radu Jude, Rosanne Pel, Sho Miyake, Valentina and Nicole Bertani,” the Locarno festival said. All selected films will compete for the festival’s top honor, the Pardo d’Oro, or Golden Leopard, which will this year be awarded by the competition jury led by Cambodian auteur Rithy Panh.
The 78th edition of the Swiss film fest takes place Aug. 6-16.
Elle Fanning said Hunger Games fans are the reason she was cast as Effie Trinket in the upcoming prequel film.
During a recent interview with MTV, the actress chatted about her casting in Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping and taking the role over from Elizabeth Banks, who portrayed an older version of Effie in the franchise’s first four films.
“It was funny because I think fans made this happen in a way,” Fanning said. “The studio [Lionsgate] said they were getting kind of hounded online, like, ‘Elle needs to play Effie.’”
The A Complete Unknown star added that she’s especially excited to play Effie because she’s been “a huge fan” for some time.
“Effie has always been my favorite character,” she explained. “I think Elizabeth Banks brought so much — just even beyond those books — layers to that character. I love her, and I have got to talk to Elizabeth. We’ve texted, and she sent me flowers and said, ‘May the odds be in your favor,’ so very special.”
Though Fanning confirmed they “haven’t started filming” Sunrise on the Reaping just yet, she noted that they’re already thinking about her version of the character and will “hopefully make the fans happy.”
In the prequel film, Effie serves as the stylist for Haymitch Abernathy (who will be played by Joseph Zada) in the preparation for the 50th Hunger Games. Other castmembers include Ralph Fiennes, Kieran Culkin, Whitney Peak, Mckenna Grace, Glenn Close, Billy Porter, Iris Apatow, Jesse Plemons, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Maya Hawke and Lili Taylor, among others.
Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-president Erin Westerman previously said there was “only one answer” regarding who could play the iconic Effie in Sunrise on the Reaping, and that was Fanning.
“From the moment Suzanne released the book, one question echoed from fans around the world: Who will play Effie?” Westerman said. “Elizabeth Banks made her iconic — so who could honor that legacy while bringing us back to Effie’s early, most formative days? For us, there was only one answer. Elle Fanning’s career has been transcendent. She has a rare presence — warm, sparkling and layered with extraordinary depth. She was the undeniable fan favorite from the start, and we’re honored she answered the call. The odds, it turns out, were in our favor.”
Sunrise on the Reaping is set to hit theaters on Nov. 20, 2026.
Cameron Boyce‘s mother is expressing her appreciation for Adam Sandler for the subtle tribute he included in Happy Gilmore 2 for the late actor.
Boyce, who died in 2019 at age 20, appears at the beginning of the sequel, after Sandler’s character, Happy Gilmore, approaches a golfing check-in booth. The scene then cuts to two people sitting behind the counter, watching a show on a small TV. That’s when viewers see a quick glimpse of Boyce on the television screen, in what appears to be an episode from his Disney Channel show Jessie, where he played Luke Ross from 2011 to 2015.
“Adam and Cameron talked quite a bit in the days leading up to his death,” Libby Boyce wrote on Instagram Sunday. “Cameron was supposed to be in [Hubie Halloween] and they were strategizing. They had a bond I think related to being authentic, funny and just keeping it real. Adam always finds a way to keep Cams memory alive which warms our heart.”
In a second post on Monday, she shared a screenshot from the new movie and wrote in the caption, “Thank you @adamsandler for honoring Cam’s legacy in Happy Gilmore 2.”
Boyce and Sandler first worked together on 2010’s Grown Ups, in which Boyce played Keithie Feder, one of Sandler’s Lenny’s sons. They both reprised their roles in 2013’s Grown Ups 2.
The actor, who was also known for his roles in Descendants, Jessie and Mrs. Fletcher, died “in his sleep due to a seizure which was a result of an ongoing medical condition,” a family spokesperson shared at the time. Since his death, Sandler has always spoken highly of Boyce and also included a tribute in the credits of his 2020 film Hubie Halloween.
Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” arrived with a bang, taking in $218 million globally. But Marvel didn’t totally eat DC’s lunch in this case, with “Superman” also pulling in another $19.8 million overseas. That gives it $289.5 million domestically to go with $213.2 million internationally for a running global total of $502.7 million.
As of this writing, that’s good enough to make “Superman” the eighth-biggest movie of 2025 overall, trailing “F1” ($509.6 million), “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” ($591.9 million), “How to Train Your Dragon” ($605.9 million), “Jurassic World Rebirth” ($718.3 million), “A Minecraft Movie” ($955.1 million), “Lilo & Stitch” ($1.01 billion), and the massive Chinese animated blockbuster “Ne-Zha 2” ($2.2 billion). Before all’s said and done, Supes will make his way further up that list.
One of the only downsides when it comes to “Superman” so far is the fact that the overseas grosses are lagging pretty far behind those from North America. Even so, against a reported budget of $225 million, the film is well on its way to turning a profit for Warner Bros. and DC Studios. The break-even point for “Superman” has been pegged somewhere between $500 and $700 million, with the number for breaking even purely from theatrical revenue probably being closer to the latter number.
How high is James Gunn’s Superman going to fly?
Warner Bros.
In any event, this early success has given Gunn, his DC Studios co-head Peter Safran, and Warner Bros. some confidence as they press forth with their plans for the new DCU. The franchise already included “Creature Commandos,” which aired its first season last year and now has a second season in the works. Meanwhile, the DCU has “Peacemaker” season 2 coming in August, with the films “Supergirl” and “Clayface” slated to follow suit in theaters next year. A new “Wonder Woman” movie is seemingly on the fast track as well, with plenty of other projects at various stages of development.
When Gunn and Safran took over at DC Studios, they hatched an ambitious plan for a unified DCU. It really began with “Superman,” and if the film hadn’t worked out, the future of the franchise might have been on uncertain ground. Fortunately, it’s panning out, as Gunn’s latest directorial effort has also been a hit critically speaking. With any luck, the audience’s enthusiasm for “Superman” should help garner further interest in “Supergirl” in particular.
The larger question is: Just how high can this movie fly? At this point, $600 million is a lock, and $700 million remains within reach. Beyond that? We’ll have to see how things shake out. Either way, “Superman” is easily the highest-grossing DC film to come out since “The Batman” cleared $770 million at the box office in 2022. As you may recall, the company’s 2023 slate was something of a disaster, with “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” “The Flash,” “Blue Beetle,” and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” all either disappointing or flat-out bombing that year. Similarly, the much-hyped “Joker: Folie à Deux” proved to be an utter disaster a year later. As such, regardless of what happens from here, “Superman” has to be considered a win for DC’s new regime.
endlessly surprising “Barbarian,” has put together a film that taps into very modern fears without laying it on too thick. The American landscape is a place currently ruled by distrust and fear, and fear drummed up by confused parents seems to reign supreme. Parents go to town meetings now and shout about fictional things they saw on Fox News, outraged for the sake of being outraged. It’s enough to drive everyone insane. Paranoia is everywhere. “Weapons” finds clever ways to weaponize that.
Weapons is like a horror movie take on Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia
Quantrell Colbert/Warner Bros. Entertainment
After the film’s initial set-up, in which all but one student from the same elementary school class vanishes into the night in the town of Maybrook, Cregger crafts a film that owes a considerable debt to ensemble tales like Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction.” Like those films, “Weapons” is telling a big, sprawling story from several different points of view, and as the narrative unfolds, we become aware of a much bigger picture. It’s ambitious stuff, and the fact that Cregger pulls it off in a manner that seems almost effortless is a testament to his storytelling skills.
When the kids go missing, everyone wants answers, especially the parents. Since all of the children were part of the same classroom, suspicion falls on teacher Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), a kind but awkward young woman who may or may not have a drinking problem. Ms. Gandy is just as puzzled as everyone else, and starts to do her own sleuthing into the mystery. She’s not alone. Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), the father of one of the missing kids, is convinced Ms. Gandy knows more than she’s saying and he takes it upon himself to start studying the clues. Then there’s local beat cop Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), who has a connection with Ms. Gandy and some secrets of his own. Among this gaggle of characters, Cregger also throws in the sympathetic school principal (Benedict Wong), a drug addict not above stealing to get his fix (Austin Abrams), and young Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher), the only kid from Ms. Gandy’s class who didn’t go missing.
To say more would do the film a disservice, because like “Barbarian,” “Weapons” is a movie where the element of surprise is key. Cregger’s script slowly pulls back the curtain, eventually giving us definitive answers as to what is going on, but by the time we get to the truth, “Weapons” has gone to dark, twisted, and surprisingly funny places. Cregger has a background in comedy and has a unique grasp on blending horror and humor. “Weapons” is frequently scary but there are moments (like the ghoulish grand finale) that had me cackling with glee. Horror and comedy are subjective genres, and mashing them together successfully is no easy feat.
Weapons combines humor, horror, and interesting characters
Quantrell Colbert/Warner Bros. Entertainment
Cregger has only grown as a filmmaker, and his control of mood and atmosphere here is fantastic. He wisely avoids going heavy on jumpscares and instead leans into the mystery of it all — fear of the unknown is something we’re all very familiar with, and “Weapons” exploits that. It also paints an accurate portrait of suburban life, where liquor stores and dive bars share space with finely manicured homesteads. Where there’s always one house that seems unusually dark, unusually quiet, unusually secretive. The suburbs are a lie America tells itself; a place where safety is an illusion and dangerous things are lurking just behind someone’s front door.
“Weapons” also makes the interesting decision to make its characters inherently flawed. Garner’s Justine Gandy is likable and sympathetic but also prone to making a series of unwise choices. To be clear, these aren’t the standard dumb choices so many horror heroines make, but rather choices you and I might make if we were in a similar situation. Then there’s Brolin’s understandably upset father, who refuses to simply sit back and hope the local authorities figure things out. He’s brash and rude and even a bit unlikable, but we can understand where he’s coming from.
Indeed, all the characters who populate “Weapons” feel genuine in a way that might come across as disarming. This has the sneaky effect of making us invested in their stories and worrying about the potentially terrible fates that await them. Praise also must be given to Amy Madigan, who is pitch-perfect in a tricky role that I won’t dare spoil.
Weapons confirms Zach Cregger is an exciting voice in modern horror
Quantrell Colbert/Warner Bros. Entertainment
Part of what made “Barbarian” so special is the way it kept viewers constantly guessing as to where the story was going. “Weapons” takes a similar approach, although I think it’s important to say that Cregger’s script isn’t cheating or being shocking for the sake of being shocking. There’s a method to this madness, and the film actually loses a slight bit of its power as the last act fills in the blanks and gives us answers as to what’s been going on. At the same time, “Weapons” also wisely leaves certain things intentionally unexplained simply because in the world of horror movies, some things are beyond explanation.
A wonderful mixture of bad vibes and macabre fun, “Weapons” is one of the best horror movies of the year, and further confirmation that writer-director Zach Cregger is one of the most exciting voices in the genre right now.
