by admin | Apr 30, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles
“Andor” builds up the horrors of the Galactic Empire like no other part of “Star Wars,” focusing on the atrocities they commit — but not the obvious ones, like blowing up planets. Instead, the show is all about the quieter atrocities, the smaller instances of villainy that slowly made people used to the oppression of the Empire. It’s like Alex Lawther’s Nemik once said, “The pace of oppression outstrips our ability to understand it, and that is the real trick of the Imperial Thought Machine. It’s easier to hide behind 40 atrocities than a single incident.” We don’t need to see stormtroopers annihilating an entire people or Wookiees being enslaved en masse when things like increasing prison sentences for no reason already show the way the Empire oppresses people day-to-day.
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Season 2, however, seems to be building up to more explicit atrocities. The first episode of the season already introduced us to the most evil office meeting in recent TV history with Ben Mendelsohn’s Orson Krennic calmly and rationally planning the extermination of an entire planet’s populace right before lunch. That is the Ghorman plotline this season, without a doubt the darkest, timeliest, most poignant plotline in “Star Wars,” and one that fans of “Star Wars Rebels” are familiar with.
In the second batch of “Andor” season 2 episodes, we learn about the Ghorman massacre — and it’s not what you’d expect. Turns out, “Andor” is making Ghorman a pivotal piece of the history of the “Star Wars” galaxy, and to do so, Tony Gilroy and his team are making a huge event from the abandoned Expanded Universe into the ongoing canon.
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The Ghorman Massacre is a pivotal moment in Rebel history
Lucasfilm
In episode 4, we hear about a monument in the middle of the main square in Ghorman’s capital city of Palmo that commemorates a massacre, but it isn’t until episode 5 that we learn of the true lengths of the Empire’s evil. It turns out, 16 years earlier, Grand Moff Tarkin was prevented from landing on the city by peaceful protesters against the Empire. Tarkin being Tarkin, he decided to do away with decorum or decency and landed his starship on top of the Ghormans, killing hundreds.
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In the Expanded Universe, now known as Legends, the Ghorman Massacre took place just a few years after the start of the Imperial Era. The event was first introduced in “The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook” for the “Star Wars” roleplaying game in 1990. It’s so important that it directly led to the formation of the Rebel Alliance. In Legends, the former Delegation of 2000 members like Senator Bail Organa and Mon Mothma were inspired by the horrific massacre to begin plotting an open rebellion against the Empire. The massacre on Ghorman became the single biggest encapsulation of the Empire’s cruelty and evil, and the single biggest inspiration to fight against it until the destruction of Princess Leia’s home planet of Alderaan nearly 20 years later.
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That Tony Gilroy is incorporating the Legends version of the Ghorman massacre into “Andor” season 2 as well as building up to the version of the events from “Star Wars Rebels” speaks to the brilliant genius of “Andor” and how it connects different sides of “Star Wars” together, seamlessly incorporating canonical events and Legends material.
To quote Nemik’s manifesto, “The day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance, will have flooded the banks of the Empire’s authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege.” That single thing is the Ghorman Massacre, taking place on a planet that has already suffered greatly under the boot of the Empire and will inspire a whole galaxy to rise up and fight evil.
New episodes of “Andor” drop on Tuesday nights on Disney+.
by admin | Apr 30, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles
as his partisans transition from fighting against the Separatists to fighting the oppression of the Empire from their hiding spots. In the second season of “Andor,” we see some of the rebel elements move to other locations. In the first arc, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and his makeshift family—Bix (Adria Arjona), Brasso (Joplin Sibtain), Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier), and B2EMO have moved to a planet called Mina-Rau. In “Star Wars Rebels” we saw the team establish bases on places like Atollon and Lothal, but with mixed results and always with the Empire close to finding them. They’re always on the move.
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Throughout the original “Star Wars” trilogy we saw two secret rebel hideouts: one on the moon of Yavin and the other on the ice world of Hoth. “Andor” season 2, however, reveals that one of the major Resistance bases from the sequel trilogy was also once used by the rebels as well.
D’Qar’s previous appearances in Star Wars
Lucasfilm
The primary base of the Resistance in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and the start of “The Last Jedi” is on the planet D’Qar. It’s a former Rebel base — much like Crait and Ajan Kloss, the other bases featured in the Skywalker Saga sequels. We’ve seen D’Qar quite a bit in the sequel trilogy era of the New Republic, in the films, comics and books, but it hasn’t been seen much elsewhere. There were vague mentions of it being scouted by the rebels in the days after the Battle of Yavin and a small outpost was established there by the rebels, but nothing major.
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General Leia Organa established it as a base for the Resistance after leaving the New Republic Senate to fight the First Order, as the remnants of the Galactic Empire made their back into power. The base was unique in that most of it was hidden underground and covered with dense foliage, making it difficult to detect the movement of ships and the massive bunkers that served there. Following the destruction of Starkiller Base, they were exposed and had to evacuate D’Qar before they were destroyed. It seemed like those events documented in Rian Johnson’s masterpiece “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” would be the last time we would see D’Qar on the screen — until the most recent arc of “Andor.”
A new look at D’Qar
I wasn’t expecting to see D’Qar in the time before the Battle of Yavin because according to the lore, the Rebellion proper hadn’t discovered it yet. But that doesn’t preclude Saw Gerrera and his partisans from having found it, utilizing it, and abandoning it in the days before that momentous victory for the Rebellion. As we catch back up to Saw in this season of “Andor,” he has posted his own band of rebels up on D’Qar and is training them there for chaos, destruction, and every chance they have to fight back against the evil of the Empire.
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Since Saw Gerrera is so driven and so paranoid about his place in the galaxy, he isn’t there for very long, but long enough for him to make an impact: stealing rhydonium and striking at the heart of the Empire from the safety of D’Qar. It’s no wonder he didn’t pass the knowledge of the base to other rebels.
It was so great to see such a familiar location back on “Andor,” creating a direct visual tie between the classic trilogy and the sequel trilogy, building a continuity that further ties the entire history of “Star Wars” closer together, and rewarding long time fans with deeper connections.
New episodes of “Andor” release Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+.
by admin | Apr 29, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles
“Deadpool & Wolverine” went on to become a massive earner and record breaker. But the biggest surprise to come out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is “Guardians of the Galaxy” and how its scrappy band of space misfits were able to propel a trilogy of films that still stand among the studio’s best.
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Half of the fun of these movies was watching previously obscure Marvel characters get thrust into the spotlight and seeing how they played off one another. The Guardians were the underdogs who had to prove themselves among the studio’s more popular roster of characters. The same challenge now applies to the upcoming “Thunderbolts*,” whose lineup includes a collective of anti-heroes from “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Black Widow,” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp.” It’s essentially Marvel’s answer to DC’s “Suicide Squad.”
I’m cautiously optimistic about “Thunderbolts*” simply because it has Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Sebastian Stan, and Wyatt Russell at each other’s throats. Early reactions to screenings of the film give the impression that Marvel has a winner on their hands, one that feels like a return to form. As the film encroaches closer and closer to its May 2 release date, it’s interesting to learn that one version of its script supposedly mirrored elements from a beloved Bruce Willis movie.
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The original script for Thunderbolts* nearly drew from Die Hard
Marvel Studios
You may not immediately associate “Die Hard” with this kind of ensemble movie, but according to “Thunderbolts*” director Jake Schreier, there was a previous version of this film that did (via Games Radar):
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“When [screenwriter] Eric Pearson came up with it with Brian Chapek, I think one of the original versions was kind of like a Die Hard thing. Or it was all going to take place in this vault, and getting out of it, which would have been a very cool thing. So I think in the DNA of the film, it was always a little bit more contained.”
While certain plot details are being kept under wraps, the marketing materials indicate that a lot of these characters will be introduced to one another in this vault within the repurposed Avengers tower. It’s now owned by Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine, so it makes sense that she would use this space — now called the Watchtower — to throw them all together and see what happens. I have to imagine the “Die Hard” element would have had the Watchtower as a character itself, with the anti-heroes having to ascend the building to take out a villain at the top. But that may have ultimately been too close to something like “The Raid: Redemption.”
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The issue with making comparisons to “Die Hard” is that the John McTiernan-directed action flick is about the might of one flawed individual overcoming a team of baddies to rescue the woman he loves. I could envision a version of the “Thunderbolts*” where Valentina has hired this crew to stop a character from getting what they want. How much of that initial draft made it into the film? We’ll have to wait another few days to find out.
“Thunderbolts*” is set to hit theaters nationwide on May 2, 2025.
by admin | Apr 29, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles
box office never fully recovered from the pandemic shutdown five years ago, with some highs along the way but far more lows to complicate matters. Fortunately, things have looked up lately, with “A Minecraft Movie” delivering a global smash. And here’s some more good news: This past weekend was, without a doubt, one of the most important and encouraging weekends at the box office in years.
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The last weekend of April 2025 saw Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” make more than $45 million in its second weekend, a record-low drop for a wide release horror movie. It has now become an unexpectedly huge, original smash hit. What’s special about it, looking beyond the number one movie on the charts, is that Coogler’s latest didn’t completely swallow up the rest of the competition. When “Minecraft” opened to $163 million, the number two movie, “A Working Man,” made just over $7 million. That was far from the case this past weekend.
For starters, “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” pulled in more than $25 million, delivering one of the best opening grosses ever for a theatrical re-release. Then we had “The Accountant 2” open to $24.4 million, essentially matching the original’s opening weekend from nine years ago. Meanwhile, “Minecraft” stayed strong, adding another $22.7 million in its fourth weekend, crossing the $800 million mark globally.
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All told, four movies made at least $20 million over the weekend. It’s only the second time in the pandemic era that has happened, joining the weekend of June 24, 2022 when “Elvis” ($31 million), “Top Gun: Maverick” ($29 million), “Jurassic World Dominion” ($26 million), and “The Black Phone” ($23 million) all did it.
This is a template Hollywood can (and should) use going forward
Lucasfilm
One big difference on that weekend in June of 2022 is that, first and foremost, it was in the midst of summer, which tends to be a more robust time for the box office in general. Secondly, only six movies made at least $1 million that weekend, with everything else on the charts settling for six figures. This most recent weekend? Everything in the top ten cleared $1 million, including “Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii” making $2.6 million on just 678 screens.
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Even Sony’s video game adaptation “Until Dawn,” which opened with $8 million at number five on the charts, can be counted as a modest success thanks to its thrifty $15 million budget. Overall, the bigger point is there was a little something for everyone on a non-summer weekend. That’s something we haven’t seen nearly enough of in recent years, with theaters largely left starving to death until the next “Inside Out 2” or “Barbie” comes along.
That’s not a sustainable business model for theaters. A sustainable model looks more like the weekend we’re looking at right now. Let guys like Coogler take gambles that have a chance at paying off. Make big blockbusters for Gen Z like “Minecraft.” Do more big re-releases like “Revenge of the Sith,” particularly since movies like “Interstellar” have also done big business in re-release in recent years. Offer something to different audiences at different budget levels, and don’t spread the release calendar so thin. Counter programming is your friend. People will show up when they are catered to.
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A mixed slate week to week is essential for the health of the box office
Amazon Studios
If this weekend demonstrated anything, it’s that more movies of varying sizes are needed in the marketplace. Not everything is going to work, but placing too much weight on $200 million blockbusters is a dangerous game. When something like “Snow White” tanks, theaters wind up in trouble and studios are left holding the bag. A varied slate appears to be the key to more sustainable, long-term success.
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As we head into a summer movie season with lots of big movies and lots of big gambles on the slate, this feels even more imperative for Hollywood at large to consider. 2025 is set in stone, but 2026 and beyond can still be ironed out. Spread out the release calendar in a more strategic way. Get more mid-budget stuff on screens. Absolutely consider scheduling some more re-releases timed to relevant anniversaries. Put more movies in theaters. It’s the only way to generate more cinematic events that people care about. Volume has to be a bigger part of the equation.
The box office remains on uncertain ground and theater owners are still searching for a viable path forward. In some cases, that involves theaters adding attractions such as bowling and even axe throwing. That’s all well and good, but even those added elements work better when there is a more regular flow of moviegoers as opposed to one big burst of people and then tumbleweeds for weeks on end.
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There are going to be bigger weekends at the movies in 2025, but it’s hard to imagine one that more perfectly encapsulates what is still possible. This is what a healthy theatrical marketplace of the future can look like.
We spoke a lot more about the weekend’s box office numbers, as well as some recent movie news items, on today’s episode of the /Film Daily podcast:
You can subscribe to /Film Daily on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and send your feedback, questions, comments, concerns, and mailbag topics to us at bpearson@slashfilm.com. Please leave your name and general geographic location in case we mention your e-mail on the air.
by admin | Apr 29, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles
The “Suits” renaissance has had a longer tail than anyone could have predicted when, back in 2023, it became one of the top shows on Netflix years after leaving the airwaves. In the two years since then, streamers have scrambled for the rights to other similar procedural series with massive back catalogs of episodes. This trend hasn’t stopped there, though.
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The next natural step was proper reboots, with “Suits LA” premiering in February 2025 on NBC. Despite the fervor around its predecessor just a couple years ago, that show has struggled with both critics and viewers. (You likely didn’t even realize it’s been airing for the last two months.) Perhaps a better fate will befall the upcoming “White Collar” reboot, which is currently in the early stages of development.
Like “Suits,” “White Collar” was a staple back in the USA “Blue Sky Era” heyday of the early 2010s, earning a substantial fan base alongside shows like “Psych” and “Burn Notice.” The series starred Matt Bomer as Neal Caffrey, a con man and all-around white collar criminal who turns over a new leaf (sort of) after negotiating a deal working with FBI agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay) instead of accruing more jail time. Together, they chased down other white collar bad guys for six seasons. So what’s the deal with the reboot, who’s in it, and what’s it going to be about?
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Who is starring in the White Collar reboot?
USA Network
Good news to start for longtime “White Collar” fans: Matt Bomer has confirmed that he will return to play Neal Caffrey once again on the new “White Collar” series. That means that this will really be less of a reboot and more of a proper sequel, picking up some years after the original show left off.
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Bomer announced his involvement to Variety at TV Fest in June 2024, and he wasn’t the only original cast member present. Tim DeKay was also on hand, as was Tiffani Thiessen, who played Peter’s wife Elizabeth on the original series. All three enthusiastically confirmed that they’ll be returning for the “reboot.”
One actor who sadly won’t be returning is Willie Garson, who played Neal’s friend Mozzie on the original show. Garson passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2021. However, at the same TV Fest event where the reboot was announced, DeKay said that the script for the reboot “honors Willie, too, in a profound way.” Thiessen echoed the sentiment, saying that the treatment of Garson’s legacy was handled “with such sensitivity and such heart.”
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Who is working on the White Collar reboot?
USA Network
Actors aren’t the only big names returning from the original “White Collar” production. The reboot is being headed up by Jeff Eastin, the creator of the original series, who officially announced the project alongside Bomer, DeKay, and Thiessen in June 2024. “We’re gonna reboot,” Eastin announced proudly. “I’m writing the script.”
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Fans should be able to rest at least a little easier knowing that so much of the team that made the original “White Collar” great is coming back for the second run. But of course, that could all be meaningless if the story doesn’t measure up.
What is the White Collar reboot about?
USA Network
According to Jeff Eastin, the new show will pick up sometime after the events of “White Collar,” but in a way that will satisfy both new and old fans. “If you get to the finale, with Neal walking in Paris, that was always the setup,” Eastin told Variety at TV Fest 2024. “I always left it open, and as the years passed, it seemed more like a distant hope. But say thank you to ‘Suits’ for starting this streaming trend. They were doing great, and got people watching ‘White Collar’ now on Netflix. That’s doing really, really good. Off of that, it’s like, ‘Hey, let’s do another one.'”
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DeKay called the pitch Eastin had brought to them “a fantastic script, and it answers all the questions that one would have if you watch the show,” while adding that newcomers would be able to hop on easily as well — “Both edges of the sword are honed.” Given the amount of time that’s passed since “White Collar” ended, it seems totally feasible to bring back old characters without things feeling confusing for those who didn’t watch back on USA. Of course, those seasons aren’t too long, either, so now could be a good time for a first watch for anyone interested in jumping on the train.
“I told Jeff after I finished it, I literally was so excited,” Thiessen told Variety,” but at the same time had tears in my eyes — for good reason. You captured the suspense, the thrill, the characters and the love in that reboot.”
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When is the White Collar reboot coming out?
USA Network
Right now, the “White Collar” reboot is still in the early stages of development. While the script is ready and the former players are excited about returning to their roles, the show has yet to announce a home.
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In February 2025, Deadline reported that the series would be produced by Disney’s 20th Television, which made Hulu look like a probable venue for the reboot. However, that same report claimed that Hulu had passed on the series and that Eastin was about to start shopping it around to various other streaming platforms, with Netflix another likely destination.
All that means is that we likely won’t see the “White Collar” reboot materialize for some time yet. Still, all of the machinery seems to be moving properly, so fans will just have to cross their fingers and wait.
by admin | Apr 29, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles
On June 1, Netflix will unveil a collection of classic works by Alfred Hitchcock, which will be complemented by a number of contemporary movies inspired by the filmmaker. The entire list of titles has yet to be revealed, but we do know that “Psycho,” “Vertigo,” “Rear Window,” “Frenzy,” “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” “Family Plot” and “The Birds will for sure be included. As for the Hitchcock-inspired titles, Zach Cregger’s “Barbarian” and Jordan Peele’s “Us” will definitely be in the mix.
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Meanwhile, if you live in New York City or happen to be visiting between May 16 and June 29, you’ll have the opportunity to hit up the Paris Theater for “HITCH! The Original Cinema Influencer.” This retrospective series, co-hosted by the New York Film Critics Circle, will highlight 36 movies directed by Hitchcock, and more than a dozen films that owe their style or existence to him. According to the Paris Theater’s website, the Hitch-adjacent titles will include Pedro Almodóvar’s “Bad Education,” François Truffaut’s “The Bride Wore Black,” Henri-Georges Clouzot’s “Diabolique,” Roman Polanski’s “Frantic,” Fritz Lang’s “M,” Tom Kalin’s “Swoon,” Robert Zemeckis’ “What Lies Beneath,” Martin Scorsese’s “Cape Fear,” and Michael Powell’s “Peeping Tom.” Again, it appears that most or perhaps all of these movies will be projected on 35mm film, so, for the love of Alfred, go!
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While I’m grateful to Netflix for finally celebrating the rich history of motion pictures, I’ll be a little disappointed if they skimp on Hitchcock’s 1930s and ’40s masterpieces — because no Hitch retrospective is complete without “The 39 Steps,” “The Lady Vanishes,” “Rebecca,” “Saboteur,” or “Notorious.” I fondly recall watching “The 39 Steps” in my eighth grade English class, and being amazed that all of my classmates were as riveted to the master’s brand of pure visual storytelling as I was. The aforementioned films may be in black-and-white, but they have lost none of their power to captivate viewers of all ages.
And it should go without saying that we need to support this even if we own most of these movies on physical media, because if this series takes off for Netflix, they’re almost certain to give it a go with another legendary filmmaker from the 20th century.
