Universal Pictures’ The Hunt, from director Craig Zobel, using a script written by Damon Lindelof and Nick Cuse, seemed to come out of nowhere. The trailers revealed that Blumhouse would be releasing another social satire akin to some of their previous films those in The Purge franchise. In The Hunt, a group of elite high-class rich snobs pay to participate in hunting down and killing people for sport. While the premise of it isn’t shocking per se, the film would be released in theaters in the wake of recent racially-motivated shootings. However, it seems that the premise has caused such a political uproar that it pushed Universal to cancel the release of The Hunt. More on the report below.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
Director: David Leitch
Writer: Chris Morgan, Drew Pearce
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Helen Mirren
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Rated PG-13| Minutes: 136
Release Date: Aug 2, 2019

There’s no denying that the Fast & Furious franchise has been through some crazy things. What first started out as a humble cinematic look at illegal underground street racing has since supped up into a global phenomenon where Dom and his family – a strong theme that courses throughout the franchise – do things like drive cars out of planes in mid-flight or sling torpedos across a large stretch of ice. Oh, there’s also the occasional cars stunts, bone crunching fights, and cheesy one-liners.

But now it’s time for the franchise to venture outside of its wheelhouse with Hobbs & Shaw, the first Fast & Furious spinoff. In it, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), two people who don’t even belong in the same room together much less be paired up on a mission, work together to save the world from a cyber terrorist organization bent on evolving humanity by augmenting them with their technology and purging out the weak. Are these two incompatible people up to the challenge? Or will they let their egos get in the way? Of course they are, and it’s how they reach that point that can be simultaneously fun and infuriating. My full review here below.

Universal Pictures has released the second trailer for Melina Matsoukas‘ (HBO’s Insecure) Queen And Slim, from writer Lena Waithe, and starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith. The film centers on a black man (Kaluuya) and a black woman (Smith) who get pulled over for a minor traffic infraction and become the victims of racial profiling. Soon, the situation escalates to a point where the black man is forced to kill the police officer in self-defense. As a result, the two are now on the run, but they also become symbols for the people who suffer the same atrocities of systemic racism. A sort of modern-day Bonnie and Clyde.

Check out the trailer here below.

Studios don’t need to be in Hall H at the San Diego Comic-Con to make big news. Sometimes, all it takes is a simple announcement. Take Universal Pictures, for example. They announced today the titles and release dates for the two follow-ups to last year’s Halloween, the semi-reboot/sequel to the 1978 iconic slasher film of the same name.

Horror master John Carpenter posted to Twitter, “The saga of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode isn’t over” along with the announcement video, which you can watch here below.

Yesterday, Universal teased the technology that would transform regular looking people like Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, James Corden, Rebel Wilson, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Ray Winstone, Ian McKellen, and Judi Dench into felines for Cats, a film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name.

Now the studio has released the first trailer for that film adaptation. And the results, are, well, you should probably just make that judgment for yourself. Check out the trailer below.