Jem and the Holograms Is Getting a Second Chance at Live Action

Jem and the Holograms will join Prime Video’s TV offerings of female-centered series that have seen massive success with Gen Z like The Summer I Turned Pretty and newest addition, Off Campus. Deadline broke the news that Amazon and MGM studios are starting the development process for a TV series based on the hit animation from 1985, Jem. This series adaptation is coming just over 10 years after the poorly-received film, directed by Jon. M Chu, hit theaters in 2015.

The Jem and the Holograms film has a truly outrageous rating of 22% on Rotten Tomatoes. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter said, “Not being part of the generation that watched the show, I can’t vouch for its merits. But it’s safe to say that it must be miles ahead of this wan, bloated screen version which forgoes the original’s sci-fi and thriller aspects.” Indeed, many fans of the original animated series criticized how far the movie strayed from the cartoon and bemoaned that the story wasn’t exciting enough to get a new generation on board.

The original cartoon possesses elements of sci-fi through Jem’s holographic computer, which she inherited from her father and uses to live a double-life as the practical Jerrica Benton and her pop star alter-ego Jem. Jerrica raises money for the Starlight Foundation through her band and Starlight music, the recording company owned by her and her sister Kimber Benton.

In the original animation, Starlight Foundation is a charity for foster girls created by Jerrica’s parents, Emmet and Jacqui Benton and continuing the foundation is an important part of the band’s mission. In the 2015 film, the Starlight Foundation is rebranded as Starlight Enterprise owned by antagonist executive Erica Raymond (Juliette Lewis), rather than a charity. Additionally, Jem becomes a popstar through a viral video of her singing that her sister secretly posts.

The film clearly aimed to add a realistic lens to the sci-fi animated series as a manifestation of what a “Jem and the Holograms” band would look like in real-life and how that coming-of-age story might proceed, misinterpreting that the sci-fi elements may have been a more exciting aspect for fans than the production team realized.

The project is pushed by Hasbro Entertainment with the married screenwriting duo Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan producing. The couple is known for creating successful series like Westworld for HBO and Fallout for Amazon. Jonathan Nolan has written scripts for several of his brother Christopher Nolan’s films such as Interstellar and The Dark Knight. Any casting has yet to be announced as well as any specifics to the plot and similarities to the original, but it is likely the producers will take notes from the 2015 film of what not to do.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Writer Downplays Season 3 Criticism

Star Trek is about optimism, exploration, and boldly going where no one has gone before. Star Trek fandom is often about complaining. We’re not pointing fingers here; god and his starship know we have launched criticisms at Star Trek here at Den of Geek. Nor is this anything new. The people who make Star Trek have been told they’re getting wrong from the very beginning, when Gene Roddenberry had to scrap the original pilot to film a new one with William Shatner‘s James Kirk as captain.

For that reason, anyone who would make a Star Trek property must have thicker skin than most, and learn how to downplay most of the criticism directed their way. Still, we can’t help but be a bit concerned about Strange New Worlds writer and executive producer Bill Wolkoff’s comments about criticisms of season 3.

“There were some episodes that got criticized. And that criticism is very real for everybody,” he conceded to TrekMovie, and even acknowledged, “I do read the criticism, and I think about what that means for what my part telling that story was.” But he finally insists that “every episode that we did, we got there for a reason, and we operate as a team.”

To be sure, every season of Strange New Worlds has been criticized, from its recasting of classic characters, especially Paul Wesley as Kirk, to its changing cannon around Khan to introducing a musical episode into the franchise. And certainly, there is a loud, bad faith contingent that dislikes any time modern Trek gets remotely progressive, despite the fact that The Original Series and The Next Generation regularly pushed boundaries.

Moreover, much of the buzz around the first two seasons of Strange New Worlds has been positive. The show has been praised for its deepening of underdeveloped classic characters like Dr. M’Benga and Number One, for its reframing of Original Series concepts (see the season one finale, “A Quality of Mercy”), and for returning exploration to the heart of Trek. Heck, we even liked the “Sybok” name drop.

Then came season 3. Perhaps because of the confines of a modern 10-episode season, perhaps because of a desire to recreate the viral moments from season 2, season 3 swung wildly between goofy comedy and abject horror. “What Is Starfleet?” raised big questions that had always plagued the franchise and answered none of them, patting itself on the back the entire way, while “A Space Adventure Hour” made fun of Star Trek itself. “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans” had none of the fun of “Spock Amok,” while the finale “New Life and New Civilizations” raised the stakes to the point that the Enterprise was fighting the actual Devil and then hand-waved the resolution.

We could tell things were off early on, with the introduction of Dana Gamble, a young medical officer played by Chris Myers. Gamble is kind, enthusiastic, and smart, everything an ideal Starfleet officer should be. Which is why, of course, his eyes explode, he screams in pain and terror, and then gets possessed by the Devil to be the season’s big bad.

These complaints aren’t that Strange New Worlds isn’t real Trek, or that we don’t like the race or gender or sexuality of main characters. These are complaints about mechanics and tone, the fundamentals of storytelling. When fans complain that the stories feel sloppy, that they don’t give sufficient attention to the high stakes they raise or that they rely on jokes that make the characters seem dumb, they point to fundamental problems in the construction of the episode.

To dismiss the complaints by comparing the writer’s room to the Enterprise bridge crew and saying, “we have each other’s backs,” as Wolkoff does in the interview, suggests that jumping to warm feelings instead of dealing with the nuts and bolts of a problem isn’t just a storytelling choice.

Wolfkoff does admit that there are “some criticisms in season 3 that I took to heart,” but he doesn’t say which ones. And certainly, he’s just one voice in the room, a room filled with other writers whom he doesn’t, and shouldn’t, want to throw under the bus in this interview. But to disregard legitimate complaints and insist that everything’s fine because the people who make the show get along… well, that’s just as useless to Star Trek as endless complaining.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 premieres on Paramount+ on July 23, 2026.

Disclosure Day Review: Steven Spielberg’s Coda to a Lifetime of Alien Movies

I always felt bad for Larry, Josef Sommer’s character in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). In Steven Spielberg’s magnum opus about UFOs and the governments who cover them up, Larry is a true believer that, like Richard Dreyfuss’ Roy and Melinda Dillon’s Jillian, traveled all the way to Devils Tower in Wyoming, sneaking past federal authority checkpoints and lies… only to miss the aliens at the last minute because of some knockout gas.

That of course was part and parcel for Spielberg’s vision of an obsessive, almost maniacal need to know. Only the most dedicated, driven and, ahem, visionary folks like Roy get to learn the truth and board a starship with little gray men. Everyone else should be so lucky to see the epic John Williams concert and UFO light show at the top of the mountain. Otherwise we wind up like Larry: left behind in the dark, wondering what really happened on that evening of night skies.

The Spielberg who made Close Encounters is a different man. He’s indicated as much over the years by saying he regrets his amazing ending of Roy abandoning his life and family to go on a space odyssey. Becoming a parent in real life will have that effect. But he’s also become more fixated on the stakes of our world and society as a collective. The man who once made grandiose adventures about the lone individual facing nature in Jaws, or a little boy fixing his fractured childhood by befriending another extraterrestrial in E.T., has spent most of the last 20 years making dramas about who Americans are as a people, a culture, and (perhaps quaintly these days) a force for moral good. You watch how he frames Abraham Lincoln or Kay Graham, and you know he believes in the dream in his bones.

It’s so strong that his civic-minded egalitarianism has even drifted into the fifth(!) alien film in his career, Disclosure Day. In many respects, Disclosure Day positions itself to be a king returning to his throne. The paterfamilias of the modern blockbuster is reclaiming a style of moviemaking he perfected decades ago, yet has barely acknowledged at all in the last 15 years, save for 2018’s Ready Player One. But after two achingly personal passion projects like West Side Story (2022) and The Fablemans (2023)—alas two masterpieces that were sadly commercial flops—Spielberg is returning to his roots in a movie with car chases, government big bads, and of course aliens.

Yet the film is at its best when the director stops showing off the craft and a boundless energy that eludes men a third his age and instead pivots to the more magnanimous view of humanity, and for that matter aliens, which has evolved in the filmmaker’s later years. If Disclosure Day is a coda on the man in the beard’s fixation with unexplained lights in the sky, it is also a reclamation for the Larrys of the world; a wide-eyed, awe-inspired gaze into a future where no one gets left behind and the truth is shared with all. Human and extraterrestrial alike.

To get to that kind of graceful epiphany, however, Disclosure Day spends a lot of time running through some standard blockbuster storytelling, or at least what was the standard 20 years ago when Spielberg and other filmmakers were still making zippy escapism for adults. Two such grown-ups are Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) and Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor). To the outside world, and even to the characters, these are two folks who should have little in common. Margaret is a professionally stifled weatherwoman at a local TV station in Kansas City who wants more out of her life; Daniel works for WARDEX, a government-adjacent agency that for the last 50 or so years has coordinated UAP research and cover-ups for the Department of Defense.

Yet Margaret and Daniel’s paths are inextricably linked after Dan goes the full Edward Snowden route and steals reams of classified documentation, files, and even video evidence that prove aliens are real, they’ve been visiting us for longer than there’s been a U.S. government, and we know where some of the literal bodies are buried because our leaders put them there. He even gets his hand on something that’s only cryptically referred to as… The Device.

Curiously, the moment Daniel and his mentor, an aloof but immediately endearing Colman Domingo, get the information out of government control is the moment that Margaret starts getting visions of repressed childhood memories and discovers she somehow can speak all languages and knows everything that can and will happen to Daniel—especially as WARDEX boogeyman Noah Scanlan (Colin Firth) begins closing in with his men in black. Noah isn’t without sympathy, but it has stark limits when he resorts to threatening (or worse) Daniel’s girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson).

Longtime Spielberg collaborator and screenwriter David Koepp recently confirmed to me that the final scene of Disclosure Day is the first sequence Spielberg wrote. It is also one of the things that was left largely untouched after Koepp and Spielberg began reworking the director’s treatment. This shows in the final film. Without giving away what the finale of Disclosure Day exactly is, rest assured it features some massive secrets which allow Spielberg to return to the cinematic vernacular of 1970s cinema, both his own with his penchant for characters staring up in bewildered, wondrous close-up, as well as some of his contemporaries like Sidney Lumet and Alan J. Pakula.

It’s pure Spielbergian magic. The movie that gets to those final moments is a lot more checkered, although not without its charms and entertainment.

Blunt and O’Connor make for compelling leads who find themselves as the everyman and woman in extraordinary situations. Blunt, particularly, walks a fine line that skirts close to saying something sacrilegious or heretical as her mysterious and definitely alien-touched journalist carries an air of the prophet about her. There is something radical being teased by this characterization, but it’s perhaps intentionally left unexamined. Mostly the religious implications of what discovering aliens walking among us would mean for Old World texts and tenets are softly, even patronizingly slow-walked in a subplot involving Hewson’s Jane, a former novitiate nun who is forced to consider some profound implications about God’s Garden of Eden apparently being a lot bigger than the good book suggested.

But the biggest hurdles Disclosure Day faces is repeatedly raising some explosive ideas and then demurring from unpacking them. One glorious exception in the film involves a crackling intellectual confrontation between Firth’s cynical justifications for control and concealment, and Domingo’s full-throated advocacy for radical transparency and dissemination. Domingo is indeed the performance of the film, offering an avuncular and twinkly personification of truth-telling. His debate with Firth is about extraterrestrials, but one senses it is as much of a plea for humanity needing grown-up conversations about empathizing with their fellow man… and facing the unknown with a sense of charity and openness.

I honestly wish Domingo’s Hugo was the protagonist, and his motivations more front and center, as one senses that they’re Spielberg’s own convictions as well. But Hugo is ultimately peripheral to the central dynamics of Spielbergian everymen and women finding themselves in preposterous thrill ride sequences. At one point there’s even a rental car left dangling from the sides of a train.

Nonetheless, there is still some of that old school fairy dust from the storyteller who knows how to turn rolling boulders and bobbing buoys into cinematic legend. One sequence in particular involves Firth’s antagonist using “the Device” to manipulate a human character into acting against their self-interests is a tour de force scene of dread and violation. Bright and shiny science fiction suddenly takes on an air of dark magic, or possession horror, and it is yet one more reminder that it’s a shame Spielberg himself never tried his hand fully in the chiller genre.

What makes Disclosure Day ultimately worthwhile, however, exists beyond the thrills. This is a movie with a warm, even grandfatherly sense of equanimity to it; of a storyteller bringing perspective and newfound affection to one of his favorite subject matters. The film does not seek to glorify UAP accounts like Close Encounters, or turn it into something sweet (E.T.) or horrifying (War of the Worlds). It is a movie that wants viewers to be radically open to all ideas and perspectives, even those that might seem scary.

It wants us all on that starship alongside Dreyfuss, and its effectiveness is self-evident when the ending holds out its hand and leaves you eager to climb aboard.

Disclosure Day opens on Friday, June 12.

Tom Holland’s The Odyssey Plea Is Gen Z’s Latest Attempt to Save Cinema

The kids are alright, at least as far as the movies are concerned. After years of speculation that too many video games and internet videos would make them disinterested in the theatrical experience, it turns out that Generation Z loves the movies, and movies on the big screen, in particular.

Case in point: the appeal that Tom Holland made to users of Letterboxd, the film-rating social media platform popular among teens and 20-somethings. Holland appeared to urge viewers to see the Christopher Nolan movie The Odyssey in different formats and to record their experience on the app. “For the first time ever on Letterboxd, you’ll be able to track and share the way you experience the film with a brand new digital punch card,” Holland declared, reading the site’s marketing copy, before issuing a challenge. “All of the formats for all your watches and rewatches—bragging rights fully unlocked.”

To celebrate the forthcoming release of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, Tom Holland announces a special treat for the Letterboxd community.

The Odyssey is in theaters worldwide July 17. pic.twitter.com/78FG5Z5QJU
— Letterboxd (@letterboxd) June 8, 2026

To be completely clear, Holland is fundamentally pitching a product here, not unlike when George Clooney flashes a smug smile talking about food delivery or Matthew McConaughey purrs about luxury cars. That’s nothing new.

What is new is the product being sold: going to the theater and watching The Odyssey in multiple different formats. Letterboxd knows that there is a market for people who not only want to see a movie on the big screen, but they want to see it in the best possible format. Moreover, they want to talk about it with their friends.

The choice of Holland as a pitch man is also interesting. Holland isn’t the star of The Odyssey; he plays Telemachus, son of the protagonist Odysseus (Matt Damon) and Penelope (Anne Hathaway). Yet, Letterboxd chose him, in part, over other big names like Damon, Hathaway, Charlize Theron, and Lupita Nyong’o because Holland is a Gen Z movie star, less like those elders and more like Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, who also appear in The Odyssey.

This trio is hardly alone. Long after Marvel and franchise films seemed to kill the movie star, replacing big names with recognizable characters, Holland, Zendaya, Pattinson, Timothée Chalamet, and Florence Pugh draw crowds on their names alone, a quality shared with the big names of earlier, healthier days of the movies.

The same is true of production companies and distributors, especially A24 and Neon. In the same way that MGM and Warner Bros pictures carried a certain pedigree in the Golden Age of the studio system, and that Miramax and New Line Cinema had in the ’90s, A24 and Neon have a cultural cache that gets attention, sometimes more than the stars or plot.

Even better, one look at the current box office shows that Gen Z isn’t just watching movies. They’re making their own, with Obsession putting new spins on old material and Backrooms bringing their interests to the screen. While The Mandalorian and Grogu, Mortal Kombat II, and Masters of the Universe—IP movies more associated with Gen X and Millennials—have all struggled to find an audience, Obsession and Backrooms are exceeding all expectations.

Of course, The Odyssey goes back far further than any of these generations, and director Christopher Nolan sees himself working in a classical tradition. But Holland’s plea shows that as long as Hollywood makes interesting movies with compelling ideas, Gen Z will show up.

Romy and Michele 2 Deserves a Theatrical Release

Back in the 1990s, films often found their audiences on home video. That was certainly the case for Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, which didn’t do much in the way of business at the box office and wasn’t particularly well received by critics at the time either.

Nevertheless, people eventually discovered the movie, and it became an outright cult classic, spawning a made-for-TV prequel film and even a musical as audiences warmed to David Mirkin’s charmingly offbeat comedy about a pair of best friends (played by Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow) who start to feel like failures when they get an invite to their high school reunion and decide to lie about their successes instead.

So, 30 years later, should the movie’s long-awaited sequel also go directly to homes and bypass theaters? No, but that’s exactly what’s being planned for it, with THR confirming that not only is filming underway on Romy and Michele 2, but it will stream exclusively as a Hulu Original on Hulu in the U.S. and on Disney+ internationally.

This is clearly a business decision that made sense to someone at 20th Century Studios. Someone will have sat at a big, fancy desk in an office somewhere at some point, telling a small group of gathered suits that Romy and Michele 2 won’t make any money with a theatrical release, and the best possible option is to dump it on streaming. I wasn’t in that meeting because I’m a normie who writes words on the internet, but because I get to write words on the internet without risking large sums of money in Hollywood, I’m about to tell those people why they’re probably wrong.

Yes, the first movie was a box office disappointment, but the people who originally grew to love it are now middle-aged adults, one of the only groups still happy to turn out for movies that appeal directly to them. Why are studios happy to spend around $200 million on a Masters of the Universe film after the 80s version flopped, but baulk at a theatrical release for a movie that has a relatively tiny budget in comparison? Romy and Michele 2 absolutely won’t do Avengers: Endgame-level numbers, but it doesn’t need to! It just needs to make a decent profit on that smaller budget, which seems entirely doable. Instead, the studio behind it has placed its importance solely on streaming subscriber acquisition and retention metrics.

Yet if it were only middle-aged people the new movie appealed to, you could probably tell me to do one. But Gen Z and Gen Alpha have also discovered Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. There have been plenty of TikTok fan edits doing the rounds over the years. It’s a cult classic that has remained one for anyone who has stumbled across it because it’s genuinely fun to watch and beats with a heart that fundamentally cries out “just be yourself!”

The original movie was full of lively fashion choices and concluded with the message that you should dress how you want, no matter what anyone else thinks. Are you going to tell me that the costumes and aesthetic of both movies wouldn’t appeal to people of all ages who want to make an event out of attending a screening? The first image from the sequel even suggests that Romy and Michele are still walking their own fashionable path. With studios often relying on social media influencers to do some of their marketing, they have plenty to work with here.

The reunion you’ve been waiting for! The Romy and Michele sequel is now in production. pic.twitter.com/jXXU1qpopj
— 20th Century Studios (@20thcentury) June 8, 2026

Studios also seem constantly baffled that movies largely marketed at women make money. In terms of sequels, The Devil Wears Prada 2 just grossed $664.2 million. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy notched approximately $140 million worldwide last year. And Greta Gerwig’s weird, $1.4 billion-grossing new take on Barbie? They forgot it! “More toy movies!” was the answer. They learn all the wrong lessons.

It’s not just the type of audience, either; it’s the genre. Somewhere along the way, studios simply decided that comedies belong on streaming. This has created a self-fulfilling cycle: audiences stop expecting comedies in theaters because studios stop releasing them there. And when they do? Well, let’s look at this month’s Scary Movie. It’s not even a good film, but it still did remarkable numbers. Freakier Friday could have also gone directly to streaming, but instead made about $94 million domestically. The surprisingly great legacy sequel The Naked Gun also did well at the box office.

But let’s step away from the money side of things, which will nearly always be the studio’s focus. Ultimately, the people who shared 1997’s Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, and who continue to share it, quote it, and talk about it like the cultural touchstone it actually was, deserve a chance to once again prove to studios that if we’re going to have belated sequels 30 years in the making, we’ll show up for them. This seems like a real missed opportunity to allow us the opportunity to do so.

Things Get Biblical in The Bear Season 5 Trailer

A first trailer for The Bear’s final season has arrived, and it sees our flat-broke gang fighting back a flood of biblical proportions in the restaurant as Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) gets ready to depart and find out who he is when he’s not cooking. If a flooded eatery isn’t enough to handle, Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) announces he’s planning to sell the restaurant.

FX also released this official logline for the season: “With no money, the threat of a sale and a torrential storm in their way, the new partners must band together with the rest of the team to achieve one last service, hoping they’ll finally earn a Michelin star. Ultimately, they learn that what makes a restaurant ‘perfect’ might not be the food, but the people.”

Additionally, FX has confirmed that season 5 picks up the morning after the season 4 finale, when Sydney, Richie, and Sugar first learned that Carmy had quit the industry and left the restaurant to them, raising questions about the timeline of the final scene in The Bear’s one-off special, Gary, which was released back in May.

Gary initially went back in time and documented a road trip that Mikey (Jon Bernthal) and Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) took just before Mikey ended his life. During their time together, Mikey had a breakdown while hanging out with Richie and told him he was going to be a terrible father just as his daughter was about to be born. The pair weren’t on speaking terms by the end of the trip, but the special ended with a flash-forward cliffhanger set in the present, in which Richie was shockingly T-boned by a vehicle at an intersection.

Richie shows no sign of any injuries from the accident in the trailer for season 5. Check it out below…

The first season of The Bear was critically acclaimed, hitting 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was followed by a second season that nearly maintained that at 99%, but many felt that seasons 3 and 4 saw a marked decline in the show’s quality, giving audiences more of a simmering vibe rather than the boiling point of the first two seasons.

The fifth and final season of The Bear premieres June 25 on Hulu/FX and Hulu on Disney+.

15 Questionable Pokemons Suggesting They’ve Run Out Of Ideas

Pokemon has been around for a while now, and with ten generations strong, there are a lot of creatures to choose from. Between starters, legendaries and godlike entities, finding your favorite Pokemon is not an issue. Finding the worstly designed ones is, sadly, just as easy.

Granted, you can still have fun with these little creatures, and they are likely someone’s favourite. Don’t let our opinion detract from your personal enjoyment. But there’s no denying that, compared to other creatures, these few lack some proper work.

Klefki

Klefki is literally a ring of keys that collects other keys. While it has lore involving its habit of gathering metal objects, it quickly became one of the most cited examples of Pokémon fans arguing the designers were scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Vanilluxe

By the time the line reaches Vanilluxe, players are looking at what appears to be a double-scoop ice cream sundae. It remains one of the franchise’s most debated and frequently mocked designs.

Trubbish

Trubbish is a sentient garbage bag created from accumulated waste. Some fans appreciate the environmental theme, while others cite it as one of the clearest examples of Pokémon turning random objects into creatures.

Chandelure

Chandelure is literally a haunted chandelier. Despite its surprisingly strong battle performance and interesting Ghost-type lore, its appearance often gets mentioned in conversations about how far Pokémon designs have drifted from their roots.

Comfey

Comfey resembles a floating flower lei. While inspired by Hawaiian garlands, many players initially struggled to see it as a Pokémon rather than a decorative accessory brought to life.

Sinistea

Sinistea is essentially a haunted teacup. Its unusual concept won over some fans, but others viewed it as another sign that designers were increasingly drawing inspiration from kitchen shelves.

Flamigo

Flamigo generated discussion because it is essentially a flamingo named “Flamigo.” Many fans joked that the design looked less like a Pokémon and more like a regular bird with minimal changes.

Dudunsparce

After years of anticipation, many players expected Dunsparce to evolve into something dramatic. Instead, Dudunsparce is largely just a longer Dunsparce, making it one of the most hotly debated evolutions in the series.

Alcremie

A Pokémon based on whipped cream and decorated desserts was never going to be universally loved. While some players enjoy its whimsical appearance, others see it as one of the franchise’s stranger concepts.

Eiscue

Eiscue is a penguin with a giant ice cube for a head. While its gimmick has gameplay value, many fans have cited it as one of the franchise’s strangest and least natural-looking designs.

Bruxish

Bruxish was intentionally designed to look unsettling, and it succeeded. Its bright colors, human-like lips, and unusual facial features have made it one of the most polarizing Pokémon in the franchise.

Falinks

Falinks consists of several tiny soldiers marching in formation. Some players love the Roman legion inspiration, while others joke that it resembles a group of unrelated creatures standing very close together.

Gholdengo

Gholdengo evolves from collecting 999 coins, leading many players to expect something spectacular. Instead, they got a string-cheese-looking mascot that continues to divide opinion despite its competitive success.

Stonjourner

A living Stonehenge-inspired monument is certainly unique, but many fans felt Stonjourner looked more like a walking landmark than an actual creature inhabiting the Pokémon world.

Voltorb

One of the original object Pokémon, Voltorb is essentially a living Poké Ball. Fans have joked for decades that it was created because the designers needed a mimic-style monster quickly.

14 Classic Stories That Disney Got Completely Wrong

When adapting a story, it makes sense to alter details here and there, particularly if you want it suitable for children. Some stories need more editing than others, but once you know the depths of how different Disney stories are to their original counterparts, you start to wonder what’s even left of the real tale.

We will always remember a story from its most iconic rendition, or at least for the one we witnessed first. In both cases, the answer to that question tends to be ‘the Disney version,’ but we need to remember there was an original out there, with an intention. These are the stories Disney changed the most, and not always for the better.

Hercules

Disney’s Hercules turns the Greek hero into a lovable underdog battling Hades. In mythology, Hades isn’t the main villain, Hercules isn’t Zeus and Hera’s estranged son, and many of his most famous stories are far darker.

The Little Mermaid

Disney gave Ariel a happy ending and a prince. In Hans Christian Andersen’s original tale, the Little Mermaid suffers heartbreak, fails to win the prince, and ultimately dissolves into sea foam.

Mulan

Disney’s version adds dragons, villains, and a romance subplot. The ancient Chinese poem focuses more on Mulan’s military service and loyalty, with no Mushu, no Shan Yu, and far less fantasy.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Disney transformed The Hunchback of Notre-Dame into a family-friendly adventure. Victor Hugo’s original story ends in tragedy, with major characters dead and little of the film’s optimism.

Pocahontas

The real Pocahontas was around eleven years old when she met English settlers. Disney aged her up, invented a romance with John Smith, and dramatically altered historical events.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Disney softened many of the grim elements from the Brothers Grimm version. The original queen faces a much harsher punishment, and several details are considerably more disturbing.

Cinderella

Disney’s Cinderella is based partly on Charles Perrault’s version, but other classic tellings are much darker. In the Grimm story, stepsisters mutilate their feet and suffer gruesome consequences for their actions.

Sleeping Beauty

The original tale behind Sleeping Beauty contains elements Disney wisely omitted. Earlier versions include betrayal, attempted murder, and situations far darker than the romantic fairy tale presented in the animated film.

Pinocchio

Disney’s Pinocchio learns valuable lessons before earning a happy ending. In Carlo Collodi’s original novel, the wooden boy is far more troublesome, and the story contains considerably harsher consequences throughout.

Tangled

Disney’s Rapunzel enjoys a relatively lighthearted adventure. In earlier versions of the fairy tale, Rapunzel becomes pregnant after meeting the prince, and the story takes a significantly darker turn.

Beauty and the Beast

Disney’s adaptation streamlines a complicated French fairy tale. Earlier versions contain additional siblings, extended family drama, and magical backstory elements that were removed to focus on the central romance.

Tarzan

Disney’s Tarzan focuses on family, adventure, and self-discovery. Edgar Rice Burroughs’s original novel is much more violent, with Tarzan displaying a ruthless survival instinct and participating in far deadlier conflicts.

Alice in Wonderland

Disney combined elements from both of Lewis Carroll’s Alice novels while simplifying much of the wordplay and satire. The result is memorable but considerably different from the source material’s literary complexity.

The Fox and the Hound

Disney’s film emphasizes friendship and reconciliation. Daniel P. Mannix’s novel is significantly darker, featuring a much bleaker tone and ending that differs dramatically from the one audiences remember.

Classic Photos of Peak Arcade Life from the 1980s

While there certainly are some arcades left in the world, the boom of ‘arcade life’ was, without a doubt, the 1980s. Kids and young adults would gather at these establishments and enjoy the wonderful pastime of video games, one quarter at a time.

There was a social aspect that was lost with time, particularly with the advent of the home console. Now, games are certainly social, but they don’t connect you as much with local communities. Going to the arcade was meeting like-minded individuals in your area, and these are the pictures that reminds us of the best of those days.

A Watchful Eye

Kids loved the arcade life more than anyone else, but it was important to have someone watching over you at that age. Here we have a kid going through a complex game with their guardians watching.

Innocent Violence

Age ratings weren’t a thing until Mortal Kombat came around, so before then, kids could access all sorts of violent games and have a blast. They weren’t full of explicit gore, but here we have a few kids enjoying Final Fight, a game not suited to them by today’s standards.

Nobody Around

It was hard to master a game at the arcade, not just for the money investment, but for the crowds that would gather wanting their turn on the machine. For this lucky guy, getting good at Karate Champ is no issue with nobody around.

Table Play

Today’s leisure parlors have tables for duo play, but they are mostly analog games that are more similar to pool than anything else. Back when everything needed to be an arcade cabinet, some arcades were set as tables. The light from the ceiling would often make visibility difficult, hence why they were discontinued.

Time Shared

Not all experiences can be shared, and the control scheme of arcade machines often made them a solo experience. But with racing games, sharing the wheel is almost natural, something this parent and child used as a bonding experience.

Arcade Stance

The main demographic for arcades were children and teenagers, the latter more than the former. As such, the cabinets were made with their heights in mind, something adults had to suffer through with the famed ‘arcade stance.’

r/OldSchoolCool/tellman1257, Raymond Cooper

Arcade Hunch

Some adults could spread their legs and get into the proper arcade height, but for particularly tall people, this wasn’t possible unless you wanted to do the splits. Bending over the machine was far more practical, and yet more taxing on your back as a whole.

Steven Spielberg

Arcades were popular all over the world, and with everybody as well. While Steven Spielberg wasn’t going to a town’s local arcade, he did have his own personal collection at his house, something anyone that can afford it would do.

Quarter Boys

Keeping people playing was part of the business, but having them go all the way to the counter for more quarters could make them think twice. That’s why there were people whose job was giving change to anyone that needed it on the spot.

Black & White

Taking pictures in black and white is an aesthetic nowadays, and with all the color pictures around of the arcade days, you’d think this was a style choice as well. But back in the 80s, people still had black and white cameras, since the ‘upgrade’ to color wasn’t as instant as many would have you believe.

Posing For The Camera

Arcade cabinets were everywhere, attracting potential customers. At this video rental store, these teens pose for a picture, eager to continue their games after the click is heard.

Teaching The Craft

Here, a grown teen shows a small child how the game is played. Here’s hoping the kid was paying attention, because his turn to play wasn’t going to come any time soon.

r/OldSchoolCool/BullBoyXVII, Ira Nowinski

Contagion

Many adults enjoyed some leisure time at the arcade, but pictures showing many of them at the same time are rare. Exactly where these cabinets are installed might shed some light as to why no children are around, but at least everyone is having fun.

Action Pose

Getting too much into the action of a video game can make us do silly things, like moving a joystick thinking that moves the character faster. Well, the same happened back then, but we would move our entire bodies to ‘avoid’ upcoming bullets.

The 15 Most-Modded Classic Cars

There are plenty of cars that are legendary, at least for our own cultural standards, because of their classic look, feel and style. Such a legacy attracts people wanting to build their own tale from that base, so enthusiasts all over the world grab these classics and make them wholly different.

Most modifications involve chasing more horsepower, improving handling, personalizing the appearance, or building something entirely unique. These cars offer the perfect combination of performance potential, aftermarket support, affordability, or cultural significance. These are the models people can’t stop tinkering with.

Toyota Supra Mk IV

The fourth-generation Toyota Supra is practically synonymous with car modification culture. Its legendary 2JZ engine can handle enormous power increases, making it one of the most commonly modified performance cars ever built.

Ford Mustang

Few vehicles have inspired more aftermarket parts than the Ford Mustang. From drag racing builds to restomods and track cars, every generation has attracted enthusiasts eager to customize performance and appearance.

Chevrolet Camaro

The Camaro has been a favorite among modifiers since the muscle car era. Owners routinely upgrade engines, suspensions, and bodywork, creating everything from vintage street machines to modern high-performance builds.

Nissan Skyline GT-R R32

Nicknamed “Godzilla,” the R32 GT-R became famous for its tuning potential. Its advanced all-wheel-drive system and turbocharged engine made it a natural platform for extensive performance modifications.

Mazda RX-7 FD

The RX-7’s lightweight chassis and rotary engine have made it a staple of tuning culture. Some owners preserve the rotary, while others perform engine swaps that push performance to extreme levels.

Honda Civic

The Civic’s affordability and enormous aftermarket support helped make it one of the most modified cars in the world. Everything from daily drivers to race cars has been built from humble Civics.

Nissan 240SX

Beloved by drift enthusiasts, the Nissan 240SX became a modification icon thanks to its rear-wheel-drive layout and adaptability. Engine swaps, suspension upgrades, and custom bodywork are especially common.

Volkswagen Beetle

The classic Beetle has been customized for decades. Hot rods, dune buggies, drag racers, and custom cruisers all trace their roots back to one of the most versatile automotive platforms ever created.

Jeep CJ-7

Off-road enthusiasts have spent generations modifying Jeep CJ models. Lift kits, larger tires, upgraded suspensions, and engine swaps have made the CJ-7 one of the most personalized vehicles on the road.

Datsun 240Z

The original Z-car offered attractive styling and strong performance at an affordable price. Enthusiasts quickly embraced it as a platform for racing, engine swaps, and extensive custom builds.

Chevrolet Corvette C3

The C3 Corvette became a favorite among modifiers thanks to its dramatic styling and V8 power. Owners frequently upgrade performance components while preserving the unmistakable look of the classic sports car.

BMW E30

The E30 generation of BMW’s 3 Series has become a favorite among tuners worldwide. Its balance, simplicity, and motorsport pedigree make it a popular choice for both street and track projects.

Mazda MX-5 Miata

The Miata’s lightweight design and affordability have encouraged endless customization. Owners routinely modify suspension, engines, and bodywork, turning the roadster into everything from autocross machines to track-day weapons.

Porsche 911

While many owners preserve them, countless Porsche 911s have also been heavily modified. Performance upgrades, widebody conversions, and restomod projects have become increasingly popular within enthusiast communities.

Mini Cooper Classic

The original Mini’s compact size and racing history inspired decades of customization. Performance upgrades, rally-inspired builds, and unique cosmetic modifications have kept the tiny British icon relevant for generations.

12 Conspiracy Theories That People Still Actually Believe

For some people, conspiracy theories are a way of life, a window into the real world that the ‘powers that be’ don’t want you to see. They control us through countless means so we stay as sheep, with the perpetual ‘them’ acting as both wolf and shepherd.

That sentiment is one anyone can sympathize with; the issue comes when discussing what is being actually believed in. We can all agree there’s something wrong in the world, some general injustice, but the shape of the Earth, lizard men, and fantastical creatures living among us are borderline too silly.

The Moon Landing Was Faked

Despite overwhelming evidence supporting the Apollo missions, some people still believe the Moon landing was staged. The theory argues that NASA fabricated the event, often citing supposed photographic anomalies that have been repeatedly explained.

The JFK Assassination Cover-Up

Few conspiracy theories have endured as long as the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Many people remain unconvinced that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and suspect a larger plot.

Bigfoot Is Hiding in North America

Reports of a large, ape-like creature living in remote forests continue to fuel belief in Bigfoot. Enthusiasts point to eyewitness accounts, footprints, and blurry photographs as evidence of its existence.

The Loch Ness Monster Is Real

For generations, people have claimed that a mysterious creature inhabits Scotland’s Loch Ness. Despite numerous searches and scientific investigations, believers continue to argue that Nessie remains undiscovered.

Chemtrails Are More Than Contrails

Some people believe the white trails left by aircraft are part of secret government programs. According to the theory, these “chemtrails” contain chemicals intentionally released into the atmosphere for various hidden purposes.

Paul McCartney Died and Was Replaced

One of pop culture’s strangest theories claims that Paul McCartney died in the 1960s and was secretly replaced by a lookalike. Fans continue searching for supposed clues in Beatles albums.

The Denver Airport Has Hidden Secrets

The unusual artwork, architecture, and underground infrastructure of Denver International Airport have inspired countless theories. Some believe the airport conceals bunkers, secret facilities, or evidence of larger conspiracies.

Reptilian Shape-Shifters Rule the World

Popularized by writer David Icke, this theory claims powerful world leaders are actually reptilian beings disguised as humans. It remains one of the most famous modern conspiracy beliefs.

Princess Diana Was Murdered

The death of Diana, Princess of Wales generated numerous conspiracy theories. Some believers reject the official conclusion of a tragic traffic accident and suspect a deliberate plot.

The Earth Is Flat

Despite centuries of scientific evidence demonstrating Earth’s shape, a modern Flat Earth movement still exists. Adherents argue that governments, scientists, and space agencies are collectively concealing the truth.

Elvis Presley Faked His Death

The King of Rock and Roll remains at the center of one of the most enduring celebrity conspiracies. Some fans believe Elvis Presley staged his death and lived in secret afterward.

The Philadelphia Experiment

This legend claims a World War II naval experiment accidentally rendered a ship invisible or teleported it. Although historians have found no evidence supporting the story, it continues to fascinate conspiracy enthusiasts.

Resident Evil’s Most Overdue Remake Is Finally Happening

Some announcements feel surprising. Others feel inevitable. The reveal of Resident Evil: Veronica at Summer Game Fest 2026 falls squarely into the latter category. For years, fans have viewed the survival horror cult classic as the missing piece of Capcom’s remake lineup, making its long-awaited return feel less like a shock and more like a correction.

Like the Resident Evil remakes before it, Veronica aims to strike a balance between nostalgia and reinvention. The eerie reveal trailer shows a modernized take on the original game, trading fixed-camera angles for a more immersive over-the-shoulder perspective, alongside updated gameplay mechanics, enhanced visuals, and a reworked narrative that expands upon the original game’s foundation.

The original game, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, launched on the Sega Dreamcast in 2000 and despite its clunky fixed-camera and tank controls, has continuously rooted itself as a fan-favorite installment. The game continues the stories of Clarie and Chris Redfield in the aftermath of the Raccoon City outbreak seen in the second game, taking place during the later half of Resident Evil 3.

The trailer for the remake begins with Claire investigating a dilapidated apartment building in search of her missing brother before slipping in a playful nod to Chris Redfield’s infamous “boulder-punching” reputation. From there, the scene shifts into a tense montage of reimagined locations from the original game.

Along the way, players will uncover more of Umbrella’s far-reaching conspiracies and eventually cross paths with one of Resident Evil’s most iconic and well-loved villains: Albert Wesker.

Unfortunately for eager fans, the ex-S.T.A.R.S. captain was not revealed in the trailer, but there was a brief appearance of another familiar foe, one that we saw not too long ago in Resident Evil: Requiem: the Grim Reaper of Umbrella himself, HUNK.

Well, maybe. The gas-masked figure could also be Umbrella security officer Rodrigo Juan Raval who captures Claire and utters the very same “Don’t move” warning heard in the reveal trailer, despite HUNK’s iconic red-tinted lenses being emphasized too.

As interesting as those character teases are, the bigger takeaway is how Veronica now fits into Capcom’s recent approach to the Resident Evil series as a whole.

Once widely expected to follow the Resident Evil 3 remake in 2020, the project was ultimately skipped over in favor of Resident Evil Village in 2021 and the Resident Evil 4 remake in 2023. That extended absence only reinforced the sense that a Code Veronica remake had been left outside Capcom’s modern remake cycle for too long (27 years to be exact).

Now with its return officially confirmed, Capcom is repositioning Veronica as a long-overdue addition to that remake lineup, framing the game once again as a pivotal segue that bridges the aftermath of Raccoon City’s destruction and Umbrella’s expanding global presence.

Scheduled for release in 2027, Resident Evil: Veronica will launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, and PC.

Masters of the Universe Features an Actually Great Jared Leto Performance

This article contains spoilers for Masters of the Universe.

Turns out Masters of the Universe doesn’t have the power after all. After getting trounced on opening weekend by Scary Movie, a movie no one seems to want or like, Masters of the Universe will probably not make back its nearly $200 million budget. There’s a lot of blame to go around, and we could point fingers at the fact that someone (probably IP-holder Mattel) thought He-Man could be Barbie, or the fact that the franchise’s target audience is pushing 50 and would prefer to watch movies at home after mowing the lawn.

That said, there’s one person we can’t blame, and it’s the same person who almost always deserves the blame. Masters of the Universe is the latest franchise flop to feature Jared Leto in a prominent role, following Morbius, Suicide Squad, and Tron: Ares. In almost every one of those cases, Jared Leto is a detriment to a movie, a terrible over-actor who seems difficult to work with and whose Oscar win for Dallas Buyers Club ages worse each year. But he is genuinely great as Skeletor in Masters of the Universe, one of the film’s few consistent delights.

So-Called Star Power

The fact that Leto could be good on screen isn’t entirely a surprise. Even his greatest detractors have to admit that he’s great in My So-Called Life and David Fincher collaborations Fight Club and Panic Room (although half the appeal of the former comes from seeing him get pummeled for being too good-looking).

But most of his filmography is defined by poor choices in projects and worse decisions on screen. Lonely Hearts, Chapter 27, and Mr. Nobody sit forever unplayed on Tubi, and his tendency to overdo it stains even Blade Runner 2049, to say nothing of more flawed films like The Little Things. Leto’s off-screen behavior only exacerbates things, making his obnoxious behavior staying in character as the Joker the least of his issues.

On paper, Leto’s casting as Skeletor in Masters of the Universe sounds like a disaster. The franchise first came into existence as a toy line, and everything that followed—including the popular cartoon series that ran from 1983–1985—exists to advertise those toys. Skeletor may have been conceived as the ultimate embodiment of evil, the counter to He-Man’s square-jawed goodness, but he quickly became the paradigmatic cartoon villain: sniveling, comical, and cowardly.

By the time Leto took the part, Skeletor existed mostly as a meme, which means he may have felt the urge to play the character darker and more extreme than ever before. That must have been particularly true given the fact that fellow problematic fave Frank Lengella played the character with Shakespearean flair in the 1987 Cannon film. Before the new movie hit screens, one had to imagine Leto screaming at subordinates or tearing the skin off his face to go method for Skeletor.

The Greater of Two Ultimate Evils

Yet, what we get in Masters of the Universe is Leto being cartoony, self-aware, and genuinely funny. Take the character’s first major scene, after dethroning King Randor (James Purefoy). Skeletor delivers a triumphant monologue to the defeated king and then unleashes an evil laugh, a chilling cackle that builds and builds… until he realizes that neither Evil-Lyn (Allison Brie) nor any of the other minions are laughing with them.

The awkward banter that follows falls a bit flat, one of the many times director Travis Knight and his team of screenwriters get too condescending to the material. But Leto remains locked in, even as the scene itself breaks. He is ultimate evil, and he’s less embarrassed by the fact that he was caught babbling like a madman and more annoyed that his henchpeople don’t respect his power.

Even better is the movie’s stand out scene, when Skeletor invades the consciousness of He-Man (Nicholas Galitzine). As he forces He-Man to relive the various embarrassments he experienced as HR office drone Adam, Skeletor takes the form of onlookers. He suddenly appears in a black suit and tie, sitting across a restaurant booth on Adam’s terrible date. When Adam gets a dressing down from his boss (Sasheer Zamata), Skeletor bursts into the office wearing a short-sleeve button down and holding a mug of coffee, a la Bill Lumbergh from Office Space.

Silly as these scenes are, Leto keeps playing it straight. Skeletor doesn’t think these scenes are ridiculous. He thinks that they are one more opportunity for him to knock He-Man down a peg, to prove his superiority. And so Skeletor continues to growl monologues at his opponent, bragging about how Adam is weak and how only he, Skeletor, deserves to wield power.

Leto’s hardly the only charm that Masters of the Universe has. Generally, the costumes and art direction are delightfully candy-coated, Galitzine and Brie are game in very silly roles, and composer Daniel Pemberton channels peak Queen for something absolutely glorious. But none of these elements can overcome the film’s central flaws, its lack of thematic clarity and its overreliance on humor that’s too self-deprecating and cute.

Only Leto emerges unscathed, and we’re just as surprised as anyone else. Turns out, if you cover Jared Leto in special effects and surround him with a bunch of cartoon monsters, his over-acting fits right in.

Masters of the Universe is now playing worldwide.

Jacob Anderson Had Fun With the “Bitchier Side” of Louis in The Vampire Lestat

This article contains spoilers for the premiere of The Vampire Lestat.

The first two seasons of Interview with the Vampire detailed the turbulent relationship between the fiery Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) and the brooding Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) from Louis’ point of view. But in the third season of AMC’s adaptation of Anne Rice’s book series, we switch to Lestat’s version of events following the pair’s reconciliation and the notable release of Daniel Molloy’s best-selling book about their relationship.

For the first time, we get to see how Lestat and other vampires perceive Louis rather than how he perceives himself, which Anderson says informed his portrayal of the character this time around.

“It’s something I’m very mindful of,” Anderson tells Den of Geek. “And it’s something that Sam’s had to be very mindful of and Assad [Zaman, who plays Armand] and Delainey [Hayles, who plays Claudia] – the way that these characters are framed – it’s such a deeply subjective show. It’s so deeply inside somebody’s mind and experience. That’s also part of the fun. You get to play a slightly different version of the character each time they appear, more or less.”

The Vampire Lestat‘s premiere catches up with Lestat as he makes his next move in a modern world where society isn’t quite convinced that vampires really exist, but Molloy’s interview has given them an inkling. Though Lestat and Louis are feeling amicable in the wake of their brutal split and renewed understanding during season 2, Lestat takes umbrage at certain aspects of Louis’ tale in Molloy’s book. Having been told from Louis’ perspective and therefore not events as Lestat remembers them, he disparages Louis’ interview in front of autograph hunters and sets the record straight by scrawling furious notes in his copy of the book.

But instead of hiding away until it all blows over, Lestat puts his ego front and center, joining a touring rock band and eventually going public with his true nature. It’s a move that further shakes up a historically secret vampire society after Molloy’s explosive interview. Rocking out on stage and goading local vampires, Lestat is done hiding. Yet he still keeps in contact with Louis, who seems much more light-hearted and casual than we’ve ever seen him before, even happy to banter with Lestat over the quality of his songwriting.

“The thing that I think I’ve sort of noticed only this season is that Louis speaks slightly differently,” says Anderson. “Lestat kind of portrays Louis with a lot more love than Louis ever portrayed himself. Louis always thought of himself as this purely brooding, repressed, angry, wallowing-in-sadness being. And actually, Lestat gives him back some of his essence. Some of the more playful and also fiercer side of Louis that we haven’t really seen.”

Reid describes this as a “bitchier side” of Louis, to which Anderson adds, “It was fun to go there a little bit.”

As our reviewer noted, Reid and Anderson don’t have much shared screentime in the first half of The Vampire Lestat, but there’s a lot to look forward to in the back half, as Lestat and Louis “work through their shared grief” about losing Claudia. Season 3 of Interview with the Vampire is also set to introduce Sheila Atim as Akasha, the mother of all vampires from Rice’s Queen of the Damned.

New episodes of The Vampire Lestat premiere Sundays on AMC.

TV Premiere Dates: 2026 Calendar

Wondering when your favorite shows are coming back and what new series you can look forward to? We’ve got you covered with the Den of Geek 2026 TV Premiere Dates Calendar, where we keep track of TV series premiere dates, return dates, and more for the year and beyond.

We’ll continue to update this page weekly as networks and streamers announce dates. A lot of these shows we’ll be watching or covering, so be sure to follow along with us!

Please note that all times are ET.

Note: These are U.S. releases. For upcoming British releases, head on over here.

DATE	SHOW	NETWORK
Monday, June 8	Alice and Steve	Hulu
Wednesday, June 10	My Family Season 2	Netflix
Wednesday, June 10	Outlast: The Jungle	Netflix
Wednesday, June 10	The Rest Is Football	Netflix
Wednesday, June 10	Rosario Tijeras Season 5	Netflix
Wednesday, June 10	Every Year After	Prime Video
Wednesday, June 10	All the Queen’s Men	Paramount+
Thursday, June 11	Surviving Earth	NBC
Thursday, June 11	Sweet Magnolias Season 5	Netflix
Thursday, June 11	The Evil Lawyer	Netflix
Thursday, June 11	Viral Hit	Netflix
Friday, June 12	The Polygamist	Netflix
Saturday, June 13	My Adventures with Superman (12:00 a.m.)	Adult Swim
Tuesday, June 16	America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Season 3	Netflix
Thursday, June 18	I Will Find You	Netflix
Thursday, June 18	The Capture Season 3	Peacock
Friday, June 19	Oasis	Netflix
Friday, June 19	Sugar Season 2	Apple TV
Sunday, June 21	House of the Dragon Season 3 (9:00 p.m.)	HBO
Monday, June 22	Rhythm + Flow: Italy Season 3	Netflix
Wednesday, June 24	The American Experiment	Netflix
Wednesday, June 24	Another Self Season 3	Netflix
Thursday, June 25	FX’s The Bear Season 5 (9:00 p.m.)	FX \| Hulu
Thursday, June 25	Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2	Netflix
Friday, June 26	Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Happiness (9:00 p.m.)	HBO
Friday, June 26	Strung	Peacock
Saturday, June 27	Agent Kim Reactivated	Netflix
Monday, June 29	Adventure Time: Side Quests	Disney+ \| Hulu
Tuesday, June 30	Ruthless Season 6	Paramount+
Wednesday, July 1	Elle Season 1	Prime Video
Wednesday, July 1	X-Men ’97 Season 2	Disney+
Thursday, July 2	Survival of the Thickest Season 3	Netflix
Friday, July 3	Silo Season 3	Apple TV
Thursday, July 9	Little House on the Prairie Season 1	Netflix
Thursday, July 9	The Five Star Weekend	Peacock
Sunday, July 12	The Westies (9:00 p.m.)	MGM+
Wednesday, July 15	Ride or Die	Prime Video
Thursday, July 16	The Hawk	Netflix
Thursday, July 23	Stuart Fails to Save the Universe (9:00 p.m.)	HBO Max
Sunday, July 26	The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 3	AMC
Sunday, August 2	Lioness Season 3	Paramount+
Monday, August 3	Futurama Season 14	Hulu
Wednesday, August 5	Ted Lasso Season 4	Apple TV
Thursday, August 13	Tires Season 3	Netflix
Sunday, August 16	Lanterns	HBO Max
Wednesday, August 26	One Hundred Years of Solitude: Part Two	Netflix
Wednesday, September 9	Last Seen	Apple TV
Wednesday, September 16	South Park Season 29 (10:00 p.m.)	Comedy Central
Thursday, September 24	A Different World	Netflix
Thursday, October 15	Crystal Lake	Peacock
Wednesday, October 21	The Terminal List Season 2	Prime Video
Friday, October 23	Lupin Part 4	Netflix
Wednesday, November 11	The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power	Prime Video
Thursday, November 12	The Good Daughter	Peacock
Friday, December 25	Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone	HBO Max

If we’ve forgotten a show, feel free to drop a reminder in the comment section below!

Want to know what big movies are coming out in 2026? We’ve got you covered here.

Ghostbusters: Night Shift Returns the Franchise To Animation, its Natural Home

For now four consecutive feature films, bustin’ has made audiences feel okay-to-bad. After the classic that is 1984’s Ghostbusters, the franchise has gone through multiple sequels and reboots, none of which have come close to recreating the magic of the first film. Conventional wisdom would say that Ghostbusters should be a one-off, and any attempt to expand the franchise wreaks of desperate IP-mining.

The announcement of the Sony and Netflix series Ghostbusters: Night Shift contradicts that wisdom. Night Shift will be an animated series, bringing the franchise back to its natural home. The series The Real Ghostbusters, which aired 150 episodes between 1986 and 1991, cemented the fact that the adventures of four regular guys dealing with supernatural effects work best as a cartoon.

To be clear, this does not mean that The Real Ghostbusters is better than the first Ghostbusters. The original Ghostbusters remains an incredible watch, despite its many flaws. The effects still look incredible, the jokes land, and the movie escalates the threat in way that satisfies blockbuster demands without compromising the everyman nature of the heroes.

It’s just that Ghostbusters shouldn’t work, and, by all accounts, barely made it to screen in the form that we know and love today. Originally, Dan Aykroyd—a true believer in all-things paranormal—designed a supernatural epic, and planned to cast his SNL co-stars John Belushi and Eddie Murphy. When Belushi’s death and Murphy’s rising star forced a change, the studio and director Ivan Reitman retooled, cutting down the script and giving Bill Murray plenty of space to riff.

We all know the result: an incredible comedy that somehow overcomes its jankiness, its pro-free-market, anti-EPA politics, and its absolute underutilization of Ernie Hudson to become an all-time great.

The Real Ghostbusters certainly had its own problems, including a copyright claim that forced them to add the confusing adjective to the title and Murray suing original Venkman voice-actor Lorenzo Music. But the series turned out to be exactly what the Ghostbusters needed, an engine for new spooky adventures for our heroes. Even the less-loved spin-off series Extreme Ghostbusters (1997) retained some of the charm of the first series.

At this point, we don’t know much about Night Shift other than the title and the creative team, but even that little bit of information has us feeling some optimism. The writing staff includes Elliott Kalan who, in addition to working on The Daily Show and the Mystery Science Theater 3000 reboot, wrote the oft-memed X-Men panel of Sauron extolling to Spider-Man the virtues of turning people into dinosaurs instead of curing cancer.

Furthermore, Night Shift comes right after Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, a movie that only worked when it was doing Stranger Things-style adventures with the younger cast. Gil Kenan, who directed Frozen Empire, will be producing Night Shift, along with Jason Reitman (who directed the dire Ghostbusters: Afterlife—which was co-written by Kenan).

With these elements in place, Night Shift has the potential to be a great Ghostbusters entry, continuing the legacy of the cartoon shows and delivering on the promise of the movies.

The Boys Creator Defends Its Divisive Series Finale

After The Boys concluded its fifth and final season on Prime Video, fan reactions online were mixed. Some felt the popular series ended on a high note, while others were disappointed by what it delivered, believing the show’s marketing had hyped a more explosive swan song for Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and the villainous Homelander (Antony Starr) following years of buildup.

The Boys creator Eric Kripke recently admitted to TVLine that he knows there are “a lot of unhappy people online,” but went on to make two points in defense of the finale.

“First, I’m just glad people are passionate, legitimately,” he said. “My job is to make people passionate about the work I put out. If they’re arguing about it and hating it and fighting, that’s all passion, man. You’re watching, and that’s all good. My job is to get an emotional reaction, not necessarily to dictate what that emotional reaction is.”

But Kripke explained that he has also learned many times that “the online world is not the real world.”

“We have way north of 60 million viewers, so that makes the online storm, which feels very all-encompassing, actually a fraction of a single percentage point,” he said. “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, of course, and I’m sorry if I disappointed you, but it was the story I wanted to tell. You just have to put it into perspective of it being a reasonably small, vocal audience when the vast majority seem to be happily tuning in.”

Kripke also told the outlet that the writers had already worked out which characters were going to die in the series finale of The Boys, but that the hardest part of the writing process was making sure every character got “a moment to be cool” when Butcher and the gang finally went into the Oval Office to confront Homelander.

“They all deserve a moment to be cool, right? Everything from Ashley’s moment, to Huey having one last flash of genius with his understanding of electronics and equipment, to the ball gag, to Annie and The Deep, we made sure every hero had their moment.”

All episodes of The Boys are now streaming on Prime Video.

Sam Reid Reveals How the Gabriella Relationship Is Key to The Vampire Lestat

This article contains spoilers for The Vampire Lestat premiere.

In Anne Rice’s beloved book series The Vampire Chronicles, rebellious bloodsucker Lestat de Lioncourt gets drawn into some truly complex romances, but the third season of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire series, The Vampire Lestat, explores the most complex relationship of them all: the one he has with his mother.

It’s not until the final moments of the season 3 premiere that viewers get to meet Gabriella de Lioncourt (portrayed by Pride and Prejudice star Jennifer Ehle) after seeing Lestat intermittently text a mysterious lover throughout the episode. Fixated and yearning, Lestat clearly wants and needs to be reunited with this elusive figure from his past, as documentarian Daniel Molloy’s question of whether Lestat stuttered as a child is repeated until he finally does so when Gabriella emerges from the shadows.

Sam Reid, who plays Lestat in Rolin Jones’ triumphant adaptation of Rice’s books, understands his character’s nuanced and problematic past and present better than almost anyone, teases out how Gabriella factors into the restrained origins of Rice’s famous vampire.

“He didn’t know what to do with his life, and his mother took control of it and pushed him to become the thing that she wanted him to be or that she wanted to be herself,” Reid says. “He never got the chance to fully discover, and as soon as he got the chance to discover, he gets ripped away and turned into this other big monster, larger-than-life creature. That’s the thing. The joy of being able to play the fetus of what this overbearing character is. It’s really fun to go back-and-forth.”

The Vampire Lestat opens with Lestat beginning a personal recollection of his “failures” during this era of stardom and debauchery, having seemingly moved on from his flirtation with becoming a rock star. Showrunner Rolin Jones says that one particular piece of Gabriella’s dialogue in Rice’s tome helped craft the energy between her and Lestat, framing the season around the vampire’s perceived failures.

“It’s something that Gabriella (or Gabrielle in the book) says to Armand about working your way through failure,” Rolin notes, adding, “It was such a curious thing for her to say in the book. It’s pretty clear she didn’t think much of Armand. And then you realize that Lestat is sitting in the room when she says that. That cracked open the entire thing for me. Anne had placed that there, for me, magically, about ‘this is where you’re going. This is what we’re going to do, Lestat. Work through failure. Find yourself on the other side of that.'”

Though there might be some crucial therapy that Lestat is working through with his mother at this stage in his long existence, Reid is aware that Lestat and Gabriella’s romantic relationship is still pushing boundaries. Rice wrote Lestat to be Gabriella’s maker, saving her from death as her health rapidly declined, but this created an uncomfortable and complex dynamic between the pair as they seesawed between being parent and child.

“There aren’t a lot of real-world analogues for it but if you separate them all, there are,” Reid explains. “There’s the mother/son, and then there’s lovers and maker and fledgling. You put the three of those things together and play them all at the same time. Which is what this show is most of the time – you’re playing like five things at the same time. It’s really fun. It’s so complicated, it’s such a messy thing.

“To do that with Jennifer was just a total joy. Pulling and pushing and seeing where we could go and how far we could go. It’s an amazing bunch of dynamics we play. It’s not done for exploitation or to be shocking. It is fundamental to the character and structurally who he is and why he is as fucked up as he is. I feel like you learn so much about these characters going through that. It’s very uncomfortable to watch. But the book series has never been comfortable. There’s nothing comfortable about it.”

Reid also credits Rolin and writer Hannah Moscovitch for giving “humanity and depth to the trauma of carrying an incestuous relationship around with you your whole life,” adding, “Because you need your mother. You need that maternal love. You need to be receiving that love. And when it’s a sexual love that you are given, it’s very, very complex. Your whole relationship with your sexual identity is tied in with your desire to be loved as a child. You can’t get a more desperate need for a character to be loved by the masses for who he is.”

New episodes of The Vampire Lestat premiere Sundays on AMC.

Autographed MrBeast Trading Card Highlights Topps’ Latest Set

Once solely the domain of baseball players and movie cowboys, trading cards have become a more inclusive medium in the internet era. Now industry titan Topps Chrome is paying homage to some of the creators that helped build that modern internet era.

Launching on Wednesday, June 10, the second set of “VeeFriends” trading cards from Topps Chrome will include 13 “Content Condor’s Favorite Content Creators” insert cards that highlight notable internet personalities such as Mr. Beast, Gary Vaynerchuk, Kam Patterson, Jake Paul, Livvy Dunne, Mel Robbins, Chris Brickley, Cody “Clix” Conrod, and Kyle “Mongraal” Jackson. The content creator cards will include one main set and one autography-only set. Den of Geek was provided an exclusive first look at the sure to be highly sought after autographed MrBeast card.

2026 Chrome VeeFriends, Content Condors Autograph Parallel

The nine Content Condor’s Favorite Content Creators cards will be accompanied by four other chase card formats: “Erupt!” cards featuring 20 characters from the VeeFriends universe, “Comic Clippings” cards featuring cutouts directly pulled from VeeFriends Comics Issues 1–10, “Manga Speckle” featuring 100 characters reimagined in a manga art style, and “Chalkboard” featuring 20 characters sketched in chalk lines.

While the secondary market will make clear which of the 13 inserts in this second set of VeeFriends cards is most valuable, a signed MrBeast card is certain to be in contention for the top spot. Jimmy Donaldson a.k.a. MrBeast is the most successful online content creator ever by almost any metric. With 497 million subscribers, his channel is the most popular on YouTube and his Prime Video reality competition series Beast Games concluded its second season in February with the crowning of a $5 million dollar champion.

“VeeFriends” is a character, storytelling, and collectible IP universe created by entrepreneur, author, and internet personality Gary Vaynerchuk a.k.a. Gary Vee. The brand features more than 250 colorful cartoon characters created and hand drawn by Vee. Every VeeFriend has its own personality and backstory and the characters are featured in comics, coloring books, trading cards, and other mediums. Vee has described the project as a cross between Pokémon and Sesame Street, with press notes stating that the VeeFriends bring “traits like empathy, patience, and kindness to life in ways that connect, resonate and inspire” while also giving “both kids and parents something to connect over.”

The second batch of VeeFriends cards will be available for purchase from Topps and Fanatics on Wednesday, June 10. The cards will also be available via VeeFriends live shows on Whatnot and Fanatics Live! and through retail sources Dick’s, Target, and Gamestop.

15 Actors Who Were Too Good for the Script They Were Given

Performers do what they can with the material they are given, that’s something we know. This is why, when we find a movie is lacking in quality, it’s good practice not to immediately blame the actors; they are only the face of the disaster we are witnessing in front of us.

There are actors, however, that give it their all even when the rest of the movie doesn’t meet their momentum. They were given scripts and situations that were either ridiculous, poorly executed, or a combination of both, and they rose to the occasion. In most cases, it wasn’t enough to save the movie, but their performances were memorable nonetheless.

Raul Julia in Street Fighter

Raul Julia’s final film role could have been a paycheck performance, but he committed completely. His portrayal of M. Bison brought charisma and theatrical energy to a movie that most critics considered a mess.

Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

While the film received mixed reviews, Alan Rickman’s Sheriff of Nottingham became an instant classic. His scenery-chewing performance was so entertaining that many viewers remember him more vividly than the actual heroes.

Ewan McGregor in the Star Wars Prequels

The prequel trilogy has long been criticized for awkward dialogue, but Ewan McGregor consistently earned praise as Obi-Wan Kenobi. His charm and conviction helped elevate scenes that could easily have fallen flat.

Michael Sheen in Twilight

The Twilight films were rarely praised for their performances, yet Michael Sheen embraced the role of Aro with remarkable enthusiasm. His eccentric portrayal became one of the franchise’s most memorable elements.

Gene Hackman in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Even fans of Superman struggle to defend much of Superman IV. Gene Hackman, however, remained fully committed as Lex Luthor, delivering the same confidence and presence he brought to stronger entries.

Dennis Hopper in Super Mario Bros.

The 1993 Super Mario Bros. adaptation is often cited as one of the strangest video game movies ever made. Dennis Hopper nevertheless attacked the role of King Koopa with complete commitment, creating one of the film’s few memorable elements.

Willem Dafoe in Aquaman

While Aquaman was commercially successful, many critics found parts of the script uneven and overly busy. Willem Dafoe brought his usual intensity and professionalism to Vulko, making even exposition-heavy scenes feel important.

Jeremy Irons in Dungeons & Dragons

The 2000 Dungeons & Dragons movie is infamous among fantasy fans. Jeremy Irons responded by delivering an outrageously committed villain performance that remains far more enjoyable than the film surrounding it.

Tim Curry in Congo

Congo is remembered as a campy adventure with questionable dialogue, but Tim Curry fully embraced the chaos. His accent and larger-than-life performance became one of the movie’s most enduring talking points.

Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: Nemesis

Star Trek: Nemesis divided fans and critics, yet Patrick Stewart continued to bring dignity and emotional depth to Jean-Luc Picard. His performance helped anchor a film many consider a disappointing finale.

Ben Kingsley in BloodRayne

Uwe Boll’s BloodRayne received overwhelmingly negative reviews, but Ben Kingsley approached the material with the seriousness of a prestige production. His performance often feels like it belongs in a completely different movie.

Oscar Isaac in X-Men: Apocalypse

Buried under layers of makeup and a heavily criticized script, Oscar Isaac still tried to bring weight to Apocalypse. Many viewers felt his performance deserved a stronger film and better material.

Viola Davis in Suicide Squad

Viola Davis emerged from Suicide Squad with her reputation intact. Her portrayal of Amanda Waller projected authority and intelligence, making the character far more compelling than the script often allowed.

Frank Langella in Masters of the Universe

The live-action Masters of the Universe struggled critically, but Frank Langella approached Skeletor with complete seriousness. His performance remains one of the film’s most widely praised aspects decades later.

Cate Blanchett in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The fourth Indiana Jones film remains divisive among fans, but Cate Blanchett’s Irina Spalko is rarely blamed for its shortcomings. She embraced the pulp adventure tone and delivered a memorable villain despite the controversial story.

25 Vehicles Universally Loved By the Geeks

Not all heroes wear capes, or fly around with them. Some travel at Mach 3, break speed records, reach the Moon, or dominate battlefields. Across cars, aircraft, tanks, spacecraft, and even a few fictional machines, certain vehicles have earned near-universal admiration among geeks and engineering enthusiasts.

These aren’t necessarily the most practical or successful designs ever built. Instead, they stand out because of their innovation, performance, cultural impact, or sheer cool factor. We’re taking things that have appeared in history books, video games, movies, or science fiction classics; these machines continue to inspire fascination decades after their debut.

SR-71 Blackbird

Few machines inspire engineering enthusiasts quite like the SR-71 Blackbird. Capable of cruising above Mach 3 and outrunning missiles, it remains one of the most impressive aircraft ever built.

Ferrari F40

The Ferrari F40 is often considered the ultimate analog supercar. Lightweight, brutally fast, and designed with minimal electronic assistance, it represents everything gearheads love about performance driving.

Space Shuttle

For an entire generation, the Space Shuttle symbolized humanity’s future in space. Its combination of rocket power, orbital capability, and reusable design made it one of the most iconic vehicles ever created.

Supermarine Spitfire

The Spitfire’s elegant shape and legendary wartime service have made it beloved far beyond aviation circles. Many enthusiasts consider it one of the most beautiful aircraft ever to take flight.

B-2 Spirit

The B-2 looks like something from science fiction. Its flying-wing design, stealth capabilities, and mysterious appearance have fascinated military aviation fans since it first entered public view.

Bugatti Veyron

When it debuted, the Bugatti Veyron seemed almost impossible. A thousand-horsepower production car capable of exceeding 250 mph felt like a challenge to the laws of automotive engineering.

Lockheed U-2

The U-2 has remained in service for decades despite constant predictions of retirement. Its incredible altitude capabilities and Cold War history have made it a favorite among aviation geeks.

M4 Sherman

The Sherman may not have been the most powerful tank of World War II, but its reliability and production numbers made it legendary. Military history fans continue to admire its impact.

Panther Tank

The German Panther remains one of the most studied tanks ever built. Its balance of firepower, armor, and mobility helped establish its reputation among armor enthusiasts worldwide.

DeLorean DMC-12

The DeLorean became immortal thanks to Back to the Future. Between the stainless-steel body, gull-wing doors, and time-machine association, it enjoys a level of fame few cars can match.

Concorde

Concorde made supersonic passenger travel a reality. Even decades after its retirement, the sleek airliner remains a symbol of a future that seemed far more ambitious than the present.

F-14 Tomcat

The F-14 combined speed, firepower, and variable-sweep wings into one unforgettable package. Popular culture, especially Top Gun, helped turn it into one of history’s most beloved fighter jets.

Porsche 911

For decades, the Porsche 911 has proven that evolution can be just as exciting as revolution. Its distinctive silhouette and performance pedigree have earned fans across multiple generations.

A-10 Thunderbolt II

The A-10 is loved largely because it appears purpose-built for one job and does it exceptionally well. Its massive cannon and rugged design have earned near-mythical status among military enthusiasts.

Toyota AE86

The lightweight AE86 became a hero car thanks to motorsports, drifting culture, and anime. Its reputation for balance and driver engagement continues to attract enthusiasts decades after production ended.

Lamborghini Countach

The Countach looked like a spaceship when it debuted. Sharp angles, scissor doors, and outrageous styling made it the dream car hanging on countless bedroom walls during the 1980s.

Boeing 747

The Boeing 747 transformed air travel and became known as the Queen of the Skies. Its distinctive hump and enormous size made it instantly recognizable around the world.

Saturn V

The Saturn V remains the most powerful rocket ever successfully flown. It carried astronauts to the Moon and remains one of humanity’s greatest engineering achievements.

McLaren F1

The McLaren F1 achieved legendary status through innovation and performance. Its central driving position and record-breaking speed helped establish it as one of the greatest supercars ever produced.

USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

Even though it’s fictional, the Enterprise deserves a place on any geek vehicle list. Few spacecraft have inspired generations of engineers, scientists, and science-fiction fans quite like Star Trek’s flagship.

Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor

The F-22 combines stealth, speed, agility, and advanced technology into a package that aviation enthusiasts often describe as the closest thing to a real-life sci-fi fighter.

Mazda RX-7 FD

The FD-generation RX-7 is beloved for its stunning design and rotary engine. It remains one of the most recognizable Japanese sports cars ever produced.

Apollo Lunar Module

The Lunar Module may look awkward compared to sleek spacecraft designs, but it accomplished something no other vehicle has done: landing human beings on the Moon.

Nissan Skyline GT-R R34

The R34 GT-R became a global icon through motorsports, video games, and movies. Its combination of technology and performance made it one of the most celebrated Japanese cars ever built.

Millennium Falcon

Another fictional entry that transcends its source material, the Millennium Falcon perfectly captures the appeal of a vehicle that looks unreliable but somehow always gets the job done. For many geeks, it is the ultimate spaceship.

How 30 Years in the Trenches with Spielberg, Aliens, Indy and Dinosaurs Led to Disclosure Day

David Koepp was only 29 years old when he first sat down with Steven Spielberg. Despite having a recent hit under his belt, 1992’s dark comedy Death Becomes Her, Koepp was largely an unknown in Hollywood. And Spielberg—who was then in the process of looking for a new screenwriter on a project called Jurassic Park—was not.

Yet based purely on the strength of an initial pitch in his office about dinosaurs and the theme park tourists they would eat, Spielberg liked what he saw in the energetic scribe.

“I think he takes me seriously, and he took me seriously from a young age,” Koepp says about the seeds of their decades-spanning collaboration. “I was 29, and early on in your career you’re looking for that kind of confidence from somebody, anybody. Please. And he gave it to me. So I think I’ve rewarded it.”

By Koepp’s own estimation, he and Spielberg have a lot in common. They enjoy popcorn entertainment, the thrill of spitballing audience-friendly ideas, and have developed a bit of a constructive candor (“He gives me notes in a way that is ultimately encouraging rather than discouraging, even when he’s telling me you need to start over.”) However, the screenwriter allows that he’s a little more cynical than the director. “Steven’s more hopeful. That actually makes for a nice combination.”

It’s a combo Spielberg’s maintained on a lot of his most populist movies during the past 30 years. It continued of course in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), the only other dino flick Spielberg helmed, but also War of the Worlds (2005) and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). And now it is perhaps reaching its apotheosis in this week’s highly anticipated Disclosure Day, their first film together not based on a book or within a long-running franchise, In fact, it is an original story concocted by Spielberg—a rare thing that’s only occurred a few times in movies like Poltergeist (1982), A.I. (2001), and… Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).

For Koepp, that connection crystallized the day he received an email from his friend, as well as a detailed treatment for what would become Spielberg’s fourth alien movie (or fifth if you count Indy 4).

“We bat ideas around a lot,” says Koepp. “That’s one of the things I love about Steven. His favorite part of the process is still making them up. So we throw ideas around, but what was unusual about this email was getting stuff this formed. This is 40-some pages long, and it was largely the movie you see. It had a beginning, middle, and end.”

Initially, Koepp assumed Spielberg would write the full screenplay himself, however as he took on more notes from Koepp—suggestions that this section of the story should be sped up, those characters should be combined, etc.—the more it became apparent Spielberg was looking for more than just advice. Eventually, four weeks into correspondence, an email came asking if Koepp would write it. “I thought you’d never ask,” Koepp typed back.

While the pure Spielbergian nature of the ending scene in Disclosure Day remains largely untouched from that first treatment—though Koepp hints he came up with the film’s superb final piece of dialogue—much of the rest of the action-packed narrative about a series of events leading to the government disclosing aliens exist, and that they’ve been visiting us for a long time, went through a lengthy metamorphosis. One element that Koepp particularly brought to the fore was the daily anxieties and rigamarole endured by Emily Blunt’s central heroine, Margaret Fairchild, a thirtysomething television journalist anxious about moving on from her lot as a local weatherwoman in Kansas City, Missouri.

There’s a lot of quick-witted but detailed worldbuilding early in the movie about the type of person who might be particularly enamored with disclosing the truth, and it’s a career path that Koepp has intimate familiarity with in his family and professional life. Indeed, Koepp’s screenplay for 1994’s underrated newsroom comedy, The Paper, remains a personal favorite for this writer.

“Spoken like a journalist,” Koepp chuckles when we mention admiring the film. “My wife was a producer at ABC, so I have some knowledge of that through her and was able to ask her questions about character stuff. So yes, I thought of [The Paper], but I love journalists, and I love journalists not just because I’m married to one and my brother’s one. I love them because they’re very goal-directed. They’re great characters in movies because they want to find out, and so they are driven to find out, which makes for great storytelling.”

The search for truth is also apropos in a movie about the fallout that would come from total, even radical transparency. While the plot of Disclosure Day is being kept under careful wraps, it is fair to say that an extralegal government conspiracy, led by a lifelong believer in the system played by Colin Firth, experience a breach within their midst when a former employee (Colman Domingo) orchestrates an Edward Snowden-like operation to extract evidence of not only UAPs, but cover-ups, manipulated alien technology, extraterrestrial autopsies… and even interrogations of little gray men.

“You know those stories where they say ‘everything you thought you knew was wrong?’” asks Koepp. “We wanted to tell a story that said, ‘Everything you thought you knew was right.’ I viewed this as a sort of unified theory of everything for UAPs. This is a story that encompasses all the lore we’ve heard, aside from the preposterous ones that are clearly reality challenged, but we wanted to incorporate all the lore into a credible story where it fit together.”

David Koepp in Disclosure Day — David Koepp on the set of DISCLOSURE DAY, directed by Steven Spielberg

The process of making it, has even led some folks to muse that the characters resemble its makers, specifically critics who’ve noted the similarity between Spielberg and Domingo’s older, commanding yet empathetic leader who believes in total disclosure. Koepp says any overlap was unintentional, but he can’t help but see a bit of Steven in Domingo’s performance—as well as an unlikely avatar for himself.

“It’s funny, I was watching a cut of the finished movie a few weeks ago, and I was watching the scene between Colman and Colin Firth where they debate the central issues of the movie, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, most of what Colman says is Steve’s viewpoint, and most of what Colin says is my viewpoint.” That give-and-take has long existed between the longtime collaborators, although it was different on this one given Spielberg’s own personal stake.

“It’s something he had carried around in his head for decades,” Koepp notes. “So in the beginning, I felt a particular obligation to not fuck it up. But then over drafts, it became my story too. At first, you’re always trying to be deferential to where the idea comes from. With Jurassic Park, I’m trying to respect the book as much as possible; War of the Worlds, same thing; Indiana Jones? Talk about deferential. That was a hard one. But in this, I’m helping this guy tell his story, even as it grew into my story too.”

It’s a tale about aliens, about secrets, and about a kind of spiritual coda to dreams Spielberg first shared with the world nearly 50 years ago in Close Encounters—although as Koepp is quick to point out not literally so (don’t expect a Richard Dreyfuss cameo). But it’s also about embracing, and more keenly empathizing with the unknown instead of fearing it. That’s a far cry from Spielberg and Koepp’s War of the Worlds film 21 years ago. The mission state also is in deliberate conflict with our current cultural moment.

“It feels so terribly precarious right now,” Koepp says, “and divisions are so sharp. Wouldn’t thinking about things from the other person’s point of view help? I think also having empathy for the extraterrestrials is important in this movie… they’re vulnerable creatures like us.”

Disclosure Day is in dialogue with Spielberg’s older films, but Koepp’s as well, especially whenever he’s collaborated on or off-screen in the last 30 years with the man in the beard. Hence before the conversation ended, we felt obliged to raise a query we’ve long wondered: Whose idea was it for Koepp to play, and be named, “Unlucky Bastard” in the second Jurassic Park movie when Koepp appeared on-screen as the one San Diegoan to end up inside a T-Rex’s tummy?

“That was mine!” laughs the writer. “That was one of my best character names ever! Yes, I wrote that part for myself and said, ‘Steven I’ll give you this rewrite if you’ll agree to let me play Unlucky Bastard.’ Happily, he agreed.” According to Koepp, if you’re going to write yourself a cameo, you must be killed off, preferably in a gruesome fashion.

“I haven’t been in a movie since because I don’t know how you top getting eaten by a T-Rex,” Koepp observes. “I really can’t walk through the background. So I’ve retired.”

Disclosure Day opens on Friday, June 12.

15 of Area 51’s Geekiest Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy theories can be harmful to some people, but in the realm of make believe, anything can be used to have a bit of fun. And among the many things conspiracy theorists love to run around with, Area 51 is the biggest and most discussed aspect by a wide margin.

These are the wild goose chases people on the internet love to go in, often with little to no evidence other than what they think the government is hiding from us. Most of these theories are incredibly unlikely, but as it happens with all probabilities: it’s low, but it can never be zero.

Reverse-Engineered Flying Saucers

One of the oldest Area 51 theories claims the facility houses crashed alien spacecraft recovered from incidents like Roswell. According to believers, engineers have spent decades attempting to reverse-engineer technology far beyond human understanding.

Alien Autopsies

Some conspiracy theories go beyond spacecraft and suggest Area 51 contains preserved extraterrestrial bodies. These claims often involve secret autopsies, biological research programs, and government efforts to hide evidence of alien life.

The Secret Stargate Program

Borrowing heavily from science fiction, this theory claims Area 51 contains portals capable of transporting people across vast distances. Some versions even suggest the technology was acquired from extraterrestrial civilizations rather than developed on Earth.

Time Travel Experiments

A favorite among geekier conspiracy circles, this theory argues that Area 51 scientists have discovered ways to manipulate time itself. Supposed evidence usually consists of alleged whistleblower stories and highly speculative interpretations of physics.

Recovered UFO Pilots

Rather than merely storing alien bodies, some theories claim living extraterrestrials have been housed and studied at Area 51. These stories often suggest governments secretly communicate with visitors from other worlds.

Testing Captured Alien Weapons

According to some believers, Area 51 is where scientists analyze and reproduce advanced alien weaponry. Theories range from directed-energy devices to technologies capable of ignoring known laws of physics.

The Underground Megacity

Many conspiracy enthusiasts argue that the visible base is only a tiny portion of the facility. They claim a vast underground complex stretches beneath the Nevada desert, containing laboratories, hangars, and entire hidden communities.

The Moon Landing Headquarters

A classic theory claims Area 51 helped stage or coordinate the Apollo Moon landings. While the idea has been widely debunked, it remains one of the most famous conspiracies connected to the facility.

The Men in Black Connection

Some UFO researchers believe the mysterious Men in Black are linked to Area 51 operations. Depending on the version, they are described as government agents, aliens, or something in between.

Weather Control Technology

This theory suggests Area 51 experiments involve manipulating storms and climate systems. Believers often connect unusual weather events to secret technologies allegedly being tested far from public scrutiny.

Interdimensional Visitors

Not every theory focuses on extraterrestrials. Some claim Area 51 studies beings from parallel dimensions rather than other planets. This idea combines UFO lore with concepts from theoretical physics and multiverse speculation.

Anti-Gravity Research

Reports of unusual aircraft have fueled theories that Area 51 scientists have mastered anti-gravity technology. Enthusiasts point to the strange flight characteristics reported in some UFO sightings as supporting evidence.

Hidden Space Fleet Projects

One of the more ambitious theories claims Area 51 is involved in developing secret spacecraft for missions beyond Earth. Some versions even describe hidden fleets operating throughout the solar system.

The Alien-Human Treaty

A long-running conspiracy theory alleges that world governments reached agreements with extraterrestrials decades ago. Area 51 is often portrayed as one of the primary locations where this secret cooperation supposedly occurs.

Artificial Intelligence Beyond Public Knowledge

Some modern theories have shifted away from aliens and toward advanced computing. They suggest Area 51 houses artificial intelligence systems far more sophisticated than anything publicly acknowledged, operating years or even decades ahead of known technology.

The 15 Best Soccer Movies and Shows to Get You in the World Cup Mood

The Soccer World Cup is right around the corner, and the excitement is being felt all around the world. If the previous World Cup is any indication, the matches to come are going to be some of the most incredible displays of Soccer that we’ve ever seen. Many of us can’t wait, but what to do with that built up emotion?

Well, we can always turn to fiction and documentaries to carry us from match to match. These are some of the best movies and shows based on the game we know and love, from all over the world where fans live. If you want to live and breathe the sport, give these choices a watch.

Ted Lasso

What began as a joke character evolved into one of television’s most beloved sports series. Ted Lasso combines soccer action with optimism, humor, and memorable characters, making it perfect viewing before a major tournament.

Bend It Like Beckham

This beloved sports comedy follows a young British-Indian woman pursuing her dream of playing soccer despite family expectations. Its charm, humor, and love of the sport have made it a modern classic.

Goal! The Dream Begins

One of the few films to fully embrace professional soccer culture, Goal! follows Santiago Muñez as he chases a career with Newcastle United. It remains a favorite among fans of the sport.

The Damned United

Michael Sheen stars as controversial manager Brian Clough in this acclaimed drama. Rather than focusing on players, the film explores the intense pressure, politics, and personalities that shape professional soccer behind the scenes.

Blue Lock

This anime takes a wildly exaggerated approach to soccer, imagining a ruthless training program designed to create Japan’s ultimate striker. The result is part sports drama and part psychological battle royale.

Shaolin Soccer

Stephen Chow’s cult classic combines soccer with martial arts and absurd comedy. Its over-the-top action and creative matches make it one of the most entertaining soccer films ever produced.

Sunderland ‘Til I Die

This documentary series follows English club Sunderland through one of the most turbulent periods in its history. The emotional connection between a struggling team and its supporters is the show’s real focus.

Welcome to Wrexham

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s ownership of Welsh club Wrexham inspired one of the most popular sports documentaries in recent years. The series captures both the business and emotional sides of soccer.

The English Game

Created by Julian Fellowes, The English Game dramatizes the origins of modern soccer in Victorian England. It explores how the sport evolved from an elite pastime into a game for everyone.

Next Goal Wins

Based on a true story, this film follows American Samoa’s national team after one of the worst defeats in international soccer history. It focuses on perseverance, pride, and the joy of competition.

All or Nothing: Arsenal

This behind-the-scenes documentary gives viewers unprecedented access to Arsenal’s locker room and training ground. It provides a fascinating look at how a major club operates throughout an entire season.

Green Street Hooligans

While not centered on matches themselves, Green Street explores English soccer hooligan culture. The film offers a darker look at the passion and tribal loyalty that can surround the sport.

Maradona: Blessed Dream

This dramatized series chronicles the life and career of Diego Maradona. It covers both his rise to soccer superstardom and the personal struggles that followed.

Becoming Champions

Each episode of this documentary series focuses on a different World Cup-winning nation. It is an excellent choice for viewers looking to revisit some of the greatest moments in soccer history.

Captains of the World

Released after the 2022 World Cup, this documentary series follows several national teams and star players throughout the tournament. It provides an inside look at the pressure of competing on soccer’s biggest stage.