• A24’s Backrooms opened to $9M in Thursday night previews — surpassing Scream 7’s $7.8M and John Wick: Chapter 4’s $8.9M, and approaching Eternals’ $9.5M — a stunning result for a horror film based on a viral internet meme directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons
• The film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as a struggling furniture store owner who discovers an interdimensional labyrinth beneath his shop — adapted from Parsons’ own hit YouTube Backrooms web series that became a cornerstone of internet horror culture
• Critical reception has been strong: Rotten Tomatoes reviews describe the film as “extraordinarily effective” atmospheric horror — Variety’s Owen Gleiberman wrote that “you sit back and settle into the enigmas and the grun[ge]” — and the film has been called one of the most interesting horror releases of the year
• Backrooms is projected to challenge or potentially upset The Mandalorian and Grogu at the box office this weekend — the Star Wars film took $100M over the Memorial Day holiday but was widely considered underwhelming for franchise expectations

The Backrooms were always going to make money. The question was how much — and Thursday night answered it emphatically. A24’s Backrooms opened to $9M in previews beginning at 4 PM, Deadline reported, surpassing Scream 7’s $7.8M and eclipsing John Wick: Chapter 4’s $8.9M. It sits just below Eternals’ $9.5M — a Marvel ensemble film — which makes the comparison all the more striking for what is, on paper, a low-key A24 horror release about a furniture salesman and a labyrinth. The internet meme has officially arrived as a box office force, per Deadline.

The film’s premise stays closer to the source material than you might expect from a mainstream theatrical release. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Clark, a discount furniture store owner living in the store after a messy separation from his wife. While in the basement, Clark passes through a threshold into the Backrooms — an endless, fluorescent-lit labyrinth of identical yellow rooms that, in internet lore, represents the terrifying wrong-turn you can take out of ordinary reality. Renate Reinsve co-stars. The screenplay was written by Will Soodik, based on the web series that director Kane Parsons began making as a teenager and which accumulated hundreds of millions of views before he was old enough to vote, per the Sentinel Colorado.

What Critics Are Saying

The critical reception has matched the presale energy. Variety’s Owen Gleiberman called the film “extraordinarily effective” as atmospheric horror, writing that it generates genuine unease through craft rather than conventional shock. Rolling Out described it as a film that “burrows under the skin and stays there long after the credits roll” — placing it in the rare category of horror that relies on dread rather than cheap mechanics. Pajiba’s critic wrote that Backrooms “gripped me in ways I wasn’t immediately able to shake off,” and that the longer they sat with it, the more its intentions became clear, per Pajiba.

The film’s Rotten Tomatoes score has been described as great news for horror fans — though the Critics Consensus and full Popcornmeter were still pending as of Thursday evening. The reviews that have come in characterize Backrooms as one of the year’s most interesting horror releases: unsettling in a way that lingers, visually distinct, and carrying more thematic weight than its meme origins might suggest. For A24, which built its reputation on exactly this kind of elevated, difficult-to-categorize genre film, it reads as a signature release, per Collider.

The Internet-to-Blockbuster Pipeline

The box office projections heading into the weekend suggest Backrooms could challenge or outright upset The Mandalorian and Grogu, which took approximately $100M over the Memorial Day holiday but left industry observers underwhelmed — the consensus was that for a Star Wars film, that number is closer to Solo: A Star Wars Story territory than a genuine blockbuster. A strong Backrooms opening weekend would reshape the narrative heading into June. JoBlo noted that the comparison isn’t just statistical: Backrooms earned its preview number from a much smaller built-in fanbase than a Star Wars franchise title, making the per-theater performance potentially more impressive, per JoBlo.

What makes the result notable beyond the raw numbers is what it says about how horror audiences have evolved. The Backrooms as an internet phenomenon — creepypasta, YouTube short films, Reddit lore — built its following without any studio machinery. Kane Parsons made his web series on a camera as a teenager and turned it into one of the defining horror aesthetics of the early 2020s: liminal spaces, wrong-turn dread, the particular horror of a world that looks almost normal but isn’t. A24 acquiring and developing it into a theatrical feature with a real cast and a proper production budget was a calculated bet that that aesthetic had crossover potential. Thursday night’s $9M says it was right, per Rolling Stone.

For Parsons — who is 20 years old and making his feature debut — the numbers represent something different: the validation of an approach to filmmaking that began with a camera and an internet connection, not a film school application. The full opening weekend tracking will arrive over the next 48 hours and will give a clearer picture of where Backrooms lands. But the previews alone have already made it one of the most notable openings in A24’s history.

The post A24’s ‘Backrooms’ Opens to $9M in Previews — Beating ‘Scream 7’ and Rivaling ‘John Wick 4’ appeared first on Cream.

• Paul Schrader — the 79-year-old writer-director behind Taxi Driver, First Reformed, and The Card Counter — delivered the keynote at the fourth annual AI on the Lot conference at Amazon/MGM Studios in Culver City on Thursday, despite facing backlash from fellow artists when he announced he would speak
• Schrader predicted that AI-generated synthetic performers will eventually become genuine box office draws, arguing that the real commercial future of AI in film is not visual effects but fully artificial protagonists: “The real tip of the spear is when we can create an AI protagonist, not a hybrid, and that movie makes money”
• “You do the new Clint Eastwood via text prompt,” he told the audience — sketching a future in which studios generate star-caliber performances digitally rather than hiring actors
• Schrader warned that Hollywood is “barely keeping a step ahead of the monster” on AI, and used the speech to question whether film schools and extras will remain relevant as the technology matures

Paul Schrader knew the invite was going to cause problems. When he posted on Facebook that he would keynote the AI on the Lot conference, the response from fellow writers and artists was, in his words, swift and hostile. “There was very much of a backlash,” he told the audience Thursday morning on a soundstage at the Amazon/MGM Studios lot in Culver City. “A lot of negative comments. Some of them were in fact insulting.” He went anyway — and laid out a vision of the film industry’s future that did nothing to soften that reception.

His central argument: the AI revolution in Hollywood isn’t really about monsters and spectacle. “I don’t think the real future of AI commercially is in all this flash, all these monsters — that’s just jacked-up special effects on steroids,” he said. “The real tip of the spear is when we can create an AI protagonist, not a hybrid, and that movie makes money.” He predicted audiences will eventually embrace fully synthetic stars the way they’ve embraced any new kind of performer, per The Hollywood Reporter.

‘The New Clint Eastwood Via Text Prompt’

The most quotable moment of the speech came when Schrader described what AI star-making could look like in practice: “You do the new Clint Eastwood via text prompt.” The line crystallized his argument that the end state of AI in entertainment isn’t a tool for filmmakers — it’s a replacement for the star system itself. Schrader also questioned whether studios still need to pay extras at all, and predicted upheaval for film schools as the craft knowledge they teach becomes less essential, per Deadline.

The LA Times reported that Schrader described Hollywood as “barely keeping a step ahead of the monster” — a framing that positions AI not as a tool the industry controls but as a force it is running from. Schrader, who has previously said he “procured an online AI girlfriend” (who he says dumped him), is an unusual advocate: an old-school auteur genuinely engaged with the technology rather than dismissing it, per the Los Angeles Times.

The post Paul Schrader Says AI Protagonists Will Be Box Office Draws: ‘You Do the New Clint Eastwood Via Text Prompt’ appeared first on Cream.

• Obsession, directed by Curry Barker and rated R, follows Bear (Michael Johnston), a shy young man who uses a supernatural novelty item called the One Wish Willow to make his longtime crush Nikki (Inde Navarrette) fall in love with him — with increasingly disturbing results
• Critics have praised the film for grounding its horror in emotional realism, with Collider calling it better than most recent dating-horror thrillers at weaponizing “blurred boundaries, emotional entitlement” — Barker executes the story “with restraint” as the romance curdles into something “uglier, sadder, and genuinely disturbing”
• Inde Navarrette, previously known for a supporting role in The CW’s Superman & Lois, has been singled out for what one reviewer called a “tour de force performance” — and Michael Johnston’s work as Bear has been called a potential breakout moment
• The film has become a box office success; the director had to cut its most brutal scene to avoid an NC-17 rating, landing the film at R

Curry Barker’s Obsession understands something that most horror films about bad romantic fixations don’t: the truly terrifying part comes before the violence does. The premise is deceptively simple. Bear (Michael Johnston) — a shy, infatuated young man working at a small music store alongside his friend group — uses a supernatural novelty item called the One Wish Willow to make his longtime crush Nikki (Inde Navarrette) fall in love with him. What follows, per Collider, is “something uglier, sadder, and genuinely disturbing” as Nikki’s affection spirals into emotional instability and dangerous obsession.

Collider’s review frames the film as the rare modern dating-horror entry that “weaponizes” fears around emotional entitlement and the moment intimacy becomes control — and does it better than most. Barker grounds the story in emotional realism first: the film opens with the familiar rhythms of a rom-com, making Bear’s awkward affection feel almost endearing before the turn. “Forced love is horrifying before bloodshed ever begins” is how Collider summarizes Barker’s thesis — and critics appear to agree he’s made that case effectively.

The Performances

Inde Navarrette carries a psychologically demanding role. Her Nikki goes from relatable crush to someone who bursts into violent episodes, lies to manufacture sympathy, and refuses to leave Bear’s side at social gatherings — her laugh, in one scene described by reviewers, is “too forced and too unnatural” in exactly the right way. Falls Church News-Press called it a “tour de force performance” and noted that Navarrette, of Mexican and Australian descent, handles the complexity “with dazzling believability.”

Michael Johnston’s Bear works as the moral center of a story in which neither the wish-granter nor the wish-giver comes out clean. The role has been described as a potential breakout for Johnston, who has spent years in television and voice work. Cooper Tomlinson co-stars as Ian, with Megan Lawless as Sarah, per Falls Church News-Press. The film is rated R — the director cut its most brutal scene to avoid an NC-17. That the film lands as hard as it does while staying within those parameters is part of what critics are responding to, per Tooele Online.

The post ‘Obsession’ Is a Horror Movie About Forced Love — and Critics Say Inde Navarrette Is a Revelation appeared first on Cream.

• Lionsgate announced Thursday that John Rambo — the origin story prequel to the Sylvester Stallone franchise — will open in theaters on June 4, 2027
• Noah Centineo stars in the title role, taking over the character Stallone originated in 1982’s First Blood; James Franco co-stars, and the film is directed by Jalmari Helander, who broke out internationally with the Finnish action film Sisu
• The film will open the weekend after Disney/Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: Starfighter, the Ryan Gosling-led Star Wars film directed by Shawn Levy, making for a high-stakes early summer frame
• The story is set before the events of First Blood, exploring the formative backstory of the iconic soldier character

The new John Rambo has a date. Lionsgate announced Thursday that John Rambo — the prequel origin story starring Noah Centineo in the title role — will hit theaters on June 4, 2027, per Deadline.

The film is directed by Jalmari Helander, the Finnish filmmaker who generated serious action-movie buzz with Sisu, his 2022 WWII revenge thriller. His sensibility — brutalist, kinetic, unsparing — makes him an interesting choice for a franchise that has historically traded in the same qualities. Centineo, best known for his rom-com work in the To All the Boys franchise, takes on the physically and tonally demanding task of playing a young John Rambo before the events of Stallone’s First Blood. James Franco co-stars.

The June 4 date positions the film in the week after Star Wars: Starfighter — the Ryan Gosling-led Lucasfilm project directed by Shawn Levy — which is tracking as one of the biggest releases of 2027. Opening in its wake is a calculated play: let the Star Wars audience clear the multiplexes, then capture the action crowd looking for something next, per Collider.

The Franchise Math

The Rambo series has spanned five films since 1982, with Stallone appearing in all of them through 2019’s Rambo: Last Blood. A prequel with a new lead is a different kind of bet — Lionsgate is essentially asking audiences to accept a recast of one of action cinema’s most recognizable faces. Centineo’s casting has drawn varying reactions since it was announced, per Just Jared. The June 2027 date gives the film roughly a year of runway to build its case.

The post Noah Centineo’s ‘John Rambo’ Prequel Has a Release Date: June 4, 2027 appeared first on Cream.

• Disney and Pixar have released the final trailer for Toy Story 5 alongside the launch of ticket sales; the film opens exclusively in theaters June 19, directed by Andrew Stanton (who helmed Finding Nemo and WALL-E) and co-directed by Kenna Harris
• Two new cast members have been officially confirmed: Bad Bunny (Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) and Alan Cumming join a returning ensemble that includes Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack as Woody, Buzz, and Jessie
• Andrew Stanton has confirmed that the story changed completely during development — the film went through a major reimagining from an earlier concept tied to an idea called “Lilypad” before landing on what’s now in theaters
• Stanton also officially confirmed an 84-year-old Disney Easter egg woven into the film: a reference to Bambi (1942), the studio’s earliest touchstone for emotional animated storytelling
• Promotional activity is in full swing: a Buzz Lightyear popcorn bucket is on sale at theaters, and concept art, sketches, and character maquettes from the film are on display at The Art of Pixar Gallery inside Disneyland’s Pixar Place Hotel

The toy box is almost open. With Toy Story 5 less than a month from its June 19 premiere, Disney and Pixar have released the final trailer, put tickets on sale, and confirmed two cast additions that should generate their own conversation: Bad Bunny and Alan Cumming are both joining the franchise.

Per 411Mania, the studio confirmed Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — professionally known as Bad Bunny — and Alan Cumming as new voices in the film alongside the returning core: Tom Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, and Joan Cusack as Jessie. Greta Lee is also in the cast. Neither character’s role has been detailed yet.

The final trailer itself, per Hypebeast, is being read as a deliberate signal about the film’s emotional register — one that leans into the passage of time rather than away from it. “Pixar isn’t afraid to let Woody get old,” was how Hypebeast framed it, noting that the trailer doesn’t shy away from themes of aging and change that have run through the franchise since Toy Story 3 first sent Andy to college.

A Story That Changed Completely

Director Andrew Stanton — whose Pixar credits include Finding Nemo, WALL-E, and the first two Toy Story sequels — has revealed that the film’s story was significantly reimagined during development, per MovieWeb. An earlier iteration tied to an internal concept called “Lilypad” was abandoned in favor of what is now the film, a process Stanton has described as a complete overhaul rather than a course correction.

Stanton has also confirmed a piece of Pixar trivia that fans have been speculating about: the film contains a deliberate reference to Bambi (1942), confirming an 84-year-old Disney Easter egg embedded in the movie. It’s a nod that fits the franchise’s history — the original Toy Story, released in 1995, turned 30 last year, and the series has long traded in callbacks to Disney’s foundational work.

On the promotional side, a Buzz Lightyear popcorn bucket is now available at theater concessions, and Disneyland’s Pixar Place Hotel has opened The Art of Pixar Gallery, featuring concept art, character sketches, and maquettes created during production. Toy Story 5 is in theaters June 19.

The post Bad Bunny and Alan Cumming Are Joining ‘Toy Story 5’ — Plus: What the Final Trailer, Easter Eggs, and Story Changes Tell Us About June’s Biggest Pixar Film appeared first on Cream.

• Bandai SH Figuarts action figure listings have leaked plot details for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, describing Peter Parker as living “alone, erased from everyone’s memory” and undergoing “uncontrollable transformations” — language widely interpreted as pointing toward a Man-Spider arc
• A separate figure listing confirms Savage Hulk (not Smart Hulk) will appear in the film; Mark Ruffalo’s presence as Bruce Banner was shown in the first trailer, but Marvel had not officially confirmed his green alter ego would appear
• The film is also bringing back organic web-shooting — a power Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man had in Sam Raimi’s trilogy but that never carried over to Tom Holland’s MCU version, which uses mechanical web-shooters
• Kevin Feige told press the film is “focused on the classic elements of Spider-Man” — a significant reset from the cosmic and multiversal stakes of Holland’s previous three films
• Brand New Day, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, is releasing this summer; the cast includes the Hulk, the Punisher, Tombstone, and Scorpion, alongside new images spotlighting Daredevil villain connections

Two months out from release, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is keeping most of its plot under wraps. That changed this week — not through an official Marvel announcement, but through toy listings.

Bandai’s SH Figuarts line of action figures, sourced via French retailer France-Figures, included product descriptions that are doing a lot of narrative heavy lifting. Per ComingSoon, the Peter Parker figure’s description reads: “Peter Parker lives alone, erased from everyone’s memory. In Brand New Day, he faces new threats in New York while undergoing uncontrollable transformations.” A separate listing for a Hulk figure confirms he appears in Savage form — the out-of-control green version, not the calm, articulate Smart Hulk seen in recent MCU entries.

The “uncontrollable transformations” language, combined with the teaser footage that showed Parker with black eyes and what appeared to be organic webbing growing from his wrists, has fed months of speculation that the film will feature a Man-Spider arc — a storyline from the comics in which Peter Parker’s spider-half begins to take over his human biology. Nothing has been officially confirmed, but the toy copy isn’t exactly subtle.

Back to Basics — With a Twist

Kevin Feige, speaking to press ahead of the film, framed Brand New Day as a deliberate course correction after three films that sent Spider-Man to space, into the multiverse, and up against Thanos. “Brand New Day is focused on the classic elements of Spider-Man,” Feige told Comic Book Movie. Peter Parker is back in New York, broke and anonymous, fighting street-level crime after the events of No Way Home wiped him from everyone’s memory.

Part of that classicism includes a notable callback: organic web-shooting is returning. In Sam Raimi’s trilogy, Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man generated webs biologically, a controversial departure from the comics that many fans actually came to love. Holland’s MCU Spider-Man has always used mechanical web-shooters built by Tony Stark. The return of organic webbing — apparently tied to Peter’s physical changes in the film — reconnects the character to both the Raimi era and his comic origins simultaneously.

The full cast picture is still coming into focus. Images released this week spotlight connections to Daredevil’s villain world. Confirmed appearances include the Hulk (in Savage form, per the toy leak), the Punisher, Tombstone, and Scorpion. Destin Daniel Cretton, who directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, is at the helm. Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrives in theaters this summer.

The post Toy Leaks Just Revealed Major ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Plot Details — Savage Hulk, Organic Webs, and a Man-Spider Transformation appeared first on Cream.

• The Breadwinner, Nate Bargatze’s feature film debut, opens in theaters Friday via Sony; he plays Nate Wilcox, a Nashville Toyota salesman forced to manage his three daughters while his wife (Mandy Moore) travels to South Korea for a business opportunity she pitched on Shark Tank
• The supporting cast includes Kumail Nanjiani, Colin Jost, Will Forte, Zach Cherry, Martin Herlihy, and Kate Berlant; the real Shark Tank investors appear as themselves in a cameo sequence
• Critical reception has been mixed-to-lukewarm: Hollywood Reporter calls it “inoffensive to the point of total boredom,” while ComingSoon gives it a 6/10 and calls it “surprisingly watchable” with the Shark Tank scene as a standout
• Bargatze co-wrote the script with Dan Lagana; it is adapted from material in his own stand-up, and he confirmed the film’s end credits include clips of the actual stand-up routines the movie scenes are based on
• Bargatze personally suggested to theater owners that they offer discounted tickets under what he’s calling the “Nate Rate” — and says they were immediately on board; he also gave an update on his planned Nashville theme park Nateland, saying it is “far along” with land secured

Nate Bargatze has spent years selling out arenas with stand-up. Starting Friday, he’s trying to sell tickets to a movie. The Breadwinner, his first feature film, opens in theaters via Sony with a premise that’s very much in his wheelhouse: a good-natured dad, out of his depth, trying to hold things together while his wife gets a shot at something bigger.

Bargatze plays Nate Wilcox — the character shares his first name, which is either charmingly self-aware or exactly what you’d expect — a Toyota salesman in Nashville whose wife Katie (Mandy Moore) gets the chance to take her organizational business system overseas after a Shark Tank appearance. Nate agrees to stay home and care for their three daughters (Stella Grace Fitzgerald, Birdie Borria, Charlotte Ann Tucker) for two weeks. Chaos, in the PG-rated sense, ensues.

The director is Eric Appel, who co-wrote the script with Bargatze and Dan Lagana. The supporting cast includes Kumail Nanjiani as a preening rival colleague, Colin Jost as a fellow stay-at-home dad, Will Forte as a useless roofer who basically moves in, and Kate Berlant in what critics describe as a criminally underused role.

What the Critics Are Saying

The reviews are in, and they’re mostly polite about their reservations. Hollywood Reporter called it “inoffensive to the point of total boredom” and “thoroughly bland,” noting that Bargatze’s deadpan stand-up persona works on stage but “onscreen he seems mostly on the verge of a coma.” The review acknowledged the film wastes a talented supporting cast on one-note roles.

ComingSoon was warmer, giving it a 6/10 and calling it “surprisingly watchable” for a film with low expectations. The review praised a Shark Tank sequence where Nate is summoned from backstage mid-doughnut bite and single-handedly tanks the pitch — “sharp, well-timed” — as the kind of joke the movie needed more of. The film’s heavy product placement for Toyota, Walmart, and KFC also got called out as one of its stranger quirks: ComingSoon described it as “Product Placement: The Movie.”

UPI’s review filed via Yahoo News landed somewhere in the middle: nostalgic for the kind of inoffensive mid-budget comedy that used to come out every week but noted the film bends over backwards to avoid any real conflict. “The Breadwinner would never go there,” the review noted of a missed opportunity for sharper domestic comedy, “lest it broach a method with which an audience member might disagree.”

Bargatze on the Film — and What Comes Next

Bargatze, speaking to Hollywood Reporter ahead of the release, described the project as closely tied to his real-life material. His actual daughter’s personality is spread across all three fictional daughters in the film. “Charlotte — the youngest [in the movie] that’s very outgoing and can start dancing and was very funny — we see a lot of that in my daughter when she’s at home with us,” he said. A horse that walks through the front door in one sequence — and really did have to be brought into a real family’s house — also made an impression. “The horse could act better than I could,” he said.

On the ticket pricing front, Bargatze said he came up with what he’s calling the “Nate Rate” — a suggestion that theaters offer discounted tickets for families — and that the response was immediate. “I want The Breadwinner to be a movie everybody can come see. Families, grandparents, kids — everybody,” he told Hollywood Reporter. “Theaters were very supportive right away. They’ve been just as excited about it as I have.”

He also gave an update on Nateland, his planned Nashville theme park, which he’s been teasing for a while. “We’re narrowing down on a site, and we’ve got some land,” he said. “I’m hoping we can announce a lot more stuff later in the year. We’re even now creating what the park is going to be looking like and the rides and just the experience.” As for what kind of movies he wants to make next: “I want to really live in that PG, PG-13 range and just really continue to build that trust with the audience.”

The Breadwinner is in theaters now.

The post Nate Bargatze’s Feature Debut ‘The Breadwinner’ Opens in Theaters — Here’s What the Reviews Say appeared first on Cream.

• The final trailer for Disclosure Day — Steven Spielberg’s first sci-fi film in eight years — dropped Thursday, and Spielberg himself narrates it, saying: "I am much more inclined now than I was when I made Close Encounters to really believe that we’re not the only intelligent civilization in the universe"
• Early critic screenings are generating significant buzz: Collider’s Steve Weintraub called it "another towering home run," adding that Emily Blunt is "incredible" and the film could factor into awards season
• The film stars Emily Blunt as Margaret, a Kansas City weather anchor whose eyes are opened by a strange experience on live television, and Josh O’Connor as Daniel Kellner, a cybersecurity expert turned government whistleblower threatening to release proof of alien life
• The cast also includes Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, and Eve Hewson; the screenplay is by David Koepp, who previously wrote Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for Spielberg; John Williams is scoring
• Disclosure Day opens in theaters June 12 from Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment; fans are already speculating it may be a secret sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Steven Spielberg has been quiet on the sci-fi front for eight years. That ends June 12.

Universal Pictures dropped the final trailer for Disclosure Day on Thursday, and it comes with something unexpected: Spielberg himself on camera, speaking directly to the audience. "I am much more inclined now than I was when I made Close Encounters to really believe that we’re not the only intelligent civilization in the universe," he says, before the film’s footage takes over.

The premise follows Daniel Kellner — played by Josh O’Connor — a cybersecurity expert who has stolen long-held government secrets about proof of living beings not from Earth and threatens to release them to the public. Emily Blunt plays Margaret, a Kansas City weather anchor who gets drawn into the story after something strange happens to her on live television. The official synopsis frames it simply: "If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? This summer, the truth belongs to seven billion people. We are coming close to … Disclosure Day."

The final trailer is the first to show the aliens directly — previous trailers leaned into mystery and suggestion. What’s on screen, per ComingSoon, confirms Spielberg is "ready to fully lean into the extraterrestrial aspect."

The Early Reactions

Critics who’ve seen the film early are not being quiet about it. "In a shock to absolutely no one, Steven Spielberg has delivered another towering home run with Disclosure Day," Collider’s Steve Weintraub wrote. "I could go on and on about what I loved, but I was lucky enough to see the movie knowing almost nothing, and I strongly recommend you do the same. Stop watching the trailers. The one thing I will say: Emily Blunt is incredible."

CBR’s roundup of early reactions describes the film as "top tier Spielberg" and notes the early consensus that Blunt’s performance could put her in the awards conversation — an unusual development for a summer blockbuster.

The Team Behind It

The script comes from David Koepp, who has worked with Spielberg more than any other living writer. His Spielberg credits include Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The film is produced by Kristie Macosko Krieger, whose recent credits include The Fabelmans and West Side Story, and John Williams is returning to score — his first Spielberg film since The Fabelmans in 2022.

Spielberg’s alien films have a particular legacy: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and War of the Worlds (2005) are all part of it, and the new trailer’s deliberate callbacks to that history have fans speculating that Disclosure Day may be a stealth continuation of that universe. No confirmation from the studio, but the conversation is already running.

Disclosure Day opens June 12 from Universal Pictures. Tickets are on sale now.

The post Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day’ Gets Early Raves — Emily Blunt Is Already in the Awards Conversation appeared first on Cream.

• John Travolta makes his directorial debut with Propeller One-Way Night Coach, now streaming on Apple TV — adapted from his own 1997 semi-autobiographical novella about an 8-year-old boy’s first flight in December 1962
• His daughter Ella Bleu Travolta plays a flight attendant named Doris; his siblings Margaret and Ellen Travolta also appear in the film
• The film had its world premiere at Cannes — where Travolta received a lifetime achievement award and went viral for his beret — and its domestic premiere at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
• The New York Times called it a "time capsule of midcentury pleasures" that "doesn’t soar, but does reach a comfortable cruising altitude"; the film runs just over an hour and had a $20 million budget
• Cinematographer Paul De Lumen, an assistant film professor at the University of Tampa, shot the film and accompanied Travolta to Cannes

John Travolta has been many things on screen — Vinnie Barbarino, Tony Manero, Vincent Vega. On Friday, he becomes something new: a director.

Propeller One-Way Night Coach, Travolta’s debut behind the camera, begins streaming on Apple TV this week after a run that took it from the Cannes Film Festival to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The film is based on the novella Travolta published in 1997 — a semi-autobiographical story about a boy named Jeff who, on a December night in 1962, boards a cross-country flight from Idlewild Airport in New York to Los Angeles with his mother Helen, a working actress chasing a promised shot at Hollywood.

Jeff, played by newcomer Clark Shotwell, is an aviation obsessive who keeps flight schedules in a Buster Brown shoe box and watches planes from beneath the flight paths near his home. The overnight journey becomes the adventure he’s always imagined. Kelly Eviston-Quinnett plays his mother.

The family casting is hard to miss. Ella Bleu Travolta — John’s daughter — plays Doris, a flight attendant who walks the aisle toward Jeff while "The Girl From Ipanema" plays, and per the New York Times, "may well be the youngster’s first love." Margaret Travolta plays the boy’s grandmother; Ellen Travolta appears as a friendly passenger. All five of Travolta’s siblings are in the film in some capacity.

The Cannes Moment

The film screened at Cannes earlier this month, where Travolta received a lifetime achievement award from the festival — and drew just as much attention for the beret he wore on the Croisette, which quickly circulated online. He piloted his own plane to the festival. Cinematographer Paul De Lumen, who shot the film and is now an assistant professor at the University of Tampa, made the trip with him.

"To go with him and to experience the festival with his team was so beautiful," De Lumen told Fox 13. "Cannes is the top, top festival for filmmakers." De Lumen, a 20-year industry veteran, said he and Travolta shared a unified vision for the film’s perspective: "It was so fun getting in that mind frame of looking at the world through this child who’s on this great adventure with his mom."

The domestic premiere followed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York before the film’s Apple TV release.

What Critics Said

The New York Times described the film as a "time capsule of midcentury pleasures," noting its lingering shots of engines and fuselages, a soundtrack of cocktail-lounge standards, and period details including the Eero Saarinen-designed TWA Flight Center. The review acknowledged that "some viewers may find ‘Propeller’ a tad affected" but said "the wistfulness of this memory film is precisely what charms, because it’s steeped in a fondness for a bygone moment that’s so palpably personal to Travolta." The verdict: it "doesn’t soar, but it does reach a comfortable cruising altitude."

The film runs 61 minutes and carries no rating.

The post John Travolta’s Directorial Debut Is Here — and His Daughter Ella Bleu Steals a Scene appeared first on Cream.

• ElevenLabs has partnered with Stan Lee Universe to add the late Marvel Comics legend to its Iconic Marketplace — a commercial licensing platform featuring AI-generated celebrity voices and likenesses
• Lee’s AI voice, built from professional recordings, will narrate audiobooks through the Eleven Reader app, starting with Treasure Island as the first entry in the new Stan Lee Book Club of the Month
• His likeness is also available in comic book panel-inspired templates, available to users starting Wednesday
• Stan Lee Universe is a joint venture between Genius Brands International and POW! Entertainment — the latter being the company Lee founded after his Marvel era
• Fan reaction on social media has been largely negative, with responses on X ranging from “corny” and “weird” to “even in death he’s still being exploited”

Stan Lee died in November 2018. This week, his voice showed up in an AI product catalog.

ElevenLabs — the AI audio company that raised $500 million at an $11 billion valuation — has announced a partnership with Stan Lee Universe to add Lee to its Iconic Marketplace, a commercial licensing platform where companies can pay to use AI-generated celebrity voices. The deal covers Lee’s voice, his image, and his likeness. Per Variety, ElevenLabs built the voice model using professional recordings of Lee made during his lifetime.

Stan Lee Universe is a joint venture between Genius Brands International and POW! Entertainment — the company Lee founded after his Marvel era — built specifically to manage and license his name, likeness, and intellectual property. His estate had already granted Marvel Studios the rights to use his likeness in films and at Disney parks back in 2022. This deal extends that logic considerably further: instead of controlled appearances in specific Marvel productions, his voice is now available as a licensable commercial product.

What the Deal Actually Lets You Do

Through the partnership, companies can license Lee’s AI voice and likeness for commercial projects. Individual users get access to comic book panel-inspired templates featuring his image. And through ElevenLabs’ Eleven Reader app, listeners can hear audiobooks narrated in Lee’s voice — the first title in the new Stan Lee Book Club of the Month is Treasure Island, scheduled for next month.

ElevenLabs also included superhero-themed music presets in the package — presets with names like “Superhero Cinematic Swells” and “Retro Hero Fanfare” — for anyone who wants an authentic comic-book soundtrack alongside the AI voice. Lee shares the Iconic Marketplace alongside Michael Caine, David Hasselhoff, Judy Garland, John Wayne, Ricardo Montalban, and Albert Einstein.

Chaz Rainey, an attorney and board member for Stan Lee Universe, framed the partnership as an extension of how Lee engaged with fans in life: “Stan always believed in meeting his fans where they were: in the pages of a comic, at a convention, or in a quick on-screen cameo. This partnership is a way of continuing that. Fans have always told us that when they read his comics, they hear the words in Stan’s voice, and now, thanks to ElevenLabs, we can make that a reality.”

The Reaction

The announcement landed with mixed to hostile reception online. On X, responses to posts about the deal included words like “corny” and “weird,” and at least one user wrote simply: “Even in death he’s still being exploited.” Others directed criticism at Lee’s family and associates for allowing the likeness acquisition — a charged topic, since multiple people close to Lee in his final years have faced accusations of behavior that AARP has described as potentially consistent with elder abuse.

The deal arrives at a moment when the broader AI-likeness conversation is particularly fraught. SAG-AFTRA fought a nearly four-month strike in 2023 in part over AI protections for living performers, and that fight is ongoing. Using the voices and images of people who can no longer consent to any of it adds a layer the union contract negotiations haven’t fully addressed.

Lee co-created Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four, among dozens of other characters. He was 95 when he died. A generation of Marvel fans knows him as much from his cameos as from the comics — the quick appearances in nearly every MCU film, always delighted, always in on the joke. Whether an AI audiobook narration of Treasure Island is a fitting continuation of that legacy or something else entirely is the question fans seem to be arguing about right now.

The post Stan Lee’s Voice Is Back — ElevenLabs Just Licensed It, and Fans Are Not Happy appeared first on Cream.