The Hasbro Cinematic Universe Is Getting Smaller The Hasbro Cinematic Universe, which is a real thing, is taking a step or two backwards. After a big recent announcement setting dates for a whole slew of Hasbro-related films, two properties –M.A.S.K.andROM: The Space Knight– have been officially omitted from the line-up. But don’t worry: theTransformersfranchise will remain unaffected. Thank heavens. I know you were all very concerned about that. Back in the late 1800s, when the Lumière brothers were inventing the first motion-picture camera and projector, they could’ve onlydreamedthat one day there would be a Hasbro Cinematic Universe....

The Morning Watch: ‘Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban’ Creature Shop, Tom Hanks' Graduation Speech &More The Morning Watchis a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows. In this edition, visit the creature shop from behind the scenes ofHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, listen as a robotics expert breaks down the accuracy of movie scenes featuring androids, robots or droids such as HAL-9000 from2001: A Space Odysseyand R2-D2 fromStar Wars, and listen to the commencement speechTom Hanksgave to the students of Wright State University in Ohio....

The Nightmarish Inspiration Behind The Terminator “Where do you get your ideas?” People love to lob this question at writers, and it’s often unanswerable, but for James Cameron, the writer-director of “The Terminator,” it’s a question that scrapes the dust — or nuclear ash — off his darkest dreams. Cameron would go on to direct “Aliens” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” two of the greatest movie sequels of all time, as well as “Titanic” and “Avatar,” two of the threehighest-grossing filmsof all time; but “The Terminator” was his breakthrough feature....

The One Gerald’s Game Scene That Hit Fans The Hardest It was important that she see what she was doing, because she felt almost nothing at first; she could have cut her wrist to bleeding ribbons and felt little save those distant sensations of pressure and warmth. Stephen King is not the man you come to for a gentle bedtime story, and frankly, neither is Mike Flanagan. The former, a prolific author with over 60 novels and 200 short stories to his name, and the latter, an American director born in Salem and obsessed with ghosts real and metaphorical, both like to play in harder genre sandboxes....

The Scariest Scene In Cloverfield Really Pops (Literally) (Welcome toScariest Scene Ever, a column dedicated to the most pulse-pounding moments in horror with your tour guides, horror experts Matt Donato and Ariel Fisher.In this edition: Matt chimes in on a particularly … explosive scene from “Cloverfield.") When someone mentions “Cloverfield,” what do you think of first — the movie or the viral marketing campaign? Instead of reading college textbooks, I was scouring fanboy blogs for information on Slusho or Tagruato between analyzing animal roars against the then-unnamed film’s trailer across even more private threads....

This Is The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’s Biggest Departure From Tolkien’s Novels Nostalgia is about to hit fans of “The Lord of the Rings” like a spring storm with themuch-anticipated debutof the Amazon series, “The Rings of Power.” This particular adaptation will not be focusing on a particular J. R. R. Tolkien novel, but rather be offering a vast, extensive look into the many backstories that bolster the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, as well as the other novels....

Tom Holland Confirms A Trilogy Of ‘Spider-Man’ Films Is Coming This summer will bringSpider-Man: Homecoming, the solo debut of the new webslinger played byTom Hollandafter his introduction inCaptain America: Civil War, to theaters. This new beginning marks a unique collaboration between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures, but just how far will it go? There’s already aSpider-Man: Homecomingsequel set for release in2019, and before that, Spidey will make an appearance inAvengers: Infinity War....

VOTD: ‘Y: The Last Man Rising,’ A Live Action ‘Y: The Last Man’ Fan Film Y: The Last Man, the popular comic book series byBrian K. VaughnandPia Guerra, has beenflirting with Hollywoodfor years. Several filmmakers and stars have expressed interest in the property, which dramatizes a world where every man on Earth dies save for one, but the story’s huge scope has held it back. The latest update came in March whenNew Line hired the writersof the TV showHuman Targetto pen a new script....

Watch: Mads Mikkelsen Is An Assassin In Jake Scott’s Short Film ‘Le Fantôme’ Sir Ridley Scotthas quite the talented family. His three children have all directed feature films. The last feature Scott’s eldest son,Jake Scott, directed wasWelcome to the Rileys, a compelling drama with memorable performances. The director made his feature filmmaking debut with the little-knownPlunkett & Macleane, which, even in Jake Scott’s eyes, is averyrough around the edges first movie....

We Won! (Kinda) Comic-Con Moves Avatar Panel After Twilight Madness Last night I wrote an editorial titledWill Twilight Ruin Comic-Con, which basically shed light on a potential situation which would cause thousands of convention-goers to miss out on the most anticipated panels of Comic-Con 2009. Last year Twilighters began lining up at 3-4pm the previous day for the next day’s panels in Hall H. This caused thousands of convention attendees to miss out on the 20th Century Fox panel which preceded the Summit presentation....

Why Darth Vader’s David Prowse Was Banned From All Star Wars Events The internet has, among many things, given birth tospoiler culture. While some fans can’t be trusted to keep plots of major books, movies and television shows a secret, we know that the actors can — thanks to their professionalism and, well, the fear of breaching their NDAs. Many years ago, however, a spoiler almost destroyed a major future plot twist thatcreator George Lucas’original “Star Wars” trilogy intended to set up — Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader’s father-son reveal....

‘Aladdin’ Trailer: You Ain’t Never Had A Disney Live-Action Adaptation Like This Disney has been slowly rolling out the teasers forAladdin, all of which have been met with, let’s say, mixed reactions. The first teaser trailer in October featured plenty of the original 1992 animated film’s iconography, but barely featured the titular character played byMena Massoud, much less the film’s highest-billed actor,Will Smith. But then a special TV spot revealed our first look at Smith as the giant, blue genie, and that wasn’t quite well-received either....

‘Annabelle Comes Home’ First Look Promises More Creepy Doll Action If you’ve been craving more creepy dolls in your life, today’s your lucky day!James Wan, grandaddy of the spooktacularConjuringUniverse, shared a first-look atAnnabelle Comes Home, the third entry in theAnnabelleseries. Once again, that damn scary doll will be front and center. And in a nice change of pace,ConjuringstarsPatrick WilsonandVera Farmiga– who usually don’t bother appearing in these spin-offs – will have parts in the film, although they won’t be the main characters....