Entertainment
8 Most Perfectly Written Movie Trilogies of All Time, Ranked
A perfectly written trilogy has to do something brutal: make three separate films feel satisfying on their own while also making the whole thing richer when viewed as one long design. The first film cannot feel like a pilot. The second cannot exist only to delay resolution. The third cannot just tidy the room and call it closure.
The best trilogy writing creates pressure across years. A line gains new meaning later. A character’s early flaw becomes their punishment. And more. These eight trilogies understand long-form cinema at the deepest level, and the writing in each one has a different kind of perfection. Lock in and I’ll explain why.
8
‘The Koker Trilogy’ (1987–1994)
A boy returning a notebook should not be enough to carry an entire film, yet Where Is the Friend’s House? turns that tiny act into one of cinema’s purest moral adventures. Ahmad (Babak Ahmed Poor) knows his classmate may be punished if the notebook stays with him, and that single responsibility sends him through adult indifference, village routines, repeated refusals, and the frightening loneliness of being a child who understands urgency better than the grown-ups around him.
Then Abbas Kiarostami expands the idea of responsibility in ways that feel almost impossible on paper. And Life Goes On follows a filmmaker searching for the children from the first film after the 1990 earthquake, turning the earlier fiction into a doorway toward real devastation and survival. Through the Olive Trees then folds cinema back into life again through Hossein (Hossein Rezai)’s quiet pursuit of Tahereh (Tahereh Ladanian) during a film shoot. The trilogy’s writing keeps asking how stories continue after the camera leaves. It finds drama in duty, curiosity, persistence, and unanswered feeling.
7
‘The Cornetto Trilogy’ (2004–2013)
The joke with this trilogy is that people remember the jokes first, which is fair, because the jokes are absurdly precise. The greater writing achievement is how Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg build three comedies where the punchlines, genre mechanics, character immaturity, and emotional payoff all keep feeding each other. Shaun of the Dead uses Shaun (Simon Pegg)’s zombie rules to expose his refusal to grow up. Hot Fuzz turns Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg)’s action-movie obsession into a story about friendship, community rot, and one man learning to loosen his grip. The World’s End weaponizes nostalgia against Gary King (Simon Pegg) and the exact people who keep pretending the past was their best self.
Every film has comic architecture that rewards rewatching. Throwaway lines become plot devices. Pub names, background details, repeated phrases, and awkward social habits all return with purpose. Gary’s tragedy in The World’s End cuts so sharply because the trilogy has already trained viewers to laugh at arrested development before showing the damage underneath it. Shaun, Nicholas, and Gary are very different men, yet all three are trapped by a version of themselves they mistake for identity. That is brilliant comic writing: the laugh gets there first, then the ache follows.
6
‘Back to the Future Trilogy’ (1985–1990)
Time-travel stories usually collapse under their own rules once sequels start stacking complications. Back to the Future somehow turns complication into pleasure. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale write the first film with near-perfect cause and effect: Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) changes one night in 1955, endangers his own existence, forces his parents toward each other, and learns enough about courage to change the family he returns to. The plot is tight, funny, emotional, and ridiculously efficient.
The sequels take that original design and keep remixing it without losing the audience. Part II makes the first movie’s timeline feel like a playground and a trap at once, using alternate 1985, future Hill Valley, and the 1955 overlap with almost comic mathematical confidence. Part III shifts to the Old West and gives Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) the romantic test Marty already had in another form: the temptation to break time for love. The trilogy is so satisfying because the writing understands repetition as variation. Clocks, cars, photographs, bullies, dances, accidents, family shame, and personal courage keep returning in new shapes until Marty’s final growth feels cleanly earned.
5
‘The Dark Knight Trilogy’ (2005–2012)
Batman has been rewritten so many times that another origin story could have felt pointless. Batman Begins solves that by treating Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale)’s mission as a set of ideas under construction: fear, justice, theatricality, discipline, symbol-making, and the danger of becoming too useful to one’s own pain. The script gives Bruce a reason for every piece of Batman, then surrounds him with people who challenge different parts of the myth: Alfred (Michael Caine)’s love, Gordon (Gary Oldman)’s decency, Rachel (Katie Holmes)’ moral line, and Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson)’s extremism.
The Dark Knight is the trilogy’s writing peak because it turns Batman’s symbol into a public crisis. The Joker (Heath Ledger) attacks rules, stories, institutions, and self-image. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) becomes the clean hope Bruce wanted the city to choose instead of Batman, which makes his fall more than a villain turn. The Dark Knight Rises has rougher plotting, but its core idea still completes the written arc: a man who built his life around sacrifice has to learn the difference between dying for a symbol and living beyond it. The trilogy earns its place because its best writing treats superhero mythology as an argument with consequences.
4
‘The Apu Trilogy’ (1955–1959)
The writing in The Apu Trilogy has an almost dangerous amount of trust in ordinary life. It’s like the Indian version of Boyhood but spread over three films and much better and fleshed out. Pather Panchali does not hurry childhood into a clean lesson. Apu (Subir Banerjee) watches Durga (Uma Dasgupta), his mother Sarbajaya (Karuna Banerjee), his father Harihar (Kanu Banerjee), their aging relative Indir (Chunibala Devi), the village, the rain, the trains, the hunger, and the small pleasures that make poverty even more painful because beauty still keeps appearing. The film’s story grows through observation, which is harder than plot mechanics and far rarer.
Aparajito understands the cruelty of becoming yourself. Apu’s education gives him a future, but that future costs his mother the nearness she needs. The writing never turns either side into a villain. That emotional fairness continues in Apur Sansar, where Apu (Soumitra Chatterjee)’s unexpected marriage to Aparna (Sharmila Tagore) becomes tender through small adjustments, shared embarrassment, and domestic discovery. When loss breaks him, the trilogy refuses easy nobility. Apu fails as a father before he can return as one. Satyajit Ray and his collaborators write a life, not a résumé of events. Childhood, ambition, love, grief, guilt, and reconciliation all unfold with devastating simplicity.
3
‘The Lord of the Rings Trilogy’ (2001–2003)
Adapting J.R.R. Tolkien could have gone wrong in a thousand directions. The writing team of Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson had to condense an enormous literary world without reducing it to lore delivery. Their greatest decision was emotional prioritization. Every kingdom, object, battle, creature, and prophecy is filtered through a character need: Frodo (Elijah Wood)’s burden, Sam (Sean Astin)’s loyalty, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen)’s fear of inheritance, Boromir (Sean Bean)’s weakness, Gollum (Andy Serkis)’s divided self, Éowyn (Miranda Otto)’s hunger for dignity, Faramir (David Wenham)’s need for his father’s love, Théoden (Bernard Hill)’s return to courage.
The trilogy keeps giving each storyline its own moral test. Frodo’s mercy toward Gollum later becomes the only reason the quest can succeed. Sam’s plainspoken devotion grows from comic warmth into the trilogy’s strongest expression of grace. Aragorn’s reluctance has to become responsibility rather than pose. Even smaller choices carry weight because the scripts keep linking private character decisions to the fate of the world. The writing also knows when to let language feel old and when to keep it direct. For a trilogy this huge, the emotional logic stays shockingly clear. Middle-earth survives on structure, sacrifice, and character payoff more than scale.
2
‘The Before Trilogy’ (1995–2013)
The terrifying thing about writing The Before Trilogy is that there is almost nowhere to hide. No mystery plot rescues a weak exchange. No spectacle interrupts a false line. Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) have to talk, and the writing has to make every digression feel like attraction, defense, curiosity, flirtation, philosophy, fear, memory, or resentment. Before Sunrise captures the way young people perform intelligence while accidentally revealing themselves. They are sincere and ridiculous at once, which is exactly why the romance feels real.
Before Sunset is even more precise because every sentence carries the ghost of the conversation they failed to continue for nine years. Jesse and Céline talk about marriage, work, politics, sex, memory, and disappointment while slowly admitting that Vienna never ended for either of them. Before Midnight is the bravest writing of the three. It lets the same verbal chemistry curdle into marital combat, then keeps enough tenderness alive to make the damage frightening. Richard Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy write love as conversation across time. The trilogy is nearly perfect because the words change age with the people speaking them.
1
‘The Three Colours Trilogy’ (1993–1994)
No trilogy on this list has a more elegant writing challenge than Three Colours: three films inspired by liberty, equality, and fraternity, each separate, each emotionally complete, each quietly connected. Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz never treat those ideals like slogans. They test them inside grief, humiliation, loneliness, sex, pride, chance, music, law, and human connection until each concept becomes painfully personal.
Blue gives Julie (Juliette Binoche) the freedom she thinks she wants after losing her husband and child, then shows how impossible total detachment becomes when memory, music, and unfinished love keep returning. White treats equality through Karol (Zbigniew Zamachowski)’s wounded masculinity after divorce, turning humiliation into a bitter, funny, morally complicated revenge story. Red is the trilogy’s miracle because Valentine (Irène Jacob) and the retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) create a bond built from attention rather than romance, and the film’s coincidences feel emotional instead of mechanical. The ferry ending ties the trilogy together without reducing its mysteries. This one, therefore, is a top-notch, perfectly written trilogy filmmaking because the design is visible only after the feelings have already reached you.
Three Colors: Blue
- Release Date
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September 8, 1993
- Runtime
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98 minutes
- Director
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Krzysztof Kieślowski
- Writers
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Krzysztof Piesiewicz
Entertainment
Obsession Star Inde Navarrette Says She Wants to Join the MCU After Meeting With Jake Schreier : Coastal House Media
Following one of the strongest debut seasons in Marvel Animation history, X-Men ’97 faced enormous expectations entering Season 2. Fortunately, the first three episodes prove the series hasn’t lost any momentum, delivering another thrilling blend of superhero action, emotional storytelling, and deep comic book lore.
Rather than easing viewers back into the world of the X-Men, Season 2 immediately picks up after the explosive finale of Season 1. With the team scattered across three different time periods, the opening episodes follow multiple storylines simultaneously while laying the groundwork for Apocalypse‘s rise.
It’s an ambitious approach, but one that largely succeeds.
Episode 1 centers on Cyclops, Jean Grey, and the future timeline, adapting elements from The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix. Their reunion with Nathan, better known as Cable, provides some of the strongest emotional moments of the season so far. The episode reminds viewers that beneath all of the time travel and mutant battles, X-Men ’97 continues to thrive because of its characters.
X-Men 97′ Season 2 [credit: Marvel Animation]
Episode 2 shifts gears with a fun, action-packed adventure featuring Cable, Jubilee, Sunspot, and the formation of a new X-Force. While the episode embraces the over-the-top style of the classic ’90s comics, it also explores the moral differences between Cable’s hardened worldview and Jubilee’s optimism. Their dynamic creates one of the season’s most entertaining character pairings.
The third episode may be the strongest of the bunch, taking audiences thousands of years into the past as Magnetoencounters a young En Sabah Nur, the mutant destined to become Apocalypse. Rather than presenting the iconic villain as a one-dimensional conqueror, the episode explores his origins in a surprisingly thoughtful way. The conversations between Magneto and En Sabah Nur are among the most compelling scenes in the series, adding emotional complexity to a character fans thought they already knew.
Visually, X-Men ’97 remains one of Marvel’s most impressive productions. The animation captures the spirit of the original 1990s series while elevating every action sequence with fluid movement, vibrant colors, and cinematic direction. Whether it’s mutant powers colliding on the battlefield or quieter emotional moments between teammates, every frame feels carefully crafted.
The voice cast also continues to shine, bringing authenticity and heart to these beloved characters. Even with multiple storylines unfolding simultaneously, each episode finds time for meaningful character moments that remind viewers why the X-Men have endured for generations.
The biggest criticism of these opening episodes is pacing. Episode 1 in particular moves through a significant amount of story in a short amount of time, and several of the timelines could have benefited from an extra episode to further develop their characters and emotional beats. It’s less a flaw in storytelling than a reminder that there’s simply so much happening at once.
X-Men 97′ Season 2 [credit: Marvel Animation]
Even so, those concerns do little to diminish what has been an outstanding start to Season 2. Marvel Animation has once again found the perfect balance between nostalgia and fresh storytelling, honoring classic comic arcs while keeping longtime fans guessing about what’s coming next.
Three episodes in, X-Men ’97 is already shaping up to be one of the year’s best animated series. If the remaining episodes maintain this level of quality, Season 2 has every chance of surpassing its already exceptional predecessor.
Verdict
X-Men ’97 wastes no time reminding fans why it became one of Marvel’s biggest success stories. While the opening episodes occasionally move too quickly through their ambitious storylines, the outstanding animation, emotional character work, and faithful adaptation of beloved comic arcs make for an exceptional return. After three episodes, Season 2 is firing on all cylinders.
The woman who caught Taylor Swift‘s bouquet has been revealed to be a relative of the Kansas City Chiefs!
The unbelievable coincidence stemmed from Travis Kelce‘s teammate, Trey Smith, attending the highly publicized union between the sensational singer and the athlete on Friday, July 3.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce tied the knot, surrounded by love, at Madison Square Garden, with Trey Smith attending alongside his lucky sister, Ashley Smith.
Ashley proudly flaunted her victory at Swift and Kelce’s union on Instagram, revealing that she had caught the “Opalite” hitmaker’s bouquet during the ceremony. The carousel of images featured the media personality’s stunning black dress for the event, along with a shot of her with her younger brother, Trey.
She shared two images with the bouquet, which appeared to include pale pink flowers, Sweet Pea, and Queen Anne’s Lace. Parts of the flowers were bent, and a good portion of it was missing, presumably from the struggle to catch the bouquet. One shot showed Ashley posing with the flowers for a mirror selfie.
Another image showed her lying on the bed with the flowers by her head. She raved about her lucky moment in the post’s caption, writing, “Celebrated an Enchanting Love S(T&T)ory. And somehow…I ended up catching Tay Tay’s bouquet.” Ashley added:
“So here’s to believing it’s bringing a lifetime of love, luck, and laughter my way. Congratulations, Taylor & Travis! Cheers to forever T&T.”
The Newlyweds Gifted Guests Embroidered Napkins
More pictures from the carousel Ashley shared included what appeared to be a wedding keepsake. She shared a picture of an embroidered napkin featuring intricate lace edges and lyrics from Swift’s 2014 hit “Blank Space”: “So it’s gonna be forever.”
The wording also featured the date and location of the ceremony, along with the couple’s intertwined “T” monogram featuring two hearts. Although Ashley caught the bouquet, she was not one of Swift’s bridesmaids, as the bride and groom skipped the tradition.
PEOPLE reported that the newlyweds had no groomsmen or bridesmaids at their event. Instead, the entertainer’s brother, Austin Swift, served as her man of honor while her husband’s brother, Jason Kelce, served as his best man.
More About The Wedding Of The Year
According to the outlet, the couple’s union was officiated by renowned actor-comedian Adam Sandler inside Madison Square Garden. Swift and Kelce donned Christian Dior Haute Couture, designed by Jonathan Anderson, the creative director of Dior Women’s, Men’s and Haute Couture Collections.
The bride stunned in custom Cartier jewelry, and both she and Kelce wore Christian Louboutin shoes. The lovebirds reportedly enjoyed pre-wedding festivities ahead of their big day, with Swift hosting a girls’ weekend in her Rhode Island home.
Meanwhile, Kelce was believed to have enjoyed bachelor party stops at The Bird Streets Club, a Chris Lake concert, Barney’s Beanery, a NASCAR race at Naval Base Coronado, and a golf simulator. Other sources claimed the couple had a more intimate celebration a day before their July 3 union.
Travis Kelce Was Allegedly ‘More Emotional’ Than The Bride
The stories about Swift and Kelce’s wedding continued, with The Blast covering a source’s claims about the event. They alleged the ceremony was a tear-filled union, with the Kansas City Chiefs player unable to hold back his emotions during the exchange of vows.
“You would think the bride would be the one crying more, but it was actually Travis that was more emotional,” the source shared. They recalled the duo reading their vows from gold books and spending about “20 minutes each,” with Swift singing part of hers to Kelce.
After the ceremony, the source noted Kelce’s mom had invited guests to the reception room where a stage was set up. Additionally, Paul McCartney performed The Beatles’ hit song, “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” with stars such as Stevie Nicks also taking the stage.
Taylor Swift Couldn’t Hold Back Her Tears During Vows Exchange
More sources shed light on what occurred during the July 3 ceremony, with an insider applauding Kelce for remaining composed while waiting for Swift at the altar. They also recalled the singer becoming emotional during their vows.
The Blast shared that the insider claimed Swift couldn’t hold back her tears when Kelce “promised to protect her forever.” Other sources noted the newlyweds’ emotional declarations of love had a similar effect on the crowd, with many wiping away tears by the end of the ceremony.
“Good Morning America” host George Stephanopoulos dubbed the vows “real, vulnerable, serious and silly, deeply loving.” Other insiders claimed the Kelce family was overwhelmed with the sheer scale of the event, alleging “they’ve never seen anything like the spectacle of MSG.”
By Em Helena
| Published
Under the guidance of esteemed director David Fincher, Netflix’s 2023 crime thriller The Killer takes an unexpected turn from what we expect from the hitman genre.
Inspired by Alexis “Matz” Nolent’s graphic novel series, The Killer follows the story of an unnamed assassin and his search for retribution. The film features multiple famous Hollywood talents such as Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, and Charles Parnell.
Michael Fassbender Is A Hitman Out For Revenge
After accidentally killing an innocent bystander while on a hit mission, the unnamed assassin, played by Michael Fassbender, is now forced to face the consequences of his actions on a personal level. When his girlfriend is nearly assassinated in retaliation to his mistake, the anonymous hitman embarks on a worldwide mission inspired by revenge and retirement.
What sets The Killer apart from most hitman movies is the fact that it starts out as what you would expect from an action movie and then dramatically slows down, honing in on the assassin’s methodology. Also, there isn’t much to really like about the main character, he has no empathy, and nearly no redeeming qualities, putting him in stark contrast to previous hitman protagonists. He is cold, he is uncaring, and the audience is made readily aware of that throughout the film.
Another David Fincher Hit
Released on Netflix in November 2023, The Killer received high praise. With an audience score of 85 percent on Rotten Tomatoes it is clear that David Fincher has, once again, successfully risen to the challenge. With previous titles such as Fight Club, Gone Girl, and Zodiac under his belt, it’s no surprise that he has mastered the thriller genre.
Along with audience popularity, The Killer also received high praise from the Hollywood film circuit. Nominated for several awards and securing the Premio Soundtrack Stars Award at the Venice International Film Festival, Fincher’s new dark take in the Bond-saturated hitman genre has been popular with most audiences.
Although The Killer is an adaptation of Nolent’s graphic novel series, David Fincher still came to set with his own inspirations. It is rumored that Fincher’s inspiration behind the main character was the common misinterpretation of his film Fight Club. The unnamed assassin is someone who would believe that Tyler Durden is a good person and would be inspired by and find solace in his actions.
Despite an overwhelmingly positive response to the film, some critics disagreed with the movie’s direction. Manhola Dargis, in a review for The New York Times, called the main protagonist “ loquaciously dull” and further elaborated that The Killer was just a way for David Fincher to kill time. For Dargis, much was left to be desired from the title.
The Killer is currently available to stream on Netflix and clocks in a run time of 119 minutes. If you are a fan of David Fincher or a hitman fanatic, this movie will most certainly jump into your top favorites list. If you are new to these worlds, congratulations! Come into it with an open heart and prepare to have your mind blown.
Entertainment
Madonna courts speculation that new song is about ex-husband Sean Penn: ‘Guess you’re threatened by me’
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“Confessions II” track “Bizarre” sees Madonna sing about a Hollywood ex with “deep blue eyes” and referencing a Shelby car after reportedly gifting one to Penn.
Keri Hilson is opening up about her recent “music can harm” tweet, saying it wasn’t about Yung Miami‘s ‘Spend Dat’ single, as internet users continue to weigh in.
RELATED: LisaRaye & Trick Daddy Weigh In On Yung Miami’s ‘Spend Dat’ Amid Controversy Over The Song’s Impact (VIDEOS)
Keri Hilson Says Her “Music Can Harm” Tweet Wasn’t About Yung Miami’s ‘Spend Dat’
Keri Hilson recently sat down for an interview with HelloBeautiful, and during the conversation, she explained that her recent viral tweet “was bigger than that one song.”
“It’s bigger than any one song,” she said. “That tweet was me commenting on the commentary… It was general — I mean, of course… I was aware of what was being talked about. But I just wanted to offer that truth… Let’s not lie to ourselves. We understand the impact that music can have on the culture. On youth. We’ve been talking about this for 40, 50 years.”
Hilson explained that the “lack of balance” and “substance” in music is what “really bothers” her. Additionally, she explained that no artist is “attempting to take Black culture under their wing” and say that they have “something to teach.”
Internet Users Continue To Weigh In On The Song & Keri Hilson Says Her “Music Can Harm” Tweet
Internet users weighed in on Keri Hilson’s tweet, her explanation, and Yung Miami’s ‘Spend Dat’ in TSR’s comment section.
Instagram user @bigmama_ki wrote, “Last time Keri spoke on somebody business she got black balled for a decade. Let’s relax this time. 😂”
While Instagram user @josephhamir added, “I’m just so confused why everyone is so riled up about Miami’s song, there’s always been fun music and it’s catchy and boppy 😂…”
Instagram user @iamjay313_ wrote, “I love my girl Keri and all but sis … just be quiet sometimes 😂😂😂.”
While Instagram user @mossess.5 added, “Yung Miami got all of them in a chokehold 😭😭😭 she finna get a Grammy”
Instagram user @cocobrigante wrote, “Are yall choosing to be ignorant? Ima just go with the latter. Yes.. we love Miami down.. black girl get your money… but she’s right. There is no balance.. yes we had Lil Kim and Foxy and Oochie Walley kind of music but we also had rappers like DMX who promoted his love for God. Music is frequency related so yes it does matter the kind of music you consume. Think about music and how it affects your mood/emotions.”
While Instagram user @melanin.mommi added, “To keep it a buck…it’s not even about Spend Dat anymore. This has evolved into a conversation about what’s been happening for years in music…”
Instagram user @socialfoodology wrote, “It’s not Yung Miami’s responsibility to musically save an entire culture… The jealousy is so strong because the song is so popular that every genre of the black culture has used it in some way …..Stop hating and let this lady live and enjoy her success……”
Meanwhile, Hilson herself stepped in to add:
“I’m not condemning her nor anyone else, the truth of the matter is, 1. Music holds power. Can’t deny that. 2. BALANCE has been missing in OUR culture of music for a good while.
I love this conversation because it’s allowing us to discuss/discover what our culture needs. Reflection & dialogue are healthy. And I don’t see cultural course-correction as a bad thing. 💜”
More On Yung Miami’s ‘Spend Dat’
As The Shade Room previously reported, on July 1, Keri Hilson took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share a message which read, “If music can heal, music can harm too…”
At the time, internet users speculated that her words may have been about Yung Miami’s single, ‘Spend Dat.’ The song, released on April 24, has since sparked controversy over its content and lyrics. As The Shade Room previously reported, India Arie recently turned heads when she shared a few messages about the “mass acceptance” of the song.
Since then, Nicci Gilbert has also weighed in. This, alongside LisaRaye and Trick Daddy. More recently, India Arie returned to social media. This, to share that she was enjoying the “discourse” that the song and her reaction to it sparked.
RELATED: India Arie Doubles Down On Her Comments About Yung Miami’s ‘Spend Dat’ & The TL Is Divided (PHOTOS)
What Do You Think Roomies?
It’s been a great year for Harry Potter fans. The release of the critically acclaimed Audible Full-Cast Audio Editions gave fans months of enjoyment, and quite literally about a hundred hours of compelling and new content. Meanwhile, the first trailer was released for the upcoming HBO series, which premieres at Christmas. However, the Potter stories all started on the page, and that’s why it’s especially exciting to hear that two new Harry Potter books are on the way.
Bloomsbury Publishing is officially releasing two new Pocket Potters books, this time based around two of Harry’s closest friends — Dobby and Rubeus Hagrid. The books are aimed at younger readers, but they’re also the sort of little releases that will inevitably end up on the shelves of people who absolutely do not need more Harry Potter collectibles and will buy them anyway. Accio books, etc.
Hagrid and Dobby Get Their Own Illustrated Guides
Pocket Potters: Hagrid is illustrated by Olia Muza, whose previous work in the series includes the Ron Weasley guide. The book will focus on the lovable Hogwarts groundskeeper’s world, from the warmth of his hut, Fang the dog, his teeth-crunching rock cakes and his best buddies, the acromantula spiders that haunt the Forbidden Forest. It’ll also explore more fun things like the contents of his pockets, his other, more exotic pets, and his life as Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Blast-ended Skrewts are not included as part of the package.
Pocket Potters: Dobby is illustrated by Helen Brady, who is also behind the upcoming Luna Lovegood edition. This fun little guide will focus on details from Dobby’s story, like his earlier life at Malfoy Manor, his love of socks and bobble hats, and that unforgettable incident where Aunt Petunia’s hand-made dessert ended all over the Dursleys’ dinner guests that night in Privet Drive.
The pair join existing Pocket Potters releases for Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Professor Dumbledore, and Luna Lovegood. Each book is full of quotes, story moments, illustrations, and small facts designed to introduce young readers to the Wizarding World in a colorful way.
Pocket Potters: Hagrid and Pocket Potters: Dobby arrive August 13 in the UK. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone will arrive on HBO and HBO Max on December 25.
- Release Date
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2026 – 2026
- Showrunner
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Francisca Gardiner
- Directors
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Mark Mylod
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Will Smith had a plan to become a major star. When he decided to make the jump from television star of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to international sensation he wanted to be in big-budget Summer sci-fi blockbusters. Independence Day and Men in Black were huge hits, Wild Wild West was not, and while he achieved his goal, his biggest misfire came over 20 years later in 2019. That’s the year he teamed up with Ang Lee for Gemini Man, a sci-fi action movie that makes us long for the days of a giant steampunk spider.
Gemini Man’s Cutting Edge Technology Falls Flat
Before you notice anything else about Gemini Man the 120 FPS rate sticks out like a sore thumb. Ang Lee shot the film entirely at the enhanced rate that gives it the appearance of a daytime soap opera. The movie ran headfirst into the same technological wall as The Hobbit trilogy in that on one hand, it looks and moves incredibly smooth, but on the other, to most of the public, it was shot on location in the uncanny valley.
Gemini Man pits Will Smith as Marine Scout Sniper Henry against a digitally de-aged Will Smith in a game of cat and mouse. After Henry kills an innocent man on a mission and leaves the service, Clay (Clive Owen), director of the GEMINI program, concocts the insane supervillain plan to take out Henry and replace him with a loyal, obedient clone. Any Spider-Man fan will tell you that clone stories never work out. Even the addition of Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Benedict Wong in supporting roles isn’t enough to save Gemini Man from the clone curse.
Between the enhanced FPS and a digitally de-aged Will Smith, Gemini Man has aged as well as those potatoes in the pantry you swore you’d cook one day. After Earth has gone through the usual revaluation phase and isn’t considered to be as horrible as it was when it launched, but Gemini Man is, if anything, worse than it was in 2019. Cutting-edge technology backfiring combined with a boring plot has left it with little to no redeeming value.
Gemini Man Is Too Absurd To Be This Serious
The worst part about Gemini Man is there’s no sense of fun to it. Wild Wild West is a bad movie but at least Will Smith, Kevin Kline, and Kenneth Branagh are having fun with the absurdity of it all, and the worst of the Men in Black trilogy, Men in Black III, benefits from Josh Brolin doing a Tommy Lee Jones impression. At the box office, it was rejected by audiences with a dismal take of $173 million worldwide. Sounds great, except it needed to go past $275 million to turn a profit thanks to the production budget of $125 million. It’s expensive to look that bad.
Will Smith recovered from Gemini Man by going back to the Bad Boys franchise with Martin Lawrence. Both Bad Boys For Life and Bad Boys: Ride or Die were hits, and he’s currently working on I Am Legend 2 with Michael B. Jordan and Creed II director Steven Caple Jr. No matter how bad the movie retcons the ending of the first, it’ll still be more interesting than Gemini Man.
Gemini Man is streaming for free on YouTube and Pluto TV.
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“Take a little time to enjoy ‘The View’ without me,” Navarro said.
More bad news in the gaming industry, this time from Microsoft. Following the crushing news that Sony and PlayStation are to do away with physical media in the near future, it seems the Xbox side of the aisle is also making some moves. Michrosoft is making a huge round of job cuts, with the gaming division set to be hit hardest by that move. CNBC is reporting that the company is going to be eliminating 4,800 jobs across its business, with 3,200 of those losses set to come from within Xbox through 2027.
For those who can’t quite process that horrific news, that amounts to roughly one fifth of the entire Xbox workforce, according to someone quoted within the CNBC report, and about 1,600 of those roles are being cut immediately, while the rest are expected to go over the next year as Microsoft clears the decks.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told employees that the changes would be staggered because “it is not possible to make all the necessary changes in a single day.” She added that the company expects to return to growth in 2027, though that’s hardly going to be a comfort to the teams that have just had their workforce slashed in dramatic fashion. Her statement concluded:
I want XBOX to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day and gives everyone the opportunity to create and connect. I know we can achieve this goal. XBOX has many of the most beloved franchises in entertainment history, talented studios around the world, and we will return to growth in 2027.
What Does the Xbox Restructuring Involve?
Also part of the restructuring is a plan to spin off four gaming studios from Microsoft. Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions are set to become independent again, while Ninja Theory and Undead Labs have reportedly entered talks to join new ownership. In addition, there’s also real uncertainty over the future of Arkane Studios, which joined Microsoft through its $8.1 billion ZeniMax Media acquisition in 2021, and they are said to be in dicussions about strategic options but no final decisions have been made for the time being.
In news that is sure to be welcomed by, well, nobody, Microsoft chief people officer Amy Coleman said the company is responding to a workplace being reshaped by AI, though she insisted the technology itself is not directly replacing affected employees. “Some of the tasks we do every day can now be automated,” she wrote, adding that staff will need to “keep learning, keep building new skills, and keep adapting as the work evolves.”
Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
The fantasy genre in recent years has been largely landlocked to the television space, largely thanks to the massive popularity of Game of Thrones and its two very successful spin-offs, House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Other examples include Netflix’s The Witcher, Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time, and many more, but the genre is making a big return to the big screen in the coming years, such as several The Lord of the Rings spin-offs from Peter Jackson in active development. However, one of next year’s most anticipated projects is now facing a new bout of controversy that feels eerily similar to George R.R. Martin‘s ongoing feud with House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal.
After years in development hell, Children of Blood & Bone, the beloved first installment of the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy, is finally set to hit the big screen in early 2027 with a star-studded cast to boot. The excitement from fans ever since the news has been palpable, but now, things have taken a turn as original series creator and book author Tomi Adeyemi has officially disowned the upcoming adaptation in a recent social media post, saying “I have not seen the film and I will not watch it” in a collection of direct messages she shared online. Adeyemi didn’t elaborate on specifics for the “painful” falling out with the upcoming project, although one message shared draws specifically to a message to star Amandla Stenberg, saying, “Do not ever use my name in an interview or video again. Do not text me. Do not call me.”
Stenberg, who has long been a target of fan backlash across franchises for her roles in the original The Hunger Games and the divisive Star Wars spin-off The Acolyte, has also faced controversy over her role in the adaptation of Children of Blood & Bone. In February 2025, Stenberg officially responded to accusations that the actor was “stealing roles from dark-skinned women” by using a story that claimed Adeyemi wrote the Legacy of Orïsha novels after being inspired by the racist backlash Stenberg received after being cast in The Hunger Games. It is worth noting that, according to the DMs shared by Adeyemi, the falling out between the author and Stenberg took place after the following comments about their creative collaborations:
“I had the opportunity to meet Tomi, the novelist, for the first time. Then, she goes, ‘Amandla, I want you to know that when you were a little girl and were cast as Rue in The Hunger Games, and you had these racist remarks thrown at you because people said that Rue’s death wouldn’t be as sad because you’re a Black girl — that inspired me to write this series, so that Black girls like you and Black girls of all shades could have a story written about them.’ We just started crying, and I said to myself, ‘God wants me here!’”
What Is ‘Children of Blood & Bone’ About?
A fantasy saga set in a fictional African kingdom, Children of Blood & Bone follows a young girl’s quest to recover an ancient magical artifact after thieves take a hold of it. Widely considered to be one of the best YA fantasy novels of the last decade, if done correctly, and adaptation of Children of Blood & Bone has the potential to be on same level as the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson franchises. In addition to Amandla Stenberg, the cast also consists of Viola Davis, Idris Elba, Cynthia Erivo, Regina King, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Children of Blood & Bone releases in theaters on January 15, 2026. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
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January 15, 2027
- Director
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Gina Prince-Bythewood
- Writers
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Gina Prince-Bythewood, Tomi Adeyemi
- Producers
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Reggie Rock Bythewood, Wyck Godfrey, Karen Rosenfelt, Marty Bowen
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