STACK Aug #154

'& Aquaman and Justice League were the main attractions, and the DCEU is about to get a whole lot bigger. Y ou need only look at the number of cosplayers dressed as Batman, the Joker or Harley Quinn milling about the Convention Centre to realise the DC panel is a big deal, and this year didn’t disappoint them. Justice League is the next big film out of the stable and rode into Hall H with a lengthy

ray-like vessels passing beneath a fishing boat, before the camera dove below the surface for a closer look at this Atlantean fleet. “That’s Ocean Master’s army. Black Manta ain’t got nothing like that. That’s my brother,” star Jason Momoa let slip, after just getting off a plane from Australia to join the DC panel. Jet lag equals spoilers, it would seem. Wan added that the film is an origin story. “I want the audience to experience Atlantis the first time Aquaman experienced it as well. You get to see a whole different world we’ve never seen before that is so strikingly original,” and backed that up with some striking concept art. Momoa was joined on stage by four of his Justice League pals. Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Ben Affleck and Ray Fisher. Gadot is still basking

new trailer that revealed the movie’s big bad – Steppenwolf – along with J.K. Simmons’ Commissioner Gordon. The Man of Steel was still conspicuously absent, however. Aquaman is still shooting in QLD and will follow later next year. Director James Wan introduced the first footage via a video message and apologised that there wasn’t more to show. The clip featured an impressive aerial shot of an underwater army of manta

Aquaman

in the success of Wonder Woman, and the love for her solo outing was obvious from the applause, which got even louder when Wonder Woman 2 was confirmed as part of the upcoming slate of DC films that also includes Shazam, The Flash, Batgirl, Suicide Squad 2, and Green Lantern Corps . As Ben Affleck put it: “It’s a great time to be in the DC Universe.” Justice League is in cinemas November 26, with Aquaman due Boxing Day 2018.

New footage and a timeline offered a tantalising teaser as to what awaits Ryan Gosling’s cop in the hugely anticipated sequel. T he Blade Runner 2049 segment of the Warner Bros. presentation opened with a chronology of events that transpired during the 30 years between Ridley Scott’s classic and Denis Villeneuve’s sequel. After an EMP turns LA into a disaster zone, entrepreneur Neander Wallace (Jared Leto) offers %/$'( 5811(5

freedom to bring his own distinctive vision to the film, and if you’ve seen Sicario and Arrival , you’ll agree he’s the perfect fit. “The best thing about working with Ridley was that he was far away,” he laughs. “He was very generous with the source of inspiration for the first movie, the main ideas and creative process of it, and then he left me alone and said ‘it’s your movie, it’s your responsibility, and if you need me I’ll be there'. It was a gift because I could not work with him behind my back.” You couldn’t make a Blade Runner sequel without Harrison Ford, who agreed to return on the strength of the script. “It deepened the understanding of my character, with very strong emotional relationships with the other characters in the film. It had great depth and it was a fantastic opportunity; I had to be involved.” But when the question of whether or not Deckard is a Replicant was dangled, he didn’t bite, just glared. He did get the best line of the panel, however, when asked by a fan if it was his goal to reboot every major franchise there is. “You bet your ass it is!”

to help solve the food crisis. Replicants are outlawed, leading Wallace to appeal legislation to repeal the ban. Those who cannot afford to leave for the offworld colonies are consigned to a miserable existence on Earth. The new footage screened left Blade Runner fans with a rush of nostalgia, as Gosling’s character watched a memory from the Tyrell

archives involving Deckard and Rachel. When asked why he wanted to make a sequel to the sci-fi masterpiece, Villeneuve was refreshingly honest: “I didn’t want anyone else to f–k it up.” “It was my favourite movie of all time growing up and it’s part of the birth of my desire to be a filmmaker,” he clarified. “I couldn’t say no. It wasn’t an easy task, it was a huge challenge.” Villeneuve added that Ridley Scott, who serves as a producer, afforded him the creative

Blade Runner 2049 is in cinemas on October 5.

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