The trailer, which you can watch below, opens with De Niro’s character Vito Genovese meeting fellow mob boss Frank Costello, also played by De Niro, in a restaurant as the two discuss Costello wanting to go straight. "You're either in or out," says Genovese. All of a sudden, Costello gets shot, presumably by Genovese, which prompts him to seek early retirement and an escape from mob life. But it doesn't look like Costello is going to let him do that.

Directed by Barry Levinson, the mob drama tells the story of rival Italian American mafia bosses Genovese and Costello (both played by De Niro) running two separate crime families in the ‘50s. The most interesting part is, unlike Tom Hardy’s dual roles in the 2015 movie Legend, De Niro’s characters are not related, they just happen to look the same. However, as we see in the trailer, the two have known each other since childhood.

The reaction to the trailer online has been mostly positive with fans happy to see De Niro doing what he does best, playing mobsters. "Another De Niro mobster movie? I’ll be seated," replied one fan to Warner Bros’ Twitter post, "Can't wait to see Robert De Niro back in action, this looks intense," said another. The star is best known in the genre for playing gangsters in movies such as Goodfellas, The Untouchables, The Godfather Part II, and more.

Written by Nicholas Pileggi, The Alto Knights also stars Debra Messing, Cosmo Jarvis, and The Sopranos star Kathrine Narducci.

The Alto Knights hits theaters on March 21, 2025. For more, check out our list of the greatest gangster movies, or keep up with upcoming movies heading your way in 2025.

Per the AMC Theaters website, the runtime is one hour and 58 minutes, which makes it the shortest Captain America installment to date. 2011's The First Avenger clocks in at two hours and four minutes, while 2014's The Winter Soldier is two hours and 16 minutes and 2016's Civil War is two hours and 27 minutes.

There aren't many MCU movies under two hours, and Brave New World joins a list of just eight out of 34 titles. The Marvels, released back in 2023, is the MCU's shortest movie at one hour and 45 minutes, while The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Thor: The Dark World, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Thor: Love and Thunder make up the rest of the ranks.

By contrast, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is two hours and 30 minutes and the MCU's longest title, Avengers: Endgame, clocks in at a whopping three hours and one minute.

Brave New World sees Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson return to take on the titular mantle, alongside a cast that includes Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres, AKA Falcon, Giancarlo Esposito as Sidewinder, Tim Blake Nelson as Leader, and Harrison Ford as President Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross.

Captain America: Brave New World arrives on the big screen on February 14 as part of Marvel Phase 5. In the meantime, get up to speed with our guide to the other new superhero movies on the way in 2025 and beyond.

Back in Tony Stark's MCU debut movie, Raza was one of the antagonists as the commander of the Ten Rings terrorist cell. He was one of the men who kept Stark captive, which was later revealed to be under the orders of Obadiah Stane. The last we saw of him in Iron Man, it was assumed he'd been killed after Stane paralyzed Raza before soldiers turned up and opened fire on him and his men.

But this is the MCU, so if you don't see a body, then you have to assume that the character is not really dead… As for how he works into the Vision show, that's a bit more complicated. Few details have been released about the series so far but we know that it will star Paul Bettany as White Vision, who was given back his memories at the end of WandaVision before he set off to pursue a new purpose in life.

Based on this, one fan has a theory about how he might appear. Posting on Reddit, user Joebear174 writes: "Well, he's pretty essential to Tony Stark's hero origin story. Maybe part of Vision's 'Quest' is following the paths of the people who made him? Sort of a 'see where he came from, so he can decide where he wants to go next' kind of story?"

There some other intriguing theories too, including links to Raza's original story. User krlozdac speculated, "Does this mean we might see more from the Ten Rings as promised in Shang Chi’s post credits scene?" Meanwhile fan Sure-Access-4629 replied: "Maybe they are tying in elements of Armour Wars into the series, since I don’t think armour wars is happening anymore/any time soon".

Vision Quest is set to debut in 2026. In the meantime, check out our guides to upcoming Marvel movies and shows as well as how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

According to an excerpt in the upcoming The Dark Side Collection book (via The Holo Files), when Christensen met The Clone Wars' Anakin actor Matt Lanter for the first time, he told him: "Thanks for keeping Star Wars alive."

Lanter portrayed Anakin Skywalker in 95 episodes of The Clone Wars, which charted Anakin's exploits in the titular conflict between the events of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, as well as his growing relationships with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka, AKA 'Snips'.

Christensen, meanwhile, held off on stepping back into the charred boots of the live-action iteration of Anakin Skywalker until 2022's Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney Plus, some 17 years after last portraying the Jedi prodigy-turned-Darth Vader.

He then returned as the character as part of two of Ahsoka's standout episodes opposite Rosario Dawson. There, the pair reunited in the World Between Worlds, a mysterious realm that exists outside of time and space.

The Anakin actor, though, is certainly open to further opportunities in a galaxy far, far away.

"I would love to get to do more, and I'd love to get to continue with Star Wars and we'll see," Christensen told Entertainment Weekly a year ago. "I don't know what the future holds, and if such an opportunity presents itself, I'll be there with a big smile on my face. And if it doesn't, I feel really grateful for getting to come back and getting to do the work that I did in both Obi-Wan and Ahsoka."

For more, check out our guides to upcoming Star Wars movies and how to watch The Clone Wars in order.

In the run-up to the film clawing its way into cinemas, GamesRadar+ asked Whannell why he thinks Hollywood is suddenly loving monsters again. "It's interesting because these trends, they happen so organically, you're never quite sure why. It's just something in the zeitgeist that seems to claw it into existence," he replies.

"I think that these are pretty unstable, uncertain times for a lot of people. There's a lot of upheaval. The world is just in a certain place and maybe monsters are the best metaphor for that," Whannell continues. "Maybe people are craving these monsters to exorcise the worst of society through a film, you know? At least in a monster movie, you can point at the monster. In our real lives, people are pointing at each other and it's hard to unpack information. We're living in a time where information is misinterpreted, it's coming from all directions. In a monster movie, the truth is clear. You can point to who the monster is. Maybe people need that right now."

Starring Poor Things Christopher Abbott and Ozark's Julia Garner, Wolf Man takes inspiration from the 1941 movie of the same name. Bringing the tale up to the modern day, it sees Blake suggest to his distant wife Charlotte that they take their daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) to remote Oregon for the summer, as he clears out his family home following the death of his father. On the evening of their arrival, though, the trio get attacked by an unseen creature in the woods, leaving Blake gravelly wounded.

With no other option, the threesome rush into the house Blake grew up in and barricade the doors. But the night soon takes another terrible turn when Blake starts to change...

It lands in theaters on January 17. For more, check out our guide to the most exciting upcoming horror movies heading our way.

"Rodo [Sayagues, co-writer] and I are working on that right now," Alvarez told Empire. "We're excited about where it can go. We've almost checked all of the boxes of things that I want to see that I want to see [in Romulus], and brought back a lot of the things I hadn't seen in a while. Wherever we go now, we can go into uncharted waters. I think it'll be so exciting to go with characters you know from this movie, to a place in the Alien franchise that we've never been before, and to discover things that you've never seen before."

Fox president Steve Asbell announced last year that a sequel to the wildly successful film was in the works, adding that he "fell in love" with survivors Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and Andy (Daniel Jonsson) and wants to "see what their story is." However, Asbell specified that a deal had not yet been finalized nor has the sequel officially been greenlit.

Alien: Romulus, directed by Alvarez, grossed $350.8 million against $80 million at the global box office, and was hailed by fans and critics alike as one of the best Alien films in the franchise. The ending definitely does open up the door for a sequel, so it'll be exciting to see where Alvarez decides to take it.

Alien: Romulus is streaming now on Hulu. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2025 and beyond, or, skip right to our list of movie release dates.

"If you’re going for comedy then you're going for extremes. Not subtlety," Perkins told Empire. "We are guilty of putting far more blood in our human bodies than is really in a human body. When someone explodes in this movie - and a couple of people do - there's a lot of mess. All the death set-pieces were hard to do. They all have a Rube Goldbergian connectivity - this happens, then this happens, then this happens..."

The movie, based on the Stephen King short story of the same name, follows two brothers named Bill and Hal (both played by Theo James) who find a cymbal-banging monkey toy belonging to their father in the attic, starting a chain reaction of gruesome deaths. The brothers discard the monkey and go their separate ways, but are forced to reconcile years later when a series of inexplicable deaths begin to occur. The brothers set out to destroy the monkey once and for all.

The cast includes Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Christian Convery, Colin O'Brien, Rohan Campbell, and Sarah Levy. James Wan is producing the pic under his Atomic Monster banner.

Perkins also says he feels "honestly feel fucking great" about how different The Monkey is from Longlegs, describing it as a "morbidly surreal horror comedy that’s also heartwarming and redemptive and stars a bonafide movie hunk." We're ready.

The Monkey hits theaters on February 21, 2025. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies, or, skip right to our list of movie release dates.

Before Liam Hemsworth makes his debut as the monster hunter in The Witcher season 4, Netflix is releasing a new animated film starring Geralt de Rivia. The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is arriving on February 11, and its first full trailer promises a brutal war between humans and sea creatures.

The movie brings back game voice actor Doug Cockle as the White Wolf, who is joined by returning live-action stars Joey Batey as Jaskier, and Anya Chalotra as Yennefer. Christina Wren completes the main voice cast as Essie Daven, a new character that will be central to this new adventure.

As we see in the trailer, Essie joins Geralt and Jaskier when they start to investigate a new case. It seems like the monster hunter is far from getting his dreams of "coin, peace, and quiet", as he is forced to find answers to an escalating conflicts while working on his trust issues at the promise of a new romance.

The plot adapts Andrzej Sapkowski's short story A Little Sacrifice, included in the collection Sword of Destiny, and it has close connections to the TV show. The action takes place around 1244 on The Witcher timeline, that is, soon after Geralt and Yennefer meet in season 1.

Netflix has revealed the official synopsis for the film, which reads: "Geralt of Rivia, a mutated monster hunter, is hired to investigate a series of attacks in a seaside village and finds himself drawn into a centuries-old conflict between humans and merpeople. He must count on friends – old and new – to solve the mystery before the hostilities between the two kingdoms escalate into all-out war."

Sirens of the Deep is the second animated film around Sapkowski's dark fantasy world to arrive on Netflix, following 2021's The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf.

The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is released on Netflix on February 11. In the meantime, check out our guides to the best Netflix shows and the best Netflix movies to watch right now.

If you saw Five Nights at Freddy's, you might remember that the pizzeria is, uh, no longer standing by the end of the film. Not to worry, however, because a new pizzeria location has arrived - and it's only a little less rundown than its predecessor. Check out the photos below.

It's been theorized that the sequel will adapt the plot of the second game, which takes place at the "new and improved" Freddy Fazbear's Pizza - and just makes sense sequentially. ScreenRant, however, poses the theory that the second movie may very well adapt the plot of the third game, given that the events of the 2023 movie are similar to what happens in FNAF 3 i.e. William Afton becoming Springtrap. The third game sees the pizzeria turned into a haunted attraction - which goes just as well as you think it would.

We also see a version of Circus Baby in the first film for a brief second, leading fans to theorize that Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental might be the location for the second movie - but given the new location photos, it looks like that may have been a false alarm.

Five Night's at Freddy's 2 is set to hit theaters on December 5, 2025. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2025 and beyond, or, skip right to our list of movie release dates.

Chief among them is Dr. Stone season 4. Titled Science Future, the final season of the science-heavy anime is now airing, but you may wonder where on earth the second episode is.

While anime typically hides the goods, we're here to make things plain and simple: below, we've got the Dr. Stone season 4, episode 2 release date and streaming time on Crunchyroll. There's also a release schedule and expected episode count for your perusal.

For more on 2025's new anime, check out our guides to One-Punch Man season 3 and Jujutsu Kaisen season 3.

Dr. Stone season 4, episode 2 release date: what time is the new Science Future episode on Crunchyroll?

Dr. Stone season 4, episode 2 is set for release on January 16 at 7:00 AM Pacific/10:00 AM Eastern on Crunchyroll. That's 3:00 PM in the UK.

For other regions, please use the time zone converter.

Be sure to keep up to date with other major ongoing releases with our guides to Solo Leveling season 2 release schedule, The Apothecary Diaries season 2 release schedule, and the Sakamoto Days release schedule.

Dr. Stone season 4 release schedule: when are new episodes out?

Both subbed and dubbed episodes of Dr. Stone season 4 will be released on Thursdays on Crunchyroll. Only one episode has aired so far, with the season premiering on January 9.

The entire final season will be split into three parts, but the exact dates haven't yet been announced.

The updated Dr. Stone season 4 release schedule is as follows:

• Dr. Stone season 4, episode 1: January 9, 2025 - out now!
• Dr. Stone season 4, episode 2: January 16, 2025

Where can I watch Dr. Stone season 4?

The fourth and final season of Dr. Stone is, unsurprisingly, only available on Crunchyroll for the time being. We don't expect it to make the jump to any other platforms, such as Netflix or Hulu/Disney Plus.

How many episodes of Dr. Stone season 4 are there?

Dr. Stone season 4 is expected to consist of 30 episodes, but don't expect them all to stream weekly. It has previously been announced that the final season will be formed of three separate 'cours' (or parts) across 2025.

For more on what's next on the anime scene, be sure to dive into our guides on My Hero Academia season 8 and the Chainsaw Man movie.

The Last of Us airs in HBO's coveted Sunday night slot, so it's already narrowed down to four potential dates. What's more, The White Lotus season 3, which starts on February 16, airs through April 6 on Sunday evenings. It makes sense, then, that The Last of Us would take over the programming slot from Mike White's comedy-drama and therefore start airing on Sunday, April 13.

The new season of the hit video game adaptation sees Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey return as Joel and Ellie, along with a few new cast members as some familiar faces from the game. Kaitlyn Dever will play Abby, while Isabela Merced is Dina, Young Mazino is Jesse, Danny Ramirez is Manny, Tati Gabrielle is Nora, and Jeffrey Wright is Isaac, a character he also voiced in the game.

The Last of Us season 2 will consist of seven episodes, making it slightly shorter than season 1. If April 13 is the correct premiere date, then, that means the season finale will air on May 25.

While we wait for official confirmation on The Last of Us season 2's release date, fill out your watchlist with our picks of the other best new TV shows still to come in 2025.

As one of the main titles in the first wave of anime popularity for Western audiences, and responsible for introducing a whole generation of fans into the medium in the early '90s, Sailor Moon is nothing short of legendary. That's why this comeback to American TV is such good news, and a perfect opportunity to feel the Moon Prism Power once again.

Toonami, a late-night programming block specialised in Japanese anime, announced this week that the anime's original series will be incorporated to the schedule at the end of January. This announcement comes after the recent retirement of the block's previous version, Toonami Rewind, which was focused on retro and nostalgic programming.

Toonami's new version will feature a mix of classics and more recent shows, including 2023's hit series Mashle: Magic and Muscles alongside popular titles like One Piece, Naruto, and Dragon Ball Z Kai.

The block is relaunching on January 25, with Sailor Moon airing at 3am EST, and 12am PST.

Since Toonami Rewind was already airing the show last year, it's unclear if the show will start from the beginning, or resume the story from where the programme left it off. If it's the latter, that means the show will start with episode 47, the first episode of Sailor Moon R.

Originally released in 1992 in Japan, Sailor Moon follows the adventures of Usagi Tsukino, a middle school student who one day is given the power to become Sailor Moon. She won't be alone, as other Sailor Soldiers will arise to help her defend Earth against the forces of evil.

Sailor Moon will start airing on Adult Swim's Toonami block on January 25, with Sailor Moon airing at 3am EST, and 12am PST. For more, check out the best anime shows you should watch now.

While there are still several months still to wait before Karate Kid: Legends hits the multiplex, we've got everything you need to know about the new movie right here to tide you over in the meantime. Keep reading to get the lowdown on Karate Kid: Legend's release date, the film's first trailer, a full cast list, some quotes from the director about the plot, and more.

Karate Kid: Legends release date

Karate Kid: Legends is set to arrive in theaters on May 30, 2025.

The movie was originally meant to be released back in July 2024, before being pushed back to December 2024 and again to its current release date.

Karate Kid: Legends trailer

The first Karate Kid: Legends trailer arrived in December 2024 and shows Mr. Han paying a visit to Daniel LaRusso to enlist his help in training Li Fong to become the next Karate Kid. "Li is to me what you meant to Sensei Miyagi," Mr. Han explains. We get to see some of this training, too, as well as Mr. Han and Daniel getting in on the action. You can watch the full trailer above.

Karate Kid: Legends cast

The cast of Karate Kid: Legends sees OG Karate Kid Ralph Macchio return as Daniel LaRusso, as well as Jackie Chan reprising his role as Mr. Han from 2010's Karate Kid remake. Newcomer Ben Wang takes on the titular role as Li Fong, and he's joined by The Book of Boba Fett's Ming-Na Wen, The Righteous Gemstones' Danny McBride, and more. You can see the full cast list below.

• Jackie Chan as Mr. Han
• Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso
• Ben Wang as Li Fong
• Joshua Jackson as Victor
• Shaunette Renée Wilson as Ms. Morgan
• Sadie Stanley
• Ming-Na Wen
• Aramis Knight
• Wyatt Oleff
• Danny McBride
• Jennifer-Lyn Christie

Karate Kid: Legends plot

Karate Kid: Legends is set to combine the worlds – and martial arts – of Netflix spin-off series Cobra Kai, the original Karate Kid movies, and the 2010 remake, starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith. "I was excited about the idea that the films and the series can all be part of one family," director Jonathan Entwistle told Entertainment Weekly.

"I've had some really detailed conversations with the Cobra Kai team about just cool stuff that we can do in the movie and can make this whole thing feel holistic."

As for where it sits on the franchise's timeline, the movie is set three years after Cobra Kai season 6. Per the official synopsis, "After a family tragedy, kung fu prodigy Li Fong is uprooted from his home in Beijing and forced to move to New York City with his mother. Li struggles to let go of his past as he tries to fit in with his new classmates, and although he doesn't want to fight, trouble seems to find him everywhere. When a new friend needs his help, Li enters a karate competition – but his skills alone aren't enough. Li's kung fu teacher Mr. Han enlists original Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso for help, and Li learns a new way to fight, merging their two styles into one for the ultimate martial arts showdown."

For more, get up to speed with all the other best upcoming movies with our guide to 2025's movie release dates.

Below, we've got the confirmed Crunchyroll release date for The Apothecary Diaries season 2, episode 2. That includes a US and UK streaming time, expected release schedule, and episode count. All just a quick scroll away.

Away from the palace, check out our picks for the best anime to watch right now. Then dive into more of this year's big new anime release plans with our guides to the Solo Leveling season 2 release schedule and Sakamoto Days release schedule.

The Apothecary Diaries season 2, episode 2 release date: what time is it on Crunchyroll?

The Apothecary Diaries season 2, episode 2 is released on January 17 at 9:15 AM Pacific/12:15 PM Eastern on Crunchyroll. That's 5:15 PM GMT in the UK.

Note that it's also confusingly listed as 'episode 26' on the streamer, in case you were wondering if you've skipped ahead a few dozen episodes.

For other regions, please use the time zone converter.

The Apothecary Diaries season 2 release schedule: when are new episodes out?

New episodes of The Apothecary Diaries season 2 are set to hit Crunchyroll every Friday for the foreseeable future. Given the bulky episode count (which you can see below), we expect the series to run well into the spring and summer seasons.

The current The Apothecary Diaries season 2 release schedule is as follows:

• The Apothecary Diaries season 2, episode 1: January 10, 2025 - out now!
• The Apothecary Diaries season 2, episode 2: January 17, 2025

Where can I watch The Apothecary Diaries season 2?

The Apothecary Diaries season 2 is available to stream exclusively on Crunchyroll for subscribers.

The first 24-episode season is also available in Crunchyroll's library and can be bought on Apple's store.

How many episodes of The Apothecary Diaries season 2 are there?

While some anime has bucked trends recently with shorter seasons, The Apothecary Diaries season 2 feels refreshingly old-school: it's expected to last for 24 episodes from start to finish, just like its first season.

For more from the world of anime, check out our guides to Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 and the Attack on Titan movie.

Inspired by George Waggner's similarly named 1941 film, Universal's latest collaboration with Blumhouse centers on Christopher Abbott's Blake and Julia Garner's Charlotte, who find themselves fighting for their lives one nightmarish night after they get attacked by a mysterious beast.

Whannell, who penned the flick with his wife Corbett Tuck, has made no secret of the fact that he always viewed the story as one about disease and isolation rather than lycanthropy. In the run-up to release, he recalled to GamesRadar+ he always "wanted to focus on the family" and that he prefers films that don't overexplain things to the audience.

"I didn't want that scene where they discover a dusty book in the basement like, 'Here's the rules'," he laughs, miming someone blowing a binder clean and flicking through its pages. "The library montage, you might call it... where you figure everything out.

"Exposition is such a tricky thing to handle, and how much you want to explain to people. A lot of times you might do a test screening and people tell you they want more, but my personal preference is to keep things more mysterious," Whannell admits. "I love the films of David Lynch, they're like these puzzle boxes and he deliberately avoids explanations. I find that makes the film stay with me, because nothing was spoon fed. I can walk away and live with the movie, and interpret it, then I'll get online. I'm like anyone else, I've googled 'What does Mulholland Drive mean?' I'm seeking an answer, and I think that's what he wants with his movies. I'm not saying these are David Lynch movies that I'm making, but I like being sparing with that stuff."

Wolf Man is Whannell's second time tackling a more modern take on a Classic Monsters movie, following his huge hit The Invisible Man back in 2020. While the former is reportedly a comment on COVID-style themes and distance between married couples, the latter saw Elisabeth Moss play Cecilia, a woman terrorized by her abusive ex-husband – a terrible situation complicated by the fact that her former partner has supposedly died.

"They say a good horror film should be able to work as a drama if you took the supernatural out of it, and I do think about it a lot from that perspective," Whannell continues. "You want believable characters and you want a story that would work without anything outlandish." It just so happens this movie has a...

Wolf Man claws its ways into theaters on January 17. For more, check out our guide to the most exciting upcoming horror movies heading our way.

In the clip, which you can watch below, writer Gary Dauberman and director David F. Sandberg explain the movie's mechanics – which follow the video game pretty closely. In the game, many of the choices players have to make have the potential to change the game's ending.

The same goes for the movie, which sees the players get something of a metaphorical game-over screen and wake up once again back where they were. "People make different choices and die in different ways. The movie has this mechanic, where things start over and they get to try again. Every time they come back to life, it's like they're in a new horror genre," Sandberg says.

I'm not sure if we've seen a video game adaptation quite like this...but I'm so here for it. The clip also gives us our first look at Peter Stormare's return to the franchise: the actor did the voice and motion capture for Dr. Alan J. Hill in the game.

The original game was released back in 2015 and follows a group of eight young adults who must survive a night on Blackwood Mountain. The movie won't directly adapt the game, but will instead feature a new plot and a new group of characters in the same universe.

Per the official synopsis: "One year after her sister Melanie mysteriously disappeared, Clover and her friends head into the remote valley where she vanished in search of answers. Exploring an abandoned visitor center, they find themselves stalked by a masked killer and horrifically murdered one by one…only to wake up and find themselves back at the beginning of the same evening [...] Hope dwindling, the group soon realizes they have a limited number of deaths left, and the only way to escape is to survive until dawn."

The cast includes Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Ji-young Yoo, Odessa A'zion, Maia Mitchell, and Belmont Cameli.

Until Dawn arrives in theaters on April 25. For more, get up to speed with our guide to the other upcoming video game movies on the way in 2025 and beyond.

Officially titled Pokémon Horizons: Season 2 – The Search for Laqua, the show follows the two aspiring trainers as they travel the world in search of the remaining Six Hero Pokémon, and the legendary land of Laqua. But first they'll have to face a new challenge, the Tera Training, which prompts them to hone their Terastallization skills and battle the region’s powerful Gym Leaders.

If you can't wait to see what comes next for the characters and their high-stakes adventure, we're here to offer some help with our guide to Pokémon Horizons season 2's release plans on Netflix in the US and BBC iPlayer in the UK. Get your calendar ready.

For more, check out how to watch Pokémon in order, and our ranking of the best anime movies.

Pokemon Horizons release date: when is season 2 on Netflix and BBC iPlayer?

Pokémon Horizons season 2 premieres on Netflix in the US on February 7, 2025, including the first 11 episodes.

In the UK, the first part of Pokémon Horizons season 2 is already available to watch on BBC iPlayer (from January 13). In Canada, the season will debut on February 8 on Cartoon Network, while Australian fans will have to wait until February 27 via 9Go!.

The release date for the rest of episodes of the season is yet to be announced.

How many episodes of Pokemon Horizons are in season 2?

The first part of Pokémon Horizons season 2 consists of 11 episodes, but, as anime fans know, that's only a small part of what's to come.

According to the current Japanese release schedule, The Search for Laqua will run for 37 episodes. This is likely to change, considering that the first season, released in 2023, had 45 episodes.

Where can I watch Pokemon Horizons?

The first season of Pokémon Horizons: The Series is now available to watch on Netflix in the US.

In the UK, the first season is available to stream on Sky Go, while the first part of season 2 has been released on BBC iPlayer.

For more, check out the picks for the best anime you should be watching right now, and all the latest on Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 and One-Punch Man season 3.

Neither Marvel Phase 4 nor Marvel Phase 5 will have included an Avengers movie, and there's been limited crossover between other characters in the meantime. "Secret Invasion should’ve been an Avengers movie, I will die on that hill," wrote one user, referring to the 2023 Disney Plus series. "I’m hoping they can make Doomsday work but we haven’t seen most of the heroes that’ll be in The New Avengers in years."

Others agreed that greater build-up was necessary. "If it were up to me Doomsday and Secret Wars would be pushed back a bit, have Cap4 build up the new Avengers and have them have at least 1 movie of their own, and have a couple more movies in between to build up [Doomsday] some more," said someone else.

Over on Twitter, one fan even tallied up the number of appearances of Avengers characters before their first team-up movies, comparing the cast of Infinity War to the cast of Doomsday. For example, between 2008's Iron Man and 2018's Infinity War, Iron Man made seven MCU appearances, while Captain America, Thor, and Black Widow each had five. By comparison, the Doomsday character with the most appearances since 2019's Avengers: Endgame is Yelena Belova with three, while everyone else clocks in at just one or two.

However, some fans are confident that the gap between Avengers movies is still the right choice. "No Avengers in these phases is exactly the right move. It's the beginning of a new cycle, so it starts with square one energy, introducing a bunch of new faces," another Redditor explained. "I'd like a little more small team ups, which were are starting to get little by little. The Marvels was the hook up for me in that regard. Now we've started to define a new roster that can get into some large scale stories, with a lot of new balls in the air that can be in play."

Avengers: Doomsday is set to arrive on May 1, 2026. Next up for the MCU, though, is Captain America: Brave New World, which hits theaters this February 14. In the meantime, get up to speed with our guide to all the other new superhero movies on the way in 2025 and beyond.

As initially flagged by Discussing Film, January 13 saw the first full moon of the calendar year – fittingly titled a Wolf Moon. Whether it's a coincidence or the result of a movie studio crunching the numbers to ensure the most timely of lunar appearances is unclear, but it's certainly got us in the mood for when Wolf Man hits theaters on January 17.

The Blumhouse production stars Christopher Abbott as Blake, who returns to his childhood home after the mysterious disappearance of his father (never a good sign, if you ask us).

Joined by his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth), Blake is soon attacked by an "unseen animal".

As per the synopsis, "As the night stretches on, however, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognisable, and Charlotte will be forced to decide whether the terror within their house is more lethal than the danger without."

Wolf Man has received positive first reactions after early screenings, with one audience member describing the Universal horror as "terrifying."

In our own interview with director Leigh Whannell, the Wolf Man director says he felt pressure to live up to his previous film The Invisible Man.

"I can't look back at The Invisible Man and go, 'I know exactly what I did that made people like it', Whannell told GamesRadar+. "So when I was writing this, I felt this pressure of, like, 'What can I do that could match up to that?' It's that little internal critic, you know, that you have to deal with."

Keep up to date with all the things that go bump in the night with our guide to new horror movies. Then dive into a collection of fearsome nasties in our curated list of best horror movies.

Creators and stars Nick Toti and Rachel Kempf have chosen not to release found footage horror film It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This on streaming services, or sell digital and physical copies after its short theatrical run in the US. The whole idea started as a joke when making the movie’s first trailer, but the pair have decided to stick to their word.

"We were like, 'Oh, it kind of needs something,'" said co-director Toti to Variety. "So we put the scroll at the end. It just says, 'The producers of this film regret to inform you that it will not be released online. See it in theaters.'"

It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This follows two horror fans who buy a creepy abandoned house to shoot their own horror movie in, but things go awry when the pair find cult members gathering outside. Much like one of the best found footage horror movies of all time, The Blair Witch Project, the film blurs the line between fiction and reality by having the central three cast members, including Toti and Kempf, use their real names.

So why the secrecy? Toti says that the limited release is to avoid piracy but also to shake things up as his other projects were not getting any traction. "I've been making movies for 15 years now, and almost every single movie I’ve made has been released for free on the Internet, and nobody has paid any attention to any of them," he said. "Nobody has cared about any of them. So I was like, 'Oh, well, this is something new.'"

Although you would think this would limit the amount of people seeing the movie, the exclusivity of the whole thing has actually had the opposite effect. Horror fans have become desperate to see the movie, leading to sold-out shows across the US. This is quite an impressive feat when the team had virtually no marketing budget and relied solely on word of mouth. However, we are still hoping that the movie will be released online one day, just so we all can see it!

Visit DieDieBooks for more information on when It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This is screening in the US next. For more, see our list of the best horror movies, or keep up with other upcoming horror movies.

In a video interview with Entertainment Weekly, the cast of the Apple TV Plus show debunked some popular theories online, including a very plausible explanation regarding Ms. Casey's behaviour.

As we found out in the season 1 finale, Lumon's favourite counselor looks exactly like Mark's deceased wife Gemma. According to user @Scdsco who is mentioned in the video, she might be a clone.

"Lumon's purpose is human cloning. I believe Ms. Casey is a clone of Gemma, which is why she behaves so strangely," the fan wrote, adding: "This could explain what the goats are for (cloning experimentation) and what MDR does (identifying abnormalities in cloned genome sequences)?".

It's not a bad shout, but the show's star Adam Scott quickly shot down this theory, saying: "This sounds like Lumon would be doing in a super boring version of Severance."

Patricia Arquette, who plays Lumon's mysterious manager Harmony Cobel, added: "You are very far off, and wrong." Ms. Casey's real identity, then, is still a mystery to be solved, hopefully by the new episodes coming up this week.

In a recent interview with GamesRadar+, Scott said that he had total confidence in creator Dan Erickson and executive producer Ben Stiller's ideas, even when the show was about to get weirder than ever.

"Whenever we go in a new direction or he [Erickson] introduces a big new weird idea, it's always exciting. And no, I never would've imagined it would go to this particular place because I just always sort of had faith in Dan and Ben and figure that where they decide to take us is gonna be the right direction."

Severance season 2 premieres on January 17 on Apple TV+. For more, read our 5-star review of the season, and check out our picks for the best Apple TV shows streaming now.

In fact, it had the opposite effect, with Whannell admitting that he felt pressure to replicate his successes and how worried he was that his past works would come back to bite him. "I think the world accepting something that you've done is an addictive drug," he candidly tells GamesRadar+. "All artistry, I guess, is guesswork. Whether you're writing a song or writing a movie, you're kind of in this insular little bubble, you're in your own head when you're making something. Then suddenly, if you're lucky enough, you put it out into the world and you don't get to decide how it's received."

"I can't look back at The Invisible Man and go, 'I know exactly what I did that made people like it', he notes. "So when I was writing this, I felt this pressure of, like, 'What can I do that could match up to that?' It's that little internal critic, you know, that you have to deal with."

Taking inspiration from George Waggner's similarly named 1941 film, Wolf Man follows Blake (Poor Things' Christopher Abbott), a writer-turned-stay-at-home father who inherits his family home after his long-missing father is officially declared deceased. In an attempt to reconnect with his highly successful wife Charlotte (Ozark's Julia Garner), Blake suggests they take their daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) out to Oregon as they clear out the remote place over the summer. Upon their arrival, though, they're attacked by some sort of mysterious beast in the woods.

Terrified, the trio are forced to take shelter in the run-down home, but with Blake's wound worsening, the night soon turns into a waking nightmare.

"I always think of this quote, and I'm not sure if it's a misquote or an urban legend but there's some story about Laurence Olivier doing Richard III," Whannell, who's no stranger to scary flicks, having co-written Dead Silence, Insidious, and Saw, continues. "Some actor friend of his goes backstage to see him after the performance; he comes into the dressing room and he's in tears and it's like, 'What's wrong? You were brilliant! That performance, it's the best I've ever seen!' And Olivier looks up in tears and goes, 'I know, and I have no idea how I did it.' I don't know if that's true or not but I think it's a good metaphor for art."

While Whannell was a little skeptical as to whether lightning could strike twice with Wolf Man, Garner was confident she was in good hands. "I was like, 'He knows what he's doing', which is one of the reasons why I signed on. I knew that he really knows this genre well so I knew I wasn't walking into an experiment. It was a really good shoot but it wasn't an easy shoot, just because of what the story is about and how it's told. It gets really intense very quickly and it stays there 'til the very end but everybody [behind the scenes] was great so I felt lucky."

Wolf Man releases in theaters on January 17. For more, check out our guide to the most exciting upcoming horror movies heading our way.

In a new post on Reddit, one user shared their love of a particular moment in Tony's final scene when he responds to Thanos' "I am inevitable" with, "And I am Iron Man." User Pocketbutter shared how he loves how improvised the moment feels and reflects Tony's mentality in that moment.

"It’s not terribly thought out. It barely even makes sense," they wrote. "It feels like a filler phrase for a man who always insists on getting the last word. For once, Tony didn’t have the perfect line, he had no quips in the chamber, so he simply said something that feels true to himself. It’s a messy contrast to the 'clean' dialogue of previous movies – it feels real. And that’s what makes it perfect."

However, what the original poster didn't seem to realize was that there was a reason that moment feels so fresh: it wasn't added until the last moment. As one reply pointed out: "It probably is somewhat unrehearsed IRL too since it was a last minute addition to the movie since originally he was silent and I think an editor suggested the callback."

As reported by IndieWire back in 2019, the directors – the Russo brothers – actually only added it with reshoots thanks to a note from editor Jeff Ford. "Tony used to not say anything in that moment," Joe Russo said. "And we were in the editing room going, 'He has to say something. This a character who has lived and died by quips.' And we just couldn’t, we tried a million different last lines. Thanos was saying 'I am inevitable.' And our editor Jeff Ford, who’s been with us all four movies and is an amazing storyteller, said, 'Why don’t we just go full circle with it and say I am Iron Man.' And we’re like, 'Get the cameras! We have to shoot this tomorrow.'"

It's pretty hard to imagine Tony's farewell without it now, but it shows the level of detail that the Russos went to in order to nail the climactic movie. They'll soon be returning to the world of the MCU too as the directors of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Recently, the directors shared they originally rejected the call until they landed on the perfect idea.

Check out our guides to all the other upcoming Marvel movies and shows as well as our breakdown of how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

Sony Pictures' French website listed an ‘Untitled Sony/Crunchyroll/Aniplex event film’ for September 17, 2025, an entry that has since been removed. Additionally, a German cinema chain (H/T Dexerto) also took down mention of Infinity Castle being released in the country on September 25, 2025.

So, is this the Infinity Castle release date we've been (im)patiently waiting for? With apologies to other new anime releasing this year, nothing quite matches the 'event film' label quite like Infinity Castle. Anime getting a staggered release in multiple regions is also nothing new, and lends credence to September being the destination for Demon Slayer's endgame. Fingers crossed we get an official confirmation shortly.

An adaptation of one of the final arcs in Koyoharu Gotouge's acclaimed manga, the upcoming movie trilogy sees Tanjiro and the elite Hashira demon slayers drawn into the shadowy 'Infinity Castle', home to a selection of the world's most fearsome 'Upper Rank' demons – including series Big Bad Muzan Kibutsuji.

Infinity Castle stands out as one of 2025's big new releases in a crowded field of major names. My Hero Academia season 8 brings the superhero shonen to an end this year, while Solo Leveling season 2, One-Punch Man season 3, and Shinichirō Watanabe's Adult Swim series Lazarus.

For more on this month's big ongoing anime, check out the Sakamoto Days release schedule and Solo Leveling season 2 release schedule. Then dive into our picks for the 25 best anime series you should be watching in 2025.

"I can’t watch my own films. I mean, one day… I sort of enjoy it more as more time goes by, so one day I’ll watch them again," he told Letterboxd. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have a favorite. "The Two Towers, I think. But if I see them again I might have a totally different one."

The Return of the King, the final installment in the original trilogy, is the most common answer to that question, so Jackson is somewhat bucking the trend with The Two Towers. The second movie, released in 2002, continues the story of The Fellowship of the Ring as Frodo, Sam, and Gollum make their way towards Mordor, Merry and Pippin help plan an attack on Saruman's fortress at Isengard, and Aragorn and co. are reunited with Gandalf.

The latest big-screen installment in the franchise, which saw Jackson on board as an executive producer, was The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, which hit theaters in December 2024. Directed by Kenji Kamiyama, the anime movie follows the king of Rohan and his family as they defend their kingdom against a Dunlending army and features an English-language voice cast including Brian Cox, Luke Pasqualino, and Miranda Otto.

We're next set to return to Middle-earth with Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3, which is due to begin filming later this year but doesn't have a release date yet. While we wait, check out our guide to the other best shows on Amazon Prime Video to add to your watchlist.

The first look, shared by Variety, shows an angry-looking Howard Thornton in a furry mouse costume fit with big round ears and sharp claws, holding what seems to be a bloody speargun. The suit is kitted out with the mouse’s signature shorts with buttons and his Steamboat Willie captain hat. Variety also reports that the movie has moved from its January release slot to April 2025. Check out the image below.

"Watching David Howard Thornton bring Steamboat Willie to life with the magicians at Quantum Creation FX has been nothing short of amazing," said writer-director Steven LaMorte to Variety. Best known for portraying the sadistic clown in Damien Leone’s Terrifier franchise, Howard Thornton is no stranger to shapeshifting into horror icons. The star most recently played a twisted Grinch in LaMorte’s Dr. Seuss spin-off The Mean One.

However, horror fans have been conflicted over the first look as it hit the internet. "Oh boy another horror movie. That last Mickey movie was a flop," said one Twitter user, while another argued, "This is an interesting idea, I’ll watch it."

As per the official synopsis, the Steamboat Willie-inspired horror flick follows "a group of New Yorkers on a late-night ferry ride that turns deadly when a mischievous mouse begins a rampage, targeting unsuspecting passengers. The unlikely crew must band together to thwart the murderous menace before their relaxing commute turns into a nightmare."

LaMorte directs the flick from a screenplay he co-wrote with Matthew Garcia-Dunn. Alongside Howard Thornton, the Screamboat cast includes Allison Pittel, Tyler Posey, Amy Schumacher, Jesse Posey, Jesse Kove, Kailey Hyman, Rumi C Jean-Louis, Jarlath Conroy, and Charles Edwin Powell.

Screamboat is scheduled to hit US theaters sometime in April 2025, a UK date yet to be announced. For more, see our list of the best horror movies, or keep up with other upcoming horror movies.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, popularly known as the Rick and Michonne spin-off, sees the return of Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira to their legendary roles in the franchise with a stunning six-episode season.

With an impressive 88% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the show sits at the top of the saga's ranking according to the review aggregator, followed by the original show The Walking Dead (79%), Maggie and Negan's Dead City (79%), standalone show Tales of The Walking Dead (74%), Fear the Walking Dead (73%), Daryl Dixon's spin-off (69%), and the lowest-rated title World Beyond (46%).

Originally released in May 2024, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live focuses on Rick and Michonne's anticipated reunion, which makes this show a combination of zombie action and romance.

"We talked very intensely about how you take something like The Walking Dead, which is not a love story genre, and really lean into making it a love story genre," Gurira told GamesRadar+ ahead of the show's release last year.

"When Scott came up with this aspect of it in the teleplay, I was like, 'Oh, that's good. That's good stuff.' Because it's like, 'Of course that's how he survives, he has to escape. He escapes and goes into a dream place that is wholly devoid of the issues and the horror and the apocalypse and the loss'. That's how he keeps himself alive. It encompasses that hope and joy of falling in love."

Created by The Walking Dead showrunner Scott Gimple, The Ones Who Live cast also included Pollyanna McIntosh as Jadis Stokes, Lesley-Ann Brandt as Pearl Thorne, Terry O'Quinn as Major General Beale, Breeda Wool as Aiden, Frankie Quinones as Esteban Garcia, Craig Tate as Donald Okafor, Andrew Bachelor as Bailey, and Matthew August Jeffers as Nat.

For more, check out our guide for how to watch The Walking Dead franchise in order.

In a recent interview, the actor looked back at the highlights of his career, from The Devil Wears Prada to The Lovely Bones, and Julie & Julia. Tucci also talked about "the fun big movies" he's done, which includes the MCU's Captain America: The First Avenger, where he played scientist Abraham Erskine.

"I loved Captain America: The First Avenger, it was one of the greatest roles and jobs I've ever had. I was there for three weeks and had a wonderful time, and I also loved playing that character," he told Variety.

Despite his nice words about the experience, Tucci did have things to say about some aspects of the character, and his reaction to it. "I was cast as a 70-year-old man at the age of 50, so that was disturbing, but that's all right; I was flattered and insulted at the same time… You have to mix it up, as they say," he said.

Years after the first Captain America, the actor reprised the role of Abraham Erskine in an episode of the series What If...?, called 'What If... Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?'

In the interview with Variety, Tucci also talked about his 2021 gay romance Supernova, where he starred alongside Colin Firth. He thought the film didn't get the attention it deserved.

"It's an absolutely beautiful film. I love that director [Harry Macqueen] and it got wonderful reviews and everything, though there were no awards or anything like that. That made me sad for the director/writer because I think he's extraordinary. Getting an independent film about that subject off the ground like that is hard, and I wanted him to have more. I wanted him to have more success afterward."

Conclave is available to watch in cinemas. For more, check our guide to upcoming movies in 2025.

Well, one fan edit has answered our prayers with a remake of Wolverine and Deadpool's iconic first fight, with mask in tow. Created by Taran Singh, a VFX Supervisor, the video posted on Twitter sees the two mutants battle it out in the void.

"And here it is folks! DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE FIGHT MASK EDITION! This one was challenging but I'm glad how it turned out!," he tweeted. You can check out the incredible video below.

It's already gone pretty viral too with more than 30,000 likes already, and Singh revealed it took him about 10 days to make while working on other projects."This is legitimately amazing. I hope Ryan and Hugh see this," replied a fellow fan, while a second added: "Incredible quality. Looks like it’s part of the original movie". A third simply tweeted: "Wow! Hey studio executives: DO MORE OF THIS (listen to the fans)".

Deadpool and Wolverine is now available to watch on Disney Plus and on physical release, and the accompanying directors' commentary revealed some very intriguing details about the making of the movie. Among the revelations, it was confirmed that Ryan Reynolds' wife Blake Lively actually really helped improve the movie's third act.

Director Shawn Levy explained about the final climactic sequence in the power room: "Credit where credit is due. It used to be that there was no suspense, that the power room blew up, and our heroes had survived. And it was Blake Lively who said to us, 'You know, I've been with you this whole movie. I want to sit in the fear that they're lost. Let me be in that place of suspense so the triumph of their survival is more emotional and visceral.'"

For more on all things Marvel, check out our guides to upcoming Marvel movies and shows and how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

Per the official synopsis, Number 24 takes place on the brink of the Second World War, where a young Norwegian man's drive to resist the Nazis sets a new course for his future – and the future of his country. His sacrifice and acts of sabotage lead him to become Norway's greatest war hero. John Andreas Andersen directs from a screenplay by Erlend Loe and Espen Lauritzen von Ibenfeldt. The cast includes Sjur Vatne Brean, Erik Hivju, Philip Helgar, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Ines Høysæter Asserson, Mark Noble, and August Wittgenstein.

Number 24 tells the true story of Gunnar Sønsteby, known as Agent No. 24, who was a member of the Norwegian resistance movement during the German occupation of Norway in World War II. The two-hour long drama first premiered in Norway in October 2024, and is currently sitting at number 10 on Netflix's global streaming chart.

The new pic also holds a 95% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with RogerEbert.com writing, "The director crafts a mostly patriotic picture of a man solely dedicated to duty. It’s an uncompromising approach that often makes for a stirring watch even through a narrow lens."

Number 24 is streaming now on Netflix. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2025 and beyond, or, check out our guides to the best Netflix shows and the best Netflix movies to stream right now.

 "I loved Twilight Zone so much. I fell in love with the Twilight Zone when I was like 12. It was on every night, 11, and I just watched all of it. So I was just into the Twilight Zone and so when I first read the script five or so years ago, it drew those comparisons in my mind," Scott explains to GamesRadar+.

Severance was created by Erickson, who submitted the pilot to Stiller's Red Hour production company back in 2015. The series stars Scott as a widower named Mark Scout who, after getting fired from his teaching job, undergoes a controversial procedure that essentially separates your work life from your home life into two separate people. 

It seems relatively normal at first, until a new coworker named Helly R. (Britt Lower) comes along and questions the policies and protocols - which are anything but normal or ethical. The season quickly unravels into a dystopian nightmare full of nosebleeds, dance parties, and baby goats - and ends on one of the most devastating cliffhangers.

"But it was also something completely different from that. It was an entire world that was skewed and just a bit, sort of a few degrees off from our own. But at the same time, maybe not if a technology like this was introduced into the world, maybe this is exactly how things would evolve and exactly how things would seem, but the depth of Dan's imagination, I never had any doubt about that."

No spoilers, but the new season definitely takes a deep, deep dive into Erickson's imagination...and the stakes are higher than ever for Mark, Helly, Dylan (Zach Cherry), and Irving (John Turturro). 

Continued Scott: "Whenever we go in a new direction or he introduces a big new weird idea, it's always exciting. And no, I never would've imagined it would go to this particular place because I just always sort of had faith in Dan and Ben and figure that where they decide to take us is gonna be the right direction.

Severance season 2 hits Apple TV Plus on January 17. The first season is streaming now for free. For more, check out our Severance season 2 review, our interview with creator Dan Erickson about the pressure of returning after a long hiatus, or check out our set visit report and interview with Ben Stiller.

"Really what happened was, we ended up stumbling upon an idea that activated all of us," Anthony Russo told Empire. "You couldn’t see it coming until it came, and once it came it was like, 'Well, that’s a story we need to tell.'"

The Russo brothers directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. The duo has returned to direct both Avengers Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, with frequent screenwriting collaborators Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely returning to pen the scripts.

The films see Robert Downey Jr. return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as none other than Doctor Doom, the notorious enemy of the Fantastic Four (who also has an utterly unimpressive ride at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida). Doomsday is due out in 2026, with Secret Wars arriving in 2027 - concluding Marvel Phase 6.

"There were ideas that we were trying to wrap our heads around that preceded this one, and we just never found the story," Joe Russo explained. "I remember calling Steve and said, 'Hey, crazy idea. What do you think if we all go back and do Secret Wars? You were like, 'Fuck no. Absolutely not.' And then you hung up. And the next morning at 7.30 you called and were like, 'Alright, I have an idea.'"

Avengers: Secret Wars is set to hit theaters on May 7, 2027. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2025 and beyond, or check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows you need to know about.

The episode sees Sung Jinwoo fight and kill Kim Chul, with the implication being that Jinwoo was able to predict that he would attack him and therefore was acting in self-defense. However, in the original manhwa, Jinwoo was always planning to kill Kim Chul from the outset and even intentionally provoked his attack so he had an excuse to fight back – he needs a new shadow in order to have enough strength to take on Baruka, and killing Kim Chul gives him the perfect opportunity to gain one. The change, though small, makes Jinwoo less morally grey than his comic counterpart.

Since the new season premiered earlier this month, Solo Leveling has gone on to break its own record on Crunchyroll. In less than 24 hours, the season 2 premiere reached 129,000 likes, breaking its season 1 premiere record of 114,000 likes in two days.

Per the official season 2 synopsis, "It's been over ten years since gates that lead to another dimension have begun appearing across the world. The battles between the magic beasts inhabiting the dungeons through the gates and the human hunters who have awakened the abilities to fight them show no signs of ending. Ordinarily, a hunter's abilities do not change upon awakening, with their rank never increasing. However, the low-ranked Sung Jinwoo, known as 'The Weakest Hunter of All Mankind,' gained the ability to level up through battle during a raid on a double dungeon.

"Having completed a job-change quest that earned him the job 'Shadow Monarch' and command over an army of shadows, Jinwoo heads into battle seeking the ingredients for the Elixir of Life to save his sick mother."

New episodes of Solo Leveling are dropping weekly on Crunchyroll. For more information, check out our Solo Leveling season 2 release schedule, or fill out your watchlist with our guide to all the other best new anime on the way in 2025.

The release of Castlevania: Nocturne season 2 is only a few days away, with the new episodes following Richter Belmont's band of vampire hunters as they prepare for their fight against the Vampire Messiah.

A final trailer for the new season reveals that the journey will be physically and emotionally challenging for everyone involved, as the team tries to prevent the end of the world as they know it. The new footage sees the vampire-hunting revolutionaries marching into Paris, where war is about to break out.

If you want to get an exciting last preview before diving into the full season later this week, press play on the video above!

The popular anime will resume the story from the shocking season 1 finale, where the seemingly invincible Erzsebet Báthory, known as the Vampire Messiah, threatens to drown the world in eternal darkness. Now, he seeks the full power of the goddess Sekhmet, which would make him an even bigger force to be reckoned with.

Luckily, the final episode also revealed a new and powerful ally for Richter and his team in Alucard, the son of Dracula. After saving them at the end of last season, Alucard now has to officially join the band, and find a way to bring them to victory. Will they be able to pull it off?

As one of the best anime shows on Netflix, Castlevania: Nocturne follows in the original series' footsteps, a dark medieval fantasy inspired by the legendary video game series of the same name.

The voice cast for season 2 includes Edward Bluemel, Pixie Davies, Thuso Mbedu, Sydney James Harcourt, Nastassja Kinski, Zahn McClarnon, Franka Potente, James Callis, Richard Dormer, Iain Glen, Elarica Johnson, and Aaron Neil.

Castlevania: Nocturne season 2 hits Netflix on January 16. For more, check out the best anime you should be watching now and the latest from 2024's biggest new anime.

Don't worry, you're in luck. Below, we've got all the latest on Sakamoto Days episode 2's release plans. That includes a release date, expected streaming time, and a unique release schedule that includes the show being split into two parts.

For more, check out our picks for the best anime you should be watching in 2025. Then take an in-depth look at some of the biggest names in the medium, including My Hero Academia season 8 and the Chainsaw Man movie.

Sakamoto Days episode 2 release date: what time is it on Netflix?

Sakamoto Days episode 2 is released on January 18 at 6:00 AM Pacific/9:00 AM Eastern on Netflix. That's 2:00 PM GMT in the UK.

Sakamoto Days is set to release new episodes every Saturday just hours before Solo Leveling season 2. For more on the other big January release, check out the Solo Leveling season 2 release schedule.

Sakamoto Days release schedule: when are new episodes out?

New episodes of Sakamoto Days will be released on Netflix on Saturdays from January until March. The show will then take a break and release its second part beginning from July 2025.

The current Sakamoto Days release schedule looks like this:

• Sakamoto Days episode 1: January 11, 2025 - out now!
• Sakamoto Days episode 2: January 18, 2025
• Sakamoto Days episodes 3-11: January-March 2025 [weekly]
• Sakamoto Days part 2: July 2025

Where can I watch Sakamoto Days?

Sakamoto Days is currently streaming exclusively worldwide on Netflix and you'll need to be a paid subscriber to access it. That means Sakamoto Days can't be found on other prominent services such as Disney Plus/Hulu, Prime Video, or Crunchyroll.

How many episodes of Sakamoto Days are there?

The first part of Sakamoto Days is slated to be 11 episodes long. A second part (or 'cour' in anime parlance) will run from July and is likely to also be 11 episodes long, bringing the grand total episodes of the Sakamoto Days adaptation to 22 in 2025.

Need something to watch next? You'll need our picks for best anime Netflix shows and best anime movies.

It's somewhat fitting then that season 5 kicks off with another reset, immediately discarding the Gotham City Sirens setup that the season 4 finale promised in favor of something else completely. There was a lot of potential fun to be had with these versions of Catwoman and Oracle, so it's a shame that this new team is brushed over so quickly, but it's also for the best.

Taking big swings

Rather than repeat a similar Bat-family style team-up again, season 5 avoids getting into a rut by moving Harley and Poison Ivy out of Gotham into a shiny new apartment across the river in Metropolis. The perpetually loved-up couple do so to avoid getting into a rut themselves, because in the wake of their team's break-up, eating Thai food in bed became the focal point of their life together for over a year before making this change.

And what a change it is. Away from the cesspool of Gotham, Harley and Ivy are reinvigorated by everything the city of Metropolis has to offer, and to some degree, that's also true of the show itself. This modern, seemingly perfect utopia brings in a stark contrast to the grimy hellhole we've spent the last four seasons in, and the writers have a lot of fun playing around with this early on. Who knew that people from Gotham smelled like "piss" this whole time?

Once this new setting is established, Harley Quinn wastes no time bringing back faves like Clayface, King Shark, and Bane because Metropolis has better schools, obviously. If you haven't kept up with the Kite-Man spin-off, you might be surprised to learn that Bane is now a family man, playing daddy to the fairytale character of Goldilocks.

That's not all though. If there's one through-line to speak of in Harley Quinn season 5 it's family, specifically parenthood, that drives the emotional resonance of the show this time around.

Without spoiling too much, there are some particularly moving moments in the latter half of the season inspired by this, although the addition of King Shark's new kid, Sean, isn't one of them. To be fair, he's supposed to be annoying as he literally chews up the scenery, unable to stop himself from eating everything in his path. But the problem is that he ends up grating on us even more than he does the actual characters in the show, with jokes as dull as his teeth are sharp.

The "perfect" villain

Otherwise, most of the new characters are more nefarious this time around, swapping in and out to share the role of this season's 'Big Bad'. One highlight early on is the introduction of Jason Woodrue, a scientist who diehard comic book fans will already recognise as The Floronic Man, a stupidly named yet imposing villain who was responsible for Pamela Isley's Poison Ivy transformation (in the post-Infinite Crisis DCU). How he interacts with this version of Ivy makes for a darker turn than fans of the show might be used to, incorporating horror and elements of trauma in one of Harley Quinn's most memorable and significant storylines in the series as a whole.

But just when you think season 5 might be getting too dark, Clayface performs a play about people who weren't present during major historical events, introducing Giovannia, an Italian man from 1921 who wonders what might happen at Pearl Harbor two decades on…

Brainiac, the classic Superman baddie who's long been obsessed with Metropolis, straddles humor and villainy here just as Harley's morality continues to balance that fine line between good and evil. That's always been a strength of this show, it's unwillingness to pigeonhole anyone as intrinsically good or bad (except perhaps The Floronic Man this time around).

The result is a Brainiac who embodies this character at both his scariest and silliest, especially when he chats to his alien monkey, Koko, who even comic book fans might not recognize from DC's pre-Crisis days. But even a robotic figure like him is imbued with more humanity here than some other DC properties can muster for their flagship heroes, which is credit to new cast addition Stephen Fry, and of course, the Harley Quinn writers room, as always.

In his quest for perfection, Brainiac proves himself to be a perfect 'villain' for a show like this, although just when you think you've got it all sussed out, there are plenty more twists ahead for him and us alike.

What surprised me most though was the distinct lack of Bane (or Nightwing) in the first half of season 5 especially. Thankfully, the back half makes more use of Bane even giving him adorable little reading glasses at one point, which absolutely sent me.

But as anyone who's gone back to watch YouTube compilations of his best moments can attest, you can never have too much Bane. Voice actor James Adomian deserves The Congressional Medal of Honor at this point for his service to comedy.

Yet it's fair to say that the focus this time around is back on Harley and Ivy working together, as it should be after season 4 kept them apart for large chunks of time. Kaley Cuoco and Lake Bell continue to have a blast as Harley and Ivy respectively, to the point where it's hard to imagine anyone else voicing them now (despite the many Harley's cartwheeling around these days in animation and beyond).

Be gay, do crime

Now that the couple have been established for a few seasons, their relationship has (for the most part) settled into a comfortable groove, as relationships often do in real life. Just like their initial coupling was revolutionary for animated fare of any kind, let alone mainstream superhero storytelling, this ease and familiarity they share is groundbreaking in a sense too. Whether they're saving the day or gorging on food in bed, Harley and Ivy are very much couple goals throughout, with the show normalising their love in such a simple yet affectionate way.

That's not to say they're not horny miscreants still though. "Wanna go fuck shit up?" asks Harley at one point. "You had me at fuck," replies Ivy. Be gay, do crime, indeed!

It's easy to forget just how lucky we are to have a hilarious, queer DC show survive five seasons already when so many others have fallen by the wayside. Although this isn't peak Harley Quinn in the way earlier seasons were — some of the jokes don't hit quite as hard as they used to — there's still plenty to love in season 5. Because Harley is so much more than just "gymnastic skills and short shorts," as one character describes her here, no other DC adaptation has so much fun proving that point while still getting to the heart of what makes Harley tick.

Unfortunately, with all the reshuffling going on at Warner Bros, not to mention the brutal kill rate queer shows especially face in today's streaming age, it does feel like this might be the end for Harley Quinn, or at least this specific, R-rated version. If so, just know that season 5 ends the series as a whole on the perfect note you'd expect from one of the most dependable, consistently entertaining superhero shows on TV.

Harley Quinn season 5 premieres on January 16 on Max in the US with its first episode. A new episode will then air weekly through to March 20. For more, check out our list of the best new TV shows coming your way in 2025.

However, the family drama has arrived without much fanfare, as several Twitter users pointed out. In fact Netflix has barely seemed to promote the film at all, aside from a few tweets announcing that it was on its way.

Despite the radio silence, fans have been discovering the new show, and recommendations have been spreading online. "Was only gonna watch one ep of Kore-eda’s Asura on netflix and got completely sucked in and binged the whole thing ahhhhhh I love when sisters fight and laugh and cry together," tweeted one.

"Not even 5 minutes into the first episode of Asura and it hits you in the gut with these lines," writes another user on Twitter. "Knowing what happens to Makiko and Takao in future episodes only magnifies the impact of this dialogue. It is Kore-eda after all. Another gem added to Netflix's Japanese originals."

A third added: "Asura, the new Netflix series from Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda, is the year's first great TV offering." A handful of reviews have been released too, which have been broadly positive.

Roger-Ebert.com's Brian Tallerico gives the show 3 out of 4, writing: "Squid Game has dominated the Netflix charts for the last couple weeks, reportedly opening to higher streaming numbers than anything in the history of the company. While it doesn’t have nearly the same hook as the show about a killer competition, my hope is that a few of those viewers slide over to the woefully-underpromoted Asura, proving to Netflix that there’s space for both kinds of shows in their catalog. And maybe leading a few viewers to one of the best filmmakers in the world."

Meanwhile, Decider advises viewers to stream it, concluding: "The family is not dysfunctional in an unrelatable way, like the Roys on Succession or Yellowstone‘s duplicitous Duttons, what’s so engaging is the fact that their problems, and the emotions that spill out as a result, are entirely possible and could happen to any of us."

For what else to watch, check out our guides to the best Netflix shows and the best Netflix movies to stream right now.

In the image, which you can see below, Venom lies fallen in what appears to be some sort of wasteland. "Here’s an environment shot done for a canceled sequence from Kraven the Hunter," artist Jules Darriulat wrote on Instagram.

The fact that it's an "environment shot" means that Venom may not necessarily have ever been an actual character in the movie and, instead, the scene may have just been part of a post-credits scene or montage. Still, it seems unlikely that we'll ever see that play out, as Sony's Spider-Man universe has reportedly come to an end with Kraven the Hunter.

The studio's latest comic book movie stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the titular Spider-Man villain and provides an origin story for the character. The cast also includes Ariana DeBose, Christopher Abbott, and Russell Crowe. The movie premiered to lukewarm reviews and currently has a score of 17% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Spider-Verse lives on in the MCU, however. A fourth Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland is in the works, with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings helmer Destin Daniel Cretton reportedly in the director's chair.

Spider-Man 4 is set to arrive on the big screen on July 24, 2026. In the meantime, get up to speed with the other best upcoming movies on the horizon with our guide to the best new superhero movies on the way in 2025 and beyond.

"I am still struggling trying to make a living," said Hounsou in an interview with CNN. "After 30 years…maybe the first 10 years was trying to acclimate myself to the industry, to establish myself. But I’ve been in this business making films now for over two decades and with two Oscar nominations and been in many blockbuster films, and yet, I’m still struggling financially to make a living. I’m definitely underpaid."

Hounsou says the lack of pay is making it harder and harder to work in Hollywood despite having over 60 titles and multiple studio blockbusters under his belt including Gladiator, Guardians of the Galaxy, A Quiet Place Part 2, and Furious 7, and, more recently, Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon movies. The star was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards twice for Leonardo DiCaprio starrers In America and Blood Diamond.

So, what is the reason for Hounsou's pay? The star points to prejudice. "That’s a sign for you that systemic racism is not something you can deal with lightly," he said. "It’s so deeply inserted in so many things we do across the board. You don’t overcome it. You just sort of have to cope with it and survive the best way you can."

The West African-born actor has also tried his hand at directing with his 2018 documentary In Search of Voodoo: Roots to Heaven. But off-screen, the star dedicates a huge portion of his time to his own Djimon Hounsou Foundation which aims to "Strengthen Africa’s intergenerational identity and self-awareness by reconnecting the Peoples of the African Diaspora with their motherland," and combat modern-day slavery.

Hounsou's upcoming projects include survival thriller Beneath the Storm, and new horror movie from Saw’s Darren Lynn Bousman titled The Monster.

For more, check out our list of movie release dates and keep up with upcoming movies.

"I’m not gonna sugarcoat it: I’m trying to Vin Diesel this thing," Jackson – who plays wheelman and thief Donnie Wilson in both Den of Thieves movies – told Variety. "To quote Ryan Reynolds [in Deadpool and Wolverine], I want to work with Gerard [Butler] until he’s 90."

In Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, Donnie heads to Europe and ends up teaming up with Gerald Butler's down-on-his-luck officer 'Big Nick' for his next big score: a diamond heist.

With the movie leaving things very much open for a sequel and Jackson being keen on a follow-up, Den of Thieves 3 looks like a seeming certainty – except the Donnie Wilson actor doesn't want a sequel for sequel's sake.

"I know how much I want to do these other films, but we cannot cheapen this beautiful thing that we made," Jackson said. "This one took six or seven years to get done [Den of Thieves was released in 2018]. I hope the next one doesn’t. In our heart of hearts, we won’t make it if it’s not right and if it’s not the same thing that made audiences fall in love with the franchise in the first place."

Den of Thieves 2, which took home $15 million at the US domestic box office this weekend, is currently sitting at 57% on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. It's faring better with audiences, however, at a 79% rating.

For more, check out our guide to movie release dates and upcoming movies.

"I’m watching Avengers: Endgame and I just think they did such an amazing job of Thanos‘s death at the very end," one user wrote, before going on to share what they loved so much. "But then Tony wins, he gets the gauntlet and snaps. And the way Thanos just suddenly realizes it, you know? like just the acceptance that, 'well, this is it. I’ve lost.' And then he just sort of hobbles to take a seat and just contemplate his last few minutes alive."

Another user then chimed in pointing out a powerful comparison, which makes the moment even more poignant. "I also like how Thanos ended Infinity War resting, watching the sun rise on a grateful universe," they commented. "While in Endgame, Thanos ends by resting with his back turned on the sun rising on a grateful universe."

In fact, if you watch both shots back to back, the comparison is clear. Infinity War ends with Thanos having caused the snap, leading half of all life in the universe to disintegrate, before leaving for a remote planet where he watches the sun rise. In Endgame, he sits down in the midst of the battlefield in a very similar way, as the sun rises behind him.

This is not the only interesting detail about this scene either, as one of its most iconic moments was a very late addition. Speaking back in 2019, the directors – the Russo Brothers – revealed that they decided to film and add in the "I am Iron Man" line to Tony Stark's death scene just two months before the film headed to theaters (H/T The Independent).

For more on all things MCU, check out our guides to upcoming Marvel movies and shows and how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

Sebastian Stan, who is reprising his role as Bucky Barnes and is leading the team, has teased the movie in a recent interview on Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast, saying: "It's a weird group thrown together, and I think people are going to love it".

The actor has compared the film to teen classic The Breakfast Club, describing it as a "misfit-driven story" with lots of humor and camaraderie. John Hughes' 1985 movie follows five high school students forced to share Saturday detention together, where they discover that, despite their very different personalities, they have a lot more in common than they thought.

In a recent interview with Deadline, Stan explained a little bit more about that comparison between Thunderbolts* and The Breakfast Club: "It has its own vibe, and it's funny, and it's real." He added that the film can't be compared "to any previous Marvel movie" because of "the group of characters in this film and these actors".

That group includes Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Wyatt Russell as John Walker, and more.

Stan leads the team as Bucky, a character he's reprising for the first time since Disney Plus series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in 2021, and for the first time on the big screen since Avengers: Endgame in 2019.

Before Thunderbolts* arrives in cinemas, though, the MCU will be back next month with Captain America: Brave New World, starring Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson (aka the new Captain America) and Harrison Ford as Red Hulk.

Asked about a potential appearance in the upcoming Captain America sequel, Sebastian Stan told Variety: "[Filming] Thunderbolts*, let me tell you, it was a much quieter year for me because I didn't see Anthony Mackie. So, I'll say that. Although I miss Anthony Mackie like daily, and it's something I don't like to admit."

Thunderbolts* arrives on the big screen on May 2, 2025, as the final movie in Marvel Phase 5. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the other upcoming Marvel movies and shows still to come.

"You know. I'm — it's shiny," said Garner to ScreenRant in response to whether her Silver Surfer is CGI, live-action, or a combination of both. "But all the Silver Surfers are shiny, so it doesn't give you anything. I'm sorry. So we'll wait and see. I'm excited."

First appearing in a 1966 Fantastic Four comic, Silver Surfer is a metallic space-surfboarding alien who saved his home planet from Marvel baddie Galactus but became his herald in the process. The character was brought to life in the 2005 movie Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, played by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne. The shiny character was presented using a mix of CGI and live-action effects. We can’t help but wonder if the new film will do the same.

However, this year’s Fantastic Four movie will see Garner suit up as the female version of the surfer named Shalla-Bal. Alongside the Ozark star, the movie also stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm, as well as Nosferatu’s Ralph Ineson who plays the big bad Galactus.

Officially titled Fantastic Four: First Steps, the upcoming Marvel Phase 6 movie marks the first family’s MCU debut and follows the four as they take on their biggest challenge yet against a retro ‘60s backdrop.

The official synopsis reads: "Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer. And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal."

The flick also stars Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, and Sarah Niles and is directed by Matt Shakman.

Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25, 2025. For more, check out our guide to how to watch the Marvel movies in order, or keep up with other upcoming Marvel movies and shows.

"Funko Pops. I love Funko Pops. 43 bucks, worth every penny," he told the publication. "I think they're really cool. I've actually collected all of my Funko Pops. I kept them in my house for a long time but then it kind of got to the point where it looked like I had a shrine for myself." Holland continued: "I had to get rid of them because it was quite embarrassing, so they're in a cupboard but I love them."

The last time we saw the actor as the web-slinging superhero was back in Spider-Man: No Way Home. For a while, his future in the MCU and at Sony was looking a bit uncertain, but it seems now he will be returning for Spider-Man 4.

It's set to be helmed by Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton and lined up for a July 2026 release date. Holland has shared his excitement about the script, saying last year that it "lit a fire" in him.

"We have a creative and we have a pitch and a draft, which is excellent. It needs work, but the writers are doing a great job," he told the Rich Roll Podcast. I read it three weeks ago and it really lit a fire in me. Zendaya and I sat down and read it together and we at times were bouncing around the living room like this is a real movie worthy of the fans’ respect."

For more, check out our guides to upcoming Marvel movies and shows as well as our breakdown of how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

Speaking on Radio Tu’s La Baulera del Coso (H/T Variety), Muschietti pointed out that the movie wasn't universally popular with what Hollywood terms the 'four quadrants': male over 25s, male under 25s, female over 25s, and female under 25s.

"The Flash failed, among all the other reasons, because it wasn’t a movie that appealed to all four quadrants. It failed at that," Muschietti said, adding, "When you spend $200 million making a movie, [Warner Bros.] wants to bring even your grandmother to the theaters."

Curiously, Muschietti revealed that The Flash simply isn't popular enough compared to fellow DC heroes Batman and Superman – according to unnamed figures he spoke to behind the scenes.

"I’ve found in private conversations that a lot of people just don’t care about the Flash as a character," Muschietti revealed, which seemingly mirrors audience apathy for the project.

Of course, CW's The Flash, starring Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, proved one of the cornerstones of the 'Arrowverse' and ran for nine seasons.

The Flash's big-screen offering, though, proved to be one of DC's biggest misfires of recent years. It barely recouped its $200 million budget, generating $271 million at the box office. That's despite it being one of the final parting shots of the DCEU and starring a returning Michael Keaton as Batman alongside Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, and Michael Shannon.

DC, meanwhile, is starting over with DC Studios' James Gunn and Peter Safran at the helm. July's Superman kicks off the live-action slate of DCU Chapter One, which is titled Gods and Monsters and features everything from a Green Lantern TV show to a Clayface movie written by Mike Flanagan.

For more, check out our guide to new superhero movies and how to watch the DC movies in order.

According to director and executive producer Ben Stiller, season 3 is already in the works, and the story will continue for as long as it makes sense with the tale. "You have a responsibility to the audience that you're going somewhere with it," he told Collider in a recent interview.

"That's always been a part of it for us, really understanding where it's heading to, and Apple's been really supportive of that and been sensitive to what the story is and not saying, 'Okay, this is something that has to keep going as long as it's successful.' It should go as long as the story goes, and that's something we have an idea of, and we're working towards as we're starting up our season 3 work."

Stiller definitely knows where the story is heading. In an interview with The New York Times, he revealed that they "have an end" for the series. "I think we now know exactly how many seasons, which I won't say", he teased.

When pressed to offer some clues about the ending, Stiller simply said: "I mean, in my mind, the series has always been about Mark and his innie and his outie, and the ultimate destination for both of them." Make of that what you will!

Whenever the ending of Severance arrives on our screens, let's hope that along the way the gap between seasons becomes much shorter. We've had to wait three years for season 2, following the critically acclaimed release of season 1 in 2022. Lucky for us, the show's creator, Dan Erickson, is committed to reduce that gap, telling Gizmodo:

"I certainly would like it to [take less time], yeah. And the conversations we have had about it, that's been in the conversation. Because season 2 actually took about the same amount of time as season 1. The difference, of course, is season 1 nobody knew what the show was and so they weren't waiting for it. But at the same time, you're always looking to sort of fine-tune the process and take what works and leave what doesn’t work and streamline things. So, my hope is that if there is a season 3, it's going to be sooner."

Severance season 2 premieres on January 17 on Apple TV+. Check out our 5-star Severance season 2 review and everything we found out about the new episodes on our set visit.

"It's much less [pressure] now than it was as we were making it, and especially as I was writing it," Erickson tells GamesRadar+. "Because there is always that question of can you live up to what you did before? Can you even replicate what you did before? Do you even understand what it is that made it special? And so, you know, I had a lot of anxiety as we were doing it. You know, I fortunately have a very good therapist, so that helped."

The critically acclaimed series first hit Apple TV Plus in 2022 and was swiftly renewed for a second season. However, the show met production delays - leaving us on a three-year-long cliffhanger. The finale, directed by Ben Stiller and penned by Erickson, has been regarded by critics as one of the best episodes of television ever made (and I agree). The second season takes place right where the finale left off. Erickson says the more of season 2 they got done, "the less and less scary" it got for him.

"Because, as I started to see the finished scripts, and then we started to see sets, and then ultimately we started to see cuts of episodes. I just had this real relief of like, okay, it's still Severance. This feels like what we did before. Whatever sort of amorphous thing it is that people love about the show that I love about the show, it's still there."

Three trailers have been released ahead of season 2, which tease new characters, a brewing mystery about Mark's late ex-wife, and a plethora of eerie new changes made to Lumon's severed floor.

"By the end I was like, it's not just that it's still there. I think it's better. Like, I really think that this is a more exciting and scarier and weirder and funnier chapter even than we did in the first season. So it's less scary now than it was."

Severance season 2 hits Apple TV Plus on January 17. The first season is streaming now for free. For more, check out our Severance season 2 review, or check out our set visit report and interview with Ben Stiller.

While crime movies have always been an attraction in Hollywood, heist movies began to feel like its own thing with the success of The Asphalt Jungle in 1950, directed by John Huston. The acclaimed movie is often considered the forerunner to all heist movies, laying the foundations for future filmmakers to pull and riff from.

Today, the heist genre isn't limited to cool cats in suits and sunglasses with sacks of cash. Enterprising teenagers, comic book superheroes, and even normal people desperate to set their life on track are called to plan the perfect crime. Here are 32 of the greatest heist movies ever made.

32. 21 (2008)

The score: Money from casinos, from right under their noses. Based on the 2003 best-selling nonfiction book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich, 21 dramatizes the real-life story of brainy MIT students who counted cards and weaponized other mathematical advantages to beat casinos and get rich quick. 21 is a glossy Hollywood-ized version of what really happened, from simplifying the story to a classic hero's journey structure to the appalling decision to cast white actors in a real-life tale that mainly involved Asian Americans. While critics were not all-in on 21, it was still a hit when it debuted at the box office. 

31. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

The score: The Tablet of Reawakening. In this lively rendition of the world-famous tabletop roleplaying game, directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley pay homage to decades of fantasy gaming with a movie that feels like sitting around someone's kitchen table with dice, character sheets, and cans of Mountain Dew. Set in the Forgotten Realms, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves follows a group of rebellious heroes who must steal a mystical relic to save themselves and all of Neverwinter. While the movie stumbled at the box office, audiences have come around to Honor Among Thieves like it rolled a 20 on its charisma check.

30. Good Time (2017)

The score: Robert Pattinson's brother. In this propulsive and stressful modern classic from the Safdie Brothers, a bank robber (Robert Pattinson) plots to break his mentally challenged brother Nick (Benny Safdie) out of jail after their own attempt at a "normal" bank heist goes wrong. Set over one desperate and violent night, where things just never seem to go as planned, Good Time is anything but an actual good time, in its bleak portrait of the lengths people are willing to go for family. 

29. Ronin (1998)

The score: A briefcase. Its contents don't matter. What really matters in John Frankenheimer's Ronin is how a group of elite mercenaries and former government intelligence agents – an ensemble led by Robert De Niro – find their loyalties among themselves constantly tested. Featuring realistic car chases and a tangled web of deception and intrigue, Ronin – a word stemming from feudal Japan, referring to masterless samurai – shows the true cost of hired guns.

28. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

The score: The Infinity Stones, spread across time. In the smash hit finale to Marvel's first three "phases" of interconnected movies, this direct sequel to 2018's Avengers: Infinity War sees the Avengers dust themselves off (so to speak) and work to defeat Thanos and restore the missing half of all life in the universe. The success of their plan hinges on collecting the Infinity Stones from earlier chapters across the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Part time travel adventure and part heist movie, Avengers: Endgame was a most epic farewell to the original core Avengers team and kick-off to a bold new era.

27. The Italian Job (2003)

The score: Gold… and sweet revenge. In this loose remake of the classic 1969 British caper, this 2003 Hollywood retelling sees Mark Wahlberg play a career thief who reassembles a crew years after they pulled off a successful gold heist in Vienna. Not only do they still want the gold, but they want revenge for the man who betrayed them and killed their mentor. Also starring Charlize Theron, Donald Sutherland, Edward Norton, and Jason Statham, this slick action-comedy weaves suspense like a drifting Mini Cooper.

26. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

The score: A cache of diamonds in London. In this madcap '80s heist comedy, American con artists (Jamie Lee Crutis and Kevin Kline) join an English gangster (George Thomason) in plotting a diamond heist. While the heist goes off without a hitch, it's what happens after that makes A Fish Called Wanda a wild ride as jealousy, seduction, and betrayals run amok amongst the group. A perfect crime pulled off by wildly imperfect people, A Fish Called Wanda ditches the slick swagger of other Hollywood capers to deliver something far more funnier and unforgettable.

25. House of Games (1987)

The score: $80,000 in a high-stakes poker game. In David Mamet's directorial debut, Lindsay Crouse plays a disillusioned psychiatrist, Dr. Margaret Ford, who is drawn in by a con artist (Joe Mantegna) and gets wrapped up in a scheme that revolves around eighty grand in Mafia money and back-room poker games. In this cerebral neo-noir with a surprise twist ending, House of Games blurs the line between victims and perpetrators when it asks: Who is actually feeling the thrill of the con?

24. The Killing (1956)

The score: $2 million in cash. While Stanley Kubrick is chiefly known for meticulously designed dramas like 2001: A Spacy Odyssey, The Shining, and Eyes Wide Shut, the director has done his share of more conventional fare. Case in point: The Killing from 1956, and one of the director's earliest feature-length films. An ex-convict assembles a crack team to rob a horse racetrack during a big race, with the goal of stealing millions in cold, hard cash. But bad luck and unexpected betrayals bring the heist to a collapse. While The Killing is comparatively more conventional than Kubrick's more noteworthy later films, its unusual nonlinear structure, occasional documentary-style storytelling, and downbeat ending (to illustrate the failures of ambition) help make The Killing stand out from so many other paint-by-numbers capers. 

23. Now You See Me (2013)

The score: Oodles of cash from European banks. In Louis Letterier's crowd-pleaser Now You See Me from 2013, a team of magicians work to steal the fortunes of corrupt banks and corporations to give back to their audience, Robin Hood-style. Now You See Me is the star-stacked first installment of the series, with Mark Ruffalo playing the flummoxed FBI agent racing to bring the magical thieves to justice. But like any good magic trick, there's always something up the sleeve, and Now You See Me – implausible as its story may be – entertains to the highest degree with more twists and turns than the alleyways of Paris.

22. Reservoir Dogs (1992)

The score: Diamonds. While a heist is central to the story of Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino's unstoppable filmmaking debut is actually more concerned with the before and after the heist. Despite being his first time behind a camera, Tarantino knocks it out of the park with a "heist" movie that subverts all expectations to deliver something totally new and totally unique that set the tone for the rest of the 1990s. Truthfully, only Tarantino could top himself, which he did just two years later with his acclaimed crime epic Pulp Fiction.

21. American Hustle (2013)

The score: Mayor Carmine Polito, played by Jeremy Renner, of Camden, New Jersey. In David O. Russell's acclaimed 2013 feature, 1970s con artists reluctantly team with an FBI agent to execute a sting operation against the corrupt Mayor Polito and mobsters in a fake investment deal. Naturally, personal tensions among the players – notably the firecracker femme  fatale Rosalyn, played by Jennifer Lawrence – jeopardize the operation. Hilarious, heated, and most of all stylish, American Hustle is truly a story of the American dream taken to its most extreme.

20. The Usual Suspects (1995)

The score: $91 million in drugs. Bryan Singer's lauded 1995 heist-comedy The Usual Suspects centers around a botched heist that ends in explosive catastrophe in San Pedro Harbor. The whole story is recounted and narrated by one of the players: Kevin Spacey's Verbal Kint, who reveals to the audience the many layers of deception and manipulation while in police custody. From its tour-de-force performances of its cast to its knife-sharp sense of humor and complexity, The Usual Suspects is a top-rate heist thriller of the '90s, a masterclass in narrative misdirection.

19. The Sting (1973)

The score: Ruthless mob boss Doyle Lonnegan. Set during the Great Depression, rising star con artist Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) ropes in veteran Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman) to swindle Lonnegan out of his fortune after the mobster kills a mutual friend of theirs. In this impeccably dressed heist comedy, vintage Americana comes to life like a moving Norman Rockwell painting as the movie's ragtime soundtrack imbues it a distinct vibe unlike any other. A smash hit when it opened in Christmas 1973, The Sting endures thanks to its powerhouse leading men who epitomize some of the greatest talents Hollywood ever had.

18. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

The score: Bank money for gender-affirming surgery. One of Al Pacino's finest movies of his long and prolific career, the pressure-cooker thriller Dog Day Afternoon sees the famous actor play Sonny Wortzik, a rookie robber (loosely based on real-life criminal John Wojtowicz) who ends up holding a bank hostage when his original plan goes belly-up. What was meant to be a straightforward heist morphs into a tense hostage negotiation with the police. As the world bears witness to Sonny's every move, Dog Day Afternoon tries to find the humanity amid the chaos.

17. Triple Frontier (2019)

The score: Millions in cash from a drug lord's compound. In this blockbuster Netflix actioner, a group of former Special Forces operatives who have little to show for their service plot to take millions from a cartel leader in South America. Despite their training and camaraderie, unforeseen problems and even just greed complicate the heist, forcing the team to make tough decisions as their whole plan comes undone. Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunham, and Pedro Pascal take center stage in this masculine tragedy in which valor bears little reward.

16. Three Kings (1999)

The score: Kuwaiti gold. From David O. Russell, the 1999 war thriller Three Kings sees a group of American soldiers in the Gulf War find a map that leads to stolen gold stashed away in a bunker, deep in dangerous territory. George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, plus Spike Jonze play the movie's main characters who initially set out to find the gold and get rich only to end up helping Iraqi civilians along the way, permanently altering the course of their fates for good. A unique mixture of gritty war action and heist capers, Three Kings is true genre royalty.

15. Widows (2018)

The score: $2 million. Steve McQueen's acclaimed 2018 action-drama Widows tells the story of four widows whose dead husbands failed a heist, leaving them indebted to a ruthless Chicago mobster with political ambitions (Brian Tyree Henry). Devoid of the air-conditioned cool and smarmy cleverness of other Hollywood heist movies, Widows relishes in the working-class grit of its main characters to illustrate a vivid if dour portrait of desperation and resourcefulness – the traumas of what our loved ones leave behind. Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, and Cynthia Erivo form up to play some of the most formidable women ever put to screen.

14. Sneakers (1992)

The score: A cutting-edge decryption device. As households everywhere began to adopt computers, Sneakers toyed with the world of hackers and computer hacking for one big heist. In Sneakers, Robert Redford leads a team of renegade tech experts – or "sneakers" – who are blackmailed by the NSA into retrieving a "black box" device that can break into any computer system around the world. Hilarious and suspenseful, Sneakers is an underrated gem of the early 1990s that used the heist movie genre to foresee the urgency of our digital future.

13. Baby Driver (2017)

The score: USPS money orders. Or, as Kevin Spacey's mastermind Doc puts it: "A quarter of a mill' per box. You do the math." While the heist in Edgar Wright's funky 2017 caper Baby Driver is kind of convoluted, what really matters is the personal animosity between main protagonist Baby (Ansel Elgort), a skilled getaway driver with tinnitus who wants to live an honest life, and his former crime boss Doc (Spacey) who forces him into one last job. Between Wright's reliably sharp direction and the movie's stacked cast – including Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm, Lily James, Jon Bernthal, and Eiza González – Baby Driver swerves to the beat with style and pizazz.

12. Fast Five (2011)

The score: $100 million, the personal fortune of a villainous Rio mobster. The fifth movie in the smash hit Fast & Furious franchise, 2011's Fast Five, tuned up the series from simple-minded street racing movies into the realm of legit summer blockbusters. Fast Five stages the first-ever reunion of characters from different Fast & Furious sequels into one single event movie, the plot revolving around a heist in Brazil. Dwayne Johnson makes his franchise debut as Luke Hobbs, a broad-shouldered government agent intent on bringing Dom (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker) to justice. While Fast Five plays out like a finale, it was only the beginning of a new era for Dom's familia. 

11. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

The score: Chickens, and whatever else cunning foxes can get from mean-spirited farmers. Using picturesque stop-motion animation, director Wes Anderson returns to the heist story genre of his own 1996 directorial debut Bottle Rocket in this adaptation of Roald Dahl's 1970 children's novel. George Clooney voices Mr. Fox, a reformed thief who plans one last job of stealing from farmers, who wind up retaliating against Fox and his community of furry thieves. A heist story that even children can enjoy, Fantastic Mr. Fox earns its title of "fantastic" with its tight story and unbelievably beautiful visuals that feels like flipping through a pop-up book.

10. Thief (1981)

The score: Diamonds, worth about $4 million. Michael Mann's simmering 1981 neo-noir crime film Thief tells the story of Frank (James Caan), a talented safecracker who wants to lead a more honest life and start a family. Embarking on one last job, Frank's plans to go legit are left in jeopardy when Frank is betrayed, forcing him to violently sever ties once and for all. Armed with all the hallmarks of Michael Mann, from his seductive imagery of rain-soaked and neon-lit streets to its ethereal synth score, Thief is a no-nonsense heist classic.

9. Hell or High Water (2016)

The score: Enough to pay off a bank debt. Directed by David Mackenzie and written by Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water revives the spirit of frontier Westerns for a more modern story about two estranged brothers (Chris Pine and Ben Foster) who carry out a series of bank heists to pay down a debt to keep their family's ranch, where oil has just been discovered. The problem is the volatile nature of Foster's Tanner, whose unpredictability is a liability to their success. Hot on their tail is a seen-it-all Texas Ranger (Jeff Bridges). A sober and stirring movie about the resilience of people in the face of unfair odds, Hell or High Water is as hot as Texas air.

8. Logan Lucky (2017)

The score: Millions of dollars from the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Swerving from the buttoned-up glamour of his Las Vegas-centric Ocean's movies, director Steven Soderbergh (with a screenplay by Soderbergh's wife Jules Asner, credited as Rebecca Blunt) takes the action to Bible belt America. Two frustrated brothers (Channing Tatum and Adam Driver) carry out a heist to steal millions during a Memorial Day NASCAR race. Logan Lucky is a uniquely Nashville spin on the heist genre, a movie lathered in Southern barbecue with an ensemble of eccentric characters and amusing twists on heist conventions. (Exploding gummy bears, for example.) 

7. The Town (2010)

The score: Over three million dollars in gate money at Fenway Park. Leave it to Ben Affleck to make the best heist movie ever set in Boston. The director/actor stars in his 2010 crime drama The Town as Doug MacRay, the ringleader of a bank robbery gang who gets romantically involved with a pretty bank manager (Rebecca Hall) who has incriminating evidence against them. While The Town doesn't reinvent the heist movie genre, it's a skillful and suspenseful picture about torn loyalties in a grounded vision of Boston.

6. Bottle Rocket (1996)

The score: A safe at a cold storage facility. Wes Anderson's feature-length directing debut is a wry little caper where real-life brothers and actors Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson play inept bank robbers whose attempts at pulling off heists to impress a local crime boss go hilariously wrong. Their big score is a safe at a cold storage facility, but even as that job also goes up in smoke, what remains are the most memorable kooks and their lasting friendship. A quirky take on the heist genre, Bottle Rocket foreshadows Anderson's forthcoming brilliance.

5. Drive (2011)

The score: $40,000 from a Los Angeles pawn shop. Nicolas Winding Refn's acclaimed 2011 noir stars Ryan Gosling as a nameless Hollywood stunt man who moonlights as a freelance getaway driver for criminals. While that premise sounds like a recipe for bombastic popcorn fare, Refn's Drive is instead a masterfully composed character piece about a lonely man seeking a reason to keep his hands on the wheel. The movie's plot revolves around a heist where Gosling's character agrees to partake to help his pretty neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) settle her husband's (Oscar Isaac) debt to gangsters. Eventually, things go very wrong, and Gosling grows compelled to protect Irene and her young son. A brooding and atmospheric movie, Drive is less Fast & Furious and more Taxi Driver, a searing thriller about the costs of doing the right thing.

4. Inside Man (2006)

The score: Documents that trace the wealth of a bank chairman (Christopher Plummer) to Nazi Germany. When such an individual's reputation is at stake, who is really doing the world a disservice? Such is the dilemma faced by detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington), who works to negotiate with principled criminal Dalton (Clive Owen) whose plan to smokescreen his real goal with a more typical bank heist goes off maybe too well. Essentially a heist film told from the perspective of the cops on the outside, Spike Lee's Inside Man is a modern 21st century classic that swerves from typical heist movie conventions.

3. Inception (2010)

The score: Not stealing, but planting an idea in a CEO son's dreams. In Christopher Nolan's mesmerizing sci-fi actioner, Leonardo DiCaprio plays a family man whose professional specialty in dream infiltration is hired for one last job: To implant the idea of breaking up a powerful corporate empire in the dreams of its imminent heir (Cillian Murphy). A seismic blockbuster released in the summer of 2010, Inception proved that Nolan was a bonafide Hollywood auteur who could beckon audiences to theaters even without superheroes and with a movie as enigmatic as our own dreamscapes.

2. Heat (1995)

The score: A cash-filled armored truck and a Los Angeles bank. But forget what is being fought over and think about the characters instead. In this simmering piece of modern L.A. noir, a manic detective (Al Pacino) butts heads with a veteran professional thief (Robert De Niro), whose game of cat-and-mouse heats up all of the City of Angels. A gripping crime epic that arguably defined its era, Michael Mann's Heat still feels red hot after all these years.

1. Ocean's Eleven (2001)

The score: $160 million from Las Vegas casinos. Arguably the ultimate heist movie and easily one of the best of its era – even surpassing the original 1960 Rat Pack version – Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven famously stars George Clooney as ace thief Danny Ocean who assembles a team of specialists to lift hundreds of millions from Vegas casinos. It just so happens that the money belongs to Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), the new boyfriend of Danny's ex-wife (Julia Roberts). A-list stars in designer labels who plot the perfect crime under the shining lights of Las Vegas make Ocean's Eleven not just the best in its trilogy, but one of the greatest heist movies of all time.

"Well, he's usurped me basically . It's like he has taken my position and I feel very injured and hostile about that. You know, I thought that, that he cared. I thought he valued me, but you know what? I'd given to him this opportunity and tutelage and instead he very quickly eclipsed me. So I think there's a real injury emotionally for Harmony towards Milchick," Arquette tells GamesRadar+.

Arquette plays the mysterious Harmony Cobel, who, in season 1, serves as the manager of the severed floor and is maybe a little bit too indoctrinated into the world of Lumon and the cult of Kier Egan. Mr. Milchick, played by Tillman, is the severed floor's supervisor - and is responsible for that amazing waffle party dance scene. Though the two are both devoted to Lumon, they frequently clash in what you could perceive as a power struggle - but in season 2, Milchick wins that struggle - and we might just learn that there's something deeper and darker under the surface.

"It's wild because we see that Milchick is now in a different position and he's now in a place of leadership that he's never been in before and he's gotta call the shots," Tillman explains. "And now that Cobell is not in the picture, you know, he doesn't have that direct mentor, that direct guidance that he was once receiving. And so there's the question of if he can handle all of this, you know, and what's the cost of leadership and what does he learn about himself and what does he learn about the company in the process. "

You might remember that Cobel went a bit rogue at the end of season 1, and drove off in her car to only god knows where. Her outie, who assumes a fake identity as Mark's seemingly innocent neighbor Ms. Selvig, seemingly leaves Lumon behind. It's also worth noting that, despite having innie and outie personas, Cobel and Milchick are not severed.

"I think there's a lot more revelation about Cobel and her innie component and her outie component and how they clash and, and kind of what primed her for this job to begin with in her early life," Arquette says. "I think because the stakes are higher, it makes the motivation so much stronger. You get a sense that we're all working towards a specific task without giving too much away. There's something that we're striving for, there's a goal, right? So in not meeting that goal would bring about dire consequences. I don't know what those consequences are, , but we, we like any, any other corporate structure, we have to meet goal, we have to meet the deadline."

"So there's this race for Milchick to keep the train on the track in order for us to make goal," adds Tillman.

"I mean when you move up in a corporation or something like that, in a responsibility, there's no one to hide behind anymore. Like he could blame me in the first season for things going wrong or bad calls that I made," continues Arquette. "There's a lot more exposure when you move into that next position and this corporation is always moving the goalposts and you do what they say and then suddenly it's like, oh wait, you're in trouble because now you should have done it some other way."

Arquette says "they're always changing procedure in a way that you can never really keep up with and Harmony has a part of herself that's always breaking the rules anyway. As much as she is like a rule follower, she also thinks she's smarter than the whole corporation."

Severance season 2 hits Apple TV Plus on January 17. The first season is streaming now for free. For more, check out our Severance season 2 review, or check out our set visit report and interview with Ben Stiller.

"Can we talk about how Zemo is lowkey one of the most brilliant villains in the MCU?" wrote one Reddit user. "He didn’t need a fancy suit, superpowers, or an alien army. He literally broke the Avengers with nothing but strategy, patience, and a well timed video. I mean, the guy is dangerous because he’s so real. No world domination plans, no big speech just pure vengeance and a crazy amount of discipline."

Zemo first appeared in 2016's Captain America: Civil War and returned for the 2021 Disney Plus series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. He's a Baron of Sokovia who sought out revenge against the Avengers after his family died at the hands of Ultron.

"I liked Zemo as a more cerebral type of villain in Civil War and then I liked him even more when they fleshed out his personality in Falcon and Winter Soldier," another user replied. "Hope to see him again someday."

Another wrote, "To this day, he absolutely endures as one of the MCU’s best villains. His conversation with T’Challa at the end of Civil War is brilliant, just oozing with character and insight into who this guy is."

"I love how they set it up to make you think he has something to do with Bucky’s backstory or the other super soldiers in Siberia but then he’s just a guy who had a family in Sokovia and hated the Avengers and wanted to send a message," added someone else. "Civil War really is one of the best in the series."

Next up for the MCU is Captain America: Brave New World, which arrives in theaters on February 14 as part of Marvel Phase 5. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the other upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way in 2025 and beyond.