Oasis are back and it’s set to be a ‘madferit’ summer. Bickering brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher – plus four somewhat quieter bandmates – will be reuniting for a string of massive UK and Ireland stadium shows starting on Friday (July 4), before heading to North America, Asia, Australia and South America. And the whole thing will be documented in a reunion tour film produced by Peaky Blinders creator Steve Knight. What a time to be alive.

Ahead of those magical nights where we’ll be bellowing along to anthems such as ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’, ‘Champagne Supernova’ and ‘Wonderwall’, you’ll want to get in the right frame of mind. So, here are some wonderfully chaotic films that will help you do just that. The new tour doc has a lot to live up to…

Oasis… Live By The Sea (1995)

This scrappy concert film was recorded at Southend’s Cliffs Pavilion in April 1995 towards the end of Oasis’ monster ‘Definitely Maybe’ world tour. The band had played almost 140 shows in the year leading up to this gig, but there’s still an unpredictable swagger to their performance.

As well as early classics ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’, ‘Live Forever’ and ‘Supersonic’, Live By The Sea captures the first live airing of ‘Some Might Say’ and Noel forgetting the words to ‘D’Yer Wanna Be A Spaceman?’.

Oasis …There And Then (1996)

A lot can happen in a year. While the ‘Definitely, Maybe’ tour saw Oasis comfortably selling out academy-sized venues, their ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?’ run saw them playing multiple nights at huge outdoor venues including that record-breaking run at Knebworth. There And Then captures Oasis as they become one of the biggest bands on the planet, via beautifully boozy gigs at Maine Road and Earl’s Court.

Oasis: Knebworth 1996 (2021)

Released to celebrate 25 years since 250,000 Oasis fans descended on Knebworth, this lovingly-curated retrospective features archive footage of the band’s mega-gig alongside new interviews with fans, fellow artists and organisers. If you’re going to watch one Oasis flick, make sure it’s this one.

Upside Down: The Creation Records Story (2010)

Obviously, Oasis weren’t the only rock band to soundtrack the ‘90s. This look-back at indie label Creation Records, home to Super Furry Animals, My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream, Ride and many others, will give you a taste of the celebratory chaos of the Britpop-era music industry. Scene legends like Noel Gallagher and Bobby Gillespie feature heavily but label founder Alan McGee steals the show with his outrageous stories from the front line.

Live Forever: The Rise & Fall Of Britpop (2003)

Would Oasis have been as successful without fellow Britpop heavyweights Pulp, Blur and Suede? This documentary, created when most of the scene’s biggest bands had either broken up or were struggling with ticket sales, explores the ‘90s cultural phenomenon. It’s the perfect explainer of what made it such a magical time in music.

Lord Don’t Slow Me Down (2007)

The last official Oasis film before the band called it quits in 2009, Lord Don’t Slow Me Down is proof that even towards the end of their run, they were untouchable. Featuring a documentary about their ‘Don’t Believe The Truth’ world tour, a full concert as well as bonus audio commentary, it’s a stacked package that finds Oasis growing up disgracefully.

Supersonic (2016)

Produced by the Oscar-winning team behind Amy (Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees) and directed by Mat Whitecross, Supersonic is a forensic exploration of Oasis’ early years. The two-hour documentary features a host of interviews with friends, family and band members, set alongside archive footage of their glory days. It strips away a lot of Oasis’ bravado and exposes the raw, tender relationship between Noel and Liam – and goes some way to explaining why things ended up like they did.

Be Here Now (2019)

Of course, the Oasis story didn’t stop with Knebworth. Be Here Now, a fan-made sequel to Supersonic, explores what happened next. Featuring classic interviews, performances, news reports and various other televised goodies, it’s a scrappy but lovingly-created documentary that’s been viewed over 500,000 times on YouTube. The perfect example of the devotion Oasis inspires.

Liam Gallagher: As It Was (2019)

Liam Gallagher had already faltered with his post-Oasis band Beady Eye, so expectations for his solo career were muted.  How wrong everyone was. Across three blistering solo albums, Rkid reminded the world he was still a force to be reckoned with. This documentary charts the making of his debut solo album ‘As You Were’; if we’re being honest, we wouldn’t mind if ‘Wall Of Glass’ found its way into Oasis’ set this summer. Just please don’t tell Noel.

Better Man (2025)

Robbie Williams and the Gallaghers go way back. Noel made headlines for calling him “that fat dancer from Take That” and Robbie challenged Liam to a £100,000 boxing match at the 2000 BRIT Awards. The brothers even make an appearance in his bananas biopic Better Man. “ I hope [Liam] likes it,” Williams told NME last year. “He’s a representation of who he was then and I’m a representation of who I was then,” he added. “The guy that plays Noel has only got one line, but that one line is so unbelievably Noel, it’s incredible: ‘Fuck off, cunt!’”

The post The best films to watch ahead of Oasis’ comeback tour appeared first on NME.

After the high-stakes drama of Peaky Blinders’ sixth season, creator Steven Knight wants to finish up the story of Cillian Murphy’s Tommy Shelby and the rest of his criminal mates with a feature film.

• READ MORE: Steven Knight on ‘This Town’ and his big-budget ‘Peaky Blinders’ movie

The show first aired in 2013 and followed the exploits of a street gang known as the Peaky Blinders directly after the first World War. Across six seasons, the Birmingham-based criminals tried to expand their empire despite numerous outside threats and their own turbulent relationships.

After a lot of murder, betrayal and shoot-outs, the final season ended with head honcho Tommy Shelby riding off into the sunset after finding out his terminal brain tumour was actually the result of a malicious false diagnosis orchestrated by one of his many enemies. So what happens next?

That’s what the Peaky Blinders movie will explore. The film was greenlit last year and the cast and crew have been drip-feeding us information. Here’s everything we know about the “explosive” new chapter in the Peaky Blinders story.

Who’s coming back for the Peaky Blinders movie?

Old friends and new faces

The Peaky Blinders movie will feature a script written by series creator Steven Knight while season one’s director Tom Harper is also back. Cillian Murphy is definitely returning as Tommy Shelby as well. “I would love to do a movie if there’s more story to tell,” he told Radio Times in 2023 and a year later, Knight confirmed Murphy had signed onto the project.

“It seems like Tommy Shelby wasn’t finished with me,” Murphy said in a statement. “It is very gratifying to be collaborating with Steven Knight and Tom Harper on the film version of Peaky Blinders. This is one for the fans.”

He’s not the only familiar face either. Netflix has confirmed that Stephen Graham will return as union leader Hayden Stagg, Sophie Rundle is back as Tommy’s sister Ada Shelby and Ned Dennehy’s Charlie Strong will also be featured. Ian Peck’s Curly and Packy Lee’s Johnny Dogs will also be reprising their roles for the Peaky Blinders movie.

Sam Clafin, who played fascist politician Oswald Mosley, said he’d “love to revisit the character” but hadn’t had a call as of 2023 while in 2022 Kate Phillips, who played Linda Shelby (the ex-wife of Tommy’s brother Arthur), told Radio Times she’d be “thrilled” to do a Peaky Blinders movie. Recently she confirmed she is not involved though. “There were discussions and then it didn’t pan out. The life of an actor is, you’re sort of always at the behest of other people’s visions. But I’m excited to see the film.”

Tom Hardy has also spoken about Alfie Solomon making an appearance in the movie after returning for the season six finale but claimed he hadn’t been invited back just yet.

Creator Steven Knight has also said that a new character introduced in the last season of Peaky Blinders will play a big part in the film. “In series six, we’re bringing in the new generation and they are going to be part of what happens in the film, ” Knight told Esquire in 2022. “I think it’s finding those actors that you just watch and you think, there you go. There’s the future.”

Who else is starring in the movie?

Award-winning talent

A number of new actors have been confirmed to star in the Peaky Blinders movie. Dune’s Rebecca Ferguson, Saltburn’s Barry Keoghan, Tim Roth and Jay Lycurgo have all joined the cast in unconfirmed roles

Netflix gave fans a first look at Keoghan’s mysterious character at the start of November. The image sees Keoghan wearing a flat cap and leaning out of a van window – putting him right in the heart of whatever criminal business will drive the Peaky Blinders movie forward.

When will the Peaky Blinders movie be released?

Netflix says “soon”

Knight has been talking about a Peaky Blinders movie since before the sixth season even aired. However COVID caused a number of delays and Netflix only greelit the project in June 2024. Production started at the end of September and wrapped at the end of last year, with the film set to be released in 2025 at the earliest. No firm date has been announced yet but Netflix says it’s coming “soon”.

In February 2025, Knight said the Peaky Blinders film will be released “in about a year”.  According to a post on social media from hair and makeup designer Nadia Stacey, the film could be called The Immortal Man.

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What will the Peaky Blinders movie be about?

War is coming 

In 2021, Knight told Variety that the Peaky Blinders movie will be “a fitting conclusion to the story told so far.” When production began in September, he said (via Netflix)”: “I’m thrilled to see the cameras rolling on this new chapter of the Peaky Blinders story, set during World War II. The country is at war, and so, of course, are our Peaky Blinders.”

Details about the plot are currently under wraps but Knight has promised that “it will be an explosive chapter in the Peaky Blinders story. No holds barred. Full-on Peaky Blinders at war.”

“I think the film is gonna be a step up again, and it’s gonna be great that Peaky fans can meet in one place and watch it,” he told NME earlier this year. “The budget will be bigger, but also because we know we’re ending this chapter, we’re all going to try to do our best.

Will there be more films and TV shows?

Probably

Despite Knight describing the Peaky Blinders movie as a “fitting conclusion” to the story so far, Netflix has been leaning away from the finality of it all. The streamer has called it “an epic continuation” while Knight has promised an “explosive chapter”, leaving the door wide open for more movies, spin-offs and TV shows.

“The film, I know exactly what it’s about. And I know what two stories it’s going to tell. How the story will unfold, I don’t know. What will happen after that, I want that to depend on the film. For all we know somebody is going to pop out – I think I know who it’s going to be,” Knight told Esquire in 2022. “Tommy will never be satisfied. I don’t know what’s in store for him. But I think he will never rest,” Murphy added.

More recently, Knight has teased a new project set after the events of the Peaky Blinders movie. “We are going to focus on the new generation in a series that will take place after the Second World War. And then, who knows? Why not a clothing line?”

He went on to confirm the Peaky Blinders movie “won’t be the end, let me put it that way”.

According to a new report, a seventh season has been greenlit by the BBC and will be set in the 1950s. Murphy’s Thomas Shelby could return but as a “father figure” to younger gang members. The BBC declined to comment on the show but according to rumours, it could air as early as next year.

The post Here’s everything we know about the ‘Peaky Blinders’ movie appeared first on NME.

In partnership with Universal Pictures UK

Wes Anderson isn’t just a director; he’s a genre in his own right. In The Phoenician Scheme, his dazzling new globe-trotting adventure set in the 1950s, Anderson conjures a delicious new spin on one of his favourite narrative themes: the family.

The great Benicio del Toro, who made his Anderson debut in 2021’s The French Dispatch, plays savvy businessman and master negotiator Zsa-zsa Korda. He’s so ruthless and inscrutable that international bureaucrats and rivals want to bring him down. He’s not afraid of a challenge either. On top of reconnecting with his estranged daughter, unflappable trainee nun Sister Liesl (Mia Threapleton), Korda is also trying to finesse the deal of a lifetime.

This is the film’s titular scheme: a massively ambitious plan to link up the mysterious region of Phoenicia (a fictionalised reference to the ancient civilisation in the eastern Mediterranean). Building the necessary infrastructure requires a shedload of cash, so Korda takes Liesl and his eccentric administrative assistant Bjorn (Michael Cera) on a multi-country trek to secure investment. None of the tycoons he needs to woo are a pushover.

It’s a wild and stylish ride that Anderson aficionados won’t want to miss. Here’s everything you need to know before it glides into UK cinemas on May 23.

It features plenty of familiar faces

The Texan director is so associated with certain actors that it’s not misleading to talk about a “Wes Anderson repertory company”. Scarlett Johansson portrays Korda’s rich but tricky Cousin Hilda; Bryan Cranston and Tom Hanks play the enigmatic San Francisco businessman Reagan and Leland; and Jeffrey Wright appears as a tack-sharp shipping magnate called Marty. Look out for Richard Ayoade as a surprisingly breezy freedom fighter as well.

Alongside some stellar new recruits

The film’s female lead is an Anderson newbie: British rising star Mia Threapleton, who previously appeared in the award-winning TV drama I Am Ruth. According to casting director Douglas Aibel, Anderson was attracted to Threapleton’s “combination of stoicism and buoyancy”. She gives a brilliant breakthrough performance as Sister Liesl, Korda’s devoutly religious daughter, who’s somewhat ambivalent about the fortune she’s due to inherit.

Michael Cera also makes his Wes debut as Bjorn Lund, a trusted employee of Korda who can’t hold his liquor – or can he? Other Anderson first-timers include British acting greats Riz Ahmed and Benedict Cumberbatch (who appeared in Netflix’s truncated The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar but here makes his Wes feature debut). The former oozes class as dashing Prince Farouk Of Lower Western Independent Phoenicia, while the latter gets menacing as Korda’s dastardly half-brother Uncle Numar.

Alexandre Desplat is back on scoring duties

Since making his Anderson debut on 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, the French composer has become a cherished member of the director’s inner circle. In fact, The Phoenician Scheme is his seventh credit on an Anderson film, which puts him level with actors Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman.

Desplat won the first of his two Oscars for his exquisite work on Anderson’s 2015 masterpiece The Grand Budapest Hotel and he’s on equally fine form here. As ever, his musical contributions are elegant, inventive and peppered with instrumental accents that reference the region where a scene is taking place. You’ll definitely be streaming the soundtrack after you watch this film.

But a new cinematographer is making his mark

Anderson has teamed with revered French cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, a six-time Oscar nominee who’s previously worked with auteurs like Tim Burton and the Coen Brothers, for The Phoenician Scheme. The pair previously worked together on Christmas-themed comedy short Come Together: A Fashion Story In Motion but this is their first full-length project.

Explaining his decision to hire Delbonnel for The Phoenician Scheme, Anderson says in his production notes: “It was of interest to have a European director of photography. There is something darker that Bruno brought to the lighting of the film that was right for the story – not darkness in terms of luminosity, but a darkness in personality.”

It’s Anderson’s most pulse-raising film

The Phoenician Scheme features more physical threat than we’ve come to expect from Anderson. There are frequent fisticuffs, several plane crashes, and the nerve-shredding sight of a bullet being removed from a main character’s chest.

The Phoenician Scheme is top-tier Anderson

Everything that you know and love about Wes Anderson films is present and correct. His dazzlingly intricate production design is also on display – the director even borrowed an actual Renoir from the Nahmad Collection in Giverny and an actual Magritte from the Pietzsch Collection in Berlin to put in Korda’s grand house. And yet The Phoenician Scheme is unlike anything Anderson has ever released. It feels fresh, exciting and modern. Make sure you see it on the biggest screen possible.

There’s a lot of heart in there

Like so many Anderson films, The Phoenician Scheme is also quietly touching: del Toro is magnificent as a business titan trying to secure his legacy and do right by his family. You’ll leave the cinema wanting to watch it again so you can savour every detail of Anderson’s masterful filmmaking.

‘The Phoenician Scheme’ is in cinemas from May 23

The post What Wes Anderson fans need to know about new film ‘The Phoenician Scheme’ appeared first on NME.

In partnership with Universal Pictures UK

From 2001’s breakout hit The Royal Tenenbaums to upcoming hilarious, globe-trotting adventure The Phoenician Scheme via his delightfully daring adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson has used his confident vision to tell distinctive and heart-warming stories about grief, loss of innocence and dysfunctional relationships. No wonder so many of our new favourite artists look to him for inspiration.

Picture Parlour

Snarling rock and roll stars with big screen ambitions

“The attention to detail, particularly with fashion, in his films creates a distinct visual identity for each story he tells. The immaculate styling across all characters, even in stop motion animation, shows how valuable it can be for artists to use clothing as a way to communicate their stories.

“For example, the styling of Fantastic Mr. Fox is boldly expressive (bombastic gold corduroy) yet shrewdly understated with classic detailing, exquisite tailoring and simple accessorising. All of this falls in complete sync with the tastes and sensibilities of the character. And we cannot forget the best dressed character in the game: Rat. Our entire band’s aesthetic probably comes from that movie alone.”

Fave Wes cut: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Nick Ward

Slinking pop that turns grief into joyful exuberance

“Until I was 13 or 14, I thought of film directing as a very functional thing – the person pushing the plot forward, making sure the story was clear and telling the actors what to do. I never really thought of a director as a stylist, or someone who would pick the colour of a wall or vase. At that age, watching Moonrise Kingdom and The Royal Tenenbaums blew my mind and changed what I wanted out of film. For the first time, I couldn’t have cared less about plot and I found myself obsessed with soundtrack choices, the colour of a lighthouse or what those two things felt like in unison. It made me realise filmmaking could be as expressive and as personal as a painting or a song.

“Every single corner of his movies are filled with details that feel so Wes Anderson, even if they’re ripped straight from François Truffaut, Satyajit Ray or whichever other filmmaker he’s obsessed with at a given time. Making music is not dissimilar to that curative process of combining all those little obsessions to create something entirely new and personal. I feel like generations of people are still being introduced to so much great music through his soundtracks, too. I mean, is there any other director who’d license Bob Dylan’s Wigwam’ for a movie?”

Fave Wes cut: The Darjeeling Limited

Paige Kennedy

Wonky pop meets indie sleaze on the dancefloor

“Wes uses humour and his idiosyncratic style to engage his viewers. Then he tackles broad, universal themes like family and loss. This technique of using comedy to mask something existential is a lovely way of tackling darkness. I attempt to emulate this in my music, using levity to pose uncomfortable questions.

“As far as marketing is concerned, Wes Anderson’s use of colour has influenced my visuals. Getting people to actually see a film or listen to a song is most of the battle. He respects this, and has such attention to detail in his costuming, framing and musical choices. This shines through in his trailers and posters. I never underestimate clothing and styling as it could make the difference between someone choosing to listen to your song or scrolling past.”

Fave Wes cut: The Royal Tenenbaums

Miso Extra

Forward-thinking producer, rapper and singer who deals in bangers

“What I love most about Wes Anderson is the attention to detail when it comes to storytelling. The attention paid to colour theory is so sumptuous and so distinctly his. I would say this is most notable in The Grand Budapest Hotel when colour is used to distinguish between two time periods in the film. As a visual person, this helps me keep track of what would otherwise be difficult to follow jumps back and forth in time.

“I’m also a fan of the playful and often whimsical nature of his storytelling which helps audiences explore difficult themes while maintaining a lightheartedness. Look at Isle Of Dogs –  he uses stop motion animation and anthropomorphic dogs to explore themes of family and environmentalism. Ultimately, I find myself inspired by Wes’ holistic view of storytelling and try to echo that in my own craft.

Fave Wes cut: The Grand Budapest Hotel or Isle of Dogs

House Of Protection

Wild, unpredictable metal that’ll make you feel like you can take on the world

Aric Improta: “Wes Anderson is truly in a league of his own. His consistency, originality and unmistakable visual identity make him a constant source of inspiration for me. While it’s easy to point out his symmetrical compositions or signature colour palette and say, ‘That looks like Wes Anderson,’ his work goes far deeper. He hasn’t just developed a style, he’s created an entirely unique genre of storytelling. The dry, deliberate dialogue, whimsical tangents, secret codes, and carefully choreographed set pieces evoke a dreamlike environment that feels both nostalgic and surreal.”

Fave Wes cut: Fantastic Mr. Fox

‘The Phoenician Scheme’ is in cinemas May 23

The post How Wes Anderson’s movies are shaping new music appeared first on NME.

In partnership with Warner Bros. UK

“Don’t fear The Reaper” goes the song. Well, actually do. Death is coming for you, especially if you cheat him. As Final Destination Bloodlines hits cinemas, NME gives you the lowdown on 10 totally irrational things to fear in both the iconic franchise and this stonking new thriller.

Ceiling fans

OK, they might keep you cool on a hot summer’s day and look impressive in slow motion, but these babies are just an accident waiting to happen. Especially if they happen to get tangled up with a metal chain and a nose ring. Ouch! Take some advice from us: if you need to cool down, just open the fridge door. Or use a plastic hand fan. Or throw a bucket of water over your head.

Glass buildings

It’s brand new, it weighs 9000 tonnes and it has a restaurant at the very top. Of course the 1950s Skyview tower that opens Final Destination Bloodlines is going to be like Death warmed up. From its see-through glass floor – destined to crack under pressure – to its creaky elevator and chefs who flambé their dishes, there is destruction sewn into every popping rivet of this architectural nightmare. Save yourself and cancel your reservation.

Grand pianos

A grand piano can weigh up to 1200 pounds and can splatter you faster than an anvil landing on a week-old pumpkin. But come on! How much damage can tinkling the old ivories actually do? Well, we still wouldn’t advise standing near one when the foundations are trembling and the building is about to collapse. Cos this Steinway is only going one way…

Trampolines

Perfect for a fun day in the garden? Wrong! These bouncy beauties are a fatal accident waiting to happen. Whether the side stitching is a-fraying, ready for you to slip and fall on, or whether a sharp tool is left lurking beneath the springy canvas for you to land on, the trampoline is like death warmed up. Make sure you check every inch of it. Or try a bouncy castle instead.

Lawnmowers

Most accidents happen in the home, they say. Or just outside of it. And the garden is full of death traps. None more so than with your common garden lawnmower. Those whirring blades, designed for cutting grass in lovely straight lines, can sever someone’s flesh in microseconds. Especially when there’s broken glass sticking out of the ground, ready to tread on and cause a fall. You have been warned.

Coffee runs

Like Diana Ross once said, we’re in the middle of a chain reaction. If you wanna avoid mutilation in the Final Destination universe then you need to watch everything like a hawk. And that includes the most innocent-looking thing. Like a coffee cup.  Because as Final Destination 2 showed, it’s bound to fall on your lap as you’re driving on the motorway, just as that giant truck carrying logs sees its chain snap, sending its load into your windscreen. Splat.

Tanning beds

“This device should never be set over 250 VAC.” So warns the sign in Final Destination 3 as It girls Ashley and Ashlyn pop into two tanning booths to work on those beach bodies of theirs. Needless to say, that temperature is soon escalating, thanks to a melting Slushie. Obviously, they can’t get out because a plank has fallen down and pinned them inside the increasingly sizzling beds, which are soon roasting them like fried chicken on a BBQ.

The kitchen

The original Final Destination set the template for the ultimate kitchen nightmare. A cracked mug leaks its liquid onto a computer, which explodes, sending glass into the neck of poor Ms Lewton. But that’s just the half of it, as a bottle of booze sets on fire and – worst of all – the dying teacher manages to accidentally land a great big carving knife into her stomach. All that before this place of food prep blows up. Nasty.

Massages

Surely a nice, relaxing massage can’t do much harm? Wrong again. In Final Destination 5, Isaac gets his comeuppance during an acupuncture session. Never mind the pain of falling from the table and landing on those sharp needles. Or the fire that almost spreads thanks to a vibrating mobile phone that knocks a candle onto some flammable liquid. This poor man gets his head mashed by a Buddha statue falling from a shelf.

Swimming pools

Water, water everywhere, and not a drop that won’t kill you. Clearly, swimming pools should be top of your irrational fears. Especially if you’re deep diving to the bottom of the pool just as you’ve accidentally activated the drainage system. As seen in The Final Destination – the fourth movie in the franchise – the powerful mechanism can (and will!) suck out your innards and blow them skywards. Much safer to swim in the bath. Or stay at home.

‘Final Destination Bloodlines’ is in UK cinemas May 14

The post 10 irrational things to fear in ‘Final Destination Bloodlines’ appeared first on NME.

The big screen adaptation of Wicked has finally arrived in cinemas after years of speculation and it’s already shaping up to be a hit. It’s only the first chapter of the story though, with second part Wicked: For Good already confirmed.

• READ MORE: ‘Wicked’ review: hit musical makes gravity-defying leap to the big screen

Wicked is based on the hit stage musical, which itself was based on Gregory Maguire’s book of the same name. It acts as a prequel to 1939’s The Wizard Of Oz film and explores the backstory of how Glinda The Good Witch and The Wicked Witch Of The West came to be.

The film adaptation stars Ariana Grande as Glinda while Broadway legend Cynthia Erivo stars as Elphaba. The first part of Wicked hit cinemas at the end of last year and quickly became one of the most-talked about films of 2024. The story is set to continue with Wicked: For Good. “With more space, we can tell the story of Wicked as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys of these beloved characters,” explained director Jon M Chu. Here’s everything we know about the second chapter.

Does Wicked Part Two have a release date?

Pop it in your diary

Wicked and Wicked: For Good were shot back to back. Filming began back in December 2022 and wrapped January 2024 after a delay due to the writer’s strike. Wicked was released November 22, 2024 while For Good will be released one year later, on November 21 2025.

Who’ll be returning for Wicked Part Two?

Lots of familiar faces

As dark and dystopian as Wicked can be at times, a majority of the characters survive the stage musical and reappear in The Wizard Of Oz. Writers Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz haven’t strayed too far away from the Broadway musical’s story so far, so it’s expected that both Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo will feature heavily in Wicked: For Good.

They’ll once again be joined by Ethan Slater’s Boq, Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard, while Michelle Yeoh will once again star as Madame Morrible and Marissa Bode will plays Nessarose.

What will the plot of Wicked Part Two be?

Wicked follows the same beats as the stage musical and ends with Elphaba turning down The Wizard’s offer of a partnership after finding out he oppresses certain corners of the Emerald City to stay in power. Glinda then stays behind to secretly support Elphaba, while the newly crowned “Wicked Witch” flees on a broomstick after singing the showstopping ‘Defying Gravity’.

On stage, the darker second act of Wicked sees Elphaba hunted by The Wizard and his forces and it isn’t exactly happy ever after for Glinda, Boq, Fiyero and Nessarose either. The end of the story ties into the events of The Wizard Of Oz, where plucky farmgirl Dorothy ends up melting Elphaba with a bucket of water. However the Wicked book has a lot more murky political themes than the musical, so expect some of that to feature in For Good as well.

What have the cast said about Wicked?

When filming wrapped in January, a number of cast members took to social media to reflect on the production of the two films.

“This was a wildly large production with so many brilliant human beings who worked so, so hard in every department. Every single person that worked on these films was not only the absolute best at what they do but made every single day for over a year feel so incredibly safe … kind and thoughtful and inspired every day as if it were always the first,” Ariana Grande wrote on her Instagram story.

“The universe will take things away to make space for the grand gifts it has waiting for us. THIS moment, this film, these people, this cast, this crew, this director, my Glinda, were the Grandest gift I could ever have asked for, and I am eternally grateful for the chance to bring you This Elphie. I hope when you meet her, you’ll love her as much and as fiercely as I do,” said Cynthia Erivo.

Speaking to ABC recently, Jeff Goldblum said: “I believe that we won’t be contradicted if we say that the people who love that show will be … they might well be frightened because they don’t want to be disappointed … I think they’ll be thrilled.”

“It just is a beautiful chance to get to know these women and this story on an even deeper level,” Grande added.

Speaking about For Good, director Chu told Entertainment Weekly that “if Part 1 is about choices, Part 2 is about consequences.”

“Choices are difficult to make, but when you do make those choices, sometimes the result isn’t what you expect it to be. It can be lonely, it can be hard,” he added but don’t worry, there will also be “lots of lightness” in Wicked: For Good. “We’ve not forgotten about that, but there’s a matureness and a nuance to it that we earn from the first movie.”

More recently, he said Grande and Erivo’s performance of ‘For Good’ will “destroy” audiences. 

Will there be future sequels?

Wicked is a prequel to The Wizard Of Oz but both end around the same time, so there isn’t  a whole lot of scope for a direct sequel. However Gregory Maguire’s Wicked: The Life And Times Of The Wicked Witch Of The West was followed up by a number of sequels.

The first is Son Of A Witch which focused on Liir, the rumoured son of Elphaba, while A Lion Among Men caught up with The Cowardly Lion. If Wicked: For Good is a success, there’s no reason these stories couldn’t be adapted for the big screen or fuel a gritty HBO mini-series like The Penguin.

The post Everything we know about ‘Wicked Part Two’ appeared first on NME.

Since Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader blew the box office away in 1977’s A New Hope, Star Wars has expanded over four decades into a multimedia juggernaut. With three film trilogies, TV spin-offs, novels, theme park attractions and a large roster of video games, the galaxy far, far away sometimes feels like it’s never been closer.

• READ MORE: ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ first-look review: this is the ‘Star Wars’ spin-off you’re looking for

Sure, box office flops like Solo: A Star Wars Story indicate the franchise hasn’t always got things right recently. The perk of a multimedia franchise though? There’s always some part keeping the force alive (see The Mandalorian).

However, Disney CEO Bob Iger recently confirmed the studio had “lost focus” and would be pulling back on releasing so much Star Wars and Marvel content after a rush to create content for Disney+. It means a number of projects have been cancelled, others have been retooled and others still have a big question mark over their immediate future. Here are all the upcoming Star Wars TV and Film projects on the horizon.

What Star Wars TV shows are in development?

Here’s a breakdown

• Tales Of The Underworld (May 4, 2025)
• Visions season 3 (October 29, 2025)
• Maul: Shadow Lord (2026)
• Star Wars: Ahsoka season 2 (In Development)
• The Mandalorian season 4 (Unknown)
• The Book Of Boba Fett season 2 (Unknown)

Star Wars: Tales Of The Underworld is the third instalment of the animated anthology series and it set to hit Disney+ on May 4. “Tales of the Underworld is a six-episode journey following two notorious bounty hunters: former dark side assassin Asajj Ventress as she’s given a new chance at life and must go on the run with an unexpected new ally, and outlaw Cad Bane as he faces his past when he confronts an old friend, now a marshal on the other side of the law.”

Visions invites various animation studios to put their own spin on Star Wars via short films set in, or inspired by, a galaxy far, far away. The second season gave a platform to studios around the world but the upcoming third season will take Visions back to its roots, with nine different anime studios taking on the Star Wars universe.

Maul: Shadow Lord takes place after the final series of The Clone Wars and sees the former Sith lord once again up to no good. “After the Clone Wars, Maul plots to rebuild his criminal syndicate on a planet untouched by the Empire,” reads a brief synopsis.

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Ahsoka acted as a spin-off from The Mandalorian, but was also a sequel to the celebrated Clone Wars animated series. After catching up with a lot of familiar faces, season one ended with Grand Admiral Thrawn returning from exile to fill the gap left by the destruction of The Empire, so Ahsoka will have a lot to deal with when the show returns. The second season was confirmed at the start of 2024 and filming began April 2025 but a release date is yet to be announced.

A fourth season of The Mandalorian was written while the third was in post-production, but the future of the show is now up in the air following the announcement that Din Djarin and Baby Yoda will first be returning in big screen adventure The Mandalorian And Grogu. The movie is due for release in 2026.

The Book Of Boba Fett was met with mixed reviews, with the show mostly being used to set up the events of The Mandalorian season three. There’s been no official word on a second season, but it seems the characters will at least be involved in the upcoming Mando-verse film.

What Star Wars films are in development?

A trio of films was confirmed in 2024 as well as a new trillgy

• The Mandalorian & Grogu (May 22, 2026)
• Star Wars: Starfighter (May 28, 2027)
• Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s new Jedi order movie (In Development)
• Untitled Mando-Verse movie (In Development)
• James Mangold’s dawn of the Jedi movie (In Development)
• Taika Waititi’s Star Wars movie (In Development)
• Simon Kinberg’s new Star Wars trilogy (In Development)
• Lando  (Unknown)
• Star Wars: Rogue Squadron  (Unknown)
• Rian Johnson’s Star Wars trilogy (Unknown)
• Shawn Levy’s Star Wars film (Unknown)

Following the events of season three of The Mandalorian, it was confirmed at the start of 2024 that Baby Yoda and Din Djarin would be making the jump to cinemas with The Mandalorian & Grogu. Production is due to start in August 2024 ahead of a 2026 release date. “I have loved telling stories set in the rich world that George Lucas created,” said director Jon Favreau. “The prospect of bringing the Mandalorian and his apprentice Grogu to the big screen is extremely exciting.”

At 2025’s Star Wars Celebration event, Shawn Levy’s long-rumoured project was finally unveiled. Starfighter will feature Ryan Gosling and is set five years after the events of 2019’s The Rise Of Skywalker. However Levy has described it as a “standalone” film rather than a sequel. “It’s a new adventure. It’s set in a period of time that we haven’t seen explored yet.”

Gosling added: “The reality is that this script is just so good. It has such a great story with great and original characters. It’s filled with so much heart and adventure, and there just really is not a more perfect filmmaker for this particular story than Shawn.” It has also been reported that Anora Oscar-winner Mikey Madison passed on a supporting role in the film.

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During 2023’s Stars Wars Celebration event, Kathleen Kennedy announced a trio of live-action Star Wars films. Indiana Jones & The Dial Of Destiny director James Mangold will create a film that goes back to the dawn of the Jedi, while Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s film will be set after the events of Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker, as Daisy Ridley’s Rey sets out to builds a new Jedi Order.

Rounding out this trio of films, Dave Filoni will direct a movie that close out the interconnected stories told in The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka and more.

“As you can see by all the television we’ve been doing, we’re exploring a lot of different storylines. This really spawns from what George Lucas said years ago, that he created Star Wars to move forward and backward along a mythological timeline,” Kennedy said at the time. “Now we’re looking to broaden that timeline, building a rich future, expanding upon the present, going deep into the past to tell our stories, and we’re thrilled to be working with some of the best and most passionate filmmakers on projects that will span the past, the present, and the future.”

The Daisy Ridley-starring film was due for release December 2026, with another Star Wars film set to follow in 2027 but that 2026 movie has now been removed from Disney’s upcoming list of releases and been replaced by Ice Age 6. No new release date has been confirmed yet.

Another new trilogy is also reportedly in the works, from X-Men: Dark Phoenix director Simon Kinberg. Not much is known about the project but according to rumours, it’ll be set after the events of 2019’s The Rise Of Skywalker.

Taika Waititi has been talking an untitled Star Wars project for a number of years now. Kathleen Kennedy previously stated it would be released in 2023, but obviously that didn’t happen. Speaking to TheWrap in June 2022, Waititi said he’s “still trying to figure out what the story is”.

The following year, he said in an interview with EW that he was still developing the project alongside Lucasfilms. “Like me, they have a lot of projects going on. I think they’re gonna push it until I finish these other projects. I’ve got about four other scripts that I’m trying to finish. My thing is I want to take my time with that and get it right. I don’t want to rush this movie.”

A TV series for Lando Calrissian, originally played by Billy Dee Williams and later by Donald Glover in Solo: A Star Wars Story, was also announced back in 2020 from director and writer Justin Simien (Dear White People). Since then, Donald and Stephen Glover have replaced Simien on the project, which is now being developed as a feature film. No further details have been announced.

Rogue Squadron, set to be directed by Patty Jenkins, was originally supposed to be the first Star Wars film following 2019’s Rise Of Skywalker. However, it was taken off Disney’s release schedules in September 2022 after it was put on hold the following year to allow Jenkins time to focus on Wonder Woman 3. After that project was cancelled though, Jenkins returned to Rogue Squadron. Speaking to the Talking Pictures Podcast in 2024, she confirmed she was currently working on a script. “We’ll see what happens,” she added. “We need to get it to where we’re both super happy with it.”

Following the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017, Lucasfilm announced director Rian Johnson would lead a new trilogy of films with a “blank canvas”. Seven years later, the films have yet to materialise.

Most recently, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy confirmed she was talking with Johnson “all the time” but they weren’t “actively involved” in anything, due to his busy schedule with Knives Out. “He really wants to step back into the space. It’s a big commitment of time, so that’s really on him.” It echoes what Johnson said in a 2023 interview, adding that he “hopes” we will see the trilogy at some point.

In 2022, Shawn Levy confirmed he would be working on a Star Wars film after Deadpool 3. In 2024, The Adam Project’s Jonathan Tropper was brought on to write the script but no further details have been shared.

What Star Wars projects have been cancelled?

The force wasn’t strong with these

Star Wars: Rangers Of The New Republic, a spin-off from The Mandalorian, has seemingly been cancelled. While there hasn’t been any confirmation, Kennedy told Empire Magazine (via IGN) that ideas from that show were being used in future episodes of The Mandalorian. “We’d never written any scripts or anything on that,” Kennedy said, adding that “some of that will figure into future episodes, I’m sure, of the next iteration of The Mandalorian.”

A key project that has been cancelled is the Star Wars films from Game Of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who walked away from their deal with Lucasfilm back in 2019 to commit to planned Netflix projects.

J.D Dillard and Matt Owens were also working on a Star Wars film, reportedly set on the Sith planet Exegol but after Shawn Levy’s project was confirmed, the pair announced their movie was “unfortunately no longer a thing”. Late in 2023, MCU head Kevin Feige announced his Star Wars film was also no longer going ahead after it was first confirmed in 2019.

The post Here’s every ‘Star Wars’ TV series and film in the works appeared first on NME.

Released in 2002, Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later remains one of the greatest zombie movies ever made. Set one month after The Rage Virus caused the complete collapse of civilisation in the UK, the post-apocalyptic survival thriller follows bicycle courier Jim (Cillian Murphy) after he wakes up from a coma and tries to make sense of the end of the world. A sequel (28 Weeks Later) followed in 2007, with fans speculating about a third film ever since.

• READ MORE: ’28 Days Later’ at 20: Danny Boyle and Cillian Murphy on why it wouldn’t get made today

Last year, 28 Years Later was finally announced. Directed by Boyle and written by Alex Garland (the team behind the original), the threequel will also see the return of Murphy as an executive producer and kick-off a a new cinematic trilogy. Here’s everything we know so far…

Is there a release date for 28 Years Later?

Summer 2025

Sony has confirmed it has picked up 28 Years Later with the studio aiming to release the sequel on June 20, 2025. Filming began in May 2024 and production has only just wrapped, so delays are always possible but nothing has been announced so far. It has been reported that the film has been shot with a series of adapted iPhone 15 though.

A teaser poster has also been revealed featuring the caption “Time didn’t heal anything.”

Is there a trailer for 28 Years Later?

Prepare to be creeped out

A first-look teaser trailer for 28 Years Later was finally shared in December. The terrifying, two-minute video starts with the very start of the outbreak before skipping forward. Turns out life post-apocalypse is a gruelling, bloody nightmare. A full trailer only dialled up the horror. Check it out below:

Who will star in 28 Years Later?

Cillian Murphy is back…kinda

After a lot of speculation about the return of original star Cillian Murphy as Jim, and that apparent sighting of him as a zombie in the trailer, 28 Years Later’s producer has confirmed he won’t appear in the new flick – though he may appear in future films. “We wanted him to be involved and he wanted to be involved. He is not in the first film, but I’m hoping there will be some Jim somewhere along the line,” producer Andrew Macdonald told Empire. However Murphy will serve as executive producer.

Appearing at ComicCon earlier this year, Boyle confirmed Murphy will return at some point in the new trilogy but fans may have to be patient. “Like all good things in life, you may have to wait a little while for him to make his appearance” he teased.

Speaking to NME in 2022 about a potential return to the franchise, Murphy said: “I think there’s a problem with that, in that I’m 20 years older… but every time I do bump into Danny or Alex I always mention it. Because I showed it to my kids recently, some Halloween about four or five years ago, and they loved it. It really stands up, which is amazing for a film that’s 20 years old. So yeah, I love the idea and it’s very appealing to me.”

#28YearsLater pic.twitter.com/lQld5QXZ0W

— 28 Years Later Movie (@28YearsLaterMov) December 6, 2024

It has been confirmed that Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes will all star in 28 Years Later, while Jack O’Connell will have a supporting role before taking the lead in the reported sequel. “The original was so loved, so I’m trying not to think of that too hard. I’m not putting too much expectation on myself,” Comer told Elle, before revealing she was watching clips of Cheryl Cole to help her nail a Geordie accent for the film. Meanwhile O’Connell has described his cult leader Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal as a bit of a “gas c**t”.

What have creators said about 28 Years Later?

It’s a coming-of-age British zombie movie

Speaking to NME in 2022, Boyle confirmed that Garland had written a script for a potential sequel to 28 Weeks Later called 28 Months Later with a “lovely idea” at the centre of it. “It feels like a very good time actually,” he continued. “It’s funny, I hadn’t thought about it until you just said it, and I remembered ‘Bang, this script!’ which is again set in England, very much about England.” It’s been reported that 28 Years Later is being filmed in England, so perhaps a reworked version of that script is being used for the long-awaited sequel.

“Probably the single most important thing is I had an idea. I had a specific idea that felt like a story worth telling,” Garland told Inverse about his return to the franchise.

While the original 28 Days Later was heavily inspired by sci-fi horror Day Of The Triffids, Garland has claimed he “ripped of” Ken Loach’s 1969 coming-of-age drama Kes for this sequel. “A very unexpected thing to rip off in a zombie movie [but] the script I’ve delivered and Kes both are focused around the experience of a young lad,” Garland explained to Alamo Drafthouse. The film will also explore “slightly more subtle things to do with landscape and humans and nature”.

“It’s to do with the passage of time, and thinking about what effect the passage of time would have,” Garland explained during an appearance on the ReelBlend podcast. “Is it what you would traditionally call a post-apocalyptic state? Or has something else begun to manifest? Time is really at the core of the engine of the film.”

“This is Danny at his best, combined with a very commercial genre, like we had with Edgar Wright and Baby Driver,” Rothman said of the film. “Sometimes when you put a real signature director into a commercial arena, it elevates it.”

What’s the story?

Newcomer Ralph Fiennes might have accidentally revealed the storyline…

Ralphy Fiennes has joined the cast for 28 Years Later and may have accidentally revealed the threequel’s synopsis. “Britain is 28 years into this terrible plague of infected people who are violent, rabid humans with a few pockets of uninfected communities,” he said during an interview.

“And it centers on a young boy who wants to find a doctor to help his dying mother. He leads his mother through this beautiful northern English terrain. But of course, around them hiding in forests and hills and woods are the infected. But he finds a doctor who is a man we might think is going to be weird and odd, but actually is a force for good.”

That plot has since been confirmed by the rest of the 28 Years Later crew. Speaking to Empire, Danny Boyle confirmed that the rest of the world has largely avoided the zombie apocalypse, leaving the UK to fend for itself. The film introduces us to Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Jamie, Jodie Comer’s Isla and their 12-year-old son Spike (Alfie Williams) living on the relative safety of a secluded island. However Spike is taken on a rite-of-passage trip to the mainland, which is where things start to unravel.

Will there be a sequel?

Yes, at least two

28 Years Later is the spiritual successor to 28 Days Later, with Garland and Boyle only serving as executive producers on Weeks. It’s also set to kick-off a new trilogy. “A whole idea for a trilogy just sort of came – bing! – into my head,” Garland told the Guardian. “It makes me really question what creativity is. I feel like an observer, a lot of the time.”

The second film, The Bone Temple, was filmed back-to-back with 28 Years Later and is set to be released on January 16, 2026.  It was directed by Nia DaCosta (Candyman, The Marvels) while Boyle will return to direct the third film in the trilogy. That final  movie doesn’t currently have a release date and work won’t begin until after 28 Years Later hits cinemas.

The post Everything we know about ‘28 Years Later’ and its proposed sequels appeared first on NME.

Marvel’s Cinematic Universe has become an intimidating endeavour for newcomers. With over 30 films to digest, along with an expanding line-up of TV shows, there’s a whole lot of baggage to consider when catching up with Captain America, Thor or Doctor Strange.

• READ MORE: Thor: Love and Thunder review: Marvel’s most metal movie yet

The chronology of events has become murkier thanks to the Multiverse Saga, which gallivants through time and space on the regular. If you’re planning to brave into the unknown through a Marvel marathon, here’s every mainline Marvel film and TV show in chronological order.

1. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Marvel’s Cinematic Universe kicks off amid the Second World War in 1942, when Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is recruited for a super-soldier experiment and becomes Captain America.

2. Captain Marvel (2019)

Set in 1995 as Earth is caught in a conflict between two alien civilisations, Captain Marvel serves as an early origin story for Carol Danvers (Brie Larson).

3. Iron Man (2008)

The film that launched the MCU, the original Iron Man starts the main chronology of events within Phase One with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) at its centre.

4. Iron Man 2 (2010)

This sequel picks up directly after events in the original Iron Man, as the disclosure of his identity to the world triggers an unlikely foe in Russia. It also serves as the first introduction to Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson).

5. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

While Edward Norton’s turn as Bruce Banner has always been an awkward inclusion in the MCU timeline (he was later recast with Mark Ruffalo taking over), this Hulk outing is connected by a post-credits scene showing Tony Stark recruiting for The Avengers.

6. Thor (2011)

This kickstarted the cosmic angle of the MCU as we’re introduced to Asgard, the Nine Realms and Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) dynamic with Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman).

7. The Avengers (2012)

Marvel’s first superhero team-up brought together Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Incredible Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow and newbie Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) into a grand culmination for Phase One.

8. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

This picks up after Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is imprisoned for his war crimes on Earth in The Avengers, as Thor encounters a new villain in Dark Elf Malekith (Christopher Eccleston).

9. Iron Man 3 (2013)

The final film in the Iron Man trilogy takes place seven months after the Battle Of New York, as Tony Stark suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

10. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Steve Rogers is given a spy thriller makeover in this outing, which is set two years after the Battle Of New York. This also marks the debut of directing duo Anthony and Joe Russo, who later went onto helm future Avengers outings.

11. Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)

A new team of heroes make an entrance in this zany galactic adventure from director James Gunn, which introduces Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Groot (Vin Diesel) and Rocket (Bradley Cooper).

12. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Set shortly after the events of the first film in 2014, this sequel digs deeper into Star-Lord’s past and introduces the world to eternally adorable Baby Groot.

13. Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)

The second Avengers outing largely reunites the original gang with some new faces, including twins Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen).

14. Ant-Man (2015)

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) becomes an unlikely vessel for scientist Hank Pym’s (Michael Douglas) shrinking technology, which marks the debut of the Quantum Realm.

15. Captain America: Civil War (2016)

It might be pitched as a Captain America outing, but this is an Avengers film in all but name. Between the Steve Rogers and Tony Stark rivalry, Civil War marks the historic debuts of Tom Holland as Spider-Man and Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther.

16. Black Widow (2021)

Set in 2016, this solo outing for Black Widow establishes some key future characters, including Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and Red Guardian (David Harbour).

17. Black Panther (2018)

Picking up after events in Captain America: Civil War, T’Challa returns to Wakanda to assume the throne, only to be challenged by his cousin N’Jadaka (Michael B. Jordan).

18. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Also set after Captain America: Civil War, this solo outing for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man explores his school life and dynamic with mentor Tony Stark.

19. Doctor Strange (2016)

While the placement of Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) first solo outing in the MCU timeline is confusing, aside from it being set after Captain America: Civil War, it seems Spider-Man: Homecoming ends before this film’s closing act. Its position was later confirmed by Marvel on their timeline page.

20. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Set two years after events in Avengers: Age Of Ultron, this largely catches up with Thor and Loki who were absent from events in Captain America: Civil War.

21. Ant-Man And The Wasp (2017)

Picking up two years after Scott Lang was placed under house arrest for his involvement with the Avengers in Captain America: Civil War, this outing elevates the hero status of Hank Pym’s daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly).

22. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

The third Avengers film is a blockbuster amalgamation of everything so far, which ends on a huge time-altering event in the Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) snap.

23. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Picking up in 2023, five years after events in Avengers: Infinity War, this follow-up is a time-hopping adventure through past MCU events. This marks the end of the Infinity Saga.

24. Loki seasons one and two (2021/2023)

After stealing the Tesseract during events in Avengers: Endgame, an alternate version of Loki is brought to the Time Variance Authority which monitors the timeline of the universe. The six-part season one sets up the Multiverse Saga, while the second introduces Kang The Conqueror.

25. What If…? seasons one and two (2021/2023)

This animated show dives headfirst into the concept of the multiversus, with a number of familiar faces and scenarios from the MCU’s history given a slight twist resulting in sprawling, universe-redefining differences.

26. WandaVision (2021)

Taking place roughly three weeks after Avengers: Endgame, Wanda Maximoff and Vision (Paul Bettany) are living an isolated existence in the town of Westview, New Jersey in this nine-part series.

26. The Falcon And The Winter Soldier (2021)

Six months after Avengers: Endgame, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) teams-up with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) to take on the Flag Smashers. A six-part series which forms Wilson’s transformation as the new Captain America.

27. Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (2021)

The timeline around Shang-Chi’s (Simu Liu) arrival and the Spider-Man sequels is murky, but this outing is believed to be set in April 2024, a few months before Spider-Man: Far From Home.

28. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Taking place in the summer of 2024, this outing sees Spider-Man dealing with the aftermath of the snap with a new foe in Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal).

29. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Picking up directly after Spider-Man is unmasked, this multiverse-hopping adventure is a nostalgic trip for the webslinger’s movie past.

30. Eternals (2021)

It might span thousands of years, but the main crux of the Eternals‘ story takes place after events in Spider-Man’s summer outings – hence why there’s no mention of a giant Celestial head popping out of the ocean.

31. Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022)

Taking place after events in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Eternals, according to Marvel’s own listing, this twisted dalliance with the multiverse seriously muddles the timeline.

32. Hawkeye (2021)

This six-part series takes place during the Christmas of 2024, which raises the question of why no one’s acknowledged the giant Celestial head from Eternals? This also features the debut of Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld).

33. Moon Knight (2022)

Marc Spector and Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) enter the MCU in a six-part series which combines superheroes with Egyptian mythology.

34. Echo (2024)

Following on from the events of Hawkeye, Echo sees Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) taking on the might of Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) ahead of Daredevil: Born Again.

35. She-Hulk: Attorney At Law (2022)

Bruce Banner’s cousin Jessica Walters (Tatiana Maslany) is given the spotlight in this legal comedy series inspired by Fleabag, with callbacks to 2008’s The Incredible Hulk.

36. Ms. Marvel (2022)

Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) is introduced in this six-part series, who aspires to be the next Captain Marvel.

37. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

During an interview with CinemaBlend, executive producer Nate Moore confirmed the events of this sequel are “potentially concurrent” with Thor: Love And Thunder due to the presence of New Asgard.

38. Thor: Love And Thunder (2022)

Taking place around 2026, or more specifically, eight years since Thor last encountered Jane Foster prior to Thor: Ragnarok, this outing reunites the pair for a godly mash-up.

39. Werewolf By Night (2022)

An anomaly on the timeline as there’s no indication of when this Halloween special is set, but Marvel confirmed in their Disney+ chronological order that this sits after Thor’s latest outing.

40. Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special (2022)

This festive caper follows on from the events of Endgame and sets things in motion for the emotional farewell of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3.

41. Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quanumania (2023)

The first film in Marvel’s Phase Five sees Ant-Man and his family of size-shifters returning to the Quantum Realm to do battle with a variant of Kang, after the villain was first introduced in Loki.

42. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

The conclusion to James Gunn’s brilliant Guardians Of The Galaxy trilogy sees the rag-tag band of heroes trying to save the life of Rocket. As final as things feel, the end of the film tees up two possible continuations, with Star-Lord back on Earth and a new gang of Guardians out defending the galaxy.

43. Secret Invasion (2023)

Inspired by the game-changing comic book run of the same name, this six-part Disney+ miniseries peels back some of the mystery surrounding Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and ends with him returning to space in time for…

44. The Marvels (2023)

Picking up after the events of Secret Invasion, The Marvels is the follow-up to Captain Marvel, Wandavision and Ms. Marvel as a new three-pronged team of heroes band together.

45. Agatha All Along (2024)

It might be a direct sequel to 2021’s WandaVision but it’s soon revealed that three years have passed since Wanda Maximoff took the residents of Westview captive using her mystical powers. The show references the events of Multiverse Of Madness and sets up the upcoming VisionQuest.

46. Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

The only Marvel film released last year, Deadpool & Wolverine exists mostly in a separate universe so its place on the timeline is hard to pin down. However, there are plenty of quips about the current state of the MCU in 2024.

47. Captain America: Brave New World (2025)

The fourth Captain American film follows on the from the fallout of Avengers: Endgame and the emotional journey new Cap Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) went through in Disney+’s The Falcon And The Winter Soldier. It also acts as a sequel to 2008’s The Incredible Hulk but the appearance of a celestial head (a hangover from 2021’s Eternals) and a new president put this film post-Secret Invasion.

48. Daredevil: Born Again (2025)

Daredevil: Born Again is half reboot, half continuation of the beloved Netflix show. Because of this, the exact timings of this brutally entertaining Disney+ series have been kept under wraps but there are a number of things that occur during the show that could only happen after The Marvels and Captain America: Brave New World.

49. Thunderbolts* (2025)

Marvel’s version of the Suicide Squad sees an unlikely group of antiheroes and vigilantes teaming up to save the day. Featuring Florence Pugh’s scrappy super-spy Yelena, disgraced one-time Captain America John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and former Ant-Man antagonist Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen alongside Sebastian Stan’s Bucky, the film picks up Brave New World‘s plot thread of a post-Avengers world and sets things up for next year’s Doomsday.

The post Marvel movie order: a definitive viewing chronology for the MCU (including Disney+ shows) appeared first on NME.

When Zia McCabe first watched Dig! at Sundance Film Festival in 2004, where it won the Grand Jury Prize, her reaction was relief. “We got off easy,” says The Dandy Warhols keyboardist and percussionist. “They could have made us look so much worse. Those were not our darkest moments, believe it or not!”

No mean feat, in a riotous documentary that shows the Dandys debaucherously hoovering up enough cocaine to put Pablo Escobar on his backside – and frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor dropping Spinal Tap-worthy quotes including “I sneeze and hits come out”. It’s difficult to imagine a band offering such unrestricted access today. “What? Like showing them chopping out blow while talking smack about your bandmates?” laughs McCabe, via Zoom, where she’s chopping vegetables – rather than lines – in her Portland home. “It’s an unfiltered shitshow. That’s even more unique now, because people are aware of the repercussions of letting cameras into their lives to that degree. Back then, we were clueless. Dig! could never be made again without seeming contrived.”

It’s easy to see why Dave Grohl applauds Dig! as “the greatest rock ‘n’ roll documentary of all time” and Jonah Hill hails it as “Shakespearian”. Shot over seven years between 1996 and 2003, it follows the tumultuous friendship-turned-rivalry of the Dandys and their fellow Portland psych-rock comrades The Brian Jonestown Massacre, led by Anton Newcombe, as they try to start a revolution. Hankies at the ready, because Taylor-Taylor did sneeze hits, when ‘Bohemian Like You’ propelled the Dandys to living the major-label dream in 2000, while The Jonestown remained perennially on the brink – of success, of madness and of imploding.

By turns hilarious and harrowing, there are moments that cause your jaw to drop to subterranean levels, such as a famous scene when Newcombe scuppers a record company showcase at LA’s Viper Room by brawling with his bandmates on stage. As blood flows, a lone call emerges from the cauldron of flailing limbs: ‘You fucking broke my sitar, motherfucker!’ Things descend even further when Newcombe delivers a box of shotgun shells with the Dandys’ names inscribed on them, causing them to ponder whether they should issue a restraining order. It’s an indication of the pervading chaos that director Ondi Timoner remembers Newcombe signing the release form with the address “777 City of Heaven, Kingdom of God”.

Ondi Timoner was 23 when she decided to chronicle 10 bands on the verge of being signed, aided by her brother David, two years her junior, to pose the quintessentially ‘90s question of: “Can you reach a mass audience and maintain your integrity as an artist? When art meets commerce, does that destroy everything?” Swiftly, she focussed on two “dysfunctional nuclear families”, feeling each frontman possessed the elusive quality the other desired. “Anton wished he could have Courtney’s success, but would always destroy it because he felt it was ‘selling out’”, she remembers. “And Courtney wished he could be as prolific and brilliant a songwriter as Anton, but he also didn’t want to be uncomfortable.”

Dig! ripples with jeopardy and danger, and the gonzo extent to which the Timoners went to is bewildering. “We were hanging on for dear life,” says Ondi, now 52. “It was very rough at times and we threw our lot in with both bands.” They were even arrested on tour with the Jonestown in Georgia and thrown into jail. “I had to get a lawyer to represent me on drugs charges but also a lawyer to represent us to get the tapes back,” recalls Ondi. “Thankfully, the cops didn’t know how to demagnetise the tapes. But there were lots of moments where we wondered what we were doing, like when Anton went full-junkie with a gun on his pillow.”

For Dig!’s 20th anniversary, the Timoners reviewed their 2,500 hours of original footage to produce a remix, Dig! XX, with 40 minutes of extra material that provides greater context. For example, we discover that the Viper Room melee was a result of Newcombe frittering away the Jonestown’s money for the trip to LA on buying sitars (which explains why he was so mad when one got damaged). “We didn’t want to just do an extended or upscaled version,” says Ondi. “We wanted to take it to the next level, and answer any questions you might have had – and those you didn’t even know you had.”

As such, Joel Gion – the Jonestown’s tambourine-playing court jester – provides new, sardonic commentary over Taylor-Taylor’s original narration, allowing for a less one-sided view. “Well, that’s how our two bands interact – the Dandys do something and then we do something that’s funnier and more interesting,” quips Gion. “To have Courtney’s narration already exist with his down-his-nose angle and actually be able to relay our circumstances was very satisfying. I’ve always backed this film from day one. There’s famously a lot of people who don’t.”

Indeed, Taylor-Taylor and Newcombe have distanced themselves from it. “It was brutal for us,” the former informed NME last year, and accused Ondi of “manipulating both bands” – a charge the filmmakers vehemently deny. “We were just-out-of-college kids who believed in the whole revolution thing, so to suggest we tried to stitch them up is offensive, because we cared about them,” says David. “We were rooting for everybody.”

According to Ondi, both frontmen were shown early cuts, yet had “no notes.” Nevertheless, Gion noticed the vibe shift after the crowd reaction at the Sundance premiere. “They didn’t expect to be laughed at, so they were excited about it until audiences started seeing it – then they had to readjust their thinking. When Courtney says ‘I sneeze and hits come out’, he wasn’t trying to be funny in that moment.”

“Egos are tender,” McCabe sighs. “Courtney and Anton are both brilliant, wounded artists and sensitive and tragic, and that’s the essence of music – that you lick your wounds with your lyrics and this is how you cope with your trauma. So who’s going to take the mockery the hardest? Those guys.”

In true Dig! anarchic fashion, perspectives on the film’s accuracy vary. “It’s an incredible thing – even with its flaws,” says McCabe, who argues that “reality TV tactics” were employed to twist the story and magnify the rivalry between the Dandys and the Jonestown. Viewed through a 2020s lens though, she suggests Dig!’s true alchemy is in its raw portrayal of mental health. “I love that it exists. Most bands are going to have one neurodivergent member. You’re looking at people with OCD, ADHD, schizophrenia… I saw this as a river of mental illness with music being the life-raft we were all clinging to as we were flung down the current.”

The aftermath of Dig!’s cult success saw fans attempt to provoke Newcombe at Jonestown gigs into altercations, while McCabe remembers people holding banners emblazoned with “THE JONESTOWN ARE THE BETTER BAND” at Dandys concerts.

“That sucked – we’re not fucking sports teams,” she recalls. “To Jonestown fans, we became The Man. We’re not The Man – we just had not-quite-as-fucked-up upbringings as them, and we chose cocaine and not meth. Cocaine wears off faster and you can lead a normal life. Meth and heroin fuck you up harder.”

Unlike the downbeat ending of the original, which saw the Jonestown dropped by their label and a drug-ravaged Newcombe looking like he might not survive, Dig! XX culminates with both bands sharing a stage in 2023. “Courtney and Anton have come so far from those days and are joys to be around,” beams McCabe. “Over the years, we’ve taken every opportunity we can to hang out to show the rivalry was just a short phrase the Jonestown went through.”

Bringing the story bang up to date, both bands are still recording new albums and touring. McCabe’s own daughter is now 20 – the age she was when she started filming Dig!. “Luckily, I look puffy and not good in that film, so I used it as a cautionary tale to her: ‘That’s gluten, beer, cocaine and cigarettes. You want to look like that? Now you know”.

Dig! XX’s rosier epilogue is slightly subverted, however, with footage of the Jonestown’s deja-vu-eliciting onstage dust-up in 2023, which led to the premature end of their Australian tour. “It’s not just the typical ‘then they got old and boring’ ending,” notes Gion, wryly. “For better or worse, we’re just a bunch of old guys trying not to die doing the exact same shit we did in the first one!”

In further volatile, equally-blessed-and-cursed Dig! style, the 20th anniversary celebrations are happening at a time when Ondi’s house was tragically lost in the devastating California wildfires. “Every movie of mine was burned, but Dig! was the one archive that didn’t burn. You can’t kill Dig!,” she says.

“Sorry Anton!,” she jokes. “That’s what happens when you live in the City of God in the Kingdom of Heaven!”

‘Dig! XX’ is released in UK and Irish cinemas for one night only on March 25

The post “’Dig!’ could never be made again”: why the drug-fuelled rock doc is the last of its kind appeared first on NME.