LOVE ROAD Trailer (2024) Shalane Connors, Drama Movie

LOVE ROAD Trailer (2024) Shalane Connors, Drama Movie

LOVE ROAD Trailer (2024) Shalane Connors, Drama Movie
© 2024 - Umbrella Entertainment

The new trailer for Disney Plus’ Daredevil reboot has been secretly shown behind closed doors before its public release and offers a peek at the original show’s best characters including Matt Murdock back in his iconic suit.

According to IGN, the new trailer for the upcoming TV show, titled Daredevil: Born Again, opens with star Charlie Cox back in the infamous red Daredevil suit while his voice plays in the background, saying: "The entire system is against you... it's often David vs. Goliath." This is presumably referring to the biblical story where the smaller opponent faces a much stronger adversary and wins against all odds. Later there is a brief action sequence where an opponent asks Murdock, "What kind of a lawyer are you," to which he replies: "A really good one," and puts on his recognizable red glasses.

The clip also offers glimpses of other series favorites such as Vincent D'Onofrio as Kingpin, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, and Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, all of whom are reprising their roles from the original 2015 Netflix series titled Daredevil which ran for three seasons. D’Onofrio plays a ruthless criminal responsible for the death of Murdock's father, whereas Woll and Henderson play Matt's friends and colleagues.

Marvel Studios also unveiled the show’s official logo, and release date too, confirming the show will hit Disney Plus in March 2025. In addition, TVLine has confirmed that the show has also reduced its episode count and will now consist of nine episodes, down from its originally announced 18.

Alongside Cox, D’Onofrio, Woll, and Henson returning, Jon Bernthal is back as the Punisher and Ayelet Zurer will return as Vanessa Fisk. As for the crew, Moon Knight and Loki season 2 helmers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead will serve as lead directors on the show, with The Punisher co-writer Dario Scardapane is on board as showrunner.

Daredevil: Born Again hits Disney Plus in March 2025. For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows for everything else the MCU has in store.
Ahead of the world premiere of George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga in Cannes, all eyes will be on Warner Bros. to see if the studio will again demonstrate its talent for using Europe’s A-list festivals to catapult its most challenging blockbusters to commercial success and critical acclaim.

Warners has been here before. When Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road opened Cannes in 2015, few would have predicted that the relaunch of an ’80s-action franchise, and a film that had spent two decades in development hell, would tear up the Croisette en route to box office triumph ($380 million worldwide) and awards success (Fury Road would end up with 10 Oscar nominations, winning six).

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Warners pulled off a similar trick four years later, bowing Todd Phillips’ Joker — an R-rated superhero movie from the director of The Hangover — at the Venice Film Festival. Most observers were predicting disaster, expecting Joker, which combined elements of the DC comic source material with the style of Martin Scorsese’s ’70s indie cinema classics Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, would be rejected both by superhero fans and the Venice art house crowd.

It was the opposite. The very artsy Venice jury, headed by Argentine director Lucrecia Martel (The Headless Woman), gave Joker the Golden Lion for best film, and audiences were mad for it. Budgeted at around $55 million-$70 million, Joker would go on to earn a massive $1.08 billion worldwide. It had a similarly successful awards run, ending with two Oscars, including best actor for Joaquin Phoenix as the titular killer clown.

Warners won’t be behind the launch of Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1 in Cannes — the studio is only doing domestic on Kevin Costner’s Western epic — but it’s a tribute to Warners’ promotional machine that the film’s French distributor, as well as the bulk of international buyers handling the film, have decided to match the studio’s release plans, going out day-and-date with Horizon on June 28 and Chapter 2 on Aug. 16.

“They are the best at making films like this into an event,” says Daniel Baur of K5 International, which is handling the sales of Horizon outside North America, “which is why almost all of the international buyers are going day-and-date with the U.S. release for the first two films. They are creating a summer cinema event, like they did last year with Barbie.”

Other studios use the big festivals as tentpole launchpads, but the films they send to Cannes and Venice tend to either be movies from directors with film fest pedigrees — Sony bringing Once Upon a Time in Hollywood from Palme d’Or winner Quentin Tarantino to Cannes; Disney, via Searchlight Pictures, bowing Poor Things from art-house fave Yorgos Lanthimos in Venice — or audience-focused PR stunts aimed at generating red carpet photos and entertainment news coverage with no eye to appealing to festival critics (see Disney’s use of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in Cannes last year).

Warners has been uniquely successful at threading the festival needle, using its promotional prowess to position the studio’s most artistically challenging blockbusters to best reap the combination of commercial success and critical acclaim.

After Fury Road and Joker, Warners would do it again in Venice in 2021 with Dune, the ambitious adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic from Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, whose previous sci-fi epic, Blade Runner 2049, while a critical hit, was a commercial disaster for the studio. Blade Runner had a soft festival launch, bowing at the second-tier Montreal Film Festival, but for Dune, Warners doubled down on Villeneuve. The studio flew in the cast and crew for the festival, including stars Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet, creating a crowd-screaming sensation on the Lido that lit a fire under the film, helping it to its eventual $400 million-plus global gross. When the Oscars rolled around, Dune would end up with six trophies, matching Fury Road’s haul.

Thanks to Fury Road’s success, prequel Furiosa arrives in Cannes with more of a runway, but it still presents some challenges for Warners. It’s the first Mad Max that can’t bank on the appeal of the titular hero of the first four films, and the studio is counting on Anya Taylor-Joy’s lead performance to make fans forget (or at least forgive) the absence of Fury Road star Charlize Theron.

“It could be a challenge appealing to the young male demographic, which is still the core audience for this franchise,” says one marketing executive (from a competing studio). “And I love Anya Taylor-Joy, but she’s no Charlize Theron, at least not when it comes to the international box office.”

This year on the Croisette, we’ll see if — and when — it comes to blending blockbuster spectacle with artistic integrity, Warners is still in a league of its own.
EXCLUSIVE: Brian Cox will be back as The Controller in Amazon Prime Video‘s 007: Road to a Million.

Deadline hears the Succession actor has signed up for Season 2 of the reality competition series, which will be officially announced by Amazon in the coming weeks.

Cox embraced the role of The Controller, a machiavellian puppet master who sets malevolent challenges for the contestants.

Cox has joked that he thought he was signing for a James Bond movie when he initially agreed to take on the 007: Road to a Million role.

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“I thought it was the new James Bond film,” he told The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last year. After agreeing to the job, he realized that “there was no script and there was no James Bond movie.”

Although Season 2 is not yet finalized, 72 Films, the Fremantle-owned production company behind 007: Road to a Million, has been casting a new batch of contestants for some time.

Production is set to get underway this summer. Season 1 was an ambitious shoot that spanned multiple countries and saw contestants complete death-defying challenges.

By Amazon’s own metrics, the game show rated No1 in 27 countries on Prime Video, but it failed to break into the top 50 highest-rated shows in the UK, according to independent ratings data.

Amazon has enjoyed ratings success in the UK this year. Season 3 of Clarkson’s Farm became Amazon’s highest-rated show to date, with the opening episode scoring 5.1M viewers. Fallout also performed well, premiering with 3.1M.
As Quon Kwan tells it, he didn’t plan on becoming a whistleblower.

He had retired after a long career with the federal government, earned a master’s degree in divinity and moved into a senior living community in Maryland. At 75, he had few reasons to think about the job he once held as an engineer for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

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Then, one day earlier this spring, Kwan received an email from a mother who lost two children in a crash that ended with her family’s car partially beneath a tractor-trailer.

Before I tell you what happened next and why it matters, you should know there is a term for those types of collisions in which vehicles and people end up under large trucks — “underride crashes.” If you are not familiar with that phrase, you are not alone. People who have lost loved ones to those types of crashes will tell you they weren’t familiar with it either, until they were all too familiar with it.

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You should also know this: I have written about people (too many people) who have been killed on roads in the Washington region and the need for more measures to make streets safer nationwide, which is how I learned about Kwan. In the past month, he has provided a written statement to a government advisory committee and spoken to road safety advocates, offering information on a public safety issue that he says the U.S. Department of Transportation kept from the public.

When I spoke to Kwan recently, he said the email he received from that mother ultimately compelled him to speak out about a research project he had managed on side guards, which are barriers that block the gaps on the lower sides of large trucks.

“That’s when I thought, ‘Oh, my project. My project has real, personal implications. It could prevent the death of innocent people out there,’” Kwan told me.

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This week, crash survivors and people who have lost loved ones on the nation’s roads convened in D.C. for the 2024 Capitol Hill Roadway Safety Advocacy Days. They came together to advocate alongside one another for safer streets. But in the weeks leading up to that public gathering, private conversations have been occurring among some of those families because of the information Kwan has brought forward on sideguards.

In a notarized statement he submitted to the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection — which exists to provide information, advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation on safety regulations related to underride crashes — Kwan details the project he managed and raises concerns that the most important parts of the final report were suppressed.

He explains that in 2017, he proposed that his agency fund research to evaluate the effects of combining side guards with aerodynamic skirts on tractor trailers and single-unit trucks. He says he regarded the cost benefit analysis as the most important part of the project because “if side guards would both protect the safety of vulnerable road users while at the same time offer improved fuel efficiency and reduce fuel costs, the industry might adopt such side guards voluntarily.” (Other countries require trucks have side guards. The United States does not).

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The research found that adding those side guards to trucks would be cost beneficial, Kwan says. He describes sharing that information during a presentation with staff at the American Trucking Associations and receiving negative feedback. Later, he says, he also encountered resistance from a senior official at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, who urged him not to release the report.

When Kwan retired in 2019, he left the report complete and awaiting final approval for public release, he says. When he recently went to read the report published on the DOT’s website, he says, he was “shocked and appalled.”

“Most of the chapters, including the critical one on cost benefit analysis, have been stripped out and the report now is nothing more than just a literature review,” his statement reads. He goes on to say: “Suppressing this research was unacceptable and wrong. A new semitrailer costs tens of thousands of dollars, and adding a side guard to it costs mere pennies on the dollar to save an innocent victim’s life. I would pay a penny for an engineering solution. The ATA didn’t want to do that. The cost of their influence with officials in the U.S. DOT will be borne by many more innocent victims.”

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He notes in his statement that the research, which was conducted by Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, was funded by $200,000 in taxpayer money.

“More than public safety was harmed,” he says. “U.S. taxpayers did not receive what they paid for. This constitutes waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer money.”

On Wednesday, a letter signed by about two dozen people was sent to the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Transportation, citing Kwan’s statement. The letter calls for an investigation into whether the DOT “engaged in misconduct and abuse, breached ethics rules and agency standards of conduct, and violated federal law when they suppressed taxpayer-financed research on reducing pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities in crashes with the sides of large commercial freight trucks.”

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The signatures on the letter belong to a former NHTSA official, people associated with national organizations and individuals who have lost loved ones in underride crashes. Several are signed, “in memory of.” One is signed “bereaved father of.”

A DOT spokesperson said because of the nature of the allegations from Kwan and the department’s standard processes, the matter has been referred to the Department’s Office of Inspector General.

That spokesperson also provided a statement pointing out the many actions the current administration has taken when it comes to addressing underrides.

“Delivering on several mandates from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, DOT has taken additional steps to gather information and data to support evidence-based decision-making concerning rear and side underride guards, such as establishing DOT’s Advisory Committee on Underride Protection, which includes families of underride crash victims, truck safety organizations, vehicle crash investigators, law enforcement, labor organizations, motor vehicle engineers, insurance industry, motor carriers, independent owner-operators, and truck and trailer manufacturers,” the statement reads. “NHTSA will continue to meet with all stakeholders and crash victim family members to improve safety and reduce fatalities.”

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Marianne Karth is the woman who emailed Kwan. She had been looking for him for months to discuss his research project when she found him through a website for biblical counselors.

Karth became a road safety advocate in all-too-common way — through loss. She was driving three of her children in May 2013 when traffic slowed and a truck hit the family’s car, causing it to spin and slide partially under a tractor-trailer. Karth and her son were sitting in the front of the car and survived. Her daughters, 13-year-old Mary and 17-year-old AnnaLeah, were in the back seat and did not.

Karth told me recently that May used to be her favorite month: “It is now one day after another after another of horrible memories.”

The gravesite of AnnaLeah Karth and Mary Karth, sisters who died after a crash in 2013. (Marianne Karth)
Karth’s experience and the experience of others who have lost loved ones in crashes with trucks — including the family of U.S. Diplomat Sarah Langenkamp who left Ukraine only to die after the driver of a truck struck her bike on a Maryland road — is why Kwan’s statement matters. We can debate and disagree on traffic safety measures, but to do that in a way that moves us forward, we need to first be given all the information that is available.

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The trucking industry has publicly pushed against side guard requirements and federal officials have pointed to the high costs and low benefits of them. An advance notice of proposed rulemaking released last year by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that a side underride requirement would save about 17 lives and prevent 69 serious injuries a year at an annual cost between $970 million and $1.2 billion. A person familiar with Kwan’s research project said the above analysis didn’t take into account findings from it, including potential fuel savings or the more than 100 pedestrian and bicyclist deaths that could be prevented each year with side guards.

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Large trucks, and those who operate them, play a crucial role in our economy. Kwan knows that better than most. He spent nearly 20 years working for the Department of Transportation, and he speaks about trucks with reverence.

“Every piece of food you get, any clothing, anything you buy in the store was delivered by a truck,” he told me. “People don’t think about that.”

When I asked him why he decided to speak out after receiving that email, he said the bible talks about bringing light to the darkness, and he believes information paid for by the public should be made public. He noted that he personally has nothing to gain.

“I really don’t care for publicity,” he said. “But I do care for public safety.”
Amazon Prime Video made its first upfront presentation to advertisers on Tuesday in New York, with the streamer bringing out some of its biggest stars to break some news while touting its original series, film and sports offerings.

Amazon took over Pier 36 in Manhattan, which included a large installation dedicated to Amazon shows like “Fallout” and “The Summer I Turned Pretty” as well as movies like “Road House” and their various sports offerings like “Thursday Night Football.”

Amazon’s first major upfront started half an hour late — the long line to get in was referenced several times by Amazon MGM Studios head Jen Salke and even “You’re Cordially Invited” stars Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell. But once inside, advertisers were presented a star-studded litany of projects and news designed to make a huge splash in the marketplace.

UPFRONTS 2024: View Variety‘s full coverage.

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Alicia Keys (making sure to promote her new skincare brand Keys Soulcare, available on Amazon Premium Beauty, naturally) opened the show with a medley of popular tunes, including “No One” and and “Empire State of Mind (Part II).”

Then Prime Video/Amazon MGM Studios senior VP Mike Hopkins welcomed the audience and gave his pitch. Amazon MGM Studios head Salke took the stage next and revealed several announcements while bringing a parade of stars to the stage.

Leading into the presentation, Amazon had already made a number of major news announcements, including: Nicolas Cage starring in their Spider-Man Noir live-action series; “Mr. And Mrs. Smith” getting renewed for Season 2; “The Boys” getting renewed for Season 5; and the first teaser for the Alex Cross series.

During Salke’s portion of the proceedings, a parade of stars took the stage. Jake Gyllenhaal joined Salke onstage to announce a sequel to “Road House.” “Reacher” star Alan Ritchson and “Cross” star Aldis Hodge were up next to discuss their respective series, followed by Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell for their film “You’re Cordially Invited.” That was before Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer came out to hype their untitled action adventure series. Patton Oswalt and Keke Palmer broke down some unscripted offerings. And that is without mentioning the series order for a “Tomb Raider” series from “Fleabag” creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge that Salke announced from the stage.

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Also revealed: The stars and creator of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” made an appearance, announcing the third season of the YA series would not debut until 2025, but also that it would consist of 11 episodes instead of the seven for its first season and eight for its second.

That was all before Amazon got to their sports programming, including the upcoming debut of NASCAR on Prime Video on top of the streamer’s NFL presence. Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the stage to discuss the NASCAR coverage, which will include a docuseries about his father, racing legend Dale Earnhardt. Then tennis legend Roger Federer came out in support of his feature documentary “Roger Federer: 12 Final Days.”

The list goes on.

Amazon also continued the trend threading its way through this year’s upfronts — the prominent placement of movies. On top of Ferrell and Witherspoon’s presence for “You’re Cordially Invited” and Gyllenhaal for “Road House,” Ritchson talked up his upcoming holiday movie “The Man With the Bag” in which he co-stars with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Salke also mentioned upcoming Amazon originals like “Play Dirty” with Mark Wahlberg and the action comedy “Heads of State” starring Idris Elba, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, and John Cena.

In the end, Salke saved one last surprise: Witherspoon came out again to reveal that a “Legally Blonde” prequel about the high school years of Elle Woods has been ordered to series at Prime Video. Currently titled “Elle,” the logline for the series states that it “follows Elle Woods in high school as we learn about the life experiences that shaped her into the iconic young woman we came to know and love in the first ‘Legally Blonde’ film.”

All in all, not a bad way to make your first upfront appearance.