The long-awaited sequel to 2006’s smash hit “The Devil Wears Prada” is getting some pushback, being accused of “blatant racism” for leaning into Asian stereotypes.
“The Devil Wears Prada 2,” starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep, is getting blasted over a brief moment in a trailer. The scene introduces Andy Sachs&#8217; (Hathaway) new assistant, Jin Chao, played by Helen J. Shen, who some say is portrayed as a nerdy, socially awkward Ivy League grad.
In the trailer, Andy appears reserved upon meeting Jin, prompting the assistant to quickly rattle off her credentials.
“If you don’t want me, you can interview someone else. That’s totally fine,” Jin says. “I did go to Yale, 3.86 GPA, lead soprano of [Yale singing group] the Whiffenpoofs, and my ACT score was 36 on the very first time.”
Commenters also took issue with the way Jin donned a buttoned-up collared shirt and thick glasses, which they argue feel out of place for employees at a major fashion company.
Social media users from around the world, especially in Asian countries, expressed their frustration with the clip.
“The promotion up to this point was really great, but right before release, they suddenly hit us with blatant anti-Asian racism and flipped the car,” one user in Japan wrote in a post that’s been viewed more than 16 million times.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
プラダを着た悪魔、ここまでのプロモーションめっちゃ良かったのに、公開直前に突然ド直球のアジア人差別を見せつけてきて横転 <a href="https://t.co/uNUYIzXl7U">https://t.co/uNUYIzXl7U</a>
— 黄色人種ちゃん (@dekaketu_purin) <a href="https://twitter.com/dekaketu_purin/status/2046767047435247708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“We are in 2026… what made them think we’ll find this kind of racism funny,” another commenter <a href="https://x.com/kaxishk/status/2046919948384243754?s=20">said</a>. 
“Short stature, messy hair, childish clothing, big glasses, a ton of qualifications and high education and grades, servile and incompetent, a name that sounds just like &#8216;Ching Chang Chong,'&#8221; a third person echoed. “In this day and age, deliberately clipping out such a thick, over-the-top level of Asian stereotype that&#8217;s actually rare nowadays for ad use—did they judge that going full-on with the blatant discrimination would be more commercially appealing??”
As The Hollywood Reporter <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/devil-wears-prada-2-racism-backlash-asia-1236574540/">noted</a>, a lot of the widespread criticism is the result of X posts being automatically translated, meaning comments from around the world are being circulated in the United States.
However, some, including Korean-American filmmaker Joseph Kahn, said the backlash reflects a cultural misunderstanding and claims that Jin is so weird she’s cool, at least to a Gen Z audience. 
“There&#8217;s an uproar with Japanese Twitter about this Asian character. They feel she&#8217;s a caricature, which she is, but not about Asians but Gen Z. Her outfit is actually very couture in a film about fashion,” he <a href="https://x.com/JosephKahn/status/2047085534103932968?s=20">wrote</a>.
“Her glasses and hair clips are of the moment. The body shape disparity comes from Anne Hathaway who mandated there would be &#8216;diversity of sizes&#8217; which could either be taken as genuine virtue signaling or an actress wanting to be the skinniest and tallest onscreen. Nevertheless, the Asian character is being depicted as a fashionable, striver in the fashion world with typical Gen Z neurodivergency.”
&#8220;Nerds don&#8217;t exist in Gen Z because they&#8217;re all awkward freaks and all dress like Nintendo cartoons,” he concluded. “Anyway Japan, welcome to America.”

Devil Wears Prada 2

Long-Awaited Hollywood Sequel Is Already Making Enemies

Entertainment

Hollywood

Japan

Movies

Racism

The new Michael Jackson biopic, “Michael,” was released today, and the director of “Leaving Neverland” is not pleased.
Dan Reed is known for the 2019 HBO documentary which explored the child sexual abuse allegations against the King of Pop, who died from an overdose in 2009. Reed said he can&#8217;t understand how anyone still believes Jackson should be celebrated.
&#8220;It says that people don’t care that he was a child molester. Literally, people just don’t care,&#8221; Reed told The Hollywood Reporter in an <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/leaving-neverland-michael-jackson-dan-reed-1236571986/">interview</a> published earlier this week. &#8220;I think a lot of people just love his music and turn a deaf ear. And short of having actual video evidence of Michael Jackson engaged in sexual intercourse with a 7-year-old child, I don’t know what would be sufficient to change these people’s minds.&#8221;
“Michael” director Antoine Fuqua addressed the accusations against Jackson in an <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/27/antoine-fuqua-profile?_sp=3ac5f857-94bf-4ed7-9051-b555ea70fcdf.1776878032698">interview</a> with The New Yorker published Monday. &#8220;Sometimes people do some nasty things for some money,&#8221; he said of the multiple claims from victims who claimed Jackson abused them.
Reed responded to that, saying, &#8220;For Antoine Fuqua to accuse people of gold digging is kind of ironic… It seems to me all the people involved in this movie are just making bank.&#8221;
&#8220;How can you tell an authentic story about Michael Jackson without ever mentioning the fact that he was seriously accused of being a child molester?&#8221; Reed added. &#8220;I just don’t really see it. If anyone’s making money, it’s Michael Jackson’s estate and the people who worked on this biographical picture.&#8221;
“Wade and James, the protagonists of ‘Leaving Neverland,’ have never made a cent from their accusations,&#8221; Reed went on. &#8220;People don’t seem to understand: If you bring a lawsuit, you don’t get any money until you win in court. And when you win in court, that means you’ve proved your case, right?&#8221;
The “Leaving Neverland” director also accused the media of “sucking up” to the Jackson estate for fear of retribution from the fans.
&#8220;So a lot of people, I think, will kind of swallow any misgivings they may have and just sort of say, &#8216;Oh well, it’s a great jukebox movie&#8217; and just completely ignore the fact that this guy was worse than Jeffrey Epstein.&#8221;
Jackson was first accused of sexual abuse by a 13-year-old boy in 1993. That case was settled for $20 million, and the pop singer never faced criminal charges. He was arrested on child molestation charges in 2003 and was acquitted in 2005. After Jackson’s death, more alleged victims came forward and sued Jackson’s estate in 2013.
There are rumors floating around that the original version of “Michael” did address the allegations, but those parts were cut due to a clause in the original settlement that provided the story could never be the subject of a movie. Actor Colman Domingo mentioned the omission while teasing the possibility of a sequel.
“The film takes place from the ’60s to 1988, so it does not go into the first allegations,” the actor, who plays Joe Jackson in the movie, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59jEWDncv28">said</a> during a &#8220;Today&#8221; show appearance. “So basically, we centered it on the makings of Michael. So, it’s an intimate portrait of who Michael is … through his eyes.”
Domingo hinted at the &#8220;possibility&#8221; of a sequel, which he hinted would include the sexual abuse trial storyline.
“Michael” is getting mixed reviews, but is still expected to do well at the box office this weekend due to the devoted fans who will go see it no matter what.

Michael

Director Slams Michael Jackson Biopic Hype: ‘Worse Than Jeffrey Epstein’

Michael Jackson

U.S.

In a feel-good moment for movie fans, it was announced on Wednesday that puppeteer James Ortiz is eligible for a Best Supporting Actor award at next year’s Oscars, per <a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/awards/project-hail-mary-james-ortiz-oscars-sag-eligible-puppeteer-1236726540/">Variety</a>. Ortiz was the puppeteer and voice actor for the rock-shaped alien, Rocky, who became one of the best-loved parts of Amazon’s smash hit “Project Hail Mary” last month.
The film is expected to garner plenty of other nominations at the next Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Ryan Gosling, Best Picture, and Best Director. There’s no telling if the Academy will select Ortiz as a nominee even though he is technically eligible.
Variety also noted that his work could be recognized in the Special Achievement Award category, which was last given to “Toy Story” (1995).
“Typically, we talk about puppetry as a technical achievement, and it is,” Ortiz told the outlet.
“It’s a spectacle,” he added. “For me as a performer, however, that’s never my entry point. I’m interested in the heart of the character — what they’re trying to communicate, what they’re feeling underneath all of it. When we can take a medium like puppetry, which is often seen as decorative, and bring to life a character with a beating heart in a way that genuinely affects people, then we’re doing something truly meaningful.”
Ortiz previously discussed how much expertise and planning went into bringing Rocky to life. Fans of the film praised its overall authenticity, which included using a real puppet rather than relying on CGI.
“Rocky is super intelligent and has a mind like a computer — you never have to say anything twice to him,” Ortiz said of the character. “He’s a brilliant engineer. But his soul, to me, always felt like that of a little brother. There’s a little bit of this anxious, 14-year-old boy who really wants to be invited to the party.”
“What I loved about the process was at no point did [directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller] or anybody on the team ever treat me like I was a technician, or like a plumber who was brought in to fix a specific thing,” the puppeteer added. “At every point they would ask, ‘what do you think, would Rocky do this or that?’ And I’d think about it and tell them exactly how Rocky would feel.”
“Project Hail Mary” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hollywood-learned-the-wrong-lesson-from-project-hail-mary">dominated the box office</a> last month with an $80.5 million domestic opening weekend, with a 95% critic score and a 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. By the second weekend, the film had crossed $300 million worldwide and became the second-biggest non-franchise opening over the past decade, second only to “Oppenheimer.”

Rocky

Everyone’s Favorite Alien Could Win An Oscar

Academy Awards

Oscars

Woke Hollywood is dead, or so we thought.
The new trailer for “Ladies First” is proof that La La Land won’t give up the woke ghost.
Sacha Baron Cohen, who traded his subversive “Borat” shtick for the <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/borat-subsequent-moviefilm-review/">anti-Trump Resistance</a>, stars as a chauvinist who suffers a blow to the head and wakes up in a new reality.
Forget the patriarchy. The matriarchy now runs things in this May 22 Netflix original. The laugh-free trailer is bad enough, but the sight of Borat leaning into feminist clichés is worse.
And it’s far from alone. That “woke mind virus” is on the comeback trail.
<div id="attachment_1080199" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1080199" class="size-large wp-image-1080199" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Ladies-Night-864x576.jpg" alt="Rob Youngson/Netflix - copyright 2026 Netflix, Inc." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Ladies-Night-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Ladies-Night-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Ladies-Night-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Ladies-Night-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Ladies-Night-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Ladies-Night-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Ladies-Night.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Rob Youngson/Netflix &#8211; copyright 2026 Netflix, Inc.</div>
The proof that woke was on the run felt substantial. Real. Refreshing. Comedians were suddenly able to speak their minds without fear of reprisal. Comedy roasts made a shocking comeback, and Netflix couldn’t wait to line up rebel comics like Tony Hinchcliffe, Tim Dillon, Ricky Gervais and Shane Gillis for new projects.
Disney, the unofficial woke standard bearer, dialed down the messaging machine. The Disney+ series “Win or Lose” ditched a trans character. Big-budget releases like “Moana 2” and “Inside Out 2” left the lectures on the cutting room floor — and scored huge box office numbers along the way.
More recently, Disney-owned Pixar chief Pete Docter said his company <a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/news/pete-docter-pixar-lgbtq-storyline-elio-therapy-1236681692/">removed LGBTQ content</a> from 2025’s “Elio” because “We’re making a movie, not hundreds of millions of dollars of therapy.”
Lesson learned. Or was it?
<div id="attachment_1080169" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1080169" class="size-large wp-image-1080169" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2219557935-864x576.jpg" alt="LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 10: (L-R) Jim Morris, President, Pixar and Pete Docter, CCO, Pixar attend the World Premiere of Disney and Pixar's &quot;Elio&quot; at El Capitan Theatre on June 10, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney/Pixar)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2219557935-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2219557935-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2219557935-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2219557935.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney/Pixar</div>
That “Ladies First” trailer feels like it came from a 2020 time capsule. So does “Starfleet Academy.” The latest “Star Trek” TV show got roundly mocked on social media and by YouTube cutups like Nerdrotic and The Critical Drinker, who combined have millions of followers.
The show featured a charcuterie board full of woke, from the barefoot captain curling up in her chair like a Portland librarian to a gay, cross-dressing Klingon.
Mainstream critics, who lean aggressively to the Left, praised the show while audiences stayed away in droves. The show’s second season was set in motion immediately, but the <a href="https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/star-trek-starfleet-academy-canceled-season-2-1236696816/">cancellation news came nearly as fast.</a>
Hulu just dropped a new mini-season of “Malcolm in the Middle,” the early 2000s hit about a quirky, dysfunctional clan. The streamer knew it had a nostalgia-fueled hit on its hands, which may be why <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/malcolm-in-the-middle-reboot-hit-with-backlash-over-woke-changes">the creators gave</a> the clan Kelly, a “non-binary” child.
Just a coincidence? Hardly. Executive producer Tracy Katsy told Deadline.com the <a href="https://deadline.com/2026/04/malcolm-in-the-middle-creator-ep-wife-lgbtq-kids-1236786214/">reason for the inclusion angle</a>.
“Three out of four of our kids are queer, and without making it a thing and without making an issue, I think it’s really nice to have a character that, that’s just a facet of their personality as opposed to the entire story.”
<div id="attachment_1080171" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1080171" class="size-large wp-image-1080171" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2270286421-864x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 07: (L-R) Christopher Masterson, Justin Berfield, Vaughan Murrae, Jane Kaczmarek, Frankie Muniz, Bryan Cranston, Keeley Karsten, Kiana Madeira, Caleb Ellsworth-Clark, Emy Coligado and Craig Lamar Traylor attend Hulu's &quot;Malcolm in The Middle: Life's Still Unfair&quot; New York Premiere at DGA Theater on April 07, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2270286421-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2270286421-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2270286421-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2270286421.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Theo Wargo/Getty Images</div>
The diversity measure came with the de facto lecture sequence, too, along with the Mary Sue-style characterization.
Kelly uses &#8220;they/them&#8221; and is depicted as academically gifted, level-headed, and notably the only sibling without a police record.
No flaws, please. That’s another woke byproduct, removing flaws from characters meant to promote diversity and inclusion.
The show also made Stevie (Craig Lamar Traylor), who displayed heterosexual characteristics in the original series, a gay man in an interracial relationship.
The new action comedy “Normal” also squeezes a “non-binary” character into the story, played by Jess McLeod. The character, dubbed Alex, is given little backstory or depth, but Alex still plays a sizable role in the film’s second half.
This year’s “Frankenstein” reinvention, dubbed “The Bride!” featured a cavalcade of woke talking points. The titular creature inspired a wave of rebellious women fighting back against early 20th century oppression, and Jessie Buckley’s Bride literally shouts, “Me too” … twice.
And, yes, “The Bride!” may be one of 2026’s biggest box office busts with <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt30851137/?ref_=bo_se_r_1">a pathetic $12 million domestic haul.</a>
Woke isn’t just about forced, clumsy inclusion. It coaxes screenwriters to lecture viewers from a hard-Left perspective. No nuance or balance, please. There’s a PowerPoint-style message to share. It’s why shows like “Matlock” and “The Pitt” have spent serious screen time pushing an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hollywood-keeps-pushing-this-narrative-but-ignores-what-follows">aggressive, anti-ICE narrative</a> in recent weeks.
“The Pitt” also promotes an unabashed, pro-abortion agenda. The HBO Max series featured an episode with a 17-year-old pregnant teen (Abby Ryder Fortson) seeking an abortion, but she didn’t have her parents’ consent.
<div id="attachment_1080173" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1080173" class="size-large wp-image-1080173" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/pitt-noah-elevator-1024x568.jpg" alt="John Wells Productions. Max. R. Scott Gemmill Productions. Sky Studios. Warner Bros. Television. HBO Max." width="1024" height="568" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/pitt-noah-elevator-1024x568.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/pitt-noah-elevator-300x166.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/pitt-noah-elevator-768x426.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/pitt-noah-elevator-1536x851.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/pitt-noah-elevator.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />John Wells Productions. Max. R. Scott Gemmill Productions. Sky Studios. Warner Bros. Television. HBO Max.</div>
The baby in question is more than 11 weeks along, just beyond Pennsylvania’s cutoff for a legal abortion. Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) stepped in, offering to fudge the facts to secure the abortion in question. The doctors agreed that the teen deserves to have a life, as they framed it, ignoring the positive impacts of motherhood or potentially giving up the innocent baby for adoption.
The creative team behind “The Pitt” is leaning into the show’s ratings success, weaponizing the saga to advance leftist talking points as needed. It’s another familiar woke pattern — Hollywood finds success with an apolitical show or film, and later leverages that appeal to insert woke talking points.
One glaring example? Even a far-Left site like <a href="https://www.themarysue.com/endgame-girl-power-did-it-work/">TheMarySue.com cringed</a> when the once-mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe included a clunky, “girl power” moment during the epic “Avengers: Endgame” battle.
The MCU saga went woke thereafter and has yet to recover, financially speaking.
Despite these stark examples, woke isn’t the cultural force in Hollywood that it was just a few short years ago. Some savvy studio types realized that its cultural tentacles remain a financial risk, to put it bluntly.
Others are like <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220413-onoda-the-man-who-hid-in-the-jungle-for-30-years">Hiroo Onoda</a>, the Japanese soldier who kept fighting World War II for nearly 29 years after hostilities ceased.
That means it could take a few more high-profile failures for Hollywood to finally learn its lesson.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.

netflix ladies night II

Woke Hollywood Rises From The Ashes — And The Agenda Didn’t Miss A Beat

Woke Hollywood Rises From The Ashes — And The Agenda Didn't Miss A Beat

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

HBO Max

Netflix

Television

Woke Culture

The danger zone is calling — again. It’s been announced that “Top Gun 3” is officially in the works.
Paramount broke the good news at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this week, confirming that Tom Cruise will be back in a leading role. Jerry Bruckheimer is also on board as producer.
Josh Greenstein, co-head of Paramount Pictures, said it’s “officially in development with a script underway.”
Cruise did not appear live at the industry event, but footage aired in the convention hall showed the actor standing on tip of the water tower on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles.
“The future looks pretty great from here,” Cruise can be heard <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/top-gun-3-script-underway-tom-cruise-1236566290/">saying</a> in the clip.
This comes as no surprise after the massive success of “Top Gun: Maverick” in 2022. Despite a gap of 36 years between the first “Top Gun” (1986) and the sequel, it became an absolute box office smash and the most lucrative film of actor Tom Cruise’s long and successful career.
“Maverick” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/paramount-is-working-on-top-gun-3-with-tom-cruise-report?author=Amanda+Harding&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Paramount+Is+Working+On+%E2%80%98Top+Gun+3%E2%80%99+With+Tom+Cruise%3A+Report">earned</a> a whopping $1.49 billion at the global box office. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won Best Sound.
It was also named the Best Film of 2022 by the movie review site Rotten Tomatoes. “Maverick” was rated 96% certified fresh from critics out of nearly 500 reviews and achieved a near-perfect 99% fresh audience score.
It’s believed that one reason the “Top Gun” sequel performed so well is that it was free from radical progressive messaging and virtue signaling. The action film recalled a simpler time in Hollywood, when movies were made to inspire and entertain rather than to push an agenda.
The Federalist called the “Top Gun” sequel “unabashedly patriotic” and “free of token left-wing social and political propaganda.” Reviewer Elle Reynolds wrote, “The only agenda being pushed is that America is the best country in the world and the men and women who risk their lives to defend her are heroes worthy of our respect.”
Another surprising detail about the sequel is how it appealed to a range of audiences, both young and old.

Tom Cruise

Itching For More ‘Top Gun’? A Major Update On Maverick’s Return

Paramount

Top Gun

Actress Elizabeth Banks said women in real life, particularly Trump voters, should be more like the character she played in “The Hunger Games.”
The 52-year-old made the comments during an appearance on Bustle’s “One Nightstand” podcast this week.
“Effie for me is one of the characters that has the greatest arc that I’ve ever played because obviously she props up this fascist regime that she benefits from and it’s not until she really comes to care for and see how unfair it is when they want to pull Katniss and Peeta into the games again…” Banks said, referencing the plot of the popular films based on the dystopian book series. 
<iframe loading="lazy" title="One Nightstand With Elizabeth Banks | Bustle" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I3nnXnxwt7w?start=1&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“I think in ‘Catching Fire’ when she’s like, ‘I want to be part of this team,’ and you really see her struggling and then by the end she’s like a revolutionary… I wish more of us were becoming revolutionaries!” she went on. “Effie is the model, guys! I don’t understand the 53% of white ladies that didn’t vote for Kamala.”
Banks played Effie in all four installments of “The Hunger Games” movie franchise between 2012 and 2015. The character is known for being flamboyant and completely devoted to the system at first, but eventually starts doubting their motives after developing relationships with contestants in the fight-to-the-death games that pit human beings against each other.
Banks is a well-known Democratic supporter and liberal activist who frequently engages in political discourse, shills for abortion access, and takes particular issue with the president. At the 2016 Democratic National Convention, she compared Trump to her over-the-top character in the film series.
“Some of you know me from ‘The Hunger Games,’ in which I play a cruel, out-of-touch reality TV star who wears insane wigs while delivering long-winded speeches to a violent dystopia,” she <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/dnc-2016-elizabeth-banks-226250">said at the time</a>. “So when I tuned in to Cleveland last week I was like hey, that’s my act.”

Elizabeth Banks

Actress Targets Female Trump Voters, Urges Them To Think Like Her Dystopian Character

Celebrities

Donald Trump

Kamala Harris

Amazon MGM Studios made a big promise to keep putting out theatrical releases in the wake of “Project Hail Mary” dominating the box office last month.
The announcement came from the main stage at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Wednesday night, as Deadline <a href="https://deadline.com/2026/04/mike-hopkins-amazon-mgm-theatrical-cinemacon-1236862584/">reported</a>, with Amazon promising to drop $1 billion annually on bringing movies to the big screen.
“While some of our competitors have dipped their toes in and out of the theatrical waters, for us, this isn’t a test or an experiment. Our commitment to release at least 15 films every year into your theaters is on schedule,” studio head Mike Hopkins said, taking a not-so-subtle dig at other streaming platforms that are in the movie business. 
“As I say to our team constantly, our ambition for theatrical film is in the top half of the first inning. Project Hail Mary is just the beginning,” he added.
“Project Hail Mary” was touted as a proof of concept, with the creative team, filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and star Ryan Gosling, who plays the lead character, appearing on stage.
“Hail Mary” just crossed $525 million at the global box office, making it the company&#8217;s most successful movie ever.
Amazon MGM&#8217;s head of domestic theatrical distribution Kevin Wilson said the future was bright. 
“Last year we introduced a slate built to make audiences lean in. A mix of bold originals and iconic IP. That is who we are. And since then, we’ve delivered results,” the exec added from the stage. 
“Four months. Four films. Over $670 million at the box office. And we have nine more on the way. We said 15 films by 2027 — and we meant it. But this is not about volume. It is about impact. We are building films that give audiences a reason to leave the house. Films with scale. Ambition. Something to say.”
“That expertise is now applied with a singular focus: not just releasing films, but championing each one with the care, rigor, and creativity it deserves,” Amazon MGM’s Head of Global Marketing Susan Kroll said. “And now, we have the ability to pair that foundation with something entirely unique — the full power and reach of Amazon.”
The company also teased upcoming projects, including “The Sheep Detectives” and the highly anticipated sequel “Spaceballs 2.”

In this photo illustration, the Amazon MGM Studios logo is

Amazon MGM Studios Makes Huge Promise To Movie Theaters

Amazon

Movie Theaters

Some belated sequels crash and burn on arrival. Think “Zoolander 2,” “Blues Brothers 2000,” “Terminator: Dark Fate” and “Independence Day: Resurgence.”
All duds or box office disappointments.
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” won’t suffer that fate, despite the 20-year gap between the two films. In fact, the sequel might mimic another recent blockbuster that lured women back to theaters in droves.
The 2023 smash “Barbie.”
That film wasn’t just a box office juggernaut. It convinced women to dress up in the grand Barbie tradition to enjoy the experience with their best gal pals. It became a cultural flashpoint, a chance to bond over childhood memories and sisterhood.
Will “Prada 2” be a spiritual sequel to that mega-hit?
<div id="attachment_1076167" style="width: 399px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1076167" class="size-large wp-image-1076167" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2-389x576.jpg" alt="Photo by 20th Century Studios/20TH CENTURY STUDIOS - copyright: 2026 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved. IMDB." width="389" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2-389x576.jpg 389w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2-202x300.jpg 202w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2-768x1138.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2-1037x1536.jpg 1037w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2.jpg 1086w" sizes=" (max-width: 389px) 100vw, 389px" />Photo by 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.</div>
The safest bet is “absolutely.” Box Office Pro predicts the sequel will <a href="https://www.boxofficepro.com/long-range-forecast-may-box-office-kicks-off-with-the-devil-wears-prada-2-animal-farm-hokum/">land in the $80-95 million range</a>, a hefty debut for a comedy. Word of mouth might do the rest.
For contrast, the original scored $27.5 million over a Fourth of July weekend.
Why the optimism? Let’s start with the film’s first teaser, which didn’t share much in its brief running time. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMd1at7OwiE">under-60 second</a> clip became last year&#8217;s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2025/12/24/anticipated-sequels-and-remakes-dominated-the-years-most-watched-movie-trailers/">most viewed trailer</a>, more than sneak peeks at “Sinners,” “Superman” or “A Minecraft Movie.”
That’s despite the original film’s solid but hardly massive $124 million at the U.S. box office (globally, it brought in a hefty $323 million). Yet we had to wait 20 years for a sequel, despite the rising star status of featured players Anne Hathaway (as put-upon assistant Andy) and Emily Blunt as the exasperated Emily.
A new Fandango poll shows “Prada 2” as <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DW4NzTbCZfA/">the third most anticipated film of the summer</a>, behind “Toy Story 5” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”
The sequel reunites them with Oscar-winner Meryl Streep as the venomous Miranda Priestly and Stanley Tucci. The May 1 release finds Miranda struggling to keep up with the digital age, something that wasn’t a major issue in the original yarn inspired by Lauren Weisberger’s bestselling novel.
<div id="attachment_1076173" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1076173" class="size-large wp-image-1076173" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2-1-864x576.jpg" alt="Photo by 20th Century Studios/20TH CENTURY STUDIOS - copyright: 2026 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved. IMDB." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2-1-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2-1-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2-1-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2-1.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Photo by 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved. IMDB.</div>
The marketing team behind the sequel is keeping most of the details under wraps, a wise move.
The sequel does expand the original cast, adding Kenneth Branagh, “Bridgerton’s” Simone Ashley, Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux, B.J. Novak and Pauline Chalamet.
So why is “The Devil Wears Prada 2” not a sign of Hollywood desperation but a sly acknowledgement of what audiences crave?
Some movies simply grow over the years, boosted by streaming access and stories that speak to something profound within us.
The technology in the original “Prada” may be dated — remember that screeching pager tune whenever Miranda needed Andy’s help? The themes, by contrast, are timeless.
“The Devil Wears Prada” nailed the hopes and dreams of young women who flirt with a brand of fame that can be intoxicating. Andy didn’t care about fashion until she worked within the industry 24/7. And, when she got her hands on some of the clothes collecting in her company’s closet, she was hooked.
And she looked fabulous.
Audiences got lost in Andy’s “Pygmalion”-like makeover. We’ll look past the running gag that Andy was both frumpy and overweight at the film’s start. Hathaway has always been lithe and lovely.
<div id="attachment_1076201" style="width: 879px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1076201" class="size-large wp-image-1076201" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2006-869x576.jpg" alt="Copyright: TM and2006 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved." width="869" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2006-869x576.jpg 869w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2006-300x199.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2006-768x509.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2006-1536x1019.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Prada-2006.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 869px) 100vw, 869px" />Copyright: TM and2006 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved.</div>
And as much as the Left wants to deny biology, women by and large want to look beautiful in the best fashions possible. It’s why those “Sex and the City” films featured Carrie Bradshaw luxuriating in that monstrous, overstuffed closet.
It’s pure escapism.
Plus, we’ve all had bosses as demanding as Streep’s Miranda Priestly, even if they couldn’t chill us with one withering look. Yes, she was a monster, but who couldn’t admire her drive, talent and ruthless efficiently? It helped that Streep’s performance epitomized the power of the softly spoken villain.
She could destroy someone with a lifted eyebrow or well-manicured insult. The fact that Andy survived her chronic attacks, growing stronger by the day, proved intoxicating.
And then there’s poor Adrien Grenier. He played Hathaway’s frustrated beau in the original film, but he won’t be back for an encore. Could the <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/morganmurrell/anne-hathaway-responded-devil-wears-prada-nate-theory">negative memes</a> around his character be to blame? Or the fact that Grenier opted out of Hollywood, Inc. in the intervening years following his “Entourage” closeup?
That’s showbiz. So is Hollywood’s occasional ability to give audiences what they want. Yes, the industry will crank out woke reboots and insult audiences when they’re summarily rejected.
See “Starfleet Academy” for Exhibit A.
Nostalgia still sells, and movie studios know it. The original “Prada” arrived at a time when culture war battles didn’t distract us from our daily lives. The film lacked the gerrymandered diversity casting we too often see today.
No lectures. No “you go, girl” feminist talking points to stop the movie cold. Andy struggled with being Miranda’s assistant, but her intelligence and wit eventually made her an invaluable part of the Runway magazine team.
But did she sell her soul in the process? Her beau thought so, but audiences had her back from start to finish.
And they’ll have it again soon enough.
<div id="attachment_1076185" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1076185" class="size-large wp-image-1076185" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2270419682-864x576.jpg" alt="SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - APRIL 08: Meryl Streep attends &quot;The Devil Wears Prada 2&quot; Seoul Premiere at Times Square on April 08, 2026 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Han Myung-Gu/WireImage)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2270419682-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2270419682-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2270419682-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2270419682.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Han Myung-Gu/WireImage</div>
The film is guaranteed a big opening weekend, but the only way to dampen the box office potential is to lean into Hollywood’s worst impulses. Identity Politics. Speeches. Political asides that erupt out of the blue.
Or, the film’s stars will use “Prada’s” publicity tour to politicize the film. Streep is already attempting just that by <a href="https://radaronline.com/p/meryl-streep-slams-melania-trump-controversial-jacket/">insulting fashion icon turned First Lady Melania Trump</a>.
Some movies are critic-proof. “The Devil Wears Prada 2” is both critic and culture war proof, assuming Hollywood can get out of its own way.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.

“The Devil Wears Prada 2” Press Conference & Seoul Premiere

Why ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ Could Succeed Where Woke Hollywood Keeps Failing

Box Office

Film

Meryl Streep

Actress Olivia Munn is complaining that a male co-star objected to a scene in which her character saves his, leading to a dispute on set. 
The 45-year-old ranted about the unnamed colleague during a recent appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show.” 
“There have been a few times where I’ve been filming something, and my character was either like CIA, or a cop, or something, and there’s been scenes where my character has been the one to save the other character,” Munn told the talk show host, noting that the scene involved her and the co-star fighting side by side in a bunker. 
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Olivia Munn Gets Candid About Aggressive Breast Cancer and How it Inspired Her to Let Down Her Guard" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AWemBThqhgc?start=223&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“If you read the script, it was that he was guarding his side, I was guarding my side, then we switch sides and then there’s a guy that was coming for him who was gonna shoot him in the back, so I shoot him,” she went on. “And then we’re about to shoot and, somehow, I guess he didn’t read the script, and in that moment, he realized, ‘Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. She can’t save me. No, no. She can’t save me.’”
Munn claimed that her colleague was “combative with the director” and held up production for close to an hour. The actress lamented that he had “no insecurity about being obnoxious and everyone hearing this and being like, ‘She can’t save me! We’re not doing this.’”
“Finally, after like 45 minutes of just stopping down, I said, ‘OK, how about instead of my character saving you, it’s just that we switch because it’s time for us to switch and so this is my guy to get,’” she told Barrymore. “And he was like, ‘OK.’”
Online commenters called out Munn for her complaints, criticizing what they view as a double standard in Hollywood.
“So it’s totally cool for a woman to feel like she doesn’t need to be saved by a man, but it’s bad if a man thinks he doesn’t need to be saved by a woman? Did I get that right?” one popular reaction <a href="https://x.com/Variety/status/2042056151936987227">said</a>.
“And if Olivia Munn refused to be ‘damseled’ in a scene, you bet your bippy it would be a tale of female empowerment,” another <a href="https://x.com/Scribe_Light/status/2042056424440918201">agreed</a>.
Many commenters called Munn out for not naming names, leading them to question the story entirely.
Calling out colleagues without naming them has become a bit of a pattern for the “X-Men: Apocalypse” star. Last summer, she <a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/olivia-munn-male-director-ruin-career-1236445139/">complained about</a> a director she worked with on HBO’s “The Newsroom” who she claimed tried to sabotage her.
“I was on the one-yard line for the movie, and my manager calls me and says, ‘Hey, you’re gonna get the role. But first, I guess there’s another director who they know and he says that on “The Newsroom” you were late all the time and really combative,’” Munn said at the time. 
“I lived seven minutes from there. I was never late. I was like, ‘I know who this is.’ He just was trying to bash me. And I told my reps, ‘Please tell the directors this.’ And then I still got the role. But I will always remember that just because of our conflicts of how we approached a role, he wanted to ruin my chances of getting anything else.”

Olivia Munn

Olivia Munn Calls Out Male Co-Star Who Refused To Be Rescued By A Woman

Feminism

After a long weekend of union agitator-fueled rumors about The Daily Wire&#8217;s new action film, production has wrapped after five weeks, as planned, and the union reps didn’t get their way.
It all started with Deadline <a href="https://deadline.com/2026/04/jonathan-majors-falls-through-window-crew-strike-daily-wire-1236773038/">publishing</a> an exclusive story about actor Jonathan Majors falling through a window while on set of the production in progress, which, according to their sources, led to a union strike and other allegations of safety concerns on set.
Faithful Daily Wire fans won&#8217;t be surprised to learn that there’s more to the story. Film producer Dallas Sonnier provided a short, yet direct, statement to Deadline, saying simply: “The entire industry is in freefall due to strikes, and now that their members are out of work, they’re trying to sabotage the few people who are still producing. We don’t negotiate with communists.”
So what really went down?
During the fourth week of filming, an executive from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, best known as IATSE, reached out to Sonnier claiming that she “represented the majority of the crew,” which consisted of both local hires in South Carolina and returning staff from previous projects. The IATSE rep “demanded” that they immediately be recognized and negotiate a collective bargaining agreement to cover staff wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions.
Before the deadline she proposed even arrived, a small handful of picketers were out creating a nuisance. It was that same day that Majors and actor JC Kiljoyne fell through a window filming a scene. Deadline posted video of the incident, and reported it was a six foot drop — though pictures posted show it was barely four feet off the ground.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The height of the window btw <a href="https://t.co/Lr1KlckW9c">https://t.co/Lr1KlckW9c</a> <a href="https://t.co/sAZF0UYiLb">pic.twitter.com/sAZF0UYiLb</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/2041249651840454989?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
That stunt with the window was part of production&#8217;s plans for later that day, and Sonnier says it was far from an emergency.
&#8220;Everyone handled it quickly and successfully. We always have licensed medics on our sets, and this day, we had two,&#8221; Sonnier said. &#8220;The production was immediately halted to ensure safety sign-offs by both medics before moving forward.&#8221;
He also says the clip leaked to Deadline is definitely going to make it into the final cut.
The actors&#8217; comments are fully aligned. Kiljoyne’s rep told Deadline in the aftermath that he &#8220;did not feel unsafe on set and continues to have a positive experience working on the project.&#8221;
Majors made similar <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2026/04/04/jonathan-majors-says-hes-fine-after-falling-through-window-on-set/">comments</a> to TMZ. &#8220;I&#8217;m ok. I was happy to be on set and help tell the story. I am grateful for whoever is checking on me, the cast and crew for regarding our safety. It&#8217;s going to be a great movie and I am looking forward to fans seeing it!&#8221;
While IATSE came out of left field, there was a SAG rep on set many days who confirmed that the actors “should show up and finish the movie as planned” following the accident. It was noted that the SAG rep had “zero safety concerns” for the movie.
“We had a licensed armorer every single day,” Sonnier said. “We had a safety meeting at the top of each day, and prior to any special effect or stunt. The reason we don’t have a ‘RUST’ situation is because we take this stuff so seriously,” he added, referring to Alec Baldwin’s firearm discharging while filming and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.
During the fourth week of filming, 15% of the crew decided to leave. Based on conversations Sonnier had with the whole crew, this was the result of IATSE pressure and not because of any safety concerns, he said. All the staff who left were replaced by the next morning.
Crucially, those who left did not appear to be part of the picketing. “The ‘strikers’ were just angry union rep protestors,” Sonnier said, noting that by day two, their numbers were reduced to about seven people total.
The picketers caused minor annoyances, such as yelling at actors, encouraging cars to honk to disrupt filming, pressuring vendors to pull gear, sending threatening letters, and yelling “CUT!” and “ACTION!” as a way of confusing the actors on set. But in the end, production rolled on.
The Deadline article was released after all these efforts failed, especially after Sonnier refused to engage with their demands.
Sonnier said IATSE reps never called him or contacted him beyond the first email &#8220;because they are total cowards and whiny busybodies.&#8221; The producer says this was an illegitimate strike. 
Does IATSE have any response to this? IATSE, of course, did not respond to questions from The Daily Wire.

photo-output_720

Daily Wire 1, Hollywood Union 0: Production Wraps On Jonathan Majors Action Movie

Daily Wire

Jonathan Majors

The Daily Wire

Unions

“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” just pulled in impressive box office numbers despite being trashed by the critics.
The follow-up to 2023’s smash hit “Super Mario Bros. Movie” from lllumination Studios and Nintendo earned $130.9 million over the weekend and $190.1 million in its first five days, per <a href="https://apnews.com/article/super-mario-galaxy-movie-box-office-58b52a8aa469d6e7fed889c6762dd3aa">Associated Press</a>. It’s not surprising, considering that it’s a family-friendly title with massive name recognition being released over a holiday weekend.
It’s worth noting, however, that the sequel was given a 41% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and a markedly better 89% audience rating.
“We all have a finite amount of time on this Earth, and I cannot think of a single reason why you should spend any of yours on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” the critic from Mashable <a href="https://mashable.com/article/super-mario-galaxy-movie-review">wrote</a>.
Wall Street Journal reviewer Kyle Smith <a href="https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/film/the-super-mario-galaxy-movie-review-the-plumbers-pump-their-brand-f3291bbc">advised</a> that it was “notably weaker” than the first film, which was itself “barely watchable.” The New York Times, meanwhile, lamented the “flat empty nothingness” of the narrative.
The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/mar/31/the-super-mario-galaxy-movie-review-sequel-video-game-chris-pratt-charlie-day">described it</a> as &#8220;a bland screensaver of a movie that’s actually worse than AI&#8221; in his 1-star review. Kevin Maher from The Times also didn&#8217;t mince words, <a href="https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/super-mario-galaxy-movie-review-5w6crmhgr">asking</a> if the kids movie marked &#8220;the end of cinema.&#8221; 
&#8220;&#8230;the film is torturous to sit through and, for me, provoked periods of actual physical discomfort,&#8221; the critic added.
The video game-themed film features the same voice actors behind the original, including Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Charlie Day. “Mario ventures into space, exploring cosmic worlds and tackling galactic challenges far from the familiar Mushroom Kingdom,” the logline says.
It opened across 4,252 theaters over Easter weekend, including 421 IMAX screens.
“It’s exactly the kind of broad, crowd-pleasing release that brings people into theaters,” AMC Chairman and CEO Adam Aron said in a statement, per AP.
While critics came after it for not having enough depth, other viewers say that’s what made the movie so successful.
“A bright, colorful, and action packed story filled with all the Nintendo characters we know and love. It’s simply a good time at the movies,” one verified Rotten Tomatoes reviewer said.
“If you enjoyed the first you’ll be at home. If you want a Pixar movie with sad bits and life lessons and shoe in adult jokes you ain’t getting it here. It’s a fun ride start to end,” another agreed.
“This is a kids movie. I don&#8217;t know what fantastical storytelling these adults need from a child&#8217;s video game adaptation but it&#8217;s entertaining and light…. Let the kids be kids, these movies don&#8217;t have to be masterpieces and they don&#8217;t have to pander to childish adults who just refuse [to]  grow up. Mario belongs to children, not to your generation,” echoed a third.

Super Mario Galaxy

Critics Trashed Mario, But American Families Are Proving Them Wrong

Rotten Tomatoes

The MCU is yesterday’s news. The NCU, or Nintendo Cinematic Universe, is just beginning.
Ever since Robert Downey Jr. tinkered with that iron suit back in 2008, Marvel movies have dominated Hollywood. “Iron Man” changed the movie-making landscape. In recent years, however, superhero romps no longer light up the box office like they once did.
Even “Superman” <a href="https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2025/10/8/report-superman-box-office-isnt-the-success-warner-bros-claimed">struggled to turn a profit last year.</a>
Meanwhile, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” spun from Nintendo’s beloved video game franchise, could <a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/news/super-mario-galaxy-movie-biggest-opening-day-2026-1236705460/">make $180 million (or more) in its opening weekend.</a>
Video game movies are having a moment, and Hollywood won’t be the same moving forward.
<div id="attachment_1072101" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1072101" class="size-large wp-image-1072101" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2268776924-864x576.jpg" alt="KYOTO, JAPAN - MARCH 28: Chris Meledandri, Jack Black and Shigeru Miyamoto pose for a photo as Universal Pictures, Nintendo and Illumination present the premiere of &quot;The Super Mario Galaxy Movie&quot; at Minamiza Theater on March 28, 2026 in Kyoto, Japan. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images for Universal Pictures, Nintendo and Illumination)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2268776924-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2268776924-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2268776924-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2268776924.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images for Universal Pictures, Nintendo and Illumination</div>
The superhero film genre may have run its course organically, but Hollywood hastened its decline. The genre peaked with 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” which made an astonishing $2.8 billion worldwide.
It’s been downhill ever since, with MCU gatekeepers injecting girlbossery and DEI platitudes into the saga. That helped crush “The Marvels” and “Eternals,” while slowing the MCU’s winning streak.
Even respectable entries like last year’s “Thunderbolts” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” proved financially underwhelming, at least by previous standards.
So Hollywood needed another source of IP (Intellectual Property) gold. Why not video games? Well, Hollywood had tried that repeatedly, often with ghastly results.
Think 1993’s “Super Mario Bros.,” a colossal misfire starring John Leguizamo and Bob Hoskins, 1999’s “Wing Commander” bust, and even 2005’s “Doom” with Dwayne Johnson.
<div id="attachment_1072117" style="width: 405px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1072117" class="size-large wp-image-1072117" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-55990924-395x576.jpg" alt="BERLIN - OCTOBER 24: Actor Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson gestures during a photo call for his newest movie &quot;Doom&quot; on October 24, 2005 in Berlin, Germany (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)" width="395" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-55990924-395x576.jpg 395w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-55990924-206x300.jpg 206w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-55990924.jpg 702w" sizes=" (max-width: 395px) 100vw, 395px" />Andreas Rentz/Getty Images</div>
More clunkers? The 2005 catastrophe “Alone in the Dark” and 2003’s “House of the Dead,” both courtesy of hack auteur Uwe Boll.
Something was missing, be it A-list actors, competent directors, or the kind of FX to pull off the visually impossible.
Slowly, Hollywood began treating video game adaptations with a critical element — respect. The 2018 film “Rampage” wasn’t a sensation, but by then Johnson was a star attraction, and the film’s budget gave it the gravitas the source material required.
The 2021 comedy “Free Guy” cast likable Ryan Reynolds as an NPC (non-player character) in way over his head. The film packed big laughs with video game elements to the tune of $331 million worldwide.
Reynolds may be gently progressive off-screen, but he knows how to put on a show without pushing Heartland viewers away. Few actors can match his marketing savvy.
The “Sonic the Hedgehog” films, based on the Sega speedster, have all made serious coin, aided by slick video game elements and the unchecked Id of star Jim Carrey.
<div id="attachment_146292" style="width: 544px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-146292" class="size-full wp-image-146292" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/09/Jim-Carrey.jpg" alt="Jim Carrey attends the LA special screening of Paramount's &quot;Sonic The Hedgehog&quot; at Regency Village Theatre on February 12, 2020 in Westwood, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/WireImage via Getty Images)" width="534" height="314" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/09/Jim-Carrey.jpg 534w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/09/Jim-Carrey-300x176.jpg 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 534px) 100vw, 534px" />Rich Fury/WireImage via Getty Images</div>
Another secret to video game movies’ recent success? Respecting the audience. These films haven’t pushed a progressive agenda on unsuspecting audiences. No lectures, unnecessary woke asides, or clunky identity politics casting.
Even <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/08/snoop-dogg-scared-movies-grandchildren-same-sex-disney-pixar-lightyear-1236497251/">Snoop Dogg can watch these mostly PG-friendly films</a> with his grandson.
The new wave of video game-inspired films, while far from artistically relevant, cater to fans via Easter Eggs and other source material nods. And, when the fans speak, they listen.
Recall the outrage over the character design shown in the initial “Sonic the Hedgehog” teaser from 2019. <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/sonic-hedgehog-release-delayed-fan-outcry-1213486/">Fans mocked the FX</a> behind the titular hero, and the studio quickly addressed the matter by tweaking the film.
That probably cost a pretty penny, and it pushed the release date forward several months. The results spoke for themselves. The film earned $148 million in the U.S. alone and sparked a new franchise.
A fourth “Sonic” film will <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/sonic-4-amy-rose-hammer-sequel-production-hedgehog-1236519779/">debut next year</a>, adding A-lister Kristen Bell to the saga (her voice, to be precise).
Video game adaptations were suddenly vital, but they still couldn’t approach MCU-like box office grosses. Then along came “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” in 2023. That animated romp rang up $1.3 billion at global theaters, cementing video game movies as the new Hollywood drug.
The industry couldn’t get enough, and that was before “A Minecraft Movie” debuted two years later. That film, starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, earned $424 million stateside and nearly $1 billion globally.
<a href="https://deadline.com/2026/03/minecraft-movie-2-cast-kirsten-dunst-1236760538/">A sequel is in the works</a>. Of course.
<div id="attachment_906779" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-906779" class="size-large wp-image-906779" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-11-Apr-2025-03-17-PM-8107-1024x576.jpg" alt="Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Sebastian Hansen in ‘A Minecraft Movie’. Photo by Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures/Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright 2025 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. IMDB." width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-11-Apr-2025-03-17-PM-8107-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-11-Apr-2025-03-17-PM-8107-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-11-Apr-2025-03-17-PM-8107-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-11-Apr-2025-03-17-PM-8107-1536x865.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-11-Apr-2025-03-17-PM-8107-2048x1153.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright 2025 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. IMDB.</div>
That film’s “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/movies/chicken-jockey-minecraft-movie.html">chicken jockey</a>” sequence sparked a viral video sensation. Not only were Gen Alpha types seeing the film in theaters, but they went cartoonishly wild during that farcical moment.
Suddenly, it was cool to be in a theater again. Hollywood is now paying full attention to a competing media landscape, and many more video game adaptations are on the way. This May brings us “Mortal Kombat II,” while a “Resident Evil” reboot by “Weapons” director Zach Cregger is coming in September.
Bigger titles abound in 2027, including “The Legend of Zelda,” “Call of Duty,” and “Elden Ring.” Any one could spark a new film franchise. Maybe all three will do just that.
The potential seems endless, at least for now. The same once could be said for superhero movies given the endless amount of source material, but the MCU is so desperate for a cultural reboot that it reunited virtually every hero under the sun for December’s “Avengers: Doomsday.”
Can that film light a fire under the Men in Tights genre anew? Or have video games taken the box office crown and won’t give it back?
Movies are a natural fit for video game adaptations, but the small screen is also seeing a benefit. Hit shows like HBO Max’s “The Last of Us” and Prime Video’s “Fallout” show how games can also inspire TV sensations.
The video game manufacturers couldn’t be happier about the Hollywood synergy. It’s boosting both <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/tv-adaptations-video-games-new-players-1236372468/">game awareness and sales</a>, meaning these companies will gladly sell the film and TV rights to their properties … for the right price.
It’s one Hollywood studios will gladly pay.
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Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.

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