GentleInEye

Walt Disney has offered a third and final Nutcracker and the Four Realms trailer. This is easily the best look yet at a comparatively questionable release, with quite a few previously-unseen effect shots and action beats. Behind-the-scenes melodrama notwithstanding, this looks rather gorgeous and quite colorful, and this third tease highlights a bit of menace and peril to go along with the whole "You're actually a princess!" fantasy. What's odd is that this trailer apparently played in theaters with Ant-Man and the Wasp but never arrived online. That perhaps explains why we got a "new" trailer less than a month after the much-delayed second trailer. Either way, this is the best of the three for this live-acton Disney fairy tale. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is both a key Disney release and a relative freebie as they close out a relatively boffo 2018 year. Yes, if it tanks upon opening on Nov. 2, it'll be another sign that Disney needs to iron o...

Every year, the shift into cooler weather comes alongside a shift into a cooler box office lineup: fewer billion-dollar blockbusters, fewer on-screen explosions, and a general trend toward less slashing, crashing action and more intense emotional action. The one thing that really heats up at the box office during the fall and winter season is the awards race: the last quarter of the year is a time for Oscar-bait projects and intense awards campaigning.  With December 2018, we move on to new Spider-Man Miles Morales, James Cameron’s return to filmmaking with  Alita: Battle Angel , a  Transformers  spinoff that feels like a weird fit for the holidays, and Mary Poppins’ return to London.   This isn’t a comprehensive list of releases. We’re focusing primarily on titles of particular interest to  Verge  readers, with a tongue-in-cheek consideration of what these films have to say about the future of film, awards season, or the world we live in. DECEMBER...