Zendaya has reportedly "chosen" her next big franchise as her next major action playground after taking on memorable roles in the MCU and Denis Villeneuve's Dune films. Zendaya's 2026 has been one of the busiest years for the talented actress, as she juggles major releases, starting with A24's The Drama and returning (for the final time) as Rue Bennett in HBO's Euphoria Season 3. The award-winning actress then had a busy summer, starring as Athena in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey before reuniting with Tom Holland's Peter Parker as MJ in the widely successful Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The year is set to close with her return to the big screen in Dune: Part Three, where she reprises her role as Chani in the final chapter of the Timothee Chalamet-led franchise. After 2026 established Zendaya as one of the most in-demand stars in Hollywood, a new report suggests the actress already has her next franchise move in mind. 

Entertainment insider Jeff Sneider reported that Zendaya is eyeing the Bourne franchise as her next action franchise, positioning herself as the successor to Matt Damon in a new installment that could push her to the forefront of Hollywood's iconic spy series.  

While the deal has not yet been finalized, talks of taking over the Bourne franchise signal a major career pivot for Zendaya as she steps into a leading role in a movie that could further elevate her in the action genre. 

D23 time has come again, and Disney's Entertainment Showcase included a slew of announcements for upcoming Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and Disney releases. The biennial convention has taken over the Anaheim Convention Center with a show floor dedicated to all of Disney's major brands and a weekend of programming that lifts the lid on what the House of Mouse has in store for the future of film, streaming, theme parks, and more.

Marvel Studios made a splash at the event with a booth promoting major MCU releases like Avengers: Doomsday and VisionQuest, and fans received major updates on these projects, as well as news regarding the X-Men movie reboot, during the studio's Friday night showcase.

Fans also received news on the upcoming Star Wars projects, Ahsoka Season 2 and Star Wars: Starfighter, Pixar's newest releases, including Gatto, and the long-awaited Simpsons movie sequel, which drew attention on the D23 show floor.

Disney's D23 Entertainment Showcase 2026 revealed new details about Pixar's Incredibles 3, and one highlight concerns the threequel's mysterious villain. Incredibles 3 is the latest chapter of the hit Pixar franchise, as it brings back the titular superhero family for another compelling big-screen adventure. Directed by Peter Sohn with a script from Brad Bird, Incredibles 3 is slated for release on June 16, 2028. The first two movies introduced twisted villains to the franchise, namely Syndrome (a bitter fan-turned antagonist) and the tech-savvy Screenslaver, whose deep distrust of supers drove her to become a master manipulator. Now, the third film will look to add another formidable antagonist that will likely test the Parr family to their limits. 

Pixar officially revealed the first look at Incredibles 3's main villain at D23 Expo 2026, showcasing the mystery character's imposing silhouette, who is bound to cause trouble against the Parr family. 

Camp Rock 3 has officially introduced its scene-stealing new face, and at 14 years old, Hudson Stone is already gaining a lot of attention. The long-awaited threequel premiered on Disney Channel on Thursday, August 13, before landing on Disney+ the following day. The Jonas Brothers returned for the film, and Demi Lovato popped up in a brief cameo (while also acting as a producer), giving original fans the nostalgia to possibly make them watch it. That throwback factor is pulling in some of those older viewers, but it's the fresh sound coming from the movie's new crop of young campers that will make Camp Rock 3 stand on its own.

In Camp Rock 3, 14-year-old actor and singer Hudson Stone plays Desi Scott, the brother of Sage (Liamani Segura), the franchise's new young lead. The siblings share a passion for music, but they are at odds when the movie kicks off.

Stone opened up about stepping into the Camp Rock legacy in an interview with Jonathon Moran, calling the threequel "the perfect mix of nostalgia from the first two Camp Rocks." He said the new cast was told from day one that the job wasn't to make a new movie, but add to the 18-year-old franchise: "This is Camp Rock, and we got to carry the legacy." 

Disney is promoting The Simpsons Movie 2 with a brand new title and logo at this year's D23 Expo. The yellow family is expected to make its presence known in a big way in Anaheim at D23 as The Simpsons Movie 2 hits theaters in just over a year on September 3, 2027. The cartoon mainstay's first movie was released almost two decades ago, in July 2007, under 20th Century Fox, although Disney acquired The Simpsons, along with the rest of the defunct studio, in 2019.

An official new logo for The Simpsons Movie sequel was spotted on display at Disney's D23 Expo alongside a hilarious recreation of the infamous Homer Simpson emerging from a garden hedge meme (via Simpsons Movie Updates). The logo may initially appear rather standard for the lovable Springfield family, until realizing that the logo now says The New Simpsons Movie, officially retitling the 2027 sequel from the originally announced title, The Simpsons Movie 2. 

The core cast of Disney's Camp Rock 3 mirrors the movie's themes of legacy, mentorship, and passing the torch, with the actors' real-life ages aligning closely with the life stages of the characters they portray. Camp Rock 3 brings back the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato as they reprise their roles as Connect 3 (Shane, Nate, and Jason Gray) and Mitchie Torres, respectively. The story follows Connect 3 as they search for an opening act for a major reunion tour, leading them to host a competition at the now-iconic Camp Rock to discover new talent. 

The 2026 sequel, which premiered on the Disney Channel on August 13, places the spotlight on a new generation of campers led by Sage (Liamani Segura), her brother Desi (Hudson Stone), a laid-back and talented guitarist Fletch (Malachi Barton), a breakout star Rosie (Lumi Pollack), and drummer Cliff (Casey Trotter). 

Filming for Camp Rock 3 took place from September 15 to November 1, 2025, so some actors are still the same age they were during filming, while others aged up a year. 

While Fast & Furious star Sung Kang may still be waiting to film the next installment in that iconic franchise, he is set to return to the world of fast cars with Drifter. But, according to the actor, the film's real heart has little to do with what happens behind the wheel.

Drifter, which premieres at TIFF on September 12, follows Lola as she finds a new sense of community and belonging within the world of competitive drifting. While the film delivers plenty of high-octane racing, Kang described the project as a "love letter" to the real-life drifting community that has supported him throughout his career.

At San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2026, The Direct spoke exclusively with Kang and fellow Drifter cast members Tamara Braun, Grant Sullivan, McCaleb Burnett, Michael Nehring, and Gregory Cruz about what separates the film from other racing movies, the welcoming community behind drifting, and their own experiences with the sport.

After a long and unusual road to release, Coyote vs. Acme is finally getting its chance to be seen by audiences. The film faced an uncertain future after Warner Bros. initially shelved the completed project, leaving the cast, crew, and fans wondering whether it would ever officially see the light of day. But then Ketchup Entertainment saved the project. The live-action/animation hybrid, which hits theaters on August 28, stars Will Forte, Lana Condor, and John Cena alongside Wile E. Coyote and a collection of familiar faces from the Looney Tunes universe.

At San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2026, The Direct spoke exclusively with Coyote vs. Acme director Dave Green and star Lana Condor about finally getting the film in front of fans, preserving the style of the classic Chuck Jones cartoons, acting alongside characters who weren't actually there, and the surprising addition of Bugs Bunny.

Lana Condor Didn't Know She Had a Scene With Bugs Bunny

A viral trend of fake popcorn buckets for the upcoming movie Wicker has taken the internet by storm. After premiering to a double standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival in January, Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård's bizarre romantic comedy Wicker is all the talk after dropping its debut trailer. The movie stars Olivia Colman (The Roses) as an aging, reclusive fisherwoman in a small medieval town who is ostracized for rejecting marriage, until she recruits Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) as a masterful basket weaver to create a wicker husband for her, played by Alexander Skarsgård (The Northman).

With an October 23 release on the horizon, many have pondered whether Wicker will conform to Hollywood trends of unleashing collectible popcorn buckets on theater concession stands, usually themed around a key character, object, or setting. There has even been a trend of viral memes about what Wicker's popcorn container could look like.

Wicker Movie Popcorn Buckets Explained After TikTok Viral Videos

The co-directors of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish officially gave fans an update on whether any more movies are planned for the Puss in Boots franchise. DreamWorks struck gold in 2001 with the release of Shrek, and since then, audiences have been treated to multiple sequels (one of which is set for release in 2027) and spin-offs. 

The most notable spin-offs have been the Puss in Boots films, which follow Antonio Banderas' Puss on his own adventures without characters like Shrek and Donkey. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was released in 2022, and its ending suggested the franchise could end or be brought back for a threequel.

Cinema popcorn buckets and collectibles have reached new levels of creativity, with the latest line centered on the upcoming Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie. The latest big-screen entry in the animated Paw Patrol universe follows the PAW Patrol pups after their ship is caught in a mysterious storm and they crash-land on an uncharted tropical island filled with prehistoric life. They team up with Rex, a stranded dino-expert pup, to stop Mayor Humdinger's reckless mining from triggering a volcanic disaster. Directed by Cal Brunker, the film arrives in theaters on August 14. 

Ahead of its release, theater chains, including AMC, Regal, and Cinemark, have responded with a fun mix of sculpted character buckets, themed tins, and other merchandise for Paw Patrol: Dino Movie, turning a family movie night into a collectible haul for all ages. 

AMC Embraces Unique Design Choice for Its Paw Patrol Popcorn Buckets

Nintendo is making headlines with the announcement of its 5th major movie villain set to debut in 2027. Nintendo's big screen slate is already stacked with notable entries, from the blockbuster success of the animated Super Mario movies to highly anticipated live-action leap into Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda. Directed by Wes Ball (Planet of the Apes), plot details of the upcoming Zelda movie are still being kept under wraps, but the project is highly anticipated due to the casting of leads Bo Bragason as Zelda and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link. And now, another casting that emerged online creates more buzz for one of Nintendo's biggest movies. 

Deadline reported that Australian actor Uli Latukefu has landed the lead villain role of Ganondorf in Sony Pictures and Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda. Even more intriguing is the detail that Latukefu has signed a multi-picture deal, signaling that the studio and Nintendo already envision multiple installments for the franchise beyond the first film. 

In Zelda lore, Ganondorf is a powerful warlock king, the human form of the demonic beast Ganon, whose insatiable hunger for the Triforce and dominion over Hyrule has made him a compelling villain across the games. As a master of dark magic, Ganondorf has repeatedly challenged Link and Princess Zelda across different timelines and eras. 

The Harry Potter franchise is celebrating its 25th anniversary with new popcorn buckets from Regal and Cinemark, all of which offer something unique. J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World is getting a whole new lease of life this Christmas as HBO launches Harry Potter Season 1, but that doesn't mean that Warner Bros. is eager to forget about its eight-movie cash cow. The magic all began in 2001 when Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released in theaters, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, along with British legends like Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, and Richard Harris.

Before Warner Bros. takes a second run at adapting The Philosopher's Stone later this year (The Sorcerer's Stone to some audiences), the 2001 classic will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a one-week re-release in theaters from Thursday, August 27, to September 3, accompanied by some exciting popcorn buckets.

Get Your Own Harry Potter Magic Wand Stirrer at Cinemark

Super Troopers 3 is set to release on Friday, August 7, and sending Trooper Farva down the aisle was the biggest swing the franchise has taken since the original film. At San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2026, just after the movie's premiere, The Direct spoke with stars Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Andrew Dismukes, and Steve Lemme to talk about marrying Farva off to Thorny's sister and continuing the franchise, which is now owned by Disney, 25 years after the original.

The consensus across every conversation: a group of longtime friends can get away with more than people expect, even in 2026. Chandrasekhar described the new film as "basically Meet the Parents, meet Super Troopers," Stolhanske said the cast felt like "we could get away with some things," and Heffernan summed up their whole philosophy in one line: 

"If you have a good-natured group of people, I think you can push it farther than you think."

Steven Spielberg's Ready Player Two screenwriter Zak Penn provided an update on the sequel. Warner Bros. Pictures' Ready Player One was released in theaters on March 29, 2018, transporting audiences into a dystopian future where the virtual OASIS program offered an escape from a bleak real world. The story followed Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) and his friends as they raced to claim control of the digital utopia left behind by its late creator, James Halliday (Mark Rylance). Ready Player One culminated in Wade sharing ownership of the OASIS with his friends while instituting regular shutdowns to encourage people to reconnect with reality. Ready Player One's hopeful ending left fans eager for a sequel. 

Speaking exclusively with The Direct during the red carpet for Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, Ready Player One writer Zak Penn confirmed that the sequel, Ready Player Two, is still in development, saying, "I am working on it." This marks the most significant update on the sequel's development in roughly two years, indicating that Penn, who co-wrote the 2018 original with Ready Player One author Ernest Cline, remains attached. 

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender's cast is just as hopeful for a bigger theatrical release of the animated movie as the fans are. The Avatar: The Last Airbender universe lives on in the latest movie from Avatar Studios, now streaming on Paramount+, almost 18 years after the original series concluded on Nickelodeon. Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender continues the story of the original gang, including Aang, Toph, Katara, Sokka, and Zuko, into their young adult lives, as they encounter another surviving Airbender named Tagah (Dave Bautista). 

Initially, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender was intended for a theatrical release, before Paramount announced it would instead go straight to streaming on Paramount+. This sparked outrage among fans who wanted to see the movie released in theaters as originally intended, a strategy that recently served many cult-classic animated franchises, such as Demon Slayer, well. 

In the end, Paramount opted to release Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender in a limited theatrical run in cinemas only in Los Angeles and New York to allow the film to qualify for awards. 

One of Sony Pictures' Spider-Man universes is officially at an end, according to chairman Tim Rothman. Sony Pictures has long held the rights to Marvel's famed comic book character, Spider-Man, and his ancillary characters, but thanks to a deal with Marvel Studios, the character has also been allowed to dabble in the MCU. However, that hasn't stopped Sony from doing its own thing with the Spider-Man IP, including launching its own Spider-Man Universe (SSU) centered on the webslinger's villains. 

The SSU began in 2018 when Sony released Venom, a film focused on Spider-Man's notorious villain, starring Tom Hardy. Five films followed over the next six years, with Dakota Johnson, Jared Leto, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson all leading films in the SSU, but none came close to the success Tom Holland's character was having on the big screen. Sony's Spider-Man Universe came to an apparent end with 2024's Kraven the Hunter, and now Rothman has confirmed it.

Speaking to Variety following the recent success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day in theatres, Rothman said he was unsure about the future of the SSU, adding that they never thought of it as the "Sony-Marvel Universe." The chairman added that "at the moment, there are [no movies] in active development." 

Fans were surprised when Blumhouse announced that the next entry in the M3GAN universe wasn't a third entry but a spinoff titled Soulm8te, a more adult-focused entry in the franchise. This film follows David Rysdahl's Arthur, a tech at a company manufacturing Soulm8tes, AI companion androids capable of doing everything one would think a companion bot could do.

However, as one might expect with artificial intelligence (as showcased in both M3GAN and M3GAN 2), when Arthur receives Lily Sullivan's Soulm8te Sara, things go awry as his curiosity rapidly increases, and rash decisions are made in spades.

While the movie has faced a tumultuous distribution, having been pulled from Universal's slate entirely at the start of this year, it is finally getting its moment with its digital release on August 1. The Direct sat down with Soulm8te stars Lily Sullivan, David Rysdahl, and Claudia Doumit for an exclusive interview in which they dove into their complex characters and the deep questions about technology the movie raises.

Ramayana is almost here, and everyone behind it is making one thing clear: they're not changing the story. At San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2026, The Direct sat down with star Ranbir Kapoor, co-star and producer Naveen "Yash" Kumar, director Nitesh Tiwari, and producer/DNEG CEO Namit Malhotra to discuss bringing the epic to the screen on a scale that Indian cinema has never attempted before.

The consensus across all four interviews: technology, not a modern rewrite, is what makes this version feel new and worthy of a trip to the theaters. Malhotra called the film a "modern classic," arguing "nobody should change something that ain't broken." Kapoor pointed out that the text has "stayed over 4000 years," while Tiwari said it isn't time to modernize Ramayana's values, but to "rediscover" them.

Prime Video's The Devil's Mouth trapped a group of friends in a remote Thai coastal cave system with a bull shark, killing most of them along the way. Directed by Jeff Wadlow, the latest survival thriller introduced a core group seeking one final adventure before entering adulthood, consisting of best friends Sara (Kathryn Newton) and Max (Lana Condor), Max's boyfriend James (Nico Hiraga), and the couple Adrienne (Tommi Rose) and Greg (The Summer I Turned Pretty star Gavin Casalegno). They are joined by a local Thai guide, Wat (Tayme Thapthimtong). 

What began as an exciting incursion in Thailand quickly turned deadly after they were trapped inside a cave system. As it turned out, a freak storm the previous week had flooded parts of the system with seawater, carrying marine life over. While most of the creatures died in the freshwater environment, an aggressive bull shark claimed the cave system as its newfound territory. 

The Devil's Mouth premiered on Prime Video on July 29.