Our monthly round-up of the hottest entertainment releases. This month: The first MCU Phase Six movie, a live-action remake of an animated classic, and more.

Movies

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Often called “Marvel’s First Family”, the Fantastic Four made their comic book debut in 1961 and quickly became popular characters. The consensus among fans, however, is that the multiple attempts to bring the team from the page to the big screen — including 2005’s Fantastic Four and 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer — have not done justice to the source material. Now, the Fantastic Four get another chance to make a splash with their long-awaited Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) debut.

Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) are scientists and explorers who gain superpowers after a fateful space mission. The alien Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) comes to Earth, heralding the arrival of the planet-devouring entity Galactus (Ralph Ineson). It’s up to the Fantastic Four to protect Earth from this unfathomable threat.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the first movie in Phase Six of the MCU and is set in a parallel retro-futuristic version of the ’60s. The heroes will travel from their dimension to the main reality of the MCU, designated Earth-616. There, they will presumably team up with the new Avengers lineup in Avengers: Doomsday to fight Victor Von Doom/Dr Doom (Robert Downey Jr.), traditionally the archnemesis of the Fantastic Four team. Fans have long been hoping for a movie version to finally get Marvel’s first family right, so anticipation and hopes are high.

How to Train Your Dragon

The live-action How to Train Your Dragon (HTTYD) remake takes audiences back to the Isle of Berk. Since 2010, audiences have connected with the story of Hiccup and Toothless, a young Viking and his dragon friend. The HTTYD franchise, based loosely on the novels by Cressida Cowell, has spawned three animated films, five animated short films, three animated TV series, and theme park attractions worldwide.

On Berk, Vikings have fought dragons for generations. Hiccup (Mason Thames), a resourceful but physically unimposing young boy, is not the typical picture of Viking masculinity. He feels the pressure of being the son of Chief Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler). Hiccup uses a bolo launcher to down an enigmatic Night Fury dragon. Instead of killing the dragon, he befriends the purple-fire-breather, naming him Toothless.

Hiccup tries to hide this forbidden friendship but draws the suspicion of Astrid (Nico Parker), a capable dragon slayer-in-training. The unlikely bond between Hiccup and Toothless challenges the Vikings’ long-held assumptions about dragons.

The first live-action remake of a DreamWorks Animation film, How to Train Your Dragon is directed by Dean DeBlois, who co-directed the three animated HTTYD films. This marks the live-action debut for Deblois, who is also known for co-directing Lilo & Stitch, another animated film that received a live-action remake this year (though not from him). Joining DeBlois in the leap from animation to live-action is Butler, who voiced Stoick in the original movie.

DeBlois gives this adaptation a level of grandeur that befits a fantasy film. But he keeps everything else close to the source material. The heart, humour, and warmth of the original movie? It’s here in this one, too.

28 Years Later

In 2002, director Danny Boyle revitalised the zombie movie with 28 Days Later, a small-scale production that brought the paranoia and fear associated with the subgenre into the 21st century. This was followed by 28 Weeks Later in 2007, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Now, Boyle returns to the series with 28 Years Later.

This movie reunites director Boyle with screenwriter Alex Garland, who wrote the novel The Beach that Boyle adapted, then wrote the screenplays for Boyle’s 28 Days Later and Sunshine.

As the title suggests, it has been almost three decades since the fateful outbreak of the Rage virus. Isla (Jodie Comer) and her husband, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), are among a group of survivors living on the tidal island of Lindisfarne, Northumberland. The island is connected to the mainland by a heavily defended causeway. When Jamie and his son Spike (Alfie Williams) venture off the island, they contend with hordes of the infected who have mutated in dangerous new ways while meeting other survivors.

28 Days Later was partially shot on a consumer mini digital video camera, giving it a distinct look. Other parts — especially the series’ signature shaky shots — were shot on iPhones, with some scenes using up to 20 iPhones rigged together, giving them an intense, frenetic feel.

TV

Ironheart

Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever introduced the character Riri Williams/Ironheart (Dominique Thorne), a brilliant MIT engineering student who had fashioned her own Iron Man-like suit of armour. Thorne had originally auditioned to play Shuri in the first Black Panther film, losing the role to Letitia Wright. MCU casting director Sarah Halley Finn kept her in mind for the Black Panther sequel.

In Disney+’s new series, Ironheart, Riri returns home to Chicago and encounters Parker Robbins/The Hood (Anthony Ramos), a mysterious figure whose garment grants him mystical abilities. Riri, driven by her pursuit of scientific advancement, must grapple with supernatural forces beyond her understanding.

Ironheart will round out Phase 5 of the MCU, functioning as the last TV show in this cycle (Thunderbolts* was the last movie in the cycle). Ryan Coogler, who directed both Black Panther films, serves as an executive producer here.