Han Solo, 'Predator' Reboot, and 'Alien: Covenant' Battle for the Best New Cast Photo

Han Solo, 'Predator' Reboot, and 'Alien: Covenant' Battle for the Best New Cast Photo

Michael McBride
Film, News

Prepare your coolest laser-lined background, spike your hair, and break out that rad pink-triangle-print collared shirt, because today was picture day for all of your favorite 70s and 80s franchises.  Approximately all of the studios decided at the same time that their upcoming tent-pole releases needed to raise awareness with a group photo.  Not a whole lot can be gleaned from impromptu cast shots, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

First up, 20th Century Fox tweeted out the following shot for the Prometheus sequel, and Alien prequel, Alien: Covenant.  

There are a bunch of people packed into this frame (fifteen to be exact), but it doesn't really tell us much about any of them.  Like the first trailer, this shot features that same grim-dark version of the Alien style that Ridley Scott used for Prometheus.  That film was flawed on a conceptual, character, and story level, but it was gorgeous to look at, so I have no complaints about this looking similar.  Katherine Waterston's main character, Daniels, feels a bit too Ripley-lite for my taste, and compared to the interesting working class look of the original 1979 cast, the entire group looks too much like a Calvin Klein photo-shoot.  I hope Scott pulls this one off and catches lightening once again, but after being burnt so badly by Prometheus' mediocrity I'm not too optimistic.  Alien: Covenant will be released this coming May 19th. 

Next, we get our first look at some of Shane Black's new The Predator players.  

That's disappointing.  Writer-Director Shane Black took this photo for literally the first day of filming, so I'm not exactly surprised the look is so spare.  With that said, they are going to have to do a lot of leg work for me to take Keegan Michael Key of Key and Peele fame (far right) seriously as a badass military-type.  In fact, all of the actors feel weirdly out of place.  Even Sterling K. Brown (far left), who has done some impressive work on the NBC drama This Is Us, looks like he walked off the set of a generic CW drama.  Shane Black has a fun and unique directorial voice, as evidenced by his last film, the underrated buddy-noir The Nice Guys, and the start of Robert Downey Jr.'s leading man redemption Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but when he feeds that voice through the creative echo chamber of big-budget Hollywood film-making, we get the interesting, but not amazing, Iron Man 3.   This one is a ways out (February 9, 2018), so I'll reserve any more judgement until we actually see some footage.  

Lastly, we get a genial cockpit shot from the still untitled Han Solo feature, and in my opinion it's the best of the bunch.

This cast just looks so darn charming.  From left to right we see Woody Harrelson, co-director Phil Lord, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Alden "not Harrison Ford" Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Chewbacca, other co-director Chris Miller, and Donald "not Billy Dee Williams" Glover.  I was skeptical of Aldan Ehrenreich when his casting was first announced, but with that mischievous boyish grin he is looking suitably Solo-y.  I honestly don't know if it's the nostalgic wallop of once again seeing the familiar Millenium Falcon controls, the calming presence of Chewie, or the expression of pure fun on Woody Harrelson's face, but this picture really fires up my excitement.  Unfortunately, this is the furthest film out with a reported release date of May 25, 2018 (don't be surprised if this officially changes to December at some point).  All I have to say is, please don't suck.    

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