Movies

Why Arnold Schwarzenegger Almost Turned Down the Lead Role in Terminator

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new memoir Total Recall is out now, and there’s a fascinating excerpt dealing with the making of The Terminator, over at the Sydney Morning Herald. In it, Schwarznegger explains why he originally turned down the role of the Terminator — because he was trying to play more heroic roles and didn’t want to…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

What Looper Teaches Us About How to Do Genre Right

Now that Looper is officially a sleeper hit, there’s been a lot of speculation that this could be the start of an era of smart genre movies. (We heard similar talk after Moon and District 9.) But it’s definitely true that every time a smart genre film does well, it opens the door a little…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie: All Spark, No Bite

The opening few minutes of Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie are magical. The little kid, Victor, makes a home monster movie, with his pet dog Sparky dressed up as a Godzilla-style giant monster in a model town. The celebration of DIY B-movie film-making feels very personal, and probably autobiographical. And then the rest of Frankenweenie feels lacking…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

What if Star Wars starred Mexican luchadores?

Imagine if George Lucas crumbled under the pressure, blew his special effects budget on leotards, and headed down to Mexico City to fund A New Hope on the remaining gas money. The final product might look not unlike Jason Chalker’s La Guerra De Los Luchadores (prints available here soon). Artoo, Threepio, and the no-budget Millenium…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar

How Realistic Are All of James Bond’s Weapons and Gadgets?

When I was a wee pup, my favorite thing about James Bond movies were the scenes with Q. Back then, getting a peek behind the laboratory of insane gadgets and wild weapons was just as cool as killing bad guys in a tuxedo and sleeping with women without one. But how real were those movie-world…

Movies Casey Chan

10 Kick-Ass Women Who Should Guest Star in Joss Whedon’s New S.H.I.E.L.D. TV Show

The other day, we learned our first precious hints about the characters who’ll appear in Joss Whedon’s new TV show about the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. But we also know two things: 1) The show will have to include some glimpses of the Marvel Universe beyond S.H.I.E.L.D. 2) Joss Whedon loves poweful women. https://gizmodo.com/meet-the-new-agents-from-joss-whedons-s-h-i-e-l-d-show-5948190 So here…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

Watch a deleted scene from Lilo & Stitch about racist tourists

Here’s a nixed, incomplete scene from the 2002 Disney cartoon Lilo & Stitch that took a break from the film’s main “alien experiment on the loose” storyline. This sequence showed how filmmakers were willing to confront those rude tourists who treat Hawaii’s residents like the denizens of one big exotic playground. This cute scene would’ve…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar

27 Of The Most Insane Martial Arts Battles Ever Filmed

We here at io9 love a good mind-melting martial arts battle between ninjas, kung fu masters, or two perplexed extras who have no self-defense training whatsoever. And over the years, a hearty 98% of our daily coverage has been devoted to finding the weirdest, most reality-defying fisticuffs ever dreamt up. For posterity’s sake, we’ve amassed…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar

An exclusive clip of Ridley Scott terrorizing the hell out of the Prometheus crew

Watch Ridley Scott go old school and just scare the heck out of his actors in attempt to capture genuine fear on film. We’ve got an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the director’s efforts to shock actress Kate Dickie, who played Ford, the ship’s doctor. It’s both diabolical and wonderful at the same time. Say what…

Movies Meredith Woerner

Welcome to New York 2023, where every surface is a DNA scanner

Here’s Plurality, director Dennis Liu’s 14-minute concept piece about a futuristic New York where every handrail and wall can read your genetic material, rendering credit cards and keys contrivances of the past. This newfangled Bentham Grid also has a side that makes civil libertarians cringe — namely that law enforcement is now using it to…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar

Star Wars characters holding bunnies. Human art was meant to culminate in this moment.

Bad news, artists. Humanity has fulfilled its aesthetic potential with this series of paintings by Kelly Kerrigan. Everybody out of the art pool and go home. C’mon, shoo. There are no more zeniths left to scale. I’m putting a lock on the art fence. Anyone who’s stuck inside will be considered a trespasser and arrested…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar

Sinister scary or not? Watch these new clips and decide

We’ve got a bunch of new clips from the horror movie Sinister — which manages to be pretty scary, while also being more creative than your run-of-the-mill “found footage” movie. Sinister follows Ethan Hawke, true crimes novelist, as he tries to unwind the mystery behind a family that died of a mass hanging. All together,…

Movies Meredith Woerner

Androids, Comics, and Ghost Prostitutes: A Conversation With The Legendary Lance Henriksen

Throughout his career, Lance Henriksen has played everything from curious androids to paranormally powered FBI agents. But with his upcoming comic book To Hell You Ride, the actor gets to spin a Weird Western horror yarn that’s been haunting him for decades. (Also, what did Bishop himself think of Prometheus?) Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics,…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar

Would an Unlimited Subscription Get Your Ass Back in a Movie Theater Seat?

Going to the movies is expensive. Here in New York a regular adult ticket costs about $12, which doesn’t even include the price of popcorn and soda. MoviePass, which is currently in beta, wants to fix this by offering an all-you-can-watch subscription to the movies. TechCrunch reports that for a subscription fee of $25-$40 per…

Movies Mario Aguilar

10 Silliest Frankenstein Spoofs

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein helped to launch the entire genre of science fiction, and shaped our dialogue about the ethics of science and artificial life. But it’s also created a pop culture explosion that’s lasted over a century, and continues full-tilt today. Franken-culture is here to stay, and it often gets mighty ridiculous. To celebrate Friday’s…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

The Bay Is A Grotesque, Giant Tongue-Eating Parasite Tease

Barry Levinson’s found footage horror movie The Bay uses every single camera we can think of to deliver the chills. From phone cameras to security cameras to underwater cameras, all of the various shaky shots come together to teach us that if we don’t take care of this planet, mutant parasites will strip our bodies…

Movies Meredith Woerner

Do You Torrent?

Music, videos, ebooks—if you’re a scofflaw who’s into downloading pirated content, your options are seemingly endless. But are you? Do you? Image: Yasuhide Fumoto/Getty Images

Movies Molly Oswaks

This is what Yoda would like as a human being. Yikes.

Behold, Yoda in human form. In horrible, terrible human flesh. It’s pretty horrifying, and Yoda should really go and get some of those moles checked out. But when you squint just right, he kind of looks like my grandpa. Even with the ears. Aw… now we love him. This was created by the Italian sculptor…

Movies Meredith Woerner

Gorgeous prop replica maps of Middle Earth take us through Peter Jackson’s Hobbit

Plot out the journey of the dwarves and the halfling, with these brand new Weta official Hobbit maps. Plus dwarf weapons, swords, daggers and axes. No sign of a sting prop replica yet — but we can wait. Also check out the tiny drawing of a possible Smaug hidden in the map near Lonely Mountain.…

Movies Meredith Woerner

An emotionally-intense short film about scavengers in a space elevator town

When we first saw Stuart Willis’ short film Payload earlier this year, we were blown away. It’s a fully-realized tale of tough frontier life in a space elevator town, which is sort of a cross between Deadwood and Tatooine. I loved the effects, and we’ve got concept art for the incredible space elevator. But more…

Movies Annalee Newitz

Why Arnold Schwarzenegger Almost Turned Down the Lead Role in Terminator

What Looper Teaches Us About How to Do Genre Right

Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie: All Spark, No Bite

What if Star Wars starred Mexican luchadores?

How Realistic Are All of James Bond’s Weapons and Gadgets?

10 Kick-Ass Women Who Should Guest Star in Joss Whedon’s New S.H.I.E.L.D. TV Show

Watch a deleted scene from Lilo & Stitch about racist tourists

27 Of The Most Insane Martial Arts Battles Ever Filmed

An exclusive clip of Ridley Scott terrorizing the hell out of the Prometheus crew

Welcome to New York 2023, where every surface is a DNA scanner

Star Wars characters holding bunnies. Human art was meant to culminate in this moment.

Sinister scary or not? Watch these new clips and decide

Androids, Comics, and Ghost Prostitutes: A Conversation With The Legendary Lance Henriksen

Would an Unlimited Subscription Get Your Ass Back in a Movie Theater Seat?

10 Silliest Frankenstein Spoofs

The Bay Is A Grotesque, Giant Tongue-Eating Parasite Tease

Do You Torrent?

This is what Yoda would like as a human being. Yikes.

Gorgeous prop replica maps of Middle Earth take us through Peter Jackson’s Hobbit

An emotionally-intense short film about scavengers in a space elevator town

Feds Sniffing Around Polymarket After Suspicious Bets

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Don’t Get Too Attached to Any AI App

‘Paradise’ Writer Teases What’s Coming in Season 3 After That Huge Twist

Trump’s New White House App Is Mildly Concerning and Weird for a Lot of Reasons

Bloodsucking Ticks Can Survive Inside Your Home Longer Than You Might Think

The Best New Toys of March 2026

Judge Denies Liking LinkedIn Post Critical of Elon Musk But Reassigns His Cases Anyway

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

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