Sequel Bits: ‘Finding Dory,’ ‘The Haunted Mansion,’ ‘Fast 8,’ ‘Kong: Skull Island,’ ‘Uncle Buck,’ ‘Transformers’
In today’s edition of Sequel Bits:
Let this peek at#FindingDorytide you over until June 17.https://t.co/i9Qu9ELdKg
— Disney (@Disney)August 22, 2025
Disney revealed a new TV spot forFinding Doryon their official Twitter feed and it’s almost entirely new footage, so feel free to do the frame-by-frame thing. On a surface-level glance, this spot features our first good look at Bailey the Beluga Whale (voiced byModern FamilystarTy Burrell) and additional glimpses of the Monterey Marine Life Institute, where Dory lived with her parents before…somethinghappened. Oh, and there’s some acrobatics from Hank the Octopus (voiced byEd O’Neill), who seems poised to be the break-out character of this film.
@wolfsoul4We are still on it!! 4th draft!!
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)June 24, 2025
Speaking of Disney news being revealed on Twitter, director Guillermo del Toro recently revealed that yes, the reboot ofThe Haunted Mansionthat he’s supposedly writing is…still something that he’s writing. This may come as a bit of a surprise, since del Toro has a habit of collecting films that he will never makeandbecause his previous haunted house movie (the wonderfulCrimson Peak) was a box office bombandbecause no one has talked about this movie in some time. But as del Toro pointed out on Twitter, the original Disneyland attraction is his favorite place on Earth. There’s no way he’s going to let this one go without a fight.
ABC has released a new trailer for their upcoming television remake of John Hughes' 1990 comedyUncle Buckand it…well, let’s just say that it doesn’t look particularly funny and leave it at that. Then again, I also don’t think the original film is particularly good either, so I may not be the best judge of this. What say you, fans of the movie?
Ah, there’s nothing like an ugly lawsuit to remind you that the world of film is a business, and like all businesses, it can get ugly.The Hollywood Reporterhas revealed thatJoe DeVito, a concept artist who had worked with the estate of originalKing KongdirectorMerian C. Cooperto develop a prequel TV series to the iconic 1933 film, is suing Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros over the upcomingKong: Skull Island. It seems that a few years ago, he partnered with producerLorenzo di Bonaventuraand made a pitch:
During an August 13, 2025, pitch meeting at Legendary, DeVito says his team presented its vision for the Kong Skull Island project, including how the events after Kong’s death could tie to events before his discovery. Despite what DeVito paints as a positive response to the pitch, Legendary passed on the project and, because of its new relationship with the studio, di Bonaventura backed out as well.
And then Legendary announced that it was makingKong: Skull Island. So either a major studio took advantage of a guy’s idea or a guy is attempting to make money off a film he has nothing to do with. At this point, it’s not clear which is the truth, which casts an ugly haze over a promising movie.
While we’re on the subject of lawsuits,The Hollywood Reporterreports that the Wulong Karst Tourism, a state-backed Chinese company, is suing Paramount for $27 million. It seems that they paid the studio $750,000 to feature the company’s logo at some point duringTransformers: Age of Extinctionand…they just didn’t. That seems crazy because there are literally a hundred different points during the film’s China-set climax where a logo could have been placed in the background. Anyway, Paramount admits that they didn’t put the logo in the movie, but claims they made up for it. Please hold your guffaws:
If that’s their best excuse, then Paramount probably does deserve to be sued.
Welcome to Cuba –#F8is now in production!https://t.co/0aneIVMhJm
— Fast & Furious (@TheFastSaga)July 17, 2025
Fast 8is the first studio movie to film in Cuba since the United States placed an embargo on its island neighbor in the ‘1960s. That’s cool trivia all by itself, butF. Gary Gray’s upcoming sequel wants to shout it from the rooftops, hence the brief video tweeted out by the franchise’s official Twitter feed. This is technically the second glimpse of the film’s Cuban location that we’ve already seen – just a few days ago,footage of a car chasebeing shot in the streets of Havana appeared online. Yep, Cuba is just as ripe for car-related destruction as the rest of the world.
