Venom 2, Friends Reunion, and More in This Week's Best Trailers

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

The week kicked off with the new trailer for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the sequel starring Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady. The trailer offered fans their first look at the titular villain, Carnage, and revealed another symbiote host. There's also a connection between its Daily Bugle and that of the original Spider-Man trilogy, plus a possible Avengers reference raising questions about whether the movie connects to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There's also a tribute to Stan Lee, the co-creator of Spider-Man and co-founder of the Marvel Comics superhero universe, who died in 2018.

Tom Hardy returns to the big screen as the lethal protector Venom, one of MARVEL's greatest and most complex characters. Directed by Andy Serkis, the film also stars Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, and Woody Harrelson, in the role of the villain Cletus Kasady/Carnage.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage opens on September 24th.

Friends Reunion

The biggest television trailer of the week was easily the teaser for HBO Max's Friends reunion. The simple teaser show series stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc walking through the studio lot as a remix of The Rembrandts' iconic opening theme song plays. Fans still aren't quite sure what to expect from the reunion, but they're excited about it.

The main series stars aren't the only ones returning for the reunion. HBO Max released the following list of guests: David Beckham, Justin Bieber, BTS, James Corden, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Lady Gaga, Elliott Gould, Kit Harington, Larry Hankin, Mindy Kaling, Thomas Lennon, Christina Pickles, Tom Selleck, James Michael Tyler, Maggie Wheeler, Reese Witherspoon, Malala Yousafzai.

The Friends reunion debuts on May 27th.

Solos

Amazon Prime Video unveiled the trailer for its star-studded sci-fi anthology Solos. According to Amazon, "The seven-part anthology series explores the strange, beautiful, heart-breaking, hilarious, wondrous truths of what it means to be human. The series spans our present and future and illuminates that even during our most isolated moments we are all connected through the human experience."

Solos stars Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises) as Leah, Anthony Mackie (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) as Tom, Helen Mirren (Fast & Furious 9) as Peg, Uzo Aduba (Orange Is the New Black) as Sasha, Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians) as Jenny, Nicole Beharie (Sleepy Hollow) as Nera, Dan Stevens (Legion) as Otto, and Morgan Freeman (The Dark Knight) as Stuart.

Solos debuts on May 21st.

Love Death + Robots Volume 2 Red Band

Speaking of sci-fi anthologies, Netflix has one of the animated variety that's coming back for its second volume. Love Death + Robots Volume 2 got a red band trailer (meaning its NSFW) showing up the different animation styles featured in the eight-episode season.

Per Netflix, "Otherworlds, naked giants and robots-gone-wild clash in this anthology of adult animated stories executive produced by Tim Miller, David Fincher, Jennifer Miller, and Joshua Donen."

Love Death + Robots Volume 2 is streaming now on Netflix.

The Green Knight

A24 Studios released the new trailer for The Green Knight, the upcoming picturesque fantasy film adapting a portion of Arthurian legend from director David Lowery. The film stars Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, and Joel Edgerton.

An epic fantasy adventure based on the timeless Arthurian legend, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain (Dev Patel), King Arthur's reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger and tester of men. Gawain contends with ghosts, giants, thieves, and schemers in what becomes a deeper journey to define his character and prove his worth in the eyes of his family and kingdom by facing the ultimate challenger. From visionary filmmaker David Lowery comes a fresh and bold spin on a classic tale from the knights of the round table.

The Green Knight opens in theaters on July 30th.

Lisey's Story

Stephen King has a long history of having his work adapted for television and film. The latest in that lineage is Apple TV+'s television adaptation of Lisey's Story, the novel he published in 2006. Apple TV+ released the trailer for the adaptation this week.

Based on the best-selling novel by Stephen King, and adapted by the author himself, Lisey's Story is a deeply personal thriller that follows Lisey Landon (Academy Award winner Julianne Moore) two years after the death of her husband, famous novelist Scott Landon (Academy Award nominee Clive Owen). A series of unsettling events causes Lisey to face memories of her marriage to Scott that she has deliberately blocked out of her mind.

An Apple Original limited series, Lisey's Story is directed by Pablo Larraín, and hails from J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television. King, Moore and Larraín executive produce alongside Abrams, Ben Stephenson and Juan de Dios Larraín. Every episode of the series was personally written by King. Joan Allen, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Dane DeHaan star alongside Moore and Owen.

Lisey's Story premieres on June 4th.

Wish Dragon

On a lighter note, Netflix released the trailer for Sony Pictures' upcoming animated movie Wish Dragon. It's directed by Chris Appelhans and features the voices of Jimmy Wong, John Cho, Constance Wu, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Jimmy O. Yang, Aaron Yoo, Will Yun Lee, and Ronny Chieng.

In Sony Pictures Animation's Wish Dragon, Din, a working-class college student with big dreams but small means, and Long, a cynical but all-powerful dragon capable of granting wishes, set off on a hilarious adventure through modern day Shanghai in pursuit of Din's long-lost childhood friend, Lina. Their journey forces them to answer some of life's biggest questions – because when you can wish for anything, you have to decide what really matters.

Wish Dragon premieres on Netflix on June 11th.

The Forever Purge

On a much, much darker note, Universal Pictures released the trailer for The Forever Purge. The film takes the franchise's concept -- one night where all crime is legal -- and considers what happens when a group decides that one night isn't good enough.

Adela (Ana de la Reguera, Cowboys & Aliens) and her husband Juan (Tenoch Huerta, Days of Grace) live in Texas, where Juan is working as a ranch hand for the wealthy Tucker family. Juan impresses the Tucker patriarch, Caleb (Will Patton, Halloween), but that fuels the jealous anger of Caleb's son, Dylan (Josh Lucas, Ford v Ferrari). On the morning after The Purge, a masked gang of killers attacks the Tucker family—including Dylan's wife (Cassidy Freeman, HBO's The Righteous Gemstones), and his sister (Leven Rambin, The Hunger Games), forcing both families to band together and fight back as the country spirals into chaos and the United States begins to disintegrate around them.

Directed by Everardo Gout, The Forever Purge opens in theaters on July 2nd.

Stillwater

Focus Features released the trailer for Stillwater. The thriller casts Matt Damon as an American father traveling abroad to try to free his daughter from prison.

A dramatic thriller directed by Academy Award winner Tom McCarthy and starring Matt Damon, Stillwater follows an American oil-rig roughneck from Oklahoma who travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter, in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit. Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill builds a new life for himself in France as he makes it his personal mission to exonerate his daughter.

Stillwater opens in theaters on July 30th.

The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard

Lastly, Lionsgate released a new trailer for The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard. It's the sequel to The Hitman's Bodyguard, a buddy comedy starring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, and Salma Hayek.

The world's most lethal odd couple – bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) and hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) – are back on another life-threatening mission. Still unlicensed and under scrutiny, Bryce is forced into action by Darius's even more volatile wife, the infamous international con artist Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek). As Bryce is driven over the edge by his two most dangerous protectees, the trio get in over their heads in a global plot and soon find that they are all that stand between Europe and a vengeful and powerful madman (Antonio Banderas). Joining in the fun and deadly mayhem is Morgan Freeman as...well, you'll have to see.

The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard opens in theaters on June 16th.