THIS MONTH

2022 IS, ACCORDING to the Chinese zodiac, the

EMPIRE

WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO THIS MONTH

CHRISTMAS CHEER

Really enjoyed the article on Hallmark movies in

TYPICALLY EXCELLENT WESTSIDESTORY ARTICLE FROM THE BRILLIANT IAN FREER. HIS PIECES ARE ALWAYS STUFFED WITH GREAT DETAILS.

ON LAST ISSUE’S WESTSIDESTORY FEATURE: @APAULBULLOCK / PAUL

NOT THE GARLIC!! NOOOOOO!! NOT THE GARLIC!!!!

ON NICOLAS CAGE’S DRACULA CASTING: DANIEL PISTRITTO

BUS BRUTALITY

Will 2021 be remembered as the year of

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EMPIRE MAGAZINE, ACADEMIC HOUSE, 24-28 OVAL ROAD,

The anime universe that out-Matrixes The Matrix

How director Mamoru Hosoda and concept artist Eric Wong built ‘U’, the VR world for dazzling new animation BELLE

Behind the curtain on Marvel’s Broadway debut

The creators of Hawkeye’s show-within-a-show, Rogers:TheMusical, tell us how it came to be

Why Nicolas Cage was destined for Dracula

The actor will sink his teeth into the role of a lifetime in Renfield — but it was always going to lead to this

BERGMAN ISLAND: THEME PARK?

Be rgman Island is a serious new drama — and not, disappointingly, about an Ingmar Bergman theme park. But what if it was?

Inside the quest for the next Westeros

There’s a gold rush right now in fantasy TV adaptations. But who will fill the void left by GameOfThrones?

The Astaire-ing contest heats up

Jamie Bell and Tom Holland are both set to play Hollywood icon Fred Astaire in competing biopics — but who will be the best?

The Nordic romcom that stops time

The WorstPersonInTheWorld director Joachim Trier on crafting a fantasy sequence that makes Oslo stand still

Get under the mask of Spider-Man 2099

After that dazzling first trailer, meet Miguel O’Hara: the futuristic webslinger who will appear in the Spider-Verse sequel

Serving up the family dinner from hell

Beanie Feldstein on hosting the world’s most passive-aggressive get-together in THE HUMANS

TOM HOLLAND

Getty Images. Illustration: Mike Cathro How are you, Tom?

The true story behind DiCaprio’s darkest challenge yet

Leonardo DiCaprio is set to play infamous Jonestown cult leader Jim Jones — an expert reveals what to expect

“Why not be a monster in an over-the- top crazy movie, and sing in another?”

PETER DINKLAGE makes his musical debut in Cyrano — but with TheToxicAvengeron the horizon, he’s not staying in one place

ATLANTIS, RESURFACED

Colin Trevorrow on his plans to reboot an ancient myth for a new generation

BLACK IN FOCUS

AMON WARMANN chews over the main moment in Black film and TV this month

Say hello to the new Reacher

How JACK REACHER star Alan Ritchson is tackling the iconic attributes of the literary man mountain

Magic Mike is the hero we need right now

Empire contributing editor Beth Webb on why the now-confirmed third film in the stripper series could save us all

Why I donned the iconic spectacles

JOE COLE on taking on Michael Caine’s legacy in the new adaptation of TheIpcress File

NEXT IN THE SERIES

You fell in love with that incredible new TV show. And then it ended! Don’t despair — Boyd Hilton recommends the sibling shows to watch next

FREAKY DOLLS

Meet the toys that you will definitely want to throw out of your pram

Revealing the secrets of Charlie Chaplin

Four surprises, as brought to light by new documentary THE REAL CHARLIE CHAPLIN

Agathe Rousselle

THE FRENCH PHOTOGRAPHER-TURNED- ACTOR MAKES HER FILM DEBUT IN THE GORY CULT HIT TITANE

From corsets to carnage

Romola Garai is best known as a period-drama actor — so why is her first film as director, Amulet, a demon-infested horror?

Marry Me

Unfiltered, uncensored, uncompromising trailer reactions from team EMPIRE

The Stephen Sondheim Songbook

[ IN MEMORIAM] In tribute to the late, great STEPHEN SONDHEIM, we pick five of his greatest screen moments

PINT OF MILK

ILLUSTRATION ARN0 Have you ever knowingly broken the

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LICORICE PIZZA

Here: Love on the run — Gary

TITANE

She’d always been the shy, retiring type. ★★★★

AILEY

★★★ OUT 7 JANUARY / CERT TBC /

MEMORIA

★★★★ OUT 14 JANUARY / CERT TBC /

THE LOST DAUGHTER

Reality check: Olivia Colman’s Greek getaway offers up

THE KING’S MAN

War hero? Conrad (Harris Dickinson) helps a fellow

SWAN SONG

Seeing double: Mahershala Ali. ★★★★ OUT NOW (CINEMAS/APPLE

A HERO

★★★★ OUT 7 JANUARY (CINEMAS), 21 JANUARY (AMAZON

MINYAN

★★★ OUT 7 JANUARY / CERT TBC /

BOILING POINT

★★★ OUT 7 JANUARY / CERT 15 /

MUNICH: THE EDGE OF WAR

★★★ OUT 7 JANUARY (CINEMAS), 21 JANUARY (NETFLIX)

THE ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN

★★★ OUT 1 JANUARY / CERT 12A /

THE HUMANS

★★★★ OUT 31 DECEMBER / CERT TBC /

DON’T LOOK UP

Clockwise from left: Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence

BEING THE RICARDOS

Ricardo Vs. Ricardo: Cracks appear for beloved TV

BLUE BAYOU

★★★ OUT NOW / CERT 15 / 118

RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY

★★ OUT NOW / CERT 15 / 107

CYRANO

Dancing around each other: Roxanne (Haley Bennett) and

WEST SIDE STORY

Top to bottom: Rita Moreno as Valentina; Anita

HOUSE OF GUCCI

Lady Gaga burns the screen as Patrizia Reggiani.

CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG

★★★ OUT NOW / CERT PG / 96

COW

★★★★ OUT 14 JANUARY (CINEMAS) / 11 FEBRUARY

THE WITCHER: SEASON 2

The Witcher hour: Henry Cavill as Geralt. Top

HAWKEYE

Anything you can do... Kate (Hailee Steinfeld) joins

CHECKLIST

Your at-a-glance view of this month’s reviews this month’s reviews

DARKESTK NIGHT

SERIAL KILLERS. CLAWS. AND… KURT COBAIN? IN OUR WORLD-EXCLUSIVE STORY, DIRECTOR MATT REEVES, STAR ROBERT PATTINSON AND MORE TELL US HOW YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THE BATMAN LIKE THIS…

“With the claws, it was scary to wash my face”

After you first got the role, what kind

“He’s about puzzles, games… he ’s got the upper hand”

Portrait: Frank Ockenfels © 2021 Warner Bros. Entertainment

“There’s a fracture that fuels his ambition”

Portrait: Jamie Hawkesworth © 2021 Warner Bros. Entertainment

JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION

MUST GO FASTER! DIRECTOR COLIN TREVORROW BRIEFS US IN ON HIS DINOSAURS-RUN-AMOK TRILOGY-CLOSER

THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE MOST NICOLAS CAGE FILM OF ALL TIME

TURNING RED

PIXAR’S LATEST TEACHES THE IMPORTANCE OF LETTING OUT YOUR INNER PANDA

UNWELCOME

IN WHICH DOUGLAS BOOTH BATTLES GARDEN-VARIETY GOBLINS

MOONFALL

DISASTER-MASTER ROLAND EMMERICH ON HIS MOON-VERSUS -EARTH OPUS

UNCHARTED

DIRECTOR RUBEN FLEISCHER BRINGS THE BIG GAME SERIES TO THE BIG SCREEN

AVATAR 2

JAMES CAMERON’S AVATAR BECAME THE BIGGEST FILM EVER, BUT, SAYS PRODUCER JON LANDAU, THAT WA S MERELY THE BEGINNING

POWERING UP

A FTER MULTIPLE D ELAYS, 2022 LOOKS SET TO POSITIVELY EXPLODE WITH SUPERHEROES. HERE’S WHAT’S IN STORE…

THE NORTHMAN

ROBERT EGGERS ON HIS BERSERKER VIKING EPIC

HIT THE ROAD

THE IRANIAN FAMILY DRAMA THAT WANTS TO MELT YOUR HEART

VORTEX

AFTER NEARLY DYING, GASPAR NOÉ FLIPPED HIS FILMMAKING ON ITS HEAD

LIGHTYEAR

TOY STORY’S GALACTIC HERO IS BACK… BUT NOT QUITE AS WE KNOW HIM

PEACEMAKER

JAMES GUNN ON HOW HE’S PUSHING EVERYTHING FURTHER WITH THE SUICIDE SQUAD’S TV SPIN-OFF

PEAKY BLINDERS

IN THE SHOW’S SIXTH — AND FINAL — SEASON, THE BRUTAL BRUMMIES ARE BACK WITH A VENGEANCE

GOING LARGE

NEXT YEAR, THE SMALL SCREEN WILL BE HUGE, WITH A BONANZA OF ENORMOUS TV SHOWS SET TO SHAKE THINGS UPN

TROUBLE MAKER

FOR FOUR DECADES, PEDRO ALMODÓVAR HAS BEEN MAKING CONSISTENTLY RIOTOUS, UNPREDICTABLE CINEMA, AND HIS UPCOMING PARALLEL MOTHERS IS NO EXCEPTION. AS HE TELLS US, HE DOESN’T KNOW ANY OTHER WAY

SECOND SIGHT

NIGHTMARE ALLEY, A NOIR THRILLER ABOUT A CLAIRVOYANT CON MAN, REQUIRED DIRECTOR TO RIP UP HIS OWN RULEBOOK. EXCLUSIVELY FOR EMPIRE, HE WRITES ABOUT HIS PERSONAL FILM YET JOURNEY WITH HIS MOST

TILDA SWINTON

The constant chameleon who never stops experimenting

Time to talk

INDISPENSABLE HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Miami Twice

KEMP POWERS on turning his play, OneNightInMiami, into an Oscar-nominated screenplay

Training Day

We reassess the greatest films of all time, one film at a time

DENZEL IN NUMBERS

28/12/54 THE DATE DENZEL HAYES WASHINGTON JR WAS

Tinker Tailor Soldier Director

Director TOMAS ALFREDSON revisits his excellent John le Carré adaptation, TinkerTailorSoldierSpy, as it turns ten

MOVIE PLAYLIST

THE CRITIC AND SCALA RADIO PRESENTER CHOOSES HIS ULTIMATE CINEMATICC SOUNDTRACKS

Movies of 1997

Four Empire writers. Ten movies. Ordered definitively

THE TOP TEN

1 L.A. CONFIDENTIAL Chris: “Curtis Hanson’s sumptuous James

THE CULT OF KIM NEWMAN

The critic and novelist selects the month’s weirdest home-ent releases

THE STORY OF THE SHOT

How iconic images came to life

6 OF THE BEST

Team Empireon the month’s essential movies

WIN!

A SET OF AIRPULSE A100 SPEAKERS

On The Waterfront Chosen

Standout sequences from the great movies