THIS MONTH AT EMPIRE

IT’S THE TRAILER we all needed, even if we didn’t know it. When the first teaser for

Thor: Ragnarok dropped in April, there was much whooping and hollering in the Empire office (only some it from me). Number one: HELA! That costume (holy hell, Cate Blanchett). Number two: the haircut. Number three: Jeff Actual Goldblum. Number four: the old friend from work... It was bold, it was funny, it looked completely bonkers and, hey, in the hands of Taika Waititi (director of Empire’s film of 2016,

Hunt For The Wilderpeople), what else could we possibly have expected? We wanted to know more though. Immediately. So we despatched Dan Jolin to the set in Australia to get the lowdown from Waititi and his awe-inspiring cast — turn to p84 for the full story.

That’s not the only thing that’s been going on in our world though — there was a tiny event called Comic-con in San Diego. You may have heard of it? An Empire crew hopped on a plane and spent four days interviewing and photographing the world’s biggest actors and filmmakers in our pop-up studio. There is a full 26-page bumper feature on p57 (you might be able to see the residual sweat) and, while you’re at it, head to empireonline.com for recaps on all of the news from Hall H and beyond. Comic-con is a great indicator of what the next year or so in movies is going to look like. And, having surveyed the landscape and what’s waiting over the brow of the hill, we can say that by God, it looks good.

With the likes of Black Panther, Ready Player One, The Shape Of Water, Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool 2, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri all out in the next 12 months, the future, friends, is bright. Ready? We are. LET’S GO.