A first look at upcoming films including Wicked and the Deadpool sequel were trailed during Super Bowl adverts.
The teaser for the first instalment of Wicked aired during the National Football League (NFL) championship game, showing Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in the land of Oz in Jon M Chu’s upcoming musical.
The first look at the film begins with the show’s signature anthem, Defying Gravity.
Based on Gregory Maguire’s novel which inspired the Broadway hit, it precedes Dorothy’s arrival in Oz and tells the story of Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West.
“Don’t be afraid,” Grande’s character Glinda, the future Good Witch of the North, reassures green-skinned Elphaba (Erivo).
“I’m not afraid, it’s the Wizard who should be afraid of me,” London-born star Erivo said.
The film will be released in the UK on November 28.
The cast includes Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero Tigelaar and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Oz, who all star in the trailer.
Canadian star Ryan Reynolds and Australian actor Hugh Jackman also shared the screen in the first-look trailer of Deadpool & Wolverine.
The title of the upcoming third film in the franchise was announced during the trailer, which is set to premiere in the US on July 26.
The Third Coming. #DeadpoolWolverine pic.twitter.com/Cdioeu3MuG
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) February 11, 2024
The clip showed Reynolds’ anti-hero Deadpool making his introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as a shadow of Jackman’s Wolverine wrapped up the teaser.
“Your little cinematic universe is about to change forever. I’m the Messiah, I am Marvel Jesus,” Reynolds said in the first-look footage, after making an innuendo joke about Marvel owner Disney.
Deadpool was previously an offshoot of the X-Men universe, which was owned by 20th Century Fox before that studio was absorbed by Disney.
Jackman has played Wolverine since the 2000 film X-Men through to 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, as well as in three spin-off films, including Logan.
There was a glimpse of Wolverine in 2018’s Deadpool 2 and he is expected to be a major character in the third instalment, which is directed by Shawn Levy.
The trailer also featured Succession star Matthew Macfadyen, playing an agent from the Time Variance Authority named Paradox, suggesting the film will overlap with the world of the Disney+ series Loki, starring Tom Hiddleston.
“This is your chance to be a hero among heroes,” he tells Deadpool.
The film is rumoured to include Sir Patrick Stewart – who played Professor X in the X-Men films and has already had a cameo alongside Benedict Cumberbatch in the MCU in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
It also features The Crown star Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams and Karan Soni.
The trailer aired as Reynolds’ wife Blake Lively watched the game in Las Vegas alongside pop star Taylor Swift, who was supporting her Kansas City Chiefs boyfriend Travis Kelce.
The filming of both the Deadpool sequel and Wicked were postponed in the UK following the Hollywood acting strikes.
A first trailer for the much-anticipated film Twisters, starring Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos, was also shown.
The original film, titled Twister starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, was released in 1996 and followed a pair of storm chasers who risk their lives in an attempt to test an experimental weather alert system.
The new film will be released in the US on July 19.