WIRE Buzz: No Time To Die drops first footage of new Bond film; Avatar sequels wrap 2019; more

Did anyone hear gunshots? How about a brassy musical sting? No? Maybe it’s just the first teaser fans have gotten for Daniel Craig’s final outing as super-spy James Bond in No Time To Die. 

The 007 adventure released a teaser in anticipation of its first full trailer’s drop on Wednesday and even the tiny amount of footage is enough to get old-school Bond fans and those that need to renew their license to kill on board.

Take a look:

Director Cary Joji Fukunaga tackles the 25th James Bond film, bringing back Craig and crew (Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Léa Seydoux, Jeffrey Wright, and Ben Whishaw) while adding some of the hottest up-and-comers in genre film (Ana de Armas and Lashana Lynch) to tackle a new baddie played by Rami Malek.

One motorcycle stunt later, and even the most jaded action junkie is ready to make the switch from Mission: Impossible. Stay tuned for the first full trailer later this week, where fans will hopefully get to see a bit more of Bond’s pals shooting guns and that mysterious masked figure.

No Time To Die will be right on time when it hits theaters on April 8, 2020.

Next, the Avatar sequels continue to rumble along after wrapping principal production on the first pair late last year. Now the follow-ups to the former highest-grossing movie of all time, filmed back-to-back, have hit another production milestone — and given fans another glimpse behind director James Cameron’s sci-fi curtain.

Delays and complex shooting hasn’t stopped Cameron and crew: his team recently wrapped production on the sequels for the year and celebrated by showing off one of the cool new vehicles they’re bringing to Pandora.

Take a look:

The Sea Dragon, eh? Fans knew the sequels would be aquatic in nature simply because of how much submerged shooting the stars were undergoing, but this is by far the largest indicator of its Waterworld-esque scale. In fact, this further makes the case that Avatar 2 will be subtitled The Way of the Water, as it’s rumored.

The future of Avatar stars familiar faces (Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang) alongside newcomers (Kate Winslet, Edie Falco, Vin Diesel, Jermaine Clement, and Michelle Yeoh) when the films begin rolling out.

Avatar 2 plans to welcome fans aboard on Dec. 17, 2021.

Finally, Thanksgiving is over which means that awards season is kicking into high gear for the world of film. Traditionally, that means animation will lead the way, since most of its high-profile entries will have screened earlier in the year, mostly over the summer. Now that the first major animation-focused awards body has announced its nominations, the field is beginning to come into focus.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, The International Animated Film Society released its nominations for the Annie Awards—and some unexpected entries made the final cut. Best Picture, its most prominent category (like the Oscars and most other awards) named Disney/Pixar heavy hitters Toy Story 4 and Frozen 2 as finalists, but also Netflix Santa origin story Klaus and stop-motion Bigfoot tale Missing Link. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World rounded out the category.

Netflix also made it into the Best Indie Feature category with I Lost My Body, which will compete with Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles, Okko's Inn, Promare, and Weathering With You. Other notable nominees included Fortnite (which earned a nod for its Season 7 promo); Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Tales of Arcadia: 3Below (honored for Children’s TV); Harley Quinn and Undone (General TV); His Dark Materials, Alita: Battle Angel, Avengers: Endgame, Game of Thrones, Pokémon Detective Pikachu, and Spider-Man: Far From Home (character animation); and more.

The full list — which may allow awards speculators to glean more insights — can be found here. The winners will be announced at the Annie Awards on Jan. 25.