Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | News | November 18, 2025
My kids have been getting into Universal monster movies this year, and it’s been a blast. They’re the perfect age for it, and creatures like the Mummy, Frankenstein, and Dracula loom large in our home. So, when one of them was sick on a dreary Saturday afternoon, and I busted out Frankenstein Meets The Wolf-Man, these kids lost their dang minds.
Seeing these two face off was inherently exciting for my boys. Even though the big showdown doesn’t happen until almost the end of the film, it was enough to get their imaginations going and have them dream up a world where people crossover all the time. We recently watched a Batman/Ninja Turtles mashup movie, and there’s a Sonic the Hedgehog/Justice League comic they love. In their world, people they love meet up regularly.
That rules! It’s something that seems way more attainable as a kid, too. Your action figures play together, so why shouldn’t their live-action or animated counterparts do the same? When you’re older, you realize it’s a bit more complicated than that, especially when dealing with IP. So, you hope for other things, like seeing some of your favorite movie stars work together. And sometimes, that happens in such an impactful way, people try to recreate it years later.
This seems to be the case with Heat 2. The long-awaited, yet somewhat unexpected sequel to Michael Mann’s film Heat will start production next year. The original saw Al Pacino and Robert De Niro face off, onscreen, for the first time. It was a momentous occasion that highlighted an incredible film. Now, Mann is returning, and possibly having two more big stars lock eyes: Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale.
DiCaprio is allegedly already signed on to the film, taking over the role originally played by Val Kilmer. Bale is now apparently circling another part in the film, and if he joins, it would mark the first onscreen collaboration between the duo. It may not be as exciting to my four-year-old children (but I’ll ask later, just in case), but I know quite a few film folks who are about to be very excited.
The only question now is whether or not the film will end up in theaters. It is being made at Amazon, and while they have certainly released some movies in theaters, they’ve made plenty that have dropped right onto our screens. My guess is that no one involved (rumored or otherwise) would want that, but we’ll see.
