After last weekend’s gaming news explosion, we’re giving that sphere of pop culture a breather in this installment of the latest pop culture news. That said, it’s currently Next Fest on Steam (running 10 – 17 June), which is a fantastic opportunity for PC players to discover new upcoming games and take them for a test drive by playing hundreds of free demos for a limited time.

Moving away from games, streaming services stepped up over the past few days with announcements (especially relating to animated projects) to fill the news gap. Let’s start with them now.

Series

Apple TV+ has always been about quality over quantity, resulting in some of the most star-packed and prestigious films and series for home reviewers. The streamer just released a new “Coming to Apple TV+” sizzle reel for its content slate, both present and upcoming, and it contained first looks for a handful of things.

Some of the highlights include second seasons for science-fiction standouts Silo and Severance (both “Coming soon”); as well as new action film Wolfs (teaming up Brad Pitt and George Clooney) coming to cinemas on 20 September; and Fly Me to the Moon, which has Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum faking the moon landing, and which enjoys a big screen release on 12 July. Learn more about each of these projects, and more, here. And check out the first official image set from Silo S2 here.

Speaking of Apple TV+ and its prestige sci-fi selection, 10-episode Sunny just popped up on our radar out of nowhere. Based on the novel The Dark Manual by Colin O’Sullivan, dark comedy Sunny centres on Suzie (Rashida Jones), an American woman living in Kyoto, Japan with her husband and son. When the latter pair go missing as a result of a plane crash, Suzie is gifted Sunny, a new class of domestic robot made by her husband’s electronics company. Initially resistant to Sunny, Suzie forms a friendship with the synthetic lifeform, and together they delve into the dark, dangerous truth of what really happened to Suzie’s family.

Stream Sunny from 10 July.

Last week we got our first glimpse of footage from Netflix’s League of Legends animated series Arcane Season 2, along with a poster. Well, this week that glimpse was expanded to a full teaser trailer, and the surprise reveal that the multi-award-winning steam-punk fantasy series is ending with this set of episodes, where sisters Vi and Jinx, now on opposite sides of the law, face off. Season 2 of Arcane premieres November on Netflix.

Out of interest, the French animation studio behind Arcane, Fortiche, has just revealed that they’re working on an animated film called Penelope of Sparta, created in the same visual style as their Netflix hit. You can find out more about the coming-of-age tale, that mixes sci-fi elements and young adult themes with Homer’s Odyssey, and check out the key visual, here.

Meanwhile, over at Paramount+ (which means South Africans can look forward to it eventually on Showmax), there’s an upcoming 2D spin-off from last year’s style-blending CGI-animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. The 12-episode Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles starts streaming on 9 August, and is set after the events of the movie – with the title characters juggling high school and their new hero status.

As for TV news tidbits:

  • One final bit of animated series news: Zack Snyder’s Twilight of the Gods, which looks at the events of Norse Mythology’s Ragnarok, now has a release date – 19 September on Netflix. Watch the announce trailer here.
  • On the cusp of Season 2’s premiere, Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon has already been renewed for Season 3.
  • Kristen Stewart is busy locking down her first starring role in a limited series. Stewart should be playing pioneering woman astronaut Sally Ride in The Challenger.

Film

The biggest trailer drop of the week? Paddington in Peru, the third film in the family adventure franchise based on the beloved children’s book series by Michael Bond. This time around, our hero and his adoptive British family, the Browns, head to Paddington’s home country to visit his Aunt Lucy, only to discover the elderly bear has gone missing in the Amazon.

Paddington in Peru has undergone a bit of a creative shuffle behind, and in front of, the camera. Music video director Dougal Wilson replaces Paddington 1 and 2’s Paul King as helmer, while Emily Mortimer steps in for Sally Hawkins to play Mrs Brown. Otherwise, it’s a case of returning faces and voices in the form of Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, Ben Whishaw and Imelda Staunton, while Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas are new additions to the cast.

Paddington in Peru comes to cinemas starting 8 November.

Movie tidbits time:

  • Those R-rated extended versions of Zack Snyder’s sci-fi epic Rebel Moon are happening after all, and arriving earlier than expected on Netflix: on 2 August in fact. Featuring a reported extra hour of footage (it’s unclear whether that’s for each film or spread across the duo), the new director’s cuts have been retitled Rebel Moon — Chapter One: Chalice of Blood, and Chapter Two: Curse of Forgiveness.
  • Speaking of two-part movies, Warner Bros. has released a teaser trailer for its “faithful” animated film adaptations of Watchmen, the groundbreaking superhero graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Watchmen Chapter 1 has a 13 August release date while Chapter 2 comes out next year.
  • Moana has been cast in Disney’s live-action adaptation of their animated Polynesian adventure. The title character will be played by 17-year-old Australian actress Catherine Laga’aia, with Dawyne Johnson reprising the role of shapeshifting god Maui, which he previously voiced. The film is currently set for a July 2026 release.
  • Will the Blade reboot ever come out? We have to ask this because the film, set to bring the supremely cool hybrid vampire hunter into the Marvel Cinematic Universe has lost its director. Again. Dead Set filmmaker Yann Demange has departed the project “amicably.” While Mahershala Ali remains set to take over the role previously played by Wesley Snipes, the reboot was announced back in 2019, and has been impacted by multiple production shifts (causing the first attached director Bassam Tariq to depart), multiple rewrites and the Hollywood strikes. Still, though, the film officially clings to its November 2025 release date. Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, and Delroy Lindo were previously announced as costars.

Lifestyle

Here’s another guest announcement for Comic Con Africa 2024. South African born illustrator and animator Mark Raats will be present at the convention on all four days. Even if you don’t know Raats’s name, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with his work, which includes posters for Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Most recently, Raats produced concept art for Gareth Edwards’s striking sci-fi film The Creator.

CCA 2024 takes place at JHB Expo Centre, from 26 to 29 September. Tickets are available here and are R200 for a day pass.