It’s another pop culture news double up, with two weeks of standout stories below. Let’s not waste any time, and jump into the biggest announcements around film, series, gaming, and upcoming Comic Con Cape Town 2024.

Film

Following the recent reveal of images from long-in-development franchise reboot The Crow, movie fans were, uh, we guess treated to the first trailer for the upcoming supernatural revenge tale – based on a 90s comic hit.

In The Crow, soulmates Eric Draven (Bill Skarsgård) and Shelly Webster (FKA twigs) have troubled pasts but seize the opportunity for happiness together. When demons from Shelly’s life catch up with them, the pair are brutally murdered. Eric returns from the dead, though, to set things right. But the clock is ticking, for him and Shelly’s soul.

The Crow is currently set for release on 7 June.

We try not to overdo the trailer coverage beyond a certain point, due to the risk of spoiling upcoming movies, so this is probably the last time we single out preview material for post-apocalyptic actioner Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

In this prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, filmmaker George Miller delves into the origin story of Furiosa, played here by Anya Taylor-Joy, following in Charlize Theron’s footsteps. Our determined heroine is snatched in childhood from her home and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). When Dementus clashes with rival tyrant Immortan Joe, Furiosa must survive many trials as she plans her escape.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga comes to cinemas from 24 May.

Just when we’d pretty much given up on the Alien franchise, along comes Alien: Romulus, which promises to take the sci-fi horror film series back to basics.

Apparently set in the 57 year gap between the events of Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986), Alien: Romulus sees a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe when they board a derelict space station. The cast includes only moderately knowns – like Priscilla’s Cailee Spaeny, Archie Renaux from Netflix’s Shadow and Bone, and Dora and The Lost City of Gold’s Isabela Merced – while a major selling point is that genre master Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe) directs.

Alien: Romulus bursts into cinemas on 16 August.

Squeaking in before this week’s recap is the teaser trailer for Beetlejuice 2, AKA Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Director Tim Burton reunites with stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara from the 1988 original, while franchise newcomers are Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe.

Ortega plays Astrid, the rebellious teenage daughter of Lydia Deetz (Ryder) who remains haunted by her adolescent encounter with the devious spirit Beetlejuice (Keaton). When the family returns to Winter River for a funeral, Astrid accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife, heralding Beetlejuice’s 36-years-later return.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice comes to cinemas on 6 September. You can find the first promotional images from the film here.

A few more movie news tidbits from the past fortnight:

  • South Africans will soon be able to watch this year’s Academy Award winner for Animated Feature Film: The Boy and the Heron, from Studio Ghibli and legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. The fantasy adventure comes to select local cinemas from 19 April.
  • Speaking of the ability to watch high-profile films, Poor Things (a four-time Oscar winner this year for leading lady Emma Stone, Production Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Costume Design) is now on Disney+ with no promotional fanfare. A similar situation applies to fellow 2024 nominee Anatomy of a Fall, a French legal thriller which ended up winning Best Original Screenplay. Anatomy of a Fall is now on Prime Video.
  • Also on matters of Disney+, from 3 April, fans of animated Disney musicals will be able to watch the House of Mouse’s most recent release Wish.

  • Now for a few movies entering development:

    Look out for new remakes of Little Shop of Horrors (with Gremlins 1 and 2’s Joe Dante in the director’s chair) and The Neverending Story returning as a film series.

    With stars Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega and the directing team all out of the seventh movie in the Scream franchise, original star Neve Campbell is returning for Scream 7 along with original Scream writer Kevin Williamson behind the camera.

    Oh, and apparently Patty Jenkins’s Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is back in the works.
  • Finally, for movies already in production, Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson’s The Batman 2 has been pushed back a year from October 2025 to 6 October 2006, while the third Venom film, now titled Venom: The Last Dance, has seen its release date move up from early November to 25 October this year.

Series

On the series front, the biggest news of the week is the first trailer for Star Wars: The Acolyte. Breaking free of Skywalker family connections by shifting the action 100 years before the events of Episode I – The Phantom Menace, this eight-episode series takes the form of a murder mystery set during the High Republic era, a golden age for both the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order.

More specifically, a respected Jedi Master (Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae) investigates a series of crimes against the Order. This brings him into conflict with a former Padawan (Amandla Stenberg) and reveals that a long dormant enemy is reemerging to threaten the peaceful status quo. Also in the ensemble cast are Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, and Carrie-Anne Moss.

The Acolyte debuts on Disney+ on 4 June, with a two-episode premiere.

Also coming to Disney+ globally (unless you’re in the UK) is the new season of Doctor Who. Beginning Saturday, 11 May, at 1am, audiences will return to The Church on Ruby Road, which premiered last December, and immediately have access to two all-new episodes. In the UK, the season kicks off Saturday, 11 May, at 12:00am GMT on BBC iPlayer, followed by BBC One later that day.

With Russell T Davies back as showrunner, the new season of Doctor Who sees the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), a unique regeneration, and his companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) travel across time and space, from England’s Regency era to war-torn future worlds. In the process they’ll make new allies and face the Doctor’s most powerful enemy yet.

Below is new key art for the series and a fresh promotional image.

Gaming

Back in September 2022, we learned of an upcoming action adventure set in the Marvel universe, where Captain America (Steve Rogers) and Black Panther (T’Challa’s grandfather, Azzuri) team up during World War II.

Now we have a story trailer that not only reveals the game’s four playable protagonists – which include Howling Commandos member Gabriel Jones and Nanali, the leader of the Wakandan Spy Network – but also the game’s full title (Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra), and a release date window of 2025.

Using Unreal Engine 5 as its base, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra is being made by Skydance New Media, with Uncharted’s Amy Hennig guiding the project alongside Marvel Comics veteran Marc Bernardin.

March is a strong month for Xbox and PC Game Pass additions. Along with the high-profile arrival of Diablo IV on 28 March (thanks to Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard purchase), Game Pass members will be able to play new Annapurna Interactive release Open Roads – a mom and daughter road trip mystery – on day one (28 March). They’ll also be able to finally tackle choice-driven horror game The Quarry from 20 March, and throwback actioner Evil West as of 21 March.

Lifestyle

Let’s end this news recap with the latest guest announcements for Comic Con Cape Town 2024, which is taking place at the CTICC from 27 April to 1 May. With partner FanCon handling the comic and street art side of things, attendees will be able to meet the likes of local artists Karl Mostert and Fok Alles, and international creator David Baron.

Meanwhile, One Piece fans will be thrilled to learn that South African actors Langley Kirkwood, and Aidan Scott, who play the father and son duo of Axe-Hand Morgan and Helmeppo in Netflix’s live-action anime adaptation, will be present at Comic Con Cape Town on the weekend and holiday Wednesday. For all previous guest and schedule announcements, you’ll find those here.