Between Disney’s D23 event, and a good half dozen gaming showcases capitalising on Tokyo Game Show 2022, it has been a very busy week for pop culture news. We’re just sticking to the stories and announcements that stood out for us. Let’s begin now.

Film

Probably the biggest trailer reveal of the past week was for Disney’s The Little Mermaid, a live-action remake of its 1989 smash hit – which finally revived its flagging animation fortunes. Rob (Chicago, Mary Poppins Returns) Marshall is behind the camera for this tale of Ariel (Halle Bailey), a beautiful and spirited young mermaid, whose thirst for adventure takes her from the sea to the land to be with dashing Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King). That means making a dangerous bargain with Ursula the Sea Witch (Melissa McCarthy). Of course, the racists are already frothing at the mouth about this one, which hits cinemas on 26 May.

Still on matters of princesses, here’s a sequel that nobody really expected. Disenchanted is set 15 years after the events of musical romantic comedy Enchanted, where fairy tale princess Giselle (Amy Adams) found love in the real world with Robert (Patrick Dempsey). When Giselle’s happily ever after isn’t proving easy to find, she turns to magic, which has repercussions for her, her family, and their new suburban home. Suddenly, Giselle is the evil stepmother… Returning cast members include Idina Menzel, and James Marsden, while Maya Rudolph is the film’s antagonist. Disenchanted begins streaming 24 November on Disney+.

On the more highbrow front, there’s Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans, a coming of age drama about a young aspiring filmmaker (Gabriel LaBelle) growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, and how his Jewish family and community shape his dreams. Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen and Judd Hirsch are some of the recognisable faces in the cast. The Fabelmans arrives in South African cinemas on 25 November 2022, and in the US slightly before that, on 11 November.

A24’s retro slasher X premiered only in March this year (you can watch it now with Prime Video), but it came out with the knowledge that prequel Pearl had been shot back to back with the original film. Pearl debuts in American cinemas today, 16 September. Well, it turns out that there is a third movie in the works to round out Ti West’s gory-but-artful horror trilogy. “Coming soon” is MaXXXine, with Mia Goth once again starring as Maxine Minx. Set 6 years after the events of X, during the mid-80s explosion of VHS, Maxine heads to Hollywood to pursue her dreams of stardom – no matter what it takes.

One final bit of movie news is that we now have a much better understanding of who will be part of Marvel’s Thunderbolts line-up, thanks to some unveiled Andy Park concept art at D23. For non comic book nerds, the Thunderbolts are similar to DC’s The Suicide Squad, in that they’re a band of anti-heroes and reformed villains, all with slippery morals, who take on dangerous missions. The movie Thunderbolts will be:

  • Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova , an ex Black Widow
  • Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
  • Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S. Agent
  • Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster
  • David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian
  • Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost
  • Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine

Thunderbolts is coming to theatres in July 2024. Need a refresher as to who all these characters are? Read this.

Television

With the exception of maybe Obi-Wan Kenobi, to date no other live-action Star Wars series has equalled the success of The Mandalorian. D23 included a teaser trailer for Season 3, which sees our bounty hunter hero (Pedro Pascal) traveling to home planet Mandalore to redeem himself for the Mandalorian transgression of removing his helmet. Following the events of the Boba Fett series, he’s reunited with his ward Grogu. The new season of The Mandalorian starts streaming in February 2023 on Disney+.

One of the most famous crossovers in Marvel comics history is the Secret Invasion event, and now it’s getting a live-action adaptation in the form of a 6-episode series on Disney+. Samuel L. Jackson’s ex-SHIELD head Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn’s alien Talos are key to this twisty tale of infiltration and trust issues, as a faction of shapeshifting Skrull are revealed to be manipulating life on Earth. Despite it’s extra-terrestrial threat, Secret Invasion is evidently delivering more grounded Winter Soldier espionage. It sees Marvel Cinematic Universe veterans Cobie Smulders, Martin Freeman, and Don Cheadle return, while Academy Award-winner Olivia Colman joins the MCU for her role here. Secret Invasion has an early 2023 release date window.

Taking a step away from superheroes, but also kind of not, there’s Werewolf By Night, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. In this 60-minute special, shot in black and white as a tribute to classic 1930s-40s horror films, a group of monster hunters meet to compete for a mysterious relic, while also facing the threat that one of them is secretly a bloodthirsty monster. Gael García Bernal and Laura Donnelly star. Werewolf By Night premieres on 7 October on Disney+.

Another one bites the dust. Prime Video’s Paper Girls, an adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang’s comic series about paper girls caught in a time travel war, by has been cancelled after one season. All is not lost, though. While Amazon has decided not to pick up Season 2, the show will be shopped around to other streamers.

In happier (or more intriguing) news, a Blade Runner live-action series is coming to Prime Video. Blade Runner 2099 will be set fifty years after Denis Villeneuve’s 2017 sequel Blade Runner 2049. Ridley Scott, who directed the original 1982 cult classic, is executive producing the 10-episode series. More here on the project.

Gaming

As already mentioned, it’s been a surprisingly announcement-packed week for gaming news. From Disney’s D23 event, their first-ever Disney & Marvel Games Showcase included announcements about an adventure mystery visual novel, with puzzle elements, set in the TRON universe, and a remaster of the popular Gargoyles platformer from the 90s.

The standout announcement though was for an unnamed Marvel game that sees Captain America (Steve Rogers) and Black Panther (T’Challa’s grandfather, Azzuri) teaming up during World War II. Although there are no details about the game, it looks to offer both a single player and 4-player squad experience. It’s also notably being made by Skydance Interactive, the developers of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, with Uncharted’s Amy Hennig and Marvel Comics veteran Marc Bernardin guiding the story.

Also held over last weekend was Ubisoft Forward, a livestream spotlighting upcoming games and other announcements from the publisher. The biggest news was confirmation of back-to-basics Assassin’s Creed game, Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Focused on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla character Basim, but taking place 20 years before the events of that game, Mirage is a shorter, more narrative-driven experience set in 9th Century Baghdad. Assassin’s Creed Mirage launches in 2023 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, PC, Amazon Luna, and will also be available on PC with a Ubisoft+ subscription.

Fitting more into the mould of Assassin’s Creed Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla, meanwhile, are two additional Assassin’s Creed games that utilise the open-world RPG model. Set in feudal Japan there’s Assassin’s Creed Codename RED, being developed by Ubisoft Quebec (makers of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate); and the ultra-mysterious Assassin’s Creed Codename HEXE, which is being developed by Ubisoft Montreal.

Ubisoft’s partnership with Netflix is bringing fans even more Assassin’s Creed content as well. There’s a live-action Assassin’s Creed TV series in development, with Jeb Stuart (Vikings: Valhalla, Die Hard) as showrunner. Plus, an Assassin’s Creed mobile game is coming exclusively to Netflix’s growing gaming platform. It’s one of three titles that Ubisoft is developing solely for the streamer, for release from 2023, with the other two games expanding on the Valiant Hearts and Mighty Quest franchises. There will be no ads or in-app purchases for any of these games.

Meanwhile the latest Nintendo Direct, held on 13 September, revealed several high-profile games finally coming to the platform (like It Takes Two and Tunic), although the biggest news was The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launching on the Switch on 12 May 2023. The game is the sequel to 2017’s smash hit The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

PlayStation’s September State of Play livestream started with the reveal of next-gen fighting game Tekken 8 and concluded with an epic God of War Ragnarök story trailer. Action adventure Ragnarök releases on 9 November, and the occasion is being further celebrated with a limited edition DualSense wireless controller.

The Xbox Showcase from Tokyo Game Show included dozens of announcements, with the biggie being that previous PlayStation exclusive Deathloop, a time-loop assassination shooter that won many Game of the Year accolades, is coming to Xbox consoles on 20 September. It’s available now to pre-order on Xbox Series X|S or pre-install with Xbox Game Pass.