We’re doubling up on pop culture news highlights from the past two weeks today, and the movie trailer drops have come in heavily during this period, while TV announcements have been somewhat lighter. Read our standout stories below.

In terms of notable deaths over the past fortnight, the most shocking was probably that of Jason David Frank, who played Tommy, AKA the Green (and later White) Power Ranger, from the original run of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchise. Frank was 49, and his death was ruled a suicide. Also passing this week, at age 63, was actress and singer Irene Cara, probably best known for performing the Fame and Flashdance title tracks.

Film

The fifth and final big screen outing of Harrison Ford as punchy, whip-wielding archaeologist Indiana Jones is on the not-too-distant horizon. Indiana Jones 5, now revealed with its full title Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, comes to cinemas on 30 June 2023, and the first trailer has just debuted, along with a poster.

We’re trying not to spoil too much of the movie for ourselves but we know that the film is set in 1969 against the backdrop of the US-USSR space race, and has Indy dealing with Nazis again, including Mads Mikkelsen’s villainous Voller. Also appearing in the film are Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Indy’s goddaughter, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, and more. Indy 5 is directed by Ford v Ferrari and Logan’s James Mangold.

Out of interest, Empire Magazine has a world-exclusive Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny issue, and you can check out first-reveal images and more information on what to expect, here.

The first trailer is here for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which comes to cinemas on 5 May 2023 as the second movie in Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The dysfunctional band of space protectors is back, including writer-director James Gunn behind the camera, while the official plot synopsis is “The Guardians embark on a mission to defend the universe and protect one of their own.”

Notable new additions to the ensemble cast include Will Poulter as Adam Warlock, a powerful artificial being created to destroy the Guardians; and Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary, a scientist specializing in forced evolution. Vol. 3 will reportedly cap off Gunn’s trilogy, and be the last Guardians film to feature the current character line-up.

Honestly, we tapped out of the Transformers film series at around the fourth or fifth entry, but they keep making these things, and apparently there’s still a passionate audience. So here we are at movie number 7, entitled Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.

Set in the 1990s, and acting as a sequel to Bumblebee, Rise of the Beasts introduces the Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons to the existing battle on earth between the Autobots and Decepticons. Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback lead the human cast while Ron Perlman and Michelle Yeoh voice new animal-shaped Transformers Optimus Primal and Airazor. Meanwhile, Peter Dinklage is Scourge, the leader of the Terrorcons. Rise of the Beasts releases on 9 June next year.

No, Cocaine Bear isn’t some trash D-grade horror movie made for like $100. Universal Pictures is behind this dark comedy inspired by true events. Elizabeth Banks directs the tale of an oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converging in a Georgia forest where a 500-pound apex predator has ingested a staggering amount of cocaine and gone on a rampage. Cocaine Bear stars Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Christian Convery-Jennings, and Alden Ehrenreich, and comes to cinemas on 24 February 2023.

Considerably more prestigious is Babylon, from Oscar-winning La La Land and Whiplash filmmaker Damien Chazelle. Now featuring a full-length trailer, the three-hour period epic explores the decadence and depravity of Hollywood in the 1920s, and traces the rise and fall of multiple characters. The cast includes Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Li Jun Li, Tobey Maguire, Olivia Wilde, and Jean Smart. Babylon releases in the US on 23 December, and comes to South African cinemas on 20 January next year.

Less than 2 months after the teaser trailer dropped for animated comedy adventure The Super Mario Bros. Movie, based on the beloved Nintendo game franchise, we now have the full trailer. Chris Pratt voices Mario in this tale of a plumber from our world, who ends up in a cute fantasy kingdom under threat from Bowser (Jack Black) and his army. Anya Taylor-Joy is Princess Peach, Charlie Day is Luigi, Keegan-Michael Key is Toad, and Seth Rogen voices Donkey Kong.

Made by Despicable Me, Sing and The Secret Life of Pets animation studio Illumination, The Super Mario Bros. Movie releases in the US on 7 April 2023, with an apparent week-early premiere in South Africa on 31 March.

Just two weeks to go! After 13 years, James Cameron’s massively successful sci-fi action-adventure gets a “set ten years later” sequel in the form of The Way of Water. The final trailer focuses more on the reef clan, where Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) seek refuge with their family when the human threat to Pandora returns a decade later. Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang are back in motion-captured performances, while Kate Winslet is a notable newcomer to the cast. Avatar: The Way of Water releases worldwide in cinemas around 16 December.

Series

HBO’s adaptation of the post-apocalyptic PlayStation game The Last of Us premieres on 15 January. Now, 11 individual character posters have been revealed for the highly-anticipated show, stoking hype, and providing a look at the major players, including Pedro Pascal’s Joel and Bella Ramsey’s Ellie. Check all the posters here.

Here’s your new Doctor Who companion. When Ncuti Gatwa takes over as the fifteenth incarnation of The Doctor in the iconic BBC sci-fi series (reportedly with his solo series kicking off during the 2023 festive season), he’ll be paired with Coronation Street’s Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday.

Iconic comics creator Frank (Sin City, The Dark Knight Returns) Miller is adapting another influential comic for the small screen. Working with StudioCanal and Canal+, Miller will write and executive produce a six-episode live-action series based on Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese graphic novels.

Debuting in 1967, European comics classic Corto Maltese centres on a sea captain whose globe-trotting adventures see him cross paths with historical figures, from Butch Cassidy and Jack London, to the Red Baron, during the first two decades of the 20th Century. Miller has notably already tackled adapting another seminal comics series, in the form of 2008 movie The Spirit, based on the Will Eisner character.

With his multi-project contract at Netflix concluded, Mike Flanagan and his production company Intrepid Pictures are setting up shop over at Amazon Prime Video. Read more about the exclusive deal here, which relates to Flanagan’s TV projects only.

For the record, The Fall of the House of Usher will be Flanagan’s last Netflix series, out at some point in 2023, while, rather unsurprisingly, the filmmaker’s most recent Netflix project, the YA horror adaptation The Midnight Club, has been cancelled after one season. Perhaps predicting that outcome, Flanagan has promised to tie up all loose plot threads on social media.

Your TV news tidbit this week is in a similar vein: DC Comics animated content will no longer be locked to HBO Max, and will potentially appear on Prime Video in the future.

Warner Bros. TV group boss Channing Dungey was speaking at TV conference Content London, where she revealed, “David Zaslav [President and CEO of the merged Warner Bros. Discovery] has been much more open to our exploring all of our animated IP and being able to do it on different platforms. Certainly HBO Max is going to be our first stop but we’re already in the process of closing a big deal with Amazon that’s going to feature some of our DC-branded content in animation.”

Gaming

Ubisoft may have been light on big 2023 releases, but this December they’re treating players to (free and paid) content for the latest games in two of their biggest franchises.

In the final content update for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (available now for free for owners of the game on all platforms), players will discover the end of Eivor’s story with new quest The Last Chapter, and meet the charismatic Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s character Roshan in Shared History. On 6 December, players will be able to custom their experience with a Destiny 2 crossover partnership. Finally, from 15 – 19 December, everyone will be able to play Assassin’s Creed Valhalla for free, during a Free Weekend. Read about all the December Valhalla content additions, and Destiny 2 crossover event, here.

Meanwhile, out 6 December for €19.99, or included with the Upgrade Pass, there’s a new expansion for Far Cry 6, called Lost Between Worlds.

Following their exploration of a mysterious meteorite impact site in Yara, Dani Rojas will find themselves in a twisted space between worlds accompanied by a noncorporeal lifeform named Fai. Players will need to repair Fai’s broken spacecraft by collecting five lost shards, and that means navigating through 15 challenging and intense trials called Rifts, where they must defeat humanoid and animal crystalline enemies called Shardfaces. Find out more about the Lost Between Worlds expansion here.

As of next week, 6 December, Xbox and PlayStation gamers will be able to play narrative game Hindsight. A nominee in the Games for Impact category at this year’s Game Awards, Hindsight is about the power of memory, exploring a woman’s life, from birth to present day, as she tries to reconcile the loss of her mother. From director Joel McDonald and publisher Annapurna Interactive, Hindsight first released in August this year on Nintendo Switch, iOS and PC via Steam.

As a sidenote, another acclaimed Annapurna Interactive game is coming to console this month. Developed by Ben Esposito and Angel Matrix, Neon White is a first-person action game (with an unusual card-based weapons mechanic) about exterminating demons in Heaven. The game is coming to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on Tuesday, 13 December. On release back in June 2022, Neon White was exclusive to Nintendo Switch and PC.

One final bit of gaming news: along with a burgeoning mobile games offering, Netflix is now pushing into AAA game development – evidently intent on making a live-service game like Overwatch for PC.