With all the Super Bowl trailers kicking off the week, the past few days have felt somewhat light in terms of movie, streaming service, gaming and literary news. Here’s what did stand out for us, in addition to the sad news of the passing of filmmaker Ivan Reitman, the man behind some of the biggest 80s comedies, including Ghostbusters 1 and 2, and the lighthearted Schwarzenegger trio of Twins, Junior and Kindergarten Cop.
Television
Having just wrapped up Season 1 of Peacemaker on HBO Max this week, WarnerMedia has already announced that the Suicide Squad spin-off will be renewed for a second season. It’s completely unsurprising, seeing as the show has been a massive success, but the news will still come as a relief for fans. Writer/director James Gunn will also be back to both write and direct all the new episodes, somehow.
Also from HBO Max, we have a new trailer for Our Flag Means Death, the comedy series produced by Taika Waititi. Based on the real-life exploits of an 18th-century English-Barbadian aristocrat (portrayed by Rhys Darby) who one day decided to uproot his life to take up piracy, Our Flag Means Death is stuffed full of signature Waititi humour. Debuting on March 3, 2022, keep an eye out for some recognisable faces and voices in the cast
Finally, we know a little bit more about when we should expect Stranger Things Season 4. The latest installment of the nostalgia-powered sci-fi-supernatural series will be broken into two separate volumes, with the first arriving on Netflix on May 27. The second part is out on July 1. There has been no indication of how many episodes make up each volume.
Also, we now know that Season 5 will be the show’s last, although there are plans for more projects set in the greater Stranger Things universe. More here.
Movies
There’s a Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers film coming to Disney+ in May. It’s a hybrid live-action/CG animated action-comedy, kind of in the vein of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, which catches up with the former Disney Afternoon television stars in modern-day Los Angeles. It’s also filled with cringe-worthy self-referential jokes and all sorts of sly-wink cameos.
“No one needs a reboot” are the actual words spoken in the trailer. Yet, here we are…
This past week saw a landslide of announcements from Paramount during an investor day presentation. The highlights included A Quiet Place Part III slated for 2025, yet another Transformers film for 2023, a brand new Star Trek film from producer J.J. Abrams with the original cast and new characters, and a glut of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle projects, including those focused on series villains.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Deadline has the full list of announcements.
We wouldn’t normally care about an Elvis Presley biopic, but this one comes from the always inventive and interesting Baz Luhrmann. Former teen star Austin Butler plays the Rock ‘n Roll icon (and does all his own singing), while Tom Hanks is Elvis’s manager Colonel Tom Parker.
Elvis hits cinemas from June 24.
One other small piece of movie news this week: the cast of the live-action Barbie movie is growing. Why should we care? Greta Gerwig is directing, while Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling star as Mattel icons Barbie and Ken. This past week, comedic actress Kate McKinnon joined the cast along with America Ferrera and Shang-Chi star Simu Liu. Clearly this project comes with creative ambitions.
Barbie is planned for release in 2023.
Gaming
Happy Horizon Forbidden West Day! Here, have some LEGO.
Seriously, have some Horizon LEGO.
Coming May 1 is an Aloy and Tallneck set, consisting of over 1200 pieces, and retailing at $79.99. Expect this Horizon Zero Dawn tie-in to cost around R1500 in South Africa.
Finally, in some other peripheral gaming news, Netflix is pushing ahead with plans to make a Bioshock movie in partnership with Take-Two Interactive. Would you kindly be patient, though, as no names are attached to the adaptation yet.
For the record, there have been aborted attempts for over a decade to tell the story of underwater city Rapture, a utopia-turned-dystopia with Arc Deco stylings. More here.
