Hey, it’s been a while since we last did one of these pop culture news recaps. A lot has happened over the last few weeks, with our attention largely focused locally on Comic Con Cape Town. To get up to speed today then, we’re covering just the biggest stories from the various realms of pop culture.

On the notable deaths front, this period included the passing of character actor Bernard Hill at the age of 79. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, what about Captain Smith in Titanic, Rohan King Théoden in The Lord of the Rings, and even Shirley’s husband in comedy Shirley Valentine? Hill’s death was evidently a surprise as he was due to make a UK convention appearance around the time it happened.

Film

Deadpool & Wolverine, LFG! The first official trailer for the third installment of the Deadpool franchise is packed with all the fourth-wall breaking, swearing and violence you’ve come to expect, along with yellow spandex, comic in-jokes (Liefeld’s Only Feet, anyone?) and our first look at Emma Corrin as the film’s main villain, Cassandra Nova. Deadpool & Wolverine releases on 26 July.

Sinister, mysterious… Why it must be Shyamalan movie? Although it’s not the Shyamalan you may think. The Watchers is the feature film directorial debut of Ishana Night Shyamalan, the daughter of The Sixth Sense, Signs and Knock at the Cabin’s M. Night. Based on the novel by A.S. Shine, The Watchers sees Dakota Fanning’s artist Mina become stranded in an untouched forest in western Ireland. There she becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.

Look out for The Watchers in cinemas from 14 June.

Speaking of the Shayamalans, Trap is the next twisty thriller from M. Night Shayamalan himself. One big reveal is even in the first trailer below, where a doting father (Josh Hartnett) and his teenage daughter (Ariel Donoghue) attend a pop concert, only to realize they’re at the center of a lockdown attempt to catch a brutal serial killer.

Trap hits cinemas from early August.

A longtime passion project of Francis Ford Coppola, Megalopolis was conceived in 1977 and entered active development in 1983. Four decades later, Megalopolis will finally debut at the 77th Cannes Film Festival later this month, where it will compete for the Palme d’Or.

This American epic science fiction drama film  – written, directed, and produced by Coppola  – stars an ensemble cast of Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Jason Schwartzman, Talia Shire, Grace VanderWaal, Laurence Fishburne, Kathryn Hunter, and Dustin Hoffman.

Not tired of paranoia-fueled thrillers yet in this recap? Actress Zoë Kravitz turns director and co-writer for Blink Twice. In this hybrid black comedy-thriller, Naomi Ackie’s ordinary waitress catches the eye of Channing Tatum’s tech billionaire and is invited to one of his famously exclusive island getaways alongside a bunch of celebrities (played by the likes of Christian Slater, Kyle MacLachlan, Haley Joel Osment, Adria Arjona, Geena Davis and Alia Shawkat). Except, there’s something darker going on in paradise.

Blink Twice enjoys a theatrical release starting 23 August.

If you ever wanted to see the Transformers (so dull in live-action form) behave like the Ninja Turtles, well, prepare yourself for Transformers One. A massive tonal shift, this animated origin story takes the action back to Cybertron and explores how Optimus Prime (Chris Hemsworth) and Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry), better known as sworn enemies, were once friends before the Autobot-Decepticon conflict took hold. The star-studded voice cast also includes Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm.

Transformers One comes to cinemas on 20 September.

In South African movie news, the combination of COVID, inflation and consumer behaviour changes has meant that cinema chain Ster Kinekor has had to make some drastic changes to get the company out of business rescue mode – cutting a third of its workforce (impacting 236 employees) and closing nine cinemas across the country (and that’s just to start with). Learn more, including about the affected movie houses, here.

The news that Ster Kinekor is closing cinemas has rather unsurprisingly generated increased interest in their release schedule, which includes weekly Throwback Cinema screenings, where you can watch classics and crowd-pleasers on the big screen again for a limited time, for just R50 a ticket. May’s Throwback Cinema titles are as follows:

  • Week starting 10 May: Chicago
  • Week starting 17 May: Meet Joe Black
  • Week starting 24 May: Notting Hill
  • Week starting 31 May: Back to the Future

Throwback Cinema titles will be screened at the following Ster-Kinekor sites: Fourways and Sandton in Johannesburg; Irene and The Grove in Tshwane; Secunda Mall, Secunda; Ilanga, Mbombela; Mall of the North, Polokwane; Boardwalk in Richard’s Bay (till 30 May); Gateway in Umhlanga; Somerset Mall, Somerset West; and Tygervalley and V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. Book your tickets here.

Tidbit time:

  • James Gunn has dropped the first look at David Corenswet as Superman over on Instagram (as well as here). Three cheers for Superman finally wearing his underwear correctly – on the outside.
  • And still on matters of iconic movie heroes, look out for Michelle Yeoh leading the cast of Blade Runner 2099. Okay, technically this is TV news as 2099 will be a series on Amazon’s Prime Video, but Yeoh is a big screen legend.
  • It’s early days, but it looks like we’ll be watching a new The Lord of the Rings movie as early as 2026. Original trilogy makers Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are guiding the project, which will centre on everyone’s favourite schitzy ring bearer. Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will be directed by and star a returning Andy Serkis. As a sidenote, if you need a refresher on who owns TLOTR adaptation rights, you can find it here.
  • Finally, the Fantastic Four have their Galactus. In the movie that brings Marvel’s First Family into the MCU, the world devourer will be played by gravelly voiced Ralph Ineson.

Series

The final season of Sweet Tooth, the award-winning Netflix original series based on Jeff Lemire’s graphic novels, debuts next month. Ahead of that, we have a teaser trailer letting us know what’s in store for Gus (Christian Convery), Jepperd (Nonso Anozie), Wendy (Naledi Murray), and Bear (Stefania LaVie Owen) as they set out for Alaska in search of Gus’s mother, Birdie (Amy Seimetz) and the cure for The Sick.

Sweet Tooth will come to its no doubt bittersweet ending on 6 June, only on Netlix.

Another series to look forward to next month is the latest entry in the Star Wars universe, The Acolyte, with a new trailer that released on Star Wars Day – May 4th. In this mystery-thriller, set hundreds of years before the Skywalker Saga, a former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae of Squid Game fame) to investigate a series of shadowy crimes, but dark forces they encounter are more deadly than they could imagine. And yes, that is Carrie-Anne Moss you see below as a Jedi.

The two-episode premiere of The Acolyte, a Star Wars Original series, arrives June 4 on Disney+.

Lastly, Netflix’s Wednesday has started production again, and with that Netflix has released a quick cast reveal trailer and new image showing who we can look forward to in Season 2.

The packed cast now includes Jenna Ortega, Steve Buscemi, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzman, Joanna Lumley, Christopher Lloyd, Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Hunter Doohan, Fred Armisen, Thandiwe Newton, Victor Dorobantu, Billie Piper, Haley Joel Osment, Heather Matarazzo, Georgie Farmer, Moosa Mostafa, Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo, Isaac Ordonez, Evie Templeton, Owen Painter, Noah Taylor, Frances O’Connor, Joonas Suotamo, Jamie McShane and more.

Your TV tidbit for the week:

Disney+ revealed that critically acclaimed, hit comedy series FX’s The Bear will premiere its third season on Thursday, 27 June in South Africa, with all episodes of the hyper-stressful restaurant show available at premiere. Watch the teaser trailer here.

Gaming

The bad first.

Xbox and PlayStation have both been enraging players with business decisions over the past fortnight. The former by announcing plans to scupper four studios under the Bethesda umbrella, including Tango Gameworks, the developers behind Ghostwire: Tokyo, The Evil Within and game of the year contender Hi-Fi Rush. It’s this closure that has earned Xbox the most criticism. PlayStation, meanwhile, was driving Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for Helldivers, causing the game to be pulled from the nearly 200 countries where PSN is not available. Sony later backtracked on the decision in the face of criticism and review bombing.

Now, the good.

We’re coming up on gaming showcase season i.e. the former E3 period. Xbox has already locked down their livestreamed Showcase for Sunday, 9 June (7pm South African time), which will be followed, if the rumours are true, by some big Call of Duty reveal.

Annual indie game showcase Wholesome Direct, run by Wholesome Games, has also been announced. Watch this celebration of upcoming cosy and emotionally uplifting games on Saturday, 8 June at 9am PT / 12pm ET (that’s 6pm South African time).

From upcoming gaming showcases to streams that have already past. In mid April, Nintendo dropped its first Indie World Showcase of 2024. You can watch the sub-30-minute presentation here, and read all the announcements and reveals here.

Our standout segment from the showcase, apart for the fact that embroidery puzzler stitch. is no longer exclusive to Apple Arcade, is that puzzle-stuffed Lorelei and the Laser Eyes now has a release date: 16 May for PC (Steam) and Switch. From SIMOGO, the makers of Sayonara Wild Hearts, and Annapurna Interactive, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes sees a young woman summoned to participate in a project in an old hotel somewhere in central Europe. In this non-linear mystery, players must solve an immense number of juicy handcrafted puzzles to untangle the truth behind the surreal illusions our heroine face.

Comics

Witchblade is making a comeback this year. Or, considering we’ve already had a new Witchblade with a new bearer several years ago, you can consider the upcoming series a reboot as it once more centres on New York City Police Detective Sara Pezzini – whose encounter with an ancient power transforms her into something beyond her darkest imaginings.

Published by Top Cow, the Witchblade reimagining will be penned by Marguerite Bennett (Animosity, Batwoman, DC Bombshells) and visualized by artist Giuseppe Cafaro (Suicide Squad, Power Rangers, Red Sonja). The pair is working with original Witchblade co-creator Marc Silvestri, who has already created an updated, Witchblade Armour look.

The new Witchblade is being touted as an intersection of True Detective-like crime noir and supernatural horror, and features a brand new mythology.

Witchblade #1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, 17 July, for $4.99 for 48 pages.

File this under “Rumour” for now, but DC Comics could be getting its own version of Marvel’s Ultimates line, which resulted in modernised, edgier interpretations of iconic superheroes. Reportedly the alternate universe will be born out of the upcoming Absolute Power event, and will be overseen by Scott Snyder. Watch this space.