The 4-day Comic Con Africa 2023 kicks off today, and it’s a long weekend in South Africa, so we’re keeping our latest recap of everything pop culture nice and short.

Don’t forget that you can read our guide of what to expect at CCA 2023 here, as well as a freshly updated list of all the guests here (yay, nobody dropped out last minute). Plus, keep an eye on our socials as we post cosplay and other highlights direct from the showfloor over the next few days.

Now, on with the standout stories of the past week.

Film

Nicolas Cage and A24 is a quirky match made in heaven, which makes us very excited for upcoming surreal drama Dream Scenario. In the film, from Norwegian writer-director Kristoffer Borgli, Cage plays a decidedly ordinary professor who becomes a celebrity after he starts appearing in the dreams of millions of people. Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera and Tim Meadows also star. After various film festival appearances, Dream Scenario enjoys a wider cinema release from 10 November.

A couple of tidbits:

  • Still on matters of Norwegian filmmakers, Netflix has greenlit a sequel to its fun Scandinavian monster movie Troll, to commence filming next year. Here’s our review of last year’s original.
  • In 2022, as a cost-cutting measure, Netflix culled several animated series in development. This included The Twits, based on Roald Dahl’s children’s tale. At the time, it was announced that The Twits was transitioning from series to film, and as of this week we’ve had our first look at the retooled The Twits movie. Written and directed by Phil Johnston (Ralph Breaks the Internet), the film’s synopsis is as follows:

    This story follows Mr. and Mrs. Twit — who are the miserable owners of a dangerous amusement park — and their meteoric rise to power in their town. The Twits’ takeover leads to an ongoing conflict between them, two children, and a community of magical animals who are determined to stop them.

    The Twits comes to Netflix in 2025.

Gaming

The biggest gaming news of the week isn’t a game announcement or release date shift. It’s a massive leak that happened as a result of Microsoft’s legal battle with the Federal Trade Commission over its Activision acquisition. Presented as court evidence, various plans for future Xbox games and hardware were accidentally made public.

You can check out all the major revelations here, but most notable from the glut of information is a potential refresh for the Xbox Series X console and Xbox controller. We’re talking an X with a cylindrical shape, upgrade to 2TB storage and no disc drive (for the same price as the current console); and a spiffy two-tone controller with haptic feedback and easy mobile pairing.