It’s a mini pop culture news recap this week, starting with the sad announcement that Richard Roundtree, the original Shaft actor – who pioneered a path for black action heroes in the 1970s – has died aged 81 from pancreatic cancer.

Film

It’s the last Friday of Halloween month, so let’s lead with a horror film. Well, a horror comedy. Written by Diablo Cody (Jennifer’s Body), Lisa Frankenstein is the directorial debut of Zelda Williams (Robin’s daughter). Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse star in this 80s set tale of a misunderstood teenager who reanimates her crush. Together, the two embark on a murderous journey to find love, happiness… and a few missing body parts. There’s something delightfully John Waters-twisted about this one. Lisa Frankenstein comes to cinemas starting 9 February. The film’s teaser trailer was paired with a poster reveal and a couple of official production images.

The Three Musketeers has been adapted many, many times for the screen – and I’m sure many of our readers will remember that early 90s Brat Pack version fondly – but the latest big screen take on Alexandre Dumas’s classic swashbuckling adventure looks to be something special. This French-made epic is a two-part saga starring François Civil, Vincent Cassel, Romain Duris, Pio Marmaï, and Eva Green. It’s tonally serious and clearly features a mega budget, as it follows cocky young D’Artagnan’s efforts to derail a throne-shaking conspiracy alongside the king’s most celebrated musketeers, Athos, Porthos and Aramis.

Part 1, The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan has already been a box office smash in its native country, and now it’s coming to US theatres and video on demand on 8 December. Part 2, The Three Musketeers: Milady will release outside Europe in 2024.

Now for some movie news tidbits:

Landing 1 February 2024 is a limited edition Dune LEGO set. Notably, the Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter comes with a vast minifigure character lineup – including Paul Atreides, Lady Jessica, Gurney Halleck, Chani, Leto Atreides, Liet Kynes, Duncan Idaho and Baron Harkonnen. The Dune LEGO set is priced at $165. In South Africa, it will be available for R3,099, and you can already pre-order.

Via Twitter, Studio Canal casually revealed the release date for family adventure Paddington 3, AKA Paddington in Peru. The film will start its cinema run on 8 November 2024 in the UK, and currently has a US release date of 17 January 2025.

Sally Hawkins won’t be back in this third outing as Mrs. Brown (she’s been replaced by Emily Mortimer), but you can look forward to a returning Ben Whishaw (as the voice of Paddington), Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, Jim Broadbent, and Imelda Staunton (as the voice of Aunt Lucy). Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas are new additions to the franchise. In Paddington in Peru, our marmalade-loving hero, with the Browns in tow, heads to Peru to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy at the Home for Retired Bears.

Finally, after discussions broke down a few weeks ago, the actors’ union and studios returned to the negotiation table this week to try find common ground, and end the SAG-AFTRA work stoppage after 105 days and counting. Entering Friday, there have been two days of back-to-back talks this week. You can read the latest developments here.

Series

The biggest TV news of the week: We now have a launch date for Prime Video’s Fallout series, based on the Bethesda game franchise, which puts a retro-futuristic spin on life after the nuclear apocalypse. Via an animated teaser styled after the Pip Boy interface, it was revealed the show will debut on 12 April 2024. Fallout is overseen by Westworld showrunners Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, and the ensemble cast includes Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, and Kyle MacLachlan.

The price of Apple TV+ has just gone up this week, for the second time in a year. Having launched at $4.99 per month back in 2019, last year the streamer’s subscription rose to $6.99. Now, the monthly fee has jumped to $9.99, with immediate effect for new subscribers, and within the next 30 days for existing members.

South Africa is shielded from the increase, for now. If/when the price bump does kick in, TV fans will be likely looking at paying around R175-R180 per month for the streaming service. This is if you consider how much an Apple TV+ subscription went up in last year with the global $2 increase – from R85 to R125.

For the record, Apple is also raising the price of its Apple One bundle, which includes Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and cloud storage. Apple News and mobile gaming subscription service Apple Arcade are also seeing monthly price increases to $12.99 (up from $9.99) and $6.99 (up from $4.99) respectively.

Returning to matters of release dates, this week Disney+ and the BBC finally unveiled the premiere dates for their three 60th anniversary Doctor Who specials. Notable for reuniting the Doctor (played once again by David Tennant for the Fourteenth iteration), and companion Donna Temple-Noble (Catherine Tate), the specials will end with the debut of Sex Education’s Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor.

The specials and dates are:

  • The Star Beast, 25 November
  • Wild Blue Yonder, 2 December
  • The Giggle, 9 December

All specials will come to Disney+ globally except in the UK and Ireland where they are BBC exclusives.