Time to catch up on some of the standout pop culture stories of this week… starting with the news of the death of actor Bill Cobbs. That name may be unfamiliar to you, but it’s likely you know Cobbs’s face, as the avuncular performer had over 200 acting credits to his name, including Night at the Museum, The Bodyguard and Demolition Man. Cobbs was 90 when he passed this week.

Film

Our trailer unveiling of the week is Nosferatu, with The VVitch and The Northman’s Robert Eggers entering gothic horror mode for this fresh take on one of the most iconic vampire films ever made – itself a thinly veiled adaptation of Dracula. Lily-Rose Depp is a young woman under the thrall of terrifying Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), while her husband (Nicholas Hoult) and his allies try to sever the connection. Also with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, and Willem Dafoe.

Nosferatu comes to cinemas this year, starting Christmas Day, 25 December.

From romantic comedy hero to villain. That’s seems to be Hugh Grant’s career path, as, following bad guy turns in the likes of Paddington 2 and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, he plays a sinister captor in upcoming A24 horror thriller Heretic. Yellowjackets’ Sophie Thatcher and The Fabelmans’ Chloe East are the two young Mormon missionaries he imprisons. Behind the camera are the filmmaking pair of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who scripted A Quiet Place, and wrote and directed both 65 and Haunt.

Heretic is out at some point during the US Fall.

One thing you can say about Robert Zemeckis is that the filmmaker isn’t afraid of experimenting when it comes to his cinematic storytelling. Next from the director of Back to the Future, Forrest Gump and Castaway is Here, based on Richard McGuire’s 2014 graphic novel. The film centres on a single location, captured with one fixed camera, and profiles all the lives lived at that exact spot. Here also reunites Tom Hanks with Robin Wright, using deageing and ageing effects to cover their entire relationship.

Here comes to cinemas on 15 November.

Two more pieces of movie news:

Series

Remember that time Warner Bros. Discovery was cost-cutting and chose to pass on an animated Batman series that brought together Batman: The Animated Series creator Bruce Timm, The Batman director Matt Reeves and Star Wars and Lost filmmaker J.J. Abrams? Well, Warners’ loss was Amazon’s gain as the series was picked up for Prime.

It’s Batman so you should know the drill plotwise by now: Billionaire Bruce Wayne dresses up as a bat to take out crime and corruption as a vigilante in Gotham City. Coming across as a dark spiritual successor to The Animated Series, Batman: Caped Crusader features the voices of Hamish Linklater (Midnight Mass) as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets) as Catwoman/Selina Kyle, and Jamie Chung (Gotham) as Harley Quinn/Dr. Harleen Quinzel. The rest of the voice cast is just as star-studded – think Minnie Driver, Mckenna Grace, Haley Joel Osment and Toby Stephens, along with voice acting veterans like Diedrich Bader and John DiMaggio – but their characters have yet to be revealed.

All 10 episodes of Season 1 of Batman: Caped Crusader drop on 1 August. You can also check out the show’s promotional poster here.

Cast announcements for Season 2 of Netflix’s hit live-action One Piece adaptation have been coming thick and fast this week. Below, via Netflix on Twitter, you’ll find all the new characters and actors who will be playing them.

Season 2 of One Piece should be based on the manga and anime’s Arabasta Arc, with the One Piece pirates clashing with the Baroque Works crime syndicate and its super-powered agents, as well as the determined Marines on their tail.

TV news tidbits this week:

  • HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series, which will devote a season to each of J.K. Rowling’s books, has secured some showrunners in the form of Succession’s Francesca Gardiner and Mark Mylod. The new Harry Potter adaptation will start streaming in 2026 if all goes according to plan.
  • Speaking of HBO, Warner Bros. Discovery is also evidently happy with the idea of a live-action Green Lantern series. Finally. After several aborted starts, the eight-episode Lanterns, which has been elevator pitched as a sci-fi superhero take on True Detective, will centre on Earth’s two-most celebrated ring-wielding space cops John Stewart and Hal Jordan. Ozark’s Chris Mundy (Ozark), Damon Lindelof (Watchmen, Lost) and veteran DC comic writer Tom King will co-write.

Lifestyle

Another international cosplay guest has been announced for this year’s Comic Con Africa. Joining last week’s revealed CutiePieSensei, is professional Vietnamese cosplayer Yuji Koi. Present on all four days of the Joburg pop culture celebration in September, Yuki Koi has over half a million followers on Instagram, and has loads of experience as a cosplay contestant and judge, with a special focus on make-up and performance.

Gaming

One of our favourite games (and biggest surprises) of 2023 was narrative adventure Thirsty Suitors, a madcap mix of skateboarding, cooking, turn-based combat and awkward RPG encounters with disappointed parents and angry exes.

Having just received the Best LGBTQ Indie Game and Authentic Representation Award at this year’s Gayming Awards, it’s just been revealed that this title from Outerloop Games and Annapurna Interactive is “coming soon” to Netflix Games. The new availability on Android and iOS mobile devices is a further way to play Thirsty Suitors, which is currently on PlayStation, Xbox (and Xbox Game Pass), Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.