Feels like it’s been a while since we’ve done this. Thanks, public holidays, flu, and everything else! In this almost month-long recap, you’ll find the biggest trailer reveals and pop culture news drops of the past few weeks. From next Friday you can look forward to this highlights package in its more traditional format and length.
As for iconic celebrity deaths during this period, talk show host Jerry Springer (79), singer-actor Harry Belafonte (96), and comedian Barry Humphries (AKA Dame Edna) (89) all passed away. Meanwhile, actor Jamie Foxx (55) has finally been released to a rehabilitation facility after an undisclosed health emergency put in him in hospital for weeks, starting 12 April. Though unconfirmed, rumours are that the actor suffered life-threatening complications from high blood pressure.
Film
Netflix has released a full breakdown of all their movie releases for the Northern Hemisphere summer (May through August). These include the likes of Gal Gadot’s espionage actioner Heart of Stone (11 Aug), Chris Hemsworth’s visceral sequel Extraction 2 (16 June), offbeat thriller They Cloned Tyrone (21 July), and surprise spin-off Bird Box Barcelona (14 July).
However, we’re probably most excited for Nimona (30 June), a subversive animated adventure about a shapeshifter (voiced by Chloë Grace Moretz) who aligns with a fantasy kingdom’s scapegoated villain (Riz Ahmed) to cause mayhem. Nimona is based on the award-winning web comic by ND Stevenson. The film version was a casualty of Disney’s Fox purchase, which killed animation studio Blue Sky, until Annapurna and Netflix revived the project.
Speaking of highly anticipated films, the first trailer has released for Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic and sequel Dune: Part 2. Part 2 continues the story of Frank Herbert’s pioneering novel where its 2021 adaptation predecessor left off, with Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) mobilising the Fremen people of Arrakis against the conspirators – particularly House Harkonnen – who destroyed his family. However, his actions have caught the eye of the Emperor (Christopher Walken), who falls part of that treacherous group. Notable additions to the cast this time include Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan, Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, and Léa Seydoux as Bene Gesserit Lady Margot.
Dune: Part 2 comes to cinemas on 3 November. You can view first official images from the film here.
Still on matters of sci-fi novel adaptations, come 17 November, fans of dystopian young adult series The Hunger Games can watch prequel The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes on the big screen.
Based on series creator Suzanne Collins’s novel of the same name, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes leaps back 64 years before the events of the first Hunger Games book, and film, to explore how the Games became a spectacle; and how future Panem president Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) had his ambitions derailed by charming District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler). Also in the cast are Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman, and Viola Davis.
Still not enough sci-fi in your entertainment diet? How about The Creator? Directed and co-written by Godzilla (2014) and Rogue One’s Gareth Edwards, The Creator is set in the future, during the final days of the war between humanity and artificial intelligence. John David Washington’s special agent is assigned with hunting down and destroying the AI’s masterstroke secret weapon… only to face a child. Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, and Allison Janney also star.
The Creator comes to cinemas on 29 September.
The Creator has been drawing comparisons to District Nine, and Neill Blomkamp, the filmmaker behind that standout sci-fi tale (as well as Elysium and Chappie) has something very different lined up as his next project. Itself a very different kind of video game film, Gran Turismo is a sports drama based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills led to him becoming a professional race car driver. Archie Madekwe is Gran Turismo’s lead, while some familiar faces in the cast include David Harbour, Orlando Bloom and Djimon Hounsou.
Gran Turismo is set for release on 11 August.
Killers of the Flower Moon is the next highly anticipated collaboration between Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio, throwing the likes of Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons and Brendan Fraser into the casting mix. This dark drama is based on David Grann’s best-selling book, which chronicles a string of brutal real-life murders that targeted the oil-wealthy Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma.
The 3-and-a-half-hour Killers of the Flower Moon releases in cinemas on 8 October, after a Cannes Film Festival premiere this month. The film will eventually stream on Apple TV+.
Joining the likes of Tetris and Air, is Flamin’ Hot, a biographical comedy drama centred on the invention of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos – the snack that was to revive Frito-Lay business fortunes and bring Hispanic flavours to the mainstream in the early 1990s. Flamin’ Hot is based on the memoir of Richard Montañez, a Frito-Lay janitor who claims to have invented the chip, and went on to become a successful business executive. Jesse Garcia plays Montañez, while actress-turned-filmmaker Eva Longoria directs.
You’ll be able to stream Flamin’ Hot on Hulu and Disney+ from 9 June.
Now for some release date news. James Cameron’s mega-blockbuster sequel Avatar: The Way of Water comes to Disney+, as well as Max, on 7 June. It will be accompanied by bonus content featuring filmmakers, cast and crew.
Speaking of blockbusters making their debut on streaming services, Ant-Man and The Wasp Quantumania is now also available on Disney+, as of this week (17 May). Meanwhile, to get audiences up to speed with the pulp adventure franchise, and hyped for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hitting cinemas on 30 June, all four Indy movies, as well as hard-to-find TV series The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, will be available to stream on Disney+ as of 31 May.
Work on Beetlejuice 2 is barreling ahead. There’s even a release date now for the horror comedy sequel: 6 September 2024 (barring any writers’ strike-related delays). The film reunites director Tim Burton with the 1988 original’s stars Michael Keaton (playing the poltergeist title character) and Winona Ryder. It also throws Jenna Ortega into the mix (as the daughter of Ryder’s character), along with Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux and Monica Bellucci.
Still speaking Tim Burton and Michael Keaton, come 8 June, LEGO is releasing a special Batman Returns LEGO set. This 3,900+ piece display box build is a full Batcave diorama, and includes the Batmobile and minifigures of Batman, Bruce Wayne, Catwoman, The Penguin, Alfred Pennyworth, and Max Shreck. It’ll be retailing for $399. Check out a full breakdown of the Batcave Shadowbox here.
Series
The ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike has halted work on the likes of Severance Season 2, Yellowjackets Season 3, the next part of Andor, Daredevil: Born Again, and Batman spin-off The Penguin. You can track all the impacted series here.
Of course, it’s not like audiences are going to be short of entertainment while industry storytellers strive for a better deal. Below you’ll find what is upcoming. Let’s start with animation first.
It’s been 33 years since Gremlins 2: The New Batch released, but finally audiences have a new adventure featuring Gizmo, the cute little creature with the potential to spawn chaotic evil Gremlins.
Ten-episode animated series Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai comes to Max on the day of the streamer’s relaunch, and serves as a prequel to the live-action Gremlins movies. The family adventure is set in 1920s Shanghai, and sees 10-year-old Sam Wing meet Gizmo, an act that pits Wing and his loved ones against an evil industrialist who plans to use the Gremlins to take power. The voice cast of Secrets of the Mogwai includes the likes of Ming-Na Wen, B. D. Wong, James Hong, Matthew Rhys, and Sandra Oh.
Early Noughties cult favourite Clone High also returns next week, 23 May, on Max. Creators Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Bill Lawrence and most of the original voice cast are back for this two-season revival set twenty years after the original series. Teenage clones of Joan of Arc, JFK, Abraham Lincoln, and Cleopatra have been thawed out to resume school with their new clone classmates – all while navigating a new set of cultural norms and overly dramatic teen relationships. Please note that Gandhi won’t be back after the Indian government objected to his depiction in the original series.
Also on matters of cultishly popular animated series of yesteryear, Totally Spies! is making a comeback. The espionage-themed cartoon, where three teenage girls from Beverly Hills work as undercover agents for the World Organization of Human Protection (WOOHP), is receiving a new seventh season, which will double as a soft reboot. The last batch of episodes date back to 2014/2015, so it’s been a while for Sam, Clover and Alex to get on their bright jumpsuits.
In addition to the new TV series, Totally Spies! is getting a video game courtesy of Microids.
We’re just over a month away from the return of Netflix’s dark fantasy actioner The Witcher, based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s globally popular novel series. The eight-episode Series 3, inspired by second Witcher book Time of Contempt, will release in two volumes, on 29 June, and 27 July, and is notable as Henry Cavill’s last turn as monster hunter Geralt of Rivia. This before Liam Hemsworth takes over playing the character in Season 4.
Along with the teaser trailer below, Netflix released a feelings-packed poster for the third season, where fear and change come into play like never before.
Apple TV+ has always prioritised quality over quantity, and that certainly seems to be the case with upcoming psychological thriller The Crowded Room from Akiva Goldsman. Tom Holland plays a troubled young man who is arrested following his involvement in a shooting in New York City in 1979. The series is told through a series of interviews with interrogator Rya Goodwin (Amanda Seyfried), who delves into Danny’s mysterious past. The Crowded Room is inspired by the real-life case of Billy Milligan, the first person in US history to be acquitted of a major crime by pleading dissociative identity disorder.
The Crowded Room premieres with its first three episodes on 9 June, and subsequently release one episode per week until 28 July.
Ending this section off, upcoming MCU series Loki S2 and Hawkeye spin-off Echo now have Disney+ release dates. Multiverse-spanning Loki returns on 6 October with weekly episode drops, while Echo (in a first for Disney) releases in its full season entirety on 29 November.
Gaming
There’s going to be a tsunami of gaming announcements over the coming weeks, during the former E3 period. We know about the Xbox Games Showcase + Starfield Direct happening on Sunday, 11 June (at 7pm South African and European time). But now PlayStation has revealed their big showcase, which is streaming way before then, on 24 May (next week, Wednesday) at 10pm South African and EST time.
From the press release: “The show will run a bit over an hour, focusing on PS5 and PS VR2 games in development from top studios from around the world. Expect a glimpse at several new creations from PlayStation Studios, as well as spellbinding games from our third-party partners and indie creators.”
You also don’t want to forget about Summer Game Fest on 8 June. Geoff Keighley hosts a live, cross-industry showcase which is free to watch on all major livestream platforms including YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, TikTok, Steam, and more. That showcase kicks off at 9pm in South Africa and Mainland Europe.
Speaking of game announcements, how about an out-the-blue Mortal Kombat game? From NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros., Mortal Kombat 1 is a reboot of the notoriously violent fighting series, set in a new universe created by Fire God Liu Kang. Mortal Kombat 1 releases on 19 September. There will be Standard, Premium and Kollector’s Editions of the game, with the latter including a nifty Liu Kang sculpture.
The release of Mortal Kombat 1 means that 2023 will include new Street Fighter, MK and (possibly) Tekken games – all retooled as their first franchise entries of the new console generation.
Speaking of all things Mortal Kombat, your bonus news tidbit is that The Boys’ Karl Urban could be action movie star Johnny Cage in the next Mortal Kombat film. The actor is reportedly in final talks to play the character.