With an in-person edition of San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) held last weekend for the first time since 2019, it’s been a very busy week for announcements, updates and trailer reveals from the worlds of pop culture.
There were also three notable deaths this week with veteran character actors passing on both sides of the Atlantic: Star Trek, TRON and Time Bandits’ David Warner (80); Paul Sorvino (83), ‘who appeared in Goodfellas, and countless other mob movies; and Bernard Cribbins (93), who enjoyed two stints in the Doctor Who cast, and was a memorable face (and voice) in British children’s entertainment thanks to The Railway Children and the Wombles.
Movies
This year’s Comic-Con may have had a lot of news and trailers, but the most impactful has to be Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Judging by the music alone, director Ryan Coogler is going to make us cry when we go back to Wakanda, where the leaders of the kingdom are fighting to protect their nation from invading forces in the wake of King T’Challa’s death. Wakanda Forever is notable for being the last film in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it will introduce aquatic anti-hero Namor (Tenoch Huerta) – Marvel Comics’ first ever superhero – to the MCU.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever releases in cinemas on 11 November 2022. Rest in power, Chadwick Boseman.
If you need a pick-me-up after that – although this will probably play on your heartstrings too – we also have a first look at Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion reinvention of Pinocchio, where a wooden marionette is magically brought to life in order to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver. Directed by del Toro and Mark Gustafson, this loooong-in-development film follows the mischievous and disobedient adventures of Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world.
The all-star voice cast includes Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Ron Perlman, Cate Blanchett and John Turturro.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio releases on Netflix in December 2022, probably as the streamer’s big holiday season movie.
If Elvis can get yet another biopic in 2022, then why not fellow mid-20th Century icon Marilyn Monroe? Coming to Netflix on 28 September, after debuting at the Venice Film Festival, is Blonde, starring Ana de Armas as Norma Jeane Mortensen/Marilyn Monroe, an aspiring actress and trauma-carrying woman who unravels under the weight of her sexpot image. Adrien Brody plays Monroe’s third husband, playwright Arthur Miller.
Blonde is based on Joyce Carol Oates’s biographical fiction novel, which was a finalist for both the 2001 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. It’s directed by Andrew (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Killing Them Softly) Dominik, and comes with a surprisingly high NC-17 age restriction.
In addition to the first trailer below, a fresh set of images from the film also was revealed this week.
From real stars to wannabes… Arthouse studio A24 (Moonlight, Hereditary, Ex Machina) has announced a surprise prequel – Pearl – the origin story of the geriatric villain from 70’s slasher tribute, X, which released this past March. Filmmaker Ti West and actress Mia Goth return for the film (shot back to back with X), with the synopsis from A24 as follows:
Trapped on her family’s isolated farm in 1918, Pearl must tend to her ailing father under the bitter and overbearing watch of her devout mother. Lusting for a glamorous life like she’s seen in the movies, Pearl’s ambitions, temptations, and repressions all collide, in the stunning, technicolor-inspired origin story of X’s iconic villain.
Pearl hacks her way into cinemas, looking for adoration, from September.
In movie tidbits this week:
- Our favourite airbender and the Gaang are back, in the best possible way. Announced by Nickelodeon at SDCC, the new animated Avatar: The Last Airbender film will follow the adventures of Avatar Aang and his friends as young adults. This is separate from the live action Avatar: The Last Airbender show, currently in development for Netflix. Polygon has more on the upcoming animated film, including a message from voice actress Janet Varney (Korra from Avatar: The Legend of Korra).
- Speaking of, the Avatar world is expanding even more. Also announced during the Nickelodeon panel, Dark Horse will be publishing two new Airbender sequel comics, graphic novel Azula in the Spirit Temple, out in the middle of next year, and a new Korra trilogy.
- Despite middling reviews, Netflix’s The Gray Man has generated enough love from audiences to warrant not only a sequel, but a spin-off as well. According to Deadline, directors Joe and Anthony Russo and star Ryan Gosling are already onboard for the untitled sequel, while the mysterious spin-off has snagged screenwriters Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (Deadpool, Zombieland).
- Speaking of the Russo brothers, they won’t be helming the next Avengers movie. That responsibility falls to Destin Daniel Cretton, a fellow MCU alumnus, who made Shang-Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings. Cretton will direct Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, out in May 2025, but not its follow-up, Avengers: Secret Wars, which releases a few months later, in November 2025. More here.
- You may have thought he was done with the role, but Ben Affleck will be playing Bruce Wayne/Batman again in Aquaman 2. Jason Momoa revealed the news with this image posted on his Instagram account.
Television
With just a week to go before it hits the small screen, Netflix has released a new trailer for The Sandman, the highly anticipated adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s iconic graphic novels. The Sandman is a rich, character-driven blend of myth and dark fantasy woven together over the course of ten epic chapters, following Dream of the Endless. Developed and executive produced by Gaiman himself, with showrunner Allan Heinberg, and David S. Goyer.
The Sandman releases on Netflix on 5 August 2022. If you’re curious about what Gaiman has to say about the adaptation, you can watch his trailer breakdown for Vanity Fair here.
Still in adaptation news, network AMC is coming out with a “modern” retelling of Anne Rice’s best-selling novel, Interview with the Vampire. Still set in New Orleans, but this time in 1910 (which I suppose counts as modern in comparison to 1791), Rice’s classic dark fantasy continues on the small screen in what showrunner Rolin Jones promises will be “even more reverential” to the book than the 1994 film starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. They’re certainly not shying away from the homoeroticism with this new take.
For the record, Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm in Game of Thrones) is Louis, while Australian actor Sam Reid (Prime Suspect 1973) is centuries’ old vampire Lestat. The series premieres on 2 October.
Comic-Con revealed a very extensive plan for the Marvel Cinematic Universe through 2025, including seven upcoming television series (the first of which is She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, premiering on Disney+ this August). Included among the shows, although perhaps not that big a surprise, is Daredevil: Born Again.
Reprising their roles from the Netflix Daredevil series are Charlie Cox (as the title character, a Hell’s Kitchen vigilante who is blind attorney Matt Murdock by day) and Vincent D’Onofrio as crimelord Wilson Fisk, AKA The Kingpin. Both have already made appearances in the MCU, in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Hawkeye respectively. No word yet on whether other cast members and characters from the Netflix show will be part of the reboot.
Daredevil: Born Again arrives in Q2 2024 on Disney+.
Kids of the 90’s, rejoice! Marvel’s showcase at Comic-Con revealed more details about X-Men ’97, a direct follow-up to the beloved X-Men animated series that ran from 1992 to 1997. The cartoon will even feature the same art style, and most of the surviving voice cast of the original series are reprising their roles.
X-Men ’97 will debut on Disney+ in Q3 2003, and has already been granted a second season.
A welcome break from superheroes! If you enjoyed Hidden Figures, are fascinated by historical events that promoted gender equality, and if you remember the 1992 film starring Geena Davis, Madonna and Tom Hanks, you should probably take note of A League of Their Own. This true story and period sports drama centres on the women’s professional baseball teams that sprung up in the United States during World War II – while the male leagues were short of players.
Broad City’s Abbi Jacobson stars and co-created the eight-episode series, which comes to Amazon Prime Video on 12 August. Here’s the first trailer.
Gaming
On the gaming front, it was a week for cancelled, postponed and “delayed indefinitely” titles.
Despite publicising both projects quite hard over the past two years, Ubisoft has stopped development on Ghost Recon Frontline, a free-to-play battle royale shooter set in the Ghost Recon universe, and Splinter Cell VR, a virtual reality stealth game for Meta’s Oculus headset. This was announced during Ubisoft’s latest earnings call, with “current economic uncertainties” given as the reason for cancellation.
Two other unannounced titles have been scrapped, while movie tie-in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, an open-world adventure, has been pushed back past March 2023. There are also rumours that Ubisoft’s 3v3 sports game Roller Champions, which just launched at the end of May, is on the chopping block too. However, Ubisoft denies this.
Meanwhile, the remake of 2003 RPG Knights of the Old Republic, arguably the best Star Wars game ever made, is in deep, deep trouble, and may never be completed. Announced in September 2021, and in progress for three years already, developers Aspyr Media recently fired two senior creatives guiding the project. Now all work on the game is paused.
On a positive note this week, the second-ever Annapurna Interactive Showcase highlighted the award-winning indie game publisher’s upcoming releases. That short but sweet spotlight on known and new games deserves to be unpacked in a dedicated post, but in the meantime, you can watch the 30-minute Showcase here.
