Something of a breather this week in terms of pop culture news, which we’re grateful for as we digested Comic Con Africa 2022.
Before we jump into the highlights of the past few days, RIP rapper/actor Coolio (59), probably best known for his Grammy-winning track Gangsta’s Paradise; and actress Louise Fletcher (88), who enjoyed much acclaim over her lengthy career, but may be best known for her chillingly iconic (and Oscar-winning) portrayal of Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Film
First up in film news, a surprise announcement from Ryan Reynolds about Deadpool 3. As the actor shared via Twitter, Deadpool’s first appearance in the MCU needs to be special, but in true Deadpool fashion, that means doing something completely unexpected…
I bet no one had “Hugh Jackman returning as Wolverine” on their bingo cards. Deadpool 3 is set to release in June 2024. Oh, and if you are wondering about the timeline post-Logan (where Wolverine, you know, dies), Reynolds and Jackman have you covered in this little explainer.
Netflix’s Tudum global fan event last Saturday provided the first trailers for two woman-fronted action pics. The first is The Mother, with Jennifer Lopez playing an assassin who comes out of hiding to protect the daughter that she gave up years before. The Mother also stars Joseph Fiennes, Lucy Paez, and Gael Garcia Bernal, and hits Netflix in May 2023.
Part trailer, part behind-the-scenes first look, we also were introduced to Heart of Stone, a globe-trotting espionage action tale starring Gal Gadot, Jamie Dornan, and Alia Bhatt. Notably featuring a screenplay by Greg Rucka and Allison Schroeder, Heart of Stone is also out in 2023, debuting on Netflix.
Remember when director Justin Lin departed from Fast & Furious 10 a week into filming? Now Blade, centred on Marvel’s “day walking” vampire hunter, has lost its director last minute too. Bassam Tariq has left the project, which was set to start filming in November. There’s apparently nothing controversial about the departure, though. The official reason is scheduling conflicts. Blade, with Mahershala Ali in the role made famous by Wesley Snipes, currently has a release date of 3 November 2023.
Speaking of Marvel movies, Armor Wars, originally planned as a MCU TV series for Disney+, is being redeveloped as a feature film. Based on the comic arc of the same name, in Armor Wars, Don Cheadle will reprise his role of James “Rhodey” Rhodes/War Machine, who has to contend with Tony Stark’s Iron Man tech falling into the wrong hands.
Series
The highly anticipated adaptation of Naughty Dog’s best-selling video-game, The Last of Us, finally has a full trailer. The HBO Max original series is slated for early 2023, and stars Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie. From what we can see in the teaser, the adaptation will closely follow the game’s plot – including having Merle Dandridge, the voice actress who played Marlene in the game, reprise the character’s role for TV. Collider has a thorough breakdown of all the hints and clues gleaned from the teaser.
Speaking of highly anticipated shows, one of our standouts from Netflix’s Geeked Week, 1899, has an official release date of 17 November 2022. This was revealed as part of the Tudum event, in which the cast of this moody period horror mystery (set aboard a trans-Atlantic ocean liner) discussed their upcoming show. It comes from the makers of cult hit Dark, BTW.
Make sure to check out Variety’s comprehensive summary of all the Tudum announcements – which includes embedded YouTube clips for ease of watching. Tudum 2022 included blooper reels, clips from upcoming films and series, behind the scenes teases for the likes of Extraction 2 and The Witcher S3, new game additions, loads of release date reveals, trailers, and even a sneak peek at Season 2 of one of our favourite shows from last year: Shadow and Bone.
Gaming
It’s fair to say that when it released back in 2016, Overwatch’s hero-shooter format was revolutionary, leaving a lasting impact on team-based multiplayer FPS. Sequel Overwatch 2 is out next week, 4 October as a free-to-play experience, with 35 characters, 22 maps and 6 modes.
There have been a lot of grumbles, though, about the game’s “grind to unlock” approach, where newcomers to the franchise will need to play around 100 matches to unlock all the character options (including the first game’s roster). You’ll also have to put in hours to unlock the different game modes, and, uh, even, chat. The official word is that this is to prevent new players from being overwhelmed, and protect them from toxicity.
Meanwhile, players moving from the original Overwatch to Overwatch 2 will have access to 34 out of the game’s 35 heroes on launch day (a paid Battle Pass gives you access to new hero Kiriko). Learn more about the Overwatch 2 changes here.
On the “not exactly surprising” news front, Google Stadia, Google’s cloud gaming platform, which never found traction with gaming fans, and saw less and less investment from the tech giant, will be shut down in January 2023 after three years (the service launched in November 2019). All games, add-on content and related hardware purchased through the Google Store will be refunded. More here.
If you were looking forward to Ubisoft’s multiplayer pirate adventure Skull and Bones, you have a bit longer to wait. Originally set for November release, the game has been pushed back to 9 March 2023, “to further polish and balance the experience using players’ feedback from our Technical tests and Insider Program…” There will, however, be an open beta in the near future for players to set sail across the 17th Century Indian Ocean, and virtually live out their pirate fantasies.
Skull and Bones will be playable on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Amazon Luna, and Windows PC through the Epic Games Store and the Ubisoft Store. Players can also subscribe to Ubisoft+ on PC, and Amazon Luna to access the game on day one. More here.
