This week in pop culture has been all about first looks. Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa, the upcoming Fallout TV series, and this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special all feature, along with some other promising movies and series to keep an eye on. Plus, there’s a reminder about key gaming shows in the coming week, and exciting game release news.

Film

Witness her! Warner Bros. has capped off the week with the first trailer for Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga at Brazil’s CCXP pop culture experience. Anya Taylor-Joy steps into the role first filled by Charlize Theron to explore how a young Furiosa made it her life mission to return home after being snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers. In a dangerous new world, she finds herself caught in the war for dominance between Warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), head of the Biker Horde, and Immortan Joe, who rules over the Citadel. Having made every film set in Mad Max’s parched dystopian future, George Miller is back co-writing and directing here.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga comes to cinemas, including IMAX, from 22 May 2024. The film’s first trailer was accompanied by a poster reveal and an initial image set, which can be seen here.

One we’ve been keeping an eye on is real-life survival tale Society of the Snow. The film is based on the true story of the Uruguayan 1972 Andes disaster, where members of a rugby team found themselves stranded in one of the world’s toughest environments following a plane crash. Directed by The Impossible’s Juan Antonio Bayona, Society of the Snow has been selected to represent Spain at the 2024 Oscars. It promises a far more accurate account of events than previous adaptations, like Alive.

Society of the Snow comes to select cinemas in December, and then Netflix on 4 January.

Two other pieces of movie news. We got our first look at Robert Eggers’s remake of Nosferatu last week, where Bill Skarsgård plays the titular vampire. Now we have a release date: 25 December 2024. Happy future Christmas.

Also, did you know there is a live-action Naruto film in development? Tasha Huo, a Naruto fan, abd showrunner on Netflix’s upcoming animated series Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, has been selected as the writer to bring the beloved manga series and anime to live.

Series

One of the most highly anticipated series of 2024 is Prime Video’s adaptation of Fallout, the retro-futuristic, post-apocalyptic game series from Bethesda. Fallout has been developed by Westworld’s Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, and includes Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, Kyle MacLachlan and Aaron Moten among its ensemble cast.

Fallout makes its debut in April next year, and Vanity Fair received an exclusive first look at the show, revealing new images and plot details. Most important, the game is set centuries after a nuclear attack, during which time some people lived cloistered lives, guided by 1950s values, in subterranean vaults, while others were left to survive on a blighted planet surface. Fallout the series sees these two lifestyles collide.

Below are three images from the Vanity Fair article. Visit the link to see loads more.

The BBC has revealed more details, as well as a fresh set of images, from this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special, which serves as the first full episode with Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor. The special, titled The Church on Ruby Road, will also introduce the Doctor’s new companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), who was abandoned as a baby on Christmas Eve, and has a past entwined with goblins.

The Doctor Who Christmas Special premieres on Christmas Day on BBC One in the UK and Ireland, on BBCiPlayer in the UK, and on Disney Plus for the rest of world.

Remember Ted, the R-rated 2012 comedy about a man (Mark Wahlberg) whose teddy bear (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) came to life in childhood? Now an eight-episode prequel series is on the horizon, exploring John (now played by Max Burkholder) and Ted’s high school misadventures in 1993. MacFarlane, who wrote and directed the Ted film, and its sequel, has been heavily involved in the new “event series,” once more voicing Ted, producing, directing, and writing the first three episodes.

Ted debuts on Peacock on 11 January.

On matters of release dates, upcoming FX historical epic Shogun – which will be screening in South Africa through Disney+ – will premiere on 27 February in South Africa. Set in 1600, at the start of a century-long Civil War in Japan, the 10-episode limited series is the second television adaptation of James Clavell’s bestselling novel.

Gaming

Here’s a game show reminder for the coming week. The biggie is, of course, The Game Awards 2023, streaming live on 7 December at 4:30pm PT. That’s Friday, 08 December, at 2:30am in South Africa. Along with the various award winner reveals, we already know that we’ll be getting the date announcement for Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox, but it seems highly likely the show will also include our first look at the next Grand Theft Auto game.

Meanwhile, sneaking in before The Game Awards is Wholesome Snack, from the Wholesome Games team. Streaming live on 6 December 6 at 9am PT / 12pm ET (that’s 7pm South African time), the cosy and casual game-focused Wholesome Snack: The Game Awards Edition will feature world premieres, demos, exclusives, and new game announcements.

Speaking of Grand Theft Auto, The Verge is reporting that Netflix Games is getting Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition on 14 December. Subscribers to the streamer will be able to play the mobile version of the games on iOS and Android devices. It’s a huge score for Netflix Games, which in December is also adding the likes of Death’s Door, and, after that, Hades. Football Manager 2024, Farming Simulator 23 and a Shadow & Bone tie-in game are also now playable as new additions.

Speaking of game subscription catalogues, have you seen what is coming to Xbox and PC Game Pass in December? That holiday game choice just got a lot harder.