It’s a double up in terms of pop culture news highlights today (because, hey, we had to get in those streaming release guides done last week, before February really took off).

As usual, we start the news round-up with notable deaths from the period, and the past fortnight included the shock passing of actor Carl Weathers, aged 76. Most recently seen in The Mandalorian, playing Chief Magistrate Greef Karga, former football player Weathers showed off his impressive physique in the likes of the Rocky movies (playing Rocky’s primary rival, and later friend, Apollo Creed) and Predator. Weathers died in his sleep.

Film

If you have a hit horror film, follow-ups are mandatory. So, coming to cinemas on 28 June, is prequel A Quiet Place: Day One – which actually looks great, to be fair. This thriller goes back to the start of the silent nightmare, depicting the arrival of the sound-targeting aliens on Earth. The film stars Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn and Alex Wolff, with Djimon Hounsou, who had a role in A Quiet Place: Part II, reprising his role here. The film is directed by Pig’s Michael Sarnoski.

From quiet tension to bombastic action now with upcoming The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, from Snatch and Sherlock Holmes filmmaker Guy Ritchie. Featuring a star-heavy cast that includes Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alex Pettyfer, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Til Schweiger, and Cary Elwes, the film tackles the wild true story of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a secret organisation that conducted black ops missions to undermine the Nazis during World War II. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare debuts in cinemas on 19 April.

Finally on the movie trailer front, there’s Monkey Man, which seems like it’s out to fulfil the wish of anyone who ever craved an Indian John Wick. Dev Patel directs and stars in this action thriller, which sees an anonymous young man out for revenge against the corrupt leaders who were responsible for his mother’s death, and continue to exploit the poor. It all starts in an underground fight club. South Africa’s Sharlto Copley co-stars.

Monkey Man comes to cinemas on 5 April.

The world has its new Supergirl. And she’ll be played by House of the Dragon’s Milly Alcock, who portrayed the younger version of Rhaenyra Targaryen.

Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El will take centre stage in upcoming Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (based on the 2022 comic run), which portrays the character in a new light if you only know Kara as a cheerful blonde. This Supergirl has grown up in the shadow of her world’s destruction, leaving her both hardened and heartbroken. There have been rumours that the character will appear first in James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy, out in July 2025, but these claims have been denied so far.

It’s strange that earnings presentations have become hyped events for the greater public, but here we are in the era of consolidated mega-corporations. So the Walt Disney Company’s Q1 2024 performance report included several announcements relating to the House of Mouse’s future content plans.

  • Release dates and windows were announced for several high-profile movies: In 2024, Inside Out 2 releases on 14 June, with Moana 2 on 27 November for the Thanksgiving weekend. In 2025, Zootopia 2 comes out, while the following year marks the big screen debuts of Frozen 3, Toy Story 5 and The Mandalorian & Grogu, which sees the hit Star Wars Disney+ series jet pack into cinemas.
  • Disney is going to reduce its slate of Marvel content, or, rather, rein it to sequels and franchises instead of trying to consistently bring more and more characters into the MCU. Translation: Expect fewer Disney+ series centred on lesser known characters.
  • Record-breaking concert film Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) will make its streaming debut on 15 March 2024, exclusively on Disney+.
  • Finally, and I guess this could go into the gaming news section, Disney is entering into a partnership with Epic Games. Disney will invest $1.5 billion to acquire a stake in Epic Games as it creates a game and entertainment universe connected to the ever-evolving open world of Fortnite. You can watch the announcement trailer here.

Finally, one quick note is that the pay it forward movie ticket initiative is returning with the release of inspiring true story Cabrini, on International Women’s Day (8 March).

From Alejandro Monteverde, the director of last year’s Sound of Freedom (which pioneered the free ticket scheme to great success), Cabrini looks at the life-changing work of Italian immigrant Francesca Cabrini (played by Cristiana Dell’Anna), who arrived in New York in 1889. Faced with poverty and human suffering, she set about trying to secure a better life for society’s most vulnerable, especially immigrant orphans.

You can find out more about the film here, including how to claim or donate a movie ticket in South Africa.

Television

Both Netflix and Apple TV+ released sizzle reels this week to spotlight their 2024 offerings.

We’ll start with Apple TV+, which has provided a handy list of all the new, and returning, series coming to streamer this year. These include A New Look, with Ben Mendelsohn as Christian Dior and Juliette Binoche as Coco Chanel; psychological thriller Constellation with Noomi Rapace; and sci-fi novel adaptation Dark Matter, starring Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly. In 2024, Apple TV+ will also become the small screen home of Ridley Scott’s epic biopic Napoleon.

Meanwhile, over at Netflix, this year marks the return of series favourites like Squid Game, Bridgerton, Cobra Kai, Sweet Tooth and The Umbrella Academy, while the streamer also brings back Eddie Murphy’s Beverly Hills Cop. On the new entertainment front, look out for the likes of sci-fi event 3 Body Problem, live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender, inspiring WWII true story Six Triple Eight, Millie Bobby Brown in fantasy survival tale Damsel, airport thriller Carry-On, and Jennifer Lopez’s ci-fi actioner Atlas. You can find a rundown of everything here.

Gaming

Following Xbox’s Developer_Direct earlier in the month, PlayStation dropped its own 40-minute January 2024 State of Play on the 31st. You can read everything announced during the showcase here (and watch all the trailers), which included a new look at the Silent Hill 2 remake, and surprise drop of free short-form Silent Hill: The Message.

Mostly, we’re now keeping an eye on Judas, a narrative FPS from Ken Levine, creator of the BioShock series. Looking VERY BioShock-y, Judas is set in Mayflower, a spacefaring city whose citizens are trained to spy and report on one another, and computers control society, shaping model citizens and punishing anyone who deviates. When your character sparks a revolution, you’re faced with choices to fix what you destroyed, or leave it all to burn. Judas is coming to PS5, Xbox Series consoles and PC, probably in 2025.

As for indie gaming news, on 22 February, after a long period in Early Access, medieval turn-based strategy game Inkulinati enjoys a full release on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, plus Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One. The game comes from developer Yaza Games and Publisher Daedalic Entertainment, and is inspired by the strange and silly creatures found on the margins of manuscript pages from the Middle Ages.

Two weeks before Inkulinati releases, meanwhile, cosy organisational puzzle game A Little to the Left, from developers MaxInferno, is finally coming to Xbox and PlayStation consoles (you can already play it on PC and Switch). A Little to the Left and its Cupboards & Drawers DLC will be available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4 on 15 February. The base game will also be available with Game Pass as part of the service’s February new additions.

You can read our review of A Little to the Left here.

Comics & books

If you’re someone with a highly curated comic and graphic novel collection – featuring classics from the medium – come August, you may want to pick up the SCOTT PILGRIM 20th ANNIVERSARY COLOR HARDCOVER BOX SET, or SCOTT PILGRIM 20th ANNIVERSARY B&W HARDCOVER BOX SET. Each are priced at $249.99.

Published by Oni Press to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the series’ debut, each box set will include new, never-before-seen artwork by creator Bryan Lee O’Malley, along with additional limited edition items like sticker sheets, prints and posters. Housed within the clamshell collector’s case are the six Scott Pilgrim volumes remastered as hardcovers, along with a seventh hardcover compendium collecting all of the series’ behind-the-scenes process art and “making of” material.

Scott Pilgrim tells the story of a slacker musician’s quest to romance an emotionally guarded young woman, which means fighting and defeating her “seven evil exes.” The series has most famously been adapted into live-action film Scott Pilgrim vs The World, by filmmaker Edgar Wright, as well as a follow-up animated series on Netflix.