It’s a pop culture news double-up today with a fortnight of trailers, announcements and other industry stories to catch up on.

Before we leap in, one notable death during this period was character actor Alan Arkin, who passed away aged 89, and is probably most recognisable in recent years for his Oscar-winning role in Little Miss Sunshine.

Film

You can expect new film and TV news to start slowing to a trickle. As of midnight on Thursday this week, Hollywood actors are on strike, as the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) leadership authorised a walkout following a breakdown in negotiations between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

With the Writers Guild of America also on strike since 2 May, this is the first time both creative bodies have been on the picket line at the same time in 63 years. The last dual strike was in the 1960, when members of the WGA and the SAG both went on strike over a fair deal in regard to residuals (AKA royalties) from films sold to TV networks.

The 2023 strikes have a similar focus, with contract renewal hinging on two primary issues: better pay and residuals from streaming TV services; and protection of creatives’ livelihood in the face of generative artificial intelligence (AI)’s rise to prominence. At a SAG-AFTRA press conference, chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland dropped this bombshell about planned exploitation: “They proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get one day’s pay, and their companies should own that scan, their image, their likeness and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity on any project they want, with no consent and no compensation.”

On the flipside, studios are doubling down on their terms. Their strategy is to simply wait out the actors and writers, letting them get cash starved and desperate before they return to the negotiating table. Reiterating this point is the quoted paragraph from a Deadline expose on studio attitudes:

“The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” a studio executive told Deadline. Acknowledging the cold-as-ice approach, several other sources reiterated the statement. One insider called it “a cruel but necessary evil.”

For the record, the rules of the strike for actors mean no shoots, no press or promotional work, and no social media marketing of their projects. As the strike kicked off, both Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt left the Oppenheimer premiere in London. Already expecting the strike, many studios announced last month that they were skipping Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, which is famous for its star-packed promo panels. SDCC is coming up next weekend, starting 20 July.

Here’s a great, digestible article on the strike.

The writers’ and actors’ strikes certainly don’t mean there will be a shortage of entertainment, at least for the rest of the year. Schedules are mostly locked down on the TV and movie front. For example, Gladiator director Ridley Scott has another historical epic up his sleeve. Out 22 November is Napoleon, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the French military commander who rose from obscurity to made himself emperor in the early 19th Century. Vanessa Kirby plays Josephine Bonaparte. With Apple one of the film’s production partners, Napoleon will eventually come to Apple TV+.

It’s the Willy Wonka origin story you never thought you needed in your life. This prequel to Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory looks at how the eccentric chocolatier made his name, taking risks and winning hearts as a young man in pursuit of his dream. In Wonka, Timothée Chalamet stars as the title character, while, adding to our interest, the whimsical musical fantasy comes from the writer/director and producer of the Paddington films – Paul King and David Heyman respectively. This means you can expect the appearance of frequent collaborators like Sally Hawkins, Matt Lucas and Hugh Grant, although the primary cast includes Keegan-Michael Key and Olivia Colman.

Wonka arrives in cinemas on 15 December, just in time to sweeten up the Christmas holidays.

The Nun is arguably the weakest of the films in the Conjuring Universe, but it’s the most financially successful by far, so a sequel to the supernatural horror hit was inevitable. In The Nun II, Taissa Farmiga returns as Sister Irene to once more face up against the demon Valak, who has set their sights on the adolescent girls at a boarding school. The Nun II comes to cinemas on 8 September.

In a complete direction change, there’s Red, White & Royal Blue, a LGBT+ romantic comedy based on the 2019 novel of the same name. Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine star in this tale of a secret love affair between the son of the US President and a British prince. Adding some star power to proceedings are Uma Thurman as the first woman president of America, and Stephen Fry as the King of England. Red, White & Royal Blue is scheduled to be released by Amazon Prime Video on 11 August.

Superman isn’t going to be the first and only superhero in James Gunn’s upcoming Superman: Legacy. You can look out for Hawkgirl, Guy Gardner’s Green Lantern, Mister Terrific and Metamorpho as well.

Joining David Corenswet’s Superman/Clark Kent and Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane will be Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Nathan Fillion as Guy, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific and just-announced Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho.

If anyone can be trusted to successfully wrangle a large cast of heroes, it’s Gunn, who has been behind Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, as well as Suicide Squad and Peacemaker for DC/Warner Bros.

Superman: Legacy is set for release on 25 June 2025, although the strikes may change that.

Now for a few more movie news tidbits:

  • What does actress-turned-filmmaker Greta Gerwig have lined up after Barbie? Gerwig has reportedly signed on to direct at least one, or maybe two, Chronicles of Narnia movies for Netflix, as part of the streamer’s multi-year deal with the C.S. Lewis Company.
  • Jennifer Garner will be reprising her role as sai-wielding assassin Elektra in Deadpool 3. The R-rated superhero comedy will evidently be taking a snarky stab at the multiverse concept. The past week also saw the release of on-set images showing stars Ryan Reynolds (as Wade Wilson/Deadpool) and Hugh Jackman (playing Logan/Wolverine) in their comic-accurate costumes.
  • Riding high on the Barbie hype (and pre-success), Mattel has revealed plans for 45 movies based on their toy/game properties, from Hot Wheels, Masters of the Universe, and Polly Pocket, to UNO and a surreal A24-esque take on Barney on the Dinosaur.
  • Finally, a heads up that Empire is taking a deep dive into Zack Snyder’s Star Wars-esque sci-fi epic Rebel Moon in their August issue. The feature includes a set of exclusive images from the film, like these two. Here are the magazine covers to look for on shelves.

Series

Nominees for the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, which celebrate excellence in television programming, were announced this week. Perhaps most significant about the 2023 awards, at least from a geeky pop culture perspective, is that HBO’s The Last of Us became the first live-action video game adaptation to be nominated in major Emmy categories. Not only that, it’s the second most nominated series of the year.

These are the heavyweight contenders for 2023:

  • Succession (HBO) – 27 nominations
  • The Last of Us (HBO) – 24 nominations
  • The White Lotus (HBO) – 23 nominations
  • Ted Lasso (Apple TV+) – 21 nominations
  • The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Prime Video) – 14 nominations
  • The Bear (FX/Hulu) – 13 nominations
  • Beef (Netflix) – 13 nominations
  • Dahmer (Netflix) – 13 nominations
  • Wednesday (Netflix) – 12 nominations

Meanwhile, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Mandalorian earned the Star Wars universe some love, and 22 award nominations between them. Most significant is Rogue One prequel series Andor popping up on the nominees list for Best Drama.

Anyway, the three-hour prime time ceremony, where the non-Creative Arts results will be announced (the Creative Arts gets their own event), takes place on the evening of Monday, 18 September in Los Angeles. That said, the writers’ and actors’ strikes may lead to these ceremonies being postponed to another date in November, or even January 2024.

For the record, Showmax is the only place in Africa to stream the three most-nominated shows at the 75th Emmy Awards: the family business drama Succession S4, the post-apocalyptic The Last Of Us S1 (24) and the Sicily-set, sex-themed The White Lotus S2.

Season 4 of raunchy British comedy drama Sex Education debuts on Netflix on 21 September, and the first teaser trailer has just been released for what is the show’s final season. Here’s the plot synopsis to get you up to speed with what is quite a shake-up for the formula:

Following the closure of Moordale Secondary, Otis (Asa Butterfield) and Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) now face a new frontier – their first day at Cavendish Sixth Form College. Otis is nervous about setting up his new clinic, whilst Eric is praying they won’t be losers again. But Cavendish is a culture shock for all the Moordale students – they thought they were progressive but this new college is another level.

There’s daily yoga in the communal garden, a strong sustainability vibe and a group of kids who are popular for being… kind?! Viv (Chinenye Ezeudu) is totally thrown by the college’s student-led, non-competitive approach, while Jackson (Kedar Williams-Stirling) is still struggling to get over Cal. Aimee (Aimee Lou Wood) tries something new by taking an Art A-Level and Adam (Connor Swindells) grapples with whether mainstream education is for him.

Over in the US, Maeve (Emma Mackey) is living her dream at prestigious Wallace University, being taught by cult author Thomas Molloy (Dan Levy). Otis is pining after her, whilst adjusting to not being an only child at home, or the only therapist on campus…

The live-action Ahsoka series is just over a month away, and Disney has just released the official trailer for the latest Star Wars limited series. Set after the fall of the Empire (putting it parallel to events in The Mandalorian), Ahsoka follows the former Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) as she investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy. Some of the other notable names in the cast include Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ray Stevenson (RIP), David Tennant and Lars Mikkelsen.

Ahsoka premieres with its first two episodes on 23 August, exclusive to Disney+.

Gaming

While Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard inches ever closer to the finish line, there was really only one other gaming story that caught our eye this week: EA, through brand-new AAA development studio Cliffhanger Games, is making a single-player Black Panther game. The third-person, original action adventure will let players “explore the world of Wakanda.” Read the EA press release here.

For the record, this is a different project to the untitled WWII-set Captain America-Black Panther co-op game revealed last year. The Cap-Black Panther adventure is coming from Skydance New Media, helmed by Uncharted’s Amy Hennig.