It may have been a shorter week in some countries, but that doesn’t mean a shortage of pop culture news. Here’s what caught our eye the past few days.
Film
Probably the biggest reveal of the week was the teaser trailer (and poster) for The Matrix Resurrections, the highly anticipated fourth Matrix movie. Original trilogy stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss return, with Lana Wachowski back in the director’s chair. Interestingly, Cloud Atlas author David Mitchell is one of the writers alongside Wachowski. Resurrections releases December 22.
Thanks to Jason Momoa’s Instagram account, we got our first look at Aquaman’s new stealth duds, as well as a refresh of his classic suit, in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. James Wan’s sequel is currently filming.
You just can’t escape the obsession with human extinction right now. This week included trailer debuts for two star-studded disaster movies about world-ending collisions with space bodies. There’s serious 2022 blockbuster Moonfall, with Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson, from Independence Day, 2012 and Day After Tomorrow director Roland Emmerich.
Then there’s Netflix’s dark comedy Don’t Look Up, from Adam McKay, the writer-director of Anchorman, Vice and the Big Short. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence star alongside Jonah Hill and Meryl Streep, and the movie starts streaming on Christmas Eve this year.
Gaming
We think the original still holds up incredibly well in all aspects, but this fall, Remedy’s atmospheric action horror game Alan Wake is getting a next-gen overhaul. Alan Wake Remastered is coming to PC (via the Epic Game Store), Xbox and, for the first-time-ever, PS. More here.
Oh, yeah, and a small little video game company called PlayStation had a digital showcase last night. If you ever dreamed of a Wolverine solo game, well, it’s happening now courtesy of Insomniac Games. You can watch the full 40-minute Showcase below, or read a highlights recap with all the major trailers here.
Books & Comics
Two high-profile Kickstarters for you this week.
Right now you can back The Witcher: Ronin — A Hard Copy Collector’s Edition Manga. This new 100-page+ “what if” comic is spearheaded by CD PROJEKT RED, creators of The Witcher game series, and re-imagines the Witcher universe as being set in Yokai-infested feudal Japan. The manga is written by Rafat Jaki and drawn by Hataya.
Meanwhile, in early 2022, you can back an all-new illustrated edition of Carlo Collodi’s classic novel Pinocchio, illustrated by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and with colours by the award-winning Dave Stewart. Beehive Books publishes. Kickstarter page here.