A lot has happened in the world of pop culture this past week, and we mean A LOT. So let’s jump right in with the news that stood out for us.
Film
Judd Apatow’s latest comedy, The Bubble, about making a movie during the pandemic, looks like a lot of fun. Inspired by the filming of Jurassic World Dominion, the Bubble sees the likes of Karen Gillan, David Duchovny, Keegan-Michael Key, Kate McKinnon and Pedro Pascal star in this tale of actors forced to live together in a remote British location while filming the sixth movie in a dinosaur-themed blockbuster franchise. The Bubble hits Netflix on 1 April.
Sorry, DC movie fans, no Aquaman sequel and The Flash standalone movies this year. They’ve been delayed to 2023. Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam film has also shifted later this year, from a July to October 2022 release. The good news, though, is that Shazam! Fury of the Gods has been bumped up to hit cinemas for the 2022 December holidays. The full new release line-up can be found here.
For the record, animated movie DC League of Super-Pets will now move from May 20 to Black Adam’s previous July 29 slot. There’s a new Batman-centred trailer for that movie too, which features a surprisingly spot-on Keanu Reeves as the voice of the Dark Knight, and Kevin Hart as his canine companion Ace the Bat-Hound. Dwayne Johnson, Natasha Lyonne, Diego Luna, John Krasinski, and many more, also provide voices.
Guillermo del Toro’s dark stop-motion take on Pinocchio will have some competition. Coming to Disney+ in September is Robert Zemeckis’s live-action remake of the animated Disney film. Here’s our first look at Tom Hanks as wood carver and puppet foster dad Geppetto.
Alien may be going back to its intense horror roots. Don’t Breathe and Evil Dead remake filmmaker Fede Alvarez is set to write and direct the next standalone instalment in the influential space horror franchise, for release on streaming service Hulu. More here.
Speaking of influential sci-fi horror franchises, we now know a bit more about the next Predator film, also coming to Hulu. From 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg, Prey is a prequel to the other four films in the franchise, and will showcase a Predator on his first journey to Earth in 1719. His arrival in the Great Plains pits him against Amber Midthunder’s Naru, a Comanche warrior who sets out to protect her people. Prey will release for streaming in the Northern Hemisphere summer. More here.
In casting news, Florence Pugh seems to be lining up to rejoin her Little Woman co-star Timothée Chalamet, in Dune: Part 2. Pugh would play Princess Irulan, the daughter of Emperor Shaddam IV, and a key figure in Paul (Chalamet) Atreides’ power play. More here.
Television
Arguably the biggest TV news of the week has been the teaser trailer drop for Obi-Wan Kenobi, with returning star Ewan McGregor as the Jedi Master. Set ten years after Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the series sees Obi-Wan keeping watch over kid Luke Skywalker on Tatooine, while avoiding the Empire’s attempts to exterminate all Jedi left in the Galaxy.
The six-episode Obi-Wan Kenobi starts streaming from 25 May on Disney+.
A big score for African streaming service Showmax! With no Paramount+ on the continent, Showmax has scooped the rights to screen highly anticipated sci-fi game adaptation Halo for local audiences. Catch new episodes of Halo Fridays from 25 March 2022.
Well, this came out of nowhere. Coming to HBO Max on 17 March is limited series DMZ, based on the acclaimed DC-Vertigo comic series. Set in a near future, during the Second American Civil War, the four-episode drama centres on Alma Ortega (Rosario Dawson), who enters a wartorn Manhattan Island – now a walled-off, left-to-its-own-devices demilitarized zone – to find her lost son.
In the midst of so much global doom and gloom this week, one jaw-dropping discovery made headlines. The wreck of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance has been found 107 years after it sank in the Weddell Sea – and it’s in pristine, preserved condition.
Coming in Q3 2022, you can expect a National Geographic documentary (which should also screen on Disney+) about the find, and, no doubt, the real-life story of leadership and survival that has captivated the world for over a century.
One final note is the South African involvement in this landmark discovery. The expedition departed from Cape Town in early February, and the team travelled on board the South African icebreaker Agulhas II.
Hungry for more content, with big money to throw around, Amazon Video is apparently eying a God of War adaptation. Creative forces behind The Expanse and The Wheel of Time TV series adaptations have been roped into bringing the mythology-themed PlayStation game to life. More here.
Finally, a few news titbits: Production is now under way on Apple’s Ted Lasso Season 3, and Netflix’s dark time loop comedy Russian Doll Season 2 finally has a release date: April 20.
Gaming
It’s your last day to experience, and shop, the special Steam Women’s Day event. Discover and buy games from women-led game studios that have enjoyed funding from WINGS, an organisation that specifically invests in games made by teams in which women and marginalised gender developers hold key positions.
Potentially good news for kids of the 80s and 90s, as well as fans of retro games: Konami has announced that it’s releasing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, which contains thirteen classic 8-bit, 16-bit, and arcade TMNT games. The Cowabunga Collection is coming to PS, Xbox, Switch and PC at some point this year.
While the Suicide Squad game was postponed to 2023, we finally have a 2022 release date for Gotham Knights, an action adventure from the makers of Batman: Arkham Origins. Coming October 25 is this tale with the four playable characters of Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and Red Hood as they come into conflict with the Court of Owls in the aftermath of Batman’s death. Gotham Knights is coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Comics and Books
It’s a month for celebrating women, and Image Comics and Humble Bundle have a treat for fans of diverse and powerful leading ladies. The Leading Ladies digital comics bundle is out now, and includes Saga (Volumes 1-9), Monstress, Paper Girls, A Man Among Ye, Lady Mechanika, Bitch Planet, Rat Queens and many more.
The $25 bundle includes all 66 items, while $1 gets you a 9-book bundle. Purchases of this specific bundle are supporting the Hero Initiative.
