It’s Disney+ Day today, celebrating two years since the launch of the streaming service, and in terms of trailers, first looks and other announcements, those are kicking off from 6am PT/9am ET/2pm GMT. We won’t be covering all the Plus news in this post, but it’s something to keep on your radar if you’re a Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and general Disney fan. Expect the official release of the already leaked Obi-Wan Kenobi series trailer.
Film
Technically, the trailer for 8-Bit Christmas debuted last week, but it makes sense to post it now as a counterbalance to all the saccharine seasonal romances that are starting to clog up streaming services. Starring Neil Patrick Harris, this family holiday comedy (and novel adaptation) dials up the nostalgia and nerdiness for the tale of an 80s kid and their quest to get a Nintendo Entertainment System. 8-Bit Christmas starts streaming exclusively on HBO Max from November 24.
Also offering a palate cleanse from conventional feel-good holiday fare is dark comedy Silent Night. Produced by Matthew Vaugh, and directed by Camille Griffin, this indie British effort stars Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Roman Griffin Davis, Annabelle Wallis and Lily-Rose Depp. Close friends and their families gather in the English countryside for Christmas. Nothing unusual there. Except the festivities mask the fact that the world is about to end. Silent Night hits theatres, and AMC+, from December 3.
Don’t drink the Kool-Aid. In casting news, Leonardo Di Caprio looks set to play Jim Jones in a movie about the cult leader responsible for the Jonestown Massacre – a mass suicide-murder of over 900 people in the 1970s. More here.
Streaming television
It’s not just Cowboy Bebop. Netflix is now evidently all in when it comes to making live-action adaptations of popular anime and manga. Also on the cards are quirky pirate adventure One Piece, and YuYu Hakusho, centred on a teenage delinquent turned underworld detective. This week revealed the former’s cast, and announced the latter’s debut in December 2023. This is in addition to an upcoming live-action Gundam movie. More on Netflix’s full anime (animated and live-action) slate here.
Netflix also unveiled a new trailer for Stranger Things Season 4, once again emphasising how life has changed for many of its characters, especially those who moved away from Hawkins, Indiana. Season 4 is set for release in 2022 around the midyear mark.
Gaming
If you were looking forward to playing the HR Giger-esque sci-fi shooter Scorn before the end of the year, you have longer to wait. The Kickstarted kinda-ick-kinda-cool game, which has had high profile showings at Xbox Showcases over the past few years, and which was announced all the way back in 2014, has been delayed into 2022. More here on the controversial announcement.
In happier, but not exactly surprising, news, another Mass Effect game is in the works. The fifth game in BioWare’s beloved series was teased via a poster drop on social media during N7 Day, AKA November 7. More here.
