Weird Mind News Room Episode 8: April 17th- 23rd 2023
*Epic Newsroom music*
Hello, Good Morning, Afternoon, Evening or whenever you read this piece from the host with the most knowledge of media stuff (if that suits your interest of course) for the newest episode of Weird Mind news room where we will look at the newest releases, some trailers and more media news from the previous week from announcements, castings, some rumours and other things relating to the media as I know more knowledge on this then other things and like to share them with you all. So lets get into the new stuff:
Now available on a screen near you
Movies
Evil Dead Rise
We are in an era where we would be constantly amongst many different horror franchises from classics like Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween, to more recent series like Scream and the Conjuring Universe and they all have had a varying amount of success. Now we are delving back into a new film in a classic series of horrors that sees the director for horrors of Sam Raimi take on the executive producer role on a franchise he created back in the 80s and now Irish Director Lee Cronin making his sophomore film after 2019's Hole in the Ground, directing a new film in the Evil Dead franchise. In this new film, two estranged sisters gets their reunion cut short by the rise of Flesh eating Demons, which thrusts them into a primal battle for survival as they must face the most nightmarish version of Family possible. It seems to have been doing well in terms of critical reception as the other films in this franchise has done and from the trailers and production using over 6000 pounds of Blood, it may be one of the most goriest films in the franchise. I may give it a watch through if I do not pass out and faint from my Hemophobia (which is the term to describe the fear of overly intense use of Blood or Gore in immense detail or use) so maybe a watch down the line could be in the cards.
Missing
Now the most annoying thing for me when it came to the likes of this film was that this was supposed to release 2 months ago or even 3 months ago as it released in January in the US and then was pushed to February for us, then about a week or 2 before the release they delayed it to the end of this week (even though every ad I have seen from the last 2 or so weeks have the date of February 24th for the release date). But anyways, this is technically a spiritual sequel to the 2018 mystery thriller Searching (which I would greatly recommend to give a watch) but is also its own film that would be inspired by it. The film focused from the perspective of screens of a computer and phone cameras follows June (Storm Reid) who goes on a journey to try and solve the disappearance of her Mom when she does not return from her weekend away with her new Boyfriend in Columbia and all sorts of suspicions and twist abound with her trying to find answers as to what happened and find a way to save her Mom from any certain peril. Like the last film, it has an interesting way of showing the mystery and presenting it through computer screens and phone cameras to tell the story and a good mystery is something I do enjoy and it seems to be a film that even critics and audiences have agreed with it being positive and this will be something I will check out for myself in due time.
TV Shows
Mandalorian Season 3 Finale
Now we have reached the season finale of the 3rd season of the Mandalorian and the season that has been seen by many as quite a mixed bag to a lot of people compared to the first 2 seasons but I think that while I mentioned a mixed reaction myself I have felt it started off a bit slow and then with every episode to the finale it helped build a clearer story that all comes together with a mix of character development of some we may not know much on that we saw over the previous seasons and some stories being wrapped up and building on other for some possible future shows like Ashoka, this shows next season (which has already been written and will be heading into pre-production soon) and the evitable film Filoni is working on. This will see where the previous weeks episode left off of the Mandalorian army banding together to rebuild Mandalore only to discover the presence of Moff Gideon back with a new army to take it for himself and them needing to hatch a plan to hopefully stop him once and for all. Sure is the season as good as the other 2, not exactly but that's ok cause telling an interesting story could do the trick and will delve more into it with a review of the season sometime soon (will update when I have it ready)
Games
Dead Island 2
Now what is so surprising to me about this game was that this was announced nearly 10 years ago to be in development when announced at E3 2014 for a 2015 release and overtime it was quietly delayed with no clear release date to a point where everyone thought that this game was quietly cancelled. Then Gamesfest 2022 happened and along came the announcement of this games revival with an early 2023 release and now here we are with the release of the game after nearly 10 years. The new setting is a post apocalyptic Los Angeles, uniquely titled "Hell-A" where you can take on the role of 1 of 6 virus immune survivors as you smash and bash your way of surviving against an army of the undead. With a somewhat decent reception from many outlets and on the different consoles and ports for the game, it may be worth sinking your teeth into the game which I may give a look at when I have the time to play it.
Check out this exciting footage for upcoming titles
Sweet Tooth
First on the list is the 2nd official trailer for the Netflix series of Sweet Tooth on the series based on the comic book of the same name of the boy who is a hybrid of half human, half deer who must go on a journey across the country with the assistance of a hunter known as "Big Man" to travel to find what could be his long lost mother and survive against those that hunt hybrid creatures. If you enjoyed the 1st season then you will not need to wait long as the series is dropping this coming Thursday on Netflix for you to have something new to binge.
Last Voyage of the Demeter
So this was one that I missed last week as I thought it was only a poster for the movie had released. But based on just one chapter (yes why adapt an entire book when one chapter will do it for a movie) of the classic Bram Stroker's Dracula, the story tells the tale of the voyage from Carpathia to London that saw the crew carry large quantities of mysterious Cargo, only to find that the cargo is not just simple materials but rather holding a sinister presence that will stalk the ship at night and will be up to them to survive against the power of the undead king. It will be interesting to see how they can make an entire chapter of a book into a full film, but I guess we will find out come August.
Insidious The Red Door
Dubbed as the final installment (but knowing of my knowledge of horror films and games, it is never really the final installment) in a series that may have already ran its course after a trilogy, this new install will see Josh Lambert drop his son Dalton off at college but soon his college dreams turn into a nightmare when the repressed demons from his past come back to haunt him. While this may not be the most appealing film to me, I am sure it will get some form of an audience when it releases in July.
Fast X
To think that this series 20 years ago started with a cop trying to stop some shady dealings amongst a street race gang, to where it has now seen the series drift around Tokyo, caused a vault heist in Brazil, fighting a tank on a Freeway, driving cars and parachuting them out of a cargo plane, drifting around a submarine, fighting a super soldier, defying all laws of physics that has them doing all this death defying stuff and not be injured or broken any bone (which they came self aware of in the last film) to literally them driving a car into Space (I am not joking they actually did that) and their reason was all in the power of "family" (and maybe having all the big name male stars be big buff bald men). So now we come to the 10th and 1st of the final 2 films in the franchise that sees Dom and the family face off against a new threat, played by Jason Mamoa, who is seeking revenge for his fathers death and the stealing of their fortune in Fast Five (the whole Vault thing) and could lead to the fracturing of this family. This will also see the introduction to the likes of Brie Larson and Danielle Melchor in the film in unknown roles currently. Now this may be trying to go more of simple points from a few films back or else they are keeping the whole hidden aspect and somehow to top going to space, it's gonna have time travel but I am just guessing as you can't know with this series of how dumb and nutty these movies try to do with their stunts and ideas.
Godzilla x Kong A New Empire
Now this was something I was not expecting to see pop up during the week and had slipped my mind that this series of films was continuing, but we got the tease of the next film in the monsterverse film with a sequel to 2021's Godzilla vs Kong with a title that has a bit of a weird slash fiction name to it, but from the sounds of things they may be teaming up like they did at the end of the last movie to face off against a new threat that will destroy their very existence. Not much is shown in the criptic tease besides the shadowy figure of the new threat and the skulls of the 2 remaining titans we know of, but I am sure we will know more up to the release next spring or summer.
LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog
What you may come to know of me as well is that I am a simple person that also enjoys buying and building LEGO (and now am trying to figure out where to display some of them) but earlier this week we got the announcement that the Blue Blur himself was getting some more new sets to be built one brick at a time after the original Lego Ideas green Hill zone set from last year. This will see 4 new sets with varying prices and will see Sonic alongside first time minifigures for Tails, Amy and Dr Eggman (surprisingly no Knuckles minifig but I am sure there will be more) and they all look like some nice additions to go alongside the classic set and I know I may be going fast down to the shops to buy them when they become available later this year
Tiny Toons Looniversity
What survived the great Animation look over of 2022 by Warner Bros, it looks like Tiny toons is getting a new reboot series following in the footsteps of the Animaniacs and sees the titular characters attending the Looniversity, where they will learn all there is to be the Looney of Toons by some of the very best and will get into mischief and hijinks most likely afterwards but I may give it a look when it releases sometime this year.
Now for the news of all other media
The Suicide squad plan for the downfall of the Justice league has been Postponed
This is the other piece of news that I have forgotten to talk on from last week but we have gotten the announcement of a major delay for a new video game and this come to us from Rocksteady, the studio behind the Arkham series who was working on a somewhat canon continuation with a game based on the Suicide Squad that saw the team of Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark being forced by Amanda Waller to be assigned to a job to take down and kill the Justice league who have been causing death and destruction in metropolis. The game was initially supposed to release on May 26th of this year but early last week it was announced to be delayed for another few months until February 2nd 2024. Most reasons was due to some mixed reactions from the recent gameplay footage and from an early leaked screenshot of the game looking a bit too close to a paid service game similar to the recent Avengers game that is shutting their servers in September after being live for just about 3 years. Personally I enjoyed the footage and was excited for the game and that whole paid service thing seems to be more of the different costumes for the characters and even more squad members to be added overtime but I am sure with the extra bit of time it will see the release to hopefully great acclaim.
Gotta go fast and buy some birds
Now we have seen a lot of big buying from game studios buying other smaller or well known studios and some of them can be seen as quite the surprising purchase which is what exactly is this next story. Sega, the company known for the Sonic the Hedgehog series has made the quite hefty purchase sum of $775 Million for the purchase of the Finnish game company Rovio, who you might know as the studio that created the global mobile gaming phenomenon Angry Birds. Now this is quite the unexpected purchase but the buy out for the company has helped them stay afloat after noticing a definite plunge for the studio after the low earnings for the 2nd Angry Birds movie they had a hand in devloping with Sony and the Pandemic not helping with any favours and it remains to be seen what will happen with the future of the series of flightless birds and how it'll connect to the world that SEGA has created from their games.
Cracking the Knuckles and getting started on the series
Speaking of SEGA and Sonic itself, we have received confirmation that the upcoming tv series based on the recent films and the character of Knuckles the Echidna has started production and we have received a cast list and a bit of a plot to the story. The cast includes Ildris elba back to voice the main lead again and will also see Ellie Taylor, Rory McCann, Edi Patterson, Kid Cudi, Julian Barratt and Tony Coughlin joining the cast, but will also see the return appearance of Tika Sumpter as Maddie and Adam Pally as Walt Whippie. as for the plot the series is set in between the end of Sonic 2 and the next movie in the series that comes out next year and will follow Knuckles as he teaches the deputy Wade as he teaches him the way of the echidna. I am sure that things will lead to some hilarity and hijinks and I know that I will give it a look when it comes out later this year (which I do not know if the date of October 12th on IMDB is accurate but I am sure we will find out soon).
The Musically wicked witch of the east
Now for a little delving into some musical side of things, but some of you may have been aware or had forgotten that they are currently making a film adaptation (well a 2 part film adaptation last time I checked) of the 2003 stage play of Wicked, which is set in the world of the Wizard of Oz and focused on the witches and the wizard then on Dorothy and her friends she made along the way. Now besides that not much has been known besides the casting of the film including Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp or the Wicked Witch of the West and Ariana Grande as Glinda Upland, the Good Witch of the North as well as some other casting including Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Johnathon Bailey, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode and many more and filming had been going on since December of last year and not much had been seen until just recently. Filming was commencing in some outdoors sets in Buckinghamshire in the UK and there was people capturing some recording of the film, which included the footage above of Ariana Grande in full costume as Glinda. While we do not see much, it looks very close in outfit to the stage play and the classic design of the character from the original adaptation and I am sure we will see it more closer to the release next Christmas.
The Legacy of Superman shall begin
Ah the Man of Steel, a character that has gotten quite the underutilization in film for the last few years where they have no idea what to do with the character and who is playing him as he has just been a headless body for the last few years. But now just a few days ago we got an image from one of the co-leads for running the DCU for Warner, James Gunn has shared that the script for the newest Superman movie, aptly titled Superman Legacy has entered into the Pre-Production stage and that the script had been written or at least the first draft version of the film with attempts to change happening overtime. Not much is known on what this tale is about or who is taking on the role of the Man of Tomorrow, but I am sure we will hear more as the films flies towards it 2025 release date.
Cumberbatch has got time to spare
It really seems to be a theme for Mr Benedict Cumberbatch that a lot of his characters he has played have been character based with the use of time of have become part or played characters known in some great pieces of literature of all time (I am really stretching it here). But anyways we have been given word of one of his next film roles and that is with a new film adaptation of the book How to Stop Time, which the story of a man named Tom Hazard, a man who may look like a 40 something year old History teacher but in actuality due to a rare condition has made him alive for centuries when he has been alive for nearly 500 years and lived alongside some famous historical figures while under the watchful protection of a secret society, and he will have to decide of wanting to live in the past or learn to live life in the future. Not much else is known and who is also casted in the film but we will hopefully learn more overtime.
The Enterprise has an Oscar winning captain
Space, the final frontier. We have seen a lot of the enterprise crew over the last decade and a half with many different film adaptations and shows from strange new world, to Picard to the Trilogy of films with Chris Pine, but now we have a new tv movie event heading to Paramount+ and the return of a character from Discovery taking the lead on the film and that is with Oscar winning actress Michelle Yeoh. Now I don't know much on Star Trek shows or lore much but I see it seems to be something worth a look into and I am sure it will hopefully do well whenever it releases.
From Earth's Mightiest Heroes to possibly the worlds Greatest Detective
The Russo Brother have been very busy these last few years. After making one of the biggest and highly anticipated duo of films for the MCU with Infinity War and Endgame, the russo had been working on some other project for many studios, including some films for netflix like The Grey Man and the Extraction films, to Cherry for Apple tv+ and the upcoming Citadel series for Amazon, as well as being executive producer on Last years best picture Everything Everywhere, All at once. But now it seems that the 2 brothers are looking to set their eyes on the opposite side of the superhero landscape and try their hand at a DC film, and not just any film, but rather to take directing duties for the New Batman film for the DCU. This interest comes into effect to their love for the co lead of James Gunn when they worked on the MCU as far back as 2014 when both their movies released that year (Winter soldier for the Russo's and Guardians of the galaxy Vol.1 for Gunn) and have wanted to work together again with a new form of comic book movie. I for one would be interested to see how they would tackle a film on the caped crusader and Damien Wayne and would be interested to see if this all works out but only time will tell.
The Flower Moon will be on display for a while
Now for a little bit of possible confirmed runtimes. First comes in the way of Martin Scorsese's newest film which is the Killers of the Flower Moon. This film has been filmed and probably been ready to go for quite some time now and will be supposedly getting it's premiere at next months Cannes film festival with the likes of Dial of Destiny and Pixar's Elemental, but we do have word on is the supposed runtime for the film. According to sources, the Killers of the Flower Moon is clocking in at 3 Hours and 26 Minutes which is quite the long film, but is actually 3 minutes shorter then Scorsese's previous film of The Irishman at 3 Hrs 29 Mins. I understand that as he usually will put as much content into his films and does take a time between them all to make. As for releases, we do not have an official public release date but most case it could be later this year, most likely between September and November or around the Awards circuit but I am sure we will get some confirmation soon (and maybe even a trailer or new look stills).
The Dial of destiny is set to a particular time
Hello my name is Markiplier and I will be making a movie
In a surprise announcement that I did not expect to see happen, the small indie horror game of Iron Lung, a game about a prisoner, who after a cataclysmic event caused all the stars and inhabitable planets to suddenly disappear, is sent on a mission to search a blood ocean on a desolate Moon, using the small submarine called the Iron Lung and discover what lies beneath the surface and caused that major catastrophe. However it is not just a surprise of it being announced but also on who is directing, writing and starring in this film adaptation and that person is none other then Mark Fischbach, otherwise known to man as Markiplier. So far they have already been filming since as far back as March or possibly earlier going of the games creator, who helped with the script and pre-production of the film. Now not much else is known, but it is planned for a theatrical release date and whether that is released this year or whenever is anyone's guess, but I will watch on in interest.
The Guardians Final outing sounds like a great one
In the last of the stories of this week, we have a bit of an early reactions for an upcoming anticipated film and that is with the 3rd movie in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. Some early reactions have started to make their rounds on Socials on the weekend before the official embargo for official reviews drop next Friday after the Premiere in America, and the early reactions have been overwhelmingly positive with some calling, the prefect end to the perfect Trilogy. Now early reactions can always be a bit questionable and can vary a bit towards the release of the official reviews but I will compare them once the reviews drop the following weekend.
And that is all that I have to talk on this week in this installment of Weird Mind news room. I hope that you have enjoyed looking, reading or observing through my discussion of this week in media and I hope you enjoyed. Tune in next time for the newest installment of what there is to offer. I hope you all stay wonderful people and good night and good news.
Signing off
Sam H
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