Weird Mind News Room Episode 9: April 24th- 30th 2023

 *insert le epic news room music*

Hello again to you and and welcome you to the 9th episode of the Weird mind news room where we will go over all the releases, new trailers and all the media news I am aware of or interested in. Just for this week as there was a lot of media news coming out of one event (Cinema con) to save me time I will split them into the sections and panels of the studios the most known pieces are from, with a few other pieces of media news. So lets not waste anymore time and lets get right to the new pieces of the week.

Now playing / streaming / playable this week

Movies

Peter Pan and Wendy

Now for the first and the next film of Disney's quest to make every animated film made by them into a live action remake, we have the remake of the boy who never grew up with Peter Pan. If you know the story of Peter pan or if you are a little unsure of what it is about, Peter Pan is a magical boy that brings the darling children on a journey to Neverland and with faith, trust and some pixie dust, will help save the land from the dastardly Captain Hook. Now I have seen some reviews and it seems to be ok but I know it is one you an give or take with but I may give it a look while looking at some of the other live action films I haven't watched yet.

TV shows

Sweet Tooth

For those looking for something to binge and had enjoyed the comic or the first season then I know that people will enjoy catching up with the crossbreed deer boy as he continues on the journey with the hunter to find his supposed long lost mother in another part of post apocalyptic America.

Video Games

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

For the big game release of this week we have the launch of the sequel to the surprise 2019 hit of Jedi Fallen Order with Jedi Survivor. This game sees you jump five years after the events of Fallen order and are once again playing the character of Cal Kestis as he continues on his journey as a Jedi and trying to keep one step ahead of the galactic empire who are trying to wipe out every remaining survivor of Order 66. From what I have seen from reviews, it seems as well received as the previous game with improved combat mechanic and story is well received, the only major complaint of recent has been the performance issues, mainly more on PC. Now I wanna make clear that I have seen that the company that developed it, respawn, specified before the reviews and a few days before release that the game will be having some technical issues and a lot of patch updates are expected to come but a lot of poor user reviews have started to pop up mainly on Steam which may affect the sales and opinions but I am sure that the studio wanted it all to work out and could be a higher ups wanting the game out quickly to make a profit (which I guess explains it as it is is EA publishing it) but I am sure I will play through Fallen order and then pick up this game soon after.

Amanda the Adventurer (small indie horror game)

Now I know this may not be the most known game and is just a simple little indie horror game but it did catch a little bit of interest to me. Essentially you play as a young woman who recently gains their late grandmothers house and a message of asking for help to solve the mystery of some strange tapes of an old show called Amanda the Adventurer, a knock off of Dora the Explorer but with a more twisted dark version of creepiness and other things. It is short, simple and full of mystery, spooks and unsettling things and will not be one that will cause much annoyance.

Footage of things for future release

Transformers Rise of the Beasts

Ah Transformers, a series of live action films that released over the last 16 years that has had some varying opinions from well received with Bumblebee and some with the first one and the others not so much. Now we have a new film on the horizon with Rise of the Beasts which will be based on the Beast Wars series from the 90s and will be a big clash of Autobots, Decepticons, Maximals, Predacons and Terrorcons. Visually it looks great, the transformers look visually excellent and looks good so far, I guess it will be down to how well received it is (and if those rumours from the last week of the film being in the supposed "unwatchable" state due to unknown problems of editing to a coherent plot) and will give it a watch in a very busy June.

The Equalizer 3

Denzel Washington is back again for the 3rd and final installment in the only series of films Denzel has made with some sequels. This new story see's Washington's David McCall retiring his life as a government assassin and trying to live peacefully in Southern Italy. But when he learns they are under the iron fist of the Mafia, he must use his skills to take them on and bring them down. These films have been quite enjoyable and there is a reuniting in casting between Washington and his young Man on Fire co-star Dakota Fanning and I will give it a look at when it releases in early September.

The Flash

Now we have the newest look at the next superhero film of this year and that is with the fastest man alive, The flash. In this new film it seems to be taking a bit of an inspiration from the famous Flashpoint comic arc that sees Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) travelling back in time to try and save his mom from being killed and in the process creates an alternate timeline where many superheroes don't exist and General Zod has returned. Now Barry will need to run as fast as he can to save the future with the help from a very different Batman (Michael Keaton), a new Kryptonian (Sasha Calle) and even an alternate version of himself. From what I have heard from earlier in the week at cinemacon as it was the first time the film has been shown to audiences, it has been really well received and labelled as one of the best superhero movies of all time. This film of course has had a long time coming to be made and released due to changing directors and working out a proper story to finally come out now and nearly saw it not get released due to the main lead and their quite hectic couple of months over the last year from assaults, home invasion and near cult like behaviour, but it depends how well this will be received when it comes out in Mid June

The Witcher season 3

Toss a coin to your fellow Netflix subscription (unless that monthly price is too damn high) as we are nearing the release of the 3rd season for the Witcher series. Now this series has seen its share of being well received back in the first season but started to notice obvious cracks with the following season with all this about the showrunners not caring about the source material or anything when its main lead (and his last season as well before recasting) Henry Cavill, really cares for this franchise spawned from a book series from Poland and a popular series of games from CD Projekt Red. But we finally received a brief glimpse at the series that is confirmed to be split into 2 parts for this season with the first 5 episodes dropping on June 27th and the remaining 3 dropping a month later (like a lot of other streaming shows on Netflix have been doing lately). It doesn't show much but I am sure they will delve more into it before its release

Black Mirror season 6

A series people though had ended years ago as the stories were feeling too close to being real in this crazy world of ours, Charlie Brooker has returned once again with a new 6th season of the anthology series of Black Mirror with some big names joining in the new season including Aaron Paul, Salma Hayek Pinault, Zazie Beetz, Rob Delaney, Michael Cera and many more. Not much is known on the upcoming episode and we will learn more come the release of the series in June. 

A haunting in Venice

The famous Belgian detective with the famous Moustache is back again with the third film in a series of stories from Agatha Christie that see Poirot visiting the flooded city of Venice, where he must solve another murder while he attends a Halloween séance at a haunted Palazzo. With Branagh back as Poirot as well as some more new names in the mix including Jamie Dornan, Michelle Yeoh, Tina Fey and many others, a mystery will be afoot when it comes out in September.

Wish

We now head over to the animation offering of Disney with their newest film Wish, which takes us to the kingdom of Rosas, located off the Iberian Peninsula and follows 17 year old Asha (Ariana Debose) who sense a darkness that only she can see, leads her on a passionate plea to the stars in the moment of need and soon meets a star named Star that may grant her wish. Now while this does sound very much like the story piece I made for my Final Year Project in college, this may be a bit more grand scale in scope (probably I have no idea and am questioning if I have a case on my hands)(I joke of course) but I think that from first looks with the animation looking to take an inspiration on animation like Spiderverse, Puss in Boots and Mitchells vs the Machines with a 2d background look overlaid onto the 3d environments and it looks really nice. I am sure that we will see more of the story by the time the film releases in Late November.

Twisted Metal

So in a year where we have so far had Last of Us and Super Mario Bros Movie and soon the Witcher season 3, Gran Turismo (which we will discuss next week with new trailer) and Five Nights at Freddy's, we have one more adaptation coming to us in the late summer and that is the adaptation of Twisted Metal, a classic game series from the PS2 era. Now not much is really shown in this teaser to get the scale of things besides the brief appearance of the most known character from the series at the end, but the basis is Anthony mackie plays John Doe, a milkman with amnesia who must deliver some important package in a post apocalyptic world in order for him to stay alive and probably end up in total car chaos in the process. Hopefully we get some better look at it before the season starts premiering in late July

Next Goal Wins

Now for the newest film from director Taika Waititi who is taking on a new biographical sport story about the Dutch-American coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender) who must give all his effort he can to get the American Samoa team, seen as the worst football team in the world, to qualify for the 2014 Fifa World cup in Brazil. Now I will say that the likes of any sports or sports film is something I do not give the slightest care in (as you can tell from my knowledge and interest in Media) but I do enjoy Taika Waititi's works like his Thor films, Jojo Rabbit and Hunt for the Wilderpoeple so I may give it a look at when it comes out this fall.

Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

The final trailer this week is taking us back to the world of the Hunger games with the prequel film set decades before the main series of books and tales of Katniss Everdeen and will be set during the 10th official Hunger games and focus on a younger Cornelius Snow as he mentors and grow deep feelings for the champion chosen from the 12th District and will see the growth of a new revolution or something. Now being honest I have never read or remember the previous films in the series but I may give a read or watch of them before this drops in November

Time for all of the other news and media things 

now we move onto the other main pieces of news where we will start off with one part of the media cycle which is with the discussion of some of the big pieces to come out of the convention of Cinema con of all of the different comapnies (mainly some of the big points I got from it that hasn't been discussed or the more important points to me) had to show and then I will discuss the news that is more of the other relevant news talks after wards cause if I had delved each piece as its own story I would be here until next week writing it (and I have things to do and some movies and shows to watch to watch and games to play.

Cinema con: The 5 Arc Saga

Part 1: Head to the water tower for Warner Bros.

First we start with the people at Warner Bros (a company that I hope if the recent stage has gone well I get a year internship with them) who most of the discussion were on the superhero stuff and some of their other content. So lets run it down:

-Some first look at the upcoming Mad Max prequel Furiosa was shown with the first look at Anya Taylor Joy as the character recently portrayed by Charlize Theron and seems to be very accurate to how she looked in that film. I am excited for this movie and I am sure we will see more by the end of the year before the summer 2024 release

-Beetlejuice 2 was confirmed to be a project in the works at the studio, it is unknown who is attached to the project besides Jenna Ortega rumoured to be attached or when it is being released but we will learn soon enough in the future

-we are getting a new film in the Final destination series. Not much else in known or release date but will get more info in the future

-We have the official title for the 4th film in the Conjuring Franchise with it having the subtitle of 'Last Rites' no word for when this is being release but most likely after this years Nun sequel and maybe the Crooked man or tv series

-Footage for the Nun sequel was also shown at the event which see's it set 4 years after the first film and sees sister Irene come face to face again with Valak. I am sure the trailer will be released very soon before it's September release date

-Footage of the upcoming Wonka movie starring Timothee Chalamet was shown that shows a 7 year journey for the chocolatier to perfect his craft in the business against some dasterdly rivals and confirmation that Hugh Grant is playing a Oompa Loompa. I am sure the footage will release soon to start promotion for the release this Christmas

-Footage for the upcoming sequel to the Meg was also shown off that see Jason Stathem return this time fighting more then just one Megaladon. The first was corny fun but we'll see and hopefully footage is released before its early August premiere

-Footage for the 2nd part to the Dune movie was also shown that see's more of the Artredis journey across the spice planet to get the revenge against those that killed most of his family with a brief first look at Florence Pugh's character. I am sure we will see this start to begin marketing shortly for its early November release

-Lastly and one that will be a bit of a divisive or disliked notion is that is is confirmed that Amber Heard is still confirmed to appear in the upcoming Aquaman sequel. Now a lot of people if you remember last year during the Trial wanted her removed from the film and people thought that was going to happen and what those reshoots afterwards were about but it seems to have been shown in footage that she is in the film. Now whether that notion of less then 10 mins of screentime is accurate or the poor test screenings for this is any indication, the some possible rough seas are ahead before it drops in December.

Part 2: The giant text in the sky mean Universal

Next up on the list is with Universal studios content of information. So this was what was provided from the panel:

-First we got some information from Blumhouse, with them confirming the likes of wanting some of their films to become franchises with 2 that seem to be confirmed for possible future films in the series is with this year horror hit M3GAN and last years film of the Black Phone. Now I can see how M3GAN can get a sequel that is confirmed to be releasing in early 2025, but the likes of a sequel to Black Phone will be one to be confused on how that will have a sequel, unless they all somehow involve a similar phone but different characters for every film but I guess we will learn more soon

-One film that everyone was hoping to get word on or even some footage or first look but saw no info released was the Five Nights at Freddy's Movie. The reason was due to this conferences being about getting back to the cinema and due to it having a Cinema and Streaming simul release in the US that went against it but I am sure we will hear something or get a trailer really soon before it's release in October.

-Nolan showed off some footage for his upcoming movie Oppenheimer that showed off Robert Downey Jr's character and had confirmed that we may be getting another trailer out next week to possibly play in front of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, so we will check on that in the next news room episode if it does and will see this footage come mid July

-We have the official title for the new Exorcist reboot being made by the director of the recent Halloween Trilogy entitled 'Exorcist: Believer and will see 2 young school children finding themselves possessed after disappearing for several days and will see the return of one of the cast from the original 1973 classic. I am sure that they will soon see some footage and release of a trailer before the film releases in early October just in time for Halloween.

-A new logo for the 10th film in the Saw franchise, simply titled Saw X was shown off and we will see some new footage sometime soon for its release on the same day as FNAF movie in late October.

-We have confirmation that the final film in the Fast and Furious Movie is confirmed as Fast X part 2 which may mean the upcoming Fast X out in under a months time might end on a cliffhanger but we will have to see when it releases

-Lastly we got some new information about the upcoming 4th movie in the Kung Fu Panda series which see's Po going on a journey to try and find the newest Dragon Warrior and will go on a journey to find them and in the process will come face to face with a new villain that is known as the Chameleon who has the power to bring back some of the enemies from the past which includes Tai Lung, Lord Shen and Kai. This sounds like a very interesting concept of a plot and I will look forward to seeing what the new villain looks like and the entire voice cast and give it a watch when it releases in cinemas in March next year.

Part 3: Brought to you by Sony

Now the next on the list is from Sony Pictures and now it is time to delve into more of the content from the studio:

- We have confirmation that a 4th movie in the Bad Boys series is currently being filmed with a projected release date of sometime next year. No whether people will go see this film after the whole Will smith slap incident is hard to say but if the box office of the last one is any indication then it may be worth a watch.

-We have some casting confirmation for Dumb Money, a film based on the 2021 Gamestop Wall street stock fiasco. The film will see Paul Dano play the Youtuber and streamer who started the whole fiasco. This is amongst a large ensemble including Seth Rogen, Sebastian Stan, Pete Davidson, Shailene Woodley, Anthony Ramos, Vincent D'Onofrio, Dane DeHaan and Myha'la Herrold. I am sure there will be some interesting approach to how it will all come together in the future and I may give it a look when some first footage is released

-We got a little discussion on the next Ghostbusters movie after Afterlife and has been confirmed it is currently deep into filming and that Paul Rudd and Carey Coon are both confirmed to be putting on the iconic jumpsuits for the movie. No official title or footage was shown and it is still projected to be released at Christmas but it will be down to see how it will all play out by then.

-We have gotten some footage that released of the upcoming Gran Turismo movie from Neil Blomkamp which gives the plot of a Gamer who enters into a Gran Turismo contest that ends up with them having the chance to race with some of the biggest race car drivers in the world. I am sure we can learn more about it in the trailer that is planned for release next week.

-Finally we have some big news info about the upcoming Kraven the Hunter Movie starring Aaron Taylor Johnson in the starring role and that this is the first film in the Sony Spider-man films that will be receiving an R Rating due to the bloody and deadly footage that was shown at the panel and the confirmation that another Spider-man villain of the Rhino will also be in the film as well as Kraven wearing the comic book costume he is known for or seen in the footage. It is unknown when the first trailer will drop but it should be very soon for the release of the film in Early October

Part 4: Open up that Disney Vault

Now there is not much that I can discuss left from Disney as 2 of the pieces were trailers which were shown above (Haunting in Venice and Wish) but there is just 2 other pieces we can discuss:

-Coinciding with Alien Day, the director for the Upcoming new Alien: Romulus movie shared a photo of a set piece for the film with the clap board being snatched by a face hugger. Not much is known how far into production it is but as soon as more info arises I will update the info here

-The 2nd other piece is we have received some info for the newest film from Godzilla and Rogue One Director Gareth Edwards next sci-fi film the Creator, that is a post-apocalyptic thriller of a future impacted by Humans and AI and will have a form of a love story between the characters played by John David Washington and Gemma Chan and will see some epic battle from spacecrafts amongst tropical locales. I am sure we will get some footage before the film releases sometime later this year.

Part 5: Climb the mountains of Paramount

For the final company on the list we have Paramount and we will go through a fair few details about this studio:

-We have 2 new movies being made based on the Spongebob property with the first releasing next year on Netflix that will focus on Sandy Cheeks saving the citizens of Bikini Bottom with the help of the Yellow Sponge with them going all the way to Texas to help with that. The other one that is officially titled as the 4th Spongebob movie as The search for Squarepants and will see him take on the Flying Dutchman. The Spongebob movies have been mixed with the original film being a classic, the 2nd not being too bad and the 3rd being ok, more of a 90 min ad for a new spinoff series, but hopefully these ones will be good

-we have confirmation that the 2022 horror Smile is confirmed to be getting a sequel, not much else is known or even a release date but I am sure we will learn more soon enough

-We have confirmation that there is another Smurf movie in development for release in 2 years time and will have Rhianna voicing Smurfette in the film as well as writing a song for the movie too and joining a tradition of having a female musician voicing the female Smurf after Katy Perry and Demi Lovato. I am sure it will be a harmless film but we'll see closer to release

-There is confirmation of the release date of the first in some new films based on Avatar the Last Airbender with a release in October 2025. There was an image released of the characters being much older showing it is set a good few years after the series ended but we will learn more before that release.

-Some footage was shown for the new animated Ninja Turtles movie that see's the clip of them training on the roof from the trailer extended and also see the 4 of them meet some of the villains and see more there are other mutants like them in this world and I am sure will lead to them wanting to fit in and not take over the world but we will see more closer to the release in August.

-We have gotten word and some new cating confirmation for an upcoming film based on Transformers titled Transformers one and will tell the origins of Optimus Prime and Megatron becoming enemies of the different side of the war. Now the most biggest question is with the voice cast as it sounds a bit like a Mario movie casting again with Chris Hemsworth voicing Optimus, Brian Tyree Henry voicing Megatron, Keegan Michael Key voicing Bumblebee, Jon Hamm voicing Sentinel Prime, Scarlett Johansson as Elita and Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion. Nothing else was really shown as it was more focused on Rise of the Beasts but we will see more closer to the 2024 release date. 
-They announced a release date for the upcoming Biopic about the musician Bob Marley entitled Bob Marley: One Love who will be played by Kingsley Ben-Adir and will release on January 12th 2024. I am sure that it will be something worth a watch like the most recent Biopic on musicians so I will see how it turns out.

-They showed some footage from the upcoming Quiet Place Prequel spin off entitled Quiet Place Day one that stars Lupita Nyong'o and Joseph Quinn of set during the starting invasion of this alien species that hunts by sound and who we saw on that first point of contact invasion in Part 2 and see them survive in a more bigger crowded setting of New York. Now I really enjoyed the first 2 Quiet PLace movies and felt John Krasinski did an excellent job of crafting them and hopefully this will have the same fear and unsettling vibe when it releases in March next year

-Finally just a little announcement that the next Mission Impossible Movie, Dead Reckoning Part 1, will actually be released 2 days earlier and release mid week on July 12th instead if July 14th. I wonder if they saw the big money success of Top Gun or Mario recently releasing slightly earlier and getting a bigger opening then expected. All I want is another trailer as the last one was a year ago.

All the other big Media news

Big mouth is finally ending

In a bit of good news that a good part of the internet is happy with, the long running animated Netflix series Big Mouth, the show created by Nick Kroll has announced that the show is ending next year after an 8th and final season and that its spin off Human Resources is ending after the upcoming 2nd season. I for one maybe at the start liked the concept but as went on and on, it got too overly gross, way too weird and uncomfortable and just repeating some of the same story concept from earlier seasons in later seasons. The only thing I recently saw from watching it was that they had a Ninja Sex Party song as the end credits music (even if they cut it out after about 20 seconds of playing it) but I am glad this show is finally reaching an end (now If Netflix can only bring back Inside Job as that was an actual Good animated show that ended too soon).

a remembrance for some well known personalities

Now we did lose 2 well known (well depending on where you are from, both well known) celebrity faces. The first was Len Goodman, most known as the head Judge on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing up to 2016 and as a judge for a short stint on the US Dancing with the Stars and passed away peacefully at the age of 78. The other passing was TV host and former politician Jerry Springer, known for the show of the same way who passed away at the age of 79. All I can say is that both these men rest in peace.

A new Murder mystery, same old building

For those looking for a new mystery to solve in a classic old building in the heart of New York, then your in luck as just recently, Steve Martin and Martin Short announced that the 3rd season of Only Murder in the Building will start releasing episodes on the 8th of August and will see them return to solve another unexpected Murder with Selena Gomez and some new faces including Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep and this will be one mystery I will be tuning into in a few weeks time.

Mama Mia that'sa big box office

About a month ago we talked about how the Mario movie had the biggest opening for both a video game movie adaptation and animated movie and shortly after became the highest grossing video game adaptation and crossed Half a Billion. Now just as the week came to an end, the movie crossed the coveted milestone of 1 Billion Dollars and continues to grow and dominate the box office grosses every week since. It joins the 51 other Billion dollar earning films and only the 11th animated film to earn that amount as well as the first animated to cross that milestone with the last one being in 2019 with Frozen 2 and Toy Story 4 (and technically Lion King but they label it as Live action so I don't really count it). But hopefully it will keep earning and become the highest grossing animated movie of all time. 

If you haven't already, you can check out my review for the Super Mario Bros movie right Here (and even leave a comment and share it around)

The new flock for the new Chick Flick

Now with some news out of Netflix as they have officially shown off their official first look still at the upcoming sequel to 2001s Chicken Run, Dawn of the Nugget, which shows some of the original character from the first movie including Ginger, Babs, Bunty, Mac, Fowler, Nick and Fletcher planning a heist to save all chicken kind. Besides that we also got the run down of the cast which includes Thandiwe Newton, replacing Julia Sawalha as Ginger, Zachary Levi will replace Mel Gibson as Rocky, Jane Horrocks as Babs, David Bradley as Fowler, Lynn ferguson as Mac, Imelda Staunton as Bunty and Daniel Mays and Romesh Ranganathan as Nick and Fletcher. They will also be joined by 2 new characters of Molly voiced by the excellent Bella Ramsay and Frizzle voiced by Josie Sedgwick-Davies. I am very excited whenever Aardman make a new animated film and am looking forward to this releasing sometime this Christmas.

Small sized hero heading to the small screen soon

Final little roundup this week is that if you have been waiting to see the new Antman but wanted to wait and watch it at home after seeing the very mixed reviews, then thankfully the wait is nearly over (if you don't want to buy it digitally). Disney+ announced this week that Quantumania will be dropping on the streamer on Wednesday the 17th of May. I for one enjoyed the film and while it has its flaws, it wasn't terrible and wasn't perfect either (something I will discuss in some of my reviews I need to finish up on, one being on this) but will watch it again when it is available to do so.

And with that comes the end of another Weird Mind News Room, I hope you enjoyed reading through all this nonsense and that you join me again next week for another round up of the news in Media, releases and trailers. If you enjoyed share it around or even drop some comments and I will give them a read but for now stay being wonderful people and good night and good news

Signing off

Sam H