Weird Mind News Room Episode 60: April 15th - 21st

 *music to sink your teeth into*

Well hello there dear viewers to the 60th edition of my weekly series of Weird Mind News Room where this week I will be delving into some of the newest releases, some new trailers of the week and some news stories of a similar variety, so without further delay, lets get to talking on the new content of this week

New Releases of the bloodthirsty type

Movies

Abigail

So we shall start the new releases of the week with a film that appeared in my radar from the first trailer released earlier this year, then discovering the main star is some upcoming Irish talent and then also learning it was filmed in my hometown, we are about to learn that children can be such monsters (he didn't need to emphasize what we know already) as we have the new supernatural Horror of Abigail. Now this I believe is based on a book relating to an undead legend where a group of thieves have kidnapped a young girl Abigail, who is the child of a major figure of the underworld and they are tasked with watching her for the better part of 24 hours for all of them to walk away with a shared split of $50 million, but they will soon discover that they are not Trapping her, but rather they have been trapped in there with this young girl with supernatural powers and she is ready to feast. Now the reception on this new film has been very well recieved for its concept, cast and performances (especially from young Irish newcomer Alisha Weir) and scares and humor, with some complaints of issues in pacing in the first act and a bit in the 3rd but its some minor instances and if you want a new film to sink your teeth into then you catch the new film in cinemas now.

Rebel Moon Part 2: The ScarGiver

Now for the film that I know is about to bombard my social media feed for the next week from the fans or even from some characters from the cast that will still deride from the basis of an investigation that happened about 5 years ago and who appeared in the first film, but we have the newest entry from filmmaker Zack Snyder in his supposed conclusion of his new sci-fi of Rebel Moon Part 2L The Scar Giver. Now this will follow on from the Child of Fire as we see Kora and her newfound crew of warriors return back to her homeworld where she will build an army of her fellow relations to help fight against the impending army from the motherworld and bring peace the the expansive galaxy. Now like the first part, this film has also been panned by critics and audiences (besides the diehard Snyder fans that call it a masterpiece and I am sure someone will say it is better then Dune Part 2) with critique at its story, character development, overuse of tropes like the slo-mo or stretching out things with minimal substance, though some praise towards the visuals, cinematography and score. Now of course he has also mentioned this was planned as the end of the film before literally just this week he has plans for at least 6 films in this saga (as well as establishing the aforementioned directors cuts that will culminate into a 6 hour cut when released supposedly for August) that may improve it but it is hard to say, but if you want to see what this new sci-fi has to offer, you can check this out now on Netflix.

The Book of Clarence

The last of the new films from this week is giving a look and perspective on the story of the films from the bible with some new take on a story with the new film of the Book of Clarence. This new film will follow Clarence, a man down on his luck who wants to find and give a better life for his family while fighting with debt. Captivated by the power and glory of the Messiah, he risks everything to carve his own path for a divine life, ultimately discovering that the redemptive power of belief may be his only way out. Now the reception on this film has been well recieved with praise for the cast and themes and a unique take on the story set in the time of the old testament and you want to testify and find faith in onesself then you can catch this new film out now in cinemas.

Video Games

Harold Halibut

And the last of the new releases for this week is with a game that had been on my radar for a while that I completely nearly missed in talking about with it releasing this week as we have a new stop motion made video game known as Harold Halibut. In this game you play as Harold, a lab assistant for scientist Jeanne Mareaux on board of a giant home based ship of the Fedora that has left earth over 250 years ago after the affects of a cold war as you explore the giant ship, help the inhabitants and will soon lead you on a rabbit hole journey to learn the secrets that may help you and Jeanne find a way to escape the vast alien ocean and find a new drier home for you and everyone aboard. Now the reception on this game has been garnering some decent reception with praise to the aesthetic of stop motion, craft, story, puzzles and characters, with some critique on the difficulty and some other elements found in most of these types of games but if you want some new puzzle aesthetic with a unique look to it (and took a lot of time effort and dedication to create) then you can play this new game now on PS5, Xbox series X/S and PC.

Trailers of a varying type

Velma Season 2

Just when I thought it was all done and had finally gotten the review done for the series I held off on for over a year to review (which you can read Here or video version here) but they had to come along and hurt me as we have recieved the trailer to the 2nd season of..... Velma. Now this season will see for some reason Velma is now popular for stopping the serial killer. But when a new killer starts taking out the men this time, it will see Velma and her "friends" (using that very loosely) to solve the case, stop the killer and deal with their own issues like relationships and trauma and other stuff. Now if you read or have seen my review for this you know (as well as many other online) did not like this series in general and when the trailer came out I felt pain but also felt nothing from this trailer (and if you think I'm reviewing this season, there is some standards I have in place in my video review before I do that). Now I know this may technically go against my rule with trailers but its an exception as we have no clue when this comes out here, its releasing the full season next Thursday on Max and then sometime soon here but who know whenever that is.

Transformers One

Now onto a trailer and another animated one that I can tolerate (with some aspects that look weird but getting the lore from those that have more knowledge in it helped) as after a weird promotional stunt of sending this into space and coming off the footage shown at CinemaCon, it really is more then meets the eye as we have recieved the first trailer for the origins story film of Transformers One. This films will be a origin story set on the planet of Cybertron, the Transformers home planet, and will center on the Relationship between Optimus Prime (or in this film Orion Pax) and Megatron (or D-16) going from brothers in arms to sworn enemies and the foundation of the Autobots and Deceptacons as well as how they first became aware of the ongoing conflict as well as learning to transform. Now the basis is that I think it does not look too bad, the only thing that I mentioned that looks weird to me is seeing them with human like face structures. Now I know in more later Transformers films they gave them more human faces but the way it is done in those feel a bit more easy to adjust to where this looks a little weird (again getting some knowledge from some friends with better insight helped a bit more) but I hope this will turn out good and we will see how it does when the film releases on October 11th

Trap

Now for a return to the world that is created by the master of ideas and twists of M.Night Shymalan as he has brought along the first trailer to the public for his new film of Trap. Now this will star Josh Hartnett as a father as he brings her daughter to the concert of her favourite musician (in this played by Shymalan's actual musician daughter) and when he goes off to use the restroom comes to discuss with the vendor about the massive security presence at the event before discovering that this whole concert is set up as a trap for the Butcher, a serial killer that has been going around murdering people and cutting them into little piece but we'll learn that our main lead is not so innocent as he seems as it looks like he may be the one behind the slayings. Now knowing the case they'll make it the likes this could be the twist but I have a feeling there will be a twist inside this twist and sometimes with his films they have some unique outcomes or can be a bit jokey but I am sure we will find out soon when this film releases into cinemas on August 2nd.

Long Legs

And the final trailer for this week I want to talk on (there was the announcement of the new Kingdom come game as well but I have not that much knowledge on that to delve into it) we have the newest teaser trailer for an upcoming film that has released a fair few trailers for this since the start of this year but the genius of it is that it does not explain anything of what it is about and most have been around 45 secs of lingering on one item or shot and this is a bit similar for it as they continue the trend with this new look at the horror film of Long Legs. Now what I can gather of plot for this is that it is set in the mid 70s and will focus on Lee Harker a new FBI agent who has been assigned to an unsolved case of a serial killer, but when it becomes more complicated with occult evidence discovered, they'll discover a personal link to the killer and must act quickly to prevent another family murder. Now I think how they present this is genius in showing very little and keeping it a mystery and it sounds great and intruiging and I am sure we will see how this all pays off when this film releases into cinemas I believe on July 12th.

News of similar stories

A casting to an edgy Hedgehog, someone to tame dinos and learning magic

Now we start the week of news with some mixed variety of casting news that started as 3 separate stories that will now all come together as one as it makes more sense to do so all in one spot.

Now lets start with the one that is probably the most known and the biggest of the week as we going to talk fast as we are talking on the upcoming 3rd film in the sonic franchise. Now as you may be aware, we have seen the likes that one of the biggest new additions to the cast in this film is with the live action introduction of Shadow the Hedgehog, a fan favourite character from the series and it has been a bit of a rumour mill for the last little while about who will be voicing the character with the likes of the games voice actor of Jason Griffith or the likes of Anakin Skywalker himself of Hayden Christensen and people saw the character in action at CinemaCon though kept him mute, but now we have the confirmation for this week of who will voice the edgy-hog as it now confirmed that Shadow will now be played by Keanu Reeves. Now it is a case that it works well for the edginess factor as well as Shadow having a fancy vehicle and a lot of guns but it also seems like it has been established from the beginning of his appearance as the film they watch in the first film was the classic 90s film of Speed with Sonic calling Keanu a "National Treasure" and the other involved a very obscure meme of Shadow respecting your manhood and Keanu's character from Cyberpunk talking about his character's impressive manhood so it all comes together. Now I am hoping we will see something for this real soon but my guess it will be either then end of this month or by the beginning of Summer for the first trailer for this film but I am sure I will be excited for this to check out come Christmas time.

Next up is we are going from anthropomorphic hedgehogs, foxes and echidna's (and probably other animals) to talking about the ancient beasts that used to roam the earth as we have a new update on the upcoming release of Jurassic World 4. Now it is still a case that we have some news concerning what may be the rumoured Male lead for this film and may be joining alongside the as yet to be confirmed casting of Scarlet Johansson and this comes in the form of Actor Johnathon Bailey. Now he may not be a much known actor but he will be appearing in this years upcoming adaptation of Wicked in November as well as the Netflix period drama of Bridgerton. Now it is yet to be seen of the confirmed casting for this film or when it will start (or if any other cast from the previous entries will appearing) but I am sure they will get to the film very quickly to make it for its planned release at the start of July next year.

And lastly of the casting news, we are going to add a little touch of magic as we talk on the recently announced film of the 3rd Now you see me movie. Now we have known that we will be seeing the cast of the first 2 movies back in this third outing and it has been confirmed we will be seeing a new wave of younger magicians who will become part of their extensive magic heists and we have one new addition that is set to amaze and dazzle the crowd as it was confirmed that the actress of Ariana Greenblatt has joined the cast for the upcoming threequel. Now you may know her for her performances as some of the younger versions of actors in big films like Avengers, I Tonya and many others, as well as her roles in Barbie and in the upcoming release of the Borderlands adaptation as Tiny Tina and for what its worth she is a great young actress and I am interested to see what she will bring to the table whenever the film will be appearing into cinemas.

But what are your thoughts on all of these casting announcements and who else do you see appearing in these films (and the basis of some from sonic already confirmed but not given characters who are they playing), let me know your opinions of them all down below in the comments. 

The delay for an elemental hero and the end for a warrior

So on the next story we have some minor updates about the changing of some release dates as well as the confirmation of another addition to a series and how it is also the piece that will conclude the series for certain reason and I will give a quick rundown.

The first piece is also relating back to the company of Paramount (one that will be brought up in more other small story) and it comes in relation to another project that was also discussed last week at CinemaCon and it relates to the upcoming Animated films based of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Now it had been initially planned for the release of the first film for this series to be releasing in October 2025, but was confirmed on Thursday that this film will now be delayed by about 3 months to January 20th 2026. Most case for the delay is probably to give the film more development time as well of likely they saw it was going up against some competition with other films and wanted to release it in a quieter period to get more attraction from the audience. I am not sure if this is the planned film in the trilogy of those films or it is one of those concepted spin off movies focused on a different character but I am sure we will see what it will be like in due time

And the other piece with some news is coming to us from the streaming Giant of Netflix. Now we have seen many different originals in the last few years and some on the way including both Cobra Kai's final season and season 2 of Squid game both will be releasing in the 2nd half of this year, as well as them currently deep into filming on the final season of Stranger Things (a development that has caused some drama, backlash and controversy from what I have seen over the last few weeks) but one other series that has probably as much conversation in recent years is with their attempt at an adaptation of the popular polish book series and video game franchise of the Witcher. Now the biggest thing to know right now is that the series has been that well liked due to the fact that it does not respect the source material that well and the only one that did was the main lead of Henry Cavil and everyone loved his portrayal of Geralt. However just before the 3rd season dropped last year it was announced a few months earlier that Cavil was leaving the series after the 3rd season and would be replaced in the main role with Liam Hemsworth, which caused a massive backlash to the series as they got rid of the person that had faith and was actually given some love to the series and kept the people who didn't give a shit. Now I can't jump to conclusions about how he will do in this series as we haven't seen his performance yet but it may not be that long of a arc, as it was confirmed this week that both season 4 in now started development and filming and that there is a confirmed 5th season with that season now being the last. Now if I remember reading a couple years back they had plans for I think I least 7-9 seasons I believe so I guess the case they realized it was on a sinking ship and cut the losses first. Now who's to say that these 2 season could be the best of the entire lot but it is a low bar to cross when it had potential, but I guess we'll find out when both season finish filming back to back and release probably sometime next year.

But what are your opinions on both of these stories and do you see either of these succeeding or falling apart very quickly? Let me hear your thoughts down below.

A Gem making a comeback?

Ok this next story is just some speculation that people in this series community and others have been theorizing that the original shows creator is teasing of a return. Now if you remember back in the 2010s of Cartoon Network you may recognize some shows like Adventure time, Regular Show and Amazing World of Gumball and one other show that is the focus of this debated rumour is the series of Steven Universe. Now the show had concluded its saga with the main series in 2019, a film a few months later and then a epilogue miniseries up to the end of March 2020 and since then many people in that community (a group that can waver some mixed opinion) had wondered if this series may come back in some form like games or comics. Well this is the story that has appeared this week as series creator of Rebecca Sugar (who also worked on Adventure Time) and her husband Ian Jones-Quartey (who created Ok KO Lets be Heroes) were recently at some college conference talking on working in animation and some of the popular series in general and at the end they provided the attendees some signed posters from their shows. Now the basis is with more of the Steven Universe one as people are noticing some elements that it may be set after the end of Future with Steven looking much older, starting to grow a beard, Connie is there as well that looks a slight bit older too and some of the other main focus gems like Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst, Lapis, Peridot and Bismuth as well and they are all there for a picnic. Now the basis is that some have taken to speculate this could be teasing a new revival of the show that may be a little more mature (akin to the recent Adventure time sequel of Fionna and Cake) that could see some interesting elements as well as build on some of the plot elements that were lost due to the series having to end abruptly cause they could either have an LGBTQ+ wedding in a kids animated series or they could add other ideas that are found in the artbooks as Sugar has specified that she does want to return to the series at some point in the future, while others see it as just some simple piece of artwork of what they see as the characters look like now after all these years but it is hard to say as of right now.

But what are your opinions on this, do you see this as a possible tease of a revival or is it just simple little art piece. And also if you have seen the series what are your thoughts on it in general (I may do a video on this show in the future), but let me know what you think down in the comments and lets discuss those points there.

Who watches this new streamer?

Ok this story just came in at the very tail end of the week just as I started writing this up and the next story is delving into some YouTube Drama as we are talking about a concept that  was just announced at the end of this week that has not gone down well with the audience. Now if you have been around for the last decade and may have stumbled upon some channels from Buzzfeed you may have heard of the series of Buzzfeed Unsolved or Worth It, one that may not be as well sought out while the other was seen as the only good series from Buzzfeed (besides at the time the Try guys, but we are not getting into that Rabbit hole today). Anyways about 5 years ago, it was announced that Ryan and Shane were leaving Buzzfeed after the upcoming final season of the unsolved series of True Crime and Supernatural and following from this they would then create their own new channel known as Watcher where them and Worth It lead Steven Lim would go on to create content for the channel like Ghost Watch, Puppet History, Worth a shot and Mystery Files as well as many other concepts. Now you are probably wondering then what is the drama? Well earlier on Friday, it was announced that these 3 will be leaving YouTube but will not be gone fully from the internet as it was then announced that they are planning to turn this channel into a streaming service known also as watcher. Now you think it doesn't sound too bad but then you learn that it is a subscription based service that will cost either $6 a month (or around 5.60 euros) or $60 for a year (or around 55 euros) and having a look at the service myself, everything that is on there currently, is available to watch on YouTube for nothing. Now this of course has not gone down well with fans and audiences and see this as them ruining their reputation in seconds with many showing that they already get by paycheck to paycheck and that we already pay for about a half a dozen streaming services as is (varies by location with some from the US planning to launch here soon) and it just seems like a bad idea. If you want a better explanation from a more popular Irish/ Macedonian Youtuber then I would check out Vangelina Skov's video on it as she delves into it a lot more and it is a very good watch. But on my opinions I see this as not really lasting long and somewhat falling apart very quickly but I guess we'll have to see how it turns out when they start this process.

But what are your thoughts on this concept in general and do you see this as being a success or will this die out properly just like that? Let me know your thoughts on it down below.

Making a mountain out of a tech giant

And the final story for this week was one I mentioned in the story above in the release announcements and this is again talking on the company of Paramount as we are delving into some purchasing discussions. Now a few weeks ago, there was a story that was floating about that Paramount was looking to be either bought or maybe was looking to buy the company of Warner Bros as it may have been the case that both of them were in some possible financial difficulties but it seems that they were just rumours and it did not go anywhere after that, however a new challenger has approached with an offer that seems to be a case of it becoming a reality. According to sources it seems that the company of Sony Pictures may be looking to buy the company of Paramount for a bid around $11-26 billion for the rights and it seems to be the case that it could see a verdict very soon of some confirmation. Now it seems that the likes of this buyout seems a bit more of a more appealing outcome compared to the Warner deal but it is hard to see if this will be a positive outcome for the moment but I am sure we will hear more about the outcome for this possible buyout and the effects afterwards and once I hear anything I will update in a later piece.

But what are your thoughts about the possible buyout of Paramount from Sony and do you see this as having a positive or negative outcome? Let me know you thoughts on it down below and lets discuss it there.

And with all of that, this will bring us to the end of the 60th edition of Weird Mind News Room and I hope that you enjoy this newest edition of all that there is to discuss from this week. Let me know your thoughts on all that was discussed this week and give your thoughts down below and as always, I hope you all stay being wonderful people, and have a great day everyday and I'll see you again soon in another piece

Take Care, Keep being you, Signing off

Sam H