Weird Mind News Room Episode 149: Dec 29th 2025 - Jan 4th 2026

 *Music to perform as a cover act in the new year*

Well hello hello to you all once again and a very happy to you all and who you want to be, My name is of course Sam and I welcome you all to the newest edition and the first of Weird Mind News Room episodes of the New Year, where for this week we will delve into what the end of last year and start of this year had to offer with new releases, trailers and a news story or 2 from the week of entertainment, so lets not waste time and see what the start of the year gave us in terms of media for the week.

Sweet New release (bam, bam, bam)

Movies

Marty Supreme

So this first release technically released last week during the Christmas Period, but the film was not a wide release and was mainly in a small selection of cinemas and its wide release was a week later which helps to focus on it here as it is time to bring the case that no matter how small the concept of career may be that there is always a chance for everyone to dream big as we have the release of the film with the marketing that I would be a little mixed on with the release of Marty Supreme. The film will tell the story of Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream that no one really respects, will go to hell and back in the journey of the pursuit of greatness and help to bring the appeal and high scale sport of Ping Pong to the masses of America. Reception on this film has seen some high acclaim with praise on the performances, narrative, cinematography and seen as one of last years and this years best (even with a reworking of a possible true story) and if you want to check it out for yourself then you can check it out now in cinemas.

Song Sung Blue

As for the 2nd of the films for this week will be the case about coming together in the base about Hands touching Hands, when things seem low that it is best for reaching out, and some kindness can really touch me and touch you in many ways, as its the case we will be seeing the focus of the career of a duo that take on the cover of a iconic duo as we have the release of a form of a true story with the film of Song Sung Blue. The film is based on the documentary and the lives of both Mark and Claire Sardina, a pair of singers down on their who decide to form a Neil Diamond Tribute band known and Lighting & Thunder, proving that it is never too late to find love and follow their dreams. Reception on this new film was well recieved with praise to its leading performances of Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, the songs and for being a feel good film in the festive period season and if you want to check it out for yourself then you can also check it out in cinemas.

TV Shows

Stranger Things Finale

And to wrap up the new releases for the week and for the first big launch of the New year (technically released to end the year in the states but I'm going off the logic of releasing here) it is time for the world to turn upside down one last time as we have the release of the 3rd and final part of this final season with the series finale of Stranger Things. This final episode will be the culmination of the entire group of Hawkins coming together to access the Upside Down, find a way to seal it off from the rest of the world and save all and defeat the evil entity of Vecna before his plan comes to full power. Reception to this final episode is quite a divisive one with it being in 3 groups, one that saw this season as a Masterpiece, some calling the finale decent amongst a very tonally messy final season and some going as far as calling this season the worst ending since the finale of Game of Thrones. Now I would be more in the realm of the middle group but also have some lingering issues where the film feels there is too many plot holes and issues and some other bits that felt a little too much fan servicey and the sense of stakes for a finale being a little lacking but it had its nice moments overall as well in a very messy finale (and I will go into it more in a future video on this series) and if you want to check it out for yourself the full season and series is now available on Neflix.

Trailer Supreme

Avengers Doomsday - Thor Teaser

Initially this was the only trailer that we had for the week before there was one that dropped a few days after but in this case the days may go on but the clock to the uncertain demise and destruction keeps ticking down as we are back for the 2nd week in a row to talk once more with an all new teaser for the upcoming big event film of the end of the year with the 2nd teaser for Avengers Doomsday. The film will be set 14 months after the events of Thunderbolts* and a follow on from Endgame and will consist of different factions including the Avengers led by Sam Wilson's Captain America, The Wakandans, the recently arrived Fantastic 4, The New Avengers and the appearance of the X-Men and will team up together to face a new powerful threat of Doctor Doom who looks a little close to a familiar face from the past. Now I mentioned in the case from last week that this series of trailers will be making a form of a presence each week with this 2nd one focusing on Thor with him being a focus of praying to the gods for helping him in this battle and protecting the child he now is the father to and the way its shot and tone is really well done and I feel it will be interesting to see what will come of this character in these 2 films. Now likely instance we will be back next week with a 3rd one being a focus to a certain group and then will have possibly one more drop afterwards but I guess we will see. Either way I am still excited and a bit optimistic about what is to come of this film and hope it turns out with the release of this film in cinemas from the 18th of December.

Marvel's Wonder Man

Now for the 2nd and final trailer that has released from this week is keeping up in the realm of superheroes and in the realm of Marvel and in the case where we have seen the sense of Fatigue over the last few years for some and others have an appeal to it still (I would lean more to the latter) and in this case it will be getting a little more meta, even if some aspects of our main character may be a little too perfect for his chance of a lifetime as we have the release of the 2nd full length and final trailer for the first of the MCU projects to release this year with a trailer for Wonder Man. The series will be a form of a Hollywood satire about the superhero genre and will follow Simon Williams, an actor who gains superpowers after a lab accident and finds himself embroiled in a criminal conspiracy and teaming up with former disgraced actor Trevor Slattery to investigate the company and its connections to ionic radiation, which may be a threat to others and also explore elements of his family relationships as well as his career struggles in a world where real superheroes exist as he auditions for a role of a remake to a classic superhero film. Now this concept has an interesting take idea on it that it can feel a little like it poking fun at the audience and knowing that the ideals of Superheroes has become too much as of late or the ideals of making it big could be in this direction but I like the approach to this character that is maybe not as well known from the comics compared to other established members of the MCU or comics. The approach of this is interesting and gives me a vibe of the whole merchandising and advertising of the heroes in the Boys series or the tone of the recent series of the Studio and mixing it in with the flair of the MCU could be interesting and I have heard a fair bit of appeal and interest with this and will be watching to see how it all comes about and in this its not too long away as the full series will be dropping onto Disney+ from the 29th of January. 

News to sing the Blues

hodge podge of all sorts

So on the likes of this weeks news that for a bit of time (given that time period of after Christmas where the days blend into one another) that initially I though there was no news for the week and the first of one too but I did come across a few random stories after checking my notes and it will be a usual Hodge Podge of stuff from reported approaches, casting updates and some news related to the media that may be going back to how it was about 3 years ago in some form but we can delve into that over this story so let us see what was the focus of this weeks stories

So we will start the news stories of the week with some more focus on the realm of superheroes and as we head into the final elements of the current Saga, there is some focus of looking ahead into the future of what is to come and that is coming in the focus of some discussions with a few prominent figures looking to be considered to put their mark on the new saga or an established character and this is coming to us from this week with reports that Nope and Get Out Director Jordan Peele and his production company of Monkey Paw have been in discussions with Marvel about making a project for them in the future. Now this is not the first time that the director has been in talks with the studio as it was reported in the past that he was discussed about taking the reigns for 2 projects, with one being a focus of the X-Men films before the Thunderbolts director took over that position. Now there is a case that his approach to film and themes could work for a number of project that he could do a solo film for one of the Mutants in the X-Men, but the other one could be the initial talks that could be back in discussion and that is him helming the troubled development of the Blade film with Mahershala Ali as the daywalker. There is a few I can see him do well in from those, or the likes of some other projects from bringing back Moon Knight, a film about the Ghost Rider or even to the case that if the rumours of the next saga being more in the supernatural realm then I could see him flex some of the efforts of his Twilight Zone reboot series and make something akin to Midnight Suns or the 3rd Doctor Strange, but its unclear as to what will be the focus. Now in all regards I will be interested to see what topics and aspects he could make do with this series and will be worth something to check out in due time in whatever project he is involved with and in the case if I hear anything I will provide it in a later episode.

Then from a possible confirmation to a more concrete release date outcome, we are staying with Disney and hoping a little over to Hulu as after being teased over the last little while, it was just this week that we were given the official release date to the mini series revival of Malcom in the Middle with the new series subtitled Life's Still unfair, set to release on April 10th. Now from what I have gathered on this mini series plot is that the series picks up 20 years after the original show ended and will see Malcolm happy in his life with his daughter and Girlfriend and disassociated with his family, but that all soon changes when he is requested (or more case demanded) to attend his parents 40th Wedding Anniversary dinner. The likes of this follow up is quite an interesting one as I love the original series as its such a classic in comedy with some great talent and while its not everyone returning (the only one not back is the one that played Dewey, though I think he was recasted) I am interested to see what this somewhat revival will entail and if this leads to a sort of follow up sequel series but its hard to say. Either way I am interested to check this out by its release around Easter and to see if life is still unfair by that time.

For the next of the stories for this is given a focus to a bit of a casting shakeup which is a little bit of a different focus that we have had in a while but in this instance it was confirmed that Danny Ramirez will not be back for the 3rd season of the Last of Us and his role will now be recast for the season. Now the reason for this is probably to do with his other bit project work and a bit of a scheduling conflict as the likely case is the new season of the show is probably heading into filming over the next few weeks and Ramirez is currently busy with 2 massive films that you may know as the Avengers films as he is currently the new Falcon in the saga and will likely be filming Secret Wars during some point in time of the year as well. Now in the likes of his character in Last of Us, he was cast in the role of Manny, a member of Abby's group who went with her to kill Joel for the death of Abby's father and while he had a minor presence in the 2nd season, he does make more of an appearance in the 3rd during the Abby half of the narrative and game. This will now lead to a possible recasting that I am sure will be one that may be a quick turn around or will see a small delay in production starting but I am sure they are well underway to get this season's production started ASAP. No word as of yet on who they have in mind or confirmed yet but once anything does come about I will provide it in a later episode.

So on this next story is a bit of a concept for some gaming focused news and this is with some concept by a company that I haven't mentioned in a long while and was a studio that had banger titles and series before they got rid of one of their best creatives and this is with the company of Konami. Now what they have been in discussion for this week is that they are hoping to bring more of a series back in more projects and this comes in the form of the Silent Hill series as they have concepted the idea of wanting to make a new game in the series and release one every year. This I can see somewhat work which I can give some idea about from the last 2 years of the release of the remake of 2 and the Silent Hill F title last year were both well recieved that the idea could work and the case that they are currently deep into the development of the original game getting remade as well. However it will be a case that it may not be the biggest of games or will get stale which was seen before with other yearly series such as Assassins Creed, Call of Duty and the many sports titles of EA that it could become repetitive. I feel with anything that they should give as much time to develop the games and make them as polished and appealing as these last 2 titles instead of a rushed job but I guess we will see what comes of it. Now in the case of things its unclear if it means we will get a new title in this series this year or will be in the future as of yet but if anything comes about I will provide it in a later episode.

As for the last of the stories that we have for this week this is one in the realm of feeling like we have have some possible dejavu that was a focus on the early parts of this series of blogs and videos but it ties into a little bit of some more recent discussions and that is with the case of some updates on the studio mergers of Warner and Netflix. So it seems the case that WB will be sticking with the ideals of the Netflix merger and not with the one for Paramount that even if it was a lot more money, it was still a focus of wanting to have a bit more of less foreign money use and warping content to shape the ways of a deranged man, and since that announcement a few weeks ago, most have been quiet. This changed a little this week where one of the big concerns about the merger was the ideals that most WB films will now be likely missing a cinema release, but they emphasized that is not the case..... but it will be heavily reduced as according to the information, every film will be getting just a 17 day theatrical window which is a weird number for a window but it also feels a little low for a window and could affect cinema revenue and appeal (which seems odd since Netflix releases in cinemas did decently well from the releases of Kpop, Knives Out, Frankenstein and even the Finale of Stranger Things). This has caused a lot of drama and ordeal and from what I have heard from this messy takeover and feeling a bit shady and affecting so many things, it has been reported that another Actors strike may be on the horizon and I would not be surprised if it does happen. Now it has not been confirmed to be happening yet but I see it as likely for both actors and writers and productions to be affected by it all and if it has a success that the initial strikes 3 years ago had (before some aspects were essentially neglected like the AI stuff) and even improved outcome then I am all for it cause this whole merger stuff just feels really messy, shady and could be a case they can work out the issues instead of needing to buy everyone out of single distributions but I guess we will keep an eye on the outcome if the picket lines will be forming once again.

But what do you think of these stories, what MCU project or character could you see be the best choice for Peele to handle well, are you excited for the Malcolm in the Middle reboot and what are your thoughts on the original series, who do you see in the role of Ramirez in the last of us, would you be fine with yearly Silent Hill releases or rather longer development cycles and do you see the release window as being good or bad and will it lead to more strikes all over again? Let me know what you think down below in the comments.

And with all of that, this brings us to the end of the latest episode and first of this years Weird Mind News Rooms and I do hope you enjoyed the rambles. Let me know your thoughts on all discussed down below and as always I hope you all stay being wonderful people and have a great day everyday and I will see you all in the next episode :)

Take care, keep being you, signing off

Sam H :)