Considering we’re on the cusp of the summer blockbuster season (some will argue that it’s already started), it’s been an oddly subdued week for pop culture news. Still, there were a few announcements and a single trailer drop worth having on your radar.
Film
Stop-motion animation is a painstaking, handcrafted process, which means we’ve been waiting quite a while for the first proper trailer for LAIKA’s Wildwood, a dark coming-of-age fantasy based on the YA novel by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis.
Kubo & The Two Strings and Bumblebee’s Travis Knight helms the project, which sees teen Prue McKeel (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee) and friend Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) forced to venture in the dark magical forests bordering Portland, Oregon, after Prue’s baby brother is abducted by crows – evidently at the command of a mysterious woman called Alexandra (Carey Mulligan).
Wildwood hits the big screen, including IMAX, on 23 October.
Speaking of Travis Knight, the filmmaker’s live-action Masters of the Universe reboot lands in cinemas on 5 June, and, to bolster hype, 18 character posters have been released – covering iconic heroes and villains from the franchise born out of an 80s Mattel toy line.
Director Matt Reeves has been using social media to drip feed cast announcements for his second The Batman film, which begins filming next month in the UK.
First up were the obvious returnees, like Robert Pattinson as Batman/Bruce Wayne, and Jeffrey Wright, as Jim Gordon; but also a few surprises like more of Colin Farrell’s crime boss The Penguin. This was followed by newcomer reveals, including Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johansson and Charles Dance, although their characters largely remain unconfirmed. That said, there is enough evidence to suggest that, with Stan playing district attorney Harvey Dent (the future Two-Face), Johansson and Dance are Dent’s wife and father respectively, opening the door to a film that draws heavily on classic comic storyline The Long Halloween.
The Batman: Part II is currently set to drop into cinemas next year, in October 2027.
One other movie news tidbit:
Here’s something new to keep an eye on – Russell Crowe is going to star in historical epic The Last Druid. The film pits the forces of a Roman emperor against a secluded Druid stronghold in the mountains of Caledonia. Unsurprisingly, Crowe is one of the latter group, forced to give up his peaceful ways in defence of his people.
Series
Just two bits of TV-related news today. It’s been confirmed that VisionQuest, the direct follow-up to WandaVision, will come to Disney+ on 14 October.
The eight-part series will focus on android Vision (once more played by Paul Bettany) who, in his emotion-less, resurrected White form, is trying to reconnect with his humanity. Look out for James Spader, returning as villainous AI Ultron. Out of interest, with WandaVision’s Jac Schaeffer working on Agatha All Along, the new MCU series ended up being showrun by 12 Monkeys’ and Star Trek: Picard’s Terry Matalas.
Finally, Image Comics adaptation Sex Criminals has just locked down some serious filmmaking talent behind the camera. The Marvels and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’s Nia DaCosta is lined up to direct the first two episodes of the Prime Video series.
As per Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky’s acclaimed comic series, in Sex Criminals, decidedly ordinary librarian Suze (Imogen Poots) discovers she has a bizarre special ability: when she has sex, she stops time. Then she meets actor Jon (John Reynolds), with the same power, and they resolve to combine their orgasmic forces to rob banks.
