Time to start your week in the know when it comes to the latest pop culture news.

Lifestyle

Comic Con Cape Town has just announced its first international guest for 2026, and that’s voice actor Christopher Sabat. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, what about these anime characters: Vegeta, Roronoa Zoro, All Might?

Sabat has provided the English-language dub for these iconic figures and more, with his name appearing on the credits for the likes of Dragonball, One Piece, My Hero Academia, Black Clover, Fairy Tale and Fullmetal Alchemist.

Sabat will be at CCCT 2026 on 1 – 3 May, just skipping the first day of the four-day event. He’ll be appearing on the Main Stage as well as taking part in paid photo and autograph sessions.

Film

The nominations for the 98th Academy Awards were announced this past week, with Ryan Coogler’s Sinners making Oscar history thanks to its unprecedented 16 nods. The previous record was 14 nominations, shared by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016). Nominations don’t translate to guaranteed wins, of course, and often the front runner film goes home with little to nothing on ceremony night.

For the record, also earning numerous noms in 2026:

  • One Battle After Another (13)
  • Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (9)
  • Marty Supreme (9)
  • Sentimental Value (9)
  • Hamnet (8)

Surprisingly, F1 picked up a Best Picture nomination, while Wicked: Part 2 was completely shut out in very category.

The winners will be revealed at the Oscars ceremony, held in Los Angeles on Sunday, 15 March (that’s the early hours of Monday morning, 16 March for Europeans and South Africans). Conan O’Brien is hosting the show for the second year in a row.

Fanboys had very strong opinions (God forbid yours weren’t positive!) this week when the teaser trailer dropped for Masters of the Universe, based on the Mattel toyline and classic 80s cartoon.

In this second live-action movie adaptation (remember the 1987 Dolph Lundgren starrer?) Red, White & Royal Blue’s Nicholas Galitzine plays Prince Adam, who is sent in childhood to Earth from the planet of Eternia to escape a civil war. Twenty years later, reunited with the Sword of Power that is his birthright, Adam must return home and transform into the hero He-Man to defeat Skeletor (Jared Leto) and his evil forces. Adam’s allies include Riverdale’s Camila Mendes as Teela, Idris Elba as Man-at-Arms, and Morena Baccarin as the Sorceress; while Skeletor’s side features the likes of Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn. Directing is Bumblebee’s Travis Knight.

Masters of the Universe debuts in cinemas on 5 June.

In addition to the teaser trailer above, Masters of the Universe unveiled its first poster and image set.

Speaking of filmmaker Travis Knight, apart for directing blockbusters like Masters of the Universe, he’s head of stop-motion animation studio LAIKA, which is behind such cultishly popular films as Coraline and ParaNorman. Knight was in the director’s chair for LAIKA’s Kubo and the Two Strings, and is once more helming a project for the studio: fantasy adventure Wildwood. Touted as LAIKA’s most technologically ambitious release yet, novel adaptation Wildwood finally has a release date – 23 October.

Rounding off the movie section this week is the next A24 indie horror release, following the likes of Hereditary, The VVitch and Talk to Me. In Undertone, The Handmaid Tale’s Nina Kiri appears alone onscreen as podcaster Evy, who delves into the paranormal with friend Justin (Kris Holden-Ried). However, when she’s sent recordings of a married couple experiencing paranormal noises in their home, Evy finds her scepticism tested.

The audio design-driven Undertone releases in cinemas on 13 March.

Series

Just one notable series trailer this week – for the next full-length Star Wars animated series. Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord brings back Episode I: The Phantom Menace antagonist Darth Maul, continuing the character’s story after the events of The Clone Wars.

With Palpatine now entrenched as Emperor, former Sith lord Maul is on the run, but won’t be deterred from rebuilding his criminal syndicate. Part of that ambition means taking on an ambivalent new Twi’lek apprentice whom he believes will help him in his quest for vengeance.

The ten-episode Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord premieres on 6 April with two parts, and will run through to 4 May with two episodes every week.

Gaming

Let’s get some bad news out the way first in this section. Ubisoft is in a fresh round of “restructuring,” and by now you should know that when that comes to video games that means binned projects, studio closures and mass retrenchments.

The trend continues, as Ubisoft announced the cancelation of six games, and a delay for seven others. Among the cancellations was a long-awaited, but clearly troubled, remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The new PoP was supposed to finally come out this year after it was announced with an initial release date of January 2021.

Ubisoft’s “new operating model’ intends to focus on open-world titles and games as a service (GaaS). To support that, all Ubisoft employees will have to give up remote employment and return to working in-office five days a week, with an annual allowance of work from home days.

The announcement immediately caused Ubisoft shares to plummet a record 33 percent.

Microsoft and Xbox routinely undergo similar high-profile restructurings, but this past week’s Developer_Direct at least was a positive event, profiling four first-party games releasing this year from Xbox studios. Viewers got closer looks at Forza Horizon 6 (out 19 May), the surprise pottery-themed party game Kiln (launching in the Northern Hemisphere spring), soulslike Horizon-esque Beast of Reincarnation (releasing in summer), and, finally, the long-awaited Fable reboot, which is coming in autumn.

You can watch the hour-long presentation here, or read a handy summary here.

Finally, this one popped up on our radar out of nowhere: 1348: Ex Voto is an action-adventure game where you play as, wait for it, a lesbian knight errant in tumultuous 14th Century Italy.

Featuring authentic period combat, and a dark tone, you assume the role of Aeta (Alby Baldwin), who sets out to rescue her beloved Bianca (Jennifer English). This one calls to mind the likes of A Plague Tale and Hellblade, which is never a bad thing.

1348: Ex Voto comes from indie studio Sedleo and publisher Dear Villagers. The game releases on 12 March 2026 for PC and PS5. An Xbox version of the game was recently cancelled.

As a side note, the game has recently become embroiled in a culture war, pitting it against just announced, similar Knight’s Path, which is vocally resisting the “Modern Agenda” to include LGBT representation, and instead promises “naturally beautiful female characters” in its game.