What happened over the past two weeks in pop culture? Time to catch up now with the announcements from the spheres of film, TV and Lifestyle, with a touch of Gaming, that caught our eye during this period.

Film

We’ve entered the Northern Hemisphere autumn, which means things are going to start skewing more highbrow in preparation for awards season. Well, for the most part anyway. So we start this update with trailers for two films based on classic literary works and/or the stories behind them.

Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel, Hamnet is a historical drama and romance adapted by Oscar-winning (for Nomadland) filmmaker Chloé Zhao. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal star as Agnes and William Shakespeare, and the movie delves into the real-life love and loss that led to the writing of Shakespeare’s masterpiece Hamlet. Hamnet releases on 27 November.

For another period romance, you’ll have to wait until 14 February next year.

In cinemas on Valentine’s Day is “Wuthering Heights” (yes, with the quotation marks), a bold take on Emily Bronte’s classic novel of romantic obsession and tragedy on the Yorkshire Moors. Margot Robbie (who also produces) and Jacob Elordi play Catherine and Heathcliff respectively, while Promising Young Woman and Saltburn’s Emerald Fennell is behind the camera. Also behind the camera, to a certain extent, is Charli XCX, who provides the film’s songs.

Somehow we missed dark comedy thriller Bugonia until now. In this latest collaboration between Poor Things and The Favorite filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, and his leading lady in both of those films, Emma Stone, two conspiracy obsessed men (Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis) kidnap the CEO of a major company, believing her to be an alien intent on destroying Earth.

Actually based on the South Korean film Save the Green Planet!, Bugonia comes to cinemas starting 24 October.

We did say this is the time of year for prestige cinema… for the most part. Likely to straddle the line between commercial and critical is 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the middle chapter in the already-planned 28 Years Later trilogy.

Following the events of 28 Years Later (released this June), The Bone Temple continues to explore what life has become on a mainland England isolated from the rest of the world as a result of the rampant Rage virus. This time the story is split between young Spike (Alfie Williams), who finds himself in the nightmarish cult of Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell); and Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), who forms a surprising connection with the infected. Danny Boyle takes a backseat for this instalment, with Nia DaCosta​​​ directing instead. Alex Garland is still on writing duties.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is in cinemas from 16 January. You can also check out the film’s first poster here.

The upcoming Street Fighter reboot, based on the Capcom fighting game series, found a novel way to introduce its full cast, and release date of October 2026 – through arcade-style graphics.

You can see a side-by-side comparison of every character and actor here but some of the key castings include Andrew Koji as Ryu, Noah Centineo as Ken Masters, Callina Liang as Chun-Li, David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as Balrog, and Jason Momoa as Blanka.

As for the official Street Fighter plot synopsis:

Set in 1993, estranged Street Fighters Ryu and Ken Masters are thrown back into combat when the mysterious Chun-Li recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament: a brutal clash of fists, fate, and fury. But behind this battle royale lies a deadly conspiracy that forces them to face off against each other and the demons of their past. And if they don’t, it’s GAME OVER!

Four days ago, James Gunn casually dropped news of the next Superman movie via fresh artwork by DC head Jim Lee. From the image, we can expect David Corenswet’s Superman and Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luther (wearing the character’s iconic green and purple power suit) to team up in some capacity to face an even greater threat. Expect Superman 2, known as Man of Tomorrow, in theatres two years from now, on 9 July 2027.

One final movie news tidbit: That hunger for video game adaptations means that a Call of Duty movie is officially in the works at Paramount, based on Activision’s insanely popular military shooter series.

Series

Tomb Raider was in TV news twice this past week. First, it was finally officially confirmed that Sophie Turner has been cast as aristocratic adventurer Lara Croft in Prime Video’s upcoming live-action Tomb Raider series, created, written and co-showrun by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Filming starts in January. The series was greenlit back in May 2024.

Will Turner be a scrappy, scruffy Lara in the Alicia Vikander mode, or a sleek noblewoman playing for sport like Angelina Jolie’s Lara? Time will tell.

Before that, though, animated series Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft sees its second season premiere on Netflix on 11 December this year. Serving as a bridge between the Survivor trilogy of video games from the 2010s, and Classic depictions of the character, The Legend of Lara Croft sees Hayley Atwell voice the title character. This time, she’s joined by The Boys’ Karen Fukuhara as Lara’s former best friend Sam Nishimura as they race around the globe in an attempt to unravel the secrets of powerful Orisha masks – which a certain dangerous woman billionaire has set her sights on. Natla, is that you?

While we really got into the show (eventually), it wasn’t exactly a ratings bonanza, and it’s already been confirmed that S2 will be the series’ last. Here’s hoping it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger like S1.

Tomb Raider isn’t the only woman-fronted video game series coming to Prime Video. Amazon is also now backing a live-action adaptation of Life is Strange, to centre on the events of the first game, where high schooler Max Caulfield discovers she can rewind time to save her childhood best friend Chloe Price from tragedy… at a cost.

The End of the F***ing World and Kaos’s Charlie Covell is showrunner on the project.

Lifestyle

While Johannesburg, Cape Town, and even Port Elizabeth, have geeky gatherings, coastal city Durban has been lagging behind in opportunities for public celebration of pop culture. That changes this year with the six-years-later resurrection of ICON Durban (also previously known as ICON By the Sea), which was last held in July 2019. Expect three days of tabletop gaming, cosplay, miniatures painting, geeky vendors and a few surprises.

ICON Durban will be held at Westville Girls’ High School on 4-5 October. Day passes are R80, while a Weekend ticket is R120.

On that note, a reminder that older sibling event ICON Comic and Games Convention is back (for a second year) at Crawford International College in Lonehill, Johannesburg, next month, from 10 – 12 October. Weekend day passes are R120, half day Friday is R70, and a three-day pass will cost you R200.