The year may have started quiet on the pop culture news front, but that certainly hasn’t been the case over the past fortnight. The hype machine is gearing up for the coming year, and beyond, and studios, streaming services and the big media companies are making some big announcements and reveals.

Before that, though, yet another pop culture figure passed, and he joins the ranks of creators who managed to tarnish their reputation in life. Scott Adams (no relation), the cartoonist responsible for office culture comic Dilbert, has passed aged 68 from metastasised prostate cancer. Adams became an increasingly vocal conservative commentator in later years, promoting anti-vaccination ideologies and jeering at DEI initiatives. Infamously, he once joked that he identified as Black to be “on the winning side.”

Film

Starting with movie news first, the Golden Globes, which are considered a reliable Oscar results indicator, were held last weekend in Los Angeles.

We didn’t think it was all that but Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another was the big winner at the awards show, picking up four Globes, including Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy). Meanwhile, Chloé Zhao’s Shakespearean drama Hamnet won Best Motion Picture (Drama), plus Best Actress for Jessie Buckley. Finally, KPop Demon Hunters walked off with the awards for Best Animated Film, and Best Original Song (for Golden).

On the TV front, the Golden Globes seemed to be copying the Emmy Awards’ homework as Netflix limited series Adolescence snatched up the most accolades, followed by HBO medical drama The Pitt.

Two more teaser trailers dropped over this news recap period for the next big MCU ensemble Avengers: Doomsday. While the most recent trailer depicts a meeting between the Wakandans and the Fantastic Four, it was the X-Men teaser, with Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan and James Marsden appearing (where the latter wears a comic-accurate Cyclops outfit), that really got fans excited. Watch it below.

Avengers Doomsday comes to cinemas on 18 December this year.

Looking like a marriage of Ready or Not, The Raid, Rosemary’s Baby and Get Out is pitch-black action comedy They Will Kill You, starring Zazie Beetz. The Deadpool 2 actress plays a woman who accepts a job at a New York City high-rise, only to realise she’s surrounded by a demonic cult intent on sacrificing her as their next offering. Queue a do-or-die fight for our heroine through the entire death trap building. The cast also includes Tom Felton, Heather Graham and a resurgent Patricia Arquette.

They Will Kill You releases on 27 March.

Keeping things on the horror side is Lee Cronin’s The Mummy. There’s nobody particularly famous in this film, and the name Lee Cronin may not be well-known, but the filmmaker is building a reputation for deeply unsettling horror. His last effort was Evil Dead Rise. In Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, which comes with the backing of genre big names James Wan and Jason Blum, a journalist is reunited with his daughter after she disappeared in the desert eight years previously. Rather unsurprisingly, this reunion is more nightmarish than happy. Mostly we’re keen to see something that explores the chilling side of mummies after years of pulp action adventure associations on the big screen.

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy releases in cinemas on 17 April.

Finally in terms of trailers there’s The Death of Robin Hood, which seems to put Hugh Jackman squarely back on Logan turf. In this A24 release, Jackman plays the legendary British outlaw, who was far from a hero in reality. While recovering from a severe injury, he reflects on his life and receives an opportunity to make amends for his brutal actions. Also starring are Jodie Comer and Bill Skarsgård. Behind the camera is Michael Sarnoski, the filmmaker responsible for Pig, and A Quiet Place: Day One.

No release date yet for The Death of Robin Hood.

In some movie casting news, meet your live-action Rapunzel and Flynn Rider in Disney’s adaptation of Tangled: Titans star Teagan Croft and Milo Manheim from Disney’s Zombies. Agatha All Along’s Kathryn Hahn is a rumoured favourite to embody the film’s passive aggressive villain Mother Gothel.

Still talking live-action remakes of animated films, following Gerard Butler’s lead, Cate Blanchett will play the character she voiced in How To Train Your Dragon 2: Hiccup’s long-lost mother Valka.

Speaking of casting rumours, Sebastian Stan may be making the leap from the MCU to the DCU as the Winter Soldier actor is apparently lined up to play District Attorney Harvey Dent (AKA Two-Face) alongside Robert Pattinson in The Batman Part 2. Scarlett Johansson is also playing an undisclosed role, with Dent’s wife Gilda being a strong possibility, especially if this take on the Batman universe continues to mine comic tale The Long Halloween for influence. The Batman Part 2 comes out in October 2027.

One final piece of movie news, this time focusing on the business side of the industry. After 14 years, and a rumour swell in recent months, Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down as the head of Lucasfilm. Replacing her, to oversee the Star Wars franchise at the highest leadership level, will be The Mandalorian’s Dave Filoni as President and Chief Creative Officer, while Lynwen Brennan will serve as Co-President. Brennan has previously headed up Industrial Light & Magic, and served as General Manager of Lucasfilm.

One more point to the raging fanboys, who have blamed Kennedy for the seesawing fortunes of Star Wars for quite some time.

Series

So much going on, and yet a simple costume test broke the Internet… unless my algorithm was very skewed, for reasons. This past week, Prime Video revealed a costume test of Sophie Turner as Lara Croft in the upcoming live-action Tomb Raider series, which starts filming today, 19 January!

The full cast, and the characters they play, can be seen here. While Sigourney Weaver seems to be positioned as the show’s exploitative villain, a mysterious figure known as Evelyn Wallis, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s penned series also sees the following franchise figures make the leap to the screen.

  • Martin Bobb-Semple is Zip, Lara Croft’s long-standing tech support and friend
  • Jason Isaacs is Atlas DeMornay, Lara’s uncle
  • Bill Paterson is Winston, the long-standing Croft family butler

It’s been a long time coming (four years to be exact), but the third and final season of controversial teen/young adult drama Euphoria is on the horizon. Set a few years after high school, audiences catch up with the cast, which once more includes the likes of stars Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, Hunter Schafer and Sydney Sweeney, as they struggle with drugs, sex and complicated feelings.

Euphoria Season 3 lands on HBO Max on 12 April.

Also earning millions of views in the same period was the trailer for Season 2 of Netflix’s One Piece, based on the beloved manga and anime series. As Luffy and the Straw Hats set sail for the Grand Line, this band of well-meaning pirates and adventurers encounter a new threat in the form of Baroque Works, a crime syndicate. Some notable additions to the cast for the sophomore season are Joe Manganiello as Mr O, the Baroque Works head; David Dastmalchian as colleague Mr 3, and Katey Sagal as Dr. Kureha.

One Piece Season 2, which was shot in South Africa like S1, sets sail on Netflix from 10 March.

Here’s one for fans of things like Hot Fuzz. Eighties black comedy and Tom Hanks-starrer The ‘Burbs gets a series remake in February, courtesy of Peacock. Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall star as a couple who return to husband Rob’s childhood home in what is dubbed the safest town in America. Except, the more wife Samira looks around, the more old secrets, and dangerous new threats, emerge.

Look out for The ‘Burbs from 8 February.

To end this section, here’s some notable casting news: Sons of Anarchy and The Abandons actor Ryan Hurst has been cast as Kratos in the upcoming God of War TV series adaptation. Here’s the Prime Video press release on the casting and role.

Gaming

Chloe Price is back. That appears to be the big tease in the lead-up to this week’s Life is Strange livestream reveal – happening 20 January 20 at 10am PST / 1pm EST / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET / 8pm SAST.

Square Enix is promising a new entry in the supernatural-touched narrative adventure series this year, and everything points to the return of the original game’s rebellious blue-haired BFF, and optional love interest, Chloe. The character received a starring role in prequel Life Is Strange: Before the Storm. In 2024’s Life Is Strange: Double Exposure, Chloe was either dead or long broken up with player character Max, depending on your choice in the first LiS, which enraged fans.

Last but not least we now have a release date for Afrofuturist heist game Relooted, from South African developer Nyamakop. And it’s soon! You’ll be able to play the highly strategic Relooted from 10 February on PC and Xbox Series consoles.

For the record, in Relooted, you’re tasked with stealing back precious African artifacts from museums and private collections around the world, returning them home before they’re locked away behind closed doors forever. These in-game treasures are based on real-life items, like the Asante Gold Mask from Ghana, so you’ll be playing and learning African history at the same time.

Toys

At the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), LEGO unveiled its brand new LEGO SMART Play System, where bricks “play back.” Put another way, sensors and technology within the new SMART brick respond to play actions with appropriate lighting and audio effects. They also interact with sibling pieces, the SMART Tag and SMART Minifigure, to create various reactions and unlock secret combinations. Keeping play screen-free, no app is required to play.

The first SMART Play All-in-One sets, to contain SMART Bricks, Tags, Minifigures and SMART charger in one box, will be LEGO Star Wars sets available from this March.

Speaking of fresh takes on beloved toys, Mattel has just unveiled its first-ever autistic Barbie doll.

Created with guidance from the autistic community, the autistic Barbie features multiple design elements to reflect autistic experience. These include enhanced elbow and wrist articulation, enabling stimming, hand flapping, and other hand gestures; accessories like noise-cancelling headphones and a fidget spinner; plus a fashionable but loose-fitting dress to accommodate sensory sensitivity. Check out the doll and its specs here.