RIP: A bunch of sad news this week as we learned that Luke Perry, King Kong Bundy and Jan Michael Vincent passed away. Perry was 52 and suffered a massive stroke and died Monday. King Kong Bundy was 61 and his cause of death was not revealed. Jan Michael Vincent, star of Airwolf, apparently died in February but his death was only found out this week, he was 74.
Possible first look at movie Sonic: What seems to be a leaked marketing packet for the upcoming live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie hit the internet this week and it seems to reveal what Sonic will look like in the movie:
SyFy making a Critters movie with Dee Wallace: A new Critters TV series is hitting Shudder soon but SyFy is also developing a new Critters movie and Dee Wallace, who starred in the original Critters, may be back to star. The movie was apparently secretly filming in South Africa but there’s no official word from SyFy yet.
Unknown NES game discovered: An NES collector and YouTuber, Stephen Reese, bought a cartridge from a former Nintendo employee that turns out to be a game no even knew existed called UCW or Universal Wrestling Corporation, the original name for WCW. The game appears similar to other NES wrestling games and features WCW stars like Ric Flair, Sting, the Road Warriors and more. Reese said he would dump the ROM online so everyone would be able to check it out.
Turok games coming to Switch: The first two Turok game that originally hit N64 recently got remastered and released on PC but they are heading to Switch on March 18th. The remasters were developed by Nightdive Studios and they improved or enhanced almost every aspect of the games while maintaining their classic dinosaur killing action. It seems like each game might be $19.99
Eli Roth teaming with Scream’s Kevin Williamson for a new movie: Eli Roth is teaming up with Scream writer Kevin Williamson for a new survival horror movie, The River at Night, based on the novel of the same name by Erica Ferencik. The book and movie will follow four women who are on a hiking and river rafting trip in the wilderness of Maine when a freak accident separates them from their raft and all of their survival supplies. They find a ramshackle cabin in the woods but their hopes at rescue are quickly dashed.
Idris Elba replacing Will Smith in Suicide Squad: Due to scheduling conflicts, Will Smith is not returning as Deadshot in Suicide Squad 2 (or The Suicide Squad as it might be called). It was revealed this week that WB/DC has recast the role with none other than Idris Elba. The cast of rogues that will make up the squad was also possibly revealed this week and it includes King Shark, Polka Dot Man, Peacemaker, and The Ratcatcher. Peacemaker may be played by James Gunn’s old buddy Dave Bautista. It’s not clear if Margot Robbie will return as Harley Quinn or if this movie will be a sequel or a full reboot but it’s coming out August 6, 2021.
Disney+ will feature every Disney feature ever: A bold claim about the upcoming Disney+ streaming service was made this week, as it will apparently feature every Disney motion picture ever made. Disney has traditionally maintained it’s marketing of the “Disney Vault” where only a certain number of their classics are available at certain times but this would blast the Vault open Italian Job style if it’s true. It also raises the question if controversial movies like Song of the South would finally be widely available or if they would still remain in the Vault.
Galaxy’s Edge gets opening dates: Speaking of Disney, they finally revealed the opening dates for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland and Disney World. The California park will open on May 31st and the Florida park will open on August 29th. Rise of the Resistance will not be ready on opening day at Disneyland and the land will require a separate, no-cost reservation to enter in order to maintain capacity. When the Disney World park opens, they will also take measures to maintain capacity but it will not require a reservation.
Arrow ending next season: The first show in the Arrowverse will be the first to leave as Arrow will end next season with a 10 episode 8th season. Stephen Amell announced the news and said he’s been working with the showrunners to try and figure out a plan to end the show since season 6, as he wants to spend more time with his family and pursue other projects. The other Arrowverse shows will continue and Batwoman is currently filming a pilot with Ruby Rose and will likely get picked up as a series. Next fall will also have the massive Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover and it seems likely now that Oliver may be sacrificing himself to save the multiverse.
Alex Trebek has cancer: The beloved host of Jeopardy revealed in a video this week that he has Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, a cancer with an extremely low survival rate but Trebek vowed to fight it. There are currently no changes to Jeopardy’s production schedule and it was renewed along with Wheel of Fortune through 2023.
Gundam live action movie gets writer: Legendary is developing a live-action adaptation of Gundam and Brian K. Vaughn, legendary comic writer of Y: The Last Man and Saga fame, has been hired to write the screenplay. Vaughn will also be an executive producer on the movie. There are no other details as of yet on the movie.
There is one Blockbuster left on the planet: Blockbuster has made news in recent years for the final group of stores that were keeping the dream of the 90s alive but this week with the closure of a store in Australia, there is only one Blockbuster left in the world in Bend, OR, which has become a popular tourist attraction pulling in visitors from as far away as England and Taiwan.
Morbius movie adds cast members: A bunch of new additions to Jared Leto’s Morbius movie were revealed this week with Tyrese Gibson, Jared Harris, Adria Arjona, and Matt Smith. Smith will be the film’s antagonist, Loxias Crown, Morbius’ former friend who also suffers the same blood disease as Morbius, making him a living vampire as well. Daniel Espinosa is directing the movie and it’s out in July next summer.
Maleficent sequel announced: Maleficent is getting a sequel with Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning returning and Michelle Pfeiffer joining the cast. The movie is titled Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and it’s being directed by Joachim Ronning, one of the co-directors of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and it has an October 18th, 2019 release date.
