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📺🎬 Award Season is Approaching

📺🎬 Award Season is Approaching

Golden Globe nominations, MCU animated shows, Kojima x A24, The Game Awards

Sean Byrne
December 16, 2023

Golden Globes // Peter Kramer, NBC, Getty Images

DEC 16 | EDITION #25 - Read Time: 7 minutes

Oh, hey there. We’re already halfway through December and Christmas is in 9 days, so I’ll be cranking up the holiday movie and show rewatches this week.

Last night I was able to go to an advanced screening of Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon. I’ll have a full breakdown in my Weekly Watchlist edition on Monday and will also put out a video on it at some point this weekend - but it was a great experience being around some super fans and seeing it on a 70mm IMAX screen with some Dolby sound backing it up.

We have an INSANE release weekend for movies with Wonka, The Boy and the Heron (wide release), The Zone of Interest (limited release) and Poor Things (limited release).

Let’s get started.

Inside The Edition:

Golden Globe nominations
New MCU animated series announced
Kojima partners with A24
The Game Awards

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Mainstream & Independent

🎥 News from mainstream movies to independent arthouse films

The Globe // Michael Buckner, Variety

The Golden Globes announced the nominations for 2024 and it looks to be a stacked award season. Barbenheimer is owning the scene once again, but there’s going to be a ton of tight races - particularly for the acting categories.

The Golden Globes are a good reflection of what the Oscar nominations will look like, so it’s our first glimpse of the industry expectations.

Full nominations here.

Mainstream & Independent Headlines

▪︎ Warner Bros signed a deal with Tubi to bring all DC movies to the platform for free, including new releases. This is unheard of - and a massive brand bringing a major IP to a low level, free platform means they need money BAD…but good for Tubi subscribers. Read.

▪︎ Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has signed on to play MMA Figther Mark Kerr in a new A24 film directed by Benny Safdie. This is going to be the first real test of The Rock’s acting career and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t highly intrigued to see him at A24 behind Safdie’s direction. Read.

▪︎ Zac Efron received his star on the Hollywood Walk of fame. He was honored by Miles Teller and Jeremy Allen White, and discussed everything from High School Musical to the soon releasing Iron Claw…much watch if you’re a fan.

▪︎ George Clooney reveals that they have a script for the next Ocean’s film, teasing that the franchise might be making a comeback. It sounds like the film would be a ways out, but I’d love to get that ensable back together again…alongside the rumors of a prequel film - where Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling play Danny Ocean’s parents set during the 60’s in Monte Carlo.

More (Independent & Indie)

Letterboxd is adding film showtimes - allowing users to book showtimes near them after reading about films on the app. This is a great feature - sounds like Regal Cinemas are the main provider for now.
Christopher Abbot has replaced Ryan Gosling to star in Wolf Man - the monsterverse horror film from Blumhouse - directed by Leigh Whannel. Read.

📽️ Must Watch

Dune: Part 2 | Trailer 3… I’m finding it hard to think about anything else besides Dune Part 2…March can’t come fast enough.
IF | Teaser… I…guess this is a movie about imaginary friends with Ryan Reynolds? I have no idea lmao.
Civil War | Trailer… It’s Alex Garland and A24 so I’ll be watching this, but not sure I’m sold on a modern Civil War story.
The Color Purple | Trailer 3… Have a feeling this one is going to be a massive hit.

Franchise Report

🦸‍♂️ News from comic book content, big franchises and our favorite IPs

Marvel announces multiple animated Projects.

Marvel has announced a few animated projects, including What If…? Season 3, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and Eyes of Wakanda.

I’m an animated junkie so I’m excited for this new slate of content…it’s time the MCU leans more heavily into their worldbuilding through animated projects. Here are some details on the newer projects

Eyes of Wakanda - Releasing sometime in 2024, this is a new animated series following the brave warriors who have been tasked to travel the world retrieving dangerous vibranium artifacts throughout history.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man - Releasing sometime in 2024, this is an animated show that follows the early days of Peter Parker’s career as a hero. It’s not set in our main MCU, so it’s a bit of an Elseworld story.

For more on these and the other coming animated projects, read.

Franchise Headlines

▪︎ Adam Driver reveals J.J. Abram’s changed the original plan for Kylo Ren - hinting that he would not have been redeemed in the sequel trilogy. Driver goes on to explain how Kylo would have been on the opposite journey of Vader…I would have LOVED to see this and I think this plotline is exactly what was missing. Read.

▪︎ Captain America: Brave New World just hired a new writer to develop additional scenes and material for the film. This was moved back a full year to 2025, so they have time to get it right…but adding a writer this late in the game to piece things together leaves me worried. Read.

▪︎ Sean Gunn (brother of DCU lead) has been cast as Maxwell Lord in the new DCU. He will apparantly be ‘referenced in the background of Superman: Legacy and will appear in future DC projects. Read.

▪︎ Charlie Hunnam was offered the role of DC’s Green arrow but turned it down. ‘I just don’t think green is my color and I’m pretty sure spandex isn’t my material.’ Watch.

More

This phenomenal thread shows the tradition of film directors and studios congratulating each other for beating their box office records…I’ve always loved these mash-ups…the Star Wars x Jaws is iconic.

📽️ Must Watch

Marvel’s What If…? Season 2 | Holiday Trailer… I adored the first season of this show and now they’re adding a heavy holiday theme - so I’m sold.
Kung Fu Panda 4 | Trailer… I’ve honestly never seen any of these films but know there’s a cult following around them…I’ll have to play catch up.

TV & Streaming

📺 News from our favorite series on TV and streaming services

Blue Eye Samurai // Netflix

Blue Eye Samurai has been renewed for Season 2 at Netflix.

I’m a bit behind so I plan on watching this series soon, but it’s getting WILD acclaim from the community so I’m glad it’s getting renewed…the creator previously stated he envisioned 4 seasons for the show. Read.

TV & Streaming Headlines

▪︎ Netflix has released their Engagement Reports, showing hours viewed for their original and licensed titles. They will be released twice a year and will look to provide transparancy around the platform…though they still need to clearly explain what they count as a qualified viewer. Read.

▪︎ Hulu and Disney+ bundle app will launch in March. At launch, it will have the full Grey’s Anatomy library, it’s first time on a Disney owned streaming platform. Read.

▪︎ The final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm will premiere Feb 4. The show will end after 12 seasons. Look.

▪︎ First reviews for Percy Jackson and The Olympians have released and the are glowing. Liam Crowley (Comic Book) called this ‘The Series you build a streaming service around and it currently sits at 96% on RT. Read.

More

Succession has broken the Golden Globes TV record with 9 nominations for its final season.

Gaming Industry

🎮 Updates from the world of gaming & esports

Kojima x A24

The Game Awards

The Game Awards aired last week…it was mostly fine, but the event and its creator Geoff Keighley were heavily criticized as they embarrassingly hurried the winner speeches and quickly skipped over a dozen ‘lower level’ award winners - while giving a shit ton of time to advertisers, sponsors and game reveals. Changes need to be made if they truly want to be taken seriously as the ‘Video Game Oscars’.

Baldur’s Gate won awards like Game of the Year and Best Performance while Alan Wake 2 took home a handful of awards for Game Direction and Best Narrative. Full list of winners here.

▪︎ Kojima and A24 have partnered to develop a live- action adaptation of Death Stranding. The game was incredibly polarizing but I can't picture a more perfect studio to bring this to life. Read.

▪︎ Valve is begging Steam Deck owners to stop inhaling exhuast fumes. This headline his hilarious…a user asked Steam support if it’s safe to inhale the exhuast fumes from the device, in what has become a running joke in the community…brb, huffing some Steam Deck. Read.

▪︎ Insomniac Games have announced that an update for Spider-Man 2 is coming in early 2024. The update will include highly requested features - New Game+, audio descriptions, change the time of day, edit tendril colors, replay missions…all good things. Read

▪︎ Santa Monica Studios announced that God of War: Ragnarok would be receiving a free DLC update titled Valhalla. The DLC released earlier this week and has shocked most of the gaming world, with most stunned that they’d release a substantial, story driven campaign for free…it’s insane they kept this a secret. Read.

▪︎ The studio behind The Day Before has announced it’s closure just days after the games horrific launch. This development was just one big scam - the studio only brought on ‘volunteer developers’ and constantly pushed back releases and made false promises and getting a refund looks to be a battle. Read.

More

We’ve got some heavy rumors of the first Call of Duty: Warzone map, Verdansk, returning sometime in 2024…which would be phenomenal.
Competitive Fortnite legends Mongraal and MrSavage are teaming up and making a triumphant return to the 2024 Fortnite Championship Series - this will be a must-watch for those interested in esports.
Heavy rumors suggest that Insomniac Studios will develop a Spider-Verse game - which would be batshit.

📽️ Must Watch

Marvel’s Blade | Announcement… Only a cinematic trailer, but Blade makes for a fantastic video game character.
OD | Trailer… Kojima teaming up with Jordan Peele for this new immersive horror experience…wow.

Quick Hits

💣 The Timeline

What if we hung out in the Death Star bed?
This is Club Penguin IRL.
The ultimate LAN Party set up…my inner 14-year-old is screaming.
This guy started the Lego Fortnite Industrial Revolution lmao.
The McDonald’s Snack Wrap is coming back in 2025…we won.

🐦 Tweet of the Week
Just been one of those weeks.

"are you drinking-"
"the panera lemonade that kills people? yeah, i am"
— sarah thee tonin 💫 (@sarahndipity18)
8:25 PM • Dec 7, 2023

👀 Keep An Eye Out

How was todays edition? Comment below so we can keep the conversation going and as always, feel free to reach out with your thoughts!

See you next Thursday

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