Director Wes Anderson is back with the retro-tinged Asteroid City, set for release this June. The film takes place in a fictional American desert town circa 1955, and from the first look images and trailer, it looks to be as quirky and fun as we’ve come to expect from the director.
The all-star ensemble cast includes Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan, and Jeff Goldblum. The screenplay is by Anderson, from a story he co-authored with Roman Coppola.
The official synopsis is: The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention (organized to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition) is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.
A trailer and key art for the eagerly-awaited Prime series Dead Ringers has been unveiled.
Based on the David Cronenberg 1988 film of the same name, the limited series stars Rachel Weisz in the dual role of Elliot and Beverly Mantle, twins who share everything. Both are in the medical profession and have plans to transform the way women give birth, although one may be more committed than the other. All six episodes will debut on Prime Video on April 21st.
Hollywood actor, celebrity Dungeon Master and Dragonlancefan Joe Manganiello has teamed up with Dungeons & Dragons scholars John Peterson and Kyle Newman to produce a powerful documentary on the history of D&D. The documentary should be out later this year and will include elevated interviews with prominent fans of the game from all walks of life.
Toward the end of the stream, D&D’s Game Design Architects, Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford teased the forthcoming releases for the actual game and reminded fans that the D&D Multiverse is always expanding. Perkins stated that a “D&D villain will be making his return in the not-too-distant future”, and Crawford clarified that this would be Vecna.
Not only is this jolly interesting to fans of Stranger Things, but it also ties in nicely with the forthcoming release of Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse book coming out at the end of this year. The last time Vecna turned up in Planescape’s magical city of Sigil, things quickly got jolly interesting. That happened in the adventure Die Vecna Die! published 23 years ago, but it sounds like a sequel is coming.
Toy giant Hasbro is the parent company that owns Wizards of the Coast, which is responsible for Dungeons & Dragons. Of course, this means they are now a whole range of D&D tie-in toys. In addition to action figures for the Honour Among Thieves movie, and toys based on classic ’80s TV shows, Hasbro’s Golden Archive series will also include the Beholder crime boss Xanathar,an owlbear and a version of the displacer beast based on the tentacle panther beast seen in the movie.
Drizzt Do’Urden fans should also be in for a treat this year. The conclusion to the latest trilogy of drow ranger adventures, Lolth’sWarrior,comes out this September. Wizards’ partners at Gearbox Publishing and Cryptic Studios have teamed up with Drizzt’s creator, RA Salvatore, to create Menzoberranzan, the 25th expansion for the popular MMO Neverwinter. The new expansion is available now on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation.
“It’s very different to write for a video game than writing for a novel,” Salvatore said in an interview featured during D&D Direct. “You’re going to walk down the road looking at the world through Drizzt’s eyes. When I’m writing a video game, however, the most important character in a video game to the player is the one they are playing. In Neverwinter, the work they are doing always astounds me, and the fact that they are piggy-backing on stuff I did makes me feel very good.”
Finally, fans of weird D&D-related things to put in your house (such as a bag of teeth) will be delighted to learn that, thanks to Wizkids; they can adopt an 11-inch tall baby Owlbear figure which we understand features’ Flappy Flaps’, a Tum-Tum, toe beans and a Hoot Snoot. Which is a silly way of saying it looks cute. Mimic fans will also be delighted to learn that a life-sized version of a murderous mutant treasure chest is also available for pre-order.
Beholders, mind flayers, displacer beasts and new types of dragons will all get the Minecraft treatment, and players can choose classes such as Barbarian or Wizard and explore the Forgotten Realms, be it the freezing danger of Icewind Dale or the cosy citadel library that is Candlekeep.
This new, original adventure allows players to customize their characters’ stats and roll 20-sided dice to determine how to proceed in fully-voiced dialogue. Play with friends and get a unique D&D experience in the world of Minecraft.
However, those who prefer tabletop games won’t be left behind, as a free D&D Minecraft Monstrous Compendium supplement will be available on DnDBeyond, the official D&D digital site. The book, the third Monstrous Compendium in the series, will feature Minecraft baddies such as the Enderman and the Ender Dragon.
The march of the highly merchandisable spring blockbuster Honour Among Thieves continues with the inevitable announcement of special Magic The Gathering cards featuring the main characters from the movie.
The cards will be available via Secret Lair, Magic the Gathering’s premium service, which provides special cards (usually very well presented) for a very limited time. Previous Secret Lair releases have included characters from the Street Fighter video game and the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.
The cards also have an additional connection to the movie; the copy on the cards themselves has been written by Sarra Scherb, a Wizards of the Coast Copywriter who also ran an introductory game of Dungeons & Dragons for the directors and main movie cast. (With the exception of Hugh Grant, who was unavailable on the day.)
Sarra told the press that Justice Smith was especially keen to play and that Chris Pine took on the role of the party leader, looking for cheeky ways to exploit the game’s rules (which is a traditional part of the game).
All cards in this release are Legendary creatures, which means that they would be very useful in a game of Commander. Doric is a dual card, and can be flipped over to unleash her owl-bear form.
This pack features six cards based on the characters of the film including Edgin, Larcenous Lutenist; Forge, Neverwinter Charlatan; and Holga, Relentless Rager all bearing the likeness of the actor playing the role.
This is a great-looking set, a fantastic addition to any collection and a unique bit of merchandise.
Illustrated Young-Adult novel series Demon Lord 2099 is to be adapted into an anime TV series by Sony-owned company, Aniplex.
The Demon Lord 2099 books are set in a pseudo-futuristic version of Japan that has become fused with a magical fantasy world called Alneath. Nations have broadly collapsed, with city-states that combine magic and science becoming the norm. However, the status quo is threatened when the demon lord Veltol, long thought vanquished, is brought back by one of Veitol’s former minions and a futuristic computer hacker.
This cyberpunk/fantasy mash-up is a steadily growing cult hit, with a Manga version of the story slowly being released and an English language version of the novels available via Yen Press
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the cult classic The Wicker Man, Studiocanal is releasing a new 4K restoration of the film to UK cinemas before unleashing the UHD version for purchase.
The world premiere of the 4K restoration will take place at Newton Stewart in Scotland on Sunday, April 30th. The small Scottish town is one of the places that doubled for Summerisle back in the early ‘70s and the cinema hosted a special screening of the film on January 13th, 1973 as a thank you for the locals who accommodated the film crew so well.
A special 50th-anniversary event will also take place in London at Picturehouse Central on Monday, May 1st. It’ll be hosted by Edith Bowman and will feature guest of honour Britt Ekland, as well as more guests and a live musical performance.
You can book tickets for the world premiere in Scotland here and the 50th-anniversary celebration in London here.
The Wicker Man: Final Cut will then open in UK cinemas on June 21st and will also feature footage from the 50th-anniversary event.
All three versions of the film have been restored and will be released in a collector’s edition and 4K UHD on September 4th.
A Magic: The Gathering Artist Proof Black Lotus, signed by its artist, Christopher Rush, has sold for $615,000. That’s roughly half-a-million pounds sterling for a small, flat piece of card that has been drawn on. The auction was held on Friday, March 24th, at Texas Auction house Heritage Auctions,
The near-mint condition card was part of a collection put up for auction by Jeff Ferreira, Christopher Rush’s friend and former agent. Rush passed away in 2016.
“The Black Lotus remains the most desired Magic: The Gathering card in the world,” says Jesus Garcia, Heritage’s Trading Card Games Consignment Director. “And it’s certainly no surprise this spectacular copy is now the auction record-holder, given that it’s signed by the artist who created it. We’re proud to have been a part of the remarkable result achieved for this – dare I say it? – magical offering.”
The Black Lotus is a Magic the Gathering card that was only printed in very early editions of the game and is banned from most normal versions of the play. This is because it breaks the game’s design, especially in the early rounds. It is one of the Power Nine; nine cards printed for the early sets of the game are overpowered, practically impossible to obtain, and roundly restricted from play.
Wizards of The Coast recently released reprints of The Power Nine as part of Magic’s 30th Anniversary in a set that retailed at about a thousand American dollars. This does not seem to have harmed the value of the original Black Lotus in any way.
