JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION Prologue Crashes Online

Jurassic World: Dominion prologue still of T Rex

Remember when Dom Toretto said, “that asteroid is strong, but not as strong as family” and then prevented the extinction of dinosaurs?

Well, if you didn’t catch it in the Jurassic World: Dominion prologue when it screened as an IMAX preview before F9: The Fast Saga earlier this year, good news. Universal Pictures has just released the short film online ahead of Dominion’s June 2022 release.

The video takes place 650 million years ago, and shows off an impressive number of different dinosaur species rendered in all their VFX magic – seven of which have never been seen in a Jurassic movie before! Director Colin Trevorrow reveals in an interview with IGN that “the best part of my job is being able to choose which dinosaurs go in which movies” which this time includes an oviraptor, the giganotosaurus, and the newly-discovered moros intrepidus.

 

After the David Attenborough documentary-vibe sequence, we flash forward to present day at a drive-in theatre, where horny teenagers are rudely interrupted by a T-Rex’s arrival, armed helicopters in tow.

Jurassic World: Dominion T-Rex

The opening sequence seizes on the opportunity to show the dinosaurs in their natural, prehistoric environment, co-existing peacefully (for the most part). Trevorrow explains that showing this side of the dinosaurs was important to one of Dominion’s major themes: “A big part of this movie is making the connection between animals that live on the planet today and how we treat them, and how they coexist with us and dinosaurs. For us to really be able to see them in their natural habitat, just see them drinking water and moving in herds. The first time you watch it might almost seem a little quiet, it’s not the kind of aggressive action that we show in our blockbuster movies… as a dinosaur nerd, I found that very exciting.”

Oddly, the elaborate (and expensive-looking) sequence will not make up part of the final cut. Trevorrow returns to direct Jurassic World: Dominion, with Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum all returning to the franchise.

Watch the preview below:

Network Teams Up with Hammer to Form New Company

network hammer

Network Distributing – who have a massive catalogue of cult films and TV available on DVD and Blu-ray – has concluded a deal with the legendary Hammer Films to form Hammer Studios Ltd. The new company will manage and control Hammer’s interests in its substantial library of content such as The Woman in Black (2012), Let Me In (2010), Dracula (1958), The Abominable Snowman (1957), and The Quatermass Experiment (1953), and will see heavy investment both in restoration and new production development from both its owned and newly created IP.

Network’s Managing Director Tim Beddows and Financial Director Jonathan Lack, and Hammer’s CEO Simon Oakes will head the new company.

Network Managing Director Tim Beddows said: “This partnership is a really exciting opportunity to merge Hammer’s amazing library with Network’s infrastructure. Whilst we work our way through restoring its entire back catalogue for future generations’ enjoyment, we’re equally excited about the development of new productions from the Hammer canon.”

Hammer CEO Simon Oakes said: “This new partnership will, for the first time, professionalise the restoration and creation of elements that are essential for distribution of the Hammer library across all media. At the same time, we will, with Network, be able to build on the legacy of Britain’s most iconic film brand, one that started in 1934 and is alive and kicking in 2021.”

On a personal note, this is an exciting development for fans of the Hammer brand and horror in general, and we can’t wait to see what they come up with.

BLADE RUNNER Series In The Works, Reveals Ridley Scott

harrison ford and ryan gosling in Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049

Ridley Scott, despite being at an age when most would opt for beachside retirement and daytime daiquiris, continues to push out great content: from historical drama The Last Duel to the upcoming, fashionable crime caper House Of Gucci, the filmmaker has had a busy year. And now comes news that a live-action television series based on Scott’s 1982 classic Blade Runner is in the works – and no, we aren’t talking about the Black Lotus animated series.

Talking with the BBC’s Today programme, he revealed that “We have already written the pilot for Blade Runner and the bible. So, we’re already presenting Blade Runner as a TV show, the first 10 hours.” That’s sadly all that was said but the thought of an extended look at the Blade Runner universe is certainly appealing.

Harrison Ford as Deckard in Blade Runner from Ridley Scott

Scott also confirmed Alien was getting a “similar” treatment. A pilot is being written along with a bible of what transpires in 8-10 hours of the show. News of this project first broke late last year, with Noah Hawley (Fargo, Lucy in the Sky) announced as showrunner.

At the time, cabler FX’s John Landgraf described the project as “the first Alien story set on Earth – and by blending both the timeless horror of the first Alien film with the non-stop action of the second, it’s going to be a scary thrill ride that will blow people back in their seats.” Sounds more than a tad like the next Predator movie, but we’ll see.

 

Synopsis Revealed for DOCTOR WHO New Year’s Special

The BBC have announced their programming line-up for the festive season, and with that comes some new information about the Doctor Who special set to air on New Year’s Day.

We now know that joining Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor and her companions in this episode will be guest stars Aisling Bea (This Way Up, Living With Yourself, Quiz), Adjani Salmon (Dreaming Whilst Black, Enterprice) and Pauline McLynn (Father Ted, Shameless).

The official synopsis reads:

Sarah (Aisling Bea) owns and runs ELF storage, and Nick (Adjani Salmon) is a customer who visits his unit every year on New Year’s Eve. This year, however, their night turns out to be a little different than planned…

With the three guest stars being known for comedy roles, it looks like this special may be a little lighter in tone than Flux, the epic six-part story making up the current series.

This is the first of three Doctor Who specials airing in 2022, with the second coming in spring and the third, which will be the swansong of Whittaker’s Doctor, expected in autumn as part of the BBC’s Centenary celebrations.

THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT To Explore Criminal Power Vacuum

Boba Fett in The Mandalorian, ahead of The Book of Boba Fett

As per Empire‘s The Book of Boba Fett exclusive feature, the new Star Wars series will explore the power vacuum left behind by Jabba The Hutt (and later, Bib Fortuna’s) death.

As The Mandalorian co-creator and Boba Fett exec producer/director Jon Favreau explains, “Jabba is gone. Jabba was clearly a very strong and imposing leader, who people were very scared of, and who seemed to rule with an iron fist. You pull somebody like that out of the ecosystem of Tatooine – and Hutt Space in general – and you have the opportunity that’s ripe in the gangster genre.”

boba fett trailer

The filmmaker continues, “Although Boba Fett is a very experienced bounty hunter, he’s not experienced at running a criminal syndicate or managing forces. He’s not normally a newcomer. He’s an expert as we see him in most areas. But in this case, he’s trying to transition to another position.”

The Book of Boba Fett will take place alongside another The Mandalorian spin-off, Ahsoka. Temuera Morrison returns as Fett alongside Ming-Na Wen’s Fennec Shand, both of whom are reprising their roles from previous Star Wars outings.

It’s not much longer until fans can re-enter the galaxy’s criminal underworld and see how Boba fares as a crime boss, as The Book of Boba Fett premieres on Disney+ from December 29th. Watch the trailer here.

 

 

 

BLADE Adds Delroy Lindo

Hot off seeking treasure in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods and shooting up outlaws in Jeymes Samuel’s The Harder They Fall, Delroy Lindo now sets his eyes on Marvel’s Blade. 

The renowned actor is reportedly – as first announced by The Hollywood Reporter – in final negotiations to join Mahershala Ali in Bassam Tariq’s (Mogul Mowgli) human-vampire adventure-thriller. The movie was scripted by Watchmen‘s TV series writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour.

First announced at 2019’s San Diego Comic-Con, it’s still unclear exactly how the project will tie into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is currently in Phase Four.

Delroy Lindo in The Harder They Fall cast in MCU Blade

Ali recently made his audio-only Marvel debut in Eternals’ post-credits scene, in which Blade tells Dane Whitman (Kit Harington) not to pick up a cursed sword known as the Ebony Blade. It’s therefore possible that Harington will return opposite Ali and Lindo, at least in a cameo role.

To add to the prevailing air of mystery around the Blade reboot, it’s also unclear what Lindo’s role in it might be. As the first actor to be confirmed since Ali announced his involvement, a good guess would be for Lindo to be playing Jamal Afari, the young vampire hybrid’s mentor and paternal figure in the comics.

Though Blade was initially scheduled (and then wrongly confirmed) for a 2022 release date, it’s looking more likely that filming will begin in summer 2022, with eyes on a later 2023 release.

 

 

Fantastic MANDY Poster Book Announced

mandy blu-ray

PosterSpy has announced a crowdfunding campaign for their latest production, Mandy: The Ultimate Poster Collection. The Kickstarter campaign aims to fund the launch of the hardback book, full of never before seen artwork inspired by the cult phenomenon, Mandy, starring Nicolas Cage. The Kickstarter campaign will launch on Monday 22nd November (3pm BST).

The book is an officially licensed, brand-new, 132-page book featuring a foreword by the producers, Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah, the co-founders of SpectreVision and is crammed full of incredible art celebrating the film.

The book is fully approved and licensed by Nicolas Cage whose likeness is used throughout. Over 60 artists are featured in this stunning art book as well as in-depth commentary and sketches that have never been published before.

The 8.5 inches x 10.5 inches book will weigh roughly 700 grams and features silk finish, vibrant colour pages.

Each book comes with a matt black, premium dust jacket to protect the book and features fantastic artwork by Katie Randall who is also showcased inside. The book is printed and bound in the United Kingdom. If the crowdfunding is successful, the UK delivery date is expected to be May 2022.

There will also be a selection of exclusive rewards including limited edition prints, art cards and more will be available that fans won’t be able to get again after the campaign.

Kickstarter exclusive rewards include a holographic foil A3 art print by UK based illustrator Ben Turner.

The Graham Humphreys Collection, which includes an A1 size lithographic print, 6 A5 sketch cards, an A4 sketch print, and a copy of the book. These are limited to 350 copies.

Pledgers can also get the book with a set of A5 art cards by Tom Coupland, Ben Turner, Si Heard and Saniose. All of whom are featured inside the book.

As well as having some exclusive Kickstarter rewards, there are also options to buy two copies of the book for £55 and three copies of the book for £75, saving up to £15.

The crowdfunding campaign will last for 30 days starting from November 22nd 2021 at 3PM BST. It has a goal of £2,000 GBP that must be met before the end of the campaign otherwise the project will not be funded.

PosterSpy founder Jack Woodhams said “PosterSpy has always been focused on insight into the industry so whether you are a film fan, designer, artist or creative, you’ll find Mandy: The Ultimate Poster Collection to be fascinating as well as beautiful.“

More information can be found at www.mandyposterbook.com

 

New Doctor Who RPG Launches New Starter Set

Cubicle7’s excellent Doctor Who Roleplaying Game is to get a new starter set, the game’s publisher has been announced.

The game is very well designed and allows players to take on the roles of companions, Time Lords and other Doctor Who related characters and go on adventures through time and space. It’s core mechanics use a thing called Story Points to balance the experience between character types. Your typical companion character gets loads of Story Points which they can use to change the narrative, which is the games way of explaining why Sarah Jane always seems to avoid certain death or why Dan can infiltrate a military compound armed with only a frying pan.  Time Lords, Immortal Time Agents and shape-shifting robots get less story points, but they have super-powers so it balances out.

The Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game Starter Set contains everything you need to start your adventures across all of space and time. Whether you’re a complete beginner at roleplaying games or looking for an epic new campaign, this boxed set is the perfect starting point for anyone wanting to experience the vast universe of Doctor Who.

The Timeless Library is a brand new adventure for players of all experience levels. It sends a group of new and varied companions on a journey to a vast library filled with dangerous artefacts and even more dangerous invaders. The story continues in the epic campaign The Echo Chamber and a quest to recover The Hermit’s Lantern, providing new and established characters a wealth of adventure that will take them to surprising new worlds.

Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game Starter Set includes:

Read This First! introduction sheet

5 ready-made characters

The Timeless Library adventure book

The Echo Chamber campaign book

2 rules reference sheets

60+ Story Point tokens

3 custom dice

An exciting new adventure that teaches you the rules as you play.

Over 100 pages of introductory rules and fantastic adventures across space and time.

It can be pre-ordered via a weblink here.

Man Talks With Cars And Mounts Revolution In KING CAR

Matheus Nachtergaele and Jules Elting in King Car (2021)

Sci-fi thriller King Car, which screened at prestige festivals such as Rotterdam, Fantasia, and Fantastic Fest, will rumble to life on January 7th, 2022.

Writer-director Renata Pinheiro’s (Love, Plastic and Noise; Açúcar) genre-bending film tells the story of a young man’s ability to surreally “be one” with and speak to cars. What he discovers sparks a revolution that could change everything for him; but, when his invention instead inadvertently accelerates the underlying problems of the community, our hero’s quest must grow bigger than his own personal ambitions and a fight for survival ensues with the zombies of capitalism.

King Car looks to explore the shortcomings of consumerism, and visualises the tension between ecology and industry that is coming into sharper relief every day – a film that seems all the more timely post-COP26’s s**t-show (for lack of a more accurate term).

King Car 2021 film

Pinheiro explains that “America is a land of dreams and nightmares. Quite close to our film that once was a dream, and happened to be born in a political nightmare. This is ‘nuts’ America.” The Brazilian film, which will be distributed via Dark Star Pictures, stars Matheus Nachtergaele, Luciano Pedro Jr., Jules Elting, Clara Pinheiro, Adelio Lima, and Ane Oliva.

Dark Star President Michael Repsch states that “King Car is a truly unique genre-blending vision. Renata Pinheiro has masterfully woven together a cautionary tale of capitalism and corruption, seeped in genre elements – resulting in an unforgettable film that is both thought-provoking and wildly entertaining.”

Watch the brand new trailer for King Car below:

 

Dystopian Fantasy LEGEND Being Developed For TV

Legend book cover by Marie Lu

YA fiction author Marie Lu is developing a series adaptation of her celebrated dystopian fantasy novel, Legend, over at Bound Entertainment.

Set in a futuristic, militarised world where what was once the western United States is now home to the totalitarian Republic of America, a nation constantly at war with its neighbours, Legend follows two teenagers: Day lives in the slums as one of the country’s most wanted criminal, while June is a military prodigy, groomed by the Republic’s highest circles. Their paths cross when the former becomes suspected of June’s brother’s murder.

Lu has said that she was inspired to write the series by Les Miserables, wanting to recreate the conflict between Valjean and Javert in a teenage context.  

Deadline revealed that the author will be developing the series and writing the pilot alongside Lindsay Sturman (Supergirl, Teen Wolf, Nightflyers), who will also executive produce.

Legend is only the first novel of a four-part series so, without getting too far ahead of ourselves, there’s plenty of content to adapt from should the adaptation make it to screens. No word yet on who else might be attached or on casting, but stay tuned for more as we hear it.