COBRA KAI Renewed for Fourth Season

In some fantastic news to end the week, Netflix has announced that Cobra Kai has been renewed for a fourth season.

Courtesy of an official press release, the on-demand streaming service has confirmed that a fourth season has been order – and that Season Three will premiere on January 8, 2021.

As is so often the case these days, this press release was accompanied by an announcement video:

Having started out as a YouTube-based series, Cobra Kai’s first two seasons were picked up by Netflix earlier this year. And now, we know that at least two further seasons of the show will be happening.

For those who’ve yet to check out the absolutely brilliant Cobra Kai, the show is officially described as below:

Cobra Kai takes places over 30 years after the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament with the continuation of the inescapable conflict between Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Season Three finds everyone reeling in the aftermath of the violent high school brawl between their dojos, which has left Miguel in a precarious condition. While Daniel searches for answers in his past and Johnny seeks redemption, Kreese further manipulates his vulnerable students with his own vision of dominance. The soul of the Valley is at stake, and the fate of every student and sensei hangs in the balance.

Two Lined Up for THE SANDMAN’s Corinthian

Liam Hemsworth Dacre Montgomery

Following the news this week that Tom Sturridge was being lined up to play Dream in Netflix’s take on Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, now comes some further casting chatter.

Via /Film, Netflix is looking at Liam Hemsworth and Dacre Montgomery for the role of The Corinthian in the streaming service’s live-action TV take on Gaiman’s iconic work. Hemsworth is likely best known for his role as Gale Hawthorne in The Hunger Games, while Montgomery will be most familiar to genre fans as the Red Ranger from 2017’s Power Rangers and for playing Billy Hargrove in the last two seasons of Stranger Things.

As for The Corinthian, that villainous character constantly wears sunglasses to hide the eerie rows of teeth that line his empty eye sockets. Debuting in The Sandman #10, The Corinthian was created by Dream with the intent of giving Dream a helping hand. Instead, The Corinthian soon pushes back against Dream and begins to possess human beings. A little down the line, Dream gets the better of The Corinthian an reintroduces him as a badass hand-to-hand fighter.

Launched in 1989 under DC’s Vertigo imprint, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman initially ran for 75 issues until 1996. The focal point of the story was Dream, one of the Endless, and his brothers and sisters; Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, Destruction and Destiny.  A strange, twisted tale of worlds within worlds, Sandman is generally seen as one of the greatest comic books of all time. So much so, it even holds the honour of being one of the few graphic novels to make it onto the New York Times Best Seller list.

As ever, expect more on The Sandman as it continues to develop.

Jamie Foxx Returning as Electro?

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Well, this is quite the surprising news. Yes, as the headline suggests, Jamie Foxx may be reprising his Electro role.

Foxx played Max Dillon, aka Electro, in Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 back in 2014, and now The Hollywood Reporter brings word that the Academy Award winner is in talks to play Electro in the to-be-titled follow-up to Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Marvel and Sony have yet to comment on all of this just yet, and there are also questions over Electro should Foxx indeed pick up the part once more. Would this be the same Electro that we saw in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, or would this actually be Foxx playing a different incarnation of the electrifying villain?

If this is indeed the one and the same Electro of ASM2, that obviously opens up a whole host of questions about the possibility of the multiverse. That concept was teased in Far From Home – first by the lies of Mysterio, then by the appearance of J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson – and we do have Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on the way, and that could maybe, possibly, somehow open the door for Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Wall-crawlers.

At present, this next Spider-Man picture is set for a December 2021 – and, as ever, expect more on this Jamie Foxx/Electro story as we get it.

Arrow Video FrightFest Announce Massive October Line-up

frightfest october

Following the continued restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Arrow Video FrightFest is going virtual once more, with their October event lining up 45 movies and 2 short film showcases.

Over 3 screens – Arrow Video and Horror Channel as with the main August event, and this time the addition of the Zavvi Discovery Screen. Pass holders will have more choice to view what they want.

The films screening are:

Chris Lofing and Travis Cluff’s Held

Courtney Paige’s The Sinners

Chris Smith’s The Bannishing

Hayden J. Weal’s Dead

Andy Collier and Toor Mian’s Sacrifice (starring Barbara Crompton)

Dmitriy Tomashpolskiy’s Stranger

Derek Carl’s The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (yes – a remake of the 1962 cult classic!)

David Simpson’s Dangerous to Know

Neil Marshall’s The Reckoning

Julius Berg’s The Owners

Kohl Glass’ Babysitter Must Die

Andrew Thomas Hurt’s Spare Parts

Aaron B. Koontz’s The Pale Door

Takeshi Kushida’s Woman of the Photographs

Lodewijk Crijins’ Tailgate

Adrian Langley’s Butchers

Jens Dahl’s Breeder

Laura Casabé’s The Returned

Jeffrey Reddick’s Don’t Look Back

Will Jewell’s Concrete Plans

Natalie Erika’s Relic

Jud Cremata’s Let’s Scare Julie

Gabriel Carrer and Reese Eveneshen’s For the Sake of Vicious

Edward Drake’s Broil

Thomas Robert Lee’s Blood Harvest

Marc Price’s Dune Drifter

Adam Leader and Richard Oakes’ Hosts

Martyn Pick’s Heckle

Matthew Benjamin Jones and Luke Skinner’s The World We Knew

Patricio Valladares’ Embryo

Tyler Russell’s Cyst

In the First Blood section – sponsored by Horror Channel there is:

Danielle Kummer and Lucy Harvey’s Alien on Stage

David Ryan’s Redwood Massacre: Annihilation

Karl Holt’s Benny Loves You

Horror Channel manager Stewart Bridle will choose a winner of the FrightFest First Blood: Horror Channel Best Film Award 2020 (the two First Blood films from August – They’re Outside and Playhouse are also in the running)

Luciana Garraza’s Scavenger

Mauro Iván Ojeda’s Funeral Home

Rigoberto Castañeda’s Origin Unknown

Liam O’Donnell’s Skylin3s

Devereux Milburn’s Honeydew

Jill Gevergizian’s The Stylist

Natasha Kermani’s Lucky

Elza Kephart’s Slaxx

Paul Tanter’s The Nights Before Christmas

Damian McCarthy’s Caveat

FrightFest co-director Alan Jones said: “The latest safety regulations and social distancing measures brought in to contain the spread of Covid-19 meant we had no other choice but to cancel our much-anticipated physical edition of FrightFest in October. So the only option open to Team FrightFest, despite all the hard work everyone has put in over the past months, was to take the new normal by its devil horns and reconfigure FrightFest 2020 once more to give everyone an important horror fantasy lifeline. Our virtual event in August was so well received that we knew we had to do it again – with even more picks of want-to-see new releases, hot previews, unusual options and first-rate titles. Enjoy”.

For more information on the line-up and ticket details as well as guidelines for the event, head over to https://frightfest.co.uk/tickets.html

Tom Sturridge to Headline Netflix’s THE SANDMAN

The Sandman

With a Sandman TV series having been in development at Netflix for just over a year now, it appears that the show has found its headline act.

Via Collider, it’s being reported that Tom Sturridge has signed on to play Dream. Sturridge is best known for Mary Shelley, On the Road, and most recently for appearing in Starz’s Sweetbitter.

Launched in 1989 under DC’s Vertigo imprint, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman initially ran for 75 issues until 1996. The focal point of the story was Dream, one of the Endless, and his brothers and sisters; Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, Destruction and Destiny.  A strange, twisted tale of worlds within worlds, Sandman is generally seen as one of the greatest comic books of all time. So much so, it even holds the honour of being one of the few graphic novels to make it onto the New York Times Best Seller list.

As ever, expect more on The Sandman as it continues to develop.

Netflix Developing a CONAN TV Series

Conan the Barbarian

It’s been a couple of years since we last heard anything about a Conan the Barbarian TV series, but now comes word that Conan will be getting his own show at Netflix.

Previously, Amazon was developing a Conan the Barbarian TV show, but that project ended up being scrapped. Now, with the rights have lapsed once more, Deadline is reporting that Netflix has opted to pick up the rights to develop its own Conan offering.

In addition to now starting work on a live-action Conan the Barbarian series, this agreement between Netflix and Conan Properties International also allows the on-demand streaming service to develop other Conan shows or movies in either a live-action or animated setting.

Creator Robert E. Howard’s adventures for the Conan character began back in 1932, initially published as part of Weird Tales. In the years since, we’ve seen several prior TV outings, games, and a whole host of other takes on the famed Cimmerian warrior, most notably with the Arnold Schwarzenegger-headlined Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer and then 2011’s Jason Momoa-headlined movie reboot.

As ever, expect more on Netflix’s Conan series as it continues to develop.

Michael Dougherty and Clive Barker Developing NIGHTBREED TV Series

Nightbreed

For the last several years, there has regularly been chatter of Clive Barker’s Nightbreed getting a TV series – and now, that chatter is becoming a reality!

Revealed by Barker himself in an interview with ComingSoon, Trick ‘r Treat and Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ Michael Dougherty is to develop and direct a Nightbreed series. Barker himself is currently putting together the outline for the show.

As horror icon Barker enthused, “It’s exciting, after 30 years, to go back to these characters and find out who’s still speaking to me, who wants their story told. My tongue isn’t in my cheek when I say that, as when I start a piece it’s listening. The writing is a piece of listening. I’ve always said I was a journalist and what I was reporting on was the space between my ears.”

Based on his Cabal novella, Clive Barker wrote and directed 1990’s Nightbreed movie. In that tale, troubled Aaron Boone finds himself drawn to a strange, mythical place called Midian. While this landscape is full of friendly monsters hiding from humanity, a serial killer looms large.

Expect more on this Nightbreed TV offering as we get it.

Alex Morf to Play BATWOMAN’s Mr. Zsasz

Alex Morf

As Batwoman continues to make new additions for its second year, now comes word on a familiar Bat-foe joining the fold.

Via EW, Alex Morf has signed on to play Victor Szasz in Batwoman, with this version of the sinister, murderous Mr. Szasz labelling him as “a charismatic, skilled hitman with high, unpredictable energy” who proudly carves into his own skin to mark each one of his victims.

Morf is no stranger to comic book-based properties, with him having supporting roles in both Gotham and Daredevil in addition to other notable roles in Mr. Robot and Mindhunter.

Where the comic book Mr. Zsasz is concerned, he made his debut back in 1992’s Shadow of the Bat #1. As mentioned, this twisted serial killer’s M.O. is that he cuts into his own skin each and every time he kills somebody. James frontman Tim Booth made a brief cameo as the character in Batman Begins, while Anthony Carrigan and Chris Messina played Zsasz in Gotham and Birds of Prey, respectively.

With Javicia Leslie’s Ryan Wilder taking over the cape ‘n’ cowl, Batwoman’s second season will premiere next year.

Iman Vellani is Disney+’s MS. MARVEL

Kamala Khan

Having known for a while now that the Kamala Khan incarnation of Ms. Marvel was to get her own live-action Disney+ series, we now know who’ll be stepping up to play Kamala.

As first reported by Deadline, newcomer Iman Vellani has landed the Kamala Khan gig.

In the comic book realm, the original Ms. Marvel is Carol Danvers, a member of the US Air Force who took on the moniker in 1977 following a previous tangle with explosive Kree technology. In 2012, Danvers was given a “promotion” to the mantle of Captain Marvel, and has since been regularly front-and-centre in the world of Marvel Comics. When the Inhumans’ Terrigen Misters was released back in 2014, Pakistani-American Kamala Khan developed shape-shifting and size-altering powers. Inspired by Danvers, Kamala decided to take on the role of Ms. Marvel as her own.

Bad Boys for Life’s Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have already signed on to direct several episodes of Ms. Marvel, and Bisha K. Ali – best known for being part of the writing staff for the Four Wedding and a Funeral TV show – is serving as showrunner on this Kamala Khan-centred series.

Ms. Marvel is one of several Marvel-driven TV shows in development for Disney+, with WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and Nick Fury all other such live-action series on the way over the next few years – starting with WandaVision premiering this December.

MOONLIGHT’s Barry Jenkins to Direct LION KING Sequel

Barry Jenkins

With the largely positive response to Disney’s new take on The Lion King last year, it’s no surprise to hear how a sequel is on the way – and now the House of Mouse has landed a director for that follow-up!

Via Deadline, Academy Award winner Barry Jenkins will helm this currently untitled Lion King sequel. Jenkins wrote and directed Moonlight, for which he won the Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture gongs at the 2017 Oscars.

On this news, Jenkins enthused, “Helping my sister raise two young boys during the ‘90s, I grew up with these characters. Having the opportunity to work with Disney on expanding this magnificent tale of friendship, love and legacy while furthering my work chronicling the lives and souls of folk within the African diaspora is a dream come true.”

As for this new Lion King movie, the early word is that the film will continue forward from last year’s picture while also flashing back to the past, such as delving into Mufasa’s origin tale. The Lion King screenwriter Jeff Nathanson is board to pen this sequel offering, with him believed to have already put an initial draft together.

Directed by Jon Favreau, The Lion King pulled in a whopping $1.6 billion at the box office for Disney.