Aardman and POKÉMON Team Up For New Series

Pokémon Tales The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu _ Teaser screenshot

Aardman Animations, the British studio behind beloved characters Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, are teaming up with The Pokémon Company for a brand-new animated series titled The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d and Pichu, it has been announced today.

Due to debut in 2027, the series will follow the chaotic journeys of the two titular characters – one a duck-like creature who uses a leek as a sword, the other a baby Pikachu. Set in the British-inspired Galar region of the Pokémon world, it seems to offer a distinctly Aardman take on the fantasy setting.

Aardman creative director Peter Lord said: “We’ll be putting some very special Pokémon front and centre, as the heroes of our show, and it will be set in a region that is very close to our hearts. It will give a unique look at the Pokémon world, told from the perspective of Pokémon with the signature sense of Aardman character and comedy and craft.”

Taito Okiura, VP of marketing and media at The Pokémon Company International, added: “This is a dream partnership for Pokémon. Aardman are masters of their craft, and we have been blown away by their talent and creativity. What we have been working on together ensures our global Pokémon fans are in for a treat!”

Set in a world in which humans co-exist with cute monsters, and of course train them to fight each other, Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise that has existed across video games, anime series, and more since 1996. Its last big foray into western-produced media was the odd 2019 film Detective Pikachu.

Aardman, meanwhile, are flying high after the success of recent Oscar-nominated release Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, and are also currently working on a new Shaun the Sheep feature, The Beast of Mossy Bottom, due in 2026.

Check out the charming teaser trailer for Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu below.

MCU STAR TO MAKE WEST END DEBUT

Joe Locke, the rising star of stage and screen, most recently seen in the MCU’s Agatha All Along with Kathryn Hahn, is to make his West End debut in September 2025.

Locke will team up with fellow recent MCU recruit, Ruaridh Mollica in the UK premiere of Clarkston, a play by Samuel D Hunter. 

The production will open in previews on 17th September, and will run until 22nd November, at The Trafalgar Theatre on Whitehall, in London’s West End.

This is not however Locke’s first foray onto the stage. He appeared in the role of Noah in the near-future dystopian climate-fiction play The Trials at The Donmar Warehouse in London’s Covent Garden in 2023, a performance for which he won the WhatsOnStage Best Professional Debut Award. In January 2024 he made his Broadway debut in the camp-horror Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. 

As well as his breakthrough role as Wiccan/Billy Maximoff/William Kaplan in the highly discussed and critically acclaimed Agatha All Along, the 21 year old Manx actor shot to public attention thanks to his leading role as Charlie Spring in Netflix’s chart-topping and Emmy Award nominated LGBTQ+ teen drama series, Heartstopper. Having appeared in three seasons of the show, Locke is currently filming a concluding movie, for future release on the streaming platform. 

In Clarkston, Locke plays the role of Jake, working the night-shift in a branch of wholesaler Costco, alongside Chris, played by Mollica. Rounding out the cast is Sophie Melville.

Mollica is himself about to join the MCU, having recently completed filming on the project known either as Vision, or VisionQuest. As ever with MCU projects, Marvel is keeping tight-lipped about exactly who Mollica is portraying, with the official word being that he has been cast in the role of Tucker. Fans have speculated that he may be playing Tommy Maximoff, aka Speed. If this is the case, then the producers of Clarkston will have managed to achieve something of a coup, casting both Maximoff brothers in a West End stage production. 

The play itself is a modern western. Jake has traveled from the east coast of the United States, on a journey to try to discover who he is. Circumstances revealed during the play have forced him to stop short of his intended destination at the Pacific Ocean, and he is keeping himself afloat financially stacking shelves in the eponymous town’s branch of the multi-national wholesaler. 

Both Jake and Chris are hiding. As their friendship develops, so does their sense of adventure. Can they allow themselves to embody the dream of a new life, in the manner of American Frontier explorers who came before them, including Lewis and Clark, the latter of whom the location of Clarkston is named for?

Clarkston will be having an extremely limited run of a little over nine weeks at the Trafalgar Theatre. Tickets go on sale from 10am on Tuesday 22nd September, with ticket prices currently listed as ranging from £25 to £150, plus booking fees, depending upon the day and time of the show being booked. Joe Locke will not appear in the performance on Saturday 1st November.

Tickets can be purchased here: https://trafalgartheatre.com/shows/clarkston/

Original BASIC INSTINCT Writer Returns To Reboot

sharon stone in basic instinct

Joe Eszterhas, who wrote the 1992 erotic thriller Basic Instinct, will return to pen the screenplay for Amazon MGM Studios‘ planned reboot.

United Artists and Scott Stuber have recently acquired the rights to the franchise relaunch, which, for now, remains untitled. Producers include Stuber and Nick Nesbitt for UA and Craig Baumgarten for Vault Entertainment. Vault’s Adam Griffin serves as executive producer. 

Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone starred in director Paul Verhoeven‘s original. The film follows the detective Nick Curran (Douglas) as he investigates the murder of a wealthy rock star in San Francisco. He begins an intense relationship with Catherine Tramell (Stone), an enigmatic writer, the musician’s former girlfriend, and the prime suspect for his murder.

A sequel, Basic Instinct 2, was released in 2006. The film stars Stone, but was made without the involvement of Verhoeven or Douglas. It was broadly panned.

“To those who question what an 80-year-old man is doing writing a sexy, erotic thriller: the rumours of my cinematic impotence are exaggerated and ageist,” Eszterhas said in a statement to TheWrap, who broke the news of Amazon MGM’s reboot. “I call my writing partner the TWISTED LITTLE MAN and he lives somewhere deep inside me. He was born 29 and he will die 29 and he tells me he is ‘sky high up’ to write this piece and provide viewers with a wild and orgasmic ride. That makes me very happy.”

Beyond his work on Basic Instinct, Eszterhas has worked on Jagged Edge, Showgirls, Flashdance, and Betrayed.

JUDGE DREDD Adaptation In The Works From Taika Waititi

judge dredd comic book character illustration

Taika Waititi may not have had any luck with his Akira project, but THR reports the New Zealand filmmaker now has a hot new package hitting the Hollywood marketplace: Judge Dredd.

Waititi, best known for Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit, is attached to direct a new feature film take on Dredd, the popular comic book character. Drew Pearce, the writer behind big action blockbusters like Fall Guy and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, is on board to pen the screenplay.

Producers include Dredd rights holders Chris Kingsley, Jason Kingsley, and Ben Smith of Rebellion Developments, as well as Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment, Jeremy Platt, Natalie Viscuso, and Pearce.

Created in the late 1970s by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra, Judge Dredd debuted in the weekly British anthology 2000 AD. He is a police officer in the bleak, future metropolis of Mega-City One, part of a law enforcement corps that empowers officers to be judge, jury, and executioner.

The character appeared on the big screen in 1995, in an adaptation that starred Sylvester Stallone. That film was critically panned. In 2012, Karl Urban portrayed the titular character in Dredd, from a script by Civil War and 28 Years Later writer Alex Garland.

Check Out an Exclusive Clip from CRUMB CATCHER

Crumb Catcher is now available on Blu-ray from Arrow Video, and we have an exclusive clip to share!

Synopsis:

Two married couples collide in Chris Skotchdopole’s beautifully shot and wonderfully wild Crumb Catcher, a truly unique and darkly funny home invasion thriller from the stable of Larry Fessenden’s Glass Eye Pix (The House of the Devil, The Ranger, Depraved).

After blacking out during his wedding night, Shane (Rigo Garay) and his new wife Leah (Ella Rae Peck) head to a remote house for their honeymoon. Their plans to find wedded bliss are hampered when there is a knock at their door. It’s the waiter, John (John Speredakos), and the bartender, Rose (Lorraine Farris), from the reception, blackmailing Shane for something he can’t remember doing. As tensions escalate, it soon emerges that the blackmailers don’t just want money. They’re after business partners for their invention, a revolutionary device called… The Crumb Catcher.

And here’s the trailer to whet your appetite even more:

Crumb Catcher is out now on Blu-ray. You can order your copy here. Read our review here.

Rob Savage’s OTHER MOMMY Finds Its Lead

incidents around the house adaptation titled other mommy

Director Rob Savage is adapting Bird Box author Josh Malerman’s horror novel Incidents Around the House. The title and its young lead star have now been announced via Deadline.

Eight-year-old Arabella Olivia Clark, who previously appeared in The Housemaid and Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, will lead Other Mommy, the new supernatural horror film from Universal and Atomic Monster.

Clark joins previously announced stars Jessica Chastain (IT: Chapter Two, Crimson Peak), Jay Duplass (The Creep Tapes), and Dichen Lachman (Severance, Altered Carbon, Jurassic World: Dominion). Succession writer Nathan Elston penned the screenplay.

While details of the film’s plot are unknown, the novel’s synopsis is as follows: “To eight-year-old Bela, her family is her world. There’s Mommy, Daddo, and Grandma Ruth. But there is also Other Mommy, a malevolent entity who asks her every day: “Can I go inside your heart?” When horrifying incidents around the house signal that Other Mommy is growing tired of asking Bela the question over and over, Bela understands that unless she says yes, her family will soon pay.

“Other Mommy is getting restless, stronger, bolder. Only the bonds of family can keep Bela safe, but other incidents show cracks in her parents’ marriage. The safety Bela relies on is about to unravel. But Other Mommy needs an answer…”

James Wan is producing, with Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Macdara Kelleher, Savage, Malerman and Ryan Lewis executive producing. Alayna Glasthal is the executive overseeing the film for Atomic Monster. Rob Savage is best known for directing the horror films Host, Dashcam, and The Boogeyman.

Ariana Grande And Josh Gad Board DR SEUSS Musical

dr seuss book oh the places you'll go illustrated book cover

Warner Bros. Pictures Animation has announced that Ariana Grande and Josh Gad will lead the voice cast for directors Jon M. Chu and Jill Culton’s upcoming animated adaptation of the Dr. Seuss book Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

The musical film is currently set to release on March 17th, 2028. Rob Lieber wrote the script based on the acclaimed children’s book. It’s Dr. Seuss’ last book published in his lifetime, released in 1990, and centred on a young adventurer navigating the ups and downs of life.

Exact plot points are yet to be announced, and who Grande and Gad might be portraying is also a mystery.

The animated film will feature original music by Oscar-winning song-writing duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, as confirmed by Warner Bros. via their social media accounts.

The project will mark a reunion for Chu and Grande, who collaborated on the Oscar-winning adaptation of Wicked, in which the actress-singer stars as Glinda. Wicked: For Good, the second film in the two-part release, will land in cinemas this November.

Grande is also set to appear in the next film in the Meet the Parents franchise, opposite returning actors Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro. Gad’s future projects, meanwhile, include producing and starring in the forthcoming Spaceballs sequel.

DIE’CED: RELOADED Slasher Drops Trailer

die'ced: reloaded scarecrow

Die’ced: Reloaded, a feature reimagining of a viral short film, has landed a theatrical release and has just shared its first trailer. Writer-director Jeremy Rudd’s slasher expands upon the story that began with Rudd’s 2023 viral short, Die’ced.

Set in 1980s Seattle, Die’ced: Reloaded centres on Benny, a notorious serial killer who flees an asylum on Halloween with the help of a scarecrow mask, to begin a trail of carnage. It becomes clear that Benny is hunting a young woman who has unknowingly become his obsession. Th

Eden Campbell (Fear Street: Part Two — 1978), Jason Brooks (The Death of Snow White) and Nigel Vona (The Chronicles of Riddick) star in the feature. Producers on the project include Jeffrey Decker, Chad Ferrin, and Tylor Jones.

“I’m excited to bring audiences back to the gritty nostalgia of classic ’80s and ’90s slasher horror while blending it with modern horror,” says Rudd, via THR. “I can’t wait for everyone to meet our final girl, Cassandra, and our soon-to-be iconic villain, Benny.”

Adds Epic Pictures CEO Patrick Ewald, “When I first saw the original short film by Jeremy Rudd, Die’ced, I knew it had the potential to become something bigger, meaner, bloodier and with an ever more unhinged killer, Benny. Die’ced: Reloaded is exactly that. The team at Epic and Dread are proud to have helped bring this savage vision to life and thrilled to unleash it on horror fans who crave brutal creativity and fearless filmmaking.”

Die’ced: Reloaded will release in cinemas on August 8th, before releasing on VOD on August 12th, via Epic Pictures. Watch the trailer below:

PRINCESS MONONOKE Gets IMAX Re-Release

still of studio ghibli princess mononoke

Elysian Film Group will be re-releasing Princess Mononoke in IMAX cinemas across the UK and ROI next month.

Oscar-winning director Hayao Miyazaki’s epic fantasy masterpiece will be shown in a brand new 4K restoration across the biggest cinemas screens. The special programming will be another way for audiences to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Studio Ghibli. 

The hand-drawn, animated feature is an original story written and directed by Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki, produced by co-founder Toshio Suzuki, and features a musical score from Miyazaki’s long-time collaborator, the renowned composer Joe Hisaishi. The IMAX version of the film was created from a new 4K restoration directly overseen by Studio Ghibli’s own Atsushi Okui, who has been involved in nearly every major Studio Ghibli project since he first started at the studio in 1993.

Official synopsis is as follows:

From the legendary Studio Ghibli, creators of Spirited Away, and Academy Award®-winning director Hayao Miyazaki, comes an epic masterpiece that has dazzled audiences worldwide with its breathtaking imagination, exhilarating battles, and deep humanity.

Inflicted with a deadly curse, the young warrior Ashitaka heads west in search of a cure. There, he stumbles into a bitter conflict between Lady Eboshi, the proud people of Iron Town, and the enigmatic Princess Mononoke, a young girl raised by wolves, who will stop at nothing to prevent the humans from destroying her home and the forest spirits and animal gods who live there. Featuring the voice talents of Gillian Anderson, Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Billy Bob Thornton.

Humans and nature clash when San, a girl raised by wolves, must defend the forest against the encroaching people of Iron Town.

PRINCESS MONONOKE will be specially re-released in 4K in UK and Irish IMAX cinemas from August 15th, 2025. It will be available in both original Japanese and English language versions. Check out the new poster art below!

THE BACKROOMS A24 Horror Adds To Cast

the backrooms creepypasta

A24‘s upcoming horror feature The Backrooms has added Mark Duplass (The Morning Show), Finn Bennett (True Detective), Lukita Maxwell (Shrinking), and Avan Jogia (56 Days) to its cast. Chiwetel Ejiofor (the forthcoming Life of Chuck) and Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person In The World) were previously announced as the stars of the project, which hails from 20-year-old director Kane Parsons, who will become the youngest filmmaker in the studio’s history.

A24 and The North Road Company’s Chernin Entertainment are co-financing the film, which also counts 21 Laps Entertainment and Atomic Monster as producers.

Parsons is making his feature directorial debut from a script by Will Soodik. Plot details have not been revealed for The Backrooms, which is inspired by Parsons’ viral YouTube horror series, itself based on the urban legend and creepypasta of the same name.

Simply explained, The Backrooms are an endless, liminal space accessed by “no-clipping” out of reality. It is characterised by unsettling, empty office-like environments with damp carpets, yellow walls, and buzzing fluorescent lights. They are viewed as as a dimension separate from our own, filled with both mundane and terrifying elements, and potentially inhabited by entities. 

A release date for the film has not yet been announced.