Stunning Cast Announced for Kevin Smith’s MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

Masters of the Universe: Revelation

With Kevin Smith overseeing a new Masters of the Universe series that will serve as a continuation of the classic cartoon show of yesteryear, we now have word on the voice cast for this project – and it sounds all kinds of fantastic!

As first revealed by Newsarama, the cast for Masters of the Universe: Revelation is as follows:

– All-round genre icon Mark Hamill as Skeletor

– Supergirl’s Chris Wood as He-Man

– Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Sarah Michelle Gellar as Teela

– Game of Thrones’ Lena Headey as Evil-Lyn

– Game of Thrones’ Liam Cunningham as Man-at-Arms

– The Tick’s Griffin Newman as Orko

– Justice League’s Susan Eisenberg as Sorceress

– Batman: The Brave and the Bold’s Diedrich Bader as King Randor and Trap-Jaw

– Batman & Robin’s Alicia Silverstone as Queen Marlena

– King of the Hill’s Stephen Root as Cringer

– The Batman’s Kevin Michael Richardson as Beast Man

– Johnny Mnemonic’s Henry Rollins as Tri-Klops

– Candyman’s Tony Todd as Scare Glow

– Tusk’s Justin Long as Roboto

– Justice League’s Phil LaMarr as He-Ro

– House of Demons’ Tiffany Smith as Andra

– Rugrats’ Cree Summer as Priestess

– Jay & Silent Bob Reboot’s Jason Mewes as Stinkor

– Hay & Silent bob Reboot’s Harley Quinn Smith as Ileena

– Original Skeletor voice actor Alan Oppenheimer as Moss Man

Quite the impressive ensemble, right? Just hearing that Kevin Smith was developing a Masters of the Universe show that was to answer some of the left-open questions of the original animated series instantly had our interest. And now, with this stunning voice cast, our anticipation has only further intensified.

Masters of the Universe: Revelation will land on Netflix at a to-be-confirmed date later this year.

AVENUE 5 Renewed for a Second Season

Avenue 5

Future-set sci-fi comedy Avenue 5 has made quite the mark since premiering last month, and now we’ve got word that the series has already been renewed for a second season.

Courtesy of Deadline, HBO has given the A-OK for a Season Two of the Hugh Laurie-headlined offer.

On this news, HBO’s Amy Gravitt enthused, “We’ve loved every minute of Avenue 5’s inaugural voyage. Armando Iannucci and his team are masters of smart and incisive comedy, and the ensemble cast, brilliantly captained by Hugh Laurie, is second to none. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for our hapless heroes in Season Two.”

For those not yet familiar with Avenue 5, Laurie stars as Ryan Clark, the captain of the show’s titular Avenue 5 spaceship. Set 40 years in the future, the series sees space travel all the rage – although those voyaging on the Avenue 5 soon find themselves in quite the pickle when they get stranded up in the stars. Names such as Josh Gad, Zach Woods, Rebecca Front, and Spike Martin help to flesh out quite the impressive ensemble for the show. And as alluded to, Veep’s Armando Iannucci serves as executive producer on Avenue 5.

Here in the UK, Avenue 5 can be found on Sky One.

First Look at Robert Pattinson as BATMAN

The Batman Robert Pattinson

With fans wondering just what exactly Robert Pattinson’s take on Batman will look like, The Batman director Matt Reeves has given us the briefest of glimpses at Pattinson’s Caped Crusader.

Taking to Twitter, Reeves posted a camera test of Pattinson in the Batsuit – and it’s very much a case of so far, so good.

The Batman – Camera Test from Matt Reeves on Vimeo.

Of course, this is only a quick look at certain parts of the Batsuit, yet it’s certainly encouraging. And from what little we can see, it could well be that Reeves and costume designer Jacqueline Durran are pulling inspiration from the Arkham video game series to the look at The Batman’s titular hero.

Joining Pattinson in The Batman, there’s Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Colin Farrell as Penguin, Paul Dano as Riddler, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, and Peter Sarsgaard as DA Gil Colson.

At this stage, The Batman is booked in for a June 2021 release.

ALADDIN 2 is Official

Aladdin

Considering that last year’s movie took over $1 billion at the global box office, it’s not entirely surprising to now hear that an Aladdin sequel has been made official.

First reported by Variety, Disney has greenlit this follow-up – which will be based on a story by Flight’s John Gatnis and Straight Outta Compton’s Andrea Berloff.

Despite previous rumblings, this Aladdin sequel will not be any form of adaptation of the animated Return of Jafar. Instead, producer Dan Lin has spent the past six months of so trying to put together a satisfactory premise for the movie. And that’s where Gatnis and Berloff have come in.

Director Guy Ritchie and stars Will Smith, Mena Massoud, and Naomi Scott are not contracted to return for any such Aladdin 2, although the belief is that the powers-that-be at Disney are keen for all four to be a part of this sequel.

To clarify, this Aladdin 2 is not to be confused with the spin-off offering centred on Billy Magnussen’s Prince Anders. That spin-off is a separate project that will be housed on Disney+.

Rick Moranis Returning for HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS Reboot

Rick Moranis

It was last May that we heard how plans were afoot for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids to be rebooted for Disney+, and now comes word that Rick Moranis will be returning for this redo.

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, Moranis will be back as the Wayne Szalinski role he played in the original offerings from the franchise. For those unaware, Rick Moranis has largely been retired for the past couple of decades – only taking on the extremely rare gig here or there.

Plot-wise, this new Honey, I Shrunk the Kids will be a continuation of sorts to the world first introduced to audiences back in 1989. Titled simply Shrunk, this new feature will be set in the present day and will focus on Nick Szalinski, the son of Moranis’ Wayne. If you remember, Nick was actually enlarged in the second movie in the series, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid.

In Shrunk, it will be Nick himself who is tinkering with size-altering science stuff. To be precise, he’ll accidentally shrink his own children and spend the duration of the film trying to right this particular wrong. Frozen and Beauty and the Beast’s Josh Gad has long been on board to play Nick.

Following 1989’s Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and 1992’s Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, Disney released the direct-to-video Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves in 1997. In addition to those films, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show ran for three season from ’97 to 2000.

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

DOOM PATROL Adds Karen Obilom

Karen Obilom

Hot on the heels of Doom Patrol adding Abigail Shapiro to its cast as Dorothy Spinner, now comes word that Karen Obilom has joined the show.

Via Deadline, Games People Play’s Obilom has signed on to play a character called Roni Evers in Doom Patrol’s second season. The early word on the character has her pegged as a military veteran who begins a relationship with Cyborg after the pair meet at a PTSD support group.

By all accounts and purposes, Roni Evers sound like she may be a skewed version of the Ron Evers character from the pages of DC Comics. Ron was a childhood pal of Victor Stone’s whose own tragic story saw him become an alternative version of Cyborg who worked for the military.

Season Two of Doom Patrol will premiere on DC Universe and HBO Max at a to-be-confirmed date towards the end of the year.

THE RAID Remake is No Longer a RAID Remake

The Raid

Last year brought word that Frank Grillo was to head up a remake of The Raid, with The Grey’s Joe Carnahan to direct. Now though, there’s word that this Raid remake is no longer a, err, Raid remake.

Courtesy of Collider, Carnahan and Grillo revealed that the film is now an original story titled Zeno.

As Grillo explained, “We own the script that we wrote. We parted ways with XYZ, who own the title but not the script. We are right now negotiating with a big name.”

So, this Raid remake may no longer be labelled a Raid remake, but the story will seemingly be similar in its setting and part of its premise.

Zeno is the title of this new film and similarly the name of the movie’s main character – which will seemingly be Frank Grillo.

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

New MUSKEHOUNDS Movie in the Works

Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds

Get ready to have the original cartoon’s opening theme stuck in your head for the rest of the day, for Dogtanian is returning to swashbuckle once more.

Courtesy of Variety, Cosmos-Maya is developing an animated movie simply titled Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds. Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness’ Doug Langdale has been tasked with penning the feature, with Invizimals’ Toni Garcia directing.

The film will be a new take on the classic cartoon series of the same name which first aired way back in 1981. Even though it seemed to go on for far longer, the original Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds only actually consisted of 26 episodes. Here in the UK, Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds aired in 1985 on the BBC.

For those not familiar with that original show, it was an animated spin on Alexandre Dumas’ legendary The Three Musketeers – only with the majority of the characters being made up of anthropomorphic dogs. That initial series was followed up in 1989 by another 26 episodes labelled The Return of Dogtanian.

Cosmos-Maya will be co-financing the project and will distribute the movie in Asia, while Universal has come on board to handle various other territories.

And for anybody curious as to whether the original series’ opening theme really was as catchy as you remember…

Gugu Mbatha-Raw Joins Disney+’s LOKI

Gugu Mbatha-Raw

As Disney+’s Loki miniseries continues to assemble its core cast, the show has moved to add Gugu Mbatha-Raw to its ranks.

Deadline broke the news, with the Doctor Who and Black Mirror actress on board to play what’s being described as a key role. Of course, no exact specifics are known about this ‘key role’ just yet.

Mbatha-Raw joins a cast that currently features Tom Hiddleston as the titular God of Mischief, while Yesterday’s Sophia Di Martino and The Royal Tenenbaums’ Owen Wilson have similarly recently boarded the miniseries.

Plot specifics are being kept relatively hush-hush on Loki right now, although we do know that the miniseries will reportedly have some sort of tie to the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness movie. It’s also rumoured that Loki will incorporate time-travel as Hiddleston’s character looks to leave his ever-unique mark on certain major historical events.

At present, Loki is expected to premiere on Disney+ in the first half of 2021.

Sony Sets Release Date for New Marvel Movie

Black Cat

As Sony’s Spider-Verse of movies looks to continue to spin its web, a new Sony/Marvel offering has been given a release date.

In addition to Morbius and Venom 2 on the way, a release date of October 8th, 2021 has been set for a new Marvel picture. At this stage, it’s not been revealed exactly what that film will be – just Sony’s Marvel movies will continue to expand.

Given the reality of that October ’21 release, production on this mystery film will have to begin later this year in order to make said release date. As such, we may start to hear some more concrete details on the effort’s characters or topics sooner rather than later.

If you remember, Sony have tentative plans to give solo movies to Black Cat, Silver Sable, Kraven the Hunter, Madame Web, Nightwatch, Jackpot, Silk, and possibly even Aunt May – and so any single one of those characters could be the focus of this mystery film.

From what we’ve seen in the trailer for Morbius, it looks as if Sony’s Spider-Verse is to be linked to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. That said, don’t be expecting Tom Holland’s Wall-crawler to be turning up in any of these movies just yet.

Up next for Sony’s Spider-Verse is Morbius this July and then Venom 2 in October.