REEL NEWS: JULY 20TH-JULY 27TH

This week; Comic Con @ Home replaces San Diego Comic Con 2020, and still brings news and trailers; Halo gamplay was shown; Sonic is racing towards a sequel; Tenet, Mulan, A Quiet Palce 2 along with most of Hollywood has been cancelled and WEAR A GODDAMN MASK!

Godzilla vs Kong First Look

The King of the Monsters and the Kong who would be King, go at it in the first promo image from Godzilla vs Kong.

The image, which was leaked online, shows the iconic monsters in a roar-off, amidst a destroyed aircraft carrier.

The film is the crossover of the recent US Godzilla films and Kong: Skull Island, in a match-up that dates back to 1962.

Something of note is how Kong and Godzilla are now of similar size, as in Kong: Skull Island, Kong was much smaller but that was explained away as Kong not being fully developed.

Godzilla vs Kong, stars Millie Bobby Brown, Alexander Skarsgård, Kyle Chandler, Eiza González and Danai Gurira, among others, and is set to be released May 21st, 2021.

Tenet Delayed FOREVER (not really)

It was inevitable, but after being delayed twice already, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet has been removed indefinitely from release.

Warner Bros. announced the decision as US case numbers fail to decline and people continue to be selfish and inhuman by refusing to wear a mask to protect people from spreading the coronavirus.

Warner’s parent company, AT&T’s CEO John Stankey has again refuted the rumours that Tenet will be released on streaming or on-demand services.

At a shareholder’s conference, Stankey said, “Is it going to happen on a movie like Tenet or Wonder Woman 1984? I would be very surprised…actually, I can assure you on Tenet that’s not going to be the case”.

Warner have put too much money into those projects to expect any kind of profitable return from streaming or at home releases, unlike with their mid-budget animated Scoob! film.

Following on from this, Variety reported that Warner are throwing out the release schedule rule book and looking to release the film in Europe and Asia well before the US.

Having such a highly anticipated film be released potentially months before a US release is unheard of, and could be another nail in the coffin of the typical release model.

Well, at least everything else seems to be on track for release…

Everything is Delayed Now

…Well, shit. The release schedule, domino effect continues.

After WB blinked first with Tenet, the rest of Hollywood has followed suit by either removing films indefinitely, or pushing release dates back again.

Disney have removed Mulan from release indefinitely, after being delayed from March 27th to July 24th and then to August 21st.

Simultaneously, James Cameron refuses to catch a break as Disney delays his long-developing Avatar sequels.

Avatar 2 will now be released December 2022, instead of December 2021, and the subsequent sequels (3, 4 and 5) will come out with 2-year intervals.

For context, Avatar 2 was announced in 2010 and originally set to be released in 2014.

As a result of that, the next Star Wars trilogy has been shifted from starting December 2022, and will start in December 2023, with 2-year intervals in between again.

It was Paramount’s turn who then removed A Quiet Place 2 and Top Gun: Maverick from their 2020 releases.

A Quiet Place 2 will now be released April 23rd, 2021, and Top Gun: Maverick out July 2nd, 2021.

Paramount President of International Theatrical Distribution, Mark Viane said, “We are committed to the theatrical experience…”.

Lastly, Marvel/Sony’s Spider-Man 3, which has not yet entered production, has been pushed back a little over a month.

The Untitled, 3rd Spider-Man film now occupies Avatar 2’s original release date of December 17, 2021, which is a lucrative, financial month for films.

All that remains is for Wonder Woman 1984, Black Widow and No Time To Die, the first film to move as a result of COVID-19, to be removed and COVID will have successfully wiped out the entire 2020 blockbuster calendar.

Comic Con @ Home

Even though San Diego Comic Con was cancelled this year, Comic Con @ Home, hosted by IGN, has still offered news and trailers to give fans a similar experience:

· The first 2 minutes of the elusive The New Mutants was shown, showcasing an eerie and tense scene, that, while not narratively revealing does offer an assurance that Josh Boone’s X-Men film will be more horror focused than superhero.

Along with this, Boone revealed what or who would have appeared in the planned trilogy, including New Mutant staples such as Warlock and Karma.

The New Mutants is set for release August 28th, but after being shifted around since 2018, don’t hold your breath.

· Bill & Ted Face The Music’s 2nd trailer showed off more story beats, including Bill & Ted’s trip to hell and their daughter’s side mission to follow in their father’s footsteps in assembling history’s greatest band.

The two stoner-saviours of humanity, with their harmonious mantra, may be a needed hit of optimism right now.

And now, the film will no longer be released only in cinemas but on-demand as well, simultaneously. However, since every other major blockbuster has pulled out, it may not be so excellent for the film to be released in theatres at all.

· Even before Season 2 has been released, Amazon have announced The Boys Season 3 is in development. Along with this announcement, a clip from Season 2 was shown which demonstrates the shows superhero riffing and graphic violence as The Boys are pursued by Aquaman-influenced, The Deep.

· At the Rick and Morty panel, an animatic (unfinished) clip from Season 5 from the meta-sci-fi animated series was shown, with the big reveal of Rick’s nemesis, Namor-knock off, Mr. Nimbus.

Along with the animatic, co-creator Dan Harmon confirmed that they have started writing for Season 6 of the show, so hopefully we won’t get another 2-year wait like with previous seasons

· Lastly, while not technically apart of Comic Con, a fan-run convention for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Justice Con, was held online with the director dropping one of the new altered scenes from his ‘Snyder Cut’.

The scene shows Superman arrive at Wayne Manor, in the infamous Black Suit, which was rumoured to appear in the film and is synonymous with the ‘Death of Superman’ arc.

The scene was shown as a deleted scene with Supes wearing the classic red-and-blue suit, which Snyder shot, meaning Snyder is not opposed to altering his previously filmed material.

Universal Eyeing Tom Cruise Space Movie

‘Tom Cruise…IN…SPACE!’ (not the actual title) has found a studio crazy enough to finance his one-of-a-kind film.

Universal Pictures are currently negotiating for the film, according to Variety, and willing to back the $200+ million project.

The film, starring Cruise and directed by Doug Liaman (The Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow) is being made in conjunction with SpaceX and NASA.

It will be the first narrative feature to be shot in space, and reach new heights for Cruise who likes to one-up his previous films stunts.

Next, he’ll film in the Marianas Trench, the Moon, find Atlantis and prove the existence of Scientology’s Xenu.

Sonic 2

Paramount are speeding along with a sequel to the super-speedy marsupial.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 has been confirmed to be released April 8th, 2022.

The blue-speed demon himself, Ben Schwartz, announced the sequel on Twitter, in typical awkward, Schwartz humour.

After making $306 million at the global box office (until the closure of cinemas), as well as a successful, early home release, Sonic may be the first successful video game-movie franchise.

Halo: Infinite Gameplay

Finally, Microsoft held their E3 replacement presentation with their Xbox Series X Games Showcase. No details regarding price or release were revealed, but gameplay from the console launch, Halo: Infinite was finally shown off.

The biggest reveal was that Infinite will be the first open-world Halo game with no clear level structure and players given access to the Halo and classic vehicles like the Warthog to traverse it in.

New additions such as weapons and a grappling hook were also shown off, and the return to classic Halo locations and enemy, The Covenant.

Halo: Infinite will be released later in 2020, assumedly along with the Series X.