It's fair to say that Cats has been a disaster for Universal, from its box office bombing to the generally incredulous responses to its existence. One of the key problems for the movie involved delays in the visual effects, something that reportedly led to the final cut being rushed to completion and then reissued to theaters after the original release. Now, some context has been provided for what went wrong behind the scenes on Cats, courtesy of the film's different VFX teams.
The Star Wars comics have become reliable sources of canon and semi-canon material, with more recent series filling in many of the gaps left by the franchise to date. From 2015, Marvel's Star Wars line covered stories taking place after Episode IV, providing fans with details and general world-building to the events of that movie. Marvel are now relaunching the title in January with a series focusing on the aftermath of The Empire Strikes Back, including in its first issue what happened to Luke Skywalker after losing his hand in a duel with Darth Vader.
There's been a lot of talk over the last few weeks about whether Quentin Tarantino's long-in-development Star Trek movie is going to be made. The director recently commented on his potential move away from the project, which could be his tenth, and reportedly final, picture, but Simon Pegg has given hope to fans wanting to see a Tarantino Star Trek movie by claiming that the director's take on the franchise is still on the table, at least as far as he's concerned.
A Star Wars comic series caused some debate among franchise fans this year for suggesting that Palpatine may have created Anakin Skywalker. The final issue of the Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith series contains a panel where Palpatine is shown behind a pregnant Shmi Skywalker, implying that he had some Force-related influence over Anakin's birth. If taken at face value, Palpatine could be interpreted as the power behind Anakin's apparent "virgin birth" in the series.
One of the most enjoyable traditions in Marvel Comics are its "What If?" scenarios, which provide bizarre spins on familiar characters and settings. And on that note, a new limited series is posing the question of what would happen if the Incredible Hulk and Captain America were combined into one character. Okay, so it's probably not something people were crying out for, but the Avengers/Defenders: Tarot series is exploring this idea through magic and an unusual team-up regardless.
The new HBO Max streaming service is fast becoming one of DC and Warner Bros.' main platforms for releasing older and new content. As well as classic DC shows and movies, Arrowverse episodes, and potentially the ongoing series running on DC Universe, we'll be getting a live-action Green Lantern. Other DC shows planned for HBO Max include anthology series Strange Adventures, and the Elizabeth Banks-produced DC Superhero High, as well as a potential second life for Matt Ryan's Constantine series. We're now hearing from our sources that a Batman family show could also be headed to HBO Max, featuring Red Hood, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Robin.
One of the key questions about Joker is how much is real and how much is fantasy spun out by Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck. In this context, it so far hasn't been confirmed whether Fleck's the actual Joker or not, although Phoenix seems to believe this is the case. Director Todd Phillips, meanwhile has so far given some clues as to what's real or fake in the film, which he expands upon in a featurette from the home release of the picture.
Robert Pattinson has made some unusual comments since taking over the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne for DC and Warner Bros., including remarks about the character's status as a superhero, with others claiming that Pattinson is having some problems putting on muscle for the part. The latest interview with the actor though, who's now in rehearsals for The Batman, saw him make a surprising prediction for his career path if the film doesn't work out.
The story of Orlando Jones' dismissal from American Gods took another turn today when SAG-AFTRA announced that they'll be looking into the circumstances around the actor's departure. For those not in the know, Jones has publicly criticized American Gods for letting him go due to apparent differences over the racial politics of the show. Since then, various figures have added their comments, while producers Fremantle have denied that their decision was based on race. Jones is now considering suing the company, and his case could get more serious now that SAG-AFTRA are involved.
The streaming competition between Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon and the many other platforms available to viewers is only going to become tougher in 2020. It's been about a month since Disney Plus launched and despite some technical teething problems, it's quickly generated a healthy subscriber base, as well as a lot of buzz about The Mandalorian and a certain green character. While Netflix are still the undisputed heavyweight of the streaming market, they may be worried about reports that over a million subscribers have defected to Disney Plus in its first month.
