Newstime: The Stories You Might Have Missed This Week

From film to TV, anime to comics and everything in between, here’s what you might have missed in pop culture news this week.

TV

A new trailer for upcoming Netflix superhero show The Umbrella Academy has arrived. Set for released next month, the 10-part series is an adaptation of Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s award-winning comic book of the same name and will star Ellen Page, Mary J. Blige and more.

In news that should not surprise anyone, long-running series The Simpsons has reportedly edged closer to a renewal contract for its 31st and 32nd seasons. Though no confirmation has been clearly stated, the series (now in its 30th season) shows no signs whatsoever of slowing down, even with 21st Century Fox being handed over to Disney.

This week’s character reprisal looks towards Supernatural‘s John Winchester, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Missing from the show for 12 seasons, Morgan’s busy schedule (with The Walking Dead and a number of other projects) didn’t necessarily allow for a reunion, but that is all set to change as he is expected to return for the series’ 300th episode. Entertainment Weekly offered up the below first look.

Speaking of first looks, fans have been given a glimpse of Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men) as iconic DC villain Lex Luthor on The CW’s Supergirl. He’ll make his first appearance mid-March.

Image by Jordon Nuttall

Production has officially begun on the 12th season of Doctor Who, as evident by a cheery on-location cast shot this week via the show’s official socials.

FILM

Warner Bros dropped an extended trailer for Shazam! this week, revealing even more fun superhero moments from the film. There were rumours of a second new trailer, but those were later quashed by director, David F. Sandberg via Twitter.

Black Panther has scored seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture to become the first superhero film to be nominated for the prestigious award. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse will duke it out with Ralph Breaks The Internet, Incredibles 2 and Mamoru Hosoda’s Mirai for Best Animated Feature. Mirai is historically the sixth Japanese animated film to be nominated for the category and the first to be not from Studio Ghibli. There were two Australians behind the scenes that made the cut too – screenwriter Tony McNamara and production designer Fiona Crombie, both for The Favourite. Meanwhile, Roma has made history as the first Netflix film to be nominated at the Oscars and is up for both Best Picture, Foreign Language Film and Best Director.

Beloved Roald Dahl book The Witches is currently in development as a remake headed by director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future) and has Anne Hathaway cast in the role of the Grand High Witch. Zemeckis recently spoke about the project to French magazine Allocine and expressed that the film will be set “in the Gothic South in the 1960s” putting a new twist to the tale now taking place during the Civil Rights Movement in the States.

GAMING

A new launch trailer dropped for Resident Evil 2 this week, tagged with: “You have once again entered the world of survival horror. Take a trip to Raccoon City with Resident Evil 2.”

ANIME

Dragon Ball Super: Broly held its Australian premiere at Event Cinemas, George Street in Sydney earlier this week with Cheez TV hosts Jade Gatt and Ryan Lappin in attendance. The film itself opened on Thursday and will be a limited engagement, so book your tickets now!

Lupin III will be returning to the small screen with a new movie later this year. The TV film is still under tight wraps, however, there will be a TV special Lupin III: Goodbye Partner airing this week on Japanese television and perhaps some details will be hinted there.

Not long to go till the remake of Fruits Basket in April, so to help build up anticipation a new key visual has been released along with new voice actors added to the cast list.

A new anime is coming out based on the popular mobile game Fate Grand Order, expanding the Fate franchise. The anime has been given the title Fate/Grand Order: Zettai Maju Sensen Babylonia and has released its first image of lead character Mash Kyrielight with mascot Fou.

COMICS

Comics legend George Pérez, who has worked on the likes of Teen Titans and Wonder Woman, announced his retirement from the comic industry this week due to his ongoing health issues. Perez won’t be working on any more titles nor offering any commission work, but he will still do sketches at conventions.

DC have cancelled another New Age of DC Heroes title by announcing Damage #16 will be the last issue. The high number of cancelled runs from the title now just leaves Silencer and The Terrifics remaining. Titans has also been pulled with issue #36 to conclude the run and Batman and the Outsiders has been pushed back from its scheduled December debut.

Marvel have unveiled their new character from Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld, set to debut in his own six-issue mini-series. The titular character Major X finds himself in 1991 after being teleported from his home universe, X-istence. Major X by Rob Liefeld, Whilce Portacio and Brent Peeples is due to hit comic stands in April.

THIS WEEK’S PICKS

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1 (Boom!) – Sunnydale High’s resident vampire slayer returns for the modern era in this updated reimagining of the Scooby Gang on the Hellmouth! Overseen by original series creator Joss Whedon, written by Jordie Bellaire with art by Dan Mora and Matt Taylor.

Guardians of the Galaxy #1 (Marvel) – Thanos is dead (or is he?) and the stars have a brand new GOTG assembled in this long-anticipated relaunch of Marvel’s cosmic A-Team from the Thanos Wins duo of Donnny Cates and Geoff Shaw.

Oliver #1 (Image) – Gary Whitta, the Award-winning screenwriter of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Book of Eli, and artist Darick Robertson (Happy!) bring a modern twist on a Dickensian classic: Oliver Twist as an orphaned junior superhero in post-apocalyptic England.

Aliens: Resistance #1 (Dark Horse) – Amanda Ripley and ex-Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks team-up to take on an evil bio-mechanical arsenal in this sequel to Alien: Isolation from writer Brian Wood and art by Robert Carey and Dan Jackson.

Naomi #1 (DC) – A brand new Wonder series from Brian Michael Bendis and David Walker with art by Jamal Campbell sees small Northwesterner Naomi investigating the mystery of her own adoption and how it ties in with the supers of the DC universe.