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  • ‘RUGRATS’ To Return With Original Cast On Paramount+

    ‘RUGRATS’ To Return With Original Cast On Paramount+

    Paramount+ is following up its iCarly revival with the return of another iconic franchise. Nickelodeon revealed at today’s ViacomCBS Investor’s Day event that the upcoming streaming service, born out of CBS All Access, will bring back the Rugrats in 2021. The brand-new series will feature a CG animation style, which some may consider a bold departure from the franchise’s traditional hand-drawn look. Something that won’t change, however, is the cast of the characters and their voice actors. This means die-hard fans of the original show will once again hear the likes of E.G. Daily, Nancy Cartwright, and Cree Summer in their iconic roles, as troublesome toddlers.

    The revival will be produced by Nickelodeon Animation, and company president Ramsey Naito had the following to say regarding the project:

    Rugrats is one of the most iconic cartoons recognized by fans around the globe, and this original version is one we are taking great care and pride in creating for a brand-new audience. Having the voice cast behind these special characters come together is one of the essential pieces to making the show recognizable and we can’t wait to watch this talented group bring them to life again.

    The original version of the series debuted in 1991 and ran for nine seasons throughout 13 years. It was critically acclaimed by adults and children alike, winning four Daytime Emmys and six Kid’s Choice Awards. Rugrats was followed by a sequel series in 2003 titled All Grown Up!, which followed the same group of friends through their teenage years. The flagship show also produced three spin-off films, beginning with The Rugrats Movie in 1998. The latest addition to the Rugrats fold looks to bring all the same lovable energy as the projects before it. Check out the first footage in the tweet below.

    Source: Variety, Twitter

  • ‘Halo’ to Premiere Exclusively on Paramount+ in 2022

    ‘Halo’ to Premiere Exclusively on Paramount+ in 2022

    It hasn’t been an easy road for Microsoft’s adaptation of Halo. It seems like it has been in development for an eternity. After a long silence, the adaptation has finally gotten an update in the form of a new home. It has been announced that the show will not premiere on Showtime but will become an exclusive series on the new streaming service, Paramount+. They are currently eyeing a premiere in the first quarter of 2022. The series will be produced by Steven Spielberg, Darryl Frank, and Justin Falvey‘s Amblin Television.

    According to Deadline, they have already filmed around 60% of the first season before it got shut down due to the pandemic. It is uncertain when it was decided that the series would be added as an exclusive to the streaming service. CEO of Showtime, David Nevins, had the following to say about the series:

    It delivers the visceral excitement of playing the game, along with a much deeper emotional experience around the Spartans, human beings who got their humanity chemically and genetically altered. The story is about reclaiming what makes them human, and therefore it’s a very powerful story.

    It also came with the first look at the series logo, which remains very true to the original game’s version:

    Showtime will be focused on premium adult programming, as ViacomCBS starts its new streaming venture. Even after all this time, we haven’t seen a single still from the series. It is uncertain if it will focus on Master Chief’s story from the original games, or explore something unique.

    Source: Deadline, Twitter

  • Animated ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Films and Series In Development

    Animated ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Films and Series In Development

    Avatar: The Last Airbender got a second wind when it released on Netflix. Many fans took to social media to revel in the nostalgia as they were reminiscing about their favorite episodes. They relived Aang’s journey as he mastered the four elements to embrace his destiny. Following Avatar’s release, Netflix released The Legends of Korra, which offered more content for fans. The upcoming live-action adaptation will fill that drought, but disaster hit when the show’s creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino left the project.

    It seems like the franchise is just beginning to expand. It got announced that Nickelodeon will be launching a brand new studio. It will exclusively develop new animated feature films and series set in the world of Avatar. The studio will be run by the original creators and executive producers, who will serve as co-chief creative officers.

    The first project will be a new animated theatrical film, which will begin production later this year. Plot details for the project are still under wraps, but content from this studio is set to be exclusive to Nickelodeon and the Paramount+ streaming service. They also confirmed that they will also release it in select theaters. It certainly seems like Nickelodeon has some big plans for the franchise. The world has a lot of unexplored corners. It will also be interesting to see what it means for the live-action Netflix series.

    Source: Deadline, Twitter

  • ‘The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers’ Release Date Revealed Alongside New Trailer

    ‘The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers’ Release Date Revealed Alongside New Trailer

    It has been quite the day for Disney+, as they’ve been releasing one reveal after another. They are using the current TCA event to showcase their upcoming series to get some release dates out and answer a few questions. Loki got a new release date in June and it looks like another series got its release date. Disney+ has confirmed that The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers is going to release on the service as of March 26th. It also came alongside a new poster and trailer that teases the next generation of misfits standing up for what they believe in.

    The new Mighty Ducks series looks like a promising look at kids coming together. The original franchise that started in 1992 consisted of three films. Game Changers is the first live-action series that will see the return of screenwriter Steven Brill and producer Jordan Kerner. Brill is serving as head writer for the series, while Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa will serve as showrunners. The franchise also had an animated series that had nothing to do with the original franchise, as it focused on anthropomorphic ducks that played the game. Only the iconic team’s symbol and the name carried over into the animated adaptation. I would love to see an animated series in the background that pays tribute to the animated series.

    Source: Twitter

  • EA and BioWare Will No Longer Develop ‘Anthem’s NEXT Update

    EA and BioWare Will No Longer Develop ‘Anthem’s NEXT Update

    BioWare’s release of Anthem has been hotly discussed online for the last few months. They have been working on a massive update, which got titled Anthem NEXT, which would bring new life into the live-service game. In an official post that was released today, they confirmed that development has stopped on the project. The game will continue to run, but it will not get any new additional content in the future.

    The small team has been hard at work developing this massive update for the game, which would see a complete revamp of its core gameplay loop. They have been adding improvements and various updates, but people were wondering about what the NEXT element would include. Not too long ago, it got revealed that EA was reviewing the 2.0 update, as it was uncertain if the 30-man team could continue development. Sadly, it seems the studio has decided to focus on upcoming titles, such as the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect entries.

    Christian Dailey, who is the executive producer of the game, apologized to the Anthem community in an open letter on BioWare’s blog. The good news is that the game will continue to be playable for fans, so the game isn’t truly dead but won’t see any future updates. EA and BioWare will continue working on their next franchises. The update’s long development cycle and the necessary funds may have been a large part of why EA decided to discontinue it. We’ll see how Anthem‘s legacy will leave its mark on current and future Games-as-a-Service.

    Source: BioWare, GameRant

  • Marvel Studios’ Future Disney+ Shows Will Stick to a Six-Hour Runtime

    Marvel Studios’ Future Disney+ Shows Will Stick to a Six-Hour Runtime

    We’ve been wondering for some time what the future of Marvel Studios’ venture into Disney+ would look like. The release of WandaVision is our first real glimpse, as we anxiously waited between episodes for how the series would unravel. One of the many questions we wondered about was the length of these series, as different shows will run for a specific length. Falcon and the Winter Soldier will be around six hours long with six episodes. WandaVision will consist of nine hours and was also predicted to have a similar running time. It looks like future projects will stick to this series length according to Kevin Feige, who was presenting at the TCA event.

     

    Interestingly, they are going to set a specific length for their series. The advantage of releasing series on streaming platforms is that you aren’t restricted to your show’s lengths or episode count. Interestingly enough, Marvel’s run on Netflix followed a similar structure, where they restricted the shows to a 13-episode runtime. However, they did not set a specific overall runtime, so episodes ranged from 45 minutes to over an hour. So, the choice to restrict the show’s overall runtime might be a reaction to ensure that the story being told doesn’t overstay its welcome. We’ve seen these complaints with the Netflix series, which seem to drag on at times. It will be interesting to see if they start mixing it up in the future, but for now, we can expect this six-hour run to be a connecting factor between all upcoming shows.

    Source: Twitter

  • Kevin Feige Confirms Marvel Studios Won’t Explore R-Rating Beyond ‘Deadpool 3’ For Now

    Kevin Feige Confirms Marvel Studios Won’t Explore R-Rating Beyond ‘Deadpool 3’ For Now

    The TCA has kicked off and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige got an entire panel to discuss the franchise’s future. While the event’s main focus remained on Disney+, some people got into questions regarding other properties. Most notably, they wondered if we would be seeing more R-rated films or projects in the franchise’s future. Interestingly enough, Feige confirmed that the now confirmed Deadpool 3 film is the only one in development.

    What makes this so interesting is that it indirectly reveals that Blade will not be R-rated. The vampire hunter’s first live-action adaptation was quite famous for it, especially with the amount of blood used in the property. It will be interesting to see how they’ll approach the project and if they’ll showcase the darker side of a vampire-focused story. Of course, we’ve had vampire films with a PG-13 rating in the past, so technically, they aren’t forced to use it. Deadpool will most likely remain the only franchise with the R-rating moving forward, as the character is building on the franchise of the past entries. He does confirm that they are open to potentially exploring darker themes, but it won’t have any priority on their side.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Monsters at Work’ to Release on Disney+ in July

    ‘Monsters at Work’ to Release on Disney+ in July

    It is quite the day for Disney+. We just got the release date for Loki confirmed, which will not premiere a month later than originally announced. Star Wars: The Bad Batch is going to arrive on May 4th. Now, Well, it looks like one more upcoming Disney+ series just got an official release date, as it was revealed that Disney’s animated series Monsters At Work is going to premiere July 2nd on the streaming platform.

    The series will work as a sequel to the original Pixar series Monsters Inc. and will continue to flesh out the franchise. The last time we visited Monstropolis, it was Monsters University, which explored Mike Wazowkis and James P. Sullivan’s college years. This series will feature the return of Billy Crystal and John Godman in the iconic roles, but will mainly focus on brand new monsters. Now that the power plant is run by children’s laughter rather than screams, a young scarer Tylor Tuskmon, who is played by Ben Feldman, will be in for a rude awakening with the company’s new direction.

    Source: Twitter, Decider

  • Marvel Studios’ ‘Loki’ to Premiere in June

    Marvel Studios’ ‘Loki’ to Premiere in June

    Here’s a surprising reveal. In December, Marvel Studios’ president Kevin Feige revealed the release dates for various upcoming Disney+ shows. We finally found out that Falcon and the Winter Soldier would premiere in March and it would be followed by Loki in May. Well, it looks like production for the series has been dragged out a bit longer, as Marvel Studios just unveiled that the series will premiere on June 11th on Disney+.

    It’s an interesting delay, as we originally predicted they are trying to release something new every week. Black Widow is still focused on getting that May release date, as we haven’t heard any plans on delaying it more. It would imply there will be a brief pause between Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki, so it will be interesting to see if they have something else to fill the gap or they want to give Black Widow some breathing room in theaters. The return of the God of Mischief will certainly bring us into a unique story, as he becomes involved with the TVA and faces different timelines throughout his journey.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Star Wars: Republic Commando’ Remaster Revealed

    ‘Star Wars: Republic Commando’ Remaster Revealed

    Another fan-favorite Star Wars video game is getting a remaster. It was revealed today that Star Wars: Republic Commando is coming to the PlayStation 4 on April 6, courtesy of Aspyr Media. The game, considered a classic among the Star Wars community, allows the player to take control of Delta Squad leader Boss and his trusty group of commandos. The game’s controls have been updated to fit modern controllers, and include directing your squad through complicated maneuvers and blasting the dastardly battle droids of the Separatist Army to bits. The re-release also adds new trophies for the player to strive towards, and will reportedly feature backward-compatibility with the PlayStation 5.

    The Republic Commandos avoided de-canonization in 2013 by appearing briefly in an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The crew was voiced in that cameo by Dee Bradley Baker, who voiced every clone in the series. Fans have eagerly awaited their return to the spotlight ever since. A version of the Republic Commandos will star in the upcoming animated series The Bad Batch, which was just revealed to be arriving on Disney+ on May 4th, a holiday for the fandom. Gamers have been treated to a variety of old-school Star Wars content in the past couple of years.

    Star Wars: Bounty Hunter and Star Wars Racer Revenge are both available on the PlayStation Store at the time of this article’s publishing, along with NES original Super Star Wars. So far, no other projects related to Delta Squad have been announced, but the timing of the remaster is certainly suspicious. Especially considering Lucasfilm is about to take another high-profile deep dive into the world of Clone Troopers.

    Source: Twitter