Month: January 2021

Netflix Will Release A New Movie Every Week All Year — See The The Full List Of 70 Movies

Despite the impact of COVID-19 on filming schedules, Netflix is coming out swinging in 2021, promising a new movie every week this year.

The streaming giant has now released a sizzle reel that shows of a whopping 27 of these new movies, and they include films starring Hollywood A-listers like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Gal Gadot, Ryan Reynolds, Chris Hemsworth, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Melissa McCarthy, Halle Berry, Jennifer Garner, Jason Momoa, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jennifer Lawrence. In total, Netflix will release 70 new movies in 2021–you can see the full list below.

The sizzle reel ends with a first look at the DiCaprio/Lawrence movie, Don’t Look Up, a satire disaster movie from Adam McKay (Anchorman) that follows two scientists who must inform the world that an asteroid is coming that will destroy the Earth.

This is the first time that Netflix has disclosed its entire annual movie slate, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

You can see Netflix’s entire 2021 movie slate below, but note that this list is accurate as of January 11. The schedule could change in the future.

Netflix 2021 Movie Slate

  • 8 Rue de l’Humanité*
  • A Boy Called Christmas
  • A Castle for Christmas
  • Afterlife of the Party
  • Army of the Dead
  • Awake
  • A Week Away
  • A Winter’s Tale from Shaun the Sheep**
  • Back to the Outback
  • Bad Trip
  • Beauty
  • Blonde
  • Blood Red Sky*
  • Bombay Rose
  • Beckett
  • Bruised
  • Concrete Cowboy
  • Don’t Look Up
  • Double Dad*
  • Escape from Spiderhead
  • Fear Street Trilogy
  • Fever Dream*
  • Finding ‘Ohana (January 29)
  • Fuimos Canciones*
  • I Care A Lot (February 19)**
  • Intrusion
  • Kate
  • Love Hard
  • Malcolm & Marie (February 5)
  • Monster
  • Moxie (March 3)
  • Munich*
  • Nightbooks
  • Night Teeth
  • No One Gets Out Alive
  • O2*
  • Outside the Wire (January 15)
  • Penguin Bloom (January 27)**
  • Pieces of a Woman (January 7)
  • Red Notice
  • Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  • Robin Robin
  • Skater Girl
  • Stowaway**
  • Sweet Girl
  • The Dig (January 29)
  • The Guilty
  • The Hand of God*
  • The Harder They Fall
  • The Kissing Booth 3
  • The Last Letter from Your Lover**
  • The Last Mercenary*
  • The Loud House Movie
  • The Power of the Dog
  • The Princess Switch 3
  • There’s Someone Inside Your House
  • The Starling
  • The Swarm*
  • The White Tiger (January 22)
  • The Woman in the Window
  • Things Heard and Seen
  • Thunder Force
  • tick, tick…BOOM!
  • To All The Boys: Always and Forever
  • Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
  • Untitled Alexandre Moratto*
  • Untitled Graham King
  • Untitled Alicia Keys Rom-Com
  • Wish Dragon
  • YES DAY (March 12)

*non-English language

**not available globally

Jared Leto’s Spider-Man Spinoff Morbius Delayed Again

We’ve been waiting to see where else Sony can take its live-action Spider-verse following the mixed bag that was 2018’s Venom film, but we’re going to be waiting a few months longer. Sony has delayed its upcoming film Morbius until the fall, according to a report from Variety.

Sony has reportedly pushed Morbius from its already delayed March 19 release until October 8, 2021, Variety writes. The film, set to star Jared Leto, has been on Sony’s schedule for a while now. It was originally set to release in July 2020, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It held onto its March 19, 2021 release date at least up through mid-December, before this latest delay.

Jared Leto plays the part of Morbius, the Living Vampire, an anti-hero from the Spider-Man comics. Like many of Spider-Man’s allies and enemies, Morbius is a mutation resulting from the combination of human and animal DNA. Dr. Michael Morbius seeks to cure his rare blood disease but, in doing so, inherits many vampiric characteristics. Though he began life as a villain, he’s morphed into an anti-hero character in the vein of Venom.

There are questions about Morbius’s place in the expanding “Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters,” as Sony has decided to call it. Graffiti seen in trailers shows a Spider-Man that looks distinctively like the Spidey costume shown in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. Meanwhile, trailers also show Michael Keaton, who appeared as Vulture/Adrian Toomes in Spider-Man: Homecoming, interacting with Morbius. Keaton is not yet confirmed to be reprising the role of Toomes, but his appearance would seem to suggest that Morbius overlaps with the MCU version of Spider-Man played by Tom Holland.

Casting confirmations for the upcoming third Spider-Man film muddy the waters further. Jamie Foxx will play a version of Electro, the same character he played in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which starred Andrew Garfield as the Web-Head. Meanwhile, Alfred Molina will reprise his role as Dr. Octopus/Otto Octavius from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, and J.K. Simmons popped up in the stinger at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, once again playing ranting newsman J. Jonah Jameson.

While you wait for Morbius to hit theaters in October, you can read up on our list of the many other films delayed as a result of COVID-19 complications.

Now Playing: Who the Hell is Morbius, the Living Vampire?

Project Athia Coming To PS5 In January 2022

During Sony’s CES livestream, Sony revealed that Square Enix’s Project Athia will launch on PlayStation 5 in January 2022. The window was confirmed by way of a very small block of text on a PlayStation disclaimer image, which also confirmed dates for other upcoming PS5 titles. A release date for the game was previously unknown.

Project Athia was first announced as an exclusive title for the PS5 during Sony’s PS5 reveal event stream. The trailer played during the announcement revealed a protagonist leaping and exploring a fantasy world with menacing-looking enemies. Project Athia’s taglines suggest that the protagonist will endure something like a fish out of water trial: “In a world not her own, where resolve will be tested, truths will be questioned, and devotions will be doubted, she will rise.” Not much else is known about the game at this time.

Project Athia is being produced by Square Enix’s Luminous Productions, a subsidiary formed to develop AAA titles. Luminous Productions’ past titles include only Final Fantasy XV, and Project Athia is the studio’s first departure from a Final Fantasy installment.

Screenwriter Gary Whitta shared on Twitter that he led Project Athia’s writing team. The team consisted of “A-list writers” who’ve worked on “film, TV, games, and fantasy literature.” Whitta was one of the writers for Rogue One and was the screenwriter for The Book of Eli.

Now Playing: Project Athia Teaser Trailer | Sony PS5 Reveal Event

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Kena: Bridge Of Spirits, Solar Ash Get PS5 Release Dates At CES 2021

There are plenty of indie games to look forward to in 2021, and Sony has just confirmed that two PlayStation console exclusive indie titles are coming out sooner rather than later. You can expect to get your hands on both Solar Ash and Kena: Bridge of Spirits within the first half of 2021.

In a small text message seen during Sony Interactive Entertainment’s CES 2021 press conference, Sony revealed the release windows for several upcoming games. Both Solar Ash and Kena: Bridge of Spirits are listed, with the former scheduled to come out in June and the latter in March.

From developer Heart Machine, Solar Ash sees you play as a mysterious individual who can seemingly glide across practically anything, speeding through beautifully stylized worlds and just as quickly getting thrown into frantic bouts of combat. The game is scheduled to launch for PS4, PS5, and PC.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is the debut from Ember Lab–the same folks responsible for that incredibly spooky The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask animated film, Terrible Fate, back in 2016. In this action-platformer, you play as the titular Kena, a guide who guides the deceased to the spirit world, relying on the help of cute black creatures called the Rot. The game is scheduled to launch for PS4, PS5, and PC.

Now Playing: 8 Most Anticipated Games Of 2021

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Ghostwire: Tokyo And Stray Releasing For PS5 This October

Sony’s CES 2021 presentation gave us a look at some of the new tech on the way from the company this year, including various PS5 titles. Although few details were shared during the stream, we did learn some updated release windows for a handful of upcoming games, including Ghostwire: Tokyo and Stray.

As noted in a disclaimer during the presentation, both Ghostwire and Stray are now slated to release for PS5 in October 2021. Both had previously been confirmed for this year, but this further narrows down their release window. No further information about the titles was revealed beyond that.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is the next project from Tango Gameworks, the studio founded by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami. We’ve heard little about the game since last summer, when director Kenji Kimura spoke about how the title will take advantage of PS5’s DualSense controller and other hardware features.

“You need to experience it directly because this is very difficult to explain both verbally and in text, but the DualSense haptics and adaptive triggers felt so good that it made us, the developers, say, ‘Woah!’ because they allowed for us to feel and experience the various actions and attacks like never before,” Kimura said.

Stray, meanwhile, is about a stray cat living in a post-human cybercity. Little else has been revealed about the game so far, but it’s being developed by BlueTwelve Studio and published by Annapurna Interactive. You can check out Stray’s reveal trailer above.

Now Playing: Stray Reveal Trailer | Sony PS5 Reveal Event

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Capcom’s Pragmata Delayed To 2023

During CES 2021, Sony outlined release dates for some upcoming PlayStation 5 titles, including GhostWire: Tokyo, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Project Athia, Solar Ash, and Stray. The company also confirmed that Capcom’s sci-fi title Pragmata has been pushed back to 2023.

Neither Sony nor Capcom have shared new footage of Pragmata during CES 2021. Originally slated to launch in 2022, Pragmata was unveiled in June 2020 with a trailer that didn’t reveal much. Questions around narrative, gameplay, characters, and the like have yet to be answered. However, it’s supposed to launch on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S in 2023.

Toward the end of Sony’s CES 2021 livestream, the company’s logo was punctuated by small-print text featuring other release date announcements. This includes Kena: Bridge of Spirits (which releases this March), Solar Ash (launching this June), GhostWire: Tokyo and Stray (which both drop this October) and Project Athia (coming out in January 2022).

Now Playing: Pragmata Reveal Trailer | Sony PS5 Reveal Event

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Phasmophobia Adds Scary Feature That People Thought It Already Had

In an update about new additions to the beta version of the game, Phasmophobia developer Kinetic Games revealed that “the ghost will now listen for player voices when hunting.” The biggest news for most Phasmophobia players, however, was that the game didn’t already include this feature.

In a subsequent reply, Kinetic confirmed that it was added to the game because “lots of people thought it was a feature” already. With the game already allowing for audio input for communicating both with other players and with the ghost, as well as antagonizing ghosts by calling out their name, it’s no surprise players believed that mic input would also lead a ghost to their location. The bad news is, if the ghosts weren’t using those clues before, they’re about to get even more deadly on a hunt.

Kinetic have elaborated that the update will be “based on how loud your mic is,” meaning players will still be able to safely whisper while being hunted. Another recent update also improved ghosts’ hunting behaviors, allowing ghosts to remember a player’s last known location and to search that area first.

The voice update is currently in the beta version of the game for testing, and will come to the live version of Phasmophobia some time in the future. Players can opt into the beta through their Steam client if they want to try out the new iteration of ghost hunts for themselves.

Phasmophobia was a surprise success of 2020, taking out the Best Debut Game at the 2020 Game Awards. It’s still going strong in 2021, showing up as one of the top five earning Steam games in the first full week of the year.

Now Playing: Phasmophobia – The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide

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Andy Samberg, Noah Hawley, And Ben Stiller Assemble For Apple Studios Sci-Fi Project

Sometimes the list of names attached to a project is enough to pique our interest before we even have a name or a logline for it. Such is the case with an upcoming project set to star actor Andy Samberg.

THR reports that Samberg is set to star in an upcoming sci-fi comedy-drama for Apple Studios under the Apple Original Films name, and will produce it, too. Andy Siara will write the script for the film, which is based off an idea by Bojack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg; Siara also wrote Palm Springs, another science fiction comedy-drama starring Samberg, which released on Hulu in summer 2020.

Noah Hawley will produce the film through his 26 Keys production company alongside Dan Seligmann. Hawley created Legion and Fargo for FX, and is attached to the upcoming FX Aliens show as well. Ben Stiller and Nicky Weinstock will produce through Red Hour, with Jackie Cohn as executive producer. Bob-Wakberg will receive a production credit, too.

The movie doesn’t yet have a title or plot synopsis to give us an idea of what it’ll be, but names like Samberg, Bob-Waksberg, and Hawley coming together paint an optimistic picture.

Alongside this project, Samberg is currently starring in Brooklyn Nine-Nine on NBC, and will star in Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers for Disney+, and in the upcoming action comedy Super High alongside Nine-Nine co-star Craig Robinson.

Apple Studios has released films like Tom Hanks’ Greyhound, Wolfwalkers, and the upcoming Cherry, starring Spider-Man actor Tom Holland and directed by Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo. Along with these high profile film releases, AppleTV+ has been on a roll, with two shows, Ted Lasso and Mythic Quest, finding spots among our lists of best shows for 2020.

What TV Shows Did The WandaVision Cast Watch To Prepare For The Disney+ Series

When WandaVision premieres on Disney+, it’ll be the first Marvel Cinematic Universe entry released in well over a year. While this is the first step into Marvel Studios’ future, though, it’s a show deeply tied to the past of television. The series finds Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) not fighting superpowered villains, but instead living inside a series of sitcoms as they slowly try to decipher what is happening to their reality.

The trailers show a number of tributes to sitcoms from decades dating back to the ’50s, long before the majority of the show’s cast was born. Naturally, though, director Matt Shakman knew exactly how to get the actors and crew of the series ready for filming. After all, his own history is tied to sitcoms as one of the stars of the late ’80s series Just the Ten of Us.

“This was the best homework that one could be asked to do, which is watch awesome old timeless television,” he told GameSpot. “And so yeah, we watched episodes of I Love Lucy and [The] Dick Van Dyke [Show], The Donna Reed Show, My Three Sons, all the way up through Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie–especially those two because they’re about people with special powers trying to hide them from their suburban friends. Then all the way up through The Brady Bunch and All In the Family, you name it.”

While there was a long list of shows to work through, some sitcoms were not included when it came to preparing for WandaVision. “We were focusing mostly, though, on family sitcoms rather than shows like Taxi, because this is a love story,” Shakman said. “It’s a romance between Wanda and Vision about them building a home together. So we focused more on shows that were also about that.”

So don’t sit around expecting for a workplace comedy or Cheers-inspired episode of WandaVision to happen. Who’s to say something along those lines couldn’t pop up later in the MCU, though? After all, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige did say that the MCU Disney+ shows are letting the studio “expand creatively.” Perhaps that means we’ll get The Office but with people who work in accounting at SHIELD.

WandaVision’s first two episodes premiere Friday, January 15, on Disney+.

Now Playing: Scarlet Witch’s Comic Book History Explained | WandaVision

OtterBox Is Launching an Xbox Controller Shell, Smartphone Clip, and Privacy Shield

Longtime smartphone case maker OtterBox is entering the gaming space by partnering with Xbox to launch several products aimed at both console and mobile gamers alike. The primary product is a controller shell for Xbox controllers (there’s versions for both the Series X and Xbox One controller) that provides a bit of grip as well as protection against drops (or being smashed in a fit of rage).

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Other products include a clip to hold your smartphone while gaming, a heat-dissipating phone case, a controller carrying case, and a smartphone screen-protector that functions as a privacy shield. The Mobile Gaming Clip attaches to Xbox controllers with or without the protective shell, and collapses to a relatively compact size when not in use. Meanwhile, the Gaming Glass Privacy Guard adds protection to your phone screen from both scratches and prying eyes. The privacy glass keeps everything clear for you while looking straight-on, but obscures the screen from anyone looking at an angle.

OtterBox’s gaming offerings will be available for pre-order on January 25, and should begin shipping in mid-February.