The biggest entertainment news this week is that Warner Bros. has announced that it will be releasing all of its 2021 movies including the Christmas time “Wonder Woman 1984” on HBO Max the same day that they will be premiering in theaters. They just can’t count on enough theaters being open because of the pandemic in order to get it released wide. Naturally theater owners especially AMC Theaters and Cineworld which are struggling financially during the pandemic are pretty pissed off. Of course media pundits are asking “Is this the end of movie theaters?” It certainly is a setback. It’s all going to really depend on how quickly the virus gets under control, the vaccine gets distributed, and the economy rebounds all of which of course are huge unknowns right now. Of course the same sort of warnings were issued when pay cable channels such as HBO first appeared decades ago. They said that pay-TV would be the end of movie theaters and it wasn’t true. Personally I think the rise of streaming services is a bigger threat to broadcast TV than it is to theaters. See my previous blogs about “Is Network TV Dead?”.
Pandemic News
- The San Francisco 49ers will play the next two home games in Arizona after Santa Clara County has banned contact sports over Covid concerns.
Renewals, Coming Soon, and Casting News
- Capt. Jack is back! John Barrowman will return to a Doctor Who holiday special as his iconic character Capt. Jack Harkness.
- Jeopardy GOAT Ken Jennings will be the first in a series of guest hosts replacing the late Alex Trebek starting January 11. A permanent replacement will be named later.
- Fear The Walking Dead has been renewed for season 7
- NBC comedy “Superstore” will end after its current sixth season.
- Amazon announced “The Expanse” sci-fi drama has been renewed for a sixth final season just ahead of its season 5 from air.
- Former Indianapolis Colt quarterback Peyton Manning will reboot game show “College Bowl” for NBC. It will run 10 episodes.
- Amazon has canceled the conspiracy theory comic book series “Utopia” after one season. I liked it at first but it turned very dark and very violent for no good reason. Not surprised it didn’t survive. The British version of the show Branford 2 seasons and I want to try to catch it sometime.
- Netflix announced that it has canceled the reboot of “One Day at a Time” after 3 seasons.
- Former Hannibal star Mads Mikkelsen is replacing Johnny Depp as the dark wizard Grindelwald in the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise. Depp stepped down after he lost a court case alleging abuse of his former partner.
- Anne Heche will have a recurring role in Sseason 2 of CBS legal drama “All Rise”
- The Masked Singer has been renewed for it for season.
- Julian Margulies is joining the Apple TV+ drama “The Morning Show”
Politics and Showbiz
- The UK government is calling on Netflix to add a disclaimer to “The Crown” making it clear it’s a fictionalize story.
Miscellaneous News
- The Hugo Awards probably the most prestigious science fiction award out there will have a videogame category for 2021.
- Netflix has removed “Chapelle’s Show” at the request of Dave Chapelle who claims that ViacomCBS license the show to them without paying him.
- In retaliation for Johnny Depp being removed from upcoming “Fantastic Beasts” films, a petition has started to remove Amber Heard from “Aquaman 2”. It was her allegations of abuse that got Depp booted. Fans are claiming that the abuse went both ways and she was as responsible as Depp.
- Kobe Bryant will be inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame in a ceremony that has been pushed back until May 2021.
- Elliott Page formerly known as Ellen Page has come out as a non-binary transgendered person. He will continue to play female character Vannia on the third season of “The Umbrella Academy
In Memoriam
- Patrick Quinn cofounder of the ALS ice bucket challenge. Age 37. Complications of ALS
- Robert Garland screenwriter of “No Way out” and “The Electric Horseman”. Age 83.
- Dena Dietrich actors who played “Mother Nature” in a series of margarine TV commercials. Age 91.
- David Prowse who played the body portion of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy. Age 85 complications of Covid
- Abby Dalton actress who appeared in “Falcon Crest” age 88.
Links of Interest
- Mandalorian EP: I Had to Stop Myself From Writing a ‘Baby Yoda’ Shoutout — Plus, Will Ahsoka Tano Return?
- Matt’s Inside Line: Get Scoop on 9-1-1, SEAL Team, Magnum, New Amsterdam, Lone Star, NCIS: LA, All Rise and More
- All the new Warner Bros. movies coming to HBO Max, from ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ to ‘The Suicide Squad’