The list of projects that are ceasing productions while the two unions remain steadfast continues to grow. This includes big franchises.

While this may get repetitive since nearly every film production is shutting down per the actors’ strike, there are notable big-budget tentpole films that are finding themselves in the middle of the trouble. It was already reported that Gladiator 2 and Mortal Kombat 2 were halted as soon as the actors’ strike took effect. Then, Deadpool 3 would follow as the next major franchise project to shut down, which is unfortunate timing since Hugh Jackman just teased a set pic featuring him in a full-on Wolverine comic-accurate costume. Inevitably, fans have been spreading the pic and already posting fan art merely hours after the reveal as fanboy excitement has shot up even more for the sequel.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, two more follow-ups to blockbusters have ceased production amid the strike. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, which had been filming back-to-back with this week’s release, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, has shut down. The ambitious two-part project had already experienced delays due to COVID. However, despite being filmed in conjunction with Part One, the production is as grand as ever as it films in multiple locations and even features scenes on an aircraft carrier. Furthermore, the film’s star, Tom Cruise, insists on practical filming, so the complicated process likely doesn’t allow for a swift filming schedule.

Some of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two‘s filming locations included more Italian cities after Part One took place in both Rome and Venice. Part Two recently had Cruise flying to Bari, which is the capital city of the Apulia region. Cruise and company were filming at the exotic location for a coastal shoot. Another blockbuster follow-up, Venom 3, just started filming in the Cartagena neighborhood of Los Mateos in Spain. The commencement was marked by Tom Hardy, who returns as the film’s star, when he posted a photo on his Instagram from location. The timing for this is comparable to Deadpool 3 as the movie just started filming a couple weeks ago.

Marvel has a ton of projects on its slate, even though it’s now planned that Bob Iger will be scaling back on the quantity. With the shutdowns, Marvel heads, Kevin Feige and Louis D’Esposito shared an email with the staff that stated, “We recognize how much you’ve all done on your specific projects and it’s disappointing when carefully laid plans have to shift, but constant change is the nature of the production business, and our teams are no stranger to unexpected challenges and rising to meet them. We deeply appreciate all your efforts to make the best of the situation, and we can all hope that a new agreement will be finalized soon so we can resume the great work we have in process.”

The Walking Dead spin-off The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, starring Norman Reedus, is set to premiere on AMC this September

The Walking Dead reached the end of its eleven season run last year, and the first of its follow-up spin-offs, The Walking Dead: Dead City, is currently making its way out into the world through AMC and the AMC+ streaming service. We’ve known for a while that the next spin-off, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, would begin airing sometime this fall – and now the specific premiere date has finally been announced! Variety has confirmed that The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon will begin airing on AMC at 9pm on Sunday, September 10th – and it will appear on AMC+ at the same time.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon has the following synopsis: Daryl (Norman Reedus) washes ashore in France and struggles to piece together how he got there and why. The series tracks his journey across a broken but resilient France as he hopes to find a way back home. As he makes the journey, though, the connections he forms along the way complicate his ultimate plan.

Showrunner David Zabel serves as executive producer alongside Reedus, Scott M. Gimple, Angela Kang, Greg Nicotero, Brian Bockrath, and Daniel Percival. AMC Studios is producing. The first season of the series will consist of six episodes.

Reedus is joined in the cast by Anne Charrier (The Last Deadly Mission), Eriq Ebanouey (Fox Hunt), Laika Blanc Francard (My Night), newcomer Louis Puech Scigliuzzi, and Romain Levi (The Tunnel). All of these cast members have “series regular” status – but the only things we know about their characters are their names. Charrier is playing Genet, Ebanouey is Fallou, Blanc Francard is Sylvie, Levi is Codron, and Puech Scigliuzzi is Laurent. We know a bit more about characters being played by Clémence Poésy (Tenet) and Adam Nagaitis (The Terror). Poésy is playing Isabelle, “a member of a progressive religious group, who joins forces with Daryl (Reedus) on a journey across France and finds herself confronting her dark past in Paris.” The character Nagaitis is playing is Quinn, “a displaced Brit who has become powerful in post-apocalyptic Paris as a black marketeer and the owner of the Demimonde, a sexy underground nightclub.”

Beyond The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, there’s another follow-up spin-off called The Walking Dead: Rick & Michonne to look forward to. That one is only expected to be a limited series.

Will you be watching The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon when it premieres in September? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, directed by Steven Caple Jr, is about to hit home video. The film stars Anthony Ramos, Luna Lauren Velez, Dominique Fishback, and a hilarious voice performance from Pete Davidson as Mirage. And since Mirage usually appears as a Porsche, the publicity team had something special in store for its video release. In honor of the film, several journalists made their way to the Porsche Driving Experience in Carson, California. We drove the Porsche 911 and the 718 Cayman and spoke with the film’s director, Mr. Caple Jr, and second unit director, James Madigan. It was quite a rush, and that’s a massive understatement.

I’ve never driven a Porsche in my entire life. And the second we arrived, we had the fantastic opportunity to get behind the wheel of these two beauties. Firstly, taking off in a car and going zero to sixty is more than a little thrilling. And yes, my stomach dropped when we hit speeds of over 100 MPH while taking on the course. While both cars made for an incredible ride, I may have had the most fun in the 911. And to finish the adventure, we were taken on a solo ride with driving instructor Kyle, who revved up the engines and sped through the course going very freaking fast. When I mentioned this experience to one of my Starbucks barista friends, he noted that driving these cars was a bucket list experience for him. I can see why. It was a thrill on every level.

Coming up next week, we’ll run our chat with Steven Caple Jr. and James Madigan!

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts arrives is now available on digital VOD, and 4K Ultra Steelbook, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on October 10th. Here’s the synopsis: Optimus Prime and the Autobots take on their biggest challenge yet. When a new threat capable of destroying the entire planet emerges, they must team up with a powerful faction of Transformers known as the Maximals to save Earth.

Will you be picking up a copy of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Experience the Ninja Turtle lifestyle and jumpstart your collection just before the movie opens with the special fan event in NY and LA.

The new incarnation of everyone’s favorite pizza-eating, pubescent, crime-fighting reptiles is about to be released. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem will be hitting theaters on August 2, but you don’t have to wait until then if you wanna party with the boys. Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies is inviting fans to celebrate the release of the new animated film with a one-night event called the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Experience. The event is a family-friendly activity that allows fans to invite friends along to explore the famed Sewer Den — the underground dwelling where our heroes in a half-shell grew up, live, and train with their Master Splinter.

From Sunday, July 23 to Tuesday, August 1, starting at 12 pm through 8 pm local time, residents and visitors in New York and Los Angeles will get to participate in an immersive Turtle Lair visit as well as explore the “Sewer Shop” for official Ninja Turtle merchandise, in collaboration with Amazon.
The event will take place at:
New York: 415 West 14th Street NY, NY 10014 

Los Angeles: 1247 3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica, CA 90401

You can RSVP now through the website at www.tmntexperience.com. As per the official release:

At the end of the Turtles experience, fans will be able to visit our official “Sewer Shop”, with an interactive product showcase featuring a robust selection of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and TMNT classic toys, apparel, accessories, entertainment, and home décor, all available in the Amazon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles store. On offer are dozens of Amazon exclusives including the Mutant Mayhem Leonardo Plush Toy with Action and 20+ Sounds from Mattel (available for preorder) and the Classic Cohort Collection action figures including Foot Soldier, Mutagen Man, Leatherhead, Wingnut, and Screwloose from Playmates. Fans can also shop the TMNT store for a variety of exciting apparel options for both kids and adults such as the Peace Love and Pizza t-shirt, a new excusive design from Amazon Essentials and Merch on Demand—perfect for wearing to the opening night of the new movie. The Sewer Shop product showcase will include shoppable QR codes that make it easy to order items directly from Amazon. Prime members enjoy fast, free delivery. There is something for every TMNT fan here!

Shop now at amazon.com/teenagemutantninjaturtles.

The official synopsis from Paramount and Nickelodeon reads,
After years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O’Neil helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.

The teaser trailer for M.J. Bassett’s Red Sonja, starring Matilda Lutz as the title character, will debut at San Diego Comic Con

A lot of the major studios have decided not to have presentations at the San Diego Comic Con this year. Disney, Marvel Studios, DC Studios, Netflix, Sony, Universal, they’re all sitting this one out. But Millennium Media has now confirmed that they’ll have an SDCC presence, as they’ll be unveiling the teaser trailer for their long-awaited Red Sonja reboot during a panel that will celebrate the title character’s 50th anniversary!

The main focus of this panel will be Red Sonja’s comic book history. A press release notes that Red Sonja, LLC president, executive editor, and film producer Luke Lieberman will be panel moderator, and guests will include franchise contributors Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Amy Chu, Dan Panosian, Mark Canton, and more. “

Here’s some more information:

In addition to a retrospective discussion on the character’s legacy and past, her future will be looked to with new comics, novels, as well as an exclusive teaser trailer debut for her upcoming blockbuster Millennium Media film starring Matilda Lutz!

The beloved She-Devil With a Sword’s story began in comics in 1973, and now 50 years later she remains the greatest sword-and-sorcery female heroine of them all! She’s hacked and slashed her way into the hearts of fantasy and comics fans all around the world. An incredible range of writers and artists have taken on her stories in her native comics medium, including the likes of Roy Thomas, Frank Thorne, Gail Simone, Mirka Andolfo, Mike Carey, Michael Avon Oeming, Jim Zub, Louise Simonson, Mark Russell, Alex Ross, Mel Rubi, and countless more.

With the first issue launching right in sync with San Diego Comic Con, fans will get to dive right into her latest epic series celebrating the anniversary by Torunn Grønbekk (Thor, Realm of X) and fan-favorite franchise artist Walter Geovani. How this series came together and teases for what comes next will be discussed on the panel. As well as a surprise additional comic series by a top creator!

The panel is scheduled to take place on Friday, July 21 from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM local San Diego time in room 5AB. The teaser trailer won’t be the only video shown, as attendees will also get to watch “a fun tribute video from some of the biggest creators associated with the character.”

The new Red Sonja film has been directed by M.J. Bassett (Solomon Kane) from a screenplay by Joey Soloway (Transparent) and Tasha Huo (Netflix’s Tomb Raider anime). This version of Red Sonja is derived from the sword and sorcery comic books by Dynamite Entertainment, based on the character created by Robert E. Howard and adapted by Roy Thomas. Details on the plot are being kept under wraps. All we know is that Sonja is “a fearsome warrior boasting a high degree of skill with a sword”.

In the cast with Lutz (Revenge) are Rhona Mitra (Doomsday), Wallis Day (Sex/Life) as Annisia, Robert Sheehan (The Umbrella Academy) as Draygan, Michael Bisping (xXx: Return of Xander Cage) as Hawk, Martyn Ford (F9: The Fast Saga) as General Karlak, Eliza Matengu (Thor: Love and Thunder) as Amarak, Manal El Feitury (Code Red) as Ayala, and Katrina Durden (Doctor Strange) as Saevus.

Red Sonja is being produced by Jeffrey Greenstein, Mark Canton, Courtney Solomon, Christa Campbell, Lati Grobman, Andrea Sperling, Yariv Lerner, Jonathan Yunger, Les Weldon, Joe Gatta, and Tanner Mobley. Avi Lerner, Boaz Davidson, Trevor Short, Luke Lieberman, Nick Barrucci, and Dorothy Canton serve as executive producers.

Are you looking forward to Red Sonja, and will you be attending the San Diego Comic Con this year? Let us know by leaving a comment below.