It’s mid-holiday season and the showbiz news is still merrily rolling in. Time for a round-up!
Two Japanese films broke U.S. box office records this weekend. Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron, the new anime feature by Hayao Miyazaki, was the #1 film for the weekend, with a $12.8 million gross, according to Variety. This is the first time an original anime production has topped the domestic box office. Meanwhile, Toho’s Godzilla Minus One (se “’Godzilla Minus One’ Trailer“) came in third, grossing $8.3 million, which brought its domestic take to $25.3 million. That makes it the highest-grossing live-action Japanese film in domestic box office history.
Netflix’s Stranger Things S5 will fire up production in January 2024, according to Variety. The filming of this final season of Stranger Things (see “‘Stranger Things’ End“) was delayed over seven months by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Paramount Animation has tapped Gary Dauberman to produce Stray Dogs, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Dauberman wrote the scripts for the adaptations of Stephen King’s It as well as wrote Annabelle and its sequel Annabelle: Creation. Stray Dogs was a best-selling horror comic released by Image Comics in 2021 (see “Stray Dogs“).
Amazon’s Spider-Man Noir series has added Steve Lightfoot as a co-showrunner, according to Variety. Lightfoot was the creator of Netflix’s The Punisher series that ran from 2017 to 2019. Spider-Man Noir was announced for development back in February 2023 (see “Developing ‘Spider-Man Noir’“).
The Nacelle Company and Seven Bucks Productions revealed the official show open for Roboforce: The Animated Series (see below). This series is based on the toy line recently acquired and combined with other properies into Nacelle’s Nacelleverse, which is being featured in upcoming comics from Oni Press (see “Oni To Publish Comic Line”). The series will be exec produced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Brian Volk-Weiss, and Dany Garcia.
Warner Bros. Entertainment launched a trailer for Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part One (see below). This is the beginning of the Crisis on Infinite Earths animated trilogy that features Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern and other heroes from multiple Earths attempting to save reality. It will be available on digital and 4K Ultra HD on January 23, 2024.
For more information on geek movie releases, check out ICv2’s Best in Shows Geek Movie Calendar. Currently, our calendars show releases running through 2027.
Source: ICV2
