Future Stories

Image: Universal Pictures An iconic horror duo makes its debut in Abigail with Alisha Weir’s vampire ballerina and Melissa Barrera ’s would-be kidnapper Joey. The Radio Silence film introduces a friends-to-enemies relationship you root for between Barrera—one of this generation’s best final girls, having left an indelible mark on the Scream franchise —Weir, a soon-to-be monster favorite (and, we’re hoping, Halloween-costume inspiration). io9 recently sat down with the stars of Abigail to talk about the most interesting relationship of the film and how it goes through a bloody battle to see who comes out on top. Sabina Graves, io9: Melissa, did you come on board during the development of the film? Because I love seeing you back with Radio Silence [Scream revival helmers]. I was like, “this team is amazing.” I’ll watch anything y’all do together. Melissa Barrera: I know, I’m just so happy that I get to keep making movies with them. It’s such a treat. I love them so much as peopl

Image: Universal Pictures Like Leigh Whannell’s 2020 reimagining of The Invisible Man, Abigail proves that you don’t need a bigger Dark Universe to make damn good horror films as part of Universal’s legacy in the genre. The latest from Radio Silence (Ready or Not, Scream) takes vampire lore to a fun and exciting new level. Abigail’s premise centers on a band of crooks who get hired to kidnap a very mysterious and important man’s daughter. There’s an excellent gang set-up introducing each member of the crew in a bar scene where Melissa Barrera’s character reads everyone to filth without knowing their real names—it’s very Hitchcockian. But the tables turn when they arrive for their night of “babysitting” and realize Abigail is no ordinary child, she’s a freakin’ ballerina vampire... and her father is none other than Dracula going by another name (it’s not really a spoiler). The ensemble, led by Scream’s Barrera and featuring Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton , Kevin Durand , William Catle

Image: Heritage Auctions It was our first look at the vision of Star Trek’s future: the original ship model of the USS Enterprise that zoomed across screens in the show’s opening credits. But after being loaned out during the making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, it had gone missing... until now. After, bizarrely, it randomly turned up on eBay last fall—the first time it had been seen publicly since it had gone missing —the original model of the Enterprise made for the Star Trek pilot “The Cage” and shooting its opening titles sequences is now back in the hands of the Roddenberry estate. After the eBay seller quickly learned just what they had their hands on, the model was handed over to Heritage Auctions for authentication, and when it was confirmed to be the long-lost Trek icon , held in storage until it could be handed over to Rod Roddenberry this past weekend. “After five decades, I’m thrilled that someone happened upon this historic model of the USS Enterprise. I remember

Image: Wit Studio/CloverWorks The delightfully zany Spy x Family has captured hearts in anime form since it blew up in 2022. While the Forgers won’t be back on your TV for a while, they’re coming to the silver screen with Spy x Family Code: White . Opening stateside this week after hitting Japanese theaters last December, the movie takes the Forgers on a weekend trip that naturally leads them stumbling into a plot that threatens world peace. Like many a first movie for a popular anime, the movie is a slick-looking (and charming) highlight reel of what makes the source material so beloved to begin with, a lot of which can be owed to its cast. Ahead of Code: White’s theatrical run, io9 got the chance to speak with dub actors Natalie Van Sistine and Megan Shipman, who reprise their respective roles of Yor and Anya from the anime. In addition to insight on how they play their characters, the duo opened up on coming back to the movie, their initial experience with Spy x Family, and i

Screenshot: Paramount Star Trek: Discovery is really good with time. We knew this almost immediately when one of its earliest episodes to really wow us was “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad,” a delightful time loop caper. We knew it again, when it flung caution to the wind and catapulted itself into a future no Star Trek show had visited yet at the climax of season two . And now, as it stares down its final end , Discovery once again turns to time—and twists it, to look back on its long, strange trip. “Face the Strange” is a deceptively simple episode on the surface, and a bold move for a show on its last lap: instead of accelerating the chase between Discovery and Moll and L’ak as they hunt for more clues to the Progenitor tech, it almost literally slams the brakes on everything to deliver a wonderful little character piece, not just for Michael Burnham, but to give time to explore Discovery’s crew, and even its newcomer in Commander Rayner, who is still struggling to adapt t

Screenshot: Marvel After last week’s episode—already a contender for one of 2024's best single episodes of TV —it would be tough for even a show as consistently strong as X-Men ‘97 to top what it just laid down. It’s not surprising then that this week’s episode of the Disney+ series doesn’t reach the same highs. It doesn’t quite stumble—but it does fall back on the show’s remaining issue of biting off way, way more than it can chew in a half hour. “Lifedeath, Part 2” is named in such a manner that, unlike the original part—consigned to share title space and screen time with an unconnected story in episode four —you’d believe X-Men ‘97 was taking a break from the tragedy of Genosha to dedicate an episode to Storm’s navigation of her new, powerless normal. However, like much of what the show has accomplished so far, it is an episode caught bounding between two different stories, each filled with so many ideas and inspirations from the comics, that although they each ultimately

Image: Disney Parks Disneyland Forward, the Walt Disney Company’s initiative to expand its original theme park, just got the go-ahead from the Anaheim City Council. Deadline reports that the $1.9 billion expansion plan, which will take decades to finish, received unanimous approval. “The 7-0 vote came early today after an eight-hour public hearing that started Tuesday night, during which Anaheim residents, Disneyland cast members, and officials from nearby cities spoke about the plan’s advantages and problems.” the trade wrote. The proposal is set for a final city council vote May 7. Disney CEO Bob Iger has confirmed that coming attractions will include an Avatar area inspired by James Cameron’s World of Pandora for the Disneyland Resort . During a recent presentation at Disney Imagineering , Iger told press including io9 that “we have theproperty, meaning land, and theproperty, meaning intellectual property, to basically take advantage of the resources that we have to [in turn]

SpaceX and Elon Musk are choosing to go to the moon. The moon orbiting and moon landing missions should be within this decade and they will make a permanently manned moonbase as well. In the video, I describe the multiple moon related missions that SpaceX has and how easy it would be for SpaceX to ... Read more

Today, Intel has built the world’s largest neuromorphic system. It is code-named Hala Point, this large-scale neuromorphic system, initially deployed at Sandia National Laboratories, utilizes Intel’s Loihi 2 processor. It is aimed at supporting research for future brain-inspired artificial intelligence (AI), and tackles challenges related to the efficiency and sustainability of today’s AI. Hala Point ... Read more