Future Stories

Screenshot: Kyodo News/YouTube With the Valley of Witches set to open March 16, Ghibli Park will finally be complete. Since 2022, the attraction—nestled in the Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park in Nagoya, Japan—has unlocked realms inspired by Studio Ghibli’s legacy of films . But it’s not to be mistaken for a modern theme park; Hayao Miyazaki himself mandated that the experiences offered at Ghibli Park should evoke being in a Ghibli movie without disturbing the natural surroundings. So it’s more of a throwback to nostalgic attractions and walkthroughs with a carnival ride flair. Inspired by films including My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away, the first phase of opening kicked off two years ago, with other areas opening as they were completed. With the Valley of Witches, which features attractions inspired by Howl’s Moving Castle and Kiki’s Delivery Service, among others, the theme park will finally be open in full beginning March 16. Media outlets such as Kyodo News were able...

A crop of the poster from Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Image: Sony A new Ghostbusters movie comes out in three weeks. Isn’t that wild? It feels like just yesterday we were watching and debating Ghostbusters: Afterlife—and now Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, which brings the franchise back to its hometown of New York, is almost here. The new film, directed by Gil Kenan, teams up the original Ghostbusters (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson) with not just Afterlife’s new family of Ghostbusters (Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace), but a slew of modern comedy legends like Patton Oswalt and Kumail Nanjiani. And, in a few videos, those new Ghostbusters cast members talk about how exciting it is to work with the original actors. Plus they discuss a few other big selling points for the film. Check it out. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Exclusive Featurette - Legends (2024) That video, released by Rotten Tomatoes, exists because tickets for Ghostbusters: Frozen Emp...

Alan Thompson is an AI expert who is closely tracking progress to AGI. His definition is: Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is a machine capable of understanding the world as well as—or better than—any human, in practically every field, including the ability to interact with the world via physical embodiment. And the short version: ‘AGI is ... Read more

The main researchers working on LK99-like room temperature and room pressure superconductors are in China and South Korea. There have been reports that the China researchers have successfully reproduced the weak magnetic effects indicating Meissner effect. The original South Korean team will present video evidence at the American Physical Society conference on Monday, March 4. ... Read more

io9 spoke with Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve, seen here with star Timothée Chalamet. Image: Warner Bros. If you hadn’t already done it after Arrival or Sicario or Blade Runner 2049 , we think it’s time to officially declare that Denis Villeneuve is one of the best filmmakers working today. He cements that and more with Dune: Part Two, a thrilling, engaging conclusion to Villeneuve’s vision of adapting Frank Herbert’s Dune. One that has been on his mind for decades, and in the works for pretty long too. Few filmmakers would’ve had the guts to say “This story is two movies” and then convinced a studio to agree to that. But Villeneuve did, resulting in a Part One that won six Oscars and now a Part Two that’s ready to bring the box office back. io9 spoke to the filmmaker recently and we talked about all of that and more: whether he ever regretted splitting the story into two pieces, how he approached the filmmaking differently this time around, the responsibility of bri...

Image: Paramount Last year brought us lots of fantastic animated films and while Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem was the outlier in terms of Oscar nominations, it might be the first to get a sequel . Paramount just announced a bunch of future release dates and among them was an October 9, 2026 date for the sequel to Mutant Mayhem. Director Jeff Rowe will return, as will the producers from Point Grey including Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. There’s no word yet on the title or additional cast members, but the previous film ended with the reveal of Shredder, so we at least know one new character who’ll appear. Speaking to io9 last year , Rowe did tease that at a certain point while making Mutant Mayhem, everyone involved had a pretty good idea they’d be coming back for a sequel. “There [was a] point where we were like, ‘This is coming together pretty good. We’re liking what we’re making. We’re not blowing it. We’re not whiffing it,’” he said. “So likely, based on the imp...

Tesla to unveil next-gen Roadster in late 2024. It’s a collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX. Deliveries aim to start in 2025. 0-60mph time is expected to be about 1 second. The best street legal 0-60 MPH is with cars in the 1.6 to 1.8 second range now. Special drag race cars can get 0-60 mpg ... Read more

Dakota Fanning in The Watchers. Screenshot: Warner Bros. Apparently making super creepy mystery movies for major movie studios just runs in the Shyamalan family. M. Night Shyamalan, of course , is well-known for movies like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable , and Signs. He’s been freaking us out and making us guess for decades. But now, his daughter Ishana Night Shyamalan is getting in on the family tradition with a summer release from Warner Bros. called The Watchers. Produced by M. Night Shyamalan, but written and directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan, The Watchers is based on the 2021 novel by A.M. Shine. It’s about a group of people who are trapped in a forest only to find out they’re being observed by... something. And, from the looks and sounds of the trailer, that something isn’t human. Check it out. The Watchers | Official Teaser Trailer This is an interesting one because usually, Shyamalan movies are original ideas. So even if you were curious about the beach that turns peop...

Los Alamos National Laboratory is using artificial intelligence to address several critical shortcomings in large-scale malware analysis, making significant advancements in the classification of Microsoft Windows malware and paving the way for enhanced cybersecurity measures. Using their approach, the team set a new world record in classifying malware families. “Artificial intelligence methods developed for cyber-defense ... Read more

Chrome Kiwi and Youtube What About It? (Felix Schlang) show how SpaceX will add a water protection system to the top of the launch stand to protect it from being damaged during launch. The SpaceX Super Heavy Starship with improved engines will have three times the power of the Saturn V. SpaceX wants to eventually ... Read more

Lupita Nyong’o fears herself in Us. Screenshot: Universal Pictures Horror movies shouldn’t make you feel relaxed and cozy—they should have you on the edge of your seat, biting your nails, loving every second of feeling anxious as hell . If you’re looking for some squirm-inducing entertainment that’s easily accessible through Prime Video (and Amazon’s Freevee ), we’ve got you covered. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Official Remastered Trailer (2014) - Horror Movie HD Celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the most influential horror films ever— often imitated, never duplicated —by watching it for the first or 50th time. The version streaming on Freevee is the 40th anniversary edition, so while there will be ads (boo), you’ll be treated to the 4k digital transfer and improved surround sound, all the better to enjoy meeting “a whole family of Draculas!” on the road trip of your nightmares. ( Free with ads on Freevee ) Evil Dead Trap (1988) ...

SpaceX launched 24 version 2 mini satellites yesterday. Sunday’s launch was the 18th of the year for SpaceX. They aim to launch 144 orbital missions and 9 Starship launches in 2024. In Q3 of 2023, SpaceX would launch 22 Starlink v2 mini satellites in each falcon 9 launch. They increased to 23 per launch in ... Read more

Image: Netflix There’s just something about Psyduck that’s always been so relatable. Once a scene-stealing side character in Pokémon’s animated ‘90s series—along with being one of the original 151 pocket monsters—the adorable yellow duck with quirky psychic abilities powered by headaches and anxiety finally got center stage in Netflix’s Pokémon Concierge . Recently the hit streaming show was given a second season order , which promises more Psyduck fun. In the meantime fans have to tide themselves over until the series returns with the long-overdue recognition of a Pokémon who until recently didn’t have much merch. Of course, with the release of PokémonConcierge some collections inspired by the show have been released— but so far, those are only available in Japan. However, there are a few stateside retailers touting random pieces... including a life-size Psyduck. Here are some of the selections we have found online for those with our headache powers. Psyduck Poké Plush - 31 In. ...

UBTECH’s humanoid robot Walker S was introduced into the assembly line of electric car maker NIO’s advanced vehicle manufacturing center, as an “intern” assisting in the car production. Walker S is the first bipedal humanoid robot to complete a specific workstation’s tasks on a mobile EV production line. UBTECH humanoid robot will also be placed ... Read more

There have been many major flaws found with OpenAI ChatGPT and Google Gemini large language models. They generate information that is far from the unbiased truth. The new image and video generation system have trouble with truth but they also have trouble with the physical world. They do not have an internal model of the ... Read more

Image: Lucasfilm/DK Publishing Everything in Star Wars in its 47-year lifetime has revolved arond the Galactic Empire. No matter when, or no mater who, all roads eventually lead to Sheev Palpatine’s dominance over the galaxy. It’s understandable if you’re a little confused on how it’s all meant to make sense from a timeline perspective, which is why DK Publishing is putting out a book specifically about the Empire’s 24-year reign. In July, DK Publishing is releasing Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, which plans to cover “every aspect of the Empire’s regime.” Written by Dr. Chris Kempshall—a professional historian who previously co-wrote Star Wars Battles that Changed the Galaxy—the book will explore Empire-related stories set in the era across different mediums. With material like Star WarsRebels and TheBad Batch , plus the Jedi gamesand likely Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy, that’s a sizable amount of ground to cover, to say nothing of the comics and their big...

Image: Dike Ruan/Marvel The new Ultimate Universe has an intriguing start behind it: what if classic Marvel heroes like Spider-Man and Black Panther have only just stepped into their heroic identities? Instead of coming into heroism naturally, Tony Stark (aka Iron Lad) has been tracking down persons of interest and jump starting them into the superheroes we know in love. Come June, we’ll see how Stark’s faring in doing the same for other heroes in the pages of The Ultimates. Written by Deniz Camp (20th Century Men) and drawn by Juan Frigeri (Invincible Iron Man), the book sees Stark and his team of Avengers—Thor, Doom (Reed Richards), Sif—build a network of superheroes to take the fight to the Maker (aka the Reed Richards of the first Ultimate universe) and his Council. The lineup, according to Camp , is “just the beginning:” big newcomers include tthe Wasp, Ant-Man, and Captain America, with the latter once again found in a block of ice. In the original Ultimate Marvel universe...

TSMC’s (Taiwan Semiconductor) 2.5D advanced packaging CoWoS (Chip on wafer and wafer on substrate) technology is currently the primary technology used for AI chips. The production capacity of CoWoS packaging technology is a major bottleneck in AI chip output and will stay as a problem for AI chip supply in 2024. Nvidia H100 (AI chips) ... Read more

Image: Universal Last year’s Fast X came and went with a more muted fanfare than we typically get form the long-running franchise. In the months since its release, Universal’s been relatively mum on the series’ next installment, Fast XI , but leading man Vin Diesel is reaffirming that the film will be a definitive end for the series—and possibly give him a reason to bow out altogether. On Friday, he posted on Instagram about a meeting he’d had with the Fast writers and teams, wherein he really underlined that Fast XI will close the door on the series. “To say the excitement for our finale was incredibly powerful is an understatement,” he wrote. “This grand finale is not just an ending; it’s a celebration of the incredible family we’ve built together. Hope to make you proud!” Diesel’s post serves as the first real status update on the series after he’d been sued last December by an ex-assistant for sexual battery during Fast Five’s production. Because he’salso been a producer o...

Japan’s space agency (JAXA) is sending a mission to travel to Mars which will survey the Red Planet’s two moons, Phobos and Deimos. The spacecraft will explore both moons and collect a sample of Phobos and bring it to Earth. This will be a major dedicated mission to Phobos and Deimos. MMX is scheduled to ... Read more

Image: Juan Gedeon/DC Comics Over two years ago, DC Comics revealed a new miniseries titled Jurassic League from Daniel Warren Johnson and Juan Gedeon. The idea is right there in the title—what if the Justice League were anthropomorphic dinosaurs and fought their classic villains, who are also dinosaurs? It sounds like an idea perfect for a movie at some point, and now that might be coming in the near future. Per Jeff Sneider , Warner Bros. has given DC Studios the green light to do an animated movie about “a prehistoric version of Earth that see heroes and villains as dinosaurs.” As co-head of DC Studios, James Gunn is set to produce the film, with Brian Lynch on hand to write. Lynch has been working on animated movies for over a decade, having previously written the Secret Life of Pets movies and the first Minions, along with helping conceive the story for the first Puss in Boots and Minions: The Rise of Gru. At time of writing, Gunn—who commonly shoots down rumors or false in...