Future Stories

Image: Neon In the last couple of years, it feels like more big name actors have come into the MCU rather than relative unknowns and rising stars. From Harrison Ford to Oscar Isaac and Aubrey Plaza , anyone’s up for grabs these days—unless you’re Kristen Stewart, that is. Guesting on the “ Not Skinny but Not Fat ” podcast, the Love Lies Bleeding star was pretty frank in not having any interest in suiting up anytime soon. “It sounds like a fucking nightmare,” she said. Having been in the Twilight series and co-starring in 2012's Snow White & the Huntsman alongside MCU veteran Chris Hemsworth, she doesn’t think she’s too good for these movies. Rather, her issue with the megafranchise is a fairly common one amongst audiences: they feel like they’re designed by committee and don’t allow for much in the way of creative freedom, both for a particular film’s director or the performers themselves. “You would have to put so much money and so much trust into one person,” she expl...

Image: Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures When the Monsterverse versions of Godzilla and King Kong crossed over in 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong , it was inevitable that the two beasts would link up again. Surprisingly, that ended up being the immediate next movie in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (which doesn’t sound how it’s titled ), which sets the two up as allies instead of two dudes beating the crap out of each other. And how does it stack up as the fifth entry in the series? Like Godzilla: King of the Monsters before it, New Empire has a mixed reception in the critical circles. As with earlier movies, the human cast aren’t much to write home about, and so much of this is just a lot of setup for the monster fights. But as always, the two Titans are really impressive , both visually and in terms of the sheer spectacle of. It also helps that, as director Adam Wingard’s previously talked about, much of the movie focuses on Kong and Godzilla having wordless, human-free arcs of the...

Motional, a global leader in driverless technology, and Hyundai Motor Group launched IONIQ 5-based robotaxi Motional’s next-generation robotaxi. They added LIDAR and other sensors to all-electric Hyundai IONIQ 5. The IONIQ 5 robotaxi is an SAE Level 4 autonomous vehicle that can safely operate without a driver. It’s a zero tailpipe-emissions robotaxi and represents the ... Read more

Image: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images (Getty Images) The Hollywood Reporter revealed 27-year-old actor Chance Perdomo has died following a motorcycle accident. Born October 19, 1996, Perdomo made his acting debut in the 2016 short film Longfield Drive. The following year, he jumped over to TV as Henry Goodall in the Canadian series Hetty Feather before taking on small bit parts in other series. His breakout role came with Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina as Ambrose Spellman, followed by a regular role as Andre Anderson for The Boys’ spinoff Gen V over at Prime Video. “[Chance’s] passion for the arts and insatiable appetite for life was felt by all who knew him, and his warmth will carry on in those who he loved dearest,” said his reps in a statement. “We ask to please respect the family’s wish for privacy as they mourn the loss of their beloved son and brother.” In their own statement , the Gen V producers were blindsided to hear of Perdomo’s passing. “For those of us...

Image: Respawn Entertainment, Paramount, & Tor. Here we are again, gang: Glasgow Worldcon has unveiled its list of nominees for this year’s Hugo Awards. Once again, Worldcon is changing locations: this time, it’ll be Glasgow, Scotland that’ll host the annual ceremony celebrating the year’s best genre media like sci-fi and fantasy books, TV, games, and criticism. Nominee highlights include Ann Leckie’s Translation State and The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi S. A. Chakraborty for Best Novel, while Wang Jinkang’s Seeds of Mercury and T. Kingfisher’s Thornhedge feature in Best Novella. Video game nominees include 2023 big dogs like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Baldur’s Gate 3, and TV is headlined by the likes of Loki and The Last of Us’ respective standout episodes “ Glorious Purpose ” and “ Long, Long Time .” The 82nd Hugo Awards will take place on Sunday, August 11, and the full list of nominees can be read down below. Lodestar Award for Best YA Book Abeni’s Song by P. Djè...

Image: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images Universal’s been teasing a new modern take on The Wolf Man from Invisible Man and Upgrade’s Leigh Whannell for a while now. Though it seemed like we’d get to see it in theaters in a couple of months, it’s now been pushed back. On late Friday, the Hollywood Reporter revealed the film has now moved from its original October 25 date to January 17, 2025. Filming just started last week in New Zealand, and it was only a few days ago the film’s core plot was revealed: Christopher Abbott (taking over for Ryan Gosling) and Julia Garner are the parents to a family who find themselves “terrorized by a lethal predator.” Abbott plays Larry Talbot, who eventually becomes the titular Wolf Man, and has been previously played by Lon Chaney Jr. and Benicio del Toro in the respective 1940s version and 2010 remake. That’s not the only horror movie getting moved around. Universal opted to yank The Woman in the Yard from its January 10, 2025 date and off its sched...

Image: Amazon As we learned earlier this week , adapting comic books can be a daunting task even for an accomplished work. Invincible has already taken more than a few creative liberties in how it has handled adapting the original comic, but its latest episode proved that it can still take a faithful moment from the books, and make it shine in its new medium. This week’s penultimate episode of the sophomore season saw Mark take a brief distractionary break from the superhero life and his recent relationship struggles with Amber to go visit a comic book convention (it’s San Diego Comic-Con if you squint hard enough, even though the show dances around actually saying as much). But as Mark wades through legions of people cosplaying as his alter ego, he sets his eyes on his real prize: an autograph session with Filip Schaff, the writer behind his favorite comic, Séance Dog. As Schaff signs Mark’s book, he eagerly asks when the next season of its animated adaptation is coming out, o...

Elon says Grok 2 should exceed current AI on all metrics. Grok 2 is in training now. Should be available on 𝕏 next week. Grok 2 should exceed current AI on all metrics. In training now. https://t.co/s7rVxvK8mZ — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 29, 2024 Here are the specs for Claude 3 from Anthropic and GPT4 ... Read more

Image: Paramount As confirmed by a splashy Variety story this week digging into the future of Star Trek , fans have a lot to look forward too, including more series (Discovery’s final season starts next week ), Michelle Yeoh’s Section 31 streaming movie, and a big-screen return. But one pocket of the franchise that’s already endured a bumpy road made another “wait, what?” headline this week. That would be kid-focused animated series Star Trek: Prodigy; asTrek Core reports , last week, “the complete second season suddenly appeared on France’s Okoo FranceTV streaming platform without a warning to the rest of the world.” This stealth premiere, the site notes, “was a shock to the creators of the series itself, along with CBS Studios.” After some understandable confusion, creators Dan and Kevin Hageman, who’d called the drop a “leak” in a since-deleted X post, shared an update on X yesterday, amending the incident’s status to an unfortunate “miscommunication.” While fans stateside ...

Tesla FSD 12.3.2 is now releasing wide in the US and Canada. Elon Musk said that the next major releases would be coming in April or by early-May. Elon said Three significant improvements to FSD will roll out roughly every two weeks. Should be really shining bright by late April or early May. This seems ... Read more

Image: Netease/Marvel Comics Yesterday, Marvel revealed yet another upcoming video game : Marvel Rivals , a team-based multiplayer shooter inspired by the likes of Overwatch and Valorant. But among its roster of stalwarts—X-Men Storm and Magneto, Guardians of the Galaxy members Star-Lord and Rocket, and of course, more than a few assembled Avengers—one figure stood out to many. But she’s not as unknown as you might think. Who Is Luna Snow? Real name Seol Hee, she’s a South Korean pop idol—operating in a group under the name Luna—who was transformed into a human mutate after a concert she performed at a Stark Industries-sponsored arena. Captured by AIM and held hostage inside a malfunctioning fusion reactor, Luna found herself given cryokinetic abilities by her broken cage, using them to defeat AIM and free herself and the other hostages. Now tacking on “Snow” to her idol name to become a part-time superhero as well as a K-Pop starlet, Luna stepped into the wider world of Marvel h...

Screenshot: New World Pictures Heathers was released in theaters March 31, 1989, capping a decade of teen movies more defined by John Hughes comedies (The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) than wickedly acidic satire . Other high school-centric films in 1989 included Say Anything, Dead Poets’ Society, and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure —wildly different movies that all share a certain earnestness. Heathers, meanwhile, looked at its audience, rolled its eyes, and asked, “What is your damage?” Though Heathers has lived on in a musical (which played Off-Broadway in 2014; and London’s West End in 2018) and a TV series (which ran one season in 2018 on the Paramount Network), it’s the original film— written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehman, both making their feature debuts—that still makes the most impact. It remains a scathing indictment of the cruel high-school caste system in an era before social media, and its incisive ideas are couched in an almost ri...

Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson in Doctor Who Image: BBC/Disney+ If you watched the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials , the most recent Christmas special , or even just the trailer for Ncuti Gatwa’s first season as the Fifteenth Doctor —you have absolutely noticed the famously low-budget show’s suddenly far more glorious production values. It’s a big result of the BBC staple’s new partnership with Disney , and past and current showrunner Russell T. Davies is grateful for it. Speaking on the They Like to Watch podcast with hosts Sara Barron and Geoff Lloyd (via ComingSoon ), Davies spoke a bit more about what the Disney presence has done for the show, both in terms of budget and helping increase its reach to audiences. “I think we now live in a science fiction age,” he said. “We live in a world of streaming, and we live in a world where every 11-year-old is watching Stranger Things because there’s 11-year-old kids in it, and that’s their language, that’s their culture, that’s the...

Image: Courtesy of Rooster Teeth News dropped earlier this month that Warner Bros. Discovery is shuttering Austin, Texas-based animation company Rooster Teeth —and now one of the studio’s most beloved titles is getting a big send-off. Red vs. Blue: Restoration, the web series’ 19th season, is arriving in May, and it’ll be released as a single feature film. Here’s the synopsis for the film, which like all of Red vs. Blue is set within the world of Xbox game franchise Halo : “When the universe’s greatest villain returns in a terrifying new form, old adversaries, the Reds and Blues of Blood Gulch, will have to set aside their differences to save the galaxy one last time.” Burnie Burns returned to the series he co-created to write the script for the film, which is directed by another Red vs. Blue veteran, Matt Hullum. “I’m thrilled to return for Red vs. Blue: Restoration, and to conclude this incredible 21-year journey with our longtime fans,” Burns said in a press release. Added Hul...

Photo: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin (Getty Images) Nearly two years after a highly public feud kicked off between the Walt Disney Company and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis —involving the takeover and subsequent renaming of of Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District—a settlement has been reached. What began as DeSantis’ retaliation for Disney standing against the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law , which bans talk of sexual orientation and gender identity in elementary schools, led to a court battle about whether the state was imposing on the company’s First Amendment rights by stripping Disney Parks’ long-standing municipal development rights over its land. Essentially, DeSantis sanctioned state figures to act as roadblocks for future development in case Disney continued to step out of line. After extensive back and forth there’s now a resolution. The AP reports that DeSantis’ allies and Disney “reached a settlement agreement Wednesday in a ...

The mole rat lives about 37 years which is about five times longer than expected for an animal of its size and type. Researchers at the Queen Mary University of London have learned more about why the mole rat lives so long. The mole rat have fewer heart attacks. The mole rat adaptions to low ... Read more

Image: Marvel Adaptation is always a challenge—but it’s a particularly daunting one in the case of comic books, where a new medium has to reckon with translating sagas told across years of issues and continuity fluxes. For the most part, X-Men ‘97 's latest episode navigates this task the best it can, but the sacrifices it makes come at the cost of a character brimming with potential for further exploration. The third episode of ‘97 , “Fire Made Flesh,” picks up immediately after the cliffhanger from the opening premiere , when a second Jean Grey showed up in distress at the X-Mansion, much to the surprise of our heroes. It’s quickly established that the real surprise twist is not the existence of a second Jean Grey, but that the Jean who showed up at the door— and promptly collapsed , perhaps giving us immediately our biggest clue about her identity—is in fact the original Jean, and the woman we saw giving birth and planning a life beyond the X-Men with Scott in the premiere...

Tesla FSD is making huge progress on a weekly basis. Like all AI products like Open ChatGPT and the chess and Go AI programs this will continue. Those looking at the nearterm are looking at take rates or percentage of Tesla buyers who buy Tesla FSD. Those looking out are looking at Robotaxi but I ... Read more

Timothee Chalamet (and Josh Brolin) in Dune: Part Two. Image: Warner Bros. As it was written, the Lisan al Gaib has gone from ruling Arrakis, to the galaxy, to Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. That’s where a young, powerful ruler by the true name of Timothée Chalamet has inked a new deal with the studio that’ll allow him to star in and produce feature films. Say it with us now, Stilgar: ”LISAN AL GAIB!” Yes, it’s another big win for the Dune: Part Two and Wonka superstar who just signed a multi-year, first-look deal at Warner Bros. “Working with Mike De Luca, Pam Abdy, and their teams on Wonka and Dune over these last few years has been a deeply rewarding experience,” the actor said in a press release. “These are studio heads who believe in real movie making, and I’m so grateful for their support as an actor, producer and collaborator. This partnership feels like a natural next step. Let’s go!” Can’t you just kind of hear Chalamet tacking on that “Let’s go?” What...

The UN reports that Asia has a total population of 4.78 billion but the UN overestimates China’s population by 16 million people. Asia is about 60% of global population. India and China make up about 60% of Asia’s population. The UN Population division has forecasted far high populations and fertility for India and China than ... Read more

Godzilla and Kong in their new movie. Image: Warner Bros. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire opens this week and while it prominently features both iconic characters , one has a much more satisfying, complete arc than the other. And there are several very good reasons for it. “This story in general is a bit more of the origin story of Kong stepping into his own as King Kong,” director Adam Wingard told io9 . “So naturally, it took us in that direction.” And indeed, similar to the previous film Godzilla vs. Kong, in Godzilla x Kong the ape once again shines brighter than the lizard. Kong is the one with the humanity and emotional connection, unlike Godzilla who is much more menacing and one-dimensional. “The thing is, with Godzilla, as a filmmaker you have to respect him in a different way,” Wingard said. “You can’t be as close to Godzilla as you can Kong. He’s a bit more unknowable. So you always have to treat Godzilla with a bit more reverence. I mean, he’s got ‘God’ in his title...

Canada’s population will reach 41.0 million by the end of this week [about March 31, 2024]. Statistics Canada’s real-time tracker has the population at 40.98 million. Poland’s national statistics agency reports 37.7 million people. The UN numbers for Canada and Poland are off by 2-3 million for each country. The UN overestimates Poland and underestimates ... Read more