#RIP: actress Melinda Dillon passed away in January at the age of 83, but it has only been reported today. She played Jillian Guiler in #CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind, Nancy Henderson in #HarryAndTheHendersons, Penny in #TheTwilightZone, & more, including the role of Mother Parker in the beloved holiday comedy #AChristmasStory.
With the firing of Gina Carano in February, 2021, #LucasFilm has now stopped development of the new series #RangersOfTheNewRepublic, which was to be a spinoff of #TheMandalorian. The series was announced at Disney’s Investors Day event in December, 2020, with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy confirming they’d work in conjunction with The Mandalorian to buildup to a massive crossover event.
It was strongly believed that the series was going to star Gina Carano as Cara Dune at the time of her firing from LucasFilm because the character Care Dune became a ranger in the New Republic during the second season of “The Mandalorian“.
In a Variety report on Dave Filoni’s Executive Creator Director position at Lucasfilm, the outlet notes that “Rangers of the New Republic” is “not currently in active development.” No reasoning for this was given, but the other “Mandalorian” spinoffs remain in the works.
On Monday morning, AT&T and Discovery, Inc. announced a deal whereby AT&T’s #WarnerMedia will be spun off and combined with #Discovery in a new standalone media company. The deal (which is still subject to regulatory approval) will combine two treasure troves of content, including the #HBOMax & discovery+ streaming services; #DCComics characters; and the #HarryPotter films, whose distribution is under #WarnerBrothers.
DC Comics is a subsidiary of the Global Brands and Experiences division of Warner Brothers, which itself is a subsidiary of WarnerMedia through its Studios & Networks division.
Discovery CEO David Zaslav (who’s been CEO since 2007) will run the combined business, according to Monday’s announcement. Prior to being the Discovery CEO, Zaslav worked for NBCUniversal, where he was responsible for a number of channels, including “The Sci-Fi Channel” before it was rebranded as the #SyFy Channel on March 16, 2009.
Zaslav’s ascension is part of a surprising move by AT&T and Discovery to pool their media resources and make a bid to compete more directly with large rivals like Netflix, Walt Disney and NBCUniversal. Zaslav will have a broader portfolio of resources as his company and AT&T form a joint venture that will combine his company’s TLC with Warner’s TNT and TBS; the flagship Discovery Channel with Warner’s DC Comics characters; and lifestyle-focused Food Network with Warner programs
#LucasFilm and parent company #Disney continue to tarnish their own reputations. While both claim to be inclusive EEO companies, they continue to pander to countries (especially China) that don’t like people of color.
In an official tweet posted to celebrate “Star Wars Day” (May the Fourth) yesterday, the official #StarWars Twitter account shared a fan-made poster by artist Leke Fonge intended to represent the film “Star Wars VII: #TheForceAwakens”, which was the first of the three Disney Star Wars sequel trilogy of movies.
The poster shared by the official Star Wars Twitter account (and later deleted) depicted two characters from the film: Rey and Kylo Ren:
But, a poster by the same artist and shared on the official Star Wars website includes Finn standing between Rey and Kylo Ren, along with the Millennium Falcon and a number of First Order TIE fighters:
The same artwork that was posted on the official Star Wars website was then also shared on Disney+:
After fans noticed this obvious discrepancy and complete removal of John Boyega’s character of Finn from the poster shared on the official Twitter account, they were outraged and were highly critical of Disney and LucasFilm. This prompted the powers that be at Disney or LucasFilm to delete the original tweet that left out Finn, then replacing it with a different tweet with the exact same wording and yet another poster that not only included Finn, but depictions of Han Solo and Chewbacca also:
At no point was one of the other people of color ever depicted in these pictures: Poe Dameron as depicted by Guatemalan-American actor Oscar Isaac.
This removal of Finn was very reminiscent of the original movie posters released in China for “The Force Awakens” in 2015 that had severely shrunk Finn as compared to his very prominent position in the poster released in the U.S.:
And in Sept., 2020, John Boyega had this to say regarding the treatment that he and his character received at the hands of Disney and LucasFilm:
“You get yourself involved in projects and you’re not necessarily going to like everything. [But] what I would say to Disney is do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up.”
#FunkoPop! is discontinuing #StarWars Cara Dune figures following the firing of actress Gina Carano from #TheMandalorian by #LucasFilm & #Disney in February, similar to the cancelation of Cara Dune action figures by Hasbro. According to Instagram user dis.pops, the Cara Dune Funko Pop! is being discontinued as stated in an email from the retailer they ordered from, Entertainment Earth. The email provided no explanation from the company as to why Funko was pulling the item.
Many fans of the #StarWars streaming series #TheMandalorian were very excited to hear the name of “Grand Admiral Thrawn” during its second season causing many to speculate if the character would make a live-action appearance in the series. Among the various names being tossed around as to who might play Thrawn was Benedict Cumberbatch.
During an interview with Collider, Benedict Cumberbatch not only said that he wasn’t familiar with the show or the character, that he had absolutely no interest in “being painted blue” in order to portray the character:
“That’s a straight ‘no’ from me, right now,” Cumberbatch told Collider during the interview. “There’s no way I want to be turned blue. I turned the air blue, very recently. No no, seriously, I have precious time with my children and I think sitting in a makeup chair and being painted blue, and the amount of time it would take to do that and then take it off at the end of the day might just … it’s not the right time in my life for that.”
For those unfamiliar with the character, Grand Admiral Thrawn was a major character in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU), first appearing in the 1991 novel “Heir to the Empire” written by author Timothy Zahn. The character also appeared in the animated series “Star Wars Rebels”.
In a poll conducted between Feb. 26 to Mar. 3, 2021 by polling company “Public Opinion Strategies” and reported by news service “The Daily Wire”, a majority of Americans oppose the firing of actress Gina Carano from #Disney-owned, #LucasFilm’s very popular streamed #StarWars series #TheMandalorian. After participants were shown Gina Carano’s social media post in question, they overwhelmingly thought the firing was unjustified by a margin of 72% to 28%.
“Corporate America’s lunge into ‘wokeness’ and cancel culture might hit a bump in the road given public reaction to Disney’s recent actions,” pollster Neil Newhouse of Public Opinion Strategies concluded. “This data clearly shows that actions like the ones Disney has taken recently definitely have the potential to negatively impact its bottom line.”
When first asked, Americans were found to oppose Disney’s decision to fire Carano by 58% to 42%, including a majority of Americans across all age groups, gender, and ethnicity; majorities of Republican and Independents similarly opposed the firing, as well as 40% of Democrats. After viewing Carano’s controversial social media post themselves, the polling data found 72% of Americans believe the actress should not have been fired, with 28% saying Disney was right to fire Carano, 39% said it may have been poorly worded, but she did not deserve to get fired, and 34% said they found nothing wrong with the quote and that Carano should not have been fired. The opposition to Carano’s firing even held true with Democrats and liberals: “After viewing the post, a majority of every single group tested, including Democrats, liberals and 70% of Disney fans said that Carano should not have been fired.”
Normally, the “Sci-fi and Fantasy Fans Society” does not report on real-world sociopolitical views of artists; but when those views have resulted in an artist being fired from a very ongoing and popular #SciFi franchise series, the impact cannot be ignored.
Days after rumors were reported in early June, 2020, that J.J. Abrams was developing a new #Superman film for #WarnerBrothers and #DCFilms, Warner Brothers released a statement that the time wasn’t write to release a such a film. However, something has clearly changed at WB after announcing yesterday that best-selling author Ta-Nehisi Coates will write a new Superman film and that the new film is being produced by J.J. Abrams’ company #BadRobot.
Currently, no director has been attached to the film and it’s also not clear who will play Kal-El (a.k.a., Superman), who was most recently portrayed by actor Henry Cavill.
While Ta-Nehisi Coates does have some experience writing science fiction and for a 2016 #BlackPanther comic book series, he currently has no experience writing a blockbuster superhero movie. Additionally, J.J. Abrams last #StarWars film, “Star Wars IX: #TheRiseOfSkywalker” was no where near as profitable as its sequel predecessors and had very mixed reviews.
While we don’t typically discuss musical groups, we do when it’s a group that has been involved in #SciFi or #Fantasy media. The French dance music duo #DaftPunk has decided to split up after working together for 28 years. The Grammy Award-winning act created by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo is known for using computerized vocals and wearing robot headgear in public, and in all of their music videos. Formed in Paris in 1993, “Daft Punk” is credited for bringing the French underground house scene to the charts and is considered one of the most influential electronic acts of all time. Their hits include “Da Funk,” “One More Time” and “Around the World.” In 2010, they made their film score debut for the sci-fi movie “#Tron: #Legacy.”
The group released the following video on YouTube marking the end of “Daft Punk”:
Pre-orders for two upcoming Cara Dune action figures that Hasbro was producing from the series “#StarWars: #ThaMandalorian” have reportedly been canceled amidst the Gina Carano controversy.
After it was announced last week that Gina Carano had been fired from The Mandalorian and future projects, Star Wars fans who had certain Hasbro Cara Dune action figures on pre-order learned that they had been canceled. Popular and respected Star Wars action figure forum Yak Face confirmed the news, which reported the following:
“In light of the recent events surrounding the character of Cara Dune, we’ve received word that the planned reissues of the 6″ Black Series and Vintage Collection figures have been cancelled. Hasbro still intends to release the Retro Collection version as planned.”
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