There was lots of showbiz news over the past week, and it’s time for a round-up!
Disney+ dropped a trailer for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (see trailer below). This series was first announced back in 2019 (see “Marvel Announces Three More“), and was created and written by Jessica Gao (see “Gao On ‘She-Hulk,’“). Interest is high; the trailer racked 78 million views in the first 24 hours, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will begin streaming on August 17, 2022.
Netflix has released a trailer for The Umbrella Academy Season 3, which will drop June 22. The new season has been a long time running; Season 3 was ordered in Fall 2020, after a successful run for Season 2 in the previous summer (see “‘The Umbrella Academy’ Renewed“).
Adult Swim has greenlit Rick and Morty: The Anime, a 10-episode series that will debut on Adult Swim and HBO Max, the networks announced. The series will be directed by Takashi Sano, who previously did two Rick and Morty shorts, Rick and Morty vs. Genocider and Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil), and be produced by Telecom Animation Film (Lupin the III series).
The Duffer Brothers, creators of Stranger Things, recently had a “total meltdown” over the recent spoiling of plot points from Stranger Things Season 4 (due soon, see “‘Stranger Things’ End, S4 Dates Revealed“), via image posts of an officially-licensed Monopoly game released at retail, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Monopoly game comes with cards that contain images of characters performing actions from the secret storyline.
Marvel Studios has signed a 20-year deal with Genius Brands/POW Entertainment joint venture Stan lee Universe LLC for use of Lee’s name and likeness for future feature films, television, and in Disney theme parks and experiences worldwide, the companies announced. Genius Brands acquired control of the intellectual property associated with the late Stan Lee in 2020 (see “Genius Brands Acquires Control of Stan Lee IP“).
Netflix laid off about 150 mostly U.S. employees, or about 2% of its domestic workforce, according to Variety. In addition to the layoffs, Netflix eliminated around 70 part-time jobs in its animation studio, where the streamer recently axed the planned series based on the fiction and graphic novel series Wings of Fire (see “’Wings of Fire’ Netflix Series“) and other series in development. The layoffs came after Netflix reported a loss of 200,000 streaming customers in Q1, its first decline in customers in over 10 years. Source: ICv2
