Some people thought it was a myth, others assumed it was only an eventuality, the rest just got bombarded with the hashtag for 2 years, but against all odds, the “Snyder Cut” of Justice League is real, and it’s coming to HBO Max. Julian, Jeremy, and Dan discuss the exciting news and debate over how to process it all while trying to considering it in context of the vocal minority that made it happen (not as easy to do as you might think). The guys also dive into the latest Tennent trailer and ponder if it’s the last best hope to save movie theatres in a post COVID world. Speaking of which, AMC vs Universal Pictures is also discussed before moving onto to some less depressing news from the galaxy far far away, with the announcement of Taika Waititi taking on a Star Wars feature film of his own. All that and so much more in the latest Tower of Babble Podcast!

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Show Notes

Movies

The long rumoured Snyder Cut of Justice League is coming to HBO Max in 2021. Initial details are still vague but it may be as long as 4 hrs, or possibly split into 6 chapters, with a production cost of approximately $20 - $30 mill.
An Aquaman animated miniseries is coming to HBO Max titled “Aquaman: King of Atlantis.” James Wan, who directed the 2018 live-action “Aquaman” film, is onboard to executive produce.
AMC Theatres released a statement saying that they will no longer be showing Universal Pictures films at their theatres once they reopen. This in response to the release of Trolls: World Tour to VOD.
- Universal issued their own statement following that saying that “our goal in releasing Trolls: World Tour on PVOD was to deliver entertainment to people who are sheltering at home, whole movie theaters and other forms of outside entertainment are unavailable.”
Tom Cruise is working to shoot a movie in space… because of course he is.
Disney has a live action version of Hercules in development.
Paramount is planning reboots for Transformers, GI Joe, TMNT and Paranormal Activity.

Marvel

According to Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld, there are currently “zero” plans for a Deadpool 3 at Marvel/Disney.
Sony’s official name for their “spiderverse” is called… ahem “the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters”
Venom 2 officially titled Venom: Let There be Carnage
Sony is also looking to make a Madame Web movie now too.
Plus, Spider-Man 3 has been pushed to Fall 2021 and Spider-Verse 2 is now Oct 7, 2022.

Star Wars

Movie anniversaries (FYI the entire Skywalker saga is available on Disney+ now).
- Revenge of the Sith is 15 years old
- Empire Strikes Back is 40 years old
The latest from The Mandalorian season 2
- Tomura Mourison is cast as Boba Fett
- Katee Sackhoff to play Bo-Katan for the first time in live action
- Timothy Olyphant has also been cast
Speaking of The Mandalorian, one of the high profile directors from that show has been tapped by Lucasfilm to write and direct a feature film. Taika Waititi has officially been announced to be directing, and co-writing along with Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917, Penny Dreadful), a Star Wars movie.
- Along with that announcement Lucasfilm officially confirmed the long rumoured Lesley Headland series for Disney+.
Rumours are also stirring that Hayden Christiansen is in talks to reprise his role as Anakin. The announcement was intended to be made alongside the official announcement of Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka casting at SW Celebration this year.
The Clone Wars is now over and it went out with a bang, and there’s numbers to back it up. According to Parrot Analytics, The Clone Wars was the most in demand show on ANY streaming service as of May 9th with over 139.9 million average daily expressions. The Mandalorian was a distant 2nd with 62.3 million.

TV

A new Star Trek series has been announced. Anson Mount will return as Captain Pike in a TOS prequel, Discovery spinoff, series that centres around the adventures of the starship enterprise, before Kirk.
DC on CW (DCW)
- Superman and Lois series coming in Jan 2021.
- Ruby Rose, leaves CWs Batwoman. They are now looking to recast the lead for season 2.
Just about exactly one year separated from the finale of Game of Thrones.

Misc Stories

New Looney Tunes series coming to HBO Max on May 27th
Goosebumps live action TV show in the works.
Ridley Scott’s Gladiator turns 20.
Sylvester Stallone announced that a Demolition Man sequel is in the works.
“The Green Knight” trailer (A24).
Oscar nominated films won’t have to have been screened in theatres in 2020 to be eligible for an award this year.

What We’ve Been Watching

Westworld S3

Nov 28, 2025

Bonus Episode - ToB Film Club - Dark City (1998)

The term often used to describe the 1998 Alex Proyas film, 'Dark City' is "Proto-Matrix" given the many similarities between the two movies. Fair or not, they do have a lot in common but I think the comparison does a disservice to what is still a very clever and well made genre-film that largely holds up today (minus some questionable early CG effects). The 4K re-release gives it a fresh coat of paint, looking extremely sharp on modern televisions, accentuating the mostly dark and moody imagery of this sci-fi film noir, and given it's title this is all very fitting. Alex Proyas has some bid ideas here; what is the human soul? Are we the sum of our memories? Can memories be distilled into chemistry? Is love transcendent? Many of these themes are explored with depth, with answers to many of the films mysteries being laid bare in mostly satisfying way. Performances are strong, with everyone seemingly understanding the assignment, though there isn't much for the female characters to do here. Which is unfortunate as what we do get from Jennifer Connelly is intriguing, if lacking depth. On the whole, despite being pretty weird, this is still a very fun movie, if a bit silly at times, that was unfortunately overshadowed by the phenomenon that was 'The Matrix' dropping the following year.

Nov 17, 2025

Episode 201 - Bond Turmoil and Goldeneye Retrospective

Julian and Matt start getting into the swing of thigs as they tackle the latest in film and TV news, with the hot story being about the turmoil surrounding the new Bond film. Fortunately, 'Goldeneye' turns 30, providing a positive 007 topic to dig into in an effort to balance things out. A new 'The Mummy' starring Brendan Fraser is in the works with Rachel Weis also set to return. To Matt's chagrin, more 'Jurassic World' is on the way as well with the 5th film in the franchise in development with Gareth Edwards looking to return to direct (say what you will but 'Jurassic World: Rebirth' was pretty fun). Lastly, the guys dive into what they've been watching, including 'Predator: Badlands', 'One Battle After Another', 'Pluribus' and for some reason, 'Dexter'. All that and so much more on this week's Tower of Babble Podcast!

Oct 19, 2025

Bonus Episode - ToB Film Club - Kingpin (1996)

Before Matt officially joined the show as a co-host he was invited on as guest to talk about one of his favourite movies of all time, ‘Swingers’. Now returning in an official capacity to the ToB Film Club, he brings with him another film from his top-3, another comedy, ‘Kingpin’. A Farrelly brothers film that followed up their smash hit breakout, ‘Dumb and Dumber’, and you can see the through lines. Like ‘Dumb and Dumber’ we follow two guys who are down on their luck as they head out on the road where chaos and hilarity ensue. Unfortunately it wasn’t the hit they hoped despite a killer cast, including legends Bill Murray, Randy Quaid and Woody Harrelson and as a result it didn't leave as large of a cultural footprint as some of the other Farrelly brothers films from this era. It's been nearly 30 years so now seems as good a time as any to revisit this sleeper and see what everyone was missing back then.

Oct 9, 2025

Episode 200 - Meet Matt!

After an extended hiatus, ToB returns with a fresh voice on the second chair. Julian is joined by long-time friend of the show, Matt Tworek. We spend this first episode of the "new" ToB getting to know him and setting up what else is to come.

Episode 151 - The Snyder Cut Is Real