Just the two J’s this week as Dan is away. Julian, and Jeremy discuss Rian Johnson’s big money ‘Knives Out’ deal with Netflix, Warner Bros. cancelling ‘The Trench’ and Ava DuVernay’s ‘New Gods’, and the 10th year anniversary of ‘Game of Thrones’ premiere on HBO that they’re calling the “Iron Anniversary”. The guys also touch on some notable release schedule changes around Hollywood, and the cast list for ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’, which had a few pleasant surprises. All that, and so much more, on this week’s Tower of Babble Podcast!

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Show Notes

Movies

Trailers:
- Jupiter’s Legacy
- Those Who Wish me Dead
- Ghostbusters Afterlife - clip
- Batman: The Long Halloween Part 1
- Star Trek: Picard S2
- Space Jam: A New Legacy

Netflix signs a $450M deal with Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig for ‘Knives Out’ 2 and 3.
Sony inks deal with Netflix for the exclusive U.S. rights to stream Sony Pictures’ theatrical releases in the first pay TV window starting with the studio’s 2022 slate.
The ‘Uncharted’ movies release date moves to Feb 18, 2022.
WB cancels ‘New Gods’ and ‘The Trench’.
‘Black Adam’ release date moved to July 29, 2022.
The new Mortal Kombat theme, called Techno Syndrome 2021, by Benjamin Wallfischhas, has been released ahead of the film’s premiere. The film will now also release one week later, now coming on April 23, 2021.
Paramount has made some major changes to their release schedule, including moving ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and ‘Mission Impossible 7’.
Christopher Daniel Barnes will reportedly reprise his voice acting role as the ‘90s animated Spider-Man for ‘Into the Spider-Verse 2’.
Brendan Fraiser’s film career was apparently sabotaged after the actor was reportedly sexually assaulted by a Golden Globes bigwig.

Agree or Disagree

As the foundations of the movie industry shift under our feet and move more toward in-home viewing, studios are trying to understand the best way to monetize that. One possible way would be to have a “pay per viewer” model that would charge you for the amount of people watching the movie.

TV

HBO is celebrating 10 years of Game of Thrones with the “Iron Anniversary”. A month-long celebration to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the series premiere of ‘Game of Thrones’.
George R.R. Martin is working on a live stage performance of' ‘Game of Thrones’ for Broadway. It will revolve around the “Tourney at Harrenhal”.
‘Rick and Morty’ S5 will premiere this June.
‘Young Sheldon’ was renewed for 3 more seasons… somehow.
‘American Gods’ cancelled by Starz after 3 seasons.
Production on the ‘Obi-Wan’ series will start soon (we’ve even seen a picture of Ewan McGregor with his iconic beard). We also got the official cast announcement (which had a few surprises).

Comics/Misc

Lucasfilm has recently trademarked the term “Skywalker Academy”.
Disney Parks chairman Josh D'Amaro teased at a behind closed doors press event that they will be releasing a “realistic” working, retractable lightsaber to their Disney Parks soon.
On the heels of news about the progress of ‘The Last of Us’ TV show on HBO, we learn that a remake of ‘The Last of Us’ is reportedly in the works at Sony. The report comes from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, which describes senior leadership at PlayStation obsessed with big hits.

What We’ve Been Watching

Godzilla vs Kong
The Mighty Ducks Game Changers
Invincible
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

May 22, 2025

SSSW/ToB Film Club - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

It's hard to believe that 'Rogue One' premiered nearly a decade ago. At the time, it was fairly well received, considered to be a decent first step into the standalone Star Wars movies, if not a bit messy. As the years passed, we learned more about the production. Gareth Edwards, who retained sole directing credit, was assisted by Tony Gilroy to "fix" the project. Tony went so far as to call it a "corpse" when he came aboard for rewrites and reshoots. It was Tony's inclusion that brought us some of the movies most memorable moments, and ultimately led him to leading the charge on 'Andor', a prequel project that flew under the radar as hits like 'The Mandalorian' hogged the spotlight. With 'Andor' now complete, considered by many to be a masterpiece in storytelling, not just in Star Wars but on television in general, now is the most appropriate time to reexamine the movie that spawned the Cassian-centered prequel series with fresh eyes. 'Andor', which leads directly into the events of 'Rogue One' recontextualizes much of the film, creating a unique viewing experience that pays off a multitude of threads that are brilliantly laid over the two seasons of 'Andor'. It takes the movie, which was already pretty good, and makes it great. Now existing as part of a whole that weaves a cohesive narrative from the nascent moments of the Rebellion all the way through to the destruction of the Death Star in 1977 (the seed that begat ALL Star Wars, and what we appropriately align our Star Wars BBY calendars to). It all feels wholistic and considered when viewed from the broader perspective - an accomplishment that should set a shining example of what Star Wars can and should aspire to.

May 15, 2025

SSSW - Andor S2 Finale

After only 4 weeks - the blink of an eye - it's all over. The best Star Wars story since the Original Trilogy has graced our screens and left us in awe. These final three episodes weren't able to reach the emotional highs of last week's arc, but that wasn't the goal. Instead, it provides time to look back at what brought us here, and sets the stage for the climax of the story to take place not in this moment, but within the now recontextualized film that birthed all of this in the first place, 'Rogue One'. And while the show may carry Cassian's name on the title screen, it's been the cast of characters we've met along the way that truly elevated this experience. Not to pick favourites, but in particular, Luthen and Kleya, who get an episode all to themselves this week are the standouts. And what an episode it was, as their story which shepherded much of the series came to an end, as we all expected it would have to. Embracing those feelings of closure, in the final moments of the series, as Cassian flies off into 'Rogue One', we are treated to our last glimpses of our heroes and villains. From Dedra to Vel and even Perrin, we are left to consider their fates as the story marches with inevitability into what begat all of this way back in 1977. Will we ever see Kleya, Vel, Wilmon, or Bix again? One can only hope - and rebellions? Well, they're built on hope.

May 9, 2025

SSSW - Andor S2 E7 - 9

When dealing in the world of prequels, it’s impossible to escape the inevitable - Anakin will fall, Han will win the Falcon, Cassian will die on Scarif. Somehow, in the midst of some of the most thrilling episodes of television ever put to screen, Tony Gilroy and his team found a way to address that impending doom and weaponize it against the audience to induce some of the most gut wrenching and heart breaking moments we’ve yet to see on ‘Andor’ - “There’s some place he needs to be”. At a larger scale, the show continues to outdo itself on a weekly basis, proving that the Star Wars galaxy provides a colour pallet of some of the richest hues from which to paint bold and personal stories. Proving you can go beyond the larger than life stories of heroics and grandeur to human stories of loss and pain and everything in between. That’s without mentioning the deft touch in pulling in themes that resonates with the contemporary while remaining timeless - a feeling that is a staple of Star Wars. Every detail is considered, every character is deep and interesting. There isn’t much more that can be said about such a powerful piece of art, except that not even the audience can escape the inevitable - only one week remains of this masterpiece.

May 2, 2025

SSSW - Andor S2 E4 - 6

I'm sorry to tell you all, but we're already halfway through this final season of 'Andor'. Fortunately, the quality hasn't dipped one bit as we accelerate into the finish. Join Julian and Rachel as they savour every minute of this 3-episode arch that takes us to Ghorman for the first time on screen. Tony Gilroy and the team at Lucasfilm outdid themselves yet again in crafting every detail. The size of the set alone is impressive, but they take it a step further by developing a unique culture and even language different from anything we've seen in Star Wars before. It all fits seamlessly into this next chapter of the story that has a heavy emphasis on spycraft as the pressure ramps up for both the Rebellion and the Empire.

Episode 164 - Netflix Inking Deals, WB Cancels New Gods, and the Iron Anniversary

Show Notes

Movies

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TV

Comics/Misc

What We’ve Been Watching

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