Did You Hear? is a weekly examination of headlines in the entertainment industry and a take on what they could mean for the future of the industry and (often), the little geeky bubble that we occupy!
War of the Rohirrim Releases Full Length Trailer
If you’ve been reading my feature articles, Let’s Get Nerdy!, I’ve written extensively about all things Tolkien, all things Lord of the Rings, and all things War of the Rohirrim. I’m planning to do a more in-depth dive into the new trailer which debuted online yesterday:
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim | Official Trailer
Peter Jackson presents a groundbreaking journey back to Middle-earth through the eyes of legendary director Kenji Kamiyama. #LOTR The War of the Rohirrim – only in theaters Christmas. New Line Cinema’s original anime feature “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” returns audiences to the epic world brought to life in “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, based on the revered books by J.R.R.
We hear the voice of the legendary Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), giving an impassioned speech which sounds – in vocabulary and delivery – very inspired by King Théodan’s speech from 2003’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. We also get to hear, for the first time, what Miranda Otto’s Éowyn will be delivering as the narrator of the the film.
Something strange about this trailer is the sheer amount of footage from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy. It seems to betray a nervousness on behalf of Warner Bros. As if they are reminding us of something we loved from the past and hoping it will encourage us to bring that level of excitement to War of the Rohirrim.
Joining Cox and Otto in War of the Rohirrim are: Shaun Dooley as Freca, Luke Pasqualino as Wulf, and Laurence Ubong Williams as Fréaláf Hildeson. The film is directed by the legendary anime director Kenji Kamiyama who cut his teeth on the defining Akira (1988).
War of the Rohirrim hits cinemas this December 13th, 2024.
Wicked Release a New Trailer with Musical Easter Egg
Earlier this week a new poster for the upcoming first part of movie adaptation of Wicked (a movie based on a musical based on a book based on a another movie based on another series of books), which still features Galinda wearing the prosciutto dress!
All jokes aside, Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Galinda-cum-Glinda and you can see them both below:
Fans of the Stephen Schwartz’s Tony Award winning stage adaptation may recognize a similar design style in the poster’s background to the musical’s iconic Clock of the Time Dragon. There hasn’t been a ton of design similarities between these two adaptations of Gregory Maguire’s book (save the leading ladies’ colour palettes), and lifting details like this could be fan service done right – something exciting if you recognize it, but not defining if new audience members don’t recognize it.
Wicked debuts on November 22nd, 2024.
The Acolyte Canceled by Disney
Apparently the Star Wars machine isn’t as infallible as previously imagined. Earlier this week The Acolyte – a
show which has been divisive among the fandom for its representation of diverse characters in a galaxy far, far, away – was confirmed to not be returning for a second season.
Deadline broke the news exclusively citing the short amount of time between the end of the first season and this sad news for fans. Just over a month has passed. The reason for the decision appears to be largely driven by viewership and numbers:
Driven by interest into the venerable space franchise, The Acolyte got off to a strong start when it launched June 4 with two episodes, generating 4.8M views in its first day on the streamer to rank as the biggest series premiere on Disney+ this year. The tally rose to 11.1 million views globally after five days of streaming. Corroborating Disney’s data, the series made its debut on Nielsen’s Top 10 originals chart in its premiere week at No. 7 (488 million minutes viewed), climbing to No. 6 the following week.
But The Acolyte could not sustain the momentum, dropping out of the Top 10 in Week 3 and staying off before returning at No. 10 after the release of the finale (335M minutes, believed to be the lowest for a Star Wars series finale).
While The Mandalorian has set its sights on the Silver Screen it will be interesting to see how the fate of The Acolyte affects the future of the Star Wars franchise at Disney. The studio has previously and publicly pulled back on their Star Wars movie production based on waning quality and financial success. Could this herald the beginning of the end of Star Wars on streaming?
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