Peacock will start streaming Lionsgate movies like ‘John Wick 4’ in 2024

Peacock has signed a multiyear deal to stream Lionsgate movies, starting in 2024. The agreement starts with the studio’s 2022 slate and the first film that will reach Peacock as part of the deal is The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which stars Nicolas Cage.

Other Lionsgate movies that will eventually end up on Peacock for an exclusive streaming period include John Wick: Chapter 4, Borderlands and Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The deal also covers Expendables 4 (or, ugh, Expend4bles), Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and White Bird: A Wonder Story.

Peacock won’t be the first to get its hands on these films, however, as they’ll ping pong between various platforms in the coming years. They’ll initially stream on Starz, and then for a while they’ll be available to watch for free on The Roku Channel.

Also on Monday, Peacock announced that three movies from its NBCUniversal sibling Universal Pictures will debut as streaming exclusives in 2023. They include The Killer, John Woo’s remake of his own classic 1989 thriller. Also on the way are Praise This (which stars Chloe Bailey) and Shooting Stars, a LeBron James biopic covering his years as a high school basketball player.

‘Super Mario Bros.’ movie delayed to April 2023

You won’t be able to see the long-awaited Super Mario Bros. movie in theatres for the holidays this year: Nintendo has pushed back the animated film’s release date to April 2023 from December 2022. Acclaimed video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto has announced the delay on Twitter, along with film’s the new premiere dates of April 28th in Japan and April 7th in North America.

Miyamoto didn’t reveal the reason behind the delay or say if the COVID-19 pandemic had anything to do with it. He only said that he and Chris Meledandri, the CEO of Illumination animation studio, have decided to move the film’s global release date. The Nintendo exec also apologized and promised that “it will be well worth the wait.” Illumination, known for the Despicable Me and Minions franchise, is animating the movie, while Universal is co-financing and distributing it in North America. 

The Super Mario Bros. movie has been in the works since 2017 and has been in “priority development” at Illumination over the past few years. It will feature the voices of Chris Pratt at Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi and Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach. Jack Black will voice the legendary bad guy Bowser, while Seth Rogen will voice Donkey Kong. Charles Martinet, the actor who portrayed Mario in various games across the franchise, will also voice various cameos throughout the film.

Pixar’s new ‘Lightyear’ trailer portrays Buzz as a victim of relativity

Pixar has shared a second trailer for Lightyear, and the new clip sheds considerably more light on Buzz’s origin story. As it turns out, the explorer turned action figure is the victim of Einstein’s theory of relativity. When Lightyear conducts a “hyperspeed” test, he comes back 62 years later — many of the people and places he knows have changed. Naturally, it’s up to him to set things right.

While the trailer shows considerably more of the story, it still leaves some mysteries unanswered. It doesn’t show how Buzz becomes immortalized as a figurine in the Toy Story movies, or shed much light on other personas like Emperor Zurg.

The movie premieres in theaters on June 17th, with Chris Evans replacing Tim Allen as the voice of Buzz Lightyear. Sorry, folks, there won’t be a prompt Disney+ launch this time. If there’s anything that might coax people back into the real world, though, a spinoff of Pixar’s best-known franchise might do the trick.

‘It Takes Two’ will reportedly become an Amazon movie (updated)

The plans for an It Takes Two movie appear to be solidifying. Deadline and Variety sources claim Amazon Studios and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions have taken up the game-to-movie adaptation alongside Sonic the Hedgehog production company dj2 Entertainment. There’s even a chance Johnson could star in the movie, the insiders said.

We’ve asked Amazon for comment. The Prime Video operator’s involvement would make sense when dj2 has a “first look” deal with Amazon, as do the movie’s executive producers (and writers) Pat Casey and Josh Miller. It Takes Two developer Hazelight Studios’ Josef Fares and Oskar Wolontis will also executive produce.

It’s still not certain when a movie might launch. The project might stand a better chance of succeeding than some big-screen game adaptations, though. Casey and Miller are widely credited with the success of the two Sonic the Hedgehog movies. Moreover, It Takes Two‘s plot could be well-suited to a movie format — it sees a couple on the brink of divorce embark on a fantastical journey that helps them rediscover each other. It’s just a question of whether or not Amazon, dj2 and Seven Bucks can translate the co-op game’s concept to a passive entertainment format.

Update 4/21 12:25PM ET: Amazon has confirmed the production details, although it’s still not clear if Johnson will act in the movie.

Jason Momoa in negotiations to star in ‘Minecraft’ movie

A movie version of Mojang Studio’s Minecraft is starting to come together. Action hero veteran Jason Momoa is in talks to star in an upcoming film adaptation of the popular worldbuilding game, reportedThe Hollywood Reporter. While no contract has been …

Nintendo’s Super Mario anime has been remastered in 4K to confuse a new generation

You probably didn’t get to watch Nintendo’s first anime movie when it premiered in Japan in 1986, but you now have your chance — at quality you would never have experienced in theaters. Polygonnotes Femboy Films has released a 4K remaster of The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach on both YouTube (below) and the Internet Archive. You can not only expect clean, color-corrected visuals based on a rare 16mm print, but new English subtitles and a fresh two-channel Dolby Surround audio capture from the VHS release.

The story isn’t exactly revolutionary, but it’s an intriguing peek at the Super Mario Bros. franchise at a time when the canon was far from settled. Mario and Luigi travel from the ‘real’ world into the Mushroom Kingdom to rescue Princess Peach after briefly escapes into their realm and is captured by King Koopa (Bowser). You can expect many references to the original Super Mario Bros. game, but you’ll also find unusual deviations from the now-established premise. Mario and Luigi work at a grocery store, and they’re compelled to save Peach thanks to a Dumpling Dog character. And did we mention Luigi drinks sake?

Whatever you think of the plot, this is a significant film preservation project. Great Mission was only officially released in Japan, and there was just one run of VHS tapes. If it weren’t for the restoration, the anime might have been lost to modern audiences. The remaster should ensure that younger gamers have a glimpse of early Super Mario culture beyond emulated games or the not-so-stellar American movie from 1993.