Thirty Minute Reviews: Week of April 29th, 2024

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Sqj2hAd3dDTJCA0z40buU

Another somewhat slow week so let's dive right in.

This Week In Podcasts

• Tuesday on The Backlog Files, join in for a discussion of Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire.
• Wednesday on Beware of Spoilers, Adam discusses The Fall Guy.
• Thursday on Beware of Spoilers, Adam discusses the finale of The Bad Batch
• Friday on Beware of Spoilers, Adam discusses the 8th episode X-Men '97
• Saturday on Beware of Spoilers, Adam discusses the 9th episode of The Girls on the Bus.

The rest of this week's schedule is TBA, contingent on screening availability later in the week. Similar to the Dune: Part Two  preview back in February, the preview of The Acolyte will be tacked onto the end of next week's Thirty Minute Reviews.

Winners From The Indie Space

Let's start out with WorldFest Houston, also known as the Houston International Film Festival. They have a document on their website that lists all the winners and it's 22 pages long so I'm just going to list out some of the biggest winners towards the top of the page.

• Best Feature: Summer Rain
• Best Screenplay: Miss Dixie is a Pixie
• Best Short Film: Under
• Best Director: Antonio Mantas Moura (Summer Rain)
• Best Cinematography: Antonio Mantas Moura (Summer Rain)

As of recording, the winners for the San Francisco Film Festival have not been announced.

The Tribeca Film Festival has announced it's gaming slate with the Immersive titles still to be announced this upcoming Thursday. Of note on the gaming slate are Neva, the upcoming title from the studio behind GotY winner Gris, Skate Story from Devolver Digital, and Goodnight Universe from Nice Dream. They are also hosting a panel with Naoki Hamaguchi and Yoshinori Kitase about the process behind remaking Final Fantasy VII.

Story 1: Kingdom Hearts Series In Development At Disney

It was a big week for Kingdom Hearts rumors considering the drought of news we have been in lately. Noted industry insider DanielRPK provided two major updates about the franchise which is one of Disney's biggest footprints in the video game market. Apparently there is an adaptation of the franchise in the works for Disney+.

Now this is not the first we had heard of an adaptation, considering that there have been rumors and murmurs about this going back to the mid-2000s including a Disney Channel show. DanielRPK also previously reported on one in development back in 2020 that never materialized and there is clearly a market for Disney crossover material since Disney+ was developing an adaptation of Kingdom Keepers with Kevin Smith.

Here's the problem, this comes off as clear trend-chasing as the market for video game adaptations has taken off in the 2020s and there already is an adaptation of the narrative of a good amount of the games that this can be compared to. Are we just straight adapting the main games of Kingdom Hearts I, Chain of Memories, II, and III? Will there be seasons in the middle telling the side content that's integral to the plot? The decision to develop this feels like something that came from a computer more than from a person thinking about what would be the smartest move for them to make.

If I'm the person in charge, I want a remake of Kingdom Hearts in the gameplay style and graphical style of the later games (the versions available right now is basically a port with updated graphics a and performance) while doing a story set in the distant past of the world of Kingdom Hearts that kind of occupies the same narrative space as Unchained X, Dark Fate, and the upcoming Missing-Link. Additionally, a sequel that could be set after the Dark Seeker Saga in the "Lost Master arc" that would be starting with Kingdom Hearts IV.

Neither of these things are particularly marketable considering the "prequel era"  lacks a lot of the iconic characters and historically shows being set in continuity with other media (movies or video games) are not well received. The smartest move for Disney would take a franchise with a moderate fanbase that they own the rights to or can get cheap, and set another story in the same universe or find something established but dormant and retell that story. Honestly, Disney Interactive already owns the best franchise to do this with and its Spectrobes and they could probably pick up the rights to a franchise like Mercenaries from EA or PaRappa the Rapper from Sony for reasonably cheap.

Story 2: Kingdom Hearts 4 May Be Coming In 2025

The other half of this story also comes from DanielRPK and it is that the long-awaited Kingdom Hearts IV is slated for release next year.

Now this is something that could very well be true, especially when someone takes into consideration the upcoming release slate for Square Enix, this makes a lot of sense since they don't have another major release on their calendar. Outside of Octopath Traveler II, nothing is slated for 2024 or 2025. They do have a few HD remakes with TBA dates, but a few of those haven't been updated in a while and could be listed in error. The only concrete "blockbuster" game is Kingdom Hearts IV so giving that a Q1 or Q2 2025 release is a realistic possibility.

Here's the problem, 2025 is going to be a stacked year for games, especially for franchises that have been dormant for a while. GTA VI does not have a release date but is still slated for a 2025 debut. This will likely dictate the calendar which is why the full industry calendar is so empty. I personally think it aims for a May or June date so it can be the big game of the summer. It is also worth noting that the Switch 2 likely launches in Q1 of next year and, if the console is as powerful as initial reports, could this be the big third party game that goes to the Switch 2 in its launch window? It's worth noting that Kingdom Hearts III did launch multiplatform with both a PS4 and an Xbox One edition out on release date. There is also the possibility of a Holiday release, which gives them about a year and a half to finish if they announced it today and would give them about a year from this year's Tokyo Game Show in September which would be an ideal place for an announcement.

Story 3: Kraven The Hunter Is DOA

Kraven the Hunter has been delayed yet again and the new release date does a great job of illustrating just how much confidence they have in the film.

Just to bring everyone up to speed on the ever-shifting release slate for this film, it originally was set for October 6th of last year. Sony later delayed the film, blaming their own inability to strike a deal with SAG and the related strike as the film was moved to August 30th, 2024. This would likely indicate massive amounts of reshoots considering other movies impacted by the strike (namely the inability to do a press tour like Passengers and Dune: Part Two) were only delayed a few months instead of almost a full calendar year. Now here we are nine months later and they have decided to move the film again to December 13th, 2024. Keep in mind, a trailer was released for the film last year.

Herein lies the big tell by Sony, this December is packed. December 13th is also the date that Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim releases and this is the week before Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and the prequel to The Lion King (Mufasa) battle it out over the long Christmas weekend. This also comes a few weeks after Ridley Scott's historical epic Gladiator II, which will also be an R-rated movie angling for the same audience.

To me, this indicates that Sony has zero confidence in the film because, if they did, they would have kept the original release date or moved it into early 2025 because January is still relatively light. It's also potentially catastrophic for the Sony Universe of Marvel Characters, something that is already flailing following the failures of Morbius and Madame Web. With Venom: The Last Dance wrapping that franchise up, I can't imagine this universe going on for too much longer after 2024.

Story 4: Palworld Reveals New Pal

A new pal has been revealed for Palworld and they are still no closer to beating the plagiarism allegations. The new one is named Nox and is very clearly Glaceon mixed with Alolan Vulpix. Look, I get that these designs were likely done a long time ago and the roadmap was likely set internally well before the release earlier this year but you have to realize considering the amount of controversy regarding the allegations of plagiarism debuting the first post-release pal looking this close like existing Pokémon is certainly a choice.

Story 5: Aaron Sorkin Working On A Follow-Up To The Social Network

I included this because I needed a fifth story and the idea of this happening is too good to pass up but Aaron Sorkin of The West Wing and The Newsroom among other shows is working on a sequel to his film The Social Network. According to him (and anyone with a functioning brain) Facebook is to blame for a lot of the problems of the last five years or so. He specifically calls out the January 6th attack at the capital brought on by former president Trump's supporters who were misinformed that the election was stolen when, in fact, it was not.

Politics aside, this is a great idea but I have two small notes. Number one, Jesse Eisenberg needs to come back for this because he was fantastic in The Social Network. Number two, Fincher needs to come back to direct because, without Fincher directing, The Social Network is a mostly forgettable movie.

This Week At The Box Office

The only real surprise this week is Unsung Hero charting as high as it did but here are this weekend's box office winners:

• Challengers: $15.0 Million
• Unsung Hero: $7.75 Million
• Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire: $7.2 Million
• Civil War: $7.0 Million
• Abigail: $5.25 Million

Coming To Theaters This Week

The first week of May marks the start of the summer movie season which will be a little on the light side as the industry reels from the AMPTP's severe mishandling of both the SAG and WGA negotiations. The two major releases this week are the 25th anniversary screenings of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace featuring a special look at The Acolyte and Universal's The Fall Guy.

The Fall Guy is a new adaptation of the Lee Majors-led show from the early 80s about a Hollywood stuntman who uses his skills to work as a bounty hunter. This new version has the role of Colt Seavers taken over by Ryan Gosling as he tries to save the production he is working on when the lead actor gets into some shady dealings. Early responses have been positive with an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 78 on Metacritic (one below Dune: Part Two).

Coming To Physical Media This Week

It's a big week for physical media with several major shows over the course of the last few years that were exclusive to Disney+ being released on limited edition 4K steel book. The Marvel Studios shows Moon Knight and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier while the Lucasfilm shows Obi-Wan Kenobi and the first season of Andor all arrive this Tuesday. These are all must-buys for anyone who liked these shows originally and want to get more of a behind the scenes look at how they were made. The physical editions will also ensure access without having to pay a monthly or annual subscription to Disney, even if they remove it from the platform.

Outside of those, this year's musical adaptation of Mean Girls arrives on DVD alongside the first of Sony's cinematic bombs this year Madame Web, a DVD I will likely buy just to preserve that film as an example of how not to make a movie.