We did it. It’s the end of March. After a February that flew by so fast I forgot to publish The Monthly on time, March definitely felt like its full 31 days. It was a month full of pop culture news — including the launch of The Omnicosm, the official home of Popculturology and Snackology.
I’m also launching Brain Slop — a newsletter bringing you random news from around the Internet — later today. Brain Slop publishes on Sundays. (Spoiler alert: The inaugural edition is about killer whales.)
OK, let’s get to the three stories you need to know, two trailers you need to watch and one article you need to read.
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Jason Sudeikis, Robert Downey Jr. and Wile E. Coyote. / Apple TV+, Marvel Studios and Warner Bros.
3 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
I guess Ted Lasso didn’t die on that plane
Let’s be real here: The final season of Ted Lasso was bad.
“I enjoyed the first two seasons of Ted Lasso. The show was a bright spot during the pandemic. All that goodwill from those seasons, though, isn’t enough to excuse the mess of this season — no matter how hard the season (series?) finale tries to cram everything into a neat, happy ending,” I wrote back when the show’s third season wrapped up. “I want to say I’m going to miss these characters if the show is over, but after a season full of episodes that were way too long, they’ve overstayed their welcome.”
The folks over at Apple TV+ (the same ones who are running a service that’s lost $1 billion a year) clearly know something I don’t, with the announcement coming this month that Ted Lasso is returning for a fourth season.
Jason Sudeikis will be back, with his title character reportedly now coaching a women’s soccer team. (Apple TV+)
• • •
Doomsday comes for the X-Men
We’re somehow just over a year away from Avengers: Doomsday hitting theaters. Production for the massive MCU project is gearing up, with the studio unveiling more than two dozen actors who will join Robert Downey Jr. in the film’s cast.
While we’ve expected actors from Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps to be part of Doomsday, it was kind of a surprise to learn that Patrick Stewart,Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn,James Marsden and Channing Tatum — all vets of Fox’s X-Men movies, with the exception of Tatum — are part of the next Avengers movie too.
My money is on this being the final final farewell to this generation of X-Men stars. Downey’s Doom is gonna wipe them out in Doomsday’s opening scene, isn’t he? (Marvel Studios)
• • •
I’m ready to buy an opening weekend ticket for Coyote vs. Acme
I have a hunch that everything and anything over at Warner Bros. Discovery is for sale if you offer CEO David Zaslav the right amount of money. CNN? Superman? Guy Fieri’s convertible? Just gotta write a check with enough zeroes.
It looks like Ketchup Entertainment, the studio that helped get The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie into theaters, figured out that $50 million was the correct dollar amount to pry Coyote vs. Acme out of WBD’s archives.
The hybrid live-action/animated film became a rallying point against Zaslav’s habit of disappearing movies and shows (the Batgirl movie that got killed, Sesame Street now being without a home) after the studio shelved the finished project, with rumors swirling that Coyote vs. Acme could be deleted in exchange for a tax write-off.
If Ketchup Entertainment can pull this one off, they’ll be heroes in the eyes of those of us who view movies, TV shows and storytelling as just line items on a budget. (There’s also the chance that the sale of Coyote vs. Acme is just the beginning of Zaslav selling off Looney Tunes. They’re already tearing down the old Looney Tunes studio.) (Deadline)
Ben Mendelsohn, Glordon and Elio. / Lucasfilm, Pixar Animation Studios
2 TRAILERS YOU NEED TO WATCH
Andor
The most critically acclaimed entry into Lucasfilm’s series of Star Wars TV shows returns for its second and final season next month. There’s a lot of ground to cover, with these episodes, with Ben Mendelsohn and Alan Tudyk returning as Orson Krennic and K-2SO as the show leads into Rogue One.
• • •
Elio
Pixar is in a good spot right now. The studio finally broke free of the pandemic-induced belief that its movies belonged on Disney+ and not in theaters with Inside Out 2 and its $653 million domestic and $1.699 billion worldwide box office hauls. But can it keep that going with Elio?
While I haven’t read anything about behind-the-scenes drama around this one, the latest trailer for Elio offers a very different movie than its previous trailer. Did Pixar shake things up? Or is this all part of a slow reveal?
‘We had to go back to play’: How Hasbro’s Dungeon Master CEO got serious about games
It’s been a few years since I’ve played Dungeons & Dragons, but there was a time back in the pre-pandemic days when we’d gather with some friends to continue an ongoing quest. (There was a break for a fantastic contained quest where we got to hunt down Santa Claus. Seriously. CJ Ciaramella is a fantastic dungeon master, and he’s made that quest available for purchase.)
Semafor’s Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson chatted with Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, who was previously the head of the company’s division that handles Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. While I don’t agree with Cocks’ belief that AI should have a place in the toy company, possibly “letting other Dungeon Masters enrich their D&D campaigns” or by letting “parents customize Peppa Pig animations,” I do appreciate that laughed off Elon Musk’s huff about buying the company. (Semafor)
CATCHING UP
Here’s what you might have missed from The Omnicosm this month ...
Pop culture fan. Was once paid to write about How I Met Your Mother. Now I write Popculturology. A Rochester, N.Y., native now living in the Washington, D.C., area. Won’t pass up a Genny Cream Ale.
Superman and Lex Luthor will return in August 2027. PLUS: ‘The Paper’ premieres, the first ‘Wuthering Heights’ trailer is hella horny, and it wasn’t Heidi Gardner’s choice to leave ‘SNL’?
