It was a big day for geek showbiz news, which we round up here.

Netflix has released the first trailer (below) for Masters of the Universe: Revelation, the upcoming animated series being overseen by Kevin Smith.  This is the first trailer; some images for the series, which has an all-star voice cast, were released last month (see "’Masters of the Universe’ Pics").

Warner Bros. Animation and New Line Cinema are partnering to produce an anime feature in the Lord of the Rings Universe.  The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will be directed by Kenji Kamiyama, perhaps best-known for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society and two of the Ghost in the Shell TV series. More recently he directed the Ultraman anime for Netflix (see "Netflix Gets ‘Ultraman’ Anime").  The new feature, which takes place before the events in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is tied to the Peter Jackson films, but not to the upcoming Amazon series, according to the report.

Jim Mickle, the co-creator, co-writer, and director of Netflix series Sweet Tooth, has signed on to direct the Legendary and AfterShock Media film adaptation of Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw’s graphic novel God Country. Film rights were originally acquired back in 2018 (see "’God Country’ Optioned").

Webtoon platform Tapas has appointed Kevin Nicklaux, formerly Senior Vice President of Development at Warner Bros.-based production company The Wolper Organization, as head of Creative Development.  In his new position, Nicklaus will work to develop Tapas intellectual property to other media.  Tapas was recently acquired by Korean media giant Kakao Entertainment for $550 million (see "Tapas Suddenly the Main Course").

Wiip, the studio behind the recent hit HBO series Mare of Easttown, has partnered with Todd McFarlane to develop Sam and Twitch as a television drama series.  Condor showrunners Jason Smilovic and Todd Katzberg will adapt the story and exec produce.

Comic publisher Artists, Writers and Artisans (AWA) has appointed Zach Studin as President of the newly formed AWA Studios, according to Deadline.  Studin is charged with developing AWA’s comic properties into film and television projects.  He comes to AWA from John Wells Productions, where he was Senior Vice President – Feature Films.  AWA has had a steady flow of comics from solid talent, including its recent launch of Marjorie Finnegan Temporal Criminal, by Garth Ennis and Goran Sudzuka (see "Preview: Marjorie Finnegan").