ICv2: 'Venom' Delayed Again; 'The Smurfs', 'Night of the Living Dead Animated' Trailers; 'Dune' Poster; 'Last Airbender' Gets Showrunner, Cast; Sony Completes Crunchyroll Acquisition

NEWS

'VENOM' DELAYED AGAIN; 'THE SMURFS', 'NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD ANIMATED' TRAILERS; 'DUNE' POSTER; 'LAST AIRBENDER' GETS SHOWRUNNER, CAST; SONY COMPLETES CRUNCHYROLL ACQUISITION

Showbiz Round-Up

Posted by Jeffrey Dohm-Sanchez on August 13, 2021 @ 2:08 am CT

The dog days of summer are upon us, but showbiz news is hopping, so it's time for another round-up!

Sony Pictures has delayed the release of Venom: Let There Be Carnage again, according to THE Hollywood Reporter. It was previously moved from October 2, 2020 to June 25, 2021, and then to September 24, 2021 (see "Best in Shows - 2021"). The latest change moves the release to October 15, 2021, making the full delay of this Venom's release just over one year.

Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series has added a showrunner and four cast members, according to Variety. Albert Kim, whose resume includes Sleepy Hollow and Nikita, will serve as Avatar's showrunner, writer, and executive producer. The four cast members added are Gordon Cormier as Aang, Kiawentiio as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka, and Dallas Liu as Zuko. This live-action series was originally announced by Netflix back in 2018 (see "Live Action ‘Avatar’ Happening").

Sony Pictures Entertainment has officially closed on the acquisition of AT&T's Crunchyroll anime streamer via Funimation Global Group, LLC, the companies announced. The acquisition of Crunchyroll by Funimation, for $1.175 billion in cash, was originally announced last year (see "Funimation Gets Crunchyroll for $1.175 Billion"). Crunchyroll has over 5 million subscribers and 120 million registered users, which will now join Funimation’s under the Sony umbrella.

Nickelodeon released a new teaser trailer for the Smurfs animated series (see trailer below), which will premiere on September 10. Nickelodeon’s license for the bande dessinee property, announced just last year, also includes consumer products (see "'The Smurfs' Coming Back").

Warner Bros. has recreated George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead as an animated feature entitled Night of the Animated Dead (see trailer below). The animated version of the 1968 classic features a voice cast including Josh Duhamel, Katee Sackhoff, Will Sasso, and Nancy Travis. It will release to digital on September 21, and in Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD on October 5. Warner Bros. also recently announced a remastered Superman: The Animated Series headed to an at-home release (see "'Superman: The Animated Series'").

Warner Bros. released a new poster for the upcoming Dune movie (see Tweet below), which will hit theaters on October 22 (see "Warner Bros. Pictures Drops 'Dune' Trailer").