We round up geek showbiz news here, getting you up to date after the long weekend.
Scream was the top movie over the weekend, toppling Spider-Man: No Way Home (see "’Spider-Man’ Gets All the Oxygen") after four weeks in the top spot, according to Variety. It didn’t win the weekend, but the latest in the Spider-Man franchise did pass Black Panther to become the fourth highest-grossing film in U.S. history with $702.9 million in box receipts, according to the report. The fifth film tied to Scream took in $34 million, a win for the inexpensively produced feature.
Production is finally resuming on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever next week, according to The Hollywood Reporter. About four weeks of shooting are planned. Production was halted in November due to an on-set injury to Letitia Wright (see "’Black Panther’ Production Shutting Down"), and resumption was delayed by recent Covid cases among cast and crew, including star Lupita Nyong’o. The premiere date is November 11, 2022 (see "Best in Shows – 2022").
Skybound has brought in Marge Dean, most recently Head of Studio at anime streamer Crunchyroll, to run its animation studio, the company announced. First up for Dean will be S2 and S3 of the animated Invincible series for Amazon (which drove a lot of graphic novel sales when S1 was running). In addition to Crunchyroll, Dean has had management roles at Stoopid Buddy Stoodios (Robot Chicken), Mattel, Wildbrain, Warner Bros. and Columbia Tristar, among others.
20th Century Fox and John and Jay Thomas, the screenwriters of the original Predator movie, have settled dueling copyright lawsuits over rights to the property, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The brothers, represented by famed IP litigator Marc Toberoff, were attempting to withdraw the copyright in the screenplay. No terms were disclosed. Prey, a new Predator feature, will debut in the U.S. on Hulu this summer (see "New ‘Predator’ Feature").
A number of new cast members have joined star Leslie Grace in the HBO Max Batgirl feature. J.K. Simmons and Brendan Fraser are also cast in the film, according to Deadline; and most recently, Rebecca Front (Avenue 5), Corey Johnson (Morbius), and Ethan Kai (Killing Eve), according to The Hollywood Reporter. We’d previously reported that Michael Keaton will appear (see "Michael Keaton in ‘Batgirl’").