Folks, we seem to be entering a crossover renaissance of sorts. We’ve watched the Transformers team up with My Little Pony. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles joined forces with the Power Rangers. With boredom at an all-time high, there’s never been a better time to jam two things together and call it a day.

As if the Transformers haven’t already adapted to enough, now it’s been announced they’ll be pairing with Back to the Future’s Doc and Marty for a new toy and comic book from Hasbro. It’s brilliant: Doc Brown’s time machine is a car, Transformers love shape-shifting into cars. What took them so long?

Here we have Doc Brown’s trusty DeLorean. Flux capacitor, detachable lightning rod conductor. Everything seems to be in order.

Here’s where it gets good. DeLoreans are already easily mistakable for Transformers, as their trademark falcon-wing doors give off a real futuristic robot vibe. You see these doors open, you think nothing of it. Lulled into a false sense of security of your own making.

It continues unfolding until, finally, an Autobot reveals itself. Introducing…

GIGAWATT

Seriously, why wasn’t this already the hottest toy of the ’80s? Its Transformer name was right there.

You can also pick up a complimentary comic book, where you’ll find Marty McFly on the run from Decepticons, who’ve come to Earth in search of Doc Brown’s fabled time machine. Here’s a sneak preview of the cover:

And just for fun, Hasbro released this rad Back to the Future poster with Gigawatt in place of Marty.

There’s a limited number available. 1,985 to be exact, a nod to the year Back to the Future lent icon status. The pre-orders sold out in a flash. Luckily, you’ll get a second chance on HasbroPulse.com and at select retailers on Oct. 1, 2020, the day the comic book is set for release.

Back to the Future will be celebrating its 35th birthday today, so click here to celebrate with a list of fun facts you may not know about the trilogy!

Westworld was a big deal.

When the HBO series about theme park robots who slowly realized they were theme park robots premiered, it was to huge fanfare. The show had a big budget, a big cast that included Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins, and a high concept that had it primed to take over from Game of Thrones as HBO’s flagship series.

Unfortunately, the story of the show never quite lived up to the initial premise. Despite HBO’s announcement of a fourth season, which may be even more sprawling and include a dragon-infested medieval setting, the show never caught on with the public the way they’d hoped.

Season 4 is rumored to be show’s last, and now the duo behind Westworld, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, have a new project in the works. And it’s just as promising as Westworld once was.

Screenrant, they’ll be tackling another adaptation of existing science-fiction material, the popular video game series Fallout, for Amazon Prime.

The Fallout series, which includes sequel and spinoffs that add up to more than 50 hours of gameplay, is set in the United States in the late 21st century after a nuclear war has changed everything.

Amazing describes the Fallout world as “one where the future envisioned by Americans in the late 1940s explodes upon itself through a nuclear war in 2077. The magic of the ‘Fallout’ world is the harshness of the wasteland set against the previous generation’s utopian idea of a better world through nuclear energy.”

The games each focus on a different region of the country and feature robots, radioactive monsters, and a sprawling cast of characters. There is a lot for Nola and Joy to work with, as they acknowledged, saying “each chapter of this insanely imaginative story has cost us countless hours we could have spent with family and friends.”

They refer to Fallout as one of the greatest games of all time, a sentiment no doubt shares but its many fans, who’ve been waiting a long time for it to be adapted. There have been some false starts, but it seems like it’s finally going to happen, and that it could be on the air for quite a while, thanks to the trove of material there is to work with.

Let’s hope Nolan and Joy have better luck with this futuristic world than they had with their last one!

Remember when people were furious over Michael Keaton being cast as Batman, or over Daniel Craig being cast as James Bond, or over Ben Affleck being cast as Batman, or over Robert Pattinson being cast as Batman?

Wait ’til you get a load of this. To tide us over while we wait for a TWINS remake with Jason Momoa and Peter Dinklage….

There’s a live-action big-screen version of Frosty the Snowman in the works, for some reason, and yesterday Deadline announced that the people behind the big-budget holiday flick have found the perfect person to play their walking balls of snow: Jason Momoa!

Before you start crying and beseeching God and lighting yourselves on fire, take a second to think about it. He’s already played Aquaman, and what is Frosty the Snowman is not a different kind of water? THE MORE YOU KNOW!

“From his role as a fearsome count in a land of ice and fire to the oceanic success we all had with Aquaman, it felt only right to realize Jason this time out of snow,” said producer Jon Berg.

The former and future superhero will only be voicing the snowman, so the role won’t be relying on his legendary brawn. Instead, it seems the people behind this movie focused more on Momoa’s inner warmth.

Producer Greg Silverman explained, “We know Jason’s as a true human being filled with love, compassion and a deep connection to ohana — all of which is the living spirit of Xmas and Frosty.”

I have to admit that I’m not well-versed in Frosty’s lore, having only the animated cartoons from my childhood to lean on. But I do remember the guy was quite friendly, as one would expect of a Christmas icon, and Momoa’s intimidating, smoldering looks aside, he does have a solid reputation as a good guy.

Let’s just hope all his hotness doesn’t melt the snow!

There are few athletes in recent American history as provocative as Mike Tyson. The former heavyweight champion of the world was feared inside and outside of the ring, often as much for his erratic behavior as for his fearsome punching power.

Even aside from his legendary run as a boxer and his stint in prison, Tyson’s lisp, his face tattoo, and his strange proclamations (“I want to eat his children!”) made him a fascinating character. Despite a few documentaries and even a stage show, there has yet to be a biopic of the boxer. That may be about to change.

For six years now, a Mike Tyson movie project has been in the works, with Jamie Foxx set to star, but numerous delays and setbacks cast doubt on the fact that it will ever hit theaters. Now it seems like it may actually happen. Last week, Foxx was interviewed on Instagram Live by Hollywood producer Mark Birnbaum, and he confirmed that the movie is going forward, and he is indeed going to play the notorious boxer.

“It’s a definitive yes,” Foxx told Birnbaum. “Doing biographies is a tough thing. Sometimes it takes 20 years to get it done but we officially got the real ball rolling. I can’t wait to show people what it is.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

The greatest of our generation for the hour Jamie Foxx

A post shared by Mark Birnbaum (@markbirnbaum) on Jun 17, 2020 at 4:30pm PDT

Foxx, a former comedian and gifted mimic who rose to prominence playing a quarterback in Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday and won an Oscar for portraying Ray Charles, is committed to some drastic weight change to transform himself into Iron Mike.

Speaking to Birnbaum, Foxx showed viewers a photo of his bulked-up physique discussed the work he’s doing to become the boxer, which includes 60 pull-ups, 60 dips, and 100 push-ups every other day as he aims to be between 216 and 230 pounds for the movie, which will portray Tyson through the years.

“I saw him at the height of his career, and then when things got bad and bumpy I also saw him as well. So what I’m excited about the movie is to show those moments,” he added. “I think everyone, young and old, will be able to understand this man’s journey.”

Tyson’s story is pretty insane, so it will be fun to see it on the big screen. Can Foxx pull it off? We’ll see. But we already know he can do the voice!

Beavis and Butt-Head are making a triumphant return. And just like Bill and Ted, this time, they’re dads. Turns out heavy metal fans turned out just fine. The pop-culture smash of the early-mid 1990s is being reimagined for a new generation as Comedy Central announced a revival, including a two-season commitment to the show and raising the possibility of other spin-offs.

The characters are being rebooted as Gen X parents raising their Gen Z kids.

The announcement is part of an overall deal with creator Mike Judge, who will write and produce the show, in addition to reprising his role as the voice actors for the two main characters.

#BeavisAndButtHead revival set at Comedy Central with 2-season order, spinoffs & specials planned in deal with Mike Judge https://t.co/Lg2CCZLAMo pic.twitter.com/ukpjqEZGf1

— Yahoo Entertainment (@YahooEnt) July 1, 2020

“Beavis and Butt-Head were a defining voice of a generation, and we can’t wait to watch as they navigate the treacherous waters of a world light-years from their own,” said a spokesman from Comedy Central.

So Comedy Central is green lighting a new Beavis and Butthead series where B & B are…parents.

One of the greatest questions of the 1990s has been answered.

They finally scored. pic.twitter.com/RRo2vKYjaT

— Tony Barker (@TonyWingdog72) July 1, 2020

In the briefest of statements, Judge himself said “It seemed like the time was right to get stupid again.”

Judge has since cemented his status as a comedy guru in the intervening years from the show’s first run (Beavis and Butt-head debuted in 1993), thanks to creating movies like “Office Space” and other TV comedy hits “King of the Hill” and more recently, “Silicon Valley.”

The revival is part of Comedy Central’s efforts to double down on animated content geared towards adults, as they try to program more shows to pair with “South Park.”

The news is already firing up fans on social media, who are mostly reduced to GIFs and an endless stream of “heh heh heh ehehs”.

It’s going to be great.

The Princess Bride, like Back to the Future, is one of those perfect movies that fans do not want to see remade, under any circumstances.

Of course, the COVID-19 quarantine isn’t just any circumstances. So a bunch of celebrities – actors and comedians and musicians – decided to use their free time to make a new version of the 80s classic. The good news, it’s not for the big screen, and the production values aren’t exactly big-budget level, and it was for a good cause: to raise funds for World Central Kitchen, which helps keep restaurants afloat during the pandemic.

Director Jason Reitman (of the forthcoming Ghostbusters sequel) had the idea, which isn’t that different from the star-studded script readings he’s been organizing in Los Angeles over the past few years.

“The week that the stay-at-home order came through in California, I just woke up one of the first mornings, I think like most people did, feeling as though, All right, I need to be able to do something of value,” Reitman told Vanity Fair. “I just thought, Can we remake an entire movie at home? And I had seen that a fan-made Star Wars had been done. I just started reaching out to actors I knew, saying, ‘Is this something you’d want to do?’ And the response was kind of immediate and fast. It was like, ‘Oh—that sounds like fun.’”

Reitman recruited a whole collection of talented folks to step into the movie’s iconic roles, with multiple actors taking over throughout, including Common, Sam Rockwell, and Neil Patrick Harris in various scenes as Westley (originated by Cary Elwes), Tiffany Haddish and Jennifer Garner as Princess Buttercup, Hugh Jackman as the evil Humperdinck. Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner’s gender-swap Buttercup and Dread Pirate Roberts, Lucas Hedges pops up, as do Jack Black, Patton Oswalt, and Diego Luna.

It’s messy and fun, with bizarre props and makeshift costumes, and it’s time to stop reading about it and actually watch some:

Earlier today, the exciting news broke that Ozark was coming back for a fourth and final supersized season. 14 more episodes of the Byrde family’s trials and tribulations is exactly the kind of nerve-wracking entertainment we need to keep our minds off of nerve-wracking reality. Here’s hoping we get that final season soon.

Another bit of welcome news, featuring some nerve-wracking entertainment of an entirely different sort, was announced today. Curb Your Enthusiasm is coming back for an 11th season on HBO!

Larry David’s show doesn’t feature Mexican cartels or violent hillbillies, but it does feature a hefty share of cringe-inducing comedy as Larry unapologetically calls out – and gets called out – for all manner of social faux-pas, both real and imagined.

Last season saw the increasingly out of fucks Larry open a spite store to compete against a barista who offended him, as well as episodes featuring Jon Hamm, Vince Vaughn, Timothy Olyphant, Isla Fisher, as well as the show’s typical murderer’s row of co-stars, including Ted Danson, Richard Lewis, and plenty more. It was a hilarious season, and it’s great to hear that it’s coming back.

Even if, based on the quote accompanying the announcement, Larry himself is a little less than enthusiastic about it. But what do you expect, the dude makes his living off of griping. Thankfully, he’s genius at it.

No word yet on when the 11th – 11th! – season will debut, but hopefully, the pandemic will settle down so Larry and company can get back in the saddle ASAP.

A few months ago, when the quarantine was still young, we all found ourselves gravitating to the same exciting new content. Stuck inside and desperate for entertainment, the world was captivated by Netflix’s Tiger King mini-series, ESPN’s Jordan documentary The Last Dance, and the third season of Ozark.

Ozark is the only one of those shows that wasn’t self-contained, and that ended with a cliffhanger. No spoilers here, but it was a shocking end to a tense, violent season, and almost immediately viewers were desperate to know two things: what’s going to happen next, and if there even would be a next.

It seemed unfathomable that Netflix wouldn’t re-up Ozark for a fourth season, but when it didn’t happen immediately, some viewers got more nervous than Wendy Byrde upon learning her brother had bought a cellphone.

Thankfully, Netflix has finally made it official, but the news is a tad bittersweet. Because while Ozark is coming back for a fourth season, the streaming platform also announced that it would be the show’s last. The good news? It’s a super-sized season, with 14 episodes!

It was announced via Ozark’s own Instagram channel:

 

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They’re going out with a bang. Ozark will conclude with an expanded 14-episode final season.

A post shared by OZARK (@ozark) on Jun 30, 2020 at 8:01am PDT

The plan is for the season to be split into two seven-episode parts. No word yet on when it will air, but hopefully the pandemic will be but a memory by then and we can devote all of our anxiety to the efforts of the Byrde family to escape the Ozarks alive.

2020’s wrath isn’t making any exceptions for aged-to-perfection comedy icons. Sadly, show business legend Carl Reiner passed away from natural causes Monday evening at the age of 98. The term “legend” is thrown around with aplomb to the point that it’s almost meaningless, but there are few truly worthy of the mantle. Carl Reiner is absolutely in that class.

The comedy icon created “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and was a prolific director, helming memorable films such as “The Jerk” with Steve Martin. His show business career spanned decades, as a writer-director-producer and even as an actor. He even won a Grammy for his hit comedy album with his best bud Mel Brooks, “2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks.”

The father of another prolific director, son Rob Reiner, Carl lived the old man life everyone dreams of, spending his final years with friends and spending every night eating dinner with Brooks and watching Jeopardy and movies.

legend. pic.twitter.com/rjvP8KZqme

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) June 30, 2020

Some may remember Reiner as an actor for his later work, having starred in “Ocean’s 11” and it’s subsequent sequels. He also did voice roles in “Family Guy”, “King of the Hill” and “Bob’s Burgers.”

But the man has been an entertainment icon for decades, through film, TV, Broadway and any other medium you can think of. Reiner was even active on social media, tweeting frequently until his final day.

Nothing pleases me more than knowing that I have lived the best life possible by having met & marrying the gifted Estelle (Stella) Lebost—who partnered with me in bringing Rob, Annie & Lucas Reiner into to this needy & evolving world.

— carl reiner (@carlreiner) June 27, 2020

What I am most proud of are, creating The Dick Van Dyke Show and informing Mel Brooks that he’s 2000 Years Old and knows everything. This, and a lot more, in my Dispatches From Quarantine: https://t.co/tPhSMRBiiM
cc: @SlvrScnStudios

— carl reiner (@carlreiner) June 23, 2020

Inspired by all who took knees before me, I’ll attempt to & hopefully succeed in taking a knee for equality & justice for all our citizens. pic.twitter.com/KLGA0xomug

— carl reiner (@carlreiner) September 30, 2017

Reiner was a true legend, with a history full of making people laugh and smile. There is no better legacy to leave the world than a lifetime of laughter and being a great dad.

One of the fun perks of the quarantine is watching celebrities cope with boredom and stress the same way we are: by Zoom calling their friends. Of course, not many of us include Patrick Stewart and Halle Berry in our contact lists, but not many of us co-starred in the X-Men movies. The first X-Men movie was 20 years ago and pre-dates the current Marvel-led superhero boom by an entire decade. Recently, the stars of that film reunited via Zoom to catch up and discuss their franchise.

Of course, in the years since that initial movie, the X-Men franchise has ballooned, going backward in time, adding alternate timelines, even introducing Deadpool in the notorious X-Men: Origins, years before Deadpool re-introduced himself in a couple of standalone movies with a far-higher swear count.

So while Hugh Jackman and the cast of the first movie thought they were having an intimate little gathering to celebrate their bond and the work of healthcare and other essential workers for Global Citizen, Ryan Reynolds showed up and brought some of his friends from the extended X-Men universe with him.

It’s actually quite a bit of fun, especially when Reynolds refers to the messy timelines of the franchise as “like Knots Landing.” Eventually, it all falls apart… or does it?

Check it out, and don’t worry, there’s much less swearing from Deadpool than usual:

For a few months, Josh Gad has been hosting a YouTube show called “Reunited Apart” on which he gathers a bunch of cast and crew from classic movies to reminisce on camera about their experience during and after the making of the film.

An 80s kid, Gad has leaned heavily on 80s movies, hosting the casts of The Goonies, Splash, Back to the Future, and Ghostbusters (plus the non-80s Lord of the Rings), and having a blast doing it. It makes sense that the series would eventually tackle one of the most iconic 80s movies, and directors, out there, and last week, he finally called out “Bueller…Bueller” to bring together a collection of actos from John Hughes’ classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, as well as some special guests.

John Hughes helped define the 80s with his collection of teen comedies, including Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, and Ferris Bueller’s. He passed away a few years ago, way too soon, but the mark he left has been indelible, and Gad and friends made sure to celebrate it.

Not only did the cast of Bueller show up, including, Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, and Jennifer Grey, and even Ben Stein (of the infamous “Bueller… Bueller…” roll call quote), and not only does Jake Gyllenhaal quiz them all on their knowledge of the film, but at the end of the episode, a whole collection of actors who appeared in Hughes’ films – Steve Martin, Michael Keaton, Chevy Chase, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, and more – showed up to recite some of their famous lines.

Check it out:

The Mandalorian on Disney+ reignited fandom for Star Wars in a truly genuine way that we haven’t seen since…maybe the re-released masters of the original trilogy back in the 90s?

Granted, the fervor was at a peak pitch for the Phantom Menace, the first Star Wars movie in decades. But the prequel (and the entire trilogy) was derided by fans. The Force Awakens fared much better, with critics and fans alike, yet that excitement was quelled by the deeply divisive second movie (for the record, I enjoyed The Last Jedi).

The Mandalorian, though, quickly won over everyone. Fans, critics, even the internet, through the adorable, meme-able baby Yoda (yes, he is not really Yoda, he is “The Child”, please do not activate the lightsaber mob). And now, Disney+’s documentary about the show, Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, is finding its own audience. Each episode features a different part of the hit series and the season finale covers all the Easter Eggs in the show that ties into the whole Star Wars history.

The biggest? Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker himself, had a secret role in The Mandalorian. His secret cameo was unlisted but the Jedi master himself voiced a droid character in episode 5.

In the episode, titled “The Gunslinger”, the action comes to Tattoine, the home planet of Luke Skywalker, and the place where the entire story begins. The episode even returns to a popular cantina where Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi first met Han Solo and Chewbacca. The cantina is a lot less lively this time around, and while it didn’t allow droids years earlier when Luke first entered, that rule has clearly changed as droids are everywhere now. There’s even one behind the bar, voiced by…Luke Skywalker himself.

The secret role as a droid bartender is just one of the surprises in the episode. Another pretty badass reveal is that dozens of the stormtroopers in the season finale were actually a group of super fans who maintain their own stormtrooper outfits and appear at events around the country.

For his part, Hamill revealed in the reveal, even announcing he’s “appeared” in several other Star Wars movies as well. Hamill is no stranger to voice work, thanks to a long run as a voice actor for numerous animated shows.

Now that @themandalorian secret is out-might as well reveal I am vocally represented in ALL SW films except the Prequels. Thanks to @matthewood for using me in Rogue One, Solo & the Sequels, so I DO have lines in #EpVII. Hint: Look for parts played by Patrick Williams.#TrueStory https://t.co/kRQlo7uub8

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) June 20, 2020

The Mandalorian is available on Disney+ and the second season of the smash hit is coming this fall.

Hamill, for his part, is a great follow on Twitter for the occasional killer Star Wars behind-the-scenes tidbit.

This is from “Return of the Ewok” a featurette written & directed by 1st Assistant Director David Tomblin. Made during our breaks while filming “Return of the Jedi” for publicity, it was never officially released. Sadly, this clip is the most I’ve ever seen of it. #TrueStory https://t.co/VamfX1vRp6

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) June 16, 2020

We live in a bizarre time, but one thing we can oddly count on these days is beloved TV shows making short-lived comebacks. We had a fun socially distant “Parks and Rec”, a “30 Rock” reunion on the horizon, and now even the beloved “Dirty Jobs”, which everyman Mike Rowe is bringing back for a 4-episode miniseries in July.

“Dirty Jobs: Rowe’d Trip” debuts July 7^th on Discovery and has been described as part road-trip, part trip down memory lane at everything that made the show great, to begin with. It’s the original crew, traveling together in a mini-RV, giving us the down-low on the dirty jobs in this country.

In a statement, Rowe said he missed the camaraderie and fun of traveling with a tight-knit crew and ‘meeting the finest people you could ever hope to know.’

“Looking back at my favorite moments with the old crew, while hitting the open road, was the perfect way to reunite, especially at a time like the one we’re all living through now,” he said. “I know that fans of the show will have as much fun watching as we did filming.”

The show was shot during the time of corona, so that added more than a few hurdles to production. Rowe and co. were tested and stayed pretty isolated on their adventures, but ultimately, he said this couldn’t be a Zoom show.

“We don’t think the country wants to look at TV that reminds them of a computer — they want to see people out in the world again,” he told the New York Post.

Rowe said he hopes to film even more episodes eventually, and that he’s excited for the miniseries to air.

“Dirty Jobs…changed my life forever,” he said. “What began as a simple tribute to my grandfather has evolved into the granddaddy of ‘essential work’ programming, and I’m humbled everyday by the number of people who continue to watch.”