Showbiz news and releases continued in the holiday week, and we round them up here.
Marvel has released the first trailer for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, which will premiere on Disney+ on January 29 (see “Disney+ 2025 Trailer”). Marvel launched a comic prequel series for the show earlier this month (see “Preview: ‘Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’”).
DC has pushed back The Batman sequel a full year, from the originally planned October 2, 2026 date to October 1, 2027 (see “Movie Calendar – 2027”), according to Deadline. DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn posted on social media that the delay was due to writing issues, with a full script yet to be completed and approved. “The only reason for the delay is there isn’t a full script,” Gunn posted on Threads. “Matt [Reeves] is committed to making the best film he possibly can, and no one can accurately guess exactly how long a script will take to write. Once there is a finished script, there is around two years for pre-production, shooting and post-production on big films.”
Sonic 3 held onto the #1 box office slot for the three-day Friday-Sunday weekend with a $38 million domestic gross, narrowly ahead of Mufasa, according to Variety. Sonic 3 is now at $137.5 domestically and $211 worldwide to date, and is now on pace to top both of the first two movies in the series. Sonic 3 won its opening weekend, and a fourth installment in the Paramount series was greenlit (see “’Sonic 3’ Wins Weekend”).
Sony and Kadokawa, which revealed in November that Sony was in talks to acquire manga, light novel, tabletop game, and English-language anime news publisher Kadokawa (see “Sony in Talks”), announced that instead of a full acquisition at this time, Sony is investing ¥50 billion (around $315 million at today’s exchange rate) in new shares of Kadokawa, making Sony Kadokawa’s largest shareholder, with around 10% ownership. “This alliance is expected to not only further strengthen our IP creation capabilities, but also increase our IP media mix options with Sony’s support for global expansion, allowing us to deliver our IP to more users around the world,” Kadokawa Corporation CEO Takeshi Natsuno said in a statement accompanying the announcement.
Warner Bros. Pictures Animation has signed Rashida Jones, Will McCormack and Michale Govier to write a new Tom and Jerry feature, according to Deadline. Warner Bros Pictures released a hybrid live-action/animation Tom and Jerry feature in 2021, which grossed $46.5 million domestically and $136.5 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
Max series Creature Commandos, the first official entry in the new DC Universe, has been renewed for a second season, according to Variety. The show premiered on December 5 (see “’Creature Commandos’ Trailer”), and won’t finish until January 9.
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