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MCU

MARVEL.COM: SINS OF SINISTER really opened you up to explore extremely bizarre, out-of-this-world concepts. Of all the far-flung ideas you got to include, what was the one that you’re proudest of? Why?

KIERON GILLEN: I think we all had a lot of fun with crafting messy nightmares. I was delighted seeing what Si and Al came up with. It felt like a nerdy freestyle rap battle. 

I mean, Si’s Heirburst Bomb is a pun on a whole different level. The moment when you realize that Al is going to do an Orbis Stellaris as a Death Star beat? So much good stuff from both of ’em. Teleporting a solar system? Headshotting a Ghost Rider Galactus with a Juggernaut fired 1000 years previously? Al and Si just attacked the page and I was delighted and/or horrified, and knew I was in the best, bad company.

For my own stuff, it’s a tossup between Emma Frost and the Exodus worlds. Emma Frost, becoming a living red diamond and then ending up as a red diamond in a forehead of a huge Emma. It was originally a mile-high, diamond Juggernaut clone of Emma, but Alessandro [Vitti] took it in a robotic direction and Al had the inspired Mother Mold beat, but the core triple pun still is there. 

For the Exodus worlds, it was just a really creepy idea, for me. Whole planets covered with clones with their minds trapped in endless cycles of chanting, all feeding a single Exodus… and there’s loads of different Exoduses, all facing off against one another. Talk about a bleak fate.

JORDAN D. WHITE: I agree with everything Kieron said. The whole thing was a really exciting formalist experiment, and one I think all three of these gents jumped into with gusto. The idea of telling their three issues decades and then centuries apart is not an easy task to pull off and still tell a satisfying story, but they nailed it. Every single issue has a bonkers thing that I adore that we only could do with this sort of “gloves off” setup. 

But I also love that this story is not one that just vanishes into the ether—as you can see from the last segment of DOMINION, this impacts the new timeline in big ways, from Sinister being defeated, to Rasputin’s appearance, to Mother Righteous’ expanding library, to that killer final page shock.

MARVEL.COM: What is something that your many collaborators brought to the table that shocked or surprised you? Something that just absolutely stood out to you!

JORDAN D. WHITE: Ha ha—Kieron answered this question in his first answer! No psychic abilities there. It’s hard to pick favorite moments, but if I had to, I would say year 100 was my top era: Si’s devastating baby plot and surprise, Kieron’s betrayal of Hope by Exodus, and Al’s revenge double-cross of Destiny were all so excellent. Which is not say year 1000 does not also rule! 

KIERON GILLEN: I mean, there was no way I was going to not mention my stuff before what everyone else did, right? For a project all about the monomaniacal ego of one man going out of control and ruining the galaxy, the execution is the exact opposite. We’re in this together—in a good way, not a ‘We All Have a Supervillain’s Programmed Evil Genes’ way.

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MARVEL.COM: SINS OF SINISTER really opened you

DCU

The two versions of Barry Allen are the main focus of The Flash international trailer. Yesterday, during Warner Bros. Discovery’s presentation at CinemaCon, DC Studios released the long-awaited second full trailer for its upcoming movie, which is set to hit theaters in June.


Andy Muschietti and Ezra Miller team up to bring to finally bring an individual adventure for the Scarlet Speedster to the big screen, joined by Sasha Calle as Supergirl, Michael Keaton as Batman, Ben Affleck as the Caped Crusader too, and Michael Shannon returning as the villainous and powerful General Zod.

The CinemaCon trailer, which had a very tragic tone, focused on the three main heroes journey and how they’ll work together in order to save the reality Barry broke by running back to the past to try to save his mother. But the international version not only includes that, it also puts the two versions of the titular hero under the spotlight, with a much more comedic tone:

The video also offers a brief look at Barry’s life as a superhero after the events of Justice League, making it clear that the movie belongs to the Snyderverse, but that can also work as a set-up for the new canon with the character being able to travel through time and space and alter realities.

Related: The Flash Labeled by First Reactions as One of the Best Superhero Films Ever


The Original Flashpoint

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

Originally published in 2011 and written by Geoff Johns, Flashpoint is a DC crossover publication uniting various heroes, rebooting the entire company universe to make room for the arrival of The New 52. Something similar to what will happen after The Flash with the arrival of the universe created by James Gunn.

The story follows Barry, who suddenly wakes up in a reality where his mother is still alive. However, it is also a world where he has no powers and has not met Iris, his great love. Barry seems to be the only one aware of this modified reality, where Cyborg is humanity’s great hero.

The Justice League doesn’t exist either, except for some of its members like the aforementioned Victor Stone, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman, whose kingdoms are locked in a terrible battle between them. Batman also exists, although it is Thomas Wayne under the hood and not Bruce, since it was the son who was killed in that tragic event in the alley. Seeking justice, Thomas becomes a very violent Caped Crusader and goes after the Joker, who turns out to be none other than Martha Wayne.

Reverse-Flash is the one who has caused this change in reality, and Barry will have to ally with Batman and Cyborg, try to get his powers back to fight his great enemy to finally use the Speedforce to get back to his timeline. But all actions, even good ones, have consequences.

In the movie, Barry will go through something very similar, but will have to team up with Batman and Supergirl, facing not only the one who created the alternate reality but also Zod, who’s ready to destroy Earth now that no Metahumans can stop him.

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The two versions of Barry Allen are

Comics

On Wednesday, a group of contractors at YouTube Music voted to unionize with the Alphabet Workers Union-Communications Workers of America (AWU-CWA). Out of the 49 workers who were eligible to vote, 41 voted in favor of the action, with the remaining eight abstaining. As of last year, the workers were already paying AWU-CWA dues but were seeking bargaining rights. In March, the group won a landmark legal victory when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that Google must bargain with them to ratify their union contract.

While Google vowed to challenge the ruling, the results of today’s vote could have significant implications for the company. Provided the NLRB’s decision stands, Google will need to collectively bargain with a group of its US employees for the first time in the company’s nearly 25-year history. That’s something that could prompt other groups within the tech giant to pursue unionization.

“After months of union-busting by Google and Cognizant, our YouTube Music members have just won their NLRB union election in a blowout victory and are ready to bring both of their employers to the table to win their fair share,” the Alphabet Workers Union tweeted.

Although Wednesday’s vote was months in the making, it comes after Google laid off 12,000 employees – or about six percent of its global workforce – in late January. This week, the company shared its Q1 earnings results, reporting a net income of $15 billion. It also announced a $70 billion stock buyback. In 2022, the year workers at YouTube Music Content Operations filed for union recognition with the NLRB, Google compensated CEO Sundar Pichai to the tune of $226 million.

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On Wednesday, a group of contractors at

Festivals

Spring has sprung — which means it’s time to look ahead to winter. Organizers of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival said today that its 39th annual event will run February 7-17 in the coastal California town.

Official events including screenings, filmmaker Q&As, industry panels, and celebrity tributes will be held throughout the city, including at the historic Arlington Theatre. The full 2024 lineup will be revealed in January.

The 38th SBIFF held a few months ago celebrated awards contenders including eventual Oscar winners Jamie Lee Curtis, The Daniels, Brendan Fraser, Key Huy Quan and Cate Blanchett along with the likes of Angela Bassett, Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Austin Butler, Kerry Condon, Stephanie Hsu, Jeremy Pope, Jermey Strong, Danielle Deadwyler and Nina Hoss.

“We just had a record year with packed houses showcasing over 200 films and plenty of seminars, panels and tributes,” SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling said. “And we hosted the eventual 2023 Oscar winners from 18 film categories, proving once again that the love of watching films in person and celebrating cinema is alive and well in Santa Barbara.”

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Spring has sprung — which means it’s

Film

Netflix has promoted Nick Nesbitt to vice president of the Studio Film Team at Netflix, according to an individual with knowledge.

In his new role, Nesbitt, who previously was a director of the team, will oversee the group’s overall deals. The Studio Film Team is run by Ori Marmur and Kira Goldberg.

Under Nesbitt, Netflix has produced several successful films and established strong relationships with filmmakers such as the collaboration with producer Ram Bergman on Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” as well as the “Extraction” franchise and “The Gray Man” with The Russo Brothers.

Nesbitt will oversee Netflix’s lineup of films, which includes “Beverly Hills Cop Axel Foley” featuring Eddie Murphy, “The Electric State” with Mille Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, “Leave The World Behind” starring Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali, directed by Sam Esmail, “Damsel” starring Millie Bobby Brown, and the “Spy Kids” reboot directed by Robert Rodriguez.

Deadline first reported the news about Nesbitt’s promotion.

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Netflix has promoted Nick Nesbitt to vice

TV

Universal has mostly been on a roll with horror movies of all shapes and sizes, from killer dolls (“M3GAN”) to killer bears (“Cocaine Bear”) to killer boogeymen (“Halloween Ends”), and now they are making a go of bringing one of the most iconic horror franchises of all time into the Universal/Blumhouse umbrella. “The Exorcist: Believer” a legacy sequel to William Freidkin’s 1973 horror classic, will debut theatrically on October 13.

That’s the same general weekend where David Gordon Green’s previous three “Halloween” movies opened in 2018, 2021 and 2022. The filmmaker helming this presumed trilogy of demon possession melodramas will be doing the “three new films that serve as a direct sequel only to the first one in the franchise” thing for a little while longer.

Universal brought the intense and frantic first look to CinemaCon and scared the hell out of those in attendance.

The footage centers on two missing children and their respective families initial attempts to find them. Both are found and think they have been gone three hours, but it’s really been three days. Cue the various possession symptoms, including floating, convulsions and one of them waltzing into a church screaming “the body and the blood” while covered in blood. Cue an elderly Burstyn being recruited due to her previous experiences, with the reveal that this demon is the same one as before. We get a slew of violent, bloody imagery with a reveal that both girls have hearts beating in sync. Spooky!

Universal and Peacock had previously notched a stunning $400 million deal with Blumhouse for three new “Exorcist” movies. At the time, the deal seemed intended to emulate the ridiculous streaming deals typified by Netflix shelling out $450 million for two “Knives Out” sequels. Ironically, the sentiment has since changed on this “endless money for endless content” mentality, but those who like big-scale horror will probably find something to enjoy.

It’s the kind of “throw money at IP for the sake of IP” gambit that hasn’t fared that much better on streaming (“Resident Evil,” “Cowboy Beebop”) than it has in theaters (“Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves”). To be fair, religious horror is and remains a vibrant niche, as seen by the under-the-radar success of Sony’s “The Pope’s Exorcist” which has earned $53 million worldwide on an $18 million budget. And “The Exorcist” remains the biggest-grossing R-rated movie ever in adjusted domestic earnings ($232 million in 1973 and 2000, $1.1 billion adjusted).

‘Indiana Jones 5': Harrison Ford’s Still Got It in a Sneak Peek of a Bazaar Car Chase

That said, “The Amityville Horror” ($86 million in 1979/$300 million adjusted) remains in third place behind “The Exorcist” and “It’ ($327 million in 2017), and none of the other “Amityville” movies have broken out over the last several decades. None of the four previous “Exorcist” sequels have broken out either, and the notion of Ellen Burstyn returning to her Oscar-nominated role isn’t exactly Jamie Lee Curtis again facing Michael Myers.

Universal is hoping that Blumhouse and friends can do for “The Exorcist” what they did for “Halloween.” However, “The Exorcist” is essentially known for one smash hit modern classic, has no real marquee characters and has far less pull with younger moviegoers than the perpetually rewatched Michael Myers flicks. That said, the footage for the Leslie Odom Jr. and Ellen Burstyn-starring horror flick certainly made the initial pitch to those in attendance, and hope springs eternal when God is on your side.

‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ Trailer Promises Another Outrageous Adventure

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Universal has mostly been on a roll

What to Watch

Pictured: The Keeper of Lost Causes: Department Q 1 by Jussi Adler-Olsen and Scott Frank (Getty Images)

Among the upcoming projects ordered from the United Kingdom, Netflix has acquired the rights to adapt the Danish novel series Department Q, which it plans to turn into a series adaptation. Here’s what we know so far.

The series adaptation of Department Q has been in development since at least 2014 when the US TV right to adapt the series was sold to Scott Frank, who is the lead creator of this series. In 2020, it was reported that Department Q would be produced by Sony-owned Left Bank Pictures. Now, it’s revealed that Department Q is now in active development and attached to release at Netflix.

Frank is best known for his work on two prior Netflix Original projects, Godless, and The Queen’s Gambit. He’s also currently working on Monsieur Spade for AMC.

scott frank

Pictured: Scott Frank

Left Bank Pictures are behind many Netflix Original projects, including The Crown, White Lines, and Behind Her Eyes. Upcoming projects include Palomino and The Fuck It Bucket.

The scripts for the series were written by Chandni Lakhani (Black Mirror, Vigil).

The news of the sequel being ordered came alongside the announcements of two other new UK productions (alongside a string of other news from UK Netflix Originals throughout the week).

The other two new projects are a sequel to Bank of Dave and Black Doves. It’s all part of a continued commitment from Netflix in the United Kindom, who revealed that they’ve spent $6bn in the British creative economy since 2020 and now intend to continue that investment by spending almost $1.5bn USD a year across its series and movies slate from the region.

What’s the plot of Department Q?

Netflix’s Department Q is an adaptation of author Jussi Adler-Olsen‘s noir-thriller book series of the same name. Here’s the synopsis for the first book in the Department Q series, The Keeper of Lost Causes:

Carl Mørck used to be one of Copenhagen’s best homicide detectives. Then a hail of bullets destroyed the lives of two fellow cops, and Carl—who didn’t draw his weapon—blames himself. So a promotion is the last thing he expects. But Department Q is a department of one, and Carl’s got only a stack of Copenhagen’s coldest cases for company. His colleagues snicker, but Carl may have the last laugh, because one file keeps nagging at him: a liberal politician vanished five years earlier and is presumed dead.

But she isn’t dead … yet.

The book was published in 2007 and, judging by the official Netflix logline, will be the source material behind the first season.

Here’s that brief logline from Netflix itself:

“The series centers around Carl, a former top-rated detective in Edinburgh assigned to a new cold case whilst wracked with guilt following an attack that left his partner paralysed and another policeman dead.”

The book series has already been adapted into a film series in Denmark.

Who is cast in Department Q?

As of April 2023, no cast members have been announced for Netflix’s Department Q. As the development goes on, we expect to hear news regarding the casting in the coming months.

How many episodes will Department Q have?

It’s unclear how many episodes Department Q will feature, but we’d predict between 8 to 10 as is the usual Netflix number.

What’s the production status of Department Q?

As of April 2023, Netflix’s Department Q series is in early development, with the scripts being written as we speak. There is no word yet regarding any filming start.

What’s the Netflix release date for Department Q?

As the series is still in the very early stages of development, it’s too early to speak of any release dates, but we could perhaps estimate sometime between 2024 and 2025.

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Pictured: The Keeper of Lost Causes: Department

Awards

Chris Melendandri took time in his CinemaCon presentation remarks to highlight the vocal cast for Illumination’s upcoming animated original “Migration.”

“Migration” will star Kumail Nanjiani as an anxious Mallard dad and Elizabeth Banks as the less-anxious, more headstrong mother Mallard. The son and daughter will be voiced by Casper Jennings and Tresi Gazal, with a supporting cast including Awkwafina, Carol Kane, Keegan-Michael Key, David Mitchell and Danny DeVito.


Melendandri exited the stage and a brief sizzle reel followed. It was focused on our fowl family, led by a father who is “afraid to leave this pond.” His mind is changed when he realizes that he can’t spend his or his family’s life hiding in the same place. And with that, they take off in a soaring vista as the youngest bird overcomes her anxiety about pooping in the sky. Spoiler: She convinces her family to make a quick bathroom stop on the ground. “Why are we the only birds heading this way,” Mom inquires as they find their way to a thriving big city. That includes brushes with car-related peril and brushes with humanity, including at least one cook thirsting for duck ala orange.

The film is penned by Mike White and directed by Benjamin Renner. Produced by Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri, “Migration” is co-directed by Guylo Homsy, and edited by Christian Gazal. The Production Designer is Colin Stimpson.

Opening this Christmas season, “Migration” will be a key test as to whether Illumination can still grab family audiences to original animated films. That’s an industry-wide issue, with even Disney and Pixar struggling before (“Onward”) and after (“Strange World”) the initial years of the COVID pandemic.

‘Elemental’ Gets a 20-Minute Sneak Preview at CinemaCon

Back in 2016, “The Secret Life of Pets” earned $875 million worldwide and “Sing” grossed $671 million globally. Since then, Illumination’s animated output has been confined to sequels like “Minions: The Rise of Gru” and “Despicable Me 3” and IP adaptations like “The Grinch” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”

That’s not a criticism, as part of the reward of scoring blockbuster originals is getting to cash in on sequels to those films. However, this original film does arrive in a very different landscape for original theatrical toons. Considering the success Universal has had with Illumination and DreamWorks of late, the odds are in their favor.

Disney Offers a Stacked – Yet Stripped-Down – Showcase at CinemaCon

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Chris Melendandri took time in his CinemaCon

Docs

Stories of working-class, small-town life are something I personally resonate with. I am also easily annoyed when they’re not genuine – or what I feel is genuine – and I am sure most others are too. If you’re going to write about “working class life” then do it right.

It has nothing to do with being “grim up north” (which incidentally is not that grim at all). We all know that working class communities feel the brunt of government cuts. The rich get richer while the poor get… well, whatever. It has been happening for decades, and it’s happening now, but getting constantly battered by funding cuts, job cuts, lazy negative stereo types, and government indifference, creates a void in a community – and that void is often filled by crime, opportunists, and toxic masculinity.

That may form the backdrop for the characters in Wait for Me, yet for me this was always a love story – albeit a very dangerous kind of love, and the kind that can never be reciprocated.

The main character, Alison, represents the part of all of us that has maybe strayed too far from where she needs to be, yet fixing her mistakes is a far harder task. Alison has taken that to extremes, and now she’s clawing her way back but only making things worse at every turn. She is certainly a strong female character that has seen harsh things in her life. Alison gave me the opportunity to avoid the cliches of how working class women are often written, cliches that we’ve seen too many times in films. She is fierce, determined, complicated and capable, and that should be celebrated. The theme of motherhood is also intrinsic to the piece, especially in just how far Alison is willing to go to repair that bond with a lost child, despite the jeopardy it could put them all in.

The cast of Wait for Me are certainly diverse but it always amuses me to see terms like “diverse casting”, as if it is some kind of box ticking requirement.  Great acting should be rewarded and great actors, regardless of their background, should always get the best roles – but I am not naïve, and I know that is not always the case.

This may surprise some readers, but growing up in Blackburn, when it comes to diversity, I’ve never known it any other way. The son of Irish parents, growing up in the north of England in the 1970s, when being the butt of Irish jokes in the school playground were commonplace and it seemed as if every other week there was a shocking incident linked to the troubles, which always seemed to get mentioned as if we had inside knowledge. I’d play with the Nigerian kids next door. The Asian newsagent would save my comics for me every Thursday and my Dad would have his own mug under his counter so the two of them could drink tea and put the world to rights.

I know these people. I know their lives. It never occurred to me that this cast would be anything other than diverse.

I can take no credit for finding the talent to play these characters, but I can tell you that there was nothing more unnerving, and rewarding, than seeing the people that live in my head suddenly brought to life exactly as I imagined. That is testament to their natural ability, and humbling that they found something in the pages that helped them achieve it.

The characters in Wait for Me are perhaps not the kinds of people you would want to live next door to, but none of us really know what goes on with the people next door (and us writers are always desperate to find out).  We’re left to imagine what pain they might be going through, the troubled past they would like to forget, the hopes and dreams they still cling to. We don’t know just what they are capable of – and not just the bad things.

As a society, we are becoming more understanding of mental health issues. The harsh truth being that these conditions have always been there, long before the many abbreviations became commonplace. There is tragedy that in decades past, people that were struggling could be labelled in ways we would never consider now. It’s hard to imagine the level of suffering that must have been endured without help.

These things were always here, we just never fully saw them – and in Wait for Me we embrace those awkward, painful yet common social conditions and see the effect they have on one of the characters.

If I could boil Wait for Me down to one identifiable phrase, it would be to not judge a book by its cover. Even people that are trapped in the seemingly toughest of lives are capable of experiencing moments of beauty in ways that can surprise us – and hopefully we can all learn something by that.

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Stories of working-class, small-town life are something

Global

The death of a British man who was killed by a great white shark near a Sydney beach has officially been classified as a ‘provoked incident’.

Simon Nellist, 35, was swimming in waters off Little Bay, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs when the 15-foot beast attacked him on February 16, 2022. He would have died almost instantly, making him the first fatal victim of a shark attack in Sydney in 60 years.

Mr Nellist, a former RAF gunner who survived two tours of Afghanistan, died just 500 feet from horrified beachgoers.

At the time, his devastated family paid tribute to the ‘proud Cornishman’ who had made Australia his home with his fiancée Jessie. 

Now, according to a report by the International Shark Attack File, Mr Nellist’s tragic death has been classified as a ‘provoked incident’.

Simon Nellist (pictured) was mauled by a shark in a unprotected stretch of water near Little Bay, Sydney in February 2022

Gavin Naylor, director for the Florida Programme for Shark Research, has said there are a number of reasons for the 'provoked incident' classification given to Mr Nellist's death

Gavin Naylor, director for the Florida Programme for Shark Research, has said there are a number of reasons for the ‘provoked incident’ classification given to Mr Nellist’s death

The International Shark Attack File documents all incidents involving shark attacks around the world, classifying each based on their circumstances.

Gavin Naylor, director for the Florida Programme for Shark Research, has said there are a number of reasons for the ‘provoked incident’ classification.

In an email to YouTube channel Shark Bytes shown in a video in February, Mr Naylor said Mr Nellist’s death was not included in unprovoked attack statistics ‘because we do not consider it an unprovoked incident’.

‘While Mr Nellist did nothing consciously to provoke an incident, he was swimming in an area where people were fishing,’ he said. ‘Fishing is an activity that draws sharks in. We therefore consider it provoked for our purposes.’

He explained that the report is ‘assiduous’ when it comes to focusing on incidents deemed unprovoked in order to ‘understand the natural behaviour’ of sharks.

‘Any factor that draws sharks to an area (fishing, chumming, scalloping, etc) or behaviour that goads the shark, riding them, petting them, feeding them (you might be surprised what people do!) are thought to induce behaviours that are not typical,’ he told the YouTube channel.

Shark conservationists say that the animals do not view humans as food, but are often involved in incidents with people when hunting for similar-sized prey to humans – such as dolphins or seals.

According to the World Wildlife Organisations, ‘you are more likely to be struck by lighting than attacked by a shark’, and conservationists have worked to dispel myths surrounding sharks which often return when there is an attack.

Mr Nellist was the first person to be killed by a shark in the Sydney area since the 1960s. Pictured: A boat patrols the site of the fatal shark attack in February 2022 (file photo)

Mr Nellist was the first person to be killed by a shark in the Sydney area since the 1960s. Pictured: A boat patrols the site of the fatal shark attack in February 2022 (file photo)

It comes after 16-year-old Stella Berry was attacked and killed by a bull shark in Perth’s Swan River in February. Speaking to the Mail, Robert Harcourt, an honorary professor of marine ecology at Macquarie University, said: ‘Most sharks are actually reasonably cautious of taking anything that’s a new type of prey.’

He said sharks usually feed on small or medium-sized prey and humans weren’t typically ‘high on their list’.

But he added that sharks can prey on humans. ‘The Little Bay case (death of Mr Nellist) was a case of the shark coming in to predate,’ he said.

‘Sharks are like any animal living in the wild, they’re curious and there are quite strong hierarchies when sharks interact.

‘They can be intimidated by things bigger than them, seals and dolphins will chase great whites in numbers, they’ll mob them.’

Speaking at the time of his death, Mr Nellist’s family said: ‘Simon had a great passion for nature and the sea, as well as being a very talented photographer.’

Saying they would ‘miss him terribly’, they added: ‘Simon was a gentle, kind and wonderful human being. He was a cherished fiancée, son, brother, uncle and friend.

‘Simon was funny, compassionate and always had time for people. He had a rare gift of instantly being able to connect with others, gaining their trust and respect.’

It emerged that Mr Nellist was killed just days before safety lines to stop sharks getting close to the coast were due to be installed. Sydney authorities had pencilled in the work for the area where he died before the end of February.

Relatives said his distraught mother was left wondering ‘how could he return from the frontline (of Afghanistan) unscathed to then go to Australia, go out for a swim and get killed’.

Speaking at the time of his death, Mr Nellist's devastated family said he was a ¿proud Cornishman¿ who had made Australia his home with his fiancée Jessie (pictured right)

Speaking at the time of his death, Mr Nellist’s devastated family said he was a ‘proud Cornishman’ who had made Australia his home with his fiancée Jessie (pictured right)

Mr Nellist’s family told MailOnline that he would not want the animal to be destroyed.

He was the first person to be killed by a shark in the area since the 1960s. 

His aunt Jacqui Seager, 62, said: ‘I don’t think Simon would want the shark to be killed. He loved nature.

‘He swam with sharks before. This isn’t the first time he’s gone out and seen them but he would still go out swimming. That’s brave. I don’t think he ever thought they would hurt him. Sadly, this time it managed to get to him.’

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The death of a British man who

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Tech

Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, turned in better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter of 2023 — even as net income dropped sharply on a year-over-year basis.

Overall, the company reported revenue of $28.65 billion, up 3% from the year prior, and net income of $5.7 billion (or $2.20 per share), down 24%. Analysts on average expected Meta to post revenue of $27.65 billion and EPS of $2.03, according to Refinitiv.

Click here to sign up for Variety’s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial news and more.

And Meta issued a relatively bullish forecast for the second quarter of 2023, projecting total revenue to be $29.5 billion-$32 billion, up from $28.82 billion in Q2 2022.

In announcing Q1 results, the company said Facebook averaged 2.04 billion daily active users in March, up from 2.0 billion the prior quarter. Across all its apps, Meta reported daily active users of 3.02 billion on average for March, an increase of 5% year-over-year.

“We had a good quarter and our community continues to grow,” Meta chairman, CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg said in prepared remarks. “Our AI work is driving good results across our apps and business. We’re also becoming more efficient so we can build better products faster and put ourselves in a stronger position to deliver our long-term vision.”

On the earnings call, Zuckerberg said Meta believes its Reels product is gaining share in short-form video, an area where it competes with TikTok and YouTube Shorts. He said users on Facebook and Instagram now share Reels 2 billion times per day, a figure that has doubled over the last six months. Meta has monetized Reels at lower rates than the company’s other ad units while Reels also cannibalizes time spent in the Facebook or Instagram feed; CFO Susan Li told analysts that Meta expects Reels to be “revenue neutral” by the end of 2023 or early 2024.

Zuckerberg talked up Meta’s work in artificial intelligence, which he said has been a “major investment for us.” He claimed the company now has the capacity to do “leading work” in AI “at scale.”

The company has embarked on a “year of efficiency,” as Zuckerberg has dubbed its cost-cutting initiatives. In November Meta announced layoffs eliminating 11,000 jobs and last month said it would cut another 10,000. As of March 31, the company said it had substantially completed the 2022 employee layoffs while “continuing to assess facilities consolidation and data center restructuring initiatives.” Meta incurred additional pre-tax restructuring charges of $621 million in Q1.

Meta’s total costs and expenses in the first quarter were $21.42 billion, up 10% year-over-year. That included a $1.14 billion restructuring-related charge in Q1.

Zuckerberg changed the name of the company from Facebook to Meta in October 2021, signaling a shift toward “metaverse” products and services. But so far, Meta’s Reality Labs business, which includes its Quest VR headsets, has seen losses pile up. In Q1, the Reality Labs segment generated $339 million in revenue (down 51%) and an operating loss of $3.99 billion (an increase of 35%).

Meta isn’t dialing back its investment in VR or AR products in favor of AI, according to Zuckerberg. “We’ve been focusing on both the metaverse and AI for years, and we will continue to focus on both,” he said on the call. Meta still expects to launch a next-generation Quest VR headset aimed at consumers with an affordable price point later in 2023.

In 2022, Meta’s stock dropped 64%, shedding some $620 billion in market value — but it has rebounded strongly this year, up 68% year to date as of market close Wednesday. After reporting Q1 results, Meta shares were up more than 12% in after-hours trading.

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Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, turned

Video

Paper Magazine has reportedly laid off its entire staff in an effort to keep the company economically afloat and to avoid total closure.

According to an AdWeek report, Friday will be the last day for Paper Magazine’s editorial team, as the company laid off between 20 to 30 of its full-time staff members. All editorial operations have been halted, though Paper Magazine’s editor-in-chief will apparently stay on through May. Representatives for Paper Magazine have not responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.

Staffers like news editor Jade Gomez began announcing the news themselves on Twitter Wednesday, writing, “The cat is out of the bag. Our entire staff was laid off.”

Publisher Tom Florio broke news of the layoffs to staff earlier Wednesday, sharing that the publication’s decline in advertising was the catalyst for the decision. Previously of Vogue, Teen Vogue, Bon Appétit and Condé Nast Traveler, the publisher most recently follows in the steps of media layoffs at and shutterings like those seen at BuzzFeed News.

Per AdWeek, “the publisher generated 1.3 million page views, on average, in the first three months of the year, according to data from SimilarWeb, with 43% of traffic coming from organic search, followed by direct at 32% and social at 17%.”

Paper has been a mainstay independent, New York City-based magazine since 1984, but grew in popularity after going viral and “breaking the internet” with its 2014 photoshoot with Kim Kardashian. Since then, the magazine has been a centerpiece for pop culture, nightlife society and long-form celebrity features.

Paper Magazine was founded in 1984 by Kim Hastreiter and David Hershkovits. 

Kim Kardashian Admits She Just Needs to Make ‘A Few Phone Calls’ to Do What the Legal System Does in ’10, 20 Years’ (Video)

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Paper Magazine has reportedly laid off its

Entertaintment

UPDATED: We are in Day 3 of Disney’s second round of layoffs, which has included a senior level programming executive at Disney Branded Television. Additionally, we are including a couple of cuts that happened Tuesday but got lost in the flurry of staff reductions. We will continued update with more as layoff news comes in throughout the day.

Reena Singh is leaving as SVP Development and Current Series for Disney Branded Television. Singh moved to the division more than two years ago from 20th Television where she was SVP Current Programming. At Disney, she has been a member of the Creative Inclusion Council, which creates new content practices for inclusive storytelling.

Digital content division 20th Digital Studio, led by EVP David Worthen Brooks, has been dissolved. Brooks will be transitioning into a first-look deal with Hulu, 20th Digital’s main distributor, as an independent producer.

Founded in 2008 as Fox Digital Studio and acquired by Disney as part of the $71.3 billion 2019 deal for key Fox assets, 20th Digital Studio, most recently part of Disney General Entertainment Content, developed, funded and produced short-form, branded and digital genre content from emerging filmmakers.

It is known for the Bite Size Halloween shorts, for which the unit signed a deal with Hulu last year to turn into nine horror features.

RELATED: Disney Layoffs On Film Side Include Story, Distribution, Marketing Departments; Searchlight & More

Also hit by layoffs was D23, the official fan club for the Walt Disney Co. Founded in 2009, the organization is mostly known for the biennial D23 Expo fan confab, with the next one slated for September.

The size of the cuts is in the double-digits, with some sources indicating that as much as a quarter of the staff or more was affected amid speculation that the division may be restructured.

Also departing as part of the layoffs is Jerrell Jimerson, Chief Product Officer, Disney Streaming, Disney+, Star+, and Hulu. He has been at Disney since 2018, involved in the Disney+ launch, and before that was Chief Product Officer for BAMTech, which Disney acquired.

RELATED: Nate Silver To Depart ABC News As Disney Layoffs Continue

The second round of Disney layoffs so far has impacted a number of TV and film divisions, including ABC, Freeform, ABC Signature, 20th Television, Disney+, Disney Branded Entertainment, Hulu, Disney TV Animation, Walt Disney Television Alternative and Searchlight, with Disney Television Studios marketing and first-run syndication among the units getting dissolved and a number of areas being consolidated.

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Comedian Carol Burnett’s first major role on television was in the 1964, a TV adaptation of the Broadway musical “Once Upon a Mattress,” where she re-created her stage role as Princess Winnifred. While that production is not currently streaming, episodes of “The Carol Burnett Show” are available on several platforms.

Below are some more highlights of movies and TV shows from her long career.

‘The Carol Burnett Show’

Sammy Davis Jr. and Carol Burnett in a 1976 episode of “The Carol Burnett Show.”

(Getty Images)

Comedy-variety | TV-G | 11 seasons (1967 – 78)
Apple TV+ (11 seasons) | Prime Video (11 seasons) | The Roku Channel | (11 seasons) | Peacock (3 seasons)

Eleven seasons of “The Carol Burnett Show,” from 1967 to 1978, made Burnett family to more than one generation of television viewers, all the more because it was a show families watched together. It might be bawdy, but it was never blue; and though it could be cutting, even a little upsetting, as in the “Family” sketches in which the star played the much-abused Eunice, the show’s default mode was a genial, generous silliness. It had no interest in the news; its favorite targets — or subjects, rather, as the satire was affectionate — were the iconic Hollywood films Burnett grew up on. When television is finally laid to rest, we will still remember her sweeping down a staircase, in a dress made from drapes — and their rod — in a takeoff on “Gone With the Wind.” (Read more) — Robert Lloyd

Carol Burnett on stage in front of the audience for "The Carol Burnett Show."

“The Carol Burnett Show: Show Stoppers” features highlights from the long-running comedy-variety series.

(CBS)

‘The Carol Burnett Show: Show Stoppers’

2001 | TV Special | 43 minutes
Prime Video (Rent/Buy)

This CBS TV special showcases some of the series’ funniest moments.

‘The Four Seasons’

1981 | Romantic comedy |Rating: PG | 1 hour 47 minutes
Netflix | Prime Video (Rent/Buy)

Alan Alda, a man who likes to discuss relationships, gives us both sides of the coin Sunday: the nice marital and the not-so-nice extramarital. In “The Four Seasons,” scored to Vivaldi, we get a year in the life of happily married Alda, droll movie spouse Burnett and four longtime friends, suddenly thrown into disarray by the defection, divorce and impending remarriage of one of their number. This was Alda’s feature writer-directorial debut, and it plays like the best TV sitcom you ever saw: predictable but charming, with easy, deft interplay among the ensemble. (Read more) — Michael Wilmington

‘Annie’

Albert Finney, Aileen Quinn, Carol Burnett and others on stage in scene from the film "Annie."

Carol Burnett, center right, in a scene from the 1982 musical film “Annie.”

(Columbia Pictures/Getty Images)

1982 | Musical comedy |Rating: PG | 2 hour 7 minutes
Prime Video (Rent/Buy) | Apple TV+ (Rent/Buy)

“Annie” has three crackerjack performances: Aileen Quinn’s meltingly lovable Annie; Albert Finney’s Daddy Warbucks, which has dimensions you might not have believed possible given the comic strip original, and Burnett’s Miss Hannigan, directress of the orphanage, who takes to gin as a sensible antidote to a single life bounded on all sides by little girls. She is the film’s Cruella de Vil, the sort who might chew up little orphans and use their bones as toothpicks. Burnett’s sense of comic placement is unerring: You actually see life from her viewpoint. (Read more) — Shelia Benson

‘A Little Help With Carol Burnett’

Advice show| TV-G | 2018: 1 season
Netflix

Burnett and her Tarzan yodel returned to series TV for the first time in decades with the recent arrival of Netflix’s “A Little Help With Carol Burnett.” The unscripted chat show features Burnett and a rotating cast of pre-K and grade-schoolers candidly discussing everything from the meaning of love to technology to parenting advice: “Bribery always works,” said one of her more astute co-stars.

The 12-episode series, created by Burnett, also features regular Russell Peters and guests such as Wanda Sykes, DJ Khaled, Lisa Kudrow, Julie Bowen (“Modern Family”), Candace Cameron Bure (“Fuller House”), Mark Cuban, Billy Eichner, Tony Hale (“Arrested Development”), Taraji P. Henson (“Empire”), Derek Hough (“Dancing With the Stars”), Brittany Snow (“Pitch Perfect”) and Finn Wolfhard (“Stranger Things”). (Read more) — Lorraine Ali

‘Better Call Saul’

A woman with her hands spread open next to her face looks out a window.

Carol Burnett in the final season of “Better Call Saul.”

(Greg Lewis/AMC)

Drama| TV-MA | Final season (2022: Four episodes)
Netflix

“Better Call Saul” is set several years before the events of “Breaking Bad,” the Emmy-winning drama that introduced us to Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). The prequel tracks the transformation of lawyer Jimmy McGill into the Saul Goodman viewers came to love in the original series. (Read more) — Yvonne Villarreal

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Comedian Carol Burnett’s first major role

MCU

Gamora actress Zoe Saldana announced her retirement from the MCU following Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

The third Guardians film is known to be an endpoint for at least some of the fan-favorite characters, with director James Gunn teasing it as a goodbye to the team fans know.

Dave Bautista (Drax) has already announced his retirement from the MCU as well, following the inevitable goodbye in Guardians 3.

Saldana said that if Gamora were to re-appear following Guardians 3, she would want her role re-cast. She has also said that she “wouldn’t be upset” if she did not return to Gamora.

Now, the actor’s retirement from Marvel is official.

Zoe Saldana To Retire From MCU

Marvel

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Zoe Saldana announced her official retirement from Marvel and her role as Gamora.

Saldana said “It is the end for me, for Gamora,” though she is not as certain about the rest of the team:

“I don’t think this is the end for the Guardians. It is the end for me, for Gamora.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Guardians of the Galaxy franchise director James Gunn almost killed off Gamora in Vol. 2, and Saldana had not anticipated bringing the character beyond the first film.

In an emotional goodbye on the last day of filming as Gamora, Saldana expressed her gratitude to Gunn for the various things he did for her over the years:

“I thanked James for just his time and his patience and his guidance and his friendship.”

While Saldana’s words of gratitude to the director show her gratitude, her actions following Gunn’s initial firing from Marvel show her respect for him too. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Saldana spoke directly with Marvel executives about bringing him back.

Is Gamora’s Fate in Guardians 3 Grim?

With Zoe Saldana now officially finished with Gamora, fans may be left wondering if Gamora will face a second death in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Given that Saldana has suggested a re-cast, it is possible for the character to appear following the third Guardians movie, though she will not be played by Saldana.

However, fans know to expect high emotions and tearful goodbyes in Guardians 3 — perhaps Gamora is among them?

Drax and Rocket have seemed to be the most likely candidates so far, given the former’s actor’s announced retirement and the latter’s seemingly dire fate teased in promotional material.

However, with the same logic as is used for Drax, Gamora could see another death — with her first death having been in Avengers: Infinity War in 2018.

If this were to happen, seeing the team react to losing Gamora twice will inevitably be yet another emotional moment in the already emotional film.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters on Friday, May 5.

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DCU

Fans were delighted to hear that the DCU had a 10-year reboot plan in motion but were disappointed not to hear more from it at CinemaCon 2023, especially after Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) CEO David Zaslav teased it.

Co-CEO of DC Studios James Gunn explained how he and fellow CEO Peter Safran gathered “a group of some of the best thinkers in the industry” to “map out that eight to 10-year plan.” Gunn also emphasized how DCU will unify films and television.

After announcing the slate of movies and shows for Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters, it was quickly revealed that not everything was shown. One of Gunn’s “favorite” projects was kept under wraps because it would “[give] away too much.”

So it’s no surprise fans were disappointed by Zaslav’s false promise of an update on the plan and its other unannounced projects.

James Gunn Explains Mishap to DC Fans

DC

Multiple attendees at CinemaCon 2023 distinctly heard Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav mention how DC Studios CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran would “present a 10-year plan” for the DCU this week. 

But that was evidently not the case, with the 10-year plan not being discussed. Confused fans asked Gunn on Twitter what had happened.

Gunn said that the plan being talked about at CinemaCon was “never the case,” how they had already given “lots of info a couple [of] months ago,” and that they’ll only announce “an occasional new project” moving forward:

“That was never the case, no. We gave people lots of info a couple months ago. There won’t be much to add besides an occasional new project here and there for some time to come.”

Twitter user @MarvelWatch realized that Zaslav misspoke, as the only films from DC being presented were those releasing this year.

“If by ‘talking about their 10-year plan,’ They meant just this year’s films.”

Another by the name of @Darshan14227345 lost confidence in WBD because of it:

“David Zaslav is a liar, [WBD] No confidence.”

@allinicolee5 and many fans saw it as outright lying to attendees and the press:

“Someone lied to the press and I am NOT happy.”

It didn’t help that other fans like @directorsmiso weren’t impressed with WBD’s presentation:

“That was it for [WBD]’s presentation?”

On top of that, Todd Phillips’ Joker fans like @TTVAHMED felt cheated that nothing from the sequel was shown:

“So there is no DC 10-year plan news? And Joker 2 news which they saw in a sizzle reel? Is that it?”

How Will Announcements for the DCU Work?

Unlike Marvel Studios, DC Studios announcing films and shows in bulk at conventions won’t be the norm. So it’s likely that DC fans will only experience big announcements like the initial reveal of Chapter 1 of the DCU on rare occasions, if ever again.

As Gunn said, “There won’t be much to add besides an occasional new project here and there for some time to come,” which makes sense. It’s unlikely that WBD or Gunn want to count their projects before they succeed.

After all, the real test for the DCU moving forward will be Superman: Legacy and whether it connects with audiences and critics, not to mention if it’s a success at the box office. But it appears that Gunn will pull out all the stops to make this Superman reboot special.

Fans can expect to see Superman: Legacy in theaters on July 11, 2025.

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Comics

Naughty Dog has released a new patch for the heavily criticised PC version of The Last of Us Part 1.

Version 1.0.4.0 is the seventh patch for the game since its late March release, which was met with complaints over numerous performance issues, bugs and glitches.

According to Naughty Dog, the latest update includes CPU and GPU optimisations, texture fidelity and resolution improvements on low and medium in-game settings, crash fixes, and more.

The full patch notes, which also include AMD, Steam and Steam Deck specific fixes, are republished below.

“We at Naughty Dog and our partners at Iron Galaxy are closely watching player reports to support future improvements and patches,” the studio wrote.

“We are actively optimizing, working on game stability, and implementing additional fixes which will all be included in regularly released future updates.”

Players can check out a list of known issues that are currently being investigated here.

Last of Us PC – Version 1.0.4.0 Patch Notes

  • Optimized CPU and GPU use throughout the game
  • Improved texture fidelity and resolution on in-game Low and Medium settings
  • Improved graphical fidelity on the in-game Low graphics preset, particularly water surfaces no longer appear black
  • Fixed a crash that may occur during shader building
  • Fixed a crash that may occur when quitting to the Main Menu
  • Fixed a crash that may occur when dying after combat
  • Fixed an issue where, on first boot, players may experience longer wait times to load into the game
  • Added an option for players to lock and unlock performance stats simultaneously in the HUD menu (Options > HUD)
  • Added descriptions in the Graphics menus to better explain when certain settings may affect another (Options > Display)
  • Added a Texture Streaming Rate setting (Graphics > Texture Settings)
  • Fixed an issue where skipping cutscenes during a critical load may cause the game to hang
  • Fixed an issue where the shader load warning did not appear while relaunching the game
  • Updated the VRAM bar to more accurately display the OS+Apps usage
  • Fixed an issue where the Screen Reader read values for locked settings which may imply those same locked setting were active
  • Fixed an issue where aiming downward while using keyboard and mouse (KBM) may increase camera sensitivity
  • Refined the handling of certain commands that are assigned the same KBM keybinding
  • Corrected Brazilian Portuguese, Croatian, Dutch, Finnish, French, Greek, Hungarian, LATAM Spanish, Spanish, Thai, and Traditional Chinese
  • translations for multiple menu options
  • [Ultrawide Displays] Corrected the Rangefinder reticle position for the bow

AMD

  • Fixed a crash that may occur on AMD CPUs with affinity limited to X3D cores
  • Fixed an issue where textures may render incorrectly on AMD GPUs

Steam

  • Fixed an issue where the “It Can’t Be For Nothing” achievement did not trigger, despite acquiring all other achievements

Steam Deck

  • Fixed an issue on Steam Deck where resetting Display settings to Default no longer enabled AMD FSR 2 (Options > Display)