Barely Related: Power Rangers film, Gotham trailer
Ah, Friday.
Welcome to Barely Related, a conversational Friday column that presents the non-gaming news stories that we, the Joystiq staff, have been talking about over the past week. And no, we're not stopping our focus on industry and gaming news. Think of this as your casual weekly recap of interesting (and mostly geeky) news, presented just in time to fill your brain with things to discuss at all of those weekend shindigs.
Grab a fresh drink, lean back in your armchair, and get ready to talk nerdy with us.
Go, go Power Rangers! Seriously, go to the movie theater.
Lionsgate is working on a live-action movie that "re-envisions" the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, all with the help of series creator Haim Saban. The Power Rangers debuted in 1993, which is 21 years ago, which makes us feel pretty dang old. There's no launch date for the film yet.
Lionsgate is responsible for The Twilight Saga and Hunger Games films, so maybe we can look forward to the Power Rangers pitted against each other in a fight to the death, plus a sub-plot romance between Trini and a sparkling, handsomely disheveled vampire.
More Star Wars Episode 7 news ... er, rumor
JJ Abrams' Star Wars movie has a working title of The Ancient Fear, according to Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News. Knowles says he's buddies with Abrams himself, and the title comes from two sources in the director's inner circle. The Ancient Fear "refers to Max von Sydow's villain, who makes Pazuzu look like a pussy!" Von Sydow is one of the new actors in the Star Wars franchise, and Pazuzu is the demon he faced down in the 1973 film The Exorcist.
If von Sydow exorcises anything from Star Wars, we suggest Jar Jar.
First Gotham trailer dissects Batman's origin because that's never been done before
Gotham is set to debut in the fall on Fox, and it delves into the backstories of classic Batman characters such as The Penguin, Catwoman, The Riddler, Poison Ivy and Jim Gordon. Oh, and Batman. Spoiler: Bruce Wayne watches his parents get murdered and it kind of screws him up.
But really – even though we've heard this story a few dozen times before, we'll gladly go over it one more time. This year.
NBC's Constantine doesn't star Keanu Reeves
Constantine, based on the Vertigo series Hellblazer, has been greenlit for a full series on NBC, set to air on Thursdays. The comic and show center on John Constantine, a paranormal investigator living in a world inundated with supernatural forces. He's brash, cocky, and most importantly, he wears a cool trench coat.
Hellblazer is Vertigo's longest-running series, and it ended in 2012 with issue 300. DC took over with a replacement series, Constantine, as part of its New 52 series. Hellblazer enjoyed a run of high-profile British writers, including Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison.
Netflix bumps monthly streaming price by $1
Heads up, streaming fans. Netflix subscriptions are jumping from $8 a month to $9 for new members. Existing Netflix subscribers get to keep the $8 rate for two years.
An extra $1 a month for more Drop Dead Diva? We can dig it.
[Images: Saban, Fox]
