News
The Awesome ‘Leprechaun’ Toy That Was Almost Released!
This week marked the return of a horror icon, as the reboot Leprechaun: Origins was released for purchase through VOD outlets. Well, it’s not exactly the return of the character we’ve come to know and love, as the reboot is a total departure from the original series, but you get what I’m trying to say.
While pretty much all of the big franchise horror icons have been given many of their own toys over the years, the loveable pint-sized Leprechaun has unfortunately gotten the shaft on that front, with not a single toy ever managing to see release.
Once upon a time, however, he came damn close…
SOTA Toys’ Now Playing line was home to some pretty cool action figures, the first three series’ including the likes of The Toxic Avenger, a Dog Soldiers werewolf and even one of those Nazi demons from An American Werewolf in London. In 2006, prototypes for the fourth series were whipped up and shown off at the San Diego Comic Con, which marked the first and last time they were ever seen.
Included in the line was none other than the Leprechaun, which was to be the little guy’s first ever action figure. As seen above, the toy was going to include a well display base and an alternate melting head, allowing you to recreate the climactic final moments of the first film.
Unfortunately, SOTA was shut down before Series 4 of the Now Playing line saw release, and all of the figures that were to comprise the line were forever shelved as a result. The series was to also include a Killer Klown and Herbert West, as well as Tremors and American Werewolf in London box sets.
Also planned at one point by SOTA was this Leprechaun bust, depicting the title character sitting atop his precious pot of gold. Like the action figure, the bust was shown off at the 2006 San Diego Comic Con, and died along with the end of the company.
Will we ever get the chance to add Leprechaun to our toy collections? Perhaps if we wish hard enough!
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Movies
‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments
It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.
We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.
“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”
That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”
Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:
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Movies
‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening
Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.
Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.
Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.
Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.
Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.
The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.
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News
Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date
Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.
Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.
These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:
According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”
Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.
Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.
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